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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Monday, January 4, 2016

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
That about says it all, doesn't it ...!
 
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Today in History

1757
Robert Francois Damiens makes an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate King Louis XV of France.
1863
Union General Henry Halleck, by direction of Abraham Lincoln, orders General Ulysses Grant to revoke his infamous General Order No. 11 that expelled jews from his operational area.
1896
Utah becomes the 45th state of the Union.
1902
France offers to sell their Nicaraguan Canal rights to the United States.
1904
The U.S. Supreme Court decides in the Gonzales v. Williams case that Puerto Ricans are not aliens and can enter the United States freely, yet stops short of awarding citizenship.
1920
The Negro National League, the first black baseball league, is organized by Rube Foster.
1923
The Paris Conference on war reparations hits a deadlock as the French insist on the hard line and the British insist on Reconstruction.
1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt claims in his State of the Union message that the federal government will provide jobs for 3.5 million Americans on welfare.
1936
Billboard magazine publishes its first music Hit Parade.
1941
On the Greek-Albanian front, the Greeks launch an attack towards Valona from Berat to Klisura against the Italians.
1942
Japanese forces begin the evacuation of Guadalcanal.
1951
UN forces abandon Seoul, Korea, to the Chinese Communist Army.
1952
The French Army in Indochina launches Operation Nenuphar in hopes of ejecting a Viet Minh division from the Ba Tai forest.
1969
Spain returns the Ifni province to Morocco.
1970
A 7.7 earthquake kills 15,000+ people in Tonghai County, China.
1972
Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England.
1974
Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1975
The Khmer Rouge launches its newest assault in its five-year war in Phnom Penh. The war in Cambodia would go on until the spring of 1975.
1976
The Ulster Volunteer Force kills six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day 10 Protestant civilians are murdered in retaliation.
1979
Ohio officials approve an out-of-court settlement awarding $675,000 to the victims and families in the 1970 shootings at Kent State University, in which four students were killed and nine wounded by National Guard troops.
1990
Over 300 people die and more than 700 are injured in Pakistan’s deadliest train accident, when an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train.
1999
Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former professional wrestler, is sworn in as populist governor of Minnesota.
1999
The euro, the new money of 11 European nations, goes into effect on the continent of Europe.
2004
NASA Mars rover Spirit successfully lands on Mars.
2004
Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the Rose Revolution of November 2003.
2007
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) became the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
2010
Burj Khalifa (Khalifa tower) officially opens in Dubai, UAE. At 2,722 ft (829.8 m) it is the world’s tallest man-made structure.

Willem Arondeus

Willem Arondeus was a Dutch resistance fighter who gave his life trying to protect his Jewish countrymen from the Nazis.
Born in Amsterdam in 1895, Willem was one of six children. From a young age, he was a talented artist and his parents encouraged his creativity, until he came out as homosexual at age 17.
In a time when nearly all gay people were in the closet, Willem’s parents could not accept his choice to live openly. Their rejection led Willem to run away from home.
On his own, Willem took odd jobs and eventually became a successful visual artist and writer. He was commissioned to paint a mural for Rotterdam’s town hall, in a style that combined modern abstract painting with a traditional Dutch motif. Willem was a well-respected author who published a popular biography of Dutch painter and political activist Matthijs Maris.
In 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Willem immediately joined the resistance movement, and urged his fellow artists to fight against the Nazi occupation. WIllem published illegal anti-Nazi pamphlets calling for mass resistance against the Germans.
Willem was especially committed to saving Amsterdam’s Jewish community. Bringing in others to the cause, Willem arranged for Dutch Jews to be hidden in people's homes. He used his artistic skills to create false identity papers.
In 1943, Willem hatched a brazen plan. Dressed as a German Army captain, and with 15 men behind him, Willem boldly marched into the Public Record Office, where lists identifying people as Jews were kept. Willem drugged the guards and planted a firebomb. The resulting blaze destroyed tens of thousands of documents, and delayed or prevented many Jews from being identified by the Nazis.
Unfortunately, Willem was captured by the Germans and sentenced to death. Willem's last words before being executed in July, 1943 were, "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards.”
In 1986 Yad Vashem recognized Arondeus as Righteous Among the Nations.
Because of his sexual orientation, Willem’s story was omitted from Dutch history books. Only in the last 20 years has his courage become widely known.

Carrie Fisher PULVERIZES Body Shamers Bashing Her, And It’s Pretty Damn Awesome

Carrie Fisher PULVERIZES Body Shamers Bashing Her, And It’s Pretty Damn Awesome (TWEETS)
It may be little known to some, but it is in fact true that women get older, even beloved movie stars who many would like to freeze in time in the roles...

The year of fear: Republicans and media stoked bigotry and anxiety in 2015

This was the year the threads came together. Spectres of mass shootings, jihadis and immigrant hordes have grown to haunt parts of 21st century America as communists and the atom bomb once did.

Wingnuts continue taking control of our media outlets

From Robert Reich:
Wingnut mega-donor Sheldon Adelson has just bought the biggest newspaper in Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- just in time for Nevada's becoming a key battleground for the presidency and for the important Senate seat being vacated by Harry Reid. It’s not quite like Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, but Adelson's purchase marks another step toward oligarchic control of America – and the relative decline of corporate power.
Future historians will note that the era of corporate power extended for about 40 years, from 1980 to 2016 or 2020. It began in the 1970s with a backlash against Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society (Medicare, Medicaid, the EPA and OSHA). In 1971, future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell warned corporate leaders that the “American economic system is under broad attack,” and urging them to mobilize. “Business must learn the lesson . . . that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination—without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.” He went on: “Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.”
Soon thereafter, corporations descended on Washington. In 1971, only 175 firms had Washington lobbyists; by 1982, almost 2,500 did. Between 1974 and 1980 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doubled its membership and tripled its budget. In 1972, the National Association of Manufacturers moved its office from New York to Washington, and the Business Roundtable was formed, whose membership was restricted to top corporate CEOs.
The number of corporate Political Action Committees soared from under 300 in 1976 to over 1,200 in 1980, and their spending on politics grew five-fold. In the early 1970s, businesses spent less on congressional races than did labor unions; by the mid-1970s, the two were at rough parity; by 1980, corporations accounted for three-quarters of PAC spending while unions accounted for less than a quarter. Then came Ronald Reagan's presidency, corporate control of the Republican Party, and a Republican-dominated Supreme Court and its "Citizens United" decision.
But in the early 21st century, a billionaire class emerged that didn’t want or need to share political power with large corporations. Their agenda was to reduce their taxes, enhance their wealth, and buy up the nation’s major assets. The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Rupert Murdoch, Dumbass Trump, and about three dozen other oligarchs began to wrest power away from the Republican business establishment by funding their own candidates, buying their own media outlets, and even running for office themselves.
The rest is history. Or may be.
What do you think?

Man Gets Out Of Shower, Sits On Gun, Shoots Himself

As Stop-and-Frisks Have Gone Down in NYC, So Have Shootings and Murders

The idea that New York City is in the throes of a historically or even notably dangerous and criminal era is a myth fabricated largely by the knuckleheads at the New York Post . More evidence to the contrary: In the years since stop-and-frisk began its great decline, murders and shootings in the city have gone down too, not up, according to new NYCLU (New York Civil Liberties Union) analysis.

Prosecutors In Tamir Rice Case Rigged Grand Jury To Clear 2 Officers

Prosecutors In Tamir Rice Case Accused Of Rigging Grand Jury To Clear 2 Officers
Here we go again with a prosecutor abusing the grand jury process.

Oregon Bakery Owners Cry Persecution After Finally Paying Damages To Lesbian Couple

Just think, if Aaron and Melissa Klein had simply baked the cake, they wouldn’t be paying any damages at all, nor would they be a national laughingstock. But...

Pennsylvania man goes on N-word tirade against anti-fracking activists — and quickly loses his job

Racist rant caught on video (YouTube)
Pennsylvania man goes on N-word tirade against anti-fracking activists — and quickly loses his job

Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIL after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter

Mocking "ISIS likes dicks" tweet - via Twitter
A leader of ISIL learned the hard way this week that Twitter may not be a future option for attempting to reach out to fellow Muslims for his international jihad.

Twitter Hopes New Terms Of Service Demonstrate Its Commitment To Fighting Abuse

Is Your Facebook Habit Becoming Dependence?

The reasons why people visit the site offer clues to their personalities.

Why Do We Enjoy Schadenfreude?

What explains the wave of schadenfreude on social media following Ethan Couch's apprehension in Mexico? 

Affluenza teen granted temporary stay against deportation

Despite being in Mexico on expired tourist visas, fugitives Ethan Couch and his mother have been granted a delay against deportation from Mexico. Both are wanted in the US on a number of charges.
From Star-Telegram:
ethan-couchTarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he was told by U.S. Marshals that an attorney representing the Couches filed a “legal writ,” to prevent the pair from leaving Mexico.
“Couch and his mother cannot be deported from Mexico until legal matters are resolved,” U.S. Marshal’s Service spokeswoman Laura Vega told the Star-Telegram. “We simply do not know when Ethan and Tonya Couch will be returned to the U.S.”
Anderson said his office had planned to take the Couches into custody in Houston on Wednesday. The pair had been scheduled to fly from Guadalajara to Houston on Wednesday afternoon.

10 Things We Learned About the Earth in 2015

We learned a lot of things about what's happening on our planet this year, some good and some not so much.

Paleontology News

A passer-by found a meter-long shell on a riverbank in Argentina that may be from a glyptodont, an enormous ancestor of today's armadillo.

The Kraken

Scientists reveal the truth behind the origins of the legendary Kraken

Animal Pictures