Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For June 6, 2017 Out of the tragedy of the London attacks a ray of hope as 130 imams in Great Britain refused to say funeral prayers for the fanatic London Bridge attackers (message to Islamists from the mosques has to be clear—no Paradise, no virgins, no funerals across the Muslim world); the top ranking U.S. diplomat in Beijing has resigned over Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accords which the EPA Secretary has rightfully condemned as “hat only, no cattle” as India and China have free reign to not curtail their carbon foot prints for years; Syrian anti ISIS fighters are attacking Racca, supported by U.S. airstrikes, which was seized by the bloody JV team in 2014; flights in and out of Qatar to and from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the U.A.E. have been suspended; Trump’s closest advisers and political allies are advising him to cease tweeting on complex issues or lose his agenda; Brits will be voting soon and the number topic most likely will be terror as one of the dead terrorists was on the radar and even appeared in a documentary The Jihadist Next Door; Reality Winner who worked for a private contractor for the NSA has been arrested for leaking classified material to the press on the Russian hacking attempts (reports are that she was on social media expressing great dismay over the Trump presidency leading one to ask in matters involving the NSA and national security why are we not monitoring the social media accounts of contractors and employees of the NSA?); Rahm Emanuel’s top priority for Chicago seems to be making it the premier sanctuary city in the country as the carnage continues unabated in June with total shootings in 2017 through June 4 increasing to 1435 and the death toll increasing to 250, a major tragedy that the powers to be in Chicago seem to completely ignore except for those fortunate enough to own a mortuary.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Perez Prado, factoids of interest for this day in history, hoping for a relaxing and soothing illutation, a relevant quote from Tommie Smith, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like Fathers’ Day, 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. Normandy Landings (D-Day)—commemorating the landing by Allied forces on five beaches in France on this day in 1944—Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold which the Germans were unable to repulse since the Panzers were not released since due to Operation Fortitude the Germans believed we would land at Pas de Calais.
2. UN Russian Language Day—commemorating one of the official languages of the United Nations.
3. 1955 Number One Song—the number one song in 1955 on a run of 10 weeks in that position was “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez Prado and his orchestra. Here is a performance by them of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSp8RO6sKH0 The King of Mambo’s music lives on through his son Perez Prado, Jr. in Mexico City.
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “illutation” which means to a mud bath; if lucky enough to live in Southern California, head to Glen Ivy Hot Springs in the city of Corona to luxuriate in mud baths and hot pools and cool plunges. Have mud wrestled but never enjoyed the therapy of a mud bath but it has been added to my bucket list.
5. Fist In the Air--celebrating the birth on this day in 1944 of Tommie Smith who set a world record and Olympic record in winning the 200 meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics but is perhaps best remembered along with his Bronze Medal winning teammate John Carlos for bowing his head and raising a black gloved fist in the Black Panther salute on the medal awards platform as the National Anthem was played. Not well received by the U.S. Olympic Committee which stripped the two of them of their medals and booted them out of the Olympic Village, claiming the Olympics were no place for political expression.
On this day in:
a. 1844 the YMCA was founded in London.
b. 1912 the volcano Novarupta in the Aleutian Islands chain in Alaska erupted in the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th Century, spewing in the next 60 hours 3.1-3.6 cubic miles of ash into the atmosphere, 30 times more than was released by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
c. 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Securities Act of 1933 regulating the sale of securities in interstate commerce and establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission.
d. 2002 in a chilling reminder that we are not alone, a near Earth asteroid, estimated to be 10 meters in diameter, exploded high over the Mediterranean between Greece and Libya with an estimated force of 26 kilotons of TNT slightly more powerful that the atomic bomb that destroyed Nagasaki (there was a war going on at the time between India and Pakistan and had it exploded over either of those countries some speculation that the combatants would assume they had been nuke and might have responded in kind.
e. 2016 in what would prove to be the political equivalent of Pickett’s Charge, media outlets reported that Hillary Clinton would be the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for president, the first woman of a major party so selected. Due to her scandals, lack of enthusiasm, and a really pathetic campaign, she went down in flames and is now 0 for 2 when it comes to running for president.
Reflections on the Olympics Black Panther salute: “I wasn't going to stand there with my hand on my heart while they played my country's national anthem and then go back to life as a second-class citizen.” Tommie Smith Although we have made great progress in racial equality and eliminating racism sports remains a venue for protest by African American athletes as the Kaepernick act of protest and Bill Maher’s joking use of the N word clearly shows that there still is room for improvement. Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day in History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.
© June 6, 2017, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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