Saturday, February 28, 2015
Gov. Scott Walker: I refuse to take the media's bait
Gov. Walker won't play the media's game of "gotcha" questions.
Hopefully, that will start a movement...
Hopefully, that will start a movement...
Scott Walker recently finished his "USA Today" article with this:
"There has been much discussion about a media double standard where Republicans are covered differently than Democrats, asked to weigh in on issues the Democrats don't face. As a result, when we refuse to take the media's bait, we suffer.
I felt it this week when I was asked to weigh in on what other people said and did and what others' beliefs are. If you are looking for answers to those questions, ask those people.
I will always choose to focus on what matters to the American people, not what matters to the media."
Saturday Reading - National Review - "Grievance School"
It basically covers some of the writer's experiences as a conservative on campus...
This article by Steven F. Hayward is from the February 23, 2015, issue of National Review. He begins:
"Of all the college towns fixed in the American mind as bastions of elite leftism, a Big Four stand out: Cambridge, Madison, Berkeley, and Boulder. It was no wonder, then, that the University of Colorado at Boulder received national attention, and raised many eyebrows, when it announced a couple of years back that it wanted to hire an identified conservative as a visiting faculty member — the beginning of a privately funded pilot program to bring conservative perspectives to its storied campus. I ended up being the guinea pig for this unorthodox experiment."
Friday, February 27, 2015
"Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Reveal Top Hillary Clinton Advisers Knew Immediately that Assault on Benghazi was Armed Attack"
I don't know if this will amount to anything; but, I'm sure we will hear about it if Hillary Clinton runs for president.
The criticism here is pretty strong...
The Judicial Watch organization has posted this and more:
"'These emails leave no doubt that Hillary Clinton’s closest advisers knew the truth about the Benghazi attack from almost the moment it happened,' said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. 'And it is inescapable that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knowingly lied when she planted the false story about ‘inflammatory material being posted on the Internet.’ The contempt for the public’s right to know is evidenced not only in these documents but also in the fact that we had to file a lawsuit in federal court to obtain them. The Obama gang’s cover-up continues to unravel, despite its unlawful secrecy and continued slow-rolling of information. Congress, if it ever decides to do its job, cannot act soon enough to put Hillary Clinton, Cheryl Mills, and every other official in these emails under oath.'
Islamic terrorists connected to al Qaeda attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi on the evening of September 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith were both killed. Just a few hours later, a second terrorist strike targeted a different compound about one mile away. Two CIA contractors, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed and 10 others were injured in the second attack."
NYT Smears Scientist Willie Soon for Telling the Truth About 'Global Warming' - Breitbart
Character assassination is a tool of those who aren't winning with facts...
On the Breitbart.com website, James Delingpole posted about this:
"You might be wondering what Soon and Baliunas had done to incur the wrath of the climate alarmist establishment. Well, they’d just published a meta-analysis of all the papers which had been written on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). What their paper showed is that contrary to claims by one Michael Mann (the name may be familiar), the MWP was not a small, localised event but global, big and widespread.
So the memo went out from the Hockey Team (the uber-vindictive Mann and his lickspittle posse) to get Soon, and they’ve been going at him ever since: not by criticising the quality of his science — that would be too difficult because his science is impeccable — but simply by trying to make his life miserable, deny him tenure, and to smear him as compromised and corrupt.
The reason for the latest attack on Soon is that he is the co-author, with Christopher Monckton et al, of a paper published earlier this year in the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences journal Science Bulletin."
"64% of reporters say Feds spying on their email, calls, online searches"
That being said, in a supposedly "free" country, it is massively disconcerting...
Paul Bedard recently posted on the Washington Examiner website. He begins:
"In a survey of investigative reporters that makes Richard Nixon’s enemies list look like child's play, nearly seven in 10 said they believe that the Obama administration has spied on their phone calls, emails and online searches. According to a Pew Research Center survey of 454 media figures, 64 percent “believe that the U.S. government has probably collected data” from their calls and email and eight in 10 believe just being a journalist jumps the chance Uncle Sam is spying on them."
Thursday, February 26, 2015
"Earth’s CO2 Levels Pass Global Warming ‘Milestone’… Nothing Happens"
I'm not a denier.
I just think there are more than enough pre-modern era warming periods to call into question that humans are the major cause...
This particular post by Michael Bastasch was recently on the Daily Caller website:
"As for the U.S., 2014 was only 34th warmest on record based on surface temperature readings. But even that estimate may be running hot, as a recent study points out that mountain weather stations have inflated temperature readings for years.
Not only have temperatures been flat for the last 18 years and three months, but there has been no rash of extreme weather events either."
Clinton foundation received up to $81m from clients of controversial HSBC bank | US news | The Guardian
This stuff goes on ALL the time.
It's likely corrupt in some way, but cleverly managed to avoid "smoking guns".
And, it doesn't really seem to bother anyone; maybe because we just expect it...
It's likely corrupt in some way, but cleverly managed to avoid "smoking guns".
And, it doesn't really seem to bother anyone; maybe because we just expect it...
Paul Lewis and James Ball expose the workings of the Clinton money machine. It certainly doesn't give the impression of being purely charitable:
"'One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country,' Hillary Clinton told audience of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2012, when she was still secretary of state. 'It is a fact that around the world, the elites of every country are making money. There are rich people everywhere. And yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries. They don’t invest in public schools, in public hospitals, in other kinds of development internally.'
She added: 'And so it means – for leaders – telling powerful people things they don’t want to hear.'
A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton declined to comment about her family foundation’s receipt of money from donors with accounts in Geneva."
Every Sharpton business known has been dissolved for failure to comply with tax rules.
Isn't there some saying about "being judged by the company you keep"?...
At NationalReview.com, illian Kay Melchior recently called attention to the enterprises of Mr. Al Sharpton:
"So far, every for-profit enterprise started by Al Sharpton and known to National Review Online has been shut down in at least one jurisdiction for failure to pay taxes, a review of public records in New York and Delaware reveals."
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
"The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site'"
If true, how many other cities have a similar place?...
Spencer Ackerman has this story with details on theGuardian website:
"The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.
The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights."
"RNC Releases Blistering Press Release Criticizing Media Double Standard"
They are now outright anti-conservative in their coverage and it's very obvious...
On the WesternFreePress website, Tony West reports on the Republican National Committee's view:
"The RNC released a press release Tuesday morning pointing out that there are some serious scandals and gaffes going on in Democratic politics today, but the media seems much more interested in asking “gotcha” questions to prospective 2016 GOP presidential candidates. This is peak liberal media bias."
"Has the word ‘lie’ become extinct?"
Morgan Brittany says a lot of what I've been thinking in her posting at WND.com:
"Yes, I know and we all know that politicians lie. It’s what they do to get elected, and most of us can read between the lines and shovel out the B.S. But what happened to ethics, morals and accountability once they got caught in that lie? The decent thing would be to admit it, resign and rehabilitate your reputation. That doesn’t happen anymore. Today it is just a matter of course. They lie to get what they want because there is no punishment, no consequences. It is practically a given that everyone lies, and it is no big deal."
"Leaked E-mail: Border Patrol Instructed to Curtail Deportation Proceedings"
The president says one thing and the instructions given out say otherwise.
Politicians and elected officials seem to have lost their ability to be truthful...
Politicians and elected officials seem to have lost their ability to be truthful...
Ryan Loevlace tells this story on the National Review website:
"President Obama claimed his executive amnesty would 'stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do crossover'” But internal e-mails obtained by National Review Online reveal that his administration has taken steps to ensure the opposite outcome, ordering Border Patrol agents to curtail the initiation of deportation proceedings and to screen the illegal border crossers they detail for eligibility under the president’s deferred-action programs instead."
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
"Indoctrination prevention 101 – Fight the power"
At theCollegeFix.com, Jennifer Kabbany tells about a new book on the subject:
"Lauren Cooley, 22, is a recent grad of Furman College who managed to keep her conservative beliefs intact despite many of her professors’ best efforts. Now she’s dedicated to helping her peers do the same.
Cooley is co-author and editor of a new booklet “Indoctrination Prevention” that highlights 10 topics professors often mislead students about. It offers concise reasons why not to fall for the liberal claptrap.
The information is vital, because leftist arguments sound great and have a strong emotional appeal, and when they come from professors – educators in positions of power who have been pushing their propaganda for decades – it’s easy to fall prey, Cooley said.
That’s where 'Indoctrination Prevention' comes in."
Geraldo Rivera: 'Hip-Hop Has Done More Damage To Black And Brown People Than Racism In The Last 10 Years'
Ryan Buxton (Huffington Post) writes about this:
"The Fox News contributor then challenged anyone to find 'a youngster -- a Puerto Rican from the South Bronx or a black kid from Harlem who has succeeded in life other than being the one-tenth of one-tenth of one percent that make it in the music business -- that's been a success in life walking around with his pants around his ass and with visible tattoos...'
Rivera added that the most powerful men in hip-hop are responsible for pushing young minorities too far out of the dominant culture."
"Vaccinations are a Red Herring"
Wouldn't you agree someone left the doors open?...
In his article posted at AmericanThinker.com, Brian C. Joondeph asks and answers:
"Then why are we seeing this sudden surge in measles cases? Lack of vaccinations in the U.S. doesn’t cause the disease, but instead facilitates its spread. If a disease has been eradicated, vaccination is no longer necessary. The CDC reminds us, 'Routine smallpox vaccination among the American public stopped in 1972 after the disease was eradicated in the United States.' Arguments about measles vaccinations are a red herring if measles has been truly eradicated.
Then why the surge in cases? The only explanation is that new cases are being introduced into the United States."
Municipal ID law has ‘delete in case of Tea Party’ clause | New York Post
I wonder if you've ever heard of anything like this?...
In the New York Post, Tara Palmeri recently called attention to this:
"The city’s new municipal ID program allows for personal info provided by applicants to be destroyed at the end of 2016, in case a conservative Republican wins the White House and demands the data, the law’s co-sponsor told The Post on Monday.
City Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn) said the measure was crafted so data submitted by those seeking the cards can be destroyed on Dec. 31, 2016. The cards are aimed at undocumented immigrants."
Monday, February 23, 2015
"Media Hoax: 20 Muslims Holding Hands Become 1,000-Strong..."
Perhaps it was always this way...
On the Breitbart.com website, Jordan Schachtel tells us about this recent reporting exaggeration:
"Media Hoax: 20 Muslims Holding Hands Become 1,000-Strong 'Ring of Peace' at Oslo Synagogue"
NASCAR should have ridded itself of Kurt Busch long ago - Orlando Sentinel
This writer compares NASCAR to other sports.
He points out some difference between constitutional rights and business decisions by private corporations..
He points out some difference between constitutional rights and business decisions by private corporations..
In the Orlando Sentinel, Mike Bianchi tells us why he likes NASCAR's way of dealing with things. He posts this and more:
"Even though Busch has not been charged with any crime in this alleged incident, NASCAR reacted and reacted quickly after Judge David W. Jones of the Family Court of the State of Delaware granted Busch's ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll a protective order against her former boyfriend. NASCAR didn't need an elevator video and a public outcry to make the right decision to get rid of Busch — whose appeal on Saturday failed — for the unstated but obvious reason that he is bad for business.
And please spare us the rhetoric about 'innocent until proven guilty.' That's for a court of law; not for a place of business. Driving a stock car for a living is not a right guaranteed by the American Constitution; it is a privilege bestowed upon you by your corporate sponsors."
Sunday, February 22, 2015
2015-02-22 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Top 10 Global Warming Lies That May Shock You - Forbes
Unfortunately, the media rarely reports on anything like this...
Fortunately, James Taylor recently took the time to post some of them on the Forbes.com website:
"EDF has assembled what it believes to be the 10 most powerful global warming assertions in the alarmists’ playbook, yet each assertion either backfires on alarmists or has been proven false. While reading how flawed EDF’s assertions are, remember these are the very best arguments global warming alarmists can make. Open-minded readers should have very little difficulty dismissing the mythical global warming crisis after examining the top 10 assertions in the alarmist playbook."
Abortion Protesters Don't Count? - Brent Bozell
The obvious bias of the American media is astonishing...
On the Townhall.com website Brent Bozell reports what other media overlooks:
"This year, the turnout was among the strongest ever, with estimates as high as half a million people. The visual of wave after wave marching to the Capitol to demand action, with banners, flyers and flags; with an ocean of those supposedly disinterested millennial cheering and praying; with babies everywhere. It was a breathtaking sight. Except virtually no one watching the networks ever saw it. CBS gave the story a paltry 15 seconds. NBC 'News' blacked it out entirely. So too did ABC 'News.' Liberal journalists have made it perfectly clear over the years that only radical leftist protesters count."
Friday, February 20, 2015
The Internet isn't broken. Obama doesn't need to 'fix' it. - Chicago Tribune
Providing access to the Internet in a free market way looks to be in jeopardy.
These two writers are insiders for sure, and they aren't having anything nice to say...
These two writers are insiders for sure, and they aren't having anything nice to say...
Respective FCC and FTC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Joshua Wright express their views in the Chicago Tribune:
"But regulating broadband service like a public utility denies the FTC these powers and denies consumers the protections that come with them. That's because the law makes clear that the FTC doesn't have jurisdiction over 'common carriers,' which is what broadband providers would become under the president's plan.
Why would we want to neuter the FTC when the Internet has flourished under the current regulatory model?
If all of this comes as a surprise, you're not alone. The plan has not been made public. And the FCC has made it clear that it won't be released until after the agency's commissioners vote on it. This is not right. We should have an open, transparent debate about whether the president's plan for Internet regulation is right for America's consumers. In our view, it most certainly is not."
"NYT Columnist Blames Scott Walker for Teacher Layoffs That Occurred Before He Was Governor"
Unfortunately, very few will likely see the correction...
On the Weekly Standard website, John McCormack tells us about this:
"But the big error in Collins's piece is her claim that "those layoffs happened because Walker cut state aid to education." As you can see in the excerpt above, Collins is talking about teacher layoffs that occurred in 2010. Walker did not become governor until 2011.
The truth is that Walker's reforms actually saved teachers' jobs. Right before the 2012 Wisconsin recall election, Walker's Democratic opponent Tom Barrett couldn't name a single school that had been hurt by Walker's policies. When Walker's 2014 Democratic opponent Mary Burke was asked to name any schools hurt by Walker's collective bargaining reform, she relayed an anecdote she'd heard secondhand about one school. Burke's story didn't check out, and the superintendent of that school wrote a letter telling Burke she didn't know what she was talking about.
That's a good reminder for Gail Collins (and the rest of us): Always check your facts."
Thursday, February 19, 2015
"People Jailed for Owing Less Taxes Than Al Sharpton"
Maybe you can figure it out...
FoxBusiness writer, Elizabeth MacDonald shares what's she has found out:
"Serial tax avoidance appears to be a hallmark of Al Sharpton’s operations. But there’s a warning here: Others have gone to prison for lesser amounts. The list includes rock legend Chuck Berry, Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers, Survivor reality star Richard Hatch, hotel queen Leona Helmsely, and baseball’s Pete Rose (see below)."
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Bill Clinton’s libido threatens to derail Hillary — again | New York Post
Maureen Callahan recently wrote about some of them in the New York Post. Here's an excerpt:
"It was Bill’s close relationships with Burkle and Epstein, however, that were Hillary’s true threat. In an exposé published in Vanity Fair’s July 2008 issue, Todd Purdum — husband of Bill’s former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers — wrote of the former president’s depraved, 'motley crew' of wealthy hangers-on and enablers.
Clinton had been close with Burkle, a self-made billionaire, for well over a decade. Burkle, 62, had long kept his private plane stocked with girls as young as 19, and according to author Mark Ebner, Burkle was well-known as a longtime patron of high-end prostitutes. In an excised chapter from his biography of Paris Hilton, which he later posted online, Ebner wrote that Burkle and billionaire Ted Field hired Hilton, among others, to fly to Vegas for sex.
'We would party pretty hard,' a source told Ebner. 'Paris got naked, and the girls would get naked . . . There were times when you would have Ted or Ron come down, and they would pretty much pay for girl-on-girl action . . . They’d pay to watch girls going at it.'
Another member of their circle was Steve Bing, a wealthy playboy with a private jet. (Bing is best known as the father of Elizabeth Hurley’s child, and Hurley was later linked to Clinton by her ex-boyfriend Tom Sizemore. Hurley has denied an affair.)"
"Here's Audio From The Event Michael Bloomberg Is Trying To Block"
At DailyCaller.com, Chuck Ross has been following this story:
"The full audio of the Feb. 6 event, held at the Aspen Institute, shows that the 73-year-old media mogul’s remarks about minorities and gun control were even more candid in some respects than initially reported.
'It’s controversial, but first thing is all of your — 95 percent of your murders, and murderers, and murder victims fit one [unintelligible]. You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all of the cops. They are male, minorities, 15 to 25. That’s true in New York, it’s true in virtually every city in America,' said Bloomberg."
Is Federal Spending Too Big to Be Overseen? | Mercatus
On the other hand, it's hard to have any confidence that this is not a tip of an iceberg.
I suspect the "candy store" doors are wide open...
At Mercatus.org, Veronique de Rugy and Jason J. Fichtner have compiled some pretty astounding numbers:
"According to the federal government’s latest estimates, government programs for fiscal year 2013 paid out $106 billion 'improperly,' payments, that is, that violated guidelines or rules in some way. Fraud is not the only reason, as the government reports. They can also result from simple clerical errors or a failure to confirm that a recipient was eligible to receive the amount of money that was disbursed. Whether owing to fraud, bureaucracy, or the complexity of program rules, $106 billion is a significant amount of taxpayer funds. Federal spending has grown too massive to be adequately overseen."
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
"All Over America, Government Officials Are Cracking Down On Preppers"
Considering the thousands of new rules and regulations being implemented year over year, I have to think this writer has a valid point...
On a blog called 'theEconomicCollapse", Michael Snyder begins his post with this:
"Why would the government want to punish people that are just trying to work hard, become more self-sufficient and take care of their families? There are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today, and often they appear to be singled out for punishment by bureaucratic control freaks that are horrified at the thought that there are families out there that actually want to try to become less dependent on the system.
So if you use alternative methods to heat your home, or if you are not connected to the utility grid, or if you collect rainwater on your property, or if you believe that parents should have the ultimate say when it comes to health decisions for their children, you could become a target for overzealous government enforcers.
Once upon a time, America was the land of the free and the home of the brave, but now we are being transformed into a socialist police state where control freak bureaucrats use millions of laws, rules and regulations to crack down on anyone that dares to think for themselves."
As Public Sours, ObamaCare Faces An Uncertain Future
Are you surprised that our elected officials did this kind of a job?...
Sally C. Pipes has this story at Investors.com:
"According to Gallup, public approval of ObamaCare dropped to a record low of 37% at the end of 2014. The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows that 51% of Americans oppose the law.
That shouldn't be a surprise. For a full year, individuals have had to deal with canceled plans, premium shocks, higher deductibles and narrow networks of health care providers — all thanks to ObamaCare.
Forty-six percent of Americans now describe health costs as a 'hardship,' up from 36% in 2013."
Monday, February 16, 2015
2015-02-17 - Presidents Day
So, now you know...
The History.com website has this, and even more:
"Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present."
Sunday, February 15, 2015
2015-02-15 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, February 14, 2015
"Navy Tests Super Precise Laser Weapon in Persian Gulf"
Even though we all knew this was coming, it still is mind boggling.
And this appears to be just the beginning...
And this appears to be just the beginning...
On the DefenseOne website, Patrick Tucker elaborates on this story:
"An operator aboard the ship, working a controller not dissimilar to a PlayStation 4 handset, takes aim at the target using the Navy’s Laser Weapon System or LaWS high-aperture telescope. He sees a red, rigid-hulled inflatable boat on fast approach. The operator executes the command to fire. No sound emerges from the deck of the Ponce; there is no burst of gunpowder. The laser precisely destroys a three-foot high stack of shells on the red boat but misses entirely a decoy human just a few inches away."
Friday, February 13, 2015
CNN Anchor: ‘Our Rights Do Not Come From God’ | CNS News
The American media's "talking heads" aren't fairing well lately.
They seem too full of themselves, too liberal, and failing in history...
They seem too full of themselves, too liberal, and failing in history...
At CNSnews.com, Curtis Kalin has reported this:
"Maybe Mr. Cuomo flunked elementary civics. The opening sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence clearly affirms:
'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…'"
"Swedish Kids Cartoon Show Penis And Vagina To Kids [VIDEO]"
On the DailyCaller website, Kaitlan Collins recently called attentiopn to this:
"Don’t want your toddlers learning everything about the human body by the age of 6? Then stay as far away from Sweden as you possibly can because a children’s television program — aimed at children aged three to six — in the country is now showing a video featuring a dancing penis and vagina hopping around and wearing eyelashes and a top hat, and needless to say, parents are displeased."
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Jeb Bush dumps emails including social security numbers of Florida residents online | The Verge
At theVerge.com, T.C. Sottek reports on this gem:
"At minimum, the data dump shows a serious ignorance of the volume of sensitive information in the records and a carelessness about their disclosure. And while a Florida bureaucrat may ultimately be to blame, it's not a good look for Jeb Bush — someone who called himself the first 'eGovernor,' and a man who may want to sit in the White House."
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
"The shocking reality of 'no-go' zones: France has no control over Muslim-populated neighborhoods"
I have to wonder if the deniers did their homework...
On the Catholic Online website, Abigail James HAS done somework and shares this and more:
"The 'no-go' zones, officially called Zones Urbaines Sensibles (ZUS), or Sensitive Urban Zones range in size and quantity. According to reports, there is hardly a town if France that does not have at least one ZUS. ZUS formations began in late 1996, and more than 5 million people live in them; that's 8 percent of France's population. Area locations include the heavily Muslim parts of Paris, Marseilles, Strasbourg, Lille and Amiens. "
"A Matter Of Priorities"
I am proud to count myself as one of them...
Derek Hunter recently wrote this and more:
"The Obama administration is historic. That’s something we hear constantly from media elites, from congressional Democrats and, frankly from the White House itself. And they’re right. This administration has overseen a historically slow economic recovery; it has overseen the ceding of more ground to terrorists than ever before; it rung up more debt than every previous administration combined, and so on. It is historic.
Another way in which the Obama administration is historic is in its employ of Islamic theologians in positions where such expertise isn’t required."
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever - Telegraph
Christopher Booker reports in the U.K. Telegraph about this particular aspect and more:
"Homewood’s interest in the Arctic is partly because the 'vanishing' of its polar ice (and the polar bears) has become such a poster-child for those trying to persuade us that we are threatened by runaway warming. But he chose that particular stretch of the Arctic because it is where ice is affected by warmer water brought in by cyclical shifts in a major Atlantic current – this last peaked at just the time 75 years ago when Arctic ice retreated even further than it has done recently. The ice-melt is not caused by rising global temperatures at all.
Of much more serious significance, however, is the way this wholesale manipulation of the official temperature record – for reasons GHCN and Giss have never plausibly explained – has become the real elephant in the room of the greatest and most costly scare the world has known. This really does begin to look like one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time."
US government faces pressure after biggest leak in banking history | News | The Guardian
On top of that, the U.S. government seems to have taken no action for 5 years...
Paul Lewis has the story at theGuardian.com:
"The US government will come under intense pressure this week to explain what action it took after receiving a massive cache of leaked data that revealed how the Swiss banking arm of HSBC, the world’s second-largest bank, helped wealthy customers conceal billions of dollars of assets.
The leaked files, which reveal how HSBC advised some clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities, were obtained through an international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, CBS 60 Minutes and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The files reveal how HSBC’s Swiss private bank colluded with some clients to conceal undeclared 'black' accounts from domestic tax authorities across the world and provided services to international criminals and other high-risk individuals."
Monday, February 09, 2015
"The White House’s latest pander: Paid leave is a ‘worker’s right’"
Sooner or later the "free lunch" using other people's money concept must reach a limit. I wonder if you were aware of this...
On the HotAir.com website, Noah Rothman recently wrote about this:
"The Healthy Families Act would affect 40 percent of American private sector businesses that have 11 or more employees. It would require those firms to offer at least seven days of paid leave time to employees and provides states and municipalities with $2.2 billion to develop their own paid leave programs. Obama will also sign a memorandum that grants federal employees’ six days of paid leave. In a post on the social media network LinkedIn, White House advisor Valerie Jarrett wrote that the administration believes paid leave should be a 'worker’s right, not a privilege.' "
Underwater Volcanoes May Play Bigger Role in Influencing Climate Change Than You Think : SCIENCE : Tech Times
With that being said, wouldn't it be prudent to adopt a wait and see attitude for now, and not spend extraordinary amounts of taxpayers dollars until we know what we're doing?...
TechTimes.com tells us about this:
"Findings of a new study, however, suggest that these ocean floor eruptions could influence the climate cycle of the Earth and that predictive models, including the ones that analyze the impact of humans on climate change, may need to be changed."
Sunday, February 08, 2015
2015-02-08 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, February 07, 2015
"'America's Bitter Pill' Makes Case For Why Health Care Law 'Won't Work'"
It depicts author Steven Brill's personal experience with the American Healthcare system, after which the writer goes on explain quite a few of the system's various piece parts...
On the NPR website here's is one of many explanations:
"On unregulated prescription drug prices The dirty little secret is that the exact same prescription drug in the United States is typically 40 or 50 percent less in Canada, in the United Kingdom, in France, in Germany and Australia — in every other country in the world because every other country in the world controls the price of monopoly drugs.
All drugs, if they have a patent, have been given a monopoly by the government and usually when the government gives someone a monopoly, it regulates the price — not so with prescription drugs in the United States."
Friday, February 06, 2015
The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment
Some of us have always known that...
Here, the CEO of Gallup, Jim Clifton tells us some truth:
"Here's something that many Americans -- including some of the smartest and most educated among us -- don't know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.
Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is 'down' to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.
None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast 'falling' unemployment."
"NYT Admits Obama Deliberately Manufactured Netanyahu Spat"
Nowadays, they seem to get a lot of things wrong, which reinforces those that suggest they are biased...
On the TimesOfIsrael blog, Rob Miller calls attention to a New York Times correction, and the fuss the original (incorrect) article caused:
"The resulting fracas was simply kabuki outrage manufactured to create a negative impression that Israel had somehow ‘disrespected’ an American president. And of course, to assist Netanyahu’s political enemies in the coming election…where the Obama Administration has already sent a crack campaign team and millions in campaign funds for the same purpose. The shotgun wedding of Labor’s Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni lost no time in trying to spin this to show that ‘Netanyahu was destroying Israel’s relationship with the U.S.’"
Thursday, February 05, 2015
NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest - U.S. - Stripes
Being forced down is a loooong way from just landing.
I guess I'll forgive you if you're skeptical about anything Brian Williams reports...
At Stripes.com, Travis J. Tritten has just about everything about this "story":
"WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years."
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
"Border Patrol agents say gun sharing puts lives at risk"
Every aspect of protecting America's borders seems to come up short...
At FoxNews.com, Maxim Lott tells us all about this mess:
"Guns are in such short supply at the Border Patrol that one agent told FoxNews.com 400 agents share just 100 rifles at his station."
"The Digital Arms Race: NSA Preps America for Future Battle"
It may not be interesting to everyone...
On the German website, Spiegel Online, the writers tell us all about America's National Security Agency (NSA) and their cybersecurity capabilities, etc.:
"The NSA's mass surveillance is just the beginning. Documents from Edward Snowden show that the intelligence agency is arming America for future digital wars -- a struggle for control of the Internet that is already well underway."
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
"Hillary Clinton Libya tapes set for House Benghazi committee review"
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro and Kelly Riddell have this story in the Washington Times:
"The tapes included candid conversations and allegations that Mrs. Clinton took the U.S. to war on false pretenses and was not listening to the advice of military commanders or career intelligence officers."
"CBO Still Refuses to Score Obamacare, Ignores 15 Tax Hikes in Healthcare Law"
There's more on this by Ryan Ellis on the Americans for Tax Reform website:
"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released their annual Budget and Economic Outlook which sets the budget baselines and estimates for the whole year. Buried in Appendix B of the report is CBO's attempt to provide an updated score of Obamacare. But that's not what they did. They only scored the "coverage provisions" of the law, ignoring some fifteen tax increases which are also a part of Obamacare and its cost to taxpayers. Here's what the report says about its half score:"
Monday, February 02, 2015
"Inside the Beltway: Baby boomers turn conservative - a huge voting bloc"
In the Washington Times, Jennifer Harper has reported this and more:
"The hippies of yore would never believe it. A jumbo-sized Gallup poll now reveals that baby boomers — who once espoused free love, flower power and took to the streets to protest most anything — now constitute a conservative stronghold. Among those born between 1946 and 1964, a sizable 44 percent say they are conservative; a third describe themselves as moderates, and 21 percent are liberal. In comparison, 38 percent of Americans overall are conservative, 36 percent are moderates and a quarter are liberals."
