History for February 20

History for February 20 - On-This-Day.com
World Day for Social Justice (United Nations)

In 1895, Frederick Douglass died. He was born probably in February 1817.

Birth anniversaries of Ansel Adams (1902-84), Robert Altman (1925-2006), Carl E. Stotz, founder of Little League baseball (1920-92).

Happy Birthday! Jennifer O’Neill, Sidney Poitier, Bobby Unser

1792 - U.S. President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act thereby creating the U.S. Post Office. 


1809 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was greater than that of any individual state. 


1839 - The U.S. Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia. 

1872 - Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine that manufactured paper bags. 


1872 - Silas Noble and J.P. Cooley patented the toothpick manufacturing machine. 



1944 - "Big Week" began as U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers during World War II. 

1962 - John Glenn made space history when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.
 

1987 - A bomb exploded in a computer store in Salt Lake City, UT. The blast was blamed on the Unabomber. 


1998 - American Tara Lipinski, at age 15, became the youngest gold medalist in winter Olympics history when she won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, Japan. 


2003 - In West Warwick, RI, 99 people were killed when fire destroyed the nightclub The Station. The fire started with sparks from a pyrotechnic display being used by Great White. Ty Longley, guitarist for Great White, was one of the victims in the fire.

Rogue Chihuahuas overrun Arizona town

Rogue Chihuahuas overrun Arizona town | Rare:

"Stray packs of Chihuahuas have taken over the streets of one Arizona town, striking fear into the hearts of its residents with their jagged teeth and high-pitched yelps.

Animal control has been doing their best to handle the situation in Maryvale, a town in Phoenix, but the little rat dogs have proven to be a formidable force.

 “We compared the number of calls we got in 2013 from that area to similar areas in town and the calls from Maryvale were three times higher than surrounding areas,” said Melissa Gable with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control."

Obama orders new green rules

Obama orders new green rules | TheHill:
"Obama also vocally defended his prior work on fuel efficiency standards, arguing doomsday predictions about how the auto industry would react to new regulations had not been borne out.
In Obama's first term, the administration completed fuel standards requiring a 20 percent reduction in heavy-vehicle emissions by 2018, as well as a 35.5 miles per gallon average on regular automobiles.

“Every time somebody says you can't grow the economy while bringing down pollution, it's turned out they've been wrong,” Obama said."

Faculty Hampering Heroin Bust At Elementary School

Faculty Hampering Heroin Bust At Elementary School » Black & Right:
"When it’s not all about The Children….
Fallsburg (New York) police investigating the reported discovery of heroin and drug paraphernalia in a faculty bathroom at Benjamin Cosor Elementary School say the refusal by a group of teachers to cooperate is hampering their probe.

 No one has been charged, but six teachers and an aide were identified as having used the men’s room before a school staff member reportedly found a heroin baggie on Feb. 11.

Just before the winter break in December, heroin and needles were reportedly found in the same bathroom.

Each of the seven faculty members initially agreed to give urine samples, but then rescinded their cooperation and hired lawyers on the advice of the school district’s union, Fallsburg police Chief Simmie Williams said."

Fourth Georgia hospital closes due to Obamacare cuts

Fourth Georgia hospital closes due to Obamacare cuts | The Daily Caller:

"The fourth Georgia hospital in two years is closing its doors due to severe financial difficulties caused by Obamacare’s payment cuts for emergency services.
The Lower Oconee Community Hospital is, for now, a critical access hospital in southeastern Georgia that holds 25 beds.

The hospital is suffering from serious cash-flow problems, largely due to the area’s 23 percent uninsured population, and hopes to reopen as “some kind of urgent care center,” CEO Karen O’Neal said."

Who’d a-thunk it? Student success is not ‘Priority No. 1′ for most unionized public school teachers?

Who’d a-thunk it? Student success is not ‘Priority No. 1′ for most unionized public school teachers? | AEIdeas:
"But in a distorted teacher union-dominated world you would be wrong, because student success is obviously not the primary concern of the public school monopoly.
Preservation of the status quo and a continuation of the current failed public school model, and preserving its power, are the primary concerns of the teachers unions and their administrative enablers, which now includes the New York mayor.
In the insane, upside-down world of public school unions, Eva Moskowitz is the teachers union’s Enemy No. 1 for daring to make student success Priority No. 1 at her successful charter schools. 
Unfortunately, it now looks like continuing and duplicating the success of charter schools including Moskowitz’s Success Academies will be much more difficult in New York City, and thousands of poor children will be casualties of the new mayor’s “War on Charters.”"

Minimum Wage Hike Attacks Young and Industrious

Minimum Wage Hike Attacks Young and Industrious | CNS News:
""It would lift millions of Americans out of poverty, and help millions more work their way out of poverty, without requiring a single dollar in new taxes or spending," said Obama. 
Perhaps he is right.
"Tax" may not precisely describe Obama's proposal.
"Attack" might be more accurate.
Who is targeted by this assault on free enterprise?
Industrious young people — those who, historically, have been on their way up in America — and the entrepreneurs who employ them."

Only under Holder-A suspected pirate, freed after a civilian trial, is seeking asylum here.

Only under Holder | National Review Online:

"The story begins with the 2011 arrest of Ali Mohamed Ali, who took part in the pirate attack on a Danish vessel, the CEC Future, off the northern coast of Somalia three years earlier.
Ali acted as a translator for the pirates and communicated their demands to the vessel’s owner, Clipper Group. 
After two months of holding the ship and its crew of 13 captive, the pirates eventually released them in exchange for a ransom of $1.7 million.
The ransom payment was dropped onto the vessel by helicopter.
As part of its efforts to suppress piracy, including the stationing of a naval task force off East Africa, the United States eventually captured Ali."

OMG! He's lost TIME!-----Obama Plays Water-Guzzling Desert Golf Courses Amid California Drought

Obama Plays Water-Guzzling Desert Golf Courses Amid California Drought | TIME.com:
President Barack Obama traveled to California on Friday to highlight the state’s drought emergency at two events near Fresno, calling for shared sacrifice to help manage the state’s worst water shortage in decades.
He then spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the hospitality of some of the state’s top water hogs: desert golf courses.
Vacationing with DVDs of his favorite television shows and multiple golf outings with his buddies, the duffer in chief played at two of the most exclusive courses in the Palm Springs area.

.....The following day he golfed at billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s 19-hole Porcupine Creek. 

On Presidents’ Day, Obama hit the links at Sunnylands once again.
The 124 golf courses in the Coachella Valley consume roughly 17% of all water there, and one-quarter of the water pumped out of the region’s at-risk groundwater aquifer, according to the Coachella Valley Water District.

World's largest solar farm is SCORCHING BIRDS that fly over it

World's largest solar farm is SCORCHING BIRDS that fly over it | Mail Online:
"Horror at the world's largest solar farm days after it opens as it is revealed panels are SCORCHING birds that fly over them.
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world's largest solar plant of its kind, recently switched on.
The plants is located on five square miles of the Mojave Desert, near the California / Nevada border
State energy officials have released photos of bird with singed feathers from flying into the hot 'thermal flux' around the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit"

Subpar: Anti-Obama Street Art Covers Santa Monica

Subpar: Anti-Obama Street Art Covers Santa Monica | Washington Free Beacon:

"An unknown artist is covering the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., with posters declaring President Obama to be “subpar.”"

Killer drought: California’s man-made disaster to save a bait-fish from extiction

Killer drought: California’s man-made disaster to save a bait-fish from extiction | Unapologetically Rude:
"In keeping with the federal court order, 3 million acre-feet of fresh water has been diverted — directly into the Pacific Ocean.
The Delta Smelt is normally used by Californians as a bait-fish."

Housing Starts Plunge Most In 3 Years; Permits Tumble - Miss By Most In 7 Months

Housing Starts Plunge Most In 3 Years; Permits Tumble - Miss By Most In 7 Months | Zero Hedge:

It seems once again that 'economists' and 'analysts' misunderstood the weather in winter is cold. 

Housing Starts dropped a stunning 16% MoM (from an upwardly revised December data) for the biggest miss since June 2013 (and 8 of last 10 months missed expectations). 

This is the biggest MoM drop in 3 years. 

Building Permits - more problematic for the weather blamers - also plunged (by 5.4%) missing expectations by the most since June. 

However, what is the biggest slap in the face for the 'weather-blamers' is the collapse in Permits for the West (-26%) while most other regions improved.

Swiss fighters grounded during hijacking as outside office hours

AFP: Swiss fighters grounded during hijacking as outside office hours:
"Geneva — No Swiss fighter jets were scrambled Monday when an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked his own plane and forced it to land in Geneva, because it happened outside business hours, the Swiss airforce said.
When the co-pilot on flight ET-702 from Addis Ababa to Rome locked himself in the cockpit while the pilot went to the bathroom and announced a hijacking, Italian and French fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane through their respective airspaces.
But although the co-pilot-turned-hijacker quickly announced he wanted to land the plane in Switzerland, where he later said he aimed to seek asylum, Switzerland's fleet of F-18s and F-5 Tigers remained on the ground, Swiss airforce spokesman Laurent Savary told AFP.
This, he explained, was because the Swiss airforce is only available during office hours. These are reported to be from 8am until noon, then 1:30 to 5pm.
"Switzerland cannot intervene because its airbases are closed at night and on the weekend," he said, adding: "It's a question of budget and staffing.""

Dumbing Down: Florida Schools Ban Low Grades

Dumbing Down: Florida Schools Ban Low Grades:
"America’s already sub-par educational standards continue to be lowered in districts across the nation. Along with the introduction of federal Common Core curriculum, teachers are becoming far more interested in dispensing leftist propaganda than instilling actual knowledge.

Nowhere is this depressing trend more apparent than in Lake County, Florida. According to a recent local report, at least one school in the district, Gray Middle School, has banned any educator from issuing a grade lower than a 50.
In an interview with WFTV in Orlando, one school administrator contended that the outrageous policy is somehow in the students’ best interest.
When confronted with the fact that it falls far short of preparing kids for the real world, the official tried to spin the decision in the district’s favor."

How to calculate your waiter’s tip using Common Core math

How to calculate your waiter’s tip using Common Core math [pic] | Twitchy:

"If you don’t have a Common Core app for figuring out how much to tip your waiter, no worries. Just bundle up your ten-sticks.

Your server will wait.

And wait … and wait … and wait."

Poetry contest

Poem from the UP!

The contest came down to two contestants:

1. A Yale graduate 2. An Upper Michigander ( a Yooper, if you will) They were given a single word, then allowed two minutes to come up with a poem containing that word. The word they were given was "TIMBUKTU" The Yale graduate stepped up to the microphone and said: "SLOWLY ACROSS THE DESERT SAND TREKKED A LONELY CARAVAN. MEN ON CAMELS-TWO BY TWO DESTINATION-TIMBUKTU". The crowd went crazy! No way could the Yooper top that, they thought. The Upper Michigander calmly stepped up to the microphone and recited: "ME AND TIM A HUNTIN WENT, MET THREE WHORES IN A POP UP TENT. DEY WAS TREE, AND WE WAS TWO SO I BUCKED ONE, AND TIMBUKTU". The Yooper won, hands down!

History for February 19

History for February 19 - On-This-Day.com
Birth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).

Happy Birthday! Lou Christie, Jeff Daniels, Smokey Robinson

1846 - The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1845. 


1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph). 


1881 - Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.  


1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans. 


1945 - During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. 


1985 - Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company. 


1986 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification. 


1986 - The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station. 


1987 - A controversial, anti-smoking publice service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before ad aired. 


2004 - Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader's collapse. Skilling was later convicted and sentenced to more than 24 years in prison. 


2008 - Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency. His brother Raul was later named as his successor.

Competitor Takes Over Verizon's West Virginia Landlines; Complaints Drop Nearly 70%

Competitor Takes Over Verizon's West Virginia Landlines; Complaints Drop Nearly 70% | Techdirt: "Evidence of this approach recently surfaced in West Virginia, where a competing company had taken over Verizon's former service area.
The net result?
A nearly 70% drop in complaints. (via BroadbandReports, Karl Bode's other home)
Nearly four years after taking over Verizon's West Virginia landline operations, Frontier Communications has expanded broadband access to roughly 176,000 households and seen consumer complaints drop by nearly 70 percent."

A Picture of Detroit Ruin, Street by Forlorn Street

A Picture of Detroit Ruin, Street by Forlorn Street - NYTimes.com:

"And for leaders in Detroit, the database is expected to bring the clearest, if perhaps the gloomiest, picture yet of the city’s hollowed-out neighborhoods, which homes can be saved and where demolition may be the only cure.

While earlier studies have aimed to track Detroit’s circumstances and officials have issued their own estimates of the woes (the city’s emergency manager has referred to 78,000 vacant buildings while other city officials say the number may be closer to 90,000), nothing has been as comprehensive."

Think about it.....

It's more than income taxes but it all adds up----Where State Income Taxes are the Lowest in One Convenient Map

Where State Income Taxes are the Lowest in One Convenient Map | Independent Journal Review

Morons at Homeland Security or union thuggery? Or both!--------NJ salt shortage continues

NJ salt shortage continues - New York News:
"NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) -The salt shortage persists in New Jersey.
Officials have failed to get permission for a barge with 40 tons of salt to set sail for the tristate region
Angel Morales, a resident of Jersey City says her car just won’t go anywhere.
“Look, you see I went up and I started sliding back,” she said.
N.J. officials were hoping a barge with 40 tons of salt would arrive from Maine.
But the vessel wasn't flying the American flag and officials couldn't get clearance from Homeland Security to come to the Port of Newark.  
The barge sailed empty, leaving the salt in Maine."

Report: America completely reliant on China for antibiotics

Report: America completely reliant on China for antibiotics | The Daily Caller:
"The United States is nearly completely reliant on China for it’s supply of lifesaving antibiotics.
“The crucial ingredients for nearly all antibiotics, steroids and many other lifesaving drugs are now made exclusively in China,”
The New York Times reported in the 32nd paragraph of a Friday article entitled “Medicines made in India set off safety worries.”
Indeed, 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of Bristol-Myers Squibb — the last American plant that manufactured the key ingredients for penicillin and other drugs — shuttering it’s upstate New York factory."

WeMOG tomorrow!

We are getting more snow and looks like it should be good skiing/snowshoe on Wed. Feb 19 

We will be meeting at Coast Guard Park in Ferrysburg at 1:00

 Directions: US-31 to Ferrysburg exit and go West to 4 way stop and turn west. Park is on your right about 1 mile. 

Questions: Bonnie 616-550-3670 

Will cancel by 10 am if weather is undesirable.

  

High School Textbook Rewrites Second Amendment–Literally

High School Textbook Rewrites Second Amendment–Literally:
"The authors of United States History:
Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination have taken it upon themselves to change the Constitution of the United States. The high school textbook contains a summary of each Amendment that alters the initial intent in which they were created.
The textbook notes the Second Amendment as, "The people have a right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.""

Democrat Memo: Republicans Oppose Obamacare Because They Support Domestic Abuse

Democrat Memo: Republicans Oppose Obamacare Because They Support Domestic Abuse | RedState:
"Democrats know their biggest problem in this year’s midterm election is Obamacare.
So top party operatives have settled on a strategy to try blunting the GOP’s advantage:
Tell voters Republicans would make the problem worse — raising prescription drug prices, empowering insurance companies and even endangering domestic violence victims. 
Let’s pause for just a minute here.
It is one thing for the Democrats to have the brass ones to hope people forget that bailing out insurance companies and horse trading with pharma is a central feature of Obamacare - after all, brazen lies and a complete lack of shame are what we have come to expect from Democrats.
It is another thing entirely to trot out an attack that a) doesn’t make sense and b) isn’t even connected to health care in the mind of any rational person.
I cannot wait to hear the convoluted explanation linking the two that will connect in the minds of average voters."

1 in 4 Americans Think Sun Revolves Around Earth: Study

1 in 4 Americans Think Sun Revolves Around Earth: Study | TIME.com:

"Does the Earth go around the sun, or does the sun go around the Earth?

 When asked that question, 1 in 4 Americans surveyed answered incorrectly.

Yes, 1 in 4.

In other words, a quarter of Americans do not understand one of the most fundamental principles of basic science.

So that’s where we are as a society right now."

Hey! There's no "Conserva-male"? "Pedofilic-lib"?--------'That's A Beautiful Thing:' CNN's Phillips Gushes Over Facebook's 50+ Gender Categories

They checked ONLY with GLAAD zealots not real people.
If we're gonna get funky, why not communicate with the real world?
Moi (a little froggie talk to set my gravitas...), I prefer "TeaPartyHottie-lover" 

'That's A Beautiful Thing:' CNN's Phillips Gushes Over Facebook's 50+ Gender Categories | Media Research Center:

"PHILLIPS: Well, that's a beautiful thing. We all want to be who we are – right, Rich?"


.....PHILLIPS: All right. So, we're talking 50 descriptions – and, probably, to the average person, Rich, they're going, huh? (laughs) I don't understand. It's either male or female, right? So, just a couple that – that our team – we didn't know. We didn't hear of 'cisgender.' Explain what 'cisgender' is.

FERRARO: Well, if you could also put yourself in the shoes of a young person who identifies this way, and recognize that they didn't have the option of sharing who they were with the world before yesterday, when Facebook made this change. We have a resource at glaad.org/transgender, where you can learn a little bit more about these gender identities and the young people who identify that way.

PHILLIPS: What about 'two-spirit'?

FERRARO: 'Two-spirit' is a word that many indigenous Native Americans use today who feel that male and female doesn't best describe who they are.

Read the prayer--Michigan Commissioners Open Meeting With Islamic Prayer

Michigan Commissioners Open Meeting With Islamic Prayer | Jen Kuznicki:
"I would like to preface this eye-witness report with some thoughts.
First, that America, it’s founding and government, is based upon Judeo/Christian philosophy.
Freedom is not compatible with Islamic law.

Right now in Michigan, the establishment Republican leadership is actively trying to suppress any “anti-Muslim” sentiment as vigorously as they are suppressing any Bible references or, “pro-Christian” sentiment. 

They are doing so, in my view, because Michigan is home to the largest population of Muslims in the nation.

The particular commission has eight of its twelve commissioners listed as Republicans.  
Most of the people who praised the Islamic minister and his prayer were Republican women."

Obamacare options-10 Weirdest Home Remedies That Actually Work

10 Weirdest Home Remedies That Actually Work (home remedies, homemade remedies) - ODDEE:
"Duct tape cures warts
Duct tape: Is there anything it can't do? 
Some people would go to great lengths to have warts removed.
Typically, painful options like cryotherapy, acid preparations, laser therapy, heat, and tape occlusion are the treatment of choice, but even cryotherapy (burning the wart off with liquid nitrogen) has only a 60% success rate.
Comparably, the painless practice of applying a small piece of duct tape seems to provide about an 85% success rate. 
 Simply apply a small piece of duct tape to the wart and leave it on for a week.
Then wash the area and use a pumice stone to scour the affected area, and reapply the tape for another week. Repeat until the wart is gone."

Althouse: 3 years ago (yesterday) today: Wisconsin Democrats flee to Illinois to avoid vote in the state Senate.

Althouse: 3 years ago today: Wisconsin Democrats flee to Illinois to avoid vote in the state Senate.:

"February 17, 2014
3 years ago today: Wisconsin Democrats flee to Illinois to avoid vote in the state Senate.
The "fleebagger" phase of the Wisconsin protests began.

 At the state capitol, there were thousands of protesters, inside and out. Here is one of the many photographs I took that day:



ADDED:

On February 20, 2011, I encountered another woman using a swastika to protest Scott Walker and asked her "Do you think Scott Walker deserves to be compared to the Nazis?""