Today in History...

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 20, 1695, Zumbi dos Palmares -- usually known simply as "Zumbi" -- was executed by the Portuguese rulers of Brazil for his role as a leader of the fugitive community of Quilombo dos Palmares, which from 1605 until Zumbi's death had given escaped slaves a place of freedom and relative safety.

Estimates for the population of Palmares range anywhere from 11,000 to 20,000 escaped slaves, making it an especially troublesome reality for the slave state. Zumbi's ultimate death stemmed from a deceitful Portuguese promise of freedom to the citizens of Palmares in exchange for fealty to the Portuguese crown. Zumbi refused and continued to press for full independence, recognizing that the sort of "freedom" the Portuguese were offering amounted to little more than the promise that "reclamation" (that is, the return of freed slaves to their former masters) would simply be expedited by scooping up anyone who left the new state for any reason.

Zumbi was ultimately betrayed by a less-strong-willed follower, and was brutally beheaded as a warning to any other Brazilian slaves; though there were no more Zumbi’s out there, the spirit of independence never died out, either. Ethnic African Brazilians to this day commemorate Zumbi's bravery and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds.

[El Diablo 4232]

1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

November 20, 1695, Zumbi dos Palmares -- usually known simply as "Zumbi" -- was executed by the Portuguese rulers of Brazil for his role as a leader of the fugitive community of Quilombo dos Palmares, which from 1605 until Zumbi's death had given escaped slaves a place of freedom and relative safety.

Estimates for the population of Palmares range anywhere from 11,000 to 20,000 escaped slaves, making it an especially troublesome reality for the slave state. Zumbi's ultimate death stemmed from a deceitful Portuguese promise of freedom to the citizens of Palmares in exchange for fealty to the Portuguese crown. Zumbi refused and continued to press for full independence, recognizing that the sort of "freedom" the Portuguese were offering amounted to little more than the promise that "reclamation" (that is, the return of freed slaves to their former masters) would simply be expedited by scooping up anyone who left the new state for any reason.

Zumbi was ultimately betrayed by a less-strong-willed follower, and was brutally beheaded as a warning to any other Brazilian slaves; though there were no more Zumbi’s out there, the spirit of independence never died out, either. Ethnic African Brazilians to this day commemorate Zumbi's bravery and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds.

If you've never been to Brazil I can tell you from experience that it is one chromatically stratified country.

[LongestHorn 759]

[abuelo gringo 316]

7 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

1975- Francisco Franco dies after 36 years as military dictator of Spain. After his death, both parties decided on the “pact of forgetting” which basically said there would be no investigations or prosecutions for Franco or the civil war. That pact lapsed in 2000 and more pressure is mounting to investigate the civil war that brought him to power 

 

This just in! General Francisco Franco is still dead!

Edited November 20, 2018 by abuelo gringo

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

54 minutes ago, abuelo gringo said:

This just in! General Francisco Franco is still dead!

Obligatory ............. of course.

[El Diablo 4232]

Nov. 21, 1980, 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 21st is "No Music Day" -- introduced by South African born Scottish musician Bill Drummond, the idea behind "No Music Day" is to set aside one day of intentionality behind our aural consumption.

Essentially, popular music has been tainted by its ubiquitous use as a tool of advertising and other forms of manipulation.  Nothing could make that plainer than the use of the Beatles' anthemic "Revolution" as "The Nike Song" in the 1990s and early 2000s.  

Drummond started "No Music Day" with the idea of not allowing that sort of ironic cheapening of music for one 24 hour period during the year, with the hope that it would lead to better appreciation of the positive power of music the other 364 days.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1963- Lee Harvey Oswald kills President JFK and wounds Gov Connally in DallasTX

1718- Pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, is killed in a battle with a boarding party led by Lt. Robert Maynard

1906- S-O-S is adopted as the international signal for distress.

1987- The Max Headroom Network Broadcast Intrusion in Chicago IL, by an unknown hacker.

1968- The Beatles 9th album is released, commonly known as the White album 

1858- Denver, Co was founded

 

 

[LongestHorn 759]

The Day Barney Was Killed

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 22 is Independence Day in الجمهورية اللبنانية (Lebanese Republic), marking the anniversary of the end of French rule in 1943. The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years, putting it almost on a par with Iran as home of the earliest modern states comprised of commercial and manufacturing cities with agrarian countrysides. 

Ancient home to the Phoenicians, the maritime history of Lebanon saw many of the original innovations which led to the settling of all the other great Mediterranean civilizations, and the spread of Phoenician culture outward is still reflected in the cultural diversity within Lebanon today. 

In addition to Muslim immigrants from the Arabian peninsula, Hellenic and Turkic immigrants, as well as those who ancestry is Northern African in origin, the modern hodge-podge of etnicities, religions, languages and cultural heritages of Lebanon make it a particularly rich melting pot. Though known mostly by Westerners as a battleground littered with the detritus of conflict between Syria and Israel, there is still a tremendous amount of tourism, and rightly so, as most of the world owes some cultural debt to the history of Lebanon.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 23rd is St. George's Day (Georgian "გიორგობა" or "the Day of George") in Georgia. As you might have guessed, St. George is the patron saint of the Republic of Georgia. 

Located as it is in the Caucasus mountains, Georgia is an ethnic crossroads, with strong Russian, Persian and Turkic influences. Having been ruled at one point or another by the Roman empire, the Khazar empire, the Ottoman empire, the various Russian empires... it is easy to see why the residents of the region would like a central identifying figure to unite them. 

That unifying force can be dated to 337 CE when King Mirian III declared Christianity to be the state religion, effectively tying the kingdom of Georgia to the neighboring Eastern Roman Empire, which was really just the remnant of the Roman state which had ruled Georgia for nearly 400 years prior.

St. George himself was a Palestinian citizen of Rome, with a Greek father and Phoenician mother, but born in Palestine... citizen of Rome... call him whatever you want, but as a mutt he makes a perfect symbol for the equally mixed ethnicities of Georgia. 

As for how to celebrate the day, you've got your choice: either slay a dragon, or have a nice family get-together and share a plate of chakhokhbili or maybe a bowl of kharcho. The food is essentially a blend of Russian, Turkish, and Iranian influences.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1963- Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Station

1971- a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (later misquoted as DB Cooper) parachutes from  a Northwest Orient flight with $200,000 in the middle of a thunderstorm. He has never been found

1947- The Hollywood 10 are cited with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the un-American activities committee.

1991- Freddie Mercury dies from complications of AIDS. 

1993- in Liverpool, 11 yo Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are convicted of murdering 2 y/o James Bulger for thrills in a case shocked the country and US. 

1950- The Storm of the Century- a massive storm materialized today before paralyzing the NE with 100 mph winds and in some places up to 57” of snow the day after.

1932- FBI. Crime Lab opens

1917- In Milwaukee, 9 police officers are killed by a bomb. It was the most deaths from a single event on police until 9/11

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 24th marked the beginning of the Brumalia, the ancient Roman winter festival which lasted for a month until the Saturnalia and the "Waxing of the Light". 

Unlike most other Roman festivals... oh, no, wait, *exactly* like most other Roman festivals, this one involved lots of big feasts, dancing, drinking, carousing, and puppet shows with obscene backdrops and even more obscene props. Basically, big excuse for a party. 

The name comes from "brvma" for "Winter solstice" or "Winter cold" and is a shortening of "brevima" which echoes the superlative "brevissima" ("smallest", "shallowest", "briefest"). Associated with the end of the agricultural and military year (remember, we're talking about Rome, where you either grow food, or kill people), the month when no work could be done was a time to pay homage to Saturn/Cronus, Ceres/Demeter, or perhaps Bacchus, depending on either your own, your owners', or your Emperor's whims. 

Many denizens of the Italian peninsula celebrated this festival as late as the 6th century before the Emperor Justinian finally stomped out the good times. Some right thinking Humanities students in New England have attempted to revive the Brumalia lately, though, and here's to their success in the effort. A worthy cause, if you ask me.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as decreed by UN Resolution 54/134. 

The date is based on the 1960 assassination of the Mirabel sisters in the Dominican Republic, ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo; though the inspiration for the day was an incident of politically motivated violence on the part of a brutal dictator, the UN's various campaigns related to this day are geared towards a wide range of issues, including the still-too-common incidence of gender-specific mutilation in some North African countries, officials looking the other way at gender discrimination, workplace abuse, domestic violence, economic abuse, human trafficking, and many, many other concerns.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in an estimated 3,000 years (give or take how many years it had been since tomb raiders had made minor forays into the crypt). 

The young and relatively insignificant Tutankhamun was titular head of Egypt during the 18th Pharaonic Dynasty, during the period known to Egyptologists as the "New Kingdom". Known colloquially as "King Tut" his original name was not "Tutankhamun" but "Tutankhaten" and the reason for the change is perhaps the most interesting thing about his rule (moreso even than the so-called curse supposedly responsible for the deaths of those who entered his tomb). 

Tut's father (Akhenaten... originally Amenhotep IV) had attempted to break the power of the priesthood in Egypt by changing the religious focus from Amun (whose worship was banned) to the God Aten. 

Tut's name was reflective of his father's theological/political position... but the people were on the side of the priests, so the priests won out during the early years of the young king, and he was forced to end the ascendancy of Aten, restoring Amun, changing his own name, and creating lots of material for museum curators to go on and on about. 

I happen to like listening to museum curators, but if that ain't your cup of tea, go watch the History Channel for more stories about that curse.

[HouTex 1841]

1942 Casablanca premiers

1962 Fab Four have their first recording session under name The Beatles

1963 29th Heisman Trophy Award: Roger Staubach, Navy (QB)

1968 34th Heisman Trophy Award: O.J. Simpson, Southern Cal (RB)

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On November 27, 1965, multiple officials in the Pentagon signed off on a briefing to President Lyndon Johnson which drew precisely the wrong conclusions in the wake of the Battle of Ia Drang, which had been "won" between November 14-18. 

General Westmoreland (the principle architect of American policy at the time) saw the battle as a victory for U.S. firepower and mobility in a war of attrition, where he believed U.S. forces had killed more communist troops than could be replaced.

Ho Chi Minh saw things somewhat differently. Ia Drang had been the first major skirmish in which the Americans and the People's Army of North Vietnam (the North Vietnamese "regulars", as opposed to the Viet Cong, who were not an officially sanctioned organization, and barely organized at all) were in conflict with each other. Rather than being depleted, Ho correctly interpreted the Americans' costly victory as being of a piece with how the Vietnamese had already defeated the French.

The advice the Pentagon gave LBJ was to increase American troop presence from 120,000 to over 400,000. Our "victory" was so good, we had to stick around the country for another decade to enjoy it.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

Vietnam is just part of our history and so it feels like it kind of makes sense,

 

but can you imagine that happening now?  Us picking out a random dinky little nation, say Togo, instituting a draft, and pulling one out of every 10 people in an entire generation over there to fight.  3 million folks sent over there.  Peak numbers 10x higher than our Afghanistan deployment.  Who gives a shit about Togo?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

11 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Vietnam is just part of our history and so it feels like it kind of makes sense,

 

but can you imagine that happening now?  Us picking out a random dinky little nation, say Togo, instituting a draft, and pulling one out of every 10 people in an entire generation over there to fight.  3 million folks sent over there.  Peak numbers 10x higher than our Afghanistan deployment.  Who gives a shit about Togo?

The Togoans.. Toganese... Togsters... Togolistas....???

[NeverMarryAStripper 21780]

2 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Vietnam is just part of our history and so it feels like it kind of makes sense,

 

but can you imagine that happening now?  Us picking out a random dinky little nation, say Togo, instituting a draft, and pulling one out of every 10 people in an entire generation over there to fight.  3 million folks sent over there.  Peak numbers 10x higher than our Afghanistan deployment.  Who gives a shit about Togo?

Togo isn't quite the same as Vietnam.  At the time there were reasons, warped as they may have been, for trying to keep South Vietnam from falling to the communists.  I have a feeling that future generations will look back on our involvement in Middle East is the same way as people currently do about our involvement in Vietnam.

[El Diablo 4232]

November 28, 1922—96 years ago today--Captain Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public skywriting exhibition, spelling out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square. The stunt produced about 47,000 calls to the number in less than three hours.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On November 28, 1905, Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founded the political party known as Sinn Féin, with the main objective of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland.

Sinn Féin ("We Ourselves", often mistranslated as "Ourselves Alone") has since then been identified with Irish nationalism, particularly with Irish republicanism.  Indeed, at one point during its turbulent history, Sinn Féin was considered little more than the public relations arm of the Irish Republican Army.

That sobriquet was, unquestionably, an oversimplification.  But, then, in all of Irish history, the one thing that might be counted on is outsiders oversimplifying and ignoring subtlety and nuance.

Glossing over its long and turbulent history, I'll fast forward to 1994, when the IRA announced a ceasefire, paving the way for Sinn Féin's involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process talks which eventually led to the Belfast Agreement and participation in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive. Sinn Féin dropped some long-held positions, e.g. on the viability of a Stormont government and the principle of consent. Many in Sinn Féin disagreed with its path and left the party, becoming known as dissident republicans. More left after the party agreed to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2007.

Sinn Féin has enjoyed continued electoral success, overtaking the SDLP to become the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland in the early 2000s.

[HouTex 1841]

1729 Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.

1934 Winston Churchill tells British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin not to under estimate German air power

1938 4th Heisman Trophy Award: Davey O'Brien, Texas Christian (QB)

1943 FDR, Churchill & Stalin met at Tehran to map out strategy

1990 Conservative Party chooses John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher as leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1994 In Portage, Wisconsin, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by an inmate in the Columbia Correctional Institution gymnasium.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

Shipmate of mine, Bucky O'Neil, was a big IRA supporter back in the early 80's. They've come a long way and frankly I didn't expect there to ever be peace. Then again I didn't foresee the Berlin Wall coming down either.

[Stoogey 219]

Cary Grant (January 18, 1904 — November 29, 1986) and Ralph Bellamy (June 17, 1904 — November 29, 1991).

From the film His Girl Friday, one of the best screwball comedies. Walter Burns (Grant) ad libs his line as he tries to describe Bruce Baldwin (Bellamy):

"He looks like that fellow in the movies ... you know ... Ralph Bellamy!"



 

[El Diablo 4232]

November 29, 1910—108 years ago today--British explorer Robert F. Scott's ship Terra Nova set sail from New Zealand, carrying Scott's expedition toward Antarctica on what turned out to be a futile as well as fatal race to reach the South Pole first. Scott and four companions reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to discover that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen beat them by 33 days. Scott and the other four explorers all died on the return journey from the pole. Searchers found their bodies eight months later.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

November 30th is St. Andrew's Day (Scots Gaelic "Là Naomh Aindrea") in Scotland. St. Andrew is actually the patron saint of a number of countries, including Scotland, Greece, Romania, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Saint Andrew, Barbados. 

Scottish observance of St. Andrew's Day as a national festival probably began during the time of King Malcolm III (1034-1093). Though it was a festival for the next 900+ years, it is only in modern times that it has also become a national holiday. The St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday Act of 2007 made it a bank holiday (if it falls on a weekend, the following Monday is the holiday). 

The flag of Scotland is the Saltire (St. Andrew's Cross); a major source of irritation to the Scottish people, in fact, is the continued flying of the Union Jack over Edinburgh Castle, even on St. Andrew's Day, but as it is still officially a British Army flag station, the @#%^ English continue their reign of tyranny over... wait, I'm editorializing. Sorry.

[Neonmoon 38127]

In 1948, the Soviet Union completes the division of Berlin, installing the government in the Soviet sector

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

Soviet Union also invades Finland on this day 1939, starting the most awesome part of WWII — the Winter War.  Finns are notorious hardasses and stuck it to the Russians because it was too cold for the Russians. Featured a lot of guerrilla warfare at -40.  Frozen lakes as death traps.  “Our lakes are filled with dead Russians.”

 

Finland did so well that it evidently encouraged Hitler to go ahead with Barbarossa thinking the USSR military must be a bunch of chodes.   

[Parliament 14086]

3 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

“Our lakes are filled with dead Russians.”  

SOOO metal!

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1966- First Gävle Goate is erected in the first Swedish Goat Festival

1955- Rosa parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama 

1960- Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested and deported in Hamburg, DE after being accused of arson.

1948- Taman Shud Case. ‘One of Australia's most profound mysteries’ occurred when a mysterious well dressed man is found dead on the beach. His cause of death appeared to. Be poison, but no compound was ever discovered. A piece of paper in his trousers leads to a rare book after a public plea from police. In the book with the torn page was a message written in secret code that has never been deciphered. 

1913- Ford Motor Company opens up the first moving assembly line

1885- The first glass of Dr. Pepper is served at a drug store in Waco, TX 

1828- Argentina: the Decembrist Revolution. Gen. Juan Lavalle, returning with the troops that fought in the Argentine-Brazilian War, made a coup and deposed the governor Manuel Dorrego and closed the legislature. Dorrego was captured and executed a short time afterwards. 

1822- Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21780]

2018 The University of Texas defeats Oklahoma in Dallas, Texas to win the Big XII championship

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

December 1st is Día de la Abolición del Ejército (Military Abolition Day) in Costa Rica. On December 1, 1948, President José Figueres Ferrer, in a ceremony in the Cuartel Bellavista broke a wall with a mallet symbolizing the end of Costa Rica's military spirit. 

In 1949, the Costa Rican constitution officially included the abolition of the military in Article 12. There are police guard forces for the maintenance of peace and security, but there is no permanent standing army. 

There are a handful of other countries throughout the world which have eschewed the use of force as a method of international conflict resolution, but Costa Rica is by far the largest, and given their proximity to both Nicaragua and Panama (and not too far from Honduras), where military dictatorship is far from a distant memory, their stalwart advocacy of diplomacy over violence is especially commendable.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1982- Barney Clark receives the first permanent artificial heart

1804- Napoleon crowns himself Emperor at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

1993-Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed by Colombian police

2001- Enron files for bankruptcy revealing info the largest Ponzi schemes in American history

1976- Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba 

1942- Manhattan project achieves the first sustained nuclear chain reaction

1908- Chinese Emperor Pu Yi assents the throne at the age of 2

1858- John Brown is hanged for his assault on Harpers Ferry

1697- St Paul’s Cathedral in London is completed

 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

December 3, 1984, in Bhopal, India, methyl isocyanate (an important component in a number of pesticides as well as various rubber and adhesive compounds), due to slack management and deferred maintenance, leaked from pipes when a backflow of water into a MIC tank ruptured the containment structure.

The company to this day maintains their innocence and claims the leak was caused by sabotage.

Estimates of the death toll vary, but conservative estimates confirm 3,787 deaths directly attributable to the disaster, with another 8,000 or more having since died from gas-related diseases. There were as many as 560,000 (five hundred and sixty thousand) people injured by the release of the toxic chemicals.

[El Diablo 4232]

1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

December 3, 1984, in Bhopal, India, methyl isocyanate (an important component in a number of pesticides as well as various rubber and adhesive compounds), due to slack management and deferred maintenance, leaked from pipes when a backflow of water into a MIC tank ruptured the containment structure.

The company to this day maintains their innocence and claims the leak was caused by sabotage.

Estimates of the death toll vary, but conservative estimates confirm 3,787 deaths directly attributable to the disaster, with another 8,000 or more having since died from gas-related diseases. There were as many as 560,000 (five hundred and sixty thousand) people injured by the release of the toxic chemicals.

Iso, as we called it in the factory, was still in use in the early 90's. /csb

I would imagine that it is still in use. Be careful with your chemicals.

[El Diablo 4232]

 December 4, 1835—183 years ago today—Benjamin Rush Milam issued an impassioned challenge to a dispirited Texan army that had refused to attack San Antonio to wrest control of the Alamo away from the Mexican forces that held it. Milam was convinced than retreating to winter quarters instead of attacking would be disastrous to the cause of Texas independence and delivered an impassioned speech in which he asked, “Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?” About 300 men said they would and on Dec. 5, 1835, the attack began at dawn. Mexican Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos surrendered on December 9, 1835, but Milam didn’t live to see it. He died on December 7 after he was shot in the head.

[Bookman 4603]

December 4, 1999 - I took the LSAT, and Bevo shit on the field during the Big XII Championship game.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

December 4th is Eid il-Burbara (St. Barbara's Day) for Christians in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. This is basically the Lebanese Halloween -- Lebanese Christians hold that St. Barbara wore numerous disguises while eluding the Roman authorities who sought to arrest her for her faith (the story of her conversion is certainly interesting, if a bit too long to get into here... her pagan father 'found her out' because she built her bath house with three windows instead of just two; Holy Trinity and whatnot...) 

Anyway, Levantine Christians wear costumes on her St. Day, go door to door, and eat Burbura (a bowl of boiled wheat grains, pomegranates, raisins, anise and sugar). Kind of like the Ashura tradition among many Muslims, actually, only with costumes, and porridge instead of pudding.

[El Diablo 4232]

December 6, 1949—69 years ago today—blues player Huddie Ledbetter, the 12-string-guitar virtuoso, who was best known as Leadbelly, died in New York City. He was just 13 when he set out in 1901 to live the life of a musician and eventually made his way to Dallas, where he met Blind Lemon Jefferson, who was playing on the streets in Deep Ellum. But in 1918, he was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He got out in seven thanks to Texas Gov. Pat Neff, who pardoned him after Leadbelly wrote a song in his honor. Leadbelly ended up in prison again in 1930 in Louisiana on an assault charge. Archivists John Avery Lomax and his son Alan found him in the Louisiana State Prison in Angola and recorded him there. As a result of their appeals, Leadbelly was again freed, and toured the country performing for a new generation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

December 6th is "White Ribbon Day" also known as "The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women" in commemoration of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in which armed student Marc Lépine murdered fourteen women and injured ten others in the name of "fighting feminism".

Lépine shot 28 people, killing 14 women, before committing suicide. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism" and calling the women "a bunch of feminists," he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under 20 minutes before turning the gun on himself. His suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life. The note included a list of 19 Quebec women whom Lépine considered to be feminists and apparently wished to kill.

Canadian flags on all federal buildings – including the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario – are flown at half-mast on December 6. Canadians are encouraged to observe a minute of silence on December 6 and to wear a white ribbon as a commitment to end violence against women.

[Felix 597]

Half-staff.  They aren't ships.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

26 minutes ago, Felix said:

Half-staff.  They aren't ships.

Something, something, your mom's a battleship, something...

[El Diablo 4232]

December 7th, 1972, America's last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded Timor-Leste (more commonly referred to as "East Timor") -- 9 days prior, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor had declared its independence from Portugal, who had ruled the tiny island nation since the 16th century.

Indonesia used the pretext of "anticolonialism" as their excuse for the invasion; however, while the East Timorese were seeking to form their own autonomous government, Indonesia had other ideas. East Timor was annexed and declared the 27th province of Indonesia. 

In the course of this aggressive change-of-oppressors for the Timorese, an estimated 150,000 people were killed over the next three years. That represented roughly 10% of the total population. NATO member nations, notably the United States, had actively armed the Indonesian military.

In 1999, the United Nations finally convinced Indonesia to end its illegal occupation of the territory; East Timor became the first sovereign state to join the UN in the 21st century.

[Your Mom 4774]

Pretty sure there was something else on December 7.

[Brisketexan 104238]

Pretty sure there was something else on December 7.

I made an epic sammich on the 7th last year. That’s probably what you’re thinking of.

[Uncle Nate 2097]

50 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Pretty sure there was something else on December 7.

A date that will live...in infamy.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Isn't that when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

Isn't that when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Yep, and it wasn't over then, and it's not over now.