Saturday, March 14, 2026

The Best Post of the Week of March 8, 2026. The Week King Donald's War went astray for lack of purpose.

It won't go down as a great week in American history.  King Donald committed us to a war which it does not look like we can win.

No Trumps will die in this war, but a lot of other people will.

So, what were its bloodstained highlights?  Let's take a look.

First we'll note something we failed to.  Country Joe McDonald died this past week, sort of a poetic end, in a way.  He was a veteran of the Navy.

Not Trumps have served in the Navy.  Well of course not.

We finished up 1914 to 1926, by finishing up, 1916.

Wednesday, March 8, 1916. Villa crosses the border.



Let's just admit, by this point, the only people who don't think the Trump Administration is the worst administration in American history are in it, and even some of them probably think that.


An event I sort of wish had never happened:



We looked at some movies.


We looked to an historical example regarding conscription.




We decided to punish our own political party, and we're not alone in that.

Giving up completely on the GOP.

I've noted my political history here before.

I'm a Westerner and an Irish Catholic.  That informs my vote pretty heavily.

When I first registered to vote Ronald Reagan was President.  Marine Corps Raider veteran Ed Herschler, a Democrat, was the Governor of Wyoming.  D-Day veteran Teno Roncolio, also a Democrat, was our Congressman.  Republicans Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson were our Senators.  

That was sort of the political landscape here at the time.   More Republicans than Democrats, but there were still Democrats, and those Democrats tended to be pretty tough conservative people.  Republicans were already tacking off into batshit crazy economic theories but they weren't completely bathed in them yet.

I registered as a Republican.

I didn't stay a Republican for a really long time.  I don't recall when exactly I switched parties, but by the time I was at the University of Wyoming, I had registered Democratic.  I stayed in the Democratic Party for a long time.  I was still a Democrat when I became a lawyer and I know that I was when I was married.  However, sometime after that, I couldn't stand the sea of blood the Democratic Party had become.  I became an independent.

As an independent you missed the primaries pretty much, however, and starting in the Clinton era in general Wyoming Democrats began to drift over to the GOP.  After all, the mainstream of the Democratic Party wasn't all that different from the traditional mainstream of the local GOP.  After awhile, I registered as a Republican.

Little far right Dixiecrats like Chuck Gray like to scream that people like me are "RINOs", when in fact they're the malignant innovation into the GOP.  That element hadn't entered the GOP at the time I was first in it, and didn't for a long time.  Gray himself, who nobody really knew anything about, was probably the first, followed by Jeanette Ward, who served one term in the legislature before losing a bid to retain her seat.  While she lost, that showed the direction things were headed in.  Carpetbaggers who knew nothing about their state moved in and wanted to convert it into pre 1964 Alabama.

It's not as if the Democrats stood still.  As moderate Wyoming Democrats left the party, it too became delusional.  If the Republicans became increasingly fascistic or Dixiecratic, the Democrats lived intellectually in the Greenwich Villages' Stonewall Inn in 1969.  It made going back into the Democratic Party an outright impossibility for people like myself, particularly as they lashed themselves increasingly to abortion and perversion. 

More recently, I'll note, that seems to be wearing off.  The Democrats are still "pro choice", but they don't talk much about it.  For that matter Republicans who were really gung ho on being pro life have sort of lost their fire for that as well, following the lead of Orange Mussolini.

What the Republican Party, nationally, has become is flat out insane.  No thinking person can be a member of it and be comfortable.

There are still good Republicans here in Wyoming.  They began a big fight against the Dixiecrats prior to the legislature and largely prevailed this session, in spite of the fact that the diehard adherents of The Lost Cause were theoretically in control of the solons.  That should give local Republicans who aren't literally whistling Dixie some hope.

But with the current national Trumpites in control, the line has been drawn. 

For years people like Dixiecrat Chuck Gray, or Dixicrat Bextel, have claimed that the Republican Party here was infiltrated with Democrats. Well, it was. They're the Democrats.  Democrats from 1960 Alabama. They just don't know it.  But the screaming lunacy that they've espoused does have an effect after awhile.  Yell at people that "you are a RINO" for long enough, and they'll take it up.

I'm remaining registered in the GOP.  Chuck Gray's efforts to disenfranchise voters has been enough for me in and of itself not to change registrations.  Frankly, if I was to take a run at the House of Representatives, and I've thought about it, I would switch parties as right now that would give a person a place in the November election no matter what.  But I'm not going to do that.  I'm old, worn out, and very tired. 

So I'm remaining in the GOP in no small part so that I can vote for the decent primary candidates, of which there are some right now.

At this point, merely stating that you are "pro Trump" will be enough to cross my vote for you off the list.  At least three House candidates are promising to be Trump's biggest lover, and they're all of the list.  I hope I run into some of them during their campaigns.  I probably will.

And I've already quit giving MAGAs in my midst slack.  Frankly, since the start of the assault on Iran, that's been easy, as the "never war" MAGAs can't explain that one without sounding like hypocrites, and they know it.  Even a few have begun to look as if Valentines to Trump weren't a good idea.

But in the Fall.  I'm not voting for any Republicans for anything.

That won't exactly be easy.  So far here only one candidate from the Democratic Party has signed on to run for a statewide office.  He has my vote even though I like the only Republican whose announced for the same position.  And just because I'm not voting for a Republican doesn't mean I will vote for Democrats.  In my state house district a really decent Republican holds the seat and a young woman from the Democratic Party has announced against him. She's already on the sea of blood ticket.  I can't vote for her, but I won't vote for the Republican I've voted for many times before.

To vote for Republicans in 2026 you have to accept that a low IQ, deranged, octogenarian should have complete dictatorial control over the Federal Government, can start major wars on his own, can demolish parts of the White House as he has the tastes of a bordello owner, can cause the hiding of files on a major pedophile ring, and can have a domestic army occupy the streets.  It also means you have to be willing to sacrifice the environment of the planet for scientific denial.  You have to be willing to endorse lies at a never before seen rate, which makes you a liar yourself if you do. 

I can't go there.


On a bright spot, the Confederate dominated legislature went home routed.





A fellow traveler pondered the long strange trip of the NatCons and J. D. Vance.




The war started wrecking the economy.


Perverts were hitting on Chloe Winters.

Have some of you seen any daylight recently?

 


This is amusing.  Chloe Winters is not unattractive, but the married Galwegian dresses like what she is, a market gardener.  It's a dirty job.  Her only adornment, normally, is a cross denoting her Christianity.

The fact that she's getting hit on for gardening videos. . . well it's just sad.

It became clear that Donald Trump had committed the nation to war on the concept that the Iranians would just collapse, even though he was warned that they would not.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 5. Trump's forever war. King Donald's War, Part 1.

Last edition:

Best post of the week of March 1, 2026.

Going Feral. The Feral Week of March 8, 2026.

The Agrarian Week of March 8, 2026.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election, 5th Edition, part two: The Saddle Up Edition

 


Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election, 5th Edition: The Saddle Up Edit...: The last edition of this was already sufficiently confusing that a new one is in order. In this one, when we list the candidates to start wi..
February 27, 2026

For some reason, this thread won't update, so were on to a part two of it.  This same glitch impacts a few other threads on the site as well.

Here's the old one:



The news to post is that David Giralt, combat veteran, is promising to be the biggest Trump stooge in the GOP if elected to the House, which now means that Chuck Gray, whose never really had a job, has to compete with somebody who has, for complete sycophant status.

Gray's released television ads, by the way, featuring himself in rural settings and promising a bunch of things won't happen on his watch, including men in girls sports, and "woke" wind projects, an easy promise to make as that's already been addressed.  He even went out and bought a Western cut wool shirt, which now means he gets to be subjected to Yeoman's questions, including "Chuck, would you like to ride this horse. . . "

In something really disturbing, it's been revealed that executive orders have been prepared for Trump to try to take over the 2026 election.  He will try it.  If he succeeds, that's the end of American democracy.

Cont: 

Gray took time out of his busy job of stamping UCC filings to shovel some s*** about the State of the Union address:
Secretary Gray Releases Statement Applauding President Trump’s State of the Union Address
 CHEYENNE, WY – Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray has released the following statement applauding President Trump’s State of the Union Address: “President Trump’s State of the Union was an absolute masterclass triumph.  President Trump discussed the tremendous accomplishments of his administration in unleashing American innovation and prosperity with an America First agenda.   

He has brought our economy roaring back. As we approach our 250th anniversary, President Trump also discussed the courage and perseverance of the American people with tremendous introductions of American patriots.  

And when the radical Left refused to stand and acknowledge that American citizens should come first, the truth was laid bare for all to see.  The radical Left is out of control and outrageously wrong.  But the silent majority will continue to stand for common sense policy that puts America First!” 

Gray is probably hoping for Don to endorse him.  Nobody really gives a rat's ass what the Wyoming Secretary of State thinks about a State of the Union address. 

March 5, 2026

Voting started Tuesday as primaries were held in North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas.  As these are primaries, state funded party elections (which are generally probably unconstitutional, frankly) I don't know that a person can draw too much from them.  I would note that the Texas GOP appears to be going even more MAGA than it already is, which is pretty extreme, which may end opening things up for Democrats in November.

In Wyoming, Converse Count Commissioner Robert Short became the first candidate to announce a bid for Secretary of State.  He is a long serving Republican.

Regarding voting in primaries:

Draco of Athens and 8/18/26

March 10, 2026

Kevin Richardson has joined the House race as a Republican.  He's a combat veteran, former employee of the BLM, and works in Denver.  He claims he's for protecting Wyoming's lands for industry, agriculture and tourism.  Other than that, you can't tell much about him.

There's a draft Bo Biteman movement going on, we'd note, although I've forgotten what its that his supports want to draft him to.  Drafting in a political sense is a long held tradition, although its very tough in a state with primaries, and a lot of snarky commentators don't know what that actually means as they associate "draft" with the military and Sportsball.  Looking at his legislative voting record, I wouldn't be in favor of him.

A Democrat has finally entered the race for something, with Worland Resident Bryan McCarty entering the race for Secretary of State.

March 11, 2026

On the best of the third parties, the American Solidarity Party:

A statement on yet another United States’ Attack On Iran:

Feb 28 

Written By American Solidarity Party

On June 22, 2025, I issued a condemnation of “President Trump’s unilateral, unjustified, unconstitutional, and unnecessary military action against Iran” on behalf of the American Solidarity Party.  Our principles, commitment to peace, and opposition to reckless and unjustified military aggression remain the same.  Accordingly, I again condemn President Trump’s unjustified, unconstitutional, and unnecessary attacks on Iran.

 Our platform states:  “Administrations of both parties have pursued a policy of reckless overreach, at great cost to both ourselves and other nations.   We oppose this tired elite consensus and believe the United States should use its influence to promote an international order that respects the dignity of the human person through means other than aggression.”  Additionally:  “Military interventions by the United States have rarely complied with just war principles and have usually been counterproductive.  We call for an end of the exertion of military hegemony over the world.”  Furthermore, “We insist that the United States must end unilateral military intervention in foreign countries.”

As Americans, we do not need regime change abroad; we need it at home.  We must escape the ghastly bloodlust and other demonic impulses of the Democratic and Republican parties.  Men and women of goodwill must unite in solidarity to build an alternative to evil.  

Jack Ternan

Chair, National Committee

A statement recognizing the affiliation of the Conservative Party of Delaware: 
Mar 4  
Written By American Solidarity Party 
At its most recent party congress, the Conservative Party of Delaware resolved to affiliate with the American Solidarity Party.  On January 19, 2026, the National Committee of the American Solidarity Party adopted a “Resolution Concerning the Affiliation of the Conservative Party of Delaware with the American Solidarity Party” setting forth the process and conditions of affiliation.  The Central Committee of the Conservative Party of Delaware adopted a resolution meeting those conditions and executed an affiliation agreement on February 27, 2026.

Accordingly, I am pleased to announce and recognize that the Conservative Party of Delaware has become a state party affiliate of the American Solidarity Party.  I appreciate the hard work of James Sloven and the rest of his state committee in making this affiliation possible. 

Jack Ternan

Chair, National Committee
Something to remember about third parties, because of the monopolistic illegality of the two major parties conspiring to seize control of the primary process, you can be a Republican or Democrat and still be in a Third Party.  This in fact drives Republicans in particular nuts, as in some localities its surprisingly common.

In the present day and age, frankly, anyone who is solidly Republican or solidly Democratic, flat out isn't thinking.  Looking at third parties makes sense, and indeed, may well be necessary to save the republic.

March 13, 2026

Far right divisive rust belt carpetbagger Jeanette Ward is running to try to regain her seat from Julie Jarvis, who replaced the ineffective Ward in the 2024 election.  Her early announcement shows she intends to be the toxic rust belt carpet batter that caused people to boot her out in the first place.

The candidate for House District 57 makes a big deal of her Christianity, while in the legislature showing that not to be the type of Christianity that most Christians would easily recognize.  She took a stand against being your brother's keeper, specifically, for example.

Legislator Bo Biteman is running running for the House.

While not a complete Trump toady like Gray, whose prospects are dimming by the hour, Biteman is on our No Go list as he's in the Freedom Caucus.

If nothing else, this election appears likely to put Gray in the unemployment line and Rasner off for his next hopeless campaign.

WFC member House Speaker Chip Neiman has announced he's running for Sen. Ogden Driskill's senate seat.

An interesting aspect of this is that the Confederate Caucus, after taking a pounding this legislature in spite of being in control, is really ready to abandon ship.  Of course with Neiman, he was probably aware that Biteman was bailing out, so now he's hoping to lead the Senate.

This might end up to result in just some minor deck shuffling, but it could also mean that the WFC has shot its bolt and its numbers will start to decline.  Neiman doesn't deserve to be reelected, let alone move to the Senate.

March 17, 2026

Kibler, the Californian carpetbagger running for Governor has now joined the Constitution Party, a far right third party.

A Natrona County legislator's story gets worse.  Allemand was handcuffed as he had a loaded handgun and the deputy who stopped him felt he made a worrisome move towards it.

March 19, 2026

Headline from the CST:

Casper attorneys form anti-Freedom Caucus PAC 

The Freedom Caucus has been particularly hostile to the rule of law, which in no small part is because, frankly, its members are generally lacking in education.  Ironically, as the same time they've been attacking the court, one of their members has been proclaiming he knows his rights while defending himself from a drunk driving charge.

In other news, the current head of the Cornfederate Caucus, Rachel Rodriguez-Williams is now running for Secretary of State, hoping to replace would be Trump No. 1 fan Chuck Gray in that role.

Gray had no suitable background for the job, nor does Rodriguez-Williams.  Like Gray, she's citing "election integrity", as a concern, a real irony given that generally the MAGA contingent of the GOP would regard her, a California Hispanic and a Catholic, as the sort of person who really should move out of the country.

Candidate for the House Reid Rasner is suing more people in a series of actions that started with Anthony Bouchard.

This is discussed in another thread today as well, but election season litigation is an extremely questionable tactic and is likely to backfire.  People tend not to appreciate that defamation suits bring to the general public the very statements that the plaintiff regards as defamatory, but which the public was otherwise ignorant of.  Most people don't pay very much attention to internal political party rumors.  If they did, there's at least one well known Wyoming figure who almost certainly wouldn't be holding office.

Bouchard was the first person suited, but now its expanded to Dan Sabrosky, Michelle St. Louis ,and Kit Jennings.  Only Jennings is well well known, or perhaps more accurately formerly well known, as he was once in the legislature, although that was years ago.  St. Louis is now likely to become known as she's filed a complaint with the AG's office seeking an investigation of the conduct of lobbyist Bextel of Checkgate fame.

What we can take, in part, from all of this is that the Freedom Caucus and MAGAs are not as well coordinated or aligned as it may seem.  Rasner, who has 0 chance of winning in the primary, is spending a lot of effort ripping Chuck Gray down, who may very well have less of a chance than he imagines.  Rasner, of the far right, has now sued four other members of the far right.  A PAC has been formed by lawyers, many of whom are genuine conservatives, to take the Cornfederate Caucus on.  A group of lawyers penned an editorial that appeared in the Cheyenne newspaper taking on far right lawyer Fred Harrison who has been attacking the Wyoming Supreme Court.    Rodriguez-Williams, current head of the Freedom Caucus is abandoning her legislative post to try to replace Chuck Gray at a time at which Wyomingites are expressing disgust with the WFC and MAGA is busy supporting deporting people like here who are, you know, brown, and Papist.
______________________________________________________________________________
Note:  This thread was reposted at its glitch.

Last edition:

Have some of you seen any daylight recently?

 


This is amusing.  Chloe Winters is not unattractive, but the married Galwegian dresses like what she is, a market gardener.  It's a dirty job.  Her only adornment, normally, is a cross denoting her Christianity.

The fact that she's getting hit on for gardening videos. . . well it's just sad.

Trump and the Putinization of the US Government The Iran Bombing As A Clarifying Moment

 

Trump and the Putinization of the US Government

The Iran Bombing As A Clarifying Moment

Reflecting on the 2026 Wyoming Legislative Session with Gov. Mark Gordon

 


The Administration Is Leaking Like a Sieve | Explainer

 


Sunday, March 14, 1926. Reddy Kilowatt introduced. Manhunt in Natrona County.

 


Introduced on this day in 1926, the cartoon emphasized, in its introduction, electrical appliances and how they made life easier.  Power companies used the cartoon figure for decades.  I well recall it from when I was a kid.

There'd been a jail brake in Casper.

A railway disaster in Costa Rica resulted in the deaths of 248 people.

One via Reddit's 100 Years Ago sub, 16 year old Maybelle Addington married 27-year old Ezra J. "Eck" Carter, brother of A.P. Carter, in Virginia giving rise to the "first family of country music".

Country music, we'd note, is a bit deceptive in this context. As we've discussed before, Country & Western were actually two categories of music identified by early record companies, as was Rhythm & Blues.  Western ballads, associated with cowboys and ranching, was really its own distinct genre, as was "Country", which was sometimes referred to as "Hillbilly Music".  The current categories of C&W, Folk, etc, really hadn't set in, in a hard and fast way, either.  Folk and Country music were in fact very rapidly evolving.  Blues, which of course also had a Southern rural origin, was frequently picked up by Country artists at the time, even while it was breaking out in new directions in the Midwest and East coast, where it has already given rise to Jazz.

Last edition:

Saturday, March 13, 1926. Daydreaming.

Tuesday, March 14, 1876. The draft of the Colorado Constitution.

Colorado's constitutional convention wrapped up, having produced a draft of the foundational document which Colorado still uses.

Last edition:

Friday, March 13, 2026

A theory very close to the one I've advanced here.

Will Don be saying, et tu, J.D.?

From the always excellent Uncle Mike's blog:

Vance the Bully's Flunky

I still think my theory is more likely, but its interesting that I'm not the only one who is traveling this line of thought.

Uncle Mike, as he makes clear, believes that the plan is to wait until next year at which time the illegitimate occupant of the Oval Office, billionaire insurrectionist Donald Trump, will be impeached and removed from office, there by installing Vance as President.  It's an interesting theory.

The problem with it, I think, is that it requires the cooperation of a fair number of Republican Senators to go along with it.  I don't think they have the guts.  Senators like Wyoming's John Barrasso have proven so spineless that he's being examined by the Washington D.C. zoo for a place in the invertebrate display.  To be fair, they fear their voters, and in some areas, like Wyoming, the MAGA delusion is so deep that a lot of its adherents will carry it to the gave where they'll have to ask questions about why they supported an illegal war launched by an immoral serial polygamist while the environment went to pot. Barrasso will be right there with them, saying "they made me do it so I could keep my job".

Anyhow, I don't think enough Republican Senators will go along, unless the Senate GOP starts to hemorrhage pretty severely this November, in which case their save their job instincts will start to kick in.

My theory, which I've held here for a long time, is a bit more sinister.  

I've thought since before the election that the plan was to let Trump slip into increasingly worse dementia and then remove him just before the November election via the 25th Amendment.  That's nearly win/win for Vance.  It might cause a huge sigh of relief amongst independents who are refugee Republicans and the two or three Republicans who aren't MAGA, saving some of the election.  It also might give cover to candidates like Chuck Gray whose platform is that they love Trump so much, they want to be his adoring handmaiden.   If he's gone, they can go to the cabinet, pull out the bottle of Old Crow, put on the Boomtown Rats single I Never Loved Eva Braun, and start acting like sentient mammals.

If it doesn't save the election, Vance can still be President for two years and start pulling the "I'm not responsible for this particular stupid Don idea" while also blaming the Democrats for everything else.  Shoot, as the war against Iran will still be going on by then, he can declare victory and declare himself a hero, even if we haven't won by then, and we won't have.

Anyway you look at it, getting into office before Trump's term ends is Vance's only hope.  People don't like him.  The stench of Trump will attach too much for him to win on his own merits, and those merits, if you want to call them that, are not MAGA, they're NatCon.

The problem at this point is that while allowing Trump to get wackier and wackier serves their interests, we get deeper into bat shit crazy weird territory every day.  As it is, we're at war now, it would seem, as Bibi thought this was his chance and Bibi, Putin, and rich people, some of whom are in the Epstein files, are the only people Trump listens to.  We are in an area in which there are, now, hardly any limits, thanks to the Supreme Court.  If Bibi tells Donny nuking Tehran is okay, there's no guarantee an addled Trump wouldn't do it, although we can still hope that there's backchannel conversations in the DoD about how far they let this go before they just start saying no.

Presumably, if Donny comes in and says, "hey guys, I'm going to put the ball room here and it will be fun to have a march through a triumphal arch after I nuke Tehran, let's do that today so we can fight North Korean next week and put on a cabaret in Havanna!" the cabinet will still say no, but again, the problem is that the people in this administration, with a hand of exceptions, might actually be too far gone themselves.  Markwayne Mullin?  For goodness sake, he needs to be sent back to 6th grade and be reminded you don't wear your hat indoors, not given a job with the administration.  Steve Miller?  Yikes.  

Well, smoke and mirrors and backrooms.  Marco probably is angling for the Presidency himself and doesn't want to be too tarred with Trump feces.  There are probably others still.

By June or July we'll know if I was right.

A good clue I might be is that since the war with Iran started, Vance is hard to find.

Wednesday, March 13, 1946. Strikes end.

The United Auto Workers ended their strike against General Motors.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations ended its strike against General Electric.

The Rocky Mountain News, which was a morning paper, was focused on the Senate and gambling.


The US and USSR teetered on the end of war as the USSR continued an advance into Iran in defiance of a March 7 ultimatum.

The News did catch that.


Last edition:

Saturday, March 13, 1926. Daydreaming.

 

This does have some interesting details, even though in some ways it would nearly appear contemporary in some ways. 

For one thing, he's wearing a red shirt of some sort under his plat shirt.  T-shirt, or red woolen shirt?  Probably the latter, as there's glimpses of the same red under his socks.  There also appears to be a button on the shirt/longhandles near the neck.

Note the snowshoes on the floor.  It's still winter, as it should be as the rubber overshoes also demonstrate.  We still routinely wore those to school on snowy days in the 60s and early 70s.

Last edition:

Friday, March 12, 1926. The Savoy opens.


Thursday, March 12, 2026

Today In Wyoming's History: March 12, 2026.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 122026.  Windstorms at a historic level closed highways in southeast Wyoming and closed the campus of CSU.

Movies (Television) in History: Dawson's Creek.

Over this past weekend I was horrible sick with what was probably the "stomach flu".  My wife is now.  I'll write more on that latter.

Anyhow,  I woke up in a bad state (I'll spare the details) and spent most of the weekend on the sofa, falling asleep.  

A lost weekend.

Anyhow, my wife had Dawson's Creek on, which was on as one of the major actors, James Van Der Beek  recently tragically died of colon cancer, something I relatively recently dodged the bullet on myself.  FWIW, quite a few actors who were on the series have passed away, although he's the youngest (although barely so) to do so.  It was a tragic death.

Dawson's Creek, 1998-2003, sucks.

The question would be why I put it up here at all, and I don't have that much of a good reason, but it reminds me of how television shows featuring teenagers of recent years fit a pattern.  The other one is One Tree Hill.  

Their nighttime soap operas, but they're bad, and at worst, perverted.

All the characters, even the supposedly poor ones, are fantastically wealthy living in really good conditions.  They have nearly unlimited access to wealth that most middle class families in the real world struggle for and their lives are more or less unhindered by their parents, who are portrayed as a sort of older siblings, even in their appearance.  Nobody in this world has been worn down by age and responsibilities.  They're all beautiful. There's now an ugly duckling girls or awkward boy amongst them. Their entire lives involve endless love triangles, and at least in Dawson's Creek's case, statutory rape.  They're maudlin in the extreme.

All in all, they're a really weird look at the teenage years of Americans, and its weirder than people want to look back at teenagers that way.  It says something about our society, and not in a good way. That millions of adults would follow a series that deals, at least in part, with sexual encounters of minors, is weird.  Dramas, and comedies, focusing on youth have always been a thing, but not ones that focus on youth as well funded adults lusting or longing for each other.

As a complaint about television scripts, I suppose, it's interesting that television likes to keep a couple that should obviously be a couple nearly being a couple for years, and then conclude with them not being a couple.  This can be a legitimate dramatic element, as in the Western drama Wil Penny, but if its going to be done it ought to serve some purpose.  In television dramas, it simply tends not to.  The Wonder Years, well worth watching, provides another example.

On material details, this is set on the Eastern Seaboard which I don't know much about, but nearly 100% of the people depicted are white, which I don't think realistic.  Maybe my view of the Eastern Seaboard is off, however.  Made when it was, an obligatory sympathetically portrayed homosexual couple is included.

One thing I'll add to all of this is that this entire series' view seems summed up by its horrible theme song, which wasn't written for it, I Don't Want To Wait by Paula Cole.  Sung in such a muttering style that it hard to understand, the song is a lament that the singer's grandparents had to endure World War Two and her grandfather came back physically and mentally scarred by the war, and then seemingly implied that they had not lived their lives for the moment.  The lyrics are, in part:

o open up your morning lightAnd say a little prayer for IYou know that if we are to stay aliveThen see the peace in every eye
She had two babies, one was six months, one was threeIn the war of '44Every telephone ring, every heartbeat stingingWhen she thought it was God calling herOh, would her son grow to know his father?
I don't want to wait for our lives to be overI want to know right now what will it beI don't want to wait for our lives to be overWill it be yes or will it be sorry?
He showed up all wet on the rainy front stepWearing shrapnel in his skinAnd the war he saw lives inside him stillIt's so hard to be gentle and warmThe years pass by, and now, he has granddaughters
I don't want to wait for our lives to be overI want to know right now what will it beI don't want to wait for our lives to be overWill it be yes or will it be...

The I deserve happiness right now and can obtain it without repercussion sort of view was a common one with younger people at the time, memoirs of Gen X.  Indeed, the show is sort of Gen X Romeo and Juliet and the ballad fits that.  That sort of vapid view has really passed into the the rear view mirror and younger generations don't have it, been afflicted, as they are, by the real world.  The shallowness of the views expressed in Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, and Beverly Hills 90210 help explain the big turn towards inward conservatism in the generations that have followed. 

Anyhow, just skip this and watch 5-25-77 instead.  

Friday, March 12, 1926. The Savoy opens.

The Savoy opened in Harlem, and would remain open until 1958.

Japanese destroyers were fired upon by the Chinese from the Taku Forts.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 11, 1926. Governments and labor.

Sunday, March 12, 1876. London meat shower.

And, just a few days after it happened in Kentucky, a meat shower happened over London.

Weird.

Last edition;

Friday, March 10, 1876, "Mr. Watson, come here—I want to see you".