The Daily Drift

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Today in History

536		Having captured Naples earlier in the year, Belisarius takes Rome.
1861		The U.S. Senate approves establishment of a committee that would become the Joint Committee on the Conduct of War.
1863		Major General John G. Foster replaces Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside as Commander of the Department of Ohio.
1867		The capital of Colorado Territory is moved from Golden to Denver.
1872		P.B.S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American governor of Louisiana.
1900		The Russian czar rejects Boer Paul Kruger’s pleas for aid in South Africa against the British.
1908		A child labor bill passes in the German Reichstag, forbidding work for children under age 13.
1917		The new Finnish Republic demands the withdrawal of Russian troops.
1940		The British army seizes 1,000 Italians in a sudden thrust in Egypt.
1941		Franklin D. Roosevelt tells Americans to plan for a long war.
1948		The United States abandons a plan to de-concentrate industry in Japan.
1949		The United Nations takes trusteeship over Jerusalem.
1950		President Harry Truman bans U.S. exports to Communist China.
1950		Harry Gold gets 30 years imprisonment for passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.
1955		Sugar Ray Robinson knocks out Carl Olson to regain the world middleweight boxing title.
1960		The Laos government flees to Cambodia as the capital city of Vientiane is engulfed in war.
1990		Lech Walesa is elected president of Poland.
1992		U.S. Marines land in Somalia to ensure food and medicine reaches the deprived areas of that country.
2008		Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested on federal charges, including an attempt to sell the US Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

A Brief History of Sending a Letter to Santa

Teaching your children to write letters to Santa claus is fun for the whole family. The kid learn to write letters, or write at all, and parents find out what their fondest wish for Xmas gifts are. But it wasn’t always that way.

Early versions of Santa Claus tended to depict him as a disciplinarian. The first image of St. Nicholas in the United States, commissioned by the New-York Historical Society in 1810, showed him in ecclesiastical garb with a switch in hand next to a crying child, while the earliest known Santa picture-book shows him leaving a birch rod in a naughty child’s stocking, which he “Directs a Parent’s hand to use / When virtue’s path his sons refuse.”
The earliest Santa letters are similarly didactic, usually coming from St. Nicholas, rather than written to him. The minister Theodore Ledyard Cuyler recalled receiving “an autograph letter from Santa Claus, full of good counsels” during his childhood in 1820s western New York. In the 1850s, Fanny Longfellow (wife of the poet Henry Wadsworth) wrote her three children letters each Christmas that commented on their behavior over the previous year and how they could improve it.
“[Y]ou have picked up some naughty words which I hope you will throw away as you would sour or bitter fruit,” Santa explained in an 1853 letter. “Try to stop to think before you use any, and remember if no one else hears you God is always near.” In an era before childhood was celebrated as a distinct period of a person’s life, gratifying kids’ imaginations was less important than teaching them manners that would speed them toward adulthood.

Well, we know that custom changed over the years. Postal rates fell, Santa Claus became a pop culture idol, and stores wanted to sell toys. Read the history of our custom of having children write letters to Santa Claus at Smithsonian.

Look What Happens When You Tell People They're Beautiful

Look how beautiful people become when someone tells them they are.

Wage Growth Stagnated Even As November’s Job Growth Was Strong

211,000 jobs were added but wages only rose 0.2 percent.

'Christians' Hilariously Criticize Bible After Reading Verses They Think Are From The Quran

If 'christians' actually read their bibles, they would know that it is just as violent and misogynist as the Quran.

Read full story

Transgender Actress Mya Taylor’s Journey From Unemployed Sex Worker To Oscar Contender

The brilliant film "Tangerine" has propelled the actress out of poverty, and her journey might not be over.

An Illinois School’s Odd Plan To Quit Sex Discrimination While Pretending Not To

District 211 will accommodate a transgender student's use of locker rooms, but school officials claim that's not what they agreed to.

Anti-Choice Agitator Admits Planned Parenthood Videos Were Designed To Destroy Organization

Their goal, he explained, was not simply publicity for their anti-choice delusions, but the total destruction of Planned Parenthood.

NY Times runs rare front-page editorial calling for end of ‘gun epidemic’ in US

NY Times runs rare front-page editorial calling for end of ‘gun epidemic’ in US

The attention and anger of Americans should also be directed at the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who place a higher premium on the money and political power of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered spread of ever more powerful firearms.

‘TREASON’: Father of reporter shot on live TV calls out politicians who refuse to act on gun control

‘TREASON’: Father of reporter shot on live TV calls out politicians who refuse to act on gun control

The father of a reporter who was shot to death on TV during a live broadcast is calling out politicians by name who oppose what he calls sensible gun laws.

Licensed Poster Boy For The NRA Shoots And Kills A 7-Year-Old Girl In Cold Blood

This is where the argument between “good guy with a gun” and “mentally unstable” comes to an impasse.

Read more 

The Gun Industry Has Systematically Demolished Regulators And Avoided The Fate Of Cigarettes

The Gun Industry Has Systematically Demolished Regulators And Avoided The Fate Of Cigarettes

Man Driving Around With Loaded Assault Rifle And Body Armor Deemed 'Not Immediate Threat'

Maybe it's because he didn't have a funny name.

Police recover 145 guns from home of Michigan man after he attempted to shoot his wife

Police recover 145 guns from home of Michigan man after he attempted to shoot his wife

During a search of the home, police recovered 87 rifles and 58 handguns.

Cops Turn Off Body Cams Before Killing Man

Cops Turn Off Body Cams Before Killing Man, Witnesses Watch Them Plant Gun and Drugs

Man accused of posing as a police officer discovered in doughnut shop

A man allegedly posing a police officer was arrested at a doughnut shop in Dickinson, Texas,on Thursday. The Dickinson Police Department says one of their civilian employees saw Robert Lee Parnell, 26, of Santa Fe, wearing a police-style jacket with Dickinson PD patches at a doughnut shop at around 8:45am. The Dickinson PD employee, not recognizing Parnell, questioned him. The employee claims Parnell said he was given the jacket and then tried to leave the doughnut shop. However, before he could, the Dickinson PD employee contacted dispatch and requested patrol officers. The employee told Parnell to take off the jacket.
He did, according to police, and left the shop. Police say they pulled Parnell over as he was leaving the doughnut shop. Police say they determined Parnell is not a licensed peace officer, has never been licensed as a peace officer and has never been employed with the Dickinson Police Department.
Parnell was arrested and charged with false identification as peace officer. He was booked into the Dickinson City Jail, awaiting transfer to the Galveston County Jail. Bond was set at $1,000. False identification as peace officer is a Class B Misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by 180 days confinement in jail and/or up to a $2,000.00 fine.

Woman arrested after her car called the police following hit-and-run incident

A Florida woman is under arrest in connection with a hit-and-run incident. Police responded to a hit-and-run in Port St. Lucie on Monday afternoon. The victim, Anna Preston, said she was struck from behind by a black vehicle that took off. Preston was taken to the hospital with back injuries.

At around the same time, police dispatch got an automated call from a vehicle emergency system stating the owner of a Ford vehicle was involved in a crash and to press zero to speak with the occupants of the vehicle. The person in the vehicle, Cathy Bernstein, told dispatch there had been no accident, that someone pulled out in front of her and that she was going home.
She said she had not been drinking and didn't know why her vehicle had called for help. Police went to Bernsteins's home and saw that her vehicle had extensive front-end damage and silver paint from Preston's vehicle on it. Bernstein's airbag had also been deployed. Police said Bernstein again denied hitting another vehicle, saying she had struck a tree.
After further discussions, police said Bernstein admitted to the hit-and-run. She also admitted that she had talked to someone at Ford and told them she had not been in an accident. It was later discovered that Bernstein had been involved in another accident prior to the one with Preston and was fleeing from that incident. Bernstein was arrested and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.
You can hear the full call here and there's a news video here.

Woman stabbed at Florida art exhibition as bystanders stood by thinking it was performance art

Woman stabbed at Florida art exhibition as bystanders stood by thinking it was performance art

After security rushed to the scene, police arrived and secured the area with crime scene tape — leading other attendees to believe it was also part of the show.

People who share inspirational quotes on Facebook are less intelligent

People who share inspirational quotes on Facebook are less intelligent — according to science

If you skew on the side of being irritated by such social media behavior, then science has some good news: people who share inspirational quotes are stupid.