The death count in Maui rose
from 111 to 114 with only 6 victims ranging from age 71 to 90 having been
identified and 4 more with names and age not released pending notification of
family members with 60% of Lahaina
searched for bodies and the number of missing persons has dropped from
1,300 to some 1000 as cell phone service
is starting to be restored. The director of emergency services on Maui
has resigned as the fingers of blame over the cause and the response are
beginning to point with Hawaii Electric in the spotlight for failing to
deelectrify parts of its system as strong winds were buffeting the island and
the island’s vaunted disaster warning systems of sirens not having been
triggered. Hawaii Electric which closed on 8/7 the day before the fires began
at $43.70 closed on Friday at $13.77 and now traded in the after-hours market
at $13.85 as investors probably fear a
PG&E déjà vu that followed the disastrous wildfires that burnt the town of
Paradise, California to the ground. Hawaii Electric is being blasted for only
spending $250,000 in 2 years on its wildfire suppression plan to instead focus on developing alternative renewable
energy. Explosive allegations by the Maui Land Company that owns several
residential subdivisions and agricultural lands that the Maui Commission On
Water Resource Management delayed its request for water until it was too late
to fight effectively the fire. California and the Southwest U.S. are bracing
for an historic event as Hurricane Hilary has been downgraded from a CAT 4 to a
CAT 3 and increased its speed to 16 m.p.h. and is now located 235 miles west of
the southernmost tip of Baha California heading toward Tiajuana with rain
starting to hit Southern California later Saturday with really heavy rainfall
and wind gusts arriving early Sunday. Southern California ia under its first
ever tropical storm warning from its southern border to north of Los Angles California which will
bring high waves to beach communities
and great risks of flooding. MLB rescheduled 3 games scheduled to be played on
Sunday to Saturday making Saturday’s games double headers. Taylor Swift must be
sighing relief as Hilary will be long gone when she performs at SOFI Stadium
for 3 days starting August 24. Completely Biased System New in a major Freudian
slip in its reporting of the Camp David Summit with South Korea and Japan
referred to Biden as the “former president” which it quickly took down and
corrected (An overwhelming majority of Blue voters do not want Biden to run
probably like most Red voters are concerned over his lack of mental fitness for
the job). As De Santis continues to fall in the polls, Vivek Ramaswamy
continues to rise but he clearly is not interested in being a Number 2 Vice
President on the Red ticket. Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” has
passed the 21 million viewers mark as liberal commentators are melting down bashing
it as a right wing conspiracy (If viewers become voters Blues in 2024 are in a
heap of trouble). Shanna Gardner Fernandez, slain Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan's
ex-wife, who was arrested in Washington State for first-degree murder, conspiracy
to commit first-degree murder and child endangerment has refused to accept
extradition which if successful as it usually is will result in her going to
trial in Florida with her husband and another suspect allegedly involved in the
shooting in a case in which the prosecutor is seeking the death penalty. A
Benecia, California elementary school teacher has alleged that she was fired
for speaking out against a curriculum that teaches 10 year olds they can pick
their gender and obtain puberty blockers. CNN host Jake Tapper, who Reds
believe his lack of objectivity against Reds and his advocacy in favor of Blues
belongs in the journalistic crapper, has admitted on Hunter Biden’s business
dealings, Trump was right and Biden was wrong (Could it be that the left is
finally coming around to trying to be real journalists again and accepting the
reality Biden is not mentally fit to remain in the Oval Office?). A surprising statistic
was released showing the age group that is the fastest growing group using marijuana
is those age 65 and older. The Biden’s are enjoying a vacation at billionaire
2020 candidate for the Blue presidential nomination, Tom Steyer.
August 19, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Noted Holidays:
National Soft Ice Cream Day: Celebrating the easy way to enjoy ice
cream by instead of straining to scoop it out merely lifting a handle and have
it flow into a cone or dish. Soft ice cream first appeared in the mid 30’s with
Tom Carvel, the founder of Carvel Ice Cream and J.F. McCollough, the founder of
Dairy Queen both laying claim to being the inventors of soft ice cream. Soft
ice cream has less calories because it contains more air and less fat than hard
ice cream but has to be eaten quicker as
it melts faster.
Word
of the Day: the word of the day is “assuetude” which
means accustomed to something or habit like starting one’s morning with a cup
of coffee or in my case starting to compile Ridley’s Believe It Or Not for the
day.
Song of the
Day: The number 1 song
on this day in 2012 was “Call Me
Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen on a run of 9 weeks to share number 1 status
with 12 other songs achieving number 1 ranking while 6 acts, including Carly
Rae Jepsen, achieved number one status for the first time. Here is a music
video of Carly Rae Jepsen performing “Call
Me Maybe”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic
August
19 Birthdays: “Smart as Smart Can Be”—Jill Oppenheim, better known to her fans
as Jill St. John, Born on
this day in 1940 in Los Angeles is a noted film and TV actress best known for
being the first American Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever with Sean
Connery, possessing a reputed IQ of 162, and retiring from Hollywood to Aspen.
Has been married 4 times with the most recent and still married to Robert
Wagner since May 26,1990 who she first met in 1959 when they were both contract
players at 20th Century Fox.
August 19 Historical Events in Rhyme
1. On
this day in 2017 at an Atlantic Salmon Farm on Cypress Island in Washington
State/A fish net ruptured, allowing some 243,000-263,000 salmon to into the wild
escape/The cause of the rupture was biofouling and poor pen upkeep and
care/Fish and Game was fearful of the damage to wild stocks now having to with the
escaped Atlantic Salmon food sources share/And allowed unlimited numbers of
Atlantic Salmon to be caught, causing some 57,000 to be hooked/And at the
owners of the Atlantic Salmon Farm they threw the book/Terminated their farming
license which ended their ability to the pens restock/While the legislature
passed a law that by 2025 Atlantic Salmon farming was blocked.
2. On
this day in 2004 Google raised $1.67 billion in its IPO/Giving it a market cap
of $23 billion with the ability to buy companies to faster grow/To help seal
the IPO Brin, Page and Schmidt agreed to remain at Google until 2024/If
wondering about the name it’s a misspelling of googol a very large number
written 10100 signifying the quantities of data Google
could find in the mass of data stored.
3. On
this day in 1999/in Belgrade, thousands marched to demand Yugoslavia’s
President Slobodan Milošević resign/He had already been indicted for in Kosovo committing
war crimes/In a move to remain in power he called for elections before his term
ran out of time/He lost and reluctantly resigned/To after threat of losing vast
amounts of aid flown to the Hague to face trials for his war crimes/Died before
the trial came to an end/Depriving the world of a lesson of the need to halt
genocide and crimes against humanity growing trend.
4. On
this day in 1960 the Soviets launched the Korabl-Sputnik 2 into orbit with dogs
Belka and Strelka, a variety of plants, 40 mice, 2 rats and a TV/On the 4th
orbit one of the dogs had a seizure and vomited for the world to see/The next
day the satellite and its passengers to Earth safely returned/For the first
human orbit coming in 8 months orbits more than 3 would be spurned/A year later
Strelka gave birth to a litter one of whom was to Jacqueline Kennedy sent as a good
will gift/As a sign of the times JFK’s advisers fearing the implant of a
listening device wanted to give it short shrift.
5. On
this day in 1960 U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers who had been shot down on May 1
by a Soviet Surface to Air missile that could reach heretofore unknown
heights/And who could not destroy the on board spy cameras before being sucked
out of the cockpit that was spinning wildly as it entered out of control
flight/Was sentenced for espionage to serve in prison 10 years/After serving 1
year 9 months and 10 days he and captured Soviet spy Rudoph Abel both on
opposite ends of the Gielicke Bridge over the Havel River appeared/Abel walking
east to Potsdam and Power west to the Berlin District of Wannsee/And after a
few minutes both were from prison now free.
Famous Quote on U-2’s Intrusions Into the
Soviet Union by Alexander Orlov a Retired Soviet Colonel With Its Air Defense
Forces: “Following the air show and a reception hosted by Soviet
Defense Minister Marshal G. K. Zhukov, the Soviet Politburo members who
attended the reception, led by party chairman Nikita Khrushchev, took the
leaders of the US, British, and French delegations to a park and sat them down
at a picnic table. Khrushchev then launched into a protracted toast "in
defense of peace." In the midst of his toast, he turned to General Twining
and said, "Today we showed you our aircraft. But would you like to have a
look at our missiles? "Yes," the General responded. "Well, we
will not show them to you," replied Khrushchev. "First show us your
aircraft and stop sending intruders into our airspace. We will shoot down
uninvited guests. We will get all of your Canberra’s [RB-57 long-range
reconnaissance aircraft]. They are flying coffins." At that moment,
Khrushchev noticed that a US military attaché was pouring the contents of his
glass under a bush. Turning to US Ambassador Charles Bohlen, the Soviet leader
said, "Here I am speaking about peace and friendship, but what does your
military attaché do?" The attaché was then pressured into demonstratively
drinking an enormous "penalty" toast to Soviet-American friendship,
after which he quickly departed.”
© August
19, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
Poems on Events of the Day
Unique Commissioned Poems for Special Events
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