Do You Feel Safer?
No, there is no evidence that the F.B.I. organized the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Of course, the NYT is going to say that. Others disagree, and point to a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. If the FBI was involved in planning the January 6 incident, it will not be the first time. Here is a story from 2012 about the role federal agents played in the arrest of four elderly men in North Georgia.
A recent episode of Radiolab, Grumpy Old Terrorists, spotlights Georgia. It is about four elderly men, arrested in North Georgia for terrorist activity. The episode features Tom Junod, who wrote an article for Esquire Magazine, Counter-Terrorism Is Getting Complicated. The article has much more information than a twenty minute radio show.
The story focuses on Fred Thomas. A retired Navy man, he worked for Lockheed in Virginia, and moved to Georgia when he retired. He began to hang out on the internet, focusing on a militia forum. After BHO was inaugurated, Mr. Thomas felt that America was going downhill. He met some men online who agreed. The men started to meet. One of the players was a government agent.
The informer was named Joe Sims. (PG does not know if this is his birth name.) According to Esquire, Mr. Sims is a slimy character. He got in trouble, and then got out of jail to work as a snitch.
It is interesting to note that two of wives, of the accused, did not like Mr. Sims. Charlotte Thomas, the wife of Fred, only met him once. Mrs. Thomas was a Frank Sinatra fanatic. When Mr. Sims was in their home, he saw the Sinatra shrine. Joe said, “The trouble with Frank Sinatra is that he can’t sing”.
As the story went down, the old men, and Joe the snitch, had many meetings where they said that something violent needed to be done. Joe the snitch encouraged them, and set up a meeting with an “arms dealer”. Joe handed over his money, and the old man handed over some money. The federal swat team moved in, threw flash grenades, and arrested the old men. The conspirators were so scared they wet their pants. At the same time, the Frank Sinatra shrine was raided. The carpets have burn marks from the flash grenades.
A question was raised on radiolab, do you feel safer now? The feds encouraged the scheme, and helped drive it forward. One person speculated that the sheriff should have had a talk with the old men. Let them know that the law was wise to their game, and the activity would have stopped. Is it a good role for the government to encourage people to commit crimes? In at least one case, government agents recruited and paid people to take part in the “terrorism”. Is this a good use of taxpayer money, and, indeed, does it make us safer?
UPDATE There was a similar incident recently in Forsyth Counth. This is a repost. There are some crucial details left out of this post. Readers are encouraged to read the Esquire magazine article, Counter-Terrorism Is Getting Complicated. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
With All Due Respect
At the 44 minute mark of a recent debate, Karen Handel (KCH) and Jon Ossoff (TJO) were having a bit of a skirmish. The question (41:34) had been put to TJO: How can you be independent in Congress, when you will need Democratic Party help in a re-election. TJO rambled a bit, and did not answer the question. Instead, he attacked KCH. The attack centered around the PR disaster at the Susan B. Komen foundation, which KCH played at central role in.
The two sparred for a few minutes. PG expected someone to call the other a poopyhead, which they would reply to by saying you have cooties. KCH said something, and TJO interrupted. “It’s a simple question, with all due respect” “With all due respect, do not interrupt me”
This may be the one moment of this nightmare election that captures two personalities. KCH is not above interrupting, and using shady argument tricks. It was her moment to take control of the situation. Most politicians are hypocrites.
PG got a screen shot, which is posted above. Look at the eyes. KCH is mean. She is tired of this silly little boy. TJO is looking at his shoes. The embarrassment about being out badded by his opponent is evident. KCH won the momentary power game. She easily *handled* TJO.
Maybe people will quit saying “with all due respect.” WADR is the new “bless your heart.” On election day, KCH won , with, or without, due respect. It is not known what the turning point was, or if TJO ever had a serious chance. Most 6th district voters are happy to see a noisy campaign end. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
This is a repost from 2017. After losing to KCH in 2017, TJO ran for the Senate in 2020. The slogan of his Senate campaign was not a vulgar joke about his name. TJO won the election.
KCH lost elections for the House in 2018 and 2020. KCH then became President/CEO at Carroll Tomorrow. The current Interim President / CEO at Carroll Tomorrow is Brian Dill.
The Covid Debt
This is a repost from 2021. The current national debt is $31.7 trillion. … “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” Herbert Hoover said this, at the Nebraska Republican Conference, January 16,1936. In 1936, the national debt was $33.7 billion. This was during the depression, when the government was trying to revive the economy. When Mr. Hoover was President, in 1932, the debt was $19.4 billion.
The national debt today is $28.2 trillion. This is 855 times the debt in 1932. The government likes to spend more money than it has.
2020 was a big year for the national debt. When covid hit, the economy shut down. The government went on a spending spree. The resulting budget deficit (the amount added onto the national debt) for fiscal year 2020 is estimated to be $3.7 trillion. The fiscal year is October 1 through September.
$3.7 trillion is larger than the total national debt in 1991, $3.666 trillion. $3.7 trillion works out to $71.1 billion per week, $10.1 billion per day, $422.3 million per hour. This does not include government spending covered by tax revenue.
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” This gem is credited to the late Everett Dirkson, Republican Senator from Illinois. In 1965, the photogenic Senator was losing sleep over raising the national debt to $328 billion.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend. A billion seconds ago, it was 1989. A billion minutes ago, the Roman empire flourished. (There are 24 hours/1440 minutes in a day. There are 525,600 minutes in a non-leap year.) Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men were soldiers in the War Between the States. In 1865, the national debt was $2.6 billion.
Joe Biden Fundraising Survey
This is a repost from 2019. Mr. Brandon’s grift paid off, and he defeated Donald John Trump in the 2020 election. … @JoeBiden“Our campaign is all about the people. That’s why we want to hear what issues are most important to you! Take this super quick survey to share your top 2020 priorities with Joe.” VPOTUS is running for POTUS. An essential part of the process is the opinion poll, with one crucial question at the end. Our slack blogger decided to take the test.
“Which issues are most important to you? (enter each on a new line)” Getting new knee pads for Colin Kaepernick. Finding a new cookie recipe for Hillary Clinton. Getting Milo Yiannopoulos a haircut, and a name that is easier to spell. Having McDonalds declared the national hamburger.
“Do you approve of Joe Biden’s 8 years as Vice President? How would you rank Joe Biden amongst all former Vice Presidents? Among the top 5, Above average, Right in the middle, Below average, Among the bottom 5.” Ranking performance as a VPOTUS is tough. Mr. B’s big moment came after Obamacare was passed. He was heard saying “This is a big fucking deal.” Other than that, the biggest achievement of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is not dying in office, or arranging the demise of the President. Do we really want someone middle named Robinette as President?
Not dying in office is important. Between 1812 and 1853, three veeps perished in office. George Clinton served under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He died April 20, 1812. Elbridge Gerry, the namesake of Gerrymandering, also served under James Madison, before he met his maker on November 23, 1814. Maybe Dolley Madison put something in those snack cakes.
The third dead veep, William R. King, deserves a paragraph of his own. Mr. King was plausibly said to be the boyfriend of future President James Buchanan. We don’t know if this puts Mr. King in the top 5, or the bottom 5. Mr. King died April 18, 1853, after being VP for six weeks.
The only 19th century VP to serve two full terms was Daniel D. Tompkins, serving from 1817 – 1825. Mr. Tompkins was the first VP with a middle initial. “Tompkins was baptized Daniel Tompkins, but added the middle initial “D.” while a student at Columbia College to distinguish himself from another Daniel Tompkins who was a student there.” Harry S Truman is another VP with a standalone middle initial. The S stood for nothing, just like Mr. Truman.
Two early vices, John Tyler and John Cabell Breckinridge, went on to serve in the government of the Confederate States of America. Millard Fillmore was promoted to President, and had an impressive set of initials. The office of Vice President has had ups and downs, leading up to the modern embarrassment of Spiro Agnew and Daniel Quayle. Ranking JRB is too much work, and is not important. Only one question matters. “Can you chip in as little as $5 to activate your membership?”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Stacey Does It Again
This is a repost from 2019. In 2022, Stacey Abrams was defeated in her second attempt to be elected Governor. … Stacey Abrams went hardcore bless-her-heart in the New York Times yesterday. The opening line was a doozy. “In the mid-1960s, when my father was a teenager, he was arrested. His crime? Registering black voters in Mississippi.”
This is news, to anyone who has been following Ms. Abrams. Her campaign bio does not mention this incident. Nor does at least one article from Mississippi. Google is little help. The arrest story may turn out to be true. Why it is only turning up six months after the election?
PG asked the readers at GeorgiaPol if they knew anything about an arrest. There was an illuminating response. “Being obsessed with Stacey Abrams, you might have missed some of these other Georgia stories: – Georgia governor postpones Los Angeles trip as film industry protests … ” The pundit listed seven more news items. None of the items concerned an arrest for voter registration.
The New York Times did not fact check the article. Ms. Abrams dropped a few more whoppers into the order, to go with the fries and Pepsi.
“Although “exact match” lacks the explicit racial animus of Jim Crow, its execution nonetheless betrayed its true purpose to disenfranchise voters of color. Georgia’s secretary of state held 53,000 voter registrations hostage under exact match last year, 70 percent of which came from black voters, who made up only around 30 percent of Georgia’s eligible voters.” (Voters are registered by the counties, not the state.)
“We demonstrated the immensity of the problem, yet opponents to voting rights responded with the specious claim that increased turnout was somehow proof that no suppression had occurred.” (No link was provided, to show who made this claim.)
“The state’s top elections official, former Secretary of State Brian Kemp himself — functioning simultaneously as the scorekeeper, referee and contestant in the gubernatorial election — was caught revealing to supporters that he was “concerned” about record absentee ballot requests from voters of color.” (Votes are counted by the counties, not the state.)
“Across the country, voter purges employ an easily manipulated “use it or lose it” rule, under which eligible voters who exercised their First Amendment right to abstain from voting in prior elections can be booted off the rolls.”
The last item was a spectacular show of sophistry. The First Amendment mentions religion, press, speech, assembly, and petitioning the government. Yesterday, logicians at GeorgiaPol and facebook contend that not voting, and keeping your registration, is covered by the right to free speech. If Stacey says so, it must be so. This is what some people like to argue about.
The uncritical adoration of Stacey Abrams by the press is part of the problem. She receives little of the scrutiny that most politicians face. If Ms. Abrams is going to grow as a leader, she needs to be taken seriously. This includes questioning her rhetoric. Don’t expect The New York Times to cast the first stone. The yankee media adores poor widdle Stacey, and her sad tale of having the election stolen through “malfeasance, misfeasance and mismanagement.” Will long suffering Georgia voters continue to feel the magic?
Chamblee54 has written about Stacey Abrams too many times. Pictures for this celebration are from your big government buddies at The Library of Congress.
Democrats Go Wild
This is a repost from 2018. The incident described here is the first time I was aware of Stacey Abrams. Many of the playground bully tactics employed by Democrats are seen here. The most recent example is the shameful antics of the #Tennessee3. … Until Thursday, PG had been in blissful denial of the Georgia Governor’s election. Except, that is, for the clown car antics of the republicans. The Democrats had Stacey Abrams, aka black Stacey, opposing Stacey Evans, aka white Stacey. The Republicans are almost certain to win in November, even with a certified idiot like Casey Cagle.
The happy ignorance was interrupted by facebook on thursday. A FBF posted a link to this article, Statement … on the vulgar hit piece against Anoa Changa. The vhp, posted by the notorious white supremacists at WABE, was titled Atlanta Activist Uses Russian-Backed Media To Spread Message. It seems as though a local activist, Anoa Changa, utilized a Russian owned broadcast outlet to spread her message. This was news to PG, as well as people who never listen to Sputnik.
PG did not see what was so horrible about the WABE piece, and was prepared to ignore it. Then he saw something in the article. “Changa helped lead a protest last year at the progressive Netroots Nation convention drowning out the speech of Stacey Evans, a Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia. Changa and the other protesters chanted “trust black women.” Evans is white, while her Democratic primary opponent Stacey Abrams is black. Changa supports Abrams.” A bit of research turned up a video, Protesters Harass Stacey Evans Candidate Gov. Georgia Aug 12, 2017.
This incident was noted on facebook. “Yup, don’t see what the problem is. Was Evans run out of town? Silenced? Is she still in the race?” “I fully support activists of color disrupting any centrist white person running for office. Stop ignoring the fundamental power dynamic in play because of white supremacist patriarchy.” “Good luck winning the election”
Others are grossed out by this type of behavior. Is this what happens to people running for public office? To be shouted down in public forums, and say “this is what democracy looks like.” Maybe smells like is more appropriate. Maybe we are not mature enough to allow the luxury of free speech. Maybe an election campaign is a time to shout down your opponent … and call those who do not applaud your playground bully tactics a racist.
Stacey Abrams And Stacey Evans had a discussion of the incident. Stacey Evans condemned the protest. Stacey Abrams did not. “I do not believe that you silence those who feel they are voiceless, because the minute we do that we are no better than those who tell people they can’t kneel in protest.”
Anoa Changa is far from voiceless. She is not going to be silenced by waiting until someone else is through speaking. To compare this abusive protest, to pro football players and the national anthem, is ridiculous. Stacy Abrams has no business being Governor of Georgia. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
Georgia Democrats
This is a repost from 2021. … Georgia Democrats did not do well in the recent controversy over voting access. The over-the-top rhetoric makes it difficult to believe anything they say. “Jim Crow on steroids” takes crying wolf to a new low. Democrat media enablers lost control cheering them on.
Maybe it started August 12, 2017. Candidates for Governor were speaking. When Stacey Evans spoke, audience members started to chant “trust black women.” One of the other candidates, Stacey Abrams, defended the disruption. “I do not believe that you silence those who feel they are voiceless, because the minute we do that we are no better than those who tell people they can’t kneel in protest.”
What happened next is well known. Miss Abrams won the Democratic primary, and almost won the November election. Her number one campaign issue was voter suppression. When Miss Abrams lost the November election, she claimed that the election was stolen. This claim was uncritically accepted, and repeated ad nauseam.
After the election, a rally was held inside the State Capitol. State law clearly forbids disruptive rallies inside the Capitol. (O.C.G.A. 16-11-34.1 (g)) State Representative Nikema Williams decided that the law did not apply to her, and got arrested. Rep. Williams was praised for this arrest, and elected to the US Congress in 2020.
Republicans legislators proposed a law governing voting access. Democrats went into hysterical disruption mode. A rally inside the Capitol was dispersed, but not before Rep. Park Elizabeth Cannon was physically removed by authorities.
A few weeks later, Rep. Cannon succeeded in getting herself arrested. SB 202 passed, and Governor Brian Kemp decided to sign it immediately. Rep. Cannon got into a confrontation with State Troopers outside the Governor’s office, and got herself arrested. This arrest was over a ceremonial bill signing. Rep. Cannon may be the first legislator in history to get arrested at a bill signing.
What does all this say about the Democrats? They do not seem to be interested in the orderly process of running the state. The Democrats think it is proper to engage in juvenile confrontations. The Democrats do not appear to be capable of governing the state, if they should be elected to power. Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.
SB 202
This is a repost from 2021. … Last week, PG wrote a post about SB 202, the much maligned Georgia law about voting access. The post focused on a shameful stunt, by a Democratic legislator.
There is a personal connection to SB 202. “PG has his story from 2020. He applied for an absentee ballot in the July primary. An unsolicited AB was sent for the next three elections, along with dozens of unsolicited AB applications. SB 202 will prohibit this. How will not sending out unsolicited AB applications suppress the minority vote?”
“The NPR story does not mention AB applications requiring a copy of the voter’s ID. This requirement would impose a logistical burden on the counties, as well as inviting fraudulent ID copies. This requirement, if it is imposed, would be a mistake.”
Send-in-a-copy-of-your-id may have been in an early version of SB 202, and dropped later. This is was in the final bill: “Page 57: In order to verify that the absentee ballot was voted by the elector who requested the ballot, the elector shall print the number of his or her Georgia driver’s license number or identification card … in the space provided on the outer oath envelope.”
When the voter applies for an absentee ballot, they must write down the number of the drivers license/photo id. This can be confusing. PG got a time sheet rejected one time. He put his Social Security number on the sheet, instead of the DL number. However, it is difficult to see how this requirement impacts People of Color more than People Without Color.
Part of the problem is overkill rhetoric. SB 202 is a flawed piece of legislation, and probably will be thrown out by the courts. Unfortunately, Democrats see this as an opportunity to kick up a fuss. They are making the most of the situation. The fawning corporate media goes along.
Biden falsely claims the new Georgia law ‘ends voting hours early’ One exception is the Washington Post, usually a dependable cheerleader for the Democrats. They note that a claim made by the President is simply not true. “The president earns Four Pinocchios.”
This article came out before President Biden encouraged Major League Baseball to move the All Star Game. The game had been scheduled for Truist Park, before the President said that SB 202 was “jim crow on steroids.” MLB agreed, and will take the game elsewhere. In the 2020 elections, Georgia gave her electoral votes to Joe Biden. This is how your President returns the favor. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
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If America Is So Racist
This is a repost from 2017. …. Lots of smart people have been writing about the 2016 election. One popular line of thought is that Donald Trump won the electoral vote because of racism. There are numerous studies that indicate this. This feature will not quote, or link to, these articles. The bottom line is that DJT was labeled racist, and enough voters either liked it to win the election.
There is a problem with this line of reasoning. In 2008 and 2012, the same population elected a dark skinned man. If America is so racist, why did Barack Obama win the Presidency twice? There is something not quite adding up here.
One possibility is show business. BHO was clearly a better performer than John McCain, or Mitt Romney. DJT is much more entertaining that Hillary Clinton. Some fuddy duddy purists talk about issues, when the voting public is clearly superficial.
Another option may be the way Democrats dealt with racial attitudes. HRC called DJT’s actions racist. If BHO did the same against his opponents, it did not get much attention. The supporters of HRC said repeatedly that anyone who votes for DJT is a racist. It is unlikely that anyone said that anyone voting for Mr. Romney, or Mr. McCain, was a racist.
There is an urban-rural divide in America. Many people face tough economic times, and resent what they perceive to be a liberal elite. The reaction of the liberal elite is to label this resentment as racism. While racial attitudes may be part of the problems in rural America, it is far from the entire story.
It would have been better for HRC to win ugly, than to allow DJT to win. She handed millions of votes to DJT by labeling people as deplorables. Barack Obama won the support of many deplorables. Maybe BHO is just a better politician than HRC.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Nick Parrino took the pictures in 1943. The men were Army truck drivers, many stationed “somewhere in Iran.”
Loose Cannon
This is a repost from 2021. … Georgia Elections were thrown into chaos by covid 19. One of the results is SB 202. It makes changes in election law. This story details some of the changes. It appears that many of the hysterical “Jim Crow Voter Suppression” claims are exaggerated.
PG has his story from 2020. He applied for an absentee ballot in the July primary. An unsolicited AB was sent for the next three elections, along with dozens of unsolicited AB applications. SB 202 will prohibit this. How will not sending out unsolicited AB suppress the minority vote?
The NPR story does not mention AB applications requiring a copy of the voter’s ID. This requirement would impose a logistical burden on the counties, as well as inviting fraudulent ID copies. This requirement, if it is imposed, would be a mistake.
In some cases, voting is becoming easier. “Earlier law required three weeks of in-person early voting Monday through Friday, plus one Saturday, during “normal business hours. The new bill adds an extra Saturday, makes both Sundays optional for counties, and standardizes hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or as long as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
Georgia being Georgia, SB 202 is getting screwed up. The Republicans are acting in a high-handed matter, and imposing foolish regulations. One of these is a ban on giving food and water to voters waiting in line. The Democrats are screaming RACISM at every opportunity. The public is being poorly served by the process. Many people are completely taken in by the RACISM rhetoric, and think anyone who does not drink the kool-aid is a RACIST.
SB 202 was passed, and the real fun begins. Usually, a bill being signed into law is a boring formality. Thursday was not. For some reason, Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 202 at the Capitol, immediately after passage. This may have been done as a gesture of disrespect to the race-baiting opposition.
State Representative Park Elizabeth Cannon decided to disrupt the bill signing. Rep. Cannon tried to get arrested February 26, but the State Patrol did not comply.
Rep. Cannon made a scene outside the bill-signing. We don’t know what the State Trooper said the her, or what happened before the video started. It is possible that Rep. Cannon had been threatening to disrupt the event. The unusual manner of the signing may have been a reaction to provocation by Rep. Cannon. This is not how government should be conducted.
The charges are on the Fulton County website. “EW-0324353 Willful Obstruction Of Law Enforcement Officers By Use Of Threats Or Violence – Felony … EW-0324354 Preventing Or Disrupting General Assembly Sessions Or Other Meetings Of Members; Etc. (3Rd Offense)” The site does not specify the first two offenses.
The matter is now in the courts … both the court of law, and the court of public opinion. Facebook has been full of nonsense, until the next media circus comes along. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Bath Suit Fashion Parade, Seal Beach, Cal., July 14, 1918, photographed by M.F. Weaver. WISC. Varsity, 1914, was photographed by Bain News Service.
Andrew Gillum
This is a repost from 2020. In recent news, “Ben Crump is crowdfunding for … Andrew Gillum’s legal defense. Gillum is facing charges of lying to the FBI and wire fraud in a campaign finance scheme.” … The first hints of a delicious scandal were on twitter. @RealCandaceO “Removing one page of report that had @AndrewGillum’s personal address listed which was wasn’t my intent— but YES— BREAKING: Democrat Andrew Gillum was involved in a crystal meth overdose incident last night in a Miami hotel. Orgy suspected, but unconfirmed.” 10:17 AM · Mar 13, 2020 The tweet had copies of a police report, featuring the prominent Florida Democrat.
At first, PG was leery. No corporate media outlets were reporting the story. It could have been another Andrew Gillum. The police report may have been counterfeit. PG started to google “Andrew Gillum” and “Dow Jones.” One of those items had a very bad day Thursday, but made a comeback on Friday. For Mr. Gillum, things got much worse.
Andrew Gillum involved in suspected crystal meth incident in Miami Beach, police say March 13, 2020, 11:50 am The confirmation did not take long to arrive. The Local 10 report had a remarkable comment: “I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends,” Gillum said in the statement. “While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines. I apologize to the people of Florida for the distraction this has caused our movement. I’m thankful to the incredible Miami Beach EMS team for their efforts. I will spend the next few weeks with my family and appreciate privacy during this time.”
Right now, we are in a world of trouble. We are facing a nation kept in solitary confinement. We don’t know how long this communal isolation will last, or what impact it will have on the spread of COVID-19. The sociological impact of keeping 333 million amped up hotheads inside, indefinitely, is horrifying. What is seriously needed now is a delicious sex scandal, to give a healing nation something to tut tut over. Once again, Florida Man™ delivers.
For those who just arrived, here is the story. “Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews were called to a hotel at 1100 West Avenue shortly before 1 a.m. regarding a suspected drug overdose. … Aldo Mejias, 56, told officers that he gave Travis Dyson, 30, his credit card information to rent a hotel room for the night. … Mejias arrived at the room later that night, at which time he found Dyson and Gillum inside the hotel room, appearing to be under the influence of an unknown substance. … Dyson opened the hotel room door and then immediately walked to the bed and collapsed in a prone position. … According to the police report, officers who responded to the hotel tried to speak with Gillum but he was too inebriated. … officers found three small clear bags inside the hotel room containing suspected crystal meth. … Gillum left the hotel room and “returned to his residence without incident.”
There were more developments. Travis Dyson is a piece of work. His now-private instagram account looks like something you would see from a Miami entrepreneur (NSFW). There is a chummy picture of Mr. Dyson, Mr. Gillum, and a third man.
@jessicalipscomb “Just spoke with Travis Dyson, a friend of @AndrewGillum who was in the hotel room last night. He says Gillum did not mention anything about a wedding.” Mr. Dyson spoke to a virus happy Miami web newspaper. “I personally was not celebrating a wedding. I don’t know if [Gillum] was in town for a wedding. He did not mention that.” Dyson said he has known Gillum since around last spring. “We’ve been friends for a while,” Dyson said. He then went silent on the phone and did not answer subsequent calls from New Times.” So much for discretion.
@AndrewGillum “I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!” 11:18 PM · Oct 29, 2018 As @realDonaldTrump should know, tweets are forever. Someone should explain this to the people tweeting to Mr. Gillum’s defense.
@cenkuygur “The @AndrewGillum headlines are very misleading. He was not in a seedy motel by himself. He was at high-end hotel with friends for a wedding. They were all intoxicated, as everyone in weddings are. Even if there was meth, it was on the floor. There were at least 3 people in room.”
@cmclymer “Let me see if I understand this correctly: conservative commentators are on here this morning attacking Andrew Gillum, who is not in office, over an alleged incident but NOT attacking Trump for intentionally enabling one of the worst catastrophes in modern U.S. history.”
@hshaban “a Florida friend suggested that Andrew Gillum is going to be tarnished by this, despite not being arrested or accused of any wrongdoing, in a way that is somehow worse than the sitting governor of Virginia, who was discovered to have worn blackface”
@Jasmyne “What’s interesting about this story is that this same publication called Gemmel Moore a prostitute when he was found dead at #EdBuck’s. But 30 y/o white Travis Dyson is a “male escort.” Interesting. That right there is the bias we’re always talking about in how the media reports.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Millard Fillmore And Oscar Wilde In Atlanta
This afternoon’s post at chamblee54 noted an 1854 visit by former President Millard Fillmore. This was brought to the attention of another history minded blog, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. The result was some details about the visit, Millard Fillmore, live on Peachtree Street, 1854. The material below is borrowed from that post.
Two years after the Whigs refused to nominate Fillmore for a term of his own, he was out touring the country? Several accounts explain that Fillmore and his wife Abigail wanted to tour the U.S. after his presidency. Unfortunately, she died shortly after he left office. He pined through the rest of 1853, but by February 1854 had decided to tour by himself, without his children, accompanied by friends he could persuade to join him.
That same month, Fillmore decided to take the trip southward that he and Abigail had not been able to take. Given the timing, some observers believed that Fillmore had a political motive in making the journey. They suspected that he might be planning to speak out against the Nebraska Bill [proposed by Illinois’s U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas]. Others were convinced that it was a leisure tour. But whatever Fillmore’s intentions may have been, his speeches to southern audiences were relatively neutral. He restated his faith in the [Missouri] Compromise, but he spent most of his time enjoying a series of receptions, dinners, and parades in his honor throughout the region. A marching band escorted him through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky. Girls scattered his path with flowers in Montgomery, Alabama. A row of trains blew their whistles in greeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Fillmore returned home refreshed and with renewed faith in his fellow Americans. (This paragraph is from Alison Behnke, Millard Fillmore (a child’s history of the man), 2005, page 92.)
By late February 1854 Fillmore had resumed his plans to travel. He perceived that a southern trip would do him good and that the journey would divert his mind from the loss of Abigail. … Fillmore hoped Francis Granger, John P. Kennedy, and Washington Irving would go with him on the trip. Granger lost interest, and Irving was in no mood for politics. …
En route to Atlanta from Augusta on the Georgia Railroad, they stopped at Greensboro where a large crowd of teachers and students of the Female College greeted Fillmore and Kennedy. They dined at Madison. At Stone Mountain an escort committee from Atlanta met them.
At the Atlanta Depot a novel reception welcomed them. A large number of locomotives were present with their steam up. When the Augusta engineer signaled their arrival they all opened up their valves and whistled out a welcome the like of which, reported a newspaper, “no mortal man had heard before.” The shouts from the crowd and locomotive whistles were deafening to one reporter. By carriage the party went from the depot to the Atlanta Hotel where a reception was held.
Fillmore had become hoarse. Nonetheless, he managed to say that he was impressed by the large population and that he had heard that it was a beautiful village in the center of the state. He also admonished the state legislature to to take note “of the array of female loveliness before me” seated at the reception. If they did so, he joked, they wouldn’t hesitate to locate the state capital at Atlanta. At that time the capital was at Milledgeville. Atlanta became the capital in 1877. (This section is from Robert J. Scarry, Millard Fillmore, 1982, pages 247-252 variously.)
A few months later, on October 16, 1854, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland. On July 4, 1882, Mr. Wilde gave a talk at De Give’s Opera House in Atlanta GA. What happened next is described on page 201 of Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann.
Mr. Wilde was accompanied by his agent, J.S. Vail, and a valet, W.M. Traquair. Mr. Vail bought three train tickets for Savannah, the next stop on the tour. The Pullman agent told Mr. Wilde that black people were not allowed to ride in sleeper car berths. Mr. Wilde said that Mr. Traquair had traveled with him throughout the South without incident. The Pullman agent said the next stop was in Jonesboro GA. If people in Jonesboro saw a black man in the car, then they would attack the train. Mr. Wilde gave in, and Mr. Traquair traveled in another part of the train.
This is a repost. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
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