History for December 9

History for December 9 - On-This-Day.com
Gustavus II 1594, John Milton 1608 - Poet, Clarence Birdseye 1886


Emmett Kelly 1898, Margaret Hamilton 1902, Kirk Douglas 1916 - Actor


1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.


1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.


1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer known as "Univac 1107."


1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean had its world premiere in London.


1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.


1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.


1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history.


1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999.

Bruce Ohr, who met with dossier author Christopher Steele, to be hauled before Congress - Washington Times

Bruce Ohr, who met with dossier author Christopher Steele, to be hauled before Congress - Washington Times:

"The House Intelligence Committee plans to compel testimony from a career Justice Department attorney who met during the election campaign with the writer of the infamous unverified Trump-Russia dossier.
The committee has learned that Bruce Ohr, an associate attorney general, not only spoke with dossier writer Christopher Steele but also met after the election with Glenn Simpson, whose Fusion GPS hired Mr. Steele with Democratic Party money."

The way we were-----The Last Farewell ~ Roger Whittaker

Boob-tube-----1950s political discussion (from 1953 daytime NBC TV series)

Dynamic Tolls Reduce Congestion | Economics21

Dynamic Tolls Reduce Congestion | Economics21: 
"New dynamic toll lanes operating on a stretch of Interstate 66 generated much coverage on their first day of operation. 
According to the Washington Post, the toll for one-way travel from the Beltway to Washington reached $34.50 during the morning rush hour. 
On the second day the toll peaked at $40, and on the third morning the toll reached a high of $23. Tolls during the afternoon peak period have been consistently lower than the morning commute, reaching a high of $12.50 the second day.
Solo drivers are charged for using new high-occupancy toll lanes, or HOT lanes, during peak hours. The price, updated every six minutes, varies in response to traffic flow. 
These dynamic toll lanes are supposed to help with the significant amount of congestion along the route.
Congestion imposes substantial costs on Americans each year, in terms of both time and lost productivity. 
One survey estimated that Americans spent an hour each week stuck in traffic on commutes in 2016, and traffic jams cost U.S. drivers an average of $1,200 each year.
Dynamic tolls alleviate congestion problems. 
By charging more to use roads when traffic is heaviest, drivers pay a price for driving during peak hours and shift some trips to less-busy hours..."
Read on!

The Market Has Effectively Dismantled The Alt-Right

The Market Has Effectively Dismantled The Alt-Right:
"In the aftermath of the Charlottesville massacre, the president, various members of Congress, civil rights law firms, and other special interests groups responded to the horror that ensued on that fateful day.
Of course, the majority of their sentiments resulted in nothing substantial, save a lawsuit or two filed against the organizers of the Unite The Right rally.
Lost in the mist spawned by the removal of Confederate statues was the immediate action undertaken by various private organizations.
...The point in all of this?
Government had absolutely nothing to do with the dismantling of the alt-right’s postrum of hate; the free market did..."
Read on!

Americans Want Special Counsel To Investigate Clinton Uranium Deal: IBD/TIPP Poll | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD

Americans Want Special Counsel To Investigate Clinton Uranium Deal: IBD/TIPP Poll | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD:

"Americans overwhelmingly support the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the 2010 deal that gave Russia direct control over one-fifth of the U.S.' uranium, a new IBD/TIPP Poll shows.

Of the 50% who said they were following the uranium story closely, 68% said they would like the "Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the uranium deal with Russia," the poll's data indicated."

Why Do People Become Communists, and Why Do They Stick With It? - The Liberty Review

Why Do People Become Communists, and Why Do They Stick With It? - The Liberty Review
"For as long as I can remember, I’ve puzzled about why people become communists. 
I have no doubt about why someone would stop being one. 
After all, we have a century of evidence of the murder, famine, and general destruction caused by the idea. Ignoring all this takes a special kind of willful blindness to reality.

...But how communism would work in practice is not something they want to talk about. 

They just imagined that some magical Hegelian shift would take place in the course of history that would work it all out.

So if there is no rational case for communism as such, why do people go for this stuff?..."

Read on!

Physics Buzz: What Does a Leader Sound Like? Scientists Reveal the Power of a Voice

Physics Buzz: What Does a Leader Sound Like? Scientists Reveal the Power of a Voice:
"What is it that makes us trust one politician over another?
Surely vision and values are key, but as science demonstrates, we are influenced by much subtler things as well.
It turns out that our perception of political leaders and even our voting preferences can be swayed by something as simple as the acoustic properties of a leader’s voice..."
Read on!

Lunch video-----Illegal Immigration and Crime

Noon-toon

Obstruction Of Justice? Try Comey And FBI | The Daily Caller

Obstruction Of Justice? Try Comey And FBI | The Daily Caller:

"Let’s get this straight: The agent who led the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s potentially illegal use of a private email server turns out to be an ardent supporter of hers who opposed Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election? And yet the mainstream liberal media, which foams at the mouth at any whiff of scandal involving Republicans and frequently publishes bogus anti-Trump news, is essentially sweeping this obvious conflict of interest under the rug? How on earth can they all get away with this?"

Independence Hypocrisy, by Walter E.Williams | Creators Syndicate

Independence Hypocrisy, by Walter E.Williams | Creators Syndicate:
"Officials in Catalonia, Spain's richest and most highly industrialized region, whose capital is Barcelona, recently held a referendum in which there was a 92 percent vote in favor of independence from Spain.
...Some Bavarian people are demanding independence from Germany, while others demand greater autonomy.
...Germany has done in Bavaria what Spain and Italy, in its Veneto region, have done; it has upheld the integrity of state borders.
...Fallon writes that by doing what it's doing in Bavaria, "Berlin is violating international law on national self-determination. 
It denies to Bavaria what it granted to the 19 states that seceded from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
In fact, Germany rushed to be first to recognize the independence of Slovenia and Croatia."
It did that, according to Beverly Crawford, an expert on Europe at the University of California, Berkeley, "in open disregard of (a European Community) agreement to recognize the two states under EC conditionality requirements."
The secessionist movements in Spain, Germany and Italy have encountered resistance and threats from the central governments..."

It's Final -- Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use

It's Final -- Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use:
"OK, can we please stop pretending biofuel made from corn is helping the planet and the environment? 
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released two of its Working Group reports at the end of last month (WGI and WGIII), and their short discussion of biofuels has ignited a fierce debate as to whether they’re of any environmental benefit at all.
The IPCC was quite diplomatic in its discussion, saying “Biofuels have direct, fuel‐cycle GHG emissions that are typically 30–90% lower than those for gasoline or diesel fuels.
However, since for some biofuels indirect emissions—including from land use change—can lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products, policy support needs to be considered on a case by case basis” (IPCC 2014 Chapter 8)..."
Read on!

#1 This day 1964-----Bobby Vinton "Mr. Lonely"

It's Always Worth Remembering, Life in the Soviet Union Was Terrible

It's Always Worth Remembering, Life in the Soviet Union Was Terrible:
"This November marked 100 years since the October Revolution and the beginning of the Soviet Union’s disastrous 69-year experiment with communism. 
While the horrors of Nazism are well-known, half of British 16- to 24-year-olds have never heard of Lenin, let alone the Holodomor terror-famine.
And although explicit apologists for the Soviet Union are no longer a significant intellectual force in Britain (except those who advise the Labour leadership), my generation is largely unaware of what life was like in the USSR.
The once vibrant field of Sovietology is slowly dying, and the failures of central planning are fading from memory.
The Adam Smith Institute’s new book Back in the USSR, by José Luis Ricón Fernández de la Puente, aims to illustrate exactly what life was like in the Soviet Union.
Were there queues to buy food?
How good were Soviet appliances?
How did the USSR industrialize so quickly?
Was there poverty, unemployment, or inequality?
In painstaking detail, Ricón assesses the historical evidence and the claims of leading scholars to provides answers to these questions.
The resulting picture is grim..."
Read on!

You ought to know!

Another One! Mueller Deputy Was Personal Attorney of Ben Rhodes

Another One! Mueller Deputy Was Personal Attorney of Ben Rhodes:

"This could be a significant development because according to a report by Adam Kredo in the Washington Free Beacon last February, deep-state loyalists led by Rhodes had been working diligently behind the scenes to undermine the Trump White House and orchestrate the ouster of Michael Flynn, a strong opponent of the Iran nuclear deal.

Rhee was almost certainly part of that effort."