Daily news sites| Find Breaking World News
Latest Updates

Preppy & dots




Preppy, preppy, preppy!!! Yes! I finally decided to wear again skirts; actually I made this decision last month (this post is a old one and the last one from last year).
1. Color combination: Black/ Neon/ Green
2. Accessories: Nowhere booties, Proenza Schouler for Target &Neiman Marcus clutch, Forever 21 ring,
3. Prints: Polka dot sleeves and shirt
4. Conclusion: I should wear more often skirts because are such a fun/ feminine piece :)
5. what do you think?



                                                                           Booties: Nowhere/ great ones Here
                                                                           Coat: vintage
                                                                           Shirt: Jones New York/ option Here
                                                                           Neon top: H&M/ similar Here
                                                                           Skirts & Ring: Forever21
                                                                           Sunglasses: thanks to zeroUVHere
                                                                           Polka dot sleeves: thanks to Ch-ArmzHere
                                                                           iPod sleeve: Proenza Schouler for Target & Neiman Marcus/ Here







2013 goals

Ok, I know. I'm a little late to the party. And you are probably rolling your eyes to have to look at yet another New Year's list, but I've got to create some accountability here people. If I don't put this list out into the great big interwebs, it will become part of the long list of things that never get done. I need to be able to look you in the eye after all.

After my success with my 2012 goal list I find it best to keep this suckers short manageable. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

1. Entry refresh. It is really too small to be considered a foyer and "entry" is even pushing it, but whatever it is it needs a kick in the pants. The hubs and my dad hung the wallpaper the first summer we were in the house and it is pretty beat up. I also need more storage...somehow. A head scratcher.


2. Sew something. Anything. I've got the sewing machine, it's the whole using the sewing machine thing that is getting in my way. Just to figure out how to spool the thread is a challenge for me. Don't judge. I'm just not a patient person. So the goal is to sew myself a pillow at the very least. 12 months to sew a pillow. I'm pushing myself for greatness, aren't I?
source
3. The girls' room. It's almost time for Eve to move into her big girl bed, so it is the perfect time to start from scratch. Hopefully I can make these bossy clients happy.


4. Bathroom redo. All cosmetics. Not the lipstick kind, but the paint kind. I'm over the color(s) in there and something needs to change. Pinterest and I have been consulting on this already. Now if I could just narrow it down to one idea...

source
5. Open my little black door a little more. Did you know I have a growing design business? Of course you don't, how could you? I don't talk about it much. That will change, in a good way. More to come.

So there is my top 5 for the year. Officially out there. And I already feel behind. No turning back now, you've read it after all. Have you planned for any big changes this year? Any new adventures?

Embracing Slavery in America ... J. D. Longstreet

Embracing Slavery in America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

****************

Well, here we are.  I honestly thought, indeed, I HOPED, I'd not live long enough to see my country, the USA, become a dictatorship.  But, as I said, here we are.

For those of my generation, who actually remember what freedom was like, what America was like as a truly free country, it has been stunning at how quickly America transformed from a constitutional representative republic to, well, whatever form of Marxist dictatorship we are  suffering under today.  The speed of America;s devolution has been absolutely remarkable.

Even more remarkable, for me at least, was  the lack of resistance.  None!  We just sat back and allowed it to happen.

And then I saw a couple of young Americans on a cable news channel just the other day debating whether the US Constitution ought to be scrapped.  Again, I was stunned, blind-sided, by the utter stupidity of the conversation in which those young Americans -- with all their college degrees and a string of alphabet letters attached to their names -- were engaged.  It was mind-blowing!

My father used to tell me, "Son," he'd say. "There is NO FOOL like an educated fool!"  How right Pop was.

I looked at them and thought:  "These are mere children!  What do they know of life?  What do they know of taking up arms in defense of the constitution?  What do they know of freedom?  They have never experienced the freedom I have as an American.  And yet, there they were postulating their theory that the constitution was too old, outdated, it no longer fit the modern American people, and it just had to go. 

These, I thought, are the people who voted for Obama.  Dumb as a post -- unable to locate their own posterior with both hands, a GPS -- AND -- a bird dog! 

I slid forward, onto the edge of my chair, and watched and listened with rapt attention to the noises emanating from those day care drop outs.  The more I listened the more I became convinced that all is lost.  There is no hope when America's future is to be placed in the hands of such incredibly ignorant people.

How is it possible to even think America could exist without our the constitution?  Heck, it's all we can do to exist WITH the constitution.  Remove it, and the country collapses into something unrecognizable. 

That, I am willing to bet, is exactly what those who would dump our constitution want.

You DO see where they are headed with their argument, don't you?  I am convinced they are a part of the global governance movement. These are the folks who want a one-world government.  No countries -- just one great global community ruled by one great world dictator -- preferably the United Nations. 

As long as we bumpkins in America insist on holding onto our founding documents, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they cannot collapse America and fold it into that amorphous Pangea-like blob of Terra bound humanity. 

These youngsters, having already learned to embrace slavery to the state, are the "Useful Idiots" of the one-worlders, the global governance crowd.   The gray beards in the movement are dispatching the kids out into the minefield to explode the ordinance and clear a path for their wisen heads to advance their plans for what would amount to a slave planet.

For decades our public education system in America, up to and including our colleges and universities, (which we laughingly refer to as institutions of "higher learning") have been indoctrinating our young in the way their masters would have them go.   The scriptures tell us that " ... as the twig is bent, so growth the tree."  Look at all the bent, warped, trees around us today, in our schools, in our universities, in our government, and yes, even in our churches. Get 'em when they are young, indoctrinate 'em when they are young -- and you've got them forever!  Works every time.

For half a century, America's schools have been indoctrinating our young in the ways of a "global citizen."   That differs mightily from the way schools taught when I was a young student.

We were taught "good citizenship" as AMERICANS. 

Each classroom had a US flag and at the beginning of each day we all stood and faced that flag, placed our hands over our hearts, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.  We were citizens of America.  We couldn't have cared less for Pangea, Laurasia and Gondwanaland, or some kind of one-world government held together by ignorance, fear,  and armed force.

Today we are told that was all wrong.  They tell us now that we were taught "nationalism" and nationalism is dangerous.  That, dear reader, is total "bovine scatology!"

Heck, yeah, I'm a nationalist.  I am an AMERICAN nationalist. 

Look.  Nationalism is love of country and the willingness to sacrifice for it.  Nationalism, for me, also means that I believe that America's national culture and the interests of America are superior to any other. 

My nationalism explains why I despise the United Nations.  You see, nationalism is the doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goals.  I believe that. Therefore, I have absolutely no use for the United Nations, NONE.  I make no apologies and no excuses for it.

Nationalism has also been described as the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination. 

Yeah, I'll put my American nationalism up against their one-world, global governance, "citizen-of-the-world" nonsense any day of the week.  I have no intention of surrendering the national identity of America and constitutional authority of my fellow American citizens to a world government. 

But first they must make us believe that our Constitution and our Bill of Rights are both irrelevant and dysfunctional.  How do they do that?  By brain washing our kids in those indoctrination centers we refer to as public schools.

Embracing slavery is so simple and so easy for millions of America's young today because they -- ONE:  have never been free (in comparison to earlier generations of Americans) -- and TWO:  it's what they have been taught.  Plus, they have been taught it is their duty, their obligation, to proselytize, to convert others to their warped sense of adoration for "involuntary servitude" to the state.

I agree with Kurt Nimmo's comments in a recent article in which he said:  " ... the average American knows almost nothing about the Constitution and certainly nothing about republicanism, liberty and inalienable rights.

Far too many Americans know virtually nothing about classical liberalism, the ideal of limited government, and the unbridled liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets." 
SOURCE:  http://theintelhub.com/2011/06/22/fareed-zakaria-dump-the-constitution/

Those of us who still love America, and place her first amongst all the nations of the earth are being leaned upon, coerced, if you will,  to learn to love the new slavery, the cradle to grave government intrusion into our lives, every waking (and sleeping) moment.  To them -- this IS  freedom! 

The learning curve is far too steep for this old conservative curmudgeon and it will be a cold day in warmer climes when they break down my heartfelt, and to-the-core, nationalism for America.




© 2013 J. D. Longstreet

Promises can be hard to keep, especially when there’s more than a million dollars at stake.

Promises can be hard to keep, especially when there’s more than a million dollars at stake.


Promises can be hard to keep, especially when there’s more than a million dollars at stake.
When rapper and R&B singer Ryan Leslie’s backpack was stolen in Cologne, Germany in 2010, he lost his laptop, an external hard drive, jewelry, and cash. So he did what any rational person would do: he offered a cushy $20,000 reward for the return of the bag and its contents, which he announced in a YouTube video. When no one came forward, he upped the reward to $1 million. An auto-repair mechanic turned the computer in a month later, saying he found it tucked in a garbage bag in a German forest, and expected to collect his cool million. But Leslie refused to pay the reward on the grounds that the valuable computer files had been corrupted. Now a court has weighed in saying that the Grammy-nominated musician must live up to his promise and pay the reward, plus interest.
In court yesterday, according to the New York Post, Leslie testified that his offered reward was “contingent upon his ability to retrieve several unreleased multitrack songs stored on the hard drive, which he said couldn’t be accessed after he got it back.” His lawyer, David Stefano explained Leslie’s position to ABC News, “He made a second reward video and offered $1 million for just the intellectual property on the external hard drive and computer, the session files.” DeStefano added that the session files were the main item the performer hoped to recover with his reward, “MP3s are nothing for a producer or a studio engineer, they can’t do anything with them. They need the session files. These were his compositions.”
In November, a jury unanimously agreed that despite the fact that Leslie was unable to access the session files on the laptop, he still owed the substantial reward money to Armin Augstein, the German auto-shop owner who found the bag while walking his dog. On Friday, the court once again sided with Augstein and ordered Leslie to pay an additional $180,000 in interest that accrued between when the laptop was found, in 2010, and when the decision came down from federal court in 2012.


Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/05/rapper-ryan-leslie-ordered-to-pay-1-2-million-reward-for-lost-laptop/#ixzz2HCs2zquR

Exponential Trend of the Day


Click to enlarge.

Hey! I actually found an exponential trend chart that hasn't ended in abject failure yet. Although we did get a bit ahead of ourselves in recent years, we're pretty much right on trend!

This is why professional money managers are no doubt paid the big bucks. Sure, as retail investors we could park the money directly in money funds ourselves. Or better still we could also just buy short-term treasury bills directly from the government and hold to maturity. At least there aren't any fees! That would cut out the parasitic institutional middle man though. Where's the fun in that?

Money Market Funds - Risks and Benefits

Why Would I Use Money Market Funds?

Investors who want a decent return from a relatively safe investment use money market funds.

Decent return? Relatively safe? Seriously?

The investments are typically liquid, meaning you can usually get your money out within a few business days.

And do what with it? Buy stocks AFTER they have doubled yet again? Seriously?

You can also take advantage of rising interest rates by keeping your money in an investment that will adjust to the markets.

Take advantage of rising interest rates? Seriously?



See Also:
Weighing the Consequences of a Money Fund Overhaul

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

An Economic Doomsday IS Coming ... J. D. Longstreet

An Economic Doomsday IS Coming    ...   J. D. Longstreet
An Economic Doomsday IS Coming
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************
Deep within the temporal lobe of the brain is this tiny little limbic system structure in roughly the shape of an almond.  This little mass of nuclei has its tiny little hands in most of our emotions and survival motivations.  It is from this teensie little clump of "stuff" that the signal is sent to either fight, or -- "get the heck out of Dodge." 

The amygdala does a lot more, but as I am most certainly NOT a brain surgeon, or a shrink, I'll stick to what I can look up on Wikipedia or Google, or some other search engine.

For the purposes of this tome, the above information will do just fine, thank you.

Here's the thing, as they say.  If there IS such a thing as a gestalt, and that gestalt has an amygdala, then it is most certainly working overtime.   

There seems to be a growing feeling, all over the world, that humanity is starring down the barrel of a cosmic gun.  We are waiting for something to happen, something rather unpleasant.  What it is exactly, we don't know.  But our collective amygdala is screaming at us to "beware."

There is much speculation (most subdued, it seems to me) about the form in which the coming disaster will arrive: famine, pestilence, war, economic, or something else.  Frankly, I suspect it will entail all of the above and then some. I don't see how a world-wide cataclysm could not.

Those whose expertise is in economics tell us that, without a doubt, the world is heading for economic doom.  The welfare states (nations),  and that includes the US, are going to collapse -- and soon.  When it begins it will resemble dominoes tumbling over, one right behind the other, until we have a total collapse of the world's economic system.

No one, repeat -- NO ONE -- has any idea how to stop this collapse.

In an article at Monty Pelerin's World the writer says the following:  " The US and other modern industrialized nations are headed for economic collapse. Political excesses created unwieldly and insolvent social welfare states in every modern democracy. The notion of providing for those who cannot or do not provide for themselves has limits. As Lady Margaret Thatcher expressed the problem:

    The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.

The writer goes on to explain:  "Those dependent on the welfare state are unaware that their benefits are not sustainable. Most believe tomorrow will be like today and the checks will keep coming from Mother Government. Political power was gained based on promising these benefits. No politician will risk his position by trying to reduce them. No democratic society has ever rolled them back via peaceful political means."


And the the writer says THIS"The financial hole dug by most social welfare states is too deep to get out of. The finest turnaround manager in the world, unconstrained by politics, would be unable to remedy the problems. The mathematics of the problem are just too far gone. Radical cost-cutting and proper economic policies can no longer work. Hope and change may work in a political campaign, but slogans carry no weight against the iron laws of arithmetic.

The world is on the verge of massive sovereign defaults."


So much for the US avoiding the so-called "fiscal cliff," huh?   We may have avoided the cliff only to plunge head long off the lip of the economic Grand Canyon!

The writer at Monty Pelerin goes on to say:  "Welfare states have become zombie economies. These “walking dead” are shells of what they once were. A failure in one probably produces a domino effect that dooms all."

He/she offers the following as solutions: 

"The Economic Solution

This solution requires that government spending be brought into line with revenues and held there (or below) for a lengthy period of time. That requires reneging on many social promises and possible sovereign debt defaults. A depression would occur. Homes would be foreclosed and businesses closed.

Wealth, defined in terms of physical assets, would be re-allocated. New owners and uses of assets would result. So, too, would a complete cleansing of the cancer that prevents economic growth. The economy would be traumatized, but recover rather quickly so long as government refrained from intervening. Pain and suffering are inevitable. Civil unrest is probable and so is the risk that government(s) could be overthrown.

This solution is horrible in every sense but one — it is the better of two alternatives."


So, what then is the worst solution?  The political solution.  But according to the writer there is NO political solution.  Here's what he/she says:  "There is no political solution, although that will not stop politicians from pretending there is. “Pretend and extend” is all they can do. Intervening with additional stimulus and more printed money buys some time, but worsens the economic problems. Problems and distortions are made bigger, requiring even more adjustment when they inevitably occur. Pursuing this strategy flirts with currency destruction which would destroy the savings and fixed incomes of the middle class.

The end result is the same as the economic solution — a complete and total collapse of the economy. The difference is that the collapse is more severe and that many may be destroyed in a hyperinflationary blow-off."


WOW!

I found this article to be awesome and I recommend you go over to the site and read it in its entirety.  You will find it here:

http://www.economicnoise.com/2013/01/03/economic-armageddon-is-coming/ 

(By the way -- "Monty Pelerin" is a pseudonym derived from The Mont Pelerin Society.  Just thought you'd want to know).

Smart people make me feel so, well, inadequate, you know?  But then, I think about what the writer has said and, slowly, I realize he/she is just expressing what so many of us feel but have been unable to articulate.  This writer just did it -- and did it extremely well.

It would appear the people of earth (with apologies to science fiction writers everywhere) have just passed the "point of no return."  We haven't enough fuel to return to our point of origin, and we have just discovered that we haven't enough fuel to reach our planned destination.  In plain English:  "We're screwed!"

Could THIS be what our collective amygdala has been trying to warn us about.  It explains the global feeling of "unease" felt by so many across the globe.

It is information presented in such a way as this that compels one to look upon the "preppers" with a new sense of respect.  Could it be they have been right all along?  It is certainly beginning to look that way.

Now,  if you think I am taking this a bit too lightly, I assure you,  I AM whistling past the graveyard!  For,  you see, I share that feeling of tip-toeing along the precipice of something unknown. And I have suspected for rather a long time now that many more of my species feel the same nagging worry of impending doom. The recent end of the world non-event was evidence of a sense of something ending permeating our human society.

What do you do when there is nothing you can do?
  What do I do when it is the worst of bad nightmares for a control freak like "yours truly."  May we be so bold as to suggest the following:  "1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber . 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep . 5 The LORD is thy keeper : the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night."   ...   Psalm 121:1-6 

There comes a time in the lives of all of us when we have zero control over events affecting us.  The unavoidable is, well, unavoidable.

A remnant will survive to carry on and embrace whatever the future may hold.  So, do humanity a favor, and take notes!  To avoid the unavoidable in the uncertain future depends totally -- upon not repeating our history of mistakes.

See you on the other side?

J. D. Longstreet © 2013

Feinstein: Domestic Enemy of the Constitution

"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Thomas Jefferson, Proposal to Virginia Constitution, source) 
“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” (from Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," source)
"...to disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." (George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380, source

As a result of her actions against the Second Amendment rights of American citizens, Senator Dianne Feinstein has proven herself to be a domestic enemy of the Constitution of the United States.  Threats of this kind to our most basic rights are intolerable and the Constitution must be defended.  Feinstein has demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of our Constitution, which she has sworn to support and defend:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."  (Oath of a Congressman)
Who will now defend the Constitution and the rights of Americans?
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing."  -- Adolf Hitler, April 11 1942 (source)
The following list is taken directly from Senator Feinstein's website (Summary of Feinstein Legislation.pdf):
Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of:
  • 120 specifically-named firearms
  • Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one military characteristic
  • Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds
Strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and various state bans by:
  • Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test
  • Eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test
  • Banning firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons” to address attempts to “work around” prior bans
Bans large-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.
Protects legitimate hunters and the rights of existing gun owners by:
  • Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment
  • Exempting over 900 specifically-named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes and
  • Exempting antique, manually-operated, and permanently disabled weapons
Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:
  • Background check of owner and any transferee;
  • Type and serial number of the firearm;
  • Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;
  • Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and
  • Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration
Feinstein's remarks from an interview in 1995 where she tells the reporter that she would take them all if she could get the votes (unclear whether she means all types of firearms or all types of "assault weapons"):


--Against All Enemies

Connect to AAE
   Blog: http://aaenemies.blogspot.com
   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgainstAllEnemies (Click "Like")
   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/@AAEnemies ("Follow")
   YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/AAEnemies ("Subscribe")
Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

White House Petition Pushes For Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin:Huffington Post

White House Petition Pushes For Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin:Huffington Post


Thanks to a quirky law, the government can mint a platinum coin worth any amount. It then can deposit it at the Federal Reserve to pay off $1 trillion in debt, which would swing the government far below its debt limit. There are questions aboutwhether this really would be legal or constitutional though.


There's a push to have the president create a special weapon to avert another debt ceiling crisis. That special weapon is a trillion-dollar platinum coin, and it's a proposition the Obama administration may be forced to soon consider.
The movement is gaining steam, and the latest indication is a new White House petition calling for the measure. Created on Thursday, the petition already has gained 2,067 signatures as of 1:17 p.m. Friday. Any petition that garners 25,000 signaturesrequires a White House response. From the petition:
With the creation and Treasury deposit of a new platinum coin with a value of $1 trillion US Dollars, we would avert the absurd-yet-imminent debt ceiling faceoff in Congress in two quick and simple steps! While this may seem like an unnecessarily extreme measure, it is no more absurd than playing political football with the US -- and global -- economy at stake.
Thanks to a quirky law, the government can mint a platinum coin worth any amount. It then can deposit it at the Federal Reserve to pay off $1 trillion in debt, which would swing the government far below its debt limit. There are questions aboutwhether this really would be legal or constitutional though.
Supporters argue this is the only way Obama can avoid cutting Social Security and other social insurance programs. Congressional Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have demanded spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, which the government technically has hit already. The Treasury Department now is taking special measures to prevent default, measures that can last only until around February.
Not raising the debt limit would have catastrophic consequences. It would force the U.S. government to default on its debt by preventing it from borrowing to pay its existing bills. It could even cause a financial crisis, market crash and recession, since so many investments hinge on the bet that the U.S. is unlikely to default.
But the coin idea is problematic to some, who warn that it could be a slippery slope toward hyperinflation, since the government would have created new money specifically to finance borrowing.

Stripes & Brights




  Another day, another story... another colorful outfit in my book..
Back to my everyday outfits and my comfort zone: vivid colors & stripes. This is another pick-me-up color mix that is dearly to me: delicious shades of mint and mellow. Voila! A fun and fresh result that will brighten up those gloomy winter days.
Have a wonderful weekend!






                                                                                Coat: vintage/ another favorite Here
                                                                                Top: Jones New York/ option Here 
                                                                                Jeans: B hermosa/ similar Here
                                                                                Bag: Joe Fresh/ similar Here 
                                                                                Ring: Vince Camuto
                                                                                Heels: Shoemint/ on SALE Here 





Cliff Diving Chart of the Day


Click to enlarge.

Let me guess. In the name of prosperity, we've outsourced this to China too? Or perhaps this is proof that our recovery has solid [bicycle tire] traction?

Hey, just theories!

Special thanks to the person who sent me a private email that included a link to this refiner data. It is his believe that bicycle tires might be a good investment. It is not an idea that I can readily discount, lol. Sigh.

See Also:
Global Transportation Rebalancing Underway
CMCTABIFA!

Source Data:
EIA: U.S. Total Gasoline Retail Sales by Refiners
St. Louis Fed: Population

41.1 Million Missing Jobs

Long-Term


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!

Short-Term


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!

Let's take it back to 1984 yet again.


Click to enlarge.

@#$%!

Those who miraculously can't believe in "new normal" theories ought to at least brace for the old normal theories. As seen in the chart above, we're at the top of the old normal's frickin' channel. It therefore seems incredibly unlikely that the job market is on the verge of spewing candy mountain goodness.

Put another way, got kidney? I believe with every fiber of my being that we will not see 4% year over year payroll growth again in my lifetime. In fact, I'd be pleasantly surprised if we ever hit 2% again (unless we got there through a massive employment crash first of course).

As a side note, what kind of denial drug must one be taking to not believe in new normal theories? And how did I miss out? I can't say it would help my financial health but perhaps I'd at least be sleeping better. They say ignorance is bliss!

I dare the optimists to come up with one reasonable scenario which returns us to the long-term employment trend that spans from 1939 to 2000. It's just not mathematically possible without incredible leaps of irrational faith. A quadrillion in national debt *and* cheap energy? Not reasonable. Each worker has two jobs in an increasingly automated world? Not reasonable. The Fed has permanently put a stop to recessions? Not reasonable.

The old normal theories are about as provably dead as anything in economics could possibly be. Over the long-term, we cannot grow like we once did. In fact, we can barely grow during this economic expansion. How much will the next economic contraction undo? I suspect it will be more than most are willing to believe. And let's not even talk about our massive trade deficit and the sucking sound it is making. Sigh.

See Also:
41.0 Million Missing Jobs

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: All Employees: Total nonfarm

When They Take Our Guns, They Take Everything ... J. D. Longstreet

When They Take Our Guns, They Take Everything   ...   J. D. Longstreet
When They Take Our Guns, They Take Everything
From Citizen to Slave
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

*******************
Why is it that when some nut kills great quantities of people, then "off's" himself, the politicians want to take the guns away from the people who did nothing wrong?  Ever notice that?

I have thought about that for awhile now and I have concluded that our government is scared witless of us!

Good thing, too. That fear by the government of the people is what has kept us free for two and a half centuries.

If there was ever a time in the history of America when guns are the only thing standing between the American citizen and pure government tyranny -- it is today! Right now!

Even a blind fool can see the US government is inoperable.  It's broken.  It has blundered into a corner from which it cannot escape and it is about to take the nation down with it.

How many times has this scribe -- and others -- warned of calamitous events headed our way only to have them arrive amid gasps of surprise?    How many times have we pointed to the immediate future and told our readers that thus and so was about to happen only to witness it unfold, right before us, as we watch in stunned amazement?

Understand:  The democrats are going hell bent for leather to pass a gun control bill in the next three weeks.  If you are counting on the republicans to stop it, you are going to be extremely disappointed.  The GOP is going to split -- and a larger than expected portion of them WILL support the Assault Weapons Ban pushed by the democrats.  It is my sense, at this writing, that THE ASSAULT WEAPON BAN WILL PASS CONGRESS  and be signed into law by Obama later this month or early in February. 

I can only ask that you forgive my frustration.  You see, I am having difficulty grasping the fact that my fellow Americans are going to lie down, whimpering, as the bullies of the political left just run right over them.

While the left is in the streets demanding the government take our guns,  the only resistance I am seeing and hearing is coming from individual gun owners standing alone with their single voices drowned out by the whirlwind cacophony of the gun grabbers of that socialist party known today as the Democratic Party. 

Where are the gun rights organizations?  Where ARE they, huh?   The socialist gun grabbers didn't even wait for the bodies to be removed from the scene of the slaughter before they struck.  And now they have the upper hand.

Look, this is not just about guns.  This is about freedom and liberty and the continued existence of the republic.

Do not think just because the Second Amendment exists that that alone will save us. Absolutely not!  The Fourth Amendment sure as heck stopped illegal searches didn't it?  Been to an airport lately?  Looked at those cameras hanging on seemingly every lamp post lately.  Heard the drones flying overhead, lately?  Yes, just because the Fourth Amendment is written down somewhere it sure did stop unreasonable searches and seizures, now didn't it?

Look.  They're going to run roughshod over the Second Amendment, ripping it to shreds, and then they are going to cram those shreds down our throats.

A friend and fellow commentator told me recently, BEFORE the Connecticut massacre, "Longstreet", he said, "You are going to be amazed at how many Americans won't fight."  Sadly, he was correct on BOTH counts.  I WAS amazed -- and-- even now, I am having difficulty grasping the lack of fight in my fellow Americans today.  It seems only the political left and their brown-shirted hordes have any fight in them.

I know I am getting old.  But, I still believe freedom is worth fighting for.  But over the past few years it has become obvious that I, and my ilk, are in the minority in America today.  We now have a nation which had much rather have a baby sitter than have the responsibility of taking care of themselves.  That whole idea is anathema to me.  It is revolting, repugnant, and in my estimation -- un-American.  But it is the reality of the America we live in today.  It is a hollowed-out husk of my America. A mirage. The real American no longer exists. And I am heart sick over that loss.

One last time, before you bare your neck to Obama's socialist/communist chains, take a look at the constitution.  Note that without the Second Amendment the entire remainder of the constitution -- and the Bill of Rights -- isn't worth the paper it is written on.  Once our Second Amendment rights are gone, all other rights are gone, as well.  We become slaves in our own country.

Soon the Presidential Executive Orders will begin to fly. Then the assault weapons ban and the ammo clip bans, and the large magazine bans, then the semi-automatic weapons ban, extremely high taxes on cartridges, and shells, limits on the quantity of ammo one can purchase in a given transaction, outlawing gun shows, etc., etc.  It's all coming -- and more.

They're coming for your guns.  But that's not the worst of it.  They're coming for your freedom, for your liberty, for your life. 

I live on the very edge of one of the swamps where the famous Swamp Fox of the American Revolutionary War camped as he made his way up and down the southeastern coast as the bane of the British Army. As I recently looked out over the watery marsh surrounding the deep, dark, foreboding swamp just beyond, I wondered at how those men must have suffered hunger, cold, pain, and loneliness to do their part in winning this country's freedom from a tyrant. And then I thought out loud:  "For THIS?"  

Look around you, America. The children and grand children of the "Greatest Generation,"  the men and women who saved the world from tyranny,  are spitting on their legacy!

There is an eerie parallel between current events in America and the events of 1917 and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which finally culminated in the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

America is most certainly in a state of "becoming."  WHAT she is becoming is uncertain -- for now.  What IS certain is that the New America will NOT be a constitutional republic. BUT -- for this change to be completed the Second Amendment must be neutralized.  In the next few weeks and months we will see that take place at incredible speed.

© J. D. Longstreet
*********************

VISIT J. D. Longstreet's "INSIGHT on Freedom" Face Book Page!!:   (Just click on the link for more conservative commentary by J. D. Longstreet and other popular conservative writers!)
*********************

 

Illinois Democrats Move To Tighten Firearm Regulation/Restrictions...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny



As the country struggles to understand, and come to grips with random acts of firearm violence by unstable and unbalanced individuals Illinois is already taking action to further regulate firearms. Like the millions of law abiding citizens I am torn between the right to bear firearms and finding the point at which it makes logical sense to restrict that right. In a modern society in which the tools of warfare are advanced beyond what the founders could possibly have envisioned, and the efficiency of modern armies are such that the citizens would stand no reasonable chance against the modern army, does the possession of semiautomatic assault weapons have any real purpose for the homeowner and sportsman? If deemed they do should they not be highly regulated and restricted to HELP reduce the incidents of tragedies like Sandy Hook?

I certainly do not have the answers, nor do I believe the anti-gun crowd has the answers either. Anymore than I believe Wayne LaPierre and the NRA has the answers. Reasonable minds from all sides however must come together and find answers to these questions and others. The American people are deserving of the effort. We can preserve the right to bear arms , and make our society a safer place for our children at the same time. At the same time recognizing that there will always be some level of violence even if firearms were to be banned as some advocate. There will always be criminals, unstable people, and a black market. The challenge is to reduce firearm violence to the lowest possible incident level AND protect the right to bear arms.

FOX NEWS - Illinois Senate Democrats advanced legislation late Wednesday to restrict semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, pressing forward with new gun control measures in the waning days of the session over the objections of firearms groups.

Amid the developments, the Illinois State Rifle Association issued an “urgent alert” to its members warning them that Democratic legislators were trying to push through last-minute anti-gun legislation.

“There would be no exemptions and no grandfathering,” the group stated in its alert. “You would have a very short window to turn in your guns to the state police and avoid prosecution.”

A Senate committee approved two bills, one dealing with the weapons and the other with magazines. Democratic supporters could face a tough sell in the full Senate.

One measure would ban the possession, delivery, sale and transfer of semiautomatic handguns and rifles. People who currently own such weapons could keep them but would have to register them. The bill would allow semiautomatic weapons to be used at shooting ranges, but those facilities would be regulated.

Skip

The other bill, introduced by Democratic state Sen. Dan Kotowski, would limit ammunition magazines to 10 or fewer rounds.

Those pushing for enhanced restrictions say stricter rules are needed in the wake of a string of high-profile mass shootings -- most recently the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn had been trying earlier this year to pass new legislation in the wake of the Colorado movie theater shooting, but lawmakers are taking another crack at it.

Kotowski sponsored legislation in 2007 that would have prohibited assault weapons and .50-caliber rifles. His bill made it through a Senate committee but died on the floor.

Another Democratic state lawmaker, Antonio Munoz, introduced the ban on all assault weapons “designed for war.” {Read More}

I welcome and encourage anyone, from either side of this issue to point out the issues with the Illinois effort as described in the article.

Via: Memeorandum

Avoiding the Cliff, Small Acts of Courage...

Avoiding the Cliff, Small Acts of Courage...
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny


The deal, such as it is, the kicking the can down the road a piece was finally hammered out so at least for now, the "fiscal cliff" was avoided. The nation can thank Mich McConnell and Joe Biden for it getting done.

Yahoo NEWS - If John Kennedy had not written “Profiles in Courage,” today we might have a more realistic understanding of political valor. But JFK’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book so raised the bar for bravery in public life that it now seems obvious that no modern figure can measure up.

Who in the 21st century could possibly match Daniel Webster’s oratory as he heroically struggled to save the Union? Or replicate Edmund Ross’ moral fortitude as he destroyed his political career to cast the decisive vote against impeaching Andrew Johnson? Where once legislators risked being burned in effigy and physically threatened, these days the likely consequence of a courageous vote in Congress is a new career as a high-priced lobbyist.

This week’s ungainly legislative compromise that merely delayed the fiscal apocalypse until March can be ridiculed as a Profile in Timidity. Rather than ratify a grand bargain that would reform taxes and spending for a decade, Congress in predictable fashion did as little as possible as late as possible. No one, Republican or Democrat, is going to brag in their memoirs about the fortitude they displayed, dangling over the abyss, as they scaled the Fiscal Cliff.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner deserve credit for the last-minute fortitude they displayed in ending the dispiriting deadlock over extending the Bush tax cuts. It wasn’t Kennedy-defined courage—and it doesn’t erase the prior stubbornness on taxes by the Republican congressional leaders—but their political moxie should be noted.

On Sunday, with the countdown clock ticking, McConnell made a direct appeal to Joe Biden when his negotiations with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid reached a dead end. Rather than setting up secret back-channel talks with Biden, a longtime colleague, McConnell announced on the Senate floor, “I also placed a call to the vice president to see if he could help jump-start the negotiations on his side.”

The Biden-McConnell agreement challenged Republican orthodoxy in two major ways: It raised taxes on families earning more than $450,000, and it did not extract spending cuts from the Democrats. But the White House also made a big concession: Barack Obama abandoned his mantra since 2007 that families earning more than $250,000 should pay more in taxes. {Continue Reading}

Every so often in this charged political era we see something that gives reason for possible optimism. But then again...

Via: Memeorandum

Extreme Initial Claims Danger v.30


Click to enlarge.


Click to enlarge.

One trend, two trend, red trend, blue trend
Red trend, blue trend, old trend, new trend

See Also:
Extreme Initial Claims Danger v.29
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Initial Claims
DOL: Initial Claims

Is Ahmadinejad Planning A Coup Against The Mullahs?

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle




Word is leaking out of Iran that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning an end-run around the ruling Mullahs and is planning to take full control of Iran.

Ahmadinejad's second and last term of office expires in June.  It is very highly unlikely the Mullahs will support him in another term of office.  In fact, reports show they and the Revolutionary Guard are grooming his successor.  A man who will do their bidding, be their mouthpiece, and follow orders without question.

From Debka:
In the unexpected role of social crusader, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Kermanshah Wednesday, Jan. 2, “The country’s economy should not be controlled by 3,000 or 10,000 people.” Seventy-six million Iranians still don’t benefit from the country’s oil revenues – “only an elite minority,” he said.

Predictably, Debkafile’s Iranian sources report, the Iranian president’s relations and friends are rushing for the exits: they are selling property and packing their bags ready to quit the country, worried about his fate and their own, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his powerful machine prepared to hit back.

Ahmadinejad is certainly in for serious persecution even before his six months as president are up in June. In his second four-year term as president, he made enemies of the most powerful parts of the ruling establishment: He attempted to overshadow the Supreme Leader, brushed aside the advice of his mentor, the influential religious figure Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, and dared to poke a finger in the eye of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, by asking why they controlled and profited from the largest slice of the nation’s assets instead of the people.

Now they are all gunning for him, using as their political bludgeon allegations of financial corruption.

But Ahmadinejad has not been put off. Although he sees his undoing written large on the wall, at every opportunity, before even small audiences of 300-400 people, he continues to maintain that the only way the country can save itself is by forcing the redistribution of national wealth.

His message goes down well in the Iranian street and he is beginning to build a grass-roots power base that may help protect him from retribution by Khamenei and his henchmen. The “elite minority,” which need to be relieved of their assets, was easily understood to impugn the super-rich, like Khamenei’s own son Mojtaba and some of the Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Our sources in Tehran say that many of his associates have already taken the precaution of removing themselves to safety in the United States or Europe; others are keeping their heads down or knocking on the president’s door to wangle foreign postings so long as he has the clout to disburse them. One such prominent figure is Hamid Baqa’I, the president’s deputy for executive affairs. In two months, he is due to take up the post of Iranian ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva and New York, in place of the incumbent Mohammad Khaza’i. Ahmadinejad is going through the motions of promoting his close aide Esfandyar Rahim Masha’I, who is also the father of his daughter-in-law, as presidential contender in June. But he knows it is a lost case. Masha’i is also likely to end up at a foreign posting with his family, when his candidacy is disqualified by the Guardian Council of the Constitution which is under Khamenei’s thumb.

Foreign appointments also appear to be in the works for some other members of Ahmadinejad’s inner circle, such as Seyyed Hossein Moussavi, Malek-Zadeh and others.

But not all his hangers-on are getting a sympathetic hearing. Our sources in Tehran have learned that the president lost patience this week when a bunch of his cronies confronted him with demands for cushy overseas appointments. He threatened instead to fire some of them Under heavy criticism for mismanaging the Iranian economy, he may use the opportunity to assign the blame to his less favorite advisers, sweep them out and replace them with new faces. One of the most prominent heads on the block may be First Vice President and de facto prime minister Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

Rahimi stirred an international furor by his anti-Semitic remarks which accused Jews of “spreading narcotics around the world in accordance with the teachings of the Talmud … whose objective is the destruction of the world.” He almost outperformed his boss, now turned social crusader, who more than once attracted international condemnation for his inflammatory remarks about Israel and Jews.

Most recently, Ahmadinejad called his close cronies together for a pep talk. He told them he held an insurance policy for his and their survival: the secret dossiers of 300 top Iranian officials containing detailed records of their misdeeds. He obtained them by rifling the archives of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security during the brief period after he sacked the intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, and before Khamenei forced him to reinstate the minister a week later.

He and his staff had meanwhile combed through the incriminating files and made copies of them which were now held safe in the presidential office.

Khamenei, who has the support of the bulk of Iran’s political and military leaders, knows all about Ahmadinejad’s plans and is determined to eliminate him one way or another and make sure that the 300 dossiers never leave the president’s office.

More than once, Ahmadinejad has implied recently that he would make their contents public if he or members of his clique were charged with corruption or the misappropriation of state funds. For now, he is weeding out of his administration the officials he regards as its Achilles heels – according to our sources, the first scheduled to go are Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi and Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar.

The Iranian Oil Ministry is a notorious hotbed of financial embezzlement, whereas the Interior Ministry is responsible for organizing the upcoming presidential election a and Ahmadinejad would prefer one of his confidantes to be sitting in that office. Only last week, he sacked Health Minister Marzieh Wahid Dastjerdi for remarking that Ahmadinejad prefers to earmark foreign currency for importing dog food rather than medicines. Her dismissal put many backs up against the president in the top echelons of government.

President Ahmadinejad was publicly warned this week to shut his mouth and stop ruining his reputation by Esma’il Kovsari, Khamenist adherent and powerful parliamentary voice. Kovsari pointed out that the Revolutionary Guards helped Ahmadinejad come to power as president and supported him on many occasions and so he must not turn his back on them now.

Another supporter of Khamenei, Al Sa’idi, said that most regime heads are now sorry they brought Ahmadinejad to power because he has become a different person.

Does this royal battle within the Iranian establishment affect its nuclear plans? The answer is no. Will crucifying the president cause rioting over the summer election? Not likely. Politically, Ahmadinejad is on his way out and leaves the stage to the most radical elements of the regime. And physically? Well, car accidents are a common feature of the Iranian political scene.
I wonder if there are rumblings of an Iranian Spring.  There was one 4 years ago, but unlike the Arab Spring of 2 years ago, President Barack Hussein Obama sided with Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs.  An opportunity to destroy the reign of the Mullahs lost.  Now Ahmadinejad is trying to start and Arab Spring without him being thrown out of power.

A President with a "ceremonial" role, a ruling elite of religious fanatics who are living in the 7th Century and not the 21st, a elite military group that will lose its power if the mullahs are defeated, and add to this a nuclear program coming to completion and there is a recipe for a disaster.  A disaster that might spread not only to Iran's neighbors, but to the whole Muslim world.