Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
While
attending a cocktail party, Sir Winston Churchill had one too many
brandies and was obviously hammered. A frumpy elderly lady walked up
and said “Sir Winston, you are drunk.” Sir Winston said “Yes
madam I am, and you are ugly. But tomorrow morning I will be sober.”
Trivia
question of the day:
Who
was in command of the US Army in Europe in WW1? Answer at the end of
the blog.
Some
of y’all may not know of the Wong case in western North Carolina.
Eduardo Wong was driving west on I-40 when he was stopped by a state
trooper for a tail light outage. Wong chose to shoot the trooper
three times killing him, he then got out and went through the
trooper’s pockets. He was caught and went on trial a couple of
weeks ago. The jury convicted him but could not agree on a sentence,
for crying out loud. Any time a law enforcement officer is killed it
is common practice to throw the book at the perpetrator, but not in
this case. The judge was forced to issue a sentence which was life
without parole. What the hell is wrong with the death penalty in
this case?
41
year old David Meggett was arrested in Charleston, SC and charged
with criminal sexual assault. It seems that a 21 year old woman woke
up to find Meggett sitting on her bed asking her to repay the $200
that she borrowed from him. She told Meggett that she did not have
the money but would pay him in a few days. Meggett exploded and
ripped the sheet off of her, ripped off her PJ’s and forcibly raped
her. After this Meggett apologized and left. Apologized, for crying
out loud. This is not the first time Meggett has done this. He was
out on parole for the very same thing committed in 2009. What is
wrong with him, thinking he can get away with that? By the way, David
Meggett was a star running back with the Giants, Patriots and the
Jets.
This
Date in History November 9
1780
on this date British General James Wemyss and 190 cavalrymen
attempted to ambush Patriot General Thomas “Gamecock” Sumter and
300 infantrymen at Fishdam Ford, South Carolina. Sumter was
nicknamed “Gamecock” by the British for his fighting style.
Wemyss was the second most hated British officer in the southern
United States. The most hated was Colonel Banastre Tarleton but both
he and Wemyss waged war against civilians by burning down homes and
the indiscriminate killing of livestock among other atrocities.
Wemyss’ ambush was discovered and Sumter’s men were ready when
the attack came. Wemyss was wounded in the arm and knee and was
captured by Sumter. It was Sumter and Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion
that was the largest thorn in the side of the British in the southern
United States, primarily in North and South Carolina. Both Sumter
and Marion were very capable military commanders and proved it time
and time again. Unfortunately, Sumter was captured by Tarleton on
November 30 and was out of action. The leadership of all the
Southern Patriot armies fell to Francis Marion. Marion did not
disappoint and was instrumental in driving the hated Redcoats out of
the Carolinas into Virginia to the waiting Patriot army led by George
Washington. The war was coming to a close when British General
Cornwallis and the army that had departed the Carolinas were trapped
against the Chesapeake Bay near Yorktown, Virginia with no possible
means of escape and Cornwallis surrendered.
1965
The largest power failure in United States history occured on this
date at rush hour. The failure started in Canada when a major power
line failed which automatically shifted more power to other lines and
they began failing from overload. The domino effect hit New York
City and seven other states and three Canadian provinces. It trapped
800,000 people in the New York subways and thousands more in
elevators and office buildings. In all there were 30 million people
affected. By the following morning all power had been restored. The
strange part was that 9 months later there was a spike in the birth
rate in the northeastern United States.
1862
On this date the commander of the 9th
Corp of the Army of the Potomac is promoted to command of the entire
army. US General Ambrose Burnside protested vehemently against this
but was voted down. He felt that he was at his capacity as a Corp
commander and General of the entire army was over his head. The
right man for the job would have been US General Joseph Hooker but he
was a drinker and chased skanky women which did not float in the eyes
of General in Chief Henry Halleck and he persuaded Lincoln to select
Burnside to replace the inept George B. McClellan rather than Hooker.
Burnside was born in Indiana and graduated from West Point in 1847
ranked number 18 in a class of 20. After serving in the Seminole War
he resigned and became the Treasurer of the Illinois Central
Railroad. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was given the rank of
Colonel and assumed command of a division. He performed admirably at
the Battle of 1st
Manassas and was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of
the 9th
Corp of the Army of the Potomac. After assuming command of the Army
of the Potomac, Burnsides confirmed his fears of being over his head.
The first thing he had to do was resolve the animosity that existed
in the ranks between those that liked McClellan and those who didn’t.
Then he set out in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia led by
CSA General Robert E. Lee and his very capable Corp commanders CSA
General James Longstreet and CSA General Thomas J. “Stonewall”
Jackson. Lee knew that Burnside was in pursuit and set up a
defensive position at a place called Marye’s Heights near
Fredericksburg, Virginia and after two days of preparation, Burnside
and his army arrived. Burnside ordered an attack that was not well
coordinated and fragmented. Jackson and Longstreet’s artillery had
been pre-registered (aimed) and the slaughter of the advancing
Yankees was horrendous. Those that survived the artillery found
themselves facing a stone wall with shoulder to shoulder Rebel
riflemen behind it who rose up and fired almost point blank.
Needless to say, the attack was called off after 13 different charges
that were repelled with stupefying losses. Soon after this, Burnside
was relieved and was replaced by Hooker with the skanky women and
whiskey not withstanding. It was after this battle that Lee uttered
the famous line “It is good that war is so terrible or we would
learn to love it.” Indeed General Lee, indeed. Not long after
Hooker took command he ran across Bobby Lee near a small town named
Chancellorsville, but that is another story.
1971
On this date a quiet, unassuming and very religious man named John
List killed his Mother Alma, his wife Helen and his three children.
Earlier, he had stopped the mail and milk delivery and had called his
children’s school and told them that he was taking his children out
of town to a long visit with a sick relative. John had lost his job
as an accountant and kept it from his family. He was close to losing
everything and decided that it would be best if his family went on to
heaven rather than suffer in poverty. Because of his preparation, no
one missed the family for several days and John all but disappeared.
He took a train to Denver and began a new life. He eventually ended
up in Virginia with a new wife and family. His downfall came when he
was featured of “America’s Most Wanted” television show even
though the case was 18 years old. The shows producers tasked a
reconstructive artist to use the 18 year old photo of John and create
a bust of him as what he would look like today with the aging. The
artist delivered a dead on match of John and he was soon arrested
using the alias of Robert Clark. He was tried, convicted and
sentenced to five life terms.
Born
today:
1935
US baseball flame throwing pitcher Bob Gibson. He said “Why
should I have to be an example to your kid. You be an example for
your kid.” Bob hit the nail on the head here, y'all.
Answer
to the trivia question:
The
commander of the US army in Europe during WW1 was General John J.
“Black Jack” Pershing.
Before
that Pershing was in the middle east and his troops were attacked by
Muslim radicals. He tracked them down poured pig blood on them and
then stood them up in front of a firing squad. The Muslims believe
that they cannot go to heaven if they are “unclean”. Drenched in
pig blood made them unclean. Pershing had no more trouble with the
Muslim radicals after that.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
