History for April 12

History for April 12 - On-This-Day.com:
Henry Clay 1777 - "The Great Pacificator", U.S. Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams, three time unsuccessful candidate for president of United States. Quote: "I would rather be right than president.", Herbie Hancock 1940 - Jazz/fusion musician, composer, Ed O'Neill 1946 - Actor ("Married....with Children", "Wayne’s World")



Tom Clancy 1947 - Author, David Letterman 1947 - TV host, comedian ("Late Night With David Letterman"), Scott Turow 1949 - Author ("Presumed Innocent", "The Burden of Proof")


1861 - Fort Sumter was shelled by Confederacy, starting America's Civil War.


1877 - A catcher's mask was used in a baseball game for the first time by James Alexander Tyng.


1916 - American cavalrymen and Mexican bandit troops clashed at Parrel, Mexico.


1945 - In New York, the organization of the first eye bank, the Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, was announced.


1945 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Spring, GA. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Harry S Truman became president.


1961 - Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became first man to orbit the Earth.


1981 - The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL, on its first test flight.


1982 - The British Navy began enforcing a blockade around the Falkland Islands.

BREAKING: Sessions Announces Illegal Aliens Who Illegally Re-Enter The U.S. Will Be Charged With a Felony - Katie Pavlich

BREAKING: Sessions Announces Illegal Aliens Who Illegally Re-Enter The U.S. Will Be Charged With a Felony - Katie Pavlich:


""For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned:  This is a new era.  This is the Trump era.  The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over," Sessions said.

Here are the details (bolding is mine): "

Mattis: U.S Attack Damaged 20 Percent of Syrian Air Force

Mattis: U.S Attack Damaged 20 Percent of Syrian Air Force:

"President Donald Trump’s action to order a cruise missile attack on a Syrian airfield resulted in significant devastation to Syria’s air force, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday.

“The assessment of the Department of Defense is that the strike resulted in the damage or destruction of fuel and ammunition sites, air defense capabilities, and 20 percent of Syria’s operational aircraft,” Mattis said.

“The Syrian government has lost the ability to refuel or rearm aircraft at Shayrat airfield and at this point, use of the runway is of idle military interest,” Mattis added."

Losin' it!-----CONFUSION: Ginsburg calls Feinstein, Lindsey Graham 'women of the Senate' - The American MirrorThe American Mirror

CONFUSION: Ginsburg calls Feinstein, Lindsey Graham 'women of the Senate' - The American MirrorThe American Mirror:
"The 84-year-old liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a moment of confusion on Monday when she called Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham “women of the Senate.”

While accepting Allegheny College’s Prize for Civility in Public Life at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Ginsburg noted other winners.

“Let’s hope members of Congress, the members Allegheny College has already honored, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. John McCain.

“The women of the Senate, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham. Let’s hope that they, and others of good will, will lead in restoring harmonious work ways,” Ginsburg said.

Lindsey Graham is a man."

Watch (4:00 mark):

Property Tax Bills May Spike Due To School Pension Underfunding [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Property Tax Bills May Spike Due To School Pension Underfunding [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
"Thousands of Michigan home and property owners may be looking at higher property tax bills after May 2, and one reason is that state officials have failed to adequately fund the school pension system over the past 30 years. 
The cost of catching up on unfunded pension promises is stressing local school budgets and pressuring officials to seek higher property tax rates.

It may be happening already in one Livingston County school district. 
Hartland Consolidated Schools is one of many districts across the state asking voters to approve a property tax increase next month, with the school district stating that expenses have outpaced revenue.

The Hartland districts’ annual payments to the state-run retirement system have risen from $2.76 million in 2011 to $7.23 million in 2016. 
That increase represents $4.47 million per year that is no longer available to pay for textbooks, teacher raises or perhaps local property tax reductions instead of increases.

The language in Hartland’s May 2 ballot measure, called a sinking fund tax, says it would generate about $600,000 a year if approved by voters.

Hartland is getting about $1,100 more per student in total state funding this year than it did in the 2011-12 school year. Its total state revenue comes to $42.5 million, but there’s a catch: Part of the amount, $3.6 million this year, must be sent right back to Lansing to cover the district’s share of past pension underfunding. In 2011-12, the district only had to send back $474,000.

“The impact is that it does not help us at all as the money is an in-and-out flow,” said Hartland Superintendent Chuck Hughes in an email. “It actually hurts us if people in the community think that this is added revenue to the budget.”

Related Articles:~~~~~

Most Michigan Teachers Leave Before Qualifying For a Pension

Ann Arbor School Board Member: Have Charters Contribute to Public School Pension Fund

Don't Force Charter Schools Into State Pension Plan

State Officials' Pension Underfunding Crushing Michigan School Budgets

School Pension Costs Have Increased by $622 Per Pupil

Feds, Wildlife Groups Use Bogus Endangered Species Science to Block Border Fence - Judicial Watch

Feds, Wildlife Groups Use Bogus Endangered Species Science to Block Border Fence - Judicial Watch:

"One of the world’s leading big cat experts, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, confirms that less than one percent of the jaguar habitat in the world is in the United States and that there’s nothing about the lands in the southwest U.S. that make them critical to the continued survival of the jaguar as a species. The renowned wildlife ecologist heads a nonprofit devoted to the conservation of 38 wild cat species and their ecosystems."

GOPers dump their owm scum!-----Jacka$$ Governor Who 'Could Not' Vote Trump over Sexual Comments Resigns over Sex Scandal with Former Aide

Jacka$$ Governor Who 'Could Not' Vote Trump over Sexual Comments Resigns over Sex Scandal with Former Aide:
Jacka$$ Governor Who ‘Could Not’ Vote Trump over Sexual Comments Resigns over Sex Scandal with Former Aide

In October Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley said he could no longer vote for Donald Trump after video was released of Donald Trump joking about groping women.

The AP reported:

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said he could no longer vote for Donald Trump in wake of the GOP presidential nominee’s sexually charged words about women...

Governor Bentley is expected to resign today after audio was uncovered of Governor Bentley describing how he embraced and placed his hands on for aide’s breasts..."

Soros' Relationship With US’ Biggest Foreign Aid Agency

Soros' Relationship With US’ Biggest Foreign Aid Agency
"Foreign aid can help advance U.S. national interests, for example, by promoting our values globally or by demonstrating to the world the goodwill of the American people.
Calls to eliminate funding outright often fail to weigh this important function.
But our lead aid agency has itself been jeopardizing this effort, and risking all-important public support, by irresponsibly funding leftist agitprop around the world—and enlisting the help of billionaire progressive activist George Soros in the process.
Trying to persuade Colombians, Macedonians, Kenyans, and the Irish to accept violations of traditional norms that are still being debated here was surely not what Congress had in mind when it passed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and thereby created the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Support for wooly leftist causes around the globe, and teaming up with the vast network of Soros organizations trying to transform the world, isn’t new for USAID.
...But it is especially unwise when the senators are raising legitimate concerns that resonate with Trump voters.
What core American values were served in Colombia when USAID funds a Soros-owned media portal that attacks President Donald Trump, capitalism, and “patriarchal society”?..."
Read on!

Lunch video----- 'Islam Deserves NO Accommodation In ANY Civilized Society' (VIRAL) ⋆ Doug Giles ⋆ #ClashDaily

BOOM: 'Islam Deserves NO Accommodation In ANY Civilized Society' (VIRAL) ⋆ Doug Giles ⋆ #ClashDaily:

Noon-toon

Rep. Adam Schiff’s Congressional Career Aided by Soros-Financed Groups - Breitbart

Rep. Adam Schiff’s Congressional Career Aided by Soros-Financed Groups - Breitbart:

"Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was previously financially aided by the George Soros-financed MoveOn.org to win his Congressional seat.
Schiff was also awarded the Toll Fellowship, which is sponsored by the Council of State Governments, a nonprofit that monitors federal government activities and is heavily financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundations."

Amazing!-----Interactive map: What political bubble do you live in? | Bridge Magazine

Interactive map: What political bubble do you live in? | Bridge Magazine:
"...In the first statewide map of precinct level results since the 2016 presidential election, Bridge allows readers to see how their neighborhood or community swung.
Islands of blue in deep sea of Trump red

Across Michigan, narrowly won by President Trump in a stunning reversal of expectations, pockets of Democrats backed Hillary Clinton. This map allows you to see if you agree with your neighbors; it's a first-of-its kind precinct-level map of the 2016 general election.
You'll see Traverse City supported Clinton -- but overall, Grand Traverse County did not. And how precincts across the Upper Peninsula and in urban areas backed Clinton.
And also how Trump rolled up huge margins in the rural Thumb and in western Michigan. 
To see how your precinct voted, type in your address, including your community, along with "MI" and ZIP code in the search box in the upper right.
Once the map zeroes in on your neighborhood, click on the map to see how that area voted..."

And CATA still hemorrhages money-----5 CATA bus drivers made more than $100K in 2016

5 CATA bus drivers made more than $100K in 2016: 

"LANSING - Five bus drivers for the Capital Area Transportation Authority made more than $100,000 in 2016, and eight other CATA drivers made between $90,000 and $100,000.
Their wages — double the base pay for bus drivers — were part of an overall increase in overtime costs at CATA from 2015 to 2016, and contributed to an almost $1.8 million increase in the transit authority’s expenses last year.
The uptick in overtime costs came as ridership decreased by more than 535,000 from 2015 to 2016, and the transit authority was fined about $1.2 million for late tax filings..."

UMich student leaders reject free speech measure, say it puts 'people at risk'

UMich student leaders reject free speech measure, say it puts 'people at risk' - The College Fix:
"A resolution that called for a robust defense of free speech at the University of Michigan has been voted down by its student government.

Some students who voted against the measure cited concerns that, if approved, it’s essentially “legitimizing certain hate speech,” “delegitimizing minorities on campus” and “putting people at risk,” according to the minutes of the March 28 Central Student Government meeting.

...It called on the student government to release a statement reaffirming its commitment to the First Amendment, to make it clear to the campus community that protests are allowed as long as they don’t deprive other students of their free speech rights, endorse the Chicago Principles of Free Expression, and support viewpoint diversity — particularly political diversity — in campus efforts to advance diversity in the curriculum and by other means..."
Read on!

You ought to know!

Judicial Watch Obtains Copies of 204 ICE Illegal Alien ‘Detainer Requests’ Denied by Travis County, Texas Sheriff - Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch Obtains Copies of 204 ICE Illegal Alien ‘Detainer Requests’ Denied by Travis County, Texas Sheriff - Judicial Watch:

"Judicial Watch today announced that it obtained 204 illegal alien Detainer Requests denied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the Travis County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office. The illegal aliens protected by the Sheriff’s Office were charged or convicted of 31 acts of violence, 14 thefts or burglaries, and three acts or threats of terrorism. Forty-four of the denied requests were for inmates originally detained by Homeland Security and temporarily transferred to Travis County (home to the state capital in Austin) for disposition of state or local charges.

The sanctuary policy, the “Travis County Sheriff’s Office Policy on Cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” limits the extent to which the Sheriff’s Office will cooperate with ICE."

"It's Not A War Crime" - EU Finance Chief Attempts To Defend His "Women & Booze" Outburst | Zero Hedge

"It's Not A War Crime" - EU Finance Chief Attempts To Defend His "Women & Booze" Outburst | Zero Hedge:
The head of eurozone finance chiefs has hit back following his recent comments on troubled European countries, telling the media “it looks like I committed a war crime.” He insists that all he wanted to express was the idea that “solidarity is not charity.”

At the end of March, Jeroen Dijsselbloem had said that “I cannot spend all my money on liquor and women and then ask for your support,” referring to certain European nations asking for bailouts.

And now, as RT reports, in comments published on Monday by De Volkskrant newspaper, the departing Dutch finance minister attempted to clarify his remarks, explaining that “fatigue may have played a role” in the wording of his initial comments as “it was three days after the [Dutch] election...”

AM Fruitcake