Everything is just strolling along these days. Some good. Some bad. Some just .... some. Anyhow, I did get my fantasy football drafts completed early. It seems like every year I get my teams drafted earlier and earlier. Maybe one day I will get my new teams drafted just days after league championships are played. lol Hey! ... I can dream. :)
This year, I had to replace a team in our local league. We (the rest of the nine teams left) decided it was time to bring in our third female member ever and our first under 18 member, Joe's daughter, and my adopted daughter, Kelly. And for the first time ever in our league history, we actually had all ten members draft under the same roof.
MINE! lol
I had 4 at the kitchen table, 3 on the couch and Joe, Kelly and myself in my bedroom. The place was crowded, but we had a lot of fun. We had hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, brats, pizza, KFC, with chips / dip, cake, ice cream, donuts, and plenty to drink. Lots of food and fun. It should be an exciting FF season. And along with my local team, I also have 14 other teams - 15 in total this year.
On a down side, I did have to divorce my family finally. I didn't want to do it, but after 20 plus years of problems, I decided (or realized) that things were not going to get resolved. so ... after yet another issue came about, I quickly made the decision to cut the ties. I am missing the kids like crazy, but maybe one day they will see that I did what I had to do. There is a certain way you should treat people and they should treat you and if that treatment isn't going correctly then you have to make that hard choice. I made it. Now I live with it. But I do feel freer than ever before. At least the break up wasn't all nasty. Maybe between my younger sister and I but my mother and I parted on somewhat good terms.
So now I am an orphan. What now?
I'll tell you what now .... only about a month until pre-season NFL action! lol And then a month after that .... FOOTBALL!
That's what now. Yeah, baby.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Shame Away - By Carroll Bryant
SHAME AWAY - By Carroll Bryant
There's something caught in the back of my throat
Words I can't seem to swallow
There's something happening over my head
Thoughts that seem to be too hollow
Take my shame away by midnight
Lay the blame all on me if you like
I got a name that keeps me going strong
And you stand there with so much need
And broken
You claim the covers when we're sleeping
We're not lovers anymore when we weep
I kick myself out of bed when you kick me
We become whores to our society
Take my shame away by midnight
Lay the blame all on me if you like
I got a name that keeps me going strong
And you stand there with so much need
And broken
My dream is your nightmare
That's what you say
Every night is a million different faces
Memories you didn't want to see with your own eyes
I warned you about my history
There's something caught in the back of my throat
Words I can't seem to swallow
There's something happening over my head
Thoughts that seem to be too hollow
Take my shame away by midnight
Lay the blame all on me if you like
I got a name that keeps me going strong
And you stand there with so much need
And broken
We are so broken
Love is slipping away
Two people broken
Every night the same thing
The same pain
Loneliness eats them both alive
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
Legends: Muhammad Ali
This is only the third "Legend" I have done with a sports figure involved. One was Vince Lombardi and the other was Michael Jordan. I was never one who was into boxing. I only watched one boxing match in my whole life and it was Muhammad Ali versus Ken Norton. Ali won. Anyhow, while I may not be up to par on my boxing knowledge, I am smart enough to know that Muhammad Ali did just as much for the world outside the ring as anything he done inside it. His recent passing provoked me to move his "Legend" segment up.
Muhammad Ali /ɑːˈliː/ (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American Olympic and professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. /ˈkæʃəs/ was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He had a sister and four brothers. He was named for his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who himself was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist, Cassius Marcellus Clay, also from the state of Kentucky. Clay's father's paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay; Clay's sister Eva claimed that Sallie was a native of Madagascar. He was a descendant of slaves of the antebellum South, and was predominantly of African descent, with Irish and English heritage. His father painted billboards and signs, and his mother, Odessa O'Grady Clay, was a domestic helper. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his younger brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He grew up in racial segregation. His mother recalled one occasion where he was denied a drink of water at a store. "They wouldn't give him one because of his color. That really affected him." He was also affected by the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, which led to young Clay and a friend taking out their frustration by vandalizing a local railyard.
Clay was first directed toward boxing by Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he had better learn how to box first. For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.
Clay made his amateur boxing debut in 1954. He won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses. Ali claimed in his 1975 autobiography that shortly after his return from the Rome Olympics he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after he and a friend were refused service at a "whites-only" restaurant and fought with a white gang. The story has since been disputed and several of Ali's friends, including Bundini Brown and photographer Howard Bingham, have denied it. Brown told Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram, "Honkies sure bought into that one!" Thomas Hauser's biography of Ali stated that Ali was refused service at the diner but that he lost his medal a year after he won it. Ali received a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.
Clay made his professional debut on October 29, 1960, winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. From then until the end of 1963, Clay amassed a record of 19–0 with 15 wins by knockout. He defeated boxers including Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark, Doug Jones and Henry Cooper. Clay also beat his former trainer and veteran boxer Archie Moore in a 1962 match.
These early fights were not without trials. Clay was knocked down both by Sonny Banks
and Cooper. In the Cooper fight, Clay was floored by a left hook at the
end of round four and was saved by the bell. The fight with Doug Jones
on March 13, 1963, was Clay's toughest fight during this stretch. The
number-two and -three heavyweight contenders respectively, Clay and
Jones fought on Jones' home turf at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Jones staggered Clay in the first round, and the unanimous decision for
Clay was greeted by boos and a rain of debris thrown into the ring
(watching on closed-circuit TV, heavyweight champ Sonny Liston quipped
that if he fought Clay he might get locked up for murder). The fight was
later named "Fight of the Year".
In each of these fights, Clay vocally belittled his opponents and vaunted his abilities. He called Jones "an ugly little man" and Cooper a "bum". He was embarrassed to get in the ring with Alex Miteff. Madison Square Garden was "too small for me". Clay's behavior provoked the ire of many boxing fans. His provocative and outlandish behavior in the ring was inspired by professional wrestler "Gorgeous George" Wagner.
After Clay left Moore's camp in 1960, partially due to Clay's refusing to do chores such as dish-washing and sweeping, he hired Angelo Dundee, whom he had met in February 1957 during Ali's amateur career, to be his trainer. Around this time, Clay sought longtime idol Sugar Ray Robinson to be his manager, but was rebuffed.
By late 1963, Clay had become the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. The fight was set for February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach. Liston was an intimidating personality, a dominating fighter with a criminal past and ties to the mob. Based on Clay's uninspired performance against Jones and Cooper in his previous two fights, and Liston's destruction of former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in two first-round knock outs, Clay was a 7–1 underdog. Despite this, Clay taunted Liston during the pre-fight buildup, dubbing him "the big ugly bear". "Liston even smells like a bear", Clay said. "After I beat him I'm going to donate him to the zoo." Clay turned the pre-fight weigh-in into a circus, shouting at Liston that "someone is going to die at ringside tonight". Clay's pulse rate was measured at 120, more than double his normal 54. Many of those in attendance thought Clay's behavior stemmed from fear, and some commentators wondered if he would show up for the bout.
The outcome of the fight was a major upset. At the opening bell, Liston rushed at Clay, seemingly angry and looking for a quick knockout, but Clay's superior speed and mobility enabled him to elude Liston, making the champion miss and look awkward. At the end of the first round Clay opened up his attack and hit Liston repeatedly with jabs. Liston fought better in round two, but at the beginning of the third round Clay hit Liston with a combination that buckled his knees and opened a cut under his left eye. This was the first time Liston had ever been cut. At the end of round four, as Clay returned to his corner, he began experiencing blinding pain in his eyes and asked his trainer Angelo Dundee to cut off his gloves. Dundee refused. It has been speculated that the problem was due to ointment used to seal Liston's cuts, perhaps deliberately applied by his corner to his gloves. Though unconfirmed, Bert Sugar claimed that two of Liston's opponents also complained about their eyes "burning".
Despite Liston's attempts to knock out a blinded Clay, Clay was able to survive the fifth round until sweat and tears rinsed the irritation from his eyes. In the sixth, Clay dominated, hitting Liston repeatedly. Liston did not answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by TKO. Liston stated that the reason he quit was an injured shoulder. Following the win, a triumphant Clay rushed to the edge of the ring and, pointing to the ringside press, shouted: "Eat your words!" He added, "I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived."
In winning this fight, Clay became at age 22 the youngest boxer to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion, though Floyd Patterson was the youngest to win the heavyweight championship at 21, during an elimination bout following Rocky Marciano's retirement. Mike Tyson broke both records in 1986 when he defeated Trevor Berbick to win the heavyweight title at age 20.
Soon after the Liston fight, Clay changed his name to Cassius X Clay, and then later to Muhammad Ali upon converting to Islam and affiliating with the Nation of Islam. Ali then faced a rematch with Liston scheduled for May 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. It had been scheduled for Boston the previous November, but was postponed for six months due to Ali's emergency surgery for a hernia three days before. The fight was controversial. Midway through the first round, Liston was knocked down by a difficult-to-see blow the press dubbed a "phantom punch". Ali refused to retreat to a neutral corner, and referee Jersey Joe Walcott did not begin the count. Liston rose after he had been down about 20 seconds, and the fight momentarily continued. But a few seconds later Walcott stopped the match, declaring Ali the winner by knockout. The entire fight lasted less than two minutes.
Ali and then-WBA heavyweight champion boxer Ernie Terrell
had agreed to meet for a bout in Chicago on March 29, 1966 (the WBA,
one of two boxing associations, had stripped Ali of his title following
his joining the Nation of Islam). But in February Ali was reclassified
by the Louisville draft board as 1-A from 1-Y, and he indicated that he
would refuse to serve, commenting to the press, "I ain't got nothing
against no Viet Cong; no Viet Cong never called me nigger."
Amidst the media and public outcry over Ali's stance, the Illinois
Athletic Commission refused to sanction the fight, citing
technicalities.
Instead, Ali traveled to Canada and Europe and won championship bouts against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London and Karl Mildenberger.
Ali returned to the United States to fight Cleveland Williams in the Houston Astrodome on November 14, 1966. The bout drew a record-breaking indoor crowd of 35,460 people. Williams had once been considered among the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division, but in 1964 he had been shot at point-blank range by a Texas policeman, resulting in the loss of one kidney and 10 feet (3.0 m) of his small intestine. Ali dominated Williams, winning a third-round technical knockout in what some consider the finest performance of his career.
Ali fought Terrell in Houston on February 6, 1967. Terrell was billed as Ali's toughest opponent since Liston - unbeaten in five years and having defeated many of the boxers Ali had faced. Terrell was big, strong and had a three-inch reach advantage over Ali. During the lead up to the bout, Terrell repeatedly called Ali "Clay", much to Ali's annoyance (Ali called Cassius Clay his "slave name").
The two almost came to blows over the name issue in a pre-fight interview with Howard Cosell. Ali seemed intent on humiliating Terrell. "I want to torture him", he said. "A clean knockout is too good for him." The fight was close until the seventh round when Ali bloodied Terrell and almost knocked him out. In the eighth round, Ali taunted Terrell, hitting him with jabs and shouting between punches, "What's my name, Uncle Tom, what's my name?" Ali won a unanimous 15-round decision. Terrell claimed that early in the fight Ali deliberately thumbed him in the eye - forcing Terrell to fight half-blind - and then, in a clinch, rubbed the wounded eye against the ropes. Because of Ali's apparent intent to prolong the fight to inflict maximum punishment, critics described the bout as "one of the ugliest boxing fights". Tex Maule later wrote: "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty." Ali denied the accusations of cruelty but, for Ali's critics, the fight provided more evidence of his arrogance.
After Ali's title defense against Zora Folley on March 22, he was stripped of his title due to his refusal to be drafted to army service. His boxing license was also suspended by the state of New York. He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20 and sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He paid a bond and remained free while the verdict was being appealed.
In March 1966, Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces. He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970 - from ages 25 to almost 29 - as his case worked its way through the appeals process before his conviction was overturned in 1971. During this time of inactivity, as opposition to the Vietnam War began to grow and Ali's stance gained sympathy, he spoke at colleges across the nation, criticizing the Vietnam War and advocating African American pride and racial justice.
On August 11, 1970, with his case still in appeal, Ali was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission, thanks to State Senator Leroy R. Johnson. Ali's first return bout was against Jerry Quarry on October 26, resulting in a win after three rounds after Quarry was cut.
A month earlier, a victory in federal court forced the New York State Boxing Commission to reinstate Ali's license. He fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December, an uninspired performance that ended in a dramatic technical knockout of Bonavena in the 15th round. The win left Ali as a top contender against heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.
Ali and Frazier's first fight, held at the Garden on March 8, 1971, was nicknamed the "Fight of the Century", due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim as heavyweight champions. Veteran boxing writer John Condon called it "the greatest event I've ever worked on in my life". The bout was broadcast to 35 foreign countries; promoters granted 760 press passes.
The Monday night fight lived up to its billing. In a preview of their
two other fights, a crouching, bobbing and weaving Frazier constantly
pressured Ali, getting hit regularly by Ali jabs and combinations, but
relentlessly attacking and scoring repeatedly, especially to Ali's body.
The fight was even in the early rounds, but Ali was taking more
punishment than ever in his career. On several occasions in the early
rounds he played to the crowd and shook his head "no" after he was hit.
In the later rounds - in what was the first appearance of the "rope-a-dope strategy" - Ali
leaned against the ropes and absorbed punishment from Frazier, hoping
to tire him. In the 11th round, Frazier connected with a left hook that
wobbled Ali, but because it appeared that Ali might be clowning as he
staggered backwards across the ring, Frazier hesitated to press his
advantage, fearing an Ali counter-attack. In the final round, Frazier
knocked Ali down with a vicious left hook, which referee Arthur Mercante
said was as hard as a man can be hit. Ali was back on his feet in three
seconds. Nevertheless, Ali lost by unanimous decision, his first professional defeat.
After the loss to Frazier, Ali fought Jerry Quarry, had a second bout with Floyd Patterson and faced Bob Foster in 1972, winning a total of six fights that year. In 1973, Ken Norton broke Ali's jaw while giving him the second loss of his career. After initially seeking retirement, Ali won a controversial decision against Norton in their second bout, leading to a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 1974, with Joe Frazier who had recently lost his title to George Foreman.
Ali was strong in the early rounds of the fight, and staggered Frazier in the second round. Referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell ending the round and stepped between the two fighters as Ali was pressing his attack, giving Frazier time to recover. However, Frazier came on in the middle rounds, snapping Ali's head in round seven and driving him to the ropes at the end of round eight. The last four rounds saw round-to-round shifts in momentum between the two fighters. Throughout most of the bout, however, Ali was able to circle away from Frazier's dangerous left hook and to tie Frazier up when he was cornered, the latter a tactic that Frazier's camp complained of bitterly. Judges awarded Ali a unanimous decision.
The defeat of Frazier set the stage for a title fight against heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974 - a bout nicknamed "The Rumble in the Jungle". Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. In assessing the fight, analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton - who had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them - had been both devastated by Foreman in second round knockouts. Ali was 32 years old, and had clearly lost speed and reflexes since his twenties. Contrary to his later persona, Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. Almost no one associated with the sport, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning.
Ali opened the fight moving and scoring with right crosses to Foreman's head. Then, beginning in the second round - and to the consternation of his corner - Ali retreated to the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him while covering up, clinching and counter-punching, all while verbally taunting Foreman. The move, which would later become known as the "Rope-A-Dope", so violated conventional boxing wisdom - letting one of the hardest hitters in boxing strike at will - that at ringside writer George Plimpton thought the fight had to be fixed. Foreman, increasingly angered, threw punches that were deflected and did not land squarely. Midway through the fight, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more frequently and effectively with punches and flurries, which electrified the pro-Ali crowd. In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at center ring; Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali had regained the title by knockout.
Ali's next opponents included Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, and Joe Bugner. Wepner, a journeyman known as "The Bayonne Bleeder", stunned Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round; Ali would later say he tripped on Wepner's foot. It was a bout that would inspire Sylvester Stallone to create the acclaimed film, Rocky.
Ali then agreed to a third match with Joe Frazier in Manila. The bout, known as the "Thrilla in Manila", was held on October 1, 1975, in temperatures approaching 100 °F (38 °C). In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the "rope-a-dope" strategy, frequently resorting to clinches. During this part of the bout Ali did some effective counter-punching, but for the most part absorbed punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier. In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali scored several sharp blows that closed Frazier's left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Frazier's vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds, at times conducting what boxing historian Mike Silver called "target practice" on Frazier's head. The fight was stopped when Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to answer the bell for the 15th and final round, despite Frazier's protests. Frazier's eyes were both swollen shut. Ali, in his corner, winner by TKO, slumped on his stool, clearly spent.
Ali fought Ken Norton for the third time at the Yankee Stadium in September 1976, which he won in a heavily contested decision, which was loudly booed by the audience. Afterwards, he announced he was retiring from boxing to practice his faith, having converted to Sunni Islam after falling out with the Nation of Islam the previous year.
After returning to beat Alfredo Evangelista in May 1977, Ali struggled in his next fight against Earnie Shavers that September, getting pummeled a few times by punches to the head. Ali won the fight by another unanimous decision, but the bout caused his longtime doctor Ferdie Pacheco to quit after he was rebuffed for telling Ali he should retire. Pacheco was quoted as saying, "the New York State Athletic Commission gave me a report that showed Ali's kidneys were falling apart. I wrote to Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, his wife and Ali himself. I got nothing back in response. That's when I decided enough is enough."
In February 1978, Ali faced Leon Spinks at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time, Spinks had only seven professional fights to his credit, and had recently fought a draw with journeyman Scott LeDoux. Ali sparred less than two dozen rounds in preparation for the fight, and was seriously out of shape by the opening bell. He lost the title by split decision. A rematch followed shortly thereafter in New Orleans, which broke attendance records. Ali won a unanimous decision in an uninspiring fight, making him the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times.
Following this win, on July 27, 1979, Ali announced his retirement from boxing. His retirement was short-lived, however; Ali announced his comeback to face Larry Holmes for the WBC belt in an attempt to win the heavyweight championship an unprecedented fourth time. The fight was largely motivated by Ali's need for money. Boxing writer Richie Giachetti said, "Larry didn't want to fight Ali. He knew Ali had nothing left; he knew it would be a horror."
It was around this time that Ali started struggling with vocal stutters and trembling hands. The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) ordered that he undergo a complete physical in Las Vegas before being allowed to fight again. Ali chose instead to check into the Mayo Clinic, who declared him fit to fight. Their opinion was accepted by the NAC on July 31, 1980, paving the way for Ali's return to the ring.
The fight took place on October 2, 1980, in Las Vegas Valley, with Holmes easily dominating Ali, who was weakened from thyroid medication he had taken to lose weight. Giachetti called the fight "awful ... the worst sports event I ever had to cover". Actor Sylvester Stallone at ringside said it was like watching an autopsy on a man who is still alive. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee finally stopped the fight in the eleventh round, the only fight Ali lost by knockout. The Holmes fight is said to have contributed to Ali's Parkinson's syndrome. Despite pleas to definitively retire, Ali fought one last time on December 11, 1981, in Nassau, Bahamas, against Trevor Berbick, losing a ten-round decision.
Ali had a highly unorthodox boxing style for a heavyweight,
epitomized by his catchphrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a
bee". Never an overpowering puncher, Ali relied early in his career on
his superior hand speed, superb reflexes and constant movement, dancing
and circling opponents for most of the fight, holding his hands low and
lashing out with a quick, cutting left jab that he threw from
unpredictable angles. His footwork was so strong that it was extremely
difficult for opponents to cut down the ring and corner Ali against the
ropes. He was also able to quickly dodge punches with his head movement
and footwork.
One of Ali's greatest tricks was to make opponents over-commit by pulling straight backward from punches. Disciplined, world-class boxers chased Ali and threw themselves off balance attempting to hit him because he seemed to be an open target, only missing and leaving themselves exposed to Ali's counter punches, usually a chopping right. Slow motion replays show that this was precisely the way Sonny Liston was hit and apparently knocked out by Ali in their second fight. Ali often flaunted his movement by dancing the "Ali Shuffle", a sort of center-ring jig. Ali's early style was so unusual that he was initially discounted because he reminded boxing writers of a lightweight, and it was assumed he would be vulnerable to big hitters like Sonny Liston.
Muhammad Ali defeated every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. Ali was named "Fighter of the Year" by Ring Magazine more times than any other fighter, and was involved in more Ring Magazine "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter. He was an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and held wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees. He was one of only three boxers to be named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released through CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
Muhammad Ali /ɑːˈliː/ (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American Olympic and professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. /ˈkæʃəs/ was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He had a sister and four brothers. He was named for his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who himself was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist, Cassius Marcellus Clay, also from the state of Kentucky. Clay's father's paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay; Clay's sister Eva claimed that Sallie was a native of Madagascar. He was a descendant of slaves of the antebellum South, and was predominantly of African descent, with Irish and English heritage. His father painted billboards and signs, and his mother, Odessa O'Grady Clay, was a domestic helper. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his younger brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He grew up in racial segregation. His mother recalled one occasion where he was denied a drink of water at a store. "They wouldn't give him one because of his color. That really affected him." He was also affected by the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, which led to young Clay and a friend taking out their frustration by vandalizing a local railyard.
Clay was first directed toward boxing by Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he had better learn how to box first. For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.
Clay made his amateur boxing debut in 1954. He won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses. Ali claimed in his 1975 autobiography that shortly after his return from the Rome Olympics he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after he and a friend were refused service at a "whites-only" restaurant and fought with a white gang. The story has since been disputed and several of Ali's friends, including Bundini Brown and photographer Howard Bingham, have denied it. Brown told Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram, "Honkies sure bought into that one!" Thomas Hauser's biography of Ali stated that Ali was refused service at the diner but that he lost his medal a year after he won it. Ali received a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.
Clay made his professional debut on October 29, 1960, winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. From then until the end of 1963, Clay amassed a record of 19–0 with 15 wins by knockout. He defeated boxers including Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark, Doug Jones and Henry Cooper. Clay also beat his former trainer and veteran boxer Archie Moore in a 1962 match.
In each of these fights, Clay vocally belittled his opponents and vaunted his abilities. He called Jones "an ugly little man" and Cooper a "bum". He was embarrassed to get in the ring with Alex Miteff. Madison Square Garden was "too small for me". Clay's behavior provoked the ire of many boxing fans. His provocative and outlandish behavior in the ring was inspired by professional wrestler "Gorgeous George" Wagner.
After Clay left Moore's camp in 1960, partially due to Clay's refusing to do chores such as dish-washing and sweeping, he hired Angelo Dundee, whom he had met in February 1957 during Ali's amateur career, to be his trainer. Around this time, Clay sought longtime idol Sugar Ray Robinson to be his manager, but was rebuffed.
By late 1963, Clay had become the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. The fight was set for February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach. Liston was an intimidating personality, a dominating fighter with a criminal past and ties to the mob. Based on Clay's uninspired performance against Jones and Cooper in his previous two fights, and Liston's destruction of former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in two first-round knock outs, Clay was a 7–1 underdog. Despite this, Clay taunted Liston during the pre-fight buildup, dubbing him "the big ugly bear". "Liston even smells like a bear", Clay said. "After I beat him I'm going to donate him to the zoo." Clay turned the pre-fight weigh-in into a circus, shouting at Liston that "someone is going to die at ringside tonight". Clay's pulse rate was measured at 120, more than double his normal 54. Many of those in attendance thought Clay's behavior stemmed from fear, and some commentators wondered if he would show up for the bout.
The outcome of the fight was a major upset. At the opening bell, Liston rushed at Clay, seemingly angry and looking for a quick knockout, but Clay's superior speed and mobility enabled him to elude Liston, making the champion miss and look awkward. At the end of the first round Clay opened up his attack and hit Liston repeatedly with jabs. Liston fought better in round two, but at the beginning of the third round Clay hit Liston with a combination that buckled his knees and opened a cut under his left eye. This was the first time Liston had ever been cut. At the end of round four, as Clay returned to his corner, he began experiencing blinding pain in his eyes and asked his trainer Angelo Dundee to cut off his gloves. Dundee refused. It has been speculated that the problem was due to ointment used to seal Liston's cuts, perhaps deliberately applied by his corner to his gloves. Though unconfirmed, Bert Sugar claimed that two of Liston's opponents also complained about their eyes "burning".
Despite Liston's attempts to knock out a blinded Clay, Clay was able to survive the fifth round until sweat and tears rinsed the irritation from his eyes. In the sixth, Clay dominated, hitting Liston repeatedly. Liston did not answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by TKO. Liston stated that the reason he quit was an injured shoulder. Following the win, a triumphant Clay rushed to the edge of the ring and, pointing to the ringside press, shouted: "Eat your words!" He added, "I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived."
In winning this fight, Clay became at age 22 the youngest boxer to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion, though Floyd Patterson was the youngest to win the heavyweight championship at 21, during an elimination bout following Rocky Marciano's retirement. Mike Tyson broke both records in 1986 when he defeated Trevor Berbick to win the heavyweight title at age 20.
Soon after the Liston fight, Clay changed his name to Cassius X Clay, and then later to Muhammad Ali upon converting to Islam and affiliating with the Nation of Islam. Ali then faced a rematch with Liston scheduled for May 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. It had been scheduled for Boston the previous November, but was postponed for six months due to Ali's emergency surgery for a hernia three days before. The fight was controversial. Midway through the first round, Liston was knocked down by a difficult-to-see blow the press dubbed a "phantom punch". Ali refused to retreat to a neutral corner, and referee Jersey Joe Walcott did not begin the count. Liston rose after he had been down about 20 seconds, and the fight momentarily continued. But a few seconds later Walcott stopped the match, declaring Ali the winner by knockout. The entire fight lasted less than two minutes.
Instead, Ali traveled to Canada and Europe and won championship bouts against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London and Karl Mildenberger.
Ali returned to the United States to fight Cleveland Williams in the Houston Astrodome on November 14, 1966. The bout drew a record-breaking indoor crowd of 35,460 people. Williams had once been considered among the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division, but in 1964 he had been shot at point-blank range by a Texas policeman, resulting in the loss of one kidney and 10 feet (3.0 m) of his small intestine. Ali dominated Williams, winning a third-round technical knockout in what some consider the finest performance of his career.
Ali fought Terrell in Houston on February 6, 1967. Terrell was billed as Ali's toughest opponent since Liston - unbeaten in five years and having defeated many of the boxers Ali had faced. Terrell was big, strong and had a three-inch reach advantage over Ali. During the lead up to the bout, Terrell repeatedly called Ali "Clay", much to Ali's annoyance (Ali called Cassius Clay his "slave name").
The two almost came to blows over the name issue in a pre-fight interview with Howard Cosell. Ali seemed intent on humiliating Terrell. "I want to torture him", he said. "A clean knockout is too good for him." The fight was close until the seventh round when Ali bloodied Terrell and almost knocked him out. In the eighth round, Ali taunted Terrell, hitting him with jabs and shouting between punches, "What's my name, Uncle Tom, what's my name?" Ali won a unanimous 15-round decision. Terrell claimed that early in the fight Ali deliberately thumbed him in the eye - forcing Terrell to fight half-blind - and then, in a clinch, rubbed the wounded eye against the ropes. Because of Ali's apparent intent to prolong the fight to inflict maximum punishment, critics described the bout as "one of the ugliest boxing fights". Tex Maule later wrote: "It was a wonderful demonstration of boxing skill and a barbarous display of cruelty." Ali denied the accusations of cruelty but, for Ali's critics, the fight provided more evidence of his arrogance.
After Ali's title defense against Zora Folley on March 22, he was stripped of his title due to his refusal to be drafted to army service. His boxing license was also suspended by the state of New York. He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20 and sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He paid a bond and remained free while the verdict was being appealed.
In March 1966, Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces. He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970 - from ages 25 to almost 29 - as his case worked its way through the appeals process before his conviction was overturned in 1971. During this time of inactivity, as opposition to the Vietnam War began to grow and Ali's stance gained sympathy, he spoke at colleges across the nation, criticizing the Vietnam War and advocating African American pride and racial justice.
On August 11, 1970, with his case still in appeal, Ali was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission, thanks to State Senator Leroy R. Johnson. Ali's first return bout was against Jerry Quarry on October 26, resulting in a win after three rounds after Quarry was cut.
A month earlier, a victory in federal court forced the New York State Boxing Commission to reinstate Ali's license. He fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December, an uninspired performance that ended in a dramatic technical knockout of Bonavena in the 15th round. The win left Ali as a top contender against heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.
Ali and Frazier's first fight, held at the Garden on March 8, 1971, was nicknamed the "Fight of the Century", due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim as heavyweight champions. Veteran boxing writer John Condon called it "the greatest event I've ever worked on in my life". The bout was broadcast to 35 foreign countries; promoters granted 760 press passes.
After the loss to Frazier, Ali fought Jerry Quarry, had a second bout with Floyd Patterson and faced Bob Foster in 1972, winning a total of six fights that year. In 1973, Ken Norton broke Ali's jaw while giving him the second loss of his career. After initially seeking retirement, Ali won a controversial decision against Norton in their second bout, leading to a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 1974, with Joe Frazier who had recently lost his title to George Foreman.
Ali was strong in the early rounds of the fight, and staggered Frazier in the second round. Referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell ending the round and stepped between the two fighters as Ali was pressing his attack, giving Frazier time to recover. However, Frazier came on in the middle rounds, snapping Ali's head in round seven and driving him to the ropes at the end of round eight. The last four rounds saw round-to-round shifts in momentum between the two fighters. Throughout most of the bout, however, Ali was able to circle away from Frazier's dangerous left hook and to tie Frazier up when he was cornered, the latter a tactic that Frazier's camp complained of bitterly. Judges awarded Ali a unanimous decision.
The defeat of Frazier set the stage for a title fight against heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974 - a bout nicknamed "The Rumble in the Jungle". Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. In assessing the fight, analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton - who had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them - had been both devastated by Foreman in second round knockouts. Ali was 32 years old, and had clearly lost speed and reflexes since his twenties. Contrary to his later persona, Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. Almost no one associated with the sport, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning.
Ali opened the fight moving and scoring with right crosses to Foreman's head. Then, beginning in the second round - and to the consternation of his corner - Ali retreated to the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him while covering up, clinching and counter-punching, all while verbally taunting Foreman. The move, which would later become known as the "Rope-A-Dope", so violated conventional boxing wisdom - letting one of the hardest hitters in boxing strike at will - that at ringside writer George Plimpton thought the fight had to be fixed. Foreman, increasingly angered, threw punches that were deflected and did not land squarely. Midway through the fight, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more frequently and effectively with punches and flurries, which electrified the pro-Ali crowd. In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at center ring; Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali had regained the title by knockout.
Ali's next opponents included Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, and Joe Bugner. Wepner, a journeyman known as "The Bayonne Bleeder", stunned Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round; Ali would later say he tripped on Wepner's foot. It was a bout that would inspire Sylvester Stallone to create the acclaimed film, Rocky.
Ali then agreed to a third match with Joe Frazier in Manila. The bout, known as the "Thrilla in Manila", was held on October 1, 1975, in temperatures approaching 100 °F (38 °C). In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the "rope-a-dope" strategy, frequently resorting to clinches. During this part of the bout Ali did some effective counter-punching, but for the most part absorbed punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier. In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali scored several sharp blows that closed Frazier's left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Frazier's vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds, at times conducting what boxing historian Mike Silver called "target practice" on Frazier's head. The fight was stopped when Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to answer the bell for the 15th and final round, despite Frazier's protests. Frazier's eyes were both swollen shut. Ali, in his corner, winner by TKO, slumped on his stool, clearly spent.
Ali fought Ken Norton for the third time at the Yankee Stadium in September 1976, which he won in a heavily contested decision, which was loudly booed by the audience. Afterwards, he announced he was retiring from boxing to practice his faith, having converted to Sunni Islam after falling out with the Nation of Islam the previous year.
After returning to beat Alfredo Evangelista in May 1977, Ali struggled in his next fight against Earnie Shavers that September, getting pummeled a few times by punches to the head. Ali won the fight by another unanimous decision, but the bout caused his longtime doctor Ferdie Pacheco to quit after he was rebuffed for telling Ali he should retire. Pacheco was quoted as saying, "the New York State Athletic Commission gave me a report that showed Ali's kidneys were falling apart. I wrote to Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, his wife and Ali himself. I got nothing back in response. That's when I decided enough is enough."
In February 1978, Ali faced Leon Spinks at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time, Spinks had only seven professional fights to his credit, and had recently fought a draw with journeyman Scott LeDoux. Ali sparred less than two dozen rounds in preparation for the fight, and was seriously out of shape by the opening bell. He lost the title by split decision. A rematch followed shortly thereafter in New Orleans, which broke attendance records. Ali won a unanimous decision in an uninspiring fight, making him the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times.
Following this win, on July 27, 1979, Ali announced his retirement from boxing. His retirement was short-lived, however; Ali announced his comeback to face Larry Holmes for the WBC belt in an attempt to win the heavyweight championship an unprecedented fourth time. The fight was largely motivated by Ali's need for money. Boxing writer Richie Giachetti said, "Larry didn't want to fight Ali. He knew Ali had nothing left; he knew it would be a horror."
It was around this time that Ali started struggling with vocal stutters and trembling hands. The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) ordered that he undergo a complete physical in Las Vegas before being allowed to fight again. Ali chose instead to check into the Mayo Clinic, who declared him fit to fight. Their opinion was accepted by the NAC on July 31, 1980, paving the way for Ali's return to the ring.
The fight took place on October 2, 1980, in Las Vegas Valley, with Holmes easily dominating Ali, who was weakened from thyroid medication he had taken to lose weight. Giachetti called the fight "awful ... the worst sports event I ever had to cover". Actor Sylvester Stallone at ringside said it was like watching an autopsy on a man who is still alive. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee finally stopped the fight in the eleventh round, the only fight Ali lost by knockout. The Holmes fight is said to have contributed to Ali's Parkinson's syndrome. Despite pleas to definitively retire, Ali fought one last time on December 11, 1981, in Nassau, Bahamas, against Trevor Berbick, losing a ten-round decision.
One of Ali's greatest tricks was to make opponents over-commit by pulling straight backward from punches. Disciplined, world-class boxers chased Ali and threw themselves off balance attempting to hit him because he seemed to be an open target, only missing and leaving themselves exposed to Ali's counter punches, usually a chopping right. Slow motion replays show that this was precisely the way Sonny Liston was hit and apparently knocked out by Ali in their second fight. Ali often flaunted his movement by dancing the "Ali Shuffle", a sort of center-ring jig. Ali's early style was so unusual that he was initially discounted because he reminded boxing writers of a lightweight, and it was assumed he would be vulnerable to big hitters like Sonny Liston.
Muhammad Ali defeated every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. Ali was named "Fighter of the Year" by Ring Magazine more times than any other fighter, and was involved in more Ring Magazine "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter. He was an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and held wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees. He was one of only three boxers to be named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released through CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
Saturday, June 18, 2016
X, Y, And Z - By Carroll Bryant
X, Y, AND Z - By Carroll Bryant
My heart lingers in a state of discontent
Watching all the suffering in the world
Over here we have people trying to make sense
Over there people are dying from another war
When will everything be about peace and harmony?
Why can't people stop already with all of their Goddamn hate?
Nobody said it was gonna be easy
In life you're always left to believe
Troubles come down hot and heavy
Bringing you to your knees
You're trying to put the pieces together
It's another job that you don't need
Time keeps dragging on forever
All the while you're searching for x, y, and z
Communication breaks down in heated misery
Communities fall apart from bigotry disease
Over here we have the hero's sitting in their government seats
Over there we have the victims happy in their poverty
When will anything be about the truth and honesty?
Why do people just pretend they care about humanity?
Nobody said it was gonna be easy
In life you're always left to believe
Troubles come down hot and heavy
Bringing you to your knees
You're trying to put the pieces together
It's another job that you don't need
Time keeps dragging on forever
All the while you're searching for x, y, and z
Reporters never ask the hard questions
Politicians always seem to have the easy answers
Everybody has a ton of suggestions
Adding to the problems obvious cancer
My heart lingers in a state of discontent
Watching all the suffering in the world
Over here we have people trying to make sense
Over there people are dying from another war
Nobody said it was gonna be easy
In life you're always left to believe
Troubles come down hot and heavy
Bringing you to your knees
You're trying to put the pieces together
It's another job that you don't need
Time keeps dragging on forever
All the while you're searching for x, y, and z
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Pirates: Jean Laffite
Jean Lafitte (c. 1780 – c. 1823) was a French-American pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name Laffite,
but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte". The latter
has become the common spelling in the United States, including for
places named for him.
Lafitte is believed to have been born either basque-france or the French colony of Saint-Domingue. By 1805, he operated a warehouse in New Orleans to help disperse the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte. After the United States government passed the Embargo Act of 1807, the Lafittes moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. By 1810, their new port was very successful; the Lafittes pursued a successful smuggling operation and also started to engage in piracy.
Though Lafitte warned the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base of operations, an American naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of Lafitte's fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon for the smugglers, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British in the final battle of the War of 1812.
The Lafittes became spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence and moved to Galveston Island, Texas, where they developed a pirate colony they called Campeche. Lafitte continued attacking merchant ships as a pirate around Central American ports until he died circa 1823, trying to capture Spanish vessels. Speculation about his life and death continues among historians.
A number of details about Jean Lafitte's early life remain obscure -
often they contradict each other. In one document, Lafitte claimed to
have been born in Bordeaux, France, in 1780. He and his brother Pierre alternately claimed to have been born in Bayonne, while other documents of the time place his birthplace as St. Malo or Brest.
Lafitte's biographer Jack C. Ramsay says, "this was a convenient time
to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the
enforcement of American law". Other contemporary accounts claim that Lafitte was born in Orduna, Spain or in Westchester, New York.
Ramsay speculates that Lafitte was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). In the late 18th century, adult children of the French planters in Saint-Domingue often resettled along the Mississippi River in La Louisiane, especially in its largest city of New Orleans. He has found families with the surname Lafitte in Louisiana documents dating as early as 1765. According to Ramsay, Lafitte, his elder brother Pierre, and his widowed mother migrated from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans in the 1780s. In approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry - a New Orleans merchant - and kept Jean with her. Pierre was raised by extended family elsewhere in Louisiana.
According to Ramsay, as a young man, Lafitte likely spent much time exploring the wetlands and bayou country south of New Orleans. In later years, he was described as having "a more accurate knowledge of every inlet from the Gulf than any other man". His elder brother Pierre became a privateer; he may have operated from Saint-Domingue, which frequently issued letters of marque. Lafitte likely helped his brother to sell or trade the captured merchandise. By 1805 he was thought to be running a warehouse in New Orleans and possibly a store on Royal Street.
The biographer William C. Davis reports a different childhood for Lafitte. According to his book, Lafitte was born in or near Pauillac,
France, the son of Pierre Lafitte and his second wife, Marguerite
Desteil. The couple had six children, including at least three
daughters. Jean Lafitte was likely born in 1782, although he was not
baptized until 1786. Pierre Lafitte had one other child, also named
Pierre, from his first marriage to Marie LaGrange, who died in
childbirth. The boys were given a basic Catholic education.
Acknowledging that details of Lafitte's first twenty years are sparse, Davis speculates that Lafitte spent much time at sea as a child, probably aboard ships owned by his father, a known trader. Davis places Lafitte's brother Pierre in Saint-Domingue in the late 1790s and the early 19th century. Due to escalating violence from the Haitian Revolution, in early 1803 Pierre boarded a refugee ship for New Orleans. By 1806, several "Captain Lafitte"s operated in New Orleans; Jean Lafitte was likely one of them.
On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain. Britain maintained a powerful navy, while the United States had little naval power. To supplement their navy, the United States offered letters of marque to private armed vessels. New Orleans issued six such letters, primarily to smugglers who worked with Lafitte at Barataria. The smugglers often held letters of marque from multiple countries, authorizing them to capture booty from differing nations. They submitted booty from captured British ships to the American authorities at New Orleans, while booty from all other ships was often channeled for sale on the markets through Lafitte's operation. As the smuggling operations reduced the amount of revenue collected by customs offices, American authorities were determined to halt Barataria's operations. Because the US Navy did not have enough ships to act against the Baratarian smugglers, the government turned to the courts. On November 10, 1812, the United States District Attorney John R. Grymes charged Lafitte with "violation of the revenue law". Three days later, 40 soldiers were sent to ambush the Baratarians; they captured Lafitte, his brother Pierre, and 25 unarmed smugglers on November 16, and confiscated several thousand dollars of contraband. Officials released the smugglers after they posted bond, and they disappeared, refusing to return for a trial.
Although under indictment, in March 1813 Lafitte registered as captain of Le Brig Goelette la Diligente for a supposed journey to New York. Biographer Jack Ramsay speculates that the voyage was intended to "establish Lafitte as a privateering captain". Lafitte soon acquired a letter of marque from Cartagena, but never sent any booty there. He brought all captured goods to Barataria.
Lafitte's continued flouting of the laws angered Governor Claiborne, who, on March 15, issued a proclamation against the Baratarian "banditti - who act in contravention of the laws of the United States - to the evident prejudice of the revenue of the federal government". The proclamation was printed in the nationally read Niles' Weekly Register.
In October, a revenue officer prepared an ambush of a band of Lafitte's smugglers. The smugglers wounded one of the officers and safely escaped with the contraband. The following month, the governor offered a $500 reward for Lafitte's capture. Within two days of his offer, handbills were posted all over New Orleans offering a similar award for the arrest of the governor. Although the handbills were made in Lafitte's name, Ramsay believes "it is unlikely [the handbills] originated with him". Following the reward offer, Lafitte wrote Claiborne a note denying the charges of piracy.
Given the success of his auctions at the Temple, in January 1814 Lafitte set up a similar auction at a site just outside New Orleans. Officials tried to break up this auction by force, and in the ensuing gunfight, one of the revenue officers was killed and two others were wounded. Many of the city's merchants were also unhappy with this auction, because it allowed their customers to buy goods directly from Lafitte at a lower price than the merchants could charge.
Claiborne appealed to the new state legislature, citing the lost revenues due to the smuggling. He requested approval to raise a militia company to "disperse those desperate men on Lake Barataria whose piracies have rendered our shores a terror to neutral flags". The legislature appointed a committee to study the matter but, as most of their constituents benefited by the smuggling, they never authorized the militia. A grand jury indicted Pierre Lafitte after hearing testimony against him by one of the city's leading merchants. Lafitte was arrested, tried, convicted and jailed on charges of "having knowingly and wittingly aided and assisted, procured, commanded, counseled, and advised" persons to commit acts of piracy".
The US ordered an attack on Lafitte's colony. On September 13, 1814 Commodore Daniel Patterson set sail aboard the USS Carolina for Barataria. He was accompanied by six gunboats and a tender.
The fleet anchored off Grande Terre and the gunboats attacked. By
mid-morning, 10 armed pirate ships formed a battle line in the bay.
Within a short period, Lafitte's men abandoned their ships, set several
on fire, and fled the area. When Patterson's men went ashore, they met
no resistance. They took 80 people captive, but Lafitte escaped safely.
The Americans took custody of six schooners, one felucca, and a brig, as well as 20 cannon and goods worth $500K.
Following the custom of the times, Patterson filed a legal claim for the profits from the confiscated ships and merchandise. An attorney representing Lafitte argued that the captured ships had flown the flag of Cartagena, an area at peace with the United States. One of Lafitte's men testified that the Baratarians had never intended to fight the US but had prepared their vessels to flee. The judge ruled that Patterson should get the customary share of profits from the goods that had already been sold, but he did not settle the ownership of the ships. They were held in port under custody of the United States marshal. Likely inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, Governor Claiborne wrote the US Attorney General, Richard Rush requesting a pardon for the Baratarians, saying that for generations, smugglers were "esteemed honest, and sympathy for these offenders is certainly more or less felt by many of the Louisianans". According to Ramsay, Claiborne next wrote to General Andrew Jackson, "implying Patterson had destroyed a potential first line of defense for Louisiana" by his capture of Lafitte and his ships. Jackson responded, "I ask you, Louisianans, can we place any confidence in the honor of men who have courted an alliance with pirates and robbers?".
In late 1815 and early 1816, the Lafitte brothers agreed to act as spies for Spain, which was embroiled in the Mexican War of Independence. Collectively they were known as "Number thirteen". Pierre was to inform about the situation in New Orleans, and Jean was sent to Galveston Island, a part of Spanish Texas that served as the home base of Louis-Michel Aury, a French privateer who claimed to be a Mexican revolutionary. By early 1817, other revolutionaries had begun to congregate at Galveston, hoping to make it their base to wrest Mexico from Spanish control. Lafitte visited in March 1817. Two weeks into his stay, the two leaders of the revolutionaries left the island.
The following day, Lafitte took command of the island and appointed his own officers. On April 18, he sailed for New Orleans to report his activities. With Spanish permission, Lafitte returned to Galveston, promising to make weekly reports of his activities.
Lafitte essentially developed Galveston Island as another smuggling base. Like Barataria, Galveston was a seaward island that protected a large inland bay. As part of Mexico, it was outside the authority of the United States, and was largely uninhabited, except by Native American Karankawa.
Lafitte named his colony Campeche, after a Mexican outpost further south along the Gulf Coast. His men tore down the existing houses and built 200 new, sturdier structures. Ships operating from Galveston flew the flag of Mexico, but they did not participate in the revolution. Lafitte wanted to avoid a Spanish invasion. Aury returned to Galveston several months later, but he left in July when he realized that the men were unwilling to revolt.
In less than a year, Lafitte's colony grew to 100–200 men and several women. Lafitte interviewed all newcomers and required them to take a loyalty oath to him. The headquarters was a two-story building facing the inland harbor, where landings were made. The building was surrounded by a moat and painted red; it became known as Maison Rouge. Lafitte conducted most business aboard his ship, The Pride, where he also lived. Lafitte created "letters of marque" from an imaginary nation to "authorize" all the ships sailing from Galveston as privateers. The letters gave the ships "permission" to attack ships from all nations.
In April 1818, the United States passed a law prohibiting the import of slaves into any port in the United States. The law left several loopholes, giving permission to any ship to capture a slave ship, regardless of the country of origin. Slaves captured in such actions who were turned over to the customs office would be sold within the United States, with half the profits going to the people who turned them in. Lafitte worked with several smugglers, including Jim Bowie, to profit from the poorly written law. Lafitte's men identified slave ships and captured them. Smugglers would purchase the slaves for a discounted price, march them to Louisiana, and turn them in to customs officials. A representative of the smuggler would purchase the slaves at the ensuing auction, and the smuggler would be given half of the purchase price. The smuggler became the lawful owner of the slaves and could resell them in New Orleans, or transport them for sale in other parts of the Deep South, which was the major market of the time.
In 1818, the colony suffered hardships. After Lafitte's men kidnapped a Karankawa woman, warriors of her tribe attacked and killed five men of the colony. The corsairs aimed the artillery at the Karankawa, killing most of the men in the tribe. A hurricane in September resulted in flooding of most of the island, in which several people died. It destroyed four ships and most buildings. Only six houses survived as habitable.
Around 1820, Lafitte reportedly married Madeline Regaud, possibly the
widow or daughter of a French colonist who had died during an ill-fated
expedition to Galveston. They had his only known son, Jean Pierre
Lafitte (d. 1832).
In 1821, the schooner USS Enterprise was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf. One of the pirate's captains had attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and on May 7, 1821 departed on The Pride. His men burned the Maison Rouge, fortress and settlement. He reportedly took immense amounts of treasure with him, and was accompanied by his mulatto mistress and an infant son. All that remains of Maison Rouge is the foundation, located at 1417 Harborside Drive near the Galveston wharf.
Most of his men had believed that Lafitte had a valid privateering commission, although there was confusion on which country had issued it. Two weeks after setting sail, they captured a Spanish ship, which they sent to Galveston, hoping the Longs would smuggle the goods to New Orleans. Lafitte's men buried some of the cargo on the island and ran the captured vessel aground, but an American patrol spotted the ship and after investigating, discovered the buried cargo. Several of Lafitte's men were arrested and convicted of piracy.
The remainder of the crew rejoined Lafitte, who finally acknowledged that he did not have a valid commission. He said his ships would sail as pirates. Almost half of the combined crew refused to sail as pirates; Lafitte allowed them to leave aboard his largest ship, the brig General Victoria. That night his remaining men reboarded the General Victoria and destroyed its masts and spars, crippling the ship, but they left the crew unharmed.
Over the next few months, Lafitte established a base along the coast of Cuba, where he bribed local officials with a share of the profits. In late April 1822, Lafitte was captured again after taking his first American ship. The American warship which captured him turned Lafitte over to the local authorities, who promptly released him. When Lafitte and other pirates operating in the area began attacking merchant ships carrying legal goods to Cuba, they angered Cuban officials. By the end of 1822, Cuba had banned all forms of sea raiding.
In June 1822, Lafitte approached the officials in Colombia, whose government had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in their new navy. Lafitte was granted a commission and given a new ship, a 40-ton schooner named General Santander. For the first time, Lafitte was legally authorized to take Spanish ships.
Lafitte continued to patrol the shipping lanes around Cuba. In November 1822, he made news in the American press after escorting an American schooner through the pirate-strewn area and providing them with extra cannonballs and food.
Davis writes that Lafitte's death prevented his becoming obsolete; by 1825 piracy had been essentially eradicated in the Gulf of Mexico, and "the new world of the Gulf simply had no room for his kind". Given his legendary reputation, there was much speculation about whether, or how, Lafitte had died. Rumors abounded: he changed his name after leaving Galveston and disappeared; he was killed by his own men shortly after leaving Galveston; or, he rescued Napoleon and they both died in Louisiana. In 1843, Mirabeau B. Lamar investigated many of the Lafitte stories and concluded that, while there were no authentic records of death, Lafitte was likely dead. By this time, Lafitte's only known son, Jean Pierre Lafitte, had died in October 1832 during a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans.
Ramsay compares the numerous legends related to the life and death of Lafitte to those about King Arthur and Robin Hood. Lafitte is rumored to have buried treasure at many locations, including Galveston and sites along coastal Louisiana, such as Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles. Ramsay believes that over time, almost "every foot of Grande Isle has been spaded for pirate gold". In 1909, a man was given a six-year prison sentence for fraud after swindling thousands of dollars from people, by claiming that he knew where the Lafitte treasure was buried and taking their money for the promise to find it.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released under CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
Lafitte is believed to have been born either basque-france or the French colony of Saint-Domingue. By 1805, he operated a warehouse in New Orleans to help disperse the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte. After the United States government passed the Embargo Act of 1807, the Lafittes moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. By 1810, their new port was very successful; the Lafittes pursued a successful smuggling operation and also started to engage in piracy.
Though Lafitte warned the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base of operations, an American naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of Lafitte's fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon for the smugglers, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British in the final battle of the War of 1812.
The Lafittes became spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence and moved to Galveston Island, Texas, where they developed a pirate colony they called Campeche. Lafitte continued attacking merchant ships as a pirate around Central American ports until he died circa 1823, trying to capture Spanish vessels. Speculation about his life and death continues among historians.
Ramsay speculates that Lafitte was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). In the late 18th century, adult children of the French planters in Saint-Domingue often resettled along the Mississippi River in La Louisiane, especially in its largest city of New Orleans. He has found families with the surname Lafitte in Louisiana documents dating as early as 1765. According to Ramsay, Lafitte, his elder brother Pierre, and his widowed mother migrated from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans in the 1780s. In approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry - a New Orleans merchant - and kept Jean with her. Pierre was raised by extended family elsewhere in Louisiana.
According to Ramsay, as a young man, Lafitte likely spent much time exploring the wetlands and bayou country south of New Orleans. In later years, he was described as having "a more accurate knowledge of every inlet from the Gulf than any other man". His elder brother Pierre became a privateer; he may have operated from Saint-Domingue, which frequently issued letters of marque. Lafitte likely helped his brother to sell or trade the captured merchandise. By 1805 he was thought to be running a warehouse in New Orleans and possibly a store on Royal Street.
Acknowledging that details of Lafitte's first twenty years are sparse, Davis speculates that Lafitte spent much time at sea as a child, probably aboard ships owned by his father, a known trader. Davis places Lafitte's brother Pierre in Saint-Domingue in the late 1790s and the early 19th century. Due to escalating violence from the Haitian Revolution, in early 1803 Pierre boarded a refugee ship for New Orleans. By 1806, several "Captain Lafitte"s operated in New Orleans; Jean Lafitte was likely one of them.
On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain. Britain maintained a powerful navy, while the United States had little naval power. To supplement their navy, the United States offered letters of marque to private armed vessels. New Orleans issued six such letters, primarily to smugglers who worked with Lafitte at Barataria. The smugglers often held letters of marque from multiple countries, authorizing them to capture booty from differing nations. They submitted booty from captured British ships to the American authorities at New Orleans, while booty from all other ships was often channeled for sale on the markets through Lafitte's operation. As the smuggling operations reduced the amount of revenue collected by customs offices, American authorities were determined to halt Barataria's operations. Because the US Navy did not have enough ships to act against the Baratarian smugglers, the government turned to the courts. On November 10, 1812, the United States District Attorney John R. Grymes charged Lafitte with "violation of the revenue law". Three days later, 40 soldiers were sent to ambush the Baratarians; they captured Lafitte, his brother Pierre, and 25 unarmed smugglers on November 16, and confiscated several thousand dollars of contraband. Officials released the smugglers after they posted bond, and they disappeared, refusing to return for a trial.
Lafitte's continued flouting of the laws angered Governor Claiborne, who, on March 15, issued a proclamation against the Baratarian "banditti - who act in contravention of the laws of the United States - to the evident prejudice of the revenue of the federal government". The proclamation was printed in the nationally read Niles' Weekly Register.
In October, a revenue officer prepared an ambush of a band of Lafitte's smugglers. The smugglers wounded one of the officers and safely escaped with the contraband. The following month, the governor offered a $500 reward for Lafitte's capture. Within two days of his offer, handbills were posted all over New Orleans offering a similar award for the arrest of the governor. Although the handbills were made in Lafitte's name, Ramsay believes "it is unlikely [the handbills] originated with him". Following the reward offer, Lafitte wrote Claiborne a note denying the charges of piracy.
Given the success of his auctions at the Temple, in January 1814 Lafitte set up a similar auction at a site just outside New Orleans. Officials tried to break up this auction by force, and in the ensuing gunfight, one of the revenue officers was killed and two others were wounded. Many of the city's merchants were also unhappy with this auction, because it allowed their customers to buy goods directly from Lafitte at a lower price than the merchants could charge.
Claiborne appealed to the new state legislature, citing the lost revenues due to the smuggling. He requested approval to raise a militia company to "disperse those desperate men on Lake Barataria whose piracies have rendered our shores a terror to neutral flags". The legislature appointed a committee to study the matter but, as most of their constituents benefited by the smuggling, they never authorized the militia. A grand jury indicted Pierre Lafitte after hearing testimony against him by one of the city's leading merchants. Lafitte was arrested, tried, convicted and jailed on charges of "having knowingly and wittingly aided and assisted, procured, commanded, counseled, and advised" persons to commit acts of piracy".
Following the custom of the times, Patterson filed a legal claim for the profits from the confiscated ships and merchandise. An attorney representing Lafitte argued that the captured ships had flown the flag of Cartagena, an area at peace with the United States. One of Lafitte's men testified that the Baratarians had never intended to fight the US but had prepared their vessels to flee. The judge ruled that Patterson should get the customary share of profits from the goods that had already been sold, but he did not settle the ownership of the ships. They were held in port under custody of the United States marshal. Likely inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, Governor Claiborne wrote the US Attorney General, Richard Rush requesting a pardon for the Baratarians, saying that for generations, smugglers were "esteemed honest, and sympathy for these offenders is certainly more or less felt by many of the Louisianans". According to Ramsay, Claiborne next wrote to General Andrew Jackson, "implying Patterson had destroyed a potential first line of defense for Louisiana" by his capture of Lafitte and his ships. Jackson responded, "I ask you, Louisianans, can we place any confidence in the honor of men who have courted an alliance with pirates and robbers?".
In late 1815 and early 1816, the Lafitte brothers agreed to act as spies for Spain, which was embroiled in the Mexican War of Independence. Collectively they were known as "Number thirteen". Pierre was to inform about the situation in New Orleans, and Jean was sent to Galveston Island, a part of Spanish Texas that served as the home base of Louis-Michel Aury, a French privateer who claimed to be a Mexican revolutionary. By early 1817, other revolutionaries had begun to congregate at Galveston, hoping to make it their base to wrest Mexico from Spanish control. Lafitte visited in March 1817. Two weeks into his stay, the two leaders of the revolutionaries left the island.
The following day, Lafitte took command of the island and appointed his own officers. On April 18, he sailed for New Orleans to report his activities. With Spanish permission, Lafitte returned to Galveston, promising to make weekly reports of his activities.
Lafitte essentially developed Galveston Island as another smuggling base. Like Barataria, Galveston was a seaward island that protected a large inland bay. As part of Mexico, it was outside the authority of the United States, and was largely uninhabited, except by Native American Karankawa.
Lafitte named his colony Campeche, after a Mexican outpost further south along the Gulf Coast. His men tore down the existing houses and built 200 new, sturdier structures. Ships operating from Galveston flew the flag of Mexico, but they did not participate in the revolution. Lafitte wanted to avoid a Spanish invasion. Aury returned to Galveston several months later, but he left in July when he realized that the men were unwilling to revolt.
In less than a year, Lafitte's colony grew to 100–200 men and several women. Lafitte interviewed all newcomers and required them to take a loyalty oath to him. The headquarters was a two-story building facing the inland harbor, where landings were made. The building was surrounded by a moat and painted red; it became known as Maison Rouge. Lafitte conducted most business aboard his ship, The Pride, where he also lived. Lafitte created "letters of marque" from an imaginary nation to "authorize" all the ships sailing from Galveston as privateers. The letters gave the ships "permission" to attack ships from all nations.
In April 1818, the United States passed a law prohibiting the import of slaves into any port in the United States. The law left several loopholes, giving permission to any ship to capture a slave ship, regardless of the country of origin. Slaves captured in such actions who were turned over to the customs office would be sold within the United States, with half the profits going to the people who turned them in. Lafitte worked with several smugglers, including Jim Bowie, to profit from the poorly written law. Lafitte's men identified slave ships and captured them. Smugglers would purchase the slaves for a discounted price, march them to Louisiana, and turn them in to customs officials. A representative of the smuggler would purchase the slaves at the ensuing auction, and the smuggler would be given half of the purchase price. The smuggler became the lawful owner of the slaves and could resell them in New Orleans, or transport them for sale in other parts of the Deep South, which was the major market of the time.
In 1818, the colony suffered hardships. After Lafitte's men kidnapped a Karankawa woman, warriors of her tribe attacked and killed five men of the colony. The corsairs aimed the artillery at the Karankawa, killing most of the men in the tribe. A hurricane in September resulted in flooding of most of the island, in which several people died. It destroyed four ships and most buildings. Only six houses survived as habitable.
In 1821, the schooner USS Enterprise was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf. One of the pirate's captains had attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and on May 7, 1821 departed on The Pride. His men burned the Maison Rouge, fortress and settlement. He reportedly took immense amounts of treasure with him, and was accompanied by his mulatto mistress and an infant son. All that remains of Maison Rouge is the foundation, located at 1417 Harborside Drive near the Galveston wharf.
Most of his men had believed that Lafitte had a valid privateering commission, although there was confusion on which country had issued it. Two weeks after setting sail, they captured a Spanish ship, which they sent to Galveston, hoping the Longs would smuggle the goods to New Orleans. Lafitte's men buried some of the cargo on the island and ran the captured vessel aground, but an American patrol spotted the ship and after investigating, discovered the buried cargo. Several of Lafitte's men were arrested and convicted of piracy.
The remainder of the crew rejoined Lafitte, who finally acknowledged that he did not have a valid commission. He said his ships would sail as pirates. Almost half of the combined crew refused to sail as pirates; Lafitte allowed them to leave aboard his largest ship, the brig General Victoria. That night his remaining men reboarded the General Victoria and destroyed its masts and spars, crippling the ship, but they left the crew unharmed.
Over the next few months, Lafitte established a base along the coast of Cuba, where he bribed local officials with a share of the profits. In late April 1822, Lafitte was captured again after taking his first American ship. The American warship which captured him turned Lafitte over to the local authorities, who promptly released him. When Lafitte and other pirates operating in the area began attacking merchant ships carrying legal goods to Cuba, they angered Cuban officials. By the end of 1822, Cuba had banned all forms of sea raiding.
In June 1822, Lafitte approached the officials in Colombia, whose government had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in their new navy. Lafitte was granted a commission and given a new ship, a 40-ton schooner named General Santander. For the first time, Lafitte was legally authorized to take Spanish ships.
Lafitte continued to patrol the shipping lanes around Cuba. In November 1822, he made news in the American press after escorting an American schooner through the pirate-strewn area and providing them with extra cannonballs and food.
Davis writes that Lafitte's death prevented his becoming obsolete; by 1825 piracy had been essentially eradicated in the Gulf of Mexico, and "the new world of the Gulf simply had no room for his kind". Given his legendary reputation, there was much speculation about whether, or how, Lafitte had died. Rumors abounded: he changed his name after leaving Galveston and disappeared; he was killed by his own men shortly after leaving Galveston; or, he rescued Napoleon and they both died in Louisiana. In 1843, Mirabeau B. Lamar investigated many of the Lafitte stories and concluded that, while there were no authentic records of death, Lafitte was likely dead. By this time, Lafitte's only known son, Jean Pierre Lafitte, had died in October 1832 during a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans.
Ramsay compares the numerous legends related to the life and death of Lafitte to those about King Arthur and Robin Hood. Lafitte is rumored to have buried treasure at many locations, including Galveston and sites along coastal Louisiana, such as Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles. Ramsay believes that over time, almost "every foot of Grande Isle has been spaded for pirate gold". In 1909, a man was given a six-year prison sentence for fraud after swindling thousands of dollars from people, by claiming that he knew where the Lafitte treasure was buried and taking their money for the promise to find it.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released under CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Nightclub Massacre: America In Distress
As I sit and watch the reports of the nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, I start to wonder why and how such a thing like this continues to occur in this country. Believe it or not, once upon a time, America was bad ass. Things like this never happened in this country before. Not to this magnitude. So how and why is it happening today? That is the question. The answer is right there in front of all of our faces. We just can't see it. Or can we? Maybe we see it but are too coward to do anything about it. Only when I listened to all those interviewed from this tragic event did the answer finally strike me in the head .... and in the heart.
This is all of our fault. America and Americans are to blame for these kinds of attacks in our country. We have brought this onto ourselves. In a way, we deserve these attacks because we are doing nothing to prevent them. Not one damn thing.
1) First off, I am looking at the lack of care we give to those who suffer from Mental Health Issues. Oh sure, we have 'Obamacare', and it costs out of the ass to pay for every month and the deductibles are outrageous, and we have to pay for things that we don't even need or use, but nowhere in it does it do a damn thing for "Mental Health Issues".
You see, I sometimes keep my handgun on the kitchen table. It lays there loaded. And while it sits on the table, it hurts no one. In my hands, it continues to hurt no one - unless I ever need to use it to protect people from a madman. Yet, if someone with mental health issues puts that gun in their hand, a school full of kids or a movie theater of people could end up getting shot and or dead.
We need to address mental health issues in this country and we need to do it fast. There are people out there who need counseling and they need to be on some kind of meds. And until we finally address this issue, and address it seriously, incidents like what happened in Orlando, Florida and other places across America will continue to occur.
2) We also are failing to destroy ISIS. (And other terrorists groups) And because our current POS president does not take a more serious approach to this issue. The lone wolf attacker(s) like the one in Orlando, Florida and the attackers in San Bernardino, California, will continue to happen, just like Donald Trump has predicted it would.
By not destroying ISIS and other terror groups, we allow them to recruit and encourage the sick minded to go on killing sprees. By wiping them out, we take much of, if not all of, that inspiring notion away. These lone wolf attacks would dwindle greatly with the destruction and total elimination of ISIS and other terrorist groups. But for some reason, our president chooses to do nothing except to refer to them as "JV Team".
My gun that sits on the kitchen table hurting no one would hurt many if it landed in the hands of a terrorist. Lucky for us that is not the case.
3) Border security is lacking in America. Anyone and their grandma can waltz right on in, bringing drugs and or weapons into this country. We are vetting nobody. Not even refugees. And on top of this, we are not deporting illegals either. We are not even deporting the illegals who are criminals! They can come into this country and kill as many Kate Steinle's as they want, and it seems that nobody gives a shit about it. Why is that?
And why am I the least bit surprised? Why would anyone be surprised for that matter? I mean, we can't even seem to do anything about all the gang crime in Chicago. Nor can we even stop the thuggish criminal protestors outside a Donald Trump rally. The cops almost don't even do anything to protect people from these horrible monsters. They stand by and watch them commit their crimes in broad daylight like their watching a reality TV show for Christ's sake. And hardly anyone is ever arrested.
This is stupid.
My gun continues to sit on the table hurting no one, but let an illegal immigrant or gangster put that gun in their hand and people would probably get hurt.
4) The worst part about all of this violence is, there are actually many places in America, and I'm talking towns, cities, and states that absolutely will not allow their law abiding citizens to protect themselves. Can you believe it?
Many millions of Americans are nothing more than sitting ducks for criminals to gun down, and lets face it, that gunman in Orlando, Florida had plenty of time to kill 50 people and wound 53 more because nobody in that crowd or nearby had a gun to protect themselves with.
You see, sometimes I walk around and or drive with my gun close by. I refuse to be anyone's victim. I aim to protect myself 100 percent. If anyone decides to go on a shooting spree with me around, they will get met with return fire. And I would gladly risk my life to save others if it ever got down to that. But I am protected and no politician will EVER take that away from me for as long as I am alive - that I can assure you.
So you see, when I look around and wonder why and how we have become targets, it doesn't take a genius to understand it is because America - for some strange reason - refuses to do the things it needs to do to protect themselves from these types of situations. And all of the things I have mentioned are the things we need to do to put an end to these mass shootings.
America and Americans have become - basically - one big pussy. One huge coward. That or we are all just a bunch of stupid idiots because we will not take the measures we need to take to end this violence. And honestly, I don't believe the democrats want the violence to stop. It appears to work right into their wheelhouse of abolishing the 2nd amendment of our constitution. And quite frankly, nothing could be more dangerous for Americans than to take the guns out of the hands of anymore law abiding citizens. We can't continue to be "sitting ducks".
We have to address these real issues if we want to put an end to these mass shootings. And it would also help if certain stupid people would stop making the claim that global warming is our number one threat. It isn't. Our number one threat in America is ISIS / lone wolf attackers, illegal immigrants, refugees that haven't been properly vetted, gangs, people with mental health issues, and unprotected law abiding citizens.
To be more honest, I am done mourning the loss of life from these mass shootings. I mean, if the politicians don't care, and the people themselves don't care, then why the hell should I care? I am only going to stay focused on protecting myself and the people around wherever I may go. But if Americans are not going to actually address the real problems then why should I mourn the death that comes about from these unsolved problems? I just can't drop another tear for the stupid and or the weak. I can't. I'm all dried up. I have no more sympathy left for those who refuse to protect themselves and allow the politicians to keep them from protecting themselves from all of these dangers - that if what I mentioned above got addressed, these incidents would stop occurring. But I don't expect too many of you to understand this. This kind of intellect may be more than many of you can handle. And this is why I can't feel for you anymore - you simply do not do anything to protect yourselves.
This is all of our fault. America and Americans are to blame for these kinds of attacks in our country. We have brought this onto ourselves. In a way, we deserve these attacks because we are doing nothing to prevent them. Not one damn thing.
1) First off, I am looking at the lack of care we give to those who suffer from Mental Health Issues. Oh sure, we have 'Obamacare', and it costs out of the ass to pay for every month and the deductibles are outrageous, and we have to pay for things that we don't even need or use, but nowhere in it does it do a damn thing for "Mental Health Issues".
You see, I sometimes keep my handgun on the kitchen table. It lays there loaded. And while it sits on the table, it hurts no one. In my hands, it continues to hurt no one - unless I ever need to use it to protect people from a madman. Yet, if someone with mental health issues puts that gun in their hand, a school full of kids or a movie theater of people could end up getting shot and or dead.
We need to address mental health issues in this country and we need to do it fast. There are people out there who need counseling and they need to be on some kind of meds. And until we finally address this issue, and address it seriously, incidents like what happened in Orlando, Florida and other places across America will continue to occur.
2) We also are failing to destroy ISIS. (And other terrorists groups) And because our current POS president does not take a more serious approach to this issue. The lone wolf attacker(s) like the one in Orlando, Florida and the attackers in San Bernardino, California, will continue to happen, just like Donald Trump has predicted it would.
By not destroying ISIS and other terror groups, we allow them to recruit and encourage the sick minded to go on killing sprees. By wiping them out, we take much of, if not all of, that inspiring notion away. These lone wolf attacks would dwindle greatly with the destruction and total elimination of ISIS and other terrorist groups. But for some reason, our president chooses to do nothing except to refer to them as "JV Team".
My gun that sits on the kitchen table hurting no one would hurt many if it landed in the hands of a terrorist. Lucky for us that is not the case.
3) Border security is lacking in America. Anyone and their grandma can waltz right on in, bringing drugs and or weapons into this country. We are vetting nobody. Not even refugees. And on top of this, we are not deporting illegals either. We are not even deporting the illegals who are criminals! They can come into this country and kill as many Kate Steinle's as they want, and it seems that nobody gives a shit about it. Why is that?
And why am I the least bit surprised? Why would anyone be surprised for that matter? I mean, we can't even seem to do anything about all the gang crime in Chicago. Nor can we even stop the thuggish criminal protestors outside a Donald Trump rally. The cops almost don't even do anything to protect people from these horrible monsters. They stand by and watch them commit their crimes in broad daylight like their watching a reality TV show for Christ's sake. And hardly anyone is ever arrested.
This is stupid.
My gun continues to sit on the table hurting no one, but let an illegal immigrant or gangster put that gun in their hand and people would probably get hurt.
4) The worst part about all of this violence is, there are actually many places in America, and I'm talking towns, cities, and states that absolutely will not allow their law abiding citizens to protect themselves. Can you believe it?
Many millions of Americans are nothing more than sitting ducks for criminals to gun down, and lets face it, that gunman in Orlando, Florida had plenty of time to kill 50 people and wound 53 more because nobody in that crowd or nearby had a gun to protect themselves with.
You see, sometimes I walk around and or drive with my gun close by. I refuse to be anyone's victim. I aim to protect myself 100 percent. If anyone decides to go on a shooting spree with me around, they will get met with return fire. And I would gladly risk my life to save others if it ever got down to that. But I am protected and no politician will EVER take that away from me for as long as I am alive - that I can assure you.
So you see, when I look around and wonder why and how we have become targets, it doesn't take a genius to understand it is because America - for some strange reason - refuses to do the things it needs to do to protect themselves from these types of situations. And all of the things I have mentioned are the things we need to do to put an end to these mass shootings.
America and Americans have become - basically - one big pussy. One huge coward. That or we are all just a bunch of stupid idiots because we will not take the measures we need to take to end this violence. And honestly, I don't believe the democrats want the violence to stop. It appears to work right into their wheelhouse of abolishing the 2nd amendment of our constitution. And quite frankly, nothing could be more dangerous for Americans than to take the guns out of the hands of anymore law abiding citizens. We can't continue to be "sitting ducks".
We have to address these real issues if we want to put an end to these mass shootings. And it would also help if certain stupid people would stop making the claim that global warming is our number one threat. It isn't. Our number one threat in America is ISIS / lone wolf attackers, illegal immigrants, refugees that haven't been properly vetted, gangs, people with mental health issues, and unprotected law abiding citizens.
To be more honest, I am done mourning the loss of life from these mass shootings. I mean, if the politicians don't care, and the people themselves don't care, then why the hell should I care? I am only going to stay focused on protecting myself and the people around wherever I may go. But if Americans are not going to actually address the real problems then why should I mourn the death that comes about from these unsolved problems? I just can't drop another tear for the stupid and or the weak. I can't. I'm all dried up. I have no more sympathy left for those who refuse to protect themselves and allow the politicians to keep them from protecting themselves from all of these dangers - that if what I mentioned above got addressed, these incidents would stop occurring. But I don't expect too many of you to understand this. This kind of intellect may be more than many of you can handle. And this is why I can't feel for you anymore - you simply do not do anything to protect yourselves.
And for the life of me, I can't figure out why.
It is not the gun that sits on my table that shoots and kills people, it
is only when that gun is in the hands of an evil mind will it hurt
anyone. A gun in my hand and or a law abiding citizens hand will protect
from these types of mass shootings. Taking guns away from law abiding citizens will only put more Americans in more danger.
Then again, maybe that's the ultimate goal of the democrats - to take away everyone's guns and make us all sitting ducks for the criminals, the terrorists, the illegal immigrants, and the mentally ill.
I got my protection. Do you?
Friday, June 10, 2016
A Sexual Paradise - By Carroll Bryant
A SEXUAL PARADISE - By Carroll Bryant
Here we stand
Somewhere on the precipice
Hand to hand
You and I living so deep in the love
They can see it in our eyes
The joy shows on our faces
A virtual sexual paradise
Taking us to so many places
Here we are
Riding high upon our wave
We find our star
Smiles and all the love we make
They can find it in our life
The laughter sings it well
A virtual sexual paradise
A story we can tell
And it's the life all around us
And all can see
What we have and what it really means
Together to be
Always you and me
And the world is our oyster
Let us believe
And it's the love all around us
The air that we breathe
What we want and everything we need
Forever the sea
Always you and me
And today is our tomorrow
Let us believe it
Let the wind blow it all away
We can always rebuild
It's our natural skill
Let the wind blow our minds
It's only time that gets left behind
The world will always be our sexual paradise
I can see it in your eyes
And it's the life all around us
And all can see
What we have and what it really means
Together to be
Always you and me
And the world is our oyster
Let us believe
And it's the love all around us
The air that we breathe
What we want and everything we need
Forever the sea
Always you and me
And today is our tomorrow
Let us believe it
Just let us believe
I can see it in your eyes
A virtual sexual paradise
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Video Break: Lovergirl By Teena Marie
Remember when I did video breaks? lol So we're having a flashback, sue me. This girl knew how to rock it. RIP Teena. I love this song.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Carroll Bryant Quote 06/05/2016
"Stupid sets in when intelligence overrides commonsense."
- Carroll Bryant
Flag Of Iraq
The flag of Iraq (Arabic: علم العراق) includes the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation flag.
This basic tricolor has been in use since 1963, with several changes to
the green symbols in the central white stripe; the most recent version
bears the takbīr rendered in green.
The first flag of modern Iraq was the Kingdom of Iraq, and was adopted in 1921. It was a black-white-green horizontal flag, with a red trapezoid (some variants have a triangle) extending from the mast side, inspired by the flag of the Arab Revolt. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the two principal peoples of the kingdom: the Arabs and the Kurds. The design also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq (originally from Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula), who had played a leading role in the Arab Revolt. As such, it was similar to the flags of Hashemite Jordan, and the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz. Prior to Iraqi independence in 1932, this flag was also used by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Today, it is used by pro-Hashemite monarchists in Iraq.
In 1958, in response to the merger of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic, the two Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan established the Arab Federation, a confederation of the two states. The flag of the union was essentially that of Jordan but without seven pointed star in the red chevron. This flag is identical to the flag of Palestine adopted in 1964, and almost identical to the flag of the Ba'ath Party. The union lasted less than six months, being terminated by the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in July.
Following the Revolution of 14 July 1958, led by Abdul Karim Qassim, which abolished the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq and turned the country into a republic, Iraq adopted a new flag (Law 102 of 1959) that consisted of a black-white-green vertical tricolour, with a red eight-pointed star with a yellow circle at its centre. The black, white, green, and red are the pan-Arab colours, representing pan-Arabism, while the yellow sun represented the Kurdish minority. In addition, the red star (of Ishtar) was used to represent Iraq's ancient heritage, as well as its minority Christian (the Chaldeans, Syriac, and Assyrian)
After Qassim was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party in 1963, the new Ba'athist government adopted a modified version of the Arab Liberation flag as the new flag of Iraq on 31 July 1963 (Law 28 of 1963). This horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black bands (first used in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952) formed the basis of the flag of the United Arab Republic (UAR). Though the UAR broke up in 1961, hopes for Arab unity persisted. As such, whereas the UAR flag had two green stars in the white band, signifying its two members (Egypt and Syria), the new Iraqi flag had three stars, symbolising the aspiration that Iraq would join with Egypt and Syria in a new union. Sharing this goal, Syria adopted the new Iraqi flag as its own later that same year. This remained the flag of Syria until 1971, when the green stars were replaced by the Hawk of Qureish.
The Iraqi Flag Law No. 28 of 1963 was replaced by Flag Law No. 33 of 1986, during the presidency of Saddam Hussein, in which although the flag remained the same, the meaning of the three stars was changed from their original geographic meaning to representations of the three tenets of the Ba'ath Party motto: wahda, hurriyah, ishtirakiyah (unity, freedom and socialism).
On 13 January 1991, the flag was modified by Flag Law No. 6 of 1991. At the instigation of Saddam Hussein, the takbīr (the phrase Allahu akbar, meaning "God is great" in Arabic) was added in green between the stars. The form of the takbīr was said to be Saddam's own handwriting. Many interpreted the addition of the sacred Islamic text as an attempt to garner wartime support from previously outlawed religious Iraqi leaders, to stop the disrespect of the Iraqi flag in Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, and to bolster the Iraqi government's Islamic credentials in the period immediately preceding the Persian Gulf War.
Due to these differing views, and the prevailing opposition to an outright abandonment of the current Iraqi flag, a compromise measure was adopted by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi interim administration in 2004. The basic form of the existing flag was retained; however, the takbīr was rendered in traditional stylized Kufic script, as opposed to the handwriting of Saddam Hussein.
On 22 January 2008, a new design for the flag was confirmed by Law 9 of 2008. In this current version, the three stars were removed. The parliament intended that the new design last for one year, after which a final decision on the flag would be made. However, the flag law was reviewed in parliament on 30 April 2009.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released under CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
The first flag of modern Iraq was the Kingdom of Iraq, and was adopted in 1921. It was a black-white-green horizontal flag, with a red trapezoid (some variants have a triangle) extending from the mast side, inspired by the flag of the Arab Revolt. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the two principal peoples of the kingdom: the Arabs and the Kurds. The design also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq (originally from Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula), who had played a leading role in the Arab Revolt. As such, it was similar to the flags of Hashemite Jordan, and the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz. Prior to Iraqi independence in 1932, this flag was also used by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Today, it is used by pro-Hashemite monarchists in Iraq.
In 1958, in response to the merger of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic, the two Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan established the Arab Federation, a confederation of the two states. The flag of the union was essentially that of Jordan but without seven pointed star in the red chevron. This flag is identical to the flag of Palestine adopted in 1964, and almost identical to the flag of the Ba'ath Party. The union lasted less than six months, being terminated by the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in July.
Following the Revolution of 14 July 1958, led by Abdul Karim Qassim, which abolished the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq and turned the country into a republic, Iraq adopted a new flag (Law 102 of 1959) that consisted of a black-white-green vertical tricolour, with a red eight-pointed star with a yellow circle at its centre. The black, white, green, and red are the pan-Arab colours, representing pan-Arabism, while the yellow sun represented the Kurdish minority. In addition, the red star (of Ishtar) was used to represent Iraq's ancient heritage, as well as its minority Christian (the Chaldeans, Syriac, and Assyrian)
After Qassim was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party in 1963, the new Ba'athist government adopted a modified version of the Arab Liberation flag as the new flag of Iraq on 31 July 1963 (Law 28 of 1963). This horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black bands (first used in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952) formed the basis of the flag of the United Arab Republic (UAR). Though the UAR broke up in 1961, hopes for Arab unity persisted. As such, whereas the UAR flag had two green stars in the white band, signifying its two members (Egypt and Syria), the new Iraqi flag had three stars, symbolising the aspiration that Iraq would join with Egypt and Syria in a new union. Sharing this goal, Syria adopted the new Iraqi flag as its own later that same year. This remained the flag of Syria until 1971, when the green stars were replaced by the Hawk of Qureish.
The Iraqi Flag Law No. 28 of 1963 was replaced by Flag Law No. 33 of 1986, during the presidency of Saddam Hussein, in which although the flag remained the same, the meaning of the three stars was changed from their original geographic meaning to representations of the three tenets of the Ba'ath Party motto: wahda, hurriyah, ishtirakiyah (unity, freedom and socialism).
On 13 January 1991, the flag was modified by Flag Law No. 6 of 1991. At the instigation of Saddam Hussein, the takbīr (the phrase Allahu akbar, meaning "God is great" in Arabic) was added in green between the stars. The form of the takbīr was said to be Saddam's own handwriting. Many interpreted the addition of the sacred Islamic text as an attempt to garner wartime support from previously outlawed religious Iraqi leaders, to stop the disrespect of the Iraqi flag in Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, and to bolster the Iraqi government's Islamic credentials in the period immediately preceding the Persian Gulf War.
Due to these differing views, and the prevailing opposition to an outright abandonment of the current Iraqi flag, a compromise measure was adopted by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi interim administration in 2004. The basic form of the existing flag was retained; however, the takbīr was rendered in traditional stylized Kufic script, as opposed to the handwriting of Saddam Hussein.
On 22 January 2008, a new design for the flag was confirmed by Law 9 of 2008. In this current version, the three stars were removed. The parliament intended that the new design last for one year, after which a final decision on the flag would be made. However, the flag law was reviewed in parliament on 30 April 2009.
Source: Wikipedia
This work released under CC 3.0 BY-SA: Creative Commons
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)