Dec 7, 2016
Matt Rhule introduced to The Baylor family. He stated that he wanted to build a program and to have that program known for 6 things. Among those 6 things, "we want to win championships. We want to win Big12 championships. We want to win National Championships. I didn't come here for anything less."

2019 TODAY, is that day.

December 8:

1542: Birthday of Mary Queen of Scots.

1775: American forces began the siege of Quebec.

1863: Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction in attempt to be conciliatory in restoring the Union.

1941: The U.S. declared war on Japan, a day after the "day in infamy" when they attacked Pearl Harbor.

1949: Chinese Nationalists moved their capital to Taiwan after losing the Civil War to the communists.

1980: John Lennon was shot.

1987: Pres. Ronald Reagan & Premier Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)--the first successful nuclear arms treaty.

1993: Pres. George H. W. Bush signed NAFTA into law.

December 9:

1835: Texan rebel forces captured San Antonio.

1854: Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was published.

1917: Jerusalem surrendered to British forces during WWI.

1958: The John Birch Society was established.

1987: The Intifada began in the Gaza Strip.

1990: Lech Walesa was elected the first president of Poland.

1992: U.S. Marines arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia.

1992: Prince Charles & Princess Diana announced their separation,

December 10:

1690: The first paper currency was issued in the British colonies of North America, specifically in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1864: Gen. William T. Sherman completed his March to the Sea.

1869: Wyoming granted women the right to vote.

1898: The Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War.

1901: The first Nobel prizes were awarded.

1920: Pres. Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

December 11:

1936: King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so he could marry an American divorcee.

1941: Germany declared war on the U.S.

2008: Bernie Madoff, perpetrator of a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, was arrested.

December 12:

1787: Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution.

1901: The first transatlantic radio signal.

1963: Kenya declared independence from Great Britain.

historian said:

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December 12:

1787: Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution.

1901: The first transatlantic radio signal.

1963: Kenya declared independence from Great Britain.

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it is amazing what has happened from 1901 till today in regards to communication. Technology is blazing!

December 13:

1577: Sir Frances Drake set sail from England with 5 ships to raid Spanish holdings in the New World.

1862: Battle of Fredricksburg: Gen. Ambrose Burnside ordered repeated assaults on Confederate fortified positions to no effect. After 14 failed attempts, he finally stopped the senseless slaughter.

1918: Pres. Woodrow Wilson arrived in France for the upcoming peace talks to negotiate treaties to end WWI.

1937: Japanese forces captured the Chinese capital of Nanking beginning massive atrocities known as the Rape of Nanking.

2000: Al Gore conceded the 2000 election.

2003: Saddam Hussein was captured.

December 14:

1799: George Washington died.

1900: Max Planck published his study of radiation introducing the field of quantum physics.

1911: Roald Amundsen became the first explorer to reach the South Pole.

1939: USSR was expelled from the League of Nations after their invasion of Finland.

2012: Mass murder Sandy Hook school.

December 15:

1791: Bill of Rights were ratified.

1944: Bandleader Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel.

1945: Supreme Commander of Allied Powers Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered the end of Shintoism as the official state religion of Japan.

1961: Adolf Eichmann, a key Nazi leader responsible for the Holocaust, was sentenced to die after his trial in Jerusalem.

1978: The US announced that it would recognize communist China.

1998: US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee issued a report with the recommendation that Pres. Bill Clinton be impeached.

2011: The U.S. declared the war in Iraq over.

December 16:

1770: Ludwig van Beethoven's birthday. Probably: he was baptized the next day.

1773: Boston Tea Party

1893: Premier in New York of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony #9, "New World".

1944: Beginning of the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.

1998: Pres. Bill Clinton ordered an air attack on Iraq.

historian said:

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December 16:

1770: Ludwig van Beethoven's birthday. Probably: he was baptized the next day.

1773: Boston Tea Party

1893: Premier in New York of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony #9, "New World".

1944: Beginning of the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.

1998: Pres. Bill Clinton ordered an air attack on Iraq.

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1998: the tail wags the dog

December 17:

1777: France formally recognized the United States.

1903: The Wright Brothers proved that powered flight was possible near Kitty Hawk, NC.

1979: Stan Barrett drove a rocket powered car at Edward's AFB in California to become the first person to break the sound barrier on land.

1991: Boris Yeltsin announced that the Soviet Union would cease to exist on December 31.

December 18:

1620: The Mayflower landed at Plymouth.

1865: The 13th amendment was ratified, thus finally abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1912: The fraudulent Piltdown Man was discovered.

1915: Pres. Woodrow Wilson married Elizabeth Bolling Galt.

1916: End of the disastrous Battle of Verdun during WWI.

December 19:

1732: Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack was published.

1776: Thomas Paine published The American Crisis. "These are the times that try men's souls..."

1777: The Continental Army entered its winter quarters in Valley Forge.

1843: Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol was published.

1941: Hitler took over command of the German army in an effort to overcome the Russian winter.

1972: End of final lunar landing mission.

1986: Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was released from internal exile.

1998: Pres. Bill Clinton was impeached.

December 20:

1836: Pres. Andrew Jackson submitted a treaty to Congress for the removal of several Indian tribes from the U.S. to lands west of the Mississippi River.

1957: Elvis Presley was drafted.

1989: The U.S. invaded Panama to overthrow Noriega.

December 21:

1945: Death of Gen. George S. Patton.

1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected president.

1968: Apollo 8 departed for lunar orbit.

1972: Formation of United Arab Emirates.

1988: Pan Am #103 exploded over Scotland due to the work of Libyan terrorists.

Dec 22

1877 Thomas Edison's Phonograph is announced by Scientific American

1989 After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts Nicolae Ceausescu

1990 Lech Wasa sworn in as Poland's 1st popularly elected president

December 22:

1808: Premiere of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

1894: Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a French military court martial, not because of evidence but because he was Jewish.

1917: Peace talks between the Germans and Russians began at Brest-Litovsk.

1984: Bernard Goetz shot 4 teens on the NYC subway after they harrassed him.

1989: Nicolae Ceausescu's government in Romania fell after the army abandoned him.

December 23:

1783: George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army. When King George III of Great Britain learned of this, that Gen. Washington was voluntarily relinquishing power, he remarked that he would be "the greatest man in the world."

1888: Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear while suffering from severe depression. (I know, no kidding!)

1948: Japanese war criminals were hanged in Tokyo.

King George was right. May we never forget his sacrifices.

December 24:

1801: Richard Trevithick tested his "Puffer" or "Puffing Devil", the first steam powered passenger vehicle and a precursor to the steam locomotive.

1814: Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the War of 1812.

1851: A fire devastated the Library of Congress, destroying much of the collection, including Thomas Jefferson's personal collection which he had sold to the library in 1815.

1865: The founding of the KKK.

1979: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Jefferson's Collection. So sad

December 25:

??: We don't really know the date but somewhere around 6 BC, possibly on December 25 (maybe not), Jesus Christ was born--the most significant birth in all of human history.

800: Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor (the first one) at the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

1776: Gen. George Washington led his army in crossing the Delaware River so they could attack the Hessian mercenaries in Trenton the next morning. The surprise attack was a huge success.

1869: John Wesley Hardin, a 16 year old, shot a man dead over a card dispute.

1914: After months of bitter fighting, a spontaneous truce broke out at different places on the Western front as German & Allied soldiers talked about families, sang Christmas songs, exchanged Christmas gifts, and even played soccer. When the officers found out about it, the quickly put a stop to it and it never happened again. But for a brief time the common soldiers on both sides remembered they were humans--and that the men across from them were as well.

1941: Bing Crosby introduced "White Christmas" to the world.

1991: Mikhael Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union.

1996: Murder of 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey.

2002: First woman to play in a Div 1 football game as a kicker.

My mom had the Bing Crosby album. Now, I own it. Nothing like White Christmas.

December 26:

1776: Gen. George Washington won his first major victory at Trenton when he attacked the surprised Hessians.

1820: Moses Austin, father of Stephen F. Austin, sought permission from the Spanish government to organize a colony in Texas.

1944: Gen. Patton's army relieved the Allies at Bastogne. During the Battle of the Bulge, American soldiers--including members of the 101st Airborne, were trapped in the Bastogne area. Gen. MacAuliffe had famously responded to a German demand for surrender with, "Nuts!" (I suspect his verbal comments were probably more colorful.) If you haven't seen it, watch the HBO Band of Brothers miniseries or read the Stephen Ambrose book.

1966: First Kwanzaa, black holiday created by a professor at Cal State University in Long Beach.

1985: Dian Fossey found murdered in Rwanda.

2004: A devastating tsunami struck the Indian Ocean coasts of Thailand killing close to 230,000.

December 27:

1831: Charles Darwin sailed from England aboard the HMS Beagle on a historic voyage that would inspire his research.

1932: Radio City Music Hall opened.

1979: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

2007: Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician.

December 28:

1793: Thomas Paine was arrested in France.

1832: John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency.

1895: The first commercial movie was screened in Paris.

1973: Publication of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago.

1981: The first American "test tube" baby was born.

December 29:

1170: Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated by 4 knights who believed they were acting on the wishes of King Henry II. Henry's reign would be plagued by this murder & his culpability. It would also inspire pilgrimages to Canterbury and eventually Geoffrey Chaucer to write the Canterbury Tales.

1778: The British captured Savannah, Georgia.

1845: Texas became a state.

1890: The U.S. Army massacred 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

1940: A German air raid with firebombing devastated London.

December 30:

1853: Gadsden Purchase: the US purchased a tract of land from Mexico to facilitate the building of a southern transcontinental railroad. This completed the borders of the 48 states.

1862: The USS Monitor, one of the first ironclads, sunk off the coast of North Carolina.

1916: Rasputin murdered.

1922: Establishment of USSR.

December 31:

1600: Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to the East India Company.

1879: Thomas Edison demonstrated the incandescent lightbulb.

1999: The US turned over the Panama Canal to Panamanian control.

January 1:

45 BC: The Julian Calendar was implemented for the first time.

1803: The Haitians proclaimed their independence.

1818: Publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

1863: Pres. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

1915: Preview of pro-KKK film The Birth of a Nation in Riverside, California. It would later be the first film shown in the White House.

1942: Creation of the United Nations.

1958: Johnny Cash performed at San Quentin prison.

1959: Fulgencia Batista was forced out of Cuba by Fidel Castro's revolution.

1994: NAFTA went into effect.


HAPPY NEW YEARS!

January 2:

1492: The Reconquest of Spain was completed with the capture of Granada to the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella.

1788: Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the Constitution.

1905: The Russian fleet surrendered at Port Arthur after a Japanese attack. The Russo-Japanese War would not go well for Russia and Pres. Theodore Roosevelt would earn the Nobel Peace Prize by helping to broker a peace treaty.

1923: Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior, resigned as a result of the Teapot Dome scandal.

1974: Pres. Nixon signed the national speed limit into law.

1980: End of detente. In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pres. Jimmy Carter recalled the U.S. ambassador and halted action on the SALT II nuclear treaty.

January 3:

1521: Martin Luther was excommunicated by the pope.

1834: Stephen F. Austin was imprisoned by the Mexican government after complaining about their combining Texas with Coahuila.

1868: Beginning of the Meiji Restoration in Japan leading to rapid and dramatic modernization of the country from feudal backwater to great power status in half a century.

1924: British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen, the most famous pharaoh of ancient Egypt--famous because his tomb was discovered relatively intact largely untouched by grave robbers over the centuries.

1925: Benito Mussolini proclaimed himself dictator of Italy.

1959: Alaska became the 49th state.

1990: Panama's dictator Manuel Noriega surrendered to the U.S.