Bits Bucket for November 18, 2015
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Warmist Warming Wednesday
October obliterated heat records:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/564b9f80e4b045bf3df1864b
Fortunately, the Arctic ice extent is recovering despite all these warm Octobers in the Western US.
Funny how that happens every November through March. It’s this thing called “winter.”
YoY Pineapple, not MoM. This is why we haven’t seen any hysterical headlines about the Arctic for a while. Also, the Greenland snowpack accumulation (YoY) is rising. How you’re going to profit from beachfront property in Kansas at this rate is a mystery.
The climate and circulation patterns are very complex and it is completely unrealistic to expect changes to occur in linear fashion. Over the short term there will be ups and downs in temperatures, ice cover, glacial melting, etc. but the long term trend remains clear as day. RIP “The Pause” 1999-2015
Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean near the dateline has hit a sizzling 30 F (86 F). Texas and Kansas just had an F-3 tornado in mid-November. In the last 5 years, 96% of all U.S. counties have recorded a weather extreme.
Nah, the climate’s not screwed up, not at all.
WPA, you are a “have your pineapple upside down cake and eat it too” kind of guy.
You’re hyperventilating again Lola.
You’re right. What IS screwed up is that some people want to get filthy rich off of other people who believe that it is.
Got carbon credits?
If by “screwed up”, you mean the climate varies significantly, and often times in unpredictable ways, then you are right, and the climate has been “screwed up” since the planet was formed.
The trick is determining which part of the “screwed up” climate is due to fossil fuels releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, and which part is due to the fact that there is a lot of other sh*t going on.
People would like you to believe that we have a clear picture of what is happening by looking back a many decades. Regardless of what people say about the clarity of that picture, the picture becomes far more murky when you extend your lens farther back in time.
It’s entertaining, if not disappointing, to watch people shriek over this, always presented as this or that (and nothing else). Why not both?
I took a Geology class several years ago (so that makes me an expert climatologist - sarcasm) out of interest in how the PacNW was formed (Puget Sound, Columbia River, Cascades, Missoula Floods). But one of the main takeaways for me was that scientific evidence suggests that over 100s of millions of years, cycles have occurred and that once a cycle starts, other inputs make it worse, for example methane release when ocean levels decrease causing a spiral effect and leading to mass extinction. So, it’s not unreasonable that there is a cyclic effect. It’s also not unreasonable to assume that a bunch of fossil fuel burning monkeys can magnify the effects of that cycle.
How are house prices doing in your ‘hood?
“It’s entertaining, if not disappointing, to watch people shriek over this, always presented as this or that (and nothing else). Why not both?”
I completely agree.
The questions that no one is trying to answer (or so it seems from the shrieking) is “What should we do? How much will it cost? Are we sure it would have the effect we are targeting? All considered, are those resources better spent elsewhere? Why not?”
What gets done is quite often the wrong thing when the problem isn’t well understood. Skillful problem solvers are given to examining the actual problem with proposed possible causes and look for things that don’t make sense or don’t support the most probably cause theory. Politically, we have outlawed that process, so I think doing the wrong thing is almost guaranteed.
In this issue ironically we have a possible cause without yet a problem, so rigorous problem solving is impossible.
Just to give an example of how the situation might be questioned analytically: How is the theory that CO2 in the air causes global warming supported by the fact that the largest and most sudden expansion of industrial CO2 belching industry in the history of the world has happened in the past decade or so in China, and the globe responded with a decade of flat temperature?
How are those temperatures in the Pacific measured? Mostly by satellites. Does anyone here know how they calibrate those satellites? Further, does anyone here know what is typically the single biggest contaminant to measurement of accurate sea surface temperatures by satellites? Of course not, but the useless idiots are going to spend their lives hand wringing over global warming/climate change because thats what their masters have programmed them to do.
All of it is simply cover for control and taxation, with the papers published declaring government sponsored scientists determine government is the solution to all of our problems. Funny how that works.
John Kasich calls for new big government agency to promote “Judeo-Christian values” around the world:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/564bc6d9e4b08cda348b6727
Article giving more proof that leftists hate all religion except Islam.
Yeah, but instead of closing the border to muslim immigrants the neocon Congress and neocon Hillary are gonna launch another trillion dollar war
Invade the World, Invite the World.
Invade the World, Invite the World ??
Something in my gut tells me that this Paris attack is a game changer…Just the idea that Putin, Obama, Merkel & Valls would be holding hands to eradicate these scum bags was unthinkable just 3 months ago…France is moving to a war footing…They are not going to let this go without a massive response and article #5 removes the question about Obama needing to make the call to go…If France is in, NATO is in…The interesting part is the possibility that Putin would be working with NATO…But after the downing of the Russian Plane, Putin likely feels he has a window to do it…
What about the attacks in the London subway years ago, or the one on the train that those Americans thwarted? Why did those attacks not invoke the “act of war” thing? Was Paris the (hefty) straw to break the camel’s back? Final confirmation that this crowd of fine folks is heck-bent on murdering civilians, just because?
A couple hundred dead is no game changer.
Which part of the article proves that?
You contribute no original thought or content of value here
All you do is snipe and anklebite and nitpick
Is that in your Southern Poverty Law Center employee handbook?
“All you do is snipe and anklebite and nitpick”
That’s why a few of our more notable prancers wear their pants around their ankles.
No, a false statement was made and I pointed that out.
Stop it with the ad hominem attacks already!
Ben, do we need to establish a safe space for the HBB’s resident special snowflakes?
SnowFlake! Bwhahahahahahah!
Which part do you think?
There’s nothing in there at all to support your claim. Can you answer the question now? Which part do you think?
What’s with all the dumb questions?
Which part do you think I think?
So your statement is false. Thanks for admitting that.
You’re playing chess with a pigeon, Mikey.
Snowflake,
Respond to his question.
At least you didn’t write that I’m playing chess while he’s playing checkers. That’s such a dumb phrase.
Us Libertarians do not need religion and think it cause as much harm as good. so it is even.
They should not get tax breaks!
Breitbart dot com rallies the base:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/17/hillary-obama-prefer-islam-christianity/
Too bad Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin’s design for the great seal of the United States wasn’t adopted along with their motto, it would show clearly that this country began as a judeochristian nation. Some don’t like that but it’s clearly true.
Too bad their warnings about the “monied interests” weren’t taken to heart, either. We might not have allowed the oligopoly to capture our political process and institutions to the degree they have.
John Adams and his wife were war bond speculators. It’s always been.
Since then, it’s been discovered that your sky wizard doesn’t exist, and was just a massive fraud to manipulate the frightened and gullable.
Many are still frightened and gullable, but things are improving.
Too bad you are wrong. The Treaty with Tripoli in 1796 Article 11 says in no way is America a Christian nation.
FoxNewsHate rallies the base, says Russia and France making USA look like sissyboys, USA not dropping enough bombs on browns, needs to drop more bombs on browns:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/17/france-russia-pummel-isis-stronghold-as-critics-blast-us-rules-engagement/
Drudge Report link to rally the base, feces and a torn up quran left at a mosque:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20151118/us–paris_attacks-muslim_backlash-6654f351f3.html
Maybe some Sikhs will get beat up too, they’re brown and wear funny hats
Clinton Foundation Failed to Report $20M in Donations from Governments
Morgan Chalfant | Free Beacon - November 17, 2015
The Clinton Foundation failed to report $20 million in donations from governments to the Internal Revenue Service, newly refiled tax returns show.
Reuters reported that the foundation disclosed the $20 million it received from governments, most of them foreign, between 2010 and 2013 when it and a spin-off organization refiled tax returns from six years to fix errors.
The Bill, Hillary, & Chelsea Clinton Foundation did not previously separate out its donations from governments on old tax returns as is mandated by the IRS.
The foundation refiled tax returns from 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 and a charity spun off from the foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, refiled its own returns from 2012 and 2013 after both were found to have made errors reporting funds from foreign governments. The revelations about inaccuracies came just as Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate for president, endured scrutiny for the millions of dollars that her family foundation has received from foreign governments.
http://www.infowars.com/…/ - 115k -
Interesting. I wonder if we will ever see Romney’s tax return?
“Interesting. I wonder if we will ever see Romney’s tax return?”
Ask Harry Reid
Harry Reid: Yes, I lied about Romney
Senator says no regrets – the ends justify the means
Published: 04/01/2015 at 6:16 AM.
“He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years,” Reid said then. “Now do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain, but obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?”
After making the statement, Reid then took to the Senate floor.
“As we know, [Romney] has refused to release his tax returns,” Reid said. “If a person coming before this body wanted to be a cabinet officer, he couldn’t be if he had the same refusal Mitt Romney does about tax returns. So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove he has paid taxes, because he has not.”
In an interview with CNN this week, Reid was asked about his “McCarthyite” claims about Romney and refused to admit wrongdoing.
“Well, they can call it whatever they want,” he said. “Romney didn’t win, did he?”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/harry-reid-i-lied-about-romney/#eqlHcPU65587KLgf.99
Harry Reid: Yes, I lied about Romney
Where does he say he lied?
Where? Apparently in close proximity to the Senate floor.
Sounds like the claim he said he lied is a lie. Rather ironic, no?
No
Pretending to not understand what a lie is…
Of course, World News Daily, I’m almost embarrassed I even bothered to read it.
Do you read that daily, phony, or are snippets just sent to your inbox?
There could be a video of Hillary blowing Hitler’s ant infested corpse while crushing babies and kittens and puppies to death and they’d still vote for her. Entirely free pass.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs!
Maybe Hillary was just confused.
Hillary is ‘often confused,’ says trusted aide Huma in fresh emails
By Marisa Schultz
November 16, 2015 | 5:00pm
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide said her boss is “often confused” and needs plenty of guidance to understand the schedule, according to fresh emails out Monday.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, released new emails from Huma Abedin that show her concern among her State Department staff on making sure Clinton knew whom to call.
In one email exchange on Jan. 26, 2013, Abedin asks fellow staffer Monica Hanley whether Clinton knows to call Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Hanley replies: “She was in bed for a nap by the time I heard that she had an 8am call. Will go over with her.”
Abedin stresses the importance of reviewing the schedule with Clinton: “Very imp to do that. She’s often confused.”
nypost.com/…/16/hillary-is-often-confused-says-trusted-aide-huma-in-fresh-emails/ - 346k -
And don’t forget the Crater Taters Lola.
LOLZ
The Democrat Party base is as willfully stupid as they are amoral. President Clinton is assured.
How did Hillary’s path to the White House become so invincibly inevitable?
One lie at a time?
It ain’t. Her path to the nomination is. 80 percent of the Rs have already said they’d vote for Trump if he’s the nominee. Whereas the tea party base will not vote similarly for the proamnesty establishment candidate jebrubiowhomever. He’s far out in front of everyone and will be the nominee.
Trump v. Hillary. I’m fine with that. Seems like a better chance for choice than any other realistic possibility. Choose amnesty or not.
My vote is for Nobody because Nobody will abolish the taxation.
How did Hillary’s path to the White House become so invincibly inevitable?
Because 95% of the electorate are stupid, and nearly half are on some kind of FSA entitlements. Do the math.
It used to be nearly half last election. Now it’s more than half.
Yup. And though many Ds despise Hillary, they will hold their noses and vote “not Trump,” which is why she will win.
If a corporation was doing sh*t like this, many would call for the resignation of the CEO/CFO.
Clinton was SoS from 2009-2013…taking $20MM from foreign governments and not disclosing? Seriously?
‘I resent the people who got lucky’
A successful tech hub may bring with it the riches of innovation, investment and political kudos - but not everybody wants one on their doorstep.
Teacher Radel Swank is having a drink in a bar in San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
It might be a while before she’s able to do so again - since becoming unemployed, Ms Swank is experiencing first-hand the high price of living among a successful tech hub when you’re not part of the IT crowd.
She has already had to trade in her flat for a rented room in a shared house, and with Silicon Valley property prices averaging just below $1m (£656,000) according to the US National Association of Realtors, the first rung of the housing ladder feels further away than ever.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34831188
Radel Swank: “But if you’re a teacher or a waitress or something… I resent the people who got lucky and got to just get out of college, get a job, buy a house, be rich instantly.”
These ladies don’t want to earn it… always looking for an angle.
But in many cases it is a lotto.
(One that I’ve always lost lol)
Yup. I call it “winning the employment lottery.” Example: If I had gone to work at Microsoft when I graduated from college in 1990, I’d be a retired multi-millionaire right now.
I have, OTOH, won the “you get to seek new opportunities” lottery more than once!
Ethan, now that you’ve been in NOVA for a couple years and have the benefit of hindsight - all told, was it a good move for you?
I keep telling my underemployed tech friends in CT that they ought to pull up stakes and move to Metro DC. I would be really dismayed if I were telling them wrong information.
Radel Swank is having a drink in a bar in San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley ??
San Jose is not in the “heart” of Silicon Valley…San Jose politicians claim that but nothing could be farther from the truth…San Jose would be considered “outside” the core of Silicon Valley by most that live here…Now Mt. View/San Mateo ?? If I had to pick “one” spot that would be it although Santa Clara would be a strong contender also…
The Adobe peeps disagree.
eBay too!
She could move to a cheaper locale. Heck, I’m part of the “IT Crowd” and I have no desire at all to live in Silicon Valley, even if it was affordable.
+1. Go east, young woman. I’m sure there are plenty of semi-rural Oil Cities that could use teachers.
More likely, she’s having a drink at that bar hoping to “get lucky” by attracting and latching onto a rich IT person. That’s how the ladies “earn it” these days. As I’ve said before, the oldest profession is the only one that’s still hiring.
Was walking around Palo Alto and stunned by all the women at the park with kids. Looks like the 50s ideal is still alive somewhere.
Did you happen to notice the serial sexual predators lurking in the bushes? Afterall, we’re talking about San Francisco area.
Your flyoverlander geography has put you win the wrong bushes, but I’m sure you can still find a special friend to indulge your fantasies.
Remember….. San Francisco crime is up 400% and it is home to the largest number of sexual predators of any city in the US.
Better stay in Topeka then. You wouldn’t believe what happens to frightened little closet cases when they step off the bus…
You can continue to daydream about it though.
And it might have something to do with the raging poverty in Californica.
California The Welfare Capital Of The US
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2012/jul/28/welfare-capital-of-the-us/
Why does Californica lead the nation in crime, poverty and sexual predation?
Broken window economists are busying themselves trying to convince the masses how war and terrorism are good for the economy.
Aside from neutralizing individuals whose principle goal is to destroy the well being of others, what basic economic value is created? Possibilities include food, shelter, transportation, medical care, education, clothing, and recreation. Exactly which of these human wants are met by the conduct of war or terrorism?
What ended the Great Depression?
All wars are bankers’ wars
Just doin’ God’s work.
One could argue that the Marshall Plan ended the Great Depression.
However, the assertion that one needed to have WWII in order to get to the Marshall plan seems patently specious. And besides, no econometrician would trust statistical conclusions based on a sample size of 1.
What about the War on Poverty in that sample?
How did the Marshall Plan end the Great Depression?
How did WWII end the Great Depression?
With Roosevelt’s decision to support Britain and France in the struggle against Germany and the other Axis Powers, defense manufacturing geared up, producing more and more private sector jobs. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to an American declaration of war, and the nation’s factories went back in full production mode. This expanding industrial production, as well as widespread conscription beginning in 1942, reduced the unemployment rate to below its pre-Depression level.
http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression
‘Paul Krugman: Think about World War II, right?…If we discovered that space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren’t any aliens, we’d be better -’
‘Ken Rogoff: And we need Orson Welles, is what you’re saying.’
‘Paul Krugman: No, there was a Twilight Zone episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time…we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.’
I was just thinking; in 500 years or more, people are going to search through the history of this period and find this. What do you suppose they will make of it?
Mikey:
Look up a guy named William Knudson - he was the one who basically told Roosevelt to his face - get the hell outta the way and the American juggernaut can build you an army and navy to defeat facism. Look up this guy - tough as nails he was.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2012/05/02/how-free-enterprise-saved-civilization/
“make of it?”
Surely that for them, in that future time, that This Time is Different.
Find what, Ben? The Onion? Breitbart? HBB?
If he actually said anything like that, it was nonsense. It was also good that he was ignored. Building an army and a navy required a lot more than industrial production, though that was very important.
We might also add that what Mr. Knudsen was engaged in would be called central planning by some people.
“How did the Marshall Plan end the Great Depression?”
The Great Depression left Europe and the rest of the developed world in a permanent state of economic demise, and WWII furthered the damage by destroying Europe’s productive capital.
If it were not for the Marshall Plan, the Depression might have continued to this day.
‘Find what’
That link is CNN. They’ll probably have it microfiched somewhere eventually.
“Sir, we have researched this idea from the man Paul Krugman in the 21st century.Our conclusion is he was not an economist, but rather what they called at the time, a “Village Idiot.” We think he might have looked like this”
LOLZ
sample size of 1.
Hard to deny that the Great Depression and WW2 pretty much disprove the broken windows fallacy, as attractive as it is from a moral standpoint. Unless someone has a better explanation for what ended the Great Depression, other than WW2 or the Marshall Plan, which are basically the same thing.
the assertion that one needed to have WWII in order to get to the Marshall plan seems patently specious
Is that not a strong argument in favor of Keynesian economics? “
what ended the Great Depression
The business cycle.
After a decade of not working, the business cycle kicked in at the exact same time as WW2 started? That seems like quite a coincidence.
And then we need to explain the 20 or so years of great prosperity that America experienced after the war. Another coincidence? That’s too many.
Some say the GD ended in the early ’50s. In that case, there is no coincidence at all.
That would be an odd thing to say. On the other hand, America went to war again in the early ’50s.
“WW2 or the Marshall Plan, which are basically the same thing.”
Destroying a continent’s infrastructure and rebuilding it are basically the same thing.
Uh-huh…
I thought all those people permanently put out of the workforce (6 feet down) by war had plenty to do with the drop in unemployment.
Mortgage delinquencies, foreclosure starts, and foreclosure inventory continues to fall: https://www.mba.org/Images/NDS%20Tables.png
These trends move slowly. Even if we get a recession in 2016 it could be 2017, 2018 or so before the trends reverse.
Are you now predicting a recession in 2016?
No, not predicting, but in the big picture it feels like production, demand, revenues and earnings are sputtering and may be rolling over.
With foreclosure moratoriums in effect, it’s useless data.
appreciation is wealth creation.
“appreciation is wealth creation.”
Amazingly true. People “vote up” prices hence they vote up equity values - which creates wealth.
Remember……. I can ask $50k for my 12 year old Chevy pickup but where is that buyer at that price?
Washington Times (Unification Church, yes it’s a Moonie rag) rallies the base:
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/17/obama-says-gun-control-be-top-issue-final-year/
Another way he can screw Hills. It’s all happening!
“Major Market Index Fails Key Test”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-18/major-market-index-fails-key-test
Hello Vladimir.
Don’t be a Lola.
http://www.infowars.com/feinstein-youre-not-a-real-journalist-unless-you-draw-a-salary/
Breadth, Buybacks, & The Piercing Of The “Grandaddy Of All Bubbles”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-15/breadth-buybacks-piercing-grandaddy-all-bubbles
Useless overcapacity in everything everywhere and the biggest smoldering pile of debt in history.
“Breadth”? Isn’t that how Lola orders bread at a restaurant?
I’m certain.
Speaking of…. I’m guessing we sent Lola into such a frenzied state of enragement that she went on another bender. She ought to be coming out of the blackout right now……. in the alley with her pants around her ankles.
Comrade Pelosi better scurry down to the border to welcome millions more Democrat-on-Arrival (DOA) voters.
http://news.yahoo.com/cuban-migrants-paralyze-nicaragua-costa-rica-border-115320250.html
“97 percent of the 100 poorest counties in America are in red states.”
If you make war profitable for the elite you will have a lot more war. Thank you privatization.
http://billmoyers.com/2015/11/16/we-got-scammed-by-government-contractors-in-iraq-and-afghanistan/
My favorite is the 49 million dollar natural gas power station that had an equivalent built in Pakistan for a few hundred thousand. Built in an area with no infrastructure to deliver nat gas and no cars converted for it’s use. Brilliant.
Government contractors cost taxpayers half a trillion dollars a year
No doubt, but the reality is that many of these contractors are paid to do the jobs of the government mandarins. Many in .gov believe their only task is to hand money out like santa claus. No oversight or quality control is exercised. Just fraud draining the taxpayers, all enabled by Uncle Scam.
Since we’re always okay with spending more money, can’t we just pay Brazil to take the Syrian refugees? They’re broke and it’s probably cheaper for us anyway.
From Brazil to Mexico is just a hope, skip & a jump.
The Brazilians are smart enough to not take them.
Built in an area with no infrastructure to deliver nat gas and no cars converted for it’s use ??
And this surprises you ??
‘The reconstruction of Iraq was by far the biggest nation-building effort in history, much bigger than the post-WWII Marshall Plan in cost, size, and complexity. Your part in it involved leading something called a “Provincial Reconstruction Team”—and the key here is that you were based outside Baghdad’s Green Zone, at a place called “Forward Operating Base Hammer.”
‘FOB Hammer was literally carved out of the desert in 2007. The idea was that simply killing folks was not going to accomplish what we wanted to do. In a war like Iraq, the battle for hearts and minds could only be won by reaching out to the Iraqi people. So people like me were sent out to the boondocks to take care of that hearts and minds thing.’
‘One of the problems of the reconstruction was that we were trying to do it while the de-construction was still going on. Iraq was still a dangerous place in 2007. When we went out to win hearts and minds, we had to travel in these military super-trucks—covered with armor plating, with machine guns on top. We wore body armor and helmets. We were like aliens in spaceships descending on the Iraqis. At best, we scared the heck out of people. When we roared through towns, our trucks tore down electric lines and phone lines that had been strung across the road.’
‘The reconstruction of Iraq cost Americans $63 billion. There was money everywhere in Iraq. Iraq had no bank wire transfers, no credit cards. Instead we had boxes and shopping bags filled with $100 bills. At one point I had a safe in my office with $100,000 in cash. I felt like a drug dealer. When we paid for a $2.5 million chicken processing plant, we paid for it in cash.’
‘The idea was conceived entirely in our own minds. Iraqis had been raising and selling chickens for about 4,990 years before we showed up, and it worked for them: farmers brought live chickens to the market, people brought live chickens home, slaughtered them and cooked them.’
‘We wanted none of that. We built a large chicken processing plant that was going to package and sell frozen chicken parts. It costs us $2.5 million. But the Iraqis don’t have refrigerators, in part because they don’t have reliable electricity. So the chicken processing plant just sat there. There’s an army video promoting the chicken processing plant as a great success story [watch it HERE], but it’s pathetic. The video shows eight or ten Iraqis plucking sadly at a few dead chickens, while the audio talks about hiring 400 people.’
‘The first indication this was all chicken shit was the smell as we arrived at the plant with a group of Embassy friends on a field trip. The odor that greeted us when we walked into what should have been the chicken-killing fields of Iraq was fresh paint. There was no evidence of chicken killing as we walked past a line of refrigerated coolers.’
‘When we opened one fridge door, expecting to see chickens chilling, we found instead old buckets of paint. Our guide quickly noted that the plant had purchased 25 chickens that morning specifically to kill for us and to feature in a video on the glories of the new plant. This was good news, a 100% jump in productivity from previous days, when the plant killed no chickens at all.’
‘With the fresh-chicken niche market satisfied by the live birds you killed yourself at home and our processed chicken too expensive, our poultry plant stayed idle; it could not afford to process any chicken. There was no unfulfilled market for the fresh halal birds we processed. Nobody seemed to have checked into this before we laid out our $2.58 million.’
The other point is that people with no jobs have no money but a lot of time, so they raise their own chickens.
That chicken processing plant was a 100,000 shell with 30 dollars of chicken for show. the 2.6 million went to a swiss bank account.
The Left’s New Censorship of Free Speech: “Check Your Privilege”
Rachel Alexander | May 26, 2014
Before you read and critique this article, you need to “check your privilege” - the left’s latest phrase to silence free speech from conservatives, a silly sounding but totalitarian new phrase. The reasoning behind the phrase goes like this: if someone is conservative, they must have turned out conservative because they were given advantages in society, likely related to their birth, and they now want to protect those alleged advantages. Since white males tend to be more conservative than other demographics, it follows that white males must be privileged. Their conservative views are motivated by an innate, self-protective selfishness.
As typical, instead of debating conservatives on the merits, the left is responding with an attempt to silence conservatives using a ridiculous response. This type of argument is flawed because it essentially reduces people to their physical characteristics. The left claims that the phrase is directed mostly at white men, in order to fool people and gain sympathy, but the phrase actually developed out of hate and is being used to target all conservatives. It’s meant to make the recipient feel guilty for being white or not gay or something else not closely associated with left wing views. Unbelievably, MSNBC co-host Krystal Ball asserts that the failure by these supposedly privileged people to acknowledge the sins of past generations of Americans - to whom they’re probably not even related - is considered offensive to others.
Conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter says the phrase reflects simply what normal people refer to as “success.” He says what the left considers privilege, is simply “a result of not being a human sloth, of not doing drugs, of not having kids we can’t afford them…doing more with our lives than waiting for Uncle Sucker to refill our EBT cards.” The phrase is not really about privilege, but a reflection of anger and jealousy.
What about the poor white kid who grew up in a predominantly minority school, where he was picked on because he was white? Is he supposed to check his privilege? What about the handicapped white person, who perhaps has lived their entire life in a wheelchair or blind? Is a white person whose ancestors never owned slaves more privileged than a black person’s ancestors who owned slaves? One white Princeton student who has had others tell him to check his privilege multiple times, wonders how he’s privileged considering many of his relatives died in the Holocaust. Incredulously, after he spoke out, Gawker and Newsweek actually launched investigations to see how he was funded and published.
Most of the leftists hurling this phrase around are white well-off hippies and Occupy Wall Street types attending Ivy League universities. The irony of them saying this to a blue-collar white male whose family has never made it to college is priceless. Buzzfeed created a “How privileged are you?” quiz - but a white male from a poor upbringing can easily score less privileged than a gay minority female.
This silly “privilege” put-down phrase is so rude the possible responses to it are endless. Schlichter said he’s checked his privilege, and it’s doing just fine. Perhaps tell the politically correct person to read Gladwell’s David and Goliath book. Or, tell them to check one of these: their totalitarian mindset, the First Amendment, their inferiority complex, dirty rotten attitude, jealousy, envy, manners, intelligence, racist attitude, mental illness, commie credentials, embarrassing attitude, or wussiness.
The truth is, the left prefers low-achieving people because they can control them as “useful idiots.” The left would rather keep minorities working at fast food restaurants for inflated wages because that ensures they are less educated and more likely to vote for them. The left loves to use emotionally-laden rhetoric to win people over, since the facts aren’t on their side. But this phrase was poorly chosen, and within a short period of time, if conservatives make fun of it enough, it will disappear just like many of the left’s former rallying calls, from “global warming” (now “climate change”) to homophobia (now “hate crime”) to the Equal Rights Amendment (now “War on Women”) to even their self-description which used to be “the left” (now “progressives”).
townhall.com/…/page/full - 111k -
Check yo white privilege!
Shouldn’t some of our resident special snowflakes be at their white priviledge conference instead of posting inane comments in here?
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7006
I wonder if any of the students in the library at the Black Lives Matter protest at Dartmouth who had “F*ck you, you filthy white f*cks!” “F*ck you and your comfort!” “F*ck you, you racist sh*ts!” shouted at them checked out any of the recommended books on this list?
Additionally, the university’s Center for Cultural Pluralism recommends various readings for its students, including “The Invention of the White Race,” “White Privilege, Male Privilege in Race, Class, Gender,” “The Feminist Classroom,” and “The Abolition of Whiteness.”
“BlackRock Liquidates Its Macro Hedge Fund Following Worst Loss Since Inception, Surge In Redemptions”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-18/blackrock-liquidates-its-macro-hedge-fund-following-worst-loss-inception-surge-redem
Loosers
Have you vilified and scapegoated a refugee today?
In light of the recent terrorist activity, here is how the GOP and Fox News/Breitbart/Drudge want you to react:
http://rightedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/scared.jpg
No amount of shaming language will convince me that it’s a good idea to bring those people here.
What about the idea that turning them away will create worse blowback? Better to admit a carefully vetted few?
You’re still turning a bunch away. I don’t see how letting a few in helps. The blowback is baked in at this point.
What about the idea that bringing them and having them watch their adopted homeland shell their former homeland could, over time, change their sentiment about their adopted homeland for the negative?
Of course the opposite could happen as in the case of the guy on the Frontline special last night who became an insurgent after 9/11 but has changed his ways after seeing the brutality of Eye-cis.
Lolas and Liberaces,
Your engagement with enragement is causing your derangement.
I am Mafia Blocks and I build cheap homes. My other name is “Chinese Drywall” or “14″s on center” We specialize in Appalachia Architecture.
No… You’re just prancing Liberace my friend.
Barron’s — now this is no liberal rag, mind you — rips into Trump for being very, very wrong on China.
Trump Is Wrong on China
Beijing’s currency isn’t undervalued, protectionism would backfire, and raising tensions with Beijing could lead to disaster.
Trump is the Chauncey Gardener of the apocalypse. Do you like to watch?
ISIS Releases Photo of Bomb That Brought Down Russian Airliner
Obama’s right, this is the JV team. And that’s the quandary: Twenty guys, with some organization and determination, can create massive havoc with low-tech weapons.
‘This Defense Intelligence Agency memo predicted the rise of ISIS, and declared “this is exactly what the supporting powers of the [Syrian Islamist] Opposition want.” And included among those “supporting powers” was the United States, which has been funding and training Islamist rebels in Syria for years with the goal of overthrowing the regime of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. As Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the DIA, put it in an interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hassan:
“Hasan: You are basically saying that even in government at the time you knew these groups were around, you saw this analysis, and you were arguing against it, but who wasn’t listening?
Flynn: I think the administration.
Hasan: So the administration turned a blind eye to your analysis?
Flynn: I don’t know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision.
Hasan: A willful decision to support an insurgency that had Salafists, Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood?
Flynn: It was a willful decision to do what they’re doing.”
Right, and the Saudis encouraged us to go along with creating a Sunni opposition group in eastern Syria to counter Iran/Hezbollah. The Saudis told us not to worry, the Sunni rebels could be “controlled” and they “would hit the right targets.” The plan backfired once Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi criminalized them, creating ISIS.
‘If a gaffe is the act of accidentally telling the truth, then Joe Biden pulled off the mother of all gaffes on Thursday:
‘Speaking at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Mr. Biden said allies including Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had extended unconditional financial and logistical support to Sunni fighters trying to oust the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.’
“President Erdogan told me,” he said, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, “ ‘You were right. We let too many people through. Now we are trying to seal the border.’
“Our allies poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad,” he said, including jihadists planning to join the Nusra Front and Al Qaeda.’
Hey Joe, this Turkish guy lied to you. ISIS is reinforced through Turkey. Some of these guys who did the Paris thing traveled through Turkey, fought in Syria, and returned through Turkey to Belgium and France
The definition of unintended consequences: Removing strongmen in the region allowed the Sunni-Shia conflict to blossom and led to the formation of ISIS, and the soft invasion of Europe.
So Assad may yet escape with his throne relatively intact as this policy will not continue be supported by Europe and Russia, and in fact, actively opposed.
Does it seem like paid libtards have infiltrated this board?
Housing Lola housing!
Some are paid, and some are actual Hillary koolaid drinkers
Take the most simple explanation as the most likely.
BTW Where is schoolmarm?
“Crude Tumbles To $40 Handle After DOE Confirms Significant Cushing Inventory Build”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-18/crude-tumbles-40-handle-after-doe-confirms-significant-cushing-inventory-build
And down through the floor goes a craterin’ crude…. Good news my friends . Goodnews.
from the National Review:
Why Hillary Will Likely Win the White House
key excerpt:
Republicans have very little in the way of popular policy proposals to counter the appeal of liberalism. The Republican presidential candidates have not built their campaigns on offering conservative ideas that would give any direct help to families trying to make ends meet. Their tax-cut proposals are almost all focused on people who make much more than the average voter. So far, Republicans do not seem to be even trying to erode the Democratic advantage on middle-class economics.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425863/hillary-clinton-2016-election-winner
Falling prices my friend. Nothing is better for your economy like falling prices. Nothing.
Watsonville, CA Housing Prices Crater 7% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/market-report/11-15/7784/watsonville-ca.xls?rt=14
There are probably a few things better for the economy.
Don’t backpedal.
Nothing accelerates you economy like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels.
“Republicans have very little in the way of popular policy proposals to counter the appeal of liberalism.”
Interpretation……More free sh*t for the FSA.
Insults and tears of rage are all the GOP has now.
“Empire Fed Misses (Again), Contracts For 4th Straight Month As Average Workweek Collapses”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-16/empire-fed-misses-again-contracts-4th-straight-month-average-workweek-collapses
Don’t Believe The Lie That Anyone Is Actually Trying To Stop ISIS
This is what the New World Order looks like, welcome to WWIII.
Geoffrey Grider | Investment Watchdog - November 17, 2015 406
Sometime back, Muslim-raised Barack Hussein Obama announced a “coalition of nations” that was designed to “defeat ISIS”. (except that he always calls them ISIL because of this). After some initial airstrikes-created-for-you-tube, it stopped being a talking point. Shortly after that, Obama then announced that ISIS could only be defeated with “better ideas and not guns“. End result of America’s Obama-led “allied bombing” of ISIS? The Muslim terror group has nearly doubled in size, strength and power. Conclusion? Either the world’s greatest military power is unable to defeat the “JV Team” of ISIS, or it really doesn’t want to. Then there’s Russia.
Back in the end of September, Russia made the very dramatic move of setting up a military front in Syria and immediately commenced bombing runs. It was all very swift and unsettling, but when the smoke cleared it turns out that Putin was not really going after ISIS, but against the anti-Assad rebels. Two months of bombing by the terrifying Russian Bear only succeeded in creating an ISIS that was able to pull off the greatest attack on France since WWII. Enter the French military effort to fight ISIS.
Within 48 hours after the Paris terror attacks, the French air force had run 20 bombing raids on ISIS in the Middle East. Very impressive stuff, eagerly lapped up by the YouTube audience it was geared to impress. Sunday’s bombing was the biggest French air raid that has taken place in Syria so far, and was described as a “massive” attack by a French defence ministry spokesman. According to a statement released by the ministry, the first target that the planes destroyed was a command post, which housed a recruitment centre and arms and munitions depot. End result? ISIS doesn’t seem phased in the least, as the raids didn’t attempt to blow up any of the terrorists, only buildings. Give it a week or two and no one will be talking about the French effort.
Within 48 hours after the Paris attacks, Obama ordered 5 more hardcore Islamic terrorist detainees in Gitmo to be sent back to the Middle East. The transferred detainees included four men who had been recommended for transfer by a 2009 task force made up of six security-related agencies. Those detainees are Khalid Abd Jal Jabbar Muhammad Juthman al Qadasi, Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel al Nahdi, Fahmi Salem Said al Sani and Adil Said al Haj Obeid al Busayss. There was also a man whom the task force recommended for continuing detention but whose status was later changed to transferable by a parole-like board. He is Ali Ahmad Muhammad al Rahizi. Now that’s a novel approach to fighting terrorism by releasing the prisoners and sending them back to the front. Ok, one more and I think you will get the complete picture.
Antalya, Turkey – Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he has shared intelligence with the other G20 member states, which reveals the 40 countries from which ISIS finances the majority of their terrorist activities. The list reportedly included a number of G20 countries. “I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,” Putin told reporters.
So there you have Putin telling reporters that ISIS is financed by western nations, including many G20 nations, and was it headline news anywhere in America? Nope, wasn’t even mentioned because it doesn’t fit the narrative. What they want you to believe is that the world’s mightiest countries with military firepower unprecedented in the history of the world are unable to hold in check a rag-tag “JV Team” of camel-riding Muslims from the backside of the desert. At the same time they are feeding you this slop, tens of thousands of Muslim migrants are pouring into every major nation and setting the table for the next “spontaneous” Islamic terror attack that will catch us all by “surprise”. But only it won’t be a surprise, because it’s all been planned.
Mark Levin has it right on all counts, everything that we are seeing is a plan. Under Obama, America is not “fighting terrorism”, we are not “fighting ISIS”, and we are not trying to prevent Iran from “obtaining nuclear weapons”. We are enabling terrorism, we are funding and strengthening ISIS, and we are helping Iran to get nuclear weapons.
So get out a fresh supply of tissues and #outrage hashtags, and prepare yourself for the next “spontaneous” ISIS terror attack, it’s coming soon to a city near you. Guaranteed.
This is what the New World Order looks like, welcome to WWIII.
That is the looniest post I’ve seen in a while. I’m going to have to start awarding prizes.
ShortLeashLola.
LOL
Note that these are real journalists:
‘First France and then Russia answered Islamic State attacks on their citizens with a strategy of direct reprisal: intensified airstrike campaigns on Raqqa, the militants’ de facto capital within Syria, meant to eliminate the group’s leadership and resources.’
‘But on Tuesday in the early hours of those new campaigns, there seemed to be more questions than decisive results. Chief among them: Why, if there were confirmed Islamic State targets that could be hit without killing civilians, were they not hit more heavily long ago? And what, in fact, was being hit?’
‘Several people in Lebanon, Syria and Turkey who have been able to make contact with relatives in Raqqa say the recent French airstrikes — a barrage of about 30 on Sunday night and seven more on Monday — did not kill any civilians. But neither did they inflict serious military damage, those people said, instead hitting empty areas or buildings, or parts of the territory of factory complexes or military bases used by the Islamic State.’
‘Abdullah, a Syrian concierge in Beirut who reached his sister in Raqqa on Tuesday, said that in the case of the seven French airstrikes on Monday, “all these strikes are targeting abandoned empty locations.” The day before, he said, the 30 French airstrikes hit mainly the outskirts of the city.’
‘More French airstrikes, reaching 25 to 30, struck Raqqa late Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group in Britain that has a network of contacts in Syria. Many of the strikes hit deserted areas that had already been struck, but casualties were reported in addition to property damage, the group said.’
‘In a statement, the French Defense Ministry said that the fighter jets had taken off from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and that the strikes had destroyed two Islamic State command centers in Raqqa.’
‘A Syrian government supporter from Raqqa who now lives in Beirut, Lebanon, and describes himself as a kind of freelance informant for government forces, said there had long been airstrikes in or around Raqqa nearly every day. Sometimes they are executed by Syrian warplanes, other times by the American-led coalition and more recently by Russia, the informant said, using only a nickname, Shadi, to protect family members still in Raqqa. But he added: “They don’t have too much impact on ISIS’s military situation.”
‘Instead, the strikes within Raqqa have hurt locals at least as much as the Islamic State fighters who live among them, he said. In the airstrikes that have hit crowded city areas, “one Daesh member gets killed, and 10 civilians,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.’
‘And while strikes are sometimes reported to have hit Islamic State military bases, Shadi said such strikes may sound more significant than they really were, because the bases are large and open and can get hit without doing any real damage.’
‘On Tuesday as Russian missile strikes hit the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo farther west, in areas where the Islamic State has no known territory. In the town of Atareb, according to local insurgents, a group that has been battling the Islamic State and receiving American support was hit.’
‘The Raqqa activists insisted there were no civilian casualties in the French airstrikes, and said in a Twitter post that they would not withhold such information.’
“Our group will be the first who will report about any civilians who will be killed or injured by any Airstrikes, whether this Airstrikes by Coalition or #France or #USA or #Russia” or by the Syrian Army, “so please stop Publishing lies.”
‘They added: “of course we don’t like to see people afraid from the Airstrikes and Explosion but we support any action will take #ISIS out from #Raqqa.”
‘At the same time, they posted maps from Google Earth of the areas where they said some of the strikes had hit — some of which are in open areas and some of which have been abandoned.’
I think the people dropping the bombs have info that the New York Times doesn’t.
Yeah, and maybe even some ISIS phone numbers.
Stranger than fiction. What a grand and multilayered puppet show it all is.
At least he included the words “Muslim-raised Barack Hussein Obama” in the first sentence. That let’s you know that the rest is probably nonsense.
That’s where I stopped reading.
Why? He admits that he spent four years of his youth in Indonesia where he learned the Muslim tradition. This is directly from Obama’s own speeches.
“That is the looniest post I’ve seen in a while”
Which part?
That Anyone Is Actually Trying To Stop ISIS?
Either the world’s greatest military power is unable to defeat the “JV Team” of ISIS, or it really doesn’t want to?
Two months of bombing by the terrifying Russian Bear only succeeded in creating an ISIS that was able to pull off the greatest attack on France since WWII?
Within 48 hours after the Paris terror attacks, the French air force had run 20 bombing raids on ISIS in the Middle East. End result? ISIS doesn’t seem phased in the least, as the raids didn’t attempt to blow up any of the terrorists, only buildings?
Or that Putin told reporters…
“I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,”
Or…
Tens of thousands of Muslim migrants are pouring into every major nation and setting the table for the next “spontaneous” Islamic terror attack that will catch us all by “surprise”?
“it really doesn’t want to”
^^I’d go with that one.
1.57 billion Muslims
60k ISIS members, results of ME unrest from USA invasion of Iraq and taking out Qaddafi. ooops.
Try to not make America look too stupid Trump. “Close the mosques??”
we broke it
But if we close the mosques, muslims will cease to exist, and we’ll all be safe forever!
As reasons for ISIS, you forgot the US support of Israel–which has been the main reason for all this aggression over the decades.
My African friend said yesterday that all this is likely to go on and on and on until there is state for the Palestinians.
Homeland or not it will go on forever. People who want money land power will use religion to convince the slope brow masses to kill and maim and destroy. Jewish fundamentalists will press their settlements and the Muslims will stab run over and blow up the citizens of Israel. Same now goes for our involvement in the middle east.
http://slo.craigslist.org/apa/5303599231.html
$325k house rents for $2450. This is not half of PITI. Factor in tax break and 1-2% appreciation and, not even close.
Where are these cities that rent is half of owning?
When I lived in SLO at the last peak, the house I was renting for 1100 was valued at 675k. The owner had bought it in the 70s for 50k… so she was still making money.
And there u go.
Why buy it when you can rent it for half the monthly cost?
Problem is the list price is in the $650k range.
Sorry Liberace.
Lola the liar. not in that town, nor run down area.
So why buy it when you can rent it for half the monthly cost?
duh, ya cant. do the math, chinese drywall
Sure you can Liberace. Remember. Do the math.
If RE dropped 40%, how many people (not you Mafia/HA) would buy a house? Or at that point would you think the great depression has returned and be too afraid?
It happens when stocks drop too. The fear freezes us.
The house you posted a link to sold a few years ago for $376K, not $325K. Comparables are $450K and up. In 1990 it sold for $100K (not surprisingly $47/ft2). Now 25 years later it is worth five times as much! Houses are not worth more as they age.
What will you do when the price of houses there drops 80%?
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2486-Falcon-Dr-Paso-Robles-CA-93446/15400213_zpid/
with an 80% drop, ill buy the entire block in Santa Barbara.
I need more info on your future:
will we be at 40% unemployment?
Is your job a bubble job?
what is a bubble job? does it spread?
With all the poverty and crime in CA, why bother?
Ooops…. $100k to $325k proves it. And it looks all original.
I would, that is about where prices were in 2011/2012 but I was not able to buy with a mortgage then, got shut out by 100% cash flippers and speculators several times. At that point the price would be about 10 years rent at current rates, a number I like for the buy vs. rent decision. Fortunately in the meantime am renting happily in the neighborhood I like and have only had one small increase in the last 7 years. Sold my last place in early 2007 (thanks in large part to the HBB) and walked away with cash nearly double what I paid in 1997, in retrospect should have tried to buy again in 2009…by 2011 there was waaay too much competition from cash buyers. I gave up on buying after about a year and prices are up 60% or so from then so renting makes much more sense in the meantime.
We had wanted to buy next year. We like this place, but it’s a high turnover (but safe) neighborhood and it’s just time. Lease ends in September. If you can guarantee that I can buy what is now a $600k house for $360k, which I think is the correct price, I’m in.
Although at that point people will be so panicked that I’d probably offer at a price 10-20% lower.
Liberace,
Paying half the price for everything and anything isn’t something to fear. Find some courage and cheer up. Falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels raises everyones standard of living.
Indeed. The price of gas is off by half and that hasn’t caused 40% unemployment. I find it absolutely stimulating.
Adan is probably not too happy, but he was a speculator.
Cubans are loving their cheap prices!! durn reality!
Are you sure Lib?
Is there a light at the end of that tunnel you’ve crawled into?
Just got back from a team lunch. The topic of real estate came up. I learned that two teammates just sold their houses in metro Denver. According to them, they both sold in one day, with multiple offers and at the listed price.
What that means is that they chose good listing prices.
Post a link.
Why? You can’t believe that somebody sold a house? It happens every day. Even Zillow can tell you that.
And where were they going? Were they buying another place? Decided to become renters? Consolidating into another house with significant other?
Just curious.
They both “traded up”/
No canards. Post a link.
And I know this is detail you may not have, but were they able to find a house to buy and enter into a contingent contract to purchase (contingent on selling their existing home)?
I’ve heard of some markets where sellers were not willing to provide that contingency.
Hours After Obama Taunts GOP With ‘Widows’ Female Suicide Bomber Explodes In Paris
by John Nolte18 Nov 2015
Once again, reality has intruded on President Obama’s divisive, his anti-science talking points. Just hours after the president used the term “widows and orphans” to taunt the GOP over their opposition to flooding America with Syrian refugees ISIS has promised to seed with terrorists, a female suicide bomber in Paris blew herself up as police closed in.
“Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America,” Obama said of the GOP. “At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three year old orphans. That doesn’t seem so tough to me.”
Just a few hours later in Paris:
A female terrorist wearing a suicide vest has blown herself up and another jihadi was killed by a grenade during a six-hour siege on a flat where police believe the Paris massacres mastermind and six other ISIS terrorists were hiding.
——————————————————————————–
Obama doesn’t seem to be keeping up with PBS either
How the Islamic State indoctrinates Afghan children
November 17, 2015 at 6:15 PM EST
TRANSCRIPT
GWEN IFILL: Tonight on Frontline: an unprecedented look at how Islamic State militants have spread across one country at the center of the war on terrorism.
With remarkable access to the militants themselves, tonight’s report, “ISIS in Afghanistan,” shows how the group is expanding its control in the country, fighting some members of the Taliban, co-opting others, and battling Afghan national army forces.
William Brangham has the story.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After months of negotiations, Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi got permission from ISIS militants to come visit their stronghold in Afghanistan.
What do Afghans think about the Islamic State?
In his Frontline report, Quraishi shows not only how ISIS is gaining power in that nation, but also how they’re indoctrinating young Afghan children into their cause.
NARRATOR: In the ISIS-held district of Shaigal, the group is using many techniques to groom young children to fight and die for the Islamic State.
NARRATOR: The fighters tell Najibullah they receive propaganda videos directly from ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They say they show the videos to the village children every day.
MAN (through interpreter): The village is saying they’re all infidels and special forces soldier.
MAN (through interpreter): What are they going to do with them now?
MAN (through interpreter): They’re taking them to the kill zone for execution. They’re wiping them off the face of the earth.
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI, Journalist: I was asking them, why they are watching in front of these young children. They said they should learn, they should know from now, and it’s normal for them.
NARRATOR: The videos don’t just show attacks and atrocities. This is an ISIS military school for children somewhere in the Middle East.
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: All these videos, they’re just telling them how to kill people, how to behead, and how to become suicide bombers. And their main thing is to kill infidels.
This is their aim. And they are clearly telling, this is in Koran. So what does the child believe? What does he think? He thinks, yes, I am Muslim, and he’s telling me the truth.
NARRATOR: Najibullah films the Afghan children copying what they have just watched.
MAN (through interpreter): Bend your knees a little, feet apart. Keep your arms straight. Fire. God is great.
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: When I saw these young children, I was really, really upset, really sad. I was thinking about Afghanistan future, Afghanistan’s next generation. What we have next?
These children who learn how to kill people, how to do jihad, how to behead, how to fire? This would be Afghanistan?
MAN (through interpreter): You stand with the Kalashnikov like this, OK?
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: I was thinking maybe the war will never end, never. And the people will keep suffering from war.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Najibullah Quraishi joins me now from London.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The scenes of the children and the education, if you can call it that, that they’re getting are really quite terrifying.
And I was wondering if you could just tell us a little bit more about the men who think that this is a good thing to teach children, to teach children so young to learn how to kill.
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: I have never seen this in my journalism life before.
At the beginning, I didn’t know when they mentioned me they have a school, they are children, if I want to go and film. I was thinking maybe there is a proper lesson, they maybe learn some mathematics, some grammar or some language or something or maybe proper Koran. I was thinking like this.
But, suddenly, I come across with jihad for 3 years old, or 4- or 5-year-old children. You’re telling what is jihad and how to kill. So then I was shocked.
MAN (through interpreter): What is this word? Jihad. What is jihad?
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: These guys mainly come from Pakistan.
They were telling me that this is the time they should teach the children, and they should learn from now and they should be prepared.
MAN (through interpreter): Fire it from a standing position, like this.
NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI: For them, they should be ready for fighting, for everything at the age of 12 or 13 for something like this.
They were asking the children about the weapons, for example, how many bullets it takes, where this pistol made from, where is Kalashnikov made from, why we should use this, and who should we — against with this, and lots of different things which the children knew from this age.
Then, on the film, you can see the second generation, which is all the teenagers, like 13 or 17. And they’re ready to blow themselves up or to do a suicide attack.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-the-islamic-state-indoctrinates-afghan-children/ - 69k -
What do you want to do with the 1.57 billion Muslims?
As Americans Shop For Thanksgiving, They’re Finding Cheaper Prices
Grocers know this: Cheap turkeys will get customers into the store.
So this Thanksgiving, despite an avian flu that killed 8 million turkeys, shoppers are having no trouble finding bargain birds priced lower than last year.
In fact, store managers have been slicing all sorts of holiday-related food prices this fall.
On Tuesday, the Labor Department said its consumer price index ticked up a modest 0.2 percent in October, mostly because of higher prices for shelter and medical care. But for food, the increase was just 0.1 percent, the weakest growth rate since May.
And many of the foods you’ll be buying for the holidays actually have been getting cheaper. For example, the CPI report showed prices for beef roasts fell 1 percent last month, while candy dropped 0.4 percent. Snacks, gravies, coffee, milk, carbonated beverages, frozen vegetables and cheese — all fell in price last month.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/17/456353954/as-americans-shop-for-thanksgiving-theyre-finding-cheaper-prices
I expect food prices have a long way to fall. The food commodity prices have fallen dramatically and the energy inputs to grow and process are off by half. We just have to eat our way through the expensive stuff in the pipeline.
There is a problem with monopoly in the food business, which isn’t good for quick price response, but it is inevitable.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-11-18/bernie-sanders-flirted-with-100-percent-marginal-tax-on-the-rich-maximum-wage
Does anyone think Bernie can win if he’s talking about a 90% marginal tax rate on the wealthy?
I’ll by stock in Garage Sale signs.
It’s possible.
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Nov. 6-10, 2015. N=1,495 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.
“In general, would you favor or oppose increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations in order to help reduce income inequality in the U.S.?”
Favor: 63%
Oppose: 31%
Unsure/No answer: 6%
http://www.pollingreport.com/budget.htm
This just in: Hillary says she will adopt Sanders proposal to the dismay of her Wall Street donors!
Hahahaha! Not!
Morphine - Buena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjZBe6o78M
Whoodathunk the mere mention of falling prices and collapsing housing demand would cause such rage.