I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period

Herman Cain had a press conference today, which I’m sure cleared up this whole sexual harassment/assault thing once and for all to everyone’s satisfaction. Video:

PERIOD: “I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period.”

Line up behind the rope line, ladies.

He watched yesterday’s Sharon Bialek press conference in a hotel room with a couple of staffers. Way to step up your game, Herman!

HE FORGOT THAT HE FORGOT: “I tried to remember if I remembered that name — and I didn’t.”

HE’S MORE OF A BREAST MAN: “I didn’t recognize the face.”

WHAT HE WILL NOT BE DETERRED BY: “And I will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations.” They’re false AND incorrect. And anonymous.

I THOUGHT HE SAID IT WAS RICK PERRY?? “the Democrat machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false statements.” Oh no, the Democrats have a machine for making troubled women now!


I trust people will have noted that word “troubled,” in which Cain suggested mental illness in a woman he claims never to have met. Echoes of “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.”

The accusations “exceed common sense.”


He quotes his wife, “and this is a direct quote.” Evidently he called up his wife yesterday to ask her what she thought of Bialek’s press conference – and he took notes on what she said. After assuring us that his family, none of whom is present, totally believes him, he hastily implores the media not to “drag my family into this.”

He would certainly submit to a polygraph, “But I’m not going to do that unless I have a good reason to do that.” He doesn’t explain what a good reason would be.


TURNED OFF: “It is natural that some voters will be turned off by the mere mention of the accusations.” Maybe with the right music and some wine...

NO FUCKING KIDDING: “In no way have I tried to minimize sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Actually, the question was about whether he’s ever seen sexual harassment, and what he says is that he’s seen instances that could be interpreted as sexual harassment.

He’s even seen women attempting to sexually harass men.

He goes on again about the pay-offs to his alleged victims being “agreements” rather than “settlements,” because a settlement would have legal implications. Er, doesn’t a non-disclosure agreement have “legal implications”?

There’s “a machine to keep a businessman out of the White House.” See, this is why unemployment is so high: the processes of bringing forth troubled women and keeping businessmen out of the White House have been mechanized, putting American workers out of good unionized jobs.


Asked to back up this conspiracy theory, he says he can only “infer” that there are dark forces arrayed against him. Then he says it’s “common sense” to suggest that because Sharon Bialek has had money problems in the past, she’s being paid off to make false accusations. It’s just common sense. Or, you know, slander.

Later in the day, or possibly earlier, he was interviewed by ABC.

He asked, very reasonably, “How can I defend charges when I don’t remember this person by name”? In fact, he doesn’t even remember “this person’s” name from seeing her on the tv yesterday, since he never uses it.

CAIN IS ALWAYS BRAGGING ABOUT HIS “BIG POINT”: “But the big point is, I have never acted inappropriately with anyone.”

DIDN’T CHASING THEM GET YOU INTO TROUBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE? “You know, to constantly be chasing anonymous accusers, baseless accusations, is a distraction from the big issues we oughta be talkin’ about.”

An “element” “really don’t want to see an unconventional candidate that is connecting with the people and putting bold solutions on the table.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days.


BY THE NUMBERS: His wife supports him 200%, his campaign does not have a cajillion dollars, his name recognition is now 99.9.

Reporters trying to get his relatives to comment on this “has no place in politics. It has no place in America.”

NYT: When Karen Kraushaar left the National Restaurant Association after filing charges against Cain, “some staff members were told that Ms. Kraushaar had suffered an injury after falling off a mule”.

Sign sign sign!

Please sign this White House petition at once.

(Update: the petition is now gone from the White House site. It said: We demand a vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe response to this petition.

Since these petitions are ignored apart from an occasional patronizing and inane political statement amounting to nothing more than a condescending pat on the head, we the signers would enjoy having the illusion of success. Since no other outcome to this process seems possible, we demand that the White House immediately assign a junior staffer to compose a tame and vapid response to this petition, and never attempt to take any meaningful action on this or any other issue. We would also like a cookie.)

Today -100: November 8, 1911: Of elections, boodle, campaigns, anti-Mormon silver services, lynchings, and Nobel prizes

The 1911 elections:
-Socialist mayors elected in 10 cities in Ohio, 2 in Pennsylvania, and Schenectady, NY. The Socialists also account for 10% of the vote in Chicago and Cook County.
-Republicans take control of the NY Assembly, reversing the D victory of 1910, and both houses of the NJ Legislature, seriously damaging Woodrow Wilson’s chances of ever becoming president (perhaps if he’d stayed in his own state instead of touring the country...).
-Massachusetts Gov. Eugene Foss (D) re-elected despite what he calls “the most scandalous boodle campaign ever waged in this state.”

Woodrow Wilson refuses to give his opinion on women’s suffrage.

The battle of the silver trays: A few months ago Mormons presented a silver service to the battleship Utah with images of Brigham Young, creating much dismay, presumably because there were too many tea cups for each saucer. Now, the National Anti-Mormon Committee has presented the same ship’s mess with an alternative silver service (122 pieces) which they hope will be used instead, featuring the image of a young girl who evidently symbolizes Utah.

British Prime Minister Asquith announces that instead of a women’s suffrage bill, his government will introduce one for universal male suffrage (no, they didn’t have that yet), which might be amended by Parliament to add women, if Parliament really wanted to do that. The suffragists are furious, rightly seeing this as a trick, and the Women’s Social and Political Union announces that it is resuming militancy.

“Judge” Moseley, a black man and therefore almost certainly not an actual judge, is lynched in Meridian, Mississippi, after hitting a white man with a stick.

Marie Curie wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Misc

White House petition news: A petition asked Obama to acknowledge that extraterrestrials have visited the earth. The White House refuses. The cover-up continues.

Charles Pierce describes Twitt Romney as “a man who could be mugged for his wallet through the mail”.

Every day now I see stories about Berlusconi denying that he’s about to quit. This is ridiculous. Berlusconi’s whole strategy for staying out of prison is to hold onto political power and abuse it to distort the already distorted Italian criminal justice system. Of course he won’t leave power voluntarily.

Hugo Chavez calls Carlos the Jackal “a dignified bearer of the biggest struggles,” because if there’s one thing Hugo Chavez is an expert on, it’s dignity.

I’m always of two minds when “missing” film footage turns up, unless it’s from Greed or Metropolis. That said, 17 extra minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey is one thing, the missing “flaming nipples” scene from Blue Velvet quite another.

Headline of the Day Not Involving Herman Cain (AP): “Peacocks, Prostitutes Found Inside Acapulco Prison.”

At various times today, AP headlines on Cain spoke of his “bold sexual advance” or more specifically “Woman Accuses Cain of Reaching for Genitals,” boldly. The Guardian daintily refers to “sexually inappropriate conduct.”

Herman Cain Accuser #4, Ms. Bialek, is white. NOW he’s over. #LikeYouWeren’tThinkingTheSameThing

Today -100: November 7, 1911: Of acquittals, prohibition, ultimata, women’s voters and women candidates

Back in March, Booker T. Washington was beaten up in NYC. Henry Ulrich, the man who did it, is acquitted, although he is immediately re-arrested on an outstanding desertion warrant. Ulrich, who found Dr. Washington in his apartment building looking at door plates, suggested he was a burglar, a pervert, or both. Washington said he was trying to locate a friend of his. The defense lawyer insisted, over the prosecutor’s objection, on asking whether that friend was white or black (he was white). One of the justices who acquitted Ulrich commented that Washington had no business in the building.

A recount of Maine’s September election decides that the state did vote for prohibition after all.

Russia sends an ultimatum to Persia. Something about an insult to its vice consul during the seizure of the house of the brother of the deposed shah (its guards were Cossacks). Russia wants an apology or it will occupy the provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan.

Women’s suffrage came to California a little late for some of the 1912 elections, depending on local registration requirements, so that women will be barred from San Francisco’s municipal election tomorrow -100 but not LA’s election next month.

Taft goes to Ohio and votes early, including for a Miss Edith Campbell, running for the Cincinnati school board. This was the first time a president voted for a female candidate for public office. Campbell was elected. (She was also the first woman elected to a public office in Cincinnati.)

Today -100: November 6, 1911: Of Europeans and North Africa

The Ottoman Empire formally asks the US to intervene to stop Italian atrocities in Libya.

France is doing a victory lap over Morocco. Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux says it was puerile to suppose that such a vast country as Morocco, systematically closed to “civilization,” could continue to exist next door to French Algeria.

Today -100: November 5, 1911: Italy isn’t great at war; who’da guessed?

Italy, frustrated at the Turks’ failure to hand Libya over to them without a fight, are threatening to invade other parts of the Ottoman Empire, possibly the Dardanelles. The threat that this might destabilize the perennial “sick man of Europe” would force the Great Powers to slap Italy down, since no one wants the Empire to collapse, which would certainly result in a free-for-all in the Balkans and suchlike fun and games.

Obama and the Rebalancing Agenda of Doom

Obama gave a press conference today from the G20 meeting in Cannes (because nothing says “get used to the new age of austerity, suckers” like a bunch of world leaders partying in Cannes).

IT’S RAINING SO THERE PROBABLY WON’T BE ANY HOT TOPLESS CHICKS OUT: “we came to Cannes with no illusions.”


OBAMA DOESN’T WANT YOU TO MAKE A MISTAKE: “Make no mistake, there’s more hard work ahead and more difficult choices to make.”

THIS JUST STRUCK ME AS FUNNY: “All of us have an enormous interest in Europe’s success”.

IT INVOLVES BERLUSCONI AND THREE HOOKERS. YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. “We also made progress here in Cannes on our rebalancing agenda.”


By the way, Berlusconi was due to release a CD of himself singing love songs this week, but decided to postpone because the timing might look bad, as opposed to everything else Berlusconi has ever done.


Asked how all this would affect his re-election prospects, Obama lied, “Jim, I have to tell you the least of my concerns at the moment is the politics of a year from now.”

NERVOUS: “And although the actions of Papandreou and the referendum issue over the last couple of days I think got a lot of people nervous...” Sadly, no follow-up question on why the Greek people’s opinion was not required.

He kept talking about the “firewall.” Greece has been downgraded from nation-state to computer virus.


WAIT, ISN’T THIS EXACTLY WHAT HE KEEPS SAYING ABOUT REPUBLICANS? “But I am confident that the key players in Europe -- the European political leadership -- understands how much of a stake they have in making sure that this crisis is resolved, that the eurozone remains intact, and I think that they are going to do what’s necessary in order to make that happen.”


I THINK YOU MEANT TO SAY “REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS” RATHER THAN SIMPLY “CONGRESS.” “And as soon as I get some signal from Congress that they’re willing to take their responsibilities seriously, I think we can do more. But that’s going to require them to break out of the rigid ideological positions that they’ve been taking.” You know, calling the Republicans’ positions ideological is to give them far too much credit, implying that they’re adhering to some sort of principles.

Today -100: November 4, 1911: Have to change the damn maps again

China’s Yunan Province declares independence.

A German newspaper reports that the Italians have executed 4,000 Arabs in Libya.

The French-German accord over Morocco has been signed. Germany recognizes France’s right to establish a “protectorate” over Morocco (a right Morocco hasn’t recognized, but then it hasn’t been asked), and is compensated with 96,525 square miles of Northern French Congo (the 1 million or so Congolese weren’t asked if they wanted to be ruled by Germans). France gets a little bit of Togo.

Today -100: November 3, 1911: O Canada

Speaker of the House Champ Clark says “Nine-tenths of the people of this country favor the annexation of Canada, and I don’t care who hears me say it.” He seems to be planning to run for president in 1912 on this platform.

Francisco Madero is elected to fill out the remainder of former dictator Díaz’s presidential term.

The Portugese republic orders monarchists to return or have their properties seized.

Mrs. Roselyn Monze of Nowata, Oklahoma is granted a divorce on the sole ground that her husband is an infidel.

Irony is dead, or something

Cain, refusing to answer questions about the now three women he allegedly sexually harassed, yells at reporters, “What part of no do you not understand.”

Monday was Cain’s best fundraising day ever. Who knew that the Berlusconi model would work in America?

Some random news items:

San Francisco is banning nudity at restaurants (for customers, not staff, I guess). The ordinance was proposed by Supervisor Wiener, because of course it was.

Looking at the SF Chronic’s website for their version of that story, I stumbled across this headline: “Dolores Park’s Latest Controversy Involves Sausages.” A hot dog cart has been banned from the SF park. It’s called the Sausage Slinger, because of it course it is.

Japanese member of Parliament Yasuhiro Sonoda, asked by reporters to prove his repeated claims that the Fukushima nuclear plant is now safe, drank a glass of water collected from the reactor. He will be missed.

British headline: “Queen Victoria’s Giant Bloomers Expected to Fetch £3,000 at Auction.”


If someone buys them just to wear while eating at Hot ’n’ Hunky Burgers in the Castro, I don’t want to know (yes, I know Hot ’n’ Hunky is long gone).

(Follow-up: they sold for £9,375.)

Today -100: November 2, 1911: Generous and chivalrous civilization

In the Los Angeles mayoral election, Socialist candidate Job Harriman (Eugene Debs’ running mate in 1900 and currently one of the lawyers for the McNamara brothers in the LA Times bombing trial – which is currently dragging through jury selection) wins a plurality over Good Government candidate, incumbent and general asshole George Alexander, 20,157 to 16,790, not enough to avoid a run-off next month, or, as the LA Times puts it (Nov. 1 issue), “a final battle between the Good Government forces and Socialism”.

Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti denies that Italian troops are killing Libyans and Turks indiscriminately. Why, if they are guilty of anything, it is an “excess of humanitarianism.” “He who asserts that the Italian soldier would offend woman or child shows ignorance of our country and race.” He also complained about the “treachery” of Arabs who declared loyalty to their new imperial rulers, then shot them in the back, and then knifed the wounded. He calls the invasion “an example of generous and chivalrous civilization.”

Speaking of examples of generous and chivalrous civilization, one Italian pilot drops four bombs on a Turkish encampment, the first ever aerial bombardment. Hurrah.

Headline of the Day

From the Guardian: “Al-Qaida Targets Somalia Drought Victims with Cash Handouts.” Oh noes, it’s “targeting” those poor, poor people with money, rice, milk, dates and clothes, “a Guardian investigation can reveal.” Haven’t they suffered enough? Will no one send in armed drones to stop the bastards?

By the way, Amazon is selling the complete Arrested Development for $29, today only.

Today -100: November 1, 1911: Of trusts

Taft defends the anti-trust laws: “I would cut my hand off before I would injure business. ... [But] Only one course is open. Either we will have individualism or we will have combinations in restraint of trade going to that point where the people will demand that the power of men engaged in such corporations be transferred to the Government. And then we will have State Socialism.”

The White House explains...

why atheists and the ACLU can go fuck themselves.

“A sense of proportion,” indeed.

Today -100: October 31, 1911: Of imperial apologies, boxed generals, indiscriminate slaughters, and going to the theater

Chinese Emperor Hsuan-Tung issues edicts granting full constitutional government and apologizing for his past actions: “I have reigned three years and have always acted conscientiously in the interests of the people. But I have not employed men properly, as I am without political skill.” To be fair, he is 5 years old (you may remember the little guy as the protagonist of Bertolucci’s film The Last Emperor.) “Much of the people’s money has been taken, but nothing to benefit the people has been achieved.” He observes, “The whole Empire is seething. The spirits of our nine deceased Emperors are unable to enjoy the sacrifices properly”. Obama never mentions ghosts in his State of the Union speeches. The emperor promises a new cabinet with no members of the nobility, amnesty for political prisoners from all the recent revolutions, the abolition of old laws, etc. (Spoiler alert: too little, too late, little emperor dude).

Headline of the Day -100: “General Escaped in a Box.” Gen. Chong-Piao, commander at Wu-Chang, escaping the Chinese Revolution there.

The NYT correspondent reports that the Italian Army has responded to an attack on it in Libya with “indiscriminate slaughter.”

In a speech in Chicago, President Taft suggests that the Republicans may be turned out in the 1912 elections. It is believed that he’s feeling a little demoralized after a rather lukewarm reception during his tour of the country, especially in the West.

A black man sues NYC’s Lyric Theatre for refusing to let him and his female companion sit in the orchestra seats he’d purchased over the telephone (they offered him the balcony). It is illegal in NY to exclude people from a theater on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

Today -100: October 30, 1911: Of picturesque troop movements, lost legs, and Pulitzers

20,000 Chinese soldiers are demanding complete constitutional government, or they will join in attacking the Manchu dynasty. Manchu women in Beijing (those who aren’t fleeing the city) are trying to look more Chinese, wearing Chinese dress including special shoes to make their feet look small. “Picturesque movements of Manchu troops through the city gates occur silently after nightfall to prevent excitement among the population,” writes a correspondent who seems to think he’s reviewing a pageant put on for his amusement – “picturesque” indeed!

Headline and Lawsuit of the Day -100: “GETS $15,000 FOR LOST LEG.; Court Then Sets $10,000 as the Value of the Same Man's Wife's Love.” C. H. Kealiher sued his parents-in-law, who alienated the affections of his wife, their daughter, and then “suddenly became friendly and tried to sell him a half interest in an Alaska mine.” While he was inspecting the mine, the father-in-law took charge of the bucket elevator, “threw on all speed, and he came up so fast he was whirled around the drum like a pinwheel until the bucket was smashed, and he sustained injuries that necessitated the amputation of a leg.”

Joseph Pulitzer dies.

Romney explains “this problem”

Twitt Romney on Occupy Wall Street:

If we had 6 percent unemployment, instead of 9.1 percent unemployment, this wouldn’t be going on. So if we had a president who had understood what it took to reboot the American economy and get us back to work, we wouldn’t have this problem, or we wouldn’t have people protesting, because they’d be working. There are some people in that protest effort who are just angry that they can’t find work. And that their costs are going up and their income is going down. And I certainly sympathize with those people. I’m sure there are others in the group that have less benevolent sentiments and are intent on just causing difficulty of one kind or another.

So the only motivations for protest (or “this problem”) that Romney finds acceptable (or “benevolent”) are self-interested, apolitical ones which do not challenge the financial establishment (“cause difficulty of one kind or another”) or economic inequality in any way.

Today -100: October 29, 1911: Of unknown Eskimos, elephants, Muslims, holy wars, and boning

Explorers for the American Museum of Natural History have discovered a hitherto unknown tribe of Eskimos. Who shared their food with the explorers, but also insisted on sharing all the explorers’ food, before sending them on their way without any food.

The king and queen of England, aka the emperor and empress of India, will be visiting India for a coronation durbar. But no one can convince Queen Mary to ride an elephant. And as everyone knows, you can’t have a decent durbar without elephants. Lots and lots of elephants.

In 1911, there were approximately 200 million Muslims in the world. Of these, 95 million are located in the British Empire, compared to 90 million Christians. British Christians are getting worried about this.

The Vatican is evidently distancing itself from the bishops and clergy in Italy who are calling the war in Libya a holy war.

The first Solvay Conference, one of a series that brought together eminent egg-heads and essentially kick-started 20th century physics, opens (click for whole picture).


Note Albert Einstein, 2nd from the right, Marie Curie sitting. Also Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, Henri Poincaré...

ProQuest Typo of the Day (LAT): “BONING DEFENDED.; An English Clergyman Says He Is Ashamed of the Opposition to Boning Matches.”

Especially church picnics, probably

Miami Herald headline: “Colombia Elections Come amid Violence and Corruption Charges.” But to be fair, so does everything else in Colombia. The headline might as well have been “Colombia Church Picnics Come Amid Violence and Corruption Charges.”

Massive fraud, 41 candidates assassinated this year alone, or, as President Santos puts it, a great improvement in political violence.

That free trade agreement was such a good idea.

Today -100: October 28, 1911: Of presidential hands, the comic opera of South Carolina politics, and bricks

In a speech in Chicago, President Taft implicitly denies that he has any political motive in going after US Steel: “I would rather cut off my right hand than to do anything to disturb the business of this country, especially with a motive of cultivating political success.” And you know he’s serious, because his right hand is his eatin’ hand.

South Carolina Gov. Coleman Blease, while waiting at a hotel with friends to see if the editor of the Spartansburg Journal will take up Blease’s challenge to show up and repeat his remarks that Blease was “the villain in the comic opera of South Carolina politics” (the editor did not show), is overheard saying “If I were not in politics I would whip the newspaper editor who lied about me. If I were not man enough to do it, I would get a double-barreled shotgun and kill him,” adding “Pistol manufacturers make all men the same size.” Not such idle words in South Carolina, where the lieutenant governor shot and killed the editor of The State in 1903.

Headline of the Day -100: “BRICKMAKERS WIN FIGHT.” Presumably with bricks. Brickmakers have succeeded in blocking plans to build new firehouses in New York state out of concrete. Key to winning the argument: the destruction of Austin, Pennsylvania a month ago when the dam broke. The only buildings that survived were made of brick.

Today -100: October 27, 1911: Of steel trusts and disappointed boy scouts

The US government files suit to dissolve US Steel for violations of the anti-trust laws.

China: the minister of war is reported to have been killed by his own troops. And the rebels have taken the city of Canton and Szechuan province.

The Turks are finally beginning to win some of their battles with the Italians in Libya. Prisoners on both sides are being shot and/or mutilated.

Headline of the Day -100: “Taft Disappoints Boy Scouts.” They waited in the cold for him to give a speech, but all he did was tip his hat at them and drive on; didn’t even get out of the car. The Minnesota governor, who was in the car, later rebuked Taft.

Newt, Calista & the Giant Replica Ax of Doom

Click for bigger – it’s the facial expressions that make this pic.


Caption contest.

Today -100: October 26, 1911: Of war chests, college yells, and hair

Chinese revolutionaries have captured the government’s war chest of 1.5 million taels (however much that might have been in real money). This means government troops can’t be paid. Things are also tense in the fairly new National Assembly, which is threatening that if the powerful minister of posts and communications isn’t fired and punished, the Assembly will dissolve itself. Sheng Hsuan-Huai, for that is his name, was largely responsible for a policy of strengthening the national government at the expense of the provinces, one of the causes of the Revolution.

Speaking at the University of Minnesota, President Taft suggests that students could spend their time better than in “barbaric yells.” “The President’s remarks about college yells were called forth by the greetings he received from the Minnesota students under the leadership of ‘cheer leaders’ who jumped in front of Mr. Taft and went through various sorts of gyrations.” He says that back in his day, college students “got along with a less sharp yell and a somewhat more graceful hurrah.”

Crime of the Day -100: Rae Bogert, a department store model, is mugged for her hair. Which was chestnut.

Rick Santorum, king of the unintentional double entendre

The Frothy One: “And I stood up from the very beginning back in 2003 when the Supreme Court was going create a constitutional right to sodomy and said this is wrong we can’t do this. And so I stood up when no one else did and got hammered for it. I stood up and I continue to stand up.”

Persecution avoided. Phew.

This Salon excerpt from Glenn Greenwald’s new book, With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, reminds me that I meant to mention this quote from Little Leon Panetta in yesterday’s NYT, about why he supported impunity for Bush admin torturers: “If I’d spent my time persecuting people for the past, I would have never been able to have gotten any traction to move forward with what I wanted to achieve.”

“Persecuting.” Says it all right there, doesn’t it?

Today -100: October 25, 1911: Of roving bands, the Burgs, and Santa Claus

In Mexico, “roving bands of Zapatistas” are looting and burning villages.

Archduke Ferdinand renounces his archdukitude and all his privileges as a member of the Austrian royal family so he can marry the woman he loves, the daughter of a Swiss professor. He will now be known as plain old Ferdinand Burg and will live with Mrs. Burg in Switzerland. The name Burg was evidently just made up. If you’re confused right now, as I was, it turns out that the Archduke Ferdinand whose assassination started World War I was Franz Ferdinand, and this one is his younger brother Ferdinand Karl. Being out of the royal family (officially banished, in fact) only kept him alive a few months longer than his brother; he died of tuberculosis in 1915; Mrs. Burg died in 1979 at 99.


This year, all letters sent to Santa Claus will be destroyed. In the past few years the Post Office had distributed them to charities, but there were abuses, whatever that means.

Today -100: October 24, 1911: Of race wars, neutrality, and gliders

After yesterday’s race war in Coweta, OK, martial law is in effect. At least for the black population, who are being subjected to mass arrests and whose homes are being searched for weapons by the state militia.

Taft signs a proclamation declaring neutrality in the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire.

Winston Churchill changes jobs, from home secretary to First Lord of the Admiralty (changing places with Reginald McKenna). Which sounds like a demotion, but Churchill liked to play with boats.

Orville Wright’s glider crashes, but he’s okay. Wright is doing experiments to make airplanes more stable by adding ailerons.

Other aeronautical innovators are continuing the attempts to weaponize the skies. In a first, the Italians are using airplanes for aerial surveillance of Turkish infantry positions in Libya.

Freedom, ain’t it grand

Libya’s new regime legalizes polygamy, which Qaddafi had banned, so there’s that.

The murder of Qaddafi doesn’t bother me as much as the new regime’s instinctive response, which was to lie about it.

Today -100: October 23, 1911: Of race wars, and the greatest nation

A race war is threatened (some would say has already begun) in Coweta, Oklahoma. In a fight, a black man killed the white city attorney and wounded two other white men. He was then lynched – twice. That is, a mob hanged him, but he was cut down before he strangled by white people concerned that it would start a race war. As the deputy sheriff tried to take him to jail, he was shot fifty or so times by people who presumably didn’t share that concern. As this story went to press, blacks were arriving from the surrounding country, threatening to burn the town down. The sheriff is arming the white citizens of Muskogee (20 miles away) to help out and the National Guard is being sent in.

The US government’s chief chemist, Dr. Harvey Wiley, addressing the convention of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association, says “If a country treats its women right, eats more sugar and consumes more soap per head than any other country, then it is the greatest nation.”

If you’re wondering, by that standard the United States was evidently the greatest nation in 1911. And in 2011 I’m guessing we still have at least the sugar thing nailed.

Preliminary

Hillary Clinton claims the secret meeting with the Haqqani network wasn’t actually a negotiation: “We had one preliminary meeting to essentially just see if they would show up for even a preliminary meeting.”

Today -100: October 22, 1911: It’s a great pleasure to be gold bricked in this way

The latest trendy accessory among the fashionable set in Paris: wild animals – panthers, lions etc. Monkeys, however, have fallen out of favor since last season.

Sun Yat Sen has raised $10,000 in Chicago for the Chinese Revolution.

The US has sent a dozen ships to China to protect American property. And by American property, I mean Standard Oil’s property.

The Newark Telegraph Herald is beginning a new service for its subscribers: having its newspaper read to them over the telephone on trunk lines (so basically like radio). It will offer stock market reports in the early morning, followed by general news, cooking and fashion in the late morning, fashion in the afternoon, children’s stories from 6 to 8, then vaudeville, concert music, opera and whatnot until late.

President Taft visits Deadwood. He “received a noisy welcome”. No word on whether he met Al Swearengen (oh, all right, the cocksucker was dead by then). He went down a gold mine and was given a gold brick worth $300. “It is a great pleasure to gold brick the president,” said Rep. Martin. “It’s a great pleasure to be gold bricked in this way,” replied Taft. Oh, how they laughed.

John McCain has a sad

Because of the announcement of “Ending the War in Iraq,” as the White House website put it. McCain: “Today marks a harmful and sad setback for the United States in the world.”

Let this be a lesson to you, Johnny Depp

Andy Hamilton (on BBC Radio 4’s News Quiz) says Qaddafi’s death proves the old show biz adage that you should be nice to people on the way up because you might meet them again on the way down.

By the way, here’s an old post of mine on Qaddafi that seems rather popular on Google just now.

Today -100: October 21, 1911: Of wars, trilling, and snails

Italian troops bombard and occupy Benghazi.

As promised, suffragists interrupted Roosevelt’s talk at Carnegie Hall when he refused to take their questions. The NYT says they “shouted and trilled ‘Votes for Women! Votes! Votes! Votes for Women!’”

Headline of the Day -100: “Snail Eaters in Despair.” The heat wave in France means there aren’t many snails about.

Something about a short-term no-fly zone, right?

Obama, today: “We did exactly what we said we were going to do in Libya.”

Today -100: October 20, 1911: Of extravagant and fantastic policies

A bill for equal pay for women teachers passes the NY Legislature. The NYT does not approve, calling it an “extravagant and fantastic policy.”

Republican Debate: I’ll bump plans with you, brother

Transcript.

WHAT SORT OF JOBS DO MICHELLE & MARCUS CREATE? SUGGESTIONS IN COMMENTS, PLEASE. Bachmann would oppose a federal sales tax because “my husband and I are job creators.”

She adds that sooner or later liberals would increase it from Cain’s 9% to “maybe 90 percent”.

MANIPULATING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WITH A 10-MILLION-WORD MESS: Cain says it’s not true that 9-9-9 would raise taxes on most people who aren’t rich, without offering any actual proof. He says “the reason that our plan is being attacked so much is because lobbyists, accountants, politicians, they don’t want to throw out the current tax code and put in something that’s simple and fair. They want to continue to be able to manipulate the American people with a 10-million-word mess.”


Rick Santorum is given the opportunity to inaugurate the Kill Cain with Condescension Campaign™, and does by calling him “well-meaning.” He objects to the elimination of deductions for breeders, saying “we’re going to - we’ve seen that happen in Europe, and what happened? Boom! Birth rates went in the - into the - into the basement.” Boom? That sound effect is a little disturbing. And what’s going on in the basement, exactly?

AND IF THERE’S ONE THING REPUBLICANS CAN’T ABIDE, IT’S KNEE-JERK REACTIONS: Cain responds, “I invite every American to do their own math, because most of these are knee-jerk reactions.” Cain sure knows how to make himself popular with the American people:


I LOVE YOU BROTHER: Perry continues the Kill Cain with Condescension Campaign™: “Herman, I love you, brother, but let me tell you something: You don’t have to have a big analysis to figure this thing out.” Which is just as well, because Perry doesn’t really do “big analysis.” He says that he’ll have his own economic plan at the end of the week; once again, he’s shown up at a debate without an economic plan. But once he does have one, “I’ll bump plans with you, brother - and we’ll see who has the best idea about how you get this country working again.” Do you think he focus-grouped whether he could get away with “bro,” and decided to stick with “brother” instead?


REPLACE THE TAX CODE WITH ORANGES? WHY THAT’S SO CRAZY, IT MIGHT JUST WORK! Perry says that adding a federal sales tax on top of state sales taxes is “not going to fly.” Cain says that’s mixing apples and oranges. “The state tax is an apple. We are replacing the current tax code with oranges. So it’s not correct to mix apples and oranges.” See, I would have thought that the state tax would be the orange and the federal one would be the apple, but then I live in California.

Cain then tells Perry, who hadn’t said a thing about value-added taxes, “So you’re absolutely wrong. It’s not a value-added tax.” He complains that none of his opponents understand the plan. Perhaps because they weren’t thinking in terms of fruit metaphors. Everything’s clearer with fruit metaphors.

Ron Paul says he would replace the income tax with nothing. Not even a citrus fruit of some sort.


THAT’S AN APPLE: Romney asks Cain directly, “are you saying that the state sales tax will also go away?” “No. That’s an apple.” Romney again insists that people would be paying both federal and state sales tax, and Cain increasingly hysterically talks about various fruit products, as if it’s some form of logical argument, and why are people still talking about this after he invoked the argument-ending authority of produce.

Romney joins the Kill Cain with Condescension Campaign™: “I like your chutzpah on this, Herman, but...” As does Gingrich: “I think that Herman Cain deserves a lot of credit. He’s had the courage to go out and take a specific, very big idea,” but...


Bachmann wants everyone to pay taxes, “even if it’s a dollar. Everyone needs to pay something in this country.” I suppose this is isn’t as stupid a strategy as it sounds, since everyone pays taxes and knows they pay taxes, so they’re all willing to stick it to the mythical freeloader who pays no taxes.


Anderson Cooper asks Perry if he’s read Romney’s plan, and for some reason the laziest person in this race fails to answer. He says we need “to create an environment where the men and women get back to work.” Since he plans to end all environmental regulations and drill for every last ounce of oil and coal, I’m assuming that by “environment,” he means “nightmarish hell-scape.” “It’s the reason I laid out a plan, Newt, this last week to get this energy that’s under our feet.” Under your feet in Las Vegas? Have all those bullet-ridden gangsters and strangled prostitutes and chorus girls turned into petroleum already?


Then Gingrich attacks Romneycare, and Romney says he got the idea of individual mandates from Gingrich. Zing!

“YOU LUUUUV MEXICANS.” “NO, YOU LUUUUUUUUUVVVVVV MEXICANS, YOU WANT TO MARRY MEXICANS.” Perry says Texas has “one of the finest health care systems in the world”. And the reason so many people are uninsured there is because of “illegals” and “they’re coming here because there is a magnet. And the magnet is called jobs. And those people that hire illegals ought to be penalized. And Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew for - about it for a year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy.” Romney says giving college tuition credit to “illegals” is a magnet and supports amnesty.


Romney explained that when he was told that his lawn was being mowed by (gasp) illegal aliens, “So we went to the company and we said, look, you can’t have any illegals working on our property. That’s - I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.”


Herman Cain failed to answer a direct question about whether the border fence he wants would be electrified or not.

Perry wants Predator drones on the border.

Bachmann: “Well, I think the person who really has a problem with illegal immigration in the country is President Obama. It’s his uncle and his aunt who are illegal aliens who’ve been allowed to stay in this country despite the fact that they’re illegal.” She wants a “double-walled fence with a - with a area of security neutrality in between.” I’m not sure what exactly that means, but it sounds rather like the Berlin Wall.

Romney says we just have to “turn off the magnets” – sounds rather like Wile E. Coyote.

Michelle Bachmann agreed: “I think there’s a very real issue with magnets in this country.”


She thinks we need to deal with “anchor babies,” but that somehow she can eliminate the citizenship of people born in this country without amending the 14th Amendment.

HOLD ON, MOMS OUT THERE: Bachmann explains the housing crisis, which evidently mostly effects women in the 1950s or something: “Every day I’m out somewhere in the United States of America, and most of the time I am talking to moms across this country. When you talk about housing, when you talk about foreclosures, you’re talking about women who are at the end of their rope because they’re losing their nest for their children and for their family. And there are women right now all across this country and moms across this country whose husbands, through not fault of their own, are losing their job and they can’t keep that house. And there are women who are losing that house. I’m a mom. I talk to these moms. I just want to say one thing to moms all across America tonight. This is a real issue; it’s got to be solved. .... Hold on, moms out there. It’s not too late.”

CASH WOULD BE FINE: Cain still hates the Occupationistas: “But my point is this: What are the people who are protesting want from bankers on Wall Street? To come downstairs and write them a check? This is what we don’t understand.” They should be protesting at the White House. Obviously.

HOW CAN I TRUST YOU WITH POWER IF YOU DON’T PRAY? Asked if a candidate’s religion should be taken into account, Santorum says yes. Gingrich says yes, because of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and “how can you have judgment if you have no faith? And how can I trust you with power if you don’t pray? Who you pray to, how you pray, how you come close to God is between you and God. But the notion that you’re endowed by your creator sets a certain boundary on what we mean by America.”


AMERICANS UNDERSTAND FAITH: Perry: “But the fact is, Americans understand faith, and what they’ve lost faith in is the current resident of the White House.”

Romney: “that idea that we should choose people based upon their religion for public office is what I find to be most troubling”.


WE’RE BEING DISSED! Bachmann says the alleged Iranian assassination plot shows that Iran “disrespect[s] the United States,” and Iraq’s refusal to give immunity to US troops after this year shows “how disrespected the United States is in the world today” and we need to nuke Iran or something. If she is president, “We will be respected again in the world.”

No, really, that’s what she said.

Santorum says Iran “attacked” us (the alleged plot again) because we’re the supreme leader of the secular world.

Perry wants to cut foreign aid and defund the UN, and Palestine is trying “to have themselves approved as a state without going through the proper channels”. Oh dear, did they not fill out all the forms?

Paul, of course, wants to end all foreign aid, even for Israel, which just “teaches them to be dependent.”


Bachmann wants Iraq and Libya to “reimburse” us for “liberating” them.

Cain, who earlier today said that he’d consider letting Guantanamo prisoners go in exchange for American prisoners, now says he would “never agree to letting hostages in Guantanamo Bay go.”

Since everyone was saying they wouldn’t negotiate with terrorists, Ron Paul asks if everyone on the stage would condemn Reagan for the arms-for-hostages deal. Santorum says it’s not the same thing because Iran’s a sovereign country and not a terrorist organization.

Santorum says he can beat Obama, no matter what the polls say, because “No one in this field has won a swing state. Pennsylvania’s a swing state. We win Pennsylvania, we win the election.” And what happened the last time you ran in Pennsylvania?


THE GOOD NEWS: Bachmann: “The good news is the cake is baked. Barack Obama will be a one-term president.” She added, “I am the most different candidate from Barack Obama than anyone on this stage.”

Gingrich says he’s the strongest candidate “because of sheer substance”. And he would challenge Obama to seven three-hour debates. Anderson Cooper says CNN would love to host them. Speaking for every blogger, everyone on Twitter who covers these things, No. Just no.

Today -100: October 19, 1911: Of Nanking, brown people over the sea, heckling, theories the great American government cannot be run upon, & marijuana

The Chinese revolutionaries seem to have captured Nanking.

Vice President James Sherman says the US has really improved conditions in the Philippines or, as he puts it, “we are and have been pursuing the wise course and we have brought to these brown people over the sea blessings which they never could have acquired had they remained under Spanish rule or been left to themselves.” One of those blessings: when we arrived Filipinos spoke many different dialects; soon, according to Sherman, they will only speak English.

Elizabeth Freeman, a suffragist who spent some time in Britain studying the more radical tactics of the movement there, announces at the annual convention of the Woman Suffrage Party of Manhattan that she plans to heckle Teddy Roosevelt at Carnegie Hall: “I shall send up some written questions, and if they are not answered I shall get up and ask them as we did in England. I understand it is not the custom here to ask questions verbally or heckle, but heckling would do good.”

Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson speaks at the International Brewers’ Congress, to the great outrage of prohibitionists. Wilson says prohibitionists probably have the best of motives, but “the great American government cannot be run upon the theories they hold.”

California’s inspector of the State Board of Pharmacy asks the state to add marijuana to the list of banned narcotics.

Headline of the Day

Associated Press: “KC Bishop Charged for Not Bringing Porn to Police.” Too lazy to download their own? Or did they figure a bishop probably has the best stuff?

Today -100: October 18, 1911: You have got to become part of those awful people

Taft, in California, has some advice for the newly enfranchised women of the state: “It won’t do for you to say, ‘Oh well, we will not go down to those awful polls where those awful persons stand around.’ You have got to become part of those awful people and make those awful persons better. ... Meanwhile we, of the slow and more conservative East, will watch the things you are going to try, and follow you and avoid the pitfalls that you may encounter.”

Um, right

Sirte:

Today -100: October 17, 1911: Of progressives, dynamite, marines, and lynchings

The Progressive Republicans (curious creatures, now sadly extinct) hold their first convention and endorse Robert La Follette for president in 1912. And they want presidential primaries to enable them to make that choice.

Some other people who don’t like President Taft plant dynamite under a viaduct in California over which his train was scheduled to pass.

The US is sending the cruiser New Orleans, and 100 marines, to Shanghai.

Black man allegedly attacks white woman in Forest City, Tenn., and... oh, you know, the usual.

Over-identify much?

Obama, at the Martin Luther King Memorial dedication: “Even after rising to prominence, even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King was vilified by many, denounced as a rabble rouser and an agitator, a communist and a radical. He was even attacked by his own people, by those who felt he was going too fast or those who felt he was going too slow”.

Today -100: October 16, 1911: Never be president

William Jennings Bryan admits, “I shall never be president.” What was your first clue?

Horse-and-wagon thieves have become very active in NYC.

Sun Yat Sen’s people are promising women’s suffrage in China.

NYT Index Typo of the Day. The typo is just an extraneous comma, but wow: “BRITISH CABINET CHANGES. - Churchill Expected to Become Irish, Secretary to Lead Home Rule Fight.”

Churchill won’t become Irish Secretary, by the way.

Today -100: October 15, 1911: Of justices, air fatalities, and posing

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan dies. He was 78 and was appointed to the court in 1877 by Rutherford B. Hayes. He adhered at one time or another to a rather large number of political parties: Whig, Know Nothing, Kentucky’s Opposition Party, the Constitutional Union Party, the Democratic Party, and finally the Republican Party. Although something of a racist personally, he dissented in several key badly decided civil rights cases in the Court, notably as the sole dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson (the NYT obit mentions many of his “famous dissents,” but not Plessy, which is his most famous dissent now, but I guess in 1911 segregation was accepted so matter-of-factly that Plessy would have been considered simple common sense). Harlan also dissented in the “insular” cases after the Spanish-American War, which allowed the US to acquire colonies without extending the protection of the Constitution to them. Arguably Harlan was more liberal in his rulings than his namesake grandson, who was also a Supreme Court justice (1955-71). Taft will now get to appoint the fifth justice of his first and (spoiler alert) only presidential term, the first president to name the majority of the Court since Washington.

The number of fatalities in airplane accidents since Kitty Hawk has reached 100. Congratulations, Hans Schmidt! 37 were French, 16 Americans, 12 Germans, 8 Italians, 7 British and 5 Russian. The first was in 1908, 4 died in 1909, 32 in 1910, and so far 63 in 1911. Progress!

A NY state supreme court justice dismisses an injunction by the Independent Moving Picture Company against Mary Pickford, who quit them for rival Majestic, on the grounds of her being a minor (19). The NYT refers to her work as “posing,” suggesting a reluctance to dignify film work with the word “acting.” Whatever it is she does, she earns $175 a week doing it, plus cushy jobs for her husband and sister.

Another war! Yay?

The US is now at war with the Lord’s Resistance Army, because why not? Sending troops into a new country is now so routine that the president can do it without bothering to make a speech to justify the necessity of putting American lives at risk and taking African lives, slipping the news out in the Friday News Dump™.

Today -100: October 14, 1911: Of revolutions, aerial warfare, and bathtub suits

The leader of the Chinese Revolution, Sun Yat Sen, is in Chicago raising money while the fighting is going on, although his people were pretending he was in China, where rebels have proclaimed a republic. Sun Yat Sen is calling for China for the Chinese, a republic, a president – hint hint – elected by universal suffrage, bans on opium, slavery and foot-binding, and equal rights in land. The NYT has just figured out that this is a real revolution, carefully planned out, and not just the usual outbreak of disaffected violence. It says, “Hitherto the movements against the Manchu dynasty have been intensely reactionary, and especially have been animated by bitter opposition to foreigners in every direction.”

For some reason, Italian nationals are being killed in the Ottoman Empire, including 13 railroad workers in Syria (this may well just be a rumor). Italy is threatening to attack Smyrna and Salonica if this continues.

Italy is planning to drop bombs on Libya from dirigibles and airplanes.

Headline of the Day -100: “Government Wins the Bathtub Suit.”