Two major anniversaries shamefully went unnoticed by major media --- and the White House --- last week: The 70th anniversary of the 82-day Battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest and costliest of World War II in the Pacific, and the 65th anniversary marking the outbreak of the three-year Korean War which remains open ended following a July, 1952 cease fire, noted Grumpy Editor.
But those anniversaries were remembered overseas.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe placed a bouquet of flowers at a memorial service in Japan as he marked the Battle of Okinawa anniversary with 5,000 people in attendance.
The American victory over Japan was costly. The U.S. suffered substantial losses in Okinawa: on land and at sea, more than 12,000 Americans were killed and more than 36,000 were wounded while 36 American ships and nearly 800 aircraft were lost.
Meanwhile, the Korean War anniversary was observed in South Korea, North Korea and even New Zealand. North Korea marked the date with 100,000 participants in a rally at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Stadium.
The Korean War, often called the “Forgotten War,” resulted in 36,574 U.S. military deaths and 103,284 wounded.
Among media that did remember the Korean War anniversary were KHON-TV, Honolulu covering ceremonies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and TV stations WGCL, Atlanta, and WCSC, Charleston, S.C. that used a six-sentence CNN story recapping the Korean War.
Generally, most media delight in spotlighting anniversaries, no matter how old. Just last week print and broadcast outlets ran a story commemorating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, a charter agreed by King John of England in 1215.
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
Looks like financial events in Greece will continue to affect up and down movements on the New York Stock Exchange this week…Whose house is it? When a heckler interrupted Barack Obama’s gay rights speech at the White House, the president told the transgender woman, “Hey, listen, you’re in my house.” (It may have slipped the president’s mind, but the White House is known as the People’s House.)…Ho-hum, keep trying. From the Washington Examiner: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that the GOP will keep trying to repeal ObamaCare, after a Supreme Court ruling that upheld subsidies to people using the federal insurance exchange and basically left the law intact"…Guess what influenced TPP votes? In connection with Congress’s action with the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, The Guardian, London, cited backers of the trade deal “turned on the cash spigot” with donations to U.S. senators between January and March when fast-tracking the TPP was being debated. It said out of $1,148,971 from corporate TPP supporters, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes, with the average Republican member receiving $19,673.28 while the average Democrat received $9,689.23…Media runs with it, not raising an eyebrow and asking “how calculated” when a White House-released study on climate change comes up with a figure. As the Washington Post put it: “A global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions would prevent nearly 70,000 premature American deaths annually by the end of the century”…Media continued to call inflation tame, even after the Commerce Department noted the personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in May from the prior month, biggest rise in more than two years…El Monte, Calif. police responding to a burglary report chased a man riding a bicycle. The bicyclist crashed into a bush and ran off as police gave chase on foot and arrested him. But on returning to their police vehicle --- it was gone, stolen by someone who left it, motor idling, on a freeway onramp…Cheers to The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W. Va. The newspaper welcomed 15 high school students to a four-day workshop last week that included participating in news coverage planning sessions, talking to reporters about various aspects of their jobs, learning about digital media, observing production of a newspaper page and accompanying reporters on assignments.
Finger-licking good?
Most front-page stories in the past week were rather glum but Grumpy Editor saw a line on Thursday’s Drudge Report that triggered a rare (these days) belly laugh:
Indiana cops arrest man spotted licking a toad…
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