Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Both "kids" were in their 20's. To me that's not a kid and the interview and tone make it sound like there are little kids or at most early teens.
There's a cultural problem here that never gets addressed. Read Patrick O'Brien's tales of the British navy during the Napoleanic era and see what ages went with what responsibilities.
Pretty soon "Cradle to Grave" will mean that you never leave the cradle till they bury you.
#7
Frank, not only can empty guns do that - today I was told in no uncertain terms that "assault weapons" could accidently kill kids if they're carried about. or even allowed to exist.
Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94.
Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.
Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.
#1
Aaawwwww - many of their hits were still being requested + played on late 1960's-early 1970's Radio here on Guam during the Vietnam era, along wid Sinatra + others.
100 foot waves counts as 'weather', right?
This is some seriously awesome surfing!
Surfer Garrett McNamara catches what could be the largest wave ever surfed, off the coast of Nazare, Portugal, on Jan. 29. The estimated 100-foot wave, if confirmed, would beat the current world record of 78 feet, which McNamara has held since 2011. Go look at the picture.
#1
Yuuuppp - reminds me of all those "Surfin' Hawaii" + "Cliff-Dive Acapulco" movies from the 1970's, + for some mysterious reason Ron Ely as "Tarzan"!?
The Muslim Brotherhood, amidst widespread public anger, wanted to mark the second anniversary of Egypts revolution by planting 500,000 trees, helping a million hospital patients and renovating 2,000 schools. Instead, the country looks like it is falling apart. The past two days in Egypt looked at times like a slow-motion repeat of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak two years ago: the marches, the gas, the shouted demands to topple the regime, and a miscalculated response by the president (Mr Morsi took to Facebook and Twitter to express his condolences to the families of those killed).
The unrest felt darker, more anarchic, than the uprising of 2011. The peaceful protests that began on Friday in Cairo to mark the two-year anniversary of the revolution by Sunday had been overtaken by the armed street battles in Port Said. Hard-nosed Suez, where the first demonstrator was killed in 2011, again provided the spark. Protesters ripped down police shacks and set government buildings alight. The police killed ten of those protesting.In the coastal city at the northern mouth of the Suez Canal, 33 civilians and two police officers were killed after relatives tried to storm a prison housing 22 local football fans sentenced to death on Saturday over a bloody stadium stampede last year.
The riots have revealed worrying signs of a state that is both absent and untrusted by the people. Two years of transition and seven months of Brotherhood administration have failed to restore a sense of accountability. The Port Said families took matters, violently, into their own hands because they did not trust the court. The Ahly fans threatened to do the same. Protesters in Tahrir Square believe that Mr Morsi has lied to them too often to remain in office. The opposition says it will boycott elections unless the president reviews the transition process. Who will lead Egypt out of its current crisis is unclear.
#3
Morsi has been busy the last few months trying to ensure that the army is on his side. He's been elevating officers who were members of the Bruderbünd and removing officers who weren't. Not sure that's enough to save him, but the Egyptian military isn't necessarily what it was a couple years ago.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2013 8:25 Comments ||
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#4
He's been elevating officers who were members of the Bruderbünd and removing officers who weren't. Steve White
#5
The Arab Spring is in a free fall and no one knows where it will end up. At some point, with the disorder in these various countries, food will become a problem.
#6
What's bitterly amusing is reading all the comments on this at the Economist and Foreign Policy sites; most of them are along the lines of "the Muslim Brotherhood won the election and the secularists should acccept it" and "this is not the way Democracy is supposed to be", and "if they're unhappy, they should deal with it in parliment and not on the streets".
Kind of like the old-hippies-turned-wealthy-retirees in Haight-Ashbury complaining about the new breed of hippies 'infesting' the streets in front of their condos.
#13
U.S. better shut off the 16 F16 aircraft and 200 Abrams tanks going to Egypt. They have no external threats on their borders. Such a transfer of weapons will only threaten Israel.
[MAGHAREBIA] The military court of Sfax on Tuesday (January 29th) sentenced two officers to prison for the death of five protesters during the uprising against Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Commander Mourad Jouini received a 10-year term and Lieutenant Bassam Akremi was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for repressing demonstrations in Regueb on January 9th, 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#5
Wait until the rest of the tax increases, more government regulations and Obamacare hit as well.
With those things piling on a already stumbling economy, it will be the equivalent of a bunch of people pulling on the feet of a strangling man and finish it off that much faster.
There will be a lot of people asking themselves, "Why did I vote for Obama?"
"Because you are a fucking idiot, now live with the mess you created."
#7
What is propping up the stock market?
Posted by JohnQC
Global markets and continued profits are two important factors John. Capitalism survives in spite of the socialists in D.C. Imagine would could have been achieved with a businessman at the helm.
Posted by: Andy Snatch8562 ||
01/30/2013 10:20 Comments ||
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#10
The economy is going to hit the floor faster than a stunt man in a Jackie Chan movie...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/30/2013 10:27 Comments ||
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#11
4th Qtr also included the presidential election, which can make people skittish. Personally, I am interested in January sales compared to previous years.
The entertainers were harping about the news that the market is approaching the 2008 mark. Great. I do know my can of beans does not cost the same as it did four years ago.
#12
my can of beans does not cost the same as it did four years ago
so I sacrifice convenience and buy dried beans and cook 'em. For now natural gas for my stove IS less than it was 4 years ago (thank you, fracking.)
#15
IMO, the drop in Federal expenditures (not just defense) was mostly due to agencies getting ready for the sequester; without that drop, the 4th Q number would have been about +2.5% (annualized)
that kind of drop in Federal expenditures is just one thing that needs to happen;
the other is entitlement reform - that will be more difficult
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/30/2013 12:39 Comments ||
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#16
SW, I like that one "The economy is going to hit the floor faster than a stunt man in a Jackie Chan movie..." thats original.
The declaration of the beginning and end of a recession is not via a precise formula and there is no actual statute that requires such declarations
In practice, there is a business cycle committee within the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The NBER is a private not for profit NGO. They do not make policy recommendations. I think they get funding from large corporations and govt contracts but I'm not sure on this.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/30/2013 12:53 Comments ||
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#18
interesting personal take....(well to me anyway)
A week ago a 90' tall pine tree snapped in a high wind. Fortunately it only grazed the house, unfortunately it caught my car square. Well, a 10 year old Honda Accord fought the tree and the tree won, it was totaled.
So, I've gone out to buy a new car and decided on another Honda Accord sedan. When digging out the title to the junker I found the original bill of sale. 10 years ago it cost $23,000. My replacement is going to cost $23,000. The price has not gone up; the sales tax on the other hand is $400 more.
#22
It is my understanding that there is absolutely no truth to the rumour that Senator Mary Landrieu form Louisiana is blaming Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for a severe case of Candidasis.
[STARTRIBUNE] The oil boom has meant explosive growth for North Dakota, but life there can be frustrating and lonely, as well as lucrative. Shucks, who'd want to be frustrated and lonely if all they got in return was prosperity? If you have prosperity you can fix lonely...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
30 years ago I'd be putting a fresh coat of paint on my wagon.
#3
Author was one of Fred's cub reporters at the Times-Picayune. When she finds herself a handsome, Okie roustabout, she'll probably come around. I'll give her the benefit.
Pam Louwagie writes about various topics around the five-state region. A Star Tribune reporter since 2001, she has worked on the newspapers investigative team and covered federal courts and legal affairs. She previously worked at the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
#4
The way it's worded makes it sound like prosperity created the loneliness when it probably allows people to mitigate it (by attracting other people).
Productive people move away from poverty (see california).
#8
There's a fair amount of resentment, mostly from people not directly benefiting from the oil boom. I spent a great deal of time in Watford City and Williston. Alot of the smaller stores jack their prices way up and then give locals these discount cards so they're not being fleeced. This sort of thing breeds resentment in the rig workers who basically trash the town with alot of minor damage and such. I remember stopping to refill the gas tank when I was heading to a rig and finding "Rig jerks leave!" written on the trash can next to the pump. Another time, some lady followed me to the grocery store to yell at me for "turning right in front of her and nearly causing an accident." Given her car had been 300 yards down the road when I turned and the roads were ice free and the speed limit was 20mph, I felt fairly sure she wasn't in much danger. But she felt she had to abuse one of the horrible rig workers when she had the chance.
Many people there are nice and happy to do business with you, realizing that you're far from home and don't have many choices but to spend money in their stores. There was several places I ate that served decent food with good service and I tried to be generous in my tips in return. And I must also thank some of the postal workers there, who let me get letters and packages general delivery so that I could get mail from my then girlfriend.
My father used to have a heck of a time keeping 12 volt batteries in oil lease pumping units out in the field. Locals would steal them as fast as you could carry them out, padlock bar or no. Got so bad he finally had mechanics rig pos/neg posts through the grill of the pumper's pickups so they could use jumper cables to start the old Buda engines. Putting junk batteries in the pumping unit battery boxes was good revenge as well. :-)
[Dawn] Former chairman of the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Tauqir Sadiq was arrested in Abu Dhabi, DawnNews reported on Tuesday.
Sadiq is accused of having caused a loss of Rs83 billion to the national exchequer and eventually fleeing away. He went into hiding soon after the Nov 25, 2011 Supreme Court verdict which had declared his appointment illegal and had directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate corruption cases against him within 45 days.
Sources told DawnNews a three-member team of law enforcement officials from Pakistan had arrested the former Ogra chairman in Abu Dhabi with assistance from local police.
Authorities are making preparations to bring the former official back to Pakistan.
Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered the NAB to file within a week two corruption references in the case against Sadiq.
One of the references ordered to be filed points a finger at the prime minister who had allegedly approved Sadiq's appointment as chairman of the Ogra.
The other is against the officials who are accused of obstructing investigations against Sadiq and facilitating his escape from the country. They include Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan People's Party's senior leader Jehangir Badar who is a close relative of Sadiq.
Prime Minister Ashraf was water and power minister and head of the selection committee which had approved Sadiq's appointment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least one person was killed Tuesday when explosives planted in an open field blew up on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A police official at the local Sarband police station initially confirmed that four people were wounded by the explosion in the Achini Meira area, close to Ring Road.
The injured were shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex. However, one of the wounded lost his life at the hospital.
Police said the blast targeted an illegal gambling den being operated in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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Unable to tow the minesweeper USS Guardian off a reef in the Philippines, the Navy has decided that the only way to free the ship without causing further damage to the reef is to cut the ship into pieces.
The ship's wooden hull - covered in fiberglass That should be easier to cut up than steel - or maybe they could just hire some teredo worms
- is punctured and parts of the ship have been flooded. As part of the salvage effort the 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard the Guardian were transferred to a Malaysian tug contracted by the Navy. Other materials that might damage the reef have also been removed including : 671 gallons of lubricating oil; dry food stores; paints and solvents contained in storage lockers; and the crew's personal effects left behind on the ship. I wonder what interesting items turned up in the personal effects.
A preliminary Navy review found that the digital chart the crew was using to navigate the ship incorrectly listed the reef's location by 8 miles. A review of additional charts created by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency found another navigational aberration off the coast of Chile. Both have been corrected. Not sure that will help the skipper get another command.
#3
A preliminary Navy review found that the digital chart the crew was using to navigate the ship incorrectly listed the reef's location by 8 miles.
Pretty much what I figured. aside from the idiocy of working off electronic-only. Paper charts may be 'archaic', but there are/were regular chart update notices sent out.
Congratulations, Skipper. You lost a ship and saved the Navy the hassle of breaking it up due to sequestration instead. I figure that's worth a Meritorious Service Medal. Maybe a White House mil-staff job as well.
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Bashar al-Assad's wife Asma is expecting a fourth child, according to a Lebanese newspaper with a reputation for informed access to the inner workings of the regime in Damascus.
This would be a convenient reason for her to flee move to Moscow, Paris or Tehran. For good pre-natal care, you know...
The news that Syria's first lady is pregnant came from Al-Akhbar, which is published in Beirut. It attributed the news to unnamed "Arab visitors" who also heard her husband claiming to have gained the upper hand in the fight against rebels. But the paper gave no further details.
Nor was there any confirmation of the story from the government in Damascus or from Asma's parents, who live in London. Rumours about a pregnancy have been circulating for several months.
"On the personal level, the man [Assad] seems calm and in control," al-Akhbar reported. "His confidence level stands out. Also, there's the news of the pregnancy of his wife Asma, which could not be dealt with as a simple personal matter between a couple."
The report triggered abusive and vengeful comments from Syrian anti-Assad activists on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Assuming a degree of deliberate news management, the story may be part of an effort by the president to project an image of normality in the midst of a bloody crisis which has already seen 60,000 people killed since the uprising began 22 months ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess it's like in the movies, where the adrenaline rush of being in an impossibly dangerous situation leads to great s*x.
#1
It doesn't bother me so much when government buys broken crap. But the collector items sold by ignorant widows and destroyed by blinkered bureaucrats really rankle. It's the US version of burning the Timbuktu archives.
#2
it's what's known as an empty tube. I have some semi-automatic toilet paper dispenser cardboard tubes rounds for the next gun buyback. Similar to those used on the battlefield
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2013 8:10 Comments ||
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#3
I have an antique lamp in the attic which Ms. Besoeker purchased in the "Atomic City". I would gladly surrender it for $10.
#5
another empty tube that can be bought at an Army/Navy Surplus store. why would dumbass cops waste their budget buying crap like that unless it was hoped to be used to cause shock and panic?
#7
This new HP sometimes lists my name correctly, sometimes it comes off as 'Hidirgher Of Thorsville1011' or some other nuttiness. Sometimes I types it in wrong :-(
#8
What was amusing were the collectors who showed up at the buy-back, offering to pay more than the '$200 gift card'. They did a rather brisk business.
#9
Buy a $50 trinket, sell it to the city for $200 turns a nice little profit quickly. I liked the part where officials seemed baffled that people would not take an IOU from the city in exchange for turning in a gun; wonder how many went ahead and turned the gun in and said to keep the money.
#10
Too lazy to go find the web link, but in $(YOUR_CITY_NAME_HERE), people were buying guns at Gander Mountain and selling them to the cops for a profit. If you call it arbitrage, it sounds dignified.
The Hawaii Senate has introduced SB219 which reinstates the 1994 "assault weapon" ban. As I read it. it makes owning any semi-auto illegal (class C felony) and also prevents you from selling it (Class B felony). It makes owners instant criminals with no way out, other than giving it to the cops, who are of course exempt.
#3
Going after semi-automatic firearms? The government is going to transform large numbers of law-abiding citizens into lawbreakers with the stroke of a pen? This will not bode well. I see civil disobedience and possibly insurrection on the horizon. People are passionate about their freedom especially rights that insure these freedoms.
#4
Since they've decided to ignore the Article 5 process, someday after it all sorts out, I look forward to these people being prosecuted for conspiracy to deny the fellow citizens their civil rights, just like the Klan.
#9
Now, now, we can't have Angry Amerikkans of the OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA GSSR shooting up Mexican, Canadian, + Greenlander Citizens-Migrants + Communities can we???
OWG NAU 2015 = "BORDERS" ARE JUST LINES/SYMBOLS ON AN OBSOLETE OR KID'S PLAY MAP.
STATE SOCIALISM-GOVTISM = NEW "SOVEREIGNTY/
INDEPENDENCE/NATION-HOOD" + similar. The Globalist NAU-n-Higher will have the Power-n-Authority, NOT "Nationalist" Washington.
INTENTIONAL INTERNATIONAL OR MULTI-STATE CHAOS > NO NEED FOR TIME-WASTING THINGS SUCH AS NATIONWIDE OR STATE-LOCAL VOTES ON "GLOBALISM" + OWG-NWO + STATE SOCIALISM.
Ergo, STATE SOCIALISM = NEW "SOVEREIGNTY" = aka NEW "1917" [Gun Sex = Civil War, Domestic Militancy OPTIONAL?]???
#10
I am starting to believe our country is run by the insane. The FBI has proven that more private ownership of guns and carry permits reduce crime. The two areas of the US that have the highest crime rate are the ones with the greatest gun control.
Our Federal government is confined to very specific functions by the Constitution of the United States. The "Bill of Rights" prohibits any and all branches of the Federal Government for legislating away any of the rights listed in the first ten amendments; and the tenth amendment says any right not listed in the first ten amendments is reserved for the states or the people. The US Supreme court has always ruled that when the Constitutions states "the people" it means the individual citizens have that right which cannot legally be infringed or abridged. This to me conveys that the states are also prohibited from legislating away a right listed in the "Bill of Rights". I believe our federal and state governments have grossly overstepped their boundarys on this matter. We are approaching the legal point at which insurrection is justified and legal.
Feeling bullied by Rahm Emanuel? Bring your business down to Texas.
That's the message Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is sending big banks and firearms companies, after the Chicago mayor urged those banks to stop lending to the gun manufacturers.
The freshman senator sent a letter Tuesday to the CEOs of Bank of America and TD Bank Group offering up the Lone Star State as a place where they could do business without hassle from the government. He said he understands that, since they do "considerable business" with Chicago, they might be worried about the "risks" of not complying with Emanuel's request.
"In light of the reception you have received in the Windy City, please know that Texas would certainly welcome more of your business and the jobs you create," Cruz wrote in his Jan. 29 letter. "Texans value jobs and value freedom, and over 1,000 people a day are moving to Texas (often from cities like Chicago), because Texas is where the jobs are."
#1
Bring your gun manufacturing business to Texas? The next step would be to pass legislation under the 10th Amendment which should allow firearms to be bought and sold within Texas.
#3
Bought and sold within Texas without the scrutiny and control of the Federal government
No doubt Texas would then get masses of gun tourists, just as California is getting masses of pregnant tourists, come to give birth to American citizens.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.