Friday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting with you now,

This much let me avow-

You are not wrong who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision or in none,

Is it therefore less gone?

All we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.”

        Edgar Allen Poe

            This Date in History   June 30

1775 The Continental Congress ratified the Articles of War to be sent to King George III. This was a year before the Declaration of Independence was ratified. The Articles of War begins with the phrase “As his majesty’s most faithful subjects in these colonies”, and it goes on to describe “attempts of the British ministry to carry out the execution, by force of arms, unconstitutional and oppressive acts by British Parliament with taxes on America.” The colonists could not believe that King George III would knowingly allow unfair treatment of his subjects and this was an attempt to notify him of it. This was not a condemnation of King George, but of Parliament. King George not only did not agree with the colonists, he did not even read the Articles of War. With this the Colonists knew they were being raped with the approval and encouragement of King George III. After this, the wrath of the colonists turned from Parliament to King George himself. The Declaration of Independence attacked and accused King George not Parliament. In the span of 12 months the colonists re-focused their venom on the King alone. All of this was stoked into an inferno in January of 1776 when Thomas Paine published Common Sense and it scathingly called King George everything but a white man and listed many unfair things that he had allowed to happen to the colonists. This was a clear act of treason as the British saw it and they began applying even more harsh pressure on the colonists. It did not work then, nor in 1812 and hopefully never.

1862 We are about half way through the so-called Battle of the Seven Days. On this day the Battle of White Oak Swamp occurred. CSA General Robert E. Lee decided that the time has come to apply the coup de grace to the Army of the Potomac that is in full retreat with Lee hounding their every step. Lee gave a plan of attack to his three Corp commanders in which the Army of the Potomac would be attacked from three different directions at once. It was a complicated plan and required precise timing. After the attack began, inexplicably, CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson allowed his attack to stall at the edge of the swamp which allowed the Union troops being under attack by him to reinforce other troops that were being overwhelmed. No one has ever figured out to this day what Jackson was thinking. Anyway, this action also allowed the Army of the Potomac to go to the closet high ground and dig in……Malvern Hill. But that is another story.

1981 Glen Godwin got into an argument with a known drug dealer named Kim LeValley. In his rage Godwin stomped, beat, choked and stabbed him 28 times. He wasn’t done yet. He took the corpse out onto the desert near Palm Springs, California and using a home made explosive, blowed it into confetti. Godwin is caught and sentenced to 25 to life and goes to Soledad Prison. While there he marries Shelly Rose. In 1985 He is transferred from Soledad to Folsom prison. In 1987 he escaped from Folsom through a 300 yard drain pipe that someone had cut the iron bars off the end from the outside. He got on a raft, floats across the American River to freedom. In 1989 the American authorities receive a message from Mexico they have a man in custody named Stewart Carrera that has the same fingerprints as Glen Godwin. Before they could get him extradited, Godwin killed his cellmate and escaped. In 1996 Godwin is put on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and he and Shelly are featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” Someone recognized Shelly on the TV show as living in Dallas and she is arrested. But Shelly had divorced Glen long ago and had remarried. She had no idea where Glen was. And no one else does either because he is still at large to this day.

1878 On this day the 140 ft stern wheeler river boat “Far West” arrived on the Little Big Horn River and begins taking aboard the wounded troopers from the infamous battle. Remember, there were three units of US cavalry at that battle. It was only Custer’s unit that was annihilated. Even though the other two units suffered horrendous casualties, there were survivors. The pilot of the “Far West” was the best at the time in Grant Marsh. The boat only drew 20 inches of water when fully loaded and therefore could navigate a long way up streams and rivers before running out of water. Marsh took the wounded troopers to Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota. There is little doubt that the easy ride on the boat saved many of the wounded. A ride in a wagon to the fort would have been fatal to many of them.

1520 On this day the Aztecs in the capitol of Tenochtitlan led by their king Montezuma II finally get fed up with the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez and his troops and revolt. First of all, Tenochtitlan is an island in the middle of a huge lake with a man made causeway to the mainland. It was located approximately where Mexico City is today. Anyway, the Aztecs sealed off the causeway making Cortez and company have to fight their way out by boat. Cortez loses many troops when the boats carrying the troops along with an overload of gold booty each, capsize and sink, drowning most of them as they are in armor. Cortez escaped, but Montezuma is killed. No one knows if it was the Spanish or the Aztecs that killed him but the next day Montezuma’s brother assumes the crown. Eventually, Cortez returned and with the help of other tribes retook the city. The other tribes resented the hated Aztecs because they subjugated them and required tribute from them all, even all the way to present day Nicaragua.

Births and deaths:

1918 US singer Lena Horne is born. She said “It is ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how much she wants it. But occasionally we do.” Lena has her finger on the pulse of womanhood.”

Quotable Quotes:

“If there is no hell, a good many preachers are receiving money under false pretenses.”

                                                Billy Sunday

               Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

                        Musings and History

Quote of the day

“I am not going to spend the later years of my life as a hermit so I

can spend an extra two years in the geriatric ward.” Me neither.

                                             George Carlin

Since recorded history the method of subjugating people has been taught and learned. To make people abide by your will is to take control of the three basics of life and that being food, water and shelter. You burn their shelter, destroy their food and either poison their water supply or protect it. This forces them to come to you for the basics of existence and you are able to dictate terms...or you kill them all. This tactic is taught in every military school on Earth. Nearly every military officer in the United States army in 1860 graduated from the Citadel, Virginia Military Institute, West Point, US Naval Academy or similar facilities and were familiar with this premise.

In 1861 when states began seceding and forming the Confederacy the Federal Government began forming an invasion army to prevent the fracturing of the union and that was their battle cry. What exactly would be the function of this army? It certainly was not to gather up slaves and bring them out, it was to implement the previously mentioned tactic of gaining control of the basics of life so they could dictate terms. They were to burn or occupy houses and barns, destroy or confiscate crops and destroy or confiscate livestock then place guards around the water sources. The trained military officers from those states that seceded knew this. Nearly all of them decided that not only would they not participate in this action against their family and friends, they were going to fight to prevent it from happening. The protection of slave owners and institution of slavery was a non-issue to the military participants, it was a survival issue. How do I now this? I read the diaries of those soldiers and sailors of both sides rather than the politicians. You can put any spin on it that makes you feel good but the actuality is what you just read.

The cry of “Save the Union” lasted about 2 years until the Union and Confederate armies suffered unforeseen horrific casualties. In April

of 1862 came the Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest 2 day battle in American history and 6 months later in September of 1862 came the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history. After this there was a move afoot in the northern states to “Give them their country, just stop the slaughter”. Lincoln saw that patriotism was not working and changed it to a matter of conscience and in January of 1863 issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slave “in those states in rebellion”. There were 4 “slave” states that did not join the Confederacy and they continued buying, selling and trading slaves throughout the war. They were Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri. The slaves were finally freed nationwide in December of 1865 with the enactment of the 13^th amendment by ALL of the United States. This is what happened folks...in spite of the fear and prejudice merchants.

             This Date in History   June 29

1776 The South Carolina representative to the Continental Congress, Edward Rutledge, sent a letter to John Jay of New York expressing his misgivings about independence from Great Britain. Both he and John Jay were ambivalent on this issue. It is understandable since both Edward and his brother John were educated in England with both becoming lawyers and members of the Continental Congress. Both were very successful with their Charleston, South Carolina clientele and they lived across the street from each other. Finally, Edward relented and did sign the Declaration of Independence being the youngest signer at the age of 27.

1993 On this date a knife-wielding man broke into the Allentown, Pennsylvania home of Denise Sam-Cali and tried to rape her. A struggle ensued but the rapist succeeded in raping Denise on the front lawn. He then stabbed Denise trying to kill her but she fought him off and the rapist ran away. This courageous woman would play a big role in the resolution of this crime. On the 9^th of July a 15 year old girl was abducted and her body was found by a reservoir stabbed 22 times. She had been raped also. On the 15^th of July a five year old girl was abducted and raped and the attacker unsuccessfully tried to strangle her. Then on the 19^th of July the house of Denise Sam-Cali was broken into while she was away. The police decided to set a trap and staked out Sam-Cali’s house and left a window enticingly open. On July 30 a man crawled into the open window and was greeted by a policeman and a gunfight ensued. The intruder crashed his way out through another window and fled. A few hours later, career criminal Harvey Robinson staggered into a hospital with two gunshot wounds. While waiting he was recognized by a policeman and Harvey fled with the cop in close pursuit. The cops ran Harvey down and arrested him. He went to trial and was easily convicted due to the DNA evidence that they retrieved from Denise Sam-Cali’s clothing. Denise had carefully laid aside her underclothing she had on during the rape just for this eventuality. Harvey got the death penalty. I wish I could designate the type of death to be given to animals like this. If I could, I promise you crimes of this sort would drop precipitously.

1941 On June 22, a German army of 3,000,000 soldiers, thousands of tanks and aircraft crossed into Russia as Operation Barbarossa began. It was Hitler’s intention to subdue Russia in spite of signing a peace agreement with Joseph Stalin less than a year before. One week after beginning this operation, July 29, the Germans were at the door steps of Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. During the previous week the Germans had captured the Ukrainian city of Lvov and slaughtered thousands and sent thousand to German slave labor camps. Those that were not killed or enslaved blamed the Jews for all of this and began killing the Jews in the streets. What’s up with that? Anyway, the Germans thought that if they were able to quickly overcome the Russian army, the populous would side with them since Stalin was an acknowledged monster. It didn’t happen. The Russian army was much larger than the German intelligence had supposed and the Russian people chose the lesser of two evils and stuck with Stalin and dug in their heels and resisted bitterly. This decision cost the lives of 6,000,000 civilians. Eventually “General Winter” shows up in mid-October and the German offensive ground to a halt. Because of the bitter cold, and the German soldiers having no winter clothing, the army was decimated. The very same thing happened about 130 years before when a short Corsican name Bonaparte tried to do the same thing as the Germans with the same results. The German army command believed they could wrap this operation up by early September and winter clothing was not necessary. They had severely miscalculated the resolve of the Russians and paid a terrible price for it. Eventually the Russian army got on its feet and crushed the attacking Germans and sent them fleeing back toward Germany with the Russian army hot on their heels. When the Russians entered Germany, they had no problem with slaughtering any air-breather they ran across in retribution. What goes around....

1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a letter to J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was the lead scientist on the “Manhattan Project” or the project to invent a nuclear weapon before the Germans did during WWII. The military branch of the project was led by Army General Leslie Groves. It seems that General Groves, being a military man, was very tense about security on such a secret project as this and set up the laboratories for the scientist in the middle of a New Mexico desert near the town of Alamogordo so it could be easily be made ultra-secret without attracting a lot of attention. The scientists were not really pleased with the living quarters and the extra tight security which resulted in friction between Oppenheimer and Groves. Roosevelt was trying to stroke Oppenheimer so he would not bolt and run taking the other scientists with him. The letter succeeded and two years later early one July morning, a bright flash lingered over the New Mexico desert when a nuclear device known as Trinity is detonated ushering in the nuclear age whether you like it or not.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                        Musings and History

Quote of the day:

When speaking of Neville Chamberlain he said:

“An appeaser is one that feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.”

                                      Winston Churchill

Have any of you wondered by the HIV virus is still with us? Why hasn't it gone the way of polio or smallpox where a vaccine was developed. Here is the reason: The HIV virus has the innate capability of detecting the vaccine and will change its metabolism to avoid its effects. This is not the only virus with this capability. Asian Flu can do the same thing. That is why there is a different “strain” of influenza every year requiring a different vaccine. The difference is that one is far more deadly than the other. Then there is malaria...

Zeke’s marina is located near the inter coastal waterway just outside Orange Beach, Alabama. It is the home of the 46 foot charter boat Rookie and the captain of this boat was 52 year old Allen Kruse. After the oil spill in the Gulf Allen’s charter boat fishing business took a nosedive. He had been a charter boat captain for 25 years and now he was out of business. To make ends meet he hired his boat out to BP and was undergoing training on how to skim the oil off the water and to lay out floating booms. For the first time in 25 years he was not his own boss and had strangers yelling at him. He was exasperated at the snails pace operation and seeing the containment crews lounging around Zeke’s doing nothing. Later he kissed his wife goodbye at his Foley, Alabama home and went to the marina. Allen climbed into the wheelhouse of his boat and blew his brains out. He said that life as he knew it would never be the same in his lifetime. It was more than he could bear.

         This Date in History   June 28

1836 James Madison died on his tobacco plantation in Virginia. He was a drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the chronicler of Continental Conventions, one of the authors of The Federalist Papers and the 4^th President of the United States. Had it not been for him and others with the same zeal for freedom as he, we would not be what we are today. His chronicles of the Continental Convention are recognized as some of the most detailed and well phrased ever written. He sealed his chronicles and made them inaccessible until all involved were deceased. Madison started his rise to fame when he attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) and completed a four year curriculum in two. He helped form the American Whig Society which became the rival of the Cliosophic Society, both were literary and debate societies. He, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were the authors of the Federalist Papers which were instrumental in keeping the public at large informed and fostered independence from England and persuaded the public that a central government could be sensitive to individual rights. I believe these writings were instrumental in the successful adoption of the Constitution. He became a rector at Thomas Jefferson’s beloved University of Virginia. In 1938 the Virginia State Teachers College in Harrisonburg changed to Madison College in his honor, it later became James Madison University. His wife Dolly Tate Madison was recognized as a superb first lady and host. It was she that saved the famous Gilbert portrait of George Washington from the British when she and James had to evacuate the White House from the British onslaught during the War of 1812. We need more like James and Dolly. By the way, James Madison is the only sitting US President to participate in combat. During the War of 1812 a British infantry unit was approaching Washington from Maryland. Madison crossed over into Maryland and took command of an artillery battery. It was during this time period that Dolly evacuated the White House and the British burned it to the ground.

1964 On this date the employer of Jim Olive call the police and tell them that he has not shown up for work for several days and that was not like him. The Terra Linda, California police went to the home of Jim and Naomi Olive and find the house in disarray but no Jim and Naomi nor their teenage daughter Marlene. The next day Marlene showed up at the police department with a bizarre tale of the disappearance of her parents. She told several versions on the same theme from Naomi shot and killed Jim to Jim had shot and killed Naomi to the two were kidnapped by a group of Hell’s Angels. As you might suspect, the police did not believe her and finally she confessed. She had induced Jim to take her to the zoo and while they were gone Marlene’s boyfriend Chuck Riley, was to kill Naomi because she and Naomi did not get along. Marlene was using Riley as a source for her drugs by providing him sex in return. Once when Riley and Marlene went on a $6,000 shoplifting spree, Naomi found out about it threatened to tell the cops. It was then that Marlene decided that she had to go. Naomi was an acknowledged schizophrenic/paranoid. Anyway, Riley took a claw hammer with him and went in and started beating up on Naomi. That did not get the job so he resorted to a kitchen knife in the chest. While he was doing the stabbing Jim and Marlene walk in and Jim tried to intervene but Chuck shot Jim in the chest and he died also. Eventually Marlene and Chuck dragged the bodies out into the woods, dug a trench, put the bodies in and poured in several gallons of gasoline and lit it off. Marlene took the police to the site. Marlene got 20 years and Chuck got life without parole.

1969 The so-called “Stonewall” riot occurs on this day. The NYPD raided the gay bar known as “The Stonewall”. The police had cause because the bar was selling liquor without a license. The crowd that was present watched quietly as the owners and bartenders were herded up and put into a paddy-wagon but when the police arrested three drag-queens and a lesbian off the street, the crowd erupted and began throwing bottles and rocks at the cops. The cops had no choice but to retreat into the building and call for a riot squad to come and disperse the mob. It was later discovered that the NYPD raided the gay clubs almost three times as often as they did others. With this information in hands of the bar owners and bartenders the NYPD knew they had no chance and released all with no charges being made. Everyone has prejudices, they are guaranteed by the Constitution, but unequal enforcement of the law is not allowed.

Births and Deaths:

1910 Scottish politico Lord William Whitelaw is born. When speaking of Prime Minister Harold Wilson he said “He is traveling around the country stirring up apathy.”

1926 US comic/actor/producer Mel Brooks is born. He said “If God had wanted us to fly he would have given us tickets.” He is a funny guy.

1946 US Comedienne Gilda Radner is born. She said “I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.” And what a creative talent she was. She is gone and I miss her.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Wilma, I promise you; whatever scumbag did this, not one man on this police force will rest until he is behind bars. Now let's grab some lunch.”

                  Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) The Naked Gun

I guess by no that all of you have read or heard that Great Britain has dropped out of the European Union. I did not really understand the significance until I did a little research. The headquarters of the European Union is in Brussels, Belgium. It essentially is an economic organization but those that govern have the ability to not recognize national borders, override national laws and to dictate how many immigrants a member of the Union should accept. This stuck in the craw of many of the Brits. Now the Brits will be able to govern immigration as they see fit but it could cost them economically. I guess you can push people so far then they revolt and to hell with the consequences.

This reminds me of the upcoming 4^th of July and an event that happened in Philadelphia in 1776...those people were pushed too far and did something about it and suffered the consequences for a while...but it was worth it. Freedom and self determination does not have a monetary value.

A while back President Obama indicated that if Great Britain did not stay in the EU it could effect the trade agreement with the United States. This display of unmitigated arrogance apparently lit a fire under the Brits and they did something about him trying to interfere with their national affairs...I don't blame them.

              This Date in History June 27

1844 Earlier in 1823 Joseph Smith, an 18 year old Vermonter, claimed to have been visited by a Christian archangel named Moroni. Moroni supposedly told Joseph about a book that had been written on gold plates by a Native American in the 4^th century. The book was a history of an ancient Israeli tribe that had came to America centuries ago but had been wiped out except for about 34 survivors. Moroni told Joseph where the book was buried and he dug it up and it was written in an unknown language, unknown to everyone except Joseph. Joseph deciphered this book into English and it became the Book of Mormon. Joseph formed a church that became The Church of Latter-Day Saints which flourished and quickly grew in number. The tenets of the Mormon Church did not sit well with the regular Christians primarily because polygamy was allowed. This hostility caused Joseph Smith and his faithful to stay on the move to Ohio, Missouri and finally to a town near Carthage, Illinois that Smith named Nauvoo. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested and jailed in Carthage. On this date, a group of “Christians” stormed the jail, removed Joseph and Hyrum and hanged them. This did not stop the growth of this religion, however, Brigham Young saw to that.

1864 In Early May the Union Army of the Tennessee had departed the Chattanooga, Tennessee area headed for Atlanta, Georgia about 100 miles distant. The Union army was commanded by US General William T. Sherman and the Confederate army in opposition was commanded by CSA General Joseph Johnston. It was a very slow moving campaign which was to the Confederate advantage. A couple of weeks before a corps of the Confederates led by CSA General John Bell Hood had attacked at a place known as Kolb’s farm and had lost 1,600 precious soldiers. The Confederacy had no replacements. Seeing this, Sherman thought that the Confederates were weakened and on this date he feinted to both the right and left of the Confederate lines and launched an 8,000 man attack on the Confederate center. The attack was repulsed with heavy losses for the Union and Sherman ordered a retreat. However, the unit that had feinted to the Confederate left held its ground and Johnston knew that eventually his position would be untenable and he retreated back toward Atlanta.

1874 Earlier Indian tribal chiefs Quanah Parker and Lone Wolf had signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in which they agreed to go to a reservation in Oklahoma but reserved the right to claim the panhandle of Texas as their private hunting grounds, primarily for the bison. However, a group of white buffalo hunters believed that the Panhandle of Texas was open range for hunting. The hunters established a small settlement in the panhandle known as Adobe Walls which is where most of the hides and meat was brought for trading. When Quanah Parker, Lone Wolf and the other chiefs saw that the US was not going to force the bison hunters off the agreed upon hunting ground they formed an army of their own totaling 700 Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne to drive the buffalo hunters off their lands. On this date the Indians attacked Adobe Walls that was manned by only 28 bison hunters. The difference was the bison hunters had the newly developed .50 caliber Sharps buffalo rifle that was hard-hitting and had a long range. Also to the advantage of the hunters was the thickness of the walls that could stop any bullet or arrow. After three days the Indians decided that the fort could not be taken and withdrew. Enraged at this loss, the Indians went on a rampage of raping and pillaging less well defended forts, house and farms that became known as The Red River War. This war decimated what was left of the plains Indians in that area and even more lands were taken by lies and conquest from the Native Americans.

1944 Thee weeks before, the Allies had successfully landed on the Normandy beaches and established a permanent beachhead. One of the main reasons for the attack at Normandy was to secure a deep water seaport to bring supplies in. That seaport was Cherbourg, France on the northern tip of the Contenin peninsula. The task of kicking the Germans out of the Contenin peninsula and Cherbourg in particular, fell to US General Omar Bradley. On this date Cherbourg was declared to be liberated. As the Allies turned east toward Germany they knew they would need another deep water port and that was Antwerp, Belgium. But that is another story.

Born today:

US billionaire H. Ross Perot. He said “Life is like a spider web, not an organizational chart.” I wonder what life would have been like with this Texan as our president.

1938 British writer Alan Coren. He said “I wonder if those companies that make fool proof items have a couple of fools on their payroll for testing purposes.” I don’t know, Alan, but I know where they can find a few.

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

While being asked about the weight of William “Refrigerator” Perry (360 pound defensive lineman from Clemson) who ran for a Chicago Bears touchdown in Super Bowl XX he said: “When the Fridge goes home to South Carolina the chicken population goes down measurably.”

                                                Mike Ditka

Here is a moment in time:

On April 1, 1945 the American 10th army arrived at Okinawa commanded by Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner. By evening of that day 60,000 troops had been put ashore. What followed was one of the bloodiest battles in recorded history. Okinawa is the last island before the Japanese mainland and the soldiers were fighting for there homeland. After suffering enormous casualties on both sides victory for the American troops was in sight. On June 18 General Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery. On Jun21 the troops had sealed the island. On June 22 the Japanese commander General Ushijima and his staff committed suicide and all hostilities ceased. There was 120,000 Japanese soldiers killed and there was none captured. Those left alive killed their wounded and committed suicide. Included in this was 2,000 Japanese kamikaze pilots that attacked the ships in support of the attack and 36 ships were lost. The US lost 13,500 killed and 35,000 wounded. The plan was to launch an attack from Okinawa onto the southernmost island of Japan with an estimated 1,000,000 casualties to capture the whole of Japan. However, on August 6 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and August 9 another one was dropped on Nagasaki and the next day Japan surrendered making the attack on Okinawa unnecessary. God works in mysterious ways.

                 This Date in History   June 26

1541 Earlier Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro had made a deal with another conquistador to split what they found while plundering what is now Colombia, South America. While raping and pillaging the natives in Colombia, Pizarro saw evidence of very rich civilization further south but did not discuss it with his partner. What he saw was evidence of the mighty Inca in Peru. Pizarro went around his partner, Diego de Almagro, and made a deal with King Charles V of Spain that granted Pizarro rights to the plundering the Inca if a percentage of the booty went to King Charles. Pizarro invaded Peru and captured the Inca king Atahualpa. He asked ransom for Atahualpa to the tune of a room full of gold. Incredibly, this demand was met but Pizarro killed Atahualpa anyway. Pizarro continued his slaughter, rape and enslavement of the Inca and was given the title of Governor. Lima, the city that became the capital of Peru was founded by Pizarro. Anyway, Pizarro’s erstwhile partner Diego de Almagro became very jealous of Pizarro’s success and demanded a piece of the action so Pizarro took out a map and drew out a sketch of the lands that he granted to de Almagro. Diego was displeased with the amount of land given and planned revenge and Diego de Almagro seized the city of Cuzco. Pizarro sent his half brother to take the city back which he accomplished with ease. On this date three years later some of the accomplices of Diego sneaked into Pizarro’s mansion and skewered him with a sword while he dined. The next day Diego de Mansa, Almagro’s son, declared himself as Governor of Peru.

1957 On this date Margaret Harold of Annapolis, Maryland decided to take ride in her car with her boyfriend. All of a sudden a car whipped in front of Margaret and stopped. The driver got out carrying a .38 revolver, shot and killed Margaret but her boyfriend managed to escape. In an abandoned building a short distance away the police found the walls plastered with porno of the most gruesome type. Two years later the Jackson family of Fredericksburg, Virginia was out riding down a dirt road in a rural area when a car cut them off and a man got out carrying a .38 revolver. The father, mother, a two year old girl and a five year old boy were killed but not before the mother was brutally raped. She was raped in the same abandoned building that the police had found all the porno. Word leaked out to the press and tips began flooding in and one of them pointed to a man named Melvin Rees. Rees was eventually located in West Memphis, Arkansas and his apartment was searched and a .38 revolver was found. But the most damning evidence was a handwritten note paper clipped to a newspaper article about the Jackson family killing. The note described in gruesome detail how he had raped the mother. Further evidence implicated Rees in the murder of four other young women in the Virginia/Maryland area. This monster was tried and convicted of three murders and was sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life without parole. He died in prison in 1995. I wonder where he is now.

1862 On June 1 the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Joseph E. Johnston was replaced by General Robert E. Lee. Johnston had been severely injured at the Battle of Fair Oaks. On this date the Army of Northern Virginia encountered the enormous Army of the Potomac, US General George McClellan commanding, near a small town southwest of Richmond called Mechanicsville. The Battle was the first of the so-called Battle of the Seven Days. The Confederate cavalry commander Colonel J.E.B. Stuart had ridden completely around McClellan’s army and brought back information that the Union left flank was “in the air”. This meant that there was no natural barrier like a mountain or river protecting the left end of line of infantry. Lee sent CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson and his corps to attack the Union left. Jackson had just caught up with Lee after his brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign. For reason known only to Jackson, he was slow in developing his attack and was discovered which allowed the Union troops to reinforce. The battle was a short but bloody one and was essentially a draw. The difference was that General McClellan was really unnerved at the sight of the carnage and his tactics softened. Lee jumped at this chance and aggressively drove the Union army backward to the end of the James River peninsula where they boarded ships and got their young asses back to the house.

Born today:

1824 Lord Kelvin, Irish scientist. He said “A heavier than air flying machine is impossible.” Hey Kelvin, you were a brilliant man but had no vision.

1904 US actor Peter Lorre. When attending the funeral of Bela Lugosi who played a vampire in many movies he said “Do you think we should drive a stake in his heart just to be sure.”

1931 English writer Colin Wilson. He said “This new civilization bears a new type of hostility. To say it is the law of the jungle is being unfair to the jungle.” I understand, Colin.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Go for it today. The future is promised to no one.”

                           William Dyer

I had an amateur genealogist look into my ancestry and found some interesting things. My Great-Great grandparents Andrew Justus was born in Newberry, SC in 1805 and Hanna Gilreath as born in Greenvile County, SC in 1809. They were married in 1829 and moved to Hendersonville, NC. They had 9 children one of which was Walker Sevier Justus my Great Grandfather and the father of Laura Christine Justus Blair, my maternal grandmother. Of their 9 children 4 of their sons died in the Civil War fighting for the CSA. Two died at Petersburg, Va, one at Fredericksburg, Va. and one at Valley Mountain, Va. Two died of disease and the cause of death of the other two is unknown but the dates of their deaths corresponds to well known battles. Death by disease was common in those days because of the lack of sanitation and very septic treatment of wounds resulting in gangrene. This is my mother's side of my family my father's side will come later. I want to thank Mr. Ralph McGlasson for his research and this report.

A while back the ex-mayor of North Charleston, South Carolina Bobby Kinard had convinced himself that his estranged wife had a boyfriend. He retrieved his handgun and went to her apartment. The man that Bobby thought was his wife’s paramour was there and Bobby shot him. The man was just wounded but when a police car pulled up outside Bobby took his own life. Bobby’s wife said that he had been suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome from his days as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam. His depression was so severe lately that he was seeing a psychiatrist and taking powerful anti-depressants. He talked frequently about being in combat but to make matters worse, his son is in a combat unit in Afghanistan. His wife claims that the man Bobby wounded was just a friend. At one point in my life I was accused by a very jealous husband of being the lover of his wife. They were going through a very bitter divorce at the time. I was not even a friend of this woman much less a lover but I could have ended up very dead. I just kept a lot of space between me and that man and woman until everything calmed down. No, I did not pursue her even then; I was not going to take a chance.

           This Date in History   June 23

1996 On this date John Gotti, better known as the “The Teflon Don”, is sentenced to life without parole on a RICO charge. A RICO charge is about racketeering but Gotti was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion. He had been arrested and put on trial and had been acquitted many times thus the nickname “Teflon Don”. Gotti was raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York and became a member on organized crime at an early age. He was an enforcer or one who collected money due the organization by what ever means it took, including murder. He worked his way up to a “capo” or a captain which was third in line to the “Don” or the head of the organization. Gotti was an ambitious devil and decided that the wanted to be the head of his organization which was a branch of the Gambino crime family. The leader of Gotti’s group was Paul “Big Pauli” Castellano. Castellano was a tall man with salt and pepper wavy hair. After a while Gotti decided that he had reached a point where he needed to take over the leadership so he did the honorable thing. He sent three assassins to Sparks Steak House in Brooklyn and awaited the arrival of Big Pauli who was known to be coming there for supper. Sure enough Big Pauli and the driver of his limo Anthony “Fat Tony” Bilotti arrived and the assassins open up with a hailstorm of automatic gunfire and Big Pauli and Fat Tony are dead before they hit the sidewalk. The next day began the reign of John Gotti. Gotti died a horrible death in prison from cancer of the throat. God works in mysterious ways.

1959 Back in 1930 a brilliant but young scientist in Germany name Klaus Fuchs joins the German Communist Party. In 1934 Klaus decides that he had better get the hell out of Germany because of the rise of the Nazi Party which was the dead set enemy of Communists. So he moved to London and is soon recognized for the brilliant scientist that he was. A few years later England and the United States began testing the waters for a nuclear weapon. England hired Fuchs in spite of his Communist background and used him as a research scientist for a nuclear project. Fuchs did not disappoint and proved to be very knowledgeable. The English sent Fuchs to the United States and was absorbed into the Manhattan Project and in fact he joined the other scientists at Los Alamos, New Mexico where the first actual nuclear device was invented and detonated. Little did anyone know that Fuchs had already contacted a Soviet spy and began feeding his information on the progress of America’s attempt at a nuclear weapon. In fact he sent this spy the actual blueprint of “Fat Man” or the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. It was after the capture of Fuchs and the understanding of how much damaging information had been passed to the Russians that Harry Truman authorized the research into a H-bomb, or a bomb that was a thousand times more powerful that the Hiroshima bomb. The first one of these was detonated in 1952. Anyway, Fuch was found out and convicted and went to prison. He was released on this date for good behavior after just 12 years. They could not try him for treason because neither England nor the United States was at war with Russia at the time of the acts of espionage. Fuch immediately went to Communist East Germany where he lived out his days. He died in 1988, the chicken-shit bastard that he was.

1776 Earlier England had called sea Captain Peter Parker out of a ten year retirement and tasked him with capturing Charleston, South Carolina and providing support to the Loyalists. On this date Captain Parker and his armada approached Charleston and opened fire on Sullivan’s Island embrasures. The fortifications were made with Palmetto logs that are so soft that the naval artillery shells just buried into the logs and did not explode doing little or no damage. Then the commander of the forces on Sullivan’s Island, Colonel William Moultrie, directed a very accurate and efficient return barrage that did tremendous damage to Parker’s ships especially his flagship the HMS Bristol. Parker himself was injured in both legs and ended up with his pants removed so his wounds could be treated. To add insult to injury the Royal Governor William Campbell who was also on the Bristol, was killed along with 261 more English sailors. The HMS Sphinx had its bowsprit shot away and the HMS Actaeon ran aground right in front of Moultrie’s deadly guns and was shot into kindling. Captain Parker decided to get out of range of Moultrie’s death dealing ordinance and the battle was ended. The Patriots suffered six with minor injuries.

1878 In 1822 Martin Sweeney was born somewhere in New Jersey. At the age of 23 he got gold fever and headed west and ended up being a blacksmith on an Apache Indian reservation. Sweeney became absorbed into the Apache lifestyle and gained a great respect for the Apache abilities to survive in the desert when honkies could not. He was asked to be a US Government liaison officer since he had learned the language. Sweeney refused because he found something that held his attention better and that being mining speculation. Along the way Sweeney gained a reputation as a man with a quick temper and an even quicker set of fists. He and a partner named Oliver Boyer bought controlling interest in silver mines near Tombstone, Arizona. On this date, Martin and his partner Oliver, enter into a heated argument. Even though Sweeney was good with his fists he did not pack a gun but Oliver did. The argument reached a fever pitch and eventually Oliver pulled a gun and shot Martin in the chest killing him instantly. Oliver was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

          Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I don’t want to hear that we are ‘holding our position’. We are not holding anything. We will let the “Hun” do that. We are advancing constantly and not hold on to anything except the Germans. We are going to hold him by the nose and kick him in the ass.”

                                                 

US General George S. Pattonli lll

At one time there was a Lebanese immigrant as part of my social group. He had immigrated to escape the civil war that was taking place between the Muslims and the Christians in the early and mid 1980's. He was a soldier in the Christian Militia. He and I had many long conversations about the middle east and the problems involved. He said the problem is the Shia Muslims wanting to take over the world by force if necessary. I asked him what is the solution and he said the Christian Militia had the answer...kill them all, man, women and child. But the world media began showing what was going on over there and their covert funding dried up.

A friend of mine said that one of her acquaintances was a Marine in Lebanon in that time period. He was introduced to a Russian soldier and in their conversation the Russian pointed at himself and said “We are not your problem, they are your problem” pointing to a group of Muslim children playing nearby.

I finished two books this past weekend. One of them was “Picked By the King” and the other was “Teaching the Pig to Dance”. I met the author of “Picked By the King” (Frieda Stroble) when she had a table set up in the lobby of my favorite watering hole which is a pretty fancy-schmantzy sushi restaurant with a small bar. She and I talked a while and I took one of her books home. It was not what I had expected. This woman is a half Lumbee Indian from the cotton and tobacco belt of South Carolina. She and her family suffered incredible racial intimidation and discrimination most of her formative years. They were denied many things simply because they were dark skinned. Before the tenet of “separate but equal” was struck down by the Supreme Court, there were signs everywhere in the Dillon, South Carolina (the closest city to their farm) area say “White Only” and that included Indians as well as blacks. She finally was able to go to a “white” high school and essentially was ostracized for the entire time and it scarred her forever. The book was about her time as a hair dresser in a “retirement home”. My Mom and Dad spent a time in a retirement home and it was not a happy time for either them or the rest of the family, especially me. The author wrote a series of vignettes about her trying to make those men and women in the home happier. The title of the book “Picked by the King” is the author’s belief that God had picked her to be a hair dresser for the elderly making their lives more enjoyable. She is very religious and almost every page made reference to her religion and even included verses from the Bible. In my opinion this distracted from the ebb and flow of the sequence of events and it hinted the she felt herself an evangelist and can read the mind of God. When I spoke with her in person she was very amiable and charming, pretty too. But as most writers know, your soul shows itself when you write. The book was not the type of book that I normally read but I read it in one sitting. I am sorry Frieda, but I must call them the way I see them.

“Teaching the Pig to Dance” was written by former presidential candidate and actor, Fred Thompson. It is the history of Fred’s youth in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Fred’s father was a truck driver/used car dealer and the book was again a series of vignettes about his youth and the association with his father and the rest of his family. Frankly, even though I am a fan of Fred Thompson, this book appeared to be written as an afterthought or to fulfill a contract with a publisher. It was very frothy and without a lot of substance. The title came from a quote Fred made about learning Latin in high school. He said “Trying to teach me Latin would be like teaching a pig to dance. It would be exasperating for the teacher and irritating to the pig.” Stay to acting and politics, Fred…Literature ain’t your bag.

This Date in History June 22

1609 Two years earlier English navigator Henry Hudson had set sail from England aboard his ship Discovery having been tasked by Dutch merchants with finding a northwest passage to the Pacific ocean and the Orient without having to sail around the toe of South America known as Cape Horn. A passage around this headland was a major undertaking in any season. It was always stormy and very dangerous. Hudson sailed into New York, Delaware and the Chesapeake bays seeking a passage west. It was Hudson that was the first European that sailed up the river that bears his name to this day. No passage was found and when he tried the present day Hudson Bay in Canada he realized that he could not stay in this environment through the winter. His exit from the river back into the Atlantic became blocked with ice so he did the next best thing and anchored his boat as far south as he could and prepared to wait for spring. Henry and his crew were on the cusp of freezing and starving to death all winter long. As you might suspect the crew got really pissed and decided to mutiny when it got warmer and the ice began to melt. They set Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in a small boat none of which were ever seen or heard from again. It was Henry’s voyage up the present day Hudson River that gave the Dutch claim to that part of the New World and the English a claim to Hudson Bay. Once the crew reached England they were captured and tried for mutiny but were not executed because their knowledge of the New World was immeasurable.

2006 On this date the second trial of Andrea Yates began. Yates was the mother that drowned her three children in the bathtub of her Texas home. She had drowned her two sons aged 7 and 5 plus her 6 year old daughter. At her trial in 2001 she had given a not guilty plea by reason of insanity. During this trial the prosecution had gotten a conviction for 1^st degree murder and had presented a psychiatrist as an “expert witness” and later it was discovered that his credentials were false and her conviction was thrown out. In this trial there was no doubt that his bitch was crazy as a loon. She had been taking many types of psychiatric drugs and even had attempted suicide three times in the past. How could this lunatic be allowed to be a caretaker of little children? In this trial she was acquitted of first degree murder but convicted of murder but not aware of the consequences of her acts. In other word, she was crazy as a shit house mouse. With this conviction she could not be given a life sentence in a correctional facility but there is no doubt in any Texan’s mind that this beast will be is a nut house for the rest of her days. I read a little about her first trial and she said that the 7 year old by fought hard but she overpowered him and he went underwater screaming “No, Moma, no!” Yates claimed that the Devil was inside her and she was afraid he would get into her children. She was partially right.

                Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Happiness is not the absence of problems; it is the ability to deal with them.”

                                                   Stacy Keach

A while back a containerized cargo ship docked at the municipal docks in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Early one morning the security cops arrested two unauthorized aliens walking away from the ship. These guys were stowaways inside one of the containers from the Dominican Republic. Both of these jackasses had been previously convicted of crimes here in the United States, did hard time and then were deported. They were handed over to Federal authorities. By the way, there originally were three of them but one of them died in the container and was left to rot by his buddies. Hell yes, let’s allow the unrestricted flow of Latino aliens, they will make great citizens.

Last week down in Columbia, SC a food delivery truck was re-fueling at a Sonoco station when the driver went inside for personal reasons. When he came back, the truck was gone. That’s right, someone was really hungry. The truck was found the next day just a few miles away. All that was missing was some food. Times are tough, y’all.

A while back the state of Utah offered a man on death row that was nearing his assigned execution date either the poison needle or a firing squad. He opted for the firing squad. Later on a firing squad was assembled and this convicted killer went to meet his make air conditioned. If you think about it, five rounds of 30.06 ammo simultaneously entering your chest causes death more instantaneous than the 20 seconds it takes for the poison. I do not see what all the hoopla is about, how about some sympathy for this animal’s victims.

Here is an item that should install confidence in the present bureaucracies. A while back the state of Louisiana had bought a number of barges that have a vacuuming device aboard that is very effective in gathering oil off water surfaces to combat the oil spill by the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The United States Coast Guard forbade these barges from going out into the Gulf because there were not enough life jackets aboard each vessel. These barges stayed in port for four days before the Coast Guard would give them the nod. They eventually ended up on site and operating. There is an old proverb that says “You do not worry about draining the swamp when you are up to your ass in alligators.”

                 This Date in History   June 21

1964 Earlier two civil rights workers from New York named Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman and arrived in segregated Mississippi. They were working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and their purpose was to try to register black voters. After their arrival in Neshoba County they were joined by a black Mississippi native named James Chaney, also working for CORE. In January Schwerner organized a successful boycott of a few businesses in Meridian, Mississippi and had been instrumental in the surge of black voters being registered. As a result of this the Grand Wizard of the KKK, Sam Bowers, put a contract out for Schwerner’s life. On June 16, 15 Klansmen descended on a black church, beat the crap out of a lot of people and burned the church to the ground. Schwerner had used the church as a rallying place to get the blacks to register to vote. He was not there that night he and the other two had gone to a training seminar in Ohio. On this date they returned to Mississippi they found out about the burned church and went to the site to talk with blacks that attended the church about what happened. After this they headed back to Meridian. They were stopped and arrested by the Deputy Sheriff of Neshoba County, Cecil Price, for suspicion of arson. They were using the church burning as an excuse to lock them up long enough to notify the Klan where they were. After 7 hours in the slammer and denied any phone calls, they were released and they resumed their trip toward Meridian. Awaiting them at the edge of the city of Philadelphia, Mississippi, which was the county seat of Neshoba County, was two car loads of Klansmen. They stopped the civil rights worker’s car and killed them all. After it became apparent to the relatives of the three that they had disappeared under ominous circumstances, they called the FBI and agents from that agency descended on Philadelphia like a swarm of locusts. They found the ringleaders of the murders and put them on trial for murder in a Philadelphia courthouse with a Mississippi judge presiding. They were all convicted but the judge did not sentence them to any punishment saying that they were provoked by “outsiders”. The shocked FBI went one step further and sued the ringleaders for a violation of the Constitutional right of the three. They were all convicted and went to prison. The bodies of the three workers were found buried in an earthen dam that was under construction.

1990 On this night in northwestern Iran, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale begins on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The resulting devastation kills 50,000 and injures over 130,000. There was a stretch of a series of villages 80 miles long on the coast of the Caspian Sea that every building had collapsed and every person was killed.

Quotable Quotes:

“Always acknowledge a mistake, this throws those in authority off guard and give you the opportunity to make more.”

                                              Mark Twain

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

                                           Mark Twain

“Politics is more dangerous than war. In war they can only kill you once.”

                                      Winston Churchill

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The metric system did not catch on in the United States except for the increasing popularity of the 9 millimeter bullet.”

                                                    Dave Barry

Due to recent mass murder events I researched past deadly mass murders in the US beginning with the 2^nd worst after 9/11.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were the perpetrators of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing using mixture of fertilizer and diesel fuel because they were incensed over the Waco massacre described below. 168 killed and 680 wounded. Both men were US citizens and military veterans. McVeigh was executed and Nichols is doing life without parole. Their religions are unknown.

Vernon Howell changed his name to David Koresh and ultimately organized the Branch Davidian religious sect. Their compound was near Waco, Texas. It was discovered that the compound had grenades and automatic weapons the ATF was notified. A search found that Koresh had a license to have those type weapons so they attacked via another route. They accused Koresh of having sex with underage children in the compound but child protection is not the business of the ATF so the FBI was notified. The FBI began an attack on the compound after negotiations failed. Several agents were killed and wounded with no apparent effect to the compound so a siege was initiated. They cut off the power and water but Koresh had a generator and plenty of fuel, water and food. 51 days later Attorney General Janet Reno allowed the use of a tank to break down one of the walls. Somehow a fire started probably by a tear gas canister and the compound burned to the ground killing 80, including Koresh and 22 children under the age of 13. No one in the Federal Government has yet satisfactorily answered all the questions about why all this happened the way it did. Koresh and Janet Reno were American citizens. Janet Reno's religion is unknown.

Dylann Klebold and Eric Harris were students in Columbine High School in Colorado and in 1999 decided to bomb and shoot and many students as they could. 13 dead and 21 wounded. They used propane tanks as bombs and 2 semi-automatic rifles, a pump shotgun and a sawed off double barreled shotgun. Both men/boys were US citizens, religions unknown.

In July of 2012 James Holmes went into a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, a pump shotgun, and Glock. There were 12 killed and 70 wounded. James Holmes is a US citizen, religion is unknown.

In December of 2012 Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. 27 killed, including the shooter who committed suicide, and 22 wounded. Lanza was a US citizen, religion unknown.

In April of 2007 Seung-Hui Cho a junior at Virginia Tech University went on a killing spree resulting in 32 killed and 17 wounded. Cho was using a semi-automatic weapon. He was born in South Korea but was in the US on a permanent visa while in school, religion unknown.

On June 17, 2015 21 year old Dylann Roof walked into the Mother Emanuel Methodist Church in Charleston, SC and killed 9 members of the congregation with .41 caliber Glock semi-automatic hand gun. He was captured the next day at a traffic stop near Shelby, NC. Roof was born in Columbia, SC and at the time of the shooting he was living in Eastover, SC primarily a black community. He said he did it to start a race war. He is an American citizen, religion unknown.

This is not all of the mass murders by American citizens by any means but I think y'all get the idea.

Here is some thoughts about all of this. It is clear that all of these perpetrators were not of a rational mind and trying to prevent them from buying an “assault weapon” by background checks is ludicrous. There a hundreds if not thousands of undocumented Chinese made AK-47 type rifles out there meaning there is no evidence that they even exist. Anyone can go to Craig's list, classified ads in publications, gun shows, word of mouth and even steal to get nearly anything you want. For an attack in close quarters a 12 gauge shotgun with 0 or 00 shells will get the job done very well.

Also passing a law eliminating the 2^nd Amendment is not the answer. I can assure you that if law enforcement sent out a notice in cities and towns like Cullman, Al., Eagle, Ak., Jackson Hole, Wy., Green Bay, Wi., Lakeland, Fl., and Greenville, SC saying that everyone must surrender their firearms the response would be predictable. Remember that the Battle of Bunker Hill happened because the ruling authority (Great Britain) came to disarm the American colonists in that area of Massachusetts.

This Date in History June 20

1947 Benjamin Siegel was raised in the manner of most crime figures in Brooklyn, New York, when a teenager he and his friend Meyer Lansky initiated a protection racket on the local businesses that eventually blossomed into bootlegging and extortion. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel rose in power in organized crime and in the late 1930’s he was selected to open operations in Los Angeles and was given $500,000 start-up money. Bugsy jumped into the Hollywood scene and became well known to powerful people and movie stars for his all night parties at his mansion. Then WWII started and the attention of the American people focused on the war and not what Bugsy was selling. Bugsy instead chose to go to Italy and try to sell Mussolini explosives. The explosives did not perform and Bugsy came home empty handed. Then he had a brilliant idea. He noticed that every train coming to the west coast was full of soldiers and the trains all made a rest stop in the sleepy town of Las Vegas, Nevada where the local government turned a blind eye to petty crime and gambling was legal. Bugsy decided to open a gambling casino and borrowed $6,000,000 from New York organized crime headed by Lucky Luciano and opened the very first in the Flamingo. At first the Flamingo was not profitable and Lucky called in the $6,000,000 loan to Bugsy. Bugsy and Lucky argued bitterly and on this date, Bugsy was sitting on the couch in his girlfriend’s (Virginia Hill) apartment in Beverly Hills when two shots from a 30.06 came through a front window striking Bugsy in the head killing him instantly. This was the end of Benjamin Siegel. Almost at the same time, some of Luciano’s men walked into the Flamingo and announced that they were now in charge. Even Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano could never have imagined what this town became.

1905 On this date Lillian Hellman is born in New Orleans. Her family shuttled between New York and New Orleans and she attended New York University and Columbia but received a degree from neither. It became obvious that she was a gifted writer, especially screenplays. In 1925 she married screenwriter Albert Kober but divorced him a few years later. Then she chose to go to Russia and civil-war-era Spain supporting leftist causes. She eventually returned to the good ole USA and struck up tumultuous relationship with hard-assed detective novelist Dashiell Hammett. “Dash” was a very successful writer giving us the immortal “Maltese Falcon” that was made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart. The arguments between these two were legendary but there was no question they were in love. Then an egotistical horse’s ass showed up in Congress named Joe McCarthy. This jackass was a junior congressman from Wisconsin and he decided that everybody in federal government and each and everyone in the movie business were card carrying Communists. He became the chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee and ordered a series of hearings too root out all of those Commies. They really were not hearings, they were inquisitions where you came in guilty and had to prove your innocence and endure McCarthy’s demeaning questioning. As a result of these hearings, Dash went to jail and Lillian lost everything she had. After Dash’s release from prison he fell ill and Lillian cared for him until his death in 1961. Lillian began a teaching career that included Harvard, MIT and USC Berkeley. She died of a heart attack in Martha’s Vineyard in 1989. What talented person.

               Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow