BatesLine Oklahoma headlines

True history of the two million acres opened for settlement in the April 22, 1889, Land Run. No, the land wasn't stolen. American taxpayers paid millions for it, twice.

An essay from 2012. If you want to understand why the people who call the shots don't get much public criticism, you need to know about the people I call the yacht guests. "They staff the non-profits and the quangos, they run small service-oriented businesses that cater to the yacht owners, they're professionals who have the yacht owners as clients, they work as managers for the yacht owners' businesses. They may not be wealthy, but they're comfortable, and they have access to opportunities and perks that are out of financial reach for the folks who aren't on the yacht. Their main job is not to rock the boat, but from time to time, they're called upon to defend the yacht and its owners against perceived threats."

Introducing Tulsa's Complacent City Council

From 2011: "One of the things that seemed to annoy City Hall bureaucrats about the old council was their habit of raising new issues to be discussed, explored, and acted upon. From the bureaucrats' perspective, this meant more work and their own priorities displaced by the councilors' pet issues.... [The new councilors are] content to be spoon-fed information from the mayor, the department heads, and the members and staffers of authorities, boards, and commissions. The Complacent Councilors won't seek out alternative perspectives, and they'll be inclined to dismiss any alternative points of view that are brought to them by citizens, because those citizens aren't 'experts.' They'll vote the 'right' way every time, and the department heads, authority members, and mayoral assistants won't have to answer any questions that make them uncomfortable."

BatesLine has presented over a dozen stories on the history of Tulsa's Greenwood district, focusing on the overlooked history of the African-American city-within-a-city from its rebuilding following the 1921 massacre, the peak years of the '40s and '50s, and its second destruction by government through "urban renewal" and expressway construction. The linked article provides an overview, my 2009 Ignite Tulsa talk, and links to more detailed articles, photos, films, and resources.

From 2015: "Having purged the cultural institutions and used them to brainwash those members of the public not firmly grounded in the truth, the Left is now purging the general public. You can believe the truth, but you have to behave as if the Left's delusions are true.

"Since the Left is finally being honest about the reality that some ethical viewpoint will control society, conservatives should not be shy about working to recapture the culture for the worldview and values that built a peaceful and prosperous civilization, while working to displace from positions of cultural influence the advocates of destructive doctrines that have led to an explosion of relational breakdown, mental illness, and violence."

Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Map, 1858: David Rumsey collection

Before Dorchester, Roxbury, and West Roxbury were annexed by Boston and Suffolk County, making Brookline an exclave of the county.

Transcript: Lessons from the 1968 Democratic Convention: Under the Shadow of Protests - Retro Report

Sen. Fred Harris (D-Oklahoma) remembers the conflict between old-guard Rust Belt and Yellow Dog Democrats and the New Left in the Vietnam War Era:

"I came out of that convention terribly depressed about the failure to adopt an anti-war plank, about what had happened in the streets. And I was very bothered by the fact that the Democrat Party was undemocratic. People felt the anti-war movement represented the majority of Democrats in the country, but that was not reflected in the selection of the delegates to that convention. They were establishment people, a big part of whom, what we now call 'super delegates.'"

Harris, as DNC chairman, reformed the nominating process, but it led to George McGovern and the biggest loss in the party's history in 1972:

"I was elected the Chair of the Party in 1969. I appointed a reform commission to be sure that there'd be democracy in the selection of delegates. The main thing we wanted was that they'd be elected, but then in 1984, another commission decided to go back to some super delegates."

Except for Jimmy Carter's surprise "win" in the 1976 Iowa caucuses (he finished second to Uncommitted), the Democrats under Harris's reform kept losing with northern progressives. The introduction of super-delegates in 1984 helped more conventional left-of-center politicians (Mondale, Dukakis) to the nomination, but they still got beaten badly. The Democratic Leadership Council pushed for a regional Southern primary (Super Tuesday, starting in 1988) to give a boost to more moderate Democrats to counterbalance the momentum of candidates backed by left-leaning Iowa activists and New Hampshire voters. That paid off with Bill Clinton's surprise 1992 victory.

Patricia Routledge: 'There's a fashion to speak badly' | Theatre | The Guardian

"'History!' says Patricia Routledge. She leans forward, her blue eyes button-bright; her beautifully modulated voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. 'History! And character. Architecture! I always say,' she adds, 'that here [in Chichester], you've only got to dig a little hole to put a bulb in, and if you're not careful, you come across some Roman mosaic. Thrilling!'...

"'There's a fashion abroad generally to speak the language as badly as possible. I'm of a mind,' she adds, in tones that would make Mrs [Bucket] proud, 'to start a society for the reinstatement of the letter 't' and the banishment of the glottal stop.'"

What is the Wada Hoppah? The proposed Charles River ferry could ease Boston traffic. - CBS Boston

The proposed water shuttle route would run from Watertown to near North Station, with stops along the way. (They need an MIT stop.) I love this idea. Brisbane has ferry service along its river -- a long route from the University of Queensland to the cruise ship terminal at Hamilton, a shorter route focused on the CBD, South Bank, Kangaroo Point, and New Farm, and three short-hops to carry people directly across the river.

Church leaders: If you think you're neutral, you're drifting left | Clear Truth Media

Joel Berry writes: "The particulars of the political parties aren't just a set of neutral tools, they are a series of conclusions that follow logically from very different starting points. The politics of the right grow from the worldview of the Right. The politics of the Left grow from the worldview of the Left. There are sinners on both sides, there are imperfect solutions on both sides. But they are far from neutral.

"And right now, the culture, all our institutions, our politics, and our pop-culture, are all moving Left. Christians aren't leading the way in this drift. At this point, they're just along for the ride. At the highest levels of Leftism both culturally and politically, you see people who are unapologetic about their hostility towards God and everything good, true, and beautiful. The Leftist movement starts with the assumption of a godless universe populated by an animal species that through evolution can build heaven here on earth. All their politics follow from that beginning. Every power center on earth, almost without exception, is following their lead."

NEW RELEASE (August 2024): BACK HOME AGAIN: A WESTERN SWING REUNION - Origin Jazz Library

"A 2-CD deluxe package documenting a musical reunion of three generations of pioneering western swing musicians. Never before released, this set marks the coda in the lives of legendary greats from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, recorded in 1983 and 1984. Produced by Cary Ginell." From Ginell's Facebook post about the album: "The Dal-Jam Reunion Band includes [Smokey] Montgomery, Zeke Campbell, and Johnny Strawn (Light Crust Doughboys), Jim Boyd and Carroll Hubbard (Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers), Fred "Papa" Calhoun and Ocie Stockard (Milton Brown & his Musical Brownies), Leon Rausch and Joe Frank Ferguson (Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys), Freddy Casares (the Wanderers), Roscoe Pierce (the Sunshine Boys), Tommy Camfield (Hank Thompson), Milton Brown's surviving brother, Roy Lee Brown, J. Eldon ("June") Whalin, the only surviving original member of Bob Wills' first band in Waco, Texas, plus 13 others." Origin Jazz Library has also issued a series of early western swing on CD.

Revealed after 26 years, judge was source of scoop for the ages

John Amick, the district judge who sealed the 1993 multicounty grand jury felony indictment of Gov. David Walters and later received his misdemeanor guilty plea, leaked the indictment to the press. "He had seen the governor's indictment, signed an arrest warrant and set bail at $16,500. Then, at the request of prosecutors, he sealed the indictment from the public while the investigation continued. What was bothering the amiable judge that September in 1993, he explained later, was what he witnessed by chance shortly afterward. At an event, he saw a sweet older lady make a donation to Walters' reelection effort. He thought to himself she wouldn't have done that if she knew the governor was under indictment, he explained. So, the judge told the secret to the state's largest newspaper, then known as The Daily Oklahoman."

U.S. Congressional District Shapefiles

Shapefiles of historical congressional district boundaries for the 1st through the 114th Congresses (1789-2015)

Mojave Desert ghost town Amboy fights to survive on Route 66 - Los Angeles Times

"AMBOY, Calif. -- It's a Friday afternoon in mid-May and a Czech biker is eating an ice cream cone at the counter of a gas station along a desolate stretch of the Mojave Desert. Outside, his entourage crowds around a towering Atomic Age sign for a group photo before speeding away along Route 66.

"A British couple sip hot tea, though the mercury is pushing 100 degrees. A young woman in a crop top sits cross-legged in the middle of the street while a man films her, seemingly oblivious to the traffic whizzing by. On some days, small planes land on the dirt airstrip so their occupants can grab a root beer float or chili dog.

"'It's in the middle of nowhere in the desert, but you see a multitude of different types of people in Amboy,' said Kyle Okura, 31, who owns Roy's gas station, along with the rest of the ghost town, after inheriting it from his father last year. 'That's what's so amazing. You hear stories from all different parts of the world.'"

What happened to Google?! Google AI being hilariously awful

Fran, a blogger from Reading, England, writes: "The people in charge of the Google Search Engine have decided to prioritise Google-owned websites (Reddit, Youtube, Quora etc) over any others when deciding what it will show you in answer to a search query. Loads of bloggers and website owners, who previously made a living providing informative and useful content on the internet... have found their traffic absolutely destroyed overnight by the latest updates.... [Google] is now pushing AI answers to people on its search engine, rather than directing them to the websites of people who have created the content it has used to train its AI bots, or whose content has been stolen wholesale and parroted out by the Google AI Bots.... With AI content giving people an instant answer to their query right there on the Google homepage there is now zero motivation from people to go any further and visit any other website." Bottom line: Use an alternative to Google search and ignore any AI replies that your search provider offers. Reward real content providers with visits to their websites.

RELATED: Fran writes about how she and other bloggers make money from their blogs. Note that most of these work for influencer blogs about things like parenting and homemaking, but not for hyperlocal blogs like BatesLine. I used to have managed blog ads (from BlogAds), but that's been over 10 years ago since that vanished. I've never wanted to have Google ads on my site. I've gotten offers for paid posts and link insertions, but that's not for me.