I am curious what common sense gun laws is Ms. Clinton and the Whitehouse referring to that will stop a crazy person like Vester Flanagan(aka Bryce Williams) from committing a hate crime. Is she advocating increased background checks on black men or just gay, black men with anger management issues? Is she suggesting that every gun store have a psychologist on staff? Unlike the Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho, Mr. Flanagan probably seemed normal to his friends. Mr. Flanagan has said that he targeted these two young, white people because he thought they were racists. I am sorry. They just do not fit the stereotype. So how do you convince people exhibiting the same symptoms as Mr. Flanagan to put down the gun and seek counseling?
Author: bill
Was The Recent Downturn In The Stock Markets A Black Swan Event?
When the stock market blows through its lower Bollinger Band you have to wonder whether we have reached a point where statistics will be of limited use in predicting the future. As you can see from the chart blowing through the lower Bollinger Band is a pretty rare event. I find it amazing that this “unprecedented and unexpected” stock market drop was a reaction to economic problems in China. Since many pundits have been saying for several years that the China’s growth was slowing down, it is hard to say that the recent Chinese devaluation was unexpected event for an economy so dependent of exports. So what made this devaluation different than previous devaluations? Maybe this Yahoo Finance article gives us some insight into the confidence of our financial leaders to get us out of the next financial panic and why the Federal Reserve is so committed to raising interest rates in September. Can the Federal Reserve restore public trust with just one interest rate hike?
A recent working paper by the vice president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank finds that after six years of quantitative easing that swelled the Fed’s balance sheet to $4.5 trillion, “casual evidence suggests that QE has been ineffective in increasing inflation” and only seems to have boosted stock prices.
Complaints once in the realm of conspiracy theorists wearing tin foil hats are now being embraced by the Wall Street establishment. In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank analysts warned that “the fragility of this artificially manipulated financial system was exposed” and that “the only thing preventing another financial crisis has been extraordinary central bank liquidity and general interventions from the global authorities.”
Vegetarian Lasagna And An Old Recipe Book
One of my favorite summer time recipes is the lasagna recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure: 262 Recipes
Birthright Citizenship Laws In Europe
With all of the talk by Mr. Trump about revoking birthright citizenship for illegal aliens I was curious how the folks in Europe handled birthright citizenship. Our birthright citizenship policy seems odd and counterproductive. The Library of Congress analyzed this question and found that most of the European policies are quite similar. If we can agree that birthright citizenship policies in the United States is a major stumbling block to immigration reform then a good first step would be to incorporate some of the European pragmatism into the United States immigration policies. Here is an excerpt about Germany’s birthright citizenship.
Germany
Germany bestows birthright citizenship only on the children of aliens who have lived long enough in Germany to petition for naturalization in their own right. A child born in Germany to parents who are aliens acquires German citizenship only if one parent has had his or her habitual abode in Germany for at least eight years and either has a permanent German residence permit that entitles him or her to reside in Germany or another European Union (EU) member country or has the citizenship of another EU member country.[3] Aliens who have had their habitual abode for eight years in Germany are entitled to petition for naturalization,[4] if no impediments exist.[5]
A foundling—that is, a child found on German soil whose parents are unknown—is deemed to be a German only for as long as it is not proven that he or she is an alien.[6] Under the generally prevailing principle of jus sanguinis, only a child born to a German parent is a German citizen, with the exception of long-term residents described above.
When Did The NSA Know About Ms. Clinton’s Private Email Server And What Did They Do About It?
When you listen to Christie and Paul go at on the national stage to debate the proper place for the NSA in the fight against terrorists you have to believe that the NSA is actively searching the internet for terrorists and security leaks and either the NSA or the CIA knew about the Clinton email server. For those folks familiar with the Bourne Ultimatum movie you have to believe that alarms where going off in Langley since top secret information was passed via email in plain-text. As an old IT guy you have to believe that if our favorite spooks can pick “Blackbriar” out of a cell phone call then they it should be really easy for the NSA or CIA to pick out top secret information from of un-encrypted email text. For foreign security agencies the idea that top secret information being transmitted via plain-text was either a godsend or a trap. If we assume that Ms. Clinton was the patsy then did the NSA or the CIA use her to transmit misinformation? Is this a case of the security agencies making lemonade from a bowl of lemons?
Things That Make Me Go Hmm… Ohio’s Medicaid costs $2 billion less than estimates
Since I had recently researched Ohio’s Medicaid costs in an effort to understand Cato’s critique of Governor Kasich’s budget growth, I was curious where The Columbus Dispatch article, Ohio’s Medicaid costs $2 billion less than estimates, got its numbers. I remembered that Medicaid was over-budget. So I went back and re-read the Budget Footnotes from the Legislative Services Commission for July 2015 and found this statement on page 18.
Medicaid, which comprises close to half of all GRF program expenditures, was $85.2 million above its fiscal year estimate, and FY 2015 GRF Medicaid expenditures were 9.5% above the FY 2014 amounts.
Since the Legislative Services Commission is the score keeper for the Ohio legislature, I wonder where the head of Ohio’s Medicaid got the $2 billion number.
Trump’s Missed Opportunity
A great leader takes a problem and turns it into an opportunity for success. With Rand Paul’s recent confrontation with Savannah Guthrie still fresh in every one’s mind this was the perfect opportunity for Mr. Trump to show that he is presidential. Megyn Kelly served up the perfect opportunity for Mr. Trump to show graciousness with the question and put his abrasive relationship with women to rest. It was a win-win opportunity for him. If Ms. Kelly continues to attack him he will elicit sympathy and probably improve on his unfavorable ratings. If Ms. Kelly acknowledges his graciousness in her follow up questions then he has probably proven to the media and the voters that he has the right stuff to argue the issues with Ms. Clinton.
Run, Carly, Run
On Friday my wife and I decided to contribute a little money to the Carly for President campaign. It is not much but maybe the media will notice when small contributors vote with their pocket book. She has been one of the most intriguing candidates for some time with her articulate answers. Her speech at the Reagan library might be a classic. On Thursday she was the most Presidential candidate on the stage. It is likely she will be in the final group next time. Sometimes the best man for a job is a woman. Time to bring the ‘A’ game boys or drop out.
Things That Make Me Go Hmm… Pocket-calculator climate model outperforms billion-dollar brains
Over at Watts Up With That blog they posted an article, Pocket-calculator climate model outperforms billion-dollar brains, that reminded me how I tried to solve engineering problems in college. Before attempting a rigorous solution to a complex engineering problem, I was taught to quickly estimate the answer first. This estimate was used as a guide to make sure the more rigorous and time consuming solution was going in the right direction. It was really hard to argue with professors for partial credit if you did not check your work. So it is no surprise to me that earlier this year four scientists developed a simplified climate model that can be run on a pocket calculator and it did a good job of predicting the current climate conditions. Despite its greater accuracy the climate alarmists complained that the simplified model was not back tested. So the four scientists took up the challenge, plugged in historical data, and found that the pocket calculator model was more accurate than the current climate models. Now they have written a paper about their findings. Hmm… all of this complicated, time consuming climate modeling work and you can get better results from a model that can be run a pocket calculator. As my engineering professors would undoubtedly say, “You should have checked your work!”
Is The Comparison Between The Obama And Nixon Scandals A Fair One?
The Washington Examiner asked the question whether the comparison between the Obama and Nixon Scandals a fair one and this was my answer.
For the middle class the comparison between the Obama and Nixon scandals is not only fair but a necessary step for a well-functioning government. The biggest threat to a well-functioning government has always been that the political class might corrupt the IRS or the FBI in their dogged pursuit of political advantages. Fortunately IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on Nixon’s Enemies list. He recognized the seriousness of the problem and being a good leader he did the right thing.
The middle class probably more than any other group wants the government but especially the IRS to be effective, non-partisan, and follow the rule of law. In my life I had the opportunity to talk to IRS personnel several times. In every case I found them to be professional, courteous, and respectful. Never once did I question their motives or integrity. The IRS was good at what they did so I naturally assumed that their leaders shared these same virtues. This is the essence of a well-functioning government. So I was shocked and embarrassed when I heard the testimony of Ms. Lerner and Mr. Koskinen. Instead of leaders who are trying to lead a good agency into a great one, we have Ms. Lerner pleading the fifth and Mr. Koskinen making excuses for being unable to find her emails. Based on their testimony I find myself questioning their motives and integrity all the time. President Obama as the chief executive officer of the Executive branch has achieved what President Nixon only dreamed of, a corrupt IRS. In two years President Obama will be gone but we will still have a corrupt IRS.