It was just a matter of time before our ideologically flexible president started making deals across the aisle. The result is a $15 billion Harvey relief package that includes short-term debt ceiling and government funding increases, along with the promise of a messy end-of-year negotiation process.President Donald Trump most likely equates making deals with getting things done. But all deals aren't created equal, and for anyone who believes in fiscal responsibility, this deal, which passed the House and the Senate in spite of many disgruntled members, was particularly lousy.First, considering our $20 trillion debt, the only acceptable deal would have...
Hurricane Harvey Relief Comes With an Extra-Large Side of Pork
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Pondering the Night of the Senses and the Paradox That We See Farther in the Darkness
Pondering the Night of the Senses and the Paradox That We See Farther in the Darkness Msgr. Charles Pope ⢠September 14, 2017 ⢠As human beings we are very visual; there is a certain demand of our flesh to see on its own terms. But of course God, who is pure spirit, will not be seen in this way.How can the human eye perceive what is spiritual? It is not designed to do so. We cannot see God as God any more than we should expect to be able to see justice sitting down to lunch with humility....
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Section of Houston tollway damaged by Harvey still closed
The northbound lanes of a main section of the West Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8, which were flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey, were reopened Sept. 7 after pumping out standing water, but the southbound lanes likely wont open until the middle of this week, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority in Houston. The authority reported Sept. 7 that the tollway section from Westheimer to Interstate 10 was a lake, with 14 feet of water, when pumps arrived. By then, the water had finally receded enough for the authority and the Texas Department of Transportation to start pumping out the...
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Grease was the Word – the M3 Grease Gun
The M3 grease gun was a rude, crude, effective submachine gun that saw service from the Korean War through the late 1990s. The M3 grease gun was one of the simplest, ugliest, and cheapest personal weapons ever fielded by the U.S. military. But, as one U.S. Marine combat veteran recalled, what this crude submachine gun lacked in looks, it more than made up for that with brutal effectiveness. The first time I went to use my rifle, it went 'click', so I busted it over a rock and picked up a dead Marines grease gun, said USMC Korean War veteran...
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Palo Verde Irrigation District sues Metropolitan Water District over Colorado River water
One of Californias largest Colorado River farm water districts is suing the states largest municipal water agency, charging that efforts to move farm water to cities are threatening the viability of agriculture in one of the oldest farming valleys on the river. The Palo Verde Irrigation District, in a suit filed last month in Riverside County Superior Court, is charging the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California with thinly veiled attempts to turn agricultural land it owns in the Blythe Valley into water farms by placing water consumption limits and fallowing requirements on the land in order that water from...
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Bucket Bomb on the London Underground
Here we go again. Mass panic in a smoky, crowded space. Police cars and ambulances crowded into a taped-off city street. Men in body armor carrying automatic weapons. Dazed, bandaged civilians walking down the sidewalk. Declarations of resolve by political leaders who are determined not to give in to terror. The allahu akbarriers, Merkel legos, and Koran blocks are all in place, so this time the mujahideen abandoned their vehicles and returned to their perennial favorite, the subway bomb: During rush hour this morning a bucket bomb exploded on the Tube in London. The teddy bears and flowers and candles...
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Medicaid for All Would 'Bankrupt the Nation,' Warns Bernie Sanders—In 1987
Back in 1987, a much younger Bernie Sanders ... warned that expanding Medicaid, the jointly run federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled, to everyone in the country would "bankrupt the nation." "If we expanded Medicaid [to] everybody. Give everybody a Medicaid cardwe would be spending such an astronomical sum of money that, you know, we would bankrupt the nation." Medicaid, notably, is far less generous than Medicare, the health program for seniors that Sanders wants to expand. Medicaid's provider networks are narrower, and its benefits are generally more limited. It pays doctors quite a bit less than...
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Channel 2 prematurely cuts off Texans game
KPRC (Channel 2) had a "Heidi" moment Thursday night. The NBC affiliate was so eager to have its newscasters celebrate the Texans' win over the Bengals that it cut away from the NBC/NFL Network telecast with two seconds to play and the outcome still in doubt. With the clock at 10:30 p.m. and the game clock showing 0:00 before officials added two seconds for one final play, Channel 2 dumped the network broadcast and rolled its News 2 Houston graphic with the cheery voice of anchor Bill Balleza: "Well, second or no second added, we begin tonight with that Texans'...
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Pre-Broadway Review: ‘Frozen,’ the Musical
The din during the intermission of a recent performance of the Broadway-bound musical Frozen might have broken decibel records at Denver Centers Buell Theater. No doubt the houses hum was amped by the higher-pitched voices of the booster-seat crowd, but if Disney Theatrical Productions aim was to age up the demographic of the animated blockbusters stage adaptation, theyve succeeded. In its live rendition of Let It Go, the signature tune from the 2014 Oscar winner, the musical wows adults as much as kids with a brilliant spectacle as poignant as it is jaw-dropping that should ensure the production...
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Superman saved undocumented workers from a racist — and conservative media is mad about it
The latest issue of Action Comics No. 987 contains a scalding scene: A white supremacist, fed up with a company that just laid him off, decides to load up his machine gun and kill the undocumented workers he believes took his job. Luckily, in the nick of time, Superman arrives to shield the would-be victims from a storm of bullets: Fox News has a column calling the Man of Steel a propaganda tool for the defenders of illegal aliens, and the right-wing website Breitbart derided him as Social Justice Supes. Their argument is that comic book writers and artists have...
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Texas Seems Primed to Land Amazon’s Second Headquarters: But the Competition is Tough
Amazon is headquartered in Seattle, but it may be heading to Texas as fast as it can. The online commerce giant announced last week that it is searching for a city to build a second corporate base, according to the Wall Street Journal. Every single big city in Texas has pounced on the opportunity and joined a fierce nationwide bidding war.The company laid out a pretty detailed wish list for its HQ2 project, including a metropolitan area with more than one million people, on-site access to mass transit, a commute of 45 minutes or less to an international airport,...
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For GOP, Tax Reform May Be Last Chance To Save Jobs — Their Own
Is the GOP getting serious about tax reform at last? Republicans in Congress say they'll unveil the outlines of a consensus plan in two weeks, as President Trump hits the hustings to stump for tax reform. We hope this isn't another false start. "Reform" is one of those words that sounds easy, but really isn't. Every political interest group has a dog in the fight, and no one wants to give up a cherished deduction. And few politicians want to be seen as cutting taxes on Americans in the top income brackets or corporations, a sure way to be accused...
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Amazon Web Services Can Now Host the Defense Department’s Most Sensitive Data
Share this on LinkedIn Print this article Email this article Increase size Amazon Web Services has a new market for its cloud computing, analytics, and storage services. This week, the Defense Department granted the cloud computing giant a provisional authorization to host Impact Level 5 workloads, which are the military and Pentagons most sensitive, unclassified information. This further bolsters AWS as an industry leader in helping support the DoDs critical mission in protecting our security, the company said in a statement. The AWS services support a variety of DoD workloads, including workloads containing sensitive controlled unclassified information and National Security...
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Alternative truths: a wife’s view of a gay coming out
Sunday, September 10, was Melbourne Inspiration Day. One of its four key speakers was Anthony Hinds, celebrated father of six, Christian, and a gay man. The tag line to his profile on the Inspiration Day website describes his story as Hiding to Living in Truth. A month before, he was interviewed on ABC radio about coming out after over 30 years of marriage. The program was titled Conflict, Courage and Coming Out. His warm reception by the presenter, Libbi Gorr, was evident in her continual reference to his decision as an act of courage. He likewise described how his journey...
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Democrats Follow Bernie Sanders Off a Cliff
How rudderless is the Democratic Party? Its membership is so bereft of leadership and policy direction that 16 of its senators have signed on to a health care bill sponsored by a self-avowed independent democratic socialist from Vermont. The "Medicare for All Act of 2017" would repeal Obamacare, along with most other private and public insurance, and replace it with a government-run, one-size-fits-all, centrally directed system of reimbursement for medical expenses. Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, holds the same opinion of health insurance as he does antiperspirants: "You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants...
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Time for a New Budget Process: Tiered Spending -- How to avoid being bullied over gov't shutdowns
t is high time that conservatives reform the budget process.[i] In theory, Congress should prioritize expenditures to achieve the greatest public good with the available funds taxpayers and lenders provide. But in practice, not only are tradeoffs not made, there is no visible mechanism for identifying levels of priority. The absence of such an analytical tool seems to have bullied President Trump into an unnecessary fear of defaulting on the debt. So much so that he has made a devils deal with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Doesnt he know that they hate him and want him to fail or...
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Show of force works as Ben Shapiro delivers speech to UC Berkeley audience
The violence and destruction that accompanied Milo Yiannopoulosâs unsuccessful attempt to deliver a talk at UCâs Zellerbach Hall was thwarted last night at the same venue, thanks to the widely-reported expenditure of $600,000 on installing jersey barriers, and positioning large numbers of police, authorized to use pepper spray. The antifa warriors were not up for fight with superior forces. Inside Zellerbach Hall on Thursday night, conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro delivered his speech as planned to an engaged, respectful audience of about 600 to 700 people. Police were present inside the hall, but not highly visible, and no hecklers...
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Paul Ryan Buckles Under Trump Pressure – Announces Border Wall Funding Happening Now
The media hasnt mentioned it much because it proves that Donald Trump is decisively outmaneuvering the opposition Republicans. The tactic was simple. Mr. Trump reached out to Democrats with a basic can we get something done for the American people? request. This put enormous pressure on Paul Ryan and his cadre of obstructionist Republicans to start moving on at least some of the Trump agenda. This is Ryan buckling under that pressure. This is Ryan conceding the power of Trump and the millions of Trump supporters have forced his hand. There was certainly some DACA negotiation behind the scenes ...
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"That the seat of Peter might not be dishonored by the occupancy of two bishops"
"This event [the death of (anti) Pope Felix] was, no doubt, ordained by God, that the seat of Peter might not be dishonored by the occupancy of two bishops; for such an arrangement is a sign of discord, and is foreign to ecclesiastical law." ~Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, ca. AD 440 This quote is taken from a curious bit of history when the Church was torn by the Arian heresy. After the death of Constantine the Great in AD 337, sole rule of the empire eventually devolved upon his son, Constantius II. While Constantius was just as devoted to achieving...
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Sen. Tim Scott Not Expecting an 'Epiphany' from Trump on Race After New Charlottesville Comments
Stressing that the violence of 300 years of racism in America is not equivalent to the anarchist Antifa protesters, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said he wasn't confident President Trump would have an "epiphany" on race in America after the two had a candid chat at the White House on Wednesday. The White House, along with a photo calling the senator "Tom" Scott, said in a statement released after the meeting that they discussed the "administrations relationship with the African-American community, the bipartisan issue of improving race relations, and creating a more unified country." "President Trump remains committed to positive race...
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