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  • Facebook in the News (and not in a good way)

    Some people will never learn that whatever you post online people will expose:

    FOX Chicago News has obtained pictures of a Chicago police officer wearing his uniform in some very provocative photos with women wearing next to nothing.

    The photos were posted on the officer’s Facebook page. FOX Chicago News has three, but we’ve learned that until a couple of days ago, there were dozens more — racy and raunchy and most taken while he’s wearing his uniform and badge.

    via Fox News Chicago.

    And then there’s this:

    According to charging documents filed Thursday, O’Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O’Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the “People You May Know” feature.

    “Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2’s page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.

    Wife No. 1 then called the defendant’s mother.

    via Fox News.

    As Homer Simpson would say… Doh!

  • FAA to Allow Unmanned Drones (to kill you)

    The Federal Aviation Administration has taken the first concrete step toward allowing drones to fly alongside passenger airplanes in the United States.

    As required by a law signed by President Obama in February, the FAA is moving forward with a plan to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace by 2015.  …

    Proponents of the plan envision drones being used to help dust crops, fight forest fires, sell houses, shoot movies and assist local police in chasing suspects.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Now that Eric Holder and the FBI Chief are talking about how the U.S. Government has the right to take your life away from you without even giving you a trial, this is really just the next logical step.  What a better way to kill U.S. citizens than with UAVs?

    2012, meet 1984.

  • Jim Rogers: Worry About 2013, Panic About 2014

    If you don’t know Jim Rogers you should.  I first heard about him maybe 15 or so years ago.  I was riding my Harley around and someone gave me Jim’s book, Investment Biker.  It’s a great read and for several months I wanted to grow-up to be Jim Rogers.

    Also interesting, from Wikipedia:

    In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers’s first daughter is now being tutored in Mandarin to prepare her for the future.

    He is quoted as saying: “If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia.”

    The man is prescient.  So if he’s got something to say, we should be listening.  There’s a few new articles sharing with us what he has to say:

    Experts have been saying that 2013 is the year to worry about, not 2012. Jim Rogers agrees.  The commodities guru was on CNBC’s The Kudlow Report last night saying again that 2012 will see money pumped into global markets because it is a year choc-a-bloc with elections.

    Rogers said “This year’s fine. Worry about 2013.  Be panicked about 2014.  This year, a lot of good news is coming out.” Speaking of the U.S. economy specifically, he said the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is bloated referencing M2, a measure of money supply. He also added that President Obama is spending a huge amount of money ahead of the elections:

    via Business Insider.

    Same series, different story:

    At what level do you think oil prices will break the back of the American recovery?

    We are going to have a slowdown. Such is the staggering debt that America has, it has caused more and more of a drag on our economy. I would also point out to you that every four to six years we’ve had an economic slowdown in the U.S., since the beginning of time, so by 2012, 2013, 2014, we are well overdue for an economic slowdown for whatever reason. Whether it’s caused by high oil or what, we’re going to have a slowdown in the foreseeable future.

    How do you see oil prices impacting consumers in emerging markets, especially in Asia, when many of them are struggling to rein in inflation and drive growth?

    Everybody is paying higher prices for oil and that obviously impacts consumption everywhere and its not just oil, its food and everything else that’s going up. There’s inflation everywhere, the U.S. lies about it, I mean the U.S. government lies about inflation but there’s inflation everywhere. I mean I don’t know if you go shopping, but if you do, you know prices are up. The government says they’re not, I don’t know where they shop. Everybody else’s prices are up.

    via Business Insider.

    Indeed.  Boxes of food are getting smaller but the pricing has gone up.  Everything at the store is more expensive with the possible exception of electronics.  The U.S. Government’s removal of energy costs from the inflation index was a telling sign that they simply don’t want to give the folks the real bad news.  They’d rather stick their heads in the sand and pretend everything is ok.

  • Limbaugh, Fluke, Maher, Romney, Obama + Allred

    The insanity continues:

    Rush Limbaugh has drawn the ire of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who sent a letter to the Palm Beach County state attorney requesting an investigation into whether the popular radio host should be prosecuted for calling a law student a “slut” and “prostitute” last week. …

    In a letter dated March 8, Allred, writing on behalf of the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund, requested that Palm Beach County State Attorney Michael McAuliffe probe whether the conservative radio personality had violated Section 836.04 of the Florida Statutes by calling Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke the two derogatory words.

    via POLITICO.com.

    You see, the Left cannot bear to have this story fade away.  It’s critical to their efforts to lure women voters to Obama in November.  … At least, that’s what they think.

    And lest we think this is not newsworthy, this is the #1 top viewed story at Politico over the last 12 hours.

    — Back to the story:

    [Allread cites] Section 836.04 of the Florida Statutes. … The statue stipulates that anyone who “speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity” is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

    So my questions is, would it be a violation of this statute to call Allred a media whore?

  • Limbaugh, Fluke, Maher, Romney + Obama

    Will this ever end?

    Current and former White House aides on Thursday rejected demands by a conservative group that a Super PAC supporting President Obama refund a $1 million check from comedian and talk show host Bill Maher because of coarse comments he’s made about Sarah Palin and other Republican women.  …

    Carney said “language that denigrates women is inappropriate,” but it is not the President’s place to be the “arbiter” of every controversial statement.

    “He chooses to lead by example or tries to,” Carney said of the president, adding that “he chooses to try to practice that civility himself and he calls on everybody to do just that.”

    Earlier on Thursday, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew charging Maher is a “serially vile misogynist” because of a list of nasty comments directed at conservative women.

    Nance noted that since Obama recently reversed his own opposition to Super PACs by giving his public blessing for Democrats to donate unlimited sums to Priorities USA Action, he should direct that the Maher contribution be rejected and tell top White House aides like David Plouffe to stop raising money for the group.

    via Fox News.

    Two odds things about the White House’s reaction to this:

    • If the president wanted to “lead by example” then shouldn’t he give back the money?  Or is Obama setting the example such that when someone goes on TV and calls women all the horrible things as Bill Maher has done, and then when that person donates $1 million to your Super PAC that you’re supposed to keep the money?
    • Wouldn’t a far better response by to say that, “Well, the law says that there cannot be any coordination between the campaign and the Super PAC.  As such, it’s not our decision — and would illegal for us to make such a decision — to return the money.  So the next questions is, did Obama just admit to illegal coordination between his campaign and the super PAC?

  • Criminal Justice System Failing

    A man who knocked out a woman’s teeth in the South Loop in 2008 when she refused to give him a cigarette became violent again, according to police, this time beating up his longtime female companion.

    The latest attack took place Monday night in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, police said.

    It was his fifth arrest since late last year. All five resulted in only misdemeanor charges.

    Derrick King, 50, was booked into Cook County Jail today after a Domestic Court judge set a $20,000 bail for him on a charge of misdemeanor domestic battery, said a Cook County Sheriff’s office spokeswoman.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Why is this guy still on the streets?

    I think it’s time to break-out the torches and pitchforks and find Anita Alvarez.

  • Bizarre News Day

    Here’s some of the stories on the home page at Fox News this evening:

    Targeted Killing in US? Mueller Mum: FBI Director Robert Mueller, when pressed at agency budget hearing, says he has to check with Justice Department whether Eric Holder’s criteria for targeted killing of Americans can be justified within US.

    Mueller Grilled on FBI’s Release of al-Awlaki in 2002

    ICE Says Some Detainees Can Get Tax-Funded Transgender Treatments

    Wind Farms in Northwest Paid to Not Produce: US agency offers to compensate wind farms for shutting down because it was producing too much energy

    Ex-Sheriff, County Clerk Plead Guilty to Voter Fraud: West Virginia officials admit to plot to steal 2010 Dem primary by stuffing boxes with illegal absentee ballots.

    That pretty much sums it all up doesn’t it?

    The head of our national police force doesn’t even know if it’s allowed to execute U.S. citizens on U.S. soil without a trial.  Of course, this is the same law enforcement organization that once released an accused terrorist and American citizen from custody despite an outstanding warrant only so the same man could later be killed by U.S. forces in a targeted attack.

    While taxpayers money is going to fund the killing of U.S. citizens (apparently including on U.S. soil now) non-citizens get provided gender reassignment treatment at taxpayer expense.

    And while gas passes $5.00 a gallon the taxpayers are subsidizing the building of dubious wind turbines all over the country and then, when the wind turbines actually create energy, the taxpayers pay them not to.

    If anyone has doubts how we got here, we need only to consider that our elected officials, including law enforcement officials, will lie, cheat, and steal in order to keep their phoney baloney taxpayer funded jobs.

    I think it’s safe to say that we’ve reached the event horizon.

  • Limbaugh, Fluke, Maher… now + Romney

    While slamming Mitt Romney for not standing up to the “strident voices” on his side, a top Obama advisor is planning to spend some quality time with one on his own, The Daily has learned.

    David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior campaign strategist, is scheduled to appear on Bill Maher’s late-night talk show within the next few weeks, according to Kelley Carville, an HBO spokesman.

    As the controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Sandra Fluke continued, a former Obama White House official today joined Republicans in pointing out that Maher, who recently donated $1 million to a pro-Obama super PAC, has a history of his misogynistic slurs.

    Last year, he was rebuked by the National Organization for Women for calling Sarah Palin a “dumb tw*t.”

    via The Daily.

    Hello pot, meet kettle.

  • Limbaugh, Fluke, Maher, & the Media

    Much has been written about the recent dust-up between Limbaugh & Fluke and the former’s inappropriate comments about the latter.  Today Rush spent some time on his show perhaps grandstanding, perhaps clearing the air about the status of his advertisers.

    And judging from the reaction of my own brother, who sends me a note last night, “You really lost 28 sponsors?”  No, we have not lost 28 sponsors.  “Well, how can they say it?”  Because they lie and because they don’t understand how it works, and that’s what I want to try and explain.  In fact, folks, we have three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks.  Now, obviously, I’m not gonna tell you who they are today, but we’ve got three brand-new, full-fledged sponsors starting in the next two weeks.  …

    Nobody is losing money here, including us, in all this. And that is key for you to understand. They are not canceling the business on our stations. They’re just saying they don’t want their spots to appear in my show. We don’t get any revenue from ’em anyway. The whole effort is to dispirit you. It’s to make you think the left is being successful in its campaign when it isn’t. In fact, the left is so fed up, they can’t see straight. They thought they had me. They thought I would be off the air by now. They can’t understand why I still am on the air. There is also another rumor going around that I am going to be suspended for a week. It is utter BS.

    via: Rush Limbaugh.

    It’s easy to dismiss Rush’s monologue as self-serving propaganda.  Consider this however, as I write this the 3rd most popular story at CBS News is “Will Limbaugh’s Show Outlast the Firestorm?”  Over at the Chicago Tribune Clarence Page wonders, “Could This be the End of Limbaugh?” So maybe, just maybe, Rush is exactly on point; the Left is trying to keep this issue alive in an effort to drive him off the airwaves.

    Perhaps the greatest evidence to the contrary — that Rush may actually be in some real trouble here — is that none other than Bill Maher is coming to his defense.  Maher tweeted:

    Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout

    Maher’s tweet is covered at CBS News, the same outlet curious about the continued viability of Rush’s show.  Maher is naturally concerned that his mouth could get the rest of him in trouble.  After having called Sarah Palin several vile things, Maher might consider himself lucky that he’s not already been regulated to Mel Gibson type of treatment.  Self preservation might be driving Maher to come to Limbaugh’s defense.

    What also is interesting is the way that the Left and the Right treat each other.

    Limbaugh’s comments have ignited a firestorm of fury online, sparking “Stop Rush” websites, a “Boycott Rush” Twitter hashtag, an anti-Rush twitter handle and a petition signed by more than 400,000 people calling on advertisers to abandon the show.

    via: ABC News.

    When Bill Maher was calling Sarah Palin a C^#! did 400,000 people call for HBO to drop his show?

    It appears that all freedom of speech may not be equal.

  • Icy Finger of Death | Frozen Planet – Discovery

    I love stuff like this.  Just plain incredible!

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4cX2EPt2zE]

    via Icy Finger of Death | Frozen Planet Premieres March 18 on Discovery – YouTube.