The Texas Quote of the Day: ""Every man and boy in Texas, old and young, rich or poor, at home or abroad, in church, at court, the wedding or the funeral, from the "cradle to the grave," the double-barreled shot gun, or the old-fashioned, brass-mounted dragoon pistol, was inevitably carried by them, and it goes without saying that they all knew how to use them, and did so often without very much provocation.
And yet I cannot look back on the practice as an unmixed evil either, for barroom brawling, fist fights and minor difficulties were pretty much unknown in those days. The treatment experienced by a bully or a bravado was "short, sharp and decisive;" if he insulted a woman, "took in" a town, or stole a horse, he was shot off-hand by some one, who thereby rendered society a service, at much less expense and without the uncertainty and delay that often attend the law's slow course."
---- H.H. McConnell, "Five Years a Cavalryman," 1888. Shown here: the magazine building at Fort ...

The Trojan Horse of Hanoi😱
Gulf of Tonkin. April 6, 1967. Douglas Hegdahl was a 20-year-old South Dakota farm boy serving on the USS Canberra. During a night bombardment, the blast from the ship's own guns knocked him overboard. He swam for 12 hours before being picked up by North Vietnamese fishermen. He ended up in the infamous Hanoi Hilton (Hỏa Lò Prison). The interrogators demanded military secrets. Hegdahl realized he had no rank and no information, so he came up with a brilliant defense: He played dumb.
He exaggerated his country accent. He stared blankly. When they handed him anti-war propaganda to sign, he shook his head and said, "I can't read. I never learned how.". The guards were stunned. They tried to teach him. Hegdahl spent days frustrating his tutors, pretending he couldn't remember the letter "A." Finally, the communists gave up. They nicknamed him "The Incredibly Stupid One". Believing he was a harmless peasant, they let him roam the camp freely to sweep the ...

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