Tuesday, March 18, 2014

History for March 18

History for March 18 - On-This-Day.com:
Birth anniversary of 22nd and 24th US president Grover Cleveland (1837-1908).
Birth anniversaries of George Plimpton (1927-2003) and John Updike (1932-2009).

Happy Birthday! Irene Cara, Charley Pride, Vanessa Williams


0037 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Caligula emperor. 


1813 - David Melville patented the gas streetlight. 


1818 - The U.S. Congress approved the first pensions for government service. 


1881 - Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opened in Madison Square Gardens. 


1891 - Britain became linked to the continent of Europe by telephone. 


1905 - Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt were married. 


1916 - Russia countered the Verdun assault with an attack at Lake Naroch. The Russians lost 100,000 men and the Germans lost 20,000. 


1931 - Schick Inc. displayed the first electric shaver. 


1940 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini held a meeting at the Brenner Pass. The Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany's war against France and Britain during the meeting. 


1945 - 1,250 U.S. bombers attacked Berlin. 


1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Miranda decision concerning legal council for defendants. 


1968 - The U.S. Congress repealed the requirement for a gold reserve. 


1970 - The U.S. Postal Service experienced the first postal strike. 


1986 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson. 


1992 - Leona Hemsly was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion. 


1994 - Zsa Zsa Gabor filed for bankruptcy. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Goldman Explains What Must Happen For The "5 Year Bull Market" To Continue

Goldman Explains What Must Happen For The "5 Year Bull Market" To Continue | Zero Hedge: "
March 9th marked the 5th anniversary of the current bull market. S&P 500 has gained 1200 points or 178% since 2009.
Three drivers of the rally: 
A profit rebound (59% of rally), a P/E multiple expansion (25%), and a change in expected EPS growth (16%). 
Looking ahead at these three drivers, we expect an 8% rise in the level of earnings this year, and a similar growth rate in 2015 given our economic forecast and assuming stable margins.
S&P 500 trades around fair value at 15.6x forward EPS but the median stock trades at 16.7x, an extremely high valuation in historical terms.
Our year-end 2014 target of 1900 represents a modest 3% upside from current levels."

It's the culture, stupid------HORROR: Pregnant woman gang-raped in vicious Wisconsin home invasion

HORROR: Pregnant woman gang-raped in vicious Wisconsin home invasion | The Daily Caller
A nightmarish scenario played out in Madison, Wisconsin on Feb. 23 when three burglars repeatedly raped a woman who was six months pregnant in a horrifying home invasion.
The Wisconsin woman and her husband were awoken around 5 am by three assailants, who charged into their bedroom with weapons brandished.
“Someone’s gonna die tonight!” one of the robbers threatened as they entered the room. One of the attackers yanked the male victim from the bed and viciously beat him. According to an Associated Press report, the female victim pleaded that she was pregnant and told the robbers that they could take whatever they wanted.
But another burglar dragged her from the bed and into the hallway, pointed a gun at her stomach and grunted, “You’re going to die tonight.” She then had to allegedly endure all three men raping her, with one forcing her to commit oral sex during the attack.
The suspects stole electronics, credit cards and their wedding rings while they stuffed the bloodied couple in the house laundry room before fleeing the scene.
“In my 27-plus years of policing in Madison, this is probably one of the most disturbing and heinous crimes I have ever seen,” interim Madison police Chief Randy Gaber said in a press conference announcing the arrest of all six involved in the crime on Monday. In addition to the three men who broke into the home, three were arrested for their roles in assisting the crime. The six suspects charged are African-American — five are male, and one is a female who helped plan the crime, but did not participate in the actual home invasion.

RIT professor demands jail for climate change deniers

RIT professor demands jail for climate change deniers | The Daily Caller:
An assistant philosophy professor at Rochester Institute of Technology wants to send people who disagree with him about global warming to jail.
The professor is Lawrence Torcello. Last week, he published a 900-word-plus essay at an academic website called The Conversation.
His main complaint is his belief that certain nefarious, unidentified individuals have organized a “campaign funding misinformation.” 
Such a campaign, he argues, “ought to be considered criminally negligent.”
Torcello, who has a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, explains that there are times when criminal negligence and “science misinformation” must be linked. The threat of climate change, he says, is one of those times.”

Bend over again folks. The eco-nazis are comin' again!-------- are E.P.A. Set to Reveal Tough New Sulfur Emissions Rule

E.P.A. Set to Reveal Tough New Sulfur Emissions Rule - NYTimes.com:
"E.P.A. officials estimate that the new regulation will raise the cost of gasoline by about two-thirds of one cent per gallon and add about $75 to the sticker price of cars. But oil refiners say that it will cost their industry $10 billion and raise gasoline costs by up to 9 cents per gallon."

Russia marches. We spend ourselves into bankruptcy------Vallejo heads for another bankruptcy; Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego doomed as well

PensionTsunami Blog » Blog Archive » Vallejo heads for another bankruptcy; Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego doomed as well:
"On May 6, 2008, the Vallejo City Council voted 7-0 to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
At the time it was the largest city in California to do so.
In March of 2009 I noted Judge Rules Vallejo Can Void Union Contracts. 
 Vallejo foolishly refused to do so, and I predicted it would soon be back in bankruptcy over the same reason it went bankrupt in the first place: absurd union wages and even more absurd pension promises.
Sure enough, here we go again.
"Vallejo Still Can’t Afford its Pricey Pensions"

State TV says Russia could turn US to 'radioactive ash'

State TV says Russia could turn US to 'radioactive ash' - Yahoo News:
"Moscow (AFP) - A leading anchor on Russian state television on Sunday described Russia as the only country capable of turning the United States into "radioactive ash", in an incendiary comment at the height of tensions over the Crimea referendum."

Ummm. Why did they change the scam from "Global Warming" to "Global Climate Change"?---------Many Strangely Have Faith in the Verifiability of Climate Change

Many Strangely Have Faith in the Verifiability of Climate Change
Skepticism is a hallmark of good science and good journalism. Yet, time after time, scientists and journalists make giant leaps of faith in their desire to fight climate change by regulating greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.
This phenomenon was recently on display in a February 16 segment of Meet the Press that featured a discussion between actor Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) and Representative Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.).
Host David Gregory introduced the discussion this way: “In the scientific community this is not really a debate about whether climate change is real. The consensus is that it is.” Here, he echoed President Obama’s State of the Union assertion that “climate change is a fact.”
It is, indeed, often said that 97 percent of climatologists agree on climate change. And, in fact, they do — up to a point.
A near-universal consensus (technically, it’s 97 percent of the climate literature) does exist that man-made emissions have some warming effect. Go beyond that, however, and you’re in territory where science must yield to assumptions — giant leaps of surmise concerning the current and future conditions of our planet.
Some assume that if you believe that the climate is changing and that man-made emissions are having some warming effect, you must also accept as gospel that our planet is cooking at an unsustainable rate, that hurricanes and other meteorological disasters will inevitably become more frequent and intense, and that GHG emissions caused by burning conventional fuels are the driving force — not just one of many factors — behind climate change.
Now comes the part where we look at the facts. 

The available climate data simply do not indicate that the earth is heading toward catastrophic warming or more frequent and severe natural disasters. Testifying before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last December, Dr. Roger Pielke, a professor at the University of Colorado’s Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, emphasized that “there exists exceedingly little scientific support for claims found in the media and political debate that hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and drought have increased in frequency or intensity on climate timescales either in the United States or globally.”
Nor do the data indicate that the dominant driving force behind climate change is human-induced GHG emissions. Such a view does nothing to account for the shortcomings of climate models. While some climate models predict unsustainable warming that will adversely affect human health and public welfare, data from observed climate reality has shown that these models, and the assumptions on which they are built, are incorrect.
Many of the models that the federal government relied on to justify regulating carbon dioxide were known to be unreliable. They had projected a 0.3 degree Celsius warming over the past 15 to 17 years, when in reality no warming occurred. It takes a serious leap of faith to base policy that will cost the economy trillions of dollars on projections from models that have already proven to be deeply flawed.
Since 2011, no fewer than 16 experiments published in peer-reviewed literature found that the equilibrium climate sensitivity (the effect produced by a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) is lower than that projected in IPCC reports.
During the Meet the Press discussion, Representative Blackburn brought up another point that bears repeating: the importance of cost-benefit analysis. The cost of the federal government’s regulations on GHG emissions will be large, painful, and ongoing for American families. The climate benefit — even after decades — will be barely measurable.
The federal government’s CO2 regulations will virtually end coal use, which will drive up energy bills and therefore increase prices for other goods and services. This, in turn, will slow the economy and hurt America’s manufacturing base. The Heritage Foundation modeled the effects of eliminating coal from America’s energy portfolio and found that within a decade, nearly 600,000 jobs would be lost and a family of four’s annual income would drop by more than $1,200.
And the benefit? We could grind all economic activity to a halt, hold our breaths forever, and cut carbon emissions to zero in the U.S. — and still wind up lowering average temperatures by no more than 0.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. And that’s using a climate calculator developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Supporters of carbon regulations like to label those who don’t share their beliefs as “climate deniers.” But it’s important to look at what they’re denying. It’s certainly not the facts. A more accurate term would be “climate realists.”

2014 Izzo Tournament Graphic

2014 Izzo Tournament Graphic:


Wrong Again

Wrong Again | The Weekly Standard:
"The new report is not solely an admission of error. It is also a catalogue of errors by type.
The biggest mistakes, the economists point out, occurred when they forecast growth rates in countries with a relatively high level of government regulation. 
This surprises the economists, though it won’t surprise anyone who takes a dim view of government regulation generally.
The forecasters, good statists all, assumed that the regulations “would help to cushion financial shocks” in the highly regulated countries and would therefore aid recovery. "

Separatist battle in Canada rekindled with Quebec election

Separatist battle in Canada rekindled with Quebec election - BNN News
Canada is bracing for another fight with Quebec separatists.

Premier Pauline Marois today called an election for April 7 as she met Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Duchesne to ask him to dissolve the provincial legislature. Polls show Marois’ separatist Parti Quebecois may have enough support to form its first majority government in more than a decade.

“Today, I have summoned my ministers and we have taken the necessary steps to dissolve the National Assembly and call an election,” Marois said in televised remarks in Quebec City. “It’s now up to you, Quebeckers, to decide.”

A majority would set the stage in the French-speaking province for a possible referendum on secession from the rest of Canada, roiling credit markets and threatening to push the Canadian dollar lower.

“If they get a majority, I fully expect they will hold a referendum during their next mandate,” said Harold Chorney, a political science professor at Concordia University in Montreal. “Marois isn’t going to give up sovereignty.”

A majority victory for the Parti Quebecois would mark the third time since the mid-1970s the party has taken sole control of the province’s legislature, propelling Quebec into another confrontation with the rest of Canada that a former premier once likened to a never-ending visit to the dentist.

Done deal-----------Crimea Names Ruble Currency; Applies To Join Russia, Expects To Become Region Of Russian Federation By Thursday

Crimea Names Ruble Currency; Applies To Join Russia, Expects To Become Region Of Russian Federation By Thursday | Zero Hedge:
"And here is the latest :
just hours ago, Crimea's parliament officially applied to become part of Russia.
The parliament "made a proposal to the Russian Federation to admit the Republic of Crimea as a new subject with the status of a republic," according to a statement on its website.
A Crimean parliamentary delegation was expected to arrive in Moscow on Monday to discuss the procedures required for the Black Sea peninsula to become part of the Russian Federation.
"If everything’s signed we’ll become a fully fledged region of the Russian Federation Wednesday or Thursday,” First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Termigaliyev says in interview at govt headquarters in Simferopol. "

WeMOG-Monday 10:30AM-Conklin St. Patrick's Day Parade and walk

St. Patty’s Day Parade & Hike Mon.
"Gather on the parade route, downtown Conklin at 10:30 and watch/march in the St Patrick’s Parade, one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen! 
There will be a marching band, lots of crazy costumes on the people and their pets. 
So put on your Irish and join the fun! 
Afterward we’ll hike the Musketawa Trail and return to Fenian’s http://www.feniansirishpub.com/home.htm to join the Irish Hooley. Crazy fun!
FYI:  The trail is snow covered from snowmobile use - you might want grippers and poles
        The pub will be crowded and fun, but the food is mediocre, you might want to bring your lunch.
       Hopefully, you can park at the bike path trail head, but as of yesterday the driveway was still blocked with snow. There are several side streets, and church parking lots near, so carpooling would be wise.
You can get directions from the Fenian’s link. See you there!  Questions call or e-mail Dawn Berry cycleberry@msn.com  or 231-865-3919"

Truth hurts the ears of racist bigots. Not news.........Paul Ryan to meet black U.S. lawmakers after 'offensive' remarks

Paul Ryan to meet black U.S. lawmakers after 'offensive' remarks - Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Representative Paul Ryan on Friday agreed to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus after members of the group branded his remarks about inner-city poverty this week "highly offensive".

Representative Barbara Lee of California, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Ryan's remarks a "thinly veiled racial attack."
The controversy began on Wednesday after Ryan said on William Bennett's talk radio show, "Morning in America," that there was a "tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value of work."

"Let's be clear, when Mr. Ryan says 'inner city,' when he says, 'culture,' these are simply code words for what he really means: 'black'," Lee said in a statement.

History for March 17

History for March 17 - On-This-Day.com:
Saint Patrick’s Day: commemorates the patron saint of Ireland, Bishop Patrick (389-461). 
Legal holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Birth anniversaries of entertainer Nat “King” Cole (1919-65); ballet star Rudolf Nureyev (1938-93).
Happy Birthday! Lesley-Anne Down, Kurt Russell, Gary Sinise, 
0461 - Bishop Patrick, St. Patrick, died in Saul. Ireland celebrates this day in his honor. (More about St. Patrick's Day)


1756 - St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in New York City for the first time. The event took place at the Crown and Thistle Tavern. 



1766 - Britain repealed the Stamp Act that had caused resentment in the North American colonies.


1942 - Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwestern Pacific. 













1958 - The Vanguard 1 satellite was launched by the U.S. 



















1961 - The U.S. increased military aid and technicians to Laos. 


1969 - Golda Meir was sworn in as the fourth premier of Israel. 











1972 - U.S. President Nixon asked Congress to halt busing in order to achieve desegregation. 


1973 - The first American prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the "Hanoi Hilton" in Hanoi, North Vietnam. 


1989 - A series of solar flares caused a violent magnetic storm that brought power outages over large regions of Canada. 



1999 - The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Dutch politician calls for "fewer Moroccans"

Dutch politician calls for "fewer Moroccans" - Yahoo News:
 "AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders says "the fewer Moroccans the better" in the Netherlands.
Wilders, known internationally for his anti-Islam stances, elaborated on his anti-Moroccan feelings in an interview with national broadcaster NOS Friday.
"I say that because (Moroccans) are heavily overrepresented in criminality and welfare dependency," he said.
Wilders' Freedom party is expected to book gains in municipal elections next week and in European elections in May."

More sovereignty votes: Sunday referendum may see Venice elect to secede from Italy

More sovereignty votes: Sunday referendum may see Venice elect to secede from Italy | National Post:
"Voting begins Sunday on a referendum on whether Venice and its surrounding region should secede from the rest of Italy, in an attempt to restore its 1,000-year history as a sovereign republic.

La Serenissima — or the Most Serene Republic of Venice — was an independent trading power for a millennium before its last leader was deposed by Napoleon in 1797. The republic encompassed not just Venice but what is now the surrounding region of Veneto and it is there that the vote will take place from tomorrow until Friday.

Campaigners have been inspired by the example of Scotland, which will hold its referendum on independence in September, and Catalonia, where around half the population say they want to break away from Spain.

Activists say that the latest polling shows that 65% of voters in the Veneto region, which includes historic cities such as Treviso, Vicenza and Verona, are in favour of cutting ties with Rome."

Too late. The vote is done-----Peggy Noonan: Warnings From the Ukraine Crisis

Peggy Noonan: Warnings From the Ukraine Crisis - WSJ.com:
"What has been happening in Ukraine is not a wake-up call precisely but a tugging at the attention, a demand to focus.
There's a sense that in some new way we are watching the 21st century take its shape and express its central realities.
Exactly 100 years ago, in August 1914, the facts that would shape the 20th century gathered and emerged in the Great War. 
History doesn't repeat itself; you can't, as they say, step into the same stream twice.
But it does have an unseen circularity."

The Lois Lerner Defense

The Lois Lerner Defense :: SteynOnline:
"We have the president of the United States' word as a gentleman that he knew nothing about the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of his enemies until he "learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this."

Furthermore, although the commissioner of the IRS, Douglas Shulman, visited Obama's White House no fewer than 157 times, which is 156 times more than his predecessor Mark Everson ever visited the White House, we know that this was for legitimate Easter-egg rolls, as he testified to Congress, and meetings to discuss Obamacare.
The Easter Bunny, one should note, visits the White House two to four times as often as the average IRS commissioner did before Mr. Shulman came along. "

George the Dachshund's Owner Found a Way to Help Out His Old Dog

George the Dachshund's Owner Found a Way to Help Out His Old Dog:
"Watching your beloved pets age can be heartbreaking.
You see them transform from playful puppy to arthritic senior, but still keep the same passionate love for playing.
Unfortunately, that jumping around can hurt them as they get older.
That’s why this dachshund’s owner did something awesome to help out his canine friend."

How Do You Say “Keynesian Failure” in Japanese? I think it’s ケインズ主義…

Instapundit » Blog Archive » STEPHEN GREEN: How Do You Say “Keynesian Failure” in Japanese? I think it’s ケインズ主義…:
STEPHEN GREEN: How Do You Say “Keynesian Failure” in Japanese? I think it’s ケインズ主義の失敗.

Plus:
“Deregulate. 
Simplify the tax code. 
Protect the value of your currency. 
Those three steps are all it takes to achieve prosperity, but as Glenn Reynolds like to say, politicians don’t like them because they provide too few opportunities for graft.”

Well, I don’t exactly like to say it, it’s just that it’s indisputably true. . . ."

What could possibly go wrong..........Group hopes 'Detroit Dollar' pays off for biz

Group hopes 'Detroit Dollar' pays off for biz | Crain's Detroit Business:
"For the second time since the Great Recession, Detroit may have its own currency.
 Al Bogdan, consultant and head of AAB Development Strategies LLC, is hosting a community meeting at the downtown Park Bar on Wednesday to discuss the idea.
 The goal of the group, dubbed Detroit Dollar Co., is to recruit 1,000 Detroit businesses in two years to use the Detroit Dollar to promote a "buy local" mentality. 
 The group hopes to have $1 million worth of the currency in circulation in the next two years. "

Your voice betrays your personality in a split second

Your voice betrays your personality in a split second - life - 14 March 2014 - New Scientist:
"You had me at "Hello"!
It turns out our opening words speak volumes – people take less than a second to form an impression of someone's personality based on their voice alone.

We know that our voices can transmit subtle signals about our gender, age, even body strength and certain personality traits, but Phil McAleer at the University of Glasgow and his colleagues wondered whether we make an instant impression.
To find out, they recorded 64 people as they read a passage.
They then extracted the word "hello" and asked 320 people to rate the voices on a scale of 1 to 9 for one of 10 perceived personality traits – including trustworthiness, dominance and attractiveness.

Although it's not clear how accurate such snap judgements are, what is apparent is that we all make them, and very quickly.
"We were surprised by just how similar people's ratings were," says McAleer.
Using a scale in which 0 represents no agreement on a perceived trait and 1 reflects complete agreement, all 10 traits scored on average 0.92 – meaning most people agreed very closely to what extent each voice represented each trait."

In the last election, only 5% of Muskegon county registered voters voted to increase taxes on the remaining 95%. Less than 5% voted no. The other 90% thought politics was boring.

House report traces IRS scandal to Obama


House report traces IRS scandal to Obama:

" A House committee investigating the IRS scandal has found a link between President Obama’s criticism of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and subsequent steps taken by IRS official Lois Lerner to discriminate against conservative groups.

Lerner was responding to political pressure in her efforts to clamp down on conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status in the wake of the 2012 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, concluded a 141-page report released last Tuesday by the Republican-majority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee."