"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him had better take a closer look at the American Indian."--Henry Ford
In 1980 Shanghai had no skyscrapers. It now has at least 4,000 - more than twice as many as New York.
Louis Reard had named a new bathing suit he designed in 1946 the "bikini" in reference to earlier U.S. atomic bomb tests on the Bikini atoll -- he chose the name in reaction to a competitive French bathing suit design called the "Atome" and presumably because of the stir he thought it would create
Louis Reard had named a new bathing suit he designed in 1946 the "bikini" in reference to earlier U.S. atomic bomb tests on the Bikini atoll -- he chose the name in reaction to a competitive French bathing suit design called the "Atome" and presumably because of the stir he thought it would create
Obama’s reputation as a purported defender of civil liberties has taken another hit. The Guardian, the British newspaper, published a top-secret court order Wednesday night that requires Verizon to provide the NSA with access to all of its phone logs. In one of the more chilling passages in the four-page document, Verizon is not allowed “to disclose to any other person that the FBI or NSA has sought or obtained tangible things under this Order.” It is difficult to find the most interesting point but one is that the revelation was not by an American paper.
New federal rules list Shari’a-compliant guidelines that federal law enforcement officials must now comply with when conducting raids related to Islamic leaders or institutions.
A new book out on language and dialect argues that regional variants of English in the U.S. are diverging and becoming more and more different. This, with T.V. and radio, is hard to believe as broadcasting homogenizes everything.
When they do approval polling for George Washington, he does far better when the economy is doing well than when it's struggling or in a recession. So, our first President, the father of our country, is judged through contemporary lenses, on what's happening currently in people's lives.
Battle lines are being drawn over ethanol this year starting in Kansas and Iowa where oil companies are trying to discourage the use of E15, 15% ethanol blends, with a lot of minor but expensive adaptations. The ethanol lobby and the oil lobby are hammers and tongs in advertising and court activity, including a suit by the oil lobby before the Supreme Court. The ethanol lobby has one high-profile ally: NASCAR, which uses E15 fuel for "every driver, every lap, every series," said Michael Lynch, managing director of green innovation at NASCAR in Daytona Beach, Florida. Ethanol is, of course, silly, ineffective, expensive and a poor substitute for oil generally but, in politics, money and influence always trumps common sense and reality.
Who is....Affirmed and Alydar?
Edward Snowden, the CIA man who revealed the NSA spying program to the Guardian, hid in Hong Kong because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent."
A local drug prosecution is winding down. Evidence has been presented that the pharmacist and his family were selling oxycodeine, 360 pills at a time, for $2700.00. This was all cash because he wanted to avoid a record of the transaction with insurance and the IRS. He was making $50,000.00 a day.
The pharmacist owned a nursing home where he had power of attorney so he used the accounts of the patients to hide the money.
"Across the globe, in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas our diplomats are assisting local LGBT organizations and supporting local human rights advocates working to promote equality, create dialogue, and ensure protections for LGBT individuals."--U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Author Jonathan Franzen, who serves on the American Bird Conservancy board says, “The bird community’s position is, we need to get rid of the feral cats, and that means cats must die.” The Bird Community. Cats must die.
Researchers found that high school graduation rates vary by race, with 91.8 percent of Asian students, 82 percent of whites, 65.9 percent of Hispanics and 63.5 percent of blacks graduating on time.
Sales of EVs has cut into the revenue collected by states on gas purchases and used to pay for highway and bridge maintenance. As a reaction, three states have enacted rules to add fees to green cars while five others are weighing legislation. But the larger question on the issue is if electric vehicles are actually to blame for the drop in gas tax revenue or if it's the better gas mileage across the automobile industry. So more efficient is not cheaper?
droll \drohl\, adjective: 1. amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish. Droll originally comes from the Middle Dutch word drol referring to "a fat little man." The word came to English through the French droll which meant "pleasant rascal."
The NYT censors itself: The NYT editorial on the NSA scandal originally declared that the Obama “administration has lost all credibility” as a result of the recently revealed news that the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been secretly collecting call data from American users of Verizon under the authority of the Patriot Act. But hours later the sentence had been modified to read the Obama “administration has now lost all credibility on this issue.” (emphasis added) There are actually web sites that monitor this type of thing.
In Japan, the term Banzai! literally means “ten thousand years” and can be used to wish someone long life and happiness. But during World War II, “Banzai!”was shouted in battle. It was the Japanese equivalent of "Long live the king!" – but to soldiers on the other side it came to mean a suicidal attack.
At least one conspiracy—headed by Najibullah Zazi and intended to maim and kill New York City subway riders—was disclosed through NSA communication monitoring and headed off. Zazi, arrested in 2009, pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
Golden Oldie:
In The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies in a chapter on voter suppression Jonathan Alter writes: "After five years of investigations and prosecutions, the Bush Justice Department acknowledged in 2007 that no evidence existed of a widespread problem with vote fraud. In a nation of more than 200 million citizens of voting age, fewer than fifty people were convicted of voting illegally, almost all of whom offered convincing explanations that they had done so unintentionally."
Re: the the prying government scandal, from a congressional subcommittee transcript, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois asks the attorney general if he's spying on members of Congress and thereby giving the executive branch leverage over the legislative branch.Eric Holder answers: "With all due respect, senator, I don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue."
Kirk responds: "the correct answer would be, 'No, we stayed within our lane and I'm assuring you we did not spy on members of Congress.'"
"Game of Thrones" finishing up its third and most successful season ever -- the season finale was watched by 5.5 million viewers, 1.3 million more than last year's final.
An indicator of how things have changed: The NSA's precursor was a World War I group of naval intelligence officers called the "Black Chamber" charged with intercepting diplomatic telegrams. In 1929, then Secretary of State Henry Stimson shut down the office of code breakers, famously saying "Gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail."
Aaaaaaannnnnnndddddd........a graph or two:
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