The Old Mill

Another work by Daniel Garber, an early 20th century American impressionist who I first came across earlier this year.

 

Efficient Bureaucrats

 "Efficient bureaucrats can be more deadly than disorganized fanatics".

- from Julian Jackson, France on Trial: The Case of Marshall Petain.

Jackson is also the author of an outstanding biography of Charles de Gaulle, a brilliant, brave, infuriating, and enigmatic figure.

The above observation comes after this passage:

"When asked how he could justify Vichy's measures against Jews and freemasons, Peyrouton, who had been a high ranking colonial administrator under the Republic, told the court: 'I did not ask myself this kind of question.  I have told you, and I repeat: I am not a Republican; I am not an anti-Republican.  I am an agent of the French government.'"

Another side to this occurs when the bureaucrats through manipulation take on the operation of government themselves (see, for instance, Yes Prime Minister, the classic BBC series).  Several years ago I was at a Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) conference in Phoenix which included attending an Arizona Fall League game.  At the game I ended up sitting next to a recently retired guy who spent his career as a high ranking civil servant at the US Department of Agriculture.  At one point I asked for more details about his job was and he responded, "to make sure the political appointees did not make any important decisions".   Just being efficient, in his view.

Shakin' All Over

First heard this song on Live At Leeds, the 1970 album from The Who.  Great tune with remarkable bass playing by John Entwhistle.  Knew it was a cover of an older song which I assumed was American and from the late 50s.  To my surprise I recently discovered it was by a British band in 1960 and was a #1 song in the U.K. and a flop in the U.S.

The band was Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.  The song was written by Johnny Kidd and the slinky guitar by Joe Moretti.  Very cool sounding song for its time.  Johnny Kidd died in a nightime head on car collision in 1966 at the age of 30.  Moretti was a session guitarist through the 1960s and 70s, before moving to South Africa in the late 70s where he became a house musician at a Sun City Casino.  He passed in 2012. 

Realities

It is natural to feel nostalgic for what the Empire was, just as one might regret the gentle light of oil lamps, the splendor of the fleet at sail and the charm of the temps des equipages [ship's crew].  But so what? There is no policy worth anything outside of realities.

    - French President Charles de Gaulle, August 1960, speaking on the ongoing war in Algeria.

Quoted by Richard Vinen in his recent book, The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World.   Vinen goes on to write of de Gaulle, ". . . de Gaulle was a reactionary . . . this made him unsentimental.  He looked back with regret but there was almost a playful self-conciousness about any suggestion that the past could be revived."

Forgotten Americans: William Wirt

 

 

The Constitution established the structure of the federal government, but the implementation and development was a different matter.  The Office of Attorney General was created by Congress on September 24, 1789 in the Judiciary Act (the Department of Justice was not established until 1870). The AG's role was to advise the President and represent the United States in cases at the Supreme Court.  Wirt would transform the Office of Attorney General.

William, born in 1772, was the youngest son of Swiss and German immigrants who ran a tavern in Maryland.  In a pattern common in those times, by the time the young boy was eight he was an orphan and he got some schooling by assistance from an uncle and family friend.  He took up the study of law as a teenager, moving to Virginia where he was admitted to the bar, shortly thereafter marrying the daughter of Thomas Jefferson's physician and moving to the Charlottesville area where he also became acquainted with James Monroe.

After his wife's death in 1799, William moved to Richmond, first coming to prominence in 1800 by defending the notorious James Callendar, a Jefferson supporter (and later critic) against prosecution under the Alien and Sedition Act.  Marrying for a second time in 1802, five years later President Jefferson asked Wirt to serve a prosecutor in former Vice-President Aaron Burr's trial for treason.

In 1817, Wirt was nominated by President Monroe as Attorney General and he was confirmed by the Senate.  The Office he inherited was nothing like it is today.  In a Spring 2001 article from Duke Law School, H Jefferson Powell noted in "William Wirt & the Invention of the Public Lawyer":

Wirt stood at the intersection of a number of cross-cutting forces in the development of American law and American society more generally.

“[W]hen I had the honor of receiving the appointment,” he wrote the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee a few months later, “I asked for the documents belonging to the Office … but my inquiries resulted in the discovery that there  was not to be found … any trace of a pen indicating, in the slightest manner, any one act of advice or opinion which had been given by any one of my predecessors, from the first foundation of the federal government to the moment of my inquiry.”

It was under Wirt that the Office of the AG began to systematically organize opinions and briefs for future reference and he regularized the representation provided by the office.  The prestige of the AG rose in concordance with these improvements.

Powell also notes "Wirt's mature view of the role of law in American society" as;

. . . encapsulated in a letter he wrote to President Monroe in 1823, urging that the Republican Monroe consider appointing the distinguished New York judge – and well-known Federalist – James Kent to the United States Supreme Court. Wirt conceded that Kent’s appointment “would, at first, produce considerable excitement” (by which he plainly meant protest by Republicans offended at the choice of a Federalist) but argued that the short-term cost was far outweighed by the long-term advantage to the nation of appointing a judge of Kent’s stature and character to the high Court. “The Constitution is the public property of the United States,” Wirt reminded Monroe, not the instrument of a political faction, and in addressing issues of constitutional moment “a President of the United States should look to the good of the whole country, to their great and permanent interests.” This concern for the law as a means
of expressing and safeguarding political community pervades Wirt’s legal opinions as Attorney General as well and distinguishes his understanding of public law from the more adversarial views that seem predominant today. 

Along with his reforms of the AG's Office, Wirt participated in most of the major Supreme Court cases of his era including McCulloch v Maryland, Dartmouth College v Woodward, and Gibbons v Ogden.  In 1824, Wirt issued an opinion holding the South Carolina Negro Seaman Act of 1822 to be unconstitutional as an infringement on the federal government's exclusive power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.  The South Carolina statute had been enacted in the wake of Denmark Vesey's plan to initiate a slave uprising (there is some debate as to what extent this plan actually existed).  It required that any free black seaman on a ship coming into a South Carolina port was to be imprisoned until such time as the ship left port.  Despite Wirt's opinion and federal court rulings against the act, South Carolina continued to enforce it until the Civil War.

Wirt is recorded as owning several slaves at various points in his life.  There is an intriguing passage in John P Kennedy's 1850 book, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Attorney General of the United States: 

"To test the theory that there was no natural inferiority of intellect in the negro, compared with the white man, he had one of his own servant boys and one of his nephews both educated exactly alike. I believe, however, that neither of them did much credit to their teacher." 

The Attorney General's reputation as an orator, in an age when that skill was much prized, was such that the House of Representatives selected him to give the principal address at a service in memory of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson shortly after they both passed on July 4, 1826. 

After leaving office, Wirt's last great legal battle was representing Cherokee Nation against federal and state attempts to remove them from lands granted to the tribe by treaty with arguments in state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.  From the Wikipedia summary: 

. . . before the US Supreme Court Wirt argued, in Cherokee Nation v Georgia, that the Cherokee Nation was "a foreign nation in the sense of our constitution and law" and was therefore not subject to Georgia's jurisdiction. Wirt asked the Supreme Court to void all Georgia laws extended over Cherokee territory on the grounds that they violated the US Constitution, United States–Cherokee treaties, and United States intercourse laws. Although the Court determined that it did not have original jurisdiction in this case, the Court held open the possibility that it yet might rule in favor of the Cherokee. Wirt therefore waited for a test case to again resolve the constitutionality of the laws of Georgia. On March 1, 1831, Georgia passed a law aimed at evicting missionaries, who were perceived as encouraging the Cherokee resistance to removal from Cherokee lands. TheAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, an interdenominational missionary organization, hired Wirt to challenge the new law. On March 3, 1832, the decision in Worcester v Georgia authored by Chief Justice Marshall, held that the Cherokee Nation was "a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress".  

Despite the legal victories, the Jackson Administration and State of Georgia prevailed as a practical matter. 

Powell's article reflects on the toll Wirt's years as AG took on him as well as the fact that today, unlike the 19th century, he remains little remembered despite his contributions to the young Republic:

Wirt’s preoccupation with his career subjected his marriage and his family to extraordinary stress: the Five years he lived after leaving Office were largely devoted to what was in effect a reconciliation with Elizabeth. Furthermore . . .  the fame for which Wirt sacrificed so much time and energy proved ephemeral: despite his historical significance, Wirt has no place in twenty-first-century Americans’ general picture of our past, and scarcely any greater prominence among contemporary lawyers. That is a matter for regret, and not merely because we know that it would disappoint Wirt: both in his life and through his legal views Wirt helped to create the legal universe in which we still live.

He was an affectionate, empathetic and sociable person who prized the creation and maintenance of warm human relationships. Wirt’s inability to undertake sustained political activity was in large measure due to his deep dislike of personal conflict and animosity. At the bar, in contrast, Wirt usually found it possible to remain on friendly terms even with lawyers against whom he litigated.

One of the things Wirt left behind when he took on the AG role was a thriving literary career.  Where in legal matters, Wirt prized dispassionate objectively, he was considered a passionate and engaging writer.  His works include Letters of the British Spy (1803), The Old Bachelor (1812), and Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817).  This last volume constitutes much of what we know about the text of Henry's speeches, no record of which was kept during his lifetime.  Wirt interviewed those still alive who knew Henry and witnessed his speeches, through which Wirt attempted to reconstruct the text.  His efforts remain controversial among historians. 

The Bookshelf

Substack has become a valuable resource for me.  While already familiar with some authors, I've also discovered many others writing on a wide variety of topics.  Highly recommended are the book reviews at Mr and Mrs Psmith's Bookshelf.  Some of the reviews are jointly authored, others by either Mr or Mrs.  What makes them particularly valuable is that, along with reviewing the book, the reviews often serve as the launchpad for deep, interesting, and provocative discussions.

Some of my favorites:

Xenophon's Anabasis and The Education of Cyrus

An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community 

Further Arguments Against Jared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel)

The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal

Leap of Faith (about the Iraq War and a book I've also written about) 

The Wizard and the Prophet

The Verge

Sick Societies 

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War 

 

Empire Of Liberty

Sad news today.  Gordon S Wood, the great historian of early America, died when hit by a car in the parking lot of a Shaw's supermarket in Rhode Island.  Though 92, Wood remained active, attending and speaking at conferences this year.

I've read his books Empire of Liberty, Power and Liberty, and Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and have The Radicalism of the American Revolution on my reading list for this summer.  Empire of Liberty is the story of the democratization of the new republic in its first 4 decades to an extent unanticipated by the Founders, and probably unwanted as to at least some of them.

Wood trained at Harvard under the eminent historian Bernard Bailyn.  I've read several of Bailyn's books; The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America (which I wrote about here), Atlantic History: Concepts and Contours, and Illuminating History: A Reflection of Seven Decades.  Another Bailyn book, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, is also on my summer reading list.

In 2019, when the New York Times published the ridiculously ahistorical 1619 Project, the World Socialist Web Site, a Trotskyite organization, published the first extensive critique of the project when it interviewed liberal, progressive, and socialist historians of early America, who unanimously panned the publication, including Wood who characterized it as "so wrong in so many ways" (his full interview is here).

Earlier this year, Wood published his thoughts on America's 250th anniversary in National Review, "The Five Greatest Words in the Declaration".  Some excerpts:

In the Declaration of Independence, the 250th anniversary of which we are celebrating this year, the Founders put down five significant words that came to define America’s culture — “all men are created equal.” No phrase could have been more radical, more momentous. Even the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789, with its statement that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” does not have the same power and significance.

Equality was based on a new understanding of people’s capacity to transform themselves. Educated people in the late 18th century came to believe — it was the basic premise of all enlightened thinking — that people were not born to be what they might become. 

Many enlightened American slaveholders (but, alas, not Jefferson) assumed that at birth they were no different from their black slaves; they had all started with the same blank slate. William Byrd, a wealthy slaveholder and learned member of the Royal Society, was as much of an aristocrat as Virginia was ever to know, yet he sincerely believed that “the principal difference between one people and another proceeds only from the differing opportunities of improvement.” Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier of Virginia, Jefferson’s dining and music partner, made the point more bluntly: “White, Red, or Black, polished or unpolished,” he declared in 1760, “Men are Men.” James Boswell, Dr. Johnson’s great biographer, during his tour to the Hebrides in 1773, was surprised to find a black African servant in the north of Scotland whose manners were no different from those of a white servant from Bohemia. But then he realized that he had forgotten the modern presumption that culture was man-made. “A man is like a bottle,” he observed, “which you may fill with red wine or with white.”

Education, which had been important only to New England Puritans, suddenly became an American obsession.

And not just the education of elites but of all the people. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 put it best, decreeing that “religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

Americans now began creating numerous learned academies and historical societies and flooded their society with printed matter designed to inform the new republican citizenry. Three-quarters of all the books and pamphlets published in America between 1637 and 1800 appeared in the last 35 years of the 18th century. Between 1786 and 1795, 28 learned and gentlemanly magazines were established, six more in these few years than in the entire colonial period. By 1810, Americans were buying more than 20 million copies of 376 newspapers annually — even though half the population was under the age of 16 and one-fifth was enslaved and generally prevented from reading. This was the largest aggregate circulation of newspapers of any country in the world.

But the most important humanitarian organizations of the revolution focused on slavery. Hereditary chattel slavery — one person owning the life and labor of another person and that person’s heirs — is virtually incomprehensible to those living in the West today, even though there may be millions of people in the world presently still enslaved.

Slavery existed in a multitude of cultures for thousands of years without substantial criticism — until the late 18th century and the American Revolution. Although many modern historians have called the Revolution’s inability to free all the slaves its greatest failure, they have committed the great sin of anachronism by assuming that everyone in the past must have known that slavery was an evil. These historians therefore have not fully appreciated that the Revolution defied a world that for millennia had taken slavery for granted. It was the Revolution that for the first time in history made slavery a problem, and it led to the first instance of states’ abolishing the practice. Not only did eight Northern states abolish slavery in the aftermath of the Declaration of Independence, but slaveholders in the Southern states were thrown on the defensive and, for the first time, had to justify an institution that they hitherto had taken for granted. They fell back on the alleged racial deficiencies of blacks. The antislavery movement that arose out of the Revolution inadvertently fostered an ideology of racism in America.

The meaning of these five words in the Declaration of Independence was expanded in the succeeding decades to the point where every white man felt he was equal to every other such American. Once invoked, the idea of equality could not be stopped, and it tore through American culture and society with awesome power. It became what Herman Melville in 1851 called “the great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all democracy!” The “Spirit of Equality” did not merely cull the “selectest champions from the kingly commons,” but it spread “one royal mantle of humanity” over all Americans and brought “democratic dignity” to even “the arm that wields a pick or drives a spike.”  

I came across this beautiful piece, The Things He'll Never Say, by former student C Bradley Thompson.  Wood was scheduled to come to Clemson on July 24, where Thompson would interview him.  At the end of the essay, Thompson lists some of the questions he had prepared.  Thompson also includes links to a number of videos featuring Wood.

Gotta Serve Somebody

I posted the studio version of this Dylan song a few years ago, and have a Mavis Staples cover on my playlist but just came across at Assistant Village Idiot this terrific 1980 live cut of Dylan performing the song at the Grammys.  Much better than the studio cut.

You're gonna have to serve somebody

It may be the Devil, it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Yes, indeed.  Everyone, whether they think they are or not.  And, as AVP points out, "it is best to at least be aware who that is rather than kidding yourself". 

Orpheum Theater

 Washington Street in downtown Boston in the 1970s.  Filene's was the famous Boston department store that closed in 2006.  I attended many concerts at the Orpheum Theater during that decade - Roxy Music, Genesis, Al Stewart, Elvis Costello (three times), Squeeze.

Return From Domme

We returned from our month in Dordogne about ten days ago.  A last tranche of photos.

One of the two gates through which you can enter Domme by vehicle.

 

Panorama from the park on the north side of the town, overlooking the Dordogne River.  Location is a two minute walk from our rented house.

 

View back to Domme from village of La Roque Gageac.  This gives a good perspective of the heights on which the town is located.  The photo above was taken from a point about center where the elongated structure appears along the wall.  To the right is the town park.  Our house was located right behind it.  To the left is the center of the town.

 

Section of early 14th century wall on south side of Domme.

 

The reality of everyday life; disposing of trash at the bins just outside the town walls.  We were here every other day. 

Restless Farewell

Bob Dylan turned 85 a couple of days ago.  Recently I came across this 1995 performance of Restless Farewell, released by Dylan in 1964, and rarely performed by him since then.  I was surprised to see Dylan singing it at a Hollywood celebration of Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday and end by saying "Happy birthday, Mr. Frank".  His admiration for Sinatra is real, in more recent years, Dylan recorded an album of Sinatra songs.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, Dylan was the only performer that night to not sing a Sinatra song, and it was The Chairman of the Board who requested Bob sing Restless Farewell.  I don't know if the story is true but, in accordance with the Official Policy of this Blog, we're going to go with it. 

Restless Farewell is a Dylan tune I'd forgotten about until a few years ago and has since become a favorite.  Looking at the lyrics, and particularly the final verse (see below), I can see why Sinatra might indeed have requested it.

Oh, a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick
So I'll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn 

Of Blessed Memory

On this date in 1948, Witold Pilecki was executed by the Communist government of Poland.  The date and circumstances of his death were kept secret for decades, not becoming known until the overthrow of the Communist regime in 1989.  Today, Pilecki is a Polish national hero, though the location of his burial has yet to be identified.

Witold Pilecki fought Nazis and Communists, and volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz, where he spent 2 1/2 years before escaping.  His life is one of astonishing physical and moral courage and was the subject of my post Volunteering for Auschwitz. 

The Chief Rabbi of Poland said of Pilecki:

"When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory" 

Pilecki on entering Auschwitz:

 

Pilecki on trial by the communists:

 

 In my post, I wrote that I had not been able to bring myself to read Pilecki's account of his time in Auschwitz.  Since then I've read the report and hope to write about it at a future date.

Memorial

Today I attended the Memorial Day event at the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park in Phoenix, near the State Capitol building.  The Memorial Park is a collection of nine cemeteries established in the late 19th and early 20th century and is a National Historic Site.  The ceremony was conducted by Picacho Peak Camp #1 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a group that I became an associate member of late last year (see Induction), and I was present as both a member and representing the Scottsdale Civil War Roundtable.

The event was under the auspices of the Pioneers' Cemetery Association, a non-profit, which operates and maintains the cemeteries.  I'm also a member of the association and our Roundtable was made donations to the group in recent years.

The ceremony included a reading of the history of the origins of Memorial Day and the role of the Grand Army of the Republic, the predecessor organization to the SUVCW, in its development, a reading of the Gettysburg Address and the playing of Taps.  Prior to the ceremony flags were placed on the graves of 73 Union veterans buried in the cemeteries. 

Machines

I really liked this song in 1968.  From the debut album, Presenting . . .  Lothar and the Hand People. the first band to use a theremin.  Lothar was the name of the theremin while the Hand People were the five band members, who are sharp looking guys! A unique sound, particularly for its time. Enjoy: 

8.5

I've posted before about Roger Pielke Jr, climate change, the controversy over RCP 8.5, and my personal experience running a corporate greenhouse gas reduction program (see Changing Climate).

To recap, RCP 8.5 was a climate scenario developed by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) two decades ago.  The IPCC developed a set of scenarios and 8.5 posited the highest future emissions which, in turn, led to predictions of the highest increase in global temperatures. Almost from its inception it was criticized as being an unrealistic projection of global CO2 emission over the remainder of the 21st century.  Over the next two decades scenarios by the IPCC and other researchers focused disproportionately on RCP 8.5 leading to report after report showing significant increases in temperature due to human activities.  Many of those funding studies on climate change required researchers, as a condition of grants, to use the 8.5 scenario.  In recent year, thousands of studies have been published using 8.5, which are then seized upon by NGOs and the media to create a narrative.

The problem was that actual emissions were not trending as predicted by 8.5., nor was global temperature.  For many years the critics were ignored and attacked personally as "deniers", including Pielke.

Now the IPCC has announced that RCP 8.5 will not be used any longer and lower emissions scenarios substituted.  It is a good step but the process of getting to it is damning for the scientific community.

Pielke is a political liberal who agrees that emissions by humans are contributing to warming but he is also rigorous about examining evidence and calling out errors.  As climate "science" diverged more and more from reality in recent years he has become more adamant about calling out those who distort science in the name of advocacy and the atmosphere of enforced conformity within the climate community and much of the media.

In a recent post at his substack, The Honest Broker, Pielke calls the IPCC action "the most significant development in climate research in decades".   While the IPCC explains its change on the basis that "high emissions levels [of 8.5] have become implausible, based on trends in the costs of renewables, the emergence of climate policy and recent emission trends", Pielke and others, have for years, convincingly argued the 8.5 scenario was implausible from its inception.

In a more recent post, Pielke notes that the important change by the IPCC has been ignored by the English language media outlets most vested in creating the catastrophic climate change narrative like the New York Times, BBC, Science, and Nature. 

I highly recommend subscribing to Roger's substack.  While not agreeing with him on every policy issue, he has integrity, provides solid analysis, and goes where the evidence leads. 

Other recent Pielke posts include:

The Price of Partisan Advocacy by Scientific Institutions

The World's Most Important Science Advisory Committee

The Paper That Breaks Climate Economics

More Problems With the Federal Judicial Center Science Manual for Federal Judges 

Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Day in France.  On May 8, 1945 the Second World War in Europe ended.  As we drove though the countryside today, we passed commemorations being held in several village centers, mostly attended by older folks.

In Domme, where we are staying for a month, the memorial to the war dead was decorated with flags and flowers.  The WW2 side of the memorial has many fewer names than the WW1 side.  It's not the only difference.  The WWI dead were all in the French army when they perished, but the WW2 side shows seven dead in combat, six dead deportees, and six civilians shot by the Germans in local actions.  The latter were members of the Resistance or civilians killed in the summer of 1944.  Partially obscured in the lower right is a later addition marking the death of a resident at the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Yesterday, Mrs THC and I drove two hours north to Oradour-sur-Glane, a somber and disturbing visit.

On Saturday morning June 10, 1944, Oradour was crowded.  Though the commune had a population of about 1,400, the central village contained only 330, but on that morning almost 700 were in the village.  It was a school day so children from outlying farms were there as well as farmers who came into town to get their monthly tobacco allowance.  A half-dozen cyclists were also passing through the village.

Oradour was a prosperous community, in a green setting near the river Glace, only a few miles from the large city of Limoges.  Before the war it was a popular place for Limoges residents to take the tram line to Oradour and picnic by the stream.

In early afternoon about 200 soldiers from the SS 2nd Panzer (Das Reich) Division arrived, sealed off the town, and ordered everyone present to assemble in a field behind the village.  Some 20 to 30 inhabitants realized something was wrong and escaped into the woods but more than 650 people were left in the field.  The Germans separated the 195 men from the 453 women and children, with the latter moved into the small village church.

The men, including the cyclists, were further separated into five groups, taken to buildings and close by farms, shot, and the men and the buildings set afire.  Five men, all wounded, managed to survive.

The Germans set off an incendiary device within the church, which filled with smoke.  As women and children tried to escape they were fired upon by machine guns.  It was death by gunfire, smoke, and flame.  Only one women survived; with both her daughters dead she plunged out a window.  Shot five times she managed to crawl into nearby woods where she was found two days later. Marguerite Rouffanche would spend a year in hospital recovering physically.  She would pass in 1988.  The last survivor, Robert Hebras, died in 2023.  Hebras, then 18, was slightly wounded in the head, chest, and thigh and survived by remaining under a pile of bodies in one of the barns.  His mother and two sisters were killed in the church. After the war Hebras became an advocate for reconciliation between French and Germans.

After the killing spree every building in the village was set afire.

By order of Charles de Gaulle, Oradour was never demolished or rebuilt.  It was left as it was on the evening of June 10, as a permanent memorial to the martyrs.  A new Oradour was built several hundred yards away.

Most of the German officers involved were killed before the war ended.

Below are several photos I took of our visit.  We went into the small church but I felt so overwhelmed thinking about the 246 women and 207 children crammed inside and of the havoc and terror unleashed upon them, I could not take any photos.  Oradour is more than ruined buildings, as you walk around you see sewing machines and cooking pots sitting as they were in 1944.  On the floor of the church are the remains of a baby carriage. We did not see everything in the village.  I'd watched videos, seen photos, and read about Oradour, but the experience of actually walking the streets was much more powerful and after a while we decided we needed to leave. 

This is an aerial view of the village:

 

The classic early 1970s 26-part BBC series, The World At War, opened with photos of Oradour and this narration by Laurence Olivier:

Down this road on a summer day in 1944, the soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, the community, which had lived for a thousand years, was dead. This is Oradour-sur-Glane, in France. The day the soldiers came, the people were gathered together. The men were taken to garages and barns, the women and children were led down this road, and they were driven into this church. Here, they heard the firing as their men were shot. Then they were killed too. A few weeks later, many of those who had done the killing were themselves dead, in battle. They never rebuilt Oradour. Its ruins are a memorial. Its martyrdom stands for thousands upon thousands of other martyrdoms in Poland, in Russia, in Burma, China, in a world at war.

This is video explains in more detail what happened that day.  It tells why the Das Reich Division was in the area and its movement north from the area around Toulouse.  The German columns had to pass through the Dordogne, a stronghold of Resistance fighters determined to slow down the Nazi move towards the Allied landings in Normandy.  Two of the towns mentioned where fighting occurred, Groljeac and Carsac, are next to Domme.

Both Germans and French were aware that sometime in the summer of 1944 the Allied invasion would occur.  In May, German forces stationed around the area began sweeps against the various Resistance groups and these continued into August.  Violence escalated with news of the Normandy landings on June 6, when partisans came out of hiding and attacked German formations moving north through the area as they attempted to reach the Allied landing areas.

The list of encounters is long and bloody; here are a few.  

On May 21 in the little village of Frayssinet-Le-Gelat, twenty miles south of Domme, the Germans, in retaliation for the death of an SS officer, killed 15 hostages; ten young men from one-child families and five young women. 

With word of the Allied landings, Das Reich began moving north through Dordogne and the Limoges area while the lightly armed partisans made efforts to block the narrow roads.  Fighting took place in many locations, as well as German reprisals.  On June 8, at Groljeac, seven Resistance fighters were killed, while another four died in Carsac, across the river from Groljeac.

That same day another Das Reich column stopped at a bakery in the village of Rouffillac (10 miles from Domme) and demanded the proprietress make them crepes.  When she refused, she and 15 other civilians were locked in the bakery which the Nazis then burned down.  

Fighting also occurred that day in Cressensac, Noailles, Gabaudet, and in other towns and villages.

On June 7, upon receiving news of the Allied landings, partisans attacked and overwhelmed a small German garrison in Tulle, a town about 60 miles from Domme.  Two days later, Das Reich arrived and retook the town.  In those battles 37 Germans were killed along with 50 to 100 French fighters.  In retaliation, the Germans arrested all men between the ages of 16 and 60, hanged 99 of them, and deported another 149, of whom 101 died at Dachau.

Fifty four (52 hostages and 2 fighters) were executed at Mussidan on June 11.

On June 12 the Germans shot twelve hostages, including the entire Frydman family. 

On June 21 the village of Moutyedier was attacked and burned to the ground; 65 civilians and Resistance fighters were killed.

More fighting occurred in Cenac and Domme on June 26-27.  This was part of a larger wave that included the neighboring towns and villages of Sarlat, La Roque Gageac, Castlenaud, Vitrac, and Vezac where the SS murdered 93 year old Raymond Lespinasse.

Less than three miles from where we are staying is a plaque in memory of Marie Delteil, aged 80, who "fell victim to Nazi barbarism" on June 26.

A couple of hundred yards away from the Delteil memorial is another plaque, on the bridge across the Dordogne at Cenac, just down the hill from Domme, in memory of Louis Desplat "killed here by the German hordes", also on June 26.  A clock-maker and  member of the resistance, Desplat was captured and tortured by the Germans, but would not talk.  He was taken to the bridge, shot, and his body dumped into the river. 

Memorial to Marie Delteil

Memorial to 12 members of the Resistance, including one unknown victim, executed on June 26.  This is on the road up to Domme.  The two Marx brothers were refugees from elsewhere in France.

 

Memorial affixed to the wall of the former hospital in Domme.  Jose Duerto Mendoza was a Spaniard who fled to France after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War and then joined the French Resistance, as did two of those named on the plaque above.  Mendoza was wounded in the action on the 26th, made it to the Domme hospital, was found there the next day by the Germans who shot him.

 

On June 30, twelve hostages taken at Domme and Cougnac on June 26-28 were executed by the side of the road to Gourdon. 

The mayor of St-André-d'Appelles was executed on July 7 for having placed a tricolor flag on the remains of a resister. 

Fighting in the region continued into August.  It was only with Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in the south of France on August 15 and their rapid advance, that German troops withdrew from southwestern France, ending the occupation.

Willie In The Neighborhood

 

It's 95 years since Willie Mays was born in Alabama on May 6, 1931. Willie, who passed at 93, began his major league career with the Giants when they were in New York.  After the 1957 season, the Giants relocated to San Francisco and Willie and his wife, Marghuerite went house hunting in the city that fall.  In November they found a three bedroom home with a view of the Pacific Ocean at 175 Miraloma Drive in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood of San Francisco.  Offering the full asking price of $37,500, all in cash, they were shocked to find their offer rejected, after initially being accepted, with the owner stating, "neighborhood pressures made him fear he would lose work if he went through with the deal."

A neighbor told the newspaper, "Certainly I objected. I happen to have quite a few pieces of property in that area and I stand to lose a lot if colored people move in."\

An outraged Marghuerite said, "Down in Alabama where we come from you know your place, and that's something, at least. But up here it's all a lot of camouflage. They grin in your face, and then deceive you." 

After an outcry, the owner relented and agreed to sell the property to Mays.

According to this article:

A year and a half after the sale, a bottle crashed through the front window of 175 Miraloma. The bottle contained a racial hate note. Marghuerite made it clear she wasn't happy in the new neighborhood. The couple soon sold the house and moved back to New York.  

After a divorce, Willie moved back to San Francisco in 1963, though according to the linked article, he was still not welcomed by everyone.

Firth Of Fifth

And so with gods and men, the sheep remain inside their pen
Until the shephard leads his flock away
The sands of time were eroded by
The river of constant change 

1970s progressive rock took a lot of well deserved abuse for becoming bloated and pretentious, but Firth Of Fifth, from Selling England By The Pound, the 1973 album by Genesis, is prog rock at its pinnacle, a gorgeous journey, musically and lyrically.

Firth starts with the beautiful solo piano of Tony Banks, before the verses kick in with Peter Gabriel singing.  We have a flute solo by Gabriel and then a lush extended guitar piece by Steve Hackett.  Close your eyes while gliding along with the guitar.  And all underpinned by Mike Rutherford's intricate bass and Phil Collins' drumming.  Collins' later success as a singer and solo artist has tended to detract from his brilliance as one of the finest prog rock drummers,

Genesis remain my favorite prog rock band with this album and 1971's Nursery Cryme as their finest efforts.  With Gabriel leaving in 1975, Phil Collins taking over vocals, and Steve Hackett leaving after the first post-Gabriel album Trick of the Tail, Genesis became a completely different type of act. 

Cosmic Slop

 Sometimes it get weird with George Clinton's Funkadelic.  Well, actually, it gets weird very frequently with anything George Clinton does.  From 1973, this is Cosmic Slop, and I think that's George in whiteface.  Although it is definitely weird, it is also pretty representative of New York City in the early 70s.  Also, I swear I've never been at a party like this.

For all the craziness it's a sobering lyric:

I was one of five born to my mother
An older sister and three young brothers
We've seen it hard, we've seen it kind of rough
But always with a smile, she was sure to try to hide
The fact from us that life was really tough 

The weirdness, seriousness at times, and musicianship is what makes Funkadelic, Parliament, and Parliament/Funkadelic memorable. 

Features Garry Shider on vocals and guitar, Ron Bykowski on lead guitar, Tyrone Lampkin on drums, and bass by Boogie Mosson. 

Domme At Night

We've returned to our favorite spot in Europe for the first time since 2022, the little walled town of Domme in southwest France.

Some evening photos from around the place we are renting.

Oh, You Were Finished? Well, Allow Me To Retort

As Jules said; 

 On April 15, the Washington Post posed this query:

"Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D) fall left many asking how someone who was dogged by persistent rumors of inappropriate behavior toward women could have risen so high and so fast in a party that says it supports women’s rights."

Answer:  Although many of his fellow Democratic politicians and many in the media knew about his behavior for years, they withheld information because of higher priorities - beating Republicans, especially Donald Trump.  It was only when running against fellow Democrats for California's gubernatorial nomination, where the D nominee will win the general election, that Swalwell became expendable.

The Post wasn't actually serious when it posed the question.  Reporters and editors already knew the answer.  We have reporters from multiple publications acknowledging they knew the stories about Swalwell as long ago as 2013, but, for some reason, never got around to investigating.  And obviously, the Democratic politicians knew, because one of his D opponents in the governor's race dropped the dime on him. 

Swalwell first came to national prominence in 2017 and 2018 when he served on the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.  Along with Rep. Adam Schiff he was a fixture on cable and network news promoting sensational tales of Russian interference and Trump malevolence, all of which proved false.  After wading through more than 5,000 pages of testimony taken by the committee, I made this comment about Swalwell:

The leading Democrat questioners were Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.  Schiff was a very skillful questioner.  In contrast, Swalwell acted like he was always on the verge of asking the one question that would unravel the entire conspiracy and evidenced a very high opinion of his own abilities.  I think Schiff realized fairly quickly the Democrats were drilling a dry hole in the search for a conspiracy but understood the political advantage of continuing the charade.  Swalwell was dumb enough he may really have been a true believer. 

The congressman further elevated himself with fellow Democrats by becoming a prominent critic of Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, promoting the most outlandish (and false) accusations against the nominee.(1)

In the years since, he's continued on a path as a rising star in the Democratic constellation.  This despite his dalliance with a Chinese spy while he served on the intelligence committee. 

Like many politicians in both parties it is difficult to objectively look at Swalwell and conclude he's the kind of person you would want in high elected office, or any office, for that matter.   Nonetheless, he received glowing press coverage.  When, in September 2018, Swalwell's GOP opponent was the subject of an attempted stabbing and only saved by a malfunctioning jacknife, to the extent it was covered by the media it was limited to brief one-day stories. The next day, Swalwell was interviewed on CNN to talk about how horrible Trump was and received no questions regarding the incident, not even being asked to comment on it.  No national conversation on political violence needed here! 

The bottom line is that when the media breaks a story that, on its face, is damaging to Democrats, the question to be asked is not about the substance.  Instead, ask why is this story being published now?  Because, in almost every case, the substance was known for a long time.  It is only the timing of the disclosure that matters.

Let's take two other examples to further illustrate how the system works.

The New York Times recently "broke" a story about Cesar Chavez, alleging a long time pattern of sexual abuse, inappropriate behavior, and general disrespect towards women.  Chavez died in 1993, so why now?  Much of the story was already known with biographies and other stories floating around for many years and, as with Swalwell, since the story broke many reporters have said they heard the stories years ago but had not reported on them because no one did the investigative work.  The allegations of Dolores Huerta, now 96, are new and, indeed, terrible if true but even in her case she stated the 60 year old events had not been made public before because it would "hurt the movement".

Chavez's birthday is an official state holiday in California and celebrated in other states and cities.  He had many schools, streets, and other public institutions named after him, and statues erected in many places.  His work on behalf of farmworkers in covered in many educational textbooks. So why now?

Cesar Chavez was born in 1927.  Next year is his 100th anniversary, a time when one would expect heightened attention and celebration of his life.  However, in recent years as illegal immigration has become a fiercely debated subject, Chavez's very public and very vociferous opposition to illegal immigration has become more widely known.  The very groups that have promoted his legend for decades are now unequivocally in favor of open borders and it would have been embarrassing and counterproductive to have Chavez remain a celebrated progressive hero next year.  That's why he needed to be taken down now, so his legacy could not be used by opponents of today's progressive narrative.  It's why the states and cities that celebrated Chavez over the decades have moved so quickly to take down monuments and rename things.  It is important to erase as much as possible before the 100th anniversary.

Let's talk about Andrew Cuomo.  In August 2021, Cuomo resigned as governor of New York after ten years in office.  He'd been under constant political pressure since January of that year from the progressive wing of his party.  Looking at his record, the casual observer would consider Cuomo to be a progressive, but because of his acerbic personality and willingness to only go 90% on the full progressive belief system he was anathema to that wing and they sought a way to get him out of office.  But why 2021 after ten years in office?

The first effort to attack him was from ultra-progressive State Attorney General Letitia James.  By ultra-progressive I mean she is a follower of Stalin's favorite secret policeman Lavrentiy Beria's adage, "show me the man, and I'll show you the crime".  The lever was a report released by James on January 28, 2021 alleging that thousands of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes were undercounted by Governor Cuomo, in an effort to support the effectiveness of the governor's actions to control Covid-19 in New York.  Adding to this is Cuomo's decision to send Covid positive nursing home residents back to the nursing homes contributed to the toll in the early part of the pandemic.

But there was a problem for Cuomo's fellow Democrats when it came to timing.  Although James and the stenographers at the New York Times pretended her report was a revelation, the undercounting and the deaths due to Cuomo's decision on sending Covid positive patients back into nursing homes was known in May and June of 2020.  I was following Covid developments at the time and aware of the discrepancies between the state and CDC death counts and of sending the sick back into the homes.  In October 2020 I wrote:

State politicians in some cases downplayed covid early on, in others sent infected patients back to nursing homes, in others delayed urging the use of masks, and in others completely overreacted in their dictates which have been kept in place well beyond reason.  And not enough bad can be said about the ghoulish Governor Andrew Cuomo. 

If you followed some knowledgeable conservative public health analysts you knew what was going in, but it was ignored by legacy media and Democrats.  

Why?  It's because Cuomo was being celebrated by Democrats and the media as the anti-Trump in 2020.  The politician who was responsible, sober, intelligent, and, later that year was celebrated, particularly by himself, as the man who defeated covid.

In contrast to Trump's erratic press conferences which gave him ample opportunity to demonstrate his ignorance, Cuomo was calm, reassuring, and able to fake empathy, unlike Donald.  For his party and the press to take down Cuomo for the nursing home massacre would have undermined the narrative they'd established.   In fact, they went out of their way to hype Cuomo's "accomplishments".

The Governor received an Emmy Award for his press conferences, to promote his book he did a victory tour of late night talk shows, where he was received with adoration, and was bestowed the Edward M Kennedy Award for Inspired Leadership for his covid response.

Now, look at the timing of AG James' report, January 28, 2021, a week after Joe Biden was inaugurated and Trump gone.  Once Trump was gone, the governor became expendable.  That's why it was not allowed to become a story before then and only permissible to write about once Trump was gone. If Trump had been reelected in 2020, there would have been no AG report.  James, the Democrats, and the press didn't give a damn about the thousands of deaths at the time they were occurring.  It was, to borrow a phrase, an inconvenient truth at the time.  But, rest assured, the Dems and the press were confident those who died and their families felt it was worth it because it allowed the Cuomo v Trump narrative to be sustained when most important politically.

However, the slaughter at the nursing home was not enough to get the job done, so the Dems and press turned to the tried and true tactic of sexual misbehavior, which was rolled out in February.(2)  Strangely, if you looked closely at the allegations, many of them went back years.  This was nothing new and, as with Swalwell, if you read closely you understood that it was common knowledge among party activists and some of the press, well before 2021. 

I have a personal take on Cuomo's troubles with women.  In the 1980s and 90s, I spent quite a bit of time in Washington DC on business.  The company I worked for had a Washington office to do lobbying and I was often there.  In the 90s, the head of the office was a guy who'd been a long time staffer on the Hill for a prominent Democratic congressman, beginning in the 1960s.  I learned a lot from him about the transformation of Congress over the prior thirty years, including the increase in partisanship and the collapse of once frequent cross-party personal friendships.(3)

One day our discussion got on the topic of President Clinton's cabinet, and my friend started walking through each of them, giving his evaluation.  Everyone was rated from excellent to okay from his perspective.  Then he got to Andrew Cuomo, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the second Clinton administration, and began a rant about how horrible a guy Cuomo was and his problems with women.  So, I wasn't surprised by the allegations more than two decades later.

The "revelation" story is never the story with institutional media.  Ask "why am I reading this now?" to get to the real story. 

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(1)  With all these revelations about Democrats and political activists, a frequent press excuse is they weren't able to confirm allegations so withheld reporting.  But none of those rules applied when it came to Kavanaugh in 2018.  The press reported breathlessly on any rumor and allegation, regardless of the lack of confirmation.  None of the allegations reported at the time, including those of participating in gang rape, were ever confirmed in any form.  The individuals who Kavanaugh's primary accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, claimed would support her allegations both refused to do so.  One of them, a long time friend and self-described political progressive, reported that her refusal to do so led to threats of ruination from other progressives.  In fact, there is no evidence, outside Ford's allegation, that she and Kavanaugh ever met on any occasion.

That the press was using the allegations as a political weapon and simply did not care if they were true is shown by the lack of any followup investigation once Kavanaugh was confirmed.  The national press didn't even give lip service to the idea the allegations were real. Hey, at least OJ said after he was acquitted he was going to find Nicole's real killer!  

The real revelation from the Kavanaugh hearings was for moderate non-MAGA Republicans.  Kavanaugh was about as mainstream non-MAGA moderate as you'll find in the GOP, yet the Democrats and press spared nothing in their efforts to not just deny him the confirmation, but to destroy him personally.  Trump may be the flagbearer but anyone associated with the GOP today is a public enemy for the press and the institutions.

(2) The first rumblings about sexual allegations began in December 2020, after the election, but it wasn't until February that the story picked up steam, which is consistent with the Covid report not being a knock out punch.

(3)  I learned from reading Robert Caro's third volume of his LBJ biography, Master of the Senate, that in the 1950s academic political scientists were very critical of the two parties because both consisted of what seemed to be ideological incompatible coalitions - for instance, the Democrats with conservative Southerners and urban liberals from the North.  This was a bad thing in their view and the recommended remedy was a realignment along clear ideological grounds, something we have finally achieved in the 21st century.  Do you think it is an improvement?

Remembering John Parker

He was wakened around 1am on the morning of April 19, 1775 with news of British scouts in the area.  John Parker had gone to bed early that night probably already suffering from symptoms of the tuberculosis that would kill him in September.   There had been rumors the British would make an expedition into the countryside outside of Boston so the news was not a surprise.

Parker was 45 years old, married to Lydia Moore, with whom he had seven children from age 18 to 4.  The Parker family had lived in Lexington since the 17th century and John had served in the French & Indian War (1).  With his family background and military experience, he'd been elected as captain of the town's militia.

The 77 men of the Lexington militia mustered on the town green before dawn, formed into two lines. As dawn broke the 700 soldier British detachment approached.  At the same time, two men crossed through the Lexington line, carrying a large chest.  It was Paul Revere and an assistant with a chest containing important papers left behind by John Hancock in a house next to the town green. What happened next and who fired the first shot remains unknown, but the British initiated the first volley fire which shredded the Lexington ranks and Redcoats then advanced.  Eight militia were killed and ten wounded.  In a deposition given on April 25, Captain Parker wrote:

No 4. Lexington April 25th, 1775                                  

I John Parker, of lawful Age, and Commander of the Militia in Lexington, do testify & declare that on the 19th Instant, in the morning, about one of the Clock, being informed that there were a Number of Regular Officers riding up and down the Road, Stopping and insulting People as they passed the Road, and also was informed that a Number of Regular Troops were on their March from Boston, in order to take the Province Stores at Concord, ordered our Militia to meet on the Common in said Lexington, to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered nor meddle or make with said Regular Troops (if they should approach) unless they should insult or molest us – and upon their sudden Approach I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse and not to fire – Immediately said Troops made their Appearance and rushed furiously, fired up-on and killed eight of our Party, without receiving any Provocation therefor from us.

The population of Lexington in 1775 was between 700 and 800.  Members of the militia and their families were well known to each other and had often intermarried.  The shock of losing good friends must have been considerable.

The British marched on to Concord but Parker and the militia were not done.  At North Bridge, the Massachusetts men from several towns attacked and routed the British, who began an increasingly panicked retreat along the same road they'd taken early in the morning.  As news filtered back to Lexington, Parker mustered his men once again, determined to confront the British.  According to the recollections of Nathan Munroe of the militia:

"About the middle of the forenoon Captain Parker having collected part of his company, I being with them, determined to meet the regulars on their retreat from Concord. We met the regulars in the bounds of Lincoln. We fired on them and continued so to do until they met their reinforcement in Lexington.” 

The exact location of Parker's encounter, referred to as "Parker's Revenge" has been the source of dispute for many years but excavations in recent years have identified the precise spot.  The Lexington militia's initial volley inflicted several casualties on the British column and then continued to cause more damage as they followed the retreating British towards the Lexington green.  The National Park Service describes the search for Parker's Revenge here, noting of the militia tactics: 

Having left Lexington center before noon, Captain Parker and his militiamen had time to think about how to use the landscape to their advantage. Perhaps still questioning the decision to make a stand on the town green, Captain Parker was not going to be careless with the lives of his neighbors, relatives and friends. If the stand on the Green was meant as a show of resolve more than an invitation to battle, the fight on the town border in the afternoon was the real thing. 

 

For more on Parker and his actions that day: 

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(1) There is some uncertainty over Parker's prior military experience, though all the secondary sources claim he served in the French & Indian War, including some stating he was at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 and at the Battle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham the following year.  My research was unable to confirm Parker's presence at either event.  In what capacity he served during the war I could not ascertain.

Cold Sweat - Part 1

Considered by some to be the first funk song, 1967's Cold Sweat by James Brown runs for seven minutes, with Part 1 as the A side single.  Whether it is or not, it's a penetrating groove.  You can find both parts here.  At the beginning of Part 2 you can hear James call out "Maceo", a reference to tenor saxophonist Maceo Parker.  Also featured on the track are Bernard Odum on bass and drummer Clyde Stubblefield. 

I (Don't) Know Baseball

With his performance against the Mets, Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to have a 30+ game on base streak and 30+ scoreless innings at the same time.  No one else in history has even 20 in both categories at the same time.  

THC demonstrated his baseball knowledge and prognostication abilities back in 2018 when, after witnessing Shohei's first pitching and DH appearances in spring training, he felt confident the guy would never be a successful major league player. 

Harvest Moon

From Neil Young in 1992.  Background vocals on the recording by Linda Ronstadt.  Bringing back beautiful dreamy memories.  Think I can stay there for awhile.

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon 

 

The Friends Of Eddie Coyle

An introduction and appreciation of the gritty 1973 movie set in Boston starring Robert Mitchum from Turner Classic Movies.  Watch the clip, watch the movie.  And here's a link to NY Times critic AO Scott on the film.  Eddie Coyle was the first novel of George V Higgins to be published, and he went on to write twenty more over the following two decades before dying in 1999.  THC has read them all.

THC has written on the book and movie before in The Workingman's Eddie Coyle and Missing George V Higgins, along with his magnum opus on Higgins and his work, Eddie Coyle's Friend, which includes a description of the author's technique:

A Higgins novel relies on dialogue in which the characters converse about what had happened, or was about to happen, or about things that had nothing to do with what had or was going to happen, though sometimes it would dawn on you towards the end of the book that that thing, you know, which the guy talked about way back that didn't seem to have anything to do with the story, did.  

That technique found its most exquisite execution in Bomber's Law:

Nominally, Bomber's Law is about Detective Sergeant Brennan of the Massachusetts State Police, who is following a mob enforcer, Short Joey Mossi, in an attempt to build a case against him.  After tailing Mossi fruitlessly for years, Brennan is saddled by his boss, Brian Dennison, with a new partner, Harry Dell'Appa, an idealistic and impatient young state cop, who is puzzled why Brennan and Dennison's predecessor, the retired and now very dead Bomber Lawrence, have failed to get the goods on Short Joey after all these years.  Most of the novel, which is 95% dialogue, consists of Brennan, Dell'Appa and Dennison telling each other lengthy, and occasionally deliberately distracting, yarns in the course of which we learn a lot about Short Joey and his younger, mentally disabled brother, and eventually the secret of Bomber's Law along with embarking upon many entertaining excursions which have nothing to do with the plot, that is, if there is, in fact, a plot.  The story telling is wonderful but dazzlingly complex often requiring the reader to double back and make sure they understand just whom the speaker is referring to or who is actually speaking.  

If You Want Me To Stay

From Fresh, Sly and the Family Stone's 1973 album.  That bass line is by Rustee Allen, who replaced long time band bassist Larry Graham (see Fat Bass).  The group's final album would be released the following year as Sly descended into drug induced madness.  The grove and Sly's vocal are so good I can listen to it ten times in a row.

The Death Of Compromise

Legislation involves compromise and compromise requires trust between the parties and institutional parity and safeguards.  That is not present at the federal level for most issues.

Take immigration.  My compromise is:

1. Deportation for all those who arrived illegally during the Biden Open Borders Party.

2. Deportation for the estimated 1 to 1.5 million illegals with final deportation orders.

3. Deportation for illegals with criminal records (beyond just the initial illegal entry).

- There will be some overlap between these three categories. 

4. An end to sanctuary states and cities which privilege criminal illegals over law abiding citizens (including legal immigrants and those residing here legally).(1) 

5. Anyone who arrived illegally before January 20, 2021 and (1) does not have a criminal record and (2) is not on public support, should be allowed to stay in the U.S.

However, I would oppose any legislation embodying this compromise because of a structural imbalance within the legislation and between the branches of government.  Such legislation if enacted would not operate to effect the compromise.  If Republicans agreed to such a compromise, they would look like fools the next time Democrats control the executive branch, because they would have already allowed the presence of millions of illegals, while the Democrats effectively neutered their side of the bargain.

My assessment is based on what has become clear with Democratic opposition to immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.  Democrats are opposed to removal of any illegals under any conditions and support an open borders policy.  When questioned many Democrats mumble about supporting "common sense" immigration reform but when pressed on details fail to provide any evidence of supporting practical steps to control the borders and deal with illegals currently in the country.  Their vision is of the U.S. as a bus terminal not a real country.

If legislation is enacted containing the elements I outlined above, this is how it would work in the real world.

The legislation would specifically contain Point 5, allowing millions here illegally to stay in the U.S.  If a subsequent administration tried to renege on that deal, their actions would be immediately (and properly) struck down by the courts (regardless of who appointed the judges) because of clear statutory language.

However, implementation of Points 1,2, and 3 reside with the executive branch.  If a Democratic administration decided to use its enforcement discretion to "slow walk" deportations, no court is going to order the executive branch to change its process.  The executive will be able to effectively undermine the compromise.   We have proof on this topic.  In 2024, we were told that an immigration reform bill was needed to control the border.  That was phony, because the Biden administration decided to ignore most of its statutory authority to control the border, while in 2025 the Trump administration showed it could effectively control the border using the same existing laws.  For more on the fake reform bill read No, No, No.

Although the Biden administration killed prospects for immigration reform with its open borders policy, it was President Obama who paved the way in undermining prospects for compromise with his DACA Executive Order.  I wrote about it back in 2014 and also noted the Washington Post's editorial opposition to Obama's action.  In a 2016 post, More Mush From The NY Times, I explained the damage to prospects for compromise on immigration.

The Times article fails to explore the real problem with the President's unilateral actions, and the approval it has generated from Progressive, leading Hillary Clinton to promise she will be even more aggressive in this respect - the undermining of prospects for compromise on any issue, which is ironic given President Obama's consistent invoking of the need for less partisanship.  Or perhaps, more accurately, the President's reference to nonpartisanship is a reflection of Obama's cynicism, as it has become apparent over time he's our most cynical President since Richard Nixon.

Here's an example of how President Obama's approach discourages compromise. I'm in favor of immigration reform that would both provide some increase in legal immigration and improve border security.  But, if he were in Congress today, I would never vote for such a bill or even negotiate with Democrats on it.  The reason is that the essence of compromise, is the each side has to give up something to get something.  In a world where President's push executive orders, informal rulemaking and arbitrary changing of statutory language, there is no assurance that a legislator would get the value of the deal they thought they made.  If a Progressive President has provisions in a compromise immigration reform bill they do not like, they can simply order the agency not to enforce it, or issue an executive order directly overriding the bill, or arbitrarily have the enforcing agency issue an informal notice changing deadlines and announcing a regulatory interpretation that leads to the opposite result intended in the legislation.  When Progressives control the Executive Branch, it means they can implement the sections they like and ignore or override what they don't like, leaving the other side feeling like chumps from Palookaville.  

 Under these conditions, the best course is to not change or reform immigration law.

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(1)  It is not an exaggeration to state that sanctuary jurisdictions privilege illegals over law abiding citizens.  Every such jurisdiction has established at either the state attorney general or local district attorney level guidelines requiring prosecutors to take into account the risks to immigration status (that is, deportation) in charging decisions and plea deals.  In other words, to favor decisions declining prosecution or making terms easier on plea deals in order to minimize chances of intervention by federal immigration enforcement.  California (no surprise!) has actually enacted a statute requiring prosecutors to consider these factors in making charging and settlement decisions. The result is that an American citizen who has committed a crime will likely be prosecuted more harshly and face more several sentencing than an illegal committing the same crime.

If you want to know how insane sanctuary enforcement is, look no further than the despicable Soros-backed DA of Fairfax County, Virginia - Steven Descano.  Descano's campaign pledge:

Wherever possible, Steve will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences.  Following such a policy will keep our communities united and strong and demonstrate our Country's commitment to equal justice for all. If two people commit the same crime, but only one's punishment includes deportation, that's a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County. 

It could not be any clearer.  It ignores that the illegal has committed two crimes, one being entry into the U.S., and allows an American citizen to be prosecuted more harshly.  This is not justice, it is privilege for criminals here illegally. 

This wasn't just a campaign pledge by Descano.  He's followed it in practice, releasing several violent illegals, and is now mired in controversy, as those released have committed further violent acts, including murder.  Descano gives no indication of caring about the consequences of his actions for law abiding Americans.  His sole concern is protecting those who have illegally entered this country. 

This also points to another problem in arguments about illegal immigration; discussions about how to measure criminality of illegals and whether it is a problem.  After looking at a number of these analyses it is evident there is a major methodological problem.  Some studies combine legal and illegal immigrants in the analysis.  Most do not distinguish among the origin countries for illegals, despite evidence that crime rates significantly differ depending on country of origin.  There is also the data source problem because a careful review reveals that in many instances the data used in the analysis is not uniform, or missing key jurisdictions.  Finally, the sanctuary jurisdictions preference for no charging, or reducing charges, and allowing pleas to lesser offenses, brings into question any analysis on this subject.  The truth is we simply don't know about comparative crime rates between illegals and citizens and others lawfully residing here.

But that isn't the biggest problem.  Looking at comparative rates is the wrong metric in this situation.  There certainly are instances where comparative rates are the right metric, but in the case of illegal immigration every crime is one that would not have occurred but for the illegal entry.  It is the additive absolute number, not comparative rate, that is relevant.  For instance, there are about 20,000 homicides in the U.S. annually.  There are a few jurisdictions that report crimes committed by illegals by category.  A reasonable extrapolation of that data leads to the conclusion that somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 homicides in the U.S. are committed annually by illegals.  The illegal homicide rate is simply irrelevant, if you have any interest at all in preventing homicides by illegals.