On December 5, 1933, nationwide alcohol Prohibition in the United States ended after Utah became the 36th U.S. state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75 percent of states needed to enact the amendment that overturned the 18th.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.
Marie Curie, as quoted in Madame Curie: A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116.
Our lame duck president seems intent on making waves on his way out of the pond. Not all those waves seem designed to flood the world with freedom. Click on over to Townhall, for the latest affront to freedom and the American Dream.
Though nobody has ever seen two dogs making an exchange, yet a dog has been often seen to hide a bone. The dog does this from a sense of its value, properly so called. He does not do it merely from a sense of utility, or, in other words, because he likes a bone, but because he knows that a bone is a good thing which is not always to be had when wanted.
William F. Lloyd, “A Lecture on the Notion of Value as Distinguished Not Only From Utility, but also from Value in Exchange” (University of Oxford, 1833).
On December 4, 1783, at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, General George Washington formally bade his officers farewell.
Fake photography has mass repercussions on everyday life and experience:
It is worth noting that this site, ThisIsCommonSense.com, uses obviously manipulated photos. They are often collages, sometimes sketches or Photoshop cartoons. We have tried to be pretty forthright about this practice.
On December 3, 1989, the leaders of the two world superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, declared an end to the Cold War, at a summit in Malta. A little over two years later not only had the Cold War ended, the Soviet Union was itself dissolved.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.
Sure, I’ve complained about the over-the-top anti-Trump bias of much of the mainstream media (which may actually have improved Trump’s public standing). But, today, I enthusiastically celebrate that supercilious slant.
Why? Because it means much of the media amazingly finds itself on the right side, panning the recent deal to save 1,000 jobs at the Carrier Corporation.
Saving jobs is good per se. We want jobs to stay here in America. But, at what price?
Thus far, the deal remains secret, but according to Politico, “The agreement reportedly includes $7 million in state tax breaks over ten years offered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-public entity that doesn’t require legislative approval for its deals.”
“Quasi-public entities” always make me queasy.
“Can American companies now merely threaten to go to Mexico,” asks Chris Rossini in the Ron Paul Liberty Letter, “in order to get a sweetheart deal for themselves?”
This special arrangement’s costs are not merely monetary: Special deals for some companies at the expense of others undermine the whole concept of equality under the law.
File under: crony capitalism.
Even the socialists at The Nation say the agreement “epitomizes corporate socialism at the expense of American taxpayers.”
“I certainly think that, if President Obama had done something like this, conservatives would have been freaking out,” argues Reason’s Peter Suderman.
Many are. Well, maybe not exactly “freaking out” — but vocally opposing the idea of the not-quite-yet-president picking winners and losers in the marketplace.
Crony capitalism didn’t make America great. Our revolution’s justification prompts the antithesis.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On December 2, 1823, U.S. President James Monroe delivered a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts. The policy became known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Though a much-discussed principle of American foreign policy, it was undermined by the Spanish-American War, and proved a dead letter as the U. S. entered World War I.