Thursday, November 15, 2018

November 15, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Great American Smoke Out Day


Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For November 15, 2018 On the wildfire front the Camp Fire is still uncontained and the death toll has risen to 56 with around 200 still missing and a new blaze has erupted near San Bernardino; Flake is living up to the meaning of his last name by throwing a snit fit when McConnell blocked a bill to protect Mueller by announcing he will vote against any judicial nominee (good riddance though a national shame that Arizonans elected the great deceiver Sinema as opposed to war hero McSally); the New York Times and Facebook are in a snit fit after a the paper published a scathing report on Facebook’s lack of response over Russian meddling with social media and failure to act against the spread of fake news (who will have the guts in the Swamp to apply anti-trust law against Google, Facebook and Twitter and call for their break up to end their monopoly power and suppression of conservative views?); Nancy Pelosi the despised lightning rod for Republicans is facing a growing “Never Nancy” within her own party putting her quest for Speaker of the House in question; the vanguard of the illegal alien caravan has reached the border at Tijuana with thousands more behind them still approaching (Congress must change the amnesty law to provide an illegal must seek and obtain amnesty at an American Embassy or Consulate in his  or her  home nation or be subject to immediate deportation); Sinema lived up to her reputation as the great deceiver when she broke her campaign promise not to support Schumer and voted for him; the governors of Virginia and New York are being slammed for the billions in extortion in the form of tax relief to Amazon to have it open a headquarter in each state;  Emanuel’s announcement that he will not seek reelection has not curbed the gun violence as through November 14, 2018, 2652 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 440 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 mostly people of color by mostly people of color).
        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Tony Bennett, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you can always change channels to escape the toxic rhetoric and a relevant quote on this Great American Smoke Out Day on why a smoker should quit, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like 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. Day of the Imprisoned Writer—created in 1981 by PEN International an association of writers to create awareness of the plight of writers around who are in prison for articles adverse to the interests of governments and to lobby for their release.
2. Great American Smoke Out—created by the American Cancer Society in 1977 first held in San Francisco to urge the 40 million Americans who still smoke to forgo the deadly habit for 24 hours as a first step in ending their addiction.
3. 1953 Number One Song— the number one song in 1953 on a run of 6 weeks in that position was “Rags to Riches” by Tony Bennett. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22tIJ6toPY He is still going strong and performing at the ripe young age of 92.
4. Word of the Year—according to the Oxford Dictionary the word of the year is toxic which describes to a tee the political climate in this nation today.
5. Keeping Up With The Jones—celebrating the birth on this day in 1968 of Russell Jones better known as the rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard who was a heavy drug user, was in prison and rehab and died of a drug overdose at the age of 35.
    On this day in: 
a. 1971 Intel released the world’s first single chip microprocessor the 4004.
b. 1975 a package in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C. started to emit smoke forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
c. 1985 a research assistant at the University of Michigan was injured when a package sent by the Unabomber addressed to a professor exploded. 
d. 1988 the first Fairtrade label  Max Havelaar was introduced in the Netherlands.
e. 2006 Al Jazeera English was launched worldwide.
    Reflections on smoking on Great American Smoke Out Day: ““Smoking does not make you a KILLER per se, but your heart will drown in GUILT if second hand smoke gave someone in your own family a life-threatening disease. Save a lifetime of regret – quit today.” Anon
    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 towww.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 www.Alaskanpoethistory.blogspot.com for just This Day in History.
© November 15, 2018,  Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare


No comments:

Post a Comment