December 9, 2016 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Christmas Card Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For December 9, 2016 The nation lost a true hero John Glenn who has just made at 95 his last journey into eternal space never to return and finally after three decades has rid itself of a true pathetic denizen of the swamps Harry Reid (fortunately for the Reds he did not persuade another swamp denizen Nancy Pelosi to go with him); Trump in his “Thank You” tour highlighted what most of us have known—China has been and continues to be a rogue nation stealing our intellectual property and a willing accomplice to another rogue nation, North Korea, that needs to have a regime change and for the good of its people be absorbed by South Korea (this Christmas when you shop for toys and gifts if the product is made in China just say no); HRC appears out of the shadows to deliver a speech on Harry Reid’s retirement that decries “fake news” when perhaps she should have acknowledged that her deceptive, criminal past was the reason why she went down in flames and why Harry Reid’s departure given his proclivity to lie about Reds would be a good thing for a party that has lost the trust of the American people; in yet another far too familiar example of how Obama’s reckless open border policies have real life adverse consequences, an illegal alien who had been deported 8 times is now being sought as the DUI hit and run suspect that killed two women in Louisville (Kate’s law which Harry Reid fought successfully tooth and nail if enacted would have put this pathetic creature in prison for five years after coming back into this nation after his first deportation (this is the legacy of Obama we should remember); we learned that the HRC campaign was badgering MSNBC to pull Mika of Morning Joe off the air for having the insight to suggest prior to the election that Clinton did not have the election in the bag; that pathetic obese Michael Moore is urging his supporters to disrupt the inaugaration of Trump onn January 20, 2017; on the jihadist front, troubling news that some 1500 terrorists have left the Middle East heading for Europe; on a final note scientists are hard at work to utilize the circadian clock of the Agave cactus to create drought resistant plants.      

          As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances,  a music link to Sam Cooke, factoids of interest for this day in history, a relevant quote from Dick Butkus, while looking forward to enjoying your favoite pastries, blessed with a positive attitude and 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 Anti-corruption Day—commemorating the struggle against corruption in the private and public sector; sadly HRC and the Clinton Foundation elevated the practice of quid pro quo to an art form which is one of the reasons why she lost.

2. National Christmas Card Day—celebrating or bemoaning the practice of sending out Christmas cards and the ore of adding some personal note as opposed to merely signing them. Not sure why this day was chosen but I suspect it relates to being the last day that you can be assured of one's Christmas cards reaching their destination

before Christmas.

3. 1957 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1957 on a run of 2 weeks in that position “You Send Me” by Sam Cooke.  Here is a recording of Sam Cookel performing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TY6mNlaPDk

4. National Pastry Day—celebrating another great but high caloric snack--not that you need one but a good excuse to go to France. 

5. A True Monster of the Midway—celebrating the birth on this day in 1942 of Chicago Bears  Dick Butkus who was one of the most feared middle linebackers ever to play the position who fortunately for running backs, quarterbacks and receivers had his career shortened by a serious knee injury. 

On this day in:                                                                                   

a. 1793 New York City's first newspaper American Minerva was established by Noah Webster.

b. 1935 the first  Downtown Athletic Club Trophy (later renamed the Heisman Trophy) was awarded to Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
c. 1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first of a series of holiday Peanuts TV specials made its debut.

d. 1968  Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mappedgraphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).       

e. 1979 smallpox was certified to have been eliminated from the Earth, the first and only disease to have been eradicated.  

Reflections on playing football: "Few people get to earn a living at what they like to do and there are hazards in any profession, Football is something I was made for. I gave the game all I could for as long as I could. I guess my only regret was that my career was too short." Dick Butkus 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 9, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet 

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