The Detroit News, suburban newspapers could be sold after owner abandons digital effort, report says

The Detroit News, suburban newspapers could be sold after owner abandons digital effort, report says | Crain's Detroit Business:
"In the past decade, newspaper publishers have invested vast sums in digital and mobile news and advertising offerings.
Although there have been revenue gains, they largely have failed to offset print revenue losses, industry metrics show.
For every $1 gained in digital revenue in 2011, $7 in print revenue was lost — a ratio that grew in 2012 to $16 lost for every $1 in online revenue, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Print advertising revenue in 2012 dipped under $20 billion, according to figures by the Newspaper Association of America."

Peeling apples with a power drill is pretty neat

Peeling apples with a power drill is pretty neat | ScienceDump:
"Dutch chef Jasper van Ramshorst figures out an easy way to peel all the apples he has using a power drill to do most of the work.
His ingenious plan of working smart and not hard certainly gives him more free time to prepare his dessert."

Treason Exposed! Obama Used Benghazi Attack to Cover Up Arms Shipments t...

Things Get Tense When Bachmann Grills Former CIA Deputy Director Over Benghazi Talking Points | Video | TheBlaze.com

Things Get Tense When Bachmann Grills Former CIA Deputy Director Over Benghazi Talking Points | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"The former deputy director of the CIA insisted during a congressional hearing Wednesday that he did not alter the infamous 2012 Benghazi talking points due to political pressure, despite pointed questioning by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

“The narrative that the attack evolved spontaneously from a protest was a narrative that intelligence community analysts believed,” Mike Morell said. “That turned out to be incorrect. But that is what they believed at the time. So there is no politics there whatsoever.”"

Employers Say Obamacare Will Cost Them $5,000 More Per Employee

Employers Say Obamacare Will Cost Them $5,000 More Per Employee | Washington Free Beacon: "Obamacare will cost large companies between $4,800 and $5,900 more per employee and add hundreds of millions to their overhead, according to a new survey.
The American Health Policy Institute conducted a confidential survey of 100 large employers—those with 10,000 or more employees—asking what costs they expect to incur from Obamacare over the next decade.
Factoring in the health care law’s added mandates, fees, and regulatory burdens, employers anticipate cost hikes between $163 million and $200 million in 2016, a 4.3 percent increase.
By 2023, employers will be paying 8.4 percent more than “what they would otherwise be spending” for their employees’ health care."

Deal in works to bring pro soccer — and potential 5,000-seat stadium — to Detroit

Deal in works to bring pro soccer — and potential 5,000-seat stadium — to Detroit | Crain's Detroit Business:
"Duggan said he’s been working on a deal for the “past several seasons” and looked at stadium locations in Pontiac, Livonia and Canton Township before deciding to focus on downtown Detroit.
The stadium would seat 5,000 with room for 8,000 on open hills in the end zones.
He said he expected the stadium could be built for $2 million, but expects to spend $5 million."

War drums--Argentine leader claims Falklands a NATO nuclear base

Argentine leader claims Falklands a NATO nuclear base - Yahoo News:
"Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentine President Cristina Kirchner claimed Wednesday that the Falkland Islands serve as a nuclear base for the NATO alliance in the South Atlantic.
Argentina, which calls the archipelago the Malvinas, claims the British overseas possession as its own, and fought a brief but bloody war for it in 1982.
The islands, she said, "constitute a NATO military nuclear base in the South Atlantic -- this is the truth that they can't continue to hide."
She alleged the archipelago is "among the most militarized areas in the world," saying some 1,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilian military personnel are stationed there amid a population of just 1,000."

Crackdown on distracted driving

Crackdown on distracted driving - My9 New Jersey:
"He pulled over a man he spotted talking on his phone.
The man got a $130 ticket.
 But that's not the only action considered distracted driving.
Texting, eating and drinking, putting on makeup, checking laptops and tablets, and watching movies; police here have seen it all.
The heavy crackdown will continue for three weeks.
After that, police will still issue tickets but they're hoping drivers will change their bad habits before the fines double this summer."

The media hate Republicans

The media hate Republicans: Column

It sounds like something out of a Hollywood thriller: Anti-terrorist politician actually running guns to terrorists. But that's precisely what's been charged in California, although with a final plot twist that Hollywood would never imagine.

California State senator (and, until last week, candidate for secretary of state) Leland Yee was well-known as an anti-gun activist. Then, last week, he was indicted for, yes, conspiring to smuggle guns and rocket launchers between mobsters and terrorists in exchange for massive bribes. Somehighlights, as excerpted by San Francisco Magazine.

Yee told an FBI agent that, in exchange for $2 million in cash, he'd fill a shopping list of weapons, which he took personal responsibility for delivering, according to the indictment. He also allegedly "masterminded" a complex scheme bring illegal weapons into the country, agreeing to "facilitate" a meeting with an illegal arms dealer to arrange for the weapons to be imported via Newark, N.J. In arranging all of this, the indictment said, Yee relied on connections with Filipino terrorist groups who could supply "heavy" weapons, including the Muslim terrorists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Yee allegedly noted that the Muslim terrorists had no reservations about kidnapping, extortion and murder.

This all sounds like news. You've got charges of huge bribes, rampant hypocrisy, illegal weapons and even a connection with foreign terrorists — and from a leading politician in an important state.

But — and here's the part Hollywood would miss — outside of local media like San Francisco magazine, the coverage was surprisingly muted.The New York Times buried the story as a one-paragraph Associated Press report on page A21, with the bland dog-bites-man headline, "California: State Senator Accused of Corruption." This even though Yee was suspended, along with two others, from the California state senate in light of the indictment.

CNN, home (also until last week) of Piers Morgan, whom Yee had praised for his anti-gun activism, didn't report the story at all. 

When prodded by viewers, the network snarked that it doesn't do state senators. 
Which is odd, because searching the name of my own state senator, Stacey Campfield, turns up a page of results, involving criticisms of him for saying something "extreme". 
Meanwhile, CNN found time to bashWisconsin state senator and supporter of Gov. Scott Walker, Randy Hopper over marital problems.

But there's a difference. They're Republicans. When Republicans do things that embarrass their party, the national media are happy to take note, even if they're mere state senators. But when Democrats like Yee get busted for actual felonies, and pretty dramatic ones at that, the press suddenly isn't interested.

We've seen this before, of course: Washington Post reporter Sarah Kliff dismissed the horrific Kermit Gosnell trial as a "local crime story", even as the press was going crazy covering another equally local crime story, the George Zimmerman trial. Likewise, another state senator, Texas' Wendy Davis, got national attention when she filibustered an abortion bill, a story that fit conveniently with the "war on women" theme used by Democrats.

It's almost as if "what's news" is just a synonym for "what advances the narrative chosen by the Democratic Party." The question that "news" operations like CNN may want to ask is, how many people are really interested in getting their news from party organs.

Blog: Obama's Rose Garden phony numbers 'tell'

Blog: Obama's Rose Garden phony numbers 'tell':

The first part of the tell was the obvious outright lie told by the president in a “poor me” moment of self-pity. From the official transcript:

And we didn’t make a hard sell.  We didn’t have billions of dollars of commercials like some critics did.  

Billions of dollars of commercials? Even if anyone believed the fairy tales about the Evil Koch Brothers, billions of dollars could not have been spent on anti-Obamacare commercials. That is the budget of an entire presidential campaign, planes, travel, and ubiquitous advertising, the whole nine yards.

The only advertising budget that even approaches that figure is the one spent by the federal and state governments promoting Obamacare. Last summer, theAssociated Press tallied up the Obamacare spending plans of the feds and the states, and came up with the figure of $684 million. So lavish a marketing budget covered embarrassments like the $1.7 million tedious Richard Simmons video promoting Covered California:

......and a variety of other tasteless, ludicrous, and insulting initiatives like the infamous Pajama Boy.

Even The New York Times reported that:

From January until the end of March, the Centers for Medicare andMedicaid Services, which runs the HealthCare.gov site and administers the Affordable Care Act, will have spent $52 million on paid media, officials said.

Not since New Coke has there been an advertising campaign so well-funded and so ineffective.

Why the All-Ivy League Story Stirs Up Tensions Between African Immigrants and Black Americans

Why the All-Ivy League Story Stirs Up Tensions Between African Immigrants and Black Americans - The Wire:
"The story of the first-generation Ghanian-American student accepted by all eight Ivy league schools is wonderful, but it also stirs up the tension between black Americans and recent African immigrants — especially when you describe him as "not a typical African-American kid."
That's been the reaction to USA Today's profile on Kwasi Enin, a Long Island high schooler who got into the nation's most competitive schools through hard work and, according to IvyWise CEO Katherine Cohen, being African (and being male).

At one point the piece reads:
"Being a first-generation American from Ghana also helps him stand out", Cohen says. "He's not a typical African-American kid.""

Everything You Don't Know About Tipping

Everything You Don't Know About Tipping | Wait But Why

History for April 3

History for April 3 - On-This-Day.com 

Birth anniversary of the first internationally famous American literary figure Washington Irving (1783-1859).

Birth anniversaries of Marlon Brando (1924-2004), Leslie Howard (1893-1943), Henry Luce (1898-1967)

Happy Birthday! Doris Day, Eddie Murphy, Wayne Newton

1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. He had sighted the land the day before. 


1829 - James Carrington patented the coffee mill. 


1860 - The first Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA. The trip across country took about 10 days. The Pony Express only lasted about a year and a half. 


1882 - The American outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back and killed by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward. There was later controversy over whether it was actually Jesse James that had been killed. 


1946 - Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed in the Philippines. 


1948 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan to revive war-torn Europe. It was $5 billion in aid for 16 countries. 


1953 - "TV Guide" was published for the first time. 


1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech just 24 hours before he was assassinated. 


1982 - John Chancellor stepped down as anchor of the "The NBC Nightly News." Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw became the co-anchors of the show. 


1996 - Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was arrested. He pled guilty in January 1998 to five Unabomber attacks in exchange for a life sentence without chance for parole. 

Exclusive! See alleged Fort Hood shooter’s photo

Exclusive! See alleged Fort Hood shooter’s photo:

"“As you may know, Fort Hood is a gun-free zone and soldiers are unable to defend themselves. 
Someone tell that to the shooter please"

Common Core Opponents Another Step Closer to HUGE Win in Oklahoma

Common Core Opponents Another Step Closer to HUGE Win in Oklahoma | TheBlaze.com:

"Under the bill, the state Board of Education would draft new standards specifically tailored for Oklahoma students to replace Common Core, which has been adopted by 45 states so far.
“The Republican-controlled Senate voted 37-10 on Tuesday for the bill repealing the standards over the objections of some Democrats who argued it is a political decision to roll back Common Core, which has faced fierce resistance from grassroots conservative groups,” the Associated Press reports."

Don’t Mess With Poland

Don’t Mess With Poland — War is Boring — Medium:
"Four years ago, Poland was set to become the staging ground for advanced U.S. ballistic missile interceptors.
But after the plan collapsed—and seeing defense budgets in the rest of Europe on the decline—Polish political leaders decided they needed their military to fend for itself.
And now with an aggressive Russia bearing down on Ukraine, Warsaw is getting even more worried—and prepared.
“The world stands on the brink of conflict, the consequences of which are not foreseen,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said shortly after Russia’s Feb. 27 invasion of Crimea."

The ObamaCare Copperheads

The ObamaCare Copperheads - WSJ.com:
"Courtesy of Democrats like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Warner of Virginia, the big idea is to create a cheaper, worse type of coverage on the ObamaCare exchanges.

All current plans are more or less interchangeable because of the law's benefit and wealth redistribution mandates.
They differ based mainly on how much of the upfront cost is built into the premium, with tiers known as platinum, gold, silver and bronze.
The Senators want to create a new "copper" policy that would cover 50% of average medical expenses with the rest out of pocket.
Are people really clamoring for even higher ObamaCare deductibles?"

Secretive Obamacare Study Reportedly Reveals ‘Enrollment’ Numbers the White House Doesn’t Want to Talk About

Secretive Obamacare Study Reportedly Reveals ‘Enrollment’ Numbers the White House Doesn’t Want to Talk About | TheBlaze.com:
"As the White House and news headlines celebrate Obamacare “enrollment” hitting the 7 million mark, a secretive study from the RAND Corporation reportedly suggests as few as 858,000 previously insured Americans have actually paid for their new policies.
President Barack Obama announced an “enrollment” total of 7,041,000 on Tuesday during a press conference, heralding it as proof that the Affordable Care Act is successful and here to stay.
The White House has not provided answers to key questions about the numbers, including how many enrollees were previously insured, how many Americans have actually paid their first month’s premium or how many Americans have seen their costs increase."

White House says 7 MILLION Obamacare enrollments, but study shows 858,000

White House says 7 MILLION Obamacare enrollments, but study shows 858,000 | Mail Online:
"'The debate over repealing this law is over':

Obama boasts 7.1 MILLION have signed up to Obamacare - but study shows just 858,000 newly insured Americans have paid up!

-President took a major victory lap and took political shots at Republicans, but ignored shortcomings in his administration's official numbers
-Press secretary Jay Carney will only say 'we're aggregating a lot of data' when asked how many enrollees have paid for coverage
-Carney dodged questions about damning study that showed very few Obamacare customers were uninsured before the law took effect
-Percentages from a hush-hush RAND Corporation study suggest barely 858,000 previously uninsured Americans have enrolled and paid premiums 
-HHS Secretary Sebelius met a televised challenge Monday about 'unpopular' Obamacare with lengthy awkward silence"

Ted Nugent ‘Gun Rights Musical' coming to NYC, Summer 2015

Ted Nugent ‘Gun Rights Musical' coming to NYC, Summer 2015 (VIDEO):
"If all things go as planned, next summer Ted Nugent and company will follow the lead of other notable rock musicians and bring his music and message to Broadway, in a new stage production, thematically centered on gun rights.
“We’ve been workshopping this for months in Michigan.
Ted’s been developing this concept for years.
We’re going to protect personal freedom with the only weapon NYC has left — the music,” a representative for Nugent told Guns.com.
 Written by Nugent and composer/lyricist/Nugent’s former Damn Yankees bandmate Tommy Shaw and with technical advisement from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, 
Stranglehold: A Musical about Control will examine the motivations, emotions and costs behind freedom hindering legislation through the highly interactive mechanisms of musical theater."