Das boot ist kaputt: German navy has zero working subs | Ars Technica

Das boot ist kaputt: German navy has zero working subs | Ars Technica:
"Germany has a submarine problem. During a test dive in October, the Deutsche Marine's U-35 struck something (probably a rock) with one of its four "X-rudders," the steering planes on its rear fins. 
The damage required the submarine to be towed back to a shipyard in Kiel for repairs—where it joined three other German navy submarines currently drydocked. 
The U-35 was the Deutsche Marine's only working submarine prior to the collision. 
The remainder of the German submarine fleet is in port at the German naval base in Eckernförde—waiting for dry docks in Kiel to open up.
...As a result, Germany's entire submarine service is left essentially sitting on its hands through at least the first half of 2018.

Amtrak - A National Hazard At Any Speed | Zero Hedge

Amtrak - A National Hazard At Any Speed | Zero Hedge:
"This week’s tragic accident in Philadelphia should be a reminder. 
The real train wreck is Amtrak itself—–a colossal waste of taxpayer money and the very embodiment of what is wrong with state intervention in the free market economy. 
Worse still, the pork barrel politics which drive its handouts from Uncle Sam virtually guarantee that as time goes on Amtrak will become an increasing hazard to public safety, as well.

...Amtrak accounts for well less than 1% of intercity passenger miles. 
On every one of its 44 routes there are bus and air travel alternatives, and that is to say nothing of automobile travel —-  in cars with drivers today or in the driverless kind tomorrow.
The cumulative taxpayer subsidy since 1972 totals more than $75 billion in dollars of today’s purchasing power. 
During the span of nearly a half century, Amtrak has operated upwards of 40 routes that have never, ever made even an “operating profit”.
...its capital consumption expense amounts to about 25 cents per passenger mile.
So here’s the thing. 
The average airline fare in the US is about 15 cents per passenger mile and the average bus fare is about 11 cents per mile..."
Read on!

#1 This day 1974-----Harry Chapin - Cat's in the cradle

Trump's Whirlwind Year Was Quite a Success

Trump's Whirlwind Year Was Quite a Success:
"...Two years ago, virtually the entire commentariat, and most of its readers and listeners, were splitting their sides at the gigantic impending farce of the Trump candidacy for the Republican nomination.
...Wacky leftist filmmaker Michael Moore, with the unshakeable confidence in mind-reading that seems never to desert such people, announced that Trump would quit because he never wanted or expected to be nominated, and it was all a joke that had got out of hand.
These were not unrepresentative opinions.
Trump was attacking the entire political establishment, the whole Washington sleaze factory, all factions of both parties, all the Bushes, Clintons, and Obama, the national media, the lobbyists, Wall Street, Hollywood, and the limousine Left from the Hamptons to Silicon Valley.
Of course the Trump campaign was insane and impossible, and was doomed to be a ludicrous fiasco, a gigantic, comical clown act that misfired horribly.
On Election Night, Nobel prize-winning (for economics) New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said the stock market would “never recover” from the Trump victory.
(It has set a new all-time high more than 90 times since.)
...The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner of Virginia, was soon solemnly announcing that there had been a thousand Russian agents actively assisting the Trump campaign in key swing states and that they had delivered Wisconsin, a complete fabrication (if he really believed this whopper, I have some oceanside property in Oklahoma to sell him).
...Donald Trump was a joke until nominated, unelectable until elected, incompetent until he succeeded on most fronts, and about to be impeached until he debunked the collusion nonsense; he has had a very successful year.
His enemies have been weighed in the balance and they have been found wanting. 
They shall have their reward. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers, especially the president and Mrs. Trump..."

You ought to know!

WATCH: Joe Biden Claims Obama Never Had Any Scandals, Ignores These 11 Major Scandals | Daily Wire

WATCH: Joe Biden Claims Obama Never Had Any Scandals, Ignores These 11 Major Scandals | Daily Wire:

"Biden's claim is, of course, false. Obama's presidency was littered with scandals, and newly discovered scandals from his administration are still being unearthed. Here are just a few of the biggest scandals that occurred under the Obama administration:"

The Sun Is Going DARK: No Sunspots For 96 Days; Ice Age Approaches

The Sun Is Going DARK: No Sunspots For 96 Days; Ice Age Approaches:
"NASA’s own data is showing that the star our globe revolves around is dimming.  
With no sunspots reported in 96 days, the sun is going dark and the evidence could point to an approaching ice age...

The Daily Sheeple’s Joe Joseph breaks it down for those who don’t closely follow the sun’s changes. He says there is a correlation between major changes on the sun and the behavior of the Earth, especially now as it reaches its  11-year-cycle’s solar minimum.

“I guess you could say, in a very generalistic sense…and I mean, this is as vanilla as you can possibly make it…that as the sun gets quieter so does our magnetic field get weaker or so it appears to be,” says Joseph. 
“Is there a mini ice age coming? I don’t know,” he said..."
Read on!!

AM Fruitcake

History for December 21

History for December 21 - On-This-Day.com:
Benjamin Disraeli 1804 - Author, statesman: "No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition.", Joseph Stalin (Dzhugashvili) 1879 - Georgian Marxist revolutionary and later dictator of USSR (1928-53), Phil Donahue 1935 - TV host ("The Phil Donahue Show"), known for pioneering the audience-participation style of TV talk shows.


Carl Wilson (The Beach Boys) 1946 - Musician (The Beach Boys), Samuel L. Jackson 1948 - Actor ("Pulp Fiction," "A Time to Kill," "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones," "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith"), Kiefer Sutherland 1966 - Actor ("The Lost Boys," "Young Guns," "A Time to Kill"), son of actor Donald Sutherland


1620 - The "Mayflower", and its passengers, pilgrims from England, landed at Plymouth Rock, MA.


1898 - Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.


1913 - Arthur Wynne published a new "word-cross" puzzle in the "New York World" in England. The name was later changed to "crossword."


1937 - Walt Disney debuted the first, full-length, animated feature in Hollywood, CA. The movie was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."


1945 - U.S. Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.


1958 - Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.


1978 - Police in Des Plaines, IL, arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of killing.


1988 - 270 people were killed when Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, due to a terrorist attack.

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

https://libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2017/12/charlie-brown-by-tammy-derouin-i.html

Charlie Brown

By Tammy Derouin

I recently went to a Christmas program where the music from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special was played by the students. That unmistakable sound reminded me of a simpler time, childhood.

Try to explain the reality of life prior to cell phones and internet to those who do not know life any other way and you get a blank look or a look of disbelief, possibly followed by an outcry of no way!

There was a time when you had to wait for everything. Patience is fast becoming a lost virtue. The world of technology has provided us with the capability of getting instant result, which comes with many pros and cons. Instant food, news, communication and entertainment does have benefits but we also lose a little too. Lack of patience, short attention spans due to constant stimulation, as well as the inability to use one's imagination, without an electronic device, are on the con side.

Childhood memories are typically filled with the activities you do with friends and siblings. My generation and the generations before me, didn't have the electronics or the world at our finger tips, like we have in today's world. We had to entertain ourselves by being imaginative at a simpler level.

During the Christmas season memories come to mind of those holiday Christmas specials from so long ago. When you think about it, television programs were special because you had to have patience for the next weekly episode. A feeling of anticipation was in the air. A holiday special was an event, a special event, because you had to wait until the actual holiday to see it. If one of life's obligation prevented you from watching the long anticipated special, you had to wait until the following year for it to repeat. There was no such thing as recording it to view at a later time, renting it or pushing a menu button on the TV remote to find it listed for your viewing convenience.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special is a perfect example of a simpler time.......

The way we were-----The Spinners - I'll Be Around

Boob-tube-----Strictly for Stunts - 1958 Edsel promotional film

Now, this is presidential obstruction | New York Post

Now, this is presidential obstruction | New York Post:
"What if a president used his power to interfere with a federal investigation involving foreign powers committing serious crimes in the United States as well as elsewhere? 
Such a thing would be considered a terrible scandal and, no doubt, lead to a federal probe by a special counsel who would be expected to get to the bottom of such a mess.
But if you think this is a reference to the investigation led by Robert Mueller into possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign and obstruction of justice once President Trump took office, you’re wrong. 
...evidence of another scandal involving President Barack Obama and Hezbollah, Iran and the Russians has just been uncovered in an investigative story by Politico. 
The tale involves an administration decision to spike Project Cassandra, a federal probe into international drug smuggling, money laundering and terrorism by Hezbollah.
The motive for interference with the justice system was to appease both Moscow and Tehran during Obama’s quest for a nuclear deal with Iran. 
It happened because, as Politico’s sources made clear, a decision was made at the highest levels of the Obama administration to prioritize making nice with Iran and Russia over the federal government’s obligation to protect US citizens..."
Read on!

True or False: CDC Has Banned Words Like 'Fetus' and 'Vulnerable'

True or False: CDC Has Banned Words Like 'Fetus' and 'Vulnerable'
"The Washington Post broke a story on Friday that had the left frothing at the mouth. Someone told them -- an "anonymous source," of course -- that the Centers for Disease Control had banned seven words and phrases from being used in grant applications.

It doesn't matter what the seven words were because, well, they aren't banned. 

But as we all know, a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth is able to get its trousers (or shoes) on.

A sample of headlines:

BuzzFeed: "People Are Horrified That The CDC Has Reportedly Been Banned From Using Some Words"

Common Dreams: "'Making America Stupid Again': Outrage Over Forbidden 7 Words You Can't Say at Trump's CDC"

HuffPo: "The Muzzling of the CDC: Seven Words Banned by Trump Officials"

Twitter Ads info and privacy

...The WaPo story is sort of vague on the source for this story:

At the CDC, the meeting about the banned words was led by Alison Kelly, a senior leader in the agency’s Office of Financial Services, according to the CDC analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly. Kelly did not say why the words are being banned, according to the analyst, and told the group that she was merely relaying the information. […]

But the only tweet that mattered is the one from the director of the CDC, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald:

Dr Brenda Fitzgerald

✔@CDCDirector

I want to assure you there are no banned words at CDC. We will continue to talk about all our important public health programs.

10:57 AM - Dec 17, 2017

•  1,4641,464 Replies
 
•  10,95310,953 Retweets
 
•  30,69230,692 likes

So not only has the director of the CDC denied the story, but HHS has also blown up the Post's "scoop":..."
Read on!