National Center for Science Education Blast Global Warming Teaching in Texas Textbook

It seems the settled science is the only acceptable thing to teach kids these days.

The text goes on to present students with excerpts from two articles on climate change, one written by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the other by the Heartland Institute, a conservative advocacy group. “This misleads students as to good sources of information, pitting an ideologically driven advocacy group … against a Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientific body,” the NCSE reviewers write.

Um, both of these groups are ideologically driven advocacy groups. The IPCC sometimes made mistakes when it came to global warming and are pretty clear that they are advocates of man-made climate change.

State Department Threatens Foley Family About Paying Ransom for Their Now Deceased Son

This has to rankle the family when they felt like they could have done something to save their sons life.

Diane Foley, James Foley's mother, offered a rare interview to ABC News this week in which she admitted the family considered a ransom payment to ISIS to secure her son's safe return. However, she also says White House officials told the family they would face criminal charges for supporting terrorism in the event a ransom was paid. The message came directly from a high-ranking military official on the White House National Security Council. The last threat came just days before the video of Foley's beheading surfaced. 

However, you have to understand that the US is not supposed to negotiate with terrorists. Instead the White House waited forever and then missed the hostages because of bad intel. In any case this will all go down the memory hole now that Obama is going to bomb ISIS at long last.   

I'm Sorry Marc Faber McDonalds is No Longer a Proxy for the World Economy

This might well have been true about a decade ago.

For Faber, those results are a perfect example of the damage being done by central banks—and the harbinger of more bad news to come. 

"Nobody knows for sure" what will cause stocks to collapse, but "the earnings may disappoint. We had, essentially, very poor sales from McDonald's. Now, McDonald's is a very good indicator of the global economy. If McDonald's doesn't increase its sales, it tells you that the monetary policies have largely failed in the sense that prices are going up more than disposable income, and so people have less purchasing power." 

I think McDonalds poor sales is more of switch to healthy eating than anything else. Quite a few people are starting to shun McDonalds supposedly unhealthy food for Chipotle and other restaurants. The tasty and healthy burritos gives Chipotle revenue growth of 27% and earnings growth of 30% in 2014. No one can say that people aren't eating at Chipotle because their disposable income is in the dumper. Just anecdotally, the last time I walked by a Chipotle there was a line out the door and down the street. So the purchasing power of the proles might not be as big an issue as Faber is talking about.

California to Become Pre-Revolutionary France?

It seems to be slowing heading that way as the Tech Oligarchs distance themselves from the common man.

The oligarchs feel free, and even entitled, to choose the direction of society in the name of a greater good, but somehow their policies seem mostly to make the oligarchs richer and more powerful. Meanwhile, once-prosperous middle-class communities, revolving around manufacturing industries that have now moved overseas, either sink into poverty or become gentrified homes for the lower-upper class. The middle class itself, meanwhile, is increasingly, in Kotkin's words, "proletarianized," with security vanishing and jobs moving downscale.

Plus some of those same oligarchs are "disrupting" their jobs away at a record pace. This article also points out that there is a Californian First and Fourth Estates in this Pre-Revolutionary French model.

The oligarchs are assisted in their control by what Kotkin calls the "clerisy" class — an amalgam of academics, media and government employees who play the role that medieval clergy once played in legitimizing the powerful, and in implementing their policies while quelling resistance from the masses. The clerisy isn't as rich as the oligarchs, but it does pretty well for itself and is compensated in part by status, its positions allowing even its lower-paid members to feel superior to the hoi polloi.

The article talks about these people as either teaching someone how to get a license in whatever field or are there to check the licenses. This clerisy keeps themselves in place and keep the poor man down thusly:

And as Radley Balko notes in the Washington Post, a thicket of petty regulation helps to keep the poor, poor. Traffic fines, fines for not using a city-approved garbage service, even parking tickets all provide revenue for municipal machines that support jobs for the clerisy — social workers, police, etc. — even as they make it harder for poor people to keep their heads above water, or find the kind of work that would let them rise above poverty.

This clerisy also has skin in the game if these same poor people are kept on a perpetual dole. I mean who will be regulating how much dole to give each poor person? Who will be making charts and compiling data and writing and revising regulations when it comes to this dole? Who will print the dole checks and man the dole disbursement sites? The clerisy of course. So they have a financial incentive to keep the poor poor and the oligarchs in place. Hopefully, things don't go the same way that revolutionary France did.

Jack the Ripper Revealed? It turns out it was a Polish Barber Aaron Kosminski

Hmm this makes some sense.

But after extracting DNA from a shawl recovered from the scene of one of the killings, which matched relatives of both the victim and one of the suspects, Jack the Ripper sleuth Russell Edwards claims the identity of the murderer is now beyond doubt.

He says the infamous killer is Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish emigre from Poland, who worked as a barber.

Edwards, a businessman interested in the Ripper story, bought a bloodstained Victorian shawl at auction in 

2007.

The story goes that it came from the murder scene of the Ripper's fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, on September 30, 1888.

I wonder if a barber would have enough knowledge to cut organs out of a woman like the Ripped did? He probably had the manual dexterity to do it but the anatomy knowledge is iffy. Also why did he stop after the 5th victim? The article said he entered a workhouse in 1889 and the last murder was Friday 9 November 1888. He then went from the workhouse to the insane asylum where he died in 1919. He might have never had a chance to commit future murders and stopped after 5 because of this confinement.

I Guess a Picture is Worth an Indefinite Suspension. Ray Rice Cut and Suspeded after TMZ releases Awful Knock-Out

The NFL is so full of crap when it comes to suspensions.

All the support the Baltimore Ravens gave Ray Rice this offseason as he dealt with his domestic violence incident evaporated after TMZ released video of the running back knocking out his wife.

The team cut him on Monday afternoon.

The NFL was told he knocked out his wife and dragged her out of an elevator. Did the NFL think he held up his fist and she fainted daintily onto a divan or something? He knocked her out and only got a 2 game suspension. Aldon Smith was drunk and disorderly at the airport and got an 8 game suspension. Now the NFL sees the actual video footage and suddenly they rush to suspend him indefinitely. I guess a video is worth more than the words of what actually happened.

Its a Fricken Laser! Boeing Introduces the Drone/Missile Killer Known as the HEL MD

I would like to have it called the Hell Beam.

The aerospace giant recently conducted testing on its High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) against aerial targets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. And we’re pleased to say it works, quite well.

Effectively, the HEL MD is a giant high-energy laser outfitted atop a 500-horsepower Oshkosh 8×8 tactical vehicle. In its most recent testing, Boeing focused its 10-kilowatt laser on more than 150 airborne bogeys, which included both mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Inducing a high level of heat on contact, the laser system burns the target until it either blows up – in the case of the mortars – or crashes.

They are planning on rolling out a 50-60 kilowatt laser in the future. I'm sure the IDF would like to purchase a few of these in order to deal with Hamas missile-fire. The Iron Dome now laser powered!

Krugman has Found out the Conservatives Secret Plan!

Yup he is a sleuth par excellence.

New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman believes the conservative movement's "real goal" is to shift the entire country's social policies back 120 years.

"Their real goal is to push us back to 1894 — not even to 1924. So these are the stakes. This is really serious stuff," he declared Thursday night.  "Never forget just how big this thing is."

Well at least 1894 was post emancipation so there is that. I wonder why Krugman pulled that date out of a hat? Maybe he fixated on it because it was the first year that Labor Day became a federal holiday. Also federal marshals ceased protecting black voters in the South so there is that. Maybe he wants to go back to a time when the Democratic Party was virulently racist and did everything they could to keep blacks from voting? 

I mean there was an economic malaise from the panic of 1893. However, there were also massive strikes by coal workers and the Pullman Strike happened in that year as well. It was organized by the noted socialist Eugene V. Debs. Democrat Grover Cleveland broke that strike with the army. You would think the Dems wanted to go back to a time when organized labor was that powerful again.

What the Dems do not want is something like the massive GOP landslide election in that year. Maybe Krugman is prescient? That was the largest midterm turn around in US history and doomed the Democrats for years afterward. So in that case I bet the GOP would not mind some 1894 magic. 

Allison Williams as Peter Pan and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook? Sign me up!

This does sound pretty interesting I think.

NBC revealed a first look at Williams as the iconic flying J.M. Barrie creation, which promises the most fashion-forward Pan we've seen in some time.

Christopher Walken will try to kill her as Captain Hook, which makes this the most exciting TV event of the fall, for sure.

If Walken sings then this show will be some spectacle.

Germany and France Team up to Make the Next Super Tank

Who would have thought this was possible after WW2. KMW is a private German company and Nexter is owned by the French government.

KMW and Nexter say their new firm will employ more than 6,000 workers generating nearly $2.7 billion in annual revenue. With $8.8 billion in backlogged orders for weapons systems to be built, the company would have enough work to keep itself busy for more than three years, right from the start.

The combined companies would offer their customers everything the modern armored army needs to roll, too: 155mm towed and self-propelled guns, anti-aircraft guns, and tracked and wheeled armored personnel carriers. The most famous products, though, would be France's Leclerc main battle tank (from Nexter) and Germany's Leopard 2 -- a 62-ton beast of a weapons system, featuring a 120mm Rheinmetall smoothbore cannon that can penetrate 22 inches of solid steel from a range of 1.3 miles. One of KMW's most popular products, the company has sold 3,200 Leopard 2s to 16 separate armies.

Fast Food Workers Look to Strike: They Know Many can Be Replaced by Machines right?

I guess the automation of the fast food industry will now start in earnest if this comes to pass.

The next round of protests from fast food workers will take place on Thursday, when people in more than 100 cities will stage sit-ins or walk off the job as they seek a $15 minimum wage. “On Thursday, we are prepared to take arrests to show our commitment to the growing fight for $15,” Terrence Wise, a Burger King employee  and a member of the fast-food workers’ national organizing committee, told The New York Times.  

If you had to pay fast food workers $15 an hour I would be willing to bet that 2/3 of them would be fired as soon as a burger making machine is in place. It would be a complicated device but it would amount to an assembly line staffed by robots. About the only humans there would be people that hand bags to customers and take money. Everyone in the food prep area will be let go for sure. I mean $7.25 an hour is too low but $15 is just crazy.

#Overheated Rhetoric Department: DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accuses Scott Walker of Domestic Violence

Now this is part of the reason why people tune out politics.

“Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand,” Wasserman Schultz said. “I know that is stark. I know that is direct. I know that is reality.”

“What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back,” the DNC chairwoman  said. “It is not going to happen on our watch.”

Wasserman Schultz was reportedly criticizing Walker for opposing a minimum wage hike and blocking a 2012 employment discrimination bill that would have benefited plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Okay opposing a minimum wage hike and an employment discrimination bill is the same thing as beating a woman in Shultz's opinion? I guess this is the lefts version of calling someone a socialist.

The Blacklist Bought out by Netflix for $2 million per episode

Talk about paying up for content.

“The Blacklist” just earned a lot of green.

The NBC series, which stars James Spader, has been acquired by Netflix for the hefty sum of $2 million per episode, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap on Thursday.

At least the show can get a bit more adult if they want since it won't be on network television. The big question is if more people will subscribe to Netflix because of this buyout. 

Bearish Bear says Market will drop from 30% to 60%: Said the same thing in 2009 and 2012

Sometimes these bears like David Tice are in religion mode.

Being extremely bearish on stocks is not a new position for Tice, who said in 2009 that the S&P 500 would go to 400, and in October 2012 said the market, "really seems like it seemed in early '08."

This chart from Morningstar shows the performance of the fund over the last ten years, with $10,000 invested in the fund worth $5,340 today. In contrast, $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 over the same period would be worth $22,244 today.

Yeah his fund would have cost you $4660 in losses if you stuck with him for 10 years. An index fund would have more than doubled your money. A broken clock is wrong 99% of the time.

Boehner Profited from Inversions!: So what. If you have an S&P500 Index Fund you Did Too

I love how Bloomberg has a veiled attempt at saying that Boehner is somehow crooked for owning Medtronic and Coviden shares.

While U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp have resisted calls for a crackdown on companies adopting overseas addresses to pay lower taxes, both have made money off one of the deals. They also have investments at risk of losing value because of government action. 

The two lawmakers reported the sale of stock in Covidien Plc within nine days of Medtronic Inc. saying it was planning a takeover, an announcement that sent Dublin-based Covidien’s shares near a 52-week high. The deal, one of several that have sparked a national debate over U.S. corporate tax policy, would put the combined company’s headquarters in Ireland and reduce its tax rate. 

They profited from inversions! The horror! The funny thing is that I profited from the same inversion because I am long an S&P500 Index Fund and sure enough the evil tax evaders are in there. Most likely if you have a 401k or a Retirement fund of any kind you probably own shares in Medtronic or Coviden as well. How unpatriotic of just about every American with a retirement fund that is invested in the stock market. This whole "inversion shaming" is such a joke.

The Real Reason Why Corporations are Inverting: 35% Tax on Everying You Make is a Strait Rip-Off

This article sums up inversion in a nutshell.

The purpose of an inversion has never been, and never could be, and never will be, "ooh, Canada has a 15 percent tax rate, and the U.S. has a 35 percent tax rate, so we can save 20 points of taxes on all our income by moving." Instead the main purpose is always: "If we're incorporated in the U.S., we'll pay 35 percent taxes on our income in the U.S. and Canada and Mexico and Ireland and Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, but if we're incorporated in Canada, we'll pay 35 percent on our income in the U.S. but 15 percent in Canada and 30 percent in Mexico and 12.5 percent in Ireland and zero percent in Bermuda and zero percent in the Cayman Islands."

That means they can take their profits from Mexico, Ireland, Bermuda, etc. and take it back up to Canada and deploy it how they see fit. Rather then try to game the American system so that they don't have to pay 35% on every penny they make no matter where it came from.

This article does a good job of saying that they made that money in Ireland and not the US. So they used Irish roads, fire department, haggis stands, etc. and Ireland only asks 12.5% taxes for that privilege. Why should Burger King have to pay 35% on that Irish money? They pay 35% on their American profits already so that should be their so-called "fair-share."

Burger King Goes the Tax Inversion Route: Boycott Everything Scarborough Because Every Company Lowers their Taxes

They have a duty to shareholders to be fiscally responsible. If they move their headquarters to Canada in order to stay competitive with McDonalds and Wendys then they should do it. These boycotters are full of it as well.

Activist group MoveOn.org is sponsoring a petition to scuttle the “Whopper Tax Dodge” or else institute a boycott. The petition has more than 1,000 signatures.

MSNCB TV host Joe Scarborough called for a Burger King boycott. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) did too, saying in a statement, “Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders.”

I wonder if they plan on boycotting Apple because they use all sorts of ways to pay only 18%? I mean they aren't paying their so-called fair share according to these dweebs. Forget the fact that they actually paid 13 billion in taxes. That is roughly the nominal GDP of Namibia.

Maybe Scarborough needs to toss his iPhone (if he has one) and buy a Samsung instead. Of course Samsung only pays 24% in taxes (likely it is much lower depending on what they do to mitigate taxes) which is far lower than our 35% rip-off rate. They aren't paying their fair share either. Maybe Joe Scarborough needs to take up semaphore and throw his phones/pads/computers away.

#TheWorstPerson: Floridian Doug Wilkey Tried to have a Kids Lemonaide Stand Shut Down

Now this is terrible for a grown man, one Doug Wilkey to try to shut this kid, T.J. Guerrero’s, stand down.

Guerrero’s Dunedin, Florida, stand, though, is not just your typical after-school activity. It has become a rallying point for community members after Guerrero’s 61-year-old neighbor tried to have the stand shut down.

It has become a rallying point for community members after Guerrero’s 61-year-old neighbor tried to have the stand shut down.

“When will this illegal nonsense ... stop?” Doug Wilkey wrote in reference to the lemonade stand in an email complaint to city officials on June 11 that was obtained by ABC News. “This is the value of the home that I have owned for 32 years getting ravaged! This is costing me thousands of dollars in home value & my taxes should be reduced accordingly!”

According to Guerrero’s mother’s partner, Wilkey never directly complained to Guerrero or his family.

However it is good that the community rallied around this kid:

Community members have rallied behind Guerrero, buying drinks in droves. Local radio station 102.5 heard the story and worked with Guerrero Monday at his stand, raising more than $1,000 for Guerrero. The mayor even stopped by.

“I think it is a great show of entrepreneurship. This 12-year-old is setting a great example,” Dunedin Mayor Dave Eggers told ABC Action News. “I don’t know what the other neighbor’s problem is, but I would like to talk to him to try to figure it out.”

Guerrero has no plans to stop selling treats to locals.

“I know my one neighbor does not support this,” he said. “But it makes me want to work even harder. I just can't believe all these people care. It makes me feel so wonderful.”

I guess running afoul of your asshole neighbors is good for business.

Too Bad Keystone Opponents; Enbridge Just Fround a Pipeline End-Around

Never underestimate the power of capitalists trying to find a place for their product to go.

Instead of waiting, the company said it plans to build a link to an adjacent pipeline, known as Line 3, which already crosses the border. Enbridge will move the oil from the Alberta Clipper to Line 3 about a mile and half north of the border, send it into the U.S., then transfer it back to the main line at another interconnect about 16 miles into the U.S.

Because the only new construction is the link in Canada, and Line 3 already has permission to bring oil into the country, no additional approvals are needed.

It isn’t a permanent solution. Enbridge wants to almost double the capacity of the Alberta Clipper to 880,000 barrels a day, but the move would provide a temporary increase in capacity for exporting Canadian crude, which has been constrained by a lack of pipelines.

I agree with this article in that these environmentalists need to reduce the demand for oil. That means push their liberal Senators and Congressmen to expand electric vehicle reimbursements. They also need to dole out greater tax breaks to car companies that make them. Let buying a Tesla be the same as buying a BMW or maybe even a bit better. Then have them expand charging stations and infrastructure. Plenty of union jobs there I assume

Wow Income Inequality between Whites and Blacks is Staggering

I have to agree that black people have seriously suffered in the last few years.

A typical black household has accumulated less than one-tenth of the wealth of a typical white one. And it's only getting worse. 

Over the past 25 years, the wealth gap between blacks and whites has nearly tripled, according to research by Brandeis University. 

The article sites that most black families do not own a home which is where much of white peoples wealth seems to come from. This statistic is horrible.

All of these factors combine to push many blacks into poverty. America's 15% poverty rate masks the underlying racial differences. More than one in four blacks live in poverty, while fewer than one in 10 whites do. 

You would figure that black leaders would be doing everything they could to fix these numbers.