Rapid transit projects hit the skids in three Michigan cities | Bridge Magazine

Rapid transit projects hit the skids in three Michigan cities | Bridge Magazine
"GRAND RAPIDS – A gleaming bus pulls to a stop along a mostly barren street south of Grand Rapids. 
As the bus pulls away, the scene morphs and the bus is now surrounded by millions of dollars in development ‒ sprouting as if by magic.

Such was the promise in this animated promotional video for a $35 million transit route called the Silver Line, launched with great fanfare in 2014.

Backers said it would transform a nearly 10-mile stretch of South Division Avenue from downtown Grand Rapids to the suburbs with dedicated lanes for hybrid electric buses. Commuters would trade in their cars. 
It would return $160 million in new development.

Four years later, most of South Division is virtually the same ‒ and daily rides are about half what was predicted.

Across the state in Detroit, the QLine, a $140-million electric streetcar line that connects downtown to Midtown along Woodward Avenue, attracted less than half of its projected riders for several months its first year. 

It’s been beset by delays, crashes and falling popularity.

And in Lansing, transit officials pulled the plug last year on a controversial $133 million bus rapid transit (BRT) line when expected federal funds dried up. 

Nearly $6 million in state and federal funds had already been invested ‒ in a project whose backers also forecast dramatic development benefits..."
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Watch lawmaker blister DOJ for withholding documents

Watch lawmaker blister DOJ for withholding documents:

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went on defense Thursday during a hearing of the House Judicial Committee over the Justice Department’s and FBI’s handling of the Russia probe and Hillary Clinton email investigations.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pressed Rosenstein on why Congress still has not received information it requested nearly a year ago.

The West Can’t AFjord to Let Norway Die—And Norway Doesn’t | VDARE.com

The West Can’t AFjord to Let Norway Die—And Norway Doesn’t | VDARE.com
"Norwegians have a sense of self-confidence that their Scandinavian neighbours can hardly dream of. Their gerrymandered close relationship with the European Union, and their elite’s fervent advocacy of Multiculturalism, has clearly rocked the nation of 5.5 million, but the damage is nowhere near as severe as it could be.
...this time, it was hollow victory for the Norwegian spirit of defiance.
As a member of the EEA, Norway had to take “refugees” and other immigrants. 
The slow death of Norway had begun. 
The parents of the speakers of so-called ‘Kebab Norwegian’ arrived from the Middle East in droves.
...Historically, rape was incredibly rare in Norway.
But the Islamic rape-wave began slowly but surely.
100% (!) of rapes committed in Oslo between 2005 and 2010 were by what the police called “men with a non-Western origin” (code for Muslim)..."
Read on.

Rosenstein’s Telling House Testimony

Rosenstein’s Telling House Testimony: 
"Rosenstein’s Telling House Testimony-June 28, 2018 by Jeff Carlson, CFA
Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein & FBI Director Chris Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. 
It proved interesting. 
Very interesting. 
And informative.
At the start, Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee and Jerrold Nadler repeatedly questioned the validity of the hearing. 
Following the break, Points of Order were loudly raised (particularly by Ted Lieu) as Strzok testimony was raised in questioning by Rep. Ratcliffe.
Democrats appeared unusually nervous and remained contentious throughout the hearing. 
Almost as if they were worried over what Rosenstein might have to say…
Rosenstein delivered an intriguing opening statement which can be found here.
FBI Director Wray’s statement, which proved less interesting, can be found here.
...I remind myself of one very important point. 
Rosenstein was appointed by President Trump. 
Rosenstein can be fired by President Trump.
...One other item of note. Rosenstein has been charged with leading the team investigating leaks. He appears to have been effective. See here.
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Lunch video-----Heart-Stopping Video Shows How Dangerous Trailers On Cars Can Be

Noon-toon

Limbaugh: Crowley collapse shows ‘blue wave’ will fail

Limbaugh: Crowley collapse shows ‘blue wave’ will fail:

“There are two things today that have blown the Democrat Party to the Soyuz space capsule on the way to the international station,” Limbaugh said. “Joe Crowley losing his election. This guy was next in line to be speaker behind Nancy Pelosi. This guy never thought he would ever lose. He hasn’t been primaried in 14 years. And a veritable Bernie Sanders communist, a 28-year-old woman comes out of nowhere promising veritable socialism and communism and wins going away.”

NBC, Amazon Writer Openly Promotes White Genocide - She Hopes It "Happens Faster"

NBC, Amazon Writer Openly Promotes White Genocide - She Hopes It "Happens Faster"
Taylor Cox is a writer for NBC, Amazon and Cartoon Network.
The only she thing she likes more than writing is white genocide.

It just can’t come fast enough.
This loon is writing for major US networks..."
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School Bans Parents From Viewing LGBT Videos Shown to Kids | Todd Starnes

School Bans Parents From Viewing LGBT Videos Shown to Kids | Todd Starnes
"Editor’s Note: Facebook is cracking down on Conservative content. To ensure you receive conservative and faith-based news items – click here for a free subscription to Todd’s newsletter.

"For four days last April students at a Emmaus High School in Pennsylvania were forced to watch videos selected by the “student-led” Gay-Straight Alliance.

The videos ranged from “9 Questions Gay People Have About Straight People” to a compilation of clips celebrating “marriage equality.” 

There was also a video educating students about gender fluidity – the idea there is no such thing as male or female.

“My son expressed to me that he felt bullied by the administration for being a heterosexual man and being forced to listen to LGBT advocacy on a daily basis,” one parent wrote in a letter to the school district.

The East Penn School District claimed the videos, shown during daily announcements, were about anti-bullying and the LGBT movement. 

But parents argue it was more about indoctrination. 

And when they asked to see the videos – the school district refused..."

Read on.

#1 This day 1963-----The Essex - easier said than done

Trump Is This Close to Saving the Blue States - WSJ

Trump Is This Close to Saving the Blue States - WSJ
"Call it the Jerry Maguire moment in blue-state politics.

Struggling under the weight of financial promises they’ve made to public-sector unions, governments in places like New Jersey and California need to help Donald Trump help them.
The President is doing just about all he can to enable reform in profligate jurisdictions... 
Lower fee income will mean less powerful government-employee unions.

The Empire Center observes:

This is a groundbreaking win for public employees... in New York and other states where they have long been compelled to support inherently political activities as a condition of employment. Roughly 200,000 New York government workers who chose not to join unions immediately stand to save over $110 million a year. Another one million who signed union membership cards, believing they’d have no choice but to pay the union, will have the option to reconsider.

Across the Hudson River, the New Jersey School Boards Association notes that along with liberating non-union members from the obligation to support organizations they oppose, the decision also prevents unions from automatically enrolling people who have never expressed an interest in membership...
Combined with rising state revenues and new incentives to reform state tax systems resulting from the federal tax law Mr. Trump enacted in December, the country’s most expensive governments suddenly enjoy the flexibility to pursue economic vitality. 

There is finally an optimistic case for the long-term prosperity of places like New Jersey, where workers currently suffer the country’s worst business tax climate, economic growth that has been almost nonexistent, and massive unfunded liabilities for public sector pensions and benefits.
But it may take a while to liberate blue-state politicians from the union bosses who have played a dominant role in funding political campaigns.
Theoretically, elected officials represent all of their citizens. 

When it comes to negotiating pay and benefits for public workers, the pols should be on one side of the table representing the general interest, while the union bosses on the other side represent the special interest..."

Huge, read all!

You ought to know!

Supremes free workers from mandatory union fees

Supremes free workers from mandatory union fees:

The Supreme Court Wednesday dealt a major blow to organized labor that also will weaken support for Democratic political candidates, freeing government workers from mandatory “fees” when they opt out of union membership.

Separated from her child!-----Woman bites off part of man's ear at Macomb County Chinese restaurant - WXYZ.com

Woman bites off part of man's ear at Macomb County Chinese restaurant - WXYZ.com
MT. CLEMENS, Mich. (WXYZ) - A woman was arrested for allegedly biting off part of a man's ear during a fight with the man at a Macomb County Chinese restaurant on Thursday night.
...Due to a language barrier, the victim's son translated what Anderson was saying to his parents.
That's when Anderson allegedly pushed the son and threw her food onto the floor.
She then started assaulting the female victim, and the male victim stepped in to protect his wife.
That's when Anderson started assaulting the man. 
As she was pushed out of the store, she bit the man on the ear, partially detaching it.
A sign on the restaurant Friday afternoon said it was closed "for some reasons."
Police took her into custody and the man was taken to the hospital.
Deputies also say Anderson left a small child at her home unsupervised..."
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AM Fruitcake

History for June 30

History for June 30 - On-This-Day.com
Lena Horne 1917 - Jazz singer, Susan Hayward 1919, Tony Musante 1936


Florence Ballard (The Supremes) 1943, Vincent D'Onofrio 1959 - Actor ("Law and Order: Criminal Intent"), Mike Tyson 1966 - Boxer


1908 - A meteor explosion in Siberia knocked down trees in a 40-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away.


1915 - During World War I, the Second Battle Artois ended when the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.


1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."


1936 - Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published.


1953 - The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.


1971 - The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth. The three cosmonauts were found dead inside.


1971 - The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.


1998 - Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.

“Agents” Emails, Inside the Mind of Bill de Blasio - Judicial Watch

“Agents” Emails, Inside the Mind of Bill de Blasio - Judicial Watch:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio last month finally turned over more than 4200 pages of unredacted emails in the “agents of the city” case. De Blasio had resisted disclosure, arguing that five outside advisers were effectively “agents of the city” whose communications should be shielded from the New York Freedom of Information Law. NY1 television and the New York Post sued and won. The documents are out. What have we learned?

Most of the emails reflect the administration’s early priorities—education, budgets, transportation, personnel, press releases and meetings. But there are plenty of glimpses behind the faade and into the true mind of the mayor. It’s not an uplifting picture.

The way we were-----Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Video)

Boob-tube-----Sunday Night TV: 1966-67 (Rare promos, bumpers, commercials, etc.)

Activists Say Straws Should Be Banned Because They Are a 'Gateway Plastic' - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Activists Say Straws Should Be Banned Because They Are a 'Gateway Plastic' - Hit & Run : Reason.com
"Advocates hope a straw ban will be the first step toward broader plastic prohibitions.
Plastic straw bans won't help the environment, but that's no reason not to pass them.
Or so argue straw prohibitionists who want the little suckers outlawed in the hope of provoking environmentally friendly soul searching among inconvenienced consumers.

"Straw bans aren't going to save the ocean, but they could jumpstart much-needed conversations about the level of non-biodegradable trash in them," writes Vox's Radhika Viswanathan, who gets all the facts about straws and their minimal effect on the environment right but still manages to come out in favor of a ban.
Viswanathan is joined by Dune Ives, executive director of the environmental group Lonely Whale, which has has targeted straws as a "gateway plastic."...

Read on.

How to explain blockchain in plain English | The Enterprisers Project

How to explain blockchain in plain English | The Enterprisers Project:
"How to explain blockchain in plain English.
Arm yourself with definitions that will help you explain blockchain to others.
One expert compares it to a school lunch trade.
...Change is coming: Research firm IDC, among others, predicts booming growth, expecting worldwide spending on blockchain-related spending to hit $9.7 billion in 2021, up from around $2 billion this year.
But what’s the hold-up for IT leaders?
Gartner points to one reason in its survey results: Blockchain engineering skills are hard to come by and, as a result, are expensive.
People who do understand blockchain sometimes have a hard time explaining it succinctly.
There’s another issue: Many people still don’t understand what blockchain is.
Moreover, people who do understand it sometimes have a hard time explaining it succinctly, especially if they have to do so in non-technical terms that a wide audience can understand..."
Read all.

Illegal alien kids are unhappy having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance

Illegal alien kids are unhappy having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance:

Not a day goes by without some headline about the suffering of illegal alien kids, nearly all of whom are eating and living better than they ever have in their lives, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. Most of them were sent to America unaccompanied by adults, so our tax dollars could take care of them. But apparently, some kids are unhappy.

They are being made to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. What's worse, they're being made to say it in English!

Freaked Out Americans Desperately Seek to Escape the News - Bloomberg Quint

Freaked Out Americans Desperately Seek to Escape the News - Bloomberg Quint:
"Last week, Jen Wrenn, a children’s literacy advocate in San Diego, attended her first political protest after reading about the Trump administration policy of separating small children from their immigrant parents at the border.
She had heard ProPublica’s audio of a little girl crying in the border camp and decided to do something about it.
She shouted.
She marched.
And afterwards, she decompressed by watching the Mr. Rogers documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
“As soon as I hear the theme song, my blood pressure goes down,” Wrenn said.
“I think that kind of calm is what we all crave mentally right now.”
The film about Fred Rogers, the beloved figure of American childhood, has made $4.9 million at the box office since it opened on June 8—more than 20 times the typical haul for a documentary.
In interviews, director Morgan Neville paints the documentary’s success as indicative of our times. “We’re in this period in our culture where I feel like nobody wants to be an adult anymore,” Neville recently told Deadline.
“A character like Fred takes us back to how we should treat each other.”
Last fall, the American Psychological Association found that almost two-thirds of Americans listed “the state of the nation” as their primary source of stress, above both money and work.
More than half believed that America was at its lowest point in history.
Almost 70 percent of all Americans feel a sense of “news fatigue,” according to the Pew Research Center..."
Read on.

Montage: Media Turning Trump Voters into Public Enemy No. 1 :: Grabien News

Montage: Media Turning Trump Voters into Public Enemy No. 1 :: Grabien News

‘If you vote for Trump, then you, the voter, you, not Donald Trump, are standing at the border, like Nazis’

"When President Trump tweeted “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” the media quickly went ballistic...

MSNBC's Donny Deutsch said Trump supporters are the "bad guy" in America and are akin to Nazis. 

"If we are working towards November, we can no longer say Trump’s the bad guy," Deutsch said during a recent appearance on Morning Joe. 

"If you vote for Trump, you’re the bad guy. If you vote for Trump, you are ripping children from parents’ arms."

He continued: "If you vote for Trump, then you, the voter, you, not Donald Trump, are standing at the border, like Nazis going, ‘You here, you here.’ 

I think we now have to flip it and it’s a given, the evilness of Donald Trump. 

But if you vote, you can no longer separate yourself. 

You can’t say, ‘Well, he’s okay, but ...’ And I think that gymnastics and that jiu-jitsu has to happen.”...

Read on.