MuskegonPundit

Sunday, January 01, 2017

History for January 1

History for January 1 - On-This-Day.com:
Lorenzo de' Medici 1449 - Italian politician, diplomat, known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (Lorenzo il Magnifico), heir to Medici banking empire, Paul Revere 1735, Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom) 1752

George Washington Carver 1860, E.M. Forster 1879, J. Edgar Hoover (U.S.) 1895

0404 - The last gladiator competition was held in Rome.

1808 - The U.S. prohibited import of slaves from Africa.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free.

1895 - In Battle Creek, MI, C.W. Post created his first usable batch of Monks Brew (later called Postum). It was a cereal-based substitute for caffeinated drinks.

1934 - Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

1959 - Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba.

1993 - Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992.

1999 - The euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

White House On Defense After Anti-Israel U.N. Action

White House On Defense After Anti-Israel U.N. Action:

"A senior congressional aide who is working on a package of repercussions aimed at the U.N. told the Free Beacon the administration is scrambling to provide excuses in response to the breakdown in its own narrative regarding the resolution.

“The administration got caught red handed, and now they’re talking out of both sides of their mouth,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak on record. “First they claimed the resolution was simply not objectionable. Now they say it will actually help advance peace. These denials only look more ridiculous with each passing day as new evidence surfaces that the White House was behind this anti-Israel resolution.”"

Editorial: 2017’s bright promise

Editorial: 2017’s bright promise - NetRight Daily:

"It is the end of 2016 and while many on the left view the year as the worst one ever, for those of us at Americans for Limited Government, it was a year of restored hope.
Contrary to the common lament, 2016 is the year when the American people finally declared that enough was enough and that they were taking back their government from the crony capitalists, Beltway bandits, big government unions, green job killers, the lobbyists, media conglomerates and the Silicon Valley oligarchs who thought they had permanently seized power.
...If the revolution holds, 2017 will usher in a new American era where the economic marketplace and demand of consumers drives job creation and not a detached, agenda driven D.C.-based command and control system that picks winners and losers based upon whose back needs to be scratched.
...So, when you hear or read a celebrity, newscaster or sportswriter bemoan how 2016 was a terrible year including the election results as an example, just nod your head and smile, because out of the storms of this past year, there is the bright sunshine of hope just ahead."

Why Are Michigan House Republicans Continuing These Union Scams?

Why Are Michigan House Republicans Continuing These Union Scams? [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"As the latest legislative session came to a close, Michigan House Republicans failed to put a stop to two union schemes that are ripping off taxpayers.

It is bizarre that, despite having a huge majority, the GOP continues to allow unions to misspend tax dollars for the sole purpose of enriching their officials.
Earlier this year, the state Senate passed two bills ending these special union deals. Senate Bill 279 dealt with union pension spiking schemes, in which the state’s largest union teamed up with school districts to pretend its officials are still working for schools when they really are private employees of the union.
This enables the union workers to artificially inflate their taxpayer-funded pensions.
In at least one instance, this meant turning an approximately $8,000 annual pension into one worth over $100,000.
Senate Bill 280 involved union release time, which makes taxpayers pay for the salaries of union officials who are released from their teaching duties to work full time on union business.
The bills made it through the Senate as well as a House committee but died on the floor..."

The Electoral College Made It Possible For Us To Abolish Slavery - Matt Vespa

The Electoral College Made It Possible For Us To Abolish Slavery - Matt Vespa:

"Without the Electoral College, there would be no effective brake on the number of “viable” presidential candidates. Abolish it, and it would not be difficult to imagine a scenario where, in a field of a dozen micro-candidates, the “winner” only needs 10 percent of the vote, and represents less than 5 percent of the electorate. And presidents elected with smaller and smaller pluralities will only aggravate the sense that an elected president is governing without a real electoral mandate.
The Electoral College has been a major, even if poorly comprehended, mechanism for stability in a democracy, something which democracies are sometimes too flighty to appreciate."

Fairness: Men Who Think They're Women Allowed in National Women's Hockey League

Fairness: Men Who Think They're Women Allowed in National Women's Hockey League | Daily Wire:
"The failing National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) is set to roll out new guidelines affirming their pro-transgender player stance.
The NWHL will officially permit males who "identify" as women to play in the league, which currently has at least one known trans player, a biological female who "identifies" as a man.

The new three-page guidelines support "athletes choosing to express their gender beyond the binary of female and male,'" NWHL Commissioner Dani Rylan told The New York Times.
"It's a unique opportunity to continue to move the conversation forward and accelerate that social progress and to be that benchmark and to remain approachable and available for these discussions," added Rylan.
Obvious questions of fairness have already been raised, since biological men have clear advantages over biological women on the ice, or in any athletic competition.
For instance, in one study, women were shown to attain approximately 52% of a man's average upper body strength and about 66%
of a man's average lower body strength.
Women have also been shown to be more injury-prone and, on average, are physically smaller with less muscle mass..."

Professor raised under communism explains academics' love of socialism – and why they're wrong

Professor raised under communism explains academics' love of socialism – and why they're wrong - The College Fix:
"The difference between ideas and facts is lost on leftist scholars
Today Professor Florin Curta is a professor in medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida, but his road to the sunny vistas of north-central Florida came by way of communist-controlled Romania, where growing up he grappled with empty grocery stores, power outages, and an oppressive government that discouraged creativity and free enterprise.

Curta grew up under the iron-fisted regime of Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu, a dictatorship characterized by unrelenting state-control, extreme poverty and widespread dilapidation and deprivation.
Ceaușescu was overthrown and executed by firing squad in 1989, leaving his country in shambles.
Curta, meanwhile, managed to earn his bachelor’s degree from the University of Bucharest in 1988, and left his country in 1993, having been invited to pursue a Ph.D. at Western Michigan University after delivering a speech before the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Mich.
...Tell us about growing up in communist Romania.
What was the quality of life?
Curta: Stores were completely empty.
There was no food.
There was a black market where you could buy some things, but obviously at much higher prices.
Besides the fact that there was no food, every now and then electricity would be cut off in the apartment, at a sudden moment in time.
You would not know when and for how long.
Sometimes there was no running water at all, and there was no warm water at all.
We’re talking about life in an urban environment, we’re talking about an apartment, not one or two, but thousands in which people lived in such conditions.
I was in college in that time, and I remember actually studying in the library with gloves on my hands because it was so cold.
So not a happy place..."
Read on!

Lunch video-----The truth about the crusades and Islam

Noon-toon

Krauthammer: The Damage the Democratic Party Has Suffered Under Obama Is 'Incalculable' - Leah Barkoukis

Krauthammer: The Damage the Democratic Party Has Suffered Under Obama Is 'Incalculable' - Leah Barkoukis:

"Obama himself said in 2010 and 2014 and then 16 “I’m not on the ballot but my policy, my legacy is.” That’s exactly what happened and his legacy was rejected. And I don’t think he understands that.”"

Little Or No Consequences for Detroit Land Bank Billing Scam

Little Or No Consequences for Detroit Land Bank Billing Scam [Michigan Capitol Confidential]: "Improprieties at the Detroit Land Bank Authority cost taxpayers over $824,000.
Though they have been the subject of an audit and continue to be the focus of a federal criminal investigation, only one employee has experienced any consequences.
That individual, a manager at a program overseeing the demolition of buildings in Detroit, was transferred to another job and took a pay cut of $15,000.
The authority was created to package and sell abandoned and tax-foreclosed properties owned by the city.

It receives federal funds meant for blight removal and is the subject of a federal investigation due to rising demolition costs and questions regarding contracts with private vendors.
A grant compliance officer for the demolition program was transferred to another project in mid-October, just weeks before the organization released an internal audit, according to documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.
Martha Delgado, the compliance manager for the land bank's demolition work, oversaw the federal grant that supplied the city with over $250 million.
Delgado’s pay was reduced from $85,000 to $70,000 as she was transferred to a new role as an administrator for a program dubbed “Rehabbed and Ready,” intended to refurbish and market properties.
She is also a retired city administrator.
Her employer released an audit in October that discovered improper billing had cost the state $824,491 that the city has to repay, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The federal program had a cap of $25,000 per demolition.
To get around the cap, some contractors shifted costs from more difficult and costly jobs to simpler and cheaper ones.
In the case of two contracts, $78,239 was shifted between several properties to stay under the capped amount..."
Read on!!

Desalination Foes Privileging Tiny Critters Over People

Desalination Foes Privileging Tiny Critters Over People - Reason.com:
"It's getting increasingly difficult to exaggerate the degree to which some environmental activists and bureaucrats have placed the needs of California's critters above the needs of its growing population. Many of these stories are almost literally unbelievable.

I've reported on the government's decision to largely empty a massive reservoir in the Sierra foothills to save about a dozen hatchery fish, an otherworldly story given it took place at the apex of the drought—and given those non-endangered fish would be eaten by other species before they meandered to the ocean.
Then there were the shutdowns of the water pumps in Tracy because of the fate of a handful of bait fish (Delta smelt).
I still roll my eyes at a proposed project—at an estimated cost of $70,000 to $300,000 per fish—to help salmon swim around Don Pedro dam.
It's easy enough to identify a salmon.
What explains efforts to halt a major source of water supplies in Orange County over concerns about the fate of some plankton?
Sure enough, concerns about those small and microscopic organisms continue to slow efforts to build a much-needed desalination project on an industrial site in Huntington Beach.
The rains have started again, but Californians are still facing drought conditions.
It's best to plan now to avoid a future crisis.
Turning ocean saltwater into drinking water remains one of the most sensible long-term options to provide at least some of our water needs..."

Deported Immigrants Get Grants From Obama Administration

Deported Immigrants Get Grants From Obama Administration:
"The Obama administration is using a taxpayer-funded program to award business grants to Salvadoran migrants deported from the United States.
Run by the nonprofit Instituto Salvadorno Del Migrante and funded through a $50,000 grant from the taxpayer-backed Inter-American Foundation, the program “facilitates [deportees’] reintegration into their communities and supports their enterprises by offering financial education, technical advice, and assistance with business plans.”
“So, if you break the rules and get deported, we’ll help you start a business back in your home country. How absurd,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky..."

EXCLUSIVE - Palestinian Official: We Talked to White House About More UN Action On Israel

EXCLUSIVE - Palestinian Official: We Talked to White House About More UN Action On Israel:

"TEL AVIV – The Palestinian Authority has been in contact with the Obama administration and European countries about the possibility of taking more UN action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before President Obama leaves office next month, a senior PA official told Breitbart Jerusalem."

Med school staffer takes disability over comedic noose on campus

Med school staffer takes disability over comedic noose on campus:
"An Oregon med school assistant took disability leave over a noose that was found accompanying a humorous display about stress relief, demanding concrete action from a “tone-deaf” administration.

Oregon Health and Science University Medical Assistant Maria Frazier, who is African-American, claims she was shocked to discover a noose taped to the top of an explicitly-comedic poster about stress reduction.
"This type of behavior that she was subjected to should not be tolerated under any circumstances." Tweet This
“Stress reduction kit. Bang head here,” the flyer stated, presumably prompting stressed out med students to bang their heads against the wall in a futile attempt at stress relief.
Following suit, an unidentified physician’s assistant taped a miniature noose to the flyer in a comedic, though perhaps gruesome, gesture, later telling his employer that it was a joke about stress and not intended to be a racial statement, The Portland Tribune reports.
Frazier, though, was so distressed by the incident that she took disability leave from her job at the school’s hospital and solicited the help of her union leaders, who filed a grievance with the university, claiming that she felt the noose was targeting her since she is African-American.
...They did, though, agree to reimburse Frazier’s disability insurer for her absence from work, but she continues to claim that doctor’s orders prevent her from returning, noting that she “can’t deal with it.”"

AM Fruitcake

History for December 31

History for December 31 - On-This-Day.com:
Henri Matisse 1869, George Marshall 1880, Simon Wiesenthal 1908

Anthony Hopkins 1937, John Denver 1943, Donna Summer 1948

1695 - The window tax was imposed in Britain, which resulted in many windows being bricked up.

1857 - Britain's Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.

1879 - Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ.

1929 - Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time.

1967 - The Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. The game is known as the Ice Bowl since it was played in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero. (NFL)

1990 - Titleholder Gary Kasparov of the U.S.S.R. won the world chess championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.

1997 - Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

Friday, December 30, 2016

California Democrats legalize child prostitution | Washington Examiner

California Democrats legalize child prostitution | Washington Examiner:

"Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right.

SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution."

US Government Attacks Drudge Report? Conservative Website Down Because Of Distributed Denial Of Service Attack, Matt Drudge Tweets

US Government Attacks Drudge Report? Conservative Website Down Because Of Distributed Denial Of Service Attack, Matt Drudge Tweets:

"A tweet from conservative media icon Matt Drudge's verified Twitter account Thursday night appeared to accuse the government of interfering with his website, DrudgeReport.com, just hours after the Barack Obama administration announced new sanctions against Russia over election hacking.
Is the US government attacking DRUDGE REPORT?
Biggest DDoS since site's inception. VERY suspicious routing [and timing]," the tweet to Drudge's 457,000 followers read.
There were no other tweets from the account at the time.
A large-scale distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS, can cause major Internet disruptions.
Drudge Report was down briefly around 7 p.m. EST, but working hours later.
The top headline read: "MOSCOW MOCKS OBAMA 'LAME DUCK'" ...