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The State reports two teenagers were arrested and another suspect is sought after a burglary at a East Camden store.

Perry Lee Mirza, 18, and a 16-year-old juvenile were tracked Wednesday by Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office bloodhounds after a burglary at Patty’s New and Used Things on Jefferson Davis Highway, according to a release from the KCSO. 

One unidentified suspect remains at large after fleeing the scene and evading deputies.

Deputies believe suspects entered the store by smashing out the front glass. In addition to broken glass, the suspects left three different shoe impressions in the parking lot. 

The bloodhound tracking team was able to lead deputies to a home on McCrae Road, where two suspects were details wearing shoes that matched the impressions. The homeowner gave officers permission to search the residence, and stolen property was located. Deputies located a majority of the stolen property.

More here

As CBS 2′s Carolyn Gusoff reported, two of the five teens accused of assaulting a man who claimed he was sticking up for his wife after they harassed her while she walked their dog have been found guilty of misdemeanors. The other three were acquitted of the charges Thursday.


In an exclusive interview, John Woythaler told Gusoff he still suffers from headaches, memory loss and personality changes after he was beaten by the high school seniors.
“I just remember thinking, somebody please come out, somebody please help,” Woythaler said.

Even though the melee was caught on a neighbor’s surveillance tape, faces could not be seen clearly, Gusoff reported.

But Woythaler’s wife, Meri, said she knows what she saw. “I have no doubt in my mind. I saw them all, I saw them all jump on my husband.”

This is the first time the Woythalers have spoken out since the attack back in June, 2012.
Meri Woythaler said she was walking her dog when the pack of teens started shouting catcalls at her. “They started coming at me and calling me horrible words. Words you wouldn’t want to hear anyone say, and it was rather scary,”  Woythaler said.

John Woythaler then jumped in his car and went looking for the teens. He said his intentions were to demand an apology from the teenagers. When he found the boys on Roxen Road, he said they brutally beat and kicked him in the head.

“There is nothing wrong with standing up and saying ‘this is wrong and you owe my wife an apology.’ This is not an appropriate way to behave,” Woythaler said.

The teens’ defense attorney argued they were the ones set upon by a vigilante. “He was the aggressor, he was the pursuer,” attorney Michael Dergarabedian said.

The defense attorneys in the case said the verdicts vindicate the teens, finding their actions justified.

More here

Dear Mr. Snowden:

You can trust U.S. because you have your rights according the U.S. Constitution and Bill Of Rights.  We in the Obama Administration took an OATH OF OFFFICE to uphold those rights and preserve, protect, and defend them from all enemies both foreign and domestic.  Why would we seek to kill you?  We honor the unalienable rights of we the people.  Come home now and trust us.  

Sincerely,

Attorney General Eric Holder


If Snowden comes home the only right he'll be given is THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT.  After they give you THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT then you are REQUIRED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS or you would be charged with OBSTRUCTING.  Sound familiar?  Does anyone really know your rights?

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Justin Drew Bieber and Khalil Amir Sharieff
(HNNUSA) - Justin Drew Bieber, 19, Miami Beach Police arrest report.

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

WASHINGTON — The guest list for President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address just got more interesting.

Yesterday, Sean Hannity said he’d be attending as a guest of Rep. Louie Gohmert. Hannity is a conservative pundit for Fox News. He’s had Gohmert, an outspoken critic of Obama, on his show a number of times. The Tyler Republican has even filled in hosting Hannity’s show on a few occasions.

Turns out, Hannity may have his own political ambitions in the Lone Star state.

Yes indeed. Loons of a feather flock together.

“The answer is yes, I’d think about it,” Hannity said when a viewer asked via Facebook about his inclination to run for office eventually. “It would either be in Texas or Florida.” Hannity, who has indicated he’s leaving what he calls “anti-conservative” New York, later contrasted the state with Texas.

Certainly the Northeast has no problem with Mr. Hannity exercising his free will in relocating to The Lone Star State or Florida.

Read the rest of the article below the fold.

Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

I've said all along that the NSA surveillance plan (data mining)was not only an infringement on the privacy rights of every American citizen but quite probably illegal as well. An independent federal agency has arrived at the same conclusion.

WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, scheduled for release by Thursday and obtained by The New York Times, that represent the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.

The report is likely to inject a significant new voice into the debate over surveillance, underscoring that the issue was not settled by a high-profile speech President Obama gave last week. Mr. Obama consulted with the board, along with a separate review group that last month delivered its own report about surveillance policies. But while he said in his speech that he was tightening access to the data and declared his intention to find a way to end government collection of the bulk records, he said the program’s capabilities should be preserved.

The Obama administration has portrayed the bulk collection program as useful and lawful while at the same time acknowledging concerns about privacy and potential abuse. But in its report, the board lays out what may be the most detailed critique of the government’s once-secret legal theory behind the program: that a law known as Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the F.B.I. to obtain business records deemed “relevant” to an investigation, can be legitimately interpreted as authorizing the N.S.A. to collect all calling records in the country.

The program “lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value,” the report said. “As a result, the board recommends that the government end the program.” {Emphasis Mine}

Irrespective of the self serving interests of the NSA specifically, and the Obama government generally, the independent agency's report is spot on and the Obama administration should end the illegal surveillance NOW.

Read the full article below the fold.

Via: Memeorandum

Click to enlarge.

I'm using quarterly averages to eliminate some of the noise.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Existing Home Sales

Click to enlarge.

January 23, 2014
U.S. 10-Year Yield Falls to Six-Week Low After Economic Reports


This is not investment advice. If slapping parabolic trend lines onto a series of data points could accurately predict the future then historians would all be billionaires. That said, damn. Bad chart. Bad. Bad.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Continued Claims

The following chart shows the natural log of the quarterly average of the 10-year treasury yield. When using natural logs, constant exponential growth (or decay) is seen as a straight line.


Click to enlarge.

I have added a parabolic trend channel in red that uses the data points shown in red. I have also added a parabolic trend in blue that uses all of the data points. Note that the correlation of the blue trend line is 0.89.

The long-term trend shows that the 10-year treasury yield has been decaying (not exactly rocket science here). It's not a pure exponential decay though. Since a parabola fits the data extremely well, I think the best way to describe it is as an exponential decay trend that has been accelerating to the downside. In other words, it has been exponentially decaying at a faster and faster rate. Hello Japan?

I know past performance is not necessarily indicative of the future, but where is the actual evidence that we are in a long-term rising interest rate environment? (And not just a short-term cyclical bounce within a declining trend channel?)

You may be wondering why I singled out the 5% interest rate target in the chart (with a natural log of 1.61). Well, wonder no more! It is inspired by the financial "experts" at MSN Money. Long time readers know that I'm not all that bullish on inflation adjusted gold prices at these levels, but I believe that the following article is a study in ridiculousness. I am therefore willing to place a "gold bug" hat on my head, if only for a day. You know, it's just an effort to balance things out a bit.

January 22, 2014
MSN Money: How gold could fall below $500 an ounce


If ifs and buts were candy and nuts then we'd all have a Merry Christmas. What hubris! The price of gold is pegged to 3 digits of "scientific" precision. All you need to know is a future long-term nominal interest rate? Forehead. Desk. Whack. Whack. Whack.


You think? Yeah, inflation might be a good backup plan if nominal interest rates aren't enough I suppose. For example, if inflation is running at 10% and the 10-year treasury yields 5% then I think we can pretty much forget about $500 gold. Call me silly if you must. (This is not a prediction that we will see 10% inflation and 5% interest rates of course. It's just an example.)


I wish you could have seen how quick I was to reject his simpleminded "behavioral" model. It may have even been a personal best! Unfortunately, I did not have a stopwatch at the time. And even if I had a stopwatch handy, I'm 49 years old and my reflexes aren't what they once were. I'm therefore not entirely sure I could have accurately timed such a short period to 3 digits of "scientific" precision.


Wow! 10 years of cherry picked data offered up a very high 0.78! Color me impressed. Of course, it is based on the premise that my 28 years of cherry picked data (as seen in the chart above) with a much higher 0.89 correlation has to fail spectacularly before his prediction even kicks in. In order to get to 5% interest rates, the natural log needs to rise to 1.61 on my chart. That is well outside the channel and well removed from the blue trend line. It would indeed be a spectacular fail. Could it happen? Of course it will, someday. That someday could be a very, very long time from now though. And in the meantime, who really knows what gold will be doing?

So, in the battle between cherry picked data sets, who are you going to believe? The very highly correlated 10 year model for gold's price that does not concern itself with inflation or the extremely highly correlated 28 year model of long-term interest rates that has a certain Japanese housing bust feel to it?

Put another way, if one assumes that we are in a rising interest rate environment when we very well might not be, then all kinds of crazy predictions are possible. Why stop at 5% interest rates? What will gold's price be if interest rates hit 50%? Better not tell me $47.10 or I will laugh my motherf#$%ing @$$ off! Seriously, lol.

This is not investment advice. I'm simply offering up an alternative theory for where interest rates are headed that matches my own beliefs. It is not proof of anything. If I had a crystal ball that could accurately predict the future, then I certainly wouldn't spend time making charts or offering up gold price predictions with a whopping 3 digits of "scientific" precision. Now would I? No, sir. I'm compelled to heckle instead. It might even be a disease. Please, for the love of all that's holy, someone help me stop! :)

See Also:
The Pulp Fiction of Rising Interest Rates

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Melissa Plancarte Bustos, Enrique Plancarte Jr. and Enrique "Kike" Plancarte Solís

The Hil lreports Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats’ political guru, has a plan to poison the Tea Party by driving a wedge between its rich funders and its blue-collar rank and file.

Schumer, one of the Democrats’ most influential strategists, will argue in a major speech on Thursday that super-wealthy Tea Party donors have hijacked the grassroots movement that grew out of the economic anxiety of the 2008 financial collapse to suit their pro-big business agenda.

More here

Democrats are desperate to distract voters away from their horrible record.