It is also the 105th anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre. An open use of government troops to suppress and murder striking miners and their families on behalf of the companies they were striking against. One of a huge number of examples of such outright fascism in our nation's history. If anything demonstrates the indentity of corporate and government interests, or the obsequience of government to business and corporate interests, it is the incessant use of government police forces and police powers to suppress, enslave, slaughter, and assassinate egalitarians, laborites, and dissidents on behalf of our corporate overlords, or else to stand idly by and approvingly watch while private armies and paramilitaries do it for them. This is pretty much never identified and decried as what it is because that goes against the defining, but bogus, narrative as to our country's origins, benign nature and overall purpose sufficient to cause severe cognitive dissonance and denial.

It has been asserted that the Ludlow Massacre was an important factor or influence in the subsequent passage of certain child labor laws, and that is quite possibly true. I suspect, however, that it was its aftermath that prompted Congress to finally take some action. The miners, on this occasion subsequently procured arms and took the fight to their oppressors. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

On this day in history:

1534 – Jacques Cartier began his first voyage to modern Canada, Newfoundland, and Labrador.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Freedom of religion was granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (NYC)
1775 – The Siege of Boston began, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1810 – The Governor of Caracas, Venezuela declared independence from Spain.
1828 – René Caillié became the first non-Muslim to enter and return from Timbuktu, 
1836 – Congress passed an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard completed their experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1898 – William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of War against Spain
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refined radium chloride.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children were slaughtered by National Guard troops in the Ludlow Massacre during a coal-miners' strike.  This type of brazen, open fascism was common during and pretty typical of the first 300 years or so after Plymouth Rock.  Eventually, the fascisti got more and more subtle.
1922 – The Soviet government created the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolved, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – The failure of the US-orchestrated and backed Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba
1999 – The Columbine High School massacre occurred
2008 – Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, the first female to win an "Indy car" race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would officially last six months, but which still continues.  Drilling in the Gulf continues unabated.

Born this day in:

1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, composer and theologian
1889 – Adolf Hitler, politician
1893 – Joan Miró, painter and sculptor
1895 – Emile Christian, trombonist and composer
1908 – Lionel Hampton, vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor
1923 – Tito Puente, drummer and producer
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, singer and songwriter
1951 – Luther Vandross, singer, songwriter, and producer
1967 – Mike Portnoy, drummer and songwriter
1972 – Stephen Marley, singer, guitarist, and producer
1975 – Killer Mike, rapper, activist and Russian asset

Died this day in:

1769 – Chief Pontiac,  tribal leader
1831 – John Abernethy, surgeon and anatomist
1899 – Joseph Wolf, ornithologist and illustrator
1912 – Bram Stoker,  novelist and critic
1991 – Steve Marriott, singer, songwriter, and producer
2002 – Alan Dale, singer
2007 – Andrew Hill, pianist, composer, and bandleader
2017 – Cuba Gooding Sr., singer and actor

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

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies