A President CAN be Arrested!

A week or so ago I went down a rabbit hole about speed limits before motorized vehicles. Laws about reckless driving with horses or horse-drawn vehicles existed, dating from Medieval times at least. Colonial America had such limits as well. For example, what was to become New York city had one on galloping horses pulling carts, wagons, or sleighs in 1652.

These limits, on galloping horses, carts, carriages, etc, in cities, were in effect when Ulysses S. Grant was President (and, before that General). And he broke them, in DC, at least. He was arrested twice before becoming President (when he was still 'just' a lieutenant general of the US Army) in 1866. The first time, he drove off after getting the warrant, but showed up and paid the fine a few days later. He was "exercising his fast gray nag".

General Grant and Robert Bonner racing in a carriage in New York in 1868 - From Wikimedia.

Pretty Sure It's Always Been This Way

I just recently finished reading Margaret Kimberley's 2020 book, Prejudential. In the book Kimberley writes a chapter about every President of the United States, from George Washington on, and their relationships with, and how they have treated blacks in America. It is a very good book; if you have the time and inclination, give it a read. Here's the worldcat link to the book and its eaudiobook version.

Prejudential, by Margaret Kimberley (image from the publisher steerforth.com)

Third Parties

A bit over a month ago Ron Placone (comedian, movie maker, political blogger, writer, used to appear on the Jimmy Dore show, and much more) wrote a substack/blog post about why he was joining the Green Party. It's called 'Why I Chose to Green Enter'.

I found the blog post to be interesting and thought provoking and I think Placone did a very good job of explaining why, even though he's really a 'no party preference' type of voter, joining the Green Party makes sense to him at this point.

The Four Pillars of the Green Party from https://www.gp.org/4_pillars