GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS AND THE CONTRACEPTION INSERTION: A case of intentional political poisoning.
THE HORROR OF “LOOKISM” — IT’S EVERYWHERE, EVEN ON THE PRODUCE AISLE! “For each slender carrot or shapely avocado there’s another, uglier vegetable out there somewhere ― likely rotting in a crop field, compost pile or landfill.”
Carrot Lives Matter.
RAMPANT AGEISM: As More Older People Seek Work, They Tend to Be Put Into ‘Old-Person’ Jobs. “What’s also important to remember is that the older workers in this employment data are the winners in the labor market: They’re the ones who managed to find work. The truth is that many older would-be workers don’t.”
THE LONG-AWAITED PIVOT ARRIVES: FULL SPEECH: Donald Trump in battleground North Carolina. Excerpts:
I’d like to take a moment to talk about the heartbreak and devastation in Louisiana, a state that is very special to me.
We are one nation. When one state hurts, we all hurt – and we must all work together to lift each other up. Working, building, restoring together.
Our prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones, and we send them our deepest condolences. Though words cannot express the sadness one feels at times like this, I hope everyone in Louisiana knows that our country is praying for them and standing with them to help them in these difficult hours.
We are one country, one people, and we will have together one great future.
Tonight, I’d like to talk about the New American Future we are going to create together.
Last week, I laid out my plan to bring jobs back to our country.
On Monday, I laid out my plan to defeat Radical Islamic Terrorism.
On Tuesday, in Wisconsin, I talked about how we are going to restore law and order to this country.
Let me take this opportunity to extend our thanks and our gratitude to the police and law enforcement officers in this country who have sacrificed so greatly in these difficult times.
The chaos and violence on our streets, and the assaults on law enforcement, are an attack against all peaceful citizens. If I am elected President, this chaos and violence will end – and it will end very quickly.
Every single citizen in our land has a right to live in safety.
To be one united nation, we must protect all of our people. But we must also provide opportunities for all of our people.
We cannot make America Great Again if we leave any community behind.
Nearly Four in ten African-American children are living in poverty.I will not rest until children of every color in this country are fully included in the American Dream.
Jobs, safety, opportunity. Fair and equal representation. This is what I promise to African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and all Americans.
But to achieve this New American Future we must break from the failures of the past. . . .
The establishment media doesn’t cover what really matters in this country, or what’s really going on in people’s lives. They will take words of mine out of context and spend a week obsessing over every single syllable, and then pretend to discover some hidden meaning in what I said.
Just imagine for a second if the media spent this energy holding the politicians accountable who got innocent Americans like Kate Steinle killed – she was gunned down by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times.
Just imagine if the media spent this much time investigating the poverty and joblessness in our inner cities.
Just think about how much different things would be if the media in this country sent their cameras to our border, or to our closing factories, or to our failing schools. Or if the media focused on what dark secrets must be hidden in the 33,000 emails Hillary Clinton deleted.
Instead, every story is told from the perspective of the insiders. It’s the narrative of the people who rigged the system, never the voice of the people it’s been rigged against.
So many people suffering in silence. No cameras, no coverage, no outrage from a media class that seems to get outraged over just about everything else.
So again, it’s not about me. It’s never been about me. It’s about all the people in this country who don’t have a voice.
I am running to be their voice.
I am running to be the voice for every forgotten part of this country that has been waiting and hoping for a better future.
I am glad that I make the powerful a little uncomfortable now and again – including some powerful people in my own party. Because it means I am fighting for real change.
There’s a reason the hedge fund managers, the financial lobbyists, the Wall Street investors, are throwing their money at Hillary Clinton. Because they know she will make sure the system stays rigged in their favor.
It’s the powerful protecting the powerful.
The insiders fighting for the insiders.
I am fighting for you.
The People Versus The Powerful. Hmm. Plus:
Finally, we are going to bring this country together. We are going to do it by emphasizing what we all have in common as Americans. We are going to reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton, which sees communities of color only as votes and not as human beings worthy of a better future.
If African-American voters give Donald Trump a chance by giving me their vote, the result for them will be amazing. Look at how badly things are going under decades of Democratic leadership – look at the schools, look at the 58% of young African-Americans not working. It is time for change.
What do you have to lose by trying something new? – I will fix it. This means so much to me, and I will work as hard as I can to bring new opportunity to places in our country which have not known opportunity in a very long time.
Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party have taken African-American votes totally for granted. Because the votes have been automatically there, there has been no reason for Democrats to produce.
It is time to break with the failures of the past, and to fight for every last American child in this country to have the better future they deserve.
In my Administration, every American will be treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all of its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.
This is the change I am promising all of you: an honest government, a fair economy, and a just society for each and every American.
But we can never fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created these problems in the first place.
72% of voters say our country is on the wrong track. I am the change candidate, Hillary Clinton is the failed status quo.
Well, this just might shake things up.
Related: Trump, Pence to tour flood damage in Louisiana.
Obama, who received his briefing by phone during his vacation to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., has received criticism for not visiting the site of the severe flooding and storms, which has left 13 people dead.
A Louisiana newspaper on Thursday called for Obama to cut his vacation short, saying, “A disaster this big begs for the personal presence of the President at ground zero.”
Well, good luck with that. But somebody listened.
I’LL HAVE A BURGER, NEAT, WATER BACK: New Burger Is So Bourbon-Drenched, You Have to Be 21 to Order It.
THEY COST YOU LOTS OF READERS, AND THEY MAKE YOU MUCH LESS APPEALING TO WRITERS: Lots Of Newspapers Discovering That Paywalls Don’t Work.
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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Free Speech in the 21st Century: Speech is Freer, But People Are Not.
21ST CENTURY PROBLEMS: Australia has to correct its GPS coordinates to account for continental drift.
An inch or so a year adds up, especially for self-driving cars which rely on precise positioning.
KNEEL BEFORE ZOD! ‘Apprentice’ Star Omarosa Warns: ‘Every Critic Will Have to Bow Down to President Trump.’
As Paula Bolyard asks, “What is it about being involved in the Trump campaign that makes his surrogates say the exact opposite of what needs to be said to convince skeptical, undecided voters that their candidate is rational, competent, ready to take the 2 a.m. call — and at this point, even reasonably sane?”
UNEXPECTEDLY! U.K. Unemployment Falls After Brexit.
GREAT HEROINES WHOSE NAMES SHALL NEVER BE FORGOTT– WAIT, WHAT? HELL, ALL YOU WHITE WOMEN LOOK ALIKE ANYWAY: Dem candidates use photo of U.K. suffragettes to commemorate 19th Amendment. “Note to politicians: If you’re going to try and honor an American movement, it’s best to use photos of Americans.”
That sounds suspiciously nativist. And probably racist.
HUFFINGTON POST: The Culture Of The Smug White Liberal.
I have spent my life as a Democrat which probably isn’t that surprising considering that I am African-American. One of the things that always attracted me to the party were the ideals of equality, fighting for the little guy and our openness to differing opinions, but lately I have seen my party take a turn that makes me uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way we stopped fighting for the little guy and became the party of the smug, educated elites who look down on those with less education and deem them unable or unworthy of being able to make personal decisions for their own lives.
Smugness is its own reward.
NOW THEY TELL US: U.N. Admits Role in Cholera Epidemic in Haiti.
For the first time since a cholera epidemic believed to be imported by United Nations peacekeepers began killing thousands of Haitians nearly six years ago, the office of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has acknowledged that the United Nations played a role in the initial outbreak and that a “significant new set of U.N. actions” will be needed to respond to the crisis.
The deputy spokesman for the secretary general, Farhan Haq, said in an email this week that “over the past year, the U.N. has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera.” He added that a “new response will be presented publicly within the next two months, once it has been fully elaborated, agreed with the Haitian authorities and discussed with member states.”
The statement comes on the heels of a confidential report sent to Mr. Ban by a longtime United Nations adviser on Aug. 8. Written by Philip Alston, a New York University law professor who serves as one of a few dozen experts, known as special rapporteurs, who advise the organization on human rights issues, the draft language stated plainly that the epidemic “would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations.”
Well, at least the Haitians could count on the Clinton Foundation.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:
Shot: How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet
—Headline of Joel Stein’s cover story in this week’s Time magazine.
Chaser: Why Older People Shouldn’t Vote—and Other Ideas Unpopular With My Parents.
—Joel Stein, also in Time magazine, today.
Curiously though, unless you read Stein’s nearly 4300-word article to the very end, you’d think that all “trolls” were on the right-hand side of the aisle. Which brings us to this headline at the Federalist: This 12-Year-Old Girl Went Hunting, And Now Social Justice Warriors Want To Murder Her.
This isn’t the 21st century I was promised.
MORE ON IRAN’S $400 MILLION: The State Dept has confirmed that the release of the American prisoners held by Iran was contingent on Iran getting the cash. Read the report. Timing mattered. Iran would release the prisoners, Washington would release the cash. The Obama Administration continues to deny the payment was a ransom. But now we know there was definitely a connection. Drip drip drip.
A BOOKSTORE DIES IN BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: An independent bookstore. In business 33 years. The city’s minimum wage increase was the last nail in the bookstore’s coffin.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Law Grad Class Of 2015 Secured Fewest Private Practice Jobs Since 1996.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: You Don’t Need To Spend A Fortune Upgrading Your Old Muscle Car. Well, I certainly don’t, since I don’t own an old muscle car.
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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Free Speech in the 21st Century: Speech is Freer, But People Are Not.
HEALTH: Exercise as much as you want, sitting will still kill you.
“Regardless of how much physical activity someone gets, prolonged sedentary time could negatively impact the health of your heart and blood vessels,” said Dr. Deborah Rohm Young in the statement published in the journal Circulation.
She told the Daily News that people who are physically active and spend much of their day sitting are at greater risk than people who are physically active and sit less. “We believe there are different biological mechanisms in place, but this hasn’t been extensively studied yet,” she said.
When you think about it, it makes sense. The same way you can’t stuff your face with Cheetos and Coke all day, then cancel it out with a salad? Yeah, well, the sweatiest SoulCycle session isn’t going to make up for sitting in front of a computer all day.
I’ve made it a habit to get up and move around for a couple of minutes at least once an hour, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.
FRIENDLY SKIES: Baby born on Cebu Pacific airplane gets one million air miles.
BURGERS AND FRIES — BEST THINGS FOR YOU! Microbeads could be turning the fish we eat toxic, study finds.
IT’S COME TO THIS: White House Official Accused Of Assaulting Native American Student Over Redskins Jersey. “The official in charge of a White House initiative on American Indian education allegedly pummeled a Native American student who was visiting Washington, D.C., for displaying his support for the Washington Redskins. The incident allegedly occurred when Barrett Dahl, an autistic college student from Oklahoma, showed up at a powwow in Washington wearing a Redskins football jersey, which he told Oklahoma’s News 9 he viewed as source of cultural pride. Within seconds of sitting down, Dahl said, he was approached by William Mendoza, the executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education.”
WELL, THE OBAMA ERA CERTAINLY DIDN’T BRING ABOUT MUCH IN THE WAY OF RACIAL HEALING: A Hillary Clinton presidential victory promises to usher in a new age of public misogyny.
This is why the next President needs to be a straight, white male Republican. It’s our only hope!
MEGAN FOX: Mother Loses Her Mind When a ‘Racist’ White Teacher Touches Her Daughter’s Hair.
Today’s depressing addition to what’s wrong with America is an article written by a black mother who sent her daughter to school in a headband without tying her hair up because she ran out of time. (Story of my life, lady. I get it. It happens.) What is shocking and sad about her diatribe is what happened when her little girl asked her white teacher to put her hair up for her because she was hot. The teacher complied and tied it up the best she could. But when the mother saw her daughter had been touched by a white person, all hell broke loose.
These are Heinlein’s Crazy Years — we just live in them.
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DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: UC Davis Chancellor spent $400K+ to scrub her online reputation after pepper-spray incident: “‘Get me off the Google,’ UC Davis Chancellor Katehi urged communications staff.”
FLASHBACK: OBAMA RIPPED BUSH’S ‘UNCONSCIONABLE INEPTITUDE’ DURING HURRICANE KATRINA.
Today, Obama is out golfing with “actor/Seinfeld creator Larry David and business exec/Obama Campaign fundraiser Jonathan Lavine,” CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweets.
Incidentally, after her party and its media fully exploited the crisis to take back the House and Senate in 2006, DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile finally confessed at CNN, “Bush came through on Katrina.”
UPDATE: “David Toms knows full well he’s on shaky ground where the FedExCup is concerned,” PGA Tour.com reports. “Only 125 players advance to next week’s Playoffs. He’s 121st — just 11 points removed from the bubble boy – so Toms was planning on playing in the Wyndham Championship that begins Thursday. Life got in the way, though. Toms is from Louisiana, born and bred. And while his home in Shreveport was spared serious damage from the recent relentless rains, family in Baton Rouge felt Mother Nature’s wrath. So just before noon on Wednesday, Toms made the decision to withdraw from the Wyndham Championship. He was replaced in the field by Andres Romero, who comes to Sedgefield ranked 195th in the FedExCup. ‘I had it all worked out,’ Toms said. ‘I know I am in a precarious position with the FedExCup. ‘But some things are more important than golf.’”
But not if you’re our semi-retired POTUS in full lame duck YOLO mode, it seems.
I’D SWAP OUT A CIRCULAR SAW FOR THE ORBITAL SANDER: The First 5 Power Tools You Should Own.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Free Speech in the 21st Century: Speech is Freer, But People Are Not. “People don’t suppress opponents’ ideas because they are confident in their own. They suppress opponents’ ideas because they have more confidence in the argument of force than in the force of their arguments.”
SELF-DEFENSE: Woman who shot, killed armed robbery suspect in Glendale says she had to protect herself.
Carolann Miracle is 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 85 pounds. She’s a petite woman who seems like an easy target, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I was scared, at first. I thought, ‘Am I really getting robbed?’” Miracle told ABC15.
Miracle said she was leaving the Circle K near 59th Avenue and Camelback Road with her family early Monday morning when the suspect, Frank Taylor , tried to bum a cigarette. She told him that she didn’t have one, and then seconds later, Miracle said, she could feel the barrel of the gun against her skin.
“He put the gun up to my neck and said, ‘It’s loaded, don’t move,’” Miracle said. ”I think he thought, ‘She’s a little girl. Maybe she doesn’t know how to use her weapon.’”
She knew how to use it.
Firearms can be the ultimate equalizer between smaller women and larger, predatory men — feminists ought to embrace their Second Amendment rights as Carolann Miracle did.
(Hat tip, the fully equalized Dana Loesch.)
LIFE IN THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE: AP: “Income inequality has surged near levels last seen before the Great Depression.”
DEMOCRATS ALWAYS FALL IN LINE: Victor Davis Hanson: Where’s the Letter from Democratic Security Officials Opposing Hillary? “She has endangered U.S. national security by using an unsecured and unlawful personal e-mail server. She has transmitted classified information over it, some of which was most likely accessed by foreign interests. Hillary Clinton deliberately undermined government intelligence-handling protocols and ignored Freedom of Information Act requests. FBI director James Comey, after a lengthy investigation, has stated before Congress that Mrs. Clinton was untruthful in her various public explanations about her reckless behavior.”
SHE DON’T FEEL NO WAYS TIRED: Hillary resting up: no campaign events until Sunday.
KNOWN WOLF: Report shows that Army took away gun from Dallas cop shooter Micah Johnson.
A sergeant who supervised Micah Johnson, the man who killed five Dallas police officers in July, told the Army that his gun should be taken from him in 2014 because he posed a potential threat, according to a newly released Army investigation.
The report, finished in May 2014, was conducted after a female soldier complained that Johnson had sexually harassed her while they were stationed in Afghanistan and that he had stolen her underwear. Johnson knew the woman for years, and during a disagreement she recalled that he punched his hand through a car window and cut himself so badly he need to be taken to a hospital.
“The (first sergeant) told me we needed to separate” Johnson and the female soldier “as soon as possible,” the report said. “I asked if for safety reasons we should relieve [PFC] Johnson of his firearm and any bladed weapons in his possession. The (first sergeant) said that was a good idea so I had [redacted] retrieve all weapons.”
Johnson was a known issue to the Army, but apparently unknown to local police.
We live in a networked world where nearly anyone can communicate nearly anything with nearly anyone else, nearly instantaneously — except between government agencies.
HEY, WHY IS OBAMA SO RACIST? “As Twitchy readers know, one newspaper has begged President Obama to stop golfing and start focusing on Baton Rouge. But, hey, he’s got vacationing to do and stuff!”
Related: Where’s Obama? Hillary? Trump? This would be a perfect opportunity for Trump to end run Hillary and our semi-retired president on this issue, but as Rod Dreher writes, “Let’s check out Donald Trump’s statements in the same period of time. He’s said nothing to the media. On Twitter, where he is famously logorrheic, he has sent out 35 tweets since Friday. Number of tweets that mention the Louisiana disaster: zero. Number of tweets that gripe about media bias: ten.”
Sad! And more than a little pathetic, considering the opportunity both for his campaign, and prospect of bringing increased media attention to the disaster, just by campaigning in Louisiana or pounding Obama and Hillary for dropping the ball in his speeches.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. A History Lesson for Howard Kurtz: Honest Reporting Died Long Ago.
Congratulations, Howard, you’re emerging from the media jungle. However, you’ve a chronic case of historical amnesia, one that often accompanies life in the mainstream media’s heart of obliviousness. So what do you say we do a little historical research, sir, to establish an even more lamentable context? Remember the 2008 campaign? In February 2008 The New York Times and Washington Post both ran poorly-sourced but innuendo-laced stories about John McCain’s relationship with a lobbyist.
The Times’ version implied McCain had an affair with the lady. Reporters? Rumor-mongers, Howard, targeting a Republican presidential candidate. The timing of the article damaged McCain’s campaign, so it was a successful political operation. Unfortunately it also maligned the woman’s reputation and she would have none of it. The Wikipedia summary notes a year The Times made a retraction, of sorts, in “an unusual ‘Note to Readers’ stating that The Times had not intended to allege any affair.” Read the quotes from the article and tell me with a straight face The Times didn’t mean to imply McCain wasn’t romantically entwined.
There’s much more — read the whole thing.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’: Uber’s Self-Driving Car Plans Involve a Trucking Startup.
The San Francisco ride-hailing company, which announced last year its plans to invest in self-driving tech, has agreed to acquire Otto, a young startup, it revealed to Bloomberg. Otto, which developed a kit that lets big-rig trucks drive themselves on highways, was founded by four former Googlers, including Anthony Levandowski, one of the original engineers on the company’s self-driving team, and Lior Ron, who headed Google Maps for five years.
Uber hasn’t disclosed terms of the deal, but Bloomberg pegs the price tag at roughly $680 million, assuming certain targets are met. When the deal closes, Levandowski will take the lead of Uber’s self-driving car operations while also running Otto’s trucking business, according to the report.
Who will robot trucks will deliver goods to, once everyone has lost their jobs to robots?
IN THE MAIL: Asperger Syndrome And Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions For Tantrums, Rage And Meltdowns.
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TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1197.
WELCOME TO POST-KEMALIST TURKEY: Turkey seizes assets as post-coup crackdown turns to business.
Turkish authorities ordered the detention of nearly 200 people, including leading businessmen, and seized their assets as an investigation into suspects in last month’s failed military rebellion shifted to the private sector.
President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to choke off businesses linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the July 15 coup attempt, describing his schools, firms and charities as “nests of terrorism.”
Tens of thousands of troops, civil servants, judges and officials have been detained or dismissed in a massive purge that Western allies worry Erdogan is using to crack down on broader dissent, risking stability in the NATO partner.
In dawn raids on Thursday, police from a financial-crimes unit entered some 200 homes and workplaces after a chief prosecutor issued 187 arrest warrants, state-run Anadolu news agency said. TV channel CNN Turk said 60 people were detained.
It wasn’t a failed coup; it’s a successful purge.
WHAT WOULD VICTORIA WOODHULL, THE FIRST WOMAN WHO RAN FOR THE PRESIDENCY — IN 1872 — THINK ABOUT HILLARY? David Solway on Hillary and Gender.
THIS ISN’T THE 21st CENTURY POP CULTURE I WAS PROMISED: Autostraddle Apologizes for Favorably Reviewing the ‘Animated Queer Taco’ in Sausage Party.
As Glenn wrote yesterday, “when historians wonder what happened to America in the 21st century, they should start here.”
MILITARY-GRADE AMPHIBIOUS EXOSKELETON UPDATE: This Technological Breakthrough Could Give Hillary Clinton a Crucial Edge in 2016.
INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM: Research: As A Group, Only Men Pay Taxes. “With the exception of the age group between 45-59 (a 15 year span) years old, women cost more to the state than the tax they provide. In contrast, men generate more tax revenue than they cost between 23 and 65 (a 43 year span). In the brief period in which women generate more or as much tax money than they consume, men outscore them by at least 3 times. y large, the cumulative tax money given to women outweighs the tax money generated by women. The short period of positive impact of women between 45 and 59 is countered by 65 other years in which their allocated tax expenditure is more than what they supply the state. Overall, the research suggests that male taxpayers are the only ones to ever have a positive contribution in taxes. Based on Figure 17, the closest that the average woman will come to having a positive fiscal incidence is when she is at minus $50,000 around 55 years of age. While feminists are demonizing men for benefiting from all liberties and rights they have constructed, they have oddly remained silent over the fact that anonymous male tax payers are paying women to exist. Read that sentence again. The fact that feminists want a stronger government is not a coincidence. While historically, women had to choose a wealthy husband for resources, they can now stay single, be lesbians, marry a poor man, or use the sperm bank, and the state will still transfer male taxes to them.”
No wonder men are going on strike.
UPDATE: Yes, I know it’s New Zealand, but I suspect the analysis applies in most industrialized democracies. Note this bit: “Interestingly, within 10 years of women’s suffrage, the government doubled their tax revenue and expenditure in the USA.”
A BUNCH OF PRESIDENTS TALKED “ENERGY INDEPENDENCE,” BUT IT WAS THE PRIVATE SECTOR THAT HAS MOVED THE BALL: The World Is Gassing Up on US Shale.
We already know that oil drilled from U.S. shale is leading the rise in global crude output—after all, those U.S. supplies were what helped create the glut that sent oil prices crashing from more than $110 per barrel two years ago to under $50 today—but new projections suggest that U.S. frackers will be key drivers of growth in another hydrocarbon market in the coming years: that of natural gas. . . .
The United States already produces the lion’s share of the world’s shale gas, and those fracked hydrocarbons make up the majority of U.S. natural gas production as well. But Canada, Argentina, and China are all beginning to chase after that shale bandwagon, producing small but significant quantities of fracked gas, and in the coming decades Algeria and, importantly, Mexico will hope to join the club.
Shale producers have so far struggled outside of the United States, running up against any number of hurdles—from poor geology to water scarcity, from opaque government regulations to NIMBYism—but countries and companies will refine their methods and eventually start tapping shale reserves abroad on a commercial scale. The United States will continue to lead the pack, but with Canada and Mexico both ready to join in on this energy boom, North America as a whole is emerging as a new center of global energy supplies.
All of this shale gas is helping to keep natural gas prices down, which in turn is helping to topple Old King Coal from his perch as the world’s cheapest source of power. That’s not just good news for the developing world, it’s also good news for Gaia: natural gas emits far fewer local pollutants and roughly half as much carbon as coal.
And yet Greens are overwhelmingly anti-fracking. That’s the sort of behavior you’d expect from tools of Putin and the Saudis, not Gaia-worshipers.
TO PROTECT AND SERVE: Army Veteran Hangs U.S. Flag Upside Down to Protest Eminent Domain, Gets Arrested.
Homer Martz, a 63-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Iowa, was unhappy about the oil pipeline being built on his property by a private company which had been granted access to the land through eminent domain. Among Martz’s concerns were the risk the pipeline presents to his water supply and the fact that the pipeline could have been placed — much less disruptively, a few hundred feet away from its current path — where it wouldn’t disturb anyone’s home or water supply.
So he decided to protest this public-private intrusion into his home by hanging a U.S. flag upside down.
Then the police arrived.
Read the whole thing.
SHOCKER: Turkey Accused Of Aiding Islamist Extremism In Leaked Report. “Germany has accused Turkey of supporting terrorist organisations like Hamas and the Islamist opposition in Syria, a leaked report reveals. Berlin believes that Turkey has been deliberately financing radical groups with the direct consent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the Ankara government takes an increasingly Islamist line, according the confidential report obtained by broadcaster ARD. . . . It accuses Turkey’s ruling AKP party of providing ‘many expressions of solidarity and support’ for groups like the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian terror group Hamas and the armed Islamist opposition in Syria. It adds that this support ’emphasise[s] their ideological affinity with the (broader) Muslim Brotherhood.’ The document also claims Turkey has deepened ties with these groups in recent years.”
Note to Europe: Erdogan sees himself as the next Sultan. The Sultans were not friends to Europe.
EXTREMELY CARELESS: Clinton Foundation Possibly Hacked.
A potentially campaign-ending October Surprise could be in the making for Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked Clinton Foundation emails, according to a report out late Wednesday evening.
Reuters is reporting that according to sources familiar with the matter, the Clinton charitable foundation had to hire a cyber-security firm to examine its data systems after seeing signs that they were hacked. The culprits appear to be the Russians, cyber-security experts say.
She can’t even protect her own secrets.
MICHAEL WALSH ON THE MORAL COWARDICE OF THE #NEVERTRUMPUMPKINS.
KATHY SHAIDLE: From Scopes to Snopes.
Read the whole thing.
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COME NOVEMBER, WILL THE RIGHT PARTY LIKE IT’S 2009? The Re-Death of Conservatism?
POOR THING: Clinton Pushed From Left and Right on Health Care.
Democrats have tried to move past debate over the Affordable Care Act, a goal made harder this week when Aetna said it would withdraw from 11 of the 15 state health care exchanges, unsettling the marketplaces and reducing consumer options.
Mrs. Clinton has backed a public option since 2007, and she reaffirmed her support during her Democratic primary against Mr. Sanders. He and others on the left will be pushing to make sure she carries through, especially given their concerns that she will tack to the center if elected president.
Conservatives, meanwhile, say Aetna’s decision shows the law isn’t working and should be scrapped.
“Aetna just today announced that they are dropping out, as are many of the major insurance agencies. Obamacare is a disaster,” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said at a rally late Tuesday in Wisconsin.
No wonder she’s “often confused.“
ESPN MORPHED INTO MSNBC SO SLOWLY, I HARDLY EVEN NOTICED. ESPN Panel: ‘NFL Players Don’t Speak Enough on Social/Cultural Issues.’
But Gaia forefend they don’t express the current grievance industry-approved thoughts: Cam Newton Criticized for Telling GQ That America Is “Beyond” Race.
DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: ‘There’s not much that’s German here anymore.’ “The debates about the refugee crisis and the burqa ban are touchy subjects in Bad Godesberg. Many people prefer not to comment, or say they’re afraid of being labeled right-wing extremists.”
ROBOTIC RIDE-SHARING: Uber’s self-driving cars will pick up their first customers this month.
Uber’s self-driving taxis will get their first real-world test in Pittsburgh this month, with the semi-autonomous vehicles assigned at random to customers using the company’s app. According to a report from Bloomberg, the test fleet will consist of modified Volvo XC90 SUVs, with each car supervised by a human in the driver’s seat (a legal requirement) as well as a co-pilot taking notes. The trips themselves will be free, with a tablet in the backseat informing the passenger about the car’s capabilities.
Related: Ford will sell fully autonomous cars by 2021 with no steering wheels.
What is really needed is an AI able to pass the Turing Test well enough to make smalltalk during your trip.
Would you ride in a fully autonomous robot cab?
LEAVING HIGH-REGULATION STATES FOR LOW-REGULATION STATES: IRS Migration Data: Taxpayers Leave NY, IL & CA For TX, FL & SC.
FEED THE GORACLE: Soros Paid Al Gore Millions To Push ‘Aggressive US Action’ On Global Warming.
DON’T DO STUPID SH*T: NATO’s Foothold in Eastern Med Is Faltering.
While China and Russia are providing Greece and Turkey with much needed support, their involvement could compromise Western security. Athens and Ankara may side with Beijing and Moscow when it comes to NATO security concerns involving China, North Korea and Russia, for example, if they become too dependent on Chinese and Russian assistance. It would take just one country withholding support to prevent an action by NATO that is not in the interest of China or Russia since NATO only takes action when every member agrees.
Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu has already made some worrying remarks about Turkey’s NATO membership. Cavusoglu has publicly justified Turkey’s growing relationship with Russia bystating, “Turkey wanted to cooperate with NATO members up to this point. But the results we got did not satisfy us. Therefore, it is natural to look for other options.” This is concerning because NATO relations with Russia have been strained since Moscow invaded Ukraine and increased its aggressive behavior on the alliance’s eastern flank. A NATO member making such statements suggests that Turkey finds more value in a closer relationship with Russia. Minister Cavusoglu also warned that “if the West loses Turkey one day, it will not be because of Turkey’s relations with Russia, China or the Islamic world, but rather because of themselves.” The West must address Turkey’s concerns to prevent the loss of a geopolitically significant ally.
Obama wanted us out of the Middle East, and after seven years we’re well on our way — but it won’t stop there.
Do it. If Mike Ditka had gone ahead with his Senate run, we’d have been spared President Obama.
MICHAEL BARONE: Is the end of white Christian America a good thing?
Well, it is for wide swatches of the far left. (QED.) But it’s also a reminder of ExJon’s tweet of the decade:
LOOKING OUT FOR THE LITTLE GUY: Small business owner: FDA rules threaten Florida heritage of hand-rolled cigars.
The FDA recently released its long-dreaded rule that asserted the agency’s authority to regulate a wide variety of nicotine-delivery products. Much of the media attention zeroed in on the fairly new vaping, or “e-cigarette,” industry. By the FDA’s own admission, its new rule would make 98.5 percent of those products on the market illegal. What has been largely missed by the media, but not the small business owners like my wife and me, is that these regulations would devastate the hand-rolled cigar industry.
The new FDA rules would force all new premium cigars to undergo a “pre-market review process.” This process requires that manufacturers prove their products meet certain requirements before they can go to market by submitting hundreds if not thousands of hours of paperwork per product. Since the FDA defines new cigars to include new blends, which can change seasonally for smaller manufacturers, the compliance costs could overwhelm many small-cigar businesses.
This isn’t about promoting health; it’s about securing money and power.
EXCUSES, EXCUSES. Merkel: Germany Had Islamic Extremism Before Refugee Influx.
Merkel said late Wednesday that “the phenomenon of Islamist terrorism by IS isn’t a phenomenon that came to us with the refugees, it’s one that we had before too.”
She conceded, however, “it can be seen that there are attempts to win over refugees (for terrorism), or we had the case of Paris, where refugees were deliberately smuggled in by IS.”
Merkel was speaking at a campaign event in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where her Christian Democrats face strong competition from the nationalist, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in state elections on Sept. 4.
The country was shaken by a string of attacks in July, two of which were the first in Germany claimed by the Islamic State group. In those, only the attackers — both asylum-seekers — were killed.
Would she try treating lung cancer with Marlboros?
THE HILL: Trump hurts GOP, but probably not enough to flip House.
Trump’s combative campaign is hurting Republicans down the ballot — but not enough to flip control of the House in November.
The House advantage has shifted steadily in favor of the Democrats since Trump won the GOP nomination, in the eyes of leading election handicappers.
Yet Democrats still appear far short of flipping the 30 seats they’d need to win back the lower chamber. The GOP’s 247 seats represents the party’s largest majority since before the Great Depression.
“In the House, I have yet to see evidence that Republicans are tanking as a result of Trump being on the ballot,” said David Wasserman, an expert on House races at the Cook Political Report.
Election analysts emphasize that a wave election delivering power back to the Democrats remains possible. But Wasserman put the odds at only between 10 and 20 percent and predicts Democrats will pick up between 10 and 20 House seats — far shy of the 30 needed to win back control.
It’s 2016, so the balance of the House will probably be determined by space aliens.
PATTY HEARST: THE ORIGINAL CELEBRITY RADICAL.
Well, I’d go with Leonard Bernstein, but to be fair, he just wanted bankroll the Black Panthers, not go out on terrorist runs with them.
IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP. THANKS, EGON: “Would remind all that this material is classified. So this is leaking of classified material,” tweets…Hillary for America’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri. Cluelessness? Chutzpah? You make the call!
ED RENDELL: Clinton Foundation should be disbanded if Clinton wins.
And, since it’s basically just an influence-peddling operation, it will disband itself if Clinton loses.
I HAVE A WEAK SPOT FOR BLACK CATS: And I can tell you they’re almost impossible to photograph, which is why we have one decent photograph of the late great Petronius the Arbiter and so far none of Euclid-cat. This woman is not just doing something good, she’s doing something amazing. Woman Photographs Black Shelter Cats to Help Them Get Adopted.
THANK HEAVENS AMERICANS CAN DO THINGS DESPITE THEIR GOVERNMENT: Meet The Heroes Of The ‘Cajun Navy’ Who Are Saving Many Lives As Louisiana Floods.
THE REST OF US DEMAND THAT SJWs SHUT THEIR YAPS ALREADY: SJWs Demand ‘Deus Ex‘ Video Game Not Let Gamers Make ‘Immoral’ Decisions. Feminists, they morphed into the Temperance League so gradually that THEY haven’t noticed. The rest of us have though. Oh, have we ever.
BECAUSE MONEY LAUNDERING: $400 Million Payment to Iran Looking More Like Ransom for American Prisoners
IN THAT IT IS ESSENTIALLY A RANSOM: $400 Million Payment to Iran Looking More Like Ransom for American Prisoners.
WELL, WE MUST BE UNDERSTANDING. HE FIDDLES EVEN WORSE THAN HE GOLFS: President Barack Obama emerged from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation for a fundraiser, but he didn’t mention any of the devastating events currently affecting the United States.
OF COURSE HE DID. INTELLECTUAL CONSISTENCY IS FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: EXPOSED: ‘Climate crusader’ California governor Jerry Brown took huge sums of money from “big oil”.
OF COURSE SHE DOES: These intellectual prostitutes always do. Wonkette Writer Forgives Bill Clinton For Rape … Because It Was the ’80s!
IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL YOU KILL YOUR OWN GRANDAD: Professor solved time-reversal violation. On the serious side, this is fun, but … like a certain branch of mathematics, more or less a beautiful thought experiment. (Don’t tell my husband I said that.)
YES, THIS IS CORSICA, LAND OF NAPOLEON, AND YET THE FEEL OF THIS IS OF A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME: Corsica brawl: Five hurt in clashes on French beach.
HELLO COMMIES, WHEN EVEN THE AP REVILES YOU, IT’S TIME TO GIVE UP: Communist Group Members Go to Milwaukee to Help With the Revolution. Alternate intro “Of course they did.”
THE AUTHOR IS YOUNG. DESPAIR IS NORMAL TO THE YOUNG: He ignores several contrary trends. That said, he’s absolutely right about the Clintons, and the would-be-noblemen.
August 17, 2016
HOW TO REDUCE BURGLARIES: Family becomes firing squad as intruder is shot by almost every member of the household.
OBAMA’S ON VACATION, BUT THESE GUYS ARE STEPPING UP: “Cajun Navy” of Privately-Owned Boats Patrolling Flood-Stricken Louisiana to Save People and Animals.
Flashback: American Dunkirk. More on that here.
LONG-TERM TEST: 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe. Oil consumption?
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Every joke from Airplane!, ranked.
IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? How Alcohol Shaped Our Civilization, According to a Beer Archaeologist.
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Rational improvement of DNA nanodevice function.
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IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY TO KILL MOSQUITOES IN LARGE NUMBERS, INEXPENSIVELY: A Better (Smelly) Mosquito Trap, but With Caveats.