Monday

                                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Keep it up, boys. We have caught them napping!”

General George A. Custer…1876…Little Big Horn, Montana

Trivia question of the day:

What Mexican born actor was awarded two Oscars for “Best Supporting Actor”. Answer at the end of the blog.

This is from 2016:

I have heard from one of my subscribers that is acknowledged fan of Obama. After the ass-kicking received by the Democrats, it appears that she is beginning to realize how unhealthy national politics really is. She sees that the president–elect is obligated to reward those that helped with the election, especially fund raising to get a job in their administration, skill and ability notwithstanding. She said that what we need is not a President, but a head coach to pull us together to work as a team. She prefers Dick Butkus…not a bad choice…or maybe Jesse Ventura.

                        This Date in History   November 5

1775 On this day General George Washington issued a statement condemning some of his troops who were planning to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes Day is an English celebration for the capture of Guy Fawkes who schemed to blow up the Parliament building in London. He wanted to kill the king, James I who was a protestant, in the hopes that James’ daughter Elizabeth, a Roman Catholic, would take over the reins of England. In the celebration effigies of the Pope are burned and essentially a condemnation of the Catholics in general. Washington condemned this action not out of conscience, but because he was trying to get some of the French Canadians to join the Continental army and they were all Catholic. The celebration never materialized out of respect for George, but the animosity remained.

1930 United States author Sinclair Lewis received the Nobel Prize for literature and he was the first American to receive this prize. Lewis was a cantankerous sort. In 1926 he had refused the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Arrowsmith” but decided to accept the Nobel Prize. He also gave us “Main Street”, “Babbitt” and “Elmer Gantry”. Every time I hear the words Elmer Gantry an image of Burt Lancaster with hair just a’ flying and bible in hand flashes across my mind. What a great performance. I miss him.

1961 A group of cave explorers find a sack full of bones in South Wales which solved 43 year old mystery. It seems that chorus girl Mamie Savant married George Shotten and they moved to a remote house on a cliff over looking the sea. Evidently it was not a happy marriage because one day neither George nor Mamie could be found anywhere. The authorities finally ran George down and come to find out that he had been married to another woman for years and was living with her when he was caught. When he was confronted he denied ever being married to Mamie but that was easily shot down. But they could not find hide nor hair of Mamie. So George was tried and convicted of bigamy and served 18 months. In addition to the bones the spelunkers found a gold wedding band and a black comb that was known to be Mamie’s. The bones were reassembled and it was determined that it was the bones of a 26 year old female about 5’-4” tall. That described Mamie but it was too late because George died in 1958 three years before the discovery of the bones.

1862 United States President A. Lincoln relieves General George B. McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac. After the disastrous ass-kicking the Army of the Potomac received at the hand of CSA General Robert E, Lee at 1^st Manassas, Lincoln appointed McClellan to whip the Army of the Potomac into shape. McClellan was a superb organizer/trainer and did indeed whip the army into shape. He organized the command structure, divided the army into manageable units and trained the troops to a razor sharp readiness. He then took that army of over 100,000 by boat to the end of the James River peninsula southwest of Richmond and began a march on that city. Everything went fine until he met CSA General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and received a series of ass-kickings. After this he went to the end of the peninsula and took his troops out of there. What pissed Lincoln off was that he camped out for six weeks before departing the peninsula. McClellan was always timid and shy in a combat situation and believed that he was always outnumbered which was never the case. His next faux pas was at the Battle of Antietam when his army drove Lee and the Confederates out of Maryland back across the Potomac into Virginia and did not pursue and destroy them. He chose to camp out again for several weeks while all the time Lincoln is burning up the telegraph wires telling him to get off his ass and do something. McClellan ignored Lincoln and indeed held him with distain and was vocal about it. Finally, McClellan got the army on its feet and they head for the Potomac River, however it took nine days for McClellan to get his troops across and that was the final straw. Lincoln called McClellan to Washington and sent US General Ambrose Burnsides to replace him. Burnsides knew that Lincoln wanted an aggressive commander so he immediately heads out to find Bobby Lee and his army of rebels. He found them at a place called Marye’s Heights near Fredericksburg, Va. and promptly has his ass handed to him at the cost of a terrible slaughter of the Army of the Potomac, but that is another story.

1862 Earlier the Santee Sioux of Minnesota had been promised they would be fed by the US Government in return for them going to a reservation. The corrupt Government officials would not release the food unless they were paid their usual bribes. The Sioux were on the edge of starvation and the launched a series of raids led by Little Wolf on the farms of the honkies up and down the Minnesota River. They were finally subdued and 300 are sentenced to hang. A. Lincoln intervenes and finally the list is whittled down to 38. Before a cheering throng of Minnesotans all 38 were hanged simultaneously. What we have here is a group of men whose wives and children are starving because of corrupt politicians and because they revolt, they are hanged. What is up with that?

Births and deaths:

1892 US newsman Lowell Thomas is born. He said “Once you reach the age of 80 everything you see reminds you of something else.” I am getting there myself. Say, that reminds me….

Famous quotes:

“Familiarity breeds contempt….and children.” Mark Twain

“Denial is not a river in Egypt” Mark Twain

“Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain

Answer to the trivia question:

The Mexican born actor that was awarded 2 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor was Antonio Rudolfo Quinn Oaxaca better known as Anthony Quinn.

                 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow