Today in History...

[El Diablo 4,232]

 Dec. 8, 1941—77 years ago today-- the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Democratic Sen. Thomas T. Connally of Texas introduced the joint resolution declaring war. Connally was born on Aug. 19, 1877 on a farm in McLennan County. His father was a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. Connally graduated from Baylor and the University of Texas, served in the state House, built a law practice in Marlin, and served as Falls County district attorney before running for the 11th District seat in the U.S. Congress in 1916. He won election to the U.S. Senate in 1928. He died on Oct. 28, 1963.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

Every December 8th, in the Brazilian city of Salvador, formerly known as São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, the unique celebration of Iemanjá takes place; as with many religious traditions predating Christian proselytization, Iemanjá has been coopted by the Catholic church to become "Festa da Conceição da Praia" (Feast to Our Lady of Conception of the church at the beach).

December 8th is a city holiday dedicated to the Catholic saint and also to Iemanjá, also known as Yemanjá, one of the seven Orixás, the manifestations of God in the Yoruba religion. Naturally, Brazil being in reality the melting pot of all melting pots, the West African Yoruba traditions form only one part of the syncretic Brazilian religion known as "Umbanda". Iemanjá is, for the followers (whether formal or casual) of Umbanda, the time to honor the "Queen of the Ocean", the patron spirit of fishermen and the survivors of shipwrecks, as well as the manifestation of the mother goddess and the spirit of moonlight.

As might be imagined, there is much revelry on the beaches after dark. Even in daylight hours, however, you will find hundreds of thousands of folk all launching a flotilla of boats loaded with flowers honoring the Goddess/Saint/what-have-you.

[El Diablo 4,232]

Spent Halloween 1983 in Salvador Bahia. Interesting and eclectic. The city itself is built on 2 levels that are ~250 vertical feet apart, Upper Town and Lower Town, connected in part by elevators. Strange and wonderful place.

Edited December 8, 2018 by El Diablo

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 9, 1930—88 years ago today--Andrew “Rube” Foster, the Calvert native who’s regarded as the “father of Negro baseball,” died at the age of 51. Foster, who was born in 1879, started his professional baseball career with the Waco Yellow Jackets in 1897, founded the Negro League in 1920. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 9th is one of the Ásatrú-specific "Days of Remembrance" -- to be precise, remembrance of Egill Skallagrímsson, the hero of the eponymous Icelandic "Egill's Saga".

Ásatrú, of course, is not really a specific religion, it is more a family of loosely related Norse or Germanic neopagan mythos. In Iceland, it goes by the jaw-breaker of a name "Ásatrúarfélagið" and, as Egill Skallagrímsson was an Icelandic hero, it is only right that we should mispronounce the right word; much better than mispronouncing the wrong word, if I do say so.

Anyway... Egill is typically described as a "Viking poet, warrior and farmer." Sort of a Nordic cross between Benjamin Franklin, Cher, and Bruce Lee, one would imagine.

"Egill's Saga" is an utterly unreliable source of history, but it is full enough of intrigue, gambling, cheating, assassination, bloodthirsty axe-on-axe viking manliness, and the occasional snowstorm that it might make for a good movie script some time.

And neopagans with a penchant for mead and old poetry celebrate Egill on this date every year, presumably in full costume, or at the very least in silly hats, which lend credence to any festival.

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 10, 1838—180 years ago today—Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was inaugurated as the second president of the Republic of Texas in a marathon ceremony in which his predecessor, Sam Houston, appeared in colonial garb and delivered a three-hour address. Lamar, who was apparently indisposed, had his secretary deliver his inaugural address in which he said his administration was committed to promoting the country’s wealth, talent and enterprises and to laying foundations of higher institutions for moral and mental culture. He crafted a proposal that led to a measure that set land aside as an endowment for public schools and two universities. The school system wasn’t established for decades, but his advocacy earned him the sobriquet of “Father of Texas Education.”

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 10, 1317 C.E., at Nyköping Castle in Sweden, the "Nyköpings Gästabud" (Nyköping Banquet) was nominally intended to be a Christmastime attempt at reconciliation between the three sovereign states into which Sweden had been divided by agreement in 1310. 

King Birger welcomed his two dukes and brothers, Valdemar and Eric, whose previously unsuccessful coup attempt had, while not able to depose the King, had nevertheless been popular enough that full reconciliation proved impossible.

Little surprise, of course, that tensions would be so high between the three brothers; in 1290, 10 year old Birger had been elected as successor to the throne upon the death of their father Magnus Ladulås -- in 1293, the feud became open and violent, but most nobles supported Birger, and by 1306, peace had been seemingly achieved... only to be upended by Eric and Valdemar managing to imprison Birger in what came to be known as "Håtunaleken" ("The Håtuna Games"). Within four years more, the kingdom was divided in three, and "peace" reigned.

Seven years later... King Birger and Queen Märta invited the two nobles to this holiday feast, but after the party, the dukes' retinues were not housed in Nyköping Castle the night of Dec. 10 / morning of Dec. 11, owing to "lack of space". Whatever else they might have been accused of, Valdemar and Eric can certainly be accused of "death by foolish carelessness." 

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, with their followers miles off and unable to help, Birger had them arrested, manacled, thrown into the dungeon, and left to starve to death. He reportedly taunted them as their cell doors were closing with the words: "Mynnes jder nakot aff hatwna leek? Fulgörla mynnes han mik." ("Remember ye aught of the Håtuna Games? I remember them clearly.")

[HouTex 1,847]

1926 2nd part of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf published

1936 Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson

1942 An early report the Holocaust prepared by the Polish government-in-exile, using information obtained by Witold Pilecki, is addressed to UN member states

1968 Joe Frazier beats Oscar Bonavena in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

December 10 apparently is a big day for Nobel Prize announcements.  A ton of people received them on this date, including  the Curie's, Teddy Roosevelt, Fermi, Begin, Sadat, Rabin, Peres, Arafat, MLK, Tutu, Woodrow Wilson, Walesa, and others.

[mulletpelini 5,209]

1997 my oldest kid was born.  Also Grant Wistrom won the Outland and Tom Osborne retired.  Bittersweet.

[El Diablo 4,232]

Dec. 11, 1972, Apollo 17's lunar module landed on the moon with astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt aboard; they became the last two men to date to step onto the lunar surface.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 11th in Argentina is "Día Nacional del Tango" ("National Tango Day").

The tango, of course, is the emblematic dance of Argentine culture, being instantly recognizable and strongly associated with the cosmopolitan Buenos Aires of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Montevideo, Uruguay, also formed a hub of the new genre in the late 1800s, but it quickly grew in popularity in Argentina, and its spread accompanied the rise of the Argentine economy (at the time of WW I, for example, Argentina's GDP actually outpaced that of the United States -- an object lesson that pride goeth before a fall).

Among the leading figures in the history of Tango are the composer Julio de Caro, singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel and composers/performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Osvaldo Pugliese, and Ástor Piazzolla.

In 1977, the government instituted the national holiday in recognition of the birthdays of Julio de Caro and Carlos Gardel (December 11, 1899 for de Caro, and December 11, 1890 for Gardel).

[Stoogey 219]

1957. Jerry Lee "The Killer" Lewis, 22, marries his third wife, his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown.
 

 

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 12, 1930—88 years ago today—Baptist pastor J. Frank Norris, the editor of The Fundamentalist, denounced a college professor during a rally in the courthouse square in Canyon for teaching evolution. Norris’ target was Professor Leo Dufolt of what was then West Texas Teachers College (now West Texas A&M), who organized and chaired the school’s sociology department. Norris had challenge Dufolt to a debate that day, but the professor declined, saying he preferred to play golf. Norris, a Baylor graduate, condemned him as "an orangutang, (sic) God-denying, Bible-destroying, evolutionist professor" with atheistic tendencies and called for his dismissal. The school’s board of regents did call him in, but he defended himself and continued to teach at the university until his retirement in 1955.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 12, 1925, the Majlis of Iran (The "Islamic Consultative Assembly" -- Persian: مجلس شورای اسلامی Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī) crowned Reza Khan as the first Shah of the Pahlavi Dynasty. The Majlis lives on, of course, making Iran (ironically to American ears) the oldest democracy in South Asia. The Shahs, on the other hand, are a relic of history.

The constitutional dynasty Reza Shah implemented after his election lasted until the 1979 overthrow during the Iranian Revolution. The reign of the Pahlavi Shahs remains controversial amongst all students of Iranian/Persian history – at once a modernizing force responsible for social, political and economic reforms which transformed Iran from an almost medieval theocratic state into a thriving society replete with a growing middle class, increasing freedom and stature for women in particular, and a clear division of church and state...

On the other hand… the Shahs were among the most repressive heads of state in the history of a region rife with examples of despots. Secret police, torture, assassinations and “disappearing persons” were standard operating procedure. Political opposition came from not just the Mullahs (who were eventually the successful revolutionaries), but also from those on the political left who felt that a conversion to a more democratic form of government, coupled with increasing judicial reforms and checks on the power of the monarchy, would best lead to the economic prosperity necessary to truly transform Iranian society.

The warm relationship between Reza Shah and Adolph Hitler (on the eve of World War II, Germany was Iran's largest trading partner) is a good example of why the modern anti-Iranian sentiment rampant in the U.S. (based on nostalgia for our old “good buddies” the Shahs) may, perhaps, be somewhat misplaced. Ironically, as repressive as the modern theocracy of Iran can be, it is still (on balance) in many ways marginally better than life under the Pahlavis, and is definitely more democratic.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 13th is yet another of those days that demonstrate just how much shared cultural identity has been lost in the evolution of theology in all the intervening centuries between the rise of ancient Rome and the 21st century. 

On this day in the Republic (and probably predating the establishment of “Rome” as we know it), the goddess Tellus was worshipped in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill, and a lectisternium or table was spread for her theological successor (of whom slightly more folk are aware), Ceres.

In her original manifestation, Tellus was also often referred to as Terra Mater, or “Mother Earth”. Here, we are on more familiar territory, ironically, as the original “Mother Earth” concept is shared with numerous other early deities in the ancient world, and her symbols did not vary much from one culture to another – in fact, this is where the cornucopia symbol we still use today (especially at Thanksgiving time) came from, as did the word “Easter” (from the goddess Oester), signifying Mother Earth’s role in both conception/planting, and birth/harvest.

Festivals associated with this goddess almost always focused on her role in agriculture, as the Roman feast did. However, there was another side to the celebration of Mother Earth which became increasingly detached from her original manifestations as society became less egalitarian and more masculine and warlike.

Astarte, Ishtar, Ashtoret… however the Babylonians, Phoenicians, or early Hebrews chose to worship this goddess, she evolved as she moved westward into split personalities – the first references to the Greek Demeter (Roman Ceres), for example, emphasize not only her agricultural prowess, but also her lustiness… until the warlike Greeks chose to split her personality so that the less controlled, more passionate side of fertility (clearly expressed as powerful female sexuality) was relegated to Aphrodite (who became Venus), and agriculture stopped being an attractive (in the romantic sense) profession, more’s the pity. If there’s a hotter couple in English literature than the farmers Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene, I don’t know who they’d be.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

1545- The Council of Trent begins. Prompted by the Reformation, the Council is known as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. During the Council, which lasted in 25 sessions over 20 years, outlined the heresy of Protestantism as well as introducrd new church practices to help keep monarchs, and their money, Catholic. 

Among the declarations, Justification was said to require human cooperation to receive Devine grace as opposed to “passive reception” or Faith Alone Doctrine in Protestantism; that Christ is “truly present“ in the consecrated form of the seven sacraments; Ordination in where an “indelible character” of the soul is branded on an individual making consent of the people for Church actions unnecessary; that divorced people could not remarry if the former spouse was alive; purgatory and the Holyness of the Saints was affirmed; Rules on Church art which would affect the entire Renaissance art world; the use of indulgences was prohibited and that tithing was equal to doing Good Works for the Church. 

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by Doc Reeves

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 14th is “World Monkey Day” – an unofficial holiday celebrating non-human primates (monkeys, apes, tarsiers, and lemurs). Artists Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin created Monkey Day in order to spread awareness for the animals, and to show love and care for them.

While the day is in and of itself worthwhile in terms of spreading ecological awareness, its origins are also uniquely suited to demonstrating just how random life and culture can be. When Sorrow and Millikin were students at Michigan State University in the year 2000, Sorrow jokingly wrote “Monkey Day” on a friend’s calendar… and then Millikin decided the joke was worthy of inclusion in his controversial weekly romantic horror comic “Fetus-X”. 

How a joke in a serial comic written by an art student who had previously worked as a human lab embalmer and dissectionist became an international holiday is one of those head-scratchers that only the writers of “The Twilight Zone” could fully appreciate.

In any event, ever since, Monkey Day has been celebrated internationally, across countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, Pakistan, Estonia and the United Kingdom. Hallmark has gotten into the act, with Monkey Day cards, and the company explains that it is the “one day when monkey-business is actually encouraged.”

I suggest a banana and a showing of the Marx Brothers’ “Monkey Business” today. Or go pet a lemur, if you can get close enough. (The banana and a movie idea is probably more practical, but what does practicality have to do with “World Monkey Day”?)

[HouTex 1,847]

1287 During St. Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with loss of over 50,000 lives. Fifth largest recorded flood in history

1542 Princess Mary Stuart succeeds her father James V and becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland at 6 days old

1782 Charleston, South Carolina evacuated by British

1915 Jack Johnson is 1st black world heavyweight boxing champion

1920 Jack Dempsey KOs Bill Brennan in 12 for heavyweight boxing title in NYC

1941 PM Winston Churchill travels to US on board HMS Duke of York

1944 Congress establishes rank of General of Army (5-star General)

1967 DNA created in a test tube

1969 Jackson Five made their 1st appearance on "Ed Sullivan Show"

1980 At 2 PM EST there is 10 minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon

1984 Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football

1993 Muslim fundamentalists murder 12 Croates/Bosnians in Algeria

1998 64th Heisman Trophy Award: Ricky Williams, Texas (RB)

2003 President George W. Bush announces the capture of Saddam Hussein.

2012 28 people, including 20 children, are shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

2017 Suicide bomber kills at least 18 police officers at a training centre parade in Mogadishu, Somalia, Islamic group al-Shabab claim responsibility

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

1773- The Boston Tea Wicked Pissa Ripper

1944- WWII: The Battle of the Bulge begins

1653- Oliver Cromwell is named Lord Protectorate of the Commonwealth of England. He then cancels Christmas.

1989- Walter LeRoy Moody begins his bomb streak killing Judge Robert Smith Vance in AL.He would also kill Robert E Robertson two days later. He was caught, convicted and executed on 4/19/2018 as the oldest person to be executed in modern US history at 83 

1978- Cleveland, Ohio defaults on its financial obligations

1707- Last Recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji in Japan

1575- the 8.5 magnitude Valdivia earthquake strikes Chile.

1497- V. de Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope

1431- 100 Years War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Noter Dame in Paris.

1980- Gambino boss Paul Castellano is gunned down in front of Starks Steak House in Manhattan, NYC while John Gotti watched from across the street

 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by Doc Reeves

[Stoogey 219]

1980. Colonel Sanders kicks the bucket.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 16, 1826, empresario Haden Edwards declared the Republic of Fredonia (roughly the modern metropolis of Nacogdoches, Texas, and a few surrounding acres) to be independent of Mexican-controlled Texas.

The legality (or lack thereof) for Edwards’ claim is hardly in dispute for anyone who can read a contract, and, in fact, even his status as an “empresario” is in question. Only one man, Moses Austin, was granted an empresarial contract under Spanish law, making him eligible to recruit settlers to a colonial land grant; Edwards’ contract was with the Mexican government, and the rules were significantly different, most notably in their prohibition on slavery.

Edwards’ complaints against the Mexican government essentially boiled down to this: numerous plots in his 1825 land grant legally belonged under Mexican law to numerous indigenous tribes, in addition to several freedmen who had escaped slavery in the American South; when Edwards began to colonize his territory, he ignored those legal claims and gave away the land of anyone who was not white.

Texas high school history books frequently whitewash Edwards’ genocidal revolution, calling it the prelude to the Texas Revolution, and hailing it as a step towards “freedom”. It was anything but. It may have been short-lived (Stephen F. Austin, himself, sent support northward from his own colony to help suppress the Fredonian uprising, owing to its obvious illegality and immorality), but it presaged not the Texas Revolution, but rather the Civil War.

Meanwhile, traveling Vaudeville act "The Marx Brothers" spent an evening in Nacogdocches once, leading both to a running gag (Groucho spoke of his "Night in Nacogdoches" for his entire career), and inspiring the name of the belligerent homeland in "Duck Soup" -- "Hail, Hail Fredonia!"

[BillyGoatHill 4,276]

December 16, 1944. Hitler launches a surprise attack in the Ardennes in an attempt to break the Allies line and reach Antwerp, hoping to force the Allies to reach some type of truce. Though an initial "Bulge" is created, Allied Divisions, including the 82nd and 101st Airborne are thrown into the fray and eventually break the German attack. This badass below is said to have told this to an allied tank some eight days later on December 23, 1944.  (sorry, text might not all be able to be seen)  PFC Martin to an American tanker......"Hey buddy, looking for a safe place?"  Yeah, said the tanker. "Well, buddy......just pull your vehicle behind me......"

Edited December 16, 2018 by BillyGoatHill

[Brisketexan 104,465]

December 16, 1944. Hitler launches a surprise attack in the Ardennes in an attempt to break the Allies line and reach Antwerp, hoping to force the Allies to reach some type of truce. Though an initial "Bulge" is created, Allied Divisions, including the 82nd and 101st Airborne are thrown into the fray and eventually break the German attack. This badass below is said to have told this to an allied tank some eight days later on December 23, 1944.  (sorry, text might not all be able to be seen)  PFC Martin to an American tanker......"Hey buddy, looking for a safe place?"  Yeah, said the tanker. "Well, buddy......just pull your vehicle behind me......"

That’s pretty fucking badass.

[Parliament 14,112]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

That’s pretty fucking badass.

1234

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 17, 1951—67 years ago today—Austin native John Henry Faulk, made his radio debut on WCBS in New York City. The show featured music and political humor as well as audience participation. Faulk, who was already an accomplished storyteller, broke into radio with the help of folklorist Alan Lomax, also an Austin native. His radio career was short-lived, however. It ended in 1957 after a for-profit corporation that investigated the political leanings of entertainers branded him a Communist. Faulk sued the corporation, AWARE, in 1957 and in June 1962 won a $3.5 million judgement, which at the time was the largest libel award in history. He died in 1990 at the age of 76.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 17th marks the Urs of Mewlānā (the anniversary of Rumi's death), called Šabe Arūs (شب عروس) (Persian meaning "nuptial night"), the night of Rumi's union with God. It is the final and main day of the two week long Mewlānā Festival in Turkey.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى), more commonly referred to simply as “Rumi” was the 13th century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, legal theorist, and Sufi mystic whose influence and spiritual legacy have been important for the more mystical branches of Islam (and, truth be told, mystical practitioners of Catholic and Eastern/Greek/Russian Orthodox Christianity, as well), from Sicily to Bangladesh.

Rumi’s works are written mostly in Persian, though he was also fluent in Turkish, Arabic and Greek. While he is honored throughout the literary world, Turkey is perhaps the strongest focal point of celebrations among Sufis and other Muslims regarding Rumi, his poetry, and his vision. While he took his devotion to Islam and the Q'uran seriously, he was nevertheless one of the first strong proponents of multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue. One of his more famous sutras reads:

"On the seeker’s path, wise men and fools are one.
In His love, brothers and strangers are one.
Go on! Drink the wine of the Beloved!
In that faith, Muslims and pagans are one."

Ironically, under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, revered in Turkey as the founder of modern secular government and Western-style liberal freedoms separating church and state, official celebration of Rumi’s legacy was essentially outlawed for roughly three decades, though it made a comeback in the 1950s.

Since then, celebrations have become extremely popular, and in particular, performances of the Whirling Dervishes (the most visible symbol of Sufism with which the rest of the world might be familiar) have become fixtures.

[Stoogey 219]

1903. First powered flight. Wright Brothers, Kitty Hawk, NC. 


 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 18, 218 B.C.E., Carthaginian forces under Hannibal provoked Roman general Tiberius Sempronius Longus (the George Pickett of ancient Rome, for those seeking a parallel -- squat, pompous, self-assured, and... of course... an idiot) into attacking straight into a superior position that, simply, could not have been taken with 10 times the men. 

This was the the Battle of the Trebia, the first major battle of the 2nd Punic War, taking place in the flat country of the Province of Piacenza on the left bank of the Trebia River, just south from its confluence with the Po river. Studying Hannibal's conflicts with the Romans yields layer after delicious layer of irony -- time and time again, he proved to have a superior tactical understanding, which led him to victory in circumstances where the Romans clearly had the better army. 

And from a classical understanding of military strategy, he often *seemed* to be better on that score, too... only... the classical understanding is flawed. Smart as he was, the dude was just plain dumb to have fought the war in the first place. Carthage was more or less attempting a grand scale version of Tiberius' ill-fated assault, and, of course, they ultimately got their ground salted in consequence. Putting your troops in superior strategic positions is a pointless exercise if they shouldn't have been put in *any* position.

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 18, 1860—158 years ago today—Texas Rangers under the command of Lawrence “Sul” Ross attacked a Comanche hunting camp and were surprised to discover that one of their captives had blue eyes. She turned out to be Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped more than 24 years earlier on May 19, 1836 when Comanche raiders attacked Fort Parker in present day Limestone County. Parker never adjusted to living in white society, made several attempts to return to her Comanche family, and died at her sister’s home in East Texas about a decade after her rescue. The rescue turned her oldest son, Quanah Parker, into the scourge of Texas settlers. Later he embraced white culture and became perhaps the wealthiest American Indian of his day in the U.S. He had his mother’s body moved to a cemetery near Cache, Okla., and after his death she was reinterred near his grave at Fort Sill, Okla.

[Stoogey 219]

1943. Happy Birthday, Keith Richards!
 

 

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 19th, 1974, Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States in the U.S. Senate chamber by Chief Justice Warren Burger with President Gerald R. Ford looking on.

Weird side note, I do not remember this event. If you had told me that Rockefeller had been VP I would have asked "when?". 

[phdhorn 6,224]

Not too surprising... he had cabinet positions under FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower.   He also almost became Nixon's VP.

You want weird?  Apparently he died fucking a 25-year-old aide.  I mean literally died while fucking.  Googlez it.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

19 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

December 19th, 1974, Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States in the U.S. Senate chamber by Chief Justice Warren Burger with President Gerald R. Ford looking on.

Weird side note, I do not remember this event. If you had told me that Rockefeller had been VP I would have asked "when?". 

Well since there was no election it's not really weird. He replaced a resigning/indicted Spiro Agnew.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

3 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Not too surprising... he had cabinet positions under FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower.   He also almost became Nixon's VP.

You want weird?  Apparently he died fucking a 25-year-old aide.  I mean literally died while fucking.  Googlez it.

That's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.  Kudos sir kudos !!!

[phdhorn 6,224]

I guess you could say he rockedhisfellersoff until he died.

I hope my son can say "I know... my father went the same way."

Edited December 19, 2018 by phdhorn

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

4 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Well since there was no election it's not really weird. He replaced a resigning/indicted Spiro Agnew.

Actually, Gerald Ford replaced Spiro Agnew, Rockefeller replaced Ford as VP when he replace Nixon as President.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

2 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Actually, Gerald Ford replaced Spiro Agnew, Rockefeller replaced Ford as VP when he replace Nixon as President.

That's right, sorry, forgot about that little bit of succession history.  I followed all that stuff as a kid, even kept the front section of our local newspaper when Nixon resigned.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Onboard 2.0

[El Diablo 4,232]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Actually, Gerald Ford replaced Spiro Agnew, Rockefeller replaced Ford as VP when he replace Nixon as President.

Thanks for the refresher. I remember Spiro stepping down but didn't think it thru and it kinda explains why I didn't remember The Rock being VP, if only briefly. Bob Dole was the VP candidate when Ford ran for election after completing his unelected term. And thus began the Carter years. I mean Rosalynn of course.

[El Diablo 4,232]

2 hours ago, phdhorn said:

Not too surprising... he had cabinet positions under FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower.   He also almost became Nixon's VP.

You want weird?  Apparently he died fucking a 25-year-old aide.  I mean literally died while fucking.  Googlez it.

He finally overcame himself.

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

2 hours ago, phdhorn said:

Not too surprising... he had cabinet positions under FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower.   He also almost became Nixon's VP.

You want weird?  Apparently he died fucking a 25-year-old aide.  I mean literally died while fucking.  Googlez it.

This isn't Nam.

 

[phdhorn 6,224]

Yeah, there was a reason I didn't post it .

However she might have cleaned up nicely and well I guess at least those lips were worth it before he croaked. Maybe? this one's better, I dunno:

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

Yeah, i definitely cherry picked my photo.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 20th marks the earliest date on which Winter Solstice celebrations take place (though the technical date of the solstice actually varies somewhat, technicalities and parties seldom make a good mixture). In Iran, this celebration is unique in numerous ways… and yet it gives us great insight into culture, theology, and parties.

Shab-e Chelleh ("night of forty", Persian: شب چلّه) or Shab-e Yaldā ("Yalda night" Persian: شب یلدا) is the Iranian festival marking the longest and darkest night of the year, which in the Iranian civil calendar is the night between the last day of the ninth month (Azar) and the first day of the tenth month (Dae).

Dating back to Zoroastrian Persia, the evil forces of Ahriman, also known as Angra Mainyu (the entity who evolved into the Judeo-Christian-Muslim "Devil" or "Satan") were assumed to be strongest on the longest night, and folk stayed up all night and got together for feasts, singing, telling stories, and generally trying to be as happy as possible, so as to ward off evil. The next day, the first day of Dae, was then a happy celebration, though of course, somewhat muted by the fact that everyone was so sleepy.

While the religious context is completely different now (Islamic Persia, aka Iran, no longer believes in the association of “night” and Ahriman), many of the traditions have persisted unto this day.

The parallels with how most of the world celebrates New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day are not surprising.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 21, 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims set foot for the first time on what became Plymouth Rock. Having arrived in Provincetown Harbour over a month earlier, it took the Pilgrims roughly 40 days to decide on the appropriate place to build winter quarters.

Naturally, actual construction of the cabins in which they would reside took several weeks to complete; most of the passengers remained on board the tiny Mayflower, where they had been for a full six months. 

While the depictions of the landing of the Mayflower in art often show a healthy New England autumn such as one might find on bank calendars or Norman Rockwell paintings, the reality was actually quite stark. Landing at the beginning of a cruel Massachusetts winter, 45 of the 102 passengers died over the next several months, and were buried on Cole’s Hill.

The survivors went on to get government handouts from the local authorities (in the form of venison, maize, turkey, pumpkins and various other exotic local foodstuffs), and the rest is history. Of a sort.

[Parliament 14,112]

Wait. illegal immigrants crossed water and came to America with no prospect for work, and only did it for free handouts. Not cool, Pilgrim. Not cool.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

Did they climb over the wall

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

Fuck dbl post

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

Fuck trpl post

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

1864- Sherman takes Savanah. It was not fun for the Georgians. 

1894- The Dreyfus Affair: French Officer Alford Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason and sent to Devils Island. The affair is often seen as a modern and universal symbol of injustice and it remains one of the most notable examples of a complex, orchestrated miscarriage of justice and antisemitism in modern history.

2001- Richard Reid attempts to detonate explosives in his shoe in an attempt to bring down AA Flight 63

1989- Berlins Brandonberg Gate is opened after 30 years effectively joining east and west 

1984- Vigilante Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 black teen would-be muggers on the Manhattan Line subway in the Bronx with an unlicensed hand gun injuring all and leaving one a quadriplegic. He was acquitted of all but one handgun charge against the back drop of NYCs monumental crime problem at the time sparking massive support/outrage. Several years later one of the victims was awarded a $43 Million civil settlement against him.

1964- Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity 

1964- First flight of the SR-71 Blackbird

1944- WWII: Germans demand the surrender of American forces in Bastogne, Belgium to which Gen. Anthony McAuliffe famously responds “Nuts!”

1937- Lincoln tunnel opens to traffic in NYC

1849- The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second 

1807- The Embargo Act- championed by President Thomas Jefferson, restricting trade with other nations is passed

1809- The Non-Intercourse Act is passed by US Congress lifting the Embargo act on everyone but England and France because, you know, it was stupid as shit.

69- Emperor Vitellius is captured and murdered at the Germonian stairs in Rome.

 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

On December 23, 583 C.E., Yohl Ik’nal, also known as Lady Kan Ik and Lady K'anal Ik'nal was crowned queen of the Maya city-state of Palenque, ruling until her death on November 4, 604 C.E.

The first female ruler of any city-state in Mayan history, the circumstances behind her accession to the throne are not actually known, though given the warlike patriarchy of Maya civilization, the situation in Palenque must have been dire for them to break with tradition. In fact, shortly after her rise to power, Palenque became a vassal state to Calakmul, one of the two great Maya powers during the Classic Period.

Yohl Ik’nal stayed in power after the defeat, and eventually either she or her successor (Ajen Yohl Mat – again, the records aren’t clear whether he was her son, or her nephew) successfully rebelled against Calakmul. Palenque survived for roughly another two centuries after her reign ended.

Yohl Ik’nal was depicted twice on the sarcophagus of her grandson or great-grandson K'inich Janaab Pakal I (widely recognized as the most important ruler in the history of Palenque) and in bas relief on the wall of his tomb, suggesting that she herself was held in high esteem by the people of Palenque.