Anger in Italy after authorities cover up nude Roman statues of goddesses so as not to offend Iranian president

From Bill Warner, Phd "This is what dhimmitude looks like." (look it up)

Anger in Italy after authorities cover up nude Roman statues of goddesses so as not to offend Iranian president - Telegraph:
Anger in Italy after authorities cover up nude Roman statues of goddesses so as not to offend Iranian president
Hassan Rouhani is on a tour of Italy and France to drum up trade and diplomatic links after his country signed historic deal to limit its nuclear ambitions
Italy covered up marble statues of nude Roman goddesses in order to spare the blushes of the visiting president of Iran, who is on a visit to Europe to rebuild relations with the West after the recent deal on restricting its nuclear ambitions lifted years of economic sanctions.
With Italian businesses signing deals worth around 17 billion euros with Iranian companies, much was at stake and Rome was anxious not to offend the sensibilities of Hassan Rouhani.
But the decision to encase the statues of Venus and other female figures from antiquity prompted outrage from some commentators and politicians.
The act of self-censorship took place at the Capitoline Museums, one of Rome’s richest repositories of classical art, which the president visited with Matteo Renzi, the prime minister.
The offending statues lined a corridor along which the Iranian delegation passed before holding a press conference..."

Good read-----Mizzou Madness

Mizzou Madness | HeterodoxAcademy.org:
This is a guest post by Marty Rochester, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of political science at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
"As a faculty member of the four-campus University of Missouri system, I watched with a mixture of amazement and horror at the events that unfolded last fall, when a relatively small group of student protestors at UM-Columbia, joined by the school’s football team, forced the resignation of UM president Tim Wolfe as well as UMC Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.
Amazement, because perhaps never before have so few students been able to get so many college administrators to display so much cowardice over so little provocation, as the Mizzou protests have emboldened the radical left to hold campuses hostage to threats of disruption all across the country.
Horror, because perhaps never before have we seen quite this combination of totalitarianism and stupidity at work on college campuses, making a mockery of so-called higher education.
The late 1960s also saw campus demonstrations, but they at least could be understood as reactions to the vilest forms of racism, along with anger over the Vietnam War.
Although there remain legitimate concerns about racial and social justice today, we clearly now live in a much more inclusive society and there is no major war taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Notwithstanding ongoing challenges we face, things are arguably getting better and better, even as we feel worse and worse.
...The same collegians who utter obscenities at university officials and their peers claim a right not to be “offended” or made “uncomfortable” by even the slightest counterpoint to their worldviews, their psyches so fragile as to require “trigger warnings” in advance of any ideas that might deny them a “safe space.” 
A growing number of commentators, both liberals and conservatives (from Nicholas Kristof to Roger Kimball), have criticized these sophomoric types as “snowflakes,” “Little Robespierres,” and “crybullies...”
Read on and re-think where you educate your children.

American hero: Obama’s military a ‘girly man outfit’

American hero: Obama’s military a ‘girly man outfit’:

"The serious accusation leveled against Barack Obama comes from retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, who told WND bluntly, “Obama loathes the military.”

“His goal is to reduce the military to impotence,” Brady said in an interview. “That way, during his reign, which, thank God, is almost over, he could point to an emasculated military and say he didn’t have the capability to [do] anything about it. If it came to a confrontation, I don’t think he would fight.”

History for January 27

History for January 27 - On-This-Day.com:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756, Lewis Carroll 1832, Hyman Rickover 1900 


William Randolph Hearst Jr. 1908, David Seville (Chipmunks) 1919, Donna Reed 1921 


1606 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators began. They were executed on January 31. 


1880 - Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp. 


1945 - Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. 


1948 - Wire Recording Corporation of America announced the first magnetic tape recorder. The ‘Wireway’ machine with a built-in oscillator sold for $149.50. 


1951 - In the U.S., atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats. 


1967 - At Cape Kennedy, FL, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft. 


1998 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on NBC's "Today" show. She charged that the allegations against her husband were the work of a "vast right-wing conspiracy." 


2010 - Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad.

Obama May Have Gone Too Far: He Just Got Blasted With A Major Lawsuit That Could Hurt...

Obama May Have Gone Too Far: He Just Got Blasted With A Major Lawsuit That Could Hurt...:

"The first lawsuit has been filed challenging the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s executive actions concerning gun control, which he announced earlier this month.

Conservative attorney Larry Klayman filed a suit in federal district court in Florida which accuses the president of seeking to circumvent the legislative process and invent new gun laws in violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers.

“The president states that he is doing so purely because he does not like the legislative decisions of the Congress,” argues Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch. "

Demolition begins at failed Wayne Co. horse track

Demolition begins at failed Wayne Co. horse track:
Horse track property lists for $8 million
Demolition is under way on a failed $50-million horse racing track that was one of Wayne County's biggest economic development debacles of the past decade.
The abandoned Pinnacle Race Course near Detroit Metro Airport, which opened in 2008 and closed in 2010, saw its main pavilion ripped apart Monday by excavating equipment.
...A real estate listing online shows the property for sale with an $8-million asking price.
The property's unpaid tax bill is at least $2.3 million, county officials said.
..."Everyone knows that this was a terrible business deal," Bridges said.
...But years earlier, the Pinnacle track was a celebrated economic development project for Wayne County, which invested $26.6 million in sewer and other infrastructure improvements to get the thoroughbred track up and running.
The Wayne County Land Bank also sold the entire 320-acre property to Campbell and other racetrack investors for $1.
In exchange for the $1 deal, the track's corporation promised to create or retain 1,100 construction jobs and 1,200 full-time permanent jobs or suffer financial penalties based on the estimated market value of the land, at the time $8.6 million.
The Pinnacle track struggled financially almost immediately upon opening and fell behind on property taxes.
Financial records show the track lost $2.5 million in 2009 and $4.8 million in 2010.  
Efforts to revive the track by creating a “racino” with slot machines failed.
Some local officials were surprised when the county signed off on documents that said Pinnacle created or retained more than 1,500 full-time jobs (not including construction) during just its first year. 
A subsequent 2011 report by the Wayne County Auditor General said the land bank’s bookkeeping was so shoddy that auditors couldn’t accurately tally the Pinnacle job numbers, which counted UPS delivery persons as full-time jobs..."

Buy Ammo

Buy Ammo - Kurt Schlichter
I have never, ever had anyone tell me that he had too much ammunition.
Not in a combat zone, not in a civil disaster, not even in peacetime.
Never.
Nor have I lived through a time where our governing class was so deeply corrupt, so utterly foolish, and so dangerously focused on the perpetuation of its own power that it risked bringing down everything we have built not merely in the United States but in the entire West.
Right now, if you are watching the news, you have questions about the future.
And the answer to all of them is to buy ammo.
Buying ammo is a no-lose proposition.
Look, the worst thing that happens if you buy more ammo is that you have more ammo.  
Plus, much of our consumer ammo is made by hardworking Americans, and many of those ammo makers are located in red states where the right to keep and bear arms is celebrated and respected.
So you’re helping fellow conservative Americans, which is good.
And you’re infuriating people like that sanctimonious, Second Amendment-hating incompetent infesting the White House, which is great.
...Right now we have a president who thinks he can ignore or modify the law unilaterally, justifying it with the baffling argument that he shouldn’t have to ask Congress because Congress will just say “No” – which I always thought was kind of the point of checks and balances.  
So what happens when President Clinton, who identified you and me and the 50% of Americans who aren’t her supporters as her enemies, decides she gets to make her own laws because, well, she knows better and feels like it?  
Nothing good.
But deterrence is a wonderful thing.
An armed, trained populace is not only prepared for when things go bad, but the fact that it is armed and trained makes it much less likely that things will go bad in the first place.
Last year, Americans voted for liberty by buying well over 15 million new guns.
That’s roughly 40,000 a day, every day.
That’s enough to arm three infantry divisions.
Every.
Single.
Day.
Just don’t forget to buy ammo."

Here’s What Citizens in a Massachusetts City Must Do to Apply for a Handgun License | TheBlaze.com

Here’s What Citizens in a Massachusetts City Must Do to Apply for a Handgun License | TheBlaze.com:

"Outraged critics in Lowell, Massachusetts, are denouncing the city’s new law that will require those applying for a license to carry handguns to submit a personal “essay” and pay roughly $1,100 toward a set of training classes."

New Swimming Pool "Rules" Poster Shows How Sick Life With Muslim Refugees Really Is

PHOTO: New Swimming Pool "Rules" Poster Shows How Sick Life With Muslim Refugees Really Is
We are often told by President Barack Obama and his fellow progressives that there is nothing to worry about when it comes to the waves of Muslim migrants and “refugees” flooding into Europe, and to a lesser extent, the U.S.
Yet European women are suffering from an incredible spike in sexual harassment, physical assaults and rapesat the hands of those allegedly harmless and innocent Muslim men.
In fact, the instances of sexual harassment and assault have increased so much that public swimming pools in Munich have resorted to posting cartoon-like posters informing men that it is not OK to touch a woman’s body without permission, no matter what she may or may not be wearing.
The German news site The Local reported on the comic strip-style posters teaching Muslim migrants about proper swimming pool etiquette, which have been translated from German into French, Arabic, Pashto and Somali.
One panel of the poster in particular features a blond woman in a bikini with a hand reaching for her rear end.
The universally understood red circle with a backslash over the hand make it perfectly clear that men are not allowed to grab a woman’s butt.
This follows the recent news from the German town of Bornheim, near Cologne. 
Bornheim just banned all adult male Muslim migrants from its public pool due to a flurry of complaints about sexual harassment and assaults, according to the BBC.
The Munich pool rules posters were actually first designed more than two years ago, revealing that the current issues facing the German people are nothing new, but have found a resurgence recently due to the massive influx of migrants over the past year.
“The ground rule of respect for women – whatever clothing they’re wearing – is unfortunately not respected by all our swimmers.
That’s why there is an explicit indication about it,” a spokesman for Munich’s city government said in a statement.
Is this what our world is coming to, that we must post reminders to men that they aren’t allowed to simply grab and grope whatever women they want, whenever they want, wherever they want?
Furthermore, if these Muslim migrants and “refugees” were really as harmless and innocent as Obama and others purport them to be, would these kinds of signs really be necessary?

Bills Impose Accountability on Powerful Historic Districts

Bills Impose Accountability on Powerful Historic Districts [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
Current law lets handful of activists restrict property owners' choices
For nearly a half century, small numbers of architectural preservation activists have used a device called study commissions to get portions of Michigan communities designated as historic districts. These commissions tend to be dominated by the activists and often make decisions that infringe the private property rights of many people.
But the rules of the game may soon change.
...Among other things the legislation would raise the threshold for creating a historic district: Two-thirds of the affected property owners would have to give their assent.
The bills would expand individual rights in several other ways as well.
...Under current law, once a historic district is created it becomes nearly permanent, regardless of whether people in the community support it. 
Also, the district boundaries can be altered and even expanded by Lansing bureaucrats — without notice to or input from affected property owners.
The the current law was well-meant when it was adopted back in 1970, but over the decades, it has morphed into something that often lacks common sense.
This legislation will provide that common sense by enhancing local control and increasing the rights of property owners...”

Lunch video-----The Video That Just May Sink Hillary's Ship...

The Video That Just May Sink Hillary's Ship... » Louder With Crowder:

This week, AmericaRising released an ad on Hillary Clinton.  I usually don’t like, nor commentate on these kinds of ads.

But this ad, is without a doubt, the most effective anti-campaign ad that I’ve ever seen.  And it shows Conservatives the blueprint on how to beat Hillary.  Attack the dishonesty.  I’ve been saying this for years. Hillary Clinton is more than a slimy politician, she’s a compulsive liar.  She lies about big things, but more importantly, she lies about little things when she thinks that nobody’s watching. For no reason!  Ignore the “sexism” claims from the left, speak freely, and focus on this. Watch below. It’s a must.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Read more: http://louderwithcrowder.com/the-video-that-just-may-sink-hillarys-ship/#ixzz3xkbY6500
Follow us: @scrowder on Twitter | stevencrowderofficial on Facebook

Noon-toon

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Center for Medical Progress Filmmakers, but Not Planned Parenthood | TheBlaze.com

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Center for Medical Progress Filmmakers, but Not Planned Parenthood | TheBlaze.com:

“The Center for Medical Progress uses the same undercover techniques that investigative journalists have used for decades in exercising our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press, and follows all applicable laws,” Daleiden said in a statement. “We respect the processes of the Harris County District Attorney, and note that buying fetal tissue requires a seller as well. Planned Parenthood still cannot deny the admissions from their leadership about fetal organ sales captured on video for all the world to see.”

“We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a statement. "

Successful Political Speech Measures at a 4th-Grade Level

Successful Political Speech Measures at a 4th-Grade Level | Intellectual Takeout:
For those curious to know what type of books American school children are reading, look no farther than Renaissance Learning’s 2016 report What Kids are Reading.

Compiled from reading data from 9.8 million students, the report lists the top 25 most read books for each grade along with their reading level.
While some tried and true classics are in the mix, it’s not all that surprising to find Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Hunger Games topping the charts.
More surprising, however, is the reading level at which most of the popular books register. 
On average, children in grades 6-11 fail to read material above a fifth-grade level. 
Twelfth graders do a hair better with an average reading level of mid-6th grade.

Such news is interesting, particularly in light of the current presidential race. 
Last fall, the Boston Globe measured the readability level of candidates’ political speeches. 
Donald Trump came in with the lowest score, with a readability level that a 4th-grader could understand. As the Globe pointed out:
“The utterances of today’s candidates reflect a continued decline in the complexity of political speech. President George Washington’s ‘Farewell Address’ in 1796 was written at graduate-degree levels: Grade 17.9 , while President Abraham Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’ in 1863 was at an 11th-grade level.”

In all likelihood, the complexity – or rather, simplicity – of modern political speech is keeping pace with the low reading levels maintained in today’s classrooms.
The American Republic established by the Founders required an educated citizenry in order to maintain it. 
Judging from the apparently low reading and comprehension levels which seem to be the norm, does it seem that both good education and the Republic are at risk of becoming extinct?

2016’s Best and Worst States to Retire

2016’s Best and Worst States to Retire | WalletHub®:
"...But in addition to when you want to retire, you might want to ask yourself where.
That can be an awfully difficult question to answer if you haven’t adequately planned — or been able to plan — for the rest of your life.
Even in the most affordable areas of the U.S., retirees often cannot rely on their Social Security or pension checks alone to cover all of their living expenses.
Social Security benefits increase progressively with local inflation, but they replace only about 40 percent of the amount you earned if you were an average worker, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
If retirement is still a big question mark for you because of finances, we recommend you consider relocating to a retirement-friendly state — one that will let you keep more money in your pocket without drastically modifying your lifestyle. 
WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 24 key metrics to help you find that permanent, and affordable, place to call home when you’re ready to leave the workforce.
Of course, affordability shouldn’t be your only priority in retirement, which is why our analysis also explores health-related factors and overall quality of life. 
Scroll down for the results, additional expert commentary and a detailed methodology.

The Flint Water Crisis Is the Result of a Stimulus Project Gone Wrong

The Flint Water Crisis Is the Result of a Stimulus Project Gone Wrong - Hit & Run : Reason.com
Liberals are wrongly blaming Flint's lead poisoning crisis on austerity measures imposed on the city by a fiscally conservative Republican Governor Rick Snyder, as I wrote last week. (Snyder had appointed an emergency manager in 2011 to help the city balance its books and avoid bankruptcy.) 
However, I didn't quite realize just how wrong they were. 
As it turns out, the debacle is the result of Snyder's efforts to stimulate the local economy—the exact opposite of the liberal line.

The whole mess occurred because Flint decided against renewing its 30-year contract with the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) and switched instead to Karengondi Water Authority (KWA).
KWA was planning to build its own hugely expensive pipeline, parallel to DWSD's, to harness water from Lake Huron and service the Genesee County area where Flint is located. 
This left the city in the lurch for a few years when its contract with DWSD ended but the new facility had not yet gone online, prompting it to reopen a local mothballed facility that relied on the toxic Flint River as its source (more on the rank stupidity of this decision later).
The rationale for the original decision to switch Flint's water providers was that, in the long run, KWA would generate substantial savings for the cash-strapped city. 
Not only was this false but Snyder had very good reasons at that time to believe that this was false.
This IS interesting. 
Read on!

State Dept. asking for 1-month extension on releasing Clinton emails, citing this? - Liberty Unyielding

State Dept. asking for 1-month extension on releasing Clinton emails, citing this? - Liberty Unyielding:
"Possibly in light of this, State Department spokesman Mark Toner offered another explanation for why the agency cannot not meet its court-mandated goal of Jan. 29, namely some 9,400 of the 55,000 remaining pages “contain a large amount of material that required interagency review.” And if you don’t accept that, there is always the “dog ate my homework” excuse waiting in the wings."

JFK allowed passengers to exit without going through Customs

JFK allowed passengers to exit without going through Customs - NY Daily News:
Passengers arriving at Kennedy Airport on an international flight were allowed to exit the busy hub without going through Customs — for at least the second time in recent months, the Daily News has learned.
Bumbling airline and security officials let travelers on American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico, out of the airport on Monday morning without having their passports or bags checked, sources told The News.
The security lapse mirrored a similar incide
...The oversight sparked fears that terrorists could easily slip into the country without having to pass through any checkpoints.
“New York remains the number one target for terrorists and it just made me think of Paris and how easy it would be for them to get in,” he said. “It’s incompetence like this that could lead to another attack.”
A nearly identical incident involving another American Airlines flight from Cancun unfolded in November, just two days after ISIS released a video threatening New York City with a terrorist attack, The News reported.
American Airlines admitted to the latest security snafu in a statement, but declined to say what they were doing about it...”

History for January 26

History for January 26 - On-This-Day.com:
Douglas MacArthur 1880, William Hopper 1915, Paul Newman 1925 


Eddie Van Halen 1955 - Guitar player (Van Halen), Ellen DeGeneres 1958 - Actress-comedian. Television series: Ellen. She is famous for "coming out" on the television show Ellen, judge on "American Idol", Wayne Gretzky 1961 - Hockey hall-of-famer. He is known as "The Great One". He won four Stanley Cups. 


1784 - In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America. He wanted the symbol to be the turkey. 


1837 - Michigan became the 26th state to join the United States. 


1875 - George F. Green patented the electric dental drill for sawing, filing, dressing and polishing teeth. 


1911 - Inventor Glenn H. Curtiss flew the first successful seaplane. 


1950 - India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president. 


1996 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before a grand jury concerning the Whitewater probe. 


1998 - U.S. President Clinton denied having an affair with a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." 


2009 - The Icelandic government and banking system collapsed. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned.

IT'S ABOUT TIME: Judge Blasts Corrupt Baltimore D.A. On Freddie Gray Case

IT'S ABOUT TIME: Judge Blasts Corrupt Baltimore D.A. On Freddie Gray Case:

"A judge in the case of the police officers who arrested Freddie Gray in Baltimore has ruled that another police officer would not be compelled to testify against his fellow officers in the upcoming trial, Reuters reported.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams ruled Wednesday that an attempt by the prosecution to compel Officer William Porter to testify in the trial of other officers was a “stall tactic” being used by the prosecution to draw out the case."

Clinton corruption is endless-----Clinton Foundation didn't disclose up to $26M in fees

Clinton Foundation didn't disclose up to $26M in fees - CNNPolitics.com:
"Washington (CNN)The Clinton Foundation confirmed Thursday that it received as much as $26.4 million in previously unreported payments from foreign governments and corporations for speeches given by the Clintons.
It's the latest in a string of admissions from the foundation that it didn't always abide by a 2008 ethics agreement to disclose its funding sources publicly. 
...Former President Clinton was the biggest earner for speeches, giving three that brought in anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.
Both he and his wife gave a smattering of speeches to foreign companies and other organizations for anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000.
...According to foundation officials, the income -- at least $12 million and as much as more than twice that -- was not disclosed publicly because it was considered and tallied for tax purposes as revenue, rather than donations.
In April, the head of a Canadian charity that donates to the foundation acknowledged that it didn't disclose any of the 1,100 largely foreign donors that ultimately contributed $2.35 million to the broader organization through the Canadian group.
That month, foundation acting CEO Maura Pally acknowledged "mistakes" in the organization's tax filings, which she said "mistakenly combined" government grants with other donations.
The foundation has now provided a listing of the speeches and a range for the amount each earned on its website, and says it will continue posting updates quarterly, beginning in July..."