Blue wave? Justice Alito retiring? Pope vs Trump. April 15th and history.

 Blue wave?  Justice Alito retiring?  Pope vs Trump.  April 15th and history.

The ‘can’t score’ Democrats

The ‘can’t score’ Democrats:

Democrats don’t appear able to hit a teed-up ball.

Maybe part of the problem is that they can’t speak two words without bashing Trump.  On Iran, they can’t deny the risk of a nuclear Iran run by fanatics, but they just don’t like that Trump is cleaning up the mess.  On illegal immigration, they agree that Biden left the border unprotected, but they can’t say anything more imaginative than call for “immigration reform.”  On affordability, it’s all about making the rich, or the mean corporations, pay their fair share.  On everything, it’s Trump’s fault, rather than propose a credible alternative that voters between San Francisco and Washington D.C. can understand.

So let’s see what happens, but don’t bet on any wave coming.  It may be like Texas days when it looks like rain, but the drops don’t fall.

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/04/the_can_t_score_democrats.html

April 15, 1947 or the day that Jackie Robinson & Dodgers changed baseball

On this day in 1947,  baseball changed when Jackie Robinson opened the season playing first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson turned into one of the key players in those Dodgers’ teams that won the NL pennant in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956.  The Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the 1955 World Series.    Along t he way, he won the 1949 National League MVP.

Before he broke with Brooklyn, Robinson and his teammates spent spring training in Cuba in 1947. It gave many Cuban fans a chance to see the man who would open the door to so many players from the island. This is how Cesar Brioso recalls the moment:

The overflow crowd spilled into foul territory where ropes cordoned off fans from the field of play. Beyond the outfield wall, those who failed to gain entrance climbed the light towers for a glimpse of the contest.

The decisive game of the Cuban League season riveted the packed house at Havana’s El Gran Stadium on Feb. 25, 1947, but Cuban fans briefly diverted their attention to acknowledge the presence of a special guest.

After Jackie Robinson was introduced over the public-address system, “he took bows to the wild shouting of 38,000 jabbering fans,” Sam Lacy wrote in the Baltimore Afro-American 75 years ago, pointing out that several members of the Brooklyn Dodgers sitting in the same reserved section “were hardly noticed.”

The Cuban fans anticipated the historic moment. First, they were knowledge of major league baseball, Secondly, they knew that Jackie was ready to jump from AAA to the majors. They knew that history would be made in a few weeks.

Of course, Jackie was followed by black Cuban baseball players, from Orestes Minoso to the many others.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day.

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April 15, 2007: MLB started the tradition of wearing # 42 for Jackie Robinson

Back in 2007, MLB celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson starting for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  

The Padres played the Dodgers on ESPN.   It was a special night.  Every Dodger was wearing # 42.  They've been wearing # 42 every April 15th since to remember Robinson.

During the game, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan spoke with Mrs. Robinson. She looked great and as upbeat as ever.

Of course, we forget that Jackie died young.  I was reminded of this by watching an old video from the '72 World Series (his last public appearance) and reading Taking a Bat to Prejudice By George Will:

"By 1956, Robinson's last season, he had lost his second-base position to Jim Gilliam, a black man. Robinson died of diabetes-related illnesses in 1972, at 53, the same age Babe Ruth was when he died. Ruth reshaped baseball; Robinson's life still reverberates through all of American life. As Martin Luther King Jr., who was 18 in 1947, was to say, Robinson was "a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides."

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1947: Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke “the color line”, or he became the first black man to put on major league uniform. He played first base that day for the Brooklyn Dodgers and went 0 for 3 at the plate.

Robinson achieved two great things in his brilliant career. 

On the field, he was one of the key players for the Dodgers who won five NL pennants and the 1955 World Series. 

In 1949, Robinson, now playing second, was the National League’s Most Valuable Player. 

In 1950, he became the Dodgers’ highest paid player ($35,000). 

In 1955, Robinson led Brooklyn to its only World Series victory. 

He retired with a .311 average, 1,518 hits, 137 HR and a .409 On Base Pct. 

It got him elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962.    

We also remember him for being the man that he was:   

Robinson stood up for equal rights even before he did so in baseball. He was arrested and court-martialed during training in the Army for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus. He was eventually acquitted of the charges and received an honorable discharge.    

After baseball. Jackie Robinson continued working for civil rights. 

Back in 2013, in anticipation of the movie 42, Michael Long wrote about Jackie Robinson’s post-baseball life: 
  

After integrating baseball, Robinson became a full-fledged leader in the civil rights movement. As a board member of the NAACP, he traveled across the country in an effort to build morale among African Americans fighting for racial justice in their local communities. 

And as a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Robinson helped to lead civil rights campaigns in Albany (Ga.) and Birmingham. While in Albany, he was so moved by the efforts of black parishioners to register African-American voters — despite the fact that their church had been burned to the ground — that he offered to raise enough money to rebuild several torched churches.

In 1964, Robinson then founded Freedom National Bank in Harlem as a protest against white financial institutions that discriminated against African Americans by denying them loans or setting interest rates artificially high. 

And while he criticized Harlem resident Malcolm X for advocating racial separatism and the use of “any means necessary,” Robinson saved his harshest public criticism for white politicians, including Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, when they hesitated, as they often did, to advance civil rights legislation.

These few examples of Robinson’s post-baseball life can help us begin to understand a claim he made in 1968: “I think I’ve become much more aggressive since I left baseball.” Coming from a man who stole home plate in the 1955 World Series, this claim gives us some indication of the importance he attributed to his baseball life.

What fueled Robinson’s aggression after baseball? No doubt, deadly violence against civil rights activists played a role. But if we dig a bit deeper, we can see that he was especially driven by his long-held belief that the people of God have an obligation to “set the captive free.” 
Thanks to religious mentors, especially his mother Mallie, Robinson embraced a social gospel that called for freedom and justice right here and right now.

My last recollection of Jackie Robinson was during the 1972 World Series. He was honored on the 25th anniversary of his first game with the Dodgers. He looked weak, spoke very softly and died a few weeks later.

Jackie Robinson was consequential stealing home and in everything else that we remember today. A great American of the 20th century!

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President Lincoln died the morning of April 15, 1865

Lincoln died April 15, 1865: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations......

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We remember Elizabeth Montgomery (1933-95)

We remember Elizabeth Montgomery who was born in Los Angeles on this day in 1933.    She died in 1995.

Back in the 1960's, she was Samantha, the lovable housewife-witch on "Bewitched", a very popular TV series.

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Tax day with George Harrison

It is remarkable but the top 20% pay 95% of the federal income taxes.

Question # 1: What about the 80%?

Question # 2: Aren't we hearing again that the GOP wants to cut taxes for the rich? Did the IRS get that memo?

We need tax reform. We need to throw out the current tax code and replace it with a national sales tax or something that requires everybody, including the "yes we can" screamers, to pay taxes.

In other words, the US should be more like Texas!

No income taxes! 

Here is "Taxman" by The Beatles!

April 15, 1865: "Now he belongs to the ages"

We recall April 15th or one of the saddest days of US history.     

On Friday, April 14th, President and Mrs. Lincoln, accompanied by Clara Harris and Maj. Henry R. Rathbone, entered Ford’s Theatre for the performance of “Our American Cousin” featuring Laura Keene.   It was a popular comedy of its time.   By all accounts, the President was in good spirits and ready for a night of relaxation.

Otto Eisenschiml wrote that the shots were fired at around 10:15 pm.  (In the Shadow of Lincoln’s Death (New York: Funk, 1940).

Shortly after, the President was moved across the street to William Petersen's home.  He was placed in a small room at the rear of hall on the first floor.

Mrs. Lincoln and the surgeons stayed with the President all night.    VP  Johnson dropped in for a visit around 2 am.

Dr. Charles S. Taft observed that the President stopped breathing “at 7:21 and 55 seconds in the morning of April 15th, and 7:22 and 10 seconds his pulse ceased to beat.”  (Eisenschiml)

After some silence, Secretary Stanton said:   “Now he belongs to the ages“. 

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Iran cease fire and blockade. Rep. Salwell and Kavanaugh conspiracy.

 Iran cease fire and blockade. Rep. Salwell and Kavanaugh conspiracy. Democrats and talk of a blue wave. Lincoln 1865.