The last time I did a January 15th column, I led with this:
As many (most?) of us know (or should know) by now, the US' and states' Gedankenpolizei have long targeted "deviant" thought and groups, meaning anybody but mainstream conformists and those to the right or far right thereof. Examples include zoot suiters, civil rights activists, beatniks, socialists, union organizers, hippies, peaceniks, juggalos and totally made up shit like “Black Identity Extremists.” It appears that the UK is into the act too. The Guardian reports that:
Counter-terrorism police placed the non-violent group Extinction Rebellion (XR) on a list of extremist ideologies that should be reported to the authorities running the Prevent programme, which aims to catch those at risk of committing atrocities ...
The full linked article seems to say that also student strikers and anybody whatsoever expressing any level of concern for the environment is also some sort of very, very bad person. But of course we are, señor. ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/10/xr-extinction-rebellion-listed-extremist-ideology-police-prevent-scheme-guidance )
Boy, little did I know. The vast quantity of stuff that is taboo today boggles the mind and the governments are openly waging a war on "disinformation", as if they could know, and as if they could be trusted to make that call. The first amendment exists because they cannot. The government once claimed it had nothing to do with the bay of pigs. The Warren Commission posited what became mockingly known as the "magic bullet theory" until some secret service guy recently disclosed that he found it in the car and took it and dropped it on a stretcher. What about Saddam's WMD and mobil anthrax labs and the centrifuge tubes? I could go on for days. Ah well, such is life. But really, they, the promulgators of vast amounts of BS, who openly admit that they are in an information war with one or more "foes" are going to rule on what is fake news? That's just sad.
It is the third Monday in January which makes it Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is also Martin Luther Luther King, Jr.' Birthday.
On this day in history:
1582 – Truce of Yam-Zapolsky ended the Livonian war until the Poles invaded Muscovy in 1605.
1759 – The British Museum opened to the public
1818 – A paper was read to the Royal Society, announcing the discovery of the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals
1870 – A political cartoon first symbolized the Democratic Party with a donkey
1876 – The first newspaper in Afrikaans was published
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
1911 – The Palestinian Arabic-language newspaper Falastin was founded
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass was completed
1943 – The Pentagon was dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia.
1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
1970 – Muammar Gaddafi was proclaimed premier of Libya.
1975 – he Angolan War of Independence ended with Angola's independence
2001 – Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, was launched.
2015 – The Swiss National Bank abandoned the cap on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro
2020 – The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Japan.
Some people who were born on this day:
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
~~ Martin Luther King Jr.
1622 – Molière, actor and playwright
1623 – Algernon Sidney, politician, political theorist, and philosopher
1754 – Richard Martin,activist and politician, co-founded the Royal SPCA 1
809 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, anarchist, economist, and politician 1
842 – Josef Breuer, physician and psychiatrist
1850 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, mathematician and physicist 1
858 – Giovanni Segantini, painter
1879 – Mazo de la Roche, author and playwright
1893 – Ivor Novello, actor, dramatist, singer, composer
1908 – Edward Teller,physicist and academic, father of the H-Bomb
1909 – Gene Krupa, drummer, composer, and actor
1914 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, historian and academic
1923 – Ivor Cutler, pianist, songwriter, humorist, and poet
1929 – Earl Hooker, guitarist
1929 – Martin Luther King Jr., minister and activist
1931 – Lee Bontecou, painter and sculptor
1933 – Ernest J. Gaines, author and academic
1941 – Captain Beefheart, singer, songwriter, musician, and artist
1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, singer and songwriter
1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, composer
2004 – Grace VanderWaal, singer and songwriter
Some people who died on this day:
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
~~ Rosa Luxemburg
1896 – Mathew Brady, photographer and journalist
1919 – Karl Liebknecht, politician
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, economist, theorist, and philosopher
1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, mathematician and theorist
1955 – Yves Tanguy, surrealist painter
1964 – Jack Teagarden, singer, songwriter, and trombonist
1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, mathematician and academic
1987 – Ray Bolger, actor, singer, and dancer
1993 – Sammy Cahn, songwriter
1994 – Harry Nilsson, singer and songwriter
1996 – Les Baxter, pianist, conductor, and composer
1998 – Junior Wells, singer, songwriter, and harmonica player
2003 – Doris Fisher, singer and songwriter
2007 – James Hillier, computer scientist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope
2014 – John Dobson, astronomer and author
2015 – Kim Fowley, singer, songwriter, producer, and manager [alley oop]
2018 – Dolores O'Riordan, pop singer
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Humanitarian Day
National Bagel Day
National Booch Day
National Hat Day
National Strawberry Ice Cream Day
National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day
Wikipedia Day
Elementary School Teachers Day
Today's Tunes
MLK Jr.
Gene Krupa
Ivor Cutler
Earl Hooker
Captain Beefheart
Ronnie Van Zant
Osmo Tapio Räihälä
Grace VanderWaal
Jack Teagarden
Sammy Cahn
Harry Nillson
Les Baxter
Junior Wells
Doris Fisher
Kim Fowley
Dolores O'Riordan
Bonus Hooker
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, Hat Day, Gedankenpolizei, Gene Krupa, Earl Hooker, Harry Nillson, Junior Wells
Edited to try to fix the concatenation 07:11
