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vintagelasvegas · 26 days ago

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Dunes Hotel & Casino '55-'93

Dunes, 1955. Kodachrome photo from Charles Phoenix.

Timeline of the Dunes

’53-54: First announced as Hotel Araby (RJ 11/1/53), then became known as Vegas Plaza, and Hotel Deauville (RJ 1/20/54, 4/23/54). Named the Dunes by the time of groundbreaking, 6/22/54 (RJ).

’55: May 23, original owners Robert Rice, Al Gottesman, Joseph Sullivan, Alexander Barad and Jason Tarsey open the $4 million Dunes Hotel-Casino with 200 rooms on an 85-acre site. Architect J Replogle, designer R. Dorr Jr. Signs and Sultan figure by YESCO (RJ 5/23/55).

’55: Aug., Dunes leased by Sands partners and reopened in Sep. Subsequent financial difficulties cause the casino to be closed, 1/56.

’56: Bill Miller, Major A. Riddle, and Robert Rice are licensed to reopen the casino in May. In Nov., the license is changed to add M&R Investment Co. on the license as the company that operates the Dunes.

’57: Jan., Minsky’s Follies opens the first topless show at a Strip resort.

’59: Convention Hall addition.

’61: Olympic Wing addition.

’62: Riddle sells 15 percent of the stock to M&R Investment Corp., whose stockholders now include Charles Rich, Sidney Wyman and George Duckworth. Tower groundbreaking, 10/21/62.

’64: May, Sultan figure moved to golf course. In Oct-Nov, the 180-ft sign is installed in Oct., and switched on 11/12/64.

’65: Jun, opening of Dome of the Sea and the 24-story tower. Dunes Golf Course opened.

’69: Continental Connector Corp., a publicly traded company, buys the Dunes in a $59M stock transfer in May. In Dec, the SEC charges that CCC defrauded stockholders in the proxy statement it issued offering to buy the Dunes. CCC settles the SEC complaint in ’76. At this time, bankers E. Parry Thomas and Jerome Mack are principals in M&R and CCC.

’74: In Sep., Gaming Control Board files a complaint against the Dunes for catering and "comping" alleged Kansas City mob chief Nick Civella, one of 11 members of the Black Book, Nevada's List of Excluded Persons. The Dunes ultimately was fined $10,000.

’75: In Feb., Morris Shenker buys an interest in M&R through his IJK Nevada Inc. Later in the year, Dunes owners Shenker and Riddle are asked about allegations that reputed mobster Anthony Spilotro had "set up shop" at the Dunes. Spilotro reportedly was spending up to 14 hours a day in the poker room and appeared to be using it as an office.

’76: In Jun., Shenker sues the Teamsters Union for $140M for backing out of a loan commitment, which was to be used to add another 1,000 rooms. In Oct., Dept of Labor intervenes, saying the loan was prohibited. In ’80, Shenker's breach of contract lawsuit is tossed out of court by U.S. District Judge Roger Foley.

’79: South tower opened in summer. Shenker announces the Dunes will construct a $65M hotel-casino in Atlantic City. FBI affidavits are unsealed claiming that two confidential informants "both advised that the Kansas City organized crime group headed by Nick Civella has a concealed interest fronted by Shenker at the Dunes." Shenker denies the allegations.

’80: In Jan., alleged members of the NY Columbo family are discovered staying for free at the Dunes. Gaming Control Board Chairman Richard Bunker says the "comping" did not violate the law or gaming regulations. Later, four of the group, including Joseph Columbo Jr., are indicted on charges of obtaining money under false pretenses in an airline ticket reimbursement scam. The indictment is dismissed by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski and in ’84 was reinstated by the NV Supreme Court.

’82: Aug., the $17M Oasis Casino opens, doubling the existing casino space at the resort. Design by Farris Alexander Congdon Architects. New 2-floor casino includes Xanadunes electronic gaming area, and Video-Video arcade space (RJ 8/13/82, 8/20/82).

’82: Dec., Stuart and Clifford Perlman agree to buy the Dunes for $185M. The brothers loan Shenker $4M and $2.9M of that sum is used to pay overdue federal payroll taxes and avoid the seizure of assets by the IRS. Shenker denies the resort is on the verge of bankruptcy. Docs filed with the SEC indicate the property is in default on a number of loans and a number of creditors threaten foreclosure action.

’83: The Perlmans assume management of the Dunes in Apr., and operate it for four months before the sale collapses in Aug.

’83: Oct., a foreclosure sale of the Dunes' golf course and some other property is averted when problems are worked out with the trustees of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Int’l Union and the trustees of the Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Trust, which are owed $1.5M for non-payment of union benefits.

’83: Dec., a federal jury in Las Vegas decides that Shenker owes $34M to the So. Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Fund for defaulting on loans in ’73-’75 to two of Shenker's land companies, Sierra Charter Corp. and IJK Nevada.

’84: Feb., Shenker files for personal bankruptcy in Missouri to protect his assets from the $34M judgment. The IRS claims that the 78-year-old Shenker owes $66M in unpaid taxes stretching back 20 years. Shenker's bankruptcy filing claimed assets of $82M and liabilities of $197M, the largest debt ever recorded in the St. Louis bankruptcy court.

’84: Mar., Valley Bank of Nevada heads a consortium to lend the Dunes $68.6M as part of a debt restructuring plan.

’84: May, John Anderson buys a controlling interest in the Dunes with his JBA Investments Inc. Anderson signs a $25M note to pay the Perlmans for the $35M they invested in the resort. Shenker's 26 percent interest remains under the control of the bankruptcy court.

’84: Jun., the FBI alleges that Shenker approved $600,000 in kickbacks to alleged Milwaukee crime boss Frank Balistrieri in connection with loans from the Teamsters Union to Allen Glick, who later bought four Las Vegas resorts before being forced out of gaming by Nevada officials. Shenker denies the kickback allegations. No charges are filed.

’85: Feb., Dunes is cited for failing to retrofit the property to meet fire safety standards. About $2.2M is spent on retrofitting during the first half of the year.

’85: May, former Gaming Control Board Chairman Richard Bunker leaves his position as corporate treasurer of Circus Circus Ent. to become president of the Dunes.

’85: Aug., Jack Bona buys out the Dunes' 49 percent interest in its Atlantic City property in a $21M sale. The next day, Bona places the property in a Ch. 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court.

’85: Sept. 27, Dunes defaults on the $68.6M bank loan and Valley Bank moves ahead with the legal steps required for a foreclosure sale Dec. 23.

’85: Oct. 24, Federal marshals begin seizing cash from the Dunes casino cage to pay a $2.7M judgment obtained by trustees of the Culinary and Bartenders unions. They accept a $200,000 check and leave the cash in the cage.

’85: Nov. 1, Marshals return to collect the remaining $17M owed to the unions but are halted by a last-minute restraining order.

’85: Nov. 6, Dunes' operating company. M&R Investment, files for reorganization under Chapter 11.

’87: Masao Nangaku buys the Dunes for $157M.

’92: Nov., Dunes bought by Mirage Inc. for $75M.

’93: Jan. 26, closed. North tower and sign demolished 10/27/93.

‘94: Jul. 20, South tower demolished.

A major source for the timeline is Jane Ann Morrison. Judge Approves Payday for Dunes Employees. Review-Journal, 11/7/85.

Dunes, 1955. This is the original layout of the resort, before the addition of the Convention Hall and Olympic wing. Photo by Ed Screeton. Dunes Hotel Photograph Collection (PH-00281), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

Late '64. The 180-foot sign has recently been completed. Dome of the Sea restaurant and the hotel tower are nearing completion. Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Photographs, UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

#Dunes #1955

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mightyflamethrower · 6 months ago

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Thomas v. Biden. Ha ha ha

Escaping an electronic lynching made the justice stronger

JUL 03, 2024

Oilfield Rando tweeted, “Imagine if Trump wins, and both Thomas and Sotomayor retire.

“The United States Supreme Court would have a majority of justices appointed by Donald J. Trump.

“Imagine the media industry meltdown LOL. The headlines would be hilarious.”

I replied, “Thomas ain't going nowhere. That electronic lynching gave him the resolve he needed to be Nothing But A Man.”

And who led the Democrat lynch mob? Pedo Joe.

33 years later, Thomas delivered another slice of payback with his concurring opinion in Trump v. Biden (aka Trump v. USA). The five men on the court plus ACB ruled that a president has immunity from prosecution in carrying out his official duties, which would preclude charging him for any of the cheapfake J6 crimes.

The decision so shocked Freeze Frame Joe that he went on national TV and turned orange.

Thomas went one step beyond the majority opinion, observing:

I write separately to highlight another way in which this prosecution may violate our constitutional structure. In this case, the Attorney General purported to appoint a private citizen as Special Counsel to prosecute a former President on behalf of the United States. But, I am not sure that any office for the Special Counsel has been “established by Law,” as the Constitution requires. By requiring that Congress create federal offices “by Law,” the Constitution imposes an important check against the president—he cannot create offices at his pleasure. If there is no law establishing the office that the Special Counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution. A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former President. No former President has faced criminal prosecution for his acts while in office in the more than 200 years since the founding of our country. And, that is so despite numerous past Presidents taking actions that many would argue constitute crimes. If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people. The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the Special Counsel’s appointment before proceeding.

The prosecution of a former president is a very serious matter that Democrats have turned into a circus. In New York, Democrats made paying off an extortionist a 34-count felony indictment. The trial was so bizarre that I want a DNA test to determine whether Judge Merchan is a man or indeed a kangaroo.

But, this decision and Biden’s post-debate collapse in the polls have forced Democrats to postpone their sentencing of President Trump. Merchan just told Trump see you in September, which was music to his ears.

Clearly, the witch hunts failed miserably, forcing Democrats to re-assess their situation. Merchan does only what his party bosses tell him to do. It’s a New York thing.

The federal cases against President Trump are even weirder. How does holding a rally at the National Mall become an insurrection? How does holding documents Trump declassified become a violation of national security laws?

But most importantly, how does a bum hack lawyer like Jack R. Smith become the prosecutor in these cases?

Smith is the rare prosecutor who has had a verdict reversed by the Supreme Court. Only his lack of ethics and devotion to the Democrat Party got him this gig.

Obama sicced him on former Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia. While the Jack S. got the conviction, he did so in a dirty, slimy way that so violated the Constitution and the governor’s rights that the Supreme Court unanimously — RGB included — threw the conviction away.

The Washington Post reported 8 years ago:

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell’s public-corruption conviction Monday and imposed higher standards for federal prosecutors who charge public officials with wrongdoing. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. described the former governor’s actions as “tawdry” but agreed that instructions to the jury in his case about what constitutes “official acts” were so broad, they could cover almost any action a public official takes. McDonnell’s promising political career was derailed by his entanglement with a businessman who showered the governor and his family with luxury gifts and financial benefits. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were indicted and convicted after he left office in January 2014.

The feds refused to try the case again because Obama got what he wanted — an end to McDonnell’s promising political career. Ha ha ha. Cheating worked.

Thomas remembered and this time the justice is questioning Smith’s appointment.

NYT tried to blow off the concurrence by Justice Thomas, writing:

Despite Justice Thomas’s concerns, courts reaching back to the early 1970s have repeatedly rejected efforts to question the legality of independent prosecutors. Those have included the Supreme Court upholding the appointment of Leon Jaworski, one of the special prosecutors who investigated the Watergate scandal, in a decision that was largely focused on the issue of President Richard Nixon’s claims of executive privilege. Judges have also tossed out efforts to invalidate the work of special counsels like Robert S. Mueller III, who examined connections between Russia and Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, and David C. Weiss, who has brought two criminal cases against Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son.

However, this court is tasing bad precedent. Thomas signaled that the court will look kindly at an appeal challenging the constitutionality of appointing special prosecutors. He pointed Judge Cannon at Smith and said fire away.

Prosecuting a former president should be taken carefully because no one has ventured into this dark territory before.

FJB been haphazard, knowing that winning by any means necessary — or unnecessary — will result in zero penalties. After all, Obama got away with ruining a Republican, why would Obama’s flunky face any consequences for phony prosecutions?

In his concurring opinion, Thomas showed the wisdom of a man forged in the fires of false accusation and racism.

The three lib Ditzy Chicks on the bench were approved by the Senate because of their ethnicity; they have never been challenged. They coasted their way in and it shows in the wise Latinx’s dissent, in which she said:

Even though the majority’s immunity analysis purports to leave unofficial acts open to prosecution, its draconian approach to official-acts evidence deprives these prosecutions of any teeth. If the former President cannot be held criminally liable for his official acts, those acts should still be admissible to prove knowledge or intent in criminal prosecutions of unofficial acts. For instance, the majority struggles with classifying whether a President’s speech is in his capacity as President (official act) or as a candidate (unofficial act). Imagine a President states in an official speech that he intends to stop a political rival from passing legislation that he opposes, no matter what it takes to do so (official act). He then hires a private hitman to murder that political rival (unofficial act). Under the majority’s rule, the murder indictment could include no allegation of the President’s public admission of premeditated intent to support the mens rea of murder. That is a strange result, to say the least.

No one who lived through the Kennedy and King assassinations would be so cavalier and casual in referencing the murder of political rivals. Even the backstabbing Bill Barr complained.

Sotomayor, Kagan and KBJ are DEI hires as in Didn’t Earn It.

Thomas did. It shows in the higher quality of his work. Pedo Joe put him through the fires of hell, forging one of the greatest justices ever.

Biden's campaign Descending after his debate with TRUMP.

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alyygx · 1 year ago

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Easy Company Members Sorted Between Surviving and Not Surviving WWII:

Died During the War:

Company Commanders:

First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan III (July 8th, 1921 - June 6th, 1944)

Non-commissioned Officers:

Sergeant Warren Harold "Skip" Muck (January 31st, 1922 - January 10th, 1945)

Enlisted Men:

Corporal Donald B. "Hoob" Hoobler (June 28th, 1922 - January 3rd, 1945)

Private First Class Alex Mike Penkala (August 30th, 1924 - January 10th, 1945)

Survived the War:

Company Commanders:

Captain Herbert Maxwell Sobel (January 26th, 1912 - September 30th, 1987)

Major Richard Davis "Dick" Winters (January 21st, 1918 - January 2nd, 2011)

First Lieutenant Frederick Theodore "Moose" Heyliger (June 23rd, 1916 - November 3rd, 2001)

First Lieutenant Norman Staunton "Foxhole Norman" Dike Jr. (May 19th, 1918 - June 23rd, 1989)

Captain Ronald Charles Speirs (April 20th, 1920 - April 11th, 2007)

Junior Officers:

Captain Lewis Nixon (September 30th, 1918 - January 11th, 1995)

First Lieutenant Lynn Davis "Buck" Compton (December 31st, 1921 - February 25th, 2012)

First Lieutenant Edward David "Ed" Shames (June 13th, 1922 - December 3rd, 2021)

Second Lieutenant Robert Burnham "Bob" Brewer (January 31st, 1924 - December 5th, 1996)

Second Lieutenant Clifford Carwood "Lip" Lipton (January 30th, 1920 - December 16th, 2001)

Non-commissioned Officers:

Technical Sergeant Donald George "Don" Malarkey (July 30th, 1920 - September 30th, 2017)

Staff Sergeant William J. "Wild Bill" Guarnere Sr. (April 28th, 1923 - March 8th, 2014)

Staff Sergeant Herman "Hank, Hack" Hanson (January 3rd, 1918 - May 15th, 1971)

Staff Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman (November 20th, 1920 - June 26th, 2003)

Staff Sergeant Darrell Cecil "Shifty" Powers (March 13th, 1923 - June 17th, 2009)

Staff Sergeant John W. "Johnny" Martin (December 8th, 1921 - December 31st, 2012)

Staff Sergeant Floyd "Tab" Talbert (August 26th, 1923 - October 10th, 1982)

Staff Sergeant Charles E. "Chuck" Grant (March 1922 - October 12th, 1982)

Staff Sergeant Joseph John "Joe" Toye (March 14th, 1919 - September 3rd, 1995)

Sergeant Robert Emory "Popeye" Wynn Jr. (July 10th, 1921 - March 18th, 2000)

Sergeant James H. "Moe" Alley (July 20th, 1922 - March 14th, 2008)

Sergeant Wayne "Skinny" Sisk (March 4th, 1922 - July 13th, 1999)

Corporal Walter Scott "Smokey" Gordon Jr. (April 15th, 1920 - April 19th, 1997)

Enlisted Men:

Technician Fourth Grade George Luz (June 17th, 1921 - October 15th, 1998)

Technician Fourth Grade Eugene Gilbert "Doc" Roe Sr. (October 17th, 1922 - December 30th, 1998)

Technician Fifth Grade Joseph David "Joe" Liebgott (May 17th, 1915 - June 28th, 1992)

Private First Class Edward James "Babe" Heffron (May 16th, 1923 - December 1st, 2013)

Private First Class Edward Joseph "Tip" Tipper (August 3rd, 1921 - February 1st, 2017)

Private First Class David Kenyon Webster (June 2nd, 1922 - September 9th, 1961)

*This is not all of Easy Co. just some of the more recognizable names. If I missed anyone that you would like to see listed please message me and I would be glad to add him.

**I was also thinking about adding more info to this list and/or making a separate post with additional details like awards/medals, how and where they were wounded (if at all), and maybe some personal details like where they were born/died, their family (parents, siblings, spouse, children), what they did after the war (if they survived) stuff like that (though that might be a separate list idk yet). I would love to hear your opinion and if you'd like to see something like this. Basically just one large masterpost! Message me and tell me your thoughts!!!! I'm open to ideas!

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teamthunderdome · 7 months ago

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TEAM THUNDERDOME.

TWO TEAMS ENTER. TUMBLR VOTES. ONE TEAM LEAVES. TRIAL BY COMBAT. TO THE DEATH. VICTORY OR SOVNGARDE.

The Rules:

Fights will occur over the course of ONE WEEK, quarter 1 begins JUNE 1ST, 2024 at 12:00 AM MIDNIGHT EDT (UTC-04:00).

Multiple fights happen across one week.

ONLY 3 to 4 team members per team. 2 is too few, 5 is almost cheating. If a team has more than 4 members, some will have to wait in the stands (looking at you, Scooby-Doo and Tally Hall).

Tumblr poll will determine the winner of an individual fight via emotional support and gracious cookie donations.

Majority Wins. Whether or not a team would canonically win or lose the fight does not matter, only the number of votes.

Single Elimination.

Outside of the rules listed above, anything goes. Reblog a fight to get your friends on your side.

Propaganda is fair game. If you know perhaps a little too much about one of the teams and want to explain why your team should win, please submit an in-depth propaganda post to the blog homepage.

Spread the word! Your favorite might win! (Or not! I just run this thing!)

Lasko Wind Machine

All 64 Teams Competing (In random order - will NOT reflect the final bracket):

Team WINCHESTER (Sam, Dean, Castiel, Crowley)

Team FORTRESS (Heavy, Medic, Engineer, Soldier)

Team AIONIOS (Noah, Lanz, Eunie, Riku)

Team GONDOR (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf)

Team TWILIGHT (Jacob, Edward, Bella)

Team STAR WARS (Han, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca)

Team NARUTO (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura)

Team SHREK (Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss In Boots) (As portrayed at the end of Shrek 2)

Team OF LIGHT (Jonathan Harker, Jack Seward, Quincey Morris, Abraham Van Helsing)

Team PERSONA (Makoto Yuki, Kotone Shiomi, Yu Narukami, Ren Mamamiya)

Team HOMESTUCK (John, Jade, Rose, Dave)

Team MUSKETEERS (Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D'Artagnan)

Team HERCULES (Hercules, Iolaus, Salmoneus, Autolycus) (The Legendary Journeys, Hercules as portrayed by Kevin Sorbo)

Team PUYO PUYO (Ringo, Arle, Amitie, Lemres)

Team BAKUGO (Bakugo, Mina, Denki, Eijirou)

Team WIGGLES (Jeff, Anthony, Murray, Greg) (as originally formed)

Team GRYFFINDOR (Harry, Ron, Hermione)

Team COOL RUNNINGS (Derice Bannock, Junior Bevil, Sanka Coffie, Yul Brenner)

Team AEGIS (Rex, Pyra, Mythra) (all other party members excluded due to Blades and their pesky "friendships" binding them to their users)

Team RHYTHM THIEF (Raphael, Fondue, Marie, Charlie) (what a cute doggy :3)

Team MYSTERY INC (Fred, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne) (sorry no pets allowed)

Team DEKU (Izuku, Tsuyu, Ochako, Shouto)

Team KRISPIES (Snap, Crackle, Pop)

Team ELITE BEAT (Agent Spin, Agent J, Agent Chieftain, Agent Starr)

Team JIGSAW (Kramer, Young, Hoffman, Gordon)

Team UMIZOOMI (Milli, Geo, Bot)

Team TRIFORCE (Link, Zelda, Groose) (Skyward Sword variants)

Team LAYTON (Layton, Luke, Emmy) (Pre-Azran Legacy)

Team SONIC (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails)

Team ASKR (Alfonse, Anna, Sharena)

Team TARDIS (The Doctor, Amy, Rory, River)

Team WOOHP (Sam, Alex, Clover)

Team KEYBLADE (Sora, Donald, Goofy)

Team 1908 THOMAS FLYER (Montague Roberts, George Schuster, Hans Hendrik Hansen, George MacAdam)

Team BIONIS (Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, Sharla)

Team DARK (Shadow, Rouge, Omega) (Ultimate Life Form status tenuous)

Team OOO (Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, BMO)

Team TALLY HALL (Rob, Zubin, Andrew, Joe) (Ross excluded - he's just a drummer)

Team DOODLEBOPS (Deedee, Rooney, Moe)

Team SCIENCE (Gordon, Tommy, Bubby, Dr. Coomer)

Team POWERPUFF (Blossom, Buttercup, Bubbles)

Team INCONCEIVABLE (Inigo, Fezzik, Vizzini)

Team METROCITY (Megamind, Metro Man, Roxanne, Minion)

Team WONDER PETS (Linny, Tuck, Ming Ming)

Team REGULAR (Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, Skips)

Team PILLAR MEN (Santana, Wham, ACDC, Kars) (Ultimate Life Form status tenuous)

Team BEATLES (John, Paul, George, Ringo)

Team SMILING FRIENDS (Pim, Charlie, Glep, Alan)

Team ROTTEN (Robbie, Tobby, Bobby, Flobby) (Ultimate Life Form status confirmed)

Team KRUSTY KRAB (SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs)

Team VOCALOID (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin)

Team GARFIELD (Garfield, Jon, Odie, Liz)

Team POOH (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Christopher Robin)

Team AVALANCHE (Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret)

Team LOONEY (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Michael Jordan)

Team GHOSTS (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde) (freshly dead)

Team ROCKMAN (Rock, Roll, Blues, Bass)

Team MARIO (Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi)

Team WRIGHT (Phoenix, Apollo, Athena, Trucy) (as seen in Dual Destinies)

Team SHERLOCK (Sherlock, John, Mycroft) (Brigandorf Crimplesnart's depiction of Sherlock)

Team MASH (Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, BJ Hunnicutt, Charles Emerson Winchester III)

Team RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake)

Team CHANNEL 5 (Ulala, Space Michael, Jaguar, Pudding)

Team FANBOY (Fanboy, Chum Chum, Kyle)

GOOD LUCK!!!

(you're gonna need it)

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todaysdocument · 1 year ago

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Discharge Petition for H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of RepresentativesSeries: General Records

This item, H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, faced strong opposition in the House Rules Committee. Howard Smith, Chairman of the committee, refused to schedule hearings for the bill. Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, attempted to use this discharge petition to move the bill out of committee without holding hearings. The petition failed to gain the required majority of Congress (218 signatures), but forced Chairman Smith to schedule hearings.

88th CONGRESS. House of Representatives No. 5 Motion to Discharge a Committee from the Consideration of a RESOLUTION (State whether bill, joint resolution, or resolution) December 9, 1963 To the Clerk of the House of Representatives: Pursuant to Clause 4 of Rule XXVII (see rule on page 7), I EMANUEL CELLER (Name of Member), move to discharge to the Commitee on RULES (Committee) from the consideration of the RESOLUTION; H. Res. 574 entitled, a RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE BILL (H. R. 7152) which was referred to said committee November 27, 1963 in support of which motion the undersigned Members of the House of Representatives affix their signatures, to wit: 1. Emanuel Celler 2. John J. Rooney 3. Seymour Halpern 4. James G Fulton 5. Thomas W Pelly 6. Robt N. C. Nix 7. Jeffery Cohelan 8. W A Barrett 9. William S. Mailiard 10. 11. Augustus F. Hawkins 12. Otis G. Pike 13. Benjamin S Rosenthal 14. Spark M Matsunaga 15. Frank M. Clark 16. William L Dawson 17. Melvin Price 18. John C. Kluczynski 19. Barratt O'Hara 20. George E. Shipley 21. Dan Rostenkowski 22. Ralph J. Rivers[page] 2 23. Everett G. Burkhalter 24. Robert L. Leggett 25. William L St Onge 26. Edward P. Boland 27. Winfield K. Denton 28. David J. Flood 29. 30. Lucian N. Nedzi 31. James Roosevelt 32. Henry C Reuss 33. Charles S. Joelson 34. Samuel N. Friedel 35. George M. Rhodes 36. William F. Ryan 37. Clarence D. Long 38. Charles C. Diggs Jr 39. Morris K. Udall 40. Wm J. Randall 41. 42. Donald M. Fraser 43. Joseph G. Minish 44. Edith Green 45. Neil Staebler 46. 47. Ralph R. Harding 48. Frank M. Karsten 49. 50. John H. Dent 51. John Brademas 52. John E. Moss 53. Jacob H. Gilbert 54. Leonor K. Sullivan 55. John F. Shelley 56. 57. Lionel Van Deerlin 58. Carlton R. Sickles 59. 60. Edward R. Finnegan 61. Julia Butler Hansen 62. Richard Bolling 63. Ken Heckler 64. Herman Toll 65. Ray J Madden 66. J Edward Roush 67. James A. Burke 68. Frank C. Osmers Jr 69. Adam Powell 70. 71. Fred Schwengel 72. Philip J. Philiben 73. Byron G. Rogers 74. John F. Baldwin 75. Joseph Karth 76. 77. Roland V. Libonati 78. John V. Lindsay 79. Stanley R. Tupper 80. Joseph M. McDade 81. Wm Broomfield 82. 83. 84. Robert J Corbett 85. 86. Craig Hosmer87. Robert N. Giaimo 88. Claude Pepper 89. William T Murphy 90. George H. Fallon 91. Hugh L. Carey 92. Robert T. Secrest 93. Harley O. Staggers 94. Thor C. Tollefson 95. Edward J. Patten 96. 97. Al Ullman 98. Bernard F. Grabowski 99. John A. Blatnik 100. 101. Florence P. Dwyer 102. Thomas L. ? 103. 104. Peter W. Rodino 105. Milton W. Glenn 106. Harlan Hagen 107. James A. Byrne 108. John M. Murphy 109. Henry B. Gonzalez 110. Arnold Olson 111. Harold D Donahue 112. Kenneth J. Gray 113. James C. Healey 114. Michael A Feighan 115. Thomas R. O'Neill 116. Alphonzo Bell 117. George M. Wallhauser 118. Richard S. Schweiker 119. 120. Albert Thomas 121. 122. Graham Purcell 123. Homer Thornberry 124. 125. Leo W. O'Brien 126. Thomas E. Morgan 127. Joseph M. Montoya 128. Leonard Farbstein 129. John S. Monagan 130. Brad Morse 131. Neil Smith 132. Harry R. Sheppard 133. Don Edwards 134. James G. O'Hara 135. 136. Fred B. Rooney 137. George E. Brown Jr. 138. 139. Edward R. Roybal 140. Harris. B McDowell jr. 141. Torbert H. McDonall 142. Edward A. Garmatz 143. Richard E. Lankford 144. Richard Fulton 145. Elizabeth Kee 146. James J. Delaney 147. Frank Thompson Jr 148. 149. Lester R. Johnson 150. Charles A. Buckley4 151. Richard T. Hanna 152. James Corman 153. Paul A Fino 154. Harold M. Ryan 155. Martha W. Griffiths 156. Adam E. Konski 157. Chas W. Wilson 158. Michael J. Kewan 160. Alex Brooks 161. Clark W. Thompson 162. John D. Gringell [?] 163. Thomas P. Gill 164. Edna F. Kelly 165. Eugene J. Keogh 166 John. B. Duncan 167. Elmer J. Dolland 168. Joe Caul 169. Arnold Olsen 170. Monte B. Fascell [?] 171. [not deciphered] 172. J. Dulek 173. Joe W. [undeciphered] 174. J. J. Pickle [Numbers 175 through 214 are blank]

#archivesgov #December 12 #1963 #civil rights #civil rights act of 1964 #1960s

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transmutationisms · 1 year ago

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I picked up the funny Kuhn book on your rec, and noticed Karl Popper on the same shelf, framing himself in contrast. Do you have/know of any good critiques on Popper in general, or his indeterminism in particular? I'm guessing he didn't convince every Marxist and someone's bound to have responded by now.

yea popper sucks. i mean kuhn himself was responding to / critiquing popper; they very famously had a long ongoing dispute. but like i said before, kuhn is also not where it's at imo. like, not that academic citations are the be-all end-all of intellectual value, but there are reasons you don't typically see either of these guys cited by people working in history / philosophy of science these days lol.

anyway in regards to the marxism angle of this i will say: a major problem with hist/philsci is that these disciplines are pretty ensconced in universities (conservative institutionally & intellectually) and have also taken a long time to even start looking beyond the horizons of great man history, the 'western canon', &c. so the lack of marxists / communists in these fields is like, even more pronounced than in academic history more broadly. like it's insane that people like bob young and roger cooter and adrian desmond are still, like, standouts in this respect lol. so, although there are many many marxists who have responded to popper on those terms, and many many historians and philosophers of science who have responded on that side, the sliver of overlap here is a lot smaller than it should be.

i would definitely read with a critical eye and be on the lookout for places where these texts fail specifically because their authors are not engaging in materialist or properly historicised analysis, or are just blatantly reactionary themselves, in different ways to popper. but, a few places to start with political histsci and philsci critiques of him, or just useful accounts of his legacy and critics:

The Cambridge Companion to Popper (2016). Jeremy Shearmur and Geoffrey Stokes (eds.). <-usual disclaimer that cambridge edited vols. are methodologically, politically, and epistemologically playing it VERY safe. you often want to read them 'backwards', ie, read for what's not being said as much as for what's actually in there. consider this a document that shows what sorts of debates are being permitted, centred, and accepted as 'mainstream' and 'reasonable'.

Epistemological Battles on the Home Front: Early Neoliberals at War against the Social Relations of Science Movement (2021). Beddeleem, Martin. Journal of the History of Ideas Volume: 82 Issue: 4 Pages: 615-636. 10.1353/jhi.2021.0035

Relations between Karl Popper and Michael Polanyi (2011). Jacobs, Struan & Mullins, Phil. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Volume: 42 Pages: 426--435.

Thoughts on political sources of Karl Popper's philosophy of science (1999). Jacobs, Struan. Journal of Philosophical Research Volume: 24 Pages: 445-457

Popper and His Popular Critics: Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend and Imre Lakatos (2014). Agassi, Joseph. ISBN: 3319065866

Science and Politics in the Philosophy of Science: Popper, Kuhn, and Polanyi (2010). Mary Jo Nye. Chapter in: Epple, Moritz & Zittel, Claus (2010) Science as Cultural Practice. ISBN: 9783050044071

Karl Popper, the Vienna Circle, and Red Vienna (1998). Hacohen, Malachi Haim. Journal of the History of Ideas Volume: 59 Pages: 711-734.

Science, politics and social practice: Essays on Marxism and science, philosophy of culture and the social sciences in honor of Robert S. Cohen (1995) Gavroglu, Kostas; Stachel, John J.; & Wartofsky, Marx W. (Eds.). <-haven't read the popper chapter in this, can't promise it's good

#book recs #hps #karl popper

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kwebtv · 1 month ago

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Masters of the Air - Apple TV+ - January 26, 2024 - March 15, 2024

War Drama (9 Episodes)

Running Time: 60 minutes

Stars:

Austin Butler as Major Gale "Buck" Cleven

Callum Turner as Major John "Bucky" Egan

Anthony Boyle as Lt. Harry Crosby

Barry Keoghan as Lt. Curtis Biddick

Nikolai Kinski as Colonel Harold Huglin

Stephen Campbell Moore as Major Marvin "Red" Bowman

Sawyer Spielberg as Lt. Roy Frank Claytor

Isabel May as Marjorie "Marge" Spencer

James Murray as Colonel Neil "Chick" Harding

Nate Mann as Major Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal

Laurie Davidson as Lt. Herbert Nash

Joanna Kulig as Paulina

Recurring:

David Shields as Major Everett Blakely

Matt Gavan as Lt. Charles Cruikshank

Bailey Brook as Sgt. Charles K. Bailey

Kai Alexander as Sgt. William Quinn

Ben Radcliffe as Capt. John D. Brady

Adam Long as Capt. Bernard DeMarco

Darragh Cowley as Lt. Glenn Graham

Jonas Moore as Capt. Frank Murphy

Elliot Warren as Lt. James Douglass

Jordan Coulson as Lt. Howard Hamilton

Louis Greatorex as Capt. Joseph "Bubbles" Payne

Nathen Solly as Lt. John Hoerr

Raff Law as Sgt. Ken Lemmons

Samuel Jordan as Sgt. John J. "Winks" Herrmann

James Frecheville as Major Bill Veal

Thomas Flynn as Barr

Tom Joyner as Cpt. "Stormy" Becker

Edward Ashley as Major Jack Kidd

Harry Ames as Capt. August H. Gaspar

Spike White as Lt. Charles A. Via

#Masters of the Air #TV #Apple TV+#2000's #War Drama #Austin Butler #Callum Turner

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dailyanarchistposts · 28 days ago

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Section II: Abuse of the Consumer (Historical)

I cannot see how any man who does nothing — who lives in idleness — can insist that others should work ten or twelve hours a day. Neither can I see how a man who lives on the luxuries of life can find it in his heart, or in his stomach, to say that the poor ought to be satisfied with the crusts and crumbs they get. -- Robert Green Ingersoll [370]

In 1668, Josiah Child said that when English fish and Herring were traded to other nations, they “often prove false and deceitfully made.” He also said, “our Pilchards from the West Country false packed; seldom containing the quantity for which the Hogsheads are marked in which they are packed.” Josiah Child also remarked how once-government endorsed seals of quality were purchased by the thousands by buyers who put them on everything they wanted. [371] In a plague and disease-stricken Europe, Thomas Malthus offered a suggestion as to the cause of such direness in 1798, “But it is not improbable that among the secondary causes that produce even sickly seasons and epidemics ought to be ranked a crowded population and unwholesome and insufficient food.” [372] It would be in the 1900’s when scientists finally confirmed that poor quality food is capable of causing great illness and even fatality. In 1815, J.C.L. Simonde de Sismonde would write a political treatise, in which he would describe one new invention: “The stocking-frame economizes work nearly in this proportion [by making it the cost of production only 1% of what it was before], yet it scarcely produces stockings ten per cent. cheaper than those made with the needle.” [373] He would describe much of the economy working in that respect. He would also describe an experiment, by a company that produced clothing with needle instead of the stocking-frame, and that it could turn a profit, even though competing against those companies that did produce via stocking-frame. In 1893, there would be an investigation into the quality of tenement housing. T. J. Morgan would be interviewed for this. The interview would go something like this...

Question: Is the work carried on in buildings where they live, or in buildings built for the purpose? Answer: In tenement houses. Question: Where people live in the same room? Answer: In the majority of cases I found that they lived, work, and sleep in the same room. Question: Do they make any distinction between their workroom and their sleeping room? Answer: No, sir; they work in all. [...] Question: How about the sanitary conditions of what you have termed “sweat shops” with regard to water-closets and running water for washing purposes? Answer: In my investigation of thirty shops I never found one place where there was any place provided to put clothes or wash. Question: How about water-closets? Answer: They were very bad. [374]

It the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, it would be a popular idea to save capital and reduce expenditure, for Capitalists, to have workers produce final products in their own homes. The investigation into this wrote, “Here cooking, eating, sleeping, and working were being carried on in the same room, and the materials and finished goods were piled upon the beds and the tables where the food lay.” [375] Written elsewhere in the same report was, “Upon going to the tenement on one of the upper floors of which this apartment was situated, we found it posted with a red scarlet-fever bill and were informed that the fever patients were sick in the room on the same floor, immediately opposite the apartments where clothing was being made...” [376] In 1893, Florence Kelley investigated the situation, writing, “The woman had on her lap a baby, wrapped in Italian fashion, with a swelling in its neck, which the mother told me was a scarlet fever swelling; and spread upon the baby, and partly covering it, and coming in contact with its head, was a cloak, which this mother was sewing, which bore the tag ‘M.F. & Co.’... At 65 Ewing street, the following week, I found a case, in a Sicilian family, where four children were just recovering from scarlet fever, and cloak making had been carried on continuously throughout the illness.” [377] Typhoid fever, diphtheria, dysentery, scabies, scarlet fever, and other diseases were constantly around these products just to be sold. Kelley noted, “The first thing which I noticed in my investigation was the uniformity of filthy surroundings.” [378] In another article, she writes, “... the tenement dwelling is the shop; and cooking, sleeping, sewing and the nursing of the sick are going on simultaneously,” and elsewhere, “...the worst conditions of all prevail among the families who finish garments at home. Here the greatest squalor and filth abounds and the garments are of necessity exposed to it and a part of it during the process of finishing.” [379] Summing up the situation, she writes, “It is needless to suggest that the sweat-shop districts as they have been described are the natural abodes of disease and the breeding places of infection and epidemics.” [380] In the first annual report of the factory inspection act, it was written, “Boys are found handling candy with open sores upon their hands, and girls wrapping and packing it whose arms were covered with an eruption which is a direct consequence of filth. Boys from knee-pants shops have presented themselves so covered with vermin as to render a close examination almost impossible.” [381]

In 1897, the union label became a popular method for distinguishing union-made materials and non-union made materials, but soon, laws were required to prevent producers from putting “union made” on materials that were made by non-union, sweatshop labor. [382] Describing the living conditions of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, E.R.L. Gould writes in a 1899 article, “Not a single bath-tub is provided, except in two houses where six families have a private bath,” and “The middle rooms must borrow what light they can from dark hallways, the narrow shafts, and the rear rooms.” [383] Summing up that housing situation, he writes, “About 2,000 such buildings are constructed annually in the city of New York.” [384] In a report I estimate to be written around the turn of the century, the Working Women’s Society writes, “Pavements broken and sunken and infested with pools of dirty water; rooms dark, with low ceilings and insufficient air space, the dampness of these rooms noticeable outside the doors and in the open air. From the roof the committee had a view of old cigar stumps spread on boards in quantities sufficient to make the flesh of any cigar smoker crawl. These houses are unfit for habitation.” [385] Describing the discoveries of this society, they write, “Baird Street frame house; ground floor occupied by a gunsmith and blacksmith; water closets dilapidated, basement in very bad condition.” — “The floor of the fire escapes in this building consisted of wooden slats.” — “[In one house on...] Baird Street frame house fire escapes with wooden slats dry goods englasure on the front on the ground floor.” — “[In one house on...] Baird Street stairs that are dangerous condition and are much worn on the edges, rickety bellistrades and dark halls.” [386] Describing the housing conditions of this era, Lawrence Veiller writes in a 1900–1901 article...

Special emphasis has been laid upon the terrible evils of the dark, unventilated airshafts, which are the chief characteristic of the present type of buildings. There are over forty-four thousand tenement houses in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, and in the year 1899 about two thousand new tenement houses were erected. These, as a rule, are built on lots twenty-five feet wide by one hundred feet deep, and are planned to accommodate four families on a floor. The buildings are six or seven stories high, and each floor generally contains fourteen different rooms. Only four of these rooms on each floor have direct light and air from the street or the small yard. The other ten open on a narrow “air-shaft,“which is a well hole closed at both ends, seldom more than five feet wide, when between two buildings, and often only two feet six inches wide, varying in length from forty to sixty feet, and being generally from sixty to seventy-two feet high. [387]

In a 1901 article, Robert Alston Stevenson writes, “A bath-tub in every tenement is an idle dream, they cost too much and run very good chances of being used for coal.” [388] In 1905, Annie S. Daniel writes, “The adornments of woman’s dress, the flowers and feathers for her hats, the hats themselves--these I have seen being made in the presence of small-pox... All clothing worn by infants and young children--dainty little dresses--I have seen on the same bed with children sick of contagious diseases and into these little garments is sewed some of the contagion,” and “...I attended a woman ill with tuberculosis, finishing trousers.” [389] In summary, he wrote, “To the consumer--The real danger of being infected by disease germs. Among the 150 families manufacturing in the living rooms 66 continued at work during the entire course of the contagious disease for which we were attending the family.” [390] Describing from her own experience, Mary Sherman writes, “...those of us who have lived in the neighborhood of Elizabeth or Cherry streets, or in any of the Italian districts of New York, have seen macaroni hanging in windows and doorways exposed to the dust and dirt of the city streets, thankful that we did not have to eat the macaroni on our own tables.” [391] And, again, with the notice of disease in the present of working conditions, “Within the fortnight the Board of Health disinfected a house on East Twenty-ninth street where there was a case of scarlet fever. Macaroni was drying in the yard and in the windows of the house during all the time of the child’s sickness.” [392] One tenement inspector writes of his discoveries...

On the first floor we found that the builder had in no sense endeavored to remove the violations. In a bathroom the plaster and lath had been torn from the wall, exposing a broken soil pipe. The pipe had become clogged and in order to remove the obstruction several feet of quarter inch wire had been jammed into the opening. In the meantime, the water was overflowing the bathroom floor. [393]

Further describing the lack of safety in these buildings, the inspector writes, “The fire escapes [in tenement housing] with their vertical ladders make it practically impossible for any but a strong man to get from a burning building, and the wooden stairs and non-fireproof halls in the buildings as high as five stories, together with the inflammable flues furnished by the air shafts, cut off most of the chances for even a man’s escape.” [394] In a 1908 publication, Mary Van Kleeck writes, “in 1906 it was found that for weeks a family living in the house had been finishing clothing in the room where the oldest daughter, Vincenza, aged sixteen years, lay dying of tuberculosis.” [395] She also writes, “Angelo, the oldest boy [working to make clothing], had been examined by a physician, who reported that he had scabies(itch), a disease liable to attack all the members of the family at any time. The physician recommended that all the clothing be burned and the rooms thoroughly cleaned.” [396] This advice, however, was ignored. The production, distribution, and transportation of kerosene, from the Civil War up until 1910, has been controlled by a few corporations. [397] The same can be said of oil. Henry Demarest Lloyd wrote, “It [Standard Oil] has drawn its check for $1,000,000 to suppress a rival. It buys 30,000 to 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day, at a price fixed by itself, and makes special contracts with the railroads for the transportation of 13,000,000 to 14,000,000 barrels of oil a year,” and elsewhere, too, “It has ended by making us pay what it pleases for kerosene, and compelling the owner of the well to take what he can get for his product. For the producer of petroleum, as for the producer of grain, the railroad fixes the price the producer receives.” [398] In cheating competitors, “There was apparently no trick the Standard would not play. It delivered its competitors inferior oils when they had ordered the high-priced article, out of which alone they could manufacture the fancy brands their customers called for.” [399] The Germania, a distributor and manufacturer of oil, was bought out by Standard Oil, to stand idle, so that Standard Oil could sell higher. [400] Standard Oil was not the only one to engage in such unscrupulous tactics. Still writing, Lloyd describes, “One or two firms in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, with their branch houses in the West, are, by the favor of the railroads, fast monopolizing the export trade in wheat, corn, cattle, and provisions, driving their competitors to the wall with absolute certainty, breaking down and crushing out the energy and enterprise of the many for the benefit of the favored few. “ [401] Further, he describes specific tactics of the wheat barons...

The wheat corner of 1879 was commanded by a New Yorker. It began with an inspired chorus of prophecies of low prices, which continued as long as the clique were buying of the farmers. The price was run down to eighty-one and a half cents a bushel. When all the wheat and wheat contracts to be had were obtained, the price was raised to one dollar and thirty-three cents. In every way the results of this corner were deplorable. The markets were crazed. The clique held, according to their own statement, twenty million bushels, and, according to the estimate of close observers in the trade, seventy million bushels. [402]

In the late 1800’s, the government would investigate the price controls of the corporations. President Gowen, of the Reading Railroad was investigated for setting prices. In his defense, he writes...

Every pound of rope we buy for our vessels or for our mines is bought at a price fixed by a committee of the rope manufacturers of the United States. Every keg of nails, every paper of tacks, all our screws and wrenches and hinges, the boiler flues for our locomotives, are never bought except at the price fixed by the representatives of the mills that manufacture them. Iron beams for your houses or your bridges can be had only at the prices agreed upon by a combination of those who produce them. Fire-brick, gas-pipe, terra-cotta pipe for drainage, every keg of powder we buy to blast coal, are purchased under the same arrangement. Every pane of window glass in this house was bought at a scale of prices established exactly in the same manner. White lead, galvanized sheet iron, hose and belting and files are bought and sold at a rate determined in the same way. When my friend Mr. Lane was called upon to begin his speech the other day and wanted to delay because the stenographer had not arrived, I asked Mr. Collins, the stenographer of your committee, if he would not act. He said no, it was against the rules of the committee of stenographers. I said, ‘Well, Mr. Collins, I will pay you anything you ask. I want to get off.’ ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘prices are established by our combination, and I cannot change them.’ And when we come to the cost of labor, which enters more than anything else in to the cost of coal, we are met by a combination there, and are often obliged to pay the price fixed by it. [403]

Lumber was not excepted from this rule of market: “Four years ago (1880) the Chicago Lumbermen’s Exchange adopted a resolution declaring it to be ‘dishonorable’ for any dealer to make lower prices than those published by it for the control of prices in one of the greatest lumber markets of the world.... In February, 1883, it was found that members who ostensibly adhered to the price lists dipped into the dishonorable practice of competition on the sly by giving buyers greater than the usual discounts. This was then forbidden, and another pathway of competition closed.” and elsewhere, “The prices of redwood are fixed by the Redwood Manufacturers’ Association, and those of pine by the Pine Manufacturers’ Association.” [404] By 1878, the prices of coal in New York had been doubled from their original price. [405] In summation of the theft, Lloyd writes, “The investigation of 1888 found that between 1873 and 1886, $200,000,000 more than a fair market price was taken from the public by this combination.” [406] To boost their prices, to make more profit, to reap more rewards of wealth, the lords of coal refused distribution of most of their coal, creating an artificial winter, a coal famine...

The Chicago Health Department issued a bulletin January 12, 1903, in which it said: In the eyes of the Department those responsible for the coal shortage are guilty of constructive homicide for every resulting death. Fully 10 per cent or nearly 200,000 residents of Chicago are to-day suffering from ailments of a grave character caused by privation and exposure resulting, from the coal famine. Already these ailments are reflected in the enormous increase of deaths among those at the extremes of life-the youth and the aged,-in both of whom the powers of vital resistance are at the lowest. Since the first of the year there has been an increase of nearly 20 per cent in the number of deaths among those under five years of age. Among those over sixty year of age the increase is much greater, 24 per cent last week over the previous, and 36.7 per cent over the normal rate of the corresponding period of 1902. Unrevised returns of mortality for January, 1903, show an increase of 10.4 per cent in the actual number of deaths from all causes and at all ages, and of 11.4 per cent in proportion to population as compared with January, 1902, when coal was abundant at half the price or even less than it now commands,-where it can be obtained at all. These two facts are cited together because, in the judgment of the Health Department, the latter is the principal if not the sole cause of the former. A large proportion of the excess deaths is, as was stated in the Bulletin of January 12, due to cold and exposure caused by the coal famine, and which at that date had affected the health of fully 10 per cent or nearly 200,000 of the population of the city. [407]

In a photo dated to 1911, Lewis Hine took a picture of a family deshelling nuts, as some of the family intermittently eats some, without washing their hands. [408] In February of 1911, Elizabeth C. Watson writes, “For instance, in one house in which the license had been revoked on account of unsanitary conditions, and in which there had been several cases of contagious disease, I found flower making, garment finishing, and fur work.” [409] Describing the living conditions of the poor, working class, Harriet Van der Vaart writes, “...a tract of land that is very low and swampy, a very uncomfortable place to live, but where a great many of the people live whose children work in factories.” [410] In 1964, college-educated women were recruited by a survey, given $10 each, and asked to buy 10 basic commodities at a grocery store, at the smallest price. Less than half of the women could do it, and it took up to one hour to do the shopping. [411] In chain stores, those outlets found in poverty-stricken neighborhoods were found not to be carrying generic brands, their quality of perishable goods was lower, and the prices were higher. [412] When a pound of meat was 55 cents in white neighborhoods, it cost 65 cents in black neighborhoods, at a lower quality. [413] In one of these black neighborhoods, where meat is graded as prime (superior) or choice (inferior), all meat was marked as “prime,” because the manager had run out of “choice” stickers. [414] James Ridgeway writes, “...in a store in a poor neighborhood, the lettuce would be wilted, the apples bruised, the green peppers shriveled. For instance, apples sold at 19 cents a pound in a large store in a good neighborhood; they cost 25 cents a pound in a small store in a run-down section.” [415] James Ridgeway discusses his exploration of a poor grocery store...

In one cluttered little supermarket located in a down-at-the-heels section of northeast Washington, a good many food items (dried beans, sugar, lard, various vegetables, ice cream) carried no price tag. Nor did any baby food. I wanted to buy a two-pound box of granulated sugar. It was unmarked. The manager, who knew I was taking a survey, said it cost 27 cents. The checker charged 30 cents. One margarine brand was marked two packets for 55 cents. But as I was writing this down, the manager rushed up and said the price was wrong, it was actually selling for 53 cents, he hadn’t had time to remark the packets. In other larger stores in this same chain, this brand of margarine all was marked two for 53 cents. In appearance, the meat was not comparable with that displayed in fashionable Georgetown or downtown sections of the city. The beef was brown at the edges. Packages of jaded-looking hamburger were priced at 59 cents a pound--10 cents more than hamburger in a large downtown store of the same chain. And the latter was red and fresh-looking. [416]

Food prices rose 5.2% in 1966. The Consumer Price Index reported that food prices were going up at 3.5% each year, a rate doubled from the previous year. Bread and milk increased by more than 7%. In Denver of 1966, the price of bread went up by 25.6% from the previous year. [417] In his studies of consumer activity, James Ridgeway writes, “Poor city people pay more for food because they often have no choice but to shop in small corner groceries which stock inferior merchandise at higher prices. They would be better off shopping in large supermarkets where there is a variety of quality goods at lower prices, but there are few supermarkets in the slums,” and “In New York City a citizens’ group led by William Haddad found that consumers in low-income Negro areas paid more for medicines than those living in upper-income white sections.” [418] In studying auto insurance, Ridgeway found that insurers refuse to do business in African American neighborhoods. In that same report, he writes...

The automobile insurance business is a giant which appears to have gone out of control. In the years 1962–1966, companies that write $8.5 billion in annual premiums pleaded they would go broke without rate increases, and languid state insurance commissioners, who are meant to regulate the industry, usually acceded to this demand with the result that insurance in 1966 costs nearly 25 percent more than it did in 1960. [...] Auto insurance companies, he demonstrated, use sleight-of-hand in accounting procedures which make the business seem as if it is in the red, when actually it is turning a profit. This trick is accomplished by mixing the accrual method of accounting (in stating income) with the cash method (in listing expenses). A hypothetical example may help to show how the dodge is worked. Say you take out auto insurance December 1, 1966, and on that day write a check for $120 to cover the premium. The company works by the calendar year and closes its books December 31. Since only one month is left in the year, the company shows one-twelfth of the premium, or in this case, $10 as income. This is the accrual method, with the rest of the income spread out over the coming year. In the expense column, however, the cash method is applied: The company lists total agent’s commission, production expenses, taxes, office expenses and profit. This totals about 35 percent of the premium and in the example comes to $42. Thus, while the company actually took in $120 on this premium in 1966, the books show a loss of $32. As long as the companies increase premium income each year, which they do, they will appear to be losing money. [419]

In 1966, Hoechst Pharmaceuticals Inc. ran several ads, including a 10-page color spread for Lasix, a diuretic drug. The ads included full-color photographs of Major Ed White’s 1965 space walk, even though the company had nothing to do with the space program. [420] Other companies did the same thing, including Pay-co-pay, which said that NASA only bought and used their toothbrushes. “NASA officials were somewhat embarrassed, for the ads implied NASA endorsement, which was not the case. NASA had purchased a quantity of Pay-co-pay toothbrushes but never used them.” [421] Discussing the situation of mutual funds in 1966, Mordecai Rosenfeld writes...

The idea [of investing in mutual funds] has been made so attractive that there are now more than 3.5 million people who own mutual funds, with a total investment in excess of $36 billion.... Typically, when a buyer purchases a mutual fund, more than eight percent of his purchase price is paid as a sales commission. This means that the instant you ‘invest’ $100, your investment is worth $92.... Several faculty members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School made a study of this for the Securities and Exchange Commission, and report in 1962 that: ‘The average performance by the funds did not differ appreciably from what would have been achieved by an unmanaged portfolio with the same division among asset types.’ Translated, that means that an investor who was blindfolded and picked his stocks with a pin and donkey’s tail would do as well as the high-priced investment advisers. [422]

From 1959 to 1966, credit life insurance has overcharged its customers $700 million. [423] The trend of monopolizing an entire industry could be seen in this era, as well. James Ridgeway writes, “In the spring of 1961, when Eastern’s shuttle service started, the fare between Washing and New York was $12.73 without tax. In eight months, Eastern’s share of this market increased by 35 percent; the price went to $13.64. By the end of 1962, Eastern had 50 percent of the traffic, and the fare was $14.29. By January 1964, Eastern had captured 77 percent of the market and sought and granted another hike — to $15.24. “ [424] In 1966, doctor’s gave thalidomide — an experimental drug — to pregnant women without telling them, as they were being paid by pharmaceutical companies. Both woman gave birth to deformed children. [425] In 1966, over 100 lawsuits had been filed against General Motors, because the inferior design of their cars resulted in thousands of deaths. [426] Though the production process is nearly identical, aspirin made by Squibb or Upjohn was priced at least 10 times more than generic aspirin. [427] David Sanford writes in 1966, “The brand-name hoax has hooked the public on all kinds of consumer goods. Two suits or TV sets are made by the same company but marketed under two different names — one expensive and familiar and one cheaper and unknown.” [428] It was also discovered that generic brand drugs were found “with grease, dirt and paper embedded in them.” [429] But expensive brands are not exempt, as some have “been found by FDA to be mislabeled, adulterated, too potent, not potent enough.” [430] On April 15, of 1965, Procaine Penicillin was recalled, because the drug particles were too large to inject through a needle; there was another recall by the same name brand company for a labeling mixup; and, a bottle that was supposed to contain Pentids actually contained Diethylstilbestrol. [431] Sanford sums up the situation, “Squib [a name brand] has been involved in recalls for carton mix-ups, label mix-ups, foreign capsules, contamination, printing errors, excess potency, low potency, ingredient substitution.” [432] Squibb sells Pentids for $6.62 per 100 tablets, when a generic name sells the same amount for $0.92. [433] Merck dropped the price of Prednisone overnight from $17.90 per thousand tablets to $2.20 — individuals had been charged $15 more than what a two dollar product was worth. African Americans were found to be paying more for brand-name drugs, sometimes 20% more. [434]

Before World War II, X-rays were used to treat everything: acne, removing tonsils, and a variety of things, serious and trivial. The untested X-rays produced radiation that created an alarming and unprecedented incidence of thyroid cancer in those patients. [435] In a 1961 inspection of 3,600 X-ray units in New York City, 92% were found to be defective and harmful to patients. The state inspected a total number of 113,806 medical X-ray units in use, only one fourth of that were inspected, and half were found defective. The amount corrected was less than 10,000. [436] In 1967, one thousand Dexedrine tablets cost $22.60, but the generic brand was one thousand tablets for $1. Ten other companies sold for less than $2. The ingredients in a gallon of phenylephrine nose drops cost the manufacturer $3.50, but the customer paid $1 for a one-ounce bottle. That means that a $3.50 gallon sold for $120 in retail. Pil-Digis is sold by Davies, Rose-Hoyt, for $18.40 per 1,000 tablets. American Quinine, the generic brand, sells the same amount for $1.36, or Corvit sells for $1.70. Meprobamate sold by the brand name goes at 450 pills for $6.50, but Pennex sells the same amount for $3.10. Phenobarbital sells for $2 for 50 or fewer pills, but the generic brand costs 50 cents for 1,000 tablets. 1,000 iron vitamins under brand name cost $9 for 1,000 pills, but generic brands sell the same amount for $2. And, in fact, half of the time the government made a recall of a drug, the big, brand name firms were involved. [437] In 1967, 15% of commercial slaughtered animals, and 25 percent of commercial processed meat, is not covered by adequate inspection laws. According to the FDA, “significant portions of this meat are diseased and are processed in grossly unsanitary conditions, and its true condition is masked by the latest preservatives, additives, and coloring agents.” In one year, over 22 million pounds of meat was condemned as tainted, rancid, moldy, odorous, unclean, or contaminated Sulfite, a dangerous added that has been federally illegal to use, is used to give meat a deceptive bright pink color, but in 1967, 26 out of 30 hamburger samples tested positive for it. One New York state official estimated that 90% of the uninspected meat sold in that state was labeled deceptively. Ten to thirty percent of the weight in big hams is attributed to water pumped in the veins of the carcass at the back of supermarkets Meat is doped with Aureomycin, a substitute for sanitation, and detergents are applied to fresh up unfit meat. [438] One prominent voice criticized the meat industry for...

failure to supervise destruction of obviously diseased tissues and spoiled, putrid and filthy materials. [439]

Rodney E. Leonard, a witness of the meat industries tactics, reported, that there “are many opportunities for illegitimate operators to introduce into human food channels meat derived from dead, dying, disabled and diseased animals — commonly referred to as ‘4-D’s.” [440] When examining 2,057 samples of tuna from two different processing plants, 11.2% tested positive for salmonella organisms. [441] Frozen dinners and “ready to serve” dishes are showing a great probability of harboring trichinosis and other bacterial threats. [442] Peas that are used in the premium brand Del Monte actually come from the same ranch, and possibly the same batch, as peas that come from generic A&P label, though there is a significant cost difference. The same is true of milk. [443] In the 60’s, it was believed that fraudulent practices in the drug, therapeutic, and home repair fields drain the consumer of $1 to $1.5 billion each year. Professor Sanford Kadish said, “It is possible to reason convincingly that the harm done to the economic order by violations of many of these regulatory laws is of a magnitude that dwarfs in significance the lower-class property offenses.” [444] The Greyhound Bus Company knowingly used badly worn tires on a bus, which ended up skidding off the road, killing one and seriously injuring others — if convicted, the fines on the company would be no more than $1,000, due to the fact that the company is a corporation. [445] In 1967, over 70 percent of auto safety equipment failed to meet state standards. [446] In 1967, Ralph Nader reported...

Scratch the image of any industry and unsavory practices become visible. All was apparently proper with the leaders of the electrical equipment industry until the great decade-long, price-fixing conspiracy was disclosed. A similar situation obtained for six corporations selling hundreds of millions of dollars of pipe over the past 20 years according to rigged bids until the antitrusters caught up with them. But the Justice Department does not have the manpower to cope with the widespread prevalence of price fixing. [447]

A 1963 Consumers Union report claimed, “The general quality level of all frozen fishery products tested by CU in the past few years can only be described as dismal.” [448] Before being sold, dead fish rest 5–14 days in hold pens. [449] In 1963, nine people died from canned tuna having botulism poisoning. During the 1966 Memorial weekend, nearly 400 cases of salmonella poisoning in New York City occurred, traced to the fishing plants. [450] In one test, 55 percent of breaded fish portions were so substandard that they couldn’t even be graded. [451] Ralph Nader wrote...

98 samples of 120 samples of frozen raw breaded shrimp tested contained coagulase positive staphylococci (1961); 55 samples of 120 samples of cod, haddock and ocean perch fillets judged substandard quality (1963); 85 percent of 646 cans of salmon (51 brands) showed a tendency toward mushiness or discoloration (1966); 17 samples of 18 frozen salmon steaks (3 brands) were so rancid that no cooking method could disguise the bad flavor (1966). The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries of the Department of interior has made similar tests with disappointing findings. [452]

In 1966, 250 million pounds of meat was destroyed by federal inspectors, due to disease, spoilage, and contamination. [453] Nader writes again...

A survey of conditions in Delaware records: In addition to the very grave and urgent problem posed by the distribution of food derived from diseased animals, the attached report details extremely bad and revolting dirty food-handling methods without any regard for rudimentary sanitation. Rodents and insects, in fact any vermin, had free access to stored meats and meat product ingredients. Hand-washing lavatories were absent or inadequate. Dirty meats contaminated by animal hair, the contents of the animal’s digestive tract, sawdust, flies, rodents and the filthy hands, tools and clothing of food handlers, were finely ground and mixed with seasonings and preservatives. These mixtures are distributed as ground meat products, frankfurters, sausages and bolognas. Due to the comminuting process and seasoning of these products, most of the adulterations could not be detected by the consumers. [454]

One customer in 1968 bought a used car at $98 a month (though it was advertised at only $50 a month). He got behind on payments in then they requested $1,300 in full payments. They repossessed the car, sold it, and are still requiring $500 more from him. They threatened to garnish his wages, in which case his own employer would fire him — and this one customer was one case out of tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands. [455] Minority contractors in San Francisco were routinely denied employment in the 1960’s. [456] In the 1960’s, the FDA required instructions on certain drugs not to be used on women with psychic depression — the megacorporations response: change the name of the drugs, and it went unnoticed (except for the victims) for many years. [457]

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angryisokay · 1 year ago

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Since there's an interest in strikes and labor activities and whatnot, and people might want some books to read, here's a short list of books I have enjoyed:

Midnight in Vehicle City by Edward McClelland Reuther by Frank Cormier On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors by Patrick J Wright [DeLorean biography] There is Power in a Union by Philip Dray The Devil is Here in These Hills by James Green Which Side Are You On by Thomas Geoghegen Only One Thing Can Save Us by Thomas Geoghegen Strike! by Jeremy Brecher Blood Passion by Scott Martelle From Blackjacks to Briefcases by Robert Michael Smith The Blue Eagle At Work by Charles J Morris

The DeLorean biography isn't really labor related, but it is an interesting look inside a major corporation.

#wga strike #sag strike #strikes #unions #labor organizing #labor history #sag-aftra

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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

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'Would it be an exaggeration to claim that it’s Cillian Murphy’s world and the rest of us are merely existing within it? Opinions on the matter would, of course, differ. What can be affirmed, though, is that the Oppenheimer star’s unquestionable popularity is nothing short of amazing. With his enigmatic depiction of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, movie-going audiences have been charmed. People are starting to crave more.

Media connoisseurs acquainted with Murphy’s previous works would know that this isn’t the first instance of the actor’s overwhelming talent being felt in an endeavor. The rise of the Irish actor to worldwide stardom was amplified by his participation in the popular crime-drama series Peaky Blinders. With the famed talent playing a major role in the British TV show, Murphy’s co-star felt overshadowed by his prodigious presence in the narrative.

Why Peaky Blinders Star Joe Cole Left The Show

In a 2020 interview with Metro.co.uk, Joe Cole, who portrayed the role of John Shelby in the Cillian Murphy-led premise, revealed why he decided to depart from the notable endeavor...

...His exit from the Steven Knight-created series, which also happens to be a crime drama centered around the Peaky Blinders street gang, was intended to allow the actor to explore different stories and characters.

Following was his statement:

“I’ve spent the last few years turning down gang-related shows because when a show does well you get offered quite a lot of them. I actually chose to leave Peaky Blinders because I wanted to explore new avenues and new characters and new stories.”

...the actor thought there was one significant distinction between the two gang-drama series. With Gangs of London and its ensemble cast, Cole wouldn’t have to feel eclipsed by a central character or actor in the storyline—a phenomenon that Cillian Murphy’s Peaky Blinders seemed to have contributed to.

Joe Cole Felt Overshadowed By Cillian Murphy In Peaky Blinders

Murphy’s presence in Peaky Blinders is astounding. Imagining a world where the Irish actor isn’t embodying the role of Thomas Shelby becomes near impossible. The prominence of the character within the show would understandably shine the light on him more than it would on his other co-stars.

The reason behind Joe Cole’s exit from the show, after his character’s brutal demise in season 4, episode 1, was owing to the actor’s desire of wanting to branch out and do more with a role—which he couldn’t with what he deems “Cillian’s show.”

"With Peaky Blinders I never really got out of the gates in that role. It’s Cillian’s show really. This show [Gangs of London] is more ensemble, it follows characters on a deep level. So for me, it’s really an opportunity to show what I can do and for the rest of the cast, what they can do.”...

While it’s undeniable that Murphy holds a central position as the main lead, the Steven Knight-created show’s success is owed to not just the Oppenheimer star but also the many others connected to the premise. Hence, claiming that the show solely revolves around Thomas Shelby would be a disservice to the other talented individuals associated with the project.

Nonetheless, we can empathize with Joe Cole’s perspective. Cillian Murphy’s on-screen presence has always demanded the undivided attention of viewers. His compelling character portrayals remain one of the glorious factors behind the success of his projects. It’d be intriguing to see what’s next for the skilled Irish actor.'

#Joe Cole #Thomas Shelby #Peaky Blinders #Gangs of London #Steven Knight #John Shelby

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justforbooks · 2 years ago

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Although he was acclaimed as a travel writer, Jonathan Raban, who has died aged 80, disliked the term. He agreed with his fellow writer Bruce Chatwin, who famously turned down the Thomas Cook award, that the term was too limiting. He said he found it an “open form”, which was perfect for him because “I write between genres anyway”. When asked why, unlike Chatwin, he accepted the Cook award twice, he said: “I was hungry for prizes.”

He was also hungry to travel, to get away from his roots. The leaving of Britain formed a crucial part of much of his writing, even as he sailed around the island in Coasting (1986). The heart of his work was set on water; his writing mirrors the movement of the sea, its calm with turmoil always lurking beneath, taking you along with it, hiding and revealing. He mixes literary sources and knowledge with the people and places encountered on his journey; he’s less exotic than Chatwin, less caustic than Paul Theroux, but all of it comes in service to his real journey, within himself, escaping into travel. “Wherever I was, I felt like an outsider,” he said, and it is a feeling that permeates his writing, though he was drawn to America, a land of immigrants: the freedom of adjusting to this new world, and its contrasts with his old, became a major theme.

What he was escaping was the English world into which he was born, in Hempton, Norfolk. He was three when he first met his father, the Rev Canon J Peter CP Raban, an army captain returning from the second world war. He grew up in various parish postings, and his father came to represent “the Conservative party, the army, the church, the public school system in person”. It was his mother, Monica (nee Sandison), who “taught me to read, which was my one proficiency”.

He despised boarding school, to which he was sent at five, and eventually studied English at Hull University, where he organised a library committee in order to meet Philip Larkin, notoriously adept at avoiding students. They discussed novels and jazz, but never poetry. He married a fellow student, Bridget Johnson, in 1964. After graduating he taught English and American literature at Aberystwyth, then at East Anglia; he was captivated by American writers, particularly Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, and published a study of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

In 1969, he moved to London as a freelance writer, on the recommendation of Malcolm Bradbury, falling into the last hurrah of the Grub Street era, reviewing while living in the basement of the house shared by the poet Robert Lowell and the writer Lady Caroline Blackwood, after his marriage ended. His experience of Larkin and Lowell led to another book of literary criticism, The Society of the Poem. He joined the circle that emerged around the New Review magazine, in Soho’s Pillars of Hercules pub, and in 1974 published Soft City, a mix of personal memoir and London observation that became an early example of “psychogeography”.

His first travel book, Arabia Through the Looking Glass (1979), took a modern orientalist view of the area reminiscent of Charles Doughty’s Travels in Arabia Deserta and other classic travel writing on the Middle East. Old Glory (1981) was his first book set in the US, taking a skiff down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. It recalls his study of Huckleberry Finn, blending the approaching age of Ronald Reagan into his inward experiences with America’s own eccentricities, and was a success on both sides of the Atlantic. Jan Morris called it “the best book of travel ever written by an Englishman about the United States”.

His first novel, Foreign Land (1985), follows an eccentric expat Englishman, George Grey, who leaves the Caribbean to return home, much to the consternation of his daughter, and sail a just-bought boat around Britain. Raban recapitulated the story himself in Coasting, in which he sails around the country, which, as the Falklands war erupts, seems an increasingly insular island nation. The book marks the perfecting of his classic English voice, that of the friendly faux-bumbler whose self-deprecation is itself a form of humble-brag, which has served British humour from Arthur Marshall to Bill Bryson; it made him a neutral sort of observer to Americans he met.

After publishing a memoir, For Love & Money: A Writing Life, he moved to the US, his journey across the Atlantic in a container ship told in Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America (1990), and, crucially, a poignant leaving scene that reflects the end of his second marriage, to the London art dealer Caroline Cuthbert.

He settled in Seattle, where in 1992 he married his third wife, Jean Lenihan; their daughter, Julia, was born in 1993. He continued travelling – Bad Land: An American Romance was set in Montana, dealing with the difficult dreams of immigrants to the beautiful but harsh Big Sky country. But his next book was perhaps his finest. Passage to Juneau (1996) is nominally another boat trip, on Alaska’s Inside Passage, a man leaving his wife and daughter for his travel. But midway through the trip, he returns to England, where his father is dying and his family has gathered. It is a travelogue of the writer’s mid-life implosion; he returns to finish his journey only to be greeted by his wife announcing she and his daughter are leaving him.

He remained in Seattle to concentrate on the joint care of his daughter. His 2003 novel, Waxwings, takes its butterfly title from Nabokov’s Pale Fire: “I was the shadow of the waxwing slain / By the false azure of the window pane.” Drawing on Bad Land, it is the story of an expat Hungarian-British man, in the dot.com boomtown that is Seattle, with an American wife, and an illegal Chinese immigrant worker who begins reconstructing his house. Raban was a distant relative of Evelyn Waugh, and the book recalls Waugh’s Men at Arms, where the social whirl does not stop for the newly launched war. My Holy War (2006), about the 9/11 attack and the US invasion of Iraq, was almost a companion piece.

In 2006 he published his third novel, Surveillance, in which a journalist tracks down a reclusive writer who has been kept hidden by his publisher lest he destroy the credibility of his Holocaust memoir. Its prime concern is the many-faceted ambiguity of liberty in the war on terror. “The world changed,” he said. “It didn’t change with 9/11. It changed with the Patriot Act, with the homeland security measures and the war on terror.”

His 2010 collection, Driving Home, is an eccentric mix of literary criticism, tales of great sea voyages, the state of the US in the 21st century and the mix of people he meets along the way, even as he remained in Seattle. A 2011 essay in the New York Times, The Getaway Car, detailed a drive down the Pacific coast to take Julia, now 18, to university at Stanford, outside San Francisco. Later that year, Raban suffered a massive stroke, which left one side of his body paralysed and confined him to a wheelchair. He continued writing, primarily for the New York Review of Books. It seemed an ironic fate for a writer who saw his journeys as “a means of escape, freedom and solitude, I could be happy … in a way I couldn’t be at home”. Yet he had always travelled through literature, and through his writing. And now he had a different sort of freedom in his daughter, which perhaps allowed him to address his own escape in his last book, to be published this autumn, a memoir titled Father and Son.

Julia survives him.

🔔 Jonathan Raban, writer, born 14 June 1942; died 17 January 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Jonathan Raban #in memoriam

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monkeyjaw · 1 year ago

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Year in Review (by way of books) 2023

Books and Comics/Graphic Novels 2023

January

The Doubtful Guest – Edward Gorey (illustrated book/graphic novel)

The Promised Neverland: Volume 6 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu(manga)

The City and the City – China Mieville

Sandman Volume 6: Fables and Reflections – Neil Gaiman, various artists (graphic novel)

Sandman Volume 7: Brief Lives – Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, Vince Locke (graphic novel)

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas – Frederick Douglas, read by Charles Turner

The Sandman Volume 8: World’s End – Neil Gaiman, various artists (graphic novel)

The Bartimaeus Trilogy 2: The Golem’s Eye – Jonathan Stroud

The Man Who Fell To Earth – Dan Watters, Dev Pramanik (graphic novel)

The Carpet People – Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs

Hikaru no Go Volume 15: Sayanara – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Hikaru no Go Volume 16: The Chinese Go Association – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Witch Hat Atelier Volume 1 – Kamome Shirahama (manga)

February

The Sandman Volume 9: The Kindly Ones – Neil Gaiman, Marc Hemple, various artists (graphic novel)

Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake, read by Simon Vance

Paper Girls Volume 3 – Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang (graphic novel)

Beastars Volume 1 – Paru Itagaki (manga)

Revenge of the Librarians – Tom Gauld (graphic novel)

Lucifer Volume 1: Devil in the Gateway – Mike Carey, Peter Gross (graphic novel)

Saint Young Men Volume 1 – Hikaru Nakamura (manga)

The Sandman Volume 10: The Wake – Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Jon Muth, Charles Vess (graphic novel)

Hikaru no Go Volume 17: A Familiar Face – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson

Beastars Volume 2 – Paru Itagaki (manga)

Woman World – Aminder Dhaliwal (graphic novel)

Black Paradox – Junji Ito (manga)

Beastars Volume 3 – Paru Itagaki (manga)

March

Lucifer Volume 2: Children & Monsters – Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly (graphic novel)

Doomsday Book – Connie Willis, read by Jenny Sterlin

Moonshadow – J.M. DeMatteis, Jon J. Muth, Kent Williams (graphic novel)

The Magic Fish – Trung Le Nguyen (graphic novel)

Sleepless Volume 2 – Sarah Vaughn, Leila Del Luca (graphic novel)

The Monkey Prince Volume 1: Enter the Monkey – Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang (graphic novel)

Unbroken – Lauren Hillenbrand, read by Edward Hermann

Thrawn: Ascendancy 2: The Greater Good – Timothy Zahn, read by Marc Thompson

Thud! – Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs

April

Operation Mincemeat – Ben McIntyre

Beastars Volume 4 – Paru Itagaki (manga)

Parasyte Volume 2 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson

The Promised Neverland Volume 7 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Parasyte Volume 3 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

The Wheel of Time Bk 4: The Shadow Rising – Robert Jordan

Twig – Skottie Young, Skyle Strahm (graphic novel)

Spring Rain: a graphic memoir – Andy Warner (graphic novel)

The Multiversity – Grant Morrison, various artists (graphic novel)

The Promised Neverland Volume 8 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Goldie Vance Volume 2 – Hope Larson, Jackie Ball, Brittney Williams (graphic novel)

Team of Rivals (Abridged) – Doris Kearns Goodwin, read by Richard Thomas

Stretching the Heavens – Terry L. Givens

May

The Promised Neverland Volume 9 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Parasyte Volume 4 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

Parasyte Volume 5 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

Conan Volume 1 – Robert E. Howard, L. Sprage De Camp, Lin Carter

Parasyte Volume 6 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

The Promised Neverland Volume 10 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Penric’s Demon – Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grove Gardner

Kamen Rider: The Classic Manga Collection - Shōtarō Ishinomori, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian (manga)

Parasyte Volume 7 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

Shuna’s Journey – Hayao Miyazaki, translated by Alex Dudok de Wit (manga)

Parasyte Volume 8 – Hitoshi Iwaaki (manga)

Maggy Garrison – Lewis Trondheim, Stephane Oiry (graphic novel)

Double Cross – Ben McIntyre

The Promised Neverland Volume 11 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

June

The Promised Neverland Volume 12 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

The Promised Neverland Volume 13 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

My Hero Academia Volume 1 – Kohei Horikoshi (manga)

Think Again – Adam Grant

Adventure Game Comics Volume 1: Leviathan – Jason Shiga (graphic novel)

Ranma ½ Volume 35 – Rumiko Takahashi (manga)

Ranma ½ Volume 36 – Rumiko Takahashi (manga)

The Promised Neverland Volume 14 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Thrawn Ascendancy Volume 3: Lesser Evil – Timothy Zahn, read by Marc Thompson

Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corey

The Man Without Talent – Yoshitsaru Tsuge (manga)

July

A Bride’s Story Volume 3 – Kaoru Mori (manga)

The Promised Neverland Volume 15 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

The Promised Neverland Volume 16 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (manga)

Almost American Girl – Robin Ha (graphic novel)

The Woman Who Smashed Codes – Jason Fagone

The Swamp – Yoshiharu Tsuge (manga)

The Wheel of Time Book 5: The Fires of Heaven – Robert Jordan

A Bride’s Story Volume 4 – Kaoru Mori (manga)

Pulp – Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (graphic novel)

Locke & Key: Small World – Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Breaking Cat News – Georgia Dunn (graphic novel)

August

Labyrinth Coronation Vol 1 – Ryan Ferrier, Simon Spurrier, Daniel Bayliss (graphic novel)

A Bride’s Story Volume 5 – Kaoru Mori (manga)

Worst Journey In the World Volume 1 – Sara Airress (graphic novel)

Best American Comics 2016 – various artists, writers, edited by Roz Chast (graphic novel)

Labyrinth Coronation Volume 2 – Ryan Ferrier, Simon Spurrier, Daniel Bayliss (graphic novel)

Hikaru no Go Volume 19: One Step Forward! – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Hikaru no Go Volume 20: The Young Lions – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Thirsty Mermaids – Kat Leyh (graphic novel)

Criminal: Coward – Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (graphic novel)

Parable of the Sower – Octavia E. Butler, read by Lynne Thigpen

Hikaru no Go Volume 21: Great Expectations – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Hikaru no Go Volume 22: China vs. Japan – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Hikaru no Go Volume 23: Endgame – Takeshi Obata, Yumi Hotta (manga)

Dead Boy Detectives Vol. 1: Schoolboy Terrors – Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham, Gary Erskine (graphic novel)

Dead Boy Detectives Vol 2: Ghost Snow – Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham, Gary Erskine (graphic novel)

Seek You – Kristen Radtke (graphic novel)

John Constantinte Hellblazer Volume 2: The Devil You Know – Jamie Delano, David Lloyd, Richard Piers Rayner (graphic novel)

September

Once & Future Volume 5: The Wasteland – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora (graphic novel)

The Once and Future Witches – Alix Harrow

The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives – Ed Brubaker, Bryan Talbot, Steve Leialoha (graphic novel)

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham – Mike Mignola, Richard Pace, Troy Nixey, Dennis Janke (graphic novel)

Free Country: A Tale of the Children’s Crusade – Neil Gaiman, various writers, artists (graphic novel)

Man’s Search For Meaning – Victor E. Frankl, read by Simon Vance

John Constantine Hellblazer Volume 1: Original Sins – Jamie Delano, Mark Buckingham, Richard Piers Rayner (graphic novel)

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? – Roz Chast (graphic novel)

Edge of Spider-Verse – Dan Slott, Jason Latour, various artists/writers (graphic novel)

Spider-Gwen Volume 1: Greater Power – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

John Constatine Hellblazer Volume 3: The Fear Machine – Jamie Delano, Alfredo Alcala, Mark Buckingham, Mike Hoffman (graphic novel)

Cosmic Odyssey – Jim Starlin, Mike Mignola, Carlos Garzon (graphic novel)

October

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. –edited by Clayborne Carson, read by LeVar Burton

Spider-Women – Robbie Thompson, Jason Latour, various artists (graphic novel)

Spider-Gwen Volume 2: Weapon of Choice – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Gender Queer – Maia Kubata (graphic novel)

Black Orchid Book 1 – Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean (graphic novel)

Black Orchid Book 2 – Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean (graphic novel)

Black Orchid Book 3 – Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean (graphic novel)

Tombs – Junji Ito (manga)

Locke & Key: The Golden Age – Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Wraith – Joe Hill, Charles Paul Wilson III (graphic novel)

A Great and Terrible King – Marc Morris, read by Ralph Lister

The Birds and Don’t Look Now – Daphne du Maurier, read by Peter Capaldi

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness – Nagata Kabi (manga)

Spider-Gwen Volume 3: Long-Distance – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

The Birds & Other Stories – Daphne du Maurier

November

John Constantine Hellblazer Volume 4: The Family Man – Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, various artists (graphic novel)

The Feng Shui Detective Agency – Nury Vittachi

Delicious in Dungeon Volume 1 – Ryoko Kui (manga)

The Saga of Swamp Thing Volume 1 – Alan Moore, Stephen Bisette, John Totleben (graphic novel)

Spider-Verse – Dan Slott, various writers/artists (graphic novel)

Breakfast With Socrates – Robert Rowland Smith

Harleen – Stjepan Sejic (graphic novel)

Spider-Gwen Volume 4: Predators – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Spider-Gwen Volume 5: Gwenom – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Flipped – Wendelin Van Draanen

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer – Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin, read by Jeff Cummings

Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree – Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Latour, Sara Pichelli, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

December

John Constantine Hellblazer Volume 5: Dangerous Habits – Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano, various artists (graphic novel)

My Solo Exchange Diary Volume 1 – Nagata Kabi (manga)

Birds of Prey Volume 1 – Chuck Dixon, Jordan B. Gorfinkel, various artists (graphic novel)

My Solo Exchange Diary Volume 2 – Nagata Kabi (manga)

Shuna’s Journey – Hayao Miyazaki, translated by Alex Dudok de Wit (manga)

When Stars Are Scattered – Victoria Jemison, Omar Mohamed (graphic novel)

My Alcoholic Escape From Reality – Nagata Kabi (manga)

Dune Messiah – Frank Herbert, read by Simon Vance, Euan Morton, Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren

Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson #12) - Patricia Briggs

Lore Olympus Volume 1 – Rachel Smythe (graphic novel)

Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank, read by Selma Blair

Lore Olympus Volume 2 – Rachel Smythe (graphic novel)

Spider-Gwen Volume 6: The Life of Gwen Stacy – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (graphic novel)

Hungry Ghosts – Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, various artists (graphic novel)

I read 156 books and graphic novels in 2023. 119 graphic novels, 37 books. 25 non-fiction, 131 fiction. 69 graphic novels, 50 graphic mangas. 15 re-reads.

Starting in March with Unbroken, I started reading a number of books about World War II. I think I had, as ever a goal to read more non-fiction and since there are so many books on the 2 World Wars, they are often the ones that I’m able to check out from the library without a super long wait list. Then Oppenheimer came out this summer so I was more intrigued and decided to read the basis for the film (which is atypical for me outside of comics). Following Unbroken I read a few spy books, Operation Mincemeat and Double Cross in May by Ben McIntyre that were super interesting.

I had previously read The Confidence Men about 2 British POWs from WWI who escaped a Turkish POW camp by (among other things) a Ouija board. I had started reading The Diary of Anne Frank/Diary of a Young Girl sometime this past year I think and finally finished it near the end of the year and Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning in October. I started listening to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in November or December and read for my family’s book club The Woman Who Smashed Codes about Elizabeth Friedman and her husband who developed cryptology in the US between World War I and II and was treated pretty wretchedly by the US government for her efforts. This was in no small part due to J. Edgar Hoover, who seems to be more and more a villain every time I have the misfortune of encountering him in books and other media.

A manga series I had started last year, The Promised Neverland, I’m close to finishing (I believe there are 20 volumes, which isn’t super long for a manga series. Full Metal Alchemist is 20-something volumes if I remember correctly) and I finally finished Hikaru no Go about a teenager who accidentally finds himself competing in the Japanese game Go due to a haunted Go board in his grandfather’s attic. A web comic that my wife got me interested in, Lore Olympus, retells the story of Persephone and Hades with a combination of contemporary and antiquity culture. The comic is broken up into “seasons” and the second season was recently finished so I wanted to read up to that point while waiting for the end of the third season. Unfortunately, it was long enough ago that I had read up to the end of the first season I ended up having to start over. But this was good as there were a number of things I caught the second time through and appreciated more on a re-read.

I also read the 4th and 5th Wheel of Time books for the second time this past year, which was an interesting experience. There were a lot of things I remembered incorrectly because of the 25ish years since I read them initially. I don’t think I’m going to read the entire series all the way through again, but I might read book 6. I finished re-reading The Sandman (partly due to the release of the Netflix series) and went on a kick of other Vertigo (an imprint of DC Comics that focused on non-superhero books, more adult and more creator-controlled that is now largely if not entirely defunct) titles (the Dead Boy Detectives, Hellblazer, Swamp Thing). Don’t know where I’ll go with that. Also read a decent amount of Spider-Verse comics (mostly Spider-Gwen but one big crossover book that was sort of the culmination of the Spider-Verse storylines (I think?)) that was interesting. Spider-Gwen is a great comic that has yet to lead to the frustration I felt with the later Miles Morales books.

Nagata Kabi’s memoirs about self-esteem, her fraught relationship with her parents, alcoholism and eating problems is both interesting and very frustrating. I am very lucky to not have hardly any of her emotional, mental and health issues that are wound up together but reading her mangas it is hard not to want to shake her when she seems to recover from one life-threatening catastrophe only to work herself into another. I’m morbidly curious about her later volumes about pancreatitis.

Lastly, there were some books on Arthur and some non-fiction or books by African-American authors that I had intended to start or finish that I’m dragging my heels on. We’ll see what happens in the next year with that.

#books #reading #graphic novels #manga #memoir

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