This is an abridged and digestible version of Clyde Kennard’s courageous story. Please share and spread the message of his tenacity and hope, even in the spiteful face of racism. Sad to think that face still glares at us..
“The study of the human character opens at once a beautiful and a deformed picture of the soul”
Mercy Otis Warren
I listened to this one awhile back; it’s good, but not great. My main problem with it was the tongue-bath Maddow insisted on giving to the framers of the constitution. Personally, I think that the accomplishment that is the American Constitution can stand on its own without need of a hype man, but ymmv.
However, Maddow does raise a number of important issues about the modern US Military. Of particular interest to today’s readers is the way Maddow breaks down what happened to the so-called “peace dividend.” Basically, after the Cold War ended, everyone in the US government expected a whole pot of cash to open up because we wouldn’t need so much military spending. But somehow, our government let itself get talked into throwing even MORE money into our military.
Perhaps this is why I was still learning about the imports and exports of Soviet Bloc countries in 6th grade social studies class in 1996? We couldn’t afford new books, but the nearby military base had plenty of Ospreys…
Anyway, a solid 3.5/5.
Real history, featuring regular people. “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
Most people probably think the word casualty is synonymous with the word death, but it actually includes both deaths and injuries; soldiers and civilians wounded during a war count as casualties, whether they die or not. Since the American Revolution, there have been around 2.9 million American casualties in every war combined; 1.4 million deaths (48.3%), 1.5 million injuries (51.7%)
As of July 1, there have been 2.7 million cases of coronavirus in the United States alone. The number of cases per day has spiked recently, so we’ll eclipse the total number of wartime casualties in about a week. The actual death rate is much lower, only ~120k (4.4%), but I can’t stress enough how more people will have gotten sick in six months than have been affected by every single war in 250 years.
If we look only at the number of deaths, it still paints a horrifying picture
37k Americans died in the Korean War: we passed this in mid-April
58k died in the Vietnam War: we passed this in early May
117k died in World War I: we passed this in late June
405k died in World War II: we may plateau before we pass this, but there’s no guarantee. Cases could spike again, maybe a few times, before the virus finally burns itself out (if it ever does). If things continue at their current rate, we won’t pass this until mid-2021. I’d certainly hope our leadership will have pulled their heads out of their asses by then, but I’m not holding my breath.
650k died in the US Civil War: likewise, we may not pass this until 2022. Deaths appear to have been slowing in the last few weeks, so if we can get a handle on overall transmission, we should be able to keep this figure well below half a million.
It’s scary how widespread this is, and how little our government is doing to mitigate it. If we don’t immediately change course, I can’t see an end in sight; we’re less than half a year in, things will almost certainly get worse before they get better. Under any other circumstances, I would give a half-hearted platitude and simply say “vote,” but that’s not going to be easy considering one half of the country is actively trying to disenfranchise the other. That said, we’ve been experiencing sustained social unrest for over a month now, so if this momentum continues we may be able to force the hand of the powers that be. America is not doomed, there is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Keep the faith, stay strong, stay safe, stay home (if possible)
Happy Turn Week! Day 4 is: what is your favorite season? Season 4 would have to be my favorite! Season 1 is a close contender but the wigs, outfits, and everything else is drastically better in season 4. 😁
as the child of an immigrant, canada became the place i call home and has given me many great memories; but it’s unfair to ignore its past and forget the genocide of native americans. canada is a country of rich history but in no way was it good. take this time to not set of fireworks but instead educate yourself on the people whose land we currently walk around
My first Tuesday Thoughts post and it’s kind of all over the place. Sorry it’s so long, but please let me know what you think. As always my messages and asks are open for civil discussion.
“I fell in love with Harriet Tubman because I admired her actions, I admired her actions because I respected her character, I respected her character because we shared the same values.”
I have no idea how authentic the sound is (the first synchronized sound films were in the mid to late 20s). If nothing else, it’s weird to see what passed for fun among the Upper Class.
“Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, The American Robot contextualizes centuries of discussions of artificial intelligence and cyborgs. With a dual focus on who was imagined to be machine-like and what machines were depicted as being almost human, Abnet demonstrates that robot identities have always been unstable and multifaceted.”
This is what happens when you defund public education for 30+ years and instead brainwash those children with lies, propaganda and stupidity.
• Sikorsky R-4
The Sikorsky R-4 is a two-seat helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky with a single, three-bladed main rotor and powered by a radial engine.
The VS-316 was developed from the famous experimental VS-300 helicopter, invented by Igor Sikorsky and publicly demonstrated in 1940. The VS-316 was designated the XR-4, under the United States Army Air Forces’ series for “Rotorcraft”. The XR-4 first flew on January 14th, 1942 and was accepted by the Army on May 30th, 1942. The XR-4 completed a 761 mi (1,225 km) cross-country flight from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Wright Field Ohio, set a helicopter peak altitude record of 12,000 ft (3,700 m), while achieving 100 flight hours without a major incident and top airspeed approaching 90 mph.
On January 5th, 1943, the United States Army Air Forces ordered 29 prototypes. The first three were designated YR-4A and used for evaluation testing. Evaluation of the YR-4A demonstrated a need for further improvements, including moving the tailwheel further aft on the tailboom, venting the exhaust to the side instead of downward, and increasing the fuel capacity by 5 US gal. United Aircraft announced in November 1944 that the one hundredth helicopter had been completed, and that the production rate had reached five every six days. Further design changes led to the designation of later prototypes as YR-4B, which were used for service testing and flight training.
Following the sinking in January 1944 of USS Turner, a Sikorsky R-4 flew life saving blood plasma for the casualties from New York. On April 22-23rd, 1944, U.S. Army Lieutenant Carter Harman of the 1st Air Commando Group conducted the first combat rescue by helicopter using a YR-4B in the China-Burma-India theater. Despite the high altitude, humidity, and capacity for only a single passenger, Harman rescued a downed liaison aircraft pilot and his three British soldier passengers, two at a time. While the R-4 was being used for rescues in Burma and China, it was also being used to ferry parts between floating Aviation Repair Units in the South Pacific. In Royal Air Force service, the R-4 was called the Hoverfly. The Helicopter Training School, formed January 1945 at RAF Andover, was the first British military unit to be equipped with the helicopter. Many RAF Hoverfly Mark Is were transferred to the Royal Navy for training and one was used in 1945/46 by Fairey Aviation to develop rotor systems for their Gyrodyne helicopter.
Several surviving examples are an XR-4C prototype, the Smithsonian Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an R-4B in the reserve at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, and a Hoverfly Mk.1, KL110 at the Royal Air Force Museum London.
Learnt Rerun: Gilded Age (2018)
Learnt is on break for June so here’s a comic fresh from the Archives!
What to the Modern Black American is the 4th of July?[auto-captions only]
Cheyney McKnight discusses her own relationship to American history as she visits historic sites in New York City.
historians be like: pass me the iron I gotta make this line straight
(book is adopted son by david a. clary)
Happy Turn Week! Day 2 is who is your favorite patriot? (solider or civilian)
tbh Washington, Lafayette, and Hamilton are all my bbys so
