Obama and the Egyptian crapfest

White House spokesmodel Josh Earnest earnestly complains that the bloody crackdown in Egypt “runs directly counter to the pledges by the interim government to pursue reconciliation.” Who knew that when the military seized power and arrested the democratically elected president that it would fail to pursue reconciliation?

Also, the Obama administration opposes the declaration of a state of emergency. But not the coup itself. Also, it wasn’t a coup.

When the Bush administration was denying that Iraq was in the middle of a civil war, I suggested, as a compromise, that it be designated a “crapfest.” Since the Obamaites are equally unwilling to use the word “coup” for what took place in Egypt, may I again suggest “crapfest.” You’re welcome.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 14, 1913: Of impeachments, straying aircraft, angry moose, pig suits, bebels, and blacks in government

The NY State Assembly votes 79-45 to impeach Gov. Sulzer. Of the 79 in favor, 72 were Democrats (like Sulzer) and 7 were Republicans. Of the 45 opposed, 26 were D’s, 16 R’s and 3 Progressives. 25 abstained. This marks something like the 8th time a governor of any state has been impeached. Only two were actually removed from office (some of the others pulled a Nixon and resigned first), both in 1871, the governors of North Carolina and Nebraska, the former basically for fighting the KKK and the latter for stealing government funds.

Which leaves only one question: who is the governor of New York now? The NY constitution seems to some to say that impeachment mean temporary removal from office, pending the trial, in favor of the lieutenant governor, Martin Glynn. Sulzer disputes this. (Spoiler alert: fun and games will totally ensue).

Since I started this feature less than 4 years ago, NY -100 has had five governors, including Glynn.

France and Germany agree to allow each other’s aircraft to land if they stray across the border, although the craft’s commander will then have to swear that they were not up to no good.

Headline of the Day -100: “Angry Moose Defy Forces of Fusion.” If I didn’t know that was something about New York City electoral politics, that would look a little weird.

Disappointing Headline of the Day -100: “Adele Ritchie in Pig Suit.” That is, she’s being sued for payment for some chickens and pigs she bought.

German Socialist August Bebel dies.

More evidence that Woodrow Wilson is not Good For the Negro: another of the very few federal posts traditionally held by blacks is given to a white dude. US ambassadors to Haiti had all been black since 1869 except for one four-year period. Now, Wilson gives the job to Madison Smith, a white former congresscritter from Missouri. This news, as well as the forced withdrawal of Adam Patterson’s nomination for the post of register of the Treasury, appears in the NYT only in the form of a letter from the editor of a black newspaper, The New York Age.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 13, 1913: Of conspiracies and naughty first ladies

The Wilson Administration has been whispering privately that there is a conspiracy to get the US to intervene militarily in Mexico. The NYT pooh-poohs that notion.

Another Wilson Administration conspiracy theory: Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo has been saying that New York banks conspired to reduce the price of government bonds in order to defeat the bill creating the Federal Reserve system. Republicans in Congress demand that he prove it, while Democrats say he was just giving his personal, not official, opinion.

Oh wow, this is lame: after days of failing to answer the charges against him, and as the Legislature is considering impeachment, NY Gov. William Sulzer finally comes up with an explanation: it’s his wife’s fault. Clara Sulzer pops up to say that it was she who diverted those campaign funds, forging Bill’s signatures on the checks without his knowing anything about it so she could speculate on the stock market. (Update: she will then become conveniently ill and unavailable for questions). Gov. Sulzer is telling anyone who will listen that an extraordinary session of the Legislature doesn’t have the power to impeach anybody (if you squint at the state constitution, you can come to that interpretation), and that he would be within his rights to hold his office by force of arms.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 12, 1913: Of impeachments, pathetic addresses, and persistent prostitution

The Frawley Investigating Committee of the NY Legislature reports in favor of impeaching Gov. Sulzer for under-reporting campaign donations, using some of those funds for personal things, speculating in stocks while pressing for legislation that would affect stock prices, pressuring witnesses not to answer the Committee’s questions... And then it gets to charges that are more than a little questionable: that he punished legislators who disagreed with him on legislation and traded his approval of bills in exchange for support for direct primaries.

Having signed the humiliating peace treaty, Bulgarian King Ferdinand issues what the NYT calls “a pathetic address” to his army: “Exhausted and tired, but not conquered...” (only because he surrendered when Romania told him that if he didn’t they would occupy Sofia) “...we had to unfurl our glorious standards until better days ... Tell your children and your grandchildren about the gallantry of the Bulgarian soldiers, and prepare them to complete one day the glorious work you began.”

Headline of the Day -100: “WASHINGTON MUCH CHEERED.; Mexico City's Calm Over Lind Pleases Our Officials.” See how good Mexican-American relations are? The US is congratulating itself that Wilson’s envoy wasn’t greeted with riots, burning effigies, and rotten fruit. Indeed, “Officials to-day laid great stress upon the circumstances that Mrs. Lind had accompanied her husband,” without too much fear that she’d be murdered on the street.

Some of the delegates to the International Medical Congress in London are invited to the weekly Women’s Social and Political Union meeting. Emmeline Pankhurst points out that a paper at the Congress argued that “We have always had prostitution and we shall always have it.” Mrs. P says this sentence justifies the women’s revolutionary movement. She says that when she was a registrar of births and deaths, she knew that whenever a baby’s death certificate came in an envelope it meant that it had died of venereal disease – the envelope meant the doctor was covering up for the father by keeping the information from the mother (Pankhurst assumes that it was always men who brought VD into the home).

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt or Lindsey Graham’s sexual identity

John McCain and Lindsey Graham are back from Egypt and oh so eager to share what they have learned with the WaPo readers.

BECAUSE IF THERE’S ANYONE WHO HATES POLITICAL CRISES... “We traveled to Cairo this week to support a U.S. and international effort to help Egyptians end their political crisis.”

WE CALCULATE TIME IS RUNNING OUT AT THE RATE OF ONE MINUTE PER MINUTE: “We returned convinced that time is quickly running out to resolve this crisis”.

YEAH, THAT’S KIND OF THE PROBLEM: “We are longtime friends of Egypt and its armed forces.”

AND YET, YOU’RE STILL HANGING AROUND, MAVERICK-BOY: “But as we said again this week in Cairo, we find it difficult to describe the circumstances of Morsi’s removal from office as anything other than a coup. Unsuccessful leaders in a democracy should leave office by losing elections.”

AT A RATE WHICH OUR FIGURES SUGGEST IS APPROXIMATELY ONE DAY PER DAY: “We heard much that was encouraging in our meetings, and we have urged all sides to back up their good words with constructive actions. We have urged them to do so quickly, because time is running out.”

JUST LIKE McCAIN HAS SO GRACEFULLY ACCEPTED LOSING THE 2008 ELECTION: But their sage advice to the Muslim Brotherhood is to “accept that [Morsis’s] actions generated massive public discontent and that he will not be reinstated as president of Egypt...”. So they should just “accept” the thing McCain & Huckleberry just described as a coup. Which Team Maverick already has done, because the word “reinstated” suggests that Morsi is somehow not the president of Egypt, because the military says he isn’t.

“...that they must refrain from acts and incitement of violence; and that eventually they will need to move out of the streets and into the political process, because there is no good or effective alternative to advance their interests.” Yeah, because participating in a political process in which the military exercises a veto has been soooo effective in advancing their interests so far. Also, you guys claimed earlier to have supported the 2011 revolution against the last military dictatorship, so what’s changed?

They call for “releasing political prisoners, including Morsi supporters,” which is not a call to release ALL political prisoners or to release Morsi himself.

DIDN’T YOU SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT IRAQ? I MEAN, THE EXACT SAME THING? “We still believe Egypt can serve as a model of inclusive democracy that can inspire the region and the world, and, in this great endeavor, the United States must continue to offer its support.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 11, 1913: Of sulzers

NY Gov. William Sulzer denies having used campaign contributions to speculate in the stock market.

Some in the NY Legislature doubt whether Sulzer can be impeached for acts committed before he became governor.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 10, 1913: Of September morns

The Post Office bans reproductions of French painter Paul Chabas’s “September Morn” from the US mails.

An art store owner was just arrested in New Orleans for displaying a print of it in the window. In March an art store owner was arrested for the same crime in Chicago but was acquitted. Anthony Comstock, puritanical asshole and head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, went into a store in NY and ordered the owner to remove a copy from the window but he refused.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

America is not interested in spying on ordinary people

Because it was a Friday summer afternoon, Obama decided to slip in a press conference. On the 39th anniversary of a president officially stepping down in large part because of recordings he made in his own office, Obama naturally chose to defend recording the entire fucking world.

BEIBER FEVER? “At the same time, I’m focused on my number-one responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, and that’s keeping the American people safe. And in recent days, we’ve been reminded once again about the threats to our nation.”



REBALANCING: “As I said at the National Defense University back in May, in meeting those threats we have to strike the right balance between protecting our security and preserving our freedoms. And as part of this rebalancing, I called for a review of our surveillance programs.” Oh, that’s what he’s been doing to our freedoms: “rebalancing” them. It’s like getting a “realignment” for your car, and then the government gets the content of all your communications.

AN ORDERLY AND LAWFUL PROCESS: “Unfortunately, rather than an orderly and lawful process to debate these issues and come up with appropriate reforms, repeated leaks of classified information have initiated the debate in a very passionate, but not always fully informed way.” Although a lot more informed than he’d intended. No, his idea of an orderly and lawful process to debate these issues (did you know there are illegal ways to debate issues? that just shows that you’re not a constitutional lawyer) would have involved us all debating these issues in a purely theoretical way, without knowing what practices were being debated. You know, orderly. And lawful.

“Now, keep in mind that as a senator, I expressed a healthy skepticism about these programs...” And then he got those programs in his hot little hands and his views were no longer either healthy or sceptical. Funny, that.



MOSTLY POTATO-SHAPED: “But given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance -- particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives.”

SURE, BECAUSE HE’S READING ALL THEIR EMAILS: “I’m also mindful of how these issues are viewed overseas...” I think that’s the third time he’s referred to secret surveillance programs as “issues” rather than as a set of government practices, suggesting that the only concern he really has is with the public relations aspect of this.

“...because American leadership around the world depends upon the example of American democracy and American openness...” Also soldiers and guns and flying killer robots.

“...because what makes us different from other countries is not simply our ability to secure our nation, it’s the way we do it -- with open debate and democratic process.” Okay I’m pretty sure he’s just being sarcastic now.



He wants to reform the law governing the collection of phone records. “But given the scale of this program, I understand the concerns of those who would worry that it could be subject to abuse.” I don’t think the mass hoovering up of all our phone conversation is subject to abuse, I think it is, in itself, an abuse.

“So after having a dialogue with members of Congress and civil libertarians...” I love how he distinguishes those two groups. Shouldn’t all members of Congress be civil libertarians? Shouldn’t all Americans? What exactly is his definition of “civil libertarian” that implies that they’re a minority special-interest group of some kind?

AS ALICE SAID, HOW CAN I HAVE ADDITIONAL CONFIDENCE WHEN I HAVEN’T HAD ANY CONFIDENCE YET? “I believe that there are steps we can take to give the American people additional confidence that there are additional safeguards against abuse.”

“Second, I’ll work with Congress to improve the public’s confidence in the oversight conducted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISC.” Not to improve the actual oversight, just to improve the public’s confidence. Again, the only concern he really has is with public relations.

“And while I’ve got confidence in the court and I think they’ve done a fine job...” Sure, because they’ve never stopped him doing a single thing he wanted to do.

He says the FISA court might be allowed to hear from “an adversary” instead of just from the government, though he doesn’t say who that adversary might be. Maybe those crazy civil libertarians.

“Number three, we can, and must, be more transparent. So I’ve directed the intelligence community to make public as much information about these programs as possible.” Technically it’s quite “possible” to make all the information about these programs public, so presumably he means something else by “as possible.”

ALONGSIDE THE 40,000 OR SO ANTI-CIVIL LIBERTIES AND ANTI-PRIVACY OFFICERS: “The NSA is taking steps to put in place a full-time civil liberties and privacy officer”.

Also, the NSA will create a website.

HOLY MIXED METAPHORS, BATMAN! “We now have to unravel terrorist plots by finding a needle in the haystack of global telecommunications.”

I’D LIKE TO THINK THAT EVERYBODY IS EXTRAORDINARY IN THEIR OWN WAY: “And to others around the world, I want to make clear once again that America is not interested in spying on ordinary people.”



“It’s true we have significant capabilities. What’s also true is we show a restraint that many governments around the world don’t even think to do, refuse to show -- and that includes, by the way, some of America’s most vocal critics. We shouldn’t forget the difference between the ability of our government to collect information online under strict guidelines and for narrow purposes, and the willingness of some other governments to throw their own citizens in prison for what they say online.” Oh, burn.

“And I believe that those who have lawfully raised their voices on behalf of privacy and civil liberties are also patriots who love our country and want it to live up to our highest ideals.” But not the ones who have unlawfully raised their voices on behalf of privacy and civil liberties. I mean, obviously.

We won’t be boycotting the Olympics. “And one of the things I’m really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we’re seeing there.” Is Russian homophobia predicated on a belief that homosexuals are bad athletes? I did not know that.

By the way, gay olympians, I’m pretty sure your president just said that you have an obligation to announce your sexual orientation.

OH NO HE DID NOT JUST CRITICIZE PUTIN’S POSTURE: “I don’t have a bad personal relationship with Putin. When we have conversations, they’re candid, they’re blunt; oftentimes, they’re constructive. I know the press likes to focus on body language and he’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. But the truth is, is that when we’re in conversations together, oftentimes it’s very productive.”



He doesn’t think Snowden’s a patriot. “Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies. If, in fact, he believes that what he did was right, then, like every American citizen, he can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer and make his case.” He makes it sound so inviting. Thing is, though, courts can only determine what is legal, not what is right. You might want to keep this in mind when you’re writing your speech for the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington.

“But having said that, once the leaks have happened, what we’ve seen is information come out in dribs and in drabs, sometimes coming out sideways. Once the information is out, the administration comes in, tries to correct the record. But by that time, it’s too late or we’ve moved on, and a general impression has, I think, taken hold not only among the American public but also around the world that somehow we’re out there willy-nilly just sucking in information on everybody and doing what we please with it.” Sorry, I fell asleep while you were bitching about the difficulties of the 24-hour news cycle; what did you say about sucking willies?

Obama “hates” that people are attacking Larry Summers “preemptively” before he’s even nominated. Of course after he’s nominated, it’s kind of too late. “I felt the same way when people were attacking Susan Rice before she was nominated for anything.” So he hates those attacks because they might make him cravenly abandon Summers like he did Rice?

He says there are no abuses of the secret surveillance programs because that would be against the law.

“Having said that, though, if you are outside of the intelligence community, if you are the ordinary person and you start seeing a bunch of headlines saying, U.S.-Big Brother looking down on you, collecting telephone records, et cetera, well, understandably, people would be concerned. I would be, too, if I wasn’t inside the government.” So he’d be concerned if he were being spied on rather than the one doing the spying. Gotcha.



He says he and the NSA only want to foil terrorism.

Q Can you understand, though, why some people might not trust what you’re saying right now about wanting to --

THE PRESIDENT: No, I can’t.

Q -- that they should be comfortable with the process?

No he can’t.

“If I tell Michelle that I did the dishes -- now, granted, in the White House I don’t do the dishes that much -- (laughter) -- but back in the day -- and she’s a little skeptical, well, I’d like her to trust me, but maybe I need to bring her back and show her the dishes and not just have her take my word for it. And so the program is -- I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused. I’m comfortable that if the American people examined exactly what was taking place, how it was being used, what the safeguards were, that they would say, you know what, these folks are following the law and doing what they say they’re doing.” I take it that he’s inviting every American to go to Ford Meade and see for themselves.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 9, 1913: Of impeachments, truces, Spigoties, and the Infra-Red Rays of Doom

More evidence suggests that NY Gov. Sulzer’s Wall Street investment account grew quite fat from diverted campaign funds. Impeachment is now a certainty, driven entirely by the Tammany-controlled wing of his own party, while the Republicans look on pretty much in silence.

Mexican Constitutionalist leader Venustiano Carranza rejects any suggestion of a truce pending elections in October (this is believed to be the proposal Gov. Lind is bringing from Pres. Wilson). Carranza says that the Huerta Junta is not a legally constituted government.

British Prime Minister Henry Asquith meets with a deputation of non-militant women’s suffragists. He says that he will do nothing for women’s suffrage in the current parliamentary session and that if anything were done in future sessions he would leave office rather than be a part of it. However, he told them that if they were able to persuade “the judgment of the people,” their opponents would not be able to stand against them. He fails to explain what proof of this persuasion he would accept.

Historical Epithet of the Day -100: Spigoty. It’s what Americans in Panama call the natives: Spigoties with their Spigoty ways. It’s supposed to be derived from the Panamanians’ attempts to speak English. Seems to be linguistically related to “spic.”

An Italian scientist named Ulivi who works for the French government announces that he has invented a ray-gun that can set off mines, torpedoes, and gunpowder from a distance of 15 miles, which will make warfare impossible. Phew.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 8, 1913: Of misdemeanors, child labor, arbitration, and lepers

The investigation of NY Gov. William Sulzer by the Frawley Committee suggests that not only did he under-report campaign donations, but some of the money went into stock speculation rather than the campaign. Or it’s all just a frame by Tammany Hall. Either one’s believable, really. The Legislature will reconvene next week and State Sen. Frawley says there’s enough evidence to justify impeachment or indictment (conviction even for a misdemeanor would have the effect of removing him from office).

The Georgia Legislature considered a bill to ban 12-year-olds from working and to require that all children, before being allowed to work, have to prove an ability to read and write, but after strong opposition from mill owners it’s been dropped.

The US and El Salvador sign a treaty not to go to war with each other for the next five years “without first thinking it over seriously,” in the words of the NYT, which does not appear to be taking this very important treaty very seriously.

Headline of the Day That We Can Only Hope Wasn’t Meant Literally (LA Times): “Wife Sticks to Leper.” The wife of George Hartman of St Louis insists he doesn’t have leprosy but he’s less in denial (he used to be a guard at a leper colony in the Philippines).

I don’t know how many Americans catch leprosy in the Philippines these days, if any, but I do know that one-third of Americans who do get it, get it from armadillos.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 7, 1913: Peace, ain’t it grand

A preliminary peace treaty is signed in the Second Balkan War. Bulgaria, which at the beginning of the First Balkan War was thinking of itself as the center of a new Balkan Empire, only to find itself at war with every other Balkan country in the Second Balkan War, will lose 90% of the territory it seized from Turkey, while Romania, Greece and Serbia will all become substantially larger. The NYT optimistically asks how soon it will be before the Third Balkan War. (Spoiler alert: one year, but it’ll have a different name.)

Sun Yat Sen flees China.

The Mexican government says that ex-governor Lind, Pres. Wilson’s personal envoy, must either come with credentials as a regular ambassador and recognition of the Huerta Junta, or he will not be welcome.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 6, 1913: Of heads, policewomen, religious freedom in the Balkans, and the most vigorous of protests in favor of the national dignity and decorum

Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Train Severs Man’s Head.”

Headline of the Day -100 That Sounds Like The Title of An Early Porno Film But Isn’t: “Chicago Rejoices in Policewomen.” Eight are sworn in. “The Captain told the women he would give them the handsomest detective in the district to show them about and tell them how to ‘pull a box.’” Maybe it really is an early porno film. It still hasn’t been decided whether they get to carry clubs and guns. Exclaims one of the new cops, “Why, I know I can arrest somebody today! The Park is just full of spooners, who should make love at home.” The police chief actually wants them to “instruct and persuade” people rather than arrest them. Yes, definitely 18 frames-a-second porn.

Oh, and we have a Name of the Day -100: Chicago Police Chief McWeeny. Which probably explains the porn thing.

In Denver, however, the city’s first policewoman, Josephine Roche, resigns as Inspector of Amusements (I could make a joke here but I’m beginning to feel bad about all the porno jokes) because her cases are never prosecuted.

The US asks the Second Balkan War combatants to include a provision guaranteeing religious freedom in the peace treaty currently being negotiated. The real target of this, Romania, says no. Romania will be acquiring many new, no doubt delighted, Jewish citizens. Or would be if Jews were ever allowed to become citizens in Romania.

The NYT asks Mexican dictator Huerta some questions. He responds that he will refuse all intervention or mediation from the United States, that he will deal with rebels only by shooting them, and that the “present war is the most vigorous of protests in favor of the national dignity and decorum.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Florida kills the Prince of God, evidently

Florida executes John Errol Ferguson, who believed he was the immortal Prince of God who could control the sun. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that that didn’t make him insane, because lots of Christians also believe they are immortal.

His last words were “I just want everyone to know that I am the Prince of God and will rise again.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

The military can’t keep running the country

John McCain and Lindsey Graham are in Cairo to “defuse the crisis,” because if there are two people who are all about defusing crises, it’s John McCain and Lindsay Graham (it was evidently the Obama administration’s idea to send these guys, which says all you need to know about how seriously the Obama administration is taking the coup in Egypt).

Graham says the Egyptian army “move more aggressively” to hold elections. Really really aggressive elections.

“The military can’t keep running the country,” Graham says, demonstrating his firm grasp of the last 60 years of Egyptian history.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 5, 1913: Of hop riots, lectures, and special envoys

There is a battle between IWW-led striking hop-pickers and a sheriff’s posse in Wheatland, California, with four deaths. This is the famous Wheatland Hop Riot (I’d never heard of it either)(or, indeed, of Wheatland, California).

Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan has abandoned some of his planned paid lectures, and the Democratic Party of Texas has offered to raise a large sum of money for him if he’ll stop lecturing when he’s supposed to be secretary of stating.

US ambassador to Mexico Henry Lane Wilson has resigned/been fired, at long last. John Lind, the one-armed former governor of Minnesota, will be sent as special envoy. Lind knows nothing about Mexico, has no experience in diplomacy, and doesn’t speak any Spanish, but his instructions from Woodrow Wilson are to end the fighting in Mexico, establish a provisional government satisfactory to all sides, secure free elections, get Gen. Huerta not to run in those elections, etc. These instructions immediately leak to the press.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 4, 1913: Of the fruit of an unnatural task

There’s rioting in Cawnpore, India, when British authorities demolish part of a mosque for road improvements.

The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage issues a statement of its objects. “We, more than any other organization, believe in woman’s rights. We are fighting for woman’s rights. First in the catalogue of woman’s rights is the right of exemption. By that we mean exemption from active politics and all that it involves. ... by virtue of it woman is able to do her half of the world’s work. Deprived of this exemption, woman becomes an incongruity. Called upon to do double duty, she will face the failure which is the fruit of an unnatural task.” It insists that the “franchise is not a right, nor a privilege. It is a duty, a stern duty imposed by the State upon that class of persons thought by the State to be best equipped to perform it.”

Suffragettes interrupt services at St Paul’s in London to chant “Save Emmeline Pankhurst. Spare her, spare her, etc.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 3, 1913: Of protectorates, eugenics, feather men, sugar senators, tea, and hypnotists

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee informs Secretary of State Bryan that the “protectorate” bits of the proposed treaty with Nicaragua are not acceptable. They are willing to keep the provision giving Nicaragua $3 million in exchange for rights to build a canal that no one would ever want to build. (I wrote that before China announced plans to build just such a canal.)

It’s the first day of the eugenic marriage laws in Pennsylvania: “The questions relating to the health and moral character of the applicants as propounded by Thomas C. Smith, the application clerk, were received and answered with varied emotions. Young women blushed and became indignant, and then stammered out their answers under protest.”

Headline of the Day -100: “Say Feather Men Dominate Senate.” A letter signed by various Audubon Society types says that the feather trade has thwarted attempts to protect birds by banning the importation of plumes, feathers, quills etc for anything but scientific purposes.

Another Headline of the Day -100: “Defends Sugar Senators.” Another indigenous tribe brought to light by the Tariff Bill: alongside the Feather Men, the Sugar Senators are defending tariffs on imported sugar.

The Bishop of Kerry says that the recent spread of lunacy in that Irish county has been caused by drinking. Tea-drinking.

The LA Times has two stories about hypnotists today, for some reason. A hypnotist in Dulwich, England has reportedly cured a 9-year-old girl of blindness. The case “is arousing considerable interest in gullible British medical circles,” the Times says (I may have added a word). And a M. Lerambourg of Paris “used to invite women to tea, hypnotize them, and cut strands of their hair.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Oaths & impunity

When American politicians express indignation over Russia’s refusal to hand over Edward Snowden to face “the rule of law” (which as we know always begins with extraordinary rendition from a country with which we have no extradition treaty), I think – well, there are lots of people I could think of, but I think of this dude,

who spent his latter years as the owner of a pizza parlor in a Washington DC suburb in Virginia.

---

Bradley Manning’s crime is often described as violating his oath. Conservatives attach a great deal of importance to oaths; maybe I’ll write about that one day, hopefully more coherently than in the paragraph I just deleted. But Manning’s oath of secrecy was a blank check. How is an oath to protect secrets one doesn’t know yet morally binding? If he’d discovered that the reason we invaded Iraq was to kill Iraqi children and drain them to slake Dick Cheney’s insatiable thirst for human blood (sorry if I just scooped you, Glenn Greenwald), would everyone expect him to have kept schtum?


Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 2, 1913: Of fire traps, loan-shark diplomacy, policewomen, and dog-combing monarchs

NYC Fire Commissioner Johnson inspects the Asch Building, the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and discovers that the conditions that led to that fire – flammable scrap material lying about the floors, employees allowed to smoke, etc. – are still being practiced.

The Liberal Party in Nicaragua evidently doesn’t want their country to become a protectorate of the United States (“loan-shark diplomacy,” Theodore Lippincott calls the proposed treaty).

Venezuela’s former president Cirpriano Castro returns from exile with an army in an attempt to overthrow the government, as was the custom. President Gomez assumes dictatorial powers until the crisis is over, as was the custom.

Chicago hires ten policewomen, to police dance halls and public beaches. “Their uniforms have not been decided upon.”

Kaiser Wilhelm criticizes the Balkan monarchs, except for Greek King Constantine (his brother-in-law), for failing to lead their armies in the Balkan Wars: “The others have stayed at home and combed their dogs.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: August 1, 1913: Of peers, ambassadors, and pseudonyms

British Chancellor David Lloyd George attacks the House of Lords as undemocratic and, with its insistence on obstructing measures proposed by Liberal governments, as creating in effect one constitution for Tory governments and another constitution for Liberal ones. Sound familiar?

Ambassador to Mexico Henry Lane Wilson has come to Washington and made his case to the president for recognition of Huerta as dictator of Mexico, but to no avail. President Wilson just will not recognize a government founded on murder. Okay, when I put it like that it just sounds funny.

Headline of the Day -100: “Suffrage Autoists Besiege Senators.” A convoy of 60 autos brings women’s suffrage petitions to the US Senate.

A letter to the Times says that author pseudonyms are unethical and proposes that they be required to register their noms de plume. Of course the letter is by the (future) author of “The Jolly Book of Funcraft,” who delights in the given name Patten Beard.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.