bobtimmermann

[bobtimmermann]

On February 28, 1844, tragedy struck aboard the USS Princeton. President John Tyler was known as “His Accidency” for the way he became president after William Henry Harrison’s death, but the greatest accident of his presidential career occurred this day on the Potomac.

During a demonstration of the military’s might, the world’s largest naval gun—the “Peacemaker”—exploded and killed several people, including two of Tyler’s Cabinet members.

Among the dead was Representative David Gardiner who was there with his 23-year-old daughter, Julia. Julia fainted after the incident and was carried to safety by President Tyler. They were married four months later. Amazingly, two of John and Julia’s grandchildren are still alive today.

[bobtimmermann]

James K Polk, you shouldn’t like him

It’s late on Thanksgiving and I’ve come to tell you the story of this day is that you shouldn’t like James Polk. And if you’re not sure who that is, he was the 11th President of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. And after he left office, he died on the trip home of cholera. And he had no kids. So his legacy in some regards is limited. But in a sense, America is still paying the price of having him being elected in 1845.

Polk is popular with some people because he said he would accomplish four things while in office and he did all of those things. Whether or not Polk actually said he would do four things is the work of his Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft, who was also a prominent historian of the era. And the claim came By about years after Polk died.

The four promises would be:

1. Re-establish the independent treasury system. In Polk’s era, there was no national banking system at all since Andrew Jackson (Polk’s mentor) didn’t trust it. Polk set up the Treasury Department with some banking powers. This more or less kept the economy going until the Federal Reserve started in 1913.

2. Reduce tariffs. Democrats loved to lower tariffs. So Polk and Congress pushed them through.

3. Acquire some or all of the Oregon Territory. The U.S. and Britain were disputing this area (along with Spain and Russia too) for decades. It got sorted out through a treaty.

4. Acquire California and New Mexico from Mexico. 

That last one is the tricky one. Yes, the United States did “acquire” California and New Mexico (which at this time would have meant acquiring what we know as Arizona now), but it wasn’t as if Polk sent a minister down to Mexico City with a suitcase full of cash and bought the territory. Now, Polk deliberately provoked, on the flimsiest of reasons, a bloody war, with an extremely high death rate, just to get California and New Mexico into the U.S. and make the country complete from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

And just what made Polk so keen on getting these areas aside from some half-baked notions of imperialism and “Manifest Destiny” (the essay topic everybody hated in high school history class)? Polk wanted more territory where the US could set up more slave states. The Oregon territory wasn’t going to lend itself to slavery. But maybe places more southern would. So let’s do it!

Polk’s two best generals in Mexico also happened to be members of the opposition party, the Whigs. These were Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Taylor won some early victories, got some favorable press, and Polk sent him home. Scott finished off the war and Polk tried to let one of his own political cronies take credit for it.

Why? Because, when you get down to it, James K Polk was pretty much just an asshole. He wanted a big United States (he wanted to take over so much of Mexico that the Yucatan would be in the US). And he wanted to take over Cuba too. James Polk’s favorite person was James Polk. He wanted to keep his Southern slave owning aristocracy in power as long as he could. And by invading Mexico and taking over the American Southwest, he set what would become an intractable battle between north and south over the expansion of slavery. 

For some historians, James Polk is a “leader.” He got things done. But so have a lot of jerks in history. It doesn’t mean that they should have done it. 

You know who really hated James Polk? Abraham Lincoln. Hmm....

[bobtimmermann]

Game 5: chronological list of when people complained that someone screwed up

Top 1st - Dallas Keuchel can’t get the third out and lets Logan Forsythe single in 2 runs

Top 1st - Yuli Gurriel makes bad throw after Forsythe is picked off allows third run to score.

Top 4th - Dallas Keuchel lifted from game early. Exposing suspect Astros bullpen with team down 4-0

Bottom 4th - Staked to 4-0 lead, Clayton Kershaw walks leadoff man George Springer. Four batters later, Gurriel homers to tie game at 4-4.

Top 5th - Colin McHugh walks first two batters of inning. Cody Bellinger hits 3-run homer to put Dodgers up 7-4.

Bottom 5th - With two outs and none on, Kershaw walks Springer and Alex Bregman. Kenta Maeda relieves and gives up game-tying homer to Jose Altuve

Top 7th - Justin Turner hits leadoff double. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts order Enrique Hernandez to sacrifice. Astros retire Turner at third.

Top 7th - George Springer fails to make diving catch on Bellinger liner. It goes for a triple to score Hernandez to put Dodgers ahead 9-8.

Bottom 7th - Overworked Brandon Morrow relieves for Dodgers. In 6 pitches, he gives up two homers, a double and a wild pitch. Astros take 11-8 lead.

Top 8th - Joc Pederson watches fly ball to left that might be homer, but it bounces high off the wall. He can only get to second.

Top 8th - Corey Seager doubles to score Pederson. Taylor wants to score, but is held at third.

Top 8th - Turner lines out to right fielder Josh Reddick. Taylor mishears instructions from third base coach Chris Woodward and doesn’t attempt to score. Astros escape inning with 11-9 lead.

Bottom 8th - Dodger reliever Tony Cingrani gives up homer to Brian McCann to restore three run lead, 12-9.

Top 9th - Astros reliever Chris Devenski blows 3-run lead giving up three runs on three hits including a 2-run Yasiel Puig homer. 12-12

Bottom 10th- Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen hits Brian McCann with pitch with two outs and bases empty. Then walks Springer. Bregman singles home pinch runner Derek Fisher to give Astros 13-12 win.

[bobtimmermann]

WS Gm4: Run scores after throw deflects off Jackson

And I am still unhappy.

[bobtimmermann]

Baskin Robbins Pralines and Cream

[bobtimmermann]

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams (born July 11, 1767) https://www.instagram.com/p/BWahTyZFDU2/

[bobtimmermann]

Mark Rothko, No. 22 (Red over Plum and Black), 1960

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Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1968

[bobtimmermann]

Dodger walkoff walks

 Cody Bellinger drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th on Saturday to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals. Bellinger was just 5 days short of his 22nd birthday. This made him, at least according back to 1930 and whatever the Play Index can tell me, the second youngest Dodger to do it.

The youngest Dodger to walk off with a walk was Ron Fairly back on September 15, 1959 at the age of 21 years and 66 days.

Fairly drew a bases loaded walk from Milwaukee’s Don McMahon in the bottom of the 10th to complete a 2-run rally that the Dodgers needed to win a crucial game 8-7. The win moved the Dodgers into a tie with Milwaukee for 2nd place in the National League, 2 games behind San Francisco, with just 10 games left.

Fairly didn’t even start the game and only entered after starting center fielder Duke Snider was ejected in the third inning, presumably because he was still upset over a strikeout call in the bottom of the second inning. 

Like most Dodgers games of 1959, it wasn’t a great effort from the starting pitching. Starter Roger Craig went 4 innings and gave up 2 runs. Johnny Podres relieved and he gave up 3 runs in 3 1/3 innings. The Dodgers hit up Milwaukee starter Joey Jay for 5 runs in the fifth.

The Braves tied the game up at 6-6 in the ninth when Felix Mantilla hit a bloop single to score Del Crandall, who had doubled. Johnny Logan gave Milwaukee a 7-6 lead in the 10th on a sacrifice fly scoring Henry Aaron, who had gone 4 for 6 in the game.

In the bottom of the 10th, Maury Wills got a one-out single, pinch hitter Chuck Essegian singled Wills to third and gave way to pinch runner Joe Pignatano. Jim Gilliam tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Charlie Neal singled, Wally Moon walked, and the Fairly drew another walk, without swinging the bat, scoring Pignatano and giving the Dodgers a crucial win.

[bobtimmermann]

Candidate Thomas Dewey comes home

(Bernard Hoffman. 1939)

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Mark Rothko, Untitled (Black, Pink, Yellow Over Orange), 1950-51, Oil on Canvas

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[bobtimmermann]

Mark Rothko, Untitled (Blue Over Orange), 1956, Oil on canvas, 86 x 79

[bobtimmermann]

Happy Whatever Day

As the few people who follow this know that I used to blog about U.S. presidents as well as election campaigns, some think I’m excited about holidays like today. 

But, I think as long as the current occupant of the White House is there, spewing lies, hatred, and selling gullible Americans on it, I will just refer to today by the name that the state of California gives today in the state codes. Today is a holiday for “the third Monday in February.”

[bobtimmermann]

When I was in 9th grade, I got rhabdomyolysis when the PE coaches at the expensive prep school I was attending made all the boys exercise by doing push ups and sit ups for the entire period in order to get someone to own up to writing graffiti in a bathroom. 

Despite notes from a doctor, the coaches told me I was faking and I got an F in PE for one report card. 

My parents, who tended not to complain about anything, were enraged and complained to the principal. Who really didn’t do anything. I think one of the coaches is still a PE coach somewhere.

I went to public high school in 10th grade, where sanity reigned.

[bobtimmermann]

Mark Rothko, Untitled, probably late 1960′s

I don’t know anything about this painting. It’s legit, as it is from the 1970 Museo de Arte Moderna show. I would guess it’s late 60′s work, oil on panel or paper. But that’s a guess.

[bobtimmermann]

People weren’t happy about the Clilppers moving to L.A. either