Today -100: December 16, 1911: Of fight films and diamond dicks

Movies of the 1910 Jeffries-Johnson fight, which caused so much trouble in the US for racial reasons, will finally be allowed to be shown in Berlin after a long court battle overturning a police decision to ban them as a danger to public order.

Obituary of the Day -100: “‘Diamond Dick’ Is Dead. George B. McClelland, Known to Boys as Hero of Many a Dime Novel.” Or possibly the worst James Bond villain ever.

Today -100: December 15, 1911: Of ultimata, archdukes, king-emperors, bandits, gallows in opera houses, absinthe and defective children

British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey basically agrees with Russia’s ultimatum to Persia that it fire its American treasurer-general, William Morgan-Shuster, and only appoint foreign advisers acceptable to Russia and Britain.

33-year-old Archduke Henry Ferdinand (or, to give him his full name, Henry Ferdinand Salvator Marie Joseph Leopold Charles Ludwig Pius Albert Rupert Katherine von Richi) quits the Austrian court, the second archduke to do so this year. Like Ferdinand Karl, he met a woman from the lower orders. He doesn’t seem to be marrying her, but he did leverage the threat of doing so to get permission to leave the military (which he did without leave anyway) to study painting in Munich (I wonder if he knew Hitler?).

In Delhi, the King-Emperor reviews 50,000 troops and creates 93 knights and 200 companions of orders.

The House passes a bill for an 8-hour day for laborers and mechanics engaged on contracted-out government work.

The bloody work of American occupation in the Philippines goes on (and on). American troops kill 42 Moro “bandits.”

In a story for which the NYT Index fails to provide a proper link, a negro preacher, William Turner, is hanged in the Jackson, Georgia opera house for inciting a “race riot” in which one white man was shot. This is not a lynching, but a legal hanging. The sheriff decided that he could prevent a lynching by holding it in the opera house, and the victim’s family could watch from the box seats and not have to stand in the rain.

John E. Brown, in jail in Moab, Utah awaiting trial for killing his daughter and her husband, likes his privacy, so he’s been paying the fines of anyone who gets arrested.

The feds ban the import of absinthe, which the head of the Pure Food Board says is “one of the worst enemies of man”.

Headline of the Day -100: “FEW CHILDREN NORMAL.” 65% of the children in Boston schools are below physical par or, as they are sensitively termed, defective.

Iraq is not a perfect place

Obama went to Fort Bragg today to tell the troops “Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home. (Applause.) Welcome home.” Evidently the war in Iraq is over. Who knew?

BE VEWWY, VEWWY QUIET: “We’ve got a lot of folks in the house today. ... We’ve got America’s quiet professionals -- our Special Operations Forces.”

AND THEIR BOOTS FULL OF SAND, PRESUMABLY: “Those last American troops will move south on desert sands, and then they will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high.”

THAT’S ONE WAY OF PUTTING IT: “[O]ur efforts in Iraq have taken many twists and turns.”


IT’S NOT? “Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead.”

YES, THEY CALLED HIM THE STREAK: “We remember the early days -- the American units that streaked across the sands and skies of Iraq”.

WORST PORNO EVER: “We remember the grind of the insurgency”.

He gave a potted history of the Iraq War that in no way deviates from the Bush narrative: Al Qaida fanning the flames of sectarianism, the surge, the “Awakening,” all saved by the bravery and derring-do of American soldiers.

HE’S ALWAYS SO CONCERNED THAT WE’RE GOING TO MAKE A MISTAKE: “And make no mistake -- as we go forward as a nation, we are going to keep America’s armed forces the strongest fighting force the world has ever seen.” And they’ve seen it a lot.


SEXYTIME: “But our commitment doesn’t end when you take off the uniform.”

MORE SEXYTIME: “For all of the challenges that our nation faces, you remind us that there’s nothing we Americans can’t do when we stick together.” AUDIENCE: Hooah!

He calls the assembled soldiery “The 9/11 Generation.” Sigh.

WOW, WE ARE SO FUCKING UNSELFISH IT’S BEYOND BELIEF: “That’s part of what makes us special as Americans. Unlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right. There can be no fuller expression of America’s support for self-determination than our leaving Iraq to its people. That says something about who we are.” It says something alright.

BARRY, IT WOULD BE EASIER TO KEEP DANCING ON HIS GRAVE IF YOU HADN’T HAD HIM DUMPED IN THE OCEAN: “Osama bin Laden will never again walk the face of this Earth.”


WHAT ABOUT THE SOLDIERS WHO KILLED ALL THOSE INDIANS, WEREN’T THEY PART OF THE “UNBROKEN LINE”? “Never forget that you are part of an unbroken line of heroes spanning two centuries -- from the colonists who overthrew an empire, to your grandparents and parents who faced down fascism and communism, to you -- men and women who fought for the same principles in Fallujah and Kandahar, and delivered justice to those who attacked us on 9/11.”

Today -100: December 14, 1911: Of treaties, Democrats in Arizona, poles, and holy days

The House passes the resolution in favor of denouncing the 1832 treaty with Russia due to its discrimination against the passports of American Jews by a vote of 300-1, but the Senate is planning to delay taking any action.

The Democrats sweep the Arizona elections, electing D’s as the almost-state’s first delegates to the US House and Senate, governor, and 3/4 of the Legislature. When they actually take office depends on when AZ becomes a state. It’s also not clear whether the next election will be in 1912 or 1914. 1912 seems too soon, but 1914 would entail the new Legislature extending its own term, as well as those of the state officers, which would likely provoke recalls, as allowed under the new constitution.

It’s not in the paper, for obvious reasons, but the Amundsen expedition reached the South Pole today, planting the Norwegian flag. Suck it, Scott.



The pope strikes St. Patrick’s Day from the list of obligatory holy days on which Catholics are required to attend mass and abstain from work. And no fasting.

Today -100: December 13, 1911: Of women mayors, treaties, setting the nation shaking, pensions, peace, and durbars

Mayor Samuel Shank of Indianapolis told the Restricted Equal Suffrage Association (a women’s suffrage group whose name I strongly suspect the NYT got wrong) that, just for the hell of it, he’d appoint one of them to serve in his place the next time he was out of town. So the Association has chosen Dr. Hannah Graham. Only it seems that Shank didn’t really mean it, and is surprised to be taken seriously, and doesn’t intend to leave town, and if he did he’d probably just appoint his wife.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs supports a resolution to abrogate the 1832 treaty with Russia due to Russia’s exclusion of American Jews, because they hate hate hate racism. Also, they just realized that ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Russia could emigrate to the US and they hate hate hate Chinese immigrants.

A National Protest Committee is formed to send a pilgrimage of 5,000 to 10,000 negroes to Washington to demand the suppression of lynching. The president of the Committee, Rev. Mark Harris, notes that while 12 million negroes have hitherto been unable to stop lynching, a mere handful of Jews have managed to “set the Nation shaking” with their protest about Russia.

The House passes the “Dollar a Day” pension bill, giving veterans of the Mexican-American or Civil Wars pensions of as much as $30 a month. Socialist congresscritter Victor Berger offers an amendment pensions for everyone over 60, saying it was the only way to get the idea before the House.

Headline of the Day -100: “Germans Seize Peace Meeting.” A meeting in Carnegie Hall in support of the arbitration treaties between the US and Britain and France was disrupted and shouted down by a bunch of Germans led by one Alphonse Koelble (with a Germanic turned-up mustache) of the German-American Citizens’ League, who said they were a “lot of dubs” trying to “knife” Germany.

King George V and Queen Mary, crowned emperor and empress of India in Delhi, announce that the capital of the Raj is moving from Calcutta to Delhi. The emperor wore a robe of imperial purple, white satin breaches, and a crown with diamonds studded with emeralds, rubies and sapphires that sounds like it was worth more than the city of Calcutta, so I’m not sure how thankfully the news that the new King-Emperor was graciously donating 50 lakhs of rupees to education was really greeted. Here’s a contemporary newsreel:



And here’s some rather horse-centric footage from the 2002 tv series “The British Empire in Colour.”

Iraq’s sovereignty must be respected

Today Obama held a press conference with Iraqi PM Maliki, who Obama called “the elected leader of a sovereign, self-reliant and democratic Iraq.” Not an accurate adjective in that phrase.

AND MOE WAS THE SMARTEST STOOGE: “The Prime Minister leads Iraq’s most inclusive government yet.”


WELL, MAYBE NOT TRANSPARENT, BUT THEY DO HAVE BIG BOMB-BLAST HOLES YOU CAN SEE THROUGH: “Iraqis are working to build institutions that are efficient and independent and transparent.”

IF GROWTH IS MEASURED FROM THE POINT AT WHICH WE’D BOMBED THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE INTO RUBBLE, ANYWAY: “And I think it’s worth considering some remarkable statistics. In the coming years, it’s estimated that Iraq’s economy will grow even faster than China’s or India’s.”

DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO: “For just as Iraq has pledged not to interfere in other nations, other nations must not interfere in Iraq. Iraq’s sovereignty must be respected.”

HE’S ALWAYS SO CONCERNED THAT WE’RE GOING TO MAKE A MISTAKE: “So make no mistake, our strong presence in the Middle East endures”.

“And let us never forget those who gave us this chance -- the untold number of Iraqis who’ve given their lives; more than one million Americans, military and civilian, who have served in Iraq; nearly 4,500 fallen Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion; tens of thousands of wounded warriors, and so many inspiring military families. They are the reason that we can stand here today.” On a large pile of corpses.


Obama said Syrian President Assad’s repression has “deeply eroded” “his capacity to regain legitimacy inside Syria”. As with Qaddafi’s famous lost legitimacy, Obama fails to explain when and how Assad ever gained legitimacy in the first place.

You know, when I heard from Al Jazeera that Iran was refusing to return the US’s downed drone, I assumed it was a preemptive refusal and laughed at the notion that we’d actually have the nerve to ask, but Obama says they did and “We’ll see how the Iranians respond.” Yes, yes we will.

poll by twiigs.com

SO IT WAS AAALLLLLL WORTH WHILE: “what’s happened over the last several years has linked the United States and Iraq in a way that is potentially powerful and could end up benefitting not only America and Iraq but also the entire region and the entire world.”

A MODEL: “we think a successful, democratic Iraq can be a model for the entire region. We think an Iraq that is inclusive and brings together all people -- Sunni, Shia, Kurd -- together to build a country, to build a nation, can be a model for others that are aspiring to create democracy in the region.” Yes, one feature of the Arab Spring was how protesters in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, etc all said that they want to be just like Iraq.


Christi Parsons of the Chicago Tribune asked if Obama still thinks the Iraq War is a “dumb war.” For some reason he neglected to answer: “I think history will judge the original decision to go into Iraq. But what’s absolutely clear is, as a consequence of the enormous sacrifices that have been made by American soldiers and civilians -- American troops and civilians -- as well as the courage of the Iraqi people, that what we have now achieved is an Iraq that is self-governing, that is inclusive, and that has enormous potential.”

Obama thanks the people who’ve worked on Iraq, although perhaps “a bang-up job” was not the most sensitive expression to use.

New Eek, indeed

Also, I have nothing to say about Romney right now, but I do have a new nickname for him: The Ten Thousand Dollar Man.

Today -100: December 12, 1911: Of dancing and wars

The Socialist administration in Milwaukee adds dancing to the school curriculum. Not sure why that’s news, much less front-page news, but Emma Goldman should be pleased.

The NYT pooh-poohs Secretary of War Stimson’s report, saying it doesn’t matter that the army is woefully ill-equipped for a war, because there won’t be one. So that’s okay then.

Republican Debate: Ten-thousand-dollar bet?

No transcript available, so this’ll be a bit jumbled.

Romney came out firmly against lunar colonies.

Bachmann talked about “Newt Romney,” which is either a reference to their both having supported a health insurance mandate in the past, or to some slash fic she’s been posting anonymously on the internet.


Tweaked again by Perry about removing from the paperback edition of his book a reference to extending Romneycare nationwide, Twitt responded, “I’ll tell you what: 10,000 bucks? Ten-thousand-dollar bet?” At which point, they might as well have turned off the cameras and gone home, since that’s all anyone will remember. What’s interesting about the rich guy mistakes – this, demolishing the mansion in San Diego to build an even bigger mansion, etc – is that he keeps making them over and over.


MA, MA, WHERE’S MY PA? I don’t know what it says about the state of politics that it won’t have occurred to most viewers that there’s something out of the ordinary about a candidate talking about another candidate’s sex life. I don’t think Blaine went after Cleveland’s alleged illegitimate child personally. Rick Perry, though: “If you cheat on your wife, you’ll cheat on your business partner, so I think that issue of fidelity is important.”

GONE TO THE WHITE HOUSE, HA HA HA: Gingrich responded, “I’ve said in my case, I’ve made mistakes at times -- I’m also a 68-year-old grandfather and I think people have to measure what I do now.” I think he’s saying that he can’t get it up anymore, so the White House interns are probably safe. I wonder how Callista feels about the affair that turned into her marriage being referred to as a “mistake.” And about those grandchildren – their grandmother was the woman with cancer you divorced. Gingrich says “I’ve had to go to God for forgiveness.” So that’s okay then.


In the talk about Israel, Gingrich and Romney both tried to position themselves as close as possible to their good friend “Bibi,” promising to subordinate their Middle East policies not just to Israel but to Likud. Romney literally said that before he’d make a statement like Gingrich’s about the Palestinians being an invented people, he’d call Bibi and ask permission. No one had a sympathetic word for the Palestinians and several strongly implied that they were all terrorists. Gingrich doubled down on the “invented people” thing – “I spoke as a historian” (and he usually gets $1.6 million for that) – why, he says, the term “Palestinian” was never even heard before 1977. Also, speaking the “truth” about Palestinians’ non-existence makes him exactly like Reagan calling the Soviet Union an evil empire. He complained that “we [are] in a situation where every day rockets are fired into Israel” – every day? I think not – “while the United States -- the current administration, tries to pressure the Israelis into a peace process.” You know when you need a peace process? When rockets are fired into your country “every day.” Mittens said Gingrich threw “incendiary words into a place which is a boiling pot.” If it’s already boiling, then... oh, never mind.


Romney accused Gingrich of being a, gasp, career politician, and G. shot back, “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is that you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.” Romney said, “Losing to Teddy Kennedy was probably the best thing I could have done.” Boy, he’s just lucky that way.

The candidates were asked to prove that they understood what it’s like to be poor even though none of them are poor. Perry said he didn’t have running water growing up; Gingrich said he once lived in an apartment over a gas station. Romney admits he’s never been poor, but his father was, so that’s close enough. Michele Bachmann says she still clips coupons, which brings up the frightening prospect of Michele Bachmann with a pair of scissors.


Bachmann praises Herman Cain for teaching her to “reduce things to a very simple level so people can understand it” and now “you can’t have a debate without saying 9-9-9,” but rather than “9-9-9,” her motto will be “win, win, win.”



(Update: Gingrich on Palestine: “These people are terrorists. They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say, ‘If there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?’” ABC did not give a reaction shot of Rick Perry, but I’ll bet he was working it out on his fingers.)

Today -100: December 11, 1911: Of armies

Secretary of War Henry Stimson, in his annual report, says that the army is totally unprepared for war, under-equipped and scattered across the country (originally to defend against Indian attack). He wants to reduce the term of enlistment from 3 years to 2 years, so the number of reserves will be higher.

He also urges that Puerto Ricans be given citizenship (the colony was under the War Office).

5,000 Turkish troops have entered Persia (shouldn’t they be fighting the Italians in Libya?) and won’t leave until the Russian troops are withdrawn.

Today -100: December 10, 1911: Of radium, lily-white Harlem, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and beating deaf-mutes

Fad of the Day -100: “Radium Cure a Fad of Paris Society.” Just sit in a room whose air is infused with radium for a couple of hours while you play bridge or whatnot, and your rheumatism and heart ailments will be cured.

Some doctor in Paris has determined that if a fetus’s heartbeat is more than 150 beats per minute, it is a girl. Another French professor insists that this means that one can control the sex of one’s offspring. The father could take adrenalin to have a daughter. Yeah, I don’t know how he thinks that would work either.

Property-owners in yet another section of Harlem have joined together to pledge not to rent or sell to black people. It is expected that these organizations will spread and that Harlem will soon be entirely white. The NYT says the black population of NYC is 97,000. According to the 1910 census, the city’s total population was 4.7 million.

New York state Supreme Court Justice Leonard Giegerich approves a child custody agreement in which the ex-wife is allowed custody of the couple’s 3-year-old daughter so long as she doesn’t employ a negro maid.

Some time back, France ordered all religious orders dissolved. Most are now gone and their properties seized by the government, but the Little Sisters of the Poor, who escaped notice because they are little, I guess, are barricading themselves in their convents, because the Little Sisters of the Poor are also totally bad-ass, I guess. Catholic mobs are attacking the homes of people who buy the property formerly held by the orders (and in Lyons they attacked a Jewish synagogue, because why not?).

Headline of the Day -100: “Pennington Beats Deaf Mutes.”

In basketball.

Tulane called, they want their PhD back

Newt Gingrich says Palestinians are “an invented people,” adding, “Oh, wait, or is that Hobbits? I always get those two confused.”

Evidently Palestine can’t be a state because “It was part of the Ottoman Empire.” So was Israel. So was Libya. So was Greece. What’s your point? And just why did West Georgia College deny you tenure, anyway?

Today -100: December 9, 1911: Of apologies and concrete furniture

The Japanese emperor’s train was delayed an hour because a carriage derailed due to of a misplaced switch. The train superintendent, naturally, atoned for his shame in keeping the emperor waiting by committing suicide (throwing himself under a train, naturally).

Some time ago, Thomas Edison announced plans to build concrete houses which would cost just $1,000. Now, he adds that he will also sell concrete furniture, costing $200 to furnish the $1,000 house and, says Edison, “more artistic and more durable than is now to be found in the most palatial residence in Paris or along the Rhine.”

In other technology news, the California National Guard is experimenting with using wireless telephones, automobiles and airplanes for scouting.

Alongside bubble gum or batteries

Obama took a few questions today. Orally.

Asked whether he’s guilty of appeasement in the Middle East: “Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22-out-of-30 top al Qaeda leaders
who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is left out there, ask them about that.” And the transformation into George W. Bush is now complete.

He fully supports, “as the father of two daughters,” Kathleen Sibelius’s refusal to let women under 17 get Plan B without a prescription, which he considers to be simply the application of “some common sense.” No good ever came attached to the words “common sense” coming from the mouth of any politician. He said little girls shouldn’t be able, “alongside bubble gum or batteries -- be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could end up having an adverse effect. And I think most parents would probably feel the same way. ... And her judgment was that there was not enough evidence that this potentially could be used improperly in a way that had adverse health effects on those young people.”

We’re talking about a pill (evidently a single pill rather than two, as I said yesterday, at least in the version of the medication affected by this decision), so used improperly how? Does he think they’ll stick it up their nostrils?

Today -100: December 8, 1911: Of the hot-headed student class

Sophisticated NYT analysis of the situation in China: “The hot-headed student class is powerful in China, and is enforcing extreme demands because of the racial timidity of the elders”.

Use only as directed, and not for any sex-based cults

Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sibelius overrules the FDA and refuses to allow Plan B (the morning after pill) to be made available without a prescription to women under 17 years old. She bases this entirely on the stupidity of adolescent girls: “However, the switch from prescription to over the counter for this product requires that we have enough evidence to show that those who use this medicine can understand the label and use the product appropriately.”

So what does the label say that is so hard to comprehend? When the Bush FDA likewise refused to allow the drug to be sold over the counter to minors in 2004, it made the same claim, and since the media didn’t bother telling us what the drug’s instructions were (I bet they won’t today either), I went to my local pharmacy and asked them to print them out. Those instructions: take one pill. 12 hours later, take another pill. That’s it.

In private, by the way, the FDA’s deputy operations commissioner in 2004 privately “stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an ‘urban legend’ status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.” Sibelius probably isn’t saying as nutty as that behind closed doors but the upshot is that she’s still giving us the exact same policy.

Transcription error of the day

“Trance gender people.” The mind boggles.

Suggest possible definitions (and examples) of trance gender people in comments.

Today -100: December 7, 1911: Of regents and passports

In China, Prince Chun, father of the child-emperor, resigns as regent. This is announced in an edict which says “He wept and prayed to resign the Regency, at the same time expressing his earnest intention to abstain from politics.” Basically, they sacrificed him in the hopes of saving the emperor, which (spoiler alert) is too little, way too late.

A large meeting at Carnegie Hall demands the abrogation of the 1832 treaty with Russia unless it honors the passports of American Jews. There has been a groundswell of demand for this lately, and the speakers at this meeting include Speaker of the House Champ Clark, William Randolph Hearst, Gov. Woodrow Wilson and assorted members of Congress.

If it was good enough for John Kerry...

Romney proselytized in France (neatly avoiding Vietnam); Gingrich researched his dissertation in Belgium (neatly avoiding Vietnam). How many of the Republican candidates are hiding the shameful secret that they... speak French?

Today -100: December 6, 1911: Of lynchings, blasphemy, good government and women voters, and the State of the Union

NYT Index Typo of the Day: “ENGAGED WOMEN MOB TRIANGLE WAIST MEN.” Enraged, of course.

A mob at the ironically named Valliant, Oklahoma, lynches a black man, hanging him at the fairgrounds.

And in Washington, Georgia, a T. B. Walker evidently murdered a white guy, then escaped from a lynch mob, was captured and sentenced to hanging, escaped, was recaptured, then was shot in the face by the brother of his victim (the brother will not be tried for this attempted murder) as he was standing in court being re-sentenced, and was executed just three hours later (so quickly because they were afraid he’d manage to escape again).

The London Times reports that Thomas William Steward, president of Free Thought Socialist League and of the British Secular League, has been convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 3 months for saying “God is not a fit companion for a respectable man like me.”

Los Angeles Mayor George Alexander (Good Government Party) is re-elected, soundly defeating Socialist candidate Job Harriman, who can’t have been helped by being one of the lawyers for the McNamara brothers, who confessed to that little dynamiting job just last week. Even Alexander is at least a little socialist, supporting municipalization of telephones and utilities, including bakeries. A prohibition proposition for the city fails, badly. Women, voting for the first time, had a turn-out of over 90% and more women voted than men.

Taft issues his third State of the Union address, or at least the first part of it, dealing with corporation law. He calls again for provision for corporations to be (voluntarily) incorporated at the national rather than state level. That got nowhere after his SOTU two years ago, so he uses... the exact same words. He also insists that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act not be amended to reverse the Supreme Court’s ruling that it applied only to “unreasonable” restraint of trade. He thinks that as the Act becomes “better understood” over time, judges and juries will become more willing to imprison people who violate it than they have been up until now.