That is all…
Month: June 2017
Mowing While Watching the Weather
“I was keeping an eye on it.”
The Exorcist
Well played, Hennessey… well played…
Dodge has been anything but coy regarding the fact it has a pretty powerful Challenger coming in the form of the Demon. However, Hennessey Performance Engineering thinks it can beat back Mopar’s devilish muscle car. Meet Hennessey’s The Exorcist.
The Exorcist begins life as a normal 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which is already no angel with 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. But, as they say, the devil is in the details. Hennessey cranks the dial way past 11 to push the supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V-8 out to 1,000 hp and 996 lb-ft of torque thanks in part to a larger, higher flowing supercharger and intercooler system, which is dialed in to produce 14 psi of boost pressure.
Connecticut Can’t Tax Its Way Out
High earners are incredibly mobile and every taxpayer has their decision point. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of these folks could flee to no-income-tax Wisconsin?
Now he tells us. Gov. Malloy has spent two terms treating business as a bottomless well of cash to redistribute to public unions. Now that his state is losing millionaires and businesses, he has seen the light. But the price of his dereliction will be steep.
Last month the state Office of Fiscal Analysis reduced its two-year revenue forecast by $1.46 billion. Since January the agency has downgraded income-tax revenue for 2017 and 2018 by $1.1 billion (6%). Sales- and corporate-tax revenue are projected to fall by $385 million (9%) and $67 million (7%), respectively, this year. Pension contributions, which have doubled since 2010, will increase by a third over the next two years. The result: a $5.1 billion deficit and three recent credit downgrades.
According to the fiscal analyst, income-tax collections declined this year for the first time since the recession due to lower earnings at the top. Many wealthy residents decamped for lower-tax states after Mr. Malloy and his Republican predecessor Jodi Rell raised the top individual rate on more than $500,000 of income to 6.99% from 5%. In the past five years 27,400 Connecticut residents, including Ms. Rell, have moved to no-income-tax Florida, and seven of the state’s eight counties have lost population since 2010. Population flight has depressed economic growth—Connecticut’s real GDP has shrunk by 0.1% since 2010—as well as home values and sales-tax revenues.
Corporate revenues also took a hit after General Electric relocated to Boston. Mr. Malloy then offered tax breaks to hedge funds and companies to stay in Connecticut, which has further eroded revenue.
The Governor—a slow learner—seems finally to have accepted that raising taxes on the wealthy is a dead fiscal end.
Live Facebook Arrest
That’s hilarious.
A Florida man joyfully flashing money live on the internet got a sudden surprise when police officers barged in and arrested him for allegedly selling drugs.
A man identified by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as 22-year-old Breon Hollings went on Facebook Live to show friends a handful of money, saying, “It don’t stop, man, it don’t stop.”
He then retrieves more money from another room and starts shuffling it when he hears Jacksonville officers warning over a loudspeaker they are about to raid the house. A stunned Hollings runs out of the room. Seconds later, officers barge in. Hollings was arrested off camera.
Hollings faces numerous drug charges and was being held on $425,000 bail Saturday. It could not be determined if he has an attorney.
Paul Soglin Considers Run for Governor
Yes! Run!
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, reversing his past disavowals of interest in running for governor in 2018, said Saturday that he is considering a bid for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Soglin said in December that he had “interest” in challenging Walker, who is all but certain to run for a third term as Wisconsin governor.
But Soglin said the surprising appeal of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, particularly in Wisconsin, is part of what changed his mind about a potential governor run.
German Auto Makers Worry About Staying Competitive
Huh. You mean that the Paris Accord would have imposed massive extra costs on U.S. auto makers, thus making them less competitive?
Germany’s powerful car industry said Europe would need to reassess its environmental standards to remain competitive after the United States said it would withdraw from the Paris climate pact.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, drawing anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry.
“The regrettable announcement by the USA makes it inevitable that Europe must facilitate a cost efficient and economically feasible climate policy to remain internationally competitive,” Matthias Wissmann, president of the German auto industry lobby group VDA, said in a statement on Friday.
“The preservation of our competitive position is the precondition for successful climate protection. This correlation is often underestimated,” Wissmann said, adding that the decision by the Unites States was disappointing.
The VDA said electricity and energy prices are already higher in Germany than in the United States, putting Germany at a disadvantage.
Emails Reveal More Russian Collusion
“The new Abedin emails also reveal additional instances in which Clinton’s then- scheduler Lona Valmoro forwarded the former secretary of state’s detailed daily schedule to top Clinton Foundation officials. The new emails also reveal a number of favors that were requested and carried out,” Judicial Watch found. “In May 2010, Abedin tells Band that she has ‘hooked up’ people from the Russian American Foundation with ‘the right people’ at the State Department after Abedin received a request from Russian American Foundation Vice President Rina Kirshner, forwarded by Clinton Foundation donor Eddie Trump (no relation to President Trump).”
Where in the World?
The distinctive construction of the main building should be a hint for this one. Where is it?
Comey Upset About How He Was Fired
In the dead of winter several months ago — before either one officially joined the Justice Department — Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein met to discuss replacing James Comey as FBI director. Then in a February meeting at the White House, Rosenstein and President Donald Trump further “discussed” Comey’s “deeply troubling” and “serious mistakes,” Rosenstein wrote in his now-infamous letter recommending that Comey be fired.
But it turns out Rosenstein and Sessions never discussed such concerns with one key person: Comey himself.
Specifically, according to sources familiar with the matter, at no point in the weeks and months before Comey’s termination did Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein or Attorney General Sessions tell Comey they were uneasy about his leadership or upset over what Rosenstein later called Comey’s “mistaken” decision to announce the results of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server last year.
The failure to flag any such concerns to Comey before terminating him is part of what makes the former FBI director feel so blindsided. It’s also part of the story he’s planning to tell lawmakers next week when — barring a last-minute schedule change — he testifies publicly for the first time about his axing, and about alleged collusion between Trump associates and elements of the Russian government to influence last year’s presidential election.
As one source put it: He’s “angry,” and he wants the public to understand why.
Apparently Comey was at the FBI so long that he just thinks that he should always be informed about other people’s conversations.
Teaching Gun Safety in Schools
I completely agree that schools should include more practical courses like basic economics, personal finance, basic agriculture, and, yes, gun safety. I’m not as convinced that it needs to be driven at the state level. Local districts seem perfectly capable of partnering with local law enforcement if they want to offer a course like this. West Bend even has an excellent local private business, Delta Defense, with some of the best firearm safety instructors in the nation that I’m sure would be delighted to help educate kids about gun safety.
MADISON — A group of Republican legislators is circulating a bill that would create gun safety classes for high school students.
Under the bill, the state superintendent would have to work with the state Department of Natural Resources or police or an organization that specializes in firearms safety or certifies firearm instructors to develop the curriculum for an elective class on gun safety. Schools would not be required to offer the course.
U.S. Withdraws From Paris Accord
Excellent. It is refreshing to see a president putting America’s interests first again.
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord Thursday, a major step that fulfills a campaign promise while seriously dampening global efforts to curb global warming.
The decision amounts to a rebuttal of the worldwide effort to pressure Trump to remain a part of the agreement, which 195 nations signed onto. Foreign leaders, business executives and Trump’s own daughter lobbied heavily for him to remain a part of the deal, but ultimately lost out to conservatives who claim the plan is bad for the United States.“In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but being negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction under terms that are fair to the United States,” Trump said from the White House Rose Garden.
“We’re getting out. And we will start to renegotiate and we’ll see if there’s a better deal. If we can, great. If we can’t, that’s fine,” he added.
School Board Members Survive Recall
Spring Green, Wisc…] An effort to recall two River Valley School Board members who voted to close two elementary schools with declining enrollment failed Tuesday night.
According to unofficial results, Mark Strozinsky received 1,071 votes to his opponent’s 475, and Frederic Lausly won with 1,073 votes to his challenger’s 474.
“We’ve been told there are a lot of districts around the state watching how this plays out, because they’re facing very similar situations,” Stronzinsky told MacIver News.
The River Valley School District is facing a $1.5 million deficit. Last fall, it asked voters for $9.35 million over the next four years. They said no.
Oftentimes a school district will simply go right back to referendum in that situation. However, River Valley did something different. It looked for other ways to plug its budget gap and honor the voters’ wishes.
The voters in that district seem to be rational. This has been an issue in districts all over the state. The reality is that populations move and demographics change. Some districts are growing and some are shrinking. The issue is that the Education Industrial Complex always demands more money either way. In an era of growing enrollment, they want more money to educate more kids. In an era of declining enrollment, they want more money to keep empty schools open and staff employed because they argue that expenses don’t decline with fewer kids. Funny how that works, eh?
In this case, the school board tried to make the latter argument and failed. The district has seen declining enrollment and, subsequently, declining state aid. But they had refused to cut expenses accordingly by doing things like closing some buildings. This drove up their debt and left them in financial straights. The district went to the voters for more money via referendum threatening to close schools if the referendum lost. The voters said, “fine,” and denied the referendum. The school board followed through and closed two schools. A cabal of spenders were unhappy with that decision and tried to recall two of the school board members, and now they have failed. The majority of the voters in that district have been clear several times now in that they do not want higher taxes to fix budget problems. They want sound fiscal management from their school board and are willing to defend those board members who engage in it.
Good for the voters of the River Valley School District.
Clinton’s Pity Tour
Hillary Clinton on Wednesday broadly spread around the blame for her loss in last year’s presidential election, pointing to suspected Russian cyberattacks, the Democratic National Committee’s data operation and a “very broad assumption that I was going to win.”
Clinton, interviewed onstage in California at a tech conference by Recode’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, made a point to say that she took responsibility for her campaign and “every choice” she made, as she has in other public appearances this year. “But,” she said, “that’s not why I lost.”
I echo Jay Weber on this point, but what a shame for the women and girls who were so proud to see a woman getting a major party nomination for president to see how sore a loser Clinton is. It has been six months since the election and Clinton is so bitter. She is casting blame on everyone else and showing the class in losing that proves the caricature painted of her by the Right. We din’t see anything like this from McCain, Romney, Kerry, Dole, Bush Sr., Mondale, Carter, or even Gore.