History for January 18

History for January 18 - On-This-Day.com:

Birth anniversaries of entertainers Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), Cary Grant (1904-86), and David Ruffin (1941-1991).

In 1803, US President Thomas Jefferson commissioned a western expedition to be led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark.

1778 - English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the "Sandwich Islands." 


1788 - The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson. 


1911 - For the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor. 


1943 - U.S. commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold during the ban until the end of World War II.
 

1950 - The federal tax on oleomargarine was repealed. 


1964 - The plans for the World Trade Center in New York were disclosed. 

1990 - A jury in Los Angeles, CA, acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges. 


1990 - In an FBI sting, Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession. He was later convicted of a misdemeanor. 


1993 - The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 U.S. states for the first time. 

YES!!!!!---------Washington reporters parrot Obama's 'income inequality' mantra

Washington reporters parrot Obama's 'income inequality' mantra | WashingtonExaminer.com:

Washington's political reporters, in lightning knee-jerk speed, have embraced President Obama's Robin Hood war on “income inequality,” the latest example of the president's success in using the bully pulpit to steer attention to his new populist campaign.

The issue took center stage Wednesday during a briefing from the nonpartisan Business Roundtable meant to focus on the group's agenda to push economic growth from 2 percent to 4 percent, but instead saw several reporters pestering the group's president and chairman about the minimum wage and income distribution.

At first, Randall Stephenson, the Roundtable chairman and CEO of AT&T, and Roundtable President John Engler were patient with the questions from the reporters, many of whom have been in Washington for decades and are presumably well-paid.

Stephenson argued that if the administration helped to fix the economy, reduce regulations and expand trade, more jobs would be created. “If the economy is doing better, everyone is doing better,” Stephenson said at the briefing hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

But near the end, the gregarious Engler, a former Michigan governor, couldn't take it any more as the number of questions asked on wages, income and unemployment reached 10. So he flipped the issue back on the reporters, including those parroting the president, who plans to discuss the issue in his upcoming State of the Union address.
“There's income inequality around this table,” he said. “I'm very concerned that Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal and USA Today probably pays a lot more than some of the bloggers get paid. And I don't have a strategy to fix that.”

City of Palo Alto Faces Strike – $139,907 Average Total Compensation Not Enough

City of Palo Alto Faces Strike – $139,907 Average Total Compensation Not Enough | Union Watch:
"The problem with this, of course, is that as soon as one city raised their wages and benefits to make their jobs more attractive than the neighboring city, then the neighboring city had to endure the clamor from their unions to keep pace.
The result?
We have workers in Palo Alto, whose average pay and benefits were $139,907 during 2012, claiming they don’t make enough money, and so they’re considering going on strike.
One problem with media coverage of these strikes is that local newspapers rarely bother to report what the employees are actually making in total pay and employer-paid benefits. 
And if these reporters do take the time to report pay, they usually report averages from the State Controller’s “Government Compensation in California” website."

Will work for beer...what a concept!-----------Alcoholics work for beer in Amsterdam program

Alcoholics work for beer in Amsterdam program - The Denver Post:
"In a pilot project that has drawn attention in the Netherlands and around the world, the city has teamed up with a charity organization in hopes of improving the neighborhood and possibly improving life for the alcoholics.
Not by trying to cure them, but instead by offering to fund their drinking outright.
Participants are given beer in exchange for light work collecting litter, eating a decent meal, and sticking to their schedule."

Go ahead, make your day $15/hour------Future of farming: The robotic optical grape sorting system

Future of farming: The robotic optical grape sorting system | AEIdeas:
"The video above shows the Bucher Delta Vistalys R2 optical grape sorting system in operation.
Modern Farmer featured the futuristic farming technology on its website this week in the article “How a Robot Can Sort 2 Tons of Grapes in 12 Minutes.”

Head winemaker Steve Leveque is now using a $150,000 optical grape sorter at Hall Winery in Napa Valley, and he says “Most wineries can sort about two tons of grapes per hour, using 15 human sorters.
We now processes the same amount of grapes in only twelve minutes, with zero human sorters.”"

Yeah, they used to do this. They don't anymore..... I hope......1985 Breckenridge Ski Ballet

Morons are bankrupting our country. And no one seems to mind------China’s Treasury Holdings Climb to Record in Government Data

China’s Treasury Holdings Climb to Record in Government Data - Bloomberg:
"China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries increased $12.2 billion to a record $1.317 trillion in November, data released on the Treasury Department’s website showed.
The figures, scheduled for release at 9 a.m. tomorrow in Washington, were inadvertently posted on the Treasury’s website.
Japan’s holdings rose $12 billion to $1.186 trillion, the figures showed."

Newport Beach’s $100,000 Lifeguards Feel Pension Squeeze

Newport Beach’s $100,000 Lifeguards Feel Pension Squeeze - Businessweek:
"Newport Beach, California, where four ranking lifeguards earned more than the town’s $109,677 median household income in 2012, may partially disband its municipal ocean rescue to deal with rising pension costs."

Cut up the credit cards: states have $5 trillion in debts taxpayers will have to pay

Cut up the credit cards: states have $5 trillion in debts taxpayers will have to pay « Watchdog.org

Coast to coast, states are leaving taxpayers on the hook for massive debt payments over the coming decades as state governments continue to abuse their metaphorical credit cards.

A new report released this week says state governments have more than $5.1 trillion in debt, largely because of pension obligations to former and current state employees, which states now lack the assets to pay off. Pension debt accounts for more than $3.9 billion of that total, but the report also includes outstanding bonded debt, unemployment compensation trust fund debt and debt in the form of “other post-employment benefits,” or OPEB, which is closely linked to pensions and includes retired public employees’ health-care costs.

BLAME THE PENSIONS: The majority of state debt is the result of public employee pension obligations, which most states lack sufficient resources to pay.

Though the totals vary significantly from state-to-state, it adds up to an average of more than $16,000 of debt for each man, woman and child in the United States.

Don't they get the "We are broke!!!!" thing?-----------------$1.1 Trillion Spending Bill Easily Approved by Congress

PJ Media » $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill Easily Approved by Congress:

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus appropriations bill tonight, sending the spending whopper to President Obama’s desk for a signature and leaving the hacktivist collective Anonymous simply commenting on its Twitter account, “Where is the cash coming from?”

A government at war with its citizens-----NYPD Seized an Innocent’s Man Cash, Used It to Pad Their Pensions

NYPD Seized an Innocent’s Man Cash, Used It to Pad Their Pensions | The Institute for Justice

Under civil forfeiture, someone does not have to be convicted, or even charged, with a crime, to have their property confiscated. Plus, under New York state forfeiture law, the burden of proof is placed on the property owner. In other words, owners have to prove their innocence in court.

Read More: The 14 Most Ridiculous Things Police Bought With Asset Forfeiture

That clearly favors the police. According to Steven Kessler, the former head of the Bronx District Attorney’s forfeiture unit, property owners are not charged with a crime in 85 percent of the forfeiture cases pursued by the NYPD.

As Max Rivlin-Nadler elaborates at Gothamist:

The NYPD does not keep public records of how much money or property it seizes through civil forfeiture, nor does it publicly account for how that money and property is spent or allocated. Based on the sheer volume of cases that the department pursues, experts estimate that the amount the NYPD has taken from New Yorkers over the past decade is well into the millions.

That isn’t too surprising, if disheartening. According to the Institute for Justice’s report, “Policing for Profit,” across New York State, district attorneys and task forces obtained almost $70 million in cash from forfeiture in 2008 (the latest year available).

County leaders divided on Detroit water deal, warn of huge rate hikes

County leaders divided on Detroit water deal, warn of huge rate hikes | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"A potential deal for greater suburban control over Detroit’s water system is running up against political recriminations from two of southeast Michigan’s top elected officials, who on Thursday accused negotiators for the city’s emergency manager of withholding critical data about the long-term costs of any such agreement.

The divisions erupted as the leaders of Detroit, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties spoke before a Detroit Economic Club luncheon.
Thursday’s comments reflected frustration over apparently stalled talks about the water system, which is among the most contentious issues in Detroit’s bankruptcy."

.....One issue is unpaid water and sewer bills in the City of Detroit, which have averaged $40 million annually. Suburban leaders want assurances that they won’t face rate increases to pay those bills.

The city of Highland Park, for one, owes the system about $18 million and has shown no means of paying it. 

The department can’t shut off water to the whole city, so suburban leaders want that issue resolved before agreeing to anything.

Karate man worst disability scammer: DA

Karate man worst disability scammer: DA | New York Post

A former NYPD cop accused of teaching black-belt karate while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability checks was blasted in Manhattan court Monday as “one of the most flagrant’’ scammers in a $400 million pension-fraud scheme.

Former Queens Officer Louis Hurtado collected $470,395.20 over 26 years — the most dough over the longest stretch for any participant in the fraud, prosecutors said.

“He’s also one of the most flagrant abusers, posting videos of himself on YouTube performing martial arts . . . [and traveling] on at least 18 flights from 2006 to 2013, including to Mexico and Jamaica,’’ while claiming he was too depressed to leave his house, travel or work, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Santora.

Hurtado, 60, flew from his home in Pasco, Fla., to be arraigned on grand-larceny and other raps.

"....the center of the white cream-filled doughnut....." Visiting journalists: Their view of Detroit

Visiting journalists: Their view of Detroit | Crain's Detroit Business

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  michel jenson 

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  If they see the center of the white cream-filled doughnut.....about a square mile of Cobo.......Detroit is ok..........outside of this........the other 138 Sq. miles.......well, I hope they can run faster than a bullet!

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  D. Schultz 

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  Let them see Detroit's neighborhoods and then ask them what they think.

The Great GOP Establishment Amnesty Swindle

The Great GOP Establishment Amnesty Swindle | RedState:
"Something peculiar is happening on the immigration front in Washington.
With an eerie resemblance to the drumbeat leading up to Obamacare, Republican leaders are creating a sense of urgency that immigration must be addressed now.
And much like Obamacare is doing to our already-broken healthcare system, their proposals will exacerbate the very factors that have broken our immigration system over the past few decades."

Remember Bush's "jobless recovery"? This bland "report" is what poses as journalism today-----US weekly unemployment benefit claims drop to 326k

Nothing to see here folks...... just a bunch of numbers......read it all and know the MSM cares not for the unemployed.
US weekly unemployment benefit claims drop to 326k - The Denver Post:
WASHINGTON—The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 2,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 326,000, a sign that layoffs are weighing less on the job market and economic growth.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the less volatile four-week average dropped 13,500 to 335,000.

....The job market had picked up toward the end of last year before losing some momentum in December. A mere 74,000 jobs were created last month, after the economy added an average of 213,500 new jobs in the previous four months.

Many economists blamed the slowdown in hiring on bad weather and statistical quirks, and projected stronger gains in the new year.

"Hiring indicators are almost uniformly quite strong, and we think the underlying trend in payroll growth likely has picked up, despite the fluke slowing in December," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The unemployment rate fell last month to 6.7 percent from 7 percent in November. Much that decrease came from 347,000 unemployed workers leaving the workforce. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are looking for work.

The expiration of long-term benefits could lead to further declines in the unemployment rate, perhaps as much as a quarter of percentage point in early 2014. That's because many of the former recipients will give up on job searches, which are required in order to receive benefits.

We have elected officials that think 3rd graders who can't read should be promoted to the next grade?---------State lawmakers: Third-grade literacy legislation is a 'work in progress'

State lawmakers: Third-grade literacy legislation is a 'work in progress' | MLive.com:
"KENTWOOD, MI -- The third-grade reading guarantee, school system grading and the Education Achievement Authority were key discussion points three state lawmakers reviewed during a parent advocacy meeting Wednesday night.
....The main sticking point for all three representatives is the third-grade literacy requirement, a mandate that requires third graders to be proficient at reading or be retained in third grade."

As of Today, You Can Only Buy Ammo Face to Face at Authorized Dealers in New York

As of Today, You Can Only Buy Ammo Face to Face at Authorized Dealers in New York:
"Provisions from last year’ SAFE Act (aka one of the worst gun control bills ever passed into law) continue to roll out in New York.
The latest is a requirement that ammo sales in the state can only happen face to face and from authorized dealers.
This means online sales of ammo are effectively banned in New York as of today.
This part of the law was upheld in a recent court challenge of the SAFE Act.
Buyers will also eventually have to undergo background checks in New York when they purchase ammo. However, the system to handle those background checks is not yet in place."

Didn't we once have "job training" programs called "public schools"?------------- Pilot program for long-term unemployed launches in Detroit

Pilot program for long-term unemployed launches in Detroit | Crain's Detroit Business:

More than 100 local residents applied to participate, 20 of whom were selected. 

They will go through five weeks of training, which includes everything from resume-writing to confidence building.

...At the end of the five-week training, Platform to Employment will connect participants with jobs at local companies with openings matching their skills. For eight weeks, the program will pay their salaries while employers evaluate their performances. Companies are under no obligation to hire the candidates full time at the end of the trial period.

Each class costs an average of $100,000 to administer, and the funding comes from the AARP Foundation,Citi Community Development and the Walmart Foundation.

History for January 17

History for January 17 - On-This-Day.com

Birth anniversary of Benjamin Franklin (1706-90).

Birth anniversaries of Al Capone (1899-1947)

Happy birthday to US First Lady Michelle Obama!

Happy Birthday! Muhammad Ali

1377 - The Papal See was transferred from Avignon in France back to Rome. 


1773 - Captain Cook's Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.


1795 - The Dudingston Curling Society was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland. 



1893 - Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. 


1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip. 


1934 - Ferdinand Porsche submitted a design for a people's car, a "Volkswagen," to the new German Reich government. 


1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews. 


1961 - In his farewell address, U.S. President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex." 

The Last 2 Times This Happened, The US Was Already In Recession

The Last 2 Times This Happened, The US Was Already In Recession | Zero Hedge

While the market seems to have rapidly given up worrying about the piss-poor jobs data from last week, the fact of the matter is the longer-term trend of 'employment' in America is anything but questionable. As we pointed out, and was so broadly understood, the number of people in the labor force in American is fading fast. In fact, as the chart below shows, the last 2 times the civilian labor force fell on an annual basis like this, the US economy was already in recession...

Sophist

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg
sophist

PRONUNCIATION:

(SOF-ist)

MEANING:

noun: One who makes clever, but unsound arguments.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin sophista, from Greek sophistes (sage), from sophos (clever). Earliest documented use: 1542. In ancient Greece, Sophists were philosophers and teachers known for their subtle, but fallacious reasoning.

USAGE:

"But this day Mansoor had turned five, and Ma used a sophist's argument to call for a celebration."
M.G. Vassanji; The Assassin's Song; Doubleday; 2007.

Why Bridgegate made headlines but Obama’s IRS scandal didn't

Instapundit » Blog Archive » ANALYSIS: Why Bridgegate made headlines but Obama’s IRS scandal didn’t. Government officials…:

ANALYSIS: Why Bridgegate made headlines but Obama’s IRS scandal didn’t.

Government officials and political operatives working for Christie, for weird and petty reasons, chose to make traffic worse. That’s the takeaway. When they are reminded of the fact that people working on Christie’s behalf thought it was a good political game to mire tens of thousands of their fellow Americans in the nightmarish gridlock that is a daily dreaded prospect for tens of millions, they will be discomfited by that and by the politician in whose name it was done.

And yet, you know what is also something everybody would find “relatable”? Politicians who sic the tax man on others for political gain. Everybody has to deal with the IRS and fears it. Last year, we learned from the Internal Revenue Service itself that it had targeted ideological opponents of the president for special scrutiny and investigation — because they were ideological opponents.

That’s juicy, just as Bridgegate is juicy. It’s something we can all understand, it speaks to our greatest fears, and it’s the sort of thing TV newspeople could gab about for days on end without needing a fresh piece of news to keep it going.

And yet, according to Scott Whitlock of the Media Research Center, “In less than 24 hours, the three networks have devoted 17 times more coverage to a traffic scandal involving Chris Christie than they’ve allowed in the last six months to Barack Obama’s Internal Revenue Service controversy.”

Why? Oh, come on, you know why. Christie belongs to one political party. Obama belongs to the other. You know which ones they belong to. And you know which ones the people at the three networks belong to, too: In surveys going back decades, anywhere from 80% to 90% of Washington’s journalists say they vote Democratic.

Scandals are not just about themselves; they are about the media atmosphere that surrounds them. They are perpetuated and deepened by the attention of journalists, whose relentless pursuit of every angle keeps the story going. That is exactly what has been missing from the IRS scandal from its outset; Republicans in Congress have been the dogged pursuers, not the press.

They’re not the Fourth Estate. They’re the Praetorian Guard.

I sure they got a great plan to make them young scofflaws pay up....right?--------Obamacare Slipping: Low Youth Enrollment Will Drive Prices Higher

Obamacare Slipping: Low Youth Enrollment Will Drive Prices Higher | Truth Revolt:

Reuters is reporting that youth enrollment into Obamacare has missed its target. If this trend continues, it will only mean one thing - higher premiums to cover the gap.

Youth enrollment at only 24 percent means the target was missed by 14 percent, yet the administration remains confident that these numbers will rise. They should hope so, because if not, it will prove what Republicans have warned since the beginning and what the media ignores altogether - Obamacare is too expensive.

One factor that may be keeping young people from signing up is the fact that 3 million are now allowed to stay on their parents' insurance plans. This creates a huge problem for Obamacare because its architects are relying on young and healthy people enrolling to offset the cost of covering older, sicker people. 

This trend is turning out to be a worst-case scenario.

A recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation said having younger adults make up only 25 percent of enrollees would present a "worst case" scenario. They found that costs then would be about 2.4 percent higher, but insurers would retain a very slim profit margin.

Therefore, insurance premiums will be raised. But this comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention.

Senior UK Defense Advisor: Obama Is Clueless About ‘What He Wants To Do In The World’

Senior UK Defense Advisor: Obama Is Clueless About ‘What He Wants To Do In The World’ - The Daily Beast:
"Sir Hew Strachan, an expert on the history of war, says that the president’s strategic failures in Afghanistan and Syria have crippled America’s position in the world.
President Obama is “chronically incapable” of military strategy and falls far short of his predecessor George W. Bush, according to one of Britain’s most senior military advisors.

Sir Hew Strachan, an advisor to the Chief of the Defense Staff, told The Daily Beast that the United States and Britain were guilty of total strategic failure in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obama’s attempts to intervene on behalf of the Syrian rebels “has left them in a far worse position than they were before.”"

Cost of Obamacare's insurer bailout program won't be known until summer 2015

Cost of Obamacare's insurer bailout program won't be known until summer 2015 | WashingtonExaminer.com:
"A program to refund insurance companies for losses incurred during the implementation of President Obama’s health care law could impose significant costs on American taxpayers, but under regulations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, those costs won’t be known until the summer of 2015.

Republicans led by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas have called for repealing what’s known as the risk corridors program, which has also been described as a bailout of the insurance industry.
Under the program, insurers have to estimate the amount of money they expect to pay out in medical claims each year along with their premium revenue and administrative costs.
Insurers who do significantly better than expected must pay HHS and those who do worse than expected receive money from HHS.
But it's remained an open question how much this could potentially cost."

House easily passes $1T omnibus spending bill with 359-67 vote

House easily passes $1T omnibus spending bill with 359-67 vote | TheHill:
"While most Democrats clearly preferred funding the government over risking a government shutdown, they also complained that the process needs to improve.
“This can be described very charitably as a mixed bag,” said Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.). “This is a 1,500-page bill that nobody has actually read.”
Yet the bill won even more support than the two-year budget deal it was based on. Ninety-four House members had voted against the budget deal.
Even conservative budget hawk Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), who had signaled he would vote against any bill based on the new budget, voted “yes.”
“When I ran for office in 2010, I told people that I wanted to roll back spending in Washington to 2008 [pre-stimulus] levels,” he said. “I even put that on my flyers. Today, I had the chance to do what I told people I would do if they elected me.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said he was surprised by the strong vote

“I’m almost giddy,” he said. “I think it’s a really good demonstration of trying to work across the aisle and across the dome.”"

Only a moron who's NEVER bought insurance, paid taxes, seen a gas or electric bill or bought food could be surprised that there is inflation------US consumer prices up 0.3 pct, most in 6 months

US consumer prices up 0.3 pct, most in 6 months - The Denver Post:
"WASHINGTON—U.S. consumer prices rose last month by the most since June, driven up by higher gas prices, but excluding energy, inflation was tame.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in December, after a flat reading the previous month.

Prices increased 1.5 percent in 2013, down from 1.7 percent in 2012.
That's below the Federal Reserve's target of 2 percent."

They passed it and the MSM still refuses to read it----What You Were Never Told About Obamacare

What You Were Never Told About Obamacare – LewRockwell.com:
"The first is the Reinsurance Program under which large claims are capped for insurers offering individual plans under Obamacare.
Insurers pay for claims up to $45,000, while the Federal government picks up 80% of the costs exceeding $45,000 up to a maximum of $250,000.
This means that Obamacare is a public-private insurance scheme and that we are already half-way to the “single-payer” insurance program that Obama and his left-wing cronies so keenly pine for.
Needless to say, neither President Obama nor the establishment media have publicized this provision of Obamacare."