Friday Follies for May 8, 2015

Posted on Friday, May 8, 2015, 11:47 am by Crucis

http://www.jacksongov.org/images/News_2009/Sheriff_Sharp.jpg

Jackson County MO Sheriff Mike Sharp

Here is some local Missouri news. Jackson County MO Sheriff Mike Sharp, in the face of a 21,000 CCW application/renewal backlog and growing pressure from state and local parties, finally acts. He has hired two temporary, part-time employees to address the issue.

You can find the story here, on the WMSA website.

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Today is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Today’s FOX Newsletter noted the anniversary with this short piece.

Today we celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Fortunately for posterity, the late Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Relman Morin, then an AP war correspondent, was present to paint a gripping picture of the surrender by German commanders to allied officers: “There was a moment of silence, and in that moment, the scene seemed to freeze. It had the character of a picture, somehow, a queer unreality. Here was the end of nearly five years of war, of blood and death, of high excitement and fear and great discomfort, of explosions and bullets whining and the wailing of air raid sirens. Here, brought into this room, was the end of all that. Your mind refused to take it in. Hence, this was a dream, this room with the Nile green walls and the charts, the black table, and the uniformed men seated around it. The words, ‘There are four copies to be signed,’ meant nothing unless you forced the meaning to come, ramming it into your brain with a hard, conscious effort.”

“All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.” – Winston Churchill in a May 17, 1947 speech at Royal Albert Hall. On Thursday, members of the high command of the British military presented a bust of Churchill to their counterparts at the Pentagon.

I wonder if Obama will force the Pentagon to send the bust back like he sent back the bust of Churchill that used to reside in the White House?

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On Drudge’s front page is an announcement. The US unemployment rate exceeds 93 million. The AP states the unemployment percentage is only 5.4%.

The AP lies. Simple math will tell you that if 93 million are unemployed out of a population of 325 million, the rate is 28%, not 5.4%.

But…but…but…you can’t include children and school kids! True, that would reduce the 93 million to a lower number AND INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF UNEMPLOYED!

Math works. You can fudge the figures and lie, but math will tell you the truth.

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Speaking of Drudge, The Hill has just announced that Matt Drudge is the 2nd most influential man in America. The liberal digital magazine is no fan of Matt Drudge. But they did admit…

Is Drudge the second most influential man in America, behind the president? It is a debatable proposition that might well be true. More than any single person in American politics besides the president, he determines the content of debate in our national discourse on an hourly basis.

In many ways, I deplore the influence of Matt Drudge, but in the meantime, would someone send this piece to Drudge and maybe he will post it (wink, wink)? — The Hill.

The Hill would love to had as many hits on their website as does Drudge in just one hour.

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In case you weren’t looking, conservatism, well, the British variety, returned to the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party takes the majority of seats in Parliament in their general election yesterday. The Scottish National Party (SNP) took 56 out of 59 regional seats making them a political power that must be accommodated. Many of the opposition party leaders resigned their party positions. Some lost their seats as MPs as well.

Cameron won on a platform of more power to the Scottish regional parliament and a vote on the UK’s continuing membership in the EU. If the UK leaves, the EU could, in light of its growing financial instability, fragment, shedding some of its more financially irresponsible members…like Greece.

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Forward!

Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2013, 11:36 am by Crucis

Today’s post title was Obama’s campaign theme in the last election. We are now in Obama’s second term and what is the headline across the internet? Our GDP—that is our Gross Domestic Product, the sum of all our country produces is down 1/10th of a percent. It’s the first contraction of our nation’s economy since…the beginning of Obama’s first term. After five years of Obama’s ~~rule~~…administration, our economy has made no progress and we’re worse off than we were during G. W. Bush’s last year in office.

The democrats believe that shrinkage is a good thing.

In response to the news today that the economy contracted -.1 percent in the final quarter of last year, Democrats are touting the claim that this is “the best-looking contraction in U.S. GDP you’ll ever see.” The claim was originally made by chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics Paul Ashworth.

“The drag from defense spending and inventories is a one-off. The rest of the report is all encouraging,” Ashworth also claimed.

The claim was quickly seized upon by Democrats, looking to share good news about a contracting economy. — The Weekly Standard.

If Ashworth is correct, the downturn was due to a decrease in military spending, what is likely to come when Sequestration fully kicks in? More shrinkage and more job losses.

Job losses? Yes. Along with this report is another one. The jobless claims went up too. After the usual “readjustment” in a week or two, those figures could reach the 400,000 mark again.

Instead of moving forward, we moving backward and the dems think that’s a good thing. The Luddite wing of their eco-wackos must be ecstatic. Less is More! Let’s retreat to the good old days before nasty technology ruined everything. Of course they conveniently refuse to acknowledge that the nation cannot exist today using 16th Century technology—those years of plague and starvation.

I noticed that in Colorado, some students were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. Perhaps the target century for the dems is the 7th Century, the days of Mohammad, instead of the 16th.

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The resistance to the Obama/Feinstein gun-grabbing continues. Various states have legislation to block any anti-2nd Amendment actions by the Feds. Wyoming’s law has passed their legislative House. A similar law is Arizona has passed out of committee. Missouri has a similar bill pending in committee as well as bills to allow teachers with a CCW license to carry in school.

The dems retreated to their usual theatrics. Senator Feinstein had a carefully scripted dog and pony show include numerous “evil” military-styled weapons.

Republicans tried to counter these cheap theatrics. As freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas explained, “Emotions in Washington often lead to bad policy,” and the Senate often “operates in a fact-free zone.” Mr. Cruz and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wanted to bring actual firearms to the hearing to demonstrate the absurdity of the laws currently being proposed.

Unlike Mrs. Feinstein, who had four local and federal law enforcement agencies aid her bringing rifles that are banned in the District to her Senate news conference, the Republicans were not able to do so.

So Mr. Cruz used a photo of a standard wooden hunting rifle and held up a plastic pistol grip to demonstrate how one irrelevant part transformed the item into a scary and creepy “assault weapon” under Mrs. Feinstein’s definition.

Day One in the legislative battle over the nation’s firearms laws ended with proof liberals will say or do anything to gut the Second Amendment. — The Washington Times.

Durbin and others directed their questions to the usual hackneyed subjects. Their pet Baltimore Police Chief said it was “scary” and “creepy” answering calls without knowing what’s behind the door. He ignored the fact that that situation would still exists for every domestic disturbance call they would make. A gun ban would not change that situation.

The real issue for the democrats is they don’t have all their own members, those from Red or Purple states, in line. If Feinstein’s bill every came to the Senate floor, they have no guarantee of getting 50 votes.

Speaking of 2nd Amendment issues, the Eastern Sporting and Outdoor Show, scheduled to open February 2nd, has been postponed. Reed Exhibitions, the British company managing the show has refused to rescind their no “military styled rifle” and hi-cap magazine ban. So many vendors have dropped out, at their great financial cost, that the show will not open as scheduled.

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Friday Follies for January 4, 2013

Posted on Friday, January 4, 2013, 10:37 am by Crucis

This comes under the category of “Actions have consequences.”

Police Kicked Out Of Belleville Denny’s For Being Armed

January 3, 2013 6:40 AM

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (KMOX) – Belleville police chief Bill Clay is ordering his officers to get their pancakes from anywhere but Denny’s, calling the restaurant “political stupidness.”

The new orders come after a New Year’s Day clash between five detectives and one Denny’s manager.

The department says the detectives were out of uniform but wearing their badges, when manager David Rice asked them to either leave or put their guns in their vehicle.

Rice, told the detectives that one of their weapons, specifically a female detective’s gun, was making another diner feel uncomfortable.

As the officers were leaving, without their food, General Manager Michael Van walked up and corrected the manager and said it was fine for them to stay, but the officers said it would be too awkward and they left.

Denny’s corporate office has released an apology saying, “Denny’s policy permits law enforcement officials to carry their firearms in the restaurant and we regret any misunderstanding.”

An employee at the Belleville Denny’s didn’t want to talk about the confrontation to KMOX, but some Denny’s customers said the presence of police and their guns was not an issue.

My wife grew up in a small town not far from Belleville, IL. Belleville is next to crime-ridden East St. Louis and has much of the same problems as does East St. Louis. I suspect the local manager may have had issues with the police and used their guns as an excuse to cause problems.

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With little public notice the November unemployment rate was quietly raised one-tenth of a point to 7.8. Initially the rate was widely published as proof the unemployment rate was falling. Nope, another administration lie. The initial rate for December 2012 is flat—maintaining that 7.8% level. The administration’s usual practice means that percentage rate will be revised upward later this month.

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Due to outcries of rage from downstate and across the country, Illinois dems pull their gun control bills that would ban semi-automatic rifles, pistols, shotguns, pump-shotguns and magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

The Illinois Senate pulled the plug on legislation to ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammo clips late Thursday, a stinging rebuke to Democrats and a wake-up call to the president and his supporters who think the Newtown, Conn. school child slayings will make it easy to pass gun control. — The Washington Examiner.

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This article may be a portent of things to come. We received our Comcast bill yesterday for the month of January 2013. It had gone up $50. We have bundled service including cable, internet and land-line telephone service. If I analyzed the bill correctly, the bundle went up around $35 and rest in fees and taxes. I didn’t see an Obamacare surcharge listed but I have no doubt it was there in some form.

Perhaps this is next.

Report: Cable Companies Look To Raise Cost For Heavy Internet Use

January 4, 2013 9:33 AM

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Heavy Internet users may see their prices rise as Time Warner and other cable providers continue testing a new business model that charges customers based upon the amount of data they use.

“Usage-based pricing” – which is similar to most wireless plans – is what cable companies are looking to use for all Internet due to congestion they claim is clogging up many networks. In a December report, the New America Foundation said caps on data would restrict customers who want to stream movies, television shows or take online classes.

As services like streaming video, cloud data storage, and videoconferencing have increased online, the amount of Internet data consumed by individuals has simultaneously increased. However, while new services and applications require more data, most major Internet service and mobile providers in the United States are moving in the opposite direction by discouraging Internet usage by implementing more restrictive and costly data caps.

I’m a moderate internet user. My usage isn’t due to streaming video or audio. Nor do I take on-line courses. I do own my own mail and web servers and a book search-engine for selected wannabe writers. So far I’m just a blip on the data usage monitor. That may change if this scheme comes to pass.

It’s ironic that telecom providers like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and others have moved away from this concept in favor of flat fees and block usage. Sprint in particular has several very popular plans with unlimited voice and data usage. The telecom providers found that measured service restricted growth and revenue.

Cable providers are newcomers in the communication and data area and lack the experience that traditional telecom providers possess. I know some cable providers prefer to constrain usage instead of investing in network upgrades and expansion to allow more capacity and growth.

Time will tell which scheme wins. Personally, I think the cable/internet providers are making a significant strategic error.

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Liars figure and figures lie

Posted on Friday, December 7, 2012, 9:59 am by Crucis

The big news this morning is the the “unemployment” rate dropped to 7.7%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also said that Hurricane Sandy had NO effect on unemployment or employment.

Bull.

We know the pattern now. Statistics are released favorable to Obama and within days, those figures are quietly revised, bit by bit, until the next report is released. It’s a well established pattern.

So, unemployment is now 7.7% with 146,000 new jobs created. Really? Let’s examine those numbers.

New jobs: 146,000
Number dropping out of the labor force: 540,000.

Take a look at those numbers. 146,000 jobs were added but the work force dropped 540,000. If you calculate the unemployment rate by the size of the workforce, the unemployment rate will go down. If you can’t create new jobs sufficient to drop the unemployment rate, decease the labor force so those “new” jobs appear to be more significant. I expect those “Sandy” figures to change that unemployment rate upward as soon as this becomes old news.

Quietly.

Oh, and where were those dropping off the radar coming from? Those lost jobs? The private sector, of course. The public sector unemployment rate was 3.8%. The actual number of unemployed people changed little.

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This comes under the category: Who’d’a thunk it?

Right-to-work law has passed the legislature in…Michigan! Home of the UAW!

Right-to-work bills pass in Lansing

By Karen Bouffard and Chad Livengood, Detroit News Lansing, December 7, 2012 at 9:35 am

Lansing — The birthplace of the nation’s modern-day labor movement moved closer to becoming the nation’s 24th right-to-work state after bills Gov. Rick Snyder vowed to sign into law passed their first hurdles in the Republican-controlled Legislature on Thursday.

The House and Senate each passed bills on the same day they were introduced that give private and public sector workers the right to avoid paying union dues in an organized workplace. Only police officers and firefighters would be exempt.

…

The historic legislation passed over the thunderous chanting from thousands of workers who descended on the Capitol, resulting in at least eight arrests and a temporary lockdown of the building by Michigan State Police. Democrats in both chambers staged walkouts and procedural maneuvers to stall passage while workers protested in and outside the Capitol.

When the votes are against dems and their stooges, they revert to their norm and riot. They tried that tactic in Wisconsin and it backfired. Now they’re trying it in Michigan. I expect it won’t work in Michigan, either.

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In case you haven’t been watching, “law” enforcement organizations want to dissolved more of your 4th Amendment rights. How? By removing the requirement of a search warrant to monitor your text messages and to seize your call logs.

EDITORIAL: Texting away your freedom

Nosy bureaucrats want to boost their snooping powers

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES – The Washington Times, Thursday, December 6, 2012

Modern communications are making the world smaller and, in many ways, better. The electronic devices that bring consumers a constant stream of information are, at the same time, increasingly capable of relaying back a record of their activities, shrinking privacy. Americans need to take action if they want to keep Uncle Sam from spying on their smartphones.Law enforcers are looking for the power to read through everyone’s text messages, the oftentimes frivolous missives Americans launch back and forth among friends and family. A coalition of police groups that includes the Major Cities Chiefs Association has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine a plan to mandate that Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and other wireless providers save their customers’ texts for two years so the local constable can read through them as desired. The association has characterized the proposal as an attempt to bring the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 in line with 21st-century technological capabilities, according to CNET. Some wireless firms store texts for short periods, while others do not. Presumably, access to text records still would require a court warrant — though the pro-surveillance lobby has been agitating to break down that barrier as well.

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Another troubling high-tech development could allow outside eyes and ears to zero in on activities inside the home. Verizon is seeking a patent on a detection system that uses infrared cameras and microphones installed in digital video recorders (DVRs) to sense the number of people in a room and the nature of their conversations. The patent, titled Methods and Systems for Presenting an Advertisement Associated With an Ambient Action of a User, would use the information to tailor personalized TV commercials, thereby maximizing chances for subsequent purchases. For example, detection of an “ambient action” such as “cuddling, fighting, participating in a game or sporting event,” according to the patent application, could prompt a related televised sales pitch.

More snooping, less privacy, no need for warrants, less liberty, less freedom; makes Orwell’s 1984 more real every day.

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TGIF

Posted on Friday, October 5, 2012, 10:40 am by Crucis

Obama’s spin machine is up and running. He’s back to using his established tactics…like continuing to fudge the unemployment reports. The Drudge headline this morning was “7.8” implying the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 last month to 7.8 this month. As usual, it’s misleading.

There are two numbers, the U3, the 7.8 number mentioned above, and the U6. The difference between the two is dramatic. The U3 number is a result of a survey of households. It excludes those who work part-time. It excludes those who are no longer receiving unemployment because they’ve run out for that household. It does not include farm-related job losses. The U3 measures the change of those in the unemployment system. Those just beginning to receive unemployment and those who are ceased drawing unemployment. The assumption of the latter is that if you’re no longer drawing unemployment, you’ve found a job!

The U6 is different. It’s more commonly known as the “true” unemployment number. Last month is was in the mid-teens. It includes all those that are in the U3 and those excluded by the U3. The U6 remained essentially unchanged from last month.

There is an additional number that is released with these reports. The size of the labor force. That number has been steadily dropping since 2001. If the labor forces continues to shrink and the numbers of unemployed remains the same, the percentage of the unemployed increases. The U6, if I understand the formula correctly, incorporates the size of the labor force. The U3 does not. You can find a better explanation on the U3 and U6 here.

So. What does this new “low” number mean? Not much. If this number follows the trend established since Obama took office, it will be revised upward next week, and the following week—as will the quarterly numbers. It’s a well established pattern. Throw out some number to make Obama look good, then when the public’s attention is elsewhere, release “corrections.”

This should be no surprise to anyone after Obama’s abysmal performance in the first Presidential debate. He has to do something to divert attention from his performance. You can bet nothing damaging will be released until after the election in a few weeks.

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Friday Follies for May 4, 2012

Posted on Friday, May 4, 2012, 8:00 am by Crucis

I’m still in the process of moving my blog from Google to WordPress. For those of you who have added me to your blog-roll, please edit my URL to read: http://crucis-court.com.

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The word came out today on the economy. The “unemployment” rate dropped from 8.2% to 8.1%. Or did it? If you read the stats carefully, you’ll discover the rate dropped because there were fewer people drawing unemployment. Most because they’d used the last of their unemployment and were ineligible for more.

If you read further, you’ll see that only 115,000 jobs were added this last month. When you put all this together, it means the economy is in a continuing down-spiral and the workforce continues to shrink.

What is Obama doing? He’s making campaign tours at colleges around the country telling them he’ll reduce their student debt. He is not telling them they’ll have a job waiting upon graduation. The Heritage Foundation had this to say in today’s Morning Bell.

Lackluster employment results dominate today’s report. It’s been three years under the Obama policies, and 12.5 million Americans remain out of work. No demographic group except black workers saw an improvement in their unemployment rate, and 13 percent of black workers remain unemployed. What’s more, the labor force participation fell to the lowest level since 1981 at 63.6 percent. Americans are fleeing this economy when at this stage workers should be returning to the labor force. — The Morning Bell, May 4, 2012.

No the economy is not getting better. The real question is whether the nation can survive until we boot Obama out of office.

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There’s been a lot of discussion on Obama’s re-election motto, “Forward!” Mostly because it’s reminiscent of all the communist mottoes going back to Marx and Engels. The conservative press has had a lot to say about it.

Also, some cartoonist. Here’s one comment by Glenn McCoy.

Lemmings