SHENANIGANS: Dozens of Dems Poised to Back Republican for Texas House Speaker, Sparking Backlash. “Some conservatives also don’t like scenario, arguing ‘the speaker ought to be elected by Republicans, not the Democrats and a group of turncoats’.”
Archive for 2018
December 17, 2018
WHAT WAS IT LIKE to be a medieval archer? So as a modern genius expert in the longbow, he’s probably like the 40th percentile of English war archers in the 14th Century for speed and accuracy, though maybe somewhat higher for strength.
SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Sex Really Does Make Your Life Better—Even As You Age.
PEOPLE ARE GOING TO MISS WHEN IT WAS ILLEGAL, AND EVERYTHING WAS SO MUCH SIMPLER: San Diego auditing marijuana dispensaries as tax revenue starts to roll in.
I OFFER MYSELF UP FOR THIS HORRIFIC HUMAN EXPERIMENT: Burnout, stress lead more companies to try a four-day work week.
GETTING READY FOR DISEASE X.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: 15 Foods You Should Absolutely Stop Ordering, According to Fast-Food Workers.
Quarter Pounder with Cheese: Still safe.
LAMAR ALEXANDER won’t run again in 2020. “Although it is not clear who may vie for the seat, contenders could include Gov. Bill Haslam and incoming U.S. Rep. Mark Green. Haslam flirted with the idea of running for the Senate when Corker announced his retirement. Green has expressed interest in running for the seat held by Alexander in 2020. Others who could consider a bid include U.S. Rep. Diane Black and Knoxville entrepreneur Randy Boyd — both of whom unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for governor earlier this year — as well as Bill Hagerty, current U.S. ambassador to Japan and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, along with Nashville physician Manny Sethi.”
It’s Haslam’s if he wants it. But does he want it? Randy Boyd’s term as interim University of Tennesee President conveniently expires in time for that election. . . .
WILL JUDGE SULLIVAN ACCEPT BEING GIVEN THE IDIOT’S TREATMENT? U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan recently ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller to produce to him the 302 form and related notes from that infamous “interview” with former Trump national security adviser, Gen.(Ret.) Michael Flynn in the White House.
Mueller replied, but as Powerline’s Scott Johnson points out today, “the attachments to the reply memorandum include neither. Where are they?” Either Director Christopher Wray is in control of the bureau or he’s not. At this point, the latter seems to be most likely. And a vacating of Flynn’s conviction warranted.
See also Johnson’s Friday comments here.
AT AMAZON: deals on Athletic Clothing.
THE PARTY IS JUST RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS: Kirsten Gillibrand Says It Worries Her That the Top 3 2020 Dems Are All White Guys.
COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: The New York Times Just Published an Unqualified Recommendation for an Insanely Anti-Semitic Book.
Over the weekend, the New York Times Book Review published a full-length interview with Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple. The very first question: “What books are on your nightstand?” Walker replied with four, the second of which was:
“And the Truth Shall Set You Free,” by David Icke. In Icke’s books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about. A curious person’s dream come true.
This passed without comment from the New York Times interviewer, and the publication passed it on to the readers without qualification. This is rather remarkable because the book is an unhinged anti-Semitic conspiracy tract written by one of Britain’s most notorious anti-Semites.
There’s no byline on the interview with Walker, so there’s no telling if it was conducted by a 27-year-old who literally knows nothing, or by someone at the Times who should know better.
I’M SORRY, BUT THIS WILL END BADLY: Google Home Raised My Baby. And by “badly,” I mean, “sort of like The Matrix, but not as cool.”
PREDICTION: California’s High Speed Rail Project Will Collapse Within Four Years.
Only if they can’t get a federal bailout.
OPEN BORDERS NOW! OPEN BORDERS TOMORROW! OPEN BORDERS FOREVER! Chuck Schumer: Trump Needs to Understand ‘He is Not Going to Get the Wall in Any Form.’
Why does Chuck Schumer hate Bill Clinton so?
ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Union Set to ‘Waste General Motors’ in Canada.
It’s been roughly a month since General Motors announced it would be shuttering Oshawa Assembly, leaving the facility’s nearly 3,000 employees and Canada’s auto union more than a little annoyed. Unifor leadership has said it intends to meet with GM executives on December 20th and discuss the automaker’s plans for the Oshawa facility in Detroit. However, the rhetoric coming from union head Jerry Dias makes the upcoming meeting sound more like a mafia hit than a labor negotiation.
“GM is leaving Canada, and we’re not going to let them,” Dias told reporters. “We are going to waste General Motors over the next year. Waste them.”
Haven’t unions done enough to GM already?
BLUE STATE BLUES: Some L.A. pensions are so huge they exceed IRS limits, costing taxpayers millions extra.
Dozens of retired Los Angeles employees are collecting such generous retirement pay that they exceed pension fund limits set by the Internal Revenue Service, saddling taxpayers with additional costs, a Times data analysis has found.
Their lavish pensions forced the city to establish an “Excess Benefit Plan” to pay what the pension system cannot legally cover, using money that could otherwise be tapped to fix sidewalks, fight homelessness or hire more cops.
In all, the little-known fund has paid $14.6 million to 110 retired employees since 2010, The Times’ analysis showed.
The list of recipients is dominated by former cops and firefighters whose million-dollar payouts from a separate retirement program drove their incomes well over the $220,000 annual limit the IRS allows pension funds to pay.
As I keep saying, if the middle class in this country ever fully realizes how badly they’ve been taken, and how little they’ve gotten in return, the reckoning is going to be fierce.
BERKELEY SCIENTISTS BUILDING CENSORSHIP AI: These folks, and others at the big social media companies, are literally building advanced artificial intelligences to more completely silence “hate speech.” This has to be among the dumbest things we humans have ever done: we’re putting our best minds to the task of building the most complete and efficient apparatus of totalitarian censorship imaginable. It’s just private companies, you say? Good thing no government would have an interest in “acquiring” this technology once it’s out there, right?
IN THE MAIL: From David C. Rose, Why Culture Matters Most.
Plus, Last-Minute Deals With Free Shipping And No Minimum Purchase
ELECTION-NIGHT READERS TELL ME I’M TOO SOBER: CNN’s Cuomo Says Viewers ‘Frustrated’ Because He’s ‘Too Balanced.’
NOTHING’S SHOCKING: Shock Report: 86% Of Government Spending Is Now On Autopilot.
The new report from the Government Accountability Office — a federal auditing agency — shows that of the $3.7 trillion the federal government spent in 2015, $3.2 trillion of it didn’t require authorization by Congress that year. In other words, Congress only specifically approved 14% of what the federal government spent that year.
Over the years, Congress has passed laws that allow federal spending without any annual congressional approval. The biggest chunk is for so-called “entitlement programs” like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare. Congress provided these programs with “permanent appropriations.” Spending levels are set automatically, based on eligibility rules and benefit amounts.
Over the years, this kind of autopilot spending authority exploded from $1.7 trillion in 1994 to $3.2 trillion by 2015. That’s an 87% increase, after adjusting for inflation.
The US population has increased by 24% since 1994, so “autopilot spending” per capita — again, mostly entitlements — has increased by nearly 66%.