“Every defect in a man, and in others’ way of taking him, our agreement that gold has value gives us power to rise above.” – Regina Corrado, “Unauthorized Cinnamon”, Deadwood
Category: Politics & Law
“You never regret being kind. I really believe that. I have regretted being sarcastic. I have regretted losing my temper. But I’ve never regretted being kind.” – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (interviewed by Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press, July 7, 2024)
“We can never surrender to democracy’s enemies. We can never allow America to be defined by forces of division and hatred. We can never go backward in the progress we have made through the sacrifice and dedication of true patriots. We can never and will never relent in our pursuit of a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all Americans.” – Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman, Final Report, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
“For the first time in our Nation’s history, a grand jury has charged a former President with committing crimes while in office to overturn an election that he lost. In response, the defendant claims that to protect the institution of the Presidency, he must be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution unless the House impeached and the Senate convicted him for the same conduct. He is wrong. Separation-of-powers principles, constitutional text, history, and precedent all make clear that a former President may be prosecuted for criminal acts he committed while in office—including, most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election.” – from “Introduction” by Special Counsel Jack Smith, et al., “Answering Brief for the United States”, Filed December 30, 2023, Circuit Court for the District of Columbia
“In the field of base construction, the needless refinements, such as special ovens, meat grinders, steam tables, etc., appear excessive in a combat theater and exceed the capabilities of the constructing units.” – Colonel Joseph A. Jansen, “Operational Report – Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 168th Engineer Combat Battalion, Period Ending 31 July 1967 ”
“Airfield repair during use of facility – As often happens in Vietnam tactical necessity dictates immediate heavy usage of an abandoned or deteriorated runway. In order to insure continued use during the emergency, and to upgrade the field for greater capacity, an engineer repair force is airlifted to the assault field. Military police must keep unnecessary traffic off the runway.” – Lieutenant Colonel John R. Manning, “Operational Report – Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 168th Engineer Combat Battalion, Period Ending 31 July 1967 ”
“Blasting – substitute for delay caps – The non-availability of delay caps called for the innovation of some type delay firing system. The problem was successfully solved by removing the rheostat from a fan speed control box so that five (5) circuits could be fired in rapid sequence by simply turning the knob.” – Lieutenant Colonel John R. Manning, “Operational Report – Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 168th Engineer Combat Battalion, Period Ending 31 July 1967 ”
“Safety equipment – The primary hazards to Rome plow operators are sniper fire, shrapnel, and being struck by limbs and trees. In addition red ants and bees cause a great deal of discomfort. The wearing of flak jackets and steel helmets must be mandatory. No Rome plow should be operated without the protective cab. An ample supply of insect repellant should be on hand at all times.” – Lieutenant Colonel John R. Manning, “Operational Report – Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 168th Engineer Combat Battalion, Period Ending 31 July 1967 ”
“True power does not need arrogance, a long beard and a barking voice. True power strangles you with silk ribbons, charm, and intelligence.” – Oriana Fallaci (as quoted by Slavoj Žižek in First As Tragedy, Then As Farce)
“There is no such thing as a neutral market: in every particular situation, market configurations are always regulated by political decisions. The true dilemma is thus not ‘Should the state intervene?’ but ‘What kind of state intervention is necessary?’” – Slavoj Žižek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce
“At the outbreak of the war Iceland enjoyed the status of autonomous parliamentary monarchy, sharing the same king with Denmark. When the Nazis overran the latter nation in April 1940, the Icelandic Parliament voted to take over the executive power of the Danish King and to assume control of foreign affairs. The strategic island became, for all practical purposes, a completely independent republic—and a wholly defenseless one without even the pretense of an army or navy. This state of affairs gave rise to considerable concern in London and Washington, more genuine concern than it caused initially among the insular-minded Icelanders. To the British the threat appeared very desperate indeed. Early in May they determined to occupy Iceland, and the need for speed and secrecy fused decision and action. There was no time to stand on ceremony; despite Churchill’s bland assertion that the British occupation of Iceland was effected ‘with the concurrence of its people,’ they had, in fact, not been consulted beforehand. ‘As the attitude likely to be adopted by the Icelandic Government toward such an ‘invasion’ was in some doubt they were not informed of the proposed expedition.’ Indeed the first inkling the natives had that anything out of the ordinary was afoot came when early-rising fishermen discovered a British destroyer nosing up to a jetty in the harbor of the island capital, Reykjavik. At 0620 on 10 May, a reinforced battalion of Royal Marines landed and occupied the town, moving so swiftly that it was able to seize the German Consulate before the hapless Consul could destroy his papers.” – Lt. Col. Frank O. Hough, USMCR, Maj. Verle E. Ludwig, USMC, and Henry I. Shaw, Jr., “Marine Occupation of Iceland,” Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, Vol. I
“There are always options other than kicking in the front door.” – Justin King, “The Roads to a Q&A on Verdict Watch Day,” Beau of the Fifth Column, May 30, 2024
“As much as people love to use the Founding Fathers as a reason why the youths these days can’t wear lipstick and listen to horny pop music, everything we know about history leads us to the expectation that Benjamin Franklin would probably actually fucking love it here today.” – Noah Caldwell-Gervais, The Lincoln Highway: Across America on the First Transcontinental Motor Route
“Foreign policy isn’t fair. It’s not fair for politicians, either.” – Justin King, “The Roads Not Taken, Ep 38,” Beau of the Fifth Column, May 12, 2024
“The government’s greatest power to change the landscape isn’t with bulldozing or bombs, it’s the ability to transform nature into squares, with a simple stroke of the pen.” – Noah Caldwell-Gervais, The Lincoln Highway: Across America on the First Transcontinental Motor Route
“The problem with history is that it’s full of incredible jokes that take too damn long to set up.” – Noah Caldwell-Gervais, The Lincoln Highway: Across America on the First Transcontinental Motor Route
“People don’t vote based on foreign policy. They really don’t. It’s not a major issue for most people. You will have some. When I say ‘people,’ just understand that that’s a generalization. But most time, people vote based on ‘the pebble in their shoe’.” – Justin King, “Let’s talk about intersections, politics, and the pebble in your shoe . . .”, Beau of the Fifth Column, April 26, 2024
“It is better and cheaper to have a strong Army and not need it than it is to need a strong Army and not have it.” – Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
“Any politician should be put in jail who votes for an appropriation bill and fails to vote the tax to pay for it.” – Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
“Political hyperbole cannot substitute for legal argument. The Court must decide issues based the laws and facts before it. It is improper for courts to accept a fact as true simply because a governor has declared it so or the House of Representatives narrowly declares so in a non-binding resolution.” – Judge David Alan Ezra, United States of America, et al. v. State of Texas, et al.
“The thing to know about cameras and government is, if the camera is rolling, nothing really important is happening. What you’re watching is the theater. The governing will not be televised.” – Lawrence O’Donnell, “The Last Word,” February 21, 2024
“The five Pillars of Aristocracy are Beauty, Wealth, Birth, Genius, and Virtues. Any one of the three first, can at any time, over bear any one or both of the two last.” John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 15, 1813 (capitalization and punctuation in original)
“Inequalities of Mind and Body are so established by God Almighty in the Constitution of Human Nature that no Art or policy can ever plain them down to a level.” – John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 19, 1813 (capitalization and spelling in original)
“The same political parties which now agitate the U.S. have existed thro’ all time. And in fact the terms of whig and tory belong to natural as well as to civil history. They denote the temper and constitution and mind of different individuals.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, June 27, 1813
“I am 60 years old and can give you some advice. Never commit a crime against anybody whatsoever. That’s how you’ll grow old with clean hands.” – Mikhail Bulgakov, The Heart of a Dog (trans. Avril Pyman)
“At the end of the day, it’s cheaper to be a good person.” – Justin King, “Let’s talk about Tennessee, the ACLU, and $500,000 . . .,” February 10, 2024
“I want a dyke for president. I want a person with aids for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn’t have a choice about getting leukemia. I want a president that had an abortion at sixteen and I want a candidate who isn’t the lesser of two evils and I want a president who lost their last lover to aids, who still sees that in their eyes every time they lay down to rest, who held their lover in their arms and knew they were dying. I want a president with no air conditioning, a president who has stood on line at the clinic, at the dmv, at the welfare office and has been unemployed and layed off and sexually harrassed and gaybashed and deported. I want someone who has spent the night in the tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and survived rape. I want someone who has been in love and been hurt, who respects sex, who has made mistakes and learned from them. I want a Black woman for president, I want someone with bad teeth, someone who has eaten hospital food, someone who crossdresses and has done drugs and been in therapy, I want someone who has committed civil disobedience. And I want to know why this isn’t possible. I want to know why we started learning somewhere down the line that a president is always a clown: always a john and never a hooker. Always a boss and never a worker, always a liar, always a thief and never caught.” – Zoe Leonard, “I want a president”
“In recognition of the fact that wartime military planning was inextricably involved with foreign policy, the Army planners intensified their efforts from the spring of 1943 onward to improve liaison with the White House and State Department. By and large, the Army remained preoccupied both before and after the spring of 1943 with the more strictly military aspects of national policy. This reflected staff acceptance of the code, on which it had been working since before the war, that civilian authorities determine the ‘what’ of national policy and the military confine themselves to the ‘how.’ Yet it is also apparent that the fine line between foreign policy and military policy was becoming increasingly blurred as the war went on. The President felt compelled to take an active part in military affairs, and the Army staff found more and more that it could not keep foreign and political affairs out of its military calculations. It had become painfully clear to the staff since the summer of 1942 that political policy might not permit the armed forces to follow the quickest and most direct road to victory according to its lights.” – Maurice Matloff, Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare:1943-1944
“To the New England mind, roads, schools, clothes, and a clean face were connected as part of the law of order or divine system. Bad roads meant bad morals.” – Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams
“If a country can be said to possess a soul, then America’s is the patent system: the simple, fair method of staking claim to a new idea and getting the chance to make money from it.” – Julia Keller, Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel