~~ Louis XVI

Bourbon Whiskey was named for its origin in Bourbon County, which was, in turn, named after the House of Bourbon, in particular, King Louis XVI, who provided valuable, and possibly invaluable, aid to the colonies during the War of Independence.  All the same, in the end, he was no friend of democracy or revolutionaries and vice-versa. 

On this day in 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill into law which added the words "under God" to the USA Pledge of Allegiance.  In triumphant celebration, he declared:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.... In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war.

Read those words a few times.  This was pretty horrible thing to to and basically threw the first amendment into the toilet.

For quite some time we had been brainwashing our children form an early age and our adults too to swear and believe that they owed unquestioning allegiance to this country no matter how it behaved toward them, other citizens, other nations or populations, etc.  No matter hwat the country did, no matter how heinous, no matter who it persecuted and how badly, allegiance was owed.  Now that was to include dedication and devotion to "the Almights", as Ike put it.  A great number of kids and adults suffered a great amount of harassment and even persecution for not going along with that program, and the inclusion of those words was ammo for multitudes of people to declare that non=belief was all but unconstitutional, wrongly, but loudly and frequently.  Thanks, Ike.

Though not listed below, it is freaking Flag Day.  I'll let the illustrious Mr. Izzard explain what they're about and how they're used.

On this day in history:

11381 – Richard II of England met leaders of Peasants' Revolt; concessions and promises were made which, of course, were not kept.

1645 – Parliamentarian forces pretty much destroyed the Royalist army at Naseby.

1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ends. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.

1775 – The Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress

1789 – HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reached Timor 

1822 – Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
 

1830 – Thirty-four thousand French soldiers begin their illegal invasion of Algiers

1839 – The village of Henley-on-Thames staged its first regatta.

1846 – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, started a rebellion against Mexico and proclaimed the California Republic aka Bear Flag Republic, soon to be overthrown by US invasion forces, though it already  had a flag, and they certainly didn't "discover" it.
.

1872 – Trade unions were legalized in Canada.

1900 – Hawaii involuntarily became a United States territory.

1900 – The second German Naval Law called for the Imperial German Navy to be doubled in size, resulting in an Anglo-German naval arms race.

1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown departed from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passed the Marihuana Tax Act.

1940 – The German occupation of Paris began

1949 – A rhesus monkey rode a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km  becoming the first monkey in space.

1951 – UNIVAC I was dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance, negating the first Amendment.

1959 – The first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Disneyland

1967 – Mariner 5 was launched towards Venus.

Born this day in:

Knowledge is a process, not a product.

~~  Ruth Nanda Anshen

1444 – Nilakantha Somayaji, astronomer and mathematician
1627 – Johann Abraham Ihle, astronomer
1726 – Thomas Pennant, ornithologist and historian
1736 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb,  physicist and engineer
1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, author and activist
1820 – John Bartlett, author and publisher
1848 – Bernard Bosanquet, philosopher and theorist
1856 – Andrey Markov, mathematician and theorist
1862 – John Ulric Nef, chemist and academic
1864 – Alois Alzheimer, psychiatrist and neuropathologist
1868 – Karl Landsteiner, biologist and physician
1871 – Jacob Ellehammer, mechanic and engineer
1877 – Ida MacLean, biochemist
1894 – W. W. E. Ross, geophysicist and poet
1900 – Ruth Nanda Anshen, writer, editor, and philosopher
1903 – Alonzo Church, mathematician and logician
1903 – Rose Rand, logician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle
1909 – Burl Ives, actor and singer
1917 – Atle Selberg, mathematician and academic
1928 – Ernesto "Che" Guevara, physician, author, guerrilla leader and politician
1929 – Cy Coleman, pianist and composer
1931 – Junior Walker, saxophonist
1936 – Renaldo Benson, singer and songwriter
1938 – Julie Felix, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1945 – Rod Argent, singer, songwriter, and keyboard player
1947 – Barry Melton, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Paul Rudolph,  singer, guitarist, and cyclist
1949 – Jim Lea, singer, songwriter, bass player, and producer
1949 – Harry Turtledove, historian and author
1949 – Alan White, drummer and songwriter
1956 – King Diamond heavy metal musician
1959 – Marcus Miller,  bass player, composer, and producer
1961 – Boy George, singer-songwriter and producer
1961 – Dušan Kojic, singer-songwriter and bass player
1972 – Dominic Brown, guitarist and songwriter
1982 – Lang Lang, pianist
1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, singer and songwriter

Died this day in:

“In a democracy the people choose a leader in whom they trust. Then the chosen leader says, 'Now shut up and obey me.' People and party are then no longer free to interfere in his business.”

~~      Max Weber

1746 – Colin Maclaurin, mathematician
1877 – Mary Carpenter, educational and social reformer 
1920 – Max Weber, sociologist and economist
1926 – Mary Cassatt, painter
1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, activist and academic
1936 – G. K. Chesterton, essayist, poet, playwright, and novelist
1980 – Charles Miller, saxophonist and flute player
1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator
1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, composer and songwriter
1994 – Henry Mancini, composer and conductor
1995 – Rory Gallagher, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1995 – Roger Zelazny, author and poet
2002 – June Jordan, author and activist
2005 – Mimi Parent, painter
2009 – Bob Bogle, musician (The Ventures)
2012 – Margie Hyams, pianist and vibraphone player
2015 – Anne Nicol Gaylor, activist, co-founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation

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

International Bath Day
National Bourbon Day
National Strawberry Shortcake Day
World Blood Donor Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Burl Ives,

Che Guevara

Junior Walker

Renaldo Benson

Julie Felix

Rod Argent

Barry (The Fish) Melton

Alan White

Marcus Miller

Charles Miller

Henri Mancini

Bob Bogle

Margie Hyams

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?