Emma Goldman must be laughing in her grave!

At the end of 1919, two hundred and fifty "foreign undesirable" left the port of New York, forbidden ever to return to the United States.

Among those heading off into exile was the "highly dangerous foreigner" Emma Goldman, who had been arrested several times for opposing the draft, for promoting contraceptives, for organizing strikes and for other attacks on national security.

Some of Emma's sayings:

"Prostitution is the greatest triumph of Puritanism."

"Is there anything indeed more terrible, more criminal, than our glorified sacred function of motherhood?"

"Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there."

"If voting changed anything, it would be illegal."

"Every society has the criminals it deserves."

"All wars are wars among thieves who are too cowardly to fight, and therefor induce the young manhood of the whole world to do the fighting for them."



                                             *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Men Accused of Sexual
Misconduct in 2017 (so far)

Morgan Spurlock Documentary filmmaker

Accusation Mr. Spurlock made public previous accusations of sexual harassment and rape against him. 

Fallout Stepped down from his production company. 

Response“You see, I’ve come to understand after months of these revelations, that I am not some innocent bystander, I am also a part of the problem.” 

Mario Batali Chef, restaurant owner and co-host of ABC show, “The Chew"

Accusation Sexual misconduct, including inappropriate touching, with four women. 

Fallout Fired by ABC and stepped away from his businesses. 

Response“I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family.” 

Ryan Lizza Writer for The New Yorker and political analyst for CNN

Accusation Improper sexual conduct. 

Fallout Fired from The New Yorker. 

Response“I am dismayed that The New Yorker has decided to characterize a respectful relationship with a woman I dated as somehow inappropriate.” 

Alex Kozinski Federal appeals court judge

Accusation Sexual misconduct or inappropriate comments with six female subordinates. 

Fallout Retired. 

Response“It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent.” 

Trent Franks U.S. representative for Arizona

Accusation Asked two female staff members to be surrogates to bear his child. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I clearly became insensitive as to how the discussion of such an intensely personal topic might affect others.” 

Lorin Stein Editor of The Paris Review

Accusation Sexually inappropriate behavior, including unwanted touching. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I blurred the personal and the professional in ways that were, I now recognize, disrespectful of my colleagues and our contributors, and that made them feel uncomfortable or demeaned.” 

Danny Masterson Actor

Accusation Raping four women. 

Fallout Fired from a Netflix show, “The Ranch.” 

Response“From day one, I have denied the outrageous allegations against me. I have never been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one.” 

Matt Dababneh California state assemblyman

Accusation Sexual harassment of a lobbyist. 

Fallout Will resign. 

Response“My stepping down isn't out of guilt or out of fear. It’s out of an idea that I think it’s time for me to move on to new opportunities.” 

Ruben Kihuen U.S. representative for Nevada

Accusation Unwanted sexual propositions. 

Fallout Will not seek re-election. 

Response“I want to state clearly again that I deny the allegations in question.” 

Israel Horovitz Playwright and founding artistic director of the Gloucester Stage theater

Accusation Sexual abuse of nine women, some of whom were teenagers at the time. 

Fallout Theater has cut ties, and two plays were canceled. 

Response“To hear that I have caused pain is profoundly upsetting, as is the idea that I might have crossed a line with anyone who considered me a mentor.” 

Justin Huff Broadway casting director

Accusation Sexual misconduct. 

Fallout Fired by his employer, Telsey + Company. 

ResponseDid not respond to requests for comment. 

Garrison Keillor Creator and former host of “A Prairie Home Companion”

Accusation Inappropriate behavior with a co-worker. 

Fallout Dropped by Minnesota Public Radio. 

Response“I’ve been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard. Most stories are.” 

Matt Lauer Co-host of “Today"

Accusation Sexually inappropriate behavior with at least one woman. 

Fallout Fired by NBC. 

Response“Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed.” 

Johnny Iuzzini Chef and judge on ABC's “The Great American Baking Show”

Accusation Sexual harassment of four employees. 

Fallout Fired by ABC. 

Response“I am shattered and heartbroken at the thought that any of my actions left members of my team feeling hurt or degraded.” 

Charlie Rose Television host

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least eight women, including groping and lewd phone calls. 

Fallout Fired by CBS. Bloomberg and PBS canceled distribution of his interview show, “Charlie Rose.” 

Response“I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate.” 

John Conyers Jr. U.S. representative for Michigan

Accusation Sexual harassment of employees. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“They are not true. I cannot explain where they came from.” 

Russell Simmons Co-founder of Def Jam Records and other businesses

Accusation Sexual assault of two women. Later, four women accused him of violent sexual behavior, including raping three of them. 

Fallout Stepped down from his businesses. 

ResponseIn response to one of the earlier accusations, he said he had been “thoughtless and insensitive in some of my relationships over many decades” and apologized. Of later accusations of violent sexual behavior, he said “I vehemently deny all these allegations. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.” 

Al Franken U.S. senator for Minnesota

Accusation Sexual harassment of several women, including forcibly kissing and groping. 

Fallout Will resign. 

Response“I know in my heart, nothing that I have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution, and I am confident that the Ethics Committee would agree.” 

David Sweeney Chief news editor at NPR

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least three female colleagues. 

Fallout Left NPR. 

ResponseDid not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stephen Bittel Florida Democratic Party chairman

Accusation Sexually inappropriate comments and behavior. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I have much to learn, but my goal is and has always been to make sure every member of our party has a safe environment in which to succeed. It seems I’ve not been successful in that goal, and I will do better.” 

Wes Goodman Ohio state representative

Accusation Inappropriate behavior. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I sincerely regret that my actions and choices have kept me from serving my constituents and our state in a way that reflects the best ideals of public service.” 

Steve Jurvetson Co-founder of a venture capital firm and a board member of Tesla and SpaceX

Accusation Sexual misconduct. 

Fallout Resigned from firm and taking leave of absence from boards. 

Response“Let me be perfectly clear: No such allegations are true.” 

Tony Cornish Minnesota state representative

Accusation Sexual harassment. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I sincerely apologize for my unwelcome behavior.”

Eddie Berganza Editor at DC Comics

Accusation Sexual harassment, including groping and forcibly kissing women. 

Fallout Fired. 

ResponseMr. Berganza did not respond to a message on Facebook from The Times seeking comment. 

Andrew Kreisberg Executive producer of “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash"

Accusation Sexual harassment of more than a dozen people. 

Fallout Fired by Warner Bros. TV Group. 

Response“I have made comments on women’s appearances and clothes in my capacity as an executive producer, but they were not sexualized.” 

Louis C.K. Comedian and producer

Accusation Sexual misconduct with five women, including exposing himself and masturbating in front of them. 

Fallout FX and other media companies cut ties. Movie release and comedy special were canceled. 

Response“These stories are true. … I have been remorseful of my actions.” 

Dan Schoen Minnesota state senator

Accusation Sexual harrassment, including sending a sexually explicit photograph. 

Fallout Resigned. 

ResponseThe allegations are “either completely false or have been taken far out of context,” Mr. Schoen told MinnPost. 

Benjamin Genocchio Executive director of the Armory Show art fair

Accusation Sexual harassment, including unwelcome touching of five women. 

Fallout Replaced. 

Response“To the extent my behavior was perceived as disrespectful, I deeply and sincerely apologize and will ensure it does not happen again.” 

David Guillod Co-chief executive of Primary Wave Entertainment agency

Accusation Sexual assault of four women. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“Mr. Guillod denies any allegations of nonconsensual sex,” his lawyer told TheWrap. 

Andy Dick Actor

Accusation Sexual harassment, including groping. 

Fallout Fired from film. 

Response“I didn’t grope anybody. I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. ... I’m not trying to sexually harass people.”

Michael Oreskes Head of news at NPR and former New York Times editor

Accusation Sexual harassment of three women. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I am deeply sorry to the people I hurt. My behavior was wrong and inexcusable, and I accept full responsibility.” 

Hamilton Fish President and publisher of The New Republic

Accusation Complaints by female employees. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“Women have longstanding and profound concerns with respect to their treatment in the workplace. Many men have a lot to learn in this regard. I know I do, and I hope for and encourage that new direction.” 

Kevin Spacey Actor

Accusation Sexual assault of multiple men and sexual misconduct with a minor. 

Fallout Fired from "House of Cards" and cut from other projects. 

Response“Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment,” said his representative in a statement. 

Raul Bocanegra California state assemblyman

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least six women. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“While I am not guilty of any such crimes, I am admittedly not perfect.” 

Mark Halperin NBC News and MSNBC contributor, co-author of “Game Change"

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least five women. 

Fallout Dismissed from MSNBC and NBC News and had upcoming book and HBO adaptation canceled. 

Response“I am profoundly sorry for the pain and anguish I have caused by my past actions. I apologize sincerely to the women I mistreated.” 

Rick Najera Director of CBS's Diversity Showcase

Accusation Sexual harassment, including inappropriate comments to performers. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“We are heartbroken and confounded by deliberate and cruel defamations,” said his family in a statement. 

Knight Landesman Publisher of Artforum

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least nine women, including groping. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I fully recognize that I have tested certain boundaries, which I am working hard to correct.” 

Leon Wieseltier A former editor at The New Republic

Accusation Sexual harassment of several women, including inappropriate advances. 

Fallout Fired from Emerson Collective, which canceled publication of a magazine he was editing. 

Response“For my offenses against some of my colleagues in the past I offer a shaken apology and ask for their forgiveness.” 

Terry Richardson Fashion photographer

Accusation Sexual harassment of models. 

Fallout Banned from working with Condé Nast. 

Response“Many of his professional interactions with subjects were sexual and explicit in nature but all of the subjects of his work participated consensually,” a spokeswoman said. 

John Besh Chief executive of the Besh Restaurant Group

Accusation Sexual harassment. 

Fallout Stepped down. 

Response“I alone am entirely responsible for my moral failings. This is not the way the head of a company like ours should have acted.” 

Lockhart Steele Editorial director of Vox Media

Accusation Sexual harassment of at least one person, including unwanted kissing. 

Fallout Fired. 

ResponseVox Media's chief executive said Steele had admitted to “engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values and will not be tolerated.”

Robert Scoble Tech blogger and co-founder of the Transformation Group

Accusation Sexual assault of at least two women. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“Each of the women who have come forward used grains of truth to sell false narrative.”

Cliff Hite Ohio state senator

Accusation Repeatedly propositioning a female state employee. 

Fallout Resigned. 

Response“I recognize that this was inappropriate behavior. … I apologize completely.” 

Chris Savino Creator and showrunner of “The Loud House”

Accusation Sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual advances, of as many as 12 women. 

Fallout Fired. 

Response“I am deeply sorry and I am ashamed.” 

Roy Price Head of Amazon Studios

Accusation Sexual harassment of one woman. 

Fallout Resigned. 

ResponseCould not be reached for comment. 

Andy Signore Senior vice president of content for Defy Media

Accusation Sexual assault of one woman and harassment of several others. 

Fallout Fired. 

Response“Mr. Signore unequivocally denies allegations of sexual assault, harassment or retaliation of any kind,” his lawyer said in a statement.

Harvey Weinstein Producer and co-founder of the Weinstein Company

Accusation Raping three women. Sexual assault and harassment of dozens of others — including masturbating, exposing himself and unwelcome touching. 

Fallout Fired from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. 

Response“I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.” He denied the accusations of nonconsensual sex. 

                                                  *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

In 1971 on this day,  Stanley Kubrick's X-rated film "A Clockwork Orange" based on the book by Anthony Burgess and starring Malcolm McDowell premieres.

What's Jay have to say about Kubrick's film:


....Alex has an affinity for Beethoven, despite his predominate brutishness, which often plays over scenes of violence or sex, including rape. Alex and his "droogs" engage in "ultra-violence," and end up raping the wife of a liberal activist who opposes the state's draconian control measures.  Later, Alex attempts to rape a wealthy woman who lives in a country estate and is caught.  What we see here is a prophetic view of the future of man's world.  A globalized, 1984-style slum, where a few elites and intelligentsia live outside the urban areas. The intelligentsia like the writer and the behaviorist therapist seeking to cure Alex have a faulty view of human nature, and this is the key.  The film is full of sexual (and other bodily function elements) images which display the fact that most men are led about by their bodily desires, and contribute nothing to society.  The liberal activists and therapists continually try to make Alex a "productive" member of society and seek to influence him with religion and other salves.   However, the crucial point of the film is that Alex remains Alex.

(Read Jay's full article here.)

Love is in the air, well, after the divorce.

I go every morning to the Armenian Convent to study the language -- I mean the Armenian language -- (for as you perhaps know -- I am versed in the Italian which I speak with fluency rather than accuracy --) and if you ask me my reason for studying this out-of-the-way language --  can only answer that it is Oriental and difficult -- and employs me -- which are -- as you know my Eastern and difficult way of thinking -- reasons sufficient.  Then I have fallen in love with a very pretty Venetian of two and twenty (Marianna Segati) with great black eyes -- she is married -- and so am I -- which is very much to the purpose -- we have found and sworn an eternal attachment -- which has already lasted a lunar month -- and I am more in love than ever -- and so is the lady -- at least she says so -- and seems so -- she does not plague me (which is a wonder--) and I verily believe we are one of the happiest-unlawful couples on this side of the Alps.

                                               Lord Byron to his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, from Venice, 1816


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Marriage and divorce entered the political arena on this day in 1915 when U.S. President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Bolling Gale.  A widower, the president married this jeweler's widow in the bride's Washington, D.C., home.

Conversely, on this day in 1970, Italy's first divorce law went into effect even though the Roman Catholic Church objected vehemently.  Fortunately the church eventually came around just as it has to such modern day things as Global Warming and possible visitors from other planets, (they should know, they hold all the books in the basement of the Vatican per the hit television series Ancient Aliens); and just as the church has come around to these past issues, it will most certainly come around to acknowledging a woman's right to the abortion and instead of politicizing the issue to win elections, fund social programs to help these poor people with this terrible decision they have to make either for health or financial reasons.  Maybe hand out a few condoms along the way too.

I'M JUST SAYING....

                                                    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

 Today, International Migrants Day, is not a bad moment to recall that the first ones in human history obliged to emigrate were Adam and Eve.

According to the official version, Eve tempted Adam: she offered him the forbidden fruit and it was her fault that both of the were banished from Paradise.

But is that how it happend?  Or did Adam do what he did of his own accord?

Maybe Eve offered him nothing and asked nothing of him.

Maybe Adam chose to bite the forbidden fruit when he learned that Eve had already done so.

Maybe she had already lost the privilege of immortality and Adam opted to share her damnation.

so he became mortal.  But not alone. 

Eduard Galeano; Children of the Days pg 384


      
                                                    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her. Never underestimate the power of love. The way to love anything is to realize it may be lost. The heart has its reasons that reason does not know at all. Music is love in search of a word. There is pleasure in the pathless woods; there is a rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar.

                                                                                                                       Lord Byron

Virginia woman killed by her dogs and the 1966 Aliens.

It's funny what you can find out today without leaving the comforts of your home and using the internet.

First, you see the headline in your news feed:

Then you watch the news clip:



Then you visit the location for a first-hand look (google maps):

Then you do a search for killings in the area!

And you find this:

Where it is reported:

"A Goochland man and woman were killed late Sunday when their car ran off the road, according to the Goochland Sheriff's Office.

Timothy Paul Roberts, 38, was driving west on River Road West around 11 p.m. when his car went off the road near Maidens Road. 

Roberts and Rebecca Harris, 46, were pronounced dead on the scene, despite wearing their seatbelts and having both front airbags deployed.
The cause of the accident is under investigation at this time."


 Hmmm, possible if not probable just to die like that with seat-belts on and the airbags deployed(?)

Maybe not. 


On to the next one:

 
"GOOCHLAND, Va. (WRIC) — Police say a Goochland man died early Friday morning after he was found with gunshot wounds to his chest late Thursday night.
Deputies found the man, Richard Hamm, 57, lying near his home in Sandy Hook around 10:30 p.m. He was transported to Henrico Doctors Forest where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
The investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s office 556-4349 or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000."

Not too bizarre... happens all the time.  And although Sandy Hook is only an 8 minute drive away from Goochland, this does not seem to fit the same bizzarreness as the dog murder or two people dead with seat-belts and airbags. 

So you continue on and find:

"NBC12 has learned new information in the mysterious death of the Goochland teen killed in the middle of a dark country road. 
It has now been more than a month since a newspaper carrier found 17-year-old Billy Lee Maxwell lying on Broad Street Road in the early morning hours and still no arrests have been made.
Maxwell's death has baffled his family and investigators.  The Goochland Sheriff's Office is really no closer to closing the case.  The lingering questions have given investigators many challenges and loved ones nothing but heartache."

So here we have another disturbing death.

So, besides the recent death of a 22 year old woman by her two dogs, we have a car accident where the driver and passenger appear to have died from some other reason than impact, and a 17 year old found dead on the side of a road.   All three, by-the-way, open cases.

So,  mapped the three deaths to see how far apart they were and here's what we get:


A:18 Sept 2010: The possible hit-and-run was at Broad Street just east of Maidens Road.

 B: 21 April 2013: The car accident happened on River Road West near Maidens Road.



C: 15 December 2017: The dog murders happened in the 2200 block of Manakin Rd, Manakin-Sabot, VA

Okay, confusing I know, so let me put the three spots on one map and show you what I'm seeing:

 The three separate events seem to share an equal distance from each other.

Yikes! The Pythagoras pyramid. 

Who could stop there, right?  Not me.  And so I continued my search and interestingly enough, came across this strange incident:

Sheriff Reveals 1966 UFO Encounter And Death Of Dog

By Mark Bowes - Staff Writer
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Henrico County Sheriff A.D. "Toby" Mathews said, he might not have believed it.

On a bright moonlit night 33 years ago this summer, Mathews said, he saw a large unidentified flying object hovering silently near his Varina farm. He suspects whatever was inside the mysterious craft was responsible for snatching and snuffing the life out of his dog.

"I really saw the thing, I really did," Mathews, 65, said this week when asked to respond to talk of his close encounter. "And I've never seen anything like that since then."

Mathews said he never publicly disclosed what he saw until now because he felt no one would believe him. He talked about his UFO experience this week after The Times-Dispatch learned that he had told the story three years ago to his former chief deputy during a Christmas dinner in Williamsburg.

Mathews, who's fond of sharing personal stories about his life, was candid about his UFO experience, which he noted occurred during a time when such sightings were reported with some regularity by Richmond-area residents.

During the spring and summer of 1966 --when Mathews said he saw a saucerlike object hover over a cornfield near his farm and then disappear in a flash -- more than a half-dozen people, including three other Richmond-area police officers, reported spotting similar objects hovering over the city, Henrico and

Goochland County, according to news accounts in The Times-Dispatch and The Richmond News Leader.

One Richmond patrolman told The News Leader that he chased the UFO in his patrol car.

"If I live to be 100, I'll never forget it," said former Officer William L. Stevens Jr. in a July 21, 1966, news story.

Mathews' UFO encounter had been the subject of gossip for years and recently surfaced again as the local election season draws to a

close. Mathews, a two-term sheriff, is running for the Varina District seat on the Henrico Board of Supervisors.

With just four days left until the general election, Mathews this week recounted his UFO experience with little hesitation. He said it occurred Aug. 9, 1966, after he returnedhome from a psychology class at the former Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University). He was a road sergeant with Henrico police and was living alone at the time at his farm on Charles City Road in the county's Glendale area.

At about 10:30 that evening, Mathews said, his German shepherd, tied to a chain out back, began barking loudly, so he went outside to investigate. After turning him loose, Mathews said the dog, which he had acquired only three weeks earlier, ran to the edge of an adjacent cornfield. He was astonished at what he saw next.

"I happened to look up and there was that UFO right above the cornfield, it was just hovering right up above the power lines" about 200 feet in the air, Mathews said.

The craft, which Mathews described as white and about 30 feet in diameter, made hardly a sound and emitted no light. The object was about 4 or 5 feet wide at its widest point, which was in the middle, he said.

"It was just like the ones you see on TV," Mathews said. "It was a bright moon that night," so he got a good look at it.

Mathews said he ran back inside his house to get a flashlight, and when he returned and shined it on the craft, the UFO turned slightly, emitted a burst of light and "took off like a bullet, just tremendously fast."

Mathews said he rechained the dog and went to bed after the craft disappeared, and he got up about 5 the next morning and went out to check on his dog. He let it run loose for a few minutes, as was his routine, but the dog didn't come back.

Mathews said he canvassed the area, but the dog was nowhere to be found. When he returned home, he was startled to find his dog lying motionless in the middle of the road just beyond his circular driveway. He was dead.

"He didn't have a mark on him -- no blood, no singe [marks], no nothing," Mathews recalled. "It looked like he almost was sleeping. And whatever killed him, they had taken his chain collar off" and dropped it on the shoulder of the road. "I couldn't believe how it got off him like it did."

Mathews said his neighborhood in those days was remote and largely devoid of traffic at that hour. "I didn't see any cars come through at the time." Mathews said he assumed that his dog was killed by whoever, or whatever, was in the UFO. "The dog let me know that they were there," he said.

The dog's death remained a mystery, Mathews said. He buried the shepherd that morning in a meadow on his property.

Mathews said the city officer who saw a saucerlike object near the State Fairgrounds a month earlier had urged him to notify the news media about his encounter, but Mathews resisted. Mathews was living alone at the time, and there were no other witnesses, he said.

"I wasn't frightened by it; it was kind of awesome," Mathews said of the object. "Of course, back in those days I was still in the military reserve, and it didn't appear to be any type of military craft at all. Because No. 1, it wouldn't have done what it did" had it been a known military aircraft.

In December 1996, Mathews told his story to then-Chief Deputy Patrick Haley and his wife, Brenda, during a Christmas dinner party at the Seafarers Restaurant in Williamsburg.

"The way he told it was so specific and he was dead serious, he wasn't joking," said Haley, who now is deputy coordinator of law enforcement accreditation for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. "We talked about this for months."

Haley, who resigned abruptly after about a year as the department's No. 2 officer because he believed incompetent leadership and dishonorable management practices by Mathews created a host of problems with the sheriff's office, recalled Mathews telling him a slightly different story about the encounter.

Haley said he remembered Mathews saying the craft had landed and emitted some kind of strong "pull" that drew him toward it, although he managed to resist it. Haley also recalled Mathews saying that his dog, after it was found dead, appeared to have been burnt or singed.

Mathews, however, said those things didn't happen. And he shrugged off how his strange encounter may be viewed by the public.

"Well, I did see it," he said. "I really don't know what it was."

Pokémon Christmas in the Arctic.

In 1997 on this day, that classic parental admonition of "Television will rot your brain" was given  sudden urgency.  Seems, over seven hundred Japanese schoolchildren became dizzy and nauseated while watching an episode of the popular Japanese cartoon series Pokémon.  Some even had seizures.  Hospitals across the country were inundated with retching, convulsing kids, and a few parents, in scenes reminiscent of a really bad Japanese sci-fi movie.

"I was shocked to see my daughter lose consciousness," said Yukiko Iwasaki, whose eight-year-old suffered a seizure.  "She started to breathe only when I hit her on the back."

The spasmodic mass reaction was triggered about 20 minutes into Pokémon episode 38, "Computer Warrior Porigon," which, like other episodes of the top-rated show, was produced in an intense version of animation known as anime.  A vivid explosion, with pulsating strobe-light effects, apparently walloped those kids with their eyes glued to their television sets on the evening of December 16.

Warning, the following episode has been know to cause seizures in young children.  Watch at your own risk:

_________________________________________________________________________________

On this day in 2010, an ancient forest emerged in the Arctic from the melting ice line we all know as Global Warming.  Scientist found a petrified forest that dated from 2 to 8 millions ago.

Joel Barker, a research scientist at Byrd Polar Research Center, said, "Mummified forests aren't so uncommon, but what makes this one unique is that it's so far north. When the climate began to cool 11 million years ago, these plants would have been the first to feel the effects. And because the trees' organic material is preserved, we can get a high-resolution view of how quickly the climate changed and how the plants responded to that change."

Since this 2010 Arctic "mummy forest" finding, other interesting photos have been popping up on the web which show other things being seen from underneath the melting ice. 


These NASA photos show an ancient city:

The map of Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1513

Historian and cartographer at the University of Cambridge, Christopher Adam, believes there might be a rational explanation for the NASA photos: "One of histories most puzzling maps is that of the Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1513 AD which successfully mapped the coastline of Antarctica over 500 years ago. What is most fascinating about this map is that it shows the coastline of Antarctica without any ice. How is this possible when images of the coastline of Antarctica were only seen for the first time after the development of ground-penetrating radar in 1958?  Is it possible Antarctica has not always been covered under such an ice sheet?  This could be evidence that it is a possibility” he acknowledges, "A slight pole shift or displacement of the axis of rotation of the Earth in historical times is possibly the only rational explanation that comes to mind but we definitely need more research done before we jump to any conclusion.”


 




And, then there are the pyramids.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, on this December the 16th, I think we should remember the hungry:  it was this day in the year 2007 that experts from the world Bank, with the assistance of the International Monetary Fund and a few United Nations agencies, updated their statistical tables from the Regan/Bush era projections to admit that the estimated numbers of poor people in the world was five-hundred million more than previously recorded.

As Eduardo Galeano said in his book Children of the Days,  "They, the poor, already knew."

Merry Christmas 2017

Watch What You Say, It Might Kill You!

"By the time you receive this letter we shall be in Paris, barring of course a nose-dive into the channel."

Glenn Miller wrote the preceding words to his wife on December 4, 1944.  That was the last words he wrote her before he died in a plane crash just as he predicted.

On December 14, 1944, Glenn Miller was seen boarding a plane from England to France, and never again. 

The official report into the disappearance stated that a crash would likely have been caused either by engine trouble or by the build-up of ice on the wings, the latter affecting the plane's aerodynamics and causing it to stall.  The lack of a search for the missing aircraft can be explained by the delay in raising the alarm: three days had elapsed between the plane taking off and it being reported missing, greatly reducing the chances of finding anyone alive.  Nobody had any idea where the aircraft might have come down, so a search, even if it had begun, would have had to cover an enormous area.  Another factor was the progress of the war at the time; on December 16, the Germans had mounted a huge offensive in the Ardennes region, known now as the Battle of the Bulge, and it is perhaps understandable that resources were not diverted away from the fighting in order to search for three people who, in all probability, were already dead.

Thirty years later, in 1985, it emerged that crew members of a British Lancaster bomber, returning from an aborted mission over Germany, had seen a plane crash into the English Channel on the same day as Glenn Miller went missing.  The Lancaster was jettisoning its bombs over a designated area of the Channel because it was too dangerous to land with the bombs still on board.  The navigator, who was watching the bombs fall, spotted a small plane, which he identified as a Norseman (the same plane as Miller was in) spinning out of control and crashing into the water.

Almost as soon as Miller was posted as missing, rumors began to circulate about what had happened to him.  They were all based on the assumptions that he did not die in a plane crash over the Channel, but had died after arriving in Paris, with the incident covered up by the American military.  The most ludicrous of these rumors is that Miller had been ordered by General Eisenhower, the overall commander of Allied forces in Europe, to conduct secret talks with German officers concerning a surrender.  Why Eisenhower would pick a big band leader with no military experience of any description to go on such a sensitive mission is, unsurprisingly, not fully explained in this theory.

Another rumor, and one of the most persistent, is that, rather than dying in a plane crash, Miller was killed during a fight in a Parisian brothel and the incident was kept quiet because of fears over the effect it would have on morale.  Like all the other stories along these lines, this one doesn't stand up to examination because it does not account for what happened to the other people who went missing on the plane.

The exact circumstances of the disappearance may never be known for certain, but the most likely explanation is that, either as the result of mechanical failure or friendly fire, Miller's plane went down in the Channel and sank without leaving a trace; just as he had joked to his wife in his December 4th letter.

The power of suggestion is definitely a powerful thing.   Watch what you say, the universe is probably listening.

Other examples of this power of suggestion:

Mark Twain

In 1909, Twain joked that the next time Halley's Comet passed close to Earth, he would "go out" with it.  He didn't mean romantically: The comet had last been visible from Earth in the year Twain was born, 1835, so he claimed it would be the "greatest disappointment of my life" if it didn't also pass at the time of his death.

As you might know, Halley's Comet visits us once every 76 years and is only visible from Earth for a couple of months at a time. This means that at the moment of Twain's humorous prediction, the comet was due again in the following year; and what do you know, it showed up on April 20, 1910. The next day, Twain died of a heart attack.


"Pistol" Pete Maravich
 

In 1974, Maravich was 26 and had been playing in the NBA for four years. He was at the height of his career, but didn't feel like basketball was all there was to life. In an interview with the Beaver County Times, Maravich said, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack at the age of 40."

On January 5th, 1988, Pistol Pete did just that.


Frank Pastore

If you like baseball, you might know Frank Pastore as a Major League pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins in the 1970s and '80s; if you're into Christian radio, you probably know him from the most listened to Christian talk show in the United States, The Frank Pastore Show; and if you're into freaky coincidences, then you know him from the following story.

On his November 19, 2012 broadcast, Pastore and his listeners were discussing some of his favorite subjects, namely the immortality of the soul and riding bitchin' bikes. Pastore remarked:
"You guys know I ride a motorcycle, right? At any moment, especially with the idiot people who cross the diamond lane into my lane, without any blinkers -- not that I'm angry about it -- at any minute, I could be spread all over the 210."

On the way home from his radio show, a 56-year-old woman driving a Hyundai Sonata drifted into his lane and collided with his bike.  Pastore suffered a massive head injuries and died a month later after being in a coma.

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On this day in 1503, the famous French prophet and astrologer Michel de Nostradamus was born in Saint Remy de Provence.  He experienced many psychic visions during his childhood, and he later studied the Holy Qabalah, astrology, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.  The first collection of his uncannily accurate visions, written in the form of rhymed quatrains, was published in the year 1555.  Three years later, a second and larger collection of his prophecies -- reaching into the year 3797 -- was published.  Nostradamus died on July 1, 1566.

DNA and Alfred Hitchcock

Double Helix

On December 11, 1951, after a disastrous demonstration of what they thought was the model for the structure of DNA, Francis Crick and James D. Watson were ordered to cease their research in that arena by Sir Lawrence Bragg, director of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory, where both men worked.

"No attempt was made to appeal the verdict," Watson later wrote with the characteristic edge.  "An open outcry would reveal that our professor was completely in the dark about what the initials DNA stood for.  There was no reason to believe that he gave it one hundredth the importance of the structure of metals, for which he took great delight in making soap-bubble models.  Nothing gave Sir Lawrence more pleasure than showing his ingenious motion-picture film of how bubbles bump into each other."

All wasn't lost, for the DNA research was in the air, it had been materialized in the universal for in 1998 on the very same day, the first organism to have its entire DNA coded was completed:  a worm (Caenorhabditis elegans); it had taken eight years to map 97 million base pairs of the parasitic creature no bigger than a pinhead.

Speaking of DNA, Theorist such as David Wilcock and Giorgio A. Tsoukalos believe the first drawings of the DNA structure can be seen in Ancient Sumerian drawings. 

Other interesting DNA images can be seen in the medical Caduceus or Greek god Hermes symbol:

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Caduceus is a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it. It was an ancient astrological symbol of commerce and is associated with the Greek god Hermes, the messenger for the gods, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and thieves.

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Not only is December 11th, the day the film Psycho begins, it is also the Blowing of the Midwinter Horn which dates back more than two thousand years.  Farmers around the country take out their birch-wood horns and blow them to scare away evil influences and announce the presence of Skadi, fur-clad goddess of winter and spirit of the north wind. 

Oh, and getting back to the Psycho film, the esoteric beauty of that film can be seen in the opening scene when  Janet Leigh can be seen in the white bra, the innocent beginning, but then, after she takes the money, she is wearing a black bra to let you know there as been a change in her which will ultimately end in her death.  

Bravo, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, bravo!

“Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. ... The conventional big-bosomed blonde is not mysterious. And what could be more obvious than the old black velvet and pearls type? The perfect ‘woman of mystery’ is one who is blonde, subtle and Nordic. ... Although I do not profess to be an authority on women, I fear that the perfect title [for a movie], like the perfect woman is difficult to find.”

― Alfred Hitchcock

The Nobel Prize Happens and so does war.

Elizabeth Taylor

And the Oscar went to Elizabeth Taylor for her work in Butterfield 8, a film so dreadful even the actress herself dismissed it as "a piece of obscenity."  A Grammy was given to Baha Men for "Who Let the Dogs Out," a song that asked the probing question "Who? Who? who? Who? Who?" Madonna, whose portrayal of Eva Peron came off stiffer than the corpse of Argentina's once celebrated first lady, nevertheless won a Golden Globe for her "acting" in Evita.  Yet no matter how colossally ill chosen the award winners were, nobody (except perhaps the worthier competition) was too adversely affected by these aberrations.  "That's entertainment," as the saying goes.

The Nobel Prize, however, is a different matter entirely.  The award, given every year on December 10, is supposed to recognize the very best in human accomplishment in various fields of endeavor.  Giants like Einstein, Mandela, Churchill, and Curie have all been named Nobel laureates.  But so have some vastly less deserving fold who, by virtue of winning the Nobel, gave the prestigious prize a bit of a black eye.  Among them:

Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber, 1918, chemistry, for the synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen in the air.  Thanks to Haber's discovery, which allowed for the development of industrial fertilizers, the world became far better fed.  Yet this immensely beneficial contribution to mankind was made well before World War I, by which time the chemist was redirecting his creative energy toward something his own wife condemned as "perversion of the ideals of science" and  "a sign of barbarity, corruption the very discipline which ought to bring new insights into life" -- the annihilation of Germany's enemies on the battlefield with poisonous gas.

Antonio Egas Moniz

Antonio Egas Moniz, 1949, medicine, for pioneering the lobotomy.  Besides the fact that this radical brain procedure turned many patients -- including President John F. Kennedy's sister Rosemary-- into near zombies, there was nothing particularly inventive about the drilling holes into the skull and shoving in an instrument to disable the frontal lobes.  n fact, it was kind of medieval-- not like, say, creating the artificial heart (a feat for which Robert Jarvik was egregiously overlooked by the Nobel committee).  And when a place as oppressive and cruel as the Soviet Union bans lobotomies as "contrary to the principles of humanity," as it did in 1950, that might be taken as an indication that this monstrous procedure was bad medicine indeed.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat, 1994, Peace Prize (shared with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel).  Yes, it's true that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.  And certainly the Palestinian people have had plenty of legitimate beefs with Israel.  Yet when the massacre of innocents--coupled with hijackings, kidnappings, political assassinations, and other mayhem--becomes the paramount means to an end, as it did for the Palestinian leader, it tends to make a mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize--especially considering the fact that Mahatma Gandhi was never awarded one.

Myron Scholes

Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, 1997, economics.  Less than a year after receiving their prize, "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives," as the Nobel announcement read, the laureates' esteemed hedge fund, Long-Term Capital Management, lost $4 billion in six weeks.
(Bad Days in History, Farquhar, Michael).

(See this year's 2017 winners here.)

No conversation of the Nobel Peace Prize is complete without mentioning the year 1978.  For that is the year President Jimmy Carter somehow got Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat and  Menachem Begin together to talk and Egypt became the first Arab country to officially recognize the state of Israel. In return Egypt gained control of the Sinai Peninsula.  Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat and  Menachem Begin
both shared the Nobel Peace Prize that year.  It was one of the few serious hopes for peace I have seen in my lifetime.  But then....

On 6 October 1981, Sadat was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal. 

The assassination squad was led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli after a fatwā (death sentence) was approved by Omar Abdel-Rahman, "The Blind Sheikh," an Egyptian Muslim leader who was arrested and convicted for the first World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.  

Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

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Obama

In the year 2009, on the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. 

In his acceptance speech, the president thought it wise to pay homage to war: "times when nations will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified."

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Four and a half centuries before, when the Nobel Prize did not exist and evil resided in countries not with oil but with gold and silver, Spanish jurist Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda also defended war as "not only necessary but morally justified."

Ginés explained that war was necessary against the Indians of the Americas, "being by nature servile men who are barbarian, uncultured and inhuman," and that war was justified, "because it is just, by natural right, that the body obey the soul, that the appetite obey reason, that brutes obey man, women their husbands, the imperfect the perfect and the worse the better, for the good of all."

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On or around this date each year, Inuít hunters of the Arctic coastal regions of North America perform the centuries-old December Moon Ceremony.  The observance begins with a series of purification rites, followed by a full-moon propitiation ritual for the souls of the animals that the participants have hunted and killed during the prior year. 


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Debunked:  Were Ringo Star and Yasser Arafat the same persons?  

No, but they both lived on Beatles somewhere in their lifetimes.

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