Saturday, May 03, 2014

Most dangerous cities in the United States in 2014: FBI - National Conservative

Most dangerous cities in the United States in 2014: FBI - National Conservative | Examiner.com:
The Most Dangerous Cities in the United States: Top 10
  1. Camden, New Jersey
  2. Flint, Michigan
  3. Detroit, Michigan
  4. Oakland, California
  5. St. Louis, Missouri
  6. Cleveland, Ohio
  7. Gary, Indiana
  8. Newark, New Jersey
  9. Bridgeport, Connecticut
  10. Birmingham, Alabama

How Ukraine and Russia are moving toward war

(Gene Thorp / The Washington Post)MAP: How Ukraine and Russia are moving toward war:

Big sisters do better: New study of siblings finds eldest girls have the edge

Big sisters do better: New study of siblings finds eldest girls have the edge -- ScienceDaily:
Summary:
A new study has revealed that oldest children are the most ambitious, especially girls, and a wider gap between siblings increases the chances of children achieving higher levels of qualifications.

Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules-----HHS widens O-Care penalty exemptions

HHS widens O-Care penalty exemptions | TheHill:

"People who obtained health plans off the marketplaces after March 31 will not automatically face a penalty under the individual mandate, the Obama administration said Friday.



.....The move essentially nullifies the month of April for the purposes of enforcing the mandate.

Previously, people with a three-month gap in coverage in 2014 would have faced a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of annual household income.

This meant that almost everyone needed to have health insurance by March 31.

But the administration changed this deadline to May 1 for many people who struggled to enroll on the marketplaces."

The Surprising Possibility We Uncovered About the Next Company That Could Head Healthcare.Gov | TheBlaze.com

The Surprising Possibility We Uncovered About the Next Company That Could Head Healthcare.Gov | TheBlaze.com:
"The next company to run the Obamacare exchanges could be small enough to escape the law’s employer mandate to provide health insurance to employees. That’s because the Obama administration is giving priority to small business or companies operating in underprivileged areas to be the next firm running the healthcare.gov website.
Any business with fewer than 50 employees is exempt from the mandate to provide insurance to employees under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The mandate has been delayed three times, and is set to go into effect next year."

History for May 3

History for May 3 - On-This-Day.com:
Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY. 140th annual. See www.kentuckyderby.com


Birth anniversary of  Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527).

Birth anniversaries of James Brown (1933-2006), Bing Crosby (1903-77), Golda Meir (1898-1978)

Happy Birthday! Dulé Hill, Engelbert Humperdinck, Frankie Valli

1802 - Washington, DC, was incorporated as a city. 





1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax. 




1971 - National Public Radio broadcast for the first time. 






1986 - In NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff. Safety officers destroyed it by remote control. 


1988 - The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule her husband's activities. 


1992 - Five days of rioting and looting ended in Los Angeles, CA. The riots, that killed 53 people, began after the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King. 


2000 - The trial of two Libyans accused of killing 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 (over Lockerbie) opened. 


2006 - In Alexandria, VA, Al-Quaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was given a sentence of life in prison for his role in the terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. 


Friday, May 02, 2014

Lindsey Graham Says the White House Told a ‘Bald-Faced Lie’ on Benghazi Email | TheBlaze.com

Lindsey Graham Says the White House Told a ‘Bald-Faced Lie’ on Benghazi Email | TheBlaze.com:
"He noted that the email says the Obama administration will do all it can to help the families of those who were hurt.
Graham said the only people who were hurt at the time were the four Americans in Benghazi.
“So that’s just a bald-faced lie,” Graham said of the White House explanation. “That’s insulting our intelligence, and it really is disrespectful to those who died in the line of duty to suggest this email they would not give us without a court order had nothing to do with the death of four Americans.”

High School Under Fire for Students’ Removal of ‘Under God’ From the Pledge of Allegiance — and Here’s What They Replaced It With | TheBlaze.com

High School Under Fire for Students’ Removal of ‘Under God’ From the Pledge of Allegiance — and Here’s What They Replaced It With | TheBlaze.com:
"A Wisconsin high school has been accused of omitting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance on at least two separate occasions during morning announcements, purportedly replacing the term with “peace” or removing it all together.
While the motivation is still not clear, the Madison Metropolitan School District confirmed in an interview with Wisconsin’s Star Tribune that there were two separate occasions in March during which the pledge was recited inaccurately by students at East High School in Madison, Wisconsin."




Jay Carney Lashes Out at Ed Henry Over New Benghazi Emails: ‘A Conspiracy Theory in Search of a Conspiracy Theory’ | Video | TheBlaze.com

Jay Carney Lashes Out at Ed Henry Over New Benghazi Emails: ‘A Conspiracy Theory in Search of a Conspiracy Theory’ | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"In a second day of contentious questions about newly revealed emails showing White House officials seeking to blame the Benghazi attacks on an anti-Muslim video, White House press secretary Jay Carney repeatedly referred to “conspiracy theories” to deflect inquiries.
“The conspiracy theories keep falling apart,” Carney said Thursday."

Roseville Business Owner Sues City After Arrest For Allowing Customers To Dance

Roseville Business Owner Sues City After Arrest For Allowing Customers To Dance « CBS Sacramento:ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — A Roseville business owner is suing the city for false arrest in a battle over the city’s dance permit ordinance.
Roseville Station owner Len Travis was jailed in 2012 for a misdemeanor violation of Roseville’s city dance permit ordinance, all because he allowed his customers to dance.
......But now Travis is suing the city for false arrest.

Job killing scam cripples hope for entry level jobs----0.8% of Workers Are Over 29 and Earn Minimum Wage or Less

0.8% of Workers Are Over 29 and Earn Minimum Wage or Less | CNS News:
A majority of the Americans who worked for the minimum wage or less in 2013 were 24 years old or younger, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and only 0.8 percent of American workers were 29 or older and worked for the minimum wage or less.
A supermajority of 67.5 percent who earned the minimum wage or less in 2013, according to BLS, worked in what the government calls the “Leisure and Hospitality” industry. 
This includes restaurants, bars, hotels, theatres, amusement parks and other facilities catering to people pursuing recreational activities.

The Very Important Detail About the Latest Benghazi Emails Revealed During House Hearing | Video | TheBlaze.com

The Very Important Detail About the Latest Benghazi Emails Revealed During House Hearing | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"A retired Air Force general testified before a House panel Thursday that he and others knew in the first few hours that the 2012 Benghazi assault was a planned terrorist attack, and not a spontaneous response to an anti-Muslim video. It’s a revelation that raises new questions about emails released this week suggesting the administration was blaming the video days after others had ruled it out as a cause.
Retired Brigadier Gen. Robert Lovell, speaking before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday, testified that it was clear “quite early on” that the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was facing a terrorist attack."

Just How Much Beyond the Presidential Salary Do The Obamas Spend on Travel and Vacays?

Just How Much Beyond the Presidential Salary Do The Obamas Spend on Travel and Vacays?:
 "Obtained via a Freedom of Information request, here are some of the Obama presidency’s spending items:
Since 2009, a total of $40,000,000 has been spent. 
This year’s Presidential golf outings to California and Florida, including $3,000,000 in flight expenses.
2013′s Africa trip and Honolulu vacations for the Obamas cost $16,000,000- for flight expenses alone. 
2013′s Ireland trip tab: $8,000,000.
Michelle Obama’s 2-day side trip to Dublin cost $250,000, including a $3,500 per-night suite."

One Million People Dropped Out Of Labor Force In April: Participation Rate Plummets To Lowest Since 1978

One Million People Dropped Out Of Labor Force In April: Participation Rate Plummets To Lowest Since 1978 | Zero Hedge:
And so the BLS is back to its old data fudging, because while the Establishment Survey job number was a whopper, and the biggest monthly addition since January 2012, the Household Survey showed an actual decline of 73K jobs.

What is much worse, is that the reason the unemployment rate tumbled is well-known:
it was entirely due to the number of Americans dropping out of the labor force.
To wit, the labor force participation rate crashed from 63.2% to 62.8%, trying for lowest since January 1978! 
.....End result: the number out of the labor force is now an all time high 92 million, and the labor force tumbled by 800K to 155.4 million from 156.2 million.....

George Will: Tea Party an ‘Enormous Benefit’ to Both the GOP and the Country

George Will: Tea Party an ‘Enormous Benefit’ to Both the GOP and the Country: “It came into the Republican Party and brought an enormous energy and intensity. Energy and intensity at the end of the day wins elections. The Tea Party has been, on balance, an enormous benefit, A) to the Republican Party because of the energy, but, B) to the country, because the Tea Party’s message is to recover the vocabulary of constitutionalism and limited government, and the connection between the Declaration [of Independence] and the Constitution, so I’m very pro-Tea Party.”



'Happy Birthday, Amtrak! Here Are Your Presents. Love, The Taxpayers.'

'Happy Birthday, Amtrak! Here Are Your Presents. Love, The Taxpayers.':
Amtrak, the federally subsidized passenger rail service, made headlines in recent months after an Inspector General report said it offered $428,000 worth of free wine, cheese, and champagne on several of its long-distance routes in 2012Those freebies were only part of Amtrak’s total food and beverage service losses of $72 million that year. Amtrak has made improvements—losses were $105 million in 2006—but it’s hard to imagine a private company surviving six plus years losing that kind of cash on just its food service.That’s where Amtrak’s federal operating subsidies come into play.Taxpayers forked over $470 million to subsidize Amtrak’s operations (they also sent $920 million in capital subsidies).

There's gotta be a way to blame Bush! Right?-----------Unfriended: Facebook dispute results in alleged butcher knife attack in Muskegon Heights

mullins.jpgUnfriended: Facebook dispute results in alleged butcher knife attack in Muskegon Heights | MLive.com:

"MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI – A Facebook dispute between three women left two with wounds from a butcher knife and felony charges for the alleged offender, based on information from court records and a prosecutor."

A regime at war with its National Symbol------Bird conservation group to challenge rule allowing wind farms to kill eagles

Bird conservation group to challenge rule allowing wind farms to kill eagles:
The American Bird Conservancy has announced its intention to file suit against the Department of Interior for promulgating a regulation that authorizes the granting of 30-year permits for the taking of eagles by wind farms and electricity transmission projects.  
Here is ABC’s release and notice of intent to sue.
Under federal law, it is illegal to “take” protected species unless one obtains an “incidental take permit” from the federal government.  The Interior Department rule, finalized in December, extends the maximum time period for which such permits can be granted from 5 to 30 years.  ABC calls the regulation the “FWS 30-year Eagle Kill Rule.” 

Supreme Court Helps EPA Shut off Electricity in America

Supreme Court Helps EPA Shut off Electricity in America:
"In effect, the Court has just agreed to a regulation that represents a major increase in the cost of electricity in 28 states deemed to be polluting the air in those around them. The EPA’s claims that this will save lives they attribute to the alleged pollution is as bogus as all the rest of their claims, the purpose of which is to undermine the nation’s economy in every way it can.
James M. Taylor, the Heartland Institute’s Senior Fellow for Environmental Policy said of Tuesday’s decision that “It is a shame that the U.S. Supreme Court continues to empower EPA to issue nonsensical interpretations of statutes with the primary goal of amassing more money and power.”


A regime at war with its citizens-----Veterans Affairs officials purged 1.5 million unfinished medical orders

Veterans Affairs officials purged 1.5 million unfinished medical orders | WashingtonExaminer.com:
"More than 1.5 million medical orders were canceled by the Department of Veterans Affairs without any guarantee the patients received the treatment or tests they needed, the Washington Examiner has found.
Since May 2013, veterans' medical centers nationwide have been under pressure to clear out 2 million backlogged orders for patient care or services.
They were given wide latitude to cancel unfilled appointments more than 90 days old.
By April 2014, the backlog of what the agency calls “unresolved consults” was down to about 450,000.
What happened to other 1.5 million appointments is something that no one, including top officials at the veterans’ agency, can answer."