Crabs and Beer!

On this day in 1924, the United States ended its military occupation of the Dominican Republic. The goal of the occupation, which began in 1916, was to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention.

The US Marines landed and established effective control of the country within two months. Three major roads were built, largely for military purposes, connecting for the first time the capital with Santiago in the north, Azua in the west, and San Pedro de Macorís in the east; the system of forced labor used by the Americans in Haiti was absent in the Dominican Republic.

With the United States occupation of Haiti to the west of the Dominican Republic, the United States Marines controlled all of Hispaniola “through censorship, intimidation, fear, and military force”, according to Lorgia García Peña, a contemporary American academic. Like Haiti, the finances of the Dominican Republic were controlled by National City Bank of New York, subsequently allowing American businesses to acquire Dominican properties to cultivate sugar. American corporations would then force Haitians to migrate to the Dominican Republic and work on sugar plantations in poor conditions.

U.S. forces withdrew on September 18, 1924, and handed policing authority to the Dominican National Guard. Despite the withdrawal, there were still concerns regarding the collection and application of the country’s customs revenues. To address this problem, representatives of the United States and the Dominican Republic governments met at a convention and signed a treaty, on December 27, 1924, which gave the United States control over the country’s customs revenues. In 1941, the treaty was officially repealed and control over the country’s customs revenues was again returned to the government of the Dominican Republic. However this treaty created lasting resentment of the United States among the people of the Dominican Republic.

Marine machine gun unit in the Dominican Republic

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Coming soon…

Today is the birthday, in 1962, of Joanne Catherall, singer with The Human League. Formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 the group attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US No.1 hit ‘Don’t You Want Me’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM_T4wYZg0k

On this day in 1849, Harriet Tubman made her first attempt at escape. Her owner had died and his widow was in the process of selling off his slaves. Tubman had been hired out to Anthony Thompson (the son of her father’s former owner), who owned a large plantation in an area called Poplar Neck in neighboring Caroline County; it is likely her brothers labored for Thompson as well. Because they were hired out, her owner, Eliza Brodess probably did not recognize their absence as an escape attempt for some time. Two weeks later, she posted a runaway notice in the Cambridge Democrat, offering a reward of up to US$100 each (equivalent to $3,870 in 2025). Once they had left, Tubman’s brothers had second thoughts. Ben may have regretted leaving his wife and children. The two men went back, forcing Tubman to return with them.

Sometime in October or November, Tubman escaped again, this time without her brothers. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad. When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse and then as an armed scout and spy. For her guidance of the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 enslaved people, she is widely credited as the first woman to lead an armed military operation in the United States.

Tubman, c. 1868/1869

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BACK IN THE DAY…

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Here’s the Big Trombone…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khpL08_O1WE

On this day in 1620, the Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth for the New World on the ship ‘Mayflower’. After 10 weeks at sea, Mayflower, with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached what is today the United States, dropping anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts on 21 November 1620.

Before disembarking from her, they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that established a rudimentary government in which each member would contribute to the safety and welfare of the planned settlement. Arriving in November, they were unprepared to endure a harsh winter. Local indigenous peoples assisted the colonists in gathering food, but only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth following an outbreak of disease. The following year, the survivors celebrated the colony’s first fall harvest along with 90 Wampanoag people, an occasion declared in centuries later as the first American Thanksgiving. As one of the earliest colonial vessels, Mayflower has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States.

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But the shipping…

Today is the birthday, in 1950, of David Bellamy, Bellamy Brothers, (1976 US No.1 single ‘Let Your Love Flow’, 1979 UK No.3 single ‘If I Said I Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me’). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gft_kG9cfJg

Today is the birthday, in 1890, of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, Lady Mallowan, usually known by her first married name, Agatha Christie. She was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers, particularly in the mystery genre. She is the best-selling novelist of all time, her books having sold more than two billion copies.

Her first husband was Archibald Christie; they married in 1914 and had one child before divorcing in 1928. Following the breakdown of her marriage and the death of her mother in 1926, she made international headlines by going missing for 11 days. During both world wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays. Following her marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, she spent several months each year on archaeological excavations in the Middle East and used her first-hand knowledge of this profession in her fiction.

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More details

Christie as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross, pictured outside her childhood home of Ashfield in 1915.

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BADA BING BING Bing…

OBAMA 2028! Since rules don’t exist anymore.

“GOP leaders are now divided between the fearful and the deluded – between those who have lost their nerve and those who have lost their minds.”

THE DAY AFTER A HOLIDAY IS DIFFERENT WHEN YOU’RE RETIRED. EVERYBODY ELSE IS COMPLAINING ABOUT GOING BACK TO WORK. I’M JUST TRYING TO REMEMBER WHAT DAY IT IS.

To every woman who wants to repeal the 19th Amendment: Quit your job, close your bank account, cut up your credit cards, surrender your property, and ask your husband for permission to speak. Live the miserable little fantasy you’re trying to force on everyone else.

OUR BEST HOPE IS THAT TRUMP IS TAKING MEDICAL ADVICE FROM ROBERT KENNEDY, JR.

If the phrase: “GET OFF THE COMPUTER, I NEED THE PHONE”, makes perfect sense to you, you’re officially old.

What do you call a dog that herds watermelons? A melon collie.

How does a burger introduce his wife? Meet Patty.

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into Heaven?”

“NO!”, the children all answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into Heaven?” Again, the answer was “NO!”

“Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to Heaven?” In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!”

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Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Ola Brunkert, drummer with the Swedish group ABBA. Was a member of the Slim Blues Gang, Science Poption and jazz-rock combo Opus III before joining ABBA. He played on every ABBA album and toured with the group. He was found dead with his throat cut at his home in Majorca, Spain on March 17th 2008 after he hit his head against a glass door in the dining room at his home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, composed the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, which later became the lyrics for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.

was on a mercy mission for the release of Dr. William Beanes, a prisoner of the British. The British agreed to release Beanes, but Key and Beanes were forced to stay with the British until the attack on Baltimore was over.

Key watched the British attach on Fort McHenry from a truce ship in the Patapsco River. On the morning of the 14th, Key saw the American flag waving above Fort McHenry. Inspired, he began jotting down verses on the back of a letter he was carrying. Key’s poem, originally named “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, was printed on pamphlets by the Baltimore American.

Key’s poem was later set to the tune of a British song called “To Anacreon in Heaven”, the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen’s club of amateur musicians in London. The song eventually became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”. The US Congress made it the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

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Maybe…’Literacy’?

I don’t want to know…

Today is the birthday, in 1959, of Norwegian singer Morten Harket who is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band A-Ha. They scored the 1985 US No.1 single ‘Take On Me’ and the 1986 UK No.1 single ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’, becoming the first Norwegian group to score a UK and US No.1 hit. ‘Take On Me’ was bolstered by the wide exposure on MTV of director Steve Barron’s innovative music video featuring the band in a live-action pencil-sketch animation sequence. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. On 17 February 2020, the music video for ‘Take On Me’ reached one billion views on YouTube. Harket was named a Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3meKlaJL3qo