Born on this day in 1934 - Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente, in full Roberto Clemente Walker, (born August 18, 1934, Carolina, Puerto Rico—died December 31, 1972, San Juan), professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States.

While Clemente amassed a mountain of impressive statistics during his career, he was often mocked by the print media in the United States for his heavy Spanish accent. Clemente was also subjected to the double discrimination of being a foreigner and being black in a racially segregated society. Although the media tried to call him “Bob” or “Bobby” and many of his baseball cards use “Bob,” Clemente explicitly rejected those nicknames, stating in no uncertain terms that his name was Roberto. There was also confusion over the correct form of his surname. For 27 years the plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame read “Roberto Walker Clemente,” mistakenly placing his mother’s maiden name before his father’s surname. Only in 2000 was it changed to its proper Latin American form, Roberto Clemente Walker.

Perhaps equally as important as Clemente’s accomplishments on the field was his role as an advocate for equitable treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride. Near the end of his career, Clemente commented, “My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and blacks.” A close friend of Clemente’s, Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, added, “Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out.”

Clemente was an All-Star for twelve seasons, playing in fifteen All-Star Games. He was the NL Most Valuable Player in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for twelve consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for thirteen seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also played in two World Series championships. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to help win a World Series as a starter (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roberto-Clemente
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente

The Un-Celebrity President

A very nice portrait of Jimmy Carter these days.

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When Carter looks back at his presidency, he says he is most proud of “keeping the peace and supporting human rights,” the Camp David accords that brokered peace between Israel and Egypt, and his work to normalize relations with China. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

“I always told the truth,” he says.

Carter has been notably quiet about President Trump. But on this night, two years into Trump’s term, he’s not holding back.

“I think he’s a disaster,” Carter says. “In human rights and taking care of people and treating people equal.”

“The worst is that he is not telling the truth, and that just hurts everything,” Rosalynn says.

Carter says his father taught him that truthfulness matters. He said that was reinforced at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he said students are expelled for telling even the smallest lie.

“I think there’s been an attitude of ignorance toward the truth by President Trump,” he says.

Carter says he thinks the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has “changed our political system from a democracy to an oligarchy. Money is now preeminent. I mean, it’s just gone to hell now.”

More:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/08/17/feature/the-un-celebrity-president-jimmy-carter-shuns-riches-lives-modestly-in-his-georgia-hometown/?utm_term=.4983c9032a5a

Aw, shucks!

Instead of a costly parade to puff up Trump's insatiable ego ....

I would like to see a group of prominent Democrats speak up about the heinous waste of money ($92 million ) that Dumpy's parade is costing ..... and propose that, instead of a parade, why don't we honor our military by using that same amount of money to increase their pay and take better care of our sick and homeless veterans?

Will even ONE Republican

stand up and say "$92 million for a military parade is a colossal waste of taxpayer money and not what we are about"?

I'm not holding my breath.

This really pisses me off! Whatever happened to repairing infrastructure, health care for everyone, and education funding!

49 years ago today Woodstock began

In August 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Over half a million people came to a 600-acre farm to hear 32 acts (leading and emerging performers of the time) play over the course of four days (August 15-18). Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were among the line-up. Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time and –perhaps- the most pivotal moment in music history.

Joni Mitchell said, “Woodstock was a spark of beauty” where half-a-million kids “saw that they were part of a greater organism.” According to Michael Lang, one of four young men who formed Woodstock Ventures to produce the festival, “That’s what means the most to me – the connection to one another felt by all of us who worked on the festival, all those who came to it, and the millions who couldn’t be there but were touched by it.”

By Wednesday, August 13, some 60,000 people had already arrived and set up camp. On Friday, the roads were so clogged with cars that performing artists had to arrive by helicopter. Though over 100,000 tickets were sold prior to the festival weekend, they became unnecessary as swarms of people descended on the concert grounds to take part in this historic and peaceful happening. Four days of music… half a million people… rain, and the rest is history.

Here is a set list of the performers

https://www.woodstock.com/lineup/

Half a million people -- 3 days -- the greatest music festival ever held

August 14, 1966 -- the Beatles in Cleveland

An article from 2016.

Attendance was 24,000.

"But with tickets selling for $3 to $5.50, WIXY dreamed of attendance hitting 70,000, notes author Deanna Adams, whose books include the history "Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection." Promoters considered the concert a "dismal failure."

One reason was the U.S. publication, only days earlier, of an interview with John Lennon that originally appeared five months earlier in the London Evening Standard, without much notice. Interviewer Maureen Cleave wrote that Lennon was "reading extensively about religion," and quoted him saying: "We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first -- rock 'n' roll or Christianity."

Lennon's comment in context was an observation about religion losing its connection with youth. It was taken, especially in the South, as an anti-Christian boast, and it led to the banning and burning of Beatles records and memorabilia. The fierce reaction threatened to stop the tour.

"I'm sure it was because of the parents, not so much the kids," Adams said. "As kids, I think we were smart enough to understand what Lennon was saying." But concert attendance was affected because, in many cases, "the parents dropped off the kids and picked them up afterward."

The Hough riots, three weeks earlier, also left some leery of going downtown. A wet and chilly night didn't add to the appeal.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/remembering_the_beatles_1966_cleveland_show_50_years_on.html

August 14, 1966 -- the Beatles in Cleveland

An article from 2016.

Attendance was 24,000.

"But with tickets selling for $3 to $5.50, WIXY dreamed of attendance hitting 70,000, notes author Deanna Adams, whose books include the history "Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection." Promoters considered the concert a "dismal failure."

One reason was the U.S. publication, only days earlier, of an interview with John Lennon that originally appeared five months earlier in the London Evening Standard, without much notice. Interviewer Maureen Cleave wrote that Lennon was "reading extensively about religion," and quoted him saying: "We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first -- rock 'n' roll or Christianity."

Lennon's comment in context was an observation about religion losing its connection with youth. It was taken, especially in the South, as an anti-Christian boast, and it led to the banning and burning of Beatles records and memorabilia. The fierce reaction threatened to stop the tour.

"I'm sure it was because of the parents, not so much the kids," Adams said. "As kids, I think we were smart enough to understand what Lennon was saying." But concert attendance was affected because, in many cases, "the parents dropped off the kids and picked them up afterward."

The Hough riots, three weeks earlier, also left some leery of going downtown. A wet and chilly night didn't add to the appeal.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/remembering_the_beatles_1966_cleveland_show_50_years_on.html

Life's Little Pleasures

I got a new computer chair! And this one has arms! And the back is padded!

It's nothing special, it was on sale at Staples. But woo hoo! It's so comfortable!

I'm lovin' it!

How Russian Trolls Tried to Influence Ohioans using Twitter

Cross posted in Ohio group. From the Columbus Dispatch.

This is disgusting and infuriating. Wait till you read these headlines. And this complete BS was believed by many!

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Ohio is roughly tied with fellow swing-state Florida for fourth place in the number of mentions by Twitter handles associated with Russia’s Internet Research Agency.

Although Twitter deleted those accounts, a full array of those tweets is now visible to the public for the first time.

The nonprofit news statistics site FiveThirtyEight obtained 2,973,371 tweets from 2,848 Twitter handles associated with Russia’s Internet Research Agency from June 19, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2017. The data were dug up by Clemson University Professors Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren. Using advanced social-media tracking software, the professors extracted the tweets from thousands of accounts that Twitter connected to the Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg. (“Troll” accounts are operated by humans, as opposed to “bots” accounts run by computer.)

FiveThirtyEight downloaded them to a GitHub site, from which The Dispatch downloaded the 6,669 tweets containing “Ohio” to see how the Russian government attempted to influence the state, which is typically a presidential bellwether.

Ohio is roughly tied with fellow swing-state Florida for fourth place in the number of mentions.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that Ohio is No. 4,” Linvill said. “If anything, I would have guessed you would be a little higher.”

More:

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180811/heres-how-russian-trolls-tried-to-influence-ohioans-using-twitter