Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
When
asked why he took his wife on the road to football games, Houston
Oilers head coach Bum Phillips said “Because she is too ugly to
kiss goodbye.”
I
guess all of us have witnessed the raw attacks on Donald Trump even
though he has not done a damned thing that affects this country
nationally and neither has Mike Pence. To attack someone for
who/what they are rather than what they have DONE is the definition
of bigotry. By the way, those mayors of the “Sanctuary cities”
are going to be in deep shit when federal funds are withheld because
they are advocating the harboring of criminals. We cannot abide
citizens selectively not obeying certain laws of the land and
demanding the compliance with others...that is anarchy and could
result in a situation where those that are the most heavily armed
wins. If the law is unfair then change it but being selective ain't
going to work.
While
I was in Pensacola Beach a while back I saw some heavy duty grading
equipment gathering on the edges of the beach. I did not know what
the heck was going on but I found out. Whoever is responsible for
the beach cleanup has found that there is a considerably thick layer
of crude about 30 inches below the surface of the beach extending for
several hundreds of yards as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill. The concern seems to be that if a hurricane came and there
was some beach erosion the crude would re-emerge. They have brought
in some equipment that will scoop up the sand, filter out the crude
and redeposit the cleaned sand.
Over
in Spartanburg, SC a few days ago a 28 year old woman was walking a
little unsteadily down a sidewalk and the police cruiser stopped to
investigate. As soon as the cops got out of the car the woman began
blistering the air with obscenities and profanity a Chinese sailor
would be proud of. The cops scented the aroma of alcohol as you
might suspect and began to arrest the woman for public drunkenness.
She told the cops that she had to go to the bath room and dropped her
panties, squatted down and sprayed the sidewalk in the presence of
people in adjacent parking lot and another crowd across the street.
She was arrested for obscene behavior “in the presence of the
police.” Does this mean that it is OK for women to take a leak in
the presence of a regular citizen, a fireman, a minister, a plumber,
an electrician or anyone else except the cops? There is little
question that those in law enforcement arrive at a point of arrogance
sometimes in their career.
This
Date in History November 23
1749
The
Reluctant Patriot
Edward Rutledge is born in Charleston, South Carolina. Edward and
his brother John were both Oxford educated attorneys and had very
lucrative practices across the street from each other in Charleston.
John and Edward were the sons of a physician that emigrated from
Ireland. When the fever of American independence from England began
to rise in the colonies, Edward and John fostered patience and were
opposed to war. Edward communicated frequently with John Jay of New
York about being patient and try to avoid war with the most powerful
nation in the world. Edward became a member of the Continental
Congress and after he saw that war was inevitable, he was a signatory
to the Declaration of Independence at the age of 26, the youngest man
to do so.
1819
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss is born in Belleville, Virginia. His
family moved to Missouri and then to Quincy, Illinois. He joined the
Illinois Militia and was present during the lynching of Mormon
Founder Joseph Smith. At the outbreak of the Civil War his unit was
assigned the security of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Later his unit was assigned the task of
protecting the Hannibal-Saint Joseph railroad across northern
Missouri. Eventually Prentiss’ unit was sent to join US General
Ulysses Grant’s Army of Tennessee. Very soon thereafter The Army
of Tennessee met the Confederate army commanded by CSA General Albert
Sidney Johnson near a church close to the banks of the Tennessee
River called Shiloh. Johnson unleashed a ferocious attack that
pushed the Yankees almost into the river. Grant assigned Prentiss’
unit to delay the Confederate advance at all costs so Grant could
better prepare a defense. Prentiss and his men dug in at a spot that
was later name the “Hornet’s Nest” and they meant to stay.
They were stubborn and did indeed delay the advance but when Prentiss
saw the Confederates line up several cannon set hub to hub aimed at
him and his unit, he knew the end was near. After one salvo of
canister by the Confederates, Prentiss and the other survivors of his
unit were captured. Before the Battle of Shiloh he was on the Court
Marshal of US General Fitz-John Porter who refused to carry out
orders issued by the inept General John Pope at the battle of 2nd
Manassas which Porter considered suicide. Porter was stripped of
rank and cashiered out of the army. Incidentally, the Union Army did
indeed receive a severe ass-kicking at 2nd
Manassas but not because of Porter’s disobedience but because Pope
was overwhelmingly out-generaled by Robert E. Lee. Pope needed a
scapegoat and Porter was it. After the war the US could not find a
place for Prentiss and he resigned. He became a postmaster for many
years in Missouri. He died there in 1901.
1979
Well known IRA (Irish Republican Army) terrorist Thomas McMahon is
sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of English war hero
Lord Louis Mountbatten. On August 27 McMahon had boarded
Mountbatten’s boat docked in Donegal Bay, Ireland and planted 50
pounds of TNT with a remote detonation device attached. Finally Lord
Mountbatten and a party of five board the boat and set out. McMahon
remotely detonated the TNT and four people are killed including
Mountbatten. The same day another bomb detonated in a train station
in Northern Ireland killing 18 English Army Paratroopers for which
the IRA took credit also. In 1998 the so-called Good Friday
Agreement goes into effect whereby certain jailed IRA members would
be released in return for a truce, McMahon was released swearing that
he was through with terrorism and the IRA.
Births
and deaths:
1938
US Ad Exec Alexander Kroll is born. He said “When Alexander the
Great met with the great Greek thinker Diogenes, Alexander asked if
he could do anything for him” Diogenes answered with “Just stay
out of my light.” That’s funny.
1973
US actress Constance Talmadge died. When walking onto the set to
begin a movie directed by the immortal D.W. Griffith, she turned to
Griffith and said “I am here your Majesty, you may begin at once.”
She was a smart ass.
Quotable quotes:
“Hillary
Clinton said in her book that it was hard for her to forgive Bill but
if Nelson Mandela can forgive then I should be able to. I did not
know that Bill had hit on Mandela’s wife.”
Jay
Leno
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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