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Wednesday, July 20. 2016Wednesday morning links
Photo: The new Tappan Zee Bridge (on left) under construction. A stunning engineering and construction feat. Drive by and take a look if you're in the area. Also get to see the world's largest floating crane. One of the working cranes fell down on the old span yesterday and remarkably nobody was hurt. What’s in a Name? Plenty, if It’s a ‘GMO.’ 500 elephants relocated in massive man-made African animal migration Waldorf Astoria Through the Years The Chinese are turning it into condos, mostly. Salton Sea: The Mad Max Wasteland That’s Having a Real Estate Boom Didn't know it was man-made New Hampshire city police use Pokemon Go to lure fugitives Is This What You Had in Mind for Retirement? Here’s What Actual Retirees Found Out Prediction: By the time we hit a $15 minimum wage, there will be no cashiers Case Western U closes this week since students fear cops from GOP Convention Sheesh. Stupid beyond belief. Energy: Power Line Vindicated Again in the NY Times Haidt: When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism Obama is not a scientist. JAMA shouldn't pretend he is Is the Purpose of a Newspaper to Promote Delusion? Sometimes Does Brexit Give Us Our Best Chance To Kill Too-Big-To-Fail? Gov. Kasich: We Want Immigration - Population is Stagnant in Ohio Maybe people prefer to live elsewhere The world is taking its revenge against elites. When will America's wake up? Why conservatives failed to stop Donald Trump Unappealing candidates, old ideas How Trumpism hid in plain sight for 15 years Ten Reasons Why Trump Could Win Pants suit on fire Hillary, the Black Lives Matter Candidate - Where racist pandering and cop-hatred meet. Get Melania! Plagiarism charges thrown at Trump’s first lady in waiting No More - After Nice, let’s stop the nonsense. French woman and her three daughters stabbed by Moroccan-born man in Alpine resort Palestinian Children Receive Military Training At Hamas Summer Camps…
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Re Ohio's stagnant population - I can't comment on all aspects of the decline of course but for retired (and soon to be retired) couples, we are leaving the state in droves.
The miserable winter weather is but a small part of the decision. Onerous property taxes are by far the biggest motivators. They are my biggest yearly expense. Most of it goes to the schools but frankly, I am no longer interested in paying for them. I've done my part while I had kids of school age. Luckily, the housing market is very good in my area. The young families are buying my neighborhood's properties so now is the time to get out. And we are. TN, NC, SC and Texas beckon. Lived in all of them, albeit some time ago. All great places. Keep an eye on Texas though - I hear it's being Californiaized.
At the beginning of this election cycle, I thought I would be voting for Kasich or Walker. Walker is still on my short list but Kasich is long gone. The problem Governor is JOBS.
It must be a shock for all of those who were bested by the cringeworthy campaign of Donald Trump. Even now there is no humility or self awareness on their part. The message is: millions of people find him preferable to you even though his campaign was appalling, maybe even grotesque. Yet, Kasich et al, still has not come to terms with the will of millions of voters. The reason that the ankle biting rabid chipmunks have not chewed up the Donald's ankles is that it is not about him; it is about the Middle, about Bexit, about the Beltway thriving while the rest of the country treads water. That the media kept saying his campaign was grotesque doesn't mean that it was - they were simply trying to define it as such.
Trump wasn't my first choice either - but he's vastly preferable over Queen "The Laws Don't Apply To Me" Hillary. I'll have no problems voting for him. Never saw it as 'grotesque' either. I just avoided the sound bites on the news and the analysis and watched stuff live, for myself online. I actually found much of his campaign hilarious and refreshing. I am now incapable of listening to polito-speak. I want every presidential candidate in the future to speak his mind and stop memorizing voter-tested and polled lines written by speech writers.
Trump is awesome. So glad I took a chance and listened to what he was saying, read his policies, and thought about WHY the press, the left AND the right despised him so much....Hint: it's not because he's 'grostesque.' I wasn't aware that the media called his campaign grotesque, so no, my comment doesn't come from media talking points. I was referring to the exaggerated and cheesy personal attacks on Republican rivals. And yes, I know and have stated here on several occasions that the Donald didn't have surrogates to do his dirty work for him.
re Get Melania! Plagiarism charges thrown at Trump’s first lady in waiting
I agree with Patterico who wrote, QUOTE: It’s funny, but there are a couple of serious issues that this reveals. First: whoever wrote that speech is a mole. The insertion of the Michelle Obama plagiarism was no mistake. The speechwriter is trying to embarrass the Trumps. And they don’t mind making it perfectly obvious. Second: it reveals just how pathetic the Trump campaign’s denials of the obvious plagiarism really are. http://patterico.com/2016/07/19/melania-speechwriter-rickrolls-gop-convention/ QUOTE: Get Melania! Plagiarism charges thrown at Trump’s first lady in waiting ... If Melania plagiarized Michelle, then Michelle plagiarized others. Compare Michelle’s words with the advice found in a 1992 book about doing business in Africa Melania Trump's speech is lifted directly from Michelle Obama's speech, but the comparisons between Michelle Obama's speech and the 1992 book are only superficial and do not constitute plagiarism. It was nice of Melania Trump to highlight Michelle Obama's paeon to hard work to achieve one's dreams.
The Trump campaign has now admitted the Michelle Obama was the source material, not My Little Pony, or whatever the excuse was coming from the Republican Party.
QUOTE: Is the Purpose of a Newspaper to Promote Delusion? ... The Strib reporter suggests that the fact that blacks are arrested in greater than pro rata numbers is evidence of discrimination Let's look at the actual article, shall we? QUOTE: Does that mean certain police agencies engage in racial profiling? Criminal justice researchers say arrest and citation data by themselves can’t answer that question. That's exactly the opposite! So, let's rephrase the question. Is the purpose of the right-wing echochamber to reinforce preconceptions? Reading further: QUOTE: In 2002, the Legislature funded a $4.3 million study of nearly 200,000 traffic stops, which found a “strong likelihood” of racial bias in police policies and practices that probably extends statewide. “One of the things we found in our study was that blacks were searched much more frequently and they found contraband in a lower amount” Of course, if you already know they are guilty, it does save a lot of time. For instance, this man was shot while assaulting a police officer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQqgVlk0NQ You can make up stats to support your biases all day long but the simple fact is that black commit most of the crime/murders and rapes and the police arrest them more often for that simple reason. You can walk in my neighborhood at night, in the evening, during the day or anytime and without fear. If you walk in a black neighborhood at any time of day and especially at night you are taking your life in your hands. Every night on TV there is a report of a shooting, fight, mugging, rape in Portland Or. (our nearest large city). Often the news won't identify race probably to maintain a PC standard but the crimes always happen on Martin Luther King Blvd. Someone once said that when your town gets big enough to have an MLK blvd it's time to move. Disgraceful you say? You bet! It's disgraceful that an entire race of people are unable to control themselves and their children and all the more disgraceful because for the last 50 years this country has spent trillions trying to help them.
By the way the second group of people committing all the crimes in the big cities is the illegals. Again the media carefully avoids mentioning names and giving descriptions but it is laughable because after the second day when some perp is shoot they still can't tell you his name until the next of kin is notified. Why? Because they don't know who it is because they stole someone's identity and because once they do figure out who it is they have to go to Mexico and find their mother to notify next of kin. Ironically when the criminal is white the media states it right up front so the biggest 'tell' that the criminal is either black or hispanic is they tell you nothing rather than tell you their race. Did you notice that they arrested about 18 BLM protestors two days ago? They printed all their pictures in the paper. They have never done that before. I never saw a picture and rarely see the name of BLM protestors that get arrested. So why the pictures??? Because they were all white. They were all white because it was BLM's intent to put a 'white face' on the BLM protest and the media went right along with it just as though they were collaborating (no! They wouldn't do that!). If you truly believe that the black crime statistics are totally wrong or that the racist white police are simply harassing the blacks and stopping them unnecessarily than I suggest you walk around East St. Louis Friday night and see for yourself who commits the crimes. SweetPea: You can make up stats to support your biases
We didn't make up anything. Even a cursory examination showed that John Hinderaker's claim wasn't true. But if it feels true, then go for it. SweetPea: the simple fact is that black commit most of the crime/murders and rapes Not quite, but larger than expected by their proportion of the population. SweetPea: and the police arrest them more often for that simple reason. No. As the study cited above indicated, blacks are stopped more often, but are less likely to be offenders. The implication is that police have stricter standards for reasonable suspicion when stopping whites than when stopping blacks. SweetPea: If you walk in a black neighborhood at any time of day and especially at night you are taking your life in your hands. Depends on the neighborhood. SweetPea: If you truly believe that the black crime statistics are totally wrong Where did we say that? Blacks, as a group, commit more crimes than whites as a proportion of their respective populations. However, most blacks do not commit crimes, so stopping people just because they are black is inherently unjust, as well as being counter-productive. It's also unconstitutional in the U.S. Consider a few examples: QUOTE: "I work with (law enforcement) on a daily basis; they're my colleagues, they're my friends, and I respect what they do. But I also understand how men like me can fear and distrust officers in uniform." http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/11/us/emotional-dallas-dr-williams/ QUOTE: "In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat" http://www.fox4news.com/news/175358960-story QUOTE: "come together as one united family." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9lUupYLjSU What a bunch of thugs. So if we found a Nazi quote that was not hateful would that prove nazis were really good guys?
For better or worse the black people as a group have embraced crime and allowed their children to embrace crime at much greater rates than whites, Asians and Hispanics (not twice as much or even four times as much as whites but about 10 times as much). This is their choice, perhaps not every black person choose to do thhis but far too many do and far too many who themselves are not criminals still support the criminal mindset of their black family, friends and acquaintances. I see it everyday, most of us see it everyday. The black mother/father who chooses to keep their child from committing violence and crime is becoming the rare exception. You can see it in on TV news where the reporter on scene is braced by angry family members of the latest black perp. NOT angry at the crime or the criminal!! NO!!! Angry at the police, the reporter and the government for not giving them enough free stuff. This is endemic with blacks, it is their culture. You can excuse it, apoligize for it, deny it and lie about it but there it is like a turd on the dinner plate. SweetPea: So if we found a Nazi quote that was not hateful would that prove nazis were really good guys?
So black people are Nazis. The surgeon credited with saving lives after the Dallas shooting, a Nazi. The police officer shot protecting others in Baton Rouge,who felt mistreated in and out of uniform, a Nazi. The kid who said he wants people of all colors to "come together as one united family", a Nazi. A Nazi, a group known for its belief in Aryan supremacy. The kid who just lost his father. The kid who has every reason to be angry at the world, but gives love instead. This kid.
#4.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2016-07-20 17:23
(Reply)
Hurt yourself much jumping to insane conclusions?
But you do make a good point. Clearly BLM is Nazi-like. As for the surgeon who saved lives in Dallas I watched the press conference and though he did himself a great disservice. He should have followed my grandmother's advice: "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all".
#4.1.1.1.1.1
SweetPea
on
2016-07-20 19:44
(Reply)
SweetPea: But you do make a good point. Clearly BLM is Nazi-like.
You suggested blacks were Nazis, with the examples provided being "good Nazis". Did you mean otherwise? SweetPea: As for the surgeon who saved lives in Dallas I watched the press conference and though he did himself a great disservice. He spoke the truth as he sees it. Here's another thug: “There’s nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul, than when you know you’re following the rules and being treated like you are not.” http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/07/sen-tim-scott-shares-personal-stories-of-discrimination/comment-page-1/#comment-686506
#4.1.1.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2016-07-21 09:07
(Reply)
"You suggested blacks were Nazis,"
Au contraire mon frere YOU did that in an attempt to paint me with that slur. A classic ploy by a liberal when they "got nothing". "He spoke the truth as he sees it." Indeed! That's exactly what he did. He clearly stated that in spite of his bigotry and bias he would do the job he was hired to do. I would prefer he didn't have that bigotry and bias to overcome and seem proud about overcoming. The others at that press briefing didn't see their patients as black or white OR as civilians or police. IMHO he did himself a huge disservice a nd exposed who he really is.
#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
SweetPea
on
2016-07-21 10:50
(Reply)
SweetPea: Au contraire
You said, SweetPea: So if we found a Nazi quote that was not hateful would that prove nazis were really good guys? You are clearly saying their decidedly unhateful speech is unusual for the group. As none of them avowed being part of Black Lives Matter, the implication is that they are being grouped with other blacks. What group did you mean that you are comparing to Nazis? SweetPea: He clearly stated that in spite of his bigotry and bias he would do the job he was hired to do. No. The police officer and surgeon spoke to their personal experience, as well as the experience of other blacks they know. SweetPea: IMHO he did himself a huge disservice and exposed who he really is. Yes, a hero who worked hard to save the lives of his fellow human beings.
#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2016-07-21 14:32
(Reply)
You cherry picked the quotes that suited your agenda. You left out the pigs in a blanket and fry them like bacon. If you compiled all of the hate the left, BLM, the president and various professional race baiters have spewed towards the police it would be overwhelming. The sudden decision to sprinkle a few unhateful things after being called on their hateful speech and acts means nothing.
As for the surgeon, Dr. Brian Williams, It made no sense for him to vent his personal feeling about the police at that press conference. That would have been a better conversation with his wife or friend or pastor. But to go on national TV at a press conference about the cops killed and seriously wounded to prevaricate and keep sticking “buts” into the conversation was stupid. He did himself no favors and he affirmed his biases in front of the nation. I’m happy he did his job (anyway) but that was exactly what he was supposed to do. He should have kept his biases and offensive views to himself.
#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
SweetPea
on
2016-07-21 20:27
(Reply)
SweetPea: You cherry picked the quotes that suited your agenda.
We picked out common examples. You seemed to be the one drawing overgeneralizations. SweetPea: The sudden decision to sprinkle a few unhateful things after being called on their hateful speech and acts means nothing. So, there is a "they". SweetPea: As for the surgeon, Dr. Brian Williams, It made no sense for him to vent his personal feeling about the police at that press conference. It was important to him. Just like it was important to the police officer to tell of his experiment of being view treated with suspicion when he wears a uniform, and also treated with suspicion when he doesn't. Closing your eyes doesn't make the problem go away.
#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2016-07-22 09:59
(Reply)
Just got back from vacation so I was totally unaware of the speech Trump's wife made. I heard the excerpts from both speechs and sure enough they were very similar. But I know I have heard those exact words numerous times and I have never heard Michelle's speech before. IMHO this would be like accusing a songwriter of plagiarism because he wrote a song about love and actually used the word 'love' which so many poets and song writers used before. Give me a break! If Melania plagiarized those words it is obvious that Michelle did as well. Those phrases and words are so common in political speeches I have no doubt that Lincoln and Washington used them as well.
The phrasing was "extremely careless" but there is no evidence of intent and anyway, "What difference, at this point, does it make".
Re: Pants suit on fire
QUOTE: Clinton: I take classification very seriously. HA HA HA Not enough for her to be "sophisticated" with respect to classified information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ArsDlMs3nk She wanted us to look at what Comey said before Congress because he clarified much of what he said in his press conference and that she appreciated that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC1Mc6-RDyQ She has lied about pretty much everything she has ever done. It should also be said that Rose stuck to the "careless" and "sloppy" meme rather than discuss her outright lies. I expected no better from him. He's like most of the MSM that is the major contributor to the left wing echo chamber (which believes Comey exonerated her, that she had no negative role in Benghazi... all the way back her not being able to produce the Rose Law firm billing records that were found in the White House residence years after being sought).
Waldorf Astoria
It put Conrad Hilton in the "big leagues" The secret train track in the basement is interesting: http://gothamist.com/2015/02/20/waldorf-astoria_train_tracks_subway.php#photo-1 No, the $15 minimum wage will not make everything automated. Depending on how rapidly it is imposed and how long it takes inflation to catch up, it might present a window for capital expenditures replacing human labor with automation, but eventually the value of the dollar will be diminished enough to bring the $15 minimum wage back in line with the value of the entry level job.
And that is the problem that the pols and interest groups are too stupid or too dishonest to understand or admit. The value of "minimum wage jobs" is constant regardless of how it is denominated in dollars. A cashier job is worth 2 Happy Meals or 3 gallons of gas or whatever. Whether you pay $7.50 or $15 per hour, the value of other things will reach equilibrium again as gas rises to $5/gal or Happy Meals go up to $7.50. In between, fiat raising of labor costs and value equilibrium, the disruption will cost people jobs, cause some smaller businesses to close, and induce larger, healthier businesses to make capital expenditures that reduce labor. Ken in NH: No, the $15 minimum wage will not make everything automated.
Agreed. It will tend to spur change, but not all of it will be technological. Ken in NH: The value of "minimum wage jobs" is constant regardless of how it is denominated in dollars. While your overall point is reasonable, this statement is not quite correct. Raising the minimum wage will cause some inflation, but generally has a flattening effect on wages. I think Ken has it pretty much correct. The minimum wage is just another price control. While it will tend to push other nearby wages up, it will also tend to decrease the number of those kinds of jobs as long as the mandated wage is above the perceived value of the job. Some will be lost through automation (it was likely to happen anyway, but a higher minimum wage will accelerate that trend) and some will be lost to people being required to do more and some will be lost to reduced demand for products that will cost more than consumers will be willing to pay.
If inflation is allowed to catch up with the minimum wage, then it's effect will be minimised - see paragraph above. Z: Raising the minimum wage will cause some inflation, but generally has a flattening effect on wages. Raising the minimum wage will not affect the higher wages much, but it will have a ripple effect that could extend to the wage scale pretty far. If a person is paid $40K/yr to manage a fast food location, his salary will necessarily increase substantially to reflect the difference in responsibility between the guy who cooks the burgers and him. His salary increase will push up the guy who was making $60, and so on till the increment would be much less inconsequential. mudbug: Raising the minimum wage will not affect the higher wages much, but it will have a ripple effect that could extend to the wage scale pretty far.
We're pretty much in agreement. A ripple effect implies that the effect will decrease with distance, in this case, the salary level. While there will be general inflation, the overall effect will still be some flattening of the wage scale, albeit especially at the lower end of the scale to the middle. We agree that when we're talking about the effect of raising the minimum wage, we're not just talking about those who are paid that wage but several layers of wage earners up the ladder. Proponents like to calculate the extra cost of the rise only on those receiving the new minimum and not those up the ladder. Keeping everything static, it will be much more expensive to employers than some are willing to admit. Employers will try to keep their costs down so that will almost HAVE to mean fewer employees and since the easiest to do without are those making minimum wage.
#8.1.1.1.1
mudbug
on
2016-07-21 14:53
(Reply)
500 elephants relocated in massive man-made African animal migration
Elephants are massive but migrations are enormous, possibly. When did massive become the catch-all for anything large whatsoever, including the immaterial? It's at least as annoying as chronic misuses of absolute and incredible. QUOTE: Why conservatives failed to stop Donald Trump Unappealing candidates, old ideas I'm sorry, what? Candidates need to appeal with new ideas? QUOTE: How Trumpism hid in plain sight for 15 years ...there's always been a large section of the Republican Party that had very little knowledge or interest in conservative ideas and ideology. Word, that. One in a hundred rightists even know what structural constitutionalism originalism is and the other ninety-nine will promote ideas - all of them new - that go directly against the grain of same. The two parties are split by one significant issue. One. The rest is all noise and self-gratification - on this blog see arguments with Z-Bot - and the general gist is a varying form of progressivism, the "new" ideology no matter which side of the same coin practices it. Here's a spare or. Insert it between constitutionalism and originalism.
We do not need any excuse to kill "too big to fail"; it is self-evident. Unfortunately, the opinion writer is not suggesting that we kill the idea, but that we delay it with more government intervention. How did that break up of Standard Oil work out anyway?
The Left is going on about Mrs. Trump's speech being stolen from Mrs. Obama's speech because that is "all they got", as the saying goes. Besides, it gives them something to fuss about so they don't have to comment on the other speakers, (except to wish they were dead, which isn't an offensive remark if your a Lefty) like the folks who lost loved ones to illegal immigrants who had been previously deported at least twice or to the Benghazi embassy attackers. What do you expect? Reasoned commentary from idiots who think men can be women and women can be men?? Really? What gave you that idea??
"Palestinian Children Receive Military Training At Hamas Summer Camps…"
This isn't news. Palestinian factions of one kind of another have been doing this as a matter of course for years. "Obama is not a scientist. JAMA shouldn't pretend he is"
Why not? He's a Nobel laureate, after all. At UC Berkeley, he'd even get his own free parking place reserved for Nobel laureates. [/sarc] |