History for January 6

History for January 6 - On-This-Day.com:
Joan of Arc 1412, Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier 1745, Danny Thomas 1912


Loretta Young 1913, Earl Scruggs (Bluegrass Boys, Foggy Mountain Boys) 1924, John Z. DeLorean 1925


1759 - George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.


1838 - Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.


1942 - The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place. Pan American Airlines was the company that made history with the feat.


1945 - The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties.


1952 - "Peanuts" debuted in Sunday papers across the United States.


1963 - "Wild Kingdom" premiered on NBC.


1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband.


1999 - The 106th U.S. Congress opened. The first item on the agenda was the impeachment proceedings of U.S. President Bill Clinton. The trial was set to begin January 7, 1999.

Did Obamacare Really Insure 20 Million?

Did Obamacare Really Insure 20 Million?:

"One of the most frequently heard claims from the Obama administration is that Obamacare is responsible for insuring 20 million adults who were previously uninsured. But Heritage Foundation research shows the administration’s figure is off by a few million.

The Department of Health and Human Services claims that 20 million people have gained health coverage since the enactment of Obamacare in 2010 through early 2016."

Liberal Struggle Against Reality - Walter E. Williams

Liberal Struggle Against Reality - Walter E. Williams:
"We will never understand liberals and progressives until we recognize that they often see reality as a social construct subject to being challenged and changed. 
For example, throughout the world, boys and girls have different toy preferences. 
Typically, boys like to play with cars and trucks, whereas girls prefer dolls. 
Liberals explain this with the assertion that boys and girls are socialized and encouraged to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers and "society." 
Growing scientific evidence suggests that toy preferences have a biological origin. 
Even studies of male and female primates find that they exhibit similar toy preferences. 
Despite the growing evidence of biological determinism, liberals have managed to intimidate toy sellers into getting rid of the labels "toys for boys" and "toys for girls."
...Another reality issue that's extremely annoying to liberals and progressives is chromosomal sex determination. 
The XX/XY sex determination system is found in humans.
 Females have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX), whereas males have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY). 
This chromosomal reality is seen as limiting, annoying and an artifact of a patriarchal, chauvinistic society. 
So liberals and progressives want to change it.
Somehow liberals and progressives manage to cope with some realities but go ballistic with others. 

• They cope well with black domination of basketball, football and track and with the near absence of black performers in classical concerts. 
• They also accept the complete absence of women in the NFL and NBA. 
• They even accept geographical disparities. For example, not a single player in the NHL's history can boast of having been born and raised in Hawaii, Louisiana or Mississippi. 
• The reality that they go ballistic on is the reality that we are not all equally intelligent. There are many more male geniuses than female, and median male IQ is higher. 
• Liberals might argue bias in the testing. 
• Men are taller on average than women. 

If liberals don't like that, would they accuse the height-measuring device of being biased?
The lesson liberals need to learn is that despite their arrogance, they do not have the power to alter reality."

1000 strong mob set Germany's OLDEST CHURCH ON FIRE on NYE

1000 strong mob set Germany's OLDEST CHURCH ON FIRE on NYE - The Rebel:
"A mob of a thousand people yelling "Allah hu Akbar" set Germany's oldest church on fire on New Years Eve.

As usual, it takes a few days until we really get a clear picture of what went on in Europe on New Year's Eve.

Last year it was days before we knew about the mass rapes, groping attacks, and general violence perpetrated by Muslim migrants to Europe across many European cities.

Polish TV reported that the Merkel government had ordered all CCTV footage of the attacks erased and the event covered up.

It only became known because of YouTube footage leaked by people who were there.

This year we know that hundreds of North Africans, referred to by German police as "nafris" had been turned away when they were discovered to be on their way to the same train station in Cologne where the attacks, primarily against women, took place last year.

Breitbart reveals what happened this year in Dortmund:

At New Year’s Eve celebrations in Dortmund a mob of more than 1,000 men chanted ‘Allahu Akhbar’, launched fireworks at police, and set fire to a historic church.

Already by 7 pm a man was hospitalised with first-degree burns to his face and hands after fireworks were hurled at a group of homeless people outside the city’s main train station. More than two dozen people were injured at festivities in Dortmund, some seriously.

Reportedly, local municipal authorities have published a report calling the night "quiet" and "normal."

Sharyl Atkisson: No, Russia Didn't Hack Our Election - Matt Vespa

Sharyl Atkisson: No, Russia Didn't Hack Our Election - Matt Vespa:

"Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Atkisson listed eight facts that cast doubt on the whole acid trip of Russia hacking the election, noting that a) the DNC hack really wasn’t all that serious compared to other cyber attacks; and b) the level of foreknowledge is just so far out of the realm of possibility for this to actually be a serious hypothesis. For instance, Atkisson noted that if this were true, the hackers would need to have known beforehand that tens of thousands of Trump voters were planning to vote for Clinton in order to execute this attack...that never happened:"

Minimum Wage Increases Kick In; Start Watching for Winners and Losers

Minimum Wage Increases Kick In; Start Watching for Winners and Losers - Hit & Run : Reason.com
"2017 ushered in minimum wage increases in 19 states, some more reasonable than others, and some of which are just the start of a series of massive jumps.

There will undoubtedly be "winners" and "losers" in these government-ordered increases, those who see actual raises vs. those who find jobs harder and harder to come by. 
And it's going to be a challenge to evaluate what truly happened. 
We are seeing increased automation of low-level low-skilled service jobs. 
Jacking up the minimum wage is going to increase the speed by which it happens, but it would be foolish to think it wouldn't eventually come regardless.

Houman Salem, who owns a small fashion house in the San Fernando Valley out in Los Angeles, took to the op-ed pages of the Los Angeles Times to explain why he's packing up and moving out of California. Los Angeles famously decided to eventually jack up its minimum wages to $15 per hour and the entire state followed suit.

Salem's commentary is particularly interesting because he writes about wages as a piece of a larger regulatory burden that affects his ability to do business. He explains that the minimum wage increase is the straw that broke the camel's back because of how difficult California makes it to operate a business:

Here's what the math looks like: I pay my employees $10.50 an hour, plus productivity bonuses. In addition, I pay payroll taxes and one of the highest worker compensation rates in the state. Even still, I could likely absorb a minimum wage as high as $11.50 an hour. But a $15-an-hour wage for my employees translates into $18.90 in costs for me — or just under $40,000 a year per full-time employee.

When the $15 minimum wage is fully phased in, my company would be losing in excess of $200,000 a year (and far more if my workforce grows as anticipated). That may be a drop in the bucket for large corporations, but a small business cannot absorb such losses. I could try to charge more to offset that cost, but my customers —the companies that are looking for someone to produce their clothing line — wouldn't pay it. The result would be layoffs.

...Salem's warning is a reminder that many of the states with the highest minimum wages also have the most oppressive regulatory atmospheres to do business...

The "Craziness" of the Climate Science Echo Chamber

The "Craziness" of the Climate Science Echo Chamber :: SteynOnline:

I spent much of Wednesday guest-hosting America's Number One radio show. 
You can find a few moments from today's show here - including a reference to the story of most personal interest to me, the news that the distinguished climate scientist Judith Curry had decided to resign from her position at Georgia Tech:

The superficial reason is that I want to do other things...

The deeper reasons have to do with my growing disenchantment with universities, the academic field of climate science and scientists.

Dr Curry elaborates:

A deciding factor was that I no longer know what to say to students and postdocs regarding how to navigate the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science. Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment — funding, ease of getting your papers published, getting hired in prestigious positions, appointments to prestigious committees and boards, professional recognition, etc.

How young scientists are to navigate all this is beyond me, and it often becomes a battle of scientific integrity versus career suicide (I have worked through these issues with a number of skeptical young scientists).

By "career suicide", Dr Curry means that, if you dissent from the Big Climate orthodoxy, thug enforcers like Dr Michael E Mann will take the hockey stick to you until there's nothing left. 
As Roger Pielke Jr, another scientist forced out of the field by the climate mullahs, said today:

No one has worked harder than Michael Mann, in public or behind the scenes, to destroy academic careers of those w/ views different than his.

Read on.
Important! 

Lunch video-----Debunking Planned Parenthood's "3%" Abortion Myth

Noon-toon

Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Clinton Email Lawsuits - Breitbart

Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Clinton Email Lawsuits - Breitbart:

"On Dec. 27, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed, ordering the lower court to restart proceedings on the lawsuit. The panel included both liberal and conservative judges.

“The Federal Records Act governs the creation, management and disposal of federal records,” Senior Judge Stephen Williams wrote for the court, quoting a previous case. “Due to the importance of maintaining federal records (which are generally accessible to the public through the Freedom of Information Act), the act strictly limits the circumstances under which records can be removed from federal custody or destroyed.”"

Dear Leader's (PBUH) reign ruled "scandal-free"

Dear Leader's (PBUH) reign ruled "scandal-free":

Jarrett: The 8 years Obama was president were 'scandal free'
Glorious news, comrades! 
His O'liness has been found free of scandal and any embarrassing acts or statement over his 8 years of benevolent leadership! 
Valerie Jarrett, who would know these things has stated so on CNN, so you know it's true.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/01/jarrett_the_8_years_obama_was_president_were_scandal_free.html

Thank You, Gary Johnson, for Being the Best Thing in 2016!

Thank You, Gary Johnson, for Being the Best Thing in 2016! - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"Before we completely flush 2016 down the memory hole, let us pause to remember Gary Johnson...
In the end, of course, there was a lot of disappointment.

He didn't crack 15 percent in polls to route around the bullshit criteria created by the two major parties to keep people like him off the stage...
...in the end, Johnson pulled almost 4.5 million votes (3.3 percent of the total), compared to 1.3 million votes (1 percent) four years ago.
I choose instead to focus on what I think were two major themes that Johnson introduced into national politics that will have a very long shelf-life...

• First, he was the first politician in forever who had the temerity to say what we all know to be true: That most Americans are socially liberal (or tolerant) and fiscally conservative (i.e. responsible)...
• Second, and more controversially, I think, Gary Johnson incarnates what we will come to expect from politicians and presidents. Hillary Clinton was imperious and hyper-credentialed to a fault, Donald Trump was simply a bullying blowhard, and Jill Stein an unconvincing bullshit artist (she's still at it, actually, improbably attributing the New Year's Eve attack in Istanbul to climate change). Johnson presented himself as experienced and competent—he had a great run as a two-term governor of New Mexico and had built two successful businesses—but also relentlessly human. He didn't pretend to know everything (including some things he absolutely should have had down cold) or to be all things to all people..."

Did Obamacare Really Insure 20 Million?

Did Obamacare Really Insure 20 Million?:
"One of the most frequently heard claims from the Obama administration is that Obamacare is responsible for insuring 20 million adults who were previously uninsured.
But Heritage Foundation research shows the administration’s figure is off by a few million.
The Department of Health and Human Services claims that 20 million people have gained health coverage since the enactment of Obamacare in 2010 through early 2016.
Of those people, 2.3 million are said to be young adults (ages 19 to 25) that gained coverage between 2010 and 2013 as a result of the Obamacare provision allowing them to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26.
The remaining 17.7 million people gained health insurance from Obamacare’s first open enrollment period between October 2013 and early 2016.
...The researchers found that just over 14 million people gained coverage from the end of 2013 to the end of 2015.
Of those 14 million, 11.8 million gained their insurance through Medicaid and 2.2 million through private coverage.
...Enrollment in the individual market increased by 5.9 million and the self-insured employer market grew by 3.9 million.
However, these increases were largely offset by an enrollment drop of 7.6 million people in fully insured employer group plans. 
Overall, the net gain in private market coverage was only 2.3 million people.
Medicaid enrollment has surged.
In states that adopted Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, enrollment surged by 10.4 million.
However, Medicaid enrollment also rose by 1.4 million in states that didn’t expand their Medicaid programs.
Overall, enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program accounts for 84 percent of the total coverage gains from Obamacare since 2014..."

Congress to Freeze State Dept Funds Until Embassy Moves to Jerusalem

Congress to Freeze State Dept Funds Until Embassy Moves to Jerusalem:

"A delegation of Republican senators is moving forward with an effort to freeze some funding to the State Department until the U.S. embassy in Israel is formally moved to Jerusalem, according to new legislation.

The legislation comes as the Obama administration continues to face criticism over its behind-the-scenes effort to forward a United Nations resolution condemning Israel."

5 Heroic Last Stands From Military History

5 Heroic Last Stands From Military History:
2. “We Are Sorry, But We Do Not Speak French.”

Battle of the Golden Spurs. 

Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 was part of the Franco-Flemish wars. Near Kortjik, Flanders, some 8,000 French Knights were up against the 9000 ordinary people of the city militia. The French army was a well-equipped force of shiny knights.  They had armored knights, esquires, crossbowmen, pikemen and everything else they need to rout the Flemish force.

The Flemish, on the other hand, were not even in a battle formation. They were armed with spears and maces. Thus, the French, confident in their own superiority attacked, but they were routed. The citizens, whom everyone considered unable to fight, simply destroyed the French army. All four of the French commanders were killed, and the famous army of Philip IV left with tucked tails. When Robert II, the Count of Artois, pleaded for mercy, the Flemish responded: “We are sorry, but we do not speak French.”

We can safely add this battle to the count. Simple citizens, albeit trained in the usage of weapons, to go against the glorious and seasoned French knights, and still win, is nothing short of heroic.

AM Fruitcake

History for January 5

History for January 5 - On-This-Day.com:
Stephen Decatur 1779, Jeannette Piccard 1895, George Reeves 1914


Jane Wyman 1917 - Actress, Robert Duvall 1930, Diane Keaton 1946


1781 - Richmond, VA, was burned by a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold.


1933 - In California, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began.


1940 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got its very first demonstration of FM radio.


1948 - Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.


1956 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.


1961 - "Mr. Ed" debuted. The show would run for six years.


1972 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle.


1998 - U.S. Representative Sonny Bono died in skiing accident.

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

'https://libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2017/01/lame-duck-by-tammy-derouin-year-2017.html

Lame Duck

By Tammy Derouin

The year 2017 couldn't get here fast enough.  As 2016 was coming to a much needed end, Americans were getting yet another look at the destructive objectives of the Obama administration.  With only a few weeks left to do damage, we are witnessing an epic round of transparency.  It is perhaps one of the clearest pictures we’ve seen as there are no attempts to explain the actions or make up fictional meanings and stories.  The mask is completely off as Obama no longer has to hide his true intentions.  With no more voters to con, the wolf in sheep's clothing has shed his disguise. Obama’s suicidal laced agenda for America and our ally, Israel, has been made transparently clear.

 

Transparency or truth was never part of the game plan.  The administration and the power hungry Left understand that keeping people in the dark gives them power and control.  The truth has always been out there, it just takes effort and the desire to find it.  It was a choice each individual had to make.  Do you dig a little deeper and see reality or do you close your eyes, plug your ears and dream of rainbows and silly unicorns?  The unfortunate downside to the latter is that once people deny the truth for a long period of time, it has a way of blindsiding them.  If the truth has always been withheld or refused, well, that's when cry-ins, play-dough and coloring books come into play.  

During the final days of the Obama administration, there will be many attempts to sabotage the American people, our traditional allies and President-elect Donald Trump.  The Leftist playbook does not include a chapter on how to exit the stage gracefully after a defeat.  Anger will therefore be unleashed.  There will be many attempts to force as much of their unfinished agenda upon us.  The determination of the angry lame duck as he attempts to wield his iron wing is cause for concern.  However, a lame duck is a lame duck and he can only go so far....... 

How Crony Capitalism Works

How Crony Capitalism Works - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"Higher campaign contributions by companies helps them to secure more federal government contracts at better terms that yield higher profits, says a new working paper from researchers associated with the Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University.
In "It's a Sweetheart of a Deal: Political Connections and Federal Contracting," economists Stephen Ferris and Reza Houston confirm earlier econometric findings that firms that make more contributions to politicians do better than companies that supply lower or no contributions. 
They measured political connections of firms by taking into account the size of political contributions made by each company's political action committee (PAC) to directly to Congressional candidates and political parties and to their associated PACs.
...Additionally, Ferris and Houston wanted to find out whether larger contributors got better contractual terms, that is, sweetheart deals. 
To probe this, they constructed a four-point Sweetheart Index based on contractual terms that are clearly advantageous to the contractor but not necessarily so for the government.
Specifically, they scanned government contracts for no-bid, cost-plus, multi-year, and exemption from cost and pricing data provisions.
Obviously, all four provisions enhance the profitability of the contracts.
So what did Ferris and Houston find..?
Read on!

Waitress Fired from Waffle House for Pulling Gun to Fend off Robbers, as Chain's "Gun-Free Zone" Policy Spurs Rash of Armed Robberies Nationwide

Waitress Fired from Waffle House for Pulling Gun to Fend off Robbers, as Chain's "Gun-Free Zone" Policy Spurs Rash of Armed Robberies Nationwide | The Daily Sheeple:
Three robbers finished their meal at a Newnan, Georgia Waffle House in the middle of the night, but instead of paying their bill, one handed a note to the cashier threatening to shoot everybody if the employees didn’t hand over the restaurant’s cash.

The men then ran out to the parking lot. 
After her coworker handed former waitress Heather “Shorty” Burkinshaw-Stanley (pictured below) the note, she ran and grabbed her gun from her car and fired one shot into the air outside as the robbers made off in their cars.

She’s a “former” waitress now because Waffle House fired her over her actions.

Via WSB-TV:

“I didn’t know if they had guns. I didn’t know if they were going to their vehicle to get another one and could come back and try to get to the safe, so my instinct was to go to my car and get the gun,” she said.

Stanley said she was only trying to protect the store and her co-workers and didn’t expect to be let go. “For trying to protect their Waffle House and trying to protect their money and to get their money back, they let me go,” she said.

She makes a good point. The robbers threatened to kill everyone and they could be coming back for the safe. It’s a reasonable precaution to take under those circumstances. Waiting for police to show up in that situation could mean lives lost.

Not to mention another Waffle House restaurant in the same area had been robbed twice in the weeks before this incident.

Could the chain’s nationwide no-weapons policy possibly have something to do with that..?"

The pathetic end of the Obama era

The pathetic end of the Obama era:

"These tantrums are not without reason. One prefers to lash out at an enemy beyond the border than to look at one's own failures square in the face.

The Obama administration has fallen far short of the soaring aspiration in which it began. The wars have not ended. Obama is the first two-term president to be in one war — the war in Afghanistan, the war that even his own "surge" could not end — for his entire presidency. And it's a war in which the Taliban has been making a comeback."

Swedish Six-Hour Workday Trial Runs Into Trouble: Too Expensive

Swedish Six-Hour Workday Trial Runs Into Trouble: Too Expensive - Bloomberg:
"Swedes looking forward to a six-hour workday just got some bad news: the costs outweigh the benefits.
That’s according to the preliminary results of a two-year experiment carried out in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, the home of Volvo.
To reduce the 8-hour days at the 68-nurse Svartedalen old people’s home, the city had to hire 17 extra staff at a cost of 12 million kronor ($2.2 million).
The study showed that employees felt healthier, which reduced sick-leave absence, and that patient care improved, but the city won’t push ahead to make the plan permanent.
“It’s associated with higher costs, absolutely,” said Daniel Bernmar, a local left-wing politician responsible for running the municipality’s elderly care.
“It’s far too expensive to carry out a general shortening of working hours within a reasonable time frame...”

How the world got fat: a visualisation of global obesity over 40 years

How the world got fat: a visualisation of global obesity over 40 years | Max Galka | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian:
It’s hard to understand or even believe the contagious way that obesity has spread virally around the world - so Max Galka created this visualisation
The rise of adult obesity 1975-2014. (click on link to see)
The colour of each country represents its adult obesity rate.
The colour of each country represents its adult obesity rate in the year shown.
Hover over a country to see what its obesity rate was in 1975 and what it is today.

...Since 1975, obesity rates have risen in every country in the world, without exception. 
That includes countries like the United States and the UK, where food is cheap and abundant, and countries like Somalia and Angola, where malnutrition remains an epidemic.
At the low end, North Korea’s obesity rates are up about 1% (from 1.6% in 1975 to 2.8% today).
Japan is also near the bottom with a 2% increase since 1975 (from 1.1% to 3.3%).
The largest changes occurred in smaller Pacific island countries. Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu all saw their obesity rates increase by more than 20%, a doubling of what they were in 1975.
Perhaps the country that stands out most of all is China. 
In 1975, only 0.5% of Chinese adults were obese. Today, China’s obesity rate is about 8%, a 16-fold increase in the most populous country in the world.
Globally, the average adult today is three times as likely to be obese compared to the average adult in 1975..."
Read on.

Lunch video-----Patriotism - Penn & Teller

Noon-toon

DELINGPOLE: Trump Versus the Green Blob—Here's How We Know He Means Business - Breitbart

DELINGPOLE: Trump Versus the Green Blob—Here's How We Know He Means Business - Breitbart:

"Trump is different because, unlike his mainstream GOP former rivals he feels absolutely no need to compromise or to green virtue-signal. He has never made any bones about his conviction that “climate change” is a con and that the US economy has been held hostage by eco-loons and that blue-collar Americans have been denied jobs because of the environmental policies imposed on them by uptown pajama boys.
So what are his plans for energy and the environment?

Well in fact, it’s no secret. He set them out very clearly in the speech he gave on May 26, 2016 in North Dakota.

Here is my 100-day action plan:"