The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Our eleventh Xmas Tree of the month ...!

 

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Today in History

1688		James II abdicates the throne because of William of Orange landing in England.
1816		Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state.
1861		A raging fire sweeps the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, adding to an already depressed economic state.
1862		Union General Ambrose Burnside occupies Fredericksburg and prepares to attack the Confederates under Robert E. Lee.
1863		Union gunboats Restless, Bloomer and Caroline enter St. Andrew’s Bay, Fla., and begin bombardment of both Confederate quarters and saltworks.
1882		A production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe at Boston’s Bijou Theatre becomes the first performance in a theatre lit by incandescent electric lights.
1927		Nearly 400 world leaders sign a letter to President Calvin Coolidge asking the United States to join the World Court.
1930		As the economic crisis grows, the Bank of the United States closes its doors.
1933		Reports say Paraguay has captured 11,000 Bolivians in the war over Chaco.
1936		Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates the throne to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson.
1941		The United States declares war on Italy and Germany.
1943		U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull demands that Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria withdraw from the war.
1945		A Boeing B-29 Superfortress shatters all records by crossing the United States in five hours and 27 minutes.
1951		Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
1955		Israel raids Syrian positions on the Sea of Galilee.
1964		Frank Sinatra, Jr., is returned home to his parents after being kidnapped for the ransom amount of $240,000.
1967		The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world’s first supersonic airliner, is unveiled in Toulouse, France.
1972		Challenger, the lunar lander for Apollo 17, touches down on the moon’s surface, the last time that men visit the moon.
1978		Massive demonstrations take place in Tehran against the shah.
1981		Military forces in El Salvador kill over 800 civilians in what is known as the El Mozote massacre during the Salvadoran Civil War.
1997		The Kyoto Protocol international treaty intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, opens for signature.
2001		People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2005		Cronulla riots begin in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
2006		President of Mexico Felipe Calderon launches a military-led offensive against drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan.
2008		Bernard "Bernie" Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in what was called a $50-billion Ponzi scheme.

Fusion power is only five years away

Fusion power is only five years away, say UK scientists

Fusion is how stars produce energy. It occurs when the nuclei of light atoms, such as hydrogen, are fused together under extreme pressure and heat.

Study undercuts idea that ‘Medieval Warm Period’ was global

Study undercuts idea that ‘Medieval Warm Period’ was global

A new study questions the popular notion that 10th-century Norse people were able to colonize Greenland because of a period of unusually warm weather. Based upon signs left by old glaciers, researchers including UB geologists say the climate was already cold when the...

Non Sequitur

DUI expert charged with DUI

Florida attorney Tom Hudson is known as one of America's pre-eminent DUI defense lawyers, writing one of the definitive books on the topic, “The Drinker's Guide to Driving: The Secrets of DUI from One of America's Top DUI Lawyers.” He holds law enforcement certifications usually reserved for police officers assigned to DUI enforcement units, and he's qualified to administer both the Intoxilyzer 5000 and 8000 breath-testing machines. Last Sunday, Hudson found himself on the receiving end of one of the devices, stopped by Sarasota County Sheriff's Office deputies at about 7:30pm. An hour later, the Intoxilyzer 8000 indicated that Hudson's breath alcohol level was .12, over the legal limit of .08. He was charged with DUI. His willingness to provide a breath sample, coupled with other decisions he made during the hours he spent in custody, have some local defense attorneys scratching their heads in wonderment.

Hudson says he can't comment on a pending case. “But I encourage people to be cautious during the holiday season,” he said. “It's easy to be unaware of the amount of your consumption.” Deputy Stacey Eve says she saw Hudson's vehicle approaching in her rear view mirror at excessive speed. She turned on her radar, which showed he was travelling at 50 mph in a 35 mph zone. Once Hudson passed her, Eve followed, noting in her report that Hudson's speed varied from 49 mph to 55 mph, and that he “made jerking movements and traveled briefly from one side of the right lane to the other.” Once stopped, and after Hudson rolled down his window, the deputy noted “an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the inside of the car,” that Hudson's speech allegedly “sounded slurred as he spoke,” and that the lawyer's movements were “sluggish and exaggerated.” She called for a traffic unit to respond. Deputy Sgt. Chuck Flint and Deputy Jimmy Adams were dispatched.
They recognized Hudson immediately. He is well known by local law enforcement. In 2010, Hudson hired a private investigator to videotape the driving of on-duty law enforcement officers. The video showed them making the same driving mistakes that officers cite as reasons for stopping drivers on suspicion of drunken driving: making wide turns, crossing double yellow lines and riding on lane markers. The stunt helped a Sarasota man beat a DUI charge. When he saw Sgt. Flint, Hudson shook his hand and said, “Hi Chuck.” Flint recorded that Hudson's speech was slow and that he was atypically “soft spoken.” “All of this is in stark contrast to the defendant's normal behaviour and demeanor,” Flint wrote. Hudson told the lawmen he'd had a drink at a bar in Sarasota. He refused their request to do field sobriety tests - the examination where officers gauge the driver's sobriety based on their coordination and ability to follow simple commands.

YouTube link.

He was arrested and taken to the Sarasota County Jail. Deputy Adams asked Hudson to take a breath test. Hudson, who has filed numerous motions in other DUI cases attacking the accuracy of the breath-testing machines, agreed. The test takes two samples. They indicated Hudson's breath alcohol level was . 121 and .128, respectively. After the breath test, Adams asked Hudson if he would be willing to take a blood test, too. Defense attorneys say that test is far more difficult to refute at trial than a breath test. Defense attorneys can attack the blood-draw procedure or the chain-of-custody, or hope for an out-of-date collection kit, but the results themselves are hard to disprove. But Hudson agreed. A paramedic took a sample from Hudson's right arm, which Adams packaged and sealed. Those results are pending. Hudson was issued a citation for DUI and speeding. When asked, Hudson declined to to say why he admitted drinking, or why he so readily agreed to the tests of both his breath and his blood. “I can tell you this, it's been an eye-opening experience to see what my clients have been going through for the past 15 years.”

Tip from self-proclaimed psychic led to arrest of alleged thieves

A self-proclaimed psychic who called police in Madison, Wisconsin, early on Tuesday to report some strange goings-on around a car in a hotel parking lot did actually help officers catch and arrest two suspected thieves, with the car itself being stolen. The incident happened at about 12:40am in the Red Roof Inn parking lot, police said. Arrested were Andrew Matje, 25, DeForest, on tentative charges of identity theft, resisting, felony bail jumping and party to the crime of retail theft, and Alexandra Scola, 25, DeForest, on tentative charges of identity theft, two counts of felony retail theft and attempted felony retail theft. The unidentified psychic told the 911 dispatcher he believed there was some sort of elaborate conspiracy happening, centering on a white car in the hotel's parking lot.
"He saw people coming and going, believing they had a strange aura about them, and that they were likely connected to unnamed nefarious characters," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. Arriving officers discovered the car had been reported stolen, and the two people using the car had outstanding warrants. "The male suspect was chased down by officers outside the hotel, and the woman suspect was found in a hotel room," DeSpain said.
Scola allegedly stole $2,200 worth of jeans from Boston Store at West Towne Mall on two different occasions in November, and allegedly tried to steal another $700 worth of jeans on Monday from the same store. Matje allegedly took a purse from a restaurant on Sunday and used a credit card in the purse to buy 10 packs of cigarettes. The white car was towed away by police, since evidence could possibly be in the car. "The suspects went to jail," DeSpain said. "While investigators could not corroborate the self-proclaimed psychic's elaborate conspiracy theory, they were very happy to get the crime tip, just the same."

'Immigration Debate' Is a Farce

Why the So-Called 'Immigration Debate' Is a Farce

How America Was Spared the Worst of Financial Crisis

Paul Krugman: How America Was Spared the Worst of Financial Crisis

How Should We Punish Disloyal Corporations?

Robert Reich: How Should We Punish Disloyal Corporations? 

Climate Change Is Wreaking Havoc on the American Empire

How Climate Change Is Wreaking Havoc on the American Empire

Google Spying on 40 Million K-12 Students, Privacy Advocates Call for Federal Sanctions

Google Spying on 40 Million K-12 Students, Privacy Advocates Call for Federal Sanctions

After Keystone XL: 5 Pipelines You Need To Know About

The United States is covered in pipelines that are ready to burst. Some are far worse than Keystone XL.

Read full story 

Wizard of Id

Tennessee Pastor Orders Women To 'Submit' Because The 'Feminist Rebellion' Is Destroying America

Tennessee Pastor Orders Women To 'Submit' Because The 'Feminist Rebellion' Is Destroying America

Ray, senior pastor of Ridgeway baptist cult of Memphis, told his coven last Sunday that women needed to submit to their husbands in all things, and that the "feminist rebellion" was responsible for many of the problems the country was facing.

Oversight-hating 'christian' home-school lobby enables tragedies like dad who fed boy to pigs

Oversight-hating 'christian' home-school lobby enables tragedies like dad who fed boy to pigs

The 'christian' home-school lobby is fighting attempts by states to regulate home educators, even after the tragic deaths of children who were purportedly being taught in their homes but were actually missing for years.

San Diego priest who covered up sex assault placed in charge of sex abuse hotline

San Diego priest who covered up sex assault placed in charge of sex abuse hotline

“Bishop McElroy has no excuse for putting Callahan in charge of the hotline. A simple Google search or a quick chat with catholics would show what a bad idea Callahan’s new job is.”

Chicago trans man gets threatened at gunpoint and called ISIL member by raging Fox News cretin

Chicago trans man gets threatened at gunpoint and called ISIL member by raging Fox News cretin

A transgender Chicago teaching assistant was harassed and threatened at gunpoint late last month after an angry Fox News viewer mistook him for a member of the terror group ISIL because of his beard.

Texans sit in silence as Muslim women face racism at Austin cafe

Texans sit in silence as Muslim women face racism at Austin cafe: ‘Have the humanity to acknowledge it’

The two Muslim women, Leilah Abdennabi and Sirat Al-Nahi, said that they had hoped to enjoy Sunday lunch at Austin’s popular Kerbey Lane Cafe.

Australians Marvel At The Stranglehold The Gun Lobby Has On America

Commentators struggled to make sense of American inaction in response to mass shootings from Columbine to San Bernardino.

NRA defeated as Supreme Court rejects challenge to Chicago suburb’s assault weapon ban

NRA defeated as Supreme Court rejects challenge to Chicago suburb’s assault weapon ban

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge by gun nut 'rights' agitators to an ordinance enacted by a Chicago suburb that bans assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.

5 Outrageously Expensive and Useless Defense Projects That You and I Are Paying for

5 Outrageously Expensive and Useless Defense Projects That You and I Are Paying for

US defense contractors caught celebrating the financial benefits of ISIL and war in the Middle East

US defense contractors caught celebrating the financial benefits of ISIL and war in the Middle East

At a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week, representatives from major defense contractors spoke to their investors about how well business was going in these times of global war.

NYC woman takes a bite from her pizza and walks away as hit pedestrian dies bleeding on sidewalk

NYC woman takes a bite from her pizza and walks away as hit pedestrian dies bleeding on sidewalk

Vigilante gunman shoots and kills Tucson man who shoplifted beer from Circle K

Vigilante gunman shoots and kills Tucson man who shoplifted beer from Circle K

Police in Tucson, Arizona have released the name of a 46-year-old man who was shot and killed by a gun-toting civilian.

Cowardly Cop Kills Man After his Fellow Officer Incapacitated Him With a Taser

Cowardly Cop Kills Man After his Fellow Officer Incapacitated Him With a Taser

B.C.

Ten Amazing Underwater Discoveries

Given that approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is water, and mankind has been navigating that watery surface as long as his species has existed, there are many mysteries that could be solved if the man-made items claimed by the oceans were all known. The linked article is a list of just that: long lost, man-made items that have been discovered in water. One majestic discovery on the list is the lost Pagodas of Mahabalipuram. For ages, the people of Mahabalipuram, India told stories of seven pagodas that were supposedly so magnificent that "the gods became jealous and had six of them swallowed by the sea." Historians, though, focusing on the one pagoda on land in the region, believed the stories to be the stuff of legend.
Yet  amazingly, when a 2004 tsunami caused water in the area to recede by 1,650 feet, sediment that once covered the structures was removed and the pagodas saw the light of day. When the ruins were exposed and dive teams began examining the site, they were shocked as to the size and significance of the find. Expedition leader Monty Halls said,

“The initial feeling was one of disbelief. The sheer scale of the site was so impressive.”

Read about more amazing underwater finds here.

Pizza delivery driver accidentally shot by customer's dog

A pizza delivery, a dog and a loaded gun combined for an accidental shooting in West Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday. Ryan Brill, 18, of Toledo was delivering to a home at about 8:15pm. The customer, Anthony Wulf, told police he placed his gun on a table before answering the door when his dog knocked it away.

The firearm hit the ground, fired once, and shot Mr Brill's right leg. Mr. Brill was treated at ProMedica Toledo Hospital for injuries police said appear not to be life threatening. Mr Brill, who is employed by Wild Wings N Things, said he was surprised by what occurred.
“I've delivered to this guy before. Never shot me,” Mr Brill said. Shock and adrenaline initially dulled the pain. Mr. Brill said his leg felt warm, and it then grew numb. “The sound went off, and immediately I knew it was a gunshot,” Mr Brill said. Mr Wulf quickly ushered Mr Brill into the house.
He performed first aid on the wound and called police, Mr Brill said. The victim left the hospital after roughly two hours of treatment. He will need crutches for two to three weeks. Police have not filed charges against Mr Wulf. Mr Brill said he received an apology from the gun owner and does not plan to pursue charges himself. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to deliver to that guy again,” he added.

Animal Pictures