Today in history – September 10

Posted on September 10, 2013 by ScottC

1897 – London cab driver George Smith becomes the first person to get arrested for drunk driving after slamming his taxi into a building wall. Although no scientific test exists to establish a blood alcohol level, Smith proclaims himself to be drunk, leading to his arrest. He is eventually fined 25 shillings.
drunk

1833 – President Andrew Jackson announces that he will remove all federal funds from the Second National Bank of the United States, effectively ending central banking in the US and opening an era of “free banking”. The successor to the First National Bank of the US, the Second National Bank was chartered from 1816 – 1836, and was 20% owned by the federal government, but was controversial both constitutionally and with regard to its policies, which many saw as favoring monied interests in the urban northeast. The populist Jackson was opposed to the bank’s existence, and it became a focal point of the 1832 presidential election. Upon being re-elected in 1832, Jackson vetoed congressional efforts to extend the bank’s charter beyond 1836, and eventually used executive power to withdraw federal funds and prevent the bank from taking new deposits. Although the bank continued to exist as a private corporation following the end of its charter, by 1841 it was liquidated.
jackson

1776 – Captain Nathan Hale of the Continental Army answers General Washington’s call for someone to gather intelligence behind enemy lines, becoming America’s first known spy against the British. Hale spent several weeks gathering intelligence, but is eventually detained aftyer being caught on Long Island Sound trying to get back to Colonial controlled territory. In possession of incriminating documents, British General Howe quickly orders Hale to be executed. Although there are no contemporary accounts to establish it, Hale’s legendary last words before being hanged are said to have been “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Filed under: This Day in History |

8 Responses

yellojkt, on September 10, 2013 at 12:24 pm said:

I saw the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (tagline: History Just Got All Sexypants) on Broadway and the Federal Bank business got some stage time but not as much as the controversy over Rachel Jackson’s alleged bigamy.

The opening number, “Populism, Yea, Yea!”

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novahockey, on September 10, 2013 at 12:59 pm said:

Woo! #1!

7 in 10 pregnancies in DC are unplanned. Maryland came in at 56 percent and Virginia was 53 percent

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2013/09/10/d-c-leads-nation-in-unintended-pregnancies-report-says/?wpisrc=nl_buzz

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- yellojkt, on September 10, 2013 at 1:07 pm said:
  
  7 in 10 pregnancies in DC are unplanned.
  
  Read john/banned’s comments on this article. The DC stats were interpolated based on race and income level. What they’ve proven is that DC is a city full of poor black people.
  
  There is also the much bigger definitional question of unplanned vs unwanted vs tricked-into. If you aren’t using any form of birth control can you honestly call any resulting unexpected, let alone unplanned?
  
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lmsinca, on September 10, 2013 at 1:52 pm said:

Is that scotch in the picture with the keys? We haven’t been drinking around here at all lately and that looks pretty good right now. It’s funny, now that my doctor told me I could drink again (moderately of course) after being sick last year I’ve quit wishing I could have a drink. I may have to make myself one later though. I won’t drive however. I saw a funny comment on facebook today from one of my few remaining FB friends (I think I’m down to 10 now). Something along the lines of;

“I won’t be going tonight.

I’ve already taken off my bra
so I’m in for the night.”

So funny. Pass that on to your wives you guys, they’ll get a kick out of it.

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- yellojkt, on September 10, 2013 at 2:07 pm said:
  
  “I won’t be going tonight.
  
  I’ve already taken off my bra
  so I’m in for the night.”
  
  I’m well aware of the futility of planning on going out once that milestone has been reached.
  
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novahockey, on September 10, 2013 at 2:25 pm said:

I didn’t see his comments.

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yellojkt, on September 10, 2013 at 2:32 pm said:

I didn’t see his comments.

My bad. John/banned was very active in an earlier post on the same topic in Wonkblog.

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jnc4p, on September 10, 2013 at 3:31 pm said:

For you debt ceiling showdown watchers, this is a key point:

“The real question is whether that continuing resolution will simply and cleanly extend the government’s current spending regime for another couple months, or reflect a backdoor effort by House GOP leaders to make sequestration spending levels permanent.

Currently, the government’s operating on appropriations that closely adhere to the 2011 debt limit deal. In fiscal year 2013, Congress approved $1.043 trillion in discretionary spending — $552 billion for defense, $491 billion for non-defense. Because Congress never enacted further budget consolidation in 2011, those spending totals have been cut down across the board by sequestration to an annualized level of $988 billion.

The new fiscal year starts on October 1. To adhere to the debt limit deal, Congress would pass a CR appropriating $1.058 trillion — $552 billion for defense, $506 billion for non defense. Then, sequestration would automatically reduce that to an annualized rate of $967 billion.

The advantage off writing the CR this way is that if at any point Congress manages to agree on a plan to replace sequestration, discretionary spending will automatically increase to the levels agreed up on in 2011.

But GOP leaders keep hinting at writing the CR to reflect a maximum appropriation of $988 billion — the same amount the government is spending under sequestration right now.

Sequestration will automatically cut that down to $967 billion over the course of a year. But what that means is if Congress manages to cobble together an agreeable bipartisan budget in the next few months (unlikely, I know) discretionary spending will only increase to $988 billion — not the $1.058 trillion the parties agreed to two years ago. Republicans will pocket the $60 billion difference for fiscal year 2014 and have successfully reduced the agreed-upon spending baseline, making it much more difficult for Congress to restore funding to starved programs across the government.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/the_rights_new_dirty_trick_to_hold_government_hostage/

This is how you play a long game.

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