So here's the story - World Humanitraian Day requires that I have some sort of relevant picture, so I went off in search of public domain pics relating to "humanitarian" . I got the above, a special military force chock full of SeaBees that is intended to be air lifted in to provide humanitarian aid when and where needed. The photo is them practicing, I guess, doing exactly that, U.S. style. It does fit the pattern, I suppose.

Here is a pic of our troops from Africom training the Djiboutian Army: "to help advance their humanitarian and peace support operations capabilities. " As only we know how, no doubt.

Here is a pic of some non-exceptional people providing some actual humanitarian aid. They don't even have natty camo uniforms, let alone weapons; imagine that, unarmed flood relief. tsk.

There be WITCHES!!!

On this day in 1612 the "Samlesbury witches", were tried, along with the Pendle witches in a two day exercise in superstition and malevolence. In March of 1612, Some doofus suffered a stroke, which he immediately blamed on "yon witch".

That was good enough for the local magistrate to somehow extract a confession out of the accused, and to get her to implicate several others. When this got out the magistrates throughout the rest of the area felt they shouldn't allow themselves to be upstaged in this fashion and set out to find some witches in their locales, and one managed to find some witches in Samlesbury, eight of them to be precise. On this date in 1612 they were sent before a Judge Bromley, who immediately dismissed five of the eight Samlesbury accused with a warning about their future conduct. The other three were then "tried" and the only evidence against them consisted of the testimony of a few locals, primarily one female named Grace. When the victims, in their defense. asked that the judge examine Grace, Grace, began to freak out and soon she and her fellow witnesses were arguning with and accusing each other of this and that. Grace quickly admitted that she had been coached by a Jesuit Priest who was hiding out in the territory. The judge then dismissed the charges against the three accused and decries the witness as "the perjuring tool of a Catholic priest".

Meanwhile, the Pendle witches did not fare so well under Judge Bromley. There were 12 accused witches in the Pendle case. Ten of them were tried by Bromley, one was tried earlier in York, and another died in prison. Of the ten tried by Bromley, 9 were found guilty, as was the one tried in York, and the guilty were hanged.

Not to be outdone by their cousins across the pond, exactly 80 years later, August 19, 1692, the good people of Salem, MA executed 5 witches of their own. This was, admittedly, small change, but it was merely a part of a much bigger effort by team Merika. Between 1692 and 1693, they accused 200 people, convicted nineteen, whom they executed by hanging, and crushed another to death without verdict for refusing to plead before them. At least 5 others died in jail. Many attribute the witch trials in Britain to religious wars and the quest to stamp out heresy, but that surely was not at issue in Salem, because we were founded on the principle of Religious Freedom by those who fled Europe seeking it, or so the myth goes.

The opening engagement of The First Souix War, or the event that precipitated it, as the case may be, occurred on August 19, 1854. Mathó Wayúhi (Conquering Bear) was a Brule' Lakota chief who had signed the Fort Laramie Treaty. He and his people were camped near the fort awaiting the supplies and food which were promised to them under the treaty. When a Mormon wagon train passed through with a straggling cow that wandered into or too close to the encampment, a visiting Minneconjou warrior killed it and served it up for food. The owner went and complained at the fort, whereupon the officer in charge summoned Conquering Bear to a parlay, despite the treaty provision that this type of thing was to be handled by the local Indian Agent who was off somewhere with the missing supplies and food. Though Conquering Bear offered many forms of compensation, including several horses, the cow's owner insisted on 25 cash dollars. The officer in charge also insisted that Conquering Bear hand over the miscreant Minneconjou despite his assertions that he had no authority over him or any other Minneconjou, and that he was also accorded certain protections as a guest.

The next day, the second in command, second lieutenant Grattan, went out with a body of troops and several cannon to arrest the miscreant and obtain satisfaction for the cow baron. After having positioned his troops and aimed all his cannons at the Brule' encampment, Grattan demanded a parlay to which the chief acquiesced. It was rendered even more fruitless by the soldiers' interpreter, who was drunk and, when not mistranslating, spent his time insulting the Brule' and telling them that the soldiers would kill them all. When the parlay broke up, one of the soldiers murdered Conquering Bear, shooting him in the back, but before the troops could make good use of their cannon, the Lakota returned fire, counter-attacked, and killed the entire detachment. This immediately became known as the Grattan Massacre and was the US' pretext to launch the "First Souix War".

August 19, 1909, was the first automobile race at the >Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was then reflected in miniature on August 19 1934, when the first Soapbox Derby was held in Dayton, Ohio.

On that same date in 1934, the German referendum of 1934 approved Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title Führer. This, of course, brought great joy and elation to such illustrious USians as Henry Ford, Prescott Bush, and others of that ilk.

Oh look, on August 19, 1953, the nascent CIA, with a little help from MI-6, overthrew its first democratically elected government, that of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran/Persia, and replaced it with Shah Reza Pahlavi, a horrible dictator of the type the US generally prefers to democracies. They then took up residence in the US embassy, where they worked with the SAVAK to consolidate and perpetuate the Shah's power by turning in and/or handing over dissidents and critics of the regime who came to its attention, along with the occasional critic of the US that came to its attention. This was the first triumph for young Kermit Roosevelt, and set the pattern, role and institutional culture for the fledgling Central Insurgency Agency, which was to specialize in fomenting unrest, coups, revolutions, and regime change by any and all means possible, including assassination, terrorism, torture and the like.

If we skip all the way to August 19, 2017, we'll find that tens of thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon Were "accidentally" released into the wild while held in aquatic pens in Washington state. They were able to do this because they were there. They were there because some morons approved the moronic and sure to fail idea of raising Atlantic salmon in pens in Pacific waters and the Pacific drainage. And why? Well, it starts with M, ends in Y and rhymes with monkey but without the intelligence or forethought. In fact, I'll bet they're still there.

On this day in history:

1612 - The "Samlesbury witches" were put on trial. This was part of a onging flurry of witchcraft trials that were really just a continuation of the Anglican v Catholic blood feud in disguise. It is somewhat unique in that those witches got off, and did so becuse the Judge discovered and disclosed that the key witness was "the perjuring tool of a Catholic priest" after she broke down and confessed that it was all bullshit.

1692 - Five convicted witches were "executed" in Salem. Like all the other victims of the New England witch trials, they were victims of religious fanaticism

1812 - The US frigate USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia

1839 – The French government declared Louis Daguerre's photographic process to be a gift "free to the world"

1848 - The New York Herald published the news of the California gold rush to the eastern US.

1854 - Based on a false claim that a Minneconjou warrior who had joined Lakota chief Matho Wayuhi's encampment had stolen a cow from a passing Mormon wagon train, the army at Fort Laramie sent 30 soldiers, two cannons and one drunk interpreter out to arrest the perpetrator and obtain reparations. After a long and fruitless discussion, the parlay was discontinued and a soldier murdered chief Matho Wayuhi by shooting him in the back as he walked away while another soldier shot and wounded an unnamed warrior. The Lakota counter attacked and killed the entire attacking party. This was called the "Grattan Massacre" and was a principle cause of the First Souix War.

1919 - Afghanistan gained independence from the UK

1934 - The German referendum of 1934 approved Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Fuhrer.

1936 – The Great Purge of the Soviet Union began

1940 - First flight of the US B-25 "Mitchell" bomber

1945 - The Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh took control of Hanoi.

1953 - The CIA and MI6 overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and installed the authoritarian dictator Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. This was the CIA's first regime change and established its bona fides as the Sekret US department of clandestine warfare, subversion, sabotage, murder and other criminal behavior.

1960 – The Soviet Union launched a satellite with 2 dogs, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.

1964 - The world's first geostationary communication satellite,Syncom 3, was launched by NASA.

2004 – Google Inc. had its initial public offering on Nasdaq

2010 - The illegal US war against Iraq finally ended with the withdrawal of the last of the United States brigade combat teams. Nonetheless, US troops still occupy parts of Iraq

2017 - Tens of thousands of farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were released into the wild in Washington State waters in the 2017 Cypress Island Atlantic salmon pen break. Though technically an "accident" there was pretty much a certainty that such an event would eventually happen, regardless of assorted putative "studies" assurances and the like which existed only to provide political cover for those approving the ecological disaster in the making.

Some people who were born on this day:

Vast is the field of Science. The more a man knows, the more he will find he has to know.

~~ Samuel Richardson

1631 – John Dryden, poet
1646 – John Flamsteed, astronomer
1689 – Samuel Richardson, author
1858 – Ellen Willmott, horticulturalist
1871 – Orville Wright, engineer, bicyclist, and pilot
1872 – Albert C. Campbell, pop singer
1885 – Grace Hutchins, labor reformer and researcher
1900 – Gilbert Ryle, philosopher, author, and academic
1902 – Ogden Nash, poet, who knew?
1906 – Philo Farnsworth, inventor
1915 – Ring Lardner, Jr., journalist and screenwriter
1918 – Jimmy Rowles, singer, songwriter and pianist
1921 – Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and producer
1923 – Edgar F. Codd, computer scientist

1934 – Renée Richards, tennis player and ophthalmologist
1939 – Ginger Baker, drummer and songwriter
1940 – Roger Cook, songwriter, singer, and produceer
1940 – Johnny Nash, singer and songwriter with enhanced vision
1943 – Billy J. Kramer, pop singer
1945 – Ian Gillan, singer and songwriter
1946 - Bill Clinton, DLC politician, first admitted "New" Democrat, who advocated and implemented de-regulation, downsizing and outsourcing government, austerity, "welfare reform", more cops, more prisons, more federal crimes, longer sentences and all like that.
1948 – Tipper Gore, activist, author, music censor
1948 – Elliot Lurie, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1951 – John Deacon, bass player and songwriter
1959 – Ivan Neville, multi instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter

Some people who died on this day:

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

~~ Blaise Pascal

1662 – Blaise Pascal, mathematician, physicist, inventor, and philosopher
1923 – Vilfredo Pareto, sociologist and economist
1936 – Federico García Lorca, poet, playwright, and director
1967 – Hugo Gernsback, author and publisher
1968 – George Gamow, physicist and cosmologist
1977 – Groucho Marx, Groucho
2013 – Donna Hightower, singer and songwriter

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

World Humanitarian Day
National Aviation Day (U.S.A.)

Today's Tunes

The SamlesburyWitches

Salem Witchcraft Trials

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Orville Wright

Jimmy Rowles

Ginger Baker can only be

Roger Cook wrote

Johnny Nash

Billy J. Kramer

Ian Gillan

Elliot Lurie

John Deacon

Ian Neville

Groucho Marx

Donna Hightower

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, August 19, Humanitarian Day, Witches, First Souix War, Indy, CIA, Ginger Baker, Johnny Nash, Ian Gillan, John Deacon, Groucho, Donna Hightower