Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Former CVS ...

... also formerly Central Casting.
By 1922, there were an estimated 30,000 extras in LA and not nearly enough jobs to go around. With no system in place to regulate Background Actors, many people looking to break into the industry were exploited. To restore Hollywood’s image, Will Hays, the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, formed the Central Casting Corporation in 1925.

For producers, the creation of Central Casting allowed them to continue operating without government interference while providing a consistent stream of Background Actors for their films. For Background Actors, Central Casting provided a road map to working as an extra in Hollywood.
If this reporter had a dime for every poor sap/sapette he's seen passed out on the sidewalks around this edifice over the past 40+ yrs. he'd have around 50¢.

New Guinea Campaign Concludes

MON 31 JUL 1944
Pacific
TF 77 (Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler) lands Army troops on Cape Sansapor, New Guinea, in second phase of Operation GLOBETROTTER, thus concluding the New Guinea campaign.

Coordinated submarine attack group TG 17.15 (Commander Lewis S. Parks) carries out succession of attacks on Japanese convoy near the Bashi Channel. Submarine Parche (SS-384) (flagship) sinks transport Manko Maru 19°08'N, 120°51'E, and merchant tanker Koei Maru, 19°00'N, 122°55'E, and damages merchant cargo ship No.1 Ogura Maru, 19°10'N, 120°58'E, and army cargo ship Fuso Maru, and teams with Steelhead (SS-280) to sink army cargo ship Yoshino Maru, 19°05'N, 120°50.5'E. Steelhead sinks Fuso Maru, 19°00'N, 120°55'E, and damages army cargo ship Dakar Maru, 19°08'N, 120°51'E, which is towed to San Fernando and abandoned. For the heroism he displays in pressing home a daring surface attack, Parche's captain, Commander Lawson P. Ramage, will be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Submarine Dace (SS-247) sinks small Japanese cargo vessel Shinju Maru 20 miles west of Palimban Point, 06°15'N, 124°11'E.

Submarine Lapon (SS-260) attacks Japanese convoy, sinking merchant tanker Tenshin Maru off the southwest tip of Palawan, 08°50'N, 116°00'E, and damages weather ship Hijun Maru, 08°51'N, 116°45'E.

Europe
U.S. freighter Exmouth is mined and sunk about 60 miles off the Scottish coast while en route from Hull, England, to Loch Ewe, Scotland, 56°33'N, 01°38'W; there are no casualties among the 43 merchant sailors and the 27-man Armed Guard.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Having A Heat Wave

Somewhere, it's 106 degrees ...

Operation GLOBETROTTER

SUN 30 JUL 1944
Pacific
TF 77 (Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler) lands Army 6th Infantry Division (Major General Franklin C. Sibert, USA) near Cape Opmari, northwest New Guinea, and on islands of Amsterdam and Middleburg, in the first phase of Operation GLOBETROTTER.

Cargo ship Adhara (AK-71) and U.S. merchant vessel Peter White are damaged when the latter accidentally rams the Navy ship off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal.

Sometime during July 1944, open lighter YC-961 is lost after grounding off Biorka Island, Alaska.

Submarine Bonefish (SS-223) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Kokuy_ Maru about 75 miles northeast of Borneo, 06°07'N, 120°00'E.

USAAF B-25s attack Japanese installations and shipping at Tobele, Halmahera, sinking small cargo vessel Mansei Maru.

Atlantic
Off Normandy, mines sink motor minesweeper YMS-304 and damage YMS-378, 49°33'N, 01°14'W.

Republican Presidential Racism

Tim Naftali / The Atlantic:
‘Those Monkeys From Those African Countries’  —  In a newly unearthed conversation with Richard Nixon, then-California Governor Ronald Reagan used racist language to disparage delegates to the United Nations.  —  The day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People's Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States. “Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Nixon gave a huge laugh.
Naomi LaChance / Splinter:   Surprise: Trump Wasn't the First Wildly Racist President
Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing:   Racist Ronald Reagan called Africans “monkeys” in taped call with Nixon
Sorry, Washington Examiner, Reagan was a racist. So was Nixon.

Monday, July 29, 2019

F.D.R. Off To Aleutians

FRI 29 JUL 1944
Pacific
Heavy cruiser Baltimore (CA-68), with President Roosevelt embarked, departs Pearl Harbor for Adak, Aleutians.

Tank landing ship LST-340 is damaged by grounding, Marianas, 15°10'N, 145°58'E.
Submarine Drum (SS-228) sinks Japanese sampan Asahi Maru 100 miles off Palau, 09°18'N, 133°20'E.

Submarine Perch (SS-313) sinks Japanese guardboat Kannon Maru I-Go in Philippine Sea, east of Dinagat Island, 10°46'N, 127°13'E.

Europe
USAAF B-17s (Eighth Air Force) bomb oil refinery near Bremen; German submarines U-878 and U-2323 are lost this day in bombing raids on that German port city.

Veiled Threat Of The Day

Sunday, July 28, 2019

MacArthur Prevails

FRI 28 JUL 1944
Pacific
President Roosevelt, Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Leahy and General MacArthur meet in Honolulu to discuss Pacific strategy. Ultimately, General MacArthur prevails upon the President and Admiral Nimitz to accord priority to the liberation of the Philippines.

Destroyer escorts Wyman (DE-38) and Reynolds (DE-42) sink Japanese submarine I-55, 400 miles east of Tinian, 14°26'N, 152°16'E.
Submarine Aspro (SS-309) damages previously damaged Japanese gunboat Peking Maru aground off Vigan Point, Luzon, 17°33'N, 120°21'E; Peking Maru remains aground, a total loss, gutted and abandoned.

Submarine Crevalle (SS-291) attacks Japanese convoy off northwestern Luzon, sinking merchant cargo ship Hakubasan Maru off Piedra Point, 16°23'N, 119°40'E.

Parasitic Vermin Landlord

Living Up To The Slumlord Stereotype

“In a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday, President Trump characterized Rep. Elijah Cummings’s Baltimore-based congressional district as a ‘rodent infested mess’ where ‘no human’ would want to live,” the Washington Post reports.

“His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited for hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide substandard housing to lower-income tenants … Tenants of Kushner properties reported mouse infestations, mold problems and maggots.”
[Political Wire]

The Realist

Remembered by Mr. Fish.

Paul Krassner Gave a Shit About Everything

Not forgotten.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Shipping "Worked Over"

THU 27 JUL 1944
Pacific
As TF 58 strikes against Japanese installations and shipping in the western Carolines continue, Navy carrier planes sink fast transport T.1 off Palau; planes from carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) sink landing ship T.150.

Submarine Dace (SS-247) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks fleet tanker No.2 Kyoei Maru about 90 miles south of Zamboanga, 05°25'N, 121°42'E.

USAAF B-24s, B-25s and P-38s work over Japanese shipping near Halmahera Island, damaging motor sailboat Genjo Maru.

Japanese escort destroyer Kunashiri is damaged (cause unspecified) west of Paramushiro, Kurils.

Saturday Spinners:
"Games People Play"

Great everything on this classic: Composition, performance, arrangement, production, yada.
Back to MONO! (And cut a minute ten for airplay.)
"Games People Play" featured guest vocalist Evette L. Benton[13] (though producer Bell disputed this in a UK-based interview, claiming Evette's line was actually group member Henry Fambrough – his voice sped up)[14] and led to the nickname "Mister 12:45" for bass singer Jackson, after his signature vocal line on the song.

Friday, July 26, 2019

F.D.R. Arrives In Hawai'i

WED 26 JUL 1944
Pacific
Heavy cruiser Baltimore (CA-68), with President Roosevelt embarked, arrives at Pearl Harbor, T.H.; the President will meet with Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Leahy, and General MacArthur to discuss Pacific strategy.

TF 58 strikes against Japanese installations and shipping in western Carolines continue; planes from carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) damage landing ship T.150 (see 27 July 1944); planes from Lexington (CV-16) damage minelayer Sokuten, which is then finished off by planes from Bunker Hill at 07°20'N, 134°27'E.

U.S. submarines carry out succession of attacks on Japanese convoy in South China Sea. Angler (SS-240) damages transport (ex-seaplane carrier) Kiyokawa Maru, 18°15'N, 118°00'E; Flasher (SS-249) sinks merchant tanker Otoriyama Maru, 17°56'N, 118°07'E, and teams with Crevalle (SS-291) to sink army cargo ship Tosan Maru, 18°24'N, 118°02'E; Crevalle sinks transport Aki Maru, 18°26'N, 118°02'E.

Submarine Robalo (SS-273) is sunk by mine off western Palawan, Balabac Strait, P.I., 08°25'N, 117°53'E.19.*

Submarine Sawfish (SS-276) sinks Japanese submarine I-29 in Balintang Channel, Luzon Strait, 20°10'N, 121°55'E.

*Among those lost with Robalo is her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Manning M. Kimmel, one of the sons of Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, who had been Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet on 7 December 1941.

The Skin Crawls

Friday Freak-Out

"Tobacco Road" - The Blues Magoos

W/ Jack Benny.Album version, w/o Jack Benny.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

All Hands Perish

TUE 25 JUL 1944
Pacific
Aircraft from TF 58 (Vice Adm Marc A. Mitscher) attack Japanese installations and shipping in the western Carolines, at Yap, Ulithi, Fais, Ngulu, Sorol, and Palau; strikes continue until 28 July. F6Fs from small carrier San Jacinto (CVL-30) damage destroyer Samidare 30 miles north of Babelthuap, Palau, 08°15'N, 134°37'E (see 18 and 26 August 1944). F6Fs from carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) sink guardboat Ryojin Maru, 07°30'N, 134°30'E.

USAAF B-25s sink Japanese salvage vessel Hoshin Maru 70 nautical miles east of Hong Kong, 22°00'N, 115°50'E.

Atlantic
Small seaplane tender Matagorda (AVP-22) rescues all 67 survivors of U.S. freighter William Gaston, sunk on 22 July by German submarine U-861 approximately 150 miles southeast of Florianapolis, Brazil.

U.S. freighter Robin Goodfellow* is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-862 while en route from Cape Town, South Africa, to New York, at 20°03'S, 14°21'W. All hands (including the 27 Armed Guard sailors and the 41-man merchant complement) perish.

Europe
U.S. freighter David Starr Jordan is bombed and strafed while anchored off Utah Beach, Normandy; two of the 500 soldiers embarked on board are killed by bomb fragments, while 13 other men from among the 43-man merchant complement and 26-man Armed Guard are injured.

*Wondered after whom this poor vessel was named. Puck, of Shakespearean fame. What fools these ...

No Thing To See Here

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Please Don't Kill Him (Until He's Squealed On All His Pervert Pals)

Bum-mer:
Jonathan Dienst / NBC New York:
Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in NYC Jail Cell After Possible Suicide Attempt or Assault: Sources  —  One source says an assault has not been ruled out, and that another inmate accused of murder has been questioned  —  No Bail for NYC Financier Jeff Epstein
New York Post:   Jeffrey Epstein found nearly unconscious in NYC jail cell after possible suicide attempt
The Daily Beast:   Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in Manhattan Jail Cell
Matt Naham / Law & Crime:   Accused Child Sex-Trafficker Jeffrey Epstein Found ‘Injured and in Fetal Position’ in Jail Cell
TMZ.com:   Jeffrey Epstein Injured in NYC Jail Cell, Possible Suicide Attempt
Joshua Caplan / Breitbart:   Report: Jeffrey Epstein Found ‘Semi-Conscious’ in Jail Cell After Possible Attack
Nate Nickolai / Variety:   Jeffrey Epstein Reportedly Found Injured In Jail Cell
Shane Trejo / Big League Politics:   SUICIDE? Jeffrey Epstein Found with Marks Around His Neck in New York City Jail Cell
Ross A. Lincoln / The Wrap:   Jeffrey Epstein Injured in NYC Jail Cell (Report)
Dienekes / Dienekes' Place:   BREAKING: Jeffrey Epstein Found ‘Injured’ In Jail Cell With Marks Around His Neck
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:   BREAKING: Clinton Pal Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in His Jail Cell After Possible Suicide
Shelby Talcott / The Daily Caller:   Jeffrey Epstein Found Semi-Conscious In Cell, Markings On Neck: Report
Adam L Silverman / Balloon Juice:   Breaking News: Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured In His Cell
Chicago Sun-Times:   Jeffrey Epstein reportedly injured
NBC News:
Jeffrey Epstein found injured with marks on his neck in New York jail cell, sources say  —  A source questioned whether Epstein might have staged an attack or a suicide attempt to get a move to another facility.  —  Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire financier who is being held …
Peter Weber / The Week:   Jeffrey Epstein reportedly found injured in jail with marks on his neck

Landing On Tinian

MON 24 JUL 1944
Pacific
TF 52 (Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill) lands 4th Marine Division (Major General Harry Schmidt, USMC) on Tinian. Landing, which initially encounters light opposition, is supported by naval gunfire, carrier aircraft, and land-based aircraft from Saipan. Shore batteries on Tinian damage battleship Colorado (BB-45) and destroyer Norman Scott (DD-690) at 15°02'N, 145°50'E; and tank landing ship LST-481 at 13°24'N, 144°39'E.
USAAF B-24s (5th Air Force) sink Japanese transport Asahisan Maru in Kau Bay, Halmahera, 01°10'N, 127°54'E.

Atlantic
German submarine U-861 attacks convoy JT 99 and eludes search aircraft from escort carrier Solomons (CVE-67).

Fox News Doing Its Job

David Bauder / Associated Press:
NowThis has attracted attention by creating pointed media criticism with videos illustrating inconsistencies by Fox News personalities  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the day's most pointed media criticism lets its subjects do the talking.  —  The news outlet NowThis has attracted attention with videos that illustrate inconsistencies by Fox News personalities, like one posted Tuesday that contrasts the news network’s treatment of Michelle Obama with her successor as first lady, Melania Trump.

Clips show Fox commentators criticizing Michelle Obama’s wardrobe, saying she needed to drop a few pounds and calling her the “merchant of death.” Meanwhile, Melania Trump is called stunning, spectacular and “a woman of strength who should be revered.”

Back-to-back clips show Fox’s Dana Perino suggesting that Michelle Obama gets a pass from criticism and, at another point, saying “she’s carrying a bag that costs $1,200 and nobody said a thing.”

“You can’t dispute video when you see the hypocrisy very directly,” said Athan Stephanopoulos, NowThis’ president.
First the "Twinkie" defense, now the "Fox News" defense. They incite murder & sedition, then their incitement is used as a defense by the true believer mental case.

Splashdown!

Bored & Irked Already

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Cosmic Stench

Didn't know this, or forgot it in the intervening 50 yrs.
Moon dirt smells.
A big question facing the NASA team planning the Apollo 11 moon landing was what the moon’s surface would be like—would the lander’s legs touch down on firm ground, or sink into something soft? The surface turned out to be solid, but the real surprise was that the moon had a smell.

Moon soil is extremely clingy and hard to brush off, so when Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the lunar module and repressurized it, lunar dirt that had clung to the men’s suits entered the cabin and began to emit an odor. The astronauts reported that it had a burned smell like wet fireplace ashes, or like the air after a fireworks show.

Scientists would never get the chance to investigate just what the crew was smelling. While moon soil and rock samples were sent to labs in sealed containers, once they were opened back on Earth, the smell was gone. Somehow, as Charles Fishman, author of One Giant Leap, says, “The smell of the moon remained on the moon.”
And in five more successful missions they didn't investigate further? What can they be hiding?
For the post-literate, One Giant Leap discussed by the typist. And a sincere & heart-felt fuck you to hell to C-SPAN, which doesn't provide an embed code for its stupid videos. Not sure I should give them the satisfaction of linking;
on the other hand it's not as if anyone will read this, let alone bother to click to yet another load of codswallop.

"... premature detonation .."

SUN 23 JUL 1944
Pacific
Destroyer Bush (DD-529) is damaged by premature detonation of 5-inch shell during shore bombardment exercises off Kahoolawe, T.H.

High speed minesweeper Chandler (DMS-9) is damaged by fire, Marianas, 15°08'N, 145°28'E.
British submarine HMS Storm sinks Japanese cargo ship Kiso Maru and fishing vessel Taihu Maru near Port Owen, 14°00'N, 96°50'E.

Japanese guardboat Wakayoshi Maru is sunk by mine, Hayatomo Seto, Inland Sea.

Japanese cargo vessel Takazan Maru is damaged by RAAF mine in Tiore Strait, Celebes, 04°25'S, 122°17'E. Later (indeterminate date) [sic] inflicted by what are most likely USAAF planes result in her ultimate sinking by 5 October.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter William Gaston is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-861 while she is en route from Buenos Aires to Baltimore, 26°37'S, 46°13'W; there are no casualties among either the merchant or Armed Guard complements (see 25 July 1944).

Juxtaposition

(Republican) Fambly Values: Cheating & Greed

Blake Apgar / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Former Nevada Sen. John Ensign divorces wife  —  Former Sen. John Ensign and his wife, Darlene, left, pictured with former Ensign aide Doug Hampton and his wife, Cynthia.  (Inside Edition) Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., answers a question about his extra-marital affair during a town hall meeting ...
Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:   Remember John Ensign? He just got divorced from wife of three decades
CNBC:
Betsy DeVos and family see profits soar after Trump tax reform bill, deregulation efforts  —  KEY POINTS  — Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her family have seen their investments skyrocket since President Donald Trump started enacting business policies that have helped ...
I'm a goddam lizard person myself, & all these horrible fucking people make my skin crawl.

Worse Every Day

Gin & Tacos' Ed has very negative expectations at The Baffler.
None of the relevant social, political, or economic institutions are undergoing an intergenerational transition of power; instead, Boomers have decided simply to stay at the helm until death comes, and since nobody except them has ever mattered it’s no big deal if everything burns down on their way out.
My sentiments almost exactly. ('Cept I'm the only one who ever mattered, not some amorphous "they".) Let Babylon burn. It's fucking Babylon!
America's been eating its young since forever. Why did you special snowflakes think you wouldn't be next?
Far as we're concerned, everything's made out of shit & we're all dying, so in the (not really that) long run ...
... it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference.

Monday, July 22, 2019

F.D.R. Sails For Hawai'i Hype Tour

SAT 22 JUL 1944
Pacific
President Roosevelt sails for Hawaii in heavy cruiser Baltimore (CA-68) to confer with Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur and focus attention on the Pacific campaign and encourage American armed forces that the President is devoting his personal attention to that theater of war--at a time when the European war appears to be attracting the most headlines.
Meanwhile:

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Operation STEVEDORE

FRI 21 JUL 1944
Pacific
TF 53 (Rear Admiral Richard L. Conolly) lands Marines (3d Marine Division and 1st Provisional Marine Brigade) and Army forces (77th Infantry) under Major General Roy S. Geiger, USMC, on Guam, in Operation STEVEDORE. Assault, described as having all the characteristics of "a well-rehearsed play" is preceded by intensive naval gunfire and carrier-based aircraft strikes. Simultaneous employment of naval gunfire and aircraft in the same coastal area marks the first time that the two have been used in this fashion in a Pacific amphibious operation. While enemy opposition is small at the outset, determined resistance develops inland. Submarine chaser SC-1326 is damaged by mortar fire, Guam, 13°24'N, 144°39'E.

"We're On Our Way, Houston"

What the government would have you believe. Absurd, innit?

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Moto Cops

Heard the siren; I'll just assume the black BRZ ran the light or some other such bullshit.
And the Kraut-made horse you rode in on!
If the police must beat the shit out of people, why not the dangerous air-polluters who jeopardize my life whenever they get behind the wheel?
Spotted! Better git while the gittin's good.

Frogmen!

THU 20 JUL 1944
Pacific
All beach obstacles on Guam have been removed by underwater demolition teams: 640 on Asan beach and over 300 on Agat.

Submarine Cobia (SS-245) engages three-ship Japanese convoy northwest of Chichi Jima, sinking auxiliary submarine chasers No.3 Yusen Maru and No.2 Kaio Maru, 28°06'N, 141°32'E, and damaging cargo vessel Shoei Maru, but not before one of the escorts, however, rams Cobia, causing minor damage.

"The Eagle has landed."

[Pappy's Golden Age Comics/Comic Book+]

Saturday Nite Suck-Fest:
Simple Sounds For Musical Morons

For reasons unknown, this ear-wormed me*, putting me firmly in the musical maroon camp; I thought I'd share.
For historical purposes, dig the canals of VeneziaVenice, Calif. 50+ yrs. ago in the opening of the 1966 Corman classic.

*Last Sat., the 13th. Researching then, I noted The Wild Angels was released 20 July 1966 & figured it could wait until next (now this) Sat., for greater "meaning".

Friday, July 19, 2019

Sensing A Theme?

George Nader with President Donald Trump at a Republican fundraiser in Dallas on Oct. 25, 2017. AP file
Erin Banco / The Daily Beast:
George Nader, Witness in Mueller Probe, Hit With New Charges of Sex Trafficking  —  The key cooperator faces additional child-porn charges in a new indictment to be unsealed Friday.  —  George Nader, who was a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:   Key Mueller Witness Indicted On Child Sex-Trafficking Charges
Josh Gerstein / Politico:   Businessman who testified in Mueller probe indicted on child pornography charges
Axios:   Mueller witness George Nader charged with sex trafficking
Cristina Laila / The Gateway Pundit:   Mueller's ‘Star Witness’ George Nader Indicted on Additional Child Sex Crime Charges
Morgan Phillips / Mediaite:   Mueller Witness and Jared Kushner's Middle East Fixer Hit With Sex Trafficking Charges
Alberto Luperon / Law & Crime:   Mueller Witness George Nader Faces New Charges in Child Porn Case, Won't Be Bailed Out
Xeni Jardin / Boing Boing:   George Nader indicted on child porn charges and traveling with a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity
Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
George Nader indicted on child sex transportation charges
CNN:   Key Mueller witness George Nader hit with underage sex trafficking, child porn charges
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Mueller witness George Nader charged with transporting 14-year-old boy for sex, child porn
Ryan Saavedra / Daily Wire:   Key Witness In Mueller Investigation Indicted On Sex Trafficking, Child Porn Charges
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein speak at a party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., in November 1992. (NBC)
Remember, both Epstein & Nader have already been convicted on very similar charges, except that Nader's involve the proverbial "live boy".

Flasher Sinks Oi

WED 19 JUL 1944
Pacific
Destroyer escort Wyman (DE-38) sinks Japanese submarine I-5, 360 miles east of Guam, 13°01'N, 151°58'E.

Submarine Flasher (SS-249) sinks Japanese light cruiser Oi in South China Sea, 280 miles east of Cape Varella, French Indochina, 13°12'N, 114°52'E.

Submarine Guardfish (SS-217) attacks Japanese army cargo ship Teiryu Maru in South China Sea, southwest of Formosa, 20°00'N, 118°29'E.

Submarine Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese guardboat No.1 Hokuriku Maru northeast of Tori Jima, 31°30'N, 140°00'E.

RAAF Mitchells sink Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa.4 off Dili, Timor, 08°38'S, 125°26'E; small cargo vessel No.53 Ebisu Maru off southwest coast of Alor Island; and motor sailboat Bokkai Maru southwest of Alor,08°30'S, 124°27'E.

Aircraft sink Japanese ship Tenyo Maru off Saipan.

USAAF B-24s damage Coast Defense Vessel No.16, 156 miles southwest of Yap, Carolines.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

New Nipponese Cabinet Formed

TUE 18 JUL 1944
Pacific
Premier Tojo and the Japanese cabinet resign; General Koiso forms a new cabinet.

Fleet tug Apache (ATF-67) retrieves disabled LCI(G)-348 from waters off Guam where she had been abandoned the day before. Cruiser gunfire supports the successful extraction.

Motor gunboat PGM-7 is damaged in collision in Bismarck Sea, 07°15'S, 155°40'E.

Coordinated submarine attack group, TG 17.3 (Captain Warren D. Wilkin), operating near Luzon Strait, attacks Japanese convoy; submarine Tilefish (SS-307), trailing Rock (SS-274) and Sawfish (SS-276), torpedoes Coast Defense Vessel No.17, 21°50'N, 119°55'E as the latter hunts for Rock, whose attack on enemy ships is not successful. Sawfish torpedoes oiler Harima Maru, 21°56'N, 119°50'E.

Submarine Cobia (SS-245) sinks Japanese gunboat No.10 Unkai Maru northwest of Chichi Jima, 29°15'N, 139°10'E, and army cargo ship Nisshu Maru west of Chichi Jima, 28°17'N, 139°00'E.

Submarine Lapon (SS-260) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Kurama Maru off southern end of Palawan, 08°22'N, 116°40'E; and survey ship No.36 Kyodo Maru and auxiliary submarine chaser Kamo Maru northwest of Labuan, Borneo, 08°22'N, 116°45'E.

Submarine Plaice (SS-390) attacks Japanese convoy, sinking submarine chaser Ch 50, 200 nautical miles northwest of Chichi Jima, 29°22'N, 139°14'E.

Submarine Ray (SS-271) sinks Japanese merchant tanker Jambi Maru (ex-Dutch Djambi) in the Java Sea north of Bawean Island, 05°21'S, 112°30'E.

USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese transport No.3 Kaio Maru northwest of Morotai, 03°14'N, 127°41'E.

USAAF B-25s sink small Japanese cargo vessel Yamahama Maru off Maumere.

Auf Wiedersehen, Függsvütten Beagle!

A long & strange 81 yrs. & two months
for the Hitlermobile.
Or is that hippiemobile?
Two Woodstock attendees on their Volkswagen Beetle in 1969.
An emblem of the hippie era in America, the car was marketed in the U.S. as adorably uncool.
Three Lions/Getty Images

One After 909

Day 910 of the current oppression.

Bugger Off ...

... to where you once belonged.

Further Botheration

Not only is today's ballgame on at the un-holy hr. of 0930PDT, apparently YouTube has acquired the visual rights. I'm assuming it won't be the technological failure Facebook's effort of last yr. (Or was it 2017? It all blurs together, & I won't be arsed to look up my earlier bitch & moan on the subject.) was, but that assumes the Chromecast will allow itself to be located.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

"Send Her Back!"

Trump Declares Candidacy for President of the Confederacy

[No, really.]

Port Chicago

MON 17 JUL 1944
Pacific
Ammunition-carrying U.S. freighter E.A. Bryan explodes at the Port Chicago, California, ammunition depot; the adjacent freighter Quinalt Victory is also destroyed. Armed Guards on board both vessels are wiped out. Among the casualties are 250 African-American sailors. When survivors refuse to return to work in the wake of the blast, they are convicted of mutiny. The explosion destroys the greater part of smoke-making material earmarked for shipment to Pearl Harbor for use in amphibious operations, rendering it impossible to provide that material for Operation STALEMATE before the ships leave for the staging area in the Solomon Islands.
The date was July 17, 1944. The place: the munitions facility at Port Chicago, California, 35 miles north of San Francisco. African-American Navy personnel units had been assigned to the dangerous work of loading munitions, with loading happening around the clock.

On the evening of July 17, empty merchant ship SS E.A. Bryan, another merchant ship, had just returned from her first voyage and was loading across the platform from Quinault Victory. The holds were packed with high explosive and incendiary bombs, depth charges, and ammunition - 4,606 tons of ammunition in all. There were sixteen rail cars on the pier with another 429 tons. Working in the area were 320 cargo handlers, crewmen and sailors.

At 10:18 p.m., an explosion ripped apart the night sky. Witnesses said that a brilliant white flash shot into the air, accompanied by a loud, sharp report. Flashing like fireworks, smaller explosions went off in the cloud as it rose. Within six seconds, a deeper explosion erupted as the contents of the E.A. Bryan detonated in one massive explosion. The seismic shock wave was felt as far away as Boulder City, Nevada.
The E.A. Bryan and the structures around the pier were completely disintegrated. A pillar of fire and smoke stretched over two miles into the sky above Port Chicago. The largest remaining pieces of the 7,200-ton ship were the size of a suitcase. A plane flying at 9,000 feet reported seeing chunks of white hot metal "as big as a house" flying past. The shattered Quinault Victory was spun into the air. Witnesses reported seeing a 200-foot column on which rode the bow of the ship, its mast still attached. Its remains crashed back into the bay 500 feet away.

All 320 men on duty that night were killed instantly. The blast smashed buildings and rail cars near the pier and damaged every building in Port Chicago. People on the base and in town were sent flying or were sprayed with splinters of glass and other debris. The air filled with the sharp cracks and dull thuds of smoldering metal and unexploded shells as they showered back to earth as far as two miles away. The blast caused damage 48 miles across the Bay in San Francisco.

The disaster sparked controversy in its aftermath. It was determined that inadequate training, hazardous conditions and irresponsible labor practices all contributed to the disaster. Many of the surviving sailors felt that their commanders had not properly addressed these issues when they asked them to continue to work. In response, they protested with a work stoppage.

Although no violence or threat of violence occurred, the Navy viewed the work stoppage as a mutiny. In September 1944, the Navy charged 50 of the Port Chicago sailors with disobeying orders and initiating a mutiny. A court-martial found them guilty in October.

The disaster at Port Chicago and its aftermath are important moments in African-American history. The events caught the attention of civil rights activist and chief counsel of the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall. He believed that the court-martial unjustly charged the sailors with mutiny. Furthermore, he called for a government investigation of the Navy’s practice of assigning African-American service members to segregated support roles, as well as the unsafe conditions that the sailors worked in. Bringing national attention to these issues contributed to the executive order that desegregated the military in 1948. The legacies of the Port Chicago sailors still resonate today.

Many of the sailors that died in the Port Chicago disaster are now buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery. Last year, the Veterans Legacy Program partnered with San Francisco State University to conduct research on Veterans buried at local national cemeteries. The students and faculty created a series of short films about the stories that they discovered at Golden Gate and San Francisco National Cemeteries. One of the films (embedded above) highlights the Port Chicago disaster and shares the legacies that came from it.

This partnership is one of the ongoing efforts to modernize the way that we memorialize veterans. In May 2016, the NCA launched the Veterans Legacy Program in order to engage students, teachers, and the public with stories about the lives and service of Veterans. To find out more about the Veterans Legacy Program, visit www.cem.va.gov/legacy/.

More information about the Port Chicago disaster: Naval History and Heritage Command.
[Military.com]
UDTs begin demolishing natural and artificial obstacles on prospective landing beaches on Guam. UDT 4 arrives in high speed transport Kane (APD-18); UDT 6 in high speed transport Clemson (APD-31). Infantry landing craft (gunboat) LCI(G)-348, damaged by grounding and Japanese shore battery fire off Guam, is abandoned (see 18 July 1944).

Submarine Cabrilla (SS-288) continues attack on Japanese convoy off west coast of Mindanao, sinking army transport Maya Maru and damaging transport Natsukawa Maru, 07°42'N, 122°05'E.

Submarine Gabilan (SS-252) sinks Japanese minesweeper W.25 northwest of Zenizu, Japan, 33°51'N, 138°35'E.

TG 17.16's attacks on Japanese shipping west of Luzon continue: submarine Guardfish (SS-217) sinks merchant cargo ship Hiyama Maru, 18°21'N, 119°49'E; Thresher (SS-200) sinks cargo ship Nichizan Maru near Luzon Strait; Sainei Maru and Nissan Maru, damaged by Thresher the previous night, sink.

British submarine HMS Telemachus sinks Japanese submarine I-66 in Strait of Malacca, 02°47'N, 101°03'E.

Decadent Jew Jeffrey Epstein

For those in Epstein’s orbit, the stakes of exposure are bound to get higher as more and more women come forward. Every day seems to bring new horrors about Epstein’s alleged depravity. At a press conference on Tuesday, Courtney Wild’s lawyer Brad Edwards said that after interviewing dozens of Epstein’s accusers, it appeared Epstein spent almost all of his time abusing underage girls. “It was his full-time job,” Edwards said. “We have not found anyone who has provided information about a legitimate business he was engaged [in].”
[Vanity, all is vanity.]Additional disgust:
Steven Pinker's aid in Jeffrey Epstein's legal defense renews criticism of an increasingly divisive public intellectual.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

"... sunk by explosion ..."

SUN 16 JUL 1944
Pacific
Infantry landing craft (gunboat) LCI(G)-469 is damaged by shore battery off Guam, as she supports ongoing UDT operations.

Destroyer Longshaw (DD-559) is damaged when she runs aground on submerged reef, Eniwetok.

TG 17.16 (Captain William V. O'Regan) attacks Japanese convoys off northern Luzon; Piranha (SS-389) sinks army transport Seattle Maru, 19°17'N, 120°15'E, Guardfish (SS-217) (flagship for TG 17.16) sinks transport Mantai Maru and army cargo ship Jinzan Maru off Cape Bojeador, 19°21'N, 119°43'E; Thresher (SS-200) sinks army cargo ship Shozen Maru, 18°23'N, 119°06'E, and damages merchant cargo ships Sainei Maru and Nissan Maru, 18°23'N, 119°32'E.

Submarine Bonefish (SS-223) sinks Borneo-bound Japanese cargo vessel No.3 Tatsu Maru in Sulu Sea 10 nautical miles south of Palawan, 10°20'N, 119°50'E.

Submarine Cabrilla (SS-288) attacks Japanese convoy off the west coast of Mindanao, but is not successful against transport Natsukawa Maru, 08°18'N, 122°49'E; counterattacks by what is most likely submarine chaser Ch 31 and auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 64 (see 17 July 1944) prove equally unproductive.

Submarine Skate (SS-305) sinks Japanese transport Nipp_ Maru, east of South Sakhalin, Kurils, 48°29'N, 147°36'E. Survivors are rescued by Russian ship Dalstroi.

RAAF Beaufighters damage Japanese gunboat Man-Yo Maru, cargo vessel Tensho Maru, and motor sailboat No.14 Sakura Maru off Maumere.

Japanese cargo ship Hozan Maru is sunk by explosion in Manila harbor, 14°36'N, 120°57'E.

"Lift-Off On Apollo 11"

N.A.S.A. History.Forgot Armstrong is on that greatest of all missions to the unknown; let's give him a listen.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Fantasy Comix

Katie Pavlich of Toad Clown Townhall types:

Graham Unleashed: AÖC and Her Friends are Anti-America Commies

Make America 1952 Again!

Monday, July 15, 2019

Yesteryear & Last Month

L.A.P.D. Admin. Bldg., 1955-2013.
And synchronicity: Sloth, inertia & the like had prevented us from composing this tedious item for a good four days since LAObserved ran Gary Leonard's picture, yet when looking for the exact closing date this (only four hrs. old) appeared.

So Long, Crabby

SAT 15 JUL 1944
Pacific
Submarine Skate (SS-305) sinks Japanese crabbing ship Miho Maru off Cape Shiretoko, northern Karafuto, Kurils, 48°08'N, 148°06'E.

Motor torpedo boat PT-133 is sunk by Japanese shore battery off eastern New Guinea, 03°28'S, 143°34'E.

Monday Musicale: "Master Race Rock" B/w "Back To Africa"

Topical, if not still relevant, 40+ yrs. later.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Bastille Day Asea

FRI 14 JUL 1944
Pacific
PB4Ys (VB 109) bomb Iwo Jima in the first strike by land-based planes on that Japanese island base.

Supported by two destroyers and four infantry landing craft (gunboat), Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) 3, in high-speed transport Dickerson (APD-21), begins reconnoitering prospective landing beaches at Asan, Guam.

Destroyer escort William C. Miller (DE-259) sinks Japanese submarine RO-48 75 miles east of Saipan, 15°18'N, 144°26'E, and teams with high speed transport Gilmer (APD-11) to sink Japanese submarine I-6 70 miles west of Tinian, 15°18'N, 144°26'E.

Submarine Sand Lance (SS-381) attacks Japanese convoy in the Banda Sea, sinking gunboat Taik_ Maru east of Salajar, 05°56'S, 121°34'E.

Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.12 is damaged by aircraft off Bonins.