DECEMBER 22 — 1807 Trading stops between the U.S. and France and England from the Embargo Act; 1882 Edison invents Christmas Tree lights; 1913 News of Federal Reserve Act hits the world; 2009 Sleigh Ride most popular Holiday Song; 1971 Lakers get 27th straight win
DECEMBER 22
1807 – The Embargo Act is passed.
This one stopped trading between the US and France and England during the Napoleonic wars.
By 1805, when England tried to impose a blockade on northern Europe Napoleon retaliated by issuing the Continental System, which stopped trade and gave Napoleon the authority to fire on any ship that tried. Because the French fleet was mostly defeated by the British, Napoleon used American ships in French harbors. President Thomas Jefferson wanted America to remain neutral in this Europe3an conflict, but the British were acting aggressive. Great Britain declared that any American ships trying to trade with anyone in Europe would have to go through England first.
When the British attacked the USS Chesapeake near Norfolk VA, the American people started clamoring for war. Remaining neutral in this conflict would not be easy for Jefferson. He proposed legislation that essentially wouldn’t trade to either country, and on this day in 1807, the Embargo Act was passed. This prevented American ships from leaving for a foreign port.
It was horrible idea and was the main factor that kept Jefferson from seeking another presidential term. All it did was hurt local farmers, While Britain’s mill workers were at a work stoppage since America wasn’t exporting any raw materials they needed, they value of the inventory the mills did have on hand went up in value. Meanwhile, in America, locally made products were replacing imported products, illegal smuggling was on the rise, and protests began erupting throughout America.
As a result, the Act was quickly replaced by the Nonintercourse Act in March 1809, which allowed trade with any European country except England or France.
1968 HA Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower tie the knot. She was Richard’s daughter, he was Dwight’s grandson, and they were the celebrity couple of 1968. They’re married to this day and live in Pennsylvania and have three children, now adults. They declined a life of politics and instead both became authors. Grandpa was willing to give David $100 if he’d cut his hair, at the time a curly mop-top, and get a military style cut. David did trim it, but that wasn’t enough and he didn’t get his hundred bucks.
1882 – Thomas Edison invents the Christmas tree light, when in reality he only got the credit while his associate, Edward H. Johnson who worked for Edison Electric Light Company, did the actual work and thus is known as the father of Electric Christmas tree lights. Before this time, the Germans and English would use candles. Because that’s not a fire hazard or anything.
1913 – Headlines for the New York Times read: “Money Bill May Be Law Today”, just one day before the Federal Reserve Act is passed.
Congressman Charles August Lindbergh, father of the great aviator, warned America that this bill “would establish the most gigantic trust on earth.”
In his book The New Freedom, President Woodrow Wilson, who signed the bill, believed capitalism was becoming too big in America, comparing large corporations to layers upon layers of apartment dwellings in the big cities, unlike the old days of Jefferson’s time when men could live wherever they could build their house. Our government has to have more control over its citizens for their own protection, going back to his apartment building analogy, “the policeman goes up the stairway, and patrols the corridors; the lighting department of the city sees to it that the halls are abundantly lighted.”
But did the Federal Reserve take that analogy too far? Plank #5 of the list of ten changes in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifest written in 1848 names the centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
Indeed, Wilson would continue to point out, a comparatively small number of men control the raw materials of this country, and the waters, and the railroads that by agreement handed around they control the prices as well as the larger credits of the country. “The masters of the government of the United States are combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States.”
One of Wilson’s predecessors Teddy Roosevelt was labeled as some a bit of a socialist because of his trust-busting policies. Others call TR the big guy who’s just sticking up for the little guy that cannot compete with the big dogs.
But was a page from the Communist Manifesto borrowed to create the Federal Reserve? A response to the Panic of 1907, the Fed was created to be the last resort for a loan, yet absolutely 100% of its shares are from private banks. This centralized bank as it’s called was owned by the Rothschild’s and Bank o
f England, JP Morgan’s Bank of New York, Kuhn Loeb & Company. None of the stocks are owned by Congress or anyone else in the government, which as always ultimately leads to the question in state-controlled policies: who is really controlling who?
1978 – John Wayne Gacy confesses.
Born march 17, 1942, Gacy had an abusive childhood and had conflicts about sexuality. In the 60s he worked for his wife’s father’s Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, but his wife divorced him when he was charged with sexually assaulting one of his maile employees in 1968. Gacy moved to Chicago and became a well respected business owner and creepy clown entertainer. He went on a killing spree, torturing and killing young mend and teenage boys. He often dressed their dead bodies up as his alter ego, Pogo the Clown. He finally aroused suspicion in 1978 after 15 year old Robert Piest, who had last been seen with Gacy, disappeared.
The authorities were led to Gacy‘s house, where they discovered 33 bodies buried in his yard. It took a very short deliberation by the jury to convict Gacy to death, and on May 10 1994, John Wayne Gacy, aka the Killer Clown was put to death by legal injection at the Stateville Penitentiary in Illinois.
2004 – The Forward Operating Base marez bombing occurred in Mosul, Iraq, killing 14 US soldiers, four US citizens and four Iraqi soldiers. 72 more were injured.
1995 – Cutthroat Island premieres finally. Let’s get this over with. It received a 5.6% percentage on IMDB. One of the most expensive flops in the history of ever, Geena Davis plays a pirate. The screenplay was called incoherent, went through several rewrites and recasts, and the acting called one-dimensional. However I’m told it did have a wonderful music score. Isn’t that special.
2009 – ASCAP released top popular holiday songs, with Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Parish’s Sleigh Ride at number one.
1971 – Lakers get their 27th straight victory, breaking the previous record for the longest winning streak in professional sports, beating baseball new York giants who won 26 games in a row in 19163. Later that year, the Lakers featuring Wilt Chamberlin would face the Chicago Bulls featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, where Chamberlin outperformed Jabbar in a 4-1 series victory.