Raising minimum wage is a win-win. You wish

The Seattle Times investigator does not investigate today, he just glances. The FYI Guy Gene Balk looks into the impact of Seattle’s higher minimum wage, which is now $11 with an option for smaller employers to pay $10 with $1.00 in benefits. Source: Seattle

He finds that higher pay will allow minimum-wage workers do afford better places to live. It’s a win-win situation. Heaven on earth. Wrong!

Wrong because he either willfully or ignorantly ignores what happens when more people are willing and able to pay more for rent. The increased demand with the same supply will cause rents to go up. It’s the law of supply and demand = Econ 101. Doesn’t Balk know the very basic law of supply and demand?

So a few months from now Balk and every City Council member will angrily investigate why greedy property owners have raised their rents. The answer is staring him in the face. Supply and demand is called a law because it always works.

Seattle Times

Photo: Seattle P-I

Obamacare raised costs. McDermott is on the case

Baghdad Jim McDermott suddenly realized that Obamacare (he was a big cheerleader for it) raised the cost of medical care. Obama named it Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But naming it affordable didn’t make it so. Duh!

Investors Business Daily

Costs:

Last week, IBD reported that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee wants to jack up its ObamaCare premiums by more than 36%; CareFirst in Maryland by close to 30%; and Moda Health in Oregon by almost 50%.Since then, North Dakota has reported rate hike requests of 43%, Kansas 38% and Iowa 18%. 

Even the ObamaCare-loving Huffington Post is admitting that one reason for the hikes could be that "healthy people aren't lining up for coverage in the numbers that either the industry or outside analysts had hoped."

Baghdad Jim:

None of this is good news for all those ObamaCare "death spiral" deniers, who said that the law would never produce such results.
But rather than face this reality, Democrats have decided to decry the alleged problem of the "underinsured," and call for more cost-spiraling mandates. 

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., for example, complains that "we've got some 17 million more people covered" with ObamaCare, "but they can't access the care they seem to be entitled to."

What could have gone wrong? Could it be Nancy Pelosi’s and Honorable Harry Reid's design?

First, ObamaCare imposes a pile of costly rules and regulations on the insurance industry — mandating generous coverage, outlawing risk rating, and so on.
Then, to cope with these costs, insurance companies employ large deductibles and co-pays to keep premiums within the realm of reasonable. 

Now, the same Democrats who created this problem want to force insurers to lower deductibles and co-pays so health care will be more "affordable."
Never mind that this would, if enacted, produce yet another round of [mandates which would, as always result in] massive premium hikes.

Hey, Rep. Jim! There is no such thing as a free lunch. Not even when you pass a law saying there is.

Venezuela versus what Ecuador learned

Steve Hanke in GlobeAsia PDF re Venezuela

First, basics of rule of law including sound currency:

The rule of law subjects the State to a fixed set of rules that limits the scope of its coercive powers. Individuals and their property are protected from the arbitrary, ad hoc actions of the State and other individu- als. In consequence, individuals can plan their activities within the confines of known, fixed “rules of the game.” This allows people to pursue their personal ends, as long as their actions do not infringe on the broadly-defined property rights of their fellow citizens. 

When properly applied, the rule of law guarantees freedoms in the economic, political, intellectual and moral spheres. In the economic sphere, money constitutes an important element. The great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises dealt at length with this issue in The Theory of Money and Credit, which was published originally in 1912: 

“It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights. The demand for constitutional guarantees and for bills of rights was a reaction against arbitrary rule and the non- observance of old customs by kings. The postulate of sound money was first brought up as a response to the princely practice of debasing the coinage. It was later carefully elaborated and perfected in the age which—through the experience of the American Continental Currency, the paper money of the French Revolution and the British Restriction period—had learned what a government can do to a nation’s currency system.”

Then the mess of Venezuela.

Today, Venezuela has at best a tenuous grip on the rule of law. This is nowhere more visible than in the monetary sphere. The country’s foreign exchange reserves are falling like a stone (see the accompanying chart).
Relative to the mighty U.S. dollar, Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, is also falling like a stone. Indeed, it has lost 47% against the greenback just since the start of the year (see the accompanying chart). [Written in May.] 

As night follows day, inflation has soared as the bolivar has plunged. I estimate Venezuela’s annual inflation rate at 335%. That’s the highest rate in the world. For those holding bolivars, it amounts to: “no rule of law, bad money.” It is worth noting that currency debasement and inflation robbery were not always the order of the day in Caracas. During the decade of the 1950s, the average annual inflation rate was only 1.7% -- not much above Switzerland’s...

Meanwhile, in Ecuador most people suffered decades of impoverishment for the benefit of the elite. There were even laws to benefit the rich.

Ecuador represented a prime example of a country that was incapable of imposing the rule of law and safeguarding the value of its currency, the sucre. The Banco Central del Ecuador was established in 1927, with a sucre-U.S. dollar exchange rate of 5. Until the 1980s, the central bank periodically devalued the sucre against the dollar, violating the rule of law. In 1982, the central bank began to exercise its devaluation option with abandon. From 1982 until 2000, the sucre was devalued against the dollar each year. The sucre traded at 6,825 per dollar at the end of 1998, and by the end of 1999 the sucre-dollar rate was 20,243. During the first week of January 2000, the sucre rate soared to 28,000 per dollar. 

In the case of Ecuador, the inability of the government to abide by the rule of law was, in part, a consequence of traditions and moral beliefs. Ecuadorian politics have traditionally been dominated by elites (interest groups) that are uninhibited in their predatory and parochial demands on the State. With the lack of virtually any moral inhibitions, special interest legislation was the order of the day. For example, during the rout of the sucre in 1999, laws were passed that allowed bankers to make loans to themselves. 

Then Ecuador implemented a policy of sound money and stuck with it. They got rid of their own currency and adopted the US dollar in 2000 and gained stability.

… the critics of dollarization condemned it as something akin to voodoo economics. Well, the critics have been predictably proven wrong. 

The misery index is an objective measure of just how well dollarization has worked. The index is equal to the sum of the inflation rate (end of year), bank’s lending interest rates and the unemployment rate, minus the actual percentage change in GDP per capita. Simply put, a high index means higher misery. 

In Ecuador, prior to the implementation of dollarization in 2000, the country sustained a misery index of over 120. The public suffered greatly from inflation, but after dollarization was implemented, high inflation was stifled and misery drastically fell. The accom- panying chart shows the direct link between dollarization and the immedi- ate and sustained decrease in misery. From 2003 through 2014, the misery index in Ecuador has been remarkably constant at around 20 – one of the lowest in Latin America. 

Ecuadorians know that dollarization has allowed them to import a vital element of the rule of law – one that protects them from the grabbing hand of the State. That’s why recent polling results show that dollarization is embraced by 85% of the population. It’s time for Venezuelans, as well as many others, to take note and dollarize.

Today we remember those who died to protect us

On Memorial Day we remember those who gave their lives to preserve our liberty.

Hawaii for Visitors has a page on war memorials in Hawaii; they all are on Oahu.

One of my favorite places in the world is National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific in the center of Honolulu, Hawaii.  It is known as The Punchbowl for its unique shape: it is a volcano crater of just the right size.

The photos: Aerial view by Hawaii Visitors.

The central structure of the cemetary: on the sides are the names of men and a few women who died in the Pacific whose remains were never found. Along its top are a series of panels that tell the story of the Pacific War with maps done as beautiful mosaics. Photos from a defunct site called The World Tourist.

Krugman caught cherry picking data

Prof. Paul Krugman - did you know he got the Nobel Prize? - goes to extremes to present his arguments for more, more government control.

This week he pulled a trick he would not allow a sophomore to do. The data on housing starts vs. interest rates only supported his thesis for a range of years, but not for the other years the data are available. So he took out his scissors and very carefully cut off the first years - about 1958 to 1965 - and the last - from 2000 to 2014.

Then he shouts “The data prove it! Look!"

See Thomas Lifson at American Thinker for the full explanation.

Graph: The full data set from FRED.

Mike Banner's 50 years to the top of Mt Rainier

Mike Banner, my long-time coworker is featured in the Seattle Times this weekend, because last year he accomplished ascending Mt. Rainier fifty years in a row. 50!

You would think he would be single-minded to get to the top. No. He invites rookie climbers, non-climbers, on his ascents. He takes them up - often to Camp Muir at 10,000 feet on Rainier - for a  mini-course in glacier climbing. Of course having inexperienced people on the climb lowers the chances of success. Extra care must be taken on the glaciers in the presence of crevasses, they have less awareness of what they can and cannot do and therefore expend more energy than those experienced. Furthermore weather often  slows or cancels a climb. Of course he does not take them on the more difficult routes, like Liberty Ridge or Kautz icefall.

In 1979 I joined him on the climb for my second time to the top. We had a party of six; I believe two were rookies, not sure. We left Paradise, 5700 feet, at sunset. We were blesses because the nearly full Moon rose and hour later and lighted our path. After reaching Camp Muir toward midnight (as best I recall) we rested for about an hour as people in other parties who had spent “the night” there were getting up and going. We took the Muir-Disappointment Cleaver route, the standard, and got to the summit after sunrise. From reaching the summit crater to cross the crater and ascend Columbia Crest, the highest point, is about a half mile. At 14,411 feet it is real work. So half our party were satisfied to stay at the rim; the other three of us went ahead. Then at the very summit Mike opened his pack and pulled out a full-size watermelon!  Then I got sick, but not before I reached the summit. (My previous climb was in 1964 with the Seattle Mountaineers climbing course.)

I wish I had good photos of that climb, because that year there was an unusual condition in the ice called nieves penitente, that usually happens much closer to the equator in the Andes. Nieves penitente (means praying snow) is little towers of ice - an expanse of them - in our case, one to three feet high. It’s unreal to realize you are walking among miniature ice towers! See Wikipedia.

Mike has introduced many people to the mountains. Congratulations to a gentleman.

Seattle Times honors Mike. But they didn’t print the photo of Mike, Clay and myself holding up the watermelon atop Columbia Crest! (He still has it.)

Sen. Hatch blocks disclosing text of TPP before it is voted on

Sen. Hatch blocks disclosing text of TPP before it is voted on Even Hatch doesn’t know what’s in it. Duh.

I have a revolutionary idea: Congress should see every word of every bill and whatever else they vote on. The text should be - must be - disclosed and they should READ every word. To not know what they are passing is irresponsible.

I am looking forward to Honorable Mr. Hatch explaining why it is reasonable, even conceivable, for him to vote on secret text.

Breitbart

How much is enough?

The Washington Education Association is demanding more money in the state budget - and going on strike for it - every day in a different school district. But they never say how much. How much is enough?

 

Briefly, the current budgets being considered in Olympia add a LOT of money to k-12 education:

 

"All three budget proposals for 2015-17 — by Gov. Jay Inslee, the Democratic-led House and Republican-led Senate — give teachers an overdue cost-of-living raise. All three reduce class sizes for grades K-3. All three drop at least $1.3 billion more into basic education funding to comply with the state Supreme Court’s landmark McCleary decision.” - Seattle Times

 

$1.3 billion is real money to me. How much are they asking for?

 

Second, these strikes are illegal. Is the WEA telling teachers they are being asked to break well established state law? Not the few I talked to.  See Sound Politics.

 

Third, consequences: Why can teachers walk off the job and not lose one penny of pay? They have no consequences for breaking the law.

 

But you and I are not so blessed. If I did a taxpayer strike and didn’t pay my property taxes the county would seize our house, sell it and give us a pittance. A strike by me would have huge consequences. (If I only went out for one day the cost would be less than $100; not a lot, you may say, but it's cash out of my pocket. 

In 2015 when I pay my property taxes on our suburban split-level I am paying over $2,000 to the local school district. $2,000 is real money to me. How much do they expect me to pay?

 

(We have no kids in school; our youngest child graduated years ago.)

Teacher strikes are illegal

Day by day the teachers in a school district are walking off the job on strike. For only one day, but on strike nevertheless. But strikes by public employees are illegal.

Strikes are illegal, but there are no consequences. If I went on strike I would have lost a day’s pay for each day, but the teachers - they don't.

Freedom Foundation says it succinctly:

• The law which authorizes collective bargaining for teachers specifically provides that, "Nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his or her official duties" (RCW 41.56.120).
• In 2006, the State Attorney General's Office issued an opinion on the legality of public employee strikes, concluding that: "In Washington, state and local public employees do not have a legally protected right to strike.  No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute.” See AGO 2006 No. 3
• The website for the State Office of Financial Management bluntly notes that state employees "are not permitted or granted the right to strike or refuse to perform their official duties."

Furthermore, Washington Courts have a long history of declaring teacher strikes illegal and ordering educators to return to work, in some cases fining teachers who refused.

• 2011: Tacoma teachers strike. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chuschcoff ordered teachers to return to work and threatened to fine them if they failed to comply.
• 2009: Kent teachers strike. King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas issued an injunction to end the strike. The strike continued until Darvas threatened to begin fining teachers and union officials. [Link no longer works.]
• 2003: Marysville teachers strike. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese orders the strike to end, noting that "Public employee strikes are illegal under the common law of Washington. The [Marysville Education Association] strike violates the prohibition on public-employee strikes and is an illegal strike."
• 2002: Issaquah teachers strike. King County Superior Court Judge Joan Dubuque declares the strike illegal and threatens to fine teachers who continue to strike.
• Prior to 2002, state courts issued 24 injunctions against striking teachers.

Obama approves Shell Arctic oil drilling

Seattle’s greenies are in full panic over Royal Dutch Shell drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic. No, Shell does not want to drill in Elliott Bay or Puget Sound, but in the Arctic. But they are certain this is apocalyptic, so they are training to try to get someone to injure them by getting in the way of legal operations. Seattle Times - and with kayaks

But President Obama has approved Shell’s oil exploration in the Arctic. He upheld a 2008 lease sale on Monday.

Reuters

Graphic: Seasonal limits for Arctic drilling. Pew Charitable Trush and Alaska Dispatch News

Debate? No. Students try to cancel senator's degree

Students are Western Washington University are upset that state Sen. Douglas Erickson is not chanting the AlGore global warming, no, climate change, chant. So they will use their skills in research and presentation to debate him. Right? No. They want to be radical. Radicals! So they are petitioning WWU to cancel Sen. Ericsson’s Masters in political science and environmental policy.

Bellingham Herald

But their claim that he denies human-caused climate change is annulled by the wording of SB 5735 inserted by his amendment:

“The Legislature finds that climate change is real and that human activity may contribute to climate change.

Bellingham Herald again

Found at Hot Air.

Read annually - Steven Hayward

Steven Hayward, now of American Enterprise Institute, formerly Visiting Prof at University of Colorado, recommends regular reading of:

George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

F.A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society"

CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man

— Links and more, especially about dogmatism at Powerline Blog

Middle East running out of water

Crisis in Iran

- Lake Urmia in NE Iran - from 90 km long to less than 20%. LA Times

- The river that runs through Isfahan now dried up.

...Two decades ago, Lake Urmia was still a popular destination for vacationers. Tourists marveled at the flocks of flamingos, pelicans and other bird life that gathered on its shores. Bathers immersed themselves in the saline waters and smeared their bodies with its legendary black mud, said to help heal stiff joints. Some called it Iran's version of the Dead Sea.

"I remember how my late grandmother told us that nobody was in danger of drowning as you couldn't sink in the salty water," recalled Ameneh Saeedi, 33, a secretary in Tehran, who vacationed at the lake regularly with her family. "We used to stay up until the small hours laughing and swimming."

Today vehicles can reach many of the lake's more than 100 small islands that were once a signature feature, havens for wildlife and humans on holiday.

- And -

And the entire Middle East, except Israel. See Daniel Pipes Wash Times

… Israel provides the sole exception to this regional tale of woe. It too, as recently as the 1990s, suffered water shortages; but now, thanks to a combination of conservation, recycling, innovative agricultural techniques, and high-tech desalination, the country is awash in H2O (Israel’s Water Authority: “We have all the water we need”). I find particularly striking that Israel can desalinate about 17 liters of water for one U.S. penny; and that it recycles about five times more water than does second-ranked Spain.

Liberation Theology born in Khrushchev's KGB

Liberation Theology was born in Khrushchev's KGB. The Soviet leader intended to infiltrate Central and South America. His way to do so was to recruit church leaders to his Communist ideology by cloaking it in a class warfare that appealed to them.

His effort was successful until Karol Wojtyla was elevated to Pope John Paul II in 1978. He selected Bishops who would oppose Communism.

Ion Mihai Pacepa was a Romanian 3-star general who defected says he was a key player in the plan. (Romania is a Latin country, they say.)

New American

By the way, a Peruvian poet Gustavo Gutiérrez has always been credited with the inception of LT. But Pacepa says Gutiérrez’ book A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation reads like it was written in KGB headquarters at Lubyanka Square in Moscow.

Activities in the PNW

Actively Northwest shows links to fifteen sites showing activities. The list is family oriented, but not just for going with kids. Lots of ideas.

Highlights from their list:

• Adventure Awaits - Washington State Parks posts an active idea - highlights a park - sometimes weekly, sometimes not.

• NW Trip Finder - Camping and non camping ideas from BC to Oregon. Small Towns - Lots on camping - Oregon Coast and Wine tasting.

• Timber - hiking

• Hiking with My Brother - hiking. They do excellent maps.

Seattle Times

• Snow-free winter hikes on I-90 corridor

Regional Guides hosted by Seattle Times. They are very rich with recent and relevant features:

• Washington
• Oregon

Update: May, 2015

Ten free things/ideas to do = Seattle Times

Shakespeare in the parks summer 2015:

• Greenstage July 10 to Aug 15. Most, but not all, are in Seattle parks.
• Wooden O of Seattle Shakespeare, July 9 to Aug 9. Seattle east to Issaquah and north to Lynnwood.

Year-round - Festal at Seattle Center has over 20 ethnic festivals. Plus the big one: Folklife Festival every Memorial Day weekend from noon Friday till Monday evening

• Festal

Drama teacher Reuben Van Kempen is retiring

Drama teacher Reuben Van Kempen is retiring from Roosevelt High School. He leaves a huge legacy of accomplishment.

Seattle Times

… “One of the many things that made Ruben a special drama teacher was his vision,” comments Berryman. “This vision created an environment for students like myself to explore, grow, imagine and discover the wonder of theater.”

Van Kempen has also been celebrated by his peers. He was inducted into the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame, and received a Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award from Theatre Puget Sound, among other honors.

But the ongoing friendships with former students have been especially rewarding for Van Kempen, who was born in The Netherlands but grew up in Seattle. After graduating from the University of Washington and briefly pursuing a career as a performer, he began teaching drama in the late 1970s.

Chad Kimball, a 2010 Tony Award nominee who returned to Seattle to attend the April 23 retirement bash, still relies on his former teacher for advice and support.

...

Reuben is a friend since before he taught at Roosevelt. And Myrnie.

Mayor Murray plans trip to Israel

Mayor Murray is planning to travel to Israel. To promote gay-queer-etc issues. Oh.

Why is that news? Because the Palestinian hear-no-evil shouters don’t want anyone saying anything at all, even slightly positive about Israel. Murray says he is going to support the LGBQTx community there and because he support Israel’s right to exist. Seems reasonable.

A leader is Seattle U law prof Dean Spade who says Murray is going “to be part of a propaganda conference that promotes Israel as a gay-rights haven in order to cover up the realities of apartheid.” And Spade is promoting a movie that he calls a documentary, but sure sounds like propaganda, "Pinkwashing."

There are defenders. Arthur Slepian, executive director of A Wider Bridge, said, “We hope that having this conference in Israel will begin to move our global LGBTQ community away from the self-defeating strategy advocated by those who insist that we need to shut down the voices of those with whom we may disagree,”

Good for Murray.

Source: Seattle Times

(I add the x to the term LGBQTx because another group will be added to the chain; we just don’t yet know which.)

Good mobility for kids raised here

A study on upward mobility found good results for King and Snohomish Counties. Every year a kid lives in Snohomish County adds .72% to his earnings at age 26. That is a small number, but, since it is per year, it adds up for a kid raised there from birth to age 20. It means an added $3740 per year over the national average - per year! The numbers for King County are .57% and $2960. That puts them at #2 and #7 of 100 urban counties.

On the other end of the scale Baltimore (an independent city which is treated as a county) the kid has a loss every year; he loses .86% per year growing up for a loss of $4510 per year at age 26 as a result of growing up there. That is very sad.

Washington Research Council reporting on a study by Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren at Harvard.

Update: I added words to emphasize that both the growth and income gains are per year.

Socialist success - Venezuelans leaving for other countries AND Award from UN

Another demonstrations of socialist success in Venezuelans.

Venezuelans are giving up and leaving for other countries. But few can do this because 80 per cent of the country cannot afford to feed themselves!

El Universal, Caracas (in English)

AND

The United Nations is recognizing a country for fighting hunger… Which one?... You can’t make this up… Venezuela

President Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday that he would be traveling to Italy to receive an award for Venezuela's "food missions," according to El Universal.

Investors Business Daily

… Currency controls, expropriations and state corruption have left Venezuelans standing in multiple lines for much of the day just to get access to basic foodstuffs. The last official data, issued two years ago, show supplies of basic foodstuffs are 28% below 2004 levels.

Fights are now commonplace in food lines. Medical shortages are so severe that the country has resorted to fingerprinting to catch thieves, and Maduro blames "hoarders" and "CIA plots" for the failures. With scapegoats aplenty, don't expect him to fix the problems soon.

At last month's Summit of the Americas in Panama, there was open talk from Latin American leaders of sending food-aid caravans to ease the hunger.

Yes, this catastrophic situation calls for awards to the leaders who caused. Only at the UN.

Chipotle announces they did, but did not, remove GMO foods

Chipotle announced they removed at GMO foods from their men. They did except for .. a lot of exceptions!

Chipotle gives away their lie, you know, untruth, way at the bottom of their proud statement:

But it is important to note that most animal feed in the U.S. is genetically modified, which means that the meat and dairy served at Chipotle are likely to come from animals given at least some GMO feed. We are working hard on this challenge, and have made substantial progress: for example, the 100% grass-fed beef served in many Chipotle restaurants was not fed GMO grain—or any grain, for that matter.

Many of the beverages sold in our restaurants contain genetically modified ingredients, including those containing corn syrup, which is almost always made from GMO corn.

So you are safe from GMO foods at Chipotle unless your food contains beef, chicken, milk or other dairy product, or any soft drink. That is what GMO-free means to Chipotle??

Read more about the science at National Review Online.

Helping home buying intended to reduce income inequaility - opposite effect

Good intentions, but...

Helping home buying intended to reduce income inequality, but had the opposite effect.

USA Today

 

Underwater Axial Volcano erupted last week

Axial Volcano (or Seamount) is the only active underwater volcano that is “being watched.” Scientists have placed instruments to measure movement, tilt, temperature, etc., and 600 miles of coaxial cable. It rises about 3,000 feet above the ocean floor and is about a mile below the surface; 300 miles offshore of Washington.

Thursday, April 23, there was a major event. Excited scientists!

Seattle Times

Good riddance to AG Eric Holder

Farewell to the most political AG ever.

Wash Times

The first attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress has demonstrated shocking contempt for the law, and the ability to abuse and corrupt it for the political and social agenda of this president. He has assaulted freedom of speech and press at every turn, stonewalled all investigations into widespread corruption within the administration, undermined and obstructed the work of the agencies’ own inspectors general, and targeted individuals who dared challenge any of it. He has tirelessly protected and promoted corrupt prosecutors and scattered ticking time bombs.

Early in his time in office he dismissed the indictment against former Sen. Ted Stevens, who failed to win reelection days after he was convicted. Did Holder demote or fire the prosecutors who pursued the illegal prosecution? No. Just a slap on the wrist for one of the four.

As for the Stevens prosecutors who were found to have committed intentional misconduct (tantamount to obstruction of justice or subornation of perjury), one served a one-day suspension before the paltry sanctions were reversed on a technical failure of the department itself. Three still work in the department; four moved on to lucrative positions elsewhere.

What did these four learn? That they could perform major malfeasance of their office and suffer no consequences. That’s the Eric Holder way.

The Project on Government Oversight has identified hundreds of instances of intentional or reckless prosecutorial misconduct in the last decade, and Mr. Holder refused to release so much as the names of the prosecutors. Mr. Holder has politicized the department beyond recognition and weaponized every federal agency under it. “Instead of enforcing the rule of law and following legal precedent, he has ignored and twisted the law to suit his president.”

Venezuela is censoring news providers and government data

In the Chavez heaven of Venezuela President Maduro is getting more and more desparate. He is intimidating and forcing news outlets to close. And he is censoring government statistics. (Yes,  a government can censor itself.) When public health statistics are published the world can see how bad the situation is. Since his Chavismo does not have solutions the desperate dictator hides the data.

More from Fausta.

And The Economist:

Under Nicolás Maduro, who succeeded Chávez as president in 2013, the government is supplementing its relentless propaganda with self-censorship. The apparent goal is to hide from Venezuelans bad news that might weaken their already shaky faith in the regime. The health ministry, for instance, has not published a weekly epidemiological bulletin since early November, despite concurrent outbreaks of three mosquito-borne diseases. Last May Venezuela saw its first cases of chikungunya, a disease originating in Africa, which causes very high fevers and severe joint pains. It took the authorities five months to declare chikungunya a notifiable disease. The most recent bulletin still fails to include it.

And

Self-censorship is not confined to the health authorities. The National Statistical Institute (INE) has not published poverty data for 2014. No one has provided production figures for PDVSA, the state oil corporation, for the past three months. When officials explain their silence, which is not often, they talk of a need to avoid “political manipulation” of statistics.

Those officials sure know about political manipulation; they are doing it.

Saigon/South Vietnam fell 40 years ago

The US had won the war. The transition to home rule was progressing. But the Democrats in Congress cut funding, so the US had to leave precipitously. “Thank” Congress for endangering the lives of Americans and of the Vietnamese who were faithful to us.

There is a commemoration today. It was planned to be at Camp Pendleton, California, but US regulations would not allow the activities planned, so it was moved to a high school stadium. Thursday, 4/30, there will be a larger event in Orange County, CA.

Breitbart News

Genocide of Armenians 100 years ago

Armenian Christians were massacred by the Ottoman Empires starting in 1915 until 1917 in the geographic area that is now Turkey.  The number of people killed is estimated at 800,000 to 1.5 million. It also involved deportation and death marches, including in the desert of Syria.

Assyrian Christians and Greek Orthodox were also targeted in the same fashion.

Today, April 24, businesses are closing in Los Angeles to commemorate the genocide. Breitbart

Learn more at Wikipedia

(Sen. Obama promised to recognize the Armenian genocide if elected. But he hasn’t kept that promise. Breitbart)

Income inequality - Clintons' $10+ million per year

Let’s talk about income inequality.

Bill and Hillary Clinton made $136 million between 2001 and 2012 - 12 years. That is $11,333,000 per year - way over $10 million per year. Source: Peter Schweitzer’s new book

Hillary’s big campaign issue is income inequality!!! She wants to talk about it. Clearly she is in favor of it. 

Rent-control graphic

Here is a graphic of the supply and demand curves and the distortion caused by rent control. By holding down the price (from P0 to Pmax, the artificial maximum price) the demand is increased to Q2 - more demand at the lower price - but the supply is diminished to Q1 from the equilibrium Qe. Both, of course, cause an imbalance which is to say a shortage of housing is caused by pushing down the rent charged.

(Since I wrote the post on rent control on my IPhone it’s not easy to modify it now.)

Graphic found at Passion for Liberty.com blog.

Bad idea - Rent control

Do you want a shortage of housing? The socialists have a way to cause it. If the government controls rents would you invest your retirement in building apartments? You would lose money. So, no you wouldn't. New apartment construction would nearly stop. Shortage. Then, given the shortage it caused, the city would require anyone building anything to build some housing - even though the builder would lose money. But the shortage would continue.

New York City and others have proven that this happens over decades.

City council members Sawant and Likata are demanding rent control. Sawant admits she is a socialist. Do they consider the negative effects of rent control?

Seattle Times

Police state action in Wisconsin over political differences

From blogger Patterico in LA, Calif:

This is one of the creepiest articles I have ever read. It reminds me of my experience being SWATted — having armed police rush into my home in what looked like retaliation for my speech. Yet in the case described in the article, the SWATting is actually being carried out . . . by the government.

In Wisconsin, citizens had cops bust into their homes with battering rams. Property was taken from their homes, in full view of the neighbors — and in some cases officers mocked them. Then the citizens were told that they could tell nobody about what had happened. If they did, they could go to jail.

All for exercising their First Amendment rights. Essentially, for being conservatives.

Original article at National Review:

“THEY CAME WITH A BATTERING RAM.”

Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking. She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram.

She wasn’t dressed, but she started to run toward the door, her body in full view of the police. Some yelled at her to grab some clothes, others yelled for her to open the door.

“I was so afraid,” she says. “I did not know what to do.” She grabbed some clothes, opened the door, and dressed right in front of the police. The dogs were still frantic.

“I begged and begged, ‘Please don’t shoot my dogs, please don’t shoot my dogs, just don’t shoot my dogs.’ I couldn’t get them to stop barking, and I couldn’t get them outside quick enough. I saw a gun and barking dogs. I was scared and knew this was a bad mix.”

She got the dogs safely out of the house, just as multiple armed agents rushed inside. Some even barged into the bathroom, where her partner was in the shower. The officer or agent in charge demanded that Cindy sit on the couch, but she wanted to get up and get a cup of coffee.

“I told him this was my house and I could do what I wanted.” Wrong thing to say. “This made the agent in charge furious. He towered over me with his finger in my face and yelled like a drill sergeant that I either do it his way or he would handcuff me.”

What was their crime? Exercising their First Amendment rights. The article describes how these raids were conducted as part of “John Doe” investigations into whether conservative groups had “coordinated” with Scott Walker in violation of campaign finance laws. I believe such “coordination” is First Amendment activity. If I want to take out full-page newspaper ads about how great Ted Cruz is, and I get ideas that convince me from Cruz’s campaign, I believe that should be covered by the First Amendment. But even if my pro-speech view is not accepted (and so far it has not been), the fact remains that a judge later ruled that there was no legal basis for the investigation that justified these raids, and quashed all the subpoenas.

The investigations were conducted at the behest of a prosecutor whose offices “were festooned with the ‘blue fist’ poster of the labor-union movement.” According to one prosecutor who spoke to journalist Stuart Taylor, the wife of the lead prosecutor, John Chisholm, was “a teachers’-union shop steward who was distraught over Act 10’s union reforms” — and Chisholm “felt it was his personal duty” to stop the reforms. Pursuant to the politically motivated subpoenas lacking in probable cause, prosecutors subpoenaed electronic data such as emails and conducted these abusive raids.

It’s the type of activity you would expect to see from the Stasi in East Germany. Conservative activists in Wisconsin literally do not feel safe. They think that police could burst into their homes at any moment to punish them for their First Amendment activity.

In a country that actually valued freedom, this story would spark front-page headlines all over the country. It would be all anyone would be talking about for weeks, and nobody would rest until we knew it could never, ever happen again.

We are no longer such a country.

They can't recruit top students into climate science graduate programs

In India Professor Govindasamy Bala of India Institute of Science is complaining that they cannot recruit top students into climate science graduate programs.

If you were a top-performing college graduate in science would you want to dedicate all your energy for the next seven years to a field of study that only allows science that confirms it? What if in your curiosity you challenge Albert Gore, Jr.’s consensus? Then you will be publicly humiliated and pushed to the sideline, if not out of the field.

Steven Hayward at Power Line Blog

And WattsUpWithThat

When global warming is proven wrong, sustainability will take over

The problem with basing all their hopes of government control on global warming is that it is falsifiable, that it can be tested and proven wrong with a thermometer (a bunch of them, including in space). They are not yet giving up on … now it’s called climate change. But already the left is starting to move on to a new religion, I mean goal: Sustainability. And this new goal has the advantage of not being testable. It can’t be tested because its proponents never have to be pinned down defining exactly what it is.

William M Briggs at Breitbart *

Based on report Sustainability: Higher Education’s New Fundamentalism by

NAS - National Association of Scholars

If my sources are right this is going to be a very big deal; we have to watch it.

* Source corrected.

Largest donor to Hillary's Clinton foundation trades with Iran

One of the Clinton’s largest donors sells oil equipment to Iran. Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk is the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation; he has courted the Clintons for at least nine years.

His Cyprus-based Interpipe Group has been selling to Iran’s oil and gas industries which is a violation of the US’s sanctions. Even the presence of its US subsidiary North American Interpipe Inc might be a violation of US sanctions; we are not sure, because the rules are complex. 

The person in charge of listing non-US companies violating the sanctions against Iran is the secretary of state; Hillary Clinton from 2009 to 2013. !!! Talk about a conflict of interest.

Even Newsweek woke up on this one. But reporter Rory Ross says only those wanting to discredit her will be bothered by this. 

These sales to the oil and gas industries help Iran to have the cash to develop the nuclear weapons and ICBMs. Isn’t everyone bothered by these intentional violations of US sanctions against Iran?

Drone flight over Oahu's North Shore - Whales and dolphins

Very good. I wish it were ten times longer, there is so much to see there.

Matador Network for Turtle Bay Resort

---

And Capt Dave runs dolphin and whale excursions in Dana Point, Calif. This has a group of about 200 dolphins, then gray whales migrating - both at Dana Point, Calif - then mother and calf humpback whales off Maui.

Matador Network

Beware Java updates

Oracle installs the evil Ask.com toolbar when Java is updated.

Either don’t install Java or search carefully for a checkbox already checked to install the evil Ask.com whatever.

David Lazarus at LA Times

And...

Until recently, the Ask.com toolbar was primarily a problem only for Windows users. As of last month, it's also being bundled with Java updates for Macs.

Criminal indictment of State Auditor Troy Kelley

State Auditor Troy Kelley was indicted on ten counts of crimes by the Federal government. He put himself on paid leave to fight the charges. Why should we pay him for serving only himself?

Actually, since being elected Kelley appears to have been busy on his own affairs while being paid by the taxpayers. When reporters started asking about him they asked his office what he had been doing. They found his calendar shows 150 non-holiday weekdays without a single meeting or other event involving him. The Olympian

NWCN shows video from KING 5 TV.

The charges include:

• Possession of stolen property - 10 years max
• False statements/ obstruction - 20 years max
• Tax evasion - 3 years max for each

The audio at NWCN says that the feds say his illegal actions continued while he was in office as state auditor, though the print text does not repeat this.

I also recall that Kelley claimed he could not disclose the results of a lawsuit or other legal matter because it was sealed. Then the other party in the suit was asked they said it was OK with them to open the record. Apparently Kelley did not allow disclosure.

And we heard about this before Kelley was elected. James Watkins, his Republican opponent, disclosed the charges he had heard. Sound Politics (A commenter repeats highlights of some of the charges, but Watkins’ original site is gone.)  But the Seattle Times, KING 5 and other news media did not investigate.

UPDATTE: I just discovered that Northwest Public Radio did a story on the charges 9/6/2012.

Socialist success in Venezuela is near-starvation

It’s sad. The socialism of Hugo Chavez bankrupted the oil-rich country of Venezuela. Of course he always found an enemy to blame for all problems  - usually foreign.

Today the grocery shelves are almost empty. While millions of barrels of oil are being pumped and shipped every day, people are near (or past near) starving. The government has taken action — the military took over Dia a Dia supermarket chain’s 35 stores in early February, 2015. Fox News

The government arrested drug store managers and made illegal sales on the street of coffee, eggs, shampoo and some 50 other “regulated” items. Tico Times

And the situation is getting worse. Latin American Herald-Tribune

Venezuelans – who have been waiting in long queues to get into supermarkets and purchase basic products – have not yet seen the worst part of the shortages issue caused by a collapse in the chavismo-sponsored populist model, but they may do so shortly in the face of the warnings of the alarming levels food stocks have fallen to in the country, according to local industry groups and experts.

"Inventories, including those of the pharmaceutical and food industries, are hitting critical levels," said Eduardo Garmendia, head of the Venezuelan Confederation of Industries (Conindustria), a business association, in a recent interview with local radio station Unión Radio.

"The entire industrial system has been affected by the difficulties in acquiring raw materials, but it is worse in essential products because these are receiving a greater direct impact; we are talking about medicines and food," said Garmendia.

In the case of food, stocks of the country’s main industries will last less than a month, according to data released by the Venezuelan Food Industry Chamber (Cavidea).

"There are food companies that haven’t been allocated a single dollar so far this year," Pablo Baraybar, president of Cavidea, told the local press. "In some production lines, we only have stocks for 10 or 20 days."

This will surely make things exponentially harder for those Venezuelans trying to put food on their tables every day.

"There is a real storm developing due to the lack of dollars. The situation is desperate and may get a lot worse," said Russ Dallen, head of local investment bank Caracas Capital Markets, who has spent several years keeping a close eye on the behavior of the Venezuelan reality.

"In the next two or three months we are about to see a situation of terrible shortages, much worse than we have seen so far.

Photo: Angel Falls, Venezuela. How can a huge waterfall come from near the top of a mountain? A wonder of the world.

Increased minority turnout after tougher ID laws

Minority voting increased after Georgia passed tougher voter identification laws. But, but… all the Demos claimed the Republicans only wanted to surprise minority turnout. Were the Republicans flustered by the failure of their plan? No. Wrong question. That was not their plan.

Georgia’s new law required the same sort of ID required to cash a check, get on an airplane or visit your senator’s office - photo ID.

The Republican intention was to limit voting to people qualified to vote who were properly registered. They did not talk about suppressing minority turnout, because they did not intend it.

See Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Turnout among black and Hispanic voters increased from 2006 to 2010, dramatically outpacing population growth for those groups over the same period

Via Hot Air.

Cabin stolen in Springdale. Where is Springdale?

Where is Springdale, WA?

West of Loon Lake. Northwest of Tumtum. East of Fruitland!

Yahoo Map shows all four on one map. Loon Lake is to the east on Hwy 291; Tumtum is on the north shore of Spokane River; Fruitland is on the east shore of Lake Roosevelt/Columbia River.

I hadn’t heard of Springdale, WA until it hit the news that a family had its cabin stolen! A 10x20 foot cabin? The news called it a cabin, but feh family call it a shed. And it has been found! - News Tribune & photo of the “wanted" poster

Whales taking fish off lines

In S and SE Alaska whales are taking caught fish right off the lines. Orcas to the west and sperm whales to the east. Quote: "Serm whales are the cleverest animals I have ever worked with." - Jan Straley, U of Alaska marine biologist.

Sea Times

Obamacare enrollment dropped in Wa State

Obamacare enrollments increased 61% in federal-exchange states. Ok. They increased 12% in state-exchange states. Not so good by their own standards. Both since the end of enrollment in 2014.

But in Washington they dropped 2%. State officials called this "lackluster." But they don't care because they are enrolling people in welfare at high rates, that is, on MediCare. This attitude is attributed to Michael Marchand, spokesman for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which runs Healthplanfinder. Our bureaucrats seem to have perverse minds - happy to put people on welfare.

And their own goal was a substantial increase in Wa Obamacare enrollment. They failed at that.

Seattle Times

Can Obama tell real Christians from those who claim to be?

President Obama is famed for being able to tell real Muslims from fake ones. Fake ones have Muslim names, claim to be Muslim and practice Islam.

The attack on Garissa University in NE Kenya was carried out by men who asked students if they were Christian or Muslim. They let the Muslims - whether real or not, those who claimed to be Muslim - he let them go. They killed the Christians. See also Associated Press.

In President Obama’s statement on this massacre he didn’t mention that the killers were Muslim. And he didn’t mention that the killed were Christians. Can he also tell real Christians from those who claim to be and practice Christianity? See it White House.

Ian Tuttle at National Review Online finds Obama’s logic to be consistent and absurd:

Recognizing the victims in Kenya or Egypt as Christians would require explaining why they were killed, which would draw the White House dangerously close to acknowledging that the “extremism” they so detest may, in fact, be of a particular religious flavor. But — and here is why the Ismailis, &c. appear — how could these extremists be Muslim if they are also killing Muslims!?

It all fits together. It’s all consistent. And it’s all deceitful.

Persecuted Church - Kenya university massacre stopped after 11 hours

Gunmen of an unknown religion who said they were Muslims entered a university campus and massacred students for eleven hours before the military arrived. The killers asked students if they were Christian or Muslim; Muslims were allowed to leave; Christians murdered. The killers were of Somali militant group Shabab.

No added security arrived for two hours and the attack wasn’t stopped for eleven hours.

After protests for better security in 2013 a high fence was built around the campus. Ironically it prevented students from escaping, but didn’t keep the killers out.

LA Times

There was also tension over the presence of a mosque on the campus, used by the local community to pray. Students protested that those using the mosque weren’t subject to security checks. Seeing it as an added source of insecurity, they called for it to be moved off campus.

It’s not that there is no support for Chistians in Kenya. After his election in 2013 President Uhuru Kenyatta said that Kenya is a Christian nation. God Reports and Christian News Why did his military allow the massacre to continue?

He is risen!

Today we remember Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and celebrate His resurrection.

No water rationing in dry Arizona

There is No water rationing in dry Arizona versus the “drastic” measure we are heading about in California. Arizona ia also suffering from drought.

Why? Because they planned!! Arizona’s water supply remains good, and there isn’t even a 50/50 chance for a “water shortage declaration” until 2017.

Breitbart

… 

Arizona Public Media reported that drought conditions continue in AZ, and the Colorado River is dwindling and expected “to keep dwindling, along with the aquifer it feeds.” Yet because AZ prepared for this, they have “more than a year’s worth” of water stored underground.

Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said: “We have stored a lot of water underground, so for a point in time when we see shortages, we’ve got over three million acre-feet of water,” which is more than a year’s supply.

Buschatzke said AZ also lessened the strain on water supplies by putting “mandatory…conservation requirements in place” for “metropolitan parts of Arizona” when it was apparent drought conditions were approaching.

He said these choices put Arizona “in one of the better places you can be in right now in the western United States.”

Besides differing conservation approaches, the Arizona Republic previously reported that the differences in water supplies are based on infrastructure preparedness as well. To this point–AZ reservoirs are built to catch and store multiple years of runoff, while CA’s reservoirs are not.

Also Breitbart in February, 2014.

3D printed no-assembly

Wow. "No assembly required." For example a toy car with wind-up motor and gears. See it at:

Instructables

Shapeways

US remains out of the running in 2015 Index of Economic Freedom

The United States remains out of the top ten in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom assembled by Heritage Foundation. The index measures ten areas then combines them for a country’s overall rank. The US slightly improved in its composite score, but remains at #12. Until recent years we were always in the top five.

The top five are Hong Kong (that can’t last), Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland. Even Estonia and Mauritius (Hint: it’s near Reunion) are ahead of us.

 The Heat map of the data at Heritage allows interactive selection of any of the ten factors or the composite, overlaid on a map of the world. The graphic shown is the heat map for overall composite score.

April Fools fun

OK. I am a day late. But here is a page with 31 very fun pranks. For kids and the young at heart. For example: make “candied apples” using onions!

BuzzFeed

Will Latin America take advantage of information age?

I hope Latin America will wake up and adopt policies that allow its people to grow in knowledge and productivity. Because increasing their productivity will improve their lives, both in basic economic value and in quality. Not doing so will result in continued stagnation.

LAM has mixed economic growth to the point of making very little progress while most of the world races ahead. Productivity is little improved since the 1950s. [World Bank] As we know, the world is changing in how income is earned. LAM can greatly improve its competitiveness if regional and national leaders take adopt policies that allow and encourage business even when they do things completely differently. I hope they will.

Source: Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, calls the change the Second Machine Age, after a book of that title. (Why emphasize machines when it’s information processing that is driving the changes? Because of a book title, evidently.)

Projected Syndicate

… 

The MIT economists Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, among others, identify the Second Machine Age with the rise of new automation technologies and artificial intelligence. While optimists predict that these innovations will usher in an era of unprecedented abundance, less sanguine analysts estimate that nearly half of all jobs currently performed by humans are vulnerable to replacement by robots and increasingly sophisticated software. Carl Benedikt Frey

Advanced technologies are already making inroads into some of Latin America’s principal industries. For example, carmakers, which employ hundreds of thousands of people across the region, are rapidly deploying robots that are more efficient and precise than humans. In South America’s grain belt, GPS-guided machinery is diminishing the need for farmhands, even as output increases.

Service industries, which already account for two-thirds of all jobs in Latin America, are particularly vulnerable. One Brazilian startup’s tax-management software, for example, can perform in seconds operations that would demand thousands of billable hours from an army of accountants. Other sectors that currently account for a large share of employment in lower-income countries – including apparel, light manufacturing, logistics, and call centers – are forecast to undergo increasing automation.

Via WR Meade at The American Interest

Graphic from obhe.ac.uk “The Observatory." In the Caribbean they show Jamaica which is not “Latin."

Cold weather death toll 40,000 in UK alone

 Cold weather caused an added 40,000 deaths in the UK this year.

Telegraph UK

The cold weather death toll this winter is expected to top 40,000, the highest number for 15 years.
The figures were described as a “tragedy for the elderly” by campaigners who warned that not enough was being done to protect pensioners from unnecessary deaths in cold weather.

Malcolm Booth, chief executive of the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, said: “Excess winter deaths look like rising above the exceptional 2008-09 total and potentially reaching above 40,000 - and that is a disaster for the elderly in Britain.
“Winter deaths are a tragedy for families of those affected but it appears the underlying causes of these deaths have still not been properly addressed.

From the beginning of December until January 16, there were 8,800 more deaths than average of 25,000, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS)....

Boycott Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis before Indiana

All the good people are rushing to be the first to condemn Indiana for passing a law that says you can have religious values that actually mean something. Like your decisions are based on your values. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is off to a fast start. He went in to work on a nice Saturday to rush his announcement that he will ban city employees from traveling to Indiana. Seattle Times 

But Murray didn't announce that he will ban city employee travel to Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis. They all in states that have laws to the same effect. And Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island and more, according to Chicago Tribune. And there is a national law, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law by Pres. Bill Clinton in 1993.

Chris Gahl, a vice president of Visit Indy, said the [Indiana] tourism agency was pointing out to convention planners that cities such as Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis are in states that already have such religious-objections laws.

Seattle Times again.

ADDED: Hugh Hewitt succinctly covers (1) how LGBT has gone from wanting tolerance to wanting legal standing to now wanting government to force absolute equality on us. And (2) how the US has been well served by balance between state and church, but the LGBT wants to overthrow that balance by force of law.

Protectionism is trickle-down economics

When people propose to impose restrictions on trade their intent is to help the workers by preserving jobs and pay. But research finds that is not the result. Almost all the benefits go to the companies, not the workers. "But the companies might pass on the benefits," you say. They might, but it's up to owners/managers whether they trickle it down to their employees.

On the other hand, free-market capitalism most benefits those at the bottom. Then as they have more work and more pay they buy more and the benefits "trickle up." According to a study by William Nordhaus of Yale at NBER (pdf) only 2% of the value of technology advances go to the business owners; the rest to the workers.

Via A Force for Good

We are paying convicting child molesters

Freedom Foundation pointed out in February that teachers are collecting lavish pensions despite having lost their teaching licenses after being convicted of horrific sex crimes against children—including their own students.

Why should my tax dollars pay these convicted child molesters? Some are receiving over $3,500 per month and have received far more than they paid in.

Generic Freedom Foundation (They talk like there is an older entry, but I can’t find it. They don’t even link to their own original stories, so I can’t.)

KING 5 News. Follow with caution. I detest web pages that shout at me, like this one. (I close them as soon as the sound blasts.)

And now the story has gone national at Fox News - video link.

Feds search Washington State Auditor Kelley's home

Federal agents searched Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley's home Wednesday. Since the Tacoma News Tribune did not disclose his party we know Kelley is a Democrat. 

Tacoma News Tribune

Tunisia's wonderful Bardot Museum and Dougga

Tunisia had preserved many of its ancient treasures at National Bardo Museum. It’s too bad people are learning about it due to a criminal attack murdering tourists there today.

We spent twelve days in Tunisia in October, 1981, with our daughter Heidi who was 4 years old and toured Bardo Museum. After over 30 years I remember huge mosaics - the pictorial/historic ones. There were also geometric ones; as I recall the latter were always floors. I also remember a baptismal in the shape of the cross, more like a plus-shaped cross. Yes, North Africa was a center of Christianity before invasion and victory by Muslims.

See for yourself - National Bardo Museum

Even more memorable was seeing the sites of ancient ruins. Carthage didn’t have much to see, because it is on the coast and easily invaded. Much better preserved was Dougga. See the pic of the Temple of Jupiter and its  theater is in good shape. Our friends told of us similar Roman ruins in France where every step was worn way down by hordes of visitors over the centuries, due to better accessibility.

Carthage was the first place a man came up to me and said “Look at these” and showed me coins. “They are from the time of Emperor X. I will give you a very good price.” Did they expect me to believe that!? Of course the same thing happened at least once at every ancient site.

But... I remember mosaics at Dougga that we were walking on that were coming apart, because no preservation had been done. It’s shocking to see something man-made over 2,000 years ago falling apart, while local guides are giving tours every day.

See about Dougga at Historvius. 

Photo: Temple of Jupiter at Dougga, Tunisia. From Historvius.

Bach in the Subways March 21

To celebrate Johan S Bach’s 330th birthday musicians in 129 cities will play his music in public places. Saturday, March 21, 2015. And the prestigious locations include my neighborhood!

Seattle Bach Orchestra will perform at Third Place Commons * in Lake Forest Park at 10 am. Pianist Linda Ganier will follow at 11:15. Link and Link

For all Seattle-area performances see Bach in the Subways. Many are outside. A piano on Beacon Hill will be so busy it might start smoking. Some are “marathons” of four hours or more.

* Third Place Commons is in the upper level of the Lake Forest Park Town Center at 17111 Bothell Way NE>

Keep Washington Competitive

Keep Washington Competitive is a coalition that promotes bilateral trade in Washington (that is, both imports and exports). It is a coalition of business, unions, agriculture and trade organizations.

Keep Washington Competitive

From their “about" page:

Our objective is to foster a regulatory environment that encourages investment in Washington’s trade industries. Ensuring our state is positioned to thrive in the increasingly competitive national and international marketplace for foreign trade will require:

A timely regulatory review process lasting no longer than 18 months for proposals meeting Washington’s high environmental standards.

An environmental framework that is predictable and obtainable, focusing on the needs of communities where projects are to be built, rather than speculative indirect impacts.

A commitment to promoting trade growth and the diversity of employment opportunities that sustain Washington’s middle class.

Now they are focused on three issues:

• That SEPA reviews be done in a timely fashion
• Make the Harbor Maintenance Tax more fair
• Water quality standards that are workable.

Their news links are on this page 

KWC Home

Hillary thinks we are stupid

Does Hillary really think we will believe her? She seems to think we will on these points:

- That she would have to carry two phones to have two email accounts. We know that’s not true!

- That the purpose was not to hide her communications from oversight. We don’t fall for that!

- That she only deleted emails that were personal. We don’t fall for that!

- That she has already turned over all emails of concern. We don’t fall for that!

But we do believe her on this:

“I have taken unprecedented steps…” That part of the sentence is true, not the rest.

Question for her: “Madame Hillary, it would remove suspicion if you would  turn the server over to a third party to check it. Will you?"

Breitbart

Libre - Economic freedom for Latinos

Libre is an organization to promote economic freedom principles for Latinos. From their mission statement, note the principles:

is a 501(c)4 non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that advances the principles and values of economic freedom to empower the U.S. Hispanic community so it can thrive and contribute to a more prosperous America.

LIBRE is dedicated to informing the U.S. Hispanic community about the benefits of a constitutionally limited government, property rights, rule of law, sound money supply and free enterprise through a variety of community events, research and policy initiatives that protect our economic freedom.

They have current events on how to become a home owner, health care and school choice.

More at Fausta at Da Tech Guy.

Persecuted church: ISIS attacks in Syria

Christians in Syria say ISIS is attacking them Khabour River in northeast Syria. Over 262 Christians have been abducted and “asked” to covert to Islam. I wonder why there is talk of Islam. Our President tells us every day that ISIS has nothing at all to do with Islam. He says the “I” in ISIS instead stands for … 

ISIS “asks" that Christians cover to Islam. To convince them to ISIS first kidnaps them.

Breitbart

This is my second (almost) weekly update on persecution of the church.

China is vulnerable to breakup

Veteran China watcher David Shambaugh thinks the political break up of China is inevitable and is now on its way. The iron rule of Communism is unstable and the point of no return has been reached.

I am no China scholar, but I have been watching for this. I have never been to China, but when changing planes in Taipei in 2007 a young woman from Taiwan told us that there are huge problems in China with poverty, pollution and authoritarian government at all levels riding the backs of restless people. So she thought Chins was on its way to a crisis stage. So I have been watching...

Wall Street Journal (requires registration; might be found by a search)

He highlights five signs. The first:

First, China’s economic elites have one foot out the door, and they are ready to flee en masse if the system really begins to crumble. In 2014, Shanghai’s Hurun Research Institute, which studies China’s wealthy, found that 64% of the “high net worth individuals” whom it polled—393 millionaires and billionaires—were either emigrating or planning to do so. Rich Chinese are sending their children to study abroad in record numbers 

Second:

Second, since taking office in 2012, Mr. Xi has greatly intensified the political repression that has blanketed China since 2009. The targets include the press, social media, film, arts and literature, religious groups, the Internet, intellectuals, Tibetans and Uighurs, dissidents, lawyers, NGOs, university students and textbooks.

In other words: repression of every means of expression and almost every group.

Read it for the rest.

See also China leadership’s “analysis” of why the Soviet Union broke up. "Of course the problem was not Communism…” WSJ

Pic: Meeting of People’s Congress in Great Hall of the People, Beijing, this week. Wall Street Journal

To make it easier, not harder (Obama) to save for college

Pres. Obama wants to increase taxes on savings for college. But something is happening in Congress.

IBD

… So last month, when President Obama proposed taxing 529 plans, people were understandably outraged.

Why would we make saving for college even harder? We talk all the time about rewarding people who work hard and play by the rules — well, that’s what 529 plans are. They empower families to set up accounts for their children — right from when they’re born — and then down the line they can use that money — tax-free — on books, fees, tuition, and room-and-board.

All told, there are nearly 12 million of these accounts open in all 50 states. That’s up from 1 million accounts in 2001. Why would we stop that growth? So the government can take even more of the money we’ve worked so hard to put away?

Thankfully, after a public outcry, the president was forced to drop the idea.

But we can do more. With all the challenges middle-class families are facing right now, we need to make it easier — not harder — to save.

That’s why the House acted this week to expand and modernize 529 plans.

Our plan will do a few simple things.

First, to adapt to the times, we clarify that computers are qualified expenses under 529 accounts. Second, we remove unnecessary paperwork burdens for the administrators of these plans.

And third, we allow families to re-deposit refunds from colleges without taxes or penalties. This might be useful if something happens and a student has to withdraw early for an illness. It’s just good peace of mind to have.

I’m pleased to report that the bill passed with more than 400 votes. Now we just need President Obama to help us get this done. Together, let’s make sure that 529 plans will be there for middle-class families for years to come.