August 16, 2019 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Airborne Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For August 16, 2019 The gaffer in chief was at in again in a fund raiser in Delaware confusing a speech made in Burlington, Iowa with Burlington, Vermont over 1,100 miles away; Rashida Tlaib like AOC is doing squat for her district and spending all her time promoting herself after the firestorm that she and Omar engendered over Israel’s refusal to admit her along with a large Congressional delegation and then relented to let her visit her grandmother in the West Bank indicated she would not visit due to Israel’s “abusive” policies against the Palestinians; Trump is battled by leftist judges at every turn but received a welcome reprieve from an unlikely source, the 9^th Circuit that ruled the injunction by a 9^th Circuit District Judge applied only to states in which the judge ruled not nationwide; conspiracy theorists are in mourning as are book writers and script writers as the verdict of the New York City Coroner on Epstein is suicide; De Beers must be breathing a sigh of relief that although scientists have discovered vast quantities of diamonds under the Earth they are probably way too deep to be extracted with today’s technology; Peter Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda who smoked pot but not tobacco has died of lung cancer today at age 79;  Mayor Pete Buttigieg mired in the pack and going nowhere has thrown out the idea of doing away with the DH rule (not winning on immigration issues so why not switch to the other side of the plate?); while all Blue candidates rant about climate change, Mayor Pete leads the pack of wannabes in the use of private planes on his campaign (I guess that enables him to get to more rallies in front of less people that want to hear what he has to say); question the performance of long term Blue politicians who are black like Cummings and the MSM like MSNBC come out swinging comparing Trump to Hitler (news flash to the hacks as MSNBC, Hitler didn’t excoriate his opponents on the media, he sent in the Gestapo and sent them off to concentration camps to be executed); Trump will donate his second quarter salary of $100,000 to the Office of the Surgeon General; in a display of sportsmanship that it is all to rare today, in a Little League Tournament the Rhode Island pitcher who threw a home run pitch to the Virginia batter high fived him with his glove hand as he rounded third base; in Chicago through August 14, 2019 (August 16 numbers not it), 1726 people mostly of color have been shot by mostly people of color, 287 of whom have died but none in the last two days,  a fraction of those dead from murders in Cape Town, South Africa but barely leading the 215 murdered in Baltimore (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 people of color by people of color?)

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to TLC, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you are planiloquent it and a relevant quote from the Airborne Creed, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, 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 Bush on this day in 2002 to honor our airborne forces of our Armed Forces that got their beginnings with the first parachute jump by a member of the Armed Forces on August 16, 1940.        

2. National Roller Coaster Day—honoring the issuance of a patent for the first vertical loop roller coaster on this day in 1898; to celebrate the day go to a roller coaster ride at a park like Magic Mountain and prepared to be terrified in a death defying ride which despite its thrills is pretty safe.        

3. 1995 Number One Song— the number one song in 1995 on a run of 7 weeks in that position was “Waterfalls” by TLC. Here is a recording video of them singing the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WEtxJ4-sh4 This all girl group has sold more records than any other all girl group and has continued to perform as a duo when one of its members was killed in a car crash in Honduras in 2002.  

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “planiloquent´which means to speak plainly, a trait politicians and diplomants usually lack completely.

5. Life Must Always Lived to the Fullest—celebrating the birth on this day in 2000 of noted Instagram influencer and fashion designer Felicite Tomlinson who died way too early of a heart attack on March 13, 2019..
     On this day in: 

     a. 1927 the first Dole race from Oakland to Honolulu began with 6 of the 8 planes entered crashing or lost.

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

c. 1962 Peter Best was discharged by the Beatles and replaced two days later by Ringo Starr.   

d. 1966 the House Un-American Activities Committee began hearings on Americans who had aided the Viet Cong as a first step in introducing legislation to prosecute them, prompting demonstrations in which 56 people were arrested.  

e. 2008 The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was topped off at 1389 feet at time becoming the highest residence above ground level.   

Reflections on being a member of the Airborne:  “I have pride in being Airborne! I will never let it down! In peace, I do not shrink from the dullest duty nor protest the toughest training. My weapon and equipment will always be combat ready. I will be neatly dressed, show courtesy and watch my behavior in a proper Airborne military manner.

In battle, I fear no enemy’s ability, nor underestimate his ability, power or threats. I will fight him with all my might and skills – staying alert to avoid traps and try to escape if I should ever be captured. I will never surrender while I still have the means to fight, though I may be the last paratrooper.

My goal in peace and war is to succeed in any mission of the day or night, even though I may die doing so. For I belong to a proud and glorious team…” Airborne Creed
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.             

© August 16, 2019 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare

The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift