Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 -
The Congress shall have the power ... To establish Post Offices and post Roads; (Clauses 1 & 7)

This has been interpreted quite broadly as to the powers and authority conveyed to Congress and, indirectly, to the post office itself. However, it has also been ruled that it does not give the Post Office a monopoly on mail (and package) delivery.

On this day in 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte won the Battle of Borodino, which was the bloodiest single day of combat in all of the Napoleonic Wars. When it was over around 50 French Generals and Marshals and 29 Russian generals were dead or wounded. His opponent, General Kutuzov, decided to let him go ahead and take Moscow which he did. It was deserted, empty of supplies and provisions, and burning. After waiting several weeks for a surrender which never came Napoleon and his army began the long disastrous retreat to France with exceedingly limited supplies and provisions while being continually harassed by the Russians. But, still, it was a glorious vicotry. Heh.

Should today's date fall upon a Monday, it will, perforce, be The First Monday in September. This is (as of this writing) celebrated as a holiday in the USA with the name "Labor Day". This allows said nation to feign respect for Labor without getting anywhere near the evil global communist conspiracy known as May Day and thereby also avoids the possibility of accidental references to and cognition of The Haymarket Affair.

On this day in history:

1652 – Around 15,000 Han farmers and militia rebelled against Dutch rule on Taiwan.

1776 – According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee made the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).

1812 – The Battle of Borodino, the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, was fought near Moscow.

1857 – Mormon settlers slaughtered most members of a peaceful, emigrant wagon train in the Mountain Meadows massacre and tried to frame the indians for it.

1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi entered Naples.

1901 – The Boxer Rebellion in Qing dynasty (modern-day China) officially ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.

1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France for the first time successfully.

1916 – US federal employees won the right to Workers' compensation by Federal Employers Liability Act (39 Stat. 742; 5 U.S.C. 751)

1936 – The last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, died alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.

1965 – US Marines and South Vietnamese forces started Operation Piranha during which the Marines blew up a Vietnamese field hospital situated in a cave, claiming that some of the occupants had returned fire when the Marines attacked and invaded it.

1977 – The Torrijos–Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal were signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century. This infamously led to the US invasion of Panama in
1989 under Bush The Elder (CIA Bush) to remind them who was really in control.

1979 – The Chrysler Corporation asked the United States government for US $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.

2005 – Egypt held its first-ever multi-party presidential election.

2008 – The US government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

2017 – Equifax announced a cyber-crime identity theft event potentially impacting approximately 145 & 1/2 million U.S. consumers.

Some people who were born on this day:

I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.

~~ Edith Sitwell

1705 – Matthäus Günther, painter
1707 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, mathematician, cosmologist, and author
1726 – François-André Danican Philidor, chess player and composer
1740 – Johan Tobias Sergel, sculptor and illustrator
1777 – Heinrich Stölzel, horn player and composer (
1791 – Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, poet and author
1795 – John William Polidori, physician and author
1860 – Grandma Moses, painter
1887 – Edith Sitwell, poet and critic
1900 – Taylor Caldwell, author
1903 – Margaret Landon, missionary and author
1903 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, poet and author
1904 – C. B. Colby, author
1908 – Max Kaminsky, trumpet player and bandleader
1912 – David Packard, engineer and businessman, friend of Hewlett
1914 – Graeme Bell, pianist and composer
1914 – James Van Allen, physicist and philosopher

1915 – Kiyosi Itô, mathematician and academic
1917 – John Cornforth, chemist and academic,
1917 – Jacob Lawrence, painter and educator
1923 – Nancy Keesing, author and poet (
1930 – Sonny Rollins, saxophonist and composer
1934 – Mary Bauermeister, painter and illustrator
1934 – Little Milton, singer and guitarist
1936 – Buddy Holly, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1939 – Latimore, singer, songwriter, and pianist
1947 – Gloria Gaynor, singer and songwriter
1951 – Chrissie Hynde, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1951 – Morris Albert, singer and songwriter
1951 – Mark Isham, trumpet player and composer
1953 – Benmont Tench, keyboardist and songwriter
1956 – Michael Feinstein, singer and pianist
1956 – Diane Warren, songwriter
1957 – Jermaine Stewart, singer, songwriter, and dancer
1960 – Brad Houser, bass player
1961 – LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and songwriter
1961 – Jean-Yves Thibaudet, French pianist
1962 – Jennifer Egan, novelist and short story writer
1971 – Gene Pritsker, composer
1979 – Owen Pallett, singer, songwriter, and keyboard player

Some people who died on this day:

I'll sleep when I'm dead

~~ Warren Zevon

1685 – William Carpenter, colonist, co-founded Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
1833 – Hannah More, poet, playwright, and philanthropist
1881 – Sidney Lanier, poet and academic
1892 – John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and activist
1942 – Cecilia Beaux, painter and academic
1949 – José Clemente Orozco, painter and illustrator
1951 – John French Sloan, painter and etcher
1978 – Keith Moon, drummer
1978 – Charles Williams, composer and conductor
1979 – I. A. Richards, literary critic and rhetorician
1981 – Christy Brown, author, poet, and painter
1990 – A. J. P. Taylor, historian and journalist (
1991 – Edwin McMillan, physicist and chemist,
2003 – Warren Zevon, singer, songwriter, and musician
2010 – Barbara Holland, author
2015 – Guillermo Rubalcaba, pianist, composer, and bandleader

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

Grandma Moses Day
Salami Day
National Beer Lovers Day
National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day
First Monday in September Day aka Labor Day (USA)

Today's Tunes

Neither Snow Nor Rain Day

Battle of Borodino

First Monday in September

Max Kaminsky

Sonny Rollins

Little Milton

Buddy Holly

Latimore

Gloria Gaynor

Chrissie Hynde

Mark Isham

Benmont Tench

LeRoi Moore

Keith Moon

Warren Zevon

Guillermo Rubalcaba

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, Borodino, Max Kaminsky, Sonny Rollins, Little Milton, Buddy Holly, Gloria Gaynor, Chrissie Hynde, Keith Moon, Warren Zevon