IMF sounds global housing alarm

IMF sounds global housing alarm - FT.com:
The world must act to contain the risk of another devastating housing crash, theInternational Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday, as it published new data showing house prices are well above their historical average in many countries.
The warning from the IMF shows how an acceleration in global house prices from already high levels has emerged as one of the major threats to economic stability, with countries making limited progress in keeping them under control.
House prices “remain well above the historical averages for a majority of countries” in relation to incomes and rents, Mr Zhu said in a speech to the Bundesbank last week, which was only released on Wednesday because it clashed with a European Central Bank announcement.
.....In the wake of the global recession central bankers have cut interest rates to record lows, pushing house prices to a level that the IMF regards as a significant risk to economies as diverse as Hong Kong and Israel.

19 Reasons To Laugh When Anyone Tells You That The Economy Is In Good Shape

19 Reasons To Laugh When Anyone Tells You That The Economy Is In Good Shape | Zero Hedge

Have you heard the one about the “economic recovery” in the United States?
It’s quite funny, but it is not actually true.
Every day, the establishment media points to the fact that global stock markets have soared to unprecedented heights as evidence that the economy is improving.
But just because a bunch of wealthy people have gotten temporarily even richer on paper does not mean that the real economy is in good shape.
In fact, as you will see below, things just continue to get even tougher for the poor and the middle class.
Retail stores are closing at the fastest pace since the fall of Lehman Brothers, the rate of homeownership in this country is the lowest that it has been in 19 years, one out of every five families do not have a single member that is employed, and one out of every five children is living in poverty. 
We are working harder, earning less and going into more debt.
With each passing day, the middle class gets a little bit smaller and the ranks of the poor get a little bit larger.
But at least the stock market is doing great, eh?
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, government dependence would not be at epidemic levels.
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, we wouldn’t have more than a million public school children that are homeless.
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, the percentage of Americans that have a job would not be lower than it was when the last recession supposedly “ended”.
Nobody that takes an honest look at the numbers can honestly say that the U.S. economy has recovered.
The following are 19 reasons why you can laugh when anyone tells you that the economy is in good shape…

#6 Sadly, only 36 percent of American adults under the age of 35 currently own a home.  That is the lowest level that has ever been recorded.

#8 The number of planned job cuts by U.S. employers is on the rise again…

Job cuts climbed to the highest level in more than a year, as U.S.-based employers announced plans to reduce payrolls by 52,961 in May, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

#11 53 percent of wage earners in the United States make less than $30,000 a year.

#13 According to Pulitzer prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, the economic recovery following the depths of the Great Depression was far superior to what we are experiencing today…

The most eye-opening measure of how poorly the vast majority are faring these days comes from comparing the periods after the Great Recession and the Great Depression.

The 90 percent, the vast majority, saw their income decline in 2012 compared with 2009, the year the Great Recession officially ended. Average annual income was down $556, or almost 2 percent, adjusted for inflation, to $30,997.

But in 1936, three years after the Great Depression ended, the vast majority enjoyed 31 percent more income than in 1933. The average increase, in today’s dollars, was $2,146 per household.

#17 As I have written about previously, approximately 20 percent of all American families do not have a single member that is employed at this point.

#19 After adjusting for inflation, median household income in the U.S. is now about 7 percent lower than it was in the year 2000.

The One Detail About Bowe Bergdahl’s Behavior After His Release That Hero Navy SEAL Says Is ‘Pretty Weird’ | Video | TheBlaze.com

The One Detail About Bowe Bergdahl’s Behavior After His Release That Hero Navy SEAL Says Is ‘Pretty Weird’ | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"Reacting to reports that suggest Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is refusing to speak to his parents following his release from Taliban captivity, former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell said such behavior seems “pretty weird” in this particular situation.
Luttrell speaks from experience as he was briefly held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan following an intense gun battle with the terror group in 2005. "

The Real Truth About Sarah Palin

Long, but really, really worth it.
The Real Truth About Sarah Palin -- Ouch! - Tea Party Tribune:

READ TO THE VERY END! VERY ENLIGHTENING!!!
By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman.

As posted in comments on Greta’s article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.
The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska . I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES.” Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork.” She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning – I imagine – that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to Alaska after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the Democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents’ wives.

So “You go, Girl.” I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.
I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.
NOW If you’ve read this far ………………………………………..now, open your eyes……….

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Servant List and Pay ScaleTheFirst Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants (Thats 22 Attendants to be exact)
1. $172,200 – Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 – Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 – Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 – Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 – Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 – Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 – Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 – Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 – Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 – Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $64,000 – Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 – Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 – Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. $57,500 – Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 – Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary to The First Lady)
16. $50,000 – Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special=2 0Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide to The First Lady)
17. $45,000 – Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. $43,000 – Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 – Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 – Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $35,000 – Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $35,000 – Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)(This is community organizing at it’s finest.)

There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady’s social life. One wonders why she needs so much help,at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President’s own pocket.Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and “First Hairstylist” Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe .FRIENDS…..THESE SALARIES ADD UP TO SIX MILLION, THREE HUNDRED SIXTY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($6,364,000) FOR THE 4 YEARS OF OFFICE????? AND WE ARE IN A RECESSION????? WELL….MOST OF US ARE. I GUESS IT’S OK TO SPEND WILDLY WHEN IT’S NOT YOUR OWN MONEY?????

Copyright 2009 CanadaFreePress.Com Yes, Yes, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist.
Sorry USA !

U.S. Embassy Prepares for Possible Evacuation as Militants Take Control in Iraq

U.S. Embassy Prepares for Possible Evacuation as Militants Take Control in Iraq | TheBlaze.com:

BENGHAZI EMBASSY TRAGEDY BEING REPLAYED IN BAGHDAD?

"The U.S. is getting ready to evacuate our embassy in Iraq. An Embassy U.S taxpayers spent $750 million to build. I fear this is going to end up being a replay of the disaster and humiliation our country experienced in Saigon and in Benghazi. Notice a pattern.

Our ROGUE President Obama is completely out of control and obviously unable to address the happenings that are now a wildfire around the White House. God help our nation at this time...this is beyond politics as usual."

History for June 12

History for June 12 - On-This-Day.com:

Happy 90^th birthday, George Herbert Walker Bush, 41^st president of the US!

FIFA World Cup Brazil begins today (June 12-July 13). First game is Brazil vs Croatia at Sao Paulo. 

 

National Jerky Day

 

Birth anniversary of Anne Frank (1929-1945). She would have been 85 years old.

 

  

Happy Birthday! Chick Corea, Vic Damone, Jim Nabors

 

1812 - Napoleon's invasion of Russia began. 






1839 - Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend. 


1849 - The gas mask was patented by L.P. Haslett. 


1897 - Carl Elsener patented his penknife. The object later became known as the Swiss army knife. 



1939 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. 


1963 - "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, and Richard Burton premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. 


1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, MS. 


1967 - State laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. 


1979 - Bryan Allen flew the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel. 


1981 - "Raiders of the Lost Ark" opened in the U.S. 


1982 - 75,000 people rallied against nuclear weapons in New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt were in attendance. 


1987 - U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. 


2003 - In Arkansas, Terry Wallis spoke for the first time in nearly 19 years. Wallis had been in a coma since July 13, 1984, after being injured in a car accident.

Obama Reveals His ‘Biggest Frustration’ as President: ‘The Country Has to Do Some Soul Searching About This’ | TheBlaze.com

Obama Reveals His ‘Biggest Frustration’ as President: ‘The Country Has to Do Some Soul Searching About This’ | TheBlaze.com:
"President Barack Obama said Tuesday that his chief frustration as president is that American society has refused to adopt stronger gun control measures.
“People ask me what I’m proudest of and what are my biggest frustrations as president,” Obama said. “My biggest frustration is that this society hasn’t been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do damage.”

The most dangerous division of Eric Holder’s DOJ that you’ve never heard of | TheBlaze.com

The most dangerous division of Eric Holder’s DOJ that you’ve never heard of | TheBlaze.com:

"There’s a little-known division of the Department of Justice that has been bilking the taxpayers of millions of dollars each year and redistributing it to its political and legal allies, creating costly and wide-reaching regulations without any congressional oversight or public comment and seeking to expropriate private land without compensation.

The name of this division? The Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD)."

A report from the Bakken oil fields, where the jobless rate is 0.9% and Walmart is paying 2.4 times the minimum wage

AEIdeas » A report from the Bakken oil fields, where the jobless rate is 0.9% and Walmart is paying 2.4 times the minimum wage:
"I took this photo today at the Walmart in Williston, North Dakota, where the economy is booming thanks to the gusher of shale oil being pumped from the prolific Bakken oil fields. Daily oil production in the Bakken is approaching one million barrels per day, placing it in an elite group of only ten super-giant oil fields in the world that have ever produced that much oil at peak production. In total, nearly one billion barrels of oil have now been produced in the Bakken oil fields, and all of that oil production and related activities have brought the unemployment rate in the Williston area down to below 1% in most months over the last three years. For the most recent month – April – the jobless rate here was 0.9%.

The photo above of wages at the Williston Walmart highlights some important economic concepts:

1. Walmart pays wages that reflect the economic conditions in a local market based on the supply and demand realities of the local labor market. In other words, Walmart can’t really set wages independent of market forces and it’s really at the mercy of the market in every local community. If Walmart offered the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in the Bakken area, it wouldn’t be able to staff its stores.

2. The fact that Walmart is paying almost 2.5 times the minimum wage in Williston, ND is evidence that a single, national minimum wage for every city, county, labor market in the country can’t possibly make sense. Even proponents of the minimum wage have to agree that a single national minimum can’t be optimal for every labor market in the country. In that case, they would logically have to support thousands of minimum wages tailored to thousands of local communities, or maybe even more logically agree that minimum wages are unworkable.

3. You probably won’t be hearing anybody calling for a $15 per hour “living wage” in North Dakota, since the entry level wages at Walmarts there are already above that.

4. The energy sector is the strongest sector of the US economy, and is bringing wealth, prosperity, and high-paying jobs to places like western North Dakota and south-central and western Texas.

5 (New). From Jon Murphy in the comments:

Of course, what we also have here is a huge hole blown in the “we need minimum wage because businesses won’t pay good wages” argument.

Unfortunately, you’ll likely hear nothing about the fossil fuel milestones in America’s Economic Miracle State or $17.20 per hour jobs at the Walmart Williston when President Obama visits here this week. Instead of visiting the most prosperous part of the most prosperous state in the nation to recognize one of the most powerful engines of the US economy – the Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota – President Obama decided to visit the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation about 250 miles from here in the southern part of the state, where the jobless rate is 86%. Go figure. When Obama lectures the Native Americans this Friday about jobs and economic development in their part of North Dakota, perhaps he should mention that there’s a labor shortage only a few hundred miles away, with hundreds, if not thousands of immediate openings for high-paying jobs in the oil patch."

Pentagon Top Eight White House Lies about Bowe Bergdahl Guantanamo

Pentagon Top Eight White House Lies Bowe Bergdahl Guantanamo | The Daily Caller:
...Here are the top eight administration claims, laid out and debunked in full.
Lie #1: Bergdahl was very sick

Lie #2: The Taliban threatened to kill Bergdahl

Lie #3: The administration informed Congress about the swap

Lie #4: The U.S. didn’t negotiate with terrorists

Lie #5: Berghdal served with honor and distinction

Lie #6: The release of the terrorists poses little to no risk to the U.S.

Lie #7: The five terrorists released from Guantanamo Bay will be under U.S. monitoring

Lie #8: This was the “last, best chance” to bring Bergdahl home

Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from City's Central Bank to Make Isis World's Richest Terror Force

Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from City's Central Bank to Make Isis World's Richest Terror Force:
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (Isis) has become the richest terror group ever after looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars - the equivalent of $429m (£256m) - from Mosul's central bank, according to the regional governor.

Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed Kurdish televison reports that Isis militants had stolen millions from numerous banks across Mosul. A large quantity of gold bullion is also believed to have been stolen.

Following the siege of the country's second city, the bounty collected by the group has left it richer than al-Qaeda itself and as wealthy as small nations such as Tonga, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Falkland Islands.

2014 Virginia primary: 5 takeaways from Eric Cantor stunner

2014 Virginia primary: 5 takeaways from Eric Cantor stunner - POLITICO.com:
Immigration reform is dead

The tea party is alive and well.

Cantor was overconfident.

It creates a power vacuum in the Virginia GOP.

Never trust internal polls

Brat won by 11 points, 55.5 percent to 44.5 percent.

Hill's got the fat-guy-with-a-Coke crowd locked up!------ First Man In Line For Hillary Clinton Book Tour

I'm thinkin' he be gettin' a gov'ment "paycheck" each month.
First Man In Line For Hillary Clinton Book Tour - Business Insider:
"Hillary Clinton might keep Sean Brennan up all night Monday evening.
Brennan told Business Insider he arrived at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan's Union Square shortly after 2 p.m. Monday to line up for the first signing of Clinton's book tour, which begins Tuesday.
A little before 9 p.m., Brennan was the first of four people queued up for the event.
"I've just always liked the Clintons," Brennan explained, adding that he voted for Hillary's presidential bid in 2008.
"I didn't throw my support officially behind Obama until she stepped down out of respect for her."
Armed with a fold-up chair that had a bottle of Coke in the cupholder, Brennan, a 41-year-old resident of Queens, New York, hoped to get a little sleep while waiting for Clinton.
"I'll doze off probably," said Brennan."

Job destroying democrats forcing employers to become "smart"------Meet "Smart Restaurant": The Minimum-Wage-Crushing Robot

Meet "Smart Restaurant": The Minimum-Wage-Crushing Robot | The Federalist Papers:
This is for all those economically illiterate people who think raising the minimum wage is a good idea!

Via Zero Hedge:

With a seemingly endless line of talking-heads willing to ignore essentially every study that has been undertaken with regard the effects of raising the minimum-wage; and propose what is merely populist vote-getting ‘benefits’ – we thought the following burger-flipping robot was a perfect example of unintended consequences for the fast food industry’s workers.

With humans needing to take breaks, have at least 4 weekend days off per month, and demanding ever-increasing minimum-wage for a job that was never meant to provide a ‘living-wage’, Momentum Machines – a San Francisco-based robotics company has unveiled the ‘Smart Restaurants’ machine which is capable of making ~360 ‘customized’ gourmet burgers per hour without the aid of a human. 

What exactly does a “Smart Restaurants” machine do? Via Momentum Machine’s Press Release:

“Fast food doesn’t have to have a negative connotation anymore. With our technology, a restaurant can offer gourmet quality burgers at fast food prices. Our alpha machine replaces all of the hamburger line cooks in a restaurant. It does everything employees can do except better.”
....The issue of machines and job displacement has been around for centuries and economists generally accept that technology like ours actually causes an increase in employment. The three factors that contribute to this are 1. the company that makes the robots must hire new employees, 2. the restaurant that uses our robots can expand their frontiers of production which requires hiring more people, and 3. the general public saves money on the reduced cost of our burgers. This saved money can then be spent on the rest of the economy. We take these issues very seriously so please feel free to tell us how we can help with this transition.

The other main benefit to companies is machines do not require Obamacare! 
This is the outcome you can expect in industry after industry if you raise the minimum wage, or make the cost of employment too high for employers.
What do you think?

Obama’s Attack on Coal-Fired Electrical Power

Obama’s Attack on Coal-Fired Electrical Power:
I find it somewhat surprising how little press the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Report card on the nation’s infrastructure received when it came out in 2013.

Considering how poorly our nation’s infrastructure faired on this report, I would have thought that the press would have been all over it.
Bridges, which have received a lot of press for needing upgrading or replacement nationwide, actually received one of the highest grades at a C+.
Overall, the nation’s infrastructure received a D+, nothing to brag about.
If I had ever dared to bring home a report card like that to show my mommy, I would have died an early death and wouldn’t be writing this right now.
While everything on this report card is important, one of the biggest concerns is the Energy infrastructure, which received a D+.
The energy grade includes the electrical grid, natural gas and oil. 
Of the three, the electrical grid is obviously of the greatest import and the one that we should be the most concerned about. 
A large percentage of our electrical grid is aged; having outlived its 50 year intended life expectancy.

.....Coal accounts for about 40 percent of our country’s electrical power generation.
Of the 600 coal-fired power plants in the country, about half of them have already outlived their designed life-expectancy.
Another 20 percent of them are within ten years of the end of their programmed life.
That means that at least in theory, our country’s electrical power industry needs to replace about 400 of these within the next ten years, just to maintain our current electrical power production.
Here’s where the problem comes in. Obama’s EPA has created regulations making it virtually impossible to replace those coal-fired plants with newer coal-fired plants. While the EPA isn’t saying that they can’t be built, their new regulations are so stringent, that it is driving the cost up to the point where it is no longer financially feasible.
While Obama wants solar and wind power to replace coal, that’s not all that financially feasible either.
The technology hasn’t reached the point where it need to, in order to be able to take over our country’s energy needs.
Coal costs 4.1 cents per kilowatt hour to produce, where wind costs 4.3 cents and solar a whopping 7.7 cents. 
Natural gas, which seems to be the most likely alternative to coal, is running at 5.2 cents per kilowatt hour to produce.

White House: Obama Looking to Act ‘Administratively, Unilaterally’ on Guns | TheBlaze.com

White House: Obama Looking to Act ‘Administratively, Unilaterally’ on Guns | TheBlaze.com:

 "White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that President Barack Obama is “always” looking for opportunities to act “unilaterally” again on guns, though he would prefer to work with Congress."

Hypocrite of the day----Liberal, drunk prof (probably anti-gun) with big pay, cush job shoots at little guy trying to make a living---- Police: CMU prof arraigned after shots fired at door-to-door vacuum salesmen

Police: CMU prof arraigned after shots fired at door-to-door vacuum salesmen | MLive.com
The Isabella County Sheriff's Department has arrested a Central Michigan University professor accused of shooting at a group of door-to-door salesmen in Fremont Township.
...At 6:05 p.m.  Thursday, June 5, two vacuum-cleaner salesmen approached a residence in the 6000 block of South Vandecar in Fremont Township, knocked on the door and observed a man approach the door without opening it, police reported.
The man, who police identified as Lee, gestured "one minute" by holding an index finger up before walking toward the garage, according to a press release posted on the Sheriff's Department's website.
The salesmen told police they decided to leave.
As their van rolled down the driveway, Lee emerged from a pole barn next to the residence and brandished a long gun, according to police.
Two shots were heard by the van's occupants and they saw Lee pointing the gun at them as they drove away, they told police.
One of the victims reported hearing the pellets "whiz" by his open driver's side window, police said.
Lee is a faculty member in the CMU's human and environmental studies department, said Director of Public Relations Steve Smith.
A note on the professor's classroom door states that class was canceled and the final exam was waived.
...Deputies retrieved a 20-gauge shotgun, and police said they believe alcohol is a factor in the incident. 
No one was injured, police said.

Cowardly RINOs defineing themselves as "democrat-lite"-----GOP panics on minimum wage

GOP panics on minimum wage - Nolan Finley - The Detroit News:
"Republican lawmakers and Gov Rick Snyder panicked in adopting a bill to raise the minimum wage to $9.25 an hour.
Afraid Democrats would make a campaign issue out of a ballot drive to hike the wage to !0.!0, the Republicans chose bad policy to avoid having worse policy forced on them.
But there was no guarantee that the unions backing the initiative could raise the resources to push it through. Union campaign warchests are depleted, and they have a lot of priorities competing for resources in this election cycle.
And even if the Democratic proposal had passed, the outcome would have only been marginally worse than what the GOP approved.
Republicans did get a lower rate for teen workers, and a more favorable formula for calculating the annual cost of living increase.
They also feel they took the politics out of this issue for the long term by indexing future wage increases to inflation.
But those automatic annual increases are a job killer. Businesses faced with stagnant or falling revenue will have just one choice for controlling labor costs — they’ll have to fire workers instead of simply freezing their wages.
Or raise prices.
And those price hikes will eat up the wage increases for workers who are also consumers.
If Republicans are going to make policy like Democrats, whats the point of electing them?"

Primary Stunner: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Loses to Underdog Tea Party Challenger

Primary Stunner: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Loses to Underdog Tea Party Challenger | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"After being all but counted out, tea party activist David Brat pulled off a stunning victory against House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Tuesday in the Virginia GOP primary for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Associated Press reports."

Holi crapoli! You do know that if they can think it, it WILL happen.-------The East Coast Chatterati Are Buzzing About John Conyers' Reparations Bill

The East Coast Chatterati Are Buzzing About John Conyers' Reparations Bill –  Deadline Detroit:
"The cover story in the June issue of The Atlantic, an impassioned essay by Ta-Nahesi Coates titled "The Case for Reparations," generates a remarkable amount of discussion among commentators at the big and small media outlets between Boston and Washington.

The 15,000-plus word article argues that American society has plundered black Americans since their forced arrival in the country four centuries ago through laws, customs, finances and politics, and the nation needs to come to grips with its past. Coates says the way to do that is to consider the bill introduced annually by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the Detroit Democrat whose measure calls for a deep study of the effects of slavery and possible solutions."

....One cannot escape the question by hand-waving at the past, disavowing the acts of one’s ancestors, nor by citing a recent date of ancestral immigration. The last slaveholder has been dead for a very long time. The last soldier to endure Valley Forge has been dead much longer. To proudly claim the veteran and disown the slaveholder is patriotism à la carte. A nation outlives its generations. We were not there when Washington crossed the Delaware, but Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s rendering has meaning to us. We were not there when Woodrow Wilson took us into World War I, but we are still paying out the pensions. If Thomas Jefferson’s genius matters, then so does his taking of Sally Hemings’s body. If George Washington crossing the Delaware matters, so must his ruthless pursuit of the runagate Oney Judge."

Obama "leadership"-----Al Qaeda Militants Capture US Black Hawk Helicopters In Iraq

Al Qaeda Militants Capture US Black Hawk Helicopters In Iraq | Zero Hedge:

Just when one thought US foreign policy couldn't sink any deeper into the hole of its embarrassment, it takes out a shovel and starts digging. 

Overnight, in what AP describes as a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, Al Qaida-inspired militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.

...Residents of Mosul said they were shocked at the ease of the rebel takeover of government buildings, television stations and military installations where U.S.-supplied fighter airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weaponry are based.

"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We've fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we're looking for God's mercy," said Mahmoud Al Taie, a dentist. "We are waiting to die."

Videos showed victorious insurgents waving black flags emblazoned with an Islamic script—the standard brandished by al Qaeda militants world-wide.

The biggest irony here is that while the US is arming "rebels" in neighboring Syria, among which numerous Al-Qaeda rebels, the weapons and the trained "fighters" then promptly make their way across the border and continue fighting the US-blessed government in Iraq!

Jessica Lewis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said ISIS fighters won a notable victory in Mosul.

....."I think that means that Iraq is going to start to look more like Syria. 

It's a gauge of the severity of the conflict and the trajectory that it's on. 

That's a very bad sign."

HuffPo Sources: Bergdahl a Traitor; Obama Silencing Soldiers

HuffPo Sources: Bergdahl a Traitor; Obama Silencing Soldiers:

"He also reveals that his sources informed him that the Obama administration is also going to great lengths to intimidate Bergdahl’s former platoon members and high level Pentagon officials into silence. Robinson says that there is a bigger story that the American people need to know. "

Written before yesterday's election....heh---------The tea party is after Eric Cantor. Seriously

The tea party is after Eric Cantor. Seriously. - Yahoo News:
"The theory behind running primary campaigns against incumbents, generally, is that they get you outsize influence, even if you lose the vast majority of them.
Other incumbents look at whichever of their poor colleagues is having to spend every last dollar to stave off an embarrassing defeat at the hands of some activist armed with a Facebook page and a bullhorn, and they think: I'd better make these people happy, or they'll come after me next.
That strategy has worked pretty well for the tea party so far.
But the strategy works only if incumbents think they have a reasonable chance of placating the pitchfork-wielding mob.
If leading Republicans can say all the right things and make all the right votes and lay prostrate before the talk radio gods, and still they end up fending off primary challenges and getting booed out of their own conventions, then they might just start to wonder:
What's the point of all this cowering in the corner, anyway? If you're going to get slammed no matter what you do, then why not, you know, actually try to govern?
If Eric Cantor isn't anti-government, anti-spending, anti-Obama enough to insulate himself from grass-roots rebellion, then you've got to ask yourself: Who is?"

White House: Obama Looking to Act ‘Administratively, Unilaterally’ on Guns

White House: Obama Looking to Act ‘Administratively, Unilaterally’ on Guns | TheBlaze.com:
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that President Barack Obama is “always” looking for opportunities to act “unilaterally” again on guns, though he would prefer to work with Congress.
“The president’s goal is to look for opportunities to act administratively, unilaterally using his executive authority to try to make our communities safer,” Earnest said, responding to a question the day that a gunman opened fire at an Oregon high school, killing one student and injuring a teacher.
“We’re always looking for those opportunities.
Obama went on to say, “Now it’s hard to get even the most minor legislation passed and we should be ashamed.”
...“The question I think really facing lawmakers right now is what common sense steps can Democrats and Republicans take to reduce the likelihood of gun violence,” Earnest continued.
“And there are some, and they have unfortunately been bottled up in Congress and that is a disappointment to the president.
But that’s not going to stop the president from continuing to push for administrative steps that we can take to help reduce gun violence.”