NC Renegades

The House approved a Democratic proposal on Thursday to limit the display of the Confederate flag in national cemeteries.

The amendment to a spending bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and military construction projects passed 265-159. A total of 158 Republicans opposed the amendment from Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), while 84 Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting it.

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a centrist who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was the only Democrat to vote against the amendment. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voted “present.”

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed support for allowing the vote despite opposition from a majority of his conference.

“Last year it stopped the appropriations process in its tracks,” he told reporters at a Capitol news conference after the vote.

“What changed is we have to get through these things, and if we’re going to have open rules and appropriations, which we have, which is regular order, people are going to have to take tough votes. And I think people are acknowledging this — this is the kind of conversation we’ve had all along with our members, which is tough votes happen in open rules.

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American power companies are studying ways to protect electric grids against a high-altitude nuclear blast and other directed energy attacks that could severely disrupt electricity transmission, an industry representative told a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Scott Aaronson, managing director for cyber and infrastructure security at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), stated in testimony that a consortium of U.S. electric companies is working with the Energy Department to study how to protect power grids from a nuclear blast-produced electromagnetic pulse attack or solar flares that could damage transformers and other electric components and shut down power for millions of Americans.

“There are a lot of threats to the grid … from squirrels to nation states,” Aaronson said in testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “And frankly, there have been more blackouts as a result of squirrels [gnawing wire insulation] than there are from nation states.”

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EGYPTAIR media centre will update as more information becomes available.

— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016

Sometimes it pays to look back in time.

David DeGerolamo

How is this possible? The government just told us that retail sales jumped the most in years?

Target is out with its earnings despite beating bottom line, it missed top-line and took an ax to Q2 guidance…

• *TARGET 1Q ADJ. EPS $1.29, EST. $1.19 (Good)
  
• *TARGET 1Q REV. $16.2B, EST. $16.3B (Bad)
  
• *TARGET SEES 2Q ADJ. EPS $1.00-$1.20, EST. $1.36 (Ugly)

In second quarter 2016, Target expects comparable sales of flat to down two percent, and Adjusted EPS of $1.00 to $1.20. Second quarter GAAP EPS from continuing operations will include approximately $0.17 of expense related to early debt retirement losses, and also may include the impact of certain additional discrete items which will be excluded in calculating Adjusted EPS. In the past, these items have included data breach expenses, restructuring costs and certain other items that are discretely managed. Beyond losses related to the early debt retirement, Target is not currently aware of any other material discrete items.

And the result – Target is down almost 10% in the pre-market…

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I think people believe in morality more than supporting a politically mandated agenda to destroy Faith.

David DeGerolamo

Iran has told Hezbollah’s military arm to stop attacking Israel and instead turn its sights to Saudi Arabia, according to a report in Middle East Eye.

The instructions come amid the aftermath of the killing of Hezbollah military commander in Syria Mustafa Badreddine, which the Lebanese Shi’ite grouped blamed on hardline “takfiri” forces backed by Saudi Arabia.

Citing “well informed sources in Lebanon,” MEE says that Qasim Suleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, personally gave the order to Hezbollah in Beirut.

The report also states that Suleimani announced that Badreddine would be replaced by Fuad Shukr, a 55-year-old member of Hezbollah’s founding group and resident of the Bekaa Valley. This contradicts a previous report in Saudi-linked paper Asharq al-Awsat, which had named Mustafa Mughniyeh, Badreddine’s nephew, as his successor.

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What can you do when you are working 60 hours a week at three part-time jobs and it is still not enough?  In America today, many people have taken on more than one job in a desperate attempt to make ends meet, but they still come up short at the end of the month.  And those that are actually working are the fortunate ones, because in one out of every five families in the United States nobody has a job.  There are more than 100 million working age Americans that are currently not employed (yes this is true), and as I pointed out yesterday, job cut announcements by major firms are currently running 24 percent ahead of last year’s pace.  But unemployment is just part of the overall problem.  There is this growing misconception out there that if you “have a job” that you must be doing okay.  Unfortunately for the growing number of “working poor” in America, that is not true at all.

Just consider the case of 55-year-old Erlinda Delacruz.  At one time she had a good full-time manufacturing job, but then her factory closed down.  Millions of other Americans have also seen their good paying jobs sent out of the country in recent years, and yet our politicians refuse to do anything about it.  Today, she works 60 hours a week at three different part-time jobs and she still makes less than she once did at the manufacturing plant…

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I do not like Sally Muffinpuff stories. One person’s heartbreaking experience is used to push through massive legislation like Obamacare. It is a old trick. The above story starts out that way but it is indicative of our shrinking working class. More hours, more taxes and less benefits are the consequences of socialism. While we work, the entitled class and political elites shake their heads in disbelief; they wonder how much longer the sheep will be silent.

As do I.

David DeGerolamo