Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

The American Crisis, a pamphlet series by Thomas Paine. 13 numbered pamphlets were published between 1776 and 1777 with the first in The Pennsylvania Journal on December 19, 1776, reprinted as a pamphlet Dec 23. Paine signed the pamphlets with the pseudonym, "Common Sense".


The series was used to "recharge the revolutionary cause." The first volume famously begins:

"These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Thomas Paine publishes “The American Crisis”

The American Crisis: Number I, by Thomas Paine




Dec 19, 1843: 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens hit the streets of old London Town.





Dec 19, 1925: The U.S. Prohibition Bureau issues new rules banning the use of whiskey, brandy or gin as ingredients in medicines. Doctors will still be allowed, however, to prescribe alcoholic drinks that are exempted from the national booze ban.




Dec 19, 1932: BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service from the Daventry transmitting station (world's first long wave transmitting station from 1925) as the Empire Short Wave Service, broadcasting on shortwave and aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire. Known as 5XX, it was on Borough Hill in the Northamptonshire town and its first transmission was with the a poem called "Daventry Calling this is Daventry Calling". The BBC chose the position so the transmitter could cover the maximum land area. It brought the total audience within listening distance to 94% of the population.


Daventry saw continuous use until 1992 (Cold War ended) and at its peak had more than 40 masts and towers. It now only has a single mast which is part of the BBC National DAB network.

How voices travelled the world from a hill in the Midlands

The first ever Royal Christmas Message, written by Rudyard Kipling and broadcast live over wireless from Sandringham by King-Emperor George V in 1932.

"Through one of the marvels of modern Science, I am enabled, this Christmas Day, to speak to all my peoples throughout the Empire. I take it as a good omen that Wireless should have reached its present perfection at a time when the Empire has been linked in closer union. For it offers us immense possibilities to make that union closer still."





BBC's first Director-General, Sir John Reith, set the expectation in the opening programme:

    "Don't expect too much in the early days; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes, to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone. The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good." This address was read out five times as it was broadcast live to different parts of the world.

The radio encyclopedia

President Trump’s legal suit against the BBC for $10 billion may finally silence them, but I doubt it.



Dec 19, 1978:

If Sen. John Tower (at right) didn't die in 1991 in a plane crash down in Georgia (214 days before Robert Maxwell fell out of his yacht and drowned), he quite possibly would have been Secretary of Defense instead of Dick Cheney.

Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, by John Preston – reviewed by Peter Rushton


How to say, "I want a mousetrap for Christmas."




Dec 19, 2015: Star Streams and the Whale Galaxy - Astronomy Picture of the Day.
NGC 4631 is a spiral galaxy found 30 million light-years away. It was discovered on March 20, 1787 by German-British astronomer William Herschel.




Dec 19, 2025: FLASH Friday: Epstein [scrubbed] files posted by Justice Dept. 

You have to click on "Go To DOJ Disclosures", then click on "Epstein Files Transparency Act (HR 4405)" to expand, then download or view files.

In between the textual redactions, RT news had a field day.




That copy (above image) of the complaint, which describes how Epstein threatened to "burn her house down"...


Epstein Files Include 1996 Child Porn Complaint That F.B.I. Ignored


End of the Week Words...