26 May 2024

Notable events, 26 May 1864: Lincoln signed bill creating MT Territory. 1865: Confederates west of Mississippi River surrendered. 1954: explosion on USS Bennington killed 103. 1972: President Nixon and USSR’s Brezhnev signed Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. 2009: SCOTUS President Obama nominated 2nd woman Sonia Sotomayor and CA Supreme Court upheld Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage. 

27 May 1861: SCOTUS ruled Lincoln (Lincoln ignored) had no power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. 1935: SCOTUS struck down the NRA in FDR’s New Deal. 1937: Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic. (It held the weight of the thousands of strollers) 1942: USN seaman D. Miller first Black to receive Navy Cross. 1968: SCOTUS ruled destroying a draft card was not free speech. 1994: Returning Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn was cheered in Russia. 2024: Nation celebrated Memorial Day.

28 May 1863: Storied 54th Mass. Volunteer Brigade of freed Blacks left Boston. 1892: Sierra Club organized. 1918: First WW I battle fought by U.S. 1934: Dionne quintuplets born in Ontario. 1940: Belgium surrendered to Nazis. 1959: Successful suborbital flight of 2 monkeys in U.S. Army rocket. 1987: Young German pilot flew small plane into Moscow’s Red Square. 2021: > 200 childrens’ bodies found  buried at former Canadian indigenous school. 

Remembrance. The body of USArmy Technician 5th Class Clifford H. Strickland from Fowler, CO, has finally been identified from remains found in a Philippine cemetery, 82 years after his burial.   

American democracy. “The American system is the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent, and labor power the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority. It is a country so powerful, so big, so pleasing to so many of its citizens that it can afford to give freedom of dissent to the small number who are not pleased…..[Madison] and his colleagues began the Preamble to the Constitution with the words, ‘We the people’ pretending that the new government stood for everyone, and hoping that this myth, accepted as fact, would ensure ‘domestic tranquility.’” (Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, “Revolt of the Guards.”) 

The nation has had periodic rough spots, but except for the issue of slavery with the attendant Civil War, Madison has been correct. And, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Democracy is far ahead of whatever is in second place.” 

Clean and not so clean energy. (1) At least 10 counties have filed objections that have halted large solar projects are slowing progress. Ranchers and other land users are objecting. (2) Through a nonprofit foundation three teenagers in NC have adopted an oil well in OH and are raising funds to completely cap it. 

Mosquito season. It’s begun and so it’s time to consider what to buy. Look for DEET, IR3535 on the ingredients label. 

Jackie Robinson lives again. The statue in Wichita, KS, was stolen this past January. It is being replace by a company in Loveland, CO. 

Bandimere Speedway. Denver’s storied drag racing strip, backed up to its picturesque, eons-old Rocky Hogback, will soon become a vehicle auction sales hub. Because of its high altitude and “light air,” the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) established a separate set of drag racing speed records.  

President Biden gave this year’s commencement address at the USAF Academy.