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MILESTONES: June 8, birthdays for Kanye West, Maria Menounos, Gabrielle Giffords

Brooklyn Today

June 8, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Rapper Kanye West celebrates his birthday today. Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 158th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Kanye West and Nancy Sinatra, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article on the front page titled “Arrest All Reds Here, VFW Post Tells Mayor” at the height of McCarthyism.

The article focused on a Brooklyn Veterans of Foreign War post that called on then-Mayor Vincent Impellitteri to arrest everyone distributing communist literature.

“In a letter to the mayor, Cosimo Perniciaro, commander of Hayes Brothers Post, declared the recent Supreme Court decision upholding conviction of 11 top communist leaders on charges of teaching and advocating overthrow of the government ‘makes it perfectly clear that the communist party is the agent of an enemy within our gates,’” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include cartoonist SCOTT ADAMS, who was born in 1957; actress KATHY BAKER, who was born in 1950; inventor of the World Wide Web TIM BERNERS-LEE, who was born in 1955; former first lady BARBARA PIERCE BUSH, who was born in 1925; former football player and actor BERNIE CASEY, who was born in 1939; tennis player KIM CLIJSTERS, who was born in 1983; singer and actor JAMES DARREN, who was born in 1936; former tennis player and sportscaster LINDSAY DAVENPORT, who was born in 1976; actor, director and producer GRIFFIN DUNNE, who was born in 1955; former U.S. Rep. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, who was born in 1970; Emmy Award-winning actress JULIANNA MARGULIES, who was born in 1966; TV host MARIA MENOUNOS, who was born in 1978; author SARA PARETSKY, who was born in 1947; singer, musician and songwriter BOZ SCAGGS, who was born in 1944; singer NANCY SINATRA, who was born in 1940; comedian and actor JERRY STILLER, who was born in Brooklyn in 1929; actor KEENEN IVORY WAYANS, who was born in 1958; physician and writer on natural healing DR. ANDREW WEIL, who was born in 1942; and singer and producer KANYE WEST, who was born in 1977.

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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1867. Considered by many as one of the greatest and most influential of modern architects, Wright fathered the uniquely American “Prairie School,” which embodied by single-story structures with low, pitched roofs and long rows of casement windows, using locally available materials and unpainted wood, aesthetically mimicking the Midwest prairie landscape. His self-described “organic architecture,” marked by its horizontal emphasis and expansive, open interior spaces, referred to buildings that harmonize both with their inhabitants and with their environment. Wright died in Arizona in 1959.

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“1984” WAS PUBLISHED ON THIS DAY IN 1949. George Orwell’s influential dystopian novel, set in the superstate of Oceania and introducing the concept of Big Brother, was published in England by Secker & Warburg.

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THE USS LIBERTY WAS ATTACKED ON THIS DAY IN 1967. The unescorted U.S. intelligence ship USS Liberty, sailing in international waters off the Egyptian coast, was attacked without warning by Israeli jet planes and three Israeli torpedo boats. It was strafed and hit repeatedly by rockets, cannons, napalm and finally a torpedo. Out of a crew of 294 Americans, there were 34 dead and 171 wounded. Israel apologized, claiming mistaken identity, but surviving crew members charged that it was a deliberate attack by Israel and cover-up by U.S. authorities.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) WILL HOST “THE QUEER Histories of Brooklyn’s Working Waterfront” tonight at 6:30 p.m. From the 1800s until post-WWII’s industrial decline, Brooklyn’s waterfront was a refuge for working-class queer people. Journalist Hugh Ryan, founder of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, will pull back the curtain to tell this history, from the military factories that gave lesbians (and all women) economic freedom, to the transgender presence at Coney Island freak shows. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.” — Kanye West, who was born on this day in 1977