Border Disputes Worldwide | Statista

Border Disputes Worldwide | Statista:
"...When it comes to conflict on territory, most countries on the globe are currently involved in territorial disputes and surprisingly few are not. 
Therefore, this infographic gives an idea of the status quo on a world that still experiences a lot of disputes about territory.
While new conflicts have emerged though, some others have also been settled in recent years, such as the border disputes between Burkina Faso and Niger in 2013, India and Bangladesh in 2015 or Chile and Peru in 2014, to name just a few."

...a Washington research firm of former journalists were behind the salacious Russian/Trump dossier.

Instapundit » Blog Archive » IT’S REALLY NOT THAT UNCOMMON: The New York Post is reporting that a Washington research firm of for…:
"IT’S REALLY NOT THAT UNCOMMON: The New York Post is reporting that a Washington research firm of former journalists were behind the salacious Russian/Trump dossier:

Fusion GPS describes itself as a “research and strategic intelligence firm” founded by “three former Wall Street Journal investigative reporters.” But congressional sources says it’s actually an opposition-research group for Democrats, and the founders, who are more political activists than journalists, have a pro-Hillary, anti-Trump agenda. “These weren’t mercenaries or hired guns,” a congressional source familiar with the dossier probe said. “These guys had a vested personal and ideological interest in smearing Trump and boosting Hillary’s chances of winning the White House.”

The fact is that that firms creating opposition research are often staffed with former journalists, who use their connections in the editorial world to redistribute this sort of thing. 
(Naturally, there are “right-leaning” as well as “left-leaning” firms of this sort.) 
Work in a newsroom long enough and you’ll begin to recognize “oppo” when you see it.  
Sadly, a number of journalists who were laid off by big news outfits and can’t find work elsewhere have resorted to doing this kind of work. 
As news organizations cut back on reporting, it’s easier than ever to get “oppo” published as news without sufficient fact-checking. 
What’s the opposite of a virtuous circle?
**Update: Austin Bay answers the question.

This State's Single-Payer Funds Illegals, Costs More Than All Gov't. Agencies

This State's Single-Payer Funds Illegals, Costs More Than All Gov't. Agencies:

• "The main reason Democrat congressmen won’t help Republicans create a workable healthcare system is because they want single-payer. 
• This is why everyone needs to watch New York in particular. 
• New York’s single-payer healthcare bill will fund all illegal aliens. 
• In the end, it will cost more than all government agencies combined.
• New York is the closest to passing and implementing single-payer. 

...Since May, New Yorker’s have watched the massive single-payer healthcare bill make its way through the State Assembly for the third time and on to the State Senate.
This “free” healthcare, to be carried on the shoulders of those New Yorkers unfortunate enough to be productive, will cover illegal aliens.
It covers anyone who establishes residency here.
It’s a zero-cost healthcare plan for every person who is in the state with no out-of-pocket fees, network restrictions or other requirements.
It will substantially increase the already high tax burden and become a lure for illegal aliens.
...The Reason Foundation for one estimates the proposal will cost taxpayers in New York an additional $91 billion per year by 2019.
...It doesn’t even take into account all the aliens who will flood into New York, a state already beset by the highest influx of foreigners, including refugees, legal aliens and illegal aliens.
It will cost more than all government agencies combined..."

You ought to know!

End Employer-Based Health Plans | National Review

End Employer-Based Health Plans | National Review:

"Policymakers in both parties are trying to replicate Swiss policies in a country that isn’t Swiss.

The Affordable Care Act was, as thinkers as different as Paul Krugman and Avik Roy both observed, an attempt to Swiss up the U.S. health-insurance and health-care markets. (Obligatory reiteration: Those are not the same thing.) The Swiss system, Santésuisse, achieves one big progressive goal — universal health-insurance coverage — while offering much to please conservatives: a private market for health insurance and health care, consumer choice, and relatively low government spending on health care."

Democrats, FBI Collaborated on Trump Smear | Power Line

Democrats, FBI Collaborated on Trump Smear | Power Line
DEMOCRATS, FBI COLLABORATED ON TRUMP SMEAR

The New York Post has an explosive report on the infamous “dossier” that tried to smear Donald Trump in order to swing the presidential election to Hillary Clinton. 
The source of the dossier is a Democratic Party opposition research firm called Fusion GPS:

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month threatened to subpoena the firm, Fusion GPS, after it refused to answer questions and provide records to the panel identifying who financed the error-ridden dossier, which was circulated during the election and has sparked much of the Russia scandal now engulfing the White House.

***

Fusion GPS was on the payroll of an unidentified Democratic ally of Clinton when it hired a long-retired British spy to dig up dirt on Trump. In 2012, Democrats hired Fusion GPS to uncover dirt on GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. And in 2015, Democrat ally Planned Parenthood retained Fusion GPS to investigate pro-life activists protesting the abortion group.

No surprise there. What is shocking is the FBI’s apparent involvement in the effort to smear Trump with false rumors:

The FBI received a copy of the Democrat-funded dossier in August, during the heat of the campaign, and is said to have contracted in October to pay Steele $50,000 to help corroborate the dirt on Trump — a relationship that “raises substantial questions about the independence” of the bureau in investigating Trump, warned Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

It raises more questions than that. Why was the FBI meddling in a U.S. presidential election? Partisan interference in the election by public agencies like the FBI and major news sources like NBC are far more worrisome than anything Russians allegedly might do from afar.

The FBI, too, is trying to stiff Congress’s investigation into the fake dossier..."
Read on!!

AM Fruitcake

History for June 26

History for June 26 - On-This-Day.com:
Abner Doubleday 1819, Sidney Howard 1891, Pearl S. Buck 1892


William P. Lear 1902, Col. Tom Parker 1909, Roy Plunkett 1910


1819 - The bicycle was patented by W.K. Clarkson, Jr.


1927 - The Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster opened in New York.


1936 - The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 made its first flight. It is often considered the first practical helicopter.


1942 - The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter was flown for the first time.


1948 - The Berlin Airlift began as the U.S., Britain and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin.


1963 - U.S. President John Kennedy announced "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner) at the Berlin Wall.


1974 - In Troy, Ohio, a Marsh supermarket installed the first bar code scanning equipment, made by IBM, and a product with a bar code was scanned for the first time. The product was Juicy Fruit gum.


1976 - In Toronto, Canada, the CN Tower opened to the public. The official opening date is listed as October 1, 1976. It was the world's tallest free-standing stucture and the world's tallest tower until 2010.

Who Does The FBI Work For?

Who Does The FBI Work For?:

"That brings us to yesterday’s FBI briefing on the shooting targeting Republicans in Alexandria, a briefing that could not be more bizarre in its content and its conclusions.  Mollie Hemingway has more:

“The FBI admits that Hodgkinson: vociferously raged against Republicans in online forums, had a piece of paper bearing the names of six members of Congress,"

The way we were-My AM wake-up!-----Traffic - Glad

Gotta read this!-----The DNC Scams the Suckers and Contradicts the Feds on 'Hacking'

Articles: The DNC Scams the Suckers and Contradicts the Feds on 'Hacking'
By Clarice Feldman

"Daniel Greenfield reveals why there’s no mystery behind the Democratic loss in Georgia, while Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the George Washington University Profiling Project Deepen the Mystery of the “Russian Hacking” narrative.

There was a great deal of press this week about the District 6 Georgia Congressional race in which once again -- for the fourth time -- the hyped “referendum on Trump” produced a Republican victory over a Democratic challenger in a special election.

As usual, David Burge tweeted the most succinct wrap up of the left-wing take on their latest failure to recapture Congress and impeach Trump:

“David Burge‏ @iowahawkblog
So I gather GA06 has suddenly gone from Enlightened Sunbelt Suburban Panera Voters back to Inbred Reactionary Neo-Confederate Klansmen”

When hyping the Ossoff-Handel race, the media regularly misrepresented the district (Newt Gingrich’s former seat) as rock-ribbed Republican when in fact it has become more Democratic due to redistricting, and the race was tighter than represented. But as Daniel Greenfield – alone -- observed, the race was hyped as winnable only to fill the Democratic coffers. It was never likely that Jon Ossoff, a pajama boy who didn’t even live in District 6, was going to beat Karen Handel, a well-known and respected District 6, resident no matter how much money the Democrats spent there.

So why did the Democrats pour $31 million down the drain to advance his doomed candidacy? Daniel Greenfield explains: the DNC is badly short of cash and spun this (and the three losing races which preceded it) to raise cash for itself and its infrastructure.

Most of the money came through Act Blue, the big DNC fundraiser. And much of the money raised went to Canal Partners Media Mothership Strategies and Mission Control, Inc. the Democrats’ infrastructure.

[Ossoff] was sucker bait. And the suckers bit hard enough to make a special election in a conservative district the most expensive House race in history.

Ossoff was a great way for Washington D.C. campaign pros to extract money from Bay Area lefties. His campaign had nine times more individual donations from California than from Georgia. He had almost four times more donations from nine Bay Area counties than all of Georgia.

The Dems lost and they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

There was much fussing in the Bay Area over snarky Republican ads in the race taking potshots at them. If they had any sense, they would be far more offended by the greedy contempt of their political allies.

The Democrats have gone far to the left partly because of a profitable machine for transmuting the left’s worst instincts into money. The Washington Post scored record profits by tempting lefties with fake news promises of impeachment. The special elections scam offered lefties the seductive idea that throwing away millions on a doomed cause would somehow reverse Trump’s victory.

Hey, it worked for Jill Stein, didn’t it?

Angry, emotional people do stupid things. Like wear pink hats and shout in public about their private parts, subscribe to the Washington Post because they think it can deliver Watergate on demand or plow millions into backing an annoying hipster with no credentials in Newt Gingrich’s old district.

Jon Ossoff’s slogan was “Make Trump Furious.” He failed even at that. But it isn’t Trump’s fury his backers were interested in. Instead they succeeded in cashing in on the angry stupid rage of the left.

Lots more, read on!!!

The joke of "journalism-----Arthur Schwartz on Twitter: "This is CNN > > https://t.co/yySZvkmFKU"

Arthur Schwartz on Twitter: "This is CNN > > https://t.co/yySZvkmFKU"

Did Votes By Noncitizens Cost Trump The 2016 Popular Vote? Sure Looks That Way | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD

Did Votes By Noncitizens Cost Trump The 2016 Popular Vote? Sure Looks That Way | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD:

"In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were 21.0 million adult noncitizens in the U.S., up from 19.4 million in 2008. It is therefore highly likely that millions of noncitizens cast votes in 2016.

And it was no accident. Democrats had extensive get-out-the-vote campaigns in areas heavily populated by illegal aliens. As far back as 2008, Obama made sure that those who wanted to vote knew it was safe, announcing that election records would not be cross-checked with immigration databases.

And last year, the Obama White House supported a court injunction that kept Kansas, Alabama and Georgia from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The message was sent, loud and clear: If you're a noncitizen or here illegally, don't be afraid. You're free to vote. No one will stop you."

"Russia, Russia, Russia!:" Kellyanne Conway Goofs on Indian-Slurring Alisyn Camarotta

Ace of Spades HQ:
"Russia, Russia, Russia!:" 
...Alisyn Camarotta was most recently embarrassed when she asked a girl of Indian descent who'd just won a national spelling bee to spell "confeve," and then, when the girl got it slightly wrong, excused her mistake because "it doesn't have a Sanskrit root, which is what you're probably used to."

The Indian girl in question lives in the United States, speaks English, and wouldn't know Sanskrit even if she lived in India, where less than 1% of the population speaks it as a primary language.

Apart from being an expert on Languages That Indians Don't Really Speak, Camarotta also fancies herself a bit of a "player" in matters of national security and geopolitics..."

Yahoo Shutters That $30 Million App It Bought From a Teen

Yahoo Shutters That $30 Million App It Bought From a Teen:
"Yahoo is shutting down an app created by teenager. 
Four years ago, said teenager sold the app to the struggling internet company for a reported $30 million. 
It’s one of many casualties from Verizon’s recent acquisition of the big purple Dot Com giant, but it’s especially interesting since Yahoo turned so many heads by spending such a huge sum on an app created by a teen. 
Then again, maybe it was inevitable all along.
The app in question was called Yahoo News Digest.
It was apparently downloaded 9.5 million times and was based upon technology that aggregated news articles and summarized them in short paragraphs.
The technology made headlines before its Yahoo days, when it was called Summly, because it was built by then 15-year-old named Nick D’Aloisio in 2011.
...Yahoo bought D’Aloisio’s app for a reported $30 million and gave the teen a job at Yahoo in 2013..."

Lunch video-----Why Is Healthcare So Expensive?

Noon-toon

Susan Rice records that intelligence committee wants are locked in Obama archive - Washington Times

Susan Rice records that intelligence committee wants are locked in Obama archive - Washington Times:

"It was first revealed in a recent Freedom of Information Act exchange between Judicial Watch and the NCS that the records had been moved to the Obama library’s secure archive.
“Having to subpoena this information indicates the insanity of the situation when the nation’s top intelligence agencies are withholding information — basic information — that could bring to an end the controversy raging across this country,” Mr. Fitton said in an interview Thursday.
He said he is considering other legal options to obtain the records."

PUERTO RICO GOING BANKRUPT

Instapundit » Blog Archive » PUERTO RICO GOING BANKRUPT: It’s been on the verge for a year. Investors Business Daily says Puerto …:
JUNE 24, 2017

PUERTO RICO GOING BANKRUPT: 
It’s been on the verge for a year. 
Investors Business Daily says Puerto Rico “essentially declared bankruptcy” earlier this month.

Puerto Rico is currently $73 billion in debt, which is close to 100% of the island’s annual output. It owes a sizeable portion of this to the island’s current and future pensioners: Puerto Rico’s pension fund is woefully underfunded. It also owes billions to general obligation bondholders — whose investments are guaranteed by the island’s constitution — and to COFINA (also known as Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp.) bondholders, who hold debt explicitly backed by sales-tax revenues.

Has Puerto Rico gone “Full Illinois” before Illinois goes Full Illinois? Not according to the article.

Illinois also has taken a page out of the Puerto Rico playbook by beginning to demonize its bondholders as greedy investment bankers profiting off the misery of others..."

Read on!!

Blind leading the blind | Statistical Ideas

Blind leading the blind | Statistical Ideas:
"In his latest debacle, Nate Silver was among many pollsters/pundits who in 2016 forecasted a super-high probability for a Hillary Clinton win (after giving Donald Trump only 2% probability to make it through his primaries).  
This high “probability” was of course mistaken, and sets an extraordinarily high bar for actual delivery of outcomes.  
And he was in the high 80% range, for a couple months prior to the election.  
These high probabilities are nothing new to Nate Silver, but also provides an opportunity to examine how poor polling works and how we might be better served ignoring them and instead listening to one another.  

...So what would be a good baseline for presidential elections?  

The “dumb forecaster” in journal literature from the American Statistical Association, where I have served on their editorial panel, is simply guessing the same election results as what just happened in the previous election.  

No more, no less.  

Put differently, one doesn’t need to think any further than to state that all the 2016 state’s electoral results will be the same as in 2012!

Lots here, read on!!