Daily history

Good morning,







Quote of the day:


“Grace flows like a river through our lives reminding us that there is magic and power beyond what our eyes can see.”


Anonymous






Over in Spartanburg, SC a middle-aged brother and sister were arrested for criminal neglect. The DSS was informed about an elderly man that was being cared for by his son and daughter but he was in serious condition. The DSS officers went to the address and sure enough they found and elderly man covered in bed sores and barely alive from malnutrition. They called for an ambulance and the cops. The cops came and arrested the son and daughter. The father died on the way to the hospital which made the charge a hell of a lot more serious. The son and daughter were spending their father’s social security checks on themselves and to hell with Dad. How cruel can you get to watch your own father starve to death right before your eyes?






Maybe one of y’all can help me with my confusion. A couple of weeks ago up in Charlotte a couple of policemen confronted a burglar in the act of burglarizing a business. The cops approached the burglar from two different directions and ordered the thief to lay flat on the floor and spread his arms and legs. He made a false move and did not lay down right away so one of the cops shot him in the hip and down he went and was arrested. Keep in mind that these cops had Tasers, pepper spray and night sticks but chose to use potentially lethal force not knowing if the thief was armed. Then about three days ago a man in Gastonia, NC goes crazy as hell and starts shooting up the neighborhood with a rifle. A SWAT team arrives and the man runs back into the house and take a few pot shots at the SWAT team. The team withholds their gun fire and sneaks around and loads the house with tear gas and sends in a team with gas masks on. The team comes out a few minutes later with the crazy man in tow…alive and uninjured. If ever there was a person that deserved to be shot it was him…but he wasn’t. The burglar being shot was questionable at best. What’s up with all of that, especially with the cops having a plethora of non-lethal methods at their disposal?






Down in Columbia, SC a rock band from Atlanta named Grand Prize Winner were playing at a night club downtown. After the show, one of the musicians stepped out onto the sidewalk wearing only his underwear. He was spotted by the cops who called for him to stand still while they had a chat. Instead Drummer Walter Lewis broke and ran down Harden Street closely followed by the cops. Lewis tripped and fell and is arrested. He is jailed for indecent exposure. There was no reason stated as to why Walter tripped. I am going to leave that one alone.






This date in history March 8






1782 On this date 160 Pennsylvania Patriot militiamen raid a Moravian church in Ohio, County and massacre 96 Christian Indians including 39 children, 29 women and 28 men. These Indians were members of the Moravian church which meant they were devout pacifists and when the raid began, the Indians just went to their knees and awaited their fate while singing and praying. The raiders did not disappoint. They killed the Indians by smashing them in the skull with wooden mallets. The reason for the raid was a few of the outlying settlements had been raided by Indians that were clearly members of the Delaware tribe. But the Pennsylvania Militia was just looking for ANY Indians and these pacifists were an easy target. It was too bad because the Moravian Indians, even though pacifists were anti-British and would help the Patriots any way they could short of bloodshed. After this little tea party, the Moravian Indians became neutral and helped neither side, British or Patriot. It caused the Patriots a valuable ally because of that damned prejudicial militia.










1862 After several months of rebuilding and refurbishing the Confederate Navy had completed its first ironclad vessel. It had originally been named the Merrimack but on this day it was christened the CSS Virginia. The CSA navy had a hell of a time finding enough iron to clad this ship sufficiently but the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond proved to be equal to the task. On this day the CSS Virginia sallied forth into the waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. It was an odd looking ship. It was basically rectangular with sheets of iron plate sheathing the sides sloping inward at the top. It had cannon ports out the side. The first vessel the Virginia engaged was the USS Congress. The USS Congress and nearly every other US vessel nearby showered the Virginia with everything they had to no effect. Finally the Virginia got into position and unleashed a broadside into the wooden USS Congress and succeeded in detonating the powder magazine and the USS Congress went up in a volcano of splinters. Then the Virginia attacked the USS Minnesota. The Minnesota fired everything it had to no effect and then decided to run for it. Even though the Virginia was not the fastest ship afloat, it was able to cut off the Minnesota and run it aground. After this, the Captain of the Virginia decided that he had a pretty successful day and went to the house. Very soon thereafter a United States vessel named the USS Monitor shows up in Hampton Roads. It is an ironclad also except the design was totally different. The freeboard (distance above water line) was very shallow, maybe four feet or so. But mounted in the middle was a round turret that could be rotated with two Dahlgren cannon apparent. The Monitor and the Virginia did battle only once that ended in a draw. But this engagement was the death knell for wooden ships worldwide.






1951 Earlier Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez had met via a “Lonely Heart Club” advertisement in a New York magazine. Let me described these two. Martha was extremely obese with oily hair and acne. In fact it was reported that if she had been an inch taller she would have been a perfect sphere, just joking. But she was a porker. Raymond had received a severe head wound in WWII and was bald, had constant headaches and wore a cheap black toupee. Well, Martha and Raymond set up a meet and for reasons known only to them, they fell in love. These two had an adversity toward a profitable job so they decided that the “Lonely Hearts Club” was a target rich venue for rich and lonely older women. So Raymond began communicating with a few of them and would marry them and/or kill then and take all their money and leave while passing off Martha as his sister. Finally Raymond made the mistake of hooking up with a somewhat younger woman and she was not buying this brother/sister act. Even though she allowed Raymond and Martha to move in, she refused to marry until she was sure of Raymond and Martha’s relationship. Eventually, Raymond and Martha got tired of waiting and killed the woman and her two year old daughter and buried them in the basement. After this they fled to Michigan. They were arrested in Michigan and thought all was cool because Michigan did not have the death penalty. That is until they found out that they were going to be extradited back to New York where the death penalty was an option. Then they started trying to plea as being insane and enthralled the courtroom with vivid descriptions of kinky sex acts performed beside the various corpses. The jury was not amused and convicted them and sentenced them to death. On this date they both were executed by “Old Sparky” the electric chair in Sing Sing. It is a rumor that to this day, a faint aroma of sizzling lard can still be detected there.






1669 On this date Mount Etna, a volcano in northeast Sicily erupts after several days of warnings like lava flows, ash blowing out the top, etc. But today was the real thing. Etna exploded and threw white hot ash and poisonous gasses into the atmosphere. Well, the Sicilians that lived near the volcano refused to leave hoping to save their towns and villages. I don’t know what they thought they could do but over 25,000 people perished on the flanks of this volcano. This definitely was not the first nor would it be the last eruption of this famous volcano.






Born today:






1799 US Senator Simon Cameron from Pennsylvania. He said “An honest politician is one that when he is bought, he will stay bought.” I don’t know any.






1890 US writer Gene Fowler. He said “Writing is easy. All you have to do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until two drops of blood form on your forehead.” Si, Senor.






1917 On this date began the famous revolution in Russia that brought down the Romanov dynasty. The people were tired and hungry after WWI and there was no relief in sight. But the Royal Family was in fine shape. The still had their mansions, carriages, jewelry, etc. The crowd began throwing missiles and setting fires so the Tsar, Nicholas II, sent in a brigade into Petrograd to break up the demonstration. When the soldiers arrived they joined in with the demonstrators. Two weeks later Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and throne and the entire family was slaughtered by the Russian military.






1963 Supermodel and magazine mogul Kathy Ireland. She said “Modeling is very lucrative. I am able to save up and take only the movie roles I want.” I would like to see a show of hands of everyone that as ever seen this broad in ANY movie. A Meryl Streep she ain’t.






Died today:






1874 President Millard Fillmore. He said “An honorable defeat is better that a dishonorable victory.” Hey Millard, if George Patton ever heard the President of the United States say that he would move to Costa Rica. There is no honor to be had in a defeat.






1959 US baseball player and husband to Marilyn Monroe Joe DiMaggio. He said “People say I am graceful when batting. My father drove railroad spikes in Martinez, California for 10 cents and hour to support his family. That was grace.” Indeed it was, Joe, indeed it was.






2005 Welsh writer Alice Ellis. She said “There is no reciprocity, men love women, women love children and children love hamsters.”






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow