Lindsey Graham Urges NATO Allies To Get Over Their Anxieties Over Greenland

Days ago, Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that it was time for European nations and Canada to basically get over Trump's threats to take over Greenland ever since he was elected to a second term. Remember, it was only last month when Trump seemed to talk about little else but taking over Greenland, before NATO allies managed to get him to back down at the Davos conference.

Now, quite conveniently, Trump bootlicker Graham is saying it's all good. 

"Greenland is behind us," said the South Carolina Republican Friday at the Munich Security Conference. “I think everybody's hugging it out and we'll live to fight another day."  

Graham evidently suggested that the pressure that Trump put on Europe, which included his "small ask" of obtaining Greenland, ultimately got NATO to band together more tightly and seriously than it years. That is why European nations now seem to be increasing defense spending and doubling down on their support for Ukraine. 

It was a bit of a bizarre and, frankly, disingenuous take on Europe's reaction to Trump's desire for land grabs, particularly Greenland (but also Venezuela). 

“Everybody loves NATO,” Graham said. “Well, I love it because people are doing more.”  

Graham basically suggested that he did not care who owned Greenland.

Hey, Lindsey! Maybe you should try to convince your boss of that. After all, nobody seemed to be worried or to feel a need to up defense spending until Trump made all of these things an issue. Remember, when he threatened to take over Greenland, and refused to rule out military force, until a unified group of NATO nations (note that I am not calling them American allies any longer, because it seems to me that Trump's America no longer values allies) forced Graham's boss to back down. 

It seems that Graham is taking an overly relaxed approach towards Trump's very alarming desire to obtain new territories. Remember, Trump invaded and took over Venezuela, even listing himself as President of that country. Then he was threatening to take over Greenland, claiming urgency. He repeatedly, relentlessly referred to Canada as the "51st state" and has made a point of trying to undermine Canada's sovereignty at every turn, suggesting how "beautiful" it would be if Canada joined the United States. Trump also warned that Colombia might be next, that Cuba was ready to fall. In the past, he threatened to take over Panama and Gaza, and military action in Mexico. 

Why would anyone be puzzled as to why our apparently former allies (pre-Trump) now are looking on in horror and viewing the United States with increasing alarm and distrust? The whole world seems to be viewing us in that light.

Again, maybe it's time for Graham to actually find a backbone and tell Trump some of these things, instead of taking the easy way out, which has been his political trademark.

Lindsey Graham to allies: Get over Greenland The South Carolina Republican offered a fairly optimistic take on a NATO alliance that's been battered by the dispute over Greenland. Avatar of Joe Gould By: Joe Gould | 02/13/2026 11:

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POLITICO Pro | Article | Lindsey Graham to allies: Get over Greenland

Legendary Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus Was Born on This Day in 1473

 

Statue of Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473- May 24, 1543) was a gift to humanity, in terms of our ever-widening understanding of our universe, and how the world works. Copernicus was born on this day in 1473 in Torun, a city in north-central Poland on the Vistula River. He lived his life in what was then Royal Prussia. This was an autonomous state, but it was ruled by the Polish king dating back to 1466, a few years before Copernicus was born. 

He was an exceptional Polish astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. Also, he was a physician, polyglot, a a politician (numerous titles), a scholar of classical antiquity, translator, and even an economist, although he did not earn or possess a degree in all of these fields. Nevertheless, Copernicus developed an economic theory of quantity in 1517, two years before it became popularized by Thomas Gresham in what is now known as Gresham's Law (which effectively can be summed up as "bad money drives out good money"). 

While Copernicus was obviously a man of many talents, he is most famous for his theory of heliocentrism, where he formulated the heliocentric model of our solar system, famously (and dangerously) suggesting that the planets - including the Earth - revolve around the Sun. This marked a massive departure from the previously prevailing geocentric viewpoint, which had the Earth as the center of the universe. 

His most famous work was "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). It was published posthumously in 1543, underscoring the dangerous nature of his findings. This was the work in which he presented his heliocentric theory. He suggested that the Earth rotates on its axis and orbits the Sun, offering mathematical calculations and other observations which served as solid proof.

Nevertheless, Copernicus's work initially received skepticism. Perhaps people just were not ready to challenge what had been the accepted wisdom of the time before these findings by Copernicus.

In time, however, the work of Copernicus championing a heliocentric model of the solar system began to be more accepted and even admired over time. In fact, perhaps ironically, it took as a central role in a scientific revolution which advanced our knowledge and understanding of the world and the solar system, even the universe. 

Today, I wanted to take some time to honor the memory of Copernicus, and his now legendary work. 

From  the World Science Festival a few years ago:

https://www.facebook.com/worldsciencefestival/photos/a.234698156550699/1097429526944220/

February 19th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 197, Lucius Septimius Severus' army defeated Clodius Albinus at Lyon. In 356 on this day, Emperor Constantius II shut down all heathen temples. Boniface III began his reign as Catholic Pope on this day in 607. In 842 on this day, the Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches. On this day in 1473, noted Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, often regarded as the father of modern astronomy, was born in Torun, a city in north-central Poland on the Vistula River. He was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun, altering our understanding of the solar system and Earth's place in it.  On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress voted to promote Thomas Mifflin; Arthur St. Clair; William Alexander, Lord Stirling; Adam Stephen; and Benjamin Lincoln to the rank of major general. Although the promotions were intended in part to balance the number of generals from each state, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold felt slighted that five junior officers received promotions ahead of him and, in response, threatened to resign from the Patriot army.  On this day in 1878, Thomas Alva Edison patented the gramophone (phonograph).  On this day in 1942, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal of all people from military areas. Coming just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it specifically targeted Americans of Japanese background. On this day in 1945, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, with 30,000 US Marines landing on the island. On this day in 1959, Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement between Britain, Turkey and Greece. On this day in 1986, the U.S. Senate approved the ratification of the UN's anti-genocide convention 37 years after the fact. The USSR launched the Mir space station into Earth orbit on this day in 1986. On this day in 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China's major revolutionaries. In 2008 on this day, Fidel Castro resigned as President of Cuba after 49 years in power. Raúl Castro, Fidel's brother, succeeded him as president.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 197, Lucius Septimius Severus' army defeated Clodius Albinus at Lyon. 

• In 356 on this day, Emperor Constantius II shut down all heathen temples. 

• Boniface III began his reign as Catholic Pope on this day in 607. 

• In 842 on this day, the Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.

Statue of Nicolaus Copernicus

• On this day in 1473, noted Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, a city in north-central Poland on the Vistula River. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.    Copernicus was born into a family of well-to-do merchants, and after his father's death, his uncle--soon to be a bishop--took the boy under his wing. He was given the best education of the day and bred for a career in canon (church) law. At the University of Krakow, he studied liberal arts, including astronomy and astrology, and then, like many Poles of his social class, was sent to Italy to study medicine and law.    While studying at the University of Bologna, he lived for a time in the home of Domenico Maria de Novara, the principal astronomer at the university. Astronomy and astrology were at the time closely related and equally regarded, and Novara had the responsibility of issuing astrological prognostications for Bologna. Copernicus sometimes assisted him in his observations, and Novara exposed him to criticism of both astrology and aspects of the Ptolemaic system, which placed Earth at the center of the universe.    Copernicus later studied at the University of Padua and in 1503 received a doctorate in canon law from the University of Ferrara. He returned to Poland, where he became a church administrator and doctor. In his free time, he dedicated himself to scholarly pursuits, which sometimes included astronomical work. By 1514, his reputation as an astronomer was such that he was consulted by church leaders attempting to reform the Julian calendar.    The cosmology of early 16th-century Europe held that Earth sat stationary and motionless at the center of several rotating, concentric spheres that bore the celestial bodies: the sun, the moon, the known planets, and the stars. From ancient times, philosophers adhered to the belief that the heavens were arranged in circles (which by definition are perfectly round), causing confusion among astronomers who recorded the often eccentric motion of the planets, which sometimes appeared to halt in their orbit of Earth and move retrograde across the sky.    In the second century A.D., the Alexandrian geographer and astronomer Ptolemy sought to resolve this problem by arguing that the sun, planets, and moon move in small circles around much larger circles that revolve around Earth. These small circles he called epicycles, and by incorporating numerous epicycles rotating at varying speeds he made his celestial system correspond with most astronomical observations on record.    The Ptolemaic system remained Europe's accepted cosmology for more than 1,000 years, but by Copernicus' day accumulated astronomical evidence had thrown some of his theories into confusion. Astronomers disagreed on the order of the planets from Earth, and it was this problem that Copernicus addressed at the beginning of the 16th century.    Sometime between 1508 and 1514, he wrote a short astronomical treatise commonly called the Commentariolus, or "Little Commentary," which laid the basis for his heliocentric (sun-centered) system. The work was not published in his lifetime. In the treatise, he correctly postulated the order of the known planets, including Earth, from the sun, and estimated their orbital periods relatively accurately.    For Copernicus, his heliocentric theory was by no means a watershed, for it created as many problems as it solved. For instance, heavy objects were always assumed to fall to the ground because Earth was the center of the universe. Why would they do so in a sun-centered system? He retained the ancient belief that circles governed the heavens, but his evidence showed that even in a sun-centered universe the planets and stars did not revolve around the sun in circular orbits. Because of these problems and others, Copernicus delayed publication of his major astronomical work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi, or "Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," nearly all his life. Completed around 1530, it was not published until 1543--the year of his death.    In the work, Copernicus' groundbreaking argument that Earth and the planets revolve around the sun led him to make a number of other major astronomical discoveries. While revolving around the sun, Earth, he argued, spins on its axis daily. Earth takes one year to orbit the sun and during this time wobbles gradually on its axis, which accounts for the precession of the equinoxes. Major flaws in the work include his concept of the sun as the center of the whole universe, not just the solar system, and his failure to grasp the reality of elliptical orbits, which forced him to incorporate numerous epicycles into his system, as did Ptolemy. With no concept of gravity, Earth and the planets still revolved around the sun on giant transparent spheres.    In his dedication to De revolutionibus--an extremely dense scientific work--Copernicus noted that "mathematics is written for mathematicians." If the work were more accessible, many would have objected to its non-biblical and hence heretical concept of the universe. For decades, De revolutionibus remained unknown to all but the most sophisticated astronomers, and most of these men, while admiring some of Copernicus' arguments, rejected his heliocentric basis. It was not until the early 17th century that Galileo and Johannes Kepler developed and popularized the Copernican theory, which for Galileo resulted in a trial and conviction for heresy. Following Isaac Newton's work in celestial mechanics in the late 17th century, acceptance of the Copernican theory spread rapidly in non-Catholic countries, and by the late 18th century it was almost universally accepted.     

• 1512 - French troops under Gaston de Foix occupy Brescia

• 1537 - Weavers of Leiden Neth strike

• 1539 - Jews of Tyrnau Hungary (then Trnava Czech), expelled

• 1574 - Spanish troops plunder Krommenie, Wormerveer & Jisp Neth

• 1582 - Francis of Valois becomes duke of Brabant

• 1594 - Having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden.

• 1600 - The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.

• 1619 - Trial against Johan van Oldenbarnevelt begins in The Hague

• 1634 - Battle at Smolensk: Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians [NS=Mar 1]

• 1674 - Netherlands & England sign Peace of Westminster (NYC becomes English)

• 1700 - Last day of Julian calendar in Denmark

• 1736 - George Frideric Handel's "Alexander's Feast," premieres

• 1771 - Messier adds M46-M49 to his catalog (galactic clusters in Puppis & Hydra & galaxy in Virgo)

• On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress voted to promote Thomas Mifflin; Arthur St. Clair; William Alexander, Lord Stirling; Adam Stephen; and Benjamin Lincoln to the rank of major general. Although the promotions were intended in part to balance the number of generals from each state, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold felt slighted that five junior officers received promotions ahead of him and, in response, threatened to resign from the Patriot army.    In a letter dated April 3, 1777, General George Washington wrote to Arnold from his headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, and confessed that he was surprised, when I did not see your name in the list of Major Generals. Thinking that the omission of Arnold's name was an error, Washington discouraged the disappointed Arnold from taking any hasty Step.    To Arnold's dismay, he soon learned that his commander in chief was wrong, and he submitted his resignation to the Congress in July 1777, but withdrew it at Washington's urging. Despite having the support of George Washington, Arnold continued to feel unjustly overlooked by his superiors. Finally, in 1780, Arnold betrayed his country by offering to hand over the Patriot-held fort at West Point, New York, to the British. With West Point in their control, the British would have controlled the critical Hudson River Valley and separated New England from the rest of the colonies. His wife, Margaret, was a Loyalist and would not have objected to his plans. However, his plot was foiled, and Arnold, the hero of Ticonderoga and Saratoga, became the most famous traitor in American history. He continued to fight on the side of the British in the Revolution and, after the war, returned to Britain, where he died destitute in London in 1801.         

• 1797 - 1/3 of papal domain ceded to France

• 1803 - Congress accepts Ohio's constitution, statehood not ratified till 1953

Composer George Friedrich HandelComposer George Friedrich Handel 1807 - British squadron under Adm Duckworth forces passage of Dardanelle

• 1807 - VP Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later found innocent

• 1819 - British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III.

• 1825 - Franz Grillparzer's "Konig Ottokars Gluck," premieres in Vienna

• 1831 - 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Penn

• 1846 - Texas state government formally installed in Austin

• 1852 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

• 1856 - Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio

• 1861 - Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom [NS=Mar 3]

• 1864 - Knights of Pythias form 1st lodge in Wash DC (12 members)

• 1869 - US Assay Office in Boise, Idaho authorized

Monuments to Thomas Edison at Menlo Park in Edison,  NJ 

• On this day in 1878, Thomas Alva Edison patented the gramophone (phonograph). The technology that made the modern music business possible came into existence in the New Jersey laboratory where Thomas Alva Edison created the first device to both record sound and play it back. He was awarded U.S. Patent No. 200,521 for his invention--the phonograph--on this day in 1878.    Edison's invention came about as spin-off from his ongoing work in telephony and telegraphy. In an effort to facilitate the repeated transmission of a single telegraph message, Edison devised a method for capturing a passage of Morse code as a sequence of indentations on a spool of paper. Reasoning that a similar feat could be accomplished for the telephone, Edison devised a system that transferred the vibrations of a diaphragm—i.e., sound—to an embossing point and then mechanically onto an impressionable medium—paraffin paper at first, and then a spinning, tin-foil wrapped cylinder as he refined his concept. Edison and his mechanic, John Kreusi, worked on the invention through the autumn of 1877 and quickly had a working model ready for demonstration. The December 22, 1877, issue of Scientific American reported that "Mr. Thomas A. Edison recently came into this office, placed a little machine on our desk, turned a crank, and the machine inquired as to our health, asked how we liked the phonograph, informed us that it was very well, and bid us a cordial good night."    The patent awarded to Edison on February 19, 1878, specified a particular method—embossing—for capturing sound on tin-foil-covered cylinders. The next critical improvement in recording technology came courtesy of Edison's competitor in the race to develop the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. His newly established Bell Labs developed a phonograph based on the engraving of a wax cylinder, a significant improvement that led directly to the successful commercialization of recorded music in the 1890s and lent a vocabulary to the recording business—e.g., "cutting" records and "spinning wax"—that has long outlived the technology on which it was based.

• 1881 - Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages

• 1884 - Tornadoes in Miss, Ala, NC, SC, Tenn, Ky & In kill 800 people

• 1900 - British troops occupy Hlangwane Natal

• 1906 - WK Kellogg & Ch Bolin find Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co

1910 - English premiere of Richard Strauss' "Elektra"

1913 - 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box

• 1913 - Mexican General V Huerta takes power with US support

1914 - Riccardo Zandonai's opera "Francesco da Rimini," premieres in Turin

1915 - British fleet fire on Dardanellen coast

1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W E B Du Bois (Paris)

• 1920 - Netherlands joins League of Nations

1922 - Ed Wynn becomes 1st talent to sign as a radio entertainer

1923 - Jean Sibelius' 6th Symphony, premieres

1923 - Philip Barry's "You & I," premieres in NYC

• 1927 - General strike against British occupiers in Shanghai

Flag of the Olympics

• 1928 - 2nd Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz, Switzerland

1928 - Canadian hockey team wins 3rd consecutive gold medal

1929 - Medical diathermy machine 1st used, Schenectady, NY

Author and Nobel Laureate William FaulknerAuthor and Nobel Laureate William Faulkner 1932 - William Faulkner completes his novel "Light in August"

1933 - Prussian minister Goering bans all Catholic newspapers

1934 - US contract air mail service canceled, replaced by US army for 6 mos

1935 - Clifford Odets' "Awake & Sing," premieres in NYC

1936 - Manuel Azaña becomes Spanish premier

1938 - Soviet arctic ice research station North Pole 1 evacuated, Denmark

1941 - Nazi police attacks & driven away from Koco Amsterdam (by young Jews)

1941 - Nazi raid Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation

1942 - About 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin

1942 - Bill Longson beats Managoff & Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champ

1942 - Dutch actors protest obligatory membership of Culture Chamber

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• On this day in 1942, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal, detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans. The language suggested that all people viewed as a threat to national security from military areas. Coming just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it specifically targeted Americans of Japanese background. Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable." The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.    On December 17, 1944, U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issued Public Proclamation No. 21, declaring that, effective January 2, 1945, Japanese-American "evacuees" from the West Coast could return to their homes. During the course of World War II, 10 Americans were convicted of spying for Japan, but not one of them was of Japanese ancestry. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recompense each surviving internee with a tax-free check for $20,000 and an apology from the U.S. government.

• 1942 - Japanese troop land on Timor

1942 - Tommy Dorsey & his orchestra recorded "I'll Take Tallulah"

1942 - NY Yankees annouce 5,000 uniformed soldiers admitted free at each of their upcoming home games

• 1942 - Approximately 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin.   

• 1943 - German tanks under brig gen Buelowius attack Kasserine Pass Tunesia

1944 - 823 British bombers attack Berlin

1944 - U-264 sinks off Ireland

• On this day in 1945, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, with 30,000 US Marines landing on the island. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.    The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions.    The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.

• 1945 - 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days

1945 - Brotherhood Day-1st celebrated

1945 - US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese

1946 - Giants outfielder Danny Gardella is 1st major leaguer to announce he is jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican League

1947 - CBS radio premiere of Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No 3"

1949 - "Inside USA" closes at Century Theater NYC after 339 performances

1949 - 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound

1949 - Mass arrests of communists in India

• 1952 - French offensive at Hanoi

• 1953 - Georgia approves US 1st literature censorship board

1953 - William Inge's "Picnic," premieres in NYC

Poet Ezra PoundPoet Ezra Pound 1955 - South East Asia Collective Defense Treaty goes into effect

1956 - Kathy Cornelius wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1958 - Carl Perkins leaves Sun Records for Columbia Records

• On this day in 1959, Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement between Britain, Turkey and Greece.   

• 1959 - Gabon adopts its constitution

1959 - USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), NM

1960 - Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts

• 1960 - Protest strike in Poznan Poland

• 1961 - Albania disavows Chinese "Revisionism"

1961 - Henk van der Grift (Neth) becomes world champ all-round skater

1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1963 - Robert Frost wins Bollingen Prize

• 1963 - USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba

   

    

• 1964 - UK flies ½ ton of The Beatles wigs to the US

1968 - 1st US Teachers strike (Florida)

1969 - 1st Test flight of Boeing 747 jumbo jet

1970 - AL Cy Young winner Denny McLain suspended for bookmaking

1970 - USSR launches Sputnik 52 & Molniya 1-13 communications satellite

• 1971 - Paul McCartney releases "Another Day" in UK

1971 - Walt Wesley becomes 1st Cleve Cavalier to score 50 pts in a game

1972 - Glenn Turner carries his bat for 223* v WI at Kingston

1972 - The Asama-Sanso hostage standoff begins in Japan.

1974 - 1st American Music Award: Helen Reddy & Jim Croce win

1976 - Frente Polisario forms Democratic Republic of Sahara

1977 - 19th Grammy Awards: This Masquerade, Starland Vocal Band

1977 - A's sell pitcher Paul Lindblad to the Rangers for $400,000

1977 - Doug Walters scores 250 v NZ, 217 stand for 7th wicket w/Gilmour

• 1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album released

Musician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartneyMusician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartney 1977 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1977 - Shuttle Enterprise makes 1st Test flight atop a 747 jetliner

1978 - "On the 20th Century" opens at St James Theater NYC for 460 perfs

1978 - Brigitte Kraus runs world record 1000 m indoor (2:34.8)

1978 - Coleman, Comden & Green's musical premieres in NYC

1980 - Botham a century & 13 wickets in Jubilee Test Cricket at Bombay

1980 - Eric Heiden skates Olympic record 1000m in 1:15.18

1981 - George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine"

1982 - Hanneke Jagersma installed as Neth's 1st Communist mayor

1982 - Sharie Langford, California, sets women's bowling series record of 853

1982 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1983 - Fernando Valenzuela wins his salary arbitration of $1 million

1983 - Vladimir Salnikov (USSR) sets 400 m free style swimming record

1984 - "Doonesbury" closes at Biltmore Theater NYC after 104 performances

1984 - 14th winter Olympic games close at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1984 - 1st brother combo to win Gold & Silver in same event at Olympics (Phil & Steve Mahre-Slalom)

1985 - 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain

1985 - ADM of Amsterdam declares bankruptcy

1985 - Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola

1985 - Mickey Mouse welcomed in China

1985 - William Schroeder is 1st artificial heart patient to leave hospital He spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky

1986 - Jordanian King Hussein severs ties with PLO

• On this day in 1986, the U.S. Senate approved the ratification of the UN's anti-genocide convention 37 years after the fact.

 

•  USSR launched the Mir space station into Earth orbit on this day in 1986.

1987 - "Stardust" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 102 performances

1987 - Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner

1987 - Less than a month after re-signing, A's pitcher Vida Blue retires

1987 - Minn sheriff office arrest FBI most wanted, Thomas G Harrelson

US President & Actor Ronald ReaganUS President & Actor Ronald Reagan 1987 - US President Reagan lifts trade boycott against Poland

1988 - Helga Arendt, Silke-Beate Knoll, Mechthild Kluth, Gisela Kinzel walk indoor female world record 4x200m (1:32.55)

1989 - "Legs Diamond" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 64 perfs

1989 - Edgar Bowers wins Bollingen Prize

1990 - Police kill 8 demonstrators for multi party system in Nepal

1990 - Soyuz TM-9 lands

1992 - "Crazy For You" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 1622 performances

1992 - Ken Ludwig's musical "Crazy for You," premieres in NYC

1992 - Peter Collins discovers nova Cygni 1992

1992 - Porn producer Jim Mitchell found guilty of killing his brother Artie

1993 - Kenya Moore, 22, (Michigan), crowned 42nd Miss USA

1994 - Marta Figueras-Dotti wins Cup o' Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open

1995 - 1st broadcast of "Woman of Independent Means" on NBC-TV

1995 - Irina Privalova runs indoor woman's European record 200m (22.10 sec)

1995 - Kenneth Koch wins Bollingen Prize

1995 - Linford Christie runs world record 200m indoor (20.25 sec)

1995 - Linford Christie runs European record 60m indoor (6.47 sec)

1995 - Michael Tippett's "Rose Lake," premieres

1996 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in York PA on WQXA 105.7 FM

• 1997 - FCC makes available 311 for non-emergency calls & 711 for hearing or speech-impaired emergency calls

• On this day in 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China's major revolutionaries.

1998 - Soyuz TM-26 lands

1998 - US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympic village in Japan

2001 - An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

• 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

• 2004 - Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal is awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."

• 2007 - Three Salvadoran deputies to the Central American Parliament and their driver are murdered in Guatemala.

• In 2008 on this day, Fidel Castro resigned as President of Cuba after 49 years in power. Raúl Castro, Fidel's brother, succeeded him as president.

• 2008 - Toshiba announces its formal recall of its HD DVD video formatting, ending the format war between it and Sony's Blu-Ray Disc

• 2012 - 44 people killed in prison brawl in Apocada, Mexico, between two rival drug cartels

• 2013 - 12 people are killed and 11 are injured after a Yemeni Air Force plane crashes in Sana'a

1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was later tried and acquitted on charges of treason.   1846 - The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1845.   1856 - The tintype camera was patented by Professor Hamilton L. Smith.   1864 - The Knights of Pythias was founded in Washington, DC. A dozen members formed what became Lodge No. 1.   1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph).   1881 - Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.   1922 - Ed Wynn became the first big-name, vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio talent.   1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans.   1942 - The New York Yankees announced that they would admit 5,000 uniformed servicemen free to each of their home ball games during the coming season.   1942 - Approximately 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin.   1945 - During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.   1949 - Bollingen Foundation and Yale University awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry ($5,000) to Ezra Pound.   1953 - The State of Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S. Newspapers were excluded from the new legislation.   1959 - Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement with Britain, Turkey and Greece.   1963 - The Soviet Union informed U.S. President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of its troops in Cuba.   1981 - The U.S. State Department call El Savador a "textbook case" of a Communist plot.   1981 - Ford Motor Company announced its loss of $1.5 billion.   1985 - Mickey Mouse was welcomed to China as part of the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. The touring mouse played 30 cities in 30 days.   1985 - William Schroeder became the first artificial-heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital.   1985 - Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.   1986 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.   1986 - The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.   1987 - A controversial, anti-smoking publice service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before ad aired.   1997 - Deng Xiaoping of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China's major revolutionaries.   1999 - Dennis Franz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   2001 - The museum at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center was dedicated.   2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft began using its thermal emission imaging system to map Mars.   2004 - Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader's collapse. Skilling was later convicted and sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.   2005 - The USS Jimmy Carter was commissioned at Groton, CT. It was the last of the Seawolf class of attack submarines.   2008 - Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency. His brother Raul was later named as his successor.

1674 The Netherlands and England signed the Peace of Westminster, by which New Amsterdam passed to the English (and was renamed New York). 1807 Aaron Burr, vice president under Thomas Jefferson, was arrested for treason. He was later acquitted.  1942 President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that resulted in the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. 1945 The U.S. Marines went ashore at Iwo Jima. 1959 Britain, Turkey, and Greece signed the agreement granting Cyprus independence. 1968 The first nationwide broadcast of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood aired on PBS. 1997 Deng Xiaoping, Chinese Communist leader, died. 2008 Fidel Castro resigned as President of Cuba after 49 years in power. Raúl Castro, Fidel's brother, succeeded him as president.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb19.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Trump Seems To Make a Point of Undermining Black History on Black History Month

In the same disingenuous spirit where MAGA supporters would answer "Black Lives Matter" sentiments with "All Lives Matter," Trump basically seemed to sweep Black History under the rug by saying it was part of the larger history of the United States. 

So, disappearing it, for all intents and purposes. Or doing his best to do so, in any case.

Remember, this is the same guy who bent over backwards to prevent Harriet Tubman from replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. It's not like there are no examples of this kind of thing relating to Trump and his White House.

Below is the link to the story of Trump seemingly trying to get Black History Month to disappear. Take a look:

Trump uses Black History Month to issue proclamation erasing Black history Opinion by Leigh Kimmins • February 4, 2026:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-uses-black-history-month-to-issue-proclamation-erasing-black-history/ar-AA1VFBMB?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=6983068a7f574d0bbf02dd54fb455cbd&cvpid=69841c488de243e99e5c35a83d6c46fd&ei=6

Trump uses Black History Month to issue proclamation erasing Black history

Sarah Paine Discusses Trump Brand Fascism the Risk of World War III

This is a picture of a magnet that was being sold at Strand's Book Store in New York City a few years ago. No, I did not buy it, but I liked it and took a picture, which I am sharing here now. 

So it appears that I no longer have the ability to share Youtube videos here any longer. Not sure when, precisely, this development came about. Even less certain of the reasons why.

My guess is that this was one of the theoretical "improvements" that corporations feel it necessary to make from time to time, which actually prove to make things worse in actuality.

In any case, this was a fascinating discussion about the de facto rise of fascism in the United States. It still feels incomplete, although Trump and his cronies are sure trying their best to make their control absolute, on the model of previous fascist regimes. I watched this over the weekend, and thought that it would be worth sharing here.

Take a look at this discussion, while we still have them available in this country of (for now) Fascism-lite.

ICE Policy: Mussolini 2.0 — Sarah Paine on Trump’s Strategy and the Risk of World War III 

Video by This Is The World

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Frank Zappa Warned Us About How Fragile American Democracy Was Decades Ago

In an interview with Spin Magazine from way back in July of 1991 - when I was still in high school yet - Frank Zappa basically predicted what we are seeing now come to pass in the United States.

Namely, that intelligence, standards and critical thinking would decline so dramatically - while  in the United States that Americans themselves would basically welcome in a president who himself posed the biggest possible threat to our democracy. Clearly, Zappa saw before almost everyone else just how fragile our American democracy really was then, and is now.

Zappa called it accurately. Remember, this was in July of 1991, a quarter of a century before it actually occurred. He was right, although he did not live to see it. The biggest threat to American democracy is indeed our very own president. And there seems no obvious way to get him out. He shows signs, once again, of trying to do anything and everything possible to stay in power no matter what. And quite typically, he is casting doubts on the elections, as he always does whenever they appear unfavorable to him. 

There have been warnings for decades. I might suggest that Stephen King's "The Dead Zone" served as a warning about the dangers of a populist politician coming to power in the United States. But there were a number of others who warned about what might happen if we don't change directions.

Indeed, we are now seeing what some people - Frank Zappa, Jello Biafra, and Carl Sagan - were warning us about decades ago.

Below, specifically, is one thing which Frank Zappa warned about back in early 1991. Some people saw this coming. And when it comes to Trump, there were, frankly, no shortage of warning signs that he was bad news.

Let's get past our distinctive, now borderline tragic national conceit and admit that this man was a mistake, so we can finally move on from him and restore American democracy.

Andy Borowitz 16 February  · Frank Zappa nailed it

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1479450843549473&set=a.265130208314882

(2) Facebook

February 18th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 3102 BCE,-the Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga. In 1129 on this day, Jerusalem was taken by Emperor Frederik II. On this day in 1268, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor. Amda Seyon I, the Emperor of Ethiopia, began his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces on this day in 1332. George, Duke of Clarence, was convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, and was privately executed in the Tower of London on this day in 1478..On this day in 1503, Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII).  In 1536 on this day, France & Turkey signed military trade agreement against King Karel.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 3102 BCE,-the Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.

• In 1129 on this day, Jerusalem was taken by Emperor Frederik II. 

• On this day in 1268, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.

The Lion of Judah Emblem of the Ethiopian Empire

• Amda Seyon I, the Emperor of Ethiopia, began his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces on this day in 1332.

•  George, Duke of Clarence, was convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, and was privately executed in the Tower of London on this day in 1478.

•  On this day in 1503, Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII). 

•  In 1536 on this day, France & Turkey signed military trade agreement against King Karel.

German Priest & Theologian Martin Luther

•   1546 Martin Luther, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, died. 1564 Michelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, died. 

•   Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Mere shot General Francois De Guise on this day in 1563.

A picture from the Michelangelo Exhibit at The Met in New York City years ago.

•  1564 - The artist Michelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, died in Rome.   

•  1574 - Zeeland fell to Dutch rebels

•  1634 - Ferdinand II orders commander Albrecht von Wallenstein, execution

•  1678 - John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published

•  1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas. 1685 - Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and thus formed the basis for France's claim to Texas. 

•  1688 - Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa

•  1713 - French invade under Jacques Cassard on Curacao

•  1735 - 1st opera performed in America, "Flora," in Charleston, SC

•  1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies troops occupy Inverness Scotland

•  1787 - Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor

•  1797 - Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.

•  1804 - 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens Ohio, chartered

1814 - The Battle of Montereau occurs.

1828 - More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar

1834 - 1st US labor newspaper, "The Man," published, NYC

1839 - Detroit Boat Club forms (& still exists)

1849 - 1st regular steamboat service to California starts (or 02/28)

1850 - California Legislature creates 9 Bay Area counties

•  1856 - American (Know-Nothing) Party abolishes secrecy

13th US President Millard Fillmore13th US President Millard Fillmore 

•  1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

•  1857 - Insurrection of Chinese in Sarawak, Borneo

•  1861 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery Ala

Feb 18, 1861: Davis becomes provisional president of the Confederacy  On this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis, a veteran of the Black Hawk and Mexican-American Wars, begins his term as provisional president of the Confederate States of America. As it turned out, Davis was both the first and last president of the ill-fated Confederacy, as both his term and the Confederacy ended with the Union's 1865 victory in the Civil War.    Born in Kentucky and raised in Mississippi, Davis graduated from West Point in 1828. In 1824, at the age of 26, he married his first wife, Sarah, the 16-year-old daughter of then-Colonel Zachary Taylor, against Taylor's wishes. The marriage ended after only three months when Sarah died of malaria. Davis remarried at age 37 in 1845, this time to a prominent 17-year-old Southern socialite and budding author named Varnia Howell.    Upon his election to the House of Representatives in 1844, Davis immediately put his pro-slavery vote into action, opposing the Compromise of 1850 and other policies that would have limited the expansion of slavery into new American territories. He interrupted his political service in 1851 to fight in the Mexican-American War, during which his bravery and success prompted then-General Taylor to declare My daughter, sir, was a better judge of men than I was.    Following the war, Davis accepted an appointment to fill a suddenly vacant Mississippi seat in the U.S. Senate, but resigned after only a year to launch an unsuccessful bid for the governorship of Mississippi. Davis then campaigned for Franklin Pierce's presidential campaign; upon winning, Pierce rewarded him with the post of secretary of war in 1853. In this capacity, Davis proved instrumental in advocating for the development of a transcontinental railroad. When Pierce lost his presidential reelection bid, Davis ran for a Senate seat and won.    Although a staunch supporter of slavery, Davis vigorously opposed the secessionist movement until 1860 when Abraham Lincoln came to power. Davis' attempts to solidify states' rights failed repeatedly and, disillusioned, he decided to resign from the Senate. On January 10, 1861, Davis led Mississippi in following South Carolina's example and seceding from the Union. The following month, he was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America. (Davis was referred to as the provisional president because he had been appointed by the Confederate Congress rather than elected by the populace.) He moved his family to the southern White House in Richmond, Virginia, and prepared for a six-year presidential term.    Davis' refusal to appoint a general commander of southern forces and his attempt to manage the Southern army and government at the same time is thought to have contributed to the South's defeat. After the fall of Atlanta in 1865, he was captured in Georgia, clapped in irons and indicted for treason. After two years, he was finally released on bail; charges against him were not dropped until 1869. While in prison he staved off financial ruin by selling his Mississippi estate to a former slave. A rebel to the end, Davis refused to swear an oath of allegiance that would have reinstated his U.S. citizenship even after his release from prison. The time spent incarcerated impacted his health, and on December 6, 1889, Davis died in New Orleans.

•  1861 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia becomes 1st King of Italy

•  1865 - Battle of Ft Moultrie, SC occupied by Federals

A statue in Flemington, New Jersey, honoring veterans of the American Civil War.

•  1865 - Evacuation of Charleston, SC

•  1865 - Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC

1876 - Direct telegraph link established between Britain & NZ

1878 - John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

•  1879 - Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha

•  1884 - General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum

•  1884 - Police seize all copies of Tolstoy's "What I Believe In"

•  1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published

Feb 18, 1885: Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  On this day in 1885, Mark Twain publishes his famous--and famously controversial--novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.    Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) first introduced Huck Finn as the best friend of Tom Sawyer, hero of his tremendously successful novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Though Twain saw Huck's story as a kind of sequel to his earlier book, the new novel was far more serious, focusing on the institution of slavery and other aspects of life in the antebellum South.    At the book's heart is the journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on a raft. Jim runs away because he is about to be sold and separated from his wife and children, and Huck goes with him to help him get to Ohio and freedom. Huck narrates the story in his distinctive voice, offering colorful descriptions of the people and places they encounter along the way. The most striking part of the book is its satirical look at racism, religion and other social attitudes of the time. While Jim is strong, brave, generous and wise, many of the white characters are portrayed as violent, stupid or simply selfish, and the naive Huck ends up questioning the hypocritical, unjust nature of society in general.    Even in 1885, two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn landed with a splash. A month after its publication, a Concord, Massachusetts, library banned the book, calling its subject matter "tawdry" and its narrative voice "coarse" and "ignorant." Other libraries followed suit, beginning a controversy that continued long after Twain's death in 1910. In the 1950s, the book came under fire from African-American groups for being racist in its portrayal of black characters, despite the fact that it was seen by many as a strong criticism of racism and slavery. As recently as 1998, an Arizona parent sued her school district, claiming that making Twain's novel required high school reading made already existing racial tensions even worse.    Aside from its controversial nature and its continuing popularity with young readers, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been hailed by many serious literary critics as a masterpiece. No less a judge than Ernest Hemingway famously declared that the book marked the beginning of American literature: "There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."            

•  1891 - Capt Archinard's army fights with Nyamina of Niger in West-Sudan

1896 - Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 yrs

King of Sardinia and Italy Victor Emmanuel IIKing of Sardinia and Italy Victor Emmanuel II 1899 - 80°F in SF

1899 - SF named as a port of dispatch for Army transports

1899 - Stanley Cup: Mont Shamrocks sweep Queens U (Kingston Ont) in 2 games

1900 - Ajax soccer team forms in Amsterdam

1900 - Battle at Paardeberg, 1,270 British killed/injured

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

•  1900 - British troops occupy Monte Christo Natal

1901 - H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner

Statue of soldier, author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London

•  1901 - Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the British House of Commons.

1902 - Opera "Hunchback of Notre Dame," premieres in Monte Carlo

1903 - Kuyper government launches anti strike laws

1905 - Frank Wedekind's "Hidada, oder Sein und Haben," premieres in Munich

1906 - Vincent d'Indy's "Jour D'été à La Montagne," premieres in Paris

1908 - 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued

1909 - Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, at 41, to Cleveland Naps

1911 - The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston ChurchillSoldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 

Le Drapeau Tricolore (Tricour Flag) which was a product of the French Revolution, and which remains the national flag of France to this day.

•  Feb 18, 1913: Raymond Poincare becomes President of France  Raymond Poincare, a conservative politician who had been elected president of the French Republic over the objections of Georges Clemenceau and the French Left a month earlier, takes office on this day in 1913.    Known for his right-wing nationalist beliefs and his strong Catholic faith, Poincare served as France's prime minister and foreign secretary before being elected to the presidency. A native of France's Lorraine region, lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, he bitterly hated and feared Germany. As prime minister in the years before World War I, Poincare worked to strengthen France's alliances with both Britain and Russia. While Poincare was convinced that the system of alliances in Europe would preserve the balance of power and avert a war, in reality the solidification of the Triple Entente (an alliance among France, Britain and Russia) in the years before 1914 made Germany increasingly nervous and only intensified the atmosphere of tension that would soon explode into world war.    During the war, Poincare fought to keep a spirit of strong national unity alive and urged France's military and civilian population alike to stand firm against the onslaught of the German enemy. In the spirit of this unity, Poincare appointed his liberal nemesis, Georges Clemenceau, as prime minister in 1917. Though the two men despised each other, they shared a hard-line attitude towards Germany and fought together for strong penalties for the losing nations at the Versailles peace conference, held in Paris in 1919.  Angered by what he saw as excessive leniency towards Germany in the final Versailles treaty, Poincare declined to stand for reelection and returned to the Senate in 1920. He was again appointed prime minister in 1922. In this post, he enforced the payment of German reparations; when the struggling country defaulted, he sent French troops to seize the industrial zones of the Ruhr Valley in January 1923. Poincare stepped down with the victory of a left-wing coalition in 1924, but returned to the post of prime minister in 1926. He would head two more ministries until 1929, when he retired from government service for health reasons. Poincare died in 1934.      

1913 - French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" displayed in NYC

1915 - Germany begins a blockade of Britain

1919 - Cy Denneny of NHL Ottawa Senators scores record 52nd goals

1921 - British troops occupy Dublin

1922 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis resigns his judgeship to work for baseball

1922 - WOC-AM in Davenport IA begins radio transmissions

1923 - Belgium: Borinage-mine workers strike for higher wages

1924 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard

1924 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger

1924 - US, min of marine Edwin Denby ends term due to Teapot Dome-scandal

1927 - 1st US radio broadcast of "Cities Service Concerts"

1927 - US & Canada begin diplomatic relations

1929 - The first Academy Awards are announced.

1930 - Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted

1930 - Luigi Pirandello's "Come Tu Mi Vuoi," premieres in Milan

1930 - Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's "Simple Simon," premieres in NYC

•  1930 - US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto

Feb 18, 1930: Pluto discovered  Pluto, once believed to be the ninth planet, is discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh.    The existence of an unknown ninth planet was first proposed by Percival Lowell, who theorized that wobbles in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were caused by the gravitational pull of an unknown planetary body. Lowell calculated the approximate location of the hypothesized ninth planet and searched for more than a decade without success. However, in 1929, using the calculations of Powell and W.H. Pickering as a guide, the search for Pluto was resumed at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered the tiny, distant planet by use of a new astronomic technique of photographic plates combined with a blink microscope. His finding was confirmed by several other astronomers, and on March 13, 1930--the anniversary of Lowell's birth and of William Hershel's discovery of Uranus--the discovery of Pluto was publicly announced.    With a surface temperature estimated at approximately -360 Fahrenheit, Pluto was appropriately given the Roman name for the god of the underworld in Greek mythology. Pluto's average distance from the sun is nearly four billion miles, and it takes approximately 248 years to complete one orbit. It also has the most elliptical and tilted orbit of any planet, and at its closest point to the sun it passes inside the orbit of Neptune, the eighth planet.    After its discovery, some astronomers questioned whether Pluto had sufficient mass to affect the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. In 1978, James Christy and Robert Harrington discovered Pluto's only known moon, Charon, which was determined to have a diameter of 737 miles to Pluto's 1,428 miles. Together, it was thought that Pluto and Charon formed a double-planet system, which was of ample enough mass to cause wobbles in Uranus' and Neptune's orbits. In August 2006, however, the International Astronomical Union announced that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet, due to new rules that said planets must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." Since Pluto's oblong orbit overlaps that of Neptune, it was disqualified.            

•  1932 - Japan declares Manchuria Independent

•  1939 - Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island

1942 - Japanese troop land on Bali

1943 - 1st edition of Dutch resistance newspaper "Trouw"

•  1943 - Munich resistance group "White Rose" captured by Nazis

Feb 18, 1943: Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders  Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, the leaders of the German youth group Weisse Rose (White Rose), are arrested by the Gestapo for opposing the Nazi regime.    The White Rose was composed of university (mostly medical) students who spoke out against Adolf Hitler and his regime. The founder, Hans Scholl, was a former member of Hitler Youth who grew disenchanted with Nazi ideology once its real aims became evident. As a student at the University of Munich in 1940-41, he met two Roman Catholic men of letters who redirected his life. Turning from medicine to religion, philosophy, and the arts, Scholl gathered around him like-minded friends who also despised the Nazis, and the White Rose was born.    During the summer of 1942, Scholl and a friend composed four leaflets, which exposed and denounced Nazi and SS atrocities, including the extermination of Jews and Polish nobility, and called for resistance to the regime. The literature was peppered with quotations from great writers and thinkers, from Aristotle to Goethe, and called for the rebirth of the German university. It was aimed at an educated elite within Germany.    The risks involved in such an enterprise were enormous. The lives of average civilians were monitored for any deviation from absolute loyalty to the state. Even a casual remark critical of Hitler or the Nazis could result in arrest by the Gestapo, the regime's secret police. Yet the students of the White Rose (the origin of the group's name is uncertain; possibly, it came from the picture of the flower on their leaflets) risked all, motivated purely by idealism, the highest moral and ethical principles, and sympathy for their Jewish neighbors and friends. (Despite the risks, Hans' sister, Sophie, a biology student at her brother's university, begged to participate in the activities of the White Rose when she discovered her brother's covert operation.)    On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie left a suitcase filled with copies of yet another leaflet in the main university building. The leaflet stated, in part: "The day of reckoning has come, the reckoning of our German youth with the most abominable tyranny our people has ever endured. In the name of the entire German people we demand of Adolf Hitler's state the return of personal freedom, the most precious treasure of the Germans which he cunningly has cheated us out of." The pair were spotted by a janitor and reported to the Gestapo and arrested. Turned over to Hitler's "People's Court," basically a kangaroo court for dispatching dissidents quickly, the Scholls, along with another White Rose member who was caught, were sentenced to death. They were beheaded--a punishment reserved for "political traitors"--on February 23, but not before Hans Scholl proclaimed "Long live freedom!"    

1943 - William D Cox buys Philadelphia Phillies

1944 - Maastricht resistance fighter JAJ Janssen arrested

1944 - Youngest baseball player, Cin Reds sign 15 year old Joe Nuxhall

1947 - 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin Pa

1947 - Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Telephone," premieres in NYC

1950 - "Dance Me a Song" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 35 performances

1951 - 3 City College of NY basketball players admit to accepting bribes

1951 - Nep l becomes a constitutional monarchy

1951 - Netherlands Radio School forms

1952 - 4th Emmy Awards: Red Skelton, Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca wins

1953 - "Bwana Devil," the 1st 3-D movie, opened in New York

1953 - "Maggie" opens at National Theater NYC for 5 performances

1953 - KOLN TV channel 10 in Lincoln, NB (CBS) begins broadcasting

1953 - Premiere of 1st 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (NYC)

•  1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.

•  1955 - Baghdad Pact signed, making Turkey & Iraq a defense alliance

•  1957 - Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan rebel leader is executed by the British colonial government.

Flag of the Olympics

•  1960 - 8th Winter Olympic games open in Squaw Valley, Cal

1960 - Walter O'Malley, LA Dodger owner, purchases Chavez Ravine for $494,000

1961 - Henk van der Grift becomes world champion skater

Flag of Algeria

•  1962 - France & Algerian Moslems negotiate truce to end 7 year war

1962 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1964 - Muriel Resnik's "Any Wednesday," premieres in NYC

•  1964 - Papandreou government takes power in Greece

1965 - "Fade Out-Fade In" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 72 perfs

1965 - 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain, BC

1965 - Frank Gifford announces his retirement from football for broadcasting

•  1965 - Gambia gains independence from Britain (National Day)

1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1967 - Bob Seagren sets pole vault record at 17'3"

1967 - Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out 6 straight major leaguers

1968 - 10,000 demonstrators against US in Vietnam War in West-Berlin

1968 - 10th Winter Olympic games close at Grenoble, France

1968 - British adopts year-round daylight savings time

•  1968 - David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd

1969 - Doug Walters scores 2nd innings century after 242 in 1st

•  1969 - PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland

1970 - Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot

1970 - US president Nixon launches "Nixon-doctrine"

1972 - California Supreme Court abolishes death penalty

1972 - Giulio Andreotti sworn in as premier of Italy

1972 - John & Yoko end a week of co-hosting Mike Douglas Show

1973 - 54-kg octopus measuring 7m across captured in Hood Canal, Wash

1973 - Belgian Emiel Puttemans runs 3000m indoor record 7:39.2

1973 - Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Pompano Beach Golf Classic

•  1974 - NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km)

•  1974 - US ambassador to India Daniel Moynihan present $2,046,700,000 check

1975 - 2nd American Music Award: Olivia Newton-John & John Denver win

•  1975 - Italy broadens abortion law

1977 - George Harrison releases "True Love"

•  1977 - Space Shuttle above a Boeing 747 goes on it's maiden flight

1977 - Test Cricket debuts of Colin Croft & Joel Garner v Pakistan Bridgetown

1978 - 1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona, Hawaii

1979 - -52°F (-47°C), Old Forge, New York (state record)

1979 - Amy Alcott wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic

1979 - Miniseries "Roots: Next Generations" premieres on ABC TV

•  1979 - NASA launches space vehicle S-202

•  1979 - Pres Zia ur-Rahmans National Party wins elections in Bangladesh

•  1979 - Snow falls in Sahara Desert

1980 - Billy Wyman said he will leave Rolling Stones in 1983 (Sure!)

1980 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canada's elections

1983 - NBA Indiana Pacers begin a 28 game road losing streak

1984 - Revised concordat between Italy & Vatican signed

1986 - San Antonio's Alvin Robertson scores NBA 2nd quadruple double-20 pts, 11 rebounds, 10 assists & 10 steals against Phoenix

1988 - Anthony M Kennedy, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice

1989 - Sherri Turner wins LPGA Orix Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open/Itoki Pro-Am

1990 - Jane Crafter wins LPGA Phar-Mor at Inverrary Golf Tournament

1991 - Edmonton Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr returns to NHL after season-long suspension for substance abuse & shuts out NJ Devils 4-0

1993 - Howard Stern's radio show begins transmitting to Rochester NY

1994 - Dan Jansen skates world record 1000m (1:12.43)

1994 - Shreveport Pirates join CFL as 4th US team

1995 - Angela Kennedy swims world record 100m butterfly

1995 - Barb Thomas Whitehead wins Cup o' Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open

1995 - Pamela Anderson (Baywatch) & Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) wed

1995 - Warnecke swims world record 50m freestyle

1996 - 1st full ODI for Kenya, Cricket World Cup v India

1996 - Daytona 500 race

1996 - Tendulkar scores 127* in India's Cricket World Cup win over Kenya

1998 - NY Rangers fire head coach Colin Campbell

1998 - Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.

2000 - Stjepan Mesić becomes the second president of Croatia.

2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

2003 - Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.

2003 - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.

•  2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.

•  Feb 18, 2011: Green River serial killer pleads guilty to 49th murder  On this day in 2011, in a Kent, Washington, courtroom, Gary Leon Ridgway pleads guilty to the 1982 aggravated, first-degree murder of his 49th victim, 20-year-old Rebecca Marrero. Marrero’s remains were found in December 2010, decades after her murder, in a ravine near Auburn, Washington. After entering his guilty plea, the 62-year-old Ridgway received his 49th life sentence without the possibility of parole and returned to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, where he was already serving 48 consecutive life sentences, one for each of the other women he killed.    In the 1980s, residents of Washington State were terrorized by the so-called Green River Killer, whose first five victims’ bodies were discovered in or near the Green River in King County (whose largest city is Seattle) in the summer of 1982. The strangled bodies of more victims soon appeared around King County; all were women, most of them young and many of them prostitutes, runaways and drug users. Ridgway, a thrice-married truck painter from Auburn, became a suspect after one of the victims was spotted getting into his truck. However, when questioned by police, he denied any knowledge of the slayings and passed a 1984 polygraph test. In 2001, he was finally arrested after DNA evidence (a technology not available when he began committing his crimes) connected him to some of the killings.    In a controversial 2003 plea deal, Ridgway admitted to the murders of 48 women between 1982 and 1998, and prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against him if he cooperated with police in locating the remains of dozens of his victims. Ridgway reportedly claimed to have murdered more than 60 women in King County, although authorities at the time could only find sufficient evidence to link him to the 48 slayings. (Ridgway’s plea deal was limited to murders in King County; if, in the future, he is linked to unsolved killings in other counties or states, he could be eligible for the death penalty.)    Ridgway told authorities he began to think of murdering prostitutes as his career, and did it “because he hated them, didn't want to pay them for sex, and because he knew he could kill as many as he wanted without getting caught,” according to The Seattle Times. The serial killer said he picked up women off the street, strangled them in his home or truck, and meticulously hid their bodies near natural landmarks (such as trees or fallen logs) in an attempt to keep track of them.     At the time of his 49th conviction, Ridgway had been linked to more murders than any other convicted serial killer in U.S. history.

•  2012 - Kateri Tekakwitha canonized as the first native American saint

•  2013 - 15 people are killed by flooding and landslides in Indonesia

•  2013 - $50 million worth of diamond is stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels Airport, Belgium

  1735 - The first opera performed in America. The work was "Flora" (or "Hob in the Well") was presented in Charleston, SC.   1841 - The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th.   1861 - In Montgomery, AL, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.   1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time.   1913 - The famous French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase", by the French artist, Marcel Duchamp, was displayed at an "Armory Show" in New York City.   1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.   1930 - The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930.   1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.   1938 - "The Big Broadcast of 1938" was released.   1949 - "Yours Truly Johnny Dollar" debuted on CBS radio.   1952 - Greece and Turkey became members of NATO.   1953 - "Bwana Devil" opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.   1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the "I Love Lucy" TV show through 1955.   1964 - "Any Wednesday" opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The play established Gene Hackman as an actor.   1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.   1972 - The California Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty.   1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.   1984 - Reed Larson (Detroit Red Wings) got two assists to become the highest scoring, American-born player in the history of the National Hockey League. Larson broke the record by scoring his 432nd point.   1987 - The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue.   1998 - In Russia, money shortages resulted in the shutting down of three plants that produced nuclear weapons.   1998 - In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.   2000 - The U.S. Commerce Department reported a deficit in trade goods and services of $271.3 billion for 1999. It was the largest calender-year trade gap in U.S. history.   2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.   2001 - FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.   2003 - In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.   2006 - American Shani Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin. He was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.

1885 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published. 1930 Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system, was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. 1953 The first 3-D movie, Bwana Devil, opened in New York. 2001 FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia. 2001 Dale Earnhardt, Sr., died from injuries sustained at the Daytona 500.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb18.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory