Lex Anteinternet: And now state government . . .: The Wyoming State Capitol the way many of us see it, over the hoods of our pickups as we are driving in Cheyenne. Yesterday it wa...And now Casper is offering 53 employees early retirement in hopes of reducing salary expenditures down at the city.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
And now city government
Earlier this week we ran this:
Mid Week at Work: Ty Cobb sliding into third after making a triple play.
The great Ty Cobb, one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, and one of the most aggressive, sliding into third after making a triple play, August 16, 1924. Cobb played the game like fighting a war, hence making this work entry appropriate.
The Punitive Expedition. Oops. April 27, 1916.
Library of Congress Caption: Capt. B.D. Foulois and Lieut. J.E. Carberry picked up
by Mexican along road after their aeroplane had fallen 1500
feet - Mexican-U.S. Campaign after Villa, 1916.
Photo taken on this day in 1916.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
A primary day photo
Wine and dueling pistols. Perhaps explaining the one time popularity if dueling?
Wyoming Fact and Fiction: War-Paint Not Always
Wyoming Fact and Fiction: War-Paint Not Always: War-Paint? Whenever the term war-paint is mentioned I tend to cringe. Native tribes in the west used paint, but doing battle with anoth...
Monday, April 25, 2016
The Casper Daily Press for April 25, 1916.
Casper had a lot of Irish expatriates at the time for whom this news would have been of intense interest.
What the crud, is this the This Day in 1916 blog or something?
Geez Louise! First the Punitive Expedition, then all these 1916 newspapers, then the Easter Rebellion, and now the first Anzac Day, what the heck is up?
Well, as we've explained from time to time, this blog focuses on this time period and is really the reason the blog exists. And, as odd as it may seem, the recent 1916 entries have a lot to do with our focus on the Punitive Expedition.
The reason that we've been posting the old newspapers is to put the Punitive Expedition in context, and by that we mean the context of the average person as they would have received the news every day. But in receiving that news, they wouldn't have received it in a vacuum, even while they also wouldn't have received all of it instantly as it occurred. And the entire picture of what they received is important.
In looking back on history, we tend to view big events as if they were the only events, and as if everyone was involved in them. But that's just not the way life works. Even as major events occur, most people keep on with their day to day lives, worries, and concerns, unless they live in an area immediately impacted by the big events. This is true even if they had family members involved in them, whom they worried about, just as its true for us today.
So, while we've been looking at the Punitive Expedition, we've been filling in what else was going on, in an attempt to present the overall picture, both as it was, and as it would have been received at the time.
And what a picture it was. 1916, quite frankly, was awful. War in Europe, near war with Mexico, rebellion in Ireland. It was bad.
Well, as we've explained from time to time, this blog focuses on this time period and is really the reason the blog exists. And, as odd as it may seem, the recent 1916 entries have a lot to do with our focus on the Punitive Expedition.
The reason that we've been posting the old newspapers is to put the Punitive Expedition in context, and by that we mean the context of the average person as they would have received the news every day. But in receiving that news, they wouldn't have received it in a vacuum, even while they also wouldn't have received all of it instantly as it occurred. And the entire picture of what they received is important.
In looking back on history, we tend to view big events as if they were the only events, and as if everyone was involved in them. But that's just not the way life works. Even as major events occur, most people keep on with their day to day lives, worries, and concerns, unless they live in an area immediately impacted by the big events. This is true even if they had family members involved in them, whom they worried about, just as its true for us today.
So, while we've been looking at the Punitive Expedition, we've been filling in what else was going on, in an attempt to present the overall picture, both as it was, and as it would have been received at the time.
And what a picture it was. 1916, quite frankly, was awful. War in Europe, near war with Mexico, rebellion in Ireland. It was bad.
Monday at the Bar: The ABA and the UBE
Truly, ABA, do any of you practice law outside of the East Coast big cities?
Two ABA items from awhile ago, that I'm just getting around to posting now:
1. Could Uniform Bar Exam help law grads' mobility? ABA House asks states to adopt it 'expeditiously'
Who, really, cares. The grads, surely, but the bar exam doesn't exist to aid them, it exists t hinder them and protect the public.
It's funny that a society that worries, in some instances, about firearms "mobility" doesn't worry that much about lawyers moving from state to state with no hindrance, even though they can really do the damage.
2. The UBE Poll, posted more than a bit late.
Two ABA items from awhile ago, that I'm just getting around to posting now:
1. Could Uniform Bar Exam help law grads' mobility? ABA House asks states to adopt it 'expeditiously'
Who, really, cares. The grads, surely, but the bar exam doesn't exist to aid them, it exists t hinder them and protect the public.
It's funny that a society that worries, in some instances, about firearms "mobility" doesn't worry that much about lawyers moving from state to state with no hindrance, even though they can really do the damage.
2. The UBE Poll, posted more than a bit late.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Casper Daily Press for April 24, 1916.
And the train robberies come to an end.
William Carlyle, the robber, gave himself up rather than resort to violence. Probably more misdirected than anything, he converted to Catholicism while in the penitentiary and became a model citizen.
William Carlyle, the robber, gave himself up rather than resort to violence. Probably more misdirected than anything, he converted to Catholicism while in the penitentiary and became a model citizen.
The Easter Rebellion. April 24, 1916.
We've been reading a lot about 1916 on the blog. And here we do, once again.
But we will not be reading in this entry about Mexico or New Mexico, or even of Pershing and Villa.
Today we read of Ireland.
On this day, in 1916, Irish republicans rose up in rebellion against the United Kingdom in an effort to take their nation out of it.
The story is a fabled one, and up until the last decade or so, the conventional story was that Irish nationalist desperately, and perhaps with knowing doom, lashed out at the British oppressors in an action which ultimately founded their republic.
Well, there's some truth to that, but a lot of myth as well.
Indeed, the rebellion was, in terms of its immediate goals, a failure. What made it a success long term was British over reaction, not the small Irish uprising.
In popular myth the Irish, ever since the English first set foot on their island, rebelled again and again. And there's more than a little truth to that. The Irish never welcomed the English to Ireland. And after King Henry VIII decided that he wast the head of the church in England, the English occupation of Ireland became one unending bigoted disaster. The Irish stuck with the Catholic Church and would not be forced into any of the brands of Protestantism that, truth be known, the majority of the English in the countryside were not keen on either. Over time, but not much time, the contesting Protestant forces in the United Kingdom operated to oppress Catholics wherever they were and that came to mean Ireland as well. All of this is well known. Things became brutally bad for the Irish, who made some notable rebellions (in which, I'd note, two of my direct ancestors participated, and whom, I'd note, both were killed in). Reduced first to poverty, and then starting in the 1840s to starvation, things were brutally bad for the Irish.
But that was the Ireland from the 1500s until the middle of the 20th Century. It wasn't the Ireland, or the England, of 1916.
The United Kingdom, rather remarkably, began to self reform in the 18th and 19th Centuries in some remarkable ways. In 1829, ahead of the famine, the United Kingdom restored most civil rights to Catholics in the United Kingdom, which in practical terms meant that the average Catholic was restored to the same set of rights that the average Protestant in the UK had. This act extended to Ireland as well as to the rest of the United Kingdom. It certainly didn't make life wonderful for the Irish overnight, but it was a start.
Following the famine of the 1840s the United Kingdom recognized that in Ireland the long established Protestant ruling class system was unsustainable and it began to move towards reform in Ireland. Heavily contested by some Protestant elements, the movement became focused on Home Rule for Ireland and land reform, both of which became highly successful by the early 20th Century. To all save those with blinders on it was obvious that Home Rule was going to become the system for Ireland. The combined effect gave us much of what we recognize about Ireland today. The country went from a land of lords and peasants to one of small farmers, which was what the majority of Irish were and which became the economic foundation of the country. Just prior to World War One the movement towards Home Rule was so complete that it was obvious that was going to take effect.
Home Rule for Ireland would have left Ireland a self governing nation within the United Kingdom, somewhat, but not completely, analogous to what Scotland presently is. It would have largely passed its own laws, but foreign affairs would have been retained by Parliament. It was clear, from election returns, that the overwhelming majority of Irish favored it, rejecting both independence from the UK and the old full political union with the UK.
And then came World War One.
World War One did not turn the Irish off from Home Rule, but it did cause its backers to suspend the efforts temporarily in light of the Great War. Perhaps this was, in retrospect, a mistake, but the Irish showed no disappointment with that approach. Indeed, period writings from the time are remarkable in the extent to which Irish writers supported Empire and regarded themselves as British. Irishmen volunteered in large numbers to serve in the British Army, which of course was their Army.
For Irish Nationalist, however, the Great War was looked upon differently, and that was as an opportunity.
The way the wind was blowing was clear to Irish Nationalist. The First World War, therefore, was seen as a chance to turn that wind in its favor before it was really too late, which was what was going to occur. Viewing anything other than full independence for the entire island as unacceptable, they worked towards revolution during the war, acquiring antiquated arms from Germany in the process.
Then the British began to make mistakes. The biggest of those was the legal extension of conscription to Ireland.
The British had started off World War One with an all volunteer army. It was not until January 1916 that the British introduced conscription to start to fill the ranks of the British Army. Ireland was excluded from the act, reflecting the careful way that the UK approached Ireland at the time and recognizing its oncoming unique status in the United Kingdom. This caused resentment in other quarters however and raised tensions in Ireland. Still, conscription was not extended to Ireland until 1918, at which time it actually had very little effect.
Irish Nationalist, who formed more than one group, began plotting for an uprising quite some time prior to Easter, 1916. Planning and preparing for an uprising, it appears disjointed and quixotic even today. There were various factions in the movement, not all of which had the same goal. The troops for the uprising, Irish Volunteers, had originally formed in order to protect Home Rule against violence from those opposed to it, and they were not necessarily nationalist Some of the leaders of the rebellion appeared to be accepting of a almost certain defeat and go down in sort of an odd romantic Irish tradition, which they hoped would lead to the success of their movement. Others appear to have really expected to spark a successful rebellion.
They struck on this day, Easter Monday, 1916. The uprising basically succeeded in taking a selection of government building in Dublin which caused, over a five day period the British put it down. They did so in a style that was quite heavy handed in military terms, but the British Army had been fighting in France for two years at the time and was acclimated to warfare. The battle was pitched in Dublin, but around the rest of the country the uprising was sporadic. There were some efforts, but they were not successful. In one county the Irish Volunteers mustered and then quickly disbanded, reflecting the fact that the Irish Volunteers were not Irish nationalist the way the leaders of the rebellion were, and their participation in the action was due to nationalist infiltration rather than their own goals. After a time, the survivors in Dublin, where there had been large numbers of casualties, surrendered and were jeered by Dubliners, many of whom had sons in the British Army.
At that point, the British had been successful in putting down a rebellion that had no support from the Irish population. But, after having treated Ireland with kid gloves over about a twenty year period, they went too far and executed many of the leaders of the rebellion in a rapid fashion. That in part likely reflected the actions of a nation that was now acclimated to war and which executed a fair number of its own solders for desertion, but it shocked the Irish population. The Irish, in turn, could not help but recall the heavy handed nature of prior Irish rule and sympathy began to swing towards Irish nationalist. British occupation of Dublin following the rebellion made things worse. Following World War One Irish nationalist launched a guerrilla war against the United Kingdom which took Ireland out of the United Kingdom, but which left it a dominion, and without Ulster, in 1921. That in turn lead to the Irish Civil War.
One of the two Irish flags flown above the General Post Office during the uprising.
But we will not be reading in this entry about Mexico or New Mexico, or even of Pershing and Villa.
Today we read of Ireland.
On this day, in 1916, Irish republicans rose up in rebellion against the United Kingdom in an effort to take their nation out of it.
Proclamation by the Irish rebels declaring Irish independence.
The story is a fabled one, and up until the last decade or so, the conventional story was that Irish nationalist desperately, and perhaps with knowing doom, lashed out at the British oppressors in an action which ultimately founded their republic.
Well, there's some truth to that, but a lot of myth as well.
Indeed, the rebellion was, in terms of its immediate goals, a failure. What made it a success long term was British over reaction, not the small Irish uprising.
In popular myth the Irish, ever since the English first set foot on their island, rebelled again and again. And there's more than a little truth to that. The Irish never welcomed the English to Ireland. And after King Henry VIII decided that he wast the head of the church in England, the English occupation of Ireland became one unending bigoted disaster. The Irish stuck with the Catholic Church and would not be forced into any of the brands of Protestantism that, truth be known, the majority of the English in the countryside were not keen on either. Over time, but not much time, the contesting Protestant forces in the United Kingdom operated to oppress Catholics wherever they were and that came to mean Ireland as well. All of this is well known. Things became brutally bad for the Irish, who made some notable rebellions (in which, I'd note, two of my direct ancestors participated, and whom, I'd note, both were killed in). Reduced first to poverty, and then starting in the 1840s to starvation, things were brutally bad for the Irish.
But that was the Ireland from the 1500s until the middle of the 20th Century. It wasn't the Ireland, or the England, of 1916.
The United Kingdom, rather remarkably, began to self reform in the 18th and 19th Centuries in some remarkable ways. In 1829, ahead of the famine, the United Kingdom restored most civil rights to Catholics in the United Kingdom, which in practical terms meant that the average Catholic was restored to the same set of rights that the average Protestant in the UK had. This act extended to Ireland as well as to the rest of the United Kingdom. It certainly didn't make life wonderful for the Irish overnight, but it was a start.
Following the famine of the 1840s the United Kingdom recognized that in Ireland the long established Protestant ruling class system was unsustainable and it began to move towards reform in Ireland. Heavily contested by some Protestant elements, the movement became focused on Home Rule for Ireland and land reform, both of which became highly successful by the early 20th Century. To all save those with blinders on it was obvious that Home Rule was going to become the system for Ireland. The combined effect gave us much of what we recognize about Ireland today. The country went from a land of lords and peasants to one of small farmers, which was what the majority of Irish were and which became the economic foundation of the country. Just prior to World War One the movement towards Home Rule was so complete that it was obvious that was going to take effect.
Home Rule for Ireland would have left Ireland a self governing nation within the United Kingdom, somewhat, but not completely, analogous to what Scotland presently is. It would have largely passed its own laws, but foreign affairs would have been retained by Parliament. It was clear, from election returns, that the overwhelming majority of Irish favored it, rejecting both independence from the UK and the old full political union with the UK.
And then came World War One.
World War One did not turn the Irish off from Home Rule, but it did cause its backers to suspend the efforts temporarily in light of the Great War. Perhaps this was, in retrospect, a mistake, but the Irish showed no disappointment with that approach. Indeed, period writings from the time are remarkable in the extent to which Irish writers supported Empire and regarded themselves as British. Irishmen volunteered in large numbers to serve in the British Army, which of course was their Army.
For Irish Nationalist, however, the Great War was looked upon differently, and that was as an opportunity.
The way the wind was blowing was clear to Irish Nationalist. The First World War, therefore, was seen as a chance to turn that wind in its favor before it was really too late, which was what was going to occur. Viewing anything other than full independence for the entire island as unacceptable, they worked towards revolution during the war, acquiring antiquated arms from Germany in the process.
Then the British began to make mistakes. The biggest of those was the legal extension of conscription to Ireland.
The British had started off World War One with an all volunteer army. It was not until January 1916 that the British introduced conscription to start to fill the ranks of the British Army. Ireland was excluded from the act, reflecting the careful way that the UK approached Ireland at the time and recognizing its oncoming unique status in the United Kingdom. This caused resentment in other quarters however and raised tensions in Ireland. Still, conscription was not extended to Ireland until 1918, at which time it actually had very little effect.
Irish Nationalist, who formed more than one group, began plotting for an uprising quite some time prior to Easter, 1916. Planning and preparing for an uprising, it appears disjointed and quixotic even today. There were various factions in the movement, not all of which had the same goal. The troops for the uprising, Irish Volunteers, had originally formed in order to protect Home Rule against violence from those opposed to it, and they were not necessarily nationalist Some of the leaders of the rebellion appeared to be accepting of a almost certain defeat and go down in sort of an odd romantic Irish tradition, which they hoped would lead to the success of their movement. Others appear to have really expected to spark a successful rebellion.
Patrick Pearse, a leading figure of the uprising but a romantic at heart, he carried a saber and wrote poetry during the uprising. He was one of the figures executed by the British after it. He held the position of Commander In Chief during it. Pearse's father was English.
Éamon de Valera. De Valera survived the uprising to go on to be the President of Ireland in the Anglo Irish War, and then to take his political party Sinn Fein into the Irish Civil War. He lead Ireland for years after the conclusion of peace in the Irish Civil War. He likely was not executed following the uprising as he was born in the United States and held American as well as British citizenship. Like Pearse, he was half Irish, as his father, whom he never knew, was Portuguese.
They struck on this day, Easter Monday, 1916. The uprising basically succeeded in taking a selection of government building in Dublin which caused, over a five day period the British put it down. They did so in a style that was quite heavy handed in military terms, but the British Army had been fighting in France for two years at the time and was acclimated to warfare. The battle was pitched in Dublin, but around the rest of the country the uprising was sporadic. There were some efforts, but they were not successful. In one county the Irish Volunteers mustered and then quickly disbanded, reflecting the fact that the Irish Volunteers were not Irish nationalist the way the leaders of the rebellion were, and their participation in the action was due to nationalist infiltration rather than their own goals. After a time, the survivors in Dublin, where there had been large numbers of casualties, surrendered and were jeered by Dubliners, many of whom had sons in the British Army.
James Connolly, Scottish born to Irish parents. He'd served for seven years in the British Army in Ireland, an experience that left him with a hatred of the British Army, which executed him 1916. Connolly was the real military leader in the Dublin Post Office, but he wasn't a member of the Irish Brotherhood but rather the leader of the Irish Citizens Army, a Socialist Irish army. He was a true Socialist and likely conceived of an Irish future that was much different than other Irish rebel leaders. His execution was amongst the most shocking to the Irish as, after receiving absolution from a Catholic Priest, he was executed by firing squad while sitting in his chair. He was likely already dying from injuries received in the uprising.
Gathering of the Irish Citizen Army prior to 1916. This group was a Socialist army that participated in the Easter Uprising.
At that point, the British had been successful in putting down a rebellion that had no support from the Irish population. But, after having treated Ireland with kid gloves over about a twenty year period, they went too far and executed many of the leaders of the rebellion in a rapid fashion. That in part likely reflected the actions of a nation that was now acclimated to war and which executed a fair number of its own solders for desertion, but it shocked the Irish population. The Irish, in turn, could not help but recall the heavy handed nature of prior Irish rule and sympathy began to swing towards Irish nationalist. British occupation of Dublin following the rebellion made things worse. Following World War One Irish nationalist launched a guerrilla war against the United Kingdom which took Ireland out of the United Kingdom, but which left it a dominion, and without Ulster, in 1921. That in turn lead to the Irish Civil War.
Irish Nationalist soldiers of the Anglo Irish War.
The irony, then, is that this is an instance in which history truly could have potentially worked out differently. The rebels of 1916 were not acting on behalf of Irish wishes, but against it. In order to even act they had to infiltrate and co-opt an Irish militia that was not really on their side. Their goals were not the goals of the Irish population in 1916 and indeed their leaders in some ways reflected an entirely different set of goals. If the revolution was successful, it was so because the British forgot themselves in reacting to it. Had the British simply charged the rebels with criminal offenses and then tried them, and more than that granted them leniency, the Anglo Irish War would almost certainly not have occurred and Home Rule within the United Kingdom would have come into effect by 1920 at the latest. Whether Ireland with Home Rule would have left the UK can be asked, but Scotland hasn't.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
And now state government . . .
Yesterday it was announced that Governor Mead has ordered State agencies to trim their budgets by 8%, in light of lower than expected revenues. It's possible that this won't be the last such order either.
I have a big post on the Wyoming economy coming up, and government spending will be part of the topic in it (with the comment probably not being what folks would expect), so I won't comment too much here but this is an obvious part of the ripple effect of low coal and oil prices, which will itself have a ripple effect. Some of the agencies are reorganizing right now to save money, and not necessarily in the way you might suspect.
A couple of small items on this. First, as noted, I'm going to write out a big post on the Wyoming economy shortly. It's about half done now, but it's probably a good thing I didn't get it all done as this would have impacted it a bit (and of course it's not like this page has high readership anyhow even though it has excessively high publication).
Secondly, I'm going to do a post on comments on on-line journals, newspapers and enormous blogs. I've been seeing a trend that doesn't apply to the smaller more specific interest ones that's both interesting and a bit disturbing.
Friday, April 22, 2016
The Casper Daily Press for Holy Saturday, April 22, 1916
Train robberies, something more associated with the 19th Century over the 20th Century, appear once again as the late famous series of those events in this year reoccurred in Wyoming.
And Casperites received the opportunity to appear as extras in a movie.
And Casperites received the opportunity to appear as extras in a movie.
Friday Farming: The Rural Population
Carrying on our look at 1916 here, and keeping in mind that today is Earth Day, and also keeping in mind that everyday is Earth Day for farmers, some tables on the percentage of Americans that were "rural" awhile back.
Circa 1916
Table 1. Urban and Rural Population: 1900 to 1990--cont.
1930 1930 1920 1920 1910 1910
1930 total total 1930 1930 1920 total total 1920 1920 1910 total total 1910 1910
total urban rural percent percent total urban rural percent percent total urban rural percent percent
population population population urban rural population population population urban rural population population population urban rural
UNITED STATES 123,202,624 69,160,599 54,042,025 56.1% 43.9% 106,021,537 54,253,282 51,768,255 51.2% 48.8% 92,228,496 42,064,001 50,164,495 45.6% 54.4%
Northeast Region 34,427,091 26,706,683 7,720,408 77.6% 22.4% 29,662,053 22,403,858 7,258,195 75.5% 24.5% 25,868,573 18,563,203 7,305,370 71.8% 28.2%
New England Division 8,166,341 6,311,976 1,854,365 77.3% 22.7% 7,400,909 5,620,384 1,780,525 75.9% 24.1% 6,552,681 4,805,791 1,746,890 73.3% 26.7%
Maine 797,423 321,506 475,917 40.3% 59.7% 768,014 299,569 468,445 39.0% 61.0% 742,371 262,248 480,123 35.3% 64.7%
New Hampshire 465,293 273,079 192,214 58.7% 41.3% 443,083 250,438 192,645 56.5% 43.5% 430,572 223,152 207,420 51.8% 48.2%
Vermont 359,611 118,766 240,845 33.0% 67.0% 352,428 109,976 242,452 31.2% 68.8% 355,956 98,917 257,039 27.8% 72.2%
Massachusetts 4,249,614 3,831,426 418,188 90.2% 9.8% 3,852,356 3,468,916 383,440 90.0% 10.0% 3,366,416 2,995,739 370,677 89.0% 11.0%
Rhode Island 687,497 635,429 52,068 92.4% 7.6% 604,397 555,146 49,251 91.9% 8.1% 542,610 493,938 48,672 91.0% 9.0%
Connecticut 1,606,903 1,131,770 475,133 70.4% 29.6% 1,380,631 936,339 444,292 67.8% 32.2% 1,114,756 731,797 382,959 65.6% 34.4%
Middle Atlantic Division 26,260,750 20,394,707 5,866,043 77.7% 22.3% 22,261,144 16,783,474 5,477,670 75.4% 24.6% 19,315,892 13,757,412 5,558,480 71.2% 28.8%
New York 12,588,066 10,521,952 2,066,114 83.6% 16.4% 10,385,227 8,588,586 1,796,641 82.7% 17.3% 9,113,614 7,188,131 1,925,483 78.9% 21.1%
New Jersey 4,041,334 3,339,244 702,090 82.6% 17.4% 3,155,900 2,522,435 633,465 79.9% 20.1% 2,537,167 1,938,612 598,555 76.4% 23.6%
Pennsylvania 9,631,350 6,533,511 3,097,839 67.8% 32.2% 8,720,017 5,672,453 3,047,564 65.1% 34.9% 7,665,111 4,630,669 3,034,442 60.4% 39.6%
Midwest Region 38,594,100 22,351,089 16,243,011 57.9% 42.1% 34,019,792 17,775,966 16,243,826 52.3% 47.7% 29,888,542 13,487,199 16,401,343 45.1% 54.9%
East North Central Division 25,297,185 16,794,908 8,502,277 66.4% 33.6% 21,475,543 13,050,086 8,425,457 60.8% 39.2% 18,250,621 9,620,277 8,630,344 52.7% 47.3%
Ohio 6,646,697 4,507,371 2,139,326 67.8% 32.2% 5,759,394 3,677,136 2,082,258 63.8% 36.2% 4,767,121 2,665,143 2,101,978 55.9% 44.1%
Indiana 3,238,503 1,795,892 1,442,611 55.5% 44.5% 2,930,390 1,482,855 1,447,535 50.6% 49.4% 2,700,876 1,143,835 1,557,041 42.4% 57.6%
Illinois 7,630,654 5,635,727 1,994,927 73.9% 26.1% 6,485,280 4,403,677 2,081,603 67.9% 32.1% 5,638,591 3,479,935 2,158,656 61.7% 38.3%
Michigan 4,842,325 3,302,075 1,540,250 68.2% 31.8% 3,668,412 2,241,560 1,426,852 61.1% 38.9% 2,810,173 1,327,044 1,483,129 47.2% 52.8%
Wisconsin 2,939,006 1,553,843 1,385,163 52.9% 47.1% 2,632,067 1,244,858 1,387,209 47.3% 52.7% 2,333,860 1,004,320 1,329,540 43.0% 57.0%
West North Central Division 13,296,915 5,556,181 7,740,734 41.8% 58.2% 12,544,249 4,725,880 7,818,369 37.7% 62.3% 11,637,921 3,866,922 7,770,999 33.2% 66.8%
Minnesota 2,563,953 1,257,616 1,306,337 49.0% 51.0% 2,387,125 1,051,593 1,335,532 44.1% 55.9% 2,075,708 850,294 1,225,414 41.0% 59.0%
Iowa 2,470,939 979,292 1,491,647 39.6% 60.4% 2,404,021 875,495 1,528,526 36.4% 63.6% 2,224,771 680,054 1,544,717 30.6% 69.4%
Missouri 3,629,367 1,859,119 1,770,248 51.2% 48.8% 3,404,055 1,586,903 1,817,152 46.6% 53.4% 3,293,335 1,393,705 1,899,630 42.3% 57.7%
North Dakota 680,845 113,306 567,539 16.6% 83.4% 646,872 88,239 558,633 13.6% 86.4% 577,056 63,236 513,820 11.0% 89.0%
South Dakota 692,849 130,907 561,942 18.9% 81.1% 636,547 101,872 534,675 16.0% 84.0% 583,888 76,469 507,419 13.1% 86.9%
Nebraska 1,377,963 486,107 891,856 35.3% 64.7% 1,296,372 405,293 891,079 31.3% 68.7% 1,192,214 310,852 881,362 26.1% 73.9%
Kansas 1,880,999 729,834 1,151,165 38.8% 61.2% 1,769,257 616,485 1,152,772 34.8% 65.2% 1,690,949 492,312 1,198,637 29.1% 70.9%
South Region 37,857,633 12,904,248 24,953,385 34.1% 65.9% 33,125,803 9,300,055 23,825,748 28.1% 71.9% 29,389,330 6,622,658 22,766,672 22.5% 77.5%
South Atlantic Division 15,793,589 5,698,122 10,095,467 36.1% 63.9% 13,990,272 4,336,482 9,653,790 31.0% 69.0% 12,194,895 3,092,153 9,102,742 25.4% 74.6%
Delaware 230,380 123,146 115,234 51.7% 48.3% 223,003 120,767 102,236 54.2% 45.8% 202,322 97,085 105,237 48.0% 52.0%
Maryland 1,631,526 974,869 656,657 59.8% 40.2% 1,449,661 869,422 580,239 60.0% 40.0% 1,295,346 658,192 637,154 50.8% 49.2%
District of Columbia 486,869 486,869 - 100.0% 0.0% 437,571 437,571 - 100.0% 0.0% 331,069 331,069 - 100.0% 0.0%
Virginia 2,421,851 785,537 1,636,314 32.4% 67.6% 2,309,187 673,984 1,635,203 29.2% 70.8% 2,061,612 476,529 1,585,083 23.1% 76.9%
West Virginia 1,729,205 491,504 1,237,701 28.4% 71.6% 1,463,701 369,007 1,094,694 25.2% 74.8% 1,221,119 228,242 992,877 18.7% 81.3%
North Carolina 3,170,276 809,847 2,360,429 25.5% 74.5% 2,559,123 490,370 2,068,753 19.2% 80.8% 2,206,287 318,474 1,887,813 14.4% 85.6%
South Carolina 1,738,765 371,080 1,367,685 21.3% 78.7% 1,683,724 293,987 1,389,737 17.5% 82.5% 1,515,400 224,832 1,290,568 14.8% 85.2%
Georgia 2,908,506 895,492 2,013,014 30.8% 69.2% 2,895,832 727,859 2,167,973 25.1% 74.9% 2,609,121 538,650 2,070,471 20.6% 79.4%
Florida 1,468,211 759,778 708,433 51.7% 48.3% 968,470 353,515 614,955 36.5% 63.5% 752,619 219,080 533,539 29.1% 70.9%
East South Central Division 9,887,214 2,778,687 7,108,527 28.1% 71.9% 8,893,307 1,994,207 6,899,100 22.4% 77.6% 8,409,901 1,574,229 6,835,672 18.7% 81.3%
Kentucky 2,614,589 799,026 1,815,563 30.6% 69.4% 2,416,630 633,543 1,783,087 26.2% 73.8% 2,289,905 555,442 1,734,463 24.3% 75.7%
Tennessee 2,616,556 896,538 1,720,018 34.3% 65.7% 2,337,885 611,226 1,726,659 26.1% 73.9% 2,184,789 441,045 1,743,744 20.2% 79.8%
Alabama 2,646,248 744,273 1,901,975 28.1% 71.9% 2,348,174 509,317 1,838,857 21.7% 78.3% 2,138,093 370,431 1,767,662 17.3% 82.7%
Mississippi 2,009,821 338,850 1,670,971 16.9% 83.1% 1,790,618 240,121 1,550,497 13.4% 86.6% 1,797,114 207,311 1,589,803 11.5% 88.5%
West South Central Division 12,176,830 4,427,439 7,749,391 36.4% 63.6% 10,242,224 2,969,366 7,272,858 29.0% 71.0% 8,784,534 1,956,276 6,828,258 22.3% 77.7%
Arkansas 1,854,482 382,878 1,471,604 20.6% 79.4% 1,752,204 290,497 1,461,707 16.6% 83.4% 1,574,449 202,681 1,371,768 12.9% 87.1%
Louisiana 2,101,593 833,532 1,268,061 39.7% 60.3% 1,798,509 628,163 1,170,346 34.9% 65.1% 1,656,388 496,516 1,159,872 30.0% 70.0%
Oklahoma 2,396,040 821,681 1,574,359 34.3% 65.7% 2,028,283 538,017 1,490,266 26.5% 73.5% 1,657,155 318,975 1,338,180 19.2% 80.8%
Texas 5,824,715 2,389,348 3,435,367 41.0% 59.0% 4,663,228 1,512,689 3,150,539 32.4% 67.6% 3,896,542 938,104 2,958,438 24.1% 75.9%
West Region 12,323,800 7,198,579 5,125,221 58.4% 41.6% 9,213,889 4,773,403 4,440,486 51.8% 48.2% 7,082,051 3,390,941 3,691,110 47.9% 52.1%
Mountain Division 3,701,789 1,457,922 2,243,867 39.4% 60.6% 3,336,101 1,217,988 2,118,113 36.5% 63.5% 2,633,517 944,863 1,688,654 35.9% 64.1%
Montana 537,606 181,036 356,570 33.7% 66.3% 548,889 172,011 376,878 31.3% 68.7% 376,053 133,420 242,633 35.5% 64.5%
Idaho 445,032 129,507 315,525 29.1% 70.9% 431,866 119,037 312,829 27.6% 72.4% 325,594 69,898 255,696 21.5% 78.5%
Wyoming 225,565 70,097 155,468 31.1% 68.9% 194,402 57,095 137,307 29.4% 70.6% 145,965 43,221 102,744 29.6% 70.4%
Colorado 1,035,791 519,882 515,909 50.2% 49.8% 939,629 453,259 486,370 48.2% 51.8% 799,024 402,192 396,832 50.3% 49.7%
New Mexico 423,317 106,816 316,501 25.2% 74.8% 360,350 64,960 295,390 18.0% 82.0% 327,301 46,571 280,730 14.2% 85.8%
Arizona 435,573 149,856 285,717 34.4% 65.6% 334,162 120,788 213,374 36.1% 63.9% 204,354 63,260 141,094 31.0% 69.0%
Utah 507,847 266,264 241,583 52.4% 47.6% 449,396 215,584 233,812 48.0% 52.0% 373,351 172,934 200,417 46.3% 53.7%
Nevada 91,058 34,464 56,594 37.8% 62.2% 77,407 15,254 62,153 19.7% 80.3% 81,875 13,367 68,508 16.3% 83.7%
Pacific Division 8,622,011 5,740,657 2,881,354 66.6% 33.4% 5,877,788 3,555,415 2,322,373 60.5% 39.5% 4,448,534 2,446,078 2,002,456 55.0% 45.0%
Washington 1,563,396 884,539 678,857 56.6% 43.4% 1,356,621 742,801 613,820 54.8% 45.2% 1,141,990 605,530 536,460 53.0% 47.0%
Oregon 953,786 489,746 464,040 51.3% 48.7% 783,389 390,346 393,043 49.8% 50.2% 672,765 307,060 365,705 45.6% 54.4%
California 5,677,251 4,160,596 1,516,655 73.3% 26.7% 3,426,861 2,326,959 1,099,902 67.9% 32.1% 2,377,549 1,468,419 909,130 61.8% 38.2%
Alaska *2 59,278 7,839 51,439 13.2% 86.8% 55,036 3,058 51,978 5.6% 94.4% 64,356 6,141 58,215 9.5% 90.5%
Hawaii 368,300 197,937 170,363 53.7% 46.3% 255,881 92,251 163,630 36.1% 63.9% 191,874 58,928 132,946 30.7% 69.3%
Proving Lawrence right.
M1911 pistol, like the type that equipped the U.S. Army until the M9 Beretta, and which equipped a fair number of British officers, including T. E. Lawrence, through private purchase during World War One.
So what you ask?
Well, that is a location which, in 1917, the Hashemite Arab Revolt ambushed and destroyed a Turkish train. T. E. Lawrence wrote about it in his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
So, some would say, what's the big deal. Wouldn't we expect bullets to be found at a place where combat had taken place?
Yes we would.
But almost as soon as the ink was dry on the Versailles Treaty people have begun to question T. E. Lawrence's role in the Arab Revolt.
And that's because his role loomed so large, the natural question was, was he the Arab Revolt?
The answer to that would be no, but frankly the Arab Revolt would have been a horribly muddled and inefficient affair, if not an outright disaster, without Lawrence. He didn't start the revolt, but he frankly did take a revolt that he found that wasn't doing well, reformed its nature, organized it, to include at least partially politically reorganizing it, and took it on to near success.
Col. T. E. Lawrence
I say near success, as to the extent it wasn't successful is that, the Hashamites, having won that part of the war, lost the peace in very real terms. Rather than uniting the Hajez with Jordon and Syria, the whole thing fell apart in very real terms as the French took Syria and the Saudis, in fairly short order, took the Hajez. The Hasmites continue on in Jordon, of course, and they received Iraq as a consulation prize, but Iraq is about he worst prize in the box of Middle Easter Cracker Jacks that a person could conceivably get.
Now, why wold anyone doubt Lawrence's role?
Well, there are a lot of reasons.
Lawrence himself contributed to this a bit.
Lawrence was an enigmatic man, to say the least. A lively archeologist before the war, he turned out to be a natural military genius, perhaps aided a bit by his extensive study of the Crusades. Warfare tends to be warfare, irrespective of the era.
But he wasn't comfortable with that role even during the war, and particularly after enduring an assault by a Turkish officer while briefly a prisoner. He developed what today we'd recognize as a titanic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and he had a massive case of guilt on top of it. Lawrence came from very devout, if strangely non observant in one fashion, Anglican Anglo-Irish parents and he struggled both with PTSD and with the knowledge that he had, in part due to his own fascination with his goal, deceived both the Arabs and the British in his efforts. He never got over it.
And in not getting over it, while he wrote a brilliant account of it which turns out more and more to have been very accurate, he obfuscated some details that he could have been clearer on, on military details, and he spent all the rest of his life, after the peace negotiations, hiding, more or less.
But that's far from the only reason.
A second reason is that he was so stunningly successful, and the Arabs have had to live with that.
That may sound odd, but in the history of revolutions, there's rarely an example of where such an insular people have so successfully been lead by a foreigner to whom they own nearly all the success. During our revolution, for example, we had the aid of French, German and Polish military men, but they didn't lead our entire army. Lawrence basically did that for the Arabs. They were doing badly before he started that, and their success came under him, and is really attributable to him.
That's been a heavy burden for the Arabs ever since.
If the Arabs themselves can't really claim the mantle of success for their independence what does that do for their image? Are they even real countries?
Sayyid Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca, King of Hejaz, and self declared Caliph.
Clearly, the Arab nations are real countries, but the whole thing is highly related to British efforts and even the countries that came to exist did so due to what the British did, and didn't do. The King of Jordan today is the king as the British allowed a Hashemite to be king. Iraq is a country as the English, perhaps mistakenly, decided it would be. Syria is a nation as the British acquiesced to French control of Syria and French creation of Lebanon (with some indication that hte French might actually fight the British for both of those). Kuwait is a country as the British decided that their monarchical leaders ought to be, instead of being part of Iraq. Saudi Arabia is a state as it was a client, albeit not a good one, of India when India was part of the Empire, and the British decide not to back the Hajez against the House of Saud for some reason. Everyone in that scenario, except the House of Saud, owes a debt, therefore, to a war time colonel in the British army.
Prince Feisel, with aids, including Lawrence, at the peace talks. The black man in the back row is likely a slave, slavery still being practiced amongst the Arabs at that time. If not a slave, he's certainly a retainer of Feisel's. Feisel became the King of Iraq. He died ostensibly of a heart attack at age 48, but poisoning remains suspected.
And amongst the people whom gave birth to Islam, Lawrence provides a problematic reminder that the Arabs have often not really been all that observant of Muslims. Today, in no small part due to events since 1970, we tend to think of all Middle Eastern people as being devout Muslims, but this is far from true. Amongst the Muslims themselves, even the Arabs have tended not to exhibit the sort of fanatic singular devotion, all of the time, that we associate with groups like ISIL today. T. E. Lawrence was a Christian leading an Arab army whose seat of power was Mecca. That's a pretty stunning thought. The Arabs themselves were in rebellion against the Otttoman Turks, whose leader was theoretically a Caliph and who had declared the Turkish effort a jihad.
Mehmed V, who was the Caliph during World War One. He died in 1918 before the war ended, at age 73.
Abdulmecid II, the last Caliph of the Ottoman Empire. He's live in exile in France after his position was abolished by the Ottoman parliament.
And he lead them very well. And was not alone in being a singular English Arab advisor to the Arab forces. Indeed, the English would continue to play a role in Arab forces right up until the mid 1950s. English officers served with the Jordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab Israeli War.
Well, history is what it is. And in spite of the embarrassment of some, and the wish that things might have been otherwise by others, we should take it as we find it.
And, perhaps fittingly, we re-find Lawrence the way he found Arabia. . . through archeology.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
And now Uranium
In the just can't catch a break department, Cameco, a uranium producer, announced it was laying off 85 employees in Wyoming and Nebraska due to depressed uranium prices. Prices fell in 2011 due to the Fukushima Daiichi incident in which it was damaged due to a 9.0 scale earthquake in Japan.
Stuff like this shows the weird things that nuclear power, which is incredibly safe, has to contend with. There aren't any forms of electrical power generation that do not resort in injuries and deaths. Not to pick on coal, but it's certainly the case that there are a lot more coal mining and coal power plant injuries in a year than there are such incidents from nuclear power plants and Uranium mining.
And uranium offers a means of generating power that's actually really green compared to generating methods that rely on fossil fuels.
No matter, the weird sort of view that people have of such things has condemned nuclear generation to a seemingly increasingly marginal role. Just like hydroelectric power, it addresses most of the complaint that people have with other forms of electrical generation, but the opponents of nuclear power can't see past the radioactive glow that haunted the imagination since the Cold War.
So, while it has nothing at all to do with what's plaguing coal, a price decline, like for petroleum oil, is causing layoffs in an industry that once showed great promise in the 1960 and 70s for Wyoming.
Stuff like this shows the weird things that nuclear power, which is incredibly safe, has to contend with. There aren't any forms of electrical power generation that do not resort in injuries and deaths. Not to pick on coal, but it's certainly the case that there are a lot more coal mining and coal power plant injuries in a year than there are such incidents from nuclear power plants and Uranium mining.
And uranium offers a means of generating power that's actually really green compared to generating methods that rely on fossil fuels.
No matter, the weird sort of view that people have of such things has condemned nuclear generation to a seemingly increasingly marginal role. Just like hydroelectric power, it addresses most of the complaint that people have with other forms of electrical generation, but the opponents of nuclear power can't see past the radioactive glow that haunted the imagination since the Cold War.
So, while it has nothing at all to do with what's plaguing coal, a price decline, like for petroleum oil, is causing layoffs in an industry that once showed great promise in the 1960 and 70s for Wyoming.
Blog Mirror: Matthew Wright: What if Germany won the First World War? Would we have avoided Hitler?
What if Germany won the First World War? Would we have avoided Hitler?
I posted the other day about the way Germany nearly won the First World War in spring 1918. . .
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