from Wed, Dec 25, 11:00 PM PST to Thu, Dec 26, 10:00 AM PST

What

Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected.

Where

Hood Canal Area, Bellevue and Vicinity, Bremerton and Vicinity, East Puget Sound Lowlands, Everett and Vicinity, Lower Chehalis Valley Area, Seattle and Vicinity, Southwest Interior, and Tacoma Area.

When

From 11 PM this evening to 10 AM PST Thursday.

Impacts

Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

Additional Details

A brief period of gusty southwest winds are expected Thursday morning. There will likely be a range of peak wind gusts between 30 to 50 MPH. Localized gusts up to 55 MPH are possible.

Summary

Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicles. Secure outdoor objects.

Issued By

NWS Seattle WA

Embargo Act

1807 US Congress passes Embargo Act and President Thomas Jefferson signs into law. Prohibits American ships from trading in foreign ports, as result of involvement in hostilities between France and Britain

First Christmas Lights

1882 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison

Energy Policy and Conservation Act

1975 US President Gerald Ford signs the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) – establishes National Petroleum Reserve

1988 South Africa signs accord granting independence to South West Africa

1997 Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces.

2000 On This Day launched as HistoryOrb.com

2001 Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Repealed

2010 Repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy”, a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the US military, signed into law by President Barack Obama

2022 “American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades” – 76.4 years, according to new report by CDC, biggest factors in the fall among many, COVID-19 and drug overdoses [1]

2022 US Drug Enforcement Administration says it seized enough fentanyl in 2022 to kill every American, more than 379 million doses of [1]

1783 George Washington resigns as commander in chief

On December 23, 1783, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, General George Washington resigns as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Washington addressed the assembled Congress:

“Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task; which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.” 

Washington’s willingness to return to civilian life was an essential element in the transformation of the War for Independence into a true revolution. During the war, Congress had granted Washington powers equivalent to those of a dictator and he could have easily taken solitary control of the new nation. Indeed, some political factions wanted Washington to become the new nation’s king. His modesty in declining the offer and resigning his military post at the end of the war fortified the republican foundations of the new nation.

Although he asked nothing for himself, Washington did enter a plea on behalf of his officers:

“While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the war. It was impossible the choice of confidential officers to compose my family should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend in particular, those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress.”

Source: history.com for the complete article

Conclusion

In both plutocracy and oligarchy, power is concentrated in a few hands; however, the source of this power differs.

In a plutocracy, wealth is the only means through which the ruling leaders gain control. Oligarchy, on the other hand, can involve religion, race, or any other factor through which a small group gains power. 

While both terms often carry a pejorative sense, some scholars also see them as being inevitable—organizations always lead to oligarchy. However, despite this, scholars like Michels believe that we must always fight against oligarchy, promoting ideals of democracy & fairness.

References

Kertscher, T. & Borowski, G. (2011). “The Truth-O-Meter Says: True – Michael Moore says 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined”. PolitiFact. Poynter Institute.

Written by Sourabh Yadav (MA) 

| June 17, 2023

Reviewed byChris Drew (PhD)

Times Beach, Missouri, Declared Uninhabitable

The Bad news is never welcome.  But at Christmastime, bad news is particularly dreadful. 

On December 23, 1982, the town of Times Beach, Missouri, got the worst kind of bad news:  The entire city was contaminated by a highly toxic chemical—dioxin.  In a few years, the city was wiped off the map.

            Times Beach, Missouri, was designed to be a recreational paradise.  The site is just a few miles southeast of St. Louis, along the route of the  historic “Route 66.”  The St. Louis Times newspaper owned a small tract of land on the shore of the Meramec River, and they decided in 1925, as an advertising gimmick, to sell small lots for a negligible price ($67.50) to new six-month subscribers.  Soon after, the new land owners formed the town of Times Beach.  It never developed as a major recreational destination, but it did become a modest middle-class town, with 2,500 residents living in about 800 homes.        

     The town never had much money, so when the dusty roads became an issue, they turned to a low-cost solution.  They hired a nearby company to spray used crankcase oil on the roads, a common practice in rural communities.  For four years, from 1972 to 1976, the company sprayed the used oil on Times Beach’s roads.  Unknown to the town and its residents, however, the company had mixed other industrial waste into the oil.  That industrial waste contained one specific chemical in high concentrations—2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, also known as TCDD, or simply as “dioxin.”

Source: todayinconservation.com for the complete article