The 118th Congress. Part II

October 25, 2023

Mike Johnson, who supported Trump's bogus claim to have won the election, has been elected Speaker of the House of Representatives

Other than that he's a Republican from Louisiana, and some kind of lawyer (he claims to be the mysterious category of "Constitutional Lawyer", whatever that is, about all I know about him is that he's very conservative, and an evangelical Christian (of the young earth variety).

A "Constitutional Lawyer" (whatever that is) ought to know that the claims Trump won the election were devoid of legal merit.  A couple of other lawyers involved in such claims have recently plead guilty to crimes associated with that.  Presumably Johnson is immune from such charges, but the fact that he supported sedition under cover of law is distressing.

Harriet Hageman posted his agenda for Congress a couple of days ago.

October 26, 2023

More is becoming known about Johnson.

He's a hardcore conservative, very much of the Republican right.  Any issue that you can think of, on which he's expressed an opinion, is uniformly extremely conservative.

That doesn't mean he's a populist per se, but he did work on a brief that sought to support one of President Trump's Squirrel Ball efforts to overturn the last election. That puts him squarely in league with the those who attempted to use the courts to support sedition, quite a few of whom in the main of that are now pleading guilty to crimes.

He's been an opponent to aid to Ukraine.

He's a serious Evangelical Protestant (which being from Louisiana, he might not have been) who believes in the young earth theory.

He's a denier of man made climate change.

What this will ultimately mean isn't known, but at least it's reasonable to suppose that at this point the GOP in the House is being lead, and is, far right and Protestant Christian Nationalist in view.

Gaetz really won in this, as did Trump.  Gaetz took McCarthy down, and now the very hard right has installed one of their own.  It's really remarkable, to say the least.

October 28, 2023

The House of Representatives is going to pass a bill which funds aid to Israel alone, omitting Ukraine, and which funds the $14B by slashing the same amount from the entity that finds money for the government, the IRS.

That latter part is just plain stupid.

And so the dysfunction shall return. This will go nowhere.

The irrational hatred of the IRS in populist circles is flat out bizarre.  It's almost as if they're encouraging people to cheat on their taxes and preventing that from being discovered, or the rich completely control them.  Neither are true, so what it seems to amount to is the whole scale adoption of a really stupid set of beliefs about taxation.

November 3, 2023

Ted Lieu

@tedlieu

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7h

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Under new Republican leadership, we are voting late at night on … stupid stuff. We are about to vote on: -Reducing salary of EPA Administrator to $1 -Reducing salary of Director of Bureau of Land Management to $1 -Reducing salary of Secretary of the Interior to $1

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree  

@chelliepingree

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9h

I just had to explain to my Republican colleague from Georgia that Robert E. Lee was not a founding father. It’s been a very long day on the House floor.

November 8, 2023

November 8, 2023

Hamas v. Israel War

U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib was censured for her "river to the sea" comment.  Tlaib is of Palestinian extraction and has a vocal critic of Israel.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman claimed n a television interview that Palestinian protests in the US were due to Palestinian infiltration of the U.S. government.

November 14, 2023

Eight Republicans voted with Democrats against a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis.  The vote was 209 to 201, showing how extreme the GOP is, but also that the far right lacks complete control over the Republican members.

November 15, 2023

The House passed a stop gap spending resolution yesterday to avoid a government shutdown, but the GOP was forced to rely upon Democratic votes in order to pass it.  That should be normal, of course, but with the current Republican makeup it is not.

Johnson is proving not to be a slave to his far right, which in turn will either result in his being removed liked McCarthy or perhaps start off a return to more normal behavior.

November 16, 2023

The Senate also passed the spending bill.

December 1, 2023

George Santos has been expelled from Congress.

December 2, 2023

Following up on this, the expulsion of Santos is real progress as by doing in the GOP is potentially cutting into its three vote margin in the House, and did it anyway.  It shows, at long last, that there are some standards which cannot be breached.

December 6, 2023

Getting a jump on behaving like a Soviet court in the early USSR, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and a subcommittee chairman on the House Administration Committee announced Tuesday that they would be investigating any "cooperation" between Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and the former House Jan. 6 committee.  

Because, after all, it would be awful if the Dear Leader's behavior were to have come fully to light, as that would demonstrate independence of thought and loyalty to the truth.  We can't have that.

Cont:

Kevin McCarthy, who was complicit in Trump's recovery from his brief fall from Republican grace, and who rode Trump's favor into a brief Speakership, shall resign from Congress at the end of this month.  In so doing, he stated: “I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways". This will reduce the GOP majority in the House down to a single seat, at least temporarily.

December 14, 2023

The House is going to have a totally pointless impeachment inquiry regarding Joe Biden based on his son Hunter's conduct and baseless allegations that Hunter's business dealings involve his father.

Some assert that this is revenge dictated by "one day dictator" hopeful Donald Trump, whose own children certainly were active under his name during his presidency. Trading on a famous parent's name certainly isn't illegal, and is frankly nearly inevitable.  Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Theodore Roosevelt Jr certainly didn't become well known independently.  Of course, the baseless allegations here are that Biden was somehow involved in Hunter Biden's activities.

Whether Donald Trump ordered this or not, the level of delusion in the GOP side of the House of Representatives is sufficient to have likely brought this about independently.  Ironically, it's now come to light that the individual who will head this sorry affair, James Comer, has a complicated set of financial arrangements not unlike that of Hunter Biden, although he's not being accused of illegal activities.

At any rate, there are not enough votes right now to impeach Biden, and this is yet another example of the House of Representatives, under GOP control, doing something political that will do nothing whatsoever other than to distract.

All the Republicans voted for the measure, all the Democrats voted against it.

The long ago days under Kevin McCarthy already look better.

Last edition:

The 118th Congress.

Oral Arguments

The Wyoming Supreme Court held arguments this week on an appeal of Judge Owens' ruling in Teton County that Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, and Right to Life of Wyoming would not be allowed to intervene in the ongoing abortion lawsuit.

The doomed appeal was by  Rodriguez-Williams, Neiman and Right to Life. 

While they can't be blamed for trying, intervention is discretionary and Owens said no. That's where that will stay.

A decline in U.S. Life Expectancy.

Which, we would note, the government, which addressed this oddly enough on Twitter, terms catastrophic.

Dr. Robert M. Califf @DrCaliff_FDA

We are facing extraordinary headwinds in our public health with a major decline in life expectancy. The major decline in the U.S. is not just a trend. I’d describe it as catastrophic.

JAMA Internal Medicine published earlier this month that our overall life expectancy has dropped to 76 years, and remarkably, that male life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped to 73 years.

Since then, CDC released a report showing a slight rebound from lower life expectancy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with this encouraging report, we still have a lot of work to do before we see pre-pandemic life expectancy again. https://cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr031.pdf

As we all know, life expectancy is far from uniformly distributed. Disparities as a function of race, ethnicity, wealth, education and geospatial location are profound and widening.

A college degree is associated with an 8.5 year longer life and differences of more than a decade in life expectancy are common when we go from urban areas and university towns to rural areas.

We expect to lose over 450K Americans due to tobacco related illness this year – we need to change that. We have a very important and ambitious agenda to tackle in our work on tobacco. We’ve made some important advances in that area recently, but there is still much to be done.

Each year, more than a million Americans die from diet-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain forms of cancers.

While we’ve seen enormous progress in terms of controlling or developing treatments for many of these diseases, alarmingly, we’re in the midst of a significant backsliding relating to many of these and other chronic illnesses.

Our work in this area also supports the food industry in their efforts to reformulate in healthier ways and provide additional knowledge/choices for American consumers. Working with industry is an important part of the equation, since govt most assuredly can’t do this alone.

An important aspect of this life expectancy dynamic is the challenge of drug shortages, particularly low-cost generics. With over 90% of our prescriptions now generic, these low cost, effective medications are an essential part of an effective public health strategy.

But these medications are not effective if they are not available! Shortages are very frustrating, consume an enormous share of talented pharmacist and clinician time to find alternatives and explanations to patients.

Shortages also undermine the underlying goal of increased accessibility of these often life-saving products. Simply put, shortages put patients at risk.

I believe that we need to seriously examine our level of accountability and changes that we can make to help what needs to be an “all hands on deck” effort to continue and amplify the improvement in life expectancy discussed in CDCs latest report.

Earlier this month, I spoke to a group of professors of medicine about declining life expectancy, and in that speech, I talked about my short list of changes that they might lead to help reverse the negative trend.

🔗⬇️

Every other sector in the health care ecosystem could develop its own list of improvements, and together, we could accelerate last year’s progress.

The government, industry, and the public all have a role to play in improving life expectancy. Let’s get to it.

Mid Week At Work: A Christmas Carol.

Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

A Christmas Carol

Monday, December 13, 1943. The Kalavryta Massacre.

The German 117th Jäger Division destroyed Kalavryta, Greece and killed 460 adult men of the town.  We noted this event a few days back.  It was a reprisal for partisan activity.

1,462 U.S. bombers carpet bombed Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel.  P-51Ds are used as escorts for the first time in the raid.

The U-172, U-391 and U-593 were sunk.

Thursday, December 13, 1923. Mexican Federals Mobilize

Ruth Muskrat presented Gustavus Elmer Emmanuel Lindquist′s book The Red Man In The United States to President Calvin Coolidge.  Highly educated, the Oklahoma native had a Cherokee father and an Irish/English American mother.  A pioneer in many ways in both societies, she was a professional educator and died in 1982 at age 84.

The Federal Government was mobilizing in Mexico. 

And booze was flowing south.

Lord Alfred Douglas was sentenced to six months in prison for libeling Winston Churchill.  He had printed a newspaper article claiming that Churchill had been paid to release a false report about the Battle of Jutland in order to cause stocks to decrease in value so that a group of Jewish investors could take advantage of it, all of which was false, as well as racist.

Lawrence Sperry, age 30, inventor of the autopilot and the artificial horizon, died in an airplane accident over the English Channel. Taking off in fog, his airplane simply disappeared.

The golden ticket.

America’s prestigious universities play a big role in determining who gets into America’s wealthy elite.

A degree from Harvard, Penn, or M.I.T., to take three examples, is a meal ticket to a lucrative job on Wall Street or a corporate law firm and to the richest and most influential people in the land.

Robert Reich.

Which is exactly what's wrong with the Ivy League system (I'll omit MIT from that).

Which is also why, quite frankly, government, particularly the Court's, ought to go on a 30 year moratorium on hiring Ivy League grads. 

Sincerest form of flattery.

I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes.

 Jimi Hendrix

Saturday, December 11, 1943. Dawn of the drones.

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of OKW, ordered that V1 rocket attacks commence on London on January 15, 1944, a remarkable order in that the V1 was not yet in production.

The "buzz bomb" was a jet engined drone in modern terms and frankly a fairly brilliant, if imprecise, and therefore immoral, weapon.

In Italy, the US 5th Army offensive was grinding down ineffectively.

Sylvester and Tweety appeared in a new release:

The meaning of some things has changed over time.

Sinatra on Armed Forces Radio Network in 1944.

Frank Sinatra was classified as 4F in the draft ("Registrant not acceptable for military service") due to his perforated eardrum. Army records, however, reveal that Sinatra was actually rejected as "not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint" due this emotional instability, but this was kept private in that more gentle era as to not cause him public distress.

Tuesday, December 11, 1923. De la Huerta's supporters take Puebla.

 Mexican rebels took Puebla, Mexico's fourth-largest city

In Casper, in contrast to today (it's 34F right now), it was really cold.

Calvin Coolidge gave a press conference, in which he stated:

No decision has yet been made about the sending or releasing of General Butler for service at Philadelphia.

An inquiry about the Mexican treaty. That has been sent, I think, by my office to the Senate. It came over here a day or two ago. I think it would have been submitted last week had it not been for the recess. I am not certain whether it has been carried up yet. I think it has been. Of course, that would be released up there immediately on its appearance. I signed it here and sent it out, and it is just a question of when the messenger goes up. I suppose he has already gone. I do not think he could have gone up yesterday. I imagine he went up this morning at 12:00 o’clock. There isn’t anything or comment that I can make on treaties that are sent to the Senate, other than the usual statement that comes to me from the Secretary of State. They are, as you know, secret in a way, and the injunction of secrecy can only be removed by a vote of the Senate. I think it is the custom to give out a synopsis by the Secretary of State, which the press has already received.

An inquiry about the requested assistance of the administration to prevent unnecessary and vexatious disturbances and interference with nominal radio broadcasting. That is referred to in my message where I said there ought to be more laws governing that. Any of you that have had experience with the radio, of course know that is so. It is as yet an undeveloped field, but one that our experience will very soon show the way in which it should be dealt with legally. I imagine it can’t be dealt with so much by the hard and fast rules that would be made by statutory enactment, as by leaving it to the Department of Commerce or some other administrative body to formulate rules which could be changed from time to time as the experience showed was necessary and desirable.

The visit of Governor Lowden, General Dawes and William P. Jackson, the Committeeman from Maryland, was for the purpose of paying their respects to this office.

No decision has been made in the matter of appointing a judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. I should have made those appointments during the recess, except for the opinion of the Attorney General that, as they did not occur during the recess, they could not be filled. It is necessary for me to confer with Senators in relation to these appointments, and members of the House, because it is to quite a degree the source of my information. There is another matter that I think the press might stress somewhat, and that is my desire to appoint men of the highest character and most marked ability for service on the Federal bench. I am willing to have come to me – I welcome the suggestions from political committees and from those who are known to be in political life or holding political office about appointments to the bench. In other cases, suggestions of that kind might be almost entirely determined by them. But in the case of the bench I should look for something more than that. I have to have the assurance of the approbation of the bar, the assurance of the approbation of the general community as to the standing, character, ability and learning of men that are to be appointed to the bench. So that political recommendations, while they are helpful and will be given due consideration, cannot be entirely the determining factor in making appointments to the United States bench. It is of signal importance that those places be filled by men about which there can’t be any controversy. I don’t mean by that that I should permit a man that from all the evidence I could secure was perfectly well qualified to be disqualified because he happened to have some enemies that might be willing to resort to tactics that I could not agree with or didn’t seem to be supported by facts. But it is very important to put on the bench men about whom there can’t be any question, and I shall try, in my selections, to be guided by that principle.

Whether any decision has been reached regarding food aid to Germany by the United States. The general decision that I have already indicated, which is that we want that done as a business proposition if possible, and investigations are now being made and proposals are being considered, and negotiations are in process for the purpose of making a loan to the German Government, as I understand it, the proceeds of which would be spent in this country by the loans made, part here and part, I think , in Great Britain, for the purpose of buying food stuffs for Germany, if that is accomplished. I have great hopes it may be. I do not think it may be so necessary to resort to charity. Now don’t say anything in the paper that would result in drying up the private charity that is being encouraged. I am speaking now of Government charity. It is very desirable that the private charity that is being organized should go on. It is under the direction of such men as Mr. Allen and I believe General Dawes, who is the Director of it in his region, and other men of like calibre, and of course we are very much desirous that it should go on.

Mr. President, is there any word from France as to her attitude on a loan |for this food?

No, not that I know of.

I have here several inquiries that I will answer by reading a statement, so I that there may be no misunderstanding.

This Government has been informed that the Reparations Commission is considering the establishment of two expert Committees. One to consider the means of I balancing the budget of Germany and the measures to be taken to stabilize her currency. The other to take up the question of the capital which has been removed from Germany. (That is the property of Germany that is said to have been removed and which is now located in other countries). The inquiry of the first Committee would comprehend all the conditions to be realized and the measures to be taken to accomplish the results desired. All the representatives of the Governments, members of ‘the Commission, have expressed a desire to have American experts on the two Committees. It is understood that the Government of the United States is not in a position to be represented on these Committees, and that the invitation to the American experts will be extended directly by the Reparations Commission. (That wants to be made plain – that the Government of the United States does not participate, but that experts, economic experts, to participate by the direct invitation of the Reparations Commission). This Government believes that the proposed inquiry will be of great value and in view of its direct interest as a creditor, (you may recall that I developed that somewhat in my message, speaking of the European debt that is due us and also the debt that is due us from Germany. The German debt in and of itself will amount to about three-quarters of a billion dollars – about $750,000,000. We can’t tell yet just what the Mixed Claims Commission may find is the amount due, but it is of such a sum as joined to the bill of $255,000,000 that is due for the Army of Occupation will amount to about $750,000,000. So that we have an interest there as a direct creditor and an indirect interest as a creditor of the other nations there), and of the importance of the economic recuperation of Europe, it would view with favor the acceptance by American experts of such an invitation. (We have the interest of our debt and our interest in the economic recovery of Europe). The immediate proposal before the Reparation Commission has been made by the French delegate and President of the Commission, and has the support, it is understood, of all the allied Governments. (The French delegate is the President of the Commission, and he is the one who has made the immediate proposal). The British Government has informed this Government of its desire that American experts should participate in the inquiry. (That takes care of all the allied Governments.)

(Now, this is a very important addition). The German Government has also brought the matter to the attention of this Government, stating that it would be much appreciated if an American expert were to participate in the work of the first Committee, as above proposed, as it is believed that in this way important progress could made toward the solution of the problems underlying economic recovery.

(You see, that makes the entire approval of the allied Governments and joined to that is the request that comes from the German Government. I think that is very important, of course, and a very significant development. There has been abroad many times some criticism of our Government, of our people, and our ways, but that has demonstrated, I think, that when they are in real trouble and real difficulty over there, they turn to us as a nation that will be fair with them, – one in whose judgment and in whose character they can rely; and notwithstanding differences that have seemed to exist, they are willing to abide by the faith that they have in us, and I think it is a very substantial accomplishment).

Mr. President, is this the carrying out of the New Haven speech?

Not exactly, but it is along that line. This little statement I will have set up on the typewriter and it will be ready for distribution for you in fifteen or twenty minutes.

Mr. President, would it be proper to ask, in view of our interest in the $750,000,000, why we do not participate officially and directly?

Well, that is a matter that hasn’t yet been adjusted. The Mixed Claims Commission is working on that, the mixed claims part . Then we have some adjustment of the bill for the Army of Occupation. I am speaking of that for the purpose of indicating our direct interest in the situation .

Blog Mirror: Collapsed

Well worth reading:

Collapsed

You can see my reply there as well, which I've set out again here:

"Last year it would have not been a problem but this year I'm not in great shape due to family issues"

Me too, except it's my own health, starting with a surgery in October 2022, and another in August. Haven't really recovered, although I should have.

Maybe you never really do.

Anyhow, was walking out of the high country at a pretty good clip as a rainstorm came rolling in. Lost my footing on a rock, fell, rolled over, and cut myself pretty bad. Just me and the dog. No cell reception, and I've given up carrying my gmrs radio as there's nobody to call if I'm hunting alone.

Rolled over, wasn't damaged and hiked out bleeding. It hasn't been a great year.

Glad you were okay.

I don't mean to be hijacking somebody else's blog, but since October 2022 I haven't been myself.  I wrote previously on my surgery followed by a second surgery.  Since the first surgery, my digestive track hasn't recovered, and it's clear that it's not going to.  I'm sick every morning.  Not some mornings, every morning, save, oddly enough, for a few days I spent at trial where I couldn't afford to be.*  Most days I'm better off not eating any breakfast anymore, as it's just going to make me sick.  I was already developing an intolerance to milk, but now it's through the roof.  I can't even eat cereal with a little milk.  The stuff I'm used to eating in the morning, which was always a pretty light meal, is a no-go completely now.

And the second surgery resulted in a medication that I'm pretty sure isn't adjusted right, right now.  Everyone has told me how thyroid medication is supposed to make you feel great and give you energy. Well, that isn't working for me.  Researching it, there are a tiny minority of people who actually never feel good following a thyroid surgery and for whom the medications don't work to address that.  Given that almost no medication ever works well for me, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was me.  Hindsight is 20/20, but I really wish I'd foregone that surgery now and have borne the risk of cancer instead.  At age 60, and from a short-lived group, the risk probably was worth it.**

Worst of all, frankly, being sick all the time impacts your attitude in ways you can't really appreciate until it's obvious.  I've been there recently. Short-tempered and not having a good long term outlook.  At work the other day I blew up on two colleagues who have been running a really irritating religious debate for years, in the hallway, for what they conceive to be the entertainment of the unwilling listeners.  Our poor Mexican runner has to listen to this constantly, and I finally had enough and just exploded on them.  The point isn't that their juvenile behavior was okay, but that my reaction was so stout.***I shouldn't have done that, and that's just a minor example.

I usually look longingly forward to hunting season, but this year I've just not been too motivated after a certain point. Being tired has a lot to do with that.   And when you are like that, you are a pain to those around you, at least to some extent.  Some can see and appreciate that, others not so much.  It's hard to appreciate it yourself until something forces you to.  I looked forward to all summer to the season, and enjoyed deer hunting, but usually by now I've done a pile of duck hunting.  I've gone this year. . .twice. Every Saturday, the dog looks at me with confusion.  The funny thing is that all week long I still look forward to getting out, but when the weekend comes, I go down to work like old lawyers do, and when Sunday comes, well I haven't gone to Mass the night prior, so I get a late start doing whatever I'm going to do.

As noted above, not only am I tired, but I'm not in shape the way I usually am.  I've fallen so rarely out in the sticks that as a short person, I'm one of those people who were sort of goat like, climbing in terrain where hunters and fishermen wouldn't normally go and not worrying about it even though it was patently dangerous.  As a National Guardsmen, I recall once somebody remarking how me and another NCO were mysteriously able to negotiate difficult terrain at night, silently.  We were both avid hunters.  To take a fall, and a pretty bad one, on terrain that I'd been over a million times was a shock.

I was actually quite lucky at the time.  I was all alone, taking a path that I normally would not have, although as noted I've been on it many times before. There was a thunderstorm coming in.  I was carrying a loaded shotgun.  I fell, and, recalling the plf ***I learned so many years ago, rolled out of it, but not before I'd scrapped myself up pretty badly.  I wasn't sure at first if I'd broken anything.  I had my cell phone, as noted, but no reception, so I couldn't have called for help if I wanted to.  I usually carry a handheld GMRS radio, but I've quit recently as if I'm alone, who am I going to radio to?

Hors de combat, after it started to heal.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

I can recall my father getting like this when he was almost the exact same age I am now.  He died two years later.  He seemed pretty old at the time, so I wasn't hugely surprised.  I guess it's like the Hendrix song, "You may wake up in the morning, just to find that you are dead".

Of course, he was gravely ill for months prior to that.  In retrospect, however, it all started for him with a colonoscopy, the same way that this has started for me.  I recall him remarking as he was in the hospital on how all of his mother's ailments were now visiting him.  She died, if I recall correctly, at 65.

In my mind, I always imagined that at some point after I had reached retirement age, which I have not yet, I'd retire to a life of full time outdoorsman.  Not too many people do that.  There may be a reason for that. Some of us are luckier as we age than others.

Oh well, nature has a way of waking you up and reminding you that some things need to be done.  Getting sick? Quite doing what you are doing, refocus, and soldier on.  Get a grip, reform, reform, and keep on keeping on, but mindful of errors and omissions.

Footnotes

*I've long noticed for some reason a person's system will suppress symptoms of almost any illness when you absolutely have to keep on, keeping on. Usually things come back with a vengeance, or at least fatigue, when the crisis has passed.

**This is not intended to be advice for anyone else, I'd note.

***Re the argument, the entire facility had grown extremely tired of it and the shutting them up was welcomed, save by one of the arguers, who may be permanently mad at me.  Showing my presently poor mental outlook, I don't care.  I'm tired of hearing minority religions insulted when some of the employees belong to them, and I'm tired of having my own faith routinely insulted, which I've endured now for decades.  And while I'm a serious if imperfect orthodox Catholic, I'm also tired of one of these individuals, who isn't that good at arguing, turning to religious topics no matter what is being discussed, to include my assistant simply taking her shoes off in her office the other day, which would not normally lead to a Biblical discussion, but of course did.

I've also had it with somebody thinking that mocking the Spanish language is funny in front of somebody who's an immigrant.

***Parachute Landing Fall.  I learned this, oddly enough, while I was a CAP cadet.

Trump and state of mind. Whistling past the graveyard.

From the blog Above The Law:

Good Morning, Joe Tacopina!

Time for a little client feedback. Don’t bother checking Avvo or Yelp — he’ll come to you.

This disgusting Slob, a Democrat Political Operative, is the same guy who funded a woman who I knew absolutely nothing about, sued me for Rape, for which I was found NOT GUILTY. She didn’t remember the year, decade, or much else! In Interviews she said some amazingly “inconsistent” things. Disgraceful Trial—Very unfair. I was asked by my lawyer not to attend—“It was beneath me, and they have no case.” That was not good advice.

For those who don’t speak brain-addled former president …

The “slob” bit is a reference to Reid Hoffman, the billionaire founder of LinkedIn who paid some of the fees associated with E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse lawsuits against Donald Trump. He did not “fund” Carroll, whose lawyers were working on contingency and who filed her lawsuit ten months before Hoffman’s intercession.

And there's more, you can find the link at the side.

I didn't post it for Trump's post trial criticism of his own lawyer, but for this item:

For those who don’t speak brain-addled former president …

Isn't it obvious that Trump is not all right?

You would think so, but for some reason people just don't seem to be picking up on it.

When Ronald Reagan was President, people were picking up on it.  I won't call it a whisper campaign, but amongst careful observers and medicos, there was talk.  I remember, as I've noted here before, my father just flat out stating that Reagan had Alzheimer's, and he did.

Something is going on with Trump.

Trump has for many years affected a very odd pattern of speech, but it's gotten juvenile,  This isn't the way a highly educated man speaks.  It's weird.  And the example above is far from the oddest example.

The other day I stopped by a pastry store on my way to work.  On my way out a man was walking in, with glassy eyes, and was all upset about where I had parked my Jeep.  "You're in the road".  

Now, he was walking in, and there were no parking spots marked.  There was no reason to believe I was "in the road".  But he was waiving his arms and talking to himself, before he saw the Jeep was mine, and talked to me.  "I'm sorry" I stated, and he rambled on about that being okay, still speaking to himself as he walked in.

Clearly, he had a mental problem.

Also, just yesterday I walked into Home Depot and a man was loudly complaining to himself in a rambling babbling fashion about the automatic doors being open.  "The automatic doors are open" he stated to me, in an agitated fashion.  I walked on in and said nothing as I thought he might have those ear buds that people now have where they can talk on their cell phones and perhaps was an employee talking to somebody, but pretty clear it was obvious he was not as he kept up in an agitated fashion and ultimately went up and babbled to the help desk, loudly.

It was clear he had a mental problem.

Why are we whistling past the graveyard with Trump?

Sunday Morning Scene: Father Thomas H. Mooney, Chaplain of the 69th Infantry Regiment of New York State Militia and Irish American soldiers at a Catholic Mass at Fort Cocoran, Arlington Heights, Virginia on June 1, 1861.

 

Friday, December 10, 1923. Fathers no longer get a conscription pass.

President Roosevelt ended the long-running debate on conscription of men who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941. Their exemption was ended on this date, effective tomorrow.

Largely forgotten now, the topic of whether fathers could be conscripted was termed the "Father Crisis" and drew sharp views on both sides.  It was a topic of a bill called the "Wheeler Bill" which attempted to write the exemption into law.  The bill exempted fathers who had been fathers prior to December 7, 1941, as noted.  The military had been heavily opposed to the parental deferment, as had Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

Up until this date, fatherhood had been a Class III-A exemption.  The exemption would be reestablished on November 15, 1945, during the brief period of immediate post-war conscription that the US retained.

Exemptions for dependency and occupation had already been eliminated n April, save for agricultural employment, so some element of it remained. Another one that remained was for hardship and dependency.

While exempting for parenthood may seem inherently unfair, and perhaps is in someways, this was still an era in which men were the principal breadwinners and society was geared in all sorts of ways towards keeping individual responsibilities intact, rather than passing them off on the public.

At this point, only the Army took conscripts, which is also where they were needed.  Members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard were all volunteers.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Pandora,  December 10, 1943.

Tullio Tamburini, Chief of Police of the Italian Social Republic, exempted Italian Jews over 70 years old, or who were grievously ill, or who were married to a non Jew, from detention, allowing about 40% of the detained to temporarily return to their homes.

Tamburini would retain his office until April 1944, at which time he'd be dismissed by the Germans and then interned in Dachau in February 1945.  After the war, he immigrated to Argentina.

The Mediterranean Air Command was disbanded and reorganized as the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) with Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder as Air Commander-in-Chief.

The British 8th Army crossed the Moro.

Torokina airstrip.

American aircraft arrive at Cape Torokina, Bougainville.

The Red Army took Znamenka.

Monday, December 10, 1923. Mexican rebels and cheese empires advance.

The Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, which has not been ratified, was first introduced in Congress.

At the time, many suffragettes opposed it out of fear that it would eliminate statutory protection of female laborers, which it likely would have.

Rebels were advancing on Mexico City.

Coolidge was encouraging commercial aviation, and running for reelection.

The National Dairy Products Corporation was founded by a merger of Thomas H. McInerney's Hydrox Corporation and Edward E. Rieck's Rieck—McJunkin Dairy Company. In 1930, it would acquire Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company, and then rebrand itself in 1969 as Kraftco Corporation and then Kraft, Inc.

It is now Kraft Heinz as of this very year.

Kraft cheese is, in my opinion, hideous.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co. that only it, in appropriate Federal questions, could review state supreme court decisions.

The Italian parliament was prorogued, i.e., dissolved, by King Victor Emmanuel III at the request of Benito Mussolini.

Turkey and Albania signed a treat of friendship.

Best Posts of the Week of December 3, 2023

The best posts of the week of December 3, 2023

Lex Anteinternet: Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry. A Timely Rerun

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28)

Friday, December 3, 1943. Murrow broadcast on bombing Berlin, Kennesaw Mountain Landis opens the door to African Americans.

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XVI. And then the day arrived.

In Memoriam: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Messed Up Animal Ecology. Why you can't separate out your favorite animal, and demonize your least favorite, and make a lick of sense.

The 2024 Election, Part X. Your money where your mouth is edition, sort of?

The 118th Congress. Part II

The Post Insurrection. Part VII. The Insurrectionist.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part XII. γλυκύ δ᾽ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος. πεπειραμένων δέ τις ταρβεῖ προσιόντα νιν καρδία περισσῶς.

Lame. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 52nd Edition.

December 7, 43. The Assassination of Cicero.

Mike Johnson and the Sinai?

Agrarian of the Week, Thomas Jefferson.

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Albert Nelson

Last prior edition:

Best Posts of the Week of November 26, 2023.

Going Feral: Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Albert Nelson

Going Feral: Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Albert N...: 

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Albert Nelson

He was Wyoming's first game warden, hired in.1899.

While contrary to what is sometimes suggested, he occasionally had deputy game wardens in his three-year stint, his statewide, hands on, role was a monumental task.  He received funding at the amount of $1,200 per year, from which he had to pay himself and deputies who received $3.00 per day.

Last edition:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Theodore Roosevelt

Thursday, December 9, 1943. Wintertime Italian victory.

Today in World War II History—December 9, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 9, 1943: US airfield opens at Torokina on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, only 220 miles from major Japanese base at Rabaul.

From Today In World War Two History. 

The Battle of Monte La Difensa concluded as an Allied victory.

A letter home authored on this day:

112 Letters Home: Thursday, December 9, 1943: Let me take this moment and thank Grandma Robinson, Grandpa Robinson, Grandpa Wyse, and my Uncle Jim for serving our country.  The immense ...

Sunday, December 9, 1923. Fighting over and amongst oil.

 

Bill Donovan, age 47, a former major league baseball player, was killed in a train accident in New York.

The Convention and Statute on the International Régime of Maritime Ports is a 1923 was signed in Geneva providing for open ports.  It's still in effect.

Friday Farming: The Agrarian's Lament: Agrarian of the Week, Thomas Jefferson.

The Agrarian's Lament: Agrarian of the Week, Thomas Jefferson.:   

Agrarian of the Week, Thomas Jefferson.

 

Thomas Jefferson is on that cast of characters that's gone from deeply admired as a hero to treated as a goat in later years, the latter due to his problematic relationship with slavery, that latter being uniquely personally problematic in his case.

Jefferson was an agrarian, but he was not a member of the agrarian class.  Indeed, as a planter, his class was in some ways in opposition to the yeomanry.  But he saw them as the foundation for the republic and feared the day when that would cease to be the case, an act which led to his support for acquiring Louisiana, which he inaccurately believed would give the country 1,000 years breathing room.  His warnings once seemed too dire, but now seem to be rapidly coming into fruition.