Saturday, June 27, 2026
Thursday, June 27, 1946. Canadian citizenship established.
Canadian citizenship was made separate from British citizenship by act of the Canadian House of Commons, with the effective date being January 1, 1947.
Canada was the first Commonwealth country to separate its citizenship from that of the United Kingdom.
Last edition:
Wednesday, June 26, 1946. The Nationalist Chinese Strike.
Tuesday, June 27, 1876. Terry and Gibbon arrive.
Terry's column arrived at the Little Big Horn. He wrote his report to Gen. Sheridan on Last Stand Hill.
It is my painful duty to report that day before yesterday, the 25th instant, a great disaster overtook General Custer and the troops under his command. At 12 o'clock of the 22nd instant he started with his whole regiment and a strong detachment of scouts and guides from the mouth of the Rosebud; proceeding up that river about twenty miles he struck a very heavy Indian trail, which had previously been discovered, and pursuing it, found that it led, as it was supposed that it would lead, to the Little Big Horn River. Here he found a village of almost unlimited extent, and at once attacked it with that portion of his command which was immediately at hand. Major Reno, with three companies, A, G, and M, of the regiment, was sent into the valley of the stream at the point where the trail struck it. General Custer, with five companies, C, E, F, I, and L, attempted to enter about three miles lower down. Reno, forded the river, charged down its left bank, and fought on foot until finally completely overwhelmed by numbers he was compelled to mount and recross the river and seek a refuge on the high bluffs which overlook its right bank. Just as he recrossed, Captain Benteen, who, with three companies, D, H, and K, was some two (2) miles to the left of Reno when the action commenced, but who had been ordered by General Custer to return, came to the river, and rightly concluding that it was useless for his force to attempt to renew the fight in the valley, he joined Reno on the bluffs. Captain McDougall with his company (B) was at first some distance in the rear with a train of pack mules. He also came up to Reno. Soon this united force was nearly surrounded by Indians, many of whom armed with rifles, occupied positions which commanded the ground held by the cavalry, ground from which there was no escape. Rifle-pits were dug, and the fight was maintained, though with heavy loss, from about half past 2 o'clock of the 25th till 6 o'clock of the 26th, when the Indians withdrew from the valley, taking with them their village. Of the movements of General Custer and the five companies under his immediate command, scarcely anything is known from those who witnessed them; for no officer or soldier who accompanied him has yet been found alive. His trail from the point where Reno crossed the stream, passes along and in the rear of the crest of the bluffs on the right bank for nearly or quite three miles; then it comes down to the bank of the river, but at once diverges from it, as if he had unsuccessfully attempted to cross; then turns upon itself, almost completing a circle, and closes. It is marked by the remains of his officers and men and the bodies of his horses, some of them strewn along the path, others heaped where halts appeared to have been made. There is abundant evidence that a gallant resistance was offered by the troops, but they were beset on all sides by overpowering numbers. The officers known to be killed are General Custer; Captains Keogh, Yates, and Custer, and Lieutenants Cooke, Smith, McIntosh, Calhoun, Porter, Hodgson, Sturgis, and Reilly, of the cavalry. Lieutenant Crittenden, of the Twelfth Infantry, along with Acting Assistant Surgeon D. E. Wolf, Lieutenant Harrington of the Cavalry, and Assistant Surgeon Lord are missing. Captain Benteen and Lieutenant Varnum, of the cavalry are slightly wounded. Mr. B. Custer, a brother, and Mr. Reed, a nephew, of General Custer, were with him and were killed. No other officers than those whom I have named are among the killed, wounded, and missing.
It is impossible yet to obtain a reliable list of the enlisted men killed and wounded, but the number of killed, including officers, must reach two hundred and fifty. The number of wounded is fifty-one. The balance of report will be forwarded immediately.
Benteen walked the ground of Last Stand Hill. He later recounted:
I went over the battlefield carefully with a view to determine how the battle was fought. I arrived at the conclusion then, as I have now, that it was a rout, a panic, until the last man was killed ...
That there was no line formed on the battlefield. You can take a handful of corn and scatter it over the floor, and make just such lines, there were none. The only approach to a line was where 5 or 6 horses found at equal distances, like skirmishers. Ahead of those 5 or 6 horses there were 5 or 6 men at about the same distances, showing that the horses were killed and the riders jumped off and were all heading to get where General Custer was. That was the only approach to a line on the field. There were more than 20 killed there to the right. There were 4 or 5 at one place, all within a space of 20 to 30 yards. That was the condition all over the field and in the
I think, in all probability, that the men turned their horses loose without any orders to do so. Many orders might have been given, but few obeyed. I think that they were panic stricken; it was a rout, as I said before.
Last edition:
Monday, June 26, 1876 Day two of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Reno fights to hold his positions and against thirst, Gibbon marches south, Crook camps on Goose Creek.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Two examples of exactly what's wrong with this country.
1. Standards decayed to the irrelevant level.
I think Nixon's historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, and deservedly so.
If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12 hours news story. The idea that it took down a presidency is crazy.
J. D. Vance.
Vance is probably correct. Watergate wouldn't have taken down Nixon today.
Watergate was inexcusable. Nixon should not have been pardoned. He should have been tried, convicted, and served jail time. That failure, combined with the failure to push traitorous Southerners after the Civil War, have helped give us Donald Trump.
What Nixon did give us was Jimmy Carter. Ford couldn't survive his association with Nixon and inflation. Carter was not a good President, but he was a decent man. That meant a lot.
And, and James Donald Bowman, James David Hamel, James David Vance, JD Vance should remember this. While Carter as a one term President, the then youthful Democratic Party swept into power in that election and reset the country's middle meter to the left. It remained there for decades. Right now Republicans are pointing towards New York and saying "look, the Democrats are commies!" Well, the swing to the left and the right wing histrionics about it were exactly what occurred in the 1973 time frame, brought about by the corruption of Nixon, the Vietnam War, and economic distress.
A failed war. A failed economy. And corruption.
Sound familiar Republicans?
2. They actually feel Trump is a prophet
There's a reason why Donald Trump is still here. God's will is that his work is not done. By the way, our president knows that.
House majority whip Tom Emmer.
Hitler survived 42 known assassination attempts.
Nobody knows the mind of God. As I earlier noted here, Donald may be our Attila, whom early Medieval Christians regarded as the "Scourge of God", Flagellum Dei. Medieval Christians, whom Protestants latter slandered as being ignorant, were clear eyed enough to attribute Attila with being allowed to proceed in destruction as a punishment for their sins. If Trump's luck with surviving assassination attempts has been due to the divine, given that he's a completely unGodly man, that possibility should be at least considered.
But beyond that, and this is truly scary, the far right Evangelical branch of American Protestantism is actually treading upon what essentially amounts to a new fringe religion, something that is well within the country's historical culture. The 19th Century was full of them, with a collection of religions that proclaimed themselves founded on the teachings of Christ but lead by a new latter day prophet whose message departed from the Christian gospel. In the 20th Century we've seen a few more.
A new book by journalist of the New York Times holds that those in Trump's cabinet believe that he's endowed with nearly an otherworldly foresight and is always right in spite of all the evidence that he's demented and was never very smart. Like Communists in the mid 20th Century, they'll excuse any failure as temporary or a simple misunderstanding. Molotov even excused Stalin's imprisoning his won wife. Hardcore Communist, we might note, have a similar mindset to radical false religious prophets, and their adherents do as well.
Normally the further these movements go, and the longer they last, the more disastrous the fall.
Wednesday, June 26, 1946. The Nationalist Chinese Strike.
Chiang Kai-shek launched a nationwide offensive against the Red Chinese designed to take control of the entire country. A sign that things might not go well occurred when Nationalist pilot Liu Shanben defected to the Communists with a B-24 Liberator.
The Nationalist Army had the edge on paper. It was larger and much better equipped. It also had more combat experience, the Red Chinese having sat out much of the Second World War. The Nationalist also had the benefit of various degrees of U.S. training, and oddly enough, German training before that.
World War Two vintage U.S. poster depicting a Nationalist soldier and his family. The soldier is accurately depicted in a Nationalist uniform, which was based on German uniforms, including the iconic German feldmutze. He's carrying a 98 rifle, although the straight bolt handle would indicate that it is not a K98k, many of which were supplied to the Nationalist by Nazi Germany. The rifle instead is a Mauser Standardmodell, a commercial predecessor to the K98k, or perhaps a Chinese made copy. Of course, this is just an illustration but it's likely based on photographs. By this point in 1946 many Chinese troops had American equipment of various types, but many infantrymen remained equipped just like this. Indeed, Chinese soldiers were more likely to carry Mauser bolt actions than any other rifle.
Last edition:
Tuesday, June 25, 1946. The World Bank commences operations.
Labels: 1940s, 1946, Aircraft, China, China (Xuzhou), Chinese Civil War, Economics, Food, Nationalist Chinese Army, Office of Price Administration, World Bank
Monday, June 26, 1876 Day two of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Reno fights to hold his positions and against thirst, Gibbon marches south, Crook camps on Goose Creek..
The Battle of the Little Big Horn continued on with Reno and Benteen's command dug in on high ground. The day was marked by sniping fire and thirst. Obtaining water was becoming critical with some troops volunteering for very dangerous trips down to the Little Big Horn.
Between the two days of the battle, June 25 and June 26, twenty-four men serving under Benteen performed acts of heroism that would result in their receiving the Medal of Honor. Most of that was associated with retrieving water.
Every single one was an enlisted man.
They were:
Otto Voit Pvt. Co. H Bravery in Action
Benj. C. Criswell Sgt. Co. B Brought up ammunition
Henry Holden Pvt. Co. D Brought up ammunition
Thomas Murray Sgt. Co. B Brought up pack train
Richard P. Hanley Sgt. Co. C Recaptured pack mule
Chas. Cunningham Pvt. Co. B Continued firing after being wounded
Henry W. B. Mechlin Bks.* Co. H Sharpshooter for water party
Charles Windolph Pvt. Co. H Sharpshooter for water party
George Geiger Sgt. Co. H Sharpshooter for water party
James Pym Pvt. Co. B Brought water under fire
Neil Bancroft Pvt. Co. A Brought water to wounded
Abram B. Brant Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Thomas J. Callan Pvt. Co. B Brought water to wounded
Frederick Deetline Bks.* Co. C Brought water to wounded
Theodore W. Goldin Pvt. Co. G Brought water to wounded
David W. Harris Pvt. Co. A Brought water to wounded
William M. Harris Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Rufus D. Hutchinson Sgt. Co. B Brought water to wounded
Stanislas Roy Sgt. Co. A Brought water to wounded
George D. Scott Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Thomas W. Stivers Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Peter Thompson Pvt. Co. C Brought water to wounded
Frank Tolan Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Charles H. Welch Pvt. Co. D Brought water to wounded
Midday Lakota scouts sighted Terry/Gibbon's command to the north and reported it back to the village, which then began to break camp, that process continuing on into the evening. As we noted, Terry was now with Gibbon who had marched east from Ft. Ellis down the Yellowstone at the beginning of the campaign while Terry and Custer had marched west from Ft. Abraham Lincoln.
Breaking camp was inevitable in any event as the camp was so large the locality could not sustain it for long. As bands broke camp, they broke into individual bands and headed south.
Crook was encamped at Little Goose Creek in what is now Sheridan, Wyoming, having pulled off a fair distance to recuperate from the Battle of the Rosebud and to await reinforcements. A monument in Sheridan Wyoming is located at that spot, but I've not personally seen it.
President Grant issues a proclamation on the Centennial of American independence.
June 26, 1876: Proclamation Celebrating the Hundredth Anniversary of Independence
A Proclamation
The centennial anniversary of the day on which the people of the United States declared their right to a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth seems to demand an exceptional observance.
The founders of the Government, at its birth and in its feebleness, invoked the blessings and the protection of a Divine Providence, and the thirteen colonies and three millions of people have expanded into a nation of strength and numbers commanding the position which then was asserted and for which fervent prayers were then offered.
It seems fitting that on the occurrence of the hundredth anniversary of our existence as a nation a grateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God for the protection and the bounties which He has vouchsafed to our beloved country.
I therefore invite the good people of the United States, on the approaching 4th day of July, in addition to the usual observances with which they are accustomed to greet the return of the day, further, in such manner and at such time as in their respective localities and religious associations may be most convenient, to mark its recurrence by some public religious and devout thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a nation during the century of our existence, and humbly to invoke a continuance of His favor and of His protection.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 26th day of June, A. D. 1876, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundredth.
U. S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
Secretary of State.
Last edition:
Sunday, June 25, 1876. The Battle of the the Little Bighorn.
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Friday, June 25, 1976. President for life.
Ugandan President Idi Amin announced that his advisory committee had appointed him "President for Life", citing that it was God's will as he'd survived a recent assassination attempt.
Idi Amin used to be routinely looked at as bat shit crazy, but now we have Donald Trump.
Last edition:
Labels: 1970s, 1976, Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon, Lebanon (Beirut), Military, Thailand, U.S. Navy, Vietnam War
Tuesday, June 25, 1946. The World Bank commences operations.
The World Bank commenced operations.
Nationalist Chinese troops killed ten demonstrating middle school students at Xuzhou when their commander, Feng Yu-xiang Fang Jingxing ordered them to be fired on by machine guns.
The US was struggling through a post war meat shortage. Denver newspapers were reporting that the Office of Price Administration was accordingly being kept in operation and that Denver butcher shops were nearly bare.
The YB-35 flew for the first time.
Long considered a real oddball, the aircraft anticipated the B-2.
Last edition:
Saturday, June 22, 1946. History rhyming
Friday, June 25, 1926. Milk Cow Blues
Freddie Spruell recorded the "Milk Cow Blues" in Chicago.
It was the first Delta Blues song to be recorded.
President Coolidge gave a press conference.
Last edition:
Saturday, June 19, 1926. Cadaverum cremationis.
Labels: 1920s, 1926, Art, Catholic, Christianity, Country & Western Music, Folk Music, Music, New York, Railroads, religion
Sunday, June 25, 1876. The Battle of the the Little Bighorn.
June 25
1876 The legendary Battle of the Little Big Horn occurs in southeastern Montana. On this date, in 1876, a large combined group of Cheyennes, Sioux, Arapaho and maybe even a few Metis, defeated an assault by the 7th Cavalry in southern Montana, resulting in the complete elimination of one prong of a split assault, and the retreat and desperate defense by two other elements of the command. The 7th's effort was part of a summer 1876 campaign on the northern plains, which had seen a the defeat of a combined unit of elements of the 2d & 3d Cavalry, 4th and 9th Infantry, and Crow and Shoshone scouts in southern Montana several days earlier. Both Plains Indians victories marked the high water mark, and the rapidly receding tide, of Indian power on the northern plains.
Little Big Horn is by far the most famous of American Indian battles, and almost defines them for the average person. It remains one of the most written about of all American historical events. It was a huge shock to the American psyche at the time, and resulted in the Army being expanded by 2,500 men for Plains service.
In terms of actual casualties, the 7th suffered about 52 percent casualties of the force that was deployed, in a battle that saw fighting at widely separated points, several miles distant, including 16 officers and 242 enlisted men killed. One officer and 51 enlisted men survived the battles with wounds. The battle is mostly remembered due to the fact that the every man in Custer's immediate command was killed, which makes up the bulk of the casualties. This may be a bit unfair, as it somewhat discounts the effective defense put up by Reno and Benteen's men in a separate location.
Of interest, 22% of the 7th Cavalry was detached prior to the expedition on other duties, a fairly common occurrence. 166 men and officers therefore were not present on the campaign, and missed the battle.
Some may wonder why I have included this even in a Wyoming daily history blog, as I included an item about Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre yesterday, but these are all regional events, which had an enormous impact on Wyoming at the time. For the Indians in particular, the territorial borders did not exist.
The battle remains the greatest single defeat, and the greatest single loss of life in a single battle, in the post 1865 Indian Wars. It is not, however, the U.S. Army's worst day during the long struggle with Native Americans. That day was the Battle of the Wabash in 1791 in which the Northwestern Confederacy of Native Americans decisively defeated the U.S. Army with the Army loosing 656 men to the Natives 21 in spite of the forces being evenly matched. It was by some measures the worst day in American military history.
This is also the most written about even in American military history of all time. Only the Battle of the Bulge and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor rival it, which shows what a major psychologic impact it had on American culture and historical memory. There are, of course, a number of reasons for that which remain worth considering for a number of reasons.
To start off with the battle was, of course, a major shock at the time that it occurred, although it was no unprecedented. Fetterman's detachment being wiped out on December 21, 1866 outside of Ft. Phil Carney provided an earlier example which its always temping to draw analogies too. That particular battle, which resulted in the loss of 81 soldiers and armed civilians at the hands of some of the same combatants, and at the hands of the same tribes, actually had a more dire immediate effect on the survivors in that the post was so remote it was in serious danger of being overrun, had the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho bothered to attempt it, which they did not. 81 men, of course, is considerably less than 242.
A big part of the shock was due to the early press reporting. In spite of the Fetterman Fight, the press and the public was not prepared for such a singular defeat at the hands of Plains Indians, even though Custer's detached command was considerably outnumbered at the time of the attack. Custer was thought of as a real Indian Fighter, which he in fact was not, and the result was nearly inconceivable, resulting in a lot of fanciful speculation. To add to this the surviving officers had a built in incentive not to be responsible for what occurred, and indeed in the 7th Cavalry's case, they really were not. That didn't keep, however, some from trying to blame them just as Custer was elevated to an absolute hero. As time went on it was fairly clear to the U.S. Army what had happened, even if it wasn't necessarily to civilian writers. Early histories, moreover, assumed a level of knowledge about certain things, particularly horses, that later historians lacked, resulting in both of them omitting them. All of this contributed to a sense of romantic mystery that endures to the present day.
Evan as that mystery has endured, however, Custer became a symbol for the entire American effort against the Native Americans, from 1620 through Wounded Knee, a fact that his peculiar character lent itself to. Hated by many of his men, and detested by many of his fellow 7th Cavalry officers, he made a ready and easy scapegoat that further allowed some historians to assign personal blame to him for what occurred on this day in 1876.
In truth, what occurred at Little Big Horn is really obvious if a person is actually familiar with the conditions of frontier campaigning, which unfortunately many of the post 1930 or so historians have not been.
Alfred Terry had detached Custer's command on June 22, 1876, because it was a cavalry command and he needed a force to cover vast distances quickly. Cavalry suited that purpose. But even as it did, it was saddled with certain distinct limitations, the most pronounced being the very thing that gave it mobility, the horse.
American cavalrymen, like European cavalrymen, and the cavalrymen of ever modern army (and yes this was a modern army) assigned one mount per man. Officers often had a second. This was not, it might be noted, the historical norm. Mongols, for example, had multiple mounts per man.
In fact, Native Americans had multiple mounts per man. And so did cowboys when working cattle, in spite of what the movies may have falsely told us. The cowboy norm was seven mounts per man. The Native American situation depended upon his personal wealth, often measured in horses, but to be an effective warrior he needed more than one. Indeed, the entire culture of horse raiding is explained by this.
The reason for this is that horses "break down". In a campaign, at first, this is not a factor. But by June 21, 1876, when Custer's command was detached, his troopers, and their horses, had been in the field for weeks. By that time the horses were undoubtedly fatigued.
Moreover, American cavalrymen were mounted on American Horses, big cavalry mounts that were strong and adept at covering ground, but also horses bread for more temperate conditions. In the East, there was always plenty of feed, but that was not true in the West. As a result, horses "broke down" quickly. Once a mount "broke down", a cavalryman was converted into a foot soldier for the rest of the campaign, attached to the baggage train.
The Army was well aware of this problem and studied it constantly One solution was to pick up local mounts, like those the Indians were using, and like those used by cowboy. "Range horses" were really ponies, but were tough and acclimated to their conditions. Like any horse, they would break down, but they'd endure much more than American Horses would. In some commands cavalry units going West swapped out American Horses for Range Horses, much like Marines deploying to combat during part of the Vietnam War swapped their M16s for M14s.
The Army had also long attempted to address this by severely limiting the weight load of a horse. Cavalrymen themselves were limited in height and weight. They were short, generally not being taller than 5'6", and the were light, generally not weighing more than 140 lbs. The McClellan saddle they used was very light weight. They carried very little. Even at that, however, they were faced with the problem of horse fatigue.
Indeed, while cavalry was critical, the problems it faced were so severe that at one point one Army commander lobbied for only having infantry. That was extreme, but it shows the difficulty that could exist. In contrast, Crook routinely mounted his infantry on the pack trains mules, mounting them on the mules, a double tough animal that wasn't as fast as a horse, but which was faster than walking, and saved fatigue on the nervous infantryman.
On walking, cavalrymen walked a lot in order to save their horses. This differed greatly from the native practice. Natives in transit didn't walk at all.
The Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho, in contrast to the Army, had all Range Horses and large numbers of them. This avoided the problems noted above, but in a camp of this size, it meant that they had to move every few days as they'd wipe out the forage. Ultimately, they couldn't keep a camp this size together at all.
Custer's command spent the night of June 24 in the Wolf Mountains. At 3:00 a.m. his scouts climbed a peak called "the Crow's Nest" and at first light, 5:00 a.m. they sighted it. It was 15 miles distant. The 7th Cavalry started its advance on the camp at 8:00, an hour after Custer was informed of the camp's presence. It took the 7th Cavalry four hours to cover the ground. Once the command departed at 8:00, it was committed to action, albeit with no plan in place, as the risk of the natives detecting the dust of the huge number of horses was too great not to advance to conclusion.
At noon Custer's command had a good view of a portion of the camp and he divided his command, detailing Maj. Reno to hit what would have been the left flank, from his prospective.
This brings up a couple of things that need to be addressed in any discussion of the battle. One thing is that there was no reconnaissance of the position being attacked whatsoever. This probably isn't surprising, however, even though reconnaissance was a function of cavalry. Once committed at 8, as noted, the command was committed and there was no choice but to go forward.
But was committing itself a mistake. Terry suggested, but did not command, that Custer wait for Gibbons and Terry to advance from the north. The location of Terry and Gibbon, however, was completely unknown, and it was clear to all that a large camp would move. Native camps, moreover, were notoriously able to move without being detected. Custer had some justification for attacking when he could. By the same token, however, shadowing the camp, was a bit of an option, although the longer the cavalry was nearby the greater the risk that it would be attacked itself. Custer's decision, therefore, was not unreasonable.
Added to that, Custer did not really have very much experience in Indian warfare. Nobody in the post Civil War Army did. There had been men with vast frontier fighting experience n the Army prior to the Civil War, but the war had consumed them in one form or another, and they were not the field commanders of the post Civil War Army. Custer had campaigned against natives before, but those campaigns had been largely ineffectual with no trace of the natives being found. The exception was Washita in 1868 which had been a near disaster and a moral travesty.
Custer had, of course, a lot of Civil War experience. Every officer in his command did. That, however, was not particularly useful on the plains.
The second part of this is that once the location of the camp was determined, Custer had a choice of hitting it from one side, with a unified command, or trying to effectively surround it, and hit from both sides. He opted for that latter option. In theory, that was a good decision, but it depended on the right flank being found and hit with no reconnaissance.
Once the decision was made, it took from noon until 3:00 for Reno's troops to charge the village. He hit alone, with Custer's command detached and its location unknow to Reno. It's known now that Custer personally advanced down to the river several times to try to determine where to hit the Indian village, only to find that he was not yet on its edge. It took Custer an hour to find a location to attempt to charge the camp.
All of this means that as this was occurring the entire command was mounted on horses that were fatigued to start with. During the last phase of the operation horses would have been kept at a fast gait the entire time. From something like 2:30 until 4:00 every mount in the command was at a canter or faster.
Reno's charge immediately stalled out and he was forced to have his troops dismount and fight a defensive action from 3:00 to 3:40, at which point the survivors retreated in the hills, to be later joined by Benteen who was bringing up the pack train. This means that Custer actually committed his command after Reno had already retreated. The native camp covered an expanse of three miles. not a great distance, but a difficult one for cavalrymen because of it hilly terrain, where as the Sioux and Cheyenne were on the flat river bottom. The native combatants, mounted on fresh mounts, were able to cover the distance from Reno's failed retreat to Custer's new charge in no time. Reno in contrast was effectively immobilized, in spite of later criticism that he should have attempted to ride to Custer's aid. In reality, he could not have and that would have resulted in the elimination of his command as well.
Custer's command was destroyed over a period of an hour, much longer than popularly imagined, with a huge volley of fire being heard at one point. The last of his troops were overrun at about 5:30. Native combatants thereafter drifted back to where Reno was to take potshots at his dug in troops. They kept it up all the next day until they decamped and departed the night of June 26.
Last edition:
Una más, por favor. An illegal war with Cuba, 1.ª Edición.
21 de mayo de 2026
Having not really completed anything meaningful with Venezuela, other than having tasted blood and developing fondness for it, and having gotten us into an endless war with Iran we're losing, King Donny the Mad is about to launch a war against Cuba, starting with a claim that Raul Castro, age 94, must be brought to justice over a US civilian aircraft that was shot down by the Cubans in 1996.
Oh horse poop.
Some in Demented Donnie's administration have been drooling over a chance to attack Cuba since the easily manipulated narcissist illegitimately moved back into the Oval Office. Military action against Cuba has been a desire of displaced Cubans and their descendants in the US since 1959. If the US attacked the island and removed the government, Lil' Marco would claim it as a victory attributable to him, one way or another, in the 2028 Presidential campaign he's clearly running in.
That's part of the problem. Influential "Republicans" (there are no real Republicans left anymore) like Marco and the Robot Ted Cruz would do anything for a Cuba Libre other than actually live in Cuba.
Of course, with this administrations lust for territorial acquisition, as desire expressed by some imperialist Republicans going into the Spanish American War, the annexation of Cuba with the goal of making it a state, would be the more likely goal in the short term. If Trump, or Marco, pulled that off, the irony would be that it would be solidly Democratic and admitting Puerto Rico as a state would happen immediately thereafter.
Probably the only thing that's really been holding this up has been the commitment of forces to Iran, where Iran is deploying Muhammed Ali's old "rope a dope" strategy and refusing to surrender even though King Donny assures us he won and the war is over. Actually defeating Iran will require a ground invasion that even Donny, who can choke down killing schoolgirls, can't seem to muster up the will for and which the American public doesn't want. The war itself has already achieved a level of unpopularity matched by that of the Vietnam War after Tet.
But, the thought is, this will go better. . . or at least Cuban Americans will like the result.
The threats against Castro started a couple of days ago. Within the last twenty four hours China, which Trump went to and acted like a orphaned puppy, has warned the US to knock it off.
May 22, 2026
The future of Cuba belongs to the people of Cuba is terms of how they're governed, what the system looks like and so forth, but the national security threat, that's 100% something we're going to focus on because that's about America.
Marco Rubio.
What crap.
Cuba has been a Communist country since 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrow the authoritarian government there (it wasn't obvious he was Communist at first).
They have not attacked us since then.
We have, however, effectively attacked them, landing Cuban contras there in 1961.
Rubio knows this, however. His parents were immigrants from Cuba who came over before the 1959 revolution, and who actually planned on returning to the country before the Communist nature of the revolution became apparent.
And that's part of the problem here. Cuban Americans are never going back to Cuba, but they imagine Cuba Libre with the same zeal as Irish Americans imagined a Republican Ireland. In the latter case, that unthinking zeal helped contribute to decades of strife in Ireland, and here it's contributed to decades of misery in Cuba.
Efforts to force a political change in Cuba should have ceased in 1961 when John F. Kennedy withdrew air support for the Cuban contras. There was no good reason at all other than anger not to normalize economic relations with Cuba at least by the early 1980s. That's what we should do now.
Ho Chi Minh wouldn't recognize Communism in Vietnam today and, if transported from wherever his soul went to, he's be convinced that South Vietnam had won the war and reformed itself. If we weren't keeping Cuba on the trophy shelf of failures, the same would be true for Cuba.
But we live in a dangerous age. Donald Trump is desperately searching for something for Americans to remember him by (and we certainly have plenty to recall right now). Marco Rubio has the misplaced child of immigrants probable loyalty to an imaginary paradise or imaginary would be paradise.
We're cruising right back into Havana's harbor where every American military adventure to date has been a disaster.
Remember the Maine.
June 25, 2026
With Cuba, Trump had better beware of what he wishes for
What obligation does the U.S. bear toward the impoverished island prison?
The 2026 Election, 13th Edition. The choosing lanes edition.
June 19, 2026
The mere fact that somebody is running against Bear, one of the most notable of the WFC, is a good thing. Here's hoping that Bear is solidly and permanently defeated.
John Bear, One Of The Freedom Caucus’ Most Powerful Members, Has A Challenger
And something that should be obvious, but for all the political theater:
June 20, 2026Ousted UW dean to challenge Freedom Caucus incumbent
Cam Wright seeks House 46’s Republican nomination. Known to many in Laramie as UW’s former engineering dean, Wright is involved in ongoing litigation against the university.
June 24, 2026
Three Democratic Socialist won primaries in New York City in Democratic Congressional primaries, causing pundits to somewhat freak out.
Frankly the fascist nature of the current GOP is making this inevitable. The WFC is, for example, every bit as radical as New York's Democratic Socialist and Trump is governing as a dictator to the extent that the courts don't prohibit him, so the rise of the left wing within the Democratic Party isn't too surprising.
While the right freaks out about New York City, here locally the GOP demands you swear your loyalty.
‘These are purity tests’: Driskill, Neiman talk platform allegiance in political heavyweight matchup
I've seen one candidate, a carpetbagging far right winger from Wisconsin, already put his "Meine Ehre Heisst Treue" tag on his posters.
On a ballot initiative.
Coalition demands records on tax initiative; Gray’s office calls claims false
An interesting development in the statewide races:
At this point, what's particularly interesting is who has signed, and who has not.
The entity it self has some every notable names behind it. According to their website:
Justice Keith Kautz (Retired Wyoming Supreme Court, Evangelical Leader Southeast Wyoming)
Diana Enzi (Long time Wyoming activist and advocate for Christ from Gilette Wyoming)
Jim Neiman (Business, civic and Christian leader from Hullett, Wyoming)
Michael Evers (Business Leader and Episcopal Priest from Sheridan Wyoming)
Frank Moore (Business Leader and active in the Catholic community in Douglas, Wyoming)
Diemer True (Business, civic and Christian leader from Casper Wyoming)
The text of the pledge is:
The candidates who have signed the pledge, which you can do on their website, are, so far:
Jillian Balow
U.S. House of Representatives
Bo Biteman
U.S. House of Representatives
Kevin Christensen
U.S. House of Representatives
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Steve Harshman
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Evie Brennan
Senate District 31
Ogden Driskill
Senate District 2
Ronald McCleary
Senate District 5
Marcia Neumiller
Senate District 27
Lauren Schoenfeld
Senate District 5
Wendy Schuler
Senate District 15
Elizabeth Bingham
House District 17
Jessica Crowder
House District 43
Christopher Dresang
House District 35
Justin Fornstrom
House District 10
Martha Lawley
House District 27
Matthew Legler
House District 25
Roland Luehne
House District 28
Myca Sturtevant
House District 29
Macey Moore
Converse County Commissioner
Michael Evers
Sheridan County GOP Precinct Person- Precinct 2-5
My guess is that after the article, some who haven't signed, or who aren't aware of it, will sign or will feel compelled to sign.
Notably, in the House, the big money candidates, Gray, Freiss and Rasner have not signed. Gray's an entire political career has been based on being a lying asshole, so this puts him in a spot. When he gets up at night and stubs his toes he blames it on left wing radical communist Marxist socialist fascist monarchist podiatrist, so that would take a major part of his repertoire out of play and actually make him live part of his faith. Rasner has gone full comedic sideshow at this point, but it would take the extreme out of the candidate whose been the most extreme. It probably wouldn't impact Freiss who hasn't attacked his opponents, but who is, in a very nice way, relying upon "I'll bring jobs to Wyoming of a type that I've worked at myself because I believe you dumb twits want to exist in the imaginary 1950s".
It's also interesting that only one Senatorial candidate, Skovogard, has signed it.
June 25, 2026
Interesting development.
Rasner didn't appear recently in Casper's weekly candidate forum when it invited the house contestants to speak. That's odd as Casper is his home town. Now this.
And this:
This is illegal.
Last edition:
The 2026 Election, 12th Edition. The late on ramp edition.
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