April 18th is the birthday of Washington Representative Matt Shea. (Born 1974).
On April 18th, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck northern California, killing hundreds of people as it toppled numerous buildings and started fires that engulfed whole neighborhoods. The quake was so powerful that it knocked down chimneys in the Anderson Valley, 120 miles north of the city.
In her book, A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit describes the aftermath of the earthquake. People stepped up in service to each other and their community.
The the general of the Presidio army garrison feared that looting would start (it hadn’t) and declared a curfew. The author describes the ensuing murder of citizens by troops. Then she tells us about the land grab (theft, that is) by local bankers and greedy other players. Read it as a cautionary tale. According to this account, the “golden horde” is less to be feared than the “legitimate” authorities.
Carry on