April 2, 2016 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World Autism Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 2, 2016. Only 293 days to go in President Obama’s pathetic lame duck term but sadly March Madness is coming to an end with the men’s semifinals today and the women’s semifinals featuring the unbeatable Huskies from UConn and two teams from the Pac 12 playing on Sunday. Great political theater as Trump may go down in flames in Wisconsin along with Hillary as Sanders is drawing energetic crowds in the thousands in New York as her lead there continues to slide. As always, I hope  you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Frankie Avalon, factoids of interest, a  relevant quote from Maajid Nawaz while looking forward to reliving your childhood with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, blessed with a positive attitude and  secure in  the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like 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. World Autism Awareness Day—one of only four UN health specific observances that was created in 2007 and encourages member nations to adopt measures to create awareness of autism in children.

2. International Children’s Book Day—what a great observance to celebrate since 1997 by buying a child a book to read or read to him or her. April 2 was the date chosen as it marks the birthday of Hans Christen Andersen, iconic children’s books author.                       

3. 1959 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1959 on a run of five weeks in that position Venus by Frankie Avalon appearing on a very young Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Here is a link to Frankie Avalon performing Venus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fakpqLDEQAo

4. National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day—celebrating kids’ favorite sandwich materials.    

5. Can we all get along”—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1965 of Rodney King whose brutal beating after a traffic chase by the LAPD was caught on video and aired to the public; four of the attackers were charged, tried but not convicted sparking the L.A. Riot that left 53 people dead and millions upon millions of dollars in property damage. King died in a swimming pool at the age of 47 with alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and PCP in his system

On this day in:

a. 1792 the Coinage Act was passed, establishing the U.S. Mint.       

b. 1900 Congress passed the Foraker Act giving Puerto Rico limited self government but as we see today as the island is bankrupt without requiring them to follow sound fiscal management in which many of our states lack also.          

c. 1917 President Woodrow Wilson won on a campaign that he had kept us out of war asked Congress for a declaration of War against Germany.  

d. 1973 to the joy of all lawyers especially those computer literate and to the bane of bookshelf manufacturers LexisNexis was introduced.     

e. 2015 radical Islamist terrorists from a group known as Al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University in Garissa, Kenya killing 148 and wounding 79 mostly Christians who were targeted. True to form when Obama visited Kenya to express condolences and support, he omitted any reference to the targeting of Christians. 

Reflections on radical Islamic terrorists on the anniversary of the slaughter at Garissa University: “President Barack Obama and many liberal-minded commentators have been hesitant to call this Islamist ideology by its proper name. They seem to fear that both Muslim communities and the religiously intolerant will hear the word “Islam” and simply assume that all Muslims are being held responsible for the excesses of the jihadist few….The same hysteria about Islamism is unfolding before our eyes. But no strategy intended to defeat Islamism can succeed if Islamism itself and its violent expression in jihadism are not first named, isolated and understood.” Maajid Nawaz, British activist and politician and co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation, the world’s first counter-extremism think tank  This a person that Obama, Kerry and Clinton ought to be spending some quality time with as should Trump and Cruz.
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© April 2, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet 
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