February 29, 2016

Bits Bucket for February 29, 2016

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266 Comments »

Comment by Ben Jones
2016-02-29 01:30:28

Example

Example

Example

Example

Comment by Swordsman
2016-02-29 07:39:44

Bravo

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:14:38

Meltdown and her eight imaginary sisters have kindly volunteered to “go away” for a few days. Since most “arguing” here is instigated by and among the various fake personas of this one poster, I expect it to end until her return.

 
Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 09:02:50

Ben posted these yesterday too, and yous guyz STILL threw mud all day.

Can’t you all take a hint?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:36:04

Donk,

It’s just a diversion from housing. The reality is there’s alot of hand wringing over the newly formed empty pockets and massive losses by degenerate gamblers occurring daily.

http://goo.gl/rq44Dc

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 09:49:52

Ben posted these yesterday too, and yous guyz STILL threw mud all day.

Can’t you all take a hint?

No, they can’t.

There’s a reason why so many posters (Arizona Slim comes to mind) have abandoned this blog.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:53:32

Now theres the pot calling the kettle black.

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Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 10:17:44

Incredible, isn’t it?

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Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 11:09:30

The Joshua Tree extension is your friend. It keeps the children out of the conversation.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 11:15:33

I wasn’t referring to you, Colo. I like your posts and almost always agree with them.

I was just responding to oxy’s comment, which I agree with.

 
 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-29 12:26:01

I must say I miss Miss Slim, I hope she has found a blog that treasures her.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 01:36:27

Politics
The Republican Party’s implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy has arrived
By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa
February 28 at 10:47 PM

Quoted
I don’t know. Did he endorse me? Or what’s going on? Because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists.”
Donald Trump, on CNN. The implosion over his candidacy arrived so virulently that many party leaders vowed never to back the billionaire and openly questioned whether the GOP could come together this election year.

It’s Super Tuesday: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas Vermont and Virginia hold primaries or caucuses for both parties.

MADISON, Ala. — The implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy that Republicans had hoped to avoid arrived so virulently this weekend that many party leaders vowed never to back the billionaire and openly questioned whether the GOP could come together this election year.

At a moment when Republicans had hoped to begin taking on Hillary Clinton — who is seemingly on her way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination — the GOP has instead become consumed by a crisis over its identity and core values that is almost certain to last through the July party convention, if not the rest of the year.

A campaign full of racial overtones and petty, R-rated put-downs grew even uglier Sunday after Trump declined repeatedly in a CNN interview to repudiate the endorsement of him by David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Trump had disavowed Duke at a news conference on Friday, but he stammered when asked about Duke on Sunday.

Marco Rubio, who has been savaging Trump as a “con man” for three days, responded by saying that Trump’s defiance made him “unelectable.” The senator from Florida said at a rally in Northern Virginia, “We cannot be the party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists.”

The fracas comes as the presidential race enters a potentially determinative month of balloting, beginning with primaries and caucuses in 11 states on Tuesday. As the campaign-trail rhetoric grew noxious over the weekend, a sense of fatalism fell over the Republican firmament, from elected officials and figureheads to major donors and strategists.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 01:37:33

Which is more likely?
1) Republicans dump Trump.
2) Trump destroys the Republican Party in its entirety.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 01:40:01

Rubio and Cruz seek to destroy Trump as Republicans wage all-out war
Alan Yuhas
Sunday 28 February 2016 16.50 EST
Last modified on Sunday 28 February 2016 18.18 EST

The specter of Donald Trump as an elected nominee for president pushed his Republican opponents to desperate measures on Sunday, two days before a dozen states could vote to give the billionaire a huge lead in the 2016 contest.

Marco Rubio predicted he could win the nomination without winning a state, while Ted Cruz raised allegations that Trump once contracted a mafia-owned company.

Though no Republican votes were cast this weekend, Trump presided proudly over the campaign – to the extent that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic victor in South Carolina, aimed her victory speech his way and not towards Bernie Sanders.

On Friday two sitting governors endorsed Trump; on Saturday two former presidents of Mexico compared him to Hitler; and on Sunday he initially declined to condemn a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan – even though he had disavowed the man’s endorsement two days earlier.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 01:41:53

By Emily Schultheis
Face The Nation
February 28, 2016, 10:48 AM
Donald Trump: Republican Party “not treating me right”

Donald Trump said Sunday that the Republican Party isn’t treating him well, suggesting he could go back on his pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee in the 2016 White House race if the party establishment keeps trying to take him down.

“I’ve been very good, I’ve been very straight and honest and honorable and they’re not treating me right,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You look at the way they stake the audiences in the debates … they have this lightweight Senator Marco Rubio saying terrible things, just personal, terrible things.”

He didn’t say outright that he would break the GOP loyalty pledge, but added that he doesn’t feel the Republican Party has held up its end of the bargain–and that he wanted to remind them that he represents “millions of people” who have voted for him thus far.

“I signed a pledge and I will, you know, abide by the pledge unless they default, but as far as I’m concerned they’re defaulting,” he said.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:41:44

Poor, poor Donald. He sounds just like ‘Tricky Dick’ Richard Nixon: “You’re not going to have me to kick around any more!”

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 09:10:33

Well, the neocons ARE breaking their pledge.

Funny how such a big deal was made to have Trump that he would not run third party. Now, the neocons are signaling that THEY are ready to run a third party candidate should Trump become the candidate.

They are desperate to stop Trump from being elected president.

Gotta expect that, given they are NeoCon-Progressives.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 09:39:14

“NeoCon-Progressives”

Can you define that term objectively?

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 09:42:30

The problem is that no one, in fact, pledged anything to Donald Trump. He made a pledge without getting anything in return. He made a very bad deal. This is a guy who says that he’ll be great when he sits down and negotiates agreements with China, Russia, and so forth.

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Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 10:11:13

He made a very bad deal

I assume that’s why Putin and his allies seem eager to have him in the White House.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 10:19:16

Irrelevant.

Putin can’t vote.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 10:58:28

Irrelevant

The Repeating Robot has learned a new word. Doesn’t quite understand its meaning, but, hey! Baby steps.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 12:05:55

And living in your MT skull rent-free?

Priceless.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 02:08:10

Hillary can’t win.

Comment by frankie
2016-02-29 03:06:38

Well as it is increasingly likely they will be the candidates for the two main parties one will win. A question that runs through my mind is how likely is it that either would win a second term.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 03:20:47

You are in Manchester?

New York Times real journalists provide a narrative that Europe now reluctantly acknowledges the imminence of The Donald:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/business/media/donald-trump-elicits-shock-and-biting-satire-in-europe.html

Hillary can’t win.

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Comment by frankie
2016-02-29 12:20:29

Not to far away but not a place I visit too often. Prefer Liverpool and Chester.

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 07:54:08

Depends on how they do. As one of Bill Clinton’s campaign advisers once said: “It’s the economy, stupid”.

If the economy improves and Trump keeps at least some of his campaign promises, he gets a second term. And if that goes well, Ivanka gets to be our first woman prez. If she does well, she gets a second term. Then her brother Don, Jr. gets elected and if he does well, he gets a second term. I don’t think Eric would run, he’s the philanthropist in the family and would probably prefer to stay that way. Too early to tell about Barron.

LOL, on a more serious note, what’s your take on the prospects for a Brexit. I was shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED that Boris Johnson came out in support of it.

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Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 09:06:28

I know someone who frequents the anti-immigration circles. The word in such circles is that the Brexit is entirely to keep the migrants out of Britain.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 10:19:17

Interesting how this whole “migrant” phenomenon seems to be tied to war and banking.

All wars are bankers’ wars.

 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-29 16:15:47

palmetto

YouGov research also shows that euroscepticism is linked to lower income,

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469377/Are-neighbours-Interactive-map-reveals-Eurosceptic-areas-Britain-ahead-referendum-June-3.html

Lower income has a correlation to less education, I’ll leave you to judge if I fit into that demographic. We may well Britex after all we get the politicians and policies we deserve; looking at our most recent crop of politicians we don’t deserve much ;)

P.S Boris wants to be PM no matter what it takes.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 19:08:26

Thanks, frankie. I wasn’t necessarily asking where you stood on the issue, just what you thought the prospects might be.

In the US, some of the fiercest immigration restriction advocates and patriots are highly educated Brits, such as Peter Brimelow and John Derbyshire. Yet, in the US, education doesn’t always have a correlation with income.

It would be interesting to see Boris as PM during a Trump presidency. Great hair optics on the international stage, so to speak.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 20:06:37

In the US, some of the fiercest immigration restriction advocates and patriots are highly educated Brits

In other words, the fiercest immigration restriction advocates are immigrants. I saw that Brimelow once on C-SPAN. He needs to learn to speak American.

 
 
 
Comment by wondering
2016-02-29 08:00:27

re: Hillary can’t win.

Is that a prediction? A desperate wish?

As things are shaping up now, she will be elected by the largest majority in 30 years.

Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 08:17:15

Gonna be a little difficult when Obama yells “Get the hook!”

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Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 10:55:53

A win for Hillary is a win for Jeb!

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 18:21:19

A win for Hillary is a win for Goldman Sachs.

 
 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 10:57:12

Only a sexist would vote for Hillary.

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Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 11:31:52

Hillary won’t be running, OK? Like it or not, it’s gonna be Sanders, Super Tuesday or no Super Tuesday. Here’s why:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/the-fbis-investigation-of-clintons-emails-_b_9346140.html

And watch Comey. He holds all the cards. Either he gets his indictment, or he resigns, either way he wins, Hillary loses.

There’s also this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-sanders-gabbard-idUSMTZSAPEC2S9JDNKG

Tulsi Gabbard is no dope. She knows something and possibly she’s Sanders’ veep pick.

There’s also the little tidbit about Michael Bloomberg jumping into the race as an independent.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/02/8592171/bloomberg-2016-rationale-decaying-day

He has two weeks to decide. So far, he’s said he’ll jump in if it’s Trump vs. Sanders. If Trump vs. Hillary, not so much. If Hillary can be kept in the running until he times out, and then Obama gets the hook, Sanders is in and has a better chance of beating Trump than Hillary does.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 12:24:53

Okay!

But, only a sexist would vote for Hillary. Even in the primaries.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 12:54:58

LOL, 10-4

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:32:38

The Iowa Electronic Markets have the Democrats at a much higher probability of winning than Republicans. The gap has grown much wider with Trump’s recent successes.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:51:09

I know some regulars like Goon believe Hillary can’t win, but the Wisdom of Crowds expressed in the 2016 US Presidential Election Vote Share Market suggests that perhaps it is Trump who can’t win a national election. Will this election season turn out as badly for the Republican Party as Custer’s Last Stand turned out for Custer?

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:07:25

If it’s trump/hillary, it will be a landslide victory for trump. This we know.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:07:26

I have several friends who said they would bet me $100 that Hillary defeats Trump in the general election. But when I ask them that if they’re so confident in her winning, why not make it $1000, they won’t take the bet. Why is that?

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 09:12:08

They’re confident, but they’re not very confident. It’s a sensible attitude.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:18:05

Why is that?

May we assume you’re putting your money where your mouth is on the futures or casino betting pools? How much are you betting on Trump there?

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:27:00

Irrelevant.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:27:09

I don’t gamble with strangers. And I’ll buy them several rounds of drinks to console their loss after I take their money…

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:28:46

Hmm. Sounds like you’re not that sure yourself.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 09:37:43

Seems like some of our regulars are either ignoring my IEM posts or they don’t understand the figures. Burying your heads in the sand whie saying “Hilarious is unelectable” is not a good strategy.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:39:34

It’s not a matter of a strategy. She’s un-electable.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:41:57

I haven’t committed the money yet, I’m waiting to see the extent of Trump’s landslide tomorrow before I do. And I can afford to lose a few $1000 bets if Hillary wins. People with mortgages can’t.

Have another narrative:

http://imgur.com/epx1E7e

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 09:44:20

How long has IEM been around? What was it predicting in late February of previous presidential election years?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 10:08:28

Mike, it has been in existence since at least the early 1999s. If I get motivated, I may look into its long term track record. I know it was indicating an Obama victory in 2012 when Rasmussen was strongly predicting Romney would win.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 10:18:46

What I like about the IEM is that you don’t have to pick the winner of the election. You can make money by picking someone you think is undervalued and selling when/if they gain value, but before the election occurs.

For instance, “waiting to see how Trump does tomorrow” is somewhat pointless, as prices will react to his performance immediately. If you think he’s going to be a big winner tomorrow, better get in now.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 10:30:07

The entire country is all in Lola.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 10:39:12

I know it was indicating an Obama victory in 2012 when Rasmussen was strongly predicting Romney would win.

That probably would have been in the autumn, when every poll other than Rasmussen predicted Obama’s re-election. I just wonder how accurate IEM has been eight months before an election.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 03:35:56

Washington Post real journalists provide a Trump narrative:

“Candidates cannot control who endorses them, and no one should hold candidates accountable for the views and actions of their supporters unless the candidates endorse them in turn. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t notice who’s lining up behind whom.

While there is no evidence that Trump is actively courting the support of neo-Nazis and white supremacists, or that he welcomes it, that support also doesn’t come as a surprise after the campaign that he has run.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-does-it-say-about-the-gop-that-trump-is-the-white-supremacists-candidate/2016/02/28/0d5d0b12-dcbe-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 04:04:53

Breitbart provides a globalist neocon narrative:

“America is being “bamboozled” by both parties. They will do anything to keep power. They pander to conservative or liberal values but in reality it is just a “three card monte” perpetrated on the American people to distract them from the real game being played.

America is being sold into globalism. I am not a conspiracy theorist per se, but I must say nothing else explains what has happened to our country. Nothing else explains how both the House and Senate under GOP control has not really moved the needle. Have you ever thought why?

My dear friends, the working middle class is being killed on purpose and anyone who speaks up for them will be assassinated. This is what we are seeing with Trump. It may not be a physical assassination, but the force of the establishment is now being focused on killing the voice of the people. How else can you explain the following the fact that some conservative are planning a third party run?

Remember when the candidates were asked to take a pledge and they all raised their hands except for Trump? His honesty was apparent from the first debate. Then later with reassurance from Reince,Trump made the pledge. Well, now that the possibility of Trump getting the nomination is real, the political class is shattering and in a panic. So much so that Bill Kristol and others are advocating starting a third party run if Trump is the nominee.

What I didn’t know was that globalism is more important to the Bill Kristol conservatives then anything else. This can be the only reason why there is such visceral rejection of a Donald Trump Presidency and the almost drug induced fervor by them for Rubio ,a proven globalist. This is the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American people.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/28/the-long-con-rubio-kristol-and-the-destruction-of-the-american-people/

Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 07:37:37

Here…let me summarize the takeaway from this piece:

NeoCons = Progressives.

Both are globalist and have been for years.

Both are anti-Constitutionalist; subsequently, both are anti-liberty for individuals.

Both are classist; they strive to eliminate the middle class.

Both are racist.

Both are power-mad; boih believe they are not subject to the same laws you are.

Both are elitist; both live in insulated, isolated cocoons.

Both are donor class.

Both subsist on funny money (credit, donations, taxation).

Both are pro Big Government.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 07:38:53

“What I didn’t know was that globalism is more important to the Bill Kristol conservatives then anything else. This can be the only reason why there is such visceral rejection of a Donald Trump Presidency and the almost drug induced fervor by them for Rubio ,a proven globalist. This is the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American people.”

NeoCons = Progressives.

Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 10:26:10

The progressives are not neocons.

And even if they were, the progressive half has split off to follow Bernie Sanders, while Hillary is revealing herself to be closer to the Neocon side.

At best, the progressives are “no longer” neocons.

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Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 11:03:57

You are who you vote for.

Progressives voted for Obama. Obama is a NeoCon. He also is a Progressive. He is a statist.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 11:13:06

“At best, the progressives are “no longer” neocons.”

Then they would no longer be called progressives, would they?

A progressive doesn’t believe in diversity of thought, of ideas. Does a Sanders supporter? (honest question).

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 21:09:06

“A progressive doesn’t believe in diversity of thought, of ideas.”

Now I finally get it:

Trumpling = Progressive

 
 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 07:39:36

My dear friends, the working middle class is being killed on purpose

The decline of the unions is a major cause of this phenomenon. It’s interesting that his guy doesn’t mention unions.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 08:11:52
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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 08:41:17

That’s better. You can tell immediately that the writer is brighter than the Breitbart guy. I did a quick search for the word union and was disappointed that I didn’t find it. Then I saw this:

By 2012, according to Saez, the top 1 percent were earning 23 percent of the nation’s income, almost the same ratio as in 1929. “My guess is that was one of the last straws that led to Trump and Sanders, but things had been building for a while,” says Frank Levy, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-authored a much-cited 2007 paper concluding that labor began losing the fight to capital and Wall Street in the late 1970s, leading to greater inequality than in the days of what Levy calls the “Treaty of Detroit”—a consensus that supported high minimum wages, progressive taxation and other New Deal policies.

That raises an interesting question. When Trump says that he want to make America great again, does he mean that he wants to take us back to the ’50s and ’60s, when unions were stronger, the minimum was was higher, and taxes on the wealthy were also higher?

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:13:51

does he mean that he wants to take us back to the ’50s and ’60s, when unions were stronger, the minimum was was higher, and taxes on the wealthy were also higher?

Yeah, when was the Great Period that we’ll be recreating? Anyone have any idea? The 50s? The 40s? The 20s? 19th century?

 
Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 13:59:29

The decline of unions didn’t cause anything. In fact, unions didn’t “decline” at all, as if they were in a hospital suffering from some sickness. No, unions — and the middle class — were dealt a sudden death blow from outsourcing and insourcing. If union workers went on strike, managers simply moved the operations to China, or hired illegals as permanent scabs.

 
 
Comment by Rental Watch
2016-02-29 13:07:35

Unions were strong at GM, and it almost took down the whole company.

It’s not the unions. It’s global competition for labor.

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Comment by Rental Watch
2016-02-29 13:09:11

Should’ve reversed that…it’s global competition by labor FOR jobs.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 13:11:35

No, it wasn’t the unions that “took down” GM. It was the poorly designed products which couldn’t stand up to Japanese competition.

 
Comment by Rental Watch
2016-02-29 16:00:47

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-true-price-of-auto-labor-costs/

GM was selling about 4.5MM-5MM cars per year up until the crash. When demand crashed (from the Great Recession), when sales fell as low as 2MM, their cost structure pushed them over the financial edge.

The unions squeezed as much as they could out of GM, and put the company in such a precarious position that they couldn’t withstand the downturn without a bailout.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 20:12:45

I was referring to the period between the 1960s, when GM has something 50% market share and the year 2000.

Also, the last two paragraphs of your CBS News article are interesting.

One major point about compensation and wage disparities: In 2007 GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner earned about $15.7 million (including $1.6 million in salary, plus non-equity incentive compensation, benefits and other expenses), a jump of 64 percent compared to 2006. Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally’s total compensation in 2007 was $21.7 million, including a $2 million base salary.

Meanwhile, last year Toyota paid its entire 37-member leadership team approximately $22 million. (Stock options and amenities like housing and country club membership weren’t factored into the figure.)

Why is it, that when the woes of General Motors are discussed on a blog like, many people like you are so eager to criticize the unions, while the subject of the compensation of executives never comes up? Where does this anti-union sentiment come from?

 
Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 20:58:16

There needs to be a term for this… like ‘badge licker’.

You know, Trumpling works. Worship of the guy that got rich taking money away from people just like you.

It’s a versatile term. It needs to make it’s way into the collective vernacular. I wan’t to hear Megan Kelly whisper it over and over as I lie with my head in her lap and she feeds me chocolate covered almonds.

Trumpling! Tell your friends!

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 21:10:47

What is a ‘badge licker’? That one leaves me scratching my head every time I see it in print.

 
Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 22:22:08

A PoPo Toady

 
Comment by Rental Watch
2016-03-01 03:33:30

Ford renegotiated with the UAW prior to the crash and were able to fix their compensation problem before it brought them down.

GM did not.

Stories that you hear about unions are sometimes very hard for people that like free markets to stomach.

Example #1: Alex Rodriguez wanted to take a pay cut so he could play for the Red Sox…the players union blocked the deal. The union put the whole of their membership ahead of one member’s wishes. A-Rod went to the Yankees.

Second example–more anecdotal (friend of a relative): Police officer gets hurt on the job, goes on disability. Takes it on himself to find another way to support himself. Once he’s back on his feet, he tries to stop the disability payments (figuring someone else needs the money more than him)…the union says he can’t.

Third example. Cal public employee pensions have ridiculous loopholes that are exploited by their Members like pension “spiking”, where employees sell back years of saved up sick/vacation time in order to boost the pay on which their pension is calculated. They didn’t pay into the system for such hefty pensions over their careers, so this will ultimately come out of taxpayers pockets. The union blocked efforts to eliminate these egregious practices for current employees when it came to reform.

Unions will grab whatever they can for their Members. That can be very effective and good for their Members. However, in many cases, it becomes too much–and can be really bad for everyone else (GM shareholders, non-public employee residents of various states, etc.). Pensions go up when times are good, but cannot be ratcheted back down when the good times are proven illusory.

Ford recognized the compensation problem and was able to convince the UAW to renegotiate their contract.
GM either didn’t recognize the problem, or wasn’t able to convince the UAW.

With respect to the executive compensation:

1. I agree it is way too high;
2. Sarb-Ox is in part to blame…there is a higher level of personal liability now for CEOs and CFOs. Their compensation should be somewhat higher than in the past to take on that additional liability.

Why don’t people point to these pay numbers as the problem, but instead focus on unions?

Math: There are over 50,000 UAW members who work for GM. That’s more than 100 million hours at 2,000 hours per year. Paying them $20 per hour more than the competition is an overpayment relative to market of $2 Billion per year. This is a much bigger number than the executive compensation.

BTW, the comp discussions for GM and Ford are interesting…they break out salary from total comp (which must include things like options). Toyota explicitly doesn’t include stock options in their $22MM number. That’s a meaty number that isn’t included.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 05:13:33

The following narrative was written by William Kristol, who is not a Christian:

‘You inspire us all.” With that fulsome greeting, Pat Robertson welcomed Donald Trump this week to the stage of Regent University. According to the school’s catalogue, the university’s name invokes the fact that “a regent is one who represents Christ, our Sovereign, in whatever sphere of life he or she may be called to serve Him.” We leave it to others to decide what sovereign Donald Trump has served in his life. We will simply note that Trump seems not merely an all-too-human example of one who has on occasion fallen into the grip of some of the seven deadly sins. He seems rather a veritable apostle of most of them. A proud defender of greed, an unabashed indulger in adultery, a wanton mocker of the meek (the “losers”) of this world, Donald Trump does not inspire us.

But he won’t be defeated if no one tries to defeat him. Surely it’s worth fighting to save a respectable political party, an admirable political movement, and a great country from a charlatan and a demagogue. There’s nothing inspiring about the appeasement of Donald Trump. It’s the fight to defeat Donald Trump that should now inspire us all.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 05:39:55

So if William Kristol is not a Christian, what does he worship?

The following narrative published by the Washington Times (Unification Church, yes, the Moonies) details who William Kristol’s “congregation” is:

“The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has announced it will stage the fourth Reagan National Defense Forum in early December, just three weeks after the presidential election. This is the kind of event which includes a “Peace Through Strength Dinner,” complete with an annual award featuring a bronze eagle trophy set in a granite base. The eagle is holding a piece of the Berlin Wall in one talon. Enough said.

“In the past three years, the Reagan National Defense Forum has become the premier high-level global convocation for discussion of the security of the United States and its allies, ultimately becoming the true Davos of Defense,” says Frederick J. Ryan, chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees. He is, of course, referring to the ski resort in the Swiss Alps that hosts the annual World Economic Forum for the planet’s leading political and business elite, those who must make it to “Davos” or else.

The Reagan event is already a destination of choice. In past years, it has drawn Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and three of his predecessors, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, an intense collection of serious military brass and the very biggest of cheeses from key defense industries.

 
Comment by Meltdown
2016-02-29 06:11:18

Um, you got any of them, “respectable political parties”?

Last I saw there were just the ones that were shams for the oligarchy ruling class that sold their members down the river at every turn and forced more lies down everyone’s throats than a liberal SJW SoCal University type on a meltdown claiming to only post “da facts.”

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 23:22:28

Have a nice stay in the rest home with your eight lovely sisters, sweety.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:21:39

Surely it’s worth fighting to save a respectable political party, an admirable political movement, and a great country from a charlatan and a demagogue.

Hisses the neocon viper. Yes, it’s worth saving the GOP from the banksters, corporate statists, and neocons. Yes, it’s worth conducting a wholesale purge of the sellouts and Wall Street whores and bringing in bold, committed new leadership with Republican principles and convictions that will serve We the People.

Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 07:47:17

“Surely it’s worth fighting to save a respectable political party, an admirable political movement, and a great country from a charlatan and a demagogue.”

It won’t be long until NeoCons publically align themselves with Progressives. It’s not that they aren’t already best pals; it’s just that they have yet to say so.

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Comment by Combotechie
2016-02-29 06:35:58

“But he won’t be defeated if no one tries to defeat him.”

And the name of this person who will now step forward and will successfully defeat Donald Trump is …?

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 07:04:50

An assassin’s bullet.

Got long hot summer?

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Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 08:39:23

An assassin’s bullet.

This has crossed my mind.

 
Comment by redmondjp
2016-02-29 10:42:39

Nope. Helicopter crash or heart attack. They are much more subtle these days.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 11:01:47

Chris Christie will fall on him.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 12:09:49

OK, that’s just too funny right there, I don’t care who y’are.

 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 07:44:15

will successfully defeat Donald Trump is …?

Bernie or Hillary. Let’s make it Bernie.

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 08:38:42

Lola,

Barney Sanders is pro-debt slavery.

Remember….. massive amounts of debt is the problem. More debt is not the solution.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:19:42

Bernie is a non-bomb-dropping anti-torture big middle finder to the establishment.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:23:49

Not to mention a socialist.

 
 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 07:50:50

Notice how they believe that Trump will be stopped with another INSIDER.

Total lack of recognition of the strength of the voters, of the public’s quest for individual liberty.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 09:41:15

Trump and “individual liberty” don’t belong in the same post.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 11:22:14

Yes, it does.
That Trump’s presence is causing a significant uproar over the treachery of entrenched interests on both sides of the aisle means that Trump and individual liberty very much belong in the same post.

What I want to know is the extent to which Trump embodies the concept. Will he intentionally and purposefully further it?

Trump’s big political success to date - and it’s significant - is to further the notion of individual liberty.

He’s already kicked the hive much harder than OWS or the Tea Party ever managed to do.

And the Establishment on both sides of the aisle hate him for it.

 
 
Comment by wondering
2016-02-29 09:34:39

Hillary Rodham Clinton will easily defeat Trump.
(psst! Most Americans don’t give a chit about emails, servers , and Ben Gazzi.)

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:37:57

Doubtful.

It’s long since been established that Hildabeest is toxic.

 
Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 12:32:20

If the investigation into the emails results into a legal action, such as an indictment, Americans will care. It’s one thing for folks not in the know to speculate on the internet, and quite another for the experts find something tangible.

Trump’s not out of the woods either. His “Trump University” is being looked at.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Meltdown
2016-02-29 06:06:22

THIS IS NOT HEALTHY!

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:19:17

Soeaking of “not healthy”, how are you and your posse of imaginary friends today?

Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 09:35:21

Comment by DumidolFanger
16-02-25 05:49:51

Another failed prediction, grasping at any straw to preserve your cognitive bias against Trump. You’re like the shills over at 538blog, so steeped in their own hate for Rs they can’t see straight.

Admit it, as a Southern California university level academic who believes in the SJW model of diversity, you are in the tank for the Ds.

Did you vote for Obama?

Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-25 08:48:28

Comment by Professor Bear
2008-10-27 19:23:26

Just voted for Obama. I would not risk contributing to a McPalin-Cain win by voting on the basis of principles…

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-25 09:08:38

Fake post by an equivocal poster…

Comment by Michael Viking
2016-02-25 09:20:04

Fake post by an equivocal poster…

I found it easy to prove that it’s you - and not a fake post - just by searching for it in Google. Interesting that you now pretend that you didn’t post that. It’s a bald-faced lie you just told.

Here’s a snippet of something you posted in 2011-07-30: “Because the bought MSM lets Republicans get away with bald-faced lies.” I wonder why that bothered you given that you tell bald-faced lies…

Take the planks out of your eyes!

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 09:42:37

Rant on, Macbeth!

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 10:29:08

Will do.

Individual liberty starts with individuals presenting themselves as they really are.

It appears that I’m going to have to drag you into that concept kicking and screaming.

I have no idea how many people give credence to what you have to say. I do know that I don’t consider you credible.

You’d have present yourself as you really are before I do so.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:33:15

“I have no idea how many people give credence to what you have to say.”

I generally post articles from credible sources to inform readers, which results in ad hominem attacks from those who don’t handle facts well.

 
Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 20:42:37

The monkey mass doesn’t want liberty… they wouldn’t know what to do with it, and when they see somebody with it, they get frightened and lash out.

The monkey mass wants stuff, and to be told what to do.

 
 
Comment by Michael Viking
2016-02-29 13:46:56

Soeaking

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-26 23:17:11

Is Trump Professor Bear too dumb to spell properly?

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:35:21

I’m picturing Michael spending his days and nights monitoring my posts for spelling errors…LOLZ!

 
Comment by Michael Viking
2016-02-29 21:38:17

It’s the angry ol’ white man with the plank in his eye - actually it’s pretty clear now that you have large planks in both of your eyes! Just look at you commenting on somebody’s spelling!

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-27 09:08:50

‘The “Porf” thing just popped into my head one day…’

Your spelling skills resemble those of your Dear Leader.

I’m picturing you in your echo chamber where crooked ideas seem straight, straight ideas seem crooked and everybody’s wrong and partisan except you! LOLZ!

You know how year after year you think I’m a realtor? Year after year I think you’re actually unemployed and living off of your wife. Successful, powerful men like The Donald just add fuel to the fire of your shame and that’s why he’s eating out your substance. Am I as wrong as you are in your guess about me?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 22:56:55

Michael, please respect the blog owner’s wishes and stop trying to start arguments with people you have never met.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Obama Goons
2016-02-29 08:32:53

Hillaryous is unelectable.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 02:55:51

New York Times provides a narrative on poors and banks:

“In a push for transparency since the 2008 financial crisis, regulators require banks to clearly disclose and explain the terms of just about every financial product, including credit cards and mortgages. But overdraft practices still come with hidden costs and confusing terms, bank customers, lawyers and consumer advocates say.

The nation’s big consumer banks collected about $11 billion in overdraft fees last year, which accounted for 8 percent of their profits, according to a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/business/dealbook/overdraft-practices-continue-to-gut-bank-accounts-and-haunt-customers.html?_r=0

Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-29 07:32:01

“The real problems arise, though, when customers have no idea that they signed up for the loans. It is an easy mistake to make, bank customers say, since the credit lines are often tucked into checking account agreements and do not require a separate signature to be approved.

“Citigroup’s line of credit is called “Checking Plus,” which to Ms. Lemus, who speaks primarily Spanish, did not appear to be anything like a loan. When she first noticed the $96 withdrawals, Ms. Lemus was alarmed.

“But what she learned was even more distressing: Every time she overdrew her checking account, Citigroup was lending her money at 18.25 percent to cover the shortfalls. There were other unusual features and charges associated with the loan. Citigroup extended the loan in $100 increments, even if she was short by only $35.

“And in one month, Citigroup withdrew the loan payment two days after the due date the bank itself had set. For this, Citigroup collected an additional $25 for the late payment.

“If she made just the minimum payment, it would take Ms. Lemus 13 years to pay off her credit line. The bank has been trying to collect the debt.”

Bahahahahahaha … is this a great country or what?

Dumb ‘em down, and profit.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-29 07:42:18

What keeps me tossing and turning each and every night is the fear that millions of banking customers will read this article and will suddenly tune into on just how they are getting screwed each and every day by myself and other bankers and these customers will suddenly decide to smarten up and cease to commit themselves to playing my game.

(Bahahahahahahaha … just kidding.)

Comment by cactus
2016-02-29 12:19:37

Bernie will turn the Post Office into a Bank for Millions of Bank Customers

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Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 14:09:57

Did no one notice this part?

every time she overdrew her checking account

Riiight, those customers are saints. How many thousands in fees did she rack up, if it would take her 13 years to pay it back? That’s a lot of bounced checks.

People like this are better off being un-banked, as they say. They can’t overdraw a dwindling pile of physical bills.

 
 
Comment by Larry Littlefield
2016-02-29 08:50:47

Every time Wall Street screws over ordinary people, the politicians make them put in another two or three pages of fine print disclosure. To “restore faith in the system.”

When are they just going to replace it all with “Financial Companies Are Out to Steal From You Sucker!” in bold red letters?

 
 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-29 03:05:00

A group of friends who rented a house on Airbnb for a party weekend in a French town got a nasty surprise when they discovered the decomposing body of a woman in the garden.

“Her body was found at the bottom of the property which opens out into a woods,” a police source said. Foul play is suspected.
Bed down with Van Gogh, your Airbnb host for the night
Read more

The house in the town of Palaiseau, 17km (10m) south of Paris, was rented on popular home-sharing website Airbnb by a group of friends who made the macabre find on Saturday.

The woman’s body was found “hunched in a dug-out area, her head against the ground, covered in branches and surrounded by wood stumps”, said the source.

She was dressed, but was not wearing shoes and had a “ring with a large stone” on her finger. No identifying documents were found with the body.

The body’s advanced state of decomposition meant it was not possible to determine cause of death, and an autopsy will be carried out.

The renters were being questioned by police on Sunday.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/29/airbnb-rental-with-decomposing-corpse-in-garden-shocks-guests

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 03:59:58

Breitbart provides a narrative on a nation of broke @ss loosers:

“Late last week, the U.S. Treasury Department released its annual financial report for the U.S. Government. The document calculates the government’s total number of assets and liabilities. Unsurprisingly, the report offered another grim picture of the nation’s fiscal health.

The total value of assets held by the federal government is $3.2 trillion. The government’s assets include its cash, gold reserves, property, and the value of land, equipment, and inventories. The lion’s share of the government’s assets, though, is the value of loans it has issued. The total value of government-issued loans is over $1.2 trillion, almost 40 percent of its total assets.

By far the largest loan program run by the feds is the student loan program. Last year, the federal government held as assets almost $1.1 trillion in student loans. This is up almost 10 percent from 2014. The federal government earned almost $1 billion on these loans last year.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/27/37-of-us-gov-assets-are-student-loans/

Most of these loans will never get repaid. And the debt donkeys who borrowed them won’t be “snapping up” $500,000 starter homes.

“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

 
Comment by Mugsy
2016-02-29 04:08:05

The GOP needs to be torn out from its roots and thrown in the trash. They are not loyal opposition to the Dems. Hell, they don’t oppose Dems on much of anything anymore. The GOP deserves it after duping millions to vote for them last cycle and then rolling over for President Obama as soon as it was all over.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 04:14:20

There needs to be a Nuremburg trial for neocons and globalists.

Trial, conviction, and execution. Davos is a good place to start.

Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 08:06:12

Neocons ARE globalists. So are progressives.

Both have to be. Otherwise, they cannot continue to grow in size and power.

Comment by redmondjp
2016-02-29 10:52:44

Bingo. They are two sides of the false duality that is meant to keep the sheeple distracted while the globalists go about their business.

Right now their business is engineering a global financial collapse; followed by their “solution” of a new global currency and world bank. A ‘too big to fail’ situation on a global scale.

When you understand how this all works, it is terrifyingly brilliant. First, you create a problem that is so large that you need to create an even larger organization to solve it.

Ultimately, it’s all about power and control, just like it always has been.

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Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 12:06:17

Yes.

And it may be brilliant.

But not more brilliant than the concept of individual liberty. Not even close.

For if it were, globalists wouldn’t have to try to destroy liberty for individuals. They wouldn’t have to be amoral, unethical, corrupt, duplicitous.

Individual liberty may eventually die out in the USA. But the ideology never will. The cat is out of the bag - forever.

Freedom for Individuals will always be the most significant contribution the USA has made to the human experience. They will talk about it 10,000 years from now.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Meltdown
2016-02-29 06:14:23

What I like most is how this election cycle ONCE AGAIN shows the people are not for amnesty and will stand up when given a chance.

Shithead sell outs like McCain have been around forever and the system is rigged to prevent any opposition (unless you are a billionaire).

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 07:48:35

Bloomberg Politics Poll conducted by Selzer & Company. Nov. 15-17, 2015. N=1,002 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.1.

“Some candidates favor rounding up 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally and sending them to their home country. Do you think this is the right way or the wrong way to address the situation?”

Right way: 27%
Wrong way: 63%
Unsure: 10%

Comment by taxpayers
2016-02-29 09:09:33

Hilter only moved about 3 million jews or less. The rest he killed locally.
He had the Wehrmacht and express trains.
Trump is logistically and legally blocked from this fantasy.

Why not sign them up w no welfare bennies or even soch for 10 years. No esol classes either.

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 09:17:13

Trump is logistically and legally blocked from this fantasy.

Well, that’s certainly good news. Though it’s worrying that some Americans may fantasize about such things.

No esol classes either.

This is an odd one. My preference is that immigrants learn to speak English.

 
Comment by taxpayers
2016-02-29 15:33:52

Check your county school budget
Esol is eating schools

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 20:02:09

Eliminating ESL would have an effect on a lot of kids who are legal immigrants, even some who were born in the country. You could also say that teaching spelling or arithmetic burns up a lot my tax dollars.

 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:23:33

Do you think this is the right way or the wrong way to address the situation?”

“He [Trump] would round up and deport 11 million people, a forced movement on a scale not attempted since Stalin or perhaps Pol Pot.”

Trump = Biggest Progressive Ever?

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Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 14:29:25

“Some candidates favor rounding up 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally and sending them to their home country. Do you think this is the right way or the wrong way to address the situation?”

Right way: 27%
Wrong way: 63%
Unsure: 10%

MightyMike, that’s a loaded question. That question is simply an either/or. But if that question included an option to simply e-verify, punish employers, and stop benefits, you would see a MUCH higher resistance to amnesty.

And you know it.

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 16:17:04

Illegal immigrants are already banned from getting government benefits. But your statement is odd. You’re that the result would be different is the poll question issue was muddied. That’s possible.

 
 
 
Comment by wondering
2016-02-29 09:52:26

Uh-oh! Looks like somebody is confusing “the people” with the 20% of SC republicans that thought the Emancipation Proclamation was a mistake.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:23:28

Keep in mind the current sellout establishment GOP “leadership” was elected by the dolts who comprise 95% of the electorate. Do we tear them up by the roots, too?

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 08:29:39

“The GOP needs to be torn out from its roots and thrown in the trash. They are not loyal opposition to the Dems. Hell, they don’t oppose Dems on much of anything anymore. The GOP deserves it after duping millions to vote for them last cycle and then rolling over for President Obama as soon as it was all over.”

Well Mugsy you hit that one out of the park.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 09:27:30

you hit that one out of the park.

Now phony will have to go find the ball, clean it off, and write “The GOP is Great!” on it again.

Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 10:11:49

Bill shakes his head at the man wearing a dress outside of the girls locker room and moves on.

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Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 14:32:12

“Outside” ???

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 15:05:28

“Outside” ???

Bill being a man of integrity would have to see the man wearing the dress outside of the girls locker room because Bill would not be in the girls locker room the man in the dress was trying to get into.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 04:19:42

Continuing this weekend’s discussion by HBB’s resident olds shunning smartphones and the facebook, Bloomberg provides the following narrative:

“Your phone knows more about you than you think.

It knows where you’ve been and who you were with, the birthday gift you bought your mother and who you plan to vote for. Sex last night? It knows that too if you’re using one of the applications for couples trying to conceive.

From pre-installed apps that count your steps to saved passwords for banking accounts and social media, smartphones have evolved from devices that make calls into digital repositories for the most intimate details of life.

“You can extract enough information on a typical person’s phone that you can construct a virtual clone of that individual,” said Elad Yoran, executive chairman of Koolspan Inc., a communications security company. “They are the windows not just into our personal lives but they are equally the windows into our professional lives.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-29/your-smartphone-knows-who-you-are-and-what-you-re-doing

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 09:03:17

Yeah but do you encrypt? Do you two way authenticate? Do you use encrypted chat?

 
Comment by bink
2016-02-29 10:54:45

I used to work with Elad. Funny stuff.

He’s mostly right, but he also has a vested interest in selling panic.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 04:45:11

No “pent-up demand” happening here:

“In the city of San Francisco, the median condo price is $1.11 million and the median house price is $1.25 million, up 72% and 88% respectively from the first quarter 2012.

Which creates an absurd situation: only 11% of the households in San Francisco can afford to buy a median home, according to Paragon Real Estate’s report on “affordability.”

But the calculations assume that buyers are able to make a 20% down-payment, which on a median home in SF amounts to $240,000. And it also assumes the persistence of super-low interest rates and points for a 30-year mortgage.

Under these assumptions, households in SF wanting to buy that median home must have a minimum qualifying annual household income of $254,000, on top of the $240k in cash for the down-payment. And this is where the absurdity re-surfaces: the Census Bureau estimates that the median household income in San Francisco is $75,600″

http://www.businessinsider.com/popping-housing-bubbles-in-san-francisco-and-silicon-valley-2016-2

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 04:49:20

No “pent-up demand” happening here:

“London housing simply isn’t affordable. The city’s population is rising fast. In February 2015 it surpassed its previous peak of 8.6 million, which it last reached in 1939. Housing construction has lagged far behind demand, with the proportion of homes built that are actually affordable also dropping. The inevitable result is spiraling home prices. After a rise of 5.4 percent in January 2016 alone, the average home price for the city is now £643,843 ($932,000). The current median annual salary in London now stands at roughly£34,000 ($48,000). This mismatch makes buying a home impossible for most people.

http://www.businessinsider.com/londons-housing-crisis-just-reached-a-turning-point-2016-2

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:18:40

Sharia no-go neighborhoods might tend to bring down London housing costs over time.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 05:01:53

Don’t be a debt donkey:

“A home is not an investment because it doesn’t pay you every month. In fact, you have to pay it every month.

That’s why a house is not an asset, it’s a liability. Nothing is a good deal if you have to feed it constantly.

People ask, “Why would you pay rent when you could buy?” Because you can’t leave. Who wants to go to jail for 30 years? You can be mobile and nimble if you rent. Mobility is a great thing in today’s world. Why settle down? Invest the money in yourself or your business. Your money needs to be free!

The house, much like a college education, has been fed to you as the American dream. Really, it’s a middle class myth perpetuated by outdated thinking, politicians and mass media. Buying a house may have worked for previous generations but old ways of doing things aren’t viable in 2016. We are not in the 1950s, things have changed and people refuse to adjust.

A house is not an investment.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-house-2016-2

Comment by Sean
2016-02-29 07:47:56

Interesting to read the comments section in that article. A nice circle jerk of commenters who “bought at xxx” and now “it’s worth xxx”. Always gains, never talk about their losses.

Reminds me of my dad’s friend who is a compulsive gambler. He’ll brag to whomever will listen about how he won $4,000 in Blackjack but never mentions when he loses $4,000 in Blackjack. If you didn’t know him and only heard how he always wins, you’d think he is a success. Not so much……

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 09:05:47

+1 Goon. In the mainstream media the comment section is still mostly full of those hooked into how nice a 30 year jail sentence is.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:23:07

I have no idea where I will be living or working (if I am working, wink wink) five years from now.

Owner occupied residential real estate is like a cult. They have to convince themselves that they’ve made the right decision. Even as they realize so much of their money, and more importantly, their time, their finite time, is slipping away…

Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 14:40:54

If you are working, wink wink.

Yeah really, what’s going on. All your hiking, vacay to travel around the country, and “I can afford to lose a few thousand in a bet” posts do not sound supportable on a retail income, even if it’s *ahem* in-demand retail. And don’t tell me it’s because you are saving money on rent vs. buying. That’s irrelevant. Rent isn’t that cheap. You got a sugar mommy or a rich sick relative somewhere?

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 15:08:25

Donk it’s not irrelevant.

At this point, rental rates are under half the cost of buying. Now whether you choose to recognize and tabulate the actual costs and losses is up to you. But that doesn’t change the fact that rental rates are a small fraction of buying. Right now and any time in the last 15 years.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Ethan in Northern VA
2016-02-29 09:36:08

The more I think about buying, if I take the money I get back from the mortgage interest deduction and toss the money I get back into the principal, that would help a good deal. I haven’t looked at all the numbers, the taxes might be killer but I dunno, I pay around $25500 a year in rent currently. Job stability is questionable but in an area with lots of jobs and a decent rental market if priced right.

 
Comment by oxide
2016-02-29 14:48:58

There are so many things wrong with this article that I’m not going to bother.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-29 06:21:22

stocks and homes are your ticket out of misery.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 07:14:55

Signing a mortgage is like injecting yourself with terminal cancer.

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 15:12:15

I signed a mortgage, and immediately detonated, leaving a crater 12 feet deep.

 
 
 
Comment by Meltdown
2016-02-29 06:21:53

Just so there is no doubt whatsoever that a certain someone has gone batshit crazy and crossed the last rubicon into insanity, there’s this from last night:

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-28 22:22:25
Meltdown is going full buzzword now, plus posting again under another of her fake personas (”Jane”).

I’m gonna stop posting entirely for the next couple of days to allow him some time to get back his composure (I may return Tuesday night depending on how much of a landslide there is for Trump). Au Revoir.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:07:54

Good morning, Canklepants. How are your eight imaginary sisters doing today?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:29:26

Speaking of going “batshit crazy”, did you happen to catch South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham’s comment at the annual Congressional dinner?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:38:31

Lindsey Graham: ‘My Party Has Gone Batshit Crazy’
During the annual Congressional Dinner, the S.C. senator tells reporters and lawmakers how he really feels about the GOP’s embrace of Donald Trump.
Fri Feb 26 11:13:42 EST 2016
By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Lindsey Graham is disgusted with the GOP’s embrace of Donald Trump: “My party has gone batshit crazy.”

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:54:11

“Batshit crazy” = the new buzzword for the Republican Party after Trump’s hostile takeover

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 09:08:09

Yup!

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Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:13:36

“Don’t vote for me if you’re tired of war.” — Lindsey Graham

I won’t vote for you. Or anyone with a foreign policy that you endorse.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 09:45:54

We were talking about Trump. Why try to discredit whomever you disagree with? I’m sure Lindsey has plenty of useful insights to offer, regardless of whether our Goon would vote for him.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 09:57:40

Lindsey Graham is a neocon’s neocon. At this point it isn’t even about American electoral politics, because Lindsey Graham represents the Likud Party of Israel.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 10:13:48

“Lindsey Graham is a neocon’s neocon.”

You have to admit his ‘batshit crazy’ comment was spot on.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-29 10:15:17

“We were talking about Trump. Why try to discredit whomever you disagree with? I’m sure Lindsey has plenty of useful insights to offer, regardless of whether our Goon would vote for him.”

You don’t get to decide what others talk about, Prof.

No one here need pander to your narrative.

 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2016-02-29 14:09:10

His tough-guy talk is overcompensation for something, for sure.

Just can’t put my finger on what though…

 
 
Comment by wondering
2016-02-29 10:00:54

Correction:
“Bat-shit-Crazy” has been the best adjective for the Republican party for the past 15 years.
;)

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 10:24:27

Correction:
“Bat-shit-Crazy” has been the best adjective for the Republican party for the past 15 years millions of suckers who paid grossly inflated price for a rapidly depreciating house………. the past 15 years.
;)

Fixt for ya.

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-29 21:10:53

The best part was when graham endorsed Rubio because he was malliable

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:31:42

More mass layoffs coming in China. What do corrupt governments always do to deflect popular anger from their own failures? Right, military adventurism abroad…we have always been at war with Oceana….

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-firing-18-million-coal-steel-workers-2016-2

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 15:14:06

Nothing fixes unemployment like feeding your working age population into a meat grinder.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:39:38

Max Lacado on Trump. Lacado is one of the very few mainstream evangelical figures who I actually respect.

https://maxlucado.com/decency-for-president/

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 15:15:37

Doesnt matter… the monkeymass will have their reality TV star.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:42:35
 
Comment by salinasron
2016-02-29 06:45:10

This weekend I heard on the radio while driving that Salinas had the highest escalation (upturn) of rent costs in the nation with many families paying up to 60% of their monthly income in rent.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-29 06:50:51

“… families paying up to 60% of their monthly income in rent.”

Good. More incentive for these families to do the American Dream thing and spend their 60% on buying (actually borrowing) than renting.

The dotted lines await …

Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 08:46:36

Either way they’re screwed. And the PTB wonder why the birthrate is collapsing.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:45:50

Will subprime auto loans require the next Wall Street bailout, and will 95% of the electorate meekly bend over for Wall Street like they did in 2008 with their votes for pro-bailout Obama and McCain?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/02/27/subprime-auto-loan-delinquencies-hit-six-year-high/81027230/

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:50:50

Gold is showing a no-confidence vote in the Keynesian fraudsters at the central banks.

http://www.kitco.com/market/

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 20:37:23

Gold is also showing no confidence in either choice for President.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:52:02
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 06:53:28

A warning to the establishment GOP.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231170

Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 14:51:29

That’s good stuff, right there. Thanks, Ray.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:16:55

Gold is a barometer of the growing lack of trust and confidence in the “former” Goldmanites running our central banks.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-on-track-for-biggest-monthly-climb-since-2002-2016-02-29?link=MW_latest_news

 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-29 07:25:33

Full House bubble.

Someone calculated what the house from ‘Full House’ costs today and it’s insane
Mashable By Neha Prakash
February 27, 2016 5:59 PM

The Tanners’ red-doored Victorian “painted lady” home has become a San Francisco landmark thanks to Full House (and now Fuller House). So in honor of the release of the new sitcom, PopSugar investigated how much the Tanners’ home would be worth in 2016.

Real estate agent Regine Familet estimates that due to being in a prime area in the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood and thanks to San Fran’s notoriously inflated market, the house is easily worth upwards of $3 million.

More shockingly, the Tanners would’ve spent around just $441,929 to purchase the house in the early ’90s.

http://news.yahoo.com/someone-calculated-house-full-house-225932541.html

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 07:42:53

San Francisco has a serious homeless problem. As does Los Angeles. California is the most impoverished state in the country. Why is that?

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 08:07:05

The mild climate in LA makes it a relatively good place to live on the street.

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-29 13:21:02

yes, and open space to camp and wealthy people to beg to.

You cant be homeless in Buffalo, NY.

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Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 09:11:03

He reason that you don’t see any homeless people in Mineapolis at least September thru May.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:26:16

Our all-wise, all-knowing oligarch financial media assures the proles that a Chinese economic meltdown will have no impact on US markets. Because, you know, it’s DIFFERENT here.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-stock-market-is-over-china-2016-2

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:29:37

“The Big Short” director, in his Oscar acceptance speech, blasts the big banks and the politicians who toady to them.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-banks-oil-blasted-by-the-big-short-director-in-oscar-acceptance-speech-2016-02-29?link=MW_latest_news

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 13:06:06

“Inside Job” should have gotten an Oscar nod in 2012.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:30:56

Word to the sheeple:

The Hollywood blockbuster dramatizing and demystifying the 2008 financial crisis won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“If you don’t want big money to control government, don’t vote for candidates that take money from big banks, oil, or weirdo billionaires,” director Adam McKay said Sunday night as he accepted the award, echoing the moralizing tone of the movie.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-29 07:53:07

weirdo billionaires

Sheldon Adelson and George Soros? Can anyone name one redeeming human quality about either of these two?

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-29 09:35:10

I will be impressed when gold broaches $1300. I will be very impressed when it broaches $1400, which means it broke out of its 5 year downward trend.

My gold buying is continuing and I will be backing up the truck in April. Also for platinum.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 07:40:44

I think the HBB should put in a lowball offer on Lloyd’s mansion.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-13-million-mansion-lloyd-blankfein-cant-sell-2016-02-26

Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 09:52:38

I don’t know about that, he might actually accept the offer.

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 08:07:01

Lumber Liquidators:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-29/lumber-liquidators-liquidates-guidance

OK, so I get that Lumber Liquidators’ laminate flooring was full of formaldehyde and other cancer causing agents. But are they the only ones? Back when I was doing the home improvement marketing gig, Home Depot and Lowe’s were installing tons of laminate flooring and probably still are. How is it possible they’re not getting hit with lawsuits as well? I thought all these outfits pretty much get their stuff from the same sources.

Comment by Ethan in Northern VA
2016-02-29 12:25:03

Chinese drywall was the big thing, and I don’t know if the US government really did anything to help the homeowners that bought houses made with it.

One thing might be that most of the companies just simply closed shop / rebranded to avoid lawsuits? Or perhaps Lumber Liquidators rebranded some of the poison as their own, where by other vendors left the original manufacturers names on the product so less liability?

I remember my co-worker saying the house behind him was Chinese drywall made of coal power plant smokestack scrapings but he looked at his drywall in the attic and it was domestic.

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 14:46:29

Prob best to avoid any house built after 2005.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 08:14:00

So much for the yen carry trade propping up the Fed’s Ponzi markets.

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDJPY?countrycode=US

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 08:41:47

Horror in Moscow as burka-clad babysitter ‘decapitates four-year-old girl in her care’ - then walks through streets carrying her severed head and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’

By Julian Robinson and Will Stewart In Moscow for MailOnline

Published: 04:54 EST, 29 February 2016

A burka-clad babysitter decapitated the little girl in her care before walking through Moscow carrying the child’s severed head, police say.

The woman shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as she appeared near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in the northwest of the Russian capital and threatened to blow herself up.

It came hours after officers found the headless body of a four-year-old child when they were called to a fire at a block of flats in the city.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469100/Woman-black-burka-holding-child-s-severed-HEAD-shouting-Allahu-Akbar-shuts-metro-station-Moscow.html#ixzz41ZWCym4M
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 08:43:29

The china collapse continues

“China Stocks Crash: Down More Than 4% To Fresh 15 Month Lows”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-28/china-stocks-crash-down-more-4-fresh-15-month-lows

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 08:57:56

The regular news of another four percent drop in China stocks followed by mo’ stimulus to prop up prices gets so repetitive after a while!

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:03:50

It does but it demonstrates the point that throwing good money after bad won’t prevent falling prices.

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 12:56:23

The deflation is baked in.

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Comment by taxpayers
2016-02-29 09:05:14

increased across King County 9.35 percent, largely driven by the generosity of voters. In Seattle, taxes jumped even higher — about 15 percent on average. Seattle’s hike was largely thanks to a major transportation levy, funding of a metropolitan park district and a publicly financed campaign voucher system

9% tax hike = 2% of equity over 15 years
Ben Dover

Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-29 09:51:28

Got TABOR?

 
Comment by redmondjp
2016-02-29 10:58:02

And the Big One, tax-increase-wise, in the greater Seattle area will be the Sound Transit III ballot measure this fall, which will increase taxes by a significant measure if approved by the voters.

 
 
Comment by Senior Housing Analyst
2016-02-29 09:20:03

Frisco, TX Housing Market Caves; Prices Crater 9% YoY As Sellers Slash Prices

http://www.zillow.com/frisco-tx-75035/home-values/

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 09:41:26

“Trump Storms To Incredible 33 Point Lead Ahead Of Super Tuesday”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-29/trump-storms-incredible-33-point-lead-ahead-super-tuesday

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 10:07:10

It’s barely 10am and the Rage Cages are overflowing. A new record.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 10:53:26

Elitist Hillary Clinton Has a New Requirement for the Press Covering Her Campaign…

Written By: Greg Campbell February 27, 2016

2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talks a great deal about the “wealthy” and the supposed need to redistribute their wealth. At every stop, she riles the crowd into a collectivist frenzy and maintains that she intends to crusade for the Americans who are being victimized by the elite, the powerful millionaires and billionaires that have become entrenched in American politics.

You know… like the Clintons, the super-wealthy who maintain strong, entrenched political ties that they use to maintain their incredibly-opulent lifestyle.

Despite her “woman of the people” rhetoric that insists that she understands the plight of the middle and lower classes, the Clintons enjoy a net worth of around $111 million— around 368 times the average American’s net worth.

Consistently, Bill and Hillary Clinton have tried to downplay their wealth in order to keep their “cred” with the socialism-minded crowd who favor her brand of redistribution of income.

To further this image, Hillary reportedly refused on Saturday to allow the press to film or photograph her getting on her private jet.

The sullen socialist sat on the tarmac in her car until all members of the press were on their own planes before she would even exit the vehicle.

Liz Kreutz, an ABC reporter tasked with covering the Democratic candidate, tweeted the below photo and noted:

Clinton staff won’t allow press to film HRC boarding her charter. We must get on our plan before she gets out of car

Hours after tweeting the news, the Clinton camp, evidently mindful of the bad press, told reporters that they may photograph the elitist candidate deplaning.

It’s hard to figure which is more ridiculous: the level of hypocrisy in crusading to redistribute wealth she, herself, is insanely rich or the dangerous high-handedness she maintains with the press in dictating what they may and may not photograph during this election.

Either way, remember this the next time that obnoxious neighbor tells you that Hillary is willing to “fight” for the middle class.

Comment by ibbots
2016-02-29 12:22:32

Rumor is she can’t walk up the stairs without help….between that and the coughing fits, it appears she has frail health.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 13:09:23

If she really can’t walk up stairs, I think that we’d have heard about it.

Comment by palmetto
2016-02-29 14:42:33

Neither could FDR walk or stand without help.

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 15:18:55

We’re hearing about it right now Snowflake.

Good info.

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Comment by azdude
2016-02-29 17:05:54

LOWBALL ANYONE WHO CARES TO CONSIDER YOUR OFFER

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 17:43:34

lol@Az_Donk

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 20:03:49

You mean that you read a rumor in a comment on a blog. That’s not what I’m talking about.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 20:12:05

It’s not a rumor Snowflake.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 13:07:19

She feels nobody’s pain.

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-29 10:58:10

Trump’s Lead Exploding Ahead of Super Tuesday

Every time Fox News, Rubio attack Trump, Trump’s lead grows

Kit Daniels | Infowars.com - February 29, 2016

 
Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 11:28:15

National Debt clock dot org: $19,054,852,900,000

DEBT IS DUMB.

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-29 13:33:06

Kanye lives higher on the hog then u

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 14:23:09

: )

 
 
 
Comment by Donald Trump
2016-02-29 11:50:20

I am self funding my campaign and only work for YOU, the American people!

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:41:56

Reader warning:

More factual information coming your way soon. Apply Joshua Tree Extension immediately if you can’t handle the truth.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:43:00

What Evangelicals Want In The 2016 Election
Evangelical leader Russell Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
(Alex Ashlock/Here & Now)

The Republican presidential candidates are appealing to evangelical voters across the South. Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Russell Moore, one of the country’s most visible evangelical leaders, about the issues these voters are most concerned about and how the tone of the campaign on the Republican side is resonating with them.

Interview Highlights: Russell Moore

On the campaign thus far

I think this campaign gives me reason to think someone has released LSD into the water system in this country, and every single day one looks at the news and cannot even fathom that it’s happening. Yet, every day there is something totally surprising, sometimes shocking and often horrifying.

What’s horrifying to you?

“I think it’s horrifying that we have a campaign where some of the most vulnerable people in American society are being scapegoated and having some of those awful things said about them. I think of not only immigrants, but also women and African-Americans and also the disabled and others, when we have coarseness of this campaign, where people can’t even bring their small children to rallies for fear of what sort of screamed profanity will be taking place. A campaign where we are debating issues that ought to be – that we ought to have a consensus about, for instance, religious liberty and war crimes and torture and those sorts of things, that’s deeply, deeply disturbing to me that this is taking place this year.”

What are the most important issues to your members?

“I think one of the most important issues is religious liberty. The freedom of all people, not just people who agree with us, but of all people to be able to believe, worship and carry out their convictions freely without intervention from the government.”

Do they feel that they can do that right now?

“They feel as though religious liberty is under attack and has been over the last seven years in ways that we couldn’t have imagined. We’ve had several important religious liberty victories over the past several years, the Hobby Lobby case for instance, we have the Little Sisters of the Poor case come in before the court this year, but frankly who would have imagined that we would have to be in court saying that the government shouldn’t be able to coerce nuns to violate their consciences with birth control, so there are numerous religious liberty questions.”

You haven’t mentioned marriage.

“Marriage is a very important issue. Marriage and family, and after the Obergefell decision, right now the question is what happens when you take an institution that has been defined for millennia and seek to redefine it through government power? So I think the marriage decision really focuses evangelical Christians on how much is at stake with the Supreme Court, and so I’ve been saying for some time that it seems to me that both sides of the culture war are really voting for Supreme Court this year. I think that’s been upended, of sorts, because of the craziness of the election cycle so far, when we really haven’t been talking about those important foundational issues of what’s the judicial philosophy that we are going to be facing over the next 50 or 100 years. Instead we’ve been talking about issues of less seriousness.”

Issues of less seriousness such as?

“Well, the daily bread-and-circuses from the Trump campaign that seems to suck up all of the oxygen in the room, and so we are having to discuss whether or not we should ban people from the United States of America on the basis of their religion. Not only is that a blatant violation of an American principle of religious liberty, everyone knows that’s not going to happen, so we have to have these conversations rather than talking about serious matters.”

 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-29 13:18:54

Last nights Oscars were sure whiny.

I just want equal opportunity for whites in the NBA too.

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-29 14:21:50

And preachy…

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:45:40

There is definitely a double standard, as it seems the spokespeople for blacks want equality in all areas of life except for those, like basketball, baseball and football, where blacks are dominant.

Comment by Rental Watch
2016-03-01 03:40:21

Equality of opportunity is not the same as equality of outcome.

 
 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-29 13:31:15

attorneys destroying America-

A judge last week granted final approval to a settlement of a class-action suit filed against Subway after an Australian teenager in 2013 posted an image of his sandwich on Facebook that was only 11 inches. The image garnered international media attention, with The New York Post writing that it found four out of seven Footlongs it purchased in New York “measured only 11 or 11.5 inches.”

As part of the settlement, Subway agreed to institute practices for at least four years to ensure its bread is at least 12 inches long. The judge approved $520,000 in attorney fees and $500 for each of the 10 individuals who were representatives of the class, but no monetary claims were awarded to potential members of the class.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-29 16:13:41

It’s OK. America will survive.

 
Comment by Muggy
2016-02-29 18:44:27

No, this is what makes America great.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-29 17:08:07

are u sheep ready for super trump day tomorrow?

Remember to lowball anyone who wants your fiat! dont be afraid of a NO.

 
 
Comment by Falling Housing Prices
2016-02-29 18:29:25

“falling housing prices”

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 18:39:00

It appears some of the Democrat Party rank and file can no longer stomach voting for evil and corruption.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/2016/02/amid_trump_surge_nearly_20000_mass_voters_quit_democratic_party

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 18:44:16

While millions of Central America Democrat-on-Arrival voters may not be registered in time to vote in 2016, by 2020 Comrade Pelosi will have her permanent Democrat supermajority. Forward!

http://www.kvue.com/news/special-valley-prepares-for-next-wave-of-central-american-children/58049891

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 20:56:06

I’ve noticed a couple of things about today’s Bit’s Bucket:

1) For the first time in several days, over half the posts aren’t due to Anklepants, Canklepants, Yuuge in Burma, DumidolFanger, Meltdown, CawCawCaw or Donald Trump.

2) Look ma, no “arguing”!

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-29 21:04:54

“The easiest way to gain control of the population is to carry out acts of terror. The public will clamor for such laws if their personal security is threatened.” — Joseph Stalin

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 21:12:00

Housing my friends…. Housing.

Corvallis, OR Housing Market Craters; Prices Dive 7% YoY On Collapsing Housing Demand

http://www.zillow.com/corvallis-or/home-values/

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 21:15:54

Thanks for the reminder ;-)

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-29 21:18:24

You can always count on me.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 21:48:32

Those who can’t handle the truth routinely attack it, hoping it will go away and stop threatening their happy delusions.

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-29 22:19:08

LIAR!

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 22:46:07

I guess someone had to pinch hit for Ms Meltdown while she rests up in the sanitarium with her eight lovely sisters.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 22:44:08

Is there any truth to the story that Trump got kicked out of regular school for bad behavior and finished up in reform school?

I am noting a possible connection between his scholastic experience and his current pattern of unruly bullying. An abuser starts off by testing the limits of his abuse. If nobody stands in his way, the abuses escalate without limit.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 23:05:59

Denial ain’t a river in Egypt.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 23:17:33

Another month is over, and China stocks are still dropping…

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-29 23:19:02

China Stocks Down, Other Asian Markets Gain

By joe mcdonald, ap business writer

BEIJING — Mar 1, 2016, 12:56 AM ET

Chinese shares sank Tuesday after a weak manufacturing reading overshadowed an easing in bank lending while Japan and other Asian markets were mostly higher.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-03-01 00:27:40

What would happen if some political consultants got together and decided to perpetrate a massive fraud on America by running a fake campaign for an absolute schmoe of a candidate?

 
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