April 28, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Workers Memorial Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 28, 2018  Pompeo is on the ground running first to NATO to remind them of need to spend at least 2% on defense then on to Saudi Arabia then Jordan as Israel faced another Friday of violent demonstrations on the Gaza Strip Israeli border; U.S. will open its embassy in Jerusalem on May 9 to coincide with the 70^th anniversary of the Jewish State; Trump has called on Tester to resign after his slanderous attacks on VA nominee Jackson caused him to withdraw his name (look for Trump and Melania to campaign against Tester this fall); On the PC front Whole Foods is getting slamming for its partnership with a restaurant start-up called “Yellow Fever” as being racist (interesting that the co-founder Kelly Kim was born in South Korea and immigrated legally to the U.S. as a child); the caravan of “refugees” from Central America is camped out at Sanctuary State Mexico border supposedly looking forward to crossing on Sunday en mass; on the thin Blue Line front since January 1 of this year, 34 police officers have been killed in the line of duty; in Chicago through April 27, 2018, 714 people have been shot, of whom 122 have died.

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to The Jackson Five, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that know when not to be malapert and a relevant quote by Jessica Alba on what is important and what is secondary,  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. Workers Memorial Day—created by the AFL-CIO in 1970 to honor those workers who have died, been injured or contracted diseases during the course of their work and to advocate for measures to advance worker safety.    

2. Great Poetry Reading Day—promoting during Poetry Month the reading of great poetry be it in full rhyme or blank or free verse and since it is also Kiss Your Mate some advice nothing warms the cockles of a woman’s heart more that a poem crafted for her, something the Alaskanpoet is very good at.    

3. 1970 Number One Song— the number one song in 1970 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “ABC” by The Jackson Five.  Here is a recording of the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U Check out a very young Dick Clark and Michael Jackson.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “malapert”  which means bold or saucy which sadly describes too many men whose reptilian brains control their activities.

5. Nice Storm and Silver Surfer—celebrating the birthday of noted actress Jessica Alba who had an agent at age 12 and who has appeared in a wide variety of films.
         On this day in: 

a. 1973 The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd topped the charts as number one and remained on the charts in lower positions for a record 741 weeks.

b. 1986 high levels of radiation were detected at a Swedish nuclear power plant forcing the Soviets to reveal the Chernobyl Disaster.

c. 1988 near Maui, Hawaii flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing was blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, in mid air and fell to her death when a portion of the fuselage was blown out in a rapid decompression. The plane with 65 injured passengers and crew somehow managed to make an emergency landing due to the very skilled efforts of the pilot and copilot but was damaged beyond repair:

                                                              

d. 1994 CIA counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pled guilty to espionage for the Soviet Union and later Russia revealing to them identities of most of the agents operating in the Soviet Union and Russia; this traitor is rotting for the rest of his life in a federal prison.

e. 2004 CBS News released tapes showing CIA and U.S. Army personnel at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq torturing, raping, sodomizing and otherwise abusing Iraqi detainees.  

Reflections on priorities in a 24/7 world:” I wish there were two of me and 48-hour days so I could get everything done. But for me, I have to not try and think that everything has to be 100% perfect all the time and leave room for error. As long as my kids feel loved and a priority, everything really is secondary.” Jessica Alba Astute observation.   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.             

© April 28, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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