11/04 Open Thread - King Tut Day

King Tut was not an autocrat, though his dad certainly was. Of course, he inherited the throne as a little kid, so the early part of his reign pretty much involved doing what his advisors said. It needs be noted, I guess, that these were bona fide advisors, eminenes grises, as it were, there to give advice; not US style "advisors" who are professional soldiers who assist in the overthrow or non-aligned governments, prop up allied autocracies, assist in wars against non-aligned states and the like, such as those we sent to Vietnam. His main accomplishments were reactionary, undoing his dads innovations such as moving the capital out of Thebes and worshipping Aten instead of the traditional gods. He died when he was 19, having accomplished very little, but he left a beautiful sarcophagus.

Castillo Armas was born on 11/04/1914. He was one of our many autocratic fascist SOBs. Per da wiki:

In June 1954, Castillo Armas led 480 CIA-trained soldiers into Guatemala, backed by US-supplied aircraft. Despite initial setbacks to the rebel forces, US support for the rebels made the Guatemalan army reluctant to fight, and Árbenz resigned on 27 June. A series of military juntas briefly held power during negotiations that ended with Castillo Armas assuming the presidency on 7 July.

He was but the first of a series of US backed authoritarian dictators in Guatemala.

The NSA was created on 11/04/1952 to spy on everybody, at home and abroad, so that we could know who to silence, who to snuff, who to coup, who to rat out to the fascist dictator running their country, etc.

On 11/04/1970 Allende was elected. We started a total economic war on Chile in the hopes that the people would rise against him. When they didn't, we sicced our boy Pinochet on pretty much the entire population.

Then, on 11/04/1979 Iranian students seized the combined US Embassy and CIA headquarters as payback for the US overthrowing Mossadegh and installing Shah Reza Pahlavi. One chicken coming home to roost.

**********

On this day in history:

On November 4, 1783, Mozart's Symphony No. 36 was performed for the first time. .

On November 4, 1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, discovered that chloroform had anaesthetic properties .

On November 4, 1492, 1922 Howard Carter et. al. found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb.

On November 4, 1924, Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first female elected as a governor in the United States. Long time a'comin, as they say.

On November 4, 1952, The US established the NSA to spy on all of us and everybody else too.

On November 4, 1960, Dr Jane Goodall watched chimpanzees create tools, eliminating one claim to human superiority.

On November 4, 1970, Salvador Allende became the first Marxist to be elected president of a Latin American country. The US, of course, could not, would not and did not let this stand, unleashing a rain of horror through a reign of terror upon the Chilean populace for having the temerity to elect somebody other than a corporatist toady. This is probably our greatest victory in our war against democracy and/or marxist ideologies, easily surpassing Guatemala, Honduras, Persia, and Brazil; but we haven't stopped trying in Venezuela yet and may someday succeed in unleashing unimaginable hell on that poor country far beyond the starvation sanctions we've already placed upon them.

On November 4, 1979, A group of Iranian college students overran the U.S. embassy/CIA H.Q. in Tehran and took 90 hostages as pay back for the US overthrowing their government and installing the Shah.

On November 4, 2008 – Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected President of the US.

**********

Some people who were born on this day:

The Cold War is over but Cold War thinking survives.

~~ Joseph Rotblat

1853 – Anna Bayerová, physician 1861 – Alice Gossage, journalist, editor and activist 1884 – Harry Ferguson, engineer credited with inventing the tractor 1887 – Alfred Lee Loomis, physicist, invented LORAN 1889 – Alton Adams, composer and bandleader 1908 – Joseph Rotblat, physicist and academic with a serious conscience 1914 – Carlos Castillo Armas, The first of a series of US backed authoritarian rulers of Guatemala 1916 – Walter Cronkite, journalist, 1921 – Mary Sherman Morgan, scientist and engineer 1926 – Carlos "Patato" Valdes, conga player and composer; inventor of tunable congas 1928 – Larry Bunker, drummer and vibraphonist 1932 – Tommy Makem, singer and songwriter 1933 – Charles K. Kao, physicist and engineer 1940 – Delbert McClinton, singer, songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist 1956 – James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist, songwriter, pretender 1961 – Edward Knight, composer

**********

Some people who died on this day:

"I have received many engineering awards but I hope I will always be remembered as an advocate for the rights of women and children.”.

~~ Elsie MacGill

1847 – Felix Mendelssohn, pianist, composer, and conductor 1930 – Buddy Bolden, cornet player and bandleader 1959 – Friedrich Waismann, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher; member of the Vienna Circle 1980 – Elsie MacGill, engineer and author; Queen of the Hurricanes 1992 – George Klein, engineer, invented the motorized wheelchair 1997 – Richard Hooker, novelist 2020 – Ken Hensley, singer, songwriter, and musician

**********

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: King Tut Day National Candy Day Job Action Day National Skeptics Day Use Your Common Sense Day

Common Sense? Really?

“Common sense is not so common.” Voltaire, A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary

“Common sense is what tells us the earth is flat.” Stuart Chase, Language in Thought and Action

“Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.” Rene Descartes

**********

Today's Tunes

King Tut Day

Trending Articles