Tuesday, September 14, 2021

14th Sept Review of Historical and Current Affairs

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I love the IPA (Institute for Public Affairs, Australia. They are a right leaning Libertarian group who have advocated on economic issues for decades. They stand for free speech when few others will in Australia. They stood by cartoonist Bill Leak who was hounded to death by Australia's human rights council which objected to a social/political cartoon he made 
Cartoon denounced by HRC

Before HRC killed Leak

Mark Knight still lives despite belling the cat
Mark Knight faced censure for his cartoon when Serena Williams did a dummy spit. But Knight still lives. 
The issue Leak drew on was serious/relevant and still is. There was no racism attached to it by the cartoonist, but it is understandable racists see racism in the issue. How dare they find racism to obfuscate over the central issue. Kevin Rudd, former Australian PM effectively protected gang rapists from censure when he destroyed documents related to the rape of an aboriginal girl in detention. Being part of government bureaucracy, Rudd could do that, having no vested interest in ALP being criticised for allowing the gang rape of an aboriginal child in custody. After all, it is conservatives who are bad people, right? 

IPA chief John Roskan has let me know one can get a Leak biography (Die Laughing) here

John Roskam writes 

Die Laughing: The Biography of Bill Leak is now officially on sale and you can buy your copy here.  

On Saturday, an excerpt was published in The Weekend Australian and on Sunday on Outsiders Rowan Dean talked with the author of Die Laughing, Fred Pawle, about Bill's life and work. No-one is better qualified to write the story of Bill Leak than is Fred. Fred has been a journalist for 30 years and he first met Bill in 1994 at The Australian.  Their friendship formed over ideas and the beach and the sea as Fred, Bill, and Bill's two sons, Johannes and Jasper, surfed together. Fred was with Bill every step of the way as the publication in August 2016 of the cartoon 'Yeah Righto, What's his name then?' had Bill pursued and persecuted by the Australian Human Rights Commission for allegedly breaching Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act

This is how Fred in Die Laughing describes the reaction of Bill's friend, Anthony Dillon when the cartoon appeared on The Australian website at midnight. Anthony sent an email to his father Colin, Australia's first indigenous police officer and a central witness against police corruption in Queensland during the Fitzgerald inquiry of the late 1980s.

'Have a look at Bill's cartoon,' [Anthony wrote to his father.] Recalling the cartoon now, Colin says: 'Half of me was crying and the other half was laughing. He had an incredible talent that enabled him to blend humour and tragedy without losing the seriousness of the situation.' 

Both Anthony and Colin emailed Bill to congratulate him early on the morning of 4 August. Colin thanked Bill for 'trying to depict and illustrate to those in ivory castles, as well as the moron brigade, what the real state of things is in the indigenous world, the things they choose to ignore and sweep under the carpet.' 'We did that before we knew how controversial the cartoon would be,' Anthony is now eager to emphasise. 

As the raging mob's criticism grew, Bill's inbox filled with praise. 'It's always great confirmation of one's correctness to be condemned by the important, pious, inner-city bourgeois left, hard-blowing their 140-character popguns,' former Labor leader Mark Latham told Bill. 'As I see it, perversely enough, you're a lucky guy right now. Might not feel that way for you, but please take the long view.' 

I've been overwhelmed by the response to Die Laughing from those IPA members who have already received the copies they pre-ordered and I'm glad that so many members think as I do that the IPA's support for the publication of Die Laughing is one of the most important things the IPA has ever done. As you know, the publication of Die Laughing wouldn't have been possible without the support of the hundreds of IPA members who donated to our fundraising appeal for the book.

There are a number of reasons why the IPA has published Die Laughing. When I talk with IPA members and ask them why they joined the IPA at least 80% answer 'because of the IPA's support for freedom of speech' - whether for Bill Leak, or Peter Ridd, or for any other Australian. What Fred captures so well in Die Laughing is that Bill never intended to become a free speech hero but once the forces of intolerance, illiberalism and the Australian government (ie the Australian Human Rights Commission) came after him, Bill didn't back down. Bill had a track record of not backing down. He'd received death threats and was forced to move house after he drew cartoons of Mohammed following the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices in January 2015. As Mark Steyn has written of Bill - 'there is a price of not taking refuge in bland, self-flattering hooey about weeping pens mightier than swords.' 

Bill was a member of the IPA and through the trials of the 'Yeah Righto' cartoon I would have passed on dozens of messages of support to Bill from IPA members, and Bill and I travelled to Canberra for a briefing of MPs in Parliament House to explain why freedom of speech could not exist in Australia for as long as there's a law that makes unlawful to offend or insult someone. 

Die Laughing - The Biography of Bill Leak by Fred Pawle is a wonderful book and I hope you enjoy it and that it gives you an appreciation of the life of a great Australian. 

I'm not sure what Bill would have made of Covid. I can only guess, of course, but I suspect his humanity would, from the very beginning of what's happened, have him ask why we are doing this to ourselves and what is the price we're paying. 


My name is David Daniel Ball I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence. 

I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections. 

I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. I had reported the issue responsibly and had not known I'd blown the whistle. The embarrassed left wing government had responded by imposition of a nationwide ban on the use of peanut butter in canteens, despite failing to address the issue of peanut allergy appropriately. 

I've been de-platformed on Facebook and twitter despite not being an activist. Twitter did not like me asking for Obama to face justice in 2011. FB gave no specific reason for removing me following Jan 6th 2021 in Washington DC where a policeman killed an unarmed woman, so a crowd would know he was in control.
https://voiceddb.locals.com/post/1018405/intro-to-locals-for-the-conservative-voice

A successful withdrawal was what was engineered at Gallipolli, where, over three days troops pulled out of defended positions and left on ships .. nobody died. That was war. Nobody was left behind. Because of the failure, WW1 was prolonged another two and a half years, Russia collapsed etc etc. The price of failure was big. But the retreat was a success. In contrast, Biden's retreat was utter failure in Afghanistan. 

Editorial on Covid policy failure
It is apparent COVID policy is political, not health related. However health advice has been political and not health related. Public health has been corrupted. Media has failed. Judiciary is corrupt. Defence is incompetent. The thin blue line has been cut. And, elder abuse is apparent from the Presidential office through to the ordinary NYC retirement home. On the plus side, there is an emerging possibility of an empty gesture securing the white house for womyn on behalf of one raised in Canada. 

Dan Andrews' lockdown has cancelled AA meetings. Go the beers. Playgrounds have been shut down state wide and even a curfew has been re-imposed. There is no science showing any such measure addresses COVID, but we know it allows the government to assert authority. 
https://rumble.com/vlxs1g-editorial-on-covid-policy-failure.html

Editorial Biden's Afghan failure culminated from Obama's Afghan lies

Afghanistan is in flames as Biden begins bombing runs on terrorists as he seeks to negotiate with them. US soldiers have been killed after a strategic error left an exposed airport the only means of Americans and their allies to flee. Biden says those that remained behind wanted to, after fleeing Afghans clinging to a wing and fuselage of an aircraft plummet to their deaths. After Biden had said the Afghan government would stand following US withdrawal. US left behind billions of dollars of weapons Chicago gangs look on with shock and awe. The Taliban will not use a fleet of Blackhawk helicopters. China will. 

So who is responsible for the failure? According to Biden, the buck stops with him, and he views it as a Dunkirk like success, when he is not looking at his watch waiting for mourning to end of soldiers that died in his service. Biden also feels any mistake was made by Donald Trump as NK begins nuclear weapons work. The US military have included critical junior officers in their lists of personal pronouns for enemies. What is a personal pronoun for a failed President? 

Editorial on God In answer to Dinesh Dsousa's article 
The God the atheists refute is not real, but is a ridiculous, impossible figure. God is real. God as He is revealed in the Bible is a fact. However, as ridiculous as the atheists arguments are, they are instructive. God made a bridge He could not cross (man's rejection of Him). God bridged that gap with Jesus. Thing is, atheists don't believe that that gap is real. 

In my Sermon on a Miracle I describe how God gave a childless woman who could not bear children, prayed for children, family. He did that. And he did not use supernatural measures. 

God is real. God does the impossible. God is not subject to our demands. God answers prayer. Sometimes bad people prosper for a time. All those statements are true. 

God is worthy of praise. Atheists don't see it, but they have countless examples of it, from their own lives to the works of those they admire. In the Revelations of the Holy Spirit I underscore and outline some of what God does that even atheists call for. 

We need god, but even in a world without God, there is a need for Him. 
===From 2018===
A daily column on what the ALP have as a policy, supported by a local member, and how it has 'helped' the local community. I'll stop if I cannot identify a policy. Feel free to make suggestions. Contact me on FB, not twitter. I have twitter, but never look at it.

Gabrielle Williams was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers, working with the Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing and the Minister for Families and Children. Williams was given those titles when elected in 2014. It is difficult to find what value she has been to Dandenong, but clearly the ALP see her as the future. 

As part of the November 24th Vic election campaign I have a petition I want to bring before the Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. I believe Matthew will be the next premier of Victoria and so I am petitioning him as I raise the issues of Employment, Crime and Education in Dandenong. I am also seeking money for my campaign. I don't have party resources, and so my campaign is on foot, and on the internet. Any money I receive that is not spent on the campaign will go to Grow 4 Life. I am asking questions like "What do you love about Dandenong?" and "If you could change something in Dandenong to make it better, what would it be?" I'm not limiting the questions to state issues. I'm happy to discuss anything, and get things done.
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Florida has had 119 hurricanes since 1850, according to GW, but the last one was due to climate change. According to EGHillary Clinton demands investigation into who is responsible for Hillary Clinton being unlikable failure who sucks at everything. We have asked Putin to comment and we'll keep you posted if he does, publicly. Privately, I understand Putin chortles "She will never be President." Pope Francis is keen to lead another religion, AGW. "

The pontiff said the recent storms meant the effects of climate change could be seen "with your own eyes".

There have been four major Atlantic hurricanes in less than three weeks …

"If we don't go back we will go down," he warned reporters on Monday. "That is true. You can see the effects of climate change with your own eyes and scientists tell us clearly the way forward.

"All of us have a responsibility. All of us. Some small, some big. A moral responsibility, to accept opinions, or make decisions. I think it is not something to joke about."" So one guesses the papal prescription is to have the world's poorest spend $100 trillion over the next 85 years to achieve a net turn around of a fraction of a degree. So, Pope Francis, where do they line up to make their sacrifice? How will you want it paid? Their first born sons? Will you let them eat locusts? Maybe they can just forgo healthcare some years, and food in others? If we go back, as the pontiff advises, then every family in the west will burn logs for food every day, and forego air conditioning. It won't make the world less polluted. 
=== from 2016 === 
Sen Malcolm Roberts. It isn't about tribes. Anyone can be right. I think Hollywood could make a film about a passionate, clear thinking, patriot named Mr Roberts. Be kind to the pot plant and James Cagney.

On rating Malcolm Turnbull. I am reminded of two contemporary geniuses of the left. Bertrand Russel and Maynard Keynes. Russell was the older of the two. Russell recalled how a young Keynes was a moody genius who could dominate a room merely by entering it. Keynes would describe Russell as "A nice guy who liked nice things, and wondered why not everything in the world was nice."
Malcolm Turnbull is like Russell. Only he is not nice, or smart. He is hesitant. He is rude. He is callous. He can be charming, but he is too self-absorbed to be kind or gracious.

On rain. I am looking forward to my farmer friends doing very well from it. I hope it lasts, but know it won't. We need more flood mitigating dams. And we also need the inner Australia dams built and the northern rivers diverted inland. Then we can change the climate for all Australians, making the world colder and wetter.

Budget deal ends baby bonus. When it was implemented by Costello, the baby bonus was affordable and allowed a light form of maternity leave for mothers. But ALP made it unaffordable. Now ALP have killed it from opposition. Worth remembering whenever ALP talk about supporting strugglers. Turnbull has something he can now be remembered for.

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.  
=== from 2015 ===
 None for 2015 .. because of Melbourne promotional trip
From 2014
There is a rush by the 'love media' to claim that Gillard's recent admission of corruption exonerates her. They had not asked questions which needed to be asked when Gillard held high office. Neither had they prepared her for high office by asking questions of her past in the lead up to her obtaining it. Even accepting the as yet untested statement that Gillard did not directly profit from the slush fund, why did she set one up? What possible reason, other than to further corruption, did the thirty five year old partner of a legal firm open an account for her boyfriend using her client's name and naming it for a different purpose than for what was intended? It is also worth considering previous assertions that it is industry standard practice. Apparently, it was used to stand over business and extort money. Considering Gillard's past obfuscations, it is not wise to accept her assertion she had not profited from it. Considering the ramifications of the admission that brought about such criminal activity, although no complaint by the businesses involved has been received, and although the danger of such complaints being limited by time, Gillard, and the industry have hard questions to face, and probably will face jail time. It is telling that her embarrassed colleagues at Slater and Gordon, noted the sooner Gillard left, the better.

A video featuring a cross dresser wearing full cover Islamic clothing seems to have been filmed by Channel 9. An outraged terrorist sympathiser is in the video getting aggressive with the cross dresser. The journalist with the camera seemed to have put together the article to see what security issues could be faced by such gear, but it just appeared to be an exercise in terrorist baiting. The fragility and brittleness of terrorist sympathisers is the kind of thing which brings Islam into disrepute. An Australian soldier minding his own business is accosted by terrorist sympathisers and told he should fight in the Middle East so they could blow him up. Again, it isn't Islamic, but terrorist sympathisers behind it, but sadly the leadership of Islamic peoples fails to address such issues, which brings Islam into disrepute. One promising event has a father of a terrorist declaring that Islam is different and holding an Aussie style BBQ to highlight community spirit. But there is still a long road before one might refer to the greatness of Islam. Immigration is a hot issue for many noting the links of Islam and terror which has not been addressed by their leadership and youth involved with gangs, organised crime and drugs. However, terrorism aside, Australian migration history has often featured such issues, with Vietnamese, Chinese, NZ, Italian, German, Irish and Greeks having had similar issues.

When it comes to immigration the ALP have been negligent for decades. A large number of terrorist sympathisers have had ALP patronage, inviting them to come by boat, or family reunion, or other channels and the ALP chiding those who have raised issues. The ALP defended Sheikh Cat's Meat after he risibly excused the actions of rapist terrorists as being normal Islamic behaviour. Also the media are enamoured with using people who excuse terrorism in the name of Islam. There is no excuse for terrorism. An aid worker has been beheaded by terrorists a year after being captured. A result of the barbarity is Australia sending military to oppose terrorists in the Middle East. But lefties are opposing the PM, some ALP have denounced Mr Abbott as a terrorist, placing a moral equivalence between responsible government and acts of terror. Such an obvious divide from reality should discredit those who make the assertion, but they seem to have prized places in the media and in the ALP. Simple, useful measures can oppose terrorism, but the lefties joke about them. Collecting meta data is not the privacy concern of innocent people. But the threat of ALP incompetence over immigration is small compared to their wider incompetence. Australia has experienced a Rotherham style scandal in the Aboriginal community. and a 'sorry' hasn't covered it .. not really.

Fading hope for a missing three year old boy who disappeared after spending time on a farm with his sister. Missing three days, hope is fading to find him alive. A tomb from the time of Alexander the Great has been located in Northern Greece. Lots of promising possibilities for new research at the find. Apple, for $50 million I'll give my book away for free. Thanks for the U2 album. Record Antarctic ice shows that AGW alarmism is just that.
From 2013
While there are some marked differences between the US and Australia in politics, there are strong similarities too. In Australia, voting is compulsory while in the US it is voluntary. This means in Australia politicians spend their time claiming middle ground so as to attract swing voters, while in the US it is incumbent on politicians to appeal to core values. The three Obama supplied advisers in the recent election were not of much help, with ALP scoring the lowest primary support in over a hundred years. The Australian Liberal party is not that old to have seen the earlier efforts. However, the US seems to be two years behind Australia in political cycles. In 2007, a successful (but divided) conservative government got railroaded by press and ALP took the reigns. In the US in 2009, it was similar. The ALP had done so badly by 2010, that they nearly lost office. They only held on to government with the help of so called independent conservatives. Interesting was the leadership tussle between Rudd and Gillard which seems to mirror the tensions between Obama and Clinton. Both Rudd and Gillard are badly mired in corruption allegations that are central to their past. Rudd made an allegedly illegal executive decision to destroy documents detailing the gang rape of an Aboriginal teenager, obstructing the course of justice. Gillard is accused of using her influence as a lawyer to facilitate theft and corruption from stand over union tactics. Neither leader was competent in office, using bad policy as a shield for poor government. Six years on from 2007, the ALP were trounced at election, deftly holding onto some seats despite an implosion of votes. The leadership is vaporised, and this suggests that the Democrats will have difficulties in their mid terms for similar reasons. 

Julian Burnside is famous as an advocate for refugee welfare, which makes his mirror call for a Tasmanian penal colony funny. Rudd's election eve boast of having retained furniture in Queensland has been shown a sham, in the electoral sense. Gillard blames Rudd for letting her be a bad PM. Bolt posts an article as to how a good scare saved some ALP seats. Vote analysis shows ALP support was most rusty hard among constituents that don't read English and were unaware from media how bad the ALP are. ALP offer a discount of minus 100 percent after promising 10%, suggesting where their budget analysis came from. A graphic shows disturbing links of hatred in the Middle East. Today was Yom Kippur, but Israel is blameless for this web of hatred. While Syria is gassing its own people, Israel is stretched with her medical aide. Colarado drowns. Obama dithers. Putin stands up as an adult. UN point blame at Assad. 
Historical perspective on this day
AD 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasidcaliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Birth of Harun's son al-Ma'mun.
919 – Battle of Islandbridge: High King Niall Glúndub is killed while leading an Irish coalition against the Vikings of Uí Ímair, led by King Sitric Cáech.
1180 – Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.

1402 – Battle of Homildon Hill results in an English victory over Scotland.
1607 – Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded.
1723 – Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena lays down the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta.
1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah.
1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
1763 – Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil's Hole during Pontiac's War.
1791 – The Papal States lose Avignon to Revolutionary France.

1808 – Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes at the Battle of Oravais.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.
1814 – Battle of Baltimore: The poem Defence of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.
1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1846 – Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese palace court.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.

1901 – U.S. President William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
1914 – HMAS AE1, the Royal Australian Navy's first submarine, was lost at sea with all hands near East New BritainPapua New Guinea.
1917 – Russia is officially proclaimed a republic.
1936 – Raoul Villain, who assassinated the French Socialist Jean Jaures, is himself killed by Spanish Republicans in Ibiza
1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.

1940 – Ip massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, an act of ethnic cleansing.
1943 – World War II: The Wehrmacht starts a three-day retaliatory operation targeting several Greek villages in the region of Viannos, whose death toll would eventually exceed 500 persons.
1944 – World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.
1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.
1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.
1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery date.
1975 – The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president.
1982 – President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated.
1984 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean.
1985 – Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penangto the mainland, opens to traffic.

1992 – The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal.
1994 – The Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike.
1997 – 81 killed as five bogies of the Ahmedabad–Howrah Express plunge into a river in Bilaspur district of Madhya PradeshIndia.
1998 – Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
1999 – KiribatiNauru and Tonga join the United Nations.

2000 – Microsoft releases Windows ME.
2001 – Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
2003 – In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union.
2007 – Late-2000s financial crisis: The Northern Rock bank experiences the first bank run in the United Kingdom in 150 years.
2015 – The first observation of gravitational waves was made, announced by the LIGOand Virgocollaborations on 11 February 2016.
===
AD 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
about eleven years after he first entered Jerusalem, leaving it in tatters after sacking the second Temple and dispersing Jews around the world. 

629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
Persia had been greatly weakened by Islam. Turks fought with Heraclius in battle against Persia. 

786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Birth of Harun's son al-Ma'mun.

919 – Battle of Islandbridge: High King Niall Glúndub is killed while leading an Irish coalition against the Vikings of Uí Ímair, led by King Sitric Cáech.
Japan was born from this battle in medieval terms. She gained her first Shogunate. 

1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah.
Two beautiful hours, worth hearing

1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
Shakespeare died on 22nd April 1616, but under the Julian calendar in England it was called the eleventh of April. 
Cervantes died on 22nd April 1616
Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same day, eleven days apart. 

1936 – Raoul Villain, who assassinated the French Socialist Jean Jaures, is himself killed by Spanish Republicans in Ibiza
1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.

1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1975 – The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president.
1982 – President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated.
1984 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean.

2015 – The first observation of gravitational waves was made, announced by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on 11 February 2016.
Forgive me. I needed to sit down. 

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