January 22 is Roe v Wade Day

On January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court Issued its decision in the case of Roe v Wade. In that case, the court took some limited cognizance of the idea that women should have a right to own and control their own persons and bodies including making health, medical, and reproductive decisions, but also held that that right needed to be balanced against the overriding interests of dominionists, theocrats and other religionists in owning and regulating women and their lives and behaviors. They accordingly granted women a limited right to choose to have an abortion but also held that these others had the right to forbid and prohibit such a course after the second trimester of pregnancy. This case became a political football with pro and anti factions using their support or opposition to solicit votes.

It is a sad commentary on the status of women in this country that the court had to step in and grant women the right to own and control their persons and bodies, and sadder yet that it was empowered to do so. Worse yet, it was also empowered to restrict and limit that right and, yet worse, it chose to do so. Lastly, a subsequent iteration of that same court saw fit, on June 24,2022 to overturn Roe, extinguishing even that limited right of self ownership which was, to an extent, taken for granted since the earliest days of the settler colonization of this continent. Deeply religious countries like Spain, home of "Their Most Catholic Majesties", Ferdinand and Isabella, and their famous inquisition(s) have no difficulty according women this fundamental right, but the U.S. for all of its braggadocio and posturing with respect to human rights and democracy, will not. While not completely chattels, at least, not in many cases, women are still vastly less than equal to their male counterparts, owned and controlled in their persons and bodies by courts, legislators and governors in conjunction with their parents during their early lives and their husbands later on. USA, The land of the Not Quite Free yet.

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On this day in history:

1879 – The Zulu defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana 1879 – The British defeated the Zulu at the Battle of Rorke's Drift 1890 – The United Mine Workers of America was founded 1944 – Allied forces attacked Anzio and Nettuno 1946 – Central Intelligence Group (to become the CIA)was created 1947 – KTLA, the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi, began operation. 1968 – Apollo 5 took off with the first Lunar module 1970 – The Boeing 747's maiden commercial flight 1971 – The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, was issued. 1973 – Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton granted women limited control over their bodies for the first six months of pregnancy (only) 1987 – Philippine security forces opened fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañang Palace, Manila, killing 13. 1998 – Space shuttle Endeavour launches to dock with the Russian space station Mir 2006 – Evo Morales became the first indigenous President of Boliva

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Some people who were born on this day:

“Money is a great servant but a bad master.”

~~ Francis Bacon 1552 – Walter Raleigh, imperialist ne'er-do-well who popularized tobacco 1561 – Francis Bacon, philisopher, scientist, empiricist, author and politician 1573 – John Donne, poet 1592 – Pierre Gassendi, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher 1645 – William Kidd, businessman 1729 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, philosopher 1733 – Philip Carteret, admiral and explorer, discovered Pitcairn Island 1788 – Lord Byron, poet 1796 – Karl Ernst Claus, chemist, botanist, and academic, discovered ruthenium 1849 – August Strindberg, novelist, poet, painter, and playwright 1858 – Beatrice Webb, sociologist, economist, socialist and reformer 1865 – Wilbur Scoville, chemist and pharmacist, inventor of the scoville unit and scoville scale 1879 – Francis Picabia, painter and poet 1887 – Helen Hoyt, poet and author 1891 – Antonio Gramsci, philosopher and politician, founding member of the CPI 1897 – Dilipkumar Roy, musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist. 1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, screenwriter and director 1904 – George Balanchine, dancer and choreographer 1906 – Robert E. Howard, author, created conan the barbarian 1908 – Lev Landau, physicist and academic, 1922 – Howard Moss, poet, playwright and critic 1924 – J. J. Johnson, trombonist and composer 1931 – Sam Cooke, singer and songwriter 1936 – Alan J. Heeger, physicist and chemist, 1946 – Malcolm McLaren, singer, songwriter and manager 1949 – Steve Perry, singer, songwriter, and producer 1956 – Steve Riley, drummer 1960 – Michael Hutchence, singer and songwriter 1962 – Jimmy Herring, guitarist 1965 – Steven Adler, drummer 1968 – Heath, singer, songwriter and bass player 1977 – Mario Domm, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer

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Some people who died on this day:

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.

~~ Lyndon B Johnson 1170 – Wang Chongyang, Daoist and co-founder of the Quanzhen School 1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, organist and composer 1840 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, physician, physiologist, and anthropologist 1900 – David Edward Hughes, physicist, co-invented the microphone 1901 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom 1922 – Camille Jordan, mathematician and academic 1925 – Fanny Bullock Workman, geographer, cartographer, and mountain climber 1930 – Stephen Mather, businessman and conservationist, 1945 – Else Lasker-Schüler, poet and playwright 1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, the last Johnson Democrat 1993 – Kōbō Abe, playwright, novelist, and photographer 2004 – Billy May, trumpet player and composer 2005 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican pianist and songwriter 2018 – Ursula K. Le Guin, sci-fi and fantasy novelist

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: International Sweatpants Day National Hot Sauce Day Roe vs. Wade Day

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Today's Tunes

Central Intelligence (HEH) Group