I'm just gonna weigh in briefly with the FBI asking Apple to unlock phone data used by the San Bernardino shooters. Apple has refused to do so citing, rightly, privacy issues and the precedent this may send.
And they are correct.
It's not a 'one time' thing because once that door opens, the flood gates are compromised. Law enforcement will be able to access ANY iPhone at ANY time under ANY circumstance or ANY excuse or ANY justification they come up with.
You're not consenting on a one time deal. You're consenting to the FBI potentially having access - when they want it - to millions upon millions of records.
It's absurd and if you care about your personal freedom and can't see how dangerous, if not absurd, this is, you've bought the 'but terrorists!' bit.
Why would you give the Federal government more ammunition?
I can just imagine how many innocent people they're going to bully and even arrest.
My wife - of part Lebanese heritage - is an alumni of McGill and will ask to have her name removed their pledge drives if McGill doesn't handle this properly.
I fail to see how boycotting Israel - a stable, innovative nation in a sea of dysfunctional kleptocracies - products serves anyone most of all Palestinians.
What I find most unbecoming is the fact that Palestinians - because
they're busy wasting their energy in unproductive activities - have a
lot of work to do to match the Jewish contribution to McGill and the
city of Montreal.
What is it with social media and its eventual assault on free speech?
It's rather ironic a medium that fundamentally rests on OPINION is going to 'shadowban' tweets. It's all so...Orwellian.
Twitter is, get this, setting a 'Truth and safety' council (of which a SJW will sit on. Because nothing says 'balanced' speech as interpreted by a social justice warrior. I'm sure they'll be level headed and apply 'common sense' logic against their enemies) to monitor speech. Mostly libertarian and conservative I am sure.
The company makes no money and if I'm an investor I'm concerned.
Very dumb.
But they're not alone. Witness a 'Wtf?' moment at The Onion.
This is what we call in the business 'jumping the shark'.
Sigh. One less humor site to visit now.
***
Speaking of dumb, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has figured out his legacy is tied to making Montreal green as much as possible.
By 2018 the city will ban plastic bags.
The Mayor says it will make Montreal a 'model' for other cities.
Yes. A ban on plastic bags will make sane and scientifically literate Montrealers very proud.
And Obama thinks these nutcases can be reasoned with. That was some deal he signed.
Riigght.
***
News on climate change!And I'm afraid Coderre and the alarmists aren't gonna like it. Which means, this is a good thing.
"...Because CO2
is only a trace gas in the atmosphere (approx. 0.04%), if CO2 change
does not cause significant temperature change, it cannot cause significant climate
change. Thus the CO2
change from burning fossil fuels has no significant effect on climate and
climate sensitivity (the effect on AGT of doubling CO2) is not
significant. ..."
"...Others that have looked at only amplitude or only duration
factors for solar cycles got poor correlations with average global temperature.
The excellent correlation comes by combining the two, which is what the
time-integral of sunspot number anomalies does. Prediction of future sunspot
numbers more than a decade or so into the future has not yet been confidently
done..."
And to think progressives admired that scoundrel Chavez.
But you're mistaken if you think confiscating gold is restricted to far away places. That good old New Deal liberal FDR (in addition to interning Japanese-Americans and imposing a curfew on Italian-Canadians; much like his liberal colleague up here in Canada PM Mackenzie King) issued executive order 6102:
"is a United States presidentialexecutive order signed on April 5, 1933, by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates
within the continental United States". The effect of the order, in
conjunction with the statute under which it was issued, was to
criminalize the possession of monetary gold by any individual,
partnership, association or corporation."
"Renato Bialetti, the coffee king whose name is synonymous with the
iconic aluminum stovetop esspresso makers, died last week at the age of
93. In an unusual and strangely befitting tribute, the ashes of this
well-known Italian coffee impresario were placed in a giant Moka pot,
which he made famous, at his funeral this week in Montebuglio, Italy."
"It was scary. I’ve never experienced something so firsthand that was so
dramatic. You see the fragility of nature and how easily things can be
completely transformed with just a few degrees difference. It’s
terrifying, and it’s what people are talking about all over the world.
And it’s simply just going to get worse."
Too funny.
"Those who have not the warm, invigorating Chinook winds of this country,
cannot well comprehend what a blessing they are. The icy clutch of
winter is lessened, the earth throws off its winding sheet of snow.
Humanity ventures forth to inhale the balmy spring like air. Animated
nature rejoices. "—Calgary Weekly Herald, 1900
Remember folks. Leo has a platform to spew his ignorance.
You know you're weak when you get scolded by Justin Zoolander Trudeau.
"...the man who has toiled with understanding also wins foresight; and if he dedicates his whole heart to excellence, employing both expense and effort, we must with an ungrudging spirit grant him a proud boast if he achieves it. For it is a trifling offering if a skilled poet, speaking a good word to mark many great labors, erects a splendid memorial in which all may share."
Proud to attend tonight's board meeting for @metcouncil, an impressive organization fighting hunger & poverty in NY
What a sickening display of hypocrisy. Let's fight poverty by cracking down on a street vendor by throwing his food away. Isn't it a sin to waste food like this?
What is going on?
How is this not government acting like thieves and thugs? For the good of all? Yeah, right.
De Blasio is the classic FYTW parasitical politician.
I can't watch this video without having the urge to knock De Blasio straight in the mouth.
Know what I find fascinating? There is no 'drunk driver' registry.
This guy has to register as a sex offender for 10 years (which is ridiculous) but a drunk driver with repeated offenses not only usually gets off with light sentence but doesn't have to register as a 'drunk driver for 10 years'.
Fascinating given driving while impaired can lead to deaths of innocent people.
In either case, I'm no fan of databases. More often than not, the system will abuse it and end up with a huge list of names that don't belong in them.
And the situation is worse in the USA. The Americans have lost their minds when it comes to sex offenders.
No registries of any kind (including guns. Yes, guns) if you cherish liberty on any level. Unless if it's for your wife's wedding of course.
The trade off is potentially not worth it. That is, you put someone on the list who is clearly not a menace and ruin their life.
For what? For watching a cartoon?
That's not a progressive society. That's a misguided one.
"...The ratings agencies have certainly taken note. Alberta lost its
top-notch rating on its debt in December after Standard & Poor’s
downgraded the province as it continues to reel from the oil price
shock."
Just in time for all that NDP spending!
Know what, the drop in oil prices actually is a good thing. Could you imagine what the NDP would have done with all that money?
Once prices recover - assuming they do - Albertans can reclaim their prior senses and resume normalcy by not electing the NDP anymore.
They just have to hope the damage will be limited in the meantime.
I still can't believe the province of Alberta voted NDP.
***
Speaking of deficits, expect the Liberals to do their part. A pre-election article from BNN:
And this is not the first time they act like violent thugs.
One in which I hope they will face consequences for their despicable actions.
They get zero sympathy from me.
As for Benoit Jugand and his 'Uber are drug pushers' analogy all I can say is Uber is going to win this war so get used to it.
The way I see it Taxis should pressure the government to rescind the extortion racket of charging for taxis licenses and permits. If anything, they should align with Uber and once they succeed in deregulating the industry by getting rid of a monopoly with superficial barriers to entry they then have to COMPETE with Uber in a free and open market.
Consumers want Uber. It's a unique service and one in which obviously fills a demand.
Taxis are so 1970s and if they don't smarten up, they will be left in the dust.
Looks like the accusers are becoming the criminals now encouraged by a criminal justice system that is increasingly losing its mind. In the UK at least.
Here comes the appalling story of Mark Pearson who was accused of 'public rape' by Game of Thrones actress Souad Faress.
Video evidence plainly shows no such rape took place and it took a jury 90 minutes too acquit. Which brings into question what kind of an unstable, lying, miscreant is Faress? I didn't want to say 'cunt'.
Oh, and this priceless gem from CPS (Crown Prosecution Service):
"A CPS spokesman said: "There was sufficient evidence for this case to
proceed to court and progress to trial. We respect the decision of the
jury."
Go fuck yourself CPS.
Anyway.
Are we safe here in North America?
Judging from what I observe, I wouldn't be so sure.
This is why what's happening on campuses in North America is so important where rape and free speech are concerned. One can view what is going on across campuses as a flair or warning signal for society at large. From safe spaces to trigger warnings to false rape narrative, this is a tone and development that is not healthy. One can further argue 'society will deal with them' but if law enforcement begins to increasingly accost and harass 'society' then all that's left is the law itself for the innocent.
And even then, things are not looking good. Witness businesses being shut down or fined for not baking cakes - as is their right - for gay couples.
Alas, recall these activists students will be part of our future.
If this be equality, it's a grotesque version of it and I want no part of it. It's nothing but aggression and coercion disguised as 'progress'.
It's putting sauce on a rotten steak. It's applying cologne to a stinking body.
Until everyone takes a deep breath and recover its basic over all rational senses the accuser will continue to act with impunity as this special species knows it comes without consequences.
A society can't keep ruining innocent lives - particularly of young males - and not expect some form of unintended consequences to the madness.
What will be the tipping point? What card will they overplay?
Predictably, I'm reading a lot of immature nonsense about Scalia. The one mistake people seem to be committing is mixing a person's character with their ability to
skillfully interpret the law. It's possible to hold a personal view but
still rule in favor a law that violates that personal opinion.
They're making an exaggerating issue of "personal opinion" into what are actually just technical matters of law.
***
"Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark
assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who
last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the
devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that
action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added."
Four years huh. That would mean 2020, right? Nope. Look over and you find 'this article is 7 years-old".
Looks like Obama missed the cut off by - carries the one - three years.
And we're supposed to act on these nutbags proposals?
"It could soon be impossible for San Franciscans to get their
afternoon Snickers, Doritos or Pepsi fix from a vending machine on
city-owned property. And people holding city meetings will have to trade
doughnuts and cookies for fruit and vegetables.
Supervisor Mark Farrell
on Tuesday will introduce legislation that would ban sugary and fatty
items from the approximately 150 vending machines on city property —
including at City Hall and the airport — and would also require city
meetings to feature healthier food."
Can bureaucrats be this insipid?
Yes, yes they can.
Mark this down: Unintended consequence will not lead to desired results.
"Screaming in pain with a ruptured spleen that would have to be removed
in an emergency surgery, Robert Liese cried out for medical attention
35 times in a downtown Orlando holding cell. He was laying on the ground with his hands and feet bound. Despite an Orlando police officer hearing Liese's pleas for help, he was ignored for nearly two hours. For
their actions, or lack of actions, Orlando police Officer Peter Delio
and Sgt. William Faulkner were fired from the department on Wednesday."
Director Anita Gray told newsnet5
that the Cleveland ADL office has received a number of complaints about
Professor Julio C. Pino’s behavior in the classroom. At least a few of
Pino’s run-ins with the KSU Jewish community gained national attention,
including a 2002 eulogy Pino wrote in a campus newspaper praising
Palestinian terrorist Ayat al-Akras. Al-Akras murdered two Israelis in a
suicide bombing back in 2002.
NOMINEE: Julio C. Pino is definitely woodchipper worthy.
"The uproar surrounding a recent meeting
held by three Israeli Arab Members of Knesset (parliament) with
families of Palestinians who carried out attacks against Israelis is not
only about the betrayal of their country, Israel. It is also about the
betrayal of their own constituents: the 1.5 million Arab citizens of
Israel. Knesset members Haneen Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka managed
to accomplish several things at once with this controversial meeting.
They certainly seem to have provoked the ire of many Jewish Israelis.
Perhaps they violated the oath they made when they were sworn into
parliament: "I pledge to bear allegiance to the State of Israel and
faithfully to discharge my mandate in the Knesset." These people can't be pleased and are destined to be desolate in their destitution.
I wish this was a one-off but if you've been following what's going on in Europe with the so-called refugees you'd see it's a massive problem of gigantic proportions. They're not peaceful and they're violent nor will they assimilate.
How this lying, sleazy, psychopath with a trail of controversies, scandals and 'slime-gates' with little political accomplishments of note is even remotely close to attaining American power is beyond me.
Notice how the media moves from 'refugees' to 'migrants' as thought they're the same. The former, the reason why the West is opening its doors, are people fleeing their countries for whatever reasons including war while the latter are just people, well, migrating.
***
Either way, it was a good excuse to post this:
Onward Christians!
But first I have to finish this installment of the DD.
"Mayor Livio Tola told the town's high school and elementary school to
return to using cables to connect to the internet after reading that the
electromagnetic waves given off by wireless routers were especially
harmful to young children. “It's not that we're against technology, our choice is merely a precautionary measure,” La Stampa reported the mayor as saying."
Precautionary in this instance means: I'm too fucking stupid to understand science in case.
"Today, the word ‘berserk’ is used to describe anyone in an
irrational, agitated state of mind who cannot or does not control his or
her actions. The meaning of the word originates with the Viking
berserkers, the fierce warriors who were known for battling in an
uncontrollable, trance-like fury, and were alleged to be able to perform
seemingly impossible super-human feats of strength. In medieval Norse and Germanic history and folklore, the berserkers
were described as members of an unruly warrior gang that worshipped
Odin, the supreme Norse deity, and were commissioned to royal and noble
courts as bodyguards and ‘shock troops’, who would strike fear into all
who encountered them. Adding to their ferocity, and in order to
intimidate the enemy, they would wear bear and wolf pelts when they
fought, giving them the name Berserker, meaning “bear coat” in Old
Norse."
***
Here's a depressing story of miscarriage of justice.
"The owners of a Portland-area bakery who refused on religious grounds to bake a wedding
cake for a lesbian couple have paid about $144,000 in damages despite
their ongoing appeal of the discrimination case, a state official said
on Tuesday. The damages were
ordered after Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the Sweet Cakes by
Melissa bakery, refused to bake a cake in 2013 when Laurel and Rachel
Bowman-Cryer were planning their nuptials."
"It’s worth reiterating that just as not all young Muslim males are
terrorists, neither are they all rapists. But to ignore the popularity
of Islamist theology in Muslim societies is madness. So, too, is
politically correct blindness about the cultural gap about rape and
women’s rights.
All immigrant populations, especially those throughout American history,
have often been accused of bringing crime and uncivilized behavior with
them. But in an era when immigrants are no longer expected to
assimilate into host Western societies, it is irresponsible for those
advocating bringing in large numbers of Middle Eastern immigrants not to
take such events into account. We need only remember southern racist or
Nazi rhetoric about blacks and Jews to understand how dangerous this
topic can be. But by the same token, we must also acknowledge that
allegations about blacks and Jews committing mass rape of white southern
or Aryan women were myths. What happened in Cologne and what is
happening in Sweden and Norway are facts."
"Red wine is bad for your health, experts reveal in a new report.
In a u-turn, Government experts have dismissed the supposed health
benefits of wine and are set to rewrite the rule book on the nation's
alcohol consumption, according to reports.
A landmark report by Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies due to be
published on Friday will destroy the long-held belief that red wine can
cut the risk of cancer, heart disease and memory loss when drunk in
moderation, the Sun reported. In the first overhaul of alcohol guidelines for two decades, doctors will
reportedly warn that there is no "safe" level of alcohol consumption
and drinking just a small amount may in fact increase the risk of some
cancers.
I'm gonna ignore.
How long before they start to agitate to force legislation against consumption?
"Powell and her colleagues stopped short of declaring a war on pizza, but they said its effect on kids’ diet was similar to that of sugary drinks. Pizza “should become a target for counseling for the prevention and treatment of obesity in pediatric practice,” they wrote."
Sigh. A properly prepared pizza ITALIAN STYLE (not the fast food bastardization targeted by nannies) with the best ingredients is not junk. In fact, can be quite healthy. My personal favorite is a white pizza with rosemary, garlic and rapini. You can't go wrong with a straight margherita with fresh tomato sauce, basil and either fresh mozzarella or bocconcini.
***
Keep [the] Ottoman Empire as an umbrella over the Middle East. If you
don't, I say 100 years, you say 200 years: [There will be] no peace in
the Middle East." — Damat Ferid Pasha, former Ottoman Prime Minister, at
the Paris Peace Conference, 1919
"...The North
Carolina mother of four who won a $188million Powerball lottery jackpot
in February has used $21million of her earnings to bail her boyfriend
out of jail.
On
top of the bond postings, it appears that 27-year-old Marie Holmes has
also paid approximately an additional $1,470,000 in fees she will never
get back after posting bond for her live-in boyfriend, 31-year-old
Lamarr McDow."
Any place ruled over by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)
"$15 an hour, I like that, that’s good. That’s good stuff, you know,
so tomorrow I say –hey wait a minute, it should be $30 an hour – are you
all going to vote for me?”
“You say, ‘c’mon Gutierrez ain’t
nobody’ – but that’s my point. I mean you could take this to a point in
which you go ‘really? - but we can’t do it.' Should it be a goal? Oh,
man, I am for that goal. I’m for a goal that everybody gets health care.
I’m for a goal that everybody gets to go to college regardless of their
income. And Latinos more than anyone else know that,” Gutierrez says."
And as gun sales rise, NYT commenters and liberals increase the audible on repealing the 2A outright.
Remember folks, they never wanted to take guns away. They just wanted to implement 'common sense' rules. We all know what they meant by that - and the end game was confiscation.
"As the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia heats up, the Barack
Obama administration is trying to straddle the fence and not take sides,
but its actions tell a different story -- they all seem to favor
Tehran.
Following the Saudi government’s announcement Saturday
that it had executed 47 prisoners, including a popular Shiite cleric,
the U.S. State Department did two things. First, it issued a statement
expressing concern that Riyadh’s actions were “exacerbating sectarian
tensions.” Then Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif, urging him to try to de-escalate the crisis.." “...The Iranians hold the Obama legacy in their hands,” he said. “We are
constrained and we are acquiescing to a certain degree to ensure we
maintain a functional relationship with the Iranians.”
At the same time, though, the U.S. is losing leverage over Iran and its
ability to influence the actions of the new Saudi leadership is also
waning. The Saudis have given up on building ties to the Obama
administration and are pursuing their own course until the next
president takes office. “It is the worst position for the great power,
because everyone says no to us without cost or consequence,” Miller
said."
But for some reason seen as 'far sighted' by his supporters.
I see no evidence of this.
***
Inside the Obama PR machine.
***
Obama is set to attack the mentally ill with an executive order on gun control.
My problem with with this is all it may accomplish is make the mentally ill another target for government/police aggression while in the process creating another class of criminals.
The distinction between someone with depression or bi-polar or PTSD or whatever will be blurred if not erased.
We're all potentially crazy now and it wouldn't surprise me if moving down the
line the government reclassifies what constitutes mentally ill.
They can rework the clinical definitions however they choose which is
precisely why people should oppose this. Believing, for example, that the government does not
have the best interests of the people in mind at all times could become "severe
paranoid delusions". Or questioning some aspect of climate change or the political response to it could become "chronic delusional psychosis".
Thinking you need a gun to be safe is a sign of unfounded paranoia, a
cardinal sign of several mental disorders which, obviously, should
disqualify you from getting a gun.
“You’d almost think it’s some kind of like racism thing,” Steyn
suggested. “That somehow, when a bunch of women make accusations against
the black guy, boom: he’s vaporized. When a bunch of women make
accusations against some white southern redneck, we’re talking about
putting him back in the White House for another eight years as first
gentleman.”
A lot more companies would
offer one if they could charge 500 per cent. But regulators have capped
rates at one-tenth that amount, even if you want to sign for a worse
deal."
Whaaaa? /shakes head. What?
500% if they can offer one? I'll leave it to you to A) grasp how absurd this is and B) how education are failing our kids with regards to economics and finance.
A strange thing happened on the way to bashing Uber. It's forcing people to understand basic economic principles. Or maybe not.
"But cabs are regulated and provide something that can function like an
essential public service, with a certain number reserved by law for
people with disabilities or children needing a car seat."
Yes, because cab drivers are kings of optimum service in their monopoly.
Anyway. Articles like this one only reinforces my belief Uber is awesome.
At the very least, it'll smash a monopoly and shake people like this author out of their statist minds.
***
In 2007 climate-change fear-mongerer Hansen asserted we had four years to do something lest the earth KABOOM! Nothing happened.
"On top of paying among the highest taxes in North America, and coping
with skyrocketing hydro prices — hikes directly caused by the decisions
made by this Liberal administration and the previous one — the Wynne
government wants more. Treasury Board Chair Deb Matthews made the bold request last week,
and specifically asked folks to donate their tax return rebate to help
pay off the provincial debt. “It’s an unusual thing for someone to do, but I would encourage any
Ontarian who wants to make a contribution to feel free to do so,” said
Matthews. A government asking for donations isn’t just unusual.
It’s like a stranger taking your car and then coming back the next
day to ask if you’ll chip in some money for the gas. Maybe you can pay
for an oil change, too? This is the daftness we’ve come to expect from the Wynne Liberals in Ontario.
Incredible. They mismanage the people's money and then ask them to bail out?
Germany may have become irrelevant where military power is concerned and may be reluctant to exercise its political leverage at times relative to its strength but there are two areas where Germany is threatening Europe.
One, is its aggressive stance against Greece via its banks. I never was one to think Greece and its tiny, corrupt, spendthrift, mostly non-industrialized, tourist-food based and insignificant economy could sink the EU. German banks, on the other hand, they can do major damage including armed hostilities. Two, Angela Merkel's absolutely bizarre if not irresponsible decision to allow 1.1 million migrants invade Germany. It's the great crossing of the limes of our times. Except this feels more like the Moors incursion into Europe than the Germanic tribes crossing the limes into Roman civilization.
Germany isn't the only country to have insidiously open its doors so willingly buying into the refugee claim like useful idiots. Sweden and Norway in particular reign supreme on such policies.
At this time, eastern Europe and citizens in Western Europe are mobilizing as the anti-migrant, anti-Merkel sentiment grows.
This is seismic and will have a rather large impact on American politics. Specifically, whether Obama will nominate a replacement and if the Republicans will block it thus leaving it to the next President.
Scalia was arguably the greatest intellectual Justice in Supreme Court history.
Pugnacious, blunt (he was known to have been critical of O'Connor), and sharp with wit he brought personality to the courts and his legacy will speak for itself. A devout Catholic of Italian heritage and conservative, some of his stances elicited much anger among progressive liberals especially his views on homosexuality and abortion. He was not able to get Roe v. Wade overturned as he had hoped but his influence was enough such that the right to bear arms did indeed extend to citizens in Second Amendment; a position Obama accepted.
Scalia came from a school of thought - Originalism or original meaning - that believed the Constitution should be interpreted and accepted as it was written. That is, not a living constitution as his friend but nemesis on the bench Ginsburg believed it to be.
The most destructive (and most alluring) feature of purposivismis its manipulability. Any provision of law . . . can be said to have a number of purposes, which can be placed on a ladder of abstrac-tion. A law against pickpocketing, for example, has as its narrowest purpose the prevention of theft from the person; and then in as-cending order of generality, the protection of private property; the preservation of a system of private ownership; the encouragement of productive activity by enabling producers to enjoy the fruits of their labor; and, finally, the furtherance of the common good."
By ascending “the ladder of abstraction,” the interpreter can essentially rewrite legal texts by making them conform to a general goal of the lawgiver. The higher the interpreter climbs up “the ladder of abstraction,” the more freedom she has to rewrite the text. Intentionalism on the other hand is not concerned with what the ultimate goal of a law against pickpocketing is, only what the lawmaking body intended the legal text to mean."
"The distinction between intentionalism and purposivism is important because if say that a lawmaking body’s intended meanings form law’s existential element, why not say that their intended desires and goals form the same? The reason is that intended desires and goals are not law; they are simply what a lawmaking body hopes to accomplish with a law. A law’s purpose or goal may in fact be frustrated by its own meaning. Consider Professor Thomas Sowell’s example:
Ironically, cities with strong rent control laws, such as New York and San Francisco, tend to end up with higher average rents than cities without rent control. Where such laws apply only to rents below some specified level, presumably to protect the poor, builders then have incentives to build only apartments luxurious enough to be above the rent-control level. Rich and poor alike who move into the city after rent control has created a housing shortage typically cannot find a rent-controlled apartment, and so have available only housing that costs more than it would in a free market, because of the housing shortage.
The purposivist climbing “the ladder of abstraction” might invalidate the price ceilings if it would ultimately effectuate the goal or desire of the legislator to “protect the poor” or “make available affordable housing.” But the intentionalist would only be concerned with the meaning that the lawmaking body attached to the text—there would be no route to invalidation of the price ceiling."
"I called as I approached, asking if she was okay," wrote Ranger Amber
Nattrass in a park report. "She was waving frantically and screaming,
'My baby is dead, my baby is dead.' "
"...Lately, Callagan has been working with technology companies to remove
closed and hazardous roads from their navigation databases – but with
only partial success. "I'm pulling my hair," he said. "I was never able to reach a single
human with Google Earth Maps. But in their system, they have a way you
can let them know something is wrong. And over the course of a year, I
was able to get their maps updated."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article2573180.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article2573180.html#storylink=cpy
Yeah, Google's weak and blind spot is not humanizing itself.
"Thousands of
Iraqi refugees who arrived in Finland last year have decided to cancel
their asylum applications and to return home voluntarily, citing family
issues and disappointment with life in the frosty Nordic country. Europe
is in the grip of its worst migrant crisis since World War Two, with
more than a million people arriving last year, fleeing wars and poverty
in the Middle East and beyond."
Refugees my ass.
People fleeing war aren't picky and don't split and go back home.
Williamson at NRO has a good, honest account about how police forces are in serious trouble in the United States. He wrote what observers see and what's seen is not good at all. It's the opposite of 'war on cops'.
"...Is it really so difficult to believe that there is widespread
wrongdoing, and widespread lying about it, among U.S. law-enforcement
agencies, particularly those in big, Democrat-run cities infamous for
the corruption of their other municipal institutions? Why do
conservatives find it so plausible — obvious, even — that the IRS and
the EPA and the Atlanta public schools are corrupt and self-serving, but
somehow believe that the Baltimore police department isn’t?
It is possible that what is really at play here is an emotional
response to protest culture. Seeing the Black Lives Matters miscreants
and Baltimore rioters on one side of the line, conservatives
instinctively want to be on the other side of the line. The same thing
happened with the Iraq-war protests: When the dirty hippies take to the
barricades, conservatives are drawn to the other side.
...Why conservatives and Republicans should be defensive about the
fact that Baltimore, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Honolulu are
misgoverned to various degrees of criminality is a mystery.
Conservatives with real political power in those cities are as scarce as
hen’s teeth. Could it really be something so simple as the fact that we
do not feel comfortable standing on the same side of a bright red line
as the malefactors in Ferguson and such opportunists as DeRay Mckesson,
now a Baltimore mayoral candidate, and Al Sharpton? Sharpton is a
grotesque and one of the most dishonest men in American public life, but
that does not mean that the people running Baltimore and its police
department aren’t also crooked. Some police officers are indeed heroes.
Some are villains. Most are ordinary, time-serving municipal employees
like any other, and telling ourselves otherwise is sentimental rubbish."
"Canada’s fighter jets will end combat
operations within the next two weeks and be replaced by an enlarged and
riskier military training mission and a new humanitarian focus on the
refugee crisis engulfing the region around Syria.
The
expanded mission will see the number of Canadian special-forces
trainers climb to 207 from 69, which Canada’s top general warned will
increase the risks of their being killed or wounded in firefights with
Islamic State militants."
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL I am
Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major
Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret
flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet
spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station
Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union
was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the
Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been
occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He
is in good humor, but wants to come home.
Cappelletti — who has already
enlisted in the Marine Corps, hoping to follow in his father’s and
grandfather’s footsteps — had been on a family fishing trip to Dixon
Lake in early January and had brought along three knives to cut line and
filet any fish he might catch. When it was time to head home, he tossed
two of the knives into the console of his Ford Ranger and one in the
tool box pushed behind his seat.
The knives were forgotten until a
few weeks later, on Jan. 27, when security officials with drug-sniffing
dogs were scanning the parking lot and the dog alerted on Cappelletti’s
truck. He was summoned from class to unlock the vehicle, where
officials discovered the knives and a bottle of Advil.
Cappelletti
now faces expulsion, as does Serrato, an honor student and football
standout, who had also brought Advil to school that day. When the dogs
alerted to his GMC Yukon, officials found a pocketknife that his dad had
tossed into the glove compartment."
Fucking ADVIL?
I suffer from migraines and always had a bottle with me in school. Is this story trying to tell me if I went to school in the United States my life would be ruined over a bottle of fucken Advil?
Are these people insane?
Is this sickening or what?
How are any of these public servants doing any good in this story?
I hope cooler and more sensible minds prevail in this absurd ordeal and it all works out for these guys.
Then they should sue the ass out of these assholes.
Trudeau recently backed away from campaign vows
to balance the public books before the end of his government’s
four-year mandate and cap the deficit at $10 billion in the upcoming
budget in a sit-down interview with Montreal’s La Presse newspaper. The pledges had been central to the Liberal election platform..."
He lies, makes outrageous promises and smiles while Canadians shout 'Thank you! May I have another.'
Sometimes I wonder I tell ya.
Canadians will rue the day they voted based on 'getting Harper out' and charisma. Opponents of the Conservatives, among other things, complained of Harper's spending. What the heck do they think they'll get under Trudeau? Worse, Trudeau is doing it with demand for resources weakened, the dollar down off the USD to .71 cents while still talking about implementing climate system change policies.
If that's not a recipe for stagnation or worse, I don't know what is.
That the Liberals are all fluff should come as no surprise to anyone. This is their shtick. Trudeau is focused on the image of Canada. Rather than carefully steer the economy in its current sticky situation he sees some dated vision of us from Pearson's 60s or something. His idea of 'restoring' Canada's 'place' is via broken organizations like the UN Security Council- yes, like in today's context countries actually give a you now what about what Canada will say aloft a dysfunctional and immoral international body. FIFA has more credibility than the UN.
Guessing how they're going to spin things is easy enough.
Blame Harper. Just like Obama still blames Bush.
Easy, sneasy.
***
Oh about the U.S. debt/deficit.
People still confuse the debt with the deficit.
The popular nonsense among liberal/progressives (which only points to their financial and economic illiteracy) is that the deficit has gone down under Obama.
Right.
The total public debt in the United States has officially surpassed its GDP. Public debt stands at $19 trillion while the GDP $18 trillion.
The economy grew 45% under Bush ($10 150 to $14 750 by the time he left). It has slowed down considerably under Obama to 22% going from $14 750 to the current $18 trillion.
Now the outstanding public debt (which really is just an accumulation of deficits over time).
Under Bush it expanded a whopping 77% from $ 5 674 to $10 025.
Can it get worse?
Yes.
Public debt under Obama grew by 89% from $10 025 (the time Bush left office) to $19 000.
Let's recap.
Under Bush the economy grew 45% but debt expanded by 77%.
Under Obama the economy grew 22% but debt expanded by 89%.
Any questions?
That's the bottom line, isn't it?
Don't get sucked into Media Matters 'one-shot' balance-sheet gotcha approach.
"Deficit as percentage of the size of the economy (GDP):
The historical average annual deficit pre-2008 was about 3% GDP, with
18% GDP average tax revenues and 21% GDP average expenditures. However,
in 2009 the deficit rose to 10% GDP due to a combination of economic
conditions and policy choices. It then fell as a % GDP for five
consecutive years back to 2.8% GDP in 2014. With GDP of $16.8 trillion
in 2013, 1% GDP represents approximately $170 billion."
Nice pay close attention to what the above paragraph says. Basically, the deficit reductions they boast about brings them in line with the historical average. One would think they actually cut the deficit but it still remains in negative territory. So, based on these facts and realities, if it's anyone being disingenuous it's The White House and progressive publications.
“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no
accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is
empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s
world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of
understanding.”
If I wasn't so strapped for time, lacking of energy and ambition and whatever excuse I care to come up with, I'd make 'Worthy for the Woodchipper' a regular feature. Alas, I don't have that kind of drive and you'll have to settle for intermittent posts on the subject.
That being said, given it's a new feature, I have two stories needing woodchipping today.
The first involves a judge so wicked witches are petitioning she steps down lest she gives them a bad name.
Her name is Amanda Sammons. Erm, Judge Amanda Sammons.
Read about her heroic feats to protect children here,here, here and (sigh) as if all that wasn't enough, here.
From link 1:
"Two children were taken from their home this week and kept from their
parents for four days after a judge ordered so without a hearing or
legal cause, according to statements in court Friday.
As their parents wept, 8th Judicial Circuit Judge John McAfee ordered
the children, ages 15 and 3, returned home, declared the actions of the
judge who ordered them taken "improper" and removed her from the
family's case.
McAfee repeated that action Friday two more times, striking down
Campbell County General Sessions Judge Amanda Sammons' removal orders in
the case of a 19-month-old baby boy who had been in the care of a
grandmother described by a guardian as an "excellent caregiver" and of a
14-year-old in the care of a grandmother deemed by state Department of
Children's Services attorneys as blameless. In each case, DCS lawyers told McAfee they did not seek removal of
the children nor believe the agency had legal grounds to do so. In the
case of the two children taken from their parents on Monday, DCS
attorney Apryl Bradshaw said the agency had no pending complaint
involving them. The agency instead had been working with the parents on
issues involving a third child in the temporary custody of DCS. Sammons
held no hearing before ordering them into state custody, said attorney
Kristie Anderson. "The Juvenile Court had no jurisdiction on those … children," DCS regional general counsel Sean Muirgaen told McAfee."
Winner.
Link 2:
"A request to review the actions of General Sessions Judge Amanda
Sammons, who is believed to have destroyed the only physical record of a
court order, has been certified in Campbell County Criminal Court.
Assistant Public Defender Bill Jones, who claims that Sammons
destroyed the only copy of documentation showing the acceptance of an
appeal in a case, filed a petition asking a higher court to take action. While representing Christopher Watkins, Jones and the state entered an agreement to not pursue prosecution, the writ shows."
Disgraceful.
Link 3:
"Brandon Byrge lost two job opportunities because a Campbell County
judge didn’t sign an order to which the teenager was legally entitled.
It
would take five months, legal action and another judge’s intervention
for Byrge, 18, to get Campbell County General Sessions Judge Amanda
Sammons’ signature on an order wiping his record clean of a misdemeanor
vandalism charge that already had been dismissed, court records and
statements made Monday in Campbell County Circuit Court showed."
"...Sammons, a former prosecutor who won the judgeship in 2014 with a
campaign promise of “a revolution” in Campbell County’s judicial system,
at one point simply refused to sign expungement orders, records showed.
And there was a growing list of other complaints about her handling of
the court, including refusing entry to latecomers and then ordering them
arrested for failing to show up, that were spawning a slew of appeals.
There
were 10 appeals of Sammons’ rulings in juvenile court matters on
McAfee’s docket Monday, and her decisions were overturned in most of
them with little or no argument from either side in those cases."
What 'revolution' could possibly be needed and why do people vote for people who promise such nonsense?
And Link #4:
"A Campbell County judge insists she has no choice in forcing poor
people to pay a fee for court-appointed counsel even if they never make
use of that service.
“That fee I assess cannot be waived,”
Campbell County General Sessions Court Judge Amanda Sammons told the
News Sentinel. “It’s not a waivable fee.”
The law says otherwise —
twice stating the fee can be waived. Nowhere in the law establishing
the fee does it require the poor to pay for taxpayer-funded attorneys
who never handled their cases."
/turns woodchipper on.
I trust she'll be removed soon enough before she destroys more lives and makes mockery of the justice system.
"This past month, two Ohio families from two separate school districts
contacted HSLDA after they were served with criminal complaints with
similar facts. And under the charges they face, these families could be fined tens
of thousands of dollars and be sent to jail for more than a decade. Both families were somewhat new to homeschooling in Ohio. One family
filed a notice of intent when they began homeschooling last year, but
did not know they had to file another notice for this school year. The
other family filed their annual notice of intent, but did not submit an
educational assessment with their notice because they had not yet
completed it, and had been told by their school district that there was
no deadline for submitting the assessment. Even though both families continued to educate their children, their
school districts decided to treat the children as “truant.” The schools
also waited to contact the families until the children had accumulated
more than a month of “absences,” instead of addressing the issue when
the school began marking the children “absent.” As soon as both families realized their errors, they took action to
comply with their districts’ demands. After filing the paperwork, both
families received a letter from their superintendent verifying that
their homeschool program is in compliance with state law for the
2015-2016 school year. Then they brought criminal charges against the
parents. The criminal charge is “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” a
first-degree misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of up to $1,000 in
fines and up to six months in the county jail. Each day that a child is
“truant” can be considered a separate offense.
There is no question that homeschooling families have to meet certain
filing requirements in Ohio, and this statute’s primary purpose is to
deal with parents who ignore their responsibilities to direct the
upbringing and education of their children. But that is not what is
happening here. When schools use this statute to prosecute families for
what amounts to a simple clerical error, the response is
disproportionate and draconian. HSLDA’s litigation team is hard at work
preparing a rigorous legal challenge to these charges, which will be
tried later this month. "
First, Ohio is insane. Second, one can only hope the woodchipper is rusty enough for the superintendent who I reckon is the asshole who filed.
You think your kids belong to you? Think again. If you, heaven forbid, misfile something you can find yourself in serious trouble.
The old Roman axiom of 'the more numerous the laws, the more corrupt (and immoral I might add) the society.
"With an ax rather than a scalpel, Australia’s federal science agency
last week chopped off its climate research arm in a decision that has
stunned scientists and left employees dispirited. As many as 110 out of 140 positions at the atmosphere and oceans
division at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO) will be cut, Larry Marshall, the agency’s chief
executive, told staff Friday. Another 120 positions will be cut from the
land and water program. Across the agency, 350 climate staff will be
moved into new roles unrelated to their specialty."
It's salty ham tears and begging for the finger wagging fear-mongering to continue all the way down.
This caught my eye:
"...The nation (Australia) is already the driest on Earth..."
"A former prosecutor who used false testimony and withheld evidence to send a now-exonerated man to Texas' death row has lost an appeal to overturn his disbarment.
The Dallas Morning News ( http://bit.ly/1TPB1fq
) reports that the Board of Disciplinary Appeals on Monday upheld the
decision of the State Bar of Texas to disbar Charles Sebesta. The
board's decision is final.
The bar revoked the Burleson County district attorney's law license in
June, finding he had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct in the case of
Anthony Graves.
Graves was sentenced to death in 1994 in the slayings of six people in
South Texas two years earlier. A federal appeals court reversed his
conviction in 2006."
May a special place in hell be waiting for you Sebesta you piece of shit. He should face jail time.
And that goes for those like Sebesta out there who have yet to be caught. Some may even find their way into positions of political power. May they one day find a fate deserving of their evil actions.
"...Following up on campaign promises he made last year to withdraw Canada's
jets, Trudeau said on Monday that his country's contribution to the
fight against ISIL would be extended until the end of March 2017 - but
would be "a non-combat mission".
"It is important to understand that while air strike operations can be
very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they
do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities,"
Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
"We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight
directly to ISIL so that kilometre by kilometre they can reclaim their
homes, their land and their future."
Yeh, right.
I'm sure the ter'rists are gonna make a distinction between us bombing or training.
I'd like to knho are they training to reclaim their homes, their land and their
future? Would that be the non-existent "not-ISIS rebels" that McCain and
Obama were so eager to help? Those same local forces loyal to Assad?
And why would a 'man of the world' progressive like Trudeau be, then, supporting Assad, right?
"According to the police report, during his discussion with the officer,
Young became "belligerent" and ended up saying "I'll slap you in the
face with money you f------ Cuban."
"In 2009, Marc Ambinder, formerly a contributing editor of The Atlantic,
emailed Clinton spokesperson Philippe Reines for an advance copy of the
speech the then-secretary of state planned to make at a Council on
Foreign Relations event. Reines emailed back with a few conditions:
Ambinder had to describe the speech as “muscular,” and he had to take a
dismissive view of the seating positions of some of her rivals. Reines
also wrote: “Don’t say you were blackmailed!”
Ambinder emailed back “got it.” He complied fully. Here was the first paragraph of his article about the speech (emphasis Gawker’s):
When you think of President Obama’s foreign policy, think of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That’s the message behind a muscular speech that Clinton is set to deliver today to the Council on Foreign Relations. The staging gives a clue to its purpose: seated in front of Clinton, subordinate to Clinton, in the first row, will be three
potentially rival power centers: envoys Richard Holbrooke and George
Mitchell, and National Security Council senior director Dennis Ross."
But remember folks, Faux News is the problem!
***
Speaking of pedantic shill journalists check the latest from David 'The Token Conservative Gimp' Brooks. Dave is back with 'I miss Barack Obama':
"...No, Obama has not been temperamentally perfect. Too often he’s
been disdainful, aloof, resentful and insular. But there is a tone of
ugliness creeping across the world, as democracies retreat, as tribalism
mounts, as suspiciousness and authoritarianism take center stage.
Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and
elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss
a bit, regardless of who replaces him...."
The NYT commenters, I see are still unthinking, pompous gasbags.
***
Speaking of people who think life's a box of chocolates...
"...A week after the EU accepted that some members
may never go further in sharing sovereignty, as part of the price for
keeping Britain in the club, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg pledged to pursue "ever closer union" at a
meeting in Rome, where they founded the bloc in 1957.
"We
are concerned about the state of the European project," the foreign
ministers of the Six said in a statement after their talks. "Indeed, it
appears to be facing very challenging times. It is in these critical
times that we, as founding members, feel particularly called upon."
France is over-bureaucratized, Italy's growth is persistently stagnant, while Germany has perplexed with its overly open immigration policies. Merkel has irresponsibly put undue pressure on its law enforcement as a result. Its banks, meanwhile, are increasingly hostile and aggressive and this could cause major trouble in Europe.
"Peters Police Chief Harry Fruch certainly isn’t shedding much light on the matter:
“If the photograph was taken by the individual, male or
female between the ages of 12 and under 18, she’s as much a guilty party
as the person who received it. She is not a victim in this case or he
is not a victim,” he said."
Weirdo.
Comment:
"Time for someone to look exactly why police want to make criminals of
people at every turn. A peaceful society is not a profitable one. Cui
bono?"
***
And so the apologists go into over drive in protecting the most evil Hillary.
Paul Tassi of Forbes is taken to task by Reason's Matt Welch and its community.
These, remember folks, are our intellectual masters dictating and influencing thought. All we can do on our end is report, discuss, and mock.
No, Paul. She can't be excused you fucken dolt. THINK.
Lyndon Penner
