A Friday history lesson….
We have all heard the threats by one candidate to ‘go after’ his opponents before private and public critics…..and the country, well at least some of the country, has taken that to heart and taken him at his word.
Let The Vendetta Begin
But this threat and possible action is nothing new.
And yes this is another of the old professor’s history lessons…..
On a hot July day in 1798, Luther Baldwin spent the afternoon in his local tavern in Newark, New Jersey, tossing back mugs of hard cider.
Suddenly there was a commotion outside—shouts and cannon fire. Baldwin stumbled out of the tavern to see a parade making its way down the main thoroughfare. It was led by President John Adams and his wife Abigail, who were passing through Newark on their way home to Massachusetts from the capital in Philadelphia. A crowd had gathered to cheer the president, but not Baldwin.
Adams was a Federalist, and Baldwin—a veteran of the Continental Army who worked on a garbage dinghy—was a Democratic-Republican, the opposition party led by Vice President Thomas Jefferson. Adams had just signed into law the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, including a law that made it a crime to criticize the federal government.
As 16 cannons sounded another salute, one of Baldwin’s drinking buddies joked that the cannons should be aimed at Adams. Baldwin loudly replied that he “did not care if they fired thro’ his arse!”
The tavern owner, John Burnet, reported Baldwin’s drunken comment to the authorities, and before he knew it Baldwin was charged and convicted for speaking “seditious words.” He was fined $150 (a small fortune today) and jailed until he could pay it.
“This drunk guy was actually jailed for sedition for making a bad joke about the president,” says Terri Halperin, author of The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Testing the Constitution. Baldwin’s case sparked national uproar against the Alien and Sedition Acts, unconstitutional laws that restricted free speech in the name of national security.
https://www.history.com/news/alien-enemies-act-sedition-adams-jefferson
So you see there is good reason for some concern…..it has been done before with the okay from the government and it could be once again.
Know your history! (pause here for heavy laughter) And none of this will surprise you.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Not only COULD begin again but most certainly WILL begin again… political bloggers had better have hefty savings accounts after January 20, 2024 or they better begin to praise the powers to be or keep their mouths shut. I have been saying this all along and, of course, the nay-sayers with false hopes stuck up their a**es have been telling me either “No” or “Bring It On” without an iota of idea about what they are about to get themselves into….either that or they don’t care what they are getting themselves into.
Fighting bullshit comes with a price and I refuse to make nice when nice is nowhere in the country. My ass is clean is yours? chuq
Whether our asses are clean or not will depend entirely on what the new regimes decides about it. If we oppose then we are dirty. If we are dirty then we must be cleansed. Not rocket science.
Somebody better take the highroad real quick!
I agree and rolling over is the cowards way out. chuq
Great history, chuq. And we all know all too well how easily it could happen again.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanx Pete….I do enjoy giving these lessons. chuq
correct that to “IS” happening again right in front of our eyes.
A and S Acts were a dreadul contradiction to Bill of Rights citizen protections in the then recently passed Constutution and First 10 then recently added upon which Adams helped enshrine. He must have forgotten. . 2024 Alien and Sedition Acts ? Our gal Hillary recently proposed that people ought to be arrested and prosecuted for fake news and misinfornation. But the misinformation is any disagreement with the WOKE loonies and the Democrat Trump haters and persecutors. Let’s not forget Kamooola’s, Jill’s, Pelosi’s and Schumer’s half a dozen years of “Trump works for Putin and Joe’s just fine and sharper than anyone lies”. Oh, and dear Hillary besides your team’s misinformation accusations there’s also a freedom of speech issue. But of course Comrade Hillary and her propaganda law bending minions will be the deciders of what’s misinformation and Constitution busting. I heard that Hill and the gang are readying detention and internment camps for all MAGAs so that (in her words) MAGAs can be “mind emptied” and re-educated. I don’t know if that’s true but it certainly fits their conversation re saving our democracy from the MAGA Hitlerites and Step 1 ( the demonization of the others) has been going on unrelentlessly. . So those dreadful A and S Acts are alive and well being supported by the Dem Left instread of the old Ferderalists of Adams’ time.
Carl you really think that the Dems support such actions….truly? chuq
I’m sure the old Dems, union workers, blue collar, white collar, police, firemen , teachers, farmers , vets do not support such things but that loyal, patriotic Dem Party is fading away being replaced by globalists, woke nuts and America is evil screamers . Seems a dozen states and a thousand cities are nullification doctrine followers (anti Constutution) with sanctuary cities and they don’t think that’s an insurrection but Jan 6 revelers are. I was at college frat parties that were more dramatic and crazy than Jan 6. Eliminating our border control doesn’t worry them a bit and I admit I don’t understand that at all. Seems the shape of the whole country is not creating any alarm so anything’s possible. The demonization of the “others” and identity politics disintergrates unity and sanity and justifirs many of all political nature and party to eliminate the other people. Kamooola never answered a single question of substance yet 75 million voted for her. Astonishing.
Both sides are not innocent in these attacks…..lies and BS is all we have in politics these….I do not know one Dem that is a globalist but then they are conservative and those are the biggest globalists. chuq
I heard the same thing about the MAGATS — that they are preparing their camps to detain democrats….
Dear Carl — you said, “I was at college frat parties that were more dramatic and crazy than Jan 6.” — so are you telling me that your frat parties maimed, injured and killed people? I sincerely doubt that.
Yes, John, of course you are correct but I think the college administration and the fire dept thought otherwise.
Frat parties do destroy furniture and property, and injure, assault, rape, maim and kill people.