1886: Another anniversary of The Statue of Liberty

We remember another anniversary of The Statue of Liberty.   

Lady Liberty, as we affectionately call her, was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on this day in 1886.  It is one of the country's great landmarks.     

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October 28, 2011: Texas vs St. Louis and that painful Game 7

Who can forget?   I think that all of us know how David Murphy felt watching the other guys celebrate the last out of the 2011 World Series. 

What was the turning point of game 7?  It was Molina walking on a 3-2 pitch that was simply too close to take.   It kept a rally going and it was over after that.

Don't get me wrong.  I think that the Cardinals won fair and square.  They got the clutch hits and we didn't.  They threw strikes and our guys didn't.  They manufactured runs and we didn't.

It was a bad night for Rangers' fans, specially the agony of Game 6 the night before.

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Youth unemployment in Europe. Investors concerned about Brazil & "Jesus Christ Superstar" 1970.

 

Youth unemployment in Europe.  Investors concerned about Brazil & "Jesus Christ Superstar" 1970.....

The students go French in Spain

The students go French in Spain:

What started over "school supplies" in Paris has now gone continental.

1991 and probably the best game 7 of our generation

As I recall, nobody picked Minnesota and Atlanta to meet in the 1991 World Series.   

The Twins had won in 1987 and came back for another title.   

The Braves had struggled in the 1980's and started their amazing run of 14 consecutive divisional titles under Bobby Cox.

Game 7 featured veteran Jack Morris and young John Smoltz.    

The game was 0-0 after 9 innings.   The Twins finally scored in the bottom of the 10th and won 1-0.

It was a great game and probably one of the very best World Series game ever.

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Game 6 of 2011 Series: What happened Nelson?

   

We remember one of the craziest games in baseball history.    I am talking about game 6 of the 2011 World Series. The Rangers went into the bottom of the 9th with a 2 run lead.   The Cardinals tied the game when Nelson Cruz missed a fly ball.     

To be fair, we should add that Cruz was one of the big reasons that Texas was in the Series.

Josh Hamilton hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 10th.    However, the Cardinals came back again.

It finally ended in the bottom of the 12th when Freese hit a walk off HR.

Texas was within a strike in the 9th and 10th and could not close it.    It still hurts!

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October 1983: Quite a month for President Reagan

We remember President Ronald Reagan as a rather consequential president. Let’s remember the events of this week in 1983.

First, a terror bombing in Beirut killed over a hundred U.S. Marines.   

President Reagan was getting ready for reelection and talking about the economic recovery underway. However, he had to deal with a major terrorist attack in Beirut when a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. Marine base at the international airport:   

The explosion killed 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. 

A few minutes after that bomb went off, a second bomber drove into the basement of the nearby French paratroopers’ barracks, killing 58 more people.  

Four months after the bombing, American forces left Lebanon without retaliating.

It was a terrible story and one of the early signs of terrorism. Many criticized President Reagan for not retaliating, but I am not exactly sure what response could have followed this attack.

A few days later, President Reagan invaded Grenada. It turned out to be a major victory against Fidel Castro that prevented the USSR from having another strategic piece of real estate.   

Grenada was a small island where some U.S. citizens were attending medical school. Most people had never heard of Grenada or the Cuban efforts to turn the island into a communist beachhead, an important runway for Soviet MiGs.

However, the Reagan administration had their eye on Grenada for some time. They knew the strategic importance of Grenada and its proximity to the Panama Canal.    

We learned a lot that week about President Reagan and how foreign policy can force itself on the agenda. In Beirut, we were introduced to the type of terrorism that we saw eventually on 9/11. In Grenada, we saw President Reagan as the competent leader of the free world, or a man unwilling to let the USSR gain a strategic foothold over here.

It was quite a week for President Reagan and the U.S.

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1970: "Jesus Christ Superstar" on Broadway

It took me a while to accept the idea of a show named "Jesus Christ Superstar" but I eventually did.   

The composers were Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.   The show was very successful on Broadway.  Later, they made it into a movie.

The soundtrack was very popular but I don't remember any songs other than "I don't know how to love him" by Yvonne Elliman.     It was also recorded later by Helen Reddy.

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The Sullivans of Alaska plus a word about Brazil

 The Sullivans of Alaska plus a word about Brazil......

Oh, Danny boy, the Democrats are calling!

Oh, Danny boy, the Democrats are calling!:

That their call has a distinct whiff of fraud hanging about it is something the Republicans have a plan to address.

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Up in Alaska, there are two Dan Sullivans running for the US Senate. One is the incumbent US Senator seeking reelection. The other one is a bit of a mystery, or a fellow who suddenly decided to run for the US Senate. Who knew Alaska politics would be so interesting?

Let’s check out the editorial in The Wall Street Journal:

Democrats pulled a dirty trick by enlisting a decoy, Daniel J. Sullivan, to run against Republican Alaska Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.

Now they are indignant that the Trump Administration on Thursday filed a lawsuit that calls attention to their subterfuge.

Please spare us the lectures about election interference.

The Justice Department lawsuit seeks to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election results if they “may be impacted by voter confusion.” “Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot threatens to mislead Alaskan citizens who want to vote for Senator Sullivan,” the lawsuit says. That’s the Democratic hope.

Democrats deny they are behind the ruse, but their fingerprints are all over it. Daniel J. Sullivan voted for Democrats in the prior three presidential elections and for Democratic nominee Mary Peltola when she ran for the House. There’s evidence that a Democratic consultant also helped launch his campaign.   

 We have not seen a “ruse” like this since a fellow named Lyndon B. Johnson won a US Senate seat in Texas back in ‘48.     The problem in Alaska is that Dan the other Sullivan could impact the final results. He could take a couple of points, and that could be enough to give the Democrat a victory. It doesn’t take a lot of votes to win an election. Check out LBJ’s 1948 trick again.

President Trump is right in getting the DOJ involved. It would insult Alaska’s voters to have their election decided like this. At the same time, the real culprit here is Alaska’s ranked-choice system.

So let’s hope the real Sullivan shows up on election night. Otherwise, future Senator Peltola will have a huge Alaska moose chasing her for a long time.

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