A Minimal Win?
Steven L. Taylor · Friday, November 4, 2016 · 13 comments
Given the substantial narrowing of the race (see the 538 model, for example) it increasingly looks like election night is going to be dramatic, and the final outcome close. Currently, it looks like a narrow Clinton win as the following possible map would outline. Clinton could also lose New Hampshire or Nevada and still win (but not both)–losing NH is unlikely, but I have heard some media speculation about a possible Trump surge, so it was worth mentioning. There are discussions about Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, although polling indicates that those states are pretty firmly in the Clinton column. Although, speaking of Pennsylvania, a transit strike in Philadelphia could figure into the outcomes.
North Carolina and Florida are about as swing-y as swing states can be. For example, yesterday (Thursday 11/3) the 538 model had Florida as light red, but it was light blue in the evening and was back to light red this morning. The odds in the model for the Sunshine State, as of my writing this, is 49.6% Clinton and 50.4% Trump. There are similar number for North Carolina. Trump needs both states. Clinton can win without them (barring, of course, something like Clinton losing PA–but it seems rather unlikely that Clinton loses PA but wins NC, so wargaming that kind of outcome takes us to a different level of speculation).
On one level, this is what one might have predicted for the Generic Rep v. Generic Dem if one was predicting back before we knew who the candidates would be.
Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com
FILED UNDER: Campaign 2016, Quick Takes, US Politics
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter
Kari Q says:
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 09:24
I can't take 538 seriously this year, and Florida is a key example of why. There is basically one decent, non-partisan pollster who has found a lead for Trump in two weeks, while several have found a small lead for Clinton. But 538 'adjusts' those polls so Marist, instead of showing Clinton ahead by 1, has Trump ahead by 3. How can anyone take that seriously?
I'm sticking with Sam Wang and HuffPost Pollster.
Liberal Capitalist says:
Hey… Everyone cheered for the Cubs when they won in a squeaker, in extra innings, right?
We have known that the USA is polarized on two parties.
And like it or not, one of these parties is completely ignoring the candidate and voting along party lines. (… and having read that last sentence again, depending on your pronounced political preference, it's clearly the "other" candidates party… which in itself defines the core issue of this election.)
We rant and rave… but we will pull the lever, fill the circle, though the screen, or punch the chad.
270 is 270, even if it's in the 10th inning.
gVOR08 says:
I saw, I forget where, an explanation that Silver puts more weight on recent polls than other forecasters. which is why his forecasts have been more volatile, and lately more pro-Trump. Is he right or wrong to put more weight on recent polls? I have no idea.
This does seem to confirm that people are voting purely on perceived tribal affiliation. Since 2004, the Crazification Factor seems to have risen from 27% to about 45%. I would guess that's the result of 12 more years of marinating in the right wing echo chamber.
This business of stewing in the RW echo chamber seems to be getting serious. We seem to have FBI agents, perhaps even a Director, who cannot distinguish between reality and paranoid fantasy. If Doug or James are hard up for a topic, the role of the FBI in this election recommends itself. (Seems more their line of territory than yours, Dr. T.)
Steven L. Taylor says:
@Kari Q: Here's the thing, though: 538 has been the gold standard the last three cycles. To not take it seriously because it is not giving one the outcome one likes is to flirt with unskewed territory.
This is not to say one has to to take 538 as gospel, but it is to say that in 2012 Reps were the ones criticizing 538 and look at what ended up to be the case.
@Liberal Capitalist:
True, but (and this is a big but): I would prefer an electoral repudiation of Trumpism, and it does not appear we will get one.
MBunge says:
The issue, of course, is not that we might have had a similarly close election if two normal candidates were running. The issue is if the race would look the same if Hillary were running against what passes for a normal Republican or Trump against a normal Democrat. Some have suggested it would. I think they are wrong but I could be the one in error. What's troubling is that if they are right, it would say something very disturbing about not only our current political culture but about the very nature of the democratic process and no one seems to grasp that.
@MBunge: I would concur that there are serious problems with our democratic process. Indeed, I have written about this for some time. Off the top of my head: the nomination process (both for president and Congress), the electoral college, and the single seat district system to elect Congress.
All of these issues (and others) do a lousy job of being actually representative of the population and that is where a lot of the frustration comes from (and that produces the kinds of candidates we get).
@Steven L. Taylor:
I don't take seriously adjustments in the direction of Clinton, either, and I don't dispute that Florida is tied. That's pretty clearly right. I just can't respect the adjustments to polls that Silver is making. Polling is already as much art as it is science, so adding some mysterious secret sauce that modifies results is a bad idea.
And I dispute the "gold standard" of 538. Sam Wang has been as good or better than 538. He's just less well known because he has a day job other than predictions, so he doesn't try to draw attention to himself for his election work the way Silver does.
http://election.princeton.edu/
I would prefer an electoral repudiation of Trumpism, and it does not appear we will get one.
True, True….
But what caused "Trumpism" was not Trump. Correlation is not causation.
We have a long American history of snake-oil salespeople who can spot the symptoms, but then completely draw incorrect assumptions and take grossly damaging actions.
While some lament the fact that global warming received little discussion in this election cycle, the root cause of the malady facing us is the stunning change in the means of production with a population that continues to grow, expecting to share in the gains of productivity.
Less and less do we need people.
Trump has rattled the cages of the displaced and disaffected. That part is easy.
Actually doing something is the rub.
* Do we increase public works government spending to employ those who feel underemployed?
* Will engagement in public works provide people the stability they desire?
* Who will pay for this, as more wealth continues its upwards flow?
* Do we create that minimum income (as guaranteed by universal heath care and public assistance?)
We have absolutely miraculous technologies that eliminate scores of jobs, and all this will accelerate in the next 30 years.
It really pisses me off that I have degrees in Sociology and Political science (minor in Geography, yippee.)… because who actually wants to talk about this stuff? For 95% of the USA, ignorance is beyond bliss.
Most want to keep it at some level of monkey poop-flinging.
More and more, we face Ideocracy. Soon, self-driving cars with "ow my balls" playing while we go to some big box store.
We aspire to Altruism, but I have faced the reality of the USA: Make the money, find an exit plan, and bail.
Those displaced will not have that option but "will cling to their guns and bibles"… no surprise there either.
And nothing changes.
Yeah, I'm being a loud mouthed jerk today. But when half the population is lining up to decide that what we have isn't worth saving, well, F'em and good luck with that.
al-Ameda says:
By 'electoral repudiation' do you mean that an outcome of a wider electoral victory for Democrats is that they regain control of the Senate or the House?
Because even if Hillary gets 319 and Trump 219, if the Senate and House remain Republican nothing changes. Republicans are prepared to run the same opposition-operation toward Clinton that they ran against Obama. And of course, they've already indicated that more investigations and impeachment is already on the table.
Normally I'd say that Republicans are engaging in inflammatory rhetoric – but really, these days, they mean it. They shut down the government twice in 5 years over their demands that ACA be repealed, and they now refuse to, et minimis, even conduct hearings on the nomination of Judge Garland to the Supreme Court.
@Liberal Capitalist: @al-Ameda: Yes, I fully understand the long-term problems described, and that getting rid of Trump as a candidate does not solve all the problems (not by a longshot)..
Trump, however, and what I think of as "Trumpism" is linked to issues such as naked white nationalism and alliance with the alt-right as well as know-nothingism elevated to new national levels. It is the embrace of authoritarianism, at least symbolically. It is denial of democratic norms. It is more than that as well, but I do not have time for lengthy discussions at the moment. and yes, you can find examples of that in our politics apart from Trump. But it matters that the national standard bearer is championing these things. And if it is seen as a fully viable pathway to the presidency, it will deepen and mature and come back in a better package in 2020.
If there was an EC drubbing and the loss of states like Arizona, that would get the attention of those seeking power. If Trump loses but loses by a hair, that will send a different signal.
We are not in disagreement at all. But again, you discuss the personified ugly symptoms.
Even if Clinton swept the Electoral College and popular vote, with control of the Senate and House as well, we still have the underlying cause.
It will blow up in our face in some sort of Elysium nightmare The rich flourish, the poor are lost and fight amongst themselves for trivial perceived differences.
Accelerated change that does not require people. Our way of coping with this is not keeping up with that. And we have NO idea what to do about it.
Not a clue, and no discussion of it.
But lots of discussions about poo-flinging trivialities.
No matter who decides to lead the charge up the greased pole, it does not remove the underlying cause.
The most moronic quote that I read today: Mike Huckabee:
"Trump may be a car wreck, but at least his car is pointed in right direction."
Really? Is it?
I would LOVE to hear from a True Trump Supporter how exactly a Trump presidency will address this.
Because when I look at https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/ , I see an increase in public spending, and an increase in taxes on the poor. (those earning less than 75K will pay 12%. No breaks for poor) and economic growth based on trickle down.
Screw it. It's Friday. I've already voted. I should just put away the laptop for the weekend.
Maybe "Ow my balls" is on TV.
@Liberal Capitalist: All valid. The political question for this generation will be whether we end up with something that looks more like Star Trek or Czarist Russia. The question for the past generation was whether as inevitable globalization took over we would do anything to ease the transition for the average American worker or do nothing. Doing something would have required taxing rich people, so we didn't. Doing something about job loss from automation and AI will require taxing rich people.
I don't know what to do about it except vote for Dems. There's an off chance Dems might listen to experts, try to anticipate events, and do something. There's no chance R's will do anything except what they're doing now about AGW, protecting rich people and corporations against having to do anything. .
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Near Northeast
Before development in the 1920s, Mayfair was essentially farmland and home to The Edwin Forrest Home for Children (near present-day Frankford and Shelmire Avenue) and The Oxford and Lower Dublin Poor House (west of present-day Rowland and Sheffield Aves). First established in 1929, Mayfair came to fruition in the years following World War II as a community that provided fresher and more spacious living in an urban environment. It was constructed over farmland surrounded by the established neighborhoods of Tacony, Holmesburg and Fox Chase. Mayfair featured several groundbreaking concepts for city dwellers: bigger rowhomes with yards in the front and parking garages in the back. The automobile became the primary mode of transportation and shopping retail centers became available close to home, as shopping districts developed along Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue. Development also served to connect the surrounding neighborhoods of the Northeast that had previously been isolated. In these regards, Mayfair was a forerunner to American suburbanization, an early part of the population shift from the inner city to its outer regions.
CandidCityHighwayHumanPeoplePersonPhiladelphiaPlaceProjectSceneStreetStreet RoadStreetPhotographyUrbanstreetsofphillyMayfairNeighborhood


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The Wheeling Mob: Part 6
WARNING: This article contains explicit language and subject matter that is not suitable for children. It is the equivalent of Rated R.
(Writer's Note: This is the sixth in a series of stories that will concentrate on the organized-crime scene in and around Wheeling during the past century.)
Blow, Booze, Disco, and Loose Ladies
He carried a camera bag, but there was no camera.
He wore a suit and a tie because he was doing business, and he had a sales route to follow on a daily basis. There were never cold calls for him to make, though, because his job was simply to answer the demand, and he did so by waltzing into banks and businesses and law firms and restaurants to meet with owners and presidents and general managers.
"The Courier," we'll call him, would open up that camera bag, and the customer would select from its contents – cocaine, marijuana, and Quaaludes. At times the customer, he confirmed, would select all of the above.
It was, after all, the late 1970s.
This is one of several bars inside the structure that once housed the Tin Pan Alley.
"It was a much different time than what I see these days. Back then the girls dressed up, and if they wanted to get a piece of ass, they weren't afraid to go out and get a piece of ass," Courier said. "That was the time of the 'Me Generation.' Whatever you wanted you pretty much went out and got it if you could, and no one else seemed to matter.
"Sex, drugs, booze, whatever, it didn't matter in the late '70s. We didn't have drug tests or anything like that," he said. "And then Disco happened, and that made everything explode. Disco changed a lot about everyone's attitude. People stayed out all night back then going from bar to bar before going to Benwood for the late-night partying."
Coke dealers like the Courier also did not have to worry much about agents employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation either because the federal agency did not possess jurisdiction over cocaine trafficking. That enforcement belonged to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Internal Revenue Service, and those divisions did not have a presence in the Friendly City at the time.
"In the 1970s the Wheeling Police Department and the FBI were working together, and we really did know everything that was going on in Wheeling and in the surrounding communities," explained retired agent Tom Burgoyne, who was initially stationed in Wheeling in 1967. "We received tips all of the time, but all we could do was store the information away.
"The city was crazy on cocaine, I can tell you that, and it all started with the rich guys. We had attorneys and businessmen accidentally overdosing on the stuff when it was first introduced in Wheeling because they didn't know what they were doing. It was brand new," he continued. "We were finally granted the jurisdiction in 1983, but before that it seemed like it was everywhere, and no one was doing a damn thing about it."
The disco dance floor was often the most crowded floor at the Tin Pan Alley.
The Courier worked his route during the day, but at night he could be found at the Tin Pan Alley in downtown Wheeling. The home of the former Zeller's Steakhouse owned by renowned Mob boss Bill Lias was transformed, Kennen & Kennen's Missy Ashmore confirmed, by the mid-1970s into a floor-by-floor department store of live and DJ-ed music. And the crowds were consistently huge.
Country, rock, and disco were the primary musical themes, and the Courier was initially a first-time patron in 1977 who quickly became the bar manager just two years later. He liked the scene, loved the ladies, and enjoyed experimenting with drugs so much that he later became addicted to cocaine.
But at the time he first walked into the Tin Pan Alley, he was in his mid-20s and single, and soon he would be earning thousands in unreported cash. And it all started because of a one-beer agreement with his buddies.
"That first night I didn't want to go when some of my friends in Marshall County said that's where they wanted to go, but I'm glad I went because the place was a lot of fun. I found myself going back a few days a week after that first visit," he explained. "I met this person and that person, and then I met the owner, and we got along.
"A few weeks after I started hanging out there, the owner fired Bob Dorris [ed. note: See comment from Bob Dorris below] as the DJ and told me he wanted me to do it. I told him that I didn't know anything about being a DJ, but he just told me to play the same music. He looked at me and said, 'How hard can it be?' So I learned how to do it and made some very interesting friends from that point on."
Many of those acquaintances introduced the Courier to a career in cocaine in a city of 48,000 residents. Interstate 70 was finally finished, the wounds from the death of a proposed downtown mall were still fresh, and an Elby's Family Restaurant was close by for sure. The landscape of downtown Wheeling was changing in the mid-1970s with the construction and opening of the Wheeling Civic Center as well as the building of Wesbanco Bank's mirror-windowed headquarters at 14th and Market streets just a few steps from the Club Tower strip club. Tin Pan Alley was tucked away close by too, within an alley intersection that's between Main and Market streets near the home of Ogden Publishing and the nudie book store.
The landscape of downtown Wheeling changed during the 1970s with the construction of Wesbanco Bank's headquarters on the corner of 14th and Market streets.
Drug sales in other local bars proved just as lucrative as the Tin Pan, the Courier reported, and the Pirate's Cove, the Eagle II, the Whistle Stop, Elbow Room, College Inn, and Mac's on Washington Avenue usually featured more-than-willing buyers bellied up hoping to experience the roller-coaster buzz that involved gulping the pills first, chugging the alcohol second, and then using the coke as "the icing on the cake."
"Sometimes a dealer would pay off a local bar owner or the bartender so they could sell out of their place when their own houses or apartments got too hot," he said. "The dealer would set up at a table in the bar, usually in a corner somewhere, and one buyer after another would flow in.
"The bar owner or bartender didn't care because those people always bought a beer so they wouldn't be suspicious, and they always left a good tip," the Courier continued. "I didn't have to do things like that, but some of the guys that were buying from me had to."
The client base was diverse – judges, board presidents, preachers, teachers, moms, dads, and cheaters handed over cash in exchange for the chaos, and passing out and having to be carried to a cab wasn't a criminal offense a few decades ago.
"Back in those days no one really cared about that stuff, and that's why I never really thought what I was doing during the day or night was wrong. I never really considered myself a lawbreaker," Courier said. "It's not like it is today. No one stood on corners waiting for cars to pull up. It was very discreet back then, and the rules were easy – stay away from the very young and the very poor. That was because the very young and the very poor were usually the first ones the police could get to talk.
"When I was the bar manager, I didn't care what the customers were doing in the restrooms unless they were smoking a joint. Let's face it. Cocaine doesn't stink up the place when you're snorting or bumping, but light up a joint, and the entire freakin' bar knows," he continued. "And we had a lot of cops who would come in. We catered to them, and smoking weed in the bathroom just wasn't smart. Not at all.
"That atmosphere wasn't just inside the Tin Pan Alley. It was everywhere, especially at the Pirate's Cove in Center Wheeling and a lot of other places around town. And remember, there was no such thing as DUIs back in those days. People did what they did, drank what they drank, and smoked or snorted whatever, and still went from one place to the next like it was nothing."
Donnie Clark's drug trafficking traveled outside downtown Wheeling.
The drugs the Courier delivered, though, didn't flow from the Hankish organization, and that's because his supplier felt that "No Legs" stomped on coke far too much, and his prices for marijuana and the pills were far too high. Hankish ruled the roost soon after surviving an explosive assassination attempt in January 1964, and those who wanted to get in on the action had to pay him.
"By the 1970s Hankish was very mobile. He was getting around pretty well by then, and he was in control," Burgoyne reported. "If someone wanted to get into the drugs, the prostitutes, or the stolen-car business, most of them had to take care of him if they wanted to exist, or bad things usually took place."
Donnie Clark, though, created his own network. The Moundsville native often would drive to Miami to buy Cuban cocaine, and his pills and pot came from suppliers from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Mannitol or baby laxative, the Courier admitted, was what he used to "fill" the cocaine, and the weed from Mexico often arrived sealed in coffee cans.
"I wasn't sure where the pot was coming from back then, but when I had to use a can opener to get to it, I knew it came from a country where the coffee company was involved in the network because of those sealed cans. I thought it had to be Mexico because all we had to do was microwave the bags for 60 seconds, and, poof, we had nothing but beautiful buds," he said. "And as far as the Mannitol and the baby lax, we had to do that with the cocaine because the shit Donnie was getting in was so potent it would have killed people if we didn't.
"That's what I wanted to believe anyway. I tried it uncut a few times, and it was some serious shit. I think I did one line, and it kept me up all night long. I couldn't imagine trying to do the amount that was normal then. I really think people would have died."
Market Street between 16th and 14th streets was once a very active area for partying and drug trafficking.
Clark's network employed the weigh masters, the runners, the bookkeepers, and the attractive "Bag Lady," who joined the Courier in operating in the public's view instead of hiding away as Clark and the others did. The weigh masters measured, the runners delivered deals, and the bookkeepers recorded the cash. Once transactions were completed, the "Bag Lady" went to the bank.
"I was the trusted guy because I took care of business at the Tin Pan, so I went to the bankers, the businessmen, and the lawyers. I was the guy that people wanted to do business with because I pulled no punches or pranks. They got what they wanted for the price they expected," he said. "When I agreed to start doing it for Donnie, he promised me bail and an attorney if I ever got in any trouble and didn't sell him out along the way. I put on a suit and tie, and I went from place to place and did what I did because I trusted him.
"Each week I probably sold three pounds of marijuana and three to five ounces of coke. It fluctuated according to the time of year, but there was a lot of money to be made," he said. "After a little while the weed I was dealing was grown outside of Hundred, W.Va., instead of coming in from Mexico, and it was just as potent as the weed is today. We had a lot of fun when we were naming the bud, too. Columbia Gold, Red Bud — it was some pretty great shit, and people loved it, and they had no idea it was grown just two counties to the south."
In his dealing days, he charged $250 for an "Eight Ball" (or a half-ounce of cocaine), and the pricing of the pills and weed depended on the market. The powder was snorted wherever, and users used whatever bill or straw they could muster. It was popular with the ladies at the time to grow their pinky nails a little longer than usual so they could "dip and bump" whenever the opportunity arose.
"When I was working at the Tin Pan, I could always tell who was doing what – the pills, the pot, or the coke," the Courier said. "You could tell by their eyes, or you tell what guys had the coke because they would constantly tap their pocket to make sure their gold was still in there.
"Sales were going so well at one point that a department store owner who was one of my customers started asking if I would deal for him if he fronted the purchase of a kilo or two of coke. He asked me about how much he could make, and I explained to him that a kilo of coke at the time was around $30,000 but that he could triple his money pretty easily. I guess his store wasn't doing too well.
"But I turned him down on his offer because I had my gig. I was working for Donnie during the day and at the Tin Pan at night. I spent every dollar I made, and I lived the life," he said. "I knew the guy's reasons for wanting to get into the coke business, but that's never what it was about for me. I didn't want the weight of a business on my shoulders. I just wanted to deal the drugs, make the money, and drink the beers and peppermint schnapps just like everyone else."
His tenure didn't last long at the Tin Pan Alley although the Coynes convinced him to put the bar's liquor license in his name. The property owners, Jim and Bernie Coyne, retained the poker-machine revenue and created an atmosphere still recalled as legendary today by natives and out-of-towners alike. One brother was a bar owner in Bridgeport, and the other was a stockbroker, and the partners enjoyed the profits from steady weeknights and wall-to-wall weekends.
But the money, the Courier said, eventually tore the two apart and forced them to file for federal bankruptcy protection.
Many different local musicians played at the Tin Pan Alley.
"That partnership got to be a real bad situation because of the amount of money that was flowing through the place," he explained. "There were no credit card payments, and the debit card didn't exist, so everything would be cash-money. And then one night it would be one of the brothers calling me to ask where the bank bags were, and the next night it would be the other one.
"I just took care of business, and it took care of me. I know I got paid, and so did the other staff we had when I was there. What those guys were doing was on them," the Courier continued. "And then I was the one who got investigated when their issues caused them to file bankruptcy because they wouldn't own up to what they were doing. They blamed me, but what they didn't know is that I never put the money I made in the bank. When they checked my banking records, they found nothing close to proving I was taking anything, let alone getting paid for the bar or the drugs I was selling."
The Courier surrendered his business route too, and he and his camera bag moved to Pittsburgh in 1980 to get away from Wheeling. He remained in contact with Clark, but not with the Coynes beyond their attempt to draw him back to Tin Pan Alley for the re-organization process. Once he returned to the Valley after a year or so in the Steel City though, he reconnected with Clark and with the coke, but the boycott against Hankish and his products had been lifted.
"In the beginning Donnie always told me he wouldn't deal with anyone related to Hankish because his drugs were shit," the Courier recalled. "He always said Hankish's coke had too much filler, his weed was rag and worthless, and that he charged way too much for the pills. So he went into business himself because he figured how to get better shit, and we did all right because there were a lot of people we sold to who were happy that it wasn't connected to Hankish.
"Everyone knew Hankish was in the federal spotlight, and everyone knew that the drugs he was selling weren't the best, but he'd still get the cash because of his name and his network, but Donnie told me the atmosphere was changing. Some of his connections went away, and that's when he had to start going to someone in Hankish's organization somewhere around 1984 to get the loads of coke he needed."
Burgoyne knew of Clark in the 1970s, but it was only after the FBI was permitted to enforce federal laws concerning cocaine when the agent and the criminal came face-to-face.
"We had an informant that knew Donnie pretty well, so we told the informant to tell him that there was a kilo of coke in Miami that he could buy for only $20,000, and back in those days that was a really good deal on that much cocaine," Burgoyne explained. "Clark jumped at the chance because he could make a lot more money on a deal like that.
"Donnie jumped into his car and drove straight to Miami and picked up the kilo from another guy we had down there, and he paid the $20,000 in cash, turned around, and drove all the way back," he continued. "Clark was told to meet the buyer in the parking lot of the Elby's on National Road. The two met at the front counter, sat down and had a cup of coffee, and then went out in the lot to make the exchange.
"If he wasn't set up, Donnie would have made $10,000 in two days, but as soon as he opened his trunk, something like eight agents and cops rushed him and immediately cuffed him and took him into custody. I was with him for four straight days after that trying to break him down. We knew he was connected to Hankish, and we knew he didn't want to sit in prison for 25 years because that's how long he was looking at."
Clark believed, the Courier told me, that Hankish had something to do with his arrest because of his years of defiance. So on that fourth day, Clark decided to pay him back.
Donnie Clark made headlines in the Pittsburgh Press when he testified in federal court against mobster Paul Hankish in 1990.
"Donnie Clark was a likeable guy, but he was a tough guy, and he drank a fifth of whiskey every single day. He would be straight sipping on that bottle right after breakfast and that bottle was with him until it was gone," Burgoyne recalled. "Finally, Clark decided to start talking to me, and he told us everything we needed to know about Hankish and his operations. We had a lot of information on Paul already, but after Clark told us everything he knew, we were really confident in our case against Hankish. He confirmed a lot of what other informants were telling us."
So in July 1990, Clark testified against Hankish during the mobster's federal racketeering trial in Wheeling. Clark told the judge and jury that it was "No Legs" who supplied him the drugs he trafficked throughout the Upper Ohio Valley, and in exchange for his cooperation Clark and his wife were granted entry into the federal government's Witness Protection Program.
"They went from Wisconsin to Arizona," the Courier said. "The feds told them to just disappear, but that wasn't Donnie. They were gone for a while, but this was his home, for better or worse. Plus, he knew Hankish went to prison and that most of his guys had faded away.
"So they broke out of the protection program after a few years and came home, and then he and his wife died pretty close to each other a few years after that," he said. "Donnie died in November 2001, but he was still using, and he was still drinking when they came home. I guess it was only a matter of time until his body just gave out on him, but I've always wondered if their deaths were somehow connected to his testimony that damned Hankish to the prison."
"The Wheeling Mob" series on Weelunk attracted the Courier's attention because the stories hit very close to home. He'd been waiting, he admitted, to finally see his name, and yet he didn't reach out to me. I reached out to him because I discovered his story was important to include when telling the tale of Wheeling's infamous underground.
"As soon as the first story came out I didn't know what to think or where it was going to go," he said. "The stories have all been so factual from what I remember that I was nervous. I mean, people know who I am. Of course they do. I was involved. I was at the Tin Pan. I was in their offices opening my camera bag and taking their money.
"That was a long time ago. That was 30 years or so ago, and it was a a freakin' riot," the Courier added. "To be completely honest, I'm just glad I survived."
Rock, country, and disco were the favored kinds of music in Wheeling in the 1970s, and the Tin Pan Alley featured all three from floor to floor.
Jim Coster July 4, 2016
i grew up in Moundsville (1954) and left "the Valley" for college in 1978 – right at the height of the "disco" dance club fever. while there were lots of drugs around during my high school years (1969-1972, pot, uppers, downers, LSD, mesqulin, qualudes) cocaine and "harder stuff" started to become "the drug of choice" in Wheeling in the late 70's. it was very popular with "professionals" in law, government and politics. apparently, it was seen as a "sophisticated" drug. a member of my family actually became an informant on a high-level cocaine user/dealer who was a major state "government" bureaucrat working in the Wheeling office for that state agency. my family member was a worker in this person's office and had occasion to observe many of the drug activities of the official. there was no "respected family" or "high level professional" that was immune from the insanity of cocaine use in Wheeling in the 1970's. i know or went to school with a number of individuals who have commented on this article.
Mike Spehar September 6, 2015
Enjoying your series on Wheeling mob. In the early 60s, while in college, got a speeding ticket going up Big Wheeling Hill. hauled off to Wheeling Police Station. Would not let us go without paying $35 fine, money which I did not have. My girlfriend's, [who was with me] dad worked for the mob; she called him, he called a business associate who had a bar in Bridgeport, who's brother had a taxi service. within 30 minutes the taxi and our bailout money arrived. Loved the mob ever since.
Teddy June 24, 2018
Just one of 1000's of "good" story's about yesteryear. Why don't anyone write about that?
jeff May 26, 2015
Once again a very powerful story written by you Mr. Novotney. Kinda makes me wish in would've been around to see that part of Wheeling's history. Can't wait till Part 7 comes out. Keep up the great work my friend.
Rochambeau May 25, 2015
Great to see so many comments from those who were actually there. Thank you all for your contributions.
It kind of makes me wish someone would put the whole Tin Pan Alley back together so we could party like it's 1979.
jack hattman May 25, 2015
FASCINATING AS ALWAYS.
Don Robinson May 24, 2015
I was the doorman and head bouncer, as well at times personal security for Jim or Bernie Coyne. My job was to always keep drugs out of Tin Pan Alley. Bernie Coyne was a milquetoast that was barely there and barely involved. Jim Coyne liked to party and was a Scotch Whisky freak. He knew a lot of the Wheeling thugs, but wasn't close to any of them. I never had any dealings with drugs personally or on behalf of the Coynes, and if they would have had dealings, I'm sure I would have known. I also knew Donny Clark quite well and I never liked him much. Im well aware of his exploits, and could believe anything, except i cant recall him ever being in the Tin Pan Alley. I grew up with him in Moundsville and he was a pallbearers at my father's funeral. (My brothers idea) He showed up late and drunk to a morning service. I can't imagine who your courier may have been, but doubt I would have let anyone in caring a camera case, without inspecting it. Hell I mistakenly jacked up some poor bastard with a baggie of pipe tobacco. Do you recall or are you aware that we mostly had a uniformed Wheeling Police officer on premise? Sometimes two.
Bob Dorris May 24, 2015
This part of this story is absolutely false:
"A few weeks after I started hanging out there, the owner fired Bob Dorris as the DJ and told me he wanted me to do it. I told him that I didn't know anything about being a DJ, but he just told me to play the same music. He looked at me and said, 'How hard can it be?' So I learned how to do it and made some very interesting friends from that point on."
I was never fired at TIN PAN ALLEY……I QUIT..Jim Coyne and his friends liked to party at the "Attic Disco" as it was called after it closed often time to 4 AM and he wanted me to continue playing music till then. I hated setting in that little booth and even though the money was great I finally said enough is enough and "I QUIT." A friend of mine Jay Naples was the DJ after me and later Cole Simms became the D.J.
It was my idea to open a disco in the first place. I had been to Florida and seen all the discos there and mentioned it to Jim Coyne. At one point he offered a chance for me to buy into the Attic Disco, but he wanted $25,000 and I couldn't come up with the money.
It was he and I traveled to Central Ohio to get that lighted dance floor in the picture.
Anonymous May 26, 2015
Thanks for clarifying Bob.
West Palm John May 23, 2015
Very accurate account of that time. Starting off at the Blue Angel, then up to Johny's Bar, across the bridge to Tin Pan Alley and the Cork & Bottle, then to the Flamingo for a nightcap made for a full night and that was any night of the week.


Buoyancy-Driven Heat Transfer and Flow Between a Wetted Heat Source and an Isothermal Cube
D. J. Close,
D. J. Close
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Division of Building, Construction, and Engineering, Highett, Victoria 3190, Australia
M. K. Peck,
M. K. Peck
R. F. White,
R. F. White
K. J. Mahoney
J. Heat Transfer. May 1991, 113(2): 371-376 (6 pages)
Published Online: May 1, 1991
Close, D. J., Peck, M. K., White, R. F., and Mahoney, K. J. (May 1, 1991). "Buoyancy-Driven Heat Transfer and Flow Between a Wetted Heat Source and an Isothermal Cube." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. May 1991; 113(2): 371–376. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2910571
This paper describes flow visualization and heat transfer experiments conducted with a heat source inside an isothermal cube filled with a saturated or near-saturated gas/vapor mixture. The mixture was formed by vaporizing liquid from the surface of the heat source, and allowing it to condense on the surfaces of the cube, which was initially filled with a noncondensing gas. Visualization studies showed that for air and ethanol below 35°C, and for air and water, the flow patterns were similar with the hot plume rising from the source. For air and ethanol above 35° C the flow pattern reversed with the hot plume flowing downward. For temperatures spanning 35° C, which is the zero buoyancy temperature for the ethanol/water azeotrope and air, no distinct pattern was observed. Using water, liquid droplets fell like rain throughout the cube. Using ethanol, a fog of droplets moved with the fluid flow. Heat transfer experiments were made with water and air, and conductances between plate and cube of around 580 W·m−2·K−1 measured. Agreement between the similarity theory developed for saturated gas/vapor mixtures, and correlations for single component fluids only, was very good. Together with qualitative support from the visualization experiments, the theory developed in a earlier paper deriving a similarity relationship between single fluids and gas/vapor mixtures has been validated.
Heat Pipes and Thermosyphons, Mass Transfer, Natural Convection
Buoyancy, Flow (Dynamics), Heat, Heat transfer, Ethanol, Water, Vapors, Drops, Fluids, Plumes (Fluid dynamics), Temperature, Visualization, Flow visualization, Fluid dynamics, Heat pipes, Mass transfer, Natural convection
Transient Double-Diffusive Convection of Water Around 4 ° C in a Porous Cavity
Double Diffusive Magneto-Convection Fluid Flow in a Strong Cross Magnetic Field With Uniform Surface Heat and Mass Flux
J. Heat Transfer (November,2012)
Flow Visualization of Submerged Steam Jet in Subcooled Water
J. Heat Transfer (February,2016)
Performance of Horizontal Smooth Tube Absorber With and Without 2-Ethyl-Hexanol
Influence of Interfacial Effect Between a Porous Wall and an Air Region on Natural Convection
ICNMM2009
Numerical Study of Water Droplet Evaporation on a Superhydrophobic Surface
Enhanced Microconvection Through Distributed Heat Source Modulation
ICMM2005
Laminar Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer
Applications of Mathematical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Models in Engineering and Medicine
Scope of Section I, Organization, and Service Limits
Power Boilers: A Guide to the Section I of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Second Edition
Introduction to Finite Element, Boundary Element, and Meshless Methods: With Applications to Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow


Try Adventure Racing With Your Family
More in Fitness
Team up for a Totally Cool, Outdoor Orienteering Adventure
Catherine Holecko
Catherine Holecko is an experienced freelance writer and editor who specializes in pregnancy, parenting, health and fitness.
Elaine Hinzey, RD
Fact checked by Elaine Hinzey, RD
Elaine Hinzey is a fact checker, writer, researcher, and registered dietitian.
Thomas Tolstrup / Getty Images
How to Find One
If you're looking for an enjoyable fitness challenge to share, check out family adventure racing. It combines the treasure-hunting of geocaching with the physical skills and thrills of biking, hiking, and paddling—then adds a hearty amount of nature and wraps everything up in a big teamwork bow. And even the littlest kiddos can participate.
Everything You Need to Know to Start Geocaching
Expedition races are a family-friendly alternative to other adventure races. These can cover long distances and last 24 hours or more.
A family race can be completed in an afternoon, and anyone who can pedal a bike can participate in teams of two to four people. Some races even allow bike trailers, so that the little kids can join in the fun.
Shorter adventure races ("sprint" or "sport" distance) will allow family teams to participate, too, without having a special family event.
What to Expect at a Family Adventure Race
The race organizers place checkpoints throughout the course, and teams must visit as many checkpoints as possible in the least amount of time.
Most adventure races combine biking, paddling, and trekking/hiking.
Sometimes you'll need to visit the checkpoints in a particular order; in other cases, any order is fine, but coming up with a strategy for getting them all is part of the fun. Family races operate the same way, but with less challenging terrain.
Adventure races often incorporate fun challenges, too. Teams may have to complete puzzles, ride a zip-line, climb a rock wall or tree, or walk across a slackline.
Challenges are usually kept a surprise, meaning you won't know what they are until you're out on the course.
Unlike a 5K or other fun run, you won't be able to preview the course first because figuring out where to go is an essential component of the challenge. The more elite adventure races require serious orienteering skills. For family adventure races, you just need to know how to read a map.
It's also important to know that you have to stick together. This is a team sport, not a relay, and the rules require that team members stay close to each other at all times.
That said, family events are usually flexible. You can skip parts of the course that don't work for you (say, if you have a toddler in a bike trailer or a preschooler who really hates water) and participate just for its fun. Don't worry about your time; enjoy the outing and the team bonding!
The Benefits of Active Family Time
Gearing Up for Family Adventure Racing
Almost every event that incorporates water travel (canoes, kayaks, or inner tubes) provides boats, paddles, and life jackets for participants. So you don't have to worry about bringing your watercraft.
When you register for a race, you'll get a list of mandatory gear. It usually includes a bike and helmet, appropriate clothing and footwear, plenty of water, and sometimes a whistle and compass. You might want to bring a waterproof bag to hold your map and "passport" (a piece of paper or a punch card where you will record your visits to each checkpoint).
Entry fees typically range from about $30 to $80 per person. The price helps cover the cost of race elements like boat and supply rentals, course set-up, and after-race celebrations.
How to Find a Family Adventure Race
Search online for "family adventure race" plus your city, state, or region. You can also try the listings at Active.com or at the U.S. Adventure Racing Association (look for family, beginner, or "tenderfoot" events; some beginner events will allow family teams).
Another option is a permanent adventure racing course (PARC). These allow you to try simple orienteering and practice your skills, or have an "anytime" adventure rather than waiting for an event that's only held once or twice a year.
For an adventurous outing without the race component, you can also check out an adventure park.
Get expert tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy.
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101 Absolutely Free Activities for Kids


Following Indiana Gregg Down The Yellow Brick Road
By Mark Kirby [02-19-2006]
On the cover of her CD, Something Like Me, there's a picture of the artist, Indiana Gregg, sitting and looking back at the observer. The first things that jump out are wow, hot blonde, red dress, and thigh high white boots. Holla, another twinkie pop tart. Holla back, girl!
But then you look closer and you see that the arms are crossed, the knees are together, she's guarded. The look on her face is the opposite of the blank stare of a Britney - there is a pensiveness in her expression, and a hint of impatience, like a child who has been dressed up and posed for a picture. There is clearly more to her than meets the eye.
I noticed this about the photo just as she sang: "So when will you understand that the way look isn't who I am?" from the song "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy." This cut is her anthem, in spite of the fact it is a perky pop rock song, instead of being a bombastic power ballad. To an acoustic guitar, bass and drums-driven country rock groove, she sings: "It's all so superficial out there I need something real / So Crazy Crazy Crazy / This is how I feel / It seems to me our society / Lives within four walls of a Colored TV / Crazy Crazy Crazy / Give me something real . . ." This song, with its bursts of insight and tell-it-like-it is personal observation, has everything that classic songs have: a great tune, great hooks, and you can sing it in the shower. This CD has these qualities from end to end.
View Indiana Gregg's video 'Sweet Things'
Indiana Gregg is emphatic and clear about the musical well that she draws from. "My influences are rock, gospel, jazz and SOUL! Ray Charles is at the top of my list of soul geniuses," she said. "Roberta Flack would be my favorite female soul artist. These two icons very deeply impressed my musical psyche. My favorite pop artists would be Don Henley, Prince and Madonna. Of course, everyone from my era would have to mention Janet and Michael Jackson."
Listening to these songs, I can imagine them playing on any pop, country or rock radio station. This not to suggest that she has produced one-size-fits-all music. It's like a stew that has been cooking for a long while: well blended and tasty. Ms. Gregg has achieved a rare feat in the world of music outside of jazz: she has created something organic. And it didn't happen overnight. ��
[Indiana Gregg] "I became pretty shy when I went to school because I had a stutter and a speech impediment. My teacher recognized this early on and advised my parents that I see a speech therapist. I saw the therapist for 5 years twice a week. She taught me to use my hands to help me speak and encouraged singing and music as a form of expression for me as well. That's why I use my hands a lot when I perform even today. Because it was so difficult for me to speak and kids made fun of me, I started writing songs in my diary and playing them on my piano when I would get home from school. This became a kind of diary for me that I have continued into adulthood. Revisiting those songs I've written over the years helps me remember exactly what happened the day I wrote them."
"I started playing music officially at the age of six when I started taking piano lessons. Before that I would play by ear, because both of my brothers played instruments and I would mimic what they did on our old upright piano. I started learning the trumpet from age 10. I started writing songs when I was four when my cat died. I wrote a song about my cat to the tune of 'The Entertainer.'
"Later I found myself performing for nearly every event at school, my church, and the community theater. Song-writing became a diary for me and a way to express myself. I could sing in front of people, but I was embarrassed to speak as I had a stutter and a speech impediment. I was always either starting a band, or working in the summers at theme parks as a musician, or going on tour with gospel choirs. I started doing my own music live about 14 years ago. I've played in nearly every style of band you can imagine. I think with this album I've found a link to a lot of my favorite influences and a thread through the album that makes sense to me."
[Kirby] Did your family pressure you to pursue or not pursue an artistic path?
[Indiana Gregg] "My parents didn't pressure me to pursue anything. They always told me to do my best because doing your best means you will never feel ashamed. That sense of accomplishment that comes from doing your best was instilled in me early on and has become inherent in my psyche. My parents were able to instill an intrinsic sense of confidence in me and, as a result, I had a lot of freedom, academically and artistically. They said to do what you love most, so that's what I've done. Part of what I'm doing now is setting an example through music to my own three children. The song 'Kid Soldier' is about them."
All of her early experiences and loving support clearly developed her talents, but it is her song writing that sets her apart. There are many examples of singers with great pipes, but, like Darth Vader, they use their force for evil (i.e., bad, corporate, soda-selling bilge), by performing cookie-cutter songs, devoid of distinction. By contrast, Indiana Gregg's songs are chock full of distinction, so much so that you can imagine them being performed, unironically, by other artists.
Furthermore, unlike today's popular music, she has lyrics that have observations about the lives and hopes of real people. The song "Kiss Me All Night" is a power ballad all about love: "There's a moment in time / When it comes you will find / There's a mist that surrounds how your feeling / And you just wanna know, where it's all gonna go / 'Cos a heart can't take more than one beating / So just give me a sign / for my peace of mind . . . Would you kiss me all night in the moonlight . . ."
And while she has songs that touch on the troubled side of life, on the bouncy "Groovy Kind of Wonderful World" she dares to express happiness (so uncool), because, let's face it, life doesn't suck all the time: "My heart's delirious/ why get so serious / make every second count / that's what life is all about / Every day I feel lucky that I'm livin' in this groovy kind of wonderful world."��� ��
[Kirby] What type of music did you play before you settled on a soul-pop style?
[Indiana Gregg] "I played a lot of rock, even some punk, and a lot of soul. Unfortunately, because I like so many styles, I tended to merge a bit. This made things difficult at the beginning. I think that the songs on this album lean toward the soul-pop style and, to be honest, that's probably where all of my songs end up once they are broken down to the basics with an acoustic guitar or piano. In the past, I liked to play around and experiment, and I still do!"
This merging and experimenting come to an exciting fruition on this CD. On several cuts an old-fashioned orchestra (not digital, real humans) adds tasty touches, without over doing it. Check out an old Philly soul record or your parent's Al Green records and you'll know what I mean. The arrangements remind one of how the Motown Funk Brothers or Jack Nietzsche (arranger and producer of several Neil Young records) used to do it back in the day.
[Kirby] How did you snag the Irish Film Orchestra?
[Indiana Gregg] Fiachra Trench (famed Irish musician and composer who has recorded with Kate Bush, Van Morrison, Art Garfunkel and Paul McCartney, among others) has worked on several projects with my producer Ian Morrow and somehow we were able to put a budget together to get the orchestra for a day. I'll tell you, it was the most amazing experience of my life to see an entire orchestra playing my tunes. I was already in tears when I saw all of the music stands with my songs on them waiting for the musicians to come in and play them. This is really one of the most amazing thrills a songwriter could experience.
[Kirby] How did you come to do so much work in Europe?
[Indiana Gregg] "I moved to Europe and lived in Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the French Riviera. Because I had traveled around and lived in various places, I've had lots of opportunities to meet musicians from all walks of life. In some ways, I'm an explorer and pretty spontaneous. Many times going to a party I was networking and seeking out musicians. Within days we would form a band or organize a jam."
[Kirby] How did you hook up with a Scottish producer Ian Morrow and such a talented and recognized group of people like the musicians and Paul Wright (engineer)?
[Indiana Gregg] "I met with a lot of producers and I was really looking for the right vibe for this album. After meeting up with several, I decided to go with Ian Morrow because he seemed to have the sensibility to deal with my musical ideas and was experienced enough not to feel bombarded by them. This is probably the best decision I have ever made in my life because we work really well together (when we aren't at each other's throats, I mean). I think his experience working on projects with Seal, Wet Wet Wet, and Rod Stewart gave him the ability to understand where I come from (which is all over the place). I'm probably not an easy artist to deal with because I'm constantly dreaming up new stuff that could potentially send people off on tangents. I'm a bit crazy that way."
Yeah, crazy, crazy, crazy like a fox. She is doing what many in the music industry say not to do: blend, mix, and make something original. By being so cantankerously stubborn and confident in her musical journey, and so insistent on giving a free reign to her individualistic creativity, she has proven that the particular can have wide appeal. She is one of the only pop artists around that can exist in, and supercede, musical categories, while giving you something real. "So much of who we are depends on where we've been," she explains. "I think where we've been can be both physical, as in location, and emotional. I'd like to touch as many people as possible through this medium of music and wherever I end up, it's been a fantastic journey!"
To follow Indiana Gregg down the yellow brick road, Indiana Gregg's album, Something Like Me, is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom April 3rd, 2006, distributed via RTD/Universal. Visit her record label, Gr8Pop, Ltd, at or through her web site for more information.
Source: http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=10874


Spotted: Klinger – Horst
Today I'm presenting you with the track Horst by the German composer and piano player Klinger. He started playing the piano at the age of six and started to work as a musician, producer and arranger after finishing school. A few years ago he started finding his was back to the piano again and started making piano music. You can read more about Klinger by clicking on his name above!
The track Horst was released as a single on the 18th of may, but will also be part of the project Persona : Perseverance which will be released in June, 2021.
Tell us a little something about that project!
It´s a series of musical portraits. That means that I try to depict persons with music. I´m working with a small film team, who make moving portraits of the persons and I compose music for them. For the first series of portraits we decided to search for people who have been affected by Covid and its consequences in a special way. Horst owns a little pub in Hamburg, St. Pauli, and he had to close down due to Corona regulations. There will also be portraits of a risk-patient, a 96-year-old Corona survivor, a nurse, an actor and a police officer.
Tell us something about your track Horst!
When I was a child I often sat at the piano and played what came to my mind, just improvising. One day I noticed that my playing changes completely when someone enters the room. As if that person is somehow reflected in my music. That´s how the idea was born to depict people with music."
"Composing a piece for 'Horst' was easy. His face already tell´s so many stories. I was immediately inspired and wrote the piece in one afternoon. I just let the music flow and this is what happened."
Thank you for this Klinger!
Spotted: RAPHAEL NOVARINA – Minimalism No. 1
Spotted: Umeå Bodø – Lonesome Kingfisher
Spotted: Khyaam Haque – Most Things Are Beautiful


Unification of Saudi Arabia
Find sources: "Unification of Saudi Arabia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Unification of the Saudi-ruled Arabia
Present Saudi state (Saudi Arabia)
Arabian Peninsula (including South Arabia), Mandatory Iraq, Transjordan and Kuwaiti Emirate
Saudi takeover of central and northern parts of Arabia:
End of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar and Kingdom of Hejaz.
End of Ottoman presence in the Arabian Peninsula.
Establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
Annexation of Asir and Najran and Jizan Saudi-Yemeni War in 1934.
Kingdom of Hejaz (1916–1925)
Arab Army
Hejaz Air Force
Sultanate of Nejd
Saudi Army
Soviet Union[1][2]
Kingdom of Italy[3]
British Empire (from 1927)[4][5] Ottoman Empire (until 1919)
Emirate of Jabal Shammar
German Empire[6]
Commanders and leaders
Hussein bin Ali
Ali bin Hussein Abdulaziz Ibn Saud
Saud bin Abdulaziz[7]
Faisal bin Abdulaziz[8][9]
Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman[8][10]
Sultan bin Bajad
Faisal al-Duwaish
Eqab bin Mohaya
Khaled bin Luai Fakhri Pasha
Abdul-Aziz bin Mitab †
Saud bin Abdulaziz
Ajlan bin Mohammed Al Ajlan †
38,000[citation needed] 77,000[citation needed] 23,000[11][verification needed]
18,000+ killed in total[a][12]
Dilam
Hadia [ar]
al-Hasa
Jarrab
Kanzaan [ar]
al-Khurma
Hajla [ar]
Hurmula
Ha'il
1st Kuwait
Transjordan
Hejaz
2nd Kuwait
Ikhwan Revolt
Ancient Arabia
Early Islamic State
Rashidun Caliphate
Umayyad and Abbasid periods
Sharifate of Mecca
Ottoman rule
Emirate of Diriyah
Emirate of Nejd
Emirate of Riyadh
Emirate of Nejd and Hasa
Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
Saudi Arabia portal
The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign in which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud. Unification started in 1902 and continued until 1932, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of Ibn Saud, creating what is sometimes referred to as the Third Saudi State, to differentiate it from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, also House of Saud states.
The Al-Saud had been in exile in the British-protected emirate of Kuwait since 1893 after their second episode of removal from power and dissolution of their polity, this time by the Al Rashid Emirate of Ha'il. In 1902, Ibn Saud recaptured Riyadh, the Al Saud dynasty's former capital. He went on to subdue the rest of Nejd, al-Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Asir, and Hejaz (the location of the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina) between 1913 and 1926. The resultant polity was named the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz from 1927 until it was further consolidated with Al-Hasa into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
2.1 Saudi take over of Riyadh
2.2 Saudi–Rashidi War
2.3 Al-Hasa and Qatif
2.4 Kuwait–Najd War
2.5 During World War I
2.6 First Nejd–Hejaz War
2.7 Conquest of Ha'il
2.8 Ikhwan raids
2.8.1 Raids on Transjordan
2.8.2 1921 raid on Iraq
2.9 Second Nejd–Hejaz War
2.10 Ikhwan rebellion
2.11 Declaration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3 Aftermath
3.1 Annexation of Asir
3.2 Saudi–Yemeni War
4 Ikhwan movement
See also: First Saudi State and Second Saudi State
Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud. Founder of Saudi Arabia since 1934 and Commander Unification of Saudi Arabia.
Sharif Hussain, The Sharif in Mecca and King of Hijaz.
Following the Diriyah agreement between Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Saud, the Al Saud clan founded the First Saudi State, a state based on the strict defense of Islam. The ideology born of this period was later dubbed Wahhabism. Originating in the Nejd region of central Arabia, the First Saudi State conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula, culminating in the capture of the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1802.[13]
The loss of Mecca was a significant blow to the prestige of the Ottoman Empire, which had exercised sovereignty over the holy city since 1517, and the Ottomans were finally moved to action against the Al Saud. The task of destroying the Saudis was given to the powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who sent troops to the Hejaz region and recaptured Mecca. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, meanwhile led Ottoman forces into the heart of Nejd, capturing town after town in the Nejd Expedition. On reaching the Saudi capital at Diriyah, Ibrahim placed it under siege for several months until it surrendered in the winter of 1818. He then sent many members of the clans of Al Saud and Ibn Abdul Wahhab to Egypt and the Ottoman capital of Constantinople and ordered the systematic destruction of Diriyah. The last Saudi imam (leader), Abdullah bin Saud, was later executed in Istanbul.[14]
The Al Saud survived in exile and went on to found the Second Saudi State, which is generally considered to have lasted from Turki ibn Abdallah's capture of Riyadh (which he designated as the new capital) in 1824 until the Battle of Mulayda in 1891. The Second Saudi period was marked by instability, which the Al Rashid clan of Jebel Shammar were able to exploit. The Saudi leader, Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal, sought refuge in Ottoman Iraq in 1893.[15]
Saudi take over of Riyadh[edit]
Main article: Battle of Riyadh (1902)
In 1901, Abdul Rahman's son, Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud–later to be known as Ibn Saud–[16] asked the Emir of Kuwait for men and supplies for an attack on Riyadh. Already involved in several wars with the Rashidis, the Emir agreed to the request, giving Ibn Saud horses and arms. Although the exact number of men waxed and waned during the subsequent journey, he is believed to have left with around 40 men.[17]
In January 1902, Ibn Saud and his men reached Riyadh. With only a small force, he felt that the only way to take the city was to capture Masmak fort and kill Ibn Ajlan, Chief of Riyadh, and having achieved these goals they successfully took the city within the night. With the capture of his family's ancestral home, Ibn Saud proved he possessed the qualities necessary to be a sheikh or emir: leadership, courage, and luck.[18][19] This marked the beginning of the third Saudi state. Ibn Saud's dominions became known as the Emirate of Nejd and Hasa,[20] which lasted until 1921.[21]
Saudi–Rashidi War[edit]
Main article: Saudi–Rashidi War
The Saudi–Rashidi War, also referred as the "First Saudi–Rashidi War" or the "Battles for Qasim", was engaged between the Saudi loyal forces of the newborn Sultanate of Nejd versus the Emirate of Ha'il (Jabal Shammar), under the Rashidis. The warfare period of sporadic battles ended with Saudi takeover of the Al-Qassim Region, after decisive victory in Qasim on 13 April 1906,[22] though other engagements followed into 1907.
Al-Hasa and Qatif[edit]
In 1913, Ibn Saud, with support from the Ikhwan,[23] conquered al-Hasa from an Ottoman garrison, who had controlled the area from 1871.[24] He then integrated al-Hasa and Qatif into the Emirate.[25] The people in these areas were Shias and the Saudis Wahhabi puritans, resulting in harsh penalties for Shi'a Islam in Saudi Arabia, contrary to what the traditionally tolerant Sunni Ottomans allowed.[23]
Kuwait–Najd War[edit]
Main articles: Kuwait–Najd War and Uqair Protocol of 1922
The Kuwait-Najd War occurred because Ibn Saud wanted to annex Kuwait.[26][27] Ibn Saud insisted that Kuwait's territory belonged to him.[27] The sharpened conflict between Kuwait and Najd led to the death of hundreds of Kuwaitis. The war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919–1920.[28]
Following Kuwait–Najd War, Ibn Saud imposed a tight trade blockade against Kuwait for 14 years from 1923 until 1937.[26][29] The goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait's territory as possible.[26] At the Uqair conference in 1922, the boundaries of Kuwait and Najd were set.[26] Kuwait had no representative at the Uqair conference.[26] Ibn Saud persuaded Sir Percy Cox to give him two-thirds of Kuwait's territory.[26] More than half of Kuwait was lost due to Uqair.[26] After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raiding.[26]
During World War I[edit]
Main articles: Battle of Jarrab and Treaty of Darin
In December, the British government (started early 1915) attempted to cultivate favor with Ibn Saud via its secret agent, Captain William Shakespear, and this resulted in the Treaty of Darin. After Shakespear's death at the Battle of Jarrab, the British began supporting Ibn Saud's rival Sharif Hussein bin Ali, leader of the Hejaz. Lord Kitchener also appealed to Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca for assistance in the conflict and Hussein wanted political recognition in return. An exchange of letters with Henry McMahon assured him that his assistance would be rewarded between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden, and the Syrian coast. Contrary to its negotiations with Ali, the British entered into the Treaty of Darin, which made the lands of the House of Saud a British protectorate. Ibn Saud pledged to again make war against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans. Ibn Saud was also given a monthly stipend in exchange for waging war against Ibn Rashid.
First Nejd–Hejaz War[edit]
Main article: Al-Khurma dispute
The First Saudi-Hashemite War or the Al-Khurma dispute took place in 1918–1919 between Abdulaziz Ibn Abdul Rahman AlSaud of the Emirate of Nejd and the Hashemites of the Kingdom of Hejaz. The war came within the scope of the historic conflict between the Hashemites of Hejaz and the Saudis of Riyadh (Nejd) over supremacy in Arabia.[30] It resulted in the defeat of the Hashemite forces and capture of al-Khurma by the Saudis and his allied Ikhwan, but British intervention prevented the immediate collapse of the Hashemite kingdom, establishing a sensitive cease-fire, which would last until 1924.
Conquest of Ha'il[edit]
Main article: Conquest of Ha'il
See also: Jabal Shammar
Conquest of Ha'il, also referred as the Second Saudi–Rashidi War, was engaged by the Saudi forces with its ally Ikhwan tribesmen upon the Emirate of Ha'il (Jabal Shammar), under the last Rashidi rulers. On 2 November 1921, Jebel Shammar was completely conquered by Saudi forces and subsequently incorporated into the Sultanate of Nejd.
Ikhwan raids[edit]
Raids on Transjordan[edit]
Main article: Ikhwan raids on Transjordan
Ikhwan raids on Transjordan were a series of plunders by the Ikhwan, irregular Arab tribesmen of Najd, on Transjordan between 1922 and 1924. Though the raids were not orchestrated by Ibn Saud, the ruler of Nejd, nothing was done by him to stop the raiding parties of his ally Ikhwanis. This however changed after the conquest of Hejaz, when the increasingly critical and negative stance of Ibn Saud on Ikhwan raids developed into an open feud and essentially a bloody conflict since 1927.
In early 1920s, the repeated Wahhabi incursions of Ikhwan from Najd into southern parts of his territory were the most serious threat to emir Abdullah's position in Transjordan.[31] The emir was powerless to repel those raids by himself, thus the British maintained a military base, with a small air force, at Marka, close to Amman.[31]
1921 raid on Iraq[edit]
In 1921, an Ikhwan party raided southern Iraq, pillaging Shia villages, resulting in the massacre of 700 Shias.[32]
Second Nejd–Hejaz War[edit]
Main article: Saudi conquest of Hejaz
The Saudi conquest of Hejaz was a campaign, engaged by Saudi Sultan Abdulaziz AlSaud to take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–1925. The campaign successfully ended in December 1925, with the fall of Jeddah. Subsequently, in 1926, Ibn Saud was proclaimed king of Hejaz, and raised Nejd to a kingdom as well in 1927. For the next five-plus years, the Saudi domains were referred to as the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, though they were administered as separate units.
Ikhwan rebellion[edit]
Main article: Ikhwan Revolt
Ikhwan Army in Ikhwan Revolt strike Alliance British Empire, Kuwait and Ibn Saud.
As Saudi expansion slowed in the 1920s, some among the Ikhwan pushed for continued expansion, particularly to the British-controlled territories such as Transjordan to the north - where the Ikhwan raided in 1922 and 1924. By this time, the few parts of central Arabia that hadn't been overrun by the Saudi-Ikhwan forces had treaties with Britain, and Abdul Aziz was sober enough to realize the folly of a potential conflict with the British. However, the Ikhwan had been taught that all non-Wahhabis were infidels. Faisal al-Dawish of the Mutair tribe and Sultan bin Bajad of the Otaiba tribe, the leaders of the Ikhwan, were among those who accused Abdul Aziz of going "soft", with the former reportedly telling the latter that the Saudis were "as much use as camel bags without handles".
A rebellion erupted, climaxing in a battle at Sabillah, which some have labeled a massacre but pro-Saudi sources consider to have been a fair fight.[33] Additional battles erupted through 1929 in Jabal Shammar and in the vicinity of the Awazim tribe. The rebellion was put down in 1930, with the surrender of last opposition elements. Though the survivors were jailed, their descendants remained opposed to Saudi rule, and one such descendant, Juhayman al-Otaibi, would gain infamy in 1979 when he led the Grand Mosque Seizure.[34][35]
Declaration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia[edit]
From 1927 to 1932, Ibn Saud administered the two main portions of his realm, Nejd and the Hejaz, as separate units. On 23 September 1932, Ibn Saud proclaimed the union of his dominions into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ibn Saud's eldest son Saud became crown prince in 1933.[36]
Annexation of Asir[edit]
Further information: Idrisid Emirate
Asir, Hejaz, and Nejd
The region of Asir, in what is today southern Saudi Arabia, had been under Turkish rule from 1871 until the outbreak of the First World War, at which point its emir, Hasan ibn Ali Al Aid, "became virtually independent" and attempted to rule from Abha. However, a struggle ensued between his forces and those of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi, who eventually set up the short-lived Idrisid Emirate under Saudi tutelage.[37] The emirate was subsumed by the Saudi state following a 1930 treaty which provided for the territory to come under Ibn Saud's direct control upon its emir's death.[36] The Emirate was eventually incorporated into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1934.
Saudi–Yemeni War[edit]
Main article: Saudi–Yemeni War
With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, a Zaidi state was forged in Yemen under Imam Muhammad bin Yahya Hamid ad-Din and his descendants. The Yemenis claimed parts of Asir and came to blows with the Saudis in 1933. Writing in the American journal Foreign Affairs in 1934, historian Hans Kohn noted, "Some European observers have wished to explain the armed conflict as a conflict between British and Italian policy in Arabia." Despite British ties to Saudi Arabia and Italian ties to Yemen, he concluded that "the rivalry between the two rulers is in no way caused or fostered by the rivalry of the two European states."[38] However, in 1998, Alexei Vassiliev wrote, "The imam was instigated both by the Italians, who promoted assistance in order to increase their influence in Yemen, and by the British, who wished to detract Imam Yahya's attention from their protectorates in Aden."[39] The Saudis struck back, reaching the Yemeni port of Al Hudaydah before signing a "treaty of Muslim friendship and Arab brotherhood" in Ta'if, which was published simultaneously in Mecca, Sanaa, Damascus, and Cairo to highlight its pan-Arabism.[40][41]
Remarking on the implications of the treaty, which stated "that [the two parties'] nations are one and agree to consider each other's interests their own", Kohn wrote, "The foreign policy of both kingdoms will be brought into line and harmonized so that both countries will act as one country in foreign affairs. Practically, it will mean a protectorate over the Yemen by Ibn Saud, the stronger and much more progressive partner."[41] Relations indeed remained close until civil war erupted in Yemen in the 1960s, at which time the country became a staging ground for battle between conservative values and those of the Egyptian revolutionary Gamal Abdel Nasser.[42]
Ikhwan movement[edit]
Main article: Ikhwan
The exact circumstances under which the Ikhwan (brothers, brethren) arose remain unclear. However, it is known that they consisted of Bedouin who were imbued with Wahhabi zeal at settlements known as hijras. They played an important role in the Saudi rise to power, though the extent of that role is sometimes disputed.[43]
Geography of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia – United Arab Emirates border dispute
Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone
Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone
Sykes–Picot Agreement
[a].^ Unification of Saudi Arabia (combined casualties figure estimation 7,989–8,989+) of:
Battle of Riyadh (1902) – 37 killed.
Battle of Dilam (1903) – 410 killed.
Saudi–Rashidi War (1903–1907) – 2,300+ killed.
Annexation of Al-Hasa and Qatif (1913) - unknown.
Battle of Jarrab (1915)
Battle of Kanzaan (1915)[citation needed]
First Nejd-Hijaz War (1918-1919) – 1,392 killed.[12]
1921 Ikhwan raid on Iraq - 700 killed
Kuwait–Nejd Border War (1921) – 200+ killed.[12]
Conquest of Ha'il (1921) - unknown
Ikhwan raids on Transjordan (1922–1924) – 500–1,500 killed.
Saudi conquest of Hejaz (1924–1925) – 450+ killed.[12]
Ikhwan Revolt (1927–1930) – 2,000 killed.[12]
^ https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/10/15/how-moscow-lost-riyadh-in-1938/
^ https://russia-islworld.ru/en/kultura//karim-hakimov-red-pasha-and-the-arabian-vizier-of-the-kremlin/
^ Chisholm, Hugh (25 March 2018). "The Encyclopedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information". The Encyclopedia Britannica Co.
^ Peter W. Wilson, Douglas Graham. Saudi Arabia: the coming storm . M.E.Sharpe, 1994: p.45
^ Leatherdale, Clive. Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis. p.115.
^ https://raseef22.com/article/1071038-story-shammar-tribe-understand-indigenous-inhabitants-region
^ Upbringing & Education 1902-1915 - The King Saud Foundation Website
^ a b Al Kahtani, Mohammad Zaid (December 2004). "The Foreign Policy of King Abdulaziz" (PDF). University of Leeds. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
^ Helmut Mejcher (May 2004). "King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in the Arena of World Politics: A Glimpse from Washington, 1950 to 1971" (PDF). British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 31 (1): 5–23. doi:10.1080/1353019042000203412. S2CID 218601838. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
^ Sabri, Sharaf (2001). The House of Saud in commerce: A study of royal entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. New Delhi: I.S. Publications. ISBN 81-901254-0-0.
^ David Murphy, (Illustrated by Peter Dennis), The Arab Revolt 1916-18: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze, Osprey Publishing, 2008, p. 26.
^ a b c d e University of Central Arkansas, Middle East/North Africa/Persian Gulf Region[permanent dead link]
^ Vassiliev 1998, pp. 83–103
^ Vassiliev 1998, pp. 140–191
^ "Ibn" means "son" in Arabic and thus "Ibn Saud" means "Son of Saud" (see Arabic name). Although Westerners widely referred to Abdul Aziz as Ibn Saud in later years, "the clan chieftain's title of Ibn Sa'ud continued to refer to Abdul Rahman until he had established himself as such." (Lacey 1982, p. 65) Abdul Aziz never referred to himself by this title, and some authors (e.g. Helms 1981, p. 14), avoid using it entirely.
^ Lacey observes, "Forty is the number which bedouin often pick upon when they wish to describe a smallish body of men, and forty is the number of companions which Abdul Aziz is said to have had with him when he left Kuwait in September 1901." (Lacey 1982, p. 41) Lacey offers further insight into the ambiguity surrounding the details of the capture of Riyadh, whose place in Saudi Arabian folklore he compares to the Storming of the Bastille: Ibn Saud himself told numerous versions over the years, which is only partly attributable to Ibn Saud's excitability. According to Lacey, "He was spinning history in the way that the Old Testament scribes spun their legends or the creator of the Chanson de Roland wove his epic, for even today it remains the pleasant obstinacy of the Arab to be less captivated by the distinction between fact and fiction than by mystery, romance, poetry, imagination – and even downright caprice." (Lacey 1982, p. 47)
^ Troeller 1976, p. 21
^ Vassiliev 1998, p. 213
^ Madawi Al-Rasheed. A History of Saudi Arabia. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. 40.
^ J. A. Hammerton. Peoples of All Nations: Their Life Today And Story of Their Past (in 14 Volumes). Concept Publishing Company, 2007. Pp. 193.
^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 807. ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1.
^ a b Jones, Toby (June 2009). Embattled in Arabia: Shias and the Politics of Confrontation in Saudi Arabia (PDF). Shia Militancy Program. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point / American Civil Liberties Union.
^ Pp. 63, 124
^ World and its peoples. London: Marshall Cavendish. 2006. p. 29. ISBN 0-7614-7571-0.
^ a b c d e f g h Mary Ann Tétreault (1995). The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Economics of the New World Order. pp. 2–3. ISBN 9780899305103.
^ a b Michael S. Casey (2007). The History of Kuwait. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9781573567473.
^ Illahi, Mahboob (2018). Doctrine of Terror: Saudi Salafi Religion. Victoria, Canada: Friesen Press. p. 117. ISBN 9781525526473.
^ Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar (2009). Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya. p. 80. ISBN 9781109229349.
^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (31 July 2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598843361.
^ a b Salibi, Kamal S. The modern history of Jordan. p. 104
^ Moon, Farzana (2015). No Islam but Islam. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 142. ISBN 978-1443871181.
^ Lacey 2009, pp. 14–16
^ The origins of this event with the Ikhwan dissenters are described in multiple sources, though Lacey 2009 contains one of the most up-to-date accounts. For more information on the Grand Mosque Seizure itself, see The Siege of Mecca by Yaroslav Trofimov.
^ Hegghamer and Lacroix, Thomas and Stéphane (Spring 2007). "Rejectionist Islamism in Saudi Arabia: The Story of Juhayman al-Utaybi Revisited". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 39: 1. doi:10.1017/S0020743807002553 – via JSTOR.
^ a b Vassiliev 1998, pp. 283–285
^ Kohn 1934, p. 101
^ a b Kohn 1934, p. 102
^ Commins 2006, pp. 80–94
Almana, Mohammed (1982). Arabia Unified: A Portrait of Ibn Saud. London: Hutchinson Benham. ISBN 0-09-147290-3.
Commins, David (2006). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. London, New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-080-2.
Helms, Christine Moss (1981). The Cohesion of Saudi Arabia. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kohn, Hans (October 1934). "The Unification of Arabia". Foreign Affairs. 13 (1): 91–103. doi:10.2307/20030644. JSTOR 20030644.
Lacey, Robert (2009). Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-02118-5.
Lacey, Robert (1982). The Kingdom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-147260-2.
Al-Rasheed, Madawi (2010). A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-74754-7.
Troeller, Gary (1976). The Birth of Saudi Arabia: Britain and the Rise of the House of Sa'ud. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3062-4.
Vassiliev, Alexei (1998). The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi. ISBN 0-86356-935-8.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlas of Saudi Arabia.
Hous of Saud, a 2005 documentary by PBS' Frontline. Website includes interviews and an excerpt containing the chapter on the Ikhwan.
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Vale keeps 400mln tpy iron ore output guidance, expects prices in $60-80/t range
Brazilian miner Vale is committed to maintaining iron ore production at 400 million tonnes per year until 2023 from its estimated capacity of 450 million tpy, the company said on Tuesday December 4 during an investor presentation at the New York Stock Exchange.
The miner, the world's largest iron ore producer and one of the most efficient ones, is not alarmed by recent price weakness, chief executive officer Fabio Schvartsman said. He maintained estimates of $60-80 per tonne for 62% Fe prices in the next year, stating "it is a comfortable band" for the company. "We were already expecting prices to soften during winter in China and planning to hold a little bit in inventories in order to take advantage during the start of next year," the CEO said.
Vale keeps 400mln tpy iron ore output guidance, ex...


Comic Strip of the Day – Friday Funnies
Posted by Mike Peterson
Amid the flood of Back-to-School cartoons that didn't make me laugh, Baby Blues evokes a memory of parenting that did.
Granted, it wasn't over math, since my boys were both better at math than I was and the teaching of math is far superior than it was in my day. Those factors are probably related, but math and arithmetic were "shut up and memorize this" when I was in school and the kids got "here's why" in their lessons.
Better than that, when they got to geometry and proofs, where I got "no, that's wrong," they got, "Okay, that works this time, but here's why it's gonna get you in trouble when we hit the next level."
In any case, my wanting to scream into the desert came in the Arts & Letters sector, because, no matter how bright they are, no matter how you try to explain it, kids have a concreteness up until maybe sophomore year that prevents them from understanding motivations that don't involve bodily needs like thirst and hunger.
I tried teaching a weekly enrichment course to eighth graders in which we read "Hamlet," which is chock-full of subtle, implied motivations.
I don't think they learned a damn thing, but I sure did.
Juxtaposition of the Season
(Arlo and Janis)
(Frazz)
There was a time, O Best Beloved, when Labor Day really did mark the end of summer, just as Memorial Day marked the start.
My Colorado reporters have been back in the classroom for two weeks and my New Hampshire grandkids went back this week. They'll all be in school on Memorial Day, too.
However, I don't share Caulfield's objection to where Labor Day falls, because I always saw it as "Summer's over, but, before we get back to work, here's an appreciation …."
Though, as noted the other day, Americans get precious little time off to begin with, so it's hard to feel appreciated.
Anyway, Columbus Day is the end of summer hereabouts, because that's when the autumn leaves are over and the tourist places shut down for winter, though some of them have already shifted to weekends-only because half their workers are back in school.
As for barbecue, I already knew that most of my South African friends are apparently not even aware that it's possible to cook indoors. However, I hadn't known how widespread things were until I heard the makers of this film interviewed on NPR the other day:
(Available on Netflix)
Other Juxtaposition of the Day
(A&J encore)
(Arctic Circle)
I'm in the same boat as Arlo, though I store my plastic bags in another plastic bag. But I bring my reusables to the store, fill them, bring them into the house and leave them there for months, then repeat the process.
I guess if they banned plastic bags here, I'd have to remember, but I wish that, if they moved in that direction, they'd simply ban the flimsy kind.
The Coop Stores here use a bag of old-fashioned heft, which won't blow away and which can be used for dredging chicken or for packaging goopy garbage, and they even have a bin where you can put your old bags for other people to grab on their way into the store.
And they have paper bags, and they still ask.
The reason I juxtapose these two is that I remember when plastic bags and plastic milk bottles hit the grocery stores in the early early 70s, and many of us objected to the waste. And we might as well have been screaming into the desert with Wanda (see above) for all the good it did.
I was behind a woman at the grocery store recently who had five reusable cloth bags. And was buying a case of coffee K-cups. We are ineducable.
But the bacon thing astounds me. While not everyone lived on brown rice and Jerusalem artichokes back in them thar days, we did avoid excess sodium, fats and, particularly, nitrates.
Until we didn't.
And, while kale and pomegranates have been promoted on dubious health claims, you sure can't say that about bacon, which is not only far more popular than it deserves to be but has become fetishized to the point of bizarre nonsense.
I hope somebody at the Pork Producers Council got a big fat raise.
And a carton of Marlboros, because why the hell not?
Here, Fastrack manages to hook into both Back to School seasonal issues and a current media kerfuffle, and, by the way, I like how Bill Holbrook has evolved Fi from an annoying side character into someone of substance.
The school issue is that I am of the belief that anyone proposing year-round school should sit in a classroom full of middle school students in July. Most schools in this part of the country have an air conditioner sticking out of the window of the principal's office because that's the only part of the building in use over the summer.
You want year round school, brace your budget for some major re-fitting.
Meanwhile, while I'm pulling for Cynthia Nixon to join the overall upset of the establishment, the flap over thermostat settings at her debate with NY Governor Andrew Cuomo pinged a funny memory but a real gripe.
As said before, I was once one of two men in an office full of women, and they kept turning the heat up while I kept turning it back down. We actually had two buildings, and one held the newsroom, business office and print shop, mostly male and kept cool, while the other was for advertising and circulation, mostly women and set at tropical levels.
I finally told my coworkers that I was going to start coming to work in sleeveless T-shirts and gym shorts if they didn't relent, which made them giggle in horror.
But they were in light, sleeveless outfits, and, if there were ever a logical, objective argument in favor of the little blue dress-for-success suit for women, and the abandonment of jackets and ties for men, this is it.
#1 Mary McNeil
August/31/2018
Sorry, but as long as there are still disposable diapers (baby and adult) I will continue to enjoy Keurig K Cups. But I have dug the grounds out of them to put in the compost pile.
#2 Mike Peterson
https://deansbeans.com/ekobrew-reusable-filter.html
Plus, Dean supports small growers with greater transparency.
A different rant, however — Fair Trade in coffee is like Sustainable Fishing — the competing certification groups require complex sorting and vetting.
In any case, re-usable filters are kinda like cloth diapers but — and I've changed a lot of diapers and made a lot of coffee — a whole lot less labor intensive. And pleasant to handle.
YMMV, but I hope not on that last part. ;-)
#3 Bob Crittenden
September/2/2018
I use a K-cup filter at work. However, my wife will not use one, so I (as the grocery shopper) must also buy K-cups (sometimes, by the case). You know, happy wife…. etc.