21 June 2019
dilapidate
[ dih-lap-i-deyt ]
verb (used with object), di·lap·i·dat·ed, di·lap·i·dat·ing.
to cause or allow (a building, automobile, etc.) to fall into a state of disrepair, as by misuse or neglect (often used passively):
The house had been dilapidated by neglect.
Archaic. to squander; waste.
verb (used without object), di·lap·i·dat·ed, di·lap·i·dat·ing.
to fall into ruin or decay.
ORIGIN OF DILAPIDATE
1560–70; Medieval Latin dīlapidātus, past participle of dīlapidāre to squander (compare dīlapidātiō disrepair), Latin: to pelt with stones; see di-2, lapidate
Today’s quote
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
– Bertrand Russell
On this day
21 June 1940 – death of Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corp Major-General. He received 19 medals, five of which were for bravery. He twice received the Medal of Honor. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in history. Nonetheless, he was an outspoken critic of war and military actions. He wrote a book called ‘War is a Racket’, which exposed the links between the military and industry, in which he stated that business interests directly benefit from warfare. Butler wrote a summary of the book, which stated: ‘War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes‘. He was born on 30 July 1881.
21 June 1953 – birth of Benazir Bhutto, elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, becoming the first female leader of a Muslim country. She also became the first national leader to give birth while in office. She was dismissed as Prime Minister in 1996 amid accusations of corruption. She went into exile, living in the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, against the orders of President Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan to contest the 2008 election. She was assassinated at a rally on 27 December 2007.
21 June 1964 – Three civil rights activists (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) disappear in Mississippi while investigating an allegation that the Ku Klux Klan had burned down an African-American church. Their bodies were discovered six weeks later. In 1966, seven Ku Klux Klan members were found guilty of the murders, while eight others were found not guilty, including Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen who was retried in 2005 and found guilty.
21 June 2001 – death of John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist. Born 22 August 1917.
21 June 2005 – Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen, former Ku Klux Klansman, is found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the 1964 killing of three civil rights activists and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment.
21 June 2018 – Jacinda Adern gives birth to a girl while serving as Prime Minister of New Zealand, becoming the second woman to give birth while serving as a national leader. The first woman to do so, was Benazir Bhutto in 1990, while serving as Prime Minister of Pakistan.