8 killed, 30 wounded in Presidents Day weekend shootings across Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times

8 killed, 30 wounded in Presidents Day weekend shootings across Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times: "Eight people were killed and at least 30 others were wounded in Presidents Day weekend shootings across Chicago.
The last fatal shooting of the weekend happened early Tuesday in Englewood. Maurice D. Hutson, 24, was involved in a fight with a group of males about 12:25 a.m. in the 6800 block of South Normal when one of the males pulled out a handgun and fired a shot, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Hutson suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 1:06 a.m.
He lived in the Roseland neighborhood.
On Monday evening, a boy was shot and killed in the South Side Chatham neighborhood. 
About 5:20 p.m., 15-year-old Larenzo Smith and a 19-year-old woman were walking in the 7600 block of South Champlain when someone approached them and fired shots, authorities said. Smith, who lived in the same block as the shooting, was shot in the chest and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he died at 6:04 p.m.
The woman suffered a gunshot wound to her hip and was taken to Christ, where her condition stabilized.
Another 24-year-old man was killed in a shooting Monday morning..."
And on and on...

#1 This day 1973-----Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack)

Did the Progressive 'Broward County Solution' Cost 17 Student Lives?

Did the Progressive 'Broward County Solution' Cost 17 Student Lives?:
""We're not compromising school safety.  We're really saving the lives of kids," boasted Michaelle Valbrun-Pope, executive director of Student Support Initiatives for Broward County Public Schools, in August 2017.
Valbrun-Pope was referring to what an article by Jeffrey Benzing in Public Source calls the "Broward County Solution."  
As Benzing relates, Broward County used to lead the state of Florida in sending students to the state's juvenile justice system. 
County leaders responded with a perfectly progressive solution: "lower arrests by not making arrests."
Authorities agreed to treat twelve different misdemeanor offenses as school-related issues, not criminal ones.  
The results impressed the people who initiated the program. 
Arrests dropped from more than a thousand in 2011-2012 to less than four hundred just four years later.
One particular motivation behind programs like Broward County's was the pressure from multiple sources to reduce the statistical disparity between black and Hispanic student arrests on one hand and white and Asian student arrests on the other..."
Read on!

You ought to know!

Nancy Pelosi ignores net worth inquiry after lecturing on 'inordinate wealth' - Washington Times

Nancy Pelosi ignores net worth inquiry after lecturing on 'inordinate wealth' - Washington Times:

"The Washington Free Beacon noted in January that Mrs. Pelosi’s 2016 financial-disclosure statement places her “in the top one-tenth of the 1 percent of Americans.”
“Pelosi’s annual property tax bill alone on three luxury homes last year— $137,000 — is more than twice the 2016 U.S. median household income of $59,039, which the U.S. Census reported last fall,” the website reported Jan. 25."

Taxpayers May Lose On High-Balance Student Loans

Taxpayers May Lose On High-Balance Student Loans:
"The Brookings Institution has released a new research report by Adam Looney and Constantine Yannelis looking at student borrowers with very high balances. 
The research provides a good reminder that borrowers with high balances, who often feature prominently in media coverage of student debt, are the exception. 
Just 14% of all federal student loan borrowers have balances above $50,000, and the majority of those individuals borrowed to pursue expensive graduate degrees.

Despite their relative rarity, high-balance borrowers deserve our attention for the risk they pose to the federal government’s finances. While high-balance borrowers represent just a small share of the individuals with outstanding student loans, they owe over half the outstanding balances...

Preston Cooper/Forbes

Source: Looney and Yannelis (2018). https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/es_20180209_looneylargebalances.pdf

But looking at balances rather than borrowers tells the exact opposite story. 
While just 5% of borrowers in default owe more than $50,000, these borrowers also owe over 25% of the dollars in default. 
Though high-balance borrowers default at a relatively low rate, the risk they pose to taxpayers is substantial..."
Read on!

AM Fruitcake

History for February 22

History for February 22 - On-This-Day.com:
George Washington (U.S.) 1732 - First President of the United States., James Russell Lowell 1819, Robert Baden-Powell 1857


Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892, Robert Young 1907, Edward M. Kennedy 1932  Lea Salonga 1971


1630 - Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.


1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.


1855 - The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.


1879 - In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.


1885 - The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.


1923 - The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA. It was the first farm of its kind in the U.S.


1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.


1997 - Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned. Dolly was actually born on July 5, 1996. Dolly was the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell.

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

https://libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2018/02/manipulation-and-suppression-by-tammy.html

Manipulation and Suppression

By Tammy Derouin

The United States of America is in crisis. We are supposed to be the land of the free where the government not only acknowledges our God-given rights but protects them. Once again, more evidence is making its way to the surface that the Obama administration was full of corruption and scandal.

Our government, under the destructive desire of the Obama administration, launched non-stop attacks on the American people and our founding principles. The desire of his administration to inflict harm, irreversible harm, on our country has become more and more transparently clear with each passing day.

The list of scandals is long and sordid. So many were listed during the years of darkness. The Left, however, not only denies them but has turned manipulation and suppression of the truth into an art form. Their spin doctors have attempted to blame others or make up their own reality, twisting and turning facts into fiction and fiction into facts. The press, well we know by now, that our once free press betrayed the American people. The press could have been heroes had they done their job. Instead, they will probably fare much worse than the actual players of the anti-American Obama administration. They could have informed America of so many wrong doings had they not given up their right of freedom of speech.......

The way we were-----Van McCoy - "The Hustle"

Boob-tube-----"Rocky King; Detective" ~ "The Hermit's Cat" (1950's TV crime show)

Where Are the Indictments of Obama’s Foreign Colluders? | Frontpage Mag

Where Are the Indictments of Obama’s Foreign Colluders? | Frontpage Mag:

"The Clinton campaign employed a British foreign agent who used Russian intelligence sources to put together opposition research meant to interfere with the results of a United States election. Collusion between the Clinton campaign, Steele and the Russians doesn’t require an endless fishing expedition.
Foreigners interfering in United States elections are not a new phenomenon. Muslims in Gaza famously ran a phone bank for Obama. A Hamas political adviser had declared that he hoped Obama would win.
There was no investigation. Nor did anyone indict the Gazans running the phone bank.
The indictment states that, “the Federal Election Campaign Act… prohibits foreign nationals from making any contributions, expenditures, independent expenditures, or disbursements for electioneering communications.” But Obama had chosen to accept untraceable donations from abroad. He had failed to ask for proof of citizenship and his website had even allowed donations from Iran and North Korea.
The chair of Nigeria’s stock exchange had organized an “Africans for Obama” fundraiser. The Albanian Socialist Prime Minister had been accused of a scheme to transfer $80,000 to an Obama fundraising committee. Gazans bought and resold Obama t-shirts from the campaign website. And no indictments.
None of that counts as election interference. And none of it generated an investigation of Obama."

Four Liberal PACs Outspent the NRA in 2016 Campaign

Four Liberal PACs Outspent the NRA in 2016 Campaign:
"If the National Rifle Association is powerful because it gives so much money to Republican politicos, what about these left-wing groups that give far more to Democrats?--by Mark Tapscott
Four liberal political action committees (PACs) that support only Democrats gave more than $393 million in independent campaign contributions during the 2016 election cycle, an amount that collectively was seven times more than that reported by the NRA.
Even the average for the four liberal groups — $98.25 million – exceeded the $54.4 million total spent by the gun rights group, according to an examination of Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign funding data compiled by opensecrets.org.
The campaign spending data provide a marked contrast to a familiar narrative that always dominates mainstream media reporting following tragedies like the horrendous events last week in Broward County, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 16 students and one football coach dead.
Typical of the narrative is the “‘Thoughts and Prayers’ and Fistfuls of NRA Money: Why America Can’t Control Guns (A Grim Update),” which appeared in the Los Angeles Times...
...“You know how the argument goes.
The ‘conventional wisdom’ is the NRA’s heavy spending stops hundreds of politicians from enacting the “common sense” gun control laws they and everyone else would otherwise support …
“There’s only one problem with that theory. It’s all wrong.”
Read it all!

Taxing Innovators To Pay For Universal Welfare Is A Terrible Idea | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD

Taxing Innovators To Pay For Universal Welfare Is A Terrible Idea | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD:

"A new "study" in Britain suggests that by raising taxes sharply on Facebook, Amazon and Apple, the government could pay for a universal basic income (UBI) for all Britons. It's an absurd idea, which is why it can't be counted out.

The so-called FANG companies — the above-mentioned three, plus Google and Netflix — have been vilified now for years in Europe and in the U.S. as "monopolies" and, worse, "predators." When such strident rhetoric is used by politicians, you know they're going in for the kill. There's money to be made in taking down big, successful companies."

Catch and release?-----Teen accused of threat to 'shoot up' school charged, released on bond | MLive.com

Teen accused of threat to 'shoot up' school charged, released on bond | MLive.com:
"MANISTEE COUNTY, MI -- A 17-year-old Wellston resident accused of threatening to "shoot up" a school in Manistee County was arraigned Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Cullen Shafer was charged with a felony threat of terrorism, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
He is out of jail on bond, which was set at $100,000.
Shafer is accused of making a verbal threat to shoot up Brethren High School...
The alleged threat was reported Monday, but police said it was made last week. 
That same week, a 19-year-old Florida man shot and killed 17 people, and injured another 14, at a school shooting in Parkland, Florida..."
Read on!

Judicial Watch: Documents Reveal Obama State Department Provided Classified Records to Sen. Ben Cardin to Undermine President Trump - Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch: Documents Reveal Obama State Department Provided Classified Records to Sen. Ben Cardin to Undermine President Trump - Judicial Watch:

"Judicial Watch today released 42 pages of heavily redacted State Department documents containing classified information that was provided to Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump. The documents show Russian political interference in elections and politics in countries across Europe.

According to a March 2017 report in the Baltimore Sun: “Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin received classified information about Russia’s involvement in elections when the Obama administration was attempting to disseminate that material widely across the government in order to aid in future investigations, according to a report Wednesday … Obama officials were concerned, according to the report [in The New York Times, below], that the Trump administration would cover up intelligence once power changed hands.”"

Lunch video-----Presidents Day 2018

Noon-toon

What if there were serious gun controls? | TheHill

What if there were serious gun controls? | TheHill:

"After the Las Vegas murders, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) urged Congress to “take a stand against gun violence by passing common-sense gun safety laws.” On Monday, after the mass murder in Texas, he wrote, “A simple idea: Anyone convicted of domestic abuse should see their rights under the 2nd Amendment severely curtailed.” On Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) announced that he and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) are writing a bill “to prevent anyone convicted of domestic violence — be it in criminal or military court — from buying a gun.

In the spirit of these proposals, here are some ideas for tough federal gun laws — most of which should have been enacted years ago."

Time to push back against the global warming Nazis « Roy Spencer, PhD

Time to push back against the global warming Nazis « Roy Spencer, PhD: 
"Yeah, somebody pushed my button.
When politicians and scientists started calling people like me “deniers”, they crossed the line. 
They are still doing it.
They indirectly equate (1) the skeptics’ view that global warming is not necessarily all manmade nor a serious problem, with (2) the denial that the Nazi’s extermination of millions of Jews ever happened.
Too many of us for too long have ignored the repulsive, extremist nature of the comparison. 
It’s time to push back.
I’m now going to start calling these people “global warming Nazis”.
The pseudo-scientific ramblings by their leaders have falsely warned of mass starvation, ecological collapse, agricultural collapse, overpopulation…all so that the masses would support their radical policies. 
...Dissenting scientific views are now jack-booted through tactics like pressuring scientific journals to not publish papers with which they disagree…even getting journal editors to resign.
Like the Nazis, they are anti-capitalist. 
They are willing to sacrifice millions of lives of poor people at the altar of radical environmentalism, advocating expensive energy policies that increase poverty. 
And if there is a historically demonstrable threat to humanity, it is poverty.
...This authoritarianism tends to happen with an over-educated elite class…I have read that Nazi Germany had more PhDs per capita than any other country...
So, as long as they continue to call people like me “deniers”, I will call them “global warming Nazis”..."
Read on!

Supreme Court Case Could Spell End of Mandatory Public Sector Union Dues - Reason.com

Supreme Court Case Could Spell End of Mandatory Public Sector Union Dues - Reason.com: "Would extend "right to work" principles to government employment.--John Stossel
If your workplace is a union shop, are you forced to pay union dues?
This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments about that.
When I worked at CBS and ABC, I was ordered to join the American Federation of Radio and TV Artists.
That union had won a vote that gave them the right to speak for all reporters.
I said, "I'm no 'artist.' I'm a reporter! I won't join!"
But my bosses said they couldn't pay me unless I did.
In right-to-work states, unions can't force people to join.
But only 28 states are right to work.
Aging socialist bureaucracies like New York state are not among them.
But now the Supreme Court may say that no government worker, in any state, can be forced to pay a union.
"If we lose this case, the entire public sector will be right to work," warns Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, the big government employees union..."
Read on!

#1 This day 1960-----Percy Faith - Theme From A Summer Place

American hero!-----Men With Chests and Those Without - American Greatness

Men With Chests and Those Without - American Greatness
"Last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school reminds us yet again that to live well—to live free—requires men with chests. 
That is a fundamental requirement of free government.
One young man in particular, Peter Wang, died with his chest out for all to see. 
As the Daily Mail reports, Wang was killed while “holding the door for classmates, dressed in his grey ROTC uniform.”
For his heroism, the Army posthumously awarded Wang with the JROTC Medal of Heroism.
In addition, the United States Military Academy appointed Wang to West Point’s class of 2025, as it was his dream to attend the academy.
Such honors are fitting, but they are not sufficient.
Peter Wang exhibited extraordinary courage under fire for a young man, and his example serves as a stark reminder of the republican virtue required to live in a free nation. 
His sacrifice deserves extraordinary attention to match his deeds. 
With that in mind, Trump should do one of the things he does best: dispensing honors to the deserving to teach our citizens what republican virtue really is.
The idea of men with or without chests comes from C.S. Lewis’s description in The Abolition of Man. 
Lewis ends his first chapter with an important passage:
And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more “drive,” or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or “creativity.” In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
This, it seems, captures our predicament today.
A man’s chest—the organ that enables one to know right from wrong and the source of virtues like courage—is a laughable idea to many today.
This utter disbelief in the need for boys (especially) but even adult self-governing citizens more generally, to develop manly chests in order to act like free men, is systemic...
...And thankfully, there are still some men out there with chests.
Which brings us back to Peter Wang.
While others died well that day, doing their duty and protecting the innocent, Cadet Wang’s courage was extraordinary. 
We should expect that any self-respecting man would have to charge someone shooting children, but we do not expect it of those as young as Cadet Wang. 
At the mere age of 15, Wang died a man’s death so that others might live.
For such heroism, we should honor Peter Wang. 
We should raise what he did up high in our minds, not simply because of the nobility of his actions, but because Wang vindicated himself in a way that represents what is required of all of us in lesser measure if we want to live free."
Read on!

You ought to know!

Barack Obama's border mess, mayhem, madness rage on - Washington Times

Barack Obama's border mess, mayhem, madness rage on - Washington Times:

"Obama’s legacy of steamrolling past the Constitution, bypassing Congress and thwarting the will of the American voter — the means by which his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program came into being in the first place — stands tall and strong under this Trump administration."

AM Fruitcake

FBI Will Review 16,750 Pages of Comey Documents in Response to Judicial Watch FOIA - Judicial Watch

FBI Will Review 16,750 Pages of Comey Documents in Response to Judicial Watch FOIA - Judicial Watch:

"There is significant public interest in Comey’s conduct and the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email and Russia collusion investigations and targeting of President (and candidate) Trump.

“The FBI has a terrible record of playing shell games with records – "

History for February 21

History for February 21 - On-This-Day.com:
Zachary Scott 1914, Sam Peckinpah 1925 - Director, Erma Bombeck 1927 - Humorist, columnist, writer


Barbara Jordan 1936 - Lawyer, U.S. Congresswoman, Alan Rickman 1946, Kelsey Grammer 1955 - Actor ("Cheers," "Frazier")


1842 - John J. Greenough patented the sewing machine.


1848 - The Communist Manifesto was published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.


1904 - The National Ski Association was formed in Ishpeming, MI.


1916 - During World War I, the Battle of Verdun began in France. The battle ended on December 18, 1916 with a French victory over Germany.


1925 - The first issue of "The New Yorker" was published.


1947 - Edwin Land demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera to the Optical Society of America in New York City. It was the first camera to take, develop and print a picture on photo paper all in about 60 seconds. The photos were black and white. The camera went on sale the following year.


1965 - Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City at the age of 39 by assassins identified as Black Muslims.


1988 - In Baton Rouge, LA, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty of an unspecified sin. He announced that he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. Swaggart had been linked to an admitted prostitute.