Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI#t=764s

The video will not allow time stamp loading: move the movie manually to the 13 minute mark.

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h/t Jeff M

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The Battle to Raise the Minimum Wage Explained by Obama

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5rzRMCmeeE#t=1s

From YouTube:

President Obama talks to a fry cook about the battle his administration faces against Congressional Republicans who continue to block raising the minimum wage for Americans struggling to survive on $7.25/hour.

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State Dept.: Not Building Keystone Pipeline Could Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Keystone pipeline

Not building the 875-mile Keystone XL Pipeline could result in the release of up to 42 percent more greenhouse gases than would be released by building it, according to the State Department.

Not building the pipeline “is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the [Canadian] oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States,” the department noted in a long-awaited environmental report released January 31st.

But the “No Build” option is likely to result in an increased number of oil spills, six more deaths annually, and up to 42 percent higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the State Department concluded.

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What Is Your Tea Party Name?

Source

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Blue Yellow Freedom

Guerrillamerica

by Sam Culper III

Here’s an interesting map of Ukraine that shows areas currently ‘held’ and challenged.

Oblasts (province or state equivalent) in green are for ‘the People’.

Oblasts in blue are held by the Party of Regions, a pro-Russian political party.

The LSU looking oblasts are experiencing mass protests and police aggression.

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Where the *Bleep* Is Germany’s Gold?

Germany's gold

You may have heard something about this story, but I think it’s important to take a few minutes to restate the facts clearly. In the modern news environment, stories come and go so fast – and in so many parts – that it’s very easy to get lost along the way.

So, here’s what we know so far:

  • In 2012, the Bundesbank (the central bank of Germany) asked to visit the vault of the Federal Reserve in New York, to view the 1,536 tons of gold they have stored there.
  • The Federal Reserve told them no. They were not allowed to see their gold.
  • In response, Germany said that they wanted 300 tons of their gold back.
  • The Federal Reserve said that they’d need seven years to get the gold back to Germany. (Something that should take them seven weeks, tops.)
  • One year later, the Fed has returned only 5 tons of gold to Germany. At this rate, it will take 60 years for the Germans to get less than one fifth of their gold back.

Though I don’t know precisely what, it is very clear that something strange is going on here… something that the prestigious central bankers want to keep away from the light of day.

Shipping 300 tons of metal is hardly a new and difficult technical challenge. Companies involved in metal trading do this all the time. Sure, gold requires extra security, but security is also something that lots of people know how to provide.

Give me half a percent as a premium, and I’ll have it arranged by next week!

The German Responses

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Posted in Editorial, Financial | Tagged | 1 Comment

Vass firm charged in worker visa fraud scheme

Migrant workers, farm workers

VASS, N.C. — A Vass company that secures foreign workers for agricultural and other work in the U.S. is accused of manipulating the worker visa program and illegally funneling people to companies.

A federal grand jury in Greensboro handed down a 41-count indictment last Friday against International Labor Management Corp., founder and owner Craig Stanford “Stan” Eury Jr. and president Sarah Elizabeth Farrell, who is Eury’s daughter. The government is seeking to seize at least $1.1 million in property that authorities say was involved in the alleged illegal activities.

Kearns Davis, a Greensboro attorney representing Eury and Farrell, said they and the company “flatly deny” the allegations and will “aggressively defend” their operations.

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Thanks to NC House Speaker Thom Tillis and other AG Reps, E-Verify job protection (H786) was eliminated for seasonal labor jobs.

NCFIRE,  NCListen, and a small group of NC Reps. argued at the time that this was not just AG labor, but ALL “seasonal labor” jobs.

Maureen W

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O’Reilly Interviews Obama – Condensed Version

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGPYgy8yF0M

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Here Comes The Next Great Depression – Mike Maloney

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJAQGYF7gmI

h/t Tom R

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The real healthcare problems

Charles Krauthammer gave us all good advice when he suggested that we should ignore what President Obama says and concentrate on what he does. The reality is that very little that the president peddled to America when he was attempting to gain support for the Affordable Healthcare Act was true. Truth is always the first casualty with this president! And for good reason, no one has ever held him accountable for anything: not the press, not the Senate Democrats, not American liberals, and not the voters.

What is going to happen to many Americans in the next months and years is what people should be focused on. We might want to consider some of the following, because it may affect us all—one way or the other.

• As many as one-half of all American physicians may refuse to join the health care exchanges. Without physicians, it will be a very difficult task to make the exchanges work, and guarantees long waits to see a doctor.

• The White House and surrogates say a few people will lose their health care coverage. The estimate of a 5% cancellation rate would represent about 16 million people —or about one-half the number of uninsured that was initially used to justify this fiasco. Solely as a comparative tool, only 6 million Jews died in the holocaust. Each cancellation carries with it a story —and for some, a complete loss of medical insurance and inability to get treatment. And perhaps as many as a third of the population could be affected once the employer mandates kick in. Continue reading

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Japanese Stocks In Freefall – TOPIX Plunges Almost 5% To 4-Month Lows

Despite the hope-driven exuberance exhibited immediately post the Abe/Kuroda show, the USDJPY-pumping stock-momentum fest has ended – abruptly. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has lost all its gains and is now trading below US day-session lows (3-month lows) but it is the broader TOPIX index (more akin to the S&P 500) that is collapsing. Down almost 5% on the day (its biggest drop since the May collapse), the TOPIX is at 4-month lows. The TOPIX Real Estate index just hit a bear-market – down 20% from Dec 31st highs. Japanese sell-side shops are in full panic desperation mode as “suggestions” that a sub-14,000 Nikkei will prompt an acceleration of Japan’s QQE money-printing idiocy. This is getting ugly fast.

TOPIX collapses to 4-month lows…

As Bloomberg notes, the sell-side is in full panic mode…

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Liberal Zombie Apocalypse

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzaFfsR4Wgg

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Rep. Gowdy on why Obama is brushing off scandal questions

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUZF7w_Gf3g

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A Question To Interrupt Your Nap …

Assumption:  You carry a weapon(s) to protect yourself against assault on your person or opportunistic theft by strangers,

Part of the haul was believed to come from the robbery of a truck, similar to the highway escapades of the 18th century criminal, Dick Turpin

Question:  Why do you tolerate assault on your rights and systematic theft of your wealth by friends, neighbors, and “the less fortunate” through their surrogate called “government” ???

You don’t consent to force when confronted by the stranger.  Did you really consent to be raped by agents of your neighbors ?

I didn’t think so.  Consent was acquired through fraud.  It is void.

Why do 300 Million people tolerate the initiation of force against their person and property when it is initiated by government ?

Do we feel overwhelmed, outnumbered ?

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“Validated Learning” & Intelligence

Guerrillamerica

by Sam Culper III

I’ve been reading a great book about startups in which the author talks about validated learning.  (As an aside, each of your intelligence preparations should be treated as a startup company.  Instead of input costs you have study time, and instead of revenue you have information.  Is your study time contributing to the flow of intelligence information into your company?  Let’s work together to solve that problem.)  The concept of validated learning is that ideas need to be tested and the results measured in order to replicate (identify then re-achieve) the most effective courses of action.  It’s a very structured approach that isn’t just about being able to learn something, but about being able to identify what you were able to learn, how much time it took you to learn it, the resources required to learn it — what we’d call the unit economics of learning.  You’ve identified all the time and resource inputs of learning, so you can project what future time and resource inputs will be required to learn something else (or to teach it) in the future.

I’ve been a big proponent of a good scholarship of history and war (and intelligence).  This is an extension of validated learning.  In a scholarly approach to warfighting, the input and results were measured, and a) warfare progressed because doctrine was improved, b) the doctrine worked as expected because it was based on previous validated learning, or c) the doctrine failed because the enemy adapted to that doctrine.  We don’t just select a course of action because it sounds good, but we make judgements and estimations based off what’s been previously measured and deemed successful, or based off known adversary vulnerabilities.  Finding, knowing, and never losing the enemy is a chief task of intelligence so accomplishing that task with the greatest efficacy should be a top priority.

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