04/21 Open Thread - Grounation Day
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~~ Bob Marley & Haïlé Sélassié
Grounation is a Rastafarian thing. I am not a Rasta. There are those out there who call it Groundation. I don't even have an oar to put in there. Grounation Day celebrates and commemorates Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica on April 12, 1966. Roughly 100,000 Rastafarians from all over Jamaica turned out to greet his airplane. The date has been celebrated by Rastafarians ever since
The Mexican Revolution obviously absolutely required a ton of interference from the US government, including an actual invasion and occupation of the Mexican port of Veracruz by US forces. After all, those people down there had the audacity to go and have a long running Revolution and civil war without first petitioning the US for permission to do so. Accordingly the US picked sides and embargoed arms sales to one side and not the other. Next, on the thinnest of pretexts, the US invaded, shelled, and occupied the port city of Veracruz on April 21, 1914.
Meanwhile, one of the parties to the Mexican conflict had purchased some armaments in Germany which were to be delivered to it at Veracruz by the German ship Ypiranga. However, that was the faction that the US had embargoed, so the US troops in possession of the harbor at Veracruz initially detained the Ypiranga, but eventually had to release the vessel, while forbidding it to unload its cargo. This too took place on April 21, 1914, right after US forces took the place. (The US was not officially at war with Mexico, nor had it declared a formal blockade, so they had to let the ship go). The Ypiranga steamed on down to Puerto Mexico, which the US had not invaded and occupied, and unloaded its cargo there. The US finally pulled out of Veracruz on November 23, 1914. These events seriously tarnished Mexico-US relations, for Mexico because we invaded, shelled, and occupied Veracruz, killing many of their people in the process, and for the US because Mexico went ahead and took delivery of the arms delivered by the Ypiranga even though we had ordered them not to.
On this day in history:
1509 – Henry VIII ascended the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1898 – The United States Navy began a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on Spain on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
1914 - The USA invaded and began the conquest and occupation of Veracruz, Mexico
1914 – A German arms shipment to Mexico was intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict was adopted.
1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) was first celebrated.
1958 – United Air Lines Flight 736 collided with a USAF fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada
1960 – Brasília, Brazil's capital, was officially inaugurated.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite failed to reach orbit and as it re-entered the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds of radioactive plutonium was widely dispersed.
1966 – Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visited Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 – Colonel George Papadopoulos led a coup d'état in Greece
1975 – Thr President of South Vietnam, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, fled Saigon, as the outpost Xuân Lộc fell
1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrendered to federal authorities
1989 – Around 100,000 students gathered in Tiananmen Square In Beijing to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentenced Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole
2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact was signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia after the coup against Yanukovych.
2014 – The city of Flint, Michigan switched its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis
Some people who were born on this day:
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
~~ John Muir
1555 – Ludovico Carracci, painter and etcher
1642 – Simon de la Loubère, mathematician, poet, and diplomat
1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, physicist, astronomer, and mathematician
1816 – Charlotte Brontë, novelist and poet
1838 – John Muir, environmentalist and author
1864 – Max Weber, economist and sociologist
1868 – Mary Rogers Miller, author and educator
1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, physicist and academic
1889 – Paul Karrer, chemist and academic
1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., violinist, composer, and conductor
1915 – Garrett Hardin, ecologist, author, and academic
1918 – Eddy Christiani, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1919 – Don Cornell, singer
1924 – Ira Louvin, singer, songwriter, and mandolin player
1932 – Slide Hampton, trombonist and composer
1933 – Easley Blackwood, Jr., pianist, composer, and educator
1947 – Iggy Pop, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor
1947 – John Weider, bass player
1948 – Paul Davis, singer, songwriter, and musician
1951 – Michael Freedman, mathematician and academic
1954 – Ebiet G. Ade, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1959 – Robert Smith, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1988 – Jencarlos Canela, singer, songwriter, and actor
Some people who died on this day:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
~~ Mark Twain
1142 – Peter Abelard, philosopher and theologian
1557 – Petrus Apianus, mathematician and astronomer
1699 – Jean Racine, playwright and poet
1719 – Philippe de La Hire, mathematician and astronomer
1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy, saved Europe from the Ottoman Empire
1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, mathematician and academic
1910 – Mark Twain, novelist, humorist, and critic
1946 – John Maynard Keynes, economist and philosopher
1948 – Aldo Leopold, ecologist and author
1954 – Emil Leon Post, mathematician and logician
1965 – Edward Victor Appleton, physicist and academic,
1978 – Sandy Denny, singer and songwriter
1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, civil rights activist, biologist, and academic
1987 – Gustav Bergmann, philosopher from the Vienna Circle japan to trade
2003 – Nina Simone, singer, songwriter, pianist, and activist
2010 – Gustav Lorentzen, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2016 – Prince, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
National Egg Salad Sandwich Day
Thank You for Libraries Day
World Creativity and Innovation Day
Grounation Day (Rastafari)
Today's Tunes
Grounation Day
Veracruz
Brasilia
Flint Michigan
Efrem Zimbalist, Sr.
Eddie Christiani
Slide Hampton
Easley Blackwood, Jr
Iggy Pop
John Weider
Ebiet G. Ade
Robert Smith
Jencarlos Canela
Sandy Denny
Nina Simone
Prince
By TheRivers of Babylon
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. What's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com
open thread, Groundation Day, Battle of Veracrus, Flint MIchigan, Iggy Pop, Sandy Denny, Nina Simone, Prince
Comments
Top 'o the day
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The 129th Boston Marathon will be held on Monday, April 21, 2025,
marking the 250th Anniversary of Patriots' Day.
Prior to 1775, the area that is now the eastern part of the United States mainly consisted of British colonies controlled by the United Kingdom. The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence, was a major step in the independence of the United States. The first battles in this war were fought in the areas of Lexington and Concord, near Boston, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. For this reason, the third Monday in April is symbolic for the emerging independence of the new country.
Patriots' Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine, (Our neighbors to the north) where state, county, and municipal offices are closed. However, Patriots' Day is not a federal public holiday and federal offices are open.
Patriots' Day should not be confused with Patriot Day, held on September 11 to mark the anniversary of terrorist attacks in the United States on that date in 2001.
Thanks for the open thread!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning Cap'n Q, thanks for the reminders
of Patriot's Day and the Boston Marathon. The latter always tweaks my head a bit insofar as Marathon is primarily remembered for Pheidippides prodigous run and not for the historically momentous battle in which a greatly outnumbered force of mostly Athenians, without any Spartan participation, routed a Persion force and sent them packing all the way back to Persia. Had the Greeks lost history would have been vastly different, strting with the Persian conquest and colonization of Greece
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hi EL!
Thanks for the Veracruz history.
The pope died today. I can't believe he conducted an Easter service yesterday. That's what I heard on a public radio broadcast.
This is a test- I want to see if this embed from Blue Sky works:
Some military news:
So F-35s represent North Korean aggressors in the exercise? The primary North Korean aero threat is ballistic missiles of all kinds, cruise missiles and drones. The air force is antiquated and not that significant of a threat.
This is a big development as in what about your sanctions?
edited to add comment about NK missiles...
語必忠信 行必正直
Good morning Soryang. Thanks for all the
information items. It appears that BlueSky embeds fine. Did you just paste those in or what?
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yes
There is an embed option if you click on the ... on the bottom right of each blue sky post. Click on embed, and then hit the embed and copy function that comes up. Then just paste the code here. It's quite similar to X.
語必忠信 行必正直
Heh. Never had a tweeter account, or faceplant and don't
have bluesky, which I just looked up this morning to confirm my idea that it was a twit/eks replacer. Probably won't get an account. I don't have enough free time as it is. If I go deeper into the electronic maelstream it'll probably be telegram so I can read the top half of the Sputnik page and maybe roam afound out in the furrin wilderness.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I just use X to read
I never post anything. Some of the Japan and Korea watchers I follow are there. I generally don't go anywhere else. As in I don't browse. Arnaud's posts I usually get from one of those. Tim S is trying to get off X I think, so I just followed him to bs to see what it was like. I have no idea who runs that. There are maybe three X accounts I check regularly and if they cross post to one of the other Asia watchers I might check. Never used facebook. Half of what I watch or read on beg 구걸 (g00gle) is in Korean. They keep feeding me JD, but I rarely watch it. I like Hosaka Yuji an analyst of Japanese policy. He's only on youtube.
I watched 12.12 the Day on a South Korean media channel yesterday and the day before It's a movie about the Chu Doo-wan coup d'etat. It was great. Chun and his buddy Roh Tae-oo who became president while I was in Korea were depicted so well. The type casting was excellent. It was quite a contrast to the recent Dec. 3 attempted coup, but there were some similarities.
I went to discord once a few years back, and my blog is monitored ever since. I never got hits from Singapore before that. There's nothing much on there, military stuff, old news reports, some negotiations and foreign policy issues, song translations.
edited for typing errors
語必忠信 行必正直
Heh, can't resist noting that
approximately 8,470 people die per day in the US and approximately 150,000 world wide. I never met the Pope, but I understand that he ran an enormously wealthy organization, but so does Warren Buffett, whom I've also never met.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
It's a beautiful day (here)
all spring-like
.
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Zionism is a social disease
Well, it sure is out here, started at 48, already 58 and
headed for 77. Looks like shorts weather. Thanks for the tune.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el!
I read that Klaus is stepping down and away from the WEF. "You have this anti-movement system..." he said. The be happy, own nothing, eat ze bugs world order didn't really catch on.
Still, the WEFfers aren't about to give up on their dream, so it will come under new management and have a new slogan and new way of doing the same damn thing.
The prostitutes and limo drivers at Davos need not worry their business will slack off.
I know little about the Catholic Church. I'm curious which direction they will go with the next Pope.
Thanks for the OT, dear friend.
Have a wonderful day!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc, thanks for dropping in. Glad that
Klaus is leaving, hope it tanks but bet it won't. Should we make up a pool? Who's got billy_the_gates?
I know too damn much about the Catholic Church, none of it good, but it could be a case of started off with ugly shit and then did the old reinforcement thing. Some "high" water marks worthy of a quick look - most of the crusades. The Albigensian Crusade (genocide against a slightly deviant sect of European Xtians), The Ustase + Pius XII + NAZIs ("The Deputy" is a light intro I read in German in High School German class), the woman they made a saint for forbidding contraception in AIDS territory, Giordano Bruno, whatever.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The judge said to Alastair
that he hopes that the next pope will be Catholic.
I was raised catholic, but quit going to church when the pope said that even if a man is HIV positive he still couldn’t wear a condom. This right after watching Rick die heinously.
Then the pedo scandal broke…boy did I ride mom about her still supporting the church.
Old beliefs die hard so I still want a mass when I die.
The Vatican has ignored Jesus’ temp tantrum in the temple because of money. How much money does it have buried in the vaults? And why are their robes and acutraments solid gold ? How much have they given to wipe out poverty?
Dunno how to spell that word.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
District attorney
Brett Ligon, Montgomery County, TX, filed a bunch of criminal charges on priests and others working in a Catholic Church and Catholic school there, got numerous pedophiles convicted. He wanted to head to the Vatican to check out if any pedos had been disappeared to work in Italy. He is a friend, so I called him up, told him I would go with him and research for free if he would pay my expenses!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
One might consider that Trump's cabinet is filled with
incompetent but loyal individuals!
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/21/noem-thief-trump-restaurant-secret-servi...
https://nationalpost.com/news/hegseth-second-signal-yemen-strike
So far Trump has not yet uttered his favorite words "YOUR FIRED!"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/21/leavitt-trump-stands-strongly-b...
Hola, humphry. You must admit that they have a lot of
entertainment value. "Tune in tomorrow to see more wacky adventures from Donald and The DummiesTM
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
More on the WEF:
The likely successor whose name ends in Legarthe, or something close to that, once said:"Potable water is not a human right."
Hokay...
What's not to love about billionaires?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
One wonders if any of those assholes recognize the
existence of any human rights.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
They do-
they are very focused on their own Rights, since they are Rich. That makes them Better, and things (especially Rights) for the Better People cannot be abridged.
One of the Rights they treasure the most is their inalienable Right to all our stuff, of course. So if we foolishly get in the way of them enjoying their Rights while they're taking our stuff, we can reasonably expect to get Dead. But until then, we can all just go pound sand.
Kinda reminds me of an old college classmate- he was a fencer (saber), and a hell of a lot of fun to be around once the Adult Beverages started to flow in earnest. I remember one time with him running down a hall, dressed in only his skivvies and fencing headgear, and swinging, thrusting, and generally brandishing his saber with obvious ill intent.
"Put the infidels to the sword!", he cried, while threatening a group of people who weren't anywhere nearly drunk enough to see the humor in it. So I asked him, with all possible reasonableness and deference, how one could identify infidels by sight.
And the answer came instantly, and gleefully: "Easy! They don't have swords!".
That's pretty much where we stand right now, I think.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Sword-up my friend
.
defensive measures are due
protect yourself.
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning UFS. Love the definition of infidels.
be well and have good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --