November 1, 2023 Ridley's Believe It Or Not

 

              On the high school assault front, at Van Nuys High School,11 male students were involved in a brawl in which two were stabbed fortunately not seriously causing the school to be locked down for 4 hours.
              On the sports front the Texas Rangers won the World Series tonight by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to win their first World Series after being held hitless until the 7^th inning to spoil a no-hitter and put 1 run over the plate.
              On the dueling banjo censure/expelling front 23 Reds voted not in favor of censuring Rep Tlaib and 30 Blues voted not to expel Red George Santos and maybe in a hopeful sign of a damping of the rabid partisanship gridlocking Congress Blue Rep Becca Balintas of Vermont pulled her censure resolution of Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Tlaib Censure motion was deleted.
              On the Hamas Israel War anti semitism front, Iran is calling on all Islamic nations to end any business relations with Israel, Bolivia has cancelled diplomatic relations as Columbia, Chile and Jordan have recalled their ambassadors while on social media TikTok users are posting viral barbs at each other with the pro-Israel in the majority. Despite increasing incidents of antisemitism some violent, the White House is not planning to label antisemitic attackers as domestic terrorists while it formulates plans to combat Islamophobia as Arab support for Biden is dropping like a hot rock and more now identify as Reds or Independents as opposed to Blues.
              On the tobacco front, the Biden Administration is seeking to ban menthol flavored cigarettes favored in minority communities which should cause lost federal and state tax revenue and a more robust black market and a greater chance of another Eric Garner incidence who was arrested for selling a single cigarette without a tax stamp and died in police custody after a choke hold resulting in protesting riots. While vaping cuts down the amount of second hand smoke and the carcinogens, the Biden Administration seems to be encouraging the increased importation of Chinese made tobacco products.   
             November 1, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet 
             Noted Holidays: National Family Literacy Day: Created by The National Center for Families Learning in 1994 and the U.S. House of Representatives on October 7, 1994 and celebrated on this day since 1994 after studies showed a large percentage of the population, although literate, lacked many of the reading skills to function in this increasingly technical and complex level and what was needed was partition in the whole family to the art and joy of reading.
              Word of the Day: The word of the day as we continue with words starting with “b” is  “benedict” which means a newly married man who has been a bachelor for a long time.  
              Song of the Day: The number 1 song on this day in 1947 was “Near You” by Francis Craig and His Orchestra with Robert Lamm as vocals  on a run of 12 weeks to number 1 status with 10  other songs achieving number 1 ranking. Here is a recording with lyrics of Francis Craig and His Orchestra with Robert Lamm performing  “Near You”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=angPhGHb5F4
               November 1 Birthdays: “Not a Cook More Like a 5 Star Michelin Chef”-Celebrating the birthday of Tim Cook, born on this day in 1960 in Mobile, Alabama who after joining Apple as a senior vice president of operations in 1998 and serving as interim CEO for two periods while Steve Jobs was incurring extensive medical treatment for his pancreatic cancer was appointed CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011 and under his leadership has grown the company from $348 billion market cap when he took over to $1.79 trillion today. He was the first large tech company CEO to come out as gay.
                November 1 Historical Events in Rhyme
                1.      On this day in 1983 following the assassination by 2 of her Sikh bodyguards of Indira Gandhi/Anti-Sikh riots broke out in New Delhi and Northern India with mobs beating and killing any Sikh they could see/ Not just killing but in a rage dragging Sikhs from homes, shops, buses and trains and hacking them to death or burning them alive/Sikh women were beaten, gang raped and stabbed and like the males did not survive/After 3 days the need to avenge finally began to subside/After in New Delhi some 8-17,000 Sikhs had died.
                2.      On this day in 1982, the Big Three facing competition from foreign made cars shipped across the seas/Now faced the challenges of Hondas made here in U.S.A. to see/Honda became the first Asian company to begin producing here/Very soon Accords from their new plant in Marysville, Ohio would in the dealer show rooms start to appear.
               3.      On this day in 1973 after the “Saturday Massacre” and the firing of Archibald Cox/With Nixon’s permission Bork hired Leon Jaworski to investigate the growing Watergate pox/Subpoenaed the Watergate tapes/And Nixon refused thinking he could impeachment escape/Jaworski went directly to SCOTUS who ruled Nixon must comply/After public heard the tapes no way could Nixon obstruction of justice deny/No way could Nixon an impeachment conviction stall/And after meeting with top Republican senators told he should resign as his chances for Senate acquittal had hit a stone wall.
              4.      On this day in 1968 the Motion Picture Association of America in an attempt to minors protect/And on grounds of obscenity banning of films shown only to adults reject/G/M/R/and X controlled who would be able to walk through a theater door/R which verged on X in some cases allowed minors if accompanied by an adult who was assumed to the raunch not deplore. 
               5.      On this day in 1955 the U.S. put its toe into the rice paddies of South Vietnam/ Ignoring the experiences of the French we discarded our qualms/Not aware of the Vietnam War ticking time bomb/That blew up in our faces at 68 Tet Offensive that raised the alarm/The war was not winnable as it was a civil war not an invasion/The need to withdraw with dignity was an act we needed to hasten.

                Quote on the anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination by Kishwar, Madhu (2014). Modi, Muslims and media: Voices from Narendra Modi's Gujar:

   “The killings of Sikhs in November 1984, under Congress rule in Delhi and other cities of North India, can be accurately described as a pogrom or massacre because the killings were totally one-sided. It was not a Hindu-Sikh riot. In fact, the Hindu community was as stunned by the murderous mobs, as were the Sikhs. Congress Party had hired goons who pretended frenzy and butchered over 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone. Many more thousands were killed or burnt alive in several North Indian cities. The dead were all Sikhs; only Sikh women were raped. There was not a single incident of Sikhs having killed Hindus or abducted women of any community in retaliation. Sikhs are not a helpless community in ordinary times, nor are they an oppressed religious minority. However, since Congress Party politicians are known to have led murderous mobs and the top leadership of the Congress Party is known to have deliberately immobilized the law and order machinery, the killing brigades and arsonists got a free hand for three–four days.

            Even though the army was ready at hand in Delhi Cantonment, it was not called for three long days till the worst was over. The police did not fire a single shot at the murderous mobs. They were asked to look the other way or actively assist the killer mobs. There wasn’t even an instance of lathi charge to disperse mobs. There were no arrests of arsonists during those days. It was uncontrolled mayhem from October 31, 1984 to November 3, 1984. The loss of property was also one-sided. Only Sikh homes were set on fire; the mobs looted only Sikh business establishments and houses. No Sikh went on a looting spree.” 

November 1,2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
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