Today -100: April 15, 1912: Of armed marches, so-called hunger strikes, and...

A boat ferrying passengers disembarking from the British steamship Seang Chun sinks in Amoy (China), drowning 40. On another day, this might be bigger news.

The Industrial Workers of the World plan to send large contingents into cities where they have recently been violently driven out by Vigilance Committees, including San Diego, Fresno, L.A., Spokane, Kansas City, etc. Or as the always hysterically anti-union LA Times’s headline terms it, “I.W.W.’s Plan Armed March on San Diego.”

A NYT editorial complains about British suffragettes getting out of prison through use of “the so-called hunger strike” (the term hunger strike was new in the English language, popularized by the suffragettes but adopted from the Russian) and says that forcible feeding by tube is not torture. So why don’t ordinary criminals use it to get out of prison? Probably, says the Times, because of “the low intelligence of the ordinary criminal, his acceptance of confinement as more or less a matter of course, to be made the best of, and his inability to resist the temptation to eat when he is hungry.”

When today’s edition of the NYT went to press, they knew only that the Titanic has hit an iceberg and that rescue ships are on the way.

The NYT notes that several steamers have recently arrived in NY with damage caused by making their way through ice packs.

Today -100: April 14, 1912: Of campaign contributors, Republican fights, and the dangers of the bells of Venice

The House Committee on Election of the President and Vice President unanimously supports a bill to make public the names of contributors of $100 or more to presidential campaigns, as well as the amounts spent and what on.

Another Republican convention, in Davies County, Missouri, turns into a brawl.

To everyone’s surprise, Roosevelt wins the Pennsylvania primary.

And Woodrow Wilson wins the D. primary there.

The courts are ordering deportations of IWW members of foreign origins.

Taft signs a bill to put a prohibitively high tax on white phosphorus matches. There was no legal way to outright ban the things, even though they tended to poison the workers who manufactured them, so they’re doing this.

Several British suffragettes imprisoned for the window-smashing raid in London have secured their release through a hunger and thirst strike.

Headline of the Day -100: “POPE MUST NOT HEAR PEALS.; Physician Forbids Listening to Venice Bells Lest It Kill Him.” He was going to listen to them over the telephone, because he’s homesick, but his doctor thinks the emotional impact would give him a heart attack. Also, they can’t figure out how to transmit the sound of the bells over the phone.

Today -100: April 13, 1912: If England drive us forth / We shall not fall alone!

Clara Barton, one of the first female employees of the federal government in the 1850s, a nurse during the Civil War and other wars throughout the world, and the leading founder of the American Red Cross and its president for many years, dies at 90.

In the British Parliament, Liberal MP Joseph Martin calls Rudyard Kipling’s anti-Home Rule Bill poem “Ulster” seditious and asks whether it will be prosecuted. I don’t know about seditious, but pee-yoo:

The dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old.
Rebellion, rapine hate
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate,
By England’s act and deed.

The Faith in which we stand,
The laws we made and guard,
Our honour, lives, and land
Are given for reward
To Murder done by night,
To Treason taught by day,
To folly, sloth, and spite,
And we are thrust away.

And it doesn’t get any better from there.

Today -100: April 12, 1912: Of weapons, icebergs, contentious conventions, and Irish Home Rule

The House passes a bill banning weapons in D.C., including knives with blades longer than three inches.

Foreboding Headline of the Day -100: “Carmania [a Cunard liner] Meeting Many Icebergs.”

The Republican state convention in Michigan turns into a riot between Taft & Roosevelt supporters. Both sides name their own delegates to Chicago, literally at the same time and in the same hall.

Prime Minister Asquith introduces the Irish Home Rule bill.

Bottom up

Obama yesterday: “In this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few. Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle-class.”

See, Barack, the middle class are not the bottom, thus the word “middle.” You have literally forgotten about the existence of the poor, or “lower” class.

Today -100: April 11, 1912: Of primaries, reds, titanics, and human dykes

The Republican establishment in Illinois is scheming to rob Roosevelt of the fruit of his primary upset by controlling the Congressional-district conventions and selecting Taft delegates to the national convention.

The NYT, in denial, insists that Illinois did not, all appearances to the contrary, go Progressive. They say this is proved by the strong vote for former Speaker Joe Cannon, a reactionary old-guard Republican, in his district. They say the real issue in Illinois is not Taft or Roosevelt but Senator William Lorimer (R). Lorimer was just “cleared” by another whitewashing investigation into his bribery-fueled election to the Senate, but was denounced loudly by Roosevelt in speeches right there in Illinois (Spoiler Alert: Lorimer will finally be expelled in July). Roosevelt said that Taft, Lorimer, Guggenheim, and their allies want to make “a government by corporation attorneys.” The NYT says this language shows he is not fit to be president.

Taft’s people also insist their Illinois defeat was due to “local issues.”

Roosevelt, who speaks entirely in editorial cartoons, says “We knocked them over the ropes in Illinois.”

Some desperate Republicans are suggesting that the party needs some third candidate in place of Taft or TR, such as Supreme Court Justice and recent NY governor Charles Evans Hughes.

There is some question whether the Electoral College this year should be based on the pre- or post-reapportionment numbers.

A Superior Court judge in Seattle is asking suspected “reds” applying for citizenship whether they would obey court orders that conflicted with those of their union. When one Lars Emanuel Boman said “A man who belongs to an organization should stick to it,” the judge told him to fuck off, and if anyone else in the court “would supplant the Stars and Stripes with the red flag,” they could also fuck off. A dozen walked out.

The Ohio Constitutional Convention rescinds its invitation to US Assistant Attorney General William Lewis to speak, presumably after realizing that he’s black.

Foreboding Headline of the Day -100: “Titanic In Peril on Leaving Port.” The huge ship created so much suction (I know there’s a technical boating term for that) that another liner broke free of its mooring and almost crashed into it.

Headline of the Day -100: “Human Dike Used to Hold Back Flood. Negroes Lie on Top of Weakening Levee and Save Day Near Greenville, Miss.” Yes, when they ran out of sandbags, they used negroes.

I wish they weren’t called the Bush tax cuts

George Bush says he wishes the Bush tax cuts weren’t called the Bush tax cuts, because “If they were called someone else’s tax cuts, they’d be less likely to be raised,” because everyone hates him. Evidently someone finally told Bush that everyone hates him. Good. I’d hate if he went the rest of his life without coming to that realization.

Oh wait, then he says he doesn’t criticize Obama because “I don’t think it’s good for our country to undermine our president and I don’t intend to do so.” So evidently he still thinks that his criticizing Obama would undermine Obama. I guess he doesn’t realize that everyone hates him after all. Sigh.

IN OTHER WORDS: “we believe that government oughta trust the people, the collective wisdom of the people. In other words, we trust people when it comes to spending their money, and so should the government.”

SO-CALLED BECAUSE THEY FUCKING ARE: He objects to taxes being raised on “the so-called rich.”

WHAT THE VOICES IN HIS HEAD OFTEN ASK HIM: “I’m often asked ‘Do you miss the presidency?’ I really don’t.” Although “it was really inconvenient having to stop at stop lights”. Actually, he may just miss the days of drunk driving all over Houston.

A fair fight

Maverick John McCain & Holy Joe Lieberman issue a statement from a refugee camp for Syrians in Turkey, saying the usual stuff. Including that the international community needs to supply the Syrian rebels with arms because “The slaughter in Syria has now claimed more than 10,000 lives. And it is not a fair fight.”

No one who uses the term “fair fight” about a war deserves to be taken seriously.

Today -100: April 10, 1912: The man that pulls the rope should hang by the rope

There have been few real opportunities to test the relative popularity of Taft & Roosevelt, with there being so few primaries and no such thing as opinion polls. This means that the Illinois primary is especially important symbolically and as a measure of what the voters might do in November. And TR kicked Taft’s ample behind, gaining more than twice as many votes. Roosevelt supporters are making the case that while the Tafties, with their tight grip on the party machinery, can secure Taft’s re-nomination, the Illinois primary shows that he’s too unpopular to win the general election.

On the Democrat side, Speaker of the House Champ Clark beat Woodrow Wilson by better than 3 to 1.

A black man, Thomas Miles, is lynched in Shreveport, LA, after he is acquitted “because positive proof was lacking that he wrote letters to a young white woman”.

Pres. Taft makes an anti-lynching speech at Howard University, saying “The man that pulls the rope should hang by the rope.”

NY Governor Dix is planning a European vacation. On the Titanic, when it returns to England from its maiden voyage (which commences.... today).

Long division

One of Obama’s spokesmodels calls an anti-gay marriage initiative “divisive,” which is a rather weak way of saying hate-mongering. Also, as far as I know Obama still opposes gay marriage but he’s against anti-gay marriage measures – how does that work?

Anyway, it just reminded me that I’ve been meaning to point out that “divisive” is the trendy tut-tutting put-down of this election cycle, used by all sides (so everyone’s united against divisiveness, because disagreement is icky). Newt Gingrich, for example, has used it against Obama’s comment that Trayvon Martin looked like his hypothetical son, and Romney against the Occupy movement.

Today -100: April 9, 1912: Of delegates, the elusive Christabel, and dead guards

The Louisiana Republican Convention excludes “several negroes who declared they were delegates”. Pro-Roosevelt delegates.

Christabel Pankhurst Rumor of the Day: Boston, she’s totally in Boston (she isn’t).

Headline of the Day -100: “Dead Man on Guard Over Insane Woman.”

Today -100: April 8, 1912: Of fighting senators, Mormons, and women in Turkey

Headline of the Day -100 (LAT): “Senator From Arizona Fights Negro.” Marcus Aurelius Smith (D), a new senator from the new state, beat up a hotel elevator operator who finished taking another passenger up when the senator wanted to be taken down.

The Mormon church comes out in support of Taft. So that settles that.

The British Daily Chronicle reports on the backlash against women’s rights in Turkey. Women were briefly encouraged to liberate themselves at least a little after the 1909 revolution, but some of those who, for example, stopped wearing the veil, have been beaten by their fathers, divorced by their husbands, etc. The government has also cracked down on women entering European shops without escorts, gatherings of women, etc.

Today -100: April 7, 1912: It’s a vagina, not a troop-carrier

Rep. William Francis (D-Ohio) introduces a bill to grant a pension to a Mrs. Sarah Brandon, 16 of whose children (out of, dear Christ, 33 total) fought for the North during the Civil War. She claims to be 114 years old.

More vigilante anti-Wobblie activity in San Diego: 5 masked men kidnap a pro-IWW newspaper editor, drive him 25 miles, and turn him loose in Escondido.

Today -100: April 6, 1912: Of the elusive Christabel and airboatmanship

Christabel Pankhurst Rumor of the Day: The NYT says that Christabel Pankhurst wasn’t on the Mauretania after all, but she was definitely spotted dining at the Hotel Majestic in NYC. Nope.

The captain in charge of the US Navy’s aviation dept says the word for the art of flying hydro-airplanes should be “airboatmanship.” So that’s that settled (this post will bring the total number of Google hits for the word airboatmanship to 3).

Today -100: April 5, 1912: Of cats, piles of skulls, fugitives, and forced flag-kissing

Germany is considering a tax on cats to pay for armaments.

President David Starr Jordan of Stanford University says that nations should be gentlemen and arbitrate their differences rather than go to war. He says that if the skulls of the victims of the Napoleonic Wars were placed together, the pile would be 31 times as tall as the Washington Monument, and 31,000 times as awesome. Okay, he didn’t say that last part, but it totally would be.

Christabel Pankhurst Rumor of the Day: The NYT reports that fugitive British suffragette Christabel Pankhurst has reached the United States and is living in NYC under an assumed name. According to a Major George William Horsfield, who claims to have spotted her aboard the Mauretania and seen through her clever disguise (a veil), “No one who has ever seen her aggressive-looking face, with its over-hanging black eyebrows, could make a mistake.” And yet...

Deputies and armed San Diegans meet a train on which 100 Wobblies were arriving and force them to kiss the American flag, then throw them out of the county into Orange County.

I think they take their responsibilities very seriously

Obama gave a speech yesterday to the Associated Press Luncheon.

BOY, THAT GUY’LL BE KIND OF FUCKED, WILL HE? HATE TO BE THAT GUY. “Whoever he may be, the next president will inherit an economy that is recovering, but not yet recovered, from the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression.”

“TOO MANY,” HE SAYS, BUT HE NEVER TELLS US HOW MANY IS JUST THE RIGHT NUMBER: “Too many Americans will still be looking for a job that pays enough to cover their bills or their mortgage. Too many citizens will still lack the sort of financial security that started slipping away years before this recession hit.”

AND LET’S FACE IT, WE DON’T MAKE ANYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY ANY MORE: “I believe this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class”.

ALSO, TRYING TO IMPRESS CHICKS: “I believe deeply that the free market is the greatest force for economic progress in human history.”

RUPERT MURDOCH? “Show me a business leader who wouldn’t profit if more Americans could afford to get the skills and education that today’s jobs require.”

THE ENTIRE ECONOMY? WHAT ABOUT THE CAR ELEVATOR BUSINESS? “What drags down our entire economy is when there’s an ever-widening chasm between the ultra-rich and everybody else.”

He says the “trickle down theory” has been tried and failed, and that Paul Ryan’s budget (he never mentioned Ryan by name) is “so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal.” He notes that Romney (he does invoke the Mittster’s name) called the Ryan budget “marvelous.” He calls it “a Trojan Horse” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” So it’s social Darwinism in a wooden horse which is wearing a veil.

OBAMA WANTS TO BE JUST LIKE REAGAN, IF ONLY THE REPUBLICANS WOULD LET HIM: “Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. Did it multiple times. He could not get through a Republican primary today.” The deficit didn’t “get out of control,” Reagan and the Republicans cut taxes drastically on the rich, then pretended to be shocked at the increase in the deficit.

NOTE HOW HE ZOOMS RIGHT IN ON THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT “SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO ENTITLEMENT”: THE EFFECT ON DEMOCRATS’ POLITICAL INTERESTS. “I’ve got some of the most liberal Democrats in Congress who were prepared to make significant changes to entitlements that go against their political interests, and who said they were willing to do it. And we couldn’t get a Republican to stand up and say, we’ll raise some revenue, or even to suggest that we won’t give more tax cuts to people who don’t need them.”

He goes on to point out that all of his current positions are the past positions of Republicans: cap & trade, mandatory insurance, etc.


I DIDN’T LEAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LEFT ME: “So as all of you are doing your reporting, I think it’s important to remember that the positions I’m taking now on the budget and a host of other issues, if we had been having this discussion 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago, would have been considered squarely centrist positions. What’s changed is the center of the Republican Party.” Although to be fair I don’t think they’d have liked the idea of a black president back then either.

WILLING? WE ARE TOTALLY SCREWED. “And that’s part of what this election and what this debate will need to be about, is, are we, as a country, willing to get back to common-sense, balanced, fair solutions that encourage our long-term economic growth and stabilize our budget.”

SO TOTALLY, TOTALLY SCREWED: “So I don’t anticipate the Court striking [health care reform] down. I think they take their responsibilities very seriously.”

Today -100: April 4, 1912: Of universal alphabets, small sheep men, and auto bandits

Alexander Graham Bell testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in support of adoption of a universal alphabet.

Headline of the Day -100: “Taft Aids Small Sheep Men.”

Paris police capture the head of the gang of auto bandits that’s been plaguing the city (bandits who use cars, not car thieves). Before they could stop him, he swallowed something and shouted, “Ah, now it is good-bye to all.” However, what he evidently thought was prussic acid wasn’t, so it wasn’t good-bye to all.

Comments

Okay, I enabled Blogspot’s commenting system, as of the previous post, but it only shows up on that post’s unique URL, not on the home page. Anyone know what’s wrong?

This atrocious act

Palestine has committed another “atrocious act” proving its “failure to meet the basic requisites of peace.” It must be punished.

Today -100: April 3, 1912: Of election joy, hissing carnivals, aroused Republicans, titanic tests and sacrifice cults

Robert La Follette wins the Wisconsin Republican primary.

Headline of the Day -100: “Dies of Joy Over Election.” Some dude upon hearing the news that his son won an alderman race in Chicago. Which turned out to be wrong.

Hissing Headline of the Day -100: “Suffragists Hold a Hissing Carnival.” Hissing at politicians in Albany (where a women’s suffrage bill was just passed, then tabled) during speeches given at a benefit performance of Shaw’s pro-suffrage play “Press Cuttings” (not his best work).

Sexy Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Republicans Are Aroused.” Taft supporters in Riverside start a newspaper. Presumably so they can use it to cover their arousal.

Foreshadowing Headline of the Day -100: “Titanic Tests Her Speed.”

The Massachusetts Legislature votes against women’s suffrage.

Remember the voodoo sacrifice cult in Louisiana and Texas? The NYT runs its, what, third story? about the group responsible for the murders of 35 black people, after the head, one Clementine Barnabet, is arrested and confesses to personally killing 17 of those victims.

Today -100: April 2, 1912: Insert Michael Moore reference here

Flint, Michigan’s socialist mayor, John Menton, is defeated for re-election by a Democrat-Republican coalition after one term in office.

One of these is not like the others

Caption contest (in the UAE, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Kuwait).



Bonus question: any preferences for a commenting system to replace JS-Kit/Haloscan? Disqus or Blogspot?

Today -100: April 1, 1912: Of protectorates, maniacs, and invasions

The sultan of Morocco is coerced into signing a treaty of “protectorate” with France.

The “maniac” who attacked Sen. Thomas Gore with a club yesterday had actually wanted to kill Theodore Roosevelt (Jesus told him to do it after a head injury, or something), but TR took a different route through Wisconsin and I guess a blind guy makes an easier target.

Secretary of War Stimson is denying reports in the NYT that various national guard commanders were called to Washington to plan for a possible invasion of Mexico.

Today -100: March 31, 1912: Of conservative people, government by a representative part of the people, and women lawyers

Pres. Taft says “The American people are the most conservative people in the world.”

Roosevelt attacks the Senate’s decision to exonerate Sen. William Lorimer (R) of bribery in his election by the Illinois Legislature. He says it illustrates the working “in actual practice of the president’s theory of government of the people by what he calls a representative part of the people,” because the senators who voted to uphold Lorimer’s election were going against the wishes of their constituents. This proves the need for direct election of senators.

Headline of the Day -100: “Woman Lawyer for a Negro.” A Miss Lucille Pugh now represents some black dude accused of shooting some white dude over a game of craps (nothing of any special interest in itself). The NYT naturally describes Miss Pugh’s clothing in detail and for no particular reason I’ll repeat that description: “a black tailor-made suit with modified waistcoat and a high starched collar, such as men wear. A white carnation was stuck in the lapel of her coat, and a dainty white lace handkerchief peeped from her coat pocket. She wore a vivid red tie containing a scarab scarfpin. Her heavy brown hair was piled up under a stiff black derby hat of the latest model.”

Today -100: March 30, 1912: Of lynchings, buying colonies, wobblies, and hats

After the lynching of two black men who supposedly got a white man drunk for the purposes of robbing him, posses of the white population of the ironically named town of Blacksburg, SC are now patrolling because of rumors of an impending invasion of revenge-seeking blacks.

Secretary of State Philander Knox’s Latin America tour has taken him unexpectedly to St. Thomas, raising rumors that the US plans to buy the island (and its residents) from Denmark (a plan along these lines was rejected by the Danish parliament in 1902, but will be accepted in 1917).

Nearly 50 Wobblies are arrested in San Diego for plotting to overthrow the US government.

British suffragette Charlotte Despard, leader of the militant (but not as militant as the WSPU) suffrage group the Women’s Freedom League, calls for a boycott on buying hats (among other things, but that’s the one that’s fun to put in headlines, so everyone does).

Sorry

I had my camera battery charged and ready for some original reporting at a Rick Santorum rally at a jelly bean factory not too far from here, hoping for a picture of Ricky under the jelly bean portrait of Reagan, but I took a nap instead. My bad.

Today -100: March 29, 1912: Of rumps, incitement, women’s suffrage in Michigan and Britain, and late Scotts

The Taft people have discovered that the Roosevelt people have taken an option to rent a theater in Chicago during the week of the Republican convention in June, in other words that they’re making plans to bolt the party convention and hold a rump convention. TR’s people deny they have anything to do with the person who made the arrangements.

British trade unionist leader Tom Mann is out on bail pending trial for incitement to mutiny for publishing in his newspaper The Syndicalist an open letter to troops asking them to please not shoot strikers in the coal strike.

Mayor Harry Shriver of Rock Island, Illinois, set off a riot in which one person died, shot by police, by assaulting the editor of The Rock Island News, John Looney, who wrote something about him that the NYT annoyingly refrains from repeating. The mayor is now barricaded in his office, surrounded by soldiers, issuing threats to kill the editor like a dog (when he gets out of the hospital).

The Michigan Legislature passes a bill for a women’s suffrage referendum in November.

The British Parliament votes against a women’s suffrage bill 222-208. This is a decline in support since last year, when a similar bill passed its second reading but went no further. Some of the opposition this time around came from Irish Nationalists afraid that it would take time away from the Home Rule Bill and disrupt the Liberal cabinet (in the debate, Prime Minister Asquith spoke against the bill, Foreign Minister Grey for). Also, the coal strike meant that Labour MPs representing mining unions were busy elsewhere. Also, Anti sentiment has been strengthened by the increase in militant suffrage activities (Spoiler Alert: they ain’t seen nothing yet).

Today is believed to be the day Commander Scott died on his Antarctic expedition (Turner Classic Movies is playing “Scott of the Antarctic” tonight as part of a South Pole marathon, along with Ice Station Zebra, With Byrd at the South Pole, Frank Capra’s Dirigible and The Thing From Another World).

Today -100: March 28, 1912: Of Jewish homelands, criminal farces, and physiological emergencies

Portugal is considering establishing a Jewish colony in Portuguese Angola.

Theodore Roosevelt denounces the New York primaries, which he lost Tuesday by a 2:1 margin, as a “criminal farce.” The only inspectors allowed at polling stations were anti-Roosevelt; in some districts, the names of Roosevelt delegates didn’t appear on the ballots; in others ballot papers were not delivered or were late. In Indiana, TR says, 200 of his delegates were thrown out of the Republican state convention, “and the will of the people reversed.” Ditto Colorado.

Sir Almroth Wright, a famous British immunologist (who doesn’t believe in washing), has a long and soon to be infamous letter in today -100’s Times of London explaining that, when viewing the militant suffrage movement, “no doctor can ever lose sight of the fact that the mind of woman is always threatened with danger from the reverberations of her physiological emergencies. ... there is mixed up with the woman’s movement much mental disorder; and he cannot conceal from himself the physiological emergencies which lie behind.” A NYT editorial in tomorrow -100’s paper notes that Dr. Wright is “likely to meet several [physiological emergencies] as soon as the suffragettes get after him.”

Wright continues, “A conciliation with hysterical revolt is neither an act of peace nor will it bring peace.” Fortunately, “Peace will come again. It will come when woman ceases to believe and to teach all manner of evil of man despitefully. It will come when she ceases to impute to him as a crime her own natural disabilities, when she ceases to resent the fact that man cannot and does not wish to work side by side with her. And peace will return when every woman for whom there is no room in England seeks ‘rest’ beyond the sea, ‘each one in the house of her husband,’ and when the woman who remains in England comes to recognize that she can without sacrifice of dignity give a willing subordination to the husband or father, who, when all is said and done, earns and lays up money for her.”

Today -100: March 27, 1912: Of stolen primaries and crying prime ministers

Supporters of Roosevelt do indeed bolt the Indiana Republican convention after it instructs the delegates-at-large to the national convention in Chicago to vote for Taft. TR supporters claim he had the support of the actual majority of state delegates (some of the seats were contested) but that they were road-rollered. They hold a separate rump convention and name their own delegates-at-large to Chicago. One of the regular delegates is TR’s old vice president.

TR does badly in NY primaries. “They are stealing the primary elections from us,” he says of the party machine, noting that his poll-watchers were thrown out.

126 British suffragettes are put on trial for the window-breaking party in London early this month and given sentences of 4 to 6 months. The leaders of the Women’s Social and Political Union, at least the ones the authorities were able to find, will go on trial for conspiracy.

Headline of the Day -100: “Asquith in Tears; Strike Goes On.” A conference between the miners’ union and the owners broke down. Asquith tried to take it out of their hands by a bill which just passed the House of Commons establishing a minimum wage for miners. The king has had to cancel his plans to attend the Grand National (horsie races), so you know this shit is serious.

Comments

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As a result, near as I can see it from here, everybody is now seeing only those comments posted from their own domain (although the Recent Comments in the right sidebar works everywhere), and I’m not sure anyone can post a comment except at
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Today -100: March 26, 1912: Take a tip from father

The governor of Indiana and his wife were refused a room at a Chicago hotel because of police regulations against registering couples without baggage. And the governor of Arizona spent a night in the penitentiary, just to see what it’s like. He had mush and beans for breakfast.

Theodore Roosevelt holds a bunch of campaign rallies in NYC, several of them in casinos, prior to the NY primaries (the ballot is 14 feet long). At the New Star Casino, Maud Malone, the president of the Harlem Equal Rights League, interrupts his speech to ask about votes for women. He says he would support “some sort of a referendum” of women. She continued to pepper him with questions, and he stopped her being thrown out – for a while. Then the band struck up “Take a tip from father,” then TR begged her to let him finish, she told him he wanted women to have babies but not votes, he told her that this “exhibition” showed that he has more respect for “your sex” than she has, and finally she was dragged out. When she was out, he claimed she’d been put up to it by the opposition, although he must have known who Maud Malone was.

Today -100: March 25, 1912: Of final tests, nominations, assassinations, and governors in sombreros on horses

Foreshadowing Headline of the Day -100: “Final Tests for Titanic.” I believe it failed the math portion of the tests: 3,000 passengers and crew divided by 20 lifeboats...

The Montana Republican state committee rejects the Rooseveltian proposal for a primary and will just go ahead and endorse Taft without asking the voters.

Taft wins delegate conventions and primaries in Indiana. A rumor which is “generally believed” holds that Roosevelt’s managers in the state received $15,000 in soft money (hey, that was a lot of money then), part of which they spent on newspaper ads warning of fraud in the primaries and conventions. The Rooseveltians will contest all of Taft’s wins at the state convention, possibly planning to bolt and hold a separate convention if the decisions go against them. In other words, the Taft people hold the levers of the party, here and in other states as well as nationally, and are using them ruthlessly against Roosevelt. TR’s supporters, who aren’t averse to pulling the same tricks where they have the power to do so, are establishing a narrative of a party machine using trickery to suppress the wishes of the majority of party members.

The Ottoman Empire’s prince-governor of the Aegean island of Samos is assassinated by a Greek.

Oregon Governor Oswald West has exhausted his travel budget and must now travel by horse instead of train to the convention of Western governors, 500 miles away in Boise. He will wear a sombrero.

Today -100: March 24, 1912: Of collapsing platforms, strikes, kintopps, and invisible airships

In Portland, Maine, a platform on which Theodore Roosevelt was standing collapses. TR fell, but was not hurt. “It was the weight of intellect” that caused the collapse, the tubby former president tells the audience, before giving his speech as planned. He’d probably give his speech as planned even if someone shot him in the chest or something...

The coal strike in Britain has put 3 million people out of work, shutting down railroads, cotton mills, etc. Even worse, there will be no special trains for the start of the flat racing season next week.

In Berlin, a conference of the National Association of Managers, Actors and Playwrights comes to the conclusion that the number of movie theaters (kintopps, they were called at the time) should be limited so as not to compete with proper theatres, and movies’ subject matter should be confined to science and education and absolutely not drama.

Baron Adam Roenne has patented (in Britain) an “invisible” airship. It will be covered in chromium, which will make it reflective, rendering it invisible above 2,500 feet. In fact, there’s one above you right now, probably.

Proquest Typo of the Day (LAT story): “HOW THE COMPASS SHITS ABOUT.: CHANGES FROM 1750 TO 1910 NOTED BY UNCLE SAM”.

Today -100: March 23, 1912: Of loans, Chinese suffragettes, and explosions

Rep. Charles Lindbergh (R-Minn.), father of the aviator/fascist, proposes a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Senate and have a unicameral Congress of 315 members, 300 elected for 7 years + 15 members-at-large elected for 15 years with veto powers over the rest of the members.

The Great Powers propose a $300m loan to China, $240m for railroads, $60m for arms. Russia is not best pleased, sees an American plot.

Chinese “suffragettes” force their way into the National Assembly and break some windows. Possibly the equal suffrage measure wasn’t quite as good as reported yesterday?

It seems that the explosion that killed the 28 Southern Pacific scabs in San Antonio was not nitro, but a common or garden variety steam-engine explosion.

News Quiz USA

BBC Radio 4 is trying an American pilot version of its venerable news comedy show the News Quiz. With Lewis Black, Andy Borowitz, Kathleen Madigan, Todd Barry and Ted Alexandro. It’s not quite the same without short lesbians and funny English, Scottish and Danish accents, but whaddayagonnado?

Listen here for the next week. We should all encourage this attempt to bring Radio 4 comedy formats to America (I think the idea here is to sell this show to NPR), if only because of the ancient Mayan prediction that if Charlie Brooker and Lewis Black are ever in the same place at the same time, the world will end.

Today -100: March 22, 1912: Of suffrage and patronage

The Chinese parliament gives women the vote on the same terms as men (literacy tests, age 20, property owners). A woman, Yik Yug-Ying, is immediately elected to parliament from Canton.

The Senate Committee on Contingent Expenses will provide funds for an investigation (if one is ordered) into whether the Taft administration has been sending post office inspectors around the country to pressure postmasters to work for Taft’s re-election, which it has (and firing a lot of Roosevelt loyalists). In those days of a smaller federal government presence beyond Washington, the post office was a major source of political patronage. This was most important in this election in the South, where the Republican Party had a tiny presence, allowing postmasters to dominate the process of selecting delegates to the national convention. With so few states having popular primaries, the party nomination process was a dirty, dirty business. Unlike now, of course.

Today -100: March 21, 1912: Are the American people fit to govern themselves?

Emil Seidel, Socialist mayor of Milwaukee, is defeated in his bid for re-election, the D’s & R’s uniting behind a unity candidate.

Gov. Woodrow Wilson denies rumors that he failed to vote for William Jennings Bryan in 1908 or that he ever said that he prefers Chinese to Polish immigrants.

Speaking at Carnegie Hall, Theodore Roosevelt defends his position on recalls, initiative, direct primaries and the like, saying that the fundamental issue before the Republican Party is “Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves?” Good question. He disagrees with the view of some (i.e., Taft) that the Constitution is a “strait jacket to be used for the control of an unruly patient – the people”. He notes that the country is “suffering from the tyranny of minorities” which own all the coal and water power, profit from adulterated drugs and food, control the monopolies and trusts and sweatshops – and the Republican convention.

The Massachusetts State Senate rejects women’s suffrage 17-14 and the direct election of US senators 19-14.

Democrats in Congress offer a plan to give the Philippines independence in 1921 (July 4th, naturally) after eight years of “probationary independence” during which the Filipinos would elect a congress (some Filipinos; there’d be a property franchise and a literacy test), whose legislation could be vetoed by the US president. A Philippines president would be nominated by the US president and confirmed by the US Senate. Polygamy would be outlawed.

Nalle

Newt Gingrich 1) attacks Robert De Niro for making a joke about America not being ready for a white First Lady, 2) surreptitiously asks aide to get Halle Berry’s phone number.

Today -100: March 20, 1912: Of warships and primaries

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill gives a speech in Parliament saying that Britain plans to keep building warships at a faster rate than any of its competitors, and this means you, Germany (specifically, he wants to build 60% more ships than Germany does).

A couple of days ago, President Taft claimed to support presidential primaries, such as those just set up by the Massachusetts Legislature (only 6 states had provisions for them at the start of the year), but with lots of caveats and, as Roosevelt points out, only several days after Massachusetts had already enacted them. But what about Maryland, Michigan and elsewhere, TR asks, where Taft’s people are fighting primary legislation tooth and nail?

Today -100: March 19, 1912: Of bribery, presidential smooches, explosions, and married women

New Mexico has been a state for, what, a minute and a half? Four legislators are arrested for soliciting bribes, asking $5,000 each to vote for A.B. Fall for US senator. A sting operation was set up, with the cooperation of Fall, who will be one of NM’s first two senators and (spoiler alert) will go to prison for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal as President Harding’s Interior secretary.

President Taft kisses the first child of the re-election campaign season, one Mary Irene Barter, 11, in Boston. “It didn’t feel different from other kisses I have had, except it was before all those people,” Mary said on Yelp.com.

New war scare in Europe: Russia v. Turkey over Persia.

32 strikebreakers working for the Southern Pacific Railroad in San Antonio die in an explosion believed to have been caused by nitroglycerine. The NYT lists some of the identified bodies by name, adding at the bottom of the list “five negro helpers,” who I guess didn’t have names. Also, an 82-year-old woman was killed seven blocks away when the front end of a locomotive crashed into the roof of her house.

The Continental and Commercial Bank of Chicago will require the “resignation” of all female employees who get married. A bank vice president says the bank would prefer not to have to hire women at all, but needs must.

Today -100: March 18, 1912: Of insane aliens, members for aviation, and shaving Chinese

Alarming Headline of the Day -100: “Too Many Insane Aliens.” A report from the NY State Lunacy Commission to Gov. Dix complains about the cost and wants them deported. The report says that 1/6 of NY’s revenues goes to taking care of the insane.

While many of the Republican convention delegates have already been chosen, by fair means and foul, Roosevelt wins his first state convention, that of North Carolina.

French aviator Jules Vedrines, who earlier this month became the first man to fly a plane faster than 100 miles per hour, loses election to the French parliament, to which he was running as “member for aviation.” He flew to his rallies, speaking of the need for a large air force.

Headline of the Day -100: “All China is Shaving.”

I’m not somebody who believes that women are going to be single-issue voters

A week and a half ago, Obama held a press conference. I wrote up a post, decided it was sub-par, and deleted it. But there was one answer of his that I don’t want to let go. Asked about the “war on women,” he politely declined the opportunity to declare himself and the Democratic Party to be on the side of the women: “Women are going to make up their own mind in this election about who is advancing the issues that they care most deeply about.”

He went on:

there are millions of strong women around the country who are going to make their own determination about a whole range of issues. It’s not going to be narrowly focused just on contraception. It’s not going to be driven by one statement by one radio announcer. It is going to be driven by their view of what’s most likely to make sure they can help support their families, make their mortgage payments; who’s got a plan to ensure that middle-class families are secure over the long term; what’s most likely to result in their kids being able to get the education they need to compete. ... So I’m not somebody who believes that women are going to be single-issue voters.

Notice how quickly he moved to non-gender-specific issues like mortgages and education. He’s just not comfortable with the notion that women might vote based on their interests as women. He’d rather talk to them about mortgages and “a whole range of issues” than reassure them about their reproductive autonomy.

Of course women are interested in a whole range of non-vagina-related issues (unlike Rick Santorum), but it doesn’t make them (gasp) single-issue voters if they draw a line in the sand and say that, other issues aside, they will not vote for someone who attacks their right to control their own body. To suggest that such voters are “narrowly focused” is an insult to them and to the principle itself.

Today -100: March 17, 1912: Define “enlightened”

The NYT editor replies to a letter to the editor from James H. Hubert (an actual black dude, although the NYT may not know that, lacking Ye Olde Google), who says that Taft has not been as good for the blacks as Roosevelt was, having fired negro federal officeholders in the South. The editor responds, and I’ll quote in full: “The enlightened friends of the colored people in the South believe that their salvation can best be worked out in business and the industries and that the worst possible disservice to them would be to lead them into politics.”

Lawrence Oates of the Scott Antarctic expedition goes outside. He may be some time.

Today -100: March 16, 1912: Of insurgent hysteria

The Woodrow Wilson presidential surge is stalling out. Of the 74 delegates to the Dem. convention who have been chosen, all are for Champ Clark, the speaker of the House, except for 10 from Oklahoma. Wilson is having to be progressive enough to win votes in this progressive year without alienating the South, which he’s finding a bit tricky.

The London Times has an editorial on the suffragettes entitled “Insurgent Hysteria.” It blames the militant movement on hysterics and on “less excusable” women: unmarried women with no aptitude for professions, women with an abundance of leisure and a somewhat vacuous existence, etc.

In Philadelphia, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw calls for “militant suffrage for America”: “If we are played with, made fun of, just tolerated, greeted with supercilious smiles by members of Congressional committees, there is nothing for us to do but to resort to militant methods.”

As they would say in Britain, we got thrashed

Obama held a press conference with David Cameron yesterday. According to him, people are really interested in the fact that the two of them went to that basketball game yesterday. “Some have asked how it came about.”

I’M PRETTY SURE THAT MEANS “HAD GAY SEX.” EVERYTHING THEY SAY IN BRITAIN MEANS “HAD GAY SEX.” “During my visit to London last year, David arranged for us to play some local students -- table tennis. As they would say in Britain, we got thrashed.”

I’M PRETTY SURE THAT MEANS “HAVE GAY SEX” TOO: “That said, I’m still trying to get David to fill out his bracket.”

IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, AND I THINK YOU DO: “We’ve just finished up a very good discussion, and it was a reminder of why I value David’s leadership and partnership so much.”

MAN, IT’S JUST ALL ABOUT THE GAY SEX WITH THESE TOO: “Between us, we have the largest investment relationship in the world”.

“TEAMS,” HUH? “and we’ve instructed our teams to continue to explore ways to increase transatlantic trade and investment.”

SEX SEX SEX: “And I very much appreciate David’s perspective on the fiscal situation in the eurozone, where both our countries... are deeply connected.”

THAT MOMENTUM WON’T BREAK ITSELF, YOU KNOW: He refers rather indirectly to some unspecified “tragic events of recent days” in Afghanistan. But insists that “we can never forget” that “our forces are making very real progress: dismantling al Qaeda; breaking the Taliban’s momentum; and training Afghan forces so that they can take the lead and our troops can come home.” Just like they’ve been claiming to be doing every day for more than a decade now.

THREAT: “We also discussed the continuing threat posed by Iran’s failure to meet its international obligations.” If Iran were actually developing nukes, that might arguably constitute a “threat,” but failing to meet international obligations does not.

THE GAY SEXIEST REFERENCE YET: “We believe there is still time and space to pursue a diplomatic solution, and we’re going to keep coordinating closely with our P5-plus-1 partners.”

IF ONLY BECAUSE HE’S NOT IMMORTAL: “I’ll say it again: Assad will leave power. It’s not a question of if, but when.”

IT’S TIME: “We also think it’s important that there is a political aspect to this -- that all the various factions and ethnic groups inside of Afghanistan recognize that it’s time to end 30 years of war.” You make it sound like that 30 years of war is entirely their fault, like the countries that keep invading them don’t have something to do with it.

OBAMA ENTERING CONDESCENDING MODE IN 3..2..1.. “you asked why is it that poll numbers indicate people are interested in ending the war in Afghanistan. It’s because we’ve been there for 10 years, and people get weary, and they know friends and neighbors who have lost loved ones as a consequence of war.” Yeah, that’s it, the American people are “weary,” it’s not that they’ve come to a considered judgment that this is a failed mess.

Obama gives what may be a new justification for stopping Iran developing nukes: “It would embolden terrorists in the region who might believe that they could act with more impunity if they were operating under the protection of Iran.” I’m not sure how that “protection” would actually work, but by all means let’s base our foreign policy on what terrorists “might believe.”

WAS IT THE GIGGLING THAT GAVE THEM AWAY? “We will do everything we can to resolve this diplomatically, but ultimately, we’ve got to have somebody on the other side of the table who’s taking this seriously.”

THE FASTEST WAY TO END THE KILLING: Cameron: “We think that the fastest way to end the killing, which is what we all want to see, is for Assad to go.”

Freedom of religion

A quick note on rhetoric.

The US Conference of Bishops issued a statement: “This dispute is not about access to contraceptives but about the government’s forcing the church to provide them.” Similarly, Darrell Issa, when refusing to let Sandra Fluke testify, said his hearing was “not about reproductive rights but instead about the administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience”. Really, guys, this is not even a little bit about contraception and reproductive rights? We’re pretending that the actual content of this so-called freedom of religion is not relevant? That’s like saying that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery because it was about states’ rights. They could make the claim that the freedom of religion of Catholics not to be involved with anything they find icky trumps the right of women to control their bodies, but they don’t do that; they insist that “freedom of religion” is the only issue under discussion here. As a rhetorical device, it’s similar to the refusal of many social conservatives to talk about gay marriage when objecting to gay marriage. Instead, it’s all about “preserving traditional marriage,” as they try to marginalize gays even from the discussion of gay marriage.

Today -100: March 15, 1912: Of assassination attempts, fricks, asphalt heads, kings running with scissors, unmarried & comely cops

Anarchist (“amateur anarchist,” the LAT calls him) Antonio Dalba shoots at the king and queen of Italy, misses, hitting a bodyguard and his horse instead. Their majesties were attending the annual memorial service for the previous king, Umberto I, who was assassinated by an anarchist in 1900 (which inspired Leon Czolgosz to shoot McKinley). Dalba is a legal minor (20), so cannot be executed. He will be sentenced to 30 years, but, perhaps because of his increasing mental instability, will be pardoned in 1921, only to be committed two months later to a mental hospital, where he will die in 1953.

Headline of the Day -100: “Think Frick the Donor.” Yeah, frick him! Frick him! Oh, it seems an anonymous $2.5 million donor to MIT is believed to be Henry Clay Frick.

Another Headline of the Day -100: “Resigns as Asphalt Head.” Asphalt Head – president of the General Asphalt Company, or Taft-era superhero? Sadly, the former, because I was picturing one of those comic book covers where the superhero (whose head is made entirely out of asphalt) walks away from a garbage can with his costume sticking out of it.

Yet another Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “King Uses a Scissors.” King George V, and they were metaphorical scissors, probably the only kind he was permitted to handle. He snipped the red tape of court precedence: henceforth, wives of ambassadors will now have the same rank as their husbands (when the American ambassador was sick, his wife refused to attend court to present American women rather than suffer the ignominy of being ranked after junior ministers).

L.A. gets its first two female deputy constables. The LA Times helpfully points out that they are both “unmarried and comely.” Even more helpfully, it gives their address (they live together).

Today -100: March 14, 1912: Of stupid and fantastic stories

President Taft is (finally) planning to get Congress to ban the sale of arms and munitions to the combatants in the civil war in Mexico.

Some of the British suffragettes who broke windows are sentenced to 4- and 6-month prison terms.

The Cuban government asked its ambassador to get a statement from President Taft about “rumors” that the US planned to invade it again (those rumors possibly caused by Secretary of State Knox having threatened that very thing in January). Taft responds: “The United States cannot be expected to take the trouble to deny all the foolish gossip which is, unfortunately, spread about its foreign relations. It should be understood in Havana that whenever the United States has anything to say about her relations with Cuba it will be said by the President or the Secretary of State. ... I am astonished to learn from you of the stupid and fantastic stories which are being circulated in some circles in Havana to the effect that intervention is being planned... [rumors which are] all the more surprising and reprehensible in view of the transparent politics of the United States. The Government of the United States, as an act of friendship, has indicated where dangers are and has adopted what has been well called a ‘preventive policy,’ that is, a policy which consists in doing all within its power to induce Cuba to avoid every reason that would make intervention possible at any time.” Yeah, I can’t see how stupid and fantastic stories about American intervention could start.

Striking corset workers (which sounds like something out of some sort of historical porno) in Kalamazoo, hit with a court order against picketing, are instead praying outside the factory (praying that scabs join the strike).

NY Governor John Dix, a Democrat, “has put on war paint” in preparations for battle with the Democratic/Tammany machine, which has just defeated his nominee for a position on the Public Service Commission for the 2nd district, which was I guess Boss Murphy’s attempt to show Dix who really runs things.

The huge Lawrence, Mass. mill strike is finally over, after two months, the IWW agreeing with textile mill owners to a pay increase of 5 to 25% (the lower-paid workers getting the largest increases).

Headline of the Day -100: “20th Century Goes into River.” Not a metaphor, apparently: the 20th Century was the train between Chicago and NYC.

Caption contest

Barack Obama, having evidently borrowed Romney’s Casual Shirt, took British Prime Minister David Cameron to a basketball game today. Did they shove phallic-shaped food-adjacent objects into their mouths? Yes, yes they did.

Today -100: March 13, 1912: Of feathers in France

Headline of the Day -100: “France Won’t Ban Feathers.”

Today -100: March 12, 1912: Of young suffragists and doggies

The Tennessee Legislature (which in 8 years will be the state that puts the 19th Amendment over the top) hears its first speech in support of women’s suffrage. It’s by Anna Hooper, the 9-year-old daughter of the governor. She notes that ignorant men are allowed to vote (as long as they’re white, she doesn’t say), but educated women are not. (Except for the fact that Anna was the youngest delegate to the 1924 Republican convention and that she died at age 100, I can find out nothing about her.)

Headline of the Day -100: “Peary’s Opinion of Dog Meat.” Admiral Peary thinks the... catering... on the Amundsen expedition, while “not a regular item on the polar bill of fare... comes enough as a matter of course not to be thought of either as a delicacy or as particularly hard rations.” And dogs have the advantage over ponies that when one dies, its body can be eaten by both men and dogs, while ponies can be eaten by the men but not by thee surviving ponies.

Today -100: March 11, 1912: Of coal and mules

With Prussian and French colliers about to join their British brethren on strike, and an anthracite miners’ strike threatened in Pennsylvania, the coal strike is rapidly going global.

Headline of the Day -100: “Cabinet on Mules Goes to See Knox.” The Honduran cabinet, taking a five-day round trip out of their no doubt busy schedules, because for some reason Secretary of State Knox couldn’t get from the port of Amapala to the capital. The NYT notes that Knox “had no special mission” in Honduras. He is now on his way to Salvador, which is evidently what gringos called El Salvador back then.

Today -100: March 10, 1912: Of the higher interests of art, spanking suffragettes, and ignoring primaries

A Munich jury acquits French dancer Adorée Villany of giving an immoral performance, deciding that she danced nekkid in “the higher interests of art.”


The Kentucky Legislature passes a bill for women’s suffrage for school board elections. Unlike male electors, women would have to be able to read and write.

Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times), on the subject of the British suffragettes: “‘Spank Them,’ Is Cry in London.” Or at least, that’s the cry “in first-class smoking compartments” (the equivalent of Thomas Friedman’s wisdom-spouting taxi drivers, I guess).

Sen. Leroy Percy (D-Miss.) refuses the Mississippi Legislature’s demand that he resign his seat. He says that his offer to resign if he lost a primary was restricted to 1910, and the primary was held in 1911.

Today -100: March 9, 1912: Of lynchers of nations, poles, and tyranny & confusion

Secretary of State Philander Knox is still touring Latin America, and while reporting is spotty, the trip doesn’t seem to be going that well. Nicaragua had to deploy troops to keep him safe and Costa Rica’s leading newspaper called him “the lyncher of nations.”

The NYT publishes Amundsen’s account of his polar expedition, with stern warnings for anyone who even thinks of violating their copyright. Warning: many dogs are killed and eaten in this story (Amundsen says they were delicious).

Norwegians may have discovered the South Pole, but under international law they don’t own it unless they also occupy it.

President Taft gives a speech in Toledo attacking Roosevelt’s idea of recall of judges as leading to tyranny and confusion.

Today -100: March 8, 1912: The whole world has now been discovered

The Senate passes the arbitration treaties with Britain and France, after gutting them to the point of making them meaningless. The NYT blames Roosevelt.

The Ohio constitutional convention votes to put women’s suffrage on the ballot in November.

A NYT editorial on British suffragette Christabel Pankhurst compares her disappearance to that of the Mona Lisa, and refers to her no fewer than three times as “little” (or “diminutive but tremendously aggressive”). It says that “No sane person can sympathize with the recent violent actions of the British suffragettes” at a time when there are a lot of strikes in Britain.

The NYT says of the Amundsen Antarctic expedition, “The whole world has now been discovered.” The head of the University of Chicago geology department says the discovery of the South Pole means that long-term weather predictions are now possible.

Headline of the Day -100: “Telephone Lines at War.” Rivalry between telephone companies leads one to cut off Hope, Blairstown and Belvidere, NJ.

The LAT reports under the headline “Disposing of a Leper” that John Early (we have encountered him before) will be “allowed to find a refuge” on tiny Eagle Island, Washington, by a federal government which feels no obligation to pay for his maintenance while he is involuntarily confined in this refuge. Also, he can’t cut down the trees, which help steamers in the fog somehow.

Today -100: March 7, 1912: Of airships, fugitives, and poles

Another advance in civilization: dirigibles are used in warfare for the first time, as Italian airships drop bombs in Libya.

The British police have so far failed to find and arrest suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst, and will continue to do so (“They seek her here, they seek her there... that damned elusive Christabel”), possibly because when they raided WSPU headquarters yesterday she was on the roof. She is, in fact, now making her way to Paris, from where she will continue to general the militant wing of the suffrage movement (some of the militant wing; they were rather prone to splits) until the Great War begins.

Remember Capt. Lux, the French spy who escaped from a German fortress at the end of last year? He has been cited to appear at a local court in Germany for failure to pay a baker for the cakes he ate as a prisoner. Lux says he left a check in his cell which should more than cover it.

In honor of the forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State Philander Knox, Nicaragua locks up 100 opposition types, including the editorial staffs of two newspapers, which had suggested that an appropriate welcome for Knox would be dynamite.

Capt. Roald Amundsen has returned from the South Pole. The NYT seems to think that instead of having their sleds pulled by dogs, the Norwegians had trained polar bears.

Loaded term

I was gonna analyze Eric Holder’s state-sponsored-assassination-is-not-only-perfectly-legal-but-also-way-cool speech, but I ran into the problem that it was filled with words and terms I thought I knew the meaning of, but which Holder either stripped of meaning entirely or used to designate something entirely different from my understanding of those words: clear authority, robust oversight, due process, core Executive functions, and so on. It’s hard to debate with someone when you don’t share a common language (although seek out – because I need a nap and don’t feel like looking up the URLs – the responses of Glenn Greenwald, Charles Davis, Charles Pierce, and the ACLU).

My favorite bit, because it was so very like George Bush insisting that the US does not torture because when the US does it, it’s called something else, was where Holder insisted that the killing of people in foreign countries is not “assassinations.” “They are not, and the use of that loaded term is misplaced. Assassinations are unlawful killings.” Instead, this is “use of lethal force in self defense”.

So that’s okay then.

Today -100: March 6, 1912: Of primaries, retired presidents-for-life, and raids

Both houses of the Mississippi Legislature pass a resolution asking US Senator Leroy Percy (D) to resign, which he had promised to do if he lost the primary, which he did, last August, to racist pig and former governor James Vardaman. Of course, this is before the 17th Amendment, so the primary was entirely advisory, and Percy had proposed holding it in the first place. There was only a primary, no general election, so only the Democrats – the white Democrats – were asked to express their opinion.

The chairman of Roosevelt’s campaign committee, Sen. Joseph Dixon, challenges Taft’s chair (William McKinley, evidently no relation to the president) to primaries in every state to see just which candidate Republicans in the country actually prefer. McKinley asks whether Dixon has authority from TR to issue such a challenge.

Former Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz, in... retirement... on the French Riviera, denies that he plans to return to take a role in the ongoing revolution: “I have no intention of intervening in the strife of the parties, especially while they have not recovered their reason.”

London police raid the headquarters of the Women’s Social and Political Union, the suffrage organization responsible for all the window-breaking, and arrest all the leaders they can find (including Christabel Pankhurst, the NYT mistakenly reports). Public buildings, including the British Museum, have been closed, because who knows what the suffragettes will break next. Insurance companies are issuing special window-breaking-by-suffragettes policies (damage from riot is not ordinarily covered by insurance, so those department stores are shit out of luck). The London Times suggests that the government seize the WSPU’s funds. The Daily Express says, “We are all tired to death of the Suffragists.” One of the 150 or so suffragettes apprehended for window-breaking is American sculptor Alice Wright. The NYT asks a class-mate of hers at Smith if she’s pretty. Yes. As pretty as Inez Milholland (American suffragist pin-up)? No.

Oh, and today is evidently the 100th anniversary of the Oreo.