The USS Vincennes shot down a commercial airliner, Iran Air 655, on this day in 1988

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air regularly scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai. The Airbus A300 flying on this route was shot down by the USS Vincennes killing all 290 people on board. The attack by the US warship took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters while the plane's IFF was actively squawking in a mode identifying it as a civilian aircraft. Though some of the ship's crew lied about it, the ships combat system verified the squawk mode.

Unable to claim that they thought it was on drugs or reaching for a gun, the US instead claimed that the captain and crew thought that the 290 passenger airliner climbing to cruising altitude at a few hundred knots was really a vastly smaller F-14 Tomcat diving directly at the ship at around Mach 2 with intent to attack it. This preposterous idea was, of course, to be believed because of the "Tonkin Gulf" syndrome. This is the mind set common to US police in black neighborhoods and US troops in the vicinity of non-allied nation states whereby the task isn't to ascertain what is going on, but merely to conjure up any remotely possible justification for launching an armed attack, regardless of how implausible it might be.

(It must be remembered that we were trying to support our good buddy and ally Saddam Hussein in his war against our hated foe Iran, which had had the temerity to oust the brutal fascist rat-bastard that we had hand picked to run their country when we overthrew their elected government.)

[File with: "indespensible, standing tall, seeing further."]

On this day in history:

1035 – William the Bastard became the Duke of Normandy

1767 – Pitcairn Island was discovered

1819 – The first savings bank in the US opened

1839 – The first state normal school in the US opened

1844 – The last pair of great auks was killed

1848 – The slaves were freed in the Danish West Indies

1886 – Karl Benz first displayed the Benz Patent-Motorwagen

1886 – The New-York Tribune became the first paper to use a linotype.

1898 – A US naval squadron won the Battle of Santiago de Cuba "freeing" Cuba from Spain

1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico was approved by the US Congress.

1979 – Carter signed the first directive for aid to the opponents of the Afghan government, you know, feuding warlords, Bin Ladin, Al Qada, the Taliban, whoever.

1988 – The USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 killing all 290 people on board

2013 – Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was overthrown by a military coup.

Some people who were born on this day:

The map is not the territory

~~ Alfred Korzybski

~~ Your model is the only reality you'll ever have ~~ enhydra

1518 – Li Shizhen, physician and mineralogist
1530 – Claude Fauchet, historian and author
1683 – Edward Young, poet, dramatist and literary critic
1878 -- George M. Cohan, singer, dancer, actor and songwriter
1879 -- Alfred Korzybski, mathematician, linguist, philosopher, inventor of general semantics
1883 -- Franz Kafka, author
1893 -- Mississippi John Hurt, singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
1901 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, composer
1908 -- M. F. K. Fisher, author, foodie, founder of Napa Valley Wine Library
1913 -- Dorothy Kilgallen, journalist and game show panelist
1922 -- Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, aka Corneille, sculpter and painter
1926 -- Johnny Coles, trumpet player
1930 -- Pete Fountain, clarinetist
1930 -- Tommy Tedesco, guitarist and member of The Wrecking Crew, most recorded guitarist ever
1935 – Cheo Feliciano, singer and songwriter
1937 -- Tom Stoppard, playwright and screenwriter
1940 -- Fontella Bass, singer and songwriter
1941 -- Gloria Allred, civil rights lawyer and activist
1943 – Judith Durham, folk-pop singer, songwriter, and musician (seekers)
1946 -- Johnny Lee, singer & guitarist
1947 – Dave Barry, journalist and author
1948 -- Paul Barrere, guitrist, singer & songwriter (Little Feat)
1949 -- Johnnie Wilder, Jr., singer
1951 -- Jean-Claude Duvalier, Baby Doc, despot beloved of Reagan and other US honchos.
1952 – Laura Branigan, singer and songwriter

Some people who died on this day:

Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.

~~ Jim Morrison

1672 -- Francis Willughby, ornithologist
1795 -- Antonio de Ulloa, scientist, explorer, general, politician, astronomer, co-discovered platinum
1863 -- Little Crow, Mdewakanton Dakota chief betrayed by the US.
1904 -- Theodor Herzl, one of the fathers of modern day zionism.
1969 -- Brian Jones, guitarist, songwriter and producer
1971 -- Jim Morrison, singer and songwriter buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery
1986 -- Rudy Vallee, singer, saxophonist & actor
2007 -- Boots Randolph, sax player

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

It really ought to be Gregor Samsa Day, but it isn't

Today's Tunes

Karl Benz and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen

George M. Cohan

Mississippi John Hurt

Ruth Crawford Seeger

Johnny Coles

Pete Fountain

Tommy Tedesco has a zillion gold records, all headlined by other groups and singers

Fontella Bass

Judith Durham

Johnny Lee

Paul Barrere

Johnnie Wilder, Jr.

Laura Branigan

Francis Willughby, heh

Brian Jones

Jim Morrison

Rudy Vallee

Boots Randolph

Bonus:
Mississippi John Hurt

Brian Jones et al,

Tommy Tedesco

The other side of Boots Randolph and ...

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

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

Open Thread,Iran Air Flight 655, Korzybski, Kafka, Baby Doc, Little Crow, Mississippi John Hurt, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Boots Randolph, Karl Benz, Tommy Tedesco