November . . .

 AI Free

10 min read

“The days grow short, the nights grow long, the autumn turns to winter’s song.”           Author Unknown

As Mrs Dear Leader so eloquently laments, "Must everything come back to golf?!" 
(Indeed it does, MDL, indeed it does!)

Okay, who wants to talk politics? Just kidding! Now that political stuff has settled down (although probably not for long) I can get back to the writing about things that my readers have been clamoring for, things that are funny, interesting and/or informative. (Okay, almost none of that is true - but that won’t stop me.)

As you know, I love history. Perhaps that's why I have found through the years of writing this blog that one of the best ways to regain our perspective on things is with an occasional askew view of history - and maybe even learning something in the process. 

November has never been a favorite month of mine. You know, gloomy, cold, overcast - a harbinger of what's to come.  Thanks to El Nino (and the election results) turns out this one is not bad (see picture of golfer above!) As with all months there are a number of tidbits that are sure to entertain and enlighten you. I have just picked a few and added my usual insightful comments. (Okay, I make very subjective decisions on which things will entertain and enlighten.) Off we go.

This November day in History. . .

Nov 2nd Birthday

James K. Polk (1795-1849) the 11th U.S. He served from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849. He declined to be a candidate for a second term, saying he was "exceedingly relieved" at the completion of his presidency. Besides intentionally starting a war with Mexico so we could take the entire southwestern part of the US from them, he was the first - and last - president with the good sense to intentionally get out while the getting was good.

Nov 3, 1957

Soviet Russia launched the world's first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, which carried a dog named Laika.

Laika

 She was a stray dog off the streets of Moscow and first creature launched into space. Sadly, after launching her it dawned on the scientists that they didn’t have a plan for her return. Fortunately - I guess - she died after one trip around the globe due to overheating. She came back to earth 5 months later in a blaze of glory when the capsule burned up on re-entry. Good girl (dirty commies!) 

Just in: Nov 3, 2026 - Unhappy Democrats joined by unhappy Republicans and unhappy independents administered an ass whoopin’ to Republican senators and representatives, taking back the House and the Senate. According to the president it was because he wasn't on the ballot and the Republican candidates didn’t tout all his "accomplishments" enough. 

I’m sure that's it. . .

November 4, 1842

Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois. Shortly after, Abe became aware of perhaps the most famous – and dreaded – four words in a man’s (okay, any spouse’s) life: “We need to talk.”

1979 - About 500 young Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran, and took 90 hostages, including 52 Americans that they held captive for 444 days. Fun Facts: A little over a year later the Reagan administration – after defeating Jimmy Carter using the hostage affair - secretly (and illegally) sold weapons to those same Iranians to get the hostages back. They then used that money to – again illegally - support the Contra rebels fighting the commie government in Nicaragua. Pretty slick, huh? 

They got caught and it was a scandal. The brains behind it, Lt Col Ollie North, was convicted - but nobody went to jail.  Later he did get a gig on Fox News so it wasn't all bad. 

Reagan denied any knowledge and now we know he definitely wasn't lying. 

Actual C130 from my old unit (96 TAS/934AW) note name in purple banner on the tail, Flying Vikings

Personal Note: Perhaps I was a co-conspirator. I was a navigator on one of the first C-130’s delivering weapons to those same Contras who were based in Honduras in Jan 1981 – we were in the air on the way from Panama just before Reagan’s inauguration and landed right after he took the oath and offloaded a shitload lot of guns and ammo. Viva Americanos!

November 5th, 1605

Still remembered as Guy Fawkes Day in Britain, the anniversary of the failed "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I in 1605. 

Guy Fawkes Mask

Guy Fawks masks had a prominent role in “V for Vendetta,” a great movie that demonstrated how difficult it can be to tell who’s the good guy (no pun intended) and who’s the bad guy in a revolution. 

There’s a lesson there somewhere. . .

November 6, 1917

During World War I, the Third Battle of Ypres concluded after five months as Canadian and Australian troops took Passchendaele. Their advance, measuring five miles, cost at least 240,000 soldiers. 240,000 casualties in just one battle to gain 5 miles, one of many such battles in four years. (Terrible but as you will soon see much better than a year earlier . . .)

November 8, 1519

Conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico. After landing on the Yucatan Peninsula in April, Cortes and his troops had marched into the interior of Mexico to the Aztec capital and captured Aztec Emperor Montezuma. 

Montezuma welcomed the visiting Spaniards with open arms and lots of gold. Cortes returned the favor by kidnapping and later killing him and thousands of natives. On a positive note, the natives did receive Last Rites in their new religion. 

November 10, 1938

Kristallnacht ("The night of broken glass") occurred in Germany as Nazi mobs and Storm Troopers burned synagogues and vandalized Jewish shops and homes. Apparently, this was studied and discussed in ICE agents' training prior to their invasion of Minnesota in Dec-Jan 2026.

Birthday

Reformation founder Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born in Eisleben, Saxony. In 1517, Luther tacked his 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg's castle church calling for reformation of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Creating Protestantism, this is also said to be the birth of televangelism. 

Evangelical Jimmy Swaggert, "I swear didn't know she was a prostitute - either time - or how they got in my car!"

(You will be forgiven for reading View Askew, just mail - or Venmo - $100 to Dear Leader TODAY!)

1975

The famous sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald with the loss of all 29 crewmembers. Lesson? Do NOT go out on big Lake Gitche Gumee during a storm!

November 11th

Celebrated in the U.S. as Veterans Day (formerly called Armistice Day) with parades and military memorial ceremonies. The end of hostilities ended in 1918 on 11/11/11 ( Nov, day and time. All combatants knew this the day before. Unfortunately for men like Nicholas Gunther, some of the American commanders felt they needed to get “combat” on their service records and decided to push right up to the minute. Gunther, said to have been the last US KIA, died at 10:59. Keep in mind the war started Aug 1914 and the US didn’t even come to Europe until Jun 1917 with first combat in May 1918. In just 7 months the US still managed to lose over 115,000 troops (including thousands to Spanish Flu.) The French, British and Germans, who had been fighting since the start, lost a total of nearly 10 MILLION. Of course, over 10 million civilians were also killed.

Hell of a plan - and this is what victory looked like

Another side note to this ode to human stupidity and futility is the story of the Veterans Day Red Poppie. It is based on the fact that much of France and Belgium looked like the picture above and the only thing that grew there was the red Poppie. And thus the famous poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae and the Red Poppie badge.

War sucks

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. . .

Birthday - American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was born in Johnstown, New York. During the first Women's Rights Convention at Senecca Falls in 1848, she stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal." Nice try, Liz, but no cigar!

November 13 1956

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. 93 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and non-whites could finally sit anywhere on a bus - whoopee! (well, outside of the south anyway.)

November 15, 1969

The largest antiwar rally in U.S. History occurred as 250,000 persons gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest the Vietnam War. It wasn’t until almost 60 yrs later than Americans finally got angry enough to match those numbers.

November 18, 1916

During World War I, Allied General Douglas Haig called off the First Battle of the Somme after five months. The Allies had advanced 125 square miles at a cost of 420,000 British and 195,000 French soldiers. German losses were over 650,000 men. See, I told you this is much worse than the 1917 battle. Four years of mindless battles like this is how how the Europeans managed to lose 10 million men. 

Birthday - Photography inventor Louis Daguerre (1789-1851) was born in Cormeilles, near Paris. In 1839, at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, he announced his daguerreotype process, the first practical photographic process that produced lasting pictures. If it's true that pornography was among the first beneficiaries of this new technology, think about AI's possibilities!

1978

The biggest mass suicide in history occurred as Reverend Jim Jones led over 900 followers to their deaths at Jonestown, Guyana. Members of his "Peoples Temple" religious cult were ordered to drink a cyanide-laced fruit drink. Only a few cult members managed to escape. 

Jonestown victims - thus the saying "drinking the kool-aid"

I will let you draw your own conclusions or comparisons between Jonestown and any other cults that might come to mind. . .

Birthday - French author and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) was born in Paris (as Francois-Marie Arouet). Famed for, among many things, the quote “Common sense is uncommon.” A very smart guy.

November 19, 1863

President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address during ceremonies dedicating the Gettysburg Battlefield as a National Cemetery. Lincoln then delivered his address in less than two minutes. Although many in attendance were at first unimpressed, his speech is considered one of the finest in American history - we REALLY miss you, Abe.

November 22, 1963

At 12:30 p.m., on Elm Street in downtown Dallas shots rang out and the President was struck in the back, then in the head. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital At 1 p.m., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was pronounced dead. On board Air Force One, at 2:38 p.m., Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President. 

One can’t help but wonder if things would have turned out differently in Vietnam had he lived.

November 24, 1859

Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was first published, theorizing that all the living creatures descended from a common ancestor i.e. evolution. Which is all bunk since we know everything was created by Zeus a few thousand years ago.

1969

The U.S. Army announced that Lt. William L. Calley had been charged - the only one - with premeditated murder in the massacre of (approximately 500) civilians by his platoon in the Vietnamese village of My Lai in March of 1968. Calley was ordered to stand trial by court martial and was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Sentence was then reduced to 20 yrs. Then reduced again to 10 yrs. Finally, President Richard Nixon commuted him to house arrest. He was released after 3 1/2 years. 

Not one of our military's finest moments.

Birthday - American financier Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He emigrated to America, made his fortune in steel, then became a major philanthropist. Among his gifts; over 2,500 libraries, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Foundation, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He once wrote, "The man who dies rich dies disgraced." Words written on very few modern billionaires' grave stones today. Seems like many rich guys often come to this conclusion - after a life of misguided avarice. Well, better late than never.  

Birthday - American temperance leader Carry Nation (1846-1911) was born in Garrard County, Kentucky. She was famed as a hatchet-wielding smasher of saloons. All I can say is, a toast to you, Carrie:

"Everyone should believe in something. I believe I’ll have another drink!" 

                     Okay, just a few more:

"Here’s to all who know me well but love me anyway." 

"May you always be the person your dog thinks you are!"

"Here's to those that have seen us at our best, and our worst, and can't tell the difference."

November 26, 1789

The first American holiday occurred, proclaimed by President George Washington to be Thanksgiving Day. It wasn’t until NFL football was on TV that it really took off - wake me up at half-time for pie!

Birthday - Harvard College founder John Harvard (1607-1638) was born in London. Big idea: go to the colonies and start a college that anyone could get admitted to. That plan got lost fairly quickly - but luckily the Harvard of the North, U of M Duluth, continued that idea just long enough for Dear Leader to sneak in! 

November 27, 1701

Anders Celsius (1701-1744) was born in Sweden. He invented the centigrade (Celsius) temperature scale commonly used in Europe. Ha, we laugh at the foolish Europeans - and the rest of the world - and stupid metric system. The fools! Sure, it's easier and makes more sense but we didn't create it so can't be any good.

November 29, 1864

U.S. Army troops led by Colonel John Chivington attacked and killed at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado after they had already surrendered. The favor was returned at Custer's Last Stand at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876 (minus the surrendering.)

Birthday - "Little Women" author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Little women everywhere jumped for joy and many, er, plus size women cheered too.

November 30, Birthday

American author Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) was born in Florida, Missouri. He wrote books under the pen name Mark Twain including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Prince and the Pauper. Sure, they are great works that tell stories about the human condition - specially Americans - better than most. Lucky for us, though, Conservative Mothers Against Intelligence and Common Sense have been able to get these terrible books removed from many school libraries. Thank, thanks a lot.

End of the month - and this post . . .

Birthday - Winston Churchchill (1874-1965) was born in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England.  His inspirational speeches, combined with his political skills and military strategy carried Britain successfully through the war. One of his many famous quotes is one we can all appreciate, especially this month:

"The United States invariably does the right thing - after having exhausted every other alternative."

Let us hope so, brother, let us hope so!

(I will begin work on my much-anticipated annual Winter Solstice story - when I put away my clubs!)

November tunes:

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald    Gordon Lightfoot

Cold November Rain     Guns and Roses