Podcasts about ulysses s

So many acronyms in the episode title! In this BONUS episode, Colin caught up with fellow footy traveler Ryan Shirah, a major player in US Soccer supporters culture, at the American Outlaws Night Before Party (NB4), ahead of the CONCACAF Nations League Semifinals. Apart from serving as one of the heartbeats/drumbeats of the supporters section, and looking footy-supporter-costume-chic in his Ulysses S. 'Chant' get-up, Ryan is one of those genuine humans who always brings great vibes "Everywhere we go-ooooh!" Colin & Ryan chat about Ryan's footy travels, and why Americans (and the other guys) should be getting hyped up to welcome world-wide footy travelers during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. You can follow Ryan on Instagram: @iamshirah Check out these other accounts as well: American Outlaws - @americanoutlaws Vegas Outlaws - @vegas_outlaws

The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of former black slaves. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the election of Ulysses S grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party's future. On February 26, 1869, after rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Congress proposed a compromise amendment banning franchise restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude. After surviving a difficult ratification fight, the amendment was certified as duly ratified and part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. United States Supreme Court decisions in the late nineteenth century interpreted the amendment narrowly. From 1890 to 1910, southern states adopted new state constitutions and enacted laws that raised barriers to voter registration. This resulted in most black voters and many poor white ones being disenfranchised by poll taxes and discriminatory literacy tests, among other barriers to voting, from which white male voters were exempted by grandfather clauses. A system of white primaries and violent intimidation by white groups also suppressed black participation. In the twentieth century, the Court began to interpret the amendment more broadly, striking down grandfather clauses in Guinn v United States (1915) and dismantling the white primary system in the "Texas primary cases" (1927 thru 1953). Voting rights were further incorporated into the Constitution in the Nineteenth Amendment (voting rights for women) and the Twenty-fourth Amendment (prohibiting poll taxes in federal elections). The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory jurisdictions, banned literacy tests and similar discriminatory devices, and created legal remedies for people affected by voting discrimination. The Court also found poll taxes in state elections unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment in Harper v Virginia State Board of Elections (1966). Text. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Picking up where we left off in our last episode, the remaining 30 titles I finished in 2021 were as follows: Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis The Revolt of the Elites and The Betrayal of Democracy by Christopher Lasch Lead by Paul David Tripp The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark A. Noll Constantine the Emperor by David Potter The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto Amsterdam by Russell Shorto The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. by Grant Ulysses S. Grant The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard 1491 by Charles C. Mann Leadership Strategy and Tactics by Jocko Willink Beyond Order by Jordan B. Peterson The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper Coolidge by Amity Shlaes What Is Marriage? by Sherif Girgis and Company A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood by James P. Byrd Black & Tan by Douglas Wilson Lincoln's Last Trial by Dan Abrams Heirs of the Founders by H.W. Brands The Life of Greece by Will Durant Charlemagne by Johannes Fried The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther Whirlwind by James Clavell The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs Of Temptation by John Owens The First Wave by Alex Kershaw The Templars by Dan Jones --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/support

Jim Finn's inspired real-life story of the South Korean director kidnapped in the 70's to invigorate the North Korean film industry, THE JUCHE IDEA follows Yoon Jung Lee, a young video artist invited to work at a Juche art residency on a North Korean collective farm. The story is told through the films she made at the residency as well as interviews with a Bulgarian filmmaker and even a brief sci-fi movie. Jim Finn's THE JUCHE IDEA is an uproarious and provocative deconstruction of North Korean propaganda and philosophy. Mixing together eye-popping archival footage with deadpan re-enactments, Finn has created a complex docu-fiction that is equally thought-provoking and entertaining. Translated as self-reliance, Juche (CHOO-chay) is a hybrid of Confucian and Stalinist thought that Kim Jong-il adapted from his father and applied to the entire culture. In The Juche Idea, a sympathetic South Korean filmmaker visits a North Korean artists' colony to bring Juche ideas into the 21st century. She ends up producing hilariously stilted shorts, including a nonsensical sci-fi story and the enigmatic "Dentures of Imperialism.” THE JUCHE IDEA is both sardonic satire and historical excavation, an exuberant collage that reveals the absurdity at the heart of Kim-Jong-il's regime. Director Jim Finn joins us for a free-wheeling conversation on the wildly imaginative nature of his filmmaking, Ulysses S, Grant as the most prolific killer of fascist… ever, and the importance of Juche for all comrades. Available to watch at: OVID.TV Available for purchase at: kinolorber.com/film/thejucheidea

In Episode 54, Bryan Wittmeyer interviews Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, USA (Ret.) the Pershing Chair for Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), an organization dedicated to ensuring a strong and enduring transatlantic alliance rooted in democratic values and principles. He served 38 years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Officer, commanding at every level from Platoon to Brigade Commander, including three operational deployments. They discuss challenges facing the NATO alliance, key areas where we can strengthen the NATO alliance after COVID and why, his most influential lessons as a military leader, and the importance of taking responsibility. LTG(R) Hodges Recommended Reading: -Cathrine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie -Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie -Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer -Defeat into Victory by Field-Marshall Sir William Slim -George C. Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L. Roll -Grant and Sherman Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant and W.T. Sherman Interested in an interview with a particular leader? Have a question you'd like to hear answered? Contact us @DODReads or podcast@dodreads.com. Finally, head to DODReads for more resources, free books, and interviews with military authors. The views presented in this episode are those of the participants and do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense or its components.

Hop into your big rigs and get ready for a wild ride! In this episode, we're going to be talking about U.S. 1, Marvel's licensed series about a long-haul trucker who also happened to be a superhero.----more---- Episode 12 Transcript [00:00:00] Mike: If you're a middle-aged white guy, maybe trying to sit there and write about the troubles that indigenous people from other countries face, maybe don't do that. Just my ten cents. Welcome to Ten Cent Takes, the podcast where we hand-wave plot holes like it's nobody's business, one issue at a time. My name is Mike Thompson and I am joined by my cohost of chaos, Jessika Frazer. Jessika: Well, hello.  Mike: Hello. Jessika: How are you doing?  Mike: Uh, I am doing a lot better now that I am not on jury duty anymore. So. Jessika: Woo.  Mike: I mean, don't get me wrong. It's a [00:01:00] civic duty that we should all be happy to perform, but it's really nice when you don't have to do it. Jessika: I've been on a jury before.  Mike: Was it, a cool case? Jessika: No, it was a disturbing, unsettling case, but it was still a civic case? It was just, Yeah. It was, it was not great. And I couldn't talk about it. So let's just say I, I took out a lot of my angst with a tennis racket against the wall. Not, not the racket itself, but hitting the ball against the wall a lot. Mike: Yeah,  Jessika: But, civic, duty, it is. So I was 19 at the time.  Mike: I think the last time I had to report for jury duty in person I was 25, give or take. Jessika: Mm.  Mike: And then I got dismissed because they asked me if I would believe a teenager's word over a cop, and at the time I was like, hell no. And these days. Jessika: Yeah. Different opinions now.  Mike: Yeah. [00:02:00] Tangent aside, the reason that we're here on this podcast is because we like to look at and talk about comic books in ways that are both fun and informative. We like to look at the weirdest, silliest, strangest, and coolest moments, and examine how they have been woven into pop culture and history in general.  In this episode, we're hitting the open road of the Marvel Universe and looking at U.S. 1, a 1980s maxi-series about a superhero big rig trucker. But before we go down that road, what is one cool thing that you have read or watched lately? Jessika: So, I had a suggestion made to me by Lauren, from Outer Planes in Santa Rosa. Hey Lauren. And she told me about a comic that is set in the same universe as the Alice in Leatherland that I started reading and I've had on my pull list now.  Mike: Yeah, the one that you mentioned a couple episodes ago?  [00:03:00] Jessika: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so it was also from Black Mask and it's called Destiny, NY.  I'm on issue one, which is a veritable chonker,  it's absolutely awesome. There are two girls kissing in a closet within the first three pages, so you know I'm already in. And it's cool because it's set in a version of New York where magic exists, and follows a school for kids that have been told by one seer or another that they have a destiny or a prophecy to fulfill. And the students have different abilities and visual characteristics, like one has a third eye and she's supposed to like, see the greatest lie out of the truths or something like that. And she's like, but I don't even know what that is.  It's all super vague, like these poor kids. And I've grabbed the first five issues, and I will be tearing through these and no [00:04:00] time. I'm sure, cause it's already super fun.  Mike: Yeah, that sounds fantastic, to be completely honest. There was a book that I read about a year ago called Magic for Liars, which is a boarding school for magic users. And then the sister of, one of the faculty is called in to investigate a death, and it's really cool because she's not a magic user, but her sister who is part of the faculty is so it's, it was cool. I liked it a lot. Jessika: That's neat.  Mike: But yeah, that was a cool book.  Jessika: Nice.  Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Well, what about you? What you've been reading, watching, listening to?  Mike: All right. So I'm always mildly embarrassed to admit that I'm a Conan fan, mainly because I think so many people just associate them with Arnold Schwarzenegger and those middling to not-good movies that they made with him in the eighties. Um, yeah, but I really fell in love with his Comics back in 2005 or so,  when they were being done by Dark Horse and they were really, really good. They were these wonderfully dark, low fantasy stories that always seem to [00:05:00] balance like action and tragedy and comedy really well. And Marvel got the character back a couple of years ago, so they've been doing really cool work with them lately.  The new Conan series is really fun and feels really true to the original stories, but they've also displaced him through time, and now they've got them hanging out in the mainstream Marvel Universe via this series.  Jessika: Oh, interesting.  Mike: Yeah. And it's in the series called the Savage Avengers.  It's wild. It's written by Gerrry Duggan, who, he wrote, arguably the best Conan story that I've ever read in Conan 2099, which is they took that Spider-Man 2099 universe, and then they slapped him right in the middle of it.  Jessika: Oh.  Mike: It it's great, like the way that it was written was so perfect. And it's one of those books where anybody who sits there and even if they say they're not a Conan fan, I just say, you need to read this. It's wonderful.  But anyway, so Savage Avengers features him going on adventures with characters like Wolverine [00:06:00] Deadpool, the Punisher and Electra. It's so dumb, but it's so much fun. Like, early on in the series,  he gets a Venom- symbiate joined with them, but it's really weak. So it can only form weapons for him.  Jessika: Okay.  Mike: It's just it, it's great. It's an absolute guilty pleasure, and I refuse to apologize for this. So it was unfortunately not available in Marvel Unlimited, which is probably why I hadn't heard about it, but the back issues are all pretty cheap, and I grabbed a ton of them from Brian's comics on my last run, and I've just been having a blast reading them. We probably should do an episode actually, where we talk about the fact that Conan has been in comics for almost 50 years. And  Jessika: Oh.  Mike: He started at Marvel originally, and now he's back at Marvel, but there was a long hiatus. Jessika: Ooh. I want to hear that arc. Absolutely.  Mike:  All right. Moving right along.  So as tempting as it is to just dive right [00:07:00] into U.S. 1 the comic and its strangeness, I don't think we can talk about it without covering some background info first. So, have you ever heard the term trucking culture before? Jessika: I've absolutely heard of trucking culture, but I'm not too familiar with the intricacies.  My uncle drove a truck for years, but I think he's retired at this point.  Mike: Okay. I think it's something that a lot of people aren't really aware of, or they hear about it and then they start making jokes. Like, I got some glimpses of it when one of my photography gigs have me living on a tour bus for a few months. So, we would visit a lot of legit truck stops in the middle of nowhere. And I'm not talking gas stations, I'm talking full rest stops where restaurants served truckers before other patrons,  the bathrooms had shower stalls and all of the stores felt like kind of miniature Walmarts. They were just massive. And they had anything that you could think of you might need on a long road trip. [00:08:00] It's this side that, if you live in an urban environment folks, aren't really going to see or understand, and it's the staggeringly huge thing that most people never even seem to think about. But I mean, trucking is this major part of the United States and its industry  as noted in this factoid from the American trucking associations, if you would be so kind. Jessika: Nearly every good consumed in the U S is put on a truck at some point. As a result, the trucking industry hauled 72.5% of all freight transported in the United States in 2019, equaling to 11.84 billion tons. The trucking industry was a $791.7 billion industry in that same year representing 80.4% of the nation's freight bill.  Mike: Yeah. It's I was actually, I was really surprised actually to see that it was that much. I assumed that trains [00:09:00] and shipping were at least a little bit bigger. Jessika: No, because we don't here's the problem is that because of the auto industry in the United States, we stifled the ability to make all the train tracks necessary, to get the things to all the places we need. And now it's horrendously expensive to go on a train. Yeah. I don't know that people know that about the United States. So for our international listeners: you can't take trains here, it's very expensive.  Mike: Yeah. First of all, there's no real national rail system. And, and second, the rail system that does exist is prohibitively expensive, unless you are a not far distance commuter.  Like I took Amtrak for a couple, for about a year traveling between Sacramento and San Francisco a couple of times a week. And it was great. It was less expensive to do that a couple of times a week than it was to drive down. But [00:10:00] yeah, it's prohibitively expensive for most people.  Jessika: Yeah. And there are some cities in the United States that do have a decent transportation system. Portland has a decent one in New York, obviously that there are other places to Chicago, yeah.  But I mean, for the most part across country, especially because we're such a large country,  and we are of course expected to share things. California has to share everything. Listen to me, I sound so greedy. Mike: I know. Yeah. What does it, we have the, I think it's like it's top five or top 10 economies in the world. Jessika: We're the top sixth economy in the world by ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, So if we just dumped off everyone else, the rest of the states would be screwed. Actually a few would hold their own, but those middlin' states. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Suffering.  Mike: Well, as big as it is, the trucking industry, as we know it, [00:11:00] isn't even a hundred years old. Uh, yeah, so really, trucks were first used extensively by the military in WWI, and then trucking became prominent in the 1930s because of the increased construction on paved roads. So, it didn't take long after that, before truckers became a part of American pop culture. They started having songs and movies about them. And as noted by Shane Hamilton in his book, Trucking Country: the Road to America's Walmart Economy, there was this mythology that almost lionized truckers.  Jessika: Hmm.  Mike: If you would, uh, do us all the favor of reading out the section that I found that describes it pretty well. Jessika: The image of the respectable trucker circulated outside the world of Hollywood in the 1950s. As truckers became known as the Knights of the Road for helping stranded motorists, and using their blinkers and [00:12:00] headlights as courtesy signals. This image was further reinforced by the standard driver's uniform of the era: trim, neat pants and button shirt, and the chauffeur's cap. The masculine mythologies of trucking moved increasingly into a wider cultural world in the 1950s and 1960s. As the image of the truck driving man was reflected back to truckers by movies and music.  Mike: Yeah. So the 1970s were when trucking hit, it's kind of Zenith point and pop culture. They wound up being presented as kind of this modern version of cowboys, you know, wandering nomads who rebelled against the oppressive rule of law while still operating under their own kind of honor code. There were a ton of movies and songs during this decade that romanticized the trucker life. And a lot of these have since faded into obscurity, but this was the period when we got that song Convoy by CW McCall, which also inspired a movie with a very young shirtless Kris Kristofferson, um, [00:13:00] uh, Smokey in the Bandit came out in 1977 and it was the number three grossing movie of the year behind Star Wars. And there's also a really bad Chuck Norris action Flint called Breaker Breaker. Like it was a moment in pop culture. Jessika: Are you really going to say that a Chuck Norris movie was bad? What if he's right behind you?  Mike: I mean, yeah. Jessika: It's always a threat. Don't don't deny it.  Mike: Man. Remember when we all used to like Chuck Norris and we thought he was cool before we went off the deep end and it turned out he's just the worst. Remember those days? Jessika: Oh no. We have a nefarious character, nefarious character alert.  Mike: Yeah. What a shock.  Jessika: Oh, not on our podcast.  Mike: I know. All right. Well, okay. So the [00:14:00] eighties, this all started to change in the eighties when truckers started being portrayed more villainously, or at least poorly in media, like Thelma and Louise, you've seen Thelma and Louise, right?  Jessika: Yeah.  Mike: Yeah. You remember how there's that gross trucker who keeps on harassing them. Jessika: Yes.  Mike: Yeah. And, the eighties, it was starting to decline, but it wasn't quite there yet. The nineties was when it really picked up and we'll discuss that in a little bit,  Jessika: Hmm.  Mike: But at the time that this comic project started, big rig truckers were still on the high side of public opinion. So we've talked in previous episodes about how Marvel wound up undergoing a commercial Renaissance in the early eighties, under the guidance of Jim Shooter. Particularly, you know, with Saturday morning cartoons and all that stuff.  Jessika: Mm.  Mike: One of the major sources of the success came in the form of toy companies, partnering with the publisher for licensed comic adaptations and arguably, the biggest example of this kind of success came from [00:15:00] partnerships with Hasbro when Marvel created the characters and lore for both Transformers in G.I. Joe. So U.S. 1 was a comic that came about from another partnership, but this one was with a different toy company. It was called Tyco Toys and Tyco wanted to do a licensed comic based on their U.S. 1 brand of slot truck toys.  Jessika: Oh, so this was all based on the Tyco truck, even. truck even.  Mike: Yes, it's a little bit different than the standard Tyco truck, and we'll talk about that in a second, but you know, Tyco probably doesn't sound familiar to people that are younger than us these days, but they were a company that originally made model trains for hobbyists. And then they started making slot car toys in the 1960s, which are the cars that you press the trigger and they go around a track and you can build out the track how you want. So, by the eighties, this brand was the one that was dominating that particular section of the market, the slot car toy section. [00:16:00] And at this point, they decided to create some slot truck toys. It was branded U.S. 1 Electric Trucking, and it launched in 1981. And it was based on the earlier racing sets, but it had a couple of unique features. You could drive the trucks in both forward and reverse, and you could also have the trucks pick up and deliver loads of, and this is the quote, action accessories with that direct interaction from the person operating it. And the tagline was “you control the action”. So I've got this commercial that I found on YouTube, because YouTube has everything and it's actually really cute. You want to give it a shot? Jessika: Sure thing. [00:17:00] Oh, this is really exciting. Oh! That's actually a really fun.  Mike: Right. Jessika: No, that's super freaking fun. That is that's super fun.  Mike: Yeah. So Tyco came to Marvel and they said that they were interested in having a comic adaptation done. And, the comic wound up being written by Al Milgrim, who's actually, he's a pretty interesting dude in comic history, he worked as a writer, and editor and inker, and a penciler during his career. And he was particularly known for this long tenure editing Marvel Fanfare, where I think he edited it for like a decade.  Also the real reason that he's an industry legend though, is because Marvel actually fired him after he hid some messaging in a panel background where he was badmouthing Marvel Harris. The then recently departed editor in chief of Marvel. [00:18:00] Jessika: Oh, damn. That's cold.  Mike: Yeah, it was actually really funny and you can look it up, where he basically wrote some messages vertically on the spines of books in the background of a Spider-Man comic. And there's some weird happenstances about how, I think the editor caught them and had the wording removed. And then, through some error, that image got used instead and went to publish and yeah, it's, it's kind of amazing, but he was actually a full-time employee, which was really rare for one of the people who was actually creating the comics. And so it's this, you know, he was, he was actually fired by Marvel. Jessika: Wow. yeah, From what I've read, most of them were freelance, so that's actually super interesting.  Mike: Yeah.  It's an interesting story. And it's one I would love to talk to him about someday, which we'll discuss that later. I legit love that story about how Milgrim got, let go, because it's totally a move that I would pull. [00:19:00] And then the series was originally drawn by this other long-time Marvel artists named Herb Trimp.  he'd made a name for himself with the Incredible Hulk, and also he is known as the first artist to actually draw Wolverine for publication because he drew the, he drew the issue. John Romita came up with the character design in sketch, but he was the one who actually first drew him in a comic, which was cool. Jessika: That's super neat. Mike: Yeah. And so Trimp also, wasn't a stranger to projects like this. He had recently worked on G.I. Joe. He wound up penciling the first two issues, and then Frank Springer came in to finish out the series, and Springer was another reliable artist from Marvel and he had also been involved with G.I. Joe and Transformers. Milgrim actually has an essay at the end of the first issue called In the Driver's Seat, where he talks about the comics. And it starts with how Tyco asks for the common treatment and then goes into his first meeting with Jim Shooter about the projects. And I kind of love this description where he talks about how he wasn't [00:20:00] really sold on the idea originally. Jessika: Frankly, I wasn't sure. Nobody had ever done anything with trucks and comics before. When I voiced the concern to Jim, it was as if I had slapped his face and challenged him to a duel. Exactly! He exploded. Nobody has done it before. Maybe nobody thinks it can be done. There may even be a lot of resistance to the idea, but we can do it and do it well. I got caught up in the challenge, Jim and I did not fight a duel to the death, lucky for him. Instead, we began discussing the idea of a truck driving hero. We talked about the romance of driving a truck, the dedication of those self-sufficient loners who drive the big rigs, we got swept up in the notion, began to solidify the concept of a trucker with a mission, a goal, a quest.  Mike: Yeah, it's kind of charming to hear how enamored he got with the project during that first meeting. [00:21:00]  The essay also mentions that Marvel's animation division, which as we've also covered in that episode about Saturday morning cartoons, was a thing that they had, was working on what sounded like a TV show pitch. And there might be some toys and animated series in the future, but spoiler, that never happened. I'm curious, how would you summarize this comic series? Jessika: A lot happened. So a lot happened. This series was wild from start to finish. It starts with introductions to Ulysses Solomon Archer, or USA, and his brother, Jefferson, or Jeff after their parents who are truck drivers die in an accident, US and Jeff are raised by Wide Load,. Who's a woman, and Poppa, who are the owners of a truck stop named Shortstop. Mike: We need to stop this for a second. You need to, you need to acknowledge them by their full [00:22:00] names. Jessika: I'm sorry. Remind me what Poppa's name is.  Mike: Poppa Wheelie, and it's Wide Load Annie, and Wide Load Annie. Jessika: Okay. Let me re say that. Okay. Excuse me.  Mike: I'm sorry. It's just it's too good. Jessika: No, you're right. I'm not even going to cut any of this. I'm just going to leave it. No, you're right. I couldn't, you know what, honestly, because I couldn't remember what their full names were when I was writing this out. I was like, this is good enough. So, so yeah, they're the owners of a truck stop called Shortstop and US is this All-American blonde haired, white boy, who has it all going for him. He's literally good at everything without trying. And he's encouraged by Wide Load Annie and Poppa Wheelie to get a college education, even though he knows he wants to be a truck driver, just like his folks, and his adoptive parents and his big brother, Jeff, who he idolizes. [00:23:00] And Jeff is your classic, dark haired boy who just can't seem to keep up with US's successes, and also becomes a truck driver obviously, and seemingly mostly as a backup profession, which is kind of interesting how they they're both like encouraging and disparaging of truck drivers inparts. And I'm like, it's kind of strange. There's a give and take. I don't know what it is. I don't know if you felt that too.  Mike: It's the whole thing of, he is not good. Jefferson is billed as being not good at school, but US is. And so they're like, no, you have to go to college, you have to make something of yourself. And Poppa and Wide Load and Jefferson all support him and send him to school. And Jefferson is doing it via job in trucking. Yeah, they talked about how expensive colleges in those days. And I'm like, my dudes, it's 1980. You could literally go to college on a minimum wage job. And it talks about how also, I think he had scholarships and. Jessika: Cause he was good at [00:24:00] everything.  Mike: and he double majored in computer  Jessika: Electronics. Yeah, exactly.  Mike: Electrical engineering, I think. And then, and then. Jessika: Computer sciences. Yeah. Uh, Yeah. it was a whole thing.  Mike: It's a thing. Exactly. Jessika: So during a drive with a young US, Jeff's big rig is run off the road by a devilish figure he calls the high women just prior to driving off a cliff. The truck explodes and Us is gravely injured in such a way that he evidently needs a skull replacement? Mike: You know? Sure.  Jessika: Have you heard of that? Mike: No. Jessika: Usually with a skull replacement, you're going to be a lot worse off than just, like, gonna in a pop awake in a couple minutes after you put something metal back on there,  Mike: Yeah. It's, uh, I believe they worded it as, oh, is this experimental treatment and I'm like, what? Okay.  Jessika: Which already was so [00:25:00] sus.  Mike: Yeah. And they, basically replace his skull with it's, in this comic, it's implied that it's like just the top part of his skull that like, you know, protects the brain. Later comic appearances, it is very strongly hinted that they basically do a brain transplant into, or, that they basically just give him a metal skull of some kind. It's like, there's no bone to be seen, but. Jessika: Like a new head completely? Lord. Goodness gracious. Well, so after that, he vows to find his brother who he's like, I couldn't find him in the crash. It's like, bro, like you kind of couldn't look for him. You had a concussion, like you're not an expert in finding bodies in an explosion. I don't know how he just definitively was like, well I guess everybody else told him that, that he, the body was never found or whatever, [00:26:00] but. Mike: Yeah, that's true. Jessika: Yeah. So he decided he's gonna find his brother as well as the mysterious Highwayman that he yelled about right before. And he quickly finds out that he can pick up CB radio waves from his fancy new skullcap, and somehow has truck becomes self-aware and he can communicate directly with it? And it's making its own decisions. Inexplicably. It's not well explained, once again.  Mike: It's so truck originally, he builds a remote control into like a half dollar, so he can drive it really like, like a precision driver with his remote. But then later on, I think there's, it was like some kind of like a lightning strike or something or electrical overload that then allowed him to directly interface with the truck. And then the truck is also self-aware at times where it's providing narration for an entire issue. And we'll talk about that, too. Jessika: Yeah, that's what I was going to say. [00:27:00] It was the weirdest thing.  I was kinda on board with most of it. And then the truck was having its own inner monologue. And I was like, wait a second, guys.  Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Oh, goodness gracious. And then there's also a spy planted within the truck stop in the form of a mind-controlled waitress, Mary McGrill, which their names, all their names.  Mike: The alliteration and stuff and puns. It's great. Jessika: Exactly. It's so cheese. I love it. And she uses this wacky mind control whip, and there's drama about the truck stop being foreclosed upon and being sold to make condos. And, and then DUN DUN DUN! Jeff turns out to be the Highwayman! And they are aliens looking for the best person, read trucker, you know, of course on earth to be some kind of space ambassador? Mike: Yeah. It's not well explained.  [00:28:00] I think it had something to do with they wanted people to pilot their star ships,  because they were like accustomed to like long bouts of being on their own and stuff.  Jessika: Yeah, it was, it was a whole thing too. And then apparently all humans look alike to the aliens.  Mike: I thought that was funny as fuck. That was.  Jessika: I thought that was hysterical  Mike: Because the aliens are so weird looking. Jessika: Yeah. Yeah. And so apparently they had been scoping US this whole time, cause he's like the golden child, but then they accidentally swooped Jeff instead, because they made a mistake and Jeff was just like, yeah, I'm going to go with it. So once they figured out their mistake, they felt really bad about wasting all of their time and effort on this, this putz. And so then they of course had to have a race to make sure who was the best one to be the space ambassador, whether it was [00:29:00] going to be US, who dun dun dun the aliens gave him the skullcap!  Mike: Yup.  Jessika: Or his brother who has been working with the alien tech and has, like, a time advantage and a training advantage. So it's of course, US wins. I mean, come on. So of course they just get sent up into space? And he gets to take the whole truck stop with him? And all of the people? Mike: Yup. Jessika: It's the Rapture? Mike: Yeah. And then the greedy bankers who are left behind, who are going to take the property that the truck stopped. I think they, they wind up getting dosed with some kind of radiation. Jessika: Yeah, the, they were going to build condos on the land and then it ended up being radioactive. And so the buyer ended up pulling out. Mike: Yeah, Jessika: Like right there, because that's how that works.  Mike: Yeah. Jessika: So yeah.  The end. That's it. Mike: Oh yeah. [00:30:00] And then the other thing is that for the first half of the series,  we are given to believe that the Highwayman is demonic in origin. Like they do a whole thing where,  he's got his own mind-controlled, big rig that runs them off the road or whatever. And, he's surrounded by devils when he's looking down triumphantly on the wreckage and there's, you know, it's the mythology of the open road where they're like, oh, he was this trucker who, apparently, couldn't keep up anymore with the younger truckers and their newer rigs. So we cut a deal with the devil and it was, I actually kind of dug it. It was ridiculous. And over the top, but it was great. And then it turns out it was just, I don't know, some disguise that he put on just the fuck with everybody. Jessika: He did the Scooby Doo unveiling where he pulled a rubber mask off of his face, and I about lost my mind.  Mike: Yeah. Okay. What was your overall impression of the series? Jessika: It was a fucking [00:31:00] wild ride, but it was fun. I liked that it was so random at times. It legitimately kept me guessing the whole way. The topics though, they were not subtle with the overbearing American patriotism and the overt disdain for neo-Nazis, which obviously I'm behind. Mike: I mean, whatever that was fine. Jessika: that was great when they dropped the, the neo-Nazis in Televiv. Mike: Oh God. Well, and the funniest part was they were, so  one of the  antagonists for us is Baron VonBlimp, who pilot, he, he looks like, he looks like kind of this weird aristocrat from like turn of the century, Europe. No, he's I think he even has a monocle. And then towards the end, when he shows up in his blimp, he drops out and he's got a bunch of Nazis with them and, you know, they've got the swastika, armbands and everything, and then it's revealed they're not actually Nazis and he's not even German. He just liked how the uniforms looked. And then the aliens are like, whatever we're [00:32:00] done with this. And they literally hand wave them away into Israel. And I was like, that's, that's just magnificent. Just chef's kiss. Jessika: Oh, yeah, I did actually really like that. So, so what about you? What did you think about this?  Mike: I mean, it's one of those comics where I never expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but there's something so silly and pure about this entire story. It feels like the kind of thing that a five or six year old kid would come up with while playing with their trucks, you know, like monsters and aliens and races against air ships. And then you hand wave away things when you want to change the narrative. And it  somehow kind of works actually. Like, I don't know how, but it kind of does.  I really loved, like I talked about, I love Baron VonBlimp, I thought he was just so weird.  And then I liked how the Shortstop is essentially the Mos Eisley Cantina, but it's got better coffee. [00:33:00] And it seemed like every time that we first visited the place, someone was getting thrown through a window, which was of. Jessika: Absolutely. There was always a fight scene. It reminded me of a saloon, like one of those old-timey saloons with  people getting thrown out double doors and things crashing.  Mike: Yeah. And then we talked about how US' his truck was self-aware, but, but I love the bit where Papa refers to it as a she and the trucks that there and says I'm not ashamed, but I'm secure enough in myself. That it's fine.  Jessika: Yeah.  Mike: I was like, that is weirdly topical through a 2021 lens, but this is also really good. And also every cover to this comic, it is a work of art.  Like, like the styles vary, but they're really cool looking and they're just really weird. Yeah, I mean, it was just, it was a blast. Were there any highlights for you, or any lowlights. Jessika: So I have to say my eyes just about rolled out of my [00:34:00] head, where the aliens showed up and needed chicken parts to make their ship work correctly. And the rivalry between the two female characters was pretty contrived. Mike:  I did like how  they were trying to sit there and spin it so you didn't know who was the sleeper agent? I thought that was kind of cool, but yeah, they were, you know, they were fighting over Us and that was dumb, but it's also, you know, it's the 1980s. What are you gonna do? Jessika: Exactly. Had to have some sort of, you know, forced love triangle of some nature. But I have to say I was oddly charmed at the editing notes from Ralph Macchio, all people? Mike: Uh, editor with the same name as the, yeah. Jessika: Oh, okay. All right. Wow. Goodness gracious. Cause I was like giving that guy a lot of credit.   Mike: Nope. Jessika: I did like that though. I did like the little comments, the little editing notes,  it was a little much [00:35:00] sometimes, but I love that he was throwing shade at the writers sometimes, or reminding the reader about the previous events or where you could read about them. And it was interesting how in depth they recapped each issue, but it must've been nice for the readers who weren't starting from issue one.  Mike: Yeah. And especially because it was a maxi series and then it started in mid 1983 and then it ended in late 1984. So, it went from monthly to bi-monthly, and it was not a big name comic in the first place, so it makes sense that they would sit there and provide that background for readers. And I also really appreciated that it was all the same characters over and over again, so that it wasn't doing anything crazy new, but at the same time, each of those issues you could pick up except for the last couple. Pretty easy to understand. Jessika: Yeah. I would say so.  Mike:  I mentioned earlier that  this was another licensed comic that was designed to help promote a toy line, but as [00:36:00] opposed to G.I. Joe and transformers, though, this wasn't nearly as successful. Comichron, which is a site that tracks sales data for comics doesn't have 1983 data in place yet, but the site comic book, historians has this incredible online community. And I actually wound up posting there and asking if anyone had any insight into how the comics sold and Al Milgrim himself wound up chiming in if you would be so kind.  Jessika: I'm sorry, what? That's cool as heck.  Mike: Yeah.  Jessika: Wow.  Mike: Yeah.  Jessika: Okay. Well, I got a, sorry, I got a little nervous. Oh sure. I think the first issue sold around 160,000 or so, not great for a first issue, but respectable. Marvel only contracted with the toy company to do a dozen issues. I'm sure the sales went downhill from there. Still think the book was some good silly fun though (I may be [00:37:00] biased).  Mike: Yeah, I was really stunned. This, the comic book historian group actually has a lot of amazing industry professionals involved in it. I've seen writers like Mark Wade chime in, the owner of Mile High Comics routinely posts about comic book history as well. They have a podcast and a YouTube series. They did a long series of interviews with Jim Shooter that was really cool, which actually, I think did a lot to kind of redeem his character a bit because a lot of people viewed him as a villain in the comic book and yeah.  Jessika: Oh.  Mike: But yeah, Milgrim was super cool to chime in on that. And I wound up talking to him briefly afterwards and he said, he'd be open to doing an interview with us at some point. So maybe there'll be a  Part two to the U.S. 1 episode.  Jessika: That's exciting.  Mike: Yeah.  The comic series ran for roughly a year and a half and it ended in October of 1984, the U.S. 1 toys were moderately more successful, they lasted until 86. And then after this trucking and pop culture continued to undergo this shift. [00:38:00] And it feels like the nineties, as I said, was when things really started to significantly change. We talked about Thelma and Louise. There was that Kurt Russell trucking movie called Breakdown, where the villains were truckers. And then. I mean, it's kind of still how they're portrayed these days  in media. I really don't think it helps that the FBI released this five-year study back in 2009 that linked long haul trucking to serial killers. Jessika: Oh. Wow.  Mike: Yeah. And it's one of those things where it's not saying all long haul truckers are a majority of long haul, truckers are serial killers, but that there are a number of serial killers who are long haul truckers. And it makes sense because there's a lack of supervision. And also you can pick someone up in one state, killed them in another and then drop them off, dump the body in a third. And also a lot of times the people that they pick up are people that no one really misses. Jessika: Yeah. Yeah.  Mike: On that high note.  [00:39:00] The funny thing is that this isn't where Ulysses S. Archer's story ends. So even though this was a licensed comic book for a company that was eventually acquired by Mattel,  it seems like Marvel still owns the rights to the characters themselves because Ulysses pops up every now and then he's usually like the supporting character but sometimes it's as to this one-off deep cut. So he appeared in a couple of issues of John Burns, Sensational She Hulk in the early nineties, he was supporting the She Hulk for a few issues. There was a brief cameo and the 2010 series new Avengers where he applied to be a babysitter for Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' daughter  Jessika: Oh, geez.  Mike: It was, it was actually pretty funny. He wound up helping out Rocket Raccoon in this backup story of a 2011 series called the Annihilaters, and then he also teamed up with Deadpool around the same time. And that's the issue where you see, it looks like he's actually got a fully replaced skull made out of metal. They, they, they do one of those like cross section cuts where you see [00:40:00] where you see underneath the scan, it looks like he's got just an all-metal skull. Jessika: Yeah.  Mike: Yeah. And then after that,  we haven't heard much about him in the Marvel Universe, but weirdly his brother Jefferson has appeared a bit too. So, he was listed as a character in the Dark Reign files, which was a who's who guide to various Marvel villains in 2009. And it actually retcon his story. Basically it claims that the highway man, after staying on earth wound up actually cutting a deal with Satan, in quotes, whoever that is. And then he wound up fighting against ghost writer. And then aside from the issue where Deadpool teamed up with his brother, he winds up fighting against Deadpool again in 2016 or so. Jessika: That's super random.  Mike: Yeah. And now we're in 2021 and it's been a few years since we've seen Ulysses and his friends show up. But I personally think that we're kind of overdue to have them come back like. Jessika: I [00:41:00] want to see Poppa Wheelie in something.  Mike: Right.  I would love to see him show up as a strong support character in one of those like heroes on the run stories where, whatever hero of the book is being pursued by,  the government or something like that. And then he basically winds up providing kind of a mobile base of operations or something like that. And then he helps them keep our heroes one step ahead of the law.  Jessika: Yeah. Like he floats down on the Shortstop, like space station or something. Yeah. That'd be cool as heck.  Mike: Yeah or something,  I mean, there's so many different ways you could go, you could have him come back to earth and he just winds up working as a trucker again, because that's what he really likes. He misses driving through the natural beauty of America, something like that. You know, I think there could be some really fun opportunities.  And I really hope that Marvel brings him back at some point, because he was just this really fun, weird character. And it was strange and it was silly, but it was also very sweet. So that is U.S. 1 in a nutshell, [00:42:00] what are your final thoughts on it? Jessika: I think it was a lot of fun. It was bananagrams, you know, all the way to the top, but  it was fun.  Mike: Yeah.   All right. It is now time for that part of the episode called Brain Wrinkles, which is when we like to discuss things that are Comics related that are just sticking in our head and won't get out. Do you mind if I go first?  Jessika: Oh, please do.  Mike: All right. I was going to talk about the recent news that Marvel's hired someone to direct Blade, but I'm actually way more excited about something else. There's this podcast called Comic Book Couples Counseling, which is this absolutely rad show. It's hosted by married couple, Brad and Lisa Gullickson, and they take relationships between comics characters, and then examine them through the lens of different self-help love gurus.   So they've been super supportive of us so far. Like they've actually retweeted [00:43:00] our stuff and their show is really fun. But, I was recently reading through a whole bunch of nineties Valiant comics that I managed to pick up from the Bat Cave in Santa Rosa when they have this blind box sale. And one of the series contained in these boxes is called the Second Life of Dr. Mirage. And it's one of the series that I collected when I was a kid it's about this married couple named Hwen Fong and Carmen Ruiz, who were his pair of psychologists. Hwen is this kind of like nebbish little guy, and Carmen is this bruiser, like, she's the bad-ass of the pair. There's this early scene where she winds up saving him from zombies because she's a master of Kappa Wera, which is, you know, it makes sense, cause she's from Brazil. And then in the first issue, they run a foul of Valiance resident necromancer named master dark and he kills Hwen, but then Hwen comes back as a ghost, sort of a ghost kind of a thing. Jessika: Hm.  Mike: But I was reading through the series and I was really struck how this was a superhero comic that actually focused on an [00:44:00] adult relationship and relationship issues that come along with the supernatural stuff, like early on Carmen has a pretty heartfelt talk with her undead husband about how difficult it is for her emotionally, because he's still with her, but she can't touch him. Jessika: Oh my god.  Mike: And anyway, so I wound up tweeting about it, cause I thought the couple would make a good topic for Comic Book Couples Counseling, and they wound up picking up all the back issues like that day. And they're going to do an episode about the characters. So I'm super excited to listen to this.  Jessika: Oh, that's super fun.  Mike: Yeah, Jessika: See, and I was going to talk about the same thing.  Mike: I'm sorry, I stole your thunder. Jessika: No, that's okay though. They're so good. So I'm that person who has to start from episode one, because. Mike: They've got a lot of episodes too. Jessika: They do they're back to 2018. So  I just went all the way back and it's so [00:45:00] fun though. I like to get that rapport. I like to make sure I have that parasocial, you know, relationship really hooked in there with all the podcasts I listen to. So, the first section that they did cause they always do kind of like a month at a time, focused on one set of characters. The first one was the relationship facets of Jean Gray and Scott Summers from the X-Men. And I love the X-Men. So, it was really neat to hear all of the different ways that they had a relationship and then they were comparing it to a book about relationships. It was very interesting. It was very topical, and I liked that they also are very sweet and introspective about their own relationship. Mike: It's really lovely.  Jessika: Yeah. And like what they can do, what they can take out of it to apply to their own marriage, which is it's so sweet. So thank you guys. You guys are great.  Mike: Yeah. Comic Book Couples Counseling, Brad and [00:46:00] Lisa, absolutely friends of the podcast.  Jessika: Absolutely.  Mike: And you know, if they ever want to come on here, they are more than welcome and we will talk about whatever they want to talk about.  Jessika: Open invitation. I'll even read a I'll even. I'm not in a couple, but I'll read a self-help book. Like if that's what it takes.  Mike:  All right. I think that's all from us. we'll be back in two weeks and until then, we'll see you in the stacks.  Thanks for listening to Ten Cent Takes. Accessibility is important to us, so text transcriptions of each of our published episodes can be found on our website.  This episode was hosted by Jessika Frazer and Mike Thompson written by Mike Thompson and edited by Jessika Frazer. Our intro theme was written and performed by Jared Emerson- Johnson of Bay Area Sound, our credits and transition music is Pursuit of Life by Evan MacDonald, and was purchased with a standard license from PremiumBeat. Our banner graphics were [00:47:00] designed by Sarah Frank. You can find on Instagram as @lookmomdraws. Jessika: If you'd like to get in touch with us, ask us questions or tell us about how we got something wrong, please head over to tencenttakes.com, or shoot an email to tencenttakes@gmail.com. You can also find us on Twitter, the official podcast account is @tencenttakes. Jessika is @jessikawitha, and Jessika is spelled with a K, and Mike is @vansau, V A N S A U. Mike: If you'd like to support us, be sure to download, rate and review wherever you listen. Jessika: Stay safe out there.  Mike: And support your local comic shop.

In this episode of The Global Exchange, Colin Robertson speaks to Ambassadors Jeremy Kinsman and Thomas Pickering about the recent summits in Europe. Participants Bio: Jeremy Kinsman has been the Distinguished Visiting Diplomat at Ryerson since 2010 after he left the Canadian Foreign Service in 2006, following 40 years of service. He had served as a Canadian Ambassador for 15 years, in Moscow (1992-96), in Rome (1996-2000) as High Commissioner in London (2000-2002), and as Ambassador to the EU in Brussels (2002-2006). Earlier postings were in Brussels and in Algeria before going to New York in 1975 where he became Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering is Vice Chairman of Hills and Company where he has worked since December 2006. Tom served as the U.S. Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations in New York under President George H.W. Bush. He also was the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under President Bill Clinton. Tom holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. https://www.hillsandco.com/wp-content/endurance-page-cache/professionals/thomas-pickering/_index.html Host bio: Colin Robertson is a former diplomat, and Vice President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, https://www.cgai.ca/colin_robertson Read Tom Pickering's piece on multilateralism: “The International Order Didn't Fail the Pandemic Alone,” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-05-14/international-order-didnt-fail-pandemic-alone R&R The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand – https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374722913 Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down by Rodric Braithwaite – https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300204186/across-moscow-river Edison by Edmund Morris – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/216895/edison-by-edmund-morris/ Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant – https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/old/orig4367-h/main.htm Recording Date: 18 June 2021. Give 'The Global Exchange' a review on Apple Podcast! Follow the Canadian Global Affairs Institute on Facebook, Twitter (@CAGlobalAffairs), or on Linkedin. Head over to our website www.cgai.ca for more commentary. Produced by Charlotte Duval-Lantoine. Music credits to Drew Phillips.

On June 19th, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, declaring that all slaves were free, two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia, ending the Civil War. Tom's guest today is the author and historian, Annette Gordon-Reed. She has written a beautiful peroration on the meaning of the holiday that marks the anniversary of that event. It is at once an homage to her home state of Texas and a wholly original and fascinating exploration of how history and legend and myth all shape what we learn when we're young, how our understanding evolves as we grow older, and how social dynamics inform the evolution of societal understanding as well. Professor Reed writes with erudition and grace, authority and humility, weaving a touching personal memoir into the stark reality of a harsh historical record. The book is called On Juneteenth. The author spoke about it with Tom on June 11th. Because our conversation was recorded earlier, we can't take any calls or comments. Annette Gordon-Reed joined us on our digital line from her home in New York. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Writing narrative nonfiction is not the same as writing historical nonfiction. Knowing the difference will land you an award-winning book. Dr. Craig von Buseck shares how.Craig is an award-winning author and popular speaker. He holds an MA in Journalism from Regent University. His book, I Am Cyrus: Harry S. Truman and the Rebirth of Israel' won the 2020 Selah Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for the Truman Award by the Truman Presidential Library – welcome Dr. Craig von Buseck to Your Best Writing Life! During this episode, you will gain first-hand knowledge of how Craig researches for his award-winning books, the dos and don'ts that will save you time, frustration, and some kickback.Learn basics in comparing narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.Why has narrative nonfiction become so popular?What fascinates Crag the most about his writing career?LINKSDr. Craig von Buseck Chapter Download - Victor! The Final Battle of Ulysses S. GrantDownload the June Writing Tips & Soul Care for Writers PDFVisit our website Your Best Writing Life PodcastJoin fellow writers on our Facebook page, Your Best Writing Life Visit the website of our host, Linda Goldfarb

This special episode with Dr. Timothy Smith was recorded during Discovery Park’s Military History and Armed Forces Symposium. Dr. Smith was one of the featured historians on “Grant,” a three-night mini-series from The History Channel. The live audience learned more about the life and career of Ulysses S. Grant and the Civil War and discovered how history-related documentaries are made. Dr. Smith also shared suggestions on getting your children interested in the past and the best historic Tennessee destinations. He is the author of more than 20 books on topics ranging from Shiloh to Champion Hill to Vicksburg to Grant. You can watch the documentary on the History Channel and purchase Dr. Smith’s books on Amazon. Learn more: history.com/shows/grant

Hello April 27th . We discuss this day in history and what makes a story great. Join us for a fun episode and send us your favorite personal stories.  We are giving away T-Shirts for new segment ideas so email or comment. midlifemumbojumbo@gmail.comEnjoythe show!This Day in History:National Tell a Story DayNational Prime Rib Day1965 - "Pampers" were patented by R.C. Duncan1983 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) broke a 55-year-old major league baseball record when he struck out his 3,509th batter of his careerBirthday - 1822 Ulysses S. GrantElements of a Story:CharacterSettingPlotConflictThemeNext Week's Challenge:Please connect with us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/midlifemumbojumbo/Twitter: @midlifemumboju1Email us your comments at:midlifemumbojumbo@gmail.comReddit: midlifemumbojumbo (u/midlifemumbojumbo) - Reddit

Imagine riding 60 miles side-saddle in a dress. The early US was so crowded with trees that it was difficult to travel by carriage. If you can’t travel in a carriage, what do you do? Whether you’re a Civil War general like Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant, or a pioneer house wife, in early America you needed a smooth, fast horse with amazing endurance. While today the Saddlebred is a somewhat passé breed, the breed was indispensable in the 1700’s and 1800’s. Learn what happens when hunter/jumper riders and saddle seat riders swap places, about rock climbing in Red River Gorge, fish with no eyes in Mammoth Cave, Louisville Slugger bats, fiddle championships, Chess Pie, and Mega Cavern (a mine turned underground zipline, MTB dirt jump course, ropes course, and Christmas Light show).

Aswi and Erik get together for a special episode comparing the legacies of some of the NBA's greatest players of all time with the legacies of some of the United States' most notable (and infamous) presidents. For instance, who is the Abraham Lincoln of NBA players? And which historically great NBA player is most reminiscent of John F. Kennedy? To prepare for the episode, Aswi and Erik each came up with their own lists of presidents and NBA player comparisons - they then shared their comps with each other live on the podcast. 2:05 - George Washington, the 1st President 11:44 - Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President 17:16 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President 31:38 - Jimmy Carter, the 39th President 35:44 - Ronald Reagan, the 40th President 45:13 - Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President 53:55 - John F. Kennedy, the 35th President 1:01:43 - Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President 1:10:20 - Andrew Jackson, the 7th President 1:13:19 - James Buchanan, Jr., the 15th President 1:14:20 - Donald J. Trump, the 45th President 1:16:48 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President 1:19:54 - Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President

Now Washington is brought up to date with the catastrophic events in Ohio from the prologue. The sticky businesses regarding what's to be done about this Manticore and a new backup president, are on the table. · Thomas W. Arlington and Ulysses S. Grant performed by Alex Shaw · Sarah Arlington performed by Maureen Foley · Truth Arlington performed by Theo Leigh · Jeremy Pines and Julius Kaufman performed by Matt Wardle · Donald McTavish performed by Derrick Ritchie · Conrad Jacobson performed by Spencer Leeb · Julia Grant performed by Laureta Sela Fanfare for Space, Americana, and Battle Hymn of the Republic performed by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com Make your decision by Dan Phillipson of Shockwave Sound Many soundscapes by Tabletop Audio The New Century Multiverse is funded by Patreon. Our $15 sponsors get credit every episode so thank you to: Aaron Lacluyze, Abel Savard, Alex Outridge, Angus Lee, Benjamin Hofer, Bryan Novak, Cassandra Newman, Chris Finik, Christopher Wolfe, Ciaran Dachtler, Conar Kennedy, Dan Mayer, Daniel Salgueiro, Dan Hoeppner, Dave Hickman, David Shealy, Duran Barnett, Evan Jankowski, Finbar Nicholl, Frankie Punzie, Greg Downing, Jamas Enright, Jesse Ferguson, Jo Gisiger, Joe Crow, Joel Robinson, Johan Claesson, Joseph Gluck, Kat Essmann, Kevin Veighy, Lorraine Chisholm, Marc Lucksch, Matthew A. Seibert, Matthew Webb, Michael Hasko, Scott Jacob, Sarah Montgomery, Tim Rozenski, Timothy Green, Toby Jungius, Tom Painter, Tre Contreras and Valencia Burns.

What you’re about to hear really started for me a few years ago. I was just about to leave Los Angeles for our big family move out to the midwest. I was in the Los Angeles Public Library looking through some microfilm on Amelia Earhart when I stumbled back a little too far and found the contents of an 1862 Valentines’ note to Lucy Lambert Hale; a prominent Washington D.C. socialite. That’s right. Everything you’re about to hear, started with a Valentine.  The contents of the note read like something out of a period romance film but with just a pinch of darkness. The words jumped off the page. Here’s what it said.  “My dear Miss Hale, were it not for the License with a time-honored observance of this day allows, I had not written you this poor note. … You resemble in a most remarkable degree a lady, very dear to me, now dead and your close resemblance to her surprised me the first time I saw you. This must be my apology for any apparent rudeness noticeable. To see you has indeed afforded me a melancholy pleasure, if you can conceive of such, and should we never meet nor I see you again believe me, I shall always associate you in my memory, with her, who was very beautiful, and whose face, like your own I trust, was a faithful index of gentleness and amiability. With a Thousand kind wishes for your future happiness I am, to you, a stranger.  The, at the time anonymous letter captivated Miss Hale, and that captivation went from 0 - 60 when she learned that the note had been written by none other than John Wilkes Booth; the man that three years later would commit the most famous assassination in all of history.  As I sat there pondering what I’d just read one of the librarians came over to me and said “you found the Hale note”. I remember telling her how I’d always been fascinated by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and by John Wilkes Booth in particular. And then she hit me with a question that I’ve been wondering about to this very day. “Did you know the FBI still holds an active investigation into the fate of John Wilkes Booth?” And that question has taken us to Oklahoma. Since that day in Los Angeles in 2017 I’ve been piecing together a story that I’ve gone over and over and over in my head. A story that, as history has recorded it, contains love, betrayal, tyranny, rage, murder, secret burial plots, modern day trials, the birth of the FBI, mummy's, and a history altering conspiracy that the world isn’t ready to believe. And that’s before we got to it. Season 2 rolls on from Oklahoma, this is part one of Vanished: John Wilkes Booth. LINKS Our Website (https://www.vanishedshow.com/) Vanished on Twitter (https://twitter.com/vanishedpod)   Vanished on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/vanishedpod/?hl=en)   Vanished on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vanishedpod)   Vanished Facebook Discussion Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanishedae)   Jennifer Taylor on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jentaylor2615)   Chris Williamson on Twitter (https://twitter.com/CWilliamson____)   Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website (https://www.smithandvinson.com/) Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website (https://www.smithandvinson.com/attorney-profiles/jennifer-taylor/) Smith & Vinson on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SmithandVinson) Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8068897/)   "Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona (https://desdymona.com/)   Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network (https://straightupstrange.com/)   Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with a special appearance by Montgomery Sutton (https://www.montgomerysutton.com/) as John Wilkes Booth  SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING "Into the Abyss: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (https://www.amazon.com/Into-Abyss-Assassination-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/1939150086) by Kate Gillett "Stalking John Wilkes Booth" @ American Battlefield Trust (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/stalking-john-wilkes-booth) "Lucy Lambert Gets a Valentine From John Wilkes Booth" (https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/lucy-lambert-hale-gets-valentine-john-wilkes-booth-valentine/) @ New England Historical Society   THE UNION   Abraham Lincoln @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln)   Edwin Stanton @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Stanton)   Andrew Johnson @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson)   William H. Seward @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward)   Ulysses S. Grant @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant)   THE CONFEDERACY Jefferson Davis @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis) Robert E. Lee @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee)   THE BOOTH FAMILY John Wilkes Booth @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth#Assassination_of_Lincoln)   Edwin Booth @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Booth) Asia Booth Clarke @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Booth_Clarke)   THE CONSPIRATORS Michael O'Laughlen @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Laughlen)   Samuel Arnold @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Arnold_(conspirator))   Mary Surratt @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Surratt) John Surratt @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Surratt) Lewis Powell @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Powell_(conspirator)) George Atzerodt @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Atzerodt) David E. Herold @ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Herold)

War Yankee - Update More Episodes Coming in January 2021 Kyle Bondo wishes you a Happy New Year and gives you a brief update on what is coming up on War Yankee - Overland in January 2021. About War Yankee - Overland An American Civil War history podcast hosted by Kyle M. Bondo that follows the Overland Campaign led by General Ulysses S. Grant has he drives the Army of the Potomac on its 47-day, 113-mile military campaign South against the Confederacy in 1864. Quotes "Whatever happens, there will be no turning back." -- Lt.Gen. Ulysses S. Grant War Yankee Telegraph Department Email Us: THE War Yankee AT GMAIL DOT com All our Show Notes: waryankee.com Notable Resources: waryankee.com/resources/ All our Episodes: waryankee.libsyn.com War Yankee - Overland! Gagglepod - Until Every Story is Told! War Yankee is a Gagglepod Production. Learn more at gagglepod.com.

Today, we have a lot to get through on the last episode of Quick News Daily for the week. We discuss another allergic reaction to the COVID vaccine, the extra doses found in the vials for the vaccine, and French President Emmanuel Macron testing positive for the coronavirus. We also discuss Biden's latest nominee, why you shouldn't be worried about Republicans objecting Electoral College votes in the House, MacKenzie Scott, and more!----more----Find Quick News Daily on your favorite podcast player: https://rebrand.ly/QuickNewsSources:Alaskan has allergic reaction after getting Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccineFDA says Pfizer vaccine vials hold extra doses, expanding supply McConnell warns GOP off Electoral College brawl in CongressSales top 3 million for Barack Obama's "A Promised Land'MacKenzie Scott Has Donated More Than $4 Billion In Last 4 MonthsFrench President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for Covid-19 Biden expected to nominate North Carolina environmental official to run EPA (Mostly Accurate) Transcript: OPEN  Today is Thursday, December 17th, thanks for listening once again. There were actually a ton of really interesting stories out there today, so it was tough to narrow them down. I tried to choose the ones that would be most relevant to our lives, just like the mission of this show is supposed to be, so you’ll have to let me know how I do with that. *WILLY WONKA EFFECT* There are some pretty hot takes in here, so it’s going to be a fun one. To amend those words of Willy Wonka, let’s get caught up right away. COVID REACTION AND EXTRA DOSES So, here’s the deal: I’m going to talk about this first story because we all need to be informed and aware of the risks. That said, we should keep this in perspective. I’ll explain more about what I mean in just a second.  The story I’m talking about is the news from Alaska yesterday that a health worker who received the COVID vaccine had a severe allergic reaction. It happened within minutes of getting the shot, they had to give him a shot of epinephrine, and then he was fine after that. The health officials there said that this reaction was similar to the ones in the UK last week. The only problem is that this patient did not have a history of allergic reactions, whereas the two from last week did. In that way, those made sense, and it’s why this one is scarier. It’s human nature to fear the unknown. It’s why we’re afraid of the dark.  So the caution and perspective that I want to give is that I feel like all of these reactions wouldn’t be big stories if this was a typical disease instead of COVID. If we only heard about 3 severe reactions to even something like the regular flu vaccine, I’m sure doctors would be thrilled. The data isn’t real easy to find, but a study from 2009 showed thousands of really serious side effects from the flu vaccine, so I just want to emphasize that the actual news story here is that there are only 3 news-making allergic reactions.  The other side of that coin is that millions of flu vaccines go out every year, whereas, realistically, there have maybe been a couple hundred thousand COVID vaccines that have been given to the regular public. That same argument I just made about “only 3” is the same one that the idiots used this spring to justify why we shouldn’t be in lockdowns. They always said “the flu kills more people per year” after like 2 weeks of knowing about the coronavirus. It’s comparing apples to oranges. I guess, what I’m trying to say is that we should acknowledge these cases, we should study them, we should be cautious, but don’t let this scare you out of getting the vaccine altogether. Talk to an actual doctor, don’t just take my word for it.  But hey, let’s hear some good news about the vaccine, which is actually more of a story about how our pharmacists are pretty smart people. As early as Monday, and for sure by Tuesday, pharmacists nationwide began noticing that there was still quite a bit of vaccine left over in the vials that were shipped out. Originally, I talked about how there were 5 doses per vial of vaccine, and we went through all of that math. Well, to prevent against spills and other waste, the vials are always filled more than is needed. For example, if 5 doses is 5 ounces, then they probably fill the vials up to like 5.5 or something like that. In this case, the pharmacists are finding that there are 1-2 extra doses per vial, which experts say is unusual. I’m not sure what could make them overshoot the target so much, but it’s a lucky break for us.  If we do some more quick math, 1 extra dose is 20% more, and 2 is 40% more. This means our expected vaccine totals could be as much as 40%, which would help tremendously with our supply problems. It could mean that shortage that’s coming in the spring might not be as bad. Not everyone will be at 40%, and temporarily, some places still have to strictly follow protocols, so they can only use 5 no matter what. Realistically, maybe we’ll be in the 25-30% range, which is phenomenal.  I was just trying to figure out why they could have miscalculated so much, and the biggest things I thought of were: they didn’t know how much would be lost to spilling or the environment because no vaccine has ever had to be kept this cold, or they didn’t want their shortage problem to be even worse than they were already projecting, so they wanted to be damn sure there were 5 doses in there, or maybe because these are being so closely monitored in terms of their climate and having the GPS sensors and all that, maybe there’s a lot less waste because everyone’s watching them like hawks. Whatever it is, we’re lucky for it.  Alright, last point here since it’s just my own hearsay at this point, but I guess I can sort of see why Trump supporters would think there’s some conspiracy against him these days. First, the vaccine effectiveness results get released the weekend after the election, all of these vaccines are super effective, they can be distributed in less than a month’s time, and then we find out that we can get up to 40% more and maybe our shortage problem won’t be as bad? Man, that is a very good stretch of luck, I have to say.  I don’t believe in these conspiracies, but since my whole ending theme song is inspired by a movie where a guy takes down a fascist government that rose to power using a virus they created and a secret cure that they had the whole time, I’d be remiss not to mention it at all. In reality, humans are always looking to make these everyday events have special meaning. For some reason, we have this sense that there’s something bigger at play out there. Maybe it’s because we think we’re the only intelligent life that exists in our universe. Whatever it is, we try to make things make sense, and random luck just doesn’t add up for us like a good, old-fashioned conspiracy does. I’ll leave you with the best example: the JFK assassination. Nobody believes that a nobody, dumb guy like Lee Harvey Oswald could kill the beacon of hope for an entire generation and change the course of world history, but he probably did. Oh boy, I have to stop before we get too far into that, because even I believe something funny happened there.  BIDEN EPA Another day, another nomination for the Biden Administration. Today, the lucky nominee is Michael Regan, and he has been chosen to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he’s the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and in the past he’s worked at the Environmental Defense Fund, as well as the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. Apparently, Regan is only 44 years old, which is insane. He must have started working for Clinton right out of high school or something. Also, he looks like he’s in his late 30s, tops, which is impossible. I don’t know what his skin care regimen is, but it’s working.  I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot, which is a good thing, but if he’s confirmed by the Senate, Regan will become the first Black American to lead the EPA.  MACRON Sort of coming back around to another story from last week, French president Emannuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus. He did it with style, which I respect. His motto was “go big or go home”, because in just the past few days, he’s met with a ton of other European leaders, so now they have to quarantine as well.  Let me tell you what I mean. Here’s his schedule: Last Thursday and Friday, the European Council met in Brussels, and 25 of 27 leaders of EU nations were there. On Monday, he helped mark the 60th anniversary of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, where he met the Spanish prime minister, as well as the leader of the OECD. Tuesday, he met with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Then, just yesterday, he had lunch with the prime minister of Portugal, and he met with his own cabinet.  The Spanish prime minister tested negative today, but he said he’s still quarantining until Christmas Eve, December 24th (honestly, if you didn’t get the coronavirus but were exposed, what better reason is there for taking the week off before Christmas? That’s a power move right there).  European Council president Charles Michel said he was quarantining as a precaution. France’s prime minister also tested negative today but is still quarantining as a precaution, as is the President of France’s National Assembly, which sounds like their version of Speaker of the House to me. The prime ministers for Portugal and Spain also said they’d be self-isolating as precautions.  Lastly, Macron’s wife, Brigitte, has proactively started her quarantine, but she has not had any symptoms so far. Since they say “proactively”, I’m guessing she’s still waiting for her test results. She has a little more to worry about than Macron since she’s 67 years old compared to his 42. That’s an interesting story between them, by the way. Look up their history together if you’re bored and have some spare time.  Obviously, I wish President Macron well. Like I said last week, I have a soft spot for the guy, but I wasn’t thrilled with that police law he backed down from. Again, I’m hoping he can turn a corner and salvage his legacy. And all kidding aside, it was pretty crazy how he met with pretty much anyone who’s powerful in Europe while he was potentially contagious. It’s great that everyone so far is testing negative, and it gives me some confidence in basic COVID precautions like masks, social distancing, and hand washing. It’s a good thing they didn’t invite any Republicans, I’ll say that much.  MCCONNELL WARNING There has been some talk recently, at least in the media, that some Republicans are going to try to object to certifying at least some Electoral Votes, which the House is going to certify on January 6th. I went over this shortly after Biden was actually declared the winner in November, but to object, you need one Representative and one Senator to formally request it. I can’t remember exactly, but I think that the whole House then votes on whether to accept the votes, and if a majority does, they certify them anyway. Since the Democrats still have a majority in the House, the votes are all going to be certified.  In a private teleconference with GOP Senators, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the leadership team warned Republicans against doing this because of the reason I just said: the House is never going to throw out these votes. Now, do I think that some representative and some senator are going to team up to do this? Of course I do; you can definitely find two clowns in a circus, and Mitch McConnell is basically PT Barnum. Not to mention the fact that the Republicans are all about the show and don’t actually care about results. It’s all theater for Fox News or OANN or Newsmax or whatever propaganda network is going to be the new leader.  So, my guidance to you is to not stress out about this, even if there are objections on January 6th. Nancy Pelosi is still Speaker, and she’ll shut that stuff down right away.  OBAMA BOOK SALES Just because Donald Trump is an avid listener of Quick News Daily (maybe...I really have no idea), I want to mention that former President Barack Obama’s first presidential memoir has already sold 3.3 million copies in the US and Canada in just one month. That’s already 3rd best for presidents, and that’s total. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are basically tied since they each have sold between 3.5 and 4 million total, so Barack basically caught them in a month.  For history nerds, Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs are most likely the best-seller of all time for presidents, but the records just aren’t good enough to know for sure. We can make a pretty good guess though since those have been in publication for like 130 years, and when they were originally sold, there were hundreds of thousands of verified sales (and there were a heck of a lot fewer people on Earth back then).  But you just know that this really makes Trump mad, don’t you? He knows he’ll never have a book that successful. Even his claim to fame, The Art of the Deal, has only sold about a million copies.  Honestly, I’d be surprised if he lives long enough to get a memoir out. With his legal troubles, all of that debt, and I think it’s clear that he’s pretty far into cognitive decline, so when he doesn’t have the presidency to protect him, I think he’ll go downhill quickly. If you gave me the option of betting on if he’d be running again in 2024 or that he won’t even make it to 2022, I’d take that second option in a heartbeat. MACKENZIE SCOTT      I want to end on what I think is a good, positive note. It’s the news that billionaire MacKenzie Scott has given away more than $4B in the last 4 months alone. First of all, if you’re not quite familiar with who Mackenzie Scott is, she’s the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. As part of their divorce, which went final last year, she got 4% ownership of Amazon, which was worth $37B at the time. That was in Amazon stock, which has taken off even more this year, meaning she could be worth a lot more than that. That same 4% is worth $62B these days.  She explained part of her reasoning for this in an op-ed on Medium, saying "Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires."  She and her team chose 384 organizations to give this money to, and she even designated these funds as unrestricted gifts, meaning the organizations who got them didn’t even have to agree to any conditions, which is where they can get you sometimes.  By July of this year, she had already given away about $1.7B to a bunch of different causes, but focused mainly on historically black colleges and universities, and women’s and LGBTQ equity organizations.  For these last few months, she asked her advisers to figure out ways to give away more money faster so that she could help with the COVID fallout. She says “They took a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.”  By the way, can you imagine having a whole team who’s entire job is to vet these organizations that you’re going to give billions too? That is a goal.  The CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, told Bloomberg that Scott's nearly $6 billion in donations this year "has to be one of the biggest annual distributions by a living individual", and the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies wrote that "She still has a long way to go in her stated intention of giving away all the wealth. But she's now made two bold moves, putting to shame the other 650 U.S. billionaires who haven't figured out comparable ways to boldly share”. He’s referring to the Giving Pledge that she signed last year, which is a promise that she’ll give the majority of her wealth to charity. Oddly enough, Jeff Bezos didn’t sign the pledge, although he did commit $10B to fighting climate change earlier this year.  I’ll admit, it feels a bit strange to be praising these billionaires so much for giving the rest of us some help, when regular people helped build those fortunes. At the same time, when you have one person giving away $6B in just one year, and the experts on the subject are saying that’s a record and puts other billionaires to shame, I think it’s newsworthy and shows that some people can handle that much wealth fairly responsibly.  I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that she is a she. Maybe we don’t keep track of every billionaire’s donations to charity, but I think it’s definitely notable that she’s new to being a billionaire and is giving away her wealth at this rate.  Here comes another opinion, but it seems like the people who suddenly gain such an insane amount of wealth are the ones who realize how fortunate they are and how lucky they had to be to get to that point, whereas the people who built their wealth by starting a business or something are more likely to keep it.  END Alright everybody, and that’s the way it is. Like I mentioned yesterday, there won’t be a new show tomorrow. I realized that I never played you Joe Biden’s victory speech after being certified by the Electoral College on Monday, so I think I’m going to send that out as the show tomorrow, so you’ll be able to hear that wherever you’re listening right now. It’ll just be like when I played their victory speeches when the race was called by the media back in November.  As for next week, I plan on having at least one show on Monday or Wednesday. I have a sneaky suspicion that folks might be taking a break from listening to podcasts next week, but I’m not sure. All the big podcasts seem to take the week off, which I’m always hesitant about. I’m thinking about putting together a mini “best of” show, but now I’m thinking maybe I should save that for the week after and make it like a “year in review” show. Who knows, it’s just an idea I’m playing around with.  I’d mention I’m still designing new merchandise, but I’ve been saying that for the last couple weeks, so I’ll just let you know when it’s actually available at this point.  Anyways, that’s the lay of the land. Stay safe, and I’ll see you on the next episode. 

The Dred Scott case was the straw that broke the camel’s back. America spent the first half of the nineteenth century grappling with the issue of slavery and how the peculiar institution would be handled. Scott v. Sanford was the culmination of Freedom Suits as slaves who were brought into free territory were taking to the courts to achieve emancipation. The decision of the United States Supreme Court plunged the nation headlong into Civil War and the more important work of setting forth the citizenship rights of African Americans.This episode features the voice talents of Yvonne Godfrey, Esq. as President Abraham Lincoln; Saundra M. Davis, Esq. as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Derrick Alexander Pope, J.D. as President Ulysses S. Grant.Excerpts of dramatic portrayal of Dred Scott and Harriett Scott from "A Bid for Freedom," used by permission from the National Park Service/Gateway Arch National Park.Hidden Legal FiguresDerrick Alexander Pope, J.D., HostTerrass Misher, ProducerMarvin Cummings, Special Voice CoverTo find out more about Hidden Legal Figures, or to support the podcast, go www.hiddenlegalfigures.com.Be sure to catch REVEALED: BEHIND THE HIDDEN LEGAL FIGURES podcast blog post each Wednesday for more in-depth information about the historical figures in this episode and watch the "What I Learned" video on YouTube each Thursday.Join us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/hidden_legal_figures and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HLFpodcastHidden Legal Figures is licensed for the exclusive use of The Arc of Justice Institute, Inc. The Arc of Justice Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public educational institution. Hidden Legal Figures: The Podcast copyright © 2020 by Derrick Alexander Pope. All rights reserved.

Inspired by current events, Ainslie and Toby are joined by guest host Christopher McHale for a historical overview of Odd Fellows who have served as President, Vice President, or Canadian Prime Minister. The brothers give some solid historical information on important parts of history like the highly-contested 1876 election and its lasting effects on US politics. They also throw in some irreverent discussion of things like which president had better facial hair (Chester A. Arthur or Martin Van Buren) or how much value there may be in a bucket of warm piss. Along they way they give a historical overview of the contributions of Sir John A. Macdonald, Ulysses S. Grant, Schuyler Colfax, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas Hendricks, William McKinley, Warren G. Harding, John Nance Garner, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Listeners will discover what caused Colfax's fall from grace, how the phrase "fall guy" came about, and the nickname of Vice President Garner. This episode's Shoutout goes to Washougal Lodge #194 of Washington for their exemplary support of a local domestic violence shelter.

Episode Summary Emlyn tells Emma about Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American physician, who used her training and expertise to campaign for social reform and health care in her Omaha community.   Learn more about us and other women in science at our website www.stemfatalepodcast.com  And order some holiday merch here! https://www.stemfatalepodcast.com/merch    Sources Main Story - Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte “The Incredible Legacy of Susan La Flesche, The First Native America to Earn a Medical Degree” by Carson Vaughan, Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/incredible-legacy-susan-la-flesche-first-native-american-earn-medical-degree-180962332/ “The First Native American to Receive a Medical Degree” by Allison C. Meier, JStor Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/the-first-native-american-to-receive-a-medical-degree/ “Native American Disease and Epidemics,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_epidemics Susan la flesche picotte: A doctor who spanned two cultures. The Lancet. 2019;393(10173):734.  “Susan La Flesche Picotte,” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/susan-la-flesche-picotte.htm “Ulysses S. Grant: Mass Genocide Through ‘Permanent Peace’ Policy” by Alysa Landry, Indian Country Today. https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/ulysses-s-grant-mass-genocide-through-permanent-peace-policy-Ing8OYiNuU6hw6ZgulRA9Q Starita, Joe. A Warrior of the People: How Susan La Flesche Overcame Racial and Gender Inequality to Become America's First Indian Doctor. New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2016.  Women who Work Flaherty, Colleen. Study finds gender bias in TA evals, too. Inside Higher Ed. 2020.   Music  “Mary Anning” by Artichoke “Work” by Rihanna   Cover Image Courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society Photograph Collections. This image was found at The National Library of Medicine. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_253.html

War Yankee - Update Overview of New Episodes Kyle Bondo gives you a brief update on what is coming up on War Yankee - Overland and an introduction to the Bonus Series starting on November 1st called War Yankee - Intelligence. About War Yankee - Overland An American Civil War history podcast hosted by Kyle M. Bondo that follows the Overland Campaign led by General Ulysses S. Grant has he drives the Army of the Potomac on its 47-day, 113-mile military campaign South against the Confederacy in 1864. About War Yankee - Intelligence A War Yankee bonus series hosted by Kyle M. Bondo that explores the footnotes that surround the daily lives of the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac as they battle against the Confederacy in 1864. Quotes "Well, the movement so far has been as satisfactory as could be desired." -- Lt.Gen. Ulysses S. Grant War Yankee Telegraph Department Email Us: THE War Yankee AT GMAIL DOT com All our Show Notes: waryankee.com Notable Resources: waryankee.com/resources/ All our Episodes: waryankee.libsyn.com War Yankee - Overland! Gagglepod - Until Every Story is Told! War Yankee is a Gagglepod Production. Learn more at gagglepod.com.

Dennis Prager talks to the Author of ‘Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee' by Michael Korda n Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee, Michael Korda, the New York Times bestselling biographer of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, and T. E. Lawrence, has written the first major biography of Lee in nearly twenty years, bringing to life one of America's greatest, most iconic heroes. Korda paints a vivid and admiring portrait of Lee as a general and a devoted family man who, though he disliked slavery and was not in favor of secession, turned down command of the Union army in 1861 because he could not "draw his sword" against his own children, his neighbors, and his beloved Virginia. He was surely America's preeminent military leader, as calm, dignified, and commanding a presence in defeat as he was in victory. Lee's reputation has only grown in the 150 years since the Civil War, and Korda covers in groundbreaking detail all of Lee's battles and traces the making of a great man's undeniable reputation on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, positioning him finally as the symbolic martyr-hero of the Southern Cause. Clouds of Glory features dozens of stunning illustrations, some never before seen, including eight pages of color, sixteen pages of black-and-white, and nearly fifty battle maps.   Visit Pragertopia  https://pragertopia.com/member/signup.php  The first month is 99 cents. After the first month the cost is $7.50 per month. If you can afford to pay for only one podcast, this is the one we recommend. It is the best conservative radio show out there, period. ACU strongly recommends ALL ACU students and alumni subscribe to Pragertopia. Do it today!  You can listen to Dennis from 9 a.m. to Noon (Pacific) Monday thru Friday, live on the Internet  http://www.dennisprager.com/pages/listen  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For a great archive of Prager University videos visit- https://www.youtube.com/user/PragerUniversity/featured   Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h Get PragerU bonus content for free! https://www.prageru.com/bonus-content Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips. iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5e Join Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ys Join PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageru Do you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful. VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.com FOLLOW us! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prageru Twitter: https://twitter.com/prageru Instagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/ PragerU is on Snapchat! JOIN PragerFORCE! For Students: http://l.prageru.com/2aozfkP JOIN our Educators Network! http://l.prageru.com/2aoz2y9   -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rational Bible: Exodus by Dennis Prager   NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Dennis Prager has put together one of the most stunning commentaries in modern times on the most profound document in human history. It's a must-read that every person, religious and non-religious, should buy and peruse every night before bed. It'll make you think harder, pray more ardently, and understand your civilization better." — Ben Shapiro, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" "Dennis Prager's commentary on Exodus will rank among the greatest modern Torah commentaries. That is how important I think it is. And I am clearly not alone... It might well be on its way to becoming the most widely read Torah commentary of our time—and by non-Jews as well as by Jews." — Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, bestselling author of Jewish Literacy Why do so many people think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is outdated? Why do our friends and neighbors – and sometimes we ourselves – dismiss the Bible as irrelevant, irrational, immoral, or all of these things? This explanation of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, will demonstrate that the Bible is not only powerfully relevant to today's issues, but completely consistent with rational thought. Do you think the Bible permitted the trans-Atlantic slave trade? You won't after reading this book. Do you struggle to love your parents? If you do, you need this book. Do you doubt the existence of God because belief in God is “irrational?” This book will give you reason after reason to rethink your doubts. The title of this commentary is, “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. As Prager says, “If something I write does not make rational sense, I have not done my job.” The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager's forty years of teaching the Bible to people of every faith, and no faith. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world and to your life. His goal: to change your mind – and then change your life.   Highly Recommended by ACU. Purchase his book at- https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Exodus-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621577724     The Rational Bible: Genesis by Dennis Prager  USA Today bestseller Publishers Weekly bestseller Wall Street Journal bestseller Many people today think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is not only outdated but irrelevant, irrational, and even immoral. This explanation of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, demonstrates clearly and powerfully that the opposite is true. The Bible remains profoundly relevant—both to the great issues of our day and to each individual life. It is the greatest moral guide and source of wisdom ever written. Do you doubt the existence of God because you think believing in God is irrational? This book will give you many reasons to rethink your doubts. Do you think faith and science are in conflict? You won't after reading this commentary on Genesis. Do you come from a dysfunctional family? It may comfort you to know that every family discussed in Genesis was highly dysfunctional! The title of this commentary is “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. In Dennis Prager's words, “If something I write is not rational, I have not done my job.” The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager's forty years of teaching the Bible—whose Hebrew grammar and vocabulary he has mastered—to people of every faith and no faith at all. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world in general and to you personally. His goal: to change your mind—and, as a result, to change your life.   Highly Recommended by ACU. Purchase his book at- https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Genesis-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621578984   --------------------------------------------------------------------  HELP ACU SPREAD THE WORD!   Ways to subscribe to the American Conservative University Podcast Click here to subscribe via iTunes Click here to subscribe via RSS You can also subscribe via Stitcher If you like this episode head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and subscribe! People find us through our good reviews.   FEEDBACK + PROMOTION You can ask your questions, make comments, submit ideas for shows and lots more. Let your voice be heard. Email us at americanconservativeuniversity@americanconservativeuniversity.com

Dennis Prager talks to the Author of ‘Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee’ by Michael Kordan Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee, Michael Korda, the New York Times bestselling biographer of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, and T. E. Lawrence, has written the first major biography of Lee in nearly twenty years, bringing to life one of America's greatest, most iconic heroes.Korda paints a vivid and admiring portrait of Lee as a general and a devoted family man who, though he disliked slavery and was not in favor of secession, turned down command of the Union army in 1861 because he could not "draw his sword" against his own children, his neighbors, and his beloved Virginia. He was surely America's preeminent military leader, as calm, dignified, and commanding a presence in defeat as he was in victory. Lee's reputation has only grown in the 150 years since the Civil War, and Korda covers in groundbreaking detail all of Lee's battles and traces the making of a great man's undeniable reputation on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, positioning him finally as the symbolic martyr-hero of the Southern Cause.Clouds of Glory features dozens of stunning illustrations, some never before seen, including eight pages of color, sixteen pages of black-and-white, and nearly fifty battle maps. Visit Pragertopia  https://pragertopia.com/member/signup.php  The first month is 99 cents. After the first month the cost is $7.50 per month. If you can afford to pay for only one podcast, this is the one we recommend. It is the best conservative radio show out there, period. ACU strongly recommends ALL ACU students and alumni subscribe to Pragertopia. Do it today! You can listen to Dennis from 9 a.m. to Noon (Pacific) Monday thru Friday, live on the Internet  http://www.dennisprager.com/pages/listen  ------------------------------------------------------------------------For a great archive of Prager University videos visit-https://www.youtube.com/user/PragerUniversity/featured Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0hGet PragerU bonus content for free! https://www.prageru.com/bonus-contentDownload Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips. iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5eJoin Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ysJoin PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageruDo you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful. VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.comFOLLOW us! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prageruTwitter: https://twitter.com/prageruInstagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/PragerU is on Snapchat! JOIN PragerFORCE! For Students: http://l.prageru.com/2aozfkPJOIN our Educators Network! http://l.prageru.com/2aoz2y9 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rational Bible: Exodus by Dennis Prager  NATIONAL BESTSELLER"Dennis Prager has put together one of the most stunning commentaries in modern times on the most profound document in human history. It's a must-read that every person, religious and non-religious, should buy and peruse every night before bed. It'll make you think harder, pray more ardently, and understand your civilization better." — Ben Shapiro, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show""Dennis Prager’s commentary on Exodus will rank among the greatest modern Torah commentaries. That is how important I think it is. And I am clearly not alone... It might well be on its way to becoming the most widely read Torah commentary of our time—and by non-Jews as well as by Jews." — Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, bestselling author of Jewish LiteracyWhy do so many people think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is outdated? Why do our friends and neighbors – and sometimes we ourselves – dismiss the Bible as irrelevant, irrational, immoral, or all of these things? This explanation of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, will demonstrate that the Bible is not only powerfully relevant to today’s issues, but completely consistent with rational thought.Do you think the Bible permitted the trans-Atlantic slave trade? You won’t after reading this book.Do you struggle to love your parents? If you do, you need this book.Do you doubt the existence of God because belief in God is “irrational?” This book will give you reason after reason to rethink your doubts.The title of this commentary is, “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. As Prager says, “If something I write does not make rational sense, I have not done my job.”The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager’s forty years of teaching the Bible to people of every faith, and no faith. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world and to your life.His goal: to change your mind – and then change your life. Highly Recommended by ACU.Purchase his book at-https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Exodus-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621577724  The Rational Bible: Genesis by Dennis Prager USA Today bestsellerPublishers Weekly bestsellerWall Street Journal bestsellerMany people today think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is not only outdated but irrelevant, irrational, and even immoral.This explanation of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, demonstrates clearly and powerfully that the opposite is true. The Bible remains profoundly relevant—both to the great issues of our day and to each individual life. It is the greatest moral guide and source of wisdom ever written.Do you doubt the existence of God because you think believing in God is irrational? This book will give you many reasons to rethink your doubts. Do you think faith and science are in conflict? You won’t after reading this commentary on Genesis. Do you come from a dysfunctional family? It may comfort you to know that every family discussed in Genesis was highly dysfunctional!The title of this commentary is “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. In Dennis Prager’s words, “If something I write is not rational, I have not done my job.”The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager’s forty years of teaching the Bible—whose Hebrew grammar and vocabulary he has mastered—to people of every faith and no faith at all. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world in general and to you personally. His goal: to change your mind—and, as a result, to change your life. Highly Recommended by ACU.Purchase his book at-https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Genesis-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621578984 --------------------------------------------------------------------  HELP ACU SPREAD THE WORD! Ways to subscribe to the American Conservative University PodcastClick here to subscribe via iTunesClick here to subscribe via RSSYou can also subscribe via StitcherIf you like this episode head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and subscribe! People find us through our good reviews. FEEDBACK + PROMOTIONYou can ask your questions, make comments, submit ideas for shows and lots more. Let your voice be heard.Email us at americanconservativeuniversity@americanconservativeuniversity.com

Last week, President Donald Trump revealed he has tested positive for COVID-19. After experiencing symptoms and trouble breathing, he was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday night, October 2, 2020. While receiving treatment, President Trump's staff and doctors released conflicting and confusing information about his health.But 2020 isn't the first time a president and his doctors have kept information about health a secret. In fact, more often than not, presidents keep their health condition private.Over the last week, lots of media and news reports have mentioned these past incidents of presidential health, but rarely do they provide details. So this emergency episode gives some more information about George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. We also discuss what information presidents owe to the American people and whether they are entitled to privacy about their health like every other average citizen.Next week, we'll be back to our usual scheduled programming with an episode on President Ulysses S. Grant.

Erie ex-pat and prolific non-fiction author Dr. Craig von Buseck was our Friday guest leading into the Labor Day weekend. Dr. Von Buseck is known for his book about another Erie native Harry T. Burleigh, titled Nobody Knows : The Forgotten Story of One of the Most Influential Figures in American Music. Our conversation covered his book from 2019, I Am Cyrus: Harry S. Truman and the Rebirth of Israel, which has been nominated for several book awards. Craig also introduced his upcoming biography on President Ulysses S. Grant entitled Victor! The Final Battle of Ulysses S. Grant, and a future project for two more Erie-related books on Col. Strong Vincent, and Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

Rare earth minerals are essential ingredients for many of the technologies that are important today and will be key in the future. In this episode, we learn about a new global economy being created around rare minerals and how the United States can catch up to the commanding lead that China has established in dominating the mineral dependent industries. Executive Producer: Coffee Infused Nerd  Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Episodes CD215: COVID-19 Testimony, Listen on Spotify CD208: The Brink of the Iran War, Listen on Spotify CD201: WTF is the Federal Reserve? Listen on Spotify CD191: The Democracies of Elliott Abrams, Listen on Spotify CD190: A Coup for Capitalism, Listen on Spotify CD187: Combating China, Listen on Spotify CD186: National Endowment for Democracy, Listen on Spotify CD176: Target Venezuela: Regime Change, Listen on Spotify CD175: State of War, Listen on Spotify  CD167: Combatting Russia (NDAA 2018), Listen on Spotify CD156: Sanctions: Russia, North Korea, and Iran, Listen on Spotify CD131: Bombing Libya, Listen on Spotify CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? Listen on Spotify CD095: Secret International Regulations, Listen on Spotify CD067: What Do We Want In Ukraine?, Listen on Spotify  CD003: The Free Market vs. US, Listen on Spotify Bill Outline S. 1317: American Mineral Security Act Text as of July 27, 2020 TITLE I - American Mineral Security Sec. 102: Policy We will analyze supply and demand of minerals to avoid supply shortages, mitigate price volatility, and prepare for demand growth We will map and develop domestic resources of minerals Speed up the permitting process for mineral mining and new mineral manufacturing facilities Invest in workforce training for mineral exploration and development Transfer technology and information in international cooperation agreements Recycle critical minerals Develop alternatives to critical minerals Sec. 104: Resource Assessment Within 4 years of the date the bill is signed into law, a “comprehensive national assessment of each critical mineral” must be completed which identifies known quantities of each mineral using public and private information and an assessment of undiscovered mineral resources in the U.S. The information will be given to the public electronically Sec. 105: Permitting Orders reports to be done on expediting permitting Sec. 107: Recycling, Efficiency, and Alternatives The Secretary of Energy would be required to conduct a research and development program to promote production, use, and recycling of critical minerals and to develop alternatives to critical minerals that are not found in abundance in the United States. Sec. 109: Education and Workforce The Secretary of Labor will be given almost two years to complete an assessment of the Untied States workforce capable of operating a critical minerals management industry Creates a grant program where the Secretary of Labor will give “institutions of higher eduction” money for up to 10 years to create critical minerals management programs, and to help pay for student enrolled in those programs. Sec. 110: National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program Authorizes, but does not appropriate, $5 million per year from 2020-2019 for the program created in 2005 that catalogs geologic and engineering data, maps, logs, and samples. This program was authorized at $30 million from 2006-2010. Sec. 112: Authorization of Appropriations Authorizes, but does not appropriate, $50 million for fiscal years 2020-2019. TITLE II: Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Sec. 201: Program for Extraction and Recovery of Rare Earth Elements and Minerals from Coal and Coal Byproducts Requires the Secretary of Energy to create a program for developing “advanced separation technologies” for the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements and minerals from coal. Authorizes, but does not appropriate, $23 million per year for 2020-2027. Articles/Documents Article: Unsanitized: The HEALS Act Emerges By David Dayen, The American Prospect, July 28, 2020 Article: Pompeo’s Surreal Speech on China By Ernest Scheyder, The Atlantic, July 25, 2020 Article: Trump wants an ‘alliance of democracies’ to oppose China. It’s starting to take shape By By Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2020 Article: Pentagon resumes rare earths funding program after review By Ernest Scheyder, Reuters, July 21, 2020 Article: Quantitative Easing vs. Currency Manipulation By Matthew Johnston, Investopedia, June 25, 2019 Article: China hands out more grain import quotas to increase purchases - sources by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton, Reuters, May 13, 2020 Article: Trump’s tariffs on China could cost the US in its fight against the coronavirus by Audrey Cher, CNBC, April 13, 2020 Article: Mining the moon: Trump backs new space race by James Marshall, E&E News, April 27, 2020 Article: Trump wants more countries to join US policy approach to space resources, lunar mining by Michael Sheetz, CNBC, April 6, 2020 Article: Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources, White House, April 6, 2020 Article: As copper recovery declines, so does the tellurium supply for thin-film solar panels By Kelly Pickerel, Solar Power World, July 3, 2018 Article: Drone video shows blindfolded, handcuffed prisoners in China's Xinjiang Uyghur region By Liselotte Mas, The Observers, September 25, 2019 Article: China footage reveals hundreds of blindfolded and shackled prisoners By Lily Kuo, The Guardian, September 23, 2019 Document: Rare Earth Elements in National Defense: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress By Valerie Bailey Grasso, Specialist in Defense Acquisition, Congressional Research Service, December 23, 2013 Article: U.S. imposes quotas on some Chinese textiles By Keith Bradsher, The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2005 Additional Resources Bill: H.R.2262 - U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, Congress.gov, November 25, 2015 Sound Clip Sources Speech: Communist China and the Free World’s Future, Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary Of State, Yorba Linda, California, The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, U.S. Department of State, July 23, 2020 Transcript: 14:00 Mike Pompeo: The Department of Justice and other agencies have vigorously pursued punishment for these crimes….And so our Department of Defense has ramped up its efforts, freedom of navigation operations out and throughout the East and South China Seas, and in the Taiwan Strait as well. And we’ve created a Space Force to help deter China from aggression on that final frontier. And so too, frankly, we’ve built out a new set of policies at the State Department dealing with China, pushing President Trump’s goals for fairness and reciprocity, to rewrite the imbalances that have grown over decades. 18:35 Mike Pompeo: It’s true, there are differences. Unlike the Soviet Union, China is deeply integrated into the global economy. But Beijing is more dependent on us than we are on them. 21:30 Mike Pompeo: The challenge of China demands exertion, energy from democracies – those in Europe, those in Africa, those in South America, and especially those in the Indo-Pacific region. And if we don’t act now, ultimately the CCP will erode our freedoms and subvert the rules-based order that our societies have worked so hard to build. 22:20 Mike Pompeo: So we can’t face this challenge alone. The United Nations, NATO, the G7 countries, the G20, our combined economic, diplomatic, and military power is surely enough to meet this challenge if we direct it clearly and with great courage. Maybe it’s time for a new grouping of like-minded nations, a new alliance of democracies. We have the tools. I know we can do it. Now we need the will. Speech: Attorney General Barr’s Remarks on China Policy at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, U.S. Department of Justice, July 16, 2020 Read Transcript Transcript: 13:50: The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg—an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government (indeed, whole-of-society) campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent technological superpower. 14:15: A centerpiece of this effort is the Communist Party’s “Made in China 2025” initiative, a plan for PRC domination of high-tech industries like robotics, advanced information technology, aviation, and electric vehicles, and many other technologies . Backed by hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, this initiative poses a real threat to U.S. technological leadership. 15:20 “Made in China 2025” is the latest iteration of the PRC’s state-led, mercantilist economic model. For American companies in the global marketplace, free and fair competition with China has long been a fantasy. To tilt the playing field to its advantage, China’s communist government has perfected a wide array of predatory and often unlawful tactics: currency manipulation, tariffs, quotas, state-led strategic investment and acquisitions, theft and forced transfer of intellectual property, state subsidies, dumping, cyberattacks, and industrial espionage. 16:30: The PRC also seeks to dominate key trade routes and infrastructure in Eurasia, Africa, and the Pacific. In the South China Sea, for example, through which about one-third of the world’s maritime trade passes, the PRC has asserted expansive and historically dubious claims to nearly the entire waterway, flouted the rulings of international courts, built artificial islands and placed military outposts on them, and harassed its neighbors’ ships and fishing boats. 17:00: Another ambitious project to spread its power and influence is the PRC’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative. Although billed as “foreign aid,” in fact these investments appear designed to serve the PRC’s strategic interests and domestic economic needs. For example, the PRC has been criticized for loading poor countries up with debt, refusing to renegotiate terms, and then taking control of the infrastructure itself, as it did with the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota in 2017. This is little more than a form of modern-day colonialism. 19:20: The PRC’s drive for technological supremacy is complemented by its plan to monopolize rare earth materials, which play a vital role in industries such as consumer electronics, electric vehicles, medical devices, and military hardware. According to the Congressional Research Service, from the 1960s to the 1980s, the United States led the world in rare earth production.[6] “Since then, production has shifted almost entirely to China,” in large part due to lower labor costs and lighter environmental regulation. The United States is now dangerously dependent on the PRC for these materials. Overall, China is America’s top supplier, accounting for about 80 percent of our imports. The risks of dependence are real. In 2010, for example, Beijing cut exports of rare earth materials to Japan after an incident involving disputed islands in the East China Sea. The PRC could do the same to us. 41:00: In a globalized world, American corporations and universities alike may view themselves as global citizens, rather than American institutions. But they should remember that what allowed them to succeed in the first place was the American free enterprise system, the rule of law, and the security afforded by America’s economic, technological, and military strength. Globalization does not always point in the direction of greater freedom. A world marching to the beat of Communist China’s drums will not be a hospitable one for institutions that depend on free markets, free trade, or the free exchange of ideas. There was a time American companies understood that. They saw themselves as American and proudly defended American values. Hearing: U.S.-China Relations and its Impact on National Security and Intelligence in a Post-COVID World, U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, July 1, 2020 Read Transcript Witnesess: Dr. Tanvi Madan – Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution Dr. Evan Medeiros – Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies and Cling Family Distinguished Fellow, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Mr. Orville Schell – Arthur Ross Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society Ms. Meredith Sumpter – Head of Research Strategy and Operations, Eurasia Group Transcript: 21:15 Mr. Orville Schell: We were accustomed for many, many decades. And I've written this along. piece that's in the in the record, I think is my testimony. But engagement was the kind of center of how we related to China. And what were the presumptions of that? Well, the presumption was that this began in 1972, with Kissinger and Nixon going to China, that if we simply engage China across the board, that slowly, we would have a greater likelihood of more convergence rather than divergence that we would slowly morph out of the Cold War. And what is so extraordinary about the policy of engagement and I'm not one of the people who believes it was an erroneous policy. I do, however, believe it is a failed policy. But it was not erroneous, precisely because for eight presidential administrations United States government sought, and I think this is the height of leadership, to slowly bend the metal of China, to help China in to assist China, to morph out of its Maoist revolutionary period into something that was more soluble and convergent with the world as it existed outside, of the marketplace, international order, etc, etc. And I think if you look at all of these different administrations and go through them one by one, as I've done in the piece that's in your record, it is so striking to see how one president, Republican and Democrat came in after another, usually with a rather jaundiced view of China. Ultimately, they embraced the notion that we should try to engage China. So what happened? Well, I think just to cut to the chase here, what happened was that we have a regime in China now that's very different in its set of presumptions than that pathway that was laid out by Deng Xiaoping in 1978-79 of reform and opening. Without reform, without the presumption that China will both reform economically and politically to some degree, engagement has no basis. Because if you're not converging, then you're diverging. And if China actually is not trying to slowly evolve out of its own old Leninist, Maoist mold, sort of form of government, then it is in a sense, deciding that that is what it is and that is what its model is and that is what it's going to be projecting around the world. 55:45 Ms. Meredith Sumpter: Beijing decision makers believe that their state directed economic system is the foundation of the livelihood of their political system. In other words, we have been spending our energies trying to force China to change and China is not willing to change an economic model that it believes underpins its political longevity. 56:15 Ms. Meredith Sumpter: There are limits to how much we can force China to not be China. And China is working to try to create space for its own unique model within what has been up until just now with this competition, a largely Western based market consensus of how economic systems should work. 56:40 Rep. Jim Himes (CT): Do we care if they have a more state directed model? I mean, what we care about is that like, This room is full of stuff that has Chinese inputs in it. What we really care about is do they send us stuff that is of high quality and cheap. Do we really care? You know, I mean, the Swedes have a much more state directed model than we do. So do we really care? Ms. Meredith Sumpter: We care so long as we don't see China's model as impairing our own ability to viably compete fairly. And so this gets to that level playing field. And ultimately, this is not about the political ideology driven Cold War of the past. But it's really a competition over which economic model will deliver greater prosperity and more opportunity to more people in the years ahead. So in the short term, there's all this focus on China's incredible rise and the success of its economic model. And it's not trying to export that model per se. It wants to create space for its model to coexist in this market led global economic system. Hearing: China’s Maritime Ambitions, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee: Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation, June 30, 2020 Watch on YouTube Witnesses: Gregory Poling - Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia, Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Dr. Oriana Sklylar Mastro: Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Assistant Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University Dr. Andrew Erickson: Professor of Strategy, China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College and Visiting Scholar at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University Transcript: 21:45 Gregory Poling: Chinese interest and Chinese claims have expanded considerably over the decades. Prior to the 1990s, the South China Sea featured a dispute over islands. And then Beijing decided to declare straight baselines and internal waters around the paracels and more worryingly historic rights throughout the entirety of the South China Sea, claiming in some form all waters, all airspace, all seabed, in contravention of international law. Over the last decade, Beijing has become far more aggressive in pursuing that illegal claim. At the end of 2013, China embarked on a unprecedented campaign of artificial island building and military nation, which today allows China to deploy a 24/7 presence of naval Coast Guard and paramilitary forces throughout every inch of the nine dash line, slowly pushing its neighbors away from their legal rights, out of the waters guaranteed to them by international law. 26:00 Gregory Poling: The United States must have rotational forces deployed along the so called first island chain that rings China. And there is no place south of Japan that that can happen other than the Philippines, Admiral Davidson has recognized this. The United States might not be able to do that under Duterte, but we must prevent further erosion of the Alliance and we must prepare a plan for a post 2022, post-Duterte Philippines that will allow us to reengage. 37:00 Dr. Andrew Erickson: Here's where China's overwhelming and still rapidly growing numbers are posing very significant challenges for our efforts to keep the peace and stability in the region. In the naval dimension for example, while many advocate a US Navy of 355 plus ships, both manned and unmanned, China already has its own fully manned Navy of 360 warships according to data recently released by the Office of Naval Intelligence. 48:30 Dr. Oriana Sklylar Mastro: So the number of Chinese nationals overseas, for example, is a relatively new phenomenon. I wrote a paper about it maybe about eight years ago and you have 10s of thousands of Chinese companies operating now in the Indian Ocean region that weren't there before. That we have seen an uptick because of One Belt, One Road as well. And also China used to not be so reliant on oil and energy from outside and now they are one of the top importers and they rely on the Malacca straits for that. 1:00:00 Dr. Andrew Erickson: We see concretely already a naval base in Djibouti. And as you rightly pointed out, there are a series of other ports, where sometimes it's unclear what the ultimate purpose is. But clearly there's extensive Chinese involvement and ample potential for upgrading. 1:03:00 Dr. Andrew Erickson: China's Coast Guard really, in many ways is almost like a second Navy. It's by far the largest in the world in terms of numbers of ships, and while many of them are capable of far ranging operations, the vast majority of China's more than 1,000 coast guard ships are deployed generally near to China. Unlike Coast Guard, such as the US Coast Guard, China's Coast Guard has a very important sovereignty advancement mission. And China's coast guard by recent organizational changes is now formally part of one of China's armed forces, as I mentioned before. 1:08:45 Connolly: And meanwhile China is the title of this hearing is maritime ambitions. It's not just in the South China Sea. The fact that the Chinese built and now are operating the Hambantota port facility, which could easily become a military base because of the indebtedness of the Sri Lankan government and its inability to finance and serve the debt on that finance, has given China a strategic location, through which passes, I'm told, about 30% of all the word shipping, and it's a real nice reminder to India, that now China has that strategic location. Hearing: Impact of COVID-19 on Mineral Supply Chains, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, June 24, 2020 Witnesses: Nedal T. Nassar, Section Chief, National Minerals Information Center, Geological Survey, Department of the Interior; Joe Bryan, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, Hyattsville, Maryland; Mark Caffarey, Umicore USA, Raleigh, North Carolina; Thomas J. Duesterberg, Hudson Institute, Aspen, Colorado; Simon Moores, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, London, United Kingdom. Transcript: 22:00 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK): Border closures in Africa have impacted the export of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and platinum from South Africa. Mines in Argentina, Peru and Brazil have temporarily shut down restricting supplies of lithium, copper and iron. 25:00 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK): The World Bank released a report last month estimating that demand for lithium, graphite and cobalt will increase 500% by 2050 to meet clean energy demand. 37:00 Nedal T. Nassar: Mineral commodities are the foundation of modern society. Smartphones would have more dropped calls and shorter battery lives without tantalum capacitors and cobalt based cathodes and their lithium ion batteries. Bridges, buildings and pipelines would not be as strong without vanadium and other alloying elements and their Steel's medical MRI machines would use more energy and produce lower quality images without helium cooled niobium based superconducting magnets. 38:45 Nedal T. Nassar: Tantalum and cobalt in smartphones for example, are now predominantly mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and refined in China. 39:00 Nedal T. Nassar: Concurrently, developed countries such as the United States have become increasingly import reliant for their mineral commodity needs, thereby increasing their exposure to foreign supply disruptions. 39:30 Nedal T. Nassar: Many high supply risk commodities are recovered as byproducts. The supply of byproducts has the additional challenge of potentially being unresponsive to demand signals, given their relatively minimal contribution to produce those revenues. 40:00 Nedal T. Nassar: Once a mineral supply chain is identified as high risk, the next step is to determine the best way to reduce that risk. Various strategies can be pursued including diversification of supply, identification and potential expansion of domestic mineral resources, increasing recycling, developing substitutes, maintaining strategic inventories and bolstering trade relations. 43:00 Joe Bryan: From communications gear that keeps our troops connected on the battlefield, to unmanned aerial and subsurface platforms to tactical ground vehicles, transitioning away from lead acid, lithium ion batteries are everywhere. That is not surprising. Energy storage can not only increased capability, but by reducing fuel use can also help take convoys off the road and our troops out of harm's way. 44:15 Joe Bryan: COVID-19 severely impacted the supply of cobalt, a key mineral in the production of lithium ion batteries. 44:30 Joe Bryan: But the lithium ion market also represents an opportunity. Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory is one example. The state of Ohio recently landed a $2.3 billion investment from General Motors and Korea's LG Chem to build a battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio. That facility will bring more than 1000 jobs to the Mahoning Valley. 45:00 Joe Bryan: Now we can't change geology and create resources where they don't exist. But we can change direction and compete for supply chains jobs in minerals extraction, processing, anode and cathode production and cell production. 45:15 Joe Bryan: The scale of global investment in the lithium ion supply chain is massive and investment patterns will have geopolitical impacts. Right now, commercial relationships are being forged and trade alliances hammered out. Decisions made over the next few years will define the global transportation industry for decades to come and plant the seeds of future political alliances. Maintaining our global influence and diplomatic leverage depends on us, not just getting in the race, but setting the pace. From establishing priorities for research and development, to setting conditions for attracting investment to most importantly, hitting the accelerator on transportation electrification. There are things we can do. But to date, our actions have matched neither the scale of the opportunity, the efforts of our competitors, nor the risk we accept, should we remain on the sidelines. 46:30 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK): Thank you, Mr. Bryan, appreciate you pointing out the importance of mineral security for our military. Some of us think that our American Mineral Security Initiative would be a good fit within the NDAA that will be coming before us for floor action in these next few days. So thank you for that reminder. 55:45 Thomas J. Duesterberg: Let me now turn to the auto industry. Other witnesses have noted the importance of lithium ion batteries in the control of China over the major mineral resources that go into those batteries. This is incredibly important to the future of the auto industry. China has clearly targeted this industry. It has control of the resources, has a goal of producing for its own domestic market, which is the largest market in the world, 80% of electric vehicles domestically by 2025. 56:30 Thomas J. Duesterberg: China is a major producer of manganese and magnesium minerals which are associated - controls of over 80% of those magnesium resources - which is incredibly important to the future of light vehicles. Substituting alloys with magnesium products is one key to reducing the weight of all kinds of transportation vehicles and construction equipment. 57:30 Thomas J. Duesterberg: Other witnesses have also mentioned rare earths, and other important minerals for which we are dependent on China, such as just tantalum to a certain extent cadmium, these are all important to the $500 billion semiconductor industry, where the United States holds a technological lead and produces over 45% of the chips that it produces here in the United States. 59:00 Thomas J. Duesterberg: I will finally note that the solar power industry also depends on rare earths like cadmium and tellurium. And the leading producer in the United States for solar as a thin film technology that depends greatly on these minerals and gives it an cost advantage over the related products that are being subsidized heavily by China. 39:30 Simon Moores: China is building the equivalent of one battery mega factory a week. United States one every four months. 40:00 Simon Moores: Since 2017, China's battery manufacturing pipeline has increased from nine to 107, which 53 are now active and in production. Meanwhile, the United States has gone from three to nine battery plants, of which still only three are active, the same number as just under three years ago. 1:02:30 Simon Moores: Lithium ion batteries are a core platform technology for the 21st century, they allow energy to be stored on a widespread basis in electric vehicles and energy storage systems. And they sparked the demand for the critical raw materials and candidates. A new global lithium ion economy is being created. Yet any ambitions for the United States to be a leader in this lithium ion economy continues to only creep forward and be outstripped by China and Europe. 1:03:00 Simon Moores: The rise of these battery mega factories will require demand for raw materials to increase significantly. By 2029, so 10 years from now, demand for nickel double, cobalt growth three times, graphite and manganese by four times, lithium by more than six times. 1:03:30 Simon Moores: The United States progress is far too slow on building out a domestic lithium ion economy. For the opportunities that remain are vast and the pioneers have emerged. Tesla has continued to lead the industry and build on its Nevada Gigafactory by announcing supersize battery plants in Germany and China and is expected to announce a fourth in Texas which will give you the United States as first ever 100% own MMA lithium ion battery cells. Ohio has recognized the scaling opportunity and attracted $2.3 billion from General Motors and LG Chem, a joint venture. You can also turn to Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee for electric vehicle and battery cell investment success. Yet, these developments are more of a standalone achievement in a coherent US plan. 1:04:20 Simon Moores: ...Imported raw materials and chemicals are the two main components that make a lithium ion battery - the cathodes and the anodes. America is some of the best cathode know how in the business, yet only three capital plants producing under one percent of global output, while China produces over two thirds of global supply from over 100 cathode [inaudible.] 1:04:45 Simon Moores: For graphite anodes, the United States has zero manufacturing plants while China has 48 plants and controls 84% total global anode supply. 1:05:00 Simon Moores: Developing this midstream of the supply chain will create a domestic ecosystem engine, more battery plants to be built, more electric vehicles to be made, more energy storage systems to be installed, animal spark with the betterment domestic mining and chemical processing. However, be under no illusions that the United States needs to build this 21st century industry from scratch. FDR's New deal for example, built core infrastructure that the United States still relies on today. Nearly 100 years later in similar economic and industrial circumstances your country has to do this all over again. Yet, instead of dams, you need to build battery mega factories in their tenant. Instead of highways and bridges and tunnels you need to build the supply chains to enable these mega factories to operate securely and consistent. These include cathode and anode plants and the lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese sources to feed them. This has to be done at a speed scale and quality that will make most US corporations feel uncomfortable. Even more, the supply chain needs to be underpinned by bigger sized battery recycling facilities to match the scale of these operations and close the loop. One can also look to the creation of a battery creation - widespread US semiconductor industry back in the 1980s believe that the United States built in semiconductors and computing power has sustained your country's dominance in this space for over five decades. Those who invest in battery capacity and supply chains today will hold the sway of industrial power for generations to come. 1:06:30 Rep. Joe Manchin (WV): Yet here in United States, we have the General Mining Law of 1872, which frankly is nothing short of an embarrassment to our country. In 1872, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president and Susan B. Anthony was served an arrest warrant for voting. Tells you how antiquated our laws are for the hardrock mining, if we're serious about reducing our import reliance for critical minerals, our mining goals need to be updated. We need to improve the regulatory scheme for mines and low ratio at high grade areas and the claim patent system and help the mining industry put themselves in a better light in the public by establishing a royalty to share the profits with the American people. 1:09:15 Rep. Joe Manchin (WV): What portion of the supply chain either upstream or downstream needs the most attention in terms of our national security? Nedal T. Nassar: Thank you, Ranking Member Manchin. So it really the the answer depends on the commodity. So different commodities will have different bottlenecks in their supply chains. In some cases, there's a highly concentrated production on the mining stage. In other cases, it might be further downstream. So for example, for niobium, an element that's produced in only a handful of mines worldwide. And so there are very few mines that are producing it and a single mine might be producing somewhere on the order of two thirds of the world's supply. On the other hand, there might be commodities where it's really not about mining, and it's the there's enough concentrate being produced, but we're simply not recovering it further downstream, such as many of the byproducts. So, earlier, one of the other witnesses mentioned tellurium. There's a lot of tellurium in some of the concentrate that we're mining with copper. Once it gets to the our copper electrolytic refineries, it's simply not recovered for economic reasons. So there there are different stages for different commodities. And that's why I mentioned in my testimony that we do need to look at these supply chains individually to figure out what really is the bottleneck and what strategy would be most effective at reducing that bone. 1:17:45 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK): I recall a hearing here in the Energy Committee and one of our witnesses made the comment when it came to recycling that the first place we should look to mine is within our own economy not in the earth but what we have already produced and and basically, remind, repurpose, reuse that so thank you for that comment. 1:19:20 Thomas J. Duesterberg: As Senator Manchin alluded to, we need to revise our mining laws to speed up the permitting process. And perhaps put some time limit on the impact environmental reviews and mining permitting for critical materials. 1:41:30 Joe Bryan: At the same time, from a national security perspective, we may not have minerals but we in some segment segments of the supply chain, but we do have allies and people we can work with and we need to really reach out to those folks like Australia is a perfect example. How are we working with Australia to diversify our supply chain to support our own needs and also perhaps to hedge against China? 2:01:00 Joe Bryan: As a point of reference, note the scale of the Europeans investment, just one of the tranches of funding that came out of the EU. Last December, they put three and a half billion dollars into supply chain investments. Three and a half billion dollars. That's one tranche. I think the European Investment Bank has said that something like 100 billion dollars has been channeled to the battery supply chain. So the scale of their effort is, we sort of pale in comparison to that, notwithstanding your efforts, Madam Chairman, the other thing I would say is post-COVID, it's interesting, I think Europeans have seen support for electrification and the supply chain in their stimulus packages. I know Germany and France have both targeted those industries as part of their stimulus. And I think the reason for that is, we obviously, countries are going to want to recover what they have lost, but they also are seeing this as an inflection point for them to decide where they want to be in the future. And so I think they've taken advantage of that opportunity and have have sort of doubled down on it. And I think we're in the same position as we assess where we are and where we're going. But the scale of their commitment has been, I'll say impressive. 2:11:00 Joe Bryan: Our weakness is throughout the supply chain. So if we have a stockpile of minerals, but they're not processed and usable, then I'm not sure how much good it does. If we have to ship the stockpiled minerals to China for processing, that's probably not the most ideal scenario. So I think we have to look again holistically at the supply chain, look at what we need, and figure out how we position ourselves to attract the kind of massive massive economy changing, transforming levels of investment that are happening globally to the United States. Hearing: Minerals and Clean Energy Technologies, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, September 17, 2019 Witnesses: The Honorable Daniel Simmons - Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy, Simmons Testimony Dr. Morgan Bazilian - Director of the Payne Institute and Professor of Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines, Bazilian Testimony Ms. Allison Carlson - Senior Vice President, Foreign Policy Analytics, Carlson Testimony Mr. Robert Kang - CEO, Blue Whale Materials, LLC, Kang Testimony Mr. Mark Mills - Senior Fellow Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc., Mills Testimony Transcript: 40:45 Daniel Simmons: Material intensity and potential global demand is illustrated by a recent report, by a recent analysis by the head of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum in the UK, using the most current technologies, for the UK to meet their 2050 electric car targets, it would require just under two times the current annual world cobalt production, nearly the entire world production of neodymium, three quarters of the world's lithium production and at least half of the world's copper production. And to put that in perspective, the UK the population of the UK is only 66 million currently, while the population in the United States is 327 million. 41:40 Daniel Simmons: Cobalt makes up 20% of the weight of the cathode of lithium ion electric vehicle batteries. Today, cobalt is considered one of the the highest material supply risks for electric vehicles in the short and medium term. Cobalt is mined as a secondary material from mixed nickel and copper ore. With the majority of the global supply mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as Senator Manchin mentioned. 52:15 Robert Kang: We need to collect far more of the spent batteries for recycling. The US currently collects less than 5%, while Europe collects approximately 40% or more. Secondly, we need to expand the United States capacity to process batteries. Today, we shipped most of our collected lithium ion batteries for recycling to China, South Korea and Europe. Increasing us processing capacity will allow us businesses to control the flow of these metals earlier in the supply chain. Lastly, we should encourage refining capabilities here in the US. A market for recycled metals will support investments to strengthen the entire lithium ion battery industry in the US. 1:17:45 Robert Kang: I've heard estimates that anywhere from about 20-30% of the world's mineral needs can be met by recycling. Sen. Angus King (ME): Well, that's not insignificant. That's a big number. Robert Kang: And actually it's reclaiming value from our waste stream. Sen. Angus King (ME): Right. Robert Kang: One way to think about this is if you could change your perspective, I believe one of the next new minds of the future, our urban cities, our homes, we have these, this material locked away in our drawers and inboxes that we don't look at too often. So if we can promote collection, if we can take these kind of, spent batteries away from, or bring them back to this industry, I think we can claim a significant amount of minerals. 1:19:00 Robert Kang: We are well aware of foreign entities now that are coming into the US and setting up recycling facilities here because they see these minerals and it's widely known that the US is one of the largest producers of spent lithium ion batteries. Sen. Angus King (ME): They're mining under our very noses. Robert Kang: Yes, sir. Sen. Angus King (ME): In a domestic resource. Robert Kang: Yes, sir. Sen. Angus King (ME): Ridiculous. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK): Who is it? Robert Kang: Well, I do know that there is a Korean company that is coming in. There is a Canadian company that's setting up facilities here, as well as we are aware of conversations and research by Chinese firms recyclers who are coming into this market. 1:42:30 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): My constituents, is the incredible legacy of uncleaned up mines across the west. There are thousands of them. A few years ago during the gold King mine spill, irrigators had to close off their ditches not water their crops, not water their livestock. There were municipal and tribal impacts as huge amounts of released heavy metals came downstream because of the uncleaned up legacy of 150 years of abandoned mines all across the Mountain West. So I think if we're going to, you know, create a path forward, one of the things we need to do is really think about reforming the 1872 mining act if we're going to create the the environment where some of these other things can move forward in a first world country. Hearing: Mineral Security and Related Legislation, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, May 14, 2020 Witnesses: The Honorable Joe Balash - Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Balalsh Testimony Dr. David Solan - Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy Mr. Jonathan Evans - President and COO, Lithium Americas, Evans Testimony Dr. John Warner - Chairman, National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries, Chief Customer Officer, American Battery Solutions, Warner Testimony Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz - Director, West Virginia Water Research Institute, West Virginia University Transcript: 36:00 David Solan: Critical minerals are used in many products important to the US economy and national security, and they are particularly important to the most innovative clean energy technologies. For example, some of the minerals DOE considers the most critical in terms of supply risk include gallium for LEDs, the rare earths dysprosium in neodymium for permanent magnets and wind turbines and electric vehicles, and cobalt and lithium for electric vehicle and grid batteries. The US is dependent on foreign sources of many critical minerals. And we also currently lack the domestic capability for downstream processing and materials as well as the manufacturing of some products made from them. 41:10 Jonathan Evans: Lithium Nevada Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas. It is headquartered in Reno, Nevada and is developing a project called Factor Pass, which is the largest known lithium resource in the United States. Factor Pass will profoundly improve the supply of lithium chemicals by producing 25% of today's global lithium demand when in full production. Currently, the US produces just 1% of lithium minerals and 7% of lithium chemicals. 49:15 John Warner: Chinese companies are buying up energy materials supply sources around the globe in order to ensure that battery manufacturers based in China have access to reasonably stable supplies of low cost materials. 1:04:30 Paul Ziemkiewicz: Some price support, if not, market support is needed in the early stages, because the first thing that Chinese will do and they've done it before, is drop the price on the market because it has its monopoly. And that'll drive anyone out of business. Mountain Pass was our only active mine right now in United States sends all of its oxide product to China for refining. Sen. Joe Manchin (WV): Is that because environmental laws in America we were making it very difficult for us to do that process. Paul Ziemkiewicz: I think, and I'm not an economist, but I think it's just because they have the supply chain. 1:16:15 Joe Balash: At the Department of the Interior, we're seeing a graying of our own staff in terms of the the expertise for mining in general and that is something that we see nationwide. 1:17:45 John Warner: There's very few universities today that actually do focus on a program to develop battery engineers, which is one of the most unique engineering fields because it does compromise and come compose of all of the engineering facets from thermodynamics to electronics and software to the chemistry of it. 1:21:20 Jonathan Evans: There are ways to do this. And I think it will be done very, very safely. If you look at traditional sources at least at lithium, but also known cobalt and others, I think projects can do good and do well. Even under the current environmental laws that we have or what's being promulgated in the future, it's possible I think to live in both worlds. 1:22:50 Jonathan Evans: You go next across the border to Canada or Australia, they still have strict environmental standards as well, but they accomplish what Senator Murkowski said. It's seven to 10 years to get approvals here in the United States. There's lots of mineral resources in those countries, it's usually about two years, because there's very strict process, agencies work together and they have, they have to get back and close the process out where things can drag. Sen. Angus King (ME): One of the things we did in Maine that was helpful, might be useful is one stop shopping. In other words, you don't have to go serially to five agencies, you have one lead agency and everybody else works through that process and that we found that to be very effective. 1:25:15 Paul Ziemkiewicz: The Japanese had a territorial dispute on some islands between Japan and China. And it was few years ago, 2010 maybe, the Chinese simply restricted the ability for the Japanese to get their rare earth supply. And the Japanese caved within something like three or four months. Sen. Angus King (ME): Because of the Japanese manufacturer of these high tech devices that needed that supply? Paul Ziemkiewicz: That's correct Senator. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

On this episode of Battles & Banter, Avery, Codie & Tony conclude their Overland Campaign series by discussing the final battle before the transition to the Petersburg Campaign: the Battle of Cold Harbor. Perhaps the most misunderstood battle of the campaign, popular history has heralded Cold Harbor as Robert E. Lee's last great battlefield victory and the clash that gave Ulysses S. Grant the moniker of "BUTCHER" in both southern and northern newspapers alike. The guys take a stab at these myths while also dissecting this crucial engagement and it's larger importance in context with the Civil War. Also, Codie has perhaps the greatest introduction in BnB history...so far...so strap in for an awesome ride. Enjoy!

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019), James M. Lundberg finds within his seemingly contradictory positions a consistent belief in the power of print to forge American nationalism. This Lundberg traces to his upbringing in a Protestant American culture which valued greatly the power of reading. Upon arriving in New York City in 1831 Greeley embarked on a career as a journalist and editor, and was a key figure in the shift away from relatively expensive periodicals to the mass-produced daily newspapers. His New-York Tribune gave Greeley a prominent platform from which he advocated for his nationalist vision, and he was a visible participant in the increasingly divisive political debates of the 1840s and 1850s. As an opponent of both slavery and secession, Greeley championed both a vigorous prosecution of the war and, with the Union’s victory in 1865, a swift reconciliation of the two sides, with the latter stance alienating many of his former allies and playing a key role in his nomination as Ulysses S. Grant’s challenger in the presidential election of 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darrell Castle talks about the growing levels of anarchy and violence in America. Transcription / Notes THE TRUTH IS A PRECIOUS COMMODITY Hello this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. Today is Friday June 26, 2020 and on this Report I will be talking about the growing levels of anarchy and violence in America. In addition, we will look for the truth and examine why it is sometimes hard to grasp. For the Castle Family this is week five post quarantine and so far so good, but there are ominous storm clouds hanging over my city with calls from city council members to go back to stage one lockdown which would be death to many if not most businesses. In times like these I really miss the family daughter who is safe but just a face on the computer screen thousands of miles from us. I don't know when if ever flights from her island will be permitted so we pray for her and we wait. There are some very strange things happening in America today. Statues of people who built nations and who achieved great things are being toppled by people who have never accomplished anything in their lives. I'm not talking about Robert E. Lee here folks because it has gone far beyond Confederate generals. It started with monuments to Confederate dead and the Confederate battle flag and has progressed to anything by white Europeans. Here is just a partial list of monuments recently removed, destroyed, or defaced by either an angry mob or by an unelected bureaucrat who just made the decision to do it without consulting any voters. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Phillip Schuyler, Caesar Rodney, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Juniperro Serra, Juan de Onate, William McKinley, Robert E. Lee, Christopher Columbus, Stand Watie, Miguel Cervantes, Queen Isabella of Castile. Diego de Vargas, Francis Scott Key, The Texas Rangers, Orville Hubbard, Jerry Richardson, The Richmond, Virginia Police, Delaware Law Enforcement, Oregonian Pioneers, Oregonian Pioneer Mothers, John Sutter, Theodore Roosevelt, Raoul Wallenberg. Cities across America and Europe have allowed mobs to pull down vandalize and destroy statues of historical figures from different walks of life. Cities could stop it if they choose to, but no one in the media is asking them why. The statue of Raoul Wallenberg in his native Sweden donated by Jews who survived the holocaust was torn down and destroyed. No one presumed to be white or to represent Western Civilization has been spared. President Trump, upset because of vandalism of Iconic monuments in the nation's capital, including Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and the World War Two memorial, signed an executive order allowing federal authorities to arrest and prosecute those who vandalize federal property. Whether out of genuine concern or just virtue signaling to his base, Washington DC is a federal protectorate, so no such order was necessary for federal authorities to act. Some city mayors are starting to have second thoughts about allowing anarchy in their cities. At first, they seemed to have some degree of sympathy and even admiration for the goals of the mobs, but these things have a way of escalating and becoming all consuming. I suppose they learned the hard way that just because you are down with the cause does not mean the cause is down with you. In addition, lots of private tax paying citizens get caught up in the mob's effort to destroy civilization. In Minneapolis where this all started, people used to be able to live peaceful middle America lives but no more. Now the city competes with Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, as a haven for crime. Not just any crime but crimes of violence, especially murder. When it was limited to minority neighborhoods as it is in Chicago the city was apparently willing to put up with it, but now it is all over the progressive enclave of Minneapolis. In downtown Minneapolis, where I have spent many days, visiting friends, attending ball games and attending the Ron Paul Convention in 2008,

Arif Hasan and Ben Natan take on the statue debate, in particular discussing their function in society, the history of history, the way history is taught and the specific historical legacies of Christopher Colombus, Robert E. Lee, John Brown, Ulysses S. Grant and more.

In this episode, Mike shares a journal entry from John M. Oldroyd, a relative that fought in WWII and was captured as a POW. It's John's recount of when his plane went down & his parachute's descent to capture. Mike ties Nazis to racial discrimination that still exists to this day, and he covers the importance of ending racism across the board asap. He also discusses Flag Day, the conversations around statue removal, military base renaming, D-Day remembrance, Ulysses S. Grant, the current status of the world (the pandemic, the political landscape, and the civil unrest), ways that have helped him to achieve calmness during this time, ways to help others remotely during this time, as well as advice from his friend who is a nurse practitioner for good mental health.

About the Author Ryan Holiday is a writer and media strategist. When he was 19 years old, he dropped out of college to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power.  He had a successful marketing career at American Apparel and went on to found a creative agency called Brass Check, which has advised clients like Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as many prominent bestselling authors, including Neil Strauss, Tony Robbins and Tim Ferriss. He is the author of ten books, including Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, Conspiracy and Stillness is the Key which have sold more than 2 million copies in thirty languages and have a following among NFL coaches, world-class athletes, TV personalities, political leaders, and others around the world. He spends most of his time on a ranch outside Austin, Texas where he does his writing and work in between raising cattle, donkeys and goats. Source: https://ryanholiday.net/about/ About the Book The Obstacle is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do. The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck. If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way, it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era. Source: https://www.amazon.com/ Buy the book from The Book Depository -https://www.bookdepository.com/Obstacle-is-Way-Ryan-Holiday/9781781251492 /?a_aid=stephsbookshelf BIG IDEA 1 (5:47) – Invoke the reverse clause. There’s a quote from the book that says, “The impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way, becomes the way”. Ultimately the obstacle is the way. Marcus Aurelius, who is talked about in the book, suggests that we need to turn our obstacles upside down and have a way to find another path if necessary. Stoicism suggests that we have a choice, whether we will move over, around or through the obstacles that appear in our life. One concept in the book is the flank attack on an obstacle – stepping back and finding a new path. Take the line that is least expected which is not always the ideal one but gets us around, over or under the obstacle that is in our way. BIG IDEA 2 (7:06) – Behaviours and virtues. If an emotion can’t change the situation, it’s probably unhelpful. This doesn’t mean you can’t feel the emotion – vent, rant or even cry. It is about how you control (or domesticate) your emotions.  Stoicism is about emotional regulation or control. We need to tame emotions; train them and use them to our advantage. The virtues of stoicism include patience, courage, humility, resourcefulness, justice, reason and creativity. These are the virtues that you need to have to overcome the obstacles in your way.  BIG IDEA 3 (8:37) – Act. The root to overcoming the obstacles is through action. Despite the situation you find yourself in, you have the courage to take action.  If you fail, that is okay, that’s just feedback that you need a different path and you just have to find a new way. Problems are our chance to do our best. And we shouldn’t assume everything will go well; we should do pre mortem and plan for problems so we know how to react. External factors influence that path but not the direction. We should always be moving forward.  Links:  See my post about how I use my copy of Archley’s Book of Books here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_OIycvobxU/?igshid=uoytldajyc1d Listen to the Daily Stoic here: https://dailystoic.com/podcast/ Music By: Arcade Song by Generation Lost Let’s Connect LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/steph-clarke Instagram: @stephsbizbookshelf Enjoying the show? Please hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and leave a review on iTunes to help others find us.

EP90: Police Disunion Thanks for listening to the Junto Show! The “Junto” is a club Benjamin Franklin founded way back when America was Great. The purpose of the Junto was to debate questions of morals, politics, and natural philosophy.  Our show’s not quite that stuffy, but here and there we stumble upon something profound between the geeky jokes. The Junto Show is three friends, one black, one white, and one Asian who get together and discuss the news of the day, leadership, pop culture, and whatever else comes to mind.  We bring our unique perspectives to the table and hash it all out. Real fans donate! https://www.patreon.com/juntoshow I scoured the archives for Junto show segments we’re we talked about pandemics, and ways to deal with troubling times. Hot Take News (00:09:36) ⁃ We talk about the protests that are taking place in the streets all over the world in the wake of the Murder of George Floyd ⁃ Police Union Contracts is the most tangible problem that can be addressed to improve police behavior. • What did the S. in Ulysses S. Grant Stand For? • Should we reopen schools for in-person classes this fall? • Should the USA be “The global leader”? • SpaceX successfully launched American Astronauts to the Space Station Pop Culture (00:48:24) • The half of it - Recommend • Bad Education - Recommend • The Love Birds - Worth watching on Netflix • I am Not Your Negro - Lance’s inspiration for being a “public intellectual” • Final Fantasy VII Remake • Greta Gerwig’s Little Women - Lance thought it was boring and Johnny loved it • Lucy in the Sky - great story well made movie • Mob Psycho 100 • Just Mercy is a great movie and is available to watch for free (check local listings) Useful Links: • Show some love: https://www.patreon.com/juntoshow

On May 5-6, 1864, the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia clashed in the thick, dense woodlands of Spotsylvania & Orange Counties; an area that was known as "The Wilderness" (the site of the previous year's battle at Chancellorsville). This engagement was also the first time that Robert E. Lee was pitted against Ulysses S. Grant, and it marked the beginning of the bloodiest military campaign of the entire American Civil War. On this episode, Avery, Codie & Tony are joined by Rebekah Ryer and Jeff Martin to hash out the beginning of the 1864 Overland Campaign, and Avery's favorite Civil War clash. The gang discusses the horrors of the battle, the role of leadership on both sides, and how the Union achieved a larger success at the Wilderness than history has given them credit for, as well as Grant's big ol' d**k! Strap in for one of our most fun episodes yet! Enjoy!

Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda Dennis Prager talks to Author.In Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee, Michael Korda, the New York Times bestselling biographer of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, and T. E. Lawrence, has written the first major biography of Lee in nearly twenty years, bringing to life one of America's greatest, most iconic heroes.Korda paints a vivid and admiring portrait of Lee as a general and a devoted family man who, though he disliked slavery and was not in favor of secession, turned down command of the Union army in 1861 because he could not "draw his sword" against his own children, his neighbors, and his beloved Virginia. He was surely America's preeminent military leader, as calm, dignified, and commanding a presence in defeat as he was in victory. Lee's reputation has only grown in the 150 years since the Civil War, and Korda covers in groundbreaking detail all of Lee's battles and traces the making of a great man's undeniable reputation on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, positioning him finally as the symbolic martyr-hero of the Southern Cause.Clouds of Glory features dozens of stunning illustrations, some never before seen, including eight pages of color, sixteen pages of black-and-white, and nearly fifty battle maps. --------------------------------------------------------------------  Visit Pragertopia  https://pragertopia.com/member/signup.php  The first month is 99 cents. After the first month the cost is $7.50 per month. If you can afford to pay for only one podcast, this is the one we recommend. It is the best conservative radio show out there, period. ACU strongly recommends ALL ACU students and alumni subscribe to Pragertopia. Do it today! You can listen to Dennis from 9 a.m. to Noon (Pacific) Monday thru Friday, live on the Internet  http://www.dennisprager.com/pages/listen  ------------------------------------------------------------------------For a great archive of Prager University videos visit-https://www.youtube.com/user/PragerUniversity/featured Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0hGet PragerU bonus content for free! https://www.prageru.com/bonus-contentDownload Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips. iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5eJoin Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ysJoin PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageruDo you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful. VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.comFOLLOW us! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prageruTwitter: https://twitter.com/prageruInstagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/PragerU is on Snapchat! JOIN PragerFORCE! For Students: http://l.prageru.com/2aozfkPJOIN our Educators Network! http://l.prageru.com/2aoz2y9 --------------------------------------------------------------------   The Rational Bible: Exodus by Dennis Prager  NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Dennis Prager has put together one of the most stunning commentaries in modern times on the most profound document in human history. It's a must-read that every person, religious and non-religious, should buy and peruse every night before bed. It'll make you think harder, pray more ardently, and understand your civilization better." — Ben Shapiro, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" "Dennis Prager’s commentary on Exodus will rank among the greatest modern Torah commentaries. That is how important I think it is. And I am clearly not alone... It might well be on its way to becoming the most widely read Torah commentary of our time—and by non-Jews as well as by Jews." — Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, bestselling author of Jewish Literacy Why do so many people think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is outdated? Why do our friends and neighbors – and sometimes we ourselves – dismiss the Bible as irrelevant, irrational, immoral, or all of these things? This explanation of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, will demonstrate that the Bible is not only powerfully relevant to today’s issues, but completely consistent with rational thought. Do you think the Bible permitted the trans-Atlantic slave trade? You won’t after reading this book. Do you struggle to love your parents? If you do, you need this book. Do you doubt the existence of God because belief in God is “irrational?” This book will give you reason after reason to rethink your doubts. The title of this commentary is, “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. As Prager says, “If something I write does not make rational sense, I have not done my job.” The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager’s forty years of teaching the Bible to people of every faith, and no faith. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world and to your life. His goal: to change your mind – and then change your life. Highly Recommended by ACU.Purchase his book at-https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Exodus-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621577724  The Rational Bible: Genesis by Dennis Prager USA Today bestsellerPublishers Weekly bestsellerWall Street Journal bestseller Many people today think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is not only outdated but irrelevant, irrational, and even immoral. This explanation of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, demonstrates clearly and powerfully that the opposite is true. The Bible remains profoundly relevant—both to the great issues of our day and to each individual life. It is the greatest moral guide and source of wisdom ever written. Do you doubt the existence of God because you think believing in God is irrational? This book will give you many reasons to rethink your doubts. Do you think faith and science are in conflict? You won’t after reading this commentary on Genesis. Do you come from a dysfunctional family? It may comfort you to know that every family discussed in Genesis was highly dysfunctional! The title of this commentary is “The Rational Bible” because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. In Dennis Prager’s words, “If something I write is not rational, I have not done my job.”The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager’s forty years of teaching the Bible—whose Hebrew grammar and vocabulary he has mastered—to people of every faith and no faith at all. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world in general and to you personally. His goal: to change your mind—and, as a result, to change your life. Highly Recommended by ACU.Purchase his book at-https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Genesis-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621578984

Today we stop and think about the men who lead us, and helped shape this country into what it is from the very highest seat of leadership.  But I would like to use this troop salute to honor those presidents who served in our nation’s military. We all know about the exploits of General George Washington and his decisive leadership largely responsible for the military victory of a "rag-tag" group of colonials over the world’s best trained and equipped military force in the world. But Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson also served in the Revolutionary War. Jackson also served in the War of 1812 along with William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and James Buchanan. We honor James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, and Franklin Pierce as well as Abraham Lincoln's service as a Captain in the Illinois State Militia. Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison were all Generals during the Civil War where William McKinley was a Major. Teddy Roosevelt led men into battle as a Colonel leading the "Rough Riders" in the Spanish-American War and Roosevelt is the only US President to receive the Medal of Honor for his military courage and bravery. Harry S. Truman served as a Colonel, while Dwight D. Eisenhower was one of the few 5 star generals in history as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII.  John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford all saw battle in WWII as officers. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan served during WWII as well. George H.W. Bush's Service record includes famously being shot down over the sea as a Naval Aviator in World War II and his son George W. Bush served out country in the National Guard.

“If the world had been searched by Burnside for a location in which his army could be best defeated ... he should have selected this very spot.”This is the story of leadership turnover in the Union and total war on the field. US President Abraham Lincoln has had his fill of George B. “Little Mac” McClellan. Little Mac is getting fired. He’s being replaced by the general with the best facial-hair game in the army: Ambrose Burnsides. But Ambrose doesn’t want command. He doesn’t think he’s the man for the job. Still, he’s going to try to be the aggressive general he knows the President wants. Ambrose plans to charge at the Confederate capital with his 120,000-strong Army of the Potomac. But he’ll have to deal with Robert E. Lee first. They’re coming to blow up the little Virginia town George Washington’s mother once called home: Fredericksburg.Meanwhile, Ulysses S. Grant is facing challenges out west in the Mississippi Valley. Can he out navigate a politicking general and take the crucial rivertown of Vicksburg, Mississippi? We’ll find out.

*WARNING: CONTENTS OF THIS EPISODE CONTAIN CHRISTMAS SPOILERS. NOT FOR CHILDREN* Join Albort as he explores the many incarnations of the most fantastical, generous, Coca-Cola loving character of the holiday season, Santa Claus; from Saint Nikolas of Myra to Sinterklaas of the Netherlands to Pere Noel of France to L. Frank Baum’s “Neclaus” and why the wife of the man in the “Ho-Ho-Tuxedo” doesn’t even have a first name! Learn how the Little Ice Age influenced the violins of Antonio Stradivari and the writing of Charles Dickens, which holiday song became the first to be broadcast from space, what Norwegian scientists suspect to be the cause of Rudolph’s shiny nose and how the “Father of the American Cartoon” changed American’s reception of Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland.

The Confederacy won the early battles of the Civil War, led by brilliant generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee (to name a few) against blundering Union commanders like the endlessly dithering George McClellan. The war only turned after Lincoln found the right generals such as Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. This Civil War narrative—that Union generals improved while Confederate ones worsened—is popular and well-supported. Is it accurate, or did circumstances of the war bring out the true character of each general?The answer isn't a simple 'yes' or 'no' but Scott will do his best to explain what makes a Civil War general a good one and how they improved or worsened over the course of the war.

Here's a look at 'Today in Rock History' featuring: Odell Beckham Jr. is 27. He could go down in history as one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history. Ryan Adams is 45. Sixteen albums, yet I defy you to name one of his songs. Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead is 48. Bryan Adams is 60. Overlord of the Kardashian empire, Kris Jenner is 64. Today in 1872, Susan B. Anthony voted illegally in a presidential election. She was arrested, went to trial and fined $100... which is like $2,000 in today's dollars. She voted for Ulysses S. Grant, who won, and she never paid the fine. In 1955, Dr. Emmett Brown invented the Flux Capacitor . . . after standing on the edge of his toilet to hang a clock, then slipping and hitting his head on the edge of the sink. The Flux Capacitor is what makes time travel possible, you know. 49 years ago, in 1970, Led Zeppelin released "Immigrant Song"

“There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” This is the story of violence on land and sea. Of violence unlike anything America has ever known. Tens of thousands of Union and Confederate forces clash near Virginia’s Bull Run River and Manassass railroad junction. Naive, young soldiers quickly learn their romantic notions of war are a farce, Thomas Jackson defends “like a stone wall,” and Yankees hear a horrific sound: “the rebel yell.” Things are calmer on the sea. Lincoln wants a blockade to hem in Confederate ships. The result is one international, diplomatic nightmare (the Trent Affair), and the most devastating attack in US naval history. The carnage and destruction wrought on the US Navy by the CSS Virginia (the Merrimack) won’t be matched or exceeded until 1941. Lincoln’s despondent. He has setbacks, on the field, turnover from General-in-Chief Winfield Scott to George B. McClellan, and a dying son. It seems nothing can go right. There is one exception though. Welcome back to the story young Ulysses S. Grant.

“The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.”— ULYSSES S. GRANTFor a few years now I’ve been watching Scott’s journey, I raved to friends and peers about Barbell Logic and Online Great Books. I laughed aloud at the witty memes posted on OGB Instagram, biding time till I one day was in the position to release my own podcast and thus hopefully (and now thankfully) engage in dialogue with this group. I’ve followed Scott’s personal account, often tuning into his Instagram live feeds to hear a brilliant response to a question about power lifting or literature or in general, about helping life.Self admittedly when I first started dreaming up The Kensington Corner I often used Scott and his ventures and peers as motivation. Brett, who runs the Art of Manliness is how i found my way to Scott, The Strenuous Life and Online Great Books have been a beacon for young men wanting to better themselves across the nation.When I moved to Kansas I knew this group of merry men were mere hours away so I hoped they would some how find their way to my page one day. Scott answered the call (Even though it was an Instagram DM lol) but never the less, he answered. He was helpful, genuine and actually wanted to talk.Thus begins the journey of our conversation from a loft, him in Oklahoma, Jeff and I in Kansas. Our shows are typically one hour, this turned into a roller coaster of a ride and led into 2, which could have easily turned to four. We talked about literature, favorite books, the society of today and many other topics. I truly hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. I am forever grateful for Scott for this opportunity and look forward to our next conversation, friend.Join Our Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/ThekensingtoncornerFollow Scott, Barbell Logic and Online Great Books-https://www.instagram.com/scott_silverstrength/https://www.instagram.com/barbell_logic/https://www.instagram.com/onlinegreatbooks/Support the show (https://www.Patreon.com/thekensingtoncorner )

  On this episode of This Day In History, Tony and Armand discuss Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Join us for this episode of This Day In History! About the Show: Website: This Day In History Facebook: This Day... The post April 9th – Lee Surrenders appeared first on This Day In History.

On this day in 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to the General of the United States Armies, Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

From the vault, enjoy this early Sparks Nevada installment, "Men on the Moon!" Recorded Live at M Bar on February 10, 2007. Starring Marc Evan Jackson, Mark Gagliardi, Danny Strong, Samm Levine, Craig Cackowski. Music by the Andy Paley Orchestra. Written by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker.Plus there's a new ad reader in town! If Dan Bucatino and Cal Plamby are gonna put ads in their ads, you bet your butt so is Dawn Cartartanaran (Busy Philipps). Joined by her silent partner Peg Cherchinneran, Dawn stumps for her Civil War-themed bagel shop Ulysses S. Bagel AND for her favorite job hiring website ZIP RECRUITER!Try Zip Recruiter FOR FREE at ziprecruiter.com/thrilling!Find the entire back catalog of The Thrilling Adventure Hour plus Bonus Content, Complete Libraries of Classic Segments, Merch Discounts and more on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thrillingadventurehourFollow The Thrilling Adventure Hour:https://twitter.com/ThrillingAdvhttps://www.facebook.com/ThrillingAdventureHourThe Thrilling Adventure Hour is a Forever Dog podcasthttp://foreverdogproductions.com/fdpn/podcasts/the-thrilling-adventure-hour

When President Donald Trump visited Key West late last year, it was the first time in nearly 55 years for a sitting US president to visit Key West. Prior to that, the last time was when John F. Kennedy stopped by to inspect the defenses of Key West and provide some positive publicity for South Florida. And that was in November of 1962, following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Key West's location and climate has a long history of drawing in the top executives, not just from companies but also from the most powerful nation in the world. US presidents have loved Key West for years. One of the most famous visitors was Harry Truman. Harry Truman came to Key West 11 times during his presidency. He always ended up staying at the Navy's officer residence. And that house is now called Truman's Little White House. Ulysses S. Grant was the first US president to visit Key West. He came in 1880, it was 11 years after leaving office, while traveling with Civil War General, Phil Sheridan. They were on a steamship from New Orleans bound for Havana, but had to stop in Key West for the day. That was during the period when Key West was one of the largest cities in Florida and also one of the wealthiest. Another Civil War leader, Jefferson Davis had also visited Key West. He stopped by in 1867, the day after he was released from prison on bail. Key West is a good place to go when you just get out of jail! In his first term as President, Grover Cleveland also stopped by Key West in 1889. He spent a few hours in the city and he was shown around the island in carriages, and there was a public reception held at the Russell House. William Howard Taft came to Key West on Henry Flagler's Overseas Railway. The year was 1912. That was just 11 months after the railway opened and President Taft was on his way to inspect the Panama Canal. But of course he had to come to Key West first and then get on a ship. And Calvin Coolidge also stopped by Key West on his way back from a meeting in Cuba. That year was 1928 and he had just finished speaking at a big conference in Cuba. Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Key West six times between 1917 and 1939, he was practically a snowbird. His first stop was when he was young Assistant Secretary of the Navy and he was en route to Cuba as well. After Roosevelt was stricken with polio, he spent several winters in the Keys on a houseboat. And then he also came back to Key West as president in 1939. It was a very different ride then as he was coming down the overseas highway, in an open air convertible. And you can be sure that Key West always appreciated this type of attention from the chief executive, as many of our streets in Key West our name for Presidents - there's Truman Avenue, there's Einsenhower and Kennedy Dr. Dwight Eisenhower first came to Key West before he became president. He was the Presiding Officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he came and he spent 21 days at the Little White House, trying to recover from an illness. Guess who recommended that he do that? You got it - Harry Truman. Eisenhower also returned in 1955 when he was recovering from a heart attack. You're seeing the theme here. People love to come to Key West to recuperate from all the ills of the rest of the world. President Kennedy came through a trip on Key West back in March of 1961. And he met the British Prime Minister here in Key West for a summit. So prior to Donald Trump visiting at the end of last year, John F. Kennedy's visit to Key West in 1962 was the last time a sitting president came to Key West. A couple other presidents visited us, but it was after they had left the office. Jimmy Carter came down. Bill Clinton has been here. gGeorge HW Bush had a lovely little fishing hidey hole that he liked to come and do some fishing in Islamorada. We heard a lot about that after he passed away last year many many stories were told about the wonderful interactions people had with him while he was in Islamorada. And it was today, January 17 1928, that President Calvin Coolidge and his wife arrived in Key West uponreturning from the sixth Inter-American Conference held in Havan. They arrived by ship. And once they arrive, the mayor showed him around, showed him the Naval Station, the Army barracks, the airport and then they took a ride along beautiful Ocean Avenue, what we call today, North and South atRoosevelt Boulevard. And that's what happened today in Key West history. Today in Key West History is brought to you by 43 Keys Media. You want to learn all about our illustrious past and even what's going on today in Key West, visit http://43keys. com. You can get this program, as well as others, as an Alexa flash briefing. And you can find this on YouTube and anywhere that you listen to podcasts. So don't forget to subscribe and we'll see you over at http://43keys.com.

Elliott Powell, Jr. served in the United States navy for 26 years. He commanded four ships during his tenure there, including the command of a minesweeper during Operation Desert Storm, with which he destroyed or cleared 16 mines. After his naval career, he became the director of the White House Situation Room and served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in that capacity. Powell now serves as an 8th Grade U.S. History teacher in Southern California. He was named teacher of the year at his middle school in 2018. We provide longform and “shortcuts” versions of each conversation to meet your listening needs! More episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, and Stitcher. Episode Links • Elliott’s favorite movie: Twelve O’Clock High • The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant • Movie Recommendation: The Caine Mutiny • If You Want to Change the World, Start Off by Making Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven • It’s Your Ship by D. Michael Abrashoff Subscribe to our Newsletter at: www.schoolofthoughtproductions.com/contact/ We would love to connect with you! Please email us at schoolofthoughtpodcast@gmail.com to tell us who you are, what you think about the show, and who we should talk to next. Connect with us and the rest of our tribe by searching for School of Thought Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Elliott Powell, Jr. served in the United States navy for 26 years. He commanded four ships during his tenure there, including the command of a minesweeper during Operation Desert Storm, with which he destroyed or cleared 16 mines. After his naval career, he became the director of the White House Situation Room and served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in that capacity. Powell now serves as an 8th Grade U.S. History teacher in Southern California. He was named teacher of the year at his middle school in 2018. We provide longform and “shortcuts” versions of each conversation to meet your listening needs! More episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, and Stitcher. Episode Links • Elliott’s favorite movie: Twelve O’Clock High • The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant • Movie Recommendation: The Caine Mutiny • If You Want to Change the World, Start Off by Making Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven • It’s Your Ship by D. Michael Abrashoff Subscribe to our Newsletter at: www.schoolofthoughtproductions.com/contact/ We would love to connect with you! Please email us at schoolofthoughtpodcast@gmail.com to tell us who you are, what you think about the show, and who we should talk to next. Connect with us and the rest of our tribe by searching for School of Thought Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Love triumphs, even through the Civil War, with a union within the Union - the love story of Ulysses S. and Julia Grant; On the Road, discover a Union among confederates with Daniel and Haidee at the Nevada State Fair; our Lovin SoDak feature explains how the war made South Dakota taste better (thanks, Aunt Lou!); and our narrative is a Gettysburg Tale from The Heart of America in a story called: Monumental. CREDITS: http://lovin-america.blubrry.net/the-unfinished-work-042 All this and more on this episode of Lovin America. (Like the podcast? For as little as $1 a month you can be a Patron of Lovin America and help keep the lovin’ comin’! https://www.patreon.com/lovinamerica) Links: Lead in song: Lovity Love by Something Underground Lucretia “Aunt Lou” Marchbanks of South Dakota:  From The Black Hills Pioneer: https://tinyurl.com/AuntLouSD;  From Legends of America: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/sd-auntlou/; From the South Dakota Historical Society: https://tinyurl.com/auntLouSDHS;   Daniel & Haidee, YouTube Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1zYkloNbCs);   Ulysses S. and Julia Grant: From GrantHomePage.com, Grant the Artist,  (http://www.granthomepage.com/grantartist.htm);   From Smithsonian online, General Grant in Love and War (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/general-grant-in-love-and-war-94609512/);  From Wikipedia.org, Julia Grant, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Grant);  From Neatorama.com, 15 Things You May Not Know About Ulysses S. Grant (https://www.neatorama.com/2017/04/19/15-Things-You-May-Not-Know-About-Ulysses-S-Grant/);  From History.com, 10 Things You May Not Know About Ulysses S. Grant  (https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-ulysses-s-grant);  From the New York Times online, The Two Julias (https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/the-two-julias/);  From Amazon.com, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, by Ulysses S. Grant (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DBBP4LG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)  Lovin America website: https://www.LovinAmerica.us;  Lovin America YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/YouTube-LovinAmerica  

Dwight D. Eisenhower vs. Ulysses S. Grant

                          Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. Last time on the show…   Today we discuss The American West. Let’s dive in.   How was Hayes different than other presidents? Rutherford B Hayes - Presidential Podcast Gabe - Ruther B Hayes actually was the first president to celebrate easter thing he also promised only to go one term which he did and his wish was to restore faith that he says was lost since Lincoln was shot. Today historians refer to him as an average president. Skylar -Hayes won the electoral vote but Tilden won the popular vote, causing the Compromise of 1877, that we talked about in the previous episode. Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States. He served from 1877 to 1881. He was born in Delaware, Ohio on October 4th, 1822. He was part of the Republican Party. Before becoming president he was a lawyer, like former president Abe Lincoln. He was an abolitionist and mostly helped defend runaway slaves. 3.- Blake - Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the U.S. Hayes was the governor of Ohio before becoming the president. The election of 1876 was a disputed one as Hayes’ opponent Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote but Hayes had won the most electoral votes. - Ethan - His Vice President was William A. Wheeler.  He took office at the end of the Reconstruction Era which was the literal reconstruction of the U.S. after the Civil War. Like Gabe said he tried to take over where Lincoln left off. Hayes was probably one of Lincoln’s greatest supporters. Ben- Unlike many iconic presidents, Rutherford was not self-taught, he graduated from Harvard and studied law. His first few cases were about runaway slaves. 6.Ricky-Rutherford B Hayes was an extrovert and love to be around people. He was part of the Republican Party and like everyone has already said, he won the popular vote. Hunter- Rutherford B. Hayes’ presidency was from 1877-1881 he was pretty popular as an extrovert like Ricky has said he won the popular vote and like Skylar has said he also won the electoral vote.` Elijah- Rutherford B. Hayes’ was a abolitionist. He fought in the civil war as part of the union army and fought against slavery. He served as capacity of judge advocate on the field headquarters for his time in the civil war. The Gold Rush  Gabe - The Gold was found by John Sumter in 1848 who found flakes in a river well that got out and everyone was coming for some gold in 1849 they were called forty niners It even says that people were coming from asia australia europe and latin america for the gold well 1850 california became a state, established a government and joined the union. Most the prospectors made nothing some were successful most were not though there was no law enforcement sanitation crime rates were extremely high in goldfields and one camp even exploded. Most of the time the shopkeepers would make more than the actually prospectors because they charged so high for equipment and the shopkeepers became the rich ones. Skylar - The Gold Rush was a very big deal. Like gabe said people came from different  countries like Asia and Europe. Over 300,000 people came from the surrounding states and countries. The new sources of transportation like steamboats and railroads were making it easier than ever to get to the gold, before it was welcomed into the Union as the 31st state on september 9th, 1850. - Blake - A lot of people know what the Gold Rush is but not many people know the true violence behind the money. As soon as gold was found in California people from all over migrated to hopefully strike rich and have a profitable life, unfortunately this was not the case for all miners. Because of this discovery of gold it led to immigration and these immigrants were treated terribly as Nativism had become a very common thing. - Ethan - Small amounts of people became rich. But people kept saying “oh we’re about to hit gold, we don’t need food”. Those people either got lucky or died trying. People kept getting robbed because of the area and there were few good places to stay because it was only recently discovered. Vigilante`s were the only way to keep people from getting robbed. Too bad Batman’s only a comic...or was he? (Ricky- like John Marston? :) are you using this?) 5.Ben- A popular event in history changed the state of California and its population, literally, they kill off most of California’s native population. After the gold rush many forty-niners moved to alaska or australia because gold was found in both places. Ricky-The California Gold Rush was a period in between 1848 and 1855 in Sutter's Mill. 7.Hunter- lamborghinis are pretty expensive Gabe  nowadays cars like that can go up to nearly 600,000 dollars. Or at least the one i was looking at it was a convertible with a nice chrome black finish but enough about that. The cali gold rush was a really big one and it started a lot of robberies it went on  for seven whole years. I know lol i've looked up prices lololol - gabe Elijah- The California Gold Rush was not just a gold mine literally but also a entrepreneur gold mine. The many ways people made money off of the miners and just the region is amazing. Levi jeans were made at the time for miners so the jeans could be worn more and go though more wear and tear. Women were working inns for the miners and made money that way. The whole gold rush was a big way for people to make money and live the american dream of manifest destiny. Do you think he was a good or bad president? Grover Cleveland - Presidential Podcast  Gabe - Grover Cleveland was a democrat American politician and lawyer he was the only president in history to serve two non consecutive terms as 22nd president and the 24th president. He won the popular vote for three presidential elections 1884 1888 1892 He and woodrow wilson were the only two democrats to be elected during the era of republican. - Blake - The 22nd and 24th president of the United States was Grover Cleveland he was the only president to serve 2 non consecutive terms in history. Cleveland was a big guy around 300 pounds at the beginning of his first term he was the second largest president behind William Taft. Skylar - Grover Cleveland was born March 18th, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. Cleveland didn’t get along with the media well because they wrote negative things about him. He didn’t get started in politics until he was 44, but he was a successful lawyer beforehand, just like Lincoln, like gabe said. He was part of the democratic party, and was a lawyer like Lincoln as well, just like Gabe said. He was elected as the mayor of Buffalo in 1881, Governor of New York in 1882, and then became president in 1883.   4.- Ethan - His full name was Stephen Grover Cleveland. He was the leader of the Bourbon Democrats. They opposed things like Free Silver. Free Silver was kind of the opposition against using silver in our coins, trying to maintain the gold standard. Other things they didn’t like were high tariffs, inflation, and imperialism. Imperialism was basically extending the country’s power through brute force and or diplomacy. 5.Ricky-Grover Cleveland was a big man as Blake has said, but he was comical and funny in his social interventions but, he was really really serious in his political convention. Ben- A big part of his life was cancer, he found out he had a tumor in the roof of his mouth in the June of 1893. But, the thing was, he didnt want the press to know, because cancer was so scary and deadly at the time. Luckily, he survived and got the tumor cut off on a boat. The cover up was that he got a dental procedure that removed two teeth, which was true, but it was because of the tumor removing process. He also died on June 24, 1908, and his famous last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right.” 7. Elijah- Stephen Grover Cleveland, part of the democratic party. In his first term he vetoed 414 congressional bills. When he first started politics he was a sheriff in New York. After finishing his two terms he went into law and then ran for mayor. He became the mayor of Buffalo in 1882.  After that he ran for governor and won. He kept moving forward as he went to president.   Who were the exodusters? The Homestead Act and the exodusters  Gabe - The Homestead Act was when the government gave away huge amounts of land to certain citizens you could not apply for a homestead if you beared arms against America which meant no confederate soldiers could apply and you had to be over 21. later they even allowed immigrants to apply you would get around 160 acres of land which is a lot i have seen 80 acres 160 is twice that its massive you got this land if you kept your promise which meant you would farm the land for 5 years. Even African Americans Could apply for a Homestead Act. - Blake - The Exodusters were a group of people mostly former slaves who were subject to racial violence and repression when in reality all they wanted was a plot of land to start a family and live prosperously. Skylar - The Homestead Act was was put into place in 1862. It stated that anyone who wanted to become a citizen could have around 160 acres of land, if they would farm it. The big debate was between slave owners who thought only slave owners should get the new land in the west to farm on. There were only to things you had to promise other than promising to farm the land was to borne arms against the United States Government and to never give aid and comfort to it’s enemies. 4.- Ethan - The Exodus of 1879 was a mass migration of African Americans leaving the South. Thus, that group of people became known as the exodusters. Inspiration for the name came from the book of the Bible, Exodus. These people settled in modern day Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 5.Ricky-Exodusters were former slaves in the South who then moved into the West in two places like Oklahoma Kansas Colorado. The Homestead Act helped this. Because of the Homestead Act granting millions of acres of land Exodusters could build settlements. This was stuff like the Oklahoma land run. Ben- Almost a century after they started, the government gave over one and a half million homesteads away, which was 10% of all American land. Hunter- The homestead act was just three years before the gilded age so 1862. all U.S. citizens who did not bear arms against the U.S. were able to apply for a homestead wich like Gabe and multiple others have said they gave 160 whole acres to women, immigrants, freed slaves, and after a while ex-confederate soldiers. Elijah-The homestead act was signed May, 20th 1862 by President Lincoln. This granted 160 acres of land in the West as homestead to anyone who is the head of the family or someone who is 21 and is a citizen of the USA. This became a way for ex-confederate soldiers were able to apply for homestead as much as freed slaves.   The reservation system  Gabe - The Appropriation Act of 1851 Made it where we could put indians in a reserve In oklahoma so they wouldn't come on land americans wanted to settle. Which also sparked the reservation system for reserves in other states for indians so the americans could settle and the indians could be in there own LITTLE spot. Skylar - The Indian Reservation System started in 1851 to keep the indians off the land these new “americans” wanted to settle on. The reservations were made so indians would have a small piece of land to live on. Even though they had been living there hundreds of years before the Europeans took over and pretended it was their land. I think it was really dumb to do this because it wasn’t really their land. They were basically treating them like slaves saying, that this is where you are going to live because these new settlers want to live there. 3.- Ethan - A lot of Native Americans didn’t like the system so thus started the Indian Wars. With a lot of bloodshed done,  Americans stand victorious in relocating the Indians. Ulysses S. Grant tried bringing Indians into mainstream American society. - Blake - Oh boy well as a lot of people know five Native American tribes came together to form the Five Civilized Tribes which consisted of the Cherokee (represent), Creek, Chickasaw. Seminole and Choctaw. This was the main group of Native Americans that were relocated to modern day Oklahoma 5.Ricky-as everyone already said in 1851 the reservation of Indians was basically just the US saying you can stay on this land but we're taking this land. The Dawes Act in 1887 of dismantled reservation giving each tribe plots of land. Ben- After the Indian Removal Act it was a strange time for the Native Americans. The white people thought since they took whatever they wanted before, they could do it again. It was a dark time for American morals.They could govern their tribes but that didn’t protect them from poverty and other terrible things. Hunter- The reservation system was a system in which native americans were not allowed to step foot in European-American settlements. During this time in American history the whites thought like Ben has said take what they want when they want it. Elijah- The Indian reservation system was put in place to keep land for whites that were moving westward with their philosophy as manifest destiny. The movement westward was always the american dream at the time and this was a way to do it. This caused a lot of hostility from the indians towards the expansionists. This is what helped cause the Indian wars.      Do you think this was good or bad for the Indians and why? The Dawes Act  Gabe -  The Dawes act Passed by Grover Cleveland allowed Him to destroy the reservations and make indians come into american society which i think was better i mean did you hear what was happening in those reserves pretty bad stuff. Then they would give land to certain indians and they became US citizens the rest i believe were classified as immigrants or something of that sort. This applied to all except the 5 civilised tribes but they didn't accept some free allotments of land so we passed the curtis act that allowed the Dawes act to apply to the 5 tribes and they also took the 5 tribes land and let white men settle there. Skylar - The Dawes Act was passed in 1887. Cleveland put this act into place to make indians come back into the American Society because like gabe said stuff was getting pretty bad. Instead of reservations they gave plots to certain tribes instead of having all different tribes in one small piece of land. I think this was a good idea because some tribes don’t get along with each other hence why they weren’t all one huge tribe, but rather many smaller groups of people that got along. 3.- Ethan - The Dawes Act was also known as Dawes Severalty Act or the General Allotment Act. It was signed on January 8th, 1887. It allowed president Grover Cleveland to take tribal lands from the Native Americans to make them American citizens. Cleveland basically was saying that the only way that they could earn citizenship was by giving up traditions. - Blake - More about my tribe yay. Originally the Dawes Act did not apply to the Five Civilized Tribes because they had already been cooperative with the government. Ricky-the Dawes Act just basically made some Indian tribes U.S citizenship. Ben- The white people thought that to stop the conflict they must break up the land, because that is what most indians fought about at the time, I think. This made the native americans spread out, and eventually make them become normalized in today’s society. 7. Elijah-The dawes acts basically helped native americans become US citizens but at the same time stripped the native americans from their tribal land.  This divided the european settlers and the native americans even more. Why were so many immigrants flooding into America? Chinese immigrants and Mexican Americans in the age of westward expansion  Gabe - Mexicans and Chinese became colliding with americans in there westward expansion. Most of the Mexicans and Chinese had to make enclaves in places to get jobs without losing them because of racist people Skylar - There wasn’t many immigrants in 1820, but with the gold rush, new jobs, new choices, by 1880 there were over 800,000 people who came to the US who were just chinese. New mexicans were also coming into the country and both of these new races needed jobs, but a lot of shop owners would give them jobs because they were mexican or chinese. 3.- Ethan - In the 1820s the Chinese started slowly entering America. By 1849 there were only about 650 Chinese immigrants in America. But then the Gold Rush came into play and by 1852 25,000 Chinese immigrants were in America. In 1880, the Chinese immigrant population increased to 3,000 - Blake - With westward expansion came conflict as Americans began fulfilling the manifest destiny and mining the California Gold Rush. The conflict was not only with the Natives but with Mexicans and Chinese. Ricky-With westward expansion came the fight for land and rights. Las Gorass Blancas was a group of Mexican rebels that fought against United States westward expansion and Manifest Destiny principles. They burned down houses, crops, and killed people. Ben- The rural booms pulled in immigrants from far and wide, but once they sailed across the ocean, they found couldn’t get enough resources to go back to their own country or continent. This caused many of them to have to work very menial jobs since no other employers would hire them like Skylar said. 7. 8.Elijah-During the 1890s the immigration of mexicans and chinese people were moving to america and becoming americans. But on both sides there was also a lot of resistance. As the Gold Rush ended americans populated california and were looking for outward expansion. This was to Mexico and China. Mexico had hostel movement towards(with the Mexican american war) americans and so did China (with the boxer rebellion)   Why did the Indians start the war? The Indian Wars and the Battle of the Little Bighorn  Gabe - The indian wars were wars fought because the indians did like being moved or have there land destroyed by americans so they fought massive battles in the end America won because they rock and nothing can destroy them and the indians were moved and lots of them died some which accepted land allotments became US citizens though so that's good. The last Indian war battle was at little bighorn where general custer made his great fail and got defeated by the indians which for some reason marked the ending of the indian wars Skylar - the Indian Wars were basically the whites against indians. They fought over land and natural resources. Of course the indians wanted it because it was their whole country before these new europeans came and settled there. The whites wanted it to build houses, new jobs, and farming, but the indians wanted it so they could live on it. They didn’t plan to make more jobs available to the new US citizens. - Ethan - The Battle of Little Bighorn(little contradiction) was also known as Custer’s Last Stand. That was the last battle of the Indian Wars. The Sioux(pronounced sue) Wars lasted from 1854 to 1890. In 1875, gold was discovered in Black Hills South Dakota. This brought miners into Indian territory. The Black Hills were hunting grounds for the Sioux, so the miners pleaded the US Army for protection. The Army responded with war, The Great Sioux Wars to be precise. It lasted from 1876-1877. - Blake - Oooo where do I start with you white people. The Indian Wars were a result of White People attempting to fulfill the manifest destiny by expanding westward and moving the Native Americans out. 5.Ricky- The battle of Little Bighorn was basically 6.ben- You can really tell how hard the Indians fought for their land, they had the power to keep up against the US military forces that attacked them, I think it’s because they just knew the land. 7.  Elijah-The Indian Wars was a revolt of the Indians against the white people with there manifest destiny. This was a war for land and resources. The whites were trying to move more westward and the indians resisted and that is where there war started.   What happened at the battle of wounded knee? The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee  Gabe -  The Ghost Dance was a way for the indians to remember there tribal ways after the americans came and destroyed everything and the battle of wounded knee was were americans 7th cavalry slaughtered indiscriminately hundreds of sioux men women and children. Skylar - when there was a solar eclipse on january 1st, 1889 a shaman who was apart of the Paiute tribe said God showed him love peace through a dance called the Ghost Dance. Like gabe said it was a way for the indians to remember the dead and they could actually see their family who had passed away. 3.- Ethan - On December 29th, 1890, the US 7th Cavalry Regiment ambushed a Sioux Indian camp nearby Wounded Knee Creek. The Regiment tried to disarm the Sioux, but while doing so a shot was fired and that sent the Sioux into chaos, while the US Army massacred many men, women, and even children. These soldiers were exonerated and 20 soldiers were given medals of honor.( People can call me crazy, but I support almost whatever the US Army, Air Force, and Navy do. They were just doing their jobs, and they did them well.) - Blake - I’ll be talking about the aftermath of this and how you white people still couldn’t keep us down. After the wounded knee massacre the unit that had caused the scuffle had been pardoned and some had even been given a Medal Of Honor the most prestigious of military awards. But even after everything there are still over 2.9 million Natives in the U.S. Ben- You can cut down a tree but it’s even harder to get the roots out. The ghost dance spread a little bit of hope throughout the Indian culture, causing a pulse of resistance, the wars were starting to end, and the indians weren’t gonna give up. 6. 7. Elijah- The ghost dance was a vision of love and peace that was from God. This was a movement that was very spiritual. This was all about reuniting the indian tribes and coming together. The goal was banishment of all evil in the world. That’s all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us in this emancipation from the box, that is learning.

                          Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. Last time on the show…   Today we discuss The American West. Let’s dive in.   How was Hayes different than other presidents? Rutherford B Hayes - Presidential Podcast Gabe - Ruther B Hayes actually was the first president to celebrate easter thing he also promised only to go one term which he did and his wish was to restore faith that he says was lost since Lincoln was shot. Today historians refer to him as an average president. Skylar -Hayes won the electoral vote but Tilden won the popular vote, causing the Compromise of 1877, that we talked about in the previous episode. Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States. He served from 1877 to 1881. He was born in Delaware, Ohio on October 4th, 1822. He was part of the Republican Party. Before becoming president he was a lawyer, like former president Abe Lincoln. He was an abolitionist and mostly helped defend runaway slaves. 3.- Blake - Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the U.S. Hayes was the governor of Ohio before becoming the president. The election of 1876 was a disputed one as Hayes’ opponent Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote but Hayes had won the most electoral votes. - Ethan - His Vice President was William A. Wheeler.  He took office at the end of the Reconstruction Era which was the literal reconstruction of the U.S. after the Civil War. Like Gabe said he tried to take over where Lincoln left off. Hayes was probably one of Lincoln’s greatest supporters. Ben- Unlike many iconic presidents, Rutherford was not self-taught, he graduated from Harvard and studied law. His first few cases were about runaway slaves. 6.Ricky-Rutherford B Hayes was an extrovert and love to be around people. He was part of the Republican Party and like everyone has already said, he won the popular vote. Hunter- Rutherford B. Hayes’ presidency was from 1877-1881 he was pretty popular as an extrovert like Ricky has said he won the popular vote and like Skylar has said he also won the electoral vote.` Elijah- Rutherford B. Hayes’ was a abolitionist. He fought in the civil war as part of the union army and fought against slavery. He served as capacity of judge advocate on the field headquarters for his time in the civil war. The Gold Rush  Gabe - The Gold was found by John Sumter in 1848 who found flakes in a river well that got out and everyone was coming for some gold in 1849 they were called forty niners It even says that people were coming from asia australia europe and latin america for the gold well 1850 california became a state, established a government and joined the union. Most the prospectors made nothing some were successful most were not though there was no law enforcement sanitation crime rates were extremely high in goldfields and one camp even exploded. Most of the time the shopkeepers would make more than the actually prospectors because they charged so high for equipment and the shopkeepers became the rich ones. Skylar - The Gold Rush was a very big deal. Like gabe said people came from different  countries like Asia and Europe. Over 300,000 people came from the surrounding states and countries. The new sources of transportation like steamboats and railroads were making it easier than ever to get to the gold, before it was welcomed into the Union as the 31st state on september 9th, 1850. - Blake - A lot of people know what the Gold Rush is but not many people know the true violence behind the money. As soon as gold was found in California people from all over migrated to hopefully strike rich and have a profitable life, unfortunately this was not the case for all miners. Because of this discovery of gold it led to immigration and these immigrants were treated terribly as Nativism had become a very common thing. - Ethan - Small amounts of people became rich. But people kept saying “oh we’re about to hit gold, we don’t need food”. Those people either got lucky or died trying. People kept getting robbed because of the area and there were few good places to stay because it was only recently discovered. Vigilante`s were the only way to keep people from getting robbed. Too bad Batman’s only a comic...or was he? (Ricky- like John Marston? :) are you using this?) 5.Ben- A popular event in history changed the state of California and its population, literally, they kill off most of California’s native population. After the gold rush many forty-niners moved to alaska or australia because gold was found in both places. Ricky-The California Gold Rush was a period in between 1848 and 1855 in Sutter's Mill. 7.Hunter- lamborghinis are pretty expensive Gabe  nowadays cars like that can go up to nearly 600,000 dollars. Or at least the one i was looking at it was a convertible with a nice chrome black finish but enough about that. The cali gold rush was a really big one and it started a lot of robberies it went on  for seven whole years. I know lol i've looked up prices lololol - gabe Elijah- The California Gold Rush was not just a gold mine literally but also a entrepreneur gold mine. The many ways people made money off of the miners and just the region is amazing. Levi jeans were made at the time for miners so the jeans could be worn more and go though more wear and tear. Women were working inns for the miners and made money that way. The whole gold rush was a big way for people to make money and live the american dream of manifest destiny. Do you think he was a good or bad president? Grover Cleveland - Presidential Podcast  Gabe - Grover Cleveland was a democrat American politician and lawyer he was the only president in history to serve two non consecutive terms as 22nd president and the 24th president. He won the popular vote for three presidential elections 1884 1888 1892 He and woodrow wilson were the only two democrats to be elected during the era of republican. - Blake - The 22nd and 24th president of the United States was Grover Cleveland he was the only president to serve 2 non consecutive terms in history. Cleveland was a big guy around 300 pounds at the beginning of his first term he was the second largest president behind William Taft. Skylar - Grover Cleveland was born March 18th, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. Cleveland didn’t get along with the media well because they wrote negative things about him. He didn’t get started in politics until he was 44, but he was a successful lawyer beforehand, just like Lincoln, like gabe said. He was part of the democratic party, and was a lawyer like Lincoln as well, just like Gabe said. He was elected as the mayor of Buffalo in 1881, Governor of New York in 1882, and then became president in 1883.   4.- Ethan - His full name was Stephen Grover Cleveland. He was the leader of the Bourbon Democrats. They opposed things like Free Silver. Free Silver was kind of the opposition against using silver in our coins, trying to maintain the gold standard. Other things they didn’t like were high tariffs, inflation, and imperialism. Imperialism was basically extending the country’s power through brute force and or diplomacy. 5.Ricky-Grover Cleveland was a big man as Blake has said, but he was comical and funny in his social interventions but, he was really really serious in his political convention. Ben- A big part of his life was cancer, he found out he had a tumor in the roof of his mouth in the June of 1893. But, the thing was, he didnt want the press to know, because cancer was so scary and deadly at the time. Luckily, he survived and got the tumor cut off on a boat. The cover up was that he got a dental procedure that removed two teeth, which was true, but it was because of the tumor removing process. He also died on June 24, 1908, and his famous last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right.” 7. Elijah- Stephen Grover Cleveland, part of the democratic party. In his first term he vetoed 414 congressional bills. When he first started politics he was a sheriff in New York. After finishing his two terms he went into law and then ran for mayor. He became the mayor of Buffalo in 1882.  After that he ran for governor and won. He kept moving forward as he went to president.   Who were the exodusters? The Homestead Act and the exodusters  Gabe - The Homestead Act was when the government gave away huge amounts of land to certain citizens you could not apply for a homestead if you beared arms against America which meant no confederate soldiers could apply and you had to be over 21. later they even allowed immigrants to apply you would get around 160 acres of land which is a lot i have seen 80 acres 160 is twice that its massive you got this land if you kept your promise which meant you would farm the land for 5 years. Even African Americans Could apply for a Homestead Act. - Blake - The Exodusters were a group of people mostly former slaves who were subject to racial violence and repression when in reality all they wanted was a plot of land to start a family and live prosperously. Skylar - The Homestead Act was was put into place in 1862. It stated that anyone who wanted to become a citizen could have around 160 acres of land, if they would farm it. The big debate was between slave owners who thought only slave owners should get the new land in the west to farm on. There were only to things you had to promise other than promising to farm the land was to borne arms against the United States Government and to never give aid and comfort to it’s enemies. 4.- Ethan - The Exodus of 1879 was a mass migration of African Americans leaving the South. Thus, that group of people became known as the exodusters. Inspiration for the name came from the book of the Bible, Exodus. These people settled in modern day Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 5.Ricky-Exodusters were former slaves in the South who then moved into the West in two places like Oklahoma Kansas Colorado. The Homestead Act helped this. Because of the Homestead Act granting millions of acres of land Exodusters could build settlements. This was stuff like the Oklahoma land run. Ben- Almost a century after they started, the government gave over one and a half million homesteads away, which was 10% of all American land. Hunter- The homestead act was just three years before the gilded age so 1862. all U.S. citizens who did not bear arms against the U.S. were able to apply for a homestead wich like Gabe and multiple others have said they gave 160 whole acres to women, immigrants, freed slaves, and after a while ex-confederate soldiers. Elijah-The homestead act was signed May, 20th 1862 by President Lincoln. This granted 160 acres of land in the West as homestead to anyone who is the head of the family or someone who is 21 and is a citizen of the USA. This became a way for ex-confederate soldiers were able to apply for homestead as much as freed slaves.   The reservation system  Gabe - The Appropriation Act of 1851 Made it where we could put indians in a reserve In oklahoma so they wouldn't come on land americans wanted to settle. Which also sparked the reservation system for reserves in other states for indians so the americans could settle and the indians could be in there own LITTLE spot. Skylar - The Indian Reservation System started in 1851 to keep the indians off the land these new “americans” wanted to settle on. The reservations were made so indians would have a small piece of land to live on. Even though they had been living there hundreds of years before the Europeans took over and pretended it was their land. I think it was really dumb to do this because it wasn’t really their land. They were basically treating them like slaves saying, that this is where you are going to live because these new settlers want to live there. 3.- Ethan - A lot of Native Americans didn’t like the system so thus started the Indian Wars. With a lot of bloodshed done,  Americans stand victorious in relocating the Indians. Ulysses S. Grant tried bringing Indians into mainstream American society. - Blake - Oh boy well as a lot of people know five Native American tribes came together to form the Five Civilized Tribes which consisted of the Cherokee (represent), Creek, Chickasaw. Seminole and Choctaw. This was the main group of Native Americans that were relocated to modern day Oklahoma 5.Ricky-as everyone already said in 1851 the reservation of Indians was basically just the US saying you can stay on this land but we're taking this land. The Dawes Act in 1887 of dismantled reservation giving each tribe plots of land. Ben- After the Indian Removal Act it was a strange time for the Native Americans. The white people thought since they took whatever they wanted before, they could do it again. It was a dark time for American morals.They could govern their tribes but that didn’t protect them from poverty and other terrible things. Hunter- The reservation system was a system in which native americans were not allowed to step foot in European-American settlements. During this time in American history the whites thought like Ben has said take what they want when they want it. Elijah- The Indian reservation system was put in place to keep land for whites that were moving westward with their philosophy as manifest destiny. The movement westward was always the american dream at the time and this was a way to do it. This caused a lot of hostility from the indians towards the expansionists. This is what helped cause the Indian wars.      Do you think this was good or bad for the Indians and why? The Dawes Act  Gabe -  The Dawes act Passed by Grover Cleveland allowed Him to destroy the reservations and make indians come into american society which i think was better i mean did you hear what was happening in those reserves pretty bad stuff. Then they would give land to certain indians and they became US citizens the rest i believe were classified as immigrants or something of that sort. This applied to all except the 5 civilised tribes but they didn't accept some free allotments of land so we passed the curtis act that allowed the Dawes act to apply to the 5 tribes and they also took the 5 tribes land and let white men settle there. Skylar - The Dawes Act was passed in 1887. Cleveland put this act into place to make indians come back into the American Society because like gabe said stuff was getting pretty bad. Instead of reservations they gave plots to certain tribes instead of having all different tribes in one small piece of land. I think this was a good idea because some tribes don’t get along with each other hence why they weren’t all one huge tribe, but rather many smaller groups of people that got along. 3.- Ethan - The Dawes Act was also known as Dawes Severalty Act or the General Allotment Act. It was signed on January 8th, 1887. It allowed president Grover Cleveland to take tribal lands from the Native Americans to make them American citizens. Cleveland basically was saying that the only way that they could earn citizenship was by giving up traditions. - Blake - More about my tribe yay. Originally the Dawes Act did not apply to the Five Civilized Tribes because they had already been cooperative with the government. Ricky-the Dawes Act just basically made some Indian tribes U.S citizenship. Ben- The white people thought that to stop the conflict they must break up the land, because that is what most indians fought about at the time, I think. This made the native americans spread out, and eventually make them become normalized in today’s society. 7. Elijah-The dawes acts basically helped native americans become US citizens but at the same time stripped the native americans from their tribal land.  This divided the european settlers and the native americans even more. Why were so many immigrants flooding into America? Chinese immigrants and Mexican Americans in the age of westward expansion  Gabe - Mexicans and Chinese became colliding with americans in there westward expansion. Most of the Mexicans and Chinese had to make enclaves in places to get jobs without losing them because of racist people Skylar - There wasn’t many immigrants in 1820, but with the gold rush, new jobs, new choices, by 1880 there were over 800,000 people who came to the US who were just chinese. New mexicans were also coming into the country and both of these new races needed jobs, but a lot of shop owners would give them jobs because they were mexican or chinese. 3.- Ethan - In the 1820s the Chinese started slowly entering America. By 1849 there were only about 650 Chinese immigrants in America. But then the Gold Rush came into play and by 1852 25,000 Chinese immigrants were in America. In 1880, the Chinese immigrant population increased to 3,000 - Blake - With westward expansion came conflict as Americans began fulfilling the manifest destiny and mining the California Gold Rush. The conflict was not only with the Natives but with Mexicans and Chinese. Ricky-With westward expansion came the fight for land and rights. Las Gorass Blancas was a group of Mexican rebels that fought against United States westward expansion and Manifest Destiny principles. They burned down houses, crops, and killed people. Ben- The rural booms pulled in immigrants from far and wide, but once they sailed across the ocean, they found couldn’t get enough resources to go back to their own country or continent. This caused many of them to have to work very menial jobs since no other employers would hire them like Skylar said. 7. 8.Elijah-During the 1890s the immigration of mexicans and chinese people were moving to america and becoming americans. But on both sides there was also a lot of resistance. As the Gold Rush ended americans populated california and were looking for outward expansion. This was to Mexico and China. Mexico had hostel movement towards(with the Mexican american war) americans and so did China (with the boxer rebellion)   Why did the Indians start the war? The Indian Wars and the Battle of the Little Bighorn  Gabe - The indian wars were wars fought because the indians did like being moved or have there land destroyed by americans so they fought massive battles in the end America won because they rock and nothing can destroy them and the indians were moved and lots of them died some which accepted land allotments became US citizens though so that's good. The last Indian war battle was at little bighorn where general custer made his great fail and got defeated by the indians which for some reason marked the ending of the indian wars Skylar - the Indian Wars were basically the whites against indians. They fought over land and natural resources. Of course the indians wanted it because it was their whole country before these new europeans came and settled there. The whites wanted it to build houses, new jobs, and farming, but the indians wanted it so they could live on it. They didn’t plan to make more jobs available to the new US citizens. - Ethan - The Battle of Little Bighorn(little contradiction) was also known as Custer’s Last Stand. That was the last battle of the Indian Wars. The Sioux(pronounced sue) Wars lasted from 1854 to 1890. In 1875, gold was discovered in Black Hills South Dakota. This brought miners into Indian territory. The Black Hills were hunting grounds for the Sioux, so the miners pleaded the US Army for protection. The Army responded with war, The Great Sioux Wars to be precise. It lasted from 1876-1877. - Blake - Oooo where do I start with you white people. The Indian Wars were a result of White People attempting to fulfill the manifest destiny by expanding westward and moving the Native Americans out. 5.Ricky- The battle of Little Bighorn was basically 6.ben- You can really tell how hard the Indians fought for their land, they had the power to keep up against the US military forces that attacked them, I think it’s because they just knew the land. 7.  Elijah-The Indian Wars was a revolt of the Indians against the white people with there manifest destiny. This was a war for land and resources. The whites were trying to move more westward and the indians resisted and that is where there war started.   What happened at the battle of wounded knee? The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee  Gabe -  The Ghost Dance was a way for the indians to remember there tribal ways after the americans came and destroyed everything and the battle of wounded knee was were americans 7th cavalry slaughtered indiscriminately hundreds of sioux men women and children. Skylar - when there was a solar eclipse on january 1st, 1889 a shaman who was apart of the Paiute tribe said God showed him love peace through a dance called the Ghost Dance. Like gabe said it was a way for the indians to remember the dead and they could actually see their family who had passed away. 3.- Ethan - On December 29th, 1890, the US 7th Cavalry Regiment ambushed a Sioux Indian camp nearby Wounded Knee Creek. The Regiment tried to disarm the Sioux, but while doing so a shot was fired and that sent the Sioux into chaos, while the US Army massacred many men, women, and even children. These soldiers were exonerated and 20 soldiers were given medals of honor.( People can call me crazy, but I support almost whatever the US Army, Air Force, and Navy do. They were just doing their jobs, and they did them well.) - Blake - I’ll be talking about the aftermath of this and how you white people still couldn’t keep us down. After the wounded knee massacre the unit that had caused the scuffle had been pardoned and some had even been given a Medal Of Honor the most prestigious of military awards. But even after everything there are still over 2.9 million Natives in the U.S. Ben- You can cut down a tree but it’s even harder to get the roots out. The ghost dance spread a little bit of hope throughout the Indian culture, causing a pulse of resistance, the wars were starting to end, and the indians weren’t gonna give up. 6. 7. Elijah- The ghost dance was a vision of love and peace that was from God. This was a movement that was very spiritual. This was all about reuniting the indian tribes and coming together. The goal was banishment of all evil in the world. That’s all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us in this emancipation from the box, that is learning.

How do you really make a difference to inspire people around you? WAR ROOM welcomes special guest Major General John S. Kem, the 51st Commandant of the U.S. Army War College to discuss leader development. Who does it well, and why is it so hard to do in the Army? What principles can leaders adopt to build good developmental climates in units in an era of omnipresent technology, short attention spans, and intense pace of work? The U.S. Army War College Chair of Strategic Leadership and WAR ROOM's Editor-in-Chief Andrew A. Hill moderates.     Major General John S. Kem, U.S. Army, is the 51st Commandant of the U.S. Army War College. Andrew A. Hill is Chair of Strategic Leadership at the U.S. Army War College and WAR ROOM Editor-in-Chief. The views expressed in this warcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense. Photo: The US Capitol seen at dusk behind the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images

The Women's Loyal National League, also known as the Woman's National Loyal League and other variations of that name, was formed on May 14, 1863, to campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would abolish slavery. It was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, its president, and Susan B. Anthony, its secretary. In the largest petition drive in the nation's history up to that time, the League collected nearly 400,000 signatures on petitions to abolish slavery and presented them to Congress. Its petition drive significantly assisted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery in the U.S. The League disbanded in August 1864 after it became clear that the amendment would be approved. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Loyal_National_League) The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people, including all non-citizens, within its jurisdiction. This clause has been the basis for many decisions rejecting irrational or unnecessary discrimination against people belonging to various groups. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of black former slaves. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party's future. On February 26, 1869, after rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Congress proposed a compromise amendment banning franchise restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude. After surviving a difficult ratification fight, the amendment was certified as duly ratified and part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. The amendment created a split within the women's suffrage movement over the amendment not prohibiting denying the women the right to vote on account of sex. Information sourced from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) Body sourced from youtu.be/FCl2BmbqCRM Public Access America PublicAccessPod Productions Footage downloaded and edited by Jason at PublicAccessPod producer of Public Access America Podcast Links Review us Stitcher: goo.gl/XpKHWB Review us iTunes: goo.gl/soc7KG Subscribe GooglePlay: goo.gl/gPEDbf YouTube goo.gl/xrKbJb YouTube

Do you know what Steve Jobs, John D. Rockefeller, Amelia Earhart, and Ulysses S. Grant have in common? They each possessed the talent of turning obstacles into opportunities drawn from the Stoic ideologies of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

Jacob L. Shapiro and Xander Snyder reflect on some key historical battles and whether they challenge GPF's model of how the world works. Sign up for free updates on topics like this! Go here: hubs.ly/H06mXwR0 TRANSCRIPT: Jacob L. Shapiro: Hello everyone and welcome to another Geopolitical Futures podcast. I'm JLS, your usual host. I am joined by Xander Snyder, and Xander I believe you are all the way in Iceland, aren't you? XS: Coming at you live from Reykjavik. JLS: How about that? And today, we want to do something a little different than we've been doing. Instead of going around the world and recapping some important part of something happening in geopolitics, we want to take a little bit of a different direction. So George a couple weeks ago wrote a piece about the Battle of Midway and thinking about what would've happened if the Japanese had won the Battle of Midway and the United States had lost it. And one of the reasons George wanted to look at this particular battle, and one of the reasons he talks about this battle all the time, especially to us, other employees on GPF staff but just in general if you ever meet George because for him it's a major challenge to everything we do at GPF. Our whole premise is built on the fact that you can predict things because there's a certain order and logic to how geopolitics develop. There are imperatives and there are constraints, and the broad impersonal forces of history are what shape events. But then you have things like the Battle of Midway in the middle of World War II. Probably World War II would have worked out the same way in the end. But the Battle of Midway was really decided by chance, by nothing that you could have predicted or nothing that was completely rational. The Japanese outnumbered the United States and even with the U.S. breaking the Japanese code, there's some argument there to say that this is a moment where all the broad impersonal forces that we deal with on a daily basis in our writing and when we talk on these podcasts, didn't mean that much. I think this is actually a moment that all people who are in this line of work have. I know that when I was talking to Xander right when Xander started, one of the things Xander you brought up was that for you the Battle of Waterloo was this thing that always fascinated you. For me, it was the Battle of Gettysburg and I actually just wrote a piece that will be coming out on July 3 that sort of talks about that thing. So what we thought we'd do on the podcast today is that Xander and I would spitball a little bit about, you know, Xander telling us a little bit about the Battle of Waterloo and me talking a little bit about the Battle of Gettysburg and then trying to take a step back and thinking about how the geopolitical model that we work with deals with events like these, whether it's understandable or not or whether this is just something that we have to somehow build in to how we're thinking about the world. So Xander maybe the first question that I could just start you out with is why Waterloo? Why was Waterloo a battle that caught your attention and made you want to learn more about it? XS: Yeah, when I was first discussing with George Midway, the way he describes the evolution of the battle was a moment when this one air squadron, I think Torpedo 8 is what it was called, had you know a couple minutes basically to fuel up before they could turn to try to figure out where the Japanese were in the Pacific near Midway and the squadron commander decided to turn one way and found basically the entire Japanese fleet. And that let one squadron distract some of the fighters, the Torpedo squadron dove down, distracted the fighters and basically all got annihilated but that left the high-altitude bombers basically completely wide open to begin to just annihilate the Japanese fleet. And if that hadn't happened, if Japan had in fact been able to basically win at Midway, that would've put a lot of pressure on Hawaii because they would've been able to station long-range bombers and that could've radically changed the way the war on the Pacific developed and therefore how the entire war developed. So I started thinking about Waterloo which is the battle that I'd studied somewhat recently, and basically this battle evolved after Napoleon came back from exile in Elba in 1815 and all of the French troops that were sent by the Bourbon king to arrest him ended up joining up with him because he was their emperor. And he decided that the only way that he really had a chance to break the allies, which were Britain, Prussia, Russia, the Dutch, was to attack them quickly so that he could divide their forces, drive the British back to the sea and hopefully at that point sue for some sort of settlement that worked in France's favor because in the long run if it turned into a battle of attrition, he was going to lose. He didn't have the forces to compete with the massive Allied military of something like 800,000 troops. So he went north very quickly, he fought the Prussians at a place called Ligny, I am probably mispronouncing that. But this was several days before Waterloo. He drove them back, he won that battle and the Prussians kind of retreated and tried to regroup. And Napoleon though they were going to go to the northeast. And so he sent this one guy named Marshal Grouchy with a detachment of about 33,000 French troops to pursue him. Turns out the Prussians actually regrouped much further to the north, which was important and I'll come back to that. The next battle he fought was at a place called Quatre Bras, which was against the British, and he was able to push them back there too. Again he was hitting each army individually before they could group together and he pushed them back. Wellington regrouped at this place called Waterloo. The Prussians, instead of going to the northeast, went north to a place called Wavre. And by the time Marshall Grouchy, the guy who was sent off to Napoleon's right flank to basically pursue them, recognized where they were, it was kind of later in the game. They were able to regroup, and Napoleon sent later on sort of a follow up dispatch saying, “Ok, yeah, keep pursuing these guys as I initially ordered you to, but try to link up with us to the west so that you'll actually be involved in this big battle that's coming.” This is a great summary. But before he got that dispatch, he was kind of at this moment where he heard the cannons begin to go off at Waterloo, and one of his inferiors basically said, “Look we should march at the sound of the cannons.” And so Grouchy found himself in this position where should I strictly follow Napoleon's orders, basically just to pursue the Prussians rear and to keep them distracted, or should I pursue them in a way that would allow me to link back up to where I think this battle is going to be. Now take all of that, and now think just about the Battle of Waterloo where really the tactic for Napoleon was to break the British center at this place called La Haye Sainte before the Prussians could link up on the east, and if you could do that, he could basically win that battle and keep pushing the English or the British north before the Prussians linked back up to him. And he was finally able to do this at the very end of the battle, but by that point, it was too late; the Prussians had come and linked up and the game was over for Napoleon. Now if Grouchy had been able to link up with Napoleon, many historians think it's fairly likely that he would've been able to break the center earlier. So the question kind of comes down to either one misinterpreted order or miscommunication, some people say a bad decision by Grouchy but others will defend him saying he was following orders as strictly as he could. But you know, then the question is, if Waterloo is where Napoleon was ultimately defeated, what would have happened had he won that battle? And that's kind of why that came to mind when George was talking about Midway. JLS: You raise an important point, and this was one of our colleagues on staff raised this to me the other day, which was that when you are talking about warfare especially in the 17th and 18th century even into the 19th century, you seem to always have these stories about orders that either weren't delivered or orders that were ambiguous, were not followed directly. And if the regimental commander or whoever it was had just followed the order, then maybe things would've gone well. But the problem of course was there were no cell phones, there was no quick way to get in touch with people. You were dealing with large masses of people and you had to delegate an awful lot of authority and an awful lot to the commanders underneath you. So it's nice to imagine that Napoleon was this romantic genius sitting on top of this army and that he was pulling all these puppet strings and if everybody had just marched to his beat, everything would've been fine. But the reality in battle is that it doesn't exactly work that way. If you go to Gettysburg and visit the confederate lines at Gettysburg, it will take you the better part of a couple hours to walk up and down what the entire confederate line was. It wasn't the type of thing where the general who was sitting on top of everything could just go and order everything. So I think one thing to think about is that, a lot depends in these types of battles where you have large groups of men facing off against each other, a lot depends on the decisions that are made by the commanders and whether the general, the overall commander of the force, has trust in the people that are underneath and whether the people that are underneath him understood what they were supposed to do and when they were supposed to pursue one part of an order or maybe pursue another part of an order. XS: Right. You can look at Napoleon again. Like you say, he's supposed to be seen as this romantic military genius and in a lot of ways he kind of was, but he sent these ambiguous orders and that kind of in a way might have been his undoing at Waterloo. Now, we can get into how that particular battle plays into the geopolitics of the Napoleonic wars but I think before we do that, it's worth talking about your case with Gettysburg because then we can compare and contrast the two and see what we can draw and what we can bring back to this larger theory that we use to broadcast events. JLS: Yeah before I dive into it, the issue of ambiguous orders and even orders in general figures hugely into Gettysburg at multiple points. First of all, it was the Confederacy's and Lee's second campaign into the Union. The first campaign was in 1862 and ended at the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Sharpsburg, and what happened there was famously that General Lee's orders got lost and the Union got them. General McClellan got his hands on dispatches that showed where the Confederate Army was actually going to be and that was what allowed the Army at the Potomac to find the battleground at Antietam and really caught Robert Lee off guard the first time that he came north. The second time Robert E. Lee comes north to fight, it's 1863, the war is not going well for the Confederacy, the longer the war went on, the worse it was going to be for the Confederacy. Ulysses S. Grant was putting a great deal of pressure on Vicksburg, and Vicksburg probably wasn't going to be able to hold and so Robert E. Lee goes to Jefferson Davis and to the Confederate leadership and says, “I need reinforcement so that I can take the Army of Northern Virginia north into the Union once more.” And he does and at multiple times throughout the battle you have this issue of orders being somewhat ambiguous. On the first day, for instance, Richard Ewell is pushing into Gettysburg and he whips the Union forces. He's got them pretty well managed and they go into the town of Gettysburg and there's a chance there where Ewell can send maybe 2,400, 2,500 troops to take some high ground at Culp's Hill where there were only just a few hundred Union defenders. They were exhausted from fighting all day and Ewell had more people coming in. He could have very easily taken that ground on Culp's Hill. And the thing was that Lee sends him an order that says something like pursue the enemy but don't bring on a general battle because on July 1, the first day of Gettysburg, Lee still doesn't exactly want to fight at Gettysburg. He hasn't decided that that's where he's going to fight yet and he doesn't want to again get caught in a battlefield that isn't of his own choosing. So he gives Ewell what Ewell interprets as a contradictory order. So, “should I actually send my troops to take Culp's Hill or should I not bring on a general engagement? I don't know what to do.” One of the what ifs that historians throw around with Gettysburg all the time was if Stonewall Jackson hadn't died months before Gettysburg and he had been the one commanding those troops, not Richard Ewell, Jackson would have absolutely understood exactly what Lee meant and would've known that that was the moment where, forget about the general battle thing, here was a chance to take the high ground. And they didn't. And that really defines the rest of the battle of Gettysburg because at the end of the first day, even though the Confederacy does very well, the Union has all the good defensible positions. The second day, Lee tries to attack again. They get very close to winning. They don't actually win in the end and then on the third day, Lee commits his catastrophic mistake and maybe this is the one where its different than Waterloo or even different than Midway. Because the way I see it, the Battle of Gettysburg was in the end decided because Lee made a catastrophic error and he let himself not see what was in front of him. He saw what he wanted to see in front of him, and he didn't see what was actually in front of him. And this question of questionable orders comes back in a little bit. One of Lee's top commanders General Longstreet didn't want to make the assault on the third day and therefore there's a disconnect because Longstreet thought that Lee was going to tell Pickett to get his troops ready for a charge first thing in the morning, and Lee thought that Longstreet was going to do it. So nobody actually told Pickett, who was supposed to lead the charge and who did eventually lead the charge, that he should be ready in the morning. And because he wasn't ready in the morning, the Confederate forces weren't in sync so one group of forces attacked in the morning, Pickett wasn't even ready in the morning. So it took them all morning to get to the point where Pickett was ready, and then they get to the afternoon and Pickett's charge begins and 15,000 Confederate soldiers march a mile over territory that I can't even imagine. I've been to Gettysburg and I've walked Pickett's charge and it's incredible. It doesn't make sense that men could march slowly and methodically – which all the history accounts sort of talk about how the Confederates marched on the Union's positions – through a field with no cover, with artillery coming at you every which direction, straight into a well-defended Union line and the Confederates just get massacred. And it's the highwater mark of the Confederacy and really it's even amazing that the Confederacy is able to fight for another two years after that. But it all turns on Lee ordering Pickett's charge. He could have withdrawn, he could have taken a defensive posture and let the enemy come to him. I don't think that the Confederacy would have won the Civil War even if the Battle of Gettysburg had gone differently but certainly a major part of the way the war developed and the way peace developed afterwards all came down to Robert E. Lee's decision to order a charge that by any logical or rational metric that I could come up, he shouldn't have ordered. XS: Yeah now and in this piece that you wrote – and one of the perks of working at Geopolitical Futures is I get to read some of these big pieces before they get published, right? And in this piece, you mention a couple of things that just seem like someone should be aware of this, right? Like Lee did not check his ammunition stores before he ordered the charge across this milelong stretch of field which in theory could have at least provided some degree of cover for the men going across. And up to that time in the war, Lee, really with a great lack of resources compared to the North, had been able to pull off some really astonishing victories. So what do you think lead Robert E. Lee to make that decision? What could have happened if he had been more collected, if he had thought differently? I certainly don't want to criticize a guy who was so successful up until that point because, as we'll come back and mention, one of the great weaknesses of thinking through these events in retrospect as well, all human beings make some errors at some point, right? But how could this have played out differently? JLS: Yeah so I think there's two different ways to answer that question. The first is to realize that while we are here talking about individuals and individual choices that happen, those broad impersonal forces that we discuss all the time are still extremely relevant. One of the reasons Lee and the Confederates won the victories they won was because they were much more desperate and they had to take many more risks than the Union had to take and that meant high-risk, high-reward maneuvers. Now Lee was facing an army, the Army of the Potomac, that the leadership structure was in complete chaos. Lincoln could never find a commander that he really trusted. The top was being shifted around all the time. And you know they were technically fighting on enemy territory, right? They were fighting in the South, they were fighting in Virginia and they were fighting in the places that Lee's soldiers called home. All of that I think matters a great deal. But the other thing was that Lee had to take risks that McClellan and the other Union generals didn't have to take. And so that puts him in a position to win certain battles and go on the aggressive in Virginia that maybe doesn't work quite as well once he moves into Maryland and Pennsylvania. The second thing to point out though I think – and this goes back to what I was saying earlier about the orders and about what it means to command that many men at the same time – Lee relied on the commanders underneath him to understand his orders. He delegated a great deal of authority to them. And one of the reasons the loss of Stonewall Jackson was so important to the Confederacy was because Stonewall Jackson understood Lee. He knew what Lee wanted; he knew what he was thinking. Longstreet was another one who really understood Lee. So when he lost Jackson, he lost one of his main lieutenants. And then on top of that he had to replace Jackson with people he wasn't completely confident in. But this goes back to the artillery question, right? Because there is no way that a general like Robert E. Lee or even Napoleon could know every single thing that was happening on a battlefield. You know, we're talking about armies that are 100,000 people large, even larger in some cases, and you can't expect that general to know the disposition of every single company and brigade and how many artillery is in this here and how many artillery in that here. In some sense, they are supposed to sit on top of it and they are supposed to organize it all. But when Lee is talking to the person who is in charge of his artillery and the person who is in charge of his artillery isn't very good and says that everything's fine, Lee doesn't have time to go check that. Lee has to depend that his subordinates know what they're talking about and will raise disagreements with him. This is another part and I wonder if there's any of this with Napoleon. I think another part of Gettysburg was that Lee by that point had won so many battles and the men trusted him so much and believed in him so much that they lost a little bit of the will to question him. I'm not saying that Longstreet and the others didn't question him but you know the day before Pickett's charge, the night before Pickett's charge, Longstreet's criticism and his concerns were not nearly as vocal as they were the morning of the actual charge. And once it's the morning of the actual charge, Lee sticks to his guns. If Longstreet had felt able to speak up the night before or even some of the other regimental commanders had or Pickett had the sense to say, “General Lee, this isn't a good idea, there's no way that we could do this,” maybe things would have been handled a little bit differently. But the ironic thing is that the more battles Lee won, the more the men trusted him and believed in him such that when it came time to order Pickett's charge, those men were more afraid of disappointing or saying no to their order than they were to marching across a field with certain death at the end of it. Those are two things to think about. XS: Yeah hubris definitely played a role at Waterloo too. The day of the battle or maybe it was the day before the battle, one of his inferiors said to Napoleon, I think as it related to sending Grouchy off to his right flank to the east, “Is this a good idea? Should we be dividing our forces right now as we get ready to go up against the British?” And I am paraphrasing Napoleon's response but it's been recorded and it's very close to something like, “You're not listening to me when I tell you this. Wellington is a bad general. He is not a good general.” Like, “Shut up, I know what I'm doing,” right? And one of the things that Napoleon really perfected in his military tactics in the 19th century was moving artillery rapidly in conjunction with infantry to support infantry. And a tactic that Wellington had developed and used several times before was just hiding men behind a ridge so that they were out of range of the artillery. They just couldn't hit them because they were behind. So by the time the infantry marched up and they had tried to battle these positions with artillery, not much had happened because they were completely protected. So Wellington was recorded as saying afterwards, again paraphrasing something like, “Napoleon marched right in the same old way he always did, and we beat him the same old way we always did.” JLS: Yeah, there's a similar thing happening in Gettysburg. I mean, Lee was not wrong to think that the Union commanders were bad. He had time and again beaten the Union because people like McClellan or Burnside just hadn't done very well and General Meade, who commanded the Union forces at Gettysburg, had only been put in place very recently. Lincoln had removed Hooker and put Meade in place. So really when Lee went North, he thought he was going to be facing Hooker. It turned out he was facing Meade and he didn't see there was any great difference between the two. And he was wrong about that. Meade was a solid general and a had good sense of what was going on and in general had made the right decisions there. So there is certainly an element of confidence that has to happen there. But I would also say that, I think in general for military leaders and things like this, you also have to have that confidence. Once you make that decision, you have to trust that you've gotten through everything and you have to act with a certain amount of confidence. You have to have flexibility to respond to changes as they happen on the battlefield. But it really, in a case like Lee's or in a case like Napoleon's, we start talking about things like tragic flaws because the thing that makes them so good also ends up being their Achilles' heel sometimes in a situation where things aren't going the way that they did before for them. So I think that's another thing to think about. XS: Yeah now when we talk about these moments in history – and I've kind of come to call them Midway moments just because George really emphasizes the element of chance in the Battle of Midway – I think that the three that we have talked about in this episode all are slightly different, right? With Gettysburg, it was really the decision of one man that kind of swung the pivot one way or another. In the case of Waterloo, it was basically the decision of two men: both Napoleon and Grouchy could have acted differently. Grouchy could've figured it was his role to – he was delegating responsibility; he could have moved his forces in a way that linked back up with Napoleon. Napoleon could've been clearer, right? And in the case of Midway, it was really kind of just chance. Do I turn left or do I turn right? And turning the right way lead them to the Japanese fleet. Now, I think if we tried to put these Midway moments in the context of some of these larger personal trends that we talk about. Looking at Waterloo, Napoleon let's say he could have won Waterloo. With some consideration and after a conversation that I had with George on this topic, I really don't think that there is any way for Napoleon to have won the war that he started in 1815. There was at that point simply too many resources on the other side. Even if he had achieved his sort of midterm strategic objective of driving the British to the ocean, getting them off a continent and blocking off the Prussians from their allies on the west, the Russians were still mobilizing. They were just doing it a lot slower, which is why they weren't involved in the Battle of Waterloo. So it was kind of a matter of time before Napoleon was going to be overwhelmed by incredible force and he could've at that point attacked the Russians, tried to push them east. But so long as the Prussians retained supply lines all the way back to home, they can pull back and hold a defensive position until the Russians came. So I think in that case the balance of resources was just so overwhelmingly on the side of the allies. They also had more troops available to them. I mean Napoleon was really – France had already been just completely wiped out of military-aged men almost by that point from the first almost 20 years of Napoleonic wars. There just weren't that many military resources, both men and materiel, that he could pull from at that point. And that was not necessarily the case on the allied side. So I think we can talk about Waterloo as a Midway moment and still recognize that in that case, impersonal trends probably in this what if scenario probably would have led to a very similar historical outcome. What do you think about Gettysburg? JLS: Well I think that your point is well taken and I think that even though it's a lot of fun to talk about these things, and I really do believe some of these things could have turned out differently depending on the individuals that we are talking about, but the side that basically should have won on paper in terms of resources and impersonal forces and geopolitics and all that other stuff, won in each three of these cases. The United States overall was a greater power than Japan in the long run and it prevailed in the end. In the Civil War, the Confederacy was not going to be able to defeat the Union. Their only chance of defeating the Union, at first, it was to try and inflict a couple really harsh defeats and hope that that would cow them into negotiation. Once the war was going on this long, their only hope was to try and prolong the conflict and make the Union see that it wasn't going anywhere such that they could get international recognition and maybe some help and some resources from outside and maybe even get a pro-peace candidate to replace Lincoln in the next Union presidential election. But everything was relying on using the battles to influence political conditions to make it more amenable to some kind of settlement. And as you just said in Waterloo, Napoleon didn't really have the troops to make it work against the allies that he was fighting against. So yeah, the answer to that is that I don't think if Lee had won at Gettysburg, I don't think the Confederacy would have won the Civil War and I also don't think that we would've then lived in this alternate universe where the fighting spirit of the Union had been broken and there would have been some kind of negotiated settlement and you have had a Union and a Confederacy for some amount of time before they joined back together. I think in the end, the odds were very much stacked against – and this is where sort of the sheer-force statistics makes it work. The Confederacy had a very, very small margin for error. It could not afford to make the sort of catastrophic mistakes that happened at Gettysburg; the Union could. The reason that Ulysses S. Grant succeeded as a general was because he was willing to take the casualties and knew that the Union could replenish itself and the Confederacy couldn't. And this is actually a concept that we think about often when we're thinking about geopolitics today. When we talk about American power, the United States has not fared well in many of its recent wars. It lost the Vietnam War for all intents and purposes. I think we can say that the second Iraq War it lost. It will lose the war in Afghanistan. These are not wars where the United States is going to be able to achieve its political objective. I should say right now that doesn't mean that the U.S. didn't fight courageously or that it didn't win a great number of battles, but if the definition of victory in a war is to carry the political objective that you wanted, the U.S. couldn't do that in Vietnam, it hasn't done that in the second Iraq War, it has not been able to do it in Afghanistan and the U.S. can survive that. The U.S. can survive losing wars and making mistakes because of the depths of its power. A much smaller country can't survive those kind of mistakes. And sometimes if a smaller country makes those kind of mistakes, it ends up in the outright destruction of those countries. I am sure we can think of multiple instances in history where a small country because of whatever reason loses a great deal of its sovereignty because it tries to do something that doesn't work. So again in all of these situations, I think that Lee's decisions and Napoleon's decisions and Torpedo 8, I think that's all a part of the fabric of history and one of the things about studying wars is that geopolitics can take you most of the way to understanding how a war was started and why it was started and what the objectives are, but at a certain point, war is complicated and messy and relies on the actions of individuals. At the same time, even when those individuals' actions are the most important and everything hangs in the balance, those individuals are still there because the impersonal forces that we always talk about brought them to those points. We can map out exactly why Lee was at Gettysburg and we can even map out why he felt a little bit desperate probably and how that influenced his decision-making. I am sure you can do the same for Napoleon. XS: Yeah he had absolutely no margin of error just like you said with Lee. JLS: So at that point it becomes are we really talking about individuals shaping history or is this the broad geopolitical forces that we talked about shaping the individuals and the individuals marched along to their own drum? For me, I think that Gettysburg is such a compelling test case for this because I really do think that Pickett's charge was just a mistake. It was not the type of thing that you could've predicted because it didn't make sense. It still doesn't make sense to me with all the evidence that we know that Lee had in front of him, it does not make sense to me why he ordered it. The only way it makes sense to me is if I can think back to moments in my own life or moments in human history where I've been blinded by passions or I've been blinded by something else instead of the thing that was in front of me. But if you're talking about as a sober, rational military tactician, and that was what Lee was, he was a very disciplined general, making that decision, it doesn't make sense. He let himself get caught up in the moment and he didn't see what was going on and he didn't know what he didn't know. And for me trying to explain how a man got that far and then makes that mistake is the challenge and in some ways, it will yield an unsatisfying answer because I don't think I have an answer beyond the fact that he was human and he made a mistake. Maybe a mistake that we can empathize with and understand based on what he was. But at the same time, that particular thing on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg just comes down to Lee making a mistake and his men following orders. XS: Yeah so in all of these circumstances you can imagine how with a different decision made by an individual or a couple of individuals, the outcome might have still looked somewhat similar. However, the process to get to that outcome might have played out entirely differently. For example, in World War II, if the U.S. had lost Midway, if they wanted to stay in the war, they would've beaten Japan in the long run, it just may have taken much longer. It probably would've taken many more lives, it probably would've taken a lot more resources and it probably would've taken a focus away from the European theater to focus on the Pacific theater first. And what might have happened to Russia while it was basically trying to beat back the Nazis on its own at that point? And would the U.K. have received American arms? It's hard to tell but it seems likely that the Allies still would have won. It's just the process to get there would've looked entirely different, right? JLS: Yeah, it would've looked entirely different, and this is again one of the things we talk about a lot internally and which I talk about all the time, and it's one of the more interesting things to talk about which is, the shorter your time horizon, the more the individual matters. I think sometimes in GPF writing, we have a tendency to dismiss the individual and that's because in the broad scheme of things, we do think individuals are less important. But when you think about history 50 years, 100 years out, these forces that we're talking about and just the magnitude of the number of the decisions that have to be made by human beings sort of settles into something of a logic that you can predict. But the shorter and shorter and shorter the time horizon, the more important the individual gets. You know sometimes, people ask us, “Well you didn't predict X was going to happen.” And I think one of the things to say there is we don't presume what's going to happen tomorrow. If you can predict what's going to happen tomorrow, you have an incredibly high degree of intelligence about what's going on with a particular set of actors. What we can say is that, you don't really need that intelligence to understand the most important things that are going to develop over the course of years and decades and perhaps on the magnitude of a century. But again that's what makes this all so difficult and what makes this job challenging is that you can't just sort of plug everything into a formula. You can make a model of it, and you can hope that it works the way it does. And we'll be putting our 2017 forecast report card which is a really good way of thinking about this tension, right? Because we've made a set of forecasts for the year and every day we're tracking them. So we have to decide, well this happened today – how good are we doing? How bad are we doing? Should we call this an incomplete? Should we call this a failure? Should we call this a whatever? And that gets back to the exact same questions that we're talking about here, right? Well this particular thing happened on this particular day. We didn't see that Saudi Arabia was going to engage in this diplomatic offensive against Qatar and was going to try to isolate Qatar. We certainly though knew that Saudi Arabia and Iran were going to be competing more this year. And we said as much. So it's this weird space, and I think we are all individuals, all of us are individuals, so we get seduced by stories like Robert E. Lee and like Napoleon and like Torpedo 8 because we can wrap our brains around that. We can imagine the Civil War is a massive conflagration that happens because of a lot of different geographic and political forces and the same is true with Napoleon. World War II is like the mother of all things in that regard just because of how complicated it was. But it's very easy to think of yourself as ok, well I am General Lee and I go visit the Battle of Gettysburg site and I can walk the line and I can walk Pickett's charge and I can put everything in front of me and I can think on a tangible basis, well what did it mean to be here? And in some sense that becomes very important, and it's very important to think about that stuff emotionally if you're going to empathize with the stuff that we're analyzing. At the same time though, if you let that be all that you're seeing, you're going to miss sort of the broad sweep of history. XS: So if you're a fan of the Civil War, be sure to check out Jacob's piece that will be coming out on the Battle of Gettysburg. It's on July 3, it will be published, right? JLS: It will and maybe if it does well and if people enjoy this conversation, we'll let you take a whip at the Battle of Waterloo and maybe we'll even think about trying to do maybe every once in a quarter or once in a blue moon, doing some of these pieces. XS: Definitely and on that point, please do let us know, readers and listeners, what you are interested in hearing more of. You can reach us at comments@geopoliticalfutures.com. We do our absolute best to respond to all of them, and we look forward to hearing more about what you want to receive from us. JLS: Well thanks, Xander, and we'll see you out there next week.

description Heffernan v. City of Paterson, No. 14-1280, 578 U.S. ___ (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case in 2016 concerning the First Amendment rights of public employees. By a 6–2 margin, the Court held that a public employee's constitutional rights might be violated when an employer, believing that the employee was engaging in what would be protected speech, disciplines them because of that belief, even if the employee did not exercise such a constitutional right. The case was brought after Jeffrey Heffernan, a detective with the Paterson, New Jersey police force, went to a distribution center and picked up a lawn sign for the candidate challenging the city's incumbent mayor in the 2005 election (Heffernan's mother had wanted a sign, so he was getting one for her). While Heffernan did not support the challenger, after other officers saw him with the sign they told senior officers, including the police chief, who strongly supported the mayor. For his apparent public support of the other candidate, they demoted Heffernan to beat patrol work as a uniformed officer. Heffernan brought suit alleging that his demotion violated his First Amendment rights. The case took a decade to reach the Supreme Court. For most of that time it was in federal district court, where it was heard by three different judges. A jury verdict in Heffernan's favor was set aside. A later summary judgment in the city's favor was overturned on appeal before being granted again in the third trial.[1] Writing for a majority of the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer stated that the department's belief was all that mattered, since the Court's precedent in this area holds it is unconstitutional for a government agency to discipline an employee (who does not work under a contract that explicitly permits such discipline) for engaging in partisan political activity, as long as that activity is not disruptive to the agency's operations. Even if Heffernan was not engaging in protected speech, he wrote, the discipline against him sent a message to others to avoid exercising their rights. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion in which he was joined by Justice Samuel Alito, in which he agreed that Heffernan had been harmed, but his constitutional rights had not been violated. Contents [hide] 1 Legal background 2 Prior history 2.1 Original dispute 2.2 District court 2.3 Court of Appeals 2.4 Supreme Court 2.4.1 Oral arguments 3 Opinion of the Court 3.1 Dissent 4 Commentary 5 Aftermath 6 See also 7 References Legal background[edit] The First Amendment guarantees the rights of freedom of speech and peaceable assembly, among others. While not explicitly mentioned, the Supreme Court has held that the right to assembly includes the freedom of association, particularly political association.[2] These protections not only prohibit the government from passing laws which infringe upon these rights, but also from taking actions which would violate them. While the Bill of Rights—which includes the First Amendment—applied originally only to the federal government, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment allowed for the application of the Bill of Rights to the states under the incorporation doctrine.[3] In order to better protect these rights in the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed the Second Enforcement Act of 1871 at the request of President Ulysses S. Grant to better counter white supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan that were intimidating and suppressing voting by black citizens.[4] The act provided a remedy for those citizens who were deprived of their constitutional rights under the "color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia" and is currently codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1983.[5] With its decision in Monroe v. Pape (1961), the Court expanded the reach of section 1983 such that it is now used as a method of checking abuse by state officials who infringe upon constitutionally protected rights.[6][7] The First Amendment protects public employees from retaliation by their employer when speaking on matters of public concern.[8] In Pickering v. Board of Education (1968), the Court first articulated the right of public employees to be protected from dismissal for exercising their right to free speech. There, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a teacher who was fired after writing a letter to a local newspaper critical of its handling of a recent bond issue.[9] Eight years later, this protection from dismissal was extended to cover partisan political ideology and affiliation in Elrod v. Burns.[8] But the Court has recognized that the "government as employer" has wider constitutional latitude in its decisions than the "government as sovereign".[10] In order to adequately delineate the limits of the government-as-employer's discretion, the Court developed a framework in Connick v. Myers (1983) known as the Connick test. It consists of elements. The first is the threshold a plaintiff must pass to state a claim: the plaintiff must show that they were speaking on a matter of public concern. The second falls to the employer: they must show that the harm to workplace efficiency outweighs the harm caused by infringing upon the right to free speech.[11] In Waters v. Churchill (1994), the Court was faced with two differing accounts of the speech at issue. The question presented to the Court was whether the Connick test ought be applied to what the employer thought was said or what was actually said. The case revolved around a nurse dismissed for a conversation she had with a coworker. There was a discrepancy between what she argued was said and what her employer thought was said. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, joined by a plurality of justices, opined that the Connick test must be applied to the speech the employer thought occurred, and on which it acted, rather than that which the finder of fact determines did occur.[12] Prior history[edit] Original dispute[edit] A cityscape of medium-height high-rises and some older buildings amid trees, seen from above through some leaves and branches Downtown Paterson In 2005, Jeffrey Heffernan was a detective with the Paterson, New Jersey police. His supervisor and the chief of police were both appointed by the city's incumbent mayor, Jose Torres, who was being challenged by city councilman Lawrence Spagnola in that year's election. Heffernan was friendly with Spagnola, a former police chief,[1] and informally supported his campaign. He could not vote in the election as he did not live in the city.[13] At the request of his sick mother, who did live in the city, Heffernan while off-duty picked up a Spagnola lawn sign for her after her previous sign was stolen. Other officers saw him at the distribution location holding a sign and talking to Spagnola campaign staff. They soon notified superiors, and the next day officials demoted Heffernan from detective to patrol officer for his perceived "overt involvement" with the Spagnola campaign.[14] District court[edit] Heffernan sued the city, the mayor, and his superior officers under 42 U.S.C. §1983 in the federal District Court for New Jersey, claiming that his rights of freedom of speech as well as freedom of association had been violated.[15] Heffernan contended that while he had not actually engaged in any protected speech, the department acted on the belief that he had, and the department should not have demoted him on the basis of that erroneous belief.[14] In 2009, a jury found for Heffernan and awarded him damages from the police officials and the city. Despite the verdict, Heffernan sought a retrial because Judge Peter G. Sheridan had not allowed him to pursue the freedom of speech claim; the defense did so as well because Judge Sheridan had allowed the freedom of association claim. While considering these motions, Judge Sheridan became aware of a conflict of interest through a former law firm and set aside the verdict, setting a new date for trial before Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh.[16] Judge Cavanaugh granted summary judgment to the defendants on the freedom of speech claim based on their earlier motions, holding that Heffernan had not engaged in protected speech so his rights could not have been violated. In 2012, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Cavanaugh's ruling and remanded the case to him with instructions that he was to allow Heffernan to present his freedom of association claim and consider the facts from the jury trial when reconsidering the summary-judgment motions.[16] Judge Kevin McNulty heard the case on remand. After considering the parties' motions for summary judgment again, he ruled in the city's favor in 2014. Heffernan, he ruled, had not engaged in any protected speech or expressive conduct. Judge McNulty also ruled that Heffernan could not prevail on claims that his perceived speech was protected, per Ambrose v. Robinson Township, a previous case on that issue in the Third Circuit,[17] or that his actions were protected since they aided and abetted speech.[18] Judge McNulty also rejected similar claims for freedom of association. He decided that Dye v. Office of the Racing Commission, a case in which the Sixth Circuit had held that the First Amendment reached perceived political association,[19] was not a precedent he could rely on since Dye itself explicitly rejected Ambrose, and as a district judge he could not reject circuit precedent.[20] Court of Appeals[edit] On appeal to the Third Circuit, a three-judge panel of Judge Robert Cowen, Judge Morton Ira Greenberg and Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie unanimously held for the city.[1] In a decision issued in 2015, Judge Vanaskie, writing for the Court, reiterated Judge McNulty's finding that Heffernan's actions in picking up the sign for his mother did not constitute protected speech or association. He distinguished the case at hand from the Sixth Circuit's ruling in Dye by noting that in that case, the employers had inferred the employees' intent from their non-participation in partisan politics rather than an actual action they had taken, as had occurred in Heffernan's case.[1] Judge Vanaskie instead found guidance from the Supreme Court's 1994 holding in Waters v. Churchill, in which it had upheld an Illinois public hospital's dismissal of a nurse for her comments about a supervisor to a colleague, despite an ongoing factual dispute about the substance of those comments. The Court found that the hospital administration had made a reasonable attempt to investigate what the nurse had said before firing her. In that case, the Court had said explicitly that disciplining employees for things they did not actually do did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation.[1]

Esteemed American historian, bestselling author, and former Whitworth chaplain Ronald C. White presents the annual Simpson-Duvall Lecture, "Ulysses S. Grant: A Fresh Look at American Leadership." The lecture addresses the topic of reexamining our ideas regarding Ulysses S. Grant and his presidency. White's presentation is based on his "New York Times" bestselling book "American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant."

The Inauguration of the 19th President was but three days away. The problem was that though the election had been held four month prior, there was little telling who that would have been. New York Governor Samuel Tilden had won the popular vote by over 280,000, he had a clear majority of 50.9% to Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes 47.9%. What’s more is he had to believe that he had edged out his Republican opponent in the Electoral College. He had taken 184 seats, one shy of the majority he needed to be sworn in, compared to Haye’s 165. With 19 out of the 20 electors in question being from the South, Tilden had to believe that he could manage to pick up 1 state before his opponent in that bitterly fought race would take all 20. After all, even if Hayes did take those three states, which seemed unlikely, Oregon Governor LaFayette Grover had given him the vote he needed when he replaced a Republican Elector John Watts with Democrat C.A. Cronin. The truth was that the Democrats had every right to believe that they would win the election. Having had been in political exile since earliest of days of the Civil War, the Panic of 1873 had given them their opening. The next year they would make significant gains in the Senate, but more importantly, for the first time since 1860 they would take the House. By 1876 corruption, scandal and a lagging economy so plagued the Republican Party that many in the party feared that President Ulysses S. Grant would run for a third term, and there was nothing they could do about it. Though the legendary General, having seen his once golden reputation now tarnished by the political arena, would step down, the emergence of the virtually unknown Rutherford B. Hayes as the conventions dark horse, had all but handed the election to Tilden. Had not the charismatic Senator James G. Blaine of Maine not been embroiled in scandal they might have stood a chance. Instead they were straddled with a compromise on the 7th ballot as the Governor who placed 5th on the first two ballots became their candidate. Even as the election turned dirty, even as his opponents tried to tar him as briber, thief and drunken syphilitic Tilden was the man who had gone against the political machine. He was the great reformer who had sent Boss Bill Tweed to prison. No amount of “Waving the Bloody Shirt” was going to distract from the fact that Tilden was the only man to clean up the mess of the previous Republican Administration. Though there was allegations of fraud and intimidation, with South Carolina, for example, reporting 101% voter turnout of all eligible voters while African-American votes more likely to be Republican than Democrat were suppressed, it was a bump in the road. He had little doubt that the newly appointed 15 Member Election Commission, selected by Congress to resolve the issue when the College could not name a clear winner, would undoubtedly give him the final legitimacy he needed. It would take until March 2nd, 1877 but finally it had been decided by the 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats who comprised the Commission. Though Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley, a Republican, had indicated that he would vote to award Florida to Tilden the night before, the end vote would be right along party lines, and, without a majority of both the House and Senate, it was finalized. As he travelled to Washington by train, Rutherford B. Hayes was informed that he had secured the 20 electoral seats necessary to defeat Governor Tilden by a single vote in the College. By the narrowest of majorities, the election had been decided with Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and that third vote from Oregon going to Hayes to give him a single seat edge over the more popular Tilden. For the first time in history the nation would have a President who lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College. The Democrat controlled House would filibuster to prevent the results from becoming official, knowing that it needed to be finalized by the 4th or interregnum would occur as the normal functions of government would be suspended. It would take the compromise of 1877 to eventually resolve the issue, with Hayes agreeing to appoint a Democrat as the Post-Master General, and to remove all Federal Troops from Government Buildings in Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina, ending Reconstruction. Though Republicans would celebrate, with papers like the New York Times declaring, “Indeed, some of them go so far as to say that no matter what may come, the country is well rid of the pretender Tilden. For that person no one has a good word.” many Democrats would not, dubbing Hayes as “His Fraudulency” and “The Usurper”. In many senses he would never be their President. Four years later he would not subject himself to another election, reaffirming his commitment to a single term as he stepped aside for James Garfield. Tilden would go to the grave in 1886 believing he had been robbed what was rightfully his by the “Boss Thief”, declaring, “ I can retire to public life with the consciousness that I shall receive from posterity the credit of having been elected to the highest position in the gift of the people without any of the cares and responsibilities of the office.”

George Washington never slept here. Neither did Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Jackson or George W. Bush. Of the 43 men who have served as President of the United States since 2016, we’re confident 17 Commanders in Chief have set foot in the Ann Arbor area … 18 if you count young Army officer Ulysses S. Grant. Here are their stories, as well as the stories of some presidents who never set foot in Ann Arbor but are still tied to the city in some way. Music by John Philip Sousa

Ely S. Parker was born to a prominent Seneca family on an Indian reservation near New York, and to many was considered a man between two worlds. Working first as a tribal diplomat, and later forming a close friendship with Ulysses S. Grant during the civil war, he came to be the first Native American to hold the position of Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Guest: Dr Claudia Haake (History, La Trobe University).

April 8, 2016 - It's History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster --- kicking off your modern weekend, with people from the past. Since tomorrow is the 151st anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, it's fitting that today's history author, former White House speech writer Jonathan Horn, introduces us to a family connection in Lee's life that might be overlooked: President George Washington. Horn's book is titled The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History. This interesting story is a reminder of how close the Revolutionary War and Civil War generations were to each other. Keep up with Horn's work at JonathanHornAuthor.com, and follow him on Twitter @JonathanDHorn. Simon & Schuster's History in Five Friday. It's the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend...with people from the past.

We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek. These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any and all situations. In this episode we speak with Ryan Holiday, author of the bestselling book, The Obstacle Is the Way, as he reveals what these principles are, and how to turn our own adversity into advantage. Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and prominent writer on strategy and business. After dropping out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multiplatinum musicians. He served as director of marketing at American Apparel for many years, where his campaigns have been used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google and written about in AdAge, the New York Times, and Fast Company. His first book, Trust Me I’m Lying —which the Financial Times called an “astonishing, disturbing book”—was a debut bestseller and is taught in colleges around the world. He is the author of two other books and is now published in 16 languages. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his rebellious puppy, Hanno and pet goats ____ "Wealth is created by scarcity. It's the fact that there are not many people who have been successful at the thing you are trying to do that makes it worth doing." - Ryan Holliday Quotes from Ryan: What we learn in this episode: How to find what you want to be when you grow up? Why are obstacles a good thing? What is stoicism? Resources: The Obstacle Is the Way http://ryanholiday.net/ Twitter: @ryanholiday -- This episode is brought to you by: Sidekick: Go to getsidekick.com/smartpeople to get your first month of Sidekick for free. WealthFront: The automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. Visit wealthfront.com/smartpeople to to get your first $10,000 managed for free. Lynda.com: Do something good for yourself in 2015 and sign up for a FREE 10-day trial to Lynda.com by visiting Lynda.com/smartpeople.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday - Audio Summary The Obstacle is The Way Audiobook Summary In today's episode of the podcast, we'll be getting into the big ideas and actionable insights from The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday GET THE BOOK GET THE BOOK SUMMARY Already a member? Click here for access. LEARN HOW TO GET THE AUDIOBOOK FOR FREE BOOK DESCRIPTION: The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. Marcus Aurelius We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn t be this way. There is a formula for success that s been followed by the icons of history from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek. These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any and all situations. This book reveals that formula for the first time and shows us how we can turn our own adversity into advantage. Get unlimited book summaries for just a buck. Get unlimited access to hundreds of Self-Help + Business Book Summaries with a FlashNotes membership. Actionable insights in under 20 minutes from the books you don't have time to read Formatted for every device (PDF, Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, MP3) Join today for just $1. Cancel anytime. Click here to get started. The post The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday – Audio Book Summary appeared first on FlashBooks | Book Summaries for busy people..

The story of how Thomas Arlington came to his position of supreme power. Written by Alexander Shaw · Thomas W. Arlington, Ulysses S. Grant and Frederick Douglass performed by Alex Shaw · George Armstrong Custer performed by Spencer Leeb Make your decision by Dan Phillipson of Shockwave Sound Mourning Song, Prospector Theme and Dreams Become Real composed and performed by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com The New Century Multiverse is funded by Patreon: Our $15 Patrons get sponsor credit every episode so thank you to: Joel Robinson, Benjamin Biddle, Abel Savard, Michael Hasko, Daniel Salgueiro, Conar Kennedy, Bryan Novak, Evan Jankowski, Sarah Montgomery, Dan Hoeppner, Johan Claesson, Tylor Long, Jo Gisiger, Greg Downing, Tim Rozinski, Christopher Wolfe, Kat Essmann, Cassandra Newman, Timothy Green, Matthew A. Seibert, Joseph Gluck, Luke Hatfield, Nick Ord, Duran Barnett, Tom Painter, Finbar Nicholl, Jamas Enright, Marc Lucksch, Dan Mayer, Joe Crow, Chris Finik, Toby Jungius, Dave Hickman, Aaron LaCluyze, Ciaran Dachtler and Lorraine Chisholm

Feeling stuck, frustrated, or faced with unbearable situations?Do you find it difficult to live in the present moment?If any of those apply to you, then this is the show to listen to!Ryan Holiday joins The James Altucher Show to talk about his brand-new book, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.You'll hear how you can build resilience in your life to help protect yourself from any difficulties that may cross your path.There is a discipline in perception that needs to be put in place... and James and Ryan walk you through the process.His book depicts several examples of individuals that were faced with impossible situations and were able to thrive past any limitations they thought would have held them back.A lot of us are stuck, stymied, and frustrated – working to make the best of the financial crisis or unemployment or personal problems. But it needn't be this way. There is a formula for success that has been followed by the icons of history – from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs – a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. The Obstacle Is The Way contains that formula and will be your manual for facing adversity and turning it into the triumphs we all seek.If you can't handle the minor obstacles, how are you going to handle the major dilemmas?Here is your chance to get an inside look from the author himself... There is a formula to turn negative situations into positive ones and James and Ryan reveal the secret.James asks Ryan, why this book and why now?"I believe that you write the book that you have to write. This is that book for me. I first discovered the Stoic exercise of turning obstacles upside down when I was 19 years old. Since then, it has been seared into my brain regardless of what I've done, and I've always tried to think about my problems and opportunities in life through that frame. It has helped me become successful, just as it helped countless people before me. The Obstacle Is The Way reveals that framework for the first time – and shows you how to turn your trials and tribulations into opportunities." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.