Category: Bob Small

The 1942 Attack On Ellwood

By Bob Small

The residents of Goleta, CA were preparing to listen to FDR deliver his “fireside chat” on the radio on Sunday Night, Feb 23, 1942, less than three months after the Dec 7 attack on Pearl Harbor At approximately 7:15 pm, a Japanese I-17 submarine began to fire at the Ellwood Oil Field’

The only injury was a soldier who had tried to deactivate an unexploded shell for which he later received a purple heart. This sub was later sunk in August 1943 by the Royal New Zealand Navy and US Navy Planes around Australia.

This gave birth to a large number of conspiracy theories. For one of these see Goleta the Good Land: Tompkins, Walker A.

Meanwhile, two days later, Radio Tokyo falsely reported “Santa Barbara, California was devastated by enemy bombardment.”

The American Oil and Gas Historical Society fills in some missing details Japanese Sub attacks Oilfield as the effects.. This not only fanned the flames of a Japanese invasion , “but quickly led to the largest mass UFO sighting in U.S. history.”

Meanwhile in LA “The U.S. Army’s 37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade fired at elusive “unidentified airplanes.” The brigade fired 1,340 rounds. “ Many Los Angelinos feared an alien invasion, either from Japan or from another planet.

The Carriage and Western Art Musem of Santa Barbera has a more succinct view of the incident. Monies were collected to build a bomber to be named “The Flying Santa Barbara” It remains unbuilt.

Besides influencing the decision to create the Japanese Internment this was “the furthest direct attack on a land target that the Japanese Empire” made during the war. This was the first bombardment of the US since the 1814 Battle of Baltimore.

Lest we state incorrectly that only Japanese and Japanese-Americans were interned during World War 2. both Germans Internment of German Americans and Italians were also interned, albeit at a much lower level.

Lastly, a John Belushi movie was made, based on “The bombing of Los Angelos” 1941 (film).

Based on the IMDB reviews it may be the worst movie associated with the name of Steven Spielberg.

Reparations For Tulsa Riots Ignore History

By Bob Small

A friend of mine in poetry, Lamont B. Steptoe, first told me about the 1921 Tulsa Race “Massacre”, This hadn’t been taught in any history course I had taken, including Black History.

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols says  “There is not one Tulsan, no matter their skin color, who wouldn’t be better off today had the massacre not happened…or if generations before us would have done the hard work to restore what was lost.”

This plan was announced on June 1. It’s called Road to Repair to be managed by the Greenwood Trust without requiring City Council approval.

Evanston, Ill., was the first US city to offer reparations.

The Justice Department says there are ‘credible reports’ that law enforcement members participated in the Tulsa arson and murders.

But the first article written about this in 1971, Never A Massacre In Tulsa & Not Hidden paints a different, but still terrible, picture of what had happened 50 years before There were a number of failures of the municipal authorities to take control of the situation, perhaps unsurprising in a city where the Ku Klux Klan had a headquarters.

There were close to a thousand of both races either injured or killed and “thirty-five city blocks were completely looted and burned to the ground.” The Negro community was denied compensation, due to the rioting or civil insurrection clause in their insurance policies.

A white woman had claimed rape by Dick Rowland. A white mob was gathering to raid the county jail and lynch Rowland.

This is the point, if not before, that the authorities needed to take strong direct action. They did not.

The subsequent grand jury led to “the impeachment and conviction of chief of police John A. Gustafson who was suspended and later convicted in a district court trial” “for failure to take proper precautions for the protection of life and property during the rioting . . . and conspiracy to free automobile thieves and collect rewards.” 

My idea for reparations is the inclusion of the 1921 Tulsa events, the 1985 MOVE Events, and the toll that reconstruction meted out to the South in all our future Histories.

See also Black Wall Street’ Before, During and After

Has Capitalism Saved the World?

By Bob Small

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book, partially because there are all these fifteen to twenty-page articles. However, upon receiving notification that Roy Minet has published his third book The Savior of the World — Comprehending the Free Market … and that it was only 60 pages, well there we are.

Why Roy? We met many years ago when the Greens and the Libertarians worked together, “fighting the good fight” to get places on the Pennsylvania Ballot, despite the massive efforts of the Duopoly to keep us from the Ballot. Mostly, this was like the myth of Sisyphus and the rock won. Occasionally there was an upset.

The subtitle is “Comprehending the Free Market Economic System”, which is basically an explanation and defense of capitalism. This would be a good book for middle schoolers.

This is a quote he uses from Adam Smith “ How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Roy, disagreeing with many, sees socialism and communism as crazy failed schemes. Naturally, he aligns with the idea that “central planning systems will never work well”.

He also rails against government interference, such as “excessive taxation” and regulations, etc. and the Federal Reserve manipulation. Again, this is the Libertarian gospel.

He also refers us Frédéric Bastiat‘s book The Law and his essay “That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen”.

We are discussing here the Invisible hand as Adam Smith (see above) had discussed.

Roy later says that “Profits are always food for everyone”, which some may find questionable.

Towards the end of this tome, Roy boldly states “Unequal wealth distribution is absolutely necessary and required for the proper functioning of a free market economy”.

On the topic of “the safety net”, He finds it “highly likely that private charities could do this job better if government force were completely eliminated.”

The last line of the book is “Freedom works, and freedom works best.”

One thinks he might have chosen another title, though.

See also

Roy Minet . Org – Think about it !

No Kings But Some Violence

By Bob Small

From a cursory review of the coverage of the No Kings protest, one would believe it was primarily peaceful. However, there were numerous incidents of violence or prevented attacks.

The coverage from Newsweek mentions the car driven into the crowd in Virginia; an injured Police in Portland and a shooting in Salt Lake City.

More is still being reported.

The Salt Lake City shooting resulted in at least one death, Ah Loo, age 39, who died from a bullet intended for someone else. They also added “ No state permit is required to purchase a rifle, shotgun or handgun in Utah. “

The Proud Boys” made an appearance in Atlanta (see below). The violence in L.A. continued.

Scott, who I’ll now designate as my unpaid research assistant, sent this article Riot” Update From Atlanta – Conspiracy Sarah on Substack, where I now have a second home for my literary output. This article raises many unanswered, maybe unanswerable questions, about the whole “No Kings” protest. I urge everyone to read this.

The West Chester rally could of gotten real bloody, real quick, if not for the actions of a West Chester Borough Policeman. “ Kevin Krebs, 31, was questioned and taken into custody after officers found an unlicensed firearm during the search. Krebs was also carrying pepper spray, a pocket knife, six loaded assault rifle magazines, an M9 bayonet knife, a ski mask, and gloves. 

Police found in his car an “AR-15, long gun, ski mask, military gloves and military helmet”.

It seems he was prepared for something.

Trump has the last word.: “A king would say ‘I’m not going to get this … he wouldn’t have to call up [House Speaker] Mike Johnson and [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune and say, ‘Fellas you’ve got to pull this off’ and after years we get it done. No no, we’re not a king, we’re not a king at all.”

I Love A Parade As Does The Donald

By Bob Small

Donald Trump is getting a full military parade on his birthday, which is today, June 14.

Most of us get cards or presents only.

This parade is one of the perks of being President. This also the US Army’s 250th anniversary.

”It also marks a rare example of an official military parade taking place inside the United States,” says Lyle Goldstein, aformer US Naval War College professor. “If, as Americans, we were truly confident in our armed forces we wouldn’t need to display our military might.”

He also maintains that we are not keeping pace with China and Russia, in, for instance, the area of hypersonic missiles. One hopes to be corrected on this.

The total forces being called up reportedly are 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven military bands and thousands of civilians” along with 34 horses, two mules and a dog.

There have already been allusions to Hitler, etc.

German philosopher Theodor Adorno says, fascist rituals portrayed the authoritarian leader as both a “superman” and an ordinary, flawed “average person.”

This feels like stretching the allusion.

The parade will include 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, four M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, as well as military relics like World War II-era Sherman tanks, a B-25 bomber, and a P-51 Mustang single-seat fighter plane, according to Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith.

The Guardian, expectedly, focused on some anti-Trump rhetoric.

“Confidence is silent, and insecurity is loud,” the Louisiana senator John Kennedy told MSNBC. “America is the most powerful country in all of human history and we don’t need to show it off. We’re not North Korea. We’re not Russia, we’re not China and I don’t wanna be.”

However, they also presented the other side, somewhat surprisingly, courtesy of current Fox News Host, Kayleigh McEnany  “The Democratic party, they’ve chosen to be an outrage machine at a time when there is outrage fatigue in this country”.

By the way, the only dog marching in the parade is named Doc Holliday.

See also 1932 Harry Richman – I Love A Parade – YouTube

What’s The Problem With Fetterman?

By Bob Small

What’s the problem with John Fetterman? Or is there one?

The problem with Fetterman is the theme of media coverage.

But is the coverage part of the problem?

In a letter to Dr. David Williamson — Fetterman’s neuropsychiatrist at Walter Reed — Adam Gentleson, the former chief of staff to Senator Fetterman said “We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not”.

Leaving aside whether this is privileged information, isn’t it a tad strange that this is coming out now, the same time as what I’ll call “the Biden papers” are seeing the light of day.

It should be mentioned that “In the past year — from April 2024 to this March — Fetterman missed 77 of 381 votes, according to GovTrack. This translates to the highest 10 percent “among all senators in terms of total votes missed during each three-month stretch of the calendar in that time.”

This Associated Press article mentions an event where  Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his hands on a desk” according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.”

This seems to be “hearsay” inadmissible in a court of law but admissible in the court of public opinion.

Fetterman, a Harvard graduate, is aware of his awkward persona Pa. Sen. John Fetterman: What to know about mental health

He once joked “I don’t even look like a typical person,” He came to Braddock, Pa., by the way,” as an AmeriCorps alumni to set up a GED program. “

He has frequently violated the Senate dress code which led to the passage of “the SHORTS, or Show Our Respect to the Senate, Act “

Part of Fetterman’s response saying he was open about his “conditions” and “it’s like so someone that was trying to accumulate my medical records and leak those things that’s part of this weird grudge for this hit piece.”

See also:

Statewide progressive group reportedly calls on Sen. John …

Pennsylvania Indivisible

How can a Senator be removed from office during a term …

Not An Easy Time To Be Jewish-American

By Bob Small

It’s not an easy time to be Jewish-American

The theme of members of their religion being blamed for the actions of “their” nation-state continues.

Let’s simplify. Not one of us Jewish-Americans has a direct line to Benjamin Netanyahu nor do any Russian-Americans speak to Vladimir Putin.

The latest local expression of this was Barstool Philadelphia posting a sign reading “F##k the Jews”.

The two employees were fired and Dave Portnoy, the Jewish owner of Barstool, then pledged to send the two customers who ordered the sign to a tour of Auschwitz

“Rather than ruin a couple 20-year-olds lives maybe this can be used as a teaching moment,” said Portnoy.

The customers were later identified as students at Temple University.

Temple University suspended them.

We should add that we don’t believe antisemitism comes from Temple anymore than it comes from from, say, Swarthmore. Nor any less.

The Daily Mail notes that Portnoy credits New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with the tour of Auschwitz idea. Kraft, by the way, has his own foundation.

In a further complication, Portnoy accused ABC’s Katie Katro of doing a “bait and switch” interview,

There have been other developments since then, which local news is carrying breathlessly.

See also Temple University student suspended after an antisemitic …