Wednesday, March 22, 2023

March 22, 2023 Ridley's Believe It Or Not

Today marks the 2nd day of the 3 day strike called by the Service Employees International Union whose members are employed by the 2nd largest school district in the nation. Although the United Teachers Los Angeles has not voted to strike it has instructed its members to not cross the picket lines which means another day of no schools open for teaching other than possibly private schools and charter schools that may not be unionized (the LAUSD has been losing students to charter schools, private schools and home schooling, a trend that has been increasing and with this strike may increase more). The grand jury that is overseeing the decision to indict or not indict Trump has reconvened with supporters of Trump and supporters for Trump’s indictment protesting so far peacefully in small numbers with indictment supporters outnumbering Trump supporters with barricades being put up in Washington, D.C. and the NYCPD on full standby alert (McCarthy is calling for calm and Trump supporters if there is an indictment will really be shooting themselves in the feet if there is anything that remotely looks like the January 6 protests).  In the March Madness for women the PAC 12 sent 7 teams and 3 Utah, Colorado, and UCLA are left to join the Sweet 16 with Stanford being the big disappointment in losing to Mississippi  54-49 to be excluded. In the men’s March Madness the PAC-12 sent 4 teams with UCLA being the only 1 to enter the Sweet 16. I hope  you missed Ridley's Believe It Or Not these last few weeks and that you find Ridley's Believe It Or Not worth your time reading and if not please respond with an “Unsubscribe”.                 

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not March 22, 2023
          Noted Holidays: American Red Cross Giving Day:
Celebrating the formation of the American Red Cross by Clara Barton on May 21, 1881 to provide medical care to those wounded on the battlefield and later expanded to provide humanitarian aid to those suffering from natural or manmade disasters and celebrated on the 4th Wednesday of March by giving money, volunteering one’s time or donating blood.
          Word of the Day:  The word of the day is “alexipharmic” which means an antidote which will block the effects of deadly drugs, venom or poisons and if applied to issues like inflation would describe raising interest rates which the Fed is doing or better yet reducing the rapidly increasing amount of federal spending which obviously is not yet happening. 
          Number 1 Song: The number 1 song on this day in 1945 was “Rum and Coca-Cola” by The Andrew Sisters with Vic Schoen and His Orchestra on a run of 8 weeks to share with 14 other songs that achieved number 1 status. Here is the Andrew Sisters with Vic Schoen and His Orchestra performing “Rum and Coca-Cola”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THUmz7vvld4
           March 22 Famous Birthdays: Allison Stokke Fowler, noted pole vaulter and sportswear model, born on this day in 1989 in Newport Beach, California  who at age 15 and 16 was the top female pole vaulter in the country, awarded an athletic scholarship to Cal,  barely missed qualifying for U.S. Olympic Team and became an internet sensation when her photograph was taken at a track meet in 2007 to become the poster child for the criticism of sexualizing on the internet women in sports. Still a successful sportwear model, happily married with a daughter and a father, Al Stokke who is a premier defense attorney in Orange County and who no longer has to spend numerous hours reviewing on line material on her that crosses the line to be illegal or stalking.
           March 22 Notable Events
           1.     1972—Congress sent to the states for ratification the Equal Rights Amendment which by 1977 35 states had ratified before Phyllis Schlafly started to organize women to oppose it on grounds it would eliminate protections to women and subject them to the draft, eliminate alimony, and the tendency of courts in divorce to grant custody to mothers. Congress in 1978 by simple majorities voted to extend the ratification day to June 30, 1982 which did not help as 5 states voted to rescind their ratification and June 30, 1982 came and went leaving open the question of whether a state may rescind its ratification before the deadline for ratifying. 
          2.     1972—In a let the good times roll decision SCOTUS ruled in Eisenstadt v. Baird that Massachuseetts’ law banning the distribution of contraceptives was in violation of the 14th Amendment.
          3.     1988—Congress overrode by margins in excess of two thirds President Reagan’s veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, the first veto of civil rights legislation since Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
          4.     1993 Intel Corporation released its Pentium chip featuring  a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64  bit data path.
          5.     2021—21 year old naturalized Syrian citizen Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa, entered a King Sooper supermarket in Boulder, Colorado armed with a semi-automatic handgun and 10 high capacity magazines which he had purchased legally several days prior to the shooting. He opened fire and killed 10 people the last of whom was a cop responding to the sounds of gun fire and wounded 1 person before engaging in a shootout and being shot in the thigh. He was arrested but not tried since he was declared  mentally incompetent to stand trial on 3 occasions the most recent of which has been in January 2023 where a judge ordered him to be confined to a state mental hospital for further treatment that the judge believed would restore to the ability to stand trial but there is a backlog 450 persons waiting to get in to state mental hospitals. 
          Opposing Famous Quotes on Notable Events Or Persons:
          Betty Ford: “I believe the equal rights amendment is a necessity of life for all citizens. The cabinet sometimes felt that I shouldn't be so outspoken.”
          Phyliss Schlafly: “Since the women are the ones who bear the babies and there's nothing we can do about that, our laws and customs then make it the financial obligation of the husband to provide the support. It is his obligation and his sole obligation. And this is exactly and precisely what we will lose if the Equal Rights Amendment is passed.”"  

© 3/22/2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
Poems on events of the day
Commissioned unique poems

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