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."

What's Worse Than Liberal Socialism? Marxist Socialism

What's Worse Than Liberal Socialism? Marxist Socialism
"I wrote last week about evil of totalitarian ideologies such as communism and fascism and pointed out that both antifa and Nazis should be treated with complete disdain and ostracism.

And that led me to find common ground with my left-of-center friends, even though I don’t like many of their policies.

I don’t like redistribution… programs are financed with taxes and that the internal revenue code is enforced by coercion… if you catch me in a cranky mood, I’ll be like the stereotypical libertarian at Thanksgiving dinner and wax poetic about what’s wrong with the system.

That being said, I much prefer the coercion found in western democracies compared to the totalitarian versions of coercion found in many other parts of the world. At least we have the rule of law, which limits (however imperfectly) capricious abuse by government officials. …our Constitution still protects many personal liberties, things that can’t be taken for granted in some places. Moreover, there is only a trivially small risk of getting abused by the state in western nations because you have unpopular views. And there’s little danger of persecution by government (at least nowadays) based on factors such as race and religion. This is what makes liberal democracy a good form of government (with “liberal” in this case being a reference to classical liberalism rather than the modern version). Unfortunately, there are some people in America that don’t believe in these principles.

Now let’s look at an aspect of this issue from a left-of-center perspective.

Writing for the New Republic, John Judis analyzes the different types of socialism. 

He starts with some personal history of his time as a socialist activist...

Much here, read on!!

...Which is why this image is more accurate.

The bottom line is that Nordic-style big government is misguided, but state-über-alles totalitarianism is irredeemably horrible."

AM Fruitcake

History for December 8

History for December 8 - On-This-Day.com
Horace 65 B.C., Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots) 1542, Eli Whitney 1765


James Thurber 1894, Sammy Davis, Jr. 1925, Jim Morrison (Doors) 1943


1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived.


1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South.


1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan.


1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure.


1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time.


1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government to be dead. They forged a new alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. The act was denounced by Russian President Gorbachev as unconstitutional.


1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.


1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation.

BUSTED: Elizabeth Warren's CFPB Used Secret "Slush Fund" To Funnel Billions Into Left-Wing Causes

BUSTED: Elizabeth Warren's CFPB Used Secret "Slush Fund" To Funnel Billions Into Left-Wing Causes:

"Was the real reason behind Senator Elizabeth Warren’s outrage over Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about her own political survival?"

The way we were-----G I Jive - American Hits of WW2 - 1930s & 1940s (Past Perfect) [Full Album]

America Prepares for World War 2 | America's Call to Arms | WW2 Newsreel...

Celebrate "Resistmas" With This Angelic Hillary Clinton Tree Topper | The Daily Sheeple

Celebrate "Resistmas" With This Angelic Hillary Clinton Tree Topper | The Daily Sheeple:
"When a company announced that they are marketing a Hillary Clinton ‘Christmas Tree Angel’, the internet responded in typically hilarious fashion.

A British company is selling the 3D printed Clinton tree topper for a whopping £80, around $140, marketing it as “a Woman To Look Up To.”
“The most presidential of tree toppers. 3D sculpted in her iconic power suit with angelic wings.” 
The company website states, adding “She’s the First Lady of Christmas Tree Decorations.”
Liberals dubbed the figurine, along with one of singer Beyonce and tennis player Serena Williams a celebration of ‘resistmas’."

'Alternative space’ created for students angry over black female conservative's gun rights speech - The College Fix

'Alternative space’ created for students angry over black female conservative's gun rights speech - The College Fix:
"Mount Holyoke College Republicans are slated to host gun rights activist Antonia Okafor Thursday night for an event titled “Female Empowerment and the Second Amendment.”
But the black, female conservative’s pending visit to the school has been met with angst from some students who are upset at the idea that women’s rights and safety is being linked with their right to bear arms.

Okafor is founder of EmPOWERed and a nationally recognized campus carry activist.

One group on campus, Mount Holyoke’s Climate Justice Coalition, has organized an “alternative space,” as opposed to a protest, for students upset over Okafor’s talk.

Not to be confused with a safe space, where coloring books, Play-Doh and soft music are often provided, the coalition stated on Facebook that they felt the alternative space was the best way to channel their anger.

Topics for the alternative event are slated to include:

-The concept of empowerment and “female empowerment”

– The second amendment and gun laws/culture

– Campus rape/sexual harassment culture

– Violence, particularly against people who are not white cis-men

Rush Limbaugh: Here's How We Can Really Thwart Mueller's 'Bogus' Trump Investigation | Daily Wire

Rush Limbaugh: Here's How We Can Really Thwart Mueller's 'Bogus' Trump Investigation | Daily Wire:

"In other words, "If you want to stop Mueller, don’t let the Democrats win the House," said Limbaugh.
Earlier in the episode, Limbaugh said the Democrats and their left-wing colleagues in the media know that the investigation is a "bogus," "manufactured" trap set by the Obama administration.
"They’ve known from the get-go that Trump didn’t commit any crimes,"

Democrats flip out about 'Armageddon' GOP tax reform bill | SUPERcuts! #544