Wednesday, June 17, 2020

June 17, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought


Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For June 17, 2020 The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 146,522 new cases  (a 1.79 % increase compared to a 1.61% increase yesterday) to bring the total to 8,343,312 cases, 3,530,878    of  which  are active, 4,812,434 of which have been closed with 4,363,897 recoveries (90.68% compared to  yesterday’s 90.6%) and 448,537   deaths (9.32% compared to yesterday’s 9.4%); in the U.S. which has the dubious distinction of leading the world in total cases and being hit with the bookends of reopening its economy and massive protests over the death of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks  with new cases of 28,326  have brought total cases to 2,223,749  (a 1.29% increase compared to yesterday’s .95% increase)  with 1,200,011  active cases of which 16,681 (16,447 yesterday) are in serious or critical condition and 1,023,738 closures, 119,556 of which have been deaths (11.68% compared to  yesterday’s 11.75%) and 904,182  of which  have been recoveries (88.32%  compared to yesterday’s 88.25%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve since Cuomo repealed his order sending CV positive patients on May 10 but remain higher than the world probably due to idiots like Cuomo sending positive CV patients into nursing homes to infect the residents and staff who then die and accounted for some 40% of our deaths  and hopefully the number of cases will not spike given the days of massive protests and riots over George Floyd’s and Rayshard Brooks’ deaths) with 26,243,811 tests; long overdue the Reds in the Senate are waking up to the dangers to our democracy created by social media giants like Google and Twitter censoring conservative speech as Senator Hawley has introduced legislation enabling users who have been censored to sue (rightfully so Google’s attempt to defund the Federalist Society unless they banned comments to their articles has finally raised the hackles of Red Senators); the do as I say not as I do hypocrisy queen Nancy Pelosi after demanding advertisers boycott Facebook because it will not ban “misinformation” or “life threatening” posts by Trump and his supporters, it the last 7 days spent $182,528 on advertising (more than just being able to sue against censorship, given the importance of being able access your views to the internet, social media should be treated like utilities and in the absence of calls to violence or resurrection, all views should have access); Bolton to justify his $2 million book advance evidently has some real shockers like Xi was asked for his help in 2020 reelection but the DOJ is suing to block publication due to fact review of classified material has not been completed (doubt if DOJ will be successful in re Pentagon Papers but something distasteful and corrupt that a National Security Advisor can publish memoirs while president still in office and seeking reelection but $2 million book advance goes long way to remove honesty and integrity); Rashid Brimmage, the scumbag registered sex offender who was arrested for pushing a 92 year old woman to the ground in New York City has been arrested 103 times in the past including on March 5, Feb. 17 and Feb. 4 when he was arrested and given notices to appear; Cuomo aka the Angel of COVID-19 Nursing Home Death has signed an executive order making June 19, the anniversary of the date in 1865 that in Texas, slaves received notification of the Emancipation Proclamation; the Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Brooks has been charged with 1st Degree Murder and his partner with assault; in Chicago (the Blue run poster city of why we need more police not less and certainly not defunded), as of June 16, 2020, 1421 shootings of whom 256 have died (so much for the effectiveness of Chicago’s stay at home order); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is now 110 behind Chicago with 146 murders (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 Gogi Grant, the fact that you do not have to be a pantaglot to read foreign languages, and a quote by T.S. Eliot on such natural occurrences as droughts, 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 Day to Combat Desertification and Drought—proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on January 30, 1995 to promote the halting of the  degradation of the planet’s land surfaces, sustainable cultivation and consumption and fighting climate change. 
2. World Croc Day—celebrating a reptile who has been on this planet for a very long time but now faces endangered status in many parts of the world due to loss of habitat and human intrusion.
3. 1956 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1956 on this day on a run of 6 weeks was “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cQUVtbztEs. A cancer survivor, she was performing as late as 2013 at the age of 89 until the wind ended for good on March 10, 2016.
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “pantaglot” which means a speaker of all languages which thanks to various digital sites one does not have to be to translate a foreign language.
5. Depression Battle Lost--celebrating the birth on this day in 1989 of Simone Battle, contestant in the X Factor who was just starting to get her singing career on the upward track until, suffering from depression, she hung herself on September 5, 2024.
On this day in:               
 a. 1953 in response to an uprising of German workers against the occupation of the Soviet Union that started in East Berlin and spread across East Germany, the Soviets sent in a division of troops to East Berlin to crush the uprising, killing over 100 demonstrators
 b. 1963 SCOTUS ruled 8-1 in the case of Abington School District v. Schempp that required reciting of Bible verses and the “Lord’s Prayer” in a public school was banned.
 c. 1972 in what would prove to be the dumbest crime of the Century given the election landslide Nixon would win in November, 5 operatives were arrested in the burglary of the DNC Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel.
 d. 1991 South Africa in a better late than never moment repealed its Population Registration Act of 1950 that required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
 e. 1994 following a televised low speed “chase” on Southern California freeways O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
        Reflections on natural occurrences such as drought: ”There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth.” T.S. Eliot
            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.             
© June 17, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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