Tuesday, April 5, 2022

April 4. 2022 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Victims of Violence Day

 

RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT April 4, 2022

             CV World Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase slowing down with cases now passing 492 million at 492,859,601 cases,  59,535,808 of which are active, 434,323,793 closed with 428,144,490 recoveries (98.58%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,179,303 deaths (1.42% )to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
             CV USA Cases: Total cases now passing 81 million at 81,867,963 with 15,018,006 active cases  of which 1803 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant) to .012% of active cases (back to back steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant  and to increase  the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 27,468 with 66,849,957 closures with 1,008,679 deaths (1.51%) and with 65,841,278  recoveries (98.49%). Our death rate percentage is .09%  higher than the world’s death rate.
             Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 3016 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (6287) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5339), Hungary (4732), Romania (3424),  Brazil (30698), and Poland (3054) and slightly higher than Chile (2927), Argentina (2789), Columbia (2695), Italy (2652), Belgium (2647), Russia (2533), Mexico (2462), UK (2420),  Spain (2192), France (21774), Portugal (2138), Ecuador (19576),  Bolivia (1832),  Sweden (1795) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1565). 
             US Vaccinations: As of 04/04/22   561.2 million doses, 248,127 per day last week (76.2%) of population now vaccinated  with at least one shot)  and in California 31,873 per day  (which means at least 82.5% of the population of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required).  In California 72,704,550 total doses have been given (83.1%  of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 79.9%), California has not moved from 12th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.1% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.9% and has  not moved from 12th  in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and performance).  
             Non  CV News: Day 41 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was President Zellenskyy visit the Bucha massacre site warning the Russians that Ukraine is better equipped to discover war crimes that the Allies in WWII as a Russian blatant lie that the bodies in Bucha were put their after the Russians had withdrawn as satellite images clear show civilian bodies while the Russians were still fighting; France and Germany are expelling Russian diplomatic personnel over the Bucha atrocities and Zelenskyy will be addressing the UN on the issue of Russian war crimes; Nikki Halley has raised the question of why given their atrocities is Russia still a member of the UN Human Rights Agency and is demanding the Biden Administration push for its removal; Hunter Biden, who increasingly is in the hot seat over his past dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine and the extent of knowledge and involvement of Biden in those dealings, is now also raising complaints from the GOP over the $30,000 a month rent the Secret Service is paying to house Hunter’s Secret Service detail in Malibu to be near the $20,000 a month house in Malibu he is renting ( he must be selling a lot of his pathetic art to be able to afford that lifestyle); the Carolinas filled out half the last dance card with South Carolina winning the Women’s NCAA March Madness on Sunday and North Carolina losing to Kansas in  Men’s March Madness on Monday; Elon Musk, who believes in free speech and must be troubled over Twitter’s proclivity to censor conservatives with the bogus claim of stopping fake news, is now the holder of almost 10% of the stock of Twitter and is the largest shareholder (the leftist elite must be in a panic over the possibility that conservative voices will no longer be censored (Musk is a very astute man and we should not be surprised that Twitter stock after his purchase was up some $10 per share); Gary Winfield, a black Democratic State Senator from Connecticut living in New Haven, had to experience what some of his constituents are exposed to—having shots fired at his house, fortunately not hitting anyone in his family living in the house; not only are most journalists at MSM biased against nonleftists or nonprogressives given their attack on Florida’s law banning discussion of sexual orientation before the 4th grade in elementary schools it looks like they are too lazy to read it to see it does not ban the word gay; Blue Governor Polis has just signed legislation that makes abortion a fundamental right and strips the fetus of any rights (frightening disregard of human life especially in late term abortions where the fetus clearly is able to survive outside the womb and must feel pain when killed in the womb); another “rat” has left the Cackles sinking ship, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Michael Fuchs; Merit Garland is getting pressure from the left and MSM and most likely the Biden Administration to prosecute Trump for the January 6, 2021 “insurrection’” (if Garland folds and launches a politically fueled indictment we really are in dangerous waters); as gas prices soar, driving up the cost of all goods that must be transferred by truck and van, to quell the anger of voters Biden is releasing oil from the strategic oil reserve to preserve his reelection:
                                                         

                                                        

              Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through April 3, 2022, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 649 shot of whom 121 have died.
              As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video recording of “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams; the fact that your sporran is the right tartan for your clan; and a quote by David Cameron on the value of NATO, 
secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day, Mothers’ 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 pricing.
              1.  
Victims of Violence Day—commemorating all those who have lost their lives or been physically assaulted fighting segregation and celebrated on this day which is the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.
              2.  
404 Day—inspired by the internet notice that the linking to the web site has been attempted but the sender is unable to connect with the site which is a frustrating notice to bloggers and which the Electronic Freedom Foundation now uses to promote its fight against censorship in the schools and libraries.
              3. 
1992  Number 1 Song—the number 1 song in 1992  on this day was  “Save the Best of Last” by Vanessa Williams in that position  for 5 weeks to join 11 other number 1 songs and 6 other acts that hit the charts at Number 1 for the first time in a year that marked the lowest number of number 1 songs and the last year that no artist had more than 1 number 1 song.  Here is a video recording of Vanessa Williams performing “Save the Best for Last”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q72H9ajrZDQ. Williams had the distinction of being the first African American crowned as Miss America and the dubious distinction of having to resign when nude photos of her were going to be in an issue of Penthouse  was going to be published shortly before her term was going to end. She has had a successful recording career and as a stage and screen actress and is still performing today at age 59.

              4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “sporran” means an ornamental pouch worn in front of a kilt which explains why you most likely never see a male Scot with a purse.

              5.  Star in Chains—celebrating the birth on this day in 1966 Michael Starr, the original bassist for Alice in Chains, struggled with alcohol and drugs, prescription and illegal and could not break free of the chains of addiction to end up dead from an overdose on March 8, 2011 at age 44.
              On this day in:
              a. 1949 12 nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty which created NATO, the expanded membership is giving Putin such anxiety and one of the reasons for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.                                                                                                 
              b. 1975 Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.   
              c. 1991 Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and 6 others, including 2 school children on the ground were killed when a helicopter sent to examine in midair a problem with the landing gear in his plane collided with the airplane over an elementary school over Merion, Pennsylvania. Heinz’s widow married John Kerry who flies in a corporate jet to avoid a replication of that accident.
              d. 2017 perhaps emboldened by his chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians which produced no U.S. response from the Obama Biden Administration after crossing its “red line in the sand,” Assad’s Air Force launched a chemical and nerve gas weapons attack on the village of Khan
Shaykhun, killing at least 89 people and wounding 541. Instead not reacting like Obama, President Trump on April launched 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat Air Base in Syria, believed to be the location where the attack originated from.
              e. 2020 China held a national day of mourning for the Chinese killed by the COVID-19 epidemic that it caused.
             
Reflections on NATO: Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union - to secure peace - has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU, alongside NATO, who made that happen.”
           
  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.

              © April 4, 2022  Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
              Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
              Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
              A Unique Gift, All Recipients Receive a Lasting Lift

 

 

Monday, April 4, 2022

April 3, 2022 Ridley's Believe It Or Not First Day of Ramadan

RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT April 3, 2022

             CV World Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase slowing down with cases now passing 491 million at 491,017,722 cases,  59,253,873 of which are active, 431,763,849 closed with 425,589,539 recoveries (98.57%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,174,310 deaths (1.43% )to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
             CV USA Cases: Total cases now passing 81 million at 81,826,371 with 15,292,238 active cases  of which 1988 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant) to .0130% of active cases (back to back steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant  and to increase  the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 27,283 with 66,534,133 closures with 1,008,159 deaths (1.52%) and with 65,525,974  recoveries (98.48%). Our death rate percentage is .09%  higher than the world’s death rate.
             Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 3015 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (6285) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5332), Hungary (4732), Romania (3423),  Brazil (3068), and Poland (3053) and slightly higher than Chile (2922), Argentina (2789), Columbia (2694), Italy (2648), Belgium (2640), Russia (2529), Mexico (2462), UK (2417),  Spain (2192), France (2174), Portugal (2138), Ecuador (1956),  Bolivia (1832),  Sweden (1796) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1565). 
             US Vaccinations: As of 04/02/22   561.2 million doses, 223,358 per day last week (76.2%) of population now vaccinated  with at least one shot)  and in California 27,963 per day  (which means at least 82.5% of the population of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required).  In California 72,704,550 total doses have been given (83.1%  of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 79.9%), California has not moved from 12th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.1% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.9% and has  not moved from 12th  in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and performance).  
             Non  CV News: Day 40 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has Russians withdrawing from Kviv either being pushed back by Ukrainians or being forced to leave after being exposed to radiation after digging trenches near Chernobyl digging through the earthen cover of contaminated soil and leaving the areas vacated strewn with deadly mines and booby traps to kill or maim civilians that escaped injury during Russian missile and shelling attacks but also leaving evidence of war crimes of citizens with their hands tied behind their backs executed (Russian people are in the dark with the false narrative of denazification being foisted upon them and probably have no knowledge of atrocities against civilians be unleashed by Russian troops and arms); despite threat of smelting his Oscars by Penn, Zelenskyy was not Zoom invited to the Oscars but was for the Grammys and gave an impassioned plea for aid to fight the Russians; mass shooting in Sacramento with 6 killed and 12 wounded but before the victims are all identified and on stolen gun recovered and no shooters in custody or named as persons of interest Newsom is calling on stricter gun control (watch for Biden jump on the bandwagon calling for the same thing); while we are looking at record numbers of nonwhite illegals coming across the border, University of South Carolina Gamecocks stayed in the locker room to protest racial discrimination  while the National Anthem was played then came out to beat UConn (maybe someone should ask these pampered woke targets if there is so much discrimination here why are so many of those who are supposedly discriminated against flocking to this nation at great risk and significant cost to enter); Lia Thomas a transgender who won the 500 meter in the NCAA Championship may be the Willie Horton equivalent for athletics given the Blues’ crusade for transgender rights and the ability to compete in women’s sports at least in Colorado where the Republican candidate for Senate is blasting his Blue incumbent for supporting transgenders to the detriment of women’s sports; HRC who is sounding more and more like a candidate in 2024 aped the Biden two step on Ukraine then walked it back indicating we could do much more to defeat Putin (doubt if Biden will even remember the attack); Seattle’s taxpayer supported Museum of Pop Culture is sponsoring a summer camp for 12-18 year olds to explore “your drag” not the races but the queens; when most states are trying to ape the success of South Dakota, Texas and Florida, some misguided governors of Blue States seem like lemmings wanting to ape California’s jump over the cliff into disaster.                                                                                                       

                                                                  


              Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through April 1, 2022, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 644 shot of whom 121 have died.
              As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video recording of “Coming Out of the Dark” by Gloria Estefan; the fact that your sponsalia are for causes that are worthy; and a quote by John Doe Whistleblower on the Panama Papers, 
secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day, Mothers’ 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 pricing.
              1.  
First Day of Ramadan—Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and is celebrated by Muslims from 29 to 30 days and is observed by Muslims in prayer, fasting, contemplation and community to commemorate Muhammed’s first revelation in 610.
              2.  
World Party Day—inspired by the novel Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel  by Vania Bonta in which at the end of the book the world unites is worldwide celebration and first celebrated on this day 1996, a year after the novel was published. Also known as P-Day with the slogan by celebrants that “Party is the opposite of war.”
              3. 
1991  Number 1 Song—the number 1 song in 1991  on this day was  “Coming Out of the Dark” by Gloria Estefan in that position  for 2 weeks to join 26 other number 1 songs while 14 acts  hit the charts at Number 1 for the first time and Mariah Carey had 3 number 1 songs. Here is a video recording of Gloria Estaban performing  “Coming Out of the Dark”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS7qLDizDYo  Gloria Estefan, the Cuban born singer known as the “Queen of Pop” and an influential creator of the “Miami Sound” has had 3 Grammys and is still performing at age 64.
              4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “sponsalia” means espousals which sadly in school boards across the nation teaching CRT seems to be the sponsalia of the day.
              5.  Not a Reliable Member of the Crew”—celebrating the birth on this day in 1961 of former Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who signed on as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians after the 1992 season but during spring training on March 23, 1993 took fellow teammates Bob Ojeda and Steve Olin on a nighttime boating trip of Little Lake Nellie, Clermont, Florida along with a BAC of .14 and crashed into an unlit dock at a high rate of speed, killing him and Olin and severely injuring Ojeda.
              On this day in:
              a. 1973 in a beginning of the end of all peace and quiet and freedom from disturbance, Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first hand held mobile phone call to Joel Engels of Bell Labs.                                                                          

              b. 2000 District of Columbia District Court Judge Thomas Jackson found Microsoft guilty of monopolization and would rule on June 7, 2000 that the company be broken up into two entities. He was overruled by the Court of Appeals that castigated Judge Jackson for bias and failing to recuse himself.   
              c. 1986 Jiverly Antares Wong, born in South Vietnam who immigrated to the U.S. in the 80’s with his mother and father and became a naturalized citizen in 1995, entered the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York where he had taken 3 months of English language classes and shot and killed 13 people while wounding 3 before turning the gun on himself.
              d. 2010 Apple, Inc. released the iPad, the first generation tablet computer.
              e. 2016 over 11.5 million sensitive financial documents known as the “Panama Papers” from over 214,000 offshore companies created by and leaked from the Panama law firm of Mossack Fonseca by a “John Doe” whistleblower whose identity is still unknown began being published.
               
Reflections on the Panama Papers: “The collective impact of these failures has been a complete erosion of ethical standards, ultimately leading to a novel system we still call Capitalism, but which is tantamount to economic slavery. In this system—our system—the slaves are unaware both of their status and of their masters, who exist in a world apart where the intangible shackles are carefully hidden amongst reams of unreachable legalese.”― John Doe , the whistleblower who leaded the  Panama Papers.
              Please enjoy the poemss 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.

              © April 3, 2022  Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
              Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
              Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
              A Unique Gift, All Recipients Receive a Lasting Lift


Sunday, April 3, 2022

April 2, 2022 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World Autism Awareness Day

 

RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT April 2, 2022

             CV World Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase slowing down with cases now passing 491 million at 491,017,722 cases,  59,253,873 of which are active, 431,763,849 closed with 425,589,539 recoveries (98.57%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,174,310 deaths (1.43% )to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
             CV USA Cases: Total cases now passing 81 million at 81,826,371 with 15,292,238 active cases  of which 1988 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant) to .0130% of active cases (back to back steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant  and to increase  the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 27,283 with 66,534,133 closures with 1,008,159 deaths (1.52%) and with 65,525,974  recoveries (98.48%). Our death rate percentage is .09%  higher than the world’s death rate.
             Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 3015 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (6285) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5332), Hungary (4732), Romania (3423),  Brazil (3068), and Poland (3053) and slightly higher than Chile (2922), Argentina (2789), Columbia (2694), Italy (2648), Belgium (2640), Russia (2529), Mexico (2462), UK (2417),  Spain (2192), France (2174), Portugal (2138), Ecuador (1956),  Bolivia (1832),  Sweden (1796) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1565). 
             US Vaccinations: As of 04/02/22   561.2 million doses, 223,358 per day last week (76.2%) of population now vaccinated  with at least one shot)  and in California 27,963 per day  (which means at least 82.5% of the population of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required).  In California 72,704,550 total doses have been given (83.1%  of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 79.9%), California has not moved from 12th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.1% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.9% and has  not moved from 12th  in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and performance).  
             Non  CV News: Day 38 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has Russians withdrawing from Kviv either being pushed back by Ukrainians or being forced to leave after being exposed to radiation after digging trenches near Chernobyl digging through the earthen cover of contaminated soil and leaving the areas vacated strewn with deadly mines and booby traps to kill or maim civilians that escaped injury during Russian missile and shelling attacks; Biden and his Administration is in full lying and deception mode on their war of fossils claiming the industry has all the leases it needs on federal lands to increase domestic production hiding the fact that the actual permits needed to drill on leased land are being slow walked along with the permits needed to construct pipelines from the well head (look for a massive ad campaign to expose the lies and deception); Duke was beaten by North Carolina 81-77 ruining Duke retiring coach Mike
Krzyzewski’s chance to win his last NCAA Championship; Colin Kaepernick who last played in the NFL in 2016 attended Michigan’s Spring Game at Coach Harbaugh’s invitation  to perform a 15 passing exhibition to who had signup to go into the NFL hoping the pro scouts attending the game and the exhibition would be wayed to recommend his return to the NFL; a Los Angeles judge has declared California’s corporate diversity law which public corporations with corporate headquarter here to include in their boards a member from an underrepresented community including Blacks, Asians, LBGT, Latinos, American Indians or Pacific Islanders to be unconstitutional; in a disturbing trend that continues, the number of police officers shot in the line of duty at 101 is 43% higher that the number shot in 2021; Oberlin College who was sued by the owners of a bakery who the college claimed to be racist has had the $25 million plus over $6 million in legal fees upheld (maybe a good lesson the left should take into account when at the drop of a hat it slings the racist card charge); look for Disney to face a mountain of backlash over its woke crusade against Florida’s new law banning instruction before the 4th grade on the issue of gender identity (Walt must be rolling in his grave over the wokeness the “Happiest Place on Earth” has degenerated into); as inflation is devastating the middle classes pocket books and imposing great strain on obtaining the necessities of life and the war in Ukraine having a potential devastating effect on world grain supplies watch for more food price increases not less.                                                                                
             
 Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through April 1, 2022, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 6381 shot of whom 120 have died.
               As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video recording of “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles; the fact that you are frugal enough to have some spondulix; and a quote by John Lewis on a conversation he had with George Wallace, 
secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day, Mothers’ 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 pricing.
              1.  
World Autism Awareness Day—created by the UN on November 18, 2007 and celebrated for the first time on this day in 2008 to promote awareness of the condition and to promote research to develop cures and treatment of the condition and promote efforts in include those suffering from it in society as opposed to excluding them.
              2.  
International Children’s Book Day—created by the International Board of Books for Young People in 1967 and celebrated on this day which is the anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen to promote and encourage reading early in life to develop a pleasure that will last a lifetime.
              3. 
1990  Number 1 Song—the number 1 song in 1990  on this day was  “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles in that position  for 2 weeks to join 25 other number 1 songs and 14 other acts that  hit the charts at Number 1 for the first time. Here is a video recording of Alannah Myles “Black Velvet”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXNEmtf9tk  Alannah Myles is a Canadian born singer songwriter who won a Grammy with “Black Velvet” and is still performing today at 63.

               4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “spondulix” is an archaic 19th Century word which means a reasonable amount of spending money which the wave of inflation is stripping most Americans from.

               5.  “Can’t We Just Get Along”—celebrating the birth on this day in 1965, the year of the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, after a chase for suspected drunk driving on March 3, 1991 was finally pulled over by LAPD who proceeded to brutally beat him on the side of the road not knowing the event was being caught on video and later released to local TV stations. The officers involved were arrested, tried and acquitted despite the clear video evidence of their wrongdoing, sparking a riot that had the dubious distinction of having more people killed and wounded and more property damaged than the Watts Riots. King received $3.8 million for his injuries but struggled with future run ins with the law and drugs and alcohol and on June 17,2012 drowned in a swimming pool with drugs and alcohol is his system that contributed to a heart attack.
             On this day in:
              a. 1912 the ill-fated Titanic begin sea trials that would lead on its maiden voyage to a rendezvous with an ice berg in the North Atlantic that would sink her in the early morning hours on April 15, 1912 with the loss of more than 1500 passengers and crew, including its captain.                                                                                                 
              b. 1972 Charlie Chaplin returned to the United States for the first time after being accused of being a Communist in the 50’s and after leaving on September 18, 1952 to premier his film Limelight in London, had his reentry permit revoked by the U.S. AG.   
              c. 1986 confined to a wheelchair since a failed assassination attempt on his life on May 15, 1972 by Arthur Bremer while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president, announced that he would not run for a 5th term of Governor of Alabama. Bremer who was sentence to 63 years,  reduced to 53 on appeal, was paroled on November 9, 2007 and will be off probation in 2025.
              d. 1992 John Gotti, the don of the Gambino Crime Family and known as the Dapper Don for his clothes and the Teflon Don for his ability to be acquitted in criminal trials was finally convicted of racketeering and murder and sentenced to life in prison where he died on June 10, 2002 of throat cancer.
              e. 2004 Islamist terrorists, emboldened by the March 4 Madrid attacks, tried to attack a Spanish AVE high speed train with 6 kilograms of high explosives but the device and its detonator had 136 meters of wire which fortunately was not connected to anything to trigger an explosion and never were caught.
             
Contemplation boosted by confinement to a wheelchair: “He said, 'John Lewis, will you come by and talk with me?'

And I remember the occasion so well. It was like someone confessing to their priest or to a minister. He wanted people to forgive him. He said to me, 'I never hated anybody; I never hated any black people.' "He said, 'Mr. Lewis, I'm sorry.' And I said, 'Well, governor, I accept your apology.' " John Lewis, recently deceased former long term Blue Representative from Georgia.

              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.

              © April 2, 2022+,  Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
              Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
              Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
              A Unique Gift, All Recipients Receive a Lasting Lift

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

March 29, 2022 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Vietnam War Veterans Day

 RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT March 29, 2022

             CV World Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase slowing down with cases now passing 484 million at 484,827,400 cases,  60,002,702 of which are active, 424,824,698 closed with 418,669,491 recoveries (98.55%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,155,207 deaths (1.45% )to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
             CV USA Cases: Total cases now passing 81 million at 81,670,147 with 15,939,836 active cases  of which 2283 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant) to .0143% of active cases (back to back steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant  and to increase  the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 26,998 with 65,730,311 closures with 1,004,681 deaths (1.53%) and with 64,725,630  recoveries (98.47%). Our death rate percentage is .08%  higher than the world’s death rate.
             Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 3005 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (6283) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5320), Hungary (4719), Romania (3416),  Brazil (3064), and Poland (3043) and slightly higher than Chile (2910), Argentina (2787), Columbia (2694), Italy (2637), Belgium (2633), Russia (2520), Mexico (2459), UK (2408),  Spain (2189), France (2167), Portugal (2124), Ecuador (1956),  Bolivia (1798),  Sweden (1768) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1560). 
             US Vaccinations: As of 03/28/22   559.5 million doses, 246,375 per day last week (76.1%) of population now vaccinated  with at least one shot)  and in California 30,759 per day  (which means at least 82.4% of the population of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required).  In California 72,488,669 total doses have been given (83.2%  of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.0%), California has moved from 12th to 11th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.0% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.8% and has  not moved from 12th  in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and performance).  
             Non  CV News: Day 34 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which around Kviv the Russians are redeploying troops from KVIV to continue attacks in Eastern Ukraine not withdrawing them as “negotiations” continue in Turkey and  Ukraine without enough missiles and planes stop or at least the decrease the quantity of missiles, bombs and shells being rained on its civilian is pleading with Biden and NATO for more than just supportive words and is demanding iron clad guarantees from “leading armies” 3 of whom possess nuclear weapons if it is attacked by Russia again in the future; n three e; Biden’s adlib to U.S. troops in Poland seemed to imply they would be going to Ukraine which they are not but later as what is becoming the Biden 2 step his announcement they were training Ukrainian troops in Poland disclosed a fact not already having been disclosed; Russia is claiming that 2 small villages in Russia near the border with Ukraine had to be evacuated due to being shelled from Ukraine;  Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski who was killed Ukraine covering the war was buried in Ireland today; the successful efforts of the MSM and social media giants to quash the Hunter Biden laptop scandal which probably helped immensely in electing Biden may be unraveling as Senators Grassley and Johnson on the Senate floor are alleging Hunter received $100,000 from Russian oligarchs and supposedly have the receipts to prove it; Jim Carrey blasted the Hollywood celebs at the Oscars who applauded Will Smith after he sucker slapped Chris Rock after his joke in poor taste about his wife; Walt Disney must be rolling in his grave as the “it’s a small world” company has morphed into “it’s a woke world” company as leaked videos show the company promoting the LBGT lifestyle and removing signs for “men” and “women” at its parks to avoid offending transgenders; in the dueling governors Newsom has attacked DeSantis for his COVID-19 policies and opposition to progressives’ ideologies in K-12 while DeSantis fired back that actions of people leaving California speak louder than words; Miranda Devine, journalist and author of Laptop from Hell, is predicting bombshells on Hunter Biden’s shady deals as the IRS tax evasion probe continues (wonder whether the “Big Guy” will be snared); Nielsen, the media data collecting group, is going to be acquired by a private equity group for $16 billion; the latest scam at universities are the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion “experts” who are raking in higher salaries than many full fledged professors while students are crushed with high student debt loads;  as Judge Jackson has been ridiculed on her inability to indicate what a woman is, leave it to the political cartoonist to suggest there is a lot more hidden leftist judicial baggage that meets the eye that may derail her nomination:
                                                                      

                            
              
 Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through March 28,  2022, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 607 shot of whom 113 have died.
               As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video recording of “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics; the fact that you are quick to see through smoke and mirrors; and 2 quotes by Lieutenant William Calley during trial and one 38 years later, 
secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day, Mothers’ 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 pricing.
              1.  
National Vietnam War Veterans  Day—created on March 28, 2017 when President Trump signed the National Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, to be observed on March 29th  , the anniversary of the withdrawal of the last combat troops in 1973 from South Vietnam.
              2.  
Smoke and Mirrors Day—celebrating an illusion first mentioned by Johann Georg Schrepfer in 1770 where an beam of light from a lantern would reflect off a mirror to appear or disappear in a plume of smoke. The term is now used to describe efforts by a person to hide things from the audience which is what politicians and bureaucrats are notorious for.
              3.  
1989  Number 1 Song—the number 1 song in 1989  on this day was  “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics in that position  for 1 week to join 31 other number 1 songs and 11 other acts that  hit the charts at Number 1 for the first time. Here is a video recording of Mike + The Mechanics performing “The Living Years”:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hr64MxYpgk The band was formed in Dover, England by Mike Rutherford and was disbanded in 2004 following the death of vocalist Paul Young from a heart attack and revived in 2010 by Rutherford with a new set of musicians.
              4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “spoliate” which means to despoil or plunder which describes what the Russians are doing to the civilian population of Ukraine.
              5.  
The Last of His Kind—celebrating the birth on this day in 1895 of Ernst Jünger who served in the German Army in World War I and was awarded the Pour le Mérite  for his service, achieved fame as an author and philosopher and served as a captain in the Wehrmacht in Paris until forced to resign due to being indirectly implicated in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. The Pour le Mérite for military service was discontinued after World War I, and  when he died on February 17, 1998 at the age of 102 he was  the last living recipient of the award for military service.
             On this day in:
              a. 1971 Lieutenant William Calley was convicted for the premeditated massacre of Vietnamese civilians at Mai Lai and sentenced to life in prison but had his sentenced reduced to 10 years and Nixon ordered him to serve under house arrest at Fort Benning and he ultimately was paroled after being under house arrest for 3 years 4 months.                                 b. 1999 at the height of the dot.com internet bubble the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 10,000 for the first time at 10,006.78.
              
c. 2010 2 female Islamic terrorists from Dagestan detonated suicide vests at 2 Moscow Metro Stations, killing a total of 40 people and injuring some 100 others.
              d. 2014 same sex marriages were performed in Wales and England for the first time.
              e. 2017 UK Prime Minister Theresa May invoked Article 50 of the European Union Treaty beginning the process to withdraw from the European Union.
              Reflections on Mai Lai from Lieutenant William Calley:   “Well, I was ordered to go in there and destroy the enemy. That was my job on that day. That was the mission I was given. I did not sit down and think in terms of men, women, and children. They were all classified the same, and that was the classification that we dealt with, just as enemy soldiers...I felt then and I still do that I acted as I was directed, and I carried out the orders that I was given, and I do not feel wrong in doing so, sir” On cross examination during his trial
              “There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in Mai Lai. I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry.” While speaking to the Kiwanis Club of Greater Columbus on August 19, 2009
              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.

              © March 29, 2022,  Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
              Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
              Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
              A Unique Gift, All Recipients Receive a Lasting Lift

 
 
      

Sunday, March 27, 2022

March 26, 2022 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Purple Day

 

RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT March 26, 2022

             CV World Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase slowing down with cases now passing 473 million at 478,924,735 cases,  59,196,689 of which are active, 419,728,046 closed with 413,591,449 recoveries (98.54%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,136,597 deaths (1.46% )to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
             CV USA Cases: Total cases now passing 81 million at 81,574,881 with 16,686,949 active cases  of which 2632 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant) to .0158% of active cases (back to back steady decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the Omicron variant  and to increase  the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 26,639 with 64,887,932 closures with 1,002,647 deaths (1.55%) and with 63,885,285  recoveries (98.45%). Our death rate percentage is .09%  higher than the world’s death rate.
             Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 2999 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (6280) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5307), Hungary (4706), Romania (3411),  Brazil (3060), and Poland (3037) and slightly higher than Chile (2898), Argentina (2783), Columbia (2693), Italy (2630), Belgium (2626), Russia (2510), Mexico (2456), UK (2401),  Spain (2189), France (2159), Portugal (2110), Ecuador (1956),  Bolivia (1798),  Sweden (1765) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1557). 
             US Vaccinations: As of 03/26/22   559.5 million doses, 256,316 per day last week (76.1%) of population now vaccinated  with at least one shot)  and in California 35,165 per day  (which means at least 82.3% of the population of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required).  In California 72,488,689 total doses have been given (83.3%  of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.0%), California has not moved from 12th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.0% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.8% and has  not moved from 12th  in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and performance).  
             Non  CV News: Day 32 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which around Kiviv seems stalled and likewise along the Black Sea and Aral; Sea coast as Ukraine without enough missiles and planes stop or at least the decrease the quantity of missiles, bombs and shells being rained on its civilian is pleading with Biden and NATO for more than just supportive words; Biden seems terrified of a Putin response and quickly walked back his comments that Russian use of chemical weapons would mean our chemical weapon response and bent over backwards that U.S. forces now in Poland would not be heading into Ukraine; all the social media and tech billionaires must be ruing their backing of Biden and censoring of Trump as it looks like the Biden administration wants to levy on taxpayers worth more than $100 million a 20 % tax rate on income and unrealized appreciation; Elon Musk is openly musing what many conservatives believe that another social media platform is need to compete with Twitter (many of his followers are urging him to buy Twitter and line the pockets of Jack Dempsey with even more millions instead of starting another social media platform); the toxicology report on the urine found in Taylor Hawkins body who died in Bogota this weekend revealed 10 psychoactive substances but no cause of death for the drummer of Foo Fighters has as of yet been released; Americans love underdogs and are enthralled with 15th seeded St. Peters and its guard Doug Edart and his “stache” who are now in the Elite 8 to play UNC Sunday afternoon (wonder if the tournament committee is able to look itself in the face and justify its 15th seed?); the Oscars which an increasing number of people refuse to watch because of its growing PC wokeness and leftist acceptance award slants has dropped 8 categories from the awards with ratings falling like a rock and program looking more and more like it’s on life support (with inflation killing American families and the Biden Administration’s let them eat cake response somewhat tone deaf nominees who are not hurting financially at all are looking at goody bags worth $130,000 this year); Blue Senator Warnock who is in a tight race with former Georgia football star Walker is having a fundraiser hosted by a leftist activist who has labelled Reds terrorists; as gas prices soar and the Biden Administration seems fully committed to go not increasing domestic production of oil, leave to the political cartoonist to reveal what the average Biden voter is probably feeling:
                                                                  


                              
             
 Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through March 25,  2022, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 591 shot of whom 111 have died.
               As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a video recording of “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson; the fact that you are not surrounded by splenetic individuals; and a quote by Jeffrey Toobin on gerrymandering, 
secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day, Mothers’ 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 pricing.
              1.  
Purple Day—created by a Nova Scotia 8 year old Cassidy Megan to promote awareness of epilepsy by revealing her struggles and successes in coping with epilepsy; on the 26th if you see people wearing purple in the U.S. and Canada great chance that they are not calling for Reds and Blues to cross the aisle and go into bipartisan mode to solve our issues facing us but rather they support the fight against epilepsy.
              2.  
Celebrate Exchange Day—celebrating exchange clubs, the first of which was created on this day in 1911 in Detroit, Michigan by local businessmen to meet and promote solutions to issues facing their community which led to the formation of 3 more in Michigan and Ohio in 1917 which resulted in the formation of the National Exchange Club which now has 600 local clubs and fortunately in a better late than never moment opened its membership to women in 1987. The Club focuses on Americanism, Youth Programs and Community Service and their national program to prevent child abuse.
              3. 
1988  Number 1 Song—the number 1 song in 1988  on this day was  “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson as his second number 1 song of the year and in that position  for 2 weeks to join 31 other number 1 songs while 17 acts  hit the charts at Number 1 for the first time. Here is a video recording of Michael Jackson performing “Man in the Mirror”:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps Jackson was on his musical success role with 3 number 1 hits surpassed only my George Michael with 4.

              4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “splenetic” which means marked by bad temper or spite which describes to a tee the person that most people do not want to spend time with.
              5.  
Classless New Strength Exercise—celebrating or bemoaning depending on your political affiliation the birth on this day in 1940 of Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House, third in line to the Presidency, and the only Speaker to be reelected to be Speaker of the House but will be best remember for her observation that “we had to pass the ACA to find out what’s in it;” and her truly disrespectful and classless act of ripping up Trump’s SOTUS in sections as not strong enough to rip up the speech in 1 rip. Not sure if she has ever held a private sector job but she and her husband have taken advantage of her political position to make millions in the stock market.
             On this day in:
              a. 1812 The Boston Gazette  on this day published a cartoon portraying a mythical salamander like beast with a body looking like an election district the Governor of Massachusetts Eldridge Gerry had created on a partisan basis and used the term “gerrymander” to describe the process.                                                                                                  
              b. 1939 the Nationalists under General Franco began their final offensive against Republican forces and quickly advanced as Republican forces either fled or surrendered in mass and by the 31st all of Spain was in Franco’s hands.   
              c. 1975 the Biological Weapons Convention which was signed on April 10, 1972 became effective on this day as 22 nations including the 3 depositories for the treaty had ratified it and which now bans the manufacture, storing, selling or using biological and toxin weapons.
              d. 1982 a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
              e. 2017 anti-corruption protests were held in 99 cities in Russia which according to the Levada Association, a non-governmental polling and data analytical group which had in 2016 by classified by the Russian Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent, were approved by 38% of Russians and 67% held Putin personally responsible for such corruption (wonder what if any polling Levada has been able to do when calling Russia’s invasion anything other than a “special military operation” merits 15 years in prison).
             
Reflections on the pervasive urge to gerrymander:  Even in Madison’s day, the practice of gerrymandering for partisan advantage was familiar. In the late seventeen-eighties, there were claims that Patrick Henry had tried to gerrymander Madison himself out of the First Congress. The term was coined during Madison’s Presidency, to mock Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, who in 1811 approved an election district that was said to look like a salamander.” Jeffrey Toobin, head legal analyst at CNN who was suspended for masturbating on an online Zoom call to be reinstated after 8 months.
           
  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.

              © March 26, 2022,  Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
              Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
              Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
              A Unique Gift, All Recipients Receive a Lasting Lift