Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For February 17, 2020 Denny Hamlin won his third Daytona 500 and Randy Newman was hospitalized in serious condition in a fiery collision near the end of the race; Blumberg’s ad only campaign may be coming to an end as his numerous misogynist and anti-minority statements are coming to the forefront to the disappointment of minority leaders (Al Sharpton is warning that other Blue candidates like Sanders, Biden, and Klobuchar have racial baggage and that they should not attack Bloomberg as means to distract from their own baggage); not sure how serious Bloomberg is but speculation is growing that he would pick Hillary as his running mate (can’t believe that he would and if he did she would not accept but if she did and the ticket was successful would we see her again in 2024 trying to go 0-3?); the coronavirus death toll stands at almost 1800 and the number of cases mainly in China have risen to 71,000 as the concerns over adverse economic effects rise as flights to China are cancelled, supply chain disruption due to factory closings may soon be upon us and Apple announced its revenue will be lower due to the virus; AG Barr, facing calls from Blues to resign over his rescinding the prosecutors’ recommendations for a 7-9 year prison sentence for Roger Stone or be impeached, announced he is appointing independent prosecutors to review a number of Russian-Ukrainian cases involving Trump associates; Flynn has moved to withdraw his guilty plea on grounds prosecutorial misconduct as AG Barr also appointed an independent prosecutor to review his case; Christopher Sign, the journalist who broke the story of the “secret meeting” of Lynch and Bill Clinton on the tarmac has just published a new book Meeting on the Tarmac confirming what we all must have known that this was not a coincidental meeting (have not ordered it yet as not on Nook yet but suspect it will not reveal what was actually said as opposed to the hogwash of stories of golf and grandchildren); Michael Avenati, who had appeared on MSM 229 times and was heralded by “pundits” like rabid anti-Trumper Brian Stelter as presidential timber against Trump, was convicted of extortion of Nike but instead of members of MSM acknowledging that they had failed to vet him, blamed Trump (shades of George Orwell); both Red and Blue challengers are coming out of the weeds to seek to take away AOC’s seat; MSM and Obama are beating a dead horse over Trump’s economic success, defying all statistics of the economic boom by claiming Obama should get most if not all of the credit (delusion reigns at MSM); in Chicago, as of February 16, 2020, 274 people have been shot of whom 52 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths has dropped back to 9 behind Chicago with 43 murders by shootings (when will Chicago and Baltimore 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 and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which have been more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, the fact you are opposed to obscurantism, a relevant quote by Ferdinand de Lesseps on the Suez Canal, 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. Presidents’ Day—honoring the birthday of George Washington and all presidents who have served after him.
2. World Spirit Day—created in 2003 by Michael Levy of Point of Life to encourage all people at 3:00 P.M. Eastern Time to meditate in silence to find the tranquility and spirituality that lies within all of us.
3. 1946 Number 1 Number One Song— the number one song in 1946 on this day on a run of 5 weeks in the position was “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra with vocals by him and the Norton Sisters. Here is a recording of the song: https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mnet-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mnet&p=vaughn+monroe+let+it+snow#id=4&vid=c7fe5e31bb15276b1523841fc9b7ee2d&action=click
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “obscurantism” which means the practice of withholding information from the public which the government practices far too often, regardless of party.
5. Heiress Unchained—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1981 of heiress of the Hilton fortune, Paris Hilton, noted model and party-goer.
On this day in:
a. 1867 the world became a much smaller place when the first ship transited the Suez Canal.
b. 1968 in Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was established.
c. 1974 Robert Preston, a U.S. Army soldier who had enlisted to become a helicopter pilot but was dismissed and reassigned as a helicopter mechanic stole an Army helicopter and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House to demonstrate his skills, resulting in one year in prison and a fine of $2400.
d. 1979 the Sino-Vietnamese War begin exposing the fallacy advanced by the U.S. that North Vietnam was a pawn of the Chinese in ignorance of the fact that the Chinese have long been historical enemies.
e. 2011 protests against Libyan dictator Khadafy began which would ultimately lead to his overthrown and execution and a nation in turmoil.
Reflections on building the Suez Canal: ““Since 1849 I have studied incessantly, under all its aspects, a question which was already in my mind since 1832. I confess that my scheme is still a mere dream, and I do not shut my eyes to the fact that so long as I alone believe it to be possible, it is virtually impossible. ... The scheme in question is the cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. This has been thought of from the earliest historical times, and for that very reason is looked upon as impracticable. Geographical dictionaries inform us indeed that the project would have been executed long ago but for insurmountable obstacles. [On his inspiration for the Suez Canal]” Ferdinad de Lesseps who tried to duplicate his success of the Suez Canal in Panama and failed. 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.
© February 17, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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