Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned.”

Somerset Maugham

Hey Joe,

I hope Wa Wa is doing well.

A couple of years ago a wide receiver for Boise State named Titus Young was drafted by the Detroit Lions. In the year 2012 he had several run-ins with the Lions coaching staff and had a fist fight with a Lions corner back in the off season and the Lions cut him. People that knew Titus called the NFL and told them that Titus was acting like he was mentally disturbed. The NFL has a man that is specifically trained for this kind of problem, his name is Troy Vincent. Troy went to see Titus to see if he could help him. Titus was vehement that he did not need any help. Troy went to see Titus' father who said the Titus did not have the mentality to blend with society. Two days later out in California Titus was arrested twice in one day for burglary. He is also looking at a charge of attempted burglary and a DUI. He is in the Orange county jail looking at 10 years in the joint. I remember seeing a movie once titled “The Lawless Breed”. It starred Rock Hudson playing the infamous western bad man John Wesley Hardin. Hardin killed his first man at the age of 14 and when he shot and killed a sheriff he did long stretch in the joint. When paroled he went to El Paso. He was recognized and while he was standing at a bar he was shot point blank in the back of the head and killed by the sheriff. Hardin was documented as killing 44 people. He was indeed a lawless breed and I think Titus Young is too.

Recently I was witness to an exchange of e-mails about Edward Snowden. Y'all remember him...he is living in Moscow now to escape retribution for whistle-blowing on the NSA to the Russians. That makes him a participant in espionage and a betrayer of this nation. One of the people in the e-mail exchange was a man that severely over-estimates his intelligence and has no ability to objectively grasp the core of any subject. He stated that he had listened to an interview of Snowden recently and believed he is a hero. The answer below was delivered by a young lady that is indeed intelligent and is renown for her ability to grasp and solve problems on a very high level.

 

Here is her response:

“I've been listening too. I still believe that if he was a true patriot, he would have still fought the system with all sacrifices for himself without shouting to the world about our dirty laundry. Eventually he would have been heard. There is more to his motivation than his care and concern for our country. Give me liberty or give me death is a true patriot. He's is running away to avoiding facing the legal ramifications. If he had kept it within the US government instead of the world he would then have been a patriot. Now our nation has been pulled through the mud and he is sitting pretty in Moscow. He's not facing the consequences we are.”

I will add this:

Snowden ran away just like Benedict Arnold did. Only Arnold went one step further in his betrayal of this struggling nation. He joined the British Army and used his considerable military skills against his own brethren. After the Patriots and the French navy kicked the living crap out of the British Army at Yorktown and they surrendered, Arnold and his wife ran to the nearest British warship and sailed his rotten ass to England and later died on a London street corner penniless and unrecognized with Peggy at his side. The situation is a little different with Arnold. He sold out to the British because he got his feelings hurt about being passed over for a promotion. He then joined the British army for a considerable sum to keep his wife Peggy living in the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed. They had not been married very long and she was from a high-bred wealthy family.

Here is an interesting side note about the above. Benedict Arnold was assigned as artillery commander at West Point, NY on the Hudson River. After he was passed over, he contacted the British and told them that for the right amount of money, they could sail up the Hudson to West Point and he would belay any artillery fire. This would allow the British to capture West Point and essentially split the New England states. It didn't work because there were heavy chains across the Hudson downstream from West Point and the troopers and cadets there absolutely refused to follow Arnold order and lower them. The deal with Arnold was written down and a copy of it was given to a British officer named John Andre to be delivered to Sir Henry Clinton. John folded up the document and put it in his boot. He was on horse back riding back from West Point when he was accosted (mugged) by a group of highwaymen. They found the document and knew its importance. Even though they were nothing but robbers, they had a little patriotism and turned to document over to a Patriot officer and it ended up in the hands of George Washington the next day. George was extremely saddened by this attempted betrayal by one of his favorite officers but sent some men to look for Arnold while a rope with a noose was thrown over a tree limb. When Arnold found out that Andre had been captured with the document he and Peggy ran to the British warship HMS Vulture to escape the Patriots that he knew were coming. The ironic thing here is that John Andre had hit on Peggy heavily in the past but it was Arnold that stole her heart. By the way, Andre was hanged as a spy just a few days after his capture. He did not go to Sing Sing and languish for 14 or 15 years.

This Date in History June 3

1800 On this date the second President of the United States John Adams moved to the new nation’s capitol of Washington, D.C. Before this the nation’s capitol was Philadelphia but a new capitol was established that was nearer to the center of the 13 colonies. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land on both sides of the Potomac River for the new city. Both the Capitol building and the White House were under construction so Adams moved to his temporary quarters in the Union Tavern in Georgetown. There is a man after my own heart. Eventually Adams notified his wife Abigail in Braintree, Massachusetts that the White House was ready for occupancy and they moved in. There was a small ceremony when they moved in and Adams dedicated the White House with these words. “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but wise men ever rule under this roof”. In the war of 1812 the British troops set fire to the Capitol building and the White House. A massive thunderstorm prevented the destruction of the Capitol but the White House burned to the ground. The British burned these buildings in retaliation for American troops burning British government buildings in Canada. The city of Washington was designed by French architect Charles L’Enfant. He visualized a city with streets arranged in spokes with a lot of circles and parks and one of the most beautiful cities in the world emerged. The White House was designed by an Irish-American architect named James Hoban who used a building in Dublin, Ireland as a model. After the original White House was burned to the ground, Hoban was again tasked with resurrecting the new White House and what he came up with is pretty much what we have today. By the way, if we were to re-locate the nation’s capitol to the center of the continental United States it would be in the middle of a prairie just south of Omaha.

1937 Edward, the Duke of Windsor, after abdicating the throne of England married the former American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson on this date. Edward was born in 1896 making him the eldest son of King George V and heir apparent to the crown with the title of the Prince of Wales. By the age of forty Edward still had not married but he was indeed involved in London’s social elite. Also involved in London’s social elite was Wallis Simpson and her husband John who were residing in London. Evidently Edward and Wallis hit it off and in spite of being married, Wallis became Edward’s mistress and he fell hopelessly in love. John was not Wallis’ first husband; she had been married and divorced to an American pilot before. Edward was going to discuss his dilemma with his father the King but before the meeting took place, King George V died, making Edward the King of England with the title of King Edward VII. Eventually Wallis was able to secure a divorce from John clearing the way for Edward to marry her. But British law forbade a divorcee from becoming queen, especially one without a royal blood line, so Edward did what he had to do. He abdicated, meaning he gave up the crown. He was then titled the Duke of Windsor and Wallis became the Duchess. I do not know where the Duke got his money but for the majority of his life with Wallis they traveled the world in luxury and lived primarily in Paris. They would go to England only on rare occasions and they were not invited to many Royal events in London. They did attend the funerals of his brother King George VI and his mother Queen Mary. Edward died in Paris in 1972 and was buried in Frogmore which was a section of the grounds of Windsor Castle. Wallis died in 1986 and was buried at Edward’s side.

1961 On this date a man named Clarence Gideon was arrested for breaking into a poolroom in Panama City, Florida. This event and subsequent actions changed the legal system in the United States forever. A man living close to the poolroom told the police that he had seen Clarence Gideon (a poor drifter with a record) leave the closed poolroom with his pockets bulging with coins and an armload of soft drinks and get into a cab. The police found and arrested Clarence. He asked for a lawyer claiming he had not robbed the poolroom but the state of Florida did not have to provide a lawyer if the accused could not afford one. Clarence went to trial having to represent himself and he was quickly convicted and sent to prison. Clarence wrote out an appeal on a sheet of notebook paper and a pencil claiming that he was constitutionally entitled to a lawyer. His appeal went all the way to the United States Supreme Court and a lawyer named Abe Fortas plead Clarence’s case before the court. As y'all know, Abe Fortas became a Justice of the Supreme Court himself. Anyway, the Supreme Court agreed with Clarence and he was ordered released. The state of Florida chose to try Clarence again for the poolroom break-in but this time, because of the notoriety he received, Clarence was represented by a first class lawyer who shot the state’s case full of holes and Clarence was acquitted. The end result of all of this is if an accused cannot afford an attorney one will be provided at no cost. That ruling and another one that resulted in when anyone is arrested they must be told of their rights as soon as possible or the so-called Miranda ruling. It just goes to show you that anyone can make a change in the system if you are persistent enough.

1864 At a small crossroads southwest of Richmond, Virginia named Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac, US General Ulysses Grant commanding, collided with the Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding. Both armies were headed for Cold Harbor from different directions but Lee and his Confederates got there first and dug in tighter than an Alabama tick. But on this date Grant ordered a frontal assault anyway and the Confederates did not disappoint. There were over 7,000 Union infantry killed is a little less than one hour. Grant later admitted that this was his worst military mistake. Yes, I would think so.

Born today:

1771 British clergyman Sydney Smith. He said “There are three sexes, men, women and clergymen.” What are you trying to tell us Sydney?

1865 British monarch King George V. After hearing Strauss’ “Elektra” he said “His Majesty does not know what the band has just played but it is not to be played again in his presence.” I wonder what King George V would think of Metallica.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow