February 24, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Shrove MondayB

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For February 24, 2020 the pandemic potential for the coronavirus is still there as cases continue to pop up in previously uninfected areas and the potential impact on the global supply chain tanked the markets as the Dow fell over 1000 wiping out all of 2020 gains (since Trump’s trump card is the economy, prepare yourself for an attack by the MSM that he is somehow responsible for the outbreak’s spread); Trump is visiting India to the cheers of millions of Indians as he and Melania are enjoying a guided tour of the Taj Mahal before getting down to discussion with India’s Prime Minister Modi (do not be surprised if we see some positive job creating news coming out of his visit); Nancy Pelosi who probably has yet to step foot in any of San Francisco’s needle and feces infested neighborhoods visited China Town to promote tourism there (not sure if she was wearing a mask but probably not); Harvey Weinstein, after 5 days of jury deliberation was convicted of third degree rape and despite looking like he was one near step to the grave with his walker was sent to jail pending his sentencing on March 11 (hopefully his sentence brings an end to the casting couch in Hollywood); former NYC crime mobster Sonny Franzese released from prison three years ago in an early release has died of natural causes in a nursing home at 103; Chris Matthews of MSNBC has apologized to Sanders for comparing Sanders’ victory in Nevada to that of the Nazis victory over France in WWII (last time I heard Sanders, a Jew, had no Mainsteins on his staff); it has taken him three years plus of 24/7 resistance alerted the Trump Administration to the fact that Tik Tok is owned by the Chinese government which resulted in TSA banning its employees from using it; in a Paper Lion moment emergency backup goalie David Ayres, a Zamboli driver, suited up when the Carolina Hurricanes two goalies were injured in a game with the Toronto Maple Leafs, stopped 8 of 10 shots and led his team to victory; in Chicago, as of February 23, 2020, 313 people have been shot of whom 60 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths has fallen 13 behind Chicago with 47 murders by shootings (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which have been more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

     As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Red Foley,  the fact that if a Red Trump will obnumbrate his opponent in November,  a relevant quote by Walter Cronkite on the Vietman War,  secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, 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. World Bartending Day—celebrating a profession that goes back to Roman and Greek times and has morphed into skilled mixologist, part time psychologist and flair creator of drinks.

2. Shrove Monday—celebrating the Monday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

3. 1950 Number 1 Number One Song— the number one song in 1950 on this day on a run of 4 weeks in the position was “Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy” by Red Foley.  Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEClMiOp6OY. His shoes no longer needed shining after he died of a heart attack at age 58 on September 19, 1968.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “obumbrate” which means to overshadow which Blues must fear Trump will do to any of the candidates they finally pick to run against him. 

5. The Apple of Our Eyes—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1955 of the co-founder of Apple, Steven Jobs, who died too soon from prostate cancer on October 5, 2011.

On this day in:               

    a. 1917 U.S. Ambassador Walter Page to the United Kingdom was given a copy of the Zimmerman Telegram intercepted by British agents which promised to Mexico German support to enable it to recover Texas, Arizona and New Mexico if it declared war on the United States, which coupled with the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare would cause the United States to declare war on Germany.

    b. 1949 the Armistice Agreements bringing an end to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War were signed.

     c. 1968 hobbled by not be able to use heavy artillery, the U.S. Marines completed the recapture of Hue bring and end to the Tet Offensive that put the nail in the coffin for American support of the Vietnam War.                                            

d. 1980 having upset the heavily favored Soviet Ice Hockey Team in the semifinals, the U.S. completed the Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland for the Gold Medal.

e. 1996 two planes operated by a civilian relief agency, Brothers to the Rescue, were shot down in international waters off the coast of Cuba by the Cuban Air Force.

Reflections on the Vietnam War by then one of the most trusted voices in the MSM: “For it seems now more certain than ever, that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past.” —Walter Cronkite in an editorial at the close of the CBS Evening News broadcast after his visit to South Vietnam to report on the Tet Offensive.
    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 24, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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