Misc

Somebody finally writes about the benefits of AI. Never forget government will use it against us.

War

China's military to create Space Force to compete with US in low in Earth orbit.

Economy

Uber makes it billionth ride.

Environment

Temps at North Pole above freezing at nearly 50 degrees above normal.

Economy

Dow and S&P end down for the year.

War on Drugs

Painkillers are the gateway drug to heroin.

Environment

California snowpack way above average.

Misc

This claim the British smeared Blackbeard rings of truth.

Politics

Progressivism is an amorphous blob.

"Progressives are often good people with good intentions. However, modern Progressivism has evolved into something so shapeless and amorphous as to amount to little more than a belief in “things that sound nice.” Mainstream Progressives have done an abysmal job of outlining precisely, in their view, the proper role of government and what (if any) limiting principle(s) apply to the state as a whole."

If they're nice, they're not thoughtful, because if they thought things through, they wouldn't advocate authoritarianism.

Economy

Further showing the bubble is collapsing, the world's richest people lost money in 2015.

Police State

China blasts US and allies over hypocrisy on spying. Good for them.

Spy agencies resist oversight. Don't spy on them.

Brussels police and soldiers engaged in orgy during lockdown and hunt for terrorists during Paris attacks.

Militarized police to patrol Time Square on New Year's Eve. Same for Rose Parade.

War

Al Qaeda returns to Afghanistan.

Environment

Analysis continues to reveal problems with NOAA's pause-buster study.

Tax and Spend

Dutch city implements basic income welfare.

Politics

Information of 191 million voters exposed on internet.

Of course the Clintons' war on women is fair game.

Misc

I made the case humans were hired-wired for religion by evolution decades ago.

Tax and Spend

Greece's rulers want to waste money rebuilding the Colossus of Rhodes.

"Costing €250 million (£183 million), the statue will rise more than 135 metres (443 feet) above the harbour, about one and a half times the size of New York’s Statue of Liberty.
Promoters of the project estimate that the Colossus, which will house a library, shops and a museum, will generate an annual income of €35 million a year."

That's ridiculous. If that was true, private investors would have built it long ago.

"Plans, for the statue which have been announced against a backdrop of the Greek financial meltdown, will be seen as a sign of the country’s determination to emerge from the economic crisis.
“We want to show that Greece can get back on its feet again; that it has the power and people to do so, and that the economy here can recover,” Aris A. Pallas, the project’s head architect, told The Times."

That's a giant boondoggle that will make Greeks poorer, not wealthier.

War

Article about Turkey's involvement in Syria offers this insight:

"By abetting Turkey in shooting down that Russian plane, the US achieved one important objective, at least, and that’s scuttling the Russia, Turkey natural gas pipeline, the Blue Stream. Through its EU vassals, the US is now trying to block the expansion of Nord Stream, a pipeline that goes directly from Russia to Germany. The American-directed regime change in the Ukraine was also an attempt to interfere with Russia’s gas export. Energy is Russia’s economic lifeline and its political leverage. Rupture that advantage, and you cripple Russia, make it compliant to your wishes. It ain’t gonna happen."

Quite the risk.

Analysis of the US Cold War plan to target population centers.

Regulation

While waiting for the FAA to write drone rules, state and local governments wrote their own. Now the FAA's emerging rules conflict with those earlier rules. Government creates conflict.

AI anxiety isn't misplaced. Plutocrats are fueling it for some purpose.

Socialism

Massive gas leak from one of government's utility companies threatens Los Angeles. It won't be capped for months.

Politics

Political correctness is about control, not etiquette or tolerance.

Police State

Cop who shot dead teen carrying toy gun will not be charged. Don't try this at home. The law doesn't apply to cops, but it does to you.

UK deploys drone-jammer to protect crowd.

War

Taliban gains ground.

Russians destroy ISIS oil convoys to Turkey.

"At a briefing by the Russian ministry of defence in Moscow, generals produced videos and photographs of Russian warplanes pulverising huge columns of oil tankers allegedly transporting oil for sale on the black market.
The Kremlin claimed to have destroyed 17 such truck columns in the past week alone - part of a Moscow-led onslaught against Isil's oil rackets that Russia says has wiped out nearly 2,000 oil tankers since Russia directly entered the war in Syria in September. "

At least the Russians are fighting them. We should get out of there and let them fight.

Even elephants take revenge when people kill their families. Blowback.

Environment

Pope omits global warming from Christmas address. Let's hope this means the Cardinals are getting him under control.

Whatever climate change problem exists, government created it.

"At the Paris Climate Conference of the Parties (COP21) we witnessed the biggest display of failed leadership in history from 195 countries. They established incorrect and misdirected policy based on failed and falsified science. It is a classic circular argument on a global scale. They invented the false problem of anthropogenic global warming/climate change and now they want to resolve the problem, but with a more disastrous solution."

This is true of every problem government purports to solve.

Police State

Chinese law forces tech companies to turn over encryption keys.

"The Chinese parliament has just passed a law that requires technology companies to comply with government requests for information, including handing over encryption keys. Under the guise of counter-terrorism, the controversial law is the Chinese government's attempt to curtail the activities of militants and political activists."

The same is true here.

Florida police funneled money to drug dealers, no different than police anywhere.

Local

Claim that economy has improved to the point it is no longer an employers market.

"Unemployment rates in Ohio, Greater Cincinnati and Greater Dayton are now sitting at the lowest levels since 2001.
“I think the tide is now turning to job seekers,” said George Mokrzan, director of economics for Columbus-based Huntington Bancshares Inc. “I think these unemployment rates have dropped to such a low level, businesses are going to start having a hard time finding the qualified workers that they need.”
“Consumers are going to feel better in terms of job opportunities. There’s going to be some upward pressure in wages,” he said." 

Which means inflation has finally trickled down to the lowest levels, so the prices of everything will rapidly rise. This is probably why the Fed sort of raised rates.

"Ohio’s unemployment rate shrank from 5.2 percent a year ago to 4.5 percent in November, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. There are fewer people in search of a job and employment is up, but the market isn’t fully healed; fewer Ohioans are also participating in the job market year-over-year, which could be due to retirements, students, changing populations and job seekers who’ve given up finding work."

Here comes inflation.

"Employers have “gotten used to being able to pick and choose in a way they haven’t been able to before,” said Richard Stock, director of the Business Research Group for University of Dayton. “So what’s challenging for companies is pretty exciting for the ordinary working person.”" 

Until the inflation hits, which won't be long.

Police State

More spying will criminalize internet trolling.

Regulation

Legalize prostitution.

"Note that America’s attitude toward prostitution is not the norm among civilized nations. It is legal in Spain, Germany, Holland, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, and many others. Canada, idiotically, makes it legal to sell sex but not to buy it. (It gets cold up there, and I guess sometimes they forget to wear hats.)"

Smart.

Tax and Spend

The Pentagon blew $281 million on s space debris program.

War

NATO is a rogue organization.

Environment

EPA exonerates itself in whitewash of Gold King mine disaster.

"Ms. Jewell told Congress she was unaware of anyone being fired, fined or even demoted. In fact, federal investigations and reports didn’t hold anyone responsible for the disaster. (Maybe they even got bonuses.)"

No doubt.

Remembering the benefits, including environmental, of gasoline.

Socialism

After being stuck for two years, Seattle's giant boring machine restarts for test.

Misc

String theory is not science.

Self-driving cars are unsafe because they obey laws to the exclusion of safety.  They can't exercise judgment.

Education

Graduates sue schools for misleading job placement figures.

"They claim the law school promoted employment figures among graduates that topped 90 per cent. But they did not disclose that those figures included part-time and nonlegal work including a pool cleaner and a sales clerk at Victoria’s Secret. The figures were also derived from a very small sample of graduates."

That's fraud.

War

North Dakota develops drone development and education center.

Local

Dayton's rulers failed to make lights safe and consistent before, so why expect they will now? This is another excuse to steal money.

Environment

The myth of the Pacific choking with plastic.

Warmest Christmas Eve on record in northeast thanks to el Nino. Drudge criticized hyping because it was warmer in 1955.

Misc

Evidence water existed on the moon when formed doesn't mean the moon was part of the Earth. It means they both formed in a similar environment.

Health Care

Advancing socialism in Britain is bringing back malnutrition and 19th century disease.

War

 A group of former government intelligence agents is skeptical of the claim Assad used Sarin gas, thinking instead it was a false flag, and demands proof.

Politics

Both Republicans and Democrats defend killing civilians to save civilians from terrorists who kill civilians.

No difference between Republicans and Democrats

Local

Kettering police cruisers and motorcycles to get cameras. Better late than never.

Federal Resewrve

Central banks creating modern feudal society. Welfare and guaranteed income complete the process.

Environment

Polar bears are fat, and they're population is growing.

War

US releases list of Cold War nuclear targets including "population".

US war timeline show US has been at war in 91 percent of the years it has existed.

About ISIS.

"In November of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Daesh is being financed by at least 40 countries — including G20 members. With such widespread financing, it will be difficult to defeat Deash."

No surprise.

Police State

This dumb article claims eyewitnesses are more reliable when they're confident. This is backwards. They're more confident when they're sure of what they witnessed. This tells us police push unreliable witnesses into accusations they don't want to make.

TSA can force people through scanners.

Local

Montgomery County land bank fails to remove blighted structures, so it gets more time and money.

Federal Reserve

The Fed's rate hike was symbolic.

"In truth there should be very little confidence that a new era has begun. A symbolic 25 basis point credibility-saving gesture, coming just two weeks before year-end, is really a non-event. It’s the equivalent of a credibility Hail Mary, with the Fed desperately trying to infuse confidence into a “recovery” that for all practical purposes has already ended."

Some predicted that rate hike would cause stocks to fall, so in that sense, the Fed was vindicated. Of course, they control the banks who control the stock market, so this is really no victory.

Tax and Spend

IRS can now revoke passports for tax delinquents.

Regulation

Eric Schmidt jumps on AI fearmongering bandwagon.

Police State

DHS lies about the cost of drones.

"Last year, the department's own inspector general declared that DHS drone purchasing program, which had spent $360 million since 2005 — $62 million in 2013 alone — was largely a failure. DHS had taken delivery of 11 MQ-9 Reaper drones, unarmed but otherwise similar to the ones used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. DHS anticipated that the cost per flight hour would be $2,468, far lower than the actual $12,225. The agency was using accounting tricks to move the costs of pilots, equipment, and overhead off the books. Even the actual flights hours — 5,102 — were a fraction of the promised 23,296."

SOP.

Environment

Forest owners demand tax dollars because they mitigate global warming. The whole scam is about stealing money.

Aerosols create global warming on Jupiter.

NOAA sued for documents it withheld from Congress regarding scandal.

Fukushima radiation still rising on US west coast.

Politics

I don't see where the Constitution forbids denying immigration to Muslims. It's not the same as interning them in camps like Roosevelt did during WWII.

The Republican establishment always advocated conservatives stick with Republicans and not start a third party when the establishment controlled the candidates. Now that they can't control Trump, Bill Kristol wants to start a third party. Hypocrite rulers.

Clinton push $1 trillion in new spending and taxes.

Economy

Programming jobs predicted to fall by 8 percent. So much for STEM.

Articles providing economic insight for entrepreneurs attempt to combat institutionalized economic ignorance.

Google partners with Ford on self-driving car. Smarter than Apple.

War

Turkey and Israel are most duplicitous against ISIS in Syria.

The war on terror will only lead to the US colonizing the Middle East like Israel colonized Palestine if rulers have the money to pay for it. They don't. They don't have enough people either.

Health Care

Monsanto under fire for GM crops and Roundup glyphosate.

NFL rejects funding concussion study by critic. Of course they would. Why would NIH pick a critic to run it?

Nobody knows what the optimal blood pressure is.

War

Taliban kill six American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Seymour Hersh claims Pentagon and US agents shared intelligence with Russia and Syria through allies to undermine Obama's support for ISIS against Assad.

"The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a highly classified assessment, put together by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin Dempsey, forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was then happening in Libya. A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria." 

More confirmation.

"Once the flow of US intelligence began, Germany, Israel and Russia started passing on information about the whereabouts and intent of radical jihadist groups to the Syrian army; in return, Syria provided information about its own capabilities and intentions. There was no direct contact between the US and the Syrian military; instead, the adviser said, ‘we provided the information – including long-range analyses on Syria’s future put together by contractors or one of our war colleges – and these countries could do with it what they chose, including sharing it with Assad."

Thank goodness there's a few good people.

Police State

Catalog of government surveillance equipment.

Americans are learning about the police state, and police don't like it.

"The police have supposedly become the targets of assassins intoxicated by “anti-cop rhetoric,” just as departments are being stripped of the kind of high-powered equipment they need to protect officers and communities. Even their funding streams have, it’s claimed, come under attack as anti-cop bias has infected Washington, D.C. Senator Ted Cruz caught the spirit of that critique by convening a Senate subcommittee hearing to which he gave the title, “The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement.” According to him, the federal government, including the president and attorney general, has been vilifying the police, who are now being treated as if they, not the criminals, were the enemy.
Beyond the storm of commentary and criticism, however, quite a different reality presents itself. In the simplest terms, there is no war on the police. Violent attacks against police officers remain at historic lows, even though approximately 1,000 people have been killed by the police this year nationwide. In just the past few weeks, videos have been released of problematic fatal police shootings in San Francisco and Chicago."

Police play the victims and pretend they're embattled.

Environment

El nino blamed for sea snakes in California.

NASA discovers burning fossil fuels cools the planet. Oops.

Economy

Even knowing low interest rates initiate a boom-bust cycle, businessmen are drawn in to stay in business.

Zero job growth for electrical engineers. So much for STEM.

Local

In an email, Nan Whaley lies about the Dayton economy.

"As we look ahead to the new year, Dayton is in the midst of a steady economic and community revival."

She's looting it and driving it to disaster.

Dayton schools make excuses for low test scores. Other districts did better.

Misc

Pluto looks like the other rocky moons in the solar system.

The establishment has noticed earthquakes are electrical.

World's oldest building in Ireland, 5,000 years old, marks winter solstace.

Health Care

Vitamin D regenerates MS nerve damage.

Economy

Collapse of the junk bond bubble may trigger a general collapse.

Regulation

FAA to make names and addresses of drone registrants public.

Police State

Israeli startup creates device that can hack pretty much any nearby cellphone. Despite their claim, non-police will get it too. Hopefully Silent Circle prevents this.

Local

Dayton RTA is outrageously expensive.

"As for the Dayton RTA, it’s anticipated that the fleet will need $96.5 million through 2020 to keep up-to-date electric trolleys and diesel buses on the road. Dayton, unlike Columbus, doesn’t plan on using natural gas to power most of its buses."

They could buy 5,000 new $20,000 cars for that.

$4.5 million in tax credits for Wittenberg to restore fieldhouse.

Environment

Of course stopping eating red meat won't save the planet. It was a silly claim.

Misc

The death of powerful scientists enables science to advance. Government money makes scientists more powerful, hindering science.

Politics

The significantly greater interest in Republican debates versus Democrats' favors Republicans in 2016.

Establishment Republican hypocrites.

"Thus the double-standard so many complain about: The Establishment tells the grassroots not to make demands, and to remain loyal to the party no matter how little of its agenda is pressed for, while the Establishment and the pampered corporate wing feel pretty damn comfortable serving up ultimatums and splitting from the party if their agenda isn't eagerly serviced."

SOP.

Top neocon Hillary Clinton is the war profiteers candidate of choice.

"Hillary Clinton has received more money from arms and military service companies than any other candidate during the 2016 presidential campaign, data from Open Secrets shows.
All but one of the world’s 10 biggest arms producers have contributed to Clinton’s previous campaigns, giving her — along with the top Republican receiver Ted Cruz — a significant margin over the other candidates."

War profiteer election.

"The numbers, collected by the Federal Election Commission and compiled by Open Secrets, also reveal that Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders make the list of top 20 senators and top six presidential candidates to receive money from arms and defense companies."

That's a surprise. Or maybe not. The war profiteers may just be hedging.

Paul Ryan hypocrisy over pushing through budget deals.

Right ot Keep and Bear Arms

Environment

While this El Nino is big, even NOAA rejects the hyperbole in the press.

California cuts support for renewable energy.

Global warming trend already below UN danger limit.

Tax and Spend

As always, Republicans pass a huge, Obama-loving budget.

Republicans gave Obama $3 billion to give to the US for global warming.

Tesla is a bad car because its subsidized by government.

Politics

Warmongers exploit San Bernardino attacks to escalate war in Syria.

Exasperated with Republican presidential candidates, Ann Coulter wants to coronate Trump.

"Republicans love pointing out that all the gun restrictions proposed by Democrats after every mass shooting would have done absolutely nothing to stop that particular mass shooting.


But the GOP's demand that we take out ISIS would also have done nothing to prevent the San Bernardino attack. As we know from Jim Comey, the director of the FBI: Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were planning a terrorist attack against Americans before ISIS existed.


It's as if there's a law of toughness conservation: The weaker a candidate is on protecting our borders, the more aggressively he talks about bombing foreign countries, a move known as "the Lindsey Graham." "

No kidding.

"Obama has said: "Let's assume that we were to send 50,000 troops into Syria. What happens when there's a terrorist attack generated from Yemen? Do we then send more troops into there? Or Libya perhaps? Or if there's a terrorist network that's operating anywhere else in North Africa or in Southeast Asia?"


Good grief! This GOP machismo on ISIS has resulted in Obama actually making sense. "

Republican stupidity and failure is how he got elected.

Republican establishment conspires to deny Trump nomination if he wins.

Foreign Policy

The IAEA was not neutral when evaluating Iran's non-existent nuclear program.

Masonic grandmaster, fascist and false flag operator dies.

Police State

CISA surveillance passes with budget.

I'm still skeptical of this FBI criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton.

"Clinton may also have committed espionage by failing to secure the government secrets entrusted to her. She did that by diverting those secrets to an unprotected, nongovernmental venue – her own server – and again by emailing those secrets to other unprotected and nongovernmental venues. The reason she can deny sending or receiving anything marked "classified" is that protected government secrets are not marked "classified."
So her statement, though technically true, is highly misleading. The governmental designations of protected secrets are "confidential," "secret" and "top secret" – not "classified." State Department investigators have found 999 emails sent or received by Clinton in at least one of those three categories of protected secrets." 

No surprise.

Neighbors knew San Bernadino terrorists.

Skepticism about San Bernadino attack.

Chicago police's secret torture chamber.

"The investigation found that CPD denied constitutional rights to at least 7,000 victims, some of whom were tortured and sexually abused."

Homan Square.

Economy

Landlords seek cut of Airbnb revenue to stop banned subletting.

Stockman explains the Fed isn't raising rates by removing liquidity because it can't. It's paying higher rates for excess reserves. That's why the market went up, but it's still the end of the bubble.

Stockman recommends selling stocks, bonds and houses because the Fed is whacked.

Misc

Scientists surprise again, this time by clumpy donut around supposed black hole.

Self driving cars cause accidents because they scrupulously obey the law.

Regulation

Under popular pressure, Brazilian judge reverses ban on WhatsApp. I thought judges were paragons of the law, not people making decisions in their best interest.

The FDA is coming for cigars.

Because government controls airlines and stifles competition, passengers have virtually no rights.

Local

Dayton schools score dramatically lower than other Ohio big cities.

$2.4 million in tax credits awarded in Warren County.

Environment

Record snowfall in Denver.

VW engineers rebelled against regulations.

"The automaker says it cheated on federal emissions tests because company engineers considered it “impossible” to pass them.

Italics added.

Read that again.

A major-league automaker, with an entire engineering staff at its disposal, found it impossible to comply with the federal government’s emissions fatwas. It would have required unacceptable (to VW’s customers) functional compromises – or unacceptable costs."

Heroes.

War

CIA and Pentagon admit theyre no good at human spying.

"The unit would most likely be based in or near Irbil, a Kurdish region and therefore a safe destination for U.S. forces. It will likely work together with Kurdish militiamen though it will also be operating unilaterally without coordination with the Iraqi military intelligence services, considered to be both unreliable and possibly even subversive due to reported penetration by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
This development means that American soldiers will be actively engaged in combat operations in both Iraq and Syria without the consent of any national government. It raises some significant legal issues and perhaps even threatens the security of other U.S. troops that are advising the Iraqi Army, particularly if there is an incident in which civilians are killed."

Rulers don't care. They benefit when bad things happen.

"There have been reports that some of the 300 advisers sent to Iraq in June 2014, which was followed by an additional 50 special ops soldiers in December ordered to “advise, train and assist,” have already been exceeding their mandates by directly participating in fighting between local militiamen and ISIS. This has been denied by the Pentagon even though Kurdish officers have confirmed their presence with cell phone photos. "

Of course. These guys won't sit on their guns while their team is in a firefight. Rulers know this.

"Jeff Stein, a well-informed former military intelligence officer writing for Newsweek, believes that “American spies are going to be back in action in a big way against the Islamic State…”"

About time. I've said over and over the war on terror is an intelligence war, kind of like the Cold War.

"Human agent spying, the second oldest profession if not the first, has oddly been eschewed by many in the federal intelligence community’s war against terrorist groups because of its alleged expense. In reality, the costs of HUMINT are far lower than technical collection, which requires a large initial outlay for development and construction of equipment combined with an expensive infrastructure to operate. Indeed, the cutback in the spy culture at CIA came about because running drones and surveillance satellites was taking so much out of the budget. It was part of a shift in priorities that also brought a rise in the power of Agency paramilitaries, recently supplanting the senior operations officer managers in the clandestine services division that supervises spies."

Great.

Warmongers promote terrorism.

"Graham prefers "allies," like the Saudis and Gulf Arabs.
But both have bailed out of the air war on ISIS, and sent troops and bombers instead to attack the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Result: The Houthis have been in retreat and al-Qaida and ISIS are moving into the vacated territory.
Another Mideast base camp for terrorists is being created – by us."

Lovely.

The US is waging drone and special op war from new bases in Africa.

314 killed in Iraq.

US kills Iraq forces near Fallujah in friendly fire incident.

ISIS attacks are intended to draw the US and allies into a wider war.

Documents show CIA agent lobbying to create a Sunni terrorist state in Syria and Iraq, i.e. ISIS.

Drone pilots rebel because drone attacks inspire terrorists.

Police State

British spies weren't behind NSA like we've been led to believe. They've been building a full database of British communications since 2000.

Regulation

California requires self-driving cars to have steering wheels. Maybe they'll do the same for horses.

FAA to take over restricting and corporatizing access to the moon.

Authoritarians up in arms in the name of net neutrality over T-mobile allowing unlimited bandwidth for certain services to better serve customers.

Economy

Google to create Uber competitor with self-driving cars. They must plan to bombard passengers with ads.

Phillips reverses blocking light bulb manufacturers.

IBM and others creating blockchain for bankers. Maybe this is the inside track banks have that allowed Overstock.com to issue stock through blockchain.

Education

When teachers and administrators fail to stop bullying and the victim kills themselves, the failures rarely pay a price. This is a double reason to keep children out of government schools.

Local

More than $7 million in tax credits approved for local projects.

It took two years to clean and refurbish a replica Wright Flyer. It didn't take the Wright brothers that long to build it.

Police State

The Judge explains why government failed to catch the San Bernardino terrorists.

Socialism

Even outright socialism isn't all that dead. Think Amtrak.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

US states with least gun control among safest places on Earth.

"Canadian gun laws are dominated by national law which mandates restrictions on certain weapons nationwide. Nevertheless, we might note that Quebec is traditionally among the most anti-gun provinces of Canada while New Hampshire is among the least restrictive states when it comes to guns. In 2014, the two jurisdictions had identical homicide rates.

Similarly, we might point out that British Columbia's homicide rate is essentially identical to Iowa, Idaho, Maine, and Oregon."

Thank concealed carry holders. So much for the free-rider problem.

Politics

Republicans secretly pass CISA by hiding it in budget bill at the last minute.

Non-intervention supposedly won the debate last night over the warmongers. We'll see.

Freedom of Speech

Google, Facebook and Twitter agree to censor hate speech in Germany. More.

Economy

Microsoft joins the philanthropy PR scam.

Switzerland is far and away the wealthiest country per capita in Europe with Norway and Sweden close behind showing it pays to be peaceful.

Regulation

Thanks to heavy regulation, cities can offer broadband cheaper than telecoms.

SEC grants permission for Overstock.com to issue stock via blockchain.

"This decision is a major victory for Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who has long advocated the potential for blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin, to decentralize – and revolutionize – the financial services industry. Byrne has described the blockchain's potential as "taking an ax to Wall Street as we know it"."

I'm skeptical. The banks must have some inside track to blockchain.

Federal Reserve

Fed raises rates for the first time in seven years, to 1/4 of a point. This tiny hike shows the economy still stinks.

Stocks rise contrary to what might be expected.

"After the Fed’s November meeting, when the Fed decided not to hike interest rates, the stock market fell, indicating the disappointment of market participants.  Because lower interest rates tend to raise asset prices, the market decline was an indication of disapproval from market participants.
At the Fed’s December 16th meeting, in keeping with expectations, they announced they will increase interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. After the announcement, the stock market surged.
While I am always reluctant to associate movements in the stock market with specific causes, this one looks pretty clear. The surge in the stock market came right after the announcement.
Following the conventional wisdom, higher interest rates should lower asset prices, so the rise in the stock market is all the more interesting. Investors appear to believe that the damage being done to the economy as a result of artificially low interest rates is greater than the boost to asset prices that come with low rates."

Good.

Negative interest rates are absurd.

"What we can’t forget is that the real rate of interest can never be negative. The real, or natural, rate of interest is a function of the preference for present goods over future goods. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, in other words. A negative natural rate of interest would mean that someone prefers less in the future to more in the present. Given the choice between $20 today and $10 tomorrow, you would prefer the $10 tomorrow. That is a complete absurdity that would never happen in reality. But when you realize that most of the assumptions made by mainstream economists in creating their models are absurd, unrealistic, and nonsensical, you can understand at least a little why those practitioners of voodoo mathematics think that negative interest rates are a potential policy tool."

The economy is people acting in their own interests, not mathematical models.

Phony job numbers enabled the Fed to raise rates.

"He added that part-time shift work has taken over full-time employment, and this is where much of the jobs gains have shifted to. Schiff alluded to the increase in part-time workers, which saw the biggest gain since September 2012, rising by 319,000 to 6.1 million in November. Ultimately, says Schiff, those who can’t find full-time work are taking part-time jobs."

Some economy.

Gold demand surges.

Local

State and local tax breaks convince company to relocated to West Carrollton.

Environment

Of course the Earth's tilt affects climate change.

Leftists heads will explode when they learn a vegetarian diet is worse for the environment than eating meat.

War

War in Yemen benefits ISIS, and since ISIS is Sunni and the Houthis Shia, that's what Sunni Saudis and their US allies want. One of these days the Sauds might be beheaded by ISIS in a spectacular case of blowback.

Economy

These questions about OpenAI become mute if it's about generating patents. Never forget these plutocrats got rich off government money and patents.

Regulation

Seattle passes law allowing Uber drivers to unionize. Why do they need a law?

Local

Beavercreek schools evacuate students to nearby church because of threat. Why not send them home?

Education

In an attempt to keep the serfs from challenging rulers, rulers propose revoking scholarships from student-athletes who strike.

All Los Angeles schools closed becaase of threat.

Regulation

Thanks to government's ban in incandescent light bulbs, Philips uses DRM to lock competing lightbulbs out of its IoT system.

Media

The report of the decline and fall of the mainstream media is greatly exaggerated. The warmongers are still winning.

"Take, for example, this piece in the New York Times on Tashfeen Malik’s previously unreported Facebook postings, by Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, and Julia Preston. The first paragraphs read:
“Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., passed three background checks by American immigration officials as she moved to the United States from Pakistan. None uncovered what Ms. Malik had made little effort to hide – that she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad.
“She said she supported it. And she said she wanted to be a part of it.
“American law enforcement officials said they recently discovered those old – and previously unreported – postings as they pieced together the lives of Ms. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, trying to understand how they pulled off the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.”"

As I said, everybody knew about these terrorists except government security.

"Everything must be viewed through the peculiar prism of a New York Times reporter: no direct quotes allowed – unless it’s from an anonymous government official pushing his or her agenda. The rest of the article cites government officials offering lame excuses for why they didn’t bother checking Tashfeen Malik’s social media postings– essentially, it’s too much bother. "

The US and allies spend trillions on security, but checking public information about people immigrating from jihadi hotspots is too much trouble. This shows they don't care about stopping terrorists. They want to stop people who use encryption. Like Snowden, reporters, political activists, privacy advocates, and corporate personnel with access to sensitive information. This tells us who they believe to be the real enemy.

Local

I'm all for local investment in Dayton, but two years ago we had one outdoor music venue in the county. Now they're planning a third? Sounds like a bubble. I'm also skeptical this will be voluntarily funded. The Huber venue cost $20 million. $500,000 isn't much of a seed. From email:
"

Dayton Announced as Site for Ninth Levitt Pavilion

Release Date:  Monday, December 14, 2015 Contact:  Toni Bankston, 937-333-3616

Dayton has been selected by the national Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation as the ninth city across the nation to join an esteemed network of outdoor Levitt performance venues, collectively presenting America's largest free concert series. The Foundation has pledged $500,000 in seed funding to partially fund the construction of a permanent, state-of-the-art music venue at Dave Hall Plaza, at Fourth and Jefferson Streets in the heart of downtown Dayton. As all Levitt creative place- making projects, Levitt Pavilion Dayton is community-driven and depends on the support of the local community to become a reality.  For this reason, the City of Dayton will solicit feedback from the community to gauge public interest in the project.  Initial feedback has been positive. "I have been working in downtown Dayton for decades and I feel the Levitt Pavilion will complement the vibrancy we are seeing  from new housing, new restaurants, young people and diversity," said Jeff Ireland   The venue, known as the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, is slated to open in 2018. It will present 50 free concerts each summer, featuring acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists in a wide array of music genres-everything from Latin to blues, rock to country, children's to jazz.  "We have always believed in the ability of art and music to transform and energize people in the most positive ways. We can't wait to see if Levitt Pavilion Dayton does just that," said Michael and Sandy Bashaw, Dayton musicians and community volunteers. Through the free concerts, Levitt Pavilion Dayton will inject new life into Dave Hall Plaza (originally constructed in the 1970s), bringing people together of all ages and backgrounds to experience the family-friendly shows and welcoming atmosphere. As part of the capital project, Dave Hall Plaza will be renovated with new landscaping and amenities. In addition, Levitt Pavilion Dayton will serve as a catalyst for further development and growth in the surrounding area, similar to other cities with permanent Levitt venues, including Los Angeles and Pasadena, Calif., Memphis, Tenn., and Arlington, Texas. When the Levitt concerts aren't in season, the Levitt Pavilion will be available for use by other local organizations for a range of performances and events. "Enhancing downtown Dayton with a place-based amenity like the Levitt Pavilion is extremely exciting," said Mayor Nan Whaley. "The Levitt mission couldn't be a better fit for Dave Hall Plaza and the Greater Downtown Area." "Dayton-and Dave Hall Plaza in particular-is an ideal setting for the power of free, live music to bring people together and invigorate community life," said Sharon Yazowski, executive director of the Levitt Foundation. "We're impressed with the visionary leadership of the City, and the displayed community support for the project to date." While the Levitt Foundation has pledged seed funding, as well as annual operating grants and support resources to the project, additional funds must be raised to balance the difference. A local non-profit organization, Friends of Levitt Pavilion Dayton, has been created to manage, program and raise funds for the venue.  Friends of Levitt Pavilion Dayton is scheduled to launch its official fundraising campaign in January 2016 but is already welcoming donations. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to:             The Dayton Foundation 40 S. Main Street, Suite 500 Dayton, Ohio 45423 Account #7769 About the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation is a private family foundation that exists to strengthen the social fabric of America. Through its support of creative placemaking projects, the Foundation empowers communities to transform neglected public spaces into welcoming destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together and invigorates community life. The Foundation's primary funding areas include the signature Levitt program of permanent outdoor music venues and the Levitt AMP Grant Awards, an annual grants competition. The Levitt network of permanent outdoor music venues and AMP concert sites collectively presents the largest free concert series in America, serving more than half a million people annually through 450+ free, family-friendly concerts. As an example of the caliber of talent presented across the Levitt network, the 2016 GRAMMY nominees include 21 artists who have performed on Levitt stages in recent years. The signature Levitt program includes cities as diverse as Los Angeles and Pasadena, Calif.; Westport, Conn.; Bethlehem, Pa.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Arlington, Texas. Each signature Levitt venue is its own 501(c)(3) Friends of Levitt nonprofit organization, presenting 50+ free concerts every year featuring acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning performers in all music genres. Due to accelerating interest from cities and engaged citizens, the signature Levitt program is growing. Developing Levitt locations across the country include Denver (opening 2017) Houston (opening 2018), Dayton (opening 2018), and Sioux Falls (opening 2019), among other cities. In 2016, the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards will provide matching grants to 15 small to mid-sized towns and cities across America to transform neglected public spaces into thriving destinations through free concerts. Learn more at http://www.levitt.org.

"
Yep. It's socialist.

Police State

Chicago police execution and others look like death squads from the 1980s.

Tax and Spend

$1 billion fusion reactor supposedly creates conditions similar to those inside stars. If so, it won't work.

Immigration

Tech billionaires launch organization using socialist name FWD.us to lobby for more immigrants to drive down wages.

War

British sniper kills five jihadis in Mosul. So the Brits have boots on the ground too.

Politics

Cruz takes lead in Iowa. Apparently they don't care he's not a natural born citizen and therefore disqualified from the presidency.

Environment

Paris agreement watered down but still dangerous.

"The bad news is that it plants the seeds of a new UN climate regime that left unchecked will swell into a bureaucratic behemoth.
The good news is that the agreement’s soft commitments, lack of penalties for noncompliance, and long dates buy time for more scientific data to come in.
The more scientific evidence we examine, the weaker the case for economy-wrecking global warming policies becomes.
Science may provide the way out.
If we can keep the data honest."

I won't hold my breath.

Kerry had the agreement drafted to bypass Congress.

Tax and Spend

Medicare and Medicaid pay for sex change operations. This is not to be confused with healthcare.

Media

Company plans to bring back dead actors by pasting their pictures over the bodies of others. I said John Wayne would soon be starring in westerns again, and now it's close. Unfortunately, this means new actors have to compete not only against existing stars, but iconic stars from the past too. This will mean we see fewer new stars and acting salaries falls.

Police State

FBI pressures tech companies to provide backdoors to defeat encryption, but it won't call them backdoors.

I don't think governments are lying about encryption backdoors. They really want them because they want to spy on us, not terrorists. I'm happy this girl just figured that out.

It seems everybody but the government knew the San Bernardino shooters were going to launch a terrorist attack

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

New Republic calls to ban all firearms. That might finally spark a revolution.

Gun control fails in England, Ireland and Canada.

Obama wants to ban people on no-fly list from owning guns.

War

$700 million drone can't find mines.

391 killed in Iraq, mostly ISIS fighters in Anbar.

Who will fight ISIS?

Israeli commandos rescue of jihadists in Syria caught on video.

Turkey shot down Russian plane to derail an agreement that kept Assad in power.

War profiteers promise more profits from growing wars.

Police State

Feinstein to use recent attacks as pretext to ruin encryption. They've been talking about it. Now they have their pretext.

FBI admits to using stingrays and exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities.

DHS deployed plane and intercepted all phone calls after San Bernardino attacks.

How long have I been saying government was the worst threat to our security?

Environment

Frauds extend Paris conference in hopes of stealing more of our money.

Pretend agreement reached in Paris.

In Paris, Kerry admits cutting emissions in US and globally will not affect the climate.

Propaganda claims the US is responsible for global warming, but when you take into account carbon sinks, that's not true.

Misc

Standard theory of fossilization in doubt after supposed discovery of dinosaur veins in fossil.

Discovery of solid mantle casts doubt on geology of Earth.

How government does astronomy and everything else.

"There are only a few places on Earth that have all of these qualities consistently, and perhaps the best one is atop Mauna Kea on Hawaii. Yet generations of wrongs have occurred to create the great telescope complex that's up there today, and astronomers continue to lease the land for far less than it's worth despite violating the original contract. That's astronomy as we know it so far, and perhaps the Mauna Kea protests signal a long awaited end to that."

It corrupts everything.

Solar systems like ours are rare.

Local

Hamilton movie with Kate Blanchett "Carol" leads Golden Globe nominations.

Record high temperature today. El Nino is making it warm.

Regulation

New York Supreme Court Justice temporarily kicks Fanduel and DraftKings out of New York. Lower appeals court stays the decision.

In another reminder corporations hate freedom, The minister of Google wants to censor internet.

A year ago, maybe less, Elon Musk was fearmongering AI would destroy us. Now he's investing in an AI firm.

Dow and Dupont plan to merge then split into three companies, but only if regulators allow.

Politics

In an article praising Trump for trying to save American lives through policy changes, Ilana Mercer analyzes the political calculus behind collateral damage. I don't know how old I was when I realized collateral damage didn't mean damage to buildings or bridges, but the killing of innocents. It was way too long because government doesn't want people to know that.

"If you’re a Jihadi who’s traveled to train abroad – American, permanent resident or anything else – “you are never, ever coming back into the U.S.,” vowed Trump. Having suggested the same a few months back (“A Modest Libertarian Proposal: Keep Jihadis OUT, Not IN“), I would venture that immigration is a political grant of privilege; there is no natural right to immigrate into the U.S., not least if you are fixing to kill your coworkers."

Sounds great.

"Later, Trump followed up with a more radical statement, radical from a political perspective. He “called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”:"

No thanks. That sounds like the idiotic policy of teachers punishing the entire class for the actions of an individual or few.

"According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25 percent of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad,” and 51 percent of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.”"

Don't let them in then, but there's no need to punish the rest. Of course the socialists will never be able to do a good job of determining who is who.

"Good businessmen are programmed differently than politicians. As a tremendously gifted entrepreneur, Trump is averse to squandering scarce resources, money or manpower.
By contrast, politicians do not understand the natural economic reality of scarcity. They control the production of money for their promiscuous purposes, and they exert power over millions of interchangeable people in their territorial jurisdiction.
To a politician, 14 lives in 322 million is a small price to pay for “our freedoms.” Trump’s political rivals look at the price exacted by a Muslim like Syed Farook and his bride in the aggregate. Fourteen dead is not a steep price to pay for unfettered immigration from Islamic countries, peddled politically as “our values,” “our tolerance,” “our greatness.” This callous calculus is second nature to politicians like Lindsey Graham or Darth Vader Cheney.
Not to Trump. “This must stop. We can’t have this,” he roared."

A good businessman must evaluate costs as well as benefits. I'm sure his outrage is real, but Trump is performing a political calculation too.

Anonymous goes after Trump.

"In a computer-generated voice, he takes aim at Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, claiming "This is what ISIS wants." He goes on to say that "the more the United States appears to be targeting Muslims, not just radical Muslims," the more ISIS will be able to recruit sympathizers." 

They're right about that. How Trumps plan will boost ISIS.

Rubio is winning the establishment primary.

Economy

Piketts is wrong: governments, not markets, concentrate wealth and produce extreme income inequality.

Streaming services power growth in CD and vinyl sales just like anti-IP advocates predicted.

Company with no product plans $1 billion electric car factory in the desert of Las Vegas in a bubble activity. This sounds like a scam.

Home ownership rates fall as inflation prices homes out of reach.

The no-down-payment jumbo mortgage returns.

Health Care

Government feeds sugar addiction.

Government forced to admit whole grains cause flatulence and more toilet trips, but these signs of digestive problems are considered signs of good health.