Ridley’s Believe It Or
Not For February 21, 2018 On the police shooting front, an officer in Alabama and an
officer in Maryland were shot and killed; on the SCOTUS front thee court will
hear a case in Illinois involving the right of the state to force public
service workers to pay union dues whether they agree with the unions or not
(this case will put Gorsuch in the limelight and if decided in favor of
plaintiff could be the death knell to public unions and their bloated and
largely unfunded pension plans) and a case in California contesting the law
that anti-abortion centers must disclose to their clients the availability of
free or low cost abortions provided by the state; on the ”sports” front ESPN’s
Jemele Hill defended her claim that Trump is a “white supremacist” on The View as ESPN wisely removed her as a
co-host of Sports Center; on the
sexual harassment front, a suspect was caught on video dragging a bikini clad barista
in Kent, Washington out the order window at knife point and tried to rape her
before fleeing due to a car coming up to
the drive in window; on the sexual harassment front USDA was holding a Black
History Month for its staff only to have an employee take the stage and accuse
her supervisor of having sex with her in exchange for a promotion in a
relationship that continued for 8 months which she broke off when he demanded
that she perform an act which she considered unnatural; Trump is listening to a
group of Parkland students, parents and teachers and appears to be amenable to
increased background checks and increasing the age limit to buy an AR-15; on the
Olympics front the lackluster performance of the combined North and South
Korean Women’s Ice Hockey Team has members from the North fearful of their well
being when they return in shame to the North; in Chicago through February 19,
2018 309 people have been shot of whom 60 have died.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s
holidays and observances, a music link to Monica, factoids of interest for this day in
history, the chance to use lithogylph in Scrabble and a relevant quote by Richard
Nixon on the Great Wall of China and other non physical walls, 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. International Mother Language Day—a General Assembly observance
created in 2008 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and
promote multilingualism.
2. National Card Reading Day—not sure who is behind this other than I suspect Hallmark; easy
to observe by buying a card and on any subject write a note in it to keep your
penmanship skills up to snuff and they send it to a friend or relative.
3. 1999 Number One Song— the number one song in 1999 on a run of 4 weeks in that
position was “Angel of Mine” by Monica.
Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eOuK-pYhy4
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “lithoglyph” which is an engraving
on stone.
5. Can You Digg It--celebrating the birth on this day in 1977 of computer programmer
and geek Robert Rose who founded Digg with $1200 of his own money and
subsequently raised $2.5 million of venture capital. Digg today is worth north
of $250 million.
On this day in:
a. 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.
b. 1921 Reza Shah in a successful coup seized control of Iran.
c. 1947 Edwin Land demonstrated in New York City his Polaroid
instant developing camera which was the toast of the photographic world until
supplanted by the digital camera.
d. 1952 the British government under Winston Churchill abolished
the requirement of identity cards.
e. 1972 Richard
Nixon visited China to embark on
the road to normalizing Sino-American relations.
Reflections on walls: “What is most important is that we have an
open world. As we look at this Wall, we do not want walls of any kind between
peoples. I think one of the results of our trip, we hope, may be that the walls
that are erected, whether they are physical walls like this or whether they are
other walls, ideology or philosophy, will not divide peoples in the world; that
peoples, regardless of their differences and backgrounds and their
philosophies, will have an opportunity to communicate with each other, to know
each other, and to share with each other those particular endeavors that will
mean peaceful progress in the years ahead.” Richard M. Nixon speaking to
reporters in front of the Great Wall of China February 24, 1972. As the debate
rages over whether a wall will be built on our southern border with Mexico, wonder
what Nixon’s thoughts would be if he were alive today.
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.
©
February 21, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet
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Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift
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