Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

July 26, 1946: Trans-Pacific Airlines, later known as Aloha Airlines from 1958, commenced operations from Honolulu International Airport. The airline's first flight was to Hilo and back, on July 26, 1946 carrying 21 passengers.

Starting with 14 employees, the airline began as a charter service using a war-surplus Douglas C-47 (DC-3) equipped with "bucket seats". It was founded by Ruddy F. Tongg Sr. (1905-1988) as a competitor to Hawaiian Airlines and his solution to a class struggle. He created an airlines that a person of any ethnicity could fly on and feel equally welcome. Ruddy was Hawaii’s wealthiest and most flamboyant businessmen, as a competitor to Hawaiian Airlines. Tongg envisioned a transoceanic airline linking California, Hawaii, and China.

The new company offered special appeal with in-flight entertainment featuring singing, hula dancing, served pineapple juice and ukulele playing stewardesses.


Approval to operate as a scheduled airline came when President Harry S. Truman signed the certificate on February 21, 1949, with the first scheduled flight on June 6, 1949, following ceremonies held the previous day. The company employed local Island residents and its first slogan was "The People's Airline. It soon earned the nickname "The Aloha Airline".

President Eisenhower signed Aloha’s permanent certificate on July 20, 1956. At the time it was operating five DC-3s. Aloha Airlines call sign "Aloha" ended passenger operations in 2008, but Aloha Air Cargo flies on to this day.

After retiring its final DC-3 in 1961, the company became only the second American airline to operate an all-turbine fleet.

On April 28, 1988, the company made international headlines when part of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 jet ripped apart on a flight from Hilo to Honolulu. The pilots miraculously landed the plane on Maui, but veteran flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing was swept from the aircraft and never found.

By 2002 they had 3,000+ employees.

Aloha Airlines fleet in 2008:

13 Boeing 737-200
8 Boeing 737-700
1 Boeing 737-800


July 26, 1947: president Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into US law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.




Puppet reading a real newspaper. Lady Penelope, THUNDERBIRDS (1965-66). And the "Late Night Final" edition.


Today we have puppets telling us the news that give us trauma induced migraines.


July 26, 1965: Eve of Destruction was released.

I have been asked why do I think the song touched a nerve? Answer: I don't know exactly. It released some major concerns for myself and maybe because it was coming from a genuine concern for the well-being of America and the world. I remember in 1965 the civil rights movement had begun, Vietnam was in the background, the cold war had heated up so drastically that we're just finding out today how close the world came to the brink of a nuclear war. This was in the air, fear and hypocrisy... the unthinkable could be happening. A total annihilation of all life on Earth. Really? "Well, looks like they really did it this time Martha! We better not plant those begonias this spring with all that nuclear fallout and all! Oh, now George don't be so pessimistic! Within a hundred years or so the Nuclear winter will be over and we can replant the corn crop!"
P. F. Sloan: In His Own Words

"Vietnam Gun truckers" - the Army soldier who came up with the idea while fighting in Vietnam named his converted hardened M54 truck after this song, "Eve of Destruction."

At the time he only heard the song once and liked the melody and name BUT, he had no idea it was a protest/anti-war song until he got back home.

He was part of a fuel convoy (hundreds of supply trucks) and those guys were often ambushed so he came up with the Gun Truck by salvaging whatever they could find, beg, borrow, steal from other Army camps. Mostly heavy machine guns, mini-guns, tires, steel/metal for armor.

His revolutionary idea put to the test (literally) saved hundreds of lives. For his pioneering and heroic efforts he was awarded the MEDAL of HONOR. He lives in Oregon.

One truck, "Eve of Destruction," was brought back intact and is on display at the Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

"Eve of Destruction" Gun truck @44 sec mark; 2:22 & 3:14.




July 26, 1982: The Final Topping Off Ceremony happened.

"By far the tallest concrete building in the world, according to its developer, Donald J. Trump, its superstructure took 90,000 tons of concrete and 4,000 tons of steel reinforcing rods to complete."





A glimpse of the letter sent to the Academy protesting the 1989 Oscar show. As seen in the documentary THE FABULOUS ALLAN CARR (2017). Streaming for free on Amazon Prime.


Armed with a limitless Rolodex and a Benedict Canyon enclave with its own disco, Allan Carr threw the Hollywood parties that defined the 1970's. A producer, manager and marketing genius, Carr built his bombastic reputation amid a series of successes including the mega hit musical film GREASE and the Broadway sensation LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, until it all came crashing down after he produced the notorious debacle of the 1989 Academy Awards.


Kevyn Wynn, daughter of then super powerhouse casino mogul, Mirage Resort owner Steve Wynn, was kidnapped from her Las Vegas home on July 26, 1993. The Wynns paid the $1.45 million ransom money in cash from his casino cage at The Mirage and got their daughter back. Steve Wynn did not report the kidnapping until after paying the ransom. It was a crime that captured international attention. The kidnappers were later caught and convicted.

There were instructions for Steve, "we got your daughter, go to the hotel, go to the casino cage."

After following instructions and bringing the money to the parking lot of a bar on Spring Mountain near The Mirage, Steve was given instructions on how to find his daughter who was tied up, but unharmed in the back seat of her car in a parking lot at the McCarran airport, now Harry Reid International Airport.

Ray Cuddy and an accomplice, Jacob Sherwood were both arrested and convicted of kidnapping, extortion and money laundering by a federal jury.

FBI agents alerted by Steve arrested Cuddy a week later at a luxury car dealership in Newport Beach, Calif, as he was paying a $70,000 installment on a $183,000 Ferrari. LOL, dumb ass. The other two kidnappers were arrested a month later.. He spent 20 years in prison and was released in 2015. A third accomplice, Anthony Watkins cooperated with authorities and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in 1994.


The Pissed Off Prosecutor

Casino Owner’s Daughter Tells of Kidnaping (May 5, 1994 / LA Times)

The Mob Museum: Vegas Abduction: The Inside Story of the Kevyn Wynn Kidnapping




Steve Wynn was booted out of Las Vegas (his influence & forced to resign as CEO and Chairman of Wynn Resorts) in 2018 due to a sex misconduct smear campaign, but apparently remains friends with Donald Trump. In July 2023: Steve Wynn reached a settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine and effectively ending his involvement in the Nevada gaming industry. As part of the settlement, Wynn is prohibited from being actively involved in the industry, though he can maintain a passive ownership stake of less than 5% in publicly traded companies registered with Nevada gaming authorities. He then moved to Florida and bought a $13 million mansion in west Palm Beach, overlooking Mar-a-Lago.



Who is the mystery billionaire buying up Palm Beach estates near Mar-a-Lago??

Charles Simonyi >> Bill Gates???




Why is NBC News making a news story about the mental illness of some poor woman in Seattle?


Elderly Seattle cat suffers 'terror' from Blue Angels

It makes me want to invite the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Canadian Snowbirds the same weekend.


LOL

"You know who has the golden share? I do," Trump said

Amazing how every bell and whistle can sound that the economy is on a certain trajectory but you aren't allowed to call it a crisis until like 200 hundred people all get together and agree that's what it is.