August 16, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Airborne Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For August 16, 2018 The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has died from pancreatic cancer; after 76 people had overdosed on the New Haven Green from either synthetic marijuana or fentanyl, Trump has instructed Sessions to file a lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of opioids  and is calling for the death penalty against opioid traffickers (shades of the president of the Philippines); Omarosa is being slammed by Lara Trump for releasing a secret tape recording of her suggesting that she work for the Trump 2020 campaign (hell hath no fury than a woman scorned especially one with a recorder); the Catholic Church is being rocked with a major child sexual abuse claim in Pennsylvania; the Manafort jury ended its first day of deliberations with questions for the judge but no verdict (if found guilty, will Trump pardon him?); on the technology security front a 16 year old teenager from Melbourne has plead guilty to hacking into Apple’s mainframe (so much for the claim that Apple is a secure platform); on the fire front California continues to burn with the death toll having risen to 11; on the resistance front Democrats have threatened to sue the National Archives if documents relating to Judge Kavanaugh’s time with the Bush Administration are not released for their already prejudged review and rejection; on the Pelosi front the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board has called upon Pelosi to withdraw from the race to be Speaker of the House if the Blues flip the House (hang in there  Nancy-- you are the ace in the hole for the Reds to keep the House and when coupled with Maxine Waters a dynamic duo to energize the Red base); in Chicago while Rahm Emanuel continues to  imitate Nero playing the fiddle through August 11, 2018 1890 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, of whom 305 have died (when will Chicago get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of mostly people of color by mostly people of color and when will Emanuel who has been MIA resign or be voted out of office?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to the Supremes,
factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you do not suffer from morosis, and a relevant quote from Colin Powell on the deterrence of airborne forces, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like college graduations, 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. National Airborne Day—created by President George W. Bush in 2001 to honor the contribution of our airborne forces to the military; the day was chosen to commemorate the first military parachute jump which occurred on this day in 1940.

 2.  National Roller Coaster Day—commemorating since 1988 the epitome of a thrill ride, the roller coasters, which first appeared on the American scene at Coney Island in 1884.

3. 1964 Number One Song— the number one song in 1964 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “Where Did Our Love Go” by the Supremes. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izzKUoxL11E

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “morosis” which means pathological feeble-mindness which describes Maxine Waters’ mental acuity to a tee.

5. Off To Portugal—celebrating or bemoaning the birthday on this day in 1958 of Madonna who is one very talented singer but who suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and who advocated blowing up the White House at a rally near the White House and has announced she is moving to Portugal.

 On this day in: 

a. 1954 the first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.

b. 1962 Pete Best is dismissed from the Beatles to be replaced two days later by Ringo Starr.

c. 1966 the House Un-American Activities Committee commenced hearings on Americans who had aided the Viet Cong which hearings produced riots with 50 people being arrested.

d. 2008 the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was topped off at 1389 feet at the time becoming the tallest residence above ground.

e. 2917 the Minimata Convention on Mercury designed to prevent exposure to mercury and mercury compounds went into effect.

    Reflections on the deterrence of airborne soldiers:”Lying offshore, ready to act, the presence of ships and Marines sometimes means much more than just having air power or ship's fire, when it comes to deterring a crisis. And the ships and Marines may not have to do anything but lie offshore. It is hard to lie offshore with a C-141 or C-130 full of airborne troops.” Colin Powell former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    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 www.Alaskanpoethistory.blogspot.com for just This Day in History.

© August 16, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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