Sunday, April 16, 2023

April 15, 2023 Ridley's Believe It Or Not

 

It looks like Reagan’s Law of not speaking ill of fellow Republicans will be tossed into the trash heap as Trump speaking before the NRA Convention mocked De Santis and Pence but Jim Jordan who also spoke only praised Trump and his accomplishments and his plans for the future while also saying Pence and De Santis were “good guys,” reminding  the audience that De Santis was one of the nine with Jordan who formed the Freedom Caucus. As backlash across the nation expands due to Bud Light’s appeal to transgenders with their partnership with Dylan Mulvaney with conservatives calling for a boycott, Donald Trump, Jr. slammed Bud Light’s marketing department as being infected with woke but came out against the boycott reminding conservatives that the beer company donates more to Republicans than Democrats (brings back the concept of indulgences in the Middle Ages to obtain forgiveness for ones sins). Wang Yi is trying to get Germany’s support on a takeover of Taiwan by reminding it that China supported the reunification of the 2 Germanys. Buttigieg has just received another chance to redeem himself by not being  MIA in another train carrying hazardous materials derailment disaster, this one in Rockport, Maine. My wise mother once told me that to determine whether is telling the truth look at how the person reacts when you start questioning others to find the truth and her advice is useful now as the House is set to begin its investigation of the origins of COVID-19 as Red staffers in the early morning hours started receive emails from the Chinese Embassy expressing their “grave concern” over the investigation.
           April 15, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
           Noted Holidays: National Gripers Day:  Created on this day in 1984 by Jack Gilbert, a free-lance writer in Columbus to encourage people to air their gripes and complaints face to face as a better way to solve interpersonal problems without resorting to non-person to person complaints and airing grievances on social media where the griper has a good deal of anonymity. Not if April 15th was chosen due to it being the day to file one’s income tax returns.
           Word of the Day:  The word of the day is “ambscace” which means bad luck, a state of affairs that a gambler at Los Vegas may use to explain the losses at the black jack or craps table incurred.
            Number 1 Song: As we have left the past and returned to start the clock backwards from the present, the number 1 song on this day in 2013 was  “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz on a run of 6 weeks non continuous  to share with 10 other songs that achieved number 1 status  while 8  acts including Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Wanz achieved number 1 status  for the first time. Here is a recording of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz performing with lyrics “Thrift Shop”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5s40sDP-94
           April 15 Famous Birthdays: Jason Sehorn,  born on this day in 1971 in Sacramento, was a football player who played for 2 years at Shasta Junior College as a wide receiver and kick off and punt returner and 2 years at USC as a safety and after being drafted in the second round played 8 years for the New York Giants and 1 year for the L.A. Rams as cornerback, a position at which white players are very few and very far between.
           Noted Events on April 15:
           1.    1920—Alessandro Berardelli, a guard and Frederick Parmenter, a paymaster at Slater and Morill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts were killed during an armed robbery netting the robbers $15,000. A week later based on flimsy eyewitness leads anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested just before Vanzetti was to give a speech supporting anarchy. At a time when hatred and distrust of aliens were off the charts and the nation was plagued with anarchist violence, their trial started on May 21,2021 Judge Thayer, who had very strong anti-Italian immigrant views and vehemently opposed to anarchy. Despite evidence by numerous witnesses for the defense putting Sacco and Vanzetti nowhere the scene of the crime, after deliberating for 3 hours to take a break for dinner, the jury found both men guilty of the murder of the guard and paymaster. Despite national and worldwide demonstrations proclaiming their innocence and appeals for new trials Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in the electric chair on August 23, 1927.
           2.    1947—Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, finally breaking the color line for MLB.
           3.     2005—2 brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted 2 pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that detonated as runners were crossing and approaching the finish line, killing 3 and injuring 247  runners and spectators. After a massive manhunt of 3 days Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were spotted and a major gun fight which resulted in Tamerlan being run over by Dzhokhar and dying and Dzhokhar being apprehended the next day hiding in a boat under a tarp. Dzhokhar was tried, convicted and sentenced both to long prison sentences and the death penalty. His lawyers appealed and the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the death sentence and 3 of the thirty convictions which the prosecution appealed SCOTUS which reaffirmed the death penalty.
            4.    2019—A fire broke out in Notre Dame Cathedral which took almost an hour for fire trucks to arrive to mistakes made by personnel in locating the fire and delays being able to call it in and before it was extinguished on the morning of April 16 to cause massive damages to the structure that are expected to cost in the neighborhood of $865 million with construction scheduled to be finished prior to the opening of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
            5.    2021—Former FedEx employee Brandon Scott who been fired for not returning to work, entered a FedEx facility in Indianapolis and started shooting and in 4 minutes had killed  8 people and wounded 4 others before shooting himself dead. Police had earlier contact with him and seized 2 fire arms and was incarcerated for 2 hours on a mental illness hold and released but Indiana’s red flag law that would have stopped the purchase of the guns used in the mass shooting was ignored by authorities. Victims and relatives of the victims have filed wrongful death actions against distributor of the high capacity magazines and Schmeisser GmbH, the manufacturer of the AR-15’s used in the shootings.
           Famous Quotes on Events and Issues:
           Proclamation by Governor Michael S. Dukakis on Sacco and Vanzetti in a better late than never moment on August 23, 1977: “The conduct of many of the officials involved the case shed serious doubt on their willingness and ability to conduct the prosecution and trial of Sacco and Vanzetti fairly and with impartiality…
I, Michael S. Dukakis, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority conferred  upon me as the Supreme Magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts  by the Constitution and by all other authority vested in me, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, August 23, 1977 “Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Day”; and declare further, that any stigma and disgrace should be forever removed from the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, from the names of their families and descendants, and so, from the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and I hereby call upon the people of Massachusetts to pause in their daily endeavors to reflect upon  these tragic events, and draw from their historic lesson the resolve to prevent the forces of intolerance, fear and hatred from ever again uniting to overcome the rationality , wisdom and fairness to which our legal system aspires.”
© April 15, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

© April 15, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
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