"Blazing Saddles" on This Day in History

 
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This day in history: Mel Brooks' classic movie "Blazing Saddles" opened in movie theaters on this day in 1974. Blazing Saddles is one of the movies from the past that could not be made today, thanks to its "very particular kind of vulgarity and offensiveness. It is incredibly, hedonistically, politically incorrect vulgarity and offensiveness. Plenty of modern films have included some amount of political incorrectness, but Blazing Saddles leaves them all in the dust in it’s glorious disregard for PC culture." Source

Mel Brooks opined about today's woke culture: "we have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy. It's okay not to hurt feelings of various tribes and groups. However, it's not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering into the king's ear, always telling the truth about human behavior."

Ironically, despite efforts to cancel Blazing Saddles, it is also one the most anti-white movies ever made.

Other movies that could not be made today are: 

"Not Without My Daughter" (would be considered Islamophobic)...the same thing True Lies.

Animal House (See https://www.billoreilly.com/b/Animal-House-Couldnt-be-Made-Today/-53125741398281390.html)

Gone With The Wind and Song of the South and The Birth of a Nation (Gone With The Wind was inexplicably banned in the Soviet Union)

Tropic Thunder (or any movie with white characters in Black Face...like Soul Man and Trading Places)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Indians would be too offended)

The Godfather ("The Italian-American Civil Rights League (which was supposedly run by the Mafia) mounted protests throughout New York City claiming the film was an insult against the Italian-American community.") Source

Pretty Woman and Sixteen Candles (Source)

Big (starring Tom Hanks). Source

The Jerk (1979) “I was born a poor black child” 

Woody Allen's Manhattan (or any other movie featuring under-age sex, such as Lolita)

Also, add Airplane! (1980), Caddyshack (1980), Porky’s (1981), Stripes (1981), 48 Hrs. (1982), Partners (1982), Tootsie (1982), The Toy (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), Gremlins (1984), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Sixteen Candles (1984), Teen Wolf (1985) etc. Source 

Eva Braun on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Eva Braun was born on this day in 1912. Braun was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and later the wife of Adolf Hitler. She was by his side to the end when she bit down on a cyanide capsule in the Fuhrer bunker in April of 1945. 

Or did she? Some believe that Hitler and Braun escape to Argentina? 

"It is common knowledge that Argentina was a safe haven for many Nazis after World War II. President Juan Peron was a Nazi sympathizer with close ties to other European dictators such as Mussolini, and he arranged safe passage for many high-ranking officials to come to South America in the years following the war." Source

"No one believed the Russians' story of Hitler's suicide in the bunker...As early as the summer of 1945, there were headlines asking, ‘Where is Hitler?' all over the world...The more you look into it, the less credible the official version becomes, and the more plausible an alternative theory seems." ~Pablo Weschler

"Exactly when, where, and how Hitler died, however, remains a mystery. We suspect from his reported weekly telephone calls to Ida Eichhorn that he was still alive in Mendoza in late 1964. Since the FBI closed its file on Hitler in 1970, it is likely that Hitler died somewhere in South America sometime between late 1964 and 1970. And what became of Eva Braun, who had accompanied him to South America? She was 23 years Hitler’s junior and was rumored to be living in the swanky Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires as late as the 1990’s...There is reason to suspect that Hitler had children. There have been rumors that Hitler left behind a son who eventually did advanced studies of some sort under an assumed name in Switzerland and today lives in the South American nation of Brazil. A law firm in Buenos Aires told Abel Basti on condition of anonymity claims that it is acquainted with and knows the whereabouts of a daughter of Hitler. Around 1985, a woman claiming to be a daughter of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun visited a non-governmental charitable organization in Argentina known as the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS)." ~Did Hitler Escape to South America? By Christopher Condon

See also Hitler Escaped to Argentina & Died Old: Pictures of Him After the War, FBI Documents, DNA Analysis of Skull & Pictures of His House

Revealed: Hitler in Argentina

 

Joe Rogan in Nazis in Argentina

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The Suicide Death of a Spiritualist on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Thomas Lynn Bradford of Detroit, Michigan was a spiritualist who committed suicide on this day in 1921 in an attempt to confirm the existence of an afterlife and communicate that information to a living accomplice, Ruth Doran.

Some weeks earlier, Bradford had sought a fellow spiritualist in a newspaper advertisement and Doran responded. The two agreed "that there was but one way to solve the mystery—two minds properly attuned, one of which must shed its earthly mantle". The New York Times ran a follow-up under the headline "Dead Spiritualist Silent".

Bradford's body was found a day later inside a small rented room in a boarding house at 2500 Howard Street in Detroit. The gas had been turned on, suffocating the life out of the forty-eight year old man. Dropped from the hand of the lifeless Bradford were several typewritten pages, the first bearing the title: "Can the Dead Communicate With the Living?"

Ruth Doran claimed that Bradford had indeed reached out to her from beyond and became a minor celebrity as a result.

"The evidence seems to suggest that Mrs. Ruth Starkweather Doran, who once distanced herself from Bradford and denied belief in the occult, gradually embraced her newfound fame and publicity and used it to her financial advantage. In subsequent interviews, Doran often contradicted herself, sometimes claiming that she first met Bradford at his apartment, and other times claiming that he had first visited Doran at her home. Sometimes she claimed to have only met him once, other times she claimed to have met him several times. Sometimes she claimed to have been a skeptic in the occult, other times she claimed to have been a devout and lifelong student of the metaphysical. Sometimes she described Bradford and being pompous and arrogant, and other times she spoke of him as a dear friend. These inaccuracies, along with a national decline in the spirituality trend, eventually resulted in Doran's fading into obscurity." Source

Thomas Bradford died because he was was totally committed to his belief. 

An ancient Greek lawyer named Charondas committed suicide because of a law that he issued that he was totally faithful to. 

Charondas announced a law that anyone who brought weapons into the Assembly must be put to death. One day, he arrived at the Assembly seeking help to defeat some brigands in the countryside but with a knife still attached to his belt. In order to uphold his own law, he committed suicide.

See also The Mysteries of Death - 250 Books on DVDrom and Spiritualism and the Cult of the Dead - 120 Books on DVDrom (Spiritism)

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The First Parachute Death on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Franz Reichelt died on this day in 1912. Reichelt was a tailor and inventor who leaped from the Eiffel Tower and fell to his death wearing a parachute made from cloth of his own invention. He was asked by friends and authorities to use a dummy for the feat, but declined saying "I intend to prove the worth of my invention". Reichelt came to be known as the Flying Tailor.

Others have died as well in the past while testing their aerial inventions. Over 1000 years ago a Kazakh Turkic scholar from Farab named Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari died while trying to fly using two wooden wings and a rope. He leapt from the roof of a mosque in Nishapur and fell to his death.

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier was the first known fatality in an air crash when his Rozière balloon crashed on 15 June 1785 while he and Pierre Romain attempted to cross the English Channel.

Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) died the day after crashing one of his hang gliders.

Aurel Vlaicu (1882–1913) died when his self-constructed airplane, Vlaicu II, failed during an attempt to cross the Carpathian Mountains.

Henry Smolinski (died 1973) was killed during a test flight of the AVE Mizar, a flying car based on the Ford Pinto and the sole product of the company he founded.

Michael Dacre (died 2009, age 53) died after a crash that occurred while testing his flying taxi device designed to permit fast, affordable travel between regional cities.

Sheikh Ismail (died 2021, age 24) died when his self-constructed, low-cost helicopter failed during its initial flight test. The tail rotor malfunctioned, hit the main rotor which subsequently hit Sheikh in the head.

Also on this day in history (February 4 1982): David Grundman, while shooting at a cactus with his shotgun near Lake Pleasant Regional Park, Arizona, was crushed when a 4-foot limb detached and fell on him.

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The First Paper Money on This Day in History

 

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This day in history: The colony of Massachusetts issued the first paper money in the Americas on this day in 1690. "Apart from medieval China, which invented both paper and printing centuries before the West, the world had never seen government paper money until the colonial government of Massachusetts emitted a fiat paper issue in 1690." Murray Rothbard

"Prior to this, settlers in America used silver coins. In 1652, the Massachusetts Bay Colony began minting their own coins, even though it was against British law. The British eventually shut down this mint, leaving few of these coins in circulation. Then in 1689, the British wanted their American settlers to fight the French in Canada. However, they rarely sent money to the colonies, so there wasn’t any money to pay the soldiers with. The British government then came up with a new idea – to issue certificates instead of coins. Each piece of paper represented the value of coin and could be redeemed at a later time for 'real money.'" Source

However, the temptation to inflate this currency was too great to bear. "As early as February 1691, the Massachusetts government proclaimed that its issue had fallen 'far short' and so it proceeded to emit £40,000 of new money to repay all of its outstanding debt, again pledging falsely that this would be the absolute final note issue." Murray Rothbard

More money printing ensued, and after more than 20 years, prices rose so dramatically that the tide of opinion in Massachusetts began to turn against paper money, and that the result of it was a doubling of prices.

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress issued new paper money known as Continentals. However, the value of this currency depreciated so dramatically that it lead to the phrase, “not worth a continental.” 

Paper (fiat) money always fails. "Fiat money is inflationary. Its buying power dwindles over time, and history has shown that this entropy is almost as irreversible as gravity. Fiat money enriches a select few at the expense of many others. The first to get new money benefit to the detriment of latecomers. What's more, fiat money fosters speculative bubbles and capital misallocations that culminate in crises. This is why economies boom and bust. Fiat money lures states, banks, consumers and firms into the pitfall trap of excessive debt. Sooner or later borrowers find themselves in a deep hole with no way out. Fiat money is easy to come by so the state can finance its adventures and misadventures. Easy money; easy come, easy go. And the government keeps growing as it keeps spending." Source

See also The History & Mystery of Money & Economics-250 Books on DVDrom

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Groundhog Day on This Day in History

 

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This day in history: Today is Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.

The weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger (German: Dachs) is the forecasting animal. This appears to be an enhanced version of the lore that clear weather on the Christian festival of Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter.

The Pennsylvania Dutch were immigrants from Germanic-speaking areas of Europe. The Germans had a tradition of marking Candlemas (February 2) as "Badger Day" (Dachstag), where if a badger emerging found it to be a sunny day thereby casting a shadow, it foreboded the prolonging of winter by four more weeks. 

The earliest mention of Groundhog Day is an entry on February 2, 1840, in the diary of James L. Morris of Morgantown, in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, according to the book on the subject by Don Yoder. 

The Groundhog Day ceremony held at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, centering on a semi-mythical groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil, has become the most frequently attended ceremony. Besides Punxsutawney Phil, there is also Balzac Billy (from Alberta), Buckeye Chuck (from Ohio), Fred la marmotte (from Quebec), General Beauregard Lee (Georgia), Staten Island Chuck, Stormy Marmot (Aurora Colorado), Shubenacadie Sam (Nova Scotia), Sir Walter Wally (Raleigh NC) and Wiarton Willie (Ontario). 

In Croatia and Serbia, Orthodox Christians have a tradition that on February 2 (Candlemas) or February 15 (Sretenje, The Meeting of the Lord), the bear will awaken from winter dormancy, and if it sees its own shadow, it will get scared and go back to sleep for an additional 40 days, thus prolonging the winter. Thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is a sign that the winter is not over yet. If it is cloudy, it is a good sign that the winter is about to end.

Similarly in Germany, on June 27, they recognize the Seven Sleepers' Day (Siebenschläfertag). If it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy. As well, in the United Kingdom, July 15 is known as St. Swithin's day. It was traditionally believed that, if it rained on that day, it would rain for the next 40 days and nights.

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Hollywood Conservative Clark Gable on This Day in History

 

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This day in history: Clark Gable was born on this day [February 1] in 1901. Gable often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. Gable died of a heart attack at the age of 59; his final on-screen appearance was as an aging cowboy in The Misfits, released posthumously in 1961. Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the Academy Award-winning best picture Gone with the Wind (1939).

Clark Gable was also one of many Republicans that dominated early Hollywood. Gable however kept quiet about his political views, and he even married a liberal Democratic activist, Carole Lombard, who cajoled him into supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. "While it may seem as though Hollywood has always been liberal, it hasn’t. Very few people today realize that at one point in the development of American cinema, conservatives ruled the movie-making industry. Even today, conservative celebrities make successful movies for their millions of fans. Santa Monica College Professor Larry Ceplair, co-author of 'The Inquisition in Hollywood,' wrote that during the ‘20s and ‘30s, most studio heads were conservative Republicans who spent millions of dollars to block union and guild organizing. Likewise, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the Moving Picture Machine Operators, and the Screen Actors Guild were all headed by conservatives, as well." Source

Other movie stars that were Republicans were: Ginger Rogers, James Cagney, Fred Astaire, Loretta Young, Jane Russell, James Stewart, Lou Costello, Charlton Heston, William Holden, John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra (he endorsed Ronald Reagan), Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley Temple, Hedda Hopper, Ronald Reagan (of course), Walter Brennan, Gloria Swanson, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Doris Day, Eva Gabor, Steve McQueen, Jerry Lewis, Jane Wyman, Claudette Colbert, Betty Grable, Mickey Rooney, Rosalind Russell, Red Skelton, Robert Mitchum, Cesar Romero, Joan Crawford, Jackie Gleason, Ethel Merman, Walter Pidgeon, William Powell, Agnes Moorehead, Glenn Ford, Buster Keaton, Fred MacMurray, Dean Martin, Lillian Gish, Yvonne De Carlo, Fay Wray, Maureen O'Hara and Lionel Barrymore to name but a few.

There are many Libertarian celebrities as well, such as Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Kurt Russell, Penn & Teller, Raquel Welch, Denis Leary, John Malkovich, Christina Ricci, Keanu Reeves, Drew Carey, Frank Zappa, Vince Vaughn, Kelly Clarkson, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Gary Oldman, Dwight Yoakam etc. 

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