It's Martin Luther King Junior Day, and what can one say about such a tremendous personage?
It has often been said that "you are known by the company you keep" or words to that effect. Maybe, but that is, among other things, guilt by association, and tends to hinge to a large degree on stereotypes and generalizations. I much prefer the idea that one is known not by the company they keep, but by the enemies that they make. So let's have a look, shall we.
Jedgar Hoover Horrible, the collective antitheses of everything that the U.S. is supposed to stand for, who misused the power of a government department to illegally harass, persecute and sometimes maliciously and wrongfully prosecute those he personally disliked or disapproved of, hated Doctor King. With his private army department dedicated to the broad goals of shutting down any and all nonconformity, ideological impurities, protests, thought crime, peaceniks, things he deemed "obscene", civil liberties and civil rights he was still able to focus on a few specific individuals. Doctor King was one such, Hoover really wanted to "get" Martin Luther King Jr. To become a specific named target of Jedgar the Horrible was a mark of great distinction; Doctor King really was that important to civilization, decency, and progress in this country.
It appears that today is designated National Religious Freedom Day I note that they don't say what nation. In this country it wavers between you can be whatever type of Christian (or Jew) you please and you can pray to the god of your choice. Yeah, whatever.
It is also my favorite holiday of them all; National Nothing Day. That's right, nuttin'. Zϼ, thass rite, Z rho, nada, and all like that. Don't have any obligation to remember, celebrate, honor, respect, acknowledge, appreciate, or be concerned about anything. Nothing Day is all about ϕ, the null set, and that's just ϕne with me.
On this day in history:
0027 BC -- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus became "Augustus" kicking off the Roman Empire.
0378 -- General Siyaj K'ak' conquered Tikal
0550 -- The Ostrogoths conquered Rome
0929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba
1605 -- The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha was published
1786 -- Virginia enacted Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom
1883 – The US Civil Service was created by an act of Congress.
1909 -- Ernest Shackleton's expedition found the magnetic South Pole.
1919 -- Misguided zealots in the US ratified the Eighteenth Amendment
1920 -- The League of Nations held its first council meeting
1938 -- Benny Goodman and his band performed in concert at Carnegie Hall
1945 -- Hitler went into his underground bunker
1969 -- Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 did the first docking of manned spacecraft & first crew transfer
1979 -- Shah Reza Pahlavi fled Iran
1991 -- The start of the Gulf War
1992 – The Chapultepec Peace Accords between the US backed right wing El Salvador junta(s) and the rebels.
2003 -- The Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its final mission.
2006 -- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became President of Liberia - Africa's first elected female ruler
2020 – The first impeachment of Donald Trump went to trial in the Senate
2020 – The United States Senate ratified NAFTA 2.0
Some people who were born on this day:
It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
~~ Robert W. Service
1477 – Johannes Schöner, astronomer and cartographer
1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, author, poet, and proto-feminist
1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, composer and educator
1838 -- Franz Brentano, philosopher and psychologist
1855 -- Eleanor Marx, socialist leader, activist and author
1874 -- Robert W. Service, poet and author
1875 – Leonor Michaelis, biochemist and physician
1882 – Margaret Wilson, author
1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, chemist
1901 -- Fulgencio Batista, fascist mass torturer & murderer greatly loved by the US Government
1901 -- Frank Zamboni
1908 -- Ethel Merman, actress and singer
1914 -- Roger Wagner, conductor and educator (Robert Wagner Chorale)
1923 – Anthony Hecht, poet
1928 – William Kennedy, novelist and journalist
1932 – Dian Fossey, murdered primatologist, zoologist, and anthropologist
1933 -- Susan Sontag, author and playwright,
1934 -- Marilyn Horne, soprano and actress
1942 -- Barbara Lynn, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1943 -- Gavin Bryars, bassist and composer
1943 -- Ronnie Milsap, singer and pianist
1944 -- Dieter Moebius, keyboard player and producer
1944 -- Jim Stafford, singer, songwriter and actor
1944 -- Jill Tarter, astronomer, SETI researcher, and biologist
1956 -- Greedy Smith, singer, songwriter and keyboardist
1959 -- Sade, singer, songwriter and producer
1961 -- Kenneth Sivertsen, guitarist and composer
1962 -- Maxine Jones, singer, songwriter and actress
1965 -- Jill Sobule, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Stevie Jackson, guitarist and songwriter
1979 – Aaliyah, singer and actress
1996 – Kim Jennie, singer
Some people who died on this day:
The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
~~ Edward Gibbon
1547 – Johannes Schöner, astronomer and cartographer
1794 – Edward Gibbon, historian and politician
1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, entomologist and botanist
1891 -- Leo Delibes, pianist and composer
1957 -- Arturo Toscanini, cellist and conductor
1967 -- Robert J. Van de Graaff, physicist and academic, electrifying personality
1973 -- Edgar Sampson, musician and composer, stomped at the Savoy
1983 – Virginia Mauret, musician and dancer
1990 – Lady Eve Balfour, farmer, educator, and founding figure in the organic movement
2000 -- Will "Dub" Jones, singer
2000 -- Robert R. Wilson, physicist and academic
2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, astronomer and physicist
2009 -- Andrew Wyeth, painter
2012 -- Jimmy Castor, singer, songwriter and saxophonist
2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, pianist, conductor, and musicologist
2019 – Lorna Doom, musician
2019 – Chris Wilson, Australian musician
2021 – Phil Spector, record producer, songwriter
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Martin Luther King Day (US)
National Nothing Day (US)
National Religious Freedom Day (US)
Today's Tunes
Benny Goodman
Robert Wagner - Wow, I never heard this done as a dirge before
Barbara Lynn
Gavin Bryars
Ronnie Milsap
Dieter Moebius
Jim Stafford
Greedy Smith
Sade
Kenneth Sivertsen
Maxine Jones
Jill Sobule
Leo Delibes
Arturo Toscanini
Edgar Sampson
Will "Dub" Jones
Jimmy Castor
Phil Spector
Hey, mega bonus, the concert that put jazz on the map
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com open thread, Martin Luther King Jr, Don Quixote, Civil Service, Franz Brentano, Robert Service, Benny Goodman, Dian Fossey, Edward Gibbbon, Edgar Sampson