Monday, May 20, 2019

May 20, 2019 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World Metrology Day


Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 20, 2019 On the impeachment front an Obama appointed federal District Court Judge Amit Mehta has just ruled that a subpoena for Trump’s financial records going back to 2011 is valid and worse for the Trump team has failed to stay the order unless stayed on appeal in seven days; rabid anti-Trump John Brennan should be sweating blood as the investigation into the start of the Russian collusion probe should expose potential perjury by him over the use of the Russian anti-Trump dossier as an email from Comey to senior members at the FBI relates that Brennan wanted the anti-Trump dossier included as the basis for commencing the counter intelligence investigation which ran counter to his testimony to Congress (no one deserves jail time more than Brennan for his attempt to bring down a duly elected president); 2 percent growth rate Joe Biden continues to make a fool of himself on the campaign trail with the absurd claim of the recovery resulting from the failed efforts of the Obama-Biden Administration and continuing to dig his head deeper into the sand by claiming China does not constitute a threat to the U.S. (probably desperate to divert attention from the sweetheart deal with China his son Hunter was rewarded with during the Obama-Biden Administration); Jim Carey has just proved again he should stick to scripted comedy and not weigh in on divisive issues like abortion as he did with a tweet bemoaning the fact that the governor of Alabama had not been aborted which created great backlash among the pro life movement but also support as it highlighted the deaths; in another example of why the death penalty does not deter crime, an inmate in Tennessee who was sentenced to death in 1985 just died, not from being executed but from cancer in prison 34 years after sentencing; City of Commerce officials meeting at a conference in Indian Wells got into a melee that left one councilman in the hospital (another sign of the divisiveness plaguing our political environment?); in an effort to pare costs, Ford is laying off 7,000 salaried workers globally; Lori Lightfoot has become Chicago’s first openly gay black female mayor and faces major problems of unfunded pension plan liabilities and shootings; on the hurricane front, the first storm has appeared in the Atlantic with a 70% chance of developing into a hurricane by this evening and if so will be called Hurricane Andrea); through May 19, 2019 817 people  have been shot in Chicago of whom 162 have died (what makes the Smollett case so frustrating is that it forced the city of Chicago to allocate scarce detective resources when in only 9% of the shootings resulting in murder have a suspect being charged this year).
1. World Metrology Day—promoting worldwide uniformity of measurements and celebrated on the anniversary of the Metre Convention in 1875.
     2. World Bee Day—created by the U.N. in December, 2017 to promote the awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators in agriculture and celebrated on this day as it represents the birthday of Anton Janša, a pioneer apiarist who was born on this day in 1734.
3. 2011 Number One Song—the number one song on this day in 2011 on a run of 2 weeks in that position was “E.T.” by Katy Perry feat. Kanye West. Here is a recording of the song:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Sd5c4o9UM
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day as we move from words beginning with “o” to words beginning with “p” is “pasquinade” which to lampoon which SNL used to do until it deviated into its non funny anti-Trump bashing.
5. The Juice Man—celebrating the birth on this day of Dan Abrams whose rose to fame as the legal analyst covering the trial of O.J. Simpson to become the chief legal analyst for NBC News to branch out and form his own media company and host for A&E’s  PD Live.  
    As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Katy Perry feat. Kanye West, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you are not subject to a pasquinade, and a relevant quote from Frank Boccia on Hamburger Hill, 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.
    On this day in:                                        
a. 1940 the first prisoners arrived at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland.
b. 1969 the ten day battle by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces to capture a hill with no strategic or tactical value ended with the North Vietnamese withdrawing after suffering heavy casualties only to see U.S. forces abandon the position several days later, indicative of the futility of the Vietnam War.
c. 1980 in a referendum, 60% of the residents of Quebec voted against withdrawing from Canada.
d. 1983 Luc Montagnier published in Science his discovery of the HIV virus. 
e. 1996 SCOTUS in the case of Romer v. Evans overturned a Colorado statue that prevented any town, city or county from taking any legislative, executive or judicial actions to protect the rights of gays and lesbians. 
Reflections on the Battle for Hamburger Hill by an officer who was there: “The old refrain is that there are no atheists in foxholes. That's nonsense. They are there by the millions. There is little in combat that will lead one to look upon the Creator with favor. What can't be there, instead, is the individualist, the selfish, the self-consumed, the self-centered, the aloof loner. Such a man cannot long survive. The terror of combat cannot be described by fear of death. There are worse things. The world can suddenly become a very cold place...He needs warmth, a fire, to survive: His discipline, his training, his duty, honor and country, his family, and ultimately the very oak of his manhood are thrown into the blaze, but they are not enough to save him. At the end, he needs the warmth of his comrades. Otherwise, all he will have with which to face the cold dark will be his own spent soul.” ― Frank Boccia, The Crouching Beast: A United States Army Lieutenant's Account of the Battle for Hamburger Hill, May 1969  
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.
© May 20, 2019  Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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