Jefferson’s words have taken on a broader meaning over the years.

 

“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness--- 

When Jefferson wrote this he was thinking of contemporary England, which supported a heredity nobility.  Birth into a noble British family, duke, earl, marquis, knight, granted all sorts of privileges denied to commoners. 

   In 1776, in America, Jefferson was saying that there would be no American nobility; every American would have the same rights at law, the same advantages in seeking government jobs and military commissions as everyone else. 

   Move forward in time to 1865, with the Civil War won by the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation made to stick by the Civil War victory, and “All Men are created equal” was expanded to include blacks.      

   Move forward in time again to 1920, when woman’s suffrage was legalized by Constitutional amendment, and “All Men” is restored to it’s meaning of “all mankind both men AND women”, which it bore in Jefferson’s time. 

   Writing about this in 2021 it is clear to me that the meaning of “All Men are created equal” is much broader today, then when Jefferson wrote it.  This broadening is all to the good. 

Having Thanksgiving a few days early

 Daughter and Youngest Son decided to have Thanksgiving dinner with Mother.  But they came an visited me in Mittersill Sunday thru Wednesday.  We (the children actually) threw a before Thanksgiving family dinner up at the chalet.  We had John and Maggie, Carol and Zach, and all the kids.  Youngest Son wanted to do Tandoori chicken, which came out tasty, although a bit spicy.  Despite outside temperatures near freezing, and snow flurries the big Weber grill was pulled out from the garage and fired up on the deck.  The freed up the 24 inch kitchen stove for side dishes, basmati rice, cucumber salad, hot groovy bread. 

  A good time was had by all.

It's all Paid for. Yeah Right.

 Biden's $2 TRILLION dollar (or is it $4 TRILLION?) Freebie and climate spending bill (super porkulus bill) squeaked past the house.  Democrats are saying "It won't hurt, it is all paid for".  Yeah right.  The bill authorizes the federal government to spend $2-$4 trillion dollars, which means handing out cash, or writing checks, or doing electronic funds transfers.  Right now, before the super Porkulus, federal taxes cover about 60% of federal expenses and federal borrowing covers the other 40%.  Adding $2-$4 TRILLION in federal spending will require either a solid federal tax hike (unlikely) or a lot more borrowing.   The Feds borrow money by printing and selling Treasury bonds,  T-bills, which are nearly the same as money.  Samuelson, author of the standard economics text when I was in college, called T-bills "near money".   There is a 5 day a week, 8 hours a day bond market.  Anyone can sell their T-bills for cash and get paid in two or three business days.  For the feds to borrow more, is the same as printing more dollar bills.  Inflationary that is.  So the Biden people's claim that "It's all paid for" is false, us taxpayers will have to cough up the money sooner or later.  

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

 I have my children coming up, so I did some spiffing around the old place this Saturday.  The place was built in 1962, so it ain't new, and many would call it old.  I started out to clean the oven.  This oven is a son-of-a-gun to clean.  The lower heating element makes it impossible to clean the oven floor, unless it is removed.  So I get my set of spintites to unscrew the heating element.  Got the screws out, pulled the element forward and drew an impressive zap.  I had forgotten that one end of the heating element was always hot, even with the oven turned off.  So down to the basement to pull the stove circuit breakers.  Juice off, I tried to disconnect the two wires leading from the stove to the oven heating element.  One came off, the other refused to come off no matter what.  Best I could do is tape the heating element up out of the way.  

   So I started to clean the oven grates.  Part way thru this I noticed a lot of water building up under the kitchen sink.  Some inspection revealed a broken hold down nut-thingy under the sink.  So it's Saturday, Franconia Hardware is open, and down three mile hill I go.  Mike has the right parts, Mike has the right parts for everything.  Back up three mile hill I go.  Install the new U bend.  It leaks,  I tighten the nut-thingies with a wrench.  That manages to break the downspout.  Back down to Mike's I go.  He has a new down spout.  It's getting dark by the time I get the kitchen sink drain back together.  Then I have to finish up cleaning the oven and get the heating element back in place.  I manage, by which time it is 5 o'clock.  So I feed the cat and make myself a good stiff drink.  

Long day.

Kyle Rittenhouse trial is OVER. Thank Goodness.

 The jury acquitted Kyle on all counts.  From what I saw on TV, it did look like the people Kyle shot were really attacking him, and he shot them in self defense.  The jury saw it that way and they spent more time looking at video of the riot than I did.  Good thing for Kyle the jury was able to acquit on all charges.  Weasel juries will try to split the difference, convicting on some charges and acquitting on others.  That weasel makes the defendant guilty but the jury can point to the charges they acquitted and claim they were doing the right thing.  In Kyle's case, the jury did the right thing and acquitted him on all charges.

In this case a white teenager shoots three white rioters.  I don't see how anyone can call Kyle, or anyone else in the case a racist.    

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial was in Wisconsin.  Bill de Blasio and Mario Cuomo (New Yorkers both of 'em) had comments on the case.  What do a couple of New Yorkers know about a trial in Wisconsin??

Technological advances: the rifled musket.

 Some things move slowly.  The British Army issued a smooth bore flintlock musket, Brown Bess it was called, for nearly 100 years.  Infantry tactics were worked out.  You have your men load their muskets and fix bayonets.  You close with the enemy, very close.  Don't fire until you can see the whites of their eyes was the order given at Bunker Hill.  That's probably 20 feet, so close you cannot miss even with a smooth bore.  After firing on the enemy  you went at them with bayonet and gun butt.  Nobody got a chance to reload.  This state of affairs lasted up thru the Napoleonic wars.

   Come forward to the American Civil War.  All the new Army officers, recently pulled from civilian life, are furiously reading Jomini, Napoleon's biographer/historian.  Both Civil War armies, Union and Confederate figured Napoleon knew land warfare, he won a number of striking victories.  The Americans figured if it worked for Napoleon it ought to work for them.

There had been one important technological change since Napoleon's time.  The muskets were now rifled. The troops could open fire at 200 yards (600 feet) and get hits.  Rifling had been around for a couple of hundred years, problem was, using a round ball in a muzzle loader, it was quite difficult to force the ball down the barrel.  The ball had to be big enough to take the rifling, which meant the rifling had to cut grooves in the lead ball.  So, rifled guns were made, were used, but they were so slow to load that armies issued faster loading smooth bores.  

   The French solved the problem with the invention of the Minie ball, a lead slug with a hollow at the back.  The explosion of the gunpowder forced the hollow rear end of the bullet to expand and take the rifling.  The Minie balls were cast small enough to just drop down the muzzle, just like a smooth bore.  So now we have a rifled musket, that loads as fast as the old Brown Bess smooth bore.  And it is in mass production, issued to most of the troops at the start of the Civil War and issued to all troops by the end of the Civil War. 

    So now we consider the effect on infantry tactics.  The defender, standing his ground, can open fire when the attackers are 200 yards away.  By the time the attacker has charged 200 yards, the defenders have time to reload, at least once, and give 'em another volley.  The defenders get at least two shots for each man.  The attackers only get one.  Muzzle loaders cannot be reloaded on the run, you have to stop, stand still, to get the powder, the Minie ball, and the wad down the barrel, to say nothing of getting the percussion cap on right.

   That's what happened to Pickett's Charge.  Union infantry shot Pickett's men down before they got close enough to use the bayonet.  And something similar happened at all the Civil War battles.  Defenders always defeated attackers.  This was not supposed to happen if you had read your Jomini.

Malwarebytes vs Word vs Win 10

 

Word for Windows choked up when I tried to print. Drew an error message from malwarebytes about an exploit. Uninstalled malwarebytes and Word can print again.