Nifong is scum, and the good-old-scum network in Durham kicks in.
This is, of course, about the Duke Lacrosse rape hoax. But it's also about entrenched officials who don't give a flying damn about the public.
Judges in North Carolina are cowed by prosecutors; the latter have more power there than in just about any other state. That's why the lack of checks and balances is particularly egregious, it lets a man like Nifong do just about as he wants. If the defendants had been poor Nifong would have gotten away with it.
. . . As soldiers straggled back to the Confederate lines along Seminary Ridge, Lee feared a Union counteroffensive and tried to rally his center, telling returning soldiers and Gen. Wilcox that the failure was "all my fault." General Pickett was inconsolable for the rest of the day and never forgave Lee for ordering the charge. When Lee told Pickett to rally his division for the defense, Pickett allegedly replied, "General Lee, I have no division." . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 08:08 ||
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#1
Given the disastrous result of the British attack on fortified US defenses in the Battle of New Orleans, one would have thought that an American army would not have copied that folly. Lee did. And the day before Pickett's charge, he ordered troops to attempt to take the Ridge by means of a long front. Waves of Southern soldiers were repeatedly turned back with huge losses. As to why Lee didn't use either concentrated force or flanking to break the Union line, is a mystery because it would have succeeded at least in part.
#2
Not just Pakenham's New Orleans maneuver, Lee also had first-hand experience with a massed frontal assault when the ANV repelled the Federal attack on Maryes Heights during the Fredricksburg battle.
#3
The whole Civil War showed again & again the folly of attacking fortified defenses on a long line, not only in Pickett's charge, Fredericksburg, etc. etc. 50 years later, generals were still committing the same mistake in Europe. Lee took advantage of being on the plus side of fortifications, most of the time, except at Gettysburg. One of Lee's flanking attempts was stopped cold by the 20th Maine at Little Round Top, on 2 July 1865.
Posted by: Pearl Greaper5013 ||
07/03/2007 9:05 Comments ||
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#4
Whoops, it happened in 1863, not 1865.
Posted by: Pearl Greaper5013 ||
07/03/2007 9:05 Comments ||
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#5
Lee had done the same thing at Malvern Hill in 1862, with equal results. Having assaulted the Union line on the flanks at Little Round Top and Culp's Hill, they probably figured the Union forces had buttressed the flanks at the expense of the center.
Frontal attacks would continue through the war and still continue to be a tactic, just look at the Boar War, Russo-Japanese War, WWI [a nadir in military execution], D-Day, many of the Pacific island battles, or even today. What has been learned and what is attempted is to disrupt, suppress, and reduce a portion of the enemy's defenses to create a rupture allowing the attacker to then tactically or operationally penetrate, flank and/or cut off the defender. Achieving mass at a specific point in the defense.
The problem in the 1860s is that movement upon the battlefield was at the pace of the infantryman. By the time you could achieve suppressive firepower with the technology available upon the enemy's defenses and the subsequent time to cross the 'killing field' in an organized manner, the defender, with reserves, could plug the gap.
#6
Not to forget Little Round Top was a close-run thing. History could have gone very differently but for the bravery of the Union line. "Fix bayonets."
#8
I always thought Lee was a genius...until I actually went to Gettysburg. Looking at the distance that Pickett's troops had to cross before they reached the Union lines, I was stunned and amazed. Hell, I'm no general but you don't have to be to see that Pickett's charge was ordered by a man temporarily divorced from reality.
I've always believed that Gettysburg was lost at Chancellorsville. If Stonewall Jackson had lived, I'm convinced he would have persuaded Lee to try something other than a direct frontal assault. Longstreet was a good general, but his reputation will always be stained with his failure to stand up to Lee on this issue.
Posted by: Mac ||
07/03/2007 17:57 Comments ||
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#9
The battle for Culp's Hill raged for 7 hours earlier on July 3rd at the barb of the 'fishhook', so Lee may have thought by attacking directly opposite against the same army which retreated about 2 miles on July first, his men would route the unconfident Union soldiers and grab the high ground for more days of fighting. Lee had been spoiled by success, but this time, the Union was on home turf. Also, the actual size of the Union army at Gettysburg may have been miscalculated. Lee had 75,000 going in, Meade, 93,000. Casualties were about equal going into July 3.
#10
There are times when a frontal assault against an entrenched opponent has worked, but it helps if the opponent is demoralized or is led by an idiot. Consider Chattanooga.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the surrender at Vicksburg; there are other ways to fight wars. But Sherman's March decided all.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/03/2007 23:50 Comments ||
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#1
From a Mariners' fan who saw the Payrod leaving for Texas debacle unfold, all I can say is 'who cares?" Every time he sets foot in Safeco, he will be Boo'ed by the fans. And his wife is fixin to leave. count on it. Mr. Arrogant POS. Enjoy your money, dickweed.
ABUJA (Rooters) - The price of machetes has halved in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April because demand from thugs sponsored by politicians has subsided, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria reported.
NAN surveyed prices in the northeastern state of Gombe and found that a good quality machete was now selling for 400 naira ($3) compared with 800 naira before the elections, which were marred by politically motivated violence in many states.
"A price survey on machetes, which served as a popular weapon among political thugs in the state, indicated ... a drop in the price of the implement," NAN reported over the weekend.
Machetes are primarily used as a tool for farming in Nigeria but they are also popular among political gangsters.
"Before the conduct of the general elections, I was selling a minimum of seven machetes daily but can hardly sell one a day now," said Usman Masi, a trader quoted by NAN. Bummer.
Africa's most populous country returned to civilian rule in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army rule but violence remains a feature of politics, especially during the build-up to elections.
European election monitors estimated that at least 200 people were killed in politically motivated violence during months of festivities campaigning ahead of the April polls.
The two submarines were at the sea's surface when the Finnish vessel fired two torpedoes. Both missed, and when the Russian sub tried to escape with a rapid dive, Captain Leino decided to ram his enemy.
5.11.1942 Vetehinen sank Soviet Shtsh 305 at Gisslan by ramming. One of the convoys had located a submarine in Ahvenanmeri and Vetehinen and Iku-Turso were sent after it. The weather was partly clouded, eastwind was light and sea was light. The visibility was poor to southeast - southwest. Vetehinen was in the north part of its patrol area, when at 21.18 it located at bearing 360o a surfaced enemy boat sailing westward. The position was between Gisslan and Simpnäs (60o01´N - 19o11´E). The course was changed towards the enemy that dived after ten minutes. Vetehinen changed its course to 270o. With hydrophone contact was again gained and at 22.50 the enemy boat surfaced less than 1 000 m away. The enemy was now southwest from Vetehinen and sailing approximate course 110o. Vetehinen had to turn towards the enemy to get into a position to shoot the torpedoes. The distance decreased rapidly, speed was lowered and both bow torpedoes shot. The distance was smaller than estimated, only 250 meters, and torpedoes missed probably under the target. Gun fire was opened and with six knots speed Vetehinen charged on the enemy boat. The first 76 mm shell hit enemy tower and commander, lieutenant-commander Antti Leino decided to ram. Vetehinen hit the Shtsh-class boat ahead of the tower and its net cutter cut deeply in enemy pressure hull. Tense seconds followed; will Vetehinen get loose from its victim, or will they sink together. The Finnish boat had some damages, but returned home safely and was docked a week later. The damages included cracked bow, lower net cutter was gone, starboard depth rudder was jammed and bent 10o down, bottom plates bent for first 10-15 meters, side plating bent for 2 m2 area and number six dive tank was leaking.
I can't get enough of these kinds of films from our guys -- I remember watching hours of war movies with my Marine husband, and was always asking questions about are Marines and soldiers always so "inventful?"
#5
I hate to say it, but these guys need more stuff to do. Guaranteed with enough slack time to do a music video, it will not be long before they start to get into mischief.
This is a job for "Club Management NCO". A good one can whip up enough entertainment and activity to keep idle hands from cutting up rough.
Otherwise, they're going to start to see stuff like that nasty Kool-aid wine, and local girls are going to start looking a whole lot nicer.
#7
Hilarious. My favorite part was when the one dude was clowning w/the locals at the end and doing the leg pop. Bet that squad was gigglin' like school girls for weeks after that.
SCpatriot - not Marines. They did not have digital cammies and we don't wear American flags on our shoulders. Prolly Nat'l Guard I'd say. I couldn't tell if that Anbar by Ramadi or closer to Baghdad.
#4
Well, it's not as if the yotta-tons of matter currently occupying spacetime some 20 billion light years across just popped out of nowhere. Our universe is most likely another iteration of the one preceding it. The only significant difference may lie in how our's just happens to have the right blend of cosmological constants that allows for extreme longevity.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2007 7:57 Comments ||
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#7
The Big Match lighting the Big Fuse.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 8:21 Comments ||
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#8
This brings to question if our own Universe can be wiped out the same way, replaced with another? And if so, is there some way to prove it was Cosmic Warming that caused the last Universe destruction?
Posted by: Charles ||
07/03/2007 8:33 Comments ||
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#9
Beware the coming of the great white handkerchief!
#13
"new details about the properties of a quantum state as it travels through the Big Bounce, which replaces the classical idea of a Big Bang as the beginning of our universe,"
I knew that if this came from Penn State, it would have something to do with football.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/03/2007 11:51 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
ABUJA (Rooters) - The price of machetes has halved in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April because demand from thugs sponsored by politicians has subsided, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria reported. 
