Agosto Sandino, assassinated 02/21/1934:

The US has long had a penchant for running amok abroad, generally ignoring our own laws and Constitution, the so-called laws of nations, laws of man, and laws of the victim state, not to mention, on multiple occasions, the laws of war.  Up until late this enterprise was much more open and direct, no use of proxies like the Contras or the assorted foreign fighters and jihadis in Libya, Syria and, or course, Afghanistan; no "color revolutions", putative genocides or human rights violations (as if the US cares in the least about such things when and where they do happen), no allegations of WMDs or any other such excuses.  The watchword was simply "send in the Marines", the reason was usually, in the end, economic, and the target, quite often was someplace in Latin America, especially from 1898 to 1934.

One such victim was Nicaragua,   After assorted assaults during the above period, including the fomenting of at least one cup, the US formally invaded and occupied the country in 1912; an occupation which was to last to some degree until 1933.  Having won certain concessions and near complete control of the country's financial system as well as installing a friendly government, the US withdrew much of the occupying force, leaving enough to ensure control and sporadically clash with and sometimes murder Nicaraguan civilians, only to return in force in 1927 to quash a rebellion against said friendly government.  Though this occupation included some highly decorated US troops, including none other than Smedley Butler, only one internationally recognized hero came out of the whole sorry fracas, Augusto César Sandino

Sandino became a hero throughout much of Latin America for his 6 year rebellion and guerilla war against the occupying US forces.  He was seen as a symbol and perpetrator of resistance to rampant US Imperialism (tm).  When the Great Depression made the US' overseas adventurism to costly to sustain, and after installing yet another US friendly government, the US Marines finally withdrew from Nicaragua.   Sandino met with the new president and agreed to cooperate with the new government and to have his forces lay down their arms.  He did, however, remain vocally opposed to the country's so-called National Guard for its ties to the US military which rendered it unconstitutional.   Accordingly, the Guard's leader, General Anastasio Somoza García had him assassinated and within 2 years had staged a coup and took over as dictator.  While their are no clear US finger prints on this killing, and nobody has proof of the rumor that Somoza's troops beheaded Sandino and delivered his head to the US government, nonetheless, Roosevelt was to declare of Somoza "He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he's OUR son-of-a-bitch".  This may very well have further endeared Sandino throughout Latin America.

Assassination of Malcolm X, 02/21/1965:

Malcolm X should need no introduction.  He was a controversial figure who came to a controversial end.  There was uncertainty as to exactly who was involved in his assassination almost since day one and it has never died.  Suspects include not only The Nation of Islam, but both the NYPD and the Feebs.  Like so much of the history of this country, the simple truth is that we shall almost certainly never know the truth with any degree of certainty.  Truth, like openness, it seems, is a stranger to our government and to far too many of those who should be keeping an eye on it for us.  Be that as it may, two days before he was murdered Malcolm said:

“It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That’s the only thing that can save this country.” 

... a cause we should all share.

As I said elsewhere not too long ago:

... those who unduly upset the apple cart and who are a threat to our ability to do these things, at home and abroad, will meet a tragic end should they stay where we can reach them. This is our one guarantee. You will know that you are really having an impact on things when the assassins find you, that is the one truth that is self-evident here.

And Malcolm X certainly had an impact and made his mark.  Q.E.D. 

As I noted on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a certain Greek musician and bandleader who declared that: "Psychologically, environmentally, culturally, by choice, I'm a member of the black community." also said:

It is okay for whites to declare they would do anything to be free of oppression, but Blacks do not have that same option. Blacks are permitted to wring their hands and bemoan their fate, but don't start talking about doing something drastic to get the man's foot off your neck. Whites can exult about 'bombs bursting in air', but if a Black man or woman so much as suggests kickin' some ass to get free, the right wing bristles, and the liberals are pained.

Ironically, Malcolm X said he went to Selma to make things easier for Dr. King; that maybe if white folks saw what the alternative was they'd wise up and listen to King.  Instead they shared the same tragic fate.

On this day in history:

1440 – The Prussian Confederation was formed to resist the aftermath of the Pope's genocidal Northern Crusades.

1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen.

1804 – The first self-propelled steam locomotive made its debut in Wales.

1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.

1842 – John Greenough was granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.

1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.

1866 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first American woman to graduate from dental school

1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune published its first edition.

1878 – The first telephone directory was issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument was dedicated.

1916 – The Battle of Verdun began

1918 – The last Carolina parakeet died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo, ho hum.

1921 – Reza Shah took control of Tehran during a successful coup.

1925 – The New Yorker published its first issue.

1934 – Augusto Sandino, was assassinated

1937 – The League of Nations banned foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.  Like they had any such authority, heh.

1947 – Edwin Land demonstrated the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.

1952 – The British government abolished identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".  Hmmmmmm?  There's an idea we could maybe try

1958 – The peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, was designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.

1965 – Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a talk at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.

1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed at Vienna.  Why? and on what authority?

1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visited China to normalize Sino-American relations. The last President to try to do so.

1972 – The unmanned Soviet spaceship, Luna 20, landed on the Moon.

1973 – Israeli fighter aircraft shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing 108 people.

1975 – Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison.

1995 – Steve Fossett landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

Born this day in:

"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something."

~~     John Lewis

1556 – Sethus Calvisius, astronomer, composer, and theorist
1621 – Rebecca Nurse, colonist executed for being witch
1788 – Francis Ronalds, scientist, inventor and engineer who  developed the first working electric telegraph 
1791 – Carl Czerny, pianist and composer
1817 – José Zorrilla, poet and playwright
1821 – Charles Scribner I, publisher who founded Charles Scribner's Sons 
1836 – Léo Delibes, pianist and composer
1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, organist and composer
1860 – Goscombe John, sculptor and academic
1888 – Clemence Dane, author and playwright
1893 – Andrés Segovia, guitarist
1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, chemist and academic
1895 – Henrik Dam, biochemist and physiologist
1896 – Nirala, Ipoet and author
1903 – Anaïs Nin, essayist and memoirist
1907 – W. H. Auden, poet, playwright, and composer
1915 – Claudia Jones, journalist and activist
1917 – Tadd Dameron, pianist and composer
1921 – John Rawls, philosopher and academic
1921 – Richard T. Whitcomb, aeronautical engineer
1924 – Thelma Estrin, computer scientist and engineer
1924 – Dorothy Blum, computer scientist and cryptanalyst
1927 – Erma Bombeck,  journalist and author
1933 – Nina Simone, singer, songwriter, and pianist
1938 – Bobby Charles, singer and songwriter
1940 – John Lewis, activist and politician
1943 – David Geffen, businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
1946 – Tyne Daly, actress and singer
1947 – Johnny Echols, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1949 – Jerry Harrison, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1951 – Vince Welnick, keyboard player
1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel, bass player, songwriter, and producer
1958 – Jake Burns, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1959 – José María Cano, singer, songwriter, and painter
1960 – Steve Wynn, singer- and songwriter
1962 – David Foster Wallace, novelist, short story writer, and essayist
1963 – Ranking Roger, singer, songwriter, and musician
1969 – James Dean Bradfield, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1969 – Cathy Richardson, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1979 – Shane Gibson, guitarist
1982 – Chantal Claret, singer and songwriter
1986 – Charlotte Church, singer, songwriter, and actress

Died this day in:

“I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”

~~     Malcolm X

4 AD – Gaius Caesar, Roman consul and grandson of Augustus 
1554 – Hieronymus Bock, botanist and physician
1677 – Baruch Spinoza, philosopher and scholar
1829 – Kittur Chennamma, queen and freedom fighter
1862 – Justinus Kerner, poet and physician
1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, physicist and academic
1934 – Augusto César Sandino, rebel leader
1938 – George Ellery Hale, astronomer and academic
1941 – Frederick Banting, physician and academic
1947 – Fannie Charles Dillon, composer
1965 – Malcolm X, minister and activist (assassinated)
1968 – Howard Florey, pathologist and pharmacologist
1984 – Mikhail Sholokhov, novelist and short story writer
1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, novelist
1993 – Inge Lehmann, seismologist and geophysicist
1996 – Morton Gould, pianist, composer, and conductor
1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, biochemist and pharmacologist,
2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, author, screenwriter, and critic
2005 – Zdzislaw Beksinski, painter, photographer, and sculptor
2011 – Dwayne McDuffie, author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media
2015 – Clark Terry, trumpet player, composer, and educator
\
2019 – Peter Tork, Monkee

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

International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
Feralia (Ancient Rome)
President's Day (Washington's Birthday)
Single Tasking Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Carl Czerny

Leo Delibes

Andres Segovia

Todd Dameron

Nina Simone

Bobby Charles

Vince Welnick

Mary Chapim Carpenter

Ranking Roger

Morton Gould

Clark Terry

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?