I hope that you all are having a great Saturday. We lasted until it hit 100 on its way to 106 then in the house, Tomorrow it is supposed to hit 111.
Have a great day
Regards,
Skip
Today in Naval History September 5
1776 The Continental Navy adopts the first uniforms for naval officers. The dress prescribed was extremely somber and reflected the attitude of the Congress to eliminate the ornate trappings evidenced in the Royal Navy and move towards a democratic society. The naval officers quickly rebelled and demanded a more ornate uniform with dark blue coat and tri-corner hat, colored facings, and cuffs with gold buttons and lace, a uniform strikingly similar to that of the Royal Navy.
1781 During the Battle of the Virginia Capes, the French prevent the British fleet from entering the Chesapeake Bay to relieve Maj. Gen. Lord Cornwallis' army at Yorktown, Va. After a siege by American and French forces, Cornwallis is forced to surrender on Oct. 19, 1781, leading the British to abandon the effort to prevent American independence.
1813 The schooner USS Enterprise captures the brig HMS Boxer off Portland, Maine in a 20-minute battle where both commanding officers die in battle.
1918 The transport, USS Mount Vernon (ID# 4508), is torpedoed by German submarine U-82 off France. Thirty-six of her crew are killed and another 13 are injured, but damage control efforts contain her flooding and keep her underway.
1923 The U.S. Asiatic Fleet arrives at Yokohama, Japan, to provide medical assistance and supplies after the Great Kanto earthquake, occurs just days prior. On Sept. 1, during the earthquake, Lt. j.g. Thomas J. Ryan rescues a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in Yokohama. For his "extraordinary heroism" on that occasion, he is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1946 USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42), and four escorts visit Greece to underscore U.S. support for the Greek Government which faces a Communist insurgency.
1990 During Operation Desert Shield, USS Acadia (AD 42) departs San Diego for the first war-time deployment of a male-female crew.
No CHINFO on the weekend
Today in History
September 5 | ||
1666 | The Fire of London is extinguished after two days. | |
1664 | After days of negotiation, the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam surrenders to the British, who will rename it New York. | |
1792 | Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the National Convention in France. | |
1804 | US Navy lieutenant Richard Somers and members of his crew are buried at Tripoli; they died when USS Intrepid exploded while entering Tripoli harbor on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet there during the First Barbary War. | |
1816 | Louis XVIII of France dissolves the chamber of deputies, which has been challenging his authority. | |
1859 | Harriot E. Wilson's Our Nig, is published, the first U.S. novel by an African American woman. | |
1867 | The first shipment of cattle leaves Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to Chicago. | |
1870 | Author Victor Hugo returns to Paris from the Isle of Guernsey where he had lived in exile for almost 20 years. | |
1877 | The great Sioux warrior Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted at age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. | |
1878 | Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Bill Tilghman and Clay Allison, four of the West's most famous gunmen, meet in Dodge City, Kansas. | |
1905 | The Russian-Japanese War ends as representatives of the combating empires, meeting in New Hampshire, sign the Treaty of Portsmouth. Japan achieves virtually all of its original war aims. | |
1910 | Marie Curie demonstrates the transformation of radium ore to metal at the Academy of Sciences in France. | |
1944 | Germany launches its first V-2 missile at Paris, France. | |
1958 | Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in an Alabama protest for loitering and fined $14 for refusing to obey police. | |
1960 | Leopold Sedar Sengingor, poet and politician, is elected president of Senegal, Africa. | |
1969 | Charges are brought against US lieutenant William Calley in the March 1968 My Lai Massacre during Vietnam War. | |
1972 | "Black September," a Palestinian terrorist group take 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Olympic Games in Munich; by midnight all hostages and all but 3 terrorists are dead. | |
1975 | President Gerald Ford evades an assassination attempt in Sacramento, California. | |
1977 | Hanns-Martin Schleyer, a German business executive who headed to powerful organization and had been an SS officer during WW2, is abducted by the left-wing extremist group Red Army Faction, who execute him on Oct. 18. | |
1977 | Voyager 1 space probe launched. | |
1978 | Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat begin discussions on a peace process, at Camp David, Md. | |
1980 | World's longest tunnel opens; Switzerland's St. Gotthard Tunnel stretches 10.14 miles (16.224 km) from Goschenen to Airolo. | |
1984 | Space Shuttle Discovery lands afters its maiden voyage. | |
1996 | Hurricane Fran comes ashore near Cape Fear, No. Car. It will kill 27 people and cause more than $3 billion in damage. | |
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More history
1990 - USS Acadia (AD-42) departs San Diego for first war-time deployment of male-female crew on combat vessel
1698: Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.
1950: Beetle Bailey, a Comic Strip by Mort Walker, debuts in newspapers. 56 years and still a private!
On this day in history (September 5):
1698: Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.
1950: Beetle Bailey, a Comic Strip by Mort Walker, debuts in newspapers. 56 years and still a private!
And today is:
National Cheese Pizza Day
Today's quotes:
Camping Tip: In an emergency, a drawstring from a parka hood can be used to strangle a snoring tent mate.
I'm not saying he's old, but he does have an autographed Bible.
Found floating on the Internet:
The Top 5 DVDs for Rent at Fast Food Restaurants
Indiana Jones and the Last Croissanwich
Happy Meal Gilmore
Body Doubled
Five Greasy Pieces
My Big Fat Cheeks Spreading
_______
A woman went to a pet shop & immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot..There was a sign on the cage that said $50.00.
"Why so little," she asked the pet store owner.
The owner looked at her and said, "Look, I should tell you first that this bird used to live in a house of Prostitution and sometimes it says some pretty vulgar stuff."
The woman thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird any way. She took it home and hung the bird's cage up in her living room and waited for it to say something. The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said, "New house, new madam."
The woman was a bit shocked at the implication, but then thought "that's really not so bad."
When her 2 teenage daughters returned from school the bird saw and said,"New house, new madam, new girls."
The girls and the woman were a bit offended but then began to laugh about the situation considering how and where the parrot had been raised.
Moments later, the woman's husband Ray came home from work. The bird looked at him and said, "Hi, Ray!"
_______
If Women Ran The World
A man would no longer be considered a good catch simply because he is breathing.
Women with cold hands would give men prostate exams.
Men would not be allowed to eat gas-producing foods within two hours of bedtime.
Little girls would read "Snow White and the Seven Hunks"
All toilet seats would be nailed down.
Men would HAVE to get Playboy for the articles, because there would be no pictures.
For basic training, soldiers would have to take care of a two-year old for six weeks.
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Thanks to Paul
Opening and Closing Statements at the Japanese Surrender Ceremony
Interesting to see and hear the surrender ceremony
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurussmissourispeech.htm
Deuce
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MIL Aviation - Road sign ... SU-27
"No sir....... I have no idea how that sign got up in the sky"
http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/558107455/m/7351074162
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Soldier to receive Medal of Honor for Iraq hostage rescue
James LaPorta, The Associated Press
1 day ago
DELRAY BEACH, Fa. — An American soldier who helped rescue about 70 hostages set to be executed by Islamic State militants in Iraq has been approved to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during a daring 2015 raid, The Associated Press has learned.
Sgt. Maj. Thomas "Patrick" Payne, a Ranger assigned to the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command, will receive the U.S. military's highest honor for valor in combat in a White House ceremony set to be held on the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The medal approval was confirmed by two Defense Department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on the record.
Contacted by the AP on Monday, the Pentagon would not comment. The White House did not respond to an email inquiry.
The medal will honor Payne's actions in a daring predawn raid on Oct. 22, 2015. Seeking to rescue 70 Islamic State hostages, American and Kurdish commandos flew in CH-47 Chinook helicopters to the town of Huwija, located roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The Kurdish Regional Government, the autonomous body that governs the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, had received a tip that the 70 prisoners, including peshmerga fighters, as the Kurdish forces are known, would soon be massacred by Islamic State militants. Aerial photos of the compound showed what intelligence officials believed to be freshly dug mass graves where their bodies would be dumped.
The plan called for members of the American unit to support the Kurdish commandos in their operation but not join in on the main effort to rescue the prisoners.
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"Time was of the essence," Payne said, according to a news release obtained by the AP and not yet made public. "There were freshly dug graves. If we didn't action this raid, then the hostages were likely to be executed."
The raid began with a failure. Kurdish forces attempted to make a dynamic entry by blasting a hole in the compound's outer wall, but the blast failed. The explosion alerted the ISIS militants, who opened fire on the Kurdish forces.
Payne and his unit climbed over a wall and entered the prison compound. The soldiers quickly cleared one of the two buildings known to house hostages. Once inside the building, the unit encountered enemy resistance. The team used bolt cutters to break the locks off the prison doors, freeing nearly 40 hostages.
Moments later, an urgent call over the radio was received from other task force members engaged in an intense gun fight at the second building.
Between 10 to 20 Army soldiers, including Payne and Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler maneuvered towards the second building that Payne said was a "heavily-fortified building, which was partially on fire." Kurdish commandos were pinned down by the gunfire.
At some point in his attempt to rescue the Kurdish forces, Wheeler was shot and killed. Wheeler was the first American killed in action since the U.S. launched renewed military intervention in Iraq against the Islamic State in 2014. 20 ISIS fighters were also killed in the operation.
The team scaled a ladder onto the roof of the one-story building under a savage fusillade of enemy machine-gun fire from below. From their roof-top vantage point, the commandos engaged the enemy with hand grenades and small arms fire, according to the press release.
Payne said at that point, ISIS fighters began to detonate their suicide vests, causing the roof to shake. The team quickly moved off the roof to an entry point for building two.
ISIS fighters continued to exchange gunfire with the commandos as they entered the building. Payne moved to open another fortified door. According to the press release, he managed to cut the first lock, but due to the heavy smoke from the fire, he had to hand off the bolt cutters to an Iraqi counterpart and retreat out of the building for fresh air.
After some time, the Iraqi partner also came out for fresh air. Payne grabbed the bolt cutters and re-entered the building to cut off the last lock. Once the door was kicked opened, both American and Kurdish commandos escorted about 30 more hostages out of the burning building that was about to collapse and under enemy gunfire.
Payne reentered the building two more times to ensure every hostage was freed. One of those times he had to forcibly remove one of the hostages who had been too frightened to move during the chaotic scene, said Payne in the press release.
Iraq War hero Alwyn Cashe should get Medal of Honor, Esper says
Cashe died after suffering severe injuries while pulling fellow soldiers out of a burning vehicle after an ambush in Iraq in 2005.
Leo Shane III
Payne joined the Army in 2002 as an infantryman and quickly made his way into the Rangers. He has deployed several times to combat zones as a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and in various positions with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
He is a Purple Heart recipient from a wound he sustained in a separate 2010 mission in Afghanistan. And as a sergeant first class in 2012, Payne won the Army's Best Ranger Competition, representing USASOC.
Payne is married with three children and is currently stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He is from the South Carolina towns of Batesburg-Leesville and Lugoff.
Last week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper endorsed awarding the Medal of Honor to a soldier who sustained fatal burns while acting to save fellow soldiers in Iraq in 2005. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe of Florida previously received the Silver Star for his actions.
LaPorta reported from Delray Beach, Florida. Lolita C. Baldor also contributed to this report.
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DUTCH
American exceptionalism not the rule in history class
States want to tackle difficult past
BY CHRISTOPHER VONDRACEK THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Trump is advocating for the teaching of "American exceptionalism" in U.S. classrooms, focusing on the accomplishments of American leaders in exploration, business, science and government.
But education officials in states such as Virginia and California are pushing back with curricula in high schools that examine the country's troubled past with slavery, American Indian conflicts, anti-Semitism and Latin immigration.
The opposing viewpoints set the scene for a battle over what is taught in American history classes, and how — given that education has long been the province of state and local authorities, not the federal government.
Amid protests against police brutality, debates over racial justice and efforts to remove Confederate memorials, Mr.
Trump used his presidential nomination acceptance speech last week to cite of roster of American heroes and triumphs — including explorers Lewis and Clark, sharpshooter Annie Oakley and the moon landing.
"We want our sons and daughters to know the truth: America is the greatest and most exceptional nation in the history of the world," Mr. Trump said, signaling his idea of a history class flush with American success stories and not bogged down by tales of social unrest.
Days earlier, the Trump campaign released an education goal for a potential next term: to teach "American Exceptionalism" in classes.
It's not the first time American exceptionalism has drawn political traction. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich launched his 2012 presidential campaign with the book "Why American Exceptionalism Matters." President Ronald Reagan spoke of America in biblical terms as a "shining city" in his farewell address. Even French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1800s referred to America's "exceptionalism," though as a reference to its geographical uniqueness — being set apart from Europe.
It's unclear how the White House would implement an "America First" education scheme, or if the administration would attempt to tie federal education funding to curricula, as it attempted in a 2019 executive order on free speech on college campuses.
Education Secretary Betsy Devos believes that U.S. schools should provide an educational future in which "our students are number one in the world," spokeswoman Angela Morabito told The Washington Times.
"We know that federal mandates don't improve student achievement, and part of what makes America unique is federalism — including the rights of state and local governments to set curriculum in their schools," said Ms. Morabito.
And many states are doing just that:
⦁ In Texas, schools last year began offering high school elective course on
Mexican American studies.
⦁ In Connecticut, the legislature has formed a committee to create a Black and
Latino studies course.
⦁ In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed a bill requiring teachers to address anti-Semitism and a 1920s massacre by a White mob that killed dozens of Black residents after a Black man had tried to vote.
"One hundred years ago, the bloodiest day in American political history unfolded in Ocoee, Florida on Election Day," state Sen. Randolph Bracy, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said at the signing ceremony in June. "Now more than ever it is paramount we educate our citizenry about the origins of racial conflict and its manifestations in policies that are anti-Black, anti-democratic and anti-human."
Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week announced that more than a dozen school districts will pilot an elective in Black American history across the commonwealth.
"Black history is American history," said Mr. Northam, a Democrat. "But for too long, the story we have told was insufficient and inadequate."
Virginia's new history lessons cover the transatlantic slave trade through the Civil War and emancipation, up to the civil rights era. By semester's end, students will be able to "analyze and understand how the institution of slavery in the U.S. shaped beliefs about race and the supremacy of one race over another and influenced America's economy and politics," according to the governor's office.
What's more, California's "ethnic studies" model curriculum would adopt a social justice approach to teaching history. A bill approved Monday in the state Senate would require a semester of "Ethnic Studies" for every public high schooler, including units on African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians and Asian Americans.
"For too long, the experience and contributions of people of color have been left out of the classroom," said Assemblyman Jose Medina, a Democrat whose bill now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. "Requiring ethnic studies will help ensure that all students learn a more holistic and representative history of the United States and foster a deeper understanding of our commonalities and differences."
The curriculum was shelved last year over alleged left-wing bias and spurious allegations against Israel. The course encouraged the use of the word "Hxrstory" rather than "history" to emphasize the untold story of women, and spoke in disparaging terms about Jewish people in discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After excising its offending materials, the curriculum gained new momentum amid national attention on race following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day.
David Randall, a researcher with the National Association of Scholars, said that the story of immigrants belongs in a course emphasizing "American exceptionalism" and that efforts to suggest otherwise offer a false dichotomy.
"A properly taught American history class would teach that America welcomed immigrants and embraced them as Americans as no other country in the world," Mr. Randall said in an email. "A properly taught American history class would teach the lives of a catalogue of immigrants
'O SAY, CAN YOU SEE?' Education officials in multiple states are pushing back against teaching the idea of "American exceptionalism' and want to address the nation's past issues such as slavery in classes. ASSOCIATED PRESS
"We want our sons and daughters to know the truth: America is the greatest and most exceptional nation in the history of the world," President Trump said. His administration is advocating for schools to teach this perspective in their classes. ASSOCIATED PRESS
grateful to America for the extraordinary success and happiness that America allowed them to achieve, such as Alexander Hamilton, Albert Gallatin, John-James Audubon, Andrew Carnegie, Nikola Tesla, Irving Berlin, Cary Grant, Ayn Rand, Albert Einstein, Vladimir Nabokov, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Madeleine Albright."
However, Mike Gonzalez and Jonathan Butcher, scholars at the conservative Heritage Foundation, argue that this summer's riots and civil unrest grew from young people who "have been taught to believe their country is systematically racist."
In a recent essay in The Daily Signal, they say American exceptionalsim is rooted in a "mixture of the liberal traditions of the Anglo-Scottish Enlightenment and the Colonial experience" and classes that emphasize racism was"central" to American history are inflammatory.
"From there to the riots, looting, and other mayhem in our major cities is but a small step," Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Butcher wrote.
One reality that's not debatable: students struggle with history. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the average score for eighthgraders in U.S. history was 4 points lower in 2018 than in 2014. Only 15% eighth-graders scored as proficient in U.S. history in 2018
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Thanks to Michael T. …
Interesting!!
Coronavirus in Africa: Scientists explore surprise explanation for LOW death rate -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53998374
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FOLKS-
Sorry for the delay but still digging out from the delays and activities of Laura – which (LUCKILY!) missed Houston. Great pix of this in the video this week......
Great pix also on eyes.nasa.gov – showing where the next lander is on its way to Mars. It gives pause to think about the concept of a human mission going there...months in a can looking out to blackness and a field of stars, relying upon navigation software to hit a rock 1/3 the size of earth 200 million miles away. Reminds us Why the Norsemen, Columbus, De Gama and other explorers – who are getting removed from history books because they were "racist" (grrr...), were such exceptional people. I wonder how many of these "cancel-culture" crowd can even begin to connect these dots and understand how they look to rational people??? Just saying....
Rogue planets – how DO solar systems form and how DO stars capture planets? We really do not know. While we can do the math and calculate orbits precisely, we don't know how these systems start. Give that some thought! As I have said many, many times....smart, yes we are, more than at any point in history that is not occulted. But, do we understand our universe, our world? Nope! That's why we eplore, not becaue its "in our DNA", but because we seek to understand the Almighty's work called The Universe. Kind of like wanting to know your parents when you are an orphan.
On a sadder note, SO MANY of the folks that populated the astronaut office when I was in my 20's (50 years ago!) are fading to black. SAD! These folks mostly get ignored and rarely are seen. These great Americans should be talking about their experiences in every middle and high school in America! You want to raise every boat in the harbor? Then raise the water for all! I've always been amazed talking to former astronauts – they are minor celebrities, but not seen as major educators on why humans do what they do and what CAN be achieved if we motivate and educate. SAD.
Have a great week and I appreciate the feedback from the distro list – glad to tell the world what we do – it truly is a great story and is devoid of fake news!!
ENJOY!
Tom
AGENCYWIDE MESSAGE TO ALL NASA EMPLOYEES
Points of Contact: Jim Wilson, jim.wilson@nasa.gov and Andre Valentine, andre.valentine-1@nasa.gov, Office of Communications, NASA Headquarters
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View the Latest Edition of "This Week @NASA" (Published Aug. 28, 2020)
View the latest "This Week @NASA" produced by NASA Television for features on agency news and activities. Stories in this program include:
First Orion Crew Module Element Arrives for Artemis III
Astronaut Jeanette Epps Joins First Operational Boeing Crew Mission to Space Station
Space Station Cameras Capture Hurricane Laura in Gulf of Mexico
Follow NASA's Perseverance Rover in Real Time on Its Way to Mars
Unveiling Rogue Planets with NASA's Roman Space Telescope
Skylab Astronaut Gerald "Jerry" Carr Dies at 88
To watch this edition of "This Week @NASA" dated Aug. 28, 2020, click on the image below:
Watch the Video
To access this edition of "This Week @NASA," you may also visit:
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