Musings and History
Quote of the day:
“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of the living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of the fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope – progress.”
Bruce Barton
Trivia question of the day:
Richard I was the son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and eventually became king. He was on the 3rd Crusade and something peculiar happened to him on his way back home. What was it? Answer at the end of the blog.
Down in the area of Gulf Shores, Alabama there is a murder trial under way. The prosecution has charged ex-county commissioner Shephen Nodine with the murder of his mistress 45 year old Angel Downs. Back in May Angel’s corpse was found in the driveway of her Gulf Shores condo with one bullet hole in her head. Her pistol was found nearby with no one’s fingerprints on the weapon but hers. About 6 years ago Angel and Stephen met at the infamous Flora-Bama Lounge. Let me tell y’all, I have been all over the world and Angel is in the top five best looking women I have ever seen top to bottom, she had everything. Angel and Stephen would come over to Pensacola Beach on occasion and party. They would stop in my favorite place from time to time. She stopped conversations when she walked in the door. Their relationship was a rocky one however. They squabbled frequently. Regardless of that Stephen spent many a night in her condo in spite of he being married and having a passel of kids. At one time he was considered a rising star in Alabama politics, not anymore. Angel had said more than once that she wished Stephen would divorce his wife and marry her so they could spend the rest of their days together but she eventually realized it was not going to happen. She broke up with Stephen and dated at least two other men. Just before she was found dead, Stephen had stormed into the Flora-Bama screaming “Where is the whore!” This blow up was witnessed by at least 100 people. Angel was not there but was found dead a little while later. What really got Stephen’s goat was a few nights before he walked in on Angel in bed with another man. The man was a friend that had known Angel for 30 years and she had asked him to stay with her that night because her front door lock was broken and she was afraid. That is what the man testified to. He said that Nodine walked into the bedroom unannounced and threw a garage door opener at her and left in a huff. The prosecution is claiming that Stephen killed Angel in a jealous rage. Stephen’s defense is that Angel committed suicide because her income had been cut in half in the last few years because of the economy and she could not pay her bills. On occasion Stephen would bring his older sons over and they would sleepover in Angel’s house. The impression I got is that Stephen was a man of power in that area of the country and was not used to not getting his way and being rejected. In any event his political career is over and if he is convicted of killing that beautiful creature, I will lift a toast to every day he spends in the joint. The trial is in its 9th day, I will keep y’all advised. Steven Nodine was acquitted but as suspected his political goose was cooked.
I assume that all of y’all know that your friend and mine, Michael Moore, provided the bail money to get that insect owner of Wikileaks out of a British prison over the strong objections of the Swedish government. He is wanted in Sweden on a sexual abuse charge. The British knew how slippery this vermin can be so they included that he must wear a locator anklet until the deal with Sweden is resolved. Good luck on that. Michael Moore, what a great American.
Last Friday 65 year old Earnest McDonald walked out of his house near Columbia and disappeared. He had no family in the area but his neighbors saw that he had not been home in several days and were fearful that he was disabled in this exceptionally cold weather and they knew he was on a slew of medications. Wednesday the Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa called the Sheriff’s department and said that Ernest was with them. So far no one know how he made that trip and Ernest does not remember.
Over in Rock Hill, South Carolina two police officers were trying to capture two loose pit bulls that had no collars. One of the dogs bit one of the officers on the arm and backed off and then both of the dogs charged the other officer. The officer shot and killed both of them. The owner of the dogs will be fined heavily. Perhaps some of you may not know this but in Dade County (Miami). Florida, it is illegal to own a pit bull or a Rottweiler. I have mentioned how I feel about these animals; there is no need to plow that ground again.
This Date In History December 17
1777 Earlier in October British General John Burgoyne had his ass handed to him by Patriot General Horatio Gates and the Continental army at the Battle of Saratoga, New York. The news of that ass-kicking reached France and our minister to France, Benjamin Franklin, on December 24. Franklin had been leaning on France to recognize the United Sates as an independent nation. The king of France, Louis XVI had been reluctant to openly recognize the United States until they had proven they were capable of holding their own against the mightiest army in the world, that being the British army and the victory at Saratoga demonstrated that. France had secretly been sending supplies to the United States for years. But on this date, Ben Franklin prevailed and France officially recognized the United States as a free and independent nation. This, of course meant war with England. France had been smarting about the loss of the North American continent to the British during the Seven Years War and the French and Indian War and they saw this as a way of sticking it to the British in revenge.
1905 On this momentous day two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio name Wilbur and Orville Wright got a contraption that they had created to fly on under its own power for the first time in the history of the world on the dunes of Kitty Hawk, NC. This airplane flew for 12 seconds for a distance of 120 feet which is a little short of the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Just think on it folks, just 11 years later World War I fighter planes were flying 100 miles an hour for over an hour. There is no need for me to go into how far we have come in the aviation field since then. In the span of 100 years we have seen men on the moon and have erected a manned space station. It boggles mind.
1941 Here it is only 10 days after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the hunt is complete for a scapegoat, they found one in the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Husband Kimmel. On this date he was relieved of command. Previously, Kimmel had been a favorite of President Roosevelt and have served admirable as various battleship commanders. His damning fault was that he did not put enough credence in his intelligence sources. There were plenty of clues that an attack was imminent but chose to believe that attack was going to happen somewhere else other than Hawaii. His US army counterpart, General Walter Short was also relieved of command at the same time, they were both acknowledged scapegoats and during their court martial they were not even allowed to testify in their own behalf nor call witnesses. The court martial accused and convicted them of dereliction of duty. In February of 1941, Rear Admiral Kimmel had received a temporary rank of Admiral while overseeing a training exercise of the Pacific Fleet but he reverted back to his original rank of Rear Admiral after war had been declared on December 8. Both commanders were not given the military intelligence available to those in Washington. If they had; perhaps things would nave been different. They are those that believe US President Roosevelt allowed that attack to take place to get the Unites States people on a wartime footing. Roosevelt had stated on more than one occasion that “Unless attacked, the United States would not fight wars on foreign soil.” Well, here was an attack and sure enough, the United States did indeed fight wars on foreign soils.
Birth and deaths:
1957 English writer Dorothy Sayers dies. She said “As I grow older and totter toward the tomb, I find I care less and less who goes to bed with whom.”
Answer to the trivia question:
Richard I was in Germany making his way back to England when he was kidnapped and held for ransom. His mother Eleanor beseeches the Pope to intervene and intervene he did for an enormous “contribution”. A ransom amount was agreed upon and paid. Richard made it back home 2 years late...but alive. BTW Richard was also known as Richard The Lionheart.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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