"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, March 6, 2024
First, she quit the Democratic Party — just like Sarah Palin quit Alaska.
Now, she quit Arizona… and America.
Bad Little Doggie — this one’s for you, babe.
Come in with the sunrise, who knows where you go Smellin’ like something, I don’t want to know
Your sister can’t save you, she don’t know what to do Your bad behavior has finally caught up to you Bad little doggie
Soul all tweeked out, life line thin Loose little school girl, what a shape you’re in
Blue violence, red rosaries Roots of evil growing into trees I’m through messin’, time to learn your lesson Bad little doggie
I’m through messin’, time to learn your lesson Bad little doggie
Goodbye, and good riddance. Perhaps somebody on K Street will take you in. After all, that’s where politicians go after Congressional stints, isn’t it — to become lobbyists.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 27, 2022
Apple charges between US$799 for a basic iPhone 14, to US$1599 for a top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max model.
That’s how much you’ll pay without carrier subsidies, which are typically tied to a service contract, but…
How much does Apple pay for it?
How much does it cost them to make it?
Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Tokyo-based mobile communications equipment analysis firm, collaborated to investigate and issued a report of their findings which were based upon disassembly of three models of the iPhone 14 series, and an estimated cost analysis of the hardware components.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nihon sometimes also spelled Nippon), translated as “Japanese Economic Newspaper,” is Japan’s most widely respected daily business-oriented newspaper, with a total morning and evening circulation of 3.7 million.
iPhone 14 Pro Max
The report found that the total parts cost of Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max, their top-of-the-line model, costs about 20% more than last year’s iPhone 13. The iPhone 14 Pro series has few new features, and is powered by Apple’s A16 processor, which continues the company’s strategy of producing ultra-high performance products, yet prices in the US and elsewhere remain the same, thus ostensibly constricting, or compressing, profitability.
Since its 2018 introduction, iPhone’s flagship “Max” model has cost an extra US$400 to US$450.
Based upon their analysis, Fomalhaut estimated that the total parts price for the iPhone 14 Pro Max is approximately US$501, which is slightly US$60 more than last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max model.
The cost increase in the iPhone 14 Pro series is primarily because of Apple’s “A16 Bionic” chip, which uses a state-of-the-art 4nm (nanometer) production process, currently only available from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), and Samsung Electronics.
Moves Protect Intellectual Property
Headquartered in Taiwan, TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip maker, a major Apple supplier, and is constructing a US$12 billion plant in Arizona near Phoenix. Governor Doug Ducey had initially visited Taiwan in 2017, and again in August 2020 for a 3-day trip, at which time TSMC announced their intention to build a $12B chip foundry in Arizona that year, and shortly thereafter began seeking subsidies. At the time of the announcement, TSMC speculated that construction would begin in 2024.
However, in August 2022, Governor Ducey made a brief construction progress report about TSMC’s Arizona facility, and recollecting his previously visits, stated in part that, “Just over two years later TSMC has completed construction for its main facility and continues to make excellent progress. Along with TSMC’s historic investment, roughly two dozen Taiwanese-based suppliers are finding Arizona is right for investment.”
TSMC broke ground on the project March 2021 and had a ceremonial “topping” celebration, a construction industry term meaning installation of the last beam, with 4000 attendees in July 2022. The property literally went from 1100 acres of tumbleweeds to factory shells in under six months.
But not only is the construction of TSMC’s Arizona facility a win-win for the United States, it also represents a prospective national security matter, because there have been rumblings that the Communist Chinese government could seize the Taiwanese facility.
Speaking in May 2022 at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing, Chen Wenling, Chief Economist at the Communist Chinese government-run China Center for International Economic Exchanges told attendees that, “If the US and the West impose destructive sanctions on China like sanctions against Russia, we must recover Taiwan.”
Her remarks were alarming, and appeared to encourage Chinese military assault, and she warned the attendees that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, June 12, 2021
Joe orders a Black Russian, Kyrsten orders a White Russian, and John C. Calhoun orders a filibuster.
Nobody got any drinks.
West Virginia U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat in his 2nd term has an illustrious history as a public servant which began with election to the state’s House of Delegates, then to the State Senate, and from there to statewide office as WV Secretary of State, and then as Governor.
Among other things, the bill would unify election law throughout the 50 United States by establishing uniform standards for federal elections, establish non-partisan independent state redistricting commissions in all 50 states, establish a Federal Judicial Code of Conduct, outlaw any action that would “corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote” or assisting another to register to vote, mandate “motor voter” registration when applying for a driver license, prohibit partisan voting registration “dirty tricks” to cull voters without their knowledge, require voter-verified permanent paper ballots, mandate early voting, as well as numerous other significantly beneficial improvements to national security and election law.
Relatedly, Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema, a Democrat two years into her first term, has announced her opposition to eliminating the filibuster – a procedural tool most often used by the minority to thwart legislation, by requiring at least 60 votes to proceed, thereby preventing it from even being discussed, in order to effectively kill the prospective measure.
The Senate’s 2 Independents – Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Angus King of Maine – caucus with the Democrats, and in the case of now-rare tie votes, the Vice President Kamala Harris would cast any tie-breaking vote… if it weren’t for the filibuster – which has now degenerated into a mere threat, with no real “action” required to “activate” it, per se. It has become the quintessential model, and most public example of, pathological passive-aggressive behavior – doing nothing (the passive behavior) to control, or manipulate others (the aggressive behavior).
Back To The Future
At one time, or another, Republicans and Democrats have separately expressed desire to eliminate the obstructionist tactic of the filibuster, which was not supported by the Founders, but rather, was a response to Vice President Aaron Burr’s criticism (shortly after his indictment for the murder of Alexander Hamilton) that the Senate’s rules were a mess, with numerous rules that duplicated each other, and in particular, singled out the “previous question” motion. So, when the Senate met the next year in 1806, they eliminated the “previous question” motion of parliamentary procedure, which functionally ceased debate using a simple majority vote… because Aaron Burr told them to.
Deleting that rule did not immediately cause filibusters to break out all over, but merely made it possible for them to happen — because there was no longer a Senate rule that could have enabled a simple majority to cut off debate. It was only several decades later in 1837 that the minority exploited the insufficient limits on rules of debate, and had the first filibuster.
There were three essential reasons why the filibuster was so rare, and infrequently used before the Civil War, because:
1.) The Senate operated by majority rule, and Senators expected that matters would be brought to a vote;
2.) The Senate had little work to do in that era, and there was plenty of time to wait out any opposition, and;
3.) Voting coalitions in the Senate were not as polarized as they later became.
Catch-22
As our nation grew, and added states, so did the Senate add more members. With growth, came increased work. And by 1880, every Congress had at least one episode of filibustered obstructionism, most of which were unconcerned with important matters of the day, and instead were focused upon trivial, inconsequential matters.
So, when filibusters did occur, Senate leaders tried to ban them. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries Senate leaders tried to reinstate the “previous question” motion – but they failed repeatedly – and ever since, have long sought a procedure to end debate on any given matter.
More often than not, senators gave up any hope for reform when they became aware that opponents to the elimination of the filibuster would kill any such effort at changing the rules to eliminate the filibuster — ironically, by filibustering — thereby putting the majority’s other priorities at risk. Because they were unable to reform the Senate’s rules, leaders developed other innovations such as unanimous consent agreements, which measures were an option of second resort for managing a chamber which by then, was prone to filibusters.
In response, the Senate changed… but not by much.
“Unanimous Consent” agreements emerged like mushrooms after a springtime rain shower. And then, cloture was created in 1917 during the waning days of World War I. Not “simple majority” cloture, but “supermajority” cloture. The Senate filibustered for 23 days following President Woodrow Wilson’s proposal to arm merchant marine ships during WWI. It also ground to a halt all other work in the Senate. The President criticized the Senate by saying it was
“the only legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is ready for action. A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.”
In response to President Wilson’s withering criticism, a bipartisan Senate committee was formed to negotiate the form of the rule. Five of the six Democrats supported a simple majority rule; one Republican supported a supermajority rule; and one Republican preferred no rule. Negotiators then struck a compromise:
1.) Cloture would require two-thirds of senators voting;
2.) Opponents promised not to block or weaken the proposal, and;
3.) Supporters promised to drop their own proposal for simple majority cloture — a proposal which was supported by at least 40 senators.
Rule 22 – the cloture rule, to cease filibuster by a two-thirds majority vote – was adopted 76-3, on March 8, 1917.
Just Say No
Without Senators Manchin and Sinema’s support on vital bills forwarded from the narrow Democratic majority House, it’s practically assured that Republicans – who control 50 Senate seats – will once again, control movements of all legislation, despite the fact that when they were in control as the majority, they “circled their wagons” and got things done, even with Democratic opposition.
And, at a recent press event in his home state on May 5, 2021, Senate Minority Leader Kentucky Republican “Moscow” Mitch McConnell said,
“One hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration.”
So, it very much looks like the Senate’s legislative “Grim Reaper” is back to his old manipulative tricks, despite being in the minority – just because he can.
Prophecy Fulfilled
As many political scientists, politicians, and analysts have observed, increasingly, the formerly Grand Old Party is losing grassroots support on a broad basis. But, it’s not as if such problems weren’t predictable. On February 1, 1993 Washington Post Reporter Michael Weisskopf wrote that:
“The gospel lobby evolved with the explosion of satellite and cable television, hitting its national political peak in the presidential election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
“Unlike other powerful interests, it does not lavish campaign funds on candidates for Congress nor does it entertain them. The strength of fundamentalist leaders lies in their flocks. Corporations pay public relations firms millions of dollars to contrive the kind of grass-roots response that Falwell or Pat Robertson can galvanize in a televised sermon. Their followers are largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.
““The thing that makes them powerful, is they’re mobilizable. You can activate them to vote, and that’s particularly important in congressional primaries where the turnout is usually low. Some studies put the number of evangelical Americans as high as 40 million, with the vast majority considered politically conservative,” said Seymour Martin Lipset (d.2006), professor of public policy at George Mason University.”
It’s always easier to ask forgiveness, than permission.
But, what Weisskopf wrote about the predominately Rural, Republican-voting, White Protestant Evangelicals – that “Their followers are largely poor, uneducated and easy to command” – was true then, and it’s even more true now.
Folks don’t get mad because of falsehoods, or scurrilous accusations.
They get mad because of truth.
While campaigning for the Republican party’s nomination, after winning Nevada’s Republican caucuses on February 23, 2016, the later-45th President exclaimed, “I love the poorly-educated!”
Of course he does — because they’re too stupid to know when they’re being played for a fool. And he played them like a fiddle – like Nero, while Rome burned.
The once-Grand Old Party has demonstrably become the Party of Poorly-Educated, Low-Skilled, Poorly-Paid and Often-Impoverished, Rural Working Class Whites who watch and believe Fox News like religion – especially men – who twice voted for Trump, still believe his Big Lie, earn well under $50K annually, and increasingly vote Republican – against their own best self-interest.
They support candidates whose exclusive guiding political philosophy is to refuse endorsing higher wages, healthcare, education, and other matters of direct concern to them and their families, and magically believe that a privatized, laissez-faire free market everything will solve all problems. They are becoming, or have become, a minority voting bloc whose interests are not represented by the political party for which they increasingly vote.
They are, in essence, deluded.
We’re Going Down
In the few days before the January 6 insurrectionist attack upon Congress at the Capitol, led by far right-wing extremist Kentucky Republican Representative Read the rest of this entry »
The state’s fiscal analysis stated that “Annual state and local sales tax collections on these purchases may reach $88 million in the next several years. The initiative also requires a one-time transfer from the Medical Marijuana Fund of $45 million for the Department of Health Services, a university tuition program, and an impaired driving program.”
Among other provisions, as stated in its purpose, the “Act permits limited possession, transfer, cultivation, and use of marijuana (as defined) by adults 21 years old or older; protects employer and property owner rights; bans smoking in public places; imposes a 16% excise tax on marijuana to fund public safety, community colleges, infrastructure, and public health and community programs; authorizes state and local regulations for the sale and production of marijuana by a limited number of licensees; requires impairment to the slightest degree for marijuana DUls; transfers monies from the Medical Marijuana Fund; permits expungement of some marijuana violations; and prescribes penalties for violations.”
Distribution of taxes collected upon its sale would be as follows:
• 33.0% to community colleges
• 31.4% to local law enforcement and fire departments
• 25.4% to the state and local transportation programs
• 10.0% to public health and criminal justice programs
• 0.2% to the Attorney General for enforcement
The state estimates that “based on a projected tax base of $1 billion, total state and local tax collections would be $254 million, including $166 million to the Smart and Safe Arizona Fund.”
“In its Medium-Series Population Projections, the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) estimates that Arizona’s population will have reached 7.59 million by 2023. Given the $137 estimate for per capita sales, the OEO population estimate implies Arizona would have $1.04 billion of recreational marijuana sales in 2023.”
$254,391,600
Their revenue and sales estimates are based upon western states experiences, and they wrote that, “Arizona marijuana sales may increase further after the third year. States with more than 3 years of sales data have experienced continued growth in years 4 and 5. In Colorado, Oregon, and Washington recreational marijuana sales grew by a weighted average of 20.5% in year 4. In Colorado, the only state with 5 full years of data, sales grew by another 11.2% in year 5. We do not attempt, however, to project past the third year due to the speculative nature of long-run forecasting.”
The Arizona analysis also examines the cost associated with expungement, meaning the legal elimination of any criminal record associated with whatever record is being expunged. They cited a Pew Charitable Trusts analysis in November 2017, which stated in part that, “California only had 1,506 applications for expungement its first year of legalization and Oregon saw only 1,206 petitions combined between 2015-2017. Furthermore, the 192,000 estimate includes all convictions for marijuana possession, whereas the initiative provides the expungement option only to those who were convicted of marijuana possession of 2.5 ounces or less.”
They also note as well, that “the initiative does provide a revenue source for DPS administrative costs. The initiative authorizes DPS to collect a “reasonable fee determined by the Director” for costs to “correct the petitioner’s criminal history record” unless the individual is indigent.”
Control, or rather, elimination of the illicit black market is also a strong motivator for government in the legalization, taxation, and regulation of cannabis, especially and particularly for Adult Recreational Use. To that end, Arizona’s fiscal analysts wrote that, “If the limited number of retail locations authorized under the initiative is insufficient to meet demand, then current marijuana users may be more likely to continue to purchase illegally or from medical dispensaries, potentially decreasing the size of the legal market.”
Elimination of the illicit black market was also a very strong motivating factor in Oklahoma’s recent liberalization of cannabis laws, particularly and especially for medical use. See “Oklahoma Has Become A Free Market Utopia For Weed,” published 11/2/2020 for more details. Of course as well, an “unintended consequence” for ALL states which have liberalized their cannabis laws, is an INCREASE in private enterprise, and entrepreneurship – the veritable “holy grail” of most Republicans… and Democrats, if folks would be honest about the matter.
Arizona’s fiscal analysts also acknowledge a very important, yet almost-overlooked matter: It is of local regulation. They write that, “the proposition grants Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 11, 2020
Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent “car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property.” Image by John Kurc
The Trump administration is making it easier for illegal aliens to come into the United States.
The route along the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico has some of the most ruggedly inhospitable, and treacherous terrain in the nation. It is only barely accessible by foot, or mule, and is range for numerous wild animals, such as the jaguar, and ocelot – large cats – and a longtime wildlife migration corridor.
Construction crews using tons of explosives in a technique called “pioneering,” are leveling mountains and cliffs to make roadways for heavy equipment to access the area.
The private landowners complaint and lawsuit states that crews must first “make a level road, with the necessary grade and ability to support the weight of construction vehicles, and ultimately the wall itself.”
In a combined Federal lawsuit filed by private landowners near the Arizona-New Mexico border known as the malpais, or badlands, the owners of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 1, 2020
The Federal government under this administration has recently re-activated the Death Penalty, and has argued also for adding other methods of execution to the mix, which is now only comprised of lethal injection, including firing squad. Hell… why can’t they just give ’em some fentanyl?
I have no pity, and no mercy for such individuals as referenced in the story below. I have none for any members of a faith organization who abuse their children. NONE WHATSOEVER.
And though I oppose the Death Penalty on pecuniary principles exclusively – it’s simply far too costly to execute (bad pun… I know) the law – we could, perhaps, make exceptions for cases like this.
Once a jury finds them guilty, or they plead guilty, march their sorry asses to some place and give ’em the fentanyl.
Lawsuit: LDS Church officials, teacher knew of abuse but kept silent
by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic
30 November 2020
A lawsuit filed Monday charges that two Mormon bishops and a teacher failed to report a Bisbee, Arizona father’s repeated sexual and physical abuse of three of his children, despite a state law that makes reporting such offenses mandatory.It argues that the “clergy-penitent privilege” in the law, which keeps confessions confidential, does not apply to such cases. The teacher, a former border-patrol agent as well as the children’s Sunday school teacher, had a clear duty under the law in both of her roles to report the abuses to police, the suit alleges.
“Each of the Defendants had personal observations of the abuse, and also knew of the abuse outside of any confidential communication,” the complaint, filed in Cochise County Superior Court, alleges. The father’s abusive practices were discussed by church officials in routine meetings, and led to his excommunication in 2015 after church officials learned of his abuse of his daughter, then age 5.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three of the six children of Paul and Leizza Adams, details Paul Adams’ repeated sexual abuse of his daughters over a seven-year period, including the rape of his infant daughter. Paul Adams was indicted on 11 counts of child sexual abuse in 2017 and was awaiting trial when he hanged himself in his prison cell later that year.
Leizza Adams, the mother, was convicted for child abuse in 2018 and was released from Perryville state prison in early October, state records show.
The children have since been adopted by various families and have different last names than their parents.
The suit names the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well as the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church.
In a statement Monday, an attorney for the church, Bill Maledon, wrote:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, August 28, 2020
All matters of politics, policy and governance aside, yes, aside, what this matter speaks to is the lack of authenticity and lack of veracity of polling techniques. And mathematically, that is problematic.
Oh, perhaps you’re not interested in math, you may say.
“He told me that they fundamentally undercounted the Trump vote;
that the Trump voter is not a voter in every single election,
that they come out for Trump,
so they’re hard to count.”
Roaches come out when you turn off the light.
Turn it on and they scatter.
Very well, then… move along, move along – there’s nothing here to see.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Arizona Representative Kyrsten Sinema D-CD9, has won the Senate race against opponent AZ Representative Martha McSally, R-CD2.
Arizona Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat who represented Congressional District 9, has won election over Representative Martha McSally, a Republican who represented the state’s Congressional District 2.
Her election is historical for at least two different reasons, the first being that she is the state’s first female US Senator, and second, she will be the first openly bisexual Member of Congress. She is also the first Democrat Arizonans have sent to the Senate since 1995 after Democrat Dennis DeConcini’s loss to Republican John Kyl.
Following the death of Republican Senator John McCain, who since 1987 was the state’s longest-serving senator, Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey temporarily appointed Kyl in September 2018 to fill the remainder of the term of that vacated seat. In a press conference following Governor Ducey’s announcement, Mr. Kyl said he would not seek re-election for the remainder of the term in the 2020 Special Election to fill the seat.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, November 10, 2018
Cindy McCain, widow of late Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (1936-2018)
Cindy McCain, widow of late Republican Arizona Senator John McCain, on Thursday, November 8, 2018 criticized the Arizona GOP about a state GOP-initiated lawsuit over counting mail-in ballots by Tweeting, “@AZGOP I am one of those mail in ballots. I was under the impression my vote was always counted.”
Her Tweet was in response to the Arizona GOP’s efforts to get a judge to issue orders to stop counting mail-in ballots in the race for US Senate to fill the seat being vacated by Jeff Flake, a Republican. The two candidates, Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema find themselves in extremely close competition.
Both candidates are also Arizona Congressional Representatives. Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has represented the 9th Congressional District, while Republican Martha McSally has represented the 2nd Congressional District.
In court Thursday morning November 8, 2018, state Republican leaders were challenging mail-in ballots in Yuma, Navajo, Apache and Maricopa counties after the GOP parties in those counties filed a lawsuit challenging the way counties verify signatures on mail-in ballots that are dropped off at the polls on Election Day. The lawsuit did NOT allege any type of fraud.
The US Census Bureau estimated the 2017 population of Apache County as 71,606; Navajo County as 108,956; Yuma County as 207,534; and Maricopa County as 4,307,033. Maricopa County is location of the Phoenix–Mesa–Glendale, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area. Together, those four counties comprise 66.9% of Arizona’s 7,016,270 estimated 2017 population.
When the two parties met in court, there was little fanfare, no grandstanding, and no contentious sparks flew, so it made for very poor political theatre, though others nationally attempted to inject false explosive allegations and deceptive narratives into the matter by deliberately gross mischaracterization.
The primary point of the suit involved a much more mundane matter, and specifically, the legal challenge was focused upon on a lack of procedural consistency in the time frame that counties allowed voters to correct signature “issues” on mail-in ballots.
And in only a matter of minutes after the AZ GOP held a grandstanding news/press conference in which they made accusation saying, “The Democrats are stealing the election and we’re not going to allow it,” and immediately before the court hearing, all of the counties and the Republican groups had come to an agreement, which Judge Mahoney approved with no fanfare.
The settlement, was that all of Arizona’s 15 counties would allow voters to verify the signatures on their ballots through 5 p.m. on Nov. 14.
Martha McSally, R-AZ
Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ
And the overriding irony of the matter, is that the counties whose election practices they ended up changing, were largely run by Republicans.
There were also an estimated 360,000 outstanding ballots still being counted statewide. Of those, an estimated 266,000 are from Maricopa County.
For now, Sinema is leading in Maricopa and Pima counties by a net 83,652 votes. McSally’s lead in the state’s other 13 counties is 65,113.
Arizona’s protracted vote-count is due in large part to the need to verify signatures for those who vote by mail, which represents the bulk of ballots.
So far, the Democrat Sinema is winning the Republican-leaning Maricopa County by 3.3 percentage points.
One reason the race and ballot count is so hotly contested, is because the Republicans are in jeopardy of losing a Senate seat in the state for the first time in 30 years. As well, what also makes this race particularly interesting, is that Maricopa County has traditionally been a GOP stronghold, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 130,000.
But, in essence, here’s a nut of what’s been happening not only there, but in other states, as well.
In some states, there are so-called “exact match” laws, rules, or regulations concerning the signatures of voters who cast absentee, or mail-in ballots, and in essence, those “exact match” laws, rules, or regulations give broad discretion to anyone counting those ballots to exercise their personal opinion – untrained, non-expert, unscientific independent judgment – about someone’s signature, specifically, whether they believe it was signed by the person who attested to signing it, or not. In other words, no expertise is required.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, April 25, 2014
I’m not a funnyman like Jon Stewart of the Comedy Channel.
However, Stewart does a good job – indeed, an excellent job – of excoriating right-wing zealot Sean Hannity over his inconsistencies of argument in support of Cliven Bundy… the man who knows everything about the Negro.
In fact, Stewart does a damn fine job… in a manner that perfectly shines a light upon Mr. Hannity’s hypocrisy.
And, if you’re kinda’ froggy, and like to get the facts (just the facts, ma’am… just the facts), here’s some research I performed for my benefit.
Yeah.
I’m selfish like that.
I didn’t do it for anyone else but me.
Enjoy!
***
At issue is Cliven Bundy’s claim to land use – not ownership.
The area in question is 150 square miles in the 500,000 acre Gold Butte area along the Virgin River in Nevada.
Bundy claims that his family “homesteaded” that land since 1877, and by virtue of that claim, unlimited right of use to the land belongs to him.
In essence, Bundy claims a right to graze the land where he has allowed his cattle to roam – and therefore, because his cattle have been there, he claims unlimited use of the land belongs to him, although he cannot produce any document demonstrating any essence or component of such claim, nor of ownership – such as a survey, easement, bill of sale, quitclaim deed, bills for taxes, or taxes paid.
For over 20 years, Bundy has allowed his cattle to graze on that tract of Federal land – land to which he has no ownership, deed or right of use – and since 1993 has ceased paying grazing fees, which, by his own admission, is in arrears at least $300,000.
Here’s a partial time line to the current date which highlights significant events in the ordeal.
1973
■ Cliven Bundy pays grazing fees to the BLM for the next 20 years.
1993
■ The BLM modifies Bundy’s grazing permit by reducing the size allowed for his herd to 150 and restricts where his cattle can graze in the Gold Butte area. He refuses the permit and stops paying grazing fees. The BLM cancels his permit. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Your Tax Dollars at Work:U.S. Air ForceMothballs $1.6 BILLION of New Aircraft
Nearly 13 years ago, in a speech given at the Pentagon, Monday, September 10, 2001, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in part that, “We cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions. We maintain 20 to 25 percent more base infrastructure than we need to support our forces, at an annual waste to taxpayers of some $3 billion to $4 billion.”
An alternate title for this entry might be: Walnuts, Pies, Strippers & Experts
Of course, that makes no sense. And for some, it makes neither cents, nor dollars.
But never you mind.
Pie and ice cream.
Who doesn’t like it?
Sounds dee-lish… right?
Any kind of pie, and almost any kind of ice cream. I say “any kind” with a caveat. Any kind EXCEPT Neapolitan. That’s horrid. Truly horrid. Whoever imagined the idea of “Neapolitan” ice cream is probably now suffering eternal punishment – a special torture reserved exclusively for the damned.
And, perhaps somebody should tell those folks.
I mean to refer to the folks that came up with a name like “Georgia Walnut Pie.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 18, 2012
Garbage like this infuriates me to no end.
What kind of garbage am I referring to?
I’m referring to the kind of racist garbage that has been HB56 – the state’s lazy attempt to “do something” about illegal immigration.
And just for the record, it is my considered opinion that Alabama State Senator Scott Beason is a lazy, incompetent, racist who is so lazy that he wouldn’t even pick up a bucket to pick vegetables when one was thrust toward him by an Alabama farmer who stood to lose millions in a crop that HB56 forbade him to hire migrant farm workers. (Alabama tomato farmer Leroy Smith, Chad Smith’s father, challenged Beason to pick a bucket full of tomatoes and experience the labor-intensive work. Beason declined but promised to see what could be done to help farmers while still trying to keep illegal immigrants out of Alabama. Smith threw down the bucket he offered Beason and said, “There, I figured it would be like that.” {There you have it. Scott Beason is a man too Goddamn lazy to put in an honest, hard day’s labor. What a worthless, shit eating, son-of-a-bitch. ed.})
Migrant farm workers have been, and continue to be an integral part of this nation’s agricultural production.
Alabama’s version of Arizona’s immigration law was written by xenophobic Kansas Secretary of StateKris Kobach, who, in his legal/political career has written laws that have consistently been struck down after judicial scrutiny & review, as well as having come under fire within his own profession by complaints of racism by University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law as far back as 2003.
To give the man his due, however, he is a very hard-working man, and was involved with honor society, debate team, forensics, student council, spirit club and intramurals while at Harvard, where he graduated in 1988. Having won a Marshall Scholarship from the British government, he attended Oxford and completed a Ph.D. in political science in 1992. He then was accepted at Yale Law School, where he taught political science to undergraduates and won a Prize Teaching Fellowship in 1994.
But then, I suppose, some might consider Adolph Hitler a hard-working man.
In 2001, he was awarded a prestigious White House fellowship, and reported for duty at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sept. 1. Ten days later, the United States suffered the worst-ever terrorist attack on American soil. Though he was not a specialist in immigration law or policy, Kobach became Attorney General John Ashcroft’s chief advisor on immigration and border security.
Interestingly, in 2002 Kobach reduced the number of Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) judges from 19 to 11, which many believe was significantly responsible for creating a significant backlog of immigration hearings.
By 2005, so much criticism had been leveled at the DOJ’s purported “streamlining” and at what appeared to be “a pattern of biased and incoherent decisions” that DOJ started proposing to boost the number of judges and to mandate full opinions instead of one-line decisions, effectively reversing Kobach’s efforts.
A 19-year-old mother is under arrest on child abuse and aggravated DUI charges after police say she left her five-week-old baby strapped in a car seat on top of her 2000 Ford Focus and drove off.
Loser of the Week: 19 year-old Catalina Clouser, pictured here in this booking photo by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (AZ), was stoned on marijuana and left her baby on the roof of her car, then drove off. Authorities found the baby in the road.
At about 1 a.m. Saturday, Phoenix police officers got calls from the 45th Avenue and Cholla area, just south of Cactus Road, that a baby was in a car seat in the middle of a road.
The largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill. After four decades that brought 12 million current immigrants—more than half of whom came illegally—the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped—and may have reversed, according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of multiple government data sets from both countries.
The standstill appears to be the result of many factors, including the weakened U.S. job and housing construction markets, heightened border enforcement, a rise in deportations, the growing dangers associated with illegal border crossings, the long-term decline in Mexico’s birth rates and changing economic conditions in Mexico.
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, whose wealth has become a central issue in the 2012 campaign, has taken advantage of an obscure exception in federal ethics laws to avoid disclosing the nature and extent of his holdings.
By offering a limited description of his assets, Romney has made it difficult to know precisely where his money is invested, whether it is offshore or in controversial companies, or whether those holdings could affect his policies or present any conflicts of interest.
In 48 accounts from Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded in Boston, Romney declined on his financial disclosure forms to identify the underlying assets, including his holdings in a company that moved U.S. jobs to China and a California firm once owned by Bain that filed for bankruptcy years ago and laid off more than 1,000 workers.
Those are known only because Bain publicly disclosed them in government filings and on the Internet. But most of the underlying assets — the specific investments of Bain funds— are not known because Romney is covered by a confidentiality agreement with the company.
Several of Romney’s assets — including a large family trust valued at roughly $100 million, nine overseas holdings and 12 partnership interests— were not named initially on his disclosure forms, emerging months later when he agreed to release his tax returns.
There is no indication that Romney is violating any rules, and his advisers note that his reports have been certified by the Office of Government Ethics, which reviews the disclosures required of presidential candidates.
I had reflected upon the thousands – literally thousands – of people I’ve seen needlessly stuffed away in Nursing Homes with no family member to love them, and the injuries and emotional insults they suffer as a result.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
It would be proper for me to acknowledge with you, the reader, that “draconian immigration laws“ have caused great consternation among residents of Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and indeed, nationally.
As a matter of habit – long before laws were passed in either Arizona or Alabama – I carry my U.S. Passport with me everywhere. It seems to me that some states’ residents & legislators frustrations have come to the point at which they mistakenly believe they have authority to supercede federal law.
I continue to opine that President Obama could quickly resolve America‘s illegal immigration problem.
In fact, any president before him could have done so.
This CT scan of the skull of an Arizona man impaled through the skull in a freak gardening accident is shown in this photograph provided to Reuters August 30, 2011 by University Medical Center. Leroy Luetscher, 86-year-old, accidentally impaled his eye with pruning shears in an gardening accident July 30, 2011. REUTERS/Courtesy University Medical Center/Handout
TUCSON, Ariz (Reuters) – An 86-year-old Arizona man who was impaled through the skull with pruning shears in a freak gardening accident was expected to make a full recovery, his doctors said.
Leroy Luetscher dropped a pair of pruning shears while working in his yard in Green Valley, south of Tucson, on July 30, the University Medical Center in Tucson said in a news release.
The shears landed in the ground point downward. When Luetscher bent down to pick them up, he Read the rest of this entry »
“Don’t retreat, reload.” – Sarah Palin (R), Twitter post
TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 17 others were shot here on Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents for a “Congress on Your Corner” event.
Ms. Giffords, 40, was described as being in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons. One of the surgeons said that she had been shot once in the head, “through and through,” with the bullet going through her brain.
“I can tell you at this time, I am very optimistic about her recovery,” he said in a news conference. “We cannot tell what kind of recovery but I’m as optimistic as it can get in this kind of situation.”
An official with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that six people had …Continue reading…
Posted by Max Brantley on Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 12:38 PM
U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)was shot in the head at point blank range in Tucson today and several staffers were wounded. She was at a public event at a grocery store. The shooter was tackled by a bystander and is in custody.UPDATE: A sheriff’s spokesman has said that Giffords has died, one of at least six fatalities, and at least 12 people were shot. But a variety of sources are saying at 2 p.m. Little Rock time that the congresswoman remains in surgery in critical condition. CNN says one may have been a federal judge.
The New York Times quotes a witness who said the gunman fired at least 20 shots. He was described as a white male in his 20s who was shabbily dressed. The article notes that her House office was vandalized hours after the House approved health care reform legislation, which she supported. She told MSNBC then that she was not afraid, despite numerous threats. “Our democracy is a light, a beacon around the world” because it effects change at the ballot box, not by violent acts.
Regards a topic addressed earlier today, just for the record from opencarry.com
Arizona is one of our “Gold Star” open carry states. There is complete state preemption of all firearms laws, open carry is common and law enforcement is well educated as to its legality.
People with guns may be asked to store their firearms or leave places open to the public in Arizona Though Giffords has supported some legislation supportive of concealed carry, she earned a D from the NRA for overall voting record, such as support for background checks of gun purchasers at gun shows. There is, of course, no way to know if the shooting today was related to gun issues or other hot-button issues that roil Arizona, such as …Continue reading…
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, January 8, 2011
You’d better hide your eggs, hide your drakes, hide your hens, ’cause DUCK HUNTINGSEASON is about to begin!
The Oregon Ducks – what kind of self-respecting team is named the “Ducks”!? What a joke! Why not name yourselves the “Fleas”? – are about to have their lunch eaten, and every one of ’em are going to go home empty-handed, hungry, with more than just their pride wounded.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, December 30, 2010
YouTube sensation Dr. Tammy Banovac, D.D.S., a 52yo retired dental surgeon from Phoenix, AZ became a hit on the Internet video site YouTube recently by appearing at the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City, OK attired only in bra and panties. Video of her was recorded by two airport passengers and posted.
In the longer, original video made by John Maringouin, a San Francisco filmmaker, Dr. Banovac, who is originally from Oklahoma, appears …Continue…
Warm Southern Breeze 