White House Confirms Negligible Impact of the Ex-Im Bank on Exports

White House Confirms Negligible Impact of the Ex-Im Bank on Exports | Mercatus
On June 30, the White House stepped in to the fight to defend the record of the presently lapsed Export-Import Bank by releasing some data on the export value and the number of exporters and small businesses supported by the Ex-Im Bank for each state as well as for DC and Puerto Rico.
In its release, the White House stated, “Over the last six years [2009–2014], Ex-Im has supported a total of $235 billion of exports from more than 7,500 businesses.”
The White House also touts the oft-cited figure of 164,000 jobs supported by the Ex-Im Bank in 2014.
The White House figures, for the most part, do not match Ex-Im Bank’s own numbers...
There is, however, one crucial place where the Ex-Im Bank figures and the White House data are consistent.
They both show that the Ex-Im Bank supports a trivial share of exports, small businesses, and exporters in each state. 
Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, exporters sell their products overseas the good, old American way—without a government handout....

Obama Pledges to Bring Broadband Internet to Poor Households

Obama Pledges to Bring Broadband Internet to Poor Households - NBC News:
President Barack Obama has unveiled a new initiative as part of his pledge to expand high-speed broadband access to all Americans.
Speaking from Durant, Oklahoma, the president on Wednesday introduced ConnectHome, a pilot project to help "close the digital divide" by bringing broadband to poorer communities.
"In this digital age when you can apply for a job, take a course, pay your bills, order pizza, even find a date" by using your connected phone, Obama said, "the internet is not a luxury, it's a necessity."
He said while more than 90 percent of households headed by a college graduate are connected, fewer than half of households with less than a high-school education are plugged in.
This White House chart shows how broadband access differs across the nation and between urban and rural areas. WhiteHouse.gov..."

Planned Parenthood Sells Dead Baby Parts, And That Shouldn’t Shock You At All | TheBlaze.com

Planned Parenthood Sells Dead Baby Parts, And That Shouldn’t Shock You At All | TheBlaze.com:

"A few excerpts:

We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.

I’d say a lot of people want liver. And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they’ll know where they’re putting their forceps.

Mysteriously, these “clumps of cells” are suddenly considered identifiable bodies with limbs and organs."

Bonnie S. Glaser: Conflict in the South China Sea

Bonnie S. Glaser: Conflict in the South China Sea - Council on Foreign Relations:
"Beijing's intention to exert greater control over the South China Sea appears undiminished.
In 2012, China forcibly seized control of the previously unoccupied Scarborough Reef during a standoff with Philippine maritime vessels, despite agreeing to a mutual withdrawal brokered by Washington. 
China has seemingly been emboldened by this easy, cost-free conquest: it has since begun construction of artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago that will enable it to extend the range of the Chinese navy, air force, coast guard, and fishing fleets in just a few years.
Once sufficient capabilities are in place for round-the-clock maritime and air presence over the South China Sea, Beijing is likely to declare an air defense identification zone (ADIZ), similar to the ADIZ it declared over the East China Sea in November 2013.
The scale and pace of China's dredging activity has alarmed rival claimants Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
The dispute between China and the Philippines over the Second Thomas Shoal deserves immediate attention. "

ISIS Muslim Militants Intentionally Blow-up a Baby as Part of a Training Class on Demolitions

ISIS Muslim Militants Intentionally Blow-up a Baby as Part of a Training Class on Demolitions | sharia unveiled:
Dozens of Islamic State recruits watched as the baby was blown up by remote control.
In one of its cruelest acts to date, Islamic State reportedly blew up a baby to show members how to handle explosives.
The incredible incident took place in Diyala Province on July 10, according to provincial Security Committee Chairman Sadiq el-Husseini. He detailed the event to the local Arabic-language A-Sumeriah News.
The baby’s father was apparently executed just weeks ago, after he allegedly took part in the killing of an Islamic State member.
“The organization booby trapped the baby in front of dozens of armed ISIS men and then detonated it from afar,” Sadiq el-Husseini said. The rigging of the baby and its detonation was a training exercise of ISIS to teach its people booby-trapping techniques.

How The US Government Blew $1 Billion In Taxpayer Funds On “Ghost Schools” In Afghanistan

How The US Government Blew $1 Billion In Taxpayer Funds On “Ghost Schools” In Afghanistan | David Stockman's Contra Corner:

BuzzFeed News obtained internal Ministry of Education data for 2011 that has never before been made public. For Afghanistan overall, the data showed 1,174 schools — almost 1 in every 12 — was a ghost school, an educational facility that the Afghan government publicly claimed was open but that was, in fact, not operating. In the provinces that are the most dangerous to monitor — and into which the U.S. poured the most aid money — that proportion soared. In Kandahar province, where DeNenno served, a full third of the 423 schools the Ministry of Education publicly reported as open in 2011 were not functioning, and in Helmand, it was more than half.

But teacher salaries continued to go to these ghost schools — and still do, according to numerous Afghan and U.S. sources. While the Afghan government puts in some of its own money to pay teachers, more than two-thirds of teacher salaries are provided through a World Bank fund, to which the United States is the biggest donor. The World Bank fund did not respond to requests for comment, but USAID said that World Bank financial controls guard against salaries going to ghost teachers.

And just as with ghost students, the U.S. government has known about ghost teachers for years. Back in 2005 and 2006, an internal education ministry task force calculated that at least $12 million in salaries were going to so-called ghost teachers annually, according to several former employees of the USAID contractors embedded in the ministry. A scathing, confidential 2013 USAID audit of the Afghan education ministry obtained by BuzzFeed News reveals that the United States had been injecting hundreds of millions of dollars for more than a decade into a ministry marred by an “inadequate payroll system” and lacking even the most basic auditing practices.

In some areas, the belief that ghost schools have enriched fat cats at the expense of Afghan children has stoked such widespread ire that American education aid is actually doing the opposite of what the U.S. intended: It’s turning locals against the government.

– From the Buzzfeed article: Ghost Students, Ghost Teachers, Ghost Schools

In the wake of so many wasteful, inhumane and disastrous foreign policy failures, the U.S. government has been desperate to highlight some significant successes in order to justify all of these tragic foreign imperial blunders."

Son of Boston Police Captain Arrested for Allegedly Plotting Terrorist Attack in the United States | TheBlaze.com

Son of Boston Police Captain Arrested for Allegedly Plotting Terrorist Attack in the United States | TheBlaze.com:

"The son of a Boston police captain was arrested in a counterterrorism operation earlier this month for allegedly planning to “conduct terrorist attacks.”

According to ABC News, Alexander Ciccolo was arrested on July 4 when he bought two rifles and two pistols from an undercover FBI informant. When federal officials searched his apartment, they said they found possible bomb-making equipment including an alarm clock, a pressure cooker, a variety of chemicals, “attack planning papers” and “jihad” paperwork."

The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle

The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle - The New Yorker
...When the next very big earthquake hits, the northwest edge of the continent, from California to Canada and the continental shelf to the Cascades, will drop by as much as six feet and rebound thirty to a hundred feet to the west—losing, within minutes, all the elevation and compression it has gained over centuries.
Some of that shift will take place beneath the ocean, displacing a colossal quantity of seawater.
...The water will surge upward into a huge hill, then promptly collapse.
One side will rush west, toward Japan.
The other side will rush east, in a seven-hundred-mile liquid wall that will reach the Northwest coast, on average, fifteen minutes after the earthquake begins.
By the time the shaking has ceased and the tsunami has receded, the region will be unrecognizable. Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA’s Region X, the division responsible for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast...”

History for July 16

History for July 16 - On-This-Day.com:
Mary Baker Eddy 1821, Roald Amundsen 1872, Orville Redenbacher 1907 


Michael Flatley 1958, Will Ferrell 1967, Barry Sanders 1968 


1790 - The District of Columbia, or Washington, DC, was established as the permanent seat of the United States Government. 


1862 - David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. 


1935 - Oklahoma City became the first city in the U.S. to install parking meters. 


1940 - Adolf Hitler ordered the preparations to begin on the invasion of England, known as Operation Sea Lion. 


1942 - French police officers rounded up 13,000 Jews and held them in the Winter Velodrome. The round-up was part of an agreement between Pierre Laval and the Nazis. Germany had agreed to not deport French Jews if France arrested foreign Jews. 


1945 - The United States detonated the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, NM. 


1951 - J.D. Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye" was first published. 


1969 - Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL, and began the first manned mission to land on the moon. 


1979 - Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq after forcing Hasan al-Bakr to resign. 

1981 - After 23 years with the name Datsun, executives of Nissan changed the name of their cars to Nissan. 

Bestselling Author Brad Thor Has a Message About the ‘Disgusting’ Mainstream Media | Video | TheBlaze.com

Bestselling Author Brad Thor Has a Message About the ‘Disgusting’ Mainstream Media | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor on Monday said it is “disgusting” how the media has let the United States down on its reporting of the Iranian nuclear agreement.

“Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Now we’re going to flood them with money and a nuke program, and we all expect this is going to end well?” Thor asked on the Glenn Beck Radio Program. “I really want to say this to ABC, to NBC, to CBS, to PBS, to CNN: you all have let your country down.”

Lots of amazing planes at this near-by museum!-----National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson

CDSG Forums :: View topic - National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson:

The Iran nuclear deal, translated into plain English

The Iran nuclear deal, translated into plain English - Vox
International negotiators assembled in Austria have announced the final terms of the Iranian nuclear deal.
The purpose of the deal is to limit Iran's nuclear program to something that is small, safe, and peaceful — and to impose lots of invasive inspections to make sure Iran is keeping to its end of the deal.
In exchange, Iran gets relief from some of the economic sanctions that have crippled its economy. Both sides, the thinking goes, also get to avert a war.
You can really see how that plays out, how the deal works, and what it means when you look into its details.
But those details can get awfully technical. So what follows are the most important provisions of the deal, along with a simple translation of each into plain English and a brief description of why it matters:
Centrifuges
Term: Iran will be allowed about 6,000 centrifuges in all: 5,060 that can enrich uranium at its Natanz facility and another 1,000 at Fordow, where they can be used for non-fissile research. It can only use first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, and has to give up other models, although several years down the line will be allowed to develop slightly more advanced models.
Plain English: Centrifuges are pieces of equipment you use to enrich uranium, a natural ore, into nuclear fuel. If you enrich uranium long enough in centrifuges, it can be used to make a nuclear bomb. Iran currently has about 20,000 centrifuges, so it will have to give most of them up. It will also be allowed to use only its very old, first-generation centrifuges.
Why it matters: This means Iran will have a much smaller nuclear program, in terms of its ability to create nuclear fuel or, potentially, nuclear material for a bomb. It will also be restricted to its oldest, slowest, least capable centrifuges for a number of years. This means that Iran's nuclear program just does not have the capability to do very much, and if Iran decides to break the deal and build a nuclear bomb, it will take them much longer.
Read it all.
This is a lefty, Obama loving site.
The best spin possible.
Little is possible.
we're screwed!

Nearly Half A Million People Just “Liked” What Franklin Graham Said About Caitlyn Jenner

Nearly Half A Million People Just “Liked” What Franklin Graham Said About Caitlyn Jenner:

“Caitlyn Jenner is being honored with the ESPN ESPY Award for courage?” Graham wrote.

“I find this hard to swallow after spending time with wounded military veterans and their spouses with Operation Heal Our Patriots—they are true heroes and their lives define courage.

“Some have had 30 or 40 surgeries, not to change their gender, but to try to put their bodies back together after defending our country. And to recognize the very confused Caitlyn Jenner as a hero before the entire world? Give me a break.”

Atlanta NAACP Says “They Can Sand Blast Lee, Jefferson Davis, And Jackson” Off Stone Mountain

Atlanta NAACP Says “They Can Sand Blast Lee, Jefferson Davis, And Jackson” Off Stone Mountain « CBS Atlanta:
The Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP is calling for the removal of the Confederacy from Stone Mountain Park.
Local chapter president Richard Rose says, “It is time for Georgia and other Southern states to end the glorification of slavery and white supremacy, paid for and maintained, with the taxes of all its citizens.”
According to Rose, “all of this recognition of Confederate generals is upholding the white supremacy on which the Confederacy was founded and the war was fought.”
He goes on to say, “all of this should have ended in 1865 when Lee surrendered to Appomattox.” He’s referring to, what historians refer to as, one of the last battles before Confederate Army General Robert Lee surrendered to Union Army Lt. Ulysses Grant on April 9, 1865.
...The Confederate Flag still flies at Stone Mountain Park, which is owned by and run by the State of Georgia.
Many, like Congressman Hank Johnson, see the park as a museum for the Confederacy.
According to Johnson, “where do we draw the line, do we blast the faces off of Stone Mountain?” Rose says “yes”.
He adds, “they can sand blast Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Jackson off tomorrow.
I’d be extremely elated...”

Report: Nearly 30% of veterans waiting for health care have died

Report: Nearly 30% of veterans waiting for health care have died - Liberty Unyielding

A leaked report provided to the Post via a whistleblower reveals:

More than 238,000 of the 847,000 veterans in the pending backlog for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs have already died, according to an internal VA document provided to The Huffington Post.

Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA’s Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta and a past whistleblower on the VA’s failings, provided HuffPost with an April 2015 report titled “Analysis of Death Services,” which reviews the accuracy of the VA’s veteran death records.

The report was conducted by staffers in the VA Health Eligibility Center and the VA Office of Analytics.

...If you’re wondering if this amounts to a scandal in the eyes of Democrats, you’d be wrong. Here’s video of Nancy Pelosi claiming that dead veterans having not received health care services doesn’t necessarily amount to a scandal.

What a miserable little "man"-----Obama Writes Personal Letters to 46 Felons; No Contact with Kathryn Steinle's Family

Obama Writes Personal Letters to 46 Felons; No Contact with Kathryn Steinle's Family - Breitbart

Nearly two weeks after 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was murdered on San Francisco’s Pier 14 by an illegal alien and convicted felon who was released from prison earlier this year, President Barack Obama has failed to contact the victim’s family or mention her in public. 

Yet Obama took the time to write (and release) 46 personal letters this month to felons imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses whose sentences he has commuted.

There Was One Noticeable Item Missing from the Stage While Scott Walker Announced Presidential Run | TheBlaze.com

There Was One Noticeable Item Missing from the Stage While Scott Walker Announced Presidential Run | TheBlaze.com:

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) officially announced his bid for the White House on Monday evening — and there was something noticeably absent from the stage as he did so.

Reporters and viewers turned to Twitter to note that Walker was delivering his entire speech without"

Murder for money?-----Undercover video shows Planned Parenthood official discussing fetal organs used for research

Undercover video shows Planned Parenthood official discussing fetal organs used for research - The Washington Post:

Undercover video shows Planned Parenthood executive discussing fetal organs for research(8:52)

Editor's note: Contains graphic language. The Center for Medical Progress released a video that allegedly shows a Planned Parenthood executive talking about selling fetal organs. (The Center for Medical Progress)

An antiabortion group on Tuesday released an undercover video of an official at Planned Parenthood discussing in graphic detail how to abort a fetus to preserve its organs for medical research — as well as the costs associated with sharing that tissue with scientists.
Over lunch at a Los Angeles restaurant, two antiabortion activists posing as employees from a biotech firm met with Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical research. 

Armed with cameras, the activists recorded Nucatola talking about Planned Parenthood’s work donating fetal tissue to researchers and pressed her on whether the clinics were charging for the organs.
The Center for Medical Progress, which recorded and edited the video, says the footage proves that Planned Parenthood is breaking the law by selling fetal organs...

Woman Orders a Beer for a Fallen Soldier at Buffalo Wild Wings, Restaurant’s Response Is Perfect

Woman Orders a Beer for a Fallen Soldier at Buffalo Wild Wings, Restaurant’s Response Is Perfect | TheBlaze.com:
A Buffalo Wild Wings in Washington state has become the focus of a viral Internet post — all because of single beer.
Brian Avey, a server at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Tacoma, Washington, said a “military woman” came into the restaurant around lunchtime and attempted to order one Blue Moon and one Corona at the same time.
But there was a problem:
You can’t do that.
When Avey explained the state’s law of only allowing one beer at a time, the female vet said that the Corona she ordered wasn’t for her; it was for her brother who had died serving in Iraq.
Avey wrote on a now-viral Facebook post that the beer simply sat next to her at an empty place setting during the entirety of her lunch.
Buffalo Wild Wings picked up the tab for her brother’s beer, but that wasn’t the end of it.
“After she left, I didn’t have the heart to dump the beer out and throw it away, so I put it on top of the cooler next the American Flag,” Avey wrote.
“When I showed my boss his response was Amazing… He said ‘That’s Fine, just do me a favor, put a fresh Lime in it Every Morning.’”
 Image source: KIRO-TV

FLASHBACK: Bill Clinton’s Korea Speech: Scary Close to Obama’s Iran Deal Speech

FLASHBACK: Bill Clinton’s Korea Speech: Scary Close to Obama’s Iran Deal Speech » Louder With Crowder:

This is a good deal for the United States. North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program…

"That’s what Bill Clinton said about the North Korean Nuclear deal 21 years ago. 

How did it work out for him? Even worse, how did that work out for us?
HINT: Not great. North Korea actually has a pretty advanced nuclear program. 

As silly as the pudgy little puppet-leader may seem, don’t take your eye off the tiny fellow just yet.
Well, now we’re making an Iran deal–pretty much about the same thing: 

Nuclear weapons. 

And you need to listen to Obama’s speech on the matter. 

At about 4:28 in the video, you’ll probably have a slight shiver. 

That’s when you should go back and listen to Bill Clinton’s speech again."

Iranian Newspaper Says Iran Could Destroy the White House ‘in Under 10 Minutes’

Iranian Newspaper Says Iran Could Destroy the White House ‘in Under 10 Minutes’ | TheBlaze.com:
"An influential newspaper affiliated with Iran’s supreme leader recently published an editorial claiming that Iran could destroy the White House “in under 10 minutes.”
The piece was published last month while negotiators from the U.S. and five world powers were engaged in intense talks with Iranian officials to try to forge an agreement aiming to curb Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
According to a translation published by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the editorial called the U.S. the “Great Satan” and expressed a hope that America had “fallen onto his deathbed.”
It also likened those in the U.S. and Britain to “infidels.”

Doorstep Weed Deliveries Coming to a Town Near You

Doorstep Weed Deliveries Coming to a Town Near You | The Daily Sheeple:
"Premium cannabis subscription club, Potbox—which runs a monthly subscription service for registered medical marijuana users—has now doubled its appeal by launching a home delivery service. 
Currently operating in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where recreational pot use is not legal, subscribers to the service must be registered medical marijuana patients.
Customers have a choice of different strains of weed, which are delivered with information about their genetic heritage as well as short descriptions of the type you may find on a fine wine.
For $149, the tasteful package contains a total of 10 grams of premium cannabis in small corked bottles, as well as two hand-rolled joints so people can get straight down to business.
Describing itself as a “premium cannabis subscription club,” the company prides itself on its ethically produced cannabis, which is grown on three farms in the Santa Cruz area.
Potbox’s website boasts that  “Ethical cannabis is grown with the purest intention, with the well-being of the end-user and the environment at heart.
It’s about carefully controlling all phases of the plant’s life cycle and creating a sense of stewardship over the entire process — from seed selection to harvesting, production and packaging.
It’s about respecting the rights and the livelihoods of the people who cultivate and harvest our cannabis.“"