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newstfionline · 11 months ago

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Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Armed woman killed in Joel Osteen Texas megachurch shootout (BBC) A woman clad in a trench coat and accompanied by a child opened fire in a crowded Texas megachurch before she was gunned down by police, officials say. The suspect, named by police as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, was with her seven-year-old son, who was critically injured in the Houston shootout. A 57-year-old man was shot in the hip during the incident and has since been discharged from hospital. The gunwoman's unnamed son was shot in the head during the shootout and is currently "fighting for his life", said police. It is not clear who shot the boy. Officials told Monday's news conference the attacker has a history of mental health issues and was placed under an emergency detention order in 2016. Public records indicate Moreno also has a long record of arrests and convictions on assault, drug, and weapons charges. Motive for the attack was unclear.

Mexico says it seized 20 tons of meth from a drug lab in Sonora state (AP) Mexican law enforcement agencies said Monday they seized over 20 tons of methamphetamine at the biggest drug lab found during the current administration. The Mexican navy said Monday that the lab was located in Quiriego, a township in a remote part of the northern border state of Sonora. It said the 91,000 pounds (41,310 kilograms) of meth found there was equivalent to about half of the 162,000 pounds of the drug Mexico has seized all year so far. Another 28,000 pounds (12,705 kilograms) of meth chemicals were found, the navy said.

Nicaragua’s crackdown on Catholic Church spreads fear among the faithful (AP) Nineteen priests kicked out of the country, dozens of incidents of harassment and church desecrations, rural areas lacking worship and social services: the situation for Catholic clergy and faithful in Nicaragua is only worsening in 2024, according to exiled priests, laypeople in the Central American country and human rights advocates. The fear of the ongoing crackdown by President Daniel Ortega—on the Catholic Church in particular but not sparing evangelicals—has become so pervasive that it is silencing criticism of the authoritarian government and even mentions of the repression from the pulpit. “Life in Nicaragua is hell, because surveillance is brutal. You can’t say anything that’s against the government,” said an exiled priest.

Finnish line (BBC) Finland's conservative former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has won Sunday's presidential election, final results show. He secured 51.6% of the vote, while his Green Party rival Pekka Haavisto, the former foreign minister, had 48.4%. Mr Haavisto has already admitted defeat. It is the first election since Finland joined the Nato military alliance. Mr Stubb, 55, takes a hardline approach towards Russia, with which the Nordic nation shares a long land border. He had said that joining Nato was a "done deal" for his country as soon as Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

An Outburst by Trump on NATO May Push Europe to Go It Alone (NYT) Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance. Even allowing for the usual bombast of one of his campaign rallies, where he made his declaration on Saturday, Mr. Trump may now force Europe’s debate into a far more public phase. So far the discussion in the European media has focused on whether the former president, if returned to office, would pull the United States out of NATO. But the larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump’s demands. His statement stunned many in Europe, and by Sunday morning his comments had already resonated with those who have argued that Europe cannot depend on the United States to deter Russia.

After embrace, pope and Argentina’s Milei meet amid speculation Francis might finally go home (AP) Despite their rocky start, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Pope Francis appeared to have hit it off as they held their first meeting Monday amid speculation that the Argentine pontiff might finally go home for a visit later this year. The Vatican said the two men met for an hour and 10 minutes, an unusually long audience by Francis’ standards, especially given no translation was required. Vatican video showed a smiling Francis briefly grasping Milei’s arm for support as they walked to his desk at the start of their meeting. Milei, who once called the pope an “imbecile,” gave Francis some of his favorite Argentine dulce de leche alfajor cookies and lemon biscuits. As recently as last month the 87-year-old pontiff repeated his hope to visit Argentina later this year for the first time since his 2013 election.

Russia launches barrage of 45 drones over Ukraine as Kyiv changes more military leaders (AP) Russian forces launched 45 drones over Ukraine in a five-and-a-half-hour barrage Sunday, officials said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued the reshuffle of his war cabinet as the war enters its third year. In a statement, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 40 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones over nine different regions, including on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Kyiv. The attack targeted agricultural facilities and coastal infrastructure, officials for Ukraine’s southern defense forces wrote on Telegram. They said that a strike in the Mykolaiv region had injured one person, sparking a fire and damaging residential buildings.

525 million (WSJ) The projected size of China’s population by the end of the century, researchers estimate. That’s a precipitous drop from today’s 1.4 billion people. Beijing miscalculated its way to a baby bust with its one-child policy. The sometimes brutal enforcement and decades of propaganda about the benefits of a small family created a hard-to-change mindset, while the traditional preference for sons meant many couples who could have only one child preferred a boy. Now the number of women of childbearing age is shrinking quickly and not all of those who can have kids want to.

55 dead in Philippines landslide that buried a village (AP) At least 55 people died and 32 were injured in one of the southern Philippines’ deadliest landslides in recent years, the government of Davao de Oro province said Monday. Search and retrieval operations are still underway for dozens more missing after the landslide that took place Tuesday night on the southern island of Mindanao in the mining town of Maco, some 600 miles south of the capital, Manila. The death toll is expected to rise as the government verifies more dead and missing. A local official said during a live-streamed news conference late Monday afternoon that of the bodies that have been recovered, five remain unidentified and that 51 people are still unaccounted for. The landslide swept away three buses and a jeepney carrying miners and buried a village, according to authorities. The region was inundated by floods in the past week, hampering rescue operations.

Young Israelis block aid to Gaza while IDF soldiers stand and watch (Washington Post) It’s approaching 1 a.m. Yosef de Bresser, 22, is in the thick of planning. He fields calls from the car as it zips along dirt roads just outside southern Gaza near Egypt. “Are people there?” he asks. Around 40, he’s told. He taps out a WhatsApp message to rally more: “We sleep tonight in Kerem Shalom and block aid and fuel to Hamas!” Before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued, Kerem Shalom was the main commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza. Today, it’s one of just two entry points for lifesaving food and medicine to the besieged enclave, where aid agencies say civilians are on the brink of famine. But De Bresser and his three companions are determined to keep any trucks from getting through, and they aren’t bothered if innocents suffer: “War is war,” De Bresser shrugs. The United States didn’t care about civilians when it blew up Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Who gives his enemy aid?” The Israel Defense Forces—ostensibly, at least—have made Kerem Shalom a closed military zone since late January. But there are no checkpoints at night, making it easier to bring in busloads of protesters. Inside, they shake hands with soldiers and begin to line up their tents.

Israeli forces rescue 2 hostages in dramatic Gaza raid that killed at least 67 Palestinians (AP) Israeli forces rescued two hostages early Monday, storming a heavily guarded apartment in the southern Gaza Strip and extracting the captives under fire in a dramatic raid that was a small but symbolically significant success for Israel. The operation killed at least 67 Palestinians, including women and children, according to Palestinian health officials in the beleaguered territory. The raid was celebrated in Israel as a victory in the sluggish battle to free the hostages, with more than 100 captives still held by Hamas and other Gaza militants, and briefly lifted the spirits of a nation still reeling from Hamas’ cross-border raid last year. But in Gaza, where civilians have borne a staggering toll since the war erupted on Oct. 7, the operation unleashed another wartime tragedy, with many Palestinians killed or wounded.

Media casualties in the Israel-Gaza war (Washington Post) Some 85 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war. The rate of journalists killed in the conflict, about five a week, is the highest since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping records over 30 years ago. All but seven of the 85 killed were Palestinians.

Egypt is threatening to void its decades-old peace treaty with Israel (AP) It was a warm handshake between the unlikeliest of statesmen, conducted under the beaming gaze of President Jimmy Carter. Sunlight streamed through the trees at Camp David, Maryland, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin solidified a landmark agreement that has allowed over 40 years of peace between Israel and Egypt. It has served as an important source of stability in a volatile region. That peace has held through two Palestinian uprisings and a series of wars between Israel and Hamas. But now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to send Israeli troops into Rafah, a city in Gaza on the border with Egypt, the Egyptian government is threatening to void the agreement. If Egypt were to nullify the agreement, it could mean that Israel can no longer rely on its southern border as an oasis of calm. Bolstering forces along its border with Egypt would no doubt challenge an Israeli military already thinly stretched. But it would bear serious ramifications for Egypt as well. Egypt has received billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance from the U.S. since the peace agreement.

#headlines #news

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absolutelandclean · 2 years ago

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Forestry service

Absolute Land Service is your best choice in Central Texas land clearing companies for all your site preparation, demolition, and land clearing needs in Austin, TX, and surrounding areas.

Aided by sophisticated equipment and dedicated to carefully managing your project throughout all stages, our team is your trusted partner in site prep. It is essential to choose a company that is appropriately licensed and qualified to ensure the safety and success of your project, as the equipment used in these projects is challenging to operate and expensive. Our certified professionals are thoroughly trained and highly experienced in all kinds of projects on every type of terrain. From flat surfaces to mountains to creek beds, we can ensure the successful, timely completion of your project. Likewise, incorrect demolition and clearing services are costly and irreversible, so partnering with a company that has awareness, professionalism, and experience in the local landscape is of the utmost importance.

Phone: 512-548-3840

Address: 302 Rosedale Blvd, Georgetown, TX 78628

Website: https://www.absolutelandclearing.com/

#land cleaning

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dallaslandclearing · 2 years ago

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austinlandclearing · 2 years ago

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#forestry mulching #forestry #land clearing machines #land clearing services

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mrworldwideplanning · 2 years ago

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What are the barriers to TOD in America, and how can cities overcome this issue?

Support your view with a successful example of TOD (in or outside the U.S.)

Gabe:

The main problem with trying to make TOD in America is that most people are opposed to the idea of public funded things. Most people don’t see the appeal of public transportation because they already have a car or live in a place where public transportation is not possible. Most people do not want to have their money go to the building of public infrastructure because they believe it’ll cost them too much. The only way to over come this is to show how public transportation saves money for the consumer and can bring money in for businesses in the community. Once the transportation is implemented it will prove itself in being able to bring money to central areas. The best way to do this is to have transportation going from more residential areas into central business areas and places of interest for the people who already live in the community.

Jack J:

One of the main problems with Transit Oriented Development in the United States is the fact that a lot of people in the United States don’t think public transit can be useful. Many would rather take the car to get from place to place instead of using buses or other forms of public transit. Cities can overcome this issue by showing successful projects in the United States and abroad to communities and explain how they can be a benefit to the area. Many public transit systems have revitalized many areas as well as being a stimulus for economic growth. Some forms of rapid transit like streetcars and subways have been shown to increase the value of land around the transit stop they serve. Overall, Transit Oriented Development is good for the areas that they serve.

A successful example of a city overcoming the pressure of car users and implementing new public transit is Austin Texas with their Project Connect project. The project was passed in a heavily car dependent city with 58% of the vote and will bring economic growth to new areas as well as new services. The plan calls for the construction of two new light rail lines, three bus rapid transit lines and an extension to the Red Line which is a commuter rail line which connects residential neighborhoods in East Austin to Downtown. This project will help Austin overcome its car dependency as well as clearing the roads of more traffic. Overall, this project is a positive for Austin.

Lauralee:

One barrier to Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in America is the lack of local businesses that would directly benefit from, and therefore highly value, the implementation of TOD. Many big box stores and international retailers found their ideal development in shopping malls in the suburbs. As a result, many small downtown commercial streets were stranded and left in disrepair for decades. Now, as we are realizing that cars aren’t healthy, the public is interested in alternatives. TOD can provide such a service.

A good example of TOD is Cranford, New Jersey. This small town with regional commuter rail connections to New York found itself crippled when retail opportunities moved to the suburbs. They decided to make the most of their situation by “focus[ing] on streetscape improvements and promotions as a way to increase interest and cultivate private investment.” Now, Cranford is home to the award-winning mixed-use building Cranford Crossing, with residential, retail, and parking available within walking distance of the train station.

Jack G

There are many barriers to constructing Transit oriented developments. The first barrier to constructing TODs here in the United States is the lack of public transportation. Most cities in United States don't have rapid transit. The other barrier to TODS is the land surrounding the station. It may be owned by some business owner that does not want to move to a new location. Another problem is sometimes stations are built with too much parking around the stop. I see this a lot with suburban trains stations. The train stops shouldn’t be surrounded with parking but instead space for mixed-use developments. For the example section of this blog, I will be using Sunrail in Orlando Florida. I’ve taken Sunrail many times which makes me familiar with the stops.

Sunrail is Orlando's rail system that operates from north to south Orlando through downtown and Kissimmee. It was started in 2013 by FDOT. After its Contruction, it started seeing TODs being constructed next to its rail stations Longwood station before and after

These apartments are well served by public transportation as there is the sunrail stop as well as LYNX bus service, this provides residents an east to west public transportation method. Sunrail has been so successful it is planned to expand to the airport, the I Drive corridor and Debary in Orlando north.

ROAN

Transit Oriented Development is a new urbanist concept that focuses on forming a symbiotic relationship between residential, business, and leisure space that is within a short walk of public transit. This concept aims to provide an area where the human scale is emphasized. This means that everything can be reached by a pedestrian in a reasonable amount of time through walking.

Source: Greater Buffalo Niagra Regional Transportation Council

American cities oftentimes struggle with being TOD friendly. One large factor is that American’s main method of transportation is by car. According to a 2021 American Community Survey, 75.6% of Americans choose to transport by car, truck, or van to work. This mindset of car-oriented travel is the largest and most influential barrier to TOD in America. It encourages growth of highways and parking lots, which increases the distance between people and their essential needs.

Source: Getty Images

This barrier of American car dependency can be overcome. One way is to encourage alternative modes of transit such as bikes through the implementation of safer streets. The City of Oslo began redesigning their city streets, sidewalks, and center and found that the number of deaths from crashes reduced significantly. In addition to safer streets, cities can change their zoning to allow for more dense housing and development. This density is key to a TOD plan succeeding since more people in an area allows for supportive services to affect more people. It also discourages the use of cars since more people will be closer to common travel destinations such as grocery stores and work.

Source: Valley Transportation Authority

The most successful TOD program within America is Arlington County, Virginia. The government has been actively encouraging mixed-use housing and pedestrian TOD for 30+ years, which increases the amount of people who benefit from this. In addition, this growth of people has been largely around their rapid transit stations and bus lines, reducing the dependency on cars further. If any city in America hopes to implement a TOD program, they should follow Arlington County’s lead.

Source: Arlington County Virginia

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naturaltxsblog · 2 years ago

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Affordable Land Clearing Services in Central Texas

Natural Texas is a proven, affordable, and highly rated Land Clearing Company in Central Texas that serves Commercial, and Residential. Our land-clearing services utilize heavy equipment to cut down trees, remove brush, etc. If you want to hire call us at - (512) 970-0053.

#Land Clearing Services in Central Texas

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dupresiteservices · 1 year ago

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Call On DuPre Site Services for Reliable Land Clearing Service in Central Texas

Have you ever looked at a piece of land and thought about all the things you could do with it if only the trees, bushes, and rocks were gone? Maybe you want to build a home, create a farm, or start a park. Whatever your dreams, DuPre Site Services is here to help you make them come true with our land clearing service.

Land clearing is when you remove everything that's in the way on a piece of land. It's like cleaning your room but much bigger. You get rid of trees, bushes, rocks, and more to make space for something new. It's an important step to prepare land for building or farming.

DuPre Site Services is a company in Central Texas that offers land clearing service. We work in Hays, Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe, and Comal Counties. Here's why people choose us:

Besides land clearing, we also offer other services to help you with your land. We do dumpster rentals, cedar & mesquite eradication, creek & stock pond construction, and much more. We want to be the team you call for all your land needs.

If you have land in Central Texas that you want to clear, DuPre Site Services is the team to call. We'll work with you to make sure your land is ready for whatever you want to do with it. We care about doing the job right, and we want to make sure you're happy with the result. Learn more by contacting us at our website: https://dupresiteservices.com.

#land clearing service in Central Texas

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cabreraarchive · 4 years ago

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The State of Nuevo León is located in the northeast of México and touches the United States of America to the north along 14 kilometers of the Texas border. Nuevo Leon is surrounded by the states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas. Nuevo Leon is made up of 64,156 square kilometers, which is equal to 3.3% of the national territory and makes the state the 13th largest state of Mexico. Politically, the state is divided into fifty-one municipals.

With a 2010 population of 5,119,504 people, Nuevo Leon has the eighth largest population in the Mexican Republic. The capital of Nuevo Leon is Monterrey, which had a population of 1,135,512 in 2010, representing over one-fifth (22.5%) of the state’s total population. Monterrey is internationally renowned as the business capital of México for its infinite range of industrial, commercial, and service companies that are located in the city.

The Physical Description of Nuevo León

The relief of the State of Nuevo León is shaped to the north by an immense plain interrupted by hills. Through the center of the state, the Sierra Madre Oriental forms a large arc south of Monterrey; and to the south is a high plateau. While hills cover 42.84% of the surface of the state, mountain ranges encompass 25.13% of the state and plains make up another 17.36% of the territory. The state is part of the following three physiographic provinces, which are described below and illustrated in the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) map on the following page:

The Sierra Madre Oriental (Eastern) Mountains cover 50.9% of the state territory and contains both mountains and plains in the western half of the state.

Grandes Llanuras de Norteamérica (The Great Plains of North America) cover 34.6% of the state territory, primarily in the northeast of the state and made up of low hills, alluvial plains and valleys.

Llanura Costera del Golfo Norte (The Coastal Plain of the North Gulf) encompasses 14.5% of the state territory, mainly in the east central part of the state.

Indigenous Nuevo León

The original inhabitants of the State of Nuevo León before the arrival of the Spaniards were nomadic hunters and gatherers. In general, the Spaniards at first called all inhabitants in the north frontier of Mexico by the generic term, Chichimecas. But these indigenous people actually consisted of several indigenous linguistic groups. In Nuevo León, they included the Alazapas in the north, the Guachichiles in the south, the Borrados and Tamaulipec groups in the east, and Coahuiltecans in the west.

Some historians have estimated that there were roughly 250 tribes with different denominations in the Nuevo León region, and some tribes were known by multiple names. Early observers noted that these small tribal groups appeared to be at war with each other a great deal and had minimal contact with native groups outside of their immediate areas. Most of their languages have been lost to history. The primary sources of information available about the Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas indigenous groups are:

Gabriel Saldivar, “Los Indios de Tamaulipas” (Mexico City: Pan American Institute of Geography and History, 1943).

J. R. Swanton, “Linguistic Material from the Tribes of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico” (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1940).

Rudolph C. Troike, “Notes on Coahuiltecan Ethnography,” Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 32 (1962).

Thomas N. Campbell, “Coahuiltecans and Their Neighbors,” in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 10 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1983).

Martin Salinas, “Indians of the Rio Grande Delta: Their Role in the History of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico.” Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.

Frederick Henry Ruecking, The Coahuiltecan Indians of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico. Master’s Thesis: The University of Texas, August 1955.

The Coahuiltecan Tribes

The Coahuiltecan tribes were made up of hundreds of autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers who ranged over the eastern part of Coahuila, northern Tamaulipas, western Nuevo León and southern Texas south and west of San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek. It was the practice of the Coahuiltecans to move from one traditional campsite to another, following the seasons and herds of migrating animals.

According to Frederick Henry Ruecking’s Master’s thesis for the University of Texas in 1955, certain Coahuiltecan bands were “clustered around a central, dominant band.” Referred to as “band-clusters,” these groups were “bound together by (1) geographic proximity, (2) historic association, (3) cultural or linguistic affinity, and/or (4) a similarity in band names. In his thesis, Ruecking recognized eight band-clusters, suggested three more and indicated four others as possibilities.

Coahuiltecan Population Figures

According to the “Handbook of Texas Online,” estimates of the total Coahuiltecan population in 1690 vary widely. One scholar estimates the total nonagricultural Indian population of northeastern Mexico, which included desert lands west to the Río Conchos in Chihuahua, at 100,000.

The American anthropologist John R. Swanton listed 212 Coahuiltecan bands, and this was considered to be an incomplete list. General Fernando Sanchez Zamora listed 161 bands in northern Nuevo Leon, and 71 of these bands were located within ten to twelve leagues of Cerralvo.

In 1953, Ruecking compiled a list of 614 group names (Coahuiltecan) for northeastern Mexico and southern Texas and estimated the average population per group as 140 and therefore reckoned the total population at 86,000. He estimated that the entire Coahuiltecan area encompassed approximately 198,000 square miles.

Classification of the Coahuiltecans

Initially, the Spaniards had little interest in describing the natives or classifying the Coahuiltecans into ethnic units. There was no obvious basis for classification, and major cultural contrasts and tribal organizations went unnoticed, as did similarities and differences in the native languages and dialects. The Spanish padres referred to each Indian group as a nación, and described them according to their association with major terrain features or with Spanish jurisdictional units. Only in Nuevo León did observers link Indian populations by cultural peculiarities, such as hairstyle and body decoration. Thus, modern scholars have found it difficult to identify these hunting and gathering groups by language and culture.

Eventually, many of the ethnohistorians and anthropologists came to believe that the entire region was occupied by numerous small Indian groups who spoke related languages and shared the same basic culture, the Coahuiltecan culture. By the mid-nineteenth century, Mexican linguists had constructed what is now known as “Coahuiltecan culture” by assembling bits of specific and generalized information recorded by Spaniards for widely scattered and limited parts of the region.

During the Spanish colonial period, most of the Coahuilatecan natives were displaced from their traditional territories by Spaniards advancing from the south and Apaches advancing from the north. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Tamaulipecan Groups

The Tamaulipas groups included some sedentary peoples who were dedicated to agriculture, with well-structured religious practices. The Tamaulipec groups were mainly small tribes that occupied the central and southeastern parts of the present-day state. Today, it is believed that the so-called Tamaulipecan family was related to and perhaps a subset of the Coahuiltecans. Through their Coahuiltecan ties, it is believed that the Tamaulipecos were part of the Hokan language group, but very few fragments of their languages survive today.

Guachichiles (Huachichiles)

The Guachichiles, of all the Chichimeca Indians, occupied the most extensive territory, extending some 100,000 square kilometers from Lake Chapala (Jalisco) in the south to Saltillo (Coahuila) in the north. Considered both warlike and brave, the Guachichiles roamed through a large section of the present-day state of Zacatecas and as far north as Coahuila and Nuevo León. The Aztecs used the term “Guachichile” as a reference to “heads painted of red,” a reference to the red dye that they used to paint their bodies, faces and hair. The Guachichil group of tribes is regarded as connected with the present-day Huichol language group (of Jalisco and Nayarit) and has been classified as part of the Aztecoidan division of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family.

The Guachichiles and their “Chichimeca” cousins, the Zacatecos, waged the 40-year war (1550-1590) known as the “Chichimeca War” against Spanish forces, primarily in the vast region south of Coahuila (Zacatecas, Northern Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Western San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato). They were never decisively defeated in battle, but were pacified through gifts that included many of the materials used by Spaniards and “civilized” Indians to live and thrive in their Spanish settlements.

Alazapas

The Alazapas are a Coahuiltecan group that lived in several present-day municipios of Nuevo León, including San Nicolas de los Garza, which is just five miles from Monterrey. Between 1637 and 1647, the Alazapas attacked the Spaniards in several areas near Monterrey, including the mines at Cerralvo and several small settlements. Although the Alazapas contained the Spanish expansion into the area for ninety years, eventually they were forced to move north to the area around Lampazos.Lampazos is close to the present-day boundary between Nuevo León with Coahuila.

Borrados

The Spaniards applied the name Borrados to several, widely distributed groups over a period of two centuries. In the sixteenth century, one of the Borrado tribes lived in the Monterrey-Cadereyta-Cerralvo area of Nuevo Leon, as well as adjacent areas of Tamaulipas. The Borrados were also known as Rayados (“Stripped Ones”). The name derived from the almost universal habit among these Indians of covering their faces with tattoos which the aborigines produced by opening a trace-work of cuts on the skin with a sharpened stone, then rubbing into charcoal. The resulting design distinguished members of one tribe from members of other tribes.

Catujanes

The Catujanes Indians lived in the Mesa of the Catujanes and in the area of Lampazos de Naranjo, which is a present-day city and municipio located in northwestern Nuevo León, 97 miles (156 km) north of Monterrey.

Gualeguas

The Gualeguas Indians lived in the region of Agualeguas, a city and a municipio located in the northeastern Nuevo León, 80 miles (128 km) northeast of Monterrey. The name “Agualeguas” honors the first known inhabitants of the region, the Gualegua tribe.

Cacalote Indians

Cacalote (“crow” or “raven”) is the name of an Indian groups that lived south of the Rio Grande in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Cacalotes were believed to have been a Coahuiltecan group.

Pajarito Indians

Pajarito, which is Spanish for “little bird,” was the name of a Coahuiltecan band that originally inhabited northeastern Nuevo León, but later migrated northwestward to the north bank of the Rio Grande above the site of present-day Laredo. Eventually most of the Pajarito Indians ended up along the lower Rio Grande near the coast, principally in northern Tamaulipas.

Tortugas

The Tortugas (“Tortoises”) are believed to have lived on the upper tributaries of the Rio San Juan in eastern Nuevo Leon. However, the Tortugas may also have been referred to as Pelón or Pelones (“bald” or “hairless”) because the males removed their head hair in a number of ways, but several unrelated Indian groups of Nuevo Leon were also known by the Spaniards as Pelones. The Tortugas were first recorded in eastern Nuevo Leon in 1716-1717 as one of several rebellious groups that settled at Mission Purificación in the Pilón Valley near Montemorelos. The Spaniards considered the Tortugas to be very troublesome because of their far-reaching raids, as far south as Montemorelos, as far west as Cadereyta and as far north as Cerralvo. From the 1740s to the 1760s they were recorded at various missions in eastern Nuevo Leon, but their ethnic identity was lost in the nineteenth century.

Carrizos

Carrizos (Spanish for “canes” or “reeds”) is a descriptive name that was applied after 1700 to several widely distributed Indian groups of both northeastern Mexico and Texas. Apparently, Indians of this name lived in houses whose frames were covered by canes or reeds. The western Carrizos were reported in various locations, including Mission Nuestra de los Dolores de la Punta de Lampazos (near modern Lampazos). It is believed that they may also have inhabited Starr and Zapata counties of present-day Texas. And in 1735, it was reported that they were one of several Indian groups who had attacked the Spanish settlement at Cerralvo during the preceding 20 years.

Although they continued to conduct raids in Nuevo Leon over a period of decades, the Carrizos appear to have allied themselves with the Spaniards from 1790 to 1792 against the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches. During the early 18th Century, the Carrizos were known to be in the region of Laredo, Texas and east of Lampazos, Nuevo Leon.

Zalayas

In 1688, Zalayas were mentioned in connection with the Convent of San Francisco of Cerralvo, and it’s likely that they lived in the Cerralvo area. In 1735, Zalayas reportedly were among the Indian groups that had been causing trouble at the Spanish village of Agualeguas, about 17 miles north of Cerralvo in northeastern Nuevo Leon.

Zacatiles

The Zacatiles lived near Cadereyta in west central Nuevo Leon. The word Zacatil appears to be related to zacate, a word of Náhuatl origin that the early Spaniards applied to several groups, including the Zacatecos Indians of Zacatecas. During the 1730s, there was considerable unrest among the surviving Indian groups of eastern Nuevo Leon, and some documents refer to the Zacatiles as being one of the indigenous groups that raided Spanish settlements as far north as Cerralvo and as far south as Montemorelos.

Native Groups Continuously at War

According to Omar Santiago Valerio-Jiménez, the various tribes of this area “were almost continuously at war with one another. Inter-tribal strife made it relatively easy, during the early stages of the conquest, for the Spaniards to master many of these small, mutually antagonistic tribes.” However, the natives who sought refuge in the Sierra Madre were harder to locate in their mountain refuges. The mountain strongholds served as a base of operations for raids on Spanish settlements and as refuge for natives who fled the mission settlements.

The natives of colonial Nuevo León were almost constantly on the move in their search for food. Although the region had a distinct dry season, many streams still flowed from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre, and this led to the lush growth of vegetation in the foothills and coastal areas. In normal times, many of the tribes engaged in hunting and food gathering. They moved about in small groups and their rancherias usually consisted of one or two families, which rarely numbered more than eight or ten persons altogether. In times of war, these small nomadic communities would coalesce to form aggressive raiding parties.

The Establishment of Monterrey (1577)

In 1577, Alberto del Canto, a Portuguese immigrant, founded a settlement named Ojos de Santa Lucía, which was renamed San Luis in 1583 by Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva. However, it was abandoned and then re-founded as the City of Monterrey on September 20, 1596 along the Santa Catarina River. However, the hostility of the local natives, was so intense that Monterrey became an isolated stronghold standing in hostile territory.

Establishment of the Kingdom (1579)

On May 31, 1579, Luis Carvajal signed an agreement with King Felipe II of Spain to pacify the region and to establish the Kingdom of Nuevo León, which extended from the Pánuco River on the south and the Gulf of Mexico on the east, while its western sector extended well into the Sierra Madre Oriental. The northern border of the province ran roughly along the lower Río Grande.

Carvajal was both the first governor and encomendero of the area, but, according to historian Sean F. McEnroe, his “brief and unsuccessful conquests” were “motivated by the profits of slave raiding and mining” and “provoked fierce resistance from local populations.” This hostility, followed by his subsequent arrest leading to a power vacuum led Spain to abandon the area for some time.

Slavery in Nuevo León

As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, some of the Spaniards turned to Indian slavery for profits. In establishing the towns of Monterrey and Cerralvo, Spaniards captured Indians to sell as slaves for labor in the mines of Zacatecas. This cruelty provoked several results. In 1624, as an example, the local tribes assaulted the Monterrey and slaughtered the Franciscan missionaries living in the area. However, in his Ph.D. dissertation, Professor Rodolfo Fernández discussed the complexities of the local system, noting that some indigenous people also became slave owners.

The Encomienda System in Nuevo León

According to Professor Rodolfo Fernández, the encomienda system gave some Spaniards “the legal right to negotiate tribute in the form of labor from specific indigenous groups. The encomienda was the most widespread labor relation between Indians and Spaniards in northeastern New Spain.” In this system, the tribute-receiving soldier, known as an encomendero received a grant in the form of land, municipios or Indian labor. He was also obliged to provide military protection and a Christian education for the Indians under his command. The Indian laborers under his command were called encomendados.

Fernández notes that in the northern frontier area, “the structure of Indian communities was completely different since the native Chichimecas did not own a particular piece of land permanently, and they did not have the type of political elites that existed in Mesoamerican societies.”

In his Ph.D. Dissertation, Professor Fernández noted that Indians of the north “were not bound by ownership of land or coercive political systems. Encomendados could literally pick up their belongings and move beyond the encomendero’s reach, yet many of them chose to live and work in an encomendero’s commercial property. One reason why many Indians chose to stay with the Spanish was not because of coercion or control from imperial structures of power, but because they saw joining them as a way to find relief in times of scarcity, or protection in times of war.” Fernández also notes that many of the northern indigenous groups “viewed the encomienda as a temporary alliance to counter emerging threats. When Indian groups felt conditions under Spanish rule to be intolerable, they often escaped, joined other groups and in many extreme cases rebelled.”

The Decline of the Coahuiltecans

When the Spaniards arrived in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, they settled into “choice locations” which led to strains on local food supplies and eventually led to displacement of many Coahuiltecan bands. Ruecking believed that this was “one of the fundamental reasons for the rapid missionization of the Coahuiltecans.” The Coahuiltecans in the missions had provided unskilled labor and engaged in intermarriage with other ethnic groups. As the missions closed in the 19th century, Indian families were given small parcels of mission land. Eventually, the survivors passed into the lower economic levels of Mexican society.

Missions as a Place of Refuge

Although the missions were established as a means of Christianizing the native people, they also became a vehicle for educating Indians in the ways of Spanish colonial living. But, with a more hostile environment on the outside, the missions also became a place of refuge. The former hunter-gatherers were willing to become part of the mission system for a number of reasons noted here:

The irrigation system promised a more stable supply of food than they normally enjoyed.

The presidio – frequently located close to a mission — offered much greater protection from the Apaches.

The missionaries and their lay helpers instructed the natives in the Catholic faith and in the elements of Spanish peasant society. The Indians learned various trades, including carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, and weaving; they also did a great deal of agricultural work.

Mission Indian villages usually consisted of about 100 Indians of mixed groups who generally came from a wide area surrounding a mission. Although survivors of a group often entered a single mission, individuals and families of one ethnic group might scatter to five or six missions. The number of Indian bands (or groups) at each mission varied from fewer than twenty groups to as many as 100.

However, with so many people concentrated in a single area, the natives around the missions became more vulnerable to the diseases brought by Europeans. Because the missions had an agricultural base, the economic output of the mission declined when the Indian labor force dwindled. Missions were distributed unevenly. Some were in remote areas, while others were clustered, often two to five in number, in small areas.

Displacement and Loss of Ethnic Identity

In Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Texas, the displacement of Coahuiltecans and other nomadic groups by the Spaniards and Apaches created an unusual ethnic mix. Inevitably, the numerous Spanish missions in the region would provide a refuge for the displaced and declining Indian populations.

As they lived in close contact with the Spanish colonial culture and learned agricultural techniques, most of the Coahuiltecan Indians lost their identity. Their names disappeared from the written record as epidemics, warfare, migration, dispersion by Spaniards to work at distant plantations and mines, high infant mortality, and general demoralization took their toll. Small remnants merged with larger remnants or were absorbed into the Apaches. By 1800 the names of few ethnic units appear in documents, and by 1900 the names of groups native to the region had disappeared. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Political Chronology:

In 1582, Nuevo León was known as Nuevo Reino de León. ��From 1777 to 1793, Nuevo León was made part of the Provincias Internas. With the independence of Mexico in 1821, Nuevo León became a free and sovereign state by a decree of May 7, 1824. When the Constitution of 1857 took effect on February 5, 1847, Nuevo León was incorporated into Coahuila. On February 26, 1864, the state of Nuevo León was split from Coahuila.

The 1921 Census

In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca” (indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total state population of 336,412, only 17,276 persons (or 5.1%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background.

With only 5.1% of its people being recognized as of pure indigenous origin, Nuevo León boasted a large population of assimilated individuals, with 253,878 individuals – or 75.5% – being classified as mezclada (or mixed). However, nearly one-in-five of Nuevo León’s inhabitants – 64,697 (19.2%) – claimed to be white.

But Nuevo León’s long-term assimilation into the Spanish world was evident in the fact that only four people in the state spoke an indigenous language: two Huastecos, one Kikapoo and one Maya.

Migration from Other States

Over the next few decades, the number of persons who spoke indigenous languages in Nuevo León increased significantly in a unique reconfiguration of indigenous identity in Northern Mexico. From 787 individuals five years of age and older in 1970, Nuevo León witnessed an unprecedented increase to 15,446 speakers in 2000 and 40,237 in 2010. In fact, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Nuevo León was the Mexican entity with the highest rate of growth of indigenous population (12.5% per year) throughout the country as of 2005.

Indigenous Languages Spoken in Nuevo Leon in 2010 In 2010, a total of 40,258 indigenous speakers 3 years and older in Nuevo Leon lived in Nuevo León, of which more than half (53.6%) spoke the Náhuatl language, and 17% did not even specify which indigenous language they spoke.

While the speakers of the Otomí, Totonac and Huasteco languages most likely came from nearby states like Veracruz and San Luis Potosí, the Zapotec and Mixtec speakers probably came from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

The 2010 census also reported the languages spoken within each municipio of each state. As indicated in the following table, Náhuatl — the most common language spoken in Mexico and the leading language in several states — is, by far, the most spoken indigenous language in Nuevo León. But, it is noteworthy that Náhuatl — and any other languages spoken in the state — are transplants from other states, due to Nuevo León’s position as a magnet for migration from a multitude of other states.

Huasteco is the second most spoken language for both the state and most of the municipios. This is not surprising as the States of Veracruz and San Luis Potosí are states that are not far removed from Nuevo León.

As noted in studies by both Séverine Durin (2011) and Juan Luis Sariego Rodriguez (2016), in the twenty years between 1990 and 2010, the indigenous speaking population in Nuevo León was multiplied by eight. It is somewhat ironic that a state — whose indigenous population disappeared long ago (as a result of epidemics, warfare and assimilation) — has become an area of significant migration for indigenous people from many other Mexican states.

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The Celtic Tiger - A Kaiserreich Ireland AAR Chapter 2: An American Tragedy

12 February 1937 - Home of Michael Collins, Cork, Ireland

“The United States of America has faced challenges since its founding, but it is an enduring republic. When we were invaded, we fought off our attackers. When the Great Storm hit Galveston, we built cottages from the storm lumber. When Black Monday reached our shores, we passed the Garner-Wagner Act to deliver our people relief. The American people, through this election, have made their will clear. They do not want the empty promises of Jack Reed. They demand more than the sayings of Huey Long. Words are not enough, action is required. That is what I shall promise: action. We will stand firm against the threat of populism and syndicalism.”

Benjamin Franklin, after the Constitutional Convention, was asked whether the United States was a democracy or a republic. His words were: ‘a republic, if you can keep it.’ That was not mere wit, but a charge; a sacred duty given to every citizen. Today we say: it is our republic, and we shall keep it.” -US President John Garner, Excerpt from Inaugural Address

In Michael Collins’s case, war never seemed to have a countdown, but sure enough, the war looked like it would begin in 30 days. Just the thing to ruin his vacation; he had hoped to spend a few days in Cork to recharge his batteries, and ended up having indigestion and headaches the entire trip.

The United States had been a roiling mass of discontent since 1925, but it had only gotten worse during Black Monday. President Garner had won a lot of support in his campaign, which had focused on trumpeting the successes of the Garner-Wagner Act and touting the President’s willingness to fight any who threatened democracy. “A snake is a snake is a snake,” Garner had been fond of quoting on the campaign trail, swaggering with a pair of revolvers. “I plan on working to fix the mess that we’ve found ourselves in. If Jack Reed and Huey Long want their voices heard, I’ll listen to them. If they want prosperity for America, they’ll listen to me. And if they want to fight, they’ll get one. I don’t plan on striking first, but as God is my witness, I’ll be striking last!”

That had been enough for the Presidency. Jack Reed’s Socialist Party of America and Huey Long’s America First Party had strong regional support, but neither movement received enough votes to beat the Republican candidate Alf Landon, let alone Garner. Yet the victory was narrow, and both candidates claimed voting irregularities arranged at the polling places by supporters within the state voting commissions, along with other accusations of beatings and intimidation campaigns. Herbert Hoover endorsed Garner in a show of cross-party American solidarity, and Landon himself was a guest of honor at Garner’s inauguration. Garner had already promised the Republicans some Cabinet appointments in the hopes of building a coalition government strong enough to stop Long and Reed. It was an uphill battle; the 1936 voting season had been marred by political demonstrations turning violent, they had even called it the Red Summer, and now Long and Reed were railing against the legitimacy of the vote.

When the populists had made their accusations, the governors in their regional strongholds had backed Long and Reed. The populists, it seemed, had called President Garner’s bluff. The governors demanded a “national reconciliation council” under their talking head, and both had made it plain that the other would not be welcome on it, making it all but certain that war would come, and it would not be small. Jack Reed was popular in the Steel Belt and Huey Long had an almost religious appeal in Louisiana and in the rest of the Southern United States. Reed had much of the industrial heartland, but Long had far more pull among the military including high ranking officers. It wouldn’t be an easy fight, no matter what Texans had to say. In both ways, it was bad for the United States.

Collins had hoped it wouldn’t be war, but he was sure that it would be. If Jack Reed was able to successfully overthrow Garner, the Internationale would be emboldened. The Communards might still be reluctant to face Germany, given how large such a war would be, but Mosley would almost certainly want to snap up Ireland to carry forth syndicalist momentum. Anti-Irish rhetoric had only intensified in the months following Ireland’s meteoric 1936 rise, with Mosley claiming that Michael Collins had become “every inch the oppressive king he fought against.” Collins laughed when he was first told it, but as the days went on he seethed against the man, wishing he could have five minutes alone in a room with him. He was sure his sainted ma would not look fondly on him for beating on a man with a limp, but she’d forgive him.

When the reporters asked for a quote, Collins was sure to give them one. “Look at Mosley in the war. Gallivanting around in an aeroplane like war was just boys at camp, crashing trying to be a showboat. I suppose I must be kind, he tried to prove he was a brave man, I’m sure it’s not his fault he ran behind a desk before a year was out. That’s where he’s most comfortable, hiding and sipping his gin while he sends young boys to do the fighting and dying.”

Collins had a good laugh, but he made sure to tell his diplomatic service to make sure that Ireland would have plenty of friends on both sides of the Atlantic, just in case the Union tried anything. Laugh in public, but service your pistol in private.

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14 March 1937 - Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, Ireland

It was war. The entire world was aflutter with the news that the United States had descended into a civil war. President Garner’s deadline had come and went, and both Jack Reed and Huey Long had declared war on the United States. In response, Garner had appointed General George Marshall as Chief of Staff of the Army. The Internationale had already voiced its support for Jack Reed, with Chilean, Communard, and Union supporters already on their way to support the newly-formed Combined Syndicates of America. The German Empire was far more reserved in its support. German-Americans primarily lived in areas controlled by the Combined Syndicates, and the United States government had primarily conducted a pro-Entente policy during the Weltkrieg, leading the Kaiser to support Huey Long out of pure pragmatism. Canada had fallen into debate within the Houses of Parliament on who they were supporting.

Collins had no such reservations about debating who to support in the Dail. Collins had sent out a call for a volunteer division, the 1st Thunderbolts, and had placed them under the command of Daniel McKenna. The East Coast was dense with urban areas, and McKenna was just the man to fight in that difficult urban war, having fought the English in the cities before. The Thunderbolts had been training for months in preparation for the outbreak of hostilities. Most were young men, too young to have seen the Independence War, but their officers and senior NCO’s had. That would carry them, fighting in unfamiliar territory would mean they would have to adapt quickly and rely on the experience of the leaders. Other IRA volunteers, particularly those with families in the United States, had opted to go there themselves, fight in the American army, and return later.

The first target would have to be the syndicalists. With their position in the American industrial heartland, they’d have the manufacturing prowess and the civilian manpower to build and repair war materiel far faster than the mostly rural southern states. They would have to trust in their greater manpower and equipment to hold the southern front against the aggressive generals of the American Union State. The United States had begun mobilizing forces on the West Coast to get them to move east, and requisitioned several rail lines for exclusive military use, but it would be hard fought. America was going to need all the help it could get.

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13 April 1937 - Northern Maryland, United States of America

“We have traitors to our left, and traitors to our right

Our Congress and our president have long since taken flight

No ammo, no armor, no pills, no cargo

No prayers, no chance, no hope of tomorrow

Just you and me and a hell of a lot of fight.” -Frank McHewlitt

Pennsylvania had become a battlefield for the Second American Civil War just as it had for the first. The Pennsylvania governor had declared for Jack Reed, but the Federals had made a march into central Pennsylvania, seizing York to Fulton counties, but lack of manpower, difficult terrain, and Communard volunteer tank brigades had ensured any excursion was short-lived. From New York to the Midwest was controlled by the Syndicalists. Fearing being overrun, Joseph Kennedy Sr. had asked Canada to send an occupation force to protect them from the Syndicalists. This had infuriated President Garner, but pragmatists in his Cabinet had argued that the region was indefensible since the Syndicalists held New York, and better that the Canadians occupy it, and the Combined Syndicates risk a war with the Entente, than the factories be taken over by Jack Reed. Further south, Canada had sent a force to occupy the Panama Canal after the Americans had withdrawn their garrison force. The Canadians had said their mission was to protect trade, but had banned ships flying Communard, Union, or Chilean flags.

Further south, Texas to the Carolinas, and everything south, had pledged loyalty to Huey Long’s vision. Several companies had even signed on to the “Share Our Wealth” program. His men were heavily-armed and competently led, and they had already made significant inroads pushing north into Kentucky from Tennessee, even making contact with and fighting Jack Reed. George Patton had been named the overall commander of the American Union State, and on land the America First Party had shown themselves to be exceptional fighters pound-for-pound. Their goal had been to push and seize whatever territory they could, to turn the factories over to Longist control and get their war materiel production up to match the Federals and the Syndicalists. It had been remarkably successful, Patton’s armor techniques had run circles against disorganized Kentucky militia and revolutionary syndicalists alike. Already there were unconfirmed reports of mass shootings of CSA prisoners by AUS irregulars. The Federals were hard-pressed, often surrounded and potentially encircled by hostile forces in Kentucky. Only the chaos of the war and the close proximity of all three forces, kept them from being killed outright. Desertions, particularly from militia unfortunate enough to be in the encircled regions, were high.

Washington was no longer the capital. With Maryland under fire and the Firsters pushing from the south into Virginia, Garner had decided to temporarily move the capital to Denver, where he could oversee the political business of state. MacArthur had elected to remain in place as the commander of the East Coast Enclave, suggesting that Dwight Eisenhower take command of the main Federal forces in the Midwest. “He’s a Kansas man, there’s no man better in command from the Midwest. The troops will fight tougher and harder if they know we haven’t abandoned them. Don’t worry, Mr. President. Those bastard traitors won’t set a foot in D.C.” With his trademark corn cob pipe and a wave to the press, MacArthur took a ride on a Vultee V-1 to take up command, with Eisenhower being named the overall commander of Army Group West, with the goal of pushing east from Kansas into Missouri.

MacArthur welcomed the service of the volunteers sailing and landing on the Chesapeake, no traitor forces had been able to ensure naval supremacy on the East Coast and none were willing to risk firing upon a flagged vessel and invite any nation’s full-blown entrance into the conflict. Lavr Kornilov, eager to project strength and stability after the assassination of President Kerensky. Hirohito had also dispatched volunteers citing the strong relationship between the United States and Japan and the need for legitimate government to be re-established in the United States to project stability in the Americas. Calles in Argentina, eager to re-establish the Monroe Doctrine to act as a bulwark against the Patagonian Worker’s Front, and always eager to fight syndicalists. Brazil likewise had ordered troops to support the United States. Mexico, eager to avoid any war spilling over their borders, had closed the borders to the American Union State and had sent divisions through the Gulf of Mexico before the Longist navy could seize control of the waters and potentially cut off trade and transit. MacArthur ensured that each division had several bilingual Americans to serve as liaisons and communications personnel. He couldn’t command the volunteers, but he did demand adherence to military law and that any abuse of US civilians or military personnel would be dealt with by firing squad. Similarly, MacArthur promised his own men that they would be punished harshly if they stole from or fought with Federal volunteers. Regular correspondence was mandatory, and passwords changed regularly to allow foreign soldiers to identify themselves quickly to friendlies, passed via radio operators who had signed up with the Federals in record numbers when President Garner forced a bill and executive order expanding the civil rights of Native Americans to shore himself up for the upcoming emergency. The Navajo Nation, who provided one of the largest units, dispatched signals operators to coordinate with the volunteer brigades, providing exceptional communications security and coordination between the Federals on both fronts.

Yet things were not going well. MacArthur had enforced military law within the East Coast enclave, and garrison forces frequently looked to seize supplies and materiel for their war effort. Oftentimes, a token effort at compensation or promise of restitution to come later was the only balm in Gilead; it did not help those who starved.

The volunteer forces moved north to the Mason-Dixon line, where the Combined Syndicate militia were threatening to move south into Maryland from their regional headquarters in Philadelphia. The Russians opted to secure themselves in Baltimore, while the Argentine and Mexican forces moved to Cecil County to secure Delmarva from the syndicalists seizing the east bank and potentially cutting off vital access to the Chesapeake. McKenna and the Irish 1st Thunderbolt, acting aggressively, crossed into Pennsylvania and secured themselves in York. Not willing to pass up a fight, Russian and Irish volunteer brigades pushed into Lancaster County, threatening Philadelphia and forcing the Communards to reinforce their position lest Philadelphia fall and the road to New York be pushed wide open.

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17 April 1937 - Economic Committee of the Dail, Dublin, Ireland

It had been a constant flurry of activity in the new year. The Dail was debating loosening immigration restrictions to help bring in new blood to help support Ireland’s effort to modernize. Even if good policy and hard work had led Ireland out of the depression following Black Monday, manpower was still the hard limit on everything they could do. Once unemployment fell, there would be no new employees for businesses, and they’d turn away from Irish investment.

There had been two major sources of pushback against immigration reform. The Unionists in Ulster had been vocal opponents, calling the efforts part of a planned demographic shift to stock the north with people that would sideline their concerns as Unionists. Their proposal had instead suggested an increase in immigration from select countries, notably Canada, Australasia, and the British Dominion of India. Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin was far more hostile to immigration overall, demanding no immigration save from Celtic-majority countries, particularly those who wished to depart the Union of Britain from Scotland and Wales. Some of the measures proposed had truly been radical, such as instituting a Gaelic language entrance exam to new immigrants. The hAiséirghe crowd had always been a touchy subject, they had enough support in Munster that they couldn’t be ignored as much as Collins wanted to throw the bastards into the ocean.

Collins had been lucky, his Dublin financial capital idea had already been receiving positive responses. The German Kaiserreich, still deep within the throes of Black Monday, had debated whether or not to permit German businesses to invest in Ireland. The protectionists in their government had argued that the last thing that they needed to do was open up subsidiary companies in Ireland and send work away from Germans. The market liberals were far more enthusiastic, suggesting that the profits made could be reinvested in Germany; an influx of cash that wouldn’t increase the money supply and devalue the Mark. In the end, Wilhelm II had agreed to the proposal. He had known that the Irish Republican Army had been looking to re-equip their forces, and Krupp could easily manufacture rifles and mortars with a sizable government contract. Krupp opened Krupp Rüstungsbetriebe Irland, redesigning the Krupp Radreifen into the shape of a shamrock.

The Kingdom of Spain had also looked to establish an arms company in Ireland, eager to arm those who were also hostile to the syndicalists, and quite isolated on the European continent, with France and the German Protectorate of Morocco making an uneasy set of neighbors. Having a well-armed Irish Republic was a benefit to King Alfonso, who agreed to set up a subsidiary of Llama-Gabilondo y Cia SA, taking the name Dóiteáin-Gabilondo Incorporated, and selling their famous pistols to the Irish Republican Army. With regular army drills, and now a larger armaments industry within Ireland itself, a more significant and professional Irish Republican Army was starting to take shape.

The Italian Republic, floundering in the wake of massive German and Austrian stock selloffs, were eager to find ways to bring in cash and stabilize their own economy. Seeing a pressing need, the Italian Republic opted to establish a naval manufacturing dockyard in Dublin as Gio Ansaldo Irish Sea Shipwright, Ltd, to help produce submarines for the Naval Service. Italian engineers could work in Ireland, the revenue would flow into Italy, and the Irish would receive a powerful deterrent against the Union of Britain’s navy. Working in the choppier northern waters was different from the warmer and calmer Mediterranean, but the Italians proved up to the challenge, christening the first Irish U-Boat the new Fenian Ram.

The rush of European activity to invest in Ireland had not gone unnoticed in the Netherlands. After a fierce and competitive bidding war, the Dutch government, very busy with their preparations for the upcoming elections in May, had given the go-ahead for Royal Dutch Airlines KLM to do business within Ireland. Rather than operating a strict subsidiary, as the government was still facing the worst of Black Monday, Royal Dutch instead opened a joint venture with Aer Lingus, operating a civilian airfield that would bring in much needed tax revenue, and providing expertise for the construction of a military airfield in Leinster. The Union of Britain had lodged a formal complaint against the move in the Netherlands, but the ambassador had been dismissed out of hand, the official response being “Ireland has a right to the sky, and Britain has no right to dictate policy to the Netherlands.”

The United States had been considered highly unlikely to invest in Ireland. Even with the positive relationship that had existed between the two countries, the USA had been facing an existential crisis. To Collin’s great surprise, Garner had actually encouraged American companies to open subsidiaries in Ireland before hostilities broke out. In a diplomatic message to the Irish President, Garner had written: “I am certain there will be war. American industry will certainly not be spared. This initiative may save American lives and enrich both our countries. If the worst comes to pass, may God protect us both.” General Irish Electric, as the company titled itself, designed a logo incorporating the Irish harp in the signature “G” of the GE logo. The company received a grant from the National Industrial Investment Fund and purchased a factory abandoned during the Black Monday fallout, bringing up to speed in record time to produce civilian and industrial-grade electronics. Almost immediately, GIE had orders tasked almost to capacity for factories across Ireland to upgrade their own operations, throwing itself into the greater industrialization efforts that Michael Collins had championed the previous year.

The Dominion of Canada was a much more difficult beast to wrangle. Edward VIII had made no secret that he wished to reacquire not just the British Home Isles, but the British Empire as well; he would not be a second-fiddle to the Kaiser. That would mean the Six Counties, surely, perhaps even re-establishing the Free State as a Dominion. Collins had debated even making the offer to Canada, but a good relationship with Canada was, putting Edward aside, a sound policy. Canada needed money to support their war efforts, and a friendly relationship with Ireland would mean less problems when launching their operation to take back the Home Islands. Collins privately feared that they would want to use Ireland as a staging ground. Ireland had situated itself as a prominent financial hub, and since Dublin was designated a Special Economic Zone, it could potentially be very lucrative and offer a way to sell to the rest of Mitteleuropa without dealing with the Kaiser. The Canadian government had assented to Canadian Arsenals, a crown corporation to open a subsidiary in Dublin named North Atlantic Arms. Collins made sure that it acted in all things as a private company, insisting that King Edward appoint an executive staff the same as any other business. That had been a headache in the Dail, with Eamon de Valera angrily demanding not to sell Irish land to King Edward. Collins had countered that Ireland was a free and independent republic, and that the King had to obey Irish law rather than dictating laws to Ireland.When rumors came around that Jim Larkin had supported Dev’s objections, the Fianna Fail politician withdrew his opposition in favor of a more moderate compromise, asking only that the Dail be presented the terms of the contract in open session so that they could vote on them. Dev’s desire not to give Larkin more ammunition had rapidly diminished opposition to the measure within Fianna Fail, and Sinn Fein offered only a token dissent, permitting the venture to go forward.

With the outbreak of war in the United States and Ireland’s rapid industrialization, Sweden had sensed an opportunity to open a subsidiary business in Ireland as well. AB Landsverk had originally sought to open a tank manufacturing plant, since the Irish tanks were largely outdated and the Irish Republican Army was going to need to modernize its arsenal. Fierce protest erupted from the social democrats within Sweden’s Parliament, opposing the idea of arming Ireland and facilitating a possible war between Ireland and the Union. The hawks within Sweden had supported the venture, but military arms, even support equipment, could not secure a large enough coalition for the Economic, Defense, and Foreign Ministers to agree to the venture. Not wanting to lose out on the potentially lucrative deal and already facing their own problems with syndicalist unrest, Sweden’s market liberals had offered a compromise within the Riksdag, allowing Landsverk to open Landsverk Inneal, specializing in tractors and harvesting equipment to support the modernization of the Irish agricultural sector. Several prominent military analysts noted that the new Inneal tractors, with a few modifications, looked suspiciously similar to a light tank with the turret removed, but these were dismissed as products of an overactive imagination by both Swedish and Irish military analysts.

The Austrian Empire was in a difficult position in 1937. Emperor Karl I had been making significant plans for his Ausgleich Federation plans, and saw the Irish initiative not simply as a means to support his economy, but as a means to demonstrate both Austrian power and his willingness and initiative to support cooperation efforts for mutual gain. The Emperor had made his commitment to pluralism plain within his proposed federative model, he had hoped that participating in Collin’s economic initiative would help sway skeptics and naysayers to his side to give him greater support against Hungary. If it could help his economy and put neutral voters who cared more about their own personal livelihood than the greater plans of Austria-Hungary, that was fine as well. Daimler founded Irish-Daimler and focused on developing automobiles and lorries. While the Emperor could not be there in person, he had prepared a statement for the opening of the plant in Dublin. “Irish-Daimler is in the business of Irish business. Her success is our success, and our success is her success. May we both prosper in the days ahead.”

Eight nations had opted to do business with Ireland in such a short period of time, and there had already been murmurs for other nations to do likewise. The success of Irish Black Monday reforms had been the talk of the European financial sector. Even distant Japan had expressed an interest in perhaps opening a branch of one of their zaibatsus in Ireland to sell to Western markets, though such a discussion was in the planning stages. When interviewed by The Financial Times, Lemass had made the quote that had made the headlines. “Ireland is the Emerald Isle. She always sparkled in our hearts, now everyone can see it.”

When Michael Collins had heard that, he smiled. The man had the head of a businessman but the heart of a poet. The head and the heart needed to complement each other if he wanted to see Ireland through.

---

8 May 1937 - Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, Ireland

As the war passed into its third month, Collins started to wonder about the upcoming elections in the fall. America had been on his mind a lot lately. An emergency act by the Oirechtas called the Díodean initiative had allowed Americans seeking refuge to come to Ireland, and plenty had taken Collins up on his offer. Many immigrants came with much of their wealth with them, which had provided an influx of capital. Even more valuable, however, was the technical knowledge. Many of the immigrants had been factory managers or entrepreneurs, and they had knowledge which made them highly valuable in the industrial sector. Not every tale was so fortunate, however. Some culture shock was perhaps inevitable, but it had been incredibly slow going. Collins had remembered the first time he saw a new settler to Ireland drive on the wrong side of the road and cause a car accident. This felt like seeing that unfold in slow motion on a national scale. The poor Americans had felt the Irish were cheating them out of wages and exploiting their desperate circumstances, while the wealthy felt their standard of living drop precipitously.

The hAiséirghe crowd again troubled him. Reports of nativist gang uprisings in the poorer parts of cities and rural areas were on the rise. There were demonstrations that the new arrivals were stealing all of the good-paying jobs; this had been going on since the new immigration reform but now was reaching a fever pitch. The Unionists again rallied against Collins, accusing him of colonizing the north with people opposed to King Edward under the guise of humanitarian aid to defeat the Ulster Unionists at the ballot box. They demanded a series of refugee and work permits that did not confer voting rights as opposed to outright immigration and naturalization. That had caused a firestorm on the debate floor, causing no shortage of headaches for Collins.

To alleviate the shortages, Collins had organized refugee brigades in the Republican Army, where young men could earn a wage and provide a livelihood for their families. The Yanks were excellent shots, and Collins had hoped that seeing immigrants wearing a uniform would cause the locals’ respect for the military to undermine nativist tendencies. It was a mild success at best, mostly in Leinster where there had already been fewer problems overall. Collins had weighed outright banning the Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, but that would just send them underground like the Labour Party had. He had to settle for punishing assaults when they were reported, and increasing Gardaí patrols to keep the peace.

In the leadup to the elections, Collins had seen cracks start to form in his ironclad voting bloc. While syndicalism had little popularity in Ireland itself, Sinn Fein had seen an upsurge in popularity with Black Monday despite Collins’s efforts. The Irish Christian Front and the Ailtirí na hAiséirghe had campaigned against him thanks to his immigration policies. Fianna Fail had campaigned on greater liberalization, and the National Centre Party had wanted to re-orient foreign policy to a more pro-Entente position. Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail had opted to engage in tactical voting, with candidates withdrawing from ballot races in order not to split the vote. Jim Larkin had endorsed the move, promising to work with Sinn Fein to provide greater relief to the Irish working class. The Irish Christian Front opted to boycott the elections and both they and the Ailtirí na hAiséirghe accused Collins of bringing in foreign refugees to ensure he had the votes needed to win.

At a closed door meeting, Collins was asked a simple question. “Sir, what should we do about the election?”

Collins, his hands shaking, had only one response. “Whatever it takes.”

---

15 July 1937 - West Virginia, United States of America

“We’re in the right thick of it now, ain’t we?” Daniel McKenna shouted over the din of battle.

The East Coast Enclave had stabilized its borders after the early initial push, but still faced the difficulties of being surrounded by the enemy. Food and water shortages, irregular supply shipments, and losses from attrition were starting to take their toll on the beleaguered Federals. The Appalachian mountains had stymied Syndicalists pushing in from Ohio and Illinois, and the hilly and forested terrain had helped somewhat slow the push by Long’s forces, but only barely. Eisenhower had more success on the west, where the greater manpower has really started to pressure the American Union State on their Texas front.

The Federals still controlled the air though. That had made securing their defenses much easier. Flying over the Great Plains was effectively a death sentence, and few had the nerve to establish air cover on the east coast. That was a small comfort to Dan McKenna, who had gone to the Applachians in response to a new Syndie push. The Federals had retaken Charleston in June, but their position was tenuous there, and with new militia units being sent into battle, someone had needed to defend this key western outpost.

American militia units had stayed to defend the city, but McKenna had looked to secure the hills to the northeast. The Applachian plateau looked to give a good vantage point for artillery if any could succeed in the arduous task of towing them up to that position. Loyalist civilians had offered to do it on their own, pulling the units with their own work trucks, but that would be a dangerous undertaking without escort. McKenna took his Thunderbolts, with their own artillery pieces, to secure the hills first, while the militia guns could follow second when the way had been cleared. The Syndicates, tipped off by sympathetic informants, launched a massive push with their own 45th Thunderbirds, supplemented by local revolutionary forces, to prevent bombardment. The battle plan called for an overwhelming attack to break the dug-in mountain entrenchments, attacking from multiple directions in an attempt to dislodge the stubborn Irish defenders and find a weak spot.

McKenna demanded that the forces hold, using high-explosive burst shells over the heads of the enemy to maximize effect on the enemy. The engineers had dug in extensively, and had used dynamite to blast further fortifications and built entrenchments. The Thunderbolts only had a few guns, which were primarily pointed toward the northwest against the more highly-trained Thunderbirds. At such high elevation, and with such difficult terrain, evacuating casualties was difficult on the mountain, and men sometimes collapsed where they stood due to a combination of fatigue and high elevation.

That had been days ago, and the Thunderbolts were in tatters. The less wounded had even taken up shifts at night, or taking over service positions so able-bodied men could shoot and spot for the artillery. They had been holding, but just barely so. If it hadn’t been a mountain, they would have already been overrun. “I’ll be damned if I die on some cold rock half the world away from home.” McKenna defiantly continued to stand, hoping to wear down the superior numbers with artillery shells. He was the Wall of West Virginia, and he wouldn’t let the bastards through.

---

10 September 1937 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

It had been months of hard fighting. Charleston had remained in Federal hands, and the front had stabilized, but all hopes of recovering the Federals in Kentucky were lost. The loyalists could only hope that the army groups had disbanded to make their way back to Federal territory in smaller numbers rather than being shot en masse, or worse, deserting to fall in with the enemy for their own salvation.

MacArthur had relied on the volunteers to fight a great deal of battles, more than he had preferred. The states under his control were tapped out for manpower resources, and if he started poaching from the factory floors for more able bodies he’d run out of supplies. Supply was irregular, especially for fuel, which he needed to keep the planes in the sky and the troops moving across the front. Olds and Tunner were able to airlift a lot of supplies, but demand always outstripped supply, and the more supplies he lifted the more danger there was for explosions in the cargo holds.

Ultimately, MacArthur decided that he needed to attack, to keep the pressure on the east so that the Syndicalists did not pull more men to prevent Eisenhower from marching toward Chicago from Kansas and the Dakotas. The Syndicates had been attacking south against the American Union State and fortifying out of New York City, and MacArthur had theorized that they would be weak in between those two strongpoints. The Brazilian and Argentine volunteers offered to push toward Philadelphia, with the hopes of breaking the regional command post and sending Syndicalist forces into disarray, while the Irish opted to push into Pittsburgh to seize the valuable steel mills and threaten a push into Ohio. The Mexican volunteers opted to remain in Virginia to help guard the line against the Longists; they had feared if the American Union State won, there may have been calls to expand further south to seize valuable oil and mining territories; fears of the Golden Circle expansion as it was dubbed in Mexico had been a hot button issue for the Mexican volunteers. If the Irish could secure Pittsburgh, that would give them control of the railroad junctions and the rivers, and allow MacArthur to bring in militia units to bring the territory under control with little fighting. With that, they could push further north toward Erie, splitting the Syndicalists and isolating them in New York. With Canada closing the border to the Combined Syndicates, even to the point of having the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest suspected border crossers and turning them over to the Federal government in Denver, that would render a similar fate to the lost Federals in Kentucky. MacArthur just hoped that his south could hold against the Firsters. Trading Virginia for Pennsylvania was not a winning proposition.

The B&O Line had been cut early, forcing McKenna and the Thunderbolts to march for most of the trip. Even in September, Pennsylvania was still hot, to help with water and the unfamiliar terrain McKenna had largely followed the Mononghaela river. To the east, he had Federal troops supplemented by Maryland militia moving north to take Harrisburg. McKenna force-marched his troops into Syndicate territory, hoping to secure a clear pathway along the rail lines for American repair crews to fix the B&O.

McKenna had been fortunate, western Pennsylvania had been defended by irregular militia units, poorly armed and lacking artillery support. In many cases, McKenna found that they didn’t have enough rifles for every man and only a few machine guns, some had taken to using shotguns better suited for partridge than men. When he was lucky, a few barrages from the field guns was enough to send them packing, but even without that, a dedicated attack usually was able to force back the disorganized units. A pity he didn’t have tanks, even a couple of old Weltkrieg landships would simply be able to drive to Pittsburgh unimpeded as long as it was gassed up.

The locals were fiercely divided. A few times McKenna had gone near towns, he had been welcomed and told where the Syndicates had kept their ammunition depot. Most of the time, however, the homes were ransacked, the supplies taken. Horror stories came to McKenna about “war syndicalism,” Reed’s name for the efforts taken to ensure his fighting men had the food they needed to fight. Sometimes it was the Combined Syndicates directly, but more often it seemed to be neighbors seizing on old grudges, summarily beating those they suspected of disloyalty and stealing their possessions, donating them to Reed as an act of solidarity. Worse still was what happened to those suspected of disloyalty. The Combined Syndicates offered a bounty on saboteurs and informants, and that had led to hastily-convened People’s Courts, serviced by hanging judges. Even so, there were plenty of people loyal to the Combined Syndicates, shouting their approval at finally destroying the brutal oppressors of Wall Street and their puppets in the Federal government. For a moment, McKenna thought of Ulster, and remembered everything he had heard 15 years before, and then he remembered the refugees from the British Isles after their revolution.

Pittsburgh had been hastily-fortified, with burned out hulks of cars blocking the bridges into town, forcing McKenna to navigate the crude fortifications with great care. The civilian population had largely huddled in buildings with boarded-up windows. The large buildings had been long ago hit by artillery fire or bombings from aircraft. Rail tunnels had been places of safety, McKenna’s scouts had found a few brave souls trading for various materials on picnic blankets. The mayor, who had thrown in his lot with the Syndicalists, had fled the city with the rest of the CSA, and they had thrown those city councilmen loyal to the Federal government into the Ohio. Coordination was largely infrequent, done by amateur radio. The civilians largely wanted to be left alone, out of the civil war, but the war had come to them despite their best wishes.

McKenna set to work, ordering his engineering corps to get the guns into firing positions. He positioned men near the Alleghany to prevent any CSA attack using the river to bypass his fortifications, and fortified the major exits with sandbags and machine guns. He had barely gone through half of his fortifications when he had heard the bad news: The Syndies were on the march along the Alleghany, and they would attack the city soon.

Yet, McKenna was not alone. The 12th Hohei Shidan, volunteer forces from far-off Japan, had come to support the Irish forces, and they had brought with them their Type 90’s, doubling McKenna’s supply of artillery. The Japanese and Irish soldiers met on the south side, and drew up plans for an attack. McKenna was given overall command, and elected to put his Irish veterans in the more dangerous forward position while the Japanese would fire on the CSA to draw them in under a battery of withering artillery fire. Once the enemy had descended past Lower Lincoln and could no longer enjoy visibility from Upper Lincoln, the Irish would ambush them in close quarters.

The CSA announced their attack with a radio command ordering all civilians to remain indoors, and all “foreign invaders” to surrender to the 2nd New York Revolutionary Guard, for handling by the legitimate United States government for repatriation. The 12th Hohei Shidan responded with a cannon barrage, thus commencing the Battle of Pittsburgh at 0900 on 10 September. McKenna’s Thunderbolts fought in ambush-and-retreat tactics, dividing themselves into seven-man fireteams. McKenna would fire on advancing CSA forces, retreat into a building, then have a second fireteam flank the New York Revolutionaries from across the street. Casualties were high on both sides, especially among the Irish who often refused to fight until in incredibly close combat, hoping the shock of the ambush would carry the day. Friendly fire incidents were high, especially as the day went into night, both from accidental fire on friendly troops and sympathetic civilians accidentally firing on who they believed were enemy soldiers. Yet the day stood. On 14 September, his squads battered and American troops pushing through central Pennsylvania, Oliver Law reluctantly ordered a retreat to the northeast. Western Pennsylvania stood liberated, but the war was not over yet.

---

20 December 1937 - Welfare Island, New York City, United States of America

The icy winds of winter were howling, but the pit in Daniel McKenna’s stomach wasn’t from the cold. He had hoped to warm himself with a cigarette as he surveyed the successful conquest of New York City, but that had all left him. Naught but a short time ago, the celebration had been high. The Syndies had lost both a major symbol and, perhaps more pragmatically, their eastern command center. The Dominion of Canada had officially supported the Federal Government, and there had been Canadian, Indian, and French Republican volunteers sailing to Maryland to join MacArthur and the Volunteer Brigades, along with massive shipments of weapons from the Entente. Manhattan had surrendered rather than risk a massive urban brawl amongst the skyscrapers. That too, had seemed like a cause for celebration, but there was little sense of Christmas cheer among those who were picking through the ruins of New York City, for they had finally come to Welfare Island.

Inside, McKenna had found cell after cell of prisoners, skin stretched and hair falling out from starvation and malnutrition, their bodies broken from months of hard labor. When New York had fallen to the Syndicalists, they had imprisoned anyone who had worked in the financial sector, any who rented an apartment to another, or any who they considered to be bourgeoise, and demanded that they atone for the crimes of their previous lives with new, honest labor for the Syndicalist cause. They had been forced into the most dangerous jobs of the arms industry, like manufacturing artillery shells to the point where their skin had turned to a greasy yellow. Bleeding gums and fingers, limbs lost in machinery or explosive accidents were routine, each prisoner was a laundry list of atrocities written out upon their bodies.

Each horror that McKenna heard made him feel numb. He had nearly torn his gloves in two after listening, but he had made sure that he had heard it all, and that his staff heard it as well. A patriotic young woman, formerly a social columnist for the New York Tribune who had signed on to help with the support staff, volunteered to transcribe every word. “Be damned, lass, you’re a damn sight braver than any fella. Write it down, every bloody word, and know that ye’ve got a ironclad heart three times larger than any bastard who tells ye different.”

McKenna had dispatched three messages from New York. The first was to General MacArthur, who had said: “Am pleased to deliver to you New York as an early Christmas present.” The second was to Michael Collins, relaying a request for more reinforcement of men and materiel. The third, a private correspondence, bemoaned what he had seen. “The brutality of what I’ve seen is beyond words, and the only thing that breaks me more is the thought that this is not some singularly unique moment of malice, that we’ll find another Welfare Island in the South run by those America First bastards. God help me, is this what we left the English to in ‘25? Did we look at an Englishman for all those years and see the English and not the man?”

“Private. Bring all the Syndie prisoners we’ve got, make them see what went on here, make ‘em stare at each one. If they look away, hit ‘em. Then find the officers, and see which ones knew about it. And if ye find one that did...hang ‘em from the Brooklyn Bridge.”

---

Alright, that’s the second chapter, with the Syndicates on the ropes and the Firsters being slowly ground down in the western theater. The third chapter will handle the defeat of the Syndicalists and the Firsters and Mosley’s opening shots for his invasion of Ireland. Let me know what you think. And yes, I know some of the pictures are from 0.12, I’ve already mentioned that in my first post on the topic, and I know the battle map is crude; I suck at art. Also, what do you think about cropping the screenshots to make them easier to read? I think it looks fine, not too pixelated or zoomed in, but it does lose the sort of authentic “AAR screenshot” feeling. Which do you prefer, readers?

Images

Cactus Jack Becomes President

Standoff in America

Second American Civil War Begins

Battle of Baltimore

Encircled Federal Troops in Kentucky

US Moves the Capital to Denver

Germany Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Spain Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Italy Approves the Irish Business Initiative

The Netherlands Approves the Irish Business Initiative

The United States Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Canada Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Sweden Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Austria Approves the Irish Business Initiative

Rigged 1937 Election

The Wall of West Virigina

The Battle of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Battle Map

The Fall of New York

-SLAL

#creative #kaiserreich #celtic tiger

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Friday, September 23, 2022

‘Sanctuary’ cities navigate migrant influx from GOP states (AP) There are few places in the U.S. with a more deeply ingrained reputation as a refuge for immigrants than New York City, where the Statue of Liberty rises from the harbor as a symbol of welcome for the worn and weary. But for Mayor Eric Adams, reconciling that image with an influx of migrants landing in the city, including thousands being bused there by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, is proving difficult. The city is struggling to accommodate what Adams says has totaled more than 13,000 asylum seekers, leading him to explore whether New York can ease its practices for sheltering the homeless or even temporarily house migrants on cruise ships. Both ideas have drawn blowback from liberal advocates who are influential in the city’s politics. Adams is one of several leaders of Democratic-leaning jurisdictions facing a sudden test of their commitment to being “sanctuary” cities or states. The designation, in which local officials pledge to limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, has long proved popular among progressives pressing to ensure the government treats migrants humanely.

Puerto Ricans desperate for water after Fiona’s rampage (AP) More than a half million people in Puerto Rico remained without water service three days after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the U.S. territory, and many spent hours in lines Wednesday to fill jugs from water trucks while others scooped water from mountain runoff. The situation was maddening for many people across an island once again left without basic services following a storm. “We thought we had a bad experience with Maria, but this was worse,” Gerardo Rodríguez said in the southern coastal town of Salinas, referring to the 2017 hurricane that caused nearly 3,000 deaths and demolished the island’s power grid.

Bermuda, Canada prepare for storm as Puerto Rico struggles (AP) Bermuda and Canada’s Atlantic provinces were preparing for a blast from Hurricane Fiona even as Puerto Rican authorities struggled Thursday to open roads for people left stranded and without power by the storm’s devastating blow. The storm was expected to still be at Category 4 force when it passes close to Bermuda overnight, and its outer bands were already reaching the British territory in early afternoon. It is likely to still be dangerously potent when it reaches Canada’s Atlantic provinces, likely late Friday, as a post-tropical cyclone.

6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico, 2 dead (AP) A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Mexico early Thursday, causing buildings to sway and leaving at least two people dead in the nation’s capital. The earthquake struck shortly after 1 a.m., just three days after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook western and central Mexico, killing two. The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake, like Monday’s, was centered in the western state of Michoacan near the Pacific coast. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that it was an aftershock from Monday’s quake.

Italy election set to crown Meloni head of most right-wing govt since WW2 (Reuters) Italy’s parliamentary election on Sunday could make history, giving the country its first female prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two. Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) barely scraped 4% of the vote in 2018, but the party is expected to take around 25% this time around and propel an alliance of conservative partners to a clear parliamentary majority. If the tough-talking Meloni succeeds, she will face an array of daunting challenges, including soaring energy costs, a suffocating debt mountain, a possible recession and an increasingly dangerous conflict in Ukraine.

Europe burns cash to help businesses in energy crisis (Reuters) Germany nationalised gas importer Uniper on Wednesday and Britain said it would halve energy bills for businesses in response to a deepening energy crisis that has exposed Europe's reliance on Russian fuel. European governments had already earmarked almost 500 billion euros ($496 billion) in the last year to shield citizens and companies from soaring gas and power prices, according to research by think-tank Bruegel. Uniper has been among the biggest corporate casualties, with Germany earmarking an additional 8 billion euros on Wednesday in the latest step in a 29 billion euro bailout. France, also among the high spenders, will allocate 9.7 billion euros to take full control of utility EDF. Britain said its new plan to help businesses would cost "tens of billions of pounds."

U.S. and Allies Condemn Putin’s Troop Mobilization and Nuclear Threats (NYT) American and other Western officials assailed President Vladimir V. Putin’s decision on Wednesday to call up roughly 300,000 military reservists as an act of desperation, and warned the Russian leader of “severe consequences” if he carried out a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict. White House and Pentagon officials said Mr. Putin’s threats would not stall or sidetrack efforts by the United States and nearly 50 other nations to continue pouring military, economic and humanitarian aid into Ukraine. The United States alone has committed more than $15 billion in weapons and equipment since Russia’s invasion in February. Although Western officials have expressed concern that if Mr. Putin felt cornered, he might detonate a tactical nuclear weapon—perhaps in a demonstration blast over the Black Sea or Arctic Ocean, or in Ukrainian territory—they said there was no evidence that he was moving those weapons, or preparing such a strike.

As mobilization begins in Russia, sold-out flights, protests and arrests (Washington Post) Within hours of President Vladimir Putin’s speech declaring a partial military mobilization on Wednesday, men all over Russia suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty. The men, mostly reservists under 35 who served in the army and have junior military ranks, were handed written notices in their offices or at their homes. In some cases, they had their identity documents checked on the street and were told to appear for a health check. Others got orders by telephone. Anxious relatives, meanwhile, began searching for ways to flee the country or otherwise avoid their loved ones being called for service. Flights to the few cities abroad still offering direct service to Russia—most destinations have been cut off by sanctions—were suddenly sold out. Google search trends showed a spike in queries like “how to leave Russia” and even “how to break an arm at home,” raising speculation some Russians were thinking of resorting to self-harm to avoid the war. In response to Putin’s decree, criticism of the war suddenly burst into the open. Protests erupted not only in the big cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in Novosibirsk in remote Siberia. By Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 people had been arrested across the country, a remarkable number given that criticism of the war is potentially punishable by long prison sentences.

Front line farming (AP) An unexploded rocket sticks out of a field, and another is embedded in the ground of the farm compound. Workers found a cluster bomb while clearing weeds, and there’s a gaping hole in the roof of the shrapnel-scarred livestock barn. All work has halted on this large eastern Ukrainian farm, whose fields and buildings have been hit so many times by mortars, rockets, missiles and cluster bombs that its workers are unable to sow the crater-dotted land or harvest crops like wheat. Returning to planting and harvesting “will be difficult, very difficult,” said Viktor Lubinets, who handles crop production at the Veres farm. Even if the fighting ends, the fields must first be cleared of unexploded ordnance and shrapnel. And the fighting is far from over. The roar of an incoming projectile fills the air, the nearby detonation shaking the ground and sending a plume of black smoke into the sky. Lubinets barely flinches. “I’ve got used to it. It was frightening during the first couple of days, but now—a person can get used to anything,” the 55-year-old said, the smoke dissipating behind him. “And we have to work. If we give all this up, we will abandon, other farmers will abandon, what will happen then?”

At U.N. assembly, Iran’s leader ignores an uprising at home (Washington Post) At the dais of the U.N. General Assembly, Iran’s hard-line president bemoaned the “oppression” and “militarism” unleashed by the United States. “We are the defenders of a fight against injustice,” said President Ebrahim Raisi, who also styled himself as someone who championed “the rights of the Iranian people.” But absent from his speech was any recognition of what was transpiring in Iran as he spoke. On Wednesday, Iran was in the grips of a fifth consecutive day of unrest, as angry protests rocked cities in various corners of the country. Authorities appeared to restrict access to social media apps after videos proliferated showing demonstrators clamoring for the downfall of the regime and clashing with police. In other instances, security forces were depicted indiscriminately attacking civilians on the streets. At least seven people have been killed while hundreds have been injured and arrested, according to rights groups monitoring the situation. The catalyst was the death last week of Mahsa Amini, 22, in the custody of Iran’s so-called “morality police.” “The ferocity of the protests is fueled by outrage over many things at once,” my colleagues detailed. “The allegations Amini was beaten in custody before she collapsed and fell into a coma; the priorities of Iran’s government, led by ultraconservative Raisi, who has strictly enforced dress codes and empowered the hated morality police at a time of widespread economic suffering; and the anguish of Amini’s family, ethnic Kurds from a rural area of Iran, whose expressions of pain and shock have resonated across the country.”

A pothole gets listed as a 'historical landmark' in Bengaluru on Google Maps (India Today) For those who don't know, Bengaluru is popularly known as the Silicon Valley of India. The city is a hub for IT companies and is known for its urban living. A Bengaluru citizen drew netizens' attention to a new landmark of Bengaluru—a pothole. Tagged as a 'historical landmark', the pothole is named 'Abizer's Pothole' and is situated in the Bellandur area of Bengaluru. The pothole even got 5-star ratings and reviews by residents on Google. One review stated: "Very good pothole. Must visit at least once. Guaranteed to hit your chassis in the right places". Another said: Best pothole I have seen so far. A true back-breaking experience, and also a testing ground for your car suspension." Another user wrote, "Top tier pothole, great location very close to many grocery stores and all the good schools."

#headlines #news

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