Sorry about no newsbites yesterday; busy, busy, busy!
I just watched a clip of Jon Stewart "covering" the Chris Christie/GWB scandal. One joke he made was that "we can now see Paul Ryan's boner from space."
(*SIGH*)
Folks... again... 2016 is a long way away... but to think that Paul Ryan is a GOP frontrunner... that Chris Christie was/is a GOP frontrunner... sad... very sad...
And of course you have that jackass Boehner defending Christie...
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Yes... YES... Obama and Hillary Clinton are far, far worse human beings than your average RINO, but, still... what's the point of switching out a Leftist for someone who will govern as a kinder, gentler, perhaps more competent anti-constitution big-government statist?
Paul Ryan is a fake phony fraud. Christie? In the 1960's he would have made a "great" Democrat governor of any state in the Union.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Personally... I think it's too late to save America. Not enough of you give a damn and certainly the vast, vast majority of politicians like things just the way they are.
But... but... but... but... if I'm to be proven wrong... the RINOs will have to be destroyed and supplanted by true constitution-loving, libertarian-leaning, strong, intelligent, principled nationalists.
Just sayin'...
(And now... today's newsbites theme music!)
5 comments:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/09/22243241-christie-appointee-pleads-the-fifth-before-state-committee-in-bridge-fiasco?lite
An appointee of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the center of an apparent plan to engineer a monster traffic jam as an act of political payback was held in contempt Thursday after he refused to answer questions from state lawmakers.
The appointee, David Wildstein, invoked the Fifth Amendment, which offers protection against self-incrimination.
“On the advice of counsel, I assert my right to remain silent,” he said repeatedly at the hearing, convened by the transportation committee of the state Assembly.
* AND PEOPLE THINK I JEST WHEN I COMPARE POLITICIANS TO MOBSTERS...
Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democrat who chairs the committee, disputed that Wildstein had the right under state law to decline to answer questions. The committee voted to hold him in contempt, a misdemeanor.
* WORDS...
* THEY DIDN'T SEND HIM TO JAIL, DID THEY? (THE ARTICLE DOESN'T SAY THEY DID, SO THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT THEY DIDN'T.)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/people-not-labor-force-soar-record-918-million-participation-rate-plunges-1978-level
Curious why despite the huge miss in payrolls the unemployment rate tumbled from 7.0% to 6.7%?
* NOPE.
The reason is because in December the civilian labor force did what it usually does in the New Normal: it dropped from 155.3 million to 154.9 million... which means the labor participation rate just dropped to a fresh 35 year low, hitting levels not seen since 1978, at 62.8% down from 63.0%.
* 1978 WAS NOT A GOOD YEAR, FOLKS. (BUT AT LEAST THEN THEY TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT INFLATION! NOW... NOTICE... NO "MISERY INDEX"... SUPPOSEDLY "NO INFLATION"... BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT'S A LIE.)
* PLUS... FOLKS... IN 1978 AMERICA WAS STILL AMERICA... POPULATED BY AMERICANS... THE GREATEST GENERATION STILL LARGELY RUNNING THE SHOW... RUSSIA A MILITARY THREAT BUT NOT AN ECONOMIC THREAT AND CHINA NEITHER. (IN OTHER WORDS, IT WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD; A WORLD FAR MORE POISED FOR A U.S. RENAISSANCE THAN TODAY'S WORLD.)
And the piece de resistance: Americans not in the labor force exploded higher by 535,000 to a new all time high 91.8 million.
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
* HEY... I'VE GOT AN IDEA... (ACTUALLY IT'S OBAMA'S IDEA...) LET'S BORROW MORE MONEY WE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO PAY BACK IN ORDER TO PAY MORE PEOPLE NOT TO WORK! AND WE'LL FINANCE IT NOT JUST BY BORROWING... BUT BY TAXING THOSE OF US WHO ARE WORKING AT EVER-HIGHER RATES!
(*SMIRK*)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/more-half-december-jobs-added-were-temporary
Once again, in [their] sheer panic to tout the quantity (or lack thereof, actually) in the case of the December jobs number, the frenzied media and pundits completely ignored the quality of the jobs gained in the last month of December.
Or.. lack... thereof...
Because of the 74,000 jobs gained in December, 55%, or 40,000 were the worst of the lot when it comes to wages or benefits: temporary jobs.
(*SMIRK*)
As for the other job additions? Well, between Temp Help, and the bottom of the barrel paying Retail and Wholesale Trade jobs, the total additions were 111K. Which means all the other, better-paying, job groups saw... a drop of 35,000.
* ONE... MORE... TIME...
Which means all the other, better-paying, job groups saw... a drop of 35,000.
(*SIGH*)
In other words, the "recovery" may be [just plain] lacking in numbers, but at least it is completely lacking in quality.
(*SNORT*)
And... oh yes: remember - when it is snowing outside, employers only hire temp workers, hence it's the weather's fault.
(*RUEFUL HALF-CHUCKLE*)
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://townhall.com/columnists/lindachavez/2014/01/10/new-guidelines-undermine-school-discipline-n1775840/page/full
With much ballyhoo, the Obama administration announced this week that it will keep a close eye on school districts that discipline minority students at higher rates than whites. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan held a joint press conference to release a "Dear Colleague" letter to school districts issuing guidance on school discipline that will likely encourage districts to make race a significant factor in deciding how to administer punishment. Of course, Holder and Duncan claim their intention is to ensure nondiscrimination in school disciplinary procedures -- but the guidelines they've offered will result in exactly the opposite.
Black and Hispanic students, on average, experience higher rates of school suspensions and other serious disciplinary actions - there is little doubt or debate on that score. A Washington Post study last year found that in the D.C. region, black students were far more likely to be suspended from school than whites or Asians. In Montgomery County, a suburban Maryland district just outside of Washington, 6% of black students were either suspended or expelled from school the previous year, while only 1.2% of white students suffered the same punishment. The most recent national school suspension statistics available show that some 15% of blacks, 7% of Hispanics, 5% of whites and 3%of Asians are suspended at some point in their school life.
But the real question is: Why?
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
If black and Hispanic students engage in behavior that is punishable by suspension at higher rates than whites or Asians, then we shouldn't be surprised that their punishment rates are higher, as well. On the other hand, if behaviors don't differ or if black students who commit the same infractions as whites receive harsher treatment, discrimination is likely the cause.
Unfortunately, the DOJ and DOE guidelines go far beyond discouraging actual racial discrimination. In essence, what the Obama administration wants school districts to do is guarantee that minority students don't experience higher rates of suspension or other serious punishments for disciplinary infractions. It is certainly laudable to try to bring down suspension rates for black and Hispanic students -- but there are right and wrong ways to go about it, and the Obama administration has chosen the worst way.
The guidelines tell school districts that any discipline policy that results in an "adverse impact on students of a particular race as compared with students of other races" is problematic. The school district must prove that the policy is "necessary to meet an important educational goal" and that there are not "comparably effective alternative policies or practices that would meet the school's stated educational goals."
In the D.C. area study, for example, minority students were far more likely to be suspended for "insubordination" than whites. The easiest way to fix the statistical disparity would be for school districts to eliminate insubordination as an infraction punishable by suspension. But whom would such a change benefit? Students who refuse to follow the rules and behave disrespectfully to teachers and administrators would learn they could get away with it with no consequences, setting them up for future failure in the work world. Students who behaved would find themselves in unruly classrooms, and teachers would find their authority and ability to teach undermined.
Meanwhile, the real culprit for racial differences in disciplinary problems among students would go unexamined. More than 70% of black babies are born to single moms, as are about 60% of Native Americans and 50% of Hispanics, but less than 30% of whites and 20% of Asians.
Children who grow up in fatherless homes are exponentially more likely to face school suspension or engage in early criminal behavior.
According to the Fatherhood Coalition, fatherless teens are three times more likely to be suspended from school and fatherless teen boys are 10 times more likely to become chronic juvenile offenders than those raised in homes with two parents.
Forcing school districts to weaken disciplinary policies or set racial quotas in implementing them serves no one. And those who would suffer the most would likely be underachieving minority students stuck in undisciplined classrooms.
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