Tuesday, April 18, 2017

April 18, 2017 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Linemen Appreciation Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 18, 2017  Major saber rattling in North Korea who now is promising weekly missile launch tests; United Airlines must be sighing in relief as Facebook is now in the PR hot seat with growing outrage after it took Facebook some hours to pull Stephen Stevens’  video of his random killing of Robert Goodwin who remains at large with a $50,000 reward on his head and a nationwide search in place; voters are going to the polls in Georgia to fill the vacancy created by Price’s joining Trump’s campaign with the Blues contributing over $8 million to Jon Ossoff’s campaign; British Prime Minister May has announced an election on June 8, 2017 to preserve stability as the EU exit proceeds (what a great way to have campaign finance reform—have an election in less than 60 days as opposed to the almost two years of campaigning we have to endure); on the tax front Mnuchin has indicated that the August goal of tax reform is not realistic, a victim of Blue obstructionism in the Senate and the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare (when will Ryan get up off his business as usual ass and start working the House 24/7?) and Trump in essence has aped Bush with a read my lips no tax returns moment (do not understand Trump’s continuing refusal—what is in his returns that is so damaging that they cannot be released?); in a Southwest Airlines motto mocking moment of “Low Fares Nothing to Hide”  a pilot scheduled to pilot the flight to Chicago was arrested for carrying a loaded pistol in his flight bag (another vulnerability—pilots and crews are not screened); almost like a stuck record or a remake of Groundhog Day, Chicago style,  the carnage in Chicago continues unabated with total shootings in 2017 through April 16 increasing by 10 to 928 and the death toll increasing by one to 161 (God help those poor minorities being shot mostly by minorities when the weather gets warmer and the shooters’ aim gets really better and there is more daylight to find and shoot victims) and yet nothing, absolutely nothing, appears to be occurring to address this blight on blacks and minorities which is what racism from a black mayor really looks like who appears to care only about the rights of illegal aliens in his sanctuary city  (when will Chicago residents through the city council try to impeach this pathetic, inept mayor?). 
    As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Sinead O’Connor, factoids of interest for this day in history, a relevant quote from Jimmy Doolittle, remember to degust your meals especially those at an upscale restaurant, 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.  National Linemen Appreciation Dayhonoring the hardworking men and women who during all sorts of miserable weather are climbing or lifted up to utility poles to restore power due to storms, blizzards, floods, tornadoes and fires incurring large numbers of overtime. My stepfather was a lineman for the REA and seeing him coming in from the field after 24 hours in the winter definitely created a great appreciation for the work he was doing.
2.  International Sites and Monuments Day—celebrated since 1992 to promote awareness of cultural diversity as represented by our monuments and cultural sites, the needs to protect them and encourage visits to them.   
3. 1990 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1990 on a run of 4 weeks in that position “Nothing Compares to You” by Sinead O’Connor. Here is a recording of her performing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auUPqxI1vqg
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “degust” which means to taste food slowly and carefully to savor it.
5. Accessories Add Glamor—celebrating the birth on this day in 1971 of Samantha Cameron, wife of former British Prime Minister David Cameron and creative director of Smythson of Bond Street, a London based manufacturer of luxury stationery, leather and fashion goods.
On this day in:                                                                                   
a. 1906 a massive earthquake and resulting fire destroyed much of San Francisco and even damaged buildings at Stanford University in Palo Alto.
b. 1942 Colonel Doolittle took off from an American carrier with 16 B-25 bombers on a one way trip to bomb Tokyo and five other Japanese cities in America’s first attack back at Japan.     
c. 1954 Nasser seized power in Egypt.
d. 1983 a suicide bomber destroyed the American Embassy in Beirut killing 63.
e. 1988 in retaliation for Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf and damaging an American destroyer, the U.S. Navy commenced Operation Praying Mantis and destroyed very quickly one half of Iran’s naval forces and one oil drilling platform.     
Reflections on how to fight in a war something Obama never learned or if he did was too timid to apply the lessons learned: “If we should have to fight, we should be prepared to do so from the neck up instead of from the neck down.” Jimmy Doolittle  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.
© April 18, 2017, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet                                                                                                          Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire                                                                                                                                                 Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare                                                                                                                                              The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Lift                                                          

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