* That would be International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 25 is the 84th day of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Prickle-Prickle, Discord 11, 3185 YOLD, (discordian)
And let us not forget 13.0.6.6.5 by the Mayan Long Count

Down in today's history, you will note that on March 25, 1807, Britain outlawed the slave trade (though not slavery per se) throughout the British Empire. This wa an outgrowth of and follow up to the 1772 case of Somerset v Stewart before the Court of King's Bench in England. One Charles Stewart, a British Customs officer Purchased a slave named James Somerset while in Boston, in the Massachusetts Bay crown colony (one of the 13 British colonies in North America) and took him along when he returned to England. Somerset escaped, was recaptured and was imprisoned by Stewart for shipment to Jamaica and eventual resale there. An application for a writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf to determine the legality of said imprisonment. The court somehwat narrowly ruled that Somerset could not be seized and shipped abroad under British law and ergo must be set free. Usherwood, Stephen. (1981) "The Black Must Be Discharged - The Abolitionists' Debt to Lord Mansfield" History Today Volume: 31 Issue: 3. 1981. cited in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_v_Stewart

The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law [statute], which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.

In reaching this conclusion, the court found that no English statute nor any provision of English common law authorized slavery. At the time, the 13 "American" colonies were under British rule, and subject to British law, including English Common law. To this day, we have no common law of our own, but follow English common law whenever common law needs to be applied. This decision, in 1772 was something of a harbinger of death for slavery throughout the empire, and ws an additional incentive for the colonies to revolt. Though much flowery language ws then written, and is echoed today, the simple fact is that those in power in and exercising control over the colonies, the so-called "founding fathers" were almost exclusively well to do, land owning, white, male, slave owners. Somerset v Stewart struck a blow at the core of their lives and livelihoods. The closk was ticking.

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Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ...

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On this day in history:

1576 – Jerome Savage took out a sub-lease to start the Newington Butts Theatre near London
1655 – Christiaan Huygens discovered Saturn's largest moon.
1807 – The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from Oxford for publishing The Necessity of Atheism. Look on his Works, ye Morons, and despair!
1894 – Coxey's Army left Massillon, Ohio for Washington, D.C.
1911 – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory demonstrated the benefits of capitalism and business self-regulation
1931 – The Scottsboro Boys were arrested for being black and charged with rape.
1957 – United States Customs seized copies of Allen Ginsberg's Howl on obscene pretences. Fuck 'em!
1957 – The European Economic Community was established.
1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. reached Montgomery, Alabama after marching for 4 days.
1969 – John and Yoko hold their first Bed-In for Peace.
1995 – WikiWikiWeb was made public. I've got a wiki on thir rig somewhere, you can too.

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Born this day in:

1453 – One of the lesser Medicis
1867 – Gutzon Borglum, sculptor who designed Mount Rushmore
1867 – Arturo Toscanini, cellist and conductor
1881 – Béla Bartók, pianist and composer
1903 – Frankie Carle, pianist and bandleader
1925 – Flannery O'Connor, short story writer and novelist
1929 – Cecil Taylor, pianist and composer
1930 – David Burge, pianist, composer, and conductor
1932 – Penelope Gilliatt, novelist, short story writer, and critic
1934 – Johnny Burnette, singer and songwriter
1934 – Gloria Steinem, feminist and activist
1938 – Hoyt Axton, singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor
1942 – Aretha Franklin, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Chuck Greenberg, saxophonist, songwriter, and producer, formed shadowfax.
1950 – David Paquette, pianist
1966 – Jeff Healey, singer, songwriter and guitarist

Died this day in:

1738 – Turlough O'Carolan, harp player and composer
1918 – Claude Debussy, composer
1931 – Ida B. Wells, journalist and activist
1958 – Tom Brown, trombonist
1965 – Viola Liuzzo, civil rights activist
1969 – Billy Cotton, singer, drummer, and bandleader
1969 – Max Eastman, poet and activist
1988 – Robert Joffrey, dancer, choreographer and director
2006 – Rocío Dúrcal, singer and actress
2006 – Buck Owens, singer, songwriter and guitarist

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (international)

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Music goes here, iirc, well,

Allen Ginsberg

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John and Yoko

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Frankie Carle

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David Burge

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a different David Burge, but, hey:

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Johnny Burnette

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Hoyt Axton

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Aretha Franklin

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Chuck Greenberg

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Jeff Healey

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Turlough O'Carolan

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Buck Owens

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More Bakersfield

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Image is Image taken from page 164 of 'Across Africa, etc. by CAMERON, Verney Lovett. from the British Library

It's an open thread, so do your thing

When this posts, I will be somewhere between 33.5717 and 32.6583 North latitude and between 116.072 and 116.4753 West longitude. Reception out there is pretty damn scarce and spotty at best.