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Numerology: the significance of 8647


As is now all-too-well known, the executive branch of the US government has put its resources behind the proposition that the numbers "8647" lined out with seashells, must to any reasonable person be seen as a threat to kill the 47th President. 

Hmmm. So far as I could tell from the infamous photo, we're supposed to take them to be 8 6 47.  Month, day, year.  Did anything of importance worth memorializing on a North Carolina beach happen on an 8/6/47? 

Nothing much from August 6, 1947, I'm afraid.  Except that a great cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals, Ken Riley, was born on that date. He was posthumously admitted to the Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

We get to something more promising if we step back a century. During the Mexican War, on August 6, 1847 the US marines began a march on Mexico City under the command of Lt. Colonel Samuel Watson.  This historic tidbit does have some visibility or, rather, audibility, because it is the reason the Marine Corps band constantly reminds us of the "halls of Montezuma." THAT march began on an 8/6/47.

History of Our Corps - August 6 - A Gathering of Gyrenes

So, for all I know, the seashells were first placed in that position by a Marine vet or a kin of a Marine vet to whom they meant, roughly, "Semper Fi."

Okay -- that is an arbitrary supposition of mine, based on about two minutes of googling.  Do you know what is great about it, though?  I do not have at my command (and would not employ if, oddly, I did) the machinery of criminal prosecution, so I can do nothing to enforce my take on those digits.

Cool.  

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Comments

  1. HenryMay 5, 2026 at 5:53 AM

    The media rarely note that, even if "8647" referred to assassinating Trump, it is inarguably not a "true threat" as the term is used legally. At most, it would be a statement of opinion that he should be assassinated and would be fully protected by the First Amendment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristopherMay 5, 2026 at 7:58 AM

      WATTS v. UNITED STATES (1969) comes to mind.

      Delete
  2. HenryMay 5, 2026 at 8:22 AM

    The Wikipedia article, "True Threats," states that Watts was prosecuted for saying, " "[i]f they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J." The Supreme Court found that that statement was not a true threat but was protected speech under the First Amendment. At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_threat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristopherMay 5, 2026 at 4:14 PM

      Yes. I suspect this indictment will never get near a trial.

      Delete
  3. HenryMay 5, 2026 at 4:27 PM

    Blanche’s bad faith in bringing the indictment is so egregious as to warrant his disbarment.

    ReplyDelete

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