Monday, January 25, 2016
History for January 25
History for January 25 - On-This-Day.com:
Robert Boyle 1627, Robert Burns 1759, W. Somerset Maugham 1874
Leigh Taylor-Young 1944, Christine Lakin 1979 - Actress, Alicia Keys 1981 - Singer
1579 - The Treaty of Utrecht was signed marking the beginning of the Dutch Republic.
1858 - Mendelssohn’s "Wedding March" was presented for the first time at the wedding of the daughter of Queen Victoria and the Crown Prince of Prussia.
1924 - The 1st Winter Olympic Games were inaugurated in Chamonix in the French Alps.
1950 - A federal jury in New York City found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.
1971 - Maj. Gen. Idi Amin led a coup that deposed Milton Obote and became president of Uganda.
1998 - The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers 31-24 in Super Bowl XXXII. The Broncos had lost 3 previous Super Bowl appearances with quarterback John Elway.
1999 - In Louisville, KY, man received the first hand transplant in the United States.
2011 - A revolution began in Egypt with the demonstrations that demanded the end of President Hosni Mubarak's rule.
While Nation Braces For Winter Storm, Senate Sneaks In Bill To Allow For Military Martial Law
While Nation Braces For Winter Storm, Senate Sneaks In Bill To Allow For Military Martial Law:
"While parts of the nation braced for Winter Storm Jonas, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was busy preparing the way for a proposal on the floor that had many concerned.
The Authorization for the Use of Military Force, written by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is packaged as a proposal to fight the Islamic State group — but it would also allow the president to deploy military forces anywhere he chooses and for as long as he wants."
"While parts of the nation braced for Winter Storm Jonas, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was busy preparing the way for a proposal on the floor that had many concerned.The Authorization for the Use of Military Force, written by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is packaged as a proposal to fight the Islamic State group — but it would also allow the president to deploy military forces anywhere he chooses and for as long as he wants."
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Václav Klaus: “It is War on Our Whole Continent”
Václav Klaus: “It is War on Our Whole Continent” | Gates of Vienna:
Over the past few months we’ve posted a number of excellent videos and articles showcasing statements made by current political leaders in the former East Bloc countries of Central Europe: Czech President Miloš Zeman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
[T]his time it is a war of the European political, intellectual, and the media elites, against the majority of the citizenry, and the future of Europe, and the preservation of European culture, of European civilization.— Václav Klaus
This is the first in a series of posts that represent the first tiny wavelets of what may turn into a massive tsunami of change sweeping over Europe.
To that list must now be added Václav Klaus, the former President of the Czech Republic.
The former president’s words in the following video and article go farther than anything said by the other three — perhaps because Mr. Klaus is no longer a sitting head of state, and does not have to worry about having a military coup engineered against him in reaction to his statements.
These quotes, as far as I know, represent the first time that a serving or former head of state in a European country has told his audience that mass immigration into Europe is being arranged by the political elites to dilute and weaken the nation-states of Europe, and to make their populations more docile and manageable..."
Read on!
Read on!
Wasted money. Wasted time. Wasted lives!-----The Problems Free College Won't Solve
The Problems Free College Won't Solve | Economics21
Higher education is shaping up to be the next front in public policy battles.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his proposal to make two years of community college free.
Not to be outdone, Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders has called for abolishing tuition entirely at public colleges and universities.
Tempting as the prospect of free tuition sounds, these proposals will do little to resolve the crisis in higher education.
The federal government heavily subsidizes higher education through a complex system of grants and loans.
While the programs are great for colleges — they have enabled an astronomical increase in tuition — they contain few measures holding the institutions accountable to their students.
As a result, only 59 percent of students graduate from four-year colleges and universities within six years.
Those lucky enough to graduate face another hurdle: 44 percent of recent college graduates occupy jobs which do not require a college degree.
Taken together, these numbers suggest that only one-third of college enrollees emerge from the system with both a degree and a relevant job.
Making college free would do nothing to address these problems.
In fact, it would worsen them.
At community colleges, which President Obama would make free, only 40 percent of students graduate, even when taking into account those that transfer to other institutions.
Bernie Sanders' proposals look even worse.
At four-year colleges with open enrollment, which are most likely to accept the additional students drawn into the system by free tuition, the graduation rate is just 34 percent.
More students attending these colleges would push overall graduation rates down.
Without measures to ensure that colleges help their students graduate and find good jobs, free tuition would only shuffle more young people into a system that fails two-thirds of them..."
Higher education is shaping up to be the next front in public policy battles.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his proposal to make two years of community college free.
Not to be outdone, Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders has called for abolishing tuition entirely at public colleges and universities.
Tempting as the prospect of free tuition sounds, these proposals will do little to resolve the crisis in higher education.The federal government heavily subsidizes higher education through a complex system of grants and loans.
While the programs are great for colleges — they have enabled an astronomical increase in tuition — they contain few measures holding the institutions accountable to their students.
As a result, only 59 percent of students graduate from four-year colleges and universities within six years.
Those lucky enough to graduate face another hurdle: 44 percent of recent college graduates occupy jobs which do not require a college degree.
Taken together, these numbers suggest that only one-third of college enrollees emerge from the system with both a degree and a relevant job.
Making college free would do nothing to address these problems.
In fact, it would worsen them.
At community colleges, which President Obama would make free, only 40 percent of students graduate, even when taking into account those that transfer to other institutions.
Bernie Sanders' proposals look even worse.
At four-year colleges with open enrollment, which are most likely to accept the additional students drawn into the system by free tuition, the graduation rate is just 34 percent.
More students attending these colleges would push overall graduation rates down.
Without measures to ensure that colleges help their students graduate and find good jobs, free tuition would only shuffle more young people into a system that fails two-thirds of them..."
Atlanta Paper Epitomizes Gun Grabbers' Tactics In 2 Sentences Back-to-Back
Atlanta Paper Epitomizes Gun Grabbers' Tactics In 2 Sentences Back-to-Back - Breitbart: On January 16, the Atlanta Progressive News (APN) used one sentence to explain a Democrat-proposed ban that will require owners to hand over “assault weapons” by the end of October 2016 and in the very next sentence mocked pro-gun citizens who “are already yelling that Democrats are trying to take their guns away.”
In other words–
- Sentence 1: New Democrat-proposed bill means your “assault weapons” will be taken away.
- Sentence 2: Pro-gun people are already trying to malign the law by claiming Democrats want to “take their guns.”
Here are APN’s exact words:
"This bill will require people who possess assault weapons to render the weapon inoperable or turn it into the Georgia Bureau of Investigation by the end of October 2016.
Pro-gun folks are already yelling that Democrats are trying to take their guns away."
On Janaury 13 Breitbart News reported that the text of the proposed “assault weapons” ban–put forth by Mary Margaret Oliver (D-83rd) and other Democrats–actually “[designates] certain weaponry and ammunition as contraband and [requires] seizure of such by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”
So the “assault weapons” ban is actually an “assault weapons” confiscation bill."
Korean Missile-Defense Upgrade
Korean Missile-Defense Upgrade - WSJ:
"China’s leaders are again standing by North Korea after its nuclear test by blocking serious United Nations sanctions and refusing to cut off the flow of fuel, food and arms to Pyongyang.
But this time Beijing may pay a strategic price for shielding its unsavory friends, as South Korea moves closer to deploying the U.S.-built Thaad defense system to protect itself from ballistic-missile attacks.
After publicly avoiding the topic for more than a year, President Park Geun-hye raised it last week in a national address. “Taking the North’s nuclear and missile threats into consideration,” she said, “I will review the issue of deploying Thaad here based on security and national interests. That is the bottom line.”
It’s also good news for anyone within missile range of Kim Jong Un, which now includes the South Koreans, Japanese, and perhaps also Americans in Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. West Coast.
...As for Beijing, it sees any advance in U.S. and allied military capabilities as an obstacle to its ambition to dominate Asia, and has sought to draw Seoul—which does more trade with China than with the U.S. and Japan combined—into its own camp.
South Korea would “sacrifice its fast-growing relations with China” by integrating into U.S.-led regional missile defenses, the official Xinhua news agency warned last year. China’s defense minister and other senior officials reinforced the message on visits to Seoul, but their hosts publicly told them to back off.
Ms. Park’s move toward deploying Thaad should be met with dispatch by the Obama Administration.
Integrated allied missile defenses in Asia are a bulwark against North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and China’s growing threat to America’s core alliances in Asia."
"China’s leaders are again standing by North Korea after its nuclear test by blocking serious United Nations sanctions and refusing to cut off the flow of fuel, food and arms to Pyongyang.
But this time Beijing may pay a strategic price for shielding its unsavory friends, as South Korea moves closer to deploying the U.S.-built Thaad defense system to protect itself from ballistic-missile attacks.
After publicly avoiding the topic for more than a year, President Park Geun-hye raised it last week in a national address. “Taking the North’s nuclear and missile threats into consideration,” she said, “I will review the issue of deploying Thaad here based on security and national interests. That is the bottom line.”
...As for Beijing, it sees any advance in U.S. and allied military capabilities as an obstacle to its ambition to dominate Asia, and has sought to draw Seoul—which does more trade with China than with the U.S. and Japan combined—into its own camp.
South Korea would “sacrifice its fast-growing relations with China” by integrating into U.S.-led regional missile defenses, the official Xinhua news agency warned last year. China’s defense minister and other senior officials reinforced the message on visits to Seoul, but their hosts publicly told them to back off.
Ms. Park’s move toward deploying Thaad should be met with dispatch by the Obama Administration.
Integrated allied missile defenses in Asia are a bulwark against North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and China’s growing threat to America’s core alliances in Asia."
BREAKING: Clinton Camp Reeling After Intern Scandal Explodes... And Bill Isn't Even Involved
BREAKING: Clinton Camp Reeling After Intern Scandal Explodes... And Bill Isn't Even Involved:“Clinton’s campaign has organized teams of mothers in the country illegally to operate phone banks on her behalf,” the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The irony here is rich. One of the most notorious criminals of our time is now using other criminals — albeit less notorious ones — to prop up her notoriously sketchy campaign. Sounds nice."
"Social promotion" kills young minds-----What if teenagers can’t even read?
What if teenagers can’t even read? | Intellectual Takeout: The teacher’s words are a year old now, but still deeply troubling. In her December 4, 2014 letter to the editor, Kim Dallas, an English teacher at Rosemount High School in Minnesota had the following to say:
“I teach high school English, and I am begging you to please read to your children. Read everything. ….
Why? Because your children can’t read.
We are in the midst of one of the greatest literacy crises ever encountered, and we are fighting an uphill battle. Every day I experience firsthand what it means to be illiterate in a high school classroom. At best it means sleeping away a unit; at worst it means depression or aggression. Average students with average abilities can fervently text away, but they cannot read.
Recently, I gave a unit test where students could use all their notes and their short story on the test (not my standard practice). The results: abysmal. I didn’t think the test was too difficult until I started doing some investigating and made a shocking discovery. They couldn’t even read the test. …
I teach nearly 200 high school juniors each day. If we give them all the same book to read, they often do not read it. Ask them why, and they say: ‘It’s boring.’ Translation? ‘It’s too hard.’”
Rosemount is not an “urban” or “poor” high school. It is in a suburb of the Twin Cities with a median household income of $85,000 and over 80% of the population is white.
To be fair, that story is anecdotal; maybe there’s just a problem in that school district. Alas, that’s probably not the case. Rosemount High School is more likely of an example of the breakdown of our education system that’s happening across the country. Consider the fact that as of 2013, only 38% of high school seniors were considered proficient in reading by the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP):
Yes, we have a problem and Kim Dallas is probably quite right, “we are in the midst of one of the greatest literacy crises ever encountered…”
Film and race: How racially skewed are the Oscars?
Film and race: How racially skewed are the Oscars? | The Economist:
How racially skewed are the Oscars?
FOR the 20 actors nominated for an Oscar all to be white could at best be seen as a surprise.
For that to be true two years running is, to many, a scandal.
While there will be no empty seats at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on February 28th—live television does not permit such things—there may be a lot of m
issing faces.
Confronted with what is seen as a “whitewash”, many prominent black Americans are saying they will boycott the ceremony.
In fact, as our analysis of film casts and awards shows, the number of black actors winning Oscars in this century has been pretty much in line with the size of America's overall black population.
But this does not mean Hollywood has no problems of prejudice.
As the data show, it clearly does.
...Of course the data are not random.
Yet, despite the 2015-2016 whiteout, an analysis of Oscar selections since 2000 suggests that the imbalances are industry-wide, not primarily to do with Academy voters.
And they affect all ethnic minorities.
Oscar nominations have not dramatically under-represented black actors.
Instead, they have greatly over-represented white ones.
Blacks are 12.6% of the American population, and 10% of Oscar nominations since 2000 have gone to black actors.
But just 3% of nominations have gone to their Hispanic peers (16% of the population), 1% to those with Asian backgrounds, and 2% to those of other heritage (see chart).
Black actors get speaking roles in rough proportion to their percentage of America’s population, according to a study of 600 top films from 2007-2013 at the Annenberg Center for Communication and Journalism. (See “film roles” in the chart above.)
Again, Latinos and Asians do much worse..."
How racially skewed are the Oscars?
FOR the 20 actors nominated for an Oscar all to be white could at best be seen as a surprise.
For that to be true two years running is, to many, a scandal.
While there will be no empty seats at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on February 28th—live television does not permit such things—there may be a lot of m
Confronted with what is seen as a “whitewash”, many prominent black Americans are saying they will boycott the ceremony.
In fact, as our analysis of film casts and awards shows, the number of black actors winning Oscars in this century has been pretty much in line with the size of America's overall black population.
But this does not mean Hollywood has no problems of prejudice.
As the data show, it clearly does.
...Of course the data are not random.
Yet, despite the 2015-2016 whiteout, an analysis of Oscar selections since 2000 suggests that the imbalances are industry-wide, not primarily to do with Academy voters.
And they affect all ethnic minorities.
Oscar nominations have not dramatically under-represented black actors.
Instead, they have greatly over-represented white ones.
Blacks are 12.6% of the American population, and 10% of Oscar nominations since 2000 have gone to black actors.
But just 3% of nominations have gone to their Hispanic peers (16% of the population), 1% to those with Asian backgrounds, and 2% to those of other heritage (see chart).
Black actors get speaking roles in rough proportion to their percentage of America’s population, according to a study of 600 top films from 2007-2013 at the Annenberg Center for Communication and Journalism. (See “film roles” in the chart above.)
Again, Latinos and Asians do much worse..."
‘Schindler’s List’ Producer Has Scathing Message for ‘Spoiled Brats’ Crying ‘Racism’ and Boycotting the Oscars | TheBlaze.com
‘Schindler’s List’ Producer Has Scathing Message for ‘Spoiled Brats’ Crying ‘Racism’ and Boycotting the Oscars | TheBlaze.com:"Gerald Molen won an Academy Award for producing Best Picture-winner “Schindler’s List” back in the day — and he also was disinvited in 2012 from speaking at a high school graduation because of his conservative views.
Such a circumstance would reduce many who share Molen’s views to silence — or at least cause them to tread lightly when it comes to sociopolitical matters.
Not so with this industry vet."
Looking for the truth-----The real tragedy in Flint
Must read of the MONTH!
Click the link to see this excellent analysis.
Lots here. Grab a cup of coffee and prepare to get angry!!
The real tragedy in Flint | In Other Words by Greg Branch
We’ve all read and heard a lot about the water situation in Flint.
We’re hearing most of it from Democrats, who are citing this as an example of the evils of Republican leadership and all sorts of other hyperbole.
Rachel Maddow, among others, has (nauseatingly endlessly) blamed it on Michigan’s emergency financial manager law.
So much noise.
So much misinformation.
So little time.
If you’d like to know what really happened here, read on, but be warned: it’s long.
If you’re the TL;DR type (Too Lazy; Don’t Reach), skip to the last subhead.
The conclusions won’t make sense to you, but then maybe you don’t want it to.
For more than 50 years, Flint bought its water – treated and ready to serve – from Detroit.
In recent years, Detroit has – like most cities with wholesale water customers, like Saginaw – has raised its rates to reflect the rising costs of maintaining aging systems.
Detroit, according to Flint (and most of its other wholesale customers) was really jacking prices up.
Keep in mind that all of Saginaw’s wholesale customers say the same thing at every rate increase, and some – Frankenmuth most recently – have, over the years, threatened to build their own systems or find another source.
In order to be able to control its own water destiny, Flint’s city council and its mayor voted to join the Karegnondi water authority.
It’s something they’d been talking about – and tried once before – since the 1960s.
They finally got enough municipalities behind them to make the deal work.
They announced the deal in 2013, with a target of getting water from Lake Huron through the new system sometime in 2016.
Council voted 7-1 on the decision, which was later signed off on by the city’s EFM.
Read the expanded of each one of these!
And let me be very clear: I am not paid to be an investigative reporter, and this is not a news outlet. This is strictly my opinion, and it is based on news accounts.
Some facts are not known, in large part because of the lack of transparency in the office of a governor who promised to be transparent.
And as I learn new facts that contradict information I had in here, I will so note them.
None of this changes my overall point.
There is a big difference between blame and accountability — and which you use will have a lot to say about the results you get in the end.
Blame and outrage will help Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and it will help Michael Moore sell his next film.
But the people of Flint can’t drink blame, and they can’t bathe their kids in outrage.
We know exactly what the problem is.
Let’s get the best people to work on fixing it.
After that, we can start the floggings.
And there are people here who should be flogged."
Read it all!!!
Click the link to see this excellent analysis.
Lots here. Grab a cup of coffee and prepare to get angry!!
The real tragedy in Flint | In Other Words by Greg Branch
We’ve all read and heard a lot about the water situation in Flint.
We’re hearing most of it from Democrats, who are citing this as an example of the evils of Republican leadership and all sorts of other hyperbole.
Rachel Maddow, among others, has (nauseatingly endlessly) blamed it on Michigan’s emergency financial manager law.So much noise.
So much misinformation.
So little time.
If you’d like to know what really happened here, read on, but be warned: it’s long.
If you’re the TL;DR type (Too Lazy; Don’t Reach), skip to the last subhead.
The conclusions won’t make sense to you, but then maybe you don’t want it to.
- The Tragedy’s Roots
For more than 50 years, Flint bought its water – treated and ready to serve – from Detroit.
In recent years, Detroit has – like most cities with wholesale water customers, like Saginaw – has raised its rates to reflect the rising costs of maintaining aging systems.
Detroit, according to Flint (and most of its other wholesale customers) was really jacking prices up.
Keep in mind that all of Saginaw’s wholesale customers say the same thing at every rate increase, and some – Frankenmuth most recently – have, over the years, threatened to build their own systems or find another source.
In order to be able to control its own water destiny, Flint’s city council and its mayor voted to join the Karegnondi water authority.
It’s something they’d been talking about – and tried once before – since the 1960s.
They finally got enough municipalities behind them to make the deal work.
They announced the deal in 2013, with a target of getting water from Lake Huron through the new system sometime in 2016.
Council voted 7-1 on the decision, which was later signed off on by the city’s EFM.
Read the expanded of each one of these!
- The Kiss-Off...
- The First Screw-Up...
- The Cover-Up...
- The Recap...
- The Even Larger Tragedy...
- Update 1/19/2016
And let me be very clear: I am not paid to be an investigative reporter, and this is not a news outlet. This is strictly my opinion, and it is based on news accounts.
Some facts are not known, in large part because of the lack of transparency in the office of a governor who promised to be transparent.
And as I learn new facts that contradict information I had in here, I will so note them.None of this changes my overall point.
There is a big difference between blame and accountability — and which you use will have a lot to say about the results you get in the end.
Blame and outrage will help Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and it will help Michael Moore sell his next film.
But the people of Flint can’t drink blame, and they can’t bathe their kids in outrage.
We know exactly what the problem is.
Let’s get the best people to work on fixing it.
After that, we can start the floggings.
And there are people here who should be flogged."
Read it all!!!
Detroit is Not Really Tracking the 'Comp Time' of Its Employees
Detroit is Not Really Tracking the 'Comp Time' of Its Employees [Michigan Capitol Confidential]: "Employees who claim as many overtime hours as city of Detroit police officers can also rack up lots of associated “comp time.”
That’s what they call the extra time off the city gives to employees who put in extra hours, as an alternative to extra overtime pay.
Employees are allowed to bank those hours for use at a later time, and can even cash out their comp time when they retire.
Even though accumulated comp time is a liability the city may have to pay some day, Detroit does not keep a running tally of how much of it officers are owed.
When asked for this information, officials sent an email saying they can only report the comp time accrued during the current year.
They said that compiling the full amount would take 10,000 hours and cost more than $100,000.
“This will not be a fast process,” said an attorney in the city’s law department in an email.
ForTheRecord says: Michigan Capitol Confidential will pass on paying Detroit $100,000.
But best management practices (and common sense) suggest its accountants should have a handle on the magnitude of this liability, given that it appears to be a potential future claim on the city’s finances.
Plus, it’s not as if overtime fraud has been a stranger to the city, so sorting this one out shouldn't be an afterthought."
That’s what they call the extra time off the city gives to employees who put in extra hours, as an alternative to extra overtime pay.Employees are allowed to bank those hours for use at a later time, and can even cash out their comp time when they retire.
Even though accumulated comp time is a liability the city may have to pay some day, Detroit does not keep a running tally of how much of it officers are owed.
When asked for this information, officials sent an email saying they can only report the comp time accrued during the current year.
They said that compiling the full amount would take 10,000 hours and cost more than $100,000.
“This will not be a fast process,” said an attorney in the city’s law department in an email.
ForTheRecord says: Michigan Capitol Confidential will pass on paying Detroit $100,000.
But best management practices (and common sense) suggest its accountants should have a handle on the magnitude of this liability, given that it appears to be a potential future claim on the city’s finances.
Plus, it’s not as if overtime fraud has been a stranger to the city, so sorting this one out shouldn't be an afterthought."
Fermi paradox resolved: near-universal early extinction?
Fermi paradox resolved: near-universal early extinction? | KurzweilAI
The famous Fermi paradox raises the question: why haven’t we detected signs of alien life, despite high estimates of probability, such as observations of planets in the “habitable zone” around a Sun-like star by the Kepler telescope andcalculations of hundreds of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy that might support life.
Now astrobiologists from Australian National University (ANU) Research School of Earth Sciences say they have the best answer:
Because life on other planets would likely be brief and would become extinct very quickly from runaway heating or cooling.
The famous Fermi paradox raises the question: why haven’t we detected signs of alien life, despite high estimates of probability, such as observations of planets in the “habitable zone” around a Sun-like star by the Kepler telescope andcalculations of hundreds of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy that might support life.
Now astrobiologists from Australian National University (ANU) Research School of Earth Sciences say they have the best answer:
“The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens,” said Aditya Chopra, PhD., lead author on a paper published in Astrobiology.
In fact, “early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive.
Most early planetary environments are unstable.
To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable.”
In fact, “early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive.
Most early planetary environments are unstable.
To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable.”
The Gaian Bottleneck
For example, about four billion years ago Earth, Venus and Mars may have all been habitable.
However, a billion years or so after formation, Venus turned into a hothouse and Mars froze into an icebox, the authors explain.
Early microbial life on Venus and Mars, if there was any, failed to stabilize the rapidly changing environment, while life on Earth probably played a leading role in stabilizing the planet’s climate.
However, a billion years or so after formation, Venus turned into a hothouse and Mars froze into an icebox, the authors explain.
Early microbial life on Venus and Mars, if there was any, failed to stabilize the rapidly changing environment, while life on Earth probably played a leading role in stabilizing the planet’s climate.
The authors name this near-universal early extinction the “Gaian Bottleneck,” which also leads to the prediction that the vast majority of fossils in the universe (found in future meteorites, for example) will be from extinct microbial life, not from multicellular species such as dinosaurs or humanoids that take billions of years to evolve.
So far, that’s the case..."
Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Seem to Know How the Supreme Court Works — Look at How His Supporters React | TheBlaze.com
Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Seem to Know How the Supreme Court Works — Look at How His Supporters React | TheBlaze.com:"Although democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is receiving some criticism on social media for a Thursday tweet about what his requirements for a Supreme Court nominee would be, his avid supporters seemed to pay no heed to Sanders’ apparent disregard for how the Supreme Court operates."
Socialism. Again!!-----Failed Talks Raise Specter of Biggest Default in Puerto Rico Crisis
Failed Talks Raise Specter of Biggest Default in Puerto Rico Crisis - The New York Times
SAN JUAN, P.R. — Negotiations to restructure roughly $9 billion of the debt of Puerto Rico’s power company collapsed late Friday, raising the prospect of the biggest default yet in Puerto Rico’s deepening debt crisis.
The creditors blamed the utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa, for scuttling the talks, saying Prepa officials had decided to let a critical expiration date pass without taking action. But Prepa said it was the creditors’ fault for trying to impose a requirement that Prepa had already rejected.
Prepa is one of the largest single issuers of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion in debt, most of it in the form of municipal bonds, which are widely held through mutual funds and other investment firms. It is a monopoly, owned by the residents of the island, and until 2014, it was self-regulated.
“They had no incentives whatsoever to be efficient,” the president of Puerto Rico’s Senate, Eduardo Bhatia, said of Prepa in a recent interview. This is incredible. Our power plants look like the cars in Cuba...”
SAN JUAN, P.R. — Negotiations to restructure roughly $9 billion of the debt of Puerto Rico’s power company collapsed late Friday, raising the prospect of the biggest default yet in Puerto Rico’s deepening debt crisis.
The creditors blamed the utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa, for scuttling the talks, saying Prepa officials had decided to let a critical expiration date pass without taking action. But Prepa said it was the creditors’ fault for trying to impose a requirement that Prepa had already rejected.Prepa is one of the largest single issuers of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion in debt, most of it in the form of municipal bonds, which are widely held through mutual funds and other investment firms. It is a monopoly, owned by the residents of the island, and until 2014, it was self-regulated.
“They had no incentives whatsoever to be efficient,” the president of Puerto Rico’s Senate, Eduardo Bhatia, said of Prepa in a recent interview. This is incredible. Our power plants look like the cars in Cuba...”
History for January 24
History for January 24 - On-This-Day.com:
Frederick the Great (Prussia) 1712, Oral Roberts 1918, Ray Stevens 1939
Neil Diamond 1941, John Belushi 1949, Mary Lou Retton 1968
1848 - James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California. The discovery led to the gold rush of '49.
1908 - In England, the first Boy Scout troop was organized by Robert Baden-Powell.
1922 - Christian K. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie.
1935 - Krueger Brewing Company placed the first canned beer on sale in Richmond, VA.
1965 - Winston Churchill died at the age of 90.
1986 - The Voyager 2 space probe flew past Uranus. The probe came within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet of the solar system.
1989 - Ted Bundy, the confessed serial killer, was put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.
2002 - The U.S. Congress began a hearing on the collapse of Enron Corp.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
BREAKING: Clinton Camp Reeling After Intern Scandal Explodes... And Bill Isn't Even Involved
BREAKING: Clinton Camp Reeling After Intern Scandal Explodes... And Bill Isn't Even Involved: "Never one to distance herself from criminals, 2016 Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has reportedly been using illegal immigrants to drum up support for her campaign.“Clinton’s campaign has organized teams of mothers in the country illegally to operate phone banks on her behalf,” the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The irony here is rich. One of the most notorious criminals of our time is now using other criminals —"
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