Friday, December 1, 2023

Novermber 29, 2023 Ridley's Believe It Or Not

 

             On White House Press Conference Front Today News Africa reporter Simon Ateba has the same lack of manners that Jim Acosta had a proclivity to embrace but despite his interrupting behavior no Press Secretary ended a press briefing to angrily stomp off the stage like our icon of “intolerance” Karine Jean-Pierre exhibited after being challenged for not being called on. (It might behoove Jean-Pierre to take President Truman’s advice to heart that if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. 
             On the Hamas Israeli hostage front, the cease fire has been extended to its 6th day of Hamas looking like the golden boys of peace and civility not the October 7 butchers as they have released 80 hostages in total. Each day it will be harder to Hamas as fanatics to wipe out the Jewish state relate. Right now their only chance to survive is to dribble the hostages out well-fed and well-treated with memories of the butcheries of October 7 barely able to survive.
            On the good news India tunnel collapse front, the 41 miners who have been trapped for weeks have been rescued. 
             On the Red Presidential campaign front, it looks like Nikki Haley is going to be the recipient of the endorsement of the Koch Brothers which coupled with their funding capability catapult her campaign into a solid second place behind Trump while De Santis is preparing for Thursday Night’s debate with California’s Newsom.
             On the energy front in the U.S. gas prices continued to fall for the last 60 days not due to increased U.S. production but decreased demand  due to recessionary fears.
              Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, at the age of 99 only a little less than a month away from his 100th birthday has passed away as has former 100 year old  Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who brokered the Paris Peace Accords that ended American involvement in the Vietnam but insured the subsequent fall of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese.
             On the UAW front, the UAW having inked a union contract with the Big 3 is now setting its sights on the 13 other automakers in the U.S. that are not unionized; hopefully since many of these companies are foreign owned they will not have the disparity that the CEO has in terms of income earned by the CEO to the average auto worker on the payroll.
             On the anti-tobacco front, France has announced it will ban smoking on beaches and public parks and in forests and other public places, including those close to schools by 2032. We wish them well but note nicotine addiction is hard to break and on wonders why France chose to ban disposable e-cigarettes which have none of the carcinogens associated with tobacco.
             On the labor relations front Biden is asking Congress to approve a contract that will prevent a national freight train strike that would adversely affect the entire economy.
             On the new word front, Merriam Webster has announced the number one new word in terms of usage is “gaslighting” which means trying to gain power and control of over another person by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition.        
             All former First Ladies were in attendance at Rosalind Carter’s funeral in Atlanta including Melania whose attire was blasted by some in the MSM; President Jimmy Carter in ill health was also present although it looked like he was reclining in a hospital type bed.
             In a “use it or lose it moment” Google is moving ahead to delete accounts that have been inactive for 2 years of more in an effort to upgrade security.       
             November 29,  2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet 
             Noted Holidays: Throw Out the Leftovers Day: Clueless as to who created this day or when it was created but suspect it was someone who read about bacteria growth and the dangers that growth to human health and safety represented. Even with the coldest refrigeration 7 days for a leftover has to be the absolute outer limit before bacteria growing in leaps and bounds should be dumped with the leftovers into the trash.
              Word of the Day: The word of the day as we continue with words starting with “b” is “blain” which means a boil or a blister which if on the feet make for a painful walking experience.
              Song of the Day: Leaving the number 1 songs  on this day in 1940’s to come back to the number song in 2018 in the U.S.A.  was  “Thank You Next” by Ariana Grande  on a run of 6 weeks noncontinuous to share number 1 status with 12 other songs, while 9 acts, including Ariana Grande, had their first number 1 single. Here is a recording with lyrics of Ariana Grande performing “Thank You Next”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhZAHZQyf4
              November 29 Birthdays: “From the Sea To the Rockies” celebrating the birth on this day in 1988 in Cincinnati, Ohio of 9 time Pro Bowl QB Russell Wilson who is a great quarterback who happens to be short and played for Seattle for ten years, wining a Superbowl before being traded to the Denver Broncos.
               November 29 Historical Events in Rhyme
                1.      On this day in 2013
LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 from Maputo, Mozambique to Luanda, Angola crashed half way through its flight/after the young copilot left the cockpit, the pilot locked the cockpit door as being alive he could no longer fight/A year prior to the date his son had committed suicide/A decade long divorce with resolution denied/Sounds of the copilot pounding on the door/pilot’s verbal commands to autopilot to continue to descend/Moments later the flight in a crash would end/An exploding fireball that would all aboard instantly to their deaths send/Third world country so little attention and 2 years later on a German airliner suicide by pilot would happen again.
                2.      On this day in 1987 2 North Korean agents left a bomb in a luggage bin before departing from Flight 858 after landing in the U.A.E./ Bomb exploded en route to Thailand over the Andaman Sea/All 104 passengers and 11 crew died/The 2 bombers were traced back to Bahrain and knowing they were about to be arrested ingested cyanide/The male died/But woman survived attempted suicide/She was sentenced to death but pardoned due to brainwashed belief/Rocket Man’s father behind the plot and with such a role model no wonder Rocket Man wants to unleash his nuclear grief.
               3.      On this day in 1972 Atari released the world’s first successful video game/By today’s standards it was as primitive as primitive came/Like ping pong with a video paddle to strike a video ball/Faster and faster until a player’s reflexes would be mauled.
               4.      On this day in 1967 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. MacNamara the longest serving Secretary of Defense in our history announced his resignation effective February 29, 1968 while the Tet Offensive was winding down/He struggled to support his policies in the Vietnam War which he came to realize were unsound/Supporting a war that each day became more certain was a war we and a corrupt South Vietnam could not win/Took a toll upon him that peaked when the Tet Offensive shattered Westmorland’s assurances we were winning spin.
               5.      On this day in 1961 aboard a Mercury Atlas 5 rocket Enos the Chimp was launched into space/To orbit the Earth twice before splashing back down in the seas/Received 1250 hours of training before joining the space race/Performed all the tasks assigned that the Mercury 7 Astronauts would need to achieve/First chimp in space but his life upon returning did not merit a parade with ticker tape/Came down with fatal shigellosis-related dysentery which could from the healing effects of current antibiotics escape.
               Quotes at the cabinet meeting on McNamara's last day as Secretary of Defense:  Robert McNamara blasting Walt Rostow’s policies on Vietnam War: “
What then? This goddamned bombing campaign, it's worth nothing, it's done nothing, they dropped more bombs than on all of Europe in all of World War II and it hasn't done a fucking thing!
                Harold McPherson, aide to President Johnson describing MacNamara’s attack of Walt Rostow: “
He reeled off the familiar statistics-how we had dropped more bombs on Vietnam than on all of Europe during World War II. Then his voice broke, and there were tears on his eyes as he spoke of the futility, the crushing futility of the air war. The rest of us sat silently-I for one with my mouth open, listening to the secretary of defense talk that way about a campaign for which he had, ultimately, been responsible. I was pretty shocked
.

"               © November 29, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
                
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
                Poems on Events of the Day
                Unique Commissioned Poems for Special Events

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