Daily history

Good morning:


Quote of the day:

“It is better to be in chains with your friends than in a perfumed garden with your enemies.”

                                    Persian Proverb

North Korea has broken all possible ties with South Korea including diplomatic. This is normally a precursor to war or an invasion attempt. We all need to be alert to any border incidents. That is the way that most conflicts begin. That is what Hitler did as an excuse to invade Poland, at least.

We are approaching the first anniversary of the crash of Air France 447 and loss of all 227 aboard. Air France flight 447 was an Airbus 332 that departed Rio de Janerio headed to Paris. The theory is that The pilot decided to try to fly between two mature thunderstorms and got caught in the middle of a vicious cross current and stalled. Several search parties looked for the remains of this aircraft to no avail. They tried again recently with no results. They want the “black boxes” most of all to determine the cause of the crash but it appear it is not to be.

Last week the Prime Minister of Jamaica Bruce Golding folded to public pressure and dropped his opposition to the extradition of acknowledged drug lord “Dudas” Coke. Coke is a world leader in the transportation of marijuana to the United States and it is America that wants to get their hands on him. He has set up his headquarters in the Trench Town district of Kingston which is collection of ramshackle huts and poverty stricken people living in absolute squalor. After word got out that the prime minister was no longer in Dudas’ pocket, Dudas’ henchmen began arming up and building barricade ready to fight it out. Sure enough, the Jamaican police came after Dudas and a young war erupted. This conflict is still underway as of this writing. The Jamaican police said that they cannot guarantee that Dudas is hunkered down in Trench Town or may be somewhere else on the island, if at all. There is a rumor that US officials had a meeting scheduled with Dudas’ lawyers but the meeting was canceled. By the way, Trench Town is where reggae star Bob Marley was born and raised. Bob invented a whole new type of music.

Last month US Army General Petraeus authorized an increase in covert “Special Ops” in different sections of the Middle East. Then yesterday a rocket attack on a known al-queda hideout in Yemen killed six including a politician and his bodyguard. What the hell was a Yemeni politician doing in an al-queda hideout? You hang around with pit bulls you are going to get bit.

This date in history May 28

1754    On this date the first blood was shed on American soil heralding the start of the French and Indian war. This conflict was the last of a series of wars for North American lands with the colonists and England on one side and France and their large contingent of Native American allies on the other. The governor of Virginia had ordered a contingent of militia led by a 22 year old Lieutenant Colonel named George Washington, to help protect a fort that was at the present day location of Pittsburg. Colonel Washington got within 40 miles of the fort when it surrendered to the overwhelming French forces who renamed it Fort Duquesne. This put Colonel Washington between a rock and a hard place because he was depending being re-supplied and refitted at the fort so he did the next best thing. He built a fort of his own and named it Fort Necessity. On this date Colonel Washington’s troops intercepted a French patrol and killed 10 French soldiers and captured 21 whilst losing only one of his number. When word got back to the colonies in the east, Washington was hailed as a hero and was promoted to a full Colonel and reinforcements from Virginia and the Carolinas were sent to Fort Necessity. In the autumn the French Army descended on Fort Necessity and a day long battle ensued with Washington’s troops holding their own but eventually Washington surrendered to superior numbers. Washington and his troops were disarmed and were allowed to march back home.

1863    On this date the 54th Massachusetts Regiment departs Boston headed for the southern US and to join into the Civil War. The 54th was the first all black unit in the Civil War. It took a lot of persuading President Lincoln to allow this regiment to be formed. He was totally against it early but eventually condescended. As you might suspect the black unit was commanded by all white officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was selected by the Governor of Massachusetts to form the regiment. Shaw’s family was well known abolitionists (fostered the abolishment of slavery). Shaw personally selected his troops and chose only the finest physical specimens he could find. The 54th boarded a steamboat and headed for Port Royal (near Beaufort), South Carolina. They experienced combat almost as soon as they disembarked and proved to be equal to the task. Soon after the regiment was tasked with the capture of Fort Wagner located near the mouth of Charleston Harbor, but that is another story.

1986    On this date the United States Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans for fraud. Winans was a writer for the Wall Street Journal and wrote a column titled “Heard on the Street”. He wrote about stocks and bonds that he thought good or bad investments. Two stock brokers from the investment firm of Kidder Peabody named Kenneth Felis and Peter Brandt persuaded Winans to tell them in advance about which stocks he was going to pan and which stocks he was going to foster. Even Winans’ column had an effect on the stock market. With this information the two stock brokers bought and sold stocks early and made $700,000 in short order. Winans and his lover, David Carpenter, made only $30,000. As you might suspect the Securities and Exchange Commission saw that something was fishy and dug deeper and Winans quickly confessed. Winans and the two brokers were convicted and went to the slammer. The relatively small amount of money involved was not the issue, it was the widespread greed and “make money at all costs” attitude on Wall Street that this case brought to light.

1902    The first “serious” western novel The Virginian authored by Owen Wister is published. The novel was enormously successful. Owen Wister was hardly the type of man to write about rough and ready cowboys. He was a member of a well heeled and cultured family in Philadelphia. He went to school in Switzerland and eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard. He had originally planned to be a classical composer and no one doubted that he would be successful, but then he became disillusioned and depressed. One of his best friends, Theodore Roosevelt, convinced Wister to go west and spend time on a ranch saying that that lifestyle would change his attitude. Sure enough, Wister spent several months on a ranch in Wyoming. He came back to Philadelphia and began a career in law but he never forgot the magical life of sleeping in tents, bathing in creeks, etc. He decided to be a writer of western novels and honed his skills by writing a few short novels and then he began his masterpiece.

1969    On this date US army forces abandon a place in Vietnam known by the media as “Hamburger Hill”. The 101st Airborne had been tasked with the capture of the hill known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. The crest of the hill was occupied by a veteran North Vietnam army unit who had dug in to stay. Several assaults by the 101st were repulsed so the commander of the 101st sends in more and more troops, both American and South Vietnamese, along with an avalanche of air strikes but the North Vietnamese troops held on. After 20 assaults the 101st was finally able to kick them off the mountain. The North Vietnamese just walked back across the border to Laos and safety. When the American public heard about the bravery and determination displayed by the 101st and then giving it back there was a lot of hell raised but it didn’t do any good.

Born today:

1908    British writer Ian Fleming. As ya’ll know he authored the James Bond novels. When he met Sean Connery who had been selected to be the first James Bond in a movie he said “I am looking for Commander James Bond, not an overgrown stunt man”. Sean worried about that all the way to the bank.

Died today:

1820    British writer Anne Bronte of the famous family of writers. She said “He who will not grasp the thorn should not crave the rose.” She is right; there is an element of danger in every worthy pursuit.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow