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todaysdocument · 4 months

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Proclamation to the People of New Orleans

Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of RepresentativesSeries: Presidential MessagesFile Unit: President's Messages from the 8th Congress

PROCLAMATION. By his Excellency William C.C. Claiborne, Governor of the Missisippi Territory, exercising the powers of Governor General and Intendant of the Province of Louisiana. WHEREAS, by stipulations between the governments of France and Spain, the latter ceded to the former the Colony and Province of Louisiana, With the same extent which it had the date of the above mentioned treaty in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it ought to be after the treaties subsequently entered into between spain and other states; and whereas the government of France has ceded the same to the United states by a treaty duly ratified, and bearing date the 30 of April in the present year, and the possession of said Colony and Province is now in the United States according to the tenor of the last mentioned treaty; and whereas the Congress of the United States, on the 31st day of Oct. in the present year, did enact that until the expiration of the session of Congress then sitting, (unless provisions for the temporary government of the said territories be sooner made by Congress,) all the military, civil and judicial powers exercised by the then existing government of the same, shall be vested in such person or persons, and shall be exercised in such manner as the President of the United states shall direct, for the maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of Louisiana, in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion; and the President of the United states, has by his commission, bearing date the same 31st day of October, invested me with all the powers, and charged me with the several duties heretofore held and exercised by the Governor General and Intendant of the Province: I HAVE therefore thought fit to issue this my PROCLAMATION making known the premises, and to declare that the government heretofore exercised over the said Province of Louisiana, as well under the authority of Spain as of the French republic, has ceased, and that of the United states of America is established over the same; that the inhabitants thereof will be incorporated in the union of the United states, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United states; that in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess; that all laws and municipal regulations which Were in existence at the cessation of the late government, remain in full force, and all civil officers charged with their execution, except those whose powers have been specially vested in me, and except also such officers as have been entrusted with the collection of the revenue are continued in their functions during the pleasure of the governor for the time be ing, or until provision shall otherwise be made. And I do hereby exhort and enjoin all the inhabitants and other persons within the said Province, to be faithful and true in their allegiance to the United states, and obedient to the laws and authorities of the same, under full assurance that their just rights will be under the guardianship of the United states, and will be maintained from all force or violence from without or within. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. [Indented more toward the right than previous sections] Given at the City of New-Orleans the 20th day of December 1803, and of the Independence of the United states of America the 28th. William C. C. Claiborne. [full transcription at link]

#archivesgov #December 20 #1803 #louisiana purchase #louisiana #new orleans #nola #19th century

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the-hard-deck · 1 year

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IceMav Fic Recs: 15k+ Fics

If you've got a craving for a longer IceMav fic, try out one of the fics below: Dreams of Impact by thecarlysutra [19.8k, M]

Maverick's trip in Darkstar takes him further than he ever imagined possible.

Reccer's Notes: Lovely exploration of the IceMav relationship via a sadly under-used plot device in the fandom.

Indian Ocean. Present Day. by tryfanstone [16.4k, M]

Isolated on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Indian Ocean, cut off from any source of information about the global political and environmental disaster which has engulfed the planet, Maverick and Goose struggle to make sense of an increasingly claustrophobic command structure and failing resources on board. When a refugee helicopter is spotted approaching the carrier, its pilot could be the catalyst for an explosive re-evaluation....

Reccer's Notes: IceMav over an intriguing background - the plot kept me on the edge of my seat while reading.

Kings of the Air by FabulaRasa [24.9k, M]

Fighting and fucking: two things he did extraordinarily well. How could he have known what the effect would be when you combined the two?

Reccer's Notes: Kings of the Air is a must-read fandom classic, and a great fic about how Ice and Maverick's relationship may have gone if they'd both taught at TOPGUN after the first movie. Note that the fic is archive-locked and you must be logged in to an Archive of Our Own account to read.

Lead Me On (To The Other Side) by boasamishipper [19k, T]

Goose talked to him most nights. His choice of conversation was normal — movies he’d seen, music he liked, stories about his wife and son — and sometimes Ice almost forgot that Goose was dead at all.

Reccer's Notes: A terrific Ice POV fic that delivers on its premise: What if Ice starts seeing Goose's ghost? It also has sequels, for your further reading pleasure.

Make A Wrong One Right by boasamishipper [18.8k, T]

Terrified, Maverick grabs the newspaper off the doorstop and tears the thread off, tearing it open. There’s a story about the nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine in April, and another about the death of Ted Lyons. Ronald Reagan is the president of the United States, the Cubs beat the Dodgers last night 9-4, and Aliens is the number one movie in America. The newspaper is the San Diego Union. The date is July 26, 1986. Maverick clamps a hand over his mouth and barely makes it back in the house in time to fall to his knees and vomit into the toilet. - Maverick makes a wish and wakes up thirty years in the past. He reacts accordingly.

Reccer's Notes: The time-travel fix-it is a time-tested plot, and boasamishipper uses it to great effect here to explore how an older Maverick might react to being catapulted back to a time when Goose is still alive.

May by leoandsnake [33k, M, also on FF.net here]

Twelve years into the future, Maverick's marriage to Charlie is dissolving, his relationship with his son is strained, and he has to cope with Iceman returning from a decade-long tour of duty to teach alongside him at Top Gun Academy.

Reccer's Notes: May is a bittersweet fic - Ice and Maverick's relationship is complex and formed by events occurring during their time apart. A unique take on their relationship within Top Gun fic.

The Next Step by thedevilchicken [21k, E]

When he takes a job as an instructor, Maverick has issues to deal with. Ice shouldn't be the one to help him.

Reccer's Notes: Another classic 'what if Ice and Maverick both taught at Top Gun post-movie.'

time = distance + speed by omnidirectional [25.2k, T]

Maverick hasn’t seen Iceman in years. But inevitably, they always cross paths again sooner or later. Five (plus one) potential timelines in which Maverick meets Iceman again 35 years later; some more on the comical side, others less so. Or, a pre-emptive strike: Six scenarios I’d prefer to see than whatever the actual sequel turns out to be. (If it ever comes out.) Reccer's Notes: Written right before Top Gun: Maverick came out, this fic is a great 5 + 1 that's funny and emotional in turns. All the different scenarios are fascinating and great to read about.

When We Get Around to Talking About It by COMPACFLT [69.5k, M]

Goose has been dead for a week and a half when Iceman loses his first wingman in a dogfight with six Soviet MiGs over the Sea of Okhotsk. Goose has been dead for thirty years when Iceman loses his second wingman to a surface-to-air missile on the tail-end of a mission he's responsible for: he's sent his family on a suicide mission to destroy a uranium enrichment facility in Siberia. This is the story of those thirty years in the middle. (Or: Tom Kazansky rises through the ranks while trying to stay a good man. If he ever was one to begin with.) Reccer's Notes: Written post Top Gun: Maverick and taking its story into account, this fic is a nice look into Ice's PoV as he goes through the years between movies. You can tell the author put a lot of thought, time, and research into the fic. It also has additional stories in the series for further reading.

#top gun #top gun: maverick #icemav #iceman kazansky #maverick mitchell #fic recs #icemav fic recs #happy reading!

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ethereal-bumble-bee · 4 months

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Cot Sponlon Lore!!!

(Here’s some info on Cot Sponlon and his campaign for President of the United States! Feel free to suggest additions/ask questions, and don’t forget- Vote Cot Sponlon in 2024!)

Backstory:

I’m doomed, Spot lamented silently as he stared at the papers on the desk before him. They were written in fancy language that he barely understood, with official-looking stamps and signatures plastered over every sheet, and Spot felt as if they were trying to suck the soul out of his body.

It had all started as a joke. He’d been drunk with Race on a Saturday night, and the other boy had made some sort of joke- like a “hey, what if you ran for President of the United States” sort of joke- and Spot had taken it seriously. A more sober version of him (but still a version with horrible ideas) had gone through the process, somehow getting himself involved with New York’s state government and also somehow getting nominated to represent the Democratic Party in the race.

Cot Sponlon was the name he’d chosen. A stupid mixed-up version of his childhood nickname that somehow went unchecked by everyone he came into contact with (he didn’t know how), the name that newscasters either berated or praised on television, the name that he’d have to use for the rest of his life if he wanted to keep up this ruse. He had no clue how nobody had checked to see if Cot Sponlon was a U.S citizen, if he old enough to run for president, or even if he was a real person at all, and he fully blamed the carelessness of everyone else for the mix up. Apparently, it didn’t take much trickery to fool the old men in office, as he’d done it with ease.

Spot sorted through the endless stack of files on the desk, seeing his “name” in immaculately typed script on each one, trying to make sense of the duties he’d be taking over. This is a fucking fever dream, he thought to himself, holding back a cry of frustration as he caught the word deadline for the five hundredth time. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get himself out of this mess- it wasn’t as if you had to have some sort of permit to run for president, and somehow America had welcomed Cot Sponlon with open arms, most claiming that he was the best fit to lead the country. Make America Gay Again was the slogan he’d chosen- a take on some fat orange bastard’s battle cry that was somehow endearing to weirdos like himself everywhere.

No matter the fact that he had dropped out of college at age twenty, that most of his former schoolteachers were surprised he ever learned how to read, much less create a lie so elaborate that he could fool the entire world. It would only take a bit of common sense for it all to come crashing down, for him to be exposed as the clueless leader he was.

A banner hung above his small desk- one that read: Cot Sponlon, 2024. Staring up at the brightly printed letters, disbelieving of his own stupidity, Spot made up his mind to keep going with this, even if it was just to see how far he could fuck over the country before they realized he was a fake.

And, who knows, maybe I could make a difference, Spot thought to himself, suppressing a laugh as he continued to flip through the never-ending paperwork, the name he’d created destined to lead him far into the world of politics he’d never truly meant to sign up for.

Information About Our Candidate:

Name: Cot Sponlon

Age: Twenty-two

Campaign slogan: Make America Gay Again

Political Party: Democrat

College Degrees: None

Interviews and more to come soon! Feel free to ask questions to Mr. Sponlon through the ask box!

#newsies #spot conlon #cot sponlon for president 2024 #cot sponlon #this is purely satire and means no support for the MAGA assholes #Just thought I’d add that #Cot Sponlon for president #Cot Sponlon 2024 #Cot Sponlon lore

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ouroboros-hideout · 5 months

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Mark my words: Another war is on its way.

Summary

Almost one year ago FIA agents and a mercenary known as V infiltrated the EBM Petrochem Stadium by stealing the identities of two Netrunners. Their mission: To bring back a rogue agent named Song So Mi, also known as Songbird. She had made a deal with Kurt Hansen to escape from her former employer - Rosalinde Myers, President of the New United States of America -but everything went anything but as planned.

The timing was right and Myers decided to take this opportunity and the agents on site to kill two birds with one stone. Cutting of loose ends on her intelligence and get rid of a person, who had been a thorn in her side for many years.

And she almost succeeded.

Game choices influencing the story

Run This Town: Jago and Bennett had a reason to work together. Mr. Hands therefore did not interfere

Canon Phantom Liberty Ending: King of Wands

Canon Main Game Ending: The Star

The door slid open quietly and Jago entered the room, that the Colonel had made his personal office in the Sapphire. It was a shell, like almost all the other rooms in the upper part of the tall building. It was also not an office as one would imagine or as one knew it from the city and the Corpo building complexes. The room was very spacious and took up almost an entire level of the Sapphire tower, as the partition walls had not yet been installed at the time of construction. The furnishings were spartan. A large table was the centerpiece, surrounded by a few chairs, a variety of technology for all possible purposes, most of them military, transport crates, seating for internal meetings and a wall on which various types of weapons were displayed. Surely this should have been a conference room at some point, which could have been booked for presentations or opulent corporate events, if the hotel ever been completed. The room surely missed it‘s intended purpose but it surely became a place of power.

In the past, the Colonel hadn't spent too much time here as his duties usually kept him busy at the stadium. However, this was no longer necessary, or rather possible at the moment.

„Good morning, Colonel.“

Jago paused, his tablet tucked under his arm, and waited near the door. As he did almost every morning, the accountant came to Hansen to keep him up to date with current events and business and, of course, to take his orders and requests for the day.

Since the attack in the stadium, Jago had temporarily taken matters into his own hands as best he could. He continued to take care of the books, ensured payments were made and received on time, organized meetings with business partners and clients, and still tried to work his way through the Colonel‘s endless list of contacts so they could keep to the usual schedule. Even though he would like to claim that he managed all of this on his own, he had to admit to himself, that without Bennett's help, this whole endeavor would be a very difficult one. The Lieutenant Colonel had the soldiers of Barghest firmly under control and took care of all matters where military handling was an advantage. Transportation, security in Dogtown, new recruits, expansion of the trade routes - these and similar tasks fell to Bennett. And to Jagos surprise, he fulfilled these tasks without hesitation. Of course not very elegantly or with the necessary sensitivity, but at least he delivered results.

Although they had always disliked each other, and it did not change during their collaboration at all, they were now united by the respect and trust they had for Hansen and did not want to break under any circumstances. The business had to go on and the cover had to remain intact.

The cover - A strange request that Hansen had imposed on Jago. Several days of worrying, hoping and waiting had passed before the Colonel regained consciousness after the attack and had a task for his confidant. Not to take revenge for the betrayal of Songbird or the attempted murder of Myers agent. No, he wanted them to let the world believe that Kurt Hansen had died. The accountant was unsure at first whether he even knew what he was saying or whether he was dazed and confused from all the painkillers. But he insisted. It's hard to believe the Colonel would admit to a mistake, but he wouldn't be broken by it. Quite the opposite. He would use it to his advantage.

How exactly, he didn't want to tell Jago, much to his regret, a least not yet. And if there was one thing the young man couldn't stand, it was not being involved in important issues and not beeing informed.

But he obeyed, like he always did.

What mattered was that the President and anyone else who might be interested in it thought he was dead. Even within Barghest, only a select circle of persons in leading positions knew of the Colonel‘s whereabouts.

It was sometimes very difficult to hide a prominent face like his in the small area of Dogtown where they did their business, but otherwise it would have been far too unsafe. Something could slip out, just one wrong word and the rumors would spread like wildfire.

The secrecy gave him the opportunity to plan his next steps in peace. At least that was the answer Kurt always gave him when Jago tried to find out more about what was going on inside of his head.

As instructed, Jago invented an alibi. He faked a surveillance video of an unknown perpetrator who gains access to the clinic and kills the defenseless Colonel. The accountant deliberately left open who the killer was or why he did it. The video then found its way into a not very tightly secured area on the subnet from where it would spread quickly and people would waste their time speculating. A very bold move, but to his surprise the bait was taken.

The next step was the funeral. An open casket with a fake corpse, many important people were invited and the members of the militia would have no reason to believe their leader was still alive.

Everything ran like clockwork and losses in the business were almost non-existent despite the reorganization. Just like many days and nights when Jago couldn't sleep even a tiny bit. It was an extremely challenging time, but in the end it was worth all the effort. After months of recovery the Colonel was very pleased to see, that his trust in him had not been in vain. He slowly started getting back to his tasks himself, taking care of the important decision and managing the business from behind the scenes. Jago and Bennett thus continued to serve as the executive forces.

The sun was still fighting its way through the thick morning fog in Dogtown, so it was quite dark despite the large windows on the other side of the room. Kurt stood behind the large table , hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the already busy streets. He slowly but steadily getting back to his old strength, but it was obvious that he had been confined to bed for many months.

He did not respond to his accountants greeting.

„Alright…“, Jago added more silently, slightly annoyed and made his way across the room to the big table.

He‘d known Kurt for almost seven years now and had probably gotten to know all of the temperamental man's moods during their close collaboration. However, this excessive brooding was new and Jago didn't quite know how to deal with it yet.

„We don't have too much to discuss today. Yesterday's inventory list of the delivery would be the first thing. Everything has been unloaded, sorted and the necessary items prepared for onward transportation. Unfortunately, it arrived incomplete. For the second time. We need to take care of this, it’s unacceptable. However, it will be difficult to find someone else from the region who can work with us.“ He paused, looked over to the Colonel to see if he was listening at all, but decided to continue.

„The second topic would be the balance sheet for the last month and we have ...ehh,“ he quickly switched through his files.

„Ah, here it is. Six new large orders since yesterday evening. There is nothing exceptionally difficult to obtain except for two types of vehicles I am not sure who to contact for. But surely you‘ll have someone in mind for that.“

Jago's gaze again wandered from the tablet in his hands to the man across the table. He was still standing motionless by the window, looking down at the streets of Dogtown.

He hesitated and stepped on the spot.

„Should I … just leave the documents here for you? Or come back later? We don‘t have to discuss all of that now if the timing doesn‘t suit you.“

No response.

„Kurt?“, he asked, now with a little more vigor in his voice.

The Colonel tilted his head slightly, but otherwise remained motionless.

„Do you know who Garmr is, Jago?“

Silence. Jago was confused and hat to sort himself out first. Then he cleared his throat.

„No, I‘m sorry. That doesn’t ring a bell, I am afraid.“

Kurt calmly continued.

„He‘s a creature of the nordic myths. Described as a bloodstained dog, caught in chains, doomed to guard the gates of the underworld. At the end of time, when the world as it was comes to an end and a new era dawns, he fights side by side with the giants, in the all-important battle against the gods and kills one of them.“

Jago still tried to follow up. He really hadn't expected that change of subjects from business to one of Kurt’s ominous comparisons.

„You‘re into vintage literature now? That‘s new.“ A joke, of course.

„No.“ Kurt slowly turned away from the window, arms still folded behind his back and made his way around the table, his cold gaze finally met with his accountant.

„It's more of a metaphor.“

Jago remembered the time when he had met the Colonel. At first, he found his presence admittedly intimidating, even though he had worked with many people from Night City's underground before that. He had also never really been able to put into words exactly what had triggered this feeling in him. His charisma, his background, knowing what the man was capable of? In the meantime, however, the two men met at eye level and respected each other. Actually after all that happened, more then ever.

It seemed as if the wrinkle between his brows was getting deeper by the day, but something else immediately caught Jago's eye. The long scar that stretched across Kurt‘s throat and down to his chest where one of the attacks of the agent hit him. The accountant would need some more time getting used to that sight.

Terrible and gruesome things always had been part of Jago‘s life. He’d seen more of it than other men his age would probably see in their entire life and he was more or less used to it. He was the first who entered the bar in the stadium, after the security system was hacked and chaos broke loose. Bennett should have been there with the Colonel all the time, but it seemed something else needed his attention before Songbird turned on them. After Hansen remained silent over the situation and no orders where given, he already suspected something went wrong and he went to see what happened at the meeting with the Netrunners.

The agent of the FIA had left a massacre. He‘d never forget that stench of iron in the air and the trails of blood running across the floor. Murphy sadly didn’t make it, alongside all the other soldiers who had been there at the time.

For him, it was still a miracle that Farida had managed to save the Colonels life. She had surpassed herself, but also pointed out, that the military armor he still had installed from his days at Militech, had taken a lot of the impact. Without it, he would undoubtedly have died on the operating table.

A bloodstained dog fighting against gods? Various thoughts flashed through his mind. And none of them appealed to him. Not at all.

„What would you do with the supplier? The one from the incomplete delivery?“, Kurt asked him, changing the subject back to business.

Jago tried to shake off his thoughts to concentrate on the important matters again.

„Well, we certainly have different options. We could first look for -“

„I don‘t want any options, Jago. I want an answer from you.“

The Colonel was now standing right next to him, looking at him intently. He did not bat an eye. Cold and appraising.

That was another thing Jago had to get used to. Of course, Hansen had often asked him for his opinion before. Not that he really needed it, but he appreciated his view on things because he often thought differently due to his position and abilities.

But these were no longer simple questions. These were lots of little tests that Jago had to pass. For what exactly? He couldn't say for sure at the moment. In any case, Hansen wanted him to prove his abilities as a leader and that he will still able to make decisions in his own interest.

„I would finish off the head of the group. One of the men in his crew seems more reliable to me. Maybe even malleable. I had a few words with him yesterday and the morale within the group is probably at a low point too. Maybe I can persuade him to give his superior a bullet to the head himself. With the prospect of a profitable collaboration.“

The Colonel nodded.

„Sounds reasonable. Promise him a bonus if he does it today. I don't want us to lose any more time and money because of these fucking amateurs. And I hope that other guy is aware of who he‘s working with.“

Jago nodded approving „All right. I'll take care of it immediately after we‘re done here."

"Actually, you can take care of it without further ado."

Hansen held out his hand to Jago, expecting him to hand over the tablet.

"Thanks for the update, I'll take a look at the sheet and the list of orders later. You can go now. I need to make a few calls through out he day."

"Anything I might be able to assist with?" Making calls was not exactly an activity a dead man would pursue. Jago had the feeling that the time of waiting for answers was slowly coming to an end.

The corners of the Colonel‘s mouth twitched.

"No, you've got enough to do already. It's just a few friends from the past. I think I can manage that by myself.“

Jago passed him the tablet wordlessly and nodded as a sign that he had understood.

Kurt took it, but immediately put it down on the large table next to him and made his way back to the large windows.

The accountant also slowly walked back to the door, but turned around just before he got there. It was probably in vain, but he couldn't help but ask in the hope of finally being included in the Colonel‘s plans.

„Some friends. Giants, maybe? Like the ones in your stories?“

Hansen laughed lightly but didn’t turn around.

„We’ll talk later, Jago. Go now.“

He paused for a moment, looked at the man on the other side of the room but then went on his way. He indeed had a lot of work to do.

#cyberpunk 2077 au #cyberpunk 2077 fanfic #phantom liberty spoilers #kurt hansen #jago szabó #my writing #project garmr

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usafphantom2 · 3 months

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The mission of the Blackbirds, the very essence of its life and breath, was the need for knowledge that was verified to keep us safe from enemy invasion. You must look back at history to understand why America rose to the challenge to create the incredibly fast and high-altitude Blackbirds(A-12 and SR-71 ) so technically advanced that our enemies could not shoot them down. It also helped that Kelly Johnson was an avionics genius who lived in the United States. Our very lives depended on knowing what the enemy was planning. Many men risked their lives. They understood the mission and were willing to put their lives at stake to protect their country; They volunteered for this duty. I am sure that my father, Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield, would’ve flown over Russia and China. It was the first question he was asked when being interviewed by Colonel Doug Nelson for his position as the first RSO in the SR 71.

On July 3, 1956, President Eisenhower approved a ten-day slot for the overfly of the Soviet Union. His decision was made not knowing about the A-100 radar, which provided early warning for the SA-1 guide surface-to-air ( SAM) missiles located around Moscow. It was thought the Russians could not have any capability above 60,000 feet.

President Eisenhower made it clear to Richard Bissell and Allen Dulles that He needed to be informed on any tracking or attempted interceptions. Bissell and Alan Dulles went to the White House and told them that it would be at least 36 hours after each mission before receiving the first reports of detection tracking and attempted interception and that it could be as long as several weeks! General Goodplaster, Eisenhower‘s aide, told them that he understood the President wanted the mission to go forward at the maximum rate until the first tracking evidence was received. On July 4, the Soviets did detect the U-2; it wasn’t until July 10 that Goodplaster informed Eisenhower about his meeting with Dulles and Bissell, adding that there had been some indication of tracking. Eisenhower, at this point, was still woefully uninformed. Later that day, the USSR delivered a protest note about the previous day's flights to the US Embassy in Moscow. It was clear that the Soviet air defense system had not only detected each flight but had tracked them for a considerable distance.

The President was extremely annoyed that the assurances given by Bissell and others were proven false. They had told him that the flights would hardly be detected, let alone tracked. Eisenhower never again gave the CIA carte blanche for a series of U-2 flights overflying Russia. Ironically, the CIA U-2 planners similarly implied to the President that if a U-2 crashed or were shot down over the Soviet Union, the pilot would not survive a claim, which they eventually came to regret to Eisenhower‘s embarrassment on May 1, 1960. According to Harvey Stockman‘s nephew ( Stockman flew the U-2 over the USSR), he was told to take the poison cyanide pill if his airplane was shot down.

Stockman was told that in 1956, by 1960, when Francis Gary Powers overflew and was shot down in the USSR, it was an option, not a command, to take the poison pill. According to Power's son in his book “Spy Pilot.”

On our Independence Day, July 4, 1956, Harvey Stockman of New Jersey took off on Mission 2013 in a U-2 from Wiesbaden, West Germany; he flew near Leningrad and Minsk, covering targets nearby. Stockman, looking through the aircraft site, saw MiG fighters climbing in unsuccessful attempts to intercept him. Undeterred, Stockman continued his mission as planned, passing over Soviet bomber bases in the Baltic states an eight-hour and 45-minute flight. What a fearless man Stockman was. Here is the link to learn more about his amazing life .roadrunnersinternationale.com/stockman.html

Written by Linda Sheffield

My sources are Paul Crickmore’s Lockheed Blackbird Beyond the Secret Missions, the missing chapters, see page 33

The Roadrunner associations webpage

@Habubrats71 via X

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madamlaydebug · 9 months

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The Truth Behind '40 Acres and a Mule'

BY: HENRY LOUIS GATES JR

We've all heard the story of the "40 acres and a mule" promise to former slaves. It's a staple of black history lessons, and it's the name of Spike Lee's film company. The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations to newly freed slaves, and it was astonishingly radical for its time, proto-socialist in its implications. In fact, such a policy would be radical in any country today: the federal government's massive confiscation of private property -- some 400,000 acres -- formerly owned by Confederate land owners, and its methodical redistribution to former black slaves. What most of us haven't heard is that the idea really was generated by black leaders themselves.

It is difficult to stress adequately howrevolutionary this idea was: As the historian Eric Foner puts it in his book, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, "Here in coastal South Carolina and Georgia, the prospect beckoned of a transformation of Southern society more radical even than the end of slavery." Try to imagine how profoundly different the history of race relations in the United States would have been had this policy been implemented and enforced; had the former slaves actually had access to the ownership of land, of property; if they had had a chance to be self-sufficient economically, to build, accrue and pass on wealth. After all, one of the principal promises of America was the possibility of average people being able to ownland, and all that such ownership entailed. As we know all too well, this promise was not to be realized for the overwhelming majority of the nation's former slaves, who numbered about 3.9 million.

What Exactly Was Promised?

We have been taught in school that the source of the policy of "40 acres and a mule" was Union General William T. Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15, issued on Jan. 16, 1865. (That account is half-right: Sherman prescribed the 40 acres in that Order, but not the mule. The mule would come later.) But what many accounts leave out is that this idea for massive land redistribution actually was the result of a discussion that Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton held four days beforeSherman issued the Order, with 20 leaders of the black community in Savannah, Ga., where Sherman was headquartered following his famous March to the Sea. The meeting was unprecedented in American history.

Today, we commonly use the phrase "40 acres and a mule," but few of us have read the Order itself. Three of its parts are relevant here. Section one bears repeating in full: "The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes [sic] now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States."

Section two specifies that these new communities, moreover, would be governed entirely by black people themselves: " … on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves … By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro [sic] is free and must be dealt with as such."

Finally, section three specifies the allocation of land: " … each family shall have a plot of not more than (40) acres of tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with not more than 800 feet water front, in the possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection, until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title."

With this Order, 400,000 acres of land -- "a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John's River in Florida, including Georgia's Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast," asBarton Myers reports -- would be redistributed to the newly freed slaves. The extent of this Order and its larger implications are mind-boggling, actually.

Who Came Up With the Idea?

Here's how this radical proposal -- which must have completely blown the minds of the rebel Confederates -- actually came about. The abolitionists Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and other Radical Republicans had been actively advocating land redistribution "to break the back of Southern slaveholders' power," as Myers observed. But Sherman's plan only took shape after the meeting that he and Stanton held with those black ministers, at 8:00 p.m., Jan. 12, on the second floor of Charles Green's mansion on Savannah's Macon Street. In its broadest strokes, "40 acres and a mule" was their idea.

Stanton, aware of the great historical significance of the meeting, presented Henry Ward Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous brother) a verbatim transcript of the discussion, which Beecher read to his congregation at New York's Plymouth Church and which the New York Daily Tribune printed in full in its Feb. 13, 1865, edition. Stanton told Beecher that "for the first time in the history of this nation, the representatives of the government had gone to these poor debased people to ask them what they wanted for themselves." Stanton had suggested to Sherman that they gather "the leaders of the local Negro community" and ask them something no one else had apparently thought to ask: "What do you want for your own people" following the war? And what they wanted astonishes us even today.

Who were these 20 thoughtful leaders who exhibited such foresight? They were all ministers, mostly Baptist and Methodist. Most curious of all to me is that 11 of the 20 had been born free in slave states, of which 10 had lived as free men in the Confederacy during the course of the Civil War. (The other one, a man named James Lynch, was born free in Maryland, a slave state, and had only moved to the South two years before.) The other nine ministers had been slaves in the South who became "contraband," and hence free, only because of the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union forces liberated them.

Their chosen leader and spokesman was a Baptist minister named Garrison Frazier, aged 67, who had been born in Granville, N.C., andwas a slave until 1857, "when he purchased freedom for himself and wife for $1000 in gold and silver," as the New York Daily Tribune reported. Rev. Frazier had been "in the ministry for thirty-five years," and it was he who bore the responsibility of answering the 12 questions that Sherman and Stanton put to the group. The stakes for the future of the Negro people were high.

And Frazier and his brothers did not disappoint. What did they tell Sherman and Stanton that the Negro most wanted? Land! "The way we can best take care of ourselves," Rev. Frazier began his answer to the crucial third question, "is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor … and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare … We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own." And when asked next where the freed slaves "would rather live -- whether scattered among the whites or in colonies by themselves," without missing a beat, Brother Frazier (as the transcript calls him) replied that "I would prefer to live by ourselves, for there is a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over … " When polled individually around the table, all but one -- James Lynch, 26, the man who had moved south from Baltimore -- said that they agreed with Frazier. Four days later, Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, after President Lincoln approved it.

What Became of the Land That Was Promised?

The response to the Order was immediate. When the transcript of the meeting was reprinted in the black publication Christian Recorder, an editorial note intoned that "From this it will be seen that the colored people down South are not so dumb as many suppose them to be," reflecting North-South, slave-free black class tensions that continued well into the modern civil rights movement. The effect throughout the South was electric: As Eric Foner explains, "the freedmen hastened to take advantage of the Order." Baptist minister Ulysses L. Houston, one of the group that had met with Sherman, led 1,000 blacks to Skidaway Island, Ga., where they established a self-governing community with Houston as the "black governor." And by June, "40,000 freedmen had been settled on 400,000 acres of 'Sherman Land.' " By the way, Sherman later ordered that the army could lend the new settlers mules; hence the phrase, "40 acres and a mule."

And what happened to this astonishingly visionary program, which would have fundamentally altered the course of American race relations? Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor and a sympathizer with the South, overturned the Order in the fall of 1865, and, as Barton Myers sadly concludes, "returned the land along the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts to the planters who had originally owned it" -- to the very people who had declared war on the United States of America.

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mare-noctis-studios · 8 months

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Concept Cover: Green, Gold & Waltzing Matilda

The unofficial sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

Read an excerpt below:

Cassidy was somebody. Depending on who you asked would determine what kind of somebody they were. To the Royal Australian Air Force, they were the first non-binary fast-jet pilot on active duty who agreed to become the face of LGBTQI+ diversity within the force. To their moderate following of a few million fans, they were a down-to-earth, badass being who shared their experiences of being enby with the world. To the more politically savvy in Australia, they were a force to be reckoned with when they decided to voice their support on an issue. To the tabloids? They were easy material to smear against their father, the current Prime Minister. So when an invitation to participate in a handling demonstration in Arizona was passed down, they accepted. It was all to go as usual; they would fly the F-35, speak to the students, participate in some mock-combat sorties, pose for some photos, and wrap it all up with a series of vlogs. What they didn't count on, was the President of the United States of America attending. Or more specially; her son and his boyfriend, the Prince of Wales.

This was a concept I had floating around for ages. Think of it as Red, White, and Royal Blue 2: Electric Boogaloo. A queer, non-binary child of the current Prime Minister of Australia gets in cahoots with the First Son of America, and the ‘Spare to the Throne’ the Prince of Wales. Can the Super Six make room for one more member?

It would be a really interesting way to delve into the politics of Australia, and have a discussion about how we do (or do not) place our leaders on pedestals. To compare the iconic brand that is the British Royal Family, with the idolized American First Family, with a country that goes through more Prime Ministers a week than I do socks.

A country where a sitting Prime Minister disappeared while swimming at the beach and had a swimming pool named in his honour, or broke the record for sculling a beer at a footy game, or eats raw onions like apples.

Thanks to my amazing IRL friend who was the inspiration for Cassidy. If I ever wrote it, you are who I would want to be cast.

Would love to hear your feedback :)

#fanfiction #the-fandom-files #archive of our own #writing #k-e-birch #birch designs #ao3 #concept cover #rwrb #concept design #concept #fic idea #auspol #australia #aukusa #casey mcquiston #red white and royal blue #red white and royal blue 2 #mara-noctis

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nordleuchten · 28 days

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Georges – "What If" or an Alternative Life

We all know how the life of Georges de La Fayette, only son of Adrienne and Gilbert turned out. Born into a life of privilege, separated for the first time from his family as a young boy to make sure that his father’s status would not interfere with his studies, he later had to flee with his tutor into the mountains and then to America. In America he was a constant wanderer before returning to France and joining his family in exile in Danish-Holstein. The family was finally able to return to France for good, Georges joined the Army, married, had children, became a politician, returned with his father to America in 1824/25 and finally inherited his title as Marquis de La Fayette – just like his two sons later inherited the title from him.

While his father, his mother and his sisters were all imprisoned at various points in time for various reasons and durations, Georges remained free and was able to live, relatively speaking, “comfortably” in America. But let us imagine for a moment how his life could or would have looked like if some things had been different. Because Georges was a family man – even as a grown man he lived with or near his parents (granted, their living arrangements were normally quite spacious, so …), he married the daughter of one of his father’s friends and colleagues, he followed his fathers into the military and in politics, he cared for his mother, he accompanied his father to America – what would happen if his family had died during the French Revolution? Not only his mother and father but maybe even his sisters? Chances were rather high, Adriennes life was threatened by illness and the guillotine (her grandmother, mother and sister were all guillotined) and La Fayette’s life was threatened by illness, the French warrant for his arrest and his status as a Prisoner of War in both Prussia and Austria.

This questions “how would Georges’ life look like” is not completely theoretical. When Adrienne send her son to America, she wrote both to James Monroe and to George Washington and her letters make it clear that she had planned for the eventuality that Georges maybe had to stay for a very long time in America.

Adrienne wrote in an undated letter, probably from November of 1794, to James Monroe:

I ask him kindly to look after my son. I want him to finish his education in an American house of commerce. It would appear to me preferable to set him up at the residence of a consul of the United States. I want him to join their navy, and if it is absolutely impossible for him to begin his first line of duty at sea on an American vessel, I would have him serve on a French merchant ship.

I encourage the minister of the United States to recall that my son was adopted by the state of Virginia in 1785, and that he still has his certificate as a citizen of that state. I foresee therefore no difficulty in his entering the service of this second country, friend and ally of the French Republic.

Papers of James Monroe, 3: 165; Bookmen’s Holiday, x: 20

She wrote secondly in a letter to George Washington on April 23, 1795:

Sir, I send you my son. (…) it is with the deepest and most sincere confidence that I put my dear child under the protection of the United States, which he has ever been accustomed to look upon as his second country, and which I myself have always considered as being our future home under the special protection of their President with whose feelings towards his father I am well acquainted.

Noailles Lafayette

Mme de Lasteyrie, Life of Madame de Lafayette, L. Techener, London, 1872, pp. 317-322.

I shortened the letter in some parts but there is a complete version under the cut for everyone who is interested.

Adrienne gives very detailed instructions, how Georges should be brought up. In short, she wants him to:

Continue his education under Frestel’s tutelage, without too much ado

Start an apprenticeship, I believe, in a house of commerce

Work on an American merchant ship, or, if that is not possible, on a French merchant ship

Be the picture-perfect American citizen without forgetting his identity as a Frenchman

This is all pretty straight forward and we could end our little thought experiment here and take Adrienne’s instructions as the alternative life Georges could have lead. But I would like to elaborate on some aspects.

Félix Frestel

See, on this blog we appreciate Festel and all that he did. Adrienne herself wrote it in the letter to Washington how much the La Fayette’s owned to Frestel. He was Georges tutor long before the Revolution and likely also lived with him during this time. By all accounts he and Georges were close and Georges’ parents also liked and respected Frestel a lot. He risked his personal safety to hide George, helped Adrienne when her fate hung in the balance, he uprooted his entire life and left a family that he “dearly loved” to follow Georges to America – friendship and all things considered, this went clearly beyond the call of duty of a tutor. Adding to that my suspicion that he was not paid during the French Revolution. Both from a logistical and a financial point, paying Frestel would have been difficult and while we have letters from Adrienne to Monroe, asking him to do certain financial transactions for her, there is not letter from her reminding or asking him to pay Frestel. This is certainly no conclusive evidence but I have a very strong hunch.

In America, Frestel was father, friend and teacher for Georges and I am of the firm believe that he would not have easily deserted the boy, even if their stay in America would have been a longer one. I can think of two possible scenarios. One possible scenario would be that Frestel stayed with Georges until he boy would have reached his majority and finished his education in so far as that he was settled with an American merchant firm and learning there. Frestel might have returned then to France – he was free to do so, there was no warrant for his arrest and his name was not on the list of émigrés – and be reunited with his family. Since he was such a loyal soul and very devoted to his pupil, I could imagine him doing what Adrienne in reality did. Going back to France and trying to reclaim the possessions of the La Fayette family for Georges.

In the second scenario, Frestel decides to stay in America, possible because he had started his own family there. When he left France, he was unmarried and childless. It was therefor very possible for him to fall in love in America and decided to stay there with his family. Just as well he could take his wife and potential children with him back to France.

The Merchant Navy

While first reading Adrienne’s letters I found it quite peculiar that she was so insistent on the merchant navy. The merchants trade is one thing, but the service on a merchant ship means a live at sea and some potential dangers that you do not have, if you sit on dry land behind your desk. It could have been Georges expressed desire but since later in France as an adult he choose the Army over the Navy (and there is no indication that he ever considered the navy), I am somewhat doubting that. Life at sea however promised “adevntures”, comradery and occupation – all things that Georges would have needed and liked. Under British law, crew members of merchant ships were often pressed into the military service due to their skills and experiences. American law was different in that regard and Georges would not have worked as a common sailor, so he should have been all good on that front. Being at sea for long stretches of time was also making social engagements difficult. Adrienne had seen what politics can due to peaceful family life and she maybe intended to set Georges up in way where he would not join the politics of his time.

Being an American – Being a Frenchman

Adrienne herself wrote that she hopes her son “preserve in his soul, the love of a country where such dear victims have been sacrificed, where his father is disowned and persecuted, and where his mother was during sixteen months confined in prison”. Later in life, La Fayette wrote in a letter to his son that they should never forget, no matter what had happened or will happen, France is their country and their home. Georges was born and breed in Paris and he was a patriot. In the real turn of events, he would go on risking his life for France. The question therefor is, would he stay in America or return to France? Both are very real possibilities but, in our scenario, I lean more towards staying in America. We assume that his close family is dead (and with that more or less all family members on his father’s side) and many of his Noailles relatives were also dead or had fled the country (his mother’s father for example, he settled in Switzerland). He had extended family that settled into exile in Wittmold but even in reality he only joined them once his sisters and parents were freed and settled there as well. This extended family alone did not seem to be such a huge pull-factor for him. In our scenario he has nothing to return to, no family, no money, no title, no land – even if we assume that Frestel or Georges managed to get some of the family’s possessions back, they would have been empty, void of life and happiness. They would have been shadows, painful reminders of his former life and all that he had lost. Georges was utterly devoted to his family and to his father in particular. I do not think that he could just let go and start over without constantly lingering in the past. But then again, he was French. France was his home and everything that was left from his family was there in France. That again leads us to two possible scenarios.

In the first one, Georges stays in America. If someone was able to get some or all of the family’s former holdings back, he would maybe sell them and use the money to provide for the family he would (absolutely and definitely) start in America. He maybe would even start his own house of commerce. He could also use some of the money to provide for his father’s elderly widowed aunt still living in France. La Fayette had loved her dearly and vice versa. She would have been too old to come to America but Georges could find other means of making sure she was comfortable. He would inherit his father’s titles and probably not use them much, if at all, while in America. Instead referring to his father as “General La Fayette”

In the other scenario, Georges return to France, either with a wife he married while in America or he finds himself a wife in France. Either way, the girl in question would likely been the sister/daughter/niece/etc. of one of his father’s acquaintances. I could imagine that in France, and especially in Paris, even while serving in the merchant navy, there would have been high chances of Georges being caught up in his “old life”. In this scenario, I can very well see Georges enter politics and most importantly bump heads with Napoléon, just as his father would have done. But where Georges had his father’s opinions and views, he did not had his father later “immunity” towards Napoléon’s antipathy.

Anyway, this whole post has turned into a long “what if” rambling but if you made it to this point, I would be really interested to hear your opinions!

Adrienne to George Washington, April 18, 1795

Sir, I send you my son. Although I have not had the consolation of being listened to nor of obtaining from you those good offices which I thought likely to bring about his father’s delivery from the hands of our enemies, because your views were different from mine, nevertheless my reliance on your kindness is not diminished, and it is with the deepest and most sincere confidence that I put my dear child under the protection of the United States, which he has ever been accustomed to look upon as his second country, and which I myself have always considered as being our future home under the special protection of their President with whose feelings towards his father I am well acquainted.

The person [Félix Frestel] who accompanies George, has been, since our misfortunes, our support, our protector, our comfort, and my son’s guide. My desire is that he should continue to direct him, that, until his arrival, my son should remain privately in M. Russell’s [Joseph Russell] house, that, once united, they should never separate and that we may have some day the happiness of meeting all together in the land of liberty. To the noble efforts of that friend, my children owe the preservation of their mother’s life. Notwithstanding all the perils he encountered on his way, he made known to M. Morris the horrible situation I was in, and, after having had the courage to traverse the whole of France in those times of horror, following a prisoner, who was to all appearances devoted to death, he animated the zeal of the American minister to whose applications I probably owe that my sacrifice was deferred until the revolution of the 10th of Thermidor [July 28]. He will tell you that I have never given a pretext for any accusation against me, that my country can reproach me with nothing, and I myself will tell you that it is near him and with him that my son invariably learnt, even in the depth of misery, to discern between liberty and the horrors to which its name has been associated. While receiving from him each day the examples of the most generous virtues, his heart was being formed for those noble feelings which have preserved and always will, I hope, preserve in his soul, the love of a country where such dear victims have been sacrificed, where his father is disowned and persecuted, and where his mother was during sixteen months confined in prison. The last sacrifice which this friend has made for us is that of separating himself from a family he dearly loves. I ardently wish M. Washington to know what he is, and how much we are indebted to him. A letter will very in sufficiently fulfil my object. When shall I be able to do so myself? My wish is that my son should lead a very secluded life in America, that he should resume his studies interrupted by three years of misfortunes, and that, far from the land where so many events are taking place which might either dishearten or revolt him, he may become fit to fulfil the duties of a citizen of the United States whose feelings and whose principles will always agree with those of a French citizen. I shall not say anything here of my own position nor of the one which interests me still more than mine. I rely upon the bearer of this letter to interpret the feelings of my heart, too withered to express any others but those of the gratitude I owe to MM. Monroe, Skypwith, and Mountflorence for their kindness and their useful endeavours in my behalf. I beg M. Washington will accept the assurance etc.

Noailles Lafayette

The French original can be found here:

“To George Washington from the Marquise de Lafayette, 18 April 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-18-02-0041. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 18, 1 April–30 September 1795, ed. Carol S. Ebel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, pp. 51–54.]

#marquis de lafayette #la fayette #french history #french revolution #american revolution #american history #history #letter #georges de la fayette #adrienne de lafayette #adrienne de noailles #1794 #1795 #george washington #james monroe #founders online #alternative history #felix frestel

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 months

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 5, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 6, 2024

President Joe Biden launched his reelection campaign today with a speech at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. He spoke after a visit to nearby Valley Forge, where General George Washington quartered his troops from December 1777 to June 1778 during the Revolutionary War in which the former colonies sought to establish their independence from Great Britain.

Biden began the speech by outlining what the soldiers in the Continental Army quartered at Valley Forge had fought for. “America made a vow,” Biden said. “Never again would we bow down to a king.”

A “ragtag army made up of ordinary people” fought for what Washington called “a sacred cause,” he said: “Freedom, liberty, democracy. American democracy.” Valley Forge, he said, “tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America.”

Three years ago, he said, when insurrectionists tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power on January 6, 2021, “we nearly…lost it all.”

“Today, we’re here to answer the most important of questions,” Biden said. “Is democracy still America’s sacred cause?... This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time.”

“And it’s what the 2024 election is all about.”

Biden described Trump’s attack on American democracy and warned that “Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you.” Biden remembered the “smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police” of January 6. He recalled the rioters erecting a gallows while the crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence,” hunting for then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and injuring more than 140 police officers.

Like the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Biden emphasized that while the whole world was watching the attack in horror and disbelief, and even as staff, family members, and Republican leaders pleaded with Trump to do something, the former president watched events unfold on the television in a little room off the Oval Office and “did nothing.”

Biden repeated the condemnation of former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) when he called that refusal to act “among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.”

The president went on to explain how Trump continued to lie that he had won the 2020 presidential election despite losing recounts and 60 court cases. For those lies, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani was ordered last month to pay $148 million to election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for defamation, and the Fox News Corporation agreed to pay $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems for lying that their machines had switched votes from Trump to Biden.

Then, when he had exhausted all his legal options, Trump urged his supporters to assault the Capitol. Since then, more than 1,200 people have been charged with crimes related to the events of that day; nearly 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted.

Trump has called those insurrectionists “patriots” and has promised to pardon them if he is returned to office. But normalizing violence as part of our political system destroys the reasonable debate and peaceful transition of power that is at the heart of democracy. Biden identified this danger, warning: “Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system—never, never, never. It has no place in a democracy. None. You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American.”

Biden noted that Trump has promised to continue to assault democracy, threatening “a full-scale campaign of ‘revenge’ and ‘retribution’...for some years to come.” Trump has said he “would be a dictator on day one,” called for the “termination of all the rules, regulation, and articles, even those found in the U.S. Constitution,” and echoed the language used in Nazi Germany by calling those who oppose him “vermin” and talking about the blood of Americans being poisoned by immigrants.

“There’s no confusion about who Trump is and what he intends to do,” Biden said.

Immediately after January 6, 2021, “even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators publicly and privately condemned the attack,” he said. “But now…those same people have changed their tune…. [P]olitics, fear, money, all have intervened. And now these MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump on January 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy.”

“They made their choice,” Biden said. “Now the rest of us—Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans—we have to make our choice. I know mine. And I believe I know America’s. We will defend the truth, not give in to the Big Lie. We’ll embrace the Constitution and the Declaration, not abandon it. We’ll honor the sacred cause of democracy, not walk away from it.”

“Today, I make this sacred pledge to you,” he said. “The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.”

“America, as we begin this election year, we must be clear,” Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.” “The alternative to democracy is dictatorship—the rule of one, not the rule of ‘We the People.’”

“Together, we can keep proving that America is still a country that believes in decency, dignity, honesty, honor, truth,” he said. “We still believe that no one, not even the President, is above the law…. [T]he vast majority of us still believe that everyone deserves a fair shot at making it. We’re still a nation that gives hate no safe harbor…. We still believe in ‘We the People,’ and that includes all of us, not some of us.”

In “that cold winter of 1777,” Biden said, referring back to the soldiers at Valley Forge, “George Washington and his American troops…waged a battle on behalf of a revolutionary idea that everyday people—like where I come from and the vast majority of you—…that everyday people can govern themselves without a king or a dictator.”

Americans “take charge of our destiny,” Biden said. “We get our job done with…the help of the people we find in America, who find their place in the changing world and dream and build a future that not only they but all people deserve a shot at.”

“This is the first national election since [the] January 6th insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy,” Biden said. “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question we have to answer is: Who are we? That’s what’s at stake. Who are we?”

And then he answered his own question, concluding with his characteristic faith in the American people. “After all we’ve been through in our history, from independence to Civil War to two world wars to a pandemic to insurrection,” he said, “I refuse to believe that, in 2024, we Americans will choose to walk away from what’s made us the greatest nation in the history of the world: freedom, liberty.”

“Democracy,” he said, “is still a sacred cause.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #January 6th #insurrection #democracy #Joe Biden #history #a sacred cause

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 4 months

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By: Winkfield Twyman Jr.

Published: Dec 27, 2023

I have a tender spot in my heart for race pioneers. My spirits were lifted when L. Douglas Wilder was sworn in as the first Black American governor of a U.S. state—the state of Virginia, of which I am a native son. My mom was dying of cancer at the time, but she wanted me to witness Black History in the making. So on that cold January day in 1990, I left her bedside and bore witness to the coming of a better time in Virginia.

Similarly, on the night of November 4, 2008, when Barack Obama was elected the first Black President of the United States of America, I joined family and friends to run into the darkness of the San Diego night, yelling and screaming, whooping and hollering. It was a sacred moment in our American history to be always cherished and never forgotten. That the American electorate would elect a Black person to the highest office in the land was something our grandparents and our grandparents' grandparents could only dream of.

I considered the project of race in America to be finished that November night in San Diego. The election of a Black U.S. president broke the psychological barrier in our minds. There is no higher office than President of the United States of America—in the entire world. For me, the questions of race were all answered. I was done with race.

But too many Americans can't seem to quit race. Fifteen years after President Barack Obama's triumph, some feel it noteworthy to remark that Claudine Gay is the first Black President of Harvard University. Worse, in the face of numerous mounting scandals, many are defending Gay by claiming that the attacks against her are racial in nature.

They are not. They are all well deserved.

The demand that Gay resign stems from the utter lack of moral competency she displayed in her testimony before Congress, in which she said that calling for the genocide of Jews is only against Harvard rules in certain contexts. She also failed to condemn the Hamas atrocities against Israel in real time on October 7, another reason she should resign. There is also now evidence of serial plagiarism. And did I mention Gay has published no books—an unprecedented feat for a Harvard President, unless one travels back in time to the year 1773?

And yet, many are coming to her defense. Having finally got their wish of a Black president of Harvard, Harvard seems unwilling to let her go. The racial wagons have circled around Gay, with President of the NAACP alleging that White Supremacy is afoot and Morehouse President David Thomas claiming in a Forbes interview that Gay is a scholar at the "top of her profession... as qualified as any President Harvard has ever had."

This is not only misguided, but deeply ironic. Did you know that Claudine Gay during her Harvard career has repeatedly targeted and disrupted the careers of prominent Black male professors?

As Dean of the College, Gay terminated Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. as Faculty Dean of the Winthrop House. Professor Sullivan, Jr., a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard Law School, was the first Black faculty dean of a house in the history of Harvard College.

What was Professor Sullivan's offense? Sullivan deigned to represent the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein—an act of moral conscience, since all are entitled to legal representation in our legal system. Yet legal conscience mattered not to Claudine Gay, who terminated a race pioneer for doing his civic duty.

You may excuse this heartless termination as a one-off. You would be wrong. Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. was next in the sights of Dean Gay. Fryer was a top Black professor at Harvard. After having overcome all sorts of hardship and childhood deprivation, Professor Fryer joined the faculty at Harvard to become the second-youngest professor ever to be awarded tenure at Harvard, and went on to blaze a trail of distinction, including winning the MacArthur Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal.

Yet when Fryer undertook research into the killings of unarmed Black men in Houston, Fryer's research found no racial disparities. He made the mistake of undercutting the racial narrative that the Left has adopted, and as a result, Gay did her best to remove all of his academic privileges, coordinating a witch hunt against him. Fryer survived Gay's crusade of discharge but Fryer's lab was shut down, his reputation tarnished.

No one in good faith should defend President Gay because she is the first Black president of Harvard. Even if you don't agree with me that our racial struggle is in our past, someone who has targeted Black male professors has waived any benefit of the "first Black" defense.

W. F. Twyman, Jr., Class of 1986 Harvard Law School, is a former law professor. He is also co-author of Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America published by Pitchstone Publishing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Claudine Gay is as corrupt as they come.

#Winkfield Twyman Jr.#Claudine Gay #Harvard University #Harvard #Claudine Gay is corrupt #Roland Fryer #academic corruption #diversity hire #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #plagiarism #corruption #religion is a mental illness

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todaysdocument · 2 months

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"Loyalty towards a Country or a Nation...is a covenant..."

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United StatesSeries: Criminal Case FilesFile Unit: United States of America vs. Kiyoshi Okamoto, et. al.

Loyalty towards a Country or a Nation is a m[a]tter of the sentiment. It is nurtured from a knowledge of justice received. It is a covenant of faith between the party of the People on the one hand and the Party of the Government on the other. Under this understanding, the People maintain the inviolability of our Instruments of Government. For this service, the Government assume the responsibilities of justice, freedom, liberty and security to It's Inhabitants. Under such an interpretation, the President terminated the agreement when he caused to be evacuated 112,000 People without due process of law. In so doing, he violated the very fundamentals of our democratic form of government. He disregarded the guarantees of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He caused us into Citizens without a Country. By these acts, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights become of doubtful value as Instruments guaranteeing Life, Liberty, Justice, Freedom and Security. With these conditions, where does our Country need us the most--on the home front where justice, freedom, democracy and liberty are slapped on the face or, on foreign battlefields to uphold dubious ideals and Principles? We believe a correct understanding must be had at this time between true patriotism and loyalty on the one hand and from regimented concept of misguided interpretations on the other. We believe the first duty of every true and loyal Citizen is the protection of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The cornerstone of these Instruments of our Government are Justice, Liberty, Security, Freedom, and the protection of Humane Rights. These are flagrantly violated in the various procedures of our evacuation, deportation and detention. We believe the issue forced upon us is sufficently vital as to warrant a decided attitude...not only for our benefit but, as a safeguard to our hitherto free and democratic form of government. It is vital as an issue of National defense if Democracy is to exist. [STRIKETHROUGH] If we are loyal and patriotic Citizens, we must keep an eagle eye on ten cent leaders who are unable to see beyond the 12-16-19 dollars paid them by the W. R. A.[END STRIKETHROUGH] Thus, to be drafted or not to be drafted or, to be loyal or not to be loyal as Citizens with suspended Rights are not the questions at issue. To us, the fundamentals of Democracy is at stake. In the preservation of the ideals and principles of freedom, justice and democratic practices as guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights within our own home front lie any hope to validate and justify any utterances of freedoms and democracies. We must rectify the breaches made upon the guarantees of justice, freedom and democratic practices by the Roosevelt Administration. THEREBY, AS TRUE AND LOYAL CITIZENS OF THIS NATION, WE ASK A FIRST CLARIFICATION OF OUR STATUS AND RIGHTS AS FORCED[full transcription at link]

#archivesgov #1940s #world war ii #February 15 #1944 #japanese internment #japanese american

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absolute-immunities · 1 year

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Massachusetts put Harvard in its constitution in 1780 and haven’t taken it out since. It’s the only college, university, school of any kind named in its text.

The constitution entrenches the powers of Harvard and its officers. The legislature cannot amend or revoke Harvard’s corporate powers by any act short of a constitutional amendment.

Chapter V, THE UNIVERSITY AT CAMBRIDGE, AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF LITERATURE, ETC.

Section I.The University.

Article I. Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so early as the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of God, been initiated in those arts and sciences, which qualified them for public employments, both in church and state: and whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America -- it is declared, that the President and Fellows of Harvard College, in their corporate capacity, and their successors in that capacity, their officers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy, all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and franchises, which they now have or are entitled to have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy: and the same are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the said president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, and to their officers and servants, respectively, forever.

(There’s something funny about putting the “President and Fellows of Harvard College” on par with “God” here.)

Massachusetts also entrenches Harvard donors’ right to see their gifts applied “according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors,” and confirms the rights and powers of the Harvard trustees.

Article II. And whereas there have been at sundry times, by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies and conveyances, heretofore made, either to Harvard College in Cambridge, in New England, or to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to the said college, by some other description, under several charters successively: it is declared, that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies and conveyances, are hereby forever confirmed unto the president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors.

State legislators and officials have a constitutional duty to cherish Harvard or its interests: “it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge.”

The constitution originally disqualified any “president, professor, or instructor of Harvard College” from serving in the state legislature—the same disability still imposed on state judges, sheriffs, customs officers, and attorneys-general—but Amendment XXVI removed the disqualification in 1877.

The Declaration of Rights, which was ratified together with the constitution, and annexed to it, says that special privileges are granted only for “services rendered to the public”:

No man, nor corporation, or association of men, have any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of services rendered to the public;

Harvard must be rendering exceptional service to the people of Massachusetts.

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