Thursday, December 06, 2018
History for December 6
History for December 6 - On-This-Day.com
Ira Gershwin 1896 - Lyricist, brother of composer George Gershwin, Alfred Eisenstadt 1898, Agnes Moorehead 1906
Lester Gillis (George "Baby Face" Nelson) 1908 - Bank robber, Wally Cox 1924, JoBeth Williams 1953
1973 - Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the vice-president of the United States after vice-president Spiro Agnew resigned.
1998 - In Venezuela, former Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez was elected president. He had staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier.
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Tijuana Official: There Are 6,200 Migrants And ‘The People From Tijuana Are Frustrated’ | The Daily Caller
A Tijuana official admitted during an interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Monday that locals are frustrated with over 6,000 migrants staying in the area looking to come to the United States.
New York City is drowning in ridiculous, pricey lawsuits
New York City is drowning in ridiculous, pricey lawsuits
"New York City is being tort-ured.
The Big Apple is drowning in so many frivolous lawsuits — over everything from food packaging and advertising to the design of retail websites — that the city’s court system has become one of the nation’s worst places for civil justice, a damning report out Tuesday reveals.
The American Tort Reform Foundation will give New York City the dubious distinction of placing No. 3 on its annual list of “Judicial Hellholes” where plaintiffs lawyers run amok with the help of accommodating judges and do-nothing lawmakers.
...The report also cites a Post expose on Arik Matatov, who tried to shake down 50 Manhattan businesses because they didn’t have wheelchair ramps — even though he can walk on his own two feet.
Rulings last year by two federal judges, who mandated that all online retailers make their sites compatible with screen-reading software for the visually impaired, “opened the floodgates” for “cut-and-paste lawsuits against hundreds of stores,” the report says.
...These attorneys are highlighted in the new “Judicial Hellholes” report from the American Tort Reform Foundation:
"New York City is being tort-ured.
The Big Apple is drowning in so many frivolous lawsuits — over everything from food packaging and advertising to the design of retail websites — that the city’s court system has become one of the nation’s worst places for civil justice, a damning report out Tuesday reveals.
The American Tort Reform Foundation will give New York City the dubious distinction of placing No. 3 on its annual list of “Judicial Hellholes” where plaintiffs lawyers run amok with the help of accommodating judges and do-nothing lawmakers.
Rulings last year by two federal judges, who mandated that all online retailers make their sites compatible with screen-reading software for the visually impaired, “opened the floodgates” for “cut-and-paste lawsuits against hundreds of stores,” the report says.
...These attorneys are highlighted in the new “Judicial Hellholes” report from the American Tort Reform Foundation:
- Jeffrey Gottlieb & Associates, Manhattan: Filed at least 26 suits in less than two months over websites without screen-reading software for the visually impaired
- Lee Litigation Group, Manhattan: Filed suits “by the dozen” over partially empty food packages, including boxes of Junior Mints
- Joseph Mizrahi, Brooklyn: Filed more than 500 website suits in Manhattan and Brooklyn federal courts in 2018 alone
- Weitz & Luxenburg, Manhattan: Crooked ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s former firm has handled 52 percent of all asbestos cases in New York City this year, up from 47 percent last year
- McSweeney/Langevin, Minneapolis: Was sued after being accused of recruiting women to have their pelvic-mesh implants removed and then filing suit against the device makers
Read all.
Can the GOP Attract Young Voters? Try Beer | Rule of Law
Can the GOP Attract Young Voters? Try Beer | Rule of Law
"GOP strategists have been warning that the sky is falling, that a demographic calamity is coming. Young voters and voters to be, we are told, have no reason to vote Republican.
A fix to attract young voters might be sitting right in front of them, if congressional Republicans have the creativity to pop it open.
One of the sorriest sights I have ever seen in a bar occurred on the eve of the Gulf War in the fall of 1990.
Soldiers from the nearby Army base were celebrating their final days in the states before being deployed to Saudi Arabia where they would eventually smash Saddam Hussein’s army in Kuwait.
The young soldiers were lined up at the bar.
Instead of beer, they were sipping sodas because they weren’t old enough.
It was a sad, pathetic sight.
Soldiers who would soon ship out to war celebrating their final hours in the United States, and they were drinking Sprite.
If the Republicans want to attract young voters, then lead the charge to repeal the National Minimum Age Drinking Age Act that Democrats in Congress passed in 1984.
Loudly repeal the mandate and allow states to lower their drinking age to 18 from 21 without federal penalty.
Appeal to young voters with beer and bourbon..."
Read on.
"GOP strategists have been warning that the sky is falling, that a demographic calamity is coming. Young voters and voters to be, we are told, have no reason to vote Republican.
A fix to attract young voters might be sitting right in front of them, if congressional Republicans have the creativity to pop it open.
One of the sorriest sights I have ever seen in a bar occurred on the eve of the Gulf War in the fall of 1990. Soldiers from the nearby Army base were celebrating their final days in the states before being deployed to Saudi Arabia where they would eventually smash Saddam Hussein’s army in Kuwait.
The young soldiers were lined up at the bar.
Instead of beer, they were sipping sodas because they weren’t old enough.
It was a sad, pathetic sight.
Soldiers who would soon ship out to war celebrating their final hours in the United States, and they were drinking Sprite.
If the Republicans want to attract young voters, then lead the charge to repeal the National Minimum Age Drinking Age Act that Democrats in Congress passed in 1984.
Loudly repeal the mandate and allow states to lower their drinking age to 18 from 21 without federal penalty.
Appeal to young voters with beer and bourbon..."
Read on.
Stanford Frat Told Their American Flag Was ‘Offensive’ By Admin, Hangs Much Bigger Flag | The Daily Caller
Stanford Frat Told Their American Flag Was ‘Offensive’ By Admin, Hangs Much Bigger Flag | The Daily Caller:
Stanford University fraternity Sigma Chi had a unique response to an administration official who said their American flag was “offensive, intimidating, aggressive or alienating.”
After receiving said criticism, the fraternity decided to hang a much bigger flag outside their house.
Stanford University fraternity Sigma Chi had a unique response to an administration official who said their American flag was “offensive, intimidating, aggressive or alienating.”
After receiving said criticism, the fraternity decided to hang a much bigger flag outside their house.
What Socialists Really Want
What Socialists Really Want
"...Silicon Valley is showing greater wealth inequality over time.
Individual incomes are dropping, save for the top 10%.
Housing costs are driving out service workers like firemen, retail workers, etc…
Only the wealthy can afford to actually live in the communities they serve.
Normally this would not be news on The Declination.
If a place is expensive and hoity-toity, don’t live there.
Hell, don’t even work there – go somewhere where your work is actually appreciated, not looked down upon as icky or plebeian.
...On Drudge this morning, I found a brief snippet about Jack Ma, richest man in China, being a member of the Communist party.
Does this surprise you?
Communism has never been a ground-up, grassroots movement from the lower classes, despite the popular reputation as such.
Rather, it is an ideology led by the second-tier wealthy scions who fancy themselves to be intellectuals.
Thomas Sowell had the right of it:
Most people who read ‘The Communist Manifesto’ probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of ‘the workers.’
Marxists merely presume to use the lower classes against their enemies in the middle and upper classes.
Ultimately, they don’t want to deal with the dirty, teeming masses in their living rooms, or even their zip codes..."
Read on.
"...Silicon Valley is showing greater wealth inequality over time.
Individual incomes are dropping, save for the top 10%.
Housing costs are driving out service workers like firemen, retail workers, etc…
Only the wealthy can afford to actually live in the communities they serve.
Normally this would not be news on The Declination.If a place is expensive and hoity-toity, don’t live there.
Hell, don’t even work there – go somewhere where your work is actually appreciated, not looked down upon as icky or plebeian.
...On Drudge this morning, I found a brief snippet about Jack Ma, richest man in China, being a member of the Communist party.
Does this surprise you?
Communism has never been a ground-up, grassroots movement from the lower classes, despite the popular reputation as such.
Rather, it is an ideology led by the second-tier wealthy scions who fancy themselves to be intellectuals.
Thomas Sowell had the right of it:
Most people who read ‘The Communist Manifesto’ probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of ‘the workers.’
Marxists merely presume to use the lower classes against their enemies in the middle and upper classes.
Ultimately, they don’t want to deal with the dirty, teeming masses in their living rooms, or even their zip codes..."
Read on.
Second woman says she was paid to collect absentee ballots in North Carolina House race | TheHill
Second woman says she was paid to collect absentee ballots in North Carolina House race | TheHill
"A second woman has come forward claiming that a Bladen County, N.C., electioneer paid her to collect absentee ballots for last month's midterm elections.
Cheryl Kinlaw told WSOCTV, a local news station in Charlotte, N.C., that Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. paid her $100 to collect ballots in their district, adding that Dowless “has been doing it for years."
Kinlaw said that she never mailed the ballots she collected and that she instead handed them over to Dowless.
She said she was unaware that what she was doing was illegal.
Her comments come a day after another woman, Ginger Eason, told the news station that Dowless, the Bladen County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, paid her between $75 and $100 to pick up ballots.
Both of them have said they do not know what Dowless did with the ballots.
Dowless has been named twice in sworn affidavits as someone who worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris's campaign as an independent contractor and has been at the center of an investigation into the results of the election in North Carolina's 9th District..."
Read on.
"A second woman has come forward claiming that a Bladen County, N.C., electioneer paid her to collect absentee ballots for last month's midterm elections.
Cheryl Kinlaw told WSOCTV, a local news station in Charlotte, N.C., that Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. paid her $100 to collect ballots in their district, adding that Dowless “has been doing it for years."
She said she was unaware that what she was doing was illegal.
Her comments come a day after another woman, Ginger Eason, told the news station that Dowless, the Bladen County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, paid her between $75 and $100 to pick up ballots.
Both of them have said they do not know what Dowless did with the ballots.
Dowless has been named twice in sworn affidavits as someone who worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris's campaign as an independent contractor and has been at the center of an investigation into the results of the election in North Carolina's 9th District..."
Read on.
Here are the questions Comey declined to answer in an ‘open setting’ - MarketWatch
Here are the questions Comey declined to answer in an ‘open setting’ - MarketWatch:
In his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday morning, former FBI director James Comey declined to answer many of the hot-button questions senators tossed at him—at least, in an “open setting.”
These moments are notable, since Comey’s refusal to answer in public indicates that the topic touches on classified information or, potentially, to what he believes to be a continuing FBI investigation.
In his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday morning, former FBI director James Comey declined to answer many of the hot-button questions senators tossed at him—at least, in an “open setting.”
These moments are notable, since Comey’s refusal to answer in public indicates that the topic touches on classified information or, potentially, to what he believes to be a continuing FBI investigation.
Why I deleted my popular Twitter account
Why I deleted my popular Twitter account:
Twitter is poison to American political discourse. Can't we find a more worthy pastime?
I deactivated my Twitter account about a week ago.
I was partly acting on impulse, because the social media site had just, for no obvious reason, “permanently banned” someone I follow, something that seems to be happening more and more.
But I was also acting on my growing belief that Twitter is, well, horrible.
...I think that Twitter is the worst.
In fact, if you set out to design a platform that would poison America’s discourse and its politics, you’d be hard pressed to come up with something more destructive than Twitter.
Twitter has the flaws of the old Usenet newsgroups, but on a much bigger scale.
Precursors to Twitter required accountability...
If you didn’t like a blog, you could just ignore it.
A story that spread like wildfire through the blogosphere still did so over the better part of a day, not over minutes, and it was typically pretty easy to find the original item and get context, something the culture of blogging encouraged.
As James Lileks wrote, “The link changes everything. When someone derides or exalts a piece, the link lets you examine the thing itself without interference.”
Bloggers often encouraged their readers to follow the link and “read the whole thing.”
...Unlike blogs, little to no thought is required (the character limit discourages it), and in practice very few people even follow the link (if there is one) to “read the whole thing.”
...This isn’t a call for banning Twitter.
But it is a suggestion that maybe our time is better spent elsewhere.
Since I got off Twitter, I’ve filled the downtime I used to fill with tweeting by going what I did pre-Twitter, reading novels on the Kindle app on my phone.
It’s better, and I’m happier."
Read all.
Twitter is poison to American political discourse. Can't we find a more worthy pastime?
I deactivated my Twitter account about a week ago.
I was partly acting on impulse, because the social media site had just, for no obvious reason, “permanently banned” someone I follow, something that seems to be happening more and more.
But I was also acting on my growing belief that Twitter is, well, horrible.
...I think that Twitter is the worst.
In fact, if you set out to design a platform that would poison America’s discourse and its politics, you’d be hard pressed to come up with something more destructive than Twitter.Twitter has the flaws of the old Usenet newsgroups, but on a much bigger scale.
Precursors to Twitter required accountability...
If you didn’t like a blog, you could just ignore it.
A story that spread like wildfire through the blogosphere still did so over the better part of a day, not over minutes, and it was typically pretty easy to find the original item and get context, something the culture of blogging encouraged.
As James Lileks wrote, “The link changes everything. When someone derides or exalts a piece, the link lets you examine the thing itself without interference.”
Bloggers often encouraged their readers to follow the link and “read the whole thing.”
...Unlike blogs, little to no thought is required (the character limit discourages it), and in practice very few people even follow the link (if there is one) to “read the whole thing.”
...This isn’t a call for banning Twitter.
But it is a suggestion that maybe our time is better spent elsewhere.
Since I got off Twitter, I’ve filled the downtime I used to fill with tweeting by going what I did pre-Twitter, reading novels on the Kindle app on my phone.
It’s better, and I’m happier."
Read all.
The Costly Part of Government-Owned Broadband – Michigan Capitol Confidential
The Costly Part of Government-Owned Broadband – Michigan Capitol Confidential
"Residents of 10 towns in Minnesota will see property tax hikes to cover a shortfall in subscriber revenues to a government-led broadband project.
This should serve as a warning to municipalities in Michigan implementing or pursuing their own plans.
Ten cities and 17 townships in rural Minnesota created a cooperative and sold $13.7 million in bonds to help finance the construction of a $55 million fiber optic network.
According to documents from the cooperative, reported by Tom Steward of the Center for the American Experiment, a $1 million revenue shortfall quickly developed, which will result in higher property taxes for some of the communities.
...In Michigan, Traverse City and Holland have joined a few smaller municipalities in pursuing government-owned or operated broadband networks..."
Read on!
"Residents of 10 towns in Minnesota will see property tax hikes to cover a shortfall in subscriber revenues to a government-led broadband project.
Ten cities and 17 townships in rural Minnesota created a cooperative and sold $13.7 million in bonds to help finance the construction of a $55 million fiber optic network.
According to documents from the cooperative, reported by Tom Steward of the Center for the American Experiment, a $1 million revenue shortfall quickly developed, which will result in higher property taxes for some of the communities.
...In Michigan, Traverse City and Holland have joined a few smaller municipalities in pursuing government-owned or operated broadband networks..."
Read on!
Does the American Flag Offend You? Stanford Thinks It Might
Does the American Flag Offend You? Stanford Thinks It Might
"LDR: An administrator encouraged Sigma Chi to take down the American flag flown in front of its house in order to improve its image on campus.
...Pablo Lozano ’18 is the primary source for the following account. Other individuals, who asked not to be named, have corroborated it.
Lozano told that while on probation, Sigma Chi sought to make itself “an ally of the university.”
An administrator assigned to serve as a liaison between Residential Education and Sigma Chi – let’s call him Mr. Z – was, in Lozano’s words, “supportive” in trying to help Sigma Chi outlast probation and “transparent” in explaining often obscure bureaucratic processes.
...While discussing improving the fraternity’s image with the university, Mr. Z offhandedly suggested that Sigma Chi remove the potentially discomforting symbol outside: the American flag flown in front of the house. Mr. Z urged Sigma Chi to consider the image being presented to the rest of campus by flying the flag out front.
He furthered that if Sigma Chi wished to break away from stereotypes that plagued the house and to change its perception on campus, its members should contemplate un-hoisting the American flag.
...Lozano recounted that the more the house talked about Mr. Z’s suggestion, the more it bothered them.
...Furthermore, they wondered, since when is an American flag flown at an institution in the United States offensive?
In protest of Mr. Z’s suggestion, the house declined to remove the flag, instead choosing to replace it with an even bigger one.
...But enough with the ominous platitudes.
Next time you hear someone degrade a symbol of the United States – whether in the form of a flag, the Constitution, or the national anthem – you can defend the principles of this nation through oration or just go out and, like Sigma Chi, buy a bigger one."
Read on!
"LDR: An administrator encouraged Sigma Chi to take down the American flag flown in front of its house in order to improve its image on campus.
...Pablo Lozano ’18 is the primary source for the following account. Other individuals, who asked not to be named, have corroborated it.
Lozano told that while on probation, Sigma Chi sought to make itself “an ally of the university.”
An administrator assigned to serve as a liaison between Residential Education and Sigma Chi – let’s call him Mr. Z – was, in Lozano’s words, “supportive” in trying to help Sigma Chi outlast probation and “transparent” in explaining often obscure bureaucratic processes.
...While discussing improving the fraternity’s image with the university, Mr. Z offhandedly suggested that Sigma Chi remove the potentially discomforting symbol outside: the American flag flown in front of the house. Mr. Z urged Sigma Chi to consider the image being presented to the rest of campus by flying the flag out front.He furthered that if Sigma Chi wished to break away from stereotypes that plagued the house and to change its perception on campus, its members should contemplate un-hoisting the American flag.
...Lozano recounted that the more the house talked about Mr. Z’s suggestion, the more it bothered them.
...Furthermore, they wondered, since when is an American flag flown at an institution in the United States offensive?
In protest of Mr. Z’s suggestion, the house declined to remove the flag, instead choosing to replace it with an even bigger one.
...But enough with the ominous platitudes.
Next time you hear someone degrade a symbol of the United States – whether in the form of a flag, the Constitution, or the national anthem – you can defend the principles of this nation through oration or just go out and, like Sigma Chi, buy a bigger one."
Read on!
Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households
Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households:
A majority of “non-citizens,” including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans, a Census Bureau finding that bolsters President Trump’s concern about immigrants costing the nation.
A majority of “non-citizens,” including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans, a Census Bureau finding that bolsters President Trump’s concern about immigrants costing the nation.
How Havana is collapsing, building by building
How Havana is collapsing, building by building
HAVANA —
"...In Havana, some of the same architectural gems that draw tens of thousands of American tourists crash to the ground every year.
Causes range from weather and neglect to faulty renovations and theft of structural beams.
Carlos Guerrero, 45, said he and his family live “like scared dogs” in a crumbling building along Merced Street.
Neighbors tell them, “Get out of there! It’s going to collapse!”
“It makes you feel like going and living under a bridge,” said Guerrero, who vows to grab a machete and seek revenge on housing officials if anything happens to his wife and three children.
Some 3,856 partial or total building collapses were reported in Havana from 2000 to 2013, not including 2010 and 2011 when no records were kept.
The collapses worsened an already severe housing shortage.
Havana alone had a deficit of 206,000 homes in 2016, official figures show.
The housing crisis is one of the most pressing challenges facing Cuban President Miguel DÃaz-Canel, who vowed to improve housing after taking charge of the communist nation of 11 million people in April..."
Read all.
HAVANA —
"...In Havana, some of the same architectural gems that draw tens of thousands of American tourists crash to the ground every year.
Causes range from weather and neglect to faulty renovations and theft of structural beams.
Carlos Guerrero, 45, said he and his family live “like scared dogs” in a crumbling building along Merced Street.Neighbors tell them, “Get out of there! It’s going to collapse!”
“It makes you feel like going and living under a bridge,” said Guerrero, who vows to grab a machete and seek revenge on housing officials if anything happens to his wife and three children.
Some 3,856 partial or total building collapses were reported in Havana from 2000 to 2013, not including 2010 and 2011 when no records were kept.
The collapses worsened an already severe housing shortage.
Havana alone had a deficit of 206,000 homes in 2016, official figures show.
The housing crisis is one of the most pressing challenges facing Cuban President Miguel DÃaz-Canel, who vowed to improve housing after taking charge of the communist nation of 11 million people in April..."
Read all.
History for December 5
History for December 5 - On-This-Day.com
Martin Van Buren (U.S.) 1782, Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830, George Armstrong Custer 1839
Walt Elias Disney 1901 - Disney movies, music and books, Otto Preminger 1906, Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) 1932
1932 - German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa making it possible for him to travel to the U.S.
1945 - The so-called "Lost Squadron" disappeared. The five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers carrying 14 Navy flyers began a training mission at the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station. They were never heard from again.
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Mueller's Perjury Traps
Mueller's Perjury Traps:
Dropping Paul Manafort as a cooperating witness ruins his credibility as far as anything he told Mueller and any testimony he may be forced to give with respect to that. The lies Mueller is alleging are almost certainly an exercise of Mueller’s specialty, the “perjury trap” he is trying to set for President Trump. It must be assumed the Special Counsel has proof of Manafort’s lies.
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