Friday, December 29, 2017

December 29, 2017 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Pepper Pot Soup Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For December 29, 2017 As we near the end of the year, events continue to occur showing that we live in a dangerous place as our satellites capture a Chinese ship despite all of their pious statements that they have cut off shipments of oil to North Korea, transferring oil to North Korean vessels, prompting South Korea to seize it and hold the crew of 25 Chinese nationals and 2 from Myanmar pursuant to the recent expanded sanctions passed by the Security Council which acts by the Chinese should merit increased sanctions against Chinese banks (when will the Chinese come to their senses and eliminate the rogue regime and move to a unification of a united  Korea that would turn the former North into a prosperous customer for Chinese goods instead of a nation of starving souls) while Russia is accused of shipping oil also on three occasions; not sure what the guests and hosts on Morning Joe are drinking but it certainly is not coffee as RINO pollster Kristen Anderson appeared on the show to express fears that Trump would invalidate the 2018 midterm elections if the Blues won and were dumb enough to start impeachment proceedings in the House (talk about idiocy and fanning the flames of hate and fear); Trump gave an impromptu interview with the NYT on a broad range of subjects including his belief that while Mueller may have been inept in picking his team of Clintonite hacks, he has treated Trump fairly and once again indicated he has no plans to fire him despite all the MSM hysteria warning that will soon happen; he also made it clear that there will be no DACA unless it is accompanied by immigration reform like ending lottery immigration and chain migration to be replaced by merit based immigration, more border and interior security and the Wall for both illegal immigration and the illicit flow of opioids (will be interesting to see if the Nancy and Chuck Show will be dumb enough to commit political suicide by shutting down the government in favor of 800,000 illegal “dreamers”); Trump also slammed the ineptness of the USPS which continues to run in the red while Amazon runs circles around them and demanded to know what is happening with the criminal case of the Pakistani IT staffer for Debbie Wasserman Schulz and other Blues arrested moments before trying to flee the U.S. as it is looking more and more like the unauthorized removal of government data from Congressional databases and a threat to our national security; conservatives have long noted Mika’s delusions  and left wing slants in the political arena but by trying to arrange a face to face meeting between the 10 female victims and pervert Halperin so he could apologize shows how out of touch she is with victims’ feelings and fears as a result of sexual harassment; Y may be for “Yesterday,” but today U is for “Undertaker” as noted mystery writer Sue Grafton has passed away after a two year battle with cancer at her home in Santa Barbara; almost a stuck record or a gruesome  remake of Groundhog Day, Chicago style,  the carnage in Chicago continued unabated with total shootings by mostly minorities against mostly minorities in 2017 through December 28 increasing to 3545, 623 of whom have died which gruesome as it may be represents a very slight year to date decrease which in the waning days of December is definitely helped by the arctic weather affecting Chicago.
       As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to the Bobby Vinton, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you are free from lentigos and a relevant quote by Dith Pran on genocide and the death of Pol Pot, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. You need only contact me for details.
1. Still Need to Do Day—time for all procrastinators who have postponed tasks that needed to be performed this year like paying property taxes or making charitable contributions before the new tax cuts and limitations on SALT  take effect (should make one feel better about oneself which might enhance the chances that New Years’ Resolutions will actually be performed as opposed to being tossed in the trash of noncompliance).
2. Pepper Pot Soup Day—commemorating the soup that won the Revolutionary War for the Americans created on this day in 1777 at Valley Forge where the Continental Army had its Winter Headquarters and was in near starvation conditions but on this day treated to bowls of pepper pot soup created by the baker general of the Continental Army Christopher Ludwick who managed to scrounge up some pepper corns, meat, tripe, seasonings and other scraps of food to create a hearty spicy soup to feed the frail and weakened soldiers.
3. 1963 Number One Song— the number one song in 1963 on a run of 4 weeks in that position was “There! I’ve Said It Again” by Bobby Vinton. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLAhVU0NOm0 “The Polish Prince of Poch” although no longer performing is alive and well at the young age of 82 living with his wife of 55 years living in Florida.
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “lentigo“ which means a freckle and even though it is winter time with not much sun still a reminder that teens and children should use sunscreen if fair skinned to avoid freckles.
5. You Would Drink Also If You Were Innocent But Found Guilty—celebrating the birth on this day in 1923 of Doctor Sam Sheppard, noted surgeon who was charged with the murder of his wife who was bludgeoned to death on July 4, 1954 in their home in Ohio in what became one of the more sensationalized criminal trials in American history and which would be the inspiration for the TV series The Fugitive starring David Jansen and the movie by the same name starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Sheppard was convicted but with the aid of a young lawyer F. Lee Bailey had the conviction overturned and was found not guilty on a retrial but sadly upon return to freedom started abusing alcohol to ease the pain of prison and the death of his wife and died of liver failure on April 6, 1970. 
    On this day in:                                                                                   
a. 1975 a bomb with the explosive force of 25 sticks of dynamite exploded in the main terminal of LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 and injuring 75. Unfortunately the bomber or bombers were never caught.
b. 1997 in a bad day for chickens, Hong Kong began to kill some 1.25 million chickens in an attempt to eradicate its bird flu epidemic.
c. 1998 in a what took you so long moment, leaders of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia apologized for the murder of some one million Cambodians in the 1970’s immortalized in the movie The Killing Fields.
d. 2006 after missing six years of payments due to exchange rates, the U.K. made its final payment on the post WWII loan made by the United States to maintain Britain’s post war military commitments.
e. 2013 in another chilling wake-up call to the problems faced in Russia from radical Islam, a suicide bomber detonated 10 kilograms of TNT just outside the entrance to the Volgograd 1 train station in Volgograd, Russia, killing 18 and hospitalizing 38.    

Reflections on the genocide by Pol Pot of Cambodia from a Cambodian who somehow survived the ordeal to be immortalized in The Killing Fields: “"This is sad for the Cambodian people because he was never held accountable for the deaths of 2 million of his fellow countryman. The Jewish people’s search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people’s search for justice doesn’t end with Pol Pot." Dith Pran as quoted in The Times on the death of Pol Pot in 1998.

Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day in History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to  Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.

© December 29, 2017 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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