Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson were Civil War heroes – who shed their blood during a covert military operation behind Confederate lines. They gave their lives to end slavery, preserve our Union, and uphold the sacred values it was founded upon. pic.twitter.com/7SDgRwOCyI
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 3, 2024
Pres. Biden posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to two Civil War heroes who took part in one of America's first special operations. Descendants of Pvt. George Wilson and Pvt. Shadrach accepted the awards. @WhitJohnson has the story, #AmericaStrong. https://t.co/hyJ7IHUbCx pic.twitter.com/vVz5M6c4xE
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) July 4, 2024
Biden: Tomorrow is the fourth of July. Another reminder of why it's so important to know our history, not to erase our history, to remember the sacred cause of American democracy. And not make up a lost cause to justify the evil of slavery… pic.twitter.com/JfORLqKV02
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 3, 2024
Per CNN:
… “Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for their gallantry and intrepidity while participating in a covert military operation 200 miles behind Confederate lines on April 12, 1862,” a White House official said Wednesday morning. “In one of the earliest special operations in US Army history, Union Soldiers dressed as civilians infiltrated the Confederacy, hijacked a train in Georgia and drove it north for 87 miles, destroying enemy infrastructure along the way.”
Biden awarded the medals in a ceremony at the White House with descendants of Shadrach and Wilson in attendance…
Shadrach and Wilson were members of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862 when they joined 20 other Union soldiers, and two civilians, to infiltrate Confederate territory.
The raid, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, involved the soldiers commandeering a locomotive known as the General that was on its way toward Chattanooga. They would stop occasionally along the route to “tear up track, switches, and bridges, inflicting as much damage as possible.” The Confederates began chasing the General in handcars and locomotives, at some points even on foot, eventually catching up to them and forcing the Union soldiers to abandon it.
They were all captured within two weeks, and found guilty of “acts of unlawful belligerency,” according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Both the General and the Texas — one of the pursuing locomotives — survived and are in museums in Georgia; the General in Kennesaw’s Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, and the Texas in the Atlanta History Center.
Dr. Shane Makowicki, a US Army historian and expert in the American Civil War, told reporters that both Shadrach and Wilson were convicted as spies, and then executed by hanging.
Telling the story of the raid on Wednesday, Biden said the two soldiers “stood tall” on the day of their execution.
“According to reports from that day, this is what he said — looked at the crowd, and he said he believed they were wrong, but he did not harbor hostility toward the people of the South. He said it was not them, but their leaders who were responsible for the rebellion. And he said the time would come when the Union would be restored and the American flag would wave over the entire nation once again,” Biden said. “Ladies and gentlemen, ‘till the very end, George and Philip believed in the United States of America.” …
The operation is now known as the Great Locomotive Chase. While other members of the raid received the Medal of Honor sooner — six of whom after being released in a prisoner exchange in 1863 — Brad Quinlin, another historian who assisted in the effort to get Shadrach and Wilson recognized, said bad timing was primarily to blame for the delay in Shadrach and Wilson’s recognition. In the aftermath of the raid, he said, their officers were promoted into different units and moved on.
“It was just at that moment during our history, nobody was there to stand up for them and move this through, even their comrades who made the visits to Chattanooga and dedicated the monument to the Great Locomotive Chase in 1890, I don’t think they even realized that these two men never had the medal. The paperwork never got through,” Quinlin said…
Brian Taylor, Shadrach’s great-great-great-nephew, told reporters the posthumous award is the culmination of “a lot of very hard work” for his family — including efforts by his father to contact President Jimmy Carter.
“He was sending stuff to Jimmy Carter years ago, sometimes getting information back and sometimes getting ignored,” Taylor said.
Quinlin said he was pulled into the fight to get Shadrach and Wilson medals in April 2012 by Ron Shadrach, a great cousin of the Civil War private. It took 12 years of “researching, finding new documents, primary sources, and submitting the documentation,” he said.
“It was just something that needed to be done,” Ron Shadrach said.
Baud
That’s bad ass.
raven
My ancestor, Jason J Figg of the 11th Tennessee CSA fought at the Dead Angle at Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield and was killed at the Battle of Atlanta.
different-church-lady
How dare he continue to do presidential things. What an affront to punditry!
Ishiyama
I have known the story of the Great Locomotive Chase since childhood. I once perused a book at the Government Book Store in Boston, giving summaries of all the recipients of the Medal of Honor. One of the surest ways to earn it has been, historically, to throw yourself on a live grenade. Few have done it; fewer have survived.
Ishiyama
@raven: My seven-times Great Grandfather carried a long gun at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
MinuteMan
The raid was commemorated in a piece of band music called The Great Locomotive Chase. There’s also a pretty good version done by a solo flute..
Geoduck
Buster Keaton based his movie The General on the incident. But (wince) he plays the Confederate hero. If you can overlook that, it’s possibly his best film.
schrodingers_cat
These ageist and ableist fuckers would have drummed FDR out of office because he had polio.
Geoduck
@schrodingers_cat: When FDR ran and won his last term, evidently everyone around him knew that he was quite ill and very likely to die before his term ended. That’s why Truman got slotted into the VP position.
zhena gogolia
Biden sounds exactly as he always has.
Another Scott
I spent part of my childhood in the NW suburbs of Atlanta so it was easy to see The General on display. For a while it was in a building with lots of glass so you could see it driving down the road.
Hey, I was at the ’64 World’s Fair as a tyke. Maybe I saw it there too!
The CMoA ceremony was quite well done by everyone, and Biden was good.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@zhena gogolia:😎😎
hueyplong
@Geoduck: The party wanted no part of Wallace in the big chair.
Eyeroller
@zhena gogolia: I have said over and over and over that you can’t assess any person’s, but especially an older person’s, mental capacity on the basis of a 20-minute snapshot where there are other factors such as stutter, stress, cold, cold medicine, etc. But so many people went screaming straight to DEMENTIA. The press had an ulterior motive but I don’t see any excuse for Democrats, especially not all those “professional Democrats” who were supposedly sending reporters panicked texts.
I wonder how old that great-great-nephew was since he seemed worse off than Biden.
schrodingers_cat
@Geoduck: Vichy Times of 2024 would have drummed him out in his first reelection campaign because not all New Deal policies were successful.
Mike in NC
@Geoduck: One of the highlights of Key West was the Truman “Little White House” preserved to look like it did in 1950. That predated air conditioning.
schrodingers_cat
@Eyeroller: And many “progressives” on this blog and elsewhere also got their knives out because Biden had beaten their faves (Sanders and Warren) in 2020.
JPL
@Eyeroller: A friend mentioned some type of medication. Since Joe doesn’t drink, maybe it’s possible they gave a heavy dosage of cold medicine. That would explain why it wore off after twenty minutes.
JPL
@schrodingers_cat: That’s not necessarily true. Expressing concern is not the same thing.
Princess
I see FTFNYT has changed the little Catholic Hitler’s op ed title from “I Don’t Vote” to “I Won’t Vote” since little Adolph Franco’s voting history became public knowledge, with no acknowledgment of the change. And people think it will tell us the truth about Biden? Or anything? What a joke paper.
schrodingers_cat
@JPL: Expressing concern is fine but freaking out based on what other people are saying or might say is not.
Baud
I should change my nym to Senior Democratic Operative.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Princess: I wish I thought they had the capacity to at least be embarrassed even if they couldn’t quite get to ashamed.
kindness
Uncle Joe didn’t drool or fall asleep once during the speech. With that the bulk of the MSM has a sad. The rest of them jump on AI to create footage of Biden drooling at the podium. The media is as much an opponent to Biden’s re-election as Republicans are.
Princess
@schrodingers_cat: For someone who always preaches party unity and lockstep agreement, you spend more time attacking fellow Democrats than anyone else in this blog. Frankly, you spend more time attacking reliable, Democratic voters than you do attacking Republicans.
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Why should they be embarrassed or feel shame they are totally committed to being a regurgitator of Republican propaganda.
Baud
@Princess:
I’m glad they did this now. Hopefully it’ll open some eyes.
schrodingers_cat
@Princess:I disagree with your characterization of my comments. You also have a choice of using the pie filter or scrolling on.
JPL
@Princess: yup Time to change my subscription. I pay 12.00 for all access and truthfully, I play the crossword, save recipes and read the book review. It might be time to lose the book review.
Another Scott
@Princess: It looks like he’s been writing for them since 2021.
They know exactly who he is, and that’s why he has a place there.
It would be nice if Newsdiffs was still active, but given how everyone is trying to monetize everything, it’s unsurprising that it isn’t. (Unless someone knows of something similar these days.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Eyeroller
@schrodingers_cat: They can even freak out! That is OK! But they should not share that publicly. They should have waited for further evidence or confirmation of a problem. (Talking to friends isn’t a problem. Anonymous commenters on a top-10,000 blog are not a problem, I am referring to those with the ability to do so who contacted the media, or people with Facebook reach, etc.)
gene108
@schrodingers_cat:
People knew FDR had polio. The extent of how badly it affected him was kept from the public. His public appearances were carefully managed. The media went along with the FDR administration and did not report on his physical condition.
@raven:
@Ishiyama:
I am amazed how people know what their ancestors did in the 1860’s, let alone the 1760’s. I have no idea what anyone of my ancestors were doing in those or even who they were.
Eyeroller
@JPL: Any revenue you give them goes to subsidize their news operation. By some measures the crossword and other puzzles and those goddamn recipes are their biggest revenue generators and they use those to writes stories against us.
Eyeroller
@schrodingers_cat: Not that it matters, but there is some evidence that Roosevelt had Guillain-Barre syndrome, not polio.
gene108
@Princess:
Is Catholic Hitler and Adoph Franco, Sam Alito?
Baud
@gene108:
Some Hitler looking MAGA that writes for the NYT and is discouraging liberals from voting apparently.
Baud
@gene108:
Same.
japa21
@gene108: I do know that one of my predecessors was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War (on the correct side, of course).
sanjeevs
@Baud:
You’re going to need to be more specific than that
Nukular Biskits
This is bound to cause Southern Confederate apologists/MAGA hatriots a “DOES NOT COMPUTE!!1!!!11!!” error.
JML
well, the closest might have had an idea, but FDR and his inner circle kept his actual health very closely held and few people really knew. The Truman thing is also more complicated than that: it wasn’t like FDR was saying “well, I could go down so we’d better get someone like Harry in there just in case.” There was a real question at the convention as to who the pick would be, and FDR himself submitted two names: Truman or William Douglas (and there’s still a question whether or not FDR himself preferred Douglas).
But beyond that, if they were so clear that FDR was so terribly sick and near death they wouldn’t have excluded Truman from most everything. He had almost no role in the administration as VP and when FDR died he took over almost cold. It ended up working out because Truman ended up being a far better president than most people thought he would, but it was far from a sure thing.
Truman was personally honest and forthright, but he came up through a political machine and had been surrounded by a lot of corrupt bastards in his time.
JPL
@sanjeevs: Did the NYTimes take down comments/ Everything I just clicked on didn’t have comments.
So odd not one article mentions trump talking about manufacturing bitcoins here
phew cooking sites still allow comments.. what a joke
Princess
@gene108: Yup. This is *Little* Catholic Hitler Adolph Franco.
Suzanne
@raven: My great-great-grandfather pretended he was 18 to join the Union Army. Was in for a bit, then somehow got found out and kicked out.
Sister Golden Bear
@schrodingers_cat: There was a media frenzy in 2016 calling for Hillary to drop out because she was too old and feeble — all because she had a mild case of pneumonia.
Eyeroller
@Sister Golden Bear: I was also reminded recently of some episode where there was a hoax about a terminal dementia diagnosis that the mainstream media credulously picked up:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-1-year-to-live/
gene108
@JPL:
I think some people are in denial about the debate performance. It brought all the worst fears about Biden and his age to the forefront.
I don’t think the Biden campaign has done enough damage control. I’d like to know why he was so bad for most of the 90 minute debate. Was it the wrong dose of cold medicine? Just a basic explanation of what went wrong with President Biden.
Suzanne
@schrodingers_cat:
I will repeat: I supported Harris strongly, and voted for Warren in the primary after Harris dropped out. I still deeply admire them both. I was thrilled to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket. There was a Biden-Harris sign in my yard (and will be again). I have a KAMALA hat. You can pretend that I hate Joe, because you’re apparently the world most binary thinker, but that doesn’t make it true. There is a gradient of how positively I feel about people. Preferring one doesn’t mean I think the others suck.
Shit, dude, I’ve voted for Sinema. Multiple times. That’s the shit I feel icky about.
JPL
@gene108: I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Early on the campaign allowed Biden to be painted as old and Kamala as having a weird laugh. They didn’t fight back, so after a performance like the debate, it proved them right. In the olden days no one paid attention until the fall, it’s not true anymore.
Meanwhile the other guy wants manufacturing of bitcoins in the USA and not one news station is saying wtf.
just my opinion
Suzanne
@Princess: Walther is a lunatic. IIRC, Rod Dreher has been a supporter of his. And that guy is….. well, if personality disorders were visible, his could be seen from space.
Suzanne
@JML: I have to say…. The idea that a president could have a severe health issue and successfully hide it from the public in this century seems absolutely unfathomable to me. Shit, everyone carries cameras and voice recorders in their pockets. It’s absolutely not possible.
Nukular Biskits
I absolutely love this:
This is bound to explode the heads of the “heritage, not hate” MAGA types. Fuck ’em.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@raven:
My maternal great great grandmother is an Auxier and out of Kentucky, having moved to Iowa when she married. I guess there’s even a spot on the map in Kentucky of the same name. I have not researched it but I’m likely to have some CSA soldiers in my family tree.
She married a damned Yankee! Actually he was from Minnesota. Happy 4th, guy! I hope you and yours are well. :)
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
FWIW, @nyt_diff catches a lot of changes in New York Times titles and abstracts, though not that one. Here’s the poast.org link:
https://nitter.poast.org/nyt_diff
Sister Golden Bear
@gene108: Matthew Walther, a
conservativereactionary Catholic writer. He seems nice.(Click the News tab to see what he’s written.)
Jay
@gene108:
20 minutes of the “debate” which wasn’t even a debate.
Unless you are being paid to gaslight us, let it go. There is an entire media ecosystem/ruZZian/ Foreign Influence ops being paid to gaslight us.
Bill Arnold
@gene108:
No, it’s
Lethe
@gene108: my g-g-g (? g’s) grandfather was a soldier. He would come home every 1 to 2 years, and grandma would have another kid 9 months later. 12 of ’em. The 10th one was named “Silence”. the 12th one was named “Finis”.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I misread that as a “contributing Onion writer,” which works
Elizabelle
@Sister Golden Bear: he takes his grooming cues from Steve Bannon, I see.
Yecch.
different-church-lady
@Eyeroller:
You know why? Because MAGA spent years setting them up for it. And the dopes took the bait, the hook, the sinker, the line, the reel, the pole, and the whole damn boat.
kindness
Jeez I can’t believe there are still people here demanding stuff of Biden because he had a bad debate. Read the room. If that’s what you want to spin your wheels on, go over to LG&M. They can’t get enough of it there. Most of us are going to give money, help get out the vote and vote for Joe Biden. He’s going to win by more than the 7 million votes he beat Trump by last time.
danielx
@japa21:
Ha….one of mine was a Hessian who decided things looked better on this side of the Atlantic and joined the good guys.
Good to some, anyway.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Donald John would like a word.
;-)
Lots of people deny the truth all the time. Lots of people believe absolutely anything that people in their tribe say. Lots of things remain hidden, or are denied with complete acceptance by far too many if they come out.
I trust Biden’s 2/28/2024 health summary (6 page .pdf).
I do not trust TCFFG’s 6/3/2020 health summary (2 page .pdf).
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Nukular Biskits
A couple of MS “conservatives” have played the “Who Is Replacing Biden on the Ballot?” propaganda on social media.
I have publicly challenged each to $500 to the charity of choice to man up on that bullshit.
None have accepted.
ETA: (posted too soon) That tells me that they don’t believe the crap they’re putting out.
Origuy
If you know their name and home town, military records are useful in finding information about them. You may not know much more that dates of service and units, but that can tell you what battles they were in. Service records were necessary for widows to get their husband’s pension.
My great-great-grandfather joined the Union army in 1865, only a few months before the end of the war. His unit spent the next year guarding trains in the South, as there was still some rebel activity.
Sister Golden Bear
Well now we have a new concern to fret over.
“How the Right Won the Hawk Tuah Girl: This is a huge, huge problem for Democrats.”
Yes, the writer is channel their inner NYT Pitch Bot.
danielx
@sanjeevs:
This little Bavarian.
Origuy
@danielx: We may be relatives. I also have an ancestor from Hesse who was a POW and refused to be repatriated. Married a Pennsylvania woman.
JPL
@Eyeroller: You’re right. It will take me a few days to copy some recipes and do a few more puzzles, but then I’ll cancel.
raven
@gene108: Fold3 is a historical military documents site that is associated with Ancestry. I have Jason’s enlistment record with his signature from 1861.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: Actually Sleepy Joe and Dementia Joe was beta tested in the primaries by the BS campaign. They also came up with the Tara Reade stuff to derail Biden in the primaries.
The far left is either gullible or a Russian op or a combination of the two
Same shit happened in the 2016 primary campaign. The same attacks BS used against HRC were weaponized further by RW ecosystem, media and Trump against HRC.
It is happening again
raven
@Ishiyama: Acadian Driftwood!
raven
@Suzanne: Strange that it was legal for me to go in on my 17th in 1966!
raven
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Jason and his brother were in the CSA and their father was Union Soldier
Ben Cisco
@raven: I recently discovered that my great-great-great grandfather was a member of the 4th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. That makes me 6th gen military. Stunned.
MagdaInBlack
@raven: Ty. I just found my grt grandfathers Civil War pension records. Can’t see them unless I join, but cool anyway. I have his discharge papers.
Sister Golden Bear
I don’t recall any ancestors serving during the Civil War, but I do have a distant ancestor, Nathanial Benedict Jr., who served in the Revolutionary War as a sargeant in the 9th Regiment of the Connecticut Militia, and also served in the War of 1812. Grandson of a man who immigrated to the U.S. in 1637.
schrodingers_cat
From the BidenWins guy on Twitter
raven
@Ben Cisco: Awesome
@MagdaInBlack: Great!
Suzanne
@Another Scott: But is Trump’s health condition hidden? I mean, there’s been a lot of diaper jokes of late.
schrodingers_cat
Snooze Hour had a report based entirely on hearsay with no on record sources. They are creating a narrative. Why have primaries at all, let the newsrooms and editorial boards pick the Democratic nominee.
raven
@MagdaInBlack: I found about 30 pictures of my unit in Vietnam there and no-one else in the unit knew they existed until I took them to our reunion. A also have the War Diary and Deck Logs om my dad’s WW2 destroyer.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed that ’24 is smelling a lot like ’16. What’s really bad is that this time too many people are volunteering for the gaslighting.
Timill
@Ben Cisco: Your key to USAA insurance :-)
Suzanne
@Sister Golden Bear: One great thing about the Age of the Meme and the TikTok is that we get bored of them quickly, once the next funny thing shows up. Hawk Tuah will be forgotten shortly. Thank God.
NotMax
Shadrach?
How … biblical.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@raven:
Truly “both sides”. Too soon? :)
That’s the way it was/is in many families.
Soprano2
@Eyeroller: This is so true. These people talking about dementia have no idea what they’re talking about. It manifests in many different ways.
kalakal
For those who would like to enjoy a real time electoral stomping of right wing jerks the UK results usually start really coming in around 2 to 3 am* their time so 10 EST
*based on memory of some very drunken parties
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: In the New York Times? I think not.
Suzanne
@raven: I should probably have noted that I have not verified any of that story, but that is the family lore.
Later in his life, he left Boston, changed his name and converted from Judaism to Christianity, went to California, got married and had kids, and then the whole family went north to Alaska. They were apparently really active in creating local and territorial government and other family members were involved in early statehood efforts. My great-aunt gave an interview and turned the family records over to the Alaska State Library before she died. I should make it up there sometime!
Sister Golden Bear
@zhena gogolia: Well if it wasn’t in the FTFNYT, then obviously it never possibly happened, amirite. /s
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia: I can’t say I’ve been keeping tabs on the FTFNYT. I really only see their pieces that go around social media, and I use that archive.ph site to get around the paywall.
Just started pouring rain here….. everyone’s gonna have to stop setting off their dumbass fireworks!
JPL
I want a reporter from the NYTimes to ask trump what lucky state will be awarded the manufacturing of bitcoins
Suzanne
Open thread? Open thread.
Has anyone done a doggie DNA test? I am curious and kinda want to do one. Mr. Suzanne thinks it’s dumb. Seems kind of expensive!
raven
@Suzanne: 18 was the official age but
Suzanne
I saw on some social media site that Rishi Sunak has joined some company called “Y Combinator” as a Group Partner. Man, failing upward crosses oceans.
Sister Golden Bear
@kalakal: Exit polls predict a Tory wipe-out.
Unfortunately, Labour has gotten caught up in the extreme transphobia in the UK — under the Tories, the NHS banned all trans healthcare; the NHS minister ordered any parents doing private healthcare for their trans kids to turn over their kids’ meds or risk arrest; and threatened that parents who enabled their kids to continue getting trans healthcare would have their children taken from them via Child Protective Services.
I pray to the god I don’t believe in that Labour reverses these, and other anti-trans measures, but UK Trans Twitter wasn’t filled with optimism. But at least it probably won’t get worst.
raven
@Suzanne: Yes, we’ve done them on Bohdi and Artemis. I know a genetics prof who says they are much more accurate now. Here is Artie’s.
MagdaInBlack
@raven: It was never clearly explained to me how a northern Illinois farm boy ended up in the 1st Regiment of Missouri Light Artillery, but that’s what it says on the discharge papers. Some one, I assume him (its in that spidery script they used those days) wrote all the battles on the back of the papers.
Ben Cisco
@Timill: They signed me up in the early oughts, no complaints.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Lawrence Ferlinghetti–
I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America
and wail
and I am waiting
for the discovery
of a new symbolic western frontier
and I am waiting
for the American Eagle
to really spread its wings
and straighten up and fly right
columbusqueen
@japa21: i learned a couple of years ago that I’m the direct descendant of a Continental soldier from New Jersey. He moved to Plain Township, Ohio, with four sons in 1813.
Suzanne
It is absolutely dumping rain, but some complete fucking idiot on the next block is trying to set of fireworks.
I swear to the FSM, fireworks are a natural selection vector.
Steve in the ATL
@Another Scott: so you were near the Big Chicken?
Eyeroller
@schrodingers_cat: Anonymous sources are a major reason that current journalism is so bad. If they cannot get the story with named sources then perhaps it’s not a valid story.
There are rare situations where unnamed sources are necessary (e.g. Watergate) but as things stand now, most of the time they just. spread gossip and rumors.
gene108
@kindness:
It’s not just a bad debate. President Biden is visibly older than he was four years ago. He doesn’t walk as well as he did, and the big thing is his voice weaker than it used to be. The thing holding people together is despite visibly showing the physical signs of aging he is still mentally very sharp.
His debate performance triggered all the fears some Democrats had that about Biden be able to serve out another four years.
I am in just as much in shock these supposed professionals, who know how to compete in elections, would blast all their worries to the media within the first 15-20 minutes of the debate. Such concerns should be handled within the party.
If we had a national popular vote for President, the 7 million more votes might matter. He won because of 45,000 or so votes across a few states.
I don’t share your optimism. It’s not Balloon-Juice commenters, for the most part, who need reassurance Biden can do the job for another four years. The times I’ve seen Democrats be divided about whole heartedly supporting the nominee, as in 2000 and 2016, just enough voters in key states end up voting for the Republican candidate to enable the Republican candidate to win the EC. *ETA: Or a third party candidate.
Will the 11,780 voters in GA, who made all the difference in 2020, still want to vote for President Biden or will enough of them stay home to matter? I don’t know. That’s what the panic is about, because Democrats know how terrible a second Trump term will be.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Yes, the status of his health is hidden.
NPR.org (from October 2020)
The June 2020 “physical exam” released by his White House says:
It’s not a report of his physical exam of June 2020.
He was admitted to Walter Reed in October 2020 with COVID and we probably don’t have an accurate story of his condition and treatment there.
Everyone knows he’s not 6’3″ tall – JEB is 6’3″ and TCFFG is clearly about 3″ shorter. He probably weighed more than 244 pounds. The man can’t walk 100 feet without using a golf cart. He’s proud of never exercising.
Etc.
I obviously don’t have any particular knowledge of his medical issues. But he’s not well, he lies about everything, and every accusation is a confession with him and his minions.
And stuff about his health is hidden from us.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
BlueDWarrior
@kalakal: been poking my head on the BBC’s coverage. Two thoughts as a Black Yank:
1) Their graphics are pretty good, things are easily readable for someone like me that needs the context of a lot of regions explained to me.
2) The Conservative (Tory) Party is getting spanked, but I think those of us on the left in Anglosphere should note that it’s partly swingers swinging Labour Red and people protesting against Tory Blue with Reform Teal (or would it be Cyan, probably Cyan).
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: I can assure you that the NYT has done no in-depth investigation of Trump’s health, and if any anonymous sources have called them to talk about the diapers, their stories have not been published in the paper.
zhena gogolia
@gene108:
So is everyone.
JPL
@gene108: I live in GA and I am doubtful but I didn’t believe we’d have two democratic Senators. HOPE springs eternal
Jay
@MagdaInBlack:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Missouri_Light_Artillery_Regiment
Union Regiment,
Many Regiments were named after States*, not always filled with soldiers from those States. Officers and soldiers were often transferred from other units, or recruiting depots to bring the Regiment up to strength.
*often a political choice, to represent unity.
Eyeroller
@gene108: I get your concern but the fact is that from what evidence we have, the “normies” who watched the debate without the later interference by the media felt that Biden and Trump were equally bad but Trump was scary. They didn’t feel that Biden was out of the normal range for a person his age. As some commenters have said, this is a political assassination by the media.
japa21
@raven: I love the supermutt classification.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: TY. I was just googling that myself 😊
That great grandfather is why my parents were Republicans, party of Lincoln and all that. My mother broke that bad habit by voting for Obama.
BlueDWarrior
@Eyeroller: Most polls have only seen marginal changes in declared support. Now in certain places that could be determination, but I’d be more concerned about that if it was October 30 instead of July 4.
Eyeroller
@BlueDWarrior: Debate bumps for either candidate generally fade in a fairly short time. We shall see. Right now we need to fight back against this media jihad.
Suzanne
@raven: Do you feel like it helped you train them better, or treat health problems better? Or is it just for fun and curiosity? It costs $110 and I’m wondering if it’s worth it.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: We’ve done it a couple of times. Our Ellie is supposedly 3/8 Aussie Shepherd, 1/8 Collie, 1/8 Rottweiler, and the rest nothing dominant.
We don’t see the Rottweiler, but the first 2 seem accurate.
Our previous dog, Sophie, was supposedly Shepherd and Bernese Mountain Dog and German Shorthaired Pointer and Dachshund (longhaired?) and probably a few other things. She only weighed about 45 pounds but she had giant feet. She had the most amazingly calm disposition, except for during thunderstorms, and her ears looked like a longhaired Dachshund.
So, there seems to be something to it.
It can be fun if you’ve got a mutt. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
gwangung
@Eyeroller: I want to re-emphasize my rant of a few days back:
Biden did poorly, but Trump DID WORSE. Forget about the effect on partisans; the effect on undecideds or wavering was that THEY PREFERRED BIDEN.
That was the initial reaction that we knew the day of the debate. In the days since, we can SEE that it’s had no effect on fundraising, and there’s been little effect on the polls.
Yes, the health issue is a bit concerning…but that’s why there’s a VP. There’s no reason to keep harping on that and ignoring these facts and the additional interviews and appearances he’s made since then that aren’t consistent with that bad performance.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Whichever one pays the largest
bribe… er … gratuity.raven
@Suzanne: Fun and curiosity. She’s such a PTSD case that the little train we tried didn’t do much. Most people at the dog park know her deal and I’m pretty vigilant about leashing her up with dogs she doesn’t know. She’s so funny, it seems like there are just certain breeds of body types she doesn’t like but she loves her some huskies. Also, she will play for about a minute and then just lie down while dogs just race around her. She’s a real mystery.
raven
@japa21: yes!
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: Not too far away!
My dad worked for Lockheed and we lived in Smyrna and Marietta.
One of my school friends was a T. Cheatham who claimed he had some connection to Cheatham Hill.
One couldn’t get away from Civil War stuff around there back then. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
stinger
@kindness: 👍
kalakal
@Sister Golden Bear:
It’s hard to tell what Labour will do. The British msm makes the FTNYT look like it’s edited by Leon Trotsky. The inflated nonsense used to attack Biden in the last week is an average Tuesday for Labour politicians so they naturally run in”Don’t scare the horses” mode and the current bunch are doing that to an extreme. Smart politics, don’t give the press the chance to divert from the self basting Tories.
That said I’m worried they’ve taken a stance on trans issues at all rather than vague generalities.
It’s not an issue that fires up the general public who, if they think about it at all, are mostly “you do you, not my business” rather than hostile. So it’s concerning they are picking up the TERF framing.
JaySinWA
I swore one of our cats was racist to certain colors of cats. Dogs forming bias based on body types seems quite plausible.
JPL
@zhena gogolia: I would be happy if they simply asked him what lucky state would build a manufacturing plant for bitcoins
NotMax
@JPL
Bitsissippi, silly.
//
kalakal
@BlueDWarrior:
British election programs are great with the graphics etc. It helps that as the results come in individually it’s continual and can be very tense.
You’re dead right here.
A lot of voters who went Tory->Labour are coming back and the Right wing in general is splitting as the UK equivalent of MAGAs have been dragging them to the right for decades and having run them on to the reefs of reality have no answer but to keep ripping the keel out.
Hence the Tory->Reform move.
LNNVA
@Another Scott: Thank your post #64. I posted the site for Biden’s yearly physical, from Feb 2024, last night – but, apparently no one was interested. Maybe, because you are not a lurker, they will pay attention tonight. His detailed physical exam specifically goes into the reasons for his difficulty walking and other problems. There is nothing that links anything to dementia. You can even compare this report to the others that he has posted every year, in order to see any changes.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … Phys.org:
Journal Article (open access)
This might be a really big deal. Keeping more ancient methane in the ground, and getting CO2 out of the air in an efficient way, is a very good thing. And even if there are issues with scaling up this work, it may encourage more investigations and understanding of the chemistry, physics, and technology.
More please!
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
@raven: Coco seems to be freaked out by roughly 1/4 of the other dogs we encounter, and I have no idea why. There are no commonalities that I can see. Just….. bad vibes, I guess?
NotMax
@kalakal
No reason other than idle curiosity, seen/heard anything about how the vote went in the Falklands?
Or Pitcairn Island?
Another Scott
@LNNVA: Repetition is good! :-)
Seriously, it is.
Sometimes people don’t have the time to click links and read stuff outside the boat. And that’s Ok! There are only so many hours in the day. It’s not a reflection on the quality of your input.
Post more.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
JaySinWA
@Suzanne: Pheromones or some other olfactory sense, perhaps? Maybe something not visible. Of course we might be trying to apply logic to something that may have no rational basis
ETA People often have weird reactions to other people. My sister-in-law noticed my [ETA other] brother seemed to get favorable treatment from waitresses, well beyond any physical attractiveness, or personal interactions.
The same has been said of the personal interaction with Bill Clinton and sometimes Donald Trump.
BR
https://infosec.exchange/@ubernostrum/112730374552425499
O. Felix Culpa
@gene108:
Same. I have some information about my grandparents, and beyond that … nothing.
BlueDWarrior
@Another Scott: The idea of reducing CO2 with ‘synthetic’ methane is something that sounds like I would have written in a diesel-punk writing prompt like 10 years ago.
Now some smartypants may have actually messed around and found a way to do it.
Ever forward science marches (when we let it).
MagdaInBlack
And the suburban neighborhood Explosion Fest has begun.
rikyrah
Henry Djoutsa 🇨🇲🇺🇸 Supports🇺🇦 (@D_jeneration) posted at 8:23 PM on Thu, Jul 04, 2024:
Biden off teleprompter is even better,word on the street is CNN America refused to carry this live but CNN international did smh https://t.co/Ji1MOnEMVm
(https://x.com/D_jeneration/status/1809035333503213625?t=hFYPfakMVhAfVVi_dHuZOQ&s=03)
LNNVA
@Another Scott: Thanks for your kind words.
JaySinWA
@MagdaInBlack: Things are oddly quiet here today. Last night there were a few booms after ten or so and a string of booms past 1 AM for some reason. Usually we hear a fair amount of activity during the day of the Fourth, but nothing yet. It’s 7:20 here. Hopefully I’m not jinxing it. There was one emergency vehicle earlier today, again below normal.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Our previous dog Sophie freaked out my step mom’s Sheltie the first time they met. He was a playful youngster and she wanted nothing to do with him and raised her lip just a little for him to see a fang, and he freaked out and started being scared and barked a lot at her.
They have their own language. They remember a lot from their past, and as JaySinWA says above, they have really, really good senses of smell and hearing.
Our Ellie can act ferocious when she sees another dog on a walk, but it’s more that she’s a “rude greeter”. She wants to demonstrate she’s powerful, and she wants to go over and meet on her terms. Though sometimes there’s additional barking once they gingerly smell each other, there’s only one dog that she really didn’t get along with at all, and that was mainly on the other dog (a big dog in his yard that never stopped ferociously barking).
Ellie is probably always in pain to some extent – she apparently was runover as a puppy – her right rear femur was shattered (it now is a little short and her foot points out) and her pelvis was broken in 4 places. She’s got a weird gait and probably is concerned about appearing strong and powerful on meeting new dogs until she knows she’s safe. She’s a sweety once she’s comfortable, and she still loves playing at 7.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
MagdaInBlack
@JaySinWA: This will go on til at least midnight and its coming from all directions.
BlueDWarrior
Man looking at these results from Britain, a handful of secretaries aren’t even going to be MPs anymore come tomorrow or whenever the new Parliament gets sworn in.
Like if we had an election where the Committees’ Majority Chairpersons lost their seats at this rate we’d honestly be asking if that party is even going to exist come the election after.
Soprano2
@Sister Golden Bear: That article was surreal.
NotMax
@gene108
There remains living today one grandson of the 10th president of the U.S., John Tyler (who was born in 1790).
Not many (if any more at all) who can say their grandfather was born over 230 years ago
Mousebumples
“But Biden didn’t call meeeeeee!” – NYT, probably
ascap_scab
Labour party wins big in UK elections. Tories divided by Reform party and crushed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1xnzlzz99o
BR
@Mousebumples:
The NYT has openly said that they see Biden’s snub of them as a snub of all journalism. Because they are that self important.
Meanwhile ProPublica has done all the important political reporting in recent memory, with no fanfare. When’s the last time the NYT broke an important story like the Supreme Court corruption cases?
O. Felix Culpa
@NotMax: Groan. :)
sab
@Another Scott: Biden is a lot jealthier than me and almost a decade older.
BlueDWarrior
@Mousebumples: It’s kinda weird how Biden is giving interviews and like… doing things we’d expect any fully engaged incumbent campaigning President to do. And yet his brain has apparently been replaced by a bowl of tapioca pudding or some such.
The fact that so many leftists (in absolute numbers, not necessarily proportion) want to believe this is not surprising, but is concerning.
Soprano2
It’s crazy here. Usually we hear fireworks starting about a week before the 4th. This year I didn’t hear anything until tonight. Everyone saved them to set off the past hour. I’ve even seen the ones that go up in the air and explode, in a city where they’re illegal. I think they’re trying to shoot them off before it starts raining. Our dog is nervous, I think because there are so many of them. I watered today, so it’s probably going to rain.
M31
@Mousebumples: Teen Vogue has been doing better journalism for decades than the fucking NYT
BlueDWarrior
@ascap_scab: yeah I’ve been using the BBC coverage as background noise, and it’s interesting to see how the different guests and pundits are discussing whether or not this is an affirmation of Stamer’s version of Labour or if this is just everyone really REALLY hating the last 10 years of Conservatives and its all finally catalyzed through their version of the Reform Party.
Just to add: not for nothing, but the Liberal Democrats have picked off a couple of dozen seats by basically wedging themselves in and saying “Look if want to vote anti-Conservative but don’t want to vote Red or Cyan, how about Golden-Yellow?” (and in a lot of cases they did it running on Labour’s left)
BR
@BlueDWarrior:
I think perhaps the most useful thing Balloon Juice can become is a place where we share the latest youtube links and such of Biden’s appearances, so that all of us have them handy to send to people in our lives.
I hope you all can share and re-share any you find.
Here are two that you all shared with me that I’m sharing back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZFeBHWtgzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz45sMb4js8
Mousebumples
@BR:
@BlueDWarrior:
@M31: yes, yes, yes, 100% yes, too each of you.
Doug really needs to get a Biden interview.
columbusqueen
@danielx: A lot of Hessians decided America was a better deal, especially since buying your own land was possible. The single men just stayed, while married ones went back, gathered up wife & children, & returned.
Mousebumples
Dear bajillionaires, fuck you all very much, as well.
rikyrah
Rachel Bitecofer 🗽💡🔭🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) posted at 7:21 PM on Thu, Jul 04, 2024:
Every single Beltway reporter trying to destroy Biden has both the wealth and connections to get out of the country if Trump wins. It’s the rest of us that will pay the check.
(https://x.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1809019705954611271?t=33VY64Q4gGpovKXAx7XvtA&s=03)
NotMax
@BlueDWarrior
Did someone say tapioca?
:)
Mousebumples
From LGF – https://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/53773_Video-_Overwhelmingly_Positive#ctop
It’s past bedtime here, and I don’t have my earbuds, but this sounds promising…
opiejeanne
@Ishiyama: My great great grandfather died of wounds he received at the first attempt to take Vicksburg. He’s buried at Jefferson Barracks in St Louis.
Mousebumples
So….. Where are we on the UK scale? I think none of these? Maybe?
Soprano2
@Mousebumples: They don’t think that’s the press. For them it doesn’t count unless it’s one of the big ones.
BR
@Mousebumples:
Once again, god damn they need a good audio tech. It’s not Biden’s voice that’s the problem — it’s they have a crappy mic and crappy settings.
O. Felix Culpa
I don’t know if this link will work, but it leads to a graph showing the number of articles published in major US papers on the age or mental acuity of Biden, or Trump, or both in the first half of this year. Results are unsurprising, but stark
ETA: To whet your appetite, and shock and amaze you, the NYT numbers for Jan. 15-June 17, 2024 are as follows:
25 articles about Biden’s age or mental acuity
5 articles about both candidates’ age or mental acuity
2 articles about Trump’s age or mental acuity
QED.
columbusqueen
@MagdaInBlack: i can proudly boast of coming from a family of Democrats dating back to the 1830’s; a great-great grandfather was named Martin Van Buren Cubbage.
JaySinWA
@BR: Okay, I’m convinced. We need an audio tech to give Biden Darth Vader’s voice./s
NotMax
@Mousebumples
It’s not beyond Parliament to remove a monarch by deposition. In fact, it has happened more than once.
Mousebumples
@Soprano2: they’re egotistical and self centered. It doesn’t count unless they get a personal phone call and apology for some imagined slight.
Mousebumples
@BR: I believe it! Not my area of expertise but seems reasonable!
kalakal
@NotMax:
Zero votes cast, the lazy gits.
Seem to recall another part of the world 250 off years ago complaining about taxation without representation*
*Their descendents are quite happy to tax me without letting me vote, bloody hypocrites
Mousebumples
@NotMax: lol, the things I’m learning about UK insanity/history things tonight…
Mousebumples
Above is re the US, for the record.
opiejeanne
@gene108: I talked online to some very old people, people in their late 90s. One told me that my great grandmother walked from North Carolina to the Missouri Ozarks at age 13 with her family, after the Civil War. He knew because his grandfather was in the same group of migrants. Research of my ancestors was helped by family posting diary excerpts online. It’s amazing what has been online over teh past 25 years, including photos of people I knew many years ago. I googled my husband’s grandmother once and got a group photo of her at age 11 along with about 20 other family members, most of them identified in the notation below it. Just a random find.
kalakal
@NotMax:
Edged weaponry is a pretty effective way of removing a monarch judging by British history
opiejeanne
@japa21: I have several on the correct side, and a couple of Royalists on the other side in the Revolutionary War. The Royalists in the family made some serious mistakes then and in later wars, including 1812.
BR
@JaySinWA:
I’ve sent an email to someone who I hope will email someone who will contact the campaign. We’ll see if they get through.
Another Scott
Waiting for Tony Jay’s report, but I ass-u-me that the nunewlabour (sp?) bigwigs are apoplectic.
It will be interesting to see how things proceed. (I’m no expert, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Corbyn is the calm and reasonable one, concentrating on policy, while the political hacks continue to try to make it all about extraneous things and fearmongering. I hope UK voters begin to see through that toxic stuff.)
(via EclecticBrotha)
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@kalakal
Tradition!
//
kalakal
@BlueDWarrior:
A lot of it is everbody hates the Tories, it’s not so much an affirmation of Starmer, though a fair chunk of it will be, it’s a rejection of the Tories. Reform is for the wingnuts who think the Tories are too left wing, the Tories have been lurching to the right for years to prevent this schism and finally everyone to the left of Genghis Khan has rejected them. The Lib-Dems blew it big time in 2010 when they threw in with the Tories, they’re slowly crawling back to about 30 seats. Frankly I’ll never trust them
NotMax
@kalakal
Fun fact.
kalakal
@Another Scott: Don’t think they’ll care.
After all as an mp before he became leader he held the record for voting against the party line.
They’ll have a huge majority, if he wants to vote with the Tories against them it will make no difference
George Galloway has been doing the same thing for years with his Respect Party. Good for George’s ego and his pension and no observable effect on British government.
Gretchen
@Suzanne: I have. It was interesting. My current dog is 75% various kinds of retrievers, and 25% Cocker Spaniel, which explains the floppy ears.
I got one on an earlier dog because I thought he looked a bit like a pit bull, but he also was mostly various retrievers with a few other odds and ends.
Another Scott
@kalakal: Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
kalakal
It’s hard to overstate how bad this is for the Tories . It’s as if in November every Senate and House seat was up for grabs and of GOP voters 25% went Dem and 25% went for the newly forme Steve Bannon party.
kalakal