Interrogatories
What are you blasé about that still excites other people?
What big news event was the first you remember (like the Kennedy assassination was for many) and what do you remember about it?
Every century has a “trial of the century” and/or “Crime of the century” alongside the “storm of the century.” What trial, crime, and storm represents the last century for you?
Do you know, or did your family know, anyone who was blacklisted during the communist witch hunts of the 1950s?
The Twitter Emitter
Fundamentalist Christianity means believing Jesus wants us to help the poor by voting against ever ever helping the poor.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 21, 2013
George W. Bush: "I did the best I could do. It's hard to worry about all that stuff and still get 130 vacation days in each year."
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) November 21, 2013
There is no way 2 make fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses "full people w/constitutional rights" and not eliminated personhood of women.
— Jodi Jacobson (@jljacobson) November 21, 2013
An asteroid didn't kill the dinosaurs. Changing judicial confirmation procedures did.
— Hunter (@HunterDK) November 21, 2013
Pretty sure Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and Vietnam are still available as completely inappropriate ACA analogies
— Jeremy Holden (@JerAHolden) November 23, 2013
On This Day
In 1864, “The Confederate Army of Manhattan,” who were basically terrorists working for the Confederate side, set fires all over town (20 at least) in an attempt to burn down New York City, which turned out not to be as flammable as Atlanta.
In 1947, the group that came to be known as the “Hollywood Ten” were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios. They were: Alvah Bessie, screenwriter; Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director; Lester Cole, screenwriter; Edward Dmytryk, director; Ring Lardner Jr., screenwriter; John Howard Lawson, screenwriter; Albert Maltz, screenwriter; Samuel Ornitz, screenwriter; Adrian Scott, producer and screenwriter; Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter. This was only the beginning of many blacklists to come.
In 1950, the Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950, one of many that was called “Storm of the Century,” hit New England with hurricane force winds that toppled huge swaths of forest and a massive storm surge along the Northeast coast (including New York City) that caused extensive damage. It also brought blizzard conditions to the Appalachians and the Ohio Valley. There were 353 fatalities.
In 1960, the three Mirabal sisters, dissidents who opposed the Dominican Republic’s dictator Rafael Trujillo, were assassinated. In 1999, the United Nations established the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate their deaths.
In 1963, President Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Born on This Day
1609 – Queen Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I and mother of Charles II of England (d. 1669)
1638 – Queen Catherine of Braganza, consort of Charles II of England (d. 1705)
1697 – Duchess Maria Karolina Sobieska of Bouillon (d. 1740)
1699 – Pierre Subleyras, French painter (d. 1749)
1763 – Jean-Germain Drouais, French Neoclassical painter (d. 1788)
1768 – Charles Meynier, French painter (d. 1832)
1770 – Henry Sargent, Massachusetts painter (d. 1845)
1793 – Robert Havell Jr., American painter (d. 1878)
1846 – Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate who fortunately never got near any wineries (she liked to smash bottles and barrels with an ax. (d. 1911)
1850 – Yelena Polenova, Russian painter (d. 1898)
1863 – John Marshall Gamble, California scenery painter (d. 1957)
1865 – Georges Lemmen, Belgian painter (d. 1916)
1870 – Maurice Denis, French Nabi painter (d. 1943)
1881 – August Willem van Voorden, Dutch painter (d. 1921)
1883 – Percy Marmont, British actor (d.1977)
1890 – Isaac Rosenberg, English war poet and artist (d. 1918)
1914 – Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1915 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator (d. 2006)
1920 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (d. 2009)
1920 – Noel Neill, American actress best known as Lois Lane on the old Superman TV show.
1924 – Paul Desmond, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
1926 – Poul Anderson, American fantasy writer (d. 2001)
1926 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (d. 1969)
1931 – Nat Adderley, American jazz musician (d. 2000)
1933 – Kathryn Grant, American actress (and Mrs. Bing Crosby)
1938 – Rosanna Schiaffino, Italian actress (d. 2009)
1941 – Percy Sledge, American musician
1945 – Patrick Nagel, American artist (d. 1984)
1953 – Jeffrey Skilling, American felon
1964 – Mark Lanegan, American musician (Screaming Trees)
1965 – Dougray Scott, Scottish actor
1966 – Tim Armstrong, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Rancid)
1981 – Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush
Died on This Day
1773 – Pierre Antoine Quillard, French painter (b. 1704)
1864 – David Roberts, Scottish painter (b. 1796)
1867 – Carl Ferdinand Sohn, German painter (b. 1805)
1875 – Arthur Boyd Houghton, British painter and illustrator (b. 1836)
1891 – William Notman, Canadian photographer (b. 1826)
1906 – Wilhelm Bernatzik, Austrian painter (b. 1853)
1914 – Jan Stobbaerts, Belgian painter (b. 1839)
1924 – Jules Worms, French painter (b. 1832)
1927 – József Rippl-Rónai, Hungarian painter (b. 1861)
1949 – Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, American entertainer (b. 1878)
1959 – Gérard Philipe, French actor (b. 1922)
1968 – Upton Sinclair, American journalist, politician, and writer (b. 1878)
1973 – Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born British actor (b. 1928)
1974 – Nick Drake, British singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
1974 – U Thant, Burmese diplomat and UN Secretary-General (b. 1909)
1998 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
2011 – Coco Robicheaux, American blues musician (b. 1947)
2012 – Earl Carroll, American singer (The Cadillacs and The Coasters) (b. 1937)
Today is
National Parfait Day
National Eat with a Friend Day
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Blasé Day
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