History for May 10 - On-This-Day.com

History for May 10 - On-This-Day.com:

Birth anniversary of composer Max Steiner (1888-1971). Composed the scores to King Kong, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca and other films.

Birth anniversaries of Fred Astaire (1899-1987) and Maybelle Carter (1909-78).

Happy Birthday! Bono, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ara Parseghian

1773 - The English Parliament passed the Tea Act, which taxed all tea in the U.S. colonies. 


1869 - Central Pacific and Union Pacific Rail Roads meet in Promontory, UT. A golden spike was driven in at the celebration of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. 


1908 - The first Mother's Day observance took place during a church service in Grafton, West Virginia. 


1924 - J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 


1933 - The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany. 


1940 - Germany invaded Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. 

1960 - The U.S.S. Triton completed the first circumnavigation of the globe under water. The trip started on February 16. 


1969 - The National and American Football Leagues announced their plans to merge for the 1970-71 season. 


2001 - Boeing Co. announced that it would be moving its headquarters to Chicago, IL.

IRS Agrees to Turn Over All Lois Lerner Emails | TheBlaze.com

IRS Agrees to Turn Over All Lois Lerner Emails | TheBlaze.com:
"The IRS has agreed to give the House Ways and Means Committee all emails sent by Lois Lerner relating to the IRS targeting scandal, committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said Thursday.
The news was announced about a month after the Ways and Means Committee referred Lerner to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. That referral was based on findings that Lerner used her influence to delay tax-exempt status for conservative groups, impeded official investigations, and possibly disclosed confidential taxpayer information."

22 States Have Signed on to Oppose New York’s Gun Ban | TheBlaze.com

22 States Have Signed on to Oppose New York’s Gun Ban | TheBlaze.com:
“We have a lot of attorneys general throughout the states and would have more, except some believed they should not be involved with the Second Circuit,” New York State Rifle and Pistol Association President Tom King told TheBlaze. “We believe we will have 44 to 45 states by the time this reaches the Supreme Court.”
The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, better known as the NY SAFE Act, bans possession of semi-automatic weapons that opponents call “assault weapons;” bans high-capacity magazines; expands background checks for gun buyers and gun dealers; and bans the Internet sale of guns, among other restrictions."

War against human beings--------When Boko Haram Killed Young Boys, Not Even A Hashtag

When Boko Haram Killed Young Boys, Not Even A Hashtag » Black & Right:
"This has been going on for years.
Granted Twitter’s only been around for almost eight, but sometimes it takes a sensational number and the right gender to have the world consider something important enough to be outraged about.
At least 59 children have been killed in Nigeria after Islamist gunmen opened fire at a boarding school before burning it to the ground, officials say.
Members of the Boko Haram group targeted secondary school students as they slept in a dormitory, police say.
The name Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful” and school attacks have featured prominently in the group’s four-and-a-half-year Islamist uprising, which has killed thousands of people.
The police chief said all the victims in Monday’s attack were boys, and the school’s 24 buildings, including staff quarters, had been completely destroyed by fire.
That incident happened in late February but barely a peep from the media or any of our political or entertainment class. 
No hashtag for any of the killings last year…"

The Seven Words the Dad Who Was Arrested at a School Board Meeting Claims the Officer Said to Him | TheBlaze.com

The Seven Words the Dad Who Was Arrested at a School Board Meeting Claims the Officer Said to Him | TheBlaze.com:
"The New Hampshire man who was arrested at a school board meeting after voicing objections to a controversial book assigned to his daughter’s class recounted the incident to TheBlaze Wednesday, saying the arresting officer appeared nervous and even reluctant to take him into custody.
“His hands were shaking I believe,” William Baer said. “And then when I observed his demeanor and his behavior — He was clearly nervous and I said to him, ‘What are you so nervous about? I’m the one getting arrested."

Yeah, they still have nukes........Russia marks Victory Day with vast military parade as insurgents in Ukraine prepare referendum

Russia marks Victory Day with vast military parade as insurgents in Ukraine prepare referendum | Fox News: "MOSCOW –  Russia showed off its military muscle Friday in the annual Red Square parade marking victory over Nazi Germany, at a time when the world's attention is focused on Ukraine where pro-Russian insurgents are preparing a referendum on secession.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin made no reference to the situation in Ukraine in a speech before the parade, focusing on the historic importance of the victory over Nazi Germany.
About 11,000 Russian troops proudly marched across Red Square to the tunes of marches and patriotic songs, followed by columns of dozens of tanks and rocket launchers. 
About 70 combat aircraft, including giant nuclear-capable strategic bombers, roared overhead."

Sooooo, the Pope's definition of "generosity" is encouraging government to steal money from its citizens?--------POPE DEMANDS 'LEGITIMATE REDISTRIBUTION' OF WEALTH

News from The Associated Press:POPE DEMANDS 'LEGITIMATE REDISTRIBUTION' OF WEALTH

"VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the "economy of exclusion" that is taking hold today.

......On Friday, Francis called for the United Nations to promote a "worldwide ethical mobilization" of solidarity with the poor in a new spirit of generosity."

These three answers will get your 3rd grader partial credit under Common Core | TheBlaze.com

These three answers will get your 3rd grader partial credit under Common Core | TheBlaze.com:
“The lesson most people would take from the No Child Left Behind experiment is that a top-down, heavy-handed approach to improving america’s K–12 system doesn’t work. It also isn’t consistent with the concept of federalism where the states are supposed to be laboratories of experiment. But controllists are so committed to their agenda that they’re willing to ignore history and double down on their approach. The problem, they say, is that state tests are too easily manipulated. Their convenient answer is a nationalized, one-size-fits-all set of learning standards that will keep states from cutting corners and playing games with our kids’ education.
Now these same people are pushing the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSI), a collection of new learning standards that tells schools in virtually every state which concepts to teach kids, grade by grade. The controllists tell us these standards are better and more “rigorous” than the ones states are currently using and will lead to a world-class education for our kids.”

Detroit 'grand bargain' bills pair $195M lump sum with 20 years of state oversight, pension reforms

Detroit 'grand bargain' bills pair $195M lump sum with 20 years of state oversight, pension reforms | MLive.com:
"LANSING, MI -- Michigan would send $195 million to Detroit, require it to move from pensions to 401k retirement plans and help oversee city finances for at least 20 years under "grand bargain" bankruptcy legislation introduced Monday in the state House.
The 11-bill package would tap the state's "rainy day fund" for a lump sum payment in order to speed up the city's exit from bankruptcy and minimize pension cuts for retirees.
"The consequences of not acting now would not only negatively impact Detroit, but negatively impact all of Michigan," House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) said in a statement announcing the legislation.
"Detroit's successes and failures both have and will impact our entire state."
The package calls for creation of a 7-member "oversight commission" that would be tasked with monitoring city finances, budgets, debt issuance and revenues, according to a summary distributed by House Republicans."

It would be niggardly to oppose sending Detroit more money!--------------------Most Michigan residents support $350M state help for bankrupt Detroit, survey finds

Most Michigan residents support $350M state help for bankrupt Detroit, survey finds | Crain's Detroit Business:
A survey by the Business Leaders for Michigan shows there is strong support for revitalizing Detroit — and for using state funding to help bring the city out of bankruptcy.

According to the survey, released today, more than 87 percent of state voters believe a strengthened Detroit is important to Michigan’s overall economy, while more than 9 percent said it is not important.
On the question of whether to send $350 million to the city over a 20-year period to help extract it from bankruptcy, more than 66 percent supported it, with more than 20 percent opposing it.
“All across Michigan — from the Upper Peninsula and the Thumb to West and Southeast Michigan — we’re seeing strong value being placed on a healthy Detroit,” Doug Rothwell, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, said in a statement. “Whatever the solution is at the end of the day, it’s clear that voters know we need a strong Detroit to keep building a vital economy for our entire state.”

Obama to announce energy efficiency projects, one to improve Detroit municipal lighting system

Obama to announce energy efficiency projects, one to improve Detroit municipal lighting system | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama this morning was set to announce public and private sector commitments to advance solar energy utilization and energy efficiency projects, including one hoped to lead to improvements in Detroit’s municipal lighting system.
The city was named as one of five nationwide to be served by what the White House is calling a High Performance Outdoor Lighting Accelerator, a project to be started in the Energy Department intended to “increase the adoption and use of high efficiency outdoor lighting.”
The program is aimed at replacing more than 500,000 outdoor lighting poles and making system-wide upgrades to muncipal lighting, the White House said in a fact sheet.
How the program would work -- including its funding and how many light poles could be replaced in each city -- was not immediately unveiled by Obama administration officials.

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:
http://www.libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2014/05/does-it-matter-by-tammy-derouin-i.html


Does It Matter?

It took a lawsuit for the most transparent administration to release such incriminating documents.  They’ve had well over a year to prep for their latest spin.  The lie being hurled at us from the White House is that incriminating emails weren’t specific to Benghazi.  No, they were about the region in general.  Honestly, how does Jay Carney sleep at night?

Uncle Sam's brilliant new idea: An online driver's license

Uncle Sam's brilliant new idea: An online driver's license | Cringely - InfoWorld
Well at least those cyber spies and thieves can breathe a little easier.
The U.S government is going to start testing its new and well-thought-out identity consolidation program.
It's the NSTIC (National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace), and it basically works like an online Uncle Sam-approved driver's license.
What a great idea!
Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong.
At all.
It's not as though our trusted Uncle Sam has a near-omnipotent arm of data-hungry spy weenies with a track record for abusing their powers that's so long and awful it makes me sprint to the liquor cabinet whenever I think about it. 

Or that government sites, networks, and databases like the U.S. Navy or the Department of Energy (to name only a very, very few) are about as safe as a dinner party at Kim Jong-Un's house. 
Or that the same people who are supposed to protect our most valuable data -- like, say, the IRS -- couldn't be bothered to upgrade their non-secure desktop OS (Windows XP, which now stands for eXtra Porous) before the support deadline ran out.
Nope, none of that's a problem.
So why not implement an identity consolidation program that we're probably going to be forced to use with any government site and eventually a growing population of miserly app builders who'd rather hawk an NSTIC logo than shell out for more expensive and undoubtedly more secure identity management platforms?

Hotels 'hostage to TripAdvisor blackmailers’

Hotels 'hostage to TripAdvisor blackmailers’ - Telegraph:
Guests warn staff they will post negative reviews on the website if they are not given better service, meals or upgrades
Restaurant, hotel and B&B owners in Britain have reported a huge rise in the number of customers using the site as a threat
Hotels and restaurants are being targeted by “blackmailers” who demand free meals and stays in exchange for not writing bad reviews on the TripAdvisor website, hospitality chiefs have warned.
Guests are warning staff that they will post bad comments on the review website if they are not given better service, meals or upgrades.
Restaurant, hotel and B&B owners in Britain have reported a huge rise in the number of customers using the site as a threat. They say the guests often make a complaint and say they will post a bad review unless given a free bottle of wine, dessert or a bill reduction.

FiveFingers Maker Will Pay Millions To Suckers Who Bought Its Shoes

FiveFingers Maker Will Pay Millions To Suckers Who Bought Its Shoes:
"The initial claim, filed in 2012, accuses Vibram of deceiving consumers by saying that its shoes could "reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles." 
Unfortunately, Vibram appears to have pulled this out of thin air, really hoping it was true.
It is not true.
Science takes time, and since the advent of Christopher McDougall's best-selling Born to Run (a book based mainly on anecdote that sparked the minimalist footwear revolution), science has discovered that barefoot running can really fuck you up.
"This study showed that increases in bone marrow edema [the precursor to a stress fracture] are more common in subjects who were transitioning to the [Vibram FiveFingers]," concluded this 2013 study."

2 Investigators: Complaints Growing Over Undelivered Mail

2 Investigators: Complaints Growing Over Undelivered Mail « CBS Chicago:
"(CBS) — Regular mail delivery is taken for granted by most people, but now there’s been a growing chorus of complaints from residential neighborhoods across the city to businesses in the Loop.
The CBS 2 investigators learned some of the mail mess has been caused by a huge turnover in staff, from managers to mail carriers, inadequate training and a customer service operation that seems to be unresponsive to complaints.
“The way they distribute the mail is…really embarrassing,” said Richard Holtzman, the owner of a condo management company that depends on its mail to pay the customer’s bills.
Holtzman complained to CBS 2 that his business doesn’t get any mail “typically two days a week,” which causes him to have to pay late fees.
“It’s been as high as five or six hundred dollars in a month,” Holtzman said. “It’s just unnecessary.”
The lack of mail has prompted Holtzman to consider moving his office.
“I’m gonna take my eleven jobs and I’m gonna move ‘em to a neighborhood where the mail is reasonably reliable,” Holtzman said."

Don't you DARE offer a better service!-------Post Office Goes Full Retard Stupid: Forces Outbox Founders To “Un-Deliever” Mail With “Un-Postmen”

Read the cool idea crushed by the morons at the USPS
Post Office Goes Full Retard Stupid: Forces Outbox Founders To “Un-Deliever” Mail With “Un-Postmen” | David Stockman's Contra Corner:

What Does “Disruption” Mean to DC?When Evan and Will got called in to meet with the Postmaster General they were joined by the USPS’s General Counsel and Chief of Digital Strategy. 

But instead, Evan recounts that US Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe “looked at us” and said “we have a misunderstanding. 

‘You disrupt my service and we will never work with you.’” 

Further, “‘You mentioned making the service better for our customers; but the American citizens aren’t our customers—about 400 junk mailers are our customers.  

Your service hurts our ability to serve those customers.”’

According to Evan, the Chief of Digital Strategy’s comments were even more stark, “[Your market model] will never work anyway. 

Digital is a fad. It will only work in Europe.”

Billionaires bad only if conservative-------Fed Chair Unsure If Capitalism or Oligarchy Describes the U.S.

Fed Chair Unsure If Capitalism or Oligarchy Describes the U.S. | CNS News

"Are we still a capitalist democracy or have we gone over into an oligarchic form of society in which incredible economic and political power now rests with the billionaire class?"  Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont socialist, asked that question of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at a hearing on Capitol Hill  Wednesday.

Yellen said she'd "prefer not to give labels," but she admitted to being very concerned about income inequality.

.....Sanders told Yellen, "There comes a point, where the billionaire class has so much political power -- where the Koch brothers are now, because of Citizens United, able to buy and sell politicians -- they have so much political power  -- at what point is that reversible?" he asked.

WATCH: George Will Demolishes Arguments for Common Core in Under Two Minutes | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News from The Heritage Foundation

WATCH: George Will Demolishes Arguments for Common Core in Under Two Minutes | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News from The Heritage Foundation:
"Conservative pundit George Will delivered a fierce attack on Common Core last night, characterizing the educational standards as a way for progressives to further promote their political views.
“This is a thin end of an enormous wedge of federal power that will be wielded for the constant progressive purpose of concentrating power in Washington so that it can impose continental solutions to problems nationwide,” Will said on Fox News’ “Special Report.”

History for May 9

History for May 9 - On-This-Day.com:

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Birth anniversary of James M. Barrie (1860-1937), playwright and author, creator of Peter Pan.

Birth anniversary of William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), psychologist who invented the lie detector and created the Wonder Woman comic books.

Birth anniversary of journalist and broadcaster Mike Wallace (1918-2012).

           

Happy Birthday! Candice Bergen, James L. Brooks, Albert Finney, Glenda Jackson, Billy Joel

1429 - Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans. 


1785 - Joseph Bramah patented the beer-pump handle. 


1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly an airplane over the North Pole. 


1941 -  British sailors captured an Enigma machine from a disabled German U-110 submarine. The acquisition was kept secret as Allied cryptographers started work on Axis codes.


1960 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sale an oral birth-control pill for the first time. 


1980 - A Liberian freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. 35 motorists were killed and a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapsed. 


1987 - Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers were married. 


1996 - In video testimony to a courtroom in Little Rock, AR, U.S. President Clinton insisted that he had nothing to do with a $300,000 loan in the criminal case against his former Whitewater partners.

Held in Contempt!

Held in Contempt!:
"In a vote roughly along party lines, the House voted late Wednesday to hold Lerner in contempt 231-187. All Republicans voted for the resolution with six Democrats joining them.
 The case now heads to the Justice Department where Attorney General Eric Holder must decide if the department will prosecute Lerner.
 With the heavily-politicized Justice Department having been selective in recent years with what laws they will and will not enforce, it appears unlikely that Holder’s Justice Department will prosecute Lerner for her refusal to cooperate with investigative committees."

Obama’s FEC Threatening to Censor Media

Obama’s FEC Threatening to Censor Media:
“The GOP Chairman of the FEC is warning that liberals – including the Democrats at the FEC – are looking to silence conservative political speech by tightening the exemption of media entities from FEC regulation.  In essence, the government would get to decide who the ‘real’ media is, and who should be entitled to freedom of the press.  It’s about as un-American as it gets, and no surprise from an administration that already tried to stick FCC censors in the newsrooms.

Thank goodness FEC chairman Lee Goodman is sounding the alarm – an assault on a free press for partisan political gain is against everything we stand for as a free society.”

Are teen jobs becoming a luxury good?

Are teen jobs becoming a luxury good? - Ideas - The Boston Globe:
"A sharp decline in work for youth is depriving a generation of key skills—especially the kids who need them most
.....That has many experts wondering just what will happen to the vast majority of today’s teens, who are not working at all.
“This is the first generation that will not have major work experience as part of their adolescent development,” said Jeylan Mortimer, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota who has studied teenagers and work.
“This raises major concerns.”
Teenagers who work in high school do far more than earn extra spending money.
They end up with better adult jobs and higher incomes, according to studies, as well as stronger “soft skills” like dependability, punctuality, confidence, and communication.
For boys, especially, the chances of enrolling in and graduating from college are significantly higher for those who worked in high school.
“Work experience matters a lot,” said Paul Harrington, director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University.
“It matters for every kid, in every way possible.”

Seven States Just Sued The EPA For Failing To Update Standards For Wood-Burning Furnaces

Seven States Just Sued The EPA For Failing To Update Standards For Wood-Burning Furnaces | ThinkProgress:
Seven states and the group Earthjustice have filed two related lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to update emissions standards for wood-burning boilers.
It’s an often overlooked environmental concern. 
The boilers resemble outhouses with chimneys, and are used to heat water that’s piped into a home’s radiator system.
Along with furnaces and other wood-burning sources, they emit soot — a potentially dangerous pollutant that falls under the under the regulatory authority of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards.

Ted Cruz Just Released a Detailed Report That the Obama Administration Will Not Like One Bit | TheBlaze.com

Ted Cruz Just Released a Detailed Report That the Obama Administration Will Not Like One Bit | TheBlaze.com:
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday released a detailed list of “lawless” actions taken by President Barack Obama on issues like Obamacare, national security and free speech.
The report, titled “The Legal Limit Report No. 4: The Obama Administration’s Abuse of Power,” accused Obama of displaying a “persistent pattern of lawlessness” and a “willingness to disregard the written law.”

EPA Employees Not Fired For Watching Porn, Stealing Money

EPA Employees Not Fired For Watching Porn, Stealing Money | The Federalist Papers:
(correction-incorrect photo of Renee Page has been removed)
The Environmental Protection Agency has not been firing employees for watching pornography and falsifying federal documents, according to California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.
“How much pornography would it take for an EPA employee to lose his job?” Issa asked EPA officials, including the agency’s second-in-command, testifying before the House Oversight Committee.
Issa chairs the committee.

“This individual spent four consecutive hours on a site called ‘sadism is beautiful,’” Issa pressed the EPA employees. “You are running an organization from which no one can get fired.”

Issa was pressing EPA officials to answer his question on whether or not falsifying documents is a crime. It is a crime, but Issa wanted an answer from the panelists.

The EPA officials testifying before the House Oversight Committee struggled to answer Issa’s questions about agency employees falsifying federal documents by saying they are working while they were not.

An EPA employee has been viewing pornography while at work, and has even received performance awards for his time at the agency. The employee was even watching porn when inspector general agents visited his office. The employee had 7,000 porn files on his computer and had been watching porn for two to six hours per day since 2010. This employee still works at the EPA.

Another EPA employee was actually selling jewelry and weight loss pills out of her office. Renee Page is the director of the the agency’s Office of Administration, but that didn’t stop her from using her from selling her own products during business hours using her government email account, according to the OIG.

Page also hired 17 of her family members and friends as paid interns. She also paid her daughter — who also works at the EPA — from her agency’s budget account. 
But instead of being punished, Page received a prestigious Presidential Rank Award in 2010, for which she got $35,000 in cash.

The Ethanol Disaster

The Ethanol Disaster - Reason.com:
Last November, when the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) proposed moderating years of escalating mandates by reducing the amount of ethanol that must be mixed into gasoline, a top ethanol lobbyist seemed perplexed.
"We're all just sort of scratching our heads here today and wondering why this administration is telling us to burn less of a clean-burning American fuel," Bob Dineen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, told The New York Times.
Here are a few possible reasons why: 
America's ethanol requirement destroys the environment, damages car engines, increases gas prices, and contributes to the starvation of the global poor. 
It's an unmitigated disaster on nearly every level.
Start with the environment.
After all, when the renewable fuel standard (RFS), which since 2005 has set forth a minimum annual volume of renewable fuels nationwide, was first set, one of the primary arguments for mandating ethanol use was that it was a greener, more environmentally friendly source of fuel that released fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
This turns out to be complete hogwash.
Researchers have known for years that, when the entire production process is taken into account, most supposedly green biofuels actually emit more greenhouse gasses than traditional fuels.

Federal Gov’t Issues Warning to State That Wants to Opt Out of Common Core | TheBlaze.com

Federal Gov’t Issues Warning to State That Wants to Opt Out of Common Core | TheBlaze.com:
"The letter from the U.S. Education Department demonstrates “just how weak the phrases ‘state-led’ and ‘voluntary’ became when used to describe Common Core,” wrote Brittany Corona, a domestic policy researcher at the Heritage Foundation."