On This Day...

[Medron Pryde]

BattleTech On This Day - July 26, 2373 - The First and Second St. Ives Lancers entered service concurrently.  Those two regiments are still the symbol of the St. Ives military seven centuries later, with many leaders of St. Ives having commanded them.

[Medron Pryde]

July 27, 1953 - The United Nations signed a cease fire with North Korea, ending hostilities in the Korean peninsula.  South Korea never signed the cease fire, as they do not recognize the existence of North Korea as anything other than a collection of militant terrorists.  North Korea announced that it considers the cease fire ended on May 27, 2009.  Since the cease fire was signed, North Koreans have crossed the DMZ to capture South Korean soldiers, and recently they torpedoed a South Korean ship.

[Medron Pryde]

BattleTech On This Day - July 27, 3036 - Alexander Carlyle, son of Grayson Death Carlyle, was born.  Heir to command of the fabled Grey Death Legion, he currently serves in the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces while seeking a way to rebuild the shattered command.

[Medron Pryde]

28 July, 1868 - The 14th Amendment was certified by Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Sr..  It is most known for declaring that all children born here are United States citizens.  This has since been used to great effect by illegal aliens who come across the border to have an anchor baby.

It is less well known for the following reasons:
1) All children born in the United States "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" are citizens of the United States.  This includes the former slaves of the South.  It does NOT include Indians, who have their own jurisdictions.  It also does not include illegal aliens, who are subject to the jurisdiction of their country of origin.
2) The Constitutional penalty levied on any State the allowed slavery was lifted, counting ALL people as 1 person for purposes of congressional seating, rather than the original penalty on Slave states that heavily reduced their representation in the US Congress.
3) Rebels who held any governmental office or were part of the military before the Civil War, were not allowed to once again hold any governmental office AFTER the Civil War.
4) The United States, and no individual State, would assume or pay any debt incurred by the Confederate States during the war.  AKA, foreign governments and companies that loaned money to the losers are out of luck and will not be repaid by the winners.

[Medron Pryde]

29 July, 1582 - After sending fireships to break up the Spanish Armada anchored at Gravelines in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands, the English swept in and attacked.  Moving quickly, the English refused to be caught in hand to hand boarding actions, and expended all of their ammunition before retreating in good order from the foundered Spanish Armada.  They destroyed ten percent of the Spanish warships and badly damaged several other ships.

[Medron Pryde]

BattleTech On This Day - 29 July, 3073 - A Word of Blake force on Fomalhaut successfully "trapped" the Wolf's Dragoons' Black Widow Company.  They then learned that a trap capable of catching the Widows is not necessarily strong enough to KEEP them caught.  It was a painful lesson. 

[Schismtp]

August 1, 2007-  The Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed during rush hour (and shortly before that night's Twins game nearby) killing 13 and injuring 145.  NTSB cause findings were that the collapse was caused by design flaws but many blame the lack of inspections that failed to locate this flaw.

[Medron Pryde]

Seyla

[Medron Pryde]

August 1, 1874 - Charles Clinton Spaulding born in Columbus County, North Carolina.  August 1, 1952 - Charles Clinton Spaulding died in Durham, North Carolina.  Spaulding started out as a dishwasher and became a businessman who founded one of the largest companies of its time, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

He was a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, a trustee of Harvard University, Shaw University, and North Carolina University.  He was national chairman of the Urban League's Emergency Advisory Council from 1930 to 1939.  He was awarded the Harmon Foundation Gold Medal for distinguished achievement in business.  Shaw University, Tuskegee Institute and Atlanta University conferred honorary Doctorates of Law on him.

He lived through an era when colored men fought side by side with the white man in the Spanish American war.  He saw colored men removed from the government in 1917.  He saw the military once again become desegregated in 1948.

These are the things he saw, these are the things he did.  Why is all of this important?  Because HE was a colored man, HE was what we now call African-American.  He was a black man.

He took life in his hands and he made a success of that life.  So, in the end, he was simply that most important of things.  He was an ambitious AMERICAN, and he took his opportunities and he did everything our nation allows a person of vision to do.  He excelled.  In North Carolina.  Imagine what we can do today.

[Medron Pryde]

BattleTech On This Day - August 1, 3062 - In response to a raid by forces in Fifteenth Dieron Regulars colors, the First Skye Jaegers attacked the Fifteenth's base on Ko in the Draconis-occupied Lyons Thumb.  They hid their true numbers by flying their DropShips in such close formation that they looked like one ship until they split up at the last minute and deployed their BattleMechs.  They fought well and inflicted grievous damage on the Fifteenth.  In response for the "unwarranted assault," the Draconis Combine formally annexed the Lyons Thumb.  To this day, we do not know who raided the First Skye Jaegers, but all evidence suggests it was NOT actually the Fifteenth.

[Medron Pryde]

August 2, 1776 - Many historians say that the Declaration of Independence was signed on this day.  The Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2.  On the 4th of July, they approved the Declaration of Independence, and distributed it to the Colonies.  The original that was copied was destroyed, either at that time or later.  Based on a note from the secret Congressional histories, it is probable that many of the Representatives signed a new copy on August 2.

It is certain that, based on the first 200 copies distributed to the Colonies, at least some of the Congress did sign the Declaration on July 4.  However, as that original handwritten Declaration is lost, we will never know exactly who did.  The typeset copies of it that were sent say that it was signed by President John Hancock "by order and in behalf of the Congress," and it has the name of the Congressional Secretary and the typesetter/printer on it.  At the top it said "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled."

The secret congressional histories for July 19 say that another the Declaration should again be "engrossed on parchment" with a new title and that it would then be signed by every member of Congress.  Those histories then say that on August 2, the Declaration was engrossed and compared and signed by the members.  It was titled at the top "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America."

We still have this copy on display.  This copy has signatures from people who were not members of Congress on July 4.  It also has signatures of members who had not yet arrived in town on August 2, so it is probable that some continued to sign it after August 2, until all members of the Congress had signed it.

[Medron Pryde]

BattleTech On This Day - August 2, 3029 - Theodore Kurita is given a warning by the nekogami after he claimed they worked for him.  One of their agents slipped into his secured bedroom, with him in, and deposited a mask on his bed, in plain sight, without being seen by him.  He was understandably nervous after that.