April 28, 2019 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Worker Memorial Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 28, 2019  AOC may tout herself as a breath of save the planet fresh air but her ethics are that of a typical political hack for which she has been snared in having a fund run in Queens and pocketing the registration fees for her campaign; she has also waded in to support Bernie Sanders’ plan to allow felons to vote including terrorists like the Boston Bomber while they are still in prison; the Poway synagogue shootings John Earnest was supposedly motivated by the New Zealand mosques killings (another example of deranged people wanting to ape in a copycat fashion while a hero wounded in the leg was found in the likes of Almog Peretz who led several children to safety while the gunman was spraying bullets); Kamala Harris is back in the news pandering that she will fight to end right to work laws which are a great engine for growth and grant workers the ability not to join a union (SCOTUS has just ruled that unions cannot force nonmembers from paying union dues) and true to form threatened Congress that if they did not act, she would be executive fiat implement gun control regulations like background checks; Arnold Schwartzenegger is a proud father as his “love child” son has graduated from Pepperdine University; the Oracle of Omaha must have great genes in addition to his stock picking skills as his daily diet includes 5 Cokes, MacDonald’s and Dairy Queen; Trump and White House staffers will again skip the White House Press Conference Dinner (who can blame him for not wanting to listen to some politically biased comedian personally attacking him); the child sexual abuses plaguing the Catholic Church are alive and well as the Archdiocese of New York released the names of 115 priests and 5 deacons against whom there is credible accusations that they have sexually abused children;  through April 27, 2019 659 people  have been shot in Chicago of whom 127 have died (what makes the Smollett case so frustrating is that it forced the city of Chicago to allocate scarce detective resources when in only 9% of the shootings resulting in murder have a suspect being charged this year).

       As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Celine Dion, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you are free of paranym, and  a relevant quote from Joe Klein on torture at Abu Ghraib, 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. Workers Memorial Day—created by the AFL-CIO to honor the memory of the thousands of workers killed or maimed while on the job and to promote worker safety.

2. Great Poetry Reading Day—celebrating reading great poetry especially in conjunction with romantic poems written on Kiss Your Mate Day with a suggestion that www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com is the place to go.

     3. 1998 Number One Song—the number one song on this day in 1998 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNIPqafd4As.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day as we move from words beginning with “o” to words beginning with “p” is “paranym” which means a word whose meaning is altered to conceal evasion which describes many of the slogans and speeches of politicians to a tee.

5. Burns Had An Eye For Talent—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1941 noted singer, dancer and actress Ann-Margaret Ollson better known as Ann Margaret who was nominated for an Academy Award in the movie Carnal Knowledge and was discovered by George Burns in Las Vegas.

       On this day in:                                        

a. 1952 General Dwight Eisenhower resigned as commander of NATO.

b. 1967 Mohammad Ali refused induction into the army and was stripped of his title and banned from boxing.

c. 1975 Cao Văn Viên the South Vietnamese head of the armed forces for South Vietnam departed for the U.S. as North Vietnamese forces approached Saigon.

d. 1994 Aldrich Ames pled guilty to giving secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole where he now rots.

e. 2004 CBS aired a documentary on the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility by American soldiers. 

        Reflections on the torture at Abu Ghraib: “If there was one fact that sent me hurtling off to write 'Politics Lost,' it was when I learned that John Kerry had focus-grouped Abu Ghraib. We knew about the Justice Department memo in June of 2004, and Kerry didn't raise that in any one of his three debates with George Bush.” Joe Klein, noted political columnist for Time Magazine.
        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   www.Alaskanpoethistory.blogspot.com for just This Day in History.

© April 27, 2019  Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet