May 29, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Day United Nations Peacekeepers

 Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 29, 2021

      CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on a slowing down basis the new year with cases now over 170 million at 170,633,437,439 cases (169,841,439 yesterday), 14,481,615 of which are active, 156,151,852 closed with 152,603,176 recoveries (97.73% and 97.73% yesterday, and 3,548,676 deaths (2.27% and 2.27% yesterday) to continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
      CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 34 million at 34,035,318 (33,999.993 yesterday) with 5,606,936 active cases of which 6,197 (6,561) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now down to .11% of active cases and now another blip down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 23,074), 28,428,382 closed, with 609,421 deaths (2.14% and 2.15% yesterday) and with 27,818,961 recoveries (97.86% and 97.85% yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after many months is now .13% lower than the world rate.
      Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement on a steady but slowing climb to 1831 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge continuing surge in deaths with the increase barely slowing down and improving slightly to  4.12% of its closed cases have died (3082), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2559), Belgium (2142),  Brazil (2156) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us and Italy (Italy (2087), Peru (2073), Poland (1949) and the UK (1873) which had passed us despite leading world in testing and now has new deaths barely increasing),  and slightly better than Mexico (1717), Spain (1708), Argentina (1692), Portugal (1674), France (1672),  Romania (1582),  Chile (1495), Sweden (1419) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Switzerland (1240), and Bolivia (1222).
      Tests: We have now conducted 478,917,136 tests (now at 1,439,205/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,290,170/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,660,220/M.
      CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which has moved up to 10^th on my list of deaths from the pandemic passing Spain at 1717/M and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
                   Guatemala:  Activecases:     13,357     446Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   146,627     627Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,597     344 Deaths/M 
      US Vaccinations: As of 5/29/21 293.7 million doses at 1.39 million per day down from yesterday’s 1.50 million on per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now back to some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 38,066,786 total doses have been given (80.3% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.2%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has not moved from  24^th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 42.7% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 40.5% has  moved down from 21^st to 23^rd   among the 50 states.  A long way to go still to get herd immunity in terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
       Non  CV News: Where’s Waldo is clueless and MIA on the border and evidently has the same problem of why we have a Memorial Day celebration as she tweets a photo of herself suitable for framing in the Oval Office as she encourages all to enjoy “a long weekend” (it’s about honoring those who served those who died Kamala); a new study that relates to finding 4 positive amino acids in the COVID-19 may point to a finding that the virus did not occur in nature but was manufactured by you guessed it the Wuhan Lab (really frightening stuff for the Chinese to be working on a virus that came close to bring the world to its knees at a collateral damage of less than 5,000 expendable Wuhan residents; Fiddleheads Restaurant in Mendocino, California will be charging mask wearing patrons $5 and offering 50% off for patrons who throw their masks into the trash (mask fee will be donated to charity but the act indicates what restaurant owners feel about Newsom and his shutdowns); in a shades of Terminator 3 moment, a weapons carrying drown without any instruction from its human handler targeted and a Libyan target and killed the person; singer/songwriter B.J. Thomas who was a smoker but quit in 1988 was diagnosed in March of this year has died today of lung cancer; the Biden Trillions Chickens are coming home to roost and bringing their inflation eggs to hatch as inflation, the hidden tax which also destroy those earning under $400,000 that Biden touts will be exempt from his tax hikes, is soaring; following a shooting at the Simon mall in Pittsburgh in which fortunately no one was hit but had shoppers running for their lives, police slammed the owners’ lack of surveillance cameras which forced officers to charge in blind, increasing the dangers to themselves; Baltimore’s schools are probably a disaster when a student who failed all but 3 classes in her 4 years will graduate near the top half (feel for the parents in Baltimore who must be frustrated that their kids are not getting an education that will doom them to a life of crime, really low paying jobs or welfare).     
       Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 28, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1422 persons shot of whom 248 have died.
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video musical link to “Buy U a Drank (Shawnty Snappin’) by T-Pain feat. Yung Joc, the fact that you were not planning a fishing trip to your favorite trout laden ria and a quote from Jan Eliasson on UN Peacekeepers, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for details on the pricing.         
         1. World Digestive Health  Day—created by the World Gastroenterology Organization to each year promote a yearlong awareness of a particular digestive issue and how to treat it and avoid coming down with it with 2021’s topic being obesity which is a major problem in most industrialized countries leading to a host of problems like diabetes, arthritis and heart attacks; but it is ironic that obesity is a major problem when millions of people here go to bed hungry and hundreds of millions of people around the globe have the same problem.
         2. International Day United Nations Peacekeepers—created by resolution by  the   UN General Assembly on December 11, 2002 and first celebrated on this day in 2003 to commemorate the sacrifices made by UN Peacekeepers wearing their blue combat helmets who were first used to monitor the truce after the 1948 Arab Israeli War following the creation of Israel and sadly are very much in need still today around the world.

3.  2007 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 2007 on this day was “Buy U a Drank (Shawnty Snappin’)” by T-Pain feat. Yung Joc on a run 1 week in that position to join 16 other songs reaching number 1 and 7 other acts achieved their first number 1 song either as the lead artist or featured guest. Here is a video recording by T-Pain feat. Yung Joc of “Buy U a Drank (Shawnty Snappin’)”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBrRBZy8OTs   T-Pain, a black rapper was born in 1985 and has won two Grammys and best known for popularizing Auto-Tune, a pitch correcting device used for vocals to give them a robotic quality. Young Joc is a rapper with 8 children, 5 of which were born out of wedlock with 3 women and 3 with his now divorced 1^st wife due to his infidelity.
          4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “ria” which means a wide creek which with our drought in California we will not see unless it is a very dry one.
          5.  Life Aping Art--celebrating the birth on this day in 1974 songwriter/singer Lamont Coleman better known in his short career as Big L who just as his hip hop rap career was beginning to take off was fatally shot nine times in a drive by shooting in Harlem on February 15, 1999. His childhood friend Gerald Woodley was arrested 3 months later but the charges were dropped but Woodley after a life of crime including prison time met his Karma on June 24, 2016, by being fatally shot in the head.
          On this day in
         a. 1868 at Decoration Day, the predecessor to Memorial Day, was observed for  the first time and a proclamation was read by John Logan, head to the veterans group, the Grand Army of the Republic.
         b. 1958 the unidentified remains of a soldier from World War II and a soldier from  the Korean War were buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
         c. 1982 Spain joined NATO.
         d. 2008 the Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibiting their production, stockpiling , transfer and use was adopted by 107 nations but not 7 of the 14 who had used them and 17 of the 34 nations who had produced them.
         e. 2020 Crew Dragon Demo made by SpaceX was successfully launched to take 2 astronauts to the International Space Station in the first American rocket to be launched into space with humans aboard since the end of the Space Shuttle Program.
        Reflections on UN Peacekeepers: “For all the civilians saved thanks to     the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost – the United Nations personnel who sacrificed their lives for a noble cause. Even as we mourn our fallen colleagues, we are all uplifted by their unflinching commitment and are inspired to strive even harder for the collective cause so eloquently envisaged in the United Nations Charter: a world free from the scourge of war."-- Jan Eliasson (Former President of the UN General Assembly)       
        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.

© May 29, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift

May 28, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Amnesty International Day

 Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 28, 2021

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on a slowing down basis the new year with cases now over 169 million at 169,841,439 cases (169,404,850 yesterday), 14,683,144 of which are active, 155,158,288 closed with 151,629,466 recoveries (97.73% and 97.72% yesterday, and 3,528,822 deaths (2.27% and 2.28% yesterday) to continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
      CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 33 million at 33,999,993 (33,976,833 yesterday) with 5,690,382 active cases of which 6,561 (6,729) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now down to .12% of active cases and now another blip down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 22,710), 28,309,611 closed, with 607,732 deaths (2.15% and 2.14% yesterday) and with 27,701,879 recoveries (97.85% and 97.86% yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after many months is now .12% lower than the world rate.
      Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement on a steady but slowing climb to 1826 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge continuing surge in deaths with the increase barely slowing down and improving slightly to  4.13% of its closed cases have died (3080), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2556), Belgium (2140),  Brazil (2135) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us and Italy (Italy (2085), Peru (2061), Poland (1945) and the UK (1873) which had passed us despite leading world in testing and now has new deaths barely increasing),  and slightly better than Mexico (1711), Spain (1708), Portugal (1674), Argentina (1671), France (1669),  Romania (1578),  Chile (1495), Sweden (1419) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Switzerland (1240), and Bolivia (1211).
      Tests: We have now conducted 477,159,878 tests (now at 1,433,970/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,277,300/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,660,296/M.
      CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which has moved up to 10^th on my list of deaths from the pandemic passing Spain at 1711/M and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
                   Guatemala:  Activecases:     12,384     443Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   145,117     623Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,566     343 Deaths/M  
      US Vaccinations: As of 5/28/21 292.1 million doses at 1.50 million per day down from yesterday’s 1.62 million on per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now back to some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 37,874,433 total doses have been given (80.9% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.6%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has not moved from  24^th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 42.5% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 40.2% has dropped from 20^th to 21^st   among the 50 states.  A long way to go still to get herd immunity in terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
       Non  CV News: In Leesburg, Virginia, biology has been woked out as elementary school teacher Byron “Tanner” Cross  has been placed on leave for stating the obvious that a biological boy cannot be a biological girl and vice versa (sadly the school’s administration must have forgotten that Junior was only a movie not real life); USA Today needs to change its name to USA Woke Today after without permission of Chelsea Holcomb once known as the “Fastest Girl in Connecticut” and author of an op ed attacking the policy of allowing transgender biological males to compete against women in track events by changing “male” to “transgender” and apologizing for her “hurtful language”; MSNBC whose proper acronym is “More Slanted News of Biased Cack” had leftist hacks Jason Johnson and Susan Del Percio and host Joyless Reid in a ranting troika of inanity that Senator Manchin wanted Blues dead because he opposed ending the filibuster to enable the partisan commission under the control of Pelosi to investigate the events of January 6 in the Capitol; the Lt. Governor of Idaho who is a conservative Republican issued an executive order while the Republican Governor was out of the state at a Governors’ Conference banning mask mandates in schools and public buildings (the percent of Idahoan residents who are vaccinated and who have recovered totals 39% of its population and probably over half of its adult population); MSNBC which seems to be in a race with CNN to see who can fawn the most over Joe Biden was rightfully mocked for a 3 minute piece on Biden’s selection of ice cream for his cone; in another chilling idea that we may not be alone in the galaxy, a video of mysterious UFO’s swarming near the USS Omaha on July 19, 2019 has been leaked in advance of an expected Pentagon report on UFO’s; AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. a biotech company will soon be delivering genetically modified farmed salmon that grow to 8-12 pounds in 18 months as opposed to 36 months needed by wild salmon; going pedal to the metal to cut and slash police budgets across the nation, prompting in the case of Minneapolis to seek federal and state help.
      Illegal alien Christhian Rivera was found guilty today of murdering University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbets (MSM in a woke fit could not bear to reveal he was an illegal alien only that he was a “farm worker”); Where’s Waldo became the first woman to address a graduation ceremony at a U.S. Military Academy and managed to make a fool out of herself with rants on climate change that had the midshipmen groaning having to put up with this 25^th Amendment President wanna-be who will not go to the border to confirm firsthand chaos the Biden immigration and border policies are creating; since even our military has not escaped the woke cancer that is spreading throughout this nation, leave it to the political cartoonist to portray the real reason we celebrate Memorial Day this Monday:                                             

         Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 27, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1408 persons shot of whom 246 have died.
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video musical link to “SOS” by Rihanna, the fact that you are not guilty of being a rhonchisonant and a quote from Sting on amnesty International, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for details on the pricing.     

           1. Amnesty International Day—created by Amnesty International, founded in July of 1961 and celebrated on this day since 1962 to initially promote the release of political prisoners around the world but has evolved to also campaign for human rights, freedom of speech and conscience, abolishment of torture, abolition of the death penalty, reproductive rights and the defense of refugees and migrants.
           2. Death Busters Day—created to promote awareness on the Friday before  Memorial Day that the Memorial Day Weekend is an extremely dangerous and deadly one on the roads and highways as massive numbers of people are driving to locations away from home or attending picnics and barbecues where goodly amounts of alcohol are served.
           3.  2006 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 2006 on this day was “SOS” by Rihanna on a run of 3 weeks in that position to join 18 other songs reaching number 1 and 19 other acts achieved their first number 1 song either as the lead artist or featured guest. Here is a video recording by Rihanna of “SOS”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmF4GbA86E  Rihanna, a native of Barbados was discovered in 2003 and skyrocketed to a recording career with a net worth believed to be around $600 million.
          4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “rhonchisonant” which means to make a snorting or snoring sound which is something you would not want to do or have someone you sleep with do.
          5.  No Longer the Mighty Quinn--celebrating the birth on this day in 1970 of Irish born  actor Gwen Quinn who emigrated to the United States as a child with his family to have some success as a TV and movie actor but sadly could not overcome his struggles with alcohol and drugs and toward the end of his career struggled with homelessness and came to an end on December 3, 2002 due to a fatal overdose.
         On this day in
          a. 1934 the Dionne Quintuplets 5 identical girls, the world's 1st quintuplets to  survive  infancy, were born two months premature to Oliva and Elizire Dionne near Callander, Ontario.  It is believed that as of December 2019 2 of the quintuplets Annette and Cecile are believed to be still alive.
         b. 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Organization was founded and Yasser Arafat elected as its first president.
         c. 1977 a fire broke out at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky which was occupied by patrons numbering far in excess of its fire code capacity and quickly spread to kill 165 patrons and injure some 200, making it the third deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.
        d. 2002 the last steel girder is removed from Ground Zero of the World Trade Center marking the end of cleanup activities at the site in order that plans to rebuild could then proceed.
        e. 2017 Japanese Takuma Sato, a former Formula One driver, became the first Asian to win the Indy 500.
        Reflections on Amnesty International: “I don't belong to a church or political party or a group of any kind. I feel that Amnesty International is the most civilized organization in history. Its currency is the written word. Its weapon is the letter; that's why I am a member. I believe in its non-violence; I believe in its effectiveness. Its dignity and its sense of commitment. Its focus on individuals and the concentration and tenacity with which they defend those imprisoned for their ideas has earned it the cautious respect of repressive governments throughout the world.” Sting, former lead singer and songwriter of the band Police.

        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.

© May 28, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift

May 27, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Gray Day

 Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 27, 2021

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on a slowing down basis the new year with cases now over 169 million at 169,404,850 cases (168,869,102 yesterday), 14,741,377 of which are active, 154,663,473 closed with 151,144,574 recoveries (97.72% and 97.72% yesterday, and 3,518,899 deaths (2.28% and 2.28% yesterday) to continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
      CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 33 million at 33,976,833 (33,950,633 yesterday) with 5,707,223 active cases of which 6,729 (6,841) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now down to .12% of active cases and now another blip down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 22,542), 28,269,610 closed, with 606,312 deaths (2.14% and 2.15% yesterday) and with 27,663,298 recoveries (97.86% and 97.85% yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after many months is now .14% lower than the world rate.
       Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement on a steady but slowing climb to 1822 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge continuing surge in deaths with the increase barely slowing down and improving slightly to  4.17% of its closed cases have died (3077), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2553), Belgium (2139),  Brazil (2125) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us and Italy (Italy (2083), Peru (2056), Poland (1942) and the UK (1873) which had passed us despite leading world in testing and now has new deaths barely increasing),  and slightly better than Spain (1708), Mexico (1708), Portugal (1674), France (1667), Argentina (1659), Romania (1576),  Chile (1496), Sweden (1419) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Switzerland (1239), and Bolivia (1204).
       Tests: We have now conducted 476,292,193 tests (now at 1,431,385/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,275,749/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,644,284/M.
      CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which has moved up to 11^th on my list of deaths from the pandemic tied with Spain at 1708/M and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
                   Guatemala:  Activecases:     12,219     442Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   144,677     622Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,570     343 Deaths/M   
       US Vaccinations: As of 5/27/21 290.7 million doses at 1.62 million per day down from yesterday’s 1.70 million on per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now back to some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 37,669,020 total doses have been given (80.6% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.5%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has not moved from  24^th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 42.2% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 40.0% has not moved from  20^th  among the 50 states.  A long way to go still to get herd immunity in terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
      Non  CV News: Witless Whitmer may be joining Andrew Cuomo’s concealing COVID-19 deaths at long term care facilities as lawyers representing the journalist who sued under FOIA to obtain nursing home deaths statistics are claiming she may have undercounted such deaths by 100%; murders and crimes are soaring as the Defund the Police Movement is going pedal to the metal to cut and slash police budgets across the nation, prompting in the case of Minneapolis to seek federal and state help; in an appropriate application of karma, Antonio Brown, an Atlanta city council member who voted to slash $73 million from the budget of the Atlanta Police Department, has been indicted for trying to defraud financial institutions and is running for mayor on a platform of defunding the police, misleadingly sugar coated as “reimaging the police” had his car stolen in broad daylight by 4 teenagers (hate to say it but could not happened to more misguided politician); in a perhaps too little too late moment as China has had almost a year and a half to destroy any evidence of its complicity and with “whistleblowers” in China silent as they to know whistleblowing is a death sentence, the Biden Administration is launching a probe of the origin of the virus, forced to do so as China has refused to cooperate with WHO’s investigation (ironic that prior to this announcement, the Biden Administration quietly shut down a similar probe by the State Department (Biden’s biggest fear should be that the 90 day probe determines Chinese complicity and he will be forced to impose sanctions on China which most likely he does not have the spine to do so); add YouTube to the heavy hand of censorship as it blocked a video of a mom excoriating the Atlanta School Board for its mask mandate for children because of “medical misinformation” that the virus does not affect children (Georgia needs to ape Florida but expand Florida’s ban of social media’s banning of candidates to include all speech involving issues being ruled on by public bodies); Where’s Waldo is set to display her ignorance of economic facts and reality by claiming the root cause of the border crisis is the lack of economic opportunity and will propose $4 billion in investment in the Northern Triangle (an amount that is dwarfed by remittances from illegal immigrants here from there and would take years to see any tangible improvements while today we are being overrun by illegals attracted by the thought that if they get here nothing but freebies and they won’t be deported); Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago who has announced she will only grant interviews to journalists of color has by sued by the Daily Caller in Federal District Court for discrimination (as shootings of victims of color by shooters of color continue at record rates, she remains clueless and without any ideas on how to address the problem—which by being ignored sounds like a truer definition of racism); in a win one for the 2^nd Amendment, Ira Cox-Berry tried to kidnap an 11 year old girl from an Ogden elementary school and was stopped by a school employee with a concealed gun permit who held the man until police arrived and arrested him; Nevada has committed to undermining open and fair elections by allowing ballot harvesting of mail in ballots and allowing for straight ticket voting.
        Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 26, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1400 persons shot of whom 246 have died.   
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video musical link to “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, the fact that you are not plagued with rhinotillexomania and a quote from Japanese Admiral Togo Heichachiro to the wounded and captured Russian Admiral in command of the defeated Russian Baltic Sea Fleet on paper airplanes, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for details on the pricing.    

       1.National Gray Day—created by Monica Leingang on May 9, 2013, the anniversary of her husband Gary’s birthday to promote awareness of and raise funds for brain cancer that had killed him in 2010 and who before he died asked her to “make something good” out of his impending death; the group Voices Against Brain Cancer supported her efforts and the date for observance was changed in 2015 to today. No one how powerful they are is immune to this terrible disease as the deaths of Ted Kennedy and John McCain aptly illustrate.

       2. Red Nose Day—created by Richard Curtis, one of Great Britain’s more  successful scriptwriters, not to honor the profession of being a clown but to raise money to end childhood poverty with funds going to programs that keep children safe, healthy, educated and empowered so if you see someone wearing a red nose today chances are that person is not going to a birthday party as entertainment but rather who supports the efforts of Save the Children during Red Nose Day.

3.  2005 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 2005 on this day was “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani on a run of 4 weeks non continuous weeks in that position to join 7 other songs reaching number 1, the lowest number ever and 4 other acts achieved their first number 1 song. Here is a video recording by Gwen Stefani of “Hollaback Girl”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgjkth6BRRY  Stefani, a Cal State Fullerton grad is a singer/songwriter and fashion designer who has been performing since 1986 and has sold some 30 million records in her career.
          4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “rhinotillexomania” which means the  compulsive nose picking habit which in social settings most people frown on.
          5.  Not Safe As a Safety--celebrating the birth on this day in 1988 of Tyler Sash who played safety for the University of Iowa and left his senior year to play 2 years for the New York Giants but was cut in August 2013 and was found dead at his home on September 8, 2015 from an overdose of drugs. His family released the results of tests performed after his death that revealed like too many football players, he was suffering from Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is caused by too many collisions to the head.
         On this day in
         a. 2005 the Battle of Tsushima, the first and last sea battle between modern steel battleships, commenced on this day and ended of the 28^th with a decisive defeat by the Japanese of the Russian Baltic Sea Fleet of 45 vessels which had travelled some 13,000 miles from Russia to meet its almost complete doom with only 10 Russian ships escaping.
         b. 1933 in response to the crash of the stock market and the beginning of The Great Depression, the Securities Act of 1933 was signed into law regulating the sale of securities and requiring their registration initially with the Federal Trade Commission.
         c. 1937 the Golden Gate Bridge linking San Francisco with Marin County was opened to pedestrian traffic.
         d. 1962 a fire started in a coal seam some 300 feet below the surface in Centralia, Pennsylvania, then a town of some 1500 people, and despite all efforts to extinguish it continues to burn today as the town has been almost completely abandoned and the structures in it razed.
          e. 2016 President Barack Obama became the first U.S. President to visit in Hiroshima  the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and meet with the Hibakusha, Japanese affected by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
          Reflections on the Battle of Tsushima: “Defeat is a common fate of a soldier and there is nothing to be ashamed of in it. The great point is whether we have performed our duty . . .. For you, especially, who fearlessly performed your great task until you were seriously wounded, I beg to express my sincerest respect . . .” Admiral Togo Heichachiro, commander of the Japanese Fleet that defeated the Russian Baltic Sea Fleet speaking to its commander Admiral Zinovy P. Rozhdestvenski who was wounded and captured by the Japanese.
        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.

© May 27, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift

May 26, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Paper Airplane Day

 Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 26, 2021

      CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on a slowing down basis the new year with cases now over 168 million at 168,869,012 cases (168,336,758 yesterday), 14,884,938 of which are active, 153,984,074 closed with 150,477,731 recoveries (97.72% and 97.71% yesterday, and 3,506,343 deaths (2.28% and 2.28% yesterday) to continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
     CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 33 million at 33,950,633 (33,929,537 yesterday)  with 5,737,897 active cases of which 6,841 (6,848) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now down to .12% of active cases and now another blip down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 22,423), 28,212,736 closed, with 605,307 deaths (2.15% and 2.15% yesterday) and with 27,607,429 recoveries (97.85% and 97.85% yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after many months is now .13% lower than the world rate.
     Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement on a steady but slowing climb to 1819 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge continuing surge in deaths with the increase barely slowing down and improving slightly to  4.20% of its closed cases have died (3073), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2547), Belgium (2138),  Brazil (2114) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us and Italy (Italy (2080), Peru (2051), Poland (1939) and the UK (1873) which had passed us despite leading world in testing and now has new deaths barely increasing),  and slightly better than Spain (1707), Mexico (1705), Portugal (1674), France (1667), Argentina (1647), Romania (1574),  Chile (1486), Sweden (1418) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Switzerland (1238), and Bolivia (1195).
      Tests: We have now conducted 475,455,580 tests (now at 1,428,894/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,275,757/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,626,826/M.
      CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which has moved up to 11^th on my list of deaths from the pandemic at 1705/M and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
                   Guatemala:  Activecases:     12,219     442Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   143,945     618Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,574     342 Deaths/M  
        US Vaccinations: As of 5/26/21 289.2 million doses and a day down to 1.70 million per day from yesterday’s 1.75 million on per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now back to some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 37,480,670 total doses have been given (80.6% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.4%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has moved slightly from  25^th to 24^th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 41.9% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 39.7% has moved from  21^st to 20^th  among the 50 states.  A long way to go still to get herd immunity in terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
      Non  CV News: While Biden now claims that a leak from the Wuhan Lab is among the likely scenarios of the origin of the COVID-19 virus and is calling for a full intel probe, disputed reports are surfacing that that Biden Administration pulled the plug on the State Department’s investigation earlier this year (a full probe sounds like a great idea but it is almost like locking the barn door after the cows have left); Apoorva Mandavilli, who sounds so typical of the leftist pseudo “journalists” at the New York Times has tweeted and then deleted her view that a leak from the Wuhan Lab is not plausible and is grounded in racism (since when is opposing the world domination views by the Chinese Communist Party a “racist position”; Samuel Cassidy, an employee at the Valley Transportation Authority went into the railyard located in San Jose early this morning and before killing himself, shot and killed 8 fellow employees; Kate Slater, who is white and absolutely no business being an assistant dean at Brandeis University, is defending critical race theory because in her biased mind “All white people are racist” and she hates being white (she should pedal that inane idea to the white parents and relatives of the many students that marched into the South to protest Jim Crow and were beaten, arrested and in some case killed and report back their reaction); Brittany Kennedy the black female thug captured on video brutally attacking Emily Broadwater who had her baby with her in a Little Caesar’s outlet has been arrested to hopefully be convicted and spend a lot of time in prison where she belongs; coming down with COVID-19 is something no one should have to endure but the silver lining is that the overwhelming percentage of those not confined to the killing fields of nursing homes by the likes of Cuomo and who survive have long lasting immunity to the disease; while only 40% of California voters want to recall Gruesome Newsom the head of the Public Employee Services Union is one of them which will not bode well for Newsom as union support will be critical to stay in office; the Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena had sued Newsom over his restriction on places of worship in violation of the First Amendment has settled that law suit and will be receiving $1.35 million from the state; a shred of reality seems to be setting in Biden’s all out shift to the left as it appears he is dropping his campaign promise to have student debt forgiven (far better solution would be promote refinancing at lower rates to ease the burden of those students with degrees useless in the job market; the MSM evidently has ignored the quote attributed to Marx and Lenin “We will hang the last capitalist with the rope he sold us” as reports indicate the Chinese were buying millions of dollars of advertising from our press; hopefully the Soros backed failure as a D.A. Gascon will not be long for his post as the recall petition drive has started; Facebook which has massive amounts of eggs on its censorship face now belatedly seen the error of its ways and will no longer ban posts claiming CoVID-19 is manmade; it may be too little too late but the Senate has passed a bill requiring the Biden Administration to declassify all information on the origins of the COVID-19 virus; as it seems more likely that COVID-19 came from the Wuhan Lab not the Wuhan Wet Markets pushed by the Chinese and the MSM, leave it to the  political cartoonist to reveal the egg on their face flip flop of the Blues and Fauci:                                                         

         Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 25, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1379 persons shot of whom 241 have died.
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video musical link to “Burn” by Usher, the fact that you can with a channel changer flick avoid a rhetoricaster and a quote from Sandesh on paper airplanes, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for details on the pricing.

           1.National Paper Airplane Day—celebrating the creation and flying of a remarkably simple aeronautical toy with contests on distance and flight time, the records for which are 226 feet 10 inches and 27.9 seconds respectively as of 2012.
           2. World Product Day—created by Mind the Product, LTD on April 6, 2018 to commemorate the work of product managers in the creation, development and manufacture of product that enhance our lives.

3.  2004 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 2004 on this day was “Burn” by Usher on a run of 8 weeks non continuous weeks in that position to join 11 other songs reaching number 1 and immediately preceded by Usher’s song “Yeah” on a run of 12 weeks  while 12 other acts achieved their first number 1 song, one of whom was Soulja Slim who became the 6^th artist to have achieved number 1 status posthumously. Here is a video recording by Usher of “Burn”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5.

           4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “rhetoricaster” which means a petty rhetorician which describes many of our long-winded political hacks to a tee.

 5.  Cancel Culture Would Have Starved the “Greatest Entertainer of All Times”--celebrating the birth on this day in 1885 of Asa Yoelson better known to his fans as Al Jolson who was the star of the first movie “talkie” The Jazz Singer, called by many to be the “King of Black Face”, was the first entertainer in World War II to entertain the troops in USO and died of a heart too early at age 64 on October 23, 1950 weeks after completing in Korea for the troops and exhausting schedule of 42 performances in 16 days.
           On this day in
            a. 1908 the first major oil strike in the Middle East was made at Masjed Soleyman in what is now Iran; the rights to the oil were quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
            b. 1967 the Beatles released their 7^th Album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
            c. 1968 at 6:00 a.m. Iceland converted from driving on the left to driving on the right.
            d. 1972 the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
            e. 2021 James Cassidy, an employee at the VTA entered its yard in San Jose in  the morning and shot and killed 8 people and wounded 1 before as police moved in shooting himself fatally in the head.
            Reflections on missing paper airplanes: “Wish for the days to come again where playing with the paper plane and imagining it to be driven by me is more of a fun today whenever I sit on a real plane with no sense of excitement now.” Sandesh

  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.

© May 26, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift

May 25, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Missing Children Day

 Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 25, 2021

      CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on a slowing down basis the new year with cases now over 167 million at 168,336,758 cases (167,671,546 yesterday), 15,023,448 of which are active, 153,313,310 closed with 149,818,637 recoveries (97.72% and 97.71% yesterday, and 3,494,673 deaths (2.28% and 2.29% yesterday) to continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
      CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 33 million at 33,929,537 (33,897,608 yesterday) with 5,752,236 active cases of which 6,848 (6,972) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now down to .12% of active cases and now another blip down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 22,423), 28,177,301 closed, with 604,682 deaths (2.15% and 2.15% yesterday) and with 27,572,619 recoveries (97.85% and 97.85% yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after many months is now .13% lower than the world rate.
     Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement on a steady but slowing climb to 1817 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge continuing surge in deaths with the increase barely slowing down and improving slightly to  4.22% of its closed cases have died (3069), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2538), Belgium (2136),  Brazil (2104) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us and Italy (Italy (2078), Peru (2048), Poland (1933) and the UK (1873) which had passed us despite leading world in testing and now has new deaths barely increasing),  and slightly better than Spain (1706), Mexico (1703), Portugal (1674), France (1665), Argentina (1635), Romania (1571),  Chile (1484), Sweden (1415) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Switzerland (1238), and Bolivia (1187).
      Tests: We have now conducted 474,490,801 tests (now at 1,426,017/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,274,799/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,614,282/M.
      CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which has moved up to 11^th on my list of deaths from the pandemic at 1703/M and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
                   Guatemala:  Activecases:     11,466     440Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   143,203     616Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,579     341 Deaths/M
        US Vaccinations: As of 5/25/21 287.8 million doses and a day down to 1.75 million per day from yesterday’s 1.83 million on per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now back to some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 37,325,781 total doses have been given (80.3% of doses received to trail the U.S. average of 80.2%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has not moved from  25^th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 41.7% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 39.5% has moved from  21^st  among the 50 states.  A long way to go still to get herd immunity in terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
      Non  CV News: In a new twist to the adage that smoking is bad for your health, 2 IHOP employees in Baton Rouge were taking a smoke break outside when suspects in a stolen car pulled up and started shooting, killing 1 and wounding another and then sped off leaving the stolen car in flames;  while shootings and crime in NYC are going through the roof, police budgets cut, and police leaving the force in droves, the City Council has ended qualified police immunity, required racial reports on police stops and expanded Civilian Review Board’s ability to investigate racial bias in policing (if an officer in our litigious society now faces personal liability any time he or she makes an arrest, watch arrests fall and the exodus of more police leaving more and more residents in harm’s way from crime); the Squad, still bent on proving they are not the mouse that roared, is threatening to stop the police reform bill in conference committee on the issue of whether qualified immunity for police is eliminated due to their claim that practice is “systematic racism”; several regional banks of the  Federal Reserve System which is supposed to focus on monetary policies that foster low inflation and low unemployment appear to venturing into policies where they do not belong like finding “racism” and promoting the end of it; at a time when American cities are awash in growing homeless encampments like in Venice Beach to the dismay of residents rightfully concerned over drugs, crime and sanitation, HUD has now removed the requirement that people seeking housing vouchers no longer have to provide proof of citizenship which result in illegals displacing American homeless in need of vouchers (no wonder there is a surge on the border); at a time when police shootings of unarmed blacks constitute a mere miniscule amount compared to the daily carnage of black on black shootings in Blue controlled cities like Chicago, New York or St. Louis, to push the false narrative of police systematic racism against blacks, Biden has invited the family of George Floyd, $28 million less legal fees richer, to the White House while the hundreds upon hundreds of black families suffer in anonymity and silence over the loss of loved ones in black on black shootings; the green economy may produce millions of high paying jobs but those jobs will not be here as the example that the minerals needed to produce EV will not be mined here but in places like China (same is probably true for solar panels); what little integrity Cuomo still has took another hit when it was revealed that his $5.1 book deal which should have been reviewed by the Commission on Public Ethics never was but pushed through by staff most likely under pressure from Cuomo that has outraged even New York’s Blue majority Senate  (how can this corrupt killer of seniors still be in office?); in another example of the assault on this nation by cartels and their illegal drugs, the CBP in California uncovered 1200 pounds of meth being smuggled in a semi transporting watermelons from Mexico; probably given the green light by the MSM which is now belatedly calling for investigation over whether the origin of COVID-19 coming from the Wuhan Lab it once dismissed as a right wing conspiracy, DHHS Secretary Becerra is now demanding a transparent investigation by WHO; Putin and Biden will be meeting face to face in Geneva on June 16 (hope Biden’s handlers have him supplied with memory enhancements and stimulants so he doesn’t make a complete fool of himself); Florida is now the role model on how to attack the censorship of conservative ideas by social media by enacting legislation that will prohibit permanently banning political candidates from posting on social media platforms with hefty fines and private rights of action (shades of the fairness doctrine that media companies had to comply with for years; leave it to the political cartoonist to reveal the bait and switch fishing for votes with the bait of systematic racism concealing the hook of socialism:                                                    

                                     
        Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 24, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1367 persons shot of whom 239 have died.
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video musical link to “Get Busy” by Sean Paul, the fact that you have a rhathymia personality and a quote from Amanda Pick on missing children, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for details on the pricing.
        1. National Missing Children Day—proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan on this day in 1983 to promote awareness of a parent’s worst nightmare, the abduction of a minor child, and call attention to the lack of plan on how to deal with or prevent it.
        2. National Wine Day—celebrated on this day since 2009 to celebrate a drink that has been produced since 6000 BCE and here in quantities that makes the U.S. one of the 4 top producing wine countries in the world. Easy to celebrate by pouring yourself a glass of your favorite but remember to always drink or in this case celebrate responsibly.

3.  2003 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 2003 was “Get Busy” by Sean Paul on a run of 3 weeks in that position to join 10 other songs reaching number 1 with 9 other acts that achieved their first number 1 song. Here is a video recording by Sean Paul of “Get Busy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQ3o14ksaM Sean Paul is a 48 year old Jamaican born Jamaican dancehall singer who has 8 Grammy nominations and one winner.       
         4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “rhathymia” which means to a personality trait that leads to optimism and cheerfulness, great characteristics to have in these troubled times.
         5.  I Am a Cigarette With a Body Attached—celebrating the birth on this day in 1938 of Raymond Carver, considered by many to be one of America’s greatest short story writers and a poet but who drank copiously amounts of alcohol until joining AA on June 2, 1977 but did not stop smoking and died sober from lung cancer on August 2, 1988 at the age of 50 with far too many short stories not written.
         On this day in
         a. 1979 John Spenkelink who had escaped from prison and serving a 5 year to life sentence for murder killed again and was convicted and sentenced again and after 6 years on death row had the dubious distinction of being the first convict in Florida to be executed subsequent to SCOTUS in Furman v. Georgia declaring the death penalty in the U.S. to be unconstitutional.
         b. 2001 Erik Weihenmayer, an activist and motivational speaker, became the    first blind person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, assisted by Doctor Sherman Bull.
         c. 2011 Oprah Winfrey aired her last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, ending a 25 year run.
         d. 2012 the SpaceXDragon became the first commercial space vehicle to dock at the International Space Station and successfully return to Earth.
         e. 2020 George Floyd caught on a cell phone video after being pinned chest down to the ground by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on his neck for 9 minutes 29 seconds died, prompting riots in protest in Minneapolis and across the nation and a guilty verdict for manslaughter in second degree for Derek Chauvin following his trial.
        Reflections on missing children: “Our children deserve safe communities where they can grow and thrive. Today reminds us that we must work together to find our missing children and protect them from future harm," said Amanda Pick, CEO of the Missing Children Society of Canada.
        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.

© May 25, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift