'Transgender' dude to play on high school girls' softball team

'Transgender' dude to play on high school girls' softball team | The Daily Caller

A male California high school senior who played on the boys baseball team as a freshman will now play on the girls softball team.

The student, Pat Cordova-Goff, attends Azusa High School in the northeastern corner of the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles.
Cordova-Goff (who was also a cheerleader at some point) will be the California’s first transgender high school student-athlete

History for February 16

History for February 16 - On-This-Day.com 

Happy Birthday! Richard Ford, William Katt,  John McEnroe, Jr.

1804 - A raid was led by Lt. Stephen Decatur to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia. The ship had been taken by pirates. 


1857 - The National Deaf Mute College was incorporated in Washington, DC. It was the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf. The school was later renamed Gallaudet College. 


1862 - Anniversary of the Surrender of Fort Donelson, KY, 1862, in which General Ulysses S. Grant stated, “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” This statement earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant

1923 - Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. The next day he entered the chamber with several invited guests. He had originally found the tomb on November 4, 1922. 


1937 - Wallace H. Carothers received a patent for nylon. Carothers was a research chemist for Du Pont. 


1959 - Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba after the overthrow of President Fulgencio Batista. 


1968 - In the U.S., the first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, AL. 


1970 - Joe Frazier began his reign as the undefeated heavyweight world champion when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds. He lost the title on January 22, 1973, when he lost for the first time in his professional career to George Foreman. 


2005 - The Kyoto global warming pact went into effect in 140 nations. 

DirecTV Combats Weather Channel Price Hikes By...Actually Showing People The Weather

DirecTV Combats Weather Channel Price Hikes By...Actually Showing People The Weather | Techdirt:

The Weather Channel has been well-deserving of mockery over the last few years, whether its for their efforts to sex up storms by naming them (in the process creating a nation of weather neurotics who become hysterical about drizzle), or for an ocean of TV and website content that has absolutely nothing to do with the weather (here's some funny faces, yuk yuk). 

As such, their recent battle with DirecTV over retransmission fees doesn't find the company getting much sympathy. 

Especially when the channel tries to argue that people will die without their inane assortment of non-weather-related content. 

...Surely being offered actual information on the weather will outrage viewers who love sitting through a half hour of off-topic infotainment and dreck just to get the snow forecast totals for their neighborhood. 

Seriously, without The Weather Channel, who'll tell us which celebrities like to hunt or provide recipes for cheesy chicken bites? 

The plot to make Big Food pay

The plot to make Big Food pay - Helena Bottemiller Evich - POLITICO.com:
"Lawyers are pitching state attorneys general in 16 states with a radical idea: make the food industry pay for soaring obesity-related health care costs.

It’s a move straight from the playbook of the Big Tobacco takedown of the 1990s, which ended in a $246 billion settlement with 46 states, a ban on cigarette marketing to young people and the Food and Drug Administration stepping in to regulate.
There are plenty of naysayers, just as there were in 1994 when Mike Moore, Mississippi’s attorney general, famously suggested suing the tobacco industry.
But a number of nutrition and legal experts think a similar strategy could be applied on the food front — especially as obesity-related diseases have surpassed smoking as a major driver of health care costs."

Illinois Electricity Customers Forced to Get 'Smart Meters' or Pay Fine

Illinois Electricity Customers Forced to Get 'Smart Meters' or Pay Fine | The Weekly Standard:
Despite the growing outrage and the significant cost to PG&E to buy and install the meters—the Timesreported roughly $220 per house—the company planned to expand smart meter use. This was ostensibly in the name of saving the consumer and company money: 

Power companies say the meters will allow utilities to vary the price charged to their customers by the hour to correspond to what those utilities are paying for energy in the wholesale market. This can help consumers save money, they say. 

They also say the meters will be crucial to remaking the electric system to handle intermittent power sources like wind turbines and solar cells while continuously meeting customers’ needs.

But those happy days when people had the choice to be "smarter" (brought to you by your public utility company and friendly federal government) are apparently over in Illinois. A state law passed in 2011 now requires homes and businesses have the smart meters installed. And per a decision by state regulators last week, those who refuse the meters will now see an extra charge on their monthly electric bill. The Chicago Tribune has the story on what might be considered Illinois's individual mandate on smart meters:

Commonwealth Edison customers who refuse to have smart meters installed will be charged $21.53 a month, regulators decided Wednesday.

"If customers make the decision to refuse a (smart) meter now and incur monthly charges associated with this choice it should be with full knowledge that this refusal is simply deferring the inevitable," the Illinois Commerce Commission said in its order.

The message? Get smart, or pay up.

Americana-Tammy Derouin-Hard work and endless hours are the forgotten aspects of the American dream. The American dream is not an entitlement. It’s not something the government can give.

LIBERTY REVIEW:
"All businesses start out small.
There’s a commercial currently running which points out that several big corporations began in a garage.
Being successful is the American dream.
Entrepreneurs are the ones who create jobs.
Nobody, including the government, should tell you there’s a limit as to how much you can make or how you should run your business."

Tomb guard sentinels acting to keep visitors quiet and respectful

Tomb guard sentinels acting to keep visitors quiet and respectful:
"A compilation of sentinels acting to keep visitors quiet and respectful.
The sentinels at Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier aren’t just automatons!
They actively guard the atmosphere at the tomb, telling visitors to remain respectful by quieting down or by staying off restricted areas.
I’ve added subtitles to the video for the full effect of the guards’ “third-person” warnings."

Never trust the liberal MSM. Never!--------Ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin guilty on 20 counts; networks fail to mention he’s a Dem

Ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin guilty on 20 counts; networks fail to mention he’s a Dem - BizPac Review
A federal jury found that Ray Nagin abused his office during the 8 years he served as New Orleans Democratic mayor, and found him guilty of 20 of the 21 counts he was indicted on, including bribery and conspiracy.

The jury found that both Nagin and his family’s granite business reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for millions of dollars in city contracts, according to the Associated Press.

Nagin is best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of New Orleans and plunging the city into chaos. […]
The charges against Nagin included one overarching conspiracy count along with six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns. He was acquitted of one of the bribery counts.

Black residents reject Trader Joe’s because it would attract too many white people

Although the Associated Press noted that Nagin was a Democrat, the “big three” network news reports weren’t quite as forthcoming. 
Link to transcript of their reports, according to NewsBusters:

Tell me Woman’s Day did not just give Bill Clinton an award by this name

Tell me Woman’s Day did not just give Bill Clinton an award by this name - BizPac Review:
"No one’s ever said Bill Clinton didn’t love women in his own way.
In fact, most of the country over 20 years old or so knows more about Clinton’s way of loving – and the trail it can leave — than mere political awareness would require.
So word that the former president and the foundation he heads were honored Tuesday  by Woman’s Day magazine drew more than a few laughs in the Twitter world.
 And the award being called a “Red Dress” didn’t help matters."
Photo: Cheaphumidors.com

It's the culture, stupid!------D.C. social services worker admits to scheme to steal $800,000 in Medicaid, food stamps

D.C. social services worker admits to scheme to steal $800,000 in Medicaid, food stamps – D.C. Crime Stories:

"A former District of Columbia Department of Human Services employee has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal $800,000 in Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits meant for the city’s poorest residents.

Forty-five-year-old Aretha Holland-Jackson,........"

This video brought tears to my eyes---I Am the Ukrainian (MUST WATCH)

Rage Explosion: Left Hosts Twitter Hatefest for Deceased Republican... 'F*ck Shirley Temple'

Rage Explosion: Left Hosts Twitter Hatefest for Deceased Republican... 'F*ck Shirley Temple' | Independent Journal Review:
"Oh no, they weren’t done yet.
There are a few more saved as screenshots, and you can get those on Twitchy.
But you get the point, the left will hate on anyone whom they perceive as their political enemies – even an adorable child star who just passed away after a long life making people happy."

MSM forgets his political party------Ray Nagin found guilty on 20 of 21 counts

Blog: Ray Nagin found guilty on 20 of 21 counts:
"Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, whose tenure in office included disastrous incompetence in handling Hurricane Katrina (for which the media blamed President George W. Bush), has been found guilty on 20 of 21 counts of corruption in a federal trial. 
Conviction on all counts could have led to a 20 year jail sentence and $1 million in fines, but at this point it is unknown which count went not guilty and how that will affect the sentence.
Bill Chappell of NPR writes an article that does not identify Nagin's political party, which is the mainstream media convention when treating criminal Democrats:"

History for February 15

History for February 15 - On-This-Day.com
450th birth anniversary of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

Birth anniversary of intrepid Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922).

Birth anniversary of Miep Gies (1909-2010), Dutch woman who with her husband Jan hid the Otto Frank family from the Nazis in Amsterdam during WWII. Gies discovered Anne Frank’s diary.

Birth anniversary of Irena Sendler (1910-2007), Polish social worker who spearheaded a rescue operation of Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto in WWII.

Happy Birthday! Matt Groening, Melissa Manchester, Jane Seymour

1758 - Mustard was advertised for the first time in America. 


1898 - The USS Maine sank when it exploded in Havana Harbor for unknown reasons. More than 260 crew members were killed. 


1903 - Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants, introduced the first teddy bear in America. 


1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show" on CBS radio. 


1933 - U.S. President-elect Franklin Roosevelt escaped an assination attempt in Miami. Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in the attack. 


1953 - The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright. 


1965 - Canada displayed its new red and white maple leaf flag. The flag was to replace the old Red Ensign standard.
 

1982 - During a storm, the Ocean Ranger, a drilling rig, sank off the coast of Newfoundland. 84 men were killed. 


1989 - After nine years of intervention, the Soviet Union announced that the remainder of its troops had left Afghanistan. 


2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a site for long-term disposal of radioactive nuclear waste.

Video: NAACP Marchers Claim Tea Party Racist, but Don’t Know Why

Video: NAACP Marchers Claim Tea Party Racist, but Don’t Know Why:

"In a stroke of irony, attendees wishing to protest a supposed racism inherent in voter ID laws by marching in the Forward Together March had to show identification to do so. "

When hearing news about MI road spending as...

(1) When hearing news about MI road spending as... - Scott Hagerstrom:
"When hearing news about MI road spending as outlined below.
Remember MI has the 7th highest tax on gasoline. Michigan residents are already paying for first class roads. It is up to our elected officials to put that money into roads.
Michigan Ranks 50th In Per-Capita Spending On Roads And Bridges
Some Census data could better explain the numerous potholes in Michigan.
The state is dead last in per-capita spending on infrastructure among the 50 states, according to the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association (MITA).
According to 2010 Census Bureau data, Michigan spends $154 per person annually on its infrastructure. Many neighboring states spend anywhere from $60 to $376 more per person, MITA reported"

Obama's executive actions "a very dangerous thing," says legal scholar

Obama's executive actions "a very dangerous thing," says legal scholar:

"A legal scholar said Wednesday on Fox New’s “The Kelly File” that President Obama’s decision to bypass Congress to enact legislation is “a very dangerous thing.” 

“The framers created a system that was designed to avoid one principle thing, and that’s the concentration of power in any one branch, because that balancing between these branches in a fixed orbit is not only what gives stability to our system, but protects us against authoritarian power, protects civil liberties from abuse,” Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University Law School, told host Megyn Kelly.

“And what we’ve been seeing is the shift of gravity in that system in a very dangerous way that makes it unstable.”"

Cuomo aide caught breaking gun law quickly receives waiver

Cuomo aide caught breaking gun law quickly receives waiver | The Daily Caller:

"Jerome Hauer, a top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, appears to have regularly carried a firearm to work in violation of state law.

 Hauer runs New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

Cuomo, an advocate of ultra-strict gun control laws, appointed him to the job in 2011.

Hauer’s 9-millimeter Glock first came to the attention of local newspapers when he used the gun’s laser sighting attachment as a pointer during a meeting with a Swedish delegation.

....State law, however, explicitly bans state workers from bringing guns to the workplace, which Hauer apparently did frequently. Reporters began asking questions about Hauer’s habit of carrying his gun to work, only to be stonewalled by the Cuomo administration.

On Wednesday, the Times Union learned that Hauer had received a waiver allowing him to carry a handgun to work. The waiver was issued only four days after they ran the story about Hauer using the laser sight as a pointer.

Colorado Health-Exchange Director Indicted for Fraud, Theft

Colorado Health-Exchange Director Indicted for Fraud, Theft | National Review Online:

"[Christa Ann] McClure, 51, pleaded not guilty Feb. 6 in federal District Court in Montana to eight counts of theft and fraud from a nonprofit housing agency in Billings."

LINCOLN PARK: Governor appoints financial review team

LINCOLN PARK: Governor appoints financial review team - thenewsherald.com

— A financial review team officially appointed for the city Monday by Gov. Rick Snyder likely will decide by late April whether it will recommend appointment of an emergency manager.

...When the team concludes the review, it will recommend that the one of the following options for the city:

......File for bankruptcy, an option that is considered unlikely.

Endangered Senate Dems openly pushing IRS to target opposition political groups

Politics: Endangered Senate Dems openly pushing IRS to target opposition political groups | Best of Cain:
"So what do they do?
Why they call the IRS for help, of course.
From The Hill's piece entitled "Vulnerable Dems want IRS to step up"...
Senate Democrats facing tough elections this year want the Internal Revenue Service to play a more aggressive role in regulating outside groups expected to spend millions of dollars on their races.
In the wake of the IRS targeting scandal, the Democrats are publicly prodding the agency instead of lobbying them directly."

Clarence Thomas: Northern liberals are more racist than southerners

Clarence Thomas: Northern liberals are more racist than southerners:
"“My sadness is that we are probably today more race and difference-conscious than I was in the 1960s when I went to school.
To my knowledge, I was the first black kid in Savannah, Georgia, to go to a white school.
Rarely did the issue of race come up,” Thomas said during a chapel service hosted by the nondenominational Christian university.
“Now, name a day it doesn’t come up. "

Another impossibly stupid Common Core worksheet

Another impossibly stupid Common Core worksheet | The Daily Caller:

"Here is the latest in a long line of frighteningly stupid Common Core math worksheets to bubble up courtesy of Twitter, according to Twitchy."