INTERESTING: Perhaps the “free market” genie is out of the bottle

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

2018-Feb-06

https://www.wikitribune.com/story/2018/02/01/current_affairs/mass-graves-uncovered-in-myanmar-russia-says-no-cause-for-action-against-iran/45751/

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In 2008, after succeeding his brother Fidel as Cuba’s president, Raul Castro allowed more small scale capitalist ventures to flow into the communist nation. Hotels sprang up, along with nightclubs and restaurants. However, as Castro looks to leave office, he has started to reign in the trend. In August the government announced it was putting a halt on some new businesses.

*** end quote ***

Maybe DJT45 will allow free and unrestricted trade with Cuba.

Or even just turn a blind eye to it. Wasn’t it Western music aka the Beetles and blue jeans that brought down the USSR?

If that works on Cuba, then why can’t “we” try it with North Korea?

Dona Nobis Pacem

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RANT: Perhaps “the hoodie” took a dive?

Monday, February 5, 2018

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2018/02/05/bill-belichick-owes-patriot-nation-explanation/6AWmsaZ4MWVpXbIhToaNMM/story.html

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​Trouble in PAT’s land?

I wonder if Bill threw the game in a fit of pique about having to trade Garofalo?​

The PAT’s O and D coords may be moving on. Perhaps “the hoodie” is too?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in San Fran!

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SURVIVAL: How are you set for earthquake preparedness?

Monday, February 5, 2018

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-31/californias-other-drought-major-earthquake-overdue

California’s ‘Other’ Drought: A Major Earthquake Is Overdue
by Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/31/2018 – 21:55
Authored by Richard Aster via TheConversation.com

*** begin quote ***

California earthquakes are a geologic inevitability. The state straddles the North American and Pacific tectonic plates and is crisscrossed by the San Andreas and other active fault systems. The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck off Alaska’s Kodiak Island on Jan. 23, 2018 was just the latest reminder of major seismic activity along the Pacific Rim.

Tragic quakes that occurred in 2017 near the Iran-Iraq border and in central Mexico, with magnitudes of 7.3 and 7.1, respectively, are well within the range of earthquake sizes that have a high likelihood of occurring in highly populated parts of California during the next few decades.

The earthquake situation in California is actually more dire than people who aren’t seismologists like myself may realize.Although many Californians can recount experiencing an earthquake, most have never personally experienced a strong one. For major events, with magnitudes of 7 or greater, California is actually in an earthquake drought. Multiple segments of the expansive San Andreas Fault system are now sufficiently stressed to produce large and damaging events.

The good news is that earthquake readiness is part of the state’s culture, and earthquake science is advancing – including much improved simulations of large quake effects and development of an early warning system for the Pacific coast.

*** end quote ***

Clearly, if you’re in Pepuls Republik of Kaliforkneeah, then you better have you’re act together — BIG TIME!

But, what is to say that it’s just California? When the stuff hits the fan, what makes us think that it would have widespread physical, economic, and financial effects.

Think about the impact physically. Trivially, I guess there will be a huge increase in the price of avocados. Seriously, the death toll will be enormous; the injuries will be numerous. 

The US, and the world, economy will be disrupted. It’s unimaginable.

Financially, it’s going to be disastrous. The stock market will crash. And, the supply lines will be stretched and drained. Think about the hurricanes and their impact.

Best, that EVERYONE start preparing.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Gooferment Skrules not only poison the mind; the food is tainted

Sunday, February 4, 2018

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-School-Cafeterias-Cited-Violations-Health-Department-Pests-Mice-Roaches-Flies-471957173.html

Roaches, Flies and Mice: Nearly Half of NYC Public School Cafeterias Cited for Critical Violations, Report Finds
Of the 1,150 critical violations found at nearly 700 cafeterias, about half of those inspected by health officials in 2017, most indicated evidence of mice, rats, roaches, flies and other insects in areas where food is prepared and eaten
Published at 2:06 PM EST on Jan 31, 2018 | Updated 6 hours ago

*** begin quote ***

Nearly half of all New York City school cafeterias inspected last year were cited for at least one critical violation for issues that could lead to foodborne illnesses, according to a recently released report.

Of the 1,150 critical violations found at nearly 700 cafeterias, about half of those inspected by health officials in 2017, most indicated evidence of mice, rats, roaches, flies and other insects in areas where food is prepared and eaten, according to the investigation by NYCity News Service, a CUNY University student-powered news service that provides special reports and feeds stories to news organizations.

NYCity News Service based its reporting on data obtained by the Department of Health under the Freedom of Information Act. 

*** end quote ***

It’s a disgusting report. I feel for the children imprisioned there. How would you describe it? There’s no excuse for this but there is an explanation. Politicians and bureaucrats don’t care. Have them eat there and let’s see what happens?

Argh!

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LIBERTY: Politicians ignore the realities of economic life

Saturday, February 3, 2018

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattleites-making-a-run-to-the-border-for-coke/

Danny Westneat / Columnist
Seattleites making a run to the border for … Coke?
Originally published January 31, 2018 at 6:00 am Updated January 31, 2018 at 3:32 pm

*** begin quote ***

Ahmed Mohamed’s shop in the farthest reaches of West Seattle is so small you can easily miss it. But he’s nevertheless Ground Zero for Seattle’s latest economic experiment.

Mohamed runs West Seattle Halal Market, a two-aisle store specializing in meats and poultry butchered according to Islamic rules. A few shelves in the middle of the store, though, are given over to a popular side product that now has his neighborhood, White Center, literally divided.

“Here is the precious fluid,” Mohamed laughs, showing me around the store.

He holds up a two-liter plastic bottle of Coke.

He once sold it for $2.79. Now it is $4 — a 43 percent increase, due to the city’s new tax on sugary beveragesthat went into effect Jan. 1.

“The customer — they look at the price and then they don’t even talk to you,” Mohamed said. “They just walk away.”

The reason is that a couple hundred feet away, and around the corner of Southwest Roxbury Street, sits a Bartell Drugs. It’s just 15 feet outside the city limits. And spelled out on its main marquee is one source of Mohamed’s problem: “GET YOUR DRINKS HERE,” it reads. “NO SUGAR TAX.”

*** end quote ***

Virtually 50% increase.

Argh!

How can “We, The Sheeple” be so stupid to allow the politicians to do “social engineering” on the populace?

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: NM legislators want to require future plans from students

Friday, February 2, 2018

2018-Feb-02

http://www.kob.com/politics-news/new-mexico-legislature-politics-post-high-school-plan-bill/4766980/

New Mexico bill would force students to apply to college
By MARY HUDETZ and MORGAN LEE
January 31, 2018 04:45 PM

*** begin quote ***

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s high school juniors would be required to apply to at least one college or show they have committed to other post-high school plans as part of a new high school graduation requirement being pushed by two state lawmakers.
The proposal is scheduled for its first legislative hearing on Thursday. If it eventually becomes law, New Mexico would be the first state to require post-high school plans of students, said Jennifer Zinth, who is the director of high school and STEM research at the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based group that tracks education policy.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Nate Gentry, a Republican, and Daniel Ivey-Soto, a Democrat, would make it mandatory for public school juniors to apply to at least one two- or four-year college. Exceptions would be made for students who can prove they have committed to military service, a vocational program, or work upon graduation in an apprenticeship or internship. Parents and school guidance counselors would have to approve of the students’ plans.

*** end quote ***

This has to be the dumbest piece of legislation I’ve heard of lately.

As the “college degree” has been generally acknowledged as worthless unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or such. The cost of “college” inflict a huge debt burden on the “student” that is often impossible to repay. The inflation of college cost is linked to the Gooferment, its loan programs, and its subsidization of “state skrules”.

Argh!

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NOTRECOMMENDED: Toyota Financial Services

Thursday, February 1, 2018

@ToyotaFinancial

Your “customer service” needs work. Your technology is archaic. The process to transfer a title is opaque. And, the turnaround times of interactions is measured in weeks. And, you force everyone to call in. Argh!

#ToyotaFinancialServices #ToyotaFinancial #Toyota

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LIBERTARIAN: Re-Privatize “street sweeping” again!

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

https://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/ben-franklin-wasnt-just-a-u.s.-founding-father-but-the-founder-of-modern/

Ben Franklin Wasn’t Just A U.S. Founding Father, But The Founder Of Modern?

Street Sweeping

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In fact, the very idea of having someone clean the streets besides the men hauling away the mud after the storms wasn’t even a consideration. All of that changed though when an impoverished woman swept the stoop of Ben Franklin’s home in London. The woman explained to him that she swept in front of the doors of the wealthy with the hope of getting small tokens in return. Franklin offered her money to sweep not just in front of his home—a home still standing and seen here on Craven Street in London—but to sweep up the dust from the whole street.

She returned only a few hours later after cleaning up the entire street. He was astounded at the speed with which she was able to tidy the street and set about contracting London’s night watchmen to sweep the streets, furnishing them with equipment and carts. Not only did the watchmen work on the project (effectively becoming the first street sweeping work force), but they also carried extra supplies with them and would hire the poor to help them (which made Franklin’s street cleaning efforts an early example of public works projects deployed to assist the poor through work).

*** end quote ***

Why can’t “we” do this again?

Individual actions can provide cost-effective solutions.

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FUN: Oscar nominated films I’ve seen

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/list-2018-oscar-nominations-1202668757/

Best Picture:

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
⑧ “Dunkirk” — enjoyable
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
③ “Phantom Thread” — waste of money
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
⑥ “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — strange

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My rating scale:

①②③④⑤⑥⑦⑧⑨⑩

My comments

  • “Timeless”
  • “Enjoyable”
  • “OK”
  • “Strange”
  • “MEH”
  • “Waste of Money” 

And “Especially Objectionable” if it “offends” me.

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INOVATION: The new journalist muckraker

Monday, January 29, 2018

https://nypost.com/2018/01/21/james-okeefe-is-bringing-back-the-best-practice-of-journalism/

OPINION
James O’Keefe is bringing back the best practice of journalism
By Michael Goodwin
January 21, 2018 | 1:02am

*** begin quote ***

Grading President Trump’s first year in office is all the media rage. But let’s look at the other side of the story — and grade the media.

F for effort, F for result and F for the lack of honesty.

That’s not a blanket condemnation of every journalist at every news organization. There are many hardworking professionals who try to get the facts right and keep their opinions to themselves.

*** and ***

The collapse of journalism as we knew it, and the lack of any sign of a return to traditional standards, explains why I found myself in an unfamiliar setting last week. It was the book launch of “American Pravda,” the latest work by James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas.

A self-described “guerilla journalist,” O’Keefe and his team use disguises and false identities to secretly videotape people in hopes they will admit breaking the law or abusing their power.

*** and ***

Most recently, for example, he captured current and former Twitter managers admitting they use “shadowbans,” which effectively hide a user’s tweets, based on content, without notifying the user.

Other personnel admitted the company tracks user behavior and reads direct messages to find prohibited content.

*** and ***

He accused mainstream journalists of “groupthink,” saying they “move in packs . . . like blackbirds on a telephone wire. They’re all talking about the same thing.”

His goal is to “dent the fortress and crack the dam” so the public knows who is abusing power.

O’Keefe has a passion for gathering facts and sharing them that recalls the best journalists I have known. And he is right that journalism history was written by people who went undercover to expose scandals.

Upton Sinclair, whom he cited, lived and dressed like a worker, even carrying a lunch pail, to fit in with the men who toiled in “The Jungle,” his takedown of Chicago’s meatpacking industry.

And Nellie Bly feigned mental illness so she could become a patient and expose the horrors of a New York lunatic asylum for women on what is now Roosevelt Island.

O’Keefe is in that mold. Smart, committed and fearless, he’s a modern muckraker worth watching.

*** end quote ***

And, boy, does the “muck” ever need raking!

The only other journalist I trust is Sharyl Attkisson!

Read her story and the various O’Keefe ones and you’ll see how biased the “lame stream media” is.

A national disgrace.

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