Monday, September 07, 2020

News in the time of late 2020

   

Gerald Ford's Presidency during the Cold War was very short. It only lasted from August 1974 to January 1977. Yet, his influence in history was massive. Gerald Ford was one of the many center-right Republican Republicans in the mold of a Dwight D. Eisenhower. He faced many economic and foreign policy challenges from inflation to regulation of the CIA including the FBI. His overall life lasted from July 14, 1913 to December 26, 2006. Ford was the only person to have served as both vice President and President without being elected to office either by the Electoral College. His vice President was Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller wanted the Presidency for years, but the closest that he ever saw was Vice President. Ford was born in the Midwest at Omaha Nebraska. He played football, graduated from the University of Michigan and has a JD from Yale University. He served in the Navy during World War II. Later, he was in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973. At the beginning of his Presidency, Gerald Ford said that the nightmare (or Watergate) in America was over. One of the most controversial parts of Ford's Presidency was the pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford argued that without the pardon, Nixon would be on trial for years to come, and that would distract from moving the country forward. Still, many people opposed the pardon. The pardon took place on September 8, 1974 via Proclamation 4311. Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest of the pardon. Many historians believe that Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election in part because of the Nixon pardon. Gerald Ford testified on October 17, 1974 to justify the pardon to Congress. He was the first sitting President since Abraham Lincoln to testify before the House of Representatives. Ford said that the Supreme Court decision from 1915 called Burdick v. United States said that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt and an acceptance of a pardon was an admission of guilt (i.e. Nixon admitting guilt). Edward Kennedy once opposed the pardon, but said that history made the pardon necessary. Gerald Ford also pardoned draft dodgers and deserters by September 16, 1974 as along as they serve 2 years working in a public service job or did other actions. He had a new cabinet except Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of Treasury William E. Simon.William Coleman was the Secretary of Transportation or the 2nd black man to serve in a presidential cabinet after Robert C. Weaver. During this time, Bush Sr. was the Director of the CIA. We saw Donald Rumsfeld being the youngest Secret of Defense. A young Richard Cheney would be the Chief of Staff. Cheney was a young Wyoming politician back then. By 1974, Democrats controlled the House. Ford wanted to use the WIN program to end inflation. He believed that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment. Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 that helped form special education in America. This was a righteous act of him. Ford dealt with unemployment issues. He wanted a 1 year tax reduction to form economic growth and spending cuts to handle inflation. Income tax rebates happened in the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. The deficit federally increased from 1975 to 1976. When NYC faced bankruptcy, Ford refused to give NYC's Mayor Abraham Beame a federal bailout. The 1976 swine flue outbreak happened, and many people were vaccinated. Ford supported the Equal Rights Amendment or the EPA. Gerald Ford continued detente in the Cold War. He promoted SALT and the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union in 1975. America and Israel had disagreements on foreign policy. Ford refused to send billions of dollars of military and economic aid to Israel over Mideast peace negotiations. Gerald Ford saw the end of the Vietnam War. Ford was wrong to support Surbaro's invasion of East Timor that caused almost 250,000 deaths in the Timorese population from 1975 to 1981. Ford saw American people from the Mayaquez to be released from the Cambodians. They were released, but Marines were killed in coming into another island. Ford had a large boost in the polls. Later in 1976, North Korea apologized for harassing U.S. officers and South Korean guards. Gerald Ford survived 2 assassination attempts during his Presidency. Gerald Ford appointed appointed the center left justice John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court in 1975. In 1976, the unexpected Jimmy Carter won the election. Gerald Ford ran for officer, and he was challenged by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (as a conservative. Reagan criticized Ford for his actions in South Vietnam, the Helsinki Accords, and for ceding the Panama Canal). Reagan won primaries in North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, and California. He didn't get the majority of delegates, so Ford won at the Republican Convention at Kansas City, Missouri. July 4, 1976 was America's bicentennial. Jimmy Carter won in part because of the debates with Gerald Ford. Ford made a mistake by saying that there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never be under a Ford administration. Jimmy Carter won the popular vote and electoral votes. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter became friends after Ford's Presidency. Gerald Ford would go on to promote center-right causes, even opposing the Iraq War. He passed away on December 26, 2006. 

  

 

Jimmy Carter was the perfect example of a moderate (center-left) President who became massively more progressive after his Presidency. He saw massive changes of the Cold War. He was born in Plains, Georgia. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. Carter was a peanut farmer. He worked in the Democratic Party for his whole life. He was once Governor of Georgia on an anti-segregationist and pro-affirmative action platform. He won the 1976 Democratic nomination. Carter pardoned all of the Vietnam War draft evaders by issuing Proclamation 4483. He helped to form the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. Carter believed in conservation, price controls, and new technology. Like a moderate, he followed deregulation too. Carter helped to form the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of SALT II (or the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Treaty II). He returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. He confronted stagflation (or high inflation, high unemployment, and slow growth). Yet, he had to deal with the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Carter faced many problems. Jimmy Carter ended detente, used a grain embargo against the Soviets. Jimmy Carter's foreign policy thinking was heavily influenced by his national security adviser, the late Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski helped to form the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller plus other people. The Trilateral Commission deal with the economic integration of Japan, Western Europe, and America. Brzezinski was the director of the group from 1973-1976. He invited Carter to join. Brzezinski had a hardline stand against the Soviet Union, he supported the mujaheddin fighting the Soviets, and he was part of the establishment. David Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank funded the Shah of Iran. The Shah was a dictator who suppressed the human rights of the Iranian people. Carter once praised the Shah when he visited D.C. at 1976. Carter visited Tehran to praise the Shah. January 16, 1979 was when the Shah left Iran. This came after strikes and demonstrations happened in 1978. The Iranian Revolution caused Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to rule Sharia dominated Iran via referendum. Rockefeller interests wanted the Shah to live in America, but Carter refused. Later, Carter did so, but Carter knew that the U.S. embassy in Iran would soon be overrun. After October 22, 1979 when the Shah was in a hospital at NYC, Iranians stormed the American embassy. They took 70 employees hostages. They were never released until 1981. Before that time, Carter used a failed rescue attempt on April 1980. Cyrus Vance opposed the scheme, and he resigned after 8 Americans being dead. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in April 1980. According to the late journalist Robert Parry and NSC official Gary Sick, Reagan campaign officials met with Iranian leaders. They promised to allow Israel to ship arms to Iran if Iran would hold the hostages until Reagan won the election (or the October Surprise). Reagan won the 1980 election, and on January 20, 1981, Iran released the U.S. embassy personnel. This was after Reagan was sworn in as President. The 1968 and 1980 election caused the United States to be further politically dominated by right wing extremism that continues even in 2020. 

He formed the Carter Doctrine, and led a 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in Moscow. Carter wanted human rights in the world, but his foreign policy was increasingly reactionary. He was challenged in the 1980 Democratic nomination by the progressive Senator Ted Kennedy. Carter won. Later, Carter was defeated by the Republican Ronald Reagan. After his Presidency, Jimmy Carter became massively progressive by increasing his support of human rights with the Carter Center. He monitored elections, promoted peace, and used his Habitat for Humanity to build homes to tons of people. Jimmy Carter has been active to promote education and fight diseases in developing nations. He has worked to try to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Carter has also taught Sunday school well into his 90s at church. Jimmy Carter is the longest lived President, the longest retired President, and the first to live 40 years after his inauguration. Jimmy Carter loves his wife and children, and he is the first President to reach the age of 95 years old. 

 


 

Alma Rose Claude Hudnell was my 4th cousin. We share the same ancestor of Zilphy Claud (1820-1892). Alma Rose Hudnell was born in Norfolk, Virginia on March 8, 1943. His parents were Norfleet Claud (1920-2004) and Anna Rose Turner (1921-2011). Alma Rose Hudnell married John Gordon Hudnell on July 15, 1972 at Portsmouth, Virginia. Alma graduated form I. C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth. Many of my maternal ancestors migrated from Southampton County into Suffolk, and into Portsmouth. She departed on Monday, July 15, 2019 at Queens, New York City. Yes, many of my relatives live at New York City. Her sisters are Cynthia Marie Claude (born in 1947) and Elenoar Virginia Claude (born in 1951). Her brother is Norfleet Little Claude Jr. (born in 1944). Alma Rose Claude Hudnell had 2 children who are Daryle Norfleet Hudnell (born in 1975) and Doreen A. Hudnell (born in 1981). Daryle Hudnell is a lieutenant at the FDNY in New York City. 

 


 

Zell B. Peeples lived from April 28, 1921 at Southampton County, Virginia to 1971 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She lived to be 50 years old, and she was my first cousin. Her parents were Ray Peeples (1879-1929) and Mary Anne Boyd (1887-1951). Her daughter was Alfreda P. Brown (Alfreda's father was Victor Brown). Alfreda P. Brown was born on January 22, 1946. Her daughters are April Brown-Gordon and Janet Marie Bost. Both April and Janet are my 3rd cousins. We share the same ancestor of Charles Peeples (1855-1922). Charles Peeples was my 2nd great-grandfather. 

 

 

The 1980's in music advanced technology. We saw music using digital recording. This recording allowed people to use synthesizers. The first CD Player was released in August of 1982. It was called the Philips CD100. The 1980's saw the invention of the Walkman. People could walk around with tapes playing with music being listened to more conveniently. The expansion of 1980's music made music more international. The drum machine grew into another level of sophisticated power by the time of the 1980's. The Linn's LM1 Drum Computer was the first drum machine of 1980 that used digital samples of real drum sounds. It allowed users to tune the individual sounds to add a swing effect to make a human drummer feel. Digital beats were a large part of the 1980's like Irene Cara's Flashance...What a Feeling, etc. People used the sampler. The gated reverb sounds was done by Phil Collins in 1981. This involved drum breaks. That is why when you look at it, the music of the 1980's was just as good as any music from any era of human history. 

  

By the mid to late 1980's, a new shift happened in R&B music. It was so powerful that it influenced pop and hip hop cultures too. It is called new jack swing or swingboat. It was lead by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle. This style of music used rhythms, samples, and production techniques from R&B, hip hop, and pop. It merged old sounds with new music. Drum machines and hardware samples were popular in R&B and during the Golden Age of hip hop. The music had elements of jazz, funk, rap, and R&B. Many of their beats were crated by the SP-1200 sampler and the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Other producers involved in new jack swing were Timmy Gatilin, Alton Stewart, DJ Eddie F, Babyface, L.A. Reid, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. This style was found in Janet Jackson's third studio album of Control in 1986. This revolved around a collaboration between the Minneapolis music group of The Time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Janet Jackson. Control merged R&B, rap, funk, disco, and synthesized percussion. The song Nasty had that song. Control helped to bridge the gap between R&B and hip hop music. D.C.'s go-go bands from Chuck Brown, Trouble Funk, and EU were roots of new jack swing too. Northern California's Club Nouveau covered Bill Wither's song of Lean on Me in 1987 in go-go. Teddy Riley called this style new jack swing. He led the band Guy in the late 1980's to Blackstreet in the 1990's. Riley used offbeat in a rhythmic pattern with 16th note triplets. New jack swing helped to unite R&B and hip hop so much that they influenced each other by the 2000's in a very high level. By the late 1980's, Andre Harrell also promote the new jack swing culture. Riley used sweet melodies and big beats. Bobby Brown by 1989 had a song On Our Own with a new jack swing beat on the Ghostbusters II soundtrack. New Jack swing was shown on Video Soul, Soul Train, Showtime at the Apollo, and Arsenio Hall's show. Many of its elements were found in Kid n Play, Paula Abdul, Donna Summer, Bell Biv DeVoe, etc. Keith Sweat, Johnny Kemp, Al B. Sure, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Karyn Layvonne White, New Edition, Kane, Sheena Easton, and other artists had new jack swing elements. 

  

She was a very talented woman who lived from June 3, 1906 to April 12 1975. After more than 45 years after her passing, her legacy is still extremely powerful. For 68 years, she has lived an extraordinary life. From the area of St. Louis to the streets of Paris, she performed, stood up for just causes, and loved life. She is Sister Josephine Baker. Her original name was Freda Josephine McDonald. A lot of people don't know that she was a French Resistance agent who helped to defeat the evil, reactionary Nazi forces in France. Throughout her life, Josephine Baker was a dedicated civil rights activist. Back in the day, many African Americans left America and came into France, London, and Africa, because the discrimination against black Americans was so intense plus brutal. Baker lived in Paris, France for long decades. Yet, she always subscribed to the notion that human equality isn't up for debate. Equality is meant for all people regardless of one's color or background. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture in the 1927 silent film of Siren of the Tropics. That film was directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Etievant. She was an excellent dancer at the Folies Bergere in Paris. Josephine Baker wore bananas and a breaded necklace in her dancing performances. As for the Jazz Age, she was one of the many icons of the era. Her nicknames were Black Venus, Black Pearl, and Bronze Venus. She said "J'ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris." That is French for "I have 2 loves, my country and Paris. She was at the 1963 March on Washington, and she worked with Coretta Scott King in 1968. Coretta offered her the unofficial leadership of the civil rights movement, but Baker didn't do it in order ot care for her family. It is certainly time to acknowledge the contributions of such a legendary creator of art and dance. 

By Timothy

 


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