"...That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle."
--Abraham Lincoln, October 15, 1858. Debate at Alton, Illinois.
Fun fact: on this day 1 year ago the price for 1 gallon of unleaded gasoline in Austin, Texas was $2.77 / U.S gallon. Today is $ 3.98. Fuck you Donald Trump . Fuck you with emphasis Ted Cruz.
I sure do wish the deflections AWAY FROM THE TOPIC didn’t start coming up within the first 50 comments on a discussion of the Fugitive Slave Act when the exactitude of the parallels between the “overseers” of the Fugitive Slave Act and the current lawless ICE “officers” were being raised way before Renee Goode and Alex Pretti were murdered
OT: Stephen Colbert hosts a local public access tv show in Monroe, Michigan, after his last CBS broadcast. Trust me, when he breaks out the shot glasses and helium balloons, it’s beautiful.
Benjamin Butler was awesome and sometimes hilarious, if bad at military command. When put in charge of New Orleans, the white ladies there tried to take advantage of white chivalry to attack US troops in ways the menfolk couldn't without being arrested/beaten. Butler's solution? Declare any woman who assaults a union soldier to obviously just be a prostitute trying to ply her trade (as no Lady of Good Standing would ever do such a thing) then arrest her for that.
There's a reason New Orleans sold chamber pots with his face at the bottom for decades.
Hah! I know this story! Ben Butler was a TERRIBLE general who was nonetheless maybe the single most important general in the entire Civil War. Any old military genius can win a war, Butler had a way of determining the general course of American society for a century or more following the war. For good or ill, he was always in the van whenever it came to little things like emancipation and reconstruction first came to the table.
Now, I'm not saying we could have used a few more men like Benjamin Butler. I think one of him was all the country could stand. But goddamn it, he was the first official to free slaves and make it stick, and he treated the first reconquered Confederate state like the treason weasels they were. Too bad he couldn't lead a troop to a free beer.
Ta, Erik. Even when I'm familiar with the incident(s) about which you write, I always learn something from your posts. This Union Maid is retiring Friday. I have our delegate finding out for me how I stay in the Union (1199-SEIU) at reduced dues once I retire. Yes, we weren't in the correct CBO (we're not pharmacists), but as I discovered on a lobbying trip to Albany, most members are women of color, and I want to continue my support. Solidarity Forever.
According to my Grandma and Grandpa my Great Great Grandpa was involved as a station keeper for the Underground Railroad in DC before the Civil War. During the war he was the Brigadier General in charge of the DC Militia and he was in the room at Appomattox when Lee surrendered to Grant.
There's a picture the internet has -- way before we started thinking about AI so much -- of a young Senator Mitch McConnell proudly displaying that flag in his office
Of course, there are other rumors floating around about McConnell too, and Daily Kos, I think it was, profiled them a long time ago
People should also know -- especially since the current Department of "Justice" is trying desperately to delete any references to the Jan 6 insurrectionists before anyone notices -- that it was when they did it that a Confederate flag was ever carried into the Capitol
because that's the propaganda Confederates and Confederate sympathizers want you to believe
The worst part about that is the people who do nothing and turn their heads away while that propaganda spreads, instead of doing anything to try to actively put a stop to it
Some of the people who do that kind of passive avoidance still claim to be pro-democracy
Martin Luther King noted that trend, and it persists to this day
Then again -- a lot of people also don't know that slavery was practiced in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York ... and last I looked those places were above the Mason Dixon Line
Reminds me of the sequence in that Ken Burns documentary where RE Lee spent hours between battles writing to Stonewall Jackson, pining for his leather daddy.
We could all take a lesson from this experience.
OT: A pony rescued from inside a tractor tyre.
"In tyre?"
"Yes, the whole pony."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr5xy1v0ro
I saw this and had to scroll the fuck past.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/that-time-this-union-officer-regretfully/comment/263975040
No polo this week. Or ever
"...That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle."
--Abraham Lincoln, October 15, 1858. Debate at Alton, Illinois.
Where Is the Outrage Over Fellow Citizens' Voting Rights Being Taken Away??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAKP-0hnhNU
Fun fact: on this day 1 year ago the price for 1 gallon of unleaded gasoline in Austin, Texas was $2.77 / U.S gallon. Today is $ 3.98. Fuck you Donald Trump . Fuck you with emphasis Ted Cruz.
* sigh *
I sure do wish the deflections AWAY FROM THE TOPIC didn’t start coming up within the first 50 comments on a discussion of the Fugitive Slave Act when the exactitude of the parallels between the “overseers” of the Fugitive Slave Act and the current lawless ICE “officers” were being raised way before Renee Goode and Alex Pretti were murdered
Fugitive Slave Laws Project 2025 Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSIEr14ACeY
Especially when ICE is also quietly building ovens
which we talked about just yesterday
https://www.wonkette.com/p/ice-funding-bill-crashes-into-ballroom/comment/263521568
Where Is the Outrage Over Fellow Citizens' Voting Rights Being Taken Away??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAKP-0hnhNU
Yeah, but his friends in the Petroleum industry are banking.
OT:
Today is World Turtle Day!
They have a few who live on my apartment center's land. They are nice. They walk slowly.
Go out and look at them! :)
OT: Stephen Colbert hosts a local public access tv show in Monroe, Michigan, after his last CBS broadcast. Trust me, when he breaks out the shot glasses and helium balloons, it’s beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DlF5Cf4VLM
There's no way he's going away.
That sure was lovely to see
https://www.wonkette.com/p/that-time-this-union-officer-regretfully/comment/263972003
Colbert also raised almost $2.5 million for World Central Kitchen by auctioning off Late Show memorabilia. He’s good people.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/live/cz90x9pj0jgt
OT:
I wonder if Fukui managed to make it there!
The Montreal Grand Prix is over. No spoilers, you can take a look at the link.
Benjamin Butler was awesome and sometimes hilarious, if bad at military command. When put in charge of New Orleans, the white ladies there tried to take advantage of white chivalry to attack US troops in ways the menfolk couldn't without being arrested/beaten. Butler's solution? Declare any woman who assaults a union soldier to obviously just be a prostitute trying to ply her trade (as no Lady of Good Standing would ever do such a thing) then arrest her for that.
There's a reason New Orleans sold chamber pots with his face at the bottom for decades.
To be fair to the guy, it can't have been easy knowing that he would be younger at the end of the war than at the beginning of it.
--------------------------->>>>
Oh Daniel boy, the pipes the pipes are calling
That is Benjamin Button, silly.
Hah! I know this story! Ben Butler was a TERRIBLE general who was nonetheless maybe the single most important general in the entire Civil War. Any old military genius can win a war, Butler had a way of determining the general course of American society for a century or more following the war. For good or ill, he was always in the van whenever it came to little things like emancipation and reconstruction first came to the table.
Now, I'm not saying we could have used a few more men like Benjamin Butler. I think one of him was all the country could stand. But goddamn it, he was the first official to free slaves and make it stick, and he treated the first reconquered Confederate state like the treason weasels they were. Too bad he couldn't lead a troop to a free beer.
It is a shame America has never had an African American Secretary of Defense . . .
Hoochseth has cut off that pipeline
It's about time.
Ta, Erik. Even when I'm familiar with the incident(s) about which you write, I always learn something from your posts. This Union Maid is retiring Friday. I have our delegate finding out for me how I stay in the Union (1199-SEIU) at reduced dues once I retire. Yes, we weren't in the correct CBO (we're not pharmacists), but as I discovered on a lobbying trip to Albany, most members are women of color, and I want to continue my support. Solidarity Forever.
We have to keep the unions strong. Especially in the health care fields.
According to my Grandma and Grandpa my Great Great Grandpa was involved as a station keeper for the Underground Railroad in DC before the Civil War. During the war he was the Brigadier General in charge of the DC Militia and he was in the room at Appomattox when Lee surrendered to Grant.
I have a single unidentified photo of an old bearded man in a union brigadier generals uniform wearing a medal of honor. I simply can't identify him.
This is a link to Great Great Grandpa Peter Bacon's Find A Grave entry with his picture
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49373815/peter-bacon
There can't be that many brigadier generals who have been awarded the medal of honor?
When I see some asshole with a confederate flag I always think they want to own another human being.
....and 'Fuck Them.' I think that also, too.
There's a picture the internet has -- way before we started thinking about AI so much -- of a young Senator Mitch McConnell proudly displaying that flag in his office
Of course, there are other rumors floating around about McConnell too, and Daily Kos, I think it was, profiled them a long time ago
People should also know -- especially since the current Department of "Justice" is trying desperately to delete any references to the Jan 6 insurrectionists before anyone notices -- that it was when they did it that a Confederate flag was ever carried into the Capitol
That didn't even happen during the Civil War
I have ripped individuals a new one for wearing a confederate flag.
I have NO patience with traitors.
I had heard that slaves were well treated and that they often loved their masters, though.
because that's the propaganda Confederates and Confederate sympathizers want you to believe
The worst part about that is the people who do nothing and turn their heads away while that propaganda spreads, instead of doing anything to try to actively put a stop to it
Some of the people who do that kind of passive avoidance still claim to be pro-democracy
Martin Luther King noted that trend, and it persists to this day
https://www.wonkette.com/p/that-time-this-union-officer-regretfully/comment/263972003
That's what I learned from our textbook in grade school
Florida or Texas?
You don't have to be in a Confederate state to be a school-age child receiving that propaganda
https://www.wonkette.com/p/that-time-this-union-officer-regretfully/comment/263975040
Then again -- a lot of people also don't know that slavery was practiced in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York ... and last I looked those places were above the Mason Dixon Line
Kansas.
I still remember one line from the book that read "The Scofields treated their slaves like family."
That's why so many White people lined up to become slaves.
Reminds me of the sequence in that Ken Burns documentary where RE Lee spent hours between battles writing to Stonewall Jackson, pining for his leather daddy.
That never worked out because they were too fucking lazy, a term they used back then was WBL (White Boy Lazy)