Thursday, September 27, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, September 27, 2012


Great song... great man.

I should have gone to Branson. I should have seen him live. I'll always regret that I didn't.

6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.businessinsider.com/final-q3-gdp-2012-9

The third reading on Q2 GDP just came out and the report was ugly.

The headline growth number was revised down to 1.3% on an annualized basis.

* CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS...

* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!

Economists expected the number to be unchanged at 1.7 percent.

* Y...E...A...H... I BET THEY DID.

(*SMIRK*)

The personal consumption component was revised down to 1.5%. Economists were expecting it to be unchanged at 1.7%.

* EVEN WITH $4-gal. GAS AND EVER RISING FOOD PRICES TO ARTIFICIALLY SPIKE "CONSUMPTION" (SPENDING) NUMBERS THEY COULDN'T EVEN MAINTAIN A FUCKING 1.7% LEVEL OF "GROWTH."

* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!

In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0%.

* WHICH ITSELF IS A NUMBER THAT ANY ECONOMIST WOULD CALL... HMM... WHAT'S THE "TECHNICAL" TERM... OH, YEAH... "FUCKING PATHETIC...!!!"

* FOLKS... ROMNEY WANTS OBAMA GONE (OBVIOUSLY!) AND BERNANKE GONE. THAT ALONE IS REASON ENOUGH TO VOTE FOR HIM!

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/27/us-usa-economy-durables-idUSBRE88Q0S720120927

New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August fell by the most in three-and-a-half years, pointing to a sharp slowdown in factory activity...

The Commerce Department said on Thursday durable goods orders dived 13.2%, the largest drop since January 2009 - when the economy was in the throes of a recession.

Orders for July were revised down to show a 3.3%increase instead of the previously reported 4.1% gain.

* FOLKS... IF YOU WERE TO BROWSE THROUGH A COUPLE YEARS WORTH OF USUALLY RIGHT ARCHIVES FOR POSTS ON THE DAYS WHEN NATIONAL ECONOMIC DATA IS RELEASED YOU'LL NOTE THIS SAME FUCKING TREND... REVISIONS... DOWNWARD REVISIONS... ECONOMISTS "SURPRISED"... "UNEXPECTED DECLINES"... (DON'T BELIEVE ME? CHECK!)

Economists polled by Reuters had expected orders for durable goods - items from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last at least three years - to fall 5%.

* NOPE! NOT 5%... NOT 6%... NOT 9%... NOT 12%... BUT THIRTEEN-POINT-TWO (13.2%) FUCKING PERCENT...!!!

* AGAIN, FOLKS... NOTICE A FUCKING P*A*T*T*E*R*N...!!!

Manufacturing, which has been the main driver of the recovery from the 2007-09 recession...

* "RECOVERY...?"

* "RECOVERY...?!?!"

* ARE THESE FUCKING PEOPLE INSANE...?!?!

...has been hit by turbulence from sluggish domestic and global demand.

* "TURBULENCE." UH-HUH.

Fears that the U.S. Congress could fail to avert a "fiscal cliff" - the $500 billion or so in expiring tax cuts and government spending reductions set to take hold in 2013 - have also left businesses with little incentive to boost production.

* HEY, FOLKS... HEY, ROB... REMEMBER WHEN THIS SO-CALLED "FISCAL CLIFF" WAS TOASTED BY BOTH PARTIES... BY PRESIDENT OBAMA... BY REID, PELOSI, AND BOHNER... BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA... AS "THE GRAND COMPROMISE?"

* REMEMBER WHEN THE... er... NOW-REFERRED-TO "FISCAL CLIFF" WAS THE PLAN WE WERE TOLD TO APPLAUD AS THE BEST WAY TO FORCE CONGRESS TO DO THEIR JOB?

* WELL, FOLKS... THE FUTURE IS HERE! IT'S RUSHING UP FAST!

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/26/world/africa/libya-investigation/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

More than two weeks after four Americans - including the U.S. ambassador to Libya - were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, FBI agents have not yet been granted access to investigate in the eastern Libyan city...

* HIL-LAR-Y! HIL-LAR-Y! HIL-LAR-Y! HIL-LAR-Y!

* SO, ROB... FORGET HILLARY FOR A MOMENT... FORGET OBAMA FOR THAT MATTER... WHAT ABOUT ERIC HOLDER? I MEAN... IF YOU'LL RECALL... UNDER HIS AUTHORITY THE U.S. RAN GUNS TO THE MEXICAN CARTELS WITHOUT NOTIFYING - LET ALONE GETTING THE PERMISSION AND JOINT COOPERATION - OF THE MEXICAN AUTHORITIES. BUT NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN SOVEREIGN TERRITORY OF SOVEREIGN NATIONS IS BEYOND HIS POWER TO VIOLATE...?

* SO... ROB... NOW TO OBAMA. HE CAN VIOLATE THE TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY OF PAKISTAN (AGAIN AND AGAIN - NOT JUST BIN LADEN, BUT VARIOUS DRONE ATTACKS) AND OTHER NATIONS... BUT HE WON'T DEMAND THE MIGHTY LIBYAN GOVERNMENT ALLOW OUR FBI IN TO INVESTIGATE THE BURNING DOWN OF THE U.S. EMBASSY AND THE MURDER OF FOUR OF OUR PEOPLE - INCLUDING OUR AMBASSADOR TO THAT NATION?

...and the crime scene has not been secured, sources said.

* JUST TODAY, ROB, YOU INSISTED THAT THERE'S NO EVIDENCE OBAMA, HILLARY, OR ANYONE REPORTING TO THEM LIED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN LIBYA... ABOUT WHY IT HAPPENED. OK. I THINK YOU'RE FUCKING NUTS... IN DENIAL... BUT I CAN'T FORCE YOU TO FACE REALITY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. BUT HOW ABOUT COMPETENCY, ROB.... BASIC COMPETENCY? HOW WOULD YOU RATE SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON'S COMPETENCE? HOW'BOUT OBAMA'S? HOLDER'S...???

"They've gotten as far as Tripoli now, but they've never gotten to Benghazi," CNN National Security Analyst Fran Townsend said Wednesday, citing senior law enforcement officials.

* DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE NOTICED, ROB, BUT CNN SEEMS TO HAVE GONE OFF THE ADMINISTRATION RESERVATION ON THIS ONE. NOW SINCE WE KNOW THEY HAVEN'T SUDDENLY FIRED ALL THEIR LONG TIME REPORTERS, EDITORS, MANAGEMENT AND REPLACED THEN WITH "FOXBOTS," COULD IT BE THAT MAYBE... JUST MAYBE... THERE'S SOMETHING HERE I'VE BEEN SEEING ALL ALONG THAT YOU'RE FUCKING BLIND TO?

Last Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that an FBI team had reached Libya earlier in the week.

(*RAISING ONE EYEBROW*)

"In fairness to the secretary, it may be that she wanted to be coy about where they were in Libya for security concerns. That's understandable. But the fact is, it's not clear they've been in Libya for very long," Townsend said on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°."

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* YEAH, ROB... I'M RANTING... I'M RAVING... I'M CURSING... I'M BEING OBNOXIOUS... BUT WHAT'S THE FUCKING CONTEXT BEHIND IT, BUDDY...?!?! HMM...??? AGAIN... PERHAPS YOU SHOULD START FROM SCRATCH AND READ WHAT I'VE WRITTEN ON THIS TOPIC FROM DAY ONE ONWARD. (BECAUSE FRANKLY, BUDDY... LIKE I'VE TOLD YOU... WHILE ADMITTING THAT I'M THE ONE SOUNDING SLIGHTLY DERANGED, FROM MY VANTAGE POINT IT SEEMS YOU'RE TOTALLY DERANGED WITH OBAMA/CLINTON DEFENSE AT ALL COST SYNDROME.

William R. Barker said...

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/09/26/controversial-new-measures-planned-to-curb-violence-in-east-st-louis/

* AMERICA 2012 - OBAMA'S AMERICA, FOLKS...

EAST ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Angered by the recent murders of four young people, the mayor announced today that police are going to impose drastic new measurers to keep teens off the streets.

* IN OTHER WORDS... ST. LOUIS IS OUT OF CONTROL. CIVILIZATION DOESN'T REALLY EXIST IN EAST ST. LEWIS, U.S.A. IT'S LIKE SOME THIRD WORLD HELLHOLE.

“There is something going on in the community at this point that we’ve got to safeguard them and keep them off the streets,” Mayor Alvin Parks said. “There are people shooting at each other for no reason whatsoever.”

* MAKE YA PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN, DOESN'T IT...

Among the new rules:

Minors are to be off the streets at ten o’clock on both weeknights and weekend nights.

Minors on the street during school hours will be arrested on sight.

Police will also perform I.D. checks on street corners and conduct gun searches, and Parks says he won’t hesitate to call in the National Guard if the spike in violence continues.

* HEY... AMERICA... REMEMBER THE BILL OF RIGHTS... OF THE CONSTITUTION, THAT IS? YOU KNOW... THAT PESKY (APPARENTLY NO LONGER IN EFFECT) 4TH AMENDMENT PARTICULARLY?

* OH... AND THREATENING TO MILITARIZE THE SITUATION... NAH... NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT... JUST ANOTHER DAY IN OBAMA'S AMERICA. (NOW WHERE'S MY FREE GOVERNMENT PHONE...? OH... I FORGOT... I DON'T HAVE A FREE GOVERNMENT PHONE...)

“The loiterers will be arrested, not warned, but arrested. Those who are hanging out at 11th and Bond, 15th and Lynch, 38th and Waverly, wherever you happen to be, if you are loitering, you will be arrested.”

* BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW THIS PLAYS OUT IN COURT... (HEY... WE DO STILL HAVE COURTS IN OBAMA'S AMERICA - RIGHT?)

Surrounded by police, Parks announced they also plan to arrest adult males and young men wearing gang colors, amounting to a city-wide dress code.

* THANK GOD WE'RE ONLY TALKING ABOUT BLACK GHETTO DWELLERS OR SOMEONE MIGHT QUESTION THE LEGALITY OF ALL THIS...

(*SMIRK*)

Asked about Constitutional concerns, and the need for probable cause, Parks says the recent wave of crime is the probable cause and justifies the extreme new measures.

* UH-HUH. HEY, FOLKS... REMEMBER WHEN THERE HAD TO BE A DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY... MARTIAL LAW AND ALL THAT... PRIOR TO STRIPPING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS...

“Vehicles that are moving will be stopped and searched for guns, weapons, drugs, and open alcohol and any other violations that are taking place,” Parks later told KMOX’s Mark Reardon. “People who are walking, people who are bicycling, can be stopped and searched for the same and, when it comes to state IDs, we’re going to be confirming that state IDs are in place for everyone involved.”

* AND OBAMA SUED ARIZONA...? AND PENNSYLVANIA...? AND TEXAS...? AND FLORIDA...? AND... AND... AND...

* UH... MR. HOLDER...???

Parks noted the legal questions surrounding his new policies but said “most importantly, we have to do something.”

“We have desperate times, they call for desperate measures and they call for extreme measures, things that we may not have done before, to get the desired results. You cannot grow as a city if your children are being wiped out and never given an opportunity to live.”

* ONCE AGAIN, FOLKS... WE'RE TALKING ABOUT AN AMERICAN CITY... OR AT LEAST WHAT USED TO BE A CITY IN AN AMERICA I WOULD RECOGNIZE.

William R. Barker said...

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/09/27/videotaped-beating-of-48-year-old-woman-in-chester-under-investigation/

* ANOTHER AMERICAN CITY THAT WE'VE LOST CONTROL OF...

* I'M TALKING ABOUT PHILLY; CHESTER, PA. IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE PHILLY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

A group of teens violently attacked a woman at random in Chester and recorded the entire incident on tape.

* GUESS WHAT "DEMOGRAPHIC" THESE... er... "TEENS" WERE.

(*SMIRK*)

During the vicious attack, which was later posted on Facebook, the teens could be heard screaming obscenities and even laughing.

* WELL... WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF ANIMALS?!

Police say on Thursday morning, an anonymous Chester resident alerted police of the taped incident that was apparently posted on Facebook.

The video starts as the group of teen girls are walking down Morton Avenue. Several seconds into the video, one of the girls casually walks up to the 48-year-old victim, who was sitting on her front step, and begin to punch and beat the victim.

The attack then leads inside the woman’s home, at which point several other teens join in on the attack.

* YOU THINK YOU'RE SAFE IN YOUR WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD... YOUR MIDDLE CLASS OR UPPER MIDDLE CLASS NEIGBORHOOD? MAYBE YOU ARE... FOR NOW... BUT HOW LONG TILL THE ANIMALS "GO HUNTING" OUTSIDE OF "THEIR" NEIGHBORHOODS? HMM? IMAGINE A MAJOR URBAN BLACKOUT LASTING FOR A FEW NIGHTS... IMAGINE SOME NATIONAL DISASTER THAT WOULD MAKE HURRICANE KATRINA'S IMPACT UPON "THE CHOCOLATE CITY" LOOK LIKE A LOVE TAP...

In the video, it appears the teens are laughing throughout the entire ordeal, but instead of stopping, they complain of how much the woman’s home “stinks.”

Investigators say the attack lasted about 90 seconds. The video then shows the teens running out of the victim’s home.

Police say the victim did not notify authorities after the assault, but did seek medical treatment. She is being interviewed by investigators.

* HEY... IT'S THE "CULTURE," RIGHT? "SNITCHES END UP IN DITCHES," RIGHT?

* AMERICA... YOUR COUNTRY IS SLOWLY BUT SURELY DESCENDING INTO SOMETHING NONE OF US WILL LIKELY RECOGNIZE IN THE FUTURE.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.wtop.com//109/3055193/Juvenile-will-be-charged-as-adult-in-Capitol-Hill-beating

* HERE'S THE HEADLINE...

"Juvenile will be charged as adult in Capitol Hill beating"

[P]olice arrested and charged three people Wednesday night in the attack on 29-year-old Thomas Maslin.

Two of the suspects - 21-year-old Tommy Tyrone Branch of Fort Washington, Md., and 18-year-old Michael Moore of Landover, Maryland, are adults. The third suspect, 17-year-old Sunny Kuti, was not identified by police because of his age. But court records show Kuti, of Southeast D.C. was charged as an adult in an armed robbery that occurred on the same day that Maslin was beaten.

* YOU'LL LOVE THIS... (READ ON!)

The suspects had been arrested previously and charged in a robbery on 18th Street NW that occurred just hours after the attack on Maslin.

* BUT, WAIT... IT GETS "BETTER"...

Following that arrest, court records show all three suspects were on home confinement as part of a high-intensity supervised release program.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* HELL OF A PROGRAM, HUH?! (I WONDER WHAT THE "LOW-INTENSITY" RELEASE PROGRAM IS LIKE IF THIS IS "HIGH-INTENSITY.")

They may have been wearing electronic monitoring devices as part of their supervision when they were arrested in the Maslin case.

(*SNORT*)

* FOLKS... I ONLY WISH A PROMINENT POLITICIAN HAD BEEN THE VICTIM. (NOTE... THIS ISN'T EXACTLY NATIONAL NEWS; IT JUST HAPPENED TO BE PICKED UP BY MATT DRUDGE.)

Maslin was found beaten and unconscious in the 700 block of North Carolina Avenue SE at roughly 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18. He had attended a Washington Nationals game the night before and did not return home.

(Maslin's condition is improving following two surgeries and a brief slip into a coma.)

One of the suspects turned himself in to police. The two other suspects were arrested Wednesday. It's not known if the suspects are responsible for a second beating and robbery reported on Sept. 4 that occurred four blocks from where Maslin was found. Police had said they were looking into the possibility that the two crimes were related.

(*SNORT*)

Lanier classified the attacks as "disturbing" and unusually violent. The assaults on the victims, who reportedly complied with the robbers' demands, appeared to be unnecessary, she said. "When we catch the folks in these robberies, we're going to go after these people hard," she told WTOP.

* YA MEAN "HARDER" THAN A "HIGH-INTENSITY" RELEASE PROGRAM FOR DANGEROUS FELONS?

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Following the first attack, detectives released surveillance video from a Capitol Hill Exxon station of a 2005 silver Hyundai Sonata. Police say the occupants of that car attempted to use Maslin's credit card at that station shortly after his attack.

Maslin lives with his wife and 21-month-old son on Capitol Hill.