Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

August 1, 902 AD: Fall of Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily.




August 1, 1946: President Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act, establishing the Atomic Energy Commission and granting it responsibility for all Manhattan Project properties.



August 1, 1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

August 1, 1961 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization.

August 1, 1965 – Frank Herbert's novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world's best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.

August 1, 1966 – Marine sniper Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. Whitman killed a total of 17 people; the 17th victim died 35 years later from injuries sustained in the attack.

August 1, 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

Colorful covers of today’s beginning-of-the-month magazines:




Russia/USA prisoner swap, WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan in what's believed to be one of the largest prisoner swaps between Moscow and Western countries since the Cold War.


@MoscowTimes

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February, was supposed to be included in Thursday's swap.

And now we have confirmation from the Kremlin on the release of 13 prisoners who were being held in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin pardoned the prisoners “with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned on the territory of foreign states,” according to a statement released by the Kremlin.

“The Russian side is grateful to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for the gesture of goodwill and the pardon of a German citizen sentenced to death, R.Krieger,” the statement added.

“Moscow is also grateful to the leadership of all countries that assisted in the preparation of the exchange.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed the release and return of eight Russian nationals as part of today’s prisoner exchange in the Turkish capital.

“The Russians were exchanged for a group of individuals who acted in the interests of foreign states [and] to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation,” the state-run TASS news agency said.

Two children were also said “to have returned to their homeland” as part of the deal.

Germany has finally issued a statement about today’s prisoner exchange, saying it was “not an easy decision.”

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said there was a “public interest in enforcing a prison sentence on a convicted criminal.” He appeared to be referring to the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen sentenced to life in prison in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin.

But this had to be set against the “freedom, welfare and in some cases, the lives of innocent people detained in Russia,” Hebestreit was quoted as saying by AFP.

****

Meanwhile, amid the joy surrounding the release of Russian political prisoners, ex-president Dmitry Medvedev is striking a more somber note.

“Of course, I would like the traitors of Russia to rot in a dungeon or die in prison, as often happens,” he wrote on Telegram. “But it is more useful to get out your own people who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us.”

“And now let the traitors feverishly pick up new names and actively disguise themselves under the witness protection program,” he added.

The family of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan issued a statement following his release today.

The BBC reports that Turkey’s presidency confirmed 26 prisoners were exchanged in Ankara.

“The prisoners are from the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus,” the news outlet said, citing a statement.

As It Happened: World Watches as Russia, West Hold Major Prisoner Exchange

The Wall Street Journal


Paul Whelan Family Statement (4-page PDF)


20 or 30 years from now we'll learn the name of the spy who did it. Maybe. Maybe sooner. Hard to predict anything in this crazy world.


Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader


August 1, 1980: the sci-fi film THE FINAL COUNTDOWN was released. The USS Nimitz travels back in time to the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kirk Douglas orders F-14 Tomcats to "splash the Zeros".




August 1, 1981: MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its very first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.






The Very First Two Hours Of MTV (including the glitches)



And the U.S. top 40 for August 1, 1981.


“In the Air Tonight” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” among the top 40 hits on MTV’s first day; full list; lots of Rod Stewart and REO Speedwagon.


August 1, 2015: Block III Badass USS John Warner (SSN 785) was commissioned. On her 1st patrol in 2018 she became the 1st Virginia-class submarine to be used in combat, launching 6 TLAMs at Syrian chemical weapons facilities, then performing the 1st ever VPT expeditionary reload while deployed in theater.