The Nineteenth Amendment

by on July 7, 2024 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Nineteenth Amendment was another Wilson-era amendment to the US Constitution. It made it illegal to deny the vote in the United States, or any of the States, based on sex. Many States banned women from voting at the time, so this effectively gave women the right to vote. It was not quick though. The “Susan B. Anthony Amendment” failed many times over many years in Congress before the Senate finally passed it with 56 votes in 1919, 36 Republicans and 20 Democrats. 17 Dems and 8 Reps opposed it, and another combined 14 did not register votes. Many States continued to try to limit their vote for years to come, and it took a long campaign and many court cases to make the amendment stick in reality as well as on paper.

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The Eighteenth Amendment

by on July 6, 2024 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors in the United States. No importation. No exportation. One interesting historical fact is that when the Amendment was voted on, most people thought that “intoxicating liquors” only meant distilled alcohol. That it would not cover things like beer and wine which were not distilled. It was a great surprise to many when the Volstead Act specifically included them as types of “intoxicating liquors.” This would lead to the creation of the various “Near Beers” that had low enough alcohol contents to slip under the Volstead Act, as well as companies selling ingredients that could be used to make “intoxicating liquors” with clear instructions on what NOT to do with them. It would be wrong to allow people to accidentally break the law due to lack of knowledge, doncha know? Coincidentally, one of the primary fuels used for most automobiles at the time was various distilled alcohols of some type, since any farmer could find something to distill on their farm, and alcohol actually burns more cleanly than oil-based gasoline. Gas stations as we know them now were largely limited to the big cities, until this amendment made distilling alcohol-based fuel illegal.

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The Twenty-Fifth Amendment

by on July 5, 2024 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Due to recent interest, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution is a wordy one. It states that the Vice President becomes President if the President leaves the office, and states that the President can nominate a new Vice President if there is no Vice President, who will be voted on by the Congress. It allows the President to temporarily give the Vice President his powers as Acting President. It also allows the Vice President and a majority of the principle officers of the executive branch to declare the President unable to do his duty. Two thirds of both houses of Congress can make this declaration stick by removing the President from office entirely. I thought this might be relevant to current events…

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Happy Independence Day

by on July 4, 2024 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Today we celebrate the day we declared our independence.

The day the Founding Fathers pledged and signed “Our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor” to the cause of independence from the corrupt English Crown.

Never Forget what they risked. What they lost. What some never managed to rebuild. It is because of their sacrifices that we are here today.

Where we celebrate them by blowing a piece of our country up while we are too drunk to be safe with a sparkler.

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Independence Day

by on July 3, 2024 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

We’re all getting ready to celebrate Independence Day. Some of us have been doing it for a while based on the sounds of explosions in my neighborhood.

Be safe friends. Try to go to bed with all your favorite appendages still attached to your bodies.

We want to make things go boom, not ourselves go boom… 😉

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