Saturday, January 23, 2016
ISIS Thugs Encounter 8 Muslim Women... They Lift Their Burqas And All Hell Breaks Loose
ISIS Thugs Encounter 8 Muslim Women... They Lift Their Burqas And All Hell Breaks Loose:
"Sometimes, the iextremist desire for women to be covered from head-to-toe doesn’t work out for radical Islamic terrorists. This is doubly true when the people covered up aren’t women.
According to the U.K. Express, eight soldiers with British special forces dressed in full burqas and pretended to be the wives of senior Islamic State group officials to enter a group stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, and help kill a senior leader of the group via a drone strike."
"Sometimes, the iextremist desire for women to be covered from head-to-toe doesn’t work out for radical Islamic terrorists. This is doubly true when the people covered up aren’t women.According to the U.K. Express, eight soldiers with British special forces dressed in full burqas and pretended to be the wives of senior Islamic State group officials to enter a group stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, and help kill a senior leader of the group via a drone strike."
Just 14% of Baltimore students proficient, despite high administrator salaries
Just 14% of Baltimore students proficient, despite high administrator salaries | EAGnews.org
BALTIMORE – A published list of top salaries for the Baltimore City school district in 2013-14 is a little confusing at first.
One column of the spreadsheet lists “regular earnings,” which is obviously what each employee was paid in regular salary or hourly wage.
But there are two more columns – titled “additional earnings” and “total earnings,” that trip the alarms.
The “additional earnings” column had some pretty big numbers, and made many of the dollar figures under “total earnings” much larger.
What “additional earnings” are they talking about?
How could it involve so much money?
A March 2015 article from the Baltimore Sun clears up the mystery, and not in a pretty way.
It seems that the very expensive “extra earnings” paid out by the Baltimore City district represented “bonuses, overtime pay and accrued leave,” according to the newspaper.
In other words, a whole lot of unnecessary perks ended up pushing a lot of employee salaries much higher than they would have been, and costing the taxpayers a handsome sum.
In 2013-14, a total of 659 Baltimore City school employees made at least $100,000 in regular and additional earnings combined – and that’s not counting the untold cost of insurance and other benefits.
Those 659 employees were paid a combined $68 million in regular earnings, plus another $5.8 million in additional earnings, totaling $75 million.
All but eighteen on the list of 659 in the “six-figure club” received “additional earnings” – including 125 who were paid at least $10,000 for unused leave, various types of bonuses and overtime pay.
Four employees made at least $100,000 in extras.
One of them – interim district CEO Tisha Edwards – was paid $121,830 in straight salary and a whopping $217,156 in additional earnings, totaling $338,986.
Most of the extra money was compensation for leave time she did not use in her 10 years with the district, the Sun reported.
While most of that time was spent in lesser positions at lower pay, district policies allowed Edwards to cash out her unused leave time at the rate she was making as CEO.
Another good example was school district police officer Leonard Winfield, who made $52,228 straight salary and $125,851 in additional earnings, bringing his salary to $193,607.
The picture gets worse when the entire payroll is examined.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the school district paid more than $600 million in salary to approximately 13,000 employees that year, including $46 million in “additional earnings.”
While all of this was happening, the district was running up a $72 million budget deficit that threatened to force layoffs in the district for the first time in more than 10 years, according to the Sun..."
BALTIMORE – A published list of top salaries for the Baltimore City school district in 2013-14 is a little confusing at first.
One column of the spreadsheet lists “regular earnings,” which is obviously what each employee was paid in regular salary or hourly wage.
But there are two more columns – titled “additional earnings” and “total earnings,” that trip the alarms.
The “additional earnings” column had some pretty big numbers, and made many of the dollar figures under “total earnings” much larger.What “additional earnings” are they talking about?
How could it involve so much money?
A March 2015 article from the Baltimore Sun clears up the mystery, and not in a pretty way.
It seems that the very expensive “extra earnings” paid out by the Baltimore City district represented “bonuses, overtime pay and accrued leave,” according to the newspaper.
In other words, a whole lot of unnecessary perks ended up pushing a lot of employee salaries much higher than they would have been, and costing the taxpayers a handsome sum.
In 2013-14, a total of 659 Baltimore City school employees made at least $100,000 in regular and additional earnings combined – and that’s not counting the untold cost of insurance and other benefits.
Those 659 employees were paid a combined $68 million in regular earnings, plus another $5.8 million in additional earnings, totaling $75 million.
All but eighteen on the list of 659 in the “six-figure club” received “additional earnings” – including 125 who were paid at least $10,000 for unused leave, various types of bonuses and overtime pay.
Four employees made at least $100,000 in extras.
One of them – interim district CEO Tisha Edwards – was paid $121,830 in straight salary and a whopping $217,156 in additional earnings, totaling $338,986.
Most of the extra money was compensation for leave time she did not use in her 10 years with the district, the Sun reported.
While most of that time was spent in lesser positions at lower pay, district policies allowed Edwards to cash out her unused leave time at the rate she was making as CEO.
Another good example was school district police officer Leonard Winfield, who made $52,228 straight salary and $125,851 in additional earnings, bringing his salary to $193,607.
The picture gets worse when the entire payroll is examined.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the school district paid more than $600 million in salary to approximately 13,000 employees that year, including $46 million in “additional earnings.”
While all of this was happening, the district was running up a $72 million budget deficit that threatened to force layoffs in the district for the first time in more than 10 years, according to the Sun..."
This is liberalism, folks-----In advance of big storm, New Jersey lifts licensing laws for shoveling snow
In advance of big storm, New Jersey lifts licensing laws for shoveling snow - Watchdog.org
Just days ahead of an expected blizzard on the East Coast, New Jersey has officially repealed a nonsensical rule banning the shoveling of snow without a license.
Just days ahead of an expected blizzard on the East Coast, New Jersey has officially repealed a nonsensical rule banning the shoveling of snow without a license.
Shutterstock image
SNOW JOB: Police in Bound Brook, N.J., told two boys, Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, they were not allowed to shovel their neighbors’ driveways without a permit. A new state law puts the boys on the right side of the law, and common sense.
Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday signed a bill making it legal for New Jersey residents to offer snow shoveling services without first registering with their town. Last year, two entrepreneurial teens going door-to-door and offering to shovel snow for a small fee were stopped by local police in Bound Brook.
The cops told the two boys, Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, they were not allowed to solicit businesses without a permit..."
Must read of the day!-----Cosmic Cycles, not Carbon Dioxide, Control Climate
Cosmic Cycles, not Carbon Dioxide, Control Climate | Somewhat Reasonable
Those who think the political war on carbon will cool the globe or keep climate stable need to study climate history.
Temperatures on Earth dance to a cyclic rhythm every hour, every day, every month, every season, every year, and to every beat of the sun-spot and glacial cycles.
...Then there is the 22 year sun-spot cycle, which correlates with cycles of floods and droughts.
Sunspot cycles are indicators of solar activity which causes periods of global warming and cooling.
Earth’s climate is also disrupted periodically by the effects of changing winds, ocean hot spots and submarine volcanism that produce the El Nino Southern Oscillation.
The least recognised but most dangerous climate cycle is the glacial cycle.
We live in the Holocene Epoch, the latest brief warm phase of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
The climate history of the Holocene, and its predecessor the Eemian, are well documented in ice core logs and other records in the rocks.
Each cycle consists of a glacial age of about 80,000 years followed by a warmer age of about 20,000 years, with peak warming occurring over about 12,000 years.
Our modern warm era commenced 12,000 years ago, so it is probably nearing its end.
...On an even longer time scale, oscillation of the solar system through the plane of the Galaxy seems to trigger magnetic reversals and violent spasms of volcanism, crustal movements glaciation and species extinction. Earth is never still for long.
What about the role of carbon dioxide in climate?
Al Gore did a great job to dramatise the recurring glacial cycles in his widely acclaimed work of science fiction.
But he missed two inconvenient truths.
We are already in the autumn of the current glacial cycle and nothing man can do will change that. Global temperatures today are lower than they were in Roman and Medieval times.
...The transition from Greenhouse Earth to Icehouse Earth always occurs suddenly.
Once our verdant greenhouse is gone, life of Earth will ne
ver be the same again.
The warm days, seasons, years and epochs have never been a deadly threat to life on Earth.
Frost, snow, hail and ice are the killers.
If our descendants do not have the energy, resources and wisdom to keep their people warm and fed through the coming glacial epoch, humans may follow our Neanderthal cousins who perished in the last glacial winter, just 20,000 years ago.
It is a wonder of the modern era that people who cannot accurately forecast next weekend’s weather claim they can regulate the temperature of the whole globe by bashing industry and taxing carbon.
There is NO evidence in climate history that carbon dioxide has a detectable effect on global temperatures.
However if our continued use of cheap reliable hydro-carbon energy does slightly delay the onset of the next glacial winter, we and all life on Earth should count ourselves extremely lucky.
Those who think the political war on carbon will cool the globe or keep climate stable need to study climate history.
Temperatures on Earth dance to a cyclic rhythm every hour, every day, every month, every season, every year, and to every beat of the sun-spot and glacial cycles.
...Then there is the 22 year sun-spot cycle, which correlates with cycles of floods and droughts.
Sunspot cycles are indicators of solar activity which causes periods of global warming and cooling.
Earth’s climate is also disrupted periodically by the effects of changing winds, ocean hot spots and submarine volcanism that produce the El Nino Southern Oscillation.The least recognised but most dangerous climate cycle is the glacial cycle.
We live in the Holocene Epoch, the latest brief warm phase of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
The climate history of the Holocene, and its predecessor the Eemian, are well documented in ice core logs and other records in the rocks.
Each cycle consists of a glacial age of about 80,000 years followed by a warmer age of about 20,000 years, with peak warming occurring over about 12,000 years.
Our modern warm era commenced 12,000 years ago, so it is probably nearing its end.
...On an even longer time scale, oscillation of the solar system through the plane of the Galaxy seems to trigger magnetic reversals and violent spasms of volcanism, crustal movements glaciation and species extinction. Earth is never still for long.
What about the role of carbon dioxide in climate?
Al Gore did a great job to dramatise the recurring glacial cycles in his widely acclaimed work of science fiction.
But he missed two inconvenient truths.
- First, ice cores show that in the glacial spring-time the temperature rose BEFORE the CO2 levels rose. Therefore the rising CO2 cannot be a CAUSE of the warming – it is a RESULT of CO2 being expelled from the warming oceans.
- Second, at the top of every summer-time in the glacial cycle, the high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were unable to prevent the cooling into the next cycle of ice.
We are already in the autumn of the current glacial cycle and nothing man can do will change that. Global temperatures today are lower than they were in Roman and Medieval times.
...The transition from Greenhouse Earth to Icehouse Earth always occurs suddenly.Once our verdant greenhouse is gone, life of Earth will ne
ver be the same again.
The warm days, seasons, years and epochs have never been a deadly threat to life on Earth.
Frost, snow, hail and ice are the killers.
If our descendants do not have the energy, resources and wisdom to keep their people warm and fed through the coming glacial epoch, humans may follow our Neanderthal cousins who perished in the last glacial winter, just 20,000 years ago.
It is a wonder of the modern era that people who cannot accurately forecast next weekend’s weather claim they can regulate the temperature of the whole globe by bashing industry and taxing carbon.
There is NO evidence in climate history that carbon dioxide has a detectable effect on global temperatures.
However if our continued use of cheap reliable hydro-carbon energy does slightly delay the onset of the next glacial winter, we and all life on Earth should count ourselves extremely lucky.
Government shouldn’t create business entities to compete with the private sector
Government shouldn’t create business entities to compete with the private sector - NetRight Daily
"Should a city buy concrete trucks and start its own construction company if it doesn’t like the demographic makeup of the employees of the construction companies that could do work on city construction projects?
Most people with any experience around government operations would scoff at the notion, yet last year, Akron, Ohio considered doing exactly that.
This is just one of many examples the Business Coalition for Fair Competition recently put together of the government either directly or through the creation of new entities engaging in commercial activities that are designed to compete with the private sector.
In these instances of government competition with private enterprise, taxpayer funds help provide subsidies to the commercial activities that in many instances would not be available to real businesses.
These subsidies may range from taxpayer funded staff support to preferences in obtaining business from the government.
This is not the way to ensure cost effective governance.
These are also activities that the government has no business engaging in at all. Governmental control of the means of production, is, after all, the literal definition of socialism.
Unfortunately, like a lot of governmental activities, the inertia is in the direction of continuing to enlarge the size and scope of what the government does in the area of commercial activities..."
"Should a city buy concrete trucks and start its own construction company if it doesn’t like the demographic makeup of the employees of the construction companies that could do work on city construction projects?
Most people with any experience around government operations would scoff at the notion, yet last year, Akron, Ohio considered doing exactly that.
In these instances of government competition with private enterprise, taxpayer funds help provide subsidies to the commercial activities that in many instances would not be available to real businesses.
These subsidies may range from taxpayer funded staff support to preferences in obtaining business from the government.
This is not the way to ensure cost effective governance.
These are also activities that the government has no business engaging in at all. Governmental control of the means of production, is, after all, the literal definition of socialism.
Unfortunately, like a lot of governmental activities, the inertia is in the direction of continuing to enlarge the size and scope of what the government does in the area of commercial activities..."
Report: Some of Hillary Clinton’s Emails on Her Private Server Are So Top Secret That Even Senior Lawmakers Can’t Read Them | TheBlaze.com
Report: Some of Hillary Clinton’s Emails on Her Private Server Are So Top Secret That Even Senior Lawmakers Can’t Read Them | TheBlaze.com:"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had emails on her private server that contained information so top-secret that the very lawmakers who oversee the State Department can’t read them without meeting “additional security requirements,” according to a report by Fox News’ Catherine Herridge.
According to the report, Clinton’s emails contained intelligence classified “at a level beyond top secret,” therefore, some of the lawmakers in both parties on the committees examining Clinton’s emails do not have the necessary security clearances to actually read them."
Don't Blame Lack of Money for Deplorable Conditions in Detroit Schools
Don't Blame Lack of Money for Deplorable Conditions in Detroit Schools [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
Some teachers have said that DPS students deserve a level playing field, implying the state does not give as much money to Detroit as other school districts.
This plays on a widespread perception that schools in poor communities get less money.
This was a valid complaint before a 1994 school finance overhaul largely equalized funding across districts (Proposal A), but it cannot be sustained today.
In particular, the underfunding claim is not true in Detroit, whether it concerns funding for operations or for new buildings and major repairs (infrastructure).
As for the latter, in November 2009, Detroit voters approved $500.5 million in new debt (and related tax hikes on property owners) intended to improve the physical condition of the city’s schools.
Some teachers have said that DPS students deserve a level playing field, implying the state does not give as much money to Detroit as other school districts.
This plays on a widespread perception that schools in poor communities get less money.This was a valid complaint before a 1994 school finance overhaul largely equalized funding across districts (Proposal A), but it cannot be sustained today.
In particular, the underfunding claim is not true in Detroit, whether it concerns funding for operations or for new buildings and major repairs (infrastructure).
As for the latter, in November 2009, Detroit voters approved $500.5 million in new debt (and related tax hikes on property owners) intended to improve the physical condition of the city’s schools.
The magnitude of this spending is revealed by the fact that infrastructure millages approved in 35 other districts that year came to $583 million.
On the operations side, Detroit Public Schools received more money per pupil in the 2013-14 school year than any of the state’s 10 largest school districts.
On the operations side, Detroit Public Schools received more money per pupil in the 2013-14 school year than any of the state’s 10 largest school districts.
Detroit got $12,931 in local, state and federal funding for operations, compared to the statewide average of $9,121 (see attached chart).
To cite just one comparison, that year Detroit received about $4,400 more per pupil than the Chippewa Valley School District ($8,549), which is just 30 miles away from Detroit.
History for January 23
History for January 23 - On-This-Day.com:
John Hancock 1737 Served as president of the First and Second Continental Congresses (1775-1777). He was the first signer of the United States' Declaration of Independence., Edouard Manet 1832, Ernie Kovacs 1919
Chita Rivera 1933, Rutger Hauer 1944, Princess Caroline of Monaco 1957
1845 - The U.S. Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
1943 - The British captured Tripoli from the Germans.
1950 - The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
1960 - The U.S. Navy bathyscaphe Trieste descended to a record depth of 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) in the Pacific Ocean.
1968 - North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, AK, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was reported as minus 80 degrees.
1985 - O.J. Simpson became the first Heisman Trophy winner to be elected to pro football’s Hall of Fame in Canton, OH.
2003 - North Korea announced that it would consider sanctions an act of war for North Korea's reinstatement of its nuclear program.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Obama Administration: ‘Possible, If Not Likely,’ That Some of the Billions in Iran Sanctions Relief Will Fund Terrorism | TheBlaze.com
Obama Administration: ‘Possible, If Not Likely,’ That Some of the Billions in Iran Sanctions Relief Will Fund Terrorism | TheBlaze.com:
“Secretary Kerry admitted what we suspected all along — that the nuclear deal Hillary Clinton spearheaded with Iran is a giant stimulus bill for radical Islamic terrorists,” Priebus said. “Hillary Clinton should explain why she thinks an agreement that helps arm terrorists is such a diplomatic coup, especially when it makes America and our allies like Israel less safe. … With Clinton defending this disastrous deal, and Bernie Sanders wanting to normalize relations with Iran, it’s clearer than ever that it will take a Republican president to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon and that we have a foreign policy that puts the national security interests of the United States and our allies first.”
“Secretary Kerry admitted what we suspected all along — that the nuclear deal Hillary Clinton spearheaded with Iran is a giant stimulus bill for radical Islamic terrorists,” Priebus said. “Hillary Clinton should explain why she thinks an agreement that helps arm terrorists is such a diplomatic coup, especially when it makes America and our allies like Israel less safe. … With Clinton defending this disastrous deal, and Bernie Sanders wanting to normalize relations with Iran, it’s clearer than ever that it will take a Republican president to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon and that we have a foreign policy that puts the national security interests of the United States and our allies first.”Obama Deploys the 'Great Green Fleet'
Dan Gilmore: Obama Deploys the 'Great Green Fleet' — The Patriot Post:
"From December 1907 to February 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered America’s steel-hulled, steam-powered battle fleet to circumnavigate the globe.
Nicknamed the “Great White Fleet,” the excursion showed that the United States' military was a technologically current global superpower.
A hundred years later, Barack Obama is trying to demonstrate that the world’s greatest superpower can operate within the constraints of his climate change agenda with a Navy, Mitt Romney noted in 2012, that is the smallest its ever been since 1917.
We suppose that’s one way to pay tribute to the past.
On Wednesday, the “Great Green Fleet” launched from San Diego to demonstrate that it can steam across the world’s oceans using nothing but alternative fuel.
The Department of Defense wanted the U.S. Navy to run on a 50/50 mix of traditional petroleum and biofuels by year 2020.
It seemed to be making headway by using a plant-based jet fuel — for which it paid $29.30 a gallon..."
"From December 1907 to February 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered America’s steel-hulled, steam-powered battle fleet to circumnavigate the globe.
A hundred years later, Barack Obama is trying to demonstrate that the world’s greatest superpower can operate within the constraints of his climate change agenda with a Navy, Mitt Romney noted in 2012, that is the smallest its ever been since 1917.
We suppose that’s one way to pay tribute to the past.
On Wednesday, the “Great Green Fleet” launched from San Diego to demonstrate that it can steam across the world’s oceans using nothing but alternative fuel.
The Department of Defense wanted the U.S. Navy to run on a 50/50 mix of traditional petroleum and biofuels by year 2020.
It seemed to be making headway by using a plant-based jet fuel — for which it paid $29.30 a gallon..."
Whitey strikes again!-----A Question of Environmental Racism in Flint
A Question of Environmental Racism in Flint - NYTimes.com:
"If Flint were rich and mostly white, would Michigan’s state government have responded more quickly and aggressively to complaints about its lead-polluted water?
The 274 pages of emails released by Gov. Rick Snyder this week on Flint’s water crisis included no discussion of race.
Instead, they focused on costs relating to the city’s water supply, questions about scientific data showing lead contamination and uncertainty about the responsibilities of state and local health officials.
But it is indisputable that in Flint, the majority of residents are black and many are poor.
So whether or not race and class were factors in the state’s agonizingly slow and often antagonistic response, the result was the same:
Thousands of Flint’s residents, black and white, have been exposed to lead in their drinking water. And the long-term health effects of that poisoning may not be fully understood for years.
For civil rights advocates, the health crisis in Flint smacks of what has become known as environmental racism.
Coined in the 1980s, the term refers to the disproportionate exposure of blacks to polluted air, water and soil.
It is considered the result of poverty and segregation that has relegated many blacks and other racial minorities to some of the most industrialized or dilapidated.."
"If Flint were rich and mostly white, would Michigan’s state government have responded more quickly and aggressively to complaints about its lead-polluted water?
The 274 pages of emails released by Gov. Rick Snyder this week on Flint’s water crisis included no discussion of race.Instead, they focused on costs relating to the city’s water supply, questions about scientific data showing lead contamination and uncertainty about the responsibilities of state and local health officials.
But it is indisputable that in Flint, the majority of residents are black and many are poor.
So whether or not race and class were factors in the state’s agonizingly slow and often antagonistic response, the result was the same:
Thousands of Flint’s residents, black and white, have been exposed to lead in their drinking water. And the long-term health effects of that poisoning may not be fully understood for years.
For civil rights advocates, the health crisis in Flint smacks of what has become known as environmental racism.
Coined in the 1980s, the term refers to the disproportionate exposure of blacks to polluted air, water and soil.
It is considered the result of poverty and segregation that has relegated many blacks and other racial minorities to some of the most industrialized or dilapidated.."
Obama Takes Action on Visas of European Travelers Who Have Visited Terror Hotspots — but Not in the Way You Might Think | TheBlaze.com
Obama Takes Action on Visas of European Travelers Who Have Visited Terror Hotspots — but Not in the Way You Might Think | TheBlaze.com:
"Republican lawmakers objected to the exemptions on Thursday.
“The Obama administration is blatantly breaking the law, a law the president himself signed,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul. “This is not a difference of opinion over statutory interpretation, it is a clear contradiction of the law and the agreement we reached with the White House. President Obama is again putting his relationship with Iran’s supreme leader over the security of Americans.”
"Republican lawmakers objected to the exemptions on Thursday.
“The Obama administration is blatantly breaking the law, a law the president himself signed,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul. “This is not a difference of opinion over statutory interpretation, it is a clear contradiction of the law and the agreement we reached with the White House. President Obama is again putting his relationship with Iran’s supreme leader over the security of Americans.”U.S. renews travel warning to Mexico as killings of Americans climb
U.S. renews travel warning to Mexico as killings of Americans climb | Fox News Latino:
"The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to all Americans planning on going to Mexico – renewing an expired travel ban issued in May of last year – as the latest figures show the number of murdered U.S. citizens south of the border has gone up.
The number of American citizens murdered in Mexico rose from 81 in 2013 to 100 in 2014, according to the U.S. government.
Meantime, the FBI tells Fox News Latino, 241 Americans have been kidnapped in Mexico since 2013 through 2015; 73 Americans were kidnapped in Mexico in 2015 alone.
Citing threats to safety and security posed by organized criminal groups, the State Department says U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes such as kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery in certain parts of Mexico.
Mexico's government continues their drug war against cartels, as evidenced by the recent headlines over Mexico's top drug lord, JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán, and his recent escape and recapture.
"The location and timing of future armed engagements is unpredictable," the warning says about gun battles between criminal organizations with Mexico authorities.
The warning implores U.S. citizens to lower their personal profiles and avoid wearing jewelry or clothing that indicate wealth."
"The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to all Americans planning on going to Mexico – renewing an expired travel ban issued in May of last year – as the latest figures show the number of murdered U.S. citizens south of the border has gone up.
Meantime, the FBI tells Fox News Latino, 241 Americans have been kidnapped in Mexico since 2013 through 2015; 73 Americans were kidnapped in Mexico in 2015 alone.
Citing threats to safety and security posed by organized criminal groups, the State Department says U.S. citizens have been the victims of violent crimes such as kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery in certain parts of Mexico.
Mexico's government continues their drug war against cartels, as evidenced by the recent headlines over Mexico's top drug lord, JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán, and his recent escape and recapture.
"The location and timing of future armed engagements is unpredictable," the warning says about gun battles between criminal organizations with Mexico authorities.
The warning implores U.S. citizens to lower their personal profiles and avoid wearing jewelry or clothing that indicate wealth."
Here's what the academy may do about the #OscarsSoWhite boycott
Here's what the academy may do about the #OscarsSoWhite boycott - LA Times:
"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will weigh new rules intended to encourage more diversity among its membership and its nominations, The Times has learned.
The academy's 51-member Board of Governors has added the diversity issue to the agenda for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night in response to an outcry over an all-white slate of acting nominees for the second year in a row, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Among the options the board could choose are expanding the number of films in the best picture category to 10 every year, expanding the number of acting nominees in each category and changing the way the academy invites new members by allowing prospective members to put themselves forward, rather than waiting to be asked. "
The academy's 51-member Board of Governors has added the diversity issue to the agenda for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night in response to an outcry over an all-white slate of acting nominees for the second year in a row, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Among the options the board could choose are expanding the number of films in the best picture category to 10 every year, expanding the number of acting nominees in each category and changing the way the academy invites new members by allowing prospective members to put themselves forward, rather than waiting to be asked. "
Lunch video-----Taxpayers Beware: The Rams are Returning to Los Angeles
Taxpayers Beware: The Rams are Returning to Los Angeles - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"The NFL team formerly known as the Saint Louis Rams are returning to Los Angeles after a 22-year absence.
In other words, local taxpayers should guard their wallets.
For more on the project, and how the NFL routinely fleeces cities, watch Alexis Garcia's 2014 story, "Why No Smart City Would Want the NFL:"
"The NFL team formerly known as the Saint Louis Rams are returning to Los Angeles after a 22-year absence.
In other words, local taxpayers should guard their wallets.
For more on the project, and how the NFL routinely fleeces cities, watch Alexis Garcia's 2014 story, "Why No Smart City Would Want the NFL:"
American yogurt billionaire: ‘Hire more Muslim refugees’
American yogurt billionaire: ‘Hire more Muslim refugees’:
"Ever wonder why the federal government would be sending hundreds of foreign refugees to a relatively small town in Idaho?
Wonder no more.
They’re sent there, many of them, to work in the world’s largest yogurt factory.
As WND previously reported, Twin Falls is in line to receive about 300 refugees this year, many of them Muslims from Syria. And the state of Idaho, despite its reputation as a mostly white, conservative farm state, has been a popular destination for refugees in recent years.
Boise Mayor David Bieter has gone on record as a huge supporter of President Obama’s welcoming initiative for immigrants and refugees, writing in a blog post that, for his city, “diversity isn’t a buzzword. It’s our birthright.”
The U.S. State Department has shipped more than 11,000 refugees directly from the Third World to Idaho since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks"
"Ever wonder why the federal government would be sending hundreds of foreign refugees to a relatively small town in Idaho?
Wonder no more.
They’re sent there, many of them, to work in the world’s largest yogurt factory.As WND previously reported, Twin Falls is in line to receive about 300 refugees this year, many of them Muslims from Syria. And the state of Idaho, despite its reputation as a mostly white, conservative farm state, has been a popular destination for refugees in recent years.
Boise Mayor David Bieter has gone on record as a huge supporter of President Obama’s welcoming initiative for immigrants and refugees, writing in a blog post that, for his city, “diversity isn’t a buzzword. It’s our birthright.”
The U.S. State Department has shipped more than 11,000 refugees directly from the Third World to Idaho since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks"
Holi craploi! MORE free money!!------Obscure Law Helps Thousands Ditch Their Student Loans
Obscure Law Helps Thousands Ditch Their Student Loans - Fortune:
Heard of the “borrower defense” law?
The federal government opened the door last year.
Anyone with student debt will quickly find out it’s nearly impossible to escape.
Begging or even bankruptcy won’t make the loans go away.
But now, a flood of former students are turning to an obscure federal law to lose their loans – and for many of them, it’s working.
The law in question lets students ditch their loans if they can show their school made false or fraudulent claims to recruit them.
This could involve showing that a college lied about what a student would earn after graduation.
The law has been on the books for years, but it was only applied in three cases.
Until last year, that is.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the floodgates opened after the Department of Education announced it would forgive the loans of students who attended Corinthian College, a vocational school that went bankrupt amid a scandal over its marketing and lending practices.
According to the Journal, the government agreed to cancel the debt of 1,300 Corinthian students, and now more than 7,500 student borrowers are asking the Department of Education to wipe out loans worth more than $164 million.
Successful claimants can also recoup money they’ve already paid.
The law the students are citing is from 1994 and is known as a “borrower defense.”
Last year, a government official appointed to investigate the Corinthian scandal cited the law in a report, and said he would create a process that “would apply more broadly to students at all institutions who believe they have been defrauded by their colleges.”
Oh crap, this is gonna cost a bunch.
Read on!
Heard of the “borrower defense” law?
The federal government opened the door last year.
Anyone with student debt will quickly find out it’s nearly impossible to escape.
Begging or even bankruptcy won’t make the loans go away.
But now, a flood of former students are turning to an obscure federal law to lose their loans – and for many of them, it’s working.
The law in question lets students ditch their loans if they can show their school made false or fraudulent claims to recruit them.
This could involve showing that a college lied about what a student would earn after graduation.
The law has been on the books for years, but it was only applied in three cases.Until last year, that is.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the floodgates opened after the Department of Education announced it would forgive the loans of students who attended Corinthian College, a vocational school that went bankrupt amid a scandal over its marketing and lending practices.
According to the Journal, the government agreed to cancel the debt of 1,300 Corinthian students, and now more than 7,500 student borrowers are asking the Department of Education to wipe out loans worth more than $164 million.
Successful claimants can also recoup money they’ve already paid.
The law the students are citing is from 1994 and is known as a “borrower defense.”
Last year, a government official appointed to investigate the Corinthian scandal cited the law in a report, and said he would create a process that “would apply more broadly to students at all institutions who believe they have been defrauded by their colleges.”
Oh crap, this is gonna cost a bunch.
Read on!
American Tax Dollars for the Mullahs
American Tax Dollars for the Mullahs - WSJ:
Ali Khamenei congratulated Iran’s diplomats on Tuesday for making the “front of arrogance and bullying”—that would be the U.S.—retreat.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has good reason to be happy.
Having preserved the core of his nuclear capabilities, his regime is now on the receiving end of a financial windfall.
Take the financial component of the nuclear accord that took formal effect on Saturday.
In addition to lifting most sanctions and releasing more than $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets, the Obama Administration over the weekend agreed to pay the mullahs a separate $1.7 billion to settle an Iranian claim dating to the 1970s.
That amount includes a $400 million trust fund used by the Shah to purchase American arms before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, plus $1.3 billion in interest.
You can argue whether the trust fund properly belongs to the regime that overthrew the Shah, but at least that $400 million was originally Iranian money.
The $1.3 billion interest payment will come from U.S. taxpayers, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims “was fixed at a reasonable rate of interest.”
Maybe so, but it happens that $1.7 billion is also the amount at issue in a case brought by American victims of Iranian terrorism against the Central Bank of Iran.
The plaintiffs include victims and survivors of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, among other Iranian-directed atrocities.
The victims argue that a statute passed by Congress in 2012 entitles them to use $1.7 billion held by the Iranians in a New York account to satisfy judgments they’ve won against Tehran in U.S. courts. All told, such victims hold $45 billion in civil judgments awarded by American courts over two decades, but they have no way to collect except to attach Iranian assets in U.S. banks.
The Iranian regime has challenged the constitutionality of the pertinent portion of the 2012 law.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case last week and is expected to rule by June.
The Obama Administration argued in favor of the victims.
Yet President Obama and Mr. Kerry didn’t press for fair settlements for these victims as part of the nuclear deal and now seem to be pre-emptively reimbursing Tehran for its potential losses from the claims.
The State Department told us Wednesday the settlement isn’t connected to the claims of terrorism victims.
This week also has delivered another diplomatic triumph to Tehran, with the quashing of international arrest warrants for 14 alleged Iranian nuclear proliferators and arms smugglers.
These include two figures associated with Mahan Air, an airline that the U.S. alleges helps arm Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria and transports members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Treasury in September warned that it “will continue to expose Mahan’s front companies, and to remind governments and the private industry in the 24 cities where Mahan continues to fly that they risk exposure to U.S. sanctions.”
Yet as research by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies has shown, Mahan planes continue to fly routes from Tehran to destinations in Syria, and the airline acquired nine new aircraft last year. The quashing of an Interpol red notice for Mahan’s CEO belies Treasury’s promise.
Mr. Obama has repeatedly assured Congress and American allies in the Middle East that his nuclear deal wouldn’t foreclose the U.S. from punishing Iranian terrorism and regional aggression.
Mr. Khamenei will conclude otherwise after the American President’s most recent concessions.
Ali Khamenei congratulated Iran’s diplomats on Tuesday for making the “front of arrogance and bullying”—that would be the U.S.—retreat.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has good reason to be happy.
Having preserved the core of his nuclear capabilities, his regime is now on the receiving end of a financial windfall.
Take the financial component of the nuclear accord that took formal effect on Saturday.
That amount includes a $400 million trust fund used by the Shah to purchase American arms before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, plus $1.3 billion in interest.
You can argue whether the trust fund properly belongs to the regime that overthrew the Shah, but at least that $400 million was originally Iranian money.
The $1.3 billion interest payment will come from U.S. taxpayers, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims “was fixed at a reasonable rate of interest.”
Maybe so, but it happens that $1.7 billion is also the amount at issue in a case brought by American victims of Iranian terrorism against the Central Bank of Iran.
The plaintiffs include victims and survivors of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, among other Iranian-directed atrocities.
The victims argue that a statute passed by Congress in 2012 entitles them to use $1.7 billion held by the Iranians in a New York account to satisfy judgments they’ve won against Tehran in U.S. courts. All told, such victims hold $45 billion in civil judgments awarded by American courts over two decades, but they have no way to collect except to attach Iranian assets in U.S. banks.
The Iranian regime has challenged the constitutionality of the pertinent portion of the 2012 law.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case last week and is expected to rule by June.
The Obama Administration argued in favor of the victims.
Yet President Obama and Mr. Kerry didn’t press for fair settlements for these victims as part of the nuclear deal and now seem to be pre-emptively reimbursing Tehran for its potential losses from the claims.
The State Department told us Wednesday the settlement isn’t connected to the claims of terrorism victims.
This week also has delivered another diplomatic triumph to Tehran, with the quashing of international arrest warrants for 14 alleged Iranian nuclear proliferators and arms smugglers.
The Treasury in September warned that it “will continue to expose Mahan’s front companies, and to remind governments and the private industry in the 24 cities where Mahan continues to fly that they risk exposure to U.S. sanctions.”
Yet as research by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies has shown, Mahan planes continue to fly routes from Tehran to destinations in Syria, and the airline acquired nine new aircraft last year. The quashing of an Interpol red notice for Mahan’s CEO belies Treasury’s promise.
Mr. Obama has repeatedly assured Congress and American allies in the Middle East that his nuclear deal wouldn’t foreclose the U.S. from punishing Iranian terrorism and regional aggression.
Mr. Khamenei will conclude otherwise after the American President’s most recent concessions.
Your Burger Is Killing the Planet, Say the Climatarians
Your Burger Is Killing the Planet, Say the Climatarians | Somewhat Reasonable:
Move over, vegetarian; the “climatarian” is now taking the smug seat at the dinner table.
This new term is a convergence of two political crusades: climate change and the food movement.
It landed on the New York Times list of the top new food words for 2015. Here’s how the Grey Lady defined the term:
Climate activists are ratcheting up their attempt to blame global warming on food production and consumption, targeting the meat industry in particular.
Move over, vegetarian; the “climatarian” is now taking the smug seat at the dinner table.
This new term is a convergence of two political crusades: climate change and the food movement.
It landed on the New York Times list of the top new food words for 2015. Here’s how the Grey Lady defined the term:
climatarian (n.) A diet whose primary goal is to reverse climate change. This includes eating locally produced food (to reduce energy spent in transportation), choosing pork and poultry instead of beef and lamb (to limit gas emissions), and using every part of ingredients (apple cores, cheese rinds, etc.) to limit food waste.
As the public tunes out stale climate-change rhetoric, climatarians hope to turn attention away from your SUV and onto your dinner plate.
They have plenty of help to make their case. A dire report released last November by Chatham House at the Royal Institute of International Affairs claims that the livestock sector is responsible for emitting about 15 percent of greenhouse gases, which “is equivalent to tailpipe emissions from all the world’s vehicles.”
The United Nations pegs the figure even higher, at about 25 percent.
They want us to think that if we cut out meat, we’d dramatically reduce emissions.
A specious report from the cancer agency of the World Health Organization last year warned that processed and red meat are carcinogenic.
The group’s goal is to foment public fear about America’s favorite protein, despite a dearth of scientific evidence to back it up.
The group’s goal is to foment public fear about America’s favorite protein, despite a dearth of scientific evidence to back it up.
And with worldwide beef demand expected to rise more than 75 percent by 2050, governments and environmental groups are working hard to persuade people that meat is not only bad for your health, it’s also bad for the planet.
In other words, meat is the new coal..."
VIDEO: Wife of Hostage Left in Iran Reveals Sick Way Obama Let Her Know He Wasn't Coming Home
VIDEO: Wife of Hostage Left in Iran Reveals Sick Way Obama Let Her Know He Wasn't Coming Home:"Nine years ago, Iran captured former FBI agent Robert Levinson and began holding him hostage. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama’s recent prisoner exchange with the rogue nation failed to include Levinson, and the way in which he chose to convey this information to the man’s family did not sit well with his wife."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)