Sunday, June 29, 2014

Noel Canning v. NLRB: What Happens to all Those NLRB Actions?

Noel Canning v. NLRB: What Happens to all Those NLRB Actions?:
"Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that President Obama’s “recess” appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional could mean as many as 800 cases decided by the illegal appointees would have to be reconsidered."




Venezuela blackout leaves commuters scrambling, silences president

Venezuela blackout leaves commuters scrambling, silences president - Yahoo News:
"CARACAS (Reuters) - A blackout cut power to much of Venezuela on Friday, snarling traffic in the capital Caracas and other major cities as authorities scrambled to restore electricity after the outage, which twice interrupted a presidential broadcast.
Pedestrians streamed into the streets of Caracas as the blackout shuttered the underground metro trains and left frustrated drivers honking in the chaos without stoplights.
Government ministers in the late afternoon said they expected power would be restored shortly.
It was the second nationwide major electricity outage in less than a year."

History for June 29

History for June 29 - On-This-Day.com:
Birth anniversary of film composer Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver). Herrmann was born at New York City (1911-75).


Birth anniversary of African-American photographer James VanDerZee (1886-1983), semiofficial photographer of the Harlem Renaissance.



Happy Birthday! Gary Busey, Fred Gandy, Sharon Lawrence


1767 - The British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts. The acts imposed import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea shipped to America. 


1804 - Privates John Collins and Hugh Hall of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were found guilty by a court-martial consisting of members of the Corps of Discovery for getting drunk on duty. Collins received 100 lashes on his back and Hall received 50. 


1888 - Professor Frederick Treves performed the first appendectomy in England. 


1903 - The British government officially protested Belgian atrocities in the Congo. 


1917 - The Ukraine proclaimed independence from Russia. 


1925 - Marvin Pipkin filed for a patent for the frosted electric light bulb. 


1926 - Fascists in Rome added an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure. 





1953 - The Federal Highway Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from coast to coast. 


1956 - Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were married. They were divorced on January 20, 1961. 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Benghazi Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court | TheBlaze.com

Benghazi Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court | TheBlaze.com:
"The Libyan militant charged in the Benghazi attacks has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy.
Ahmed Abu Khattala made his initial appearance in federal court in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
A grand jury indictment says Abu Khattala took part in a conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists in the 2012 attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans."




The Last War On US Soil Ended 150 Years Ago, But The Next One Could Be Sooner Than You Think….

The Last War On US Soil Ended 150 Years Ago, But The Next One Could Be Sooner Than You Think….:
"Using graphic photos and references to the 9/11 attack, the seemingly endless stream of tweets provides a startling glimpse into the intentions of this network of terrorists."




Massachusetts SWAT teams claim they’re private corporations, immune from open records laws

Massachusetts SWAT teams claim they’re private corporations, immune from open records laws - The Washington Post:
As part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s recent report on police militarization, the Massachusetts chapter of the organization sent open records requests to SWAT teams across that state. It received an interesting response.
....Some of these LECs have also apparently incorporated as 501(c)(3) organizations. And it’s here that we run into problems. According to the ACLU, the LECs are claiming that the 501(c)(3) status means that they’re private corporations, not government agencies. And therefore, they say they’re immune from open records requests. 
Let’s be clear. These agencies oversee police activities. They employ cops who carry guns, wear badges, collect paychecks provided by taxpayers and have the power to detain, arrest, injure and kill. They operate SWAT teams, which conduct raids on private residences. 
And yet they say that because they’ve incorporated, they’re immune to Massachusetts open records laws. The state’s residents aren’t permitted to know how often the SWAT teams are used, what they’re used for, what sort of training they get or who they’re primarily used against.

Treasonous Democrats Call for Obama Dictatorship!

Treasonous Democrats Call for Obama Dictatorship!:
"Democrats, so desperate to import more undocumented Democrats, overcome with political greed, are ignoring the Constitution their swore to uphold, calling on their Messiah, Barack Obama, to become America’s first dictator, pushing the Marxist community organizer to issue laws where there are none, change laws where there are existing ones, and to not enforce laws that don’t promote the Democrat Party’s communist agenda.
Take immigration.  We do have immigration laws, correct?
Congressional Democrats are violating their oath of office and are urging Obama to break existing immigration laws, encouraging him even to make new immigration “laws” if Congress “fails to act.” Obama himself even promised to issue additional royal edicts to skirt the rule of law. "




DHS Flunks Citizenship Test Question: '15 Stars and Stripes' on U.S. Flag

DHS Flunks Citizenship Test Question: '15 Stars and Stripes' on U.S. Flag | Media Research Center:
"Seems the Department of Homeland Security doesn't know how many stars and stripes there are on the American flag.
A DHS press release, dated June 20, commemorated the June 17th naturalization of 15 new US citizens, noting the "15 stars and stripes" on the U.S. flag. The problem is that the American Flag doesn't have 15 stars and stripes; it has had 13 stripes since the Act of April 4, 1818, was signed by President James Monroe, and 50 stars since 1960, after Hawaii became a state the year before.
"These 15 candidates, symbolically representing the 15 stars and stripes on our Nation's flag, hailed from Australia, Canada, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, India, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania, Sierra Leone and South Korea," the press release said.
Ironically, the number of stars and stripes as well as its meaning is a question included on the test for becoming a naturalized citizen"

Hillary Clinton About Obama: ‘You Can’t Trust the Motherf***er’

Hillary Clinton About Obama: ‘You Can’t Trust the Motherf***er’:
"Former Newsweek editor and best-selling author Edward Klein’s new book about the “Blood Feud” between the Clintons and the Obamas is sure to cause liberal/progressive/communist heads to spin within the Democrat Party."




American cultural collapse-----'Why did no one come to my rescue?'

Mother Catherine Ferreira speaks out about vicious beating seen in viral video | Mail Online:

'Why did no one come to my rescue?' 

Mother who survived savage McDonald's beating that was filmed by onlookers speaks out as police hunt for her attacker

  • Catherine Ferreira, 27, suffered a broken nose, two black eyes and a mild concussion 
  • Video of the beating was recorded by a bystander Tuesday behind a McDonald's in Salem, New Jersey 
  • Police identified attacker as 25-year-old Latia Harris, who now faces charges of assault and making terroristic threats 
  • Ferreira said had Harris struck her in the right spot, she could have been dead
  • The feud started a couple of weeks ago when Harris overheard Ferreira gossiping with her McDonald's friends about her workplace romance 
  • Harris, a mother of two, called Ferreira several times telling her she could lose her job over the rumors 

No Denying Climate Change Deniers

No Denying Climate Change Deniers | Right Wing News:
"The actual nihilists are those who refuse to accept any scientific information that undermines their claim that the globe is warming and humans are responsible for it.
Cults are like that. 
Regardless of evidence contradicting their beliefs, cultists persist in blind faith.
Sometimes one must look to sources outside the U.S. to get a better perspective on what is happening.
The London Daily Telegraph’s Christopher Booker, author of “The Real Global Warming Disaster,” writes of climate change denier Steve Goddard’s U.S. blog Real Science, which he says shows “…how shamelessly manipulated has been one of the world’s most influential climate records, the graph of U.S. surface temperature records published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).” Goddard, Booker adds, illustrates “…how, in recent years, NOAA’s U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been ‘adjusting’ its record by replacing real temperatures with data ‘fabricated’ by computer models.
The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data.”"
.....Goddard compared the most recently published graphs with “those based only on temperatures measured at the time.”
He concludes: “The U.S. has actually been cooling since the ’30s, the hottest decade on record; whereas the latest graph, nearly half of it based on ‘fabricated’ data, shows it to have been warming at a rate equivalent to more than 3 degrees centigrade per century.”
If that isn’t a smoking gun, what is?
Last month, President Obama issued a proclamation for “National Hurricane Preparedness Week.” 
He said, “As the climate continues to warm, hurricane intensity and rainfall are projected to increase.”

You Won’t Believe What The “Politically Correct” Michelle Obama Just Said…

You Won’t Believe What The “Politically Correct” Michelle Obama Just Said…:
"While some might contend she did not intend any offense when using the term, critics say Republican politicians are often lambasted for use of language deemed racist despite the user’s intent. One example posted on Twitter was an extemporaneous comment made in 2006 by then-Senate candidate George Allen."

Here's the backstory behind Chuck Grassley and Lois Lerner

Here's the backstory behind Chuck Grassley and Lois Lerner | WashingtonExaminer.com:
"By the time Lois Lerner suggested auditing Sen. Chuck Grassley in a Dec. 4, 2012, email, the Iowa Republican had spent five years scrutinizing Lerner's IRS division.
Grassley, during his tenure as top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, zeroed in on abuses by charities and other nonprofit groups improperly claiming tax-exempt status under Lerner, and he spearheaded a 2006 change in federal law making it harder for organizations to improperly claim the credit.

Grassley and Lerner were no strangers to each other, and it’s one of the reasons Republicans fear Lerner’s push to audit Grassley might have been politically motivated.
“If she was interested in political payback, it would be absurd,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Finance panel, told the Washington Examiner.
“What Senator Grassley was trying to do all of those years was to make sure that people who had tax-exempt status deserved it.
He was working with the IRS in a way, not against them.”
Congressional staff who worked under Grassley during his 2001-10 tenure as top Republican on the Senate Finance panel say he conducted vigorous oversight of the IRS Tax Exempt division, which Lerner was appointed to run in 2005.
“This isn't random,” said Dean Zerbe, a tax lawyer who helped Grassley investigate tax-exempt groups and reform the law governing them. 
“This is going after the senator most active in conducting serious reviews of charitable organizations as well as the IRS work in this area."
...In December 2012, Lerner mistakenly received an invitation to an event that was meant for Grassley. The event officials offered to pay for the senator's wife to attend the event.
Lerner asked (via e-mail!!!) a co-worker, “Looks like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife. Should we refer to Exam?”
...Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said he suspected Lerner's motives to refer Grassley for an audit were political.
"I think clearly we have problems with the IRS' role in politicizing that agency when a Republican senator, simply because they received an invite, is referred for a tax audit,” Camp said.

Racist democrat Mississippi Election Radio Ad: Tea Party Will 'Take Away' Food Stamps, Black University Funding

MS Radio Ad: Tea Party Will 'Take Away' Food Stamps, Black University Funding:
"A Mississippi radio station aired an ad warning voters that the Tea Party would “take away” food stamps and other welfare benefits before the run-off between incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran and his challenger, Chris McDaniel.
Calling the run-off the most important election since the re-election of President Barack Obama, the WMGO radio station ordered listeners in Madison County to vote for Cochran the day of the run off.
The ad appeared to target black voters.
“By not voting, you’re saying, ‘Take away all of my government programs, such as food stamps, early breakfast and lunch programs, millions of dollars to our black universities,” the ad said, voiced by an African American woman.
“Everything we and our families depend on that comes from Washington will be cut.
Mississippi will never be the same.
The question is, will you spend five dollars on gas to vote -- or allow the Tea Party to send us back to the good old bad days?  
“Vote against the Tea Party. Vote Thad Cochran. Remember, if you didn’t vote in the June 3rd primary, you can vote today,” the ad concluded. "

“Risky Business” in Climate Change Policy

“Risky Business” in Climate Change Policy | The Beacon:
One important consideration is that regulatory requirements such as the coalition wants to impose almost always are crafted as “one size fits all”, meaning that large corporations thereby enjoy competitive advantages over their smaller rivals. 
Big companies such as the agribusiness giant Cargill, Inc. (a member of Risky Business) already have regulatory compliance departments in place and can spread those costs over large volumes of sales.
Smaller companies will be driven out of business if forced to comply with the same rules.
And so we see here another way in which politically powerful corporations can exploit the political process for their own gain.
.........Risky Business helps prove that the recent Occupy Wall Street Movement and Tea Party activists have more in common than their members perhaps recognize.
Corporate cronyism is a clear and present danger to ordinary Americans that swamps even the most conceivable future environmental catastrophe.

The Deck is open! At Pere Marquette Park (Muskegon beach ovals)

(1) Jim Riley - The Deck is open!:

South Dakota GOP Passes Resolution to Impeach Barack Obama

South Dakota GOP Passes Resolution to Impeach Barack Obama:
"Allen Unruh of Sioux Falls sponsored the resolution. Unrah said, “I’ve got a thick book on impeachable offenses of the president.” He pushed for South Dakota to “send a symbolic message that liberty should be the law of the land.”

Watch a jet with no front landing gear land on stool

Watch a jet with no front landing gear land on stool - CNET:
A little-known fact is that a special stool was invented for the very purpose of helping a Harrier jet land without its front landing gear."