News for Today (1/19/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

How the American Postal Workers Union Scored One of its Biggest Wins Ever. Maybe I should not put this in the bogus section. But while I was reading this article I could not but help thinking that if this is a victory what does committing suicide look like?

In The News

Selfie with Merkel Haunts Refugee

94 Law School Deans Ask ABA To Postpone Proposed 75% Bar Passage Requirement

Le Pen Moves Into Lead in French Race, Le Monde Poll Shows

Trump team prepares dramatic cuts

Russian Paratroopers Could Totally Mess Up the Baltic States. File this in the no duh category. But the numbers in the article are a good reminder of what a bad place the Baltic States are in.

Not In The News But Should Be

The Crimes of SEAL Team 6. On one hand, the crimes are pretty mild on historical standards. Certainty Seal Team 6 still comes off as the more humane then drone strikes. On the other hand, stuff like this needs to be reported more because SOF troops are becoming the idol of this age. A little reality about what happens to men who are at war constantly with no break is a good thing.

Entertainment of the Day

Nothing for today

News for Today (1/18/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

The United States Has Allowed South Sudan’s Government to Utilize Child Soldiers

In The News

Purges Have Weakened Once Mighty Turkish Military

Across the US by train for just $213

Drug-resistant ‘nightmare bacteria’ show worrisome ability to diversify and spread

Not In The News But Should Be

You Thought This Was Rock Bottom, America, But the Russians Are Knocking From Below. Nothing we all don’t know. But not a set a facts that most Americans, left or right, really understand. Too much lose talk about how we live in a totalitarian country and not enough knowledge of what it is really like.

Entertainment of the Day

Since it was mentioned in one of the articles, I thought I would post this. Although honestly speaking, I don’t care for it all that much. Seems too forced to me in spite of its fame. The best parts of this movie had an Irishman in it. He was the only thing that kept the movie from being too forced.

News for Today (1/17/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

What Oxfam’s misleading stat gets wrong about inequality. Oxfam made headline all over the place but they were using a tired old stunt that I have seen many a time. Glad there is someone who is not a conservative who is willing to point that out.

In The News

Our Statement on our Inauguration Performance. The hate squads are after the Piano Guys. Won’t mean anything to you unless you already know who they are.

Cup of Joe Could Fight Age-Related Inflammation. Most medical studies are not reproducible. You might as well believe the ones you like (or at least find plausible).

Shootings Happen Fast, #32767. Watching the video embedded in this blog post is another good education on how things go down in the real world. In spite of the title, nothing too bad happens in the video. But it could have.

China’s Reserves Fell by Around $45 Billion in December (Using the PBOC Data). Just something to keep an eye on. Personally I think it means that China will use Trump as an excuse to do something that they want/need to do anyway (namely, lower the value of the yuan). A more interesting question is why are they having this problem.

Not In The News But Should Be

A bit of context on Trump, NATO, and Germany.

Entertainment of the Day

News for Today (1/16/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Pravda on the Checkout Line. I always think that I have reached the point where I can’t be surprised by educated fools attempts to explain Trump’s win, but then they go and surprised me again.

In The News

Newt Gingrich on Trump White House ‘If They Decide To Become Reasonable, They Will Have Failed’

Court Says Tossing A Flashbang Grenade Into A Room With A Toddler Is ‘Unreasonable’ Police Behavior. If the “Black Lives Matter” crowd had started with cases like this, they would have got a lot farther then they have.

Meet The Mexicans Who Think Mexico Will Pay For ‘The Wall’

Questionable “Young Blood” Transfusions Offered in U.S. as Anti-Aging Remedy

Casinos refused to give professional gambler Phil Ivey what he had won. Instead of paying him, they sued him.

Not In The News But Should Be

Chicken Tax Makes Trucks Expensive and Unavailable. Okay, so the title overstates it case a little. It still brought to my attention a law I had never heard of before.

Entertainment of the Day

Jerry Miculek is like the Michale Jordan of the shooting sports world. He takes all sorts of first place prizes in all sorts of shooting competitions (though most of his verified world records were set with a revolver). But I think this video below is more a feat of strength then it is of accuracy. I felt my hand hurting just watching it.

News for Today (1/15/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Nothing for today.

In The News

The Origin of the Oreo Cookie

Band of Brothers: Sex crimes and cover-up in the 101st Airborne Division. The author of this piece must be really confident of what he wrote. By putting the main culprit’s picture in the article he is on the hook for a lawsuit if he did not tell the correct tale.

White Guilt In A Box. There is a part of me that admires the people who are trying to sell these boxes.

Searching For Half-Life 3

‘Annoying’ anti-cowbell campaigner denied Swiss passport

Inside the Desperate Battle against Sports Doping

Tolerant Left strikes again! Andrea Bocelli backs out of Trump inauguration because of death threats

Colombian Rebels Are Breaking Apart — And Half Are Keeping Their Guns

Not In The News But Should Be

That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket into the Constitutional Trial of the Century

Entertainment of the Day

News for Today (1/14/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Question of why women go through menopause solved by Exeter experts studying killer whales. This story made the front page of Google news and showed up other places as well.

In The News

What 17 Intelligence Agencies?

A superbug resistant to every available antibiotic has killed a woman in the US

When ‘there is serious reason to doubt’ rumors and allegations, is it libelous to publish them?

Bone-Chilling Winter From Berlin to Davos Causes Energy Scramble

Georgia Tech’s Model Expands

Not In The News But Should Be

Why Are There So Many People in Jail in Scranton, PA?

Entertainment of the Day

My favorite classical (as opposed to “realistic”) martial arts fight is the one below. Posting two version of it. The first is the high quality one and one with sub-titles and a little bit more of the context.

News for Today (1/13/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Is it just me or has someone decided to go after Trump ? . Another take on a story that just will not die. I can’t stand to link to any of the stories that take this completely seriously.

In The News

German court calls synagogue torching an act to ‘criticize Israel’. The real problem is not that courts said this was not “antisemitism.” The real problem is that it makes a difference in terms of how the criminals are punished.

Rebel. Drug Fugitive. Hero? Haiti Erupts Over an Arrest

These Brazilian vampire bats have started feeding on humans for the first time

When Gadget Fixers Turn FBI Informants. I already posted this but this time it is from a better source.

Parents View New Peanut Guidelines With Guilt and Skepticism

Not In The News But Should Be

Techdirt’s First Amendment Fight For Its Life

Entertainment of the Day

Finally!!!!.

News for Today (1/12/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

BuzzFeed undermines all journalists with Trump ‘dossier’

In The News

Wearable tech can now detect when you’re about to fall ill, simply by tracking your vital signs.

The Conflicts of Interest of James Mattis

St. Jude Medical releases security patches for vulnerable cardiac devices

Jamaica Says U.S. And Others Are ‘Poaching’ Its Nurses

Not In The News But Should Be

The Real Reason Your City Has No Money. There are a lot of things wrong with this article. For one thing, there is no mention of the word pension. But the general point that there is a lot of pressure to build and build (both because that is what the feds and the states typically subsidize and because that is what creates the most short term jobs) regardless of the long term maintenance costs is a point that should be made more often.

Entertainment of the Day

Starts out boring but I got more interested as it went along.

News for Today (1/11/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

The Fulcrum of the Balance. Since I publish so much bashing liberals for fake news I guess I should post a reminder that there are still people out there wistfully seeing a genius in Donald Trump. But on the plus side, Democrats are still writing things like this in a desperate attempt to save Trump from himself and ensure that he has a second term.

In The News

Watch U.S. F/A-18 Hornets Unleash Swarm of Mini-Drones in First Test

The Pentagon Can’t Rely on This Turkish Air Base

New and Better ‘Nades in the Pipeline. I am in the camp that thinks this is a bad idea.

Supreme Court Seems Wary of Hurdles for Refunds of Fines After Exonerations. This country is not completely given up when the Supreme Court can act in a bi-partisan matter and do something right. I guess I should not say that till they rule, but from the comments they are making, I think they are going to rule the right way on this one. The flip side is that in a sane law abiding country, something like this would have never made it to the Supreme Court.

Comey: FBI denied repeated requests to access DNC servers, Podesta’s device

Not In The News But Should Be

The Deep State Goes to War with President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer. This is written by a liberal who hates the CIA. So you can sort of ignore the first part of the article. But the second part of the article is what should be in the news and is not. Namely, a review of the facts surrounding the latest “Trump” scandal.

Entertainment of the Day

I find it interesting to see how other nations “Hollywood” interprets historical events for their audience. Here is a clip of some South Korean commandos saving the day for MacArthur during the Korean War. It has a very very lose basis in fact, but mostly is just the Korean version of Hollywood trying to make their customers feel good.

News for Today (1/10/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Nothing for today.

In The News

ThinkProgress Senior Editor Is Scared of His Plumber

Why Uber lost $2.2 billion in 9 months

The Strange Case of the Minnesota Iceman

Gaius Publius: Best Buy National Repair Techs Routinely Search Customer Devices, Act as “Paid Informers” for FBI

Not In The News But Should Be

Nothing for today.

Entertainment of the Day

Stupid knives, stupid movie. But cool method of making them in “real life”.