THU 21 MAY 1942
Pacific
North Pacific Force (Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald) is established for operations in Alaskan sector.
Destroyer Helm (DD-388) rescues four survivors from Neosho (AO-23) that had abandoned ship when the oiler was damaged on 7 May.
Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. freighter Plow City, en route from Trinidad to New York, mistakes lifeboat from British motorship Peisander (sunk by German submarine U-653 on 17 May) and flees, her smoke attracting the attention of U-588, which torpedoes and sinks Plow City at 39°08'N, 69°57'W. One crewman dies in the attack. U-588 briefly interrogates one crewman on board the submarine before returning him to his shipmates with rum and cigarettes; U-boat sailors also help the Americans right a capsized lifeboat (see 26 May).
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Rum & Cigarettes
A Promise, Not A Threat
 |
| Republican Policy Paper. |
Hell, if I'm not paying rent, cable, iNternet or anything else, I may have enough money to buy guns & lots of ammo. (And honestly, why should I limit my targets to Republicans. In a democracy, every single one of you bastards are directly responsible, & should be held accountable. Not w/ bullshit "votes", either!)Damian Paletta / Washington Post:
Trump to propose big cuts to safety-net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits — President Trump's first major budget proposal on Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states new power to limit …
This Week's Rollout Of Trump 2018 Budget Could Be His Biggest Failure Yet — Before you look at the headline and troll me for piling on the White House, kicking the Trump administration when its down or just stating what seems to be a very routine occurrence these days …
Scoop: Trump budget to slash entitlements by $1.7 trillion — President Trump's 2018 budget proposal on Tuesday won't reform Social Security or Medicare — in line with his campaign promise — but it will make serious cuts to other entitlement programs. A source with direct knowledge tells …
Slave Driver, The Table Is Turning
I thought these people were all so well-armed they weren't scared of libtards. Turns out they're special scaredy-snowflakes. How sad.
Cristina Marcos / The Hill:IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT, GET THE HOLY FUCK OUT OF THE KITCHEN, IDIOTS!!!
Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount — A growing number of House Republicans are facing physical threats from angry constituents in their districts, leading many to fear for their safety. — In the last few weeks alone, the FBI arrested a man threatening Rep. Martha McSally's …Discussion:Mikael Thalen / Infowars: REPUBLICANS FEARING FOR THEIR SAFETY AS ANGER, THREATS MOUNTMichael Dorstewitz / Conservative News Today: GOP lawmakers fear for their lives as the left gets more hostile
Saturday, May 20, 2017
U-Boats!
WED 20 MAY 1942
Pacific
Air Force, South Pacific Area (Rear Admiral John S. McCain) is established.
Atlantic
District patrol craft YP-387 is sunk in collision off the coast of Delaware, 39°00'N, 75°00'W.
Gulf of Mexico
Unarmed U.S. tanker Halo is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-506 approximately 50 miles from Southwest Pass, 28°42'N, 90°08'W; 23 survivors from a merchant complement of 42 men initially survive the loss of the ship (see 25 and 27 May).
U.S. freighter George Calvert is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-752 near the Yucatan Channel, 22°55'N, 84°26'W; three Armed Guard sailors perish in the attack. Fifty-one merchant seamen and seven surviving Armed Guard sailors abandon ship in three boats, in which they reach the coast of Cuba, going ashore the following day.
U.S. tanker Esso Dover rescues 20 merchant sailors and two Armed Guard sailors, survivors of freighter Ogontz, sunk by German submarine U-103 the previous day.
Caribbean
U.S. freighter Clare is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-103 approximately 40 miles off the south coast of Cuba, 21°35'N, 84°43'W; the 33-man merchant complement and 7-man Armed Guard (all hands) survive, abandoning ship in one boat and three rafts. Later the same day, U-103 torpedoes and sinks U.S. freighter Elizabeth at 21°36'N, 84°48'W; six of the 35 merchant seamen perish, the remainder, along with the 7-man Armed Guard, reach the coast of Cuba the following day.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Um, Uh, Are We, Like ... Really Sure?
Given previous statements about carrier group positioning, you just never know.
CNN: US Navy moves second aircraft carrier near North Korea — North Korea claims missile can strike US — Washington (CNN)
The US Navy is moving the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula where it will conduct dual-carrier training exercises with the USS Carl Vinson amid heightened tensions …
The US Navy is moving the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula where it will conduct dual-carrier training exercises with the USS Carl Vinson amid heightened tensions …
Discussion:
Stealing The Ambassador's Liquor; Medical Assistance & Cigarettes
TUE 19 MAY 1942
Pacific
Light cruiser Nashville (CL-43) sails independently from Midway, bound for the western Aleutians.
Small reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese submarine I-21 reconnoiters Suva Bay, Fiji.
Indian Ocean
Small reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese submarine I-30 reconnoiters Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salaam.
Atlantic
Armed Guard officer on board U.S. freighter Ironclad, at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, reports disturbance among the crew, occasioned by some of the merchant seamen breaking into a quantity of liquor consigned to Admiral William H. Standley, USN (Ret.), U.S. Ambassador to the USSR. Battleship Washington (BB-56) provides a guard of marines from her detachment to bring the rowdies under control. Consequently, Ironclad is withdrawn from the list of ships to comprise convoy PQ 16 so that the incident can be investigated.
Last three survivors of unarmed U.S. fishing trawler Foam, attacked by German submarine U-432 on 17 May, are rescued by Canadian corvette HMCS Halifax.
U.S. steamship Howard rescues the 29 survivors of U.S. tanker Mercury Sun, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 the previous day; she transfers one to a Coast Guard boat at the Tampa Sea Buoy for medical attention and transports the rest to Mobile, Alabama.
Gulf of Mexico
U.S. freighter Heredia is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-506 two miles south of the Ship Shoal Buoy, Louisiana, 27°32'N, 91°00'W; the rapidity with which the ship sinks gives the crew no time to launch boats. Of the 62 men on board (48-man merchant crew, six-man Armed Guard and eight passengers), 36 (30 crewmen, five Armed Guard sailors and one passenger) perish. Shrimp boats Papa Joe, Conquest, J. Edwin Treakle, and Shellwater rescue 23 survivors; a seaplane rescues three.
U.S. freighter Ogontz is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-103 at 23°30'N, 86°37'W; 17 merchant seamen and two Armed Guard sailors perish in the attack, the majority of the casualties caused when a mast falls across a lifeboat when the ship is being abandoned. U-103 questions two survivors on board before returning them to their shipmates. The Germans provide medical assistance and cigarettes before leaving (see 20 May).
Caribbean
Unarmed U.S. freighter Isabela is torpedoed, shelled and sunk by German submarine U-751 35 miles south of Navassa Island light, 17°50'N, 75°00'W; three crewmen perish. Survivors subsequently reach Cape Briton, Haiti, in two lifeboats.
Latvian freighter Kegums rescues the 22 survivors of U.S. freighter William J. Salman, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 the previous day. She transports them to Key West, Florida.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
How To Live Comfortably At Sea
For A Month
May 18, Mon.
General
Office of Naval Inspector General (Rear Admiral Charles P. Snyder) is established.
Arctic
U.S. freighter Deer Lodge, anchored in Kola Inlet, is bombed by German planes, and damaged by near-misses. There are no casualties among the 34-man merchant complement or among the 11-man Armed Guard sailors, and the ship is moved to another anchorage.
Atlantic
Brazilian steamship Commandante Lyra is torpedoed by Italian submarine Barbarigo at 02°59'S, 34°10'W; light cruisers Milwaukee (CL-5) and Cincinnati (CL-4) rescue survivors. Small seaplane tender Thrush (AVP-3) tows the damaged ship to Fortaleza, Brazil, while PBYs (VP 83) provide cover.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Quaker City is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 approximately 300 miles east of Barbados, 15°47'N, 53°12'W; ten men perish (one man will subsequently die of wounds). The 30 survivors take to four lifeboats. U-156 surfaces and questions the survivors as to the name of the ship and her cargo and destination; the Germans then provide the Americans with directions to Barbados (see 22, 24 and 26 May).
British steamship Hororata rescues raft with the last survivor from U.S. freighter Alcoa Guide sunk by German submarine U-123 on 16 April. A total of six have perished from Alcoa Guide's 34-man complement.
Rescue craft (not specified) recovers last survivor from torpedoed U.S. freighter Steel Maker, sunk by German submarine U-136 on 19 April. This man, the radio operator, had pooled the supplies from several rafts in his vicinity after the ship sank and "lived comfortably" until rescued.
Lifeboat with 17 survivors of unarmed U.S. fishing trawler Foam, attacked by German submarine U-432 the previous day, reaches Sambro Light Ship, whence they are transported to Halifax by a Canadian patrol craft (see 19 May).
Caribbean
Unarmed U.S. tanker Mercury Sun is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 at 20°02'N, 84°25'W, and abandoned; six merchant seamen perish in the attack (see 19 May).
Unarmed U.S. freighter William J. Salman is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 at 20°08'N, 83°47'W, as the American ship proceeds to Antigua, B.W.I.; six men perish (see 19 May).
Gulf of Mexico
U.S. tanker Benjamin Brewster rescues 19 survivors from U.S. tanker Gulfoil, sunk by U-506 on 16 May, and transports them to Galveston, Texas.
Twitter Filler
Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting witches! pic.twitter.com/5SLc5cmu5i
— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) May 19, 2017
Death Comes In Threes
I woke up to find the frontman from a grunge band to which I've never listened has offed hi'self, & Roger Ailes is dead. Who will be number three? Dare we hope?
"Christ, What An Asshole!"
Part The Infinite
Born rich, dodged the draft, inherited the family business, and he tells graduates at a military academy about how tough he's had it. https://t.co/SefQDGa9v9— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) May 17, 2017
No Prez in history — and I type this with great surety — has been mentioned seriously in the same sentence as "impeachment" less than four months into his contract.
Whatever. Biggest question is probably how (& for how long) self-described counter-puncher/fighter/whiner Trump will attempt to defend himself should it come to pass. I doubt if "No puppet!" will sway all the Republicans on the committee. Or the F.B.I. agents.
 |
 via Election 2016 on GIPHY |
Memory Hole: RedState (linked above) may not be totally behind Trump; nonetheless, contemplate these examples of what a tough time some have had compared to Trump,
& the sheer fucking gall of not mentioning our more recent President, who had exactly the same comparisons made about him (& much worse) as that poor put-upon George W. Bush. Or Bush's predecessor. What was his name again?President George W. Bush being compared to Hitler or a monkey? Nothing.
Lawsuits to try and block his presidency? Minor.
And history tells us Lincoln had a cakewalk, so we won’t even go there.
Ronald Reagan was shot, for Pete’s sake!
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
U.S. Sub Sunday
SUN 17 MAY 1942
Pacific
Submarine Grampus (SS-207) is damaged by gunfire of Japanese patrol craft off Truk, 08°02'N, 151°03'E.
Submarine Silversides (SS-236) damages Japanese transport Tottori Maru and merchant cargo ship Thames Maru off Shionomisaki, southern Honshu, 33°28'N, 135°33'E.
Submarine Skipjack (SS-184) sinks Japanese army transport Taizan Maru near the mouth of the Gulf of Siam, 06°22'N, 108°36'E.
Submarine Tautog (SS-199) torpedoes and sinks Japanese submarine I-28 north of Rabaul, 06°30'N, 152°00'E.
Submarine Triton (SS-201) torpedoes and sinks Japanese submarine I-64 southeast of Kyushu, Japan, 29°25'N, 134°06'E.
Atlantic
Destroyer Hambleton (DD-455) is damaged in collision with destroyer Ellyson (DD-454) while in TF 36, en route to the United States from the Gold Coast of Africa.
U.S. freighter Challenger, en route to Trinidad for voyage repairs, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-155 at 12°11'N, 61°18'W; five merchant seamen, two Armed Guard sailors, and one passenger perish. Yacht Turquoise (PY-19) rescues the 36 merchant seamen, nine Armed Guard sailors, and 11 passengers who survive the loss of the ship, and transports them to Trinidad.
Unarmed U.S. fishing trawler Foam is shelled by German submarine U-432 approximately 85 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, 43°20'N, 63°08'W; and abandoned by her 21-man crew (one of whom dies of wounds) (see 18 and 19 May).
Twenty-three survivors of U.S. tanker Esso Houston, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-162 on 12 May 1942 reach St. Vincent, British Windward Islands. One Armed Guard sailor perishes of wounds suffered in the attack five days previous; he is the only casualty.
Caribbean
Norwegian motor vessel Somerville rescues 27 survivors (one of whom dies of his wounds after being picked up) from U.S. freighter Ruth Lykes, sunk by German submarine U-103 the previous day, and transports them to Key West, Florida.
Keep Killing That Chicken!
Meanwhile, pre-Enlightenment:
Buncha legal yada involving standing, &c., but the headlines are worth it.Killing chickens to atone for sins OK
at Chabad of Irvine, federal judge rules
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Damaged
Damaged by you/Damaged by me/I'm confused/Confused/Don't wanna be confused/Stupid attempts
No conclusions/I'm confused/Confused/Don't wanna be confused
When you've lost even the loons like Sullivan ...Fears Over Trump’s Mental State Gaining Traction In The Media
“We can’t maintain the pretense that Trump is a sane and balanced adult, however much we’d like to,” says Andrew Sullivan.
“I know we’re not supposed to bring this up — but it is staring us brutally in the face,” New York magazine’s Andrew Sullivan wrote in a February piece, “The Madness of King Donald.”
Sullivan described Trump as appearing “deranged,” “delusional,” and “bizarrely living in an alternative universe.” In a CNN interview at the time, he argued that “tiptoeing around it or not saying it plainly is a failure of our duty as journalists, as writers and reporters to say and call it as we see it.”
On Tuesday, Sullivan told HuffPost he was pleased to see more media coverage of what he called “an imminent threat to all of us.”
“At some point reality becomes unavoidable,” Sullivan said. “If you met someone in real life who speaks and acts the way Trump does, you would conclude there’s something very very wrong there. The recent interviews are unhinged babble. It seems obvious to me we can’t maintain the pretense that Trump is a sane and balanced adult, however much we’d like to. He’s extremely damaged and therefore an imminent threat to all of us. I’m glad the media is bringing the analysis into line with the facts.”
[...]
Still, some experts are speaking out, like Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist who argues that his colleagues have a “duty” to do so.
“If we could construct a psychiatric Frankenstein monster, we could not create a leader more dangerously mentally ill than Donald Trump,” Gartner said during a February appearance on MSNBC. “He’s a paranoid, psychopathic narcissist who is divorced from reality and lashes out impulsively at his imagined enemies.”
UPDATE, moments later & hot from the presses of the N.Y.T. (O.K., just Douthat.) Nonetheless:
Sick burn, as teh kidz used to say.There will be more talk of impeachment now, more talk of a special prosecutor for the Russia business; well and good. But ultimately I do not believe that our president sufficiently understands the nature of the office that he holds, the nature of the legal constraints that are supposed to bind him, perhaps even the nature of normal human interactions, to be guilty of obstruction of justice in the Nixonian or even Clintonian sense of the phrase. I do not believe he is really capable of the behind-the-scenes conspiring that the darker Russia theories envision. And it is hard to betray an oath of office whose obligations you evince no sign of really understanding or respecting.
[...]
But his incapacity to really govern, to truly execute the serious duties that fall to him to carry out, is nevertheless testified to daily — not by his enemies or external critics, but by precisely the men and women whom the Constitution asks to stand in judgment on him, the men and women who serve around him in the White House and the cabinet.
Read the things that these people, members of his inner circle, his personally selected appointees, say daily through anonymous quotations to the press. (And I assure you they say worse off the record.) They have no respect for him, indeed they seem to palpate with contempt for him, and to regard their mission as equivalent to being stewards for a syphilitic emperor.
It is not squishy New York Times conservatives who regard the president as a child, an intellectual void, a hopeless case, a threat to national security; it is people who are self-selected loyalists, who supported him in the campaign, who daily go to work for him. And all this, in the fourth month of his administration.
I Voted!
Went to (drop off my) vote: At 1703PDT the elementary school multi-purpose room's set of voters was null.
Bad "Fish"; Thanks, Mr. Roosevelt; Bandages & Cigarettes
SAT 16 MAY 1942
Pacific
Submarine Tautog (SS-199) torpedoes Japanese fleet tanker Goyo Maru west of Royalist Bank, Truk, 07°00'N, 152°00'E. Tautog's first "fish" circles, forcing her to go deep at once.Atlantic
Last three survivors from unarmed U.S. tanker T.C. McCobb, sunk by Italian submarine Pietro Calvi on 31 March, land at Surinam. Two of the three men, however, later die of exposure.
Destroyer Tarbell (DD-142) rescues 23 survivors from U.S. freighter Lammot Du Pont, sunk by German submarine U-125 on 23 April. There had been originally 31 men on the raft spotted by the destroyer, but eight had perished between 23 April and 16 May.
U.S. tanker Esso Augusta rescues the 27 merchant seaman and four Armed Guard sailors who have survived the loss of freighter Nicarao, sunk by German submarine U-751 the previous day.
Gulf of Mexico
U.S. tanker Sun, en route to Beaumont, Texas, is torpedoed by German submarine U-506 at 28°41'N, 90°19'W, but escapes the U-boat to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, under her own power without further incident. Sun suffers no casualties among the 37-man merchant crew and 5-man Armed Guard. Later the same day, U-506 torpedoes and shells U.S. tanker William C. McTarnahan approximately 35 miles east of Ship Shoal Light, Louisiana, 28°52'N, 90°20'W, but retires without finishing off her quarry; 18 of the 38-man merchant crew perish in the attack. The 20 merchant seamen and all seven Armed Guard sailors survive to be rescued by shrimp boats Defender, Pioneer and Viscali (as well as a fourth unnamed craft). Coast Guard tug Tuckahoe (WYT-89), assisted by civilian tug Baranca tows the damaged tanker to Southwest Pass; she will subsequently return to service. Still later, U-506 torpedoes and sinks U.S. tanker Gulfoil approximately 75 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi, 28°08'N, 89°46'W; the tanker sinks so rapidly that the crew have no time to launch boats. Of the 36-man merchant complement and 4-man Armed Guard, only 19 merchant seamen survive to reach two life rafts that float free when the ship sinks (see 18 May).
Caribbean
Unarmed U.S. freighter Ruth Lykes is attacked by German submarine U-103 at 16°37'N, 82°27'W; after the U-boat scores a hit with a dud torpedo she surfaces to shell her quarry, killing five sailors. U-103 rescues one sailor and transfers him into a lifeboat; after which action Kapitanleutnant Werner Winter, the submarine's commanding officer, apologizes: "You can thank Mr. Roosevelt for this. I am sorry." The U-boat also gives the Americans bandages and cigarettes before departing (see 17 May).
Dutch schooners India and Mississippi sight lifeboats of U.S. freighter Norlantic, sunk by German submarine U-69 on 13 May. The latter tows the boats into Bonaire the following day (see 24 May).
Leave Bouffant Alone!
Further Imposition:
I am expected to leave the bunker toTo vote ("NO!") on this:
Apparently there are two council district run-offs & two school board run-offs happening as well, but not in this precinct, just Measure C.The following question appeared on the ballot:
“ ”
[Slightly edited just before 2100; I spotted a typo & couldn't stop polishing once I'd fixed it. — M.B.]
Monday, May 15, 2017
BLOOOK
FRI 15 MAY 1942
Pacific
Submarine Tuna (SS-203) sinks Japanese transport Toyoharu Maru 65 miles off Sohuksando, Korea, 33°34'N, 125°09'E.Arctic
German planes bomb Allied shipping at Murmansk; U.S. freighter Yaka suffers a direct hit that causes extensive damage but no casualties to the 38-man merchant crew or the 11-man Armed Guard. The ship is beached to prevent loss.
Atlantic
U.S. freighter Nicarao is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-751 north of San Salvador, Bahamas, 25°20'N, 74°19'W; eight of the 35-man merchant crew perish as they abandon ship. The four-man Armed Guard survives intact (see 16 May).
Additional Acid
Forgot this part of our extensive coverage of links to stuff about LSD-25 a couple of items below.
All in service of some documentary.Cary Grant: how 100 acid trips in Tinseltown 'changed my life'
At the height of his fame, Cary Grant turned to LSD therapy for help.
He later claimed the drug saved him, but did it also spell the end of his career?
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