Sunday Open Thread: January 7th is NY Anti-Democracy Day (Unofficial)**

World History this day

1558 -- France took Calais from England. 1942 -- The start of the siege of the Bataan Peninsula 1959 -- The US recognized Fidel's government in  Cuba 1979 -- The Vietnamese drove Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh

US History this day

1608 -- Fire destroyed Jamestown, Virginia. 1920 -- The New York State Assembly refused to seat five legally elected Socialists ** 1980 -- Carter authorized $1.5 billion in loans to Chrysler 1999 -- The Senate's impeachment trial of Clinton started

** The State Assembly of New York State expelled 5 elected socialists for being socialists and when they were re-elected in the special election held to replace them, immediately expelled 3 of them a second time. The remaining two quit in disgust and protest at the blatant anti-democratic behavior of the ruling elites.

Science & Technology this day

1610 -- Galileo made his first observation of the four brightest Galilean moons 1785 -- Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries flew from Dover to Calais  in a gas balloon. 1927 -- The first transatlantic phone service (between New York City & London.) 1985 -- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the Sakigake deep space probe

The Arts this day 1955 -- Marian Anderson became the first person of color to perform at the Met

Misc. this day 1948 -- A Kentucky Air National Guard pilot crashed while chasing a UFO.

Birthdays of Note this day

1891 -- Zora Neale Hurston, author 1899 -- Al Bowlly, singer, songwriter and composer 1906 -- Red Allen, trumpet player 1912 -- Charles Addams, cartoonist 1922 -- Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist 1935 -- Kenny Davern, clarinet and sax player 1938 -- Paul Revere, keyboard player and songwriter 1946 -- Jann Wenner, published, co-founded Rolling Stone 1948 -- Kenny Loggins, singer and songwriter 1950 -- Juan Gabriel, singer and songwriter 1959 -- Kathy Valentine, bassist and song writer

Deaths of Note this day

1943 -- Nikola Tesla, physicist and engineer 1972 -- John Berryman, poet 2016 -- Kitty Kallen, singer

-

-

So now some music

  Marian Anderson      

Al Bowlly  

Red Allen  

Jean-Pierre Rampal  

Kenny Davern  

Paul Revere  

Kenny Loggins  

Juan Gabriel  

Kathy Valentine  

Kitty Kallen  

-

Photo: La corrupción empieza aquí by Daniel Lobo

It's an open thread, so do your thing

I have a bunch of stuff to do today, so I might not be around much.

Crossposted from http://caucus99percent.com