Chicago has more retired police and firefighters than working

Chicago has more retired police and firefighters than working – WP Original | WirePoints Illinois Financial News:
"Among the many reasons Chicago’s police and fire pensions are grossly underfunded are inadequate long-term planning, legislated benefit increases, pension holidays and overall kicking-the-can-down-the-road.
Another factor working against Chicago is the imbalance between active and retired public safety officers.
The New York City police pension received some unwelcome attention recently because the number of retirees it supports exceeds the number of active police on the streets.
Little known fact: Chicago has the same upside-down relationship between its active and retired public safety departments.
Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund reports for 2013 show participants in the pension plan include 12,161 active police versus 13,159 police retirees/survivors.
 In addition, a large portion of the active force is nearing or eligible for retirement, with 34% aged 45-54 and 25% having 20 or more years of service.
...The firefighters’ fund has just 24 cents for every dollar it owes pensioners; the policemen’s fund just 30 cents. 
Fixing them will be exceptionally difficult."
Ya think???

NATO's Not Enough! President Juncker Calls For Creation Of European Army To "React Credibly" To Russia

NATO's Not Enough! President Juncker Calls For Creation Of European Army To "React Credibly" To Russia | Zero Hedge:
No lessor official than European Commission President (and liar-when-it's-serious) Jean-Claude Juncker has called for the creation of an EU army... in order to show Russia "that [The EU is] serious about defending European values." Juncker explained an EU army would "help us fulfil Europe's responsibilities in the world," arguing that NATO was not enough since not all EU members are part of the alliance. As one stunned euro-skeptic exclaimed, "we have all seen the utter mess the EU has made of the economy, so how can we even think of trusting them with its defence."

The EU is divided on how to deal with an increasingly forthright Russia, but as The FT reports,

The president of the European Commission has called for the creation of an EU army in order to show Russia “that we are serious about defending European values”.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the EU’s executive arm, said an EU army would let the continent “react credibly to threats to peace in a member state or a neighbour of the EU”...

Glaciers at the NYT: The Democrats’ War on Women and Blacks | Roger L. Simon

Glaciers at the NYT: The Democrats’ War on Women and Blacks | Roger L. Simon:

"When I grew up, I thought the Democratic Party was the great friend of minorities and women. The party wanted a world of equality, I thought. Most people I knew believed that too.

Sorry, I was an idiot.

Here’s our contemporary world as it actually exists: Ayaan Hirsi Ali — a woman who has had a clitoridectomy and has had literally hundreds of death threats, maybe thousands, risking her life daily fighting the horrible mistreatment of her sex under Islamic Sharia — has her honorary degree withheld by Brandeis University while Hillary Clinton — the putative Democratic Party nominee (still, I guess) for president — takes multimillion dollar donations from Saudi Arabia, where women aren’t even allowed to drive."

GOP Lawmaker Proposes 'ATF Elimination Act' - Breitbart

GOP Lawmaker Proposes 'ATF Elimination Act' - Breitbart:

"Sensenbrenner’s bill is titled the ATF Elimination Act.

According to The Hill, Sensenbrenner says the ATF as a “scandal-ridden” agency “that lacks a clear mission.” He describes it as a “largely duplicative agency” and suggests the agency’s role on “guns, explosives, and violent crime” could be carried out the FBI. He believes the agency’s work on alcohol and tobacco could be transferred to the DEA."

Transit authority returns misspent terrorism funds, gets DHS security award

Transit authority returns misspent terrorism funds, gets DHS security award - Watchdog.org: "TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
File this one under: Are you flipping kidding me?
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority
GOLD STANDARD:
After facing criminal charges for misusing federal terrorism funds, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority was given a Gold Standard award by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Only months after the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority was the subject of a federal investigation involving the misuse of U.S. Department of Homeland Security terrorism funds, the Tampa Bay-area transit agency is being honored by DHS for “outstanding security.”
...The celebration and glowing media statements might leave the impression that in August, the PSTA didn’t in fact “volunteer” to return hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to DHS for effectively using federal terrorism funds to persuade Pinellas County voters into supporting a ballot question that would lead to the highest sales tax rate in Florida. 
But it did.
After repeatedly denying any wrongdoing, PSTA returned $354,000 it improperly spent on promoting a failed multibillion-dollar public transit expansion, called Greenlight Pinellas.
If passed, it would have dramatically increased PSTA’s budget.
...“This is the highest achievement a transit agency can receive through the (TSA) program,” he said...

History for March 9

History for March 9 - On-This-Day.com:
Amerigo Vespucci 1454, Mickey Spillane 1918 - Author, Yuri Gagarin 1934 


Mark Lindsay 1942 - Singer (Paul Revere & the Raiders), Bobby Fischer 1943 - Chess player, Linda Fiorentino 1960 - Actress 


1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais were married. They were divorced in 1809. 


1822 - Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth. 


1832 - Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature. 


1862 - During the U.S. Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia fought to a draw in a five-hour battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 


1897 - A patent was issued to William Spinks and William Hoskins for cue chalk. 


1959 - Mattel introduced Barbie at the annual Toy Fair in New York. 


1964 - Production began on the first Ford Mustang. 


1975 - Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline. 


1977 - About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later. 


1983 - The official Soviet news agency TASS says that U.S. President Reagan is full of "bellicose lunatic anti-communism." 

University of California Irvine Student Gov’t Bans American Flag From ‘Inclusive’ Campus Space | TheBlaze.com

University of California Irvine Student Gov’t Bans American Flag From ‘Inclusive’ Campus Space | TheBlaze.com:

“Whereas the American flag is commonly flown in government public service locations, military related entities, at homes, in foreign lands where the US government has a presence,” it argues, adding that the “American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism.”

The bill further argues that the U.S. flag can convey “American exceptionalism and superiority.”

MUST READ!!!----Kalamazoo College students rally over concerns about racism, push for intercultural center

Kalamazoo College students rally over concerns about racism, push for intercultural center | MLive.com:
"KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees and administrators on Saturday heard from about 100 students who expressed concerns about marginalization, racism and safety at the college and made a case for creation of an intercultural center on campus.
"I keep getting texts from my parents saying 'You can come home whenever you want,'" K-College senior Valerie Alagon said emotionally, as she spoke in an auditorium on the campus of the private, liberal arts college. "But this is my fight."
"I can't leave these students," she added, looking at the college's faculty, administration and Board of Trustees.
"It's not just about physical safety, but being supported and listened to."
Nearly 100 K-College students marched through the Weimer Hicks Student Center auditorium Saturday morning to share their personal experiences with trustees and college administrators, including the president.
The rally came a few days after what K-College officials called a "racist, anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic" entry was posted online on the Student Commission Google Doc.
The entry also included a direct threat: 
"At 900AM 3/5/15 I am going to start systematically executing faculty at Kalamazoo U, that will teach them the value of campus carry."

...There they pleaded, shouted and cried out for the creation of an intercultural center to be built during the 2015-16 school year. 
The students also pushed for increased transparency from the college regarding intercultural and diversity research and planning, as well as anti-racism training for all faculty, staff administrators, and student leaders.
The intercultural center, said student Willina Cain, would be a place where anyone could gather and be protected from harassment.
"It's hard, you know, just going to the cafeteria, eating and hearing racist people be ignorant," Cain said.
"With an intercultural center, I wouldn't have to hear racist people mock Mike Brown the day after (his death)."
"I'd just be eating in the center, you know."
..."I think our students are forced to handle race experiences on campus on their own," Brock said. "That's unfair and ... harmful to the (students') psyche."
..."I think K-College has diversified over the years, but physical diversity is not enough, given the fact that institutionalized racism exists," Brock said....

OK, it was yesterday-----ON THIS DAY IN 1965 – Angry Democrats with Billy Clubs & Dogs Attacked Selma Civil Rights Marchers

ON THIS DAY IN 1965 – Angry Democrats with Billy Clubs & Dogs Attacked Selma Civil Rights Marchers | The Gateway Pundit:
Grand Old Partisan reported:

On this day in 1965, state police under the command of the Democrat Governor, George Wallace, attacked African-Americans who were demonstrating for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. The rampaging Democrats used billy clubs and tear gas and dogs in their “Bloody Sunday” assault.

A Republican-appointed federal judge, Frank Johnson, soon ruled in favor of the demonstrators, enabling them to complete their march two weeks later.

These incidents are described on pages 202-03 of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

Our Next War Is EXACTLY What ISIS Wants

Our Next War Is EXACTLY What ISIS Wants:

"The Islamic State differs from nearly every other current jihadist movement in believing that it is written into God’s script; it is this belief which most boldly separates it from its predecessors, and demonstrates the religious nature of its mission. Everything it demands of its adherents is dictated by the most conservative teachings of the Qur’an and its motivations emanate from its belief that it will play an integral role in The Apocalypse, as dictated by the prophecies.

ISIS follows the dictates of the prophecies like a rule book, all leading to the End Days.  They have now completed Step 1, setting up the caliphate (or territory led by a caliph), and are working on Step 2: mass executions of Muslim ‘apostates,’ who do not adhere to their medieval interpretation of the Qur’an."

You leave. Pay no taxes for decades. Now you want "your" land back?!!!----Immigrants in U.S. get help preserving land rights in Mexico

Immigrants in U.S. get help preserving land rights in Mexico - LA Times: "
It's been 25 years since Maria Gonzales left her family's four-acre farm in Mexico to make a life in the United States.
Even as she worked and raised a family in Los Angeles, she dreamed of one day returning to that small plot of land in Jalisco where her father planted corn and wildflowers grew.
Local officials told relatives that her family no longer had a claim to it.
Gonzales, 56, who is living in the U.S. without permission, didn't want to risk going back to Mexico to resolve the dispute herself.
"They're taking advantage because we can't be there," said her husband, Ezequiel Becerril, 56, who is also in the country illegally.
Last week, Gonzales took the first step to reclaim the land with the help of a Mexican government program that assists immigrants in the U.S. who are having problems with their property back home.
Large numbers of Mexicans have land rights because of a series of agrarian reforms enacted after the Mexican Revolution, when many peasants were granted privileges to farm parcels of communal land known as ejidos.
Local governing bodies enforce strict codes that dictate how the parcels can be used and transferred. If people don't pay dues to the body or leave the land fallow, they can be stripped of their rights.
Read on.
This is insane!

Hallelujah! – Unemployment Plunges Due to 354,000 Americans Leaving the Workforce

Hallelujah! – Unemployment Plunges Due to 354,000 Americans Leaving the Workforce | The Daily Sheeple:
"... almost too funny to read.
The Bureau of Lies & Scams (BLS) just issued their seasonally adjusted, excel spreadsheet enhanced, monthly propaganda data for February.
They have the balls to report that an economy that is hemorrhaging energy jobs, seeing retailers close stores by the hundreds, has seen manufacturing new orders decline for six straight months, has corporate profits falling, has real median household income sitting at 1989 levels and has seen 80% of all economic reports miss to the downside is creating 295,000 new jobs in the middle of the coldest, snowiest February in years.
The BLS uses classic government logic.
When in doubt, lie.
Read on:

Three gay Thai men tie the knot in 'fairytale ceremony'

Three gay Thai men tie the knot in 'fairytale ceremony' | Daily Mail Online
They look like a new boy band... but it's the world's first THREE-WAY same-sex marriage: Gay Thai men tie the knot in 'fairytale ceremony'

• Three men have tied the knot in world's first three-way same-sex marriage
• Gay Thai men Joke, Bell and Art took the plunge on Valentine's Day
• The trio wed under Buddhist law due to Thailand's marriage restrictions
• Bell said: 'We believe many people do understand and accept our choice'

Just Guess How President Obama Says He Heard About Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Account | Video | TheBlaze.com

Just Guess How President Obama Says He Heard About Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Account | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"President Barack Obama said it was through news reports that he first learned that Hillary Rodham Clinton used a private, nongovernment email account while serving as his secretary of state."

Excellent read.....unless you worship at the Church of AlGore-----The Rise of the CO2 Fairy

Joe Bastardi: The Rise of the CO2 Fairy — The Patriot Post:

..."In talks I give now, I always make sure people know that no extra CO2 was used to come up with my ideas. 

It’s done to get a laugh, the point being the forecast does not take CO2 into account.

I also stated I hoped that, if my ideas had merit, it would wake people up to the folly of the statements being made when the earth was still in a warming phase.

I introduced publicly on the O'Reilly Factor the Triple Crown of Cooling, which is now The Grand Slam of Climate.

It was also opined that, in the past, when these cyclical shifts occurred, there were local pickups of what is now being called extreme weather. 

But it is nothing out of the ordinary in the big picture, no sign of an appending atmospheric apocalypse, warm or cold. It’s nothing that is not well within the realm of what nature does. 

...So here we are, being told CO2 is responsible for global warming — climate change, the term they are now using,is a natural event which only people that claim humans are driving them deny – and events perfectly natural and to a large degree fairly predictable simply by understanding what went on before. 

What we have to ask these people in the face of the actual geological record that shows CO2 and temperatures is: Why is it CO2 now, but not before?
Anyone see any linkage between CO2 and temperatures?

Why would the increase of one molecule of CO2 out of every 10,000 molecules of air over a 100-year period suddenly pick now, at 400 ppm, to overcome the sun, oceans, stochastic events and the design of the system, including the physical properties of CO2 in relation to the other greenhouse gases, of which it’s only 1%?
The answer below I think makes as much sense as the explanations I am seeing out there:
Could it be there is a CO2 fairy waving its magic wand? 

While CO2 has little to do with actual weather and climate, as shown by past events, both recent and in the geological time scale, apparently it can affect people who believe it does.

Joe Bastardi is chief forecaster at WeatherBELL Analytics, a meteorological consulting firm.

Warren must pay $100,000 for denying atheist 'reason station' next to Christian 'prayer station' in City Hall

Warren must pay $100,000 for denying atheist 'reason station' next to Christian 'prayer station' in City Hall | MLive.com:

WARREN, MI -- An ideological battle surrounding religion, free speech and equal access to public property led to a $100,000 judgment against Warren and its mayor, James R. Fouts.

Douglas Marshall, a Warren resident, couldn't help but notice the Christian "prayer station" he passed every time he entered the atrium at Warren's City Hall to pay water bills, property taxes or turn in an absentee ballot.

It stood in stark contrast to his "deeply and sincerely" held belief in "reason and free thought as an alternative" to God, his lawsuit says.

The prayer station, operated by volunteers for the Pentecostal Tabernacle Church of Warren since 2009, distributes religious literature, discusses theology and prays with passersby, the federal complaint says.

Marshall's lawsuit said he wanted to open a similar station of his own in the City Hall atrium, a "reason station," devoted to passing out literature about atheism and engaging the public in "philosophical discussions."

The complaint was filed jointly by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, dedicated to protecting "the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of church and state," has tangled with Warren's government before.

...Federal Magistrate Judge Michael Hluchaniuk for the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court, on Feb. 23 ordered Marshall's reason station "be allowed to operate on terms not less favorable than the terms granted to the 'Prayer Station' currently allowed in the atrium space."

He also fined the city $100,000 for costs, damages and attorney fees..."

New Invention Uses Pig's Blood to Stop Suicide Bombers... Muslims Are "Offended"

New Invention Uses Pig's Blood to Stop Suicide Bombers... Muslims Are "Offended"
"Franklin R. Lacy might be to stopping suicide bombings what Jonas Salk was to ending polio and the Wright brothers were to flight. 
You might think that moderate Muslims who decry such violence would be elated.

Instead, Muslims are attacking Lacy, because apparently the indignity of a suicide bomber being covered in pig blood is too much for them.

Lacy is a Tampa inventor who had traveled extensively in the Middle East and had knew how strongly Muslims felt about pig blood.

Having a eureka moment, Lacy created a “system for protecting against terrorist and illegal invasion” that would place a device clearly marked as containing pig blood in an area where a suicide bomber might be tempted to detonate a device.

”It will keep suicide bombers from blowing themselves up near the container of pig blood because they believe that they would be guaranteed not to go to heaven,” Lacy said.

...Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, said that the invention had “been created by someone who seeks to humiliate specific faiths.”
“The patent is particularly troubling if used against Jews or Muslims, because it would be deeply offensive and insulting to their faith and beliefs,” the director of the interfaith organization said (H/T Right Wing News).

...If one doesn’t want to enter into an establishment that has such devices deployed, one doesn’t have to. 

However, let’s not decry it because Muslims or Jews might be “offended” by it.

And, after all, if it stops the violence it’s meant to stop, shouldn’t Muslims be happy?"

Obama Complains It’s Easier to Buy a Gun Than a Book or Fresh Vegetable | TheBlaze.com

Obama Complains It’s Easier to Buy a Gun Than a Book or Fresh Vegetable | TheBlaze.com:

"President Barack Obama launched a rhetorical assault on guns in one of the most gun friendly states in the nation while speaking at a town hall event in Columbia, South Carolina, Friday.

“As long as you can go in some neighborhoods and it is easier for you to buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book, there are neighborhoods where it is easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable, as long as that’s the case, we’re going to continue to see unnecessary violence,” Obama said in a response to a question at the town hall meeting at Benedict College."

Students offended by anti-racist statue got coursework extensions at U. of Iowa

Students offended by anti-racist statue got coursework extensions at U. of Iowa
Who knew that ignorance was a legitimate excuse for falling behind in course work?

The University of Iowa removed an anti-racist statue from campusshortly after it was erected because several students mistook it for aracist statue. 
Some thought it heralded a return of the KKK.

Some students were apparently so traumatized they couldn’t focus on coursework – and the school pressured faculty to grant their extension requests, The Gazette reports:

The next day, Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin sent an email mentioning social media buzz around “extensions for students affected by current and recent events” and said Helena Dettmer, associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, had advised faculty to approve it. Rocklin also provided a contact in the Dean of Students Office for others “who need accommodations” to help them “sort through options and sometimes advocate on their behalf.”

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policy states students can make up exams missed due to illness, religious obligations, authorized university activities, or unavoidable circumstances. Such circumstances could include jury duty, family tragedy, or a car accident, according to the policy.

UI spokeswoman Beck said, “It is up to individual faculty members to determine if an academic accommodation should be made.”

The future of the Export-Import Bank

"The Export-Import Bank interferes with the economy by providing billions of dollars in loans to politically-connected companies overseas with your hard-earned tax dollars!
With all the overspending in Washington, we can't afford to let this money just float away!
Take a look at where it's going..."

History for March 8

History for March 8 - On-This-Day.com
Oliver Wendell Holmes 1841, Mickey Dolenz 1945 - Singer, musician (The Monkees), actor, Carole Bayer Sager 1947 


1618 - Johann Kepler discovered the third Law of Planetary Motion. 


1862 - The Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" was launched. 


1880 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes declared that the United States would have jurisdiction over any canal built across the isthmus of Panama. 


1911 - British Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Gray declared that Britain would not support France in the event of a military conflict. 


1917 - Russia's "February Revolution" began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg. The revolution was called the "February Revolution" due to Russia's use of the Old Style calendar. 


1941 - Martial law was proclaimed in Holland in order to extinguish any anti-Nazi protests. 


1959 - Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their final TV appearance together. 


1965 - The U.S. landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam. They were the first U.S. combat troops to land in Vietnam. 


1982 - The U.S. accused the Soviets of killing 3,000 Afghans with poison gas. 


2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted for an across-the-board tax cut of nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.