It's National Write to Congress Day, not because it is some kind of civic duty like some of us were told back in the fifties and sixties, nor is it because it is the only way tha they'll know what you need, think, and/or want.  Frankly, they don't give a shit what you need, think and/or want unless you are among the oligarchs and elites, in which case they already have a pretty damn good idea from all the discussions with your lobbyists and other minions.  No, it is a particular and peculiar etiquette that pertains to the written communique.

FIRST - it must be exculpatory and devoid of any possible taint of any provable quid pro quo.

SECOND - It must simply request "access" an opportunity to meet face to face and discuss "things".

THIRD - It must be written on the back of a large denomination bearer bond, privately issued share of special preferred stock, or other negotiable instrument.

On this day in history:

1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther

1749 – The first issue of Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, Berlingske, was published

1777 – General George Washington defeated General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton

1833 – Captain James Onslow of the Clio reasserted British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands

1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts was sworn in as the first president of Liberia

1870 – Construction work began on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, US

1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroyed the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan

1920 – A  magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Puebla and Veracruz Mexico killing over 640.

1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress were televised for the first time

1956 – A fire damaged the top part of the Eiffel Tower

1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch

1959 – Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state

1961 – The US severed diplomatic relations with Cuba

1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor was destroyed by a steam explosion; the only reactor incident in the US to cause immediate fatalities

1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turned into a revolt, starting the Angolan War of Independence

1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro

1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, weny into force

1977 – Apple Computer was incorporated

1990 – Ex CIA asset Manuel Noriega surrendered to invading US forces

1993 – George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

1999 – The Mars Polar Lander was launched by NASA

2009 – The Bitcoin, Genesis block, was established by Satoshi Nakamoto

2016 – Iran ended its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia

2018 – For the first time in history all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands were closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm

2019 – Chang'e 4 made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover

2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a terrorist US airstrike

Born this day in:

The safety of the people shall be the highest law.

~~     Marcus Tullius Cicero

106 BC – Cicero, philosopher, lawyer, and politician
1611 – James Harrington, political theorist
1793 – Lucretia Mott, activist
1810 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer
1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer and academic
1887 – August Macke, painter
1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, writer, poet, and philologist
1909 – Victor Borge, pianist and conductor
1916 – Betty Furness, actress and television journalist
1919 – Herbie Nichols, pianist and composer
1929 – Gordon Moore, businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation
1943 – Van Dyke Parks, singer, songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
1944 – Doreen Massey, geographer and political activist
1945 – Stephen Stills, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1946 – John Paul Jones, bass player, songwriter, and producer
1947 – Zulema, singer and songwriter
1980 – Kurt Vile, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
2003 – Greta Thunberg, environmental activist

Died this day in:

I try to construct a picture in which shapes, spaces, colors, form a set of unique relationships, independent of any subject matter. At the same time I try to capture and translate the excitement and emotion aroused in me by the impact with the original idea.

~~     Milton Avery

1543 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, explorer and navigator
1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, astronomer and mathematician
 
895 – James Merritt Ives, lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives 
1927 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, physicist and mathematician
1965 – Milton Avery, painter
1966 – Sammy Younge Jr., civil rights activist
1967 – Jack Ruby, businessman and murderer
1969 – Jean Focas, astronomer
1975 – Victor Kraft, philosopher from the Vienna Circle
1989 – Sergei Sobolev, mathematician and academic
2014 – Phil Everly, singer and guitarist, Don's Bro
2016 – Paul Bley, pianist and composer
2020 – Qasem Soleimani, major general, commander of the Quds Force 
2021 - Eric Jerome Dickey, author

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Festival of Sleep Day
Women Rock Day
National Write to Congress Day (heh)
J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Victor Borge

Herbie Nichols

Steven Stills

John Paul Jones

Zulema

Phil Everly

Paul Bley

Please Note: Please do not post any Covid-19 related commentary in the comments. Thank you. There is a separate OT, aka The Dose, where all such material is welcome. Thanks again.

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