Bankruptcy and Bailouts: Where Puerto Rico Went Wrong

Bankruptcy and Bailouts: Where Puerto Rico Went Wrong - Reason.com
Stop me if you've heard this one before:
A government, run by a succession of politicians, spent frivolously for decades and repeatedly ignored all the warning signs of looming fiscal disaster, and now that it has arrived, is begging for a bailout. 
No, I'm not talking about Greece. 
This time, it's Puerto Rico. 
And the Republican-controlled Congress is seriously considering a bailout.
Even Washington's out-of-touch cronies recognize that a simple cash bailout would be too politically toxic.
But they've come up with an alternative that may have some appeal but also has very problematic features: bankruptcy.
It's not hard to see where Puerto Rico went wrong. 

• About one-third of its working population works for the government. 
• Its bloated workforce accounts for more than two-thirds of the budget, while onerous labor laws and regulations strangle the economy and prevent it from keeping pace with the growth of government. Compared to the island's lower standard of living, generous federal welfare benefits also contribute to an extremely low 50 percent participation rate in the labor force. 
• That, along with the high shipping costs imposed by the Jones Act, are problems that Congress can help solve, but the rest is up to Puerto Rico itself.

The appeal of bankruptcy is that, in theory, it lets municipalities get out of the bad contracts that are causing the financial problems, such as excessive pension promises.
Puerto Rico, like the District of Columbia, is not granted access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy under federal law.
Hence, the call to change the law..."

Democrats control-----Neighbors Losing Patience Where Plows Still Haven’t Cleared Streets

Neighbors Losing Patience Where Plows Still Haven’t Cleared Streets « CBS Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The dig out from the weekend snow storm continues across Maryland.
Derek Valcourt with the growing frustrations in some areas where plows still haven’t cleared the streets.
What’s making some people bitter is trying to understand why all of the streets around them have been plowed, but they’re still stuck.
Along Millvale Road in the Millford Mill area of Baltimore County, neighbors are losing patience, knowing all the surrounding streets have been plowed.
“It’s been four days and no one has come down our block yet,” said Tony Redd.
“How’d you forget this one? That’s amazing,” said Humphrey Cash.
They’re still waiting, despite repeated calls to the county.
“Well, we’ve probably never had this magnitude of snow before, but nevertheless, you still should have been in and done something in four or five days. Come on now,” said Cash.
One of the concerns–as the snow melts during the day then refreezes at night, it’s getting a lot heavier.
Residents are worried the plows alone won’t be able to move it..."

Time runs out on Al Gore’s global-warming Armageddon

Time runs out on Al Gore’s global-warming Armageddon:

"Average temperature has remained steady for 15 years and some climate scientists suggest the Earth is on the verge of another ice age. Yet Fitch observed environmentalists keep deploying hysterical rhetoric to win over Americans to their cause.

“One of the problems with the environmental movement is that no good news is ever good news,” said Fitch. “The fact that the polar ice caps haven’t melted is seen as a reason to fight harder for their cause rather than give pause for consideration. One would figure that their dire predictions not materializing would be seen as a ray of hope, but instead activists see it as just further reason to preach doom and gloom.”

NASA Holds 'Day of Remembrance' on 30th Anniversary of Challenger Explosion

NASA Holds 'Day of Remembrance' on 30th Anniversary of Challenger Explosion - ABC News: "Thirty years ago today (yesterday), the nation watched on live television as the Challenger shuttle carrying seven people, including a high school teacher, exploded into a fireball 73 seconds after liftoff.
On an unusually cold January morning, the astronauts' families and other onlookers watched as the Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for what was supposed to be a seven day trip. Shortly after liftoff an orange fireball and smoke could be seen in the sky.
"Obviously a major malfunction," Stephen Nesbitt at mission control said, according to transcripts of the Challenger disaster."

AM Fruitcake

History for January 29

History for January 29 - On-This-Day.com:
Thomas Paine 1737, William McKinley (U.S.) 1843, W.C. Fields 1880 


Katherine Ross 1942, Tom Selleck 1945, Oprah Winfrey 1954 


1845 - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was published for the first time in the "New York Evening Mirror." 


1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 


1856 - Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria. 


1886 - The first successful petrol-driven motorcar, built by Karl Benz, was patented. 


1940 - The W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company displayed the first tetraploid flowers at the New York City Flower Show. 


1958 - Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married. 


1958 - Charles Starkweather was captured by police in Wyoming. 


1999 - The U.S. Senate delivered subpoenas for Monica Lewinsky and two presidential advisers for private, videotaped testimony in the impeachment trial. 

Challenger: President Reagan's Challenger Disaster Speech - 1/28/86

VIDEO: FOX NEWS Anchor Under Fire After Dropping THIS BOMBSHELL Comment About Allah ⋆ US Herald

VIDEO: FOX NEWS Anchor Under Fire After Dropping THIS BOMBSHELL Comment About Allah ⋆ US Herald:

"Once again another Fox News host is under attack by the same group of progressive activists that attempt to denigrate those brave enough to speak out.

This time it’s news personality, host and anchor Gretchen Carlson currently serving as anchor of Fox News Channel's (FNC), The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson (weekdays 2-3PM/ET)."

University forces students to wear Fitbits and punishes them for not exercising enough

University forces students to wear Fitbits and punishes them for not exercising enough - The College Fix:
Big Brother is watching you.
In this case, your footsteps – and the “brother” is a religious authority.
Oral Roberts University, a Christian school in Oklahoma, is taking health to a new level by requiring incoming freshmen and transfer students to walk about five miles per day as measured by Fitbit fitness trackers that they must purchase.
The tech-enabled mandate is an update to a previous policy that required all students to manually log aerobic points in a fitness journal.
...Grades docked if your steps and heart rate fall short
ORU claims the Fitbit mandate – 10,000 steps per day and an unstated heart rate, which get automatically logged into a student’s online “gradebook” – came from the bottom up.
“Students have asked us about wearable devices for the university’s physical fitness initiative. 
So we decided to take the advice of our students,” Provost Kathaleen Reid-Martinez told The College Fix in an phone interview.

What do the yellow-ish countries have in common?

What do the yellow-ish countries have in common? | Intellectual Takeout:

Transparency Institute released its international Corruption Perceptions Index.

Transparency International released its 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking the world’s countries by levels of corruption, in January 2016. Why a “perceptions” index? According to the institute, it’s the best way:

“Corruption generally comprises illegal activities, which are deliberately hidden and only come to light through scandals, investigations or prosecutions. There is no meaningful way to assess absolute levels of corruption in countries or territories on the basis of hard empirical data. Possible attempts to do so, such as by comparing bribes reported, the number of prosecutions brought or studying court cases directly linked to corruption, cannot be taken as definitive indicators of corruption levels. Instead, they show how effective prosecutors, the courts or the media are in investigating and exposing corruption. Capturing perceptions of corruption of those in a position to offer assessments of public sector corruption is the most reliable method of comparing relative corruption levels across countries.”

With that in mind, here’s the map of the perception of corruption globally:

The top ten, least-corrupt countries are the following:

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Sweden
4. New Zealand
5. Netherlands
6. Norway
7. Switzerland
8. Singapore
9. Canada
10. Germany, Luxembourg, United Kingdom (3-way tie)

Since you’re probably curious, the United States ranks sixteenth in the world for the lowest perceived levels of corruption.

VIDEO: Christians Bloodied by Stone-Throwing Muslims… In Michigan — Freedom Daily

VIDEO: Christians Bloodied by Stone-Throwing Muslims… In Michigan — Freedom Daily:

"What makes the situation worse and also proves that many of America’s law enforcement officers are scared to interject in areas and gatherings that are populated by Muslims is that the Wayne County sheriff’s deputies that were there for security stood by and watched while the Christians were attacked with stones and bottles, even cutting many of the protesters’ faces and bodies. (H/T WND)

That’s not hearsay, either. It was all caught on camera. The Wayne County police did absolutely nothing while the angry Muslims attacked peaceful Christian protesters right in front of their eyes.

Israel begged the deputies to enforce the law, but their only response was that the Christian group leave or face arrest.

Is this America?"


Are we ready to wake up?

U students mull removing MLK ‘I Have a Dream’ quote — not ‘inclusive’ enough

U students mull removing MLK ‘I Have a Dream’ quote — not ‘inclusive’ enough | EAGnews.org:
EUGENE, Ore. – Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream “that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

The famous quote from his Aug. 28, 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech is apparently not “inclusive” enough for some University of Oregon students who believe a quote that touches on gender equality is in order for modern times, reports The Daily Emerald, the student newspaper.

Laurie Woodward, student union director, told the Emerald that as the school’s renovation of Erb Memorial Union, where the quote from King has greeted students in the entrance since 1986, prompted some students pose a question to the Student Union Board: “Does the MLK quote represent us today?”

“Diversity is so much more than race,” sophomore Mia Ashley said. 

“Obviously race still plays a big role.

 But there are people who identify differently in gender and all sorts of things like that.”

Woodward told the site she doesn’t believe the student union is up to the task of searching out a new quote – an undertaking that would involved soliciting feedback from students – so King’s quote will likely go back in the building, for now.

“The quote is not going to change,” The Daily Emerald reports, “but that decision was not made without some hard thought by the Student Union Board.”

...“Had to think about it? 

That being judged by your character and not your skin color isn’t ‘diverse’ enough?” Ted Hales commented.

 “Idiots, all of them. 
Social Justice Warriors are moral retards.”

Michelle Obama: African-Americans Should Vote for Democrats

Michelle Obama: African-Americans Should Vote for Democrats
During an interview with a TV network whose target audience is African-American adults, first lady Michelle Obama said the black community should vote for Democrats.
"That's my message to voters.
This isn't about Barack, it's not about the person on the ballot, it's about you," Obama told "NewsOne Now" host Roland Martin on TV One.
"And for most of the people that we're talking to, a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on, regardless of who said what or did this. 
That shouldn't even come into the equation."
"Voting is critical no matter who's on the ballot," the first lady said.
"And that's one of the things we have to continuously work on in our communities of new voters — folks who maybe voted for the first time because they voted for Barack Obama, young people who voted for the first time because they were inspired by this president."...

Lunch video-----Flying the Me 262

Noon-toon

‘He Should Know Better’: Glenn Beck Reacts to Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s ‘Disappointing’ Trump Endorsement | Video | TheBlaze.com

‘He Should Know Better’: Glenn Beck Reacts to Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s ‘Disappointing’ Trump Endorsement | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Glenn Beck offered mixed emotions Wednesday morning in response to Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s endorsement of billionaire businessman Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

“It’s disappointing,” Beck said on The Glenn Beck Radio Program, adding that he believes Falwell is a “great man” and that he “can’t say anything bad” about Liberty."

Federal judge allows New Orleans to proceed with Confederate monument removal

Federal judge allows New Orleans to proceed with Confederate monument removal | NOLA.com
"...City Council voted 6-1 last month, at the mayor's request, to declare as public nuisances monuments to
Robert E. Lee, 
Jefferson Davis, 
P.G.T. Beauregard 
and the Battle of Liberty Place, allowing the city to remove them from public spaces.
"We are pleased with the court's sound ruling on this issue," C. Hayne Rainey, the mayor's press secretary, said in a statement.
 "Once removed, the monuments will be stored in a city-owned warehouse until further plans can be developed for a private park or museum site where the monuments can be put in a fuller context."

Wounded Warrior Project reportedly accused of wasting donor money

Wounded Warrior Project reportedly accused of wasting donor money | Fox News
The charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, is facing accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to a CBS News report.
Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News he admired the charity’s work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years.
"Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," he told CBS News.
Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big “catered” parties.
"Going to a nice fancy restaurant is not team building.
Staying at a lavish hotel at the beach here in Jacksonville, and requiring staff that lives in the area to stay at the hotel is not team building," he told CBS News.
According to the charity's tax forms obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings went from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery.
Two former of employees, who were so fearful of retaliation they asked that CBS News not show their faces on camera, said spending has skyrocketed since Steven Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009, pointing to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs..."

More shoppers buying 'natural' food, yet most don't know what it means

More shoppers buying 'natural' food, yet most don't know what it means:
"The U.S. has a confused consumer epidemic — more shoppers are seeking foods labeled "natural" despite not fully understanding what the claim means.
The percentage of people who regularly buy food labeled natural has grown from 59% in 2014 to 62% in 2015, yet confusion abounds, according to research out Wednesday from Consumer Reports. The study shows the majority of people don't know what they're paying for when it comes to natural labels. 
At the same time, pressure is mounting to define a term that's never been legally regulated.
At least 60% of people believe a natural label means packaged and processed foods have no genetically modified organisms, no artificial ingredients or colors, no chemicals and no pesticides, according to the study by Consumer Reports. 
And 45% think that natural is a verified claim. 
It's not.
In fact, none of those attributes is necessarily true, because use of the word is not regulated. At least, not yet.
The report comes as the Food and Drug Administration takes a closer look this year at how the term is used, whether it should be defined and how.
A public comment period is taking place through May 10, according to the FDA site."

15 States Take Massive Step to Leave Obama POWERLESS Inside Their Borders

15 States Take Massive Step to Leave Obama POWERLESS Inside Their Borders:

"President Barack Obama’s executive actions on gun control have infuriated many people who see them as an overreach of the power of the federal government.

Obama has insisted that he is not looking to repeal the Second Amendment or confiscate guns, but he has also made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t think Americans should have firearms.

The New American reported that at least 15 states were taking action against federal gun control laws, in direct defiance of liberal elites."

German riot police break up huge brawl between ‘hundreds’ of Muslims

German riot police break up huge brawl between ‘hundreds’ of Muslims | Daily Mail Online
Riot police break up huge brawl between ‘hundreds’ of Muslims after one group saw others drinking alcohol at German migrant camp

• Over 200 asylum-seekers clashed at Leiman centre in southern Germany
• Violence sparked as one group branded another 'bad Muslims' for drinking
• Some 32 police cars needed to halt brawl, and five people taken to hospital
• Friction between different factions of Islam are common at refugee camps

Riot police were called in to break-up a mass brawl involving ‘hundreds’ of asylum-seekers in Germany, in a dispute over alcohol.
More than 200 Muslim refugees came to blows in the early hours of Sunday morning, after one group reportedly spotted another group drinking alcohol and branded them ‘bad Muslims’...

History for January 28

History for January 28 - On-This-Day.com:
Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841, William Seward Burroughs 1857, Jackson Pollock 1912 


Alan Alda 1936 - Actor ("M*A*S*H"), Barbi Benton 1950 - Actress, Elijah Wood 1981 


1871 - France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War. 


1909 - The United States ended direct control over Cuba. 


1915 - The Coast Guard was created by an act of the U.S. Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea. 


1922 - The National Football League (NFL) franchise in Decatur, IL, transferred to Chicago. The team took the name Chicago Bears. 


1965 - General Motors reported the biggest profit of any U.S. company in history. 


1986 - The U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff. All seven of its crewmembers were killed. 


1994 - In Los Angeles, Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg declared a mistrial in the case of Lyle Menendez in the murder of his parents. Lyle, and his brother Erik, were both retried later and were found guilty. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole. 


1999 - Ford Motor Company announced the purchase of Sweden's Volvo AB for $6.45 billion. 

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

http://www.libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2016/01/crawl-and-grovel-by-tammy-derouin-this.html

Crawl and Grovel

By Tammy Derouin

This past week the administration not only admitted that money from the lifted Iranian sanctions would land in the hands of terrorist; they acted like it was no big deal.  Their smoke and mirror, song and dance, hocus pocus act to twist and turn lies into truth, continues without the slightest hesitation for the consequences of our country.

How does it make you feel when Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledges that some of the $55 billion in sanction relief for Iran will probably fund terrorism?  How secure do you feel when the White House backs up such a statement?  The Iranian government revealed, just days after the sanctions were lifted, that they will increase spending on their Revolutionary Guard. 

First, how incredibly stupid is it to lift sanctions on a country who openly chants death to America?  But then again, how incredibly stupid was it to negotiate a nuclear deal with a sworn enemy, hell bent on destroying the U.S. and Israel?  Iran does not hide their hatred for us. 

Remember when Iranians stormed the American Embassy in the late 1970’s and held Americans hostage?  Do you remember we had a very weak, liberal president in place at that time?  Iran recently took ten American sailors hostage just before the SOTU.  It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t mention a word about the situation.  He couldn’t, because it would contradict the claim he would make that the U.S. is some kind of powerful force that others dare not go up against.  Congress cheered and applauded his lies.  The Joint Chiefs of Staff told the truth with their peeved expressions.  It pains me, to no end, to know that we are no longer the super power, the leader of the free world.  Does a free world even exist?

Our anti-American administration has provided us with the ultimate crawl and grovel performance towards an enemy....