{"id":51634,"date":"2020-04-16T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T10:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=51634"},"modified":"2020-04-18T21:43:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T01:43:49","slug":"backtrackin-on-these-few-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Backtrackin’ on these few years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Yeah, three days\u2019 worth, because I\u2019ve been stuck at the Big Box risking my health and that of my family, my community, and our customers, ensuring that everyone in Chester County has access to the essential and \u201clife-sustaining\u201d mulch they can\u2019t live without. (We have 730 confirmed cases here, and 30 deaths, and scarce access to testing, but everybody\u2019s flower beds are gonna look good<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, aka<\/em> Akon, turned 47 on April 16. Here\u2019s his gently laid-back hit \u201cLonely<\/a>,\u201d which samples a song from Bobby Vinton, who shares the same birthday (Vinton turned 85).<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nApril 16 in the year CE 73 saw the fall of Masada. The Roman Empire has now been dead and gone for more than 1,500 years. The Jewish people are still here.<\/p>\nOn April 17, 499 years ago, the trial of Martin Luther began in the Diet of Worms. For the record, Luther\u2019s theology was causing problems because of his Augustinian views, not because of his rabid anti-semitism. The church was cool with that<\/em>.<\/p>\nOn April 18, 115 years ago, the United States Supreme Court embarrassed itself with its decision in Lochner vs. New York,<\/em> saying that the due process claims of businesses trumped the rights of actual human citizens. This was the work of a bought-and-paid-for court desperately trying to outlaw the reforms of the progressive era \u2014 in this specific case, an effort to limit working days to less than 10 hours and work weeks to less than 60.<\/p>\nThe Lochner<\/em> decision was ultimately overturned, and specifically repudiated by later decisions, relegating its argument to the dustbin of history and conceding that, no, the Constitution does not require exploitive wages, child labor, uninspected meat, black lung, or any of the other 19th-century horrors repackaged as \u201cliberty\u201d by the Social Darwinist majority in Lochner<\/em>. It was only until generations later, with the rise of the Federalist Society and the white evangelical push for its ideology, that any justices looked upon the Lochner<\/em> decision as anything other than a shameful, corrupt decision and a textbook case of \u201clegislating from the bench.\u201d Today, thanks largely to those white evangelicals, we have a 5-4 majority of justices who are determined to reinstate Lochner<\/em> and take America back to 1905.<\/p>\nOn April 18, 114 years ago, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake shook northern California, starting massive fires that destroyed most of the city and left 3,000 people dead. The death of so many people from a single disaster in one day ranks as the third deadliest such disaster in American history, excluding the past week. By the end of this month, the Great Earthquake likely won\u2019t even be one of America\u2019s ten deadliest days.<\/p>\nHarriet Quimby flew a plane across the English Channel on April 16, 108 years ago. That was almost<\/em> 10 years after the airplane was invented. It was also Wilbur Wright\u2019s 45th birthday.<\/p>\nOn April 16, 1961, Fidel Castro announced that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was now a communist country. The United States spent the following 55 years trying to kill the guy. (The Bay of Pigs fiasco took place on April 17, 1961 \u2014 the very next day.) Fidel Castro died of old age in 2016.<\/p>\nOn April 17, 53 years ago, Katherine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon \u2014 finishing the course despite efforts by officials in the men-only race to physically restrain her. \u201cIf that girl were my daughter, I would spank her,\u201d the head of the marathon said of Switzer, who was 20 at the time. Women wouldn\u2019t be officially allowed to run in the marathon for another 5 years, because \u2026 um, because \u2026.<\/p>\nOn April 18, 37 years ago, a suicide bomber struck the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people (15 Benghazis). President Ronald Reagan vowed a strong response, and delivered by withdrawing US forces from Lebanon and sending 8,000 American troops to invade the Caribbean island of Grenada.<\/p>\nOn April 16, 2007, a heavily armed man killed 32 people and then himself at Virginia Tech. Thirteen years ago, Americans were still so shocked by such mass murders that it seemed like America might do something to prevent them in the future. That has not yet actually happened.<\/p>\nCharlie Chaplin was born April 16, 131 years ago.<\/p>\nSe\u00f1or Wences was born 126 years ago yesterday. S\u2019alriiight?<\/em>\u00a0S\u2019lariiight. Thornton Wilder was born 123 years ago yesterday. I\u2019m more of a Skin of Our Teeth<\/em> guy than an Our Town<\/em> guy.<\/p>\nJoy Davidman was born 105 years ago today. William Holden was born 102 years ago yesterday. I\u2019ve seen Sabrina, The Bridge on the River Kwai,<\/em> and Network<\/em> several times each and I\u2019d happily watch \u2019em all again.<\/p>\nHenry Mancini was born 96 years ago. Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uirBWk-qd9A\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Audrey Hepburn singing his \u201cMoon River.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nLongtime Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde was born 96 years ago today. Hyde was sued for his \u201cgross negligence\u201d in the S&L scandal of the 1980s due to his corrupt directorship with the Ponzi-like Clyde Federal S&L. He defended perjury in the Iran-Contra hearings, arguing it was in defense of selling arms to terrorists in order to fund other terrorists, and therefore for a good cause. And he explained that his long extramarital affair with a married mother of three was, unlike Bill Clinton\u2019s infidelity, excusable because he was only a youthful 41 at the time and because he dumped his girlfriend after she divorced her husband. All of this led to Hyde\u2019s name being synonymous with the moral superiority of white evangelicals, who take great pride in being \u201cPro-Hyde.\u201d<\/p>\nDusty Springfield would have turned 81 on April 16. Here\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DjydOI4MEIw\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Son of a Preacher Man<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\nProfessional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper would have turned 66 yesterday. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jTK8eff1Zsk\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">They Live<\/em><\/a> is an all-time classic.<\/p>\nSix-time NBA champion, hall-of-famer, and all-around mensch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar turned 73 on April 16. Peter Garrett, who is not quite as tall as Kareem, but almost as cool, turned 67. Here\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TsV6vzygElE\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sometimes<\/a>.\u201d Sometimes I just need to hear \u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\nRick Moranis turns 67 today. Ellen Barkin turned 66 on April 16. Susan Faludi turns 61 today. Sean Bean turned 61 yesterday. Bean died in 1986, 1989, 1990 (twice), 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001 (twice), 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 (twice), 2009, 2010 (twice), and 2012. He currently lives in Yorkshire.<\/p>\nDave Pirner turned 56 on April 16. Here\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NRtvqT_wMeY\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Runaway Train<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s an incoherent string of clich\u00e9s, but it\u2019s catchy. Conan O\u2019Brien turns 56 today.<\/p>\nJon Cryer and Martin Lawrence were born the same day, both turned 55 on April 16.<\/p>\nLiz Phair turned 53 yesterday. Here\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=znF6o0ME0-o\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">F\u2013k and Run<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\nDavid Tennant turns 49 today. Jennifer Garner turned 48 yesterday.<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-51646\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2020\/04\/Blink.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"254\"><\/p>\nClaire Foy just turned 36 on April 16. America Ferrera is two days younger. Rooney Mara turned 35 yesterday.<\/p>\nChancelor Johnathan Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper, turned 27 on April 16.<\/p>\nTalk amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Backtrackin' on these few years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backtrackin' on these few years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-16T10:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-19T01:43:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2020\/04\/Blink.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/\",\"name\":\"Backtrackin' on these few years\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-16T10:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-19T01:43:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Backtrackin’ on these few years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Backtrackin' on these few years","description":"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Backtrackin' on these few years","og_description":"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2020-04-16T10:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-19T01:43:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2020\/04\/Blink.gif"}],"author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/","name":"Backtrackin' on these few years","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-04-16T10:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-19T01:43:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47"},"description":"Here is your open thread for April 16-18, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/04\/16\/backtrackin-on-these-few-years\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Backtrackin’ on these few years"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}