On this day:
1582
Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
1789
French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris.
1793
French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France.
1864
The Indian city of Calcutta is almost totally destroyed by a cyclone; 60,000 die.
1948
The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 110,000.
1966
Near Detroit, Michigan, there is a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration nuclear breeder reactor.
1968
Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland – considered to mark the beginning of The Troubles.
1982
Chicago Tylenol murders: Johnson & Johnson initiates a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths.
1986
Israeli secret nuclear weapons are revealed. The British newspaper The Sunday Times runs Mordechai Vanunu’s story on its front page under the headline: “Revealed — the secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal”.
2001
Robert Stevens becomes the first victim in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
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"If the United States is to compete effectively, its policymakers must spend less time worrying about how to weaken their rival and more time figuring out how to make their country the best and most vigorous version of itself."--Foreign Affairs, in an article on China
Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
1789
French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris.
1793
French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France.
1864
The Indian city of Calcutta is almost totally destroyed by a cyclone; 60,000 die.
1948
The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 110,000.
1966
Near Detroit, Michigan, there is a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration nuclear breeder reactor.
1968
Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland – considered to mark the beginning of The Troubles.
1982
Chicago Tylenol murders: Johnson & Johnson initiates a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths.
1986
Israeli secret nuclear weapons are revealed. The British newspaper The Sunday Times runs Mordechai Vanunu’s story on its front page under the headline: “Revealed — the secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal”.
2001
Robert Stevens becomes the first victim in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
***
"If the United States is to compete effectively, its policymakers must spend less time worrying about how to weaken their rival and more time figuring out how to make their country the best and most vigorous version of itself."--Foreign Affairs, in an article on China
Discarding standardized tests does not benefit struggling kids, any more than throwing out my scale will help me get back in shape. But it’s happening everywhere educational bureaucrats can get away with it. They don’t want to measure their failures, even though our children’s success demands it. --The Hill
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Under President Donald Trump’s Proclamation 10998, the United States has suspended or limited entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries.
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Nearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation in Russia’s Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia over suspected exposure to plague, according to local media reports.
***
Straining at the Leash
Apparently, the bonds of common decency are in a bear market. As is personal responsibility. A few minutes with the so-called "Cornell Seven" reports are pretty eye-opening. This is simple depravity by young people on a reservation of learning and reflection. But, according to the alleged victim herself, "none of the sexual stuff was illegal.” The voluntary use of mind-obliterating drugs presumably awaits later comment. Read the story with caution. These young people, men and women, lived a night of almost demonic disregard, akin to the frenzied self-gratification of men at war.
There was never an arrest. There was never even a police report. The school which accepted the parental responsibility of caring for and supervising the alleged victim apparently had the alleged perpetrators write "reflection papers" on the episode. Seemingly, everyone-- including the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrators--felt this was a social error, like wearing white after Labor Day. Silly me.
After several years' consideration, the alleged victim is back, probably on the advice of an attorney, to make something more of it.
One cannot help but be reminded of the Duke lacrosse episode. No one knows the commonalities these two cases will have, but we do know one: countless educational, activist, financial, racial, and gender factors will be gnawed upon publicly, but the simple civilized demands of personal responsibility, human decency, and shared humanity will not arise. And we can confidently await all these charming representatives of the nation's future to assume positions in society, working, teaching, living, and parenting with us to form the backbone of the culture and for whatever else awaits creatures like these.
At least, none of the sexual stuff was illegal.
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