Friday, June 12, 2015

Air Vietnam's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner "makes a bad ass vertical takeoff "

Via The Daily Timewaster

As I mentioned: "Whoa! Had some steep ins and outs in Vietnam, but this is amazing!"


Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in its fully painted new livery, with the golden lotus - Vietnam’s national flower rehearsed the flying display for the best performance at one of the world’s biggest air shows.

It will be expected to bring a stunning performance to the audiences. Get a preview before the show and greatly admire the beauty and luxury exterior, perceive the spectacular glide and gentle landing of B787-9 Dreamliner of Vietnam Airlines!

‘White Appreciation Day’ at Colorado barbecue joint makes colorful statement

Via comment by Anonymous on Police department disbanded after multiple run-ins...


The only thing Steve Adams knew about the Rubbin Buttz BBQ is that its Hispanic owners were hosting “White Appreciation Day” on Thursday, but that was enough to persuade him to make the hourlong drive for lunch.

“It’s nice to know someone else doesn’t think that we’re the enemy,” said Mr. Adams, who lives about 50 miles away in Aurora, as he and his friend Art Babic waited for a table in the packed restaurant.

“We’re all the same,” he said. “It’s only in more recent years that we’ve got everybody separated. So if this is bringing everybody together, it’s a good thing.”

What Happened to Dixie on Friday Nights?

Via comment by Ron Russell on Color Me Black

JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS AGO, THE SOUNDS OF "DIXIE" FILLED THE AIR ON THOSE  COOL AUTUMN NIGHTS AS THE YOUNG GLADIATORS PREPARED TO DO BATTLE ON THE LOCAL FOOTBALL FIELD.   THE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS STILL BURN AND THE YOUNG MEN KNOCK HEADS ON THE FIELD WHILE THE FANS CHEER ON THEIR HEROES.  BUT SOMETHING IS MISSING.  SOMETHING THAT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS HAS MANAGED TO SNUFF OUT.  HELL YOU GUESS IT, THAT HISTORICAL OLE SOUTHERN FIGHTING SONG ---  DIXIE


Live performance by the 2nd South Carolina String Band at the 2010 re-enactment of Cedar Creek.

Report: Obamacare Helped Cover Cost of Sex Change Surgery

 WTOC/screenshot

Lisa Larson of South Carolina was told sex change surgery could cost $70,000, but Larson claims that thanks to Obamacare the price will be closer to $5,000.

WTOC in Savannah, GA, had an exclusive interview with Larson Wednesday. “For a vaginoplasty, breast implants, facial reconstruction, hormones, laser hair removal, for everything that needed to be done, my first quote was $70,000,” Larson told WTOC.

More with video @ Breitbart

Senatory Shelby blocks Obama from forcing taxpayers to fund illegal immigrants’ legal defense

Via Carl

Illegal immigrants jump a fence along the U.S.-Mexican borden (Photo: Bob Moore)

A budgeting request by President Obama that would have spent $50 million in taxpayer funds on lawyers for unaccompanied minors immigrating to the United States illegally was blocked by the Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee led by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) during the markup process for Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill this week.

More @ Yellowhammer

NC: 13-Year-Old Injured After Reported Shark Attack at Ocean Isle Beach

 http://www.wchstv.com/template/ugc/wchs/1696/90hxjTI1.JPG

13-year-old girl was injured after a shark bit her and her boogie board today in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, according to the town's mayor.

The teen suffered lacerations on her foot, but was not severely injured after the shark attack, which occurred around 12:40 p.m., Mayor Debbie Smith told ABC affiliate WWAY.

More @ ABC

Obama-backed trade bill fails in the House 302 to 126!

Via Billy

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2015/06/20150612_TPP.jpg

President Obama suffered a major defeat to his Pacific Rim free trade initiative Friday as House Democrats helped derail a key presidential priority despite his last-minute, personal plea on Capitol Hill.

The House voted 302 to 126 to sink a measure to grant financial aid to displaced workers, fracturing hopes at the White House that Congress would grant Obama fast-track trade authority to complete an accord with 11 other Pacific Rim nations.

NC: Melvin Garten, Army's most decorated colonel, dies

Via Carl

Combat veteran


When Col. Melvin Garten retired from the Army in 1968, officials said he was the most decorated colonel in the force.

He also was two years removed from death in the jungles of Vietnam.

After being blown up by a Viet Cong mine, Col. Garten had no pulse and a drastically reduced temperature when he was brought to a field hospital in Nha Trang.

But the officer, who had begun his career as an enlisted soldier at the beginning of World War II, didn't stop fighting. And quick-working Army surgeons revived Col. Garten even after they had proclaimed him deceased.

Col. Garten, 93, died May 2 at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

When Col. Garten retired at Fort Bragg, he held many of the Army's top medals, including the nation's second highest award - the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as three Silver Stars, five Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Joint Commendation Medals and two Air Medals.

His last position was as chief of staff for the 12th Support Brigade.

In an interview in 1968 with the Observer, Col. Garten said his wife, Ruth, had received notice of his being wounded, missing or dead on seven occasions.

Those dances with death cost him more than just a leg.

More @ Fay Observer

Why America Hates the GOP-Obamatrade Deal

 http://www.redstate.com/uploads/2015/06/a-devils-pact.jpg

Constitutional conservatives don't like it. Trade unions abhor it. Obama critics hate it. Environmentalists despise it.

Outside the Beltway bubble, a broad coalition of voters from the left, right and center opposes the mega-trade deal getting rammed through Congress this week by the Republican establishment on behalf of the White House. Here's why.

The Obama administration, House GOP leader John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sold out American sovereignty. Their so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission will have sweeping authority over trade, immigration, environmental, labor and commerce regulations.

More @ Rasmussen

The Appalachian Messenger June 12, 2015

http://appalachianmessenger.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/juneam-1024x185.jpg 
Spend  enough  time  contemplating  the  lunacy  that  pervades  society and  you  find  that  physical  reality  offers  blessed  relief.  Release  a ball and it drops because of the earth’s  mass and consequently, its gravity. It works every time, not subject to anyone’s whim. Gravity, time, space, light, energy, and other phenomena can be defined and explained.

As  science  progresses,  definitions  and  explanations change  as  scientists search  for the logic that  most closely correspond to reality. Many of  humanity’s affairs, on the other hand, defy logic and deny reality.

One  innovation  combines  the  unfortunate  propensities  to  defy  and  deny with the mathematical certainty of Boyle’s law and the mechanical precision  of  a  dropping  guillotine  blade:  debt.

The Eighteenth Century to the Twentieth

 Jefferson 3

Judged by the quality of the men it brought to power the eighteenth-century Virginia way of selecting political leadership was extremely good; but judged by modem standards of political excellence, it was defective at nearly every point. As for voting qualifications, there was discrimination against women, poor men, and Negroes. There was no secrecy in voting, and polling places—only one in each county—were spaced too far apart. The two-party system was not in existence. Local government was totally un­democratic, and few offices at any level of government were filled by direct vote of the people: only burgesses in the colonial period and not many other officers for many years after the Revolution. Such modem refinements of political processes as the nominating primary, initiative, referendum, popular recall, proportional voting, and mechanical voting machines were, of course, unknown.

Nearly every detail of the political processes of eighteenth-century Virginia has been repudiated; but, at the same time, the men elevated by those processes have come to be regarded as very great men. Here is a dilemma in an area of fundamental importance, and its resolution is no simple matter. Was eighteenth-century Virginia so full of great men that a random selection would have provided government with a goodly supply of great statesmen? If not, must it not follow that the selective system played an important part in bringing to the top the particular men who managed the public affairs of that day?

Illegal Immigration in North Carolina: $2.0 Billion Annual Fiscal Costs

Via Mike

http://oneoldvet.com/images/tp032614a.png

My article on the cost of illegal immigration in NC is worth reviewing again.. HB 328 now in the NC House would give drivers permits to illegal immigrants. This is a magnet for illegal immigrants, which would probably (almost certainly) explode illegal immigration in NC,  especially since other Southern States are avoiding such foolish laws.

The impact on education here is probably understated, because it does not include the full impact of teaching dual-language students. The NCEA (Teachers'Union) might like it because it would create more teacher positions to focus on  the enormous problem created when massive illegal immigration occurs. Over 76 percent of NC voters oppose driver permits for illegal immigrants.  A referendum on this issue was rejected by Oregon voters by more than two to one. Yet special interests in North Carolina including the NC Chamber, NC Farm Bureau, and the restaurant, hospitality, and building industry are pushing HB 328 with all their financial might.

This Republican bill passed the House Finance Committee last week and can be voted on any day. This bill also violates the NCGOP Platform of 2014. The results of this bill will be tragic for North Carolina workers, taxpayers, schools, and every patriotic citizen who does not want his see NC politically dominated by special interest money from inside and outside the state. Any Republican Representative who votes for this must be thrown out of office in the 2016 primaries.

Illegal Immigration in North Carolina
$2.0 Billion Annual Fiscal Costs

Mike Scruggs
March 16, 2014

The Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR) has just released a multi-resourced report entitled The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on North Carolinians.  (See www.fairus.org) With 410,000 illegal immigrants, 4.3 percent of the population, North Carolina ranks 11th among the states impacted. At the end of 2013, the state had 323,000 or 6.9 percent unemployed, ranking 17 out of 50 states in percentage unemployed.

 The fiscal costs of illegal immigration in North Carolina are estimated at $2.0 billion per year or 9.7 percent of the state’s $20.7 billion annual budget. This is $578 annually for each North Carolina native or naturalized citizen household.

 In 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly passed an "immigration enforcement" bill that actually weakened immigration enforcement. This bill, HB 786, was essentially a special interest bill for agriculture, restaurant, hospitality, and construction associations. Both the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Farm Bureau lobbied heavily for its passage.

 HB 786 was vetoed by Governor McCrory, but his veto was overridden by the General Assembly. The principal fault of the bill was that it widened the gap of non-enforcement of the State's E-Verify law, which requires employers to check the immigration status of job applicants. Weakening enforcement attracts illegal immigrants.

 The bill's principal sponsors in the NC House (www.ncga.state.nc.us), sad to say, were Republicans. They actually proposed that illegal immigrants be issued North Carolina driving permits to help them get to and from jobs. This outrageous provision was fortunately defeated by more sensible Republicans.

 The $2.0 billion estimate includes $1.3 billion for education of the children of illegal immigrants, including $299 million per year for supplemental English instruction for 90,000 children of illegal immigrants. The state pays approximately 71 percent of this, and county and local governments pay 29 percent.

 Healthcare for unlawful immigrants costs $232 million per year, public assistance $79 million, and law enforcement and justice $216 million per year. Another $212 million is incurred for general government services used.

 A significant portion of the $2.0 billion annual cost of illegal immigration in NC impacts at the county level, disproportionately affecting counties with high numbers of illegal immigrants.

 North Carolina Illegal immigrants pay only $288 million in taxes per year, most of which are sales taxes. They pay less than $14 million per year in income taxes. These taxes do not offset the slightly over $2.0 billion cost, because illegal immigrant workers are effectively displacing American workers who are paid nearly 40 percent more and therefore pay more taxes. In addition, tax fraud and tax avoidance are rampant among illegal immigrant workers. Cheap foreign labor for employers is a sizable fiscal burden on taxpayers.

 Any significant amnesty, by the way, would increase annual fiscal costs substantially. Changing an illegal immigrant to a lawful immigrant increases their eligibility for government healthcare and retirement benefits and attracts more illegal immigrants.                                                                                                                            

 Besides the fiscal costs of maintaining 410,000 illegal immigrants, the economic costs to North Carolina workers are considerable. Excessive cheap foreign labor, illegal or legalized, displaces North Carolina workers and drives down their wages. It must also be noted here that illegal immigrant labor is only a fraction of the fiscal and economic burden imposed on America by the combination of illegal immigrant labor plus increasingly excessive and irresponsible legal importation of cheap foreign labor in the face of high American unemployment and record low American workforce participation.

 I do not have numbers specific to North Carolina, but according to the research of Harvard labor economist George Borjas, the economic costs of cheap foreign labor to all American workers far exceeds the fiscal costs. According to Borjas, foreign-born labor (both legal and illegal) contributes $1.6 trillion (11 percent) to the GDP of the American economy, but the net benefit is only $35 billion. This $35 billion net economic gain to the economy is more than offset by U.S. annual fiscal costs of illegal immigration (alone), approximately $84 billion in 2009, paid by U.S., state, and local taxpayers.

 The immigrants benefit, of course, but the $35 billion benefit to the economy is comprised of an annual loss of $402 billion for American workers and a $437 billion profit for the employers of lower cost imported labor. What is really happening is that there is an annual transfer of $402 billion from American workers, whose wages are driven down by cheap foreign labor competition, to the employers of cheap foreign labor. The economic cost per American worker is about $2,800 per year. The employers are causing even more harm by displacing American workers and pushing many onto unemployment or other government programs paid for by the ever-exploited taxpayers.

  It is no wonder lobbyists spend $300 million per year to influence Congress and state legislatures on immigration issues.

 A 2006 research report by the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is a lesson in how lobbyist pressures can taint corporate and even academic economic studies. This report gave as an argument for cheap and even illegal immigrant labor—specifically citing Latino labor—that $1.0 billion in labor costs had been saved in building 27,000 North Carolina homes in 2004. Wow!  What about work for North Carolina workers? This is a near perfect illustration of how American workers are hurt by cheap foreign labor, legal or illegal.

 In addition, there are important costs that are extremely difficult to measure. Few issues are as important as public safety, but North Carolina’s $216 million annual expenditures on justice and law enforcement resulting from illegal immigration cannot measure the cost of illegal immigrant crime to its victims. An independent organization, NCFire (www.ncfire.info) is attempting to track these tragic and highly significant statistics.

 Unfortunately, most North Carolina voters have not noticed that they are paying a huge burden in taxes, unemployment, lower wages, and increased exposure to crime for the benefit of commercial and political special interests.

Jeff Sessions Issues Final ‘Critical Alert’: Obamatrade Just Like Amnesty, Obamacare

Via Conservative Heritage Times

http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/05/sen-jeff-sessions-2012-reuters.jpg

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
80%
, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, is issuing one final clarion call against Obamatrade as the House readies to vote on the matter on Friday.

Sessions’ final “critical alert,” one of several he’s issued throughout the Obamatrade process, shows House Ways and Means Committee chairman


Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
60%
has been engaged in deception as he attempts to guide Obamatrade’s passage through the House.

“Promoters of fast-track executive authority have relied on semantic obfuscation in an effort to deny the obvious: the President’s top priority is obtaining fast-track authority because he knows it will expand his powers and allow him to cement his legacy through the formation of a new political and economic union,” Sessions said.

More @ Breitbart

Police department disbanded after multiple run-ins with city councilwoman and her drug-dealing son

Via comment by Anonymous on 'He did nothing wrong': Florida principal fired af...

 City Councilwoman Janet Dixon, who is seen here interfering with a police investigation into domestic battery by her son.
City Councilwoman Janet Dixon, who is seen here interfering with a police investigation into domestic battery by her son.

Wellston, Missouri no longer has a police department to call their own. The city of 2,300 watched as all 23 of their police officers were forced to turn in their badges earlier this week, after their police department was disbanded, thanks to a city council vote. While the move caught quite a few residents by surprise, those that were plugged into the tensions between the city council and the police department may have seen the writing on the wall.

As LEO Affairs reported earlier this year, tensions between a certain city councilwoman and the police department had been heating up for quite some time. Late in 2013, Wellston police officers raided the home of Terrance Dixon after getting a tip that he was selling crack cocaine and heroin out of the house. Terrance Dixon happens to be the son of city councilwoman Janet Dixon, and according to sources, Councilwoman Dixon did not take kindly to the raid. A short time after the raid, three officers, including the one that captured Dixon on tape confessing to selling drugs out of his house, were fired by the city council.

More with videos @ LEO Affairs