This Day In History - June 14: Birthdays of the Army, Bourbon & Superman; Peasants & Californians Revolt

Art: Napoleon In Berlin, Charles Meynier

1381 – A major development in our traditions of democracy and freedom for all traces back to the Great Revolt, also called the Peasant Revolt. And on this day in 1381, leaders of Peasants' Revolt met with Richard II on the field at Blackheath, where they presented their demands, including the dismissal of corrupt and unpopular ministers, "an end to the much-hated poll tax; an end to serfdom; and the repeal of the law that unfairly [froze] their wages to pre-Black Death rates." While the meeting was ongoing, some of the other rebels took matter into their own hands and stormed the Tower of London. There they found two of most hated ministers, Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Treasurer Robert de Hales, beheading them both. Not finding the king's uncle John of Gaunt, they burnt his home, the Savoy Palace, to the ground. Do read the entry at Brits at Their Best on the role of John Wycliffe in the Great Revolt and the revolt's aftermath.

1645 – In the pivotal battle of the English First Civil War, a Parliamentarian army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell decisively beat the main Royalist army loyal to King Charles I at the Battle of Naseby. The King lost his veteran infantry, including 500 officers, and all of his artillery. The war would end in a year.

1648 – Margaret Jones was hung in Boston for witchcraft.

1775 – The United States Army was born when Continental Congress authorized the formation of the Continental Army.

1777 – The Stars and Stripes was adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.

1789 – Survivors of the famed Mutiny on the Bounty, including Captain William Bligh and 18 others, reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,000-mile) journey in an open boat.

1789 – Bourbon - a from of whisky distilled from corn, is born on this day when the first batch is distilled by the Rev. Elijah Craig in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

1800 – Having installed himself as the leader of France in a coup in 1799, Napoleon began his famous wars of conquest of the European continent. On this date in 1800, in one of his most famous battles, he defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquered Italy.

1807 – Napoleon decisively defeated a Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1821 – The Ottoman Empire completed the conquest of the Sudan when Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrendered his throne to Ottoman General Ismail Pasha.

1846 – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic, kicking off the Bear Flag Revolt.

1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.

1907 – Norway adopts female suffrage.

1938 – Action Comics issue one was released, introducing Superman.

1940 – Paris surrenders to German occupation. In less than a month, the Vichy Regime would be established and the French would begin active collaboration with Hitler.

1940 – Auschwitz concentration camp began operations when the first group of 728 prisoners, Poles from Tarnów, arrived at the camp.

1941 – In June 1940, the Red Army occupied Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and installed new, pro-Soviet governments in all three countries. A year later, facing an ongoing guerrilla war against their occupation, the Soviets began the mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians with the "June deportation." Men were generally imprisoned and most of them died in Siberian gulags. Women and children were resettled in Kirov oblast and Novosibirsk oblast and about a half of them eventually survived..

1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States' Pledge of Allegiance.

1962 – Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler, murders Anna Slesers, his first victim.

1962 – The New Mexico Supreme Court in the case of Montoya v. Bolack, 70 N.M. 196, prohibits state and local governments from denying Indians the right to vote because they live on a reservation.

1966 – In an effort to prevent the spread of heresy, the Vatican had begun banning books in 1557 by listing them in the Church's "index librorum prohibitum." Making the list over the years were books by Jean Paul Sartre, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Locke, Galileo Galilei, and Blaise Pascal. This practice came to an end on this day in 1966 by the order of then Pope Paul VI.

1967 – Mariner 5 is launched toward Venus.

1976 – The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.

1982 – The Falklands War ends when Argentine forces in the capital Stanley unconditionally surrender to British forces.

1985 – TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by four members of Hezbollah, including Imad Mugniyah, shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece. Iran was directly involved in this hijacking. The kidnappers beat and murdered one of the passengers, U.S. Navy diver, Robert Stethem, and threw his body to the tarmac.

Births

1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (d. 1896)

1928 – Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Marxist Revolutionary and mass murderer for whom justice would be delayed until 1967.

1932 – Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona

1946 – Donald Trump, American businessman

1950 – Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and, arguably, one of the most ineffective and misguided individuals to ever hold the position.


Deaths

1381 – Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who lost his head to rampaging peasants over the poll tax.

1497 – Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Borgia, he was the son of Pope Alexander VI and the Pope's mistress, Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was murdered on the night of 14 June in a crime that has never been solved. Speculation is that either his brother had a hand in his death or that he was murdered by the father of a young woman whom he sought to seduce.

1914 – Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, 23rd Vice President (b. 1835)

1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, British feminist (b. 1857)

1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English author (b. 1874)


Holidays and observances

Today is Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands, Flag Day in the U.S., and the feast day of St. Eliseus, the Prophet whose story appears in the Old Testament. he became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19), and after Elijah was taken up in a fiery chariot into the whirlwind, he was accepted as the leader of the sons of the prophets, and became noted in Israel. He possessed, according to his own request, "a double portion" of Elijah's spirit (2 Kings 2:9); and for sixty years (892-832 BC) held the office of "prophet in Israel" (2 Kings 5:8).

Read More...

Summary only...

The Obamamatons

Prepare to be amazed at their intellectual prowess. It is man (and woman) on the street interviews in NYC with individuals so smitten with The One that they wear his visage for all to see on their t-shirts. This from an article in the Guardian (our MSM would never dare run this) wherein the first person at bat gives away her political bent by comparing Obama to Che Guerva in terms of marketing appeal.

This from the Guardian:

Jordana Zeldin, 24, photographer

Obama has become like Che Guevara in terms of what his face represents on merchandising. . .

. . . Obama represents this uniting force. He is willing to address the fact that America is far from perfect, in fact wildly flawed, in the way that recent politicians haven't done. For America to be this beacon of democracy it always says it is, it needs to acknowledge its flaws, look to other countries as models and build up from there. In terms of his biological and cultural make-up, he represents what America is - this racially mixed melting pot. It speaks to a lot of people who have moved to America or come from mixed families.

I knew our nation was imperfect, but I had no idea that in comparison it had so many flaws that we need to become more like, well, I am not sure who Ms. Z has in mind. Perhaps we can take lessons in democracy from the EU, a government form that retains the terminology of democracy while dispensing with the popular vote? Or perhaps we can become more Soviet like, as we may if Sen. Obama and the far left have their way. And one has to love Ms. Z's moral relativism spoken without any context and plied with a healthy does of identity politics.

Unfortunately, the other interviewees get no better. Next up:

Kellam Clark, 30, furniture maker and artist

I was sceptical about Obama initially. . . .

But then during the period in which he was debating against Hillary and the Republicans, he came out on top. I thought, I'll support him - he felt like the only one available to me. I'm now supporting [independent presidential candidate] Ralph Nader since he jumped back into the race. But I don't see it as a contradiction to wear the T-shirt. I still see it as important to endorse Obama, as one of the politicians we have available to us as progressive Americans. I don't go for the dream stuff, but he represents a changing of the guard. . . .

Mr. C is very confused. No Republicans showed up at the Dem debates. To the contrary Obama has been ducking and running from any direct debates with McCain like a mouse running away from a cat. And if he thinks Obama is coming out on top, obviously he did not tune in to Saddleback.

Viola Afrifa, 24, Student

. . . I'm fascinated by Obama's eloquence, the way that he speaks, both in terms of rhythm and words. I'm studying political communications, the way people project themselves, and he uses all of the techniques. The academic interest alerted me to Obama at first, and then it became political.

Obama is happy to negotiate without conditions, or so he says. He has a new way of dealing with other countries without looking only at American self-interest. This is something quite revolutionary.

A woman smitten by Obama and his teleprompter. As to "a new way of dealing" with other countries, obviously Ms. Afrifa's history lessons did not reach the 1930's. Obama's plan is not new, and it has been thoroughly discredited by history, and even Obama has disowned it as a plan. As to not "looking only at American self-interest," that is likely an accurate assessment. Given the number of people in his past now clinging to the bottom of the bus and the number of principles Obama has once claimed only to toss under the bus, I fully expect that a President Obama would put his political needs above the needs of the country. He's sort of the anti-McCain that way.

Sei Smith, 18, Student

I'm wearing it partly because I like how it looks and partly because I support Obama. I'm not a political person but the other candidates didn't speak to me. I saw Obama on television saying that you don't necessarily need experience if you have belief, and that sometimes experience can cloud your vision. I thought that was interesting and cool. Obama is similar to Lincoln in that he is a visionary. He's not as extreme as most young people, but he is a bridge to more radical views. To be a politician in America you can't be extreme, but he is pretty radical as politicians go.

If we all tap our heels together three times and just believe. . . . This is the Disney culture gone wild. It is interesting that Mr. Smith accepts Obama's take on experience without any sort of intellectual analysis. Obviously he wants to 'believe.' It is of note also that Smith sees Obama as a "bridge to more radical views." Obama's past is littered with radicals from Bill Ayers to Jeremiah Wright to name but a few. And his views on abortion that allow for infanticide are as radical as one will find in or outside of Washington. So Mr. Smith's is probably a correct assessment. If Obama takes over, it will in fact mark the first time that the far left has actually been handed the keys to the White House. Even Carter and Clinton ran as centrists.

Tony Gabaton, 30, community organiser

I wear the T-shirt because I admire Obama's forthright and genuine rhetoric; he is just cut from a different cloth from most politicians. After everything that went down in Florida in 2001 I was very cynical about the whole political process. He has revived hope in me as well as others. . . .

You have to love this one. What Obama did to get his Illinois state senate seat makes Florida 2001 look pristine and non-controversial. Obama only won his U.S. Senate seat when supporters were able to get the Court records unsealed on his opponents divorce (from the lovely Jeri Ryan). He has tossed campaign finance reform to the wind, and now he is preparing to buy votes in Philly. There is nothing about Obama that smacks of respect for the democratic process. As to 'cynical' - look that word up in the dictionary, I will be surprised if you do not find Obama's picture. Or if not there, then next to the definitions of 'hypocrisy' and 'ambition.' Obviously, the facts matter far less to Mr. G than does the fact that Gore lost the 2001 election.

You can read the entire Guardian article here. In all fairness, these folk are young and thus have an excuse for their lack of intellectual rigor. Our MSM on the other hand . . .

(H/T Maggies Farm)

Read More...

Summary only...

Picking A New Middle Name For Obama

HEH. Fausta has blogged about an E-Bay auction to choose a new middle name for Barack ________ Obama since "Hussein" is now, appropriately, off limits. But that does not mean we can't have fun with it. And Don Surber has picked up this one and is running with it.






______________________________________________________

Do visit Mr. Surber's site and help with the choices. As he says, "let's end this long national nightmare." My favorite so far - Che. It has that revolutionary appeal that I think works perfectly with Obama's utopian rhetoric.

Read More...

Summary only...