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Sunday, February 8, 2015
Ukraine’s currency just collapsed 50 percent in two days
Ukraine, to use a technical term, is broke. That's what you call a country whose currency has lost half its value in just two days.
The problem is simple: Ukraine has no money and barely any economy. It's already talking to the IMF about a $15 billion bailout and what's euphemistically being called a debt "restructuring"—i.e., default—as its reserves have dwindled down to $6.42 billion, only enough to cover five weeks of imports. (Three months worth is considered the absolute least you can get by with).
More @ The Washington Post
CSA SGT Berry Benson 1843-1923
Via Carl
At Spotsylvania he reconnoitered the Union camp and on an impulse stole a colonel's horse, leading it back to Confederate lines. Sent out a second time on Lee's orders, he was captured and interned at the military prison in Point Lookout, Maryland. On the second day of his captivity, Benson slipped unseen into the waters of Chesapeake Bay and swam two miles to escape. Recaptured in Union-occupied Virginia, he was sent first to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., then to the new prison camp at Elmira, New York.
Berry entered into a plan with some other prisoners to dig their way out. With incredible difficulty they completed a sixty-five-foot-long tunnel and made good their escape. Benson used one ruse after another during his lone journey through enemy territory before rejoining his regiment.
In early 1865 Benson served in the lines outside Petersburg, Virginia, as sergeant of an elite regiment of *"sharpshooters."
*Interesting in that he would have served under LT. George Thomas Leach who was my great uncle
"Lieutenant Leach sent to headquarters to get permission to butcher the cows for his Corps of Sharpshooters, stating that his men were suffering from food. They had been constantly on the flanks and in the rear of the retreating army since the evacuation, marching, counter marching, retreating and fighting without food or rest. General Grimes peremptorily refused to allow the cattle to be killed, because to allow it would violate one of Lee's well-established rules prohibiting plundering at any cost.
He ordered the cows to be returned to the field from which they were driven, a mile or two back. The order was instantly executed as far as possible - the cattle were driven within range of the federal pickets and turned over to our pursuers." Lee's Surrender, By My Great Grandfather, April 9,...
At Spotsylvania he reconnoitered the Union camp and on an impulse stole a colonel's horse, leading it back to Confederate lines. Sent out a second time on Lee's orders, he was captured and interned at the military prison in Point Lookout, Maryland. On the second day of his captivity, Benson slipped unseen into the waters of Chesapeake Bay and swam two miles to escape. Recaptured in Union-occupied Virginia, he was sent first to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., then to the new prison camp at Elmira, New York.
Berry entered into a plan with some other prisoners to dig their way out. With incredible difficulty they completed a sixty-five-foot-long tunnel and made good their escape. Benson used one ruse after another during his lone journey through enemy territory before rejoining his regiment.
Finally furloughed in the fall of 1864, he returned to
Augusta to find that Union general William T. Sherman's troops had
bypassed that place to besiege Savannah, and he immediately joined in the city's defense. Only after the fall of Savannah did he return to his unit in Virginia.
*Interesting in that he would have served under LT. George Thomas Leach who was my great uncle
"Lieutenant Leach sent to headquarters to get permission to butcher the cows for his Corps of Sharpshooters, stating that his men were suffering from food. They had been constantly on the flanks and in the rear of the retreating army since the evacuation, marching, counter marching, retreating and fighting without food or rest. General Grimes peremptorily refused to allow the cattle to be killed, because to allow it would violate one of Lee's well-established rules prohibiting plundering at any cost.
He ordered the cows to be returned to the field from which they were driven, a mile or two back. The order was instantly executed as far as possible - the cattle were driven within range of the federal pickets and turned over to our pursuers." Lee's Surrender, By My Great Grandfather, April 9,...
More @ New Georgia
Here's Why Gov. Bobby Jindal Discussed Islam During his Speech on Common Core
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is against “the whole hyphenated idea.” From his point of view, there are no Indian-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, or Irish-Americans; everyone is, just plain and simple, an American. But what would happen if American culture was not being infused into society?
It was along this vein of encouraging cultural assimilation, that the Governor discussed the growing threat of Islamic extremism during his speech at the American Principles Project luncheon on Thursday in Washington D.C.
While denouncing Common Core, Jindal shared how the problems of the state standard initiatives would inevitably leak far beyond the classroom, into the culture. Jindal referenced a speech he gave in London several weeks ago:
More @ Townhall
Hackers Warn That New Pirate Bay Site Could Be An FBI Trap
Via LH
After over a decade of battling various governments and businesses, many of the founders of the original Pirate Bay website were hunted down and arrested on a variety of trumped up charges, and the site was taken offline.
Not long after, another site came online under the same name, hoping to take the legendary file-sharing hub’s place on the web.
Pirate Bay users were excited to see someone carrying the torch, but it wasn’t long before hackers noticed that there were vulnerable US based tools on the site that could be used tracked by police.
After over a decade of battling various governments and businesses, many of the founders of the original Pirate Bay website were hunted down and arrested on a variety of trumped up charges, and the site was taken offline.
Not long after, another site came online under the same name, hoping to take the legendary file-sharing hub’s place on the web.
Pirate Bay users were excited to see someone carrying the torch, but it wasn’t long before hackers noticed that there were vulnerable US based tools on the site that could be used tracked by police.
More @ TIP News
Jihad vs Crusades: facts are a pain
Via Cousin Joel
Can someone please get this to Rasputin aka Valerie Jarrett for President Obama to view? It’s just 5 minutes long, surely it can hold his attention that long.More @ Allen B West
Can someone please get this to Rasputin aka Valerie Jarrett for President Obama to view? It’s just 5 minutes long, surely it can hold his attention that long.More @ Allen B West
Last Days in Vietnam Available for Streaming Ends Saturday February 7th
Via Harold
Didn't have a chance to see Last Days in Vietnam in theaters and can't wait until the April 28th broadcast premiere? You're in luck!
Our Academy Award®-nominated film is available to stream on our website starting today and ending Saturday, February 7th in advance of Oscar® night on Sunday, February 22nd.
Watch it HERE.
Iraqi Christians take up arms in fight against ISIS
Islamist forces have driven some 150,000 Christians, mostly Assyrians, from their homes, and Kurds are now helping them to regain their homeland.
Iraqi Christians are banding together to take on the Islamist militant group ISIS to reclaim their homeland, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
“The objective is to liberate their land in Nineveh Plain and to take charge of security in these areas afterward,” said Yaco Jacob, a Christian parliamentarian in the Kurdistan Parliament, according to Al Arabiya News. Other minorities, such as the Yazidis and the Shi'ite Shabaks, live in the Nineveh plains and have suffered at the hands of ISIS, also known as the Islamic State.
According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of Christians, who felt government forces abandoned their families in fighting last summer, are training at a former U.S. military base in northeast Iraq.
“I want to defend our own lands, with our own force,” said Nasser Abdullah, 26 years old, who is helping lead younger recruits in training, according to the Journal.
More @ Haaretz
Fiddling with temperature data is biggest science scandal ever & NY Professor: Global Warming Created ISIS
"This really does
begin to look like one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time."
When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30
years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official
temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were
systematically “adjusted” to show the Earth as having warmed much more than
the actual data justified.
Two weeks ago, under the headline “How
we are being tricked by flawed data on global warming”, I wrote
about Paul Homewood, who, on his Notalotofpeopleknowthat blog, had checked
the published temperature graphs for three weather stations in Paraguay
against the temperatures that had originally been recorded. In each
instance, the actual trend of 60 years of data had been dramatically
reversed, so that a cooling trend was changed to one that showed a marked
warming.
This was only the latest of many examples of a practice long recognised by
expert observers around the world – one that raises an ever larger question
mark over the entire official surface-temperature record.
More @ The Telegraph
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Your SUV is apparently responsible for all those beheadings in the
Middle East. That’s right: ISIS is nothing more than a product of global
warming, according to some non-scientist from John Jay College in New
York. I know I was surprised
to learn that 1.4 degrees of warming (over the last century) was enough
to push the cradle of civilization into mass chaos. (Because, as we all
know, it was always such a peaceful corner of the world up until
recently.)
According to Charles Strozier, Professor of History
and the founding Director of the John Jay CollegeCenter on Terrorism,
your failure to buy a Chevy Volt, or opt for recyclable grocery bags,
has been fueling the scourge of the Middle East known as ISIS.
More @ Townhall
Ruining Racing by Focusing on Speed Alone
Via comment by Neil on NHRA & NASCAR Are Losing Fans: How Do We Get More?...
Take a look at these photos. What do you notice? Which cars do you like better? Which cars do you think non-hardcore race fans could more easily relate to? What consequences do you think this may have?
1965 Today
NASCAR
DRAG RACING
Take a look at these photos. What do you notice? Which cars do you like better? Which cars do you think non-hardcore race fans could more easily relate to? What consequences do you think this may have?
More @ Golden Geese News
EPA Makes Wood-Burning Stoves Unaffordable to Save the Planet
The EPA has finalized a 344-page rule to make wood stoves more environmentally friendly, meaning that millions of Americans will soon be forced to buy more expensive wood-fired stoves.
Republican lawmakers have opposed the rule, saying it would harm millions in rural America that rely on wood stoves to heat their homes every winter. With natural gas and electricity prices on the rise, wood stoves can be an economical choice for many living in the countryside.
“The EPA’s shortsighted regulatory overreach is once again hitting hardworking Montanans in their pocketbooks,” said Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines.
More @ The Daily Caller
Man to claim self-defense for shooting DEA agent in predawn drug raid
A criminal trial expected to be closely watched by law enforcement and gun owners around South Carolina opens Monday in federal court in Columbia.
At issue: whether Joel Robinson, 32, is guilty of a crime for shootinga DEA agent in the first few seconds of a surprise federal law enforcement raid last October at his Orangeburg house.
Agents expected to find a cache of drugs, but a search of the premises found nothing but a small amount of marijuana for recreational use, according to legal records in the case.
Robinson is expected to claim self-defense, saying he did what any citizen would have in assuming he was the target of a home invasion – grabbing a gun and firing a half-dozen shots in the direction of those he assumed were home invaders.
More @ The State
NHRA & NASCAR Are Losing Fans: How Do We Get More?
Lift the bans on the Confederate flags for the spectators and cars for a start.
The state of drag racing is weak and it needs more fans to turn it around.
You can’t help but notice the many empty seats at certain tracks and there’s been a true disconnect between the sport and the fans. We have true, die-hard fans, but their numbers are dwindling. The sanctioning body does of great job of making sure the show runs, rules are enforced, and safety is at the forefront. But is there truly growth potential for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series, or any racing for that matter?
It’s not just the NHRA. Look at NASCAR, too. The NASCAR Hall-of-Fame located in Charlotte, N.C. has been a money-losing proposition since its inception. Earlier this month, the City Council voted to forgive NASCAR’s debt and requested Bank of America and Wells-Fargo to forgo a total sum of $22 million in loans in hopes of getting to a point of a profit center as attendance never has matched its expectations. The Council is going put out $5 million to at least give the banks something in return.
More @ Racing Junk
Savages
Via Joe
Today we witnessed the barbarism that is ISIS, ISIL or IS, whatever
you want to call them. Chris Kyle called them “savages” and most
civilized society worldwide agrees. Instead here at home, we pussyfoot
around the nomenclature and it’s keeping us in defeat mode.
Did you watch today’s limp response by Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby?
From the Washington Times,
Does this have anything to do with our new national policy? After all, that’s not a ball cap he’s sporting.
From the Washington Times,
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Tuesday that the decision by the Islamic State group to burn Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh alive was not “the acts of a winner.”“Not the acts of a winner?” I’m simply astonished by those choice of words. How about the clear and evident acts of evil? Can we no longer call things what they are?
More @ Blessings
Are Confederate soldiers eligible for Florida's Veterans' Hall for Fame?
Via John
The Florida Legislature could become the newest battleground in a war that officially ended 150 years ago.
Lawmakers might have to decide if the men who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War are eligible for entry into the state's Veterans' Hall of Fame.
The hall honors "those military veterans who, through their works and lives during or after military service, have made a significant contribution to the State of Florida," according to its website. The question the Legislature could have to answer is who exactly counts as a veteran.
That's because the governor and Cabinet members on Thursday tabled inducting the 2014 class into the hall to wait for "legislative clarification" on three nominees who fought for the Confederacy against the Union.
The Florida Legislature could become the newest battleground in a war that officially ended 150 years ago.
Lawmakers might have to decide if the men who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War are eligible for entry into the state's Veterans' Hall of Fame.
The hall honors "those military veterans who, through their works and lives during or after military service, have made a significant contribution to the State of Florida," according to its website. The question the Legislature could have to answer is who exactly counts as a veteran.
That's because the governor and Cabinet members on Thursday tabled inducting the 2014 class into the hall to wait for "legislative clarification" on three nominees who fought for the Confederacy against the Union.
More@ Tampa Bay Times
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