Month: March 2017

NFL approves Raiders’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas

NFL owners approved the Oakland Raiders’ move to Las Vegas at league meetings Monday despite a plea from the California city’s mayor to delay the vote over a potential last-ditch stadium deal. The vote was 31-1. The vote was a foregone conclusion after the league and Raiders were not satisfied with Oakland’s proposals for a new stadium, and Las Vegas stepped up with $750 million in public money. Bank of America also is giving Raiders owner Mark Davis a $650 million loan, further helping convince the owners to allow the third team relocation in just over a year. The Rams moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016, and in January the Chargers relocated from San Diego to LA. The Raiders likely will play two or three more years in the Bay Area before their $1.7 billion stadium near the Las Vegas strip is ready, Fox 2 reported. Oakland’s mayor earlier Monday asked NFL owners to delay voting on the move, wanting to give her city a chance to negotiate with a small group of owners to complete a stadium deal at the Coliseum site. “Never that we know of has the NFL voted to displace a team from its established market when there is a fully financed option before them with all the issues addressed,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t do everything in my power to make the case for Oakland up until the very end.” Schaaf said the city had presented a $1.3 billion plan for a stadium at the Coliseum site that would be ready by 2021. She said the existing Coliseum would be demolished by 2024, with the Oakland Athletics baseball team either moving to a new stadium at the Coliseum site or somewhere else in the city. She also asked for owners to conduct a secret ballot on the vote, as was done last year when the league approved the Rams move from St. Louis to the Los Angeles area. The Raiders had hoped to move back to LA, where they played from 1982-94, to share a stadium with the Chargers, but were rejected by the owners. Schaaf said the Raiders have refused to negotiate with the city on a new stadium since completing a short-term lease last March that gave the team options to play at the Coliseum in 2017 and 2018. The city had a deal with the Fortress Investment Group and a group led by Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott to build a stadium at the Coliseum site. Fortress would provide $600 million in a traditional loan, with the Raiders and NFL committing $500 million and the city giving $200 million for infrastructure funding. “We believe that moving the Raiders will be a negative `tipping point’ for the NFL,” a group of Raiders fans said in a letter also sent to NFL owners. “Thousands of fans may very well be turned off forever by what they perceive is the NFL’s lack of loyalty to its most important constituents — the fans!” Meanwhile, Las Vegas, long taboo to the NFL because of its legalized gambling, is getting an NHL team this fall, the Golden Knights.

J Scott Armstrong: Fewer Than 1 Percent Of Papers in Scientific Journals Follow Scientific Method

Fewer than 1 percent of papers published in scientific journals follow the scientific method, according to research by Wharton School professor and forecasting expert J. Scott Armstrong. Professor Armstrong, who co-founded the peer-reviewed Journal of Forecasting in 1982 and the International Journal of Forecasting in 1985, made the claim in a presentation about what he considers to be “alarmism” from forecasters over man-made climate change. “We also go through journals and rate how well they conform to the scientific method. I used to think that maybe 10 percent of papers in my field … were maybe useful. Now it looks like maybe, one tenth of one percent follow the scientific method” said Armstrong in his presentation. To watch it in its entirety, click here. “People just don’t do it.” Armstrong defined eight criteria for compliance with the scientific method, including full disclosure of methods, data, and other reliable information, conclusions that are consistent with the evidence, valid and simple methods, and valid and reliable data.

Fascinating!!  To read the rest of this article, and see the video, click on the text above.    🙂

Michael Moore: Trump Caused ‘Extinction of Human Life on Earth’

Michael Moore sounded a dire warning on his social media accounts Tuesday, exclaiming that March 28, 2017 would be remembered as the day President Donald Trump caused the beginning of the planet-wide extinction of humanity. In a post to his Facebook page, the 62-year-old documentary filmmaker and liberal activist accused Trump of declaring “war on the planet” after the president signed an executive order Tuesday rolling back several key Obama-era regulations concerning energy production. “Historians in the near future (because that may be the only future we have) will mark today, March 28, 2017, as the day the extinction of human life on earth began,” Moore wrote on his Facebook page. “This is a defining moment in the history of mankind. By signing these executive orders today, Trump is declaring an act of war on the planet and its inhabitants,” he continued. “The one silver lining here is that Trump can’t kill the planet; the planet wants to live and has a long history of wiping out any real or perceived threats.” The filmmaker also warned that the planet was “paying attention” — and would itself dispose of a species “hell-bent on destroying Earth.” In a statement Tuesday after signing the executive order, Trump said his administration was “putting an end to the war on coal.” The president was joined at the signing by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Vice President Mike Pence. “We’re going to have safety, we’re going to have clean water, we’re going to have clean air, but so many are unnecessary and so many are job killing, we’re getting rid of the bad ones,” Trump said. Moore — who released a surprise anti-Trump documentary shortly before the 2016 election — has become one of the president’s most outspoken celebrity critics. The director has used his social media accounts nearly daily to criticize Trump and comment on political news. In January, Moore vowed to lead “100 days of resistance” against the Trump administration. Over the weekend, Moore blasted the ultimately unsuccessful GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, calling the effort “anti-woman” and “hateful.” Last week, he urged Democratic Party to declare a “national emergency” until the FBI could investigate alleged connections between Trump campaign staffers and the Russian government.

Does anyone still pay any attention to this calorically -challenged waste of perfectly good oxygen?  I mean.. Seriously..  What a loser.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Compares Ivanka, Jared Kushner to Saddam Hussein’s Sons

MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews compared President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s infamous children. Discussing his apprehension at the prospect of Kushner and Ms. Trump working for the president in visible administration positions, he recalled how Uday and Qusay Hussein were also close with their father’s regime. Kushner is preparing to take over a new White House position, the Office of American Administration, which was initiated by the president to help run the country like a business. Ms. Trump has routinely been praised by her father for her acumen and leadership qualities and is considered a close personal adviser. “Uday and Qusay working for Saddam Hussein: You couldn’t go into a restaurant and have eye contact with those guys without getting killed,” Matthews said on “Hardball.” “Imagine getting into a fight in the office with Jared or Ivanka– they have enormous power and they’re always going to be there,” he said. Hussein’s sons had infamous reputations for torture and violent crimes against Iraqi civilians. Elder son Uday would torture athletes who didn’t meet his standards and Qusay helped round up and murder his father’s political opposition, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Congresswoman Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) said her Women in the 21st Century Workforce working group would be willing to work with Ms. Trump in her White House role.

Chris Matthews is a poster child for what is wrong with the dominantly liberal mainstream media.  He is offensive, and breathtakingly stupid.  Here he suggests, not so subtly, that if you got into an argument with Trumps daughter or son in-law, he’d have you killed.  That’s the innuendo here.  Just pause and wrap your brain around just how outrageously dumb that is. THAT is the kind of lunatic that MSNBC puts out as a host for their “fake news” broadcasts.  Once you get past how insanely stupid Chris is, you should be offended on Ivanka’s behalf.  Here you have a smart, successful business woman who is also a working mom…and a role model for so many women who is getting compared to the late vile sons of a ruthless and brutal dictator.  Unreal..  Just fathom if Chris (or any other member of the media) went after a liberal Democrat female that way? Such a double standard.  Members of the media, and politicians on BOTH sides of the political aisle should call out this obnoxious tool for his outrageous, and frankly stupid comments.

The Who’s Roger Daltrey Supports Brexit, Badmouths Hillary Clinton

The Who‘s frontman Roger Daltrey continues to be outspoken about his support for Brexit, or more like his support for England getting out of the EU. “We are getting out, and when the dust settles I think that it’ll be seen that it’s the right thing for this country to have done, that’s for sure,” he told NME. He added, “I am not anti-European, but I an anti the present way we are being governed in Europe. “It’s got nothing to do with any of the immigration issues or any of that for me. It was to do with much more. The majority of this country felt that their voices weren’t being heard. It would have been nice to do a deal with Europe but they didn’t want to do a deal, and they sent Cameron back with a bag.” Daltrey went on, “I’m sad we voted how we voted, but I think we have to go with it now. This country will always be alright, I don’t worry about it. You know it’s going to be bumpy on the way—we expected that; the ones that voted to get out. But Iceland had it a bit bumpy when they went bankrupt, but oh not now.” When asked about President Donald Trump, the rocker was less political, commenting on the American president’s highly discussed hair and foul language. “His f—ing haircut! He needs it cut and as my mother would say, ‘wash your f—ing mouth out’. “On other pieces of politics, let’s put it this way: when you say that middle America and the Democrats lost it, but Trump didn’t really win it—because Democrats threw it away by putting [Hilary Clinton] up. A dead dog would have won it against [her], look at that.” The Who will perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust, Thursday, March 30, and Saturday, April 1.

California Middle School Budget Cuts Due to High White Student Percentage Sparks Outrage

Outrage has grown at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, as the school faces layoffs and increased class sizes due to a law limiting funds for schools with a higher white student body. The Los Angeles Unified School District provides more funding for schools where the white population is below 30 percent. In a letter to parents, the district noted the highly regarded middle school had been above the percentage for the past couple years. The racial formula was a condition imposed by court decisions dealing with desegregation in the 1970s. Parents, however, remain frustrated with what the cuts might mean for their children. “When your class sizes are getting larger and you’re taking resources away from students, I mean ss parents, you do want your kid to go out to college,” one parent, Rosemary Estrada, said. In an attempt to lessen the budget cuts, the district changed the school’s spending formula to one based on the number of students. “Thankfully we’re going to keep our librarian. We’re going to keep our nurse, but we may lose a few teachers, but not as many as we once thought,” said Sheila Edmiston, one student’s parent. Several jobs will still be lost and class sizes could grow. For many parents, the race-based reason of “too many white students” has made the cuts more difficult to swallow.

Indeed!!  It’s breathtakingly racist on its face.  Just fathom if that same southern California school district had said they were cutting funding because the percentage of black, or Hispanic students was too high..  All hell would break loose and we ALL know it.  This is brazenly racist and shameful…and should NOT be tolerated.

Trump Rolls Back Two Obama-Era Education Regulations

President Donald Trump signed legislation Monday that rolls back two Obama-era education regulations — one regarding teacher training programs and another regarding requirements for states in meeting directives of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Trump signed H.J.Res. 58, which overturns the U.S. Education Department’s (USED) rule that relates to how teacher training programs are assessed. Additionally, the president signed H.J.Res. 57, which nullifies USED’s rule relating to state accountability requirements under ESSA. The teacher training program requirement, part of the Higher Education Act, mandated states to rate training programs for teachers each year based, in part, on student outcome measures. The Washington Post describes the Obama rule as “broadly unpopular”: Teachers unions said the regulations wrongly tied ratings of teacher-training programs to the performance of teachers’ students on standardized tests; colleges and states argued that the rules were onerous and expensive, and many Republicans argued that Obama’s Education Department had overstepped the bounds of executive authority. The ESSA rule concerned states’ accountability in identifying failing schools and reporting their plans for improving them to the federal government.. In his remarks about these two House joint resolutions, Trump said they “eliminate harmful burdens on state and local taxes on school systems that could have cost states hundreds of millions of dollars.” “So it’s the states and local-tax school systems, and that was very important,” the president added. “Parents, teachers, communities, and state leaders know the needs of their students better than anyone in Washington by far. So we’re removing these additional layers of bureaucracy to encourage more freedom and innovation in our schools.” The Republican-led Congress and Trump are overturning some Obama-era rules and regulations via the Congressional Review Act.

Hannity: Ted Koppel and CBS are bad for America – not me

It all started three weeks ago, when I agreed to do an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” and their special contributor, Ted Koppel. The interview lasted well over 45 minutes, and we discussed in great detail why there’s such a great divide in America in politics and in media. In my honest opinion, the exchange was a substantive give-and-take, worthwhile for any audience to see. But what the audience saw was a distorted fraction of that discussion. “Honestly, I think liberalism has to be defeated,” I told the veteran newsman. “Socialism must be defeated in a political sense. This is not a — we don’t want a revolution in this country.” “Well, what more do you want?” he replied. “You’ve got the White House, you’ve got the House … you’ve got the Senate.” “And then we have angry snowflakes and then we’ve got a Democratic establishment,” I answered. “I say the press in this country is out to destroy this president. “We have to give some credit to the American people that they’re somewhat intelligent and that they know the difference between an opinion show and a news show,” I added. I noticed Koppel was looking skeptical, and I said so. “I am cynical because,” he said, “you know…” I knew where this was going. “You think we’re bad for America?” I asked. “You think I’m bad for America?” “Yes,” he said, before proceeding to insult me and my TV, radio and Web audiences with this fine piece of objective reporting: “You have people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.” Wow. One minute and 10 seconds from a 45-minute interview, and he basically called me a liar. He doesn’t like opinion shows, but he’s certainly free with his opinion. I guess people like Ted Koppel feel the American people can’t distinguish between opinion and news. That’s kind of like Obama, remember? He said people clinging to their God, guns and religion. Or Hillary Clinton who said we were ignorant, irredeemable deplorables. Now, beyond this interview being a total waste of my time, it is a flagrant example of what I call “edited fake news.” Remember, CBS News is the former home of Dan Rather. Remember him? He was forced to resign after reporting an inflammatory fake news story about President George W. Bush. Rather used fake documents to bolster his story. CBS News is also the former home of Sharyl Attkisson. She was marginalized and stonewalled, and they wouldn’t show a lot of her investigative journalism into President Obama and his administration. Is that agenda-driven? And now CBS has produced a package taking shots at me all while prominently displaying their dishonesty, their bias and total hypocrisy here for every viewer to see. Koppel’s interview with me wasn’t about substance. It wasn’t about getting my real opinion. The story was written long before he walked into our studio at Fox. I was just used as a prop to advance his narrative, which is why so little of the interview was actually used. That is “edited fake news.” Other networks — they play the same game and they have for many years. It is time to expose this for what it really is: Cheap shot attacks in the name of, quote, “journalism,” all to advance their biased agenda. What Ted was really asking is this: Are our opinion shows bad for America? He thinks they are. We know, because he gave his own opinion. He did exactly what he said is bad for America. I express my opinion because I am a talk show host and commentator. I claim to be no more, no less. But Ted Koppel? He thinks he’s down-the-middle, fair and balanced. A real journalist. That’s the difference between me and Ted Koppel. I’m honest with my audience. He is not. But if CBS and Ted Koppel want to prove they have at least a shred of honesty, there is one thing they could do. They could post on the Internet the entire, unedited footage of the interview. Let Americans see the footage they didn’t want to air, and the public can decide. Until they do, it is Ted Koppel and his “edited fake news” cronies who are bad for America.

This is a follow up to the story posted earlier (scroll down 4 articles)..and is Sean’s assessment of what happened.  To be sure, Ted Koppel, the former ABC “Nightline” host is clearly a self-righteous, elitist, entrenched member of the dominantly liberal mainstream media who has no use for alternative news.  He was from the era of the three big networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC)..  And now, there are cable news outlets, talk radio, and God-forbid…the internet.   In other words, there is competition.  So, those three no longer have total control of the information that is available to we-the-consumer.  And, to Ted, that’s “bad for America.”  On the flip side..  Sean was a sucker for having allowed himself to be a “useful idiot” for Ted.  Rush Limbaugh was offered the same opportunity to be interviewed for Ted’s hit piece, but was smart enough to turn Ted down as he saw what Ted, and CBS, were up to.

Crayola to retire color from iconic 24-count crayon box

Crayola is about to ditch one of the iconic colors in its classic 24-count box. The crayon company will make the big announcement Friday on National Crayon Day in Times Square in New York, PIX 11 reported. The company has not yet revealed which color is getting the boot or what will replace it, only teasing in an announcement it will “retire one of its beloved colors from its iconic Crayon portfolio.” Crayola will be livestreaming the Friday event on its Facebook page. Once the color is retired, the company said it will not produce any additional crayons in that shade. This would be the first time the company has dropped a color from its 24-count box. The current 24-count Crayola box contains red, yellow, blue, brown, orange, green, violet, black, carnation pink, yellow orange, blue green, red violet, red orange, yellow green, blue violet, white, violet red, dandelion, cerulean, apricot, scarlet, green yellow, indigo and gray.

‘The War on Coal Is Over’: Donald Trump Signs Energy Executive Order

President Donald Trump made a dramatic display of executive power at the Environmental Protection Agency, as he signed an executive order to begin ratcheting back the Obama-era EPA regulations. “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal,” Trump said in a speech prior to signing the executive order. Trump was joined by Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. “Our nation can’t run on pixie dust and hope,” Zinke said during his speech. “The last eight years showed that.” Vice President Mike Pence was also present for the event. “President Trump digs coal,” Pence said as he introduced Trump. “The war on coal is over.” Several coal miners were also present at the event, and at one point Trump left the podium in the middle of his speech to shake all of their hands. “We’re with you 100%,” he said, recalling his campaign promise to put them back to work. Trump said that his executive order was focused on giving power back to the states and back to the people to restore American energy jobs. “We’re going to have safety, we’re going to have clean water, we’re going to have clean air, but so many are unnecessary and so many are job killing, we’re getting rid of the bad ones,” he said. Despite his focus on coal miners, Trump also praised EPA employees. “You’re doing important work to protect our health and public resources, so important,” he said. Trump also recognized Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (D-VA), who joined the event. After signing the executive order, Trump reached back with one of the signature pens and gave it to the miners.

Excellent news!!!    🙂