Embarrassing: Obama Just Got Lambasted By A Leader Of Another Country For Something Inexcusable

Embarrassing: Obama Just Got Lambasted By A Leader Of Another Country For Something Inexcusable:
"The French Minister Laurent Fabius has a message about Iraq for Mr. Obama: Get back to the White House and do something."

Community Paddle: Final 2014 event part of Michigan Maritime Celebration on Saturday

Community Paddle: Final 2014 event part of Michigan Maritime Celebration on Saturday | MLive.com:

MUSKEGON, MI – The third and final Community Paddle on Muskegon Lake this summer will launch Saturday, Aug. 16 as part of the revamped Michigan Maritime Celebration.

Paddlers will begin to gather at the city of Muskegon's Harbour Towne Beach on the west end of Muskegon Lake at 9:30 a.m. The Community Paddle will take off from the beach at approximately 10 a.m.

...Those wanting to participate in Saturday's Community Paddle should have a life jacket that meets recreational boating regulations.

At the end of the Community Paddle, Guys Ultimate Kayak Service LLC will conduct a kayak race competition at about noon. Sponsored by Guys Kayaks and Kalamazoo Outfitters, the event will try to find the "fastest paddler in the county," owner and organizer Guy DeBor said.

Guys Kayak will provide all of the kayaks and equipment for the 50-yard competition on Muskegon Lake. The course will be a 25-yard sprint to a buoy and back. The competition will be split into divisions for individuals, tandems along with two- and four-paddler relay teams. The winners will be determined through a series of single-heat elimination races.

Who is going to pay to clean up metro Detroit flood damage?

Who is going to pay to clean up metro Detroit flood damage? | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"As metro Detroit recovers from this week’s historic flood and assessors start tallying the damage, one key question keeps popping up in neighborhoods and city halls:
Who is going to pay to clean up the mess? 
Homeowners want to know. 
So do business owners and local officials, who are scrambling to figure out how much total damage was done. So far, the cities hit by flooding have determined that 33% to 50% of homes were damaged.
That’s more than 34,000 structures.
 But new reports of flood damage keep coming in — the latest involving a half-dozen basements collapsing in Warren, Center Line and Clinton Township after floodwaters receded. And streets and highways are still buckling.
Whether federal aid becomes available remains uncertain.
But if Warren is any indication, the price is going to be astronomical, and government aid will be vital.
“If the federal government can help flood-damaged communities in various countries in the world,” Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said Thursday, “I think they can help flood damage in the city of Warren and southeast Michigan.
Like someone said to me, this was a biblical storm with biblical cost.”
 ■ Related: Metro Detroit cities report flood damaged 33% to 50% of homes, businesses
 ■ Insurance: Many flooded basements won’t be covered
Fouts said Monday’s heavy rains damaged 18,047 structures in Warren worth $1.2 billion — not including damage at the police department, district court, community center and the 10 police cars destroyed.
Plus, 1,000 abandoned vehicles on Warren roadways had to be towed."

Consultant: Muskegon County's wastewater facility has 'as much debt as equity'

Consultant: Muskegon County's wastewater facility has 'as much debt as equity' | MLive.com: "MUSKEGON, MI – A third-party consultant has recommended a conservative financial approach at the Muskegon County Wastewater Management System.
Utility Financial Solutions Vice President Dawn Lund spoke at a meeting of the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, Aug. 12.
She recommended against taking on additional debt for capital improvements, and in favor of a series of scheduled increases to the wholesale sewer rates it charges cities and townships.
...."There is as much debt in the system as there is equity in the system," Lund said. The system has about $65 million in debt and its remaining equity is worth roughly the same amount, she said.
.....To keep money for repairs coming, Lund recommended Wastewater facility increase its wholesale rate for receiving sewage by 4.3 percent every year for the next five years – 2015-2019. 
Last year, the rate was increased by 5.2 percent."(almost 30% increase in 6 years!)

How the U.S. Power Grid Is Like a Big Pile of Sand

How the U.S. Power Grid Is Like a Big Pile of Sand - NationalJournal.com:
"... The Wall Street Journal gave us quite a scare.
"The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country's 55,000 electric-transmission substations on a scorching summer day," Rebecca Smith wrote.
It's no secret that North America's three massive power grids, the interconnected systems that transmit electricity from power plants to consumers, are not invincible.
The U.S. power grid is, in fact, big enough to fail.
In other words, the grid may be not be the "right" size—big enough to distribute power efficiently, but small enough to prevent widespread blackouts, such as the 2003 blackout that cut power to 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada for two days."

14 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy's Bubble Of False Prosperity May Be About To Burst

14 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy's Bubble Of False Prosperity May Be About To Burst | Zero Hedge: "Did you know that a major event just happened in the financial markets that we have not seen since the financial crisis of 2008?  
If you rely on the mainstream media for your news, you probably didn't even hear about it.  
Just prior to the last stock market crash, a massive amount of money was pulled out of junk bonds.  
Now it is happening again.  
In fact, as you will read about below, the market for high yield bonds just experienced "a 6-sigma event". 

But this is not the only indication that the U.S. economy could be on the verge of very hard times. 
Retail sales are extremely disappointing, mortgage applications are at a 14 year low and growing geopolitical storms around the world have investors spooked. 
For a long time now, we have been enjoying a period of relative economic stability even though our underlying economic fundamentals continue to get even worse. 
Unfortunately, there are now a bunch of signs that this period of relative stability is about to end. 
The following are 14 reasons why the U.S. economy's bubble of false prosperity may be about to burst...

#1 The U.S. junk bond market just experienced "a 6-sigma event" earlier this month.  In other words, it is an event that is only supposed to have a chance of 1 in 500 million of happening.  Billions of dollars are being pulled out of junk bonds right now, and that has some analysts wondering if a financial crash is right around the corner.

#2 The last time that we saw a junk bond rout of this magnitude was back during the financial crash of 2008.  In fact, as the Telegraph recently explained, bonds usually crash before stocks do...

The credit market usually leads the equity market during turning points, as happened when credit markets cracked first in 2008.
Will the same thing happen this time around?

#3 Retail sales have missed expectations for three months in a row and we just had the worst reading since January.

#4 Things have gotten so bad that even Wal-Mart is really struggling.  Same-store sales at Wal-Mart have declined for five quarters in a row and the outlook for the future is not particularly promising."

DOJ Official Had No Response to This Simple Yet Scathing Tweet From CNN’s Jake Tapper | TheBlaze.com

DOJ Official Had No Response to This Simple Yet Scathing Tweet From CNN’s Jake Tapper | TheBlaze.com:
"The Obama administration has been heavily criticized by members of the press for aggressively targeting whistleblowers and even the journalists who break the stories. In fact, the DOJ recently ordered reporter James Risen to testify against one of his confidential sources who reportedly leaked classified information about the CIA in 2006."

Yikes! They can't sell out of UM or OSU or NEB tix?!!!-------Michigan State University | Online Ticket Office | Event/Item List for "Football Home Games"

What happens when you hold the customer in contempt.
Michigan State University | Online Ticket Office | Event/Item List for "Football Home Games":

Amash responds: Why my opponent's smears were 'disgusting'

Amash responds: Why my opponent's smears were 'disgusting' | MLive.com:
"By U.S. Rep. Justin Amash
Why did West Michigan have to endure "the ugliest House primary" in the country?
That’s how a national magazine described the attacks aimed at me over the last 10 months.
They included a thinly veiled slur that one of the handful of Arab Americans in Congress is “al Qaeda’s best friend.”

History for August 15

History for August 15 - On-This-Day.com

Candlelight Vigil for Elvis Presley, Graceland, Memphis, TN (Aug 15-16). See www.elvisweek.com

Birth anniversary of novelist and playwright Edna Ferber (1887-1968). She wrote Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and cowrote the plays Dinner at Eight and Stage Door.

Birth anniversary of American culinary legend Julia Child (1912-2004).

Birth anniversaries of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and Oscar Peterson (1925-2007).

Happy Birthday! Ben Affleck, Mike Connors, Phyllis Schlafly

1057 - Macbeth, the King of Scotland, was killed by the son of King Duncan. 


1848 - The dental chair was patented by M. Waldo Hanchett. 


1877 - Thomas Edison wrote to the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, "hello" would be a more appropriate greeting than "ahoy" when answering the telephone. 


1911 - The product Crisco was introduced by Procter & Gamble Company. 


1914 - The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 


1935 - Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in an airplane crash in near Point Barrow, AK. 


1947 - India became independent from Britain and was divided into the countries of India and Pakistan. India had been under British about 200 years. 


1948 - The Republic of Korea was proclaimed. 


1961 - East German workers began construction of the Berlin Wall. 


1971 - U.S. President Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, rents and prices. 


1997 - The U.S. Justice Department decided not to prosecute FBI officials in connection with the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho. The investigation dealt with an alleged cover-up. 

Here's Yet Another Obama Scandal – One The White House Has Been Denying All Along

Here's Yet Another Obama Scandal – One The White House Has Been Denying All Along:
"Hold on to your hats. This is a doozy.
Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, now writing for the Heritage Foundation’s The Daily Signal, has uncovered the latest Obama scandal; and it could put every American’s safety in jeopardy."

AWESOME: See what Happens When Armed Business Owners Stand Guard During a Riot..

AWESOME: See what Happens When Armed Business Owners Stand Guard During a Riot..:
"Countless rioters and looters raided and looted stores and burnt several to the ground. Destruction of property was rampant and it was a sickening display.
 However, through the smoke of the burnt-out building, one can see a crystal-clear demonstration of the power of the Second Amendment."

The Collapse of the Liberal World Order | 2

The Collapse of the Liberal World Order | The American Spectator
This is the fulfillment of the liberal worldview crashing in on itself. A view of utopia — all of it. Every last bit of it. It was never real — it could never be real.

Take for instance this jewel from then White House aide — and now CIA Director — John Brennan. Back in 2011 Brennan gave a speech on the Obama strategy in foreign policy, saying this:

Our strategy is also shaped by a deeper understanding of al-Qa’ida’s goals, strategy, and tactics. I’m not talking about al-Qa’ida’s grandiose vision of global domination through a violent Islamic caliphate. That vision is absurd, and we are not going to organize our counterterrorism policies against a feckless delusion that is never going to happen. We are not going to elevate these thugs and their murderous aspirations into something larger than they are.

Today, ISIS has declared itself precisely what Brennan assured was “absurd” — the headline from the Associated Press reading:

ISIS declares new Islamic caliphate

BAGHDAD — The Al Qaeda breakaway group that has seized much of northern Syria and huge tracks of neighboring Iraq formally declared the creation of an Islamic state on Sunday in the territory under its control.

The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Mohammed al-adnani, made the announcement in an audio statement posted online. Islamic extremists have long dreamed of recreating the Islamic state, or caliphate, that ruled over the Middle East in various forms for hundreds of years.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani declared the group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the new leader, or caliph, of the Islamic state, and called on those living in areas under the organization’s control to swear allegiance to al-Baghdadi and support him.

The Collapse of the Liberal World Order

The Collapse of the Liberal World Order | The American Spectator
"Pesident Obama has ended the Iraq War.” 

So says the White House blog, the headline preserved in the amber that is the Internet. 

The date: October 21, 2011 at 2:18 Eastern Daylight Time. 

Along with a video of the president saying this, a statement on the site has been helpfully provided, partially excerpted here:

In 2008, in the height of the presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama made a promise to give our military a new mission: ending the war in Iraq.

As the election unfolded, he reiterated this pledge again and again — but cautioned that we would be “as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.”…

Now, that promise will be wholly fulfilled. Today, President Obama announced that the rest of our troops will be home by the holidays.…

But this moment represents more than an accomplishment for the President. It marks a monumental change of focus for our military and a fundamental shift in the way that the our nation will engage in the world….

[As the President announced:] “The United States is moving forward, from a position of strength. The long war in Iraq will come to an end by the end of this year.”

Meanwhile, here at home the New York Post has headlined: 

Squeegee men are back terrorizing NYC streets

Should universities and colleges replace courts for sexual violence and harassment?

Should universities and colleges replace courts for sexual violence and harassment? « Hot Air:
"This is not a new question, and it’s becoming more and more of an issue. It began over three years ago, when the Obama administration sent out a directive to universities and colleges that sexual violence and harassment of any kind violated Title IX laws against gender discrimination. This was an innovation prompted by the later-debunked claim that 1 in every 5 female college students became the victim of sexual violence. "
....Last week, the Boston Globe reported on a lawsuit from a student expelled by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst after a kangaroo-court process found him “responsible” for sexual violence even when none had been specifically alleged:

During a night of drinking, playing card games, and dancing with friends, the two students became friendly and flirted, and she later invited him to her room to have sex, the lawsuit said. They had consensual sex, and the female student at no point showed signs of intoxication, according to the suit.

The next day, the female student could not remember what had happened, according to the lawsuit. At her roommate’s urging, the female student went to the campus health center for an evaluation. The following day, she filed a complaint with the dean of students’ office.

In her written complaint, she never called what happened harassment, assault, or rape, according to the lawsuit.

Three days later, the university told the male 

student he was under investigation for threatening behavior, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and violating community living standards, the lawsuit said. He was immediately ordered to move off campus and was barred from the premises except to attend classes, the lawsuit said.

Two months later, the university held a disciplinary hearing, the lawsuit said. But the male student had not been given copies of case documents beforehand, key pieces of evidence were not presented during the hearing, the male student was repeatedly interrupted, and questions he had were ignored, the suit said.

Two days later, the student was told he had been found “responsible” for three violations: “sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and community living standards,” and he would be expelled.

The student’s appeal was denied.

VIDEO: ‘FBI Snitch’ Al Sharpton Gets Heckled: ‘Are You Here to Snitch on the Rioters?’

VIDEO: ‘FBI Snitch’ Al Sharpton Gets Heckled: ‘Are You Here to Snitch on the Rioters?’:
"As MSNBC’s race-hustling Marxist Al Sharpton hurried to Ferguson, Missouri, never allowing a crisis to be a wasted opportunity to bask in the limelight, following the death of Michael Brown, he was greeted by a message spray-painted on a looted QuickTrip (QT) convenience store during the riots, that was no doubt directed towards him. "

Quotation of the day on picking the taxpayers’ pockets to pick energy losers….

Quotation of the day on picking the taxpayers’ pockets to pick energy losers…. | AEIdeas
Quotation of the day on picking the taxpayers’ pockets to pick energy losers….

Mark J. Perry | August 13, 2014, 11:44 pm

…. is from Matt Ridley’s article “Renewable energy is not working”:

Over the past ten years the world has invested more than $600 billion in wind power and $700 billion in solar power. Yet the total contribution those two technologies are now making to the world primary energy supply is still less than 2 per cent. Ouch.

If we had spent that sum on research, and steadily replaced coal with gas as a source of electricity, we would have done far more to cut carbon emissions and kept prices low. A new report by Charles Frank of the Brookings Institution has come to the startling conclusion that if you encourage gas to replace coal, you get fewer emissions per dollar spent than if you use wind or solar.

In Mr. Frank’s words: “Solar and wind facilities suffer from a very high capacity cost per megawatt, very low capacity factors and low reliability, which result in low avoided emissions and low avoided energy cost per dollar invested.” In short, we are picking losers.

Liberals Manage to Make Your Grocery List Racist

Liberals Manage to Make Your Grocery List Racist - Michael Schaus - Townhall Finance Conservative Columnists and Financial Commentary - Page 1: "
Oh, how exciting…
Now you can be a good little liberal, even when shopping for fresh produce and certain off-brand whiskies.
According to a politically obsessed hack over at the Washington Post, some other politically obsessed hack has developed an app so you can wander through your daily life without ever losing sight of partisan political squabbles.
The new smartphone app allows users to scan the barcode of consumable products in the grocery store, and it divulges the corporation’s political leanings. (I just found out that Fiji Water has switched from heavily Republican, to entirely Democrat… Ugh.)
It’s so nice to see that we’re now able to make dinner ingredients a conversation starter about Ted Cruz and Nancy Pelosi…
I suppose, soon, we’ll be calling certain bakery products “racist” because of their political inclinations, right? Good.
I was beginning to worry that there might be a couple of moments throughout the day that were not focused on divisive political partisanship.
(A sarcasm font! My kingdom for a sarcasm font!)"

If anyone is looking for a visualization of the welfare state, look no further

If anyone is looking for a visualization of the welfare state, look no further