May 25, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Missing Chicldren's Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 25, 2018 The wheels of justice may move slowly against the Hollywood elite and their reptilian brains but they do move as Harvey Weinstein is set to turn himself in to NYPD over sexual abuse charges on Friday; frustrated ICE agents are complaining of bureaucratic red tape that is preventing the feds from walling up tunnels used to smuggle narcotics, illegal prescription drugs and illegals into this country; the head of ICE IS slamming the Blues who have condemned Trump for describing MS-13 gang members as animals as animals kill to survive and MS-13 kills for sport; another school shooting this one at a Middle School in Indiana with two people a science teacher and a student hospitalized and the shooter in custody while in Oklahoma City a man walked into a restaurant and shot four patrons before being confronted by an armed citizen who shot and killed the suspect; save for Meghan McCann, the ladies on The View are clueless when it comes to the protests over the American flag during the playing of the National Anthem; anyone who has had to endure the pain of a cramped seat with no food is probably not a fan of the airlines rapacious behavior in charging fees for checked baggage or changed reservation fees but the Trump administration is opposing a bill that would prevent airlines from charging unreasonable fees; Trump is having a great degree of difficulty in draining the Swamp but greater success in combating a sinkhole that has opened near the White House; HRC has been awarded the Radcliffe Medal by Harvard University for her role as a transformative leader (she has been a transformative leader whose sycophants at the FBI and DOJ have transformed the independence of those two institutions to political attack dogs to protect her from the reality of the quid pro quo practice by her as Secretary of State and the dual standard of “justice” one for the Clintons and the other for non Clintons; in Chicago through May 24, 2018, 960 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 160 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Whitney Houston, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that the manatolgy practiced by the pollsters and pundits may again prove to be incorrect in the upcoming midterms,  and  a relevant quote by from Aly Raisman on Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of members of the U.S. Gymnastic Team,  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. National Missing Children’s Day—created by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 to promote awareness of the potential for children to be abducted and the need to prevent childhood abductions.      

2. National Tap Dance Day—first created by President George H. W. Bush to honor a uniquely American form of dance.       

3. 1986 Number One Song— the number one song in 1986 on a run of 3 weeks in that position was “Greatest Love of  All” by Whitney Houston. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “mantology” which means fortune telling which the pollsters and pundits missed completely in the 2016 election and may well be off the mark in the predicted Blue Wave during the midterms.

5.  Fierce on the Floor Even Fiercer in Court—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1994 of American gymnast Aly Raisman who won medals in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics and who spearheaded the sexual abuse charges against the team physician Larry Nassar who has been sentenced to terms for sexual abuse that mean he will die in prison.

         On this day in: 

a. 1986 some 6.5 million Americans held hands across American to raise money for the homeless, to fight hunger and to fight poverty.   

b. 1999 the House of Representatives released the Cox Report which detailed two decade of espionage by the Chinese against our nuclear forces.

c. 2009 North Korea allegedly detonated its second nuclear device and tested several ballistic missiles which produced a lot of rhetoric from Obama but no action to protest the same.   

d. 2011 after 25 years of broadcasting Oprah Winfrey aired her last episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

e. 2012 the SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial rocket to dock at the International Space Station.    

         Reflections on sexual abuse practiced by Larry Nassar for too many years: “You already know you're going away to a place where you won't be able to hurt anybody ever again,but I am here to tell you that I will not rest until every single last trace of your influence on this sport has been destroyed, like the cancer it is.My dream is that one day everyone will know what the words #MeToo signify. But they will be educated and able to protect themselves from predators like Larry so that they will never ever, ever have to say the words, 'me, too.'" Aly Raisman from her victim’s impact statement at Larry Nassar’s sentencing. 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.             

© May 25, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

May 24, 2018 Ridley;s Believe It Or Not International Tiara Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 24, 2018 Trump has called off the summit with North Korea after Kim Jong Un has pulled back on his “agreement” to denuclearize North Korea and indicated sanctions will continue and the U.S. Military will be prepared to take any action against any foolish response by the North; legislation essentially gutting Dodds-Franks was signed into law by President Trump to the great relief of community banks that have been going out of business and have been crippled in their attempts to provided new loans to small businesses due to the onerous regulations generated by the legislation; the Blue voter tsunami that was supposed to sweep Reds out of House Seats in record numbers has disappeared as the tax cuts that Pelosi dismissed as mere crumbs are fueling a job and wage resurgence; the “Gang of 8” is meeting with top officials of the FBI and D0J with respect to the “spy” inserted into the Trump campaign (unfortunately Schiff who is a member of the Gang of 8 is a partisan hack with zero credibility of objectivity); Reds may keep the House and Senate in session to keep vulnerable Blues off the campaign trail; Morgan Freeman an iconic actor has just been accused by 8 females of improper sexual conduct and harassment:; in Chicago through May 23, 2018, 970 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 157 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Wham!, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that Trump has evidenced any mansuetude in dealing with North Korea and  a relevant quote by from Michael Oren on the Six Day 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. National Aviation Maintenance Technicians Day—created by the Congress on this day in 2008 to honor the contributions of our aviation industry by the people whose maintenance efforts keep the planes flying the air and celebrated on this day as it marks the birthday of Charles Edward Taylor, the man who built the engine to propel the Wright Brothers Airplane.      

2. International Tiara Day—first created by Barbara Belisimo as a one time event then through the efforts of Lyanne White expanded to an annual event falling on Queen Victoria’s birthday, May 24, 1819.       

3. 1985 Number One Song— the number one song in 1985 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “Everything She Wants” by Wham! Here is a recording of the song: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=wham+everything+she+eants#action=view&id=52&vid=420c1a8f14a6bf08d35ad5ab3b4a36cb

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “mansuetude” which means meekness or tameness, characteristics that Trump totally lacks.

5.  A Nation of Immigrants—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1990 of Leningrad born Joseph Brodsky who after emigrating to the United States became a poet laureate of this country and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature but died with many verses yet to rhyme at the age of 55.

         On this day in: 

a. 1958 United Press International was formed by a merger of the United Press and the World Press International.   

b. 1967 Egypt instituted a blockade and siege of the Red Sea Coast of Israel which led to the disastrous 6 Day War for Egypt and Jordan with the loss of the West Bank and West Jerusalem.

c. 1976 the Judgment of Paris, a  blind tasting of French and California wines organized by British wine merchant took place in France, the results of which propelled California wines to center stage of wine producing regioins. 

d. 1993 four jihadists were convicted of the truck bombing at the World Trade Center that killed 6 and wounded some 1000 and sentenced to 240 years; the blind sheik who was involved also in the bombing was sentenced to life and died last year from heart ailments and diabetes.

e. 2000 Israeli troops evacuated from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.    

         Reflections on why the Israelis won the Six Day War:” his strongest desire was to return to farming, but Weizman had insisted that Hod replace him as air force chief early in 1966. Since then, he had concentrated on refining Focus, reducing the turnaround time for refueling and rearming jets to less than eight minutes. The Egyptian turnaround rate, by comparison, was eight hours. “He may not be able to quote [the Hebrew poet] Bialik or Shakespeare,” Weizman said of Hod, “but he will screw the Arabs in plain Hebrew.” Michael B. Oren Six Day of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East 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.             

© May 24, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

HRC at Commencement at Yale Cannot Accept She Failed

Hillary gave a commencement speech at Yale

Still cannot accept the fact her campaign was a total fail

Still cannot accept the fact that her campaign of no ideas lost

Despite spending millions more than Trump’s campaign of low cost

Millions upon millions spent by a candidate who look exhausted and physically unfit

Toward the end faded from the scene and the battleground states seemed to quit

Even with an attempt for some audio visual humor with a Russian hat as a prop

When it comes to blame other than herself she cannot bring herself to stop

Time to accept defeat and move on

She will never become the keeper of the White House Lawn

To her sanity to try to regain

Needs to implant Lux et Veritas on her brain

Then fade away to the woods or ghostwrite another book

Hoping a real investigation by the FBI will not reveal her to be a total crook

 © May 22, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

Reptilian Brain's Latest Victim Archie Parnell

The reptilian brain shows no boundaries and sits on both sides of the political aisle

Especially when it is consumed with the rage of a contested divorce bile

Archie Parnell running as Blue to defeat a Red with a great chance to a House seat flip

Hit by court filings of a divorce filled by his ex Kathleen whom he reportedly again and again hit

An act of rage as a student forty plus years ago

Has dealt his campaign a mortal blow

Blues on his campaign are like rats fleeing from a sinking ship

His party elders and leaders are his behavior to quickly rip

Sexual abuse cannot be tolerated and the perpetrator however young will pay a heavy price

Before hitting a spouse in the heat of a divorce better think once, twice or even thrice

Fail to do so and the past in a campaign will come alive

And your campaign no matter how much time has lapsed may not survive.

© May 22, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

May 22, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not U.S. National Maritime Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 22, 2018 On the political corruption front news that finally the Deep State of Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Yates and Rosenstein may soon be adding a new member, legacy protecting at all costs Obama, as reports surface of another agency trying to infiltrate the Trump campaign (it is hard to believe that Obama did not know of these efforts and approved them and the question becomes how much longer will the American people allow our government to try to take down a political party and bury the evidence that Congress has a Constitutional duty and obligation to see?); as lava flow nears the Geothermal Plant property, new fears that any wells impacted will cause the release of deadly hydrogen sulfide gas; grasping for straws, Pelosi is now encouraging voters to vote for Blues so they can drain the Swamp realizing that their better deal slogan is a complete dud and their vow to repeal the tax cuts will be a disaster for them as the economy continues improve; another thin blue line casualty this time in Baltimore, Maryland as a female officer was shot and killed investigating a home burglary; the Holy Grail of shipwrecks the San Jose believed to be carrying treasure worth $17 billion has been found of the coast of Columbia; Hillary Rodham Clinton continues her can’t believe she lost tour with a commencement speech at Yale University; sanity has just returned to another California city, Carlsbad, as the city council voted 4-1 to tell Moonbeam to take a hike and opted out of sanctuary city status; in Chicago through May 21, 2018, 955 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 156 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Deniece Williams, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that despite Trump feeling a manqué in his efforts to drain the Swamp he is proceeding forward and  a relevant quote by Pat Buchanan on the Great Society,  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. U.S. National Maritime Day—created by the Congress on this day in 1933 to honor the contributions of our maritime service to our economy, defense and leisure; the day was chosen to commemorate the sailing by the USS Savannah, the first steamship to sail across the Atlantic.      

2. World Goth Day—first celebrated in the U.K. in 2009 to then spread into other countries to include fashion and music.        

3. 1984 Number One Song— the number one song in 1984 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Deniece Williams.  Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI7YHZVc7mM

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “manqué” which means having an unfilled ambition which Trump must feel every day he starts out trying to drain the Swamp.

5.  Hard to Best the Bottle—celebrating the birthday on May 22, 1946 of noted European soccer player George Best whose partying lifestyle led to a way too early exit from the sport and his death from alcoholism on November 25, 2005.  

         On this day in: 

a. 1964 Lyndon Baines Johnson launched his Great Society which was a costly failure.   

b. 1968 the USS Scorpion, a nuclear powered submarine sank with 99 officers and crew aboard some 400 miles off the coast of the Azores, killing all aboard.

c. 1998 a federal judge ruled that Secret Service Agents could be compelled to testify against Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

d. 2002 in a wheels of justice move slowly but they move event, a jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicted Bobby Frank Cherry of the murder of 4 African American girls in the 1963 bombing of a Baptist Church on 16^th Avenue in Birmingham, Alabama. Cherry was sentenced to life in prison and died in prison at the age of 74.

e. 2017 23 people were killed and 139 wounded at a Manchester Arena concert held by Ariana Grande when a jihadist Salman Abede of Libyan descent detonated a suicide bomb as people were leaving the concert venue.    

         Reflections on the Great Society and its failure:” Lyndon Johnson, his 44-state landslide in 1964 and Great Society notwithstanding, was by 1968 a failed president being repudiated in the primaries of his own party.” Pat Buchanan, noted conservative author, commentator and adviser to Republican presidents. 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.             

© May 22, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

May 21, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Waiters and Waitresses Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 21, 2018    The IG’s report that will be released very soon will be a scathing critique of the FBI’s “investigation” of HRC’s private e-mail server; History was made today in Arlington when Gina Haspel was sworn in as the first female to head the CIA whose former director John Brennan has been accused of lying to Congress and being part of the Deep State Cabel with James Clapper who also lied to Congress trying to overthrow a duly elected president; Trump is back on the offensive against the FBI/DOJ claiming his campaign was spied upon and demanding that the DOJ and FBI release documents demanded by Congress; a former Bill Clinton pollster and chief political adviser to HRC’s failed 2008 political campaign blasted Mueller’s “probe” and demanded it be terminated even as shiftless Schiff was on the Sunday news blasting Trump for discrediting Mueller; Saddam al Jamal who was behind the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot who was shot down and captured in 2015 was one of the ISIS jihadists captured last week; the reptilian brain claimed another victim as Mayor Mike Bowers, a Blue, resigned as Bloomburg, PA Mayor after being arrested for soliciting a prostitute who happened to be a police informant; on the sports front a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals Jordan Hicks threw two pitches clocked at 105 miles per hour in a 5-1 victory over the Phillies; in Chicago through May 20, 2018, 950 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 156 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to David Bowie, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that Trump has issued a manament to the FBI and DOJ to provide documents demanded by Congress and  a relevant quote by Simon Helberg of waitresses and geniuses approach to simple problems,  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 of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development—created by the UN following the destruction of the Buddha Statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in 2001 by the Taliban to promote the idea that cultural diversity is not a threat but rather a goal to be promoted.      

2. National Waiters and Waitresses Days—honoring those servers who often are the difference between a memorable meal and a dining out disaster.        

3. 1983 Number One Song— the number one song in 1983 on a run of 1 week in that position was “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie.  Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA 

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “manament” which means a command or order which when it comes to draining the Swamp Obama holdovers are fight tooth and nail.

5.  A Lynching of Lady Justice?—celebrating or bemoaning depending upon your political views of the birthday on this day in 1959 of former AG appointed by Obama, Loretta Lynch who is best known for her infamous meeting on the tarmac of Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix with Bill Clinton to talk about “golf and grandkids” but not about the FBI’s “investigation” of HRC’s private e-mail and who now is in a snit fit with fired James Comey over who is telling the truth over certain aspects of that “investigation.” 
         On this day in: 

a. 1976 near Martinez, California a bus carry the Yuba City High School choir crashed into a bridge, killing 29 and seriously injuring 24 others making it the deadliest bus crash in American history.   

b. 1991 former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber in Madras, India.

c. 1992 after 30 years Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the last time with Robin Williams and Bette Midler making appearances. 

d. 2001 French Taubrina Law was enacted which recognized that the African Slave Trade was a crime against humanity.

e. 2011 Christian radio broadcaster predicted that the world would end on this day and Jesus Christ would return to Earth; fortunately like so many of his end of Earth predictions he was wrong.    

         Reflections on the wisdom and waitresses:”There's something very funny about giving a menial task to a genius and watching him find so much complexity and overanalyse it to such a degree that the waitress from Nebraska working at the Cheesecake Factory has passed them all by.” Simon Helberg 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.             

© May 21, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

Ode to a Stag 3028

I belong to a Round Table that meets weekly during the academic year to one of the members give a speech on a topic of his choice and the quality of the speeches are remarkable and cover a broad range of topics. At the end of the year we have a stag event/outing to some of our interesting venues in Southern California following by lunch and an award of the best speech and most researched speech as voted on by the members. Thought you would enjoy this note on the event and the two winning entries

Ode to a Stage 2018

Another day to end the year, another stag to enjoy

The Knights boarded a bus at eight for a day of gems, water and beer to await

After checking ID’s to make sure we shiftless group

Were not jewel thieves looking to heist some valuable loot

Joined by a man of steel fresh from a dialysis bed

Testimony that when push comes to shove a Knight would prefer a stag instead

Fascinating exhibits of gems and jewelry at the GIA on display

Thank God none were for sale or it would have been a B/K filing day

Two Victoria Secrets bras made of jewels one with a 37 million dollar cost

The other a barely A cup with very little dollars to be lost

Then off to a nearby  Carlsbad sandy beach

To tour a plant that from the ocean waters salt it would leach

With an impromptu speech by Peter on the flower fields

And how his marketing plan brought a higher yield

A history of the dawn of color TV and the poinsettia’s advent

To two acres that may soon a purple haze to stoners be sent

Hard hats and vests to see the renaissance of the new water dawn

From drinking to watering our brown parched lawns

Need to build more desal plants or have more people from California flee

From dried brush and tinderbox ready to be ignited inflammable trees

To the Karl Strauss Brew Pub  for a quick repast washed down with foam

To then learn why on this day we left our Orange County homes

Peter stuck it to the chicken and egg man and returned the favor

Like Peter a year ago Grant won most votes for a sum but no trophy to savor

In a day when power point rules and words of eloquence take the back seat

Russ Leatherby won the trophy for on Hoover and the Osage Indians the best speech

And for best researched Mike Mulvihill unlocked the mysteries of Bitcoin and the Blockchain

Maybe the new wealth as other assets lose value and go do the drain

Rare is the nation or group that has a peaceful transfer of power

We Knights are blessed that from a holdover tyrant we never have to cower

Nick Dauderman of the Bushwood Country Club Spring Party fame

Not present but our chairman for next year was at the end named

Great and outstanding job to the troika of Peter, Jerry and Pete

Enjoy the summer Knights looking forward to another season of fellowship and speeches to greet

© May 19, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet  

May 19, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Armed Forces Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 19, 2018 Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were married today in a ceremony of total Camelot, elegance and class (thank God in our divisive world of partisan politics there will always be an England); another school shooting this one in a high school in Sante Fe, Texas where 10 people were killed with a shotgun and 38 revolver owned and legally acquired by the shooter’s father; more lava and evacuations in Hawaii with warnings that the volcano is still very active and could blow at any moment without any warning; Johnny Football after another stint at rehab has been given another chance to return to professional football by announcing that he had signed with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League; the odd shooter at Trump’s Doral Resort, Johnathan Oddi, evidently is a male porn stripper with a crush on Melania Trump; don’t hold your breath but rumors are that China and the U.S. have agreed to an agreement to reduce our trade deficit with China but at the same time in a tension escalating move China landed a bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons on a disputed island in the South China Sea; Trump finally is fed up with the stalling and obstruction at the FBI and DOJ and wants documents requested by Congress to be turned over pronto to Congress; conservative Republicans have joined with Blues to defeat the Farm Bill with its work requirements to get food stamp requirements over a snit with Republican leadership on the need to vote on a restrictive immigration bill first; in Chicago through May 18, 2018, 924 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 143 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that none of your children are mammothrepts and  a relevant quote by Geraldine Laybourne on youth and our future,  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. Hepatitis Testing Day—safe and easy way to determine if you have been exposed to hepatitis A, B, or C is to be tested to avoid a whole bunch of medical headaches.       

2. Armed Forces Day—honoring since 1950 on the third Saturday in May, the contributions to the nation of the men and women serving and who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States.       

3. 1982 Number One Song— the number one song in 1982 on a run of 9 weeks in that position was “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCarty and Stevie Wonder.  Here is a recording of the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZtiJN6yiik

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “mammothrept” which means a spoiled child which probably describes too many of our politicians or celebrities when they do not get their way.

5.  No Wasteland Here Newton—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1947 of TV programming giant Geraldine  Laybourne who joined Nickelodeon when it had only 5 employees as a program manager to grow it into 8 billion dollars in sales and then after a stint at Disney founded Oxygen Media which she grew to 10,000,000 subscribers and sold it for almost 1 billion dollars. 
         On this day in: 

a. 1921 the U.S. passed the Emergency Quota Act imposing limits on immigration into this country which resulted in proportionally more residents of Northern Europe being admitted and total legal immigration falling.    

b. 1959 North Vietnam established Group 559 whose responsibility was to insure the movement of men and supplies into South Vietnam over what came to be known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a task for which it had great success despite all attempts of the U.S. to stop the flow with massive bombings.

c. 1963 The New York Post Sunday Magazine published Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” protesting Jim Crow laws on the books in Alabama. 

d. 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Firearm Owners Protection Act which curbed the federal government’s power to prosecute gun owners for minor technical violations of gun laws, allowed for the sale of ammunition through the Post Office and allowed gun owners to transport guns through states where that transportation would be illegal.

e. 2015 a twenty-eight year old oil pipeline near Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara ruptured, spilling 3,400 barrels of oil before being shut off manually since the operators had disconnected the automatic shut off valve.    

         Reflections on the youth’s influence on the future: “Who cares about 17-21 year olds? Jack Myers does, and you should, too, if you want a front row seat on where the future of business and civilization is going.”Geraldine Laybourne 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.             

© May 19, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift

May 18, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World AIDS Vaccine Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 18, 2018 Prince Charles who should abdicate in favor of Prince William will be walking Meghan Markle down the aisle in her wedding to Prince Harry; a man was shot after shooting up Trump’s resort at Doral in Miami; still no apology from the White House or Kelly Stadler over her mocking remarks that McCain’s opinions on Haspel did not matter as he was dying anyway so the story is still in the news as is the revelation that heads may be rolling in the communications department in the White House over leaks; in another example of the craziness that plagues college campuses, a University of Akron professor has been castigated for his plan to raise female student grades to encourage them to enter STEM fields; Debbie Wasserman Schulz is making a fool of herself once again after lambasting the NRA as an “organization just shy of a terrorist organization” (Oliver North did not help the cause of civil discourse be calling Parkland School survivors civil terrorists—another example of rhetoric run wild to tear apart the social fabric of this country); President Trump rightfully called MS-13 animals which the MSM distorted with headlines charging that he was demeaning all immigrants as animals (so typical of the bias and hatred toward him); in a real oops moment that should haunt her if she is found guilty, Anngenette Welk who has been charged of killing a mother while DUI was smiling for the cameras for her arrest mug shot (maybe she was still toasted at the time of the photo):

                                                          

   

In Chicago through May 16, 2018, 909 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 149 have died (when will Chicago 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?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Kim Carnes, factoids of interest for this day in history, the your pursuit of mammonism and  a relevant quote by Doctor Anthony Fauci on AIDS and the fight against it,  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 AIDS Vaccine Day—observed since 1998 to mark the first anniversary of a speech by Bill Clinton challenging society to come up with an effective AIDS vaccine to stop the spread of a disease that is estimated to infect 1.8 million people annually with 1 million dying from the disease yearly.       

2. International Museum Day—celebrated since 1977 to promote the role of museums in our culture and society.       

3. 1980 Number One Song— the number one song in 1980 on a run of 9 weeks in that position was “Bette Davis Eyes ” by Kim Carnes.  Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIS5taqA8

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “mammonism” which means the pursuit of wealth which is one of the hallmarks of capitalism which by creating wealth as opposed to spreading wealth from those who have to those who have not enables all members of society to improve their lot in life.

5. I Can See Russia—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1970 of noted comic Tina Fey perhaps best known for her portrayals of Sarah Palin.  
         On this day in: 

a. 1917 after declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917, the Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed giving the U.S. the power to conscript in order to be able to raise an army to go to Europe to defeat the Axis Powers.   

b. 1933 President Roosevelt signed legislation creating the Tennessee Valley Authority which resulted in the creation of hydroelectric dams throughout the Tennessee Valley bringing electricity to hundreds of thousands of people.

c. 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted, killing 57 people, causing over $1 billion in damages and depositing ash in 11 states and 5 Canadian provinces; the eruption was the largest in the 48 contiguous states. 

d. 1990 in France a modified TGV train achieved a new rail speed record of 320.2 mph.

e. 1994 Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from Gaza turning it over to the Palestinians to govern.     

         Reflections on the fight against AIDS: “Although it is still important to develop an HIV vaccine, we have significant tools already at our disposal that can make a major impact on the trajectory of this epidemic.”
Doctor Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.  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.             

© May 18, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift