All Aboard the Most Ridiculous, Most Stupidly Huge Cruise Ship on Earth

All Aboard the Most Ridiculous, Most Stupidly Huge Cruise Ship on Earth | WIRED
"A CRUISE SHIP is an all-in-one holiday destination, where several thousand tourists pile aboard to eat, drink and get sunburned for a week.
Harmony of the Seas is the latest and largest addition, where you can lunch at a parkside cafe and jump on a zip line directly afterward.
At 1,188 feet long and 226,000 tons, the Royal Carribean ocean liner is only slightly larger than its predecessor, Oasis of the Seas.
Guests and staff equal around 8,000 people, and tickets range from $1,000 to $7,000.
The entire experience is guaranteed to whisk you away on what amounts to a floating Mall of America.
“It gives you the sense of traveling without doing it,” says photographer Alberto Bernasconi..."

Clinton says could not recall all briefings due to concussion - FBI report

Clinton says could not recall all briefings due to concussion - FBI report:
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton told the FBI she did not recall all the briefings she received on handling sensitive information as she made the transition from her post as U.S. secretary of state, due to a concussion suffered in 2012, according to a report released Friday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a summary of the July 2 interview it conducted with the Democratic presidential candidate, as well as other details of its investigation into her use of a private email server while heading the State Department.
...Said the report, "Clinton said she received no instructions or direction regarding the preservation or production of records from (the) State (Department) during the transition out of her role as Secretary of State in 2013.
"However, in December of 2012, Clinton suffered a concussion and then around the New Year had a blood clot (in her head).
Based on her doctor’s advice, she could only work at State for a few hours a day and could not recall every briefing she received," the report said..."

THEY KNEW: Leaked Pelosi docs admit Obama, Clinton lied about Benghazi - The American MirrorThe American Mirror

THEY KNEW: Leaked Pelosi docs admit Obama, Clinton lied about Benghazi - The American MirrorThe American Mirror:

"Documents from Nancy Pelosi’s computer were leaked by the Romanian hacker “Guccifer 2.0,” including a memo showing that the House Minority Leader knew the Obama Administration and Hillary Clinton lied to the American people about Benghazi and choose to hide those facts.

The memo states all talking points and background information about the Benghazi attacks and included in a bold font that UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s claims about an internet video were “later proved false.”"

Governor Gives Academically Failed Detroit Schools a Three-Year Pass

Governor Gives Academically Failed Detroit Schools a Three-Year Pass [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"The demand by the media and Democratic politicians for more oversight in Michigan’s public schools has been almost entirely focused on charter schools.
Yet, consider the academically failing schools run by a district that has been riddled with corruption for more than a decade. 
That district, in which more than half the schools are failing academically, recently received a $617 million state bailout because it was insolvent. 
And now, Gov. Snyder just handed the district's schools a three-year pass on the threat of closure.
...Charter schools, however, can still be closed within the city of Detroit..."

AM Fruitcake

History for September 3

History for September 3 - On-This-Day.com:
Ferdinand Porsche 1875, Kitty Carlisle-Hart 1914, Mort Walker 1923 - Cartoonist ("Beetle Bailey")


Al Jardine 1942 - Musician (The Beach Boys), Charlie Sheen 1965 - Actor ("Two and a Half Men"), Shaun White 1986 - Olympic snowboarder


1783 - The Revolutionary War between the U.S. and Great Britain ended with the Treaty of Paris.


1833 - The first successful penny newspaper in the U.S., "The New York Sun," was launched by Benjamin H. Day.


1838 - Frederick Douglass boarded a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from being a slave.


1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles an hour. He reached 304.331 MPH on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.


1939 - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in a radio broadcast, announced that Britain and France had declared war on Germany. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.


1954 - "The Lone Ranger" was heard on radio for the final time after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.


1966 - The television series "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" ended after 14 years.


1967 - In Sweden, motorists stopped driving on the left side of the road and began driving on the right side.

Kaepernick Digs Himself A Deeper Hole: Wore Socks Of Cartoon Pigs In Police Hats

Kaepernick Digs Himself A Deeper Hole: Wore Socks Of Cartoon Pigs In Police Hats:

"Colin Kaepernick is making new enemies after it was discovered that during training camp practices, he wore socks which featured an inflammatory image directed at law enforcement.

The 49ers quarterback was photographed in August wearing socks emblazoned with cartoon pigs dawning police hats. Now the executive director of one of the largest police organizations is firing back."

Obama Admits 10,000 Syrian Refugees: This Is Where They Are Headed

Obama Admits 10,000 Syrian Refugees: This Is Where They Are Headed | Zero Hedge
"Yesterday, the White House announced that the US had met President Obama’s goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country; it did so ahead of schedule. 

One year ago Obama had sought a sixfold increase in the number of Syrian refugees provided safe haven in the United States. 
After a slow start, the administration was able to hit the goal about a month early and just a few weeks before Obama convenes a summit on refugees during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. 
...With many Americans curious where these refugees will land, a map we first posted last September shows a wide dispersion. More details can be found in a document from the Refugee Processing Center.

Read more, watch ESPN less

Read more, watch ESPN less | Power Line:
"John Skipper is the President of ESPN, Inc.
The Washington Post adoringly paints him as one-time Southern hippie who studied literature, wanted to write the Great American novel, and enjoys late night “high level sophisticated conversations about American literature, Faulkner’s place in it, [and] the influence of alcohol and race. . . .”
You probably know the type.
In a commencement address at the University of Central Florida, Skipper bemoaned the fact that, according to a recent survey, the average American spends three hours a day in front of a television and just 19 minutes reading.
“Please watch a little less television,” the TV executive implored.
I would modify his plea slightly. 
Please watch less ESPN.
Why? 
Because, as I discussed here, ESPN has taken the side of the political left.
It’s ESPY award ceremony was, in the words of one critic, “filled with about as much race-baiting, left-wing politics as the Democrats convention in Philly. . .”
Meanwhile, the network suppresses opposing viewpoints.
It fired Curt Schilling for speaking out on his Facebook page about transgender bathroom laws.
It fired Ray Lewis shortly after he put out a video arguing that African-Americans should focus primarily on blacks killing blacks, not on the rare instances in which a bad white cop kills a “brother...”

August Was Chicago’s Deadliest Month in 20 Years | TheBlaze.com

August Was Chicago’s Deadliest Month in 20 Years | TheBlaze.com:

"August was Chicago’s deadliest month in 20 years, WLS-TV reported.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, 90 people were murdered in the city in August, the most murders in a single month since 1996."

Michigan straight-party voting ban remains blocked

Michigan straight-party voting ban remains blocked - Crain's Detroit Business:
"LANSING — Michigan residents still will be allowed to use the state's long-standing option of voting for an entire slate of one party's candidates with a single mark in the November election, barring an unlikely intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday rejected Secretary of State Ruth Johnson's request that the full court immediately review a panel's 3-0 decision that kept intact a preliminary injunction blocking a new straight-party voting ban.
A majority of 15 active judges did not favor an initial "en banc" hearing before ballots are printed this month.
U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain halted the Republican-backed law in July, saying an increase in long lines would have disproportionately burdened blacks in the November election..."

Detroit follows through on threat to seek back taxes

Detroit follows through on threat to seek back taxes - Crain's Detroit Business:
"Detroit has followed through on its threat to sue hundreds of financial institutions and other companies in an attempt to recoup $12.2 million in unpaid property taxes.
The city last month announced its plans to sue to get the money it said is owed from 2010-12 on more than 1,500 parcels of land.
The Detroit News reported the filings came as Wednesday was the deadline for Detroit to sue.
Detroit Treasurer and Deputy CFO David Szymanski said a handful of businesses agreed to try to negotiate a settlement but more than 550 lawsuits were moving forward.
The city has said it only was going after companies that own property for profit and not individuals with fewer than three properties."

Lunch video-----Every High School Principal Should Say This

Noon-toon

Report: Bill Clinton Used Taxpayer Money for Foundation, Private Email Server | TheBlaze.com

Report: Bill Clinton Used Taxpayer Money for Foundation, Private Email Server | TheBlaze.com:

"Former President Bill Clinton’s aides used taxpayer funds to subsidize the Clinton Foundation, an associated business and the private email server Hillary Clinton used during her tenure as secretary of state, a new report claims.

According to Politico, the cash went toward purchasing IT equipment — including servers — at the Clinton Foundation and also supplementing the pay and benefits of several staffers who are now caught in the middle of the scandals involving Hillary Clinton’s private email and supposed pay-to-play tactics."

Flynn addresses Milwaukee's 'deadliest month' in 25 years

Flynn addresses Milwaukee's 'deadliest month' in 25 years:
"A woman beaten to death with a lamp in an act of domestic violence.
A man fatally stabbed during an argument outside a tavern.
A man shot and killed while returning from a funeral for his grandfather.
Those are just three of the 24 homicides recorded in August — what Milwaukee police have termed the "deadliest month" in 25 years.
It is the highest monthly total since July 1991, when the victims of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer were discovered, Milwaukee police said..."

When Work Is Punished Again: "If You Accept This Raise, You Fall Off The Welfare Cliff"

When Work Is Punished Again: "If You Accept This Raise, You Fall Off The Welfare Cliff" | Zero Hedge:
"Four years ago we first exposed the dismal fact that in the U.S., for the lowest income American Dreamers, work is punished. 
Sadly, the situation has grown worse as buying votes amid a burgeoning welfare state has left millions in the so-called 'low-wage-trap' leaving Americans teetering on the welfare cliff.

The situation can be summed up perfectly, as Foundation for Economic Education's Howard Baetjer explains, "If you accept this raise... you fall off the welfare cliff"...

Pretend you are a poor, single parent of two in Chicago, earning $12 an hour, working full time, and determined to do what is best for your family. And suppose your employer, impressed with your work, offers you training for and promotion to a new job paying $15. Should you take the offer?

It sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not.

At your present $12 an hour you are eligible for refundable tax credits, food assistance, housing assistance, child care assistance, and medical assistance worth $41,465 combined. Together with your earned income after taxes of $22,121, you are now bringing home to your kids about $63,586 a year.

If you take your employer’s offer, you’ll earn $5,451 more after taxes, $27,572. You will also become eligible for an Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credit. But at that level of earned income all your other benefits would decrease by $8,336, more than your increase in net pay. That means the income you would bring home would decrease from $63,586 to $60,701.
...Here is the chart on which the hypothetical above is based (the particular numbers in our example come from tables in the report, which clarify the visual data in the charts.)

Notice that welfare cliff we considered above, which occurs between $12 an hour and $15 an hour, is relatively small. A bigger one (and the reason I call the report “appalling”) occurs between $15 an hour and $18 an hour..."

Blog: Another Soros puppet string revealed

Blog: Another Soros puppet string revealed:
"George Soros is a brilliant mastermind, the closest thing to a real-life Bond villain in human history.  He thinks strategically, targeting sources of leverage, and he wants to bring about structural change.  See, for instance, his close involvement in the Secretary of States Project.
Another attempt at targeting strategic sources of leverage has been outed at Politico (!) by Scott Bland:
While America’s political kingmakers inject their millions into high-profile presidential and congressional contests, Democratic mega-donor George Soros has directed his wealth into an under-the-radar 2016 campaign to advance one of the progressive movement’s core goals — reshaping the American justice system.
The billionaire financier has channeled more than $3 million into seven local district attorney campaigns in six states over the past year — a sum that exceeds the total spent on the 2016 presidential campaign by all but a handful of rival super-donors.
Typically, D.A. races do not attract big bucks, so the Soros money can become a major factor..."

State Orders Release of Clinton Training Records | The Daily Caller

State Orders Release of Clinton Training Records | The Daily Caller:

"A federal judge ordered the Department of State Wednesday to produce for The Daily Caller News Foundation the security training records of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin within two weeks, or face direct deposition of multiple government officials."

Experts: Obama Admin. Using 'Emergency' Provision to Expand Immigration

Experts: Obama Admin. Using 'Emergency' Provision to Expand Immigration | NumbersUSA:
"Last week Pres. Obama used a provision called “humanitarian parole” to give temporary status to immigrant entrepreneurs, historically this parole has only been used during a time of emergency.
Humanitarian parole allows the DHS secretary to admit foreigners into the U.S. for a “temporary period of time due to a compelling emergency,” such as to allow someone to undergo a life-saving medical treatment they can’t receive in the homeland or to testify in a court case.
“It was intended as a very, very limited power the president could exercise … It was intended to be used very rarely,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
“Like a lot of powers, this president extended it as far as it could possibly be extended.”
...Mehlman remarked, “There is no legal authority for parole in place. It’s part of a steady erosion of respect for immigration laws that we’ve seen...”

AM Fruitcake

History for September 2

History for September 2 - On-This-Day.com
Cleveland Amory 1917, Allen Drury 1918, Peter Ueberroth 1937


Christa McAuliffe 1948, Mark Harmon 1951, Jimmy Connors 1952


31 B.C. - The Roman leader Octavian defeated the alliance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian, as Augustus Caesar, became the first Roman emperor.


1775 - Hannah, the first American war vessel was commissioned by General George Washington.


1864 - During the U.S. Civil War Union forces led by Gen. William T. Sherman occupied Atlanta following the retreat of the Confederates.


1897 - The first issue of "McCall’s" magazine was published. The magazine had been known previously as "Queens Magazine" and "Queen of Fashion."


1901 - Theodore Roosevelt, then Vice President, said "Speak softly and carry a big stick" in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.


1945 - Japan surrendered to the U.S. aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. The war ended six years and one day after it began.


1963 - "The CBS Evening News" was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.


1973 - Billy Martin was fired as manager of the Detroit Tigers. Martin was relieved of his duties three days after ordering his pitchers to throw spitballs against Cleveland Indians batters.

Josh Earnest Lectures Journalists to Report That the Obama Administration Is Transparent | TheBlaze.com

Josh Earnest Lectures Journalists to Report That the Obama Administration Is Transparent | TheBlaze.com:

"White House press secretary Josh Earnest wrote a letter to the editor published in the New York Times Wednesday arguing that journalists should take note of the Obama administration’s efforts to become “the most transparent White House in history.”"