I expect we in the United States are about to see a wave of domestic terrorism unprecendented since the 1870s. In the wake of the Civil War, white Southerners used systematic terrorism to continue white supremacy. If a black person became too prosperous, masked thugs would come in the night to burn down his house. If a white person was seen helping a black one, the thugs would arrive, and might let them off lightly for a first offense, and administer only a severe beating, or a tar-and-feathering. If a black man voted, masked thugs would come to murder him perhaps by night, or perhaps publicly and in broad daylight. Blacks in the reconstruction South were met at polling places by armed mobs. Local law enforcement ignored these lawless acts, and in many cases the terrorists were the local law enforcement: sheriffs, police, judges. The terrorism continued for decades, and was impeded only by federal enforcement of the anti-Klan acts. A few weeks ago I hoped Trump might forget about the imprisoned January 6 rioters. Trump discards anyone for whom he has no use, I thought, and he has no more use for them. I was wrong. His pardon of hundreds of rioters sends a clear signal, to his followers and to his enemies, that political terrorism is now supported or at least condoned by the Federal executive branch. The federal executive will not enforce antiterrorism laws unless the terrorists are politically opposed to Trump. Don't count on anyone to restrain Trump. If a judge rules the wrong way, they may be assaulted by masked thugs. If a congressperson becomes troublesome, their house may burn down in the night. If a newspaper reporter writes an article critical of Trump, masked thugs may kill them, perhaps gun them down in the street. Nothing will be done. The FBI will shrug. Trump will call it fake news or will blame immigrants or Muslims. And if you were one of the people cheering for Luigi Mangione last month, remember that that's what you were cheering for, a world where it's okay to gun down people in the street, as long as you hate them enough.

Katara is now in her sixth semester in college and can speak Mandarin. I am so proud! For class she recently wrote a talk (in Mandarin) about Hua Guofeng, the often overlooked second chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. She videoed herself giving the talk, and posted it to YouTube. This somehow attracted over 700 views, and comments from a number of strangers, most of which were in Chinese. Some even offered suggestions — only minor suggestions, which she found very gratifying. One comment, however, expressed irritation. Google translates it as: You, a foreigner, don’t need to comment on the Chinese people’s affairs. Shortly afterward though, there came a defense, which began with this delightful phrase: 想讲就讲 An idiomatic translation is "You can talk if you want!" A character-by-character translation is: 想 - think 讲 - speak 就 - right now 讲 - speak which I just love. If anyone is looking for a name for their new Chinese-language-themed blog, I think this would be a great choice.

Yesterday I offered Gentle Readers a chance to identify the 18 famous Franks in David McShane's mural. Benjamin Franklin Frankie Avalon Detail of ornament from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts building, designed by architect Frank Furness A frankfurter Aretha Franklin I did not recognize the PAFA architectural detail myself, I had to find out from the Mural Arts website. I have sometimes looked for this detail on the PAFA building, but I have never found it. Barney Frank Frankenstein's monster Franklin Delano Roosevelt Frank Zappa Frank Lloyd Wright Major Frank Burns, as played by Larry Linville Frank “Tug” McGraw French 20-centime coin, representing the Franc Frank Oz Frank Perdue I think these pictures might be so old that they predate the European currency union. Frank Sinatra Frank Morgan, in his role as the Wizard from The Wizard of Oz. (The book was written by L. Frank Baum.) St. Francis of Assisi, with bird friend. The model is the artist's brother Frank. Not depicted: Frank Rizzo, who is burning in Hell. I was certain that Tim Curry was there somewhere, in his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but if he ever was I can't find any evidence of it. I even emailed the muralist, who confirmed that Frank-N-Furter had never been there. Still, he is in all our hearts, forever. The mural was restored in 2015, at which time two more figures were added: Pope Francis, who had visited the city that year, and Frank Sherlock, noted poet and longtime employee at Dirty Frank's My pictures are at least that old.

Since the demolition of Harriet Tubman, this has been my favorite mural in Philadelphia. It's by Philadelphia muralist David McShane. The mural is outside an infamous windowless bar called Dirty Frank's. I like to say that Oscar's Tavern on Sansom is Philadelphia's best Worst Bar. That's where, when the fancy place across the street wouldn't seat us, I took my coworker from out of town, with pride. Dirty Frank's might be Philadelphia's worst Worst Bar. I few months ago Rik Signes remarked: I think Mark Dominus said "Dirty Frank's is where I saw roaches walk over the food and when I told them, they shrugged" I was at once able to refute this, because I know for a fact that I have never ordered food at Dirty Frank's. Nor would I. Actually I have only ever been there once, which was enough. (Lorrie has a similar story about a similarly notorious bar, McGlinchey's. Hanging outside McGlinchey's is a sign that proclaims “sandwiches”. Lorrie tried to order a sandwich there and was met only with puzzled stares.) I will stop digressing now. My current favorite mural is outside Dirty Frank's and is by David McShane. It depicts famous Franks through history. I enjoyed trying to identify the 18 Franks. Many years ago I took pictures of it so that I could offer my Gentle Readers an opportunity to enjoy this themselves. You can infer from the resolution of the pictures below how long ago that must have been. But at last, here they are. I will reveal the answers tomorrow. (This link will point to tomorrow's article, once it is posted.)

A couple of years ago I lamented the difficulty I had in verifying what appeared to be a simple statement of fact: [Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman] was the seventh son of the Emir of the Second Saudi State, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal. The essential problem is that Saudi princes have at least ten or twenty sons each, and they all reuse the same ten or twenty names. Until today, I was not aware of any European tradition even remotely so confusing. Today I learned of the House of Reuss. I have other things to do today, so just a couple of highlights, starting with this summary: Since the end of the 12th century, all male members of the House of Reuss are named Heinrich. No, don't panic, there must be some way to distinguish them, and of course there is: For the purpose of differentiation, they are given order numbers according to certain systems (see below, section Numbering of the Heinrichs) Yes, they are numbered. Since the 12th century. So you might think they would be up to Heinrich MCMXVII by now. No no no, that would be silly. In the elder line the numbering covers all male children of the elder House, and the numbers increase until 100 is reached and then start again at 1. In the younger line the system is similar but the numbers increase until the end of the century before starting again at 1. The Wikipedia article later embarks on a list of rulers of the House of Reuss that includes 151 Henrys with numbers as high as LXXVII. I wonder at this, since if they have really exercised that numbering scheme you would expect to see mention of at least one Henry with a number in the LXXX–XCIX range, but there are none. A few of the 151 Henrys have distinctive nicknames like Henry II the Bohemian, Henry VII the Red, or Henry VI the Peppersack. But they seem to have run out of new epithets in the 14th century, and lapsed into a habit of using and reusing "the Elder", "the Middle", and "the Younger" over and over. Around the mid-1600s they tired even of this and abandoned the epithets entirely. Just by way of example, I searched the page for “Henry XIX” and found three rulers by that name and number: One born 1 March 1790, Heinrich XIX, Prince Reuss of Greiz Another born 16 October 1720, Count of Selbitz. The English Wikipedia page is a redlink, but the German article on the Houses of Reuss has a bit to say. And a third, born around 1440, where these is a whole article about him, in Bulgarian For some reason he is known as Хайнрих XXI фон Вайда, Henry XXI (not XIX) of Vaida. Toward the end of the article, we learn this: On 7 December 2022, German police conducted an operation which resulted in the arrest of 25 alleged members of the far-right group Reichsbürger, including a member of the Köstritz branch of the House of Reuss, identified as Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss. The suspects arrested in the operation were allegedly planning to overturn the existing German government, and instate Heinrich XIII as the new German de facto leader. All I can think now is, I think of myself as someone who is good at sniffing out Wikipedia bullshit, but this entire article could be completely made up and I would never be the wiser. By the way, the link from “Henry VI the Peppersack” is to an article in Bulgarian Wikipedia that does not appear to mention the "Peppersack" epithet, a search on the Internet Archive for books mentioning "Henry Peppersack" turns up nothing, and while the section on the plot to bring Heinrich XIII to power cites a source, the page it purports to link to is gone.