Friday, June 29, 2018

Why the South Erected Confederate Statues

 

The diagram below graphs the number of Confederate statues erected between 1870 and 1980. Since the $outhern Poverty Law Center ($PLC) compiled the data, they suggest the memorials were most frequently put in place during periods of flagrant anti-black sentiment in the South. In short they imply that racism was the prime motive for Confederate monument-building. In truth, however, more compelling reasons are as obvious as cow patties on a snow bank to the thinking person.




The two most notable peaks were 1900-to-1915 and 1957-to-1965.

The SPLC implies that the first wave was due to “lynchings, ‘Lost Cause Mythology,’ and  a resurgent KKK.” Facts, however, don’t support their conclusion. First, the KKK’s resurgence was in the 1920s, which was at least five-to-ten years after the first peak had already past. Moreover, the state with the most KKK members during the 1920s was Indiana, a Northern state. Second, the number of lynchings were steadily dropping during the 1900-to-1915 period. Third, “Lost Cause Mythology” was a strong influence until at least 1950 and by no means concentrated in the 1900-to-1915 period.

1960s Saigon Through the Lens of a Famed National Geographic Editor

 
 Could have been my Citroen.

The 1960s witnessed an unprecedented influx of foreigners into Saigon and Vietnam. From soldiers to teachers to just intrepid shutterbugs, the visits of these camera-clutching characters resulted in a wealth of old photos taken in the city from the early 60s all the way until 1975.

At Saigoneer, we’ve featured dozens of such photo collections over time – captured during numerous occasions of the year and spanning just as many geographical landmarks – but the images below by notable National Geographic photographer Wilbur E. Garrett still remain our all-time favorite.


Garrett was one of the magazine’s most prominent picture editors, whose career-defining works cover historic moments such as the Korean War, Vietnam War and the cover photo depicting the famous and haunting “Afghan girl” by Steve McCurry. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2016 at age 85.

As an avid photographer and picture editor, Garrett’s involvement with Vietnam was prolific: he started making yearly trips to the country from 1960 to 1968. His time in the Southeast Asian country spawned an expansive archive of magazine-quality photos that might not look out of place in any editorial spread nowadays.

In this article, Saigoneer will feature some of the best shots of Garrett in Saigon from trips in 1961 and 1965. Feast your eyes on the famed photographer’s Saigon photos, courtesy of Flickr user manhhai.

More @ Saigoneer

Roman 'hand of god' unearthed by archaeologists near Hadrian's Wall

Via Billy

VindolandaHand

A mysterious bronze hand has been unearthed by archaeologists near Hadrian’s Wall in the North of England.

The child-sized hand was discovered in April during an excavation at the site of Vindolanda, an ancient Roman fort.

Discarded in a ditch, the hand was found near a temple devoted to the god Jupiter Dolichenus. The temple is part of the 3rd century A.D. fort’s northern wall and dates back to a turbulent time in Roman history. Research has dated the hand to between 208 and 212 A.D., coinciding with the time of so-called “Severan” emperors in Rome, a period marked by conflict, civil war, genocide and rebellion.

More @ Fox

Goodlatte: Peter Strzok Refused to Testify About Any Talks with Fusion GPS

  LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 19: Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughs during the third U.S. presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 19, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tonight is the final debate ahead of Election Day on November 8. (Photo by …

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) revealed that during his closed session interview with the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, former FBI official Peter Strzok refused to answer multiple questions, including whether he communicated with the author of the discredited anti-Trump dossier or with the firm paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to produce the infamous dossier.

Goodlatte made those revelations during the televised portion of Wednesday’s hearing.

At that section of the hearing, Goodlatte stated (emphasis added):
We went through a lot of questions about a lot of things for which we got answers, but we were also stymied time and time and time again because the FBI counsel instructed him not to answer because it was, as she called it, an ongoing investigation.  Now we have an ongoing investigation here as well.

Mr. Strzok was expected to answer questions regarding his involvement in both of these investigations. Not from this standpoint of the substance of the investigation but from the standpoint of what his role was in a contemporaneous time with some of the most unbelievably, outrageously biased, vulgar texts that he was exchanging at the same time that he was being introduced into this investigation
More @ Breitbart

FBI Refusing to Give Congress Material That Alleges Loretta Lynch Interfered in Clinton Investigation

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch (C) speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice on March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC. At left is FBI Director James Comey. Lynch announced the unsealing of an indictment of seven Iranians on computer hacking charges. / AFP / Mandel Ngan (Photo …

Paul Sperry reports at RealClearInvestigations — the investigative reporting affiliate of trusted polling aggregator RealClearPolitics — that the FBI is refusing to allow members of Congress to review intelligence that alleges Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch interfered in the Hillary Clinton email investigation:

The FBI had little problem leaking “unverified” dirt from Russian sources on Donald Trump and his campaign aides – and even basing FISA wiretaps on it. But according to the Justice Department’s inspector general, the bureau is refusing to allow even members of Congress with top security clearance to see intercepted material alleging political interference by President Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch.
That material – which has been outlined in press reports – consists of unverified accounts intercepted from putative Russian sources in which the head of the Democratic National Committee allegedly implicates the Hillary Clinton campaign and Lynch in a secret deal to fix the Clinton email investigation.
“It is remarkable how this Justice Department is protecting the corruption of the Obama Justice Department,” said Tom Fitton, president of Washington-based watchdog Judicial Watch, which is suing for the material.

Nunes calls for testimony from 17 FBI, DOJ officials on government surveillance abuse

 Image result for Nunes calls for testimony from 17 FBI, DOJ officials on government surveillance abuse

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wants 17 current and former FBI or Justice Department officials to testify on Capitol Hill about possible government surveillance abuse during the 2016 election, including fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and embattled FBI official Peter Strzok.

In a letter obtained by Fox News, Nunes requests that the joint task force of the Oversight and Judiciary Committees take steps to interview these officials because they may “have relevant information.”

More @ Fox

School Bans Parents From Viewing LGBT Videos Shown to Kids

Via Billy


For four days last April students at a Emmaus High School in Pennsylvania were forced to watch videos selected by the “student-led” Gay-Straight Alliance.

The videos ranged from “9 Questions Gay People Have About Straight People” to a compilation of clips celebrating “marriage equality.” There was also a video educating students about gender fluidity – the idea there is no such thing as male or female.

“My son expressed to me that he felt bullied by the administration for being a heterosexual man and being forced to listen to LGBT advocacy on a daily basis,” one parent wrote in a letter to the school district.

More @ Todd Starnes

Skyraider 2? The Air Force may bring back Vietnam-style combat plane

 A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft flies over White Sands Missile Range. The AT-6 is participating in the U.S. Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles. (Ethan D. Wagner/U.S. Air Force)
A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft flies over White Sands Missile Range. The AT-6 is participating in the U.S. Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles. 

 “Their A-1 Skyraider — the last tail-wheeled airplane in the Navy inventory — was the world’s biggest, most powerful prop-driven, single-seat combat aircraft, able to lift truly freakish weapons loads, greater than that of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress,” wrote historian Don Hollway for the magazine.

 Dated

The Air Force’s ongoing interest in adding a fleet of light-attack aircraft to its arsenal is a reminder that, sometimes, slower and cheaper can be better.

Half a century ago, the Air Force’s legendary A-1E Skyraiders — affectionately known as Spads, after a wood-and-wire World War I fighter — proved their mettle in the skies over Vietnam, providing close-air support for American and Vietnamese troops on the ground.

“We were flying anachronisms, piloting Spads through a supersonic world, tasting the thunderstorms at 8,000 feet when an SR-71 [supersonic spy plane] was hitting three times the speed of sound above 70,000 feet,” former B-52 and A-1E pilot Capt. Richard Drury told Vietnam Magazine, a sister publication of Air Force Times.

One Thousand a Minute Casualty Rate

Image result for Mutiny in the Civil War, Webb Garrison,


  The Attack On Fort Stedman  

Lee had 55,000-some troops with which to oppose Grant’s invading force of 108,000 at Cold Harbor, though the latter consisted of many raw, inexperienced garrison troops unfamiliar with infantry tactics. They were nonetheless thrown into mass assaults against Lee’s entrenched veterans in suicidal assaults, and Grant’s apparent disdain for the lives of his own men was later matched by his refusal of prisoner exchanges which be believed benefited the South. This led to the death of many Northern prisoners from disease and starvation, despite President Davis’ offer of allowing food and medicine for the prisoners
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.org   The Great American Political Divide

One Thousand a Minute Casualty Rate

“Many officers and men in grey were taken by surprise at Grant’s move to interpose his forces between them and the Rebel capital. After the long and brutal contest in The Wilderness, Rebels had expected men in blue to retire for a period. Instead, here they were – apparently headed toward Spotsylvania.

This showed Grant had no intention of retreating. Furthermore, the usual pattern of actions in Washington had not been followed. That meant failure or defeat would not remove [Grant] from command. He would be expected to continue his war of attrition, regardless of losses sustained by his own forces.

Despite [concerns of Northern officers], the general advance ordered by Meade and Grant began about 4:30PM on June 2 [1864]. [General William F.] Smith castigated the movement as providing conclusive proof of the “entire absence of any military plan” among the Federal forces. Despite “a murderous fire,” men in blue managed to reach the edge of the woods, where the second line caught up with them . . . resuming their advance [but] the enemy fire was so heavy that the fell back.

Whether the decision was made by Grant or by Meade, orders soon came for a full frontal assault at 4:30 on the following morning. Smith saw the Rebel positions as being more than merely formidable . . . Generations later, [historian] Jeffrey D. Wert characterized the Rebel works at Cold Harbor in two words: “nearly impregnable.”

Impregnable or not, orders were to take the Confederate works. Diaries and letters reveal that on the night before the scheduled grand assault, large numbers of men in blue wrote their names and addresses on slips of paper and pinned them to their shirts . . . essential if bodies of the slain were to be shipped home to their relatives.

Soon afterward it became generally known that the Federal move at Cold Harbor, whose width is variously estimated at having been from one-half to six miles, lasted less than 10 minutes. During that time, men in blue became casualties at a rate of about 16 per second. Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg is far better known and may have involved more casualties. Yet no other Civil War action approached Cold Harbor in its June 3rd per-minute casualty rate of approximately one thousand men.

Smith dashed off a dispatch to Meade in which he reported the triple repulse of one body of Federals [adding that] there was no hope that they could carry the works in front of them without relief from galling Rebel fire. In reply, he received orders to move forward [and later] an oral command that he lead another assault. “That order I refused to obey,” Smith later confessed.

Because the leader of the XVIII flatly disobeyed his commander, some eight thousand men in blue – more or less – watched as their comrades were once more mowed down. In the melee of battle, it is unlikely that anyone except a handful of loyal aides knew that he had defied Meade. If his action had been known at headquarters and regulations had been followed, his disobedience would have led to a charge of mutiny.”

(Mutiny in the Civil War, Webb Garrison, White Mane Books, 2001, excerpts pp. 134; 136-139)

Why the South Needs the Electoral College

 

The Electoral College, a bulwark of federalism,  is under attack.  Straightforward abolition of the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, which is most unlikely to be passed in the foreseeable future.  But the Electoral College now faces a more serious,  insidious threat from the so-called  National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC,) which purports to operate through the Electoral College while effectively undermining it.  Misunderstanding of the meaning of the constitutional provisions governing the Electoral College on the part of university professors  does not help either.

What’s wrong with the Electoral College?  Nothing.  Why, then, is it under so much attack?  One reason is a complete failure to understand the U.S. Constitution.   I am quite used to explaining it to groups of students and members of the general public.  But I now realize that there are even American university professors who are “constitutionally challenged.”

Amazon wiped out $17.5 billion from eight companies in one day


Amazon wiped out $17.5 billion from eight companies' market values Thursday with just two announcements.

The e-commerce giant has become a force on Wall Street. Even a hint it might take on a new industry can send investors running and stocks tumbling. That was evident Thursday.

Amazon said it would recruit entrepreneurs to run local delivery networks, a move that could divert business from carriers FedEx and UPS. Together, the two companies lost nearly $3 billion in market value on Thursday, with UPS bearing the greatest losses.

More @ CNBC

Reuters editor apologizes, could be disciplined after blaming Capital Gazette shooting on Trump

Image result for Reuters Breakingviews Editor Rob Cox

Their morning roundup is pure anti-Trump.

A top editor at Reuters apologized on Thursday night after blaming President Trump for the deadly Capital Gazette shooting in a now-deleted tweet that was sent during a “state of emotional distress,” but he might still be disciplined by the international news service.  

Reuters Breakingviews Editor Rob Cox admitted that he “responded emotionally and inappropriately” after being called out for jumping to conclusions prior to the facts emerging. Police said the suspected gunman, eventually identified as Jarrod W. Ramos, targeted the newspaper after a lengthy feud regarding a 2012 defamation lawsuit.

 More @ Fox

Border Patrol Agent: Trump's wall is the best way to end to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border

 Image result for Border Patrol Agent: Trump's wall is the best way to end to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border

If Democrats and the media elite truly cared about the safety of illegal immigrants, they’d be down on the border right now working to build the wall President Trump wants America to have.

As a veteran Border Patrol agent, I know firsthand that a secure border with the big beautiful wall the president is building is the only humane and permanent solution to the crisis at the border. 

Despite Democratic obstruction, President Trump is building the wall now, and he will play hardball with Congress to ensure that the necessary funding to complete the wall is secured. Without a completed wall, thousands of illegal immigrants will continue to put their lives at risk.

More @ Fox

4 Slots Left for the Sixteenth Abbeville Institute Summer School

 
  
We have four slots left for the Summer School. Those interested in attending should contact Dr. Livingston immediately.
 
We have a limited number of banquet only tickets for the Bobby Horton performance at the Washington Light Infantry on July 18 at 5 PM. Tickets are $70 per person and cover both the meal and performance. Please contact Dr. Livingston if you wish to attend.

Southern Identity Through Music

St Christopher Conference Center, July 15-20, 2018

Seabrook Island, South Carolina

 More @ The Abbeville Institute

Democrat senator Ben Cardin wants to ban private gun ownership

Via Nancy


Yesterday, June 28, 2018, at around 2:34 p.m., a lone gunman began shooting at Capital Gazette Communications in western Annapolis, Maryland, which primarily publishes The Capital and the Maryland Gazette. Five were shot dead.

Less than an hour after shooting began, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) called for not just gun control, but banning private gun ownership altogether.

Cardin is quoted by CBS News in a tweet at 3:23 PM:

New Poll Has A Bunch Of Awful News For Democrats

 

A new Harvard-Harris poll of 1448 registered voters on a wide range of topics provides a lot of unwelcome news to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

In a series of rather eye-opening results, many highlighted by writer Eddie Zipperer, the poll paints an increasingly grim picture for Democrats still clinging to hope for any semblance of the "Blue Wave" they once felt so confident was coming.

The poll found that 47% currently approve of Trump's handling of the presidency, which is two points better than last month and about where Rasmussen puts him (and nearly identical to Barack Obama's approval at the same point in his presidency, by the way).

Florida Teacher of the Year's gun violence post goes viral after school shooting

Via Richard

Image result for Kelly Guthrie Raley

Dated
A Teacher of the Year at a Florida middle school posted a Facebook message that has since gone viral saying parents need to “step up” when it comes to their kids’ behavior.

“Okay, I’ll be the bad guy and say what no one else is brave enough to say, but wants to say,” Kelly Guthrie Raley, who was named Eustis Middle School Teacher of the Year 2017-2018 last month, said in a now-viral Facebook post following the mass shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Raley said she’ll “take all the criticism and attacks” for her opinion because, as a teacher with two decades of experience, she has to worry about an active-shooter situation on a daily

More @ Fox

How the low, slow A-1 Skyraider earned its place in the hearts of US troops in Vietnam

Via Dai

 

& South Vietnamese troops 

Three and a half months after the first American combat troops, two battalions of Marines, waded ashore without resistance at Da Nang, U.S. Air Force jet pilots learned they wouldn’t have it so easy. 

 On June 20, 1965, a McDonnell F-4C Phantom II was hit by a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 near Ta Chan in northwest North Vietnam and became the first Phantom shot down in the war. The pilots of two MiG-17s from the North Vietnamese 921st Fighter Regiment thought a force of America’s most advanced combat aircraft would arrive to rescue the downed plane’s crew. Instead, they met ghosts out of the past: four gleaming white, straight-winged, single-seated propeller planes, Douglas A-1H Skyraiders of U.S. Navy attack squadron VA-25, “The Fist of the Fleet,” off the carrier USS Midway in the Gulf of Tonkin.