Tom

On this day in 1865, Alabama ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, to be followed closely by North Carolina and Georgia. The Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States. The immediate impact of the amendment was to make the entire pre-war system of chattel slavery in the U.S. illegal. The impact of the abolition of slavery was felt quickly. When the Thirteenth Amendment became operational, the scope of Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was widened to include the entire nation. Although the majority of Kentucky’s slaves had been emancipated, 65,000–100,000 people remained to be legally freed when the amendment went into effect on December 18. In Delaware, where a large number of slaves had escaped during the war, nine hundred people became legally free.

The Three-Fifths Compromise in the original Constitution counted, for purposes of allocating taxes and seats in the House of Representatives, all “free persons”, three-fifths of “other persons” (i.e., slaves) and excluded untaxed Native Americans. The freeing of all slaves made the three-fifths clause moot. Compared to the pre-war system, it also had the effect of increasing the political power of former slave-holding states by increasing their share of seats in the House of Representatives, and consequently their share in the Electoral College.

As the amendment still permitted labor as punishment for convicted criminals, Southern states responded with an array of interlocking laws essentially intended to criminalize black life. These laws, passed or updated after emancipation, were known as Black Codes. Mississippi was the first state to pass such codes, with an 1865 law titled “An Act to confer Civil Rights on Freedmen”. The Mississippi law required black workers to contract with white farmers by January 1 of each year or face punishment for vagrancy. Blacks could be sentenced to forced labor for crimes including petty theft, using obscene language, or selling cotton after sunset. States passed new, strict vagrancy laws that were selectively enforced against blacks without white protectors. The labor of these convicts was then sold to farms, factories, lumber camps, quarries, and mines.

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Pineapple and Spam???

BADA BING!

ust a helpful reminder as Christmas approaches: if your birth year starts with 19, wrap your presents on a table, not the floor.

There is no truth to the persistent rumor that France intends to seize control of the Rock of Gibraltar from England and rename it “De Gaulle Stone.”

He’s paved the rose garden. He’s bulldozing the White House. There’s a planned UFC fight on the lawn. What in the white trash hell is happening?!

I just want to go back to a time where my first thought of the day is not, “what the hell did he do now?”

Why is a cow tired after giving birth? Because they’re decaffeinated.

What do you call a hippie’s wife?  Mississippi.

Statistically speaking, 6 out of 7 dwarves are not Happy.

tRUMP’s healthcare plan has been “two weeks away” for so long it technically qualifies as a pre-existing condition.

Scientists planted human brain cells in a Sweet Potato. Its very first words, “I think therefore I yam”.

Mourning people really enjoy funerals before lunch.

This morning I saw an envelope on my doorstep that said: ‘Do Not Bend’. I stood there for ages trying to figure out how to pick it up.

My friend told me I was courageous for golfing so badly in front of people. I said it doesn’t take courage, but it does take a lot of balls.

Today is the birthday, in 1981, of American singer Britney Spears, referred to as the “Princess of Pop”, she has had a significant cultural impact in the 21st century and is credited for helping revive the teen pop genre She scored the 1999 US & UK No.1 single ‘Baby One More Time’, (one of the best-selling singles in history), and the 1999 album Baby One More Time, spent 82 weeks on the UK chart. With over 150 million records sold worldwide, Spears is one of the best-selling music artists in history, with Nielsen SoundScan ranking her the fourth best-selling female album artist of their era. Forbes listed her as the world’s highest-paid female musician twice, in 2001 and 2012. Spears received numerous industry awards, including one Grammy Award, six MTV Video Music Awards, and seven Billboard Music Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4

On this day in 1660, The Royal Society (a learned society and the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences.) was founded by twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray. It was granted a royal charter by King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world.

The society’s motto, Nullius in verba, is Latin for “Take nobody’s word for it”. It was adopted to signify the fellows’ determination to establish facts via experiments and comes from Horace’s Epistles, where he compares himself to a gladiator who, having retired, is free from control.

Christopher Wren by Godfrey Kneller 1711

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Today is the birthday, in 1832, of Mary Edwards Walker , commonly referred to as Dr. Mary Walker, was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war in the American Civil War, and surgeon. She is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.

In 1855, she earned her medical degree at Syracuse Medical College in New York, married and started a medical practice. She attempted to join the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, but was turned away. She served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital in Washington, D.C. before being hired by Union Forces and assigned to Army of the Cumberland and later the 52nd Ohio Infantry, becoming the first female surgeon in the US Army. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

After the war, she became a writer and lecturer, supporting such issues as health care, temperance, women’s rights, and dress reform for women. She was frequently arrested for wearing men’s clothing, and insisted on her right to wear clothing that she thought appropriate. She wrote two books that discussed women’s rights and dress. She replied to criticism of her attire: “I don’t wear men’s clothes, I wear my own clothes.”

Dr. Walker photographed by C. M. Bell

Uh Oh! Inappropriate humor incoming!!!!

[RIP Dame Patricia Routledge 1929-2025]

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Today is the birthday, in 1947, of British bass guitarist John McVie, who was a member of the John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and then Fleetwood Mac, who had the 1968 UK No.1 hit ‘Albatross’ and the hits ‘Man of the World’ and ‘Oh Well. In 1977 they scored the US No.1 single ‘Dreams’ taken from their worldwide No.1 album Rumours, which spent 31 weeks on the US chart. In 1968, McVie married blues pianist and singer Christine Perfect, who became a member of Fleetwood Mac two years later. John and Christine McVie divorced in 1976, but continued working together professionally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ywicffOj4

The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten screenwriters and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The ten men – Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo – had been subpoenaed by the committee in late September.

The Congressional action prompted a group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, to suspend without pay these ten film artists – initially labeled “The Unfriendly Ten” but soon changed to “The Hollywood Ten. Many of them had been accused, without evidence, by other Hollywood leaders of being communists or communist sympathizers. Among them, Walt Disney asserted that the threat of Communists in the film industry was a serious one, and he named specific ex-employees as probable Communists.

Most of the Hollywood Ten served time in prison and were unable to find work for years until the blacklist began to crack in the sixties and seventies.

“The Hollywood Ten” stand with their attorneys outside district court in Washington, D.C. before arraignment on contempt of Congress charges. The ten were charged for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. (Front row, L-R): Herbert Biberman, attorney Martin Popper, attorney Robert W. Kenny, Albert Maltz and Lester Cole. (Second row, L-R): Dalton Trumbo, John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie and Samuel Ornitz. (Top row, L-R): Ring Lardner Jr., Edward Dmytryk and Adrian Scott.

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ICE ‘expands’…

BADA BING!!!!

Scientists have combined the DNA of a cheetah with the DNA of a crab. Things went sideways really fast.

Am I the only person in the country who has no idea who Sydney Sweeny is and why she’s famous?

People tell me I have a lot of patience. Actually, there are just too many witnesses around.

So many people have inspired me to be nothing like them.

Whatever life throws at you, duck and let it hit someone else.

Kid Rock makes music for people who know exactly how much Sudafed you can get for a catalytic converter.

I was trying to pronounce the name of my medication and accidentally summoned Satan.

Of all the heinous things Donald Trump has done, by far the most unforgivable is making me agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Let’s be honest. If dogs could talk, I’d have no need for people.

A Montana town that voted 89% for Donald Trump is holding a “pedophile bonfire” in its public park for anyone who wants to burn their Trump flags and MAGA hats.

Some people are so judgmental. You can tell just by looking at them.

The next time someone tells you that America isn’t racist, remind them that this nation is willing to accept treason, and child abuse from a white president but not healthcare from a Black one.

Everything I like is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

Somebody called me today and tried to sell me a casket. I told him that was the last thing I needed.

When I was eighteen, I had a job where I was over 2,500 people. I was cutting grass in a cemetery.

How can you convert dollars to pounds? Visit McDonalds.

After a night of heavy drinking a husband comes home to find his wife in bed with a strange man. The husband goes to the dresser and pulls out a Colt .45 pistol and puts it to his own temple. The wife and lover start laughing, but the husband cuts them off and says, “Don’t laugh, you fuckers are next.”

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Today is the birthday, in 1944, of English rock musician Bev Bevan, drummer with The Move who had the 1969 UK No.1 single ‘Blackberry Way’. With Electric Light Orchestra had the 1979 UK No.3 & US No.4 single ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ plus 26 other Top 40 hits. Bevan also served as the touring drummer for Black Sabbath during their 1983 Born Again Tour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcGLRyBhE7M

On this day in 1963, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas Police Headquarters on live TV, adding to the many conspiracy theories around the assassination of President Kennedy.

On November 24, at 11:21 a.m. CST, Oswald was being escorted by Dallas police detectives Jim Leavelle and L. C. Graves through the police basement to an armored car that was to take Oswald to the nearby county jail when Ruby, who was standing in a crowd of reporters, emerged with his revolver aimed at Oswald’s abdomen. Ruby passed by William Harrison, who saw the gun and began to reach his hand out. Detective Billy Combest described Ruby’s facial expression as that of a “determined look or grimace”. Ruby shot Oswald at point-blank range, mortally wounding him. Combest exclaimed, “Jack, you son of a bitch!”

Oswald was placed in an ambulance and driven to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where President Kennedy was declared dead two days earlier. Oswald died at 1:07 p.m. Several photographs were taken of the event, capturing the moments when Ruby pulled the trigger. In 1964, Robert H. Jackson of the Dallas Times Herald was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his image, titled Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald.

Jack Ruby (52) shoots Lee Harvey Oswald (24). Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography

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ATM security – Bulgarian style

Nice rope skills!

Today is the birthday, in 1950, of Clem Burke, American musician who is best known as the drummer from Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band’s entire career. Blondie scored five UK No.1 singles including the 1979 UK & US No.1 single ‘Heart Of Glass’ and 1978 worldwide No.1 album Parallel Lines. He was named one of the greatest drummers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and in a long and varied career, he also played with Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Iggy Pop and the Ramones. Burke died of cancer on 7th April 2025 age 70. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3-lS_Gryk