ON MY MIND
A date with history By Paul Kandarian
Ordinarily, this being February and all, the month with 28 days that feel like 2,800 because hey, it’s New England winter, we would ordinarily be floundering in the seasonal doldrums, feeling morose and dark and depressed because hey, it’s New England winter. But hey, it’s a new day, a new dawn, with a new administration not hellbent on destroying a democracy it’s taken us 244 years to build, the ugly invasion of the U.S. Capitol in January by thugs pretending to be patriots notwithstanding. So I thought it would be fun to take a look back at choice February dates in US history (thank you Historynet.com) and adding a humorous twist because what else ya gonna do in New England winter? Feb. 1, 1861: A furious Gov. Sam Houston storms out of a legislative session after hearing Texas voted 167-7 to secede from the Union. Needless to say, that didn’t work out and Texas now is the biggest producer of oil, cattle, sheep, and loud, obnoxious football fans. Feb. 1, 1907: Secretary of State John Hay protests
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Russian privileges in China as a violation of the “open door policy,” predating the most current impeached president’s offering Russia an open-door policy into the U.S. government. Feb. 2, 1870: Press agencies Havas, Reuter, and Wolff sign an agreement whereby between them they can cover the whole world. More than a century later, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and multidirectional informational confusion in general does the same thing. Feb. 5, 1788: Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. Centuries later, the state becomes New England’s most wicked cool place and home to packies, rotaries, Dunks, bubblahs, Ben and Matt, and bangin’ Ueys, you gawta a f’n prawblem widdat? Do ya?
February 2021 | The South Coast Insider
Feb. 13, 1936: The first Social Security checks are put into the mail, thus giving rise to the American tradition of shuffling old people clogging up bank lines not knowing what direct deposit is or trusting it if they do. Feb. 22, 1819: Spain signs a treaty with the United States ceding eastern Florida. The US sincerely regrets that decision and wishes to cede it back. Feb. 20, 1864: At the battle of Olustee, Florida, Confeder-
ate troops defeat a Union army sent to bring Florida into the Union. The Union continues to regret any decisions that has led to the “Florida Man” phenomena. Feb. 22, 1902: A fistfight breaks out in the U.S. Senate as Sen. Benjamin Tillman suffers a bloody nose for accusing Sen. John McLaurin of bias on the Philippine tariff issue. In 2021, thuggish insurrectionists at the Capitol
