"After all, Stephanopoulos, whose knee-jerk response to the Clinton email scandal was to say, “we'll also see if her critics overreact on this one,” is a “well-respected” member of the press; he’s “one of the biggest stars” on television.
If you think it’s strange that a former Clinton aide and Clinton Foundation donor should be assigned the task of interviewing Comey on the Clinton email scandal, you’re probably not alone. It's strange indeed that no one at his network seems to care."
Money For Roads Doesn’t Go Where It’s Needed The Most [Michigan Capitol Confidential]: "...“The antiquated and inefficient formula used for sharing road funds with state and local road agencies guarantees that much of this funding will not go to those roads experiencing the most traffic or those in the worst condition,” the council stated in a report it released last month.
...Under existing law, 39 percent of the money available for Michigan roads each year goes to the state Department of Transportation, 39 percent goes to county road commissions and 22 percent goes to cities and villages.
...The Citizens Research Council said the state's system of divvying up the money doesn’t take into consideration which roads need repairs the most..." Read all!
History for April 18 - On-This-Day.com: George Henry Lewes 1817 - English philosopher, literary and theater critic, Clarence Darrow 1857 - Attorney, famous for his part in the Scopes 'monkey trial', Hayley Mills 1946 - Actress ("The Parent Trap"), singer James Woods 1947 - Actor ("The Onion Field", "Casino"), Rick Moranis 1954 - Actor ("Parenthood", "Ghostbuster" series, "Spaceballs"), Conan O'Brien 1963 - Television personality ("Late Night with Conan O'Brien") 1775 - American revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode though the towns of Massachusetts giving the warning that the Regulars were coming out. Later, the phrase "the British are coming" was attributed to Revere even though it is unlikely he used that wording. 1906 - San Francisco, CA, was hit with an earthquake. The original death toll was cited at about 700. Later information indicated that the death toll may have been 3 to 4 times the original estimate. 1923 - Yankee Stadium opened in the Bronx, NY. The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1. John Phillip Sousa's band played the National Anthem. 1938 - Superman made his debut when he appeared in the first issue of Action Comics. (Cover date June 1938) 1942 - James H. Doolittle and his squadron, from the USS Hornet, raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. 1945 - American war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa. He was 44 years old. 1949 - The Republic of Ireland was established. 1983 - The U.S. Embassy in Beirut was blown up by a suicide car-bomber. 63 people were killed including 17 Americans.
"Acrimony between the FBI and the Justice Department was so bad in the waning days of the Obama administration that some agents quit the bureau in frustration, a former G-man says.
Fractures which began during the tenure of former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. deepened in the later years, and particularly in the run-up to the 2016 president election.
The depths of the antagonism were exposed in an inspector general’s report last week looking into former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired from the FBI earlier this year for misleading multiple investigations. While saying Mr. McCabe lacked candor in questioning, some of it under oath, the report went much deeper, describing the rift between the bureau and its political masters at the department."
Contractor for Wayne County defrauded airport authority of $1.5 million, feds say | Crain's Detroit Business: "An Oakland County businessman with a checkered past has been charged with defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority out of $1.5 million.
Gary Tenaglia has been charged in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan with wire fraud over what prosecutors allege was a scheme that involved a de-icing material that was never applied at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport's Blue Deck, court documents show.
...“The Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) is aware of the FBI investigation involving the owner of a former WCAA contractor," the airport authority said in a statement.
..."The city is disappointed to learn that Mr. Tenaglia has been charged with wire fraud conspiracy," Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel said in a statement Monday afternoon.
...Tenaglia has been convicted of public utility fraud in the past and filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
...In addition, Tenaglia and his wife, Kathy, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in early 2005..." Read all!
Independent tests show Flint water improving, lead below federal action limit | MLive.com: "FLINT, MI -- Court-ordered testing by a Michigan State University professor shows Flint's water is well below the federal action limit for lead.
The Natural Resources Defense Council announced the results in a news release Friday, April 13, saying tests of 92 homes with lead service lines showed the 90th percentile for lead was 4 parts per billion.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action level is 15 ppb for lead, and the MSU results are nearly identical to state testing that has also shown vastly reduced lead in city water.
State testing in the first three months of 2018 also showed the 90th percentile for lead at 4 ppb compared to more than 20 ppb as recently as the first half of 2016.
'Flint's water quality is restored' after latest testing, state says..." Read all!
"Sponsors who left Fox News star Laura Ingraham’s show at the behest of teen gun control activist David Hogg are missing out on a 20 percent increase in eyeballs.
The conservative author of “Shut up and Sing” lost nearly 30 advertisers since a boycott against her show launched March 29, but those who held firm are benefiting from a ratings windfall. Data compiled by the media watchdog News Busters shows a jump from 2.23 million viewers prior to Mr. Hogg’s campaign to 2.7 million since her return from a vacation."
• Chart: Parking Costs Are Extortionate In Some U.S. Cities | Statista: "...A recent analysis conducted by INRIX found that the average U.S. driver has to pay $10,288 a year in car ownership costs. That's made up of direct costs (including maintenance, fuel, insurance, and parking/toll fees) and indirect/hidden costs (wasted time, parking fines and overpayments). The indirect costs are proving the greatest financial burden for drivers and INRIX found that congestion and parking-fees alone account for 45 percent of the total cost of ownership. New York is the most expensive place in the U.S. to own a car with the total cost of driving $18,926, while LA comes second ($14,834) and San Francisco is third ($14,625)..." Read all!
These 3D printed homes can be constructed for $4,000 - Business Insider: "Following is a transcript of the video. A home like this can be built in less than 24 hours at a cost of only $4,000. The secret? 3D printing... ...This prototype house was built in Austin, TX. The home measures 650 square feet. Mortar was printed layer by layer. Human workers installed windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems... Read all. Evan Loomis: Our first product is a 3D printer that can print a"
"So, New Jersey wants to cut the rest of us off. Having survived visited Newark many times in the past, I think I can safely say nobody gives a rat’s keister. This is a state where left turns are a no bueno. The air smells of a fish market on a hot summer day. They celebrate Bruce Springsteen, as opposed to charging him with crimes against humanity. Yeah, I don’t think us pro-gun states are losing much by Jersey keeping their suckage to themselves.
The left thinks they can bully the rest of us into submission with boycotts, travel bans, and accusations of being child-murdering dislikers of brown people. Except, every past attempt has fallen flat. Fire away all you want, lefties. You’re not going to change our minds."
Users want to delete their accounts so Facebook can no longer have access to all the data they agree to share with the social media giant on its platform.
But Facebook doesn’t just live on the Facebook platform—Facebook lives on every single website that has a Like button or a Login with Facebook button.
In fact, you’d probably be shocked to learn how many sites you have access to through your Facebook account via the Login with Facebook button.
(If you’re curious, you can find out by going into your Facebook settings and hitting the ‘apps’ tab on the left side).
How many accounts have you created using the Login with Facebook button? This user is connected to 51 accounts on other websites and apps.
Science writer Gary Taubes has a knack for subverting conventional wisdom. Sixteen years ago, he published a groundbreaking feature article in The New York Times Magazine arguing that decades' worth of government-approved nutritional advice was flat-out wrong, ideologically motivated, and contributing to rising rates of obesity and diabetes. Traditional dieting guidance attacking fatty food and praising carbohydrates, he wrote, was based on "a big fat lie." – The Man Who Hated Carbs Before It Was Cool
Of course Dr. Atkins had been saying essentially the same thing for 30 years before Taubes wrote his article for the NYT. But Dr. Atkins was considered an outsider in the AMA community. But Dr. Robert Atkins had the last laugh; looks like he was right about the ill effects of sugar and carbs all along. But since “good carb” science was settled, and he wasn’t deferential to the rest of the medical community that disagreed with him and because he wasn’t always polite he was ridiculed and viciously attacked personally. His nutrition plan was referred to as a “fad diet” and called “dangerous.”... ...It started when I read an editorial in my local paper on Saturday that laid out this “fact:”
…the debate about whether climate change exists, and whether humans are causing it, has been closed in the scientific community for years — at least 97 percent of scientists say it does exist and we are causing it, according to a 2016 examination of nearly 12,000 research papers.
First of all, debate is NEVER closed in the scientific community. Idiot. Science is an open proposition; things are assumed to be true until they are proven not to be. Scientific inquiry is a continuous process. Remember, at one time 99% of nutritionists thought this food pyramid was correct.
Until they decided it was upside down. Alas, after a generation of brainwashing it’s hard to convince people to the contrary. Gary Taube, discussing that issue:... Read on!
'Little Pink House' eminent domain case deserves more attention:
"Susette Kelo's 'Little Pink House' movie shed lights on an often-ignored subject: Whether or not the government has the right to take your property.
Like some sort of HGTV dream, Susette Kelo found a house in the perfect location and within her budget.
She lovingly restored and updated it, and lived there happily ever after. Well, until she was thrown out, to be precise.
Because it wasn’t an HGTV dream, but an eminent domain nightmare.
Her “little pink house” (the color was actually called “Odessa Rose”) was condemned to make space for an industrial development project.
She fought the condemnation all the way to the Supreme Court but — in what was something less than the usual rosy Hollywood ending — she lost. Her home was taken, her neighborhood was demolished, and then, adding insult to injury, the industrial redevelopment fell through and it turned out to have all been for nothing..." Read all!
"But inside the Justice Department last year, the two men, who had run the bureau as a team before both were fired nearly a year apart, were locked in a bitter dispute over who was telling the truth. They provided “starkly conflicting accounts” about a pivotal private meeting that helped lead to Mr. McCabe’s firing, an investigation has found.
Mr. McCabe’s attorney basically accused Mr. Comey of lying, or at least of lacking credibility, in testifying about a conversation the two had over a leak to The Wall Street Journal. The attorney said the Justice Department inspector general was anointing Mr. Comey as a “white knight carefully guarding FBI information while overlooking that Mr. McCabe’s account is more credible.”
Mr. McCabe accused Mr. Comey of denying the deputy’s version as a way to distance himself politically from the Journal leak."
History for April 17 - On-This-Day.com J.P. (John Pierpoint) Morgan 1837 - Financier, Thornton Wilder 1897 - Novelist, playwright, William Holden (Beedle Jr.) 1918 - Actor ("Stalag 17 [1953]", "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Towering Inferno") Don Kirshner 1934 - Music publisher, created The Monkees, Sean Bean 1958 - Actor ("Goldeneye", "The Lord of the Rings" series), Victoria Beckham (Victoria Caroline Adams) 1974 - Singer (Posh Spice of the Spice Girls) 1946 - The last French troops left Syria. 1961 - About 1,400 U.S.-supported Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It was an unsuccessful attack. 1964 - The Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model. 1969 - In Los Angeles, Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. 1969 - Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed. 1970 - Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely after an on-board accident with an oxygen tank. 1993 - A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted two former police officers of violating the civil rights of beaten motorist Rodney King. Two other officers were acquitted. 1996 - Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing their parents.
"Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said Saturday at the second emergency meeting in as many days that the overnight strike against Syrian infrastructure was justified “to deter the use of chemical weapons.”
Haley gave Russia a stern warning about the Syrian regime’s future use of chemical weapons, a warning she said came directly from President Donald Trump."
"After all, Stephanopoulos, whose knee-jerk response to the Clinton email scandal was to say, “we'll also see if her critics overreact on this one,” is a “well-respected” member of the press; he’s “one of the biggest stars” on television.
"...“The antiquated and inefficient formula used for sharing road funds with state and local road agencies guarantees that much of this funding will not go to those roads experiencing the most traffic or those in the worst condition,” the council stated in a report it released last month.
"...“The antiquated and inefficient formula used for sharing road funds with state and local road agencies guarantees that much of this funding will not go to those roads experiencing the most traffic or those in the worst condition,” the council stated in a report it released last month.
"Acrimony between the FBI and the Justice Department was so bad in the waning days of the Obama administration that some agents quit the bureau in frustration, a former G-man says.
"An Oakland County businessman with a checkered past has been charged with defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority out of $1.5 million.
"FLINT, MI -- Court-ordered testing by a Michigan State University professor shows Flint's water is well below the federal action limit for lead.
"Sponsors who left Fox News star Laura Ingraham’s show at the behest of teen gun control activist David Hogg are missing out on a 20 percent increase in eyeballs.
• Chart: Parking Costs Are Extortionate In Some U.S. Cities | Statista: 
"So, New Jersey wants to cut the rest of us off. Having survived visited Newark many times in the past, I think I can safely say nobody gives a rat’s keister. This is a state where left turns are a no bueno. The air smells of a fish market on a hot summer day. They celebrate Bruce Springsteen, as opposed to charging him with crimes against humanity. Yeah, I don’t think us pro-gun states are losing much by Jersey keeping their suckage to themselves.
Well, until she was thrown out, to be precise. 
"But inside the Justice Department last year, the two men, who had run the bureau as a team before both were fired nearly a year apart, were locked in a bitter dispute over who was telling the truth. They provided “starkly conflicting accounts” about a pivotal private meeting that helped lead to Mr. McCabe’s firing, an investigation has found.
"Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said Saturday at the second emergency meeting in as many days that the overnight strike against Syrian infrastructure was justified “to deter the use of chemical weapons.”