Bazy Tankersley (1921–2013) was an American breeder of Arabian horses and a newspaper publisher. She was a daughter of Senator Joseph M. McCormick and Congresswoman Ruth Hanna McCormick. Her father died when she was a child, and she moved west when her mother remarried, where she was given a part-Arabian horse. She began working as a reporter at 18, and began her horse breeding operation, Al-Marah Arabians, in 1941. In 1949, she became the publisher of the conservative Washington Times- Herald owned by her uncle, Robert R. McCormick, where she became a friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy. When McCormick demanded she choose between the newspaper and Garvin "Tank" Tankersley, who became her second husband, she shifted to full-time horse breeding. By 1957 Al- Marah was the largest Arabian horse farm in the United States. Over her career she bred more than 2,800 registered Arabians. Though she was involved with conservative Republican causes as a young woman, she was a strong supporter of environmental causes in the 21st century and backed Barack Obama for president in 2008. She was a patron of many charities.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazy_Tankersley

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

655:

Penda of Mercia was defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria at the Battle of the Winwaed in modern-day Yorkshire, England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penda_of_Mercia

1760:

The chapel of the new Castellania Palace in Valletta, Malta, was consecrated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellania_(Valletta)

1889:

Brazilian Emperor Pedro II was overthrown in a coup led by Deodoro da Fonseca, and Brazil was proclaimed a republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_and_fall_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil

1959:

Two men murdered a family in Holcomb, Kansas, U.S.; the events became the subject of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, a pioneering work of the true crime genre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood

1968:

Vietnam War: American forces launched Operation Commando Hunt, a large-scale bombing campaign to prevent the People's Army of Vietnam from transporting personnel and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Commando_Hunt

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jingoistic: Overly patriotic or nationalistic, often with an element of favouring war or an aggressive foreign policy. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jingoistic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In wartime Shanghai I saw so many horrors … Civilised life is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is, we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.   --J. G. Ballard https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard