Nice Library You Got There

THC thinks he needs to upgrade his home library.  From The Library: A World History.  You can find more photos here.


Mafra, Portugal.  The longest monastic library in the world.




Admont Library, Austria

Babe Ruth And The Holocaust

On December 22, 1942 an unusual full page appeal with a striking image appeared in the New York Times and nine other major newspapers, signed by 50 prominent Americans, the most prominent by far being George Herman "Babe" Ruth, now seven years retired as a ballplayer.

The ad stated:

“[W]e Americans of German descent raise our voices in denunciation of the Hitler policy of cold-blooded extermination of the Jews of Europe and against the barbarities committed by the Nazis against all other innocent peoples under their sway"

and called upon the German people to revolt against the Nazi leadership.

The impetus for the ad were the increasing reports in the spring and summer of 1942 regarding the scale of Nazi murder of Jews in Europe.  Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist who had been expelled from Nazi Germany before the war, approached the American Jewish Congress with the idea for an appeal by German-Americans and gained its support for the ad. She then set about contacting potential signatories.  THC has not found any details regarding how Babe Ruth ended up as a signatory but his presence was hugely significant in terms of the public impact.  Coincidentally, the timing of the ad was only five days after the Allied declaration, prompted by reports from the Polish Government-In-Exile, taking note that German authorities:

"are now carrying into effect Hitler's oft-repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe"

and pledging that:

"They reaffirm their solemn resolution to insure that those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution, and to press on with the necessary practical measures to this end"

Who Do You Love?

In the spirit of the holiday season:

I walked 47 miles of barbed wire
Use a cobra snake for a neck tie
Got a brand new house on the roadside
Made from rattlesnake hide
I got a brand new chimney made on top
Made out of a human skull
Now come on baby let's take a little walk 
And tell me, who do you love?

Recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley and featuring the Bo Diddley beat, the best known version of Who Do You Love is by George Thorogood & The Destroyers (1978), but my favorite is the 1963 cover by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks.   Hawkins also had a 1950s hit with Mary Lou, a THC top pick from that decade.  By the early 1960s he had recruited a rocking back up band of fellow Canadians called The Hawks consisting of the guys who would become The Band (with the exception of Levon Helm who joined later).   A couple of years later The Hawks became Bob Dylan's touring band when he went electric. This version features some raucous guitar by Robbie Robertson.

Come To My Room In A Half Hour And Bring Some Rye Bread

THC doesn't know about you, but that line still works for me.  Jimmy Durante in The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942) from the play by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart.  Monty Woolley plays Mr Whiteside and Mary Wickes is Nurse Preen; watch how well she plays her reaction to Durante and catch the little skid she executes during her exit.  After appearing on Broadway in the play, this was her first film role.  She went on to appear in hundreds of movies and TV shows over the next 50 years.

Income Inequality

Red line is median household income in District of Columbia
Blue line is median household income in the United States.
Look what has happened since 2008.

Source:  Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis

Oh, and if you are curious, income inequality (as measured by the gini coefficient) is much greater within the District of Columbia than in any of the 50 states.

And to broaden our scope to include the area surrounding the District, the US Census Bureau used its 2010 data to conclude that of the 16 U.S. counties with median household income greater than $90,000, ten (including the top three) are in the Washington Metropolitan Area. 

THC believes this explains why the Department of the Treasury in its recent rulemaking (see, 22 CFR 193.6(c)(iii)) officially defined Americans residing outside this area as "Chumps".

With the President's latest in a long sequence of "pivots" being towards income inequality, THC believes this data suggests where he might best direct his focus.

Blue

Enough of this new music THC has recently posted - let's go back to 1970 for some California angst from Joni Mitchell.  From Joni's finest album of the same name.