Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Liars when they finally tell the truth are not believed.”

Aristotle

Here is a short questionnaire for you. Who is the most dead?

Michael Brown from Ferguson, Missouri?

The two back teenagers that were killed in Chicago by members of a Latino drug gang this past weekend?

The black teenager killed in Cleveland by members of a black street gang this past weekend?

Three young Latinoes killed in East Los Angeles by an opposing Latino street gang?

Why was there no riots and looting in Chicago, Cleveland or East Los Angeles?

Why was Al Sharpton not at these locations?

Are we fools for responding to the media in a fashion that benefits only them and not us?

Marble Falls is west of Austin about 35 miles and is on the Colorado River. Before a dam was built, there was a series of shoals on the river with the river bed being very hard stone. The rushing water polished the stone to a marble like appearance. At one point Marble Falls was at the very edge of our western expansion much to the anger of the mighty Comanche and Kiowa nations. Much blood was shed and there were atrocities galore on both sides. As I have said before, even the US cavalry acknowledged the mounted Comanche as the finest light cavalry in the world. They could travel faster, further with less rest, food and water than anyone out there. A while back my friend sent me a book about the history of the Comanche...what an amazing people. They were considered the “trailer trash” of the plains by the other tribes...that is until they were the first to catch, break and mount the wild Spanish ponies brought over by the conquistadors...then they were the unchallenged masters of the Great Plains.

I finished with the other book titled Bonnie Sue. That was the name of a US Marine helicopter squadron in the summer of 1966 in Vietnam.. The beginning of the book was a fight known as The Battle of Groucho Marx. It was called that because the fight began when a Marine recon team known as Groucho Marx was dropped onto a high rock outcropping to spot for Marine artillery and air strikes...they had enough food and water to stay three days...there were eight of them. The recon team did indeed see and hear the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and called in an artillery barrage. The NVA knew that there had to be a spotter calling in the artillery for it to be so accurate and they began a rock by rock search. They did not find them right away but eventually did and a fight erupted. The recon team called for an extraction helicopter to get them the hell out of there. The Marines sent four helicopters, two extraction and two gunships. The extraction helicopters were given bad information about the LZ. They were landing downhill with a tailwind and both of them crashed with no serious injuries. The combat helicopters had combat Marines aboard to protect the LZ (Landing Zone) during the pickup. Now they had about 30 Marines on the ground in a small perimeter and the NVA knew it. A ferocious firefight erupted and the Marines had to be re-supplied with ammo and water several times at extreme peril for the helicopter pilots. The Marines were being attacked on three sides by at least 500 NVA. Suddenly a strange aircraft showed up. It was a WWII cargo aircraft known as a C-47 (later they were C-130's) except this bad-ass had a mini-gun (looks like a Gatling gun) capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute. The pilot of this aircraft figured out where the Marines were and the gunner laid down a solid stream of hot lead around the stranded Marines. The NVA did not want any part of this and melted away into the jungle....There were five Marines killed and nearly everybody had a wound of some type. The Battle of Groucho Marx was over. I will have more about this book later.

This Date in History November 26

1922 Earlier archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered an unopened tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh name Tutankhamen but waited to enter the tomb until his financier English Lord Caernarvon arrived to be there for the opening. Carter knew then name of the pharaoh because of the hieroglyphs on the portal. On this date Carter and Caernarvon standing shoulder to shoulder cut a small hole in the doorway to take a look. Carter stuck his arm through the hole while holding a candle and peeked inside. Lord Caernarvon asked Carter what he saw and Carter answered “Things, wonderful things.” After the opened a hole large enough to crawl inside they uncovered one of the most dazzling and important archeological discoveries ever found. Carter was a veteran explorer and in the past had found the tombs of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose IV. Both were important discoveries but nowhere the equal of King Tut. What a thrill it had have been to have been the first human being to lay eyes on that tomb in 2,500 years. I am sure that we all have seen the gold funeral mask of King Tut. What a beautiful work of art it is as with many other pieces found there.

1863 After the disastrous Confederate loss at Gettysburg, The Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, escaped back into the friendly confines of Virginia pursued by the Army of the Potomac commanded by US General George Meade. The were several encounters with no clear victor all the while US President A. Lincoln is on Meade’s ass to bring Lee to bear and finish off the Army of Northern Virginia. Even though Meade had the Confederates outnumbered nearly two to one, he was unable to corner the elusive Lee. After spending several weeks of Lee and Meade warily eyeing each other across the Rappahannock River with Lincoln raising hell with Meade to do something, Meade ordered extensive reconnoitering and cannot find a weakness in Lee’s lines but to placate Lincoln on this date he ordered US General William French and three corps (about 33,000 men) to attempt an attack on Lee’s right flank. French and his troops set out and promptly got lost and make their position and intentions known to the Rebs. Lee sent CSA General Edward Johnson and his corps to cut French off. The two armies finally meet in a small valley named Mine Run and the battle is joined. After about four hours of little progress being made by either side, they both withdraw. French’s troops had suffered 940 casualties to 540 for the Confederates. Meade, in spite of the bitching of Lincoln, decided it is time to go into winter quarters and this battle is the last of 1863.

1933 Earlier 22 year old San Jose, California resident Brooke Hart showed up missing. Hart was the popular son of a San Jose store owner. The parents of young Brooke receive a ransom note for $40,000 a few days after his disappearance. The police retraced Hart’s steps to a ship near San Mateo and arrested two crewman named James Thurmond and John Holmes as the kidnappers. Eventually Hart’s corpse is found. He had been tortured before being beaten to death. Both Holmes and Thurmond blamed each other for the slaying and are jailed in San Jose. On this day, the fine citizens of San Jose storm the jail and take Thurmond and Holmes outside and suspend them by the neck from the nearest light pole. They are not done yet. They cut the ropes used in the hanging and sell the pieces and give the money to charity. They also allow pictures of the fine citizenry of San Jose to have picture of themselves with the corpses…for a price. That money went to charity also. The people of San Jose are praised by everyone in the state of California including the good Governor who stated “We need to turn over all the kidnappers in San Quentin to the good people of San Jose.” I believe in justice but I do not believe in vigilantism. That inevitably leads to anarchy.

1898 One of the worst blizzards to ever strike the northeastern United States begins on this date. Previously the winds had been blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean for two days then in a matter of minutes the wind began blowing form the northwest meaning a cold front called an Alberta Clipper had arrived and interacted with the moisture laden air already in place. It snowed for 36 hours at a ferocious pace to the tune that there were snow drifts even with the second story windows in places. As you might suspect, all communication were stopped. After all was said and done, there were over 450 dead but the real total may never be known because of the unsophisticated communications in those days.

1872 On this date one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of the United States begins. Two men named Phillip Arnold and John Slack walked into a San Francisco bank and tried to deposit some raw diamonds. The bank president named William Ralston tried to get more information from the two but they behave very secretively and refuse Ralston’s questioning. Finally Ralston got the two to admit that they found the diamonds in a mine. Ralston finally persuaded the two to take him to the mine and they blindfold Ralston and take him to a mine where they had “salted” diamonds and rubies, meaning that they threw some diamonds and rubies about like they were extracted from the mine. Ralston about peed his pants and came back to San Francisco and organized a $20 million investment group. They offered Arnold and Slack $600,000 for the rights to the mine which they took. Soon afterward the San Francisco newspaper hired a geologist to inspect the mine and he returned and said that the mine is just a hole in the ground and is totally worthless. Ralston began giving back the money to the investors but is unable to retrieve the money he gave to Arnold and Slack. These smoothies lived the rest of their lives in luxury thanks to the greed of man.

1941 On this date the combined Japanese fleet departed the Japanese Inland Sea heading east-southeast. They are headed for the United States military installations in the Hawaiian Islands. As we all know they arrive of December 7 and all but destroy America’s ability to wage war in the Pacific. For reasons known only to the Japanese, they did not occupy any part of the Hawaiian Islands nor sail on eastward to the United States unopposed. It was later reported that the commanding Japanese Admiral Yamamoto was educated for several years at Harvard and he knew how well armed the Americans were and argued against and invasion of America proper. For whatever reason they did not do either and we were able to recover and prevail in the bloodiest war ever fought.

Birth and deaths:

1792 US Suffragist Sarah Grimke is born. She said “I ask nothing for my sex. All I ask is that my brethren get their feet off our necks.” That’s a real peculiar position for sex, Sarah.

     Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.