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DATE        CATEGORY   POSTED ARTICLES (including FCTA Keepers: Important Posts For Reference)
Weekly Vid ~National. AMAC Weekly News -- Ben Ferguson's video summaries, updated every Friday
Va Taxes ~Virginia. VirginiaPlaces.org: Virginia Taxes and Tax History
Public Edu ~National. Epoch Times: Examining Education in the United States -- a series by Alex Newman
MonthlyMsg ~Bulletin. FCTA Monthly Messages, by various FCTA board members
Migrat Dat ~States... IRS Migration Data: State-to-State, County-to-County, Virginia, Fairfax Co
This data is freely available for analysis of population migration patterns within the U.S. at the state and county levels.
Med Advice .Health... Dr. Douglass' Alt-Med "Daily Dose" Archive -- Some good non-std medical advice
"I've been called the conscience of modern medicine. But, I've also been labeled a maverick, and several less flattering names too, by some of the biggest names in the government and health establishments -- but, hey, that's part of the territory."
Limericks .Potpourri Limericks - Fun with Politics, by David Swink
Today's news depicts a nation and politics that is so ridiculous as to require an occasional bit of humor and perspective in a world turned upside down.
Fx Textbks .FxSchools FCTA: 2017 approved list of Fairfax Co Schools' textbooks, by David Swink
FCTA has compiled a list of FCPS-approved textbooks, given a list provided by FCPS. The list has been reordered somewhat for readability, and ISBN numbers are hot-linked to the Amazon reference.
For Wisdom ~Potpourri Victor Davis Hanson ... Dennis Prager ... The Montana Cow Doctor
"Some of you readers with liberal leanings may find my opinions sting a little. That is okay. Liberalism is a disease from which you can be cured. Trust me, I'm a doctor!" -- Krayton Kerns, DVM
FCPS Watch ~FxSchools Blog: Fairfax Schools Monitor - the latest "wokeness" from FCPS
FCPS ClgBd ~FxSchools FCPS College Board Reports for 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
Note FCTA had to FOIA these reports, as FCPS does not post them on its web site.
Edison 78s ~Potpourri Selected Oldies from the UCSB Gramophone Audio Archive, by FCTA's David Swink
Here are music selections from the UCSB (Berkeley) Library of cylinder and thick 78 rpm gramophone recordings, mostly with the Edison label, from the early 1900s. (No problem with Youtube and mp3 takedowns here.) Enjoy!
Core Docs .FxSchools 50 Core Documents for Understanding American History -- Ashbrook Center
James Madison recommended certain fundamental documents as essential reading for future citizens and statesmen, including the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist, and George Washington's Farewell Address. The Ashbrook Center's list of 50 Core American Documents is meant to fulfill those same purposes 200 years later.
Climate Ch ~Environmt Video: The History and Future of Climate Change, by Peter Temple (5:31)
All you need to know regarding "climate change": Climate change periodicity is driven by solar activity and earth's position relative to the other planets. Mr. Temple shows earth's alternate warming and cooling periods over the last 4,000 years resembling a sine wave, that the current Modern Warm Period has peaked, and that we're heading into a cold and dry period.
C19 Forum ~Health... Coronavirus News ignored by the Mainstream Media -- politically incorrect
A 97% decline in Delhi cases with Ivermectin ... Whistleblower: More Patients are Dying from the Vaccine than from COVID ... CDC Now Counting Vaccination Deaths as COVID Deaths ...
2024-04-xd ~Bulletin. The Secret Budget Hearing, by Arthur Purves
2024-04-xc ~Bulletin. Biting the Hand that Feeds You, by Arthur Purves
2024-04-xb ~Bulletin. Spending More and Teaching Less, by Arthur Purves
2024-04-xa ~Bulletin. How Taxes Keep Us Illiterate and Sick, by Arthur Purves
2024-04-16 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimonies to BOS on the County Budget, by FCTA board members
2024-03-xx ~Bulletin. Time for a County Salary Freeze, by Arthur Purves
2024-03-26 ~FxSchools WJLA: Fairfax Co school staff vs teacher salary data, by Nick Minock
The top 25 FCPS employees earn more than $200,000. The 'Chief Experience and Engagement Officer' earns a salary of $239,468. Teachers start at $56,000 with a bachelor's degree, rising to $80,000 after 15 years of experience.
2024-03-22 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Advertised Budget for FY2025 -- from Washington Times B5
2024-03-19 ~National. Brownstone: American Capitalism Has Mutated Into Corporatism, by Jeffery Tucker
In free enterprise, the old rule is that the customer is always right. But when government itself becomes a main and even dominant customer, the ethos of private enterprise is thereby changed. Enterprise turns its attention to serving its powerful masters in the halls of the state, gradually weaving close relationships and forming a ruling class that becomes a conspiracy against the public.
2024-03-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
Public posting, one half of page A5 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 2.86 percent for residential and a decrease of 1.24 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 16, 2024 at the Gov't Center.
2024-03-06 ~Health... Brownstone: In Health Care, We Are Flying Blind, by Jeffery A. Tucker
In American healthcare, risk assessment has been outlawed (HIPAA in 1996; Obamacare in 2010) as regards to costs to the consumer, who thus has no guidance or incentive to make intelligent health care choices, and who must thus resort to internet searchs for healthcare advice.
2024-03-03 ~Virginia. Fx GOP: 14 Bills That Hurt Virginia Elections, Deserve Governor's Veto
Virginia already has some of the worst election laws in the country, passed by Democrats starting in 2020. Fourteen more bad bills are ready for the governor to veto, including HB1454 and SB246: removing the identifying features used to distinguish between citizen and non-citizen driver's permits (so illegal aliens could vote).
2024-02-29 ~National. Brownstone: The Consensus Conspiracy, by Thomas Buckley
Both 'onsensus' and 'conspiracy' are defined as "a group of people thinking that something is most likely correct or good or the best way to do or think about something", differing only in psychological perception. So covid and climate change, for example, start out as consensus and eventually fall into the conspiracy category. Perhaps the real menace afoot today: the 'consensus theorist'.
2024-02-26 ~FxTaxes.. Fx GOP: Real Estate Tax Rate Poised To Go Up. Is The Sales Tax Next?
Fairfax County residents are bracing for a double-whammy to their property tax bills with a proposed 4-cent increase to the real estate property tax rate (to $1.135 per $100 assessed value) along with rising home valuations. (Compared to: Arlington $1.038; Prince William $0.966; Loudoun $0.875; Stafford $0.9175).
2024-02-20 ~FxSchools FXX Now: FCPS wins TJ admissions 'racial diversity' battle, by Angela Woolsey
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology's current 'racial diversity' admissions policy will remain in place after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a lawsuit alleging that it discriminates against Asian students.
2024-02-19 ~National. Brownstone: Schumpeter on How Higher Education Wrecks Freedom, by Jeff Tucker
A book that pays high returns for decades with endless insights is Joseph Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1943). He predicts the rise of today's credentialed managerial class, detached from the real-world consequences of the ideas they push, assuming unique cultural power and a united interest in constructing social and political systems that benefit themselves at others' expense.
2024-02-18 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: Replace DC Metrorail with Buses Only?, by David Swink
Bus mass transit system in three U.S. metro areas examined, and operational costs extrapolated to DC Metro: 41% of the cost of DC Metrorail; costs much less, even if the bus fares were free.
2024-02-15 ~National. Brownstone: The Great Reset Didn't Work: The Case of EVs, by Jeffrey Tucker
We are living through one of history's longest and most excruciating versions of "We told you so." Every bit of the warnings regarding the Covid mandates proved true. And now those early warnings about EV mandates are also proving true, as unsold electric vehicles clog dealer lots. What astonishing illusions were born of this nutty and destructive period!
2024-02-13 ~FxTaxes.. FXX Now: FCPS seeks 10.5% budget increase from taxpayers, by Angela Woolsey
With the FCPS already gobbling 53% of the budget, I guess [FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid] must think that taxpayers will be held hostage to the mantra our "world class schools" require more and more support staff and "innovation" as in electric buses. -- Comment from reader.
2024-02-13 ~FxSchools FCTA: Fairfax Co Schools - Spending More and Teaching Less, by Arthur Purves
As FCPS spending goes up, achievement goes down. Over the past 5 years, per-student cost is increasing, from $16K to $21K, while SAT scores are falling, from 1218 to 1181. Never in half a century have FCPS SAT scores seen such a precipitous decline. And FCPS wants a 10.5% budget increase for that?
2024-02-06 ~Virginia. WT: Youngkin's deal with Monumental Sports is "Good for Virginia", Tim Parrish
Typical sport-stadium deals (Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Las Vegas Raiders and Oklahoma City Thunder) use general obligation, or GO, bonds, which basically leave taxpayers on the hook to fund a project with funding that would otherwise be used for roads, water systems and other state infrastructure. Gov Youngkin instead made a deal with Monumental Sports and Entertainment to use a revenue bond tied solely to the arena itself. So no new taxes or tax increases!
2024-02-02 ~National. Daily Reckoning: The Great Growth Hoax, by Jeffrey Tucker
Since the supposedly amazing GDP report from Q4 2023, we've been blasted by the media about how great the economy is doing. But the GDP data is not reflective of anything real except government profligacy and stagnation in every sector that counts. It now takes over $2.50 in new debt to generate $1 of GDP growth! So skip the headlines and look at the underlying realities.
2024-01-xx ~National. CTUP: Them vs. U.S. (The Elites vs. Regular Americans) -- Rasmussen survey
The Elites, a group with extraordinary political and societal power, have views and attitudes that are wildly out of touch with the American people. At the center of the gap is a difference of opinion over individual freedom. Most Americans think there is too little freedom in our nation today, a view shared by only 21% of the Elites.
2024-01-29 ~Virginia. Cardinal News: Va rural population gains; Fairfax Co loses big, by Dwayne Yancey
We’re seeing a historic turnaround. Most rural counties now see more people moving in than moving out. However, Fairfax County and Virginia Beach have posted the biggest population declines in the state.
2024-01-17 ~Virginia. Cardinal News: Va school enrollment to drop faster than expected, by D. Yancey
The biggest percentage decreases will come across Southwest and Southside, but the biggest drops in terms of actual number of students will be in Fairfax County. More than one-quarter of the projected statewide enrollment decline will come from Fairfax County, which is currently losing population for the first time since the 1820s.
2024-01-17 ~National. AMAC: How The Migrant Crisis Destroyed American Liberalism, by Walter Samuel
Texas Gov Abbott's immigrant-busing tactic has successfully undermined blue-state liberals, reorienting American politics around an issue for which liberalism has no answer, and the Democratic Party, as long as it remains committed to that 21st-century version of liberalism, cannot resolve.
2024-01-12 ~FxTrans.. WJLA: Metro considers 25% increase in rail and bus fares, by Tom Roussey
Members of Metro’s board of directors voted Thursday to consider a 25% increase on Metrobus, Metrorail, and MetroAccess fares starting this summer. If the fare increase is enacted, riders would pay as high as $7.50 for one trip on Metrorail starting July 1.
2024-01-10 ~Virginia. AP: Va Senate Dems Nix Proportional Committee Representation, by Sarah Rankin
Democrats who control the Virginia Senate are continuing the practice of stacking General Assembly committees with their own members in a proportion greater than their razor-thin majority.
2024-01-06 ~Virginia. FCTA Speaks at Pre-2024 General Assembly Public Hearing -- 3 speakers
... on tax rates, transportation, green energy, right-to-work, school choice, pensions
2023-12-29 ~National. Brownstone: Consent of the Governed, Where Art Thou?, by Robert W. Malone
Governments and Pharma are withholding adverse event data, and thereby are unilaterally making medical decisions for sovereign individuals and their children, in violation of the Geneva Convention. This is what we have come to: The nanny State knows best, and will withhold medical information from the public which would cause members of that public to question its wisdom and decision-making.
2023-12-29 ~National. AMAC: Media's Year Of Moral Collapse, by B. C. Brutus
Journalism schools may someday point to 2023 as the year of a final moral collapse for the corporate media -- a point of no return ultimately reached after years of ethical decline and loss of credibility with the public.
2023-12-29 ~FxMisc... Fx Times: Reader says Steve Descano is Grinch of the Year -- letter
I nominate Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano as Fairfax County's "Grinch of the Year" for his coddling of criminals, the resulting adverse impact on law-abiding citizens, and his war on the police. -- William McGill, Fairfax Station
2023-12-23 ~National. Brownstone: The Velvet Fascism of "Protect our Democracy", by Thomas Buckley
When the Left refers to "protecting our democracy", they really mean "protecting their democracy"; not a democracy of the people, but now merely a word used to fig leaf the ever-expanding slither of socialist socialite statism, the velvet fascism that is deftly hammering its way through the society and the culture.
2023-12-21 ~Potpourri Brownstone: Why We Love the Nutcracker, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
What theater goers don't entirely realize is that they are watching something even more wonderful than what they see. In this one ballet, we gain a picture of a prosperous world that emerged in the late 19th century, was shortly shattered by war and revolution, and then was nearly killed off by the political and ideological experimentation of the 20th century.
2023-12-20 ~FxTrans.. WT: Washington Metro's woes show folly of Alexandria arena plan, by David Ditch
The recently announced $2 billion arena project in Alexandria that would be the new home for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards is a net loser for Alexandria and Virginia, especially since there is not enough parking, and Metro cannot provide the amount of spot service needed for the fans. The primary beneficiary would not be Northern Virginia residents, but billionaire Ted Leonsis, owner of the Wizards and the Capitals.
2023-12-18 ~FxTrans.. FXX Now: N. Va. officials strive to save Metro from 'catastrophic' budget cuts
Leaders in Fairfax County -- which already faces lean economic times -- say they don't plan to offer up additional funds unless jurisdictional and federal partners can throw some more skin into the game.
2023-12-15 ~National. Brownstone: What Will Become of Cities?, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
Everyone was supposed to be back at the office by now. It's not really happening, however, and this has huge implications for the future of the American city.
2023-12-14 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Boys Left Behind Academically in Virginia, by James Sherlock
Girls significantly outperform boys in English Language Arts (ELA) (reading and writing) in public schools -- both in high-performing Loudoun County and in poor-performing Richmond City schools. The progressive ed-school establishment is consumed with the "inequity" of racial gaps in educational performance, while ignoring this obvious gender gap.
2023-12-14 ~FxTaxes.. Gazette Leader: Does Fairfax BOS really care about homeowners? -- Editorial
Gov't officials have outlined plans for a third consecutive year of big staff pay raises. When you couple that with an ever-more fiscally ravenous school system (without corresponding results) and the cratering valuations of commercial office buildings and some retail venues, the cost of government is going to be shifted to the residential side of the ledger. So get ready: Fairfax gov't thinks it deserves your money more than you do.
2023-12-12 ~National. Rasmussen: 21% of Mail-In Voters Admit They Cheated in 2020 Election
A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute finds that 21% of Likely U.S. voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child. (So much for the narrative that the 2020 election was the most secure in history.)
2023-11-20 ~Health... Zerohedge: The mRNAs didn't end Covid, Omicron did, by Alex Berenson
The Society of Actuaries have released an updated report on deaths during the pandemic that shows what really slayed Covid. It didn't come from Pfizer or Moderna; it came from the much weaker Omicron variant, which swept through the United States in the winter of 2022, reducing mortality for the vaccinated and unvaccinated young and old alike. The takeaway: virus gonna virus.
2023-11-14 ~Potpourri Free Press: Why I Am Now a Christian, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
As Edmund Burke asserts, "man is by his constitution a religious animal." Islamism understands this, and that's the secret of its mass appeal. We in the secular West are fighting a reactive battle: what vision now guides us? what banner do we rally around? Ali -- having been first a devout Muslim and then an aethist -- finds the answer in Christianity.
2023-11-09 ~National. AMAC: Did Vivek Just Make Corrupt Media the 2024 Issue?, by Aaron Flanigan
At the third Republican primary debate in Miami, hosted by NBC News, longshot candidate Vivek Ramaswamy stole the show by launching a scathing attack on the national corporate media, and saying out loud what rank-and-file conservative voters have long known to be the truth. In doing so, Ramaswamy has let a massive political genie out of the bottle and exposed the corporate media as the real opposition party in American politics.
2023-11-01 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Illinois Gov Funding Key Va Democrat Races, by Mary Lou Masters
... and you wondered how they could afford those expensive 30-sec Super Bowl ads.
2023-11-01 ~Environmt AMAC: The Great 'Green Energy Transition' That Wasn't, by Stephen Moore
One of the textbook marketing flops of all time was the Ford Edsel sedan in the late 1950s. All the automotive experts said it was a can't-miss. But nobody ever bothered to ask car buyers, and they hated it. Today, EVs are suffering the same fate -- and for the same reasons.
2023-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Why the CIA No Longer Works -- and How to Fix It, by Charles Faddis
Adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 3, 2023, during a conference on "U.S. Intelligence: History and Controversies".
2023-10-27 ~National. WT: Federal Audit: Gov't Office Buildings 80% Vacant
The GAO found that federal offices have challenges like the private sector. In comparing building capacity to employees, none used over 50% and some used only 9%.
2023-10-23 ~FxMisc... Yahoo: High Schooler Invents Soap to Fight Skin Cancer, by Samantha Dorisca
Heman Bekele, a ninth grader at W.T. Woodson High School in Annandale, VA, has invented an inexpensive soap to fight skin cancer. In so doing, he has won the 2023 3M Young Science Challenge and taken home $25,000 as "America's Top Young Scientist".
2023-10-22 ~National. Brownstone: The Social Contract Is Shredded, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
It started with Covid. Conventional wisdoms were overridden worldwide and caused a breakdown in medical protocols and havoc in education and in economic policy. Governments drifted away from defending the rights and liberties of their people, and have lost the public trust. It's like 1914 all over again.
2023-10-20 ~National. City Journal: The Politics of Disdain, by Emily Burns, Aaron Kheriaty
Our post-truth, hyperpolitical world arose from elites' stifling of free speech and robust debate. Until we acknowledge the source and address its causes, no calmer politics is on the horizon.
2023-10-17 ~National. WT: Our public schools are a national disaster, by Stephen Moore
Perhaps what's most distressing about the latest collapse in high school test scores is that no one seems to be very distressed. You've probably heard the news that ACT scores have fallen for the sixth straight year. Our high school kids are less equipped for a job or college than at any time in three decades.
2023-10-09 ~FxMisc... Gazette Leader: Two distinct visions for Fairfax BOS chair, by Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D) and his Republican challenger, Arthur Purves, politely exchanged views -- with the occasional sharp elbow -- during a televised Oct. 2 forum.
2023-10-02 ~FxTrans.. Gazette Leader: Area Leaders Talk Metrorail Funding, by Brian Trompeter
"Metrorail is the country's most expensive legacy heavy-rail system to operate, and spends more on administration and less on operations and maintenance than comparable transit systems. Metrorail must examine its costs, rebuild ridership, ensure safety, scrutinize labor expenses and workforce size and consider using more automation ..." -- Michael Sargent, Va DOT.
2023-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Inside the Transgender Empire, by Christopher F. Rufo
Adapted from a talk delivered on September 12, 2023, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale's Washington, D.C. campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series.
2023-09-26 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimony at BOS FY2023 Carryover Budget Hearing, by Arthur Purves
At issue is $652 million, the amount left over from FY2023 -- $321 million in the General Fund and $331 million from the Schools. Your choice should be simple: Return leftover tax revenues to the taxpayers! via reduction in future tax rates.
2023-09-24 ~National. Die WeltWoche: "They're all afraid" -- Tucker Carlson is interviewed
Tucker Carlson demolishes the mainstream media's manipulation machine, reveals his concerns about a potential Donald Trump Restoration, he speaks about the disturbing state of the Biden family and discusses what's next for him in a Post-Fox News Order.
2023-09-22 ~FxMisc... WT: Fairfax Co Traffic Camera Cash Grab -- editorial
Fairfax County's new school-zone traffic speed camera program is off to a bad start. The policymakers who came up with the idea swore the cameras would go after flagrant offenders only. As so often happens with government, however, what's initially promised is not what you end up getting.
2023-09-13 ~Environmt Zerohedge: The Climate Dissent You're Not Hearing About, by John Murawski
More than 1,600 scientists, among them two Nobel physics laureates, John Clauser and Ivar Giaever of Norway, signed a declaration stating that there is no climate emergency, and that climate advocacy has devolved into mass hysteria. The skeptics say the radical transformation of entire societies is marching forth without a full debate, based on dubious scientific claims amplified by knee-jerk journalism.
2023-09-12 ~Virginia. AP: Front Royal Library Going Woke and Broke, by Matthew Barakat
Like many libraries across the country, the Samuels Public Library in Warren County has found itself embroiled in conflict over books with LGBTQ+ themes. But the conservative five-member Board of Supervisors is having none of it -- threatening to cut off the $1 million annual funding it receives from the County unless the library removes its "child porn" books.
2023-08-25 ~National. Brownstone: The Great Game of 'Let's Pretend', by Jeffrey A. Tucker
It's a very strange time in American political history. We have one line of thinking sweeping through the population -- which is based on mass incredulity and fury -- and then another which is a veneer of normalcy that is slathered on top of our anger by all official institutions, which work hard to keep all these topics out of respectable conversations.
2023-08-24 ~National. Am Greatness: Trump Wins Again during First GOP Debate
Given a corrupt, weaponized justice system; rigged election procedures; both soft and overt censorship by mainstream networks and social media -- the idea of a normal politics-as-usual primary season was ridiculous from the start. In the Milwaukee GOP debates on Fox, Vivek Ramaswamy was the only spark of life in the battle to save the country. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson's interview with Trump on Twitter garnered 150M+ views within hours of being posted.
2023-08-21 ~National. Infowars: New Covid pre-election mail-in ballot variant, by Jamie White
Within hours of Alex Jones announcing that the Biden regime was gearing up for new COVID restrictions in the fall, the mainstream media has now launched its fear campaign to prepare for new COVID restrictions in response to a new COVID variant. So bring back the fear and the lockdowns, and keep those mail-in ballots coming.
2023-08-18 ~National. Zerohedge: Understanding Parasitic Cooperation between Globalists and Leftists
To understand the political left and their tactics you have to understand their relationship with the globalists. Woke useful idiots see power as something that must be stolen through intimidation or force. Globalists see power as something that is handed to them by useful idiots. Without the leftist mob the globalists have no power.
2023-08-16 ~FxSchools FCPS Monitor: FCPS Defies Virginia's Transgender Policy, by Mark Spooner
After leaking its closed-door decision to transgender advocates, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced on August 15 that it would ignore the Virginia Board of Education's recently issued transgender policy. In other words, parents will be kept in the dark about any gender identity issues involving their children while at school.
2023-08-15 ~National. AMAC: The KGB Has Arrived In America, by Dr. Sebastian Gorka
It wasn't President Trump and his lawyers that were the subject of Dinesh's D'Souza's 2020 election fraud documentary, 2000 Mules. But as Lavrentiy Beria, the founder of the proto-KGB, famously said: "Show me the man, and I will find you the crime!" We have arrived at that point in America.
2023-08-15 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Reasons to Oppose 2023 $435M School Bond Referendum, by Arthur Purves
Since 1994 Fairfax County and Schools have spent $360M (plus interest) on four projects that were so controversial that the supervisors were afraid to put them up to referenda. The latest massive $435M proposal is even less justified, as schools have an excess $190M, and interest on bonds adds over $200 to the average real estate tax bill.
2023-08-03 ~National. PJ Media: NYT Columnist Asks, "What if We're the Bad Guys Here?", by L. Brown
In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, David Brooks Brooks conducts a fairly exhaustive self-examination. In the piece, he enumerates the ways and provides examples of how America's elites have lost touch with, well, everyone else. To which we conservative might respond ...
2023-07-31 ~National. AMAC: The National Scandal That Is Too Big To Break, by Shane Harris
There are three main entities involved in taking down a politician over a corruption scandal: media, law enforcement, and the party establishment. But the mainstream media, the federal intelligence bureaucracy, and the Democrat Party have been covering up the Biden coruption scandals for years. And as with so many scandals, the cover up may ultimately prove worse than the crime.
2023-07-26 ~Health... Epoch Times: Niacin - The Powerhouse Vitamin, by Huey Freeman
Niacin inhibits the depositing of plaque in the arteries, protecting the heart and brain. Niacin proponents say the vitamin has the best record of lowering cholesterol levels, triglycerides, and lipoprotein (a), as well as elevating the levels of high-density cholesterol (HDL), the preferred cholesterol.
2023-07-18 ~National. Weston Price: Naomi Wolf Interviewed on Pfizer Documents Expose, by Hilda Gore
The Pfizer docu­ments on the testing of the Covid-19 vaccine were released by court order in March 2022. A detailed analysis of the documents reveals that not only was Pfizer's Covid-19 injection far from safe and effective, but it was intentionally de­signed to harm the world's populace and impede human reproduction. ...
2023-07-12 ~Health... Weston Price: The Omega-6 Apocalypse, by Dr. Chris Knobbe, MD
In the Western world over the past two centuries, chronic diseases, once rare, have become ubiqui­tous. Concurrently, the Western world has seen a dramatic rise in processed food consumption and notably of industrial seed oils high in polyunsatu­rated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially omega-6 fatty acids.
2023-07-12 ~Environmt WT: Carbon Dioxide Doesn't Cause Climate Change, by James T. Moodey
The green movement's climate-change scheme is based upon the false notion that carbon dioxide and other gases cause global warming. They do not. We don't have to guess about this. We have empirical and scientific proof.
2023-07-10 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co, Vienna Real Estate Taxes Over Last 40 Years, by David Swink
A FCTA board member, and Vienna resident since 1975, provides raw real estate tax data for nearly forty years, from 1976 onward, for both Fairfax County and the Town of Vienna.
2023-07-07 ~FxSchools Fx Times: A back seat for academics in FCPS, by Valerie Waddelove
While SAT test scores have declined by 27 points since 2018, the Fairfax County School Board promotes the shiny new object called equity -- including a SEL curriculum, and yes, CRT under different names. A new School Board is desperately needed if were are going to see the changes most parents want, and a return to the focus on academic excellence.
2023-07-06 ~Health... AMAC: Evidence Piles Up Against Recreational Marijuana, by Neil Banerji
As more states look to decriminalize or in some cases even completely legalize marijuana, research is continuing to pile up pointing to the disastrous consequences of the pro-pot movement.
2023-06-29 ~FxSchools Patch: School Board gives itself a 50% raise!, by Emily Leayman
In a Monday meeting, the School Board approved pay raises for School Board members. Members' salaries will increase from $32,000 to $48,000, while the chair will get an extra $2,000. The salaries will be effective Jan. 1, 2024, which is when the new term begins for members elected in the November general election.
2023-06-29 ~FxMisc... WT: Another Blue Dog Democrat bites the dust, by David Shephard
Mr. Petersen's defeat last week in the Democratic primary to left-wing challenger Saddam Salim brings the Petersen era to an end, and with it an era of centrist Democrats in Fairfax. Mr. Petersen was a rational, reasonable person. Nowadays, such a person is not going to win in a Democratic primary in Fairfax County.
2023-06-28 ~Virginia. TJI: The $3.6 Billion Decision - Give it Back, by Derrick A. Max
Virginia's overly large $3.6B surplus is mostly due to inflationary wage increases and the failure of Virginia policymakers to index deductions to keep up with inflation. So taxpayers overpaid, and the priority should be to give them their money back.
2023-06-22 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Clean Virginia Win Bad News for Gas Consumers, by Steve Haner
The biggest regulatory problem in Virginia remains the General Assembly's demand that Virginia charge toward an energy future with absolutely no use of any fossil fuels. Neither Dominion Energy nor Clean Virginia is fighting for the average Virginia consumer who wants inexpensive, reliable energy.
2023-06-16 ~National. WT: "The Naked Communist" in our midst, Tom Basile
From the 1958 book "The Naked Communist," by former FBI employee W. Cleon Skousen, here are the 45 points from six decades ago that prove current domestic threats to American freedom are all part of a plan to conquer America from within. Understanding this strategy means there is no excuse for allowing its advance.
2023-06-11 ~FxSchools WMAL: Larry O'Connor interviews Springfield FCSB candidate ... Debra Tisler (R)
"I'm a former teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools; I'm a mom of four," Tisler said. "I've witnessed first-hand what works and doesn-t work -- from the classroom to the central office and also as a parent." Tisler said the ongoing decline of Fairfax County's public, government-run schools was a major factor in her decision to run: "They're on a road to where it's no longer excellence for students, it's mediocrity; it's politics versus partnership with parents -- I said enough is enough."
2023-06-10 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Va Fails to Regulate Nursing Home Owners, by James Sherlock
Virginia needs mechanisms to: (1) track and report nursing home ownership and facility names in near-real time; (2) stop Medicaid reimbursement of nursing homes in violation of health regulations; and (3) block Virginia acquisitions by ownerships with bad track records or insufficient assets.
2023-06-05 ~National. Yahoo: Facebook Bans 1954 "Democracy's Demise" Quotes, by Kerry Byrne
Too close to home? A 1950's political science textbook outlined nine steps to overturn democracy: "1) Divide the nation philosophically, 2) Foment racial strife, 3) Cause distrust of police authority, 4) Swarm the nation's borders indiscriminately and unconstitutionally, 5) Engender the military strength to weaken it, 6) Overburden citizens with more unfair taxation, 7) Encourage civil rioting and discourage accountability for all crime, 8) Control all balloting, 9) Control all media."
2023-06-05 ~National. WT: From Patriarchy to Feminism to Wokeness, by Richard W. Rahn
Men and women are quite different, despite current denials. Women -- once the civilizing force in society -- are now outcompeting men, but have lost the power they formerly held over men. Their penchant for safety has made them turn to government for protection -- a major factor in the current crisis of wokeness.
2023-06-04 ~National. Zerohedge: What Happens When the Competent Opt Out?, by Charles Hugh Smith
The base assumption -- of an essentially limitless pool of competent people who can be tapped or trained to replace those who retire, burn out or opt out -- is no longer valid. The steady increase in make-work, loss of autonomy, and politicization of the work environment is causing the John Galts of the world to exit en masse, leaving the incompetent in charge.
2023-06-02 ~Environmt AMAC: Stop Scaring Our Kids to Death, by Stephen Moore
As nearly every standardized test is showing, our schools are doing an abysmal job teaching kids how to read or do math. When I speak to kids on high school and college campuses, they are most worried about global warming or "climate change". We are raising a generation with millions of Greta Thunbergs.
2023-05-30 ~FxTaxes.. Gazette Leader: FCPS asking for $435M bond referendum in Nov, by Brian Trompeter
Fairfax Co Voters will be asked in November to pass yet another School bond issue -- now a biannual ritual: $435M this year; $360M in 2021; $360M in 2019; $317M in 2017; and $250M 2013. [If this were called a 'tax', voters would reject it; but call it a 'bond' (tax + interest), and the voters will eagerly pass it.]
2023-05-26 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Candidates for 2023 Elections in Fairfax County
(FCTA president Arthur Purves running for BOS Chairman.)
2023-05-17 ~States-MS AP: Phonics improves reading scores in the Deep South, by Sharon Lurye
Deep South states, modeling Florida law, have adopted similar reforms that emphasize phonics and early screenings for struggling kids. The country has taken notice -- Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia are among the states that have recently adopted some of the same policies.
2023-05-16 ~FxMisc... Free Beacon: Connolly staff assailant previously let go by Soros prosecutor
The Virginia man arrested on Monday for assaulting a Democratic congressman's staff with an aluminum bat was arrested just last year for attacking two police officers, but he was put back on the streets by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano after he completed a mental health treatment program.
2023-05-12 ~Virginia. Daily Wire: Gov Youngkin Demands Answers On Loudoun Enemies List, by Luke Rosiak
Outrage ensued in Virginia on Thursday after The Daily Wire detailed how Loudoun County leftists took part in a secret group -- the Loudoun Love Warriors -- that discussed shooting and ruining the lives of conservative parents, and made a list of 115 of their neighbors who they said were "bigots". Members of the group included a campaign staffer for the local Soros-funded prosecutor.
2023-05-09 ~handout.. FCTA's Questions for 2023 Candidates -- Fairfax Co BOS, FCSB, Virginia GA
2023-05-09 ~National. Brownstone: Problem of Lost Knowledge - Antibiotic Edition, by Jeffrey Tucker
The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus itself, but by bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection. With COVID, Deja Vu! The system failed to incorporate the previously existing wisdom we learned from a century earlier. Instead, regulatory capture created an unfathomable amount of suffering.
2023-05-09 ~FxTaxes.. WUSA: Fairfax Co 2023 real estate taxes rise 5.5% on average, by Bruce Leshan
Fairfax County supervisors lowered last year's high $1.11/$100 residential real estate tax rate to a still-high $1.095/$100. Considering assessment increases, average actual taxes will increase by about 5.5%, vs 7% using the former rate.
2023-05-04 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts final notice for budget and real estate tax increase
(Final adoption May 15.)
2023-04-xx ~Bulletin. Homeowner taxes to increase $1100 in two years, by Arthur Purves
2023-04-27 ~National. Rev.com: Tucker Carlson Breaks Silence After Leaving Fox -- transcript
... "Suddenly, the United States looks very much like a one-party state. Our current orthodoxies won't last. They're brain-dead. Nobody actually believes them. Hardly anyone's life is improved by them. This moment is too inherently ridiculous to continue, and so it won't." ...
2023-04-25 ~Potpourri Am Greatness: The Diversity Officer Employment Aptitude Test, by Stanley Ridgley
Demand for Diversity Officers may have peaked and may even be on the wane. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hustle is running its course and may soon be out of steam, but it's not too late to collect your share of the loot. This assessment reveals if you are a good candidate.
2023-04-23 ~National. Am Greatness: Do We Even Know We Are All Socialists Now?, by Victor Davis Hanson
I doubt all the Germans who voted in National Socialism quite foresaw what quickly was to come. Those who overthrew the Bourbons or the Romanoffs had no real idea that they had sown the wind and were soon to reap the Jacobin and Bolshevik whirlwind. So it is with our "woke" -- a euphemism for the socialist revolution we are in and do not fully appreciate or even understand.
2023-04-13 ~Virginia. Heritage: Wokeness at Colonial Williamsburg, by Brenda Hafera
Colonial Williamsburg is trending toward wokeness and is at a crossroads. It can follow James Madison's home of Montpelier, which seeks to use historic sites to reinterpret America as a nation defined by white privilege and systemic racism. Or it can aspire to be like George Washington's Mount Vernon, which is committed to historical standards and commemorating Washington's and America's story fairly, honestly, and modestly.
2023-04-13 ~National. Brownstone: What Bud Light Fiasco Reveals about Ruling Class, by Jeffery Tucker
The Bud Light fiasco is a perfect symbol of a problem that afflicts high-end corporate and government culture: a shocking blindness toward the mainstream of American life. Corporate elites become as feudal warlords. The foundations of market capitalism begin to erode, and workers become ever more alienated from final consumption of the product they have made possible. The boycotts of Bud Light are but a beginning.
2023-04-12 ~Environmt Mises: Electric Vehicles Will Fade as True Costs Become Clear, by Doug French
What's the reason for EVs? It's because it supposedly produces less carbon. But through the full life cycle of owning an EV, because so much carbon has to go into the stupid thing, it doesn't use less carbon. You're better off having a gas guzzler.
2023-04-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimonies to BOS on the County Budget, by FCTA board members
Fx Co real estate assessments were up nearly 7% this tear, so Virginia Code automatically reduced last year's tax rate $1.11 down to $1.05 per $100 valuation for this year. The County supervisors want to raise this back up to $1.11 and force taxpayers to pay an additional 7% over what Virginia recommends. Are they going to get away with it?
2023-04-11 ~FxMisc... GMU: Population Change in the Washington Region, by Keith Waters
Among jurisdictions in the Washington region, Fairfax County recorded the largest domestic out-migration of any jurisdiction in the region with a net loss of -21,573 from July 1st 2021 to June 30th 2022. Prince George's County (-19,902) and Montgomery County (-16,188). The region's exurban counties recorded the largest population increases.
2023-04-06 ~National. Brownstone: Don't Let Them Memory-Hole This, by Jeffery A. Tucker
Covid became the template for the biggest expansion of government power over the population in world history. Fear of infectious disease proved very effective for ratcheting up despotism. So when something works this well for the most powerful people in society, why not just keep quiet about it?
2023-04-05 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: More Discouraging News for Virginia Student Test Scores
As recently as 2015, the percentage of Virginia high school graduates qualifying for college credit on at least one Advanced Placement test ranked third in the nation. In the 2021-2022 school year, according to data released by the College Board, Virginia's percentage had fallen to 11th in the country.
2023-03-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Biden Economy and How It Could Be Fixed, by Andrew F. Puzder
Adapted from a talk delivered on February 22, 2023, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Indian Wells, California.
2023-03-xx ~Bulletin. How I Successfully Appealed my Real Estate Assessment!, by Ron Quasebarth
2023-03-29 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts notice for proposed FY2024 budget -- from Washington Times B6
The Town of Vienna tweaked the proposed real estate tax rate down only slightly, so your recent assessment increase will translate into a roughly 6.9% increase on your next tax bill. (Public hearing on April 10, 2023.)
2023-03-29 ~Environmt Epoch Times: A Brief History of Climate Change Predictions, by Petr Svab
So-called climate experts have been predicting upcoming doom for many decades. Most of the prognostications involve climatic cataclysm that appears to be just around the corner, only to fizzle out as the deadline approaches. Here's a brief compilation.
2023-03-28 ~National. Tablet Mag: Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century, by Jacob Siegel
"A brilliant if melancholy overview, showing in exhaustive detail how the U.S. government, abbetted by the mainstream media and what has come to be called the "elite" or "ruling class" opinion generally, has repurposed surveillance tools developed to combat terrorism and turned them against the American people." -- Roger Kimball
2023-03-24 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Advertised Budget for FY2024 -- from Washington Times B5
2023-03-23 ~Virginia. AMAC: Trio of Soros-Backed Prosecutors Under Fire in Virginia, by Shane Harris
Even in reliably blue northern Virginia and with backing from Soros-linked funds, Descano, Biberaj, and Dehghani-Tafti each face a real threat of losing re-election this fall, with all three looking at tough primary challenges. Perhaps even in liberal enclaves, Americans have had enough of the perverse vision of justice put forth by the left.
2023-03-22 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: 30% BOS Pay Raise Approved, in 8-2 Vote, by Michael O'Connell
"But the supervisors haven't earned it: ... recklessly raising real estate taxes ... losing police officers ... spending millions on non-existent climate crisis ... creating havoc with unconstitutional lockdowns and vaccine mandates." -- Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance
2023-03-21 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: The Left's New DEI Bureaucracies at Virginia's Colleges
So why a new, 84-person DEI establishment at UVa? Why did suddenly every Department need an Associate Dean for DEI? Some two. What these new employees actually do is apparently up to them ... and dangerous to free speech and the conduct of regular business at the university.
2023-03-17 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY2024 Budget Q&A for Supervisors and School Board Members
2023-03-09 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
Public posting, one half of page A7 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 6.97 percent for residential and an increase of 1.65 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 11, 2023 at the Gov't Center.
2023-03-07 ~National. AMAC: College Industrial Complex's Left-wing Lies, by Betsy McCaughey
Families saving for college and encouraging their kids to aim for the top are getting scammed by the left-wing college industrial complex. Colleges distort and outright lie about who gets accepted, education quality, and what it costs. They'd be in jail if they were selling auto loans and used the same deceptive tactics.
2023-03-06 ~Virginia. WT: Va Dems' opposition to born-alive law is wake-up call, by M. Dannenfelser
Former Gov Northam's endorsement of infanticide lives on. Last week, Virginia Senate Democrats blocked a "born-alive" bill that would ensure that a baby born alive during a late-term abortion would receive the same lifesaving medical treatment as any child born alive at the same gestational age. (Related: Bristol cross-state abortion traffic)
2023-03-03 ~Report... Analysis of the 2024 School Budget (Summary), by Fred Costello-297a
2023-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: America's Broken Health Care: Diagnosis and Rx, by John Abramson
Adapted from a lecture delivered at Hillsdale College on March 5, 2023, during a Center for Constructive Alternatives conference on "Big Pharma".
2023-02-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax County Schools SAT Scores Fall 27 Points since 2018, by Arthur Purves
2023-02-28 ~FxTaxes.. Gazette Leader: Proposed Fx Co budget goes big on pay boosts, by Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County employees, as well as ones working for the school system, would receive healthy pay raises under County Executive Bryan Hill's proposed fiscal 2024 budget -- but this would come largely at the expense of homeowners.
2023-02-27 ~National. WT: Young professionals struggle to adapt to workplace, by Sean Salai
Most recent college graduates are emotionally unprepared to survive in the 9-5 workplace, according to a survey that experts say confirms a growing trend. Parental rights advocates blame decades of trends toward soft parenting and falling academic standards, which they say COVID-19 school closures accelerated.
2023-02-17 ~FxSchools FCTA: Query/Response to FCPS on Falling SAT Scores
2023-02-16 ~Virginia. WT: Va Dems kill all 12 gender-switch bills, by Valerie Richardson
Virginia Democrats have now killed all 12 so-called "anti-trans" bills, including Sage's Law requiring parental notification of in-school grooming, and bills barring cross-sex hormones and surgeries for minors and barring biological males from girls' sports. These bills all passed in the Republican-controlled House, but failed in the Democrat-led Senate.
2023-02-10 ~FxSchools Fx Times: Fx Co schools SAT scores fall 27 points since 2018, by Arthur Purves
Fairfax County public schools 50 years ago were touted to home buyers as "excellent". Today, not so much. Between 2018 and 2022 the average FCPS SAT score fell 27 points, from 1212 to 1185. The last time FCPS SAT scores decreased over a five-year period was 1989-1993, and the decrease was one point. And there is no sense of alarm, which itself is alarming.
2023-01-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Twitter Files Reveal an Existential Threat, by John Davidson
Adapted from a lecture delivered on February 7, 2023.
2023-01-31 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia's Error Leads Local Schools to Overestimate Aid
The Virginia Dept of Education acknowledged an error in a mathematical formula it provides to local K-12 school divisions led some schools to expect more state funding than they are set to receive -- an "overly generous" difference of $201 million between expectation and reality statewide over two fiscal years.
2023-01-31 ~National. Brownstone: The Decline and Fall of the University, by Garrett Sheldon
SSince retiring from the university, several people have asked if I miss it. I tell them I miss what it was, but not what it has become. Higher education in America has gone from being the best in the world to one of the most pathetic.
2023-01-30 ~FxSchools LawLiberty.org: Freedom from Public Education -- book review by Henry Edmondson
As Neal P. McCluskey's book, The Fractured Schoolhouse points out, public education no longer serves to unite; rather it divides, so much so that schools have become cultural battlegrounds with school children the collateral damage. Accordingly, 2021 was dubbed "The Year of School Choice" as almost half of the fifty states have either expanded existing programs or created new ones.
2023-01-28 ~Report... Analysis of the 2024 School Budget Forecast, by Fred Costello-297
2023-01-27 ~FxPension Fx Times: Fairfax pension funds exposed to crypto collapse, by Richard Hronik
Two of Fairfax County's three employee pension funds were exposed to the bankruptcy of a cryptocurrency firm on Jan. 19. These risky crypto investment strategies were hidden from the public -- hardly reassuring for stakeholders, such as taxpayers and pensioners.
2023-01-26 ~National. Zerohedge: The Race to the Bottom Accelerates, by Charles Hugh Smith
Race to the Bottom describes the process of competitive devaluation, where value is gutted to remain competitive. We see it in everyday products, but also in currency devaluation and the decay of civility, politics, competence, accountability, and transparency. The process is accelerating because we've lost the ability to solve problems due to the power of entrenched insiders and powerful interests.
2023-01-25 ~National. Project Veritas: Pfizer May 'Go Wuhan' to 'Preemptively Develop New Vaccines'
Project Veritas released a new video today exposing a Pfizer executive, Jordon Trishton Walker, who claims that his company is exploring a way to "mutate" COVID via "Directed Evolution" [aka: Gain-of-Function] to preempt the development of future vaccines.
2023-01-25 ~National. AMAC: The Extensive History of Democrat-Linked Voter Fraud, by Parker Bono
For nearly two centuries, the Democrat Party and its members have been utilized as a means to support various forms of voter fraud throughout the United States. These nefarious efforts have evolved over the years, with those on the left now being able to execute the practice to near-perfection.
2023-01-25 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Times: Fx libraries funding Hannah-Hyphenated-History author, by Asra Nomani
Fairfax County Public Library officials are paying controversial writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the "1619 Project" $35,350 for a one-hour lecture on Feb. 19 at the McLean Community Center, with a price tag that amounts to $589 per minute, according to a copy of the contract obtained by the Fairfax County Times.
2023-01-23 ~National. Epoch Times: The Downfall of the Gurus, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
What is it about the appearance of a new virus (with a very low fatality rate) that caused their heads to explode? Why were they so willing to throw out principles they held for most of their lives? And it is not just that they were wrong. They used their influence to demonize, smear, and censor those who dared to disagree.
2023-01-10 ~FxSchools Fx Times: Parents question FCPS promoting Kendi Race-Hustle, by Nomani, Zwicker
Late today, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid admitted to problems with "internal practices" that have led to the withholding of National Merit awards from students and their families, as local community members raise questions about $513,500 in local contracts that have disseminated controversial ideas, including race-hustler Ibram Kendi's promoting of reverse racism to rectify "past discriminations".
2023-01-07 ~Virginia. FCTA: Speech at Pre-2023 General Assembly Public Hearing, by Thomas Cranmer
2023-01-07 ~FxSchools Fx Times: Not just TJ withholding National Merit Awards, by Nomani and Zwicker
While FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid claims the principal at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology withheld National Merit awards from students in a "one-time human error", parents at Langley and Westfield also got a surprise. So the 'One Woke Fairfax' drivel continues to promote equal outcome (lowest common denominator) at the expense of equal opportunity (be all that you can be).
2023-01-03 ~FxSchools Bacon's Rebellion: FCPS Pays $455,000 for 'Equal Outcomes' Consultant
Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools reportedly paid almost half a million dollars to a firm whose "Equity Imperative" is that all students' academic performance result in equal outcomes. Once considered anathema in education and elsewhere, expecting equal outcomes has become more and more popular as a facet of anti-racism training.
2022-12-18 ~National. Brownstone: We Are Still Locked Down, by Jeffrey Tucker
Twitter is now mostly open, for now. The rest of the venues remain wholly controlled. Brownstone has posts tagged, throttled, and sometimes deleted from LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and it is a constant struggle to avoid Google's own push against our content. The point of such top-down censorship is not only to control the public mind. It is also to keep all of us from finding each other.
2022-12-18 ~National. Am Greatness: 10 Steps to Save America, by Victor Davis Hanson
1) Cut the Debt; 2) Secure the Border; 3) Tap Natural Resources; 4) Oppose Discrimination; 5) Disrupt and Reform Higher Education; 6) Revive the Armed Forces; 7) Fix Voting; 8) Drain the Swamp; 9) Upend the Welfare State; 10) Restore Norms.
2022-12-15 ~National. Epoch Times: The Age of Amnesia, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
For almost three years, powerful elites have done their best to wipe out history. Major media organs began putting trigger warnings on links older than a few months, with the clear message: this is no longer valid or reliable because things have surely changed. In this way, we have entered into an age of amnesia with a ruling class that wants everyone to forget the wisdom of the past and even the events of recent history, to forgive but mostly to forget and move on like good little pawns in their game. Just do what we are told and forget everything else.
2022-12-15 ~Environmt WUWT: Texas Investigates 'Evil' ESG Stakeholder Capitalism, by Charles Rotter
Sen Bryan Hughes starts off the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs ESG hearing by laying out how the ESG agenda poses a threat to both the security of American families and our overall national security ...
2022-12-09 ~National. DiLorenzo: Why the Left Must Destroy Free Speech - or Be Destroyed
The eleventh chapter of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom is entitled "The End of Truth", about the historical imperative in all totalitarian states throughout history to destroy freedom of speech so that the only true belief is "the social plan" imposed by the state, whatever that may be. This is achieved by relentless institutionalized lying and propaganda, coupled with harsh censorship of all contrary ideas or even questions about the propriety of forcefully imposing one single "social plan". This is American society today, in other words, in case you haven't noticed.
2022-12-09 ~National. Brownstone: The Twitter Files: Just the Beginning, by Jeffrey Tucker
What pertains to Twitter is surely true at Google (therefore YouTube), Facebook (therefore Instagram), Microsoft (therefore LinkedIn), and even Amazon, with information curated according to the priorities of the national security state. If Elon Musk had not bought Twitter, all of this would have remained hidden. We came very close to losing every bit of free speech.
2022-12-07 ~FxTrans.. FXX Now: Speed cameras coming to Fx Co school and work zones, by Matt Blitz
Slowing down drivers and improving safety are the objectives of a new pilot program that will see photo speed monitoring devices (speed cameras) installed in nine school zones and one construction zone in Fairfax County in early 2023.
2022-12-02 ~National. AMAC: What's The Matter With Young Voters?
Sixty years ago, American students consistently ranked at the top of international comparisons in math, reading, and science. But since then, their performance has plummeted to truly dangerous levels. The so-called "elites" have worked long and hard to make sure young voters support politicians who don't have America's best interests at heart.
2022-12-01 ~Environmt Bacon's Rebellion: No Climate Crisis, Very Little Climate Change, by Steve Haner
Predicting increased extreme weather is now the go-to move for the alarmist media. In every case, the long term trends do not agree. There is no climate crisis; there is very little climate change. The data are why I reject the need for a crash program to reduce CO2, such as Virginia's ongoing rush toward energy poverty.
2022-11-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Education as a Battleground, by Larry P. Arnn
Adapted from remarks delivered on November 3, 2022, at a Hillsdale College reception in Santa Clara, California.
2022-11-29 ~National. Epoch Times: 'Gaslighting' Is Word of the Year for Good Reason, by Jeffrey Tucker
Every year Merriam-Webster picks a word to capture the culture of a moment in time. The choice is based on the frequency and quantity of search as well as the departure from the norm. This year the choice seems perfect: gaslighting. It's drawn from the 1944 film noir starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. The term means to be subjected to extended psychological trickery to cause the victim to question his or own reality.
2022-11-25 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Is Fossil Fuel Actually Produced Renewably?, by Tara MacIssac
Credence for oil's organic origin (biotic origin) is strong in the United States, while the idea of an inorganic origin (abiotic origin) has long been accepted among post-Soviet scientists. Some American scientists have also jumped on the abiotic train, scorned though it may be by most of their peers.
2022-11-21 ~FxSchools Patch: Supreme Court Rejects Fx Schools Sexual Assault Lawsuit, by M. O'Connell
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a 2017 lawsuit regarding the school system's response to a sexual harassment incident. "The 4th Circuit got it right ... What a shame the School Board wasted taxpayer dollars asking the Supreme Court to adopt positions the 4th Circuit and the Dept of Justice have called 'absurd.'"
2022-11-19 ~Potpourri Brownstone: Technocracy and Totalitarianism, by Aaron Kheriaty
20th-century totalitarian ideologies included Communism and Fascism. The 21st-century equivalent is "Scientism", requiring "experts" to explain what cannot be rationalized. Why bother with brute force and physical violence, when defamation and exclusion from public discourse works just as effectively -- Fascism by peaceful means.
2022-11-19 ~National. Epoch Times: 'Respect for Queeriage' Act Threatens Churches, by Mark Tapscott
The proposal repeals the 1993 Defense of Marriage Act, and offers no additional benefits or protections that same-sex couples don't already have. But it weaponizes the federal government against people of faith, with those 87,000 new IRS agents set to revoke the tax-exempt status of faith-based nonprofits.
2022-11-18 ~Virginia. FCTA'S 2023 Legislative Agenda for the Virginia General Assembly
2022-11-16 ~FxSchools FCTA: How FCPS Got Extra $100M to Teach 10,000 Fewer Students, by Arthur Purves
Presentation to FCRC: School board replaced one-time Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief(ESSER) COVID relief funding with a $100M real estate tax hike and a $90M increase in state funding.
2022-11-15 ~National. Epoch Times: How Google Stopped the Red Wave, by Robert Epstein
Google for months nudged undecided voters toward voting blue by showing people politically biased content in their search engine, and selectively injecting 'ephemeral experiences'-- content that appears briefly, affects people, and then disappears. Up to 80M votes may have been thus affected over hundreds of elections, far eclipsing any irregularities from fake ballots and other dirty tricks.
2022-11-12 ~National. Epoch Times: The Youth Problem, by Mark Bauerlein
The web turned into a surveillance and tattletale zone, and cancel culture took off. Gen-Z has never known anything different, with no living memory of life before the iPhone. They'll be the most conformist cohort in American history, and politics will be a primary mode of grouping.
2022-11-09 ~National. Spiked: A tale of two Americas, by Joel Kotkin
Yesterday's Midterms showed the geographic disparity in America. One is primarily urban, single and, despite some GOP gains in this demographic, still largely non-white. It functions on the backs of finance, tech and the service industries. The other is largely suburban or exurban, family centric and more likely involved in basic industries like manufacturing, logistics, agriculture and energy.
2022-11-03 ~Health... Brownstone: Global Health and the Art of Really Big Lies, by David Bell
The principle of Really Big Lies: So divorced from reality that listener's perception must be flawed rather than the liar, as no credible institution would hire such insanity; but since the institution was apparently credible, the statements must also be credible, and the listener's prior perception must be flawed. Lesser lies, by contrast, can be proved wrong. So inventing truth can be more effective than bending it.
2022-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Economic Disaster of the Pandemic Response, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
Adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 20, 2022, sponsored by the student group Praxis.
2022-10-27 ~Virginia. Gatestone: VMI Went Super-Woke, and Enrollment Fell 25%, by Daniel Greenfield
Virginia Military Institute, the institution that gave us Patton, Marshall and Byrd now asks about your "gender role", urges you to reimagine "masculinity" and spews hate toward anyone who happens to be white. Consequently, enrollment fell 25% -- from 522 in 2020 and 496 in 2021, to 375 in 2022.
2022-10-27 ~National. WT: The Evil of Coerced Medicine, by Aaron Kheriaty
Coercive covid vaccination mandates rested on several unproven postulates, which mainstream opinion took to be axiomatic and unassailable: (1) the vaccines were safe for everyone; (2) the vaccines were necessary for everyone; therefore, (3) any vaccine hesitancy is a public relations problem that must be overcome. Minimal conditions for justifying mandates were never met, but institutions embraced these misguided policies with little public discussion and no debate.
2022-10-27 ~Environmt Zerohedge: 'Zero Emissions' From Electric Vehicles? False!!!, by John Murawski
"I have a friend who drives a Kia he's had for about 15 years," said Ashley Nunes, a research fellow at Harvard Law School. "He called me and said, 'Hey, I'm thinking of buying a Tesla. What do you think?'" "I said, 'If you care about the environment, keep the Kia,'" Nunes said.
2022-10-26 ~National. Substack: Journalism in Crisis: The War on Dissent, by Whitney Webb
Journalism become a battlefield where the most powerful media outlets -- that is, those closest to the centers of power -- deliberately manipulate or omit facts to craft narratives that expressly benefit the powerful while also colluding to censor their more truthful competition. Their allegiances lie not with the public, but with those with the deepest pockets.
2022-10-25 ~National. Gatestone: Big MUM, Google's Imitation of Big Brother, by Daniel Greenfield
Google's Multitask Unified Model (MUM) was hyped last year as the company's new machine learning algorithm. It is in fact yet another tool for enforcing a totalitarian conformity on the diversity of the internet. Google doesn't want you to think differently, but to shut up and listen to Big MUM.
2022-10-24 ~Potpourri NY Post: How Woke Mobs Took Over Corporations, by Jennifer Sey
Most CEOs lack the moral courage to hold their ground. Because they know, deep down, that they aren't do-gooders, and they don't want that curtain lifted. So they kowtow to the very vocal minority. These CEOs are frauds and have no actual courage.
2022-10-24 ~National. Epoch Times: CRT Being Taught in US Schools, Despite Denials, by Mimi Nguyen
The Left claims CRT is only being promoted in the universities. But K-12 schools are indeed uncritically promoting or passing off the assumptions and narrative of contemporary left-wing racial (and gender) ideology as 'settled' truths.
2022-10-22 ~handout.. "Biden Wins, Taxpayers Loose" -- FCTA luncheon
2022-10-22 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: How to Rein In Fairfax County Real Estate Taxes, by Arthur Purves
Presentation and speech made at FCTA's annual luncheon.
2022-10-21 ~National. GDI: "Disinformation" Risk in US Online Media, by US State Dept
The US State Dept has been funding a "disinformation" tracking group through its Global Engagement Center (GEC), which reportedly works at demonetizing sites it accuses of disseminating "disinformation" -- a (hilarious) analysis of 10 left-leaning sites and 10 conservative sites.
2022-10-20 ~Health... Epoch Times: Funeral Directors Report 95% of Corpses Recently VAXXed
A funeral director from New Zealand says that 95 percent of the corpses he has been seeing had received a COVID-19 vaccine within two weeks of their passing away. Similar data has been discussed by funeral director John O'Looney in the UK and Richard Hirschman from Alabama.
2022-10-20 ~FxSchools Fx Times: FCPS to pay former equity officer $56,000 as a Wokeness Consultant
On August 5, a Fairfax County Public Schools official quietly signed a contract with the school district's recently-departed chief equity officer, Lisa Williams, to pay her at least $56,000 - or the equivalent of a new teacher's annual salary - for "strategic coaching" and "guidance" of school board members on issues of wokeness.
2022-10-14 ~FxSchools Fx Times: FCPS puts teachers through new woke 'Equity Dialogue' training
Fairfax County Public Schools this week required staff to go through new teacher training to learn "Culturally Responsive and Equitable Teaching Practices," including "New Nation" fourth-grade social studies curriculum that asks students: "Did our founders and founding documents protect liberty or slavery?"
2022-10-12 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Raising Girls to be Real Women, by Annie Holmquist
Boys are getting sucked into the feminist vortex of our culture, but that vortex also is swallowing girls at perhaps an even greater frequency. So how do we raise our girls to be real women, the kind who are loving, gentle, and kind, instead of brazen, brash, and self-centered?
2022-10-11 ~Potpourri Brownstone: The Quarantine of Healthy Populations, by Aaron Kheriaty
From the lepers in the Old Testament to the Plague of Justinian in Ancient Rome to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, covid represents the first time ever in the history of managing pandemics that we quarantined healthy populations. ... Lockdowns were the first and decisive step in our embrace of the biomedical security state.
2022-10-10 ~FxSchools FCPS Monitor: FCPS to Vote on Pro-Indoctrination Resolution, by Mark Spooner
The Fairfax County School Board will vote on October 20 to undercut the school system’s long-standing policy requiring teachers to be objective and neutral when addressing controversial issues in the classroom. The so-called "Truthful Education" resolution seeks to "dismantle White supremacist dynamics" and to promote the Marxist Critical Race Theory (CRT).
2022-10-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County's Unaffordable Housing Program, by Arthur Purves
Presentation to the Greenspring Republican Club: RE tax up 7%, Car tax up 32%, ...
2022-10-05 ~FxMisc... WTOP: Voters set to replace Fairfax Co. delegate Mark Keam, by Nick Iannelli
Voters in Northern Virginia will soon have a chance to replace Mark Keam, the longtime Democratic state delegate who resigned last month. On Oct 8, Democrats wil choose between Holly Siebold and Karl Frisch; and on Nov5, Republicans will field a candidate (TBD). A special election will then be held on Jan 10.
2022-10-02 ~National. Townhall: The Thinnest Veneer of Civilization, by Victor Davis Hanson
The great achievements of Western civilization are being tested by a great experiment in which regressive progressivism discounts all the institutions, and the methodologies of the past that have guaranteed a safe, affluent, well-fed and sheltered America.
2022-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Complications of the Ukraine War, by Christopher Caldwell
Adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 4, 2022, during a Center for Constructive Alternatives conference on the topic of Russia.
2022-09-29 ~Health... AMAC: Medical Schools, AMA Going Woke, by Claire Brighn
While Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, and left-wing "equity" principles have long been a staple in law schools and graduate-level humanities programs, they now appear to be taking over medical schools (and the American Medical Association) as well. Meanwhile, patients just want to be treated equally by doctors devoted to keeping them healthy.
2022-09-29 ~FxSchools The Federalist: Groomers-R-Us -- Madison HS sophomores get the "Fingers"
A Madison High School teacher in Vienna recently read aloud to her 10th-grade English class the poem "Fingers", an explicit account of a young girl masturbating -- excerpted from "The Poet X", a provocative coming-of-age novel by Elizabeth Acevedo. This despite last spring's passage of a Virginia law requiring advance notification of explicit sexual content.
2022-09-28 ~FxMisc... AMAC: Soros-Backed Prosecutors Face Backlash In Virginia, by Andrew Abbott
In Fairfax County, Virginia, defendants charged with criminal offenses are walking free with only misdemeanor charges courtesy of Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, one of nearly 100 Democrat prosecutors funded by far-left billionaire George Soros. Now, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares are ramping up pressure on Descano as well as the Old Dominion's other radical prosecutors to enforce the law.
2022-09-27 ~Environmt Epoch Times: EVs Not Viable "for at Least a Decade", by Naveen Athrappully
Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan has dismissed the potential of electrical automobiles (EVs) going mainstream within the subsequent 10 years owing to limitations on supplies and unresolved provide chain points.
2022-09-23 ~FxMisc... AMAC: Arlington's Left-Wing Crusade to Abolish the Suburbs, by Steven Peay
In 2020, former President Donald Trump repeatedly warned about Democrats' plan to "abolish the suburbs" -- a claim since proven correct. In Virginia's Arlington County, an owner of a single-family home could soon find that their neighbor's house has been sold to a developer, who will promptly tear it down and build a four-story apartment building right next door. (Et tu, Fairfax?)
2022-09-17 ~FxSchools FCPS Monitor: Youngkin Revamps Model Transgender Policies, by Mark Spooner
In 2020 the Virginia legislature enacted a statute addressing the treatment of transgender students in public schools. FCPS followed the accompanying Model Northam Policy in how that statute ws defined. The new Model Youngkin Policy unwokes the previous policy. Biological sex is reinstated, pronouns are out, and parental permission is now required. The only question is whether FCPS will follow this new Model.
2022-09-16 ~Environmt Blog: How Green is Your Electric Vehicle?, by Ileana Johnson
Electric vehicles, pushed non-stop by globalists and by our own government to the detriment of combustion engine vehicles, will not crowd our roads currently for many reasons -- which should be pondered and addressed before we retire the combustion engine to the dustbin of history.
2022-09-15 ~National. AMAC: The First Post-Media Election, by Seamus Brennan
We are living through an era of revolutions in American politics: one of which is the dismantling of the news media, whose credibility in the last few years has reached new lows. In short, it appears the media's decisive influence in driving our elections may be in terminal decline, and we could very well look back on the 2022 midterm cycle as the first truly "post-media" election.
2022-09-13 ~Potpourri WT: Fascism for dummies, by Clifford D. May and Alexander Hunter
Those using the word should at least know what it means. Political cartoonist HUNTER summarizes: "Under Communism, the state is everything and tells people what to do; under Fascism, the state colludes with business and tells people what to do. So Fascism is basically Communism with more 5G coverage and better lattes."
2022-09-06 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Consequences of the Zero Carbon Fantasy, by Steve Haner
Virginians may finally be waking up to the consequences of the headlong rush to adopt utopian energy policies under our previous governor. As Virginia approaches its next round of legislative elections in November 2023, debate should commence regarding the net zero statutory mandate and the evidentiary claims behind it.
2022-09-03 ~National. AIER: Actual Capitalism vs Intervention vs Fascism, by Max Borders
Actual capitalism refers to an entrepreneurial market system with minimal government intervention -- not where we've been for some time now. The current interventionism creates ideal conditions under which corporations and authorities may collude, and boy they do! Intervention gives rise to either cronyism or fascism, the difference being only in the authorities' objectives.
2022-09-02 ~Virginia. Fx Times: Soros-funded prosecutors in Virginia hurting our local communities
George Soros, a progressive liberal who funds Democrat Commonwealth's attorneys in Virginia, is the sole reason some counties have become incredibly unsafe for people simply trying to live their lives. In no places is this misplaced, devaluation of public safety more evident than in Fairfax's Steve Descano and Loudoun's Buta Biberaj.
2022-09-02 ~Health... Epoch Times: Embalmers Finding Numerous Long, Fibrous Clots, by Enrico Trigoso
Several embalmers across the country have been observing many large, and sometimes very long, "fibrous" and rubbery clots inside the corpses they treat, and are speaking out about their findings. "Before 2021, 5-10% of the bodies that we would embalm would have blood clots; now it's 50-70%, and it's rare to embalm a body without clots."
2022-09-02 ~Environmt Fox Business: Smart Thermostat Tyranny in Colorado, by Andrew Miller
Some 22,000 Xcel Energy customers in Colorado attempted to turn up the air conditioning as temperatures creeped into the 90s on Tuesday, but were greeted with a message from their "smart" thermostats declaring an "energy emergency" and prevented from turning the dial. (Meanwhile, the smart customers stayed cool with their "dumb" thermostats.)
2022-08-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Politicization of the Dept of Justice, by Harmeet K. Dhillon
Adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on September 16, 2022, in Washington, D.C., at Hillsdale College’s Constitution Day Celebration.
2022-08-31 ~Environmt Substack: The irrefutable case for a Fossil Future, by Alex Epstein
As I explain in my new book, if we want a world in which all 8 billion of us have the opportunity to flourish -- to live long, healthy, prosperous, fulfilling lives -- we need to use more, not less, fossil fuel going forward.
2022-08-29 ~Potpourri Substack: The Psychology of Totalitarianism, by Mattias Desmet
As the author's new book relates in detail, the world is in the grips of mass formation -- a dangerous, collective type of hypnosis -- as we bear witness to loneliness, free-floating anxiety, and fear giving way to censorship, loss of privacy, and surrendered freedoms. It is all spurred by a singular, focused crisis narrative that forbids dissident views and relies on destructive groupthink.
2022-08-29 ~FxMisc... Cardinal News: NoVa Experiencing Net Out-Migration, by Dwayne Yancey
Alexandria, Arlington Co, Fairfax city, Fairfax Co, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William Co all saw more people move out in 2020 than move in. Virginia saw a net out-migration of -7,561. Fairfax County alone accounted for -14,231. And the people moving out make more money than the people moving in.
2022-08-26 ~FxSchools Fx Times: SOL scores start slow climb upward, by Kristin Johnson
Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test results were released last week. They show Fairfax County, and the state have begun, what most educators believe will be, a multiyear recovery plan to return students to pre pandemic academic standards.
2022-08-24 ~FxSchools Examiner: Fairfax Co Teachers Trained to Bypass Parents, by Jeremiah Poff
Fairfax County Public Schools in northern Virginia are requiring all teachers to complete a training program that says parental permission is not required for students who seek to be addressed by different names or pronouns. (Welcome to 'Grooming 101'!)
2022-08-21 ~National. Am Greatness: The Worst and the Stupidest?, by Victor Davis Hanson
Our elites are now viewed with the disdain they have earned on their own merits. The masses increasingly view the elites' money, their ZIP codes, their degrees and certificates, and their titles not just with indifference, but with the disdain they now have earned on their own merits. And that pushback has made millions of our worst and stupidest quite mad.
2022-08-15 ~Potpourri Zerohedge: Globalization Hits a Wall, by Charles Hugh Smith
Globalization enabled mobile capital to swoop in, buy up local assets, create new markets for credit and imported goodies and then sell at the top before all the external costs of globalization came due and the credit bubble burst. Now that the global credit bubble is bursting, the mobile capital exploitation party is over. Now the game is to exit Periphery nations and move the winnings of globalization to the Core for safekeeping.
2022-08-12 ~FxTaxes.. Bacon's Rebellion: Turbocharged Fairfax Car Tax Burden, by Bill Tracy
Fairfax County just mailed out its 2022 Car Tax bills, and the tax increase is substantial. My 2020 Toyota RAV4 tax was $558 in 2021, and would normally have been reduced by $133 in 2022. Instead, the tax increased by $227 to $785. (Guess I'll keep my ~$27K car rather than pay the property tax on today's average $47K vehicle!)
2022-08-11 ~State-AZ. WR: Arizona a bright beacon for educational freedom, by Keri D. Ingraham
When Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed HB 2853 into law on July 7, more than 1.1 million K-12 students within the state were provided school choice. Opening the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account to all students is the landmark expansion of school choice -- the largest in the nation. No other state comes close. As a result, Arizona has been dubbed the "gold standard" of educational freedom.
2022-08-11 ~National. Epoch Times: 'Weaponization of Gov't Power Has Become Clear', by Enrico Trigoso
Retired Major General Paul Vallely reacted to the recent FBI raid on former president Donald Trump's Mar a Lago estate, claiming that there is a socialist-communist coalition involved with the act. He believes that there is a "socialist coalition" that aspires to "overthrow" the U.S. constitutional republic and transform it into a totalitarian communist state.
2022-08-05 ~Virginia. AP: Va regulators OK Dominion's planned offshore wind farm, by Sarah Rankin
State regulators on Friday approved an application from Dominion Energy Virginia to build a 176-turbine offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach and recover the cost from ratepayers. A typical residential customer is expected to see an average monthly bill increase of $4.72, with a peak monthly bill increase of $14.22 in 2027.
2022-08-03 ~Potpourri Brownstone: In Defense of Uncertainty, by Julie Ponesse
If we're entitled to feel certain about anything, wouldn't you expect it to be the little things in life? The coffee mug is where we left it, the gas bill arrives on the 15th. Instead, we seem to reserve certainty for the things we should be least certain about: climate change, Covid policy, the effectiveness of gun control, what it means to be a person, the real causes of inflation.
2022-08-02 ~Report... Causes of Inflation, by Fred Costello-282
2022-07-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Rise of Wokeness in the Military, by Thomas Spoehr
Adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on July 20, 2022, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale's Washington, D.C. campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series.
2022-07-29 ~Virginia. SP Global: GEICO Virginia auto rates increase 26% in June, by Hassan Javed
GEICO subsidiaries received regulatory approvals for 27 rate hikes across seven states in June. More than half of the $418.7 million premium increase is expected to come from Virginia. GEIGO is increasing auto rates in Virginia by 26%, effective 6/16/22 for new business, 8/14/22 for renewals.
2022-07-26 ~National. WT: Med schools' new Hypocritical Oath: "First Go Woke!", by Sean Salai
The Association of American Medical Colleges' "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Competencies Across the Learning Continuum," published this month, advises faculty and administrators on how to make students consider their "identity, power and privilege" when treating patients. Conservatives warn the new standards will politicize rather than improve medical school training.
2022-07-10 ~FxSchools Fx GOP: Luke Rosiak on Failures of Public Education -- video(51:50)+transcript
Fairfax GOP's Srilekha Palle interviews Daily Wire investigative journalist Luke Rosiak on the crisis of American K-12 education. Rosiak is the author of Race to the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying Public Education, a book that Chris Rufo calls "a road map for returning to sanity in our schools."
2022-07-09 ~FxSchools Fx GOP: TJ Math Teachers Note 'Lowering of Standards', by Asra Nomani
A May 31 Wapo article tried to vindicate the Fx Co school board's failed policies with America's No. 1 high school. But, days later, parents, students and alumni are sharing a frank email that TJ trigonometry teachers sent to students this past Thursday that keeps things real: "These scores are deeply disappointing, and are the lowest scores we’ve ever seen as Math 4 teachers on a Final Exam."
2022-07-07 ~National. Brownstone: The Crash and Burn of Credentialism, by Jeffrey Tucker
To have credentials is to have credibility, which is to say that people can and should trust you. The credentialed elites have lost the public's trust over the last two years. Their censorship is not working, nor their media control, nor their intimidation tactics. They have been discredited.
2022-07-03 ~National. Epoch Times: Two Competing Political Philosophies, by Mark Hendrickson
As we celebrate our country's birth this week, it's sobering to realize that our founding ideals are being challenged by an alien philosophy from within. The American philosophy is liberty; the alien philosophy is tyranny. Ultimately, one or the other will prevail, for the two cannot coexist.
2022-07-01 ~National. Epoch Times: Supreme Court Targets the Administrative State, by Jeffrey Tucker
The most significant of the flurry of rulings from the Supreme Court, even if it doesn't capture all the headlines, is West Virginia vs EPA -- a major and much-welcome curbing of the power of the administrative state, the unelected bureaucracy that rules the country without oversight from voters or legislatures.
2022-07-01 ~FxSchools Fx GOP: Fx Co Schools Seek to Eradicate Viewpoint Diversity, by Mark Spooner
The Fairfax County School Board has nearly finished a two-year revision of its Controversial Issues Policy, which would endorse a race-based curriculum that emphasizes the role of "privilege", "power", "institutional racism", and "identity" in American history and governance. It would also authorize teachers to encourage students to become activists in "social justice" causes.
2022-06-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax County Homeowners to Get a $600 (8%) Tax Hike, by Arthur Purves
2022-06-30 ~FxSchools WAMU: Fairfax Co Schools Swamped with FOIA Requests, by Margaret Barthel
One has to read between the lines in this FCPS-friendly article to deduce the problem as the total lack of transparency by the school board -- including at Luther Jackson MS hearings -- due to their covering up their One Fairfax wokeness agenda. After all, if FCPS actually stuck to teaching rather than indoctrinating, there would be no FOIA problem.
2022-06-27 ~Potpourri Zerohedge: It's Not the End of the World, by Jeff Thomas
We're passing through a period in history in which the process of removing freedoms is nearing completion in many of the world's foremost jurisdictions. The EU and US, in particular, are leading the way in this effort. Consequently, it shouldn't be surprising that some predict "the end of the world." But, they couldn't be more incorrect.
2022-06-15 ~Potpourri Brownstone: The Emergence of Neo-Fascism in Public Health, by David Bell
Fascism is the art of hiding the truth behind a facade of wholesome virtue. Mussolini's happy smiling youths of the 1930s were actually being trained in the arts of self-righteousness, denigration of wrong-think, and collective obedience. They knew they were right, and that the other side was the problem. Does that sound familiar?
2022-06-14 ~Health... Spectator: 'Sudden Adult Death Syndrome' due to Covid shots?, by Lincoln Brown
The past year or so has seen a lot of young people 'die suddenly' across the Western world, often from heart attacks. We are being told to accept the sudden rise in SADS and the deaths of young people without investigation. After all, no one wants to be called a conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaxxer. (... and from Mercola.)
2022-06-08 ~National. Zerohedge: I can't believe it's come to this, by Stacey Rudin
People here [in New Jersey] will never stop "doing COVID", so I am officially [off to Texas]. Later, safety cult. Enjoy your communist future. ... You have to wonder where we go from here, when the people you trusted were either totally inept or pure evil.
2022-06-07 ~National. JWR: Kids today get no wisdom, little knowledge, by Dennis Prager
About 100 years ago, America embarked on the road to hell when it stopped teaching wisdom -- and what wisdom is all about, moral virtue -- when it secularized all education. First the universities and then the lower grades decided that knowledge could substitute for wisdom. Now American young people get no wisdom and, for that matter, little knowledge.
2022-06-07 ~Environmt CFACT: Is it ethical to purchase a lithium battery powered EV?, by Ronald Stein
To manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery.
2022-05-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Laying Siege to the Institutions, by Christopher F. Rufo
Adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on April 5, 2022.
2022-05-31 ~National. Brownstone: How the Pandemic Response Changed My Thinking, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
Looking back to the "before times" -- meaning before the middle of March 2020 -- we were all quite naive about liberty, technology, the mob, and the state. Most of us had no idea what was possible and that the dystopia in movies could become real in our times, and so suddenly. The intellectual parlor games were over; the fight spilled over from the classrooms to the streets.
2022-05-25 ~National. WT: Silencing Science -- letter, by Samuel Burkeen
If doctors that learned early on what phases [Covid-19] took and how to treat those phases, your elderly relative would probably still be alive. Instead, the world dove into an enforced, anti-scientific approach, sweetened by financial incentives supplied by the federal government to basically kill as many people as possible.
2022-05-19 ~Virginia. WT: Public schools slammed for deceiving parents on test scores, by Sean Salai
A Virginia Dept of Education report released Thursday accuses the state's public schools (and itself under past administrations) of lowering academic standards to avoid being honest with parents about worsening test scores and racial achievement gaps for K-12 students. In 2019, Virginia fourth- and eighth-graders achieved only 35% reading proficiency on national testing (NAEP), compared to 75% on state reading tests.
2022-05-18 ~FxSchools Daily Caller: FCPS Recommends Gender Identity Curriculum In Elementary Schools
A FCPS committee composed of three transgender advocates is slated to recommend that a Virginia public school district include gender identity in sex education curricula beginning in fourth grade. Revamped Family Life Education would include the "inclusion of the gender spectrum in the elementary" and 10th-grade curricula, according to the recommendations draft.
2022-05-13 ~World.... Zerohedge: Mapping the State of Global Democracy in 2022, by Raul Amoros
Full democracy in 6.4% of countries, topped by Norway, New Zealnd, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland. Canada, Germany, the UK, Australia and Japan are also full democracies, but with a lessor rating. The U.S., Chile, and South Africa get a "flawed democracy" rating. Two years after the pandemic, we can see that global democracy is in a downward trend.
2022-05-12 ~Health... Epoch Times: Is Ivermectin a Cancer Solution?, by Joseph Mercola
It's been vilified as being dangerous, useless or both, but extensive research shows that's not true. This study demonstrates potential for its use against a broad range of cancers. Along with direct cytotoxic effects, it's believed to help regulate the tumor microenvironment, mediating immunogenic cell death.
2022-05-08 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Planning for Telecommuting's Effects on Va, by James Sherlock
I think that we don't yet realize the full impacts of the revolution being wrought by the telecommuting that accelerated during COVID. I am sure I don't. But Virginians and our state and local governments, must try to figure it out. For example, is VRE expansion still cost-effective? How about metro rail, which has had similar ridership declines?
2022-05-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts final notice for budget and real estate tax increase
The Town of Vienna tweaked the real estate tax rate down only slightly, so your (10%+) assessment increase will translate into a 7 to 9% increase on your next tax bill. (Final adoption May 16.)
2022-05-04 ~National. TBE: Woke Gov't Schools or School Choice?, by FCTA member Lou DiLeonardo
Democrat-led public school systems across the country are indoctrinating our kids with Critical Race Theory and transgender nonsense, forcing parents to switch to homeschooling and private schools. So why are taxpaying parents still required to pay into this broken system? (In Fairfax County, that 53% of your real estates taxes feeding this monster could be spent on schools of your choice.)
2022-05-02 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Rebuilding the Foundations With McGuffey Readers, by Annie Holmquist
Today's textbooks are often passing along concepts that don't lay a good foundation to turn students into happy, successful citizens one day. It's time to start advocating for a curriculum that teaches students to be good, upright students who can think for themselves without being swayed by emotion. What better place to find a framework than the McGuffey Readers, which are full of lessons vital not only for children, but for ourselves as well.
2022-05-02 ~National. JWR: '2,000 Mules' offers vivid proof of vote fraud, by Deroy Murdock
'2,000 Mules', Dinesh D'Souza's stylish, chilling, maddening new documentary premiering in selected cities today, is a compelling election-integrity whodunit. Visually reminiscent of Tony Scott's thriller Enemy of the State, this film uses state-of-the-art technology to prove that the 2020 presidential election was stained, if not fully stolen, through the lowest-tech means: stuffed ballot boxes.
2022-04-xx ~Bulletin. "Any Rate Reduction of Less Than 10¢ Is a Tax Hike!", by Arthur Purves
2022-04-29 ~Potpourri JWR: How to Spot a Lefty, by Greg Crosby
To keep our sanity, we need to quickly and simply be able to tell the difference between normal people and Lefties. In the interest of happiness for all of us normal people, I have gone to the trouble of compiling a list of "tells" that will help you recognize the idiots within our midst in an instant. ...
2022-04-27 ~National. Brownstone: Ten Vulnerabilities the Plandemic Exposed, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
The covid response exposed the vulnerabilities of many institutions. It revealed many problems that cry out for solutions, most related to what happened to the US and the world over two years. This is not anywhere near an exhaustive list. ...
2022-04-21 ~National. Substack: The Corruption of our Nation, by Dr. Robert Malone
This is a war to save our great nation. Be prepared, because global fascism, otherwise known as inverted totalitarianism, is an enemy like none of us have seen before. We have one big tool, our ability to resist, to change and not accept a world where corporations rule by fiat. Whereby medicine is more than just numbers and a way to sell new drugs and vaccines.
2022-04-19 ~State-FL. FL DOE: 2021-2022 K-12 "Woke Math" Instructional Materials Not-Recommended List
Here's the list of those 54 (of 134 submitted by publishers) mathematics textbooks the Florida Dept of Education rejected for "wokeness" -- in the form of "included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics." Percentage of materials rejected: 71% for grades K-5; 20% for grades 6-8; 35% for grades 9-12.
2022-04-18 ~National. WT: Zuckbucks eclipsed federal funding, swung 2020 election, by Susan Ferrechio
Led by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, the total amount of private donations for carrying out the 2020 election exceeded the federal government's entire allocation for election spending that year. Private funding in Biden-won counties was typically 4 times that in Trump counties.
2022-04-13 ~State-FL. WT: Florida sparks wave of parental-rights bills, by Sean Salai
Republican state legislatures across the country are following the lead of Florida and its Parental Rights in Education legislation, introducing their own versions of what LGBTQ activists and left-leaning critics have derided as "Don't Say Gay" laws.
2022-04-13 ~National. Epoch Times: Letter from Jan. 6 Prisoner to Americans "Don't Do Nothing!"
Former U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown describes his unwarranted arrest and confinement as payback for his refusal to become a confidential FBI informant during the Jan. 6 protests at the U.S. Capital -- similar to the FBI's staged Michigan governor kidnapping plot. "All illegal acts by the FBI and DOJ are meant to silence me and keep me from exposing their lies and corruption."
2022-04-12 ~FxTaxes.. FXX Now: What should Fairfax County prioritize in its budget?, by David Taube
Take the poll: Preventing tax increases, Transportation, Public safety and recruitment, More affordable housing, Money for libraries and parks, Schools, County health funding?
2022-04-12 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimonies to BOS on the County Budget, by FCTA board members
Fx Co real estate assessments were up nearly 10% this tear, so Virginia Code automatically reduced last year's tax rate $1.14 down to $1.06 per $100 valuation for this year. The County supervisors want to raise this back up to $1.14 and force taxpayers to pay an additional 8% over what Virginia recommends. Are they going to get away with it?
2022-04-08 ~National. Am Greatness: COVID, Gender, Climate, and Collapse of Science, by Neil Kurtzman
Science is in its worst state since the trial and conviction of Galileo (1633). Science advances by questioning the current state of knowledge and by attempting to fill the gaps. But many of the great scientific issues of today seem governed by dogma rather than debate.
2022-04-07 ~States... Tax Foundation: State and Local Tax Burdens in 2022, by York and Walczak
Tax burdens rose across the country as pandemic-era economic changes caused taxable income, activities, and property values to rise faster than net national product. Tax burdens in 2020, 2021, and 2022 are all higher than in any other year since 1978. State-local tax burdens: NY(highest), CT, HI, VT, CA, NJ, IL, VA, DE, ME ... OK, SC, GA, ND, TX, MI, SD, TN, WY, AK(lowest).
2022-04-07 ~National. Zerohedge: The Demographics of Financial Doom, by Charles Hugh Smith
Whether we admit it or not, collapse is the default "solution". That destiny has already been written by demographics. Having children has gone from being an economic necessity or benefit to a tremendous financial liability in the developed world. So the shrinking working-age population will be unable to support the financial and healthcare promises made to the retired generations.
2022-04-01 ~FxSchools AP: 4th Circuit reinstates woke Va. school board's 'equity' initiative at TJ
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling Thursday that Fairfax County Public Schools can continue to use its new "racial balancing" admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, reversing the February ruling by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton.
2022-03-xx ~Bulletin. "Reduce the Fairfax County Real Estate Tax Rate by 10 Cents", by Arthur Purves
2022-03-30 ~National. WT: The Age of Emotion, by Kelly Sadler
The wise comedian Rob Schneider tweeted this week, "There was the Age of Enlightenment, The Age of Reason ... we are all now living in The Age of Emotion." Indeed. Reason, logic and critical thought have all been canceled. A civilized society can't continue like this.
2022-03-29 ~Environmt PragerU: How Much Energy Will the World Need?, by Mark Mills (video 5:22)
Are we heading toward an all-renewable energy future, spearheaded by wind and solar? Or are those energy sources wholly inadequate for the task? Mark Mills, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The Cloud Revolution, compares the energy dream to the energy reality.
2022-03-25 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Advertised Budget for FY2023 -- from Washington Times B5
2022-03-24 ~FxTaxes.. Bacon's Rebellion: Fairfax's Un-Affordable Housing Program, by Arthur Purves
If you live in Fairfax County and are over 50, you may have received from the county a five-page 120-question survey to "... inform the county's ... Future Aging Plan". Here's the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance Future Aging Plan: Stop taxing us out of our homes!
2022-03-18 ~National. Zerohedge: How Healthcare Became Sickcare, by Charles Hugh Smith
The financialization of healthcare started two generations ago and is now in a run-to-fail feedback loop of insolvency. Sickcare will bankrupt the nation all by itself. Here is an Insider's essay:
2022-03-15 ~National. Epoch Times: Why Fewer People Are Getting Married, by John Mac Ghlionn
Why? Because society has moved from the idea of covenant marriages (religiously, personally, devotionally) to contractual marriages ("the worst legal contractual liability a man can enter into"). People still want to get married, but there's very little incentive to get married, largely because marriage has become a no-win situation for men and a security insurance policy for women.
2022-03-12 ~Virginia. AP: Lawmakers go home with budget work unfinished, will return, by Sarah Rankin
Virginia's divided part-time Legislature, unable to reach an agreement on a budget, opted to adjourn Saturday and reconvene later at the call of the governor to finish the year's work.
2022-03-12 ~National. Epoch Times: Banned Film Exposes the Real Reason for the COVID Pandemic
The film Planet Lockdown explores this unprecedented time in history, speaking with epidemiologists, scientists, doctors and other experts to uncover the real motives behind the increasing totalitarian control taking over the globe. Already banned by Facebook and YouTube, the film starts at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were told lockdowns were necessary to "flatten the curve".
2022-03-12 ~National. Daily Caller: Biden 'I Did That' Stickers Are At Gas Pumps Everywhere
Americans are experiencing a new kind of sticker shock as stickers depicting President Joe Biden pointing at the gas pump price and saying "I did that" appear at gas stations across the country.
2022-03-11 ~National. AMAC: Biden's Sanctions Might Hurt Americans More than Putin, by Andrew Abbott
Following Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Visa and MasterCard said they would suspend all operations in the country. Russian banks then announced a potential plan to replace American credit cards with new cards backed by China's UnionPay. This seemingly small act might be the first red flag that western sanctions of Russia could drive America's two chief adversaries closer together, and might even bring the primacy of the U.S. Dollar to an end.
2022-03-11 ~FxSchools Daily Caller: Parents Chant 'Racist' during FCSB meeting, by Chrissy Clark
Parent activists in northern Virginia chanted "racist" at a public school board meeting while a mother shared an anti-critical race theory book about the district's wrongdoings, according to video footage of the encounter. The book, Luke Rosiak's "Race to the Bottom", includes an investigation into the board's role in lowering admissions standards at TJ to lower the number of Asian students admitted.
2022-03-10 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
Public posting, one half of page A7 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 9.57 percent for residential and an increase of 2.27 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 12, 2022 at the Gov't Center.
2022-03-09 ~National. AMAC: How Reagan Would Deal With Russia's Aggression, by Ben Solis
The West must cut its reliance on Russian energy, depriving Putin of hard currency; de-invest Putin's energy sector infrastructure; and replace Russian gas and oil supplies in Europe with American exports. Like during the Reagan era, when the Urengoi-6 pipeline changed the course of the Cold War, today projects like the Keystone Pipeline could radically redirect the current war in Ukraine and deter future Russian aggression.
2022-03-08 ~World.... JWR: Ukraine Invasion Brought to You by ... Environmentalists, by Dennis Prager
Were it not for the green movement, Putin would not have been confident that he could get away with invading Ukraine. Under Trump, the U.S. became independent of foreign oil. Biden made America revert to dependence on foreign oil, including Russian oil. So Putin got the message from those 'useful idiots' in the West.
2022-03-08 ~World.... Zerohedge: The Sanctions Boomerang and Putin's Options, by James Rickards
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S., the U.K., EU members and others placed severe financial sanctions on Russia. But like a boomerang, those same sanctions can hurt the U.S. economy, which is on shaky ground as it is. It's almost like cutting off your nose to spite your face. The Russian economy will muddle through, but global financial system will not be spared.
2022-03-07 ~Health... Epoch Times: The Difference Between mRNA Shots and Vaccines, by Joseph Mercola
The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA shots aren't vaccines in the medical and legal definition of a vaccine? They do not prevent you from getting the infection, nor do they prevent its spread. They're really experimental gene therapies. But if they actually called it what it is, namely "gene therapy chemotherapy," most people would -- wisely -- refuse to take it.
2022-03-06 ~National. Epoch Times: American Children Losing Motivation and Creativity, Teachers Say
Creativity and enthusiasm define childhood, but American children seem to be losing these gifts, teachers say. When teachers compare today's children with their peers from only a few years ago, there's a clear difference, according to an Indiana teacher with 24 years of experience.
2022-03-06 ~National. WT: Biden thinks he's Winston Smith, by Everett Piper
In this past Tuesday's State of the Union Address, President Biden did his best to impersonate a leader. The man spent the first year of his presidency trying to shake the foundations of America pretended to be the champion of the free-thinking world. Welcome to Big Government, Big Brother and Big Lies, and doublespeak. Welcome to Oceania. Welcome to "1984."
2022-03-05 ~World.... Zerohedge: When Normality Is Exposed As A Ponzi, by Alasdair Macleod
Putin erred in invading Ukraine, but the West's financial retaliation could backfire. Russia has a healthy economy with government debt at less than 20% of GDP, and with significant gold reserves. The West's financial sanctions will likely cause Russia to demand gold in exchange for Russian oil and gas, destabilizing not only the global economy, but its major fiat-based currencies as well.
2022-03-05 ~National. Epoch Times: Why College Degrees Are Working Against Many Job-Seekers
Employers today routinely report that college grads lack basic skills they look for in new hires. In fact, less than 10 percent of employers think colleges do a good job of preparing students for the working world.
2022-03-05 ~National. Glenn Beck: Great Reset: Biden and Rise of 21st Century Fascism -- Book Review
When Glenn Beck talks about the Great Reset, he means the radical transformation of society at every level. It's about the world's elite "resetting" the global economy using banks, government programs, and governments. The book explains why people are being "canceled", why social media giants are scrambling to stifle speech, why large corporations are becoming the champions of "woke" causes, and much more.
2022-03-04 ~World.... Epoch Times: US Meddling Helped Trigger Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin is rightly deserving of blame, top U.S. officials over the past decade have played important roles in critical events that undermined U.S. relations with Russia and resulted in the destabilization of Ukraine.
2022-02-26 ~FxTaxes.. NextDoor: Taxpayer Comments on Fairfax Co 2022 Real Estate Assessments
A compilation of NextDoor postings just after the proposed Fairfax County FY2023 budget increases were announced, with average assessments slated to increase by 9.75%. Provides the gist of taxpayer feeling.
2022-02-25 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Times: Proposed FY2023 Fx Co budget increases real estate taxes by 9.57%
"Homeowners are facing a 10% increase in real estate taxes so county and school employees can get 6% raises. The supervisors can cut the real estate tax by 10 cents to offset the increase in assessments. Any rate cut less than 10 cents is a tax hike." -- FCTA president Arthur Purves
2022-02-25 ~FxSchools Daily Mail: Judge strikes down woke Va. school board's 'equity' initiative at TJ
Judge Claude Hilton ruled that Fairfax County Public Schools' new admission policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology left Asian American students 'disproportionately deprived of a level playing field'.
2022-02-17 ~National. Brownstone: And Now, It's Economic Warfare, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
What we are seeing right now in Ottawa reveals the hegemonic depth of the system that gave us lockdowns, then mandates: it is now capable of freezing your accounts and essentially starving you and your family. It's economic warfare.
2022-02-14 ~Health... Aletho News: Study Confirms Ivermectin Outperforms Other Options, by J. Mercola
Ivermectin is best known for its antiparasitic properties. Yet, the drug also has antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. Studies have shown that ivermectin helps to lower the viral load by inhibiting replication. A single dose of ivermectin can kill 99.8% of the virus within 48 hours.
2022-02-07 ~Health... Epoch Times: How COVID Shots Suppress Your Immune System, by Joseph Mercola
The shots suppress your innate immune system by inhibiting type-1 interferon. But the type-1 interferon response is absolutely crucial as the first-stage response to a viral infection. The COVID shots are so unnatural that your immune system doesn't quite know what to do anymore. Expect future long-term health issues as a result.
2022-02-06 ~Environmt Daily Mail: Are electric cars the new 'diesel scandal'?, by Bjorn Lomborg
They generate polluting particles just like petrol vehicles, are not even that cost-effective and, as one expert finds, will not save the planet.
2022-02-04 ~Virginia. CFACT testifies against harmful VCEA climate law before Va House of Delegates
CFACT's president testified against the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), signed into law in 2020, which mandates Virginia's electric grid transition to 100% so-called "clean" energy by 2050, by drastically increasing energy prices and destroying much of Virginia's forests and farmland in order to build solar facilities. HB 118, sponsored by Del. Nick Freitas, aims to repeal the VCEA.
2022-01-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Inflation in the United States, John Steele Gordon
Imprimis lecture by author of An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power
2022-01-xx ~Bulletin. A Taste of Tyranny - Testimony to Fx Co Delegation to Va GA, by Arthur Purves
2022-01-30 ~Virginia. Brownstone: Grading the States on Covid Restrictions
Many states had (and have) wildly different policies during the pandemic. In a state-by-state comparison, we find that tight restrictions had no measurable impact on COVID-19 deaths. Least restrictive states: IA(1st), FL, WY, SD, TX, AK, SC, OK, MS, MT ... to most restrictive: RI, ME, CT, CA, NY, WA, VA(48th), DE, DC, VT(51st).
2022-01-21 ~Health... Epoch Times: Ivermectin Use would Destroy Justification for Vaccine Mandates
Federal health agencies haven't recognized ivermectin as an effective treatment for COVID-19 patients. According to Doctor Leland Stillman, the reason is more political than scientific, because otherwise there would be no basis for lockdowns or vaccine mandates.
2022-01-11 ~Health... Epoch Times: SARS-COV-2 Vaccines and Neurodegenerative Disease, by S. Seneff
There are many reasons to be wary of the COVID-19 vaccines, which were rushed to market with grossly inadequate evaluation and aggressively promoted to an uninformed public. There are potentially huge, irreversible, negative consequences -- future increases in several major neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, CKD, ALS and Alzheimer's.
2022-01-10 ~Health... Zerohedge: Global COVID Response Driven By "False Propaganda", by Ehud Qimron
Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University and one of the leading Israeli immunologists, has written an open letter sharply criticizing the Israeli -- and indeed global -- management of the coronavirus pandemic. "Ministry of Health, it's time to admit failure"
2022-01-08 ~Virginia. FCTA Speaks at Pre-2022 General Assembly Public Hearing -- 3 speakers
2022-01-03 ~National. JWR: America Sticks Out Its Tush, by Mark Steyn
America has reached that moment in Blazing Saddles when Mel Brooks throws away the script, and the brawling cowboys on one Hollywood soundstage crash through the wall into the next soundstage and start slugging the gentlemen of the chorus rehearsing a dance number called "The French Mistake". America has literally lost the plot. On the last soundstage, all parts are interchangeable.
2021-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: What Is the Great Reset?, Michael Rectenwald
Imprimis lecture by the Chief Academic Officer of American Scholars
2021-12-31 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: 2022, The Year of Breakdown, by Charles Hugh Smith
If we look at the fragility and instability of essential systems, it's clear that 2022 will be the year of breakdown. All systems are optimized to process specific inputs to generate specific outputs, at the expense of redundancy, resilience, reserves and adaptability. Systems are now so complex and opaque that they are in effect optimized to fail -- completely unprepared to deal with alternate realities.
2021-12-28 ~Potpourri JWR: The (@#$%&!) Year We Just Lived Through, by Dennis Prager
I thought it would be worthwhile to review some of the most important observations I made over the course of an awful year 2021. I hope you agree, and wish you -- and our country -- a happier New Year.
2021-12-24 ~Potpourri Parker Phonics: A Brief History of Reading Instruction
1800-1900: Most children learn to read using the "phonic" method (bottom-up) of mastering the elementary sounds of letters; 1930-1965: Whole Word becomes the dominant (top-down) method for teaching reading in the United States, and phonics are ignored; 1975-2000: The Whole Word (Look/Say) method is made even worse, morphing into the Whole Language (three-cueing) method.
2021-12-18 ~Virginia. Fx Times: Yes, Virginia - there is CRT in our schools, by Elizabeth Schultz
School districts across Virginia have been expending resources, directing staff time, and hiring consultants to address "equity" in curriculum delivery and for professional development of teachers and other employees. Fairfax and Loudoun, the two largest counties in the Commonwealth, have set the lead in driving the changes in education and embracing critical race theory and "anti-bias" in their respective divisions.
2021-12-18 ~Virginia. FCTA: For the Left, Government Is Always Underfunded, by Arthur Purves
No matter how fast government spending increases, Virginia Public Media will say that "essential services" are "underfunded". [Fx Sen Chap Peterson begs to differ!] But most of our taxes are wasted on: 1) $19B for schools that teach almost nothing; 2) welfare to subsidize poverty; and 3) costly mass transit projects instead of roads.
2021-12-16 ~Health... CCCA: Pfizer C-19 Inoculations do More Harm Than Good
Randomized control data deleted; increased risk of illness and death; failure to follow established protocols; tested on healthy, given to sick; didn't track biomarkers; subjective testing; missing data ...
2021-12-13 ~Potpourri JWR: Goodbye Red Kettle: The Salvation Army goes woke, by Don Feder
In pushing white guilt, the Salvation Army is starting to resemble the NEA with CRT. Soon, its supporters will be forced to choose between their favorite charity and their country.
2021-12-10 ~Virginia. Fx Times: Why does Virginia have such a big surplus?, by Va Sen Chap Peterson
"The bottom line is that the state surplus is not about 'good stewardship'. It's about collecting more in taxes while providing fewer state services. That model is not sustainable. And it will change."
2021-12-10 ~Virginia. 538: Virginia's 2022 Congressional District Map -- vs old map
Virginia finally gets clean and compact U.S. Congressional districts via the special masters appointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia, no longer jiggered to favor a political party. Check out the current and proposed maps and see for yourself.
2021-12-06 ~Report... Educational Problems in the Fairfax County Schools, by Fred Costello-280
2021-12-06 ~National. Daily Signal: How 'Science' Went Woke, by Jarrett Stepman
The administrative state is using taxpayer money to advance and reinforce the cultural revolution. This is the woke-industrial complex in action. It again highlights why trust in institutions is disintegrating -- from academia to media to medicine and science to corporate America.
2021-12-02 ~National. JWR: Third Worldizing America, by Victor Davis Hanson
One person described Los Angeles as turning into a "3rd-world s-hole of a city" after his car was broken into and the contents stolen. He was chided by a Hollywood actor whose home is guarded by sophisticated security systems and fencing. Both reflect Third Worldization: the utter breakdown of the law and the ability of the rich within such a feudal society to find ways to avoid the violent chaos.
2021-11-30 ~Health... Epoch Times: Therapeutics Highly Effective in Early COVID Treatment
"These drugs [HCQ, Ivermectin, et al] have been suppressed... for reasons that have nothing to do with the science and the medicine." It's also concerning that doctors are being intimidated into going against how they've been trained to treat patients. -- Dr. Harvey Risch
2021-11-29 ~handout.. Taxpayers' Agenda for the Youngkin Administration
2021-11-29 ~handout.. Virginia's Mediocre Public Schools -- (Print in landscape mode)
2021-11-25 ~Potpourri WT: The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness -- book review
During my coming-of-age years, The National Lampoon was the intelligent, edgy, satirical publication of choice. Today, now of-age, my satire of choice is The Babylon Bee. The small swarm at the Bee knows how to sting the smug, sensitive, puerile Marxists right in their behind belief system.
2021-11-25 ~FxSchools JWR: FCPS OKs 'Lawn Boy', 'Gender Queer' in school libraries
... following a review into complaints that the books contained sexually explicit language and scenes that weren't appropriate for a juvenile audience.
2021-11-21 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Have We Finally Reached Peak Davos?, by Tom Loungo
The Davos crowd's obsession with the COVID-9/11 jab may be finally meeting popular resistance. To even contemplate turning an entire country into a patchwork of leper colonies over a nasty cold is indicative of the sickest mind, to agree with doing so makes you a party to crimes against humanity, and to pull a paycheck to enforce it the very definition of evil itself.
2021-11-17 ~Health... Why Ivermectin is better than "Pfizermectin", by Krayton Kerns, DVM
Pfizer has announced their new Covid oral therapeutic, PF-07321332, dubbed 'Pfizermectin' by some. Pfizer's expensive new pill is a protease inhibitor blocking viral replication. However, the off-patent and cheap drug ivermectin is also a protease inhibitor, but additionally blocks the attachment of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the cell plus has a tremendous anti-inflammatory effect. Obviously Big Pharma and its media allies aren't eager to inform the public on this matter.
2021-11-15 ~Report... SAT Performance for FRM and ESOL Students, by Fred Costello-133
2021-11-15 ~National. Epoch Times: Kyle Rittenhouse and the False Narrative, by Dinesh D'Souza
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial is an important moment in American culture, because this isn't just about Kyle Rittenhouse. So is the narrative that the media has been peddling for months, not just about Rittenhouse but also about many other things: President Joe Biden's Afghanistan catastrophe, the open southern border, runaway inflation, government persecution of political dissidents, coordinated censorship between the Biden administration and digital platforms, the list goes on.
2021-11-15 ~Health... RSS News: Common Toxins Linked to Autism, by Jennifer Margulis
Diagnosed autism prevalence has risen dramatically in the U.S. over the last several decades and continued to trend upward. Three toxins in the environment that have been increasing alongside the rise in cases of autism are aluminum, glyphosate, and acetaminophen. It is these toxicants that may be contributing most to the increasing rates of brain challenges among America's children. (Related article.)
2021-11-05 ~National. Brownstone: Regulatory Capture in the Age of COVID, by Liam Cosgrove
Our healthcare system is broken, a fact nobody would have disputed in pre-COVID times. Regulatory capture is a reality, and the pharmaceutical industry is fraught with examples. Existing therapeutics are ignored by the healthcare system when new, unproved, but very profitable drugs are introduced, and politicians are paid to overlook all of this.
2021-11-04 ~FxSchools Twitter: School Admin Torches "CRT Not Taught In Schools" Claim, by Tony Kinnett
Parents, when we tell you Critical Race Theory isn't taught in our schools, we're lying. Keep looking!
2021-11-04 ~Environmt WT: Consecutive cold years reveal climate hoax of COP26, by Vijay Jayaraj
The poles show no signs of unusual melting, yet the climate-doomsday agenda advances with the assistance of naive media. But sooner or later, the fact of colder weather, rising heating bills, and rising sea ice will raise enough eyebrows to relegate predictions of a local weather apocalypse to the dustbin of hoaxes revealed.
2021-10-xx ~Bulletin. Democrat Bunkum about Youngkin, by Arthur Purves
2021-10-24 ~Health... American Thinker: Physicians and the Vaccine Tyranny, by Blaise Edwards, MD
The C-19 "pandemic" saw the Ruling Class require physicians' immune system knowledge to be shelved and replaced by government dictates. Early treatment with "off-label" drugs was forbidden. Imagine telling all diabetics that there is no metformin, Glucophage, or insulin. Would we really wait until patients are in diabetic ketoacidosis, and then treat them only at the hospital? It is medical malfeasance of a grand scale.
2021-10-20 ~Potpourri Converge Media: Wokeism - The New Religion of The West, by Max Funk
There are many names for what we currently find ourselves in; wokeness, political correctness, and cancel culture are some of them, but these only encapsulate a portion of the phenomenon. Cultural Marxism, neo-marxism, social justice, identity politics, and Critical Theory are broader descriptors. Here's a term that adequately captures the religiosity of the movement: wokeism.
2021-10-20 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Software Ate the World and Now Has Indigestion, by Charles Hugh Smith
As for all those automated systems we have to navigate -- do any of them work so well that those profiting from them actually use them? Of course not.
2021-10-20 ~FxMisc... Fox News: Fx Co violating election law in race for governor, by Tyler O'Neil
Complaint: Fx Co General Registrar, Scott O. Konopasek, had instituted a procedure to approve absentee ballot applications on which the applicant has not provided the last four digits of his or her Social Security number -- violating Virginia election law two weeks before the off-year gubernatorial election.
2021-10-19 ~National. ZeroHedge: Bitcoin and the US Fiscal Reckoning, by Avik Roy
"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust." -- Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, in 2009
2021-10-16 ~Health... Epoch Times: The Omega-6 [Seed Oil] Apocalypse, by Joseph Mercola
We've heard about the health risks of eating processed sugars, net carbs and trans fats. But seed oils far surpass all of these in the damage they cause to our health, causing ~90% of Americans to be "metabolically sick". Eliminating all seed oils from our diet should be our highest priority for reducing chronic diseases.
2021-10-16 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Policies Needed for Cutting Taxes, by Arthur Purves
Presentation and speech made at FCTA's annual luncheon.
2021-10-12 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: 2018 Research Proposal Similar to C-19 Pandemic, by Jeff Carlson
A Proposal from EcoHealth Alliance head Peter Daszak, dated March 27, 2018, sets out the organization's plan to create entirely new coronaviruses through the synthetic combination of preexisting virus backbones. It describes how those viruses were going to be made more virulent in humans by the insertion of a furin cleavage site, a feature that distinguishes COVID-19 from all other SARS-related coronaviruses.
2021-10-10 ~Report... New Virginia Laws and Policies pertaining to Public Safety, by Fred Costello-276
2021-10-09 ~National. ZeroHedge: The US Is Officially A Banana Republic, by Tyler Durden
The top 1% now own more wealth than the entire middle class. So the US is already effectively a banana republic if one defines such a nation as one which has a small but ultrapowerful and unaccountable kleptocracy which gets richer year after year by stealing from the rapidly shrinking middle class, courtesy of the Federal Reserve.
2021-10-04 ~Virginia. Ron Paul: Parents Should Control Education, but Terry McAuliffe disagrees!
Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe doesn't think parents should have a say in their children's education. They think parents should obediently pay the taxes to fund the government schools and never question any aspect of the government school indoctrination program.
2021-09-xx ~Bulletin. Return Va's Surplus, Don't Reward Schools that Don't Teach, by Arthur Purves
2021-09-28 ~Report... New Virginia Laws pertaining to Public Schools, by Fred Costello-275
2021-09-24 ~FxSchools Asra Investigates: Fx Co School Board Puts the X-rated in #Fairfaxxx
At last night's Fairfax County School Board meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School, brave mom Stacy Langton revealed porn and pedophilia in FCPS library books. The board cut her mic and fled, but I was able to record Stacy (6:40 video). Parents yelled, "Shame!" at the board for turning the county into #Fairfaxxx.
2021-09-19 ~Potpourri Gatestone Inst: A Hinge Moment of History, by Mark Steyn
We're living in the early stages of a future that is the direct consequence of poor public policy over the last couple of generations. Western civilization is sliding off a cliff and most citizens of most Western nations are not even aware of it. I would love it if we would talk about something important.
2021-09-17 ~National. ZeroHedge: 7 Signs Someone Has The Deadly Woke Mind Virus, by Brett Sinclair
COVID is only a mild virus. WOKENESS by contrast is quite lethal, with the most virulent variants running rampant in newsrooms and colleges. There are certain traits that appear to be extremely common among people who are 'woke': 1) Smugness; 2) Lack of introspection; 3) Quickness to anger; 4) Nihilist atheism; 5) Dishonesty; 6) Self-absorbed; 7) Depression, low self-worth, anxiety.
2021-09-15 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax County board passes 5-cent tax on plastic shopping bags
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week voted 9-1 to approve a 5-cent tax on plastic bags at grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores. The tax will go into effect Jan. 1, 2022. Supervisor Pat Herrity of the Springfield district cast the only dissenting vote.
2021-09-08 ~FxSchools WCSI: FCPS directing $20M+ toward 'equity', 'social and emotional' programs
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is planning to spend millions in coronavirus relief money on so-called "equity" training and woke indoctrination in the form of "Social and Emotional Learning" (SEL) initiatives. It entails an SEL "screener" through Panorama Education, a private contractor that's received investment from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
2021-09-07 ~Potpourri Reason: Loo and Behold, A First Amendment Toilet!, by Lenore Skenazy
"I have my First Amendment rights," says Hank Robar, the property owner who created a toilet garden to protest local officials.
2021-09-02 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Covidian Cult -- Part I, Part II, Part III, by CJ Hopkins
In The Covidian Cult (Part I) and (Part II), I characterized the so-called "New Normal" as a "global totalitarian ideological movement". Since I published those essays, more and more people have come to see it for what it is, not "insanity" or "an overreaction", but, in fact, a new form of totalitarianism, a globalized, pathologized, depoliticized form, which is being systematically implemented under the guise of "protecting the public health".
2021-09-02 ~Health... JuliusRuechel.com: "Immunity As A Service" - The COVID-Zero Bait-And-Switch
This Deep Dive exposes why the promise of COVID-Zero was a deliberately dishonest shell game designed to prey on a lack of public understanding of how our immune systems work and how most respiratory viruses differ from other viruses. We have been sold a fantasy designed to rope us into a pharmaceutical dependency, variant by variant, for as long as the public is willing to go along for the ride.
2021-09-01 ~Report... Virginia Election Laws Facilitating Voter Fraud, by Fred Costello-274
2021-08-26 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Weaponization Of Medicine, by Paul Rosenberg
I think nearly every adult grasps that medicine is being used as a weapon. We've been losing science and we've been losing medicine; that is flatly unacceptable. The problem underlying all of this is not that people are stupid, it's that they haven't the emotional strength to face unauthorized truth. Having been trained in submission to authority, to then speak against an authority is terrifying, so people find ways to ignore truth.
2021-08-26 ~National. ZeroHedge: Covid Tyranny Lessons via Australia and Afghanistan, by Brandon Smith
Australia and New Zealand have fast-tracked their Covid tyranny, but this cannot happen in the U.S. because Americans are heavily armed and will not comply. And the events in Afghanistan show that such control is nearly impossible to maintain over a population that is armed and that, in the U.S. at least, they will ultimately lose... badly. To summarize, the fight against Covid-1984 is already won, but the struggle has just begun.
2021-08-24 ~Virginia. RT: Terry McAuliffe calls on businesses to mandate Covid-1984 vaccine
Former Clinton bag man and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called on "every Virginia employer" this week to mandate Covid-19 vaccines among all "eligible employees". "We can't force them. We're not going door to door, but you make life difficult," he said. McAuliffe is facing off against the Trump-backed Republican Glenn Youngkin in what has become a heated race.
2021-08-24 ~Report... Tax Increases under Governor Northam, by Fred Costello-273
2021-08-23 ~National. Substack: Corona Plandemic, Part of the Great Reset?, by Ernst Wolff
FDR once said: "Nothing happens accidentally in politics, and when something happens, you can bet on it that it was exactly planned that way." When one looks at what happened in the last year and a half, then these words are especially alarming. Can it really be the case, that everything that we've experienced was planned?
2021-08-17 ~National. PILF: Nearly 15 Million Mail Ballots Went Unaccounted for in 2020 Election
"These figures detail how the 2020 push to mail voting needs to be a one-year experiment. ... Some of the counties with the least experience in administering mail voting rejected the most ballots nationwide. If continued, 2020-style chaos will become the norm." -- PILF President J. Christian Adams
2021-08-16 ~National. 1776unites.com: Open Letter to Local School Boards
The prevailing narrative of racial grievance has been corrupting the instruction of American history and the humanities for many decades, but has accelerated dangerously over the past year. The most damaging effects of such instruction fall on lower income minority children, who are implicitly told that they are helpless victims with no power or agency to shape their own futures.
2021-08-15 ~National. FCTA: On Mike Lindell's Claimed 2020 Election Results, by David Swink
While "My Pillow" guy Mike Lindell during his three-day "Cyber Symposium" failed to prove the massive election fraud he claims occurred, he provided what he claims are forensic corrections for 12 states that, if validated with a manual recount by a few of those states, would lead to a 50-state re-do and drastic changes in future election procedures.
2021-08-14 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Dear Next Generation: Pawpaw's Life Lessons, by P.J. Calhoun, Jr
My main goal was to teach my grandsons that you don't become successful in life by mistreating and misleading others. True success is achieved by living a principle-centered life. You are deceiving yourself if you think otherwise, and personal dishonesty has serious consequences. So here are my "Life Lessons" that I prepared only a few years ago.
2021-08-13 ~Health... ZeroHedge: India's Ivermectin Blackout, by Justus R Hope,
There is a blackout on any conversation about how Ivermectin beat COVID-19 in India. When I discussed the dire straits that India found itself in early this year with 414,000 cases per day, and over 4,000 deaths per day, and how that evaporated within five weeks of the addition of Ivermectin, I am often asked, "But why is there no mention of that in the news?"
2021-08-06 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Neoliberalism Now Stripmining the Middle Class, by Charles Hugh Smith
Having run out of opportunities globally, America's Financial Elite has come home to stripmine the last available pool of wealth: America's middle class. Once a market has been de-regulated and opened to global capital, the decisive factor becomes the cost of borrowing money; the elite with 1% borrowing costs and can outbid the middle class at 4% for income producing assets.
2021-08-06 ~Environmt PJ Media: Toyota Warns (Again) About Electrifying All Autos, by Bryan Preston
When Toyota offers an opinion on the car market, it's probably worth listening to. This week, Toyota reiterated an opinion it has offered before. That opinion is straightforward: The world is not yet ready to support a fully electric auto fleet.
2021-08-05 ~National. ZeroHedge: 'We Will Not Comply' against medical tyranny, by Brandon Smith
The entire world is being locked down and told we have to give up our inherent human liberties because 0.26% of the population might get more than sniffles and brain fog from a covid infection. Why? Well, that's easy; because the covid response and restrictions have nothing to do with public health and everything to do with public control.
2021-08-02 ~Health... JPost: Israeli scientist recommends Ivermectin for Covid, by M Jaffe-Hoffman
Double-blind study shows the dirt-cheap anti-malarial drug ivermectin reduces Covid's duration and infectiousness. Nevertheless FDA, WHO, Big Pharma (including ivermectin manufacturer Merck), and the so-called science journals are in opposition to even considering its use against C-19. (So it's all about the Benjamins!)
2021-07-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Gender Ideology Run Amok, Abigail Shrier
Imprimis lecture by author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
2021-07-xx ~Environmt Limbaugh: Dirty Truth About EVs -- bad for the environment!
For all the globaloney about "net-zero" carbon emissions, the typical electric car contains six times more minerals than a gas-powered car and requires 38% more energy to produce. Plus mining of the required minerals wrecks havoc on the environment, as does efforts to recycle those lithium-ion batteries.
2021-07-26 ~National. Epoch Times: A Foretaste of Fascism, by Dinesh D'Souza
The Biden administration has established a shadow state in which the federal government achieves its unconstitutional objectives -- mask mandates, forced vaccines, suppression of religious freedom, and free speech -- by recruiting private corporations to do its bidding. Such a public-private partnership has a name: Fascism.
2021-07-21 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Yes, CRT Is Being Taught in Schools, by Hans Bader
"Many high schools and middle schools are assigning" Ibram Kendi's book Stamped to students, notes George Mason University law professor David Bernstein, even though this "book associated with Critical Race Theory" is filled with factual errors, and contains "bad history". For example, Amazon spent $5,000 to distribute hundreds of copies of Ibram X. Kendi's book "Stamped" to Virginia public school students in Arlington, Va.
2021-07-20 ~National. Epoch Times: Montana AG provides legal basis for rejecting CRT, by Matthew Vadum
Republican attorney general of Montana Austin Knudsen has written a legal opinion about whether Marxist-invented critical race theory (CRT) violates the U.S. and Montana constitutions as well as various federal civil rights laws. The opinion comes as public resistance to CRT grows and intensifies among parents in communities across the country who are fighting back by protesting and taking over local school boards.
2021-07-19 ~National. AEI: Will CRT follow the 'Defund the Police' debacle, by Frederick M. Hess
As with the self-destructive push to "defund the police", Democrats intent on "fixing" school curricula have stood by as their efforts have been overtaken by ideologues in thrall to a vision of "anti-racist" education that is noxious to the vast majority of Americans -- who don't like concepts like "hard work", "being well-mannered", and "being responsible" denigrated as "acting white".
2021-07-17 ~Report... Scott Brabrand on Fx Co School Challenges 2021-2022, by Fred Costello-272
2021-07-16 ~FxSchools ZeroHedge: "Let Them Die", says Fairfax PTA/NAACP officer to anti-CRT parents
" Let's deny this off-key band of people that are anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning, ... [plus 17 more 'anti's] people. Let them die. Don't let these uncomfortable people ... deter us from our bold march forward." -- Michelle Leete, VP at Va and Fx Co PTAs and 1st VP of Fx Co NAACP.
2021-07-15 ~National. ZeroHedge: Biden's Desperation Vaccine "Strike Force" Plan, by Brandon Smith
With C-19 full vaccination rate at 51%, and the virus now seen as basically a nothing-burger, it's not likely that Fauci's 70% vax rate target will be reached. With those experimental vaccines now freely available, CVS and Walgreens have been throwing away expired doses by the hundreds of thousands. Half the country now realizes that the real issue is about control, and Biden's suggested door-to-door "strike force" would merely confirm that.
2021-07-15 ~National. JWR: Democrats now the Party of the rich, by Victor Davis Hanson
The two parties are switching class constituents. Some 65% of the Americans making more than $500,000 a year are Democrats, and 74% of those who earn less than $100,000 a year are Republicans. Democrats are now a bicoastal party of elites from corporate America, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the media, universities, entertainment and professional sports.
2021-07-09 ~National. Tucker Carlson: Why So Many People Believe Election Was Rigged, by @martyrmade
Never before have so many truth bombs been dropped so rapidly with so few asides. Because the Twitter thread that blows all other Twitter threads away has been written, and is not (yet) banned by Twitter. And tonight, Tucker Carlson read the whole thing aloud. -- Fred T. at RightScoop.com
2021-07-07 ~Health... The Observer: If you've had Covid-19, you're protected for life
If you've had COVID-19, even a mild case, you've more than likely got immunity for life, according to researchers from Washington University School of Medicine. Cells called plasmablasts provide antibodies, then memory B cells move in to monitor blood for signs of reinfection, and finally bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) act as "persistent and essential sources of protective antibodies."
2021-07-02 ~National. JWR: Silly people vs. serious people, by Jonathan Rosenblum
The battle between China and the U.S. for world leadership will largely be determined by technological superiority, which in turn will depend on our respective educational systems -- with the U.S. is deliberately hamstringing itself. Rather than identifying our top students and fostering their development, we have declared war on standards and all the ways in which students once distinguished themselves.
2021-06-xx ~Bulletin. Governor Northam's Hidden 40% Gasoline Tax Hike, by Arthur Purves
2021-06-28 ~Virginia. CER: Virginia 49th in Charter School Ranking of States
2021-06-25 ~FxSchools Daily Caller: Woman Blasts Fx Co Sch Bd For Sneaking CRT Into Teacher Training
"For the many parents in the community who say, 'FCPS does not teach Critical Race Theory,' I want to read from this ['Stamped' study] guide [which is the assigned summer professional development for Chantilly High School teachers]," she added. "Do you, as leaders of our school system, believe in America? Do you believe in meritocracy?"
2021-06-18 ~FxSchools Fx Times: Yes, there IS Critical Race Theory in our schools, by Eliz. Schultz
Despite protestations of school boards in Fairfax and Loudoun that they are not "teaching" it, there has been a comprehensive, deliberative, and manipulative effort of school staff and the school boards, underway for years. The tactics have been advised and funded by outside progressive consultants, groups, and money - then intentionally expanded statewide - to embrace and deeply-embed critical race theory in our schools. (also ... Schultz in the Daily Mail on 05/20/2021.)
2021-06-14 ~Health... One Man's ... Cure for the Common Cold?, by John Swink
I am over 70 years old and have a long history of getting severe colds and bronchitis that lasted up to 6 weeks. But I've discovered the best way to greatly shorten the duration and severity of colds is to use a special saline nasal spray at the first signs of a cold. Here's the recipe...
2021-06-13 ~FxSchools FCTA: Full Text of English-Lit Classic Books in Fx Co, circa 1962, by D. Swink
These works taught us life's lessons and provided valuable perspective from human history in Western civilization. (Wonder if these are still required in FCPS.)
2021-06-12 ~FxSchools Free Beacon: Critical Race Theory Opponents Win Board Elections At T.J.
A slate of four anti-CRT candidates this week won seats on the governing body of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology -- the nation's top high school -- after campaigning against the school's racially driven admissions practices. The County School Board had earlier adopted a quota system to boost black and Hispanic enrollment numbers at T.J.
2021-06-09 ~Report... The Virginia Department of Education Equity Program, by Fred Costello-268
2021-06-08 ~FxSchools Bacon's Rebellion: Educators Play Semantic Games to Befuddle Voters [wrt CRT]
Under assault from irate parents, Northern Virginia educators have been at pains to say that they do not teach Critical Race Theory to students. But FCTA's Arthur Purves has documents showing 400 of Ibram Kendi's CRT books purchased by Glasgow Middle School and 675 for Oakton High school. Who are they handing them out to -- the cafeteria staff and school bus drivers?
2021-06-03 ~National. AMAC: Dems' iCivics org'n aims to "iWoke" American history and civics education
A little-known nonprofit called iCivics is increasingly emerging as the driving force behind Democrats' crusade to impose "woke" civics education in classrooms throughout the country -- a crusade hostile to the core principles upon which this country was founded.
2021-05-26 ~FxSchools SunGazette: Marxist propaganda has no place in Fairfax schools, by Edward Wenzel
Letter sent to Fx Co Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay: "[E]ncourage the School Board and Superintendent Scott Brabrand to pull the plug on the racist, anti-white Critical Race curriculum that is being forced on county taxpayers and schoolchildren. ... [W]hy haven't you [Fx Co Supervisors] shut this garbage down?"
2021-05-21 ~National. AMAC: Fmr AG Barr Argues Left-Wing Brainwashing in Schools Is Unconstitutional
In an address to Alliance Defending Freedom, Bill Barr argued that "the greatest threat to religious liberty in America today" is "the increasingly militant and extreme secular-progressive climate of our state-run educational system," and may well have reached the point of being unconstitutional. He describes the decline in three phases, and we are in the third phase.
2021-05-17 ~National. ZeroHedge: Covid-19 Was A Test... And We Failed, by Jim Quinn
What has occurred in the last year has befuddled me, as the level of treachery, deception, disinformation, and false narratives has reached excessive elevations, indicating a sense of urgency and desperation by those wielding power over society. It has been depressing and frustrating to witness the level of obedient compliance by the majority of frightened sheep in this country, with complete subservience to authoritarian dictates of their overlords.
2021-05-14 ~National. ZeroHedge: Vaccine Virtue Signaling And The Cult Of Woke, by Brandon Smith
All tyrannical systems need a large contingent of cheerleaders in order to survive and thrive; a group of exploitable and devout acolytes that will carry the torch and evangelize the masses with the ideology of control. The Covid-19 scamdemic is just another means whereby the woke minority seek political control.
2021-05-12 ~FxSchools SunGazette: Fairfax School Board leaving carnage in its wake, by Jo-Anne Sears
Fairfax County Public Schools was once known as a place where we nuture learners to excel at all levels. The pandemic has shown parents on both sides of the political aisle that this is not the case -- that the Schools Board is mostly made up of unaccomplished politicians and self-professed do-gooders who are in way over their collective heads.
2021-05-12 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS Entertaining Ibram Kendi's "Critical Race Theory" -- 3,200 books?
"It's offensive to the taxpayer that they would be asked to fund Critical Race Theory, that they would be asked to fund teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other." -- Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fl) on 05/21/2021
2021-05-11 ~FxSchools FCTA: Public Schools: Learning or Critical Race Theory?, Purves FCPS testimony
FCTA is concerned about Fx Co Public Schools literally "buying in" to the Marxist Critical Race Theory espoused by Ibram Kendi, and the 3,200 books purchased throughout the school system. In truth, the only racism is being practiced by FCPS itself, in denying proper reading and math (and now US history) instruction within its schools.
2021-05-06 ~National. JWR: Are Americans becoming Sovietized?, by Victor Davis Hanson
What ultimately ended the nihilist Soviet system? Was it not that Russians finally tired of the Kremlin's lies and hypocrisies that permeated every facet of their falsified lives? Here are 10 symptoms of Sovietism. Ask yourself whether today's woke America is headed down this same road to perdition.
2021-04-xx ~Bulletin. Learning or Indoctrination in our Schools?, by Arthur Purves
2021-04-30 ~National. JWR: American universities have lost their prestige, by Victor Davis Hanson
The university from the late 1940s to 1960 was a rich resource of continuing education. It introduced the world's great literature, from Homer to Tolstoy, to the American middle classes. An empirical college curriculum mostly survived the chaos of the '60s. But it is gone now.
2021-04-27 ~Potpourri JWR: "Affluence + Secularism = Boredom = Leftism", by Dennis Prager
Most leftists come from the upper and upper-middle class; and nearly all leftists are irreligious people. These two facts produce a problem: Many people lack meaning in their lives, traditionally met by four things: religion, family, providing for oneself and one's family, and patriotism -- all of which are fading. And lack of meaning is another way of stating "boredom" -- a boredom of the soul.
2021-04-23 ~Virginia. Fox News: Virginia to dumb down math courses in name of 'equity', by Sam Dorman
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options in government schools prior to 11th grade, effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.
2021-04-21 ~Environmt Heartland: Climate at a Glance, for Teachers and Students, by Watts and Taylor
An 82-page booklet by Anthony Watts and James Taylor. Facts for climate realists are discussed in 30 prominant climate topics, in 5 categories: The Atmosphere and Land; The Sea and Ice; Temperatures and Extreme Weather; Humans and Animals; Scientific and Policy Controversies
2021-04-19 ~National. Minuteman Militia: The United States of Two Americas, by Col. John Mills
If you haven't noticed, the United States is re-organizing itself into two Americas -- Blue and Red. Although there is a President of the United States, the state governors are in many ways now driving the national narrative in this new America.
2021-04-15 ~Health... Epoch Times: Doctor's Advice on Early Treatment for COVID-19, by Conan Milner
Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet is a board-certified physician practicing in Arizona who specializes in preventive medicine. She asserts we should treat COVID with the best practices learned from every other virus, and we're not doing that. The Epoch Times talked to Dr. Vliet about this.
2021-04-13 ~National. Bari Weiss: A Parent and a Teacher Slam Woke Indoctrination -- letters
In the first letter, a New York father is referring to a private all-girls school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where prospective families have to take an "anti-racism pledge" to be considered for admission. In the second letter, a Manhattan high school teacher speaks of his teaching environment, with striking similarities to Mao's Cultural Revolution.
2021-04-13 ~National. Epoch Times: Weaponizing Schools With 'Critical Race Theory', by Alex Newman
Mao's regime sought to "Destroy Four Olds," -- to eradicate China's old ideas, culture, habits, and customs. In today's America, 'Critical Race Theory' is a similar attempt to eradicate America's ideas, culture, habits, and customs. This "Woke Supremacy" is increasingly infiltrating our government schools, indoctrinating our children to hate this country.
2021-04-13 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimonies to BOS on the County Budget, by 5 FCTA board members
Reduce the real estate tax rate from the currently-proposed $1.15 rate to perhaps $1.08, so that there will be no impact on the taxpayer -- especially after losing some 9,000 students due to closure of the public school system. Raise the retirement age of newly hired employees to age 62. Set up an Office of Inspector General (OIG).
2021-04-09 ~National. WayUpNorth: The Tocquevillian Descent into Tyranny, by Joshua Charles
At the end of his seminal work, "Democracy in America," Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville offered a stunningly prescient "prophecy" of how democratic institutions could easily fall into a tyranny unlike anything the world had ever seen before. Nearly two centuries later, his "prophecy" seems to draw closer and closer to fulfillment every day, if it hasn't been fulfilled already.
2021-04-06 ~National. JWR: Mask-Wearing Represents Fear and Blind Obedience, by Dennis Prager
When I see people walking outside, often alone with no one anywhere near them, wearing a mask, my primary reactions are disappointment and sadness. I expected better from my fellow Americans. I never thought most Americans would be governed by irrational fears and unquestioning obedience to authority.
2021-04-05 ~National. Quarter Moon: US Will Recover from Deep Crisis of Wokeness, by Conrad Black
As the avalanche of wokeness and national self-hate that has crashed over the restraining walls of the American mythos, one pillar of traditional American democracy after another has fallen: government institutions, the media, big business, education at all levels. America is in crisis, but it has been in crisis before and it does resolve them.
2021-04-01 ~National. JWR: The 10 radical new rules that are changing America, by Victor Davis Hanson
1) Money can be created from thin air; 2) Laws are not necessarily binding anymore; 3) Racialism is now acceptable; 4) The immigrant is mostly preferable to the citizen; 5) Most Americans should be treated as little children; 6) Virtue-signaling is alive; 7) Ignoring or perpetuating homelessness is preferable to ending it; 8) McCarthyism is good; 9) Ignorance is preferable to knowledge; 10) Wokeness is the new religion.
2021-03-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Critical Race Theory: What It Is, How to Fight It, Christopher Rufo
Imprimis lecture by Christopher F. Rufo, Battlefront Founder and Director
2021-03-xx ~Bulletin. County chairman covering up a 4% real estate tax hike, by Arthur Purves
2021-03-26 ~FxTrans.. The Antiplanner: What's the Point of Transit Subsidies?
In many American cities, it would be less expensive to give such people Uber rides to and from work than to keep subsidizing transit. But transit won't change until Congress changes how it funds transit. If Congress is happy to hand money over to transit agencies for running empty buses and trains, then they will run empty buses and trains.
2021-03-23 ~National. ArcaMax: The Fall of Chile Is a Warning to America, by Stephen Moore
Back in the 1970s, the nation of Chile embarked on one of the boldest sets of free market economic reforms in history, and Chile became the jewel of South America. Then in 2013 the Left took over, free market reforms were systematically replaced with "spread the wealth" platitudes, and Chile is now in economic free fall. America now appears to be on a similar path.
2021-03-19 ~FxSchools Connection: Lawsuit Challenges TJ's "Kim Crow" Admission Changes, by M. Hobson
The party of Jim Crow has done a similar racial number on the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as "TJ". The Pacific Legal Foundation has now filed a civil suit against the Fairfax County School Board and its Superintendent, Dr. Scott Brabrand for discriminating against Asian-American students.
2021-03-17 ~FxSchools WT: Woke Loudoun Co teachers blacklist, dox parents critical of race teachings
A group of teachers and others in Loudoun County, Virginia, compiled a blacklist of parents who they felt disagreed with the school's teaching of critical race theory (CRT), in an effort to humiliate them online and to "expose these people publicly," the Daily Wire first reported. (Could Fairfax Co parents be next?)
2021-03-16 ~Report... Biden-Administration Accomplishments, by Fred Costello-259
2021-03-16 ~FxTrans.. The Antiplanner: Applying Value Engineering to Transit Projects
The process of determining the appropriate technology to use in any given situation is known as value engineering -- a way to 'focus on the big picture'. But transit agencies don't focus on the big picture. Wedded to expensive rail or other capital-intensive projects, they won't analyze whether buses could have done better than rail in the first place.
2021-03-12 ~National. Epoch Times: The Age of Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Joshua Charles
Written in 1985, Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" provides insights that have become more and more relevant and ominous. He argues that Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was a more accurate framing of societal changes than George Orwell's 1984. Orwell feared those who would ban books. Huxley feared that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
2021-03-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Real Estate Tax Increase -- +4.45% residential (-4.05% comm)
Public posting, page A9 in the Washington Times. Proposed rate of $1.15 unchanged from previous year. But average assessments increased 4.45% for residential, and decreased 4.05% for commercial. So an effective tax increase of 2.01%.
2021-03-09 ~State-WV. American Thinker: WV Wants to Change the Game on Education, by Elise Ehrhard
After 2020, the red-blue divide has accentuated between free states and counties and increasingly repressive and authoritarian blue states and counties -- particularly in the area of education. West Virginia's legislature may change that this year by creating education savings accounts for which 90% of students in the state are eligible. This would give parents financial freedom and discourage extortion by teachers' unions.
2021-03-06 ~National. Epoch Times: How HR1 Would Change Elections, by Masooma Haq
Here are some of the key changes to election laws made by H.R.1, the 791-page-long "For the People Act of 2021", passed by the House and now before the Senate.
2021-03-03 ~Environmt ZeroHedge: What Lies Ahead? The Grand Solar Minimum, by Luke Eastwood
We have just finished a solar maximum cycle of around 70 years and are now heading into a both a new 11 year cycle and a new grand solar minimum cycle that will reach its lowest (coldest) point some time between 2030 and 2040, perhaps the worst one since the Maunder Minimum in the 1600s. So for the next 10 to 40 years it is going to get colder, not warmer!
2021-03-02 ~Virginia. WalletHub: VA Has Most Restrictions, Highest COVID-19 Death Rate, by Adam McCann
WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine the states with the fewest coronavirus restrictions, and note their coronavirus death rate. Virginia came out dead last in both categories. South Carolina, by contrast, has almost no restrictions and a low Covid-19 death rate.
2021-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Science, Politics, and COVID: Will Truth Prevail?, by Scott W. Atlas
Imprimis lecture by Scott W. Atlas, Hoover Institution
2021-02-xx ~Bulletin. No taxation without education!, by Arthur Purves
2021-02-28 ~Health... ZeroHedge: Is This Why "New COVID Cases" Are Crashing?
C-19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations have been going down for weeks. It's not vaccines -- not enough time to have taken effect. It's not lockdowns -- Sweden and UK down at same rate. It's WHO's new PCR testing guidelines -- reducing the false positives and thus cases and deaths falsely attributed to C-19.
2021-02-24 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Work-at-Home and the Transportation Revolution
It may be time for a major re-think of transportation policy. Alan Pisarski, a Northern Virginia transportation consultant, argues that new technologies and business models, some accelerated by the COVID-19 epidemic, could radically change decades-old travel patterns. So states should refrain for now from expanding their transportation systems and just concentrate on maintenance.
2021-02-22 ~Report... A Parallel Society, by Fred Costello-261
2021-02-19 ~Virginia. AMAC: Email Records Show Teachers Unions Are Fighting to Keep Va Schools Closed
For months, Virginia teachers unions have peddled fear: Reopening public schools for in-person learning was and is too dangerous. Email records show the unions also have engaged in an intense behind-the-scenes pressure campaign to influence Democrat state lawmakers, sending thousands of emails to Democrat House delegates about school-reopening plans.
2021-02-17 ~National. Fox News: Why Rush Limbaugh mattered -- Obituary, by Tucker Carlson
Quoting Rush Limbaugh on "60 Minutes" in 1991: I think I just happen to be saying what a whole lot of people think, but don't have a chance to say themselves. That's why they call me 'the most dangerous man in America'. Somebody's finally saying this stuff. "The most dangerous man in America." That's what they call you when you're brave enough to tell the truth.
2021-02-17 ~Health... Israel21c: Has Israel just found the cure for Covid?, by Abigail Klein Leichman
Two drugs developed in Israel to treat Covid patients show great promise in clinical trials: EXO-CD24 and Allocetra. EXOCD24 stops the "cytokine storm" -- where the immune system goes out of control and starts attacking healthy cells -- that occurs in the lungs of 5-7% of Covid-19 patients, and has cured all 30 moderate-to-severe cases in a Phase I clinical trial. Allocetra works by restoring balance to the immune system, and has been successful in a Phase II clinical trial.
2021-02-13 ~National. Fox News: 'Trumpism' is Bigger than Trump, by Newt Gingrich
No matter what the accusations against former President Trump are, his base can't leave him because the alternative is so unacceptable to them. Nothing the left can say will shake the tens of millions of Americans' belief that the elites despise them, the bureaucrats bully and cheat them, and the news media lies to them.
2021-02-10 ~Report... Insulin Prices, by Fred Costello-260
2021-02-10 ~National. WT: Americans reporting vote fraud punished, by Alex Swoyer
Americans who came forward when they spotted what they thought was suspicious activity in the 2020 presidential election say they got a message loud and clear: If you see something, shut up about it.
2021-02-10 ~National. ZeroHedge: What Collapsed the Middle Class?, by Charles Hugh Smith
The middle class has already collapsed, but thanks to debt and bubbles, this reality has been temporarily cloaked. A few core causal factors: 1) The decapitalization of the middle class and the decay of the ladder of social mobility; 2) Substitution of debt and speculation for earned income and productive capital; 3) The tyranny of global markets.
2021-02-08 ~National. Epoch Times: Time Mag Details 'Shadow Campaign' Against Trump, by Jeff Carlson
"They were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it," Time magazine says. (It's a good thing a cabal of wealthy and influential people, united by their loathing for Trump, saved us from the orange man.)
2021-02-05 ~National. Video: 'Absolute Truth' of 11/03/20 Voting Machine Fraud, by Mike Lindell (2 hrs)
Mike Lindell has gathered what he thinks are the best evidence of vote fraud though machine manipulation in a two-hour video. Overview here.
2021-01-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Obama Never Left -- He's the DNC, now White House, puppet master
Instead of going home to Chicago or Hawaii after leaving office, Barack Obama stayed in Washington and has been directing the undermining of [candidate and then President] Trump for over four years. He was the brains behind the selection of Biden/Harris and the orchestrated Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, and is the current puppet master directing the White House.
2021-01-xx ~National. 1776 Report: President's Advisory 1776 Commission, to unwoke American history
The declared purpose of the President's Advisory 1776 Commission is to "enable a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776 and to strive to form a more perfect Union." This requires a restoration of American education, which can only be grounded on a history of those principles that is "accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling."
2021-01-xx ~Bulletin. Don't be misled about real estate tax hikes!, by Arthur Purves
2021-01-27 ~National. Chronicles Mag: What to Expect When You're Expecting Totalitarianism
What does totalitarianism look like? 1) Politics is everything; 2) Hiding behind a front of 'democracy'; 3) Diversity is abolished; 4) New replaces old. If that sounds familiar, how can we keep ourselves from becoming another mindless cog in the totalitarian machine? Simply swim upstream and foster those things which totalitarian government is against.
2021-01-26 ~FxSchools FCTA: Public Schools: No Taxation Without Education, FCPS testimony by Art Purves
FCTA has three observations: 1) During Covid lockdown, about $400 million has been spent on non-working employees, but you're now asking for a $43 million increase; 2) Continued school lockdowns are not justified by the extremely low Covid mortality rate for age group 65 and under; 3) "Whole word" reading method should be discarded complete in favor of phonics.
2021-01-23 ~National. ZeroHedge: Confessions of a Deprogrammed Trump Supporter -- satire, by Matt Ehret
Former Moonie-turned-cult-deprogrammer Steve Hassan has given advice on CNN to Americans wishing to deprogram their MAGA-hat wearing loved ones. I was fortunate enough to have read Hassan's book and had the loving scrub-brush of truth wash my brain of all of its formerly pro-Trump sympathies. I am most certainly better off for having left those old delusions in the past. For one thing, I used to enjoy my right to free speech...
2021-01-22 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Despicables, by Eric Peters
The wholesale cancelling of politically unapproved speech by the Tech Oligarchs shows how obvious their pathological dishonesty has become. Amazon, Facebook and Twitter have asserted that, as private businesses, they have the right to decide with whom to do business -- similar to those "No Colored" signs on the door of businesses back in the '50s.
2021-01-21 ~States... FCTA: Summary of Private School Choice in U.S. - Jan 2020, by David Swink
This paper merely summarizes the basic information provided by edChoice and UMass Dartmouth into a simple table with the state's population and percentage of students eligible in each category option.
2021-01-21 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: The educational hypocrisy reaches new heights -- editorial
The leadership of Northern Virginia teacher "unions," never fail to find reasons why they don't want to go back to class -- and behave like schoolyard bullies to those who hold other points of view. Of course, if we had School Boards and superintendents locally who put the needs of students first instead of groveling and kowtowing, we wouldn't have spent nearly a year already with faux-learning.
2021-01-19 ~National. JWR: Why the Left Has to Suppress Free Speech, by Dennis Prager
The answer, though the left will not acknowledge it, is the left fears dissent. And they do so for good reason. Leftism is essentially a giant balloon filled with nothing but hot air. Therefore, no matter how big the balloon -- the Democrat Party, The New York Times, Yale University -- all it takes is a mere pin to burst it.
2021-01-19 ~National. WT: 'Woke' culture resembles the French Revolution, by Gerard Leval
Revolutions are draining and the assault on religion, landmarks and norms are a short-term thing. The French Revolution took just 21 years of assault on culture and traditions before it wore itself out, and the old customs and traditions were revived.
2021-01-12 ~National. ZeroHedge: C-19 & Emergence of the Pandemic Industrial Complex, by Brian Berletic
History has already taught us that pandemics can be declared -- not because they actually exist and/or pose as grave a threat as government, media and corporate stakeholders claim -- but because profits are to be made by big pharma, in connection with those in organizations like the WHO who have the unique power to declare pandemics, and perpetuate them regardless of the truth.
2021-01-11 ~National. ZeroHedge: The 'Woke' Purge Has Begun, by Brendan O'Neill
Cancel culture doesn't exist, they say. And yet with the flick of a switch, billionaire capitalists voted for by precisely nobody have just silenced a man who is still the democratically elected president of the United States, preventing him from engaging with his supporters (and critics) in the new public square of the internet age. Brace yourselves; the purge is only beginning.
2021-01-08 ~National. ZeroHedge: Media Cancel Culture Goes Full 'George Orwell', by Tyler Durden
Twitter cancels @realDonaldTrump, after suspending General Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell and various other pro-Trump accounts. Meanwhile, Apple and Google threaten to ban [Twitter alternative] Parler's app unless the service enacts draconian censorship policies demanded by left-wing Big Tech oligarchs. Facebook has removed the 'Walk Away' campaign from its platform. So we are now living Orwell's 1984.
2021-01-06 ~National. Infowars: Massive Dem Election Fraud Operated From Italy, by Jamie White
The theft of the November 3 U.S. presidential election in multiple states was orchestrated in the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy ... by an employee Stephan Serafini, a foreign service officer of over 20 years. This unprecedented foreign cyberattack was funded by none other than former U.S. President Barack Obama, with the help of Renzi, the former prime minister of Italy.
2021-01-03 ~Health... AFLDR: The Truth about the CV19 Vaccine, by Dr. Simone Gold
Emergency physician Dr. Simone Gold gives this gobsmacking talk on the Great Awakening show about the breathtaking skullduggery that was coordinated worldwide across governments and health agencies against the drug hydroxychloroquine, the ordering of needless masks and lockdowns, and now the mandating of experimental vaccines. (Video and transcript.)
2021-01-01 ~National. ZeroHedge: Hospitals Receive $77,000 to Report "Death by Covid"? Hmmm!, by GQ Pan
Two Minnesota legislators who believe their state's Covid-19 death count is inaccurate are calling for a nationwide audit to find out how many people died from something other than the CCP virus but were added to the pandemic death totals. The extra $77,000 from the CARES Act for hospitals declaring death by Covid, rather than some other cause, acts as a huge reverse incentive.
2020-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Orwell's 1984 and Today, by Larry P. Arnn
The president of Hillsdale College compares aspects of American society today to the totalitarian novels from George Orwell (1984), Arthur Koestler (Darkness at Noon), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), and C.S. Lewis (That Hideous Strength).
2020-12-xx ~FxSchools NewEnglishReview.org: A One-Party Fairfax County Goes for Woke, by Eric Rozenman
In Fairfax County, VA, the increasingly oxymoronically-named Democratic Party mimics the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's dystopian 1984, seeking to scrub the past (historical markers) and the present (dumbing down at TJ, critical race theory, et al).
2020-12-xx ~Bulletin. Cutting Virginia Taxes
2020-12-26 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Gray Curtain Descends, Part 1, by Robert Gore
It's a close contest between which officially approved story is more implausible: Coronavirus as the Scourge of Humanity or America's Free and Fair Election. The former enabled the latter, and they were propagated by the same people pursuant to an all-in power grab. Both are riddled with glaring inconsistencies and fraud.
2020-12-19 ~World.... ZeroHedge: 2020, The Year We Became Infantilised And Dehumanised, by Rob Slane
Millions of people humiliated by the Marketing Team of Covid-19 and their infantile slogans. Millions of people dehumanised by having their faces, their smiles, their laughter, their thoughtfulness etc covered to make them into expressionless drones. That was the year we just lived through. Will 2021 see us try to escape the Kindergarten and return to being human?
2020-12-19 ~National. ZeroHedge: Populist American Powder Keg Is Primed; Will It Be Lit?, by Tim Kirby
We are in a unique moment in history with: 1) a blatantly stolen American election; 2) populist movements rising in the West; 3) public outrage over Covid-19 measures and government incompetence. But more importantly life is becoming finally uncomfortable enough that many have nothing to lose, which is exactly what populist politicians need to make the change necessary to keep the West alive.
2020-12-18 ~National. ZeroHedge: When Deplorables Become Ungovernables, by Pepe Escobar
Everything that lies ahead points to the irreconcilable -- pitting the absolute majority that voted Dem in the Atlantic-Pacific nodes versus the South and a deeply divided Midwest. As much as Biden-Harris is bound to isolate the South even more, their prospects of "pacifying" the Midwest are less than zero. Informed citizens now see, crystal clear, the astonishing depth and reach of Deep State power. No matter how the election is determined, the Deplorables will become The Ungovernables.
2020-12-18 ~National. ZeroHedge: 2020, The Year We Lost The Plot, by Rob Slane
In the real world, the only thing that got controlled this year was not a virus, but people. People were suppressed, people were controlled, people were owned. And by and large they acquiesced in putting their hand to this National Suicide Plan. We lost the plot in 2020, and the most pressing question is: will we get it back in 2021?
2020-12-16 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: The COVID-19 Data Is A "Travesty", used to create fear and submission
The way the Covid-19 death data is recorded in many countries around the world has produced, and continues to produce, an inflated death toll. This inflated death toll has then been, and continues to be, used by fascist-style bureaucracies, in conjunction with scientific priesthoods, to terrify the general public into obedience.
2020-12-15 ~National. Navarro Report: Six Key Dimensions of Election Irregularities
This report shows a coordinated strategy to effectively stack the election deck against the Trump-Pence ticket. The observed patterns of election irregularities are so consistent across the six battleground states that they suggest a coordinated strategy to, if not steal the election outright, strategically game the election process in such a way as to "stuff the ballot box" and unfairly tilt the playing field in favor of the Biden-Harris ticket.
2020-12-14 ~Environmt ZeroHedge: If All Autos Are Electric, What To Do With The 47% 'Waste' Gasoline?
Refining of oil produces a number of products including jet fuel (10%), kerosene (23%), gasoline (47%), and other products (20%). This ratio is immutable. Before the automobile, gasoline was a waste product that was dumped into streams. So if we eliminate gas-powered autos, what will we do now with this 'waste' byproduct?
2020-12-11 ~Environmt ZeroHedge: Which Countries Have The Worst Air Pollution?, by Iman Ghosh
Countries with the cleanest air include the U.S., Canada, many European countries, New Zealand and Australia. Countries with the dirtiest air include China, India and other south Asian countries, and many mid- and north-African countries.
2020-12-06 ~National. WT: 'Old Friends' helped China influence U.S. policy, power, by Bill Gertz
China influenced American policies for decades through a covert network of "old friends" -- sympathizers and agents -- who had penetrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions before the Trump administration, according to an academic linked to the Chinese government.
2020-12-04 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Former Chinese Communist Party Insider Breaks With Beijing, by Cai Xia
A Chinese Communist Party true believer, born and raised into a Communist military family, describes her career as a professor and cheerleader for the CCP movement. Her hopes were dashed on a trip to Spain, when she compared post-Franco Spain's experience to China's, now ruled by President-for-life Xi Jinping.
2020-12-04 ~National. Epoch Times: Election Fraud Allegations
In the fallout from the Nov. 3 election, numerous credible allegations of voting irregularities have arisen in the form of sworn affidavits and other evidence. Information is transcribed from an Epoch Times infographic and provides an overview of some of the election malfeasance currently known.
2020-12-01 ~FxTrans.. ZeroHedge: D.C. Metro Faces Massive Cuts To Rail, Bus Service, by Tyler Durden
DC Metro faces a budget hole of nearly a half-billion dollars, with rail ridership down more than 85% most weekdays from 2019 due to the pandemic. Changes proposed: 1) 3800 layoffs; 2) Closing 19 stations; 3) No weekend rail service; 4) Trains run only every half hour on each line; 5) Closing rail stations early at 9 pm weekdays; 6) Reducing bus routes from 60 to 41.
2020-11-29 ~National. ZeroHedge: Why 2020 presidential election is deeply puzzling, by Patrick Basham
Call me a Crank, but ... There are many historical statistics from previous presidential elections that don't make sense. Adding to the mystery is a cascade of information about the bizarre manner in which so many ballots were accumulated and counted.
2020-11-24 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY2022 Budget Forecast - Pandemic Impacts Projected Revenue, Priorities
FY2022 revenue is projected to remain flat, with no growth anticipated in Real Estate or Personal Property taxes. As a result, the budgetary shortfall forecast for FY2022 is $40.6 million for the county and $32.5 million for FCPS, which must be addressed before the budget is adopted in May 2021. (Real estate values expected to rise +3%, so your taxes will go up again without a proportional decrease in the tax rate.)
2020-11-23 ~Virginia. American Thinker: It's in the Code: Hanky-Panky in Virginia Votes, by Nick Chase
Translating the JSON code provided by the New York Times... At 11:03 PM EST on November 3, total votes were 2,724,165, and Trump had 1,419,290 votes (52.1%), Biden had 1.258,564 votes (46.2%). Between 11:14 and 11:42 came a big Biden vote dump, with vote totals then 1,512,627 (45.8%) for Trump and 1,771,663 (52.6%) for Biden. Now when I make adjustments for the fraud, I get 2,629,289 votes (56.5%) for Trump and 2,023,030 (43.5%) for Biden. Trump wins (13 electoral votes).
2020-11-22 ~National. ZeroHedge: Lockdown Politics - The Great Travesty, by Carl Boggs
Nearly one year into the COVID pandemic, even a modicum of critical thinking should tell us that lockdown politics as practiced in the United States is an unmitigated disaster, and with no end in sight. Stale rhetoric about "following the science" turns out to be not only one dimensional and useless, yet it remains a justification for continuing mass shutdowns.
2020-11-22 ~Health... ZeroHedge: Chance of Surviving Covid-19 by Age and Sex, via Stockholm University
2020-11-22 ~Health... JHU Newsletter: A closer look at U.S. deaths due to COVID-19, by Yanni Gu
Since the crude number of total deaths by all causes before and after COVID-19 has stayed the same, one can hardly say, in Briand's view, that COVID-19 deaths are concerning. (But because this analysis doesn't fit the Covid-19 narrative, JHU took has taken the article down.)
2020-11-21 ~Virginia. TBE: "Drop and Roll" in Virginia (just like PA,MI,WI,GA) , by Dr. Robert Warren
This election fraud technique, witnessed in PA, MI, WI, and GA, was also seen in Virginia. The DROP: With Trump comfortably ahead with 2/3 of the vote counted, batches for Biden were in the hundreds of thousands and put him in the lead (but reported as fractions?). The ROLL: Thereafter, Biden maintained a mysteriously uniform lead, without the usual ebb and flow.
2020-11-21 ~National. ZeroHedge: Do Trump Supporters Live In An Alternate Universe?, by Bryce Buchanan
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace has stated that a huge number of Americans have a false impression of reality because they are being told lies by their media, and the people who constantly hear these lies do live in an "alternate reality". So let's list eight such instances...
2020-11-20 ~Health... Epoch Times: Eating Tip To Prevent Most Diseases Including AMD, by Joseph Mercola
Chronic metabolic and degenerative diseases -- including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), COPD, Alzheimer's disease, Type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease -- are top causes of death today but were rare in the 19th century. What changed? The main culprit was highly polyunsaturated vegetable oil, introduced right here in the USA in 1866. These vegetable oils cause mitochondrial failure and insulin resistance.
2020-11-19 ~National. Richardson Post: DOJ Takes Control of 'Vote Switching' Servers in Germany
The U.S. Army has seized those 'vote-switching' Dominion servers in Germany, owned by the CIA but now in DOJ possession. The evidence to prove President Donald Trump won by a landslide in this Election was known before deployment, and is probably being reviewed in the White House right now -- Trump wins with over 400 electoral votes.
2020-11-19 ~National. Gateway Pundit: Drop and Roll: How the Dems Tried to Steal the 2020 Election
Video from Jim and Joe Hoft at Gateway Pundit, plus an added transcript with data images, describing the "Drop and Roll" techniques with statistical snapshots from Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
2020-11-17 ~National. Epoch Times: C-19 Ushers In Unconstitutional Hell For America, by Michael Walsh
Having discovered that Americans have lost their spines and are now easily penned inside their homes like two-legged sheep, the petty potentates who rule -- not govern, rule -- far too many states and municipalities have concluded that we will never fight back, never resist, and never reject their latest whimsical edicts.
2020-11-15 ~Virginia. Gateway Pundit: Election Fraud Occurred in Virginia Too after 11 PM, by Joe Hoft
Up through 11:03pm on Election Day, President Trump was leading 52% to Biden's 46% with about 75% of the vote. Then things went off the rails. After 11pm, nearly 70% of the votes recorded in Virginia went to Biden. This include hundreds of thousands of negative votes and late votes that all had the same proportion of Biden to Trump. These entries indicate election fraud occurred in Virginia.
2020-11-13 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Davos Crowd's "Great Reset" Vision Of The Future, by Colin Todhunter
The great reset entails a transformation of society resulting in permanent restrictions on fundamental liberties and mass surveillance as entire sectors are sacrificed to boost large corporations. The public will 'rent' everything they require: stripping the right of ownership under the guise of 'sustainable consumption' and 'saving the planet'.
2020-11-12 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Do Lockdowns Prevent COVID Deaths?, by Raul Ilargi Meijer
Lockdowns are based on pretending we can make time stand still. But you can't force lockdowns, masks etc. onto people, without looking at what the consequences of that will be, because all things do not remain equal for 6-7 months. Maybe you should look for answers elsewhere, because the damage just goes on, economically, psychologically, physically.
2020-11-11 ~National. ZeroHedge: The War Is Over; GloboCap Triumphs! (mostly satirical), by CJ Hopkins
... Meanwhile, the GloboCap propaganda has reached some new post-Orwellian level. After four long years of "Russia Hacked The Election!" ... now, suddenly, "There Is No Such Thing As Election Fraud In The USA!".
2020-11-11 ~National. ZeroHedge: US Color Revolution, The Not So Phantom Menace, by Tom Luongo
The Black Revolution in the U.S. is proceeding according to script. We are into the 3rd act of it. Act I was the Coronapocalypse setting the stage for vastly expanded government powers. Act II was the summer of violence and fake polling data which created the illusion of a society at war. Act III is the election itself and the aftermath; the coup has begun. This is all very normal for color revolutions.
2020-11-09 ~National. Gateway Pundit: Dominion Voting Machines Of Concern For Data Manipulation
After three reported instances where votes were moved from Republicans to Democrats and another instance where votes disappeared, there is now much concern with the Dominion voting machines and applications used in some 30 states in the 2020 election. (In Virginia, the total number of votes counted were decreased by 373,000.)
2020-11-08 ~National. ZeroHedge: This Election Is Not Over... And The Media Knows It, by Jay Valentine
Voter fraud is kind of like larceny. A little is OK. It is even kind of entertaining... But voter fraud on this scale is just not sustainable. It does not pass the common sense test...
2020-11-08 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fairfax County 2020 SAMPLE BALLOT ... and the Results, by David Swink
2020-11-07 ~National. NewRightNetwork.com: 'Hammer' and 'Scorecard', The Plot to Steal the Presidency
This software is a CIA spy program designed as a "foreign surveillance tool" to use on protected networks (like voting machines) without detection. The programmer and whistleblower claims that in 2009, under then-President Barak Obama, this software was "commandeered and repurposed" by John Brenan and James Clapper into a "private and parallel domestic surveillance system." ... And now to manipulate the 2020 elections.
2020-11-07 ~National. ZeroHedge: Blue - The Mother Of All Color Revolutions, by Pepe Escobar
A gaming exercise of the perfect, indigenous color revolution, code-named Blue, was leaked from a major think tank established in the imperial lands that first designed the color revolution concept. If Red somehow wins, Blue would wait until every vote is counted and duly litigated to every jurisdiction level. Blue proclaims that "under no scenario" Red would be allowed to declare victory.
2020-11-07 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Democrats' "Cloward-Piven" Chaos Plan, by Tyler Durden
At Columbia University, sociologist professors Richard Cloward and Francis Fox Piven introduced a political strategy in 1966 to destroy the U.S economically, causing it to go broke and culminating in socialism. The Left has been following this script for decades, and we're seeing the strategy play out in updated form in 2020.
2020-11-07 ~National. ZeroHedge: Democrat "Depravity" Playing Out In Real-Time, by Tom Luongo
Anyone saying that what is happening right now in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan etc. is not a conscious effort to rig an election is either a victim of propaganda or being willfully obtuse. But no matter what vote totals you manufacture or political/judicial arms you twist no one can rule for long without the consent of the governed.
2020-11-06 ~National. WT: The Left's Frankenstein Turns on its Master, by Everett Piper
Critical race theory's racism. Feminism's hatred of the feminine. The intolerance of progressive tolerance. The hatred of those who pretend to stand against hate. Exclusion in the name of inclusion. All of this is what happens when we lust for power more than all else. All of us eventually are hoisted on our own petard. Monsters always turn on their masters.
2020-10-xx ~National. DHFC: Why History Matters , by Bruce S. Thornton
History is not just the recording of events in chronological order, but a critical examination of their sources, an interpretation of what the events mean, and an analysis of the motivating ideas behind what men and states do. Properly interpreted, society can learn from and avoid mistakes of the past. (Unfortunately, however, the modern sensibility distrusts lessons from the past.)
2020-10-xx ~National. Limbaugh: BLM Takeover of American Sports, and destruction by Wokeness
BLM has absolutely nothing to do with racial justice. It is out to ruin, destroy, and end sports -- because it is out to tear down the American way of life. The upper tier of the sports world's executive suites might not realize that, but the fans do. The only question is how far and how fast the paying sports audience shrinks.
2020-10-30 ~Health... Epoch Times: What Is Regeneron? (a treatment for Covid-19), by Conan Milner
The name actually belongs to the biotechnology company that created the drug President Trump took at Walter Reed Medical Center, in addition to the experimental antiviral remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone. Regeneron scientists refer to the drug as REGN-COV2, and it's produced in a manner similar to the drug the company designed to treat Ebola infection.
2020-10-27 ~FxSchools ZeroHedge: The "Wokeness" Wars Comes to Loudoun County, by Philip Giraldi
The Loudoun County school board has spent $422,500 on a consultant to apply Critical Race Theory (CRT) to a new program of instruction that will be mandatory for all employees and will serve as the framework for teaching the students. When schools eventually reopen, all kindergarteners, for example, will be taught "social justice" in a course designed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and "diversity training" will be integrated in all other grade levels.
2020-10-25 ~National. AIER: The New Feudalism ... "Going Medieval" on Covid-19, by Jeffrey A. Tucker
"Going Medieval" on the coronavirus has created a new feudalism of haves and have nots, essentials and unessentials, us and them, the served and the servers, the rulers and the ruled -- all defined in the edicts passed by panicked dictators at all levels acting on the advice of bloodless intellectuals who couldn't resist a chance to rule the world by force.
2020-10-24 ~National. ZeroHedge: Restore Glass-Steagall to Prevent Economic 'Great Reset', by M. Ehret
While the coronavirus may in fact be the catalyzer for the oncoming financial blowout, the seeds of the crisis goes deeper and originated much earlier -- beginning with the destruction of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 and finalized with the repeal of Glass-Steagall's separation of commercial and investment banks in 1999.
2020-10-23 ~National. ZeroHedge: Blockbuster Report Details Biden/China Money Trail, by Tyler Durden
While half the US population remains transfixed by the ongoing revelations about the contents of Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell" and the other half desperately trying to suppress this news, a far less noticed but perhaps just as important investigative report authored by the unknown Typhoon Investigations, was released by Christopher Balding.
2020-10-22 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Censoring of the Hunter Biden Scandal, by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Had Facebook and Twitter approached the Hunter Biden Scandal story neutrally, as they would have a decade ago, it would probably already be old news to a degree, as Hunter's pay-for-play efforts were already well known, if not in such detail. But instead the story is still hot. More importantly, their heavy handed action has brought home just how much power they wield, and how crudely they're willing to wield it. They shouldn't be surprised at the consequences.
2020-10-22 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Proper Solution To Big Tech Censorship, by Brandon Smith
The public has been led to believe that government and corporations are separate tools that can be used to keep each side in check. This is a lie. Big government and big corporations have always worked together while pretending to be disconnected, and this needs to stop if we are to ever defuse the political time bomb we now face.
2020-10-21 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: White House weighs in on Fx teachers' union virtual-learning stance
The Fairfax County Education Association put out a statement two weeks ago advocating for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year to remain virtual. Now, two weeks before the presidential election, the group's stance appears to have grabbed the attention of the White House.
2020-10-20 ~National. ZeroHedge: Liberal Education And The Recovery Of Culture, by Roger Kimball
Since the late 1960s, the educational establishment has been anything but an ivory tower, a quiet, semi-cloistered redoubt deliberately subsisting at one remove from partisan passions. On the contrary, the educational establishment (including primary and secondary education) has incorporated those partisan passions as part of its raison d'etre.
2020-10-19 ~National. Epoch Times: Held Captive by Pandemic Lies, by Michael Walsh
In previous pandemics, the bug was allowed to burn its way through the body politic, its toll just part of the cost of being human. So what's different about this seasonal malady? The Left stokes this fear as a way of maintaining control over the population, so they will keep the scam going until we vote them our of office.
2020-10-18 ~Virginia. CFACT: California's energy nightmare is coming to Virginia, by Bonner Cohen
For Virginians, California's rolling blackouts and sky-high electricity prices may seem little more than the travails of distant strangers on the other side of the country. But Virginia's Democrat-controlled General Assembly last fall passed a California-style "Green New Deal" which will cost consumers mightily.
2020-10-18 ~National. ZeroHedge: Lockdown-And-Mask Model Now "Too Big To Fail", by Daniel Greenfield
The uncomfortable truth was that the lockdowns had failed economically, socially, and medically. America, like too many other countries, put the experts in charge and they failed. Miserably. Now the lockdown culture needs patsies to take the fall for why it didn't work. The rule of the experts isn't fighting the virus. It has become the virus.
2020-10-15 ~National. ZeroHedge: America Is Divided Over Class Not Race In 2020, by Charlie Kirk
The real source of division in America is today is not about race, but about class -- the "Skype-Zoom" class, which includes politicians and those who can make their living through the softer professions of the mind; and the muscular class people, which produce the physical things that allow society to function. America today is approaching Marx's phase three, where class struggle develops, ultimately leading to revolution.
2020-10-14 ~National. WT: Founders gambled on virtue prevailing over passions, by William Barr
The Founders never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom. The question was whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions. Looking around today, one would be forgiven for having doubts about those prospects.
2020-10-13 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: "Facts Do Not Matter" To The Covidian Cult, by CJ Hopkins
One of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is mass conformity to a psychotic official narrative, even a totally delusional official narrative that has little or no connection to reality and that is contradicted by a preponderance of facts. The phenomenon is observed in cults such as Nazism, the Manson family, Jim Jones' People's Temple, the Church of Scientology and now the Covidian Cult.
2020-10-10 ~FxTaxes.. Bacon's Rebellion: Fairfax Tax Rate the Same, but Tax Burden Up, by E. Jaksetic
If board members had wanted to provide meaningful tax relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, they could have "frozen" everyone's real estate tax bills for 2020 at the same level as their real estate tax bills for 2019. Instead, increased property assessments were allowed to effect a tax increase.
2020-10-09 ~Virginia. AP: Disputed redistricting reform on the ballot in Virginia, by Matthew Barakat
Virginia voters are about to decide whether to alter their state constitution to support redistricting reform that would take the once-every-10-year task of drawing maps out of legislators' hands, at least to an extent, and give it to a bipartisan panel. The proposal isn't perfect, but it's the best that could be achieved and a clear improvement over the status quo.
2020-10-07 ~National. WT: Only Sweden heeded science on Covid -- letter, by Samuel Burkeen
Herd immunity is not a policy; it is a biological fact. Whether people get infected by the virus directly or end up being infected by a vaccine, the herd will end up immune. This is the science, and apparently the only country that followed it was Sweden.
2020-10-06 ~National. ZeroHedge: How Washington Really Works & Why Trump is Despised, by 'sundance'
Congress doesn't actually write legislation. Modern legislation is sub-contracted to a segment of DC operations known as K-Street. Lobbyists write the laws; congress sells the laws; lobbyists then pay congress lucrative commissions for passing their laws. Then Trump came along and this lucrative legislative feeder system was frozen. And that is why Trump is so hated within The Swamp. But repeal the 17th amendment and watch what happens.
2020-10-04 ~FxSchools FCTA: Racist Democrats Dismantling Thomas Jefferson H.S., by "Happy Person"
State and local Democrats use "Critcal Race Theory" to justify dismantling TJ's merit-based student collection criteria, in an attempt to draw attention from their utter failure in running the rest of the school system.
2020-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Facing Up to the China Threat, by Brian T. Kennedy
Imprimis lecture by Brian T. Kennedy, American Strategy Group
2020-09-xx ~Bulletin. Stopping the Rioting
2020-09-30 ~FxSchools The Federalist: FCSB spent $24,000 for CRT Books for U.S. History Classes
Fairfax County spent $44,000 on promoting critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi for this one event -- almost an entire year's salary for a first-year teacher. An Oakton HS teacher gushed upon the arrival of 675 copies of Kendi's "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You" with a tweet, "Here they are!"
2020-09-29 ~Report... References for the Sept 2020 FCTA Bulletin, by Fred Costello-256
2020-09-29 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Directed Energy Weapons are a Near-Reality, by Simon Veazey
The military has been developing directed energy weapons of one kind or another since the 1960s -- but only now is the missile-zapping technology envisioned by President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars a near-reality.
2020-09-29 ~National. Epoch Times: Nonprofit Aims to Deradicalize American History, by Matthew Vadum
Rejecting what he said is a false, cynical version of American history taught in elementary and secondary schools across the country, President Donald Trump recently unveiled a new nonprofit that's tasked with designing educational materials aimed at accurately depicting the nation's history.
2020-09-29 ~National. Epoch Times: Schools Using Fake 'History' to Kill America, by Alex Newman
Americans educated by government today are, for the most part, hopelessly ignorant of their own nation's history -- and that's no accident. They're beyond ignorant when it comes to civics, too. On the history of the rest of the world, or the history of communism, Americans are generally clueless as well. This was all by design, of course.
2020-09-28 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Harken, The Covidean Creed... -- religious satire, by Ian Jenkins
"We believe in one Virus, the SARS-COV-2, the Almighty, destroyer of heaven and earth..."
2020-09-25 ~National. ZeroHedge: Revolution 2020, Its History and Its Future, by Angelo Codevilla
One must understand what drives the revolution that is destroying the American republic. Our revolution is by the ruling class -- a revolution from above. Crushing obstacles to its growing oligarchic rule is the proximate purpose. But the logic that drives the revolution aims at civilization itself. Its future course depends on the 2020 election's outcome.
2020-09-24 ~FxSchools TRS: FCPS paid $20K to Critical Race Theory guru Ibram Kendi, by Shaun Kenney
Leading critical race theory (CRT) proponent Ibram X. Kendi received $20,000 from Fairfax County Public Schools for a one-hour talk. This dovetails with the plan by FCPS this summer to water down the admission standards for Virginia's TJ magnet school.
2020-09-23 ~National. WT: Woke socialism vs America's Judeo-Christian ethics, by Richard B. Levine
Wokeness is a great challenge to America's ideals, an alternative culture to displace Western thought. Is our nation in the process of substituting a new morality, wokeness, which posits race as the principal determinant of economic and societal relationships, for Judeo-Christian ethics?
2020-09-23 ~Health... ZeroHedge: Health Pros Urge End To Lockdowns, No Medical Justification
"We deplore the role of the WHO in this, which has called for all divergent opinion to be silenced... We urgently call on the media to take their responsibilities here! We demand an open debate in which all experts are heard..."
2020-09-22 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Let's Bring Back Chivalry, by Jeff Minick
Suzanne Venker writes that "chivalry is dead because women killed it," but then defends chivalry and urges women to bring it back if they wish to encourage the making of "mature, respectful, marriage-minded men." She adds: "Women have the power to turn it all around -- because they are the relationship navigators. Men only changed because women did. That's because men are born to please women."
2020-09-20 ~FxMisc... Bacon's Rebellion: The Undemocratic Origins of 'One Fairfax', by Emilio Jaksetic
On July 12, 2016, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors worked with outside groups and adopted a One Fairfax resolution to achieve "racial and social equity" and "direct the development of a racial and social equity policy for adoption". But they never bothered to ask the people of Fairfax County -- whom they consider as mere subjects -- whether they thought it was a good idea or agreed with the effort.
2020-09-17 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: 12 Steps To Create Your Own Pandemic, by Nils Nilsen
Imagine that you had the resources and influence sufficient to create a global pandemic, what would you need to do? How would you get started? And how best to turn it to your advantage and boost your profits?
2020-09-15 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: "Smoking Gun" Evidence Published; COVID-19 Created In Lab
That Chinese virologist (MD, PhD) who fled the country, leaving her job at a prestigious Hong Kong university, who claimed COVID-19 was created by Chinese scientists in a lab, has tweeted a link to a paper she co-authored with three other Chinese scientists confirming this accusation.
2020-09-15 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Autonomy Necessary for Human Happiness, by Jen Maffessanti
Happiness cannot be engineered. Humans cannot have all -- or even a slim majority -- of their choices made for them and still be happy. Autonomy -- that is, freedom -- is necessary for human happiness. And while freedom is no guarantee of happiness, it is essential if we are ever to be able to find it on our own.
2020-09-14 ~Virginia. CNS News: Will Va. Teach Critical Race Theory to Kindergartners?, by Hans Bader
This week, the Virginia Board of Education will meet to discuss a report that may promote destructive racial ideologies -- the August 2020 "Final Report of the Virginia Commission on African American History Education in the Commonwealth." Bacon's Rebellion writer James Sherlock laments that the "report is critical race theory brought to life".
2020-09-11 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Notice Appropriating Supplemental Funds -- Add'l $2,647,337,562 for FY2021
2020-09-11 ~FxSchools NR: Fairfax County Is Running Empty School Buses, by Kyle Smith
This is like something out of some kind of Soviet central-planning misadventure: Fairfax County, Va., wants to keep paying its school-bus drivers even though its schools are operating online. The solution? Send the drivers out to drive anyway. Likewise with food service workers in the empty schools: Zero layoffs.
2020-09-07 ~Virginia. WT: Gade sees military service as run-up to Senate bid, by David Sherfinski
Daniel Gade says he doesn't see his Senate bid in Virginia this year as all that different from his military service, which included losing his right leg after he survived an explosion in Iraq in 2004. He is taking on Democrat Sen. Mark R. Warner, and if elected, would like to serve on the Veterans' Affairs and Armed Services committees. He wants to see more veterans in Congress.
2020-09-07 ~National. WT: Most voters plan to cast ballots in person, even in 'all mail' states
What sets all-mail states apart is that they send a ballot to every registered voter with the option to send it back by post. But in Colorado, an all-mail state, 73% voted in person in 2016. So did 65% of Washington state residents and 59% of Oregonians, who were the first to adopt the system. Polls show most voters still plan to show up in person.
2020-09-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vote NO on the Fairfax County FY2020 Bond Referenda, by Arthur Purves
Four bond issues to be voted on Nov 3: 1) Community and Health and Human Services ($79 million); 2) Libraries ($90 million); 3) Parks ($112 million); 4) Transportation ($160 million). But current bond debt service is crushing; the County has reached its AAA bond rating limit; the County is not transparent about any of this; and Metro is an unaccountable funding Black Hole. Taxpayers simply can't afford to continue.
2020-09-06 ~National. WT: In America, a French Revolution Redux?, by Everett Piper
In 1790 Burke wrote his seminal work, "Reflections on the Revolution in France". In it, he warned that the radicalism underlying the events of 1789 was only a foretaste of things to come, and that the theory-laden relativism of the Jacobins would end with French blood flowing in the streets. Some 230 years later, America's 'woke' Jacobins are replaying history.
2020-09-06 ~National. WT: 'Critical Race Theory' critic sees victory from Trump, by James Varney
Just days ago, Christopher Rufo appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News Channel program and boldly declared a one-man war on critical race theory. He urged President Trump to take action against the trend and end what he described as "White privilege" indoctrination within federal agencies. On Friday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order doing just that.
2020-08-31 ~Health... Center Square: CDC admits 94% of Covid-19 deaths had other issues, by B. Blankley
The CDC recently admitted that of those 183,000 Covid-19 deaths reported by Johns Hopkins, only about 11,000 were confirmed from C-19 alone. CDC had been lumping C-19 deaths along with pneumonia and influenza, and including death counts from C-19 patients with other underlying health condition, such as a respiratory illness, diabetes, heart disease.
2020-08-30 ~National. Epoch Times: FRSO Maoists Burn Kenosha, by Trevor Loudon
Maoist activists from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) can take most, if not all, of the credit for inciting the recent rioting in Kenosha. This is the same pro-China communist group that "sparked" the May riots in Minneapolis after the police-involved killing of George Floyd.
2020-08-29 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: The C-19 Scamdemic, Part 1: Path To A New World Order, by Iain Davis
Capitalism requires a reset because the model of closed shop crony capitalism, operated by the global parasite class for centuries, has reached the limits of growth. Therefore they need to create a new economic paradigm (the Great Reset) both to further centralise and consolidate their power and to fix their failing business model.
2020-08-27 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: NoVa Leaders Holding Onto Control ... Forever? -- editorial
Northern Virginia elected leaders recently got together ("virtually") to pat themselves on the back for the great job they believe they're doing and declared we are moving into the "chronic" phase of the pandemic here in the local area. "Chronic" is local-government code for "we're going to milk this situation for all it's worth; you the unwilling public will have to pry the 'emergency' powers we have seized from you out of our cold, dead hands."
2020-08-25 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Neglected Virtue of Manliness, by Jeff Minick
Being a man is tough these days. Becoming a man is even tougher, as some young men seem clueless about the meaning of manhood. There is an unbroken pedigree in the Western conception of what it means to be a man -- honor tempered by prudence, ambition tempered by compassion for the suffering and the oppressed, love restrained by delicacy and honor toward the beloved. We don't need to reinvent manliness. We need only to reclaim it.
2020-08-24 ~National. ZeroHedge: Thin Veneer of American Civilization Blown Away, by Victor D. Hanson
If we wish to know why America's veneer of civilization was so thin, and this year so easily scraped away, revealing barbarism beneath, look to a generation's architects in the university, the media, sports, corporations, and politics who long ago seeded their cultural IEDs and are now giddy they are at last going off.
2020-08-24 ~National. Epoch Times: Cancel Culture Undermines Learning, Harms Students, by Thomas Ullman
Some of the country's schools, pushed by activists and influencers to embrace cancel culture, have begun to ban classics such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". But if we obliterate of our most important works as a species, there would be no historical mistakes to learn from, nor successes to admire. If we cannot teach the nation's youth about the problems of the past, they are bound to imitate them in the future.
2020-08-23 ~National. ZeroHedge: Ready For The "No One Could Have Known" Routine?, by Thomas Harrington
... that by shutting down life as we know it to focus obsessively on a virus mostly affecting a relatively small number of people at the end of their lives, we probably would: 1) Cause economic devastation and hence excess deaths; 2) Kill small and even medium-sized businesses; 3) Cause greatly increased 3rd-World misery and death; 4) Destroy what was attractive about urban life; 5) Force state and local governments to cut budgets; 6) Push "smart" monitoring of our lives; 7) Train a generation of snowflakes.
2020-08-22 ~National. Rick Rebel: BLM Riot Turns Into MAGA YMCA Dance Party -- video (3:31)
Youtube took down the original at the BLM riot site, but here's a rework with the original audio.
2020-08-21 ~FxSchools CNS News: Schools Closed; Parents Charged Extra for Day Care, by Lindsey Burke
Some public school districts, including Fairfax Co VA, refuse to open their doors for in-person learning -- citing safety risks -- but they are able to open these same school buildings to charge overworked and tired parents for day care. This is double-dipping into parents' pocketbooks, and it likely runs afoul of state constitutions.
2020-08-20 ~handout.. FCTA tri-fold flyer (4th draft from original) -- (Print in landscape mode)
This 8.5x11 double-sided tri-fold B flyer (updated from probably 25 years ago) clearly states FCTA's purpose, positions, and what we do.
2020-08-12 ~FxSchools American Thinker: FCPS says hiring tutors is unfair to others, by Thomas Lifson
Had any doubt that hard-left ideologues run government school systems in most places? Fairfax Co educrats have advised parents there not to hire tutors or organize informal homeschool "pods" to replace the shuttered schools because some parents cannot afford to do so, and that would be "unfair". Everyone must descend to the lowest common denominator in the interest of "equity".
2020-08-09 ~Environmt CFACT: The staggering human costs of "renewable" energy, by Paul Driessen
Just one electric car or backup-power battery weighs 1,000 pounds and requires extracting and processing some 500,000 pounds of various ores. The true environmental and human costs of "green" energy are staggering. But American "environmentalists" eschew mining for the required minerals in the U.S., in favor of "dirty mining" elsewhere in the world, often using child labor.
2020-08-06 ~FxMisc... Patch: Dems send absentee ballot applications to Fx Co residents, by E. Leayman
The mailing from the Center for Voter Information (a non-profit founded by Democrat strategist Page Gardner) includes pre-filled absentee ballot applications with return envelopes. The problem is, the return address is the City of Fairfax's registrar, not Fairfax County's.
2020-08-03 ~Report... Coronavirus Status in Fairfax County, by Fred Costello-255
2020-07-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Mail-In Voter Fraud, a Fact Check (it's become rampant)
Welcome to the big Democrat push for a national vote-by-mail system -- to "protect" voter from the coronovirus and imaginary Republican "vote suppression". Democrats are now in unison, demanding that we all vote by mail. They see it as their last hope to win in November.
2020-07-29 ~National. JWR: America's summer of cultural suicide, by Victor Davis Hanson
Cultural suicide used to be a popular diagnosis of why things suddenly just quit. Historians such as Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee cited social cannibalism to explain why once-successful states, institutions and cultures simply died off. Once elites became pampered and arrogant, they feel exempt from their ancestors' respect for moral and spiritual laws like thrift, moderation and transcendence.
2020-07-28 ~World.... ZeroHedge: Covid-19 epidemic largely over in no-lockdown Sweden, by Mike Whitney
While the Covid-19 epidemic continues to drag on in the United States, it's largely over in Sweden where fatalities have dropped to no more than 2 deaths per day for the last week. So Sweden, without lockdowns, was on the right track from the very beginning and is rapidly returning to normal while the US sinks deeper into a crisis of its own making.
2020-07-27 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Time to Flip the C-19 Shelter-in-Place Narrative, by Jeffrey Tucker
Its time to flip the run-and-hide, shelter-in-place narrative. If we stay on the present course of hiding and futilely trying to suppress the virus, we will end making all of society poorer both materially and spiritually and also delivering a dangerous blow to our biological health.
2020-07-27 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: How A Society Unravels, by Ritesh Jain
In an interview with Edward Griffith in 1984, former KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov outlined the playbook of the Soviet Union and the staged manner in which a communist apparatus takes over a country: Phases 1) Demoralization; 2) Destabilization; 3) Crisis; 4) Normalization, the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate communism.
2020-07-26 ~National. ZeroHedge: Let It All Burn (Or Not), by Erick Erickson
There is no police power in the federal constitution. The police power is left to the states. At some point, we must allow people to live with their choices and make it easy for those who want to escape to actually move. If we allow Portland to fester as it wants, it will either figure out it must change, or live with its consequences.
2020-07-25 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: A 'Gets Woke, Goes Broke' After Canceling Live PD, by Andrea Widburg
Live PD was a valuable franchise, one that gave Americans a chance to see police doing their day-to-day work. On June 10, the show's producers, working with co-owners, Disney Media Networks and Hearst Communications, went woke and canceled the show. A&E's audience, ratings, and revenues have since plummeted.
2020-07-24 ~Report... The Economies of the 50 States, by Fred Costello-253
2020-07-23 ~National. WT: To avoid endangering children, reopen schools now, by Martin & McDonald
Not allowing schools to reopen for in-person instruction in the fall is a greater danger to the students than keeping the schools closed. "I'm of the point of view as a public health leader in this nation, that having the schools actually closed is a greater public health threat to the children than having the schools reopen," said CDC Director Robert Redfield last week.
2020-07-23 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: Will FCPS abandon the community? -- scathing editorial!
The sensible desires of parents, teachers and students -- even some school-system leaders -- often find themselves trampled by the most amplified voices of discontent. In the "Woke Olympics," the most shrill get the gold. They likely will here, too. Alas, the Trump administration's "get back in class" broadside of last week suddenly made it a badge of honor among partisan Democrats to reflexively oppose the idea, no matter its merits.
2020-07-21 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: GloboCap Uber Alles -- satire, by CJ Hopkins
Is the "New Normal" paranoid and totalitarian enough for you? This is what you get when you mess with GloboCap. This is what voting for Trump, Brexit, and all the rest of that 'populist' nonsense gets you ... global pandemics, civil race wars, riots, lockdowns, economic depression, societal collapse, chaos, fear. Global Capitalism insists we start behaving and thinking as we're told.
2020-07-21 ~FxSchools AP: Fairfax County schools to remain closed -- Teachers win, parents lose!
FCPS has backtracked on its original plan for two days a week of in-person instruction in the fall, in favor of online only. Roughly 60% of families had chosen in-person learning, while 52% of teachers said they wanted to teach online only. (So taxpayers are forced to fund schools that remain closed until after the November elections.)
2020-07-19 ~Report... Summary of Shelby Steele's 'White Guilt', by Fred Costello-252
2020-07-19 ~National. ZeroHedge: Media Mask-Mania, Or COVID-19 Groupthink, by Michael Lesher
"Mainstream news media, busily cheerleading for the death of freedom, will continue to gush with absurdities, self-contradictions and victim-shaming memes in their propaganda war to Keep America Gagged. The Bill of Rights is history; today, we demonstrate our patriotism by creeping around hiding our faces. Dissenters need not apply. (Hey, the coronavirus is just another flu. The real disaster has been the work of human beings. Resisting it must be, too.)
2020-07-19 ~FxSchools Free Beacon: Virginia Urges Slavery Lessons for Kindergarteners, by Chrissy Clark
Loudoun County is adding "social justice" to the mission of teaching elementary school students reading, writing, and arithmetic. LCPS has teamed up with the far-left SPLC in restructuring history and social studies classes to emphasize slavery as fundamental to American society for students from kindergarten to the fifth grade.
2020-07-18 ~National. WT: America burns while our schools hold the match, by Everett Piper
Ideas matter. What is taught today in our classrooms will be practiced tomorrow in our culture. Our culture is collapsing right before our eyes, and it is clear where the responsibility lies. Our nation's educational establishment is to blame.
2020-07-18 ~Health... Weston Price: Is Covid-19 Contagious?... or is it really Covid-5G?, by S. Morell
The premise that coronavirus is highly contagious and can cause disease has provided the justification for putting entire nations on lockdown and destroying the global economy. But does it even cause disease? The term "influenza" was coined in 1836 while correlating the instances of outbreaks with electrical atmospheric "influences". And Wuhan, China had launched all-out fifth generation (5G) wireless just weeks before its initial outbreak.
2020-07-15 ~National. WT: Lockdowns merely prolong the CCP virus pandemic -- letter, by Samuel Burkeen
"There is no statistical difference between the lockdown countries and the more liberal countries, such as Sweden. Either way the death rates are heading toward zero. The best thing that could happen is for young people to get exposed and develop immunity."
2020-07-15 ~National. WT: Public schools grooming children to be sexualized, by Rebecca Friedrichs
If we as a society are so disturbed by the actions of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and an untold number of others, then why are we allowing America's public schools to groom our children to be sexualized? Leading this despicable charge are unions posing as teachers and the deceptively named Healthy Teen Network.
2020-07-15 ~National. WT: Left's cancel culture attempt on Goya Foods lands with a thud, by Tammy Bruce
This is the real agenda of the left -- control people with threat so questions, debate, independent thought and genuine inquiry into facts are too dangerous to even consider. It is the only thing the Democrats and their allied groups know how to do.
2020-07-15 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: Fairfax school leadership is failing community, by Larry Allen
Indecision has consequences. My high-school children are losing out on learning that will never be able to be replaced because the school system can't get it together. It is beyond the pale that we continue to pay property taxes that fund services we either won't receive, or won't receive in a manner that actually results in learning.
2020-07-14 ~Report... The Morals of Our Political Parties, by Fred Costello-251
2020-07-14 ~National. ZeroHedge: Bari Weiss Quits NYT, Calls It 'Performance Space' For Woke Olympics
The internal schism at the New York Times has claimed yet another staffer, as opinion editor Bari Weiss has left the paper and penned a scorching resignation letter denouncing the Times as nothing more than an echo chamber for 'woke' activists masquerading as journalists who believe dissent has no place on the platform.
2020-07-10 ~Potpourri Fox News: Chinese virologist accuses Beijing of C-19 cover-up, flees Hong Kong
Li-Meng Yan told Fox News that she believes China knew about the coronavirus well before it claimed it did. She says her supervisors also ignored research she was doing that she believes could have saved lives. If she were still in China, she would be "disappeared".
2020-07-09 ~Environmt ZeroHedge: 2020: A Rough Year For Greta?, via 21st Century Wire
The tea leaves are beginning to turn out. This may well be the year in which the climate change movement begins to go off the rails. Greta Thunberg is beginning to realize how she has been manipulated.
2020-07-08 ~National. JWR: The fragility of the woke, by Victor Davis Hanson
Black Lives Matter, Antifa and their large numbers of imitators and loosely organized wannabes are mostly made up of middle-class youth, often students or graduates. They deem themselves the brains of the rioting, the most woke of the demonstrators, the most sophisticated of the iconoclasts. In truth, they are also the most paranoid about being charged or being hurt.
2020-07-08 ~National. WT: Marxist mobs sweep into cities, create havoc, by Tammy Bruce
The moment the Marxists co-opted the unity of the American people after the death of George Floyd, what transpired was the unleashing of a political cancer the world is far too familiar with. This is no American "movement". It's an organized, craven political con job hoping, somehow, the ensuing misery inflicted on you and your family will compel you to vote against Republicans in November.
2020-07-07 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: Have Democrats written off rural Virginia?, by David Kerr
Virginia's Democrats seem to forgotten about the Commonwealth's rural voters. They found their formula for winning -- and it has worked -- but for the most part it doesn't include the vast swaths of Virginia that consider themselves rural. But Democrats can't just be the party of the left. They're going have to allow more moderate members of their party to have a seat at the table.
2020-07-07 ~National. WT: Obama judges undermine 3 major U.S. oil/gas pipelines, by Valerie Richardson
The nation may be awash in oil and natural gas, but U.S. pipelines are running on fumes after three high-profile conduits -- Dakota Access, Keystone XL, and Atlantic Coast -- ran aground in 24 hours, the victims of Obama-appointed judges and regulatory uncertainty under the possibility of a climate-woke Biden presidency.
2020-07-07 ~FxSchools Free Beacon: FCPS Develops New SPLC 'Anti-Racist' Curriculum, by Alex Nester
Southern Poverty Law Center, known for including conservative organizations on its list of "hate groups", created Teaching Tolerance to promote "anti-bias" and "social justice" education in classrooms. Now FCPS is adopting this model that includes teaching students that "the United States was founded on protecting the interests of white, Christian men who owned property."
2020-07-06 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: What Parenting Style Works Best?, by Thomas Lickona
In the early 1960s, a University of California, Berkeley, psychologist named Diana Baumrind began a study: How does our parenting style affect our childrens' development of character and competence? Four categories: 1) Disengaged parents - neither demanding nor responsive; 2) Permissive parents - responsive, but undemanding; 3) Authoritarian parents - demanding, but unresponsive; 4) Authoritative parents - both demanding and responsive (the winning category).
2020-07-06 ~National. WT: SCOTUS protects electoral college from 'faithless' electors, by Alex Swoyer
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can penalize presidential electors that go rogue and do not vote for the candidate who won their state, also known as faithless electors. The decision was unanimous and a blow to a Democratic-aligned movement to chip away at the Electoral College.
2020-07-06 ~National. WT: NEA focuses on wokeness instead of wages and teaching, by Rebecca Friedrichs
The NEA supports sanctuary cities, abolishing ICE, the normalization of an endless number of genders, lenient discipline policies, ousting police, Black Lives Matter trainings in K-12 schools and many more divisive political issues, which have nothing to do with wages, benefits or working conditions. This so-called teachers' union is not a legitimate American labor union.
2020-07-06 ~National. WT: Coronavirus death rate keeps dropping -- See current state-by-state stats
The number of Americans dying from COVID-19 has been falling for weeks, and the U.S. fatality rate is well below that of Europe's biggest countries. That news has been all but lost amid the alarm over the summer surge of COVID-19 cases and talk about a second shutdown.
2020-07-05 ~Virginia. AP: Developers cancel long-delayed, $8B Atlantic Coast Pipeline, by Sarah Rankin
Despite a victory last month at the United States Supreme Court over a critical permit, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy said in a news release that "recent developments have created an unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays" for the 600-mile project designed to cross West Virginia and Virginia into North Carolina.
2020-07-04 ~Report... The Economy under Various Presidents, by Fred Costello-250
2020-07-03 ~Report... Which Parties Do the Wealthy Support, by Fred Costello-249
2020-07-02 ~Virginia. Breitbart: Va Dems Seek to Reduce Assault on Cops to Misdemeanor, by John Nolte
If you are not already convinced, this proposal from Virginia Democrats should sway any fence-sitters of just how heart attack-serious Democrats are when it comes to de-funding and abolishing the police, which is only a means towards their ultimate goal, which is full-blown anarchy.
2020-07-01 ~National. Epoch Times: As the Purity Spiral Turns, by Roger Kimball
Journalist Gavin Haynes has a great phrase for a familiar and disturbing phenomenon: the 'purity spiral', which occurs "when a community becomes fixated on implementing a single value that has no upper limit, and no single agreed interpretation. The result is a moral feeding frenzy." Students of history will recognize this phenomenon in the French Revolution, Mao's China, and Hitler's Germany.
2020-07-01 ~National. JWR: Colleges sowing seeds of their own obsolescence, by Victor Davis Hanson
Higher education's monotonous embrace of virtue signaling, political proselytizing and loud social justice activism is now sowing the seeds of its own obsolescence and replacement. If broke and 'woke' graduates ignorantly smash statues, deny free speech to others and institutionalize cancel culture, then the public would rather pass on what spawned all of that in the first place.
2020-07-01 ~Environmt WT: Ex-alarmist disputes climate narrative in new book, by Valerie Richardson
Environmentalist Michael Shellenberger's "Apocalypse Never" represents a rarity, a major release by a prestigious publisher that refutes widely repeated environmental talking points; accuses climate activists of misleading the public, and contends that policy solutions such as green energy are making matters worse. He argues that renewables are worse than fossil fuels, requiring more land, more materials, more mining, more metals, more waste.
2020-06-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Why the Left Hates Homeschooling (no Leftist indoctrination)
With the Covid-19 lockdown threating to keep public schools closed in the fall, the Left worries that more and more parents will chose to homeschool their children, thus avoiding the lies and indoctrination now being spewed in the classroom and threatening the future of the Democrat Party.
2020-06-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Four Months of Unprecedented Gov't Malfeasance, by Heather MacDonald
Imprimis lecture by Heather MacDonald, Manhattan Institute
2020-06-xx ~Bulletin. Learning or Social Studies?
2020-06-27 ~National. ZeroHedge: VISA Brings China's "Social Credit Score" To America
VISA has blacklisted Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, a social media alternative that's committed to the principles of free speech. It shows that US corporations like VISA have started to create their own version of China's "social credit score" metric in the US. If you're deemed "politically incorrect", you will be silenced.
2020-06-26 ~National. WT: Welcome to the neo-Marxist 'Church of Holy Wokeness', by Everett Piper
Welcome to the Church of Holy Wokeness, a church that preaches collective blame rather than individual repentance, riots rather than revival, "collective guilt" rather than personal sin. Welcome to a neo-Marxist church that talks more about class conflict than the good news of salvation, a church of division rather than unity, one of us versus them -- a church that has more in common with the Cultural Revolution than it does with the Cross of Christ.
2020-06-25 ~National. WT: In post-Obama America, ignorance, and mobs, reign supreme, by Charles Hurt
In this modern Bonfire of Inanities, ignorance reigns supreme. We history students here in America learned a long time ago the painful lesson of mob "justice". Not that this current crop of uneducated, stupid, self-enthralled miscreants rioting in public streets and parks has the slightest grasp on five minutes of history. This is what post-Obama America looks like.
2020-06-24 ~National. JWR: Anger will decide the 2020 election, by Victor Davis Hanson
The 2020 election is no longer really about Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, Democratic or Republican policies, or progressive and conservative agendas. No, it is now about America as it has been before May 2020 -- always flawed, but constantly improving, and not perfect but far better than the alternatives -- and what has now followed.
2020-06-24 ~FxSchools AP: School Board votes to rename Robert E Lee High School ... Who's next?
Fairfax County Superintendent Scott Braband proposed possible alternative names for the school, including John Lewis, Barack Obama, Mildred Loving, Cesar Chavez, Legacy and Central Springfield. (What? No Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump offerings?)
2020-06-22 ~FxSchools NAACP: Inequity in How Arlington (and Va) Teach Reading, by Julius D. Spain, Sr
The Arlington NAACP president assails Arlington (and all of Virginia) for poor reading instruction -- without "phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension". He points out that Black and Latino students suffer disproportionately when not taught to read using evidence-based practices based on the science of reading.
2020-06-21 ~National. Tolley's Topics: Homage to Saint Floyd ... but George was no saint!
2020-06-19 ~FxMisc... WT: Fairfax County orders police to stop helping ICE, by Stephen Dinan
Under the new rules, officers are prohibited from sharing personal information about those they encounter with federal agencies unless it's for criminal cases, rather than immigration -- though the order confusingly also says that police will comply with a federal law that specifically requires information-sharing.
2020-06-17 ~National. JWR: How cultural revolutions like BLM die -- or not, by Victor Davis Hanson
Unlike coups or political revolutions, cultural revolutions don't just change governments or leaders. Instead, they try to redefine entire societies, attacking the very referents of our daily lives. The current Black Lives Matter Revolution is no different than the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. It too will die out when it turns cannibalistic.
2020-06-17 ~National. WT: Black Lives Matter fuels cancel culture, by Valerie Richardson
For its most radical devotees, Black Lives Matter is a revolution, and no revolution would be complete without a cultural purge. "It's a really terrifying reign of terror. We always had political correctness and leftism on campuses. But with this new movement, they are totalitarian in nature." -- Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson
2020-06-15 ~Virginia. AP: Supreme Court paves way for Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit, by Mark Sherman
The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a critical permit for a proposed natural gas pipeline that would cross under the Appalachian Trail, siding with energy companies and the Trump administration and reversing the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that had thrown out the permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
2020-06-15 ~Potpourri WT: New barbarians deny free speech to others and destroy historical artifacts
"Barbarians" are groups of people who engage in wanton destruction of civilized places and institutions. Currently they include polititians, street thugs, self-described intellectuals, and executives of media companies -- denying free speech by omission and deplatforming. Many of the new barbarians are extremely ignorant of history, and seek to erase symbols they seem to find offensive at the moment.
2020-06-15 ~National. WT: Flight from Democratic stronghold cities accelerates, by Michael McKenna
Despite what you hear, 2020 is not 1968. But there is one similarity. In the wake of this year, American cities are going to experience a reprise of the flight of the middle and upper-middle classes similar to the postwar flight that was accelerated by the destruction and fear of 1968.
2020-06-13 ~National. Daily Caller: Experts Disgraced By Prioritizing Woke Politics Over Public Health
COVID-19 has rates as a relatively mild contagion, along the lines of the 1968 flu virus. But the level of wokeness has been, well, bubonic. Public-health authorities and the politicians who have listened to them chose to dig in their heels, sticking with an obviously catastrophic lockdown policy.
2020-06-13 ~National. WT: Evangelical pastors pander to radical Black Lives Matter, by Everett Piper
Dear woke evangelical pastors, What in the world is wrong with you? Why in God's name would you stand in solidarity with an organization that seeks the destruction of Christianity?
2020-06-12 ~National. Gatestone Inst: A Brief History Of Antifa: Part I, by Soeren Kern
Antifa's stated long-term objective, both in America and abroad, is to establish a communist world order. In the United States, Antifa's immediate aim is to bring about the demise of the Trump administration. It is highly networked, well-funded and has a global presence. It has a flat organizational structure with dozens and possibly hundreds of local groups.
2020-06-12 ~National. ZeroHedge: Anonymous Berkeley Professor Shreds BLM Injustice Narrative
"I condemn the manner of George Floyd's death and join you in calling for greater police accountability and police reform. However, I will not pretend that George Floyd was anything other than a violent misogynist, a brutal man who met a predictably brutal end."
2020-06-12 ~National. WT: 'Systemic Racism' in America is in the Democrat Party, by Aubrey Shines
The Democrat Party, true to form, never lets a crisis go to waste. After the death of George Floyd, it has proceeded to lecture us all about how systemic racism is supposedly rampant in the United States. The great irony here is that yes, there's plenty of systemic racism in our country; it's all wrapped up in the history of the Democrat Party.
2020-06-10 ~National. JWR: The bitter irony of revolutions,by Victor Davis Hanson
Throughout history, revolutions often do not end up as their initial architects planned. The radicals who hijacked the French revolution began beheading their enemies and soon were themselves guillotined. The COVID-19 lockdowns and the George Floyd-inspired riots will likely cause similar grief to Blue State polititians and the American Left.
2020-06-09 ~Report... Officer-Involved Shootings in Virginia in 2019, by Fred Costello-247
2020-06-08 ~National. WT: Disease and violence prove a buzzkill for urban life -- editorial
The quality of life their major cities offer is no longer sufficient that Americans are proud to call them "home". Sadly, the outbreak of twin scourges of disease and anarchy is hastening the hollowing out of the nation's population centers. It's an ugly black eye for blue leadership, which is to say, the Democrat Party.
2020-06-07 ~National. American Thinker: Just Like That, Gun Control Support and COVID-19 Died This Week
With our political figures marching, screaming -- without social distancing and often without masks -- it's hard to persuade us that even normal social contact will infect us and those around us with COVID-19. And gun sales are soaring after these same politicians hamstrung the police and let their cities burn; without law and order it's each man for himself.
2020-06-05 ~National. ZeroHedge: This Is The COVID-19 Book That Amazon 'Quarantined', by Alex Berenson
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson has developed a wide following on Twitter for detailed posts that challenge some mainstream reporting and government declarations about COVID-19. Amazon initially refused to offer for sale his self-published book, "Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns Part 1: Introduction and Death Counts and Estimates." Exerpts follow.
2020-06-04 ~Virginia. Connection: Republican Primary Candidates for U.S. Senate -- June 23
Republicans are about to decide which candidate they want to appear on the ballot this November against incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Warner -- Daniel Gade of Mount Vernon; Thomas Speciale of Woodbridge; or Alissa Baldwin of Lunenburg County. Here are their profiles...
2020-06-03 ~Report... Major Increases in the 2021 Proposed School Budget, by Fred Costello-248
2020-06-02 ~Virginia. CFACT: The Virginia Clean Economy Act is a Disaster, by Collister Johnson
So radical are these mandates that, for the first time in history, the State Corporation Commission has effectively been entirely stripped of its authority to regulate electricity generation in Virginia, thereby jettisoning the SCC's historical responsibility to assure Virginians of both the lowest possible cost of electricity coupled with the highest reliability.
2020-05-23 ~Report... Coronavirus Deaths in Fairfax County, by Fred Costello-246
2020-05-23 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Net-Zero Emissions Plans for Economy Are 'Madness', by A. McDonnell
Green New Deal-style plans to decarbonize economies by 2050 are "madness" and their effects on an economy would be "like the coronavirus all over again," a British engineering expert says.
2020-05-21 ~World.... WT: Australian researchers say Covid-19 designed to infect humans, by Bill Gertz
The Australian team did not find easily recognizable artificial gene inserts that would signal virus engineering. But laboratory technicians could take a bat coronavirus that is not infectious to humans and force its evolution by culturing the virus with cells that have the human receptor. That process was used to culture SARS coronaviruses in laboratories.
2020-05-21 ~National. ZeroHedge: The Path To Monetary Collapse, by Alasdair Macleod
A liquidity crisis developed in US money markets five months before the virus hit America. The next problem is a crisis in the banks, wholly unexpected by investors and depositors. At a time when lending risk is soaring off the charts, their financial condition is more fragile than before the Lehman crisis.
2020-05-21 ~Health... Epoch Times: Censoring Evidence on Vitamin C, by Conan Milner
Many of us reach for vitamin C for any cold or flu. But doctors who administer, or even promote, this nutrient to treat COVID-19 risk intimidation and censorship in this country. However in China, COVID-19 patients who ranged from moderate to severe, treated with a high-dose vitamin C regimen, all recovered with no side effects. (One suspects only ridiculously cheap treatments get censored in the U.S.)
2020-05-19 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Chairman McKay RE Your Shutdown of Fairfax County, letter by Tom Cranmer
Letter to Chairman Jeffrey McKay, blasting the Board of Supervisors' decision to continue the COVID-19 lockdown in Fairfax County, without a proper hearing from County residents.
2020-05-16 ~National. ZeroHedge: School Closures are a Big Threat to the Power of Public Education
As the list of amenities we once associated with schooling gets shorter and shorter, households at all income levels will start to wonder what exactly they're paying for. Stripped of the non-academic side of things, public schools now must sell themselves only as providers of academic skills. Many parents are likely to be left unimpressed, as they can finally see exactly what is being taught to their children.
2020-05-13 ~National. WT: From 'Russiagate' to 'Obamagate': The tables turn -- editorial
The sudden upending of the case against former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has turned a trickle of facts into a flood. As the details of their plot to undo the 2016 presidential election fall under the spotlight, Obama administration alumni are scrambling to mount a rear-guard defense of their actions. Leading them from behind is Barack Obama himself.
2020-05-12 ~Virginia. WT: Ralph Northam now only exists to do the left's bidding, by Grover Norquist
Mr. Northam is a governor in name only. Even though Mr. Northam tries to flex his muscle with hare-brained power plays, he is nothing but an errand boy for the far-left Virginia Democrat Party. The moment Mr. Northam is no longer useful, the left will chew him up and spit him out. Sadly, it is Virginians who will pay the price of Mr. Northam's tax-and-spend policies for years to come.
2020-05-12 ~FxSchools FCTA: Public Schools: Learning or Social Studies?, FCPS testimony by Art Purves
Please spend our $3.1 billion on learning instead of a futile attempt to replace family and church. Return the curriculum to the pre-John Dewey teaching methods that worked for a hundred years and abandon the current methods, which produce mediocrity, poverty, and inequality.
2020-05-08 ~Virginia. TJI: Spaced Out, Hidden, Here Come the 2020 Tax Hikes, by Stephen D. Haner
The 2020 General Assembly, with its new progressive Democrat majority, passed nearly two dozen changes in Virginia tax laws that will begin to hit individuals and businesses in a few weeks on July 1. Because of the COVID-19 economic shutdown, a few amendments were made to the implementation schedule during the reconvened session on April 22, but no tax increase was repealed.
2020-05-08 ~Virginia. WT: How we prevented COVID-19 cases at Liberty University, by Jerry Falwell Jr.
Looking back over our plan to prevent COVID-19 cases at Liberty University while simultaneously prioritizing the needs of students who lacked the resources and accommodations to weather the storm, we seemed to have struck the perfect balance. Our crisis response plan prevented any cases of COVID-19 on our campus, and it serves as a model for other institutions to follow in the future.
2020-05-05 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax budget hearing brings out annual fiscal tug-of-war
Fairfax County residents who testified last week about County Executive Bryan Hill's proposed FY 2021 budget as usual pressed for schools and social-services spending, but many also were intent on curbing extraneous spending -- including Charles McAndrew, Arthur Purves, and Tom Cranmer of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance.
2020-05-05 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: No Changes to Trimmed Down FY 2021 Budget Proposal; RE tax rate at $1.15
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the FY 2021 Budget Markup today, Tuesday, May 5. The board made no changes to the revised FY 2021 Budget County Executive Bryan Hill proposed in early April. The budget maintains the current Real Estate Tax rate of $1.15 per $100 of assessed value. Budget adoption is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12.
2020-05-04 ~Virginia. AP: Dominion Energy expects bills to rise to pay for renewable mandates
Customers of Dominion Energy Virginia can expect their bills to increase by an average of about 3% annually over the next 10 years as the company changes its generation mix to comply with new renewable energy mandates passed by the General Assembly, Dominion recently told regulators and lawmakers.
2020-05-04 ~National. WT: Trump suggests China let virus spread on purpose, by Bill Gertz
"In other words, they knew they had a problem. I think they were embarrassed by the problem, very embarrassed, and, you know, the case could be made, they said, 'Hey, look, this is going to have a huge impact on China, and we might as well let the rest of the world [have it].'" -- President Trump speaking during a video town hall on 05/03/2020
2020-05-01 ~National. AMAC: 28.3 Million Reasons Not to Trust a Mail-in Election, by Tony Perkins
When a federal elections commission started asking questions, not one person had any explanation for the 28.3 million mail-in ballots that have gone missing since 2012. As far as they're concerned, one in five absentee votes just vanished. No one knows if it's fraud, system failure, general ineptitude, or a combination of all three. What we do know is that Democrats want us to trust this same process -- on a national scale -- this November.
2020-04-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Thoughts on the Current Crisis, by Larry P. Arnn
The president of Hillsdale College assesses the current lockdown due to the Wuhan virus, including the failure of government bureaucracies, some of our leaders, and of the "experts".
2020-04-30 ~Environmt Breitbart: RIP Fred Singer, Godfather of Climate Skepticism, by James Delingpole
Professor S. Fred Singer -- Godfather of Climate Skepticism, Humiliator of Al Gore -- has died aged 95. Singer was a climate skeptic, not because he was funded by Big Oil, or the tobacco industry, or any of the other charges laid against him by alarmists -- but simply because he cleaved to good science.
2020-04-28 ~National. Epoch Times: CCP Virus Response Brings a Taste of Fascism, by Michael Walsh
Forget the pandemic -- it's time to flatten the panic curve. Attorney General William Barr has ordered U.S. attorneys across the country to monitor the actions of the more extreme governors (California's Gavin Newsom, Virginia's Ralph Northam, Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, and New York's Andrew Cuomo come immediately to mind) for possible violations of the Bill of Rights, especially the right to freely practice one's religion and the right of peaceful assembly.
2020-04-28 ~National. WT: Coronavirus hype biggest political hoax in history, by Cheryl K. Chumley
The new coronavirus is real. The response to the coronavirus is hyped. In fact, COVID-19 will go down as one of the political world's biggest, most shamefully overblown, overhyped, overly and irrationally inflated and outright deceptively flawed responses to a health matter in American history.
2020-04-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Presentation to BOS on the County Budget, by Bill Peabody
Over $11 billion has been lost since 2003, as people walked away from high taxes. Fix the budget in the long term by: 1) Keeping raises in line with the private sector; 2) Raising the retirement age to 62 from 55. County pensions are way better than private companies can afford -- convert to 401k's like they do. Taxpayers should not be liable for your pension when their own is at risk.
2020-04-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Presentation to BOS on the County Budget, by Tom Cranmer
1) Covid-19 scare is overblown; 2) BOS should encourage more healthy living; 3) open Fairfax for business with social distancing; 4) reduce budget by $241M to match decline in RE values; 5) reduce FCPS budget; 6) promote home schooling to reduce FCPS costs; 7) reduce Fairfax's Metro subsidy by $412M.
2020-04-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Presentation to BOS on the County Budget, by Chuck McAndrew
Reduce the real estate tax rate to below the $1.15 current proposed rate to perhaps $1.12 so that there will be no impact on the taxpayer. Raise the age of newly hired employees and for those employees under 40 years of age to age 62, the same as the earliest age to obtain Social Security benefits.
2020-04-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimony at BOS FY2021 Budget Hearing, by Arthur Purves
In summary, we have soaring real estate taxes for raises that may be the result of a conflict of interest; schools that discriminate against Hispanics and African-Americans, with generous funding from a predominately white board of supervisors; and a devastating government economic lockdown that has not been supported by evidence and is unconstitutional.
2020-04-24 ~Virginia. Fx GOP: Major Changes in Virginia Election Law, by Scott Spitzer
Democrats have softened Virginia's election laws, making voter fraud easier as follows, effective 07/01/2020: 1) repeals voter ID requirement; 2) allows absentee voting without any stated excuse; 3) implements Automatic Voter Registration at DMV; 4) expands absentee voting timelines; 5) extends election poll hours; 6) allows same-day voter registration. Future changes will likely include Vote By Mail; Ballot Harvesting; and National Popular Vote Compact.
2020-04-24 ~FxSchools FRC: Sex Education and LGBTQ Indoctrination in Public Schools, by Cathy Ruse
Most of us remember what sex education was like when we were in school. Admonitions to be careful, respect others, and save sex for marriage. Things are very different today. In Fairfax County, Virginia, they teach: abstinence until your next steady boyfriend or girlfriend; your right to an abortion; and transgenderism as a healthy sexual identity. In other parts of the country, things are even more perverse.
2020-04-22 ~National. The Hill: Stop coronavirus panic and end the total isolation!, by Dr. Scott Atlas
The COVID-19 pandemic is entering the containment phase, and the data suggests NOT continuing the near-total lockdown. The facts: 1) The fatality rate if infected is likely 0.1-0.2%; 2) Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding; 3) Total lockdown prevents vital population immunity, prolonging the problem; 4) People are dying because other medical care is not getting done; and 5) We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
2020-04-22 ~National. GreenSmoothieGirl.com: Top U.S. Virologist Blows The Whistle On Covid-19
Judy Mikovits, PhD, is a biochemist and molecular biologist who worked in top government labs on the Ebola, HIV, and coronaviruses like SARS. This interview describes how viruses are discovered and genetically engineered for profit. Dr. Mikovits exposes fraud at the highest level in the CDC and other agencies Americans believe keep us safe from infectious disease in her new book, "Plague of Corruption".
2020-04-21 ~National. Epoch Times: Pandemic Lockdown - Just Delaying Inevitable?, by Brian Giesbrecht
Most western countries have been in lockdown for over a month to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Schools have been emptied and all businesses deemed non-essential have been closed by government order. This is an enormously expensive strategy. Doesn't it make sense to take a close look at how Sweden and the other countries that didn't resort to these draconian, freedom-crushing strategies remained open so we can learn from them?
2020-04-21 ~FxSchools Choice Media: Equity & (Not) Going Digital in NoVa Schools, by Maria Keffler
The educational solution to the quarantine problem is to create a system that meets the needs of most students, then to craft a secondary plan to address the needs of those who struggle with the primary system. School systems -- public, private, and homeschool -- that are more focused on academics than on social justice crusades have already figured this out.
2020-04-21 ~Environmt WT: Fall of oil prices threatens green energy gains, by Valerie Richardson
Climate warriors led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chuckling over the collapse of oil prices are receiving a crash course in economics from analysts who point out that cheap gas is actually the enemy of green energy.
2020-04-20 ~Report... Ways to Reduce the Proposed FY2021 Fairfax Co Budget, by Fred Costello-244
2020-04-17 ~National. WT: Stanford researchers challenge projections on COVID-19, by Valerie Richardson
Stanford researchers have studied the population prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Santa Clara County and found between 50- and 80-fold more infections in the county than what's known by the number of cases reported by the department of public health. They then estimate an infection fatality rate of 0.12-0.2% -- much lower than official projections.
2020-04-16 ~FxSchools WT: FCPS postpones distance learning due to app glitches, by Sophie Kaplan
When the school district's 189,000 and their teachers tried to use the remote learning app Blackboard on Tuesday, many could not log in due to increased online traffic. Superintendent Scott Braband cancelled distance learning on Thursday and Friday, and remote instruction will resume on Monday.
2020-04-16 ~Environmt WT: Green New Deal requires 'massive increase' in mining, by Valerie Richardson
Replacing fossil fuels and nuclear power with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and electric vehicles would come at an environmental cost by driving a "massive worldwide increase" in mining. More than 70% of rare-earth elements are now mined by Chinese-controlled companies or in China, which has dismal records on environmental protection and working conditions.
2020-04-15 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Manners vs Virtue, Manners, Courtesy, and Decorum, by Jeff Minick
Virtues exist outside the realm of the individual as broad governing principles based on morality, goodness, and what C.S. Lewis called in "The Abolition of Man" the "traditional moralities of East and West." Values are defined as "a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life." This latter subjective practice has had adverse consequences for virtue, decorum, and manners.
2020-04-15 ~National. Epoch Times: Why American Youths' Such Distorted View of America, by Fred Eckert
More an indoctrination manual than a history textbook, "A People's History of the United States," by radical Marxist Howard Zinn and released in 1980, has sold more than 2.5 million copies. No other work matches its influence on how today's youth view America or on how our heroes, traditions, and values that were for so long cherished have in recent years become demonized.
2020-04-14 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax budget plan downscaled in wake of virus, economic concerns
In response to adverse economic impacts from the COVID-19 lockdown, Fairfax County government officials have removed major planks from the county's proposed fiscal year 2021 budget -- including wage increases for employees and a 3-cent hike in the real-estate-tax rate -- and will hold required public hearings on the budget two weeks later than previously scheduled.
2020-04-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimony at BOS FY2021 Effective Tax Rate Hearing, by Arthur Purves
After the COVID-19 lockdown, the County Executive no longer recommends an increase in the Real Estate Tax Rate, keeping it at $1.15 per $100 of assessed value. But to negate tax increases due to increased assessments, the tax rate should actually be lowered to $1.12! After all, county employees at least still have their jobs, while many privately-employed taxpayers do not.
2020-04-13 ~National. WT: Quarantine not long-term fix -- letter, by Samuel Burkeen
While the rest of the world took the mass quarantine approach to the Wuhan virus, Sweden went the historical, scientific route, which has consisted of masks, social distancing, personal hygiene, quarantining only the most vulnerable, and developing "herd immunity". Sweden accepted reality, but the United States remains in fantasyland.
2020-04-12 ~FxSchools Fx GOP: FCPS's One Fairfax "Equity" in the Time of Corona, by Steve Knotts
One month into the coronavirus outbreak, FCPS has left parents wondering why one of the self-proclaimed "top school districts in the country" is failing to lead the way in distance learning. The Board's assenine One Fairfax policy to provide identical access for all students is delaying educational instruction to all students.
2020-04-10 ~Virginia. AP: Governor Northam signs gun-control bills into law, by Alan Suderman
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed several new gun restrictions he championed during this year's legislative session, cementing gains by gun control advocates they hope will serve as a "blueprint" for states around the country. Banning of AR-15-style rifles will be attempted again next year.
2020-04-08 ~Virginia. AP: Dominion Energy says new natural gas generation not viable, by Sarah Rankin
Dominion Energy Virginia recently told state regulators "significant build-out" of natural gas-fired power plants is no longer viable because of the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020 that the General Assembly passed earlier this year. A move away from natural gas would mark a significant shift from Dominion's 2018 plans, which called for at least eight new gas-fired plants.
2020-04-07 ~Virginia. AP: Gov Northam to postpone teacher raises, freeze tuition, by Suderman & Rankin
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam plans to delay some long-sought Democrat priorities until more is known about the pandemic's affect on the economy, pushing back decisions on whether to give teachers and state workers raises, freeze in-state college tuition, and implement other new spending in budget recently passed by lawmakers.
2020-04-07 ~Health... Dadamo.com: Covid-19: Chloroquine, Zinc and Quercetin, by Peter D'Adamo
Zinc is a decidedly anti-viral mineral. In high concentrations, zinc can block coronavirus reproduction, but the cell is typically disinclined to tolerate high levels of zinc due to concerns about its other actions. Enter the zinc ionophores -- facilitators that enhance the entry of zinc into the cell -- which include chloroquine, quercetin, and green tea polyphenol.
2020-04-07 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: County Exec Proposes Revised Post-Lockdown FY 2021 Budget
County Executive Bryan Hill has proposed a new Fairfax County FY 2021 Budget drastically different from that which he presented in February, prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic and its massive impact on the economy and county residents. The new plan eliminates the proposed three-cent real estate tax rate increase and compensation increases for county employees.
2020-04-07 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: New Fx Co Budget Proposal Reflects Coronavirus Impact, by M. O'Connell
1) Maintains the current Real Estate Tax rate of $1.15 per $100 of assessed value; 2) Scraps the 4% Admissions Tax on movie tickets; 3) Slashes the number of new positions from 177 to 20; 4) Eliminates all pay adjustments for county employees; 5) Decreases employee benefits by $5.63M; 6) Reduces increase in Schools Operating Fund from $85.52M to $7.31M.
2020-04-06 ~National. WT: Some public health scholars say stay-at-home wrong approach, by James Varney
A faction of public health scholars says there may be a better way to approach the coronavirus pandemic than the shelter-in-place rules that have brought the U.S. economy to a screeching halt.
2020-03-xx ~Bulletin. High Taxes for Education Fraud
2020-03-30 ~Porpourri Epoch Times: Celebrating the West, by William Gairdner
I have previously written how modern multicultural and globalist policies have been undermining the deep-culture distinctiveness of the West. Now I want to celebrate some of the precious gifts of our civilization, without apology. Because no matter how you look at it, from ancient times until now -- shortcomings, mistakes, and disasters notwithstanding -- our system for producing human flourishing is plainly one of the most successful ever created.
2020-03-30 ~National. WT: Marine Corps to undergo 'radical' overhaul to take on China, by Ben Wolfgang
The Marine Corps plans to give up its tanks, dramatically remake its artillery batteries, cut its helicopter fleet and take a host of other "radical" steps in arguably the most sweeping American military overhaul in a century -- all with the goal of preparing for a potential 21st-century conflict with China.
2020-03-28 ~Report... Painlessly Cutting the Fairfax Co School Budget, by Fred Costello-243
2020-03-27 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Advertised Budget for FY2021 -- plus Coronovirus Update
2020-03-25 ~National. Epoch Times: In Face of Pandemic, Let Life Go On, by Michael Walsh
For a disease that so far has extracted a relatively small death toll, and from which a quarter of those infected have already recovered, why are we reacting as if COVID-19 is the second coming of the Black Death? In short, what is the cost/benefit analysis of deliberately damaging the world economy?
2020-03-20 ~World.... Uncover DC: Why was Italy hit so hard by Wuhan Coronavirus?, by Tracy Beanz
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants now live both legally and illegally in Italy. Along with an ageing population who may not be the healthiest, there is also a government now beholden to China, who acting at their behest, took extreme measures to the opposite of social distancing.
2020-03-19 ~National. Examiner: $5 trillion down the drain after Wuhan virus, by Stephen Moore
If any good comes out of this dismal performance by the political class in dealing with the Wuhan virus, it is that we will have more Americans who have learned that, as Ronald Reagan put it, "government is not the solution; government is the problem."
2020-03-19 ~National. Epoch Times: Construction Industry Faces Changing Work Ethic, by Cara Ding
More than 40 percent of construction workers will retire in 2026, but almost half of the young people surveyed by NAHB in a 2017 poll responded that they remain uninterested in construction work -- even if it were to pay upwards of $100,000 annually. The top reasons were that it's too physically demanding, and it's too difficult.
2020-03-18 ~Virginia. JPJ: Sixteen Tax Hike Bills Approved by the General Assembly, by Stephen D. Haner
What did this year's General Assembly cost you in taxes? Here are at least 16 bills approved by the 2020 General Assembly which create or raise taxes on Virginians or authorize a local government to do so. If anybody would or could run the fiscal projections on these 16 tax bills, they might combine into a major tax hike comparable to those in 2004 and 2013.
2020-03-18 ~Virginia. JPJ: Dominion Energy Gets a "Blank Check" from the General Assembly, by Lee Ware
The most expensive offshore wind project in U.S. history's projected energy cost is 13.8 times greater than new solar facilities. The forecasted cost of energy from the pilot is 78 cents/kWh. For comparison, Dominion Energy residential customers currently pay an average electric rate of 10.83 cents per kilowatt-hour.
2020-03-17 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: When Wuhan Virus Departs, World Will Be Changed, by Michael Walsh
When the Wuhan Virus finally runs its course, a whole lot of things are going to be very, very different. Casualties include: 1) the European Union; 2) Open borders; 3) dependence on China; 4) "Climate change"; 5) Globalism and "free trade"; 6) the IRS and the income tax; 7) college and professional sports; 8) mass transit; 9) animal rights; 10) rule by judges; and most of all 11) the media.
2020-03-17 ~FxSchools Fx GOP: The Public School Model Needs to Change, by Maria Keffler
Public school is no longer a safe place for children. Curricula and policies that oppose many families' values, a system that enforces no consequences for wrongdoing, and the understandable exodus of family-oriented decision-makers has created a monolithic and ethically vacuous monstrosity of our public schools.
2020-03-16 ~State-IN. The Atlantic: How Purdue University's President Froze Tuition, by Andy Ferguson
The cost of a year of undergraduate college at Purdue University, tuition and fees, is $9,992. The university has also reduced the price of food services and textbooks, making an undergraduate degree from Purdue less expensive today than it was when Mitch Daniels arrived in 2013.
2020-03-16 ~Porpourri Intellectual Takeout: How C.S. Lewis Would Tell Us to Handle Coronavirus
Last week I saw a C.S. Lewis quote shared on social media. I'd seen this quote from his essay "On Living in an Atomic Age" before, but shrugged it off as a nice thought that didn't really apply any more. Never mind. Swap out "atomic bomb" for "coronavirus" and the relevance of the quote becomes quite clear.
2020-03-12 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
Public posting, one half of page A7 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 2.65 percent for residential and an increase of 2.87 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 14, 2020 at the Gov't Center.
2020-03-12 ~FxSchools WaPo: Montgomery County fails to teach children to read, by Karin Chenoweth
Reading and writing are enormously complex activities. Teaching children how to do them requires a great deal of knowledge on the part of teachers and principals. But just about all children, no matter their background, can learn to read. The fact that Montgomery County, with all its resources, fails to do what we know works is -- frankly -- embarrassing.
2020-03-10 ~National. WT: Leftists invaded education long before the coronavirus, by Sam Sorbo
There is, after all, the strong potential of recovery from the coronavirus, but the disease of liberalism -- intolerance of the truth, and a reluctance to learn (all promoted in our government schools and institution of "higher learning") -- is much more threatening. It poisons its victims with dangerous assumptions about political correctness, unearned self-worth, and gender confusion.
2020-03-10 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting (Sully), by Charles McAndrew
Joe Mondoro, Chief Financial Officer of the Fairfax County Government gave the bulk of the presentation.
2020-03-09 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Why Socialism Will Never Die and Plague Humanity Forever
Joseph Schumpeter, one of the brightest economists of the 20th century, allegedly said socialism will never die because it has three constituencies who will forever advocate for it -- victims of creative destruction, intellectuals, and bureaucrats.
2020-03-09 ~National. WT: Please stop the coronavirus hysteria. Now., by Tim Constantine
Is it possible the coronavirus is something less than the second-coming of the black plague? Obviously any death is tragic but does a count of 22 deaths in a country of 330 million people really warrant billions of dollars in Wall Street losses, the cancellation of festivals, games, community gatherings, schools, church services and more? In a word, no. It is hysteria.
2020-03-09 ~National. WT: Two-track justice system increasingly obvious, by Jeff Mordock
Roger Stone is awaiting a 40-month prison sentence while Andrew McCabe enjoys life as a high-profile CNN commentator, creating outrage among conservatives who see a political double standard when it comes to prosecutions of false statements. Both men lied to federal investigators or Congress, a federal offense that can be prosecuted and result in prison time.
2020-03-07 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Alena Pettitt, a Voice for Traditional Housewives, by C. Philipp
On her website, Pettitt writes: "It's OK to want to be a good wife. It's OK to want to make your husband happy, and it's definitely OK to stand up and preserve the sanctity of marriage. 1809, 1909, 1959, 2020 -- it's all the same. Women haven't changed -- society's narrative has, but they too often spin lies to make us feel bad about living 'differently' from the norm."
2020-03-02 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Should you appeal your real estate tax assessment?, by Anon Fx Co resident
Real estate tax assessments have been mailed. These are required by state law to be uniform and at fair market value (FMV). Whether your assessment increased or decreased does not tell you whether your home's new assessment is accurate. Before you appeal your real estate assessment, do your homework.
2020-02-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The End of Elections? (if the Left has its way)
I shocked many of you recently by predicting that the left is going to try to abolish elections. It is increasingly obvious that the only thing standing between them and perpetual power -- to which they think they are entitled -- is your ability to vote against them. As such, elections will be in their crosshairs.
2020-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Roots of Our Partisan Divide, by Christopher Caldwell
Imprimis lecture by Christopher Caldwell, Senior Fellow, The Claremont Institute and Author, The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties.
2020-02-29 ~National. WT: How modern education has destroyed next generation's soul, by Everett Piper
Hardly a day goes by that you don't hear the question: How did we get in this mess? Where did this lunacy come from, and how did it all happen so quickly? It is because of our local schools, colleges and universities. When you relentlessly work to remove the next generation's soul, you should not expect your culture to stay out of hell.
2020-02-27 ~State-VT. Epoch Times: 93 Vermont Towns Have No Public Schools, but Great Education
Ninety-three Vermont towns (36 percent of its 255 municipalities) have no government-run school at all. In these "tuition towns", the funds local governments expect to spend per pupil are instead given directly to the parents of school-age children. This method gives lower- and middle-income parents the same superpower wealthy families have always had: school choice.
2020-02-27 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: How to Excel at Parenting, by Barbara Danza
How to be a phenomenal parent: 1) Dedicate Yourself; 2) Bask in the Wonder; 3) Keep Things Simple; 4) Embrace Adventure; 5) Educate Your Children; 6) Recognize Your Reflection; 7) Take It Day by Day.
2020-02-27 ~FxSchools Patch: NoVa School Districts Pay Teachers The Most, by Mark Hand
As the most affluent region in the state, Northern Virginia school teachers are paid more on average than teachers in the rest of Virginia, ranging from a high of $81,129 in Arlington County to a low of $39,567 in Grayson County Public Schools, a school district in southwestern Virginia. Fairfax County averages $77,985 in 2020, with starting salaries at $55,000.
2020-02-25 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: Real Estate Tax Hike In Fairfax's Proposed Budget, by Michael O'Connell
Fairfax County residents could see the average real estate tax bill increase by $346 next year. The FY 2021 Budget Proposal County Executive Bryan Hill presented Tuesday, Feb. 25, includes an increase of the real estate tax rate by 3 cents per $1.18 per $100 of assessed value (which also increased considerably this year).
2020-02-24 ~National. WT: The far-left's strategy to control your community, by Kay C. James
Wealthy left-wing donors across the country are funding efforts to ensure their far-left agenda pervades our entire society -- from getting their abortion curricula into our schools to changing our election laws -- and they want to make sure that no city, no town is left to stand against them.
2020-02-20 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Why Principles Matter, by Lawrence W. Reed
In one form or another, I hear people suggest that an "open mind" is somehow superior to possessing an opinion or embracing a principle. The only times that's true, in my view, are when an opinion or a principle is knee-jerk, poorly considered, illogical, untrue, or unfounded.
2020-02-20 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Docs Decry Financial Pressures of Health Care, by Melissa Bailey
The current model of emergency care forces doctors to practice "fast and loose medicine". Patients get a battery of tests before a doctor even has time to hear their story or give them a proper exam. A growing number of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other clinicians are using the phrase "moral injury" to describe their inner struggles at work.
2020-02-20 ~Health... STAT News: Using AI, scientists find novel antibiotic able to kill superbugs
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used machine learning to identify a molecule that appears capable of countering some of the world's most formidable pathogens. When tested in mice, the molecule, dubbed halicin, effectively treated the gastrointestinal bug C. diff and another type of drug-resistant bacteria that often causes infections in the blood, urinary tract, and lungs.
2020-02-18 ~FxSchools AP: JEB Stuart uses videos nixing minimum wage, climate change, by Matt Barakat
A federal judge's appearance at JEB Stuart High School was a collaborative project between Fairfax County Public Schools and a group called Izzit.org, which provides educational materials and videos to students across the country. One video questions the rationale for minimum wage laws, while another downplays man's role in climate change.
2020-02-17 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Social Conservatives and Tradition, by Harley Price
Most traditional social or moral arrangements were established in the mists of antiquity, but then only at the end of an earlier, protracted period of human experimentation and adaptation. A traditionalist is one who has the sense to recognize when the experiment has succeeded, and to stop, on the principle that there is nothing more mindless -- because it is insane -- than to go on experimenting for experiment's sake.
2020-02-14 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Va Political Malpractice with Nat'l Popular Vote, by Eddie Zipperer
Virginia's House of Delegates brought them one step closer to joining the National Popular Vote Compact (NPVC), thus pledging to surrender Virginia's electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. So Virginia's lawmakers are willing to go against their own voters and allow people outside of the state to choose their electors.
2020-02-14 ~Virginia. CLIC-VA: Status of Bills in the General Assembly, by Carol Stopps
2020-02-13 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: With SAS Ad, Globalism Turns to Self-Loathing, by Celia Farber
A commercial for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has caused an uproar on social media, causing thousands of Scandinavians to pledge never to fly with them again. Like the infamous toxic masculinity pre-Superbowl Gillette commercial, it seems to weaponize the "product" against the very people it would normally seek to seduce. Are commercials becoming vehicles that attack their customers, in the age of woke?
2020-02-12 ~National. Daily Caller: Burgess Owens on Lesson Americans Learned from Trump's Impeachment
"The great thing about what President Trump has done over the past two and a half years is he has shown who the socialists and Marxists are, those who do not value the rule of law," Owens began. "They have no shame and they will say anything and everything so they can win power, and the impeachment was a good example of that."
2020-02-12 ~National. Epoch Times: The Federal Records [Mis-]Management Disaster, by Ivan Pentchoukov
You don't have a democracy without accountability and transparency. You don't have accountability and transparency without records management. Without an effective system to preserve, protect, track, and -- when required by law -- destroy records, the ensuing chaos hands the power over the government's records to career administrators, who can choose which records see the light of day and which simply disappear.
2020-02-12 ~FxSchools Connection: School Board wants +5.8% for "Tremendous Needs", by Mercia Hobson
On Feb. 6, the new all-woke School Board approved a motion to adopt the Advertised Budget of $3.2 billion, a 5.8% increase over the FY 20 Approved Budget. There was lots of blather about "neediest kids", "conversations regarding equity", and "the value of our teachers", but no mention of fixing the woeful educational curriculum.
2020-02-10 ~Virginia. WT: When Big Labor Forces unionism on Virginia workers, by Mark Mix
On Jan. 7, after disingenuously suggesting during last year's state campaigns that right-to-work protections for employees in Virginia would not be in jeopardy if his party took over control of the General Assembly, newly-minted Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, Fairfax County Democrat, introduced legislation that would eliminate those protections.
2020-02-10 ~National. Epoch Times: Population Moving Out of States With Higher Taxes, More Lawyers
Americans are moving to those with lower levies, more balanced budgets, and fewer attorneys, according 2018 (IRS) data.
Highest net in-migration (in order): NV, ID, AZ, SC, CO, DE, NC, OR, WA, FL, TN, ME, GA, MT, and NH.
Highest net out-migration (in order): NY, IL, CT, ND, LA, NJ, MA, KS, WV, CA, MS, WY, MD, NE, and RI.
2020-02-10 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Civic group urges Fairfax leaders to uphold promises on Tysons
Coming up on the 10th anniversary of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors' approval of the Tysons comprehensive plan, the Greater Tysons Citizens Coalition e-mailed a letter on Jan. 29 asking supervisors and members of the county's Planning Commission and School Board not to back off from the plan's requirements. Lack of adequate infrastructure is already affecting Vienna, in increased traffic and use of athletic fields and schools.
2020-02-07 ~FxTrans.. Fx Times: Using tolls to pay for new rail bridge is a bad idea, by Jim LeMunyon
The law requires that toll payers receive a benefit from the collected toll. Funding transit with tolls to reduce congestion on the I-66 corridor (about $17 million per year) is how this obligation is met. Now NVTC wants to divert approximately half of the I-66 toll revenue for the next 35 years to pay for part of the rail bridge project, which would not benefit toll payers on I-66.
2020-02-03 ~Virginia. WT: The utterly American history of 'We will not comply', by Amy Swearer
Gun-control advocates have denounced the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement as undemocratic and anti-American. But voicing a collective refusal to comply with laws perceived as unconstitutional or unjust is a fundamental part of American democratic discourse. In fact, the mantra "we will not comply" helped set the stage for America as it exists today.
2020-02-03 ~Virginia. WT: Va's elected officials must not eliminate right-to-work law, by George Allen
The very fact that bills to overturn our right-to-work law are on the legislative table in Virginia this year is already damaging our state's credibility as a reliable business-friendly state. Such a law would benefit Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or any Right to Work state located to the south or west of Virginia.
2020-01-29 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Positive Freedom Versus Negative Freedom, by Chris Erickson
True freedom is being able to live a life in which we are free to pursue the true, the good, and the beautiful. Having all exterior controls and restraints removed is not actual freedom, as nothing is truly being bestowed freely upon an individual. The truth is that so-called freedom from all constraints and limits isn't actually freedom, but rather an attractive invitation into chaos, destruction, and/or addiction.
2020-01-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: Public Schools: An Investment in Mediocrity, by Arthur Purves
The "One Fairfax" policy is a stunning admission of public school failure. Its "progressive education" favors affluent white and Asian students, who learn phonics and arithmetic drill at home while discriminating against low-income predominately Hispanic and African American students, who do not have that advantage.
2020-01-25 ~Virginia. CLIC-VA: Status of Bills in the General Assembly, by Carol Stopps
2020-01-25 ~National. WT: George Soros, 89, is still on a quest to destroy America, by Cheryl Chumley
George Soros hates America and free market capitalism, and continues to support leftist causes, including key local district attorney races, state legislatures, and the further corruption of public schools around the country. His Open Society Foundation sends dark money to left-wing causes around the world.
2020-01-24 ~Potpourri WT: Christianity Today doubles down condemning Trump defenders, by Everett Piper
After Mark Galli's rant against Trump in Dec. 2019, Scott McKnight, writing for the same magazine, doubled down in a Jan. 21, 2020 article, labeling as "statists" conservatives who believe in the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. Have these people never heard of "psychological projection", accusing others of the very sins of which they, themselves, are most guilty?
2020-01-22 ~States... edChoice: Private School Choice in the U.S. -- detailed PDF (or simpler html)
EdChoice's "The ABCs of School Choice, 2020" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This annually updated PDF publication may not reflect developments past January 7, 2020. UMass Dartmouth provides a condensed version in html.
2020-01-22 ~National. Epoch Times: Exposing Voter Fraud & Closing Loopholes -- Adrian Norman interview
Just how big an issue is voter fraud in America? And how does it happen, despite the safeguards? What exactly are "ghost voters"? And how does ballot harvesting actually work? And, in the eyes of Adrian Norman, what policies need to be put in place to ensure free and fair elections in America?
2020-01-18 ~State-CO. Forbes: Colorado's TABOR prevents increased taxes & spending, by Patrick Gleason
The temporary income tax cut that recently took effect in Colorado is due to the state's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), an amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in 1992 that to this day is the strongest taxpayer safeguard in the nation. Under TABOR, state revenue cannot grow faster than the combined rate of population growth and inflation.
2020-01-17 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Democrat Fairfax supervisors press for local taxing authority
Fairfax County supervisors in a 9-1 party-line vote Jan. 14 approved a resolution asking the General Assembly to grant the county the same taxation authority as that accorded to Virginia's towns and cities. So a Meals Tax or other such extortion could be implemented without the now-required voter referendum (anathema to big-spending Democrats).
2020-01-16 ~Virginia. JLARC: Virginia Compared to the Other States
Provides figures, percentages, and state rankings for all 50 states interactively in numerous categories including 1) Population size, economy, education, and health; 2) Taxes and Revenue; 3) Government spending, debt, and employment; 4) Education costs & spending; and 5) Public assistance, transportation, and public safety spending. (PDF version.)
2020-01-15 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Meg Meeker: Helping Girls Discover Their Real Worth, by C. Philipp
Kids have a hunger to know why they are here. "Even 8-year-old kids, 10-year-old kids know they're living on a fairly superficial level, and they want to go deeper. Parents are pretty good about teaching their daughters that you can be a really good soccer player, you can get really good grades, but girls aren't satisfied with that. They want to know, 'Why am I alive?'" -- Meg Meeker, pediatrician and best-selling author.
2020-01-09 ~Virginia. AP: Va Dems pledge to let locals move Confederate statues, by Rankin & Suderman
Newly empowered Democrat leaders in Virginia pledged Thursday to let local governments remove Confederate monuments, but Gov. Ralph Northam said he's still weighing what to do with one of the state's most prominent ones -- a towering statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
2020-01-09 ~Potpourri Yahoo: 'Pre-school Picasso' shakes up German art world, by Kit Holden
Dubbed the "pre-school Picasso" by German media, Mikail Akar's paintings now sell for thousands of euros (dollars) to buyers from across the world. "At just seven years old, he is established in the art world. There is interest from Germany, France and the USA," his father and manager, Kerem Akar, told AFP.
2020-01-08 ~National. NR: Progressive Governments' Economic War on NRA Fails in Court, by Walter Olson
In California and New York, efforts to target the gun-rights group's business relationships are failing on First Amendment grounds.
2020-01-06 ~World.... Summit News: 183 Australians Arrested For Deliberately Starting Bushfires
Authorities in Australia have arrested close to 200 people for deliberately starting the bushfires that have devastated the country, yet the media and celebrities continue to blame "climate change" for the disaster. The fires have caused at least 18 deaths, destroyed thousands of homes, millions of hectares of land and killed hundreds of millions of animals.
2020-01-06 ~Virginia. NRA: Crime in Virginia is Falling, but Governor Focuses on Making You a Felon
Disgraced Governor Ralph Northam and his Bloomberg-bought anti-gun allies in the newly elected legislature have made it clear they are hell-bent on enacting gun control. They want to take your guns and they want taxpayers to fund it. They've seen the same research that has shown that gun control doesn't work.
2020-01-06 ~Virginia. NRA: Bloomberg Dismisses Texas Hero, Prefers Mass Shootings
The video of the mass shooting attempt at that church in White Settlement, Texas shows the carnage was over in six seconds, thanks to armed congregant Jack Wilson. Gun-control politicians are now on notice that lawful concealed carry saved many lives in just that one episode. But Michael Bloomberg (and his Bloomberg-bought Virginia General Assembly) seem to prefer mass shootings over self-defense.
2020-01-05 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Va Amendment Would Allow Inmates To Vote, Locally, by Luke Rosiak
Virginia Democrats Mamie E. Locke and Kaye Kory will introduce a measure Jan. 8 that would allow prisoners to vote from jail in the state. The bill appears to allow prisoners to vote in the jurisdiction of the jail, potentially making inmates a powerful voting bloc in sparsely populated communities.
2020-01-05 ~Virginia. Va General Assembly Bills for 2020, by David Swink
This data is culled from Richmond Sunlight, and placed onto a single web page, for ease of research. One can narrow your search by entering a word or phrase into the search box -- for example the last name of your delegate or senator, or perhaps how many gun control or vote-related bills are being proposed and by whom.
2020-01-03 ~FxMisc... Bacon's Rebellion: Fx Co has More Registered Voters than Voting-age Adults
More Northern Virginia news you will never read in the Washington Post... Fairfax County has a registration rate of 105%, according to conservative activist group Judicial Watch. In other words, the number of voter registrations exceeds the number of citizens in the county old enough to vote. Judicial Watch is not alleging that any voter fraud has occurred, just that Fairfax County is failing to comply with federal law.
2020-01-03 ~Environmt NYT: 'Climate Change' no longer an 'Environmental Impact' factor?, by L. Friedman
Federal agencies would no longer have to take climate change into account when they assess the environmental impacts of highways, pipelines and other major infrastructure projects, according to a Trump administration plan that would weaken the nation's benchmark environmental law.
2020-01-02 ~Virginia. NR: Ralph Northam's Losing Battle on 2nd Amendment Sanctuaries, by Cam Edwards
Ralph Northam is about to make the biggest tactical mistake in Virginia since Cornwallis decided to park his army at Yorktown. With his attempt to force local commonwealth's attorneys and sheriffs in Second Amendment sanctuaries to enforce his unconstitutional gun laws, Governor Northam is setting himself up for a catastrophic failure. In fact, there's no way for Northam to win the fight he seems intent on picking with Virginia gun owners and Second Amendment sanctuaries.
2020-01-02 ~National. JW: Judicial Watch Finds Millions of 'Extra' Registrants on Voting Rolls
Warns California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Colorado, Virginia to Clean Up Voting Rolls or Face a Federal Lawsuit.
2020-01-02 ~Health... Epoch Times: For Marriage Magic, Try Appreciating Your Husband, by June Fakkert
"All a good man wants is for his wife to be happy, and he will go to great lengths to make it happen. He'll even support his wife's ideas, plans or opinions if he doesn't agree with them. That's because a husband's number one goal is to please his wife. If he determines his wife cannot be pleased, that's when the marriage is in trouble." -- author Suzanne Venker
2020-01-01 ~Virginia. AP: Lawmakers pledge "Extra Rights Amendment" will pass in Va, by Rankin & Crary
Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment are already making plans for how they will celebrate Virginia becoming the critical 38th state to ratify that measure, passed in 1072. But 1982, the extended deadline for passage, is ancient history, and five states have since reversed their approval.
2019-12-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Angelo Codevilla, on current politics and culture
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with Angelo Codevilla, author of "America's Ruling Class -- and the Perils of Revolution". The subtitle: "The only serious opposition to this arrogant Ruling Party is coming not from feckless Republicans but from what might be called the Country Party -- and its vision is revolutionary."
2019-12-xx ~Bulletin. Big Government or Self-Government?
2019-12-31 ~Virginia. AP: Opponents push to abolish death penalty in Virginia, by Denise Lavoie
Virginia has executed nearly 1,400 people in its 412-year history -- more than any other state. But as a new Democrat majority prepares to begin the legislative session, some see an opportunity to end executions in Virginia. A bill to abolish the death penalty has been filed by Del. Lee Carter (D-Manassas), and several additional bills are expected.
2019-12-30 ~National. WT: Losing our religion: Fall of faith threatens America (5-part series)
Americans professing no religious affiliation are now nearly a quarter of the population, and have overtaken Catholics and Protestants to become the single largest group on the religious landscape. It's playing out in the pews, where church attendance is down, and it's playing out more broadly in American public life, where those of faith -- and particularly Christians -- say they feel increasingly marginalized.
2019-12-26 ~Potpourri MIT Tech Review: Smartphones make for lousy college students, by Ron Srigley
"In their world I'm the distraction, not their phones or their social-media profiles or their networking. Yet for what I'm supposed to be doing -- educating and cultivating young hearts and minds -- the consequences are pretty dark."
2019-12-23 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Democrats Seek To Outlaw Single-Family House Zoning, by Luke Rosiak
Virginia House Del. Ibraheem Samirah introduced a bill that would override local zoning officials to permit multi-family housing in every neighborhood, changing the character of quiet suburbs -- whether residents want it or not.
2019-12-21 ~Potpourri WaPo: Christianity Today took aim at Trump, but only hurt itself, by Hugh Hewett
I don't know soon-to-retire Mark Galli. But Christianity Today has suffered the same long, slow decline that has crippled "mainstream denominations", and perhaps the idea of putting on a show-stopping exit was just too tempting to pass up. But Galli should have done just that. The cost to this publication will be immense.
2019-12-20 ~Health... NPR: THC Additive, Vitamin E Acetate, Culprit In Most Vaping Deaths, by R. Harris
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that lung injuries rose sharply in June of this year. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's principal deputy director, says this sharp spike strongly points to a single culprit for most of these cases: vitamin E acetate, an additive found in illicit cannabis-containing vapes.
2019-12-20 ~Environmt Electroverse: Iceland's Emigration Center buried under 30 feet of Snow
Located in a two-story house, the Emigration Center practically disappeared under a monster dumping of snow delivered by last week's record-breaking storm. "We've never before had snow on this scale ... Maybe this is why people emigrated to America," exclaimed director Valgeir Þorvaldsson. This weather is in line with historically low solar activity (graphs provided).
2019-12-18 ~Virginia. Epoch Times: Culpeper Sheriff Scott Jenkins on Proposed Gun Laws, by Bowen Xiao
As a majority of local counties in Virginia are declaring themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries", a direct response to a new push by Democrats to pass stricter gun control measures, one of the state's county sheriffs says he'll "deputize citizens" as auxiliary deputies to protect their constitutional right to bear firearms.
2019-12-18 ~Report... Sources Supporting the December 2019 Bulletin, by Fred Costello-236
2019-12-13 ~Potpourri Unherd.com: Is this the end for Labour?, by Paul Embert, trade unionist
Says the author: "Some of us had long warned that working-class voters across post-industrial and small-town Britain were becoming increasingly alienated from the party. But we were banging our heads against a brick wall." Will the message he relates be picked up on this side of the pond? Don't bet on it.
2019-12-13 ~Potpourri WT: 'Bravo, Boris on U.K. election win!', by Lee Cohen
Thursday night, while we slept, our staunchest ally chose between two paths that couldn't be more divergent -- between capitalism and Marxism, between the people vs. the elite, between self-determination and self-conscious stagnation. Our destiny and the global order is affected by this choice. We can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Bravo, Boris!
2019-12-13 ~National. FIRE: Spotlight on Campus Speech Codes 2020
FIRE surveyed the written policies of 471 colleges and universities, evaluating their compliance with First Amendment standards. Overall, 24.2% of surveyed colleges maintained at least one severely restrictive policy that earned FIRE's worst, "red light" rating, while 63.9% earned a "yellow light" rating and 1.3% earned a "warning". Only 10.6% of institutions (50 schools) earned a "green light" rating.
2019-12-13 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Times: One-cent RE tax increase for "affordable housing"?, by Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County could potentially dedicate an extra penny to its affordable housing penny fund with the upcoming FY 2021 budget by adding a cent to the real estate tax, Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay says. (... by making your taxes less affordable?)
2019-12-12 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: U.S. students falling behind (some more) -- Editorial
Results of an international exam suggest U.S. schools are not doing enough to prepare young people for the competitive global economy. Meanwhile, our local and quite self-satisfied school boards across Northern Virginia are busy patting themselves on the back for all their social-engineering blather.
2019-12-09 ~World.... WT: China set to roll out 'Orwellian' mass surveillance tool, by Bill Gertz
China is developing a new high-tech system of mass surveillance and coercion aimed suppressing political dissent among its 1.4 billion people, while forcing American and Western businesses to conform to the government's communist policies if they want to operate there.
2019-12-05 ~Virginia. WT: Second Amendment sanctuaries -- editorial
Some on the left are angry, if not apoplectic, that conservatives are turning the tables on them and co-opting one of their own tactics. If liberal "sanctuary" cities, counties and even states defiantly refuse to cooperate fully with federal immigration laws, then their objections should fall on deaf ears when other towns, cities and counties won't go along when liberal governors and Democrat-controlled legislatures enact strict gun-control measures.
2019-12-05 ~National. WT: Mexico tackles border crisis when Congress wouldn't, by Stephen Dinan
President Trump pleaded with Congress to do something about illegal immigration, but it was a nonstarter for Democrats. So the president turned to Mexico with a combination of negotiations, controls, and threats: Do something to stop 4,000 people from crossing Mexican territory each day en route to the U.S. or face crippling tariffs. The result: it's working.
2019-12-03 ~FxMisc... Examiner: Central Americans escape MS-13, meet them again in Fairfax Co
Immigrants who fled Central American countries to get away from transnational criminal organizations such as MS-13 have come to the United States only to find the exact same gangs terrorizing Northern Virginia immigrant communities.
2019-12-02 ~National. JWR: Chick-fil-A caves to blackmail, by Cal Thomas
It is a truism that a blackmailer is rarely satisfied. Once the payoffs start, there often is no end to them. The Chick-fil-A fast-food chain is about to learn this hard lesson, far too late, as many victims of blackmail and extortion generally do. Chick fil-A's donation to the SPLC is as strange as a pro-life organization donating money to Planned Parenthood.
2019-11-29 ~Environmt Breitbart: Global Warming, then Climate Change, now what?, by T.D. Williams, PhD
Climate change alarmists are pushing for a change in vocabulary to scare people into taking global warming more seriously, starting with terms like "global meltdown" and "climate collapse". But like Aesop's fable of the Boy Who Cried Wolf ...
2019-11-27 ~FxTrans.. Fx Times: I-66 tolls too high for working class -- letter by L.J. Wright
If one were to commute on I-66 to/from D.C., it would cost between 73.50 and 112.50 a week, or over $5,000 a year -- just for commuting to and from work on a road that is nearly empty. Why not just charge a straight $2? This would benefit the most number of people -- both in terms of drivers using the road and money coming into the till.
2019-11-24 ~National. WT: What today's educational ruling class gets wrong, by Everett Piper
You [parents] are the antique. You are the ones who "don't know what is best for your kids." Your "views and religious beliefs" are "misguided, bigoted and archaic." This, my friends, is your local public school. This is the face of the 21st century "teacher class".
2019-11-23 ~Virginia. WaPo: "Second Amendment sanctuaries" pop up in rural Virginia, by Greg Schneider
A resistance movement is boiling up in Virginia, where Democrats rode a platform on gun control to historic victories in state elections earlier this month. In the past two weeks, county governments from the central Piedmont to the Appalachian Southwest have approved resolutions that defy Richmond to come take their guns.
2019-11-22 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax supervisors set rules for e-scooters, by Brian Trompeter
Electric scooters and other shared-mobility devices will be allowed in Fairfax County starting next January. The county ordinance limits the devices' speed to 10 mph on all riding surfaces and requires that they be equipped with brakes, bells and lights.
2019-11-21 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The 10 Habits of Logical People, by Dan Lattier
It takes a certain mental discipline to think logically, but the effort is well worth it. The authentically logical person keeps his logic rooted in truth not verbal trickery.
2019-11-21 ~National. Epoch Times: The University is 'Infantilizing Its Students', by Luo & Jekielek
"For the first time in American history, free speech is threatened. This has never happened before," said Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host and founder of Prager University. "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll fight for your right to say it," has unfortunately given way to "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" on the college campus.
2019-11-21 ~National. Epoch Times: Inoculating Our Children Against Socialism, by Jeff Minick
For the first time in our history, many politicians and candidates label themselves socialists, as if that title were a badge of honor. The bloody history and economic failures of socialism -- here I include fascism -- and of communism in the 20th century should rebuff the starry-eyed. So how do we combat that disease, other than in the voting booth? Here is one small way to begin: education.
2019-11-19 ~National. Daily Caller: U.S. Agencies Wide Open to Chinese Researchers, by Luke Rosiak
Foreign-born researchers working for U.S. agencies were secretly on China's payroll, signing side agreements to send sensitive research to that country as part of a recruitment operation called the Thousand Talents Plan, a Senate report found.
2019-11-18 ~State-CO. WT: 'Don't Californicate Colorado', natives complain, by Valerie Richardson
And you thought Virginia had a "Progressive infestation" problem! ... Californians are moving to Colorado, but voting the same way that ruined California, and that riles the Colorado natives on such issues as the National Popular Vote bill and the state's adoption of California's zero-emissions vehicle standards.
2019-11-16 ~Potpourri WT: Democracy paralyzed by elites in U.S. and U.K., by Jed Babbin
The United Kingdom is afflicted with "Brexit paralysis", whereby the ruling elite has chosen not to do what the voters asked them to do and has been unable to do virtually anything else. In America, Democrats and the "deep staters" drag us through round after round of attempts to oust President Trump, also against the will of the voters. How long that will continue will be decided on Dec. 12, 2019, and on Nov. 3, 2020.
2019-11-14 ~Virginia. Epoch Times: Virginia Goes Blue, Pro-China Communists Claim Credit, by T. Loudon
Virginia went blue because a handful of well-organized pro-Chinese communists made it happen. The group in question, New Virginia Majority (NVM), has exploited Virginia's changing population and "liberal bleed out" from the Washington area to flip not just Northern Virginia but also districts across the state. NVM claims that by going after the minority vote with mass voter registration drives, you can flip almost any state.
2019-11-13 ~World.... WT: Martin Luther goes to Riyadh, by Sam Faddis
For decades, if not centuries, experts on the Middle East have talked about the need for the "reformation" of Islam. They envisioned a change like that of Christianity in the late Middle Ages that accelerated development of the Western world. Changes precisely of that scale are occurring right now in Saudi Arabia.
2019-11-13 ~FxMisc... Daily Caller: Dem Prosecutors Fear For Suburbs' Safety With Soros Proxies
The Soros candidates ran on a platform of not prosecuting certain crimes and charging others as misdemeanors when state law says they're felonies. Virginia's felony larceny threshold is $500, while the new Fairfax prosecutor has stated he won't charge theft under $1,500 as a felony. In California they did the same thing and theft is up dramatically.
2019-11-12 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Maryland and Virginia to rebuild and widen the American Legion Bridge
Maryland and Virginia will partner to rebuild and widen the American Legion Bridge in a ­billion-dollar project to relieve congestion at the Washington region's worst traffic bottleneck, the states' governors announced Tuesday. The new bridge will have four express toll lanes, in addition to eight free lanes as on the current span.
2019-11-06 ~Potpourri Daily Caller: Lettuce Pray: Climate Change, Neo-Paganism, and End Of The World
The climate change movement has become the "modern world's secular religion", declared Wall Street Journal columnist Gerard Baker recently. Climate cultists appropriate aspects of Christianity to call the world to repent for its "Original Sin of a carbon industrial revolution", wrote Baker. They have adopted the schema of the Christian eschaton, or end of the world.
2019-11-06 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fairfax County 2019 Ballot and Election Results, by David Swink
Democrats swept all but one elected position within the County, with Republican Pat Herrity squeaking out a Board of Supervisors win. (Democrats also will take control of the Virginia House and Senate.)
2019-11-05 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Gratitude Versus Entitlement, by Paul Adams
We have much to be grateful for. Developing and practicing gratitude as a habit and outlook on life is important to our well-being and that of society. So why do we teach children and young people the opposite: an attitude of entitlement and grievance, of resentment and victimhood?
2019-11-04 ~FxSchools Daily Caller: School Districts Push A Return To Busing, by Luke Rosiak
School boards in Howard County, Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia, are pushing plans to bus students to equalize schools' poverty rates. But their own data show no correlation between the performance of individual impoverished students and the demographics of the students that surround them.
2019-11-02 ~FxSchools Video: Fairfax County plans to rename 31 schools (4:41)
JEB Stuart down, 31 to go, with names of former slaveholders or Confederate soldiers. On the WOKEing block: TJ, Madison, Fairfax, Langley, Lee, Chantilly, Hayfield, Mount Vernon HS, Lanier MS, and 21 elementary schools with innocuous names like Clermont, Fairview, Gunston, Hybla Valley, Mantua, Oak Hill, Woodlawn, Spring Hill, and Shrevewood.
2019-10-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Steve Bannon, on Trump's China strategy
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with Steve Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, whose storied history as Breitbart executive chairman, Goldman Sachs investment banker, Naval officer, producer and director, and founder of Citizens of the American Republic befits one of the most fascinating characters on the current scene.
2019-10-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Google's Conservative Freezeout: The Chi-Com Model
Google helped the Chi-Coms develop their infamous "social credit" system, which tracks its citizens' every move and flags for denial of good services those that deviate from what it considers "normal". But now YouTube has instituted a social credit system of its own, demonizing a whole host of conservatives, almost dentical to what the Chinese are doing. And PayPal and other high-tech services have also gone malevolent in the U.S.
2019-10-29 ~FxTrans.. Patch: More Delays Possible For Reston/Herndon Metro Stations, by Dan Taylor
The contractor responsible for building a new rail yard near Dulles Airport has seen their schedule slip 67 days over the past month, meaning substantial completion of the Silver Line Phase 2 won't happen until late July 2020.
2019-10-28 ~FxSchools Bacon's Rebellion: Fx Co School Board Election Really Matters, by James Bacon
Ideological Progressives have many attributes, but humility is not one of them. Despite a decade's worth of policies promoting diversity and inclusion, the racial gap in academic achievement in Fairfax schools has gotten worse, not better. But Progressives are doubling down on failed policies. Progressivism is the problem, not the solution.
2019-10-27 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Will "One Fairfax" Become "One Virginia"?, by Tom Pafford
'One Fairfax' gives enormous powers to its overwhelmingly Democrat Party Board of Supervisors to legislate policies eradicating as many socially constructed barriers as its sees fit -- renaming schools and roads, redrawing school boundaries and busing of students, and enacting transgender protection policies. It seems Fairfax County is in the nascent stages of a huge social transformation -- and one that soon may go Commonwealth wide!
2019-10-25 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Climate Policies Sparked Chile Riots, by James Taylor
Chile earned praise from climate activists for recently imposing a carbon dioxide tax on conventional energy sources and switching the Santiago Metro system to renewable power. Now, just like France's yellow vest protests, the people of Chile are rising up and firing a shot across the bow of other nations considering similar energy taxes and expensive renewable energy programs.
2019-10-22 ~World.... Daily Mail: Horrors of Chinese 're-education camp' revealed, by Chris Pleasance
An Uighur Muslim woman who escaped from a Chinese 're-education center' after five months, told of punishing conditions which turned people 'into bodies without a soul'. Inmates slept 20 to a room with just a bucket for a toilet, were routinely tortured and raped, and were given injections that made them infertile, she said.
2019-10-22 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: In Socialist Theocracy, Getting 'Woke' Brings Absolution
Socialism is very much a theocratic system. In its destruction of God, it aimed to replace God; and in its destruction of morals, it has looked to create a new morality. The statist theocracy now rules, and those who sit in its pews can preach to their masses about how they, too, were once lowly sinners in the ever-changing crimes of political correctness.
2019-10-20 ~handout.. FCTA tri-fold flyer (3rd draft from original) -- (Print in landscape mode)
This 8.5x11 double-sided tri-fold B flyer (updated from probably 25 years ago) clearly states FCTA's purpose, positions, and what we do.
2019-10-18 ~Potpourri WaPo: Americans embrace the wisdom of being 'nobody', by Arthur C. Brooks
People need to know that working to attain fame for its own sake is not normal at all. We should teach children that happiness is possible despite fame but never because of it; and that fame should be only a rare byproduct of good work. Most important, we should avoid leaders in politics and culture who have this pathological definition of personal success.
2019-10-17 ~handout.. 2019 Fairfax County core election issues, by Fred Costello-231
The current Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and wants to change the county from suburban to city. And the School Board is hell-bent on reducing the quality of education to meet the left's continuing 'woke' meme. Are you OK with that?
2019-10-17 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Who Are the Climate Change Ideologues?, by Mark Hendrickson
If an "ideologue" is someone who pursues a pre-selected agenda under false pretenses, then consider the following remark of a "believer": "One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. ... [One] must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy." -- Ottmar Edenhofer, an IPCC senior official in 2010
2019-10-15 ~Report... The Destruction of Fairfax County, by Fred Costello-230
2019-10-13 ~Potpourri WT: Millennials should practice what they preach, by Everett Piper
If you don't have your act together, stop deflecting. Change yourself before you try to change everyone else! ... Integrity assumes you actually care enough to practice what you preach. Until you realize this, no one will ever take you seriously. If you want to be treated like an adult, stop acting like an insolent child.
2019-10-11 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Have Our Elites Grown Tired of Traditional Democracy?, by Wm Brooks
The Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215. But our political class appears to be growing tired of going to the common people for a mandate to govern. Concerned citizens are sensing what Polish philosopher and author Rysard Legutko has described as "the demon" in our democracy which has incited "totalitarian temptations" among our ruling elites.
2019-10-11 ~National. DOJ: On Freedom and Morality, address by AG William Barr at Notre Dame
Our Founders never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom, whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions. (... and from the Washington Times.)
2019-10-10 ~Virginia. Free Beacon: Virginia Dems Reject Federal Gun Crime Funding, by Stephen Gutowski
Virginia turned down $665,673 in federal money used to combat gun crime in 2018, rather than comply with federal immigration authorities. (So the Commonwealth, like Fairfax County, wants to pad its voter base with illegal aliens, and this ranks higher than virtue signaling on "gun safety".)
2019-10-09 ~National. JWR: Members of previous generations now seem like giants, by Victor Davis Hanson
Our ancestors were builders and pioneers and mostly fearless. We are regulators, auditors, bureaucrats, adjudicators, censors, critics, plaintiffs, defendants, social media junkies and thin-skinned scolds. A distant generation created; we mostly delay, idle and gripe.
2019-10-08 ~Virginia. JPJ: Purple to Blue, by James A. Bacon
Virginia stopped being a red state a decade or two ago. Come January Democrats will control all statewide offices and the General Assembly. Virginia, we now can say, is the southernmost Northern state -- Maryland with a larger rural hinterland.
2019-10-08 ~Health... WT: The Body: A Guide for Occupants -- book review by Claire Hopley
We all have one -- and only ever one. It's a body. When it goes, we're gone, so it's best to look after it while we've got it. To do that, it helps to know what's inside it and how it works. That's what Bill Bryson sets out to tell us in his latest book.
2019-10-08 ~FxMisc... Daily Caller: George Soros funds 'One Fairfax' polices nationwide, by Luke Rosiak
Many cities and counties are adopting radical policies that see every aspect of government operations through the "lens" of race. A network of George Soros-backed activist groups has worked to push these policies at the most local level of government, where there is little scrutiny.
2019-10-04 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia to develop 4 new solar energy projects, by Jimmy O'Keefe
Permits were issued Thursday for the construction and operation of four new solar projects that are expected to offset carbon dioxide emissions in the state by 459 million pounds. The projects include: 1) 12 MW in Pittsylvania Co, 2) 80 MW in Campbell Co, 3) 80 MW in Mecklenburg Co, and 4) 20 MW in Henrico Co. (No mention of how this might affect future energy prices.)
2019-10-01 ~FxMisc... WT: Fairfax County suspends officer who cooperated with ICE, by Stephen Dinan
Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said Tuesday he suspended an officer who cooperated with federal deportation officers by turning over an illegal immigrant he encountered during a traffic stop -- a move the chief said violated department policy [as a sanctuary county].
2019-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution, by Myron Magnet
Imprimis lecture by Myron Magnet, Author, Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution.
2019-09-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax County: Best in the Nation?
2019-09-29 ~Environmt WT: 'No climate emergency,' hundreds of scientists tell U.N., by V. Richardson
Lost amid the coverage of Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg at last week's U.N. Global Climate Summit were the 500 international scientists, engineers and other stakeholders sounding a very different message: "There is no climate emergency."
2019-09-28 ~Environmt WT: Al Gore edges AOC for top Climate Hypocrite Award, by Valerie Richardson
Mr. Gore was announced Friday as the winner of the top Climate Hypocrite Award, a tongue-in-cheek "honor" presented by Sen. Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, aimed at recognizing what he described as climate-change leaders who fail to walk the talk.
2019-09-27 ~Health... Charlotte Observer: Cam Newton's Bad Vegan Experience, by Brendan Marks
Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton, previously on a fish-based diet, has been going vegan since February. Newton's diet would normally be his business. But after two underwhelming performances to begin the 2019 season, coupled with a lingering mid-left foot sprain that will cost him at least two games, it bears further examination.
2019-09-26 ~Environmt CFACT: The Greta plan backfired with young conservatives, by Adam Houser
Even though the Right has rejected Greta's calls for socialism, some conservatives and libertarians are already trying to justify carbon taxes and mini versions of the Green New Deal. The longer the Left has complete control of our education system, however, the less likely we'll dodge the Left's next climate power grab.
2019-09-25 ~Potpourri City Journal: Pittsburgh's Experiences in Urban Revitalization, by John Tierney
If you want to see how to revive a city -- and how not to -- go to Pittsburgh. No other modern American city has worked so hard for so long in so many ways to reinvent itself. Pittsburgh is currently attracting professionals of all ages who crave an affordable urban experience. The bad news is that they've brought their progressive politics with them.
2019-09-24 ~FxMisc... IRLI: Fairfax, Montgomery tied as 7th worst sanctuary communities in U.S.
We've all heard of the sad situation in Montgomery County, MD. But Fairfax County, VA recently celebrated its decision to refuse cooperation with ICE detainer requests. At the time an "immigrant rights" group stated, "This is a victory for immigrant residents in Fairfax County. This is a step in the right direction and a way to restore trust within the immigrant community."
2019-09-24 ~Environmt WT: 'On Fire', environmental false flag for radical revolution -- Book review
Naomi Klein's book "On Fire" rants about how capitalism is killing the planet and how the latter can only be saved by driving a stake through the heart of the former. Ms. Klein sees "climate change" as a handy weapon in the struggle against their pet hate -- the free market democracies. And their only hope is the most naive, impressionable and easily manipulated segment of society: School kids.
2019-09-20 ~State-IL. ZeroHedge: Bankrupt Illinois Cities Forced to Cut Services to Fund Pensions
"Eventually, an Illinois city will be forced to fire its entire police or firefighter force to fund pensions. We don't have long to wait. East St. Louis has only two year's cash left in which to pay firefighters. I expect a case will then make it to the Supreme Court and hopefully we will have a national resolution."
2019-09-19 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Poisoned Fruit of the Sexual Revolution, by Paul Adams
Shorn of identity rooted in family, young people adopted alternative nonfamily identities as ways of being -- defining the self in terms of combinations or "intersections" of race, sex, sexual appetite, and "gender" -- with some curious results.
2019-09-18 ~Virginia. AP: Population is expected to shrink in rural Virginia, by Emma North
Of the state's 133 cities and counties, U.Va.'s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service projects that 53 will lose population by 2040. Most of those shrinking localities are in south, southwest and western Virginia. Other parts of Virginia will grapple with dramatic population gains. Overall, the state population will grow 14%, to almost 10 million, by 2040.
2019-09-18 ~Virginia. Breitbart: Virginia Colleges Still Practice Reverse Discrimination, by Penny Starr
The Center for Equal Opportunity released a report focused on five public universities in the commonwealth: University of Virginia, William & Mary, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, and George Mason University. UVA and William & Mary, give the heaviest admission preferences and they are to African Americans, with a black-white SAT gap of 180 and 190 points, respectively.
2019-09-18 ~National. JWR: Trump's nonstop war against liberal culture, by Victor Davis Hanson
Donald Trump is waging a nonstop, all-encompassing war against progressive culture. Yet, the real source of Trump derangement syndrome is his desire to wage a multifront pushback -- politically, socially, economically and culturally -- against what might be called the elite postmodern progressive world.
2019-09-18 ~FxTrans.. WAMU: The State of the D.C. Area Commute is... not great, by Jordan Pascale
Main takeaways: 1) Average commute time is 43 minutes; 2) Most drive alone; 3) Teleworking is making a big impact; 4) People are leaving transit for cost, unreliability, distance reasons; 5) Millennial car ownership is UP; 6) HOV and express lanes don't reach many, and only a few said they use them if they are available.
2019-09-18 ~Environmt Fox News: Climate doomsdays that didn't happen, by Sam Dorman
The conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute has put together a lengthy compilation of apocalyptic predictions dating back decades that did not come to pass, timed as Democrat presidential candidates and climate activists refocus attention on the issue.
2019-09-17 ~Health... Prfree.org: Shockwave For ED at Home, by Dr. Gregory Martin
BPotent shockwave therapy for ED is changing the way guys think about E.D. issues, for good. They let guys get all the benefits of WAVE therapy without ever leaving the house, and for a fraction of the cost.
2019-09-16 ~FxMisc... WT: Va. Republican Nick Bell raises the issue of infanticide, by Allan H. Ryskind
Though a passionate pro-life candidate, what propelled Mr. Bell into the race was not the abortion issue per se, but "the fanaticism of some Democrats on this issue, including the governor and my opponent [Vivian Watts, D-39th House District]." He's also concerned that such views are taking hold in other states as well, and wonders whether extremism sink Democrats in Virginia.
2019-09-12 ~National. Epoch Times: Big Tech Bias Threatens Free and Fair Elections, by Luo & Jekielek
Robert Epstein has devoted the past 6 1/2 years to researching tech giant bias. His peer-reviewed research found that research participants were remarkably susceptible to bias: search engine bias could easily shift 20 percent or more of votes in an election. He also found that while results on Google leaned left substantially, results on Bing and Yahoo did not.
2019-09-12 ~FxMisc... College Fix: GMU hosts sex-ed carnival with penis-ring toss, by Zachary Petrizzo
A penis ring toss, vagina bean bag toss, and lubricant taste tests... And you thought Fairfax County Public Schools already taught every form of sexual perversion?
2019-09-10 ~National. Daily Caller: Illinois hospital has 'Comfort Room' for aborted babies to die in
Christ Church Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, allegedly has a 'comfort room' for aborted babies who are born alive to die in, according to nurse Jill Stanek. Comfort care, Stanek said, is to wrap the baby in a blanket and keep the baby warm until the baby dies.
2019-09-10 ~National. WT: Charting the result of declining core values, by Tony Perkins
A recent survey on what Americans value reveals a steep decline in the priority Americans place on patriotism, religion and having children. If America is to continue producing patriots, who are essential for freedom to remain, then the outsourcing of teaching to our children the values of faith, family and freedom to the institutions controlled by the left must end.
2019-09-10 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Head of World Meteorological Organization Slams Climate Extremists
Petteri Taalas, the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told a Finish magazine that he disagrees with doomsday climate extremists who call for radical action to prevent a purported apocalypse. So WMO is beginning to realize that the whole agenda has been hijacked by extremists and is undermining the economy and the social stability of European countries.
2019-09-09 ~Environmt WT: Ethanol in fuel hurts us all. Here's why., by Jerry Jung
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is counterproductive in that more fossil fuel energy is consumed in the production of corn and soy biofuels than is produced. Plus 60 million acres are not producing food, so the increase in commodity prices caused Brazil to burn its rain forests and out-compete U.S. farmers in corn and soy production.
2019-09-06 ~National. Epoch Times: Gen. Flynn's Endgame Approaches, by Brian Cates
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's perjury case has been odd from the beginning, including his refusal to withdraw his guilty plea. Since the prosecution team was caught engaging in gross misconduct for withholding exculpatory evidence, Flynn apparently seeks to expose and disbar the Mueller special counsel prosecutors for all the other cases they've brought as well.
2019-09-06 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Notice Appropriating Supplemental Funds -- Add'l $2,490,354,357 for FY2020
2019-09-05 ~Potpourri Tech News World: Amazon Testing Hand-Scanning Payment System, by Richard Adhikari
Amazon is testing scanners that can identify a human hand to use as a payment method for in-store purchases. And Fujitsu has demonstrated new biometric payment technology that scans the veins on customers' palms, patterns researchers ten years ago identified as unique to each person on earth.
2019-09-03 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fx Co Joint Environmental Task Force (JET) Meeting, by Darren Braynard
A regular citizen attended and recorded this JET meeting. Jet appears to be part of 'One Fairfax', our leaders' attempt to virtual signal their leftist credentials, while ignoring real issues such as our poor road conditions and the deplorable state of our public education system.
2019-09-01 ~World.... Epoch Times: Ontario's Sex-Ed Curriculum Now Includes Marriage, by Peter Mitchell
Including marriage education in sex-ed will seem strange to some people. But marriage education empowers students to make informed decisions about their future. The new Ontario curriculum could hardly be considered marriage education, but at the very minimum, it grants permission for a conversation. That's progress.
2019-08-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with James O'Keefe, on Google election meddling
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, who has just produced videos exposing how Google is using its search algorithms to bias what people are allowed to see on the internet, and influence how they should vote in 2020.
2019-08-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Rediscovering the Wisdom in American History, by Wilfred McClay
Imprimis lecture by Wilfred McClay, Author, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story.
2019-08-29 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Unix at 50: How this OS started from failure, by Richard Jensen
Unix, the operating system that in one derivative or another powers nearly all smartphones sold worldwide, was born 50 years ago from the failure of an ambitious project that involved titans like Bell Labs, GE, and MIT.
2019-08-29 ~FxMisc... WAMU: State Police Investigate Jeff McKay (Fairfax BOS), by Ally Schweitzer
Virginia State Police are investigating Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member Jeff McKay. This comes three months after a political opponent filed an ethics complaint alleging McKay swapped a political favor for a real-estate deal.
2019-08-27 ~Virginia. JPJ: Virginia's $450 Million Windfall Tax Hike!, by Stephen D. Haner
Virginia state government ended Fiscal Year 2019 awash in cash largely for one reason: A $466 million tax increase that fell on about 30 percent of individual taxpayers, caused by conforming to the new federal tax law without any corresponding tax reform to increase Virginia's standard deduction.
2019-08-26 ~Environmt WT: Annual Amazon farmland burn sets records for international outrage
Every year, farmers in the Amazon set fires to clear agricultural land during the dry season starting in August, but this year may be a record-setter, not for the number of fires, but for the global outrage. French President Emmanuel Macron said the blazes represented an "international crisis". But climate scientist Roy Spencer had another term for the fires: "normal agriculture".
2019-08-25 ~Health... Epoch Times: Electronic Health Records vs Better Care?, by Lynch & Gunderman
Doctor hours are being devoured filling out records that can come between doctors and their patients.
2019-08-24 ~FxSchools Concerned Parents: 2019 One-Page Flyer to Opt Out of Sex Ed
2019-08-23 ~Report... The Plight of Hispanic Students, by Fred Costello-229
2019-08-22 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: Put the focus squarely on student achievement -- Editorial
Elected and appointed school leaders, in Virginia and elsewhere, need to either get more aggressive in addressing the issue, or get out and turn the situation over to those who will. Otherwise, another generation of students will come and go, ill-served by the educational system that should have its best interests at heart.
2019-08-22 ~Report... Should You Trust the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB)?, by Fred Costello-228
2019-08-22 ~National. WT: Immigration chief: Feds complicit in human trafficking, by Stephen Dinan
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Thursday that American law is forcing the government to help smuggle immigrants into the U.S. illegally. "The federal government has been the final chain in the human trafficking effort," Mr. Cuccinelli said at an event hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. "We are helping them pull this off."
2019-08-19 ~National. Daily Caller: How Google Discriminates Against Conservatives, by Mike Wacker
At Google, all demographics are equal, but some demographics are more equal than others. The decision of which problems meets Google's definition of "algorithmic unfairness", of which problems are more equal than others, is a decision that's made by Google's employees, not by Google's algorithms. -- Mike Wacker is a former Google Engineer
2019-08-17 ~National. Examiner: NYT's 1619 Project aims to 'reframe American history', by Byron York
Perhaps when you think of the founding of the United States, you think of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers. Now, the New York Times wants to "reframe" your understanding of the nation's founding -- to match the Democrat Party's current hatred for American's original premise.
2019-08-16 ~National. Daily Caller: Hillary's 30,000 emails copied before deleted, by Luke Rosiak
All but four of Hillary Clinton's 30,000 emails were copied, likely secretly, to a Gmail address called CarterHeavyIndustries@gmail.com, by an IT aide Clinton hired who used BleachBit to destroy emails after they were subpoenaed and misled FBI agents.
2019-08-15 ~National. Epoch Times: Why Kamala Will Be Democrats' Presidential Nominee, by Trevor Loudon
It's over. The Democrat presidential primary was decided months, maybe even years ago, in favor of Kamala Harris -- not because of her personal qualities, but because of the machine backing her and the philosophy guiding her. Like Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988, which paved the way for Obama in 2008 and 2012, the 2020 Democrat campaign will be all about race.
2019-08-15 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Internal Audit Functions of Prince William Co vs Fairfax Co
PWCo: Brings "a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluating and improving the effectiveness of the organization's risk management, internal control, and governance processes." (ie - efficient use of taxes)
FxCo: To "gain reasonable assurance that management complies with all appropriate statutes, ordinances and directives." (ie - legal use of taxes)
2019-08-13 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Latest Virginia SOLs: More Declines in Reading, Writing
Virginia public school students backtracked slightly in their Standards of Learning (SOL) tests for the 2018-19 school year. While changes to the test methods make it difficult to make valid comparisons for math and history/social sciences, reading and writing test scores declined somewhat, most markedly for blacks, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students.
2019-08-13 ~Virginia. WTOP: Student achievement declines in Virginia, gaps remain, by Max Smith
Overall pass rates on Virginia's Standards of Learning tests fell last school year, while significant achievement gaps persisted. Economically disadvantaged students, black students and Hispanic students have much lower SOL pass rates in general than wealthier, Asian or white students.
2019-08-06 ~National. Epoch Times: New York's Cultural Revolutionary Education Reforms, by C. Humphrey
All U.S. citizens should be aware of what is going on in New York. They should understand this new vision of education because it describes what the board considers an excellent human being, and that description reveals the way progressives hope to transform the entire American regime.
2019-08-05 ~Virginia. FCTA: "Progressive Education" and Racial Inequality, by Arthur Purves
FCTA president Arthur Purves is running for Virginia's 32nd Senate District seat currently held by Janet Howell. This is the presentation he gave to the Fair Lakes Tea Party on August 5, 2019.
2019-08-04 ~Health... Epoch Times: Radiating Caution on the 5G Rollout, by Lee Harding
The much-hyped rollout of 5G continues, but many scientists would prefer 5G be put on hold -- at least until much more testing has been done. To them, the spectre of 5G means more than fifth-generation wireless technology. It also means five times greater health risks -- if not five thousand.
2019-08-01 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: 'Critical Race Theory', 'Intersectionality' in Church?, by T. Loudon
When the Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, endorse "critical race theory" (CRT), you know American Christianity has a Marxism problem. At the Southern Baptist national convention in Birmingham, Alabama, in June, a resolution on CRT and "intersectionality" gained passage with a strong majority.
2019-08-01 ~FxSchools Video: The Truth About 'One Fairfax' School Reboundarying (5:25), by The Rosiaks
"The notion that we would identify a child, or the neighborhood the child lives in, and target them for a boundary change based on the color of their skin or the size of their parent's bank account is a frightening prospect on legality alone. Considering the amount of legal issues this Board has, I don't understand why we're going there. We're going to consider moving or busing children based on their characteristics instead of delivering to them the services that they need where they are. That should be the role of the Board." -- sane Board member Elizabeth Schultz
2019-07-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Rep. Devin Nunes, on the Deep State aftermath
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with Rep. Devin Nunes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee; as Chair while Republicans were in the majority, the California Republican Congressman exposed much of what we now know about the Deep State attempted coup.
2019-07-30 ~Virginia. College Fix: In Va, 80% of highest-paid public employees are in higher education
Nearly 80 percent of the highest paid state employees in the state of Virginia are public university staffers. Those individuals all pull down significant six-figure salaries, with one making over a million dollars per year.
2019-07-29 ~National. NY Post: Why are so many young men so angry?, by Maureen Callahan
It is anger, stoked to malignancy by a culture in which it's become acceptable to isolate yourself and talk, online only, to people who think and blame and rage like you do. And that way of life has somehow become almost normal.
2019-07-29 ~National. WT: Teacher unions endorse politics & power, not quality education, by Lance Izumi
Rather than spending time on vital core subjects like reading and math, AFT boss Randi Weingarten said, "we need more civics participation," which she said includes "the fight for social justice." In other words, less math and reading, more time for political indoctrination.
2019-07-25 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax's top bureaucrat aims to shake things up, by Antonio Olivo
For decades, Fairfax County's government has been a portrait of decorum -- making the abrasive, in-your-face style of its relatively new top bureaucrat stand out. Since taking over day-to-day operations in early 2018, County Executive Bryan J. Hill has startled and shaken up Virginia's largest jurisdiction.
2019-07-24 ~State-CA. Epoch Times: Santa Barbara Parents Fight 'Implicit Bias' Curricula, by Matt Vadum
Concerned parents in Santa Barbara, California, are moving forward with a lawsuit in state court against a nonprofit and the local school board over taxpayer-funded "implicit bias" instruction, which falsely portrays the United States as a cruel, oppressive, and racist country.
2019-07-24 ~National. Project Veritas: Current Sr. Google Engineer: Tech is "dangerous", "taking sides"
Insider: "It's time to decide, do we run the technology, or does the technology run us?" ... "I really don't buy the idea that big tech is politically neutral." ... "Are we going to just let the biggest tech companies decide who wins every election from now on?"
2019-07-23 ~National. WT: Why college is a waste for many high school graduates, by Peter Morici
Across the country, millions of families are preparing to send their 18-year-olds off to college -- for many, this will be the worst thing they ever did to their children. For half the students who give college a try, it will prove a lousy investment.
2019-07-23 ~FxSchools Reston Now: Protesters Criticize School Board's 'Social Equity' Plan
Dozens of protesters showed up last night to the Fairfax County School Board's work session on a proposal that would change how local school boundaries are adjusted. Throughout the meeting, protesters in the room waved signs saying "Communities Build Great Schools NOT Boundary Changes" and "Education Excellence NOT Social Engineering."
2019-07-20 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Why Metro's Silver Line Phase 2 is so problem-plagued, by Lori Aratani
(Lots of details. No mention of the original agreement made by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Fairfax County BOS chairman Gerry Connolly in 2007, in which 75% of Dulles Rail cost overruns are to be paid for by Dulles Toll Road users.)
2019-07-19 ~World.... Frontpage Mag: Jihadi Stabs 3 Canadian Soldiers, Court Sends Him to College
By all means, let him go to college. What could possibly go wrong? But again, fear not. If Mohawk College is like most colleges and universities today, Ayanle Hassan Ali will find himself among friends.
2019-07-19 ~FxSchools FCTA: School Board to Vote on "Bussing" -- July 22, 2019, by Paul Bolon
The Fairfax County School Board is meeting on Monday, July 22 to discuss proposed changes to the opaquely-named "Boundary Policy 8130.7". The policy says, astoundingly: when redrawing school boundaries in the future, the opinion of residents and a negative impact on quality of education may not be taken into account.
2019-07-18 ~Potpourri Daily Caller: Is Corporate America Selling Out Our Country?, by Tucker Carlson
Would American companies in a new globalized economy drop everything for their country like they did after Pearl Harbor? Do American companies even consider themselves American anymore? Google's recent siding with communist China over the U.S. military leaves serious reason for doubt.
2019-07-17 ~National. Epoch Times: How 'Situation Ethics' Warped the Nation's Morals, by Trevor Loudon
Most Americans today have never heard of Joseph Fletcher, but his moral legacy lives within us every day. A leading American Protestant theologians of the 20th century, his concept of "situation ethics" -- a moral philosophy whereby one's ethics must be adjusted to suit the circumstances -- has transformed the United States' religious, cultural, and political values.
2019-07-17 ~National. WT: Washington Times editor, columnist Wesley Pruden dies at 83, by V. Richardson
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called him "a classic newspaperman who had ink instead of blood in his veins." Cal Thomas, whose syndicated column runs in the Times, called Mr. Pruden "a great journalist of the old school" in a profession that "could use more of the old school."
2019-07-17 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Metro Silver Line rail switch problem continues, by Max Smith
The contractor building the Silver Line rail yard for the Airports Authority has largely completed significant track work fixes to long loop tracks at the yard, but has yet to address the problems with the switches failing to line up properly -- a derailment hazard.
2019-07-16 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia Pension Plan shortfall bad news for taxpayers
Virginia state and local governments may have to pay more each year to cover public employees' retirement costs. The Virginia Retirement System could lower its expected rate of investment returns from 7% to 6.75% or 6.5%. The fund said it earned a 6.5% last fiscal year.
2019-07-14 ~FxSchools Fx News: School Board May Erase More Confederate School Names, by James Hood
In a nod to politcal correctness, the Fairfax County school board is said to be considering a plan that would scrub Confederate names from the county's schools. First to go was JEB Stuart. Next up: Robert E. Lee HS, Mosby Woods Elem, Sidney Lanier MS, and likely a few others that frighten the "tolerant" Left. (In a few years, the Founding Fathers will likely be on the block.)
2019-07-13 ~World.... AFP: In Paris, cars forced to make way for e-Scooters, by Francois Guillot
With the wind rushing through their hair, they zip past on bikes, electric scooters and mono-wheels, effortlessly passing lines of hot-and-bothered drivers stuck in the endless Paris traffic. In the French capital, the new mobility revolution has caught on fast, with locals and tourists embracing the growing array of app-based ways to get around.
2019-07-13 ~National. WT: Democrats, "Douglass Plan" promises more racial division, by Cheryl Chumley
The powerful words of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech will never come true with Democrats at the helm. Modern-day Democrats specialize in identity politics, but Mayor Pete's "Douglass Plan" to "address America's systemic racism" takes the cake.
2019-07-11 ~handout.. FCTA tri-fold flyer (2nd draft from original) -- (Print in landscape mode)
This 8.5x11 double-sided tri-fold B flyer (updated from probably 25 years ago) clearly states FCTA's purpose, positions, and what we do.
2019-07-11 ~National. Epoch Times: Candace Owens on Breaking the Victimhood Mindset, by Irene Luo
"I had been brainwashed, like most black Americans via the public-school system, to believe that I had to be a Democrat and that I had to be a liberal. It took a tremendous amount of humility for me to get where I am today, because I had to acknowledge formally that everything that I had thought before was wrong." -- Candace Owens
2019-07-11 ~Health... Epoch Times: Fever and the Nature of Acute Disease, by Thomas Cowan
Modern medicine first tries to reduce fevers before taking diagnosing an ailment. But suppressing the body's immune response works against the best disease-fighting tool available. (In the nineteenth century, some cancers were noted to disappear after the patient contracted a virus.)
2019-07-10 ~Virginia. CNBC: Why Amazon chose Virginia for HQ2, nixed New York, by Scott Cohn
Virginia is the Top State for Business in 2019, while New York ranks 49th, and Virginia offers the best workforce in the nation, according to the CNBC survey. The state also ranks No. 1 for education, tied with Massachusetts.
2019-07-10 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Bukovsky, on Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity, by Celia Farber
Now and then a book comes along that renders all that have come before it on the same subject superfluous. If the subject is how exactly we (the "West") were enmeshed with our supposed enemy, the USSR, during the Cold War, this is the only book you truly need to read: "Judgment in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity," by Vladimir Bukovsky, published for the first time in English.
2019-07-09 ~FxTrans.. Fx Co: Status of Transportation Priorities Plan Update
2019-07-08 ~State-CA. Daily Caller: Here are Details on California's Sex Education, by Mary M. Olohan
"If I were to show that material to a child, I would be brought up on charges," said a California parent. "But somehow our public schools are allowed to teach this to junior high and high school kids."
2019-07-07 ~National. WT: "Virtue-signaling" for fun and profit -- editorial
"Virtue-signaling" is a favorite sport on the rich left -- the current fad word for acting "holier than thou", perfected by creative liberals to publicly express feel-good sentiments to advertise a signaler's moral correctness. But virtue is not as much fun as virtue-signaling, which carries risks. "You done quit preaching," an unhappy parishioner told the country parson, "and gone to meddling."
2019-07-07 ~National. WT: U.S. church attendance continues on downward spiral, by Rebecca Hagelin
America's congregations are dying, as faith in God is being replaced with "spirituality" -- a watered down Christian theology that preaches "it's all good". As our culture becomes ever more secular, the saddest part isn't the empty pews: It's that we are quickly becoming a nation of vacant souls.
2019-07-04 ~FxTrans.. WT: Maryland slams Metro's 'black hole', 'obfuscation', by Deborah Simmons
Gov. Larry Hogan is withholding Maryland's one-third share ($55.59 million) in capital funding to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) until it open its books and shows that it is acting fiscally responsible with money provided by the three jurisdictions supporting Metro. D.C. and Virginia would be wise to do the same.
2019-07-03 ~State-WV. WT: West Virginia enacting (limited) school choice, by Patricia Rucker
First: The bill empowers those who most positively impact students - the teachers. Second: The bill lets counties make decisions about teacher pay instead of state bureaucrats. Third: This bill lets parents decide which [public] school in the county they want their child to attend.
2019-07-03 ~National. Daily Caller: 'Mini AOC' Doxxed And Threatened, by Rachel Stoltzfoos
The family of an 8-year-old girl who went viral for mocking Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shut down all of her social accounts Wednesday, after receiving death threats and harassing phone calls.
2019-06-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Danger of the Attacks on the Electoral College, by Trent England
Imprimis lecture by Trent England, Director, Save Our States.
2019-06-xx ~Bulletin. Our Brave New Public Schools
2019-06-27 ~National. Bull Elephant: Conservatives -- Fight or Flight?, by Michael Giere
If you are not prepared to defend the very principles that created the freest, most prosperous, and, yes, most "equal" society the world has ever known, then the vacuum that you create will be filled by barbarism and the rule of thugs.
2019-06-25 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Cost jumps to widen I-66 for potential Orange Line extension, by Max Smith
If the Orange Line is ever going to be extended in Virginia from Vienna toward Centreville, bridges over Interstate 66 need to be widened now as part of toll lane construction. But that widening will cost 43% more than initially planned.
2019-06-25 ~FxSchools Connection: Great Falls Residents Fired Up on School Issues, by Andrea Worker
Retiring School Board member Jane Strauss (Dranesville) had her hands full when she met with a standing-room-only crowd at Forestville Elementary in Great Falls on June 19. The County needs to redraw school boundaries to balance school capacity, but its "Obama One Fairfax" social equity policy leaves residents in doubt about more sinister motives.
2019-06-24 ~National. Newsweek: I Blew the Whistle on Big Tech Censorship, by Eric Cochran
As a software developer at Pinterest for nearly two years, I saw the company fall in line with the other Big Tech companies to censor conservative causes. And now the Project Veritas exposé about my findings have been removed by Youtube (owned by Google).
2019-06-24 ~National. Townhall: Google, on "Preventing the next Trump Situation", by Matt Vespa
Project Veritas decided to dig into Big Tech's liberal bias. Jen Gennai is the head of "Responsible Innovation" for Google, a sector that monitors and evaluates the responsible implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. In the video, Gennai says Google has been working diligently to "prevent" the results of the 2016 election from repeating in 2020.
2019-06-23 ~Potpourri WT: Conservatives are actually pro-science, Liberals are not!, by Everett Piper
The latest "Nation's Report Card" on America's schools is out. Private schools -- which are mostly religious -- outperform their public-school counterparts in science scores in almost every subcategory, including physical science, life science and earth science. This is not surprising. After all, it is conservatives who believe in reason, rationality, and the reality of the tangible, the physical and the material. Today's progressives argue for the opposite.
2019-06-23 ~FxSchools FCTA: John Dewey's Destruction of America's Schools, by Arthur Purves
John Dewey, an atheist in the early 1900's, wanted to promote socialism. His "progressive education" has been a boon to the teaching industry, where remedial education is much in demand. But it's been a disaster for students, who are no longer properly taught to read, write, or cipher (arithmetic). But Dewey has succeeded in graduating socialists, or as the Fairfax County School Board puts it, "global citizens".
2019-06-20 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Democracy Against the Family, by William Gairdner
Democracies originate as three tiers: 1) the state (top), 2) cultural groups including the family who impart civility (middle), and 3) autonomous individuals who rely on self control (bottom). Democracies then proceed to gradually weaken the civilizing middle level to the point where there is only the state and an uncivil permanent underclass -- i.e. Socialism.
2019-06-19 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Orwell on How Socialists Alter Language to Alter History
George Orwell wrote that through alterating the past, and by portraying any remembered history as evil, socialist regimes could render classic texts such as the U.S. Declaration of Independence incomprehensible in their original context. People then would be incapable of understanding the original intentions behind them. (Gee, sounds familiar!)
2019-06-18 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Taxpayer advocate to run against Janet Howell, by Brian Trompeter
It's an uphill battle, to be certain, but Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance president Arthur Purves will take on, as a Republican ,seven-term incumbent state Sen. Janet Howell (D-32nd) in the Nov. 5 election.
2019-06-17 ~National. Daily Caller: Colleges Creating a Lost Generation of Americans, by William Davis
As some universities transform into hedge funds with a vestigial educational arm, they are producing a lost generation destroyed by debt and unable to market the skills they learned as undergraduates. Part of the responsibility has to lie on the student, who could choose majors which are much more likely to provide employment.
2019-06-16 ~Environmt WT: Without mining there is no 'Green Revolution', by Stephen Moore & Ann Bridges
Today, the United States is 90 percent dependent on China and Russia for many vital "rare earth minerals" -- required to make renewable energy feasable. But we have plenty of these minerals in the U.S. It's just that so-called "environmentalists" have made it economically prohibitive to extract them. They can't have it both ways.
2019-06-13 ~National. Epoch Times: Communist Strategy for Taking Over the Democrat Party, by T. Loudon
When Donald Trump, Jr. recently told Fox News that the 2020 election would be "about communism versus freedom", he was not exaggerating. The United States' four major communist groups are all working together in the innocuously named "Left Inside/Outside Project" to mobilize their 65,000-plus members to take over the Democrat Party.
2019-06-13 ~Health... Epoch Times: Top 10 Reasons to Eat Your Cruciferous Veggies, by GreenMedInfo
Everyone knows that eating vegetables has profound health benefits. But a few vegetables appear to be downright "miracle" foods. One such group of veggies are those of the Brassica family; commonly known as cruciferous vegetables. These include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radish, rutabaga, turnip, and even arugula.
2019-06-12 ~handout.. FCTA tri-fold flyer (1st draft from original) -- (Print in landscape mode)
This 8.5x11 double-sided tri-fold B&W flyer (updated from probably 25 years ago) clearly states FCTA's purpose, positions, and what we do.
2019-06-12 ~Potpourri JWR: Why are the Western middle classes so angry?, by Victor Davis Hanson
What accounts for Trump, Brexit, "yellow vests" and other anti-EU themes? Put simply, the middle classes are revolting against Western managerial elites. The latter group includes professional politicians, entrenched bureaucrats, condescending academics, corporate phonies and propagandistic journalists.
2019-06-12 ~National. WT: War College cancels speaker on Islam, by Bill Gertz
CAIR has pressured the U.S. Army War College into postponing a speech by Ray Ibrahim, an expert on the historical roots of Islamic terrorism, whose publicly stated view -- that Muslim hostility for and terrorization of the West is not an aberration but a continuation of Islamic history -- has the potential to instigate hatred against Muslims.
2019-06-12 ~FxMisc... Daily Caller: Arlington Parent Fight Schools over Transgender Policy... Fx next?
More than a hundred parents in the Arlington Public School System in Virginia are fighting what they describe as an activist-led effort to implement a dangerous new transgender policy in their schools. (So Fairfax will likely soon follow.)
2019-06-10 ~FxMisc... Free Beacon: Soros Buys Fairfax, Arlington Prosecutors for $1M, by Joe Schoffstall
Liberal billionaire George Soros has continued his bid to "overhaul" the criminal justice system in the United States by pouring nearly $1 million into local Virginia prosecutor races to prop up far-left candidates -- Descana in Fairfax and Dehghani-Tafti in Arlington.
2019-06-09 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fairfax County 2019 Candidates, by David Swink
2019-06-09 ~Environmt WT: Bloomberg pledges $500M to shut down coal plants, block natural gas
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has pledged to spend $500 million to shut down coal-fired plants by 2030 -- and prevent natural gas from replacing it -- in part by bankrolling candidates who support his climate change agenda.
2019-06-08 ~Environmt WT: Climate change to bring '25 Holocausts' - and other stupid leftisms
Climate change, as the Natural Resources Defense Council has written, "is getting unprecedented attention from the growing field of 2020 presidential candidates" -- which means the empty-headed bobble bouncers of the left's echo chamber have ample opportunity to prove how very sheeplike they can be in their thinking. We may have found a winner.
2019-06-07 ~Environmt Daily Caller: NPS quietly removes 'Glaciers-Gone-By-2020' signs, by M. Bastasch
The National Park Service (NPS) quietly removed a visitor center sign saying the glaciers at Glacier National Park would disappear by 2020 due to climate change. Blogger Roger Roots was able to compare the signs to film and photographs he had taken on previous visits, and noticed some back-peddling by NPS in its doomsday declarations.
2019-06-06 ~Report... Improving Public-School Education, by Fred Costello-223
2019-06-05 ~World.... Epoch Times: New US Tariffs Spell Doomsday for China's Economy, by Wang Shangyi
The additional 25 percent tariff imposed by the United States on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will trigger a new round of factory closures in China, driving economic collapse. (This runs counter to China's official line that the United States will suffer more losses than China, and that Trump would not dare to overdo the trade war.)
2019-06-04 ~Environmt Epoch Times: What Goes Up Must Come Down, by John A. Parmentola, Ph.D. Physicist
We know that weather-temperature goes up and then comes down. This is our sun at work. The last ice age ended about 14,000 years ago, so based upon existing scientific data, we may have about another 10,000 years or so of relatively warm climate to reach a peak and then head down over a period of about 75,000 years.
2019-05-29 ~National. Epoch Times: What's Behind the Push for Open Borders, by Charlotte Cuthbertson
"[The border crisis] is an orchestrated, communist assault on America, to destroy America's borders, to create confusion in America, to overwhelm the system politically. Because America is [the communists'] main enemy, and if you can't bring it down through nuclear weapons, you bring it down through illegal immigration, which is maybe just as effective in the long run." -- Trevor Loudon
2019-05-29 ~National. WT: Robert Mueller's report buries key conclusions, by Rowan Scarborough
Special counsel Robert Mueller could now get a job at The Washington Post, as his exhaustive report on Russian election interference marginalizes its most important finding: There was no Trump-Moscow conspiracy. The report continued a pattern evident in the Mueller indictments -- pack the documents with vague insinuations of collusion while downplaying the actual findings that there was no collusion.
2019-05-23 ~Health... Epoch Times: Tuning in to Microwave Sickness from Wireless Radiation, by C. Milner
One obstacle to understanding microwave sickness is that it can be triggered by electronics that virtually everyone is exposed to. If Wi-Fi routers and cellphone towers really caused illness, why do only some people get sick and everybody else seems fine?
2019-05-23 ~Health... WT: Medicine about profit, not health, by Samuel Burkeen
Both the single-payer (European) medical system and the U.S. system of public health are abysmal failures. Chronic disease in young people is epidemic, and parents are beginning to notice. Today's health care is probably one of the most successful financial frauds in history.
2019-05-20 ~FxMisc... FH Herald: Democrat Chair candidates support affordable housing, illegals fund
In a spirited community forum on Sunday, the far-left Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) obtained commitments from the Democrat Party contenders for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors to include millions more dollars in County funding for affordable housing projects, and to expand the legal defense fund for local illegal immigrants.
2019-05-19 ~World.... JoNova: Australia votes, Climate action bombs, Pollsters crash.
Against all the polls, the money, advertising, and the non-stop media coverage, against all expectations and the betting agencies -- the Extreme Climate Fix was a flop. The Labor Plan to cut Australian emissions by 45% percent is now gone. Labor was tipped to win decisively in every poll. So people told pollsters one thing, then voted the other way. Bullying works in public, but people vote alone.
2019-05-19 ~Potpourri WaPo: Why I'm rooting for James Holzhauer on 'Jeopardy', by Ken Jennings
When James Holzhauer returns to "Jeopardy!" Monday night after a two-week hiatus, he will already be the second-longest-running contestant in the venerable quiz show's history. It's impossible to overstate what a statistical outlier Holzhauer has been during his "Jeopardy!" rampage -- even for a fellow "Jeopardy!" outlier like me.
2019-05-19 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: 'ThoughtCrime' Is Becoming a Reality, by Joshua Philipp
Cases are emerging in several Western countries where people are getting visits from the police to question them on their political views, and some have been arrested. Condemning state policies has become synonymous with a double standard on "intolerance", which is punishable by the state. This is precisely what George Orwell warned about in his book "1984".
2019-05-19 ~National. Epoch Times: Why Today's Journalists 'Sometimes Have To Lie To You', by Brian Cates
In 2008, many media outlets in the political news industry enthusiastically embraced the new "accountability journalism" guidelines. What did this result in? Reporters and editors gave in to to their worst impulses. They began to give free rein to their most naked biases. And it began showing up loudly and clearly in their "news coverage".
2019-05-19 ~FxTrans.. TBE: Bike Lanes to nowhere, by Lou DiLeonardo
Remember that "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska that caused such a stir in 2005? In Fairfax County we don't have bridges to nowhere but we do have 127 miles of bike lanes that very few people use -- not enough to justify such wasteful spending.
2019-05-16 ~Potpourri The Atlantic: The Peculiar Blindness of Experts, by David Epstein
The track record of expert forecasters -- in science, in economics, in politics -- is dismal. Reliable insight into the future is possible, however. It just requires a style of thinking that's uncommon among experts who are certain that their deep knowledge has granted them a special grasp of what is to come.
2019-05-16 ~Potpourri CFACT: Fear, loathing, intolerance, and the toxic Green agenda, by Paul Driessen
Today's Green New Dealers and their allies have mapped out their own totalitarian strategy in the form of fascism, a political system in which authoritarian government does not own businesses and industries, but strictly regulates and controls their actions, output and rights, while constraining and suppressing citizens and their thought, speech and access to information.
2019-05-15 ~Report... The Cost of Illegal Immigration, by Fred Costello-221
2019-05-13 ~Virginia. WaPo: Virginia's transportation funding stacked against roads, by Del. Dave LaRock
The Virginia Smart Scale system is supposed to identify projects for funding based on bang for the buck, but the Northam administration is ignoring cost benefits in favor of mass Transit. The governor recommends 92 percent of the $200 million in recommended funding on transit/bike/pedestrian projects. Only a pittance, $16 million, would go to roads.
2019-05-10 ~States... Epoch Times: 11 States Ban Sanctuary Cities; Florida Ready To Join -- Not Va.
Florida is about to ban sanctuary cities. And it's not alone. At least 11 other states have taken similar steps. Florida's measure, passed by lawmakers last week, forbids law enforcement agencies and local governments from adopting policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
2019-05-10 ~Health... Epoch Times: No Enigma: Vaccines and the Food Allergy Epidemic
The United States faces an ever-worsening food allergy epidemic. An estimated 1 in 12 children (8 percent) have food allergies, and prevalence has risen by at least 50 percent since 1997. Multiple strands of published evidence -- including experiments dating back over a hundred years -- indicate that injected vaccines are major culprits.
2019-05-09 ~National. Epoch Times: 7 Reasons Why the Uranium One Scandal Won't Go Away, by Seamus Bruner
The mainstream press has repeatedly declared the Russian purchase of Uranium One a "debunked conspiracy theory". But it's no theory, nor has it been debunked. In the coming months, readers may find the Uranium One scandal coming back into focus. For that purpose, it's time to set the record straight.
2019-05-07 ~National. Epoch Times: The Left's "Above and Below" Strategy for Chaos, by Joshua Philipp
For the Left and their media allies, facts don,t matter. The issues don't matter. What we're witnessing is just a chaos operation; the purpose is to manufacture an illusion of chaos. A major tool in this is the "above and below" tactic. The "below" part works through manufactured incidents and protests; the "above" then can react to these.
2019-05-03 ~National. Epoch Times: Once Burned, Twice Shy -- Why "Anti-Vaxxers: Are Really "Ex-Vaxxers"
Parental compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) heavy-duty vaccine requirements for infants is often the catalyst for the injuries that start families down the path of becoming "ex-vaxxers".
2019-05-02 ~National. Epoch Times: Media Narratives Now More Important Than Facts, by Sharyl Attkisson
The news industry has changed in ways that have become undeniable to most. I was among the first to really pay attention to the increasingly effective operations to shape and censor news -- the movements to establish narratives rather than follow facts -- and to see the growing influence of smear operations, political interests, and corporate interests on the news.
2019-05-01 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Letters about the proposed McLean drug treatment facility
Currently, a concerning issue in McLean is the planned mental-health-treatment facility on Davidson Road, near McLean High School. Here are five letters-to-the-editor posted by the Sun Gazette regarding this plan -- 1 Pro and 4 Cons.
2019-04-28 ~National. Breitbart: 98K Illegals Graduating From U.S. High Schools Each Year, by John Binder
Researchers find that about 98,000 illegal aliens every year graduate from high schools across the country. About 27% do so in California. (About 3% do so in Virginia.)
2019-04-28 ~National. WT: What if Conservatives "identified" as Democrats?, by Everett Piper
If progressives can redefine everything as they see fit what's the problem with conservatives choosing to redefine what it means to be a progressive? If Democrats can flip everything on its head so that words come to mean the exact opposite of what they were originally intended to mean, then why can't I?
2019-04-26 ~Environmt CFACT: Batteries cannot make renewables reliable, by David Wojick
Utilities are starting to experiment with adding batteries to wind and solar projects. These storage projects are feeding the mistaken belief that batteries can cure the intermittency that makes wind and solar unworkable as a reliable source of power. The reality is that the cost of battery based reliability would actually be stupendous, far more than we could ever afford.
2019-04-25 ~Health... Epoch Times: Why Men Need Minimalism, by Jay Harrington
Today, too many men live the modern version of Teddy Roosevelts's "the strenuous life", which is more aptly termed "the stressful life". They get consumed by careers they dislike to buy things they don't need for the purpose of impressing people they don't care about (or even know). And they're suffering the consequences.
2019-04-24 ~Environmt CFACT: NYC goes stone-age Green, by Craig Rucker
First the Greens starved NYC for power by blocking natural gas and scheduling nuclear power for shutdown. Now they're saddling, what is perhaps the world's greatest city, with a host of destructive environmental / climate policies guaranteed to do real damage and no meaningful good.
2019-04-22 ~FxTrans.. NVTA: "Smart Scale" Recommends Funding Metro 88%, Bikes 5%, Roads 7% in NoVa
SMART SCALE is the transportation prioritization process that Virginia uses to determine which projects will be funded in the Six Year Improvement Program ($780 million in Round 3 for FY2024-2025).
2019-04-19 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Climate Change Confusion: What Are We to Think?, by William Gairdner
The climate wars are an international disgrace. For a half-century, the public has suffered a bombardment of disputed facts about "anthropogenic global warming" (AGW), that it's hard for anyone concerned about our beautiful planet to know what to think. So I decided to look into the situation for myself.
2019-04-17 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Public Weighs in on Fairfax County Budget Priorities, by Andrea Worker
During the April 9-12 Fairfax County Budget Public Hearings, representatives from unions, councils, organizations, civic associations, social services, nonprofits, parks, environmental groups, and private citizens came before the board. Most were there begging for more. The exception was Arthur Purves of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, arguing against the monies directed toward the FCPS.
2019-04-16 ~Report... Potential Cost Savings for the Fairfax Co 2020 Budgets, by Fred Costello-218
Upon reviewing the Fairfax County and School Budgets, we found many areas were costs can be reduced without great harm to the programs or employees but can greatly reduce the real-estate taxes -- to almost half. (Preliminary; full report due later.)
2019-04-16 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Three Meta-Errors That Pervade Progressivism, by Mark Hendrickson
Conservatives have so many policy disagreements with progressives that it's hard to keep track of them all. However, they all stem from three fundamental errors -- the meta-errors of progressives and progressivism: 1) an unjustified faith in government competence, 2) an irrational belief in the power of human will, and 3) what I call "the tyranny of good intentions".
2019-04-15 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Emotion Over Logic: The Legacy Media Tool for Narrative Control
Psychological warfare has three main tools: disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda. With today's socialist movements, and in coverage by legacy news outlets, we can see all these elements at play. Their collective result is that many people are unable to think rationally, and, instead, react to surface issues along set partisan lines.
2019-04-15 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: At Fairfax budget hearing: "Restrain spending!", by Brian Trompeter
Competing interest groups made their cases and cast a few barbs April 9 at the first of three Fairfax County Board of Supervisors public hearings on the proposed fiscal 2020 budget (including Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance).
2019-04-11 ~National. Bacon's Rebellion: Professors Teaching Less, Students Studying Less
Richard Vedder is the nation's foremost authority on college costs and productivity. His op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today is a devastating indictment of U.S. higher education. Compared to a half century ago, college professors are teaching less, students are studying less, and the ratio of administrators to faculty has soared.
2019-04-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Presentation to BOS on the County Budget, by Chuck McAndrew
1) For the past 20 years, real estate taxes for the typical homeowner have increased three times faster than household income. 2) FCPS budget has increased at least two or three times the inflation rate. 3) Taxes moderated this (election) year. 4) The County badly needs an Office of Inspector General (OIG).
2019-04-10 ~World.... The Week: There is no Left left in Israel, by Damon Linker
The most far-reaching consequence of the 2019 Israeli election may well be that it verified, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there is functionally no Left left in Israel. It has become a country with a center, a right, and a far right, but no electorally viable left to speak of.
2019-04-10 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Chiding the Fairfax Co BOS on County Spending, by James Hawkins
This FCTA member from Annandale chides the Supervisors for traffic problems, school spending, various forms of welfare such as "Affordable Housing", and failing to address the public pension problem. He hopes candidates in the upcoming BOS elections will realign the County's priorities.
2019-04-10 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax considers defending illegals with taxpayer money, by Antonio Olivo
Fairfax County is considering creating a taxpayer-funded legal defense fund for illegal aliens caught in deportation proceedings, part of a growing effort by local governments to counter the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
2019-04-09 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: You Can't Have Socialism Without State Tyranny, by Joshua Philipp
When people talk about socialized health care, free education, and other programs, they often believe these things are meant to care for society. Yet these programs can't exist without a system to enforce it -- and it's in the enforcement of these policies that socialism can't exist without tyranny.
2019-04-09 ~FxSchools FCTA: Presentation to BOS on the School Quality and Budget, by Arthur Purves
Arthur Purves, FCTA president, addresses two topics: Excellence and equity in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and the need for $112M in raises.
2019-04-09 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Vienna officials foresee higher water, sewer fees, by Brian Trompeter
Vienna officials at an April 8 public hearing gave their reasons for proposing to hike the town's water rate 3.9% and its sewer rate 10.5% during fiscal 2020. The town previously had been investing only about one-quarter of the necessary capital funds for its water system. But parts of that water system will "age out" in about a decade, and major work will need to be done.
2019-04-08 ~Virginia. AP: CBD and THC-A oil dispensaries set to open across Virginia, by Ben Burstein
Virginians with a doctor's recommendation soon will have access to CBD and THC-A oil dispensaries throughout the state. The Virginia Board of Pharmacy has approved five companies to open the dispensaries - one in each of the commonwealth's five health service areas.
2019-04-08 ~National. Epoch Times: Barack Obama: A Lifelong Story of Russian Collusion, by Trevor Loudon
Several U.S. presidents have genuinely colluded with Russia or the former Soviet Union, but none more so the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. It's no exaggeration to say that Obama owes his entire career to Russian collusion.
2019-04-07 ~National. WT: Progressive tolerance and millennial love, by Everett Piper
Our country's educational establishment has produced a nation of intellectual infants who are incapable of crawling out of their emotional cribs. Today's schools, colleges and universities have become little more than cultural "day cares" -- places of sniffles, diapers and tantrums; classrooms and campuses laden with cries of "me" and "mine" and "you hurt my feelings."
2019-04-06 ~FxMisc... Drug Rehab Center Planned Next to McLean High School, by Xiaobing Zhang
Monroe Operations LLP recently purchased three residential homes on Davidson Road, across the street from McLean High School, and intends to use each as a psychiatric and/or drug treatment facility. The County says this is permissible under residential zoning laws. But a similar situation did not fare well in Connecticut.
2019-04-05 ~Virginia. AP: State "health" officials take steps to ban conversion therapy, by J.M. McNeill
Conversion therapy, which aims to correct the sexual orientation, gender expression or identity of LGBTQ individuals, has been banned in several states across the U.S. but is still legal in Virginia. Now the Virginia Board of Psychology has issued a letter of guidance stating that conversion therapy should be considered a "violation of standard practices", so attempts to convince LGBTQ-ers to become normal should be outlawed.
2019-04-05 ~FxMisc... Fx Times: Fx Co Supervisors JET into Global Warming hype, by Angela Woolsey
Ever on the prowl for ways to make residents miserable, Fairfax County elected officials on Apr. 2 created a Joint Environmental Task Force (JET), which will "identify areas to further Fairfax County's goals in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability," according to BOS Chairman Sharon Bulova.
2019-04-04 ~Potpourri FC: Oceanix proposes to build modular, floating cities, by Katharine Schwab
Floating cities are not new -- the Aztecs, Buckminster Fuller, and Peter Thiel have all considered the idea. Now Oceanix hopes to engineer a floating city, made up of hexagonal islands, that could theoretically be duplicated endlessly. The system would grow its own food and be entirely closed loop.
2019-04-03 ~National. WT: Southern Poverty Law Center in tatters, by Valerie Richardson
As the Southern Poverty Law Center implodes over accusations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment, its legion of critics wants answers and a swift burial of the embattled organization's status as the nation's judge and jury on hate.
2019-03-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Victor Davis Hanson, author: 'The Case for Trump'
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q with Victor Davis Hanson, gifted writer, brilliant military historian, classicist, scholar of ancient warfare, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and also a California farmer -- who has authored over two dozen books. His latest: The Case for Trump (Basic Books).
2019-03-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Politics by Other Means: The Use and Abuse of Scandal, by John Marini
Imprimis lecture by John Marini, Author, Unmasking the Administrative State: The Crisis of American Politics in the Twenty-First Century.
2019-03-xx ~Bulletin. Needed: Candidates Who Will Build a Mandate to Cut Taxes
2019-03-29 ~National. NRA: AOC Wants to Pressure Banks to Deny Service to Gun Providers
In a replay of Obama's "Operation Choke Point", Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to intimidate banks into denying financial services to gun makers and gun sellers.
2019-03-29 ~National. NRA: Federal Court Finds California Magazine Ban Violates Second Amendment
In one of the strongest judicial statements in favor of the Second Amendment to date, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California determined on Friday that California,s ban on commonly possessed firearm magazines violates the Second Amendment.
2019-03-29 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Pay Raises vs Inflation -- FY2000-FY2020, by Arthur Purves
2019-03-29 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Needed: Candidates Who Will Build a Mandate to Cut Taxes, by Arthur Purves
2019-03-28 ~National. Epoch Times: Spygate: Inside Story Behind Plot to Take Down Trump, by Jeff Carlson
The weaponization of the intelligence community and other government agencies by the Obama administration created an environment that allowed for obstruction in the investigation into Hillary Clinton and the relentless pursuit of a manufactured collusion narrative against Trump. A willing and complicit media spread unsubstantiated leaks as facts in an effort to promote the Russia-collusion narrative.
2019-03-27 ~National. Epoch Times: Smollett Case Highlights Prosecutor's Ties to Soros, by Wm Patrick
Billionaire financier George Soros and other wealthy liberal donors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx in 2016, but she is just one of nearly two dozen local prosecutors backed by Soros in recent years. Soros has also backed progressive district attorney candidates in Florida, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, and California.
2019-03-26 ~FxSchools PJ Media: Fairfax Co Schools Awards Student for Anti-Semitic Art, by J.C. Adams
A South County High School student was given an art award for a drawing portraying a hook-nosed Jewish person carrying a money bag and entitled "Jewish People".
2019-03-22 ~National. Frontpage Mag: David Horowitz Unveils the Left's Dark Agenda -- video & transcript
In this video and transcript, David Horowitz discusses his new book, Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America. The talk was given at the Freedom Center's Wednesday Morning Club on March 8, 2019.
2019-03-22 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Advertised Budget for FY2020 -- from Washington Times B5
2019-03-21 ~World.... Epoch Times: US-Brazil Summit: 'We Don't Want Socialism Anymore', by Emel Akan
Brazil and the United States have formed a new relationship based on their presidents' shared rejection of socialism. In a joint press conference in the White House Rose Garden, President Jair Bolsonaro said socialist regimes had "nearly conquered power throughout Latin America in recent times", but that Brazil and other South American countries have finally broken free from its grip.
2019-03-21 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia pension fund in trouble if market meltdown hits, by Alan Suderman
Virginia's pension fund is in a worse position to handle a market meltdown than it was before the Great Recession more than a decade ago, according to a recent state report. That's despite a 10-year bull market and pension reform efforts by lawmakers to make the fund more resilient.
2019-03-21 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Fatal Flaw of Socialized Health Care, by Trevor Loudon
In a socialized system, you must meet certain conditions to get treatment for yourself or your family. You will preferably be young and productive, and friendly to the powers that be. As long as you don't get old, or too individualistic, you may get the treatments you need -- if you don't die waiting. You don't need "death panels" in a socialized system. The rationing is built into the system.
2019-03-21 ~Health... Yale Medicine: How New Ketamine Drug Helps with Depression, by Jennifer Chen
On March 5, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first truly new medication for major depression in decades. The drug is a nasal spray called esketamine, derived from ketamine -- an anesthetic that has made waves for its surprising antidepressant effect.
2019-03-21 ~Health... FCTA: Personal Initiative to Lower Alzheimer's Risk, by Tom Cranmer
There are four main types of dementia. This study outlines the prevalence of Alzheimer's, and how best to prevent or delay this public health crisis of the 21st century.
2019-03-19 ~States... WT: Gun owners embrace own sanctuary movement, by Valerie Richardson
Last week, the City Council of Roswell, New Mexico, in an 8-1 vote, declared Roswell a Second Amendment sanctuary city, joining dozens of other localities throughout the rural West offering safe havens to firearms owners from a tide of Democrat-driven gun control legislation that they consider unconstitutional.
2019-03-19 ~FxMisc... Annandale Blog: Gross, Aiken clash on redevelopment issues at candidate forum
Mason Supervisor Penny Gross and her Republican challenger, Gary Aiken, clashed over how to revitalize aging commercial centers, the East County Office Building, and Bailey's Upper Elementary School at a candidate forum March 18 hosted by Bailey's Crossroads/Seven Corners Revitalization Corporation.
2019-03-15 ~State-NC. The Federalist: N.C. To Make Crummy Schools Great Again By Lowering The Bar
How can we improve America's K-12 education? North Carolina has been making poor-performing schools "great" again simply by inflating the grade scale -- A: 100-85%; B: 84-70%; C: 69-55%; D: 54-40%; F: Anything below 40%. Hopefully, no other state will follow suit.
2019-03-14 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Men Women, Embracing Our Differences -- Series of Articles
2019-03-13 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting (Sully), by Charles McAndrew
Only SIX people attended this meeting, lead by Supervisor Kathy Smith.
2019-03-12 ~National. WT: 1972 (Nixon v McGovern), take two, by J.T. Young
Democrats are closer to reliving their 1972 presidential debacle than they realize. Fueled by internal reforms, an insurgent left and hatred for the incumbent, George McGovern-led Democrats self-destructed themselves into landslide defeat. These same elements are again surfacing...
2019-03-11 ~Virginia. Jefferson Journal: The State of Taxaginia - Taxes Times Four, by Stephen D. Haner
Wealth taxes are all the rage now in national discussions, with Democrats usually getting battered for proposing one. But as final versions of the income tax bill moved around the 2019 General Assembly, Democrats slipped in a provision to cap the amount of deductions wealthiest taxpayers can claim, raising their tax bills. Republicans agreed to it.
2019-03-09 ~Environmt NTD: 'Carbon Dioxide is the Real Green Deal' Says Climate Expert, by Ilene Eng
As the human population increases, the food industry is challenged with keeping up with the demand for more fruit, vegetables, and meat. It is possible to produce more with the same amount of land, nutrients, and water by just adding more CO2 into an environment. CO2 is described as a miracle molecule that is the key to saving the world.
2019-03-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCRC: Fairfax County's 2020 Budget: More Reckless Spending, by Arthur Purves
The Fairfax County Fiscal Year 2020 advertised budget continues the Board of Supervisors and school board's decades-long pattern of reckless spending.
2019-03-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Real Estate Tax Increase, 2.45%, all in assessment increases
Public posting, page A8 in the Washington Times. Proposed rate of $1.15 unchanged from previous year. But average assessments increased 2.45 percent. So an effective tax increase of 2.45 percent.
2019-03-06 ~FxTaxes.. ArlNow.com: Arlington's School Budget Unsustainable Long-Term, by Peter Rousselot
Neither Arlington's School Board nor the County Board are publicly acknowledging or explaining the long-term fiscal impact of APS's operating-budget growth, which over the next 10 years will: 1) shift tens of millions of dollars away from other essential county services and 2) require painful, annual tax-rate increases solely to fund school enrollment growth. (et tu Fairfax?)
2019-03-04 ~National. The Atlantic: The Geography of Partisan Prejudice, by Ripley, Tenjarla & He
Subtitle: A guide to the most -- and least -- politically open-minded counties in America. A survey by The Atlantic found significant variations in Americans' political ill will from place to place, regardless of party, with more prejudice in communities that are whiter, older, urban, and more highly educated. Locally: Arlington (100th percentile), Alexandria (99th), D.C. (98th), Fairfax (95th), Prince William (81st percentile).
2019-03-04 ~National. WT: Counting on non-citizens in the 2020 census -- Editorial
Democrats claim open borders comprise a matter of high morality. What they don't say is that open borders are actually a matter of political power and money. States have much to gain -- in money and political power -- by attracting illegals to pad the 2020 census numbers.
2019-03-04 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: Arlington per-student spending to top $20,000, by Scott McCaffrey
Already the highest among the Washington suburbs, Arlington Public Schools' per-student cost would rise 3.4 percent to a record $20,012 under the FY2020 budget proposal. (FY2019 rates: $19,348 for Arlington, $18,544 for Falls Church, $17,606 for Alexandria, $16,281 for Montgomery Co, $15,293 for Fairfax Co, $14,260 for Loudoun Co, $14,093 for Prince George's Co and $11,633 for Prince William Co.)
2019-03-03 ~Virginia. WT: Va. bill nixes Bloomberg funds to pay for climate lawyers, by V. Richardson
Virginia has become the first state to crack down on billionaire Michael Bloomberg's effort to embed within the attorney general's office privately funded lawyers dedicated to pursuing climate change litigation.
2019-03-03 ~National. WT: The Party of No (cars, guns, planes, character, ...), by Everett Piper
The Democrat[ic] Party has officially lost its mind. The "progressive" left is truly mad. The party that once stood for the "average man" and for blue-collar America is now the party of NO: no cars, no guns, no gas, no planes, no energy, no cows, no cash, no children, no character, no wisdom, no science, no tolerance, no academic freedom, and no happiness.
2019-03-02 ~National. WND: Top Michigan Officials Sued for Using SPLC 'Hate' Labels
The American Freedom Law Center is suing two Michigan officials for a policy directive that targets groups designated by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center as "hate" groups. The George Soros-funded SPLC already has been sued by groups and individuals put on its hate list for their opposition to homosexual behavior and Islamic supremacism.
2019-03-02 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting (Hunter Mill), by Charles McAndrew
Notes on the Fairfax County FY2020 real estate taxes, budget, and employee compensation. Also the FCPS budget and employee compensation.
2019-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Shall We Defend Our Common History?, by Roger Kimball
Imprimis lecture by Roger Kimball, Editor and Publisher, The New Criterion.
2019-02-28 ~Virginia. CFACT: Giant solar has Virginia in uproar, by Bonner Cohen
If being "green" means "nature friendly", solar is anything but. Big industrial solar farms, like one currently being proposed by sPower Company off the I-95 corridor in Northern Virginia, are notorious for not only chewing up large tracts of open spaces but also threatening area wildlife.
2019-02-28 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Plight of the Liberal, by Mark Bauerlein
In a world of political correctness, which orients facts and values toward the left, it's harder to be a liberal than it is to be a conservative. Conservatives don't have to prove ourselves worthy the way liberals do. Liberals don't have such solid convictions; they must only toe the line of political correctness, but the line keeps moving.
2019-02-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Arlington Real Estate Tax Increase, 5.4%... compared to Fairfax Co's 2.45%
Public posting, page A13 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 5.4 percent for residential and no increase for non-residential real estate.
2019-02-27 ~Environmt CFACT: My Testimony to Congress on Green New Deal, by Marc Morano
"Global warming" is merely the latest environmental scare with the same solutions of wealth redistribution and central planning. The "Green New Deal" has very little to do with the environment or climate. In summary, the Green New Deal has to be opposed, exposed and defeated. We must challenge the economics, ideology and science claims of this deal.
2019-02-27 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Biggest City to go 100% Renewable Now Regrets -- Green New Deal?!
Georgetown, Texas officials are lashing out at critics of its costly plan for 100 percent renewable electricity. Green energy contracts have cost the Texas city $30 million in three years, providing a cautionary tale for Green New Deal supporters.
2019-02-26 ~FxSchools Connection: Kevin Cyron - Outstanding Teacher of American History, in McLean
Kevin Cyron, a social studies teacher at Saint Luke School in McLean, was presented on Feb. 19 with an Outstanding Teacher of American History Award by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
2019-02-24 ~States... WT: 'The four states of the apocalypse', by Stephen Moore & Arthur Laffer
Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York are careening off a progressive cliff.
2019-02-22 ~National. Epoch Times: Progressivism and the Sensual Satisfaction of Hatred, by M Folkertsma
In the screenplay adaptation of William Bradford Huie's novel, "The Americanization of Emily", Charlie Madison tells Emily: "You know, I never realized what a sensual satisfaction grieving is for women." Following Madison's lead, we might say, "You know, I never realized what a sensual satisfaction hatred is for progressives."
2019-02-21 ~World.... MIT Tech Review: Chinese twins had their DNA edited, by Antonio Regalado
The brains of two genetically edited girls born in China last year may have been changed in ways that enhance cognition and memory, scientists say. The twins, called Lulu and Nana, had their genes modified before birth by a Chinese scientific team using the new editing tool CRISPR. The goal was to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
2019-02-19 ~National. Epoch Times: Progressive Agenda means Permanent Revolution, by Marvin Folkertsma
Mandatory apocalypse, a sham "New Deal", and a Trotskyite permanent revolution await all those who subscribe or submit to America's budding experimentation with totalitarianism, treacherously passed off as the Green New Deal. Hitler would have understood this; Stalin certainly did.
2019-02-19 ~FxTrans.. Connection: Tolls Off the Table for Fairfax County Parkways, by Andrea Worker
Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) planner Thomas Burke told the Board of Supervisors Transportation Committee that "tolls were not included in the strategies under consideration" as improvements to the Fairfax County and Franconia-Springfield Parkways at their meeting on Feb. 12 at the Government Center.
2019-02-18 ~Virginia. Bull Elephant: Moe, Larry and Curly, by Lou DiLeonardo
Here in Virginia, We the People are now the laughing stock of the country. Lately, we have been treated to a spectacle of spectacular callousness by the top 3 elected officials in the State. You might think of them as the Three Stooges of politics for their hapless shenanigans.
2019-02-16 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Emasculation of Men Is Doing Society No Favors, by Ryan Moffatt
There was a time in Western society when men were expected to adhere to a set of heroic values -- to protect, provide, and lead. This was the measure of a man. Such attributes gave each man something to aim for. But in this time of moral relativism, there is no North Star for men to chart their course. As a result of decades of gradual emasculation, men no longer know what manhood means.
2019-02-15 ~Virginia. Va Tax: Va Now Processing Individual Income Tax Returns -- Std Ded x1.5 in 2019
Earlier today, the Governor signed legislation conforming Virginia's tax laws to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We are now able to prepare our systems to begin processing 2018 returns, and will start processing over Presidents' Day weekend. All 2018 tax forms and instructions are now available on our website. (2018 Standard Deduction not increased.)
2019-02-14 ~handout.. Spending Crisis in Fairfax County -- HOA ad landing page
Since 2000, Fairfax County real estate taxes have increased much faster than household incomes. Pension liabilities, salary increases, social programs, and large school budgets have been out of control for years.
2019-02-13 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Educational Malpractice on a Massive Scale, by Mark Hendrickson
My colleagues and I have lamented that the students coming into our college classrooms have had increasingly poor writing skills over the past few decades. One reason for this is that students are being taught climate-change hokum instead of the basic skills that would serve them so well in their adult careers. Education should teach youngsters how to think rather than indoctrinate them into what to think.
2019-02-10 ~FxMisc... Epoch Times: Pro-Iran Socialist Taeb Runs for Saslaw's Senate Seat, by T. Loudon
Muslim socialist attorney Yasmine Taeb is challenging Virginia Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Va.) for the seat representing Northern Virginia's 35th District that he's held since 1980. Currently, she is seeking the endorsement of a group she formally joined last fall: the country's largest Marxist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
2019-02-08 ~National. Epoch Times: Government Welfare, A Cancer Known as Communism, by Trevor Loudon
Government welfare is a lot like cancer. Stage one of societal cancer is "welfarism". As things get more "social democratic" (stage two), the benefits become more universal and more generous. In "socialism" (stage three), things begin to spiral out of control. Stage four is "communism". Society's immune system -- the virtues of honesty, responsibility, and compassion -- are virtually wiped out.
2019-02-08 ~National. Epoch Times: Down With Welfare State! Onward to Welfare Society!, by T. Loudon
We have been told for decades that government welfare is necessary to temper the rapaciousness of "capitalism". We have NOT been told how admirably PRIVATE local voluntary welfare societies performed, before this function was turned over to the state.
2019-02-07 ~Virginia. NY Post: Virginia is for LOSERS -- Front Page
2019-02-07 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Dems' "Green New Deal" cracks up WSJ's Strassel, by Virginia Kruta
The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel was not impressed by the rollout of the proposed Green New Deal -- in fact, she argued Thursday that "if a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democrat bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job."
2019-02-06 ~Virginia. FCTA: Of Blackface, Statues, and Virtue Signaling, by David Swink
The Left has perfected the art of "virtue signaling", pointing to alleged evils on the other side while maintaining that their own are as pure as the driven snow. So this week, the worm has turned, and Virginia's Northam/Fairfax/Herring alleged misdeeds are now under the media spotlight.
2019-02-05 ~National. Archived: "Green New Deal FAQ", by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Here is the full document from AOC's web page. It was downloaded before her office deleted it. The metadata shows it was created by Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff.
2019-02-04 ~National. Jacobin: Cory Booker Hates Public Schools, by Eric Blanc
From this Leftist publication: According to Booker, the education system is the main cause of our society's fundamental problems, rather than, say, inequality and unchecked corporate power. As he explained in a 2011 speech, "disparities in income in America are not because of some 'greedy capitalist' -- no! It's because of a failing education system."
2019-02-04 ~Health... Epoch Times: The Threat 5G Poses to Human Health, by James Grundvig
The crime scene was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. One hundred and fifty dead birds lay sprawled on the ground, fallen out of trees in a park in The Hague, Netherlands. The second such occurrence last autumn made Dutch citizens look up and wonder. The culprit stood atop a nearby train station -- a mast with new 5G network antennas.
2019-02-03 ~FxMisc... kBoulevard.com: VA HOD District 86 Special Election Voters' Guide -> Feb 19
2019-02-01 ~World.... Epoch Times: China Will Grow Old Before It Grows Rich, by Steven W. Mosher
China is in the grip of its deepest economic downturn since "the reform and opening" to the outside world began some 40 years ago, and the Chinese people have suddenly decided that now is not the time to have children. Like Japan in 1992, Chinese society is characterized by ever fewer births, a shrinking number of workers, and a surging elderly population. But unlike rich Japan, China is still poor.
2019-02-01 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia sees population booms and big declines, by Andrew Gionfriddo
Virginia's population has grown by 6.5 percent since the 2010 census. Even so, the state's annual population growth this decade is the lowest since the 1920s. Seventy of the state's 133 cities and counties gained population. The population of Loudoun County, in Northern Virginia, jumped 30 percent. But the remaining 63 localities -- largely rural areas in the southern and western parts of the state -- saw population declines.
2019-02-01 ~National. JWR: The long, painful slide down the slippery slope, by Wesley Pruden
We're not any longer talking about abortion, the issue that has bitterly divided us for decades. Now we're talking about the step beyond interfering with the process of creating a human life. We're talking about "murder", perhaps the ugliest word in the language.
2019-02-01 ~Environmt Epoch Times: There's a Better Way to 'Go Green', Georgetown, by Richard Trzupek
It appears that the wheels are coming off in Georgetown, Texas, the dream home of U.S. environmentalists. Georgetown's electric costs have reportedly risen alarmingly over the past four years as the mayor struggled to make his green dreams come true.
2019-01-xx ~Potpourri ASOR: Making Bibles in Early America, by Seth Perry
Printers made a lot of bibles in the early United States. These were mostly in English, though the first American-made bible was in a Native American language, and German, Spanish, French, and Hebrew bibles, among others, had been printed in the New World by the early nineteenth century.
2019-01-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, by Alex Berenson
Imprimis lecture by Alex Berenson, Author, Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence.
2019-01-31 ~State-SD. NRA: South Dakota Governor Signs NRA-backed Constitutional Carry Bill
This new law simply extends the current open carry rule to concealed carry. South Dakota joins Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, New Hampshire and North Dakota as the fourteenth state that allows constitutional carry.
2019-01-30 ~National. Epoch Times: American Renewal: Losing Trust, Saving Trust, by David Prentice
Trust. Without it, we are toast. Which is why we should be angry. Our media has become untrustworthy, as has the left and its party. They are engaged in a purposeful attempt to break our bonds of trust. To this day, the leftist media actually reports that the Obama administration was totally ethical, and had no scandals. A bigger lie is hard to find. They give the Soviet newspaper Pravda a historical run for their money.
2019-01-29 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Kathy Tran (D-Fairfax) Introduces NY-style Infanticide Bill
Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran introduced HB2491, or the Repeal Act, which seeks to repeal the state's current restrictions on late-term abortions. This comes just after New York passed a similar law. The bill has received support from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam as well as a number of Democrat lawmakers. [Later tabled on a 5(R)-3(D) vote.]
2019-01-28 ~handout.. Fairfax Co Public Schools - High Taxes for Low Achievement, by Arthur Purves
Since 2000, Fairfax County real estate taxes for the typical homeowner have increased more than three times faster than household income. Meanwhile, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) spending has increased five times faster than enrollment (122% vs. 23%).
2019-01-25 ~Environmt CFACT: Carbon tax economists profoundly ignorant and/or cynical, by Mark Mathis
Sometimes smart people can be astonishingly ignorant, or just being self-serving and political. A bipartisan group of Nobel Prize-winning economists, former Federal Reserve chairs and top economic advisers to recent presidents has endorsed a carbon tax. Their reasons for supporting the tax demonstrate a profound obliviousness to energy reality.
2019-01-23 ~State-NY. FaithWire.com: NY Senate Cheers After Passage of Infanticide Bill, by Will Maule
The New York Senate was seen erupting in feverish applause after voting 38-24 to approve a bill which would allow abortion up to birth. Heralded as a major victory for pro-abortion activists, the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was signed on the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. (Kathy Tran's bill would do likewise in Va.)
2019-01-23 ~Potpourri RT: Microsoft to provide "fake news" filter in mobile browser -- in reverse?
Users of Microsoft's Edge mobile browser will have the option of flagging what the company considers "unreliable" news sites. So left-leaning sites like CNN, Buzzfeed, and The Washington Post get green-lighted, while right-leaning sites like Daily Mail, Breitbart, and the Drudge Report get red-lighted. (Gee, whodathought!)
2019-01-23 ~National. Ace Of Spades: "Passive Conservatism" and the Surrender Caucus, by John Hayward
Passive conservatism was so thoroughly terrorized away from social issues over the past generation that it became reluctant to engage even when leftists are clearly the aggressors and their attacks are utterly dishonest.
2019-01-22 ~National. Epoch Times: Beginner's Guide to American Communist Parties: Part 1, by T. Loudon
Communism is currently the single most important political and cultural influence in the country. Therefore, thumbnail sketches are provided here that outline the more significant domestic communist organizations currently working to undermine the Constitution and impose socialism on the American people. (Note: Socialism is a euphemism for communism.)
2019-01-22 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins to retire in 2019, by Antonio Olivo
Hudgins, 74, made her announcement during a county board meeting, saying simply that she will step down at the end of what will be her 20th year as the Democrat supervisor representing the Hunter Mill district.
2019-01-18 ~Virginia. FCTA: Virginia Gun Bills Defeated in Committee -- email from NRA
This week, the Virginia Senate Committee on Courts of Justice and the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee heard and voted to defeat many of Governor Ralph Northam's requested gun control bills.
2019-01-17 ~Virginia. WTOP: What Va. road, bus projects will be funded this year, by Max Smith
With $779.8M available statewide through Virginia's "Smart Scale" process, the recommendations to the Commonwealth Transportation Board include funding three major projects in Northern Virginia with at least $50 million each: 1) New east entrance to Crystal City Metro Station (per Amazon deal); 2) Alexandria's West End Transitway bus rapid transit project; and 3) Fairfax County's Richmond Highway bus rapid transit between Huntington and Fort Belvoir.
2019-01-17 ~Potpourri Crisis Mag: Time for Some Trust-Busting?, by William Kilpatrick
Which organizations are most likely to advance the cause of Islamic dominance? How about companies such as Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Recently, the media giants have been working with the financial giants to make life miserable for critics of Islam.
2019-01-16 ~Potpourri Daily Caller: The word "family" triggers meltdown at Google, by Peter Hanson
Google employees melted down after the word "family" was used in a company presentation. Some were upset that the word was used in a way that links families with children, which they argued was homophobic.
2019-01-15 ~Potpourri BPR: New 'toxic masculinity' ad has Gillette losing big-time, by Vivek Saxena
Gillette faces a growing tide of backlash over a new ad published this week that appears to smear all men as predatory bullies suffering from so-called "toxic masculinity". The ad reeks of Marxist-styled "social justice" concepts, and initial reactions suggest the brand's latest campaign will backfire big-time.
2019-01-13 ~Report... Fairfax County Bicycle Facts, by Fred Costello-217
2019-01-12 ~National. Epoch Times: An 1897 Text Explains Why Johnny Can't Write, by Annie Holmquist
Why are American students such terrible writers? Several answers to this question appear in an 1897 text by Dr. Edwin Lewis, titled "A First Book in Writing English". 1) They don't read high-quality literature; 2) they skim, a practice which diminishes thought and understanding; and 3) they don't memorize, which would stimulate thinking and increase one's command of words.
2019-01-11 ~FxTrans.. NoVa Mag: Dockless scooters continue rollout across NoVA, by Michael Balderston
Dockless scooters are here to stay, at least for another nine months or so. This new form of mobile transportation, which allows anyone with a license to rent a scooter from right off the street through an app, first began popping up in Arlington last summer, but is traveling down the road and beginning to reach the streets of Alexandria and Fairfax.
2019-01-10 ~Virginia. Tax Foundation: Va on Cusp of $600M Unlegislated Tax Increase, by Jared Walczak
Virginia requires taxpayers who take the federal standard deduction (now a generous $12,200 for single filers and twice that for married couples) to also take the state's standard deduction, a comparatively stingy $3,000 that about 650,000 filers will have to take, even though it would otherwise be to their advantage to itemize on their state return ... unless legislators act to change Virginia's tax code.
2019-01-10 ~National. Epoch Times: The Fed Dilemma, by Valentin Schmid
Yes, it is responsible for market crashes, but the origin of the problem traces back to the founding of the Federal Reserve itself. Since its creation in 1913, the Fed has had the power to print money and fuel booms, and contract money and create busts. So it has to take responsibility for the vicious business cycles since its creation, such as the Great Depression or the 2008 financial crisis.
2019-01-06 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Virginia Republicans Retreat From Trump Tax Successes
Virginia's House Republicans are acting like Blue State Democrats in their proposals to modify the state tax code to match the Trump tax cuts. They would appease the rich by allowing unlimited deductions on state tax returns for high local taxes. But the middle class would only get a one-third increase in the standard deduction, rather than the 100% increase in the federal tax code.
2019-01-04 ~Virginia. FCTA: Virginia General Pre-Assembly Testimonies, by Charles McAndrew
1) Virginia needs to double its standard deduction to match the new Federal tax code. 2)Transportation funds should go more toward roads, and not be siphoned off to fund that black hole we call Metro. 3) The Virginia Retirement System and Virginia's budget for Medicaid need some attention.
2019-01-02 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Why Is Communism Evil?, by Trevor Loudon
Communism is not evil because of the estimated 85 million to 100 million deaths caused by Marxist-Leninist regimes. This is a symtom -- not the cause -- of the inherent evil of communism. The reason that communism is the greatest evil is simple: Communism is the greatest enemy of personal responsibility ever invented.
2018-12-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The Great Divide - Two Visions of America
Where is the compromise between right and wrong? Where is the compromise between good and evil? If I believe in freedom, free market capitalism, traditional morality, where is there any area of compromise with tyranny, socialism, and moral relativism? It doesn't exist. No, we're here to defeat them. We're here to lawfully stand in the way of their agenda succeeding.
2018-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Do We Need Our Country Anymore?, by Larry P. Arnn
Imprimis lecture by Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College.
2018-12-xx ~Bulletin. Killing the Golden Goose
2018-12-31 ~Virginia. WT: Trump tax cut foiled by Va. itemized deduction rule, by David Sherfinski
Virginia lawmakers have a choice to make during the 2019: Take steps to change the state tax code or risk a $500 million-plus increase in their constituents' state tax bills. The simple solution would be to double the state's standard deduction (to match what the Feds did).
2018-12-31 ~National. WND: The Left Will Make 2019 a Dark Year, by Dennis Prager
The Left will use the levers of government to keep the American people in a constant state of agitation, because happy and grateful Americans rarely vote Democrat. Democrats and their media allies will try to convince women, blacks, Hispanics, Jews and young people to be as unhappy, ungrateful and angry as possible. That is the left's agenda for 2019.
2018-12-27 ~Potpourri NYT: Inside Facebook's Secret Rulebook for Global Political Speech, by Max Fisher
Under fire for stirring up distrust and violence, the social network has vowed to police its users. But leaked documents raise serious questions about its approach.
2018-12-21 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Carbon Taxes Being Voted Down Everywhere, by John Kartch
A carbon tax is both bad policy and bad politics. As a simultaneous tax and spending hike, carbon taxes raise the cost of living and hit lower-income workers and small businesses hard. They give the government more control over private decisions. This issue highlights the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
2018-12-20 ~National. Epoch Times: Vets Find Purpose in Defending Remote AZ Border, by C. Cuthbertson
In an area where Mexican cartels reign supreme, volunteers track rampant drug and human trafficking through an open border.
2018-12-19 ~Report... References for the December 2018 FCTA Bulletin, by Fred Costello-216
2018-12-19 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Google Distributes Chinese Surveillance Technology, by Rex Lee
Companies such as Google are enabling content developers, including nation-state companies from China, to indiscriminately collect, use, share, sell, purchase, and aggregate a product-user's digital DNA for financial gain, including telecom-related confidential and protected digital DNA. The U.S. government has been asleep on this issue, so if you use a smartphone, you have absolutely no privacy.
2018-12-14 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Don't buy a 5G smartphone just yet, by Ron Amadeo
For 5G mmWave in 2019, we're going to get thicker, hotter, more complicated phones that use more energy and cost more money. It's undeniable that first-gen 5G hardware is going to be inferior to more mature 4G designs. With 5G networks only in their infancy and a supposed $200-$300 premium for 5G-compatible phones, this really doesn't seem worth it for consumers.
2018-12-11 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Problem With Experts, by Mark Hendrickson
All experts are expert about only one thing: the past. Expertise is confined to what is already known (and even then, what is "known" isn't always true). Nobody is an expert about the future, for the obvious reason that the future is as yet unknown.
2018-12-11 ~National. Epoch Times: What Is Originalism?, by Rob Natelson
For 150 years after the Constitution was adopted, the judges shared a commitment to honesty in constitutional interpretation. But by the early 1940s the Supreme Court, dominated by justices with little prior judicial experience, changed the constitutional rules to permit Congress and the president to do things the Constitution actually forbids.
2018-12-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Loses Taxpayers to Other Virginia Counties
Taxpayers in Fairfax County, with Average Gross Income (AGI) totaling over $10 billion, have left Fairfax County. Most have moved to neighboring Loudoun and Prince William counties, which have lower tax rates.
2018-12-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Loses Taxpayers, Virginia Less So
Fairfax County had a net loss of $10.08 billion in annual Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) between 1992 and 2016. The state of Virginia had a net loss of $1.60 billion in annual AGI.
2018-12-06 ~World.... Epoch Times: The European Prison House of Nations, by Paul Adams
The EU, as Russian newspaper Pravda put it, not without irony, was the reincarnation of the USSR. It was a new prison house of nations, a triumph of empire over nations, the replacement of an order of sovereign nations and democracies by a supranational empire.
2018-12-06 ~Health... CNN: Australian researchers develop 10-minute cancer test, by Euan McKirdy
Researchers in Australia have developed a 10-minute test that can detect the presence of cancer cells anywhere in the human body, according to a newly published study. The test is yet to be used on humans, and large clinical trials are needed before it can be used on prospective patients. But the signs are positive.
2018-12-06 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax County board chair Bulova to retire, by Antonio Olivo
Sharon Bulova, chairman of Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors, won't seek reelection next fall, ending a 30-year career. Supervisor Jeff C. McKay (D-Lee) plans to run for chairman in Bulova's absence, leaving his own district seat open. Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), who is facing a Democrat challenger for his seat, has said he is also considering a bid for chairman.
2018-12-04 ~FxPension Fx News: Fairfax board adopts two proposed pension changes, by Truman Lewis
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors today approved minor changes to the county's retirement system -- 1) abolish the pre-Social Security supplement; and 2) not automatically increasing the retirement annuity by 3% annually. The Board rejected 1) increasing the Minimum Retirement Age from 55 to 60; 2) increasing the Rule of 85 to the Rule of 90; and 3) increasing the Salary Averaging Period from 3 years to 5 years.
2018-12-04 ~FxPension FxCo: Fairfax BOS Takes [Baby] Step in Addressing Pension Reform, by Pat Herrity
"Today the Board took another step in reforming the County's unsustainable pension cost by eliminating the pre-social security supplement for new employees. Unfortunately, the Board did not pass three of the other reforms proposed by County staff."
2018-12-03 ~National. Epoch Times: Virtues, Values, and Education, by Paul Adams
If there is no objective basis for virtues, then what culture and faith have taught us through the King James Bible and the great texts of our civilization in the West -- the works of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare -- are no longer sources of wisdom, inspiration, and moral insight. Our schools and colleges, with few exceptions, do less to form character and educate in the virtues than to inoculate the young against their cultural heritage.
2018-12-03 ~National. Epoch Times: The Case for an Education Based on Virtues -- Series of Articles
2018-12-02 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia taxpayers, ratepayers to get scammed with offshore wind power
Virginia's lawmakers recently approved a project to construct wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Norfolk, to begin operation by the end of 2020. Virginians will pay 78 cents/Kwh for "wind farm" energy vs the 3 cents/Kwh wholesale price for coal, gas, hydroelectric, or nuclear electricity in the Commonwealth.
2018-12-02 ~FxPension Bacon's Rebellion: Fairfax Supervisors Face County's Monster Pension Crunch
Way back in the year 2000, Fairfax County's general-employee pension plan was amply funded at 109% of projected needs. But the funding ratio dropped severely during the last recession and has been hovering around 70% in recent years. Taxpayer groups are sounding the alarm and, astonishingly, the Board of Supervisors is actually studying proposals to address the shortfall.
2018-12-01 ~State-CA. Daily Caller: CA Dems use "Ballot Harvesting" to Nuke GOP, by Scott Morefield
California's new vote-by-mail procedures allow anybody to walk into an elections office and hand over truckloads of vote by mail envelopes with ballots inside, no questions asked, no verified records kept. It amounts to an open invitation to large-scale vote buying, voter coercion, "granny farming", and automated forgery.
2018-11-xx ~National. Limbaugh: GoFundDems, The Left's New Money-Laundering Machine
Making money has long been a legal problem for the left. So many payoffs to distribute, so little time. Not to mention all the inconvenient banking reporting regulations and record-keeping rules. It's been a real pain in the neck to move the vast sums needed to keep the left's troops supplied. Enter mankind's most efficient cash-transport in history: the internet.
2018-11-30 ~National. Epoch Times: Google Debated Burying Conservative Media in Search Results
Google employees debated demoting conservative media outlets in its search results after President Donald Trump won the 2016 election over Hillary Clinton, according to internal chats obtained by The Daily Caller and acknowledged as real by a Google spokeswoman, who also argued Google never took any action.
2018-11-30 ~Environmt JWR: The Truth About the New Climate Report, by Cal Thomas
The latest prophecy of doom and planetary extinction comes from a government report authored by people appointed during the Obama administration. This report, and others before it, concluded that Earth is warming, humans are responsible, and that we have only 10 years to fix it.
2018-11-29 ~National. AMAC: End Caravan Madness -- Tell the Untold Truth, by Robert Charles
Here is why many in the caravans, foreign governments, and American media misunderstand what is happening at the US-Mexican border. The US does NOT admit anyone who wishes to come in from a distraught, poor or violent country -- but Mexico and the Central American countries do.
2018-11-29 ~FxPension Sun Gazette: Fairfax employees, taxpayer advocates spar over pension proposals
Supervisors heard from more than 40 people at a three-hour-long Nov. 20 public hearing on the pension issue. County employee representatives claimed the crisis is contrived, while critics like FCTA' Arthur Purves warned the county's pension obligations are unsustainable in the long run. County supervisors will decide how to deal with the presented options on Dec. 4.
2018-11-27 ~State-CA. WT: How California effectively legalizes voter fraud, by Shawn Steel
Reliably Republican Orange County lost all seven of its congressional seats to Democrats during the 2018 midterms. How could this happen? Democrats know it's easier to erode voter integrity laws than to stuff ballot boxes. California Democrats have systematically undermined California's already-weak voter protection laws to guarantee one-party rule.
2018-11-26 ~National. Epoch Times: Congressional Progressive Caucus is Marxist, by Trevor Loudon
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest and most influential coalition in the federal government, is also the most radical, with extensive ties to several major Marxist organizations. Its deal with Nancy Pelosi for the speakership will see more Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supporters appointed to key congressional committees.
2018-11-20 ~FxPension FCTA: Pension Reform for Fairfax County Employees, testimony by Tom Cranmer
Testimony to the Board of Supervisors, plus suggested retirement age requirement changes to the Virginia code.
2018-11-20 ~FxPension FCTA: Fairfax County Pension Reform Testimony to BOS, by Charles McAndrew
2018-11-19 ~National. WT: An explanation of Trump's defining philosopy -- Book review
The Republican Worker Party: How the Trump Victory Drove Everyone Crazy, and Why It was Just What We Needed, by F.H. Buckley, who believes the U.S. is "among the worst governed in the First World", controlled by a privileged elite. Trump promised to rectify this, and the author believes his legacy will continue after he leaves office.
2018-11-18 ~FxPension FCTA: Fairfax County pension eligibility changes explained, by Louise Epstein
2018-11-17 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Is Fairfax County headed for political transformation?, by Antonio Olivo
Fairfax County could be headed for a political transformation in 2019, with Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and one other longtime Democratic supervisor indicating they might not seek reelection, and one of the board's two Republicans saying he will step down in the face of head winds from a growing blue wave.
2018-11-16 ~Environmt The Federalist: Misguided Environmentalism To Blame For California's Wildfires
The saddest part about these fires in California is that they are self inflicted. Californians should not allow such mismanagement to continue.
2018-11-15 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Metro hopes riders will like cheaper monthly, weekly passes, by Max Smith
Metro hopes to lure back riders next year with discounted and expanded unlimited-ride passes as a way to head off long-term forecasts of limited rider revenue growth.
2018-11-13 ~Virginia. WT: The Californication of Virginia, by A.J. Rice
The problem is the interests of Northern Virginia couldn't be more different from those of the rest of Virginia, which would prefer not be bound by them, much less have to help pay for them. Ask someone is Northern California what its like to subsidize the craziness of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Perhaps the solution is for Northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia to go their separate ways.
2018-11-13 ~States... CER: Parent Power! Index - National Overview -- Va #35
2018-11-12 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Dulles Toll Road toll hikes to be approved this week, by Max Smith
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board is due to vote Wednesday to raise the mainline plaza rate from $2.50 to $3.25 and ramp rates from $1 to $1.50, effective Jan. 1. For larger vehicles, tolls would range from $6.50 to $10.25 at the mainline plaza and $3 to $4.50 at ramps, depending on the number of axles.
2018-11-09 ~National. AMAC: Trump Clamps Down on Asylum Rules for Immigrants, by Fred Lucas
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department jointly issued a new rule requiring that immigrants seeking asylum along the southern border must present themselves lawfully at a port of entry. President Trump will sign a proclamation with specifics.
2018-11-09 ~Health... Epoch Times: Is Move to 5G Wireless a Serious Health Risk?, by Conan Milner
The wireless revolution thus far (1G-4G) was all about connecting people. With 5G, the goal is more about connecting objects -- the Internet of Things (IoT). But 5G will be vastly more active in producing effects in our body than our current exposure, which some believe are already quite serious. The FCC, however, sees no problem here.
2018-11-06 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fairfax County 2018 SAMPLE BALLOT in plain English, by David Swink
2018-11-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vote NO on the Fx Co Public Safety Bond Referendum, by Arthur Purves
Fairfax County's 2018 Public Safety Bond Referendum proposes borrowing $182 million for the renovation of facilities built 30 or more years ago. While the purposes of the referendum are reasonable, the county's financial management is not.
2018-10-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Sidney Powell, author of "Licensed to Lie"
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with Sidney Powell, who served in the DOJ for ten years as Assistant U.S. Attorney, who witnessed firsthand the rampant prosecutorial corruption at DOJ from Enron to Mueller, and who was moved to relate what she experienced in her 2014 book, Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice.
2018-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: America's Cold Civil War, by Charles R. Kesler
Imprimis lecture by Charles R. Kesler, Editor of Claremont Review of Books.
2018-10-23 ~National. Epoch Times: Chinese Subversion of U.S. Deep and Far Reaching, by Joshua Philipp
For decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been subverting the United States by infiltrating, undermining, and influencing its key institutions -- American businesses, movie studios, universities, think tanks, scholars, journalists, and local, state, and federal officials. Here we take a look at some examples of the problem.
2018-10-23 ~National. WT: When Democrat dreams play out, by Robert A. Taft
A century ago, Democrats advocated for social cleansing, rooting out the "unfit", such as criminals, imbeciles, "useless" or inferior people -- using techniques such as forced sterilization, Planned Parenthood, and prevention of interracial marriage. Today, the party welcomes the "unfit" with open arms for the votes they bring with them. But if Democrats succeed in destroying capitalism, thus bringing on universal misery, will they then flip back to their roots?
2018-10-23 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Fairfax County Taxes and Fees -- compiled by FCTA
2018-10-19 ~National. Daily Caller: Voter Fraud, a Fact Democrats Wish was Fiction, by James Merse
"Democrats will not push for photo ID requirements to vote because they benefit most from voter fraud. Despite Democrat claims that it is practically non-existent, the reality is that in every election there have been numerous irregularities reported, the overwhelming majority of which favor Democrats." -- Matt C. Pinsker, Attorney at Law, PLCC
2018-10-19 ~National. Epoch Times: The End Game of Climate Change: Socialism, by Mark Hendrickson
Environmentalism is simply the latest iteration of those illiberal ideologies -- fascism, socialism, and communism -- that share the world view that the world is a critically messed up place that can only be saved if governments strip away individual rights and compel the masses to obey a government-designed central plan.
2018-10-17 ~Virginia. Epoch Times: Has China Influenced Virginia's Elections?, by Trevor Loudon
The New Virginia Majority (NVM) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) are apparently using data generated at Wuhan University in China to win elections for Democrats. Having effectively flipped Virginia, the FRSO now seems intent on applying McClure's technology across the U.S. South. If the FRSO can "flip" certain high "minority" Southern states from Republican to Democrat, it will permanently alter the U.S. political map in the left's favor.
2018-10-16 ~World.... Epoch Times: Global Economy Not as Strong as It Looks, by Daniel Lacalle
When societies are based on promoting spending and debt, not saving and making prudent investments, we are always going to throw ourselves into a bigger problem based on the conviction that nothing bad is going to happen. When it bursts, governments and central banks will blame anyone except themselves. And repeat.
2018-10-16 ~FxPension Fx News: Fairfax supervisors: hearing Nov 20 on pension reforms, by Truman Lewis
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors today inched closer to making changes in its pension plans for new county hires, acting on a longtime argument by Supervisor Pat Herrity that Fairfax pension benefits are too generous. There will be a public hearing on November 20, 2018 to consider proposed amendments to the ordinances for the County's three retirement systems.
2018-10-15 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Arlington fiscal watchdog Tim Wise remembered, by Scott McCaffrey
Tim Wise headed the Arlington County Taxpayers Association from 2000 until his death in 2018. For much of that time a voice, albeit often in the wilderness, for fiscal restraint, Wise died Oct. 5 at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer and other ailments.
2018-10-11 ~FxSchools FCPS: School Board Passes Resolution on Global Warming Action ???
"FCSB should stay out of politics and concentrate on improving the education of kids in Fairfax. They never explain why half the seniors who aspire to go to college are considered by their test scores not prepared for college and what should be done about it." -- FCTA's Tom Cranmer
2018-10-10 ~National. Epoch Times: Trump Signs Bills to Eliminate Pharmacy Gag Orders, by Holly Kellum
Insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers (PBM) will no longer be able to strong-arm pharmacies into keeping quiet when customers pay more than they need to for drugs, thanks to two bills President Donald Trump signed on Oct. 10.
2018-10-10 ~National. Epoch Times: The Politics of Personal Destruction, by Paul Adams
In 1990, a Kansas civil-rights advocate, Laird Wilcox, identified eight key elements of the process that he called "ritual defamation". "The primary goal of a ritual defamation is censorship and repression," he wrote. The method of attack "is to assail the character of the victim ... Character assassination is its primary tool."
2018-10-09 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: No Metro fare hikes next year, by Max Smith
Metro does not plan to raise fares next year, but it also does not necessarily plan to increase service, even as it hopes riders come flooding back to the system.
2018-10-05 ~FxPension Bacon's Rebellion: A Thoughtful Reminder of Another Pension Landmine
According to FCTA, the Fairfax County pension liability is now $5.6 billion. There are 400,000 homes in Fairfax County, so the liability amounts to $14,000 per household. The liability and the real estate tax will increase unless the retirement age is increased to 65 or 70 years of age -- as compared to the current 55 to 60.
2018-10-04 ~National. JWR: The campus comes to Congress, by Victor Davis Hanson
The polarizing atmosphere of the university has now spread to Congress. During the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, we witnessed how college values have become the norms of the Senate. Campuses are no longer out-of-touch ivory towers. Their creed is now beginning to run the country, which is frightening.
2018-10-04 ~National. Epoch Times: A Short, Communist History of 'McCarthyism', by Diana West
The organs and agents of communism were obsessed by this one American patriot, McCarthy, and the larger anti-communist tradition he so quickly personified. They knew he posed an existential threat to their war on our constitutional republic. And America blinked. Thus, today, Americans continue to decry bad, old "McCarthyism" without realizing the order came straight from Moscow.
2018-10-03 ~National. JWR: The rumbling volcano that the left doesn't hear, by Hugh Hewitt
The allegations spitballing out at the Judge Brett Kavanaugh have caused the country to shudder. So deeply deceptive, manipulative and unfair are the proceedings, they rightly brought forth comparisons with McCarthyism. Democrats seem to think that the refusal to saddle up with the new Roy Cohns of the left dooms the right. The right is convinced the opposite is true. November will tell.
2018-10-02 ~State-MT. NPR: Montana Proves Employers Can Bargain Down Health Care Prices, by M. Allen
Marilyn Bartlett spent two years running Montana's employee health plan. She made better deals with hospitals and drug benefits managers and saved the plan from bankruptcy. Her methods are now being considered elsewhere.
2018-10-02 ~National. Dennis Prager: The Left's Contempt for Middle-Class Values
While most liberals and conservatives abide by society's rules of order and decency, most leftists do not feel bound to live by these same rules. Why do leftists feel entitled do all these things? Because they have thoroughly rejected middle-class, bourgeois and Judeo-Christian religious values. Leftists are Ubermenschen -- people on such a high moral plane that they do not consider themselves bound by the normal conventions of civics and decency.
2018-09-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Gregg Jarrett, author of "The Russia Hoax"
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with Gregg Jarrett, Fox News analyst, about his new investigative book, The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump.
2018-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: A Short History of American Medical Insurance, by John Steele Gordon
Imprimis lecture by John Steele Gordon, author of An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power.
2018-09-xx ~Bulletin. Candidates and Issues for the 2018 Midterms
2018-09-29 ~Potpourri Fast Company: Tim Berners-Lee plans to upend World Wide Web, by Katrina Brooker
For years now, Berners-Lee and other internet activists have been dreaming of a digital utopia where individuals control their own data and the internet remains free and open. But for Berners-Lee, the time for dreaming is over.
2018-09-28 ~Potpourri The Conversation: 50 years of the Boeing 747, by Janet Bednarek
The 747 was -- and is -- probably the most easily recognizable jet airliner. While most people would have a hard time distinguishing between a Boeing 707 and a DC-8, the 747's large size and distinctive "hump" at the front make it unmistakable. While U.S. airlines stopped flying 747s in 2017, the aircraft may still have a long life as a carrier of freight.
2018-09-28 ~National. FCTA: The Left's Attack on the Constitution, by Arthur Purves
In 1913, the 17th Amendment effectively changed the U.S. from a republic to a democracy, by removing the stabilizing influence of senators appointed by their state legislatures. As the country now veers towards demagoguery and socialism, we need to seriously consider repealing the 17th Amendment.
2018-09-28 ~FxTrans.. Fx Times: Metro to use contractor for Phase II of Silver Line, by Angela Woolsey
WMATA has opted to seek a contractor for Silver Line Phase II in order to control operating and maintenance costs, including future pension costs that it says "have grown to unsustainable levels."
2018-09-26 ~National. Epoch Times: 10 Ways Big Tech Can Shift Millions of Votes, by Robert Epstein
A noted researcher describes 10 ways Google, Facebook, other companies could shift millions of votes in the US midterms: 1) Search Engine Manipulation; 2) Search Suggestion; 3) Targeted Messaging; 4) Opinion Matching; 5) Answer Bot; 6) Shadowbanning; 7) Programmed Virality and Digital Bandwagon; 8) Facebook Effect; 9) Censorship; 10) Digital Customization.
2018-09-26 ~Health... Ars Technica: Atrial fibrillation defined, and Apple's attempt to detect it
What is atrial fibrillation, and why has Apple decided that it's worth screening for it? Both questions are answered here.
2018-09-25 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Postmodernism - How Nihilism Consumed the Left, by Cid Lazarou
We live in an era of pessimism and nihilism, when hope and purpose have been stripped from existence. What remains is an ugly husk of self-hatred that consumes society from within, referred to as postmodernism. Cultural Marxism -- the use of critical and literary theory to deconstruct the West -- is part of that, turning everything about Western culture and identity into oppression and bigotry.
2018-09-21 ~Potpourri The Intercept: Google Suppresses Memo on Plans to Closely Track Chinese Users
Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China. Codenamed Dragonfly, the search system would require users to log in to perform searches, track their location, and share the resulting history with a Chinese partner who would have "unilateral access" to the data.
2018-09-21 ~National. NR: Obama Didn't Build That!, by Deroy Murdock
Today's boom is a triumph of Trumponomics. After eight years of crawling forward, Obama abandoned his battered clunker in front of Trump Tower. Now, Donald J. Trump steers an 18-month-old sports car. Its speedometer currently reads 4.2 percent GDP growth for 2018's second quarter -- a metaphorical 70 miles per hour.
2018-09-20 ~National. CFIF: Leftists Expand Their War Into All Corners of Society, by Timothy H. Lee
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Although ironically spoken by communist Soviet Union founding father Leon Trotsky, that observation is one that contemporary conservatives and libertarians in America would be wise to heed.
2018-09-15 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Behind Metro's diving ridership: A millennial exodus, by Faiz Siddiqui
Just as a new Metro study points to poor service as the key cause of its faltering ridership, an outside analysis paints a profile of the commuters most likely to abandon the system: millennials, the generation said to be killing everything from homeownership to driving to, uh, mayonnaise.
2018-09-14 ~Potpourri Weekly Standard: Catholic Church Is Breaking Apart. Here's Why., by J. V. Last
Even though the radical elements within the church were a small and aging minority, the progressives realized that the only person who really matters is the pope. That's why they organized to get Francis elected. So you have a "Deep State" within the Catholic hierarchy seeking to dismantle the Church's raison d'être, and to ensure a like-minded successor to Francis.
2018-09-14 ~Health... Manward Press: The Dangers in America's Food System (Part 1), by Andy Snyder
What we eat and why we eat it is a hot topic. The daily "news" is rife with stories about the latest dieting fad or half-cocked study promoting a new wonder food. Most of it is pure bunk. What we eat today has more to do with marketing than science or our good health.
2018-09-12 ~Potpourri Climate Depot: USA Is Now The Largest Global Crude Oil Producer
The United States likely surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world's largest crude oil producer earlier this year, based on preliminary estimates in EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
2018-09-12 ~National. Breitbart: Video of Google Leaders' Dismay at Trump Election, by Allum Bokhari
A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant's leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe.
2018-09-10 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Metro's pension costs threaten future service, by Siddiqui McCartney
"How many times do we have to ask the same question and expect to get a different answer? Metro's liabilities are unsustainable and fundamental changes need to be made. We have had nearly 40 different reports on Metro from the past decade telling us that. This report took over a year and a half to complete to say what has been said before." -- Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.)
2018-09-07 ~Report... Va 8th: Policy Differences between Oh and Beyer, by Fred Costello-213
2018-09-07 ~Report... Va 11th: Policy Differences between Dove and Connolly, by Fred Costello-212
2018-09-07 ~Report... Va 10th: Policy Differences between Comstock and Wexton, by Fred Costello-211
2018-09-07 ~Report... US Senate: Policy Differences between Stewart and Kaine, by Fred Costello-210
2018-09-07 ~National. Guardian: U.S. spends more on education, still falling behind, by Dominic Rushe
Spending per student exceeds the OECD average but the likes of Finland and South Korea get better results. What are they doing right and what can the US learn from them?
2018-09-07 ~National. TNI: Why Trump's Record Trumps the Media's Spin, by Christian Whiton
The media's objective over post-Labor Day home stretch of the campaign season is to declare Trump unfit to be president. But they don't seem to realize that the media and the commentariat no longer determine public opinion. No matter how many outraged opinion pieces or news articles (but I repeat myself) the New York Times produces, it just doesn't matter anymore.
2018-09-07 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Notice Appropriating Supplemental Funds -- Add'l $2,319,768,586 for FY2019
2018-09-05 ~Environmt WT: Good Intentions Gone Wrong - Congress' Renewable Fuels (RFS) Mistake
In 2005 and again in 2007, the U.S. Congress passed the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), dictating that up to 10% of the fuel you pump into your car be made from corn ethanol. It has turned out to be bad for the environment, increased food costs, and become a sacred cow that politicians feel intimidated to repeal. Here are 21 articles regarding RFS from all over the political spectrum.
2018-09-04 ~National. NAPO: Nat'l Association of Police Chastises Nike for Kaepernick Ad Campaign
"In featuring Mr. Kaepernick in the 'Just Do It' campaign, Nike grossly insults the men and women who really do make sacrifices for the sake of our nation. We are calling on all our member officers, their families and friends to join in boycotting all Nike products." -- Michael McHale, President of NAPO
2018-09-04 ~National. WT: The 'Long War' is not getting shorter, by Clifford D. May
America's jihadist enemies don't appear exhausted, discouraged, or underfunded.
2018-09-04 ~National. WT: Why Google's search results must not be regulated, by Randolph J. May
Mr. Trump should refrain from calling for regulation of Google's search engine. At the same time, Google should acknowledge the hypocrisy involved in calling for [net] neutrality regulation for others with far less dominant market position than its own -- while fighting to protect itself from such neutrality regulation.
2018-08-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Does Diversity Really Unite Us?, by Edward J. Erler
Imprimis lecture by Edward J. Erler, author of The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration.
2018-08-31 ~National. Frontpage Mag: The Victimhood of Millionaire Athletes, by Sylvia Thompson
I must admit I have never in my life purchased a ticket to a sports event. I am not a sports enthusiast. But I am an American black citizen, and I have had it up to the gills with black people who embrace victimhood. I also highly resent my being expected to do the same in order to affirm my "blackness".
2018-08-29 ~Potpourri Guardian: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media, by Sirin Kale
While generation Z has grown up online, a surprising number suddenly are turning their backs on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Isabelle, an 18-year-old student from Bedfordshire, turned against social media when her classmates became zombified.
2018-08-27 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Why Purpose Might Be a Better Goal Than Happiness, by Iza Kavadzija
Happiness is often taken as an important societal goal by national governments. But the term is vague and has different meanings depending on the culture. A more fungible value might be gained from the Japanese word "ikigai", often translated as: "that which makes life worth living." It means having a purpose in life.
2018-08-24 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Peeling Back the Layers of Hospital Dysfunction
There are many layers to the dysfunction of America's (and Virginia's) health care system. I'm not sure how you'd label the system we do have -- there's too much private ownership to call it socialism. But whatever it is, it sure as hell isn't a market-based system.
2018-08-23 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Solar Power and the Gentrification of the Countryside
Virginia has committed itself to an energy future that eventually will rely upon solar energy for some 25% of its electric generating capacity. While a portion of that capacity will be installed on rooftops and other urban/sububurban locations, most of it will take the form of vast solar farms consuming thousands of acres in the countryside.
2018-08-22 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: A Discouraging Slippage in Virginia SOL Scores
Virginia public school students backtracked slightly in their Standards of Learning test scores administered this year compared to the previous year across the board -- in reading, writing, math, science, and history/social studies -- according to data released today by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
2018-08-20 ~National. WND: Memo Reveals Soros-Funded Social-Media Censorship Plan, by Art Moore
The recent wave of censorship of conservative voices on the internet by tech giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Apple mirrors a plan concocted by a coalition of George Soros-funded, progressive groups to take back power in Washington from President Trump's administration.
2018-08-17 ~Potpourri JWR: Fear and Loathing of Jordan Peterson, by Suzanne Fields
Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychologist and "public intellectual" who writes with fresh insight into the nature of the male animal. Depending on who you ask, he's the archetypal victim or brainy hero of these polarized times when an innocent conversation between a man and a woman can explode with awesome effect and considerable collateral damage.
2018-08-16 ~States... Tax Foundation: Cato Institute Ranks the 50 States, by Joseph Bishop-Henchman
Overall, Cato puts New Hampshire, Alaska, Oklahoma, Indiana, and South Dakota as the most free; at the other end of the list are New York, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland. (Virginia ranks 21st overall, 12th on fiscal policy, 23rd on regulatory policy, and 34th on personal freedom.)
2018-08-15 ~National. Regnery: Get Out [of Public Schools] Now, by Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan
Subtitle: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It's Too Late. Almost overnight, America's public schools from kindergarten through high school have become toxic -- morally, intellectually, and politically -- and parents are left with a hard choice.
2018-08-14 ~Virginia. Tax Foundation: Federal Tax Reform Implications for Virginia, by Jared Walczak
The new federal tax law cuts federal taxes for most filers in Virginia, but absent legislative action, many Virginians will experience an unlegislated increase in their state tax liability.
2018-08-08 ~Environmt CFACT: Finally! Some fuel economy common sense, by Paul Driessen
The EPA and Department of Transportation have proposed to freeze fuel economy standards at the existing 2020 target of 37 mpg, which would save car and light truck buyers tens of billions of dollars over the next decade -- and save families hundreds of billions in burial, hospital, disability and related costs. But Greens are apoplectic over a rule change that would have no climate or other benefits.
2018-08-07 ~National. JWR: The Matrix at 20, by Cal Thomas
"The Matrix" nearly 20 years ago warn of a future in which the power and worth of the individual is subsumed into one giant interconnected world run by a tiny elite, who rob individuals of their liberty and ability to think freely. Today, technology is replacing thought and relationships. Google, Facebook, Amazon and other tech giants want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our decision-making.
2018-08-06 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: VDOT plan for I-495, G'town Pike draws pushback, by Brian Trompeter
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to consider a four-month-long pilot program that would close the northbound I-495 entrance ramp off of Georgetown Pike from 1 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. But when VDOT officials discussed the idea at an Aug. 2 community forum at McLean High School, the overwhelming majority of the roughly 280 people who showed up strongly opposed the proposed ramp closure.
2018-08-05 ~FxTaxes.. Vienna: Infrastructure needs drive water and sewer rate increases
Vienna's 131 miles of water and sewer lines are in critical need of replacement, and the town has outlined a replacement strategy -- increasing water rates by 3.5% and sewer rates by 10% starting July 1. Residential customers will see an average increase of $13 on their quarterly bill, while most commercial customers will see a quarterly increase of $100-$150 in fixed and consumption fees.
2018-08-02 ~FxMisc... Restonian: County Board Approves 10M Square Feet of Development in Reston
Earlier this week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved three massive projects that together will bring nearly 10 million square feet of new development and more than 3,700 residential units to Reston in the coming year. FCTA's Rob Whitfield expressed his concern, saying "it was abundantly clear that the Board does not give a flying fig about the adverse consequences of their action."
2018-08-01 ~FxMisc... Vienna Citizens for Responsible Development -- Details on MAC zoning
Vienna's MAC zoning encourages construction of massive buildings along Maple Avenue -- including at Nutley Street and at the Giant Food shopping center. We encourage Vienna residents to examine our detailed sketches of Vienna's present and future plans, and sign our online petition against these proposals.
2018-07-31 ~States... WaPo: States using 'Reinsurance' to reduce Obamacare costs, by Colby Itkowitz
Alaska and several other states have received approval from the Trump administration to create a "reinsurance program" to help stabilize the Obamacare's individual markets. These programs have bipartisan appeal because for Democrats they serve as a way to stabilize Obamacare, and for Republicans they give more power to states and don't increase spending.
2018-07-31 ~National. Fox News: Painting of 'Trump Crossing the Swamp' goes viral, by Brooke Singman
Utah-based artist Jon McNaughton touched off a social media frenzy as he shared his painting, "Crossing the Swamp," Tuesday on Twitter. The painting is a riff on the classic "Washington Crossing the Delaware," only it replaces George Washington's crew with members of the Trump administration.
2018-07-30 ~National. Epoch Times: D'Souza's "Death of a Nation" Shows Dem 'Plantation', by J. Philipp
Dinesh D'Souza, a filmmaker and author of several New York Times bestsellers, has debunked powerful political myths still alive in our culture. In his upcoming film and book, "Death of a Nation," D'Souza delves into another piece of history, showing that the "plantation" system of the early Democratic Party lives on in systems of heavy taxation, government dependence, and identity politics.
2018-07-29 ~Potpourri Daily Caller: Why the West Hates Itself, by Nirmal Dass
Why does a civilization, providing peace, stability, prosperity and unimagined freedom to its inhabitants turn to self-hatred? Why do those who richly enjoy the fruits of the West, also agree to abhor it?
2018-07-25 ~FxPension Fairfax Democrats refuse to address Pension Reform, by Supervisor Pat Herrity
The pension discussion took an unfortunate turn at our committee meeting on June 26, 2018, when the County's public employee unions presented petitions signed by all but one of the Democrat State Delegates and State Senators. The petitions asked that any changes to the pension plan be rejected and resorted to name calling and personal attacks on Chairwoman Bulova and me.
2018-07-24 ~Potpourri WT: The subtle rise of authoritarians, by Frank V. Vernuccio Jr.
How establishment elitists allied with the Left oppose middle-class interests ... The dramatic weakening of the middle class, which consistently occurs in socialist nations (the latest being Venezuela) is seen as an acceptable, indeed, even welcomed, byproduct of the policies of the globalists.
2018-07-23 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Unfunded Pension Liabilities Not Just a Funding Problem
Unfunded state pension liabilities have two main components: assets and liabilities. In Virginia, most attention is focused on the asset side of the equation -- how much money state and local governments have set aside to pay for retiree benefits, and how well VRS is managing the pension portfolio. Less attention is given to the benefit side -- how rapidly are liabilities increasing.
2018-07-21 ~Report... Ratings and Rankings of Fairfax County High Schools, by Fred Costello-209
2018-07-21 ~Report... Zillow (GreatSchools) Ratings of Fairfax County Schools, by Fred Costello-208
2018-07-20 ~National. JWR: #UsToo Strikes Back, Demanding Equal Justice, by Suzanne Fields
A growing number of men are mad about discrimination. In loud baritone, they're saying, "We're not going to take it anymore." They're hiring lawyers and they're organizing what they proudly call "the men's movement." If it's derivative, they should call it #UsToo. It's a further poisoning of the well whence both men and women drink.
2018-07-19 ~National. Epoch Times: FBI Investigating Chinese Espionage in All 50 States, by J. Philipp
FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed on July 18 that the FBI is investigating Chinese economic espionage cases in all 50 U.S. states, and that China is regarded as the "most significant" long-term threat to the United States. He said Chinese espionage "covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between."
2018-07-18 ~National. Epoch Times: A Wave of Violence Is Threatening Trump Supporters, by Celia Farber
Leftists and their mainstream media allies have taken to inciting violence against Trump supporters (Kristallnacht, anyone?), who are conflated with "Nazis" and "fascists" despite being the ones advocating for free speech, a free press, and calling -- as in the fast-growing Walk Away movement, for example -- for peace, civility, and acceptance of political differences.
2018-07-17 ~National. Ars Technica: 3D-printed gun publisher wins lawsuit after 4+ years, by C. Farivar
Defense Distributed, the 3D-printing gun activist group, has secured a settlement with the Department of State that will enable it to legally distribute its CAD files of firearms on its DEFCAD website, putting an end to a years-long lawsuit. The group says it will resume publication on August 1, 2018, more than four years after its files were first removed.
2018-07-12 ~National. AFP: Trash piles up in US as China closes door to recycling, by Saul Loeb
China has for years been the the world's recycling bin. But since January, China has closed its borders to most paper and plastic waste in line with a new environmental policy. And few American industries possess the ability to treat the waste. So it will become increasingly harder for U.S. municipalities to avoid merely sending recyclables to the landfill as trash.
2018-07-11 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Chaos and Anarchy - Tools of Communist Subversion, by Joshua Philipp
There are groups in the United States (eg: Antifa) and other parts of the world that are actively trying to incite chaos, whether through the advocacy of anarchy or through subversive movements meant to destabilize societies. Communist subversion holds that society must first be destabilized and brought to a state of crisis before it can be "normalized" under the new system.
2018-07-09 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: State Employees Not Funding Own Retirement, by Steve Haner
State and local employees, like many of their peers in the private sector, are declining in droves to contribute to their own retirement plans, despite the availability of matching funds, a.k.a. free money which compounds for decades.
2018-07-09 ~National. Epoch Times: What Democratic Socialists Don't Get, by Valentin Schmid
Socialism appeals to the dark side of human nature, robs it of agency and responsibility, and always leads to hunger, misery, and death. It is up to the responsible citizen to make sure this doesn't happen in the United States by voting to prevent people like Ocasio-Cortez or Sanders from coming to power.
2018-07-08 ~Health... WT: 'Carbohydrates are killing us', by Dr. Eric Thorn, cardiologist
For decades, doctors and nutritionist have been telling us to avoid saturated fats in meats and dairy products, which were thought to clog our arteries. A growing body of research suggests this advice was wrong. For most people, it's carbohydrates, not fats, that are the true cause of heart disease. Meanwhile, mainstream medicine continues with the same old advice.
2018-07-07 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Prince William to encourage van-pooling on I-66, by Luz Lazo
By the time heavy construction begins on the $2.3 billion widening of Interstate 66 outside the Capital Beltway next year, commuters in western Prince William County will be able to sign up and pay for van-pool services through a smartphone app. Others will be able to tap their phones to summon a ride to a commuter bus lot.
2018-07-04 ~Environmt WT: South Africans claim leadership in 'clean coal' drive, by Geoff Hill
Experiments at Johannesburg's leading university suggest that South Africa is taking the lead in achieving the dream of clean coal rather than just capturing the smoke and emissions.
2018-06-xx ~Bulletin. Excessive Fairfax County and School Pensions
2018-06-28 ~National. Epoch Times: "#WalkAway" Videos Highlight Democrats Leaving Party, by Celia Farber
#WalkAway videos have gone viral in late June 2018. A sample: "Once upon a time, I was a liberal. Well, to be honest, less than a year ago, I was still a liberal. I reject a system which allows an ambitious, misinformed and dogmatic mob to suppress free speech, create false narratives, and apathetically steamroll over the truth. I reject hate."
2018-06-28 ~Environmt JWR: Thirty years of 'global warming' panic, by Cal Thomas
On the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the "global warming" panic, it's time to acknowledge that the predicted rapid warming isn't happening. Climate researchers and policymakers should adopt the more modest forecasts that are consistent with observed temperatures. But that isn't about to happen, because, as with immigration reform, most politicians prefer the issue to the solution.
2018-06-27 ~National. AP: Supreme Court deals big setback to government labor unions, by Mark Sherman
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers can't be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining, dealing a serious financial blow to organized labor -- scrapped a 41-year-old decision. (Note that FDR thought that government employees should not be allowed to unionize.)
2018-06-25 ~National. WT: Supreme Court upholds Texas voting map as legal, by Alex Swoyer
The Supreme Court on Monday largely upheld Texas' congressional map and most of its state House district map, rejecting claims that they were intentional and illegal racial [vs legal partisan] gerrymanders. This follows the Wisconsin decision allowing partisan gerrymandering, and may set the pattern for a future reversal of the 4th Circuit's Virginia decision.
2018-06-22 ~Potpourri Newsweek: Why Millennials are Falling Behind, by Ben Shapiro
According to a British study, millennials lack appropriate skills and qualifications, personal connections, financial and practical support, and emotional support. This is a social and cultural problem. Lack of family and support structures have led to the destruction of the social fabric necessary to undergirding a stronger civil society. Lack of cultural focus on meritocracy and effort have led to a decline in performance, and thus in health.
2018-06-22 ~Environmt IER: Failed Prognostications of Climate Alarm, by Rob Bradley
It has been 30 years since the alarm bell was sounded for manmade global warming caused by modern industrial society. And predictions made on that day -- and ever since -- continue to be falsified in the real world.
2018-06-19 ~National. Epoch Times: High Regulation to Blame for Huge Corporations, by Jeffrey Tucker
The compliance costs of regulations, taxation, licensing, issues of intellectual property, restrictions on trade, all covering hundreds of thousands of pages, and requiring the service of an army of attorneys, causes a bias in favor of big over small. This is true in all industries.
2018-06-17 ~Potpourri WT: The despair of Anthony Bourdain, by Everett Piper
Lewis, Chesterton, and Colson all warned of this brave, new world where material comforts are all that matter; a world where claims of moral truth are considered suspect; a world where we should "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die". Little is left for us at the end of days but to join with Anthony Bourdain and others and conclude, "suicide is painless".
2018-06-17 ~Potpourri WT: The discontent of civilization, by Peter Morici
Developed societies are having too few babies for long-term survival. Women need to again find satisfaction in having more that two children, without expecting them all to go to Harvard. The proposition that three children is the ideal is social dynamite no politician wants to touch, but in the end civilization needs more babies to survive.
2018-06-15 ~FxSchools WTOP: FCPS passes proposals to modify sex ed, dress codes, by John Domen
The Fairfax County School Board passed a proposal to change the school district's dress code to gender-neutral language and adopt a more inclusive sex education curriculum.
2018-06-15 ~FxSchools Stream.org: FCPS Votes to Tell Boys They Might be Girls, by Austin & Cathy Ruse
The ten board members, whose names are listed below and who should go down in infamy, voted for children to be taught that they aren't really male or female, that biological sex is meaningless, that they can transition to a different sex than the sex "assigned" to them a birth. And they will be taught this without their parents' permission.
2018-06-14 ~States... WaPo: Instant-runoff would make voting more democratic -- Editorial
States and localities should consider a reform that empowers the majority by allowing voters to rank their choices. Ranked-choice voting, also known as instant-runoff voting, allows voters to select candidates in order of preference and requires candidates to get a majority, not a plurality, to win. Candidates finishing last are eliminated by rounds and votes redistributed until a winner emerges with a majority of the vote. (Georgia and Maine currently have this in place.)
2018-06-14 ~National. Daily Torch: Mass media consolidation ==> one-party rule?, by Robert Romano
A vibrant and healthy democracy depends on the free marketplace of ideas -- viewpoint diversity, access to alternative views. But with today's environment increasingly moving towards mass media consolidation, that process could become compromised or disrupted in a bid to control media. And with media consolidation, there is also a growing call for political consolidation in Washington, D.C. -- and even one-party rule.
2018-06-13 ~Health... EMR and HIPAA: The Widening Gap in Dementia Care, by Colin Hung
According to Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI), someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds. An estimated 50 million people had dementia in 2017. That number is expected to grow to 75 million people by 2030.
2018-06-12 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Reston has a planning problem, by Walter Alcorn
We have a planning impasse in Reston. Residents are concerned about unchecked growth overwhelming roads, and county officials and staff want to protect the integrity of the planning process that produced a new Reston Plan in 2015. But the real problem is that our "new" plan is not fully baked.
2018-06-11 ~Environmt CFACT: Freeze, reduce or eliminate CAFÉ fuel standards, by Paul Driessen
The federal government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard, better known by its acronym CAFÉ, has morphed from "outlived its usefulness" to "counterproductive". President Obama's war on energy was a wrong-headed mistake. It's time to make the CAFÉ fuel standards broader and more realistic or, better yet, end them all together.
2018-06-10 ~National. WT: Deconstructing young minds, by Robert Knight
Animus toward country and free market capitalism begins in elementary school.
2018-06-09 ~handout.. Fairfax Co and Public School budget excesses over the years, by Arthur Purves
Stand up for transparency in government. Support the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance.
2018-06-08 ~National. Video: Trump's America ... and It's Great Comeback, by Newt Gingrich (1hr,52min)
On CSPAN's BookTV, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich offers his thoughts on the impact that the Trump administration policies are having on America and around the world.
2018-06-07 ~Environmt CFACT: Banning plastic packaging hurts more than it helps, by Jason Hopkins
Bans on plastic tend to tend to do more harm to the environment than the so-called evils they intend to stop. The costs and energy needed to replace convenient plastic products outweigh any benefits.
2018-06-06 ~FxPension Connection: Potential for Progress on Pension Reform, by Supervisor Pat Herrity
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors finally appears poised to make additional changes to the county's unsustainable pension plan. After delaying action for the last three years, a number of options have been put on the table for the board to consider at its June 26 Personnel Committee meeting. (Read also: Fx Co's Pension Conundrum), by Pat Herrity
2018-06-05 ~National. WT: Can we force civility? -- Letter by Lawrence Andrade
The Supreme Court should be most concerned about encouraging civility. Law is a form of force, and using it to get one's way over the convictions of other citizens creates hostility and resentment. If the court fails to recognize that fact, it will only undermine the respect it deserves.
2018-06-05 ~National. WT: Supremes' half-baked religious ruling -- Editorial
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Monday for a baker who refused to custom-bake a cake for a same-sex wedding out of sincere religious belief. But on the central issue of religious liberty, the court delivered a bowl of mush. A full-throated defense of religious liberty must await two or three deaths or retirements and conservative replacements.
2018-06-05 ~FxSchools Changes Needed to the FLE Program, by Laura Miller, Vienna parent
Dear Fairfax County School Board: As I have been reviewing the FLECAC Recommendations, I have noticed a strong bias in favor of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) ideology and strong encouragement for pre-marital and unhealthy sexual activity that is an affront to most of your population.
2018-06-02 ~World.... LifeZette: Tommy Robinson's Arrest => UK's National Suicide, by Brigitte Gabriel
When anti-Islamist Tommy Robinson was arrested recently in Britain, it was the direct result of cultural suicide and a rejection of western Judeo-Christian values -- in place of political correctness and Islamic appeasement.
2018-06-02 ~National. NYT: Obama - Just Too Good for Us, by Maureen Dowd
Barack Obama, quoted after Donald Trump was elected: "What if we were wrong? What if we were wrong in being so right? What if we were too good for these people? Maybe we pushed too far. Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe." We just weren't ready for his amazing awesomeness.
2018-05-31 ~Environmt CFACT: Boneta settles $2 million lawsuit against Green realtors, by Bonner Cohen
After a decade of litigation involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees, Virginia farmer Martha Boneta has reached a settlement in her $2 million lawsuit against a husband-and-wife team of realtors whom she accused of colluding with an environmental group to drive her off her land.
2018-05-29 ~Virginia. WTOP: Va. Senate set to back budget with Medicaid expansion, by Max Smith
The Virginia Senate is set to pass a $115 billion, two-year budget Wednesday that includes Medicaid expansion, but only after some significant drama Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Finance Committee.
2018-05-21 ~National. Chattanoogan: The USA is in a new Civil War, by Dr. Jack Minzey, Deceased
How do civil wars happen? Two or more sides disagree on who runs the country. And they can't settle the question through elections because they don't even agree that elections are how you decide who's in charge. That's the basic issue here. Who decides who runs the country? When you stop accepting election results, you have a countdown to a civil war.
2018-05-18 ~National. Epoch Times: The New Housing Bubble, by Dan Oliver
Banks look fine on the surface, but the system is as fragile as ever. The difference from the 2008 housing crash is that the reckless institutions are not banks but non-bank lenders, such as Movement Mortgage, Blackstone, Quicken, and many others. But the banks are, in fact, still funding mortgages, just surreptitiously.
2018-05-18 ~Environmt CFACT: "Evil" GE foods and "eco-friendly" organics, by Paul Driessen
Across the globe, genetically engineered (GE) crops face opposition from environmental and organic food activists, who claim the crops harm the environment and endanger human health. How factual are their claims? The evidence strongly supports GE over organic crops.
2018-05-16 ~FxSchools FCPS: Sex Ed Curriculum Recommendations to the School Board, by FLECAC
The review of FCPS's Family Life Education (sex ed) by the Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC) is complete. Now parents and the public can review the recommendations and comment (with subject line "FLECAC report"). Check out the Dissenting Opinions from members of the committee in Appendix B (page 16).
2018-05-16 ~Environmt IBD: We just had two years of record-breaking global cooling!
Inconvenient Science: NASA data show that global temperatures dropped sharply over the past two years. Not that you'd know it, since that wasn't deemed news. Does that make NASA a global warming denier? -- Source: Real Clear Markets
2018-05-15 ~World.... Epoch Times: The European Project and Karl Marx, by Miriam Lexmann
Europeans recently commemorated the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx, the creator of modern communism, unveiling a gigantic statue of him at his birthplace in Germany, sponsored by the Chinese regime. What does it mean, or portend, when the European Commission President honors an architect of collectivist tyranny and oppression at a time when many democracies are struggling?
2018-05-14 ~Potpourri Medium.com: Why Blockchain is Hard, by Jimmy Song
The hype around blockchain is massive. To hear the blockchain hype train tell it, blockchain will now: 1) Solve income inequality, 2) Make all data secure forever, 3) Make everything much more efficient and trustless, 4) Save dying babies. What the heck is a blockchain, anyway? And can it really do all these things? Can blockchain bring something amazing to industries as diverse as health care, finance, supply chain management and music rights?
2018-05-13 ~National. The Hill: Mass transit is collapsing everywhere, by Randal O'Toole
The fundamental problem is that big-box transit -- moving people in 60-passenger buses, 450-passenger light-rail trains or 1,500-passenger heavy-rail or commuter-rail trains -- no longer works in American cities. Modern urban areas have far more jobs scattered across the suburbs than concentrated in downtowns.
2018-05-12 ~FxSchools FCRC: Parents Must Reassert Control Over Public Education, by Tim Hannigan
The Fairfax County School Board is dragging us into their Brave New World -- with $3B of your money at their disposal. But do parents have the primary role in their child's education or is it a governing School Board of 12 members detached and removed from all known objective truth and reality? The answer, of course, is the parents.
2018-05-12 ~FxSchools FCRC: FCPS SexEd Recommendations: The Dissenting Opinion, by Murphy Zanotti
The FCPS Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC) has been strongly in favor of the Far Left's view of what should be taught in Sex Ed. The FLECAC Board has silenced opposing viewpoints, underrepresented parents, omitted key medical facts, ...
2018-05-08 ~Environmt The Hill: Virginia regulators imperil energy infrastructure, by Bonner Cohen
The shenanigans [by environmental regulators] in Virginia will be closely watched elsewhere in the country, where opponents of pipelines or other energy projects will be tempted to copy-cat the arbitrary moves of the Virginia State Water Board.
2018-05-07 ~FxTrans.. Governing: Why We Need to Stop Subsidizing Public Transit, by Randal O'Toole
The great experiment of socializing public transit has failed. Instead of trying to rescue transit, we should stop subsidizing it, saving taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year. It's obsolete and costs taxpayers billions, yet its ridership and productivity continue to decline. There are better ways to improve urban transportation.
2018-05-06 ~National. WT: Recent Boy Scout leadership decisions disappoint moms, by Rebecca Hagelin
The Boy Scouts of America's recent decision to drive the final nail in its own coffin caused many moms a lot of heartache just in time for Mother's Day. The nation's premier organization for boys is now dead, and the genderless carcass left behind will soon vanish into the ever-expanding quagmire of sameness.
2018-05-04 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Another "Unsustainable" Tax Increase, by Fx Co Supervisor Pat Herrity
On May 1, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 8 to 2 for a 2.25 cent increase in the tax rate on homeowners (2 cent real property and .25 cent increase in storm water tax). Together with the rise in assessments, taxes on the average homeowner will go up over 4.5% this year and 26% over the last five years.
2018-05-02 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: NoVa Metro 2018-Q1 ridership down 1.8% from 2017-Q1, by Max Smith
Metro ridership is down 1.8% in Northern Virginia, even compared with a period a year ago that had major track work disruptions, when part of the Blue Line was shut down for two weeks and then the Blue and Yellow lines were single-tracking for nearly a month.
2018-05-01 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Sharon Bulova's Missing Numbers -- letter by FCTA's Arthur Purves
County Chairman Sharon Bulova's April 25 opinion piece, "Budget Hits All the Right Notes", about the proposed FY2019 real estate tax hike, is misleading. Among other things, she omits the stormwater rate, which bumps the $1.15 proposed real estate tax rate to $1.1825.
2018-04-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Negative Impact of the #MeToo Movement, by Heather MacDonald
Imprimis lecture by Heather MacDonald, Manhattan Institute
2018-04-26 ~National. JWR: Are we still a Nation of Laws?, by Victor Davis Hanson
The country is about to witness an investigatory train wreck. In one direction, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation train is trying to bring down President Donald Trump's. The oncoming train is slower but also larger, mostly focused on improper or illegal FBI and DOJ behavior during the 2016 election. The two are about to collide.
2018-04-25 ~FxTrans.. NBC4: Major Concrete Issues Found in $2.7B Silver Line Extension, by Adam Tuss
Significant concrete issues have been found in potentially thousands of locations along the second phase of the $2.7 billion Silver Line Metro extension in Northern Virginia, raising serious questions about the durability of concrete and quality control in the largest transportation project in the region.
2018-04-25 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Response to Fairfax Co FY2019 Budget Markup, by Arthur Purves
In her 4/24/18 Bulova Byline, County Chairman Sharon Bulova's statements on the proposed FY2019 real estate tax increase are misleading. FCTA rejects taxation by misrepresentation.
2018-04-22 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Reston's "planned community" under attack by Fx leaders, by Lori Aratani
Residents in one of the nation's first planned communities -- designed as a place where people could live, work and play -- are at odds over new development some fear could result in more growth than the town can support and ruin its character. (Read also Reston 20/20 article.)
2018-04-21 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Blockchain, Solution in Search of a Problem?, by Christopher Whalen
Blockchain technology has been described as being as transformative as the internet itself, but so far real progress is lacking and the headwinds are getting stiffer. Blockchain seems to violate the Three Laws of Silicon Valley -- cheaper, better, faster -- for the adoption of a new technology.
2018-04-21 ~National. Epoch Times: Why China Has Already Lost the Trade War, by Daniel Lacalle
China needs the U.S. surplus more than the United States needs China's trade and finances. And that is why the trade war will not happen -- because China has already lost. Sure, a full-blown trade war would hurt the U.S., but China infinitely more, and that is why a full-blown trade war is unlikely, despite the rhetoric.
2018-04-21 ~FxSchools Free Conference: "Kids, Sex, and the Public Schools - Healthy or Hurtful?"
Program Description: A consortium of local groups are hosting a free conference from 8am to noon on Saturday April 21, 2018 to raise awareness of the many controversial issues that currently pervade the Fairfax County Public Schools regarding sex, safety, health, and well-being of children.
2018-04-20 ~National. TheCatholicThing.org: How Ultimate Freedom Could Lead to Tyranny, by David Carlin
Let's apply Euclid's method of deductive reasoning to the American cultural belief system often called secular humanism. We'll start with the axiom of personal freedom and see what we end up with.
2018-04-20 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Robbing highways for Metro funding is a bad idea, by Tracy C. Miller, GMU
About two-thirds of Virginia's new funding commitment comes at the expense of improvements to roads and highways in Northern Virginia. But fewer than 35% of jobs in the D.C. area are accessible to residents by transit in 90 minutes or less, while area residents can reach almost all jobs by auto in less than an hour. And sparse Silver Line usage makes Metro's deficits even worse.
2018-04-18 ~World.... Epoch Times: China Uses Industrial Warfare to Fight w/o Fighting, by Amar Manzoor
Chinese companies not only did this to the United States, but also launched similar programs of theft, copying, and industrial attack in countries throughout the world. This resulted in a powerhouse economy in China that played by its own rules and could force its competitors to follow a different set of rules.
2018-04-18 ~World.... Breitbart: Iran, Hezbollah Radicalizing in Latin American, by Edwin Mora
Iran has "converted and radicalized thousands of Latin Americans" throughout the years by dispatching imams to the region and establishing mosques and cultural centers" that Hezbollah used as recruiting tools, an expert on the Islamic Republic indicated while testifying before a House panel.
2018-04-18 ~National. Daily Caller: Stop The Left's War On America, by Brigett Gabriel, ACT for America
Those of us who oppose the radical left's agenda too often respond by attacking singular issues, without regard for the greater battle being waged. If there's one consistent beat to which the radical left marches, it is the demonization of Western civilization.
2018-04-16 ~National. WND: Conservative Movement Faces Existential Threat from Tech, by Bob Unruh
A new study from the Media Research Center says conservatives, and their ideas, right now are facing an existential threat from tech companies founded and run by liberals who have decided that only their voice should be heard on disputed issues.
2018-04-13 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Leveraging Offshore Gas Drilling to Build Offshore Wind
First, take oil drilling off the table -- only drill for natural gas. Second, Virginia should get the first-mover advantage of establishing an East Coast offshore drilling industry. Third, an offshore drilling industry was the precursor in Europe to developing an offshore wind industry, and it could be the precursor in Virginia, too.
2018-04-13 ~States... Bacon's Rebellion: State Pension Problems Still Getting Worse
State pensions are in bad shape, and they're getting worse. Virginia is no exception to the broader trend. If there's any consolation, several other states are likely to hit the wall before we are. A pension crisis looks almost unavoidable for Kentucky, New Jersey, and Illinois -- and by "crisis", I mean a default on its pension obligations.
2018-04-12 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Presentation to BOS on Budget and Tax Increases, by Chuck & Linda McAndrew
1) Real estate taxes are projected to increase 5% this year, three times the rate of inflation. 2) The County's Supplementary Retirement System (ERFC) is unique to the area and should be phased out. 3) The DROP program sanctions double-dipping, and should be DROPped. 4) And the County's UNFUNDED PENSION LIABILITY of $5.6 BILLION is seemingly ignored by the County Board.
2018-04-11 ~National. WT: SexEd Sit-Out to protest 'graphic, gender-bending' -- April 23 (Earthy Day??)
Parents are pulling their children out of public schools for a day to protest sex education that they say has become graphic, hedonistic and ideological under the influence of pro-choice and gay rights groups. The April 23 protest is a grass-roots effort spearheaded by mothers who said they are disturbed by the "pornographic" content that has made its way into the classroom.
2018-04-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: "Fairfax County's War Against the People", by Thomas Cranmer
No political correctness here! At the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors FY2019 Budget Hearing, FCTA's Tom Cranmer lays out what ails Fairfax County in the areas of taxes, crime, school problems, traffic congestion, tolls, Metro, pensions, DROP, and derogatory statements by the new County Executive.
2018-04-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Testimony at BOS FY2019 Budget Hearing, by Arthur Purves
For nearly 20 years this board has been raising real estate taxes two or three times faster than household income. Coincidentally, IRS data indicates Fairfax County has seen a net out-migration of $10 billion in wealth. Professional jobs are still below the 2012 level, while lower-salary jobs are being added are in education, health services, financial activities, and hospitality. ...
2018-04-10 ~National. NR: No, School Discipline Isn't Racist, by Gail Heriot
The New York Times and Washington Post both misinterpreted a recent GAO study analyzing racial bias in school discipline. It is a fact that African-American students, on average, misbehave more than their white counterparts. Teachers (including African-American teachers) aren't making this up, and it isn't doing African-American students any favors to suggest otherwise.
2018-04-10 ~FxMisc... Connection: Fx Co Public Safety meeting focuses on ICE ... w/o ICE, by Ken Moore
"I think we need to continue cooperating with ICE to the fullest extent possible. This is about protecting our immigrant community. It's human trafficking, it's drugs, it's murders, it's crime and we ought to be doing everything we can to get them off the street. I'm very disappointed that we invited [ICE] here, we have them on the agenda, and they're not able to speak." -- Fx Co Supervisor Pat Herrity, speaking for the minority
2018-04-09 ~FxTaxes.. MCA: Resolution on the Fairfax Co and FCPS Advertised FY2019 Budget Plan
Whereas, the FY2019 Advertised Budget of $4.3 billion is 4.7% larger that the FY2018 Adopted Budget, Therefore be it resolved, that the McLean Citizens Association urges the County to implement meaningful cost savings in FY2019 and thereby increase the property tax rate by less than the advertised 2.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.
2018-04-08 ~Environmt CFACT: Swamp's lynch mob out to get EPA's Scott Pruitt, by Bonner Cohen
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is under attack. For years EPA has been the poster child for bureaucratic overreach. Reform is underway and those who created the problem don't like it one bit.
2018-04-05 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Unseen War on Your Mind, by Joshua Philipp
Are our thoughts really our own? What concepts shape them? Where do these concepts come from? Today, influencing the human psyche has been broken down into a science, and many groups -- including governments, businesses, special interest groups, and subversive movements -- are using carefully crafted strategies designed to alter perceptions in order to further their goals. Through their collective impact, an unseen war is being waged on the mind of each person. To see through this narrative illusion, it's imperative to understand the tools in play.
2018-04-05 ~National. The Federalist: John Bolton's Appointment Rattles The Muslim Brotherhood
The Trump administration ought not to concede one inch to those who wish to sideline the personnel and stifle the policies that would make its counterjihadist agenda a reality. This specious and slanderous smear campaign reflects all the better on the appointment of Bolton as NSA.
2018-04-03 ~World.... Guardian: Swedes resist being 100% cash-free, by David Crouch
It is hard to argue that you cannot trust the government when the government isn't really all that bad. This is the problem facing the small but growing number of Swedes anxious about their country's rush to embrace a cash-free society. ... "When you have a fully digital system you have no weapon to defend yourself if someone turns it off."
2018-04-03 ~National. The Week: Why Trump is more popular than ever, by Matthew Walther
The work of MSNBC and The New York Times and PolitiFact is complete. Millions of Americans do not know the difference between what is true and what is false and have decided that they do not much care either. Pretending that anything the president says or does is bad because he is the one saying or doing isn't just bad journalism. You might as well be wearing a MAGA hat and whooping about the Wall.
2018-04-03 ~FxTaxes.. Loudoun Now: Loudoun Tax Rate Cut 4 Cents, Schools $14.9M ... vs Fairfax !!!
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $3.64 billion fiscal year 2019 budget that includes a 4-cent real estate tax rate cut. The county's new real estate tax rate of $1.085 per $100 of assessed real estate value is the lowest since 2008, the last time the tax rate was below a dollar.
2018-04-03 ~FxPension FxCo: Retirement Workgroup Final Items for Consideration
General principles: 1) Reaffirm commitment to defined benefit plan; 2) New plan will apply to employees hired January 1, 2019 and beyond; 3) New plan must be sustainable over the long-run. (No fundamental changes to the Fairfax County retirement system; just some tweaks to numbers here and there.)
2018-03-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q&A with James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas and author of American Pravda: My Fight for Truth in the Era of Fake News, and whose undercover reporting has shown the light of truth on leftist organizations' slimy secrets.
2018-03-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax County Wants More of Your Money
2018-03-30 ~National. Bull Elephant: Student Pawns in a Dangerous Game of Chess, by C.W. Trauernicht
Are Fairfax County students pawns in a Second Amendment game of chess? Are their parents the knights? Teachers the bishops? Schools the castles? Who are the King (Michael Bloomberg) and Queen (Valerie Jarrett)?
2018-03-27 ~National. Daily Caller: Left turns Tech Giants into their Speech Police, by Peter Hasson
The Left has successfully deputized some of the world's largest corporations into policing the speech of their political opponents. Liberals have made its corporations' responsibility to enforce content limits on public speech by leveraging their power into advertisers and as platforms.
2018-03-27 ~Health... Next Avenue: Americans Skipping Health Care due to Cost, by Richard Eisenberg
Between a third and a half of people age 45 to 59 and a quarter of those 60+ went without needed health care in the last year due to its cost, combined with a lack of price transparency and a lack of health care competition. In the U.S., consumers aren't offered pricing options, which in turn drives the cost of health care up.
2018-03-26 ~Environmt Breitbart: 40 New Scientific Papers - No Global Warming!, by James Delingpole
Conclusion: 20th century warming is perfectly normal in a long-term historical context. It was no warmer -- indeed, is slightly cooler -- than either the Roman Warm Period or the Medieval Warming Period. And these warming periods were global, not local, as alarmists like to claim to support their scaremongering thesis.
2018-03-25 ~National. WT: How today's identity politics is fueled by hypocrisy, by Everett Piper
M. Scott Peck warned of what he called, "the people of the lie" -- those who deceive themselves so frequently and persistently that they actually start to believe their own fabrications and fantasies. Graham Walker talked of the pathology of the intellect where the "smarter" we think we are the more prone we become to our own intellectual deception and moral compromise.
2018-03-25 ~National. WT: Republican spending Democrats are proud of -- Editorial
The Democrats are proud of their small string of triumphs in off-season congressional races, but there's growing evidence that the Democratic leadership may not need to elect more Democrats. The Republicans will enact their agenda for them. The Republican spending bill breaks all constraints, and is more irresponsible than anything Nancy Pelosi and her troops could have concocted.
2018-03-21 ~World.... WT: EDITORIAL: The reign of the elites is crumbling in Europe, too -- Editorial
The natives are restless everywhere, and they're frightening the elites. The political parties of the social democrats, and even the Socialists, are crumbling all across Europe. A new version of class war is shaping a new kind of politics, and the implications are worldwide.
2018-03-21 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Fairfax Co pushes for changes to Va. Metro funding deal, by Max Smith
Fairfax County supervisors slammed Virginia's landmark Metro funding agreement Tuesday, as they prepared to join other Northern Virginia groups to plead with the governor to avoid taking as much of the $154 million per year out of existing regional transportation projects.
2018-03-21 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Falling transit ridership poses an 'emergency' for cities, by Faiz Siddiqui
Transit ridership fell in 31 of 35 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. last year, including each of the seven cities that serve the majority of riders, with losses largely stemming from buses, but punctuated by reliability issues on systems like Metro, according to an annual overview of public transit usage.
2018-03-20 ~World.... Daily Caller: 'Offensive Jokes' now a Criminal Offense in UK -- Editorial
On Tuesday, Scottish YouTuber Mark Meechan -- better known as "Count Dankula" -- was found guilty of the hate crime of being "Grossly Offensive" for teaching a pug how to imitate a Roman salute. Whether you find the joke offensive or not, it's hard to argue how a sieg-heiling pug is a threat to anyone. This dog is not going to create a Woofen-SS division just because he can raise up his paw in return for a treat.
2018-03-20 ~FxTrans.. Reason: Outsourcing Metro's Silver Line Phase 2 Could Improve Operations
The potential to improve operations through a public-private partnership is a positive move, considering the poor track record of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
2018-03-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Real Estate Tax Increase, 4.85%... compared to Arlington's 1.3%
Public posting, page A5 in the Washington Times. Proposed rate of $1.155 (currentlyly $1.130) per $100 of assessed value (would need to be $1.1016 per $100 to offset average 2.58% assessment increase). So an effective tax increase of 4.85 percent.
2018-03-07 ~National. Daily Caller: 'American Men Are In Crisis', by Tucker Carlson
"Something ominous is happening to men in America. Everyone who pays attention knows that. What's odd is how rarely you hear it publicly acknowledged." (Watch the video, including Jordan Peterson - 13:56)
2018-03-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting in Chantilly, by Charles McAndrew
1) The proposed budget for ERFC is $94.6 million for FY 2019. (ERFC should be phased out.) 2) The DROP program sanctions double-dipping, and should be DROPped. 3) The county's UNFUNDED PENSION LIABILITY including the FCPS, the ERFC, and VRS is $5.6 BILLION!! (Mortifying!)
2018-03-05 ~Report... Analysis of the FY2019 Fairfax School and County Budgets, by Fred Costello-207
2018-03-01 ~States... Mercatus.org: The States by Fiscal Condition, by Norcross & Gonzalez
The financial health of each state can be analyzed through the states' own audited financial reports. By looking at states' basic financial statistics on revenues, expenditures, cash, assets, lia bilities, and debt, states may be ranked according to how easily they will be able to cover short-term and long-term bills, including pensions.
2018-03-01 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax County budget plan headed in wrong direction -- Editorial
Executive Bryan Hill's budget presentation last week can be boiled down to: Tough choices await us ... but we're not going to address them just yet. Hill proposed a real estate tax rate increase of 2.5 cents to $1.155 per $100 assessed value, even though assessment increases from 2017 to 2018 should have covered the government's needs without touching the tax rate.
2018-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Politicization of the FBI, by Joseph E. diGenova
Imprimis lecture by Joseph E. diGenova, Former U.S. Attorney
2018-02-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Arlington Real Estate Tax Increase, 1.3%... compared to Fairfax Co's 4.85%
Public posting, page A4 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 1.3 percent for residential and no increase for non-residential real estate. (Fairfax County residents should be so lucky in 2018!)
2018-02-26 ~National. WT: 100,000+ illegals are registered to vote in Pennsylvania, by Stephen Dinan
More than 100,000 non-U.S. citizens are registered voters in Pennsylvania, according to testimony contained in a lawsuit demanding that the state come clean about its non-citizen voting problem. The Public Interest Legal Foundation argued that non-citizens have been voting in Pennsylvania for decades, and that problem has been evident in other states, including New Jersey and Virginia.
2018-02-26 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: How about tolling I-66 drivers going both directions?, by Luz Lazo
Tolls as high as $47.25 one way on the new I-66 Express Lanes have outraged outside-the-beltway commuters and captured national headlines in recent weeks. Now, some Virginia lawmakers say tolling only those commuters traveling in the peak-direction lanes isn't fair, so they want tolling on both sides of the road.
2018-02-24 ~National. Canada Free Press: Defining Deviancy Down, by Chuck Lehmann
Since the 1960s, the decline in ethical, moral behavior has steadily declined up the present day where we have behavior that is not only crude in speech, but is dangerous in actions against our fellow man.
2018-02-24 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting in Vienna, by Charles McAndrew
In FY2019, General Fund Revenues will increase 4.69% over FY2018, and General Fund Disbursements will increase 4.42% over FY2018. And with real estate assessments rising an average of 3%, it appears hese rates are more than DOUBLE the inflation rate. The recommended Real Estate Tax rate will be $1.155 per $100 of assessed value -- an increase of 2.5 cents.
2018-02-22 ~National. CPAC: NRA's Wayne LaPierre discusses our Institutional Corruption, (video 37:36)
The Left is responsible for the degeneration of our culture and the corruption of our institutions, and thus they own the recent Parkland tragedy. The NRA offers a common sense solution to prevent future school shootings -- harden our schools -- and the NRA will be there to help.
2018-02-20 ~Environmt Breitbart: NOAA caught adjusting Big Freeze out of existence, by James Delingpole
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has yet again been caught exaggerating 'global warming' by fiddling with the raw temperature data. This time, that data concerns the recent record-breaking cold across the northeastern U.S. which NOAA is trying to erase from history.
2018-02-19 ~State-TX. Daily Caller: Texas Sheriff Allows Teachers To Carry Firearms, by Benny Johnson
Sign outside the Argyle independent school district: "ATTENTION: Please be aware that the staff at Argyle ISD are armed and may use whatever force is necessary to protect our students." (MSNBC was horrified!)
2018-02-17 ~State-ID. Examiner: Blowing off Obamacare -- Idaho shows how -- Opinion
Idaho's Republican governor, Butch Otter, signed an executive order last year paving the way for non-Obamacare-compliant health insurance plans to be sold in his state, and Lt. Gov. Brad Little has since cobbled together what is sure to be the nation's most controversial healthcare initiative. Their principal intention is to give the people of their state a way of avoiding Obamacare's monstrous increases in insurance premiums. They want to put affordable insurance plans on the market again.
2018-02-13 ~FxSchools The Stream: Sex Ed and Stalinism at the Fx Co School Board, by Austin Ruse
Fairfax leftists put transgender ideology into schools a full year before Barack Obama's Department of Education mandated it for the rest of the schools in the country. Last year the Trump administration cancelled the mandate, though Fairfax County is clinging onto it, with over 80 hours of sex-education for these poor kids -- some of it is straight-up pornography.
2018-02-12 ~National. Daily Caller: Scam - Why College In The U.S. Is So Expensive, by Andrew Kerr
The Daily Caller News Foundation analyzed the nation's 20 most expensive and the 20 most affordable public universities. The more expensive universities spent $11,346 more on instruction per student than the affordable universities. Public universities often disguise research as an instructional expense.
2018-02-11 ~National. WT: George Soros vs America -- follow the money, by Rebecca Hagelin
Mr. Soros' money has been traced to the #Resist movement, including funding to #disrupt the presidential inauguration. But with every Soros-sponsored, ranting feminist march and radical protest designed to incite racial divides, Americans are realizing that leftists are so intent on gaining power that they are even willing to tear our nation apart and pit neighbor against neighbor.
2018-02-08 ~Virginia. WTOP: Va. House GOP unveils their Metro funding plan, by Max Smith
The new version of a bill sponsored by Del. Tim Hugo, chairman of the Republican Caucus, was unanimously approved by the House Transportation Committee and will serve as a counter in negotiations with the state Senate over a final Metro funding bill. It would provide Metro $105 million a year, less than the roughly $150 million requested, and would only do so if Metro limits operating spending increases to 2 percent per year.
2018-02-08 ~FxSchools FCPS: FLE Curriculum Advisory Committee Meeting Agenda... on Sex Education
2018-02-08 ~FxMisc... Biznow: Why Til Hazel Has 'Serious Concerns' About Tysons, by Jon Banister
"I wish I could say things about Tysons that were upbeat and optimistic, but I have some serious concerns about the future of Tysons." ... "The region currently is not booming as it used to." ... "That's going to hurt Tysons because Tysons cannot grow as it should without the regional growth." -- Northern Virginia real estate legend Til Hazel
2018-02-03 ~FxMisc... Bull Elephant: Fairfax is now Officially a Sanctuary County, by Lou DiLeonardo
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid has just informed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that while her department will still share information on people booked into jail with ICE, as of May 23, 2018 it will no longer hold inmates past their regular release date/time.
2018-02-02 ~National. House.gov: Devin Nunes' 4-page FISA memo outlining FBI/DOJ leadership corruption
Here is the actual "FISAgate" memo, released at noon today, describing how that DNC-funded Trump dossier was used by the Obama FBI and DOJ leadership as "authentic" justification for several FISA warrants to wiretap the Trump campaign and later the Trump transition team. (Read also: "What it says", by the Washington Examiner.)
2018-02-02 ~FxMisc... Fx Times: Fx Co kicks off massive zoning ordinance overhaul, by Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County is working on a comprehensive overhaul of its zoning ordinance for the first time since the document was originally adopted in 1978, aiming to reorganize and update the county's complicated, often inconsistent regulations -- due in part to the county's haphazard, piecemeal approach to making amendments.
2018-02-01 ~Health... Western Mastery: Man's Guide on Avoiding Xenoestrogens that Lower Testosterone
Xenoestrogens, endocrine disruptors that dramatically lower our testosterone, are absolutely everywhere in our environment. In this article, I'm going to explain to you the best and cheapest ways to avoid xenoestrogens in the environment.
2018-01-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Morality is NOT determined by Individual Choice
The Left mocked "family values" for fifty years and now are stunned to discover brutes among them. They tore down every standard of decency and now they're dismayed to see they're drowning in sewage. They've spent decades sneering at the traditions and institutions that served as societal guardrails and now they're astonished they've gone off a cliff.
2018-01-30 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: New bill in Congress promises more money for Metro if..., by Max Smith
Metro would get billions more in federal funding in exchange for a more powerful inspector general and better service under a new proposal to be introduced in Congress by Gerry Connolly. But the bill does not include any of the substantial management, financial or pension reforms advocated on a bipartisan basis by numerous transportation experts and Metro advocates.
2018-01-29 ~FxSchools FCTA: School District Collusion on Employee Salaries?, by Arthur Purves
I wonder if there is collusion among neighboring school districts, where each district justifies tax hikes for raises in order to compete with neighboring districts. The result is a spiral of unsustainable tax increases that drive away taxpayers and good jobs. Benefits that used to cost about 28% of payroll now cost 46%.
2018-01-27 ~Potpourri USSA News: Study rates Conservatives more attractive than Liberals
According to a new study, attractive people are more likely to support right-wing parties because they are stronger and more successful than those who identify as Liberals. They surmise that hot people lean towards the right because they grow to develop a so-called "blind spot" that leads them to not see the need for more government support or aid in society, which is a core Liberal value.
2018-01-26 ~Virginia. NRA: Slew of Anti-Gun Bills Die in Subcommittee
2018-01-26 ~State-CT. Lux Libertas: Connecticut's S.O.S. - rising retirement costs
Connecticut mayors grappling with rising retirement costs and sinking economies this week issued a distress signal to lawmakers in Hartford: Save us from our public unions. Waterbury mayor Neil O'Leary, a Democrat, said his town's health care and pension costs make up 30% of its budget.
2018-01-26 ~FxMisc... Fx Times: Whig Party reorganizes in Va, takes on Gerry Connolly in 11th District
Peter Carey, a Defense and Security professional from Fairfax has been nominated by the newly-formed Whig Party of Virginia for the United States House of Representatives in Virginia's 11th District, currently represented by Democrat Gerry Connolly who is seeking a 6th term.
2018-01-25 ~National. Catholic World Report: What I learned in a community college, by P. Stravinskas
Having thought the level of learning was low for Catholic school alumni, I was totally unprepared for the abysmal situation with alumni of the government schools. I should note that these young people have attended upper-middle class, suburban schools, what people are wont to describe as "good" schools.
2018-01-23 ~FxMisc... WT: Fairfax sheriff to stop cooperating on immigration requests, by Stephen Dinan
Sheriff Stacey Kincaid said her department will still share information with ICE on people booked into the jail, but will not hold them beyond their regular release time.
2018-01-20 ~National. Epoch Times: The Fed's Boom and Bust, by Joshua Philipp & Valentin Schmid
Central banks were supposed to end the cycle of boom and bust; instead they amplified it. Given the bad incentives of the system, one wonders why we have not gotten back to a simple set up where bad actors get punished -- i.e. bad banks fail -- and are therefore pushed to perform better.
2018-01-19 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: Va. Senate keeps rqmt for meals tax referendum, by Brian Trompeter
Measures in Richmond that would have allowed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to impose a meals tax in the county without voter approval have been dispatched to the political graveyard for 2018. The same measures would have allowed localities to up their meals-tax rates to 8 percent, double the current rate -- a rate imposed on top of the 6-percent sales tax.
2018-01-19 ~National. WT: Trump must beware domestic enemies, by L. Todd Wood
Before we can compete with China and Russia for the hearts and minds of the world, we must defeat our domestic enemies. The crimes of the last decade must be exposed. People need to go to jail.
2018-01-18 ~Potpourri JWR: The Left's nostalgia problem, by George Will
Is there anything more depressing than a cheerful liberal? The question is prompted by one such, historian David Goldfield, who has written a large-hearted book explaining that America's problems would yield to government's deft ameliorating touch if Americans would just rekindle their enthusiasm for it.
2018-01-18 ~National. Observer: American Students Rank Low in International Testing, by John A. Tures
"We throw more money at our schools than just about any other country, and what do we get? For our K-12 school system, an honorary membership in the Third World. Not long ago, we had a superb public school system, but now we trail most countries. In math, we're 38th in the world among developed countries in terms of how 15 year-olds perform. And it's getting worse, not better." -- GMU Professor F. H. Buckley
2018-01-16 ~National. Politico: How China Infiltrated U.S. College Classrooms, by Ethan Epstein
Even as they face criticism, Chinese government-run Confucius Institutes have sprouted up at more than 500 college campuses worldwide, with more than 100 of them in the United States -- spreading the Beijing-approved version of Chinese culture and history, and influencing how the hosting colleges deal with conflicting views.
2018-01-16 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: FCPS superintendent seeks $97M more for FY2019, by Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County schools superintendent Scott Brabrand on Jan. 11 proposed a $2.9 billion FY2019 operating budget 4.3% higher than last year's budget, seeking a $96.9 million increase in the county's transfer, mostly to boost employee salaries. Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, took issue with his comparison of various districts' school budgets.
2018-01-15 ~National. Daily Caller: Anti-PC Professor Suing NYU Speaks Out, by Patrick Granger
Professor Rectenwald believes that the proponents of safe spaces and trigger warnings will one day wake up, venture out into the world and find it to be very different from the pipe dream of the intersectional left. He believes that sanity will ultimately prevail in the fight against campus orthodoxy, ideological enslavement and totalitarian impulses.
2018-01-12 ~Environmt CFACT: Climate skeptics have valid reasons to question manmade warming
Many people are actively worried about global warming. And it frustrates them that skeptics and "deniers" refuse to acknowledge the "science" of such an urgent, manmade problem. But there may be valid reasons to dispute the theory that man is responsible for climate change.
2018-01-11 ~National. Project Veritas: Twitter bans "Way of Talking" via "Shadow Banning" (video 15:14)
Shadow banning blocks a user or their content from an online community such that the user does not realize that they have been banned. In the latest undercover Project Veritas video investigation, eight current and former Twitter employees are on camera explaining steps the social media giant is taking to censor political content that they don't like. (Read also The Federalist.)
2018-01-10 ~Virginia. Utilitydive.com: Will Virginia join Carbon Cap-n-Trade Scam?, by Robert Walton
As part of a joint legislative agenda proposed yesterday by Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Governor-elect Ralph Northam, Virginia could become the first southern state to put a cap on carbon emissions by formally joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. If the proposal goes through, Virginians can expect much higher electric utility rates -- all to appease the Global Warming crowd.
2018-01-10 ~FxTrans.. FCNP: Fx Co Kept in Dark About WMATA Plans to Develop W. Falls Church
West Falls Church Metro station site has been losing about $1 million a year since the Silver Line opened, siphoning off passenger traffic from points west on the Orange Line from where it merges with the Orange Line at the East Falls Church Metro station. WMATA's new plans there "plays into the authority's work to monetize its real estate holdings and increase ridership."
2018-01-07 ~FxMisc... Washingtonian: Is Washington's Local Economy in Trouble?, by Luke Mullins
For decades, the booming capital has outpaced the rest of the country. Recent data paints a scarier picture. The collapse begins on Capitol Hill. In 2018, Congress's failure to pass a budget leads to a 10-percent cut in federal discretionary spending in the Washington area. Contracting firms begin layoffs. ...
2018-01-04 ~Potpourri AP: Who's affected by computer chip security flaw, by Matt O'Brien
Technology companies are scrambling to fix serious security flaws affecting computer processors built by Intel and other chipmakers and found in many of the world's personal computers and smartphones.
2018-01-03 ~Virginia. FCTA: Virginia's Medicaid Toll Lanes, by FCTA president Arthur Purves
High Occupancy Toll lanes are Virginia's latest way of raising taxes, ostensibly for transportation. They should be called Medicaid Lanes instead, because the taxes that could have paid for transportation were siphoned off by Medicaid, the state's fastest growing budget item.
2018-01-03 ~Virginia. FCTA: Governments' Misplaced Priorities, by FCTA webmaster David Swink
As Virginia state delegates and senators head off to Richmond to discuss what needs to be done for Virginians, please keep in mind: 1) The U.S. can't afford national defense because of entitlements; 2) Virginia can't afford infrastructure and education because of Medicaid and state pensions; 3) Localities are losing residents because of excess spending; and 4) DC Metro is unsustainable.
2018-01-03 ~National. WT: Voter fraud commission duties transferred to DHS, by Stephen Dinan
President Trump dissolved his voter integrity commission Wednesday and ordered the Homeland Security Department to take up the job instead, in a move his backers said could speed up an investigation of the extent of voter fraud, as Democrats will no longer be able to stymie these efforts.
2017-12-xx ~Potpourri IMPRIMUS: Churchill's Three Lessons of Statesmanship, by Larry P. Arnn
Imprimis lecture by Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College
2017-12-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Edward Klein, on The Plot to Destroy Trump
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q with Edward Klein, a stellar old-school journalist and author of All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump, in which he describes in detail the plot and who the players are in the "Resistance" against the Trump Presidency.
2017-12-xx ~Bulletin. High Taxes for a Questionable Education
2017-12-28 ~FxTrans.. Bacon's rebellion: Do Metro and VRE Really Boost Virginia Tax Revenues by $600M?
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) issued a press release on Sept 5 claiming that Metrorail and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) boost state revenues by $600 million, and that Virginia's investment in rail transit provides a 250% return on investment. The NVTC is charged with the funding and stewardship of those two agencies in Virginia, so this claim may not be completely unbiased.
2017-12-28 ~Environmt WT: Global warming films flop at box office in 2017, by Christian Todd
"Hollywood is finding out that the climate scare continues to be nothing more than a big yawn for the public. Lecturing the public on climate change is boring, and ticket receipts prove this." -- Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot.
2017-12-25 ~Potpourri RT: Sign a contract before sex? Political correctness run amok, by Frank May
In the West, at least, everyone has become massively aware of the extent of coercion and exploitation in sexual relations. But bear in mind that millions of people on a daily basis flirt and play the game of seduction, with the clear aim of finding a partner for making love. The result of the modern Western culture is that both sexes are expected to play an active role in this game.
2017-12-21 ~National. Examiner: Trump Accomplishments - Year 1, by Paul Bedard
With the passage of the GOP tax bill this week, the Trump administration has scored 81 major achievements in its first year, making good on campaign promises to provide significant tax cuts, boost U.S. energy production, and restore respect to the United States. And at least 11 Obama legacy items were repealed.
2017-12-21 ~FxTrans.. House.gov: Metro gets Golden Fleece Award for Wasteful Spending -- Press Release
Dear Mr. Wiedefeld:
I write today to inform you that your agency is this month's recipient of my Golden Fleece Award. I am awarding this to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for its wasteful spending, its failure to its customers, and its institutional lack of accountability. -- Congressman French Hill (R-AR)
2017-12-20 ~Potpourri Daily Mail: Robot with AI knows when you're lying, by Shivali Best
The system, called DARE, was trained by watching 15 videos of people in court. It was trained recognised five expressions that indicate someone is lying -- frowning, raised eyebrows, lips turning up, lips protruded and head tilt. In a final test, the system performed with 92 per cent accuracy. The researchers describe this performance as 'significantly better' than humans.
2017-12-18 ~National. WT: The Democrats' great diversion, by James A. Lyons
Orchestrating the Trump collusion probe has helped Democrats obscure their own shady dealings.
2017-12-18 ~National. Daily Caller: Trump's 5-Point National Security Strategy, by Peter Hasson
1) Renewed Focus On Islamist Terrorism; 2) Dumping Climate Change As A 'National Security Threat'; 3) Iran -- Not Israel -- Is The Threat To Peace In The Middle East; 4) Immigration: Ending Chain Migration, Increasing Vetting, Tougher Border Security; 5) Economically Competing With China
2017-12-18 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Gov McAuliffe proposes higher taxes in NoVa to support Metro - R. McCartney
Northern Virginians would pay higher taxes on real estate sales, hotel stays and wholesale gasoline to provide Metro with long-sought dedicated funding under a proposal to be announced Monday by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). The new tax revenue of $65 million a year would be in addition to $85 million that Northern Virginia already earmarks for Metro.
2017-12-17 ~National. Politico: Secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook, by Josh Meyer
In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States.
2017-12-17 ~FxSchools FCTA: One Fairfax - Its Illegitimacy and Unanswered Questions, by Laura Miller
On Nov 20 and 21, 2017, Fairfax County Supervisors and the School Board jointly approved the 'One Fairfax' resolution, to ensure that all of our public community chest, resources and accommodations will be spent or utilized to achieve RACIAL and SOCIAL EQUITY outcomes in income, grades, and crime -- a Leftist globalist agenda taken from 'UN Agenda 2020/30'. Citizens should be outraged!
2017-12-15 ~Environmt The Federalist: Trump to Remove 'Climate Change' as National Security Threat
The Trump administration will reverse course from previous Obama administration policy, eliminating climate change from a list of national security threats. The draft of the National Security Strategy emphasizes national security and economic growth over climate change.
2017-12-14 ~World.... Epoch Times: Saudi Arabian Reform Includes Shunning Islamism, by Joshua Philipp
Saudi Arabia's new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is initiating major reforms and leading anti-corruption efforts to clean out its own 'Deep State'. This article describes a brief history of the country, the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the evolution of Sayyid Qutb's socialist form of Islam (which he described as "Islamism").
2017-12-14 ~National. Daily Caller: FCC Frees Internet from Obama's Title II Regs, by Eric Lieberman
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed the 2015 Obama-era internet regulations Thursday in a 3-2 vote, signaling a culmination to a long-winded and highly heated debate. The Title II categorization (with government control) has been rolled back to Title I, and policing of the industry has been returned to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
2017-12-11 ~Virginia. FCTA: Testimony in support of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, by Thomas Cranmer
To Va. State Water Board: "By approving the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, you have an opportunity to reduce poverty, decrease pollution, and increase employment in depressed areas. With more inexpensive fuel available in Virginia, increased industrial development will occur. Please support the pipeline."
2017-12-11 ~Potpourri Verge: Former FB exec says social media ripping apart society, by James Vincent
Another former Facebook executive has spoken out about the harm the social network is doing to civil society around the world. Chamath Palihapitiya's criticisms were aimed not only at Facebook, but the wider online ecosystem. "The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we've created are destroying how society works," he said.
2017-12-10 ~Virginia. FCTA: Proposed bill to raise state retirement age to 66, by James Ruland
FCTA's James Ruland has worked up a draft of legislation to raise the age retirement for Virginia state employees to 66, to be submitted for consideration in the General Assembly during the upcoming legislative session.
2017-12-08 ~Health... New Atlas: Canola oil linked to Alzheimer's complications, by Michael Franco
Canola is generally considered a healthy oil thanks to its ability to reduce LDL cholesterol in the blood and lower the risk of heart disease. A new animal study out of Temple University, though, has shown that the vegetable-based fat increases substances in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer's disease.
2017-12-06 ~Potpourri Caltech: The World's Smallest Mona Lisa, by Lori Dajose
In 2006, Caltech's Paul Rothemund developed a method to fold a long strand of DNA into a prescribed shape. Dubbed DNA origami, the technique enabled scientists to create self-assembling DNA structures that could carry any specified pattern, such as a 100-nanometer-wide smiley face. Caltech scientists have now expanded this method into large arrays with entirely customizable patterns, creating a sort of canvas that can display any image, including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
2017-12-06 ~National. Daily Caller: SCOTUS to Lower Courts on Travel Ban: Knock It Off, by Kevin Daley
The U.S. Supreme Court appears somewhat irritated with federal courts that have repeatedly barred the Trump administration from enforcing immigration policies halting the entry of certain classes of migrants and refugees.
2017-12-06 ~Health... WT: Weight loss, diet may reverse Type 2 diabetes - Study, by Laura Kelly
Losing weight -- without exercise -- and maintaining a healthy diet can cause Type 2 diabetes to go into remission and allow patients to stop taking medications, according to a study that challenges the long-held medical belief that the acquired disease is a lifelong illness.
2017-12-06 ~FxMisc... FxCo: Converting Empty Office Buildings into New Uses
As it continues to grapple with more than 18 million square feet in empty office space, the county approved changes to our land use plan to more easily allow these vacant buildings to be turned into other uses, such as apartments, schools, co-working spaces or food incubators.
2017-12-06 ~Environmt Breitbart: Climate Alarmists Caught Faking Sea Level Rise, by James Delingpole
The raw (unadjusted) data from three Indian Ocean gauges showed that local sea level trends in the last 140 years had been very gently rising, neutral or negative (ie sea levels had fallen). But after the evidence had been adjusted by Alarmist tidal records gatekeepers, it suddenly showed a sharp and dramatic rise.
2017-12-06 ~Environmt Daily Caller: President Trump Kicks Off Rollback of National Monument Abuse
By significantly reducing the size of two gargantuan national monuments on federal land in Utah, President Donald Trump has begun to undo the decades-old mistreatment of rural Westerners by smug elites in faraway Washington.
2017-12-05 ~National. WT: Team Obama tried 'stealth coup' by undermining Trump, by Rowan Scarborough
"Having experienced a change in administration while at the Pentagon in 2009, it's not uncommon to see passive-aggressive behavior from a handful of outgoing folks. That said, based on the flood of leaks across the government, what we're seeing today more closely resembles a stealth coup. Certainly nothing passive about it." -- J.D. Gordon, former DoD spokesman and Trump campaign national security advisor.
2017-12-05 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: I-66 express lanes debut with $34.50 toll, among U.S. highest, by Luz Lazo
The I-66 toll lanes opened Monday in Washington's Northern Virginia suburbs with prices so steep they could be among the highest drivers have paid for the privilege of traveling on a state-owned highway in the United States, with tolls of $34.50 -- or close to $3.50 a mile -- to drive the 10-mile stretch from the Beltway to Washington during the height of the morning commute.
2017-12-04 ~National. WT: NFL deal to dole out millions to Soros-linked groups, by Valerie Richardson
Plagued by sagging ratings, player protests and fan outrage, the NFL has thrown a political Hail Mary by reportedly agreeing to dole out millions of dollars to two social justice groups connected to Democratic billionaire George Soros.
2017-12-04 ~FxTrans.. WT: Virginia road grinch steals Christmas, by Deborah Simmons
The Grinch -- ie, Mr. McAuliffe -- decided to begin stealing Christmas 2017 a few years back. Now, as he begins to exit stage left, Mr. McAuliffe reveals how he's been taking money directly out of the hands of his favorite constituency: the hard-working people of Virginia.
2017-12-03 ~National. Epoch Times: Antifa Extremists Being Investigated by FBI, by Joshua Philipp
"Antifa operates across the U.S. in ways that involve at least potentially criminal interstate activities, such as inciting a riot and conspiracy to incite riot, as well as behavior," said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa), who went on to ask FBI Director Christopher Wray whether the FBI was doing anything to counter Antifa.
2017-12-02 ~National. Epoch Times: We Live in the Age of Capital Consumption, by Ronald-Peter Stöferle
When saving no longer pays, society must consume its capital stock to keep going.
2017-11-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Problem of Identity Politics and Its Solution, by Matthew Continetti
Imprimis lecture by Matthew Continetti, Editor-in-Chief for the Washington Free Beacon
2017-11-28 ~Virginia. AP: Gov. McAuliffe Sued by Electric Car Company Investors, by Suderman & Amy
A group of Chinese investors is suing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe over his past work for troubled electric car maker GreenTech Automotive. The investors filed a lawsuit in Fairfax County last week accusing McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton's brother Anthony Rodham of milking their political connections to perpetuate a $120 million scam.
2017-11-25 ~National. WaPo: Elitists, crybabies and junky degrees, by Kevin Sullivan & Mary Jordan
A Trump supporter explains rising conservative anger at American universities, where he says liberal professors teach "ridiculous" classes and indoctrinate students "who hang out and protest all day long and cry on our dime." ... Asked if colleges and universities have a positive effect on the country: 72% of Democrats, but only 36% of Republicans said yes.
2017-11-22 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Virginia: 31st in Tax Climate
Just a reminder: Virginia is not a low-tax state. According to the Tax Foundation's 2018 ranking of state business tax climate, Virginia scored 31st. While the Old Dominion scores pretty well for corporate taxes and sales taxes, it flunks the grade for individual taxes and unemployment insurance taxes.
2017-11-22 ~National. WT: NFL stadiums cost taxpayers billions of dollars, by Jeff Mordock
Municipalities across the country have funneled billions of dollars from taxpayers to wealthy NFL owners for stadiums. But new money is never introduced into the local economy, but rather gets shifted around. And taxpayers continue to get hit with high stadium maintenance costs.
2017-11-21 ~National. Reason: Killing Net Neutrality Will Set the Internet Free, by Gillespie & Keyser
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on his plan to repeal "Net Neutrality" rules: "Over the coming years, we're going to see an explosion in the kinds of connectivity and the depth of that connectivity. Ultimately that means that the human capital in the United States that's currently on the shelf -- the people who don't have digital opportunity -- will become participants in the digital economy."
2017-11-21 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: DC & NYC Mass Transits on Collision Courses, by Thomas Cranmer
Politicians have ducked and run from recommending what to do with the D.C. Metro and N.Y. subway disastrous conditions. While reports on funding solutions have been proffered in both jurisdictions, the most obvious potential source of funding, the riders, was ignored in both reports.
2017-11-21 ~FxSchools FxCo: 'One Fairfax', the county's new "Social and Racial Equity" policy
Fairfax County's new policy formally enshrines the Democrat Party's Alinskyite platform of class warfare, identity politics, and victimhood. So renaming schools and roads, changing bathroom and sex education policies, and any other nonsense "for the children" can now be given umbrella coverage.
2017-11-20 ~State-IL. JWR: Smashing the 'Blue Model' in Illinois, by George Will
This state's story, which lately has been depressing, soon will acquire a riveting new chapter. In 2018 Illinois will have the nation's most important, expensive and strange election.
2017-11-20 ~FxSchools FCTA: Testimony before FCPS - 'One Fairfax', by Fred Costello
You have demonstrated by your decisions on Policy 1450 and on JEB Stuart that you do not listen to what the majority of people want; to hell with the taxpayers. And in the low-turnout School Board elections, 34% of the vote comes from school and county employees and their spouses. Thus either term limits or a county equivalent of the Hatch Act need to be instituted.
2017-11-20 ~FxSchools FCTA: Nov20 FCSB meeting notes - Child Abuse, Misleading Public, by S.B. Reporter
Each school board meeting brings forward more and more accusations of improprieties, corruption, and bad decisions by the Fairfax County School Board and the November 20, 2017 school board meeting had some doozies -- Gender Dysphoria, JEB Stuart rebellion, 'One Fairfax' policy, School Union quid pro quo.
2017-11-17 ~World.... WaPo: Life in North Korea under Kim Jong Un, by Anna Fifield
In six months of interviews in South Korea and Thailand, Anna Fifield, the Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief, talked with more than 25 North Koreans from different walks of life who lived in Kim Jong-un's North Korea and managed to escape.
2017-11-17 ~National. WaPo: Trump assaults our free press, but he also has a point, by Chris Wallace
"Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace says even though President Trump treats the free press like his enemy, journalists shouldn't treat him like he's theirs.
2017-11-17 ~Health... Ars Technica: Swiss find way to turn any cell into a tumor killer, by Diana Gitig
Scientists can induce T cells to recognize the patient's tumor as the threat that it is and destroy it. But these can completely disrupt normal immune function, causing side effects which can be life-threatening. So a group of Swiss researchers has decided to engineer a killing system into non-immune cells to avoid all these side effects.
2017-11-16 ~National. Epoch Times: Inflation, the Hidden Tax, by Valentin Schmid
Mainstream economics tells you inflation is necessary, when in fact it is part of a larger, unfair redistribution mechanism which rewards the government and financial speculators.
2017-11-16 ~FxMisc... BisNow: Stephen Fuller Sees A Crisis Coming To The D.C. Economy, by Jon Banister
Over the last three years, George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller said Wednesday that 75,000 more people moved out of the D.C. area to other places in the U.S. than entered it, a problem he does not think the region is taking seriously enough. But he offers a solution.
2017-11-16 ~FxMisc... Fx Free Citizen: Tim Hannigan Announces Candidacy for FCRC Chairman
2017-11-14 ~Potpourri WT: Teen suicides rise with smartphone use, by Laura Kelly
A study shows that suicide rates among teenagers have risen along with ownership of smartphones and use of social media, suggesting a disturbing link between technology and teen harm. ... One high school student commented, "I want to talk to my friends at lunch, but they're all on their phones."
2017-11-12 ~State-ME. WT: Maine voters gave themselves an expensive Medicaid gift -- Editorial
The voters of Maine gave themselves a Christmas present last week, voting to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, and doing it by referendum to prevent Republican Gov. Paul LePage from taking it away from them. The governor had vetoed five such bills from the legislature because he said Maine couldn't afford it.
2017-11-10 ~Environmt CFACT: Skeptic conference outshines UN COP 23, by David Wojick
The 2-day, science intensive Climate and Energy Conference sponsored by CFACT and EIKE stands in wonderful contrast to the glib, quick hit side events that surround the Bonn COP. There is no science in the COP shop talks. It is all about money and how to get it faster by accelerating the Paris Plan. Or it is about how things are not going fast enough.
2017-11-09 ~Potpourri Axios: Sean Parker unloads on Facebook "exploiting" human weakness, by Mike Allen
Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, gave me a candid insider's look at how social networks purposely hook and potentially hurt our brains. ... "it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other ... It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains."
2017-11-09 ~National. BW: The History of U.S. Taxes, by Justin Fox
Despite a partisan bias, the author nicely summarizes the various means of government funding throughout U.S. history, and compares the various tax options offered in the world past and present. (The graphics are pixelated to non-subscribers, but the text is excellent.)
2017-11-08 ~Virginia. Bull Elephant: The Virginia Blues, by Michael Giere
Ed Gillespie's loss yesterday, at least to this observer, was no surprise. The Commonwealth, at least in statewide races, is light blue at best. In the end, a boring Republican lost to a boring Democrat. Of more concern is Republicans' timidity, in the Virginia Assembly as well as the U.S. Congress.
2017-11-05 ~Health... Ars Technica: Gut bacteria may improve cancer treatment success, by Beth Mole
Some intestinal-dwelling bacteria appear to corral and train immune cells to fight off cancer cells -- prior to any spurring from cancer immunotherapies. Without such microbial priming, the drugs may only offer a futile prod.
2017-11-04 ~National. WT: Poll finds millennials prefer socialism to capitalism, by Bradford Richardson
In the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation's "Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism," 58 percent of the up-and-coming generation opted for one of the three systems, compared to 42 percent who said they were in favor of capitalism. (And you wanted to know what is wrong with our education system?)
2017-11-03 ~National. NRA: Former NPR CEO Finds Travel Fatal to Anti-gun Prejudice
In his book, The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain explained, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these counts." But a new book by former National Public Radio CEO Ken Stern suggests that much of the country's coastal elite would be just as well served by a domestic trip outside their urban enclaves.
2017-11-02 ~National. Daily Caller: Tucker Carlson Slams FBI for Incompetence, by Justin Caruso
Tucker Carlson laid out a number of reasons to distrust the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Fox News Thursday, including the seemingly incompetent investigation of the Las Vegas mass shooting, the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, and the failure to examine the DNC's email server after it was supposedly hacked.
2017-10-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The Left's hateful view of America vs Reality
America is under attack from within, largely financed by people like George Soros and others. They make common cause with Americans whose objective is to take the nation down, hasten our decline. To defend America, it is necessary to know our history. The purpose of the United States of America and its proud legacy must be understood to be protected. Which is why unmooring us from our own history is crucial for the Left to succeed.
2017-10-30 ~Virginia. Dems: Ralph Northam's nasty pick-up truck video (1:00 min)
2017-10-30 ~Environmt WT: Burying 'sue and settle' at EPA, by Ed Feulner
Under Obama's "sue and settle" practice, the EPA would invite environmentalists to sue the EPA over a regulation that it wanted to change but couldn't, at least not expeditiously. Then instead of fighting the lawsuit, the EPA would then almost immediately surrender, agreeing to settle on terms made by those environmentalists. Scott Pruitt has put a stop to this practice.
2017-10-27 ~Virginia. Breitbart: Alexandria Church Removes Washington, Lee from its Member List
An Episcopal church in Alexandria that counted as members both our first president, George Washington, as well as Confederate General Robert E. Lee, will seccumb to the Left and remove the historical plaques memorializing both figures in order to be more "welcoming".
2017-10-27 ~National. NRA: From Kneeling to Stepping On Freedom
Why kneel in disrespect to the flag when you can stand and trample the Constitution? That appears to be the thinking, at least, of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers football team.
2017-10-27 ~FxSchools NBC4: FCPS Board inflicts "Social Justice" on J.E.B. Stuart High School
The Fairfax County School Board voted 7-4 to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School Thursday night after nearly four hours of debate and community testimony. In a bow to the Left, the board will rename the school "Justice High School" by 2019 at a cost of $500,000 to $1 million.
2017-10-25 ~Potpourri NYT: The Battle of Brains vs. Brawn, by Gretchen Reynolds
A remarkable new study of how the human body prioritizes its inner workings found that if you intensely think at the same time as you intensely exercise, your performance in both thinking and moving can worsen. But your muscles' performance will decline much more than your brain's will, the study found.
2017-10-25 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Colliding neutron stars support dark matter theory, by Chris Lee
Recently, scientists detected two neutron stars spiraling into each other and merging, releasing a huge amount of energy as both light and gravitational waves. The time difference between the arrival of the gravitational waves and the light was nearly zero, which virtually kills the there-is-no-dark-matter MOND gravitational theory.
2017-10-24 ~FxMisc... Patch: Anger Boils Over At Reston Zoning Meeting, by Dan Taylor
Hundreds of Restonians packed the South Lakes High School cafeteria to voice opposition to a plan to increase Reston's density limit. Locals voiced their frustration with the county, arguing that Reston was ill-equipped to handle the large increase in population that they believe an increase in the density limit would bring. This would be an evening for Fairfax County officials to listen to angry locals, and not the other way around.
2017-10-23 ~National. WT: Liberal leanings of Google, Facebook shape political landscape, by J. Mordock
Robert Epstein tried a simple experiment in the run-up to the presidential election: running searches on Google and Yahoo for political topics. The results were stunning. Google searches returned twice as many pro-Hillary Clinton news articles as Yahoo searches. Google's search algorithm ranked pro-Clinton articles ahead of positive articles about her opponent, Donald Trump.
2017-10-22 ~Health... Epoch Times: Nursing Crisis Strains U.S. Hospitals, by Jilian Mincer
Hospitals nationwide face tough choices when it comes to filling nursing jobs. They are paying billions of dollars collectively to recruit and retain nurses rather than risk patient safety or closing down departments. They now offer perks such as student loan repayment, free housing and career mentoring, and rely more on foreign or temporary nurses to fill the gaps.
2017-10-21 ~National. NY Post: Former NPR CEO opens up about liberal media bias, by Ken Stern
Ken Stern, the former CEO of National Public Radio and author of the new book "Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right", describes his year-long visits to people in "fly-over country" to understand their view of the world and why they despise the mainstream media.
2017-10-19 ~Virginia. Va Senate: Virginia Retirement System Overview
2017-10-19 ~National. WaPo: George Soros, "superpower for democracy" -- SAY WHAT???
(The Washington Post lauds George Soros, the largest funder of Leftist causes including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and anti-free-speech rallies -- chaos and anarchy in general against stable democratic societies. Either the Post is completely ignorant of Soros' ambitions, or they are complicit in his scheme to destroy democracy in America and around the world.)
2017-10-17 ~Potpourri BW: One Scientist's Marathon Quest for the Exercise Pill, by Adam Piore
A decade after a tantalizing breakthrough, a biology pioneer believes he's much closer to a fat-burning, muscle-growing drug that won't, uh, give you cancer.
2017-10-17 ~Potpourri The Subversionist: The New 95 [Theses], by Mike Gibson of Peter Thiel's 1517 Fund
Martin Luther nailed his theses to a church door 500 years ago on October 31st. With your help, we are going to nail ours -- ok, fine -- tape ours to the doors of universities and schools across the country to mark the occasion.
2017-10-15 ~Potpourri Daily Mail: Thomas the Tank Engine to become gender-balanced, by Stewart Paterson
In the spirit of Political Correctness, an overhaul of Thomas the Tank Engine will see two male engines turfed out to make way for female characters. Mattel, the US toy giant that owns rights to the much-loved show, collaborated with the United Nations to help meet the organization's "Sustainable Development Goals".
2017-10-14 ~National. Daily Caller: Soros funds study on White Working-Class Voters, by Eric Owens
A research study funded by George Soros sheds light on the values of white working-class voters in the U.S. Among the findings: 1) Trump was their 'hope and change' candidate for 2016; 2) they utterly detest Hillary Clinton; 3) they view themselves as hard workers who value honesty; 4) they're tired of political correctness and identity politics; 5) they strongly oppose illegal immigration; 6) they feel abandoned or exiled by the Democrats.
2017-10-13 ~National. Project Veritas: American Pravda - NYT Part 1; NYT Part 2; O'Keefe Response
-- American Pravda, NYT Part I - Slanting the News A Bizarre Comey Connection
-- American Pravda, NYT Part II - Exploiting Social Media & Manipulating the News
-- O'Keefe Response: NYT Exec Editor Calls Him "despicable," Says Veritas Videos, "damaging"
2017-10-12 ~National. JWR: It's 1968 all over again, by Victor Davis Hanson
In 1968, the United States seemed to be falling apart. It appears as if 2017 might be another 1968. After the polarizing Obama presidency and the contested election of Donald Trump, the country is once again split in two, both ideologically and geographically -- with the two liberal coasts pitted against red-state America in between.
2017-10-12 ~National. Daily Caller: Corruption and failing standards at West Point, by Patrick Granger
Former West Point professor LTC Robert M. Heffington issued an open letter to West Point graduates earlier this week blasting the superintendent, commandant, and dean of the military academy for contributing to a "culture of permissiveness". He says systemic problems have led to a decline in honor, standards and meritocracy and an "embrace of mediocrity".
2017-10-12 ~FxMisc... Connection: Time to Speak Up for Reston -- letter by Kim Wible
Are we going to become part of Fairfax County's general urban sprawl, with just a few plaques left at the Lake Anne Village Center to remind us that Reston was once valued as a pleasant and peaceful place to live?
2017-10-11 ~Virginia. CER: Parental school choice Nationally and in Virginia (ranks 31st)
Virginia is one of the few states that offer little in the way of schooling choices, public or private. However, the state gets into the top five in digital learning opportunities and the state has a strong teacher quality program which helps to support excellent teachers.
2017-10-11 ~Environmt WT: Unplugging the Obama power scheme -- Editorial
President Trump's EPA has rescinded Obama's 2015 order Clean Power Plan, meant to "save the environment". But global warming models have proved to be greatly flawed, and the President is simply rescuing energy users from the unjustified high costs of Obama's "war on coal".
2017-10-08 ~Virginia. WT: Dems, Northam shun Bluegrass and 'Bubba' for Urban vote, by Seth McLaughlin
Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, in his bid for Virginia's governorship, has called for stricter gun laws, leaving the state's rural residents feeling increasingly written off by a party that used to reach for their votes. Virginia Democrats, as in the 2016 election, have found that their path to victory runs through the growing suburbs of Washington and Richmond, and the Tidewater area.
2017-10-06 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia ripe for asset-forfeiture reform, by Michael Carroll
Virginia falls well behind other states in upgrading its asset-forfeiture laws, and property can be legally appropriated by the state without requiring a criminal conviction. Virginia earned a grade of "D-minus" in 2015 from the Arlington-based Institute for Justice, which advocates for property rights, free enterprise and free speech. Twenty five other states have changed their laws for the better since 2014.
2017-10-06 ~National. Epoch Times: Antifa Tied to Communist Revolutionary Groups, by Joshua Philipp
A new documentary exposes the far-left extremist group Antifa and its ties to communist revolutionary groups in the United States. It shows that the group of masked, black-clad protesters known for using violence and intimidation to silence conservatives may have an agenda pushed from behind the scenes.
2017-10-05 ~National. WT: Players' union teams with George Soros to destroy NFL, by Valerie Richardson
Even before its feud over the national anthem with President Trump, the NFL Players Association wasn't on the same political team as many of its fans, judging from its contributions to leftist advocacy groups. Tax documents show the NFLPA aligning with George Soros and other liberal organizations like Planned Parenthood in support of the left's agenda.
2017-10-03 ~FxPension Connection: Steps for Fx Co to Limit Unsustainable Pensions, by David Pritchett
Fairfax County can limit its unsustainable pension liabilities if it seeks serious policy options. But it has not. Four of five systems -- not the Virginia Retirement system -- are unduly generous. Here are six steps the County must undertake to correct this problem. ...
2017-10-02 ~State-NC. WT: North Carolina a model for Federal tax relief, by Robin Hayes
As our congressional Republicans begin to shape their tax relief for hardworking Americans, they need not look any further than North Carolina. In the years after rolling out a bold tax relief plan that helps nearly all North Carolinians, the Old North State has become a bellwether model of how to cut taxes.
2017-10-02 ~Report... Reforming Republicans so Republicans Can Reform Health Care, by Arthur Purves
2017-10-01 ~National. WT: The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left -- Book Review
With respect to Democrats, Mr. D'Souza describes Franklin D. Roosevelt as "the inventor of American fascism," and Woodrow Wilson as his "proto-fascist predecessor." He believes "FDR and his modern-day progeny are far closer to fascism and Nazism than they care to admit." In his view, "FDR is the one who set the modern left on its fascist road."
2017-09-xx ~National. JW: Special Report - Exposing the Deep State
The Deep State constitutes a direct challenge to our republican form of government. Working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, the Deep State is actively engaged in subversive measures designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail.
2017-09-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Dinesh D'Souza, on Nazi roots of the American Left
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q with Dinesh D'Souza, conservative writer and filmmaker, author of The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left -- especially timely in the wake of what happened in Charlottesville.
2017-09-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Will Republicans Blow Their Greatest Opportunity?
Democrat policies aren't working for people -- they fail, every time they're tried. That's what the Republicans are missing! They're blowing the greatest chance imaginable to deal liberalism a lethal blow electorally, to reduce Democrats to a weak, hollowed-out shadow of their former status for a generation.
2017-09-xx ~Bulletin. Nov 7 - How Virginia's candidates differ
2017-09-30 ~World.... Epoch Times: Communism's (and Democrats') Secret Tool, by Joshua Philipp
To understand why communism still lingers, we need to understand its most fundamental tool for creating violent revolution -- convincing people to turn against one another -- and how it uses this tool to manufacture political issues. This then gives its followers the ability to gradually seize control. This tool is the communist dialectic, known as dialectical materialism.
2017-09-28 ~FxSchools FCTA: Testimony before FCPS - FLE and Suicide, by Fred Costello
Suicide is not always the result of mental illness. Sometimes people simply choose death over the pains of life. Your FLE program adds to the pains. FLE should NOT lead 50% of your 184,000 students into extra-marital, unfulfilling sex, dismal marriages, and the occasional suicide as it does now. It should instead teach about a satisfying marriage, not animal sex.
2017-09-27 ~National. WT: Trump guts tax code: Slashes rates, kills death tax, by S.A. Miller
President Trump unveiled a sweeping tax reform plan Wednesday that dramatically lowers rates, expands the amount of tax-free income everyone can pocket and simplifies the code to a one-page return for most Americans. The U.S. would adopt a territorial tax system like most countries, and the death tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax would be repealed.
2017-09-25 ~Potpourri WT: The steps from freedom to Socialism, by Richard Rahn
State socialism remains attractive to those who have never studied its failure everywhere. Their takeover playbook remains the same: 1) Deny free speech to others (today's colleges); 2) Take control of education and dumb down the curriculum (done); 3) stamp out any opposition press; 4) deny freedom of assembly and right to own guns; 5) nationalize businesses or regulate to such an extent that they become agents of the state.
2017-09-25 ~National. JWR: The thing America strives for most? Complacency, by George Will
For 40 years, "we have been building toward stasis," with a diminishing "sense of urgency." Americans and American businesses are, on average, older than ever. Interstate migration -- a risk-taking investment in a hoped-for future -- has been declining since the mid-1980s. (Quotes from GMU's Professor Tyler Cowen.)
2017-09-25 ~Health... JAMA: Pathway to Patient Data Ownership & Better Health, by Mikk, Sleeper & Topol
Health care, under pressure to embrace interoperability, is poised for transformation. But improvements depend on increased patient participation. Health care must find a way to shift from "the doctor will see you now" to "the patient will see the doctor now". Patients need active engagement, easy access to their health data, and primary control of this data.
2017-09-25 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: Fairfax's Misleading Reston PRC Zoning Arithmetic, by Terry Maynard
This is a crisis in preserving Reston as a well-planned community consistent with Bob Simon's vision a half-century ago. If we need to raise the population cap, we need to do so in a manner that assures that the infrastructure and amenities needed to meet County guidelines and community expectations are there as well. The County hasn't even offered a hint as to how, when, where this might be accomplished nor who will pay for it.
2017-09-25 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: First look at renovated Vienna Community Center, by Brian Trompeter
The new VCC opened on Sept 23. Renovations involved gutting and upgrading the existing facility, while adding about 15,000 square feet of new space. A new full-sized gymnasium with a high-school regulation basketball court will, when partitioned, allow two youth games to occur simultaneously. (See photos here.)
2017-09-20 ~World.... Telegraph: British supermarket offers 'finger vein' payment, by Katie Morley
A UK supermarket has become the first in the world to let shoppers pay for groceries using just the veins in their fingertips. It works by using infrared to scan people's finger veins and then links this unique biometric map to their bank cards. Shoppers bring only their hands to make payments in just three seconds.
2017-09-19 ~Environmt Breitbart: Alarmists admit global warming models are broken, by James Delingpole
Climate skeptics have been saying for years that the IPCC climate models have been running "too hot". Now a landmark paper, published in Nature Geoscience, finally admits that the computer models have overstated the impact of carbon dioxide on climate and that the planet is warming more slowly than predicted.
2017-09-17 ~Environmt CFACT: Common-sense finally comes to Western fire policies, by Paul Driessen
"These are not 'natural' fires of environmentalist lore ... Endless layers of laws, regulations, judicial decrees, and guidelines for Interior and Forest Service lands have meant that most Western forests have been managed like our 109 million acres of designated wilderness: They are hardly managed at all." President Trump promises to change that.
2017-09-17 ~Environmt Breitbart: Environmentalists biggest threat to environment, by James Delingpole
Nothing has been more destructive to our natural resources than the Green movement. President Trump could reverse this tragedy by owning the environmental agenda and reminding Americans that it is conservatives -- not shrill greenies with their soap issues and their obsession with the non-existent issue of climate change -- who are best at conserving the natural world.
2017-09-16 ~Health... AJC: Avandia skin patch melts 'love handles' in mice, by Stephanie Toone
Scientific researchers have developed a medicated skin patch that dissolves fat in targeted areas of lab mice, and future testing could reveal that the patches can treat obesity and diabetes. The patch uses nanotechnology to increase the body's metabolism and transform energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.
2017-09-14 ~National. WT: And now for the REAL Russia collusion story, by L. Todd Wood
While the Russian-Trump collusion theory is proving a dry hole, there's ample evidence of Russian collusion with the previous administration. Russia, heavily dependent on high oil prices, paid heavily into so-called environmental groups to hinder America's fracking industry and pipeline construction. And Russia paid Hillary well for approving Russia's acquisition of 20% of U.S. uranium reserves.
2017-09-13 ~State-MD. Fox News: Undocumented Democrats get to vote in College Park MD -- OOPs, Not yet!
The city council in College Park, home to the University of Maryland campus, has joined six other towns that allow green-card holders, illegal immigrants and other non-citizens to vote in local elections.
2017-09-12 ~National. Examiner: Rogue CFPB federal agency needs to be reigned in, by Mike Hunter
Lord Acton once said that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the quintessential example of what happens when accountability to Congress and the president is removed -- when there are no checks and balances on the power of an unelected bureaucrat.
2017-09-12 ~National. Examiner: Barack Obama, the former president who won't go away, by W. James Antle
The Obama rapid response team quickly swung into action against the latest Republican move on immigration last week, and Obama continues with unseemly activity for a former president. With former AG Eric Holder acting as his front man, and George Soros providing funding, Obama continues to act as a "president-in-exile".
2017-09-12 ~Environmt WT: Coming ice age can be thwarted, by S. Fred Singer
While global warming is scientifically a non-issue, global cooling in the near future presents serious problems for humanity, causing agriculture to fail and most of the world's population to starve. But geoengineering can be applied against climate cooling effectively and at relatively low cost.
2017-09-07 ~National. WT: Wildfires in the West revive push to thin federal forests, by V. Richardson
Westerners are sick of the catastrophic wildfires by now so predictable that they practically have their own season. Every year, Republicans have sought to reduce the fire danger by thinning the overgrown federal forests, meeting with resistance every time from environmentalists. But 2017 may finally see the breaking of the political logjam.
2017-09-07 ~National. WT: Out-of-state voters tipped New Hampshire to Hillary, by Rowan Scarborough
More than 6,500 people registered to vote in New Hampshire on Nov. 8 using out-of-state driver's licenses, mostly from solidly-Democrat Massachusetts. Democrat Hillary Clinton defeated Republican Donald Trump in New Hampshire by 2,736 votes. And Democrat challenger Maggie Hassan defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte by 1,017 votes for the U.S. Senate seat.
2017-09-07 ~National. WT: Labor Day thoughts from President Reagan, 1981 and Henry Ford, 1922.
2017-09-07 ~Health... Epoch Times: Should dementia be referred to type-3 diabetes?, by Conan Milner
Doctors have long recognized two types of diabetes known for deteriorating the body: One that you're born with (Type 1), and another that develops later in life (Type 2). But a growing body of research points to a new form: Type 3, often referred to as "diabetes of the brain". Another connection between diabetes and dementia is that both diseases are largely preventable.
2017-09-07 ~FxMisc... Fx Times: The tentacles of today's Left -- letter by Catharine Trauernicht
Antifa is the latest manifestation of the political Left, enveloping previous forms taken by the Occupy and Resist movements. The Left's ultimate objective is the destruction of the United States, its Constitution, its free market system, and the Liberties we hold dear.
2017-09-05 ~National. WT: Navy War College taking on a kinder, gentler identity, by Gary Anderson
Rear Adm. Jeffrey Harley, the president of the Naval War College (NWC), recently announced a radical set of reforms to make the institution more like liberal arts universities such as Brown and the University of Rhode Island. He wants to hire faculty who don't necessarily agree with the Pentagon and bring in more foreign professors to internationalize the institution.
2017-09-02 ~Report... Analysis of the Virginia State Budget, by Fred Costello-195
2017-09-02 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Region's leaders clash sharply over Metro funding, by Robert McCartney
In a closed-door meeting last week, the region's top three elected officials clashed sharply over Metro funding. Md. Gov. Hogan (R) said Maryland could not afford to give Metro more money and flatly ruled out asking the legislature or counties to raise taxes to do so. Va. Gov. McAuliffe (D) supports a new tax or other dedicated funding but warned that Virginia's Republican-controlled legislature would not approve additional money.
2017-09-01 ~National. Free Beacon: The Irrelevant Democrats, by Matthew Continetti
Whatever name they go by -- antifa, cultural Marxists, social justice warriors, Black Lives Matter -- it is the left, not the liberals, who are the most active and energetic counter-Trump force in America today. The Democrats are irrelevant to the power equation in Donald Trump's Washington.
2017-08-31 ~National. WT: Southern Poverty Law Center, the Left's premier hate group, by Wesley Pruden
No organization exploits misery and suffering like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which makes millions off the hate it promotes in the name of tolerance. The poverty players have raised so much money from credulous big-hearted donors that is has to float millions of dollars to banks in the Caribbean to avoid scrutiny -- and U.S. taxes.
2017-08-30 ~Report... Must Republicans Lose in Fairfax County?, by Fred Costello-186
2017-08-30 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: Keys-Gamarra wins special election for Fairfax School Board seat
With an anemic turnout of 10.4 percent in the rainy special election, Keys-Gamarra garnered 41,519 votes, or about two-thirds of the total. Chris Grisafe came in second with 21,389 votes, followed by Michael Owens with 1,346 votes and Sandra Allen with 719 ballots.
2017-08-29 ~Virginia. Southern Heritage: Open Letter to Gov. Terry McAuliffe, by Sherwin W. Dillard
The destruction of Virginia's monuments to her war dead is sacrilege and those, who urge and execute it, are nothing more than cemetery vandals. If you find it impossible to respect your elders, attempt at least to revere your betters.
2017-08-24 ~Potpourri Telegraph: 3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet remaps math history, by Sarah Knapton
A 3,700-year-old clay tablet has proven that the Babylonians developed trigonometry 1,500 years before the Greeks and were using a sophisticated method of mathematics which could change how we calculate today.
2017-08-21 ~National. WT: All aboard the censor ship -- Editorial
It's sad when free speech, once regarded by everyone as the bedrock of democracy, has become a "side" that could trigger the outrage of thousands of counterprotesters. White supremacy is un-American, and so is opposition to free speech.
2017-08-20 ~National. WT: Replacing the Republican Party, by Angelo M. Codevilla
There is no doubt that today's America is ruled by a single ruling party and that the Republican Party is part of that party rather than an alternative to it. Why vote Republican when that results, rhetoric aside, in being governed as by Democrats? America needs a true alternative to our ruling Uni-party, a true second party.
2017-08-19 ~Potpourri Jacobin Mag: Richard Florida's Re-urbanization Reconsidered, by Sam Wetherell
If you live in an urban center in North America, the United Kingdom, or Australia, you are living in Richard Florida's world. Fifteen years ago, he argued that an influx of the "creative class" would launch humanity into a new phase of prosperity. Instead, the places became unaffordable and the middle class disappeared, leaving even greater structural problems.
2017-08-18 ~World.... Epoch Times: Communist Origins of the 'Antifa' Extremist Group, by Joshua Philipp
The extremist anarchist-communist group Antifa has been in the headlines because of recent violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia. But the label of "fascism" as pushed by Antifa often does not refer to actual fascism, but is merely a label assigned to "capitalism". This has been going on since 1922, when the Soviets first formed this organization.
2017-08-18 ~National. NRA: Justice Department Terminates and Repudiates 'Operation Chokepoint'
This week the Department of Justice made clear that the Obama Administration's underhanded attack on the gun industry using the banking system -- better known as 'Operation Chokepoint' -- is over, and will not be undertaken again. Initiated in 2013, Operation Chokepoint sought to deter banks from conducting business with companies that engaged in commerce that the Obama administration viewed as undesirable.
2017-08-18 ~National. JWR: Intolerance is the game the fearful and frightened play, by Suzanne Fields
Identity politics has gone over the top, and the flood of intolerance is drenching everyone. What began as a campaign to re-right injustice has created injustice. What was meant to change attitudes toward intolerance has become intolerance enthroned.
2017-08-15 ~National. WT: Teaching history amid America's history gap, by Deborah Simmons
Are we even teaching history to children anymore? We teach that blacks served on the Union side of the Civil War. Do we teach that blacks also served on the Confederate side, too? More important, once most or all of the Confederate statues are removed, what's next? The culture of ignorance is obvious, as is Americans' history gap.
2017-08-15 ~National. Daily Caller: Corporations Increasingly Serve As Arbiters Of Public Morality
Major corporations are increasingly expected by left-wing activists to weigh in on issues of public morality. Companies who take an insufficient moral stance on public issues can oftentimes find themselves targeted by those activists. So Google, Facebook, GoDaddy, Starbucks, et al get on board, while Chick-Fil-A and Fox News' advertisers are targeted.
2017-08-14 ~National. Squawker: Leftist Identity Politics Caused the Violence in Charlottesville
What happened in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday August 12 was a tragedy. According to the leftist influenced peanut gallery on social media, we must simply condemn white nationalism in all its forms, despite clear evidence that all sides were at fault. There is a powerful force on the left that seeks to turn tragedy into opportunity and to turn disagreements into revolution.
2017-08-13 ~National. WT: Beware the Obamacare industrial complex, by Stephen Moore
Obamacare is now like a cocaine junkie hooked on federal payments. Obamacare will need at least $10 billion more to keep the system solvent this year. You can call this a bailout or just a swindle of taxpayers. Either way, taxpayers get shafted (again) and the Obamacare industrial complex gets fat and happy.
2017-08-13 ~National. WT: Google favors 'diversity' over technical innovation, by Rebecca Hagelin
I commend Mr. Damore for exposing Google's nonsense and for initiating a national conversation on just how divisive "diversity" mandates can be. Google has clearly demonstrated that it would rather be "politically correct" than to work at creating an environment that brings their employees "together to do the very best for the people they serve."
2017-08-13 ~Environmt CFACT: Life in fossil-fuel-free utopia, by Paul Driessen
Life without oil, natural gas and coal would most likely be nasty, brutish, and short. Without fossil fuels, we couldn't mine the needed ores, process and smelt them, build and operate foundries, factories, refineries, or cement kilns, or manufacture and assemble turbines and panels. We couldn't even make machinery to put in factories.
2017-08-09 ~National. Philly Inquirer: Let's celebrate the culture of the 1950s, by Wax & Alexander
Today, too few Americans are qualified for jobs, many college students lack basic skills, high school students rank low academically, and almost half of all children are born out of wedlock. These and other maladies result from the breakdown of the country's bourgeois culture of the 1950's.
2017-08-07 ~Environmt WT: Men's sperm count drops dramatic 52 percent, by Renee Garfinkel
Sperm counts among men in Western countries have more than halved in the last 40 years. The fact that we don't know what is causing the declining sperm count is worrisome, and should spur support for further research.
2017-08-07 ~Environmt WT: The high cost of unreliable power, by Benjamin Zycher
There is the heavy-metal pollution created by the production process for wind turbines, and the large problem of solar panel waste. And the intermittent nature of renewables requires costly backup systems. But these policies are forcing the shutdown of large numbers of reliable baseload power plants producing inexpensive conventional electricity.
2017-08-06 ~National. Epoch Times: Watchdog Group Threatens Lawsuit Over Voter Fraud in California
Nearly a dozen California counties had more registered voters on their voter rolls than people of voting age in their county, and Judicial Watch is warning the state to clean them up or face a federal lawsuit. The number of registered voters in Los Angeles county stands at 144% of the total number of resident citizens of voting age.
2017-08-03 ~National. WT: Illegals cost taxpayers nearly $750 billion over lifetime, by Stephen Dinan
Deporting the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants would cost nearly $125 billion, but allowing them to remain in the U.S. could cost taxpayers far more, according to a new report being released Thursday by a think tank that wants to see stricter immigration limits.
2017-08-03 ~FxMisc... Bisnow: Proposal To Build The Region's Tallest Tower In Tysons, by Jon Banister
There's a slew of cranes around new Silver Line stations in Tysons as the area undergoes an urban transformation. In May, Clemente Development proposed a 2.8M SF mixed-use development at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Spring Hill Road, highlighted by a 48-story, 615-foot tower, taller than any other building south of Philadelphia and north of Charlotte.
2017-08-01 ~FxMisc... Connection: Reston Town Center North Redevelopment Process Begins, by F. Forbush
More development in Reston is in the pipeline, this time for Reston Town Center North. The county hosted a community meeting to discuss the development in the cafeteria of the Lake Anne Elementary School on Wednesday, May 31. Redevelopment will require a public-private partnership in order to make the vision of a mixed-use development come to reality.
2017-08-01 ~Environmt FCTA: Tom Cranmer nixes ethanol in gasoline at EPA hearing
In a 3-minute oral comment at an EPA hearing in Washington, DC, FCTA's Tom Cranmer makes the case that ethanol use in gasoline makes no scientific or economic sense, and that the only real justification is to drive up corn and soybean prices as a subsidy for farmers and provide votes for congressmen in farm states.
2017-07-xx ~FxPension NVRBF: Fairfax County's Pension Conundrum, by Pat Herrity
Fairfax County is using an outdated and fiscally unsustainable compensation model that no longer meets the county's needs.
2017-07-31 ~Potpourri Daily Caller: George Soros, the 'Anti-Fascist' Fascist, by Dinesh D'Souza
The so-called "antifascist" movement in America today bears a strange resemblance to the very fascism it purports to combat -- witness masked Antifa protesters in black, carrying weapons, disrupting public events and blocking speakers from campus. The resemblance can be seen in some little-known aspects of one of Antifa's main financial sponsors, George Soros.
2017-07-31 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Australian Bureau of Meteorology caught erasing cold temperatures
Australian scientists at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) ordered a review of temperature recording instruments after the government agency was caught tampering with temperature logs in several locations. BOM adjustments have changed Aussie temperature records from a slight cooling trend to one of "dramatic warming" over the past century.
2017-07-30 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: History Repeats Itself (J.E.B. Stuart Killed by a Classmate)
The July 27 FCSB Meeting was surreal, but predictable as the 7 hard core cultural Marxists and 2 gutless abstainers all voted to change the J.E.B. Stuart High School -- a school with over 100,000 graduates, the highest diversity rate in Fairfax, and zero reported race-related incidents in decades, and where 90% of the students polled recently want to keep the name or do not see a compelling need to change it. (See video.)
2017-07-27 ~Health... Epoch Times: Rethinking the War on Salt, by Conan Milner
Salt has been wrongly vilified, with guidelines based on flawed science, say experts. But according to Dr. James DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular research scientist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City and author of The Salt Fix, many of us may actually be salt starved.
2017-07-23 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: The War in the Courts, by Gary Porter
It is no secret that certain federal judges have "yield[ed] themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day." Not content with that, some seem to have actively enlisted in the Left's "army".
2017-07-20 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Resolution to fund Metrorail without tax increases, by Arthur Purves
Resolved, that FCTA: 1) urges the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to oppose all tax increases for WMATA; 2) urges the Supervisors to instead recommend funding Metrorail capital needs from rail system tax revenues; 3) urges the General Assembly to allow transportation taxes to be used for capital costs as well as new construction; and 4) urges WMATA to declare bankruptcy if capital needs cannot be funded without yet another tax hike.
2017-07-18 ~National. Bull Elephant: The Death of Consequences, by Michael Giere
We are witnessing the death of consequences for any catastrophe, illegality, culpability or just plain idiocy. Only intentions, not results, matter. We're reaping what we have sown, of course. This process has been underway for fifty years, but has picked up to a furious pace.
2017-07-18 ~FxTrans.. WT: D.C. Metro replaces all old rail cars with safer series, by Jason Tidd
Metro finally has retired its 41-year-old rail cars -- seven years after federal inspectors said they posed "an unacceptable risk" to subway riders and were partially to blame for the transit system's deadliest crash. The transit agency last month removed the last of its 1000 Series and 4000 Series rail cars from the tracks and replaced them with the sleek, safer 7000 Series.
2017-07-16 ~Environmt WT: Anti-frackers exploited for Russia's gain, by Dan Boylan
Russia suspected of using Bermuda shell company to fund American anti-energy [useful idiot] groups, as it benefits by keeping prices on its major exports high. "If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking." -- Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas)
2017-07-15 ~FxPension Bearing Drift: The Pension Plan That Ate Fairfax County, by Jay McConville
For decades, alarms have been raised about the financial liabilities associated with "defined benefit" pension plans. Fairfax County has unfortunately not been listening. In fact, the County pension system is an outdated and ineffective system that fails to recruit, retain, and reward quality employees that has simultaneously amassed an unfunded liability of $2.4 Billion.
2017-07-12 ~World.... Epoch Times: 200 Million Women and Girls Forced with Female Genital Mutilation
More than 200 million women and girls in at least 30 countries have been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The practice, often performed to ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity, is common in African countries, the Middle East, and Indonesia. The CDC estimates 503,000 women and girls are affected by FGM in the United States, though the procedure is outlawed.
2017-07-12 ~National. WT: Conservative parents turn away from universities, by Bradford Richardson
An admissions letter from Harvard University was once considered cause for celebration, but in conservative households, that may be changing. The educational environment has become so distempered that many parents are now looking elsewhere, such as conservative Hillsdale College. Such attitudes could eventually affect colleges' endowments and state funding.
2017-07-11 ~Potpourri WT: The values of the West ARE the best, by Clifford D. May
Trump's campaign for the survival of Western civilization drives the so-called 'progressives' crazy. But Ronald Reagan warned that "freedom is never more than one generation from extinction." He understood, and he wanted others to understand, that liberty is not an entitlement. It's a rare and precious commodity that "must be fought for."
2017-07-10 ~National. WT: The dirty secret behind the Senate's Obamacare quandary, by Angelo Codevilla
The reason why Republicans prop up Obamacare rather than tear it down is that they are even more beholden to the insurance companies and hospital chains than the Democrats who passed it in the first place.
2017-07-10 ~Health... TheBalance.com: Rising Cost of Health Care & Causes, by Year, by Kimberly Amadeo
An excellent article on American health care costs and their causes over the years since 1960. The article additionally claims that Obamacare actually slowed the rise of health care costs to the government. (However, it did not mention the phenomenal costs to the patient for the high-deductible insurance coverage he can't afford to use.)
2017-07-09 ~States... WT: Marching to the poorhouse (Illinois vs Kansas) -- Editorial
If Kansas is meant to scare Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans to surrender their attempt to reform taxes, Illinois is a stark reminder that it's the taxaholics who lead the way to financial ruin with their idea that raising taxes is the way to prosperity. Governments large and small should follow the simple wisdom of Thomas Jefferson: "Never spend your money before you have earned it."
2017-07-07 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: 'Buy America' imposes costly burdens on Metro, by Faiz Siddiqui
Transit agencies across the country are shouldering higher infrastructure costs that strain budgets and make the systems more expensive overall than their overseas counterparts -- and "Buy America" is a likely driver of those expenses, a right-leaning think tank says.
2017-07-06 ~Potpourri JWR: The sequence to success, by George Will
The success sequence is this: First get at least a high school diploma, then get a job, then get married, and only then have children. For older millennials ages 28 to 34, it's been found that only 3 percent who follow this sequence are poor. But some of the intelligentsia see this success sequence as middle-class norms to be disparaged for being middle-class norms.
2017-07-06 ~Potpourri Crisis Mag: Disturbing Portrait of Present-Day American Left, by Stephen Krason
I've argued in previous columns that at bottom the problem of the left is a lack of integrity, inconsistencies in its positions, avoiding debate by simply demonizing its opponents, and its roiling of American politics. The reason is its unbending attachment to ideology. What would a fuller picture of the left look like and how is it put on display in current controversies?
2017-07-04 ~handout.. FCTA says what the Republicans (and Democrats) should say, by Arthur Purves
Government does not owe you a living. Your food, housing, health, education, and retirement are individual and family responsibilities, and not Federal, state, or local government responsibilities.
2017-07-04 ~National. FCTA: The Three Reasons Republicans Never Cut Taxes, by Arthur Purves
Republicans are actors on the Left's stage and are captives to the Left's rules. As long as Republicans allow the dissolution of the republic through the 17th amendment, agree that government owes everyone a living, and believe the myth that man-made laws can create virtue, they will be trapped into raising taxes for the welfare state. And there is never enough money for the welfare state.
2017-07-04 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: Metrorail, The Poster Child for Democrat Misrule, by Arthur Purves
That is how Democrats govern. Metrorail safety and reliability is secondary. The priority is getting union support at elections with unaffordable raises and benefits. With Democrats, it is government of the unions, by the unions, and for the unions.
2017-07-03 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Reclaiming Our History to Mend Our Culture, by Sharon Kilarski
Historian and educator Jason Goetz looks to the classics as a means for our culture to survive. As author of two sets of histories, Goetz hopes his works will reinvigorate high school history classes and better prepare the next generation. This is crucial, Goetz believes, because the model for how we educate is broken. (See LookingAtClassics for more.)
2017-07-03 ~Potpourri WT: Fourth of July 100 years ago made familiar headlines, by Nicole Ault
Among the big stories of the day: The Senators took a doubleheader from the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. The president took a sail on a yacht. Race riots raged in East St. Louis. Congress debated a tax bill but went on holiday before acting. Politicians gave speeches in various corners of the country with predictably patriotic rhetoric.
2017-07-03 ~Potpourri WT: Sanders, wife accused of shady financial dealings, by Seth McLaughlin
The Vermont power couple has become the focus of a federal investigation into whether Jane O'Meara Sanders committed bank fraud as president of Burlington College and whether Mr. Sanders' office played a role. The press and many of Mr. Sanders' former liberal allies have gone silent.
2017-07-02 ~Environmt CFACT: The monumental environmental impacts of going 'Green', by Paul Driessen
Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy would inflict major land, wildlife, resource damage.
2017-06-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: 2016 Election and Demise of Journalistic Standards, by Michael Goodwin
Imprimis lecture by Michael Goodwin, chief political columnist for The New York Post
2017-06-xx ~Bulletin. Metrorail - Poster Child for Democrat Misrule
2017-06-30 ~States... Fox News: Dem state officials refusing to cooperate with Trump voter fraud probe
Democratic state officials already are refusing to cooperate with the voter fraud investigation ordered by President Trump, saying they will not hand over the extensive "voter roll data" the commission is seeking -- including Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. (Looks like a tacit admission that they're hiding something.)
2017-06-29 ~Health... BW: The Crazy Math Behind Drug Prices, by Paul Barrett & Robert Langreth
Ideally, drug companies would sell directly to consumers, and prices would be competitive. But in the U.S., two intermediaries drive up prices. Insurers hire "Pharmacy Benefit Managers" to get favorable discount prices, which encourages drug companies to consequently raise list prices. So the uninsured get hosed. Now a federal court in New Jersey is hearing a RICO lawsuit brought against this cartel.
2017-06-28 ~World.... Ars Technica: Petya-2017 ransomware is actually a disk wiper, by Dan Goodin
Tuesday's massive outbreak of malware that shut down computers around the world has been almost universally blamed on ransomware, which by definition seeks to make money by unlocking data held hostage only if victims pay a hefty fee. Now, some researchers are drawing an even bleaker assessment -- that the malware was a wiper with the objective of permanently destroying data.
2017-06-28 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Metro Sales Tax Bad for Va, Worse for Loudoun, by Dave LaRock
D.C.-based interest groups have been pushing for a 1% sales tax increase across the region served by Metro to fill a funding gap currently estimated at $7.5 billion over ten years. While this may sound like a reasonable proposition to some, when you drill down it becomes clear this is very unbalanced against Virginia and even less equitable for Loudoun County.
2017-06-28 ~Potpourri ReasonTV: People Will Die!, by Remy Munasifi (video 1:55)
ReasonTV artist Remy Munasifi on Wednesday released this new song parody that tallied over 40,000 views in less than 24 hours on YouTube. The video serves as the libertarian organization's response to lawmakers who use red herrings, appeals to emotion, and other logical fallacies to demonize opponents.
2017-06-28 ~Health... Epoch Times: In Defense of Fat, by Justina Reichel
In recent years, a burgeoning number of scientists and journalists have come forward to suggest that the obesity crisis is caused by something far bigger than us: bad nutrition science, bad food policy, and chronic misinformation from the government and nutrition experts. In fact, the dietary advice we've been given for the past half century has created the perfect storm and near-ideal conditions for an obesity epidemic.
2017-06-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: Testimony before Va Board of Education - FLE and ESSA, by Fred Costello
Your proposed ESSA plan has a number of Title-related programs intended to remedy student deficiencies or handicaps -- handicaps that have their roots in faulty family lives. Yet you do nothing to teach today's students how to be good, faithful husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, in stable marriages -- family lives that produce good, happy citizens. The FLE program here in Fairfax County illustrates the point.
2017-06-26 ~Potpourri UK Sun: Meet 'the most armed man in America', by Jon Lockett
Mel Bernstein estimates that his military collection in Colorado is worth millions. Known as the Dragon Man, he has earned the title as 'the most armed man in the US' and has a frightening 3,000 weapons in his collection -- and that doesn't include the tanks.
2017-06-26 ~National. Project Veritas: CNN admits their Trump-Russia narrative is FAKE NEWS
Project Veritas has released a video (8:48 min) of CNN Producer John Bonifield, who was caught on hidden-camera admitting that there is no proof to CNN's Russia narrative. "All the nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school you're just like, that's adorable. That's adorable. This is a business."
2017-06-26 ~Health... UK Mirror: Regular sex 'can help prevent heart disease' in men, by Pat Hagan
Enjoying regular sex can help reduce the risk of developing heart disease -- but the news isn't so great for women. Research found having sex several times a week can slash levels of homocysteine in men, whereas women benefit far less from regular romps. (Ladies: To keep your man healthy, some sacrifices just have to be made!)
2017-06-26 ~Health... UK Express: To live to 100, eat less sugar, by Sarah Westcott
A doctor has revealed the secrets behind the "world's healthiest village" -- and there it all comes down to eating less sugar.
2017-06-24 ~Potpourri WT: A guidebook for Christians experiencing cultural vertigo -- Book review
In his latest book, "Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput tackles the question vexing so many Christians today: In a culture increasingly hostile to the religion that nourished its roots, should Christians retreat or engage? Archbishop Chaput's response is unambiguous: engage, with vigor.
2017-06-24 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Madison HS coach Lenny Schultz killed on I-495, by Dave Facinoli
The Madison High School community is mourning the loss of its head football coach, Lenny Schultz, who was killed the afternoon of June 24 in a crash on the inner loop of the Capitol Beltway near Springfield. (Also WTOP reports.)
2017-06-22 ~National. WT: Susan Rice malfeasance locked in Obama's archive, by Dan Boylan, Guy Taylor
The Deep State is slow-walking the delivery of subpoenaed records on former National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice's handling of classified information and the "unmasking" of Trump campaign workers -- material that middle-level NSC managers claim was transferred to President Obama's library and could "remain closed to the public for five years."
2017-06-22 ~National. WT: For Democrats, the party's over and no place to call home, by Wesley Pruden
George McGovern was the party's experiment in trying to light a fire with something from the left wing woodpile, and when the logs are wet it's hard to do that.
2017-06-22 ~National. WT: Report says 1.4 million illegals working under stolen SSNs, by Stephen Dinan
Most illegal immigrants who pay taxes have stolen someone else's legal identity, and the IRS doesn't do a very good job of letting those American citizens and legal immigrants know they're being impersonated, the tax agency's inspector general said in a new report released Thursday.
2017-06-21 ~National. WT: Nearly 30% of illegal immigrant children at border have ties to MS-13, gangs
Nearly 30 percent of the illegal immigrant children the U.S. is currently holding in its secure dormitories have ties to criminal gangs, the government revealed Wednesday, suggesting the Obama-era surge of Central Americans has fed the country's growing problem with MS-13 and other gangs.
2017-06-20 ~FxMisc... DC Policy Ctr: Migration to D.C. stable, plummets for suburbs, by Mike Maciag
Net domestic migration remains positive for D.C. and Loudoun, but negative for the rest of the region. In 2016 alone, Fairfax County lost 17,820 of its 1.1 million plus residents -- about 42 percent of the local net migration. Manassas and Falls Church experienced the greatest rate losses relative to the size of their populations.
2017-06-19 ~National. WT: Study of non-citizen votes close to Trump's number, by Rowan Scarborough
A research group in New Jersey has taken a fresh look at postelection polling data and concluded that the number of noncitizens voting illegally in U.S. elections is likely far greater than previous estimates. As many as 5.7 million noncitizens may have voted in the 2008 election, which put Barack Obama in the White House.
2017-06-19 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Let's face it, DC's Metro is the worst in the world, by Jason Russell
Riders of D.C.'s Metrorail subway system might feel they deserve a reward for enduring more than a year of SafeTrack delays. Instead, riders are getting hit with fare increases and service cuts, effective June 25. Perhaps it's what they should have expected. After all, mismangement is a chronic feature of the subway system in the capital of the richest country in the world.
2017-06-18 ~Virginia. Election Law Center: College Democrat will plead guilty to voter fraud in Va.
Andrew Spieles, a student at James Madison University, will spend at least 100 days in prison for submitting the names of deceased individuals to the Registrar's Office. The Registrar's office did not have the authority to dismiss registration forms based on false content. There is no current entity that verifies the validity of Virginia voter registration forms. (Also, from WTVR.)
2017-06-18 ~Report... Funding of Virginia Transportation Projects, by Fred Costello-196
2017-06-15 ~Health... BW: American Chipmakers Outsourced Toxicity Problem, by Cam Simpson
Twenty-five years ago, U.S. tech companies pledged to stop using chemicals that caused miscarriages and birth defects. They failed to ensure that their Asian suppliers did the same, and generations of women making digital devices at the heart of the global economy are paying the price.
2017-06-14 ~Virginia. BallotPedia: 2017 Virginia gubernatorial primary results: Northam vs Gillespie
-- DEM for Gov: Ralph Northam (55.9%), Tom Perriello (44.1%)
-- DEM for LtGov: Justin Fairfax (49.1%), Susan Platt (39.2.1%), Gene Rossi (11.7)
-- GOP for Gov: Edward Gillespie (43.7%), Corey Stewart (42.5%), Frank Wagner (13.8%)
-- GOP for LtGov: Jill Vogel (42.8%), Bryce Reeves (40.0%), Glenn Davis (17.2%)
2017-06-14 ~National. Ars Technica: Navy may resurrect retired Perry-class frigates, by Sean Gallagher
The Navy is looking at "every trick" to grow the fleet more quickly towards the Navy's goal of 355 ships, including extending the lives of ships already in the fleet and "bringing ships back." The Perry class ships were the Navy's equivalent of the Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt II -- workhorse ships that lacked glamor, but performed missions essential to the fleet.
2017-06-14 ~National. WaPo: Another MSM-inspired Bernie supporter guns down GOP in Alexandria
Bernie supporter James Hodgkinson, 66, of Illinois unleashed a barrage of gunfire Wednesday at a park in Alexandria, Va., as Republican members of Congress held a morning baseball practice, wounding five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.). Fortunately, Capitol Police were on hand with weapons to prevent a mass murder.
2017-06-14 ~National. Epoch Times: Bank Money - 'The Root of All Evil', by Valentin Schmid
The one force that causes the most harm in our economy also happens to be the least well-known and understood. In the United States and most other countries, the government grants private banks the right to create money out of nothing and forces individuals to accept said money as legal tender and to use it to pay their taxes.
2017-06-14 ~National. Daily Caller: A Code Of Ethics For K-12 Educators, by David Horowitz, Mark Tapson
Since the '60s, American colleges and universities have been fundamentally transformed from institutions of higher learning to mills of political indoctrination. Now through the leftwing schools of education, the tentacles of that "social justice" indoctrination now latch onto youthful minds in secondary schools beginning in kindergarten. Today's young college arrivals are shoddily educated but already steeped in leftwing propaganda.
2017-06-08 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: I-66 toll plans nearly final, by Max Smith
Newly revised plans for Interstate 66 toll lanes between the Beltway and U.S. 29 in Gainesville that will be formally presented to the public next week are nearly final, the private companies designing and building the lanes said.
2017-06-04 ~Environmt Fx Free Citizen: 31,487 U.S. Scientists Reject Global Warming Hoax, by J. Moseley
A growing list of 31,487 U.S. scientists (and counting) has signed a petition strongly rejecting as unproven the hypothesis of man-made global warming or climate change. These signers include four NASA astronauts, at least two Nobel Prize winning physicists, 9,029 Ph.D.s and some of the nation's top climatologists.
2017-06-03 ~Environmt Examiner: Green religion - justification by climate faith alone -- Editorial
Listen closely to the cant and jargon of modern environmentalism, and in the empty invocations of "science", you are witnessing the rites of a religious faith. If the screams after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement seemed overwrought, it's because Trump hadn't merely adopted a policy the other side disagreed with; he'd committed a secular, liberal, sacrilege.
2017-06-02 ~National. CatholicCurture.org: How conservative ideas are censored, by Phil Lawler
In America today, the fields of education, the media, and entertainment are all dominated by the Left. Conservative activists have put their trust in the political system, leaving these fields uncontested. Conservatives have been busy trying to shape the country's laws; liberals meanwhile have been shaping the country's children.
2017-06-01 ~State-IL. BW: S, Moody's Downgrade Illinois to Near Junk, by Elizabeth Campbell
Illinois had its bond rating downgraded to one step above junk by Moody's Investors Service and S Global Ratings, the lowest ranking on record for a U.S. state, as the long-running political stalemate over the budget shows no signs of ending. Legislative gridlock has sidetracked efforts not only to address pension needs but also to achieve fiscal balance.
2017-06-01 ~FxSchools WaPo: Fairfax County selects new school superintendent, by Shapiro Balingit
Scott Brabrand, a former Fairfax High School principal who now leads a small district in Lynchburg is in line to become the next superintendent of Virginia's largest school system, the Fairfax County School Board announced Thursday.
2017-06-01 ~Environmt WT: Trump rescues U.S. from Obama's Paris climate accord, by Ben Wolfgang
President Trump's America-first mantra steamrolled over the objections of lawmakers, top CEOs, the Pentagon, the U.N. and even his own daughter, as he announced Thursday that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate accord to limit greenhouse gas emissions. "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," he continued. "I promised I would exit or renegotiate any deal that doesn't serve America's interests."
2017-05-31 ~National. WT: Obama's 2016 regulations cost economy $2 trillion a year, by David Sherfinski
The Obama administration issued a record number of new regulations on its way out the door in 2016, leaving an administrative state that saps the economy of nearly $2 trillion a year, or about $15,000 per household. Some scholars say it's time to push the federal courts to roll back regulatory power and force it back into the hands of Congress.
2017-05-31 ~FxMisc... Connection: Reston Residents Upset with County's Zoning Amendment, by F. Forbush
The Fairfax County Dept of Planning and Zoning wants to amend the zoning ordinance for Reston, but it was met with a lot of grief during three community meetings this month on May 3 and May 15 at the North County Governmental Center and May 24 at Lake Anne Elementary School. The May 3 meeting saw Supervisor Cathy Hudgins explode with rage at the criticisms.
2017-05-30 ~Virginia. WT: Audit finds noncitizens voted for years in Virginia, by Stephen Dinan
More than 5,500 noncitizens were registered to vote in Virginia this decade, and were only bumped from the rolls after they admitted to being ineligible. Some 1,852 of them even managed to cast ballots that were likely illegal, though undetected. Just as troubling was Virginia's efforts to try to hide the information from the public, says the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
2017-05-30 ~FxSchools WaPo: Jeanette Hough resigns from Fairfax school board, prompts special election
Fairfax County School Board member Jeanette Hough announced Monday that she is resigning effective Wednesday, leaving her post after less than two years in office. A special election to fill the vacancy left by Hough could be held as soon as August.
2017-05-24 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Dark Origins of Communism: Part 1, 2, and 3, by Joshua Philipp
Most people think communism originated with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. However, Marxists point to François-Noël "Gracchus" Babeuf as the first revolutionary communist. Active during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, Babeuf's vision was to eliminate money and force people to hand over all fruits of their labor to a 'common storehouse'.
2017-05-24 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Insects Are Making Their Way Into the American Diet, by Emel Akan
Investors are betting millions on the potential of crickets as a new protein source. Crickets are 65 percent protein by dry weight, which means they stack up well against traditional protein sources like beef, chicken, and eggs. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says that crickets are 12 times more efficient to raise than cattle, requiring minimal feed, water, and space.
2017-05-22 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: 'Emergent gravity' theory offers alternative to 'dark matter'
A Dutch physicist re-derives Einstein's equations from the thermodynamics of the space, getting general relativity plus an additional term, which may replace the theory of dark matter. Other physicists are challenged to refine his work and see if the unsatisfying concept of dark matter can be displaced.
2017-05-22 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: Reston's Population - Past, Present and Future, by Terry Maynard
Fairfax County's is hell-bent on raising the density limits in our Planned Residential Community (PRC) zoning ordinance to accommodate growth laid out in the new Reston Master Plan. But the County has done virtually nothing about providing the infrastructure and amenities required to meet that population in Reston, and totally ignores Reston's vision and planning principles as laid out in the plan.
2017-05-20 ~National. Examiner: Where Anti-Trump Derangement Syndrome comes from, by Ying Ma
... Remember also that all those sophisticated anti-Trump voters with college or advanced degrees likely first learned to hate those with whom they disagree on the very university campuses that have failed to teach critical thinking and intellectual tolerance.
2017-05-19 ~National. OANN: The Mysterious Death of Seth Rich (Video 6:13)
The death of DNC staffer Seth Rich is stirring up national controversy as conflicting reports continue pouring in and pressure to spike the story grow ever louder -- even at Fox News. This is the first of a 3-part documentary being shown by One America News, whose site was forced to remove the content after serious DoS attacks ensued. So obviously some people don't want any distractions from their Russia-DNC-Wikileaks conspiracy theory.
2017-05-18 ~National. Free Beacon: 7.2 Million Voter Registrations Are Duplicated in Multiple States
More than 7 million voter registrations appear to be registered in two states simultaneously. The new voter data was gathered from the Kansas-run interstate voter registration crosscheck program, which is used to identify "possible duplicate registrations among states."
2017-05-18 ~National. WT: Why swamp fever must be cured, by Stephen B. Presser
The battle: Mr. Trump and his supporters believe that it is the job of government to protect the basic economic rights of the citizen, but also to promote individual initiative, to allow maximum freedom to market mechanisms, to lower taxes, and to maintain the rule of law. Mr. Trump's opponents believe that it is the job of government to promote reverse discrimination, to redistribute economic resources, and to implement central planning of the economy.
2017-05-18 ~National. WT: Anything goes in the Great American Snipe Hunt, by Wesley Pruden
Now anything goes. All restraints are loosened, all self-discipline trashed. There's no cure or even treatment for Trump Derangement Syndrome, a disease as wild and as swiftly lethal as anything imported from the Ebola River valley of the dark continent. The rules and taboos that once guided even the sleaziest excuse for a newspaper no longer apply.
2017-05-16 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: Residents Oppose County on Density Cap Changes, by Dave Emke
"Zoning and planning have to mesh, and that doesn't seem to happen in this county. In the plan for Reston, originally, we gave up density for open space." -- Ron Weber, a longtime member of the Reston Planning Zoning Committee.
2017-05-13 ~World.... Guardian: 'Accidental hero' finds kill switch to stop spread of WCry ransomware
An "accidental hero" has halted the global spread of the WannaCry ransomware, reportedly by spending a few dollars on registering a domain name hidden in the malware. More than 45,000 attacks by this Windows malware have been recorded in 74 countries, including the UK, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Italy, and Egypt. Microsoft is providing patches to prevent future infection.
2017-05-11 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Overtime pushes some Fx firemen past $200K/yr, by Brian Trompeter
Overtime pay is not a perquisite, but a necessity caused by mandatory, round-the-clock staffing requirements, said Fairfax County Fire Chief Richard Bowers Jr. The Fire and Rescue Department must fill 356 positions each day, but has about 45 vacancies, he said. Overtime payments are not included when calculating employees' pension benefits.
2017-05-08 ~National. WT: Professor out after fighting Duke's racism 'training', by Bradford Richardson
Paul Griffiths, Warren professor of Catholic theology, is resigning from the Duke Divinity School after colleagues and administrators tried to punish him for publicly criticizing a "training" program espousing a liberal view of racism. He is just the latest academic to find himself out of a job for refusing to toe the progressive line.
2017-05-07 ~National. WND: Obama tripled 'unmaskings' in 2016 election year, by Garth Kant
An official government report indicates the Obama administration requested the unmasking of almost three times as many Americans under surveillance during the election year of 2016 than during the year before. Unmasking is the revealing of names within the intelligence community of U.S. citizens whose communications were monitored during foreign surveillance.
2017-05-04 ~National. WT: Republicans eat another 'crap sandwich' on health care, by Charles Hurt
Congratulations, House Republicans. You just passed the second-worst socialized medicine bill in American history. And, if it passes the U.S. Senate, you will own the disaster formerly known as Obamacare -- just in time for the 2018 elections.
2017-05-04 ~National. WT: FBI finds 'de-policing after anti-cop hostility, by Valerie Richardson
An unclassified FBI study on last year's cop-killing spree found officers are "de-policing" amid concerns that anti-police defiance fueled in part by movements like BlacKKK Lives Matter has become the "new norm". The study finds 28% of assailants were motivated by hatred of police and a desire to "kill law enforcement", with the remainder just wanting to avoid custody.
2017-05-02 ~National. WT: Ann Coulter and campus outrage, by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
American colleges now resemble reeducation camps, thanks to radical professors. I cannot imagine any intelligent person wanting anything to do with most universities, much less wanting to lecture at one. Why would Ann Coulter want to speak at U.C. Berkeley? Why would any intelligent person want to speak at almost any university in the country?
2017-05-01 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY2018 Adopted Budget Package
2017-04-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Left's War on Free Speech, by Kimberley Strassel
Imprimis lecture by Kimberley Strassel, author of The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech
2017-04-28 ~Report... Voter Fraud in Fairfax County, by Fred Costello-193
2017-04-28 ~FxPension Fx Times: Fairfax County debates employee pension reform, by Angela Woolsey
The benefits currently offered through Fairfax County's employee pension plans are financially unsustainable, Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity says. Employee retirement plans sparked more debate than any other subject, rivaled only by the county's approach to Metro, at the Board of Supervisors' budget committee meeting on April 21.
2017-04-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: School Board Members Get Public Spanking, by Tom Cranmer
Numerous school board members got a severe public spanking at the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) meeting on April 27, where six speakers took on different subjects and exposed the recklessness and corruption within the school board and school system.
2017-04-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: Testimony before FCPS - FLE and Caring Culture, by Fred Costello
The Fairfax Co Family Life Education program is a misnomer. It does not teach responsible family life -- only 'Pregnancy-free Sex at Any Age'. Today, divorce ends 50% of marriages, but the program does nothing to reduce this rate. FLE's goal should be to cultivate a caring culture and get the divorce rate down to 1%.
2017-04-23 ~National. WT: Presidential popularity parallels dollar strength, by S. Moore J. Tammy
Strong dollar presidents have been economically successful (JFK, Reagan, Clinton) and weak dollar presidents have been mostly unsuccessful and unpopular (Nixon, Ford, Carter, G.W. Bush, Obama). Correlation is not causation, but it is instructive.
2017-04-19 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Metro GM proposes 'new business model', $500M/yr in extra funding
GM Paul Wiedefeld said Metro needs $15.5 billion over the next 10 years for investments to "remain safe and reliable," an average increase of nearly 30% over the agency's previous request. Two funding proposals that have been floated are a 1-cent regional sales tax, which would generate about $500 million a year, and a tax on property close to Metro stations.
2017-04-17 ~Health... WT: Type 2 diabetes on rise in minorities, young people, by Laura Kelly
A new study shows a 4.8 percent increase in type 2 diabetes for youths between 10 and 19 years old, and a 1.8 percent increase in type 1 diabetes among those aged 0 to 19 years old. Minorities were disproportionately even higher. (The article barely mentions that Type 2 can be prevented or even reversed by minimizing intake of sugars and carbohydrates.)
2017-04-16 ~National. WT: Democrats latching onto 'completely false' (Dem-funded) Russia dossier
Not one of the sensational allegations in the Democrat-financed memos from former British spy Christopher Steele has been verified independently, at least publicly. Yet Democrats are citing the dossier as a reason to achieve their major political objective -- an independent investigative commission on Trump-Russia.
2017-04-13 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Somewheres vs the Anywheres -- Book review, by Simon Veazey
Author David Goodhart says society has increasingly been shaped by a group of people whose identity and self-worth is not tied to place, but rather to their achievements and position: the Anywheres. That domination is now being challenged by the Somewheres: people whose identity and worth is rooted in place and attachment to a group.
2017-04-12 ~National. Sun Gazette: Single-payer is the exact wrong way to go, by Donna Hurlock, M.D.
Many seem to think that having a health-insurance policy equals having access to health care. So having "coverage" is their goal, and forcing working people to pay for "coverage" for non-working people through taxes is somehow seen to be virtuous. Sadly, this is terribly misguided.
2017-04-12 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fx budget hearing brings usual back-and-forth, by Brian Trompeter
The Fairfax Co public budget hearings on April 4-6 got the usual pleas from education backers, but also from residents seeking fiscal restraint. Jim Parmelee held up a No-Meals-Tax campaign sign used in last fall's referendum defeat. And Joe Connor recalled former FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza stating that "school officials had nothing else to cut except services to the students".
2017-04-07 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: Strategic Plan on Subsidized County Housing -- mtg on 04/17/2017
A community meeting will be held on April 17 at South Lakes High School to discuss the formation of a countywide strategic subsidized housing plan. (Note that there are already more people in subsidized housing units in Fairfax County than in the entire Town of Vienna. See Fred Costello's 2010 report on this topic.)
2017-04-06 ~World.... ANC Report: The Long Stench of Syria's "Gas Attack" Fake News, by Michael Darr
It's not yet clear what happened in the al-Qaeda occupied Syrian city of Idlib on Tuesday, but that's not stopping establishment media outlets and White House officials from swiftly condemning it as a gas attack by President Bashar al-Assad against his own people, including children. This accusation might be believable if we haven't heard it countless times before, only to find it to be discredited later.
2017-04-06 ~National. WT: The United States in World War I -- 100 Years Later
World War I is central to American and world history, but few Americans are aware of its importance. These 26 articles, presented by the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission, are thus offered to the curious reader.
2017-04-06 ~FxPension FCTA: Fairfax County needs to Fix its Pension Problem, by Charles McAndrew
The pensions in Fairfax County are currently unsustainable. The county needs to raise the retirement age and adopt something similar to the Federal Government's "FERS" pension plan.
2017-04-05 ~National. Tablet Mag: The Obama Spying Scandal Started Long Before Trump, by Lee Smith
At least as far back as the Iran Deal, the Obama administration weaponized the NSA's legitimate monitoring of communications of foreign officials to stay one step ahead of domestic political opponents. Intelligence collected on Americans, lawmakers, and figures in the pro-Israel community was fed back to the Obama White House as part of its political operations.
2017-04-04 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Arthur Purves' Presentation to Fx Co Supervisors
2017-04-03 ~National. NY Post: The Russia 'scandal' now looks like a Team Obama operation -- Editorial
It's no surprise that US spooks intercept foreign officials' calls. But to "unmask" the Americans' names on the other end is rare. The Obama administration not only unmasked Trump associates' contacts with the Russians, but changed the classification of the unmasked transcripts, and other similar material, in order to spread the information as widely as possible within the government.
2017-04-02 ~State-RI. WT: Rhode Island's successful Medicaid experiment, by Stephen Moore
In 2009 Rhode Island received a waiver from federal Medicaid rules in exchange for a cap on federal costs. The results have been better service at lower cost. By extension, block granting Medicaid to the states would likely add a new incentive structure to control costs while holding state lawmakers accountable for delivering quality care.
2017-04-02 ~National. WT: Trump should inflict Obamacare on members of Congress -- Editorial
To inspire Congress to address the Obamacare mess, Trump should direct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to cancel a certain congressional exemption from Obamacare -- it's probably illegal, anyway -- and this would require senators, representatives and their staffs to live with the rest of us without the generous premium subsidies members of Congress now receive.
2017-04-01 ~Potpourri JHU Mag: The internet of bad things, by Jenna McLaughlin
Computer code is in everything. Everything is connected. And that's the problem.
2017-03-xx ~FxPension AMAC: Our Plan to Fix Social Security
AMAC's proposal has three Prime Directives: 1)Guarantee an increase benefits for those with lower earnings, 2)Guarantee achieving solvency and ensure benefits continue, 3)Provide a means for all earners to have more income available at retirement through a complementary or supplemental Social Security Plus account (similar to the Chilean model).
2017-03-30 ~Potpourri FCTA: An online replacement for the Patient Intake clipboard form, by David Swink
After years of doctors and dentists using computer-based EMRs, it's surprising that the dreaded clipboard is still being used to collect patient information. And periodically the patient is asked to fill out the form again -- from scratch. This article demonstrates how a web-based alternative could benefit doctor and patient alike.
2017-03-28 ~Environmt WT: Trump scraps 'social cost of carbon' experiment, by Ben Wolfgang
President Trump's executive order Tuesday nixes the federal government's use of the obscure "social cost of carbon" calculation, ending an Obama-era experiment that put an official price tag on greenhouse gas emissions, now at about $40 per ton of carbon. The figure was a key way for Obama administration to financially justify its ambitious global warming agenda.
2017-03-27 ~National. Frontpage Mag: The Civil War [with the Left] is Here, by Daniel Greenfield
A civil war has begun. This civil war is very different than the last one. There are no cannons or cavalry charges. The left doesn't want to secede. It wants to rule. Political conflicts become civil wars when one side refuses to accept the existing authority. The left has rejected all forms of authority that it doesn't control.
2017-03-23 ~handout.. FCTA Palm Card shows high taxes, mediocre education, by Arthur Purves
Since 2000, real estate taxes for the typical Fairfax County homeowner increased 154% (from $2.4K to $6.1K), while Fairfax County Public Schools spending has increased 108% ($1.4B to $2.9B) while enrollment increased only 21%.
2017-03-23 ~Potpourri TIME: The Home of the Future, by Karl Vick
Luckily for a nation of undersavers, a trailer park turns out to be a superb place to grow old in. Neighbors are close and look after one another. Asphalt paths invite strolling. The cribbage tourneys, bingo and potluck dinners that cram shift loneliness from a default of old age to a conscious decision. And no stairs!
2017-03-23 ~National. WT: Social warriors, sometimes, by Kelly Riddell
Rape stories, when they can be used to vault social-justice issues into the nation's psyche, get exhaustive coverage and opining by the mainstream media, regardless of whether they're even true -- remember the Duke lacrosse team and the UVa fraternity. But a Rockville, Maryland high school rape case involving two illegal aliens is virtually ignored in the mainstream media -- it goes against their liberal narrative.
2017-03-23 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: MCA Casts 'Painful' Outlook for County's Budget, by Fallon Forbush
The McLean Citizens Association hosted a meeting to discuss the county's $4.10 billion advertised budget at the McLean Community Center on March 16. There was a lot of moaning and groaning from Fairfax County and school representatives.
2017-03-19 ~National. WT: Maryland county's count suggests noncitizens voting across U.S.
In Frederick County, a check against jury pools found that nearly 180 noncitizens were registered to vote, and 63 of these had voted, some in multiple elections. Such numbers offer a limited snapshot from a handful of jury pools, but they indicate that noncitizens are in fact registered to vote and are casting ballots in federal, state and local elections.
2017-03-19 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Tax increase favored for Va. transit shortfall, by Max Smith
Money keeping Virginia's transit systems from falling apart is set to drop by more than 40 percent over the next three years, and a state panel is preparing to recommend increasing the regional gas tax or other taxes to close the gap.
2017-03-17 ~Health... Ars Technica: Genome study reveals human groups evolved to eat different diets
A new study of hundreds of human genomes has revealed that groups in various regions of the world have evolved for diets with different amounts of meat and vegetables. Our genomes have responded rapidly to changes in our diets for thousands of years. We are not optimized to eat what people ate 50,000 years ago as hunter-gatherers.
2017-03-17 ~FxTaxes.. WT: Fairfax County budget notice advertisement -- Takes up all of page 2
2017-03-17 ~FxMisc... Fx Free Citizen: Is Fairfax a Sanctuary County or Not?, by Lou DiLeonardo
Will Fairfax Police renew their participation in ICE's "287g" program? Just holding illegal alien felons for a day or two at local jails after ICE places a detainer on them is not enough to prove Fairfax in not a sanctuary county. There is no half a loaf here; either you are or you are not a sanctuary for illegal aliens.
2017-03-16 ~National. WT: Transgendered child abuse, by Kelly Riddell
As many as 98% of gender-confused boys and 88% of gender-confused girls accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty. The trend of medicating young children toward their 'authentic selves' is wrong and dangerous, and amounts to child abuse in the name of social justice.
2017-03-16 ~National. WT: The hateful idea of hate crime -- Editorial
Hate-crime laws enshrine the concept that some lives are worth more than other lives and thus more deserving of protection than others -- like the barnyard pigs in George Orwell's cautionary tale, Animal Farm.
2017-03-15 ~Environmt Climate Depot: Obama 'stashed' $77B in 'climate money'to elude budget cuts
To cut 'climate money', GOP must first find where Obama stashed it. 'Obama aides spread money across the government to elude cuts.' Goal was to make 'programs hard to disentangle'. Obama 'integrated climate programs into everything the federal government did.' -- Bloomberg News
2017-03-14 ~State-FL. WT: Retired Air Force captain demonstrates how to hold local officials accountable
Burnie Thompson is building a new model of local government accountability using social media to ruffle the feathers of the political establishment in Bay County, Fla., and hopes one day to teach others how to replicate the low-cost plan in their own communities. But it wouldn't be possible if he hadn't been fired.
2017-03-14 ~National. WT: Number of sanctuary cities nears 500 (listed here), by Stephen Dinan
Nearly 500 jurisdictions are now sanctuary cities, according to a group that's tracked the issue for more than a decade, and who said there's been a massive surge in the number of places trying to thwart federal immigration agents since President Trump's election.
2017-03-13 ~FxMisc... Annandale Blog: Fairfax officials try to calm illegals' fears, by Ellie Ashford
"Fairfax County cooperates with the federal government when there are criminal activities. What we will never do is turn our police officers into ICE agents. It is essential for people to trust the police and not be afraid to report something or ask for help." -- Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman Sharon Bulova
2017-03-12 ~FxSchools FCTA: What Fairfax County Parents Need to Know about FLE, by a Citizen Crusader
This is a two-page Q of what is going on in Fairfax County Public Schools. Note that an outraged mother testified at the March 9 School Board meeting that she had to take her children out of the school system due to safety and privacy concerns after discovering that school officials were secretly allowing boys into the girls bathrooms of her elementary school without her knowledge or consent.
2017-03-09 ~Potpourri Examiner: The upsides and downsides to eliminating paper money, by Kevin Cochrane
There is an effort gaining momentum to limit, or even abolish, physical money. There are some very positive upsides, but there are also some very disturbing downsides too, especially privacy.
2017-03-09 ~Potpourri American Mirror: Obama's two birth certificates, by Kyle Olson
An Obama has joined the birther movement. Malik Obama, Barack Obama's half-brother, tweeted image of what appears to be Barack's birth certificate. Except it's not from Hawaii, but rather Kenya.
2017-03-09 ~Health... New Atlas: Low-gluten diets linked to increased risk of diabetes, by Rich Haridy
Gluten-free diets have exploded in popularity in recent years, but many have questioned whether this new food trend is actually medically helpful for those without a diagnosed celiac disease. A new study released by the American Heart Foundation points to a possible relationship between low-gluten diets and a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes.
2017-03-07 ~National. Daily Signal: House Republican Health Care Bill Misses the Mark, by Ed Haislmaier
This bill misses the mark primarily because it fails to correct the features of Obamacare that drove up health care costs. Congress should continue to focus on first repealing the failed policy of Obamacare and then act to offer patient-centered, market-based replacement reforms.
2017-03-04 ~Health... Ars Technica: New non-addictive opioid works only where it hurts, by Beth Mole
With a straightforward chemical tweak, the addictive and often deadly opioid painkiller, fentanyl, may transform into a safe, non-addictive, targeted therapy, esearchers reported Thursday in Science. In rats, a chemically modified form of the opioid could only work on inflamed, hurting tissue -- not the rest of the body. Plus, it wasn't deadly at high doses, and it wasn't addictive.
2017-03-03 ~National. Breitbart: Mark Levin says Obama conducting 'Silent Coup' vs Trump, by J. Pollak
The Obama administration sought, and eventually obtained, authorization to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign; continued monitoring the Trump team even when no evidence of wrongdoing was found; then relaxed the NSA rules to allow evidence to be shared widely within the government, virtually ensuring that the information would be leaked to the media.
2017-03-03 ~FxPension Sun Gazette: MCA Seeks Independent Task Force on FCPS Pensions, by B. Trumpeter
The McLean Citizens Association (MCA) board of directors passed a resolution March 1 urging the Fairfax County School Board to establish an independent task force that would examine ways to make the school system's retirement plans financially sustainable, in time for the fiscal 2019 budget recommendations.
2017-03-02 ~Potpourri JWR: The decline and fall of the American elite, by Victor Davis Hanson
Establishment furor over the six-week-old Trump administration is growing. Mr. Trump is in a virtual war with the mainstream global media, the entrenched so-called "deep state", the Democratic Party establishment, progressive activists, and many in the Republican Party as well. But who, exactly, makes up these disgruntled elite classes?
2017-03-01 ~Virginia. WT: Thousands of noncitizens lurking on Virginia's voter rolls, by R. Scarborough
When Virginia Delegate Robert Marshall asked the state's 133 local governments to provide numbers on noncitizens and jury pools, Loudoun County produced some hefty figures. Between 2009 and 2014, the county of more than 350,000 residents had disqualified more than 9,000 of them for jury duty because they were not U.S. citizens. ...
2017-03-01 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: SCOTUS Hands Dems a Win in Redistricting Battle, by Kevin Daley
The case concerned 12 state legislative districts drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature in Virginia, in connection with the redistricting process begun after the 2010 census. A lower court concluded that 1 of the 12 districts challenged in this case had been racially gerrymandered.
2017-03-01 ~National. Daily Mail: Obama and Valerie Jarrett plan Trump insurgency from Kalorama
EXCLUSIVE: Barack Obama's close confidante Valerie Jarrett has moved into his new DC home, which is now the nerve center for their plan to mastermind the insurgency against President Trump. Obama's goal is to oust Trump from the presidency either by forcing his resignation or through his impeachment, a family friend tells DailyMail.com.
2017-03-01 ~National. Epoch Times: Sanctuary Policies Shield Convicted Criminals From Feds
The number of illegal immigrants handed over to authorities nationwide is less than 3 percent of what it was six years ago, thanks to a suite of sanctuary policies at the local level combined with a hands-off approach at the federal level in recent years. So immigration agents are now forced to the streets to find criminal aliens released by local jails.
2017-03-01 ~FxSchools Liberty Council: Fairfax County LGBT Case Goes to VA Supreme Court
Tomorrow, Liberty Counsel argues before the Virginia Supreme Court in Lafferty v. Fairfax, the challenge to the Fairfax County School Board regarding its illegal policy in which the board added "sexual orientation", "gender identity", and "gender expression" to its policy and student handbook. Virginia's "Dillon Rule" may force a ruling against the county's LGBT policies.
2017-02-xx ~Potpourri FCTA: Play notes and chords on your computer, by David Swink
Have some fun with this, and perhaps provide some feedback and we'll make it better.
2017-02-29 ~FxTaxes.. WJLA: Fairfax County questioned in $7 Million land deal, by Chris Papst
Finances are tight in Fairfax County. Some worry its credit rating may fall, and taxes may be increased. The county needs money, but that didn't stop its supervisors from recently approving a $7 million land deal with a big-time political contributor.
2017-02-28 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: 24/7 work drives Metro ridership down 41% at Vienna station, by Max Smith
Metro ridership has dropped dramatically at stations affected by 24/7 track work, new numbers show, including a 41.2 percent decline in the last three months of 2016 at the Vienna station.
2017-02-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS needs an Office of Inspector General, by Charles McAndrew
Having an Auditor General position, as described in a January 2017 statement by the FCPS Board, does not provide adequate independence for reviewing management policy and proposed budget review. Having an Inspector General would provide this needed independence.
2017-02-26 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Email to FCRC, Fairfax GOP BOS discussing tax increases, by Arthur Purves
Republicans have campaigned for tax cuts and against Obamacare. However now that they're in position to do both, we're told they have no plan on how to do either. It is only two years before the next supervisors election. Now is the time to build public support for tax cuts. Waiting until September 2019 is too late.
2017-02-25 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: FCPS Needs an Inspector General, by Tom Cranmer
The public has lost confidence in FCPS and the School Board, as evidenced by the vote against the meals tax. Firing the Auditor General and the assistant last year and not announcing why you did not replace them adds to the mistrust. One way to restore trust is to establish the post of an Inspector General (IG).
2017-02-23 ~National. Epoch Times: Immigration Economics, by Valentin Schmid
Unlike the make-it-on-your-own-or-die immigration polices of the 19th century, the modern welfare state has fundamentally changed the incentives of immigration. Today, it has become the largest anti-poverty program in the world. The question becomes if the native population is ready to pay the price.
2017-02-23 ~Health... Epoch Times: Why Getting Dirty Is Good for Your Health, by Lynn Jaffee
Your well-being is connected to the microbes you carry on and in your body, and the greater variety that you are exposed to, especially as a child, the better the odds that you will be healthy as an adult. So explore the natural world. Check out wildflowers in the spring, study minnows in a nearby creek, explore pond ecology, touch and examine. It's OK to get a little dirty.
2017-02-22 ~Potpourri CNS News: Georgetown University OK with Slavery and Rape, by Bill Donohue
Two weeks ago, Jonathan Brown, a professor from Georgetown University publicly rose to the defense of slavery and rape, with barely a peep from the media. Brown, a convert to Islam, holds an endowed chair in Islamic studies at Georgetown. (The university received $20 million from Saudi Arabia 12 years ago to fund the Center run by Brown.)
2017-02-22 ~National. WT: Feds no longer push transgender bathrooms, leave to states, by B. Richardson
The Departments of Education and Justice on Wednesday issued a two-page letter reversing the Obama-era edict, saying that Title IX's prohibition on "sex" discrimination in education DOES NOT also apply to gender identity. The guidance also said the federal government must recognize "the primary role of the States and local school districts in establishing education policy."
2017-02-22 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Chairman Bulova says Fairfax NOT a Sanctuary County, by Charles McAndrew
2017-02-20 ~National. WaPo: Trump advisor views Islam itself as the problem, by Greg Jaffe (Horrified!)
For much of the past 16 years, Bush and Obama had played down Islam's role in fueling terrorism. But deputy assistant to President Trump Sebastian Gorka realizes the terror threat is rooted in Islam and "martial" parts of the Koran that he says predispose some Muslims to acts of terror. (A very good article, once you ignore the Post's bias against Gorka's perspective.)
2017-02-20 ~National. WT: Lower Obamacare premiums using high-risk pools, by Betsy McCaughey
The key is high-risk pools, not Paul Ryan's Obamacare-lite. There are, at most, 500,000 people in the individual market who would need high-risk coverage -- not the millions Democrats claim. Covering each of them will cost at least $32,000 a year. That's $16 billion or more a year, versus the $56 billion the nation currently shells out on Obamacare subsidies.
2017-02-20 ~National. WT: Finding the Flynn leak in the "Dark State" -- Editorial
There is no evidence that Mr. Flynn's telephone calls constituted any collusion with the Russians. There is, however, suspicion that U.S. intelligence agents broke the law, either in spying on Mr. Flynn or in leaking his telephone recordings to the abundant reporters in the opposition press.
2017-02-20 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Trump to dismantle Obama's 'Climate Action Plan', by M. Bastasch
President Donald Trump EPA to begin dismantling a regulation central to former President Barack Obama's plan to fight global warming, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing. Trump will issue a second order soon redeclaring "Waters of the U.S." to mean "navigable", not creeks and drainage ditches.
2017-02-17 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Communism - The Dead-End Path, by Joshua Philipp John Nania
What Marx and Engels set forth in "The Communist Manifesto" was an ideology based on struggle that "abolishes all religion, and all morality." They regarded their beliefs as being absolute -- the end of human progress -- and set forth a proposal that all other beliefs should be destroyed through violent revolution. (Similar to Islam!)
2017-02-15 ~National. WT: Nearly 2 million non-citizen Hispanics illegally registered to vote
The National Hispanic Survey provides additional evidence for use by anti-voter fraud conservatives and bolsters an analysis by professors at Old Dominion University who say non-citizens registered and voted in potentially large numbers.
2017-02-15 ~FxTaxes.. WTOP: Metro costs could bog down budgets for schools, police, by Max Smith
Schools, roads, public safety and other key budget needs could be squeezed out by ballooning needs at Metro after years of neglect, Nothern Virginia leaders were warned Tuesday. Fairfax County expects to contribute $61 million in capital funds and $20 million in operating money for the coming fiscal year's Metro budget.
2017-02-14 ~National. WT: Could North Korea deliver EMP to U.S. today?, by Peter Vincent Pry
When might North Korean develop missiles capable of striking the United States? Today. North Korea launched satellites in a polar south-to-north orbit in 2012 and 2016. Should these satellites contain low-yield nuclear payloads, Kim could, at will and without fingerprints, knock out the nation's entire electrical grid for over a year.
2017-02-14 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax RE tax bills up $40 in budget proposal, by Brain Trompeter
Proposal by county executive leaves school system $60 million short of what it seeks.
2017-02-14 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fairfax Co trims budget requests as revenues stay tepid, by Antonio Olivo
Fairfax County Executive Edward L. Long Jr. on Tuesday proposed a 2018 budget that would give county schools $61 million less than they are seeking, one of several hard choices he said the wealthy suburb must make as it struggles with tepid revenue and a public rejection of tax hikes.
2017-02-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: FY 2018 Budget Meeting by Ed Long, by Charles McAndrew
Homeowners: The current rate of the Real Estate tax will remain at $1.13 per $100 of assessed value (but the average assessed value will go up). The average real estate tax bill will increase approximately $40 for the homeowner.
2017-02-12 ~National. WT: Think tank backs ODU study on non-citizen voter fraud, by Rowan Scarborough
"Contrary to the claims of certain major media outlets and fact checkers, a comprehensive analysis of polling data, election records and government investigations shows that many noncitizens vote illegally in U.S. elections." -- 'Just Facts' President James D. Agresti
2017-02-12 ~FxMisc... WT: Sanctuary city debate shrouds decision on FBI's new HQ -- PG Co or Fx Co
The two finalists on where to build a new FBI headquarters: Prince George's County in Maryland, where local officials resist helping deport illegal immigrants, and Fairfax County in Virginia, where police make a point to cooperate. (So even though Fairfax is host to many illegals, it's police cooperation with ICE may give it an edge in the March decision.)
2017-02-11 ~National. NY Post: How Obama is scheming to sabotage Trump's presidency, by Paul Sperry
Obama isn't following the usual post-presidential hands-off. He's working behind the scenes to set up effectively a shadow government to not only protect his threatened legacy, but to sabotage the incoming administration and its popular "America First" agenda. His 'Organizing for Action' helped organize anti-Trump marches across US cities, some of which turned into riots.
2017-02-10 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Myth of Multitasking, by Conan Milner
Multitasking is like a trick we play on ourselves - because we're juggling more tasks, it feels like we're getting more done. But experts say the opposite is true. According to the American Psychological Association, multitasking can waste "as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time."
2017-02-10 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Is Central Banking a Capitalist or Communist Concept?, by V. Schmid
Central banks look capitalist on the surface, but have their roots in communist literature. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to "coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin". The Communist Manifesto calls for the "Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly."
2017-02-10 ~National. Epoch Times: Innovation Key to Job Growth in America, by Emel Akan
After decades of globalization, manufacturing needs to return to U.S. shores. It turns out that when a country loses the capability to manufacture, it loses the ability to innovate and compete as well. With apologies to Thomas Friedman, the world is not so flat, and distance still matters in certain industries.
2017-02-10 ~FxDRail.. Loudoun Times-Mirror: What will Metro really cost Loudoun?, by Sydney Kashiwagi
As the Washington Metrorail system readies to move into Loudoun County, the annual costs associated with the transit authority's operations and construction are becoming frighteningly real and worrisome for local officials.
2017-02-10 ~Environmt IBD: U.N. Official Reveals Real Reason Behind Warming Scare -- Editorial
At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.
2017-02-09 ~State-CA. JWR: California goes Confederate, by Victor Davis Hanson
California is becoming a reactionary two-tier state of masters and serfs whose culture is as peculiar and out of step with the rest of the country as was the antebellum South's. The state lashes out at the rest of the nation with threatened updated versions of the Old Confederacy's secession and nullification. Quite an irony given California's self-righteous liberal preening.
2017-02-09 ~Potpourri Times Dispatch: Time to license guns - for journalists -- Editorial
The ignorance [of journalists] is embarrassing, but it does make the media's support for gun control a tad more explicable: People fear what they don't understand.
2017-02-08 ~National. WaPo: The Disaster that is Obamacare [buried on page A15], by Dan Gorenstein
Although this Post article doesn't mention Obamacare, it bemoans the high-deductible insurance policies that Obamacare spawned, making even a Harvard medical doctor stay home rather than enter an ER with a potential heart attack. The article instead criticizes consumers for not price-shopping more effectively.
2017-02-06 ~National. City Journal: No Thug Left Behind [in Public Education], by Katherine Kersten
President Obama's Dept of Education made "racial equity" in school discipline one of its top priorities. The public schools of St. Paul, Minnesota have led the way in this racial-equity crusade. The violence and chaos that racial-equity policies have produced there should sound alarms across the nation about what can be expected by pursuing this course.
2017-02-06 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Real estate taxes could increase 12% this year, by Tom Cranmer
FCTA's Tom Cranmer estimates that the Fairfax County real estate tax rate could go up 12% this year, after factoring in additional Metro subsidies, loss of Federal funding due to Fairfax's sanctuary county status, and increased funding demanded by the school system.
2017-02-05 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: Why the Virginia college enrollment decline?, by Karin Kapsidelis
Where have all the high school seniors gone? Total enrollment at the state's public and private colleges and universities dropped this academic year -- a loss that came despite an increase in the pool of high school seniors who could have filled those seats.
2017-02-05 ~National. WT: BSA's moral compromising induces Scouting alternatives -- Editorial
One of the fastest-growing alternatives to the Boy Scouts of America is Trail Life USA, which is faith-based but non-sectarian. It was organized in 2013, and is a partner with American Heritage Girls, an alternative to the Girl Scouts of America.
2017-02-05 ~FxSchools FCPS: Community and Leadership Profile Survey -- Not so good!
Look at the terrible community and student ratings of the schools in the appendix. This mirrors the vote against the meals tax, despite the expensive propaganda blitz on how the schools needed money and people's votes. Obviously, the schools system should rehire the Auditor General they fired, and get to the root of their problems.
2017-02-05 ~Environmt WT: Whistleblower claims NOAA manipulated data to hide global warming 'pause'
The climate change debate went nuclear Sunday over a whistleblower's explosive allegation that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association manipulated data to advance a political agenda by hiding the 1998-2013 global warming "pause", in a June 2015 NOAA "pausebuster" report hastily put together in time for the U.N.'s Paris summit.
2017-02-02 ~National. TIME: Steve Bannon, Second Most Powerful Man in the World?, by David Von Drehle
"Anytime you do anything hugely successful that challenges a failed orthodoxy, you're going to see protests," Steve Bannon told CBS News. "In fact, if nobody is disagreeing with what you're doing, then you're probably not doing anything that really matters in the scheme of things."
2017-02-02 ~FxSchools FCPS: School Board Work Session - Budget -- Video (2:45:18)
2017-02-01 ~Virginia. Governor: Nestlé USA to Relocate HQ from California to Arlington County
Company to invest almost $40 million and create 748 new jobs.
2017-01-xx ~National. Limbaugh: My conversation with Tucker Carlson
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q with Tucker Carlson, longtime conservative commentator, cofounder of The Daily Caller, and host of the hot new show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on the Fox News channel.
2017-01-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: How and Why the Senate Must Reform the Filibuster, by Tom McClintock
Imprimis lecture by Tom McClintock, U.S. House of Representatives.
2017-01-30 ~Report... FCPS has Excellent Schools ... for a few, by Arthur Purves at FCPS hearing
2017-01-30 ~FxSchools Reston Now: Fairfax Co Projects Continued Flat School Enrollment, by Dave Emke
Fairfax County Public Schools are still growing, but they are not seeing nearly as many new enrollees as they have in recent years.
2017-01-29 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Fairfax County Budget Breakdown
More than 50 percent of Fairfax County's $3.988 billion budget will be transferred to Fairfax County Public Schools, $68 million less than FCPS requested.
2017-01-27 ~National. Grabien.com: Hard to beat #44 for chilling press freedom
After all, the Obama Administration literally tried imprisoning an uncooperative journalist, monitored journalists' every digital move, and "hammered" at least one challenging reporter with IRS audits.
2017-01-27 ~FxPension WaPo: Rising pension costs a growing problem in Fairfax Co., by Antonio Olivo
With pension costs eating up a growing proportion of Fairfax County expenses, officials are weighing whether to phase out a unique program that pays a small additional stipend to employees who keep working after reaching retirement age.
2017-01-26 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: The Danger of Political Labels, by Joshua Phillip
There is now a prevailing method of argument -- "critical theory" -- that replaces discussion and debate with personal attacks. At its root is the same philosophy used by totalitarian systems and leaders over the 20th century.
2017-01-26 ~National. WT: ODU study bolsters Trump's non-citizen voter assertion, by Rowan Scarborough
Political scientist Jesse Richman of Old Dominion University has worked with colleagues to produce groundbreaking research on noncitizen voting. He reports that 6.4 percent of the estimated 20 million adult noncitizens in the U.S. voted in November. So Hillary could have garnered 800,000+ votes from non-citizens, still far short of Trump's 5 million estimate.
2017-01-26 ~Health... TIME: What Happens When Doctors Only Take Cash, by Haley Sweetland Edwards
Obamacare and the increase in high-deductible medical insurance policies have accelerated the formation of a business model offering medical services for a much lower price than a traditional hospital. In exchange for up-front pricing transparency and a truly free-market approach to medical services, no insurance of any kind is accepted -- only cash.
2017-01-25 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: NoVa Transportation Committee meeting in Reston, by Charles McAndrew
Estimated Metro shortfall $290M for FY18, costing $39M for Virginia and $239.6M for Fairfax County.
2017-01-20 ~National. WhiteHouse.gov: Full text of President Donald Trump's Inaugural Address
2017-01-20 ~National. Examiner: James O'Keefe "going after the media next", by Miaread McArdle
"We're just getting started, I'm telling you. Everyone's saying, who are you going after next? I'm going to tell you. I'll make it public. I'm going after the media next." -- James O'Keefe of Project Veritas, at the DeploraBall held at the National Press Club.
2017-01-20 ~FxTrans.. Reston Now: Fx Co Supervisors to Further Discuss Reston Transportation Projects
On January 24, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will discuss a proposed February public hearing on the funding plan for Reston transportation projects. The details ...
2017-01-19 ~Potpourri Fx Free Citizen: Metro Man Meets Alpha Man, by Michael Giere
Masculinity has been so degraded and so vilified in the last four decades that it is like a cold blast of arctic air to see men take the national stage who are emotionally and intellectually -- men. They act like men and they talk like men, and their mere presence causes panic with the well-tailored metro men around Capitol Hill and Washington's prestigious think tanks.
2017-01-19 ~National. Politico: Democrats in the Wilderness, by Edward-Isaac Dovere
The Democrat Party is in full panic mode after the 2010, 1014 and 2016 elections. There hasn't been an American political party in worse shape in living memory. And there may never have been a party less ready to confront it.
2017-01-19 ~Material. WT: Donald Trump the Revolutionary, by Charles Hurt
Not since 1980 -- or perhaps 1932 -- has such a political revolution hit the banks of the Potomac River. Donald Trump comes into the White House with a bright, clear mandate to make wholesale changes to every aspect of the federal government.
2017-01-18 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: New ideas on gravity would vanquish dark matter, by Chris Lee
Dark matter is the current theory in vogue to match our understanding of gravity to the observed expansion of the Universe. But Erik Verlinde, a Dutch theoretical physicist, offers an alternative theory using some of the same tools used to examine quantum information and black holes on the Universe as a whole.
2017-01-18 ~National. NBC News: Democrats Left in the Lurch Electorally, by Alex Seitz-Wald
The Democrat Party finds itself more removed from power than at almost any point since the party's creation. Part of the problem is their unintentional self-gerrymandering into the major urban areas, which is arguably a bigger handicap than the GOP's intentional gerrymandering.
2017-01-16 ~Health... WT: Is veganism a mental disorder?, by Rick Berman
Humans are naturally meat-eaters. Our bodies require Vitamin B12 for proper brain function. Vitamin B12 is only found naturally in animal products. Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to fatigue, megaloblastic anemia, early dementia, increased risk of heart disease, nerve dysfunction, forgetfulness, lack of coordination, and psychiatric disorders. (So strict veganism could lead to mental derangement, and thus Liberalism.)
2017-01-16 ~Environmt WT: Trump and the Rough Rider's conservation ethos, by Jeff Goodson
Teddy Roosevelt's philosophy of rational conservation of America's natural resources prevailed until the 1970s, when so-called environmentalists insisted that American resources should be locked away from the people. Like Teddy Roosevelt, the Donald would unlock America's natural resources.
2017-01-13 ~National. CNS News: Political Correctness, a Tool of Liberal Coercion, by Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Political correctness is a deliberate tool used by the Left to intimidate conservatives and people of faith into silence, with the goal of making our classic and time-tested opinions illegitimate. It is the liberal version of Islamic blasphemy laws, ruthlessly excising anyone who questions or strays from the leftwing cultural and social dogmas. It is the most un-American development in our lifetime.
2017-01-11 ~National. WT: Colleges reshape civics to 'Rules for Radicals', by Bradford Richardson
Instead of conferring an understanding of the U.S. Constitution, American history and Western civilization upon students, progressive activists have coaxed colleges and universities into defining civics education to mean community organizing, service learning and civic engagement toward progressive ends. -- National Association of Scholars report
2017-01-08 ~National. WT: Speaking FOR a border adjustable tax system, by Stephen Moore
America must fix its corporate tax system, which punishes domestic production and rewards foreign production. Instead, a 15% border adjustable tax would turn this around, by in effect placing the tax on consumption rather than production -- similar in concept to the value-added tax (VAT) used in Europe -- and end all talk of tariffs and trade wars.
2017-01-08 ~National. WT: Speaking AGAINST a border adjustable tax system, by Brian J Wise
A consumption tax, which this new reform package effectively creates, is not necessarily a bad idea, but it must be accompanied by reductions in the individual income tax for those consumers. Otherwise, the border adjustment is simply a tax increase on hardworking American consumers.
2017-01-08 ~FxSchools FCPS: Pat Hynes Rants Against Trump's Agenda ... your School Board at work!
2017-01-06 ~World.... Epoch Times: Another Chinese Billionaire Entrepreneur Leaves China, by Dao Feng
For a long time, China's per capita income growth has been lower than the country's GDP. GDP growth has been lower than tax growth. Burdens increasing for enterprises is an indisputable fact, and in the long run, capital escape is inevitable.
2017-01-04 ~National. Downsizing Fed Govt: History and Costs of Urban Transit, by Randal O'Toole
American taxpayers can no longer afford costly and inefficient government transit systems, particularly rail transit systems. Federal subsidies ought to be eliminated and local governments should open transit to private and entrepreneurial solutions to relieving congestion.
2017-01-04 ~FxPension Sun Gazette: Fairfax needs to own up to pension liabilities, by Louise Epstein
An October 2016 study by Boston College found that Fairfax had fifth worst ratio of public-pension costs to local revenues among the 50 largest U.S. counties. Reasonable defined-benefit pension plans are offered by every other local government and school district in Virginia. But Fairfax pension plans far exceed these state requirements, and are not sustainable.
2017-01-04 ~FxPension McLeanCitizens.org: Resolution on Fairfax Co Pension Plans -- Fix by FY2019
McLean Citizens Association urges the Board of Supervisors to take the following steps to reduce the growth in the County's future obligations for retirement benefit payments. ...
2017-01-04 ~FxPension McLeanCitizens.org: Overview of Fairfax Co Pension Costs -- Unsustainable
In FY 2016 alone, these pension plans cost the County almost $1.1 billion in a combination of cash payments of $531 million and additional pension debt assumed of $552 million.
2017-01-02 ~National. Breitbart: A look back at Obama's 'Scandal-Free' presidency, by John Hayward
President Obama and his mouthpieces have embarked on a bizarre scheme to hypnotize America into forgetting the many scandals of his presidency. They seem to think that intoning "this administration hasn't had a scandal" over and over again will make history disappear. But here's the 18 I remember.
2016-xx-xx ~National. FCTA: U.S. Congressional Contacts, Key Votes: Incl email addresses (if available)
2016-12-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The Defeat of the Elites
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush describes how the ruling class has been tossed on the ash heap of history. And the Clintons have -- finally -- been dispatched into the deep.
2016-12-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Bo Snerdley's post-election conversation with ME
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush agrees to be the December 2016 issue's interviewee, with questions fielded by his trusty sidekick, Bo Snerdley.
2016-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: A More American Conservatism, by Larry P. Arnn
Imprimis lecture by Larry P. Arnn, President, Hillsdale College.
2016-12-29 ~National. The Atlantic: Democrats Have a Religion Problem, by Emma Green
A conversation with Michael Wear, a former Obama White House staffer, about the party's illiteracy on and hostility toward faith.
2016-12-28 ~World.... JW: Islamic Terrorists Operate, Raise Cash in Latin America to Attack U.S.
Latin America is a hotbed of Islamic terrorism where groups like ISIS and Hezbollah operate freely and raise large sums of money to finance terrorist activities in other countries, mainly the United States, according to a new report released by Spain's Defense Ministry.
2016-12-28 ~Potpourri BEST video compilation of 'Donald Trump WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT' proclamations
2016-12-28 ~Environmt Real Climate Science: All U.S. Warming Due To NOAA Data Tampering, by Tony Heller
NOAA claims U.S. temperatures rose 1.5°F since the 19th century. But it creates the warming trend by altering past data downward. NOAA's raw data shows no warming over the past century. The adjustments correlate almost perfectly with atmospheric CO2. So NOAA is adjusting the data to match global warming theory. This is known as PBEM (Policy Based Evidence Making.)
2016-12-26 ~FxMisc... WT: Islamic State lures Northern Virginians to jihad, by Rowan Scarborough
Law enforcement agencies have arrested nine Northern Virginia residents on charges of aiding the Islamic State since the terrorist group rose to power in Syria and Iraq in 2014 and launched social media propaganda to attract followers, a government message to police states. They included a police officer, a Starbucks barista, Army soldiers, bankers and a cabdriver.
2016-12-25 ~National. WT: Political correctness and opioids [Don't mention its from China or Mexico]
While a recent CDC report on opioid deaths describes in detail the heroin epidemic, there is precisely zero discussion of the sources of the problem. The words "Mexico," "China" (source of fentanyl), "the border," "cartels" or "trafficking" do not appear. And the mainstream media seem to be conspiring to omit these details in their coverage of the opioid problem in this country.
2016-12-25 ~National. WT: Obama has reshaped federal courts for decades, by Dave Boyer
President Obama has reshaped the federal courts for decades to come with a record number of women and minorities appointed to lifetime judgeships. Of the more than 340 judges nominated by Mr. Obama and confirmed by the Senate, about 42% are women, 19% are black and 11% are Hispanic -- more female and minority appointees than any other president.
2016-12-21 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Are High-Tech Devices Harming Our Children?, by Barbara Danza
Certainly, we can look at the significant advances in technology of the past decade or two and see the positive aspects. But the negative aspects of this now ubiquitous technology are also becoming increasingly apparent -- especially when it comes to children. But what it's really robbing children of is their childhood.
2016-12-21 ~National. AP: DEA chemists race to identify synthetic opioids, by Erika Kinetz
The proliferation of rapidly evolving synthetic opioids has become so fierce that the DEA says they now constitute an entire new class of drugs, which are fueling the deadliest addiction crisis the United States has ever seen. The fentanyl-like drugs are pouring in primarily from China, U.S. officials say, and laws cannot keep pace with the speed of scientific innovation.
2016-12-21 ~Health... Telegraph: Breathalyser can detect 17 diseases, by Henry Bodkin
As far back as 400 BC, Hippocrates advised his students to smell their patients' breaths to detect if they were ill. Now, researchers in America have invented a system which does just that, only rather more scientifically.
2016-12-18 ~National. WT: Obama Dems decry Trump's Putin ties - after own Russia outreach fizzles
Liberals are condemning President-elect Donald Trump and his people for supposed links to Vladimir Putin, but there was a time when Democrats were ingratiating themselves to the autocratic Russian leader and his country's money. It was the Obama administration that opened the gates to deeper business and personal relationships with Mr. Putin.
2016-12-17 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Local gov'ts alarmed at projected cost of Metro fix, by Robert McCartney
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld has spent much of his first year studying how much it will cost to fix the region's transit system. The price tag is a lot higher than local government officials say they expected or can afford. The total projected additional cost for the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia exceeds $1 billion over the next three years.
2016-12-16 ~Virginia. CFACT: Property owners to Dominion: Pipeline YES, eminent domain NO
Representatives of energy giant Dominion Resources were caught off guard this week by Virginia landowners outraged over the company's threatened use of eminent domain in the construction of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).
2016-12-16 ~National. Epoch Times: Debt Nation: The Problem, the Solutions, by Valentin Schmid
We have too much debt, but there are some good solutions for getting out of debtors' prison and kick-starting the economy again. The financial system based on bank debt is flawed. However, ideas such as quantitative easing for the private sector or allowing banks to write down their losses over several years hold promise for freeing the economy from debtors' prison.
2016-12-15 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Metro fires six, finds inspectors falsified records, by Siddiqui Powers
Metro fired six workers after determining that nearly half of the agency's 60-person track-inspection department created a pattern of fabrication and negligence that led to the derailment of a Silver Line train in July, the transit agency said Thursday. The fired employees falsified track-inspection records for as long as three years, officials said.
2016-12-13 ~Potpourri WT: Wash Post's mad search for pro-Trump columnists, by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Over the weekend some pathetic wretch filed a column in The Washington Post lamenting that after an extensive search of the newspapers of this great country he could hardly find any pro-Trump columnists -- not even among the 'alt-right' with whom The Post has become so familiar during this election year. Apparently, the pro-Trumpers are nowhere to be found.
2016-12-13 ~National. FCTA: 2016 Presidential Results, EV vs Popular Vote In Extremis, by David Swink
The actual 2016 state-by-state Presidential election results are shown, with Trump's 306-232 electoral count against Clinton's 2% popular vote lead. Plus a thought experiment is provided demonstrating how far this deviation could go in theory.
2016-12-12 ~Health... BW: Is Kratom a Deadly Drug or a Life-Saving Medicine?, by Bryan Gruley
Advocates believe the powder helps people kick opioids without risk of addiction. When the DEA tried to criminalize it, they fought back.
2016-12-10 ~National. Examiner: Ben Carson's HUD to kill Obama's "slum housing" rule, by Joseph Lawler
Of everything that President Obama has done that President-elect Trump stands to undo, perhaps no policy better symbolizes the differences between the two than a housing rule meant to reshape towns and counties across America. Local governments were threatened with loss of federal funding if they didn't rezone neighborhood to accommodate public housing.
2016-12-07 ~National. Gateway Pundit: Michigan Recount Uncovers Serious Voter Fraud in Detroit
More bad news for Democrats. Green Party candidate Jill Stein's Michigan recount unintentionally exposed this major voting fraud scandal. In Detroit, one of the chief ways they engage in voter fraud is to count the same ballot MULTIPLE times -- up to six times in some precincts.
2016-12-07 ~National. AMAC: "American History in No Time", by Randolph G. Russell -- Book Review
The idea for American History in No Time began with the author's realization that his children did not know many things he assumed they were learning in school. And bookstores had no short, easy-to-read offerings. So the author has provided an easily digestible history of America from before Columbus to the present day, laying out the basics of our culture, or the "big picture", in around a hundred pages.
2016-12-06 ~National. Rxaminer: Presidential election major setback for cultural Marxism, by V. Gaetan
Saul Alinsky was a disciple of the Frankfort School concluded that to end working class passivity, the pillars of Western civilization, especially the nuclear family and Christianity, had to be destroyed. This is cultural Marxism, and it pervades American universities and the entire Liberal/Progressive/Democrat Party movement. They lost this time. Don't expect them to surrender.
2016-12-06 ~National. WaPo: U.S. high schoolers drop further behind internationally, by Joe Heim
In the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) measuring math literacy in 2015, U.S. students ranked 40th in the world. The U.S. ranked 25th in science literacy and 24th in reading literacy. Singapore topped all nations in all three categories. China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Switzerland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand were among the other top-performing countries.
2016-12-06 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: Upcoming I-66 toll lane briefing, vote still has opponents, by Max Smith
Plans to put new toll lanes on I-66 similar to the Express Lanes on the Capital Beltway are moving forward this week, with VDOT is set to close a $2.3B deal with a group of private companies to design, build, and operate the lanes. Del. Bob Marshall, who represents the western end of the area, has long opposed any toll plans and is still hoping for changes to the project.
2016-12-04 ~States... WT: The blue state [economic] depression, by Stephen Moore
Of the 10 blue states that Hillary Clinton won by the largest percentage margins -- California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut -- every single one of them lost domestic migration (excluding immigration) over the last 10 years (2004-14).
2016-12-01 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Budget-bleating season begins anew in Fairfax County -- Editorial
It may be wishful thinking, but perhaps the supervisors were chastened enough by the overwhelming opposition to the meals-tax proposal that they will "suggest" that the School Board dust off last year's discarded task-force report on projected cuts, and start implementing them.
2016-11-xx ~Environmt CFACT: 2016 State of the Climate Report, by Marc Morano
Presented to the United Nations Climate Conference in Morocco on November 2016: CO2 is not the tail that wags the dog. CO2 is a trace essential gas, but without it life on earth would be impossible. ... Global temperatures have been virtually flat for about 18 years. ...
2016-11-22 ~National. The Federalist: Meet the Intolerant Vulgarians of the Dirtbag Left
The spasms of outrage and protest that have rocked the country since Donald Trump's election have revealed what should have been plain to see for a long time: progressives are through debating; they are interested only in enforcing their views. They believe they have won the culture wars, that there is no room left for dissent.
2016-11-22 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: County budget forecasts underscore revenue challenges for FY 2018
The county projects only $74 million in additional revenue in FY 2018 (begins July 1, 2017) to cover:
-- $90 million in county funding priorities, not including many significant items.
-- $134 million in FCPS disbursement requirements (funding needs).
2016-11-18 ~National. Breitbart: Public supports Trump's immigration policies -- hidden Ipsos poll
A just-released Ipsos poll shows that Donald Trump's campaign-trail immigration and labor policies have overwhelming public support, and strong opposition from just one-sixth of voters. Ipsos conducted the poll in September and hid the pro-Trump answers until Nov. 16, a week after the election.
2016-11-18 ~National. Epoch Times: Election Gives Media Chance to Change Course, by Stephen Gregory
"By and large, talented reporters scrambled to match stories with what internally was often called 'the narrative'. We were occasionally asked to map a narrative for our various beats a year in advance, square the plan with editors, then generate stories that fit the pre-designated line." -- Michael Cieply, relating his 12 years at the New York Times as a reporter and editor
2016-11-17 ~National. Fox News: The five essential reasons Hillary lost, by Bryan Wright (a Democrat)
The past week has been difficult for my Democratic party. After all, it's not particularly fun to lose, especially to a man that many in country view with great suspicion and apprehension. But shifting responsibility to false boogeymen will lead to a far greater loss: the credibility that we need to convince the American people to listen to our vision for the country.
2016-11-17 ~National. BCN: What Led to Post-Election College Campus Protests?, by Dr. Everett Piper
My response in brief: Why would you expect anything different? This is what you get when you send your kids off to colleges and universities that teach politically correct pablum rather than the time-tested truths of a free people and civil society.
2016-11-17 ~FxSchools FCTA: Outgoing FCPS Superintendent Garza gets an Earfull, by Fred Costello
The Nov. 14 FCPS School Board Meeting was a Garza lovefest that got rained out due to a sudden downpour of truth and honesty. The school board wanted to forget the "meals tax" failure and any "new national mandates" that emerged after the Nov. 8 election. Unfortunately, frustrated and angry parents lambasted the outgoing superintendent, reminding everyone in the room of her true legacy.
2016-11-17 ~Environmt CFACT: Corporate rent-seeking on climate in Morocco, by Adam Houser
Climate politics already redistributes hundreds of billions of dollars through grants, subsidies, set asides, mandates and prohibitions. Developing nations are anxious to get their hands climate cash, but they are amateurs compared to crony capitalists.
2016-11-16 ~National. NYT: The End of Identity Liberalism, by Mark Lilla - a Liberal Columbia prof
In recent years American Liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity that has distorted Liberalism's message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force capable of governing. ... We need a post-identity Liberalism, and it should draw from the past successes of pre-identity Liberalism.
2016-11-15 ~National. WT: The Obama legacy -- Editorial
A president's legacy is shaped by his deeds, not by his wishes, hopes and dreams. There's nothing Barack Obama can do now to influence the unforgiving verdict of history.
2016-11-13 ~World.... Irish Indep: Irish Reflection on 2016 Election in the Colonies, by Ian O'Doherty
It was exactly [the media's] condescending, obnoxious sneer towards the working class that brought them out in such numbers, and that is the great irony of Election 16 -- the Left spent years creating identity politics to the extent that the only group left without protection or a celebrity sponsor was the white American male.
2016-11-13 ~National. WT: Obama IRS denies Tea Parties tax-exempt status after 7 years, by S. Dinan
The tax agency, under orders from a federal judge, is belatedly tackling the remaining tea party cases that it delayed for years, and so far the tea party isn't doing well. Only one of the three groups in the case was approved, and the other two, including Albuquerque, got notices of proposed denials last week.
2016-11-11 ~Environmt NYT: Trump's Climate Contrarian Takes On the E.P.A., by Henry Fountain
Myron Ebell, who directs environmental and energy policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, revels in taking on the scientific consensus on global warming, will be President-elect Donald Trump's lead agent in choosing personnel and setting the direction of the federal agencies that address climate change and environmental policy more broadly.
2016-11-10 ~National. Examiner: Americans have voted; so what actually is populism?, by Dick Sim
The results are in, and Democrats are shocked by what they perceive as an uneducated mob of populists taking unified control of the federal government. Democrats assume populists are racist and bigoted. In truth, they are neither. They're actually rather boring. What many don't realize is that populists want what most people want.
2016-11-10 ~National. CBS News: The unbearable smugness of the press -- a mea culpa, by Will Rahn
Our theme now should be humility. We must become more impartial, not less so. We have to abandon our easy culture of tantrums and recrimination. We have to stop writing these know-it-all, 140-character sermons on social media and admit that, as a class, journalists have a shamefully limited understanding of the country we cover.
2016-11-09 ~State-ME. Slate: Maine First State to Enact Ranked-Choice Voting, by Henry Grabar
Maine became the first state to challenge America's first-past-the-post voting system, as voters approved, by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent, a referendum instituting ranked-choice voting for state and federal elections. It's a shift that could make third-party voting more viable overnight -- by eliminating the ability of third-parties to play spoiler.
2016-11-09 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax electorate again rejects a meals tax, by Brian Trompeter
Stick a fork in it. Fairfax County's proposed meals tax is done. Twenty-four years after the last time they rejected a meals-tax referendum, Fairfax County voters on Nov. 8 sent a similar proposal back to the kitchen uneaten. The proposal, the most contentious local item on the ballot, went down to defeat in all nine county magisterial districts.
2016-11-08 ~National. FCTA: Vote for President: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? -- Opposing editorials
FCTA presents the Washington Post's best post for Hillary Clinton as President, alongside the Washington Times' best post for Donald Trump as President. The posting are in plain-text for easy viewing, and may be upgraded as more favorable editorials for either candidate are received.
2016-11-08 ~National. AMAC: Democrats vs Republicans on 10 Key Issues -- from official party platforms
2016-11-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Four reasons to vote AGAINST the Fairfax County meals tax, by Arthur Purves
1) You cannot trust Fairfax County; 2) Residential real estate taxes are increasing faster than household income; 3) Even with a meals tax, taxes will continue increasing faster than household income; 4) The Board of Supervisors and School Board are ignoring the causes of tax increases.
2016-11-08 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Fairfax County 2016 SAMPLE BALLOT in plain English, by David Swink
2016-11-07 ~National. PJ Media: Expansive George Soros Funding to Manipulate Federal Elections
Leaked funding documents reveal an effort by George Soros and his foundations to manipulate election laws, fuel litigation to attack election integrity measures, push public narratives about voter fraud, and to integrate the political ground game of the left with efforts to scare racial minority groups about voting rights threats.
2016-11-07 ~National. CNS News: Gov't Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,977,000
The United States lost 9,000 manufacturing jobs in October while gaining 19,000 jobs in government. The 22,235,000 employed by government in the United States now outnumber the 12,258,000 employed in manufacturing by 9,977,000.
2016-11-06 ~Virginia. Daily Caller: Gov. McAuliffe uses autopen to pardon 60,000 felons, by Luke Rosiak
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has granted voting rights to as many as 60,000 convicted felons just in time for them to register to vote, nearly five times more than previously reported and enough to win the state for his long-time friend, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
2016-11-06 ~National. Examiner: The death of elitism, by Saleno Zito
Somewhere off U.S. 62 between Sharon, Pa., and Masory, Ohio, a sign reads, "You had your chance, it's our turn now." That homemade sign in all its simplicity offered more insight into the discord between the American electorate and the governing elite than any pundit has been able to explain, let alone comprehend.
2016-11-05 ~National. Examiner: How 2016 changed the news media, by Eddie Scarry
It's unclear if 2016 changed the way the media will cover future national elections. But this year, perhaps more than any other year, did reveal the media's collective mindset. Journalists saw it as their responsibility to step out of their normal roles. And the public's "trust and confidence" in the news media has dropped from 55% in 1999 to 32% in 2016.
2016-11-04 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Fx commuters prefer express-bus service over Metro, by B. Trompeter
Fairfax County officials shuffled some buses around this year to help area commuters cope with Metrorail's SafeTrack improvements. Officials subsequently got a pleasant surprise: Many riders on those bus routes preferred that service to Metro and were keen to see what had been a temporary fix turned into a permanent option.
2016-11-02 ~National. Examiner: Illegal trial lawyer donations lift Democrats' finances
Partners of a personal injury law firm in Boston paid bonuses corresponding exactly to political contributions they made to Democrats. This scheme appears to be completely illegal. People have gone to prison for doing this, but the firm appears to have taken that risk and tried to skew public policy to enrich themselves and their fellow trial lawyers.
2016-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Sovereignty vs "Who We Are As a People", by Edward J. Erler
Imprimis lecture by Edward J. Erler, co-author of The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration.
2016-10-31 ~National. Peter Thiel, on why he supports Donald Trump for President -- Video (13:10)
Billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel rocked Silicon Valley with his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. Today he discussed that political endorsement and the 2016 election at a National Press Club speakers newsmaker event.
2016-10-29 ~National. Daily Beast: Muslim Reformer Smeared as 'Anti-Muslim Extremist', by Maajid Nawaz
I have argued for the liberal reform of Islam today, from within. But, in a naively dangerous form of neo-Orientalism, the Southern Poverty Law Center just arrogated to itself the decision over which debates we Muslims may have about reforming our own religion, and which are to be deemed beyond the pale. Let us call it "Islamsplaining".
2016-10-28 ~Virginia. ODU Report: Virginia's Economy STILL Sluggish, by Brendan O'Hallarn
In the second annual State of the Commonwealth report, Old Dominion University researchers will show how sluggish Virginia's economy is, how its transportation infrastructure is under stress and how the commonwealth would be better off if communities worked more effectively together. Te report's authors predict Virginia's GDP will grow at a rate of less than 2 percent in 2016.
2016-10-26 ~National. WT: Obamacare is collapsing ... by design, by Monica Crowley
Obamacare co-ops are collapsing, fewer people are enrolling and loss ratios are soaring. The long-anticipated death spiral is here. But it is not well known that Obamacare was designed to implode, so that the architects could "ride to the rescue" with their preferred single payer system.
2016-10-25 ~FxTaxes.. WT: Fairfax County is trying again to impose a 'meals tax' -- Vote NO on Nov 8
2016-10-23 ~National. ZeroHedge: Podesta Email Exposes Playbook for Rigging Polls via "Oversamples"
Now, for all of you out there who still aren't convinced that media polls are "adjusted", we present to you the following Podesta email, that conveniently spells out exactly how to "manufacture" the desired data. The email starts out with a request for recommendations on "oversamples for polling" in order to "maximize what we get out of our media polling."
2016-10-23 ~National. ACDemocracy.org: Is War Imminent?, by FCTA's Thomas Cranmer
Surprises are not new to Americans: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the German takeover of small countries starting WWII, the Korean War, and even WWI. The warning signs of the next "surprise" global war that is likely to destroy our lives, families, and the homeland, are everywhere. Yet, our politicians and the media are ignoring the gathering storm.
2016-10-23 ~Health... Roanoke Times: Va. company creates first sheets to prevent bed sores, by L. Rife
It's a first for a bed sheet, and it flips conventional thinking: Instead of sheets and pads protecting the mattress, they protect the patient. ... "Through 11 clinical trials, we showed the surface of the mattress is a lot less important than what touches the skin." -- James Barry, business manager for Precision Fabrics' health products
2016-10-21 ~National. JWR: When character is in season -- a presidential perspective, by Suzanne Fields
"Reputation is the shadow," Abraham Lincoln said, "and character is the tree." Lincoln understood that character is more than reputation. Reputation is what we want others to see. With that perspective, how do we rate today's presidential candidates.
2016-10-20 ~States... American Interest: Where Increased Education Spending REALLY Goes -- Pension debt
The vast majority of taxpayer contributions into teachers' pension plans are now used to pay down pension debt owed for past service rather than to pay for new benefits earned by today's teachers or for classroom supplies, equipment, and building upkeep.
2016-10-20 ~National. WT: Trump campaign rally disrupter is an Alinsky protege, by Kelly Riddell
President Barack Obama. Weather Underground domestic-terrorist Bill Ayers. Rules for Radicals' Saul Alinsky. Now, Democratic consultant Robert Creamer. What do they all have in common? Chicago politics -- specializing in radical left community-organizing, agitation and disruption.
2016-10-19 ~FxSchools CNS News: FCPS to spend $20K on JEB Stuart name change 'facilitator' -- on hold
A plan by the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) Board to spend potentially $20,000 to hire a facilitator to lead a working committee looking into changing the name of J.E.B Stuart High School has been put on hold, according to an Oct. 12 email by retiring Superintendent Karen G. Garza.
2016-10-18 ~State-GA. WT: Georgia's criminal justice reform saving lives and money, by Gov. Nathan Deal
In 2011, Georgia was spending $1 billion per year on its prisons. The recidivism rate was 30% for adults and 65% for juveniles. After creating accountability courts, improving the juvenile justice system and facilitating a smoother re-entry process for returning citizens, we've seen a 10.3% decrease in the state's prison inmate population.
2016-10-18 ~National. AMAC: About Those Unthinking, Backward Catholics, by Archbishop Charles Chaput
Of course it would be wonderful for the Clinton campaign to repudiate the content of these ugly WikiLeaks emails. All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful.
2016-10-17 ~State-NV. WT: Nevada endorses Educational Savings Accounts -- Why not in Virginia?
Last week the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the legitimacy of Education Savings Accounts. Nevada's decision is the latest to reject constitutional Blaine Amendments and uniformity clauses as potential legal barriers to expanding educational options for children -- the two challenges faced in most other states in school-choice litigation.
2016-10-17 ~National. Breitbart: O'Keefe videos Dem admitting 'bird-dogging' at Trump rallies
Democrats have used trained provocateurs to instigate violence at Republican events nationwide throughout the 2016 election cycle, including at several Donald Trump rallies, using a tactic called "bird-dogging", according to a new video investigation released Monday by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas.
2016-10-16 ~National. WT: The vast left-wing media consensus -- Editorial
Many Americans haven't heard about the WikiLeaks disclosures because a part of the mainstream media, so called, has decided there's nothing to see, just move along. Donald Trump has called out this media as part of a conspiracy, but it's worse than that. It's a vast left-wing media consensus.
2016-10-14 ~Virginia. NV Daily: Shenandoah supervisors REJECT more local taxing power -- Imagine THAT!
Shenandoah County leaders won't back an effort to ask state legislators to give localities equal power to tax meals. (State code allows cities and towns to impose a meals tax without holding a voter referendum. However, counties must hold a referendum to gauge voter support for the levy.)
2016-10-13 ~States... ALEC: Unfunded Public Pension Liabilities Near $5.6 Trillion
While state pension funds continue to assume returns of more than 7.3 percent each year, legislatures are not willing to put more money into the system to cover the gap between expectation and reality. With an economic recovery at its most dismal level since World War II, the bloated projections are driving up the levels of unfunded liabilities nationally.
2016-10-13 ~States... Boston College: Will Pensions and OPEBs Break State and Local Budgets?
This brief, based on a recent paper, provides a comprehensive accounting of state and local government liabilities for pensions and other post-employ-ment benefits (OPEBs) and the fiscal burden that they pose.
2016-10-13 ~National. JWR: Medieval America -- a culturally apt analogy, by Victor Davis Hanson
In medieval Europe, the great medieval universities -- at Bologna, Paris and Oxford -- continued to make strides in science. They were not unlike the medical and engineering schools at Harvard and Stanford. But they were not centers of free thinking. Instead, medieval speech codes were designed to ensure that no one questioned the authority of church doctrine. (Sound familiar?)
2016-10-13 ~National. WT: Leaked emails reveal journalists 'friendly' to Clinton, by Dave Boyer
Whatever other revelations lurk in the huge cache of campaign emails being published by WikiLeaks, one thing is clear: Clinton campaign officials clearly exude an air of confidence that much of the mainstream media are in the bag for their candidate and hostile to Republican rival Donald Trump.
2016-10-12 ~National. Video: Democrat explains voter fraud techniques in NYC, by Project Veritas
In a video released by Project Veritas, James O'Keefe exposes what everyone except Democrats have known to be true; there is a lot of voter fraud. NYC Democrat Commissioner of the Board of Elections Alan Schulkin is caught on hidden camera admitting that there is widespread voter fraud in New York City.
2016-10-12 ~National. WT: Fewer colleges require seven core disciplines, by Bradford Richardson
A new study indicates the vast majority of colleges and universities are failing to teach their students core disciplines (composition, literature, intermediate-level foreign language, U.S. history or government, economics, mathematics and natural sciences) necessary for success in the workplace and the maintenance of a free and self-governing republic.
2016-10-12 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Vote down the Fairfax meals tax ... AGAIN! -- Editorial
The meals tax is another case of Fairfax County elected officials with sticky fingers, ready to use local residents as an ATM to fund a county government that too often must be reminded that power flows up from the people, not down from the Government Center. Fairfax residents rejected a meals-tax referendum in 1992; they should do so again.
2016-10-11 ~Virginia. ACTA: Virginia GA being lobbied to allow Meals, Tobacco Taxes without referendum
"VACo supports granting counties the authority to adopt a local meals tax without referendum. VACo proposes the county meals tax rate be raised to a cap of eight percent, which is consistent with current rates used by cities and towns. VACo also supports equal authority among all counties to levy and collect a tobacco tax." -- Virginia Association of Counties
2016-10-11 ~National. Chapman Univ: Top American Fears of 2016 -- Gov't corruption #1
Top 10 fears for which the highest percentage of Americans reported being "Afraid" or "Very Afraid": Gov't corruption 60.6%, Terrorist attack 41%, Lack of money 39.9%, Victim of terrorism 38.5%, Gun control 38.5%, Loved ones dying 38.1%, Economic collapse 37.5%, Identity theft 37.1%, Loved ones seriously ill 35.9%, Obamacare 35.5%.
2016-10-09 ~Potpourri Patch: Here's How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs, by Mary Ann Barton
Watch Virginia Tech video here for easy way to trap 'em (eliminated 14 times more stink bugs than store-bought traps that cost up to $50).
2016-10-09 ~National. WT: Lawlessness from above, by Robert Knight
Corruption and abuses of power by America's ruling class are becoming such everyday occurrences that they leave one wondering if there is any bottom to it. No matter how outrageous the power overreach, it just keeps happening without apparent consequences to the guilty. (With references to "After the Republic".)
2016-10-08 ~National. PJ Media: America, You Have No Right to Judge Donald Trump, by D.C. McAllister
Oh, the irony! The Republican political elite has told its religious base that social and moral issues don't matter in politics. "It's all about the economy, stupid. Leave your morals in the church but don't voice them in the public square." So the Republican base finally grants the elites their wish, in the form of Donald Trump, and they are outraged!
2016-10-06 ~Virginia. ACTA: Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe Earns a 'D' for 2015 -- Cato
The Cato Institute released their 13th biennial fiscal report card on America's governors yesterday. In the new "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors," Cato scholar Chris Edwards examines the tax and spending decisions made by U.S. governors since 2014.
2016-10-06 ~National. Examiner: Science is becoming increasingly unscientific, by Ashe Schow
Researchers are increasingly seeking grants and tenure at the expense of sound science, argues Patrick J. Michaels, commenting on an article from Britain's Royal Society. The article, titled "The Natural Selection of Bad Science," explains that rewards for scientists have polluted the scientific process.
2016-10-06 ~National. JWR: America's 'quiet catastrophe' (low workforce participation), by George Will
A smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14 percent. If the labor-force participation rate were as high today as it was as recently as 2000, nearly 10 million more Americans would have jobs.
2016-10-06 ~National. JWR: From Greek tragedy to American therapy, by Victor Davis Hanson
The Greeks gave us tragedy -- the idea that life is never fair. Terrible stuff for no reason tragically falls on good people. In Greek plays, heroism and nobility only arise out of tragedies. In contrast, modern Americans have given the world therapy. Life must always be fair. If not, something or someone must be blamed. All good people deserve only a good life -- or else.
2016-10-06 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Free Citizen: The Meals Tax: A Band-Aid, Not a Solution, by Arthur Purves
You have probably received the Fairfax County pamphlet "2016 Meals Tax Referendum: It's Your Decision". It was printed and mailed to 400,000 Fairfax County households at taxpayer expense. The pamphlet misleads voters into believing that the meals tax will result in lower real estate tax hikes. ...
2016-10-05 ~Potpourri Telegraph: Luxury travel on the Boeing 787 Dreamjet, by John O'Ceallaigh
Ordinarily Boeing 787 Dreamliners serve as commercial aircraft that carry between 240 and 335 passengers, but in a world first, one of the planes has been transformed into a 40-passenger private jet so spacious and well-equipped that it resembles an airborne penthouse apartment.
2016-10-05 ~National. WT: Voter fraud is real, and it's happening now, by Tammy Bruce
Motor Voter, or the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, was decried as swinging open the door for election fraud, which, when I was on the left and a community organizer when this was implemented, it was jokingly referred to as "expanding the base."
2016-10-05 ~National. WT: Questioning the gap between soldier and state, by Ken Allard
The harsh reality of PTSD is the downside of the professional military force that has served us well ever since Vietnam. But there are no free lunches and 40 years later, Americans have become accustomed to fighting our wars using Other People's Kids.
2016-10-05 ~National. WT: Obama's DOJ drops charges in Libya weapons scheme, by Rowan Scarborough
The case against Mr. Turi became less appealing from a prosecutor's perspective, as the defense team won rulings from the judge for extensive discovery of government classified documents -- materials that could touch on Mrs. Clinton's missteps in Libya. Rather than comply, Obama's Justice Department dropped the charges.
2016-10-04 ~National. Examiner: Record 42.4M immigrants, 23% of school kids, by Paul Bedard
Children from immigrant households now account for nearly one in four public school students, almost one-third of children in poverty, and one-third without health insurance, creating enormous challenges for the nation's schools, health care system, and physical infrastructure.
2016-10-04 ~National. WT: Social justice: Principled or power-hungry lobby?, by Bradford Richardson
Protests over police shootings of black men. Outrage over gender bias in business and government. Panic over melting ice caps and rising sea levels. Demonstrations against the "1 percent". Racism. Sexism. Environmentalism. Classism. What's a social justice warrior to do? Protest without end, apparently.
2016-10-04 ~Environmt WT: EU approves Paris climate deal; threshold reached, by Valerie Richardson
With the addition of the 28 European Union nations, the U.N.-sponsored climate pact cleared the hurdle of 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions required for the accord to enter into effect. The accord could start to come into force on Nov. 7 -- one day before the presidential election in the U.S.
2016-10-02 ~Virginia. Breitbart: Illegal Foreign Voting in Virginia Covered Up, by Neil McCabe
"Virginia election officials don't seem to care that thousands of [foreign] aliens have corrupted their voter rolls," by illegally registering to vote, said J. Christian Adams, the former Department of Justice lawyer, and now the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. "Even worse than doing nothing about it, they are trying to cover it up."
2016-10-02 ~National. WT: Veterans facing hostility in federal workplace, by Rowan Scarborough
The son of former Fairfax County chairman Kate Hanley, Sgt Patrick Hanley retired on disability after being wounded in Iraq, only to face co-worker discrimination when he entered the federal workforce. Officially a wounded warrior, he took a seat as a safety official at the EPA, and soon found out it was not the place for a hero's welcome.
2016-10-02 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: Parents Challenge FCPS Gender Identity Policy, by Tim Hannigan
"What we have instead is an idiocracy gone wild!" So said Laszio Pentek, a Fairfax County Public Schools parent, along with nine other Fairfax County citizens at the Sept 22 FCPS Board meeting, in vigorously opposing the school system's assignment of vulgar and profane books to his daughter over the past three years.
2016-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Restoring America's Economic Mobility, by Frank Buckley
Imprimis lecture by Frank Buckley, author of The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America.
2016-09-xx ~FxSchools ParentAndChild.org: Family Life Education Evaluation (2016-2017)
Evaluations of the 2016-17 FLE curriculum weree conducted by Parent and Child, a group of Fairfax County parents whose backgrounds include education, health care, and biology and whose children attend or graduated Fairfax County Public Schools.
2016-09-xx ~Bulletin. The Meals Tax and the School and County Budget
2016-09-29 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: 20 dead voters just registered in Harrisonburg, by Graham Moomaw
Harrisonburg officials and the FBI are investigating allegations of voter registration fraud after officials say almost 20 voter applications were turned in under the names of dead people. The applications were submitted by a student working for 'HarrisonburgVOTES'.
2016-09-29 ~Environmt CFACT: Support grows for right-to-farm, by Bonner Cohen
While Green zealots work to grab control of every aspect of farming, farmers are finally pushing back. A number of states have passed "right to farm" laws that allow their farmers to carry out their business without overly burdensome bureaucratic oversight.
2016-09-27 ~National. Claremont: After the Republic, by Angelo M. Codevilla
The United States of America was great because of a whole bunch of things that now are gone. We have stepped over the threshold of a revolution. It is difficult to imagine how we might step back, and futile to speculate where it will end. Our ruling class's malfeasance, combined with insult, brought it about.
2016-09-26 ~Virginia. Daily Signal: Hundreds of Noncitizens on Virginia Voting Rolls, by Fred Lucas
Watchdog groups have pushed local election officials in seven Virginia jurisdictions to reveal hundreds of noncitizens who are registered to vote. So far, they have found more than 550. But these groups say the Virginia State Board of Elections has resisted release of information on ineligible voters.
2016-09-25 ~National. Scott Adams: Why I Switched My Endorsement from Clinton to Trump
The creator of 'Dilbert' explains why he now favors Trump. In his view, the president must first and foremost be able to persuade people. "If you understand pacing and leading, you might see him as the safest candidate who has ever gotten this close to the presidency. That's how I see him."
2016-09-25 ~Environmt Examiner: Obama's global warming legacy on trial, by John Siciliano
Obama's Clean Power Plan goes to court on Tuesday, where it will face challenges from 28 states, the coal industry and more than 100 other groups. But in a broad sense, it's the opening salvo of a fierce legal battle that will decide his legacy on global warming.
2016-09-24 ~States... Examiner: An easy solution to the teacher shortage, by Robert Fellner
There's an easy way for any state to solve its teacher shortage: Stop forcing them to pay for other people's retirement, and use those savings to provide an across-the-board pay raise instead.
2016-09-23 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Texas' pile of debt, and shadowy bond votes, by Kenric Ward
"Alarming levels" of local government debt are nudging Texas lawmakers to bring more transparency and accountability to bond elections. Much of the debt has been piled on by taxpayers who vote for bond issue after bond issue. (Gee, that sounds awfully familiar!)
2016-09-23 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: The Crisis of Faith, by Michael Giere
There was a time not all that long ago in America where no educated person didn't have a passing familiarity with Scripture and the American Founding. Scripture because it is the instruction manual on what makes men, women, and societies tick and a consistent moral compass. No mature understanding of the human condition is informed without it. ...
2016-09-22 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Vienna could up meals tax to pay for parking garage, by B. Trompeter
Vienna Town Council members at a Sept. 19 work session discussed the possibility of increasing the tax from 3 percent to 4 percent -- on top of the 6-percent state sales tax -- to finance a future parking structure. The tax hike would end after a specific period unless town officials kept it in place permanently to pay for other projects.
2016-09-21 ~National. Examiner: What happens to the Democrat Party if Hillary loses?, by Michael Barone
There's been lots of speculation about the fate of the Republican Party if (as most of the prognosticators expect and hope) Donald Trump loses. There's been less speculation, though recent polling suggest it may be in order, about the fate of the Democrat Party if Hillary Clinton loses.
2016-09-21 ~National. Book: 'Scorched Earth: Restoring the Country After Obama', by Michael Savage
... a no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-it-is recounting of leftist-controlled life under the Obama administration and warning of the potential dire decline of America if such administration policies continue under a Clinton presidency. (Reviewed by Anthony J. Sadar.)
2016-09-20 ~National. NR: NeverTrumpers: Not voting Trump is Republican suicide, by Victor Davis Hanson
Some NeverTrump critics would prefer a Trump electoral disaster that still could redeem their warnings that he would destroy the Republican party. They say he is unsuited to be commander-in-chief, without asking "compared to what?" ... It may be discomforting for some conservatives to vote for the Republican party's duly nominated candidate, but as this Manichean two-person race ends, it is now becoming suicidal not to.
2016-09-20 ~National. WT: 'Political correctness' now targets fiction writers, by Clifford May
Having undermined the humanities, political correctness now imperiling fiction writing as well. "The kind of fiction we are 'allowed' to write is in danger of becoming so hedged, so circumscribed, so tippy-toe, that we'd indeed be better off not writing the anodyne drivel to begin with." -- novelist Lionel Shriver, speaking at an Australian literary festival
2016-09-19 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Virginia Welfare Trends
2016-09-19 ~National. Epoch Times: The U.S. Real Estate Bubble 2.0, by Valentin Schmid
Due to the Fed's low interest rate policy, institutional investors avoid banking products, and go instead into real estate. For the last 50 years in the U.S., you had -- not counting the bubble -- roughly 1 to 3 percent residential housing appreciation per year. Now, you have 5, 10, 15, or 20 percent annually in certain areas. That's ridiculous. Unsustainable.
2016-09-19 ~FxSchools WaPo: Fairfax County Schools superintendent Karen Garza resigns
Garza's departure will be effective Dec. 16 -- three and a half years after she started in Fairfax -- and she will move to Columbus to become president and chief executive of Battelle for Kids.
2016-09-15 ~State-MO. WT: Missouri passes 'stand your ground' gun rights law, by Andrea Noble
Missouri's Republican-led legislature has significantly expanded gun rights in the state, establishing a public "stand your ground" right and allowing gun owners to carry concealed firearms without a permit. Lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the sweeping gun rights law.
2016-09-15 ~National. WT: Welcome details of Trump economics -- Editorial
Donald Trump put some meat on the bones of his economic plan in New York on Thursday, and his plan to restore growth should mute some of his more ardent conservative critics.
2016-09-14 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: The wrong way to improve SOL scores -- Editorial
A long-ago episode of "The Simpsons" saw the principal of Springfield Elementary School send underachieving students on a long bus ride just as standardized testing was being conducted at the school. What better way to improve average scores, he reasoned, than eliminate the low-scorers? A similar incident was recorded at a Virginia school.
2016-09-14 ~Potpourri AFP: Sexploits of Diego the Tortoise save Galapagos species, by S.P. Silva
He's over 100 years old, but his sex life is the stuff of legend. Diego the Tortoise is quite the ladies' man, and his exploits have helped save his species from extinction. (Tough work, but some tortoise has to do it.)
2016-09-14 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: China Could Control Global Internet After Oct. 1, by Joshua Philipp
Chinese officials have been very candid about their intentions to push CCP law onto the internet. The coming out party for this effort was the 2014 World Internet Conference, which followed upon the U.S. announcement that it would step back from internet governance. The CCP wants to create a "common code of rules" for the internet.
2016-09-14 ~National. Examiner: Obama DOJ's two-tiered system of justice, by Shepard Stewart
Obama DOJ lost its case against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, but wants to reopen the case. Meanwhile, liberal Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber appears to be skating by despite there being clear proof that he used the power of his pulpit to help his fiancé gain government contracts.
2016-09-13 ~FxSchools WT: Va. Supreme Court to hear case over Fairfax LGBT policy, by Brad Richardson
The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to take a case challenging the Fairfax County School Board's authority to extend nondiscrimination protections to LGBT students. At issue is whether the board adhered to "Dillon's Rule", which bars local nondiscrimination laws in Virginia from being more stringent than the statewide standard.
2016-09-12 ~World.... Epoch Times: Dr. Doom explains folly of central bank intervention, by V. Schmid
They call him Dr. Doom and for good reason. Dr. Marc Faber, author, investment adviser, and publisher of the Gloom, Boom Doom report, usually emphasizes the risks in the financial system and never minces his words. He speaks here about central bank manipulation of financial markets, the reasons for income inequality, and how to invest in this environment.
2016-09-12 ~National. Examiner: The Obama Legacy: Big government's failed pitchman, by Philip Klein
President Obama entered office in 2009 with the twin goals of expanding the role that government plays in the lives of individuals and businesses and proving to Americans that the government could be trusted to achieve big things. He was only half successful.
2016-09-12 ~National. WT: The President and the Constitution -- Special Report, 23 articles
Subtitle: "How citizens, congress, the courts and the media influence presidential power". -- A Special Report by the Washington Times Advocacy Department and the National Constitutional Literacy Campaign.
2016-09-08 ~Virginia. Conservative Review: Voter fraud alive and well in Virginia, by H. von Spakovsky
Election integrity foes tell us voter fraud is a myth. So when legitimate voter fraud is actually discovered, these foes pretend it didn't happen, fail to take steps to investigate or prosecute such cases, or try to cover it up. Take Virginia, where the State Board of Elections and some local election officials want to hide a blatant case of voter fraud involving noncitizens.
2016-09-07 ~National. WT: IRS continues targeting of tea party, conservative groups, by Stephen Dinan
The IRS is refusing to recant the targeting criteria it used to single out tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, according to court filings made public Wednesday that show the tax agency still struggling with the fallout from the scandal.
2016-09-07 ~National. WT: Leaders who live by their own rules, by Matt Patterson
After erecting an arch for a cathedral in medieval times, the architect would stand under his creation while the temporary scaffolding was removed. If the arch was shoddily made, it would collapse and kill the architect first. Brilliant incentive for ensuring sound design. If only the architects of our current federal bureaucratic edifices were held to the same standard.
2016-09-07 ~FxTrans.. WAMU: Steep Transit Losses Continue at Metro, and Nationwide, by Martin DiCaro
The Metrorail and bus systems saw steep declines in ridership in the fiscal year that ended in June, continuing a long downward trend set to cause budget problems for years to come. But even the New York subway system is detecting problems, reflecting a "general pattern of decline in transit ridership (subway and bus) across North America."
2016-09-05 ~National. Infowars: Reuters orders cameraman to kill positive Trump footage, by P.J. Watson
A shock example of anti-Trump media censorship was caught on tape when Reuters ordered its cameraman to cut live footage of Trump receiving praise from African-American Bishop Wayne T. Jackson in Detroit.
2016-09-05 ~National. Claremont: The Flight 93 Election, by Publius Decius Mus
2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You -- or the leader of your party -- may make it into the cockpit and not know how to fly or land the plane. There are no guarantees. Except one: if you don't try, death is certain.
2016-09-05 ~National. Breitbart: 80% Captured at Border Set Free in U.S., Says Agent, by Bob Price
A U.S. Border Patrol agent told Fox News Channel: "Eight out of ten people that are caught entering our country illegally are not deported and are allowed to stay in the United States. ... Through executive orders and prosecutorial discretion ... Most of the people that we apprehend end up getting released into the country."
2016-09-05 ~FxSchools WT: Transgender policy battle in Fairfax County, Virignia, by Julia Porterfield
Parents whose children attend Fairfax County Public Schools are preparing to fight transgender policies and educational courses when the academic year begins Tuesday. The group Concerned Parents and Educators of Fairfax County last week released a 13-page package advising parents on how their children can avoid gender identity education.
2016-09-04 ~World.... WT: An unabashed EU cash grab, by Alexander Hendrie
U.S. companies have left stranded an estimated $2.1 trillion in overseas accounts, awaiting lowering of the current 35% U.S. corporate tax rate before bring it home. Now the European Union wants to retroactively tax a piece of that money, going after large companies like Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, and McDonalds.
2016-09-02 ~National. JWR: Higher education, beyond parody, by Suzanne Fields
University of Chicago students take school pride in being self-motivators with intellectual curiosity, eager to debate trendy "truths" and expose squishy emotional approaches that elevate feelings over facts. So it's hardly surprising that it's one of the first elite universities to rebel against the corrosive influences that, like kudzu, have swarmed across the ivy-covered inner sanctums of higher education.
2016-09-02 ~National. NR: The Reopening of the American Mind, by Jim Talent
The recent University of Chicago letter to incoming freshmen is a hopeful sign that there is still a vein of classic liberalism on the Left, and that the proponents of it are prepared to draw a line in the sand. Also, a group of scholars, including left of center scholars, are fighting to reintroduce a measure of intellectual balance into higher education.
2016-09-02 ~Health... Ars Technica: FDA bans antibacterial soaps, by Beth Mole
"Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water. In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term." -- Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
2016-09-02 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Public Hearing on Supplemental Funds Appropriation
Posted as part of "FY 2016 Carryover Budget Package". A quick summary (WT ad#14904116, 9/02, 9/09):
FY 2017 Current Approved Budget Plan . . . . . . . . $7,471,661,174
FY 2017 Proposed Increase (27.69%) . . . . . . . . $2,069,172,164
. . Proposed Funding Increase . . . $1,782,361,466
. . Additional Funding Adjustments . $286,810,698
FY 2017 Proposed Total Expenditures . . . . . . . . . $9,540,833,338
2016-09-01 ~Porpourri JWR: The more things change, the more they actually don't, by Victor Davis Hanson
America and the rest of the world have made enormous progress in technology, science and social relations. But beneath the veneer of 2016, human nature remains the same, and life often operates on principles similar to those from a half-century ago -- and even before that.
2016-09-01 ~National. JWR: Trumps calls for an oath to America, by Cal Thomas
Here's the declaration of intention Albert Einstein signed in 1936: "I will, before being admitted to citizenship, renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty. I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy." Why not now?
2016-09-01 ~National. WT: With Obama leaving, despots' window of opportunity closing, by L. Todd Wood
Whether it's through incompetence or the result of a some misguided agenda, President Obama has weakened the power of the United States around the world. Even worse, he has invited our adversaries across the globe to attempt to obtain their nefarious foreign policy goals while Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry appease them all the way to the bank.
2016-08-31 ~World.... WT: Like peas in a pod: ISIS and Palestinians, by Ziva Dahl
Both groups indoctrinate children to kill Israelis. The West rightly expresses horror at ISIS' exploitation of children. When the same horrific abuse of children is perpetrated by Palestinians, the West's response is deafening silence.
2016-08-31 ~Virginia. WT: GOP lawmakers file contempt motion over felon voting rights, by Andrea Noble
"The practical effect of Governor McAuliffe's August 22 decision to issue over 200,000 individual restoration orders is precisely the same: his newly announced process will effectively suspend Virginia's general constitutional prohibition against felon voting for over 200,000 felons," the motion reads.
2016-08-31 ~National. Examiner: Who's afraid of free speech? A tale of two universities, by Alexis Zhang
Less than 10 miles separate the University of Chicago and DePaul University geographically, but a gulf has formed between them. Where the University of Chicago has been resolute in its defense of freedom of expression, DePaul University has flailed: It desperately needs to follow the moral leadership coming from Hyde Park.
2016-08-30 ~National. Politico: George Soros' quiet overhaul of the U.S. justice system, by Scott Bland
Progressives have zeroed in on electing prosecutors as an avenue for criminal justice reform, and the billionaire financier is providing the cash to make it happen.
2016-08-30 ~National. Breitbart: George Soros' Plan for Federally Controlled Police, by Aaron Klein
A leaked document from George Soros' Open Society Foundations exposes the billionaire's level of involvement in attempting to build what his organization describes as a "national movement" to reform local police forces across the U.S. The reform largely consists of federal guidelines for local police forces.
2016-08-30 ~National. WT: IRS stayed silent as 1M taxpayers' IDs stolen, by Stephen Dinan
The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency's inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday.
2016-08-30 ~Environmt CFACT: EPA's illegal experiments exposed, by Steve Milloy
More than four years ago, I told the public and Congress that EPA was experimenting with air pollutants on children (as young as 10 years), seniors (as old as 80 years), and people who health is impaired with heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. The EPA's purpose was to cause harm to the study subjects so as to justify EPA's air pollution regulations.
2016-08-29 ~National. IBD: Caution, Men (Not) At Work -- could become a hidden, combustible underclass
Nicholas Eberstadt, a fellow at AEI, argues in a new book called "Men Without Work", that we're suffering not from full employment, but massive underemployment, where nearly one out of six working-age men have no job and are no longer looking for one. A release for his book calls this "a hidden time bomb with far-reaching economic, social and political consequences."
2016-08-28 ~National. FCTA: Why NOT to vote 3rd-party in the U.S., by David Swink
Unlike in parliamentary systems, third party candidates in the United States don't play well in our two-party system of government -- often acting as spoilers and flipping the general election to the consternation of those same voters silly enough to effectively promote their last choice to public office.
2016-08-26 ~Virginia. AP: McAuliffe: 'Tough decisions ahead' as $1.5B shortfall looms, by Alanna Richer
RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Terry McAuliffe warned Virginia lawmakers Friday to brace for "tough decisions ahead" to address a roughly $1.5 billion budget shortfall driven largely by lower-than-expected income and sales tax collections.
2016-08-26 ~National. AMAC: Obamacare Double-Digit Rate Hikes in 17 States, by Melissa Quinn
AZ 39%, CA 13.2%, CO 20.2%, CT 17.8%, DE 28.8%, ID 20%, KY 23.3%, LA 23.6%, MD 20%, ME 21.5%, MI 17.2%, MT 34.6%, NY 16.6%, OR 20%, PA 25%, VA 20.5%, TN 51%
2016-08-25 ~Potpourri JWR: Diversity is history's pathway to chaos, by Victor Davis Hanson
The Roman Empire worked as long as Iberians, Greeks, Jews, Gauls and myriad other African, Asian and European communities spoke Latin, cherished habeas corpus and saw being Roman as preferable to identifying with their own particular tribe. By the fifth century, diversity had won out but would soon prove a fatal liability.
2016-08-25 ~Potpourri BW: This Is Your Company on Blockchain, by Peter Coy & Olga Kharif
The poetic vision of a blockchain society is a flock of starlings at dusk: decentralized yet perfectly coordinated. Blockchain, in this vision, could replace gobs of bankers, accountants, and lawyers, as well as escrow accounts, insurance, and everything else that society invented pre-21st century to verify payments and the performance of contracts.
2016-08-25 ~National. Examiner: Why are so many white men angry?, by Frederick R. Lynch
Why are white men (and often their families) angry? Are their grievances wholly or partially legitimate? Has the system treated them unjustly? And is this right-wing populist ire truly directed at immigrants -- or towards Democratic (and GOP) elites who pitted American workers against immigrants via open borders/cheap labor/outsourcing policies compounded by an expanding, questionable list of ethnic preferences in education and workplaces.
2016-08-25 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Vienna debuts unique new mini-roundabout, by Brian Trompeter
Vienna's first-ever mini-roundabout at Park and Locust Streets S.E., opened to the public during the third weekend of August and motorists so far seem to be getting the hang of negotiating the circle. But one motorist drove straight over the roundabout's mountable curb and through the intersection, as if the circle were not there at all.
2016-08-24 ~National. WT: Democrats leaving no voter behind -- Editorial
Democrats are poised to complement their celebration of diversity with an emphasis on indiscriminate inclusivity. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is restoring voting privileges to 13,000 felons. California's New Motor Voter Act automatically registers individuals to vote when they obtain a driver's license. And thousands of 110-year-olds are still voting.
2016-08-24 ~FxSchools CPEFC: Fairfax County Parent Information Package -- 5 Ways to Protect Students
Frustrated by the recent actions of the Fairfax County School Board? Wonder what you can do to protect your children? Then read on! Join the community of concerned parents and educators who stand firm against those seeking to endanger our children by pushing Gender Identity politics. Together we can fight back on behalf of ALL children and students in Fairfax County.
2016-08-23 ~World.... Epoch Times: 'The Private Sector Will Never Recover', by Valentin Schmid
Macquarie strategist Viktor Shvets' brutal assessment of the world economy is fascinating, but not for the faint of heart. His main theme is the "declining return on humans," which means that in today's digital world, normal humans don't grow productivity fast enough to justify more jobs and higher wages as the machines are taking over.
2016-08-23 ~National. Examiner: George Soros worked to prevent documentation of illegals, by Rudy Takala
The philanthropic Open Society Foundations run by George Soros sought in 2010 to foster an alliance between civil liberty advocates and proponents of illegal immigration in order to block comprehensive immigration reform, and language that would have required closer tracking of immigrants, hacked documents reveal.
2016-08-23 ~National. AP: Foundation donors got access to Hillary at State Dept, by Braun Sullivan
More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money -- either personally or through companies or groups -- to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.
2016-08-23 ~Health... Xinhua: Aussie drug melting cancer cells approved for human use in U.S.
A tablet developed in Melbourne that "melts away" cancer cells has been approved for use in the United States. The FDA announced on Tuesday that venetoclax was approved for prescription outside of human trials for patients with chronic lymphotic leukemia (CLL).
2016-08-22 ~World.... JPost: George Soros' campaign of global chaos, by Caroline B. Glick
The thrust of Soros' efforts from Ferguson to Berlin to Jerusalem is to induce mayhem and chaos as local authorities, paralyzed by his supported groups, are unable to secure their societies or even argue coherently that they deserve security.
2016-08-22 ~Virginia. ACTA: Is Virginia Prepared for the Next Recession?
"Based on its business cycle characteristics, Virginia would need $1.15 billion to make it through a recession of average severity if the state decided to rely on its combined rainy day fund and general fund balances rather than cutting spending or raising tax rates." -- Report by GMU's Mercatus Center
2016-08-22 ~National. Reuters: U.S. judge grants nationwide injunction to halt Obama transgender policy
Under the injunction, the Obama administration is prohibited from enforcing the guidelines on "against plaintiffs and their respective schools, school boards, and other public, educationally based institutions." -- U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor
2016-08-22 ~National. Daily Caller: Mainstream Media won't cover the Soros leaks, by Peter Hasson
Even as the New York Times ignored the major role George Soros' Open Society Foundations network has played in American policy-making, the paper wrote stories focusing on the role of wealthy donors in the Republican party.
2016-08-21 ~National. Examiner: Onstage, Trump 2.0 sheds ego, hones new role, by Byron York
Trump 1.0 spent an inordinate amount of time telling audiences how great he was. He also spent a lot of time bashing the press. Like much else in the Trump campaign, that has changed dramatically in the last seven days. In Fredericksburg, Trump 2.0 focused on a broad-based presentation of his agenda and sharp attacks on Hillary Clinton.
2016-08-21 ~National. NY Post: American journalism is collapsing before our eyes, by Michael Goodwin
Donald Trump may or may not fix his campaign, and Hillary Clinton may or may not become the first female president. But something else happening before our eyes is almost as important: the complete collapse of American journalism as we know it.
2016-08-18 ~Virginia. Patch: Where Are The Top Teacher Salaries in Virginia?, by Greg Hambrick
2016-08-18 ~National. JWR: Sheriff Clarke's hard truths about inner-city dysfunction, by Cal Thomas
Sheriff Clarke called progressive policies "a total disaster," not only in Milwaukee, but in Chicago, Baltimore, New York and elsewhere. His answer? "Until the black community does a self-evaluation and until they begin to self-criticize about some of the lifestyle choices they are making, this stuff is going to continue to fester."
2016-08-14 ~National. WT: Anti-Trump letter reveals jittery band of GOP establishment power brokers
An anti-Trump letter signed by 50 national security Republicans provided a look inside at Washington's shadow power structure -- the largely unseen roster of former officials who have exchanged their government jobs for the capital's lucrative corporate landscape.
2016-08-14 ~National. Epoch Times: Making College Worth the Cost, by Arthur Wiegenfeld
Americans are increasingly wondering if liberal arts colleges are worth the cost to both students and taxpayers. After noting the most important deficiencies, I propose a set of reforms...
2016-08-12 ~States... Bond Buyer: Why the Municipal Pension Crisis Will Worsen, by Robert Slavin
This article details the demographic shifts that now threaten to worsen the crisis as America ages. Subsequent installments focus on how municipalities have fared in court when they tried to cut pension benefits; political gridlock over pension reform; and bondholders' futility as they've squared off against pension funds in bankruptcy court.
2016-08-10 ~National. Watchdog.org: Court says FCC can't preempt state broadband laws, by Johnny Kampis
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of the attorneys general of Tennessee and North Carolina. Those states filed the case after the FCC voted in February 2015 to block laws that prevent municipal broadband networks from expanding outside their territories.
2016-08-10 ~National. Daily Caller: Obama DOJ stops FBI investigation of Clinton Foundation
The Dept of Justice declined a FBI request to open up a public integrity investigation into the Clinton Foundation. According to CNN, the FBI made the request earlier this year, but the DOJ said it did not have enough evidence to open a formal probe. (So the details of Uranium One and other Clinton deals will have to await a Trump presidency.)
2016-08-10 ~FxSchools Connection: Supervisors seek "social justice" in Fairfax schools, by Ken Moore
This month, the Board of Supervisors and the School Board passed a joint resolution called "One Fairfax: a community where everyone can participate and prosper." The idea is to address inequity in opportunities across the county. (But since FCPS seems incapable of bringing up the low end, this means that the high end will have to be diluted -- in true socialist fashion.)
2016-08-09 ~National. Examiner: Thomas Sowell takes down the gender 'wage' gap, by Ashe Schow
Thanks to an aggressive propaganda capaign, the idea that women are paid less than men for doing the same work has persisted for decades despite a mountain of data to the contrary. On Tuesday, conservative commentator Thomas Sowell took to debunking the myth yet again.
2016-08-09 ~National. Daily Caller: NPR Host Proves Why We Need Alternative Media, by Scott Greer
Smug liberal extraordinaire and host of the public radio podcast "On the Media" Bob Garfield really hates The Daily Caller. Garfield can't stand the fact that TheDC (accurately) reported on Khizr Khan's writings on Islamic law and specialty in immigration law. Those topics are apparently off-limits to reporters who want to be held in good graces by progressives.
2016-08-09 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Scientist Predicts 'Little Ice Age', Icy Reception by Colleagues
Professor Valentina Zharkova at Northumbria University is being attacked by climate change proponents for publishing research suggesting there could be a 35-year period of low solar activity that could usher in an "ice age". In fact, Zharkova said some scientists even tried to have her research suppressed. (Standard procedure for Global Warmists.)
2016-08-08 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: FTA blasts Metro track maintenance program, by M. Powers and F. Siddiqui
A new Federal Transit Administration report Monday blasted Metro's track inspection and repair protocol for "systemic safety deficiencies", citing last month's derailment of two rail cars as an example of how the agency continues to prioritize service over safety.
2016-08-07 ~Environmt WT: EPA corrupts an 'independent' science panel, by Steve Milloy
The Environmental Protection Agency has illegally stacked a key science advisory board with highly paid cronies -- but nothing can be done about it. Of the 26 members on EPA's "independent" science panel, 24 have received grants from EPA in an amount exceeding $220 million.
2016-08-05 ~National. WT: Court says IRS must prove it stopped tea party targeting, by Stephen Dinan
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said tea party groups can't sue individual IRS employees such as former senior executive Lois G. Lerner, but said the tax agency itself has not sufficiently proved that it has banned any future targeting, as some organizations were still awaiting approval years after they applied.
2016-08-05 ~FxMisc... Patch: Fairfax City Mayor Traded Meth for Sex, Caught in Sting, by Greg Hambrick
Fairfax City, VA -- Mayor Scott Silverthorne is accused of offering meth to undercover officers in exchange for a sexual encounter, according to Fairfax County Police. He is one of three suspects arrested in the bust, investigators announced Friday morning.
2016-08-02 ~National. Breitbart: Obama paid $400M ransom to Iran for 4 hostages, by W. Todd Huston
In January, Iran released Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari immediately after the Obama administration landed an unmarked cargo plane into Tehran with $400M in assorted non-dollar currencies.
2016-08-02 ~National. Breitbart: Khizr Khan's law firm specializes in pay-to-play Muslim immigration
Khizr Khan, the Muslim Gold Star father that Democrats and their media allies have been using to hammer GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, has deleted his law firm's website from the Internet. This development is significant, as his website proved that he financially benefits from unfettered pay-to-play Muslim migration into America.
2016-08-02 ~FxTrans.. WTOP: How I-66 toll lanes outside the Beltway will work, by Max Smith
Final plans for new HOV or toll lanes along more than 20 miles of Interstate 66 are due next month, but preliminary documents provide new insight into what the two toll lanes and three regular highway lanes in each direction will look like when the project is complete around 2021.
2016-08-02 ~FxTrans.. WT: Metro GM Wiedefeld moves into Phase 3 (incl job cuts), by Deborah Simmons
Job cuts at the region's Metro system are coming. Metro GM Paul Wiedefeld's goal is to make the beleaguered transit system "fiscally accountable" by restructuring management and downsizing the workforce. Metro faces an $18 billion capital budget deficit, a $2.5 billion unfunded pension liability and a $300 million shortfall in its final 2018 budget.
2016-07-29 ~State-FL. Watchdog.org: Feds confirm higher-than-expected Medicaid expansion costs
Six years after Obamacare became law, Florida has yet to embrace one of the law's core features: Medicaid expansion. Republican leaders have resisted federal funding temptations, to much criticism. But the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services now admits that Medicaid expansion costs are much higher than predicted.
2016-07-29 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Middle-Class Backlash Threatens Globalization, by Matthew Little
A populist sentiment sweeping the world is taking aim at the global economic order set by the United States in the decades following World War II. Rising inequality, political polarization, and a growing belief that governments serve the monied elite are destroying the trust and cohesion that healthy societies are built on.
2016-07-28 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Apollo astronauts dying of heart disease 4-5X faster than others
Apollo astronauts who have left the protective magnetosphere of mother Earth appear to be dying of cardiovascular disease at a far higher rate than their counterparts -- both those that have stayed grounded and those that only flew in the shielding embrace of low-Earth orbit. This may dampen future attempts to fly to Mars and elsewhere in the cosmos.
2016-07-27 ~Health... AMAC: Dizziness and Aspartame, by Gregory DeGlorgis
My story began in September 1993 at age 29. I am a general contractor, working six to seven stressful days a week. I began waking around 5 a.m. with dizziness episodes that would incapacitate me. After many false diagnoses and one needless surgery, saw a news program about aspartame, the sugar substitute designed for diabetics. ...
2016-07-25 ~National. Infowars: O'Keefe films Dems saying how they plan to ban guns, by Adan Salazar
"If your goal is an outright gun ban, you need to use terms such as 'common sense gun legislation' to fool the public, a Hillary Clinton campaign delegate admitted in a recent undercover sting video released exclusively to Infowars." -- Clinton alternate delegate, Mary Bayer, told a Project Veritas reporter.
2016-07-25 ~National. Examiner: Trump blows up conventional convention strategy, by Byron York
There was plenty of news to discuss on the third morning of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, especially Bill Clinton's speech on behalf of his wife. It was all in the daily mix -- until about 11:00 a.m., when Donald Trump walked to a microphone for a news conference...
2016-07-22 ~Virginia. Wapo: Va. high court invalidates McAuliffe's en masse felon voting rights order
In a 4-to-3 decision, the state Supreme Court court agreed with state Republicans who challenged McAuliffe's order, arguing that the governor can only restore voting rights on a case-by-case basis and not en masse.
2016-07-22 ~Environmt CFACT: Students taught advocacy in place of science, by David R. Legates
For almost thirty years, I have taught climate science at three different universities. What I have observed is that students are increasingly being fed climate change advocacy as a surrogate for becoming climate science literate. This makes them easy targets for the climate alarmism that pervades America today.
2016-07-20 ~National. WT: "Don't give up the ship!"-- [Former] Naval dictum, by Adm James Lyons
The recent "surrender" of two 48-foot heavily armed U.S. Navy patrol boats to slightly smaller armed Iranian Navy fishing-type boats was more than an embarrassment for the Navy. It also indicated a much more symptomatic problem: the destruction of our warrior mentality. More than 240 years of U.S. Navy customs and traditions were thrown overboard without a shot being fired.
2016-07-19 ~National. Rent-A-Riot: Soros' Assault on America -- video (5:26 min)
Are rallies and riots in our cities grassroots, justice events or are they more often stage for political purposes by well paid community organizers and media? Rent-A-Riot is a provocative look into one part of the slow but systematic dismantling of our beloved country by those who hurt and discredit the ones they are pretending to help.
2016-07-19 ~National. WT: 9/11 report details Saudi funding of U.S. Islamists, by Rowan Scarborough
Saudi Arabia was funding Muslim radicalism in mosques and charities at the time the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were gathering in the United States and making contacts with Saudi nationals, according to a declassified intelligence document. The report section, referred to as "Part 4", deals mainly with one topic: suspected Saudi government support for the Sept. 11 plot.
2016-07-19 ~FxSchools FCPS: Transgender Regulation Work Session Cancelled; Regulation Placed On Hold
2016-07-19 ~Environmt WT: U.N. pleads for climate ratification before mass 'Clexit', by V. Richardson
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged nations to attend a "special event" Thursday where they may deposit their "instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change." His push comes amid the increasingly chilly reception for the 195-party agreement. The change of heart even has a name: "Clexit", short for "climate exit".
2016-07-18 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: Richmond DJ is the ambassador for Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh
A short-lived phenomenon, the golden age of Pop Yeh Yeh in the 1960s might have been lost to history had it not been for Richmond DJ Carl Hamm, who has made it his mission to curate and preserve this culture's legacy and share it with music lovers all over the world.
2016-07-18 ~National. WT: New data prove the obvious: Taxes matter!, by Curtis S. Dubay
Liberal politicians support hiking taxes on cigarettes, gasoline and other fossil fuels precisely because they know it will reduce consumption of these commodities. Yet at the same they insist we can raise income taxes on the rich without triggering any ill effects on the economy. They're wrong, and recently released data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows why.
2016-07-18 ~National. WT: Democrat-funded black protests face voter backlash, by Valerie Richardson
Pro-Democrat donors have been linked to groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement might have petered out but for millions of dollars from pro-Democrat funders such as billionaire George Soros. (See the Jan 2015 report by the Times' Kelly Riddell.) Like in 1968 such civil unrest does not bode well for the party in power.
2016-07-17 ~National. WT: Those 28 pages on 9/11 -- Read them here!
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee finally released 28 pages of the long-suppressed findings of its investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, and the interesting stuff appears to have been written between the lines. A reasonably talented sixth-grader can connect some of the dots.
2016-07-17 ~FxSchools Liz Schultz: FCPS to ignore public, set Transgender Regs 07/21! -- Plz show up!
The School Board continues to do an end run around public deliberation.
2016-07-12 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: The Seven Percent Assumption [by VRS on Investments]
The future 35 years of investment returns will not match that of the previous 35 years, one of the great bull market eras of U.S. financial history. Therefore, the VRS (and other all pension funds) are reckless to assume that recent history will be any guide at all to future performance.
2016-07-12 ~National. WT: Obama's State Dept spent $350K in 2015 to oust Israeli PM, by Stephen Dinan
The State Department paid $350,000 in taxpayers grants to an Israeli group that used the money to build a campaign to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in last year's Israeli parliamentary elections, a congressional investigation concluded Tuesday.
2016-07-08 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Transform 66 is yet another transportation mistake, by Stuart Whitaker
Transform 66 is a $2 billion plan to build toll lanes on I-66. Although it would be privately financed, the project requires up to $600 million in state and local funds, and would create a 50-year partnership that would survive long past my lifetime and lock our children and grandchildren into an auto-dependent transportation model from the Eisenhower administration. Bad deal!
2016-07-07 ~National. JWR: 1966 Coleman Report study of public education still valid, by George Will
Coming out one year after the more famous Moynihan Report, the Coleman Report presented a statistical analysis of public education across the country. Coleman's evidence that cultural rather than financial variables matter most was not welcomed by education bureaucracies and unions. Fifty years later, this still-valid conclusion continues to be ignored.
2016-07-07 ~National. WT: DOJ ends funding to sanctuary cities, by Stephen Dinan
The Justice Department on Thursday finally shut off funding to so-called "sanctuary cities" that ignore federal laws and protect illegal immigrants wanted for crimes. ICE has been pushing for years for the Justice Department to move against sanctuary cities, but made no headway under former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
2016-07-06 ~National. WT: Paper - System forgives sexual abuse by U.S. doctors, by Andrew Blake
More than 2,400 doctors nationwide have been sanctioned for sexual misconduct involving patients between 1999 and 2015, yet over half still maintain active medical licenses, according to a new investigation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday said it became aware of the staggering statistic after one of its reporters was examining state medical records.
2016-07-06 ~National. WT: Dems' filibusters shield illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities, by S. Dinan
Senate Democrats launched filibusters Wednesday to protect sanctuary cities and to shield repeat illegal immigrants from mandatory minimum five-year prison sentences, saying Republican lawmakers were following the lead of Donald Trump in attacking immigrants.
2016-07-05 ~National. NR: FBI Rewrites Federal Law to Let Hillary Off the Hook, by Andrew C. McCarthy
FBI Director Comey recommended against prosecution of the law violations he clearly found on the ground that there was no "intent" to harm the United States. In essence, in order to give Mrs. Clinton a pass, the FBI rewrote the statute, inserting an "intent" element that Congress did not require. (Similar in form to Chief Justice Roberts' tortured Obamacare opinion.)
2016-07-05 ~Environmt Examiner: Cool sun may indicate coming Ice Age, by James Wanliss
For more than a decade a small cadre of scientists has provided evidence that the fears about global warming are a vastly overblown horde of hot air. The real concern, they say, is that we may be entering another ice age similar to the "Little Ice Age", which extended from the mid-16th to mid-19th centuries.
2016-07-04 ~National. Examiner: What's next for the college snowflakes?, by Ashe Schow
This past school year, colleges and universities saw some of the most embarrassing displays of student and faculty behavior ever witnessed in modern history, bolstered by a grievance culture that promotes victimhood.
2016-07-01 ~World.... MarketWatch: Economist says China headed for 1929-style depression, by Sue Chang
Andy Xie, who was a top economist at the World Bank and Morgan Stanley, found notoriety a decade ago when he left the Wall Street bank after a controversial internal report went public. Today, he is among the loudest voices warning of an inevitable implosion in China, the world's second-largest economy.
2016-07-01 ~FxSchools FCPS: New Transgender Regs -- UPDATE on July 14 Board Mtg!
On Friday, July 1, the FCPS School Board Chairman, Pat Hynes dumped new transgender regulations on the Board, asking for quick approval behind closed doors. The regulation includes: "Affirmation"; "preferred gender pronoun"; and "preferred gender" in chorus, sex ed, sports. Last year, parents were promised a say in all this. The School Board is doing an end run around public deliberation.
2016-06-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Freedom and Obligation -- 2016 Commencement Address, by Clarence Thomas
Imprimis lecture by Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court.
2016-06-xx ~FxMisc... Arlington Mag: Arlington's Empty Office Problem, by Tamara Lytle
Why 8 million square feet of vacant commercial real estate is bad news for county residents - and how local officials hope to fill it.
2016-06-xx ~Bulletin. A meals tax will not stop the real estate tax increases!
2016-06-30 ~World.... JWR: Trump? Brexit? Elitism creates a new populism, by Victor Davis Hanson
The taxpaying middle classes on both sides of the Atlantic, who lack the romance of the poor and the connections of the elite, have become convenient whipping boys of both in order to leverage more government social programs and to assuage the guilt of the elites who have no desire to live out their utopian theories in the flesh.
2016-06-30 ~National. WT: Loretta Lynch, Bill Clinton hold impromptu private meeting at Phoenix airport
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton met privately as they crossed paths at a Phoenix airport earlier this week -- a meeting that took place as the FBI continues its investigation into likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state.
2016-06-30 ~National. WT: Justice Thomas' opinions set course for future -- celebrating 25 years
Fixed like Polaris in continually shifting skies, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas points unwaveringly toward the founders in his approach to constitutional interpretation. Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the justice's nomination to the nation's highest court -- a tenure marked by no shortage of public and scholarly scrutiny.
2016-06-29 ~World.... WT: Trump? Brexit? It's the freedom, stupid!, by Monica Crowley
It took a quarter-century, but the British people finally put their collective feet down. They want their independence, economic liberty and national sovereignty restored. Similarly in America, the seismic shift away from globalism and "multiculturalism" has given rise to Republican nominee Donald Trump and continues to fuel his campaign.
2016-06-29 ~National. WT: Federal judge upholds voter citizenship checks, by Stephen Dinan
Kansas, Alabama and Georgia can demand their residents submit proof of citizenship before signing up to vote even if they're using the federal government's registration forms, a judge said Wednesday, delivering a win to states concerned about voter fraud.
2016-06-29 ~National. WT: Benghazi report overlooked failed arms scheme, by Andrew Napolitano
The truth is that the House Select Committee on Benghazi concealed more truth than it revealed. There is ample evidence to support the argument that Benghazi was the unintended consequence of Mrs. Clinton's private war against Libyan strongman, Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Yet the report does not delve into that.
2016-06-28 ~State-SC. AMAC: New S.C. Law Ensures Students Will Study the Founding Documents
"This was once common sense throughout America, but now we are forced to fight to ensure that even the most basic texts -- the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence -- are taught." -- Arthur Milikh, The Heritage Foundation
2016-06-28 ~FxMisc... Connection: Gross Misreading of the Second Amendment -- letter, by Paul Carlock
What Gerry Connolly and other Democrats want is to ban all effective weapons in American hands. Without realizing it (maybe), they pursue and promote Marxist goals of making the public subservient to the government boot. That is the exact opposite of why the 2A is in the Constitution in the first place: it is there to balance federal power.
2016-06-27 ~National. WT: McDonnell's bribery conviction overturned by Supreme Court, by Ryan McDermott
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was cleared of corruption charges Monday in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court. Justices Roberts and Breyer suggested that the bribery law could be considered unconstitutionally vague, and thus a recipe for giving the Justice Dept and their prosecutors enormous power over elected officials.
2016-06-27 ~FxTrans.. PlanItMetro: Growth Mode or Stuck in Neutral? Or Both?, by Shyam
Population and jobs are up, but regional travel is down. Why? The very nature of trip-making may be changing in this region. More households, more jobs, and trip-making is flat or perhaps down -- regardless of mode.
2016-06-26 ~World.... WT: The world turned upside down after Brexit (In U.S. too) -- Editorial
A consensus, as we have learned to our sorrow in America, is deadlier than a conspiracy. The elites will get over their pout, perhaps having learned a lesson. Their world that was turned upside down will be set aright, but it will be a different world. They might as well get used to it. That's the lesson of Brexit.
2016-06-24 ~Potpourri AMAC: Yes, There Are Options When Planning a Funeral, by Angela Webster
To reduce stress on family members, many Americans are choosing to pre-plan their funerals by working with a funeral home or other provider to ensure that the arrangements reflect their final wishes. And you have certain rights that the funeral provider cannot deny.
2016-06-24 ~Health... Science Daily: New doubts on Zika as cause of microcephaly
Brazil's microcephaly epidemic continues to pose a mystery -- if Zika is the culprit, why are there no similar epidemics in other countries also hit hard by the virus? One possibility that has been raised is the pesticide pyriproxyfen, which is applied to drinking water in some parts of Brazil to kill the larvae of the mosquitos that transmit Zika.
2016-06-23 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: Special Reston Transportation District Tax Options Taking Shape
The Fairfax Co Dept of Transportation is still considering a special tax to fund $2.6 billion in transportation improvements in the Reston area in coming years. Two ideas include $0.03/$100 of assessed values for commercial and industrial properties in Reston transit station areas or a service district of $0.015/$100 for all properties in Reston transit station areas.
2016-06-22 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax supervisors approve higher-density zoning rules, by Antonio Olivo
The changes allow for denser development in 22 areas of the county, including Reston, Seven Corners and the Richmond Highway corridor. Under the new rules, the maximum building height for most of those neighborhoods rises to the equivalent of a 10-story building with 50,000 square feet on each level.
2016-06-21 ~Health... Gizmag: First cold-pressed cow's milk on sale in Australia, by Stu Roberts
Australian outfit Made by Cow says that homogenizing and pasteurizing milk eliminates much of its goodness and flavor, so has created a new cold press method that makes milk safe to drink much closer to its fresh state.
2016-06-21 ~FxTaxes.. Montgomery Co: Individual and Business Tax Burdens in Local Jurisdictions
This report analyzes and compares the tax burden for individuals living in and businesses based in Montgomery County (MD), Fairfax County (VA), The District of Columbia, Prince George's County (MD), Howard County (MD), and Frederick County (MD).
2016-06-20 ~National. Examiner: The genderfication of U.S. politics, by Steven Hayward
This issue fits the need of liberalism to find new victim classes over which to extend its protections. ... It is ironic that liberals who otherwise champion the sanctity of nature when it comes to global warming or endangered species or pristine forests draw the line when it comes to human nature.
2016-06-20 ~National. WT: Obama's attempt to alter the Orlando transcript -- Editorial
It's not the crime, but the cover-up. Attorney General Loretta Lynch learned this Monday when, no doubt under careful instructions from the White House, she released a heavily edited transcript of the conversations between Omar Mateen and police negotiators when he was in the midst of killing 49 men and women in Orlando.
2016-06-20 ~Environmt WT: Greenpeace co-founder says CO2 saves Earth, by Valerie Richardson
Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, a Greenpeace turncoat who now challenges the catastrophic climate change narrative, said in a treatise that far from endangering life on Earth, human emissions of CO2 have restored a balance to the global carbon cycle, countering a CO2 low some 18,000 years ago that threatened to extinguish all plant life.
2016-06-17 ~Virginia. WND: Obamatrade cost Randy Forbes his job, by Curtis Ellis
The populist uprising against phony "free trade" has taken its first scalp. Rep. Randy Forbes, GOP establishment stalwart and longtime Obamatrade supporter from Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, will soon be unemployed. Voters rejected him in favor of his primary opponent Scott Taylor, former Navy SEAL, who stridently opposed Obamatrade.
2016-06-17 ~States... AMAC: How Does Your State Rank for Fiscal Solvency?, by Eileen Norcross
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks each US state's financial health based on short- and long-term debt and other key fiscal obligations, such as unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits. Top 5: Alaska, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Bottom 5: Kentucky, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
2016-06-16 ~Potpourri WaPo: Start-up wants to change how stocks are traded, by Renae Merle
Investors' Exchange wants to provide a venue for regular investors. IEX would delay every order to buy or sell a stock -- a 350-microsecond "speed bump" to prevent high-speed traders from cutting into the line to pick up stocks at the best prices, leaving slower mom-and-pop traders in the dust.
2016-06-16 ~Environmt WT: GOP AGs warn global warming alarmists can be sued too, by Valerie Richardson
As suggested here, 13 Republican attorneys general warned those 17 Democrat AGs that their argument "cuts both ways". "If it is possible to minimize the risks of climate change, then the same goes for exaggeration," said Alabama AG Luther Strange in a letter. "If minimization is fraud, exaggeration is fraud."
2016-06-15 ~National. Daily Caller: 'Guccifer 2.0' Leaks Big Donor Info From DNC Breach, by Chuck Ross
A hacker called Guccifer 2.0 has leaked what he claims are records of donations to the Democratic National Committee and other potentially damning documents. The hacker, whose breach of the DNC's computer systems was reported on Tuesday, released a slew of donor records and other memos to The Smoking Gun website and to his own Wordpress account.
2016-06-14 ~State-WI. WT: Meet the Wisconsin 'cookie ladies', by M.D. Kittle
Blanchardville, Wis. -- Kriss Marion was an organic farmer, not a fighter. But Wisconsin's restrictive law on homemade baked goods forced this peaceful sustainable homesteader to fight back.
2016-06-14 ~National. WT: Conservatives struggle to get ahead in academia, by Bradford Richardson
One conservative English professor said attempts to find higher-paying positions at other universities were futile, largely because the only openings were "for somebody who wrote on race and empire." Although he does not believe he faced discrimination in hiring as a conservative, that may be in part because he kept his beliefs hidden from his colleagues.
2016-06-11 ~National. Examiner: Dilbert creator analyzes Donald Trump, by Sean Higgins
Scott Adams has long mocked business management techniques in his comic strip, but has made a point of examining what works and what doesn't. He argues that Trump is engaging in a master class in the arts of negotiation and marketing that is running rings around his political competitors. And Trump knows exactly what he is doing.
2016-06-10 ~States... Examiner: 10 states spend more on pensions than on universities, by Jason Russell
California, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. "Like the insatiable Pac-Man, pensions are eating further and further into state and local education budgets, eating up dollars that could be spent on lots of other things." -- Chad Aldeman of Bellwether Education Partners
2016-06-10 ~National. Daily Caller: Feds Push To Urbanize Suburbia Under New HUD Regulation
In its final months, the Obama administration has set up a strategy to bring inner city living to the suburbs by deploying three federal agencies to dictate to states and local communities how to set up schools, housing and mass transit.
2016-06-10 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax activists challenge zoning plan to allow much higher densities
The Fairfax Planning Commission will vote next week on whether to allow more and higher buildings near Metro stations and in aging commercial areas, part of an effort to increase the number of lively urban centers in Virginia's largest jurisdiction. That initiative has triggered an outcry from residents of some of the affected areas.
2016-06-09 ~Potpourri Sun UK: Meet 'Generation Snowflake' - young women can't cope with being offended
A top British thinker has claimed young women are in the grip of a "hysteria" which has made them unable to cope with being offended. Mollycoddled kids are breaking down in tears when asked to deal with controversial ideas.
2016-06-09 ~National. WT: The other driver of congressional gridlock, by Alfred J. Lechner Jr.
'Chevron deference' allows federal agencies to usurp the role of lawmaker. Using a baseball analogy, Congress is the pitcher, the executive branch, the batter, and the Supreme Court, the umpire. The Chevron doctrine inappropriately cedes the umpire's role to the batter. That is the type of unfair insider baseball that causes the pitcher to stay in the dugout, undermining the American system of government.
2016-06-08 ~Virginia. WT: Gloucester Co to appeal transgender bathroom ruling, by Brad Richardson
The school board of Gloucester County, Virginia, has announced that it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court whether federal law requires schools to allow restroom and locker room access on the basis of gender identity. Its current policy was struck down in April by the Richmond-based U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
2016-06-08 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Light rail runs at heavy price in Dallas, Houston, by Kenric Ward
Houston's Metro rail is catching up to Dallas' DART trains in ridership, but both systems are more dependent than ever on taxpayer subsidies. DART's government subsidies were nearly nine times the amount of its fare revenue of $71,012,000 last year. In Houston, each $1.25 Metro rail ticket is supplemented by $4.75 in subsidies.
2016-06-08 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Silver Line should never have been born, by Fredrick Kunkle
The Silver Line was Washington's most expensive transportation project ever. Fewer people than projected now pay to ride. And its terminus is still miles from Dulles Airport and it doesn't stop in a transit-friendly walkable community -- and, no, not Tysons Corner. But, hey, those big real estate developers have sure made bank.
2016-06-08 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Be More Creative Than Imposing a Meals Tax, by Sam Lowenstein
Perhaps a better way to diversify the revenue base of the county is to have a special tax on new automobiles bought for teenagers. After all, folks in Northern Virginia can live without eating out, but who can deny their kid a new Beemer?
2016-06-08 ~Environmt WT: EPA's favorable Roundup-cancer report goes missing, by Valerie Richardson
The EPA findings posted last month were welcome news for the herbicide industry: Glyphosate, a key ingredient in popular weed killers such as Roundup, was unlikely to cause cancer. Days later, however, the final report of the Cancer Assessment Review Committee was removed from the EPA website. It hasn't been seen since. Read also this Roundup-Autism link.
2016-06-07 ~World.... Infowars: Bilderberg 2016 to talk Trump, Riots, Migrants & BREXIT
Globalists are panicking about the populist revolution sweeping the West. This week's influential meeting of bankers, politicians, media heads and business moguls has released its official participant list and agenda for 2016. We can easily infer from the agenda and some of the names on the participant list what the group will be discussing in more detail.
2016-06-07 ~National. JWR: Hillary and the 'what if' scenarios, by Cal Thomas
... In this unpredictable election season, any one -- or all -- of these scenarios are possibilities, including the ultimate scenario: The delegates turning to Vice President Joe Biden to save them from Hillary and defeat in November.
2016-06-07 ~National. FCTA: Letter to FBI RE Hillary Clinton's crimes at the State Dept, by Tom Cranmer
This amicus letter is in response to the FBI's request for the public's assistance, and is based on my experience as a State Department employee with a top secret clearance and work in corrupt countries from Albania to Zimbabwe for decades.
2016-06-07 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Supervisors approve 4% Meals Tax referendum for Nov election ballot
Estimated $99 million in revenue. Allegedly, schools would get 70% and County Services, Capital Improvements and Property Tax Relief would get 30%. (But of course the real purpose is to improve county Pensions and Benefits. Wonder what they'll come up with to tax in 2017.)
2016-06-06 ~Potpourri WT: Book Review - 'Eamon de Valera: A Will to Power', by Ronan Fanning
Had de Valera been shot with the executed rebels of the Irish Easter 1916 uprising, his name would have been similarly immortalized, but Mr. Fanning doubts that Ireland could have achieved true national sovereignty for several decades -- or perhaps ever -- without his indomitable will, steely determination and political skill.
2016-06-05 ~Potpourri Motley Fool: India's New Space Shuttle -- Cheaper Than SpaceX?, by Rich Smith
India has built a prototype space shuttle that looks an awful lot like ours -- but with a much smaller price tag. And since India doesn't regulate and test everything to death before flying it, the production model may eventually give SpaceX competition in launch costs.
2016-06-05 ~National. WT: IRS finally reveals list of targeted tea party groups, by Stephen Dinan
More than three years after it admitted to targeting tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, the IRS has finally released a near-complete list of 426 organizations it snagged in a political dragnet. The list was released after a series of federal judges, fed up with what they said was the agency's stonewalling, ordered it to get a move on.
2016-06-03 ~Virginia. Examiner: Terry McAuliffe's latest scandal just the tip of the iceberg
Money and political power, coming together in business deals involving some of the world's most corrupt people. The latest investigation into Terry McAuliffe proves the Clinton '90s never really ended.
2016-06-03 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Not a dime more for Metro -- yet, by Paul Kupiec & Ryan Nabil
Metro has many problems, but the biggest one is not inadequate taxpayer support. Taxpayers provide a subsidy of $2.02 for each Metro passenger trip. In contrast, New York's system receives a subsidy of $1.92 per ride. Even the wildly inefficient Amtrak system receives only a $0.25 subsidy per passenger mile, compared with $0.42 for Metro.
2016-06-02 ~Potpourri WT: English majors at Yale shun top writers, by Bradford Richardson
In something of a Shakespearean twist, English majors at Yale University don't want to study the greatest English writers. They are demanding that the English Department "decolonize" the curriculum by dropping a pair of Major English Poets required courses that feature works by dead white men.
2016-06-02 ~National. WT: Obama's Middle East report card after 7 years, by William C. Triplett II
On June 4, 2009, President Obama gave a speech at Cairo University which the White House calls "A New Beginning" meaning a change in the relations between the West and the Middle East North Africa (MENA), the region from Morocco to Iran. Seven years later, let's consider whether we or the peoples of MENA are "better off"?
2016-06-01 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Have Republicans ceded the 11th District? -- Editorial
Republican John Wolfe was the lone candidate to file for the GOP nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-11th) in November, so you'd think odds were in his favor that the nomination would be his. But he didn't show up, and the party faithful then, in lopsided fashion, rejected him as the nominee.
2016-06-01 ~Environmt Climate Depot: Portland public schools ban textbooks doubting 'global warming'
"It was a pleasure to burn." Those stark words open Ray Bradbury's classic novel, Fahrenheit 451, which portrays a world where firemen don't put out fires, they burn books. 451 degrees F is the kindling point of paper. The Portland public schools are doing their best to bring Bradbury's nightmare to life.
2016-05-xx ~Virginia. FCTA: Democrat and Republican local web sites in Virginia, by David Swink
2016-05-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The Left - World's Most Destructive Force
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush describes how the cultural threads of the Left -- the global tentacles of criminal communism, the dark moneyed designs of the George Soros left, and aggressive militant Islam -- have conjoined now, and together are working to thwart American liberty.
2016-05-31 ~World.... Open Univ: Iceland completes its miracle economic escape, by Alan Shipman
In contrast to eurozone countries (core as well as periphery) that remain deeply constrained by excessive external debt, Iceland has just paid down its foreign obligations by a cool US$61 billion, returning them to the safe 2006 level. Iceland responded to their meltdown in the opposite way from the rest of Europe -- and against the received wisdom of most economists.
2016-05-31 ~Virginia. AP: Court costs can be crippling for low-income drivers, by Larry O'Dell
Catch 22: Poor Virginia drivers get speeding tickets ... can't pay monthly payment plus court costs ... lose drivers' license ... now unemployed and unable to legally drive anywhere to apply for jobs ... debts continue to mount.
2016-05-31 ~State-CA. WT: California moves to criminalize undercover abortion videos, by B. Richardson
AB 1671, which has been backed by Planned Parenthood, would criminalize the publication of confidential interactions with state-licensed medical personnel, including abortionists and clinic staff, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine per violation.
2016-05-30 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Property taxes outstrip Texans' incomes, by Kenric Ward
Texas property taxes have exploded in the past decade, leaving Texans' household income in the dust. Trashing the Lone Star State's reputation as a low-tax haven, county property tax levies skyrocketed 70 percent from 2005 to 2014. City taxes climbed 60 percent during the period. Meantime, Texans' median household income grew by 26 percent.
2016-05-29 ~National. WT: Bernie's utopian nightmare, by Armstrong Williams
Bernard Sanders' appeal among young people has focused on the supposed benefits a socialist society can give them: free education, free health care and a government-mandated "living wage". But his vision for a socialist utopia flies in the face of reason -- and the sad saga of socialism in Europe.
2016-05-27 ~State-GA. Watchdog.org: Georgia GOP voters eager for more school choice, by Heather Kays
The question on the primary GOP ballot read: "Should Georgia empower parents with the right to use the tax dollars allocated for the education of their children, allowing them the freedom to choose among public, private, virtual, and home schools? Yes or No." Unsurprisingly, three out of four voters said they support school choice.
2016-05-27 ~Environmt CFACT: Former Obama Energy Chief slams EPA climate regs, by Marc Morano
In testimony before Congress, former Obama Dept of Energy Asst Secretary Charles McConnell eviscerated the President's proposed EPA Clean Power Plan regulation to fight global warming. "The Clean Power Plan (CPP) has been falsely sold as impactful environmental regulation when it is really an attempt by our primary federal environmental regulator to take over state and federal regulation of energy," he said.
2016-05-27 ~Environmt CFACT: Bill Nye the scientism guy, by Dr. Willie Soon and István Markó
Facts don't support his hypothesis, so he shouts louder, changes subjects, and attacks his critics.
2016-05-26 ~World.... JWR: Britain's chance to break free (Brexit), by George Will
Money, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, is the prose of life. The E.U. is the culmination of a grand attempt to drain Europe of grandeur, to make it permanently peaceful by making it prosaic -- preoccupied and tranquilized by commerce. European unity has always been a surreptitious political project couched in economic categories.
2016-05-26 ~National. Examiner: Why U.S. v McDonnell is important, by Former MD Gov. Robert Erhlich
Hopefully, the Supreme Court will use the McDonnell case to draw a bright and shining line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Our political system will be better for it.
2016-05-26 ~National. BW: Trump getting advice from Reaganomics team, by Hamilton Jamrisko
As the presumptive Republican nominee gets ready to put out his plan to boost U.S. growth, he's sought advice from some of the most notable names in Reaganomics, including Arthur Laffer, Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore.
2016-05-26 ~Health... Nucific: Sweetened to Death: Exposing Sugar for What It Truly Is, by Dr. Amy Lee
What you don't know IS hurting you... and I don't just mean weight problems. I mean chronic disease. I mean a whole generation dying younger than their parents for the first time in modern history. If you were ever looking for a single smoking gun for obesity and health problems, this is it; I'm talking about sugar. And you're about to learn how to dodge the bullet and come out on top.
2016-05-25 ~National. WT: Clinton broke rules with secret server - State Dept IG, by Stephen Dinan
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did break her department's rules by setting up her own secret email server, the inspector general concluded in an 83-page report sent to Congress on Wednesday. She also failed to report hacking attempts and waved off warnings that she should switch to a more official email account.
2016-05-25 ~National. WT: 11 states sue Obama regime over transgender school-bathroom directive
A coalition of 11 states led by Texas is serving as the first line of defense against President Obama's mandate compelling schools nationwide to permit toilet and locker room access on the basis of gender identity, not biological sex.
2016-05-24 ~Potpourri Newsmax: Koran's Reward of 72 Virgins Raisins? -- Canadian academic Irshad Manji
The Koran's promise to Islamic jihadists of a heavenly reward of 72 virgins actually mistranslates the word for "raisins," a Canadian scholar asserts -- a startling declaration that's fueling a twitter storm.
2016-05-24 ~National. Examiner: McAuliffe just one of many shady Hillary fundraisers, by Timothy Carney
Nobody in America is surprised to learn the FBI is investigating Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D, over campaign contributions. Disregard for rules is part of who McAuliffe is, and it is typical of the Clinton fundraising world.
2016-05-24 ~National. Bacon's Rebellion: The New Map of Economic Growth
Analysis by the Economic Innovation Group points to very different futures for American communities. In summary: Large metros enjoy a major competitive advantage, smaller metros are teetering on a knife's edge, and rural areas and small towns are hosed. A mere 20 counties accounting for only 17 percent of the U.S. population were responsible for half of the net national increase in business establishments from 2010 to 2014.
2016-05-23 ~Health... Guardian: Official advice wrong on low-fat diet, cholesterol, says health charity
In a damning report that accuses major public health bodies of colluding with the food industry, two British health charities call for a "major overhaul" of current dietary guidelines. They say the focus on low-fat diets is failing to address Britain's obesity crisis, while snacking between meals is making people fat.
2016-05-22 ~World.... JPost: 'Son of Hamas' tells Jerusalem Post conference: Islam is the problem
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, helped the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) thwart attacks from 1997 to 2007. He later went on to write an autobiography published in 2010 titled 'Son of Hamas'. He converted to Christianity and fled to the U.S. where he was granted political asylum.
2016-05-21 ~National. Examiner: Justice rots from the top -- Editorial
Obama's DOJ lawyers on Thursday were denounced by a federal judge as "unseemly and unprofessional". Maybe it's not surprising that Justice Department attorneys keep getting caught misbehaving when their boss, the president himself, puts undemocratic change ahead of everything else, including apparently ethical behavior in the practice of law.
2016-05-21 ~National. CFACT: Graduates face big a challenge... to THINK, by Paul Driessen
World-renowned physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman's admonition has been largely discarded in the halls of academia. "I would rather have questions that can't be answered," he said, "than answers that can't be questioned." Sadly, answers that none dare question now dominate classroom life.
2016-05-19 ~State-NV. Examiner: School choice wins in Nevada court, by Jason Russell
A Nevada judge dismissed an ACLU suit challenging the constitutionality of the state's landmark school choice program, saying the program was constitutional because parents, not the state government, decide if they want to use the funds at religious schools.
2016-05-19 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: Transportation Tax District Wouldn't Include All of Reston
Fairfax County Department of Transportation officials want to create a special tax district to fund about $2.6 billion in transportation improvements in Reston. At a community meeting Wednesday, these officials said the idea is still on the table -- but only for residents and businesses in developments within the Reston's transit area.
2016-05-18 ~FxTrans.. WT: Privatize D.C. Metro?, by Deborah Simmons
Many of you do not know and do not remember that public transit used to be privately owned and operated. And it's time to query whether Metro, the D.C. region's public and heavily subsidized transit system, should be privatized.
2016-05-18 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Time for Fairfax Supervisors to Recognize Metro Costs, by Thomas Cranmer
Fairfax County's proposed budget this year had a deficit of nearly $100 million. The deficit next year is likely to be similar. So for next year add $100 million plus the extra Metro subsidy of $226 million, Fairfax would have a deficit of over $300 million. This is huge.
2016-05-18 ~Environmt WT: Hit back on RICO suit -- letter, by FCTA's David Swink
If there were ever a group that deserved to be indicted and convicted using RICO statutes, it is the global warming cohort. The fraud and data manipulation going on there would be a lot easier to prove than any nefarious "cover-up" committed by Exxon Mobil or the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
2016-05-16 ~Potpourri WT: Students using devices to take notes perform worse, by Bradford Richardson
A group of economists went to West Point to measure the effects of integrating computerized devices into the classroom. The results: The technology-ridden classrooms scored 1.7 points lower on average in a 100-point exam than their pen-and-paper counterparts, perhaps demonstrating the pitfalls of multitasking.
2016-05-16 ~National. Watchdog.org: Google's unrivaled White House access, by Johnny Kampis
White House visitor logs show the Obama administration has extended an open door to Google. Google's director of public policy -- in effect, the company's top lobbyist -- has visited White House officials 128 times since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
2016-05-16 ~National. BlackBoxVoting.org: Fraction Magic - The Decimalization of Votes, by Bev Harris
This report reviews the GEMS election management system, which counts approximately 25 percent of all votes in the United States (including Virginia). This study demonstrates that a fractional vote feature is embedded in each GEMS application which can be used to invisibly, yet radically, alter election outcomes by pre-setting desired vote percentages to redistribute votes.
2016-05-16 ~National. WT: Universal gov't-funded preschool proves to be misguided, by Burke & Furth
Studies of large-scale preschool programs in Quebec and Tennessee show that vastly expanding access to free or subsidized preschool may worsen behavioral and emotional outcomes for students. Even proponents acknowledge that universal preschool does nothing to improve future academic performance.
2016-05-15 ~FxMisc... Reston 20/20: Fx Co office space NOT growing as reported, by Terry Maynard
FCEDA's Director of Real Estate Services Curt Hoffman tries to paper over Fairfax County's anemic growth of office space with some wild claims. But in fact the office vacancy rate has more than doubled since 2006 from 7.7% to 16.5% in 2015.
2016-05-14 ~Report... Do Not Hurt the Poor with a Meals Tax, by Fred Costello-184
2016-05-14 ~National. Examiner: The truth about credit card swipe fees, by Lyle Beckwith
Most consumers don't even know they're being nicked every time they swipe a debit or credit card thanks to the big banks' quiet subversion of the free market.
2016-05-13 ~National. WT: Obama orders transgender bathrooms in all public schools, by Brad Richardson
The Obama regime will order every public school in America on Friday to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex. Obama's DOJ went after North Carolina on Monday; now every other state is liable to a similar lawsuit, and could risk losing millions in federal education funding if they do not comply with the order.
2016-05-13 ~FxSchools WMAL: FCPS board member Elizabeth Schultz on transgender issue -- Audio (6:49)
WMAL's Mornings on the Mall interviews the conservative Fairfax County school board icon regarding the explicit threat from the Obama regime to withhold funding from school districts that fail to comply with Obama's transgender bathroom dictats, and where she thinks this will lead.
2016-05-12 ~National. JWR: Amtrak's for-profit regulation, by George Will
Congress, by piling "anomaly on top of anomaly," has made Amtrak into a "wholly unique statutory creature" -- one empowered to regulate its competitors. Amtrak illustrates the administrative state's routine drift into constitutional impropriety.
2016-05-12 ~National. WT: Judge rules in favor of House GOP in Obamacare lawsuit, by Tom Howell Jr.
A federal judge dealt President Obama and his health care law a major blow Thursday, ruling in favor of House Republicans who said the administration broke the law and trod on Congress' fundamental powers by paying Obamacare insurers without permission from Capitol Hill. (Read the opinion.)
2016-05-12 ~National. TIME: Saving Capitalism, by Rana Foroohar
Over the past four decades, the rules that govern the United States' free-market system have been warped. That, Rana Foroohar, argues in her new book, Makers and Takers, seriously imperils every American's economic future. She explains how we got here and how to fix it.
2016-05-12 ~FxMisc... Annandale Blog: Stop the 'one-size-fits-all' zoning proposal, by Terry Maynard
In the next few months, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors plans to approve a "one-size-fits-all" zoning ordinance amendment that would guide redevelopment throughout the urbanizing areas of the county for decades. And with the county's new "Fairfax Forward" Comprehensive Plan amendment process, the barriers to increasing an area or project plan's density are virtually non-existent.
2016-05-12 ~Environmt WT: Obama EPA's issues tougher methane rules, by Valerie Richardson
The Obama administration rocked the energy sector Thursday by unveiling a finalized methane standard even tougher than the one proposed last year in the name of combating global warming. Estimated cost to the industry: $530 million per year.
2016-05-11 ~FxTrans.. WT: The Taking of Pelham Metro One-Two-Three, by Deborah Simmons
Like the transit workers and hijackers in the original 1974 Hollywood flick "The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three," passengers and overseers of the D.C. region's system, Metro, are situated between a rock (money) and a hard place (public safety). In "Pelham," the money involves a finite amount; with Metro, not so much.
2016-05-11 ~FxTrans.. WT: Metro faces $18B budget shortfall in next decade, Ryan M. McDermott
Metro faces an $18 billion capital deficit over the next 10 years, news that shook regional lawmakers and prompted one to suggest privatizing the long-troubled transit agency.
2016-05-10 ~National. WT: Obama and Lynch rely on distorted lens of racism, by Charles Hurt
Bathroom liberation. Pee free or die! Equality before the commode! President Obama and his crew of craven, lawless radicals have trivialized everything that is most sacred and cherished in America. And they have elevated and sanctified all that is trivial and pernicious.
2016-05-10 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fx Co may put meals tax on Nov. ballot June 7, by Patricia Sullivan
The Board of Supervisors has agreed to vote June 7 on whether to place a proposal on the general-election ballot to levy a 4 percent meals tax on all prepared foods and drinks -- from meals served at sit-down restaurants to takeout grub at grocery stores, fast-food franchises and cafes. (How will they tax us next year!?)
2016-05-09 ~National. NPR: Why Americans Are Buying More Trucks & SUVs Than Cars, by Sonari Glinton
SUVs are taller. The seating position is higher. They're roomier. You're talking about four doors with a high seating position, command-of-the-road kind of look out the windows. And people like that. And once people get comfortable with that, they don't want to go back into a lower sedan.
2016-05-09 ~National. WT: Fakebook accused of blacklisting conservative news, by Andrew Blake
Fakebook employees tasked with telling users what's trending are routinely told to dismiss articles of interest to conservative readers, former "news curators" told tech blog Gizmodo on Monday. So we have merely another MSM outlet simply ignoring Lois Lerner, Scott Walker, CPAC, or anything not first approved by The New York Times.
2016-05-08 ~Environmt Examiner: Greens declare war on Donald Trump, by Kyle Feldscher
So-called environmentalists have declared war on Donald Trump, who is one of the most prominent global warming doubters in modern politics, often musing on Twitter that cold spells or heavy snowstorms are proof that global warming is not real.
2016-05-07 ~National. Examiner: How Obama plays his adoring fans in the press -- Editorial
White House adviser Ben Rhodes described to The New York Times how gullible the media is and how the Obama regime has taken advantage of that ignorance. "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old ... They literally know nothing." And senior reporters get their egos stroked to help parrot the White House line.
2016-05-06 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: SpaceX booster lands "very hot and fast" after launch, by E. Berger
SpaceX nailed it again. Early this morning, the Falcon 9 rocket delivered a Japanese satellite into orbit 36,000km above the planet's surface. Then the first stage slowed from supersonic speed, reentered the earth's atmosphere, and successfully landed on a robotic barge in the ocean some 200 miles downstream. (Complete video provided.)
2016-05-05 ~World.... BW: The Book That Will Save Banking From Itself, by Michael Lewis
A former governor of the Bank of England thinks we need to change the relationship between our banks and our society, and fast. Most of us would be better off if we took his advice.
2016-05-04 ~National. Fox News: Romanian hacker Guccifer describes his Clinton email breach
The infamous Romanian hacker known as "Guccifer", speaking exclusively with Fox News, claimed he easily -- and repeatedly -- breached former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's personal email server in early 2013.
2016-05-04 ~National. Daily Caller: Regulations cost economy $1.9 trillion in 2015, by Ethan Barton
American consumers and the U.S. economy were hit with a nearly $1.9 trillion tax in 2015 through federal regulations. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) describes the thousands of ways Americans are unknowingly taxed by federal regulations in its annual report, "Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State."
2016-05-04 ~National. AMAC: Wade into the Culture Waters, by Diana Erbio
Decades ago there was a much bigger emphasis on personal responsibility. We learned that in America there was great possibility, but you, as an individual, had to put in the effort. These days our education system, media and political conversation are dedicated to themes that are largely concerned with what will best benefit the collective.
2016-05-03 ~National. WT: Immigration self-support law ignored, by Stephen Dinan
Immigrants are supposed to be beneficial to the U.S. -- so much so that federal law requires them to prove they won't end up on the public dole if they are legally admitted. But in practice, half of immigrant-led households collect welfare as admission rules go unenforced.
2016-05-03 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Free Citizen: Fx Co 2017 Budget, Meals Tax, and Spending, by Pat Herrity
Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield District) expresses his thoughts on the county's perennial 'Groundhog Day' budgeting process, loss of the commercial tax base, pension costs, the upcoming 4% meals tax proposal, and the county's inability to control spending.
2016-05-03 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Ten years after "An Inconvenient Truth", by Michael Bastasch
Watching Algore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is sort of like going back in time. Back to a world where flip phones were cool and "Futurama" was still putting out new episodes. A world where a bitter presidential candidate was trying to rebrand himself as an environmental crusader. But have Gore's warnings, which were alarming to many in 2006, come true?
2016-05-02 ~National. Examiner: What the 'bathroom wars' tell us about our culture, by Kim Holmes
There are all sorts of reasons why it's a bad idea to let men in women's bathrooms, but what interests me in the bathroom wars is the larger context of the fight. It reveals how aggressive the progressive Left has become in the culture wars.
2016-05-01 ~Virginia. Common 2015 Tax Forms: 760,760Instr...1040,1040Instr,1040A,SchA,SchB,SchD,SchE
2016-05-01 ~National. WT: GOP establishment pressured to embrace insurgents, by Seth McLaughlin
"I think the national contours of Republican politics is up in the air. The script has been flipped, and it being rewritten," said Larry Jacobs, political science professor at the University of Minnesota. "The tectonic plates of Republican politics have shifted, and, frankly, I don't know if it is ever going back."
2016-05-01 ~Environmt WT: 'Climate Hustle' film debut takes on Warming 'consensus', by V. Richardson
"That's the purpose of this film, to make people laugh at the ridiculous claims that have been created about global warming/climate change. Morano does this and does it well. That's the power behind this film." -- Anthony Watts of the skeptical climate website "Watts Up With That"
2016-04-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The Democrat KKK
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush notes that while Democrats accuse Republicans of racism, bigotry, resurrecting Jim Crow, and embracing the Ku Klux Klan, it is the Democrats who have a long history of these practices. Numerous quotes are provided along with context.
2016-04-xx ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Budget in 1971 - Fx Co $294.5M, FCPS $79.7M -- Blast from the past
2016-04-28 ~National. CNS News: Majority of H.S. Seniors Not College-Ready, by Barbara Hollingsworth
Despite the fact that the U.S. spends more than $600 billion per year on public education, a large majority of high school seniors are not ready for college-level work in math and reading, according to the latest results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the nation's report card".
2016-04-26 ~World.... WT: The high cost of subsidized credit, by J.T. Young
Once distorted, the market becomes dependent on the subsidies distorting it. Why seek paths other than those encouraged by subsidies offering lower risk and higher return? The process' final step is market atrophy. Diverted from its proper course, the market becomes unable to pursue another -- ceasing to operate as a free market at all.
2016-04-26 ~World.... WT: China's water hegemony in Asia, by Brahma Chellaney
Before the communists seized power, China had only 22 dams of any significant size. But now, it boasts more large dams on its territory than the rest of the world combined. If dams of all sizes and types are counted, their number in China surpasses 90,000. And China has rebuffed the idea of a water-sharing treaty with any neighbor.
2016-04-26 ~National. Bull Elephant: Speech, Religion, Assembly: RIP?, by Michael Giere
For nearly a century a primary objective -- in a long list of really bad objectives -- of the radical left in Europe and in the U.S. has been to silence all traditional voices of opposition, eradicate orthodox Christianity from public life, and to crush individualism.
2016-04-25 ~National. WT: Debating about Harriet Tubman, by Tammy Bruce
Everything Mr. Obama does is political so, of course, the remaking of our currency fits within his consistent and declared desire to "fundamentally transform" the United States. So our currency becomes an instrument of identity politics, suggesting "our side" versus "your side".
2016-04-25 ~Health... Epoch Times: How to Lose Weight Fast - Proven 3-Step Plan, by Kris Gunnars
The three-step plan outlined here will make you lose weight fast without being hungry. Here's pretty much all you have to do: 1) Eliminate high-carb foods; 2) Eat protein, saturated fat, and veggies; 3) Exercise 3-4 times per week (optional, but recommended). Drinking water half an hour before meals also helps.
2016-04-25 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY2017 Adopted Budget Package
2016-04-24 ~National. WT: Knocking the Ty Cobb meme out of the park, by Robert Knight
Media narratives can last for years, especially if contradictory evidence is suppressed or ignored. So Ty Cobb was evil, voter ID laws "suppress minority voters", Tea Party rallies are violent, the Planned Parenthood videos were "doctored", and Republicans have a "war on women".
2016-04-24 ~National. WT: Obama marches armed forces leftward, by Rowan Scarborough
In his final months in office, Mr. Obama is leaving a legacy of a more politically correct armed forces, with the top brass squarely behind him, save the Marine Corps. Social conservatives are aghast, worried that the world's finest military has become a sociological test tube.
2016-04-22 ~Virginia. WaPo: Gov. McAuliffe restores voting rights for 206K ex-felons; gift to Hillary
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will make all ex-felons in Virginia eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Many Republicans viewed McAuliffe's action as a blatant favor to his longtime friend Hillary Clinton, for whom he and his wife recently raised $2 million at their McLean home.
2016-04-22 ~FxMisc... Bacon's Rebellion: Explaining Fairfax County by Way of New York City
Year after year, some of the nation's most dynamic cities are also the nation's biggest losers when it comes to migrants. Yet rather than waste away, they continue to boom. Fairfax County experienced a net domestic out-migration of 16,800 in 2015 and 46,500 since 2010. But could the county be getting younger and more entrepreneurial, like New York City?
2016-04-21 ~Health... BW: FDA Considers Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids, by Paul Barrett
Under existing FDA rules, "hearing aids" can be sold only by licensed hearing experts. And this has created a protected industry that keeps prices high. "Personal sound amplification products" (PSAPs) are available with often equivalent technology for a fraction of the price, but can be sold only for "recreational use". FDA's rules on this may be about to change.
2016-04-20 ~States... Tax Foundation: State Income Taxes Per Capita -- VA #9, by Jared Walczak
2016-04-20 ~FxTaxes.. Reston 20/20: Details on the Proposed Reston Transportation Tax District
Who benefits from the new Reston transportation tax? The short answer is that Reston residents would have an added tax burden with no discernible benefit while landowners' for-profit development is subsidized by homeowner taxes and the County has a new tax revenue stream.
2016-04-19 ~Virginia. WT: 4th Circuit sanctions transgender bathroom use, by Brad Richardson
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a Virginia case that public school students have a right to use the facilities of their self-identified gender. The 2-1 decision overturned a U.S. district court decision that Title IX bans discrimination according to "sex", the word used in the law. Neither the word "gender" nor the term "gender identity" appears in the 37-word law.
2016-04-18 ~National. Fox News: America has forgotten how to win at war, by Lt Gen Michael Flynn
Somewhere along our national journey our political leaders lost the clarity of vision, our military commanders the habits of strategic thought, and our public the determined will to achieve victory.
2016-04-18 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: New Reston tax service district is bad idea, OpEd by Terry Maynard
You thought your current real estate taxes are high? Restonians are once again faced with the prospect of the burden of an added local "tax service district" that could add hundreds of dollars to their annual property tax bill every year. (Virginia has allowed Fx Co to do this without a referendum.)
2016-04-17 ~Environmt WT: Emails show Dem-Wacko collusion against "climate deniers", by V. Richardson
Last year, a coalition of environmentalists and Democrat lawmakers petitioned Obama's DOJ to file a racketeering lawsuit against "organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change." The collection of emails sheds new light on the close working relationship between the global warming movement and Democratic lawmakers.
2016-04-16 ~National. JWR: Histories that shouldn't be secret (incl 9/11, Bay-of-Pigs), by George Will
Those 28 pages implicating the Saudis in the 9/11 Commission report, and the CIA's official history of the 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle: both remain under wraps and immune to FOIA requests. ... So, documents can be kept forever secret by government agencies declaring them "drafts" or otherwise "deliberative".
2016-04-16 ~National. NR: Willful Blindness and Our Saudi 'Friends', by Andrew C. McCarthy
I wrote Willful Blindness in 2008 because American counterterrorism, even seven years after 9/11 (and fully 15 years after the jihadists declared war by bombing the World Trade Center), had bored its head ever deeper in the sand. It consciously avoided the central truths driving the terrorist threat against the United States.
2016-04-16 ~FxTrans.. Connection: Reston traffic goes from Difficult to Impossible, by Terry Maynard
Fairfax County's Department of Transportation (FCDOT) has completed a traffic impact analysis, which shows that Reston commuters can routinely expect morning and evening "peak period" traffic delays at intersections along Reston's major streets near the Dulles Corridor, to earn a grade of "F".
2016-04-15 ~Potpourri JWR: Connecting with the young across 'the generations gap', by Suzanne Fields
In today's world, how you communicate is deemed more important than what you say. There's no appetite for reading when 'books smell like old people'.
2016-04-14 ~National. JPost: BDS movement harasses Jewish faculty across U.S., by Shula Kopf
The Jerusalem Post looks at the academicians being bruised and battered by BDS on campuses across America.
2016-04-14 ~National. WT: Gay rights movement "emboldened" by queeriage ruling, by Brad Richardson
The Supreme Court opened a Pandora's box in June when it struck down all laws nationwide defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Rather than resolving an issue once and for all -- as the court often thinks itself capable of doing -- the decision only further emboldened the gay rights movement and led to a series of fights at the state level.
2016-04-14 ~Environmt WT: The global warming assault on free speech, by Wesley Pruden
The ultimate goal of these state attorneys general has little if anything to do with global warming or climate change. The goal is clearly to demonstrate that the government -- any government -- has the power to punish dissent and silence criticism, shut down objections and disagreement, and let the government get on, undisturbed, with whatever it wants to do.
2016-04-13 ~National. WT: A line-by-line history of Form 1040, by Thomas V. DiBacco
2016-04-13 ~Health... NYT: Old Study, Rediscovered, Challenges Advice on Saturated Fat, by A. O'Connor
A four-decades-old study -- recently discovered in a dusty basement -- has raised new questions about longstanding dietary advice and the perils of saturated fat in the American diet. Subjects on saturated diets had higher cholesterol levels than those on corn oil diets; they also lived longer.
2016-04-10 ~National. The Peoples Cube: Boston Globe Trump Parody and Counter-Parody -- Which is best?
2016-04-10 ~National. WT: Border Patrol ordered to release illegals 'still soaking wet' from Rio Grande
Border Patrol agents have been ordered to release dripping-wet illegal immigrants at the Rio Grande unless they actually see them climbing out of the river, creating what amounts to "an open border with Mexico," the chief of the agents' labor union told Congress in new testimony last week.
2016-04-10 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Tragic deterioration of DC's Great Society Subway, by Michael Barone
If government is what we decide to do together, Metro seemed to be government at its best. Forty years later, it has come to be government at its dreariest, with employees more concerned about overtime pay and pensions than serving the public.
2016-04-09 ~Potpourri AMAC: We are the 'Better Angels' we are looking for, by Diana Erbio
Milton Friedman to Phil Donahue: Greed is based in human nature, not inherent to any particular economic system. That is why the outcome of economic systems must be measured by the results, not the intentions. After all, isn't the road to hell said to be paved with good intentions?
2016-04-09 ~National. Examiner: The wages of the minimum wage is more joblessness -- OpEd
If the minimum wage had been $15, you would probably never have been given the job. You might not have known why. But everyone will know why when this happens soon in California.
2016-04-08 ~Potpourri Examiner: One cheer for GE's Jeff Immelt, by Tim Carney
GE is a great American story of innovation, but the company's lobbying agenda and Immelt's rhetoric are often less than perfectly capitalist.
2016-04-08 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: SpaceX booster lands on ocean barge after launch, by Eric Berger
SpaceX nailed it. On Friday night the Falcon 9 rocket shot 200km up into space and flew almost horizontal to the planet at six times the speed of sound, before falling back to Earth. Then, somehow, it landed like a feather on a robotic barge in the ocean.
2016-04-08 ~National. Fox News: Romanian hacker Guccifer extradited amid Clinton email probe
Guccifer first accessed in 2013 the email account of Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal, one of Clinton's most prolific advice-givers when she was secretary of state. It was through that hack that Clinton's use of a personal account -- clintonemail.com -- first came to light. A source claims the timing of Guccifer's extradition to the U.S. is "not a coincidence".
2016-04-08 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Times: Local restaurateurs pan idea of Fx Co meals tax -- letter
Now that elections are over, some Fairfax County Supervisors are looking again at a 4% meals tax referendum in the fall. (The last one in 1992 was defeated.) Three local restaurateurs explain why this would be a bad idea.
2016-04-06 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Tax Havens? Forget Panama, Look at Delaware, by Valentin Schmid
The United States strong-arms other countries (through FACTA) to provide asset information on U.S. citizens, but doesn't have to reciprocate with other countries. This has effectively made the United States one of the world's biggest tax havens.
2016-04-06 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Water, sewer rates to rise in Vienna, by Brian Trompeter
The Vienna Town Council voted 6-1 April 4 to approve proposed water-and-sewer rate increases for fiscal year 2017. A 66-cent hike per 1,000 gallons will raise the average homeowner's quarterly water-and-sewer bill by about $11, beginning May 23.
2016-04-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA Presentation to BOS on Real Estate Tax Increases and County Budget
FCTA Board Member Charles McAndrew and wife Linda address the Board Of Supervisors.
2016-04-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Tom Cranmer's Tax Comments to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
2016-04-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Arthur Purves' Presentation to Fx Co Supervisors
2016-04-02 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fx Co model of wealthy suburban living starting to fray, by Antonio Olivo
But Virginia's largest municipality is fraying around the edges. A population that is growing older, poorer and more diverse is sharpening the need for basic services in what is still the nation's second-wealthiest county, even as a sluggish local economy maintains a chokehold on the revenue stream.
2016-04-01 ~National. Daily Caller: Ted Cruz And The Wall Street Connection, by Roger Stone
Cruz named Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm as his economic guru. This guy virtually crashed the U.S. economy. Gramm is largely responsible for the repeal of Glass Steagall and for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which freed derivative trading from any regulatory oversight. Both were central to the bubble creation from 2000 to 2008, and then again today.
2016-03-xx ~National. Limbaugh: Interview with Jeffrey Lord on Donald Trump
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush has a Q with Jeffrey Lord, former aide to President Reagan and Jack Kemp, American Spectator editor and columnist, CNN commentator, and supporter of Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
2016-03-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Who Was Ty Cobb? The History We Know That's Wrong, by Charles Leerhsen
Imprimis lecture by Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty.
2016-03-xx ~Bulletin. A $0.68 real estate tax rate is sufficient
2016-03-31 ~World.... WT: Identifying the enemy - Islam itself, by James A. Lyons
The late political scientist, Samuel Huntington, pointed out that Islam is totally incompatible with Western culture and traditions. They can never coexist. Islam is at war with the West. It is a clash of civilizations.
2016-03-31 ~National. WT: The peasants have tasted the milk and honey, by Wesley Pruden
Donald Trump has changed things, and permanently. The Trump disease, as the elites regard it, is infectious and is likely to start an epidemic. The peasants have tasted milk and honey, and they like it better than table scraps.
2016-03-29 ~World.... Politico: Europe's Muslims hate the West, by Leon deWinter
"Occidentophobia" expresses a refusal to accept the essential concepts of life in the West. Young Muslim men have often refused to embrace the social codes of European life. They were raised on the idea that their religious ethics trump the ethics of the infidels. Their second-rate socioeconomic status was therefore a humiliating affront, an indignity to be destroyed.
2016-03-29 ~Report... Increasing the Real-Estate Tax Rate hurts the Poor, by Fred Costello-181
2016-03-29 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS "Listening Tour" at Madison H.S., by Arthur Purves Tim Hannigan
Dr. Garza presented the usual litany of alleged needs for the FCPS system, and a desire for a 6.75 cent (vs the 4 cent announced) increase in the Fx Co tax rate. FCTA's Arthur Purves countered with some actual facts. And the head of the teachers union recommended attendees support a meals tax as a way to get more revenue for FCPS.
2016-03-29 ~Environmt IBD: Another Climate Alarmist Admits Real Motive Behind Warming Scare
If they were honest, the climate alarmists would admit that they are not working feverishly to hold down global temperatures -- they would acknowledge that they are instead consumed with the goal of holding down capitalism and establishing a global welfare state. (Video 4:03)
2016-03-29 ~Environmt WT: The global warming industry's RICO gambit, by Chris Horner
Lawmakers, academics and the "green" lobby demand that prosecutors use the law to extort money from legitimate businesses who oppose them, under threat of RICO investigations and prosecution. But those same RICO statutes could easily be turned on the alarmists for "knowingly deceiving on climate risk".
2016-03-29 ~Environmt WT: Democrat attorneys general to police climate change dissent, by V. Richardson
Any doubts about the "science" of global warming have just been confirmed, as Democrat AG's in 16 states announced Tuesday an unprecedented campaign to pursue companies that challenge the catastrophic climate change narrative. (Aside from concerns over free speech, this indicates that alarmists are running scared.)
2016-03-26 ~Environmt CFACT: Varroa mites, not neonicotinoids, are killing honeybees, by Paul Driessen
Dubbed "colony collapse disorder" (CCD), the problem led to scarifying news stories about a "bee-pocalypse" and the imminent demise of modern agriculture. However, inexplicable bee colony losses had been reported in 1898, 1903, the 1960s, and 1970s -- even as far back as 940 AD in Ireland!
2016-03-25 ~National. Examiner: The Constitution's cancer clause, by Tracie Groh
The most carcinogenic words in American government have become the Constitution's Commerce Clause granting Congress the limited power "[t]o regulate commerce ... among the several states."
2016-03-25 ~National. Epoch Times: Why Our Economy Crashes Every 18 Years, by Joshua Philipp
Adam Smith's 1776 book "The Wealth of Nations" lists three ingredients to a functioning economy: wages, profit, and rent. However, the neo-classical school views the world as a two-factor model, labor and capital, and they've buried the concept of land as a part of capital. Minimizing the pivotal role played by land and rent in the GDP causes problems.
2016-03-24 ~Virginia. Bearing Drift: Terry McAuliffe vetoes voter fraud bill
The Democratic governor vetoed legislation patroned by Delegate Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) requiring voter registration forms to ask applicants for their social security number, their citizenship status, and whether they are ineligible to vote for other reasons, such as a felony conviction. And since Democrats encourage voter fraud, the veto is unlikely to be overridden.
2016-03-24 ~Potpourri WT: Men are fleeing Christianity, but embracing Islam, by Bradford Richardson
"Christianity presents itself as a religion of the powerless: 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,'" Mr. Voas told Pew, quoting Matthew 5:5. "Depending on your point of view, that's appealingly feminine or appallingly effeminate." Islam is more of a muscular kind of faith, and women don't tend to fare as well.
2016-03-24 ~National. McClatchy: America to Establishment: Who the hell are you people?, by D. Lightman
The people who spend two bucks for chili can't fathom why anyone would pay Hillary Clinton $225,000 to make a speech. Somehow, people all over America are saying loudly and clearly this election year, Washington and its enablers -- the media, the political pros and Wall Street -- don't understand us.
2016-03-23 ~World.... WT: It's the civilizational jihad, stupid, by Monica Crowley
Hijra is a core part of jihad going back to the Prophet Muhammad that involves Islamic conquest through migration. The objective is to overwhelm non-Muslim territories with Muslim populations until they achieve domination through sheer numbers. No weapons necessary -- until they gain enough control.
2016-03-23 ~State-NC. AP: North Carolina reins in local governments, transgender rule
North Carolina legislators reined in local governments by approving a bill Wednesday that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. Gov. Pat McCrory later signed the legislation, which dealt a blow to the LGBT movement after success with protections in cities across the country.
2016-03-23 ~National. CFACT: Washington's despotic lawlessness, by Paul Driessen
America's "soft despotism" is light years from the atrocities and gulags of its infamous predecessors, but it is highly effective nonetheless. The same agencies write, impose, enforce and adjudicate the rules, and impose punishment for infractions. They work tirelessly and imperiously to "fundamentally transform" our nation's legal, energy, economic and social systems.
2016-03-23 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co budget townhall meeting in Springfield, by Charles McAndrew
County Exec Ed Long proposed a 4.8% budget increase. Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) talked about FCPS' second pension plan added in 2001, and Fairfax County's underfunding of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Herrity was the only supervisor to declare he would not vote for ANY tax increase.
2016-03-22 ~National. WT: When universities become day care centers, by Clifford D. May
Today, many campuses are dominated by students who spend more time nursing grievances than studying. They demand "safe spaces" and protection from ideas and language that might bruise their tender sensibilities. They suppress -- belligerently and sometimes violently -- the free speech of anyone they deem "privileged."
2016-03-22 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna proposes a 2.05% real estate tax increase
A "Notice of Public Hearing for Proposed Budget for FY2016-17 (scheduled for April 4) was published on page B5 of the Washington Times on 03/22/2014 and 03/29/2014. But unlike the Fairfax County notice, which states outright that it "proposes to increase property tax levies", Vienna's notice makes no such mention.
2016-03-21 ~World.... Daily Mail: Documentary on Saudi Arabia brutality to air in UK, by Peter Osbourn
The film, Saudi Arabia Uncovered, contains harrowing footage of beheadings. A woman dressed in black is held down at the side of a public road by four Saudi policemen, after she has been convicted of killing her stepdaughter. She is executed with a sword blow to the neck, as she screams: 'I did not do it.'
2016-03-21 ~National. Examiner: Is Donald Trump Obama's real legacy?, by W. James Antle III
"President Obama didn't give us Trump in any kind of Machiavellian or deliberate fashion," Douthat wrote. "But it isn't an accident that this is the way the Obama era ends -- with a reality TV demagogue leading a populist, nationalist revolt." In short, Obama gathered the tinder. Trump lit the match.
2016-03-21 ~National. US Defense Watch: The Death of the U.S. Marine Corps, by Ray Starmann
The US Marines are the latest casualty in the Maoist Cultural Revolution being shoved down the throat of the military and incinerating the fighting spirit and readiness of the armed forces like a five alarm fire.
2016-03-21 ~FxMisc... Biz Journal: Judge expels partner behind "Int'l City" concept on Silver Line
Fx Co Circuit Judge David Schell on March 4 issued an order removing H. Christopher Antigone from the partnerships backing International City, a conceptual 14 million-square-foot development on 279 acres immediately north of Dulles Airport near the planned Loudoun Gateway Metro station.
2016-03-21 ~Environmt WT: "Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming" -- Book Review
Subtitle: "The NIPCC Report on Scientific Consensus", by three distinguished scientists, Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter and S. Fred Singer, challenges the popular notion that science has concluded that humans are causing catastrophic climate change.
2016-03-20 ~National. WT: DIA ex-chief pans Army's DCGS war data network, by Rowan Scarborough
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who headed the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency until 2014 and held a number of terrorist-hunting jobs, is the most senior officer to publicly chastise the Army for how it has clung to the Distributed Common Ground System, or DCGS. (Read also 2012 article.)
2016-03-16 ~National. RCP: GOP path forward is both Conservative and Populist, by Michael Needham
In the 2016 primary, we find that the establishment lane to the Republican nomination is nonexistent. It ran into a cliff of unsustainable debt, neglect of important cultural issues, and an unwillingness to stand and fight for people eager to have politicians fight for them.
2016-03-16 ~Environmt Canada Free Press: Energy Poverty Around the World, by Ileana Johnson
The global warming/climate change industry has been aggressively pushing renewable energy, wind, solar, and biofuels for a long time even though the economies of various industrialized countries need much more energy than what renewables generate.
2016-03-15 ~Virginia. Truth In Accounting: Financial state of Virginia -- Ranks 15th in 2015
Virginia has only $35.1 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $39.2 billion. To fill the $4.2 billion financial hole, each Virginia taxpayer would have to send $1,500 to the state. The commonwealth's reported pension debt grew from $3.3 billion in 2014 to $6.8 billion in 2015. The commonwealth is still hiding $361.7 million of pension debt from taxpayers.
2016-03-15 ~FxTrans.. Connection: No E-Z Answers on I-66 Inside the Beltway, by Andrea Worker
On March 9, VDOT hosted the third and final Design Public Hearing on their plans to improve I-66 inside the Beltway by the addition of another lane of traffic and by the conversion of the road to a completely tolled thoroughfare during peak morning and evening travel hours. VDOT was woefully unprepared, and many questions remained unanswered.
2016-03-14 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Proposed Vienna budget holds tax rate steady, by Brian Trompeter
Vienna Town Manager Mercury Payton's proposed $33.8 million FY2017 budget would maintain the current real-estate tax rate of 22.5 cents per $100 assessed valuation, increase overall spending by 1.9% and give town employees 2.9% pay raises. Higher assessments will increase the average property owner's bill by 2%, to $1,564. Water-and-sewer rates will also be raised slightly.
2016-03-14 ~Environmt Epoch Times: Climate Change -- Assessing the Risks, by Tom Harris
The probability that future global warming, if it occurs, will be dangerous is about 2 percent. Contrast this against the probability that quickly moving away from fossil fuels, coal in particular, will cause great hardship for America, a likelihood of 100 percent.
2016-03-12 ~Porpourri WaPo: These Christian teachers bringing Jesus into public schools, by Emma Brown
Finn Laursen believes millions of American children are no longer learning right from wrong, in part because public schools have been stripped of religion. To repair that frayed moral fabric, Laursen and his colleagues want to bring the light of Jesus Christ into public school classrooms across the country -- and they are training teachers to do just that.
2016-03-11 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia's 2016 legislative session ends, by Alan Suderman
The session ended Friday evening after lawmakers passed a $100 billion two-year spending plan that does not include any new taxes or increased fees. The new budget includes about $900 million more in K-12 spending in the next two years than the last biennial budget did.
2016-03-10 ~World.... WT: Tracing the roots of Islamic jihad, by James A. Lyons
The Islamic jihad against Christendom started more than four and a half centuries before anyone had even heard of a Crusade. The crusaders forced jihad into remission for a brief period from around 1100 to 1350, after which it resumed its full assault.
2016-03-10 ~Virginia. Richmond Sunlight: 2016 bills put before the Virginia General Assembly
2016-03-10 ~Virginia. Cville Tomorrow: New proffer era has begun for Virginia localities, Sean Tubbs
Virginia counties had formalized a cash policy proffer system that established specific amounts all developers would pay per unit to help offset the impact each rezoning would have on school population, area roads and other government services. Legislation signed this week by Gov. Terry McAuliffe will change all that.
2016-03-10 ~Potpourri BW: The Democratization of Surveillance, by Robert Kolker
The StingRay is a suitcase-size device that tricks phones into giving up their serial numbers by pretending to be a cell phone tower. Various government units now use these devices with or without search warrants. But what are the implications when such technology becomes available to everybody?
2016-03-10 ~Health... BW: Monsanto's Roundup gets new scrutiny in Europe, by A. Martin L. Mulvany
Tests have found chemical residue in British bread, as well as in the urine of people across Europe. In early March, the European Union put off a vote to renew a 15-year license for glyphosate after several member states balked.
2016-03-10 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Fairfax County 2016 Assessments by Area
2016-03-09 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Some Fairfax supervisors too tax-happy -- OpEd
Once again, Supervisor Linda Smyth (D-Providence) proved one of the few fiscally sane members of the board, pointing out that some of her constituents are set to be hit with a double whammy: higher overall real-estate taxes and a higher surcharge for living in Tysons Corner.
2016-03-08 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Va Property Taxes -- Not as Bad as Jersey but Worse than D.C.
Virginia has the 14th highest property tax burden among the 50 states (and Washington, D.C.) The real estate tax rate is modest (16th lowest) but it combines with relatively high median housing prices (11th highest) to create the 23rd highest average tax on the median-value house.
2016-03-07 ~handout.. Fairfax chasing taxpaying residents out of the County
Fairfax County taxpayers cannot afford Cadillac health plans, pensions, and annual 3.5%-4% raises for 34,000 county and school employees. Also of the 24,000 school employees, only 9,000 are regular classroom teachers.
2016-03-07 ~National. Americans Don't Know Who Washington DC is Named After!!! -- video (4:37)
2016-03-06 ~National. WT: Bill Clinton left NSA 'brain dead' for 9/11 attacks, by Rowan Scarborough
President Clinton left the National Security Agency, the nation's electronic eavesdropper, in shambles at the very moment al Qaeda was in the final planning stages of carrying out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
2016-03-04 ~Health... CBS: Sex linked to better brain power in older age, by Cari Nierenberg
People over age 50 who are more sexually active also have better memory and cognitive skills than people who get busy less often, a new study from England suggests. ("See dear, now don't you want to help me better remember what you tell me?")
2016-03-03 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia nonprofit hospitals doing well without Medicaid expansion
Virginia's nonprofit hospitals are taking in revenue far in excess of their expenses, with 88 percent turning the nonprofit equivalent of a profit, without Medicaid expansion in the state. Revenue averaged $30 million more than expenses. (Republicans in the General Assembly again refused to include Obamacare expansion in their latest budget.)
2016-03-03 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
First public posting, one half of page A9 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 1.64 percent for residential and an increase of 2.87 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 5, 2016 at the Gov't Center.
2016-03-02 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: Fairfax Supervisors Have Food Fight Over Tax Hike, by Karen Goff
Hours after passing a motion for an advertised 4-cent hike in real estate taxes for FY2017, some members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors asked for a practically unprecedented do-over. That led to a tense discussion and vote to reconsider at the end of Tuesday's seven-hour Board of Supervisor's meeting -- as well as a supervisors' shouting match after the meeting adjourned.
2016-03-01 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: James Grant on the Folly of Central Banking, by Valentin Schmid
Part of our problems stems from the attempts of the central bank to expropriate the formerly free market for some macroeconomic policy agenda with the result of distorting prices and thereby distorting the nerve endings in finance that tell you what's risky and what's not.
2016-03-01 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Homeowners to get 4-cent Fairfax tax increase, by Brian Trompeter
After swatting down two proposals for even higher rates, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 7-3 March 1 to advertise a real estate tax rate of $1.13 per $100 assessed value for the county's fiscal year 2017 budget, a 4-cent increase over the current rate.
2016-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Islam -- Facts or Dreams?, by Andrew C. McCarthy
Imprimis lecture by Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review Institute.
2016-02-29 ~FxMisc... WJLA: Fairfax County questioned in $7 Million land deal, by Chris Papst
A $7 million land deal by Fairfax County has residents demanding answers. The county needs money, but that didn't stop its supervisors from recently approving a $7 million land deal with a big-time political contributor.
2016-02-26 ~Environmt Daily Caller: Scientists finally admit climate models fail, by Michael Bastasch
This is a huge admission by climate scientists and a big victory for skeptics of man-made global warming who have for years been pointing to a mismatch between climate model predictions and actual temperature observations.
2016-02-25 ~National. MarketWatch: 45% of Americans pay no federal income tax, by Catey Hill
On average, those in the bottom 40% of the income spectrum end up getting money from the government. Meanwhile, the richest 20% of Americans, by far, pay the most in income taxes, forking over nearly 87% of all the income tax collected by Uncle Sam.
2016-02-25 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY2017 Budget Chat with County Executive Ed Long
2016-02-24 ~National. BLS: Private hourly earnings rise 1.1% in 2015 (Was 2.4% in 2014!)
2016-02-23 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS "Listening Tour" at South County H.S., by Charles McAndrew
Dr. Garza started her presentation by praising the FCPS system, offering statistics that are perhaps somewhat suspect. She has requested a 6.7% increase in funding from the County for FY 2017.
2016-02-23 ~Environmt WT: The Obama EPA's regulatory terrorism, by Jason Johnston
EPA's mere threat that unlawful regulations might be upheld has shut down many coal-burning facilities and caused others to spend up to $10 billion on compliance. So the legality of regulation doesn't matter to Obama's EPA; the threat is sufficient to accomplish its unlawful goal.
2016-02-23 ~Environmt WT: Stopping Zika before it deforms millions -- Editorial
DDT had saved millions of lives before it was banned in 1962 for allegedly endangering wildlife. Nothing developed since has matched DDT's ability to eradicate pests that threaten human lives. But radical environmentalists cling to their belief that DDT holds long-term risks for all living things. Millions of humans, many not yet born, could be saved by DDT.
2016-02-22 ~World.... WT: Central bank policies have turned global economy upside down, by Richard Rahn
What the world's major central banks have been doing is not working. Rather than go back to the tried and true, they are now digging in deeper on policies that are bound to fail, such as the move to negative interest rates, which many will find personally harmful.
2016-02-20 ~handout.. Fairfax County's Gold-Plated FY2017 Budget -- Also in PDF: Color and B
How can taxpayers afford Fairfax County and School employees' Cadillac health plans, pensions with retirement at 55, and 3.5% annual raises?
2016-02-20 ~National. Legal Insurrection: Is Twitter Silencing Conservatives?, by Jonathan Levin
Twitter, an invaluable news aggregator when properly run and used, has seemingly taken aim at conservatives and those advocating conservative causes. Rumours that Twitter has begun 'shadowbanning' politically inconvenient users have been confirmed by a source inside the company, who spoke exclusively to Breitbart Tech.
2016-02-20 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co budget townhall meeting in Vienna, by Charles McAndrew
County Exec Ed Long proposed a 4% budget increase, which would cover some of the FCPS budget gap; Cathy Hudgins wants to reintroduce a 4% MEALS TAX referendum; and most attendees (from Reston, Vienna, Herndon) supported both measures. During Q, it was noted that the $120M 2010 "Transportation" bond funds mysteriously disappeared, while 85% of the $100M 2015 bond funds are for bikes and sidewalks.
2016-02-19 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia lawmakers subsidized by lobbyists - legally, by Alan Suderman
Behavior that would get lawmakers locked up in other states or at the federal level is perfectly fine in the Old Dominion. Virginia is the only state where lawmakers can raise unlimited campaign donations from anyone, including corporations and unions, and spend the money on themselves.
2016-02-18 ~Potpourri Crisis Mag: Why Natural Law is a Superior Guide to Life, by James Kalb
Once the issue of man's nature and good is squarely raised as unavoidable, the arguments over particulars can begin. Under such circumstances the liberal or progressive view will have much less of an advantage, because its account of man and the world is so evidently false, and its status as orthodoxy depends on disguising its nature.
2016-02-17 ~National. Just Facts: The State of the U.S. Education System -- video (6:56)
Just Facts president Jim Agresti states that the U.S. spends $283,000 per year per classroom for K-12 education. Students from the U.S. fare poorly relative to students from other countries, but not before Grade 4. Private schools cost half as much per classroom and get better results, including students who have switched from public school to private school.
2016-02-16 ~Health... Sky News: 'Extraordinary' Cancer Breakthrough Revealed
In one study, more than nine out of ten participants with a severe form of leukaemia saw their symptoms completely vanish. The technique involves removing immune cells called T-cells from patients, tagging them with "receptor" molecules that target cancer, and putting them back into the body in an infusion.
2016-02-16 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: Fx Co proposed budget: Higher taxes, less for schools, by Karen Goff
Fairfax Co Executive Ed Long presented a proposed $3.99 billion budget Tuesday to the county Board of Supervisors that includes a real estate tax increase of 4 cents (to $1.13) for every $100 of value for Fairfax County homeowners. FCPS, meanwhile, will not get its requested 6.7% increase.
2016-02-15 ~National. Examiner: The country our founding presidents envisioned, by Sen. Mike Rounds
Today we celebrate Presidents' Day. As we reflect on the presidents past -- particularly those who founded our nation -- I wonder whether they would recognize the overreaching, centralized system of government we operate under in 2016.
2016-02-15 ~National. WT: Antonin Scalia, the justice who set words on fire, by Wesley Pruden
Antonin Scalia was the rare lawyer who could speak and write without taking refuge in learned bloviation. He mocked the obsessive pursuit of the trivial and the superficial by public men with the vapid intensity of a goldfish. But he knew it was a lost cause.
2016-02-14 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Va. hospitals cry poor in effort to keep anti-competitive regs
The Virginia House of Delegates could vote Monday to pass major reforms to the state's Certificate of Public Need licensing rules. Critics say the COPN is a cartel-like scheme that helps hospitals protect their bottom lines at the expense of consumers and competition.
2016-02-13 ~National. AMAC: Equal Outcome Musical Chairs Anyone?, by Diana Erbio
Would there be any eagerness to join a game of Musical Chairs if there were the same number of chairs as players? Maybe Bernie Sanders and others who like a guaranteed equal outcome would consider that version of the game ideal. But the participation rate would dwindle as would any interest in the game.
2016-02-11 ~State-WI. Watchdog.org: Scott Walker's Act-10 saves Wisconsin taxpayers $5B, by M.D. Kittle
A Madison-based free-market think tank's report estimates taxpayers have saved $5.24 billion over the past five years, thanks to the Act 10 law pushed through by Governor Scott Walker. The savings breaks down to $2,291 for every household in Wisconsin, according to the analysis.
2016-02-11 ~Potpourri AP: Scientists detect Einstein-predicted gravitational waves, by Seth Borenstein
The discovery of space-time ripples puts our view of the universe in a new light. Some physicists said this is as big a deal as the 2012 discovery of the subatomic Higgs boson, sometimes called the "God particle". Some said this is bigger.
2016-02-10 ~National. WT: Rubio knows Obama is no incompetent; it's deliberate, by Don Feder
President Obama is right on course. His worldview is that of Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. When he told us before the 2008 election, "We're just five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America," he was not speaking of a return to constitutional government and fiscal responsibility.
2016-02-10 ~Environmt WT: The politics behind the anti-fossil fuels campaign, by Dears Burnett
More recently, political leaders at the IPCC have honestly admitted the push to limit carbon-dioxide emissions is not about protecting human health or the environment; it's about giving governments control over the world's economy.
2016-02-09 ~Health... Algemeiner: Int'l Research Team Reverses Alzheimer's Symptoms in Mice
An Israeli research professor, heading an international team of scientists, has discovered a way to inhibit the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by studying the plasticity of the brain, fundamental to learning and memory, using a certain small protein which inhibits the processes normally associated with impairment.
2016-02-09 ~Environmt WT: Supreme Court halts Obama carbon emissions rule, by Stephen Dinan
The 5-4 decision by the court puts the EPA's regulation on hold while a lower appeals court hears states' challenge to the rules. The Supreme Court's stay likely pushes the big decisions beyond Mr. Obama's tenure and straight into this year's presidential election.
2016-02-08 ~World.... WT: When Stone Age comes to town, by Tammy Bruce
It's the 21st century, and while Germany is dealing with the importation of a rape culture, they're also finding if you have disdain for basic norms in the civilized world, you apparently also don't like using toilets.
2016-02-08 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: FCPS board digs in for 120M budget increase, by Scott McCaffrey
Members of the Fairfax County School Board have adopted a combative stance, proposing a $2.67 billion fiscal 2017 budget that does not include any cuts proposed by a task force convened last year and promising to mobilize community support on behalf of the plan.
2016-02-07 ~State-MD. WT: Police use of cellphone tracking goes to court, by Andrea Noble
A case with the potential to redefine how police use secret 'Stingray' systems heads to an appeals court this week, where Maryland prosecutors will challenge a ruling that found the use of such a device to hone in on the location of a shooting suspect was a breach of his 4th Amendment rights.
2016-02-07 ~National. WT: Pentagon to prioritize "climate change" in all military actions
Dakota Wood, a retired Marine Corps officer and U.S. Central Command planner, said the Pentagon is introducing climate change, right down to military tactics level. But by equating short-term tactical actions with large-scale strategic-level issues of profound importance, people will dismiss what's truly important, because of all the little silly distractions.
2016-02-06 ~State-MI. Examiner: How bad government caused the Flint water crisis, by Kyle Feldscher
It all started when city leaders used the water fund as "a bank" to pay for more basic city services such as police and firefighters, whose unions refused to accept more cuts and often took the city to arbitration.
2016-02-05 ~Potpourri NYT: Who Needs Advanced Math? Not Everybody, by Jane Karr
Challenging convention in his new book, "The Math Myth and Other STEM Delusions", Andrew Hacker argues against the requirement that all high school students take a full menu of math. (Read also his Op-Ed: Is Algebra Necessary?)
2016-02-04 ~World.... Epoch Times: A Chinese Hospital Built for Murder, by Matt Robertson Sophia Fang
Tens of thousands may have been killed so the Tianjin First Central Hospital in China could transplant organs for profit.
2016-02-04 ~National. JWR: Indoctrination, not education in today's colleges, by Victor Davis Hanson
In the past, the university said, "Leave us alone to do our business that we know best, and we promise to turn out the best-educated and most inductive generation of American youth." But employers and the adult world no longer equate a bachelor's degree with proof of a well-rounded education.
2016-02-04 ~National. JWR: The failure of multiculturalism, by Cal Thomas
History demonstrates that no nation can long survive if it forgets why it exists. Our failure to inculcate American traditions, beliefs and history, even in the native born, not to mention immigrants, is rapidly destroying the country bequeathed to us by our forebears.
2016-02-04 ~Environmt WT: The profits of doom -- Editorial
Americans share the cost of the president's global-warming scheme, but not his obsession. The people just aren't that into Al Gore and his scam.
2016-02-03 ~National. WT: College ignorance and the threat to liberty, by Michael Poliakoff
Of the top 25 ranked liberal arts colleges in the country, only two require students to take even one course in American history or government: the Naval Academy and the West Point. Colleges say that students have already studied U.S. history in high school -- a highly dubious assumption, given surveys of recent college graduates. And those who cannot remember the past...
2016-02-03 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: DC Metro hires top bankruptcy lawyer to help fix troubled finances
"We'll have discussions with the jurisdictions," which have tightened the purse strings on Metro. "We might have discussions with the unions, either in the context of contracts or in the area of pensions and other benefits. There's a potential for a lot of engagement on reducing our expenses." [No kidding!]
2016-02-03 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: Response to WaPo article on DC Metro problems, by Rob Whitfield
Those assigned by Virginia to the WMATA Board, plus members of Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, members of the General Assembly, VDOT Secretaries, the DRPT Administrators and recent Governors of Virginia have ALL totally failed the public in fulfilling their oversight duties for WMATA.
2016-02-03 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Tim Hannigan running for chairman of Fairfax County Republican Committee
"My purpose in running for FCRC Chairman is to reverse the descending trajectory in county election results for Republicans." -- Tim Hannigan: Former Marine officer, editor of the Fairfax Free Citizen, GOP precinct captain, and FCTA board member
2016-02-03 ~Environmt Daily Caller: GOP Question EPA's Appointing Of Advisors Getting Gov't Grants
Republican lawmakers are worried Obama's EPA is compromising the integrity of its science advisory panels by appointing people who benefit from millions in federal research grants and peer-review their own work. As EPA increasingly promulgates costly regulations shutting down power plants, there's been increased scrutiny on who advises the agency.
2016-02-02 ~World.... ACT: Explaining the Islamic State Phenomenon - Parts 1, 2, 3, by Jacques Neriah
Almost all of those who join the armed Jihad, Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State fall into two primary categories: 1) Criminals, often recruited in prison by radical imams; and 2) The "exalted" and the "deranged" who dream of war and action, seeking to assert their manhood and who are in search of violence and epic adventure to express it.
2016-02-02 ~Potpourri WT: Muslim cultural practices antithetical to Western pluralism, by Abe Miller
People do not leave their culture at the water's edge. If America follows Europe's immigration policies, it will experience the tragic consequences of Europe's cultural conflicts. Multiculturalism: meet reality.
2016-02-01 ~World.... Heritage: 2016 Index of Economic Freedom - Country Rankings, plus Video
Free - Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia.
Mostly Free - includes the U.S. at #11.
2016-02-01 ~National. CATO: President Clinton and the Chilean Pension Model, by José Piñera
The architect of Chile's successful privatization of its pension system describes how President Clinton was on board to advocate for such a system in the U.S. in the late 1990's. But then the Lewinsky scandal occurred and caused the plan to be derailed.
2016-01-31 ~National. WT: Judging the tax plans, plus the Bar Graph, by Stephen Moore
One common goal of nearly all these plans is to turbocharge growth by dramatically lowering the business tax rate (now the highest in the world) and reducing the punitive double taxation of investment income. Most Republican plans would cut the corporate/business tax to between 15 and 25 percent.
2016-01-31 ~Environmt WT: Obama on federal coal mining is throwback to Jimmy Carter, by William Pendley
President Obama's plot to use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to kill federal coal mining with a thousand paper cuts is a throwback to President Carter and a decade-long moratorium that ended only when President Reagan took office. Meanwhile millions of Americans, vast regions and the nation's economy will suffer.
2016-01-29 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Texas homeowners' plea: Do mess with taxes, by Kenric Ward
The Texas Legislature has cut property taxes four times and no one felt it. The reason? Local schools and governments aggressively hike property assessments every year, flouting market realities and making a mockery of "flat" tax rates.
2016-01-29 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: FCPS teacher group pushes funding, meals tax, by Brian Trompeter
The Fairfax Education Association (FEA), an FCPS proxy group, wants county supervisors to increase the real-estate tax rate to fund the bloated Fx Co school system, and is encouraging the supervisors to pursue a meals-tax referendum... again! (So what will they advocate the following year???)
2016-01-28 ~World.... WT: France finally cracks down on Islamic radicalism, by Rowan Scarborough
"France is still very slow to understand the vast majority of Islamic centers/mosques are the problem, not just a few extremist ones." -- John Guandolo, a former FBI agent
2016-01-28 ~Virginia. AP: McAuliffe, Republicans to announce deal on guns, by Suderman & Richer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican lawmakers have reached a deal that strengthens some gun control measures while reversing a policy that would have invalidated concealed handgun permits in Virginia held by residents of 25 other states.
2016-01-28 ~FxSchools FCTA: Purves' Testimony at FCPS Budget Hearing
"My name is Arthur Purves. I address you as president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance. Once again the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) administration has been less than candid in its budget presentation."
2016-01-27 ~Virginia. Cooper Center: 2015 Population Estimates for Virginia and its Counties Cities
2016-01-27 ~Virginia. AP: Court to rule on transgender bathroom issue, by Larry O'Dell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Public schools and courts across the country will be closely watching a Virginia case for guidance on restroom policies about gender and gender identity, now before a Richmond-based federal appeals court. Gavin Grimm, 16, is challenging a policy that bars [her] from using the boys' restrooms at Gloucester High School.
2016-01-27 ~National. WT: How Donald Trump made anger legit, by Monica Crowley
As a political emotion, anger has long been controlled by the left, which markets their anger as "righteous". But when conservatives have tried to channel their righteous anger, they have been smeared, intimidated and crushed. The GOP has long considered anger as unseemly, and avoids confrontation at all costs -- until Donald Trump smashed the cycle.
2016-01-26 ~Potpourri WT: Trump Derangement Syndrome sweeping the elite, by Charles Hurt
It is a fast-moving disease, highly contagious and attacks the nervous system. Early stages are inexplicable, fast eye-blinking, light palsy, stammering and overbearing snobbery. Sometimes redness of the face and shortness of breath accompany.
2016-01-26 ~National. NAS: The Architecture of Intellectual Freedom, by Peter Wood
In response to recent broad-based campus situations: We rightly expect higher education to address four things: vocation, culture, truth, and character. The last of these four may seem the least definite, but it is surely the foundation of the other three. We seek a form of education that teaches young men and women how to be free.
2016-01-24 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: Shining Light On Common Core, by Ileana Johnson
Common Core was developed by 30 individuals with the purpose of dumbing down American education even further. These 30 people had to sign a confidentiality agreement that they would not discuss what took place in their meetings. Five committee members did not sign the final standards and were thus "expunged from the record".
2016-01-22 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: Think tanks miss boat on poverty, causes and cures
The report suffers from its omitting a compelling goal by which to set standards of behavior; implying that sex is an unbounded recreational activity; expanding of the government monopoly in education; and ignoring IQ as a causative factor in performance in school and work. On the positive side, it advocates work for welfare and apprenticeships.
2016-01-21 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Is Virginia Ready for Car Tax Reform?, by Bill Tracy
Due to high local car taxes, many Virginians have learned to be modest in their new car selections, or they purchase used cars instead. As a consequence, we are throttling new car sales. In addition, the tax functions as a de facto green car penalty.
2016-01-21 ~States... Watchdog.org: 7 articles for National School Choice Week
Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com, sees school choice as a natural issue for libertarians because it "fits with libertarian emphases on individual choice, autonomy, and responsibility. The traditional public school system, K through 12, which is a $600 billion a year industry, is filled with abuses, waste, and misdirected attention."
2016-01-19 ~National. Va Right: Trump Needn't be Conservative or Polite to Fix America, by Tom White
I do not think Trump walked into his first rally, or which ever rally it was, with a prepared strategy. But something happened on the stage that day. Something happened to the crowd, but more importantly, something happened to Donald Trump.
2016-01-19 ~National. WT: 2016's resemblance to 1937, by Eric Wilson
We have begun to hear the drumbeat that we may be on the verge of another 2008. Truth is, if you really want to better understand where we may be heading, you might want to look back even earlier: It's time to party likes it's 1937. History's cycle is reformulating conditions that led to World War II.
2016-01-18 ~National. The Federalist: O'Keefe's Common Core Videos Are Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
Self-described right-wing muckraker James O'Keefe has begun publishing a series of undercover videos about Common Core. One thing these videos emphasize: When companies can earn money not by producing good things people want to buy but by influencing politicians to tilt the playing field in their favor, quality drastically suffers.
2016-01-18 ~National. WT: The moral case against the Establishment, by Tammy Bruce
It's becoming apparent voters would rather have a jerk who can lead us out of this mess than a nice guy who wants to drag us back through the last 15 years insisting that if we only keep showing the world how nice we are maybe they'll love us.
2016-01-15 ~National. AMAC: Simple economics may cause Obamacare to self-destruct, by John Grimaldi
Three years ago in April we predicted that Obamacare would crumble under its own weight and the events of recent months indicate that it will, unless the next president opts to repeal it. The big for-profit insurance companies are ready to opt out, and smaller insurers might follow suit to avoid the increased risk.
2016-01-15 ~Environmt CFACT: White House, Greens target Atlantic fishing grounds, by Bonner Cohen
So-called environmentalists are urging the White House to use the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate a 6,000-square-mile area in the Gulf of Maine and off the coast of Massachusetts as a National Monument, and therefore off-limits to commercial fishing -- the ultimate goal of the environmental movement.
2016-01-14 ~World.... Epoch Times: For China's Economy It's Reform or Bust, by Valentin Schmid
A frank analysis of how China's economy got to where it is, and the pitfalls that will slow future growth. Needed reforms go against the vested interests of Communist Party elites. On the other side are the millions of people who will lose their jobs as the old investment model is phased out, waiting for the new consumption model to arrive.
2016-01-14 ~Environmt Examiner: Big Oil's crony bid to tax carbon, by Ken Blackwell
Several large oil companies, including BP and Shell, have endorsed a carbon tax. But is support for a carbon tax among oil companies a sign that even they have seen the light on climate, or might there be something else happening? Bank on the latter.
2016-01-13 ~National. AMAC: Education, More than Elections, Shape a Nation, by Diana Erbio
Elections are important and do shape the future of a nation when it is a democratic republic as our country is. However, we must remember that we are reflected in our elected government and that "We the People" have responsibilities as citizens of this democratic republic beyond voting.
2016-01-12 ~Virginia. FCTA: I-66 Tolling Plan Inside Beltway Wrong, by Rob Whitfield prior to Va-GA
The proposed I 66 tolling plan for Inside the Capital Beltway (ITCB) is wrong both as a matter of principle and as a misuse of our principal.
2016-01-12 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: General Dynamics to build HQ on Reston site, by Karen Goff
The aerospace and defense company has filed plans with Fairfax County for development on the 21.7-acre parcel at 11011 Sunset Hills Rd., which is currently a vacant lot between Hunter Mill Road and Wiehle Avenue.
2016-01-11 ~Virginia. FCTA: Reinstate Runoff Elections in Virginia, by David Swink to Va-GA senator
Va. Senator Carrico's SB 742, a 2015 bill to reinstate runoff elections in Virginia, was meant to prevent winning without a majority of the vote, as happened with Gov. Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. The bill failed to make it through both houses. So this email simply asked Sen. Carrico to please try again.
2016-01-11 ~Report... Is the FCPS Proposed FY2017 Budget Fair?, by Fred Costello-178
2016-01-09 ~Virginia. FCTA: Alternative to Medicaid Expansion, by Arthur Purves to Fx Va-GA delegation
Medicaid expansion has good intentions, as do the other War on Poverty programs. But these programs have utterly failed. Poverty has won. And the biggest problem is the collapse of marriage.
2016-01-08 ~Virginia. CFACT: Virginia land barons terrorize Fauquier farmer, by Bonner Cohen
The list of transgressions against Martha Boneta is endless, causing countless hours of time away from farming, lost business, hardship and duress. One is struck by the brazen attempt by the well-connected and well-to-do to use their outsized local influence to crush a local farmer.
2016-01-08 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: Medicaid Expansion: Where Will It End?, by Nancy Piotter
Governor Terry McAuliffe is attempting once again to expand Medicaid in his record-breaking $109 billion biennial budget released on December 17. But by defeating pro-expansion candidates backed by McAuliffe last November, Virginia voters clearly signaled opposition to Medicaid expansion because it is an expensive, inefficient, and broken program.
2016-01-07 ~Virginia. FCTA: General Assembly townhall meeting in Reston, by Charles McAndrew
The minutes of the two-hour townhall meeting in Reston. Delegate Ken Plum and Senator Janet Howell spoke about issues of concern to them, including Gun Control, Education, Medicaid, Mental Health Problems, Cigarette tax, Tire rubber on school playing fields, Climate change, and Transportation. (Welcome to LIBERAL LAND.)
2016-01-07 ~FxSchools WaPo: FCPS superintendent proposes teacher raises, class size reductions
Garza's budget -- which is likely to undergo several school board changes before it is presented to the county -- seeks $1.9 billion from the county, $67 million more than county officials signaled they would provide to schools. The county, Virginia's largest, is facing a shortfall of its own.
2016-01-07 ~FxSchools FCTA: Purves' Questions Forbidden at FCPS Budget Briefing
Fairfax County Public Schools on Wednesday advised Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, that Mr. Purves would not be allowed to ask questions at the school superintendent's budget press briefing on Thursday, January 7.
2016-01-06 ~Virginia. HB389: Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts, introduced by Del Dave LaRock
Allows Virginia parents 90%-level educational funding to apply toward their child's education in a school of their choice, as certified by the state.
2016-01-02 ~National. Examiner: American business could learn from near-death of the railroad industry
Business executives deal with the spiraling cost of complying with government regulation every day, but consider these as "inevitable". The history of the U.S. railroad industry, however, suggests that fighting to lift the weight of government restrictions is possible -- and profitable.
2015-xx-xx ~National. FCTA: U.S. Sanctuary Cities: Incl leaders, party affiliation (if available)
2015-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Property Rights and Religious Liberty, by Larry P. Arnn
Imprimis lecture by Larry P. Arnn, President, Hillsdale College.
2015-12-xx ~Bulletin. Our Autocratic County Government
2015-12-29 ~National. Examiner: 2015, the year the Democrats fully embraced corporatism, by Tim Carney
Democrats have long been purveyors of patronage and corporate welfare, but forever they've gotten away with pretending to be populists. In 2015, that charade ended.
2015-12-29 ~National. WT: The American Left, source of homegrown Islamic terrorism, by Manda Zand Ervin
It is American intelligentsia, the mainstream media and leftist politicians who teach young Muslim Americans to hate America, not ISIS, al-Shabab, al Qaeda or the Khomeiniist regime in Iran.
2015-12-29 ~National. WT: Americans feel like strangers in a strange land -- Editorial
When the sentiment that "there's no place like home" declines to the feeling that "there's no place that's home," it's a signal to Mr. Obama that his goal of fundamental transformation tracks over the line. There's nothing sinister about taking pride in the nation's founding principles.
2015-12-24 ~FxMisc... Bacon's Rebellion: A Moral Choice: Economic Development or Lower Medical Charges?
Building on its plans to establish a Center for Personalized Health, Inova Health System is forging a partnership with George Mason University that will allow physicians, researchers and clinicians to work together on personalized medicine research. But given Inova's 8% profit margin, the investment spree raises moral questions.
2015-12-22 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia halts concealed carry reciprocity with 25 states, by Kellan Howell
Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced Tuesday the commonwealth will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permit reciprocity agreements from 25 states that have regulations weaker than Virginia's: AK, AZ, AR, DE, FL, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MN, MS, MT, NE, NM, NC, ND, OH, PA, SC, SD, TN, WA, WI and WY. Agreements will remain with MI, OK, TX, UT and WV.
2015-12-21 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: SpaceX booster lands intact after successful launch, by Eric Berger
SpaceX did it. On Monday night the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket soared into space, separated from the second stage, and then made a guided flight back to a landing site in Florida. The historic flight marked the beginning of the orbital economy by promising a future of dramatically lower launch costs.
2015-12-21 ~National. Conservative Intel: What Ryan got in his Omnibus, by David Freddoso
Conservatives have plenty of reasons to be unhappy with the omnibus spending bill that passed the House last week. But there are three things this bill does that, given a long-term outlook, will promote large conservative goals that may not be immediately obvious: 1) Obamacare repeal; 2) Tax reform; and 3) Oil exports.
2015-12-21 ~National. WT: Surviving the season of the sophomores, by Wesley Pruden
An entire generation of students is denied "the intellectual challenge of debating conflicting views," because self-censorship is turning campuses into oversanitized "safe spaces", say a group of British academics. The British mob eerily resembles mobs at the gates of American universities.
2015-12-20 ~Virginia. FCTA: The hidden cost of Medicaid "expansion", by Bill Peabody Lou Dileonardo
Medicaid expansion funding is best described as the gift of a baby elephant. If you accept it, you must feed it, and as it grows it will eat more and more.
2015-12-20 ~National. WT: Explaining Donald Trump, by Daniel Gallington
Many Americans believe our entire government is dysfunctional and can't -- or won't -- correct itself. The collective record for the last three administrations is not good -- and because of it, our world is more dangerous today than it was at the height of the Cold war. So now people are looking for dramatic change in the way our government "works".
2015-12-19 ~Potpourri Fx Free Citizen: Conversion to Islam -- a Personal Story, by FCTA's Tom Cranmer
Mr. Cranmer relates a painful story. He and his wife had sponsored a bright Hindu boy fluent in English to come to the U.S. to study at a university some 25 years ago. While there, he met a Pakistani girl and they eventually got married, with the condition that the boy convert to Islam, go on a jihad, cease contact with Christians (including Mr. Cranmer) and with his parents.
2015-12-18 ~Virginia. Examiner: Allah prayer gets classes canceled for Augusta Co. schools, by J. Lott
Teacher Cheryl LaPorte was educating her students about the development of calligraphy. She had them practice by copying out the Shahada from Arabic -- "There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." When parents found out about it, outrage followed, causing officials to shutter an entire Shenandoah Valley school district this Friday.
2015-12-18 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: Musings on Indoctrination by Teachers, by Ileana Johnson
The depth of blatant ignorance and naiveté of American teachers, even smart ones, is astonishing. Teachers across the country willingly indoctrinate their students many hours a day into the tenets of Islam, collectivism, environmentalism, and perverted and inappropriate for their age sexuality.
2015-12-17 ~National. Limbaugh: GOP Sells America Down the River -- Caves again to Dems on budget
The House again surrendered its power of the purse, giving the Democrats virtually everything they wanted in the 2016 budget. "Republican voters would not be wrong to conclude that their own Republican leaders are hostile to them, just as Democrat leaders are hostile to Republican voters," said Sen. Jeff Sessions.
2015-12-14 ~Environmt Climate Depot: Vegetarian Diets 'Worse' For 'Climate Change', by Shilo Rea at CMU
New research from Carnegie Mellon University, following the USDA recommendations to consume more fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because those foods have relatively high resource uses and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per calorie. "Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon."
2015-12-14 ~Environmt WT: How Obama saved the world from Global Warming, by Wesley Pruden
After COP21 and the hosannas and shouts of joy from President Obama and his like-minded friends, Paris didn't actually deliver anything. The only consequences for non-compliance would be international "shame", to be shamed by the likes of Lower Slobbovia and the Peoples Republic of Upper Corruptiana.
2015-12-12 ~Environmt CFACT: German scientist: Researchers fiddling with temperature data, by CFACT Ed
"In 2012, we realized that the data offered by NASA was not the same as that offered in 2010. The data had been altered. If in 2010 someone had, for instance, looked up the data for Palma de Mallorca, they would have seen a cooling of .0076 degrees. But in 2012 it suddenly showed a temperature increase of .0074 degrees. This is not a one-off."
2015-12-09 ~FxTrans.. Washingtonian: The History of How Metro Got So Bad, by Mullins & Gaynor
Here is another take on Metro's severe culture and personnel problems, similar to the 2012-03-26 three-part investigative series by the Washington Times (further down on this page).
2015-12-09 ~FxTrans.. AP: Virginia board approves tolls on I-66 for solo drivers, by Matthew Barakat
McLEAN, Va. (AP) - The Commonwealth Transportation Board unanimously approved a plan Wednesday to allow solo motorists to begin driving on Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway during rush hour if they are willing to pay a toll.
2015-12-08 ~National. WT: Supreme Court to weigh whether redistricting should include non-citizens
Supreme Court justices grappled Tuesday with how to balance the "one person, one vote" principle against late-20th century affirmative action policies, hearing two cases testing how far states can go in accommodating noncitizens or racial minorities when it comes time to draw voting districts.
2015-12-08 ~Environmt CFACT: The movie "Climate Hustle" premieres in Paris -- Video (2:37)
"Climate Hustle is a refreshing, funny yet reality-based look at Al Gore-weather-like folklore while uncovering incriminating 'global cooling' mass media footage from the 70s and the flipflop to 'global warming' just a decade later." -- reviewer Debbie Bacigalupi
2015-12-07 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: The machines that make modern recycling work, by John Timmer
Over the last several decades, recycling has gone from a manual process to an extremely automated one, where things like infrared sensors and small jets of air mix with massive front-end loaders and enormous material balers.
2015-12-07 ~FxSchools Fairfax County Teachers' salaries: Too Low or About Right? -- FCPS, FxCo sources
2015-12-05 ~National. JWR: Still no empirical argument for progressive taxation, by George Will
Progressives are increasingly preoccupied with income inequality, and their current hero, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), favors increasing the tax system's progressivity. So, in this 103rd year of the income tax, it is timely to note that there still is no intellectually sturdy case for progressive taxation.
2015-12-04 ~Environmt CFACT: Four inconvenient facts about global warming at COP, by CFACT Ed
Inconvenient fact #1: Global temperatures are lower than climate models project.
Inconvenient fact #2: Sea level is rising only 1mm to 3mm per year (and has been for generations).
Inconvenient fact #3: There were 5,000 polar bears in the 1960s; today there are over 25,000.
Inconvenient fact #4: Extreme weather is historically normal (eq - Medieval Warming Period & Little Ice Age).
2015-12-01 ~National. Examiner: Whither the snowflakes?, by Noemie Emery
Whither the snowflakes? Inquiring minds want to know. Curious people all over the country are wondering what will occur when the snowflakes -- aka, the crybullies -- are finally forced out of their safe spaces on campus, and into the cold winds of life.
2015-12-01 ~FxSchools CEI: A Remedy for FCPS's Taxpayer Giveaway to Unions, by Trey Kovacs
Activity performed on "release time" serves the interests of unions. Unions, not taxpayers, should incur those costs, which FCPS has been paying for since 1986, despite the constitutional restriction on granting public aid to private entities.
2015-11-30 ~National. WT: The showboating college student, hard at work, by Wesley Pruden
There is much to do for the student with awakened conscience. Scrubbing out the moral stains on America, to make the grove of academe the bright spot of the fruited plain, is a job bigger than anyone first imagined.
2015-11-29 ~National. WT: Creating isolation, not assimilation of refugees, by Bon Barnett
Prior to 1980, refugee resettlement was a work of true sacrificial charity. The 1980 Refugee Act guaranteed 3 years of federal support to refugees upon arrival. This latter stream of support was halted completely by 1991 resulting in a significant cost shift to the states.
2015-11-28 ~National. JWR: Battling the modern American administrative state, by George Will
As the administrative state distorts the United States' constitutional architecture, Clarence Thomas becomes America's indispensable constitutionalist. Now in his 25th year on the Supreme Court, he is urging the judicial branch to limit the legislative branch's practice of delegating its power to the executive branch.
2015-11-26 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Va's restrictive health care regs under scrutiny, by Eric Boehm
Dr. Mark Baumel runs successful clinics in other states, treating patients and giving potentially life-saving colon cancer screenings, using a CT scanner instead of requiring a probe up the tail-pipe. But before he can buy CT scanners, under Virginia's COPN laws, he needs a "permission slip" from the state health commissioner.
2015-11-25 ~Potpourri WT: Google deems Sanders' economic plan a 'phishing scam', by Stephen Dinan
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernard Sanders' economic plan triggered Gmail's "phishing scam" antenna, with the mail system saying the senator's liberal campaign promises -- including lower prescription drug prices and free college for all -- sound like frauds.
2015-11-25 ~National. AMAC: Do You Know Saul Alinsky?, by Ellen Cora
Alinsky's aim for community organizers is to bait the opposition. "The enemy, properly goaded and guided into reacting, will be your major strength," Alinsky penned. He believed in creating unrest by searching out controversial issues and convincing people they could actually effect change. Consider 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Income Inequality' as two examples.
2015-11-25 ~Environmt WT: Spanish 'Solyndra' on verge of bankruptcy, by Ben Wolfgang
Abengoa is a Spanish company that was another of President Obama's personally picked green energy projects, and it's now on the verge of bankruptcy too, potentially saddling taxpayers with a multibillion-dollar tab and fueling the notion that the administration repeatedly gambles on losers in the energy sector.
2015-11-24 ~Virginia. AP: Virginia to extend I-95 Express Lanes in both directions, by Matthew Barakat
Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that I-95 Express Lanes will be extended about two miles on their southern end in Stafford County. On the northern end, the I-395 Express Lanes will be extended all the way to the border with the District of Columbia. (The state had wanted to do that in the first place, but was stymied by opposition from Arlington County.)
2015-11-24 ~Potpourri DNC & WaPo & NYT -- "How to talk to your family about politics this Thanksgiving"
Year in, year out, a day or two before Thanksgiving, you can count on Democratic party hacks or their fellow travelers to crank out a "How to talk to conservatives at the holiday dinner table" piece. Apparently liberals are so cloistered from interaction with conservatives and so insecure in their own basic political beliefs that they actually need to be prepped before the most basic social engagement with the enemy.
2015-11-24 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fairfax school, county officials meet, talk budget cuts, by Antonio Olivio
Fairfax County is projecting a budget shortfall of as much as $85 million for fiscal 2017, and the school system is facing a budget gap of $60.6 million. The budget gap in part reflects the ongoing effects of about $2.6 billion in federal spending cuts in the region since 2012... (Not to mention the continued wasteful spending by those same school and county officials.)
2015-11-23 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: Republican Elites Experienced Only in Failure, by Jon Moseley
Donald Trump's popularity with voters continues to puzzle tone-deaf GOP elites. The trouble with experts in Washington, D.C. is how little they know. To borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, the problem is not that Republican elites are ignorant, but they 'know' so many things that simply are not so.
2015-11-21 ~State-MI. WaPo: Residents in first majority-Muslim U.S. city tense about its future
In Hamtramck, Mich., long a home to Polish immigrants, the shift in everyday life is about to have its first effect on politics: It now has a majority-Muslim city council. Hamtramck became the first majority-Muslim city in the United States following the arrival of thousands of immigrants from Yemen, Bangladesh and Bosnia over a decade.
2015-11-20 ~World.... WT: Amphetamine drug Captagon fuels Syrian fighters, funds war, by Kellan Howell
According to new investigations by both Reuters and Time magazine, the illegal drug is being used both to keep Syrian fighters on their feet and is likely being used to fund the weapons trade in the region. The drug quickly produces a euphoric intensity in users, allowing fighters to stay up for days and attack with reckless abandon.
2015-11-20 ~Potpourri WaPo: Women's curves, mansplained -- Curvology book review, by Caitlin Flanagan
Almost 50 years ago, British zoologist Desmond Morris published one of the greatest works of pop science ever written: "The Naked Ape". Now, half a century later, Cambridge-educated veterinarian David Bainbridge attempts a similar feat with "Curvology", a book that takes "an evolutionary and zoological approach to the origins and power of female bodies."
2015-11-20 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Va. to extend I-95/395 HOT lanes north to D.C. line, by Robert Thomson
The Virginia government and a private partner have reached agreement to expand the I-95 Express Lanes north eight miles to the D.C. line, replacing the High-Occupancy Vehicle system on I-395 up to the area near the Pentagon.
2015-11-19 ~Potpourri Examiner: O'Reilly's Killing Reagan is a 'pile of garbage' -- Craig Shirley
Craig Shirley, Reagan's official biographer opines in an interview: "No historian 100 years from now will reach for Killing Reagan ... The essential difference is O'Reilly strives for sales, the facts be damned, while I strive for accuracy and truth, as I did in my new Reagan book, Last Act."
2015-11-19 ~National. Examiner: Obamacare losses worsening, unsustainable past 2016 -- UnitedHealth CEO
UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen J. Hemsley warned investors about $425 million in losses primarily due to its participation in Obamacare, and that the insurer would likely leave the program. "We cannot sustain these losses. We can't really subsidize a marketplace that doesn't appear at the moment to be sustaining itself," he said.
2015-11-19 ~National. WT: Obama's distorted strategy to take down America, by James Lyons
Virtually all of President Obama's actions while in office have be been to favor America's enemies and hamstring American's ability to fight Islamic terrorism, or to even recognize Islam as a toxic political ideology that is fundamentally incompatible with Western civilization and seeks to destroy it.
2015-11-19 ~National. WT: The demise of academic freedom, by Gerald Walpin
Certain Yale students did not simply attack my free speech rights, but the rights of all students to obtain the benefit of free speech by hearing different views. Most disconcerting, it was not a single incident, but one of many in the nationwide movement at schools to suppress any thinking that the self-appointed student and faculty thought-police find unacceptable.
2015-11-19 ~Environmt CFACT: Warming radicals blind to science and history, by Kelvin Kemm
The "Medieval Warm Period" (1100-1300), the "Little Ice Age" (1350-1850), and the role of the sun are ignored by extreme Greenies, who want an enemy to blame. That enemy is modern industry. To be able to attack industry the industrial CO2 generated globally has to be the culprit. Reason and logic have nothing to do with it.
2015-11-18 ~World.... Market Oracle: Cashless Society - Totalitarian Dream Come True, by Nick Giambruno
Central planners around the world are waging a War on Cash. They want to eliminate hand-to-hand currency so that governments can document, control, and tax everything. This is why they're lowering the threshold for mandatory reporting of cash transactions and, in some instances, simply making it illegal to pay cash.
2015-11-18 ~Virginia. WT: Roanoke mayor's Syrian refugee stance irks Hillary's campaign
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers has been asked to step down from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's leadership team in Virginia for voicing his support for halting the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the U.S. by apparently endorsing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
2015-11-18 ~Report... Fx Co Employee Salaries and Turnover - 2006 to 2015, by Fred Costello-172
2015-11-18 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Fairfax gov't, schools have too much cash -- letter, by Bill Frazer
The average compounded inflation rate from 1987 to 2015 was 2.65%. The average compounded increase in my property taxes from 1987 to 2015 was 5.25%. That means that the amount of taxes being paid to Fairfax County has increased at almost double the rate of inflation since 1987.
2015-11-18 ~FxSchools Sun Gazette: Proposals are in to cut FCPS costs -- Editorial
To hear the Fairfax Education Association and Fairfax County Federation of Teachers tell it -- you'd think the school-system's budget has been decimated in recent years. The facts say otherwise. Fairfax schools deserve reasonable funding. But so do a host of other county programs. And taxpayers deserve to be respected by elected officials, not treated as ATMs.
2015-11-17 ~National. MarketWatch: New B-3 bomber to keep China and Russia at bay, by STRATFOR analysts
The next-generation U.S. long-range strike bomber, recently awarded to Northrop Grumman for development, will not rely on as yet undeveloped technologies. Instead, the aircraft will combine and fully exploit existing advanced stealth technologies, integrated software, ordnance and countermeasures.
2015-11-16 ~World.... WT: The West and Islam, by Robert W. Merry
The late Samuel P. Huntington, probably the greatest political scientist of his generation, had this to say about the relationship between the West and Islam. "Some Westerners have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise."
2015-11-16 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Texans go naked as rates rise under Obamacare, by Kenric Ward
Higher insurance premiums are pummeling Texans in the age of Obamacare, and health-care analysts say ever-bigger increases are inevitable. Now Texans are getting out, opting to pay a penalty instead of digging deeper for coverage.
2015-11-16 ~National. Examiner: Democrats' war on youth, by W. James Antle III
Democrats claim that Republican positions amount to a "war on women". Yet politicians and pundits are now saying that a constellation of liberal policies favored by Democrats, on issues ranging from entitlements and healthcare to education and the economy, constitutes a war on youth.
2015-11-16 ~National. WT: The government holds down interest rates for its own benefit, by Richard Rahn
Fed and the Treasury have been in effect running an unsustainable money laundering scheme since 2009. If the Fed interest rate subsidy to the Treasury stops -- the cost of debt service will soar, either crowding out other spending or forcing massive tax increases or inflation.
2015-11-15 ~Potpourri WT: A little history of 'politically correct' -- Editorial
The term "politically correct" was coined in the late 1920s by the Soviets and their ideological allies around the world to describe why the views of certain of the party faithful needed correction to the party line. The term carried no honor then and it carries none today.
2015-11-15 ~National. JWR: Academia celebrates diversity in everything but thought, by George Will
On campuses so saturated with progressivism that they celebrate diversity in everything but thought, every day is a snow day: There are perishable snowflakes everywhere. Students melt at the mere mention of even a potential abrasion of their sensibilities. The institutions have brought this on themselves.
2015-11-13 ~National. JWR: The closing of the American mind mouth, by Suzanne Fields
If Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind" was the first shot in the culture wars, it has been followed by a barrage of bullets to silence free speech, spreading intolerance through ignorance, infantilizing students who want to be coddled rather than challenged.
2015-11-13 ~National. Fx Free Citizen: The Alinsky Effect taking hold in America, by Ron Edwards
It seems odd that more Americans are protesting in favor of oppression and against liberty. But for over fifty years, government school educators have been used to fundamentally change America. This has been accomplished by systematically lowering some standards and eliminating others altogether.
2015-11-12 ~World.... WT: Factually inaccurate maps distort Jewish and Arab land claims
When MSNBC used inaccurate and misleading maps in October to illustrate Jewish and Arab land claims in the Holy Land, it took only hours for it to admit their error. Church groups have been using the same set of maps for many years, with no sign of slowing down.
2015-11-12 ~National. JWR: The fiction of 'Truth', by Victor Davis Hanson
Utter disregard for old-fashioned truth is now deeply embedded in contemporary America, largely because it advances a particular agenda. Subsequent fact-finding does not seem to dispel these untruths. Instead, what could or should have happened must have happened, given that the noble ends of social justice are thought to justify the means deemed necessary to achieve them.
2015-11-12 ~National. EAGnews.org: Liberal fascism... now at Vanderbuilt, by Kyle Olson
A conservative Vanderbilt professor isn't cowering while a progressive lynch mob targets her. She's fighting back. Students have begun circulating a petition calling for the suspension of Dr. Carol Swain, a professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University. Her offense? Posting materials of interest to "Christian conservatives" on the Internet.
2015-11-12 ~National. WT: Feds spend $462 billion after debt cap is lifted, by Stephen Dinan
The spending was the result of last month's budget deal -- an agreement between Republican leaders on Capitol Hill and President Obama, boosting spending in 2016 and 2017 in exchange for some questionable cut and gimmick savings later in the decade.
2015-11-12 ~Environmt CFACT: UN Launches "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", by Bonner Cohen
The UN has been peddling "sustainable development" since its landmark conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Don't buy any of it. It's a scam that, by denying the world's poorest people access to affordable energy and other natural resources as well as the tools of modern agriculture, will perpetuate global poverty and empower unelected bureaucrats and their cronies.
2015-11-11 ~World.... MarketWatch: Ireland is making Paul Krugman eat crow, by Nicholas A. Vardy, CFA
With GDP expected to grow at a Tiger-like 6% this year, and another 4.3% in 2016, Ireland today is the European Union's fastest-growing member state. Paul Krugman, a dedicated Keynesian, was clearly wrong about the Irish economy and the success of its austerity policies in pulling its economy out of a tailspin.
2015-11-11 ~National. WT: U.S. no longer a nation of laws, by David Keene
History makes clear that a free and prosperous society depends on the rule of law to survive. In this country we are increasingly forced to refer to the stability protected by the rule of law as something that once existed but may soon be but a historic memory.
2015-11-11 ~National. WT: Common Core's double whammy, David V. Anderson
Common Core has not brought any improvements in the important subjects of mathematics and reading. In fact, the presence of this unfortunate "experiment" correlates with performance degradation in both subjects. And states which have formally participated in Common Core have fared worse than those not doing so.
2015-11-10 ~Potpourri NR: David Horowitz's Journey from Left to Right, by Jamie Glazov
From red-diaper baby to New Leftist to champion and tutor of the Right. A recent quote: "For the Left, America is the hated seat of global capitalism and individualism. For Islamists, America is the hated seat of Western values, a bulwark against the global domination of Islam, and a wellspring of spiritual iniquity."
2015-11-08 ~Potpourri WT: University officials agree to rip up Constitution -- Project Veritas sting
Conservatives have long accused academics of shredding the Constitution, figuratively speaking, but a Project Veritas sting operation recently caught them doing it literally. Administrators at Yale, Cornell, Syracuse, Vassar and Oberlin agreed to rip up copies of the Constitution handed out off campus after an investigator posing as a student described the document as "triggering" and "oppressive".
2015-11-07 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Election yields two new Fx supervisors, four School Board members
After months of door knocking, partisan mudslinging and millions of dollars spent on campaigns, results from the Nov. 3 election have left Fairfax County's political balance of power largely unchanged.
2015-11-05 ~National. WT: Minot AFB ground zero in military's new gender wars + Updates 1 and 2
Tech Sgt Aaron Allmon is an award-winning combat photographer who stands accused of trying to pick up women in the public affairs office at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, and for that prosecutors wanted to put him in prison for 130 years. (Perhaps "military justice" has become an oxymoron.)
2015-11-05 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Safely reelected, Chairman Bulova reconsiders meals tax, by Antonio Olivo
It's Baaaack!!! In June 2014, Fairfax Co Chairman Sharon Bulova decided the proposed 4 percent meals tax referendum would not be acceptable to voters in 2014 (due in no small part to efforts by FCTA president Arthur Purves). So she shelved the proposal until after the 2016 election. Well that time has come... Caveat emptor!
2015-11-04 ~National. WT: The left plans to move Obamacare into single-payer, by Monica Crowley
If you loathe Obamacare, you're going to hate what the Democrats have planned next. Their imminent assault on health care will go far beyond the quasi-socialized medicine of Obamacare. The Obamacare architects rigged the system to implode so they could ride to the rescue with single payer.
2015-11-04 ~Health... WaPo: A Maryland farm now sells raw milk -- for pets, by Karen Heller
At their farm in Brandywine, Md., Sally Fallon Morell and her husband, Geoffrey, sell 24 gallons of raw milk a week -- limit one gallon per family per week. The milk is marked for use only for pets, to pacify the Maryland food police. (In 1999, the Morells founded the Weston A. Price Foundation to promote "wise traditions in food, farming and the healing arts".)
2015-11-04 ~FxMisc... FxCo: November 3, 2015 General & Special Elections - UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
2015-11-04 ~FxMisc... WT: Embattled Fx Co School board retains pro-LGBT majority, by Kellan Howell
The majority of Fairfax County School Board members who approved a transgender-inclusive policy change were reelected Tuesday, despite many parents calling on voters to oust the panel over the controversial policy. Pro-LGBT Ted Velkoff was defeated by Jeanette Hough, a parent who ran for the education panel because of the policy change controversy.
2015-11-03 ~World.... WT: Islamic financing rivals Western-style lending, by Christin Roby
It works like this: No interest on investments, but the borrower and the lender share the risk and split the returns. This growing form of banking, known as Islamic finance, is now making significant headway into Africa, one of the fastest-growing regions in the world.
2015-11-03 ~States... WT: Voters elect GOP governors, nix 'bathroom bill', pot, by Valerie Richardson
In the election races across the country Tuesday, Houston voters rejected a transgender "bathroom bill", Ohioans torched legal marijuana, and Republicans captured both gubernatorial contest races at stake (Kentucky and Mississippi).
2015-11-03 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: 2015 Fx Co Board-Of-Supervisors Election Winners, by David Swink
2015-11-03 ~FxSchools FCTA: 2015 Fx Co Public Schools Board Election Winners, by David Swink
2015-11-02 ~FxTrans.. Connection: The truth behind I-66 inside the Beltway, by Aubrey Layne
Virginia's Secretary of Transportation expresses his understanding of the McAuliffe administration's proposal to improve I-66 inside the Beltway.
2015-11-02 ~FxMisc... Fx Free Citizen: Election Office can't prevent absentee ballot voter ID fraud
An election officer discovers that the Fairfax County Election office has no way of negating the fraudulent absentee ballot. Due to the way absentee ballots are processed, almost any voter who is willing to lie about sending in an absentee ballot and has enough sense to not use his/her normal signature can vote twice.
2015-11-01 ~FxTrans.. Fx Free Citizen: McAuliffe Lying Again? ...about I-66 tolls, by Ronald Henry
The Governor's claim was certainly untrue when he was trying to impose the toll simultaneously in both directions because the HOV restrictions only apply eastbound in the morning and westbound in the evening, never both ways at once under the current rules.
2015-11-01 ~FxSchools WT: School board blocks release of gender identity documents 'til after election
The Fairfax County school board has filed a lawsuit that blocks until after Election Day Tuesday the public release of documents on a controversial transgender policy, prompting several candidates for the board to say Monday that voters now must toss the incumbents.
2015-11-01 ~FxMisc... WT: NoVa Democrats conspired against gun store, emails show, by Kelly Riddell
Democratic elected officials (Del. Kathleen Murphy, Sen. Barbara Favola, Fx Co Supervisor John Foust) in Northern Virginia worked together to engineer a campaign against a Fairfax County firearms store in a bid to politicize gun violence and drum up support for a Democrat in an election Tuesday, an exchange of emails shows.
2015-10-31 ~FxSchools WT: School board was implementing gender identity policy before May 7 hearing
New documents show that the Fairfax County School board had already moved to change its nondiscrimination policy to include "gender identity" without consulting parents, before the May 7 vote even took place.
2015-10-31 ~Environmt WUWT: NASA says Antarctica isn't losing ice mass after all!, by Anthony Watts
From the "settled science" department, former chief alarmist Jay Zwally has produced a second study that confirms his 2012 report that "Mass Gains of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Exceed Losses".
2015-10-29 ~Potpourri WaPo: How McDonald's gets to kids while they're at school, by Roberto Ferdman
Two years ago, a 280-pound teacher in Iowa decided he would eat only food from McDonald's for six months. After 540 straight meals, he emerged 56 pounds slimmer. Since hired by McDonald's as a "brand ambassador", Cisna's story has prompted a lively debate about whether it is appropriate for McDonald's to use schools as a way to teach kids about healthy eating habits.
2015-10-29 ~National. WT: The miraculous Republican debate on CNBC, by Newt Gingrich
For years the elite news media has assumed it was in charge -- that it could define the topics, lengths of answers, and who got to speak. Thursday night's presidential debate on CNBC may go down in history as a major turning point in candidate-news media relations.
2015-10-28 ~World.... UK Express: Doctor in Germany warns about Muslim migrants, by Nick Gutteridge
A Czech doctor working in German hospitals said the German health service has been completely overwhelmed by the influx of Muslim asylum-seekers who are REFUSING to be treated by female medics. In a furious outburst, the experienced doctor said hospitals simply cannot cope because so many of the migrants require treatments for diseases long since eradicated in Europe.
2015-10-28 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: Teaching Sex-Ed in Fx Co, Parts 1, 2, 3 -- by Fred Costello
This three-part series is entitled "A Summary of Fairfax County's Family Life Education Lessons Plans". The first part summarizes the FLE lesson plans on "human growth"; the second part comments on the lesson plans; the third part provides an outline of individual FLE (sex education) lessons.
2015-10-27 ~National. WT: Planned Parenthood doc will 'strive' for intact fetal skull -- PP video #11
A Planned Parenthood doctor describes how she uses what may be a partial-birth abortion technique to deliver fetal trunks intact, then laughs as she says she will "strive" for an intact fetal skull in an undercover video released Tuesday.
2015-10-26 ~World.... WT: A century of Palestinian hatred of Jews, by Daniel Pipes
In April 1920, the British government created a region called "Palestine" designed to be the eventual "national home for the Jewish people". Then in May 1921, it appointed Amin al-Husseini (1895-1974) as mufti of Jerusalem, a dreadful decision whose repercussions still reverberate today.
2015-10-26 ~State-OH. Watchdog.org: Ohio Obamacare expansion keeps getting bigger, by Jason Hart
The Foundation for Government Accountability and other free-market groups warned against extending Medicaid benefits -- which come with no work requirements. FGA expects budget-busting enrollment in Ohio and elsewhere will deter more states from chasing Obamacare expansion funding.
2015-10-25 ~National. WT: What political correctness has wrought, by Robert Knight
If you're wondering how America and Western Europe went from marriage-centered societies to post-Christian sexual anarchy abetted by massive government growth enforced by brutal political correctness in just a few decades, let's just say it was no accident.
2015-10-23 ~Virginia. WT: Bloomberg aims anti-gun barrel at Virginia elections, by Deborah Simmons
A Michael Bloomberg Gun Safety nonprofit group has announced plans to spend $700,000 on one election in Virginia -- a state Senate race in the Richmond area that could easily deliver control of the chamber into the hands of the Democratic Party. Everytown said it will spend another $1.1 million to influence Virginia's November elections.
2015-10-23 ~National. WT: Obama's DOJ clears IRS, Lois Lerner in tea party scandal, by Stephen Dinan
The decision comes more than two years after the IRS's internal watchdog reported that auditors singled out tea party groups' applications for special scrutiny and delayed those applications beyond reasonable timelines, preventing the groups from being able to say they were officially recognized nonprofits.
2015-10-23 ~FxTrans.. Fx Times: I-66 tolling, widening defended by VDOT, by Angela Woolsey
VDOT's I-66 presentation Monday evening at Oakton High School highlighted the ability to move more people, greater travel reliability, reduced daily congestion, and less commuter traffic on local roads among the benefits of the proposed I-66 changes. Residents are still concerned about the price tag, the tolls, and the impact on environment and neighborhoods.
2015-10-23 ~Environmt CFACT: UN climate text adds an "International Tribunal of Climate Justice"
Negotiators at the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany resurrected the "International Tribunal of Climate Justice" and inserted it into the text they are preparing for nations to agree to at the big UN summit in Paris in December. This is similar to the 2011 attempt at Durban, and that text was stripped when CFACT's Marc Morano blew the whistle and the media picked it up.
2015-10-23 ~Environmt WT: Two dozen states sue to stop EPA's Clean Power Plan, by Valerie Richardson
"The EPA's latest power grab -- disguised as a 'Clean Power Plan' -- takes already burdensome federal regulations a step further by driving up energy costs, stagnating job growth, threatening the reliability of our electric grid and treading all over the State of Texas' sovereignty." -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
2015-10-22 ~World.... WT: Toxic voice of China's history (especially under Mao), by Miles Yu
One of China's most outrageously cool superstars is a high school history teacher, wildly popular among the nation's young, who follow him online and offline in the tens of millions. Ironically, he is also one of the nation's most censored public intellectuals, due to his portrayal of recent Chinese history under Mao.
2015-10-22 ~Potpourri JWR: Can California be saved?, by Victor Davis Hanson
Liberal ideologues are running the state into the ground. California is becoming like Detroit -- growing government that it cannot pay for, shorting the middle classes, hiking taxes but providing shoddy services and infrastructure in return, and obsessing over minor bumper-sticker issues while ignoring existential crises.
2015-10-22 ~Potpourri TIME: Inside the Quest for Fusion, Clean Energy's Holy Grail, by Lev Grossman
Research into fusion as an energy source has traditionally been confined to massive government-sponsored research programs. Now a few entrepreneurs are racing to reach the break-even point using innovative engineering approaches at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods.
2015-10-21 ~FxTrans.. Bisnow: Til Hazel thinks traffic could kill NoVa office space, by Tania Anderson
NoVa real estate pioneer Til Hazel says transportation is the biggest threat to any future growth in NoVa and will only grow Fairfax County's 18% vacancy rate. He blames politicians for appealing to the "antis" who've opposed any growth for several decades. And he's dubious of the Silver Line and says so far it's only left Fairfax and Loudoun counties $3B in debt.
2015-10-19 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: California lawmakers rank fish above people, by Steven Greenhut
In reality, there's no sense blaming plankton, smelt, trout or salmon. The problem is state and federal officials more concerned about bureaucratic and environmental priorities than people.
2015-10-18 ~Report... Election Issues in Fairfax County, presentation by Fred Costello
2015-10-16 ~FxSchools CNS News: School Board Hasn't Responded to FOIAs on Transgender Policy
Concerned Fairfax County parents say the local school board acted hastily in making "gender identity" part of its non-discrimination policy, but the board is ignoring FOIAs to release behind-the-scenes information leading up to their controversial decision -- at least until after the upcoming November election.
2015-10-16 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: RICO letter backfires on GMU global warmist, by Rob Nikolewski
The letter prompted critics to look into the finances of the Institute of Global Environment and Society, one of the organizations Shukla heads at George Mason. They charged the decorated Shukla with fiscal funny business, including potential double-dipping.
2015-10-15 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Democratic Party boss takes hit in Texas vote-fraud case, by K Ward
A client of Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa is facing 16 criminal charges of rigging votes in a Rio Grande Valley election. The criminal charges are a blow to Hinojosa, who has relentlessly criticized Texas' photo ID law and downplays the potential for election fraud.
2015-10-15 ~State-IL. JWR: Rahm Emanuel reaps the whirlwind of Democratic rule, by George Will
During the past 84 years, the growth of the public sector has been mostly driven by the alliance between elected politicians and public-sector unions. This has made Chicago emblematic of the coast-to-coast crisis of the "blue model" of municipal and state governance. Rahm Emanuel, a product of this culture, must now take extreme measures to keep the city solvent.
2015-10-15 ~State-FL. WT: Florida sheriff will keep "In God We Trust" bumper stickers, by Tom Quimby
Despite renewed demands from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen still has no plans to remove "In God We Trust" bumper stickers from his patrol cars or to pull videos with religious content from his office's website.
2015-10-15 ~Potpourri AMAC: A Waiter Learns Why Socialism Doesn't Work, by Rob Knowles
Humans run on incentive, and if you take that away, they fall apart. Tip pooling is a microcosm of socialism. My roommate stumbled upon a profound principle of economics and human psychology, but is still a Bernie Sanders supporter. Maybe, with some gentle nudging, he may come around.
2015-10-15 ~National. WT: Liberals can't see what's coming, by L. Todd Wood
Every 30-40 years, riding some type of generational learning curve, the United States must suffer through a spasm of socialist lunacy and suffer the consequences. But weakening our national defense, stealing from the other guy, taking all we can until the lights go out, just doesn't work. At the end of the day, reality sinks in for enough people to vote the communist-lites out of power.
2015-10-15 ~Health... EMR & HIPAA: One Doctor's Perspectives on the Evolution of Health Care
"The American Medical Business model is antithetical with respect to this concept and as such I believe dangerous to your health. So, in my world view, HIPPA is a costly infringement on my ability to care for my patients and as such, potentially harmful to their health."
2015-10-14 ~Potpourri Telegraph: Male brain is programmed to seek out sex over food, by Sarah Knapton
Researchers have found that the male brain is hardwired to seek out sex, even at the expense of a good meal, with specific neurons firing up to over-ride the desire to eat. And it is proof that male and female brains are wired differently, a controversial subject, which has been argued by scientists and feminists for decades.
2015-10-14 ~Potpourri WT: Washington Times reaches profitability after 33 years, $1 billion in losses
The Washington Times announced Wednesday it achieved in September the first profitable month in its 33-year history, successfully transforming a traditional money-losing print publication into a leaner multimedia company with diverse revenue streams and a growing national audience.
2015-10-14 ~National. WaPo: Meet the abortion foe behind the hidden camera, by Sandhya Somashekhar
The slim young man with the Clark Kent glasses mingled easily at the conference of abortion providers. David Daleiden, 26, is the antiabortion activist who masterminded the recent undercover campaign aimed at proving that Planned Parenthood illegally sells what he calls aborted "baby body parts".
2015-10-14 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Stark Differences for Fx Co Chairman: Bulova vs Purves, by Ken Moore
Anti-taxer Arthur Purves challenged incumbent Chairman Sharon Bulova at the Great Falls debate on Sept 29. Bulova said the county is balanced between taxes and services, and praised Metro's Silver line. Purves countered that the county is losing ground economically, taxes are too high, and the VDOT's upcoming I-66 proposals are excessive and will not improve traffic conditions.
2015-10-13 ~Health... Examiner: U.S most obese in the world, has fattest kids, by Paul Bedard
The United States is put at No. 1, ahead of 33 other nations, despite years of work by the Obama administration, the first lady and the Agriculture Department, which has been pulling sugar and salt out of school lunches. The report shows obesity at 35% for Americans, 4% for Japanese and 25% for Canadians.
2015-10-13 ~Environmt Breitbart: Top Physicist Says Obama Wrong on Global Warming, by James Delingpole
Dr Freeman Dyson, one of the world's greatest theoretical physicists and contemporary of Einstein, says the climate models used by alarmist scientists to predict global warming are getting worse, not better. The blindness to the obvious facts, says Dyson, can be partly explained in terms of follow the money, but also a kind of collective yearning for apocalyptic doom.
2015-10-12 ~FxSchools Choice media: "We Don't Want School Choice" -- Satirical music video (3:38)
2015-10-11 ~State-CA. WT: California new motor-voter law encourages voter fraud, by Valerie Richardson
California has changed its Motor Voter law from opt-in to opt-out, thus automatically registering to vote all eligible voters when they obtain or renew their driver's licenses at the DMV. This amounts to state-sanctioned voter fraud, especially as the law exempts from penalties ineligible voters who wind up being registered.
2015-10-11 ~FxTrans.. Bull Elephant: McAuliffe's I-66 Mega-Toll Madness, by Delegate Dave LaRock
Delegate LaRock adds his voice to the Republican opposition to Governor McAuliffe's plan to levy new tolls without adding new lane capacity on I-66 and use the toll revenue for low-priority pedestrian and bike improvements. And how about that "Tax Pig" pic (with a rather nice supporting cast)?
2015-10-09 ~Potpourri Guardian: Are shipping containers really the future of housing?, by Adam Forrest
From London to Amsterdam to Mumbai, shipping containers have been celebrated as a cheap and easy way to provide pre-fab housing. But what is it like to live in one -- and can they transcend pop-up status to be a permanent solution?
2015-10-09 ~Environmt WT: Court halts Obama EPA's controversial water rule, by Wolfgang & Dinan
The original Clean Water Act gave EPA jurisdiction over "navigable" waters. Obama's EPA is trying to include irrigation ditches and small streams. Eighteen states protested with a lawsuit, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on the ruling.
2015-10-08 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Texas charter network boasts 99.9% college-going rate, by K. Ward
Graduates of a charter school network in Austin, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley boasted a 99.9 percent college acceptance rate this year -- roughly double the statewide average. Parents are lining up to get their children into the publicly funded, independently operated schools.
2015-10-08 ~State-IL. CBS: Former CEO of Chicago Public Schools indicted on corruption charges
The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, will plead guilty to charges in an indictment released Thursday that alleged she steered more than $23 million in no-bid contracts from CPS to her former employer, authorities said Thursday. The U.S. Attorney said Byrd-Bennett and others "entered into a scheme to secretly profit from schools."
2015-10-08 ~National. Cato: Federal gov't workers make 78% more than private workers, by Chris Edwards
Since the 1990s, federal workers have enjoyed faster compensation growth than private-sector workers. In 2014 federal workers earned (on average and including benefits) 78 percent more than private-sector workers, and 43 percent more than state and local government workers.
2015-10-08 ~National. BW: Steve Bannon, the vast right-wing conspirator, by Joshua Green
Business Week profiles Steve Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News, and claims he is "the most dangerous political operative in America". Subtitle: "Steve Bannon runs the new vast right-wing conspiracy -- and he wants to take down both Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush".
2015-10-08 ~National. WT: Number of sanctuary cities, criminal releases rise, by Stephen Dinan
The list of sanctuary cities has grown to more than 340, and they shielded an average of 1,000 immigrants a month from deportation last year -- and more than 2,000 of those released have been arrested for yet more crimes, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Immigration Studies, just as the Senate considers legislation to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions.
2015-10-08 ~FxTrans.. Connection: New Tolls on I-66: Will That Help?, by Marissa Beale
New tolls are presented as the first step to reducing heavy traffic on I-66, but some voice doubts. "I am unsure how tolls are going to improve congestion," said Thomas Cranmer, a civil engineer present during the meeting. "[VDOT] provided no cost details. The only reply was it would be about $50 million."
2015-10-07 ~National. Reason: How to Create a Gun-Free America in 5 Easy Steps -- incl video (2:11)
2015-10-06 ~Potpourri Infowars: Matt Drudge Warns of the End of the Internet -- video (9:38)
Matt Drudge recounts a Supreme Court Justice telling him that freedom of speech will soon be a thing of the past. He sounds the alarm of multinational forces like the TPP hellbent on crushing dissent and killing freedom of speech under the guise of copyright.
2015-10-06 ~Health... Waking Times: Heart surgeon reveals truth about heart disease, by Alex Pietrowski
The discovery that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated. The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.
2015-10-06 ~FxTrans.. Fx Free Citizen: VDOT to I-66 Drivers: Abandon Your Cars!, by Tim Hannigan, FCTA
VDOT officials openly stated at a public hearing in its Fairfax facility on Monday evening that its plans for reducing the insufferable traffic congestion on the I-66 corridor Inside the Beltway do NOT call for increasing road capacity but instead encourage travelers to increase their use of "multimodal" transportation solutions.
2015-10-06 ~FxMisc... WT: D.C. police rank-and-file do not support Chief Lanier, by Delroy A. Burton
District police officers had an opportunity in August to express an opinion of Chief Cathy Lanier. Of those who voted, 97.5 percent cast a "no confidence" vote.
2015-10-06 ~FxMisc... WT: Billions in income leaving D.C. region for low-tax states, by Andrew Blake
Data just released by the IRS in raw form last week indicated a net migration loss for the D.C. region in 2013 and 2014 that was among the worst in the U.S. Virginia and Maryland were among the 10 states with the greatest adjusted income loss loss. D.C., Fairfax County and Montgomery County incurred a AGI loss of roughly $1.97 billion.
2015-10-05 ~Potpourri Examiner: If you really want to reduce economic inequality ..., by Michael Barone
Two things seemed to work to reduce economic inequality in the first half of the twentieth century -- world wars and economic collapse. By destroying vast amounts of wealth, they reduced economic inequality vastly. The lesson seems to be that if you really, really want economic equality, destroy things so that everyone is poor.
2015-10-05 ~National. WT: Clinton White House suppressed evidence of Iran's terrorism, by John Solomon
Bill Clinton's administration gathered enough evidence to send a top-secret communique accusing Iran of facilitating the deadly 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist bombing, but suppressed that information from the American public and some elements of U.S. intelligence for fear it would lead to an outcry for reprisal, according to documents and interviews.
2015-10-05 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Bulova, Purves square off on taxes, police accountability
Candidates for Board of Supervisors chairman numbered three and were as different as could be during a Sept. 29 debate convened by the Great Falls Citizens Association.
2015-10-04 ~Potpourri Science News: Einstein's genius changed science's perception of gravity
Before Einstein, space seemed featureless and changeless. And time, Newton declared, flowed at its own pace, oblivious to the clocks that measured it. But Einstein looked at space and time and saw a single dynamic stage -- spacetime -- on which matter and energy strutted, generating sound and fury, signifying gravity.
2015-10-04 ~National. Examiner: Gun control and magical thinking, by Hugh Hewitt
No television appearance elicits more angry comments from viewers than one in which the simple point is made that the "common sense gun control measures" would do exactly nothing to prevent any of the recent massacres that litter the American landscape with blood and tears.
2015-10-04 ~Environmt NT News (AU): Perth engineer's discovery will change global warming debate
A mathematical discovery by Perth-based electrical engineer Dr David Evans may change everything about the global warming debate. He has found that, while the underlying physics of the climate model is correct, it had been applied incorrectly. It turns out the IPCC has over-estimated future global warming by as much as 10 times.
2015-10-03 ~States... FCTA: Financial State of the States - 2014 -- data from Truth In Accounting
FCTA presents Truth In Accounting summary data plus links to the detailed information for these states in order of their rating for financial responsibility.
2015-10-02 ~FxTrans.. Bull Elephant: House Republicans Call on McAuliffe to Shelve I-66 Toll Plan
Republicans outlined their opposition to Governor McAuliffe's plan to levy new tolls without adding new lane capacity on I-66 and use the toll revenue for low-priority pedestrian and bike improvements. This plan completely misplaces priorities and will fail to provide real congestion relief.
2015-10-01 ~National. WT: How the election revolution has arrived, by Robert W. Merry
The process of selecting party presidential candidates has been transformed in the last two or three election cycles. Now we have the early debates designed to drive poll numbers and tell us who's "ahead" and who's "behind". Meanwhile, not a single voter has pulled a lever in a voting booth or gone to a single caucus. And yet candidates are being winnowed out.
2015-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Justice and the Obama Justice Department, by Michael B. Mukasey
Imprimis lecture by Michael B. Mukasey, former U.S. Attorney General.
2015-09-xx ~Bulletin. Does Fairfax County Need New Leadership?
2015-09-30 ~National. WT: How the GOP gets to the final four, by Ralph Z. Hallow
With the reality setting in that even the 15-candidate field is unsustainable, Republicans are beginning to contemplate what the Final Four might look like. Here is a handicapping of who is up and down, and who might not be around by spring.
2015-09-30 ~Environmt CFACT: GMU alarmists want skeptics prosecuted under RICO, by Paul Driessen
Led by Jagadish Shukla and four associates at his George Mason University-based Institute of Global Environment and Society, NCAR researcher Kevin Trenberth and 14 little-known "climate scientists" joined in signing an astounding letter that shows how far they will go to defend their turf and cause.
2015-09-29 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Metrorail "maxed out", Pr Wm expansion unlikely, by Jill Palermo
It'll take an Act of Congress to extend Metro to Prince William County -- and that's probably the easy part. Metro tells supervisors that stretching the rail line another 16 miles south toward Potomac Mills is currently not possible because the "core" of the 117-mile rail system is already "maxed out".
2015-09-29 ~FxMisc... Connection: Protests in McLean as Gun Shop Opens Next to Elementary School
NOVA Firearms owner James Gates: "I understand that we share a backyard with the elementary school. If I could have avoided that, I would have." (What are the protesters thinking? What bad guy would be dumb enough to attack a school next door to a gun shop? - FCTA)
2015-09-29 ~FxMisc... Daily Caller: Taxpayer-funded union work common in Fairfax County, by Connor Wolf
According to recently obtained documents, public sector employees in Fairfax County, Va., are allowed to spend unlimited taxpayer-funded hours doing union work instead of their actual jobs. Virginia outlaws collective bargaining agreements for public employees, so it's surprising a county like Fairfax would have a "release time" policy.
2015-09-28 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Houston's pension crisis - Part 1 and Part 2, by Jon Cassidy
Part 1: Unlike most cities, Houston has no control over its pension terms, which are dictated by the state. Part 2: Houston is spending six times more on pensions than road repairs, and even that's not enough to cover the minimum payment on its ballooning pension debt.
2015-09-28 ~Potpourri The Insider: False Economic Security and the Road to Serfdom, by Donald Boudreaux
A government that is resolutely committed to protecting people from any downsides of economic change requires nearly unlimited powers to regulate and tax, and fellow citizens are likely to suffer falling incomes as a result. The only way to prevent any such declines in income is near-total government control over the economy.
2015-09-28 ~Potpourri WaPo: Trust in the media is at an all-time low, by Chris Cillizza
A member of the mainstream Democratic media establishment provides his take on a Gallop finding that just four in 10 Americans say they have a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of trust in the media to report the news fairly and accurately.
2015-09-28 ~National. WT: Why payday loans are in consumers' best interests, by Rep. Alcee Hastings
CFPB's insistence on regulating payday loans to the point of near-extinction is not in the best interest of American consumers. Payday loans have served as a valuable safety net to countless individuals, and eliminating them outright would fail to provide financial protection to those who need it most.
2015-09-28 ~Environmt CFACT: The Pope, climate change, and Volkswagen, by Marita Noon
The drive to cut CO2 emissions is at the root of Volkswagen's unprecedented scandal that broke last week, resulting in the CEO's abrupt ouster. The question no one seems to be asking is: what would drive Europe's biggest auto maker to make such a costly decision, to take a risk, from which it may be impossible to recover, and tarnish the "made-in-Germany brand"?
2015-09-24 ~National. WT: The phenomenon of the unpleasant fact, by Michael Hayden
Politicization -- the shading of analysis to fit prevailing policy or politics -- is the harshest criticism one can make of an intelligence organization. Although I know nothing of the particulars of the current analysis of the war in Iraq and Syria, let me add my perspective based on my previous high-level experience in such matters.
2015-09-24 ~National. WT: Dodd-Frank suppresses job and wealth creation, by Eric Grover
The Dodd-Frank Act doesn't address the principal causes of the financial crisis and Great Recession but it does suppress economic growth. When tens of millions of average Americans understand banks do good and Dodd-Frank is a millstone around their necks and thus around the neck of the beleaguered economy, its repeal will be inevitable.
2015-09-24 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: Texas prepares to take on the EPA in court over Obama's CPP
Texas will join a challenge from about 20 states that intend to take the EPA to court over the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. The rule is "based on such shaky legal ground" that it will likely get struck down, but it's crucial to get a court order that will at least temporarily suspend the CPP while the lawyers and judges thrash things out.
2015-09-22 ~Potpourri JWR: Donald amongst the conservative eggheads, by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Mr. Trump has perceived that political correctness rankles average Americans. It angers them when political correctness intrudes into school curricula, political discourse, and how government treats its citizens.
2015-09-21 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: California's drought is a man-made crisis, by Steven Greenhut
California's drought is largely a man-made crisis. It is caused by a series of policies -- some from the past, many that are ongoing -- which has prioritized environmental demands above the basic provision of water resources to the public. More than half of the state's water resources simply flow out the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
2015-09-21 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: Debate continues over cost of commuter lines, by Rob Nikolewski
"In the world of civic projects, the first budget is really just a down payment. If people knew the real cost from the start, nothing would ever be approved. The idea is to get going. Start digging a hole and make it so big, there's no alternative to coming up with the money to fill it in." -- former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown
2015-09-20 ~World.... WT: Estonia, the little country that could, by Richard Rahn
Estonia, a former communist satellite, serves as an example -- even for the United States -- of what can be accomplished by keeping down deficits and debt, and utilizing a flat tax rather than a progressive income tax.
2015-09-19 ~Potpourri JWR: Pope Francis' fact-free flamboyance, by George Will
Pope Francis embodies sanctity but comes trailing clouds of sanctimony. With a convert's indiscriminate zeal, he embraces ideas impeccably fashionable, demonstrably false and deeply reactionary. They would devastate the poor on whose behalf he purports to speak -- if his policy prescriptions were not as implausible as his social diagnoses are shrill.
2015-09-17 ~World.... WT: Poland's Gdansk shipyard celebrates a comeback, by Beata Biel
Today, the former Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, where a rebellious electrician named Lech Walesa and his fellow workers helped give birth to the Solidarity movement, is a symbol yet again, this time of a flourishing Polish shipbuilding industry that has survived and unexpectedly thrived in a brutally competitive industry.
2015-09-17 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: VDOT touts HOT-lanes on I-66 to Haymarket, by Brian Trompeter
If you think the Beltway's HOT lanes are a good idea and have improved traffic flow, you're going to love the fact that VDOT has decided to do the same on I-66 between the Beltway and Haymarket. And those additional fly-over "spaghetti" off-ramps from the Beltway will require taking down 11 houses in Dunn Loring.
2015-09-17 ~FxTrans.. Watchdog.org: Traffic between DC and Virginia will worsen with new EPA ozone regs
A new study claims EPA's new ozone limits will be so restrictive that large parts of Virginia won't meet compliance, and the feds may withhold funding for projects such as Virginia's $2-3 billion plan addressing congestion on I-66 outside the Capital Beltway and the capacity extension for VRE if the commonwealth fails to meet emissions targets.
2015-09-17 ~Environmt Real Science: NOAA Massively Ramps Up Their Temperature Fraud Ahead Of Paris
As of last year, NOAA didn't show much, if any August warming for almost 20 years. That didn't suit Barack Obama's agenda, so they simply changed the data to make the hiatus disappear.
2015-09-16 ~Virginia. Stat Chat: Virginians leaving the Commonwealth, reversing trends, by H. Lombard
During the decades since WWII, Virginia's population has been one of the fastest growing among states on the east coast. However, IRS migration data for 2012 and 2013 shows that this trend may have come to an end. Virginia had over 3,000 more households leave the state in 2013 than moved in. Virginia's economic growth in 2014 was the third slowest nationally.
2015-09-16 ~National. WT: CIA opens window to its workings in 1960s, by Guy Taylor
The CIA has released roughly 2,500 briefs, spanning from 1961 through 1969 and now publicly accessible and searchable on a CIA website, present an unparalleled window into the conclusions and inner workings of American intelligence in a bygone era.
2015-09-16 ~Environmt WT: Fun with the Green Climate Fund -- OpEd
The globalists have a problem: They want money, lots of it. And they want the prosperous nations to give it to them so they can redistribute it to poor nations. That would make the world "fair". But how can the prosperous be separated from their wealth?
2015-09-15 ~World.... WT: Saudi Arabia has 100,000 empty air-conditioned tents, won't take refugees
Saudi Arabia faces mounting criticism for refusing to take in any of the millions of Syrians fleeing conflict in their homeland. The country has over 100,000 empty, air-conditioned tents, equipped with kitchen and bathroom facilities, that could house up to 3 million refugees. The tents are only used a few days a year to house pilgrims on their way to Mecca for the hajj.
2015-09-15 ~National. WT: Planned Parenthood worries about fetal-tissue 'headlines' -- PP video #10
In the 10th video, released Tuesday, Deborah VanDerhei, national director for the Consortium of Abortion Providers at Planned Parenthood, said the abortion industry has been trying to figure out "how we're going to manage remuneration," due to the potential for scandal. "The headlines would be a disaster," Ms. VanDerHei said.
2015-09-15 ~National. WT: Navy head ignores deficient combat performance of women, by Elaine Donnelly
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has announced his intent to disregard the best professional advice of the Marine Corps on the issue of "gender diversity" on combat missions. The Marine report on female combat deficiencies echoes similar finding by the Army and by the British Ministry of Defense.
2015-09-15 ~FxMisc... Reston Now: County Doubling Up on Reston Metro Station Density, by Terry Maynard
County leaders are planning to increase the allowable density in Reston's transit station areas (TSAs) again through amendments to the zoning ordinance. The reason: Fairfax County is running out of ways to generate taxes to cover its expenses as job growth and development falter. They need more taxable property to drive up revenues, Reston and Tysons are the targets.
2015-09-10 ~State-NV. Project Veritas: Hillary team filmed violating Nevada election laws (video 8:18)
Hidden cameras capture Clinton campaign staff in Nevada not only skirting election law but mocking it. Christina Gupana, a Hillary campaign worker and Las Vegas attorney is caught by Project Veritas Action journalists advising her fellow campaign workers to "do whatever you can, whatever you can get away with just do it."
2015-09-10 ~Potpourri BBC: The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head
Seventy years ago, a farmer beheaded a chicken in Colorado, and it refused to die. Mike, as the bird became known, survived for 18 months and became famous.
2015-09-10 ~National. WT: Ex-Im subsidy recipients keep profits offshore, skirt taxes, by Arthur Kane
U.S. companies that benefited from more than $65 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees have kept nearly $458 billion in profits offshore -- avoiding paying billions in taxes to the government that helps them sell their goods overseas at a competitive rate, a Watchdog.org investigation found.
2015-09-10 ~FxTaxes.. WAMU: Big Burden On Region's Taxpayers Forecasted In Metro Budget Proposal
"Given current trends, this subsidy growth appears likely to continue if no changes are made, but some jurisdictional representatives have been clear that large year-over-year funding increases to Metro cannot be supported," according to the budget analysis.
2015-09-09 ~FxTrans.. WT: Cities compete to devise the worst solutions for gridlock -- D.C. vs L.A.
Washington has displaced Los Angeles as the city with the longest commutes. But L.A. is valiantly trying to win back the title by transforming hundreds of miles of automobile traffic lanes into bus lanes and bicycle paths. "What they're trying to do is make congestion so bad, you'll have to get out of your car."
2015-09-09 ~FxSchools FCTA: Minutes of FCPS Budget Meeting at South Lakes H.S., by Charles McAndrew
2015-09-08 ~Report... Fairfax County Workers Retire as Multi-Millionaires, by Fred Costello-158
2015-09-08 ~National. WT: Michael Hayden on Obama's Iran nuke deal: Anger, Recognition, & Way Forward
"My personal thoughts and emotions about the deal have been sorting themselves out through a three-step process: first anger, which admittedly still lingers; then recognition, the product of assessing domestic and global political realities; and finally determination, a less emotional and more reasoned calculus on a way forward."
2015-09-07 ~State-WI. Watchdog.org: School choice improved public schools in Milwaukee, by Paul Brennan
One of the most persistent is that school choice undermines public schools, making them worse. "It's not true. If anything, it works in the opposite direction. Giving parents choices about where to send their children seems to force public schools to improve their performance." -- John Witte, emeritus professor of political science and public policy at UW-Madison
2015-09-04 ~National. Examiner: A closing argument for rejecting the Iran deal, by Philip Klein
It's not that it's President Obama's deal or war. I think it's going to be Obama's deal and war. And when that war comes, Iran will be stronger and the consequences [of military action] are going to be much more severe." -- Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
2015-09-04 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Public Hearing on Supplemental Funds Appropriation
Posted as part of "FY 2015 Carryover Budget Package". A quick summary (WT ad#14845824, 9/04, 9/11):
FY 2016 Current Approved Budget Plan . . . . . . . . $7,129,871,629
FY 2016 Proposed Increase (23.02%) . . . . . . . . $1,641,191,350
. . Proposed Funding Increase . . . $1,468,642,831
. . Additional Funding Adjustments . $172,548,519
FY 2016 Proposed Total Expenditures . . . . . . . . . $8,771,062,979
2015-09-03 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: VDOT chief presses case for I-66 tolling, by Scott McCaffrey
2015-09-02 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Drought Could Turn Millet Into American Food, by Gretchen Kell
Millet is a type of grain crop that's been a staple for humans in many parts of the world. Millets are gluten-free; contain lower carbohydrates than rice, corn, or wheat; and have higher levels of proteins, fiber, and certain minerals. And millets are robust dryland crops, making them ideal for drought-prone areas such as California.
2015-09-01 ~Potpourri JWR: The president who casts no shadow, by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Gertrude Stein is famous for saying "There is no there there." Well, with Mr. Obama things get worse. There is no shadow there. Our 44th president will go down in history as the first American president who left the White House leaving nothing but a vast diapasonal sigh of relief across the nation.
2015-09-01 ~Potpourri Last Refuge: Rush Limbaugh recognizes the GOP's "Splitter" strategy...
See, the point is you've got Bush, the establishment guy, and you've got some junior establishment guys up there. The junior establishment guys are all there to protect Jeb by taking money and votes away from the others who are not part of this, the Carsons, the Scott Walkers...
2015-08-31 ~States... WT: Better school choices for less (in AZ, FL, MS, NV, TN), by Ed Feulner
Five states now have Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) that enable families to deposit their child's state per-pupil funding in an account that can be used for a variety of education options. If they want to use the money that would've been spent at their child's "assigned" school for a different education option, they can do that instead. Plus ESAs save taxpayer money!
2015-08-31 ~Environmt WT: Obama EPA's clean power fraud, by Paul Driessen
The EPA has gone rogue. States should refuse to comply with its Clean Power Plan. Elected officials, presidential candidates and citizen groups should speak out loudly, clearly and often -- and begin curbing the excessive power and representation of extreme environmentalists and bureaucrats in our government.
2015-08-31 ~Environmt WT: Obama's green pressure tactics exposed, by Ben Wolfgang & Stephen Dinan
The Obama administration, top climate change crusaders and governors from across the country have engaged in a highly coordinated effort to publicly sell the president's green agenda and put private pressure on opponents, according to newly released emails and other records obtained through FOIA requests.
2015-08-30 ~State-NJ. Watchdog.org: Three-fourths of NJ sheriffs double-dip, by Mark Lagerkvist
Three-fourths of New Jersey's county sheriffs -- plus hundreds of other public officials -- are taking advantage of pension loopholes to collect dual incomes.
2015-08-30 ~National. WT: Army's PC leadership leaves soldiers in the lurch, by Rowan Scarborough
"What we hear consistently is what many of these soldiers can't say publicly, and that is Army leadership has created an environment that has soldiers second-guessing themselves and hesitating constantly, and one misstep -- whether intended or not -- is a career killer." -- Joe Kasper, chief of staff for Rep. Duncan Hunter
2015-08-28 ~States... Examiner: The limits of pension reform, by Daniel DiSalvo
States that are serious about getting a hold on pension costs are increasingly introducing defined-contribution options or hybrid plans -- Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and New Jersey so far. As more states take this step, it will become less controversial and easier for other states to follow suit.
2015-08-28 ~State-LA. Examiner: It shouldn't take a hurricane to create all-choice school districts
The progress made in all-choice school districts like the one in New Orleans should be celebrated, and the lessons should be learned across the nation. It shouldn't take bad academics or natural disasters to get cities to empower families to choose their children's school.
2015-08-28 ~National. AMAC: New AP Test Seeks to Rewrite History for Political Gain, by John Grimaldi
The previous AP U.S. History course featured a strong insistence on content, i.e., on the students' acquisition of extensive factual knowledge of American history. The new 2014 framework repudiates that earlier approach, centralizes control, deemphasizes content, and seeks to "internationalize" the nation's past. (Read related IMPRIMUS post.)
2015-08-28 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: EPA fines rancher $16M over 'stock pond', by Eric Boehm
A Wyoming rancher is facing millions in fines from the federal government after the EPA determined his small pond -- technically a "stock pond" to provide better access to water for animals on his ranch -- is somehow violating the federal Clean Water Act. The rancher is taking the EPA to federal court.
2015-08-27 ~National. WT: Bloated U.S. voter rolls could lead to lawsuits, by Stephen Dinan
America's voter rolls are so bloated that dozens of counties have more people registered than there are adults living there, according to two new studies that the authors said could lead to lawsuits forcing states to clean things up. The Obama DOJ is not pursuing easy cases that could have pressured jurisdictions to keep their voter rolls clean.
2015-08-25 ~National. WT: StemExpress shown hustling for organs -- PP video #8
StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer says that it isn't easy keeping up with the demand for fetal organs procured from abortions -- she could use "another 50 livers a week" -- which is one reason she relies on Planned Parenthood. "I mean, Planned Parenthood has volume, you know, because they're a volume institution."
2015-08-24 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: More Sequestration Pain for Virginia
The pain of federal budget sequestration cuts in Virginia is not yet over. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia says: "If we have the return of sequestration, it's going to be even worse than it was a couple of years ago, because every agency, particularly the Defense Department, has cleared out most of their coffers."
2015-08-24 ~National. WT: IRS finds yet another Lois Lerner email account, by Stephen Dinan
The use of secret or extra email accounts has bedeviled the Obama administration, which is has tried to fend off a slew of lawsuits involving former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her top aides, the White House's top science adviser, top Environmental Protection Agency officials and the IRS.
2015-08-23 ~Potpourri WT: "Why I can't get a mortgage", by Stephen Moore
While my tax dollars are backing thousands and thousands of loans likely to default, my loan with close to zero probability of default can't get financed -- because I'm upper-middle class. This is considered fairness. Only in America.
2015-08-22 ~Potpourri Examiner: The price of stealth -- and USAF's next-gen bomber, by Tara Copp
Northrop Grumman is competing against a team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the contract to build the B-3 bomber. Why? Because a long-range bomber capable of penetrating ever-more sophisticated missile and radar systems is a top strategic defense priority, and not just for the U.S.
2015-08-22 ~Environmt CFACT: Climate Crisis, Inc. has become a $1.5 trillion industry, by Paul Driessen
No warming in 18 years. So what drives the intense ideology of various industry, environment, and government groups? The answer is simple. The annual revenue of the Climate Crisis & Renewable Energy Industry has become a $1.5-trillion-a-year business! By comparison, revenue for the much-vilified Koch Industries are about $115 billion, for ExxonMobil around $365 billion.
2015-08-21 ~National. Examiner: Republicans have themselves to blame for Donald Trump, by Adam Brandon
The sad thing is that Republicans created Trump, or at least his ability to compete in a major election. They created him by failing, again and again, to live up to the principles they campaigned on, and now, only they can stop him.
2015-08-21 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: VDOT appears to be not interested in carpooling, by Dr. Gridlock
"If Virginia was really interested in supporting carpooling instead of having a cash cow, they would change their HOV3 policy to HOV2, like Maryland." -- George J. Leiby, Middletown
2015-08-20 ~Potpourri Politico: Democratic Blues... in Obama's wake, by Jeff Greenfield
No president in modern times has presided over so disastrous a stretch for his party, at almost every level of politics. Barack Obama will leave his party in its worst shape since the Great Depression -- even if Hillary wins.
2015-08-20 ~Potpourri AMAC: To Win, You Have to Know How to Lose, by Fran Tarkenton
I think one of the best signs that someone has a good chance to be successful is when they know how to deal with failing. I learned more from losing than I ever did from winning, and my greatest successes have all come about because of the things I learned from things that didn't work -- that failed.
2015-08-19 ~National. WT: With heart still beating, aborted baby organ harvested -- PP video #7
In an undercover video released Wednesday, a former technician for a tissue-harvesting company details how an aborted baby was kept alive so that its heart could be harvested at a California Planned Parenthood facility, raising more legal questions about the group's practices.
2015-08-19 ~National. WT: What if Tehran turns down the nuclear deal?, by Daniel Pipes
While Obama's Iranian nuclear deal would greatly benefit Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may yet reject the deal, as it betrays Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's vision of unyielding enmity to the U.S., a core principle that has guided the Islamic republic since he founded it in 1979. If Iran rejects the deal, then what?
2015-08-19 ~Health... BW: Is ketamine the best hope for curing major depression?, by Caroline Winter
Ketamine was first developed in 1962 as a fast-acting anesthetic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved ketamine for the treatment of mood disorders, but dozens of medical studies show that it can quickly alleviate severe depression.
2015-08-19 ~Health... AP: Scientists find how obesity gene works, by Marilynn Marchione
The FTO gene turns out to influence obesity indirectly, as a master switch that affects two other genes that control whether the body produces brown fatty tissue -- the so-called "good fat" which burns calories -- or the more common white fat which stores them.
2015-08-19 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: Exploiting kids to file environmental lawsuits, by Rob Nikolewski
In their battle against fossil fuels, environmental organizations have long used the courts to achieve what they can't win in the marketplace. But in an increasing number of recent lawsuits, those organizations are employing a new twist: Using kids as plaintiffs.
2015-08-19 ~Environmt WT: The necessity of hunting, by Theodore Roosevelt IV
Trophy seekers fund the conservation efforts that protect endangered species. Africans are following the North American model, where hunting -- including trophy hunting -- was the wellspring for our own conservation and continues to be an important source of revenue for it.
2015-08-18 ~National. Examiner: Teachers clueless on money schools spend per student, by Jason Russell
It's possible that the gap shows the difference between how much is spent on education and how much reaches the classroom. There's a difference between spending on instruction and spending that gets swallowed up in bureaucracy or non-instructional services.
2015-08-18 ~National. WT: A Shariah-approved nuclear EMP attack, by James Woolsey and Peter Pry
Because EMP destroys electronics directly, but people indirectly, it is regarded by some as Shariah-compliant use of a nuclear weapon. "Passive Defense" and other Iranian military writings are well aware that nuclear EMP attack is the most efficient way of killing people, through secondary effects, over the long run.
2015-08-18 ~Environmt Examiner: No one showed up for California's green jobs rush -- OpEd
Wealthy environmentalist Tom Steyer promised his plan to raise taxes on corporations and use the money to fund green energy projects in schools would create 11,000 new jobs each year. Three years later, the program has "created" just 1,700 jobs -- just under 600 jobs per year or roughly five percent of what was promised, at the cost of $175,000 per job.
2015-08-18 ~Environmt American Thinker: Obama drives down coal stocks, and Soros buys them on the cheap
We know that global warming is a gigantic scam, driven by greed and lust for power. Now, following President Obama's use of CO2 emissions as a weapon to drive major coal companies near bankruptcy, the ultimate politically connected speculator George Soros is buying up stock in major coal producers on the cheap.
2015-08-17 ~FxMisc... WT: Fairfax police officer charged with murder in Geer shooting, by Andrea Noble
Fairfax County police officer Adam Torres was indicted by a grand jury Monday on second-degree murder charges two years after he fatally shot 46-year-old John Geer while responding to a domestic call at the man's Springfield home on Aug. 29, 2013.
2015-08-16 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia lawmakers convene to redraw congressional map, by David Sherfinski
Virginia lawmakers return Monday to Richmond for a special session to redraw the state's current congressional map, facing a Sept. 1 deadline after a federal court ruling they illegally packed black voters into Rep. Bobby Scott's southeastern district.
2015-08-14 ~Environmt Examiner: With an EPA this incompetent, who needs robber-barons? -- OpEd
What would America be like without the EPA? Recently more noted for its power grabs and obsession with strangling the country's energy, there is a strong argument that this agency's role is already too great, and that its power-hungry bureaucracy outlived its usefulness several years ago.
2015-08-13 ~States... Tax Foundation: How High Are Property Taxes in Your State? -- Va. is 37th
New Jersey has the highest rate at 2.38%. Hawaii has the lowest rate at 0.28%. (Virginia is 37th at 0.78%, but Fairfax County real estate taxes are growing at three times the rate of inflation and are currently running about 1.15%.)
2015-08-13 ~Report... Do Teachers Leave the FCPS System for Higher Pay?, by Fred Costello-151
2015-08-13 ~Potpourri MarketWatch: Map of the world, if size were determined by market cap
2015-08-13 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: Months ago, Colorado town begged EPA to leave Gold King Mine alone
Yet the EPA was intent on ferreting out "widespread soil contamination" from historic mines, even though the town was tested five years ago and no problems were found. One geologist thinks the EPA created the mess to give itself another Superfund site to work on.
2015-08-11 ~Environmt WT: Regulators' fumbling of coal ash spill creates fear, confusion in N.C.
Usually it the Feds who espouse the need for strict control on alleged toxins. But North Carolina's EPA is frustrating residents with its extremely low bar on certain chemicals found in coal ash from power plants, which may or may not have anything to do with Duke Energy's waste output. Residents don't know "whom to trust or what to believe".
2015-08-10 ~States... Watchdog.org: Tax breaks for Facebook raise hard questions, by Jon Cassidy
Depending on the ultimate cost of federal regulations, local officials may one day look at these giant, nondescript data centers found off their country highways, where nobody ever seems to enter or exit, and wonder why they ever paid for them to set up shop.
2015-08-09 ~Potpourri WT: Herbert Hoover predicted the perils of big government, by Thomas V. DiBacco
Hoover is depicted as the Republican president who contributed to the misery of the Great Depression times. But FDR didn't make things any better. As Hoover correctly predicted: "Every time the government is forced to act, we lose something in self-reliance, character and initiative." He died in 1964, just before LBJ's Great Society was implemented.
2015-08-07 ~National. Examiner: IRS's Lois Lerner called conservatives 'a--holes' (Senate final report)
The emails are included in a final bipartisan report issued Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee, which cited "gross mismanagement" and also "personal politics" as the root cause of the IRS mishandling of tax-exempt applications from Tea Party organizations.
2015-08-07 ~FxSchools FCTA: IQ Tests, GT, AAP, and PC in Fairfax Co Schools, by Fred Costello
Around 1995, FCPS got rid of individual IQ tests, which were given to kids who the teachers thought had the most potential. Less accurate group ability tests were given to all 1st and 2nd grade students. Eventually, racial diversity entered into the equation, the gifted curriculum was dumbed down to compensate, and there are now proposals to save money by eliminating self-contained classes for highly gifted kids altogether.
2015-08-06 ~FxSchools WMAL: FCPS's Elizabeth Schultz on school budget priorities -- video (8:30)
Fx Co School Board member Elizabeth Schultz talks about the current $100M budget shortfall. She says we didn't just get here overnight, we can no longer avoid glaring fiscal realities, and we're merely "at the edges" when we talk about sports, but mainly that Fairfax Co voters need to pay attention in November -- on both school board and supervisor elections.
2015-08-05 ~National. WT: 1965, the start of uncontrolled immigration, by Ian deSilva
The 1965 revision of immigration law completely transformed U.S. immigration policy. In the 1960s, 1.1 million European immigrants were admitted, along with 1.6 million from elsewhere. In the 1970s, after LBJ's 'reforms', the latter groups doubled to 3.2 million, while European immigration was suppressed to 826,000. And it no longer mattered if they assimilated or spoke English.
2015-08-05 ~Material. Video: Does Argentina's decline foretell America's -- video (7:16) by Jerry Rye
This short history lesson happened in Argentina, and it's now happening in the U.S. "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina America"
2015-08-04 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Texas flunks school choice test, by Kenric Ward
Metrics undermine the conventional wisdom that more public spending translates into better education. Per-pupil allocations have risen steadily in Texas -- growing five times faster than enrollment -- while SAT scores have remained flat. Outlays for non-teaching positions have climbed 172 percent. (Hmmm, just like FCPS!)
2015-08-04 ~Environmt WT: EPA talked privately with green groups on carbon cuts, by Ben Wolfgang
A Senate study, relying on emails and other records obtained during an ongoing investigation, makes clear that the EPA and top environmental groups see themselves as deeply intertwined in the push to cut carbon emissions and pursue other pieces of President Obama's broad, climate change agenda.
2015-08-03 ~Potpourri WT: The two Donald Trumps (Brash in public, kind in private), by Ron Kessler
"Donald can be totally outrageous, but outrageous in a wonderful way that gets him coverage." The private Mr. Trump, on the other hand, is "the dearest, most thoughtful, most loyal, most caring man." -- Norma Foerderer, Trump's top aide for 26 years.
2015-08-03 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Plan for tolls on I-66 inside Beltway still drawing flak
At an Aug. 1 feedback forum, it seemed VDOT's promises to take into account community concerns weren't turning many frowns upside down.
2015-08-01 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: 'Go Virginia' - with caution -- OpEd
The bigger question for the general public is whether Go Virginia will produce truly innovative approaches to growing the state's economy, or whether it will end up looking like more corporate welfare by a different name.
2015-07-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: History, American Democracy, and the AP Test Controversy, by W. McClay
Imprimis lecture by Wilfred M. McClay, University of Oklahoma.
2015-07-31 ~Report... History of SAT Scores for FCPS Schools, by Fred Costello-149
2015-07-29 ~National. The Federalist: Paglia Blasts Media Refusal To Cover Planned Parenthood Videos
In an interview with Salon, liberal culture critic Camille Paglia "was horrified and disgusted" at the Planned Parenthood abortion videos. She also excoriated liberal media outlets for refusing to cover the story or its implications. The media blackout is "shockingly unprofessional".
2015-07-29 ~National. WT: Is Obama taking Hillary out? ... will endorse Biden, by Monica Crowley
Mr. Obama needs a successor whom he can control to ensure that the "fundamental transformation of the nation" continues. He cannot control either of the Clintons. He will therefore pass along his sophisticated technical campaign infrastructure to the one person he knows will do his bidding: his vice president, Joe Biden.
2015-07-28 ~National. WT: Third Planned Parenthood video follows money behind fetal-organ supply chain
"I thought I was going to be just drawing blood, not procuring tissue from aborted fetuses. The harder and more valuable the tissue, the more money you get. So if you can somehow procure a brain or a heart, you're going to get more money than just chorionic villi or umbilical cord." -- Holly O'Donnell, former StemExpress procurement technician (Read also: #WomenBetrayed: Pro-life activists rally for Planned Parenthood investigation.)
2015-07-28 ~National. WT: "Lost" emails show IRS tried to cover up tea party targeting -- Stephen Dinan
"This material shows that the IRS' cover-up began years ago. We now have smoking-gun proof that top officials in the Obama IRS unlawfully harassed taxpayers just to keep them from complaining to Congress about IRS' targeting and abuse. No wonder the Obama IRS has had such little interest in preserving or finding Lois Lerner's emails." -- Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch
2015-07-28 ~Environmt WT: Court rules Obama must rewrite pollution rules -- affects VA, by Ben Wolfgang
President Obama's environmental agenda suffered another loss in court Tuesday when a federal appeals panel ordered the administration to rewrite rules limiting cross-state pollution. The judges said the EPA's limits on 13 states (AL, FL, GA, MD, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TX, VA and WV) were far too strict and must be redone.
2015-07-27 ~State-LA. Examiner: Louisiana's charter school solution after Katrina, by Jason Russell
Before Katrina, barely more than half of New Orleans students graduated. After Katrina, the city-run school district decided to reopen its first schools as charters. In the 2013-14 school year, three out of four graduated -- right in line with Louisiana's statewide graduation rate.
2015-07-27 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Illegal Aliens Encouraged in Fairfax [Sanctuary] Co + Chairman's response
The email threads regarding Fairfax as a Sanctuary County are compiled, including Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova's response to the criticism.
2015-07-27 ~Environmt Real Science: Mind-Blowing Temperature Fraud At NOAA, by Tony Heller
The measured US temperature data from USHCN shows that the US is on a long-term cooling trend. But the reported temperatures from NOAA show a strong warming trend, due to tampering of past temperature records and addition of non-existent rural data.
2015-07-26 ~Virginia. Breitbart: Mass Migration Turning Virginia Blue -- the new California
Virginia, once one of the most reliably-red of red states, is being rapidly turned into a progressive stronghold. These changes are the result of the federal government printing millions of visas and distributing these admission tickets to the poorest and least-developed nations in the world.
2015-07-26 ~National. FCTA: The Futile Fight Against ISIS -- letter by Fred Costello
Muslims believe they are working for God. But since the U.S. does not consider religion in its policies, it cannot defeat a people whose underlying motivation is their religion. And it offers by example a cultural lifestyle (eg - pre-marital sexual relations, homosexual behavior, government supported abortion) that is anathema to Islam.
2015-07-24 ~State-TX. WT: Texas Supreme Court suspends Houston's 'bathroom bill', by Valerie Richardson
The Texas Supreme Court gave Friday the Houston city council 30 days either to repeal a civil-rights ordinance allowing opposite-sex bathroom use or place it before the voters on the November ballot. The May 2014 city council ordinance added gender identity and sexual orientation to the city's equal-rights law, touching off a backlash over transgender bathroom use.
2015-07-23 ~National. JWR: On the path to Soylent Green -- OpEd on American morality, by Cal Thomas
The shocking Planned Parenthood abortion video should jolt us as a culture. For once whatever remaining moral boundaries are erased, and the cost of medical care rises, the killing standard will be expanded to the elderly and the sick, it will quickly threaten others. The concept of morality and humanity will have degenerated to the price of meat.
2015-07-22 ~State-TX. Watchdog.org: Houston's debt passes Detroit's, by Jon Cassidy
When Detroit declared bankruptcy in 2013, it had $19 billion in debt. Houston officially has $17.2 billion in debt, but that's due to comically understated pension debts of $1.1 billion. "They're using this funny math and their systems still look absolutely terrible."
2015-07-22 ~Potpourri BBC: 'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University, by Sean Coughlan
The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century. Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.
2015-07-22 ~FxTaxes.. WT: Prince George's spending problem a warning to other counties, by David Keene
There are no doubt countless other county bureaucrats running around "doing their jobs," and not one of them is costing enough to break the county, but together they are a sign of a governmental inability to prioritize or budget effectively. So no matter how much money government raises at any level, it seems incapable for lack of funds of fulfilling its core mission.
2015-07-22 ~Environmt CFACT: States sue EPA over WOTUS (Waters Of The U.S.) definition, by Ron Arnold
Twenty-nine states have filed lawsuits against the EPA for redefining the "Waters of the United States", or WOTUS, erasing "navigable" and usurping states' rights by including local seasonal streams, farm irrigation ponds, roadside ditches, and even "connective" dry lands placed under authority of the Clean Water Act.
2015-07-21 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: D.C. metro highlights false beliefs driving transit industry
D.C. Metrorail -- the 17th-largest system in the world -- is unreliable, unpleasant, expensive and occasionally deadly. It has become so because the system through which it operates is outdated and incredibly resistant to any sort of change, from innovation, to private investment to energetic leadership.
2015-07-21 ~FxTrans.. LeMunyon: No I-66 tolls inside beltway! -- letter to VDOT's Aubrey Layne
Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67-Fairfax/Loudoun) has called for a halt to plans to toll and not widen I-66 inside the Beltway. The plans were first announced by Virginia's Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne in March 2015, and have support from certain local government officials in Fairfax and Arlington Counties.
2015-07-21 ~FxTrans.. Connection: Issues over Improving I-66 -- letter from FCFCA's Jeff Parnes
The Fairfax Co Federation of Citizens Associations offers the following recommendations for improving I-66: 1) If tolling is implemented, funds collected should be confined to the I-66 corridor; 2) A Dulles Airport Access Road connector should be included; 3) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) should be implemented west of Vienna; 4) Hours of operation need to be standardized.
2015-07-20 ~National. Examiner: HUD's "disparate impact" war on suburban America, by Michael Barone
Following the Supreme Court's 5-4 Texas v Inclusive Communities decision, HUD Secretary Julian Castro, the former part-time mayor who is mentioned by some as a vice presidential candidate, wants to use the disparate impact doctrine to overturn local zoning laws and place low-income housing in suburbs across the nation.
2015-07-20 ~National. WT: Another bailout looms for Fannie, Freddie, by Kelly Riddell
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are hurtling toward another possible taxpayer bailout, a development that could put an uncomfortable election light on the Clintons' record of enabling the government-backed mortgage giants to engage in risky practices that led to the 2007 financial crisis.
2015-07-20 ~Environmt WT: Sierra Club puts almighty dollar ahead of Mother Earth, by Kelly Riddell
The Sierra Club's war on fossil fuels is "an effort that clearly benefits the very same people who are donating the money -- it's clear the Sierra Club is now just a mercenary force beholden to the highest bidder." This is illegal, and could result in loss of tax exempt status for at least a year. (Think the IRS and Lois Lerner will pursue this?)
2015-07-19 ~Potpourri WT: The deprogramming of Dinesh D'Souza -- OpEd: Conservatism a mental disease?
After psychiatrists told Judge Berman they found Mr. D'Souza of sound mind, the judge ordered further psychoanalysis to find out why he's a conservative. The judge apparently can't understand why everybody can't be a liberal just like normal people.
2015-07-18 ~National. NRA: Obama attempting to strip some 4M Social Security recipients of gun rights
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently developing a program to strip the Second Amendment Rights of over four million Americans currently receiving SSA benefits through a "representative payee".
2015-07-17 ~Potpourri JWR: Harper Lee's 'Watchman' flips 'Mockingbird' on its end, by Suzanne Fields
Readers of "Watchman" are shocked that the same Atticus they knew in "Mockingbird" questions the inclusion of Negroes in the white schools, an issue that tore the South apart after the Brown decision, dividing families, permanently rupturing friendships and sometimes splitting church congregations. (The book is causing a frenzy in the Mainstream Media.)
2015-07-16 ~States... WT: States step back from lofty green energy goals, by Valerie Richardson
A half-dozen states have moved to scale back, freeze or eliminate their renewable energy standards in the past year, fueled by concerns over higher energy prices, the impact of the EPA's Clean Power Plan and the growing perception that it's time to take the training wheels off the wind and solar industries.
2015-07-16 ~State-WI. Watchdog.org: Wisc Supreme Court shuts down John Doe investigation, by Eric Boehm
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign and conservative groups did not violate campaign finance law during recall elections in 2011 and 2012. The majority opinion slammed the use of a special prosecutor by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office to deny the unnamed plaintiffs their First Amendment rights to political speech.
2015-07-16 ~Potpourri JWR: Liberalism's finger of fault always points outward, by Victor Davis Hanson
Human nature is unchanging, predictable -- and can be dangerous if ignored. But Liberals are always propounding new theories and policies promised to change human behavior. And they never seem to pay firsthand for the consequences of their own naive -- and selfish -- theories about human nature.
2015-07-16 ~National. Examiner: Obama and the end of U.S. leadership, by Pete Kasperowicz
President Obama on Wednesday all but admitted he's either unwilling or unable to lead the free world, saying the U.S. has no choice but to follow the international consensus on the Iranian nuclear deal. Obama's remarkable explanation was that of a prostrate president.
2015-07-16 ~National. WT: Congress guts No Child Left Behind education plan, by Tom Howell
Congress has voted to scrap much of the Bush-era education plan. The government will continue to ship billions of dollars to states, but with fewer strings attached. Gone are the yearly progress goals, designed to force schools to show continual improvement. But schools were supposed to be at peak proficiency by last year, and none were close.
2015-07-14 ~World.... WT: Obama and world powers cave unconditionally on Iranian nukes, by Dave Boyer
- The deal "leaves their nuclear program entirely intact." -- Sen Tom Cotton
- "The administration just lit the fuse for a nuclear arms race in the Middle East." -- Sen Ben Sasse
- "Will now become a challenge for the next president to confront." -- Sen Mitch McConnell
2015-07-14 ~National. WT: Planned Parenthood doc discusses selling baby parts -- View video1 and video2
"We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact." ... Costs to the buyers could be $30 to $100 per specimen, said Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical research.
2015-07-14 ~National. WT: Murder rates drop as concealed carry permits soar, by Kellan Howell
Since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million, and murder rates have fallen from 5.6 killings per 100,000 people to just 4.2, about a 25 percent drop, according to the report from the Crime Prevention Research Center.
2015-07-13 ~Potpourri WT: The summer the nation went mad -- Elite mob hysteria, by Wesley Pruden
Mobs are usually raised from the ranks of the poor. This time the leaders are the "respectables": know-it-all academics, the usual pundits looking for attention, rectors and reverends and other divines out to get a few lines in the public prints, governors, senators, mayors and assorted politicians in pursuit of voters with unrequited grievances.
2015-07-12 ~National. WT: 17th Amendment moved power from states to Washington, by John S Baker
The modern Administrative State is the progeny of the 17th Amendment, which stripped state legislatures of control over their U.S. senators, a control based on the former system of state legislatures electing senators. Previously, a House-passed bill proposing to nationalize some issue could be blocked by state-protecting Senators.
2015-07-12 ~Health... ProPublica: Coumadin/warfarin often misused in nursing homes, by Charles Ornstein
From 2011 to 2014, at least 165 nursing home residents were hospitalized or died after errors involving Coumadin or its generic version, warfarin, a ProPublica analysis of government inspection reports shows. Studies suggest there are thousands more injuries every year that are never investigated by the government.
2015-07-12 ~Environmt WT: European scientists predict 'mini ice age' starting in 2030, by V Richardson
New study claims to have cracked predicting solar cycles. Says that between 2030 and 2040 solar cycles will cancel each other out. Could lead to 'Maunder minimum' effect that saw River Thames freeze over. (And from the Daily Mail)
2015-07-12 ~Environmt WT: 'Environmentalism Gone Mad', by Alan Carlin -- Book Review by Anthony Sadar
In his new book "Environmentalism Gone Mad: How a Sierra Club Activist and Senior EPA Analyst Discovered a Radical Green Energy Fantasy," Alan Carlin explains that the EPA "reports directly to the president and thus has no independence from the executive branch like some regulatory agencies."
2015-07-11 ~National. Examiner: OPM breach highlights perils of big, stupid government -- OpEd
A government that demands every American's most sensitive information and then cannot protect it is a government that doesn't deserve the public's confidence. Unfortunately, that's the government we have in Washington today.
2015-07-09 ~National. NCPPR: Law Should Not Treat Bill Cosby Differently..., by Judy Kent
Members of black leadership group 'Project 21' say that a U.S. District Court judge was wrong to release the permanently-sealed transcript of a deposition in a 2005 Cosby civil case explicitly because Cosby gave a 2004 speech telling young black parents to do a better job of raising their children.
2015-07-09 ~National. WT: F-35 highlights Pentagon's bad choice of weapon systems, by Jed Babbin
America's military is being redefined by changes the unplanned result of budgetary constraints and bad choices of weapon systems we spend hundreds of billions of dollars to buy. The worst example is the F-35 joint strike fighter, which is supposed to replace the F-15, F-16, A-10 and F/A-18. (Read World's Worst New Warplane.)
2015-07-08 ~States... Tax Foundation: The Real Value of $100 in Each State -- $97.09 in Va.
Using price-of-goods data from the Bureau of Economic Analysi, we have adjusted the value of $100 to show how much it buys you in each state.
2015-07-08 ~National. Examiner: Documents show Obama's DOJ and FBI linked to IRS scandal
New records, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act, suggest the Justice Department played a larger role in the IRS targeting scandal than previously known, that the Obama IRS scandal is also an Obama DOJ and FBI scandal.
2015-07-07 ~National. Examiner: The Supreme Court's rule by talking points, by Naomi Rao
In the United States, we frequently reaffirm that we have a government ruled by laws, not men. The judiciary has a duty to "say what the law is," not what some lawmakers hoped it would be. This term the Court has demonstrated, in constitutional and statutory cases, how grand themes rarely make for good law.
2015-07-07 ~National. WT: Washington finally united -- in hatred for Donald Trump, by Charles Hurt
The fact that people here in Washington fear and loathe Mr. Trump so much is final proof that these people here in Washington fear and loathe you; the great unwashed voters of America. In this ever-lying world of Washington politics, it is wrong to speak the truth if it is shocking or unpleasant. Which, of course, is how this country has gotten into the terrible fix we are in today.
2015-07-07 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Frey gives his final "State of Sully" address, by Bonnie Hobbs
In a speech on June 24, retiring Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) mentioned that the county could sell bonds to raise money for projects, but "we have to have a balanced budget. Interest payments can't exceed 10% of the General Fund; we're hovering around 9% now. Our General Fund budget is $3.8 billion, so we could pay debt payments of about $380 million a year."
2015-07-07 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: "Holistic Approach" in FCPS Strategic Plan, by Tim Hannigan
Above and beyond the politically charged term "global citizen" (see discussion here), the phrase "a more holistic approach to education that addresses student's social and emotional needs" in Fairfax County Public Schools' Ignite: Strategic Plan 2015-20 (page 8) also warrants further clarification.
2015-07-06 ~FxSchools WaPo: Outspoken conservative riling Fairfax Co School Board, by T Rees Shapiro
Casting her no vote on the "gender identity" issue last month, Springfield district representative Elizabeth Schultz rose to her feet as the vast majority of those in attendance gave her a rousing ovation. Never mind that the measure passed in a 10-to-2 vote. Even in the lopsided defeat, a woman's voice called out above the din: "Thank you, Elizabeth!"
2015-07-06 ~Environmt Examiner: Junk science = garbage policy, by T Becket Adams
"The big problems we have are predatory journals and journals with very soft editorial and review standards," Folta told the Examiner. Some of these will publish "just about anything."
2015-07-05 ~World.... WT: Bankruptcy only way Greece can fashion a new beginning, by Stephen Moore
A recent Investors Business Daily editorial put it well: "It is a near certainty that Greece will continue to drown in debt until this death spiral of rising government obligations paid for by a shrinking private sector workforce reverses course."
2015-07-05 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: FCPS Educating "Global Citizens", by Tim Hannigan
Whoa! Does the FCPS really intend for its students to identify themselves first and foremost with an undefined, unstructured, almost mythical "global community" rather than as citizens of Fairfax County, the state of Virginia, and the United States of America? Is something a bit sinister is going on here? (Read Ignite: Strategic Plan 2015-20, p. 10)
2015-07-05 ~Environmt Fx Free Citizen: Pope Francis' Encyclical on Climate Change -- from "Agenda 21"
"I have heard these words before written in the 40-chapter U.N. Agenda 21 document signed by 179 countries in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and repeated by subsequent Rio conference participants and advocates who really want to destroy capitalism." -- Ileana Johnson, author of UN Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy
2015-07-03 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia's public university leaders get big pay packages
As tuition continues to climb and the percentage of full-time professors on campuses continues to drop nationwide, the presidents at Virginia's colleges and universities are seeing more and more generous compensation packages.
2015-07-03 ~Report... The REAL U.S. Unemployment Rate, by Fred Costello-153
2015-07-02 ~Potpourri JWR: We are all Californians now, by Victor Davis Hanson
California keeps reminding us what has gone astray with America in recent years. Once leading the nation is how to get things done, California has for decades now assumed the mantle of political correctness, demonstrating to the rest of us how not to do things -- environmental obstructionism, bad schools, high-speed rail instead of roads, etc.
2015-07-01 ~National. WT: Obama, the Left and their Declaration of Dependence, by Monica Crowley
In several short years, President Obama and his leftist army have fundamentally shifted the balance away from the individual and toward government, and from the notion of self-reliance to an increasing reliance on government. "IN GOV. WE TRUST!"
2015-07-01 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: Controversial Confederate flag was born in Fairfax, by Gregg MacDonald
During the first Battle of Manassas, amid the smoke of combat, troops found it difficult to distinguish between Union and Confederate flags. The original Confederate flag, often referred to as the "Stars and Bars" was very similar to the American flag of the time. So the Confederate battle flag was born, right here in Fairfax.
2015-06-xx ~Bulletin. Can you trust the schools?
2015-06-30 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: Next year's budget shortfall deserves attention today, by Pat Herrity
Fairfax County is forecasting a $100 million shortfall for next fiscal year and the school system is forecasting their own $100 million shortfall as well. One would think that the Board of Supervisors and the School Board would begin addressing the shortfall today while we have time to review our very complex organizations and budgets. Not so!
2015-06-29 ~National. WT: Why gays "can't get no satisfaction" -- OpEd by Wesley Pruden
It's the "ick" factor of same-sex marriage that will keep the issue on the stove. And what must be done with the clergyman who won't participate in the new orthodoxy? A town in Idaho has already enacted an ordinance to fine and jail stubborn parsons. The show has barely begun. We ain't seen nothin' yet.
2015-06-29 ~FxMisc... Bacon's Rebellion: An Update on the Tysons Makeover -- Impossible!
Transforming Tysons in Fairfax County from an "edge city" into a walkable, mixed-use urban district may be the biggest, most ambitious suburban makeover ever attempted. The real estate market is moving towards walkable urbanism, but Tysons has little walkable urbanism to offer.
2015-06-29 ~Environmt WT: Supreme Court strikes down Obama power-plant regulations, by Ben Wolfgang
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court blocked the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury and air toxics standards, charging that the administration failed to adequately consider the estimated $10 billion it would cost utilities to dramatically cut power plant pollution to comply with the measure. (And from the Examiner.)
2015-06-28 ~World.... WT: David Cameron moves to unslant the news at BBC -- Can NPR take a hint?
Prime Minister David Cameron has undertaken to take control and oversight of the prestigious BBC, the government broadcasting system, away from the arrogant elites and put the oversight into the hands of the people who pay for it. In the U.S., wouldn't it be nice if similar measures were taken against the taxpayer-funded liberal NPR?
2015-06-28 ~National. WT: Supreme Court 'disparate impact' ruling encourages repeat of housing crisis
In Thursday's Texas Dept of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that housing lawsuits based on race no longer need proof of intentional discrimination. So even defendants with no racist intent can be sued for racist outcomes if a plaintiff can prove "disparate impact". Housing Bubble 2.0, anyone?
2015-06-28 ~National. WT: Religious leaders reject queeriage ruling -- Tax-exempt status next?
As a result of the ruling, some of the dissenting Supreme Court justices said they foresee new legal challenges related to religious liberty in three particular areas: the tax-exempt status of religious organizations, the unwillingness of some churches and individuals to perform same-sex marriages, and gay adoption.
2015-06-28 ~National. WT: New York farm claims gay couple 'set them up', by Valerie Richardson
"The gay community is constantly attacking the church as if the church were singling them out. However, it is the other way around; the gay community is singling out the church," Patricia L. Dickson said in a Nov 2 article in American Thinker. "How else do you explain gay couples running straight to Christian business owners as soon as their state lifts the ban on same-sex marriage?"
2015-06-26 ~Virginia. AP: With Terry McAuliffe in office, old friends find new opportunities
After Terry McAuliffe took office as Virginia's governor in early 2014, some of his friends -- who had never lobbied in Virginia before -- started registering as lobbyists, with several companies interested in contracting with the state.
2015-06-26 ~National. WT: Supreme Court legalizes queeriage in all 50 states -- 5-4 decision
By a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court today struck down four state marriage laws, paving the way for gay marriage to be legal in all 50 states. The ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges said the 14th Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between people of same-sex, and also recognize same-sex marriages from out of state.
2015-06-26 ~FxSchools Fx Ti404: Home schooling on the rise in Fairfax Co, nation, by Kate Yanchulis
The number of home-schooled students in Fairfax County increased by 125 percent, from 1,306 in the 2005-06 school year to 2,936 this year, according to statistics from the Virginia Department of Education. Nearly 1.77 million were home-schooled in the U.S. as of 2012, 3.4 percent of all school-age children across the country.
2015-06-26 ~FxSchools Connection: Health Curriculum To More Closely Align with Va., by Tim Peterson
The proposed addition of "gender identity" in Fairfax County schools was front-and-center again last night at the school board meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield. Of major concern to parents were the less abrasive Virginia requirements and the ability to opt out of any Fairfax Co "gender identity" requirements. The Board appeared quite unprepared and downright dismissive of parents' concerns.
2015-06-25 ~National. Examiner: Second Roberts rewrite turns courts and the IRS into legislators
The Roberts Court is creating a new type of republic in which Congress basically suggests laws, and the other two branches actually write them. In this Obama-Roberts world, Congress's role is to express values and desires -- to lead a figurative chant that the IRS and the Supreme Court turn into actual binding laws.
2015-06-25 ~National. WT: Roberts saves Obamacare a second time -- Scalia: "Words have no meaning"
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has saved Obamacare for a second time, writing the majority opinion that upheld the health law's key provision of paying tax subsidies to customers in all states, saying that Congress couldn't have intended to pick and choose among the states (even though the Jonathan Gruber videos clearly indicate that was the intent).
2015-06-24 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia business stagnation raises worry for future, by Brennan Weiss
A group of economists and business leaders gathered this week at George Mason University to discuss the state's suddenly sluggish economy. Virginia's growth in gross domestic product stalled completely in 2014, with neighboring states West Virginia (up 5.5 percent), North Carolina (up 1.4 percent) and Maryland (up 0.8 percent) in positive territory.
2015-06-24 ~State-MD. WT: Judicial Watch files Maryland gerrymandering lawsuit, by Andrea Noble
Maryland's congressional districts have routinely been ranked as among the most disjointed and gerrymandered in the country -- with a federal judge once describing one district's shape as a "broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state."
2015-06-23 ~National. WT: Confederacy of one dunce spurs battle flag retreat, by Charles Hurt
Even people who have long fought to remove the Confederate flag from a monument outside the South Carolina Capitol must now marvel at the spinelessness of politicians who would capitalize on such a tragedy ... including in Virginia. (Yet another First Amendment casualty!)
2015-06-23 ~FxMisc... Biz Journal: The suburban office park is a relic. -- damage to Montgomery Co
The traditional suburban office park -- generally cut off from public transportation, lacking retail and amenities and employee housing options -- is a dying breed. By mid-year 2014, 11 large Montgomery County office buildings totaling 2.25 million square feet stood almost or totally vacant, and another nine, totaling 1.4 million more square feet, were "almost totally available". (See related article.)
2015-06-23 ~Environmt AP: Home efficiency upgrades fall short, don't pay, by Jonathan Fahey
Home efficiency measures such as installing new windows or replacing insulation deliver such a small fraction of their promised energy savings that they may not save any money over the long run, according to the surprising conclusion of a University of Chicago study.
2015-06-20 ~Environmt WaPo: How climate-change doubters lost a papal fight, by Faiola and Mooney
Pope Francis was about to take a major step backing the theory of human-driven global warming, and Philippe de Larminat was determined to change his mind. But five days before the April 28 summit, he received an e-mail saying there was no space left. Other scientists -- as well as the powerful Vatican bureaucrat in charge of the academy -- insisted he had no business being there.
2015-06-18 ~Environmt WT: Pope Francis merges with the global warming religion -- OpEd
The pope is certainly entitled to speak about anything he chooses, but on the politics of global warming -- and politics is precisely what the debate over global warming is about -- he is not likely to persuade. He dilutes his moral authority when he tries.
2015-06-17 ~National. US News: Americans Have Lost Confidence ... in Everything, by Ken Walsh
Congress, down 16 points; the presidency, down 10 points; the Supreme Court, down 12 points. All in all, it's a picture of a nation discouraged about its present and worried about its future, and highly doubtful that its institutions can pull America out of its trough.
2015-06-17 ~National. WT: HUD's war against the suburbs, by Betsy McCaughey
An African-American millionaire can buy a home in any expensive suburb. Color is no longer a barrier. Despite this progress, President Obama's Department of Housing and Urban Development is accusing expensive towns of racism, simply because most minorities can't afford to live there.
2015-06-17 ~FxTrans.. Fx Ti404: Residents skeptical about I-66 tolling plan, by Kali Schumitz
That section of I-66 is currently restricted to vehicles with two or more passengers during peak commuting hours. VDOT would like to change that to HOV-3 while also adding a tolling option for vehicles with fewer passengers, similar to the 495 and 95 Express Lanes.
2015-06-16 ~Potpourri Limbaugh: My Advice for Apple's News App: Hire DRUDGE!
The most successful news website in America, by far, is the Drudge Report, with more people looking at it every day than any other single website. If Apple wanted a really successful news app, they'd hire Matt Drudge. But they won't, and so they'll show the same content that you'd find on CNN or the New York Times.
2015-06-16 ~Material. The Federalist: Left Resorts To 'Gaslighting' Tactics In Transgender Debate
The growing normalization of insanity has resulted in the concurrent stigmatization of normalcy itself. Transgenderism has revealed this dismaying tendency in much of politics: if someone does not agree with the tenets of Progressive gender politics, then he will be painted as a deranged, antediluvian, backwards-looking hatemonger who can't get past his own outmoded psychological neuroses.
2015-06-16 ~FxSchools Reston Now: FCPS Taking a Hard Look at Slashing $100M in Costs, by Karen Goff
Eliminate Advanced Academic Centers, elementary band and strings programs and speech therapists; go back to mini-Mondays; charge tuition for language immersion programs; and cut back the number of custodians and make kids clean the school. Those are just a few of the dozens of citizen ideas on how Fairfax County Public Schools can save money.
2015-06-15 ~States... Examiner: Public pensions about to crush taxpayers, by Steven Malanga
Over the years, legislators and state courts had granted unusually strong protections to government worker pensions, far greater than the kinds of protections that private workers enjoy. That has made cutting the cost of pensions difficult, if not impossible, in some places with the deepest debts.
2015-06-15 ~Potpourri WT: State of the American Mind: On the new Anti-Intellectualism -- Book review
The anti-intellectualism trends identified in Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind" in 1987 have only gotten worse. Americans actually know less now than they did just a generation ago despite astonishing amounts spent on education and technology that gives worlds of knowledge to everyone's phone.
2015-06-14 ~Potpourri WT: Magna Carta's first 800 years, by Bruce O'Brien
The 1215 Magna Carta barons' and Edward Coke's achievements four centuries later were milestones on the road toward protecting citizens against the state. We have far to go before we can say that Magna Carta's principles of justice are enjoyed by all of us.
2015-06-14 ~National. FoxNews: Ballot machines easy targets, including Virginia's WINVote
It used to be a "conspiracy theory" but now the potential for electronic tampering with voting machines is being recognized as a problem. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency issued a report finding that the AVS WINVote machines Virginia has used since 2002 have such flimsy security that an amateur hacker could change votes from outside a polling location.
2015-06-12 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Letter of thanks to Fairfax Co police, by FCTA's Thomas Cranmer
2015-06-10 ~Virginia. WT: Nuclear energy may have big future in Virginia, by Brennan Weiss
Virginia imports over 50 percent of its current power needs. With a projected 4,000 megawatts of additional power needed by Virginia by 2021, the study suggests that just four new nuclear power plants would do the job better than any other alternatives.
2015-06-10 ~Virginia. AP: Va. economic growth flat in 2014 -- 2013: 0.4%; 2012: 0.7%; 2011: 0.6%
Forty-seven other states saw growth, led by North Dakota at 6.3 percent. Alaska and Mississippi were the only states whose GDP dropped in 2014. The nationwide growth was 2.2 percent.
2015-06-10 ~National. WT: White House actively suppresses all FOIA requests, per WH memo
President Obama will be long gone from the White House before all his sensitive "White House equities" are revealed to the public. Meantime, if he controls what people know, he can control what they think. And that gives him power to control what people do.
2015-06-10 ~FxMisc... MWAA: Dulles Airport Travel and Freight Statistics 1962-2014
Notice mostly downward trends for domestic passenger totals since Independence Air ceased operations in January 2006.
2015-06-09 ~Virginia. Daily Press: Volcker blasts state budgets, including Virginia's, by Dave Ress
... for "budgeting and accounting practices that obscure their true financial position, shift current costs onto future generations, and push off the need to make hard choices on spending priorities and revenue practices." Virginia voters and taxpayers are not given a clear picture of state finances.
2015-06-09 ~Potpourri Examiner: Washington Free Beacon a headache for New York Times, by Becket Adams
For the New York Times, ignoring an upstart conservative news site called the Washington Free Beacon has resulted in not only unflattering headlines for the 164-year-old newspaper, but it has also thrown the Gray Lady's objectivity into question.
2015-06-08 ~World.... Examiner: Rethinking the Asian Century, by AEI's Blumenthal, Coblin, Dhume, et al
Five AEI scholars examine the various countries in Asia from the standpoint of economic policies and demographics, and conclude that the vaunted "Asian Century" -- with the world's political and economic center of gravity shifting to Asia in the 21st century -- is subject to question.
2015-06-06 ~FxTrans.. Chap Petersen: How proposed I-66 changes affect Commuters and Neighbors
"I am in awe of my Arlington colleagues who have lobbied to keep I-66 narrowed to four lanes inside their jurisdiction. So why are Fairfax County homeowners not given the same deference? Why do we have to accommodate ten lanes, plus a bike lane?"
2015-06-05 ~National. Examiner: Obamacare paperwork costs states $880M, 27M worker hours, by P Bedard
Burdens on large corporations and small businesses receive plenty of attention in the regulatory world, but it is states that often to have to carry the heaviest load dealing with federal requirements. The Obama administration has forced states to employ hundreds of compliance personnel dedicated to navigating red tape.
2015-06-04 ~National. WaPo: Chinese hack OPM, steal data on 4 million federal employees, by E Nakashima
The hack was the largest breach of federal employee data in recent years. It was the second major intrusion of the same agency by China in less than a year. OPM, using new tools, discovered the breach in April.
2015-06-04 ~Environmt Daily Caller: NOAA Adjusts Climate Data To Erase 15-Year Global Warming 'Hiatus'
"It's the same story all over again; the adjustments go towards cooling the past and thus increasing the slope of temperature rise. Their intent and methods are so obvious they're laughable." -- Climate expert Bob Tisdale and meteorologist Anthony Watts
2015-06-03 ~National. Watchdog.org: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - Nosier than the NSA?
CFPB's spying program exceeds the it's statutory authority in its demands for "huge" quantities of data "regarding individual consumers' financial transactions on an ongoing, real-time basis."
2015-06-02 ~National. WT: Clinton Foundation cashed in as Sweden lobbied Hillary on Iran sanctions
... collected $26 million in donations at the same time that country was lobbying Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department to forgo sanctions that threatened its thriving business with Iran. (Read the summary.)
2015-06-02 ~Material. WT: Washington Times launches new email partnership with Viguerie Political Lists
The new Patriots file brings to a dozen the total number of email lists the Times offers in the marketplace. The lists span the gamut from gun rights enthusiasts and Hispanics to Christian voters and engaged activists.
2015-06-01 ~National. Dennis Prager: The Speech Every 2015 College Grad Needs to Hear (Video 5:50)
There were thousands of college commencement speeches around the country this year for the Class of 2015. But there was one missing -- one very truthful, funny and witty speech that graduates should've heard, but didn't. Well, here it is, spoken by George Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at the Washington Post.
2015-06-01 ~National. WT: TPP would trump American interests, by Tammy Bruce
"TPP is much larger than NAFTA and is mostly not about trade. It's also about regulating the Internet, labor conditions, how you can favor local industry, regulating hospitals and health care, even banking. Essentially every aspect of a modern economy are in the TPP." -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
2015-05-30 ~National. JWR: A summer break from campus muzzling ... via Progressivism, by George Will
In "The Promise of American Life" (1909), progressivism's canonical text, Herbert Croly said, "The average American individual is morally and intellectually inadequate to a serious and consistent conception of his responsibilities as a democrat." National life should be "a school", with the government as the stern but caring principal.
2015-05-29 ~Health... JWR: Why doctors quit... and Part 2, by Charles Krauthammer
My argument is simple. If electronic records are such a great boon -- as I believe they eventually will be -- they will be adopted over time as the benefits begin to exceed costs. Let the market work. Let doctors breathe. And while you're at it, drop the Medicare penalty.
2015-05-29 ~FxTrans.. Fx Ti404: Residents push for new I-66 alternatives, by Kali Schumitz
VDOT has been forging ahead with its planning process for the highway and transit project, continuing to work toward a 2017 construction start, despite objections from residents. The proposal would widen I-66 to include three general-purpose lanes and two high occupancy toll lanes in each direction between the Capital Beltway and Gainesville.
2015-05-28 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: School Board approves $2.6 billion budget, by Kate Yanchulis
The board voted 10-2 at its meeting last Thursday night to pass a $2.6 billion fiscal 2016 budget that avoids major cuts and includes funding for later high school start times and 3 percent pay raises for most employees. But the cash-strapped school system is already looking toward the next round of the budget cycle.
2015-05-27 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia Gov. McAuliffe ices talk of state divestment from fossil fuels
... said he would not support having Virginia divest its retirement fund and other accounts from fossil fuel companies, despite his commitment to combatting global warming.
2015-05-27 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: SpaceX's Falcon 9 certified for nat'l security, military launches
... thus breaking the monopoly currently held by the United Launch Alliance (a joint venture operated by Boeing and Lockheed). SpaceX will now be allowed to compete for very lucrative launch contracts for military and reconnaissance satellites.
2015-05-27 ~National. WT: Obama's Internet overhaul includes extortion, shakedowns, by Earnest Istook
Businesses and individuals must buy multiple websites in self-defense against domains like .sucks, which debuts in June. Mr. Obama is adding cost, confusion and cronyism to the Internet, just as Obamacare did for the nation's health care system.
2015-05-26 ~World.... WT: Resisting the trend toward anti-Semitism, by Clifford May
Another manifestation of anti-Semitism is the so-called "boycott, divest and sanction" (BDS) campaign. Its aim to damage Israel economically has so far made little progress. More perniciously perhaps, it means to demonize and delegitimize Israel, particularly in the eyes of young people on college campuses -- an investment in the future of Jew-hatred.
2015-05-26 ~National. WT: A Reaganesque solution to the Ex-Im Bank dilemma, by John Bolton
The Ex-Im Bank's critics have their economics entirely correct, but they have their geopolitics wrong. Their solution -- simply terminating the bank -- is appealing but counterproductive. What America should do, under a president with the wit to do it, is negotiate the global elimination of "export credits" (as these subsidies are generically known).
2015-05-24 ~State-IL. Daily Signal: Illinois Court rules taxpayers on hook for union pensions
The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned a state law that would help fix the state's notorious pension crisis. The justices basically ruled that the pension arrangements are iron-clad, although these pensions are on a course to bankrupt the state and imperil public services that Illinois families depend on.
2015-05-24 ~National. WT: Supreme Court's long war against the family, by Robert Knight
"While our legal system was maintaining the fiction that individuals were the only reality, we were living the truth that individuals are all members of families and that families are the real components of society." -- Quote by Michael Schwartz
2015-05-24 ~National. WT: Nixon's 1974 Memorial Day speech -- just as applicable today!
2015-05-21 ~FxSchools FCPS: School Board Approves FY 2016 Budget... details here
The Fairfax County School Board has adopted the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) FY 2016 Approved Budget of $2.6 billion which includes a step increase for all eligible employees and a market scale adjustment of 0.62 percent. The FY 2016 budget is an increase of $53.9 million, or 2.2 percent, over the FY 2015 Approved Budget.
2015-05-21 ~FxMisc... Watchdog.org: Fx Co PD sued over license plate reader policy, by Kathryn Watson
Fairfax County Police use 26 automatic license plate readers to scan drivers' tags in hopes of catching people breaking the law, and keep these records for one year. The ACLU is suing the department on behalf of an Alexandria resident for storing that information without his knowledge or consent.
2015-05-21 ~Environmt Watchdog.org: Green power lines hogtie poorest Texans, by Kenric Ward
"Green" power is smacking Texans with higher utility bills, but Democratic lawmakers in Austin, aided by wayward Republicans, don't care. They're stalling legislation that would reel in wind-energy costs.
2015-05-20 ~World.... MEMRI TV: Muslim world reacts to Obama's latest speech -- Video (2:20)
2015-05-20 ~State-OR. AP: Oregon to test pay-per-mile to replace gas tax, by Gosia Wozniacka
Oregon is about to embark on a first-in-the-nation program that aims to charge car owners not for the fuel they use, but for the miles they drive. Other states are also looking at pay-per-mile as an alternative to dwindling fuel tax revenues.
2015-05-19 ~Potpourri WT: Boy Scouts ban water guns-- "pointing a firearm not kind", by Douglas Ernst
The manual includes a lengthy list of other prohibited items -- boomerangs, crossbows, potato guns, spear guns and throwing stars. Scouts also may not use "marshmallow shooters that require placing a straw or similar device in the mouth." (Welcome to the Girl Scouts!)
2015-05-19 ~National. WT: Defense report rebuts Obama-Clinton Benghazi narrative, by Rowan Scarborough
At the very time President Obama, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top leaders were blaming spontaneous protests for the deadly Benghazi attack, the Defense Department broadly circulated a detailed intelligence report that said an al Qaeda-linked group planned the assault 10 days beforehand, with the goal of killing as many Americans as possible.
2015-05-19 ~FxSchools FxTimes: Higher taxes won't improve our schools -- Comment, by Howie DeFelice
Parents who don't instill the importance of education in their children doom them to failure. When parents got involved, the children thrived, some were able to be mainstreamed into the student population. The real problem is not that we don't spend enough, it's that we spend too much in the wrong places.
2015-05-17 ~States... AP: States saying 'NO' to cities seeking to regulate businesses, by David Lieb
In capitols across the country, businesses are increasingly using their clout to back laws prohibiting cities and counties from doing things that might affect their ability to make money.
2015-05-17 ~FxSchools FCTA: Fairfax Schools Introducing Gender Fluidity Policy, by Jim Ruland
The FCPS Family Life Education report is full of strikethroughs of text to be transferred from FLE and into the Health curriculum, which means that parents will not be able to "opt-out" of the new policies.
2015-05-15 ~Report... FCPS could save $50M by changing hiring practices, by Fred Costello-146
2015-05-15 ~Health... WaPo: Exercise alone won't make you lose weight., by Aseem Malhotra
Exercise is fine, but it won't help you to lose weight. If weight loss is your goal, your diet is what really needs to change.
2015-05-14 ~Potpourri BW: Elon Musk's Space Dream -- a modern-day Howard Hughes, by Ashlee Vance
Elon Musk started SpaceX to send mice to Mars. He has created a lean-and-mean operation reminiscent of the U.S. aerospace firms of the mid-twentieth century -- "just do it" attitude that is the exception to the ways of the modern defense establishment.
2015-05-14 ~Potpourri WT: Women in military can't march like men... Subject to stress fractures
In trying to integrate women into combat roles, the Army is finding that women are more susceptible to stress fractures from marching and training. Special boots may help, but it is more likely that women just walk differently than men, and are not suited for the same combat training exercises.
2015-05-13 ~FxTrans.. Fx Ti404: VDOT reduces property impact of I-66 plans, by Kali Schumitz
With a series of engineering tweaks, the Virginia Department of Transportation has significantly reduced the number of homes that might be claimed by widening Interstate 66. However, the changes are not enough to assuage the many residents and environmental groups that would like to see VDOT take a different approach entirely and not widen the road.
2015-05-13 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: FCPS education officials seek to finalize budget, by Kate Yanchulis
School officials asked for a 3.99 percent increase in funding from the county, $70.6 million more than last year. The county last month approved an increase of $56.7 million, about $14 million short. While state-level budget adjustments make up for part of the deficit, FCPS is left with a $7.6 million hole to fill, and planned employee pay raises could take a hit.
2015-05-13 ~FxSchools WT: Fairfax moves ahead to add 'gender identity' to curricula -- no 'opt-outs'!
FCPS is preparing to add "gender identity" to its curriculum, less than a week after the school board voted for this policy over parental objections. However, most of the new agenda items will be moved from the family life curriculum into the health curriculum, which means that parents will not be able to opt their children out of the lessons.
2015-05-12 ~National. WT: U.S. Christians shrink, but Evangelicals increase, by Cheryl Wetzstein
There were 62 million evangelical Protestants in 2014, about 2 million more than a parallel survey found in 2007, the Pew Research Center said in its Tuesday report, "America's Changing Religious Landscape". Those numbers stood in contrast with an overall shrinking population of Americans who identify as Christians.
2015-05-12 ~National. WT: ACU releases 2015 Congressional ratings, by Jennifer Harper
Findings: Liberals in Congress tend to vote together as a block; the Left does a great job of enforcing lockstep orthodoxy, to the detriment of the constituents they represent. A slim few Republicans were rated between 40 and 49 percent on the scale, with the majority of them scoring 60 percent and above. Sixteen earned a 100 percent rating this year.
2015-05-11 ~National. Examiner: Cash crop -- a treatise on American farm subsidies, by Vince Smith
Farmers in the United States benefit from hundreds of government programs. In 2015 alone, they will receive about $18 billion in the form of direct taxpayer-funded subsidies. These so-called "farm income safety net" payments flow to farmers through federal crop price support, dairy income support and livestock insurance programs.
2015-05-11 ~Health... Epoch Times: Why 80 Percent of Us Are Deficient in Magnesium, by Dr. Mark Sircus
"Every known illness is associated with a magnesium deficiency" ... "magnesium is the most critical mineral required for electrical stability of every cell in the body. A magnesium deficiency may be responsible for more diseases than any other nutrient." -- Dr. Norman Shealy
2015-05-10 ~National. WT: Kirsten Powers on The Left's Crusade Against Free Speech, by Jennifer Harper
In "The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech," Kirsten Powers points out that leftist methodology is to simply shut down public debate with the help of a compliant liberal news media and a secular culture -- while squawking about tolerance and values.
2015-05-08 ~Report... FCPS School Board vote on Policy 1450 (gender identity), by Fred Costello-148
2015-05-08 ~National. Examiner: There's a war on free speech, and radical Islam is winning, by P Klein
If Christians responded to an art show that they found offensive with violence, the media would call for a national conversation on Christian fundamentalism. But when radical Muslims do it, the national conversation is on hate speech.
2015-05-08 ~FxSchools FCPS board votes transgenders are "special" -- Sun Gazette, Examiner, Video
2015-05-07 ~State-MI. Examiner: Michigan conservatives defeat Big Business, Big Money, tax hikes ...
The pro-tax side outspent the anti-tax side by a ratio of about 30 or 40-to-1, but still suffered "the most one-sided loss ever for a proposed amendment to the state constitution of 1963" according to the Detroit Free Press.
2015-05-07 ~Potpourri The Hill: Is Matt Drudge the second most influential man in America?
One of the great mysteries of modern life is that the highest Democrats in the land complain about Drudge, read Drudge like talmudic scholars poring over biblical texts -- as Republicans do -- but have never even tried to compete with Drudge in the marketplace of media and ideas. (Rush Limbaugh comments!)
2015-05-07 ~FxSchools CNS News: Feds forcing public schools to adopt 'gender identity' polices
The U.S. Dept of Education is demanding that the Fairfax County Public Schools, in the Virginia suburbs just outside Washington, D.C., "revise their non-discrimination policies to include gender identity" or risk losing the federal funds they receive for their schools.
2015-05-06 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Water war: Va GOP senators blast EPA's 'end-run' rule, by K Ward
Virginia's 21 Republican state senators say a "Waters of the United States" rule targets farmers and could cost the state and landowners untold millions of dollars.
2015-05-05 ~Potpourri The Intercept: How NSA converts spoken words into searchable text, by Dan Froomkin
Top-secret documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency can now automatically recognize the content within phone calls by creating rough transcripts and phonetic representations that can be easily searched and stored.
2015-05-05 ~FxSchools WT: Parents outraged over Fairfax 'gender identity' policy, by Kellan Howell
Under the new provision, transgender students and faculty would be considered a protected class, meaning that male students who identify as female could use female bathrooms, and parents would not be able to opt their children out of classes taught by transgender teachers.
2015-05-04 ~National. Detroit News: Think voluntary, not coercive, unions, by Mark Mix, NRTWF president
Americans regularly join and form clubs, civic associations and church groups, and countless other organizations that rely on little more than the enthusiasm and support of their members. A club that alienates its core supporters must adapt quickly or disappear. Similarly, a union should be required to attract members voluntarily or go out of business.
2015-05-04 ~Environmt Daily Caller: 25 Years Of Predicting The Global Warming 'Tipping Point'
2015-05-01 ~FxMisc... FxCo: Still seeking a Bicycle Coordinator -- Obviously a critical need!!!
Job #15-00222; Salary $64,255-$107,091 annually; Full-time w/Benefits
Position just re-announced, as they didn't hire anyone from the first round.
2015-04-xx ~Potpourri Swiss America: The Biggest Bank Heist In History, by Craig Smith, Lowell Ponte
"Virtually zero percent interest rates are to long-term economic policy what junk food is to nutrition -- it tastes great going down, but later come horrible results....[that] pose dangers for all of us.... ZIRP [is]...how the Fed gave the U.S. Financial Diabetes." -- Gregory Bresiger, Business Journalist
2015-04-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Battle of Indiana the Promise of Battles to Come, by David French
Imprimis lecture by David French, a writer for National Review and National Review Online.
2015-04-30 ~Environmt Vencor Weather: The sun is now virtually blank -- no solar activity
The sun is almost completely blank. The main driver of all weather and climate, the entity which occupies 99.86% of all of the mass in our solar system, the great ball of fire in the sky has gone quiet again during what is likely to be the weakest sunspot cycle in more than a century.
2015-04-29 ~FxTrans.. Fx Ti404: I-66 in spotlight at road funding hearing, by Kali Schumitz
VDOT is proposing to widen I-66 outside the Capital Beltway to three regular lanes and two high occupancy toll lanes in each direction. VDOT is also considering options for improving I-66 inside the beltway, including introducing a tolling option during peak hours and increasing the numbers of people who use transit, bike or walk in the corridor.
2015-04-29 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Free Citizen: Stop the Fx County Tax Hikes, by FCTA's Fred Costello
The BOS raised real-estate taxes so they could give their major supporters (the county and school employees) raises far exceeding those given to most county residents.
2015-04-28 ~National. WSJ: Baltimore shows how progressivism has failed urban America
You're not supposed to say this in polite company, but what went up in flames in Baltimore Monday night was not merely a senior center, small businesses and police cars. Burning down was also the blue-city model of urban governance.
2015-04-27 ~Potpourri WT: Liberals and magical thinking -- OpEd, by Tammy Bruce
We all know that children think magically, and naturally inhabit a world of fantasy and imagination. But adults on the left seem to have decided they deserve to live in that same magical world, where facts and logic and reason just don't exist. And those who are behaving the most like children, relying exclusively on feelings, emotions and fantasy, are in positions of power and influence.
2015-04-26 ~National. WT: Left makes it safe to commit voter fraud, by Robert Knight
On a host of electoral integrity issues, the liberal position can be summarized in two words: enable cheating. How else to explain their rhetoric against voter photo ID laws? Or the intense drive for Election Day registration, mail-in voting and earlier and earlier balloting, all of which make it harder to detect and prevent vote fraud?
2015-04-26 ~National. WT: Army seeks private help for 50-year-old M4 rifle, by Rowan Scarborough
The Army is asking the gun industry to build new components for its soldiers' primary weapon -- the M4 carbine -- a move that experts say is a tacit admission that the service has been supplying a flawed rifle that lacks the precision of commercially available guns.
2015-04-25 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Why fixed-rail mass transit is a niche transportation mode
Fixed-rail transit is far less flexible than bus transit and far less attractive except for those traveling to downtown locations.
2015-04-25 ~Environmt Telegraph: Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures
Only when the full picture is in will it be possible to see just how far the scare over global warming has been driven by manipulation of figures accepted as reliable by the politicians who shape our energy policy, and much else besides.
2015-04-24 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts final notice for budget and real estate tax increase
The Town of Vienna proposes real estate tax rate remain unchanged, so your (4%+) assessment increase will be the same as your next tax bill. (Final adoption May 11.)
2015-04-23 ~National. WT: The Legacy of Eric Holder... Articles by Powell, Adams, Fund, and Connor
1. A calculated corruptor of justice, by Sidney Powell
2. Race was always at the core of his agenda, by J. Christian Adams
3. The interests of Barack Obama came before justice, by Hans von Spakovsky John Fund
4. In agreement with America's enemies, by Joseph F. Connor
2015-04-23 ~Environmt Examiner: California's environmentalist-induced water shortage, by Chris Carson
The environmentalist movement, starting in the 1970s, did its malign work in court, alleging that any new dam construction or river diversion projects would do irreparable harm to the environment, particularly the Delta Smelt baitfish and newly-introduced salmon spawn.
2015-04-21 ~Health... BW: Buttered Coffee Could Make You Invincible, by Gordy Megroz
Dave Asprey is using himself as a health guinea pig. He's completely dismantled the food pyramid and argues that the proper diet should consist of as much as 70 percent fat. "[T]he membrane of every cell in your body is made of fat," Asprey says. "When you go on a low-fat diet, you limit the performance of so many key systems in your body that it's no wonder you have cravings and feel tired."
2015-04-21 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Ten Principles of Sound Financial Management -- Updated
The Ten Principles, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on October 22, 1975, endorsed a set of policies designed to contribute to the County's fiscal management and maintain the County's "triple A" bond rating. Changes were adopted on April 21, 2015 to increase the County's reserve policies and financial position.
2015-04-21 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: FY 2016 Budget Mark-Up Package
2015-04-21 ~Environmt CFACT: The environmental insane asylum, by Alan Caruba
For the past 45 years we have all been living in the environmental "insane asylum", being told over and over again to believe things that are the equivalent of Green hallucinations. The worst part of this is that we are being victimized by people we are told to respect, from the President to the Pope. Their environmentalism is pure socialism.
2015-04-19 ~FxMisc... WaPo: DC-area population increase slowing down-- negative in Fairfax Co
After decades of expansion, new census numbers show that population growth in the Washington region has slowed dramatically, with Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria seeing more people move out of those communities than move in over the past year.
2015-04-17 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Penalized Va. Express Lanes drivers file class-action lawsuit
A private company is operating many of Virginia's thoroughfares, but that doesn't mean it can charge drivers thousands of dollars in unexpected fines and penalties. That's the gist of a class-action lawsuit filed against toll operators Transurban and Faneuil.
2015-04-15 ~National. WT: Obama amnesty granted 541,000 Social Security numbers to illegal immigrants
... thus opening the door to government benefits ranging from tax credits to driver's licenses. Republican critics of the president's immigration policy say he's helping illegal immigrants at the expense of American workers, whose taxes pay for Social Security and other government benefits.
2015-04-15 ~FxMisc... Arthur Purves: Open Letter to the Incumbent Republican Supervisors
From Arthur Purves, Republican candidate for Fairfax County Chairman.
2015-04-14 ~State-MD. WT: Maryland seizes 'free-range kids' for walking alone in the park -- OpEd
It's kind of ironic that farmers get praise for 'free-ranging' their chickens and other animals, but the nanny state comes down hard when mere humans practice same.
2015-04-14 ~National. JW: ISIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirm
Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as "plans" of Fort Bliss -- the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army's 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.
2015-04-14 ~National. WT: ICE released 30,558 criminal aliens into community in 2014, by Stephen Dinan
Had amassed nearly 80,000 convictions, including 250 homicides, 186 kidnappings and 373 sexual assaults.
2015-04-14 ~Health... WSJ: Feds to Probe Generic Drug Price Increases, by Ed Silverman
Following prodding from Congress, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health Human Services says the office will review generic drug price increases between 2005 and 2014 in order to determine the extent to which generic drug prices exceeded the inflation rate.
2015-04-13 ~States... WT: The redistribution racket -- Stephen Moore on "Rich States, Poor States"
Five of the highest-tax blue states in the nation -- California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois -- lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade (see chart). Meanwhile, the big low-tax red states -- Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia -- gained about this many new residents.
2015-04-13 ~National. WT: OPT program offers incentive to hire foreign workers over Americans
An H-1B-type program for foreign college graduates. "You can be out of your university for more than two years and kindly old Uncle Sam still regards you as a student, allows you to still work legally in this country and worse, pays your employer a bonus instead of hiring a comparably qualified citizen or green card holder." -- Report by researcher David North
2015-04-13 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax Co School Board raises own pay 88%, by T. Rees Shapiro
As the school district faces a tough budget year ahead, Fairfax County School Board members have voted 5-4 to raise their salaries by 87.5%. Voting FOR: Kaufax, Velkoff, Moon, Haynes, and Evans; voting AGAINST: Smith, Reed McLaughlin, and McElveen; ABSTAINING: Storch, Strauss, and Schultz.
2015-04-13 ~Environmt WT: Liberals blamed for Calif drought... Water use: 10% urban, 41% agr, 48% env
"A year ago, I was beating the drum to sound warnings on these policies, and nobody paid any attention. The reason they're not paying attention is they don't believe me. They don't believe our policy could be so breathtakingly stupid as to dump millions of gallons of precious water in the middle of a drought to adjust river water temperatures." -- U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock
2015-04-11 ~Health... Guernsey Press: Dog prostate cancer detection rate '98% reliable'
The latest research, by the Department of Urology at the Humanitas Clinical and Research Centre in Milan, involved two German shepherds sniffing the urine of 900 men -- 360 with prostate cancer and 540 without. Scientists found that dog one got it right in 98.7% of cases, while for dog two this was 97.6%.
2015-04-10 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Budget critic Purves is GOP challenger to Bulova, by B. Trompeter
Persistent county and school budget critic Arthur Purves knows it will be virtually impossible to beat Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D) on Nov. 3, but he's taking the plunge anyway. "I decided to run against all odds," said Purves, 66, who has been president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance president for the last 18 years.
2015-04-09 ~National. LA Times: FCC's net neutrality rules open door to new fee on Internet service
"The federal government is sure to tap this new revenue stream soon to spend more of consumers' hard-earned dollars," warned Ajit Pai, a Republican on the FCC. "So when it comes to broadband, read my lips: More new taxes are coming. It's just a matter of when."
2015-04-09 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: FCPS education officials appeal for more funding, by Kate Yanchulis
Most who spoke before the Board of Supervisors recognized that with competing priorities and a tight budget, the county does not have enough to go around. State-level budget adjustments are expected to fill part of the gap, but FCPS still would have to deal with a projected $7.5 million deficit.
2015-04-09 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: Fx Co employees fight for larger pay increase, by Kali Schumitz
Fairfax County employees came out in force to a Wednesday budget hearing to implore county supervisors to uphold the agreement they negotiated with employee unions last fall. BOS Chairman Bulova said supervisors will work to bolster the county pay package in the coming weeks.
2015-04-09 ~Environmt CFACT: Climate-shaking victory for students in West Virginia
The West Virginia Board of Education voted yesterday to put an end to months of controversy and open up teaching standards to permit students to consider both sides in the climate debate. Climate pressure groups want to limit students to only considering information which advances their narrative. Those who care about the integrity of science understand that sound science does not censor.
2015-04-08 ~World.... WT: Iran plans use of 'suicide drones' in Gulf, says U.S. Army
Iran has placed an "explosive emphasis" in putting military surveillance and attack drones into the sky, including "suicide" aircraft that increase risks for Israel and for U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf, according to a new U.S. Army analysis.
2015-04-08 ~National. Politico: Drudge Report still dominant, by Hadas Gold
The Drudge Report is the leading source of referral traffic (excluding social media and search referrals) for many of the top news organizations in the country, according to a new report from the Drudge Report's advertising management firm Intermarkets.
2015-04-08 ~National. WT: Obama gun control push backfires as industry sees unprecedented surge
From 2001 to 2007, gun production held steady at between 3 million and 4 million units a year. It topped 4 million in 2008 but shot to 5.6 million in 2009, held steady in 2010 and then spiked to 8.6 million guns in 2012 and a record 10.8 million in 2013, according to ATF data.
2015-04-08 ~National. WT: The dirty little (open) secret about the press, by Monica Crowley
The only difference between the Rolling Stone "reporter" and these "journalists" is that the magazine writer got caught. The Rolling Stone debacle is one more example of journalists being more interested in creating a narrative that supports their agenda than reporting objectively. (Related article)
2015-04-07 ~Potpourri BBC: Bendy battery promises safe, speedy charging -- aluminum and graphite
Scientists have built a flexible aluminium battery which they say could be a cheap, fast-charging and safe alternative to current designs.
2015-04-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA Presentation to BOS on Real Estate Tax Increases and County Budget
FCTA Board Member Charles McAndrew and wife Linda address the Board Of Supervisors.
2015-04-07 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Arthur Purves' Presentation to Fx Co Supervisors
2015-04-06 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia ranked No. 40 in tax freedom, by Kathryn Watson
"You often hear how Virginia is a low-tax state, but that's not really the case." ... "When you add up the individual and corporate income taxes, the commonwealth's "very high" unemployment insurance taxes, the Business Professional and Occupational Licensing tax, sales taxes, car taxes and home property taxes, it's a pretty cumbersome bill."
2015-04-06 ~Health... WaPo: Many scientists say gov't salt guidelines too low, by Peter Whoriskey
According to studies published in recent years by pillars of the medical community, the low levels of salt recommended by the government might actually be dangerous. "There is no longer any valid basis for the current salt guidelines, so why are we still scaring people about salt?"
2015-04-05 ~National. LA Times: Pentagon's $10-billion missile defense bet gone bad, by David Willman
Expensive missteps have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency. Over the last decade, the agency has sunk nearly $10 billion into SBX and three other programs that had to be killed or sidelined after they proved unworkable.
2015-04-01 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Gov. McAuliffe vetoes sunshine law for state-hired lawyers
Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would have made all legal contracts the state makes with outside special counsel available online for the public and capped payments to outside lawyers, saying that would "needlessly impose harmful restrictions on the ability of the commonwealth to secure specialized legal services and prosecute its cases."
2015-04-01 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: EPA carbon plan will kill 38,000 Virginia jobs, report says
... and will boost Virginia's electric rates 25 percent. "This (report) is exactly what we've been saying. (The air rules) will be a lot more expensive than the EPA is willing to admit," U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith told Watchdog.org in a phone interview.
2015-04-01 ~FxPension Watchdog.org: City's bad decisions sink public pensions-- Jeannette, PA
Despite raising taxes in 2014, the city has a growing pension deficit. Rick Dreyfuss, a retired actuary, favors a switch to 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans, which eliminate the political incentives to underfund pension systems or over-promise benefits.
2015-03-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Frank Capra's America and Ours, by John Marini
Imprimis lecture by John Marini, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno.
2015-03-xx ~Bulletin. Affordable Taxes lead to Economic Success
2015-03-31 ~Potpourri WaPo: How America's most famous farmer can appeal to left, right and center
You've heard of Joel Salatin, right? The self-proclaimed heretic who runs Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley? The eco-friendly, avant-garde Old MacDonald featured in Michael Pollan's 2006 bestseller, "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and the 2008 documentary "Food, Inc."? The vociferous critic of industrial feedlots and petroleum-based monoculture?
2015-03-31 ~National. Examiner: The Left wages total war and then plays victim... (standard procedure)
They're now astroturfing Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. As stunning as their ambitions of total victory is their continued pretense to be fighting a defensive war. It should be obvious to all that the Left long ago dropped its love of pluralism and tolerance -- if that ever was their goal.
2015-03-31 ~Environmt CFACT: The tip of the climate spending iceberg, by Paul Driessen
The multi-billion-dollar agenda reflects the Obama Administration's commitment to using climate change to radically transform America. It reflects a determination to make the climate crisis industry so enormous that no one will be able to tear it down, even as computer models and disaster claims become less and less credible.
2015-03-30 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: McAuliffe veto opens polls for Hillary Clinton 'ghost voters'
Plowing the ground for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed an election-reform bill that leaves a gaping hole for absentee-ballot abuse in Virginia.
2015-03-30 ~National. Breitbart: Ted Kennedy's Real Legacy: 50 Years of Ruinous Immigration Law
Passage of Ted Kennedy's Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 marked a fundamental change in America's immigration policy. Rather than serving the interests of Americans and national unity by setting limits on immigration, the act put "family unification" as the top priority, serving the interests of foreigners first.
2015-03-29 ~FxMisc... Washingtonian: The History and Re-urbanization of Tysons Corner, by Luke Mullins
The making, unmaking, and remaking of Tysons Corner is about much more than a single suburb. It's also the story of how modern Washington itself came into being as a region, and it offers a unique window into where it's going, too.
2015-03-29 ~FxMisc... WaPo: As Fairfax grows more diverse, candidates for office mostly don't
The roster of candidates running for office in Fairfax County this year is at odds with the demographic changes sweeping through the area. Forty-two percent of the county's 1.1 million residents are either Asian, Latino or African American -- up from a third of the county's population in 2000.
2015-03-28 ~FxMisc... FCTA president Arthur Purves running for Chairman, Fx Co Board of Supervisors
2015-03-27 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna proposes a 5.46% real estate tax increase
A "Notice of Public Hearing for Proposed Budget for FY2015-16 (scheduled for April 13) was published on page B6 of the Washington Times on 03/27/2014 and 04/03/2014. But unlike the Fairfax County notice, which states outright that it "proposes to increase property tax levies", Vienna's notice makes no such mention.
2015-03-27 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Pair of Chantilly office buildings drops $126M in value since 2007
It's been more than five years since the Great Recession toppled real estate values, but some commercial properties still haven't recovered, including the pair of Chantilly office buildings known as Washington Technology Park I and II, part of the Westfields Corporate Center.
2015-03-26 ~National. WaPo: Why America's obsession with STEM education is dangerous, by Fareed Zakaria
The author of "In Defense of a Liberal Education" argues that obsessive STEM education has nothing to do with America's past and continuing ability to innovate. For that, a traditional liberal education is required, which hopefully still nurtures the ability for critical thinking.
2015-03-26 ~National. WT: Obamacare begins a death spiral... regardless of King v. Burwell outcome
The death spiral isn't just a theory. Eight states learned this the hard way in the 1990s when they enacted two policies known as "community rating" and "guaranteed issue", requiring health insurers to sell coverage to anyone who wanted it at the same price. Obamacare is already on the same trajectory.
2015-03-26 ~FxSchools FCPS: ESOL Cost in the FCPS -- letter to FCTA from Elizabeth Schultz
The following letter was sent by FCPS Board member Elizabeth Shultz to FCTA's Charles McAndrew regarding FCPS' "unaccompanied children" problem from the Obama administration, and her efforts to get the FCPS Board to finally request help from the feds...
2015-03-25 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fx Co savings if private sector policies adopted, by Fred Costello
2015-03-24 ~Potpourri Examiner: Deja vu once again -- How liberals explain election failures
Every time an election result disappoints liberals, it's never because the liberals did anything wrong. It's always because they were made to have seemed to, by someone who tapped subconscious fears of something quite different -- most often that old standby, race.
2015-03-24 ~National. WT: Small business owners still victimized by 'Operation Choke Point'
Gun shop owners, payday lenders, and other small businesses deemed politically incorrect by the Obama administration are apparently still being targeted two months after the FDIC retracted its "reputational risk" listing denying credit to such businesses.
2015-03-24 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: Vote to bump supervisor pay was 'reckless', Letter by Frank Medico
It's time to remove career supervisors. No one forces anyone to run for public office or run for reelection. It shouldn't be a job for anyone who places themselves first as some of the current BOS members have done by giving themselves a raise over the people they were elected to represent. It is up to you.
2015-03-23 ~State-NM. WT: New Mexico ends the abuse of police seizure of private property
The legislature in New Mexico passed legislation over the weekend to abolish civil-asset forfeiture, which is nothing less than government crime, enabling police to seize private property and keep it without even having to charge someone with a crime.
2015-03-23 ~National. Heritage: 2015 Federal Budget in Pictures
It is critical that Americans understand what the nation's spending, debt, and taxes mean for them and their families -- as well as what solutions can point the way forward. The Heritage Foundation's Federal Budget in Pictures offers a unique tool to learn about these vital issues in a clear, compelling way.
2015-03-22 ~National. Examiner: Silenced workers who lost jobs to H-1B visa abuse (quietly) speak out
American industry is abusing the H-1B skilled guest worker visa program, with many tech giants using the program to fire well-paid current workers and replace them with workers from abroad at significantly lower pay.
2015-03-20 ~Potpourri Bacon's Rebellion: Uh, Oh, Maybe We Haven't Reached "Peak Car"
While total Vehicle Miles Traveled is nearing its previous peak, VMT per capita still remains considerably below the peak. My new modified position is that driving will continue to increase but on a slower growth trajectory than in previous decades.
2015-03-20 ~National. Watchdog.org: U.S. subsidies energize foreign corporations, by Kenric Ward
The United States may have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, but large companies are reaping billions of dollars in subsidies from Uncle Sam. And the biggest beneficiary isn't even an American firm -- it is the Spanish utility giant, Iberdrola.
2015-03-20 ~Health... Natural News: MIT doctor links Glyphosate herbicide (Roundup) to Autism spike
Dr. Stephanie Seneff from MIT finds a perfect correlation between use of Roundup in food production and the rise in autism -- from 1 in 10,000 in 1970, to 1 in 68 today, and 50% by 2025. "The glyphosate is being soaked up by the plants and getting into the food system, and the U.S. government is doing very little monitoring to even see if that's true." (Related article.)
2015-03-20 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Notice Appropriating Supplemental Funds -- Add'l $117,387,455 for FY2015
2015-03-19 ~National. Examiner: Tech giant seeks more foreign workers, to displace costlier Americans
So not everyone agrees with Schmidt on the need for more H-1B workers. Certainly not the laid-off IT employees at Southern California Edison. And not the workers reportedly displaced by similar practices at Disney, Harley Davidson, Cargill, Pfizer and other companies.
2015-03-18 ~National. WT: A 'reasonable' view of privacy, security, by Michael Hayden
Gen. Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, describes the details of how the NSA uses smart algorithms to filter foreign intelligence and mask domestic identities, to stay within the spirit of the 4th Amendment.
2015-03-17 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: McAuliffe's choice: Fair or flawed elections, by Kenric Ward
Republicans are challenging Gov. Terry McAuliffe to sign three election-integrity bills: 1. HB 2379, requiring crosscheck of voter registrations; 2. HB 1315, requiring access to jury excusal forms; 3. HB 1318, requiring photo ID to obtain an absentee ballot.
2015-03-16 ~Virginia. Ars Technica: Virginia passes 7-day limit on keeping license plate reader data
Virginia has become the first state in America to impose a very short data retention limit on the use of automated license plate readers (LPRs, or ALPRs). VA cops will now only be able to keep such data for seven days unless there is an active, ongoing criminal investigation.
2015-03-16 ~National. WT: Chile, where freedom nurtures success, by Richard Rahn
Countries that have the rule of law (including honest and competent judges), protect private property, have free markets and free trade, have relatively low tax rates and government spending, avoid destructive economic regulation, and have sound money tend to grow at much faster rates than those countries that don't.
2015-03-16 ~National. WT: Failure to track death cost feds $124B in bogus payments, by Stephen Dinan
One major problem is tracking when Americans die -- the Social Security Administration admitted last week that its rolls are filled with names of more than 6 million folks who are listed as 112 years of age or older.
2015-03-16 ~National. WT: The dark secrets of federal pensions, by Adam Andrzejewski
Imagine if you could review your congressman's pension, or that of former IRS chief Lois Lerner or former Secret Service boss Julia Pierson? But we don't know because we can't see them. The data is not merely opaque, but literally housed and hidden in a Cold War-era underground complex in Pennsylvania.
2015-03-15 ~National. AP: Pipeline Boom -- Fight over Keystone XL project doesn't deter industry growth
While the Keystone project awaits a final decision, lesser-known developments have quietly added more than 11,600 miles of pipeline to the nation's domestic oil network. About 3.3 million barrels per day of capacity have been added since 2012 alone -- five times more oil than the Canada-to-Texas Keystone line could carry if it's ever built.
2015-03-13 ~FxSchools Fx Free Citizen: ERFC-2001 costs FCPS $206M/year vs 'Legacy', by Fred Costello
FCPS is currently trying to fill a $100M shortfall. Simply reverting to the pre-2001 version of the ERFC (Legacy) pension plan would eventually save $206M per year. (ERFC2001 was introduced during the housing bubble, when the County was flush with money, and was retained when the bubble burst.) ... See also Fred's report and his summary budget recommendations.
2015-03-12 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: State revenues rise 21.7 percent in February from a year ago
...fueled largely by a reduction of almost $87 million in taxpayer refunds and an increase in income taxes withheld from payroll. Tax collections grew 6.6 percent from the beginning of the fiscal year that began July 1 through the end of February.
2015-03-12 ~Report... Increasing Fairfax Co real-estate taxes is unnecessary, by Fred Costello-147
2015-03-12 ~Potpourri WT: D.C. streetcars go back and forth to nowhere, by Deborah Simmons
After already spending more than $160 million (and millions more for the study and yakkety-yak) to design and construct a street line that runs a mere 2.4 miles, city leaders could scrap the project. And that might not be a bad idea. Buses are cheaper.
2015-03-11 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Without accountability, some local Virginia boards go AWOL
The Virginia General Assembly has done nothing to demand audit reports and general oversight for the roughly 700-or-so supervisory bodies, bodies such as jail authorities and library boards that controlled a total of $450 million in revenue as of 1999.
2015-03-11 ~National. Watchdog.org: Public-private SBA firms capitalize in secret -- Apple Intel?
The portfolio of "small businesses" in SBIC programs are mostly mature companies with stable dividend cash flows of up to $50 million in revenues. "This is the privatization of profits and the socialization of loss."
2015-03-10 ~Potpourri Fx Free Citizen: The Christian "Church": Missing in Action, by Mike Giere
If the America we have known is lost, it will be because we have undone the Judeo-Christian ties that once secured the civil society, and because a large part of the modern "church" has been missing in action -- yielding to the long-term cultural collapse -- rejecting what it once was and what it is called to be.
2015-03-09 ~Potpourri MarketWatch: Understanding the IRA mandatory withdrawal rules -- after age 70 1/2
For traditional IRA owners: If you're going to turn age 70 1/2 this year (2015), the IRS requires that you begin taking withdrawals from your account, starting no later than April 1 of 2016. Here's what you need to know to do it right.
2015-03-08 ~handout.. Fx - Questions for Candidates -- Regarding the Proposed FY2016 Budget
Questions for Fairfax County Supervisors, School Board Members, State Delegates, State Senators, and Candidates...
2015-03-05 ~Report... Is FY2016 Increase in the Real-Estate Tax Rate Affordable?, by Fred Costello-145
2015-03-05 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
First public posting, one half of page A8 in the Washington Times. Includes an average increase of 3.4 percent for residential and a decrease of 0.6 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 7, 2015 at the Gov't Center.
2015-03-04 ~National. WT: Book Review - Hidden in Plain Sight -- housing policies => financial crisis
Peter Wallison's important, engaging and alarming "Hidden in Plain Sight" is the definitive work on the financial crisis. He makes a cogent case that "the 2008 financial crisis would not have occurred but for the housing policies of the U.S. government between 1992 and 2008."
2015-03-04 ~FxSchools FCPS: ORR Federal request for funds -- for 1,373 illegal children
The following letter was sent by the FCPS Board separately to three Northern Virginia U.S. congressmen and both Virginia U.S. Senators, requesting federal financial help to educate the 1,373 "unaccompanied children" dumped into the county by the Omama administration...
2015-03-03 ~Potpourri WT: M. Stanton Evans, conservative icon, dead at 80 -- Obituary
"We have two parties here, and only two -- one is the evil party, and the other is the stupid party," he said. "I'm very proud to be a member of the stupid party. Occasionally, the two parties get together to do something that's both evil and stupid. That's called bipartisanship."
2015-03-03 ~National. RT: Hillary Clinton's "hacked" Benghazi emails -- via "Guccifer"
2015-03-03 ~National. WT: FBI tolerates nepotism, and discourages whistleblowers -- by Kelly Riddell
Certain FBI team members are increasingly frustrated that their mission is being hampered by internal politics and nepotism. Meanwhile, a potential whistleblower was warned he could face retaliation by coming forward with concerns about political meddling inside a secret terrorism and counterintelligence surveillance program.
2015-03-02 ~World.... Epoch Times: China Is Not the World's Largest Economy, by Valentin Schmid
In 2011, most people still thought China, as a nation, had less debt than Europe or the United States because of its relatively low government debt levels. Then came Fraser Howie's seminal book "Red Capitalism", one of the first books to expose the debt machine within the Chinese banking system and the risks of the debt-filled growth model.
2015-03-02 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Runoff elections ensure majority rule -- so why not in Virginia?
If Virginia had maintained its long-held system for runoff elections, it's entirely plausible that McAuliffe and Warner would not be in office today. Runoffs between the top two vote-getters prevents candidates from triangulating their way to victory with mere pluralities. Mysteriously, SB 742 passed in the Senate, but never got to the floor of the House, where Republicans hold a super majority.
2015-03-02 ~Health... Mercola.com: US Guidelines To Lift Limits on Dietary Cholesterol, by Dr. Mercola
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has recommended limits on dietary cholesterol be removed from the upcoming 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This is a reversal of the cholesterol limitations that have been widely circulated since the 1960s. The exception is oxidized cholesterol, formed when polyunsaturated vegetable oils (such as soybean, corn, and sunflower oils) are heated.
2015-03-02 ~Environmt WJ: Objective Behind Climate Change Is Economic, Not Climatic -- UN's Figueres
"This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution." -- Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change
2015-03-02 ~Environmt WT: Judge slaps EPA for its misdeeds with FOIA -- Judge Lamberth's Opinion
A federal judge warned the EPA on Monday not to discriminate against conservative groups in how it responds to open-records requests, issuing a legal spanking to the agency that he said may have lied to the court and showed "apathy and carelessness" in carrying out the law.
2015-02-xx ~States... JohnLocke.org: First in Freedom Index -- ranking the 50 states
The John Locke Foundation (in North Carolina) ranks the fifty states in (1) Overall Freedom, (2) Fiscal Freedom, (3) Educational Freedom, (4) Regulatory Freedom, and (5) Health Freedom. It furthermore goes into considerable detail, and provides the weighting metrics used to reach its conclusions.
2015-02-28 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia Senate surrenders in war on coal, by Kenric Ward
Bowing to the EPA, the state Senate reversed course and killed a bill that would have required General Assembly review of stricter carbon emission rules. The defeat of Senate Bill 1365 in the waning hours of the 2015 legislative session will result in a predicted "backdoor rate increase" for Virginia electric consumers.
2015-02-26 ~National. NR: Comrades for Net Neutrality -- Powers behind FCC's muscling of the Internet
Today's vote by a bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility is the culmination of a decade-long battle by the Left. Using money from George Soros and liberal foundations that totaled at least $196 million, radical activists finally succeeded in ramming through "net neutrality", or the idea that all data should be transmitted equally over the Internet.
2015-02-26 ~National. WT: Huge trove of 'destroyed' Lois Lerner emails found -- Criminal probe by IG
The IRS's inspector general confirmed Thursday it is conducting a criminal investigation into how Lois G. Lerner's emails disappeared, saying it took only two weeks for investigators to find hundreds of tapes the agency's chief had told Congress were irretrievably destroyed.
2015-02-25 ~National. American Thinker: Same Sex Marriage and Dred Scott, by J Peter Mulhern
What to do when the Supreme Court vandalizes state law with a delusional ruling that has no basis in the Constitution? Just say no. It really is as simple as that. ... Both Dred Scott and Windsor were foolish attempts to resolve contentious political issues by arbitrary judicial decree.
2015-02-25 ~National. WT: Clinton's war on Libya lost terror intelligence -- Gadhafi was aiding U.S.
Hillary Clinton's 2011 campaign to drive Moammar Gadhafi from power did significant damage to U.S. intelligence, according to a top Libyan aide and U.S. intelligence officials. The Libyan dictator provided regular reports to the CIA that helped capture or kill key al Qaeda figures and thwart terrorist attacks against American targets overseas, those sources said.
2015-02-24 ~National. Watchdog.org: Unions throw millions at data firm accused of breaking election law
Materials from secretive leftist donor network Democracy Alliance obtained by the Free Beacon suggest DA sees for-profit data vendors as a way to skirt campaign finance law. DA and left-wing billionaire George Soros have been Catalist supporters since the company's 2006 launch.
2015-02-23 ~Potpourri Examiner: A brief history of the Internet, leading to Obama's "net fix"
This coming Thursday, Feb. 26, the Federal Communications Commission will formally pass its fourth set of regulations on broadband Internet services. It's a sobering thought. The Internet is working well, so it's not obvious that the FCC needs to help it. The reasons for regulatory change are purely political.
2015-02-23 ~Environmt WT: Australia's wind-power market deflates, by David W. Kreutzer
Earlier this month, Reuters reported the collapse of the wind-power market in Australia. The Liberal government there is pulling the plug on state subsidies for the renewable energy industry. Without those subsidies, investor interest evaporates. So much for the claims that wind and solar technologies are already competitive.
2015-02-21 ~World.... Epoch Times: Chinese Refugee Once 'Kept Like an Animal For [Organ] Harvest'
Ms. Tian, a 71-year-old political asylee from China, once spent a week tied to a hospital bed, silently wondering every day whether that day would be the one that doctors came to wheel her away, sedate her, and remove her heart and vital organs and sell them.
2015-02-21 ~Potpourri Video: President Obama, do you really love America?, by CJ Pearson (3:01)
This black preteen from Georgia shares Mayor Giuliani's assessment of the president, and adds his own views as eloquently as any adult.
2015-02-20 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: County Executive Ed Long responds to FCTA budget questions
In a Feb 20, 2015 online chat, Fairfax County Executive Ed Long was asked by FCTA president Arthur Purves: 1. Last year, how many applications were there for every job opening? (Schools: 15,000 applications for 1,500 jobs. County: 200,000 applications for 1,000 jobs.) 2. How many county employees resign due to inadequate salary? (No answer.)
2015-02-19 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Facing budget deficit, Fairfax finds small savings, but ignores real cuts
The proposed small cuts raised the ire of Arthur Purves, who heads the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance and opposed a proposed $32 million in raises for Fairfax's 12,000 county employees. "They're giving raises and pensions and health care for employees higher priority than the programs," Purves said.
2015-02-19 ~Environmt CFACT: EPA's ozone nightmare, by Alan Caruba
Putting aside its absurd attack on carbon dioxide, declaring the most essential gas on Earth, other than oxygen, a "pollutant", the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently engaged in trying to further regulate ozone for no apparent reason other than its incessant attack on the economy.
2015-02-18 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia revenue windfall soaks taxpayers, by Kenric Ward
State tax collections are running "well ahead" of projections, so Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants to raise public-sector pay. Others ask: Why not give the millions back to taxpayers -- or least cut them a break by adjusting Virginia's antiquated income-tax brackets for inflation?
2015-02-18 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Home assessments up all across Fairfax County, by Scott McCaffrey
The average value of single-family homes rose 3.3 percent to $620,080 countywide, while the average assessed value of attached homes (townhouses and rowhouses) rose 3.8 percent to $385,338 and the average assessment of condominiums rose 4.5 percent to $259,752.
2015-02-18 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Stalled Labor Market Slows County Budget => budget pie chart
Commercial assessments dropped 0.6%, while residential assessments increased 3.4%. Commercial vacancy rates are higher than they have been since 1991.
2015-02-18 ~Environmt American Thinker: Bad news for warmists: Sun in 'weakest solar cycle in a century'
If temperatures actually decline as a result of an expected decrease in solar activity, at some point the game will be up, and the billions of dollars a year squandered on climate modeling that doesn't predict what happens will have to dry up.
2015-02-17 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia House bills put roads over rails, by Kenric Ward
Northern Virginia rail ventures -- will face a steeper climb if state lawmakers approve House Bill 1470. Delegate Dave LaRock's measure makes "congestion reduction" the primary goal of any transit projects funded by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. Currently, mass transit is exempt from the requirement.
2015-02-17 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fairfax's budget choices are all bad ones -- County Executive Ed Long
The proposed FY2016 budget would address projected shortfall by cutting 45 county jobs, offering limited raises for government employees, cutting $14 million from what the county school system asked for, and cutting about $25 million from libraries, family programs and other services. Real estate taxes would increase about $185 (3.39%) on average.
2015-02-17 ~Environmt WT: Peeking behind the 'green' curtain -- corruption not confined to Oregon's Gov.
This week Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, leaves office, having resigned under the cloud of a cronyism and corruption scandal. But emails have surfaced indicating a 'green' conspiracy involving the "clean energy" industry, several other states, and the White House -- hardly a legitimate purpose of government.
2015-02-16 ~Potpourri Reuters: Russians expose breakthrough U.S. spying program => "Equation Group"
The NSA has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives. (Details here.)
2015-02-16 ~National. WT: FCC, FEC look to ruin the Internet -- OpEd by Tammy Bruce
The FCC and the FEC have declared their intention to regulate the Internet. Fascists always explain their actions as efforts to make something more efficient, "fair," or to "protect" their target. With the feds' latest effort, their new slogan might as well be, "If you like your Internet, you can keep your Internet." Make no mistake: The Internet is under assault.
2015-02-16 ~National. WT: Carly Fiorina Unplugged - takes aim at liberal elitism, by Ralph Hallow
"Warren's wrong about the answer to crony capitalism. It's not more big government, which only creates more crony capitalism," she said. "The answer is less government, radical simplification, real government reform -- not just enough to lower tax rates. You have to simplify the tax codes."
2015-02-13 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Speeding bill is road kill in Virginia, by Kenric Ward
Delegate Jeffrey Campbell, R-Marion, tried to revise the "reckless driving" threshold, which was not changed when the state raised its highway speed limits years ago, but his House Bill 1317 never made it out of the Courts of Justice Committee. So drivers can still be fined $2,500 for driving a mere 11 mph over the interstate posted speed limit.
2015-02-12 ~National. WT: Obama amnesty creates path for illegal immigrants to vote, by Stephen Dinan
President Obama's temporary deportation amnesty will make it easier for illegal immigrants to improperly register and vote in elections, state elections officials testified to Congress, saying that the driver's licenses and Social Security numbers they will be granted create a major illegitimate voting opportunity.
2015-02-12 ~FxSchools Watchdog.org: Rising tide of limited-English students swamps school budgets
Costs for schooling a surging number of limited English proficiency students are soaring -- $2.5 billion in the Washington, D.C., region alone. But the federal government, responsible for the influx of immigrants, is ducking the bill. Alexandria, for example, is spending $25,538 for each of 4,183 LEP students. (Read also: Cost in Translation, for local specifics.)
2015-02-11 ~National. WT: Texas ruling allows cross-state handgun purchases, overturns 1968 gun law
A federal district court in Texas overturned a 1968 gun law prohibiting the sale of handguns to out-of-state residents, granting those who live in Washington, D.C., the ability to travel to an out-of-state gun store, buy a handgun and bring it home without a middleman.
2015-02-11 ~National. WT: Obama drafts federal workers to shill for Obamacare, by Ernest Istook
President Obama wants millions of new recruiters for Obamacare, so he is drafting federal workers -- including soldiers -- to ask their friends and family to sign up for coverage at HealthCare.gov. OPM has provided millions of pro-Obamacare fliers and postcards for workers to distribute before the enrollment deadline Sunday.
2015-02-09 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 'Sneak and peek' bills trigger 4th Amendment backlash, by K Ward
Watchdog.org's report on controversial "sneak and peek" legislation approved by the Virginia House and Senate is triggering a backlash from civil-liberties activists -- and buyer's remorse from some lawmakers, especially state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-Leesburg) and Delegate Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond).
2015-02-09 ~Virginia. WT: Senate bill calls for runoff vote in close elections, by David Sherfinski
The measure would ensure that elected officials receive majority support, and comes after elections in 2013 and 2014 in which several Democratic candidates, including Sen. Mark Warner, were elected to office with less than the majority of the vote. It passed on a 22-16 vote. (See related article.)
2015-02-09 ~National. WT: Exposing the cause of the Great Recession -- Gov't redistributionist policy
Peter J. Wallison, former general counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department and a member of the congressionally authorized Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, has just published a book, "Hidden in Plain Sight," in which he clearly documents what caused the financial crisis and why it is likely to happen again.
2015-02-09 ~FxMisc... Weekly Standard: The Road Not Taken-- VDOT aims to wean I-66 drivers
Here is what Renée Hamilton, deputy district administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told the Washington Post: "The ultimate goal, Hamilton said, is 'to create a culture on I-66 where people get out of their cars and use transit.'"
2015-02-07 ~Environmt Telegraph: Fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever
When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records -- on which the entire panic ultimately rested -- were systematically "adjusted" to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified.
2015-02-07 ~Environmt CFACT: Divesting people of better living standards, by Paul Driessen
"Social responsibility" activists want universities and pension funds to eliminate fossil fuel companies from their investment portfolios. The self-righteous angst against fossil fuels for the poor is arrogant, immoral, lethal, and racist. (The UN's climate Secretary Christiana Figueres was quoted as saying, "we are remaking the world economy.")
2015-02-06 ~National. Examiner: Which states get the most bang for their educational buck? -- Utah #1
Utah spends its education dollars most efficiently, scoring 86 points on the Nation's Report Card for every $1,000 spent on education. Despite spending only $6,441 per pupil, less than any other state, Utah's combined reading and math score on the Nation's Report Card beats 20 other states.
2015-02-06 ~National. Free Beacon: Afghanistan War Hero Stripped of Silver Star -- Criticized strategy
A recent survey conducted by the Military Times revealed only 27 percent of the military felt that their leaders were looking out for the best interests of the troops. Golsteyn's situation illustrates why this is the case, along with Will Swenson (Medal of Honor package "lost"), and Jim Gant (drummed out of the Army) after running afoul of their superiors.
2015-02-05 ~Virginia. Fredericksburg.com: Stimpson vows to control state spending -- vs Speaker Howell
"We have a spending problem in Richmond, not a revenue problem. In fact, since Bill Howell has been speaker, Virginia's budget growth has far outpaced population growth and inflation. A budget that was $42 billion in 2001 has more than doubled to $95 billion in 2014."
2015-02-05 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: State Healthcare Exchange Bill Fails, by Donna Hamilton
SB 1363, a bill to create a state healthcare exchange, was narrowly defeated Monday by a 7-6 vote in the Virginia Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Voting against the bill were Senators Wagner, Newman, Obenshain, Stuart, Stanley, Cosgrove, and Chafin. Those in favor were Senators Watkins, Colgan, Saslaw, McWaters, Alexander, and Dance.
2015-02-05 ~FxTrans.. Fx Free Citizen: VDOT I-66 Plans Outside Beltway, by FCTA's Charles McAndrews
At a Feb 3 public information hearing at Oakton High School, officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) outlined the proposed plan to improve 25 miles of I-66 from the Beltway (I-495) to Haymarket (US Route 15).
2015-02-04 ~Potpourri WT: Redneck ethnic cleansing on the Shenandoah -- Book review by James Bovard
Few things vanish from public memory more quickly than government atrocities. When I was growing up on a mountainside across from the Shenandoah National Park in the 1960s, no one spoke of the injustices committed against the mountaineers brutally expelled from their homes in the 1930s to create that park.
2015-02-02 ~Virginia. MyFox5DC: E-ZPass Payola to Virginia politicians?, by Emily Miller
Drivers have been hit with tens of thousands of dollars in fines for accidentally missing tolls on their E-ZPass Express Lanes in Virginia. Did lawmakers realize that they signed up for this type of extortion when they signed up with the Transurban partnership? Unlike federal campaign laws, Virginia allows corporations to give directly to candidates.
2015-02-02 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia weighs joining Article V convention, by David Sherfinski
National and state GOP leaders are supportive of the idea, saying that a convention of the states is needed to stop an out-of-control federal government, but some conservatives say such a gathering could end up as a free-for-all and risk radically altering the founding document.
2015-02-02 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fx Supervisor Gerald Hyland (Mt Vernon Dist) to retire, by Antonio Olivo
Hyland said he has heard of about a dozen potential candidates for his seat, although no one has formally declared.
2015-02-02 ~Environmt WT: Russian money funds American environmental groups, by Richard Rahn
There have been allegations and suspicions that the Russians were also putting major money into American environmental organizations to assist them in their efforts to stop the expansion of U.S. gas and oil production, but not much hard evidence -- until now.
2015-02-01 ~Report... Using SATs or SOLs for School Performance Evaluation, by Fred Costello-143
2015-01-29 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia bill would bar 'backdoor energy tax', by Kenric Ward
Warning an Obama administration "Clean Power Plan" would sharply increase Virginians' electric rates, Republican lawmakers want to put themselves between the Environmental Protection Agency and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Targeting both the EPA and the state's Department of Environmental Quality, Senate Bill 1442 would require General Assembly approval of any rules submitted to Washington by the DEQ.
2015-01-29 ~Potpourri Examiner: Transportation mode of the future: The bus, by Michael Barone
Rail lines are by definition inflexible: planners had better be right about consumer patterns 50 years from now. Bus companies can change service locations and times by clicking on the Internet.
2015-01-29 ~Health... WT: Weighing childhood risks of contact sports, by Joseph Maroon, Julian Bailes
As neurosurgeons and early researchers of concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), we recommend that parents permit their kids to play football, ice hockey, lacrosse and other contact sports. The benefits of organized contact sports on childhood and adolescent development far outweigh the risks, given the available medical data.
2015-01-29 ~FxSchools FCTA Testimony at FCPS Budget Hearing, by Arthur Purves
Arthur testifies at the FCPS Budget Hearing at Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield, Va. He asserts that the budget "crisis" has failed to factor in public sector generosity in the face of private sector penurity.
2015-01-28 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia lawmakers roll over for Mark Herring, by Kenric Ward
Instead of challenging Attorney General Mark Herring's edict that illegal immigrants are entitled to in-state college tuition, self-professed conservatives at the General Assembly look for ways to reimburse the schools. That's how legislative sausage gets made, and why Richmond is behaving more like Washington, D.C., these days.
2015-01-28 ~State-IL. WT: Attorney general gives pay raises as Illinois goes broke -- A lesson here?
"No one in Illinois who works for the state government should be getting a pay increase right now," said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of Illinois Policy. "It doesn't matter if they are union or nonunion. We are broke; there is no money."
2015-01-28 ~Potpourri WT: California protects the chickens, Al Gore targets the humans, by Ernest Istook
Add chicken rights to regulators' abuse of the Endangered Species Act, and you see that America is on the verge of giving animals more special rights protection than people get. It's scary when activists agitate to coop up the people but allow the chickens free range. They must think that freedom is for the birds.
2015-01-28 ~Potpourri WT: 'American Sniper' thrills Baghdad crowd -- 'Shoot him! He has an IED!'
Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" has wowed American audiences, but for one short week it also thrilled crowds in Baghdad. Iraq's upscale Mansour Mall played the film for one week before the controversy surrounding the film prompted management to end showings. (Of course, WaPo has a different opinion!)
2015-01-28 ~National. WT: Secret tapes undermine Clinton on Libyan war: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, OpEd
Top Pentagon officials and a senior Democrat in Congress so distrusted Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2011 march to war in Libya that they opened their own diplomatic channels with the Gadhafi regime in an effort to halt the escalating crisis, according to secret audio recordings recovered from Tripoli.
2015-01-28 ~National. WT: Former CENCOM chief criticizes Obama defense, security policies, by Bill Gertz
Gen. Mattis urges fixing the country's faulty defense strategy "because in an interconnected age when opportunistic adversaries can work in tandem to destroy stability and prosperity, our country needs to regain its strategic footing. We need to bring the clarity to our efforts before we lose the confidence of the American people and the support of potential allies."
2015-01-28 ~National. WT: FDIC attempts to end "Operation Choke Point" (Obama's war on gun sellers)
In an effort to end Operation Choke Point -- a financial task force that was created by the Obama administration to "choke out" businesses it finds objectionable like gun shops -- the FDIC issued a letter saying all banks should examine their customer relationships on a case-by-case basis and not by industry operational risk.
2015-01-28 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS Budgets 2000 to 2016 -- compiled by FCTA's Fred Costello
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) budget data for FY2000 through FY2015, as shown graphically, with summary data, and in item-by-item detail.
2015-01-28 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: Fairfax should pay for "quality" performance, Letter by Jeff Stewart
This is a board that has consistently raised taxes as a means to balance the budget. This is a board that helped circle the wagons, at great taxpayer expense, after the police killing of one of the people they are elected to represent. Except for supervisors Herrity and Smyth, we need to elect 8 new "quality" supervisors in November that deserve the pay raise.
2015-01-28 ~FxMisc... WT: Illinois AG gives pay raises as state goes broke -- Just like Fairfax Co!
Over the past four years, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, has handed out roughly $1 million in pay raises to exempt, nonunion employees who don't fall under state wage laws, as Illinois faces bankruptcy. (FCTA can't help but see an analogy to those unsustainable Fx Co and FCPS wage and benefit increases.)
2015-01-27 ~World.... WT: Argentina federal prosecutor's murder and the Iranian connection, Clifford May
Alberto Nisman filed a report accusing high Argentine officials of conspiring to cover up Iranian involvement in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish cultural center, agreeing to negotiate immunity for Iranian suspects. He was murdered as a result.
2015-01-27 ~Virginia. CFACT: "Boneta Bill" passed; protects farmers from meddling local officials
Backed by the Virginia Farm Bureau, the new law protects customary activities at agricultural operations from local bans in the absence of substantial impacts on public welfare. It also prohibits localities from requiring a special-use permit for a host of farm-related activities that are specified in the bill. The law takes effect on July 1.
2015-01-27 ~FxMisc... Fx Free Citizen: John Guevara Announces Run for Sully District Supervisor
Guevara works as a Manager, Professional Service, for a large telecommunications service provider and has served his community in a variety of ways. He has lived in the Sully District (Centreville, Chantilly, Clifton, and Oakton) for the last 15 years with his high school sweetheart, Marilyn. They have two sons, Peter and Nathan, who both attend Fairfax County public schools.
2015-01-26 ~State-NJ. Reason: $25,000 per Student to Fix Camden Schools. And Nothing Changed.
... But all that extra money hasn't changed the fact that Camden's public schools are among in the worst in the nation, notorious for their abysmal test scores, the frequent occurrence of in-school violence, dilapidated buildings, and an on-time graduation rate of just 61 percent.
2015-01-25 ~World.... WT: 'Apartheid' in France's Muslim neighborhoods, by Rowan Scarborough
"The rise of radical Islam is largely concentrated in the most sensitive French suburbs. Over the past three decades, France let its inner cities become real powder kegs. In lawless areas, the fundamentalism has used the failure of the state because it thrives wherever there is frustration." -- Eric Denece, founder of the French Center for Intelligence Research.
2015-01-25 ~Report... Analysis of the Proposed FCPS Budget for FY2016, by Fred Costello-141
2015-01-24 ~World.... Telegraph: How the European dream is dying, state by state, by Bruno Waterfield
Europe is being swept by a wave of popular disenchantment and revolt against mainstream political parties and the European Union. In 2007, a 52 per cent majority of Europeans trusted the EU. That trust has now fallen to 35 per cent.
2015-01-24 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: Virginia Fourth Amendment -- Guest column by Mark Fitzgibbons
Virginia doesn't have a Fourth Amendment in its Constitution. HJ 578 will give Virginians constitutional protections of their private data and other important types of private property. It will protect our rights and give us security against lawless snooping and spying by state and local government officials.
2015-01-23 ~Report... Increase Taxes So Teachers Can Be Paid More?, by Fred Costello
2015-01-23 ~National. WaPo: New Marine Corps Commandant plans to shake up the service, by Dan Lamothe
Commandant Gen. Joseph F. Dunford took over as the service's top officer on Oct. 17, replacing the retiring Gen. James F. Amos. He released a 16-page plan on Friday outlining how the Marine Corps "will set the conditions to fight and win against future enemies".
2015-01-22 ~Virginia. Waychdog.org: VA universities spend $128 million on travel, by Kathryn Watson
George Mason University allows employees to buy airline tickets above and beyond $5,000, the state's transaction limit... The University of Virginia allows workers to spend up to $500 a night on hotel rooms at conferences...
2015-01-22 ~Potpourri Examiner: Student journalist Daniel Mael on free speech and campus culture war
Daniel Mael, a 22-year-old student journalist at Brandeis University, reported on fellow student Khadija Lynch's malicious tweets in the aftermath of the death of NYPD officers Liu and Ramos, and Lynch was subsequently sanctioned. End of story? Of course not.
2015-01-22 ~Material. American Thinker: Obama's Abuse of Taxpayers to Buy Voters' Love, by Lloyd Marcus
Only in America could a mere [black] ditch-digger achieve such success. So, upon hearing Obama's State of the Union speech, unlike many Americans, I am not seduced by a seemingly compassionate man trying to help the middle class. Quite the opposite: I am repulsed.
2015-01-22 ~FxMisc... FxCo: County 2015 Strategic Plan -- Tax middle class to benefit rich and poor!
"The County latest strategic plan calls for arts centers for the rich and many forms of assistance to the low-paid, exacerbating the problem of overburdening the middle class. The plan does not include reducing taxes but implies that taxes must be increased so the low-paid can be served." -- FCTA's Fred Costello
2015-01-21 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: GOP defections save in-state tuition for VA migrants, by K Ward
A bill to block Virginia from granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants died on a nearly straight party-line vote in the state Senate Tuesday. The 20-19 defeat effectively ends any legislative attempts to override Attorney General Mark Herring's ruling that illegal immigrants are eligible for discounted in-state college tuition.
2015-01-20 ~Virginia. Va. Dept of Human Resource Mgmt's presentation of state employee compensation
This presentation was made by Sara Wilson, director of Virginia's Dept of Human Resource Management. Her presentation was delivered to the Senate Finance Committee (chaired by Sen Walter Stosch), the General Gov't subcommittee (chaired by Sen Jill Vogel), and to the corresponding subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
2015-01-20 ~National. Watchdog.org: 25-year-old 'test program' shields federal contract data, by K Ward
While government agencies snoop into the private lives of Americans, Congress maintains a stone wall around trillions of dollars in public contracts. Just before their Christmas break, lawmakers quietly renewed the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program, a oxymorically titled law that blocks disclosure of Pentagon spending.
2015-01-20 ~FxSchools Fx Underground: FCPS non-local travel report, Jun2013 to Aug2014 -- Necessary?
There have been a lot of comments about travel for FCPS employees. Here is a listing for about 15 months of non-local travel as reported by FCPS.
2015-01-20 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fx Supervisor Michael Frey (Sully District) to retire, by Antonio Olivo
The Republican secretary of the county's electoral board, Brian Schoeneman, announced his candidacy for Frey's seat. Democrat school board member Kathy Smith is also expected to toss her hat into the ring.
2015-01-19 ~National. Examiner: Government created the housing and financial crises - may do so again
The real problem was housing finance, argues Peter Wallison in his new book Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis and Why It Could Happen Again. Without changes in housing finance policy, he says, there would have been no financial crisis in 2008.
2015-01-19 ~National. Watchdog.org: 'Dark money' scolder CMD doesn't disclose union donations
The Center for Media and Democracy positions itself as a crusader against anonymous political contributions -- so-called "dark money". But this self-righteous left-wing propaganda machine apparently doesn't mind keeping the public in the dark about some big labor union checks it has cashed.
2015-01-16 ~Environmt Climate Depot: Scientists balk at 2014-hottest-year claims -- The pause continues
There are dueling global datasets -- surface temperature records and satellite records -- and they disagree. The satellites show an 18-year-plus global warming "standstill" and the satellite was set up to be "more accurate" than the surface records. (And they can't be manipulated.)
2015-01-15 ~State-AZ. Reuters: Arizona first-in-nation law mandates students pass civic test
Arizona's high school students will be required to pass the same civics test that immigrants must pass to gain citizenship, under a first-in-the-nation bill signed into law on Thursday.
2015-01-15 ~Potpourri BW: Forget Everything You Didn't Understand About Bitcoin, by Carter Dougherty
Conceived as a substitute for conventional currency, without the involvement of established institutions, Bitcoin is poised to evolve into a money transfer system that would do what Western Union or Citigroup does, only more cheaply and efficiently.
2015-01-15 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Bulova's "State of County" takes optimistic tack, by Brian Trompeter
But the county's office-vacancy rate now stands at 18 percent and commercial property values have remained flat in recent years -- unlike those of residential properties, which have seen gains since the recession ended.
2015-01-15 ~FxMisc... Biz Journal: Greater Washington's economy is 'being left behind': Stephen Fuller
The region is adding more low-paying jobs than high-paying jobs. From August 2008 through February 2010 the region lost 177,700 jobs worth $28.4 billion to the regional economy. From August 2008 through November the region gained 242,400 jobs worth $27.4 billion. That leaves a gap of more than $983 million.
2015-01-14 ~National. WT: Taxpayer advocate predicts 'new lows' for IRS service, by Stephen Dinan
The IRS has seen a "devastating erosion" of its ability to do its job, and the worst is yet to come after budget cuts have trimmed staff and the tea party targeting scandal has damaged the agency's reputation, the government's official National Taxpayer Advocate said in a report Wednesday, delivering the latest grim assessment of the agency.
2015-01-14 ~National. WT: George Soros funds Ferguson protests -- $33 million for "astroturf" activists
Liberal billionaire George Soros gave at least $33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson, according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations.
2015-01-13 ~States... MarketWatch: The only state where less than half its civilians work -- WV
The labor participation rates and unemployment rates are posted for all the states.
2015-01-13 ~Potpourri Examiner: Piketty's data don't match the facts, by Jason Russell
Thomas Piketty's tome on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a surprise best-seller that was widely hailed by liberals, is filled with flaws, according to a new study.
2015-01-13 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: Crunching salary numbers in Fairfax, by Frank Medico
Most of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors don't believe $75,000 annual salary is enough so they are gathering information to consider a pay raise. According to a 2014 Virginia Association of Counties salary survey of 55 counties throughout Virginia, Fairfax County supervisors salary of $75,000 annually tops them all by a substantial amount.
2015-01-13 ~FxMisc... Watchdog.org: Fairfax officials seek higher pay, pensions, by Kenric Ward
Fairfax Co supervisors are considering hiking their salaries from $75,000 to $95,000. And the 12 School Board members are angling to double their pay from $20,000 to $40,000. FCTA President Arthur Purves blasted both ideas, saying: "If the pay isn't enough, they should resign and let someone else do it. Salaries should be kept low to encourage turnover."
2015-01-12 ~handout.. Fx - Will your income increase 5% next year? -- Fx Free Citizen ad landing page
For the last 15 years Fairfax County residential real estate taxes have increased, on average, 5% each year. This year's increase was 7%. The County Executive has already suggested a 5.5% increase next year.
2015-01-10 ~Potpourri Red Nation Rising: Muslim Extremists are an Extreme Problem, Politically Incorrect
The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim; The Beltway Snipers were Muslims; The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim; The underwear Bomber was a Muslim... etc.
2015-01-10 .FxSchools FCTA: FCPS Budgets 2000 to 2015
FCTA's Fred Costello has compiled basic Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) budget data for FY2000 through FY2015, as shown graphically, with summary data, and in item-by-item detail.
2015-01-08 ~FxSchools FCPS: Superintendent Proposes FY2016 Budget of $2.6 Billion -- 2.6% above FY2015
Would address several significant cost drivers including growing enrollment and changing student demographics along with compensation increases for employees. (See also FCPS's FY2016 Budget Presentation, Proposed Budget, Citizen's Guide to Understanding the Budget, and Budget Talking Points.)
2015-01-07 ~World.... Free Beacon: Tribute to Charlie Hebdo, whose cartoons offended "Religion of Peace"
As with the North Korea hacking of Sony, perhaps the only way to refine Muslim sensitivities to press freedom is to turn the tables and accelerate exposure of those very images which seem to trigger violent jihad by the barbarians among us.
2015-01-07 ~World.... WT: A courageous voice from inside Islam -- Egypt's President el-Sissi speaks up
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi stood before a clerical audience at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, long regarded as the world's leading center of Islamic thought. His purpose: to directly challenge those reigning orthodoxies. Mr. el-Sissi told his audience that current Islamic thinking was antagonizing the entire world...
2015-01-07 ~World.... WT: Muslims segregated from French society in growing Islamist mini-states
While not a complete safe-haven for al Qaeda-type operatives, Paris and other French cities have become more fertile places for Muslim extremists in the past decade. City leaders have allowed virtual Islamic mini-states to thrive as Muslims gain power to govern in their own way.
2015-01-06 ~National. Examiner: Racism for fun and profit -- "Race-hustling" perfected by the Rev Al
A few entrepreneurial charlatans have managed to monetize this revulsion and build from it something that resembles an extortion racket. Nice business you have there -- if you care about it, you're going to need to pay someone for protection.
2015-01-06 ~FxMisc... Loudoun Times: Democrat Murphy wins Va. House 34th -- Spending: Dem vs GOP
2015-01-06 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: FCPD officer Adam Torres named in 2013 John Geer shooting
2015-01-05 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Amid War on Coal, Virginia falls from leader to laggard, by K Ward
After years of outpacing the nation in economic growth, Virginia is sputtering. Employment is lagging, real estate is flat and the Obama administration's War on Coal isn't helping.
2015-01-05 ~National. Examiner: Family fragmentation: Can anything be done?, by Michael Barone
The nation is being deprived of a substantial amount of human capital by family fragmentation. Young people are achieving less than their potential, with cumulative negative consequences for all of us.
2015-01-05 ~National. WT: Apocalypse prophecies drive Islamic State strategy, recruiting efforts
One U.S. official said al-Baghdadi may simply be leaning on end-of-times propaganda because he knows how intoxicating it is to young recruits thirsting for meaning in their lives. At the same time, the official said, there's "nothing to suggest that he and a circle of others around him don't actually believe this stuff."
2014-12-xx ~Bulletin. Another 7% Increase in Your Real-Estate Tax
2014-12-29 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Amendment would pour raw milk into Constitution, by Kenric Ward
The 2015 General Assembly will debate a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to buy homegrown food items at Virginia farms. According to the amendment: "The people shall have the right to acquire for their own consumption farm-produced food directly at the farm with agreement from the farmer who produced it."
2014-12-23 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax prosecutor says police blocked his probe of John Geer killing
Fairfax County prosecutor Raymond F. Morrogh said police repeatedly refused to provide internal affairs records of the Fairfax police officer who shot and killed a Springfield man in 2013, and county officials vowed to put up a fight should he try to seek them through court action.
2014-12-22 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Motorist group criticizes Virginia's 'reckless' speeding law
In a hurry this holiday? Beware that Virginia ranks as one of the toughest states on speeders, and police are proud of it. Driving 20 mph over the speed limit classifies as reckless driving in Virginia law. That offense is not a mere traffic citation, but a Class One criminal misdemeanor punishable by a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail.
2014-12-22 ~Health... TIME: Medicine Gets Personal Again with Direct Primary Care, by David Von Drehle
Primary care and specialized care have two very different missions, and need different business models. After all, car insurance doesn't cover oil changes, and homeowners' insurance doesn't cover house paint. So why should insurance pay for your annual checkup or your kid's strep swab?
2014-12-21 ~National. Military Times: Obama's mark on the military; deeply unpopular commander-in-chief
Obama is an unpopular president in the eyes of the men and women in uniform. Yet his two-term administration is etching a deep imprint on the culture inside the armed forces . As commander in chief, he will leave behind a legacy that will shape the Pentagon's personnel policies and the social customs of rank-and-file troops for decades to come.
2014-12-21 ~Health... Wisc Journal Sentinel: Benefits of diabetes drugs dubious -- Follow the money!
The number of people with diabetes or pre-diabetes and who are candidates for drugs has been magnified by organizations and doctors with financial ties to drug companies. But from 2004 to 2013, none of the 30 new diabetes drugs that came on the market were proven to improve key outcomes, such as reducing heart attacks or strokes, blindness or other complications of the disease.
2014-12-21 ~FxPension WT: The coming pension meltdown, by Stephen Moore
Middle-class private-sector workers pay higher and higher taxes to fund public-sector pensions that are often twice as generous as what most workers will receive themselves. Some states are heading off this crisis by closing down open-ended pensions and putting public-sector union members in 401(k) plans that won't bankrupt the state or municipalities.
2014-12-21 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Economist says N.Va. must balance reduced federal spending
Faced with reduced federal spending, Northern Virginia must harness its highly educated workforce and become a more attractive place for international and high-technology companies to do business, George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller said. "Ours will [continue to] be a company town, but 15 percent smaller."
2014-12-19 ~State-TX. Examiner: Texas job growth outpaces rest of U.S. combined, by Jason Russell
The economic miracle in Texas continues. Since the recession began in December 2007, 1.2 million net jobs have been created in Texas. Only 700,000 net jobs have been created in the other 49 states combined.
2014-12-19 ~National. WT: Obamacare's Christmas surprise -- CMS to re-enroll you in cheaper plan
CMS has laid the perfect trap: Sign up at healthcare.gov one time in your life and we will never let you go. If you don't continually re-enroll each and every year, CMS will keep you on the plan that it chooses.
2014-12-18 ~FxDRail.. FxCo: Fairfax Gets Lowest Interest Rate Federal Loan for Silver Line Phase 2
Fairfax County officially closed on its $403 million, low-interest federal loan yesterday that will help pay for the construction of the Silver Line's second phase. The county received the second lowest interest in the history of the federal loan program -- a 2.73% interest rate.
2014-12-17 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Stimpson blasts Virginia's public-private deals, by Kenric Ward
STAFFORD, Va. -- Former Stafford County Supervisor Susan Stimpson will take on House Speaker Bill Howell in the GOP primary, accusing GOP leaders of favoring corporate partnerships at taxpayer expense -- a reference to Virginia's use and alleged misuse of public-private partnerships for road construction.
2014-12-17 ~State-AR. AP: Arkansas' private-option Medicaid experiment in jeopardy, by Andrew DeMillo
A wave of newly elected Republican lawmakers who ran on vows to fight so-called "Obamacare" -- including the state's "private option" Medicaid expansion -- has raised doubts about the future of a leading model for conservative states to gradually adapt to the federal health care law.
2014-12-17 ~Report... Circumventing the Bond-Referendum Process, by Fred Costello-139
2014-12-17 ~Potpourri WT: 'Twas the night before Christmas -- Updated for modern times
2014-12-17 ~FxTrans.. FxCo: "Unfunded" Transportation Projects -- currently being considered
A list of projects Fairfax County has identified as necessary to maintain a safe and efficient transportation network. These projects are currently not funded.
2014-12-16 ~Report... Fairfax office space grows as job numbers drop, by Fred Costello-140
2014-12-14 ~Health... Delta Inst Int'l: BX Protocol - Lyme Disease Medical Breakthrough -- video(18:02)
A lot of people around the world suffer from Lyme disease, a complex bacterial destruction of a cell's mitochondria. The disease goes largely undiagnosed, and even when detected, is not treated effectively in most cases. If you know someone with Lyme disease, pass this link along to them. It may help.
2014-12-11 ~Potpourri WT: The Bible's Influence -- 25 articles sponsored by the Bible Literacy Project
Regardless of one's beliefs, no one can deny the influence of this one book on human history nor dismiss its value either as literature or as a guide to a better world.
2014-12-09 ~National. Examiner: "Gummint don't work so good" any more, by Michael Barone
"Big government has become a big, waddling, sluggish beast, ever ready to boss you around, but not able to perform useful functions at anything but a plodding pace. It needs to be slimmed down and streamlined, so it can get useful things done."
2014-12-06 ~FxSchools FCTA: Report on FCPS Listening Session, by Chuck McAndrew
Chuck attended a FCPS Listening Session at the Hunters Woods Elementary School in Reston given by Dr. Karen Garza, School Superintendent. He reports on who attended and what transpired.
2014-12-03 ~National. Brookings: The Earned Income Tax Credit in Your County -- An interactive map
2014-12-02 ~Virginia. Fx Ti404: Time to remove "spoilers" from election process, by FCTA's David Swink
Robert Sarvis' third-party candidacy in two consecutive Virginia elections has "flipped" the election results. Perhaps Virginia should consider a runoff option similar to Georgia and Louisiana.
2014-12-02 ~States... Fraser Inst: Economic freedom among U.S. states -- summary from the detailed data
Texas and South Dakota have tied for the highest level of economic freedom among all U.S. states, with high levels of economic freedom helping to create prosperity and economic growth for working families. Other top ranked U.S. states are North Dakota, Virginia, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Nebraska, Delaware and Tennessee. (Examiner's report.)
2014-12-02 ~National. Conservative Intel: The U.S. Electorate Since 1982, In 12 Graphs, David Freddoso
2014-12-02 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Facing $173 million budget gap, Fairfax faces possible lower bond rating
Moody's in January attached a "negative outlook" to Fairfax's general obligation bonds, used to pay for schools, roads and other infrastructure improvements. Moody's cited Fairfax's underfunded pension systems and emergency budget reserves, which are comparatively lower than those kept by other governments with triple-A bond ratings.
2014-12-01 ~National. Examiner: Are IGs REALLY Independent?... or lapdogs of agency management?
Allegations against top officials at the State Department were devastating and had to be suppressed, so the agency's inspector general quickly obliged, delivering what amounted to a cover-up of a cover-up. What happened at the State Department is not unusual, recent disclosures show.
2014-11-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Effects of Obamacare on Economic Productivity, by Casey Mulligan
Imprimis lecture by Casey Mulligan, professor of economics at the University of Chicago
2014-11-29 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: Yes to 'Convention of States', by Rita Dunaway, COS Project
In Article V, the Founding Fathers provided the people with a way to trump Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. Through our state legislatures, we apply for a Convention of the States to propose amendments that will set the record straight and close the loopholes the Court has opened. If 34 states apply, the Constitution explicitly requires Congress to issue the "call", and then to step back and let the states do their work.
2014-11-28 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Budget pressure mounts for Fairfax -- Soft commercial real estate
County tax assessors are expecting a decline in commercial real estate values and only a 3 percent increase in home prices for fiscal 2016, less than originally projected. The county is also bracing for the potential impact of state budget cuts. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will release his proposed budget in mid-December.
2014-11-27 ~World.... Telegraph: David Cameron to lead Britain out of Europe if migrant reforms fail
Britain must have the right to make European migrants wait four years before receiving welfare or council houses, David Cameron will say, as he warns that he could be prepared to leave the European Union. The reforms will be a "return to rules" put in place by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s that were subsequently overturned by the European Court.
2014-11-27 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: Dulles International Airport struggles to find its footing, Lori Aratani
Washington Dulles International Airport is in trouble. The most alarming evidence: Sometime next year, more passengers will travel through Reagan National Airport than Dulles -- an airport 14 times National's size. For Virginia leaders, as well as the agency that manages both airports, it is a deeply troubling development.
2014-11-26 ~Health... Reuters: Celiac disease showing up in many forms and at all ages, Janice Neumann
"Anyone can have celiac disease, it's common and underdiagnosed," said Dr. Peter Green. "The message we want to get out is if you think you've got celiac disease, don't just go on a gluten-free diet, test for it."
2014-11-26 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: Results of Transportation Meeting with Del. Tom Rust, by Chuck McAndrew
The purpose of this meeting was to emphasize that FCTA wants to see evidence that the additional funding from the recent sales tax increase, grantors tax increase, and transit occupancy tax increase, which is supposed to give Northern Va. 70% of the funds, is being honored. (See LETTER in Fairfax Free Citizen.)
2014-11-26 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Results of the Fairfax County Budget Forecast Meeting, by Chuck McAndrew
Mr. Long presented a bleak picture for the FY 2016 and FY 2017 Fairfax County General Funds and School Funds due to continued restrained revenue growth -- slow job growth, very weak commercial market (highest vacancy rate since 1991), and lower than projected residential values.
2014-11-25 ~World.... Breitbart: Pope Francis to European Union: Keep Democracy Alive, by Tom Williams
Requires avoiding the temptations that can undermine it, including ..."ethical systems without goodness, and intellectualism bereft of wisdom." ... The "great ideas which once inspired Europe," he said, seem to have been replaced "by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions."
2014-11-25 ~Potpourri Telegraph: Frenchman develops pills to make flatulence smell of roses
65-year-old inventor says he came up with his range of indigestion tablets after he was "nearly suffocated" by the smell of farts.
2014-11-25 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: County and FCPS budget forecast presented for FY2016 and FY2017 -- Slides
Fairfax County is facing budget shortfalls due to the tepid recovery in the residential and commercial real estate markets and increasing spending requirements. And the ripple effects of federal and state budget issues continue to impact county revenue, including sales tax receipts; the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax; and hotel taxes.
2014-11-25 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fairfax Co facing $179 million budget shortfall in the next two years
Fairfax County officials are projecting a budget shortfall of $100 million for the coming fiscal year, and $79 million the following year, because of the lackluster recovery of residential property values and the highest office vacancy rate since 1991.
2014-11-24 ~World.... Examiner: Beating these bloody, banal jihadis, by Dan Hannan
The best way to defeat a bad idea is with a better one. Few ideas are as wretched as the theocracy favored by Islamic State; none is as attractive as freedom. We shouldn't be shy of saying so. In the end, this struggle comes down to self-belief. Not theirs; ours.
2014-11-24 ~World.... Examiner: Nobody pushing Thomas Piketty's policies to combat economic inequality
But even [in Paris] his policies are in trouble. There seems to be a widespread if unspoken understanding that government attempts to "spread the wealth around" (as candidate Obama once told Joe the Plumber) tend to destroy it instead.
2014-11-24 ~Potpourri Examiner: WaPo editor defends 'fact check' on SNL Obama skit (executive amnesty)
... telling the Examiner that his article was meant only to explore "interesting questions". ..."Only thing funnier than SNL's Obama amnesty power grab sketch is [the Washington Post] actually doing a 'fact check',” one-time Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said in a tweet.
2014-11-23 ~Potpourri The College Fix: "Do The Left Thing", by Omar Mahmood
Read the 'hostile' column that got a University of Michigan student writer suspended from the campus newspaper.
2014-11-22 ~Health... Robert Rowan: Rapid Ebola Infection Cure -- Rowen-Robins Treatment Protocol
A physician at an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone accidentally stabbed himself with an Ebola contaminated needle. This doctor had been recently trained in the Rowen-Robins Ebola Treatment Protocol, which uses the specific Robins Method of Direct Intravenous infusion of ozone gas (DIV), costing less than $40. Result: cured in two days.
2014-11-20 ~FxTrans.. WAMU: 2,000 Miles Of Bicycle, Pedestrian Projects Recommended By Regional Planners
Thousands of miles of bike lanes and pedestrian pathways are planned for the Washington region over the next several decades. The aim is to get people out of their cars and onto bikes or walking paths for the many short trips they make each day.
2014-11-19 ~Virginia. Va Free Citizen: Virginia School Board Association wants to adopt Common Core ??
Believe it or not, the Virginia School Board Association (VSBA) is encouraging the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) to adopt Common Core. Have they not paid any attention to the abundance of states that are trying to get out of Common Core? (Read The "Common Core" Debacle.) Fortunately, VBOE remains opposed.
2014-11-19 ~Report... Fairfax Co Migration due to Real-Estate Tax Increases, by Fred Costello-134
2014-11-19 ~National. CSpan video: Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States -- Arthur Laffer (53:05)
Arthur Laffer talks about his book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States: How Taxes, Energy, and Worker Freedom Change Everything. He argues that every measure of economic prosperity on the state level is linked to taxation and says the data shows that low tax states are outperforming high tax states around the country.
2014-11-19 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette: Vienna Council OKs site plan for expansion of community center
An artist's rendering shows the planned new entranceway at the renovated Vienna Community Center.
2014-11-18 ~Virginia. WaPo: Arlington cancels Columbia Pike, Crystal City streetcar projects
Arlington County announced Tuesday that it is canceling the long-planned Columbia Pike and Crystal City streetcar projects in the face of strong and vocal opposition from county residents, a surprise decision that sparked sharp criticism from officials in neighboring Fairfax County. (How's that for Implications of the Vihstadt Election.)
2014-11-18 ~State-IN. Streetsblog.com: Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
This is a three-part series on the Indiana Toll Road. Part one discusses the use of private finance to build and maintain highways. Part two takes a closer look at how Australian firm Macquarie manages its infrastructure assets. Part three examines the incentives for consultants to exaggerate traffic projections, making terrible boondoggles look like financial winners.
2014-11-18 ~FxMisc... FxCo: Fairfax County 2015 Districts, Precincts, Polling Places
2014-11-17 ~Potpourri Yahoo: Facebook slams the door on political campaigns, by Jon Ward
An upcoming code change means Obama's groundbreaking 2012 outreach on the site won't happen again.
2014-11-17 ~Potpourri WT: The Stupidity of 'Experts' -- Obamacare, Gruber Warming, Dodge-Frank, etc.
The whole socialist and big-government ideal is predicated on the notion that the intellectuals can bring us nirvana -- but something always goes wrong. Yet, blissfully, without self-doubt, they go from failure to failure to failure, as others pay the price.
2014-11-17 ~National. WT: In the beginning there was Goldwater -- Started modern conservative movement
Republicans saw his defeat as the end. Things would return to normal with Democrats and "respectable" Republicans differing on the margins, but agreeing on major issues. But Barry Goldwater in losing had changed their world and ours in ways they couldn't imagine; they were soon to discover that it was only the beginning.
2014-11-17 ~National. WT: The menace of civil forfeiture -- Was originated to fight organized crime
Civil forfeiture was designed as a tool in the government's arsenal against predatory criminal enterprises. In the ensuing decades, however, Congress vastly expanded it. Nearly half a century later, it has so metastasized that asset forfeiture is now available for virtually every offense of the federal criminal law.
2014-11-16 ~Virginia. Daily Press: The Virginia Way: Politics, Power and Profit, by Dave Ress
In Virginia, the line between right and wrong -- or, more correctly, between legal and illegal -- is very thin. This eight-part series explores the many ways that Virginia lawmakers can use to benefit themselves while minding the public interest.
2014-11-15 ~World.... Gulf News: UAE lists 86 terrorist organizations -- includes CAIR, MAS in U.S.
Many Americans still are unaware that CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the US v. Holy Land Foundation, the largest terrorism financing prosecution in US history. In that trial, CAIR was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood organization.
2014-11-13 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: The Statewide Implications of the Vihstadt Election
The election of John Vihstadt to the Arlington County Board in the general election last week is rocking the Democratic political establishment in Virginia's most liberal jurisdiction. Arlington is the bluest of blue electorally, but its citizens have had it up to their eyeballs with gold-plated spending schemes, including the $350 million streetcar project.
2014-11-13 ~FxTrans.. Fx Free Citizen: LeMunyon's Transportation Update -- by Del Jim LeMunyon
Editor's Note: Delegate Jim LeMunyon (R, VA-67) provided the following, very informative "Transportation Update" to his constituents yesterday (November 12). Thanks much to Delegate LeMunyon for keeping the public informed about ongoing activities and plans to improve transportation in this heavily traffic congested area.
2014-11-13 ~FxMisc... Fx Free Citizen: Democrat Electioneering Day -- by Ileana Johnson
The neighboring Democrat handing out sample ballots seemed oblivious to the Virginia State Board of Elections vote of October 14, 2008, "to ban clothing and hats as well as buttons and other paraphernalia that directly advocate the election or defeat of a specific candidate or issue."
2014-11-12 ~National. Examiner: Gruber's Obamacare comments expose what's wrong with liberalism
Gruber, in a moment of candor, acknowledged what has always been true about Obamacare and liberalism -- that the masses have to be tricked into ceding control to those who know what's best for them.
2014-11-12 ~National. Examiner: Obamacare's foundation of lies a warning for new Supreme Court case
Given the clear text of the law and Gruber's admissions on other occasions, the Democrats' argument in King v. Burwell is: we obviously never intended to exclude the federal exchange. If it's an argument about legislative intent, Obamacare's authors are asking us to trust them.
2014-11-12 ~FxSchools Fx Ti404: County schools search for solutions to space squeeze, by Kate Yanchulis
While the flood of students into Fairfax County schools has slowed, the squeeze for space continues. Fairfax County schools used more than 900 trailers last year, and lack of capacity will remain a problem for years to come, assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation.
2014-11-10 ~World.... Examiner: Europe grieves over defeat of Obama and the Dems, by Dan Hannan
The moment I switched on the radio Wednesday morning, I could tell who had won the US midterms. BBC presenters were using that special tone that they reserve for massacres, tragedies and natural disasters. They had been braced for a defeat, but not on such a scale.
2014-11-10 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: General Assembly approves budget fix despite conservative revolt
A conservative revolt in the House of Delegates ended Monday without a dissenting vote against a bill to fill a $2.4 billion revenue shortfall in the two-year state budget and also without delaying a transfer of almost $50 million in sales tax revenue to transportation. Even the principal opponent of the bill, Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, voted for it.
2014-11-10 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Lawmakers try to protect transportation funds, restore kill switch
Republican delegates Bob Marshall and Mark Berg say they will offer amendments "to ensure that transportation taxes will cease if diverted by the state or localities in Northern Virginia and Tidewater." (The budget bill -- HB 5002 -- neutered the transportation tax "kill switch" and authorized spending $30 million of the new road money for other purposes.)
2014-11-10 ~Potpourri WaPo: Washington National Cathedral to host Friday Muslim prayer service
ACT! for America response: "We challenge those running the nation's one and only National Cathedral to find a mosque -- anywhere in the world -- inviting a rabbi, priest or pastor into that mosque to conduct a service."
2014-11-09 ~State-MD. Examiner: How Larry Hogan used tax data to turn Maryland red, by Jim Pettit
Available IRS data shows who is coming and going to every state and county in the nation. Maryland's numbers were pathetic, yet were being ignored. "Change Maryland" simply put this data in a user-friendly format and made it widely available.
2014-11-09 ~Potpourri Daily Mail: Algae-borne virus found that makes us more stupid [... more Liberal?]
The virus, called chlorovirus ATCV-1, was only known to appear in algae. Researchers in U.S. have not established how it comes to infect humans. Research suggests it alters genes in brain including memory and emotion. Scientists found 44 per cent of patients tested had virus in their throats.
2014-11-08 ~Virginia. FCTA: Virginia Democrats' BFF: Robert Sarvis and the GOP, by David Swink
In two consecutive years now, Robert Sarvis' third-party candidacy plus GOP stinginess have caused both Ken Cuccinelli and Ed Gillespie to narrowly lose to Terry McAuliffe and Mark Warner respectively. I thus award to both Robert Sarvis and the GOP the social networking title of "Best Friends Forever" to Virginia Democrats.
2014-11-07 ~National. GRUBER: Lack of [Obamacare] transparency a huge political advantage, video (0:53)
In this just-posted 2013-10-17 video, Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber brags about deceiving the American people, who he thinks are stupid. He admits a "lack of transparency" helped the Obama administration and congressional Democrats pass the Affordable Care Act.
2014-11-07 ~National. More Gruber videos: #3 (2:31), #5 (1:26)
2014-11-06 ~FxMisc... Loudoun Times: Candidates surface in race to succeed Comstock in Virginia House
On the GOP side, McLean's Craig Parisot has been actively campaigning for the seat in anticipation of a Comstock win. For the Democrats, it's Kathleen Murphy, who lost to Comstock in the 2013 House of Delegates race by just one percentage point.
2014-11-05 ~National. Examiner: GOP's new turnout machine was in top gear -- Learned from Dems
The party has spent 100 million overhauling the way it campaigns, finally giving it a data and analytics-driven operation that can compete with the Democratic machine built by President Obama. Thus they were able to confidently project a sweeping Republican advance ahead of the elections.
2014-11-04 ~Virginia. CFACT: Property rights day of action in Richmond, and an UPDATE!
Radical Green groups have placed property rights under siege in Virginia and throughout the United States. Martha Boneta is a great example. CFACT is joining forces with concerned citizens and organizations for a day of action in Richmond, Virginia this Thursday.
2014-11-04 ~National. Breitbart: Second Amendment Crushes Gun Control Candidates In Midterm Elections
The day before the elections took place, Breitbart News reminded red state and pro-Second Amendment voters to vote like their guns depended on it. They did, the Second Amendment won the day, Republicans won the Senate, and gun control took a beating.
2014-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Case Against Liberal Compassion, by William Voegeli
Imprimis lecture by William Voegeli, Senior Editor, Claremont Review of Books
2014-10-xx .Bulletin. Special Pre-Election Edition
2014-10-31 ~Virginia. Fx Ti404: Obamacare driving health insurance costs up -- Letter from Fran Haines
"Earlier this month, my husband and I were notified by Anthem that our monthly premium will increase from $348 to $935 and that our annual deductible will be $11,000. When I called Anthem, they told me that this was because of Obamacare's requirements and, essentially, because our family is healthy."
2014-10-31 ~FxSchools ACT Inc: FCPS 2014 Profile Report (view the FCPS College Readiness summary)
       
2014-10-30 ~State-NC. Project Veritas: NC campaign workers encourage non-citizens to vote (video 6:57)
In this undercover video, a Project Veritas Action operative poses as an enthusiastic wanna-be voter, who also happens to be a non U. S. citizen. When she asks campaign managers and other campaign operatives if it is okay if she votes they all say yes, no problem.
2014-10-30 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: In $100M Fx Co Transportation Bond Issue, only $16M for Roads, by Dr Gridlock
But $78M for sidewalks and $6M for bicycle paths.
2014-10-29 ~State-MD. PJ Media: Massive Non-Citizen Voting Uncovered in Maryland
An election integrity watchdog group is suing the state of Maryland, alleging that it has discovered massive and ongoing fraudulent voting by non-U.S. citizens in one county, and is likely happening in every single county and subdivision across the state. The group believes that the illegal voting has been happening for years.
2014-10-28 ~States... Tax Foundation: 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index -- Va. slides to #27
"The annual ranking measures the impact of policies in place as of July 1 on five types of taxes on business activities, mainly considering the amount a state takes from its citizens but also the weight of its compliance burden ..." -- WSJ
2014-10-28 ~National. Examiner: Obama's digital health records effort may be 'effectively dead'
President Obama's ambitious $30 billion subsidy program to encourage doctors and hospitals to use electronic health records may be "effectively dead," as doctors and hospitals flee the program. The 2009 electronic health records law was heavily promoted by President Obama as a precursor to Obamacare.
2014-10-28 ~FxTrans.. FxCo: County Adopts First Bicycle Master Plan -- "key means of transportation"
"This bicycle master plan maps out 1,130 miles in recommended, new on- and off-road bike routes. These new bikeways -- along with the 353 miles in existing bike lanes, shared-use paths and trails -- form a connected network across the county. It will allow bicyclists from age 8 to 80-plus to enjoy a safe, easy way to ride."
2014-10-28 ~FxMisc... WT: Suzanne Scholte and Sun Gazette: Gerry Connolly -- Endorsements: Va's 11th
2014-10-26 ~National. WaPo: The family deficit -- How the marriage decline affects the nation.
Robert Samuelson describes the decline of the institution of marriage over the last few decades... "It explains some stubborn poverty and our frustrations in combating it. We've learned that what good families provide cannot easily be gotten elsewhere."
2014-10-25 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: For More Obama, Vote for Incumbents -- by FCTA's Fred Costello
... If you like your government, you can keep your government -- vote for the incumbents. If you're disturbed by the foregoing, vote against the incumbents on whose watch these policies were implemented.
2014-10-25 ~National. Examiner: Study shows illegally voting non-citizens could tip close races in U.S.
Enough non-citizens illegally vote in U.S. elections to potentially decide close races, a new study suggests. Old Dominion University political scientists found that 6.4 percent of non-citizens voted in the 2008 elections and 2.2 percent voted in the 2010 midterms.
2014-10-24 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fairfax Elections Office plagued by discord -- "In a nutshell, it's chaos"
There have been five general registrars in the county Elections Office during the past decade. Some were forced out, and others left in frustration, documents and interviews show. The county-commissioned consultant's report was completed in October 2013 but never released to the public.
2014-10-23 ~National. Breitbart: Judge refuses to penalize IRS targeting; Opinion: True the Vote v. IRS
The opinion, by Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, found that the IRS had taken sufficient "remedial steps to address the alleged behavior."
2014-10-23 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: Fairfax Co, school officials search for budget harmony, Kate Yanchulis
The two sides agree easily on two points. 1) Both the county and its schools face needs that surpass their available resources. 2) Given the current economic climate, that is unlikely to change. Both sides faced projected shortfalls in last year's budget cycle and will again this year.
2014-10-22 ~State-CO. Project Veritas: O'Keefe films potential voter fraud in Colorado (video 7:45)
"Awesome" is a very common word used by Democratic operatives in Colorado when discussing potential voter fraud. Project Veritas Action went undercover in the Centennial State to reveal just how prone their mail-in ballot system is to likely voter fraud.
2014-10-21 ~State-NC. WT: Ire over toll roads could bite GOP, including Thom Tillis' Senate bid in NC
CHARLOTTE - They spoke one after another at a tea party meeting at an upscale pub -- conservative voters and activists vowing to derail Republican Thom Tillis' run for U.S. Senate because, as state House speaker, he muscled through a toll road project.
2014-10-20 ~Virginia. WT: Ed Gillespie and Wapo: Mark Warner -- Editorial endorsements for U.S. Senator
2014-10-20 ~Potpourri Examiner: A nation divided by marriage -- Interview with W. Bradford Wilcox
Examiner: Why is marriage so important? What does it do that government programs can't do? Wilcox: Three pillars undergird opportunity in America for most men and women. Those three pillars are: one, education; two, work; and three, marriage.
2014-10-20 ~Potpourri KHouse: Thorium - One Nuclear Alternative
Thorium has become an attractive potential alternative to conventional nuclear fuel. It isn't naturally radioactive and its power-plants would not be prone to meltdown. Nearly the entire fuel rod can be used in energy production without the serious national security and nuclear waste issues of using conventional uranium fuel. Plus, thorium is abundant.
2014-10-19 ~National. WT: The Pentagon's war on the global climate -- Green agenda vs core mission
The Pentagon's "2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap," published last week, demonstrates how thoroughly and deeply liberal "climate change" ideology is being embedded in our military establishment. To undo the damage will require a determined effort by our next president.
2014-10-17 ~World.... WaPo: 'Pudding Man' leaves Israel for Germany -- "Too expensive for young people"
Naor Narkis sparked an uproar over the past three weeks after taking to the Internet to share his decision to leave behind the high cost of Tel Aviv and follow a host of young Israelis emigrating to cheap and shabby-chic Berlin.
2014-10-17 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: The EPA's War on Virginia -- appease the god of global warming
Voters need to ask Virginia's congressional candidates -- most prominently Senatorial candidates Mark Warmer and Ed Gillespie -- what they think of the EPA mandates and what they, as congressmen, can do to mitigate the impact on Virginia ratepayers.
2014-10-17 ~State-TX. Dallas News: Texas breaks record for jobs added in 12-month span
The Texas economy added 36,400 jobs in September, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission. Over the past 12 months, employers added 413,700 jobs -- the most ever recorded by the state.
2014-10-16 ~World.... WT: Ex-political prisoner: Putin's regime destined to fall, by Jeff Shapiro
The billionaire Russian oil tycoon who lost his assets and freedom after defying Vladimir Putin says the Kremlin has co-opted the country's legal system and hijacked its armed forces to benefit a plutocratic regime that is destined for collapse.
2014-10-16 ~National. Daily Beast: Insiders Blame Rove for Covering Up Iraq's Real WMD, by Eli Lake
Starting in 2004, some members of the George W. Bush administration and Republican lawmakers began to find evidence of discarded chemical weapons in Iraq. The issue of Iraq's WMD remnants was suddenly thrust back into the fore this week, with a blockbuster New York Times report accusing the Bush administration of covering up American troops' chemically induced wounds.
2014-10-15 ~Virginia. Examiner: Virginia plans 565 layoffs, budget cuts, costlier booze
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Wednesday announced the layoff of 565 state workers, other targeted cuts and a liquor price-hike as he aims to close a shortfall in the state's two-year budget.
2014-10-15 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: New pay plan for Fairfax County employees (Ref: Fx Co and FCPS plans.)
After 18 months of discussion and negotiation, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and county employee organizations have reached a consensus on a new pay plan for employees, which includes performance-based pay and cost-of-living increases.
2014-10-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fx Co Employee Compensation Work Group Recommendations + Additional Info
Here is the FCTA-requested proposed pay plan for Fairfax Co non-uniformed employees. In FY2016 (election year) 1348 employees would get 5.5% raises, another 2,775 would get 4.5% raises and another 1,206 would get 4% raises. Overall, although the market rate adjustment of 1.5% is less than inflation, this still looks like a much more generous pay plan than would be found in the private sector.
2014-10-14 ~FxMisc... Sun Gazette Letter: Foust supporters are cherry-picking their data, Arthur Purves
Rather than let real estate taxes decrease with assessments, Supervisor Foust joined the majority of the supervisors in raising the real estate tax rate 24 percent. Since Supervisor Foust's election, the real estate tax paid by the typical household has increased from $4,827 to $5,540.
2014-10-10 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia's fork in road: Internet tax or gas hike -- Kenric Ward
Unknown to most, Virginians are about to be slapped with an $800 million-plus tax hike. A little-noticed provision in the state's 2012 transportation package triggers a 45 percent increase in Virginia's gas tax if Congress fails to enact a national Internet sales tax.
2014-10-10 ~Virginia. FCTA: VRS Investment Professionals' Compensation -- VRS response to FCTA's query
"Dear Mr. McAndrew: Senator Howell asked me to respond to your email concerning recent news articles highlighting the compensation of Virginia Retirement System investment personnel. I believe that the points below help to illustrate the value added to the VRS trust fund by its investment professionals..."
2014-10-10 ~National. Examiner: Doctors, hospitals rethinking electronic medical records <--2009 law
A revolt is brewing among doctors and hospital administrators over electronic medical records systems mandated by one of President Obama's early health care reforms, claiming electronic records "fail to support efficient and effective clinical work".
2014-10-10 ~FxSchools ACTA: Fairfax County School Board Strengthens FCPS Audit Functions
"The Fairfax County School Board has created an auditor general position, added a fourth member to the Audit Committee, and approved the FY 2015 audit plan. The action was taken at the Board's business meeting on October 9."
2014-10-08 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Virginia Students Achieve SAT Gains, after bad SOL results.
Virginia public school juniors and seniors ranked fourth nationally for the percentage (19.2%) earning a qualifying score (at least 3 out of 5) in one or more exams.
2014-10-08 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Gerry Connolly defends funding Hamas-backed unity government
Connolly (D-Va.), at a Sept. 28 Arab American Candidates Night forum, emphasized his determination to fight House of Representatives colleagues who might block the funding for a group the U.S. says is a terror organization.
2014-10-07 ~Potpourri Smash Co: OOP, an expensive disaster ... analogies for today's world (now 404)
This long (now gone) article described an extremely flawed software paradigm (Object Oriented Programming), but brought up such philosophical issues as... "talking past each other because we can not understand the axioms on which each other's arguments rest". (For an anti-OOP article, go here.)
2014-10-07 ~FxMisc... RCA: Will Fairfax Co incomes keep pace with national growth? -- Terry Maynard
Paycheck growth in Fairfax County and the city of Alexandria are lagging behind the state and the nation. A look at per capita personal income from the last five years shows Northern Virginia struggling to keep up as everybody else recovers from the recession.
2014-10-07 ~FxMisc... Watchdog.org: Defense spending rolls; northern Virginia sags -- Kenric Ward
Despite Gov. Terry McAuliffe's bullish pronouncements about job creation in Virginia, the outlook for Nova isn't so robust. While the region's overall employment rate has roughly flat-lined, offices are emptying.
2014-10-06 ~National. Kudlow: 'Subsidizing Non-Work' Hobbles Labor Market -- It pays not to work!
CNBC's Larry Kudlow notes: "We still can't seem to stop the hemorrhaging of people dropping out of the labor force. People at the margin who might grab a job have walked away because the government benefits are quite substantial."
2014-10-06 ~National. Governing: The Secret to Making Tough Fiscal Choices: Open Gov't -- Chuck Reed
When governments make it easy for citizens to know the facts and engage them in the conversation about what needs to be done, reforms can happen.
2014-10-06 ~National. Examiner: Democrats losing long war against voter ID -- Fund and Von Spakovsky
In courts of law and the court of public opinion, the issue is gaining traction. With few exceptions, liberal pressure groups have lost lawsuits in state after state, with courts tossing out their faux claims that ID laws are discriminatory, unconstitutional or suppress minority voting.
2014-10-06 ~FxTaxes.. RCA: Bleak Fx Co budget forecast, higher homeowner taxes likely -- Terry Maynard
Fairfax County is predicting little growth in property values over the next year, less than in its last forecast for FY2016, which is likely to mean higher real estate property tax rates. The County is expecting a $71.4 million dollar shortfall, nearly double the $37.6 million shortfall they forecast last year for 2016.
2014-10-06 ~Environmt CFACT Climate Truth File: 2014 -- A patient Global Warming Q
Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) patiently provides a Q on Global Warming (aka Climate Change). For example, that 97% "consensus" represents 75 of a whole 77 anonymous scientists who responded to the survey. Read on.
2014-10-03 ~Potpourri Video: Frightening Details From Beheader's Oklahoma Mosque (9:07)
Chilling details about activities at the Oklahoma City mosque which beheading suspect Jah'Keem Yisrael attended. In the video, an undercover operative reveals a hidden Jihadist culture in the mosque during his two years there.
2014-10-03 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: Once again, taxpayers being kicked to back of the bus -- Rob Whitfield
NVTA and its allies at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, MWCOG TPB and certain federal agency officials want to spend most of our money designated for transportation on transit projects without regard to their cost effectiveness or their impact on reducing regional highway traffic congestion.
2014-10-03 ~Environmt Examiner: WaPo hires "Republican War on Science" author to cover the environment
Former Mother Jones staffer Chris Mooney also wrote "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science - and Reality", "Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future" and "Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming".
2014-10-02 ~National. Examiner: The disaster caused by granting mortgages to non-creditworthy Hispanics
An estimated one-third of the mortgage foreclosures in the 2007-10 period were of Hispanic homebuyers. Very many had been granted mortgages, despite bad or dubious credit, thus gaining brownie points with regulators for lending to "minorities".
2014-10-01 ~FxPension Reuters: Judge grants Stockton bankruptcy relief... Pensioners must share losses.
The U.S. bankruptcy judge overseeing Stockton, California's municipal bankruptcy trial ruled that the state's public employee retirement system, known as Calpers, could be forced to absorb losses along with other creditors.
2014-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The History and Danger of Administrative Law, by Philip Hamburger
Imprimis lecture by Philip Hamburger, Columbia Law School
2014-09-xx ~Bulletin. Vote Like your Taxes Depend on it -- They DO!
2014-09-30 ~National. NPR: Mexico Pays To Help Its Citizens Avoid Deportation From The U.S.
Since the Obama administration created DACA in 2012, more than 580,000 unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors have received temporary relief from deportation and been given work permits that last for at least two years.
2014-09-30 ~National. WT: Navy sailors distrust commanders, fear crippling political correctness
Navy sailors harbor "widespread mistrust" in the admirals who command them, complaining of poor leadership and a disciplinary environment that tolerates absolutely no mistakes, says a survey of the fleet... "[T]he fact that a growing number of quality officers have already left the service or are planning to head for the doors seems to be going undetected by senior leadership."
2014-09-26 ~FxSchools Fx Ti404: Back to basics -- the need for math memorization -- FCTA's James Ruland
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) bought into the spiralling approach wholesale a dozen years ago, with the adoption of the "Everyday Math" textbook for elementary school students. Almost immediately thereafter a new service industry, math tutoring, blossomed for young children.
2014-09-26 ~FxMisc... Biz Journal: Job growth by metro area -- DC ranks 14th out of 15 (beats Detroit).
Between August 2013 and August 2014, the Washington area added 10,300 jobs for an increase of 0.3 percent. Of the 15 largest employment metros, the region had the second-lowest growth rate, ahead of only Detroit.
2014-09-25 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Arlington streetcar moves amid rising costs, controversy, by K Ward
Arlington County Board member John Vihstadt calls the 7.6-mile streetcar venture "a fiscal and transit albatross" that will clog streets and increase taxpayer debt, with guaranteed delays adding to the cost. Recommends a more flexible and less costly bus rapid transit (BRT) line.
2014-09-25 ~FxTrans.. FABB: Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling -- Influential Fx Co lobby group
Ever wonder why we're seeing so much attention being given by Fairfax County to bicycling at the expense of roads? Who knew there was a web site dedicated to further eroding your driving experience with your tax dollars? On Nov 4, vote NO on the Transportation Bond!
2014-09-24 ~Virginia. FCTA calculates Obamacare costs in Virginia, using Kaiser's Subsidy Calculator
Presented are the latest calculations of Obamacare costs, using the Kaiser Family Foundation's easy-to-use form. Anyone can go to the free anonymous calculator without entering their name, social security number or address. It takes only five minutes.
2014-09-24 ~Environmt Examiner: The People's March against common sense, rationality and science
Climate protestors descended upon Manhattan on Sunday to vent their frustrations about a world they don't understand. On display at the People's Climate March were ideology and idealism conspiring at the expense of common sense.
2014-09-22 ~FxMisc... FCTA: Vienna's Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) Regulations and matching Pictures
The town has grandiose plans under way to remold the main avenue into a pedestrian utopia -- at taxpayers' expense of course. However, the town's web site is a disorganized mess, making it nigh impossible to find these plans. FCTA has located these plans, downloaded them, and uploaded them to our site for your viewing convenience.
2014-09-21 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: 25 highest-paid state employees -- VRS officials top the list
2014-09-21 ~Material. Free Beacon: The Hillary Letters -- correspondence with Saul Alinsky
Previously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveal new details about her relationship with the controversial Chicago activist and shed light on her early ideological development.
2014-09-21 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Is this rock bottom for Virginia real estate? Office owners can only hope.
This may be the worst time in the past 25 years to own an office building in Northern Virginia. At least one with space to lease. After mostly uninhibited growth since the early 1980s -- a run that produced some of America's wealthiest counties -- there are red flags popping up from Arlington all the way to Stafford County.
2014-09-21 ~Environmt Climate Depot: Socialism promoted at People's Climate March -- True GW purpose
2014-09-19 ~Environmt WSJ: Climate Science Is Not Settled -- by former DOE scientist Steven E. Koonin
The idea that "Climate science is settled" runs through today's popular and policy discussions. That misguided claim has distorted our public and policy debates on issues related to energy, greenhouse-gas emissions and the environment, and has inhibited the scientific and policy discussions we need to have about our climate future.
2014-09-18 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Apple expands data encryption under iOS 8 -- To cops: "Get Lost"
"Apple's old policy for extracting user data from iPhones for law enforcement: Come back with a warrant. Their new policy: Get lost."
2014-09-18 ~Environmt CFACT: Climate Hype Exposed: Now "environment-government-industrialist complex"
2014-09-17 ~Potpourri The Atlantic: Why I Hope to Die at 75, by Ezekiel Emanuel; Breitbart response.
The author of Obamacare's 'Death Panels' asserts: "Once I have lived to 75, my approach to my health care will completely change. I won't actively end my life. But I won't try to prolong it, either." John Nolte at Breitbart responds.
2014-09-17 ~Potpourri MercatorNet: It's time to take the Islamic State seriously -- Rev. James Schall
A Catholic priest has taken the time to thoroughly study Islamic doctrine and the history of Islam and has articulated his findings and opinions in very clear terms. It serves as an excellent analysis for the origins of the Islamic State with which we are now at war.
2014-09-17 ~Material. PJ Media: 'CATALIST' - Obama's Database for Fundamentally Transforming America
The Democrats and the institutional left have a new political tool that allows them virtually to ignore moderates yet still win elections. This tool, the Catalist database, was employed in the 2012 election. If you wondered why the conventional wisdom about independents and moderates didn't seem so wise in 2012, the answer is Catalist.
2014-09-16 ~Environmt WUWT: Obama's Lonely Climate Summit -- world leaders are staying home
The imminent climate summit in New York is rapidly turning into an utter embarrassment for President Obama and UN Secretary General Bank Ki-Moon, in addition to becoming a bit of a punishment round for national deputy leaders.
2014-09-15 ~Virginia. Va Free Citizen: Great News for Va, $2.4B Shortfall is Vanishing!, Susan Stimpson
The $2.4 billion shortfall that Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a few weeks ago is vanishing among positive economic news from his own Secretary of Finance Ric Brown. The news of increased tax revenues in Virginia is buttressed by corresponding parallel trends at the federal level.
2014-09-15 ~National. Heritage: The War on Poverty After 50 Years, by Robert Rector Rachel Sheffield
Since 1964, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. This spending is three times the cost of all military wars in U.S. history since the American Revolution. Despite this mountain of spending, progress against poverty, at least as measured by the government, has been minimal.
2014-09-15 ~Environmt WT: Emails show 'collusion' between Obama's EPA, environmental lobby
The EPA and environmental groups are exceptionally close for a government agency and lobby groups, with a revolving door and pressure from the groups often shaping EPA's policies, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group based on emails obtained in a yearslong battle with the agency.
2014-09-12 ~FxMisc... FxCo: Strategic Plan to Facilitate Economic Success of Fx Co -- Draft BOS hokem
"The Board of Supervisors has adopted a set of Priorities: Quality Educational, Safe Neighborhoods, Sustainable Environment, Affordable Communities, Vibrant Economy, Efficient Transportation, Cultural Opportunities, Affordable Taxes." FCTA sees a bunch of hokem in all this, and advises citizens to attend one of the "feedback" meetings listed here.
2014-09-10 ~State-RI. WaPo: Gina Raimondo reins in Rhode Island pensions, propelling a bid for governor
Gina Raimondo won the job as state treasurer in 2010, and got legislation passed to rein in pensions and set the state on a path to fiscal sanity. She is likely to win the governorship in the 2014 elections.
2014-09-09 ~FxTrans.. Fx Free Citizen: No Financial Feasibility Studies for No VA Transit, R Whitfield
The McAuliffe administration favors investment in transit projects over highways in the near term. Highways will continue to be subjected to rigorous pre-approval analysis, while no similar feasibility analysis or preview is being required of transit projects.
2014-09-08 ~Virginia. HB5008: Virginia Health Care Independence Act (Tom Rust's bill defeated 34-66)
Obamacare costs Virginians $2B per year in taxes and fees without any benefits returned. The goals of this bill are to provide health insurance, help the transition from Medicaid to private insurance, reduce costs in the health program, and return Virginians' funds to Virginia for its use.
2014-09-05 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: The Emerging Exurban Dead Zone -- "The Great Submergence"?
A dozen or more exurban counties on the metropolitan fringe of Washington, Richmond and Hampton Roads are likely to experience deflating land values, shrinking real estate property revenues and chronic fiscal stress. Their scattered, low-density settlement patterns have high embedded costs and local governments will be hard-pressed to maintain the supporting services and infrastructure.
2014-09-05 ~Potpourri Video: "Republicans Are People Too" (1:37) -- Who put together this zaney video?
2014-09-04 ~States... FCTA: Financial State of the States - 2013 -- data from Truth In Accounting
FCTA presents Truth In Accounting summary data plus links to the detailed information for these states in order of their rating for financial responsibility.
2014-09-04 ~Potpourri Telegraph: What happens when your friends start leaving Facebook?
I logged in north, south, east and west. / I checked it at work and during Sunday rest. /
I liked and commented, posted status and song. / I thought Facebook would last forever: I was wrong.
2014-09-03 ~handout.. Fx - Will your income increase 5% next year? -- Sun Gazette insert, McLean
For the last 15 years Fairfax County residential real estate taxes have increased, on average, 5% each year. This year's increase was 7%. The County Executive has already suggested a 5.5% increase next year.
2014-09-02 ~World.... Islam Times: To Understand ISIS, Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's internal discord and tensions over ISIS can only be understood by grasping the inherent (and persisting) duality that lies at the core of the Kingdom's doctrinal makeup and its historical origins. One dominant strand to the Saudi identity pertains directly to Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (the founder of Wahhabism), and the use to which his radical, exclusionist puritanism was put by Ibn Saud.
2014-09-02 ~Potpourri Video: Former Muslim describes the true face of Islam (8:35)
Brother Rachid addresses President Obama about ISIL and Islam; he explains to him how ISIL is imitating the prophet Muhammad in every detail they do. ISIL represents Islam.
2014-09-02 ~Material. Ricochet.com: Political scientists' verdict on the Obama presidency: Silence
At this year's American Political Science Association (ASPA) annual meeting, the complete absence of panels assessing Obama's record is an indication that the academy now regards Obama as an indefensible embarrassment. This, in turn, may well be a sign that we are in for a wave election in November. What cannot be defended is apt to be jettisoned.
2014-09-02 ~FxMisc... WaPo: A year after unexplained Fairfax police slaying of John Geer, family sues
On Aug 29, 2013, a Fairfax County policeman shot an unarmed Springfield man standing at his front door. A year later, officials still refuse to identify who shot John Geer, and why he was left to bleed to death unattended. Now the family is suing the Fairfax County police department, the chief and three unnamed officers for gross negligence.
2014-09-01 ~State-IL. WT: Illinois to go bust as teachers get richer -- Excessive pension plans
The Illinois Teachers Retirement Service (TRS) issued a Labor Day report which found that more than 100,000 retired Illinois educators had been paid back what they invested into the system just 20 months after leaving work, costing taxpayers $2 million or more per teacher over the course of retirement.
2014-08-31 ~Environmt Daily Mail: Myth of arctic meltdown -- Ice cap has expanded for last two years.
An area twice the size of Alaska was open water two years ago and is now covered in ice after the arctic ice cap has expanded for the second year in a row.
2014-08-27 ~World.... Telegraph: In the face of such evil [in Rotherham], who is the racist now?
The Yorkshire town where 1,400 girls have been sexually abused by Asian men is a byword for depravity -- all because people wouldn't rock the multicultural boat.
2014-08-27 ~Virginia. WaPo: Virginia state academic tests show stagnant scores on reading, writing
Of the state's 132 school districts, 110 divisions improved their average scores on math tests and 13 remained the same last school year compared with the previous year. On state reading tests, students in 64 school divisions saw overall reading scores drop and 76 districts recorded losses on writing exams.
2014-08-27 ~National. WT: Racial hostility, discrimination inside Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
"The treatment of women and minorities at the CFPB is deplorable," Mr. McHenry said in a statement to The Times. Unfortunately, due to the unique structure of the bureau -- leaving it free from both congressional and executive branch oversight -- there is little that can be done to stop these rogue agency leaders.
2014-08-26 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: Fairfax election officials identify 17 who double-voted in Va., Md.
The Fairfax County Electoral Board has referred the names of 17 individuals to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney, the Virginia Attorney General and the federal Department of Justice for investigation of possible voter fraud. (But one must wonder: Will there be any prosecutions?)
2014-08-26 ~Environmt Examiner: Under assault from Big Green, coal is fighting back, by Ron Arnold
Governors of Washington and Oregon are trying to support Big Green by denying Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota seaport terminals for shipping their coal to Asian markets. The biggest change in the war against coal? Coal is fighting back.
2014-08-25 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Economist still somewhat downbeat about N.Va. jobs, housing pictures
Four years ago, the Washington region had the nation's best economic prospects; now it's on the bottom of the list. The region has lost 21,000 federal jobs since the recession and likely will lose another 20,000 in the next several years.
2014-08-25 ~FxSchools Daily Signal: 4 Charts Every Mom With Kids Going Back to School Should See
Public school districts need to trim bureaucracy. To wit: 1) Only half of education jobs are teachers; 2) Education staffing has outpaced student enrollment; 3) The farther a school is from a city, the more non-teaching staff it has.
2014-08-22 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Public Hearing on Supplemental Funds Appropriation
Posted as part of "FY 2014 Carryover Budget Package". A quick summary (WT ad#14780162, 8/22, 8/29):
FY 2015 Current Approved Budget Plan . . . . . . . . $6,967,595,254
FY 2015 Proposed Increase (24.62%) . . . . . . . . $1,715,652,795
. . Proposed Funding Increase . . . $1,481,405,708
. . Additional Funding Adjustments . $234,247,087
FY 2015 Proposed Total Expenditures . . . . . . . . . $8,683,248,049
2014-08-21 ~World.... Daily Signal: Paycheck for Terrorism - $5,300 for Suicide Attack, Sharyl Attkisson
A dozen Middle Eastern charities with links to the terrorist group Hamas and other radical Islamic groups transferred $32 million to Arab Bank during the second intifada. The money was then allegedly paid out to families of suicide bombers and other Palestinians who engaged in acts of terrorism against Jews.
2014-08-21 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 14,646 duplicate voters flagged in Fairfax, Maryland, Kenric Ward
FAIRFAX, Va. -- An election-integrity group is challenging the status of nearly 15,000 voters reportedly registered in both Fairfax County and Maryland. Virginia Voters Alliance on Wednesday urged Fairfax's electoral board to do what state officials have so far not done across the commonwealth: Purge those duplicate voters.
2014-08-20 ~Health... New Scientist: Young blood to be used in ultimate rejuvenation trial
In California, people with Alzheimer's will be given transfusions of young blood to see if improves their cognition -- there's good reason to hope it might.
2014-08-20 ~FxMisc... Connection: Accountability for Police in Northern Virginia -- FOIA exemption??
Police officials in Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria have adopted what they call a "blanket" approach to using [Virginia's FOIA] exemption. That means they have decided to withhold any document they can without any analysis of whether they should, whether the case is open or closed, whether they are about a "police-involved shooting" or information requested by a family about a homicide victim. This isn't about race; this is about abuse of power.
2014-08-19 ~National. WT: Army quits tests after competing rifle outperforms M4A1 carbine
A competing rifle outperformed the Army's favored M4A1 carbine in key firings during a competition last year before the service abruptly called off the tests and stuck with its gun, according to a new confidential report. (Related story: M4, M16 a National Disgrace?)
2014-08-19 ~Environmt CFACT: Morano (humbly) promotes CFACT's new film Climate Hustle on TV
Morano on TV humbly promotes new climate film: "We are going to have the greatest climate documentary of al-l-l-l-l- ti-i-i-ime! -- We are putting together the most comprehensive, unique, entertaining and humorous climate documentary that has ever been attempted!"
2014-08-17 ~Potpourri Examiner: Iraq, Ferguson, and the 'libertarian moment'
This wariness of big solutions, this skepticism of government's ability to right wrongs, is at the heart of the wiser strains of libertarianism and the more consistent forms of conservatism.
2014-08-15 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: $15 billion in unfunded county debts go dark in Virginia, by K Ward
RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia has stopped reporting billions of dollars in unfunded county debts, leaving the public in the dark about the depth of the red ink. The last online report by the state Auditor of Public Accounts showed that Virginia's 95 counties had piled up $15,474,494,443 in "unfunded debt" in 2012.
2014-08-15 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Compare FY2014 Adopted Budgets for Fairfax (Overview,V1,V2) vs Chesterfield
FCTA has downloaded equivalent budget documents for Fairfax and another large county -- Chesterfield, south of Richmond. While Chesterfield's single document totals 379 pages and is concise and straightforward, Fairfax's three documents (371+499+639=1509 total pages) appear full of fluff and virtually unreadable. But you be the judge.
2014-08-14 ~Report... SAT and Budgets - Fairfax vs Other Virginia Counties, by Fred Costello-126
2014-08-14 ~Health... Ft Wayne Physical Medicine: The Benefits Of DIM (Diindolylmethane)
Diindolylmethane, or DIM for short, is a plant indole -- a plant compound with health-promoting properties. DIM has three main benefits: 1)Makes estrogen metabolize down the 2-hydroxy estrone pathway, 2)Frees up bound testosterone, and 3)Acts as a natural aromatase inhibitor. It defuses the the harmful components of estrogen for both men and women.
2014-08-13 ~FxDRail.. Bacon's Rebellion: No Silver Lining for the Silver Line?
The problem is that the three Metro lines must squeeze through the same Potomac River tunnel to enter Washington, D.C. That tunnel has a finite capacity of 26 trains per hour. Trains assigned to the Silver Line are trains that cannot run on the orange and blue lines.
2014-08-11 ~Potpourri Examiner: The most liberal and conservative U.S. cities revealed in one chart
2014-08-11 ~National. Daily Mail: O'Keefe Strikes again, crosses US-Mexico dressed as Osama bin Laden
James O'Keefe, known for guerrilla documentaries targeting liberals, says US Border Patrol was nowhere to be seen when he crossed border twice wearing a bin Laden mask to show the national security implications of unmonitored borders.
2014-08-10 ~Potpourri WKRB: SyNAPSE Chip by IBM Mimics Brain
The True North computer chip by IBM is designed to think as a human brain does. The size of the chip is equal to a postage stamp yet it is able to outdo the majority of supercomputers.
2014-08-09 ~National. Examiner: Don't mistake Tea Party birth pains for death throes, by Star Parker
Tea Party sentiments point to troubles in America flowing from the erosion and undermining of American institutions. It is about restoring strength and viability to our institutions -- certainly not undermining trust in them.
2014-08-07 ~Report... The Future of Fairfax County (to end up like California?), by Fred Costello
2014-08-06 ~Material. News.org: 1,000-member secretive progressive journalist group uncovered
Founded by leftwing activist Billy Wimsatt, "Gamechanger Salon" is a secretive digital gathering of writers, opinion leaders, activists and political hands who share information, ideas and strategy via a closed Google group.
2014-08-05 ~World.... NDTV Video: How Hamas assembles and fires rockets (4:23 min)
Minutes before the 72-hour ceasefire began, this rocket was fired from deep within a civilian zone.
2014-08-05 ~Material. WT: Do you favor the BLEED Act, or are you a racist?, Charles Hurt satire
... "Once here in the bosom of liberty, [Ebola-infected] BLEEDers will become naturalized citizens. They will be allowed to take the oath of citizenship from the comfort of their hospital beds."
2014-08-05 ~FxTrans.. The Economist: Why trams are a waste of money
European tramlines tend to be fairly long and isolated from other traffic, which ensures a swifter journey. But in America streetcars travel shorter distances along rails that mix with other traffic, so streetcars invariably inch along. ...it is no solution to America's public transport problems.
2014-08-05 ~FxDRail.. WaPo: The Silver Line's first week by the numbers
On average, 15,942 passengers boarded a Silver Line train at one of the five new stations each weekday in its first week. Metro claims that puts them roughly two-thirds of the way to achieving the goal of 25,000 weekday boardings after one year of service. However, most passengers are people who used to ride the Orange Line; roughly 6,000 boardings were new riders.
2014-08-05 ~Environmt Examiner: The hidden persuaders of the environmental elite, by Ron Arnold
America's environmental agenda is set by elite foundations that decide which activists get the money. And they form "affinity groups" to collude with President Obama's bureaucracy, which funnels tax dollars to Democratic advocates to enforce that agenda.
2014-08-04 ~Health... STICK: ObamaCare...Condensed Version -- 10,535 pages condensed to 4 sentences
2014-08-01 ~Environmt Examiner: EPA officials divert millions of tax dollars to activist groups
Are tax dollars being channeled through the Environmental Protection Agency to Democratic activists working in the nonprofit sector? A comprehensive new report released Wednesday by the Republican staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee makes clear that the answer to that question is yes.
2014-07-30 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Vote fraud cases go nowhere with Fairfax prosecutor, by Kenric Ward
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Four years after the Fairfax County election board began uncovering cases of alleged voter fraud, the local prosecutor has not taken action, and has nothing to say. More than 200 names were turned over to Commonwealth Attorney Raymond Morrogh for investigation. The names appeared on voter rolls, even though the individuals had excused themselves from jury duty because they were not citizens.
2014-07-30 ~Environmt U.S. Senate Report: Environmental Billionaires Club and Obama's EPA
The Committee on Environment and Public Works details how an elite group of left wing millionaires and billionaires, which this report refers to as the "Billionaire's Club", directs and controls the far-left environmental movement, which in turn controls major policy decisions and lobbies on behalf of the EPA.
2014-07-29 ~World.... NYT: Paying Ransoms, Europe Bankrolls Qaeda Terror
While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just last year.
2014-07-29 ~National. Examiner: Highway Trust Fund going into bike lanes?, by Mark Tapscott
Traffic getting worse during commuter hours? Potholes from last winter still not filled? Don't understand why bike lanes are suddenly so important? More than 90 percent of Americans depend upon their personal cars and trucks to get to and from work every day. But many government officials at all levels seem determined to make life miserable for drivers.
2014-07-28 ~Virginia. FCTA: Gov't Size in Virginia Counties Cities - 2012
Examines how many employees Virginia counties and cities each have on the public payroll as a percentage of the local population. In other words, how efficient is each jurisdiction in providing government services to their citizens?
2014-07-28 ~States... FCTA: Gov't Size in Maryland and Texas counties -- For comparison to Virginia
2014-07-26 ~Material. Telegraph: Barack Obama has already checked out of his job
The rest of the world has noticed: "Rubbing elbows with the rich and elite is fine enough. Unfortunately, the work suffers. The degree to which [Obama] is now phoning it in -- sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term -- is astonishing."
2014-07-25 ~State-TX. WT: To fix America, copy Texas ... which not just survived, but thrived.
While the economy has struggled to show some middling signs of life, there is an example of a large slice of America that has not just survived, but thrived, in these punishing times, by employing conservative policies. It's Texas.
2014-07-25 ~National. Examiner: Dodd-Frank at war with itself, by Hester Peirce
Rather than hope in Dodd-Frank's hyper-regulatory solutions, we should look for ways to eliminate government distortions. Craft simple rules that force financial institutions -- under the watchful eyes of their creditors, shareholders and counterparties -- to make prudent choices about their size, structure, funding sources and assets.
2014-07-25 ~Material. The Other McCain: Evan Sayet Explains How Liberals 'Think' (Video 2:47)
"They have actually turned thinking into a hate crime..."
"The only way not to be a bigot is to never think at all."
"So it's not that the liberal is stupid, it's that he's made thinking into something that he will not engage in."
2014-07-25 ~FxDRail.. Bacon's Rebellion: Tim Kaine Versus the Mole People
Some day, someone will write a book about the Silver Line project and the extraordinary political maneuvering it took to make it happen. Virginia is archiving 1.3 million emails generated by Governor Tim Kaine and members of his administration.
2014-07-24 ~Virginia. Daily Signal: Green Group Watched for Trespassing, Harassment at Fauquier Farm
What began as a laudable effort to provide financially stressed landowner with tax breaks in exchange for setting aside land for conservation has been converted into a vehicle for government land grabs.
2014-07-24 ~States... Heartland: Retiree Healthcare Tops Unfunded Pensions as Fiscal Threat
Can anything be in worse condition than unfunded government pensions? Unfortunately, yes. The average state has $11.46 billion of unfunded retiree healthcare debt, compared to $10.85 billion of pension debt as of fiscal year-end 2012.
2014-07-24 ~FxDRail.. Metro: Silver Line Ad (Youtube 1:23) -- "Taking taxpayers for a ride?"
... or "Driving you crazy?"
2014-07-23 ~National. Heritage: 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity -- Change over last 10 years
The Index tracks 31 cultural and economic indicators -- from the marriage rate and religious attendance to welfare dependence, workforce participation, and educational opportunities -- and categorizes them in three sections: culture, poverty and dependence, and general opportunity.
2014-07-23 ~FxPension Times-Dispatch: Va. pension fund not so flush (Also see: Public pensions in Va.)
Virginia's taxpayer-backed employee pension fund may have been too clever, depressing its returns during a historic bull market. And how did Eric Cantor's wife benefit from the current strategy?
2014-07-23 ~FxDRail.. Fx Free Citizen: No Go for the Silver Line and Metro, by FCTA's Tom Cranmer
2014-07-22 ~Potpourri Infowars: How Matt Drudge Changed the World
The establishment's iron-fisted grip on media and information dissemination was irrevocably transformed when Matt Drudge launched his website in 1998. Suddenly Americans and the world at large were no longer dependent on a skewered and politically-driven corporate media with its distorted establishment spin and agenda.
2014-07-22 ~Potpourri WaPo: Don't send your kids to Ivy League Schools!
The author summarizes yesterday's article in the New Republic. "[T]he students who are sent there are conformist, over-privileged overachievers. They emerge from homogeneous backgrounds and grow up to be elitist little twits."
2014-07-22 ~Environmt CFACT: How should global warming be taught?
The politicization of "science" in the public school system is just plain wrong, as is demonizing those who disagree or doubt the party line anywhere in society... So what should children be taught? Well, how about both sides for starters.
2014-07-20 ~World.... Weekly Standard: All The News Hamas Sees Fit to Print
Something important is missing from the New York Times's coverage of the war in Gaza: photographs of terrorist attacks on Israel, and pictures of Hamas fighters, tunnels, weaponry, and use of human shields.
2014-07-19 ~National. Ars Technica: Feds have old IP addresses, full credit card numbers
FOIA request turns up 9 years of records. Not just "metadata". The 76 new pages of data, covering 2005 through 2013, show that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) retains massive amounts of data on us when we travel internationally.
2014-07-18 ~Potpourri Nat'l Journal: Elizabeth Warren's 11 Commandments of Progressivism
2014-07-17 ~Material. Examiner: Has the Right lost its will to fight?
"I just want us to get back in the fight. We face a tireless, relentless foe in liberalism, and if we're not up to the challenge, we might as well kiss America goodbye, irrespective of whether we win or lose the next few elections."
2014-07-17 ~Environmt CFACT: The sun has gone quiet
Solar cycle 24 continues to rank as one of the weakest cycles more than a century. Going back to 1755, there have been only a few solar cycles in the previous 23 that have had a lower number of sunspots during its maximum phase.
2014-07-17 ~Environmt WSJ: Australia Repeals Carbon Tax
Australia's Senate on Thursday voted 39-32 to repeal a politically divisive carbon emissions price that contributed to the fall from power of three Australian leaders since it was first suggested in 2007.
2014-07-16 ~Potpourri Examiner: The things Obama likes to say in just about every speech, in 76 seconds
2014-07-15 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia GOP candidate rails against 'inflated' streetcar campaign
A GOP General Assembly candidate in Democrat-heavy Arlington County is challenging a controversial streetcar project, even as Gov. Terry McAuliffe tries to sweeten the deal with $65 million in new state funding.
2014-07-15 ~Health... Mosaic: Why do we have blood types?, by Carl Zimmer
More than a century after their discovery, we still don't really know what blood types are for. Do they really matter? Carl Zimmer investigates.
2014-07-14 ~National. WT: Editing out an enlightened history of America
The Founders' grand experiment is being put at risk by liberal progressive educational ideologues intent upon creating a citizenry ignorant of its real history, but indoctrinated to hate its country, its history and those who founded it. This disease has infected Common Core and now threatens even the College Board.
2014-07-14 ~FxDRail.. Fx Ti404: Still searching for Silver Line's silver lining, by a Reston commuter
2014-07-14 ~Environmt Telegraph: People who claim to worry about climate change use more electricity
... they say the issue is 'too far away to worry about', government-commissioned study finds.
2014-07-11 ~National. WND: Catholic Church Raising Money for Illegals
Catholic Charities USA has taken on a major role in helping the federal government find temporary housing for the droves of Central Americans illegally crossing the border into the United States. And it's also helping finance the operation.
2014-07-11 ~FxTrans.. ACTA: Constructing the Columbia Pike Streetcar on Fiscal Sand?
The Virginia Municipal League (VML) told Virginia's local governments that state "general fund revenue collections portend tough times ahead", and the federal "transportation spigot (was) running dry". So Virginia is broke. But that didn't stop it from kicking in an additional $65 million for the Columbia Pike street car project.
2014-07-10 ~Report... Analysis of the 2014 County Bond Referendum, by Fred Costello-121
2014-07-10 ~National. Guardian: The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control
At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney -- that's a 'totalitarian mentality'.
2014-07-10 ~National. ABC News: Police Face Severe Shortage of Recruits
With the number of applicants down more than 90 percent in some cities, police departments may soon be posting more signs that say "Help Wanted" instead of "Most Wanted". ... In Fairfax County, Va., an entrance exam advertisement would draw 4,000 people five years ago. Now, it brings in 300.
2014-07-09 ~Environmt CFACT: Science recommends climate model re-start
An article in the June 13, 2014, issue of Science admits the computer climate models are not effective at forecasting either future or past temperatures. (Will the magazine now be banned from Costco?)
2014-07-08 ~FxMisc... Connection: County Falling Behind on Its Housing Goals
On June 9, the Residential Studio Committee of the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the review of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment for Residential Studio Units be tabled. This recommendation will almost certainly be adopted. After months of committee hearings and community meetings throughout the county, the RSU amendment will be quietly put to rest.
2014-07-08 ~Environmt Examiner: Convicted felon designed EPA's playbook for faking science, Ron Arnold
The only thing Obama's EPA protects is its royal kingdom, ruling over the American economy with the highest-cost rules in the nation's entire bureaucracy. And the promised huge benefits of EPA's rule-making were wildly overstated using a tactic invented by John Beale, a corrupt high EPA official - now a convicted and imprisoned felon.
2014-07-07 ~National. Epoch Times: Money for Nothing, by Valentin Schmid
The basic problem with the creation of currency out of nothing [credit creation by banks] is that somebody gets that currency initially. That money percolates down through the economy and the market wakes up and says "Wait a minute, there's more money now", and this affects prices. Workers and savers get the new money last, so mostly they are paying for the banks' privilege to create money.
2014-07-05 ~Environmt Daily Mail: Antarctic sea ice hits new record high -- Computer models "confounded"
A Nasa study revealed that ice around the southern continent covers about 2.1 million sq km more than is usual for the time of year. It was also revealed that as much as 40 per cent of temperature data used in computer models are not real thermometer readings, but "estimates" from stations no longer in operation.
2014-07-03 ~National. WaPo: Why we stuck with Maliki -- and lost Iraq
American adviser Ali Khedery on how the Obama administration leaders kept Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister of Iraq, and how that has led to the apparent breakup of Iraq today.
2014-07-02 ~World.... WT: Finding a patsy in Benghazi, by Kenneth R. Timmerman
Libyan government officials and Western media outlets have long accused Mr. Abu Khattala of having played an instrumental role in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2012, that cost the lives of four Americans in Benghazi. However, the real mastermind of the attacks was Qassem Suleymani, the "Wizard of Oz of Iranian terror".
2014-07-01 ~Virginia. Examiner: States' Economic Growth Since Great Recession
Western and Plains states fared well after 2010, whereas most Northeastern states fared poorly. With the noteworthy exceptions of Virginia (46th) and Louisiana -- which, like Maine, hardly grew at all in three years, Southern states turned in mediocre performances, below the national average, with Tennessee leading the pack at 7 percent.
2014-06-xx ~Potpourri First Things: The Good of Government, by Roger Scruton
American conservatives need a positive view of government. They have an obligation to map out the true domain of government, and the limits beyond which action by the government is a trespass on the freedom of the citizen. But it seems to me that they have failed to offer the electorate a believable blueprint for this...
2014-06-xx ~Bulletin. Here We Go Again -- Large County Tax Increases
2014-06-30 ~Virginia. FCTA: Budget Efficiency by State
Examines how much Virginia and other states spend per resident. In other words, how efficient is each state in providing government services to their citizens?
2014-06-28 ~Potpourri ZeroHedge: Warning - Civil Unrest Is Rising Everywhere: "This Won't End Pretty"
Martin Armstrong: "The greatest problem we have is misinformation. People simply do not comprehend why and how the economic policies of the post-war era are imploding. ... Even confiscating all the wealth of the so-called rich will not sustain the system. Consequently, we just have to crash and burn and start all over again."
2014-06-28 ~National. Epoch Times: Is the Fed Unconstitutional?, by Valentin Schmid
Under the Constitution, Congress is supposed to oversee the coinage -- in gold or silver form. The Articles of Confederation had given Congress the power to borrow money and "emit bills". This power was struck from the Constitution, so it logically follows that the power isn't there. There is no power to create paper currency of the debt-based variety in Congress.
2014-06-28 ~FxSchools WaPo: 40% of kindergarteners in Fairfax Co schools require English instruction
School officials said there is evidence that some immigrant families moved to Fairfax after Prince William's law took effect; the Fairfax school system experienced an increase of 14,000 Hispanic students between 2008 and 2014.
2014-06-27 ~Virginia. Senator Kaine to constituent: I support the War On Coal
In a letter to an FCTA member, Senator Tim Kaine espouses his belief in the manmade global warming myth, and supports the EPA's War On Coal.
2014-06-27 ~Potpourri WT: An obituary for the Tea Party
The Tea Party, the popular political movement that grew from widespread public concern over the growth of government, died on Tuesday, June 24, in Mississippi. ... The Tea Party is dead; long live the fight for limited government.
2014-06-26 ~National. NR Online: All Employment Growth Since 2000 Went to Immigrants
A recent study finds that there were 127,000 fewer working-age natives holding a job in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000, while the number of immigrants with a job was 5.7 million above the 2000 level.
2014-06-26 ~Environmt DailyTech: Microsoft's New Fuel Cell Partner is Ready to Blow Away the Bloom Box
Some of you may remember several years ago news about the "Bloom Box", a fuel cell technology which used natural gas instead of pure hydrogen. This article describes the new "Redox Power" competitor, and provides detailed discussion of both technologies.
2014-06-25 ~FxPension GASB Improves Pension Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) today voted to approve two new standards that will substantially improve the accounting and financial reporting of public employee pensions by state and local governments.
2014-06-25 ~Environmt Video: Global Warming is a Hoax (4:44) -- Lenar Whitney, GOP Louisiana candidate
www.LenarWhitney.com Conservative for Congress Lenar Whitney denounces Global Warming as a myth, designed to give more power to the executive branch, while increasing taxes in a progressive's dream to regulate every aspect of American life from our lightbulbs to our thermostat.
2014-06-24 ~FxTrans.. VDOT: Route 7 Widening - Reston Ave to Jarrett Valley Dr
This project proposes to widen a 6.9-mile segment of Route 7 from four to six lanes between Reston Ave and Jarrett Valley Dr, to increase capacity, decrease congestion and improve safety in conformity with the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan.
2014-06-23 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: When the Bubble Pops
There's only so much that Virginia and local government officials can do to counteract the inevitable squeeze of federal government spending. Uncle Sam's long-term budget crisis is far from over. The federal government will continue to be a drag on the regional economy for a long, long time.
2014-06-23 ~National. WT OpEd: Free speech on the guillotine
Liberals employ extreme measures to silence opposition. ... Such intolerance is hardly new, but it has never found such acceptance among so many supposedly mainstream politicians.
2014-06-23 ~FxTaxes.. Biz Journal: Restaurants get reprieve on Fairfax County meals tax
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova doesn't expect the proposed 4 percent meals tax referendum to be acceptable to voters in 2014, so it will likely be delayed until after the 2016 election.
2014-06-23 ~Environmt Examiner: Supreme Court limits EPA on some greenhouse gas emissions rules
The 5-4 ruling kept intact the EPA's option to require large polluters to use the best technology available to curb greenhouse gases. That's key because it's the cornerstone of the agency's proposed power plant emissions rules from new and existing facilities.
2014-06-22 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Continued decline seen in average weekly wage across Fairfax
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Fairfax County's economy remains endangered despite the slow national recovery. Both the total number of jobs in the county, and the average weekly wages by those who hold them, posted year-over-year declines in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to figures reported June 19.
2014-06-21 ~Health... Epoch Times: A New Understanding of the Cause of Cancer, by James Grundvig
Cancer is thought of as being triggered in 5-10 percent of cases by mutations; 15 percent by infections; with the remaining 80 percent deemed to be sporadic, a euphemism for having an 'unknown cause'. Could cancer also be caused by chronic inflammation, just like arthritis and heart disease?
2014-06-21 ~Health... TIME: Ending the War on Fat, by Bryan Walsh
Thirty years of low-fat dogma has produced a nation fatter and sicker than ever, and the "science" supporting the dogma wasn't science at all. (Sounds similar to the global warming argument.)
2014-06-21 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax County Loses Taxpayers to Other Virginia Counties
Fairfax County taxpayers with Average Gross Income (AGI) totaling over $6 billion have left Fairfax County. Most have moved to neighboring Loudoun and Prince William counties which have lower tax rates.
2014-06-21 ~Environmt Telegraph: The scandal of fiddled global warming data
The US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record. But in recent years, NOAA's US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been "adjusting" its record by replacing real temperatures with data "fabricated" by computer models.
2014-06-17 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Meals Tax Referendum Task Force - Majority and Minority Reports
FCTA president Arthur Purves was a member of this Task Force, and wrote the Minority Report.
2014-06-16 ~Virginia. WT: Prince William renews push for deportation data on illegal immigrants
The Virginia county that ignited a national debate by using local police to round up illegal immigrants is planning a new legal maneuver to force the U.S. government to divulge what it did with the more than 7,000 people turned over to deportation authorities.
2014-06-14 ~National. American Thinker: Obama's Children's Crusade, by James Lewis
Would you send your own kids in wild mobs to a strange land? Do Hispanics love and protect their children less than we do? No. This is another Obama agit-prop stunt, with a U.S. president assaulting our southern borders.
2014-06-13 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: Virginia GA Passes Budget Without Medicaid Expansion
"This is a tremendous victory for the citizens of Virginia. Not only have we defeated establishment politicians and big hospital lobbyists, but we have breathed new life into transforming the way we deliver healthcare to the most needy in our state."
2014-06-13 ~Virginia. Alex Times: Driving Lyft, Uber out of the market
Just when you thought the Department of Motor Vehicles could not get any less popular, Virginia's DMV officials sent cease-and-desist letters to passenger carrier companies Uber and Lyft, urging them to stop doing business in the commonwealth.
2014-06-11 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Eat. Drink. Pay? (for Fairfax Co meals tax), by Victoria Ross
It has been 22 years since Fairfax County asked voters to approve a tax on restaurant meals, an issue that ignited protests, caused deep divisions among community leaders and threatened to melt down several political careers.
2014-06-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Lower Compensation or Higher Taxes? A Perspective on a Fx Co Meals Tax
2014-06-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Is a Meals Tax the Right Direction? -- Pros and cons
2014-06-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Facts and Figures -- Still think we need a Meals Tax?
2014-06-10 ~State-CA. WaPo: California Court Rejects Teachers Union Tenure
A Los Angeles judge Tuesday struck down teacher tenure and other California laws that offer job security to educators, a decision that is expected to trigger widespread challenges of teacher job protections nationwide.
2014-06-10 ~Report... Ethnic Impact on SAT Scores for Fairfax High Schools, by Fred Costello-122
2014-06-06 ~World.... Telegraph: Vodafone says governments use secret cables to tap phones
Government agencies around the world are able to listen to phone conversations live and even track the location of citizens without warrants using secret cables connected directly to network equipment, admits Vodafone today.
2014-06-06 ~Potpourri JWR: The monotony of thought in the modern university, by Victor Davis Hanson
A funny thing has happened on the way to the 21st century. Colleges that were once our most enlightened and tolerant institutions became America's dinosaurs.
2014-06-05 ~National. AmRen.com: FAA Changes Hiring Practices for Air Traffic Controllers -- "Diversity"
Thousands of potential FAA air traffic control trainees, with College Initiative Training (CTI) degrees or previous military experience, have been told by the federal agency they are no longer eligible for job interviews. Instead, the FAA now accepts less qualified applicants, apparently to satisfy concerns that the agency needs a more diverse workforce.
2014-06-03 ~FxTaxes.. Say "NO" to a Fairfax County Food Tax! -- BOS wants 4% levy on prepared food
2014-06-03 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Free Citizen: Meals Tax Task Force a Political Ploy
Chalk up another one to clever Fairfax County politicians who will likely use the results of an ad hoc study committee they created (but gave way too little time to complete serious work) to validate their pursuit of a County meals tax. Another political ploy planned and executed smartly!
2014-06-01 ~State-CA. City Journal: Lawmakers Gone Wild, by Victor Davis Hanson
California's once-exemplary legislature now manages to be both trivial and destructive.
2014-06-01 ~National. Telegraph: Bowe Bergdahl: a darker story behind the release of America's last POW
America celebrates the release of a young soldier who allegedly abandoned his post after growing disillusioned with the war in Afghanistan.
2014-05-xx ~National. YG Netwk: Conservative Reforms for Limited Gov't, Thriving Middle Class
This free 120-page e-book contains essays on policies discussed at a conference that took place this March in Middleburg, Virginia. On the discussion panel were Rep Eric Cantor (VA), plus Sens Mike Lee (UT), Mitch McConnell (KY), and Tim Scott (SC).
2014-05-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Worldview that Makes the Underclass, by Anthony Daniels
Imprimis lecture by Anthony Daniels, Writer and Doctor
2014-05-31 ~FxDRail.. WaPo: Higher tolls pushing many off the Dulles Toll Road
"You can put me down as an angry toll road user," he said. "It's not that I'm cheap or don't have the ability to pay. I just wonder, when is it all going to stop?"
2014-05-31 ~Environmt CFACT: John Holdren in his own (radical) words
Obama science advisor Dr. John Holdren actually called for the American government to "de-develop" the U.S. and "reduce" its population.
2014-05-30 ~Material. Examiner: Dinesh D'Souza's America warns Hillary Clinton will "finish off" country
"If Hillary Clinton is elected in 2016, the baton will have passed from one Alinskyite to another. In this case, Alinsky's influence will have taken on a massive, almost unimaginable, importance. Obama will have had eight years to remake America, and Hillary will have another four or perhaps eight to complete the job," he wrote.
2014-05-30 ~Health... Telegraph: Bicycle helmets are useless, says brain surgeon
A leading neurosurgeon has controversially claimed that cyclists who wear helmets are wasting their time. "I see lots of people in bike accidents and these flimsy little helmets don't help."
2014-05-30 ~FxDRail.. MWAA: Dulles Corridor Enterprise Financial Update
2014-05-30 ~Environmt Examiner: Seven things to know about the coming EPA power-plant rule
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce Monday the first-ever carbon emissions limits on the nation's 1,600 power plants.
2014-05-29 ~State-OK. ACT: American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) now in Oklahoma
A previous amendment (also known as SQ755), that forbade Oklahoma's courts from considering Islamic law (Shariah) in judicial decisions, was struck down in Federal Court. ALAC remedies the flaws in Oklahoma's SQ 755, and is facially neutral. It cannot be accused of discriminating against any religion or protected class.
2014-05-29 ~Potpourri Examiner: Why even Reagan couldn't be Reagan today, by Michael Barone
Michael Barone gives a detailed analysis of Ronald Reagan, and claims he was a political leader suited for the times. Aspiring Republican politicians may claim Reagan's mantle, but in today's America even Ronald Reagan could not be Reagan.
2014-05-29 ~Environmt Chamber: Power plant rules will cost economy $50 billion annually
But the mainstream media reacted predictably Wednesday to a study claiming massive costs will result from a key initiative in President Obama's global warming regulatory agenda. The study was conducted by the independent consulting firm IHS for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Energy Institute.
2014-05-28 ~FxDRail.. Fx Ti404: Major rail issues remain unresolved, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
2014-05-27 ~Potpourri Examiner: A historian who understood why big business wanted regulation
Every American knows the fable of the Progressive Era and that "trust buster" Teddy Roosevelt wielding the big stick of federal power to battle the greedy corporations. We would be better off if more people knew the work of the man who dismantled this myth: historian Gabriel Kolko, who died this month at age 81.
2014-05-27 ~FxTaxes.. Watchdog.org: Fairfax eyes $85 million more for bike-walk projects
A proposed $100 million transit referendum earmarks $85 million for new bikeways and pedestrian paths. The outlays come on top of more than $200 million in bike-ped projects already approved. "This doesn't make any more sense than a $1 million bus stop," Supervisor Pet Herrity said, referring to Arlington's notorious "Super Stops."
2014-05-27 ~Environmt Examiner: The Myth of the Climate Change '97%'
That hoary myth that 97 percent of all scientists believe global warming is a dangerous man-made process should have been put to rest for all time Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal. Question is: Will the mainstream media cover the House committee hearing this week on the IPCC?
2014-05-26 ~World.... Euroskeptics Win Big in the UK and on the Continent -- Globalism support way down
The anti-EU UK Independence Party led by populist Nigel Farage scored major gains and was leading the opposition Labour party and Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives in early results from Britain. Similar anti-Euro sentiments were reflected in elections throughout Europe.
2014-05-26 ~Environmt WT: Retired officers to profit after Pentagon's alarmist climate change report
Retired military officers deeply involved in the climate change movement -- and some in companies positioned to profit from it -- spearheaded an alarmist global warming report this month that calls on the Defense Department to ramp up spending on what it calls a man-made problem.
2014-05-24 ~National. Examiner: Export-Import Bank costs taxpayers $2 billion a decade, by Tim Carney
The Obama administration and the business lobby defend the Export-Import Bank of the United States by claiming it "makes a profit" for taxpayers. But this "profit" is an accounting fiction, a top federal budget agency recently found. (George Allen just wrote a WT article praising Ex-Im.)
2014-05-24 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fx Co considers reviving proposal to tax restaurant meals
Fairfax County is considering asking voters to approve a tax on restaurant meals, an issue that has been a political third rail in the wealthy jurisdiction and triggered angry rallies and threats of electoral ruin the last time it was considered, in 1992.
2014-05-22 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 308,000 Virginia voters registered in other states, by Kenric Ward
The Virginia Voters Alliance reports that some 308,000 Virginia voters are also registered elsewhere, according to an analysis of 22 states' election records.
2014-05-20 ~World.... Gatestone Inst: A Month of Islam in Britain
Islam and Islam-related issues were omnipresent in Britain during April. Three broad themes: 1) The British government's growing concern over Islamic extremism and the domestic security implications of British jihadists in Syria; 2) The continuing spread of Islamic Sharia law in all aspects of British daily life; and 3) Ongoing questions of Muslim integration into British society.
2014-05-20 ~National. WT OpEd: The academic recession: Big bucks, little knowledge
Many college graduates can't handle a family budget, express themselves clearly or understand what American democracy is about. Good citizenship requires more than the ability to hold a job. It means being informed and well-rounded as a person. American universities have become big businesses turning out graduates who are neither.
2014-05-19 ~National. The Atlantic: The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage
Far from offering expanding attractive career opportunities, it seems that many, but not all, science and engineering careers are headed in the opposite direction: unstable careers, slow-growing wages, and high risk of jobs moving offshore or being filled by temporary workers from abroad.
2014-05-18 ~National. WT: Feds press banks to cut off gun retailers -- 'Operation Choke Point'
Gun retailers say the Obama administration is trying to put them out of business with regulations and investigations that bypass Congress and choke off their lines of credit, freeze their assets and prohibit online sales. The "Justice" Department has launched 'Operation Choke Point'.
2014-05-18 ~National. WT: Corporations hoard cash away from high U.S. taxes
The highest-in-the-world U.S. corporate tax rate and the Federal Reserve's artificially low interest rate combine to produce marketing decisions not beneficial for the U.S. economy.
2014-05-16 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Marshall urges impeachment of attorney general, by Kathryn Watson
"Voters shouldn't stay with Republicans too long if they're not wiling to defend what they claim they believe. They're going to have so many more violations and predatory acts by Herring and (Gov. Terry) McAuliffe, this is going to be pansy day at the General Assembly," Marshall said.
2014-05-16 ~FxSchools Reston Now: FCPS Will Change Administration Structure
Effective July 1, FCPS will no longer have eight clusters. Instead, it will have five regions, each with about 36,000 students. Superintendent Karen Garza said the new structure will create "significant" budgetary savings.
2014-05-16 ~Environmt dcnfenergy: Scientists respond to Obama's National Climate Assessment
A team of independent scientists fact checked President Obama's new national climate assessment report and issued it a failing grade. They wrote that the President's report is "a masterpiece of marketing that shows for the first time the full capabilities of the Obama Administration to spin a scientific topic as they see fit, without regard to the underlying facts."
2014-05-15 ~Material. WT: Leftward, ho: Obama unlikely to stop portside push
The president is stuck. He must maintain his leftward tilt, simply to attempt to maintain his current political position, which is one of increasing isolation from all but the left.
2014-05-15 ~Environmt Examiner: A look behind the curtain hiding Tom Steyer's fortune
Silicon Valley billionaire Tom Steyer has generated lots of adoring coverage in the mainstream media with his promise to spend $100 million to elect Democrats who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. It turns out that much of Steyer's wealth is the fruit of immensely profitable investments in development of Indonesian and Australian coal.
2014-05-14 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: GOP's No. 2 House leader feels heat at home, Kenric Ward
Barely three weeks to primary election day, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor faces a Republican insurgency that could boot him off Capitol Hill.
2014-05-14 ~State-PA. Watchdog.org: PA cops can search your car without warrant -- State Supreme Court
The state General Assembly, meanwhile, is moving forward with a bill that would give cops the authority to arrest people caught with "secret compartments" in their vehicles, even if there is nothing illegal in those suspicious containers.
2014-05-14 ~Material. WT: Who's afraid of the USA?
Ordinary Americans have more reason to fear the U.S. government than do our foreign enemies. Liberals' quest for a global order has made conservatives the enemy. Only 22 percent of Americans look upon the U.S. Government as our protector, and 37 percent fear it outright.
2014-05-13 ~National. House Floor: Trey Gowdy gets a standing ovation - 'We Make Law!' -- video (5:28)
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), sponsor of the "Enforce the Law Act", gave an very passionate speech defending the need for legislation to stop Obama's power grab. Five Democrats joined the Republican majority to advance a bill that would authorize the House or Senate to sue the executive branch for not enforcing laws. Gowdy received a standing O on the House floor.
2014-05-13 ~Environmt Examiner: Mainstream media don't know Big Green has deeper pockets than Big Oil
As usual, conventional wisdom isn't wisdom when the mainstream media ask all the wrong questions with commensurate answers. Behemoth Big Green outstrips Big Oil in expendable revenue by orders of magnitude -- if you know how to follow the money.
2014-05-12 ~Potpourri Defense One: What the Most Secure Email in the Universe Would Look Like
Say you wanted to send an email more secure than any message that had ever been transmitted in human history, a message with absolutely no chance of being intercepted. How would you do it?
2014-05-12 ~National. Heritage: IRS Tries to Silence Political Speech Again, with New Regulations
The IRS's proposed rules on "Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Organizations on Candidate-Related Political Activities" raise a host of serious concerns. The proposed rules ignore Supreme Court precedents and the Internal Revenue Code.
2014-05-08 ~National. WT: Obama's attack on the independence of inspectors general
Inspectors general are the taxpayers' policemen. Their beat is the corridors of the bureaucracy, which they patrol for waste, fraud, abuse and even crime. This often puts them at odds with a president, his administration and his congressional allies.
2014-05-07 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Kelleher, Colbert, Majdi win in Vienna; DiRocco still mayor
2014-05-07 ~Environmt CFACT: National climate embarrassment
Statement by CFACT's Marc Morano on the 2014 National Climate Assessment Report
2014-05-05 ~National. WT: Margaret Sanger, racist eugenicist extraordinaire, by Arina Grossu
A couple of years ago, Margaret Sanger was named one of Time magazine's "20 Most Influential Americans of All Time". Given her enduring influence, it's worth considering what the woman who founded Planned Parenthood contributed to the eugenics movement. (Read also The Truth About MARGARET SANGER.)
2014-05-05 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Vienna Town Council members, residents spar on tax burden
"The tax rates here are increasing unsustainably," said David Swink, a town resident who serves on the board of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance. "It doesn't really matter whether you need it or not. You're taking it. People are just going to have to walk away. The taxpayer really has no say about it."
2014-05-03 ~Health... Book: Missing Microbes: How Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
Everyone has a pet theory to explain the rise of modern scourges -- obesity, diabetes, celiac disease, autism, asthma, allergies, esophageal cancer, etc. But perhaps it's not plastics, pesticides or GM wheat -- but antibiotics.
2014-05-02 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 'Unsustainable' corporate giveaways bloat VA budget, by Kenric Ward
Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants to boost corporate-welfare handouts to $136 million over the next two years -- a 24 percent increase. Matt Mitchell, senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, calls such endeavors "unsustainable".
2014-05-02 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts final notice for budget and real estate tax increase
The Town of Vienna proposes real estate tax rate remain unchanged, so your (8%+) assessment increase will be the same as your next tax bill. (Final adoption May 12.)
2014-05-01 ~FxDRail.. WaPo: Silver Line to get nearly $2 billion in federal loans
...to help pay for the second phase of the project that will extend the new Silver Line to Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County.
2014-04-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Sagebrush Rebellion Redivivus, by William Perry Pendley
Imprimis lecture by William Perry Pendley, President of the Mountain States Legal Foundation
2014-04-30 ~State-AR. WT: The Arkansas Obamacare bailout -- the so-called "private option"
The Arkansas private option does not represent flexibility from the federal government, does not represent a market-based alternative to Medicaid expansion, and does not represent affordable, patient-centered health care reform. The taxpayers who are likely to pay the consequences include everybody. Other states should take due diligence.
2014-04-29 ~World.... WT: U.K. politician arrested for quoting Churchill's criticism of Islam
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! ... No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith." -- written by Churchill in 1899, based on his experience in Sudan
2014-04-29 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia's budgetary obesity epidemic
Tipping the scales at $96 billion, the proposed two-year budget sets a record. That's a growth of 11 percent for the state government in just two years, even though the rate of inflation was 2.9 percent and personal-income growth topped 4.5 percent over this same period.
2014-04-29 ~FxTaxes.. Bulova request: FCTA join Meals Tax task force
Dear Mr. Purves, I am writing to invite you or a representative of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance to participate in a task force to consider a Meals Tax referendum.
2014-04-28 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Virginia fails to police voter rolls, critics charge, Kenric Ward
Robert Moore told Watchdog he moved from Fairfax County to Contra Costa County, Calif., in 1999 -- missing almost 15 years of Virginia elections. Yet his name remains on the Fairfax voter rolls. "It's a running joke with my mom, who sees my name on the precinct list every time she votes," he said.
2014-04-28 ~National. Examiner: Education spending skyrockets while student achievement stays stagnant
... What those trends suggest is that every state in America has suffered an education productivity collapse. Outcomes are generally stagnant or declining despite massive increases in expenditures.
2014-04-28 ~National. Examiner: Out of touch With America: Are unions obsolete? -- 5-part series
Chapter 1: Big Labor's identity crisis
Chapter 2: Unions and the Democratic Party
Chapter 3: Right to work vs. card check
Chapter 4: Forced unionism: The SEIU and Illinois home health-care workers
Chapter 5: Reinventing the union
2014-04-28 ~Health... WSJ: A Doctor's Declaration of Independence
I don't know about other physicians but I am tired -- tired of the mandates, tired of outside interference, tired of anything that unnecessarily interferes with the way I practice medicine. No other profession would put up with this kind of scrutiny and coercion from outside forces.
2014-04-25 ~Environmt CFACT: Local communities face onslaught from self-anointed planners
"Planning commissions, which have spread like wildfire over the past couple of decades and whose members are unelected, produce an endless array of schemes designed to micro-manage every aspect of commercial, residential, and recreational life. No town, no matter how small, is safe from the meddling of planners in and outside of government."
2014-04-24 ~States... MarketWatch: Most and least expensive states to live in the U.S.
D.C., Hawaii, New York highest; Mississippi lowest.
2014-04-24 ~Report... Cost and Performance of Fx vs Other School Districts (Rev A), Fred Costello-115
2014-04-24 ~National. Examiner: Will demographics doom the GOP -- video (24:41)
Philip Klein and Michael Barone discuss the conventional wisdom, that Republican voters are too old and too white for the party to compete in an increasingly diverse American electorate. Does this mean that demographics will doom the GOP?
2014-04-24 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Seeking more money, Fairfax convenes meals-tax task force
Not content with this year's 7.3% increase in real estate taxes, Fairfax County Supervisor Chairman Sharon Bulova proposed today creation of a task force (see below) to evaluate whether to place a meals tax referendum on the ballot at some point in the future. FCTA president Arthur Purves said even the imposition of a meals tax would not raise enough money to offset runaway county spending.
2014-04-24 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Co Supervisor Bulova wants to create a Meals Tax Referendum task force
2014-04-23 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 44,000 voters registered in both Virginia and Maryland, Kenric Ward
"The Virginia Voters Alliance is investigating how to identify voters who are registered and vote in Virginia but live in the states that surround us," Alliance President Reagan George told the State Board of Elections.
2014-04-23 ~National. CFACT: Secure property rights: Hold government to the law
The Cliven Bundy rancher story traces back to 1992 in a protest bound for a federal courthouse in Las Vegas. ... "The message terrified abusive bureaucrats: There are private rights in federal lands -- vested rights, not privileges."
2014-04-23 ~National. TIME: The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime, by Camille Paglia
The age-21 rule sets the U.S. apart from all advanced Western nations, and it has pushed kids toward pills and other antisocial behavior.
2014-04-22 ~FxTaxes.. Reston Now: Fairfax Supervisors OK 7.3% Real Estate Tax Hike
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to increase the real estate tax rate to $1.09 per $100 of assessed value, the biggest hike since 2007. The vote passed 7-3, with supervisors Pat Herrity (Springfield) , Linda Smyth (Providence), and John Cook (Braddock) voted against the rate.
2014-04-21 ~National. WT: A better way to help the dangerously mentally ill
While we spend $203 billion annually on what he found can only loosely be described as mental health care, much of what we are doing is wasteful, misdirected or even counterproductive. The perhaps 11 million men and women with truly severe mental problems who too often lead to violence, arrest, prison and suicide are often ignored in favor of minor mental health issues.
2014-04-21 ~FxTaxes.. Fx Ti404: Fairfax Board of Supervisors debates key budget elements
The main budget package that Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova (D-At large) will put forward tomorrow includes a slight increase in the real estate tax rate and $14.6 million in budget cuts. That money would be used to fund larger pay increases for county employees and more schools funding than was included in County Executive Ed Long's proposed budget.
2014-04-20 ~Potpourri Quarks To Quasars: Will MOND replace the "dark matter" theory?, by Joshua Filmer
The "holy grail" of a scientific theory is one that can make accurate predictions of phenomena in advance. Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is an alternative to dark matter theory and attempts to explain the gravitational discrepancies seen in the motions of galaxies.
2014-04-17 ~handout.. Fx - Prevent Real Estate Tax Hike, Reduce Poverty -- Increased 133% since FY2000
The typical homeowner's real estate tax bill increased 133% since FY2000. But what have the taxpayers gotten in return?
2014-04-16 ~Health... WSJ: More People Pick Elimination Diets to Discover Food Sensitivities
The adage that you are what you eat doesn't quite ring true for some people. A growing group is swearing by the idea: You are what you don't eat. The fad and science behind not eating entire food groups for weeks at a time.
2014-04-15 ~State-UT. Heartland: Utah Has Nation's Best Economic Outlook, New York Worst (VA ranks #11.)
For the seventh consecutive year, Utah has been ranked as the state with the best economic outlook by the authors of Rich States, Poor States, published by the American Legislative Exchange Council. New York was ranked 50th, with the nation's worst economic outlook. (Virginia ranks #11 this year.)
2014-04-15 ~Environmt CFACT: Agenda 21? What is Agenda 21?
Agenda 21 is supposedly designed to make the world "sustainable" by limiting human activities that environmental extremists believe are harming the planet. That may sound fine to many people -- until they understand what it means in practice. In order to protect the environment, Agenda 21 instructs governments to micromanage virtually all human activity -- which the governments either severely restrict, or regulate to the point that such activity can be minimalized.
2014-04-14 ~National. A Libertarian song for the tax filing blues
"How would I live without filing taxes / What would I do with my free time /
Where would I go on a beautiful Sunday? / Good thing I won't have to make up my mind."
2014-04-13 ~FxDRail.. Moody's: Moody's assigns Baa1 to Series 2014 Dulles Toll Road
Moody's Investors Service assigns a Baa1 to the Series 2014 Second Series and affirms the A2 for the first senior, the Baa1 for the second senior and the Baa2 for the subordinate lien toll road revenue bonds of the Dulles Toll Road (DTR) operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). All liens have a stable outlook.
2014-04-12 ~World.... The Economist: The slumps that shaped modern finance
Finance is not merely prone to crises, it is shaped by them. Five historical crises show how aspects of today's financial system originated -- and offer lessons for today's regulators.
2014-04-12 ~National. Examiner: K Street loses a loyal ally in Kathleen Sebelius
Sebelius was a model of Obamanomics: carrying plenty of sticks to drive industry where she wanted it to go and bushels of carrots to reward the compliant businesses. The revolving door. Abortion extremism. Disregard for the rule of law. Incompetent management. That's Sebelius's legacy. The secretary shall not be missed.
2014-04-11 ~Virginia. Examiner: McAuliffe says Global Warming Threatens Norfolk
Having apparently drunk too much environmental Kool-Aid, Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is warning that global warming could raise sea levels high enough to flood the Hampton Roads region, home to the world's largest naval base, without immediate and "smart decisions".
2014-04-11 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Vienna residents vent over rising town tax rate
FCTA's David Swink noted that Vienna's residential property taxes would increase a higher percentage than the town's overall budget. Swink said his property-tax bill remained flat from 1990 to 2000, but doubled between 2001 and 2007.
2014-04-10 ~National. WSJ: Ali: Here's What I Would Have Said at Brandeis
On Tuesday, after protests by students, faculty and outside groups, Brandeis University revoked its invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree at its commencement ceremonies in May. The protesters accused Ms. Hirsi Ali, an advocate for the rights of women and girls, of being "Islamophobic". Here is an abridged version of the remarks she planned to deliver.
2014-04-10 ~National. WT: RINOs head to FL while Conservatives meet in NH
The "Republican Main Street Partnership" is gathering in Florida this weekend. This "echo chamber for the left" (as seen by grass-roots conservatives) perceives the tea party and other conservatives as the authentic base of the GOP and therefore a threat to the levers of power that the party's behind-the-scenes leaders -- the Bushes, Karl Roves and Haley Barbours -- control. Meanwhile, GOP conservatives meet in New Hampshire on Saturday.
2014-04-10 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Tom Cranmer's Presentation to Fx Co Supervisors
2014-04-10 ~Environmt WT: How Chevron fought back against fraud (Also see related article.)
RICO statutes, formerly used only in criminal cases, are now being modified and applied to civil cases such as Chevron's. Racketeering now applies to the incestuous relationship between environmental groups and government officials for mutual benefit.
2014-04-09 ~Virginia. Fx Free Citizen: The McAuliffe Way: Not What The Framers Intended
Today, in Virginia, the people are not being served by those who have been elected to office, at least not those elected from the Democrat and Progressive factions of the political arena.
2014-04-09 ~FxTaxes.. Change.org: Balance FY2015 budget without increasing property tax rate
You can sign a petition to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors!
2014-04-08 ~Virginia. Video: Hostage to Medicaid Expansion (0:31 min) -- Americans For Prosperity
2014-04-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA Presentation to BOS on Real Estate Tax Increases and County Budget
FCTA Board Member Charles McAndrew and wife Linda address the Board Of Supervisors.
2014-04-08 ~FxTaxes.. Taxpayer Rally on Tuesday, April 8 at 6PM!
Join us at the taxpayer rally, at the start of the first night of the Board of Supervisors budget hearings.
2014-04-08 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA's Arthur Purves' Presentation to Fx Co Supervisors
2014-04-07 ~Potpourri Chris Dixon: The decline of the mobile web (Reversing this 2011 prediction.)
People are spending more time on mobile vs desktop and more of their mobile time using apps, not the web. This is a worrisome trend for the web, and for the innovation inspired by its truly open architecture.
2014-04-06 ~Potpourri WaPo: Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming -- researchers
Humans seem to be developing digital brains with new circuits for skimming through the torrent of information online. This alternative way of reading is competing with traditional deep reading circuitry developed over several millennia.
2014-04-06 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Not dead yet: Dutch, British gov'ts pay to keep Windows XP alive
Windows XP is supposed to be dead next week. But the Dutch and British governments have both inked deals with Microsoft to continue to keep it on life support, at least for them - under Microsoft's Custom Support program.
2014-04-05 ~Health... NY Post: America rejoice! Being fat may actually make you healthier
"The Obesity Paradox" presents compelling evidence that those with excess baggage might be healthier and better able to fight off diseases than normal-weight counterparts. Conversely, the "thin and unfit" waifs have the worst body types for long-term health.
2014-04-04 ~National. WSJ: The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?
Glenn Hubbard explores the current U.S. labor market, whether cyclical or structural. "It seems clear by this late date that our problems are in no small part structural. What we need most urgently is to rethink the federal government's wider role in the labor market."
2014-04-03 ~Report... Do People Leave when Real-Estate Tax Is Increased?, by Fred Costello-112
2014-04-03 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: BOS Chairman replies to FCTA's April 8 presentations
Chairman Sharon Bulova replies to Charles and Linda McAndrews' upcoming presentations, having been sent the FCTA letters in advance.
2014-04-03 ~FxDRail.. Fx Ti404: Still no oversight on Dulles Rail project?, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
A Philadelphia-based accounting firm for the Federal Transit Administration has found instances of lax internal financial management and budget controls at WMATA. The period studied was from April 2012 to March 2013. It seems likely that procurement and federal contract management problems have existed at WMATA for a far longer period.
2014-04-02 ~State-NC. NR: N.C. State Board Finds More than 35K Incidents of 'Double Voting' in 2012
... appear to have voted in states other than North Carolina in 2012. In some cases, votes were cast under names of individuals who had passed away before Election Day. (Ray Stevens gives us a spot of humor on this.)
2014-04-02 ~FxTaxes.. Loudoun Times: BOS approve $2B budget, leave $38M shortfall for local schools
Loudoun's Board of Supervisors signed off on an approximately $2 billion fiscal 2015 county budget Wednesday night, which will hold taxes level for the average county homeowner -- a key goal stated by the nine Republican supervisors elected into office in 2011. The county's $600 million allocation to the schools in fiscal 2015 is the largest amount possible without a tax increase.
2014-04-01 ~Potpourri WT: An Anxious Age: Post-Protestant Ethic and Spirit of America -- Book review
So there is a hole in the center of American culture. Once filled by the mainline and not replaced by Catholicism, that space has been filled by a kind of extreme individualism; religion is what you make of it, or you can make nothing of it.
2014-04-01 ~Health... CBS: Study - Vegetarians Less Healthy, Lower Quality Of Life Than Meat-Eaters
A new study from the Medical University of Graz in Austria finds that the vegetarian diet -- characterized by a low consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol that includes increased intake of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products -- carries elevated risks of cancer, allergies and mental health disorders.
2014-03-xx ~Bulletin. County Planning an 8.5% Tax Increase!
2014-03-31 ~Environmt WT: Flatulent cows and the global warming hysteria, by Wesly Pruden
It's about global warming, naturally. Everything is, if you listen to the gasbag politicians, scientists and academics on the make. Blaming cows in a crisis of such magnitude reveals stunted vision... But cows are an easy target.
2014-03-30 ~Environmt James Lovelock: environmentalism has become a religion
Scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis says environment movement does not pay enough attention to facts and he was too certain in the past about rising temperatures.
2014-03-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna posts notice of real estate tax increase
The Town of Vienna proposes real estate tax rate remain unchanged, so your (8%+) assessment increase will be the same as your next tax bill. (Public hearing April 28.)
2014-03-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Sully District Mtg - Minutes
FCTA's Charles McAndrew and Rob Whitfield in attendance.
2014-03-27 ~Virginia. Medicaid expansion in Virginia? YES or NO: Richmond Times-Dispatch guest opinions
2014-03-26 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Getting the Healthcare We Deserve
Price transparency for medical procedures is fundamental for a market-based health care system: Without prices, a market cannot function; consumers cannot shop for medical services. What we have in the United States, and Virginia, may be described as a non-governmental health care system but it is not a market-based system.
2014-03-25 ~National. OpenMarket: How Obamacare Victims Can Escape the "Liberty Tax"
Buried deep within the Obamacare law is an exemption from the individual mandate for a "health care sharing ministry". Health care sharing ministries are similar to the voluntary mutual aid societies that supported many social welfare institutions in early 20th century America among nearly every demographic community.
2014-03-25 ~Environmt Examiner: Supreme Court says regulatory law is whatever EPA says it means, today
On Monday, the court declined to accept an appeal from Arch Coal of the U.S. EPA's reversal of its 2007 issuance of a 2011 Clean Water Act permit for the company's Spruce Mine operation in West Virginia. By refusing to hear the appeal, the court upheld EPA's authority to change its mind on a regulatory permit decision, even though doing so inflicts substantial financial and other losses on appellants.
2014-03-24 ~National. Free Beacon: Obama to Kill Tomahawk, Hellfire Missile Programs
President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs that experts say have helped the U.S. Navy maintain military superiority for the past several decades.
2014-03-24 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Facts expose myths of mass transit growth, decline in American driving
Two myths are persistently peddled by mass transit advocates, environmentalists and others who want to restore the 19th Century model of city life. The first myth is that mass transit usage is going up dramatically, which is closely related to the second myth that Americans are driving less.
2014-03-22 ~National. WaPo: Sinkhole of bureaucracy -- OPM in Pennsylvania limestone mine.
Inside the caverns of an old Pennsylvania limestone mine, there are 600 employees of the Office of Personnel Management. Their task is nothing top-secret. It is to process the retirement papers of the government's own workers. But that system has a spectacular flaw. It still must be done entirely by hand, and almost entirely on paper.
2014-03-21 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: Spending more on Va. students doesn't mean they're getting smarter
A new study by the Cato Institute finds that, adjusted for inflation, per-pupil spending from 1972 to 2012 has soared 120 percent in Virginia. But SAT scores have remained virtually stagnant. In fact, when adjusted for participation and demographics, Virginia's SAT scores actually fell by 3 percent.
2014-03-21 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Vienna proposes a 7.5% real estate tax increase
A "Notice of Public Hearing for Proposed Budget for FY2014-15 (scheduled for April 7) was published on page B5 of the Washington Times on 03/21/2014 and 03/28/2014. But unlike the Fairfax County notice, which states outright that it "proposes to increase property tax levies", Vienna's notice makes no such mention.
2014-03-20 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Advertised Budget for FY 2015 Presentation - Updated (59 pages)
2014-03-20 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Dranesville District Mtg - Minutes
FCTA's Thomas Cranmer in attendance.
2014-03-19 ~States... Watchdog.org: States still use unrealistic pension assumptions
Two years ago, Rhode Island passed legislation to reform a state pension system that threatened to bankrupt the budget, and hailed as an example for other states to follow. Now, Rhode Island pension issues have become an example of what not to do.
2014-03-17 ~Report... Possible Decreases in Fx Co Direct Expenditures, by Fred Costello-016
2014-03-17 ~Report... A FY2015 Fx Co Budget That Yields a 2.1% RE Tax Increase, Fred Costello-015
2014-03-13 ~FxSchools Fairfax Times: School Board split heading into budget talks
The Fairfax County School Board is split on how to handle the school system's potential state funding heading into budget negotiations with the Board of Supervisors.
2014-03-12 ~Environmt Free Beacon: Radicals Creating the New Federal Dietary Guidelines
The federal committee crafting the 2015 "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" features radical nutritionists who favor Americans moving to "plant-based" diets, in order to "achieve sustainability in the face of climate change".
2014-03-11 ~FxTaxes.. Sun Gazette: Supervisors Drop the Ball in Advertising Higher Tax Rate
Memo to Fairfax County homeowners: You now know who your allies are on the Board of Supervisors. Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield) and Linda Smyth (D-Providence) did the right thing in opposing the board majority, which voted to advertise a tax-rate increase.
2014-03-11 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Adjustments for Pay and Benefits 2000-2014
Information requested by FCTA from the county regarding pay and benefit data equivalent to what Fairfax County Public Schools had provided.
2014-03-10 ~World.... WT: Separating violent Islam from its peaceful twin won't be easy
The Koran is an indoctrination tool for extremism, calling on all Muslims to take violent action against non-Muslims... Britain will discover its surgical procedure for separating Islam's Siamese twins -- one violent, one supposedly not -- cannot succeed.
2014-03-10 ~Virginia. VirginiaPlaces.org: Land Values in Virginia
1) Based on the assessed value, all the land in Virginia was worth a total of $1 trillion in 2011; 2) The value of all the land in Fairfax County is nearly four times higher than the value of the land in any other local juridiction; 3) 20% of the value of all land in Virginia is concentrated in Fairfax County
2014-03-10 ~Virginia. Free Beacon: Muslim Brotherhood-Tied Activist to Host Fundraiser for Gerry Connolly
A Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated activist whose organization recently came under fire for holding an anti-Semitic rally in support of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will head a fundraiser for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
2014-03-09 ~Virginia. Examiner: General Assembly adjourns without Va. budget
Virginia lawmakers left Richmond Saturday without accomplishing their most important task: passing a roughly $96 billion budget for the next two years. (Democrats seem willing to hold the budget hostage to Obamacaid Expansion, which House Republicans oppose.)
2014-03-07 ~Virginia. Richmond Sunlight: Va. House, Senate celebrate Islamic terrorist center
HJ484, "Commending the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center" in Falls Church [of Anwar al-Awlaki fame], was introduced by No. Va. Delegates (Lopez, Kory, Plum, Sickles, Simon, and Watts), and passed by the House and Senate.
2014-03-06 ~Potpourri Peter Schiff: What Needs to Happen to Bring Production Back to the US
In an Epoch Times interview, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital says reduced government key to unlock productive potential.
2014-03-06 ~FxTaxes.. WT: Fairfax County Notice of Proposed Real Property Tax Increase
First public posting, one half of page A8 in the Washington times. Includes an average increase of 6.54 percent for residential and a decrease of 0.10 percent for non-residential real estate. Public hearing April 8, 2014 at the Gov't Center.
2014-03-05 ~World.... MarketWatch: Breakfast in America - Bacon, eggs, coffee and a gun (Looks yummy!)
"As a European, this is how I imagine Americans have breakfast."
2014-03-05 ~Virginia. Medicaid Expansion ... Bad Medicine for Virginia
"Virginians for Quality Healthcare" speaks out against Medicaid expansion in Virginia and elsewhere.
2014-03-05 ~Potpourri The Week: Why American internet so slow? (Also Protest-1, Protest-2, Your speed?)
The country that literally invented the internet now ranks a shocking 31st in the world -- behind Estonia -- in terms of download speeds. Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and AT have "divided up markets and put themselves in a position where they're subject to no competition."
2014-03-05 ~FxTaxes.. Supervisor Herrity on Budget/Tax Rate, School Budget, and more
A 15.5% tax increase over three years demonstrates the board has lost its sense of priorities... The $98 million School Board request to fund our schools can be easily met without a tax rate increase and why teachers can and should get a raise...
2014-03-04 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: Board of Supervisors Authorizes Advertised Tax Rate of $1.105
If approved, would be a 8.5% annual increase in the average real estate tax bill. Supervisors Herrity and Smyth vote against measure. Public hearings on budget and tax rate begin Tuesday, April 8.
2014-03-03 ~National. Dennis Prager: The Bigger the Government... the smaller the citizen. (Video 5:17)
"...the smaller the citizen." This has been true in Europe for decades and is becoming ever more so in the United States. But it's not the kind of nation, the Founding Fathers had in mind.
2014-03-03 ~National. Examiner: Paul Ryan releases new report criticizing the federal safety net
The report is highly critical of much of the existing safety net, noting at the outset that it comprises 92 programs that are "duplicative and complex" that accounted for $799 billion in spending in 2012.
2014-03-01 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Hunter Mill District Mtg - Minutes
FCTA's Charles McAndrew in attendance.
2014-02-xx ~FxTaxes.. FxCo EDA: Major State and Local Taxes and Fees, FY2014
This report highlights major state and local taxes and fees. The first section focuses on tax information for businesses, followed by tax information for individuals. Also included are an overview of other taxes and fees, a directory of state and local agencies and neighboring jurisdictions, and a regional tax rate comparison.
2014-02-xx ~Bulletin. Reducing Public-School Costs; Reducing State Expenditures
2014-02-28 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: County Executive Ed Long responds to FCTA budget questions
In a Feb 28, 2014 online chat, Fairfax County Executive Ed Long responded to three of ten questions posed by FCTA president, Arthur Purves.
2014-02-28 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Ten Budget Questions for the Board of Supervisors
The Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance asked the Board of Supervisors to consider ten questions, which were submitted on the County's chat link before Feb 28. Three of these were answered. View the actual Q.
2014-02-27 ~State-PA. PA Independent: PA Auditor General Warns of Pension Woe
Taxpayers' public pension nightmares are worse than they seem, and local governments face the prospect of tax increases or even bankruptcies caused by mounting levels of pension debt.
2014-02-26 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: 2 Candidates in Va. Slam Investor-Visa 'Boondoggle'
Two Republican congressional candidates in Virginia say the federal investor-visa program is "ripe with abuse" and that it's time for a House cleaning. "It's a total crony boondoggle," Dave Brat said of the EB-5 immigration program.
2014-02-25 ~National. Free Beacon: Pentagon Contractors Exploring Business with Iran
Multiple companies currently exploring new business ventures in Iran are also cashing in on highly lucrative contracts with the U.S. Defense Department, raising questions about whether their dealings with Iran could run afoul of U.S. law.
2014-02-25 ~National. Free Beacon: End of American Military Dominance
President Barack Obama will sharply cut ships, aircraft, and troops as part of a major reduction of U.S. military forces that will face even steeper downsizing in 2016, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced on Monday.
2014-02-25 ~FxTaxes.. FxCo: Fairfax County Executive Proposes $7 Billion Budget for FY2015
Proposed budget maintains the FY 2014 Real Estate Tax Rate at $1.085 per $100 of assessed value. Recommended operating transfer to Fairfax County Public Schools is $1.75 billion, a 2 percent increase over FY 2014.
2014-02-24 ~Potpourri BW: The Unlikely Tale of How ARM Came to Rule the World
This is a story about ARM Holdings, the British mobile technology company. Just about every smartphone, mobile phone, and tablet runs on an ARM chip. Still, a great many people have not heard of ARM.
2014-02-24 ~National. Ars Technica: DOD aims to scrap A-10 to keep F-35 alive in new budget
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is unveiling the Pentagon's proposed budget today - a budget that will dramatically scale back the size of the military. But in order to save the most sacred of cows in its ongoing modernization efforts, the Pentagon is proposing the elimination of what has arguably been the most effective combat aircraft in the Air Force's inventory: the A-10 Thunderbolt II.
2014-02-21 ~National. CNS News: Universities in FCC Newsroom Probe Have Close Ties to Soros
The FCC may have suspended its invasion into American newsrooms, but the controversial "Critical Information Needs" study also has George Soros' fingerprints all over it. While disturbing, this should come as no surprise since Soros gave more than $52 million to media organizations from 2000-2010.
2014-02-21 ~Environmt JWR: The myth of 'settled science', by Charles Krauthammer
I'm neither a global warming believer nor a global warming denier. I've long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly what this will cause in 20, 30 or 50 years are white-coated propagandists.
2014-02-19 ~State-TX. Breitbart: O'Keefe Busts Illegal Voter Scheme to 'Turn Texas Blue'
In an apparent violation of state law, Battleground Texas officials are exploiting legally protected information to turn voters out to the polls as part of the Democratic party's quest to paint the Lone Star State blue, a new undercover video from James O'Keefe reveals.
2014-02-19 ~Potpourri Nat'l Journal: Pandora Knows How You'll Vote
The online music service is telling political campaigns what music you listen to, which they say gives away your party affiliation. (Wonder how they'd rate these selections?)
2014-02-19 ~National. Examiner: UAW loss in Chattanooga a repudiation of 1930s unionism
It is 611 miles from the United Auto Workers headquarters in Detroit to Volkswagen's assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. It's a long day's drive, about 10 hours almost entirely on Interstate 75, but it turned out too be to far for the UAW.
2014-02-19 ~National. WT: Part 1 - Troops must use inferior rifle; Part 2 - Army cover-up?
Soldiers and marines have long had problems with the Army's main battle rifle (read here). Rowan Scarborough brings us up-to-date citing experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, and exploring apparent Army cover-ups of the weapon's deficiencies.
2014-02-19 ~Material. Infowars: The War On Men: 10 Ways Masculinity is Under Attack
A totalitarian society can only survive if the male population has been gelded, emasculated and disenfranchised. With this natural bulwark against tyranny removed, the elite can centralize power and pursue collectivist tyranny unopposed.
2014-02-18 ~Virginia. WaPo: FBI needs public to help find corruption in Northern Va.
The unusual news release listed the Washington Field Office's telephone hotline (703-686-6225) and an e-mail address (NOVAPC@ic.fbi.gov) for tips.
2014-02-18 ~Environmt BW: U.S. Government Never Saw This Winter Coming
The folks at NOAA, whose models predict Global Warming doom in our future, admit their models can't predict whether a given three-month period will be wetter, drier, hotter, or colder than average. They rate themselves close to (monkeys throwing darts would have done better).
2014-02-17 ~World.... Frontpage Mag: How Al Qaeda Is Winning the War on Terror
Worldwide Islamic terrorist movements, of which Al Qaeda is just one, have multiple and evolving structures and tactics. Focusing on yesterday's organizations and methods is a recipe for disaster.
2014-02-16 ~Virginia. WaPo: Va. Senate panel proposes alternative to Medicaid expansion
Instead of expanding Medicaid as it has traditionally operated, the Senate Finance Committee proposed helping up to 400,000 Virginians buy private insurance through a program that would be known as "Marketplace Virginia".
2014-02-14 ~Material. Infowars: U.S. Army Builds 'Fake City' in Virginia to Practice Military Occupation
While the city was ostensibly built to prepare U.S. troops for the occupation of cities abroad, some will undoubtedly fear that the real intention could be closer to home. Although the site includes a mosque, the town looks American in every other way, with signs in English.
2014-02-12 ~World.... Reporters w/o Borders: 2014 World Press Freedom Index - Country Rankings
Spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. Some countries have lost ranking due to a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed. (The U.S. fell 13 places to 46th.)
2014-02-11 ~World.... Codevilla: Lessons From Switzerland's immigration referendum
Modern government -- the administrative state -- is the negation of government of the people, by the people, for the people. And the governing class is unnerved when people vote their national interest.
2014-02-11 ~Virginia. FxCo: White Paper on Medicaid Expansion in Virginia (Fx Co supports!)
"Fairfax County strongly supports the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Virginia to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level by the 2013 General Assembly." (Consider the source.) Also the Virginia Hospital Healthcare Association weighs in. (Follow the money.) If a taxpayer is in doubt regarding an issue, he can often confirm a position for or against based on the credibility of other sources.
2014-02-10 ~National. WSJ: The FCC Wades Into the Newsroom
An FCC commisioner questions why the agency is studying 'perceived station bias' and asking about coverage choices.
2014-02-09 ~National. USMC Times: Marine Corps Times first casualty in HQ's war to "professionalize"
Brass says independent newspaper does not conform to new Marine Corps message. ("I want the truth! ... You can't handle the truth!")
2014-02-07 ~Virginia. Times Dispatch: House defeats bid for Convention of the States, by a 67-29 vote
At a convention, the states would come together and propose constitutional amendments to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and limit the terms of office of its officials and members of Congress. Article 5 of the Constitution says a convention of the states requires "application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states" (34/50).
2014-02-07 ~Potpourri Breitbart: WaPo laments that Democrat groups have no one like the Kochs
An odd claim considering that the left has spent the better part of the last 40 years creating dozens of purported think tanks and agenda shops like the Center for American Progress (CAP), and in George Soros has one of the richest men in the world funding Democrats and their issues at nearly every turn.
2014-02-07 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: GOP arms itself for next "war" in analytics arms race
Borrowing from Obama's successful 2012 digital campaign, the RNC wants to leapfrog the Democrats technologically by building an infrastructure that will not just help their next presidential contender, but Republicans across the board.
2014-02-07 ~Health... JWR: The health-care myths we live by, by Charles Krauthammer
After "first, do no harm", medicine's second great motto should be "above all, humility". Even the tried-and-true may not be true. Some myths: "Emergency room usage"; "Medicaid's effect on health"; "Electronic records will save zillions".
2014-02-06 ~State-AR. WT: Model Arkansas way of expanding Medicaid at risk
Arkansas' plan for expanding Medicaid by buying private insurance policies for the poor instead of adding them to the rolls was heralded as a model for convincing more Republican-leaning states to adopt a key part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. But now, as Republican lawmakers face election season and step up attacks on Obamacare, the state that pioneered the private option is on the brink of abandoning it.
2014-02-06 ~Material. MEDIAite: GOP, Dems Clash - 'Coincidence' Multiple Agencies Targeted Republican
Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va) put on quite a show on C-SPAN3, defending Obama's rogue agencies against the obvious targeting of a conservative organization.
2014-02-06 ~Environmt CFACT to EPA: Proposed power plant regs nothing less than industrial sabotage
CFACT testified today at EPA's hearing on proposed emissions regulations for new power plants. These regulations will make it nearly impossible to create a new coal-fired electricity plant in the United States at a time when China, India and even Germany are expanding their use of coal.
2014-02-05 ~Virginia. WT: Virginia Gov. McAuliffe rerouted funds for inaugural
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell was crucified by the media for accepting gifts while in office. But now Gov. Terry McAuliffe has found a way to route $211,000 from his inaugural fund back to his election campaign and the Virginia Democratic Party. And former Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, used $400,000 of his inaugural funds as seed money to form a political action committee.
2014-02-02 ~Material. FCTA: Chesterfield County Schools Better, Cheaper than Fairfax?, Charles McAndrew
FCTA board member Charles McAndrew discusses a daughter's experience in another Virginia public school system, and finds Fairfax's system wanting both academically and in total cost per student. But board member Fred Costello begs to differ!
2014-01-xx ~Virginia. Richmond Sunlight - 2014 Bills
The Virginia General Assembly is now in session, and these are the bills being presented.
2014-01-xx ~National. Limbaugh: The "Common Core" Debacle
In his Limbaugh Letter, Rush quotes from numerous publications that have picked out deficiencies in the "Common Core" school curriculum being pushed in many states. (Virginia, fortunately, has chosen not to follow these perverse guidelines.)
2014-01-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax County Public Schools - High Taxes for Low Achievement
2014-01-31 ~Virginia. Richmond Sunlight - HB45 Fails! -- Would allow study of local BPOL tax
2014-01-29 ~World.... Telegraph: World risks deflationary shock as BRICS puncture credit bubbles
As matters stand, the next recession will push the Western economic system over the edge into deflation.
2014-01-28 ~States... Examiner: Tax cuts are big for states languishing in economic doldrums
Eighteen states approved measures last year to cut taxes in efforts to improve their economic competitiveness and spark new growth, according to a report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The results are explained graphically and in state-by-state detail.
2014-01-28 ~National. WaPo: The diminishing returns of a college education, by Kathleen Parker
American students are paying too much for too little. Getting people into college is only half the battle. Getting them out with a useful education seems an equal challenge.
2014-01-28 ~Material. Buchanan: How the GOP Lost Middle America
Out of the Republican retreat on Maryland's Eastern shore comes word that the House leadership is raising the white flag of surrender on immigration. To understand why and how the Republican Party lost Middle America, and faces demographic death, we need to go back to Bush I.
2014-01-27 ~FxSchools FCTA president's presentation to the school board (video 3:31 min)
Arthur Purves comments on fiscal restraint and dismal academic results.
2014-01-26 ~Virginia. FCTA: What we've done for taxpayers in January
Your humble servants have descended on Richmond twice this year to plea for reduced spending. ... Over 40 letters were dispensed to the Northern Virginia delegation with mixed results.
2014-01-25 ~handout.. Fairfax Co Public Schools - High Taxes for Low Achievement, by Arthur Purves
Between Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 and 2014, Fairfax County real estate taxes for the typical homeowner increased $2700 (114 percent), from $2407 to $5146. Inflation over that period was 47 percent.
2014-01-25 ~FxSchools FCTA: Fx Co Public Schools - High Taxes for Low Achievement ...(FCPS response.)
Between Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 and 2014, Fairfax County real estate taxes for the typical homeowner increased $2700 (114 percent), from $2407 to $5146. Inflation over that period was 47 percent.
2014-01-24 ~Report... Poverty and the Income Gap 1959 to 2013, by Fred Costello-014
2014-01-23 ~National. BW: Spy vs Spy, the inside story of Tor.
... the best internet anonymity tool the government ever built.
2014-01-23 ~National. Frank Wolf's letter to Speaker Boehner urging Benghazi action
Former member of the House of Representatives Allen West has released a copy of a letter sent to Speaker of the House John Boehner by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA). The letter is demanding a House Select Committee on Benghazi.
2014-01-21 ~Potpourri Snopes: How to Create a Social State -- 8 levels of control; Saul Alinsky?
A flood of recent emails have credited Saul Alinsky, in Rules for Radicals, with describing 8 levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to create a social state. But what did Alinsky actually advocate, and what is the real source for these "8 levels".
2014-01-18 ~Virginia. WaPo: Virginia to fight same-sex marriage ban
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring will announce Thursday that he believes the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that Virginia will join two same-sex couples in asking a federal court to strike it down. (So HB706 really is necessary.)
2014-01-18 ~Virginia. WaPo: The ABCs of venal politics in Virginia
Long-time Republican consultant Boyd Marcus merely sold out to the highest bidder when abandoning Cuccinelli for McAuliffe in the campaign for Virginia governor last August.
2014-01-18 ~Virginia. FCTA Report of Sully Town Hall Meeting
FCTA's Charles McAndrew and Rob Whitfield attended a two hour town hall meeting at the Sully Government Center to hear Virginia representatives discuss issues such as Medicaid Expansion, Transportation, Income Tax Inequality, Ethics Reform, and School Testing.
2014-01-17 ~Health... Examiner: A conservative case for universal coverage
If we could substitute Switzerland and Singapore's health care systems, which achieve universal coverage while spending a fraction of what we do and broad access to high-quality doctors, for our own, it would exceed the wildest dreams of American conservative reformers.
2014-01-16 ~Health... AMAC: What ObamaCare is Really About
Submitted by a Concerned Citizen -- I'm a 54 year old consulting engineer and make between $60,000 and $125,000 per year, depending on how hard I work and whether or not there are work projects out there for me...
2014-01-16 ~FxTaxes.. Watchdog.org: Prioritize schools, pensions, not 'bailing out a bank'
Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield District, was the lone dissenting vote against a board of supervisors move this week to take on $30 million owed by what's known as the Lorton Arts Center.
2014-01-10 ~FxTrans.. FCTA: Transparency in Law Making and Widening Rt 7 from Reston Ave to Tysons
In a letter to Del. Tom Rust, FCTA's Tom Cranmer discusses the lack of transparency in passing the Transportation Tax Bill, lack of candor to the public about funds mostly going to transit projects rather than roads, and lack of a budget item for expanding Route 7 from Reston Avenue to Tysons.
2014-01-09 ~Potpourri Reason: Dumbest New Ban in 2014 -- Incandescent Light Bulbs
Before the incandescent bulbs go out for good, it's worth shining a light on its cause: The ban was pushed by lightbulb makers eager to upsell customers on longer-lasting and much more expensive halogen, compact fluorescent and LED lighting.
2014-01-09 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: Moody's Gives Fairfax County 'Negative Outlook'
As Fairfax County prepares to sell $305 million in bonds to raise money for schools, public safety and transportation programs, Moody's Investor Service slapped the county with a "negative outlook" tag.
2014-01-09 ~FxSchools WaPo: Fx schools chief calls for $96M in budget cuts, increased class sizes
The proposal includes $96 million in cuts that would eliminate about 730 staff positions from Virginia's largest school system. The number of assistant principals would be cut and about 460 classroom positions would be removed.
2014-01-08 ~Virginia. HB706 General Assembly member; legislative standing to defend laws of Commonwealth
Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) wants to add a provision to the Code of Virginia in case "the Governor and Attorney General choose not to defend the law". (Now how do you suppose that possibility occurred to him?)
2014-01-08 ~FxMisc... HB792 Residential zoning; restrictions in Planning District 8
Requires localities in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia) to include provisions in their zoning ordinances that limit the number of residential units with 500 square feet or less of living space to no more than 100 residential units per 100,000 population in the locality. Zoning changes required to accommodate such units must be at a location in which the zoning prior to January 1, 2014, was at least 12 residential dwellings per acre.
2014-01-07 ~Environmt Weekly Standard: What Catastrophe? -- MIT's Lindzen, unalarmed climate scientist
2014-01-04 ~Virginia. FCTA: Virginia Education and Welfare Programs Are Broken
Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance testimony to the Fairfax County delegation to the Virginia General Assembly
2013-12-xx ~Virginia. VRS: Virginia Retirement System 2013 Annual Report
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the year ended June 30, 2013
2013-12-xx ~FxTrans.. GMU: Outlook for Transit Commuting in the Washington Metro Area
George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis studies current and future transit patterns in the D.C. area. Just one in seven commuters use public transit; this figure is expected to remain constant through 2040.
2013-12-29 ~World.... Bechor: The End of the Christians in the Muslim World
... by the end of this decade there will be no more Christian Arabs in the Levant meaning the northern east of the Middle East. In the space that is becoming "Salafi" and violent, there is no place for the Christian Arabs, and they are being forcedly exiled.
2013-12-29 ~States... FT: US public finance - Day of reckoning
Chicago is tackling the worst pension crisis in the US. But methods that got it into its bind are still used across America.
2013-12-29 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Budgets 1999 to 2014
FCTA's Fred Costello has compiled basic Fairfax County budget data for FY1999 through FY2014, as shown both graphically and in item-by-item detail.
2013-12-29 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS Budgets 2000 to 2014
FCTA's Fred Costello has compiled basic Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) budget data for FY2000 through FY2014, as shown graphically, with summary data, and in item-by-item detail.
2013-12-28 ~Environmt CFACT: Global warming expedition remains trapped in ice
2013 was a big year for ice with global sea ice hitting or nearing record highs. A dramatic example caught the attention of the world, Christmas day, when a vessel hired by group of global warming scientists radioed for help after becoming trapped in ice off Antarctica.
2013-12-27 ~Material. Camille Paglia: A Feminist Defense of Masculine Virtues
"What you're seeing is how a civilization commits suicide," says Camille Paglia. This self-described "notorious Amazon feminist" isn't telling anyone to Lean In or asking Why Women Still Can't Have It All. No, her indictment may be as surprising as it is wide-ranging: The military is out of fashion, Americans undervalue manual labor, schools neuter male students, opinion makers deny the biological differences between men and women, and sexiness is dead. And that's just 20 minutes of our three-hour conversation.
2013-12-26 ~Material. The Federalist: A Tale of Two Millennials - Pajama Boy and Me
"I do not personally know Ethan Krupp. I do not wish him any ill will. I had no pressing interest in his background until I learned that we graduated from the same high school. My purpose today is simply to flesh out the stark contrast in worldviews between a young conservative and the wealthy liberals he grew up around."
2013-12-23 ~Environmt CFACT files amicus brief with Supreme Court
EPA emissions rules violate Constitution's separation of powers; they are harmful, arbitrary, capricious and fraudulent.
2013-12-19 ~Health... AMAC: ObamaCare's New Year's Day Surprise: Deep Cuts to Medicare
As if ObamaCare's botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow -- this time striking millions of the nation's most vulnerable seniors, by deciding to deeply cut funding for the Medicare program's home health benefit as a way to help pay for ObamaCare.
2013-12-18 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: Game Changer for Medicaid Debate
The debate over Medicaid expansion took a major left turn yesterday when the McDonnell administration revealed that the VCU Medical Center and the University of Virginia Medical Center will lose about $500 million in federal funds to offset uncompensated care between 2017 and 2022.
2013-12-16 ~Virginia. McDonnell proposes $10 billion increase in Va. budget
Your household budget may not be growing in this era of flat wages, but Virginia's is. Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed budget for the next biennium totals nearly $96 billion, an increase from the $86 billion for the current two-year cycle that runs through June 2014.
2013-12-13 ~National. Brookings: Income Taxes in Your County -- An interactive map
2013-12-12 ~World.... BBC: Australia high court overturns ACT gay marriage law
Australia's High Court has overturned legislation allowing gay marriage in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT parliament passed a bill in October making the territory the first part of Australia to legalise same-sex weddings. But the national government challenged the decision, saying it was inconsistent with federal laws.
2013-12-12 ~National. Gallup: Americans Cite Gov't, Economy, Healthcare as Top Problems
Three issues -- dissatisfaction with government, the economy, and healthcare -- are the clear leaders when Americans name the most important problem facing the country.
2013-12-09 ~National. Bob Lonsberry: Two Americas -- Essay
The Democrats are right, there are two Americas. The America that works, and the America that doesn't. The America that contributes, and the America that doesn't. It's not the haves and the have nots, it's the dos and the don'ts. Some people do their duty as Americans, to obey the law and support themselves and contribute to society, and others don't. That's the divide in America.
2013-12-09 ~National. JW: U.S. Gov't Purges Law Enforcement Training Material Muslims Deem 'Offensive'
Judicial Watch today released a 26-page Special Report which includes a detailed chronology, identifies specific Islamic propaganda organizations, and identifies five top "Islamist influence operators" associated with the Obama administration.
2013-12-08 ~States... Fox News: Teachers complain about Common Core-linked lessons
Some of the biggest critics of new lesson plans aligned with the national Common Core standards are the people charged with teaching them. A growing number of teachers say the national standards, adopted by some 45 states, have combined with pressure to "teach to the test" to take all individuality out of their craft.
2013-12-06 ~National. AMAC: ObamaCare's Next Legal Challenge
The law says subsidies can only go through state-run exchanges. The IRS, however, is attempting to enforce tax penalties in all states -- including Oklahoma and the majority of the other states that have declined to create their own exchanges.
2013-12-06 ~National. AMAC: Americans 'Dismayed' By the Country's Left Turn
Two new polls show most people are unhappy with the direction of the country under current liberal leadership.
2013-12-05 ~Virginia. Sun Gazette: General Assembly to Tackle Ethics, Medicaid, Mental-Health Issues
They come from opposing political parties and serve in different bodies of the General Assembly, but state Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-35th) and Del. David Albo (R-42nd) largely agree on several issues that will dominate the 2014 session.
2013-12-05 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: D.C. cash flow turns Virginia green -- and blue, by Kenric Ward
While Virginia boasts the highest percentage of federally funded private-sector jobs in the nation, "real" private enterprise in the commonwealth ranks second to last, a new report says.
2013-12-05 ~FxTrans.. PlanItMetro: Proposed 2040 Metrorail Network
2013-12-05 ~Environmt NY Post: Global-warming 'proof' is evaporating
Michael Fumento demonstrates the fallacy of global warming "science" -- facts are stubborn things. The media have been reluctant to report the empirical evidence that contradicts Al Gore's prediction of impending doom. Atmospheric CO2 increasing, but earth has stopped warming.
2013-12-04 ~Health... Reuters: Dementia epidemic looms
Many governments are woefully unprepared for an epidemic of dementia currently affecting 44 million people worldwide and set to more than treble to 135 million people by 2050, health experts and campaigners said on Thursday.
2013-12-04 ~FxTaxes.. Biz Journal: Fairfax County's first billion dollar property
The Macerich Co.'s Tysons Corner Center is the most valuable, taxable property in the Washington area, and now it's got a number to prove it: $1 billion. The Tysons' assessment rose by $25 million over one year, and is likely to jump more next year as a result of the Silver Line opening.
2013-12-03 ~State-IL. Reuters: Illinois lawmakers pass long-awaited pension reform
Illinois' Democratic-controlled legislature on Tuesday passed a landmark pension reform bill, choosing to address the state's crumbling finances over strong public labor union opposition to cuts in retirement benefits. The bill addresses problems that have built up over decades in the nation's worst-funded state pension system, which is underfunded by $100 billion.
2013-11-xx ~Virginia. TJ Institute: Long-Term Care Vulnerability - A Case Study in Virginia
Virginia is faced with a serious problem as are all states: The aging population requires us to determine how to handle the additional costs this will bring to government and personal budgets. Long Term Care is one of the more important problems facing all parents. How to address this need for Long Term Care, are examined by this new study on Long-term care funded by Medicaid.
2013-11-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: The Case for Repealing Dodd-Frank, by Peter J. Wallison
Imprimis lecture by Peter J. Wallison, American Enterprise Institute
2013-11-29 ~Virginia. Bacon's Rebellion: No More Medicaid as Middle-Class Entitlement
When legislators debate expansion of Virginia's Medicaid program in the 2014 session, they would do well to consider the long-term outlook for Medicaid spending. The program already consumes 17% of the state's general fund budget, and that percentage will grow relentlessly as the population ages.
2013-11-29 ~Virginia. Watchdog.org: VA 'Tide' warning: Don't get on the wrong track, by Kenric Ward
"Budget overruns are only a symptom of a problem," O'Toole told Watchdog.org. Lest Richmond fall in line for more "mass transit", the Cato expert cautions: "In order to sell it, (proponents) start by low-balling the costs. Even if the original cost projections had been accurate, it would not make sense to build light rail."
2013-11-28 ~Environmt WT: 'Eco-friendly' rules fail, except to skyrocket costs
The U.S. Green Building Council, the controversial nonprofit whose green building standards are mandated by 14 federal agencies, as well as 34 state governments, and in excess of 440 municipalities, is the cornerstone of a widespread taxpayer shakedown. This week, the shakedown expanded when the council began applying changes to its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, adding new categories such as climate change, human health and biodiversity.
2013-11-27 ~FxSchools WaPo: FCPS leaders meet to discuss projected budget shortfall
County executive Ed Long said the schools and county supervisors face a "daunting task", as they look to fund operations and services.
2013-11-27 ~FxMisc... FCTA's Tom Cranmer: Slum Housing Next to You
Fairfax's proposal to put slum housing next to you would drive down wages for workers and destroy property values.
2013-11-27 ~FxDRail.. WaPo: No place to park on Metro's Silver line
For years, Fairfax County residents have endured Metro's Silver line construction mess. Now that the line is about to open, many potential riders have one simple question: Where do we park?
2013-11-26 ~National. Limbaugh: Conversation with David Horowitz -- Conservatives: Fight fire with fire.
Horowitz talks about his book: The Black Book of the American Left... "Progressives believe that they are creating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and that people who oppose them are the Party of the Devil. That's the way they fight. [Conservatives] have to use that kind of language. Fight fire with fire."
2013-11-26 ~National. Brookings: Property Taxes in Your County -- An interactive map
2013-11-20 ~Material. Obamacare's 18 New Tax Hikes
Not only did the President and his partners in Congress take $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for Obamacare, but they also raise taxes by $836.3 billion to pay for it, with $36.3 billion hitting Americans in 2013 alone.
2013-11-20 ~Material. Obamacare costs and impact -- Tom Cranmer to Arthur Purves
Hi Arthur, at the end of our last board meeting, you seemed to dismiss the high cost of Obamacare. Since you are a numbers guy, I recommend you rethink your position. -- Tom
2013-11-20 ~FxSchools FCPS: Response to FCTA's "High Taxes for Low Achievement"
2013-11-15 ~Potpourri WSJ: The World of English Freedoms -- by Daniel Hannan
It's no accident that the English-speaking nations are the ones most devoted to law and individual rights.
2013-11-13 ~FxMisc... Connection: Low-Income Micro-Units Could Come to Your Neighborhood
Fx Co has a proposal to amend the county Zoning Ordinance so that low-income efficiency apartments of less than 500 square feet can be built in virtually every residential, commercial, and industrial zoning district, including in low-density residential neighborhoods zoned for single family homes.
2013-11-12 ~FxMisc... WJLA: Gov't workers watching YouTube, playing games and using Facebook
Government workers in several Virginia counties may be spending a portion of their days watching videos, searching for jobs and playing games on work computers. The biggest offender on this specific day were employees in Fairfax County, who logged more than 96,000 visits on YouTube on Aug 19.
2013-10-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Budget Battles and Growth of the Administrative State, by John Marini
Imprimis lecture by John Marini, Visiting Distinguished Fellow, Hillsdale College
2013-10-29 ~Environmt Examiner: LEED certification doesn't guarantee energy efficiency
A high rating in the prestigious LEED certification program may bear little relation to actual greenhouse gas emissions of New York office towers, according to a Washington Examiner analysis. [Update]
2013-10-24 ~Material. Examiner: Charles Krauthammer diagnoses Obama's policies and psyche
Krauthammer just believes that President Obama deserves more scrutiny and criticism than he's getting -- that Obama's leftward pull on the country poses real danger. And nobody is in a better position to provide that criticism than Krauthammer.
2013-10-24 ~FxSchools FCPS: Adjustments for Growth COLA and Benefits 2000 to 2014
FCPS's Office of Budget Services provides a table that shows the year-by-year history of increases in growth, COLA, step (including percentages), and employee benefit cost increases (all benefits, not just pension and health insurance).
2013-10-23 ~Health... Minn Post: Another call to end the war against saturated fat, by Susan Perry
Reducing saturated fat intake causes large LDL levels to fall, while levels of the dangerous small LDL remain essentially the same. And that's because small LDL levels appear to be influenced by the consumption of sugar and other carbohydrates, not saturated fat.
2013-10-21 ~FxSchools WaPo: FCPS faces tough choices in budget shortfall
The Fairfax County School Board on Monday began considering extensive cuts to next year's budget, as the county's new superintendent suggested bridging an expected $140 million gap by lowering school staffing, increasing class sizes and implementing a sports user fee.
2013-10-16 ~Virginia. Va Soc CPAs: JLARC Issues Impact Report on BPOL Tax Change to Income Basis
It found that using income as the basis for the BPOL tax could reduce local BPOL revenue by up to 95 percent, would redistribute the tax's effect, and greatly increase complexity of compliance.
2013-10-15 ~Health... HBR: India's Secret to Low-Cost Health Care, by V. Govindarajan R. Ramamurti
Health care costs in India, even after adjusting for the difference between Indian and US wages, are 20% of US healthcare costs. The reason is that consumers have to pay 40%-60% out of pocket, so the health industry has an incentive to be efficient and frugal. In the U.S. we used to pay 50% out of pocket in 1960, but now it's only 10%.
2013-10-14 ~Potpourri Hannah Arendt on How Bureaucracy Fuels Violence, by Maria Popova
In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one could argue, to whom one could present grievances, on whom the pressures of power could be exerted. It is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act -- tyranny without a tyrant. It is this state of affairs which is among the most potent causes for the current world-wide rebellious unrest.
2013-10-08 ~Virginia. Tax Analysts: In Search of a Win-Win for the Virginia BPOL Tax
There are constant calls for the elimination of the Virginia business, professional, and occupational license (BPOL) tax by the business community, government, and others. In fact, the current Virginia gubernatorial candidates -- Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and Libertarian Robert Sarvis -- agree, and have issued preliminary proposals to reduce or eliminate the BPOL tax.
2013-10-01 ~National. Epoch Times: Federal Reserve Bank Privately Owned, by Heide B. Malhotra
Many Americans don't know the history and ownership of the U.S. Federal Reserve Banks (Fed) with the majority of Americans believing that the Fed is a federal government-owned agency. But the Fed is privately owned. Its shareholders are private banks. In fact, 100% of its shareholders are private banks. None of its stock is owned by the government.
2013-09-xx ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Loses Taxpayers, Virginia Gains
Fairfax County had a net loss of $6.03 billion in annual Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) between 1992 and 2010. Meanwhile, the state of Virginia had a net gain of $3.30 billion in annual AGI.
2013-09-xx ~FxSchools FCPS: A Citizen's Guide to Understanding the Budget
"We will face a critical challenge as our revenues have simply not increased at the same rate as our growth and needs." -- Karen K. Garza, Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools
2013-09-xx ~Bulletin. Repeal the transportation tax
2013-09-30 ~Environmt Examiner: Green group hides environmental ratings of buildings it certifies
U.S. Green Business Council officials have taken the unusual step of concealing the identities of more than 3,000 buildings the group has certified as "green", the Washington Examiner has learned.
2013-09-24 ~National. Herman Cain: Yes, there's a Republican plan to replace ObamaCare, including HR2300
ObamaCare continues to come apart at the seams... Democrats respond with, "And replace it with what?"... Actually, there have been many Republicans proposals, including HR2300 by Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia), also a medical doctor. He calls it Empowering Patients First.
2013-09-18 ~Virginia. Va Senate: Virginia Retirement System Overview
2013-09-18 ~FxTaxes.. Henrico taxpayer group educates citizens on Meals Tax issue (1,2,3) -- et tu Fx?
The "Stop Henrico Meals Tax" organization has produced three animated videos to effectively expose Henrico's meals tax agenda in 2013. The same arguments would apply to Fairfax. -- 1. Just get the money (2:14); 2. Don't Disclose That! (6:03); 3. Henrico Parents Learn Truth About Meals Tax (2:18). UPDATE: Henrico's meals tax passed anyway.
2013-09-18 ~FxDRail.. City Paper: Metro Growth Will Make Life Worse Before It Makes Life Better
The new Silver Line will funnel more riders into the crowded downtown stations of a burdened and aging transit system that currently struggles to keep up with a backlog of repairs.
2013-09-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co Real Estate Taxes Increasing More Than Twice as Fast as Inflation
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors increased real estate taxes 100% (from $2400 to $4800) between 2000 and 2007. And 114% to date.
2013-09-14 ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: The Great Recession ... or the Great Bubble?
Reduced wealth since the "Great Recession" has not prevented increases in Fairfax County residential assessments.
2013-09-04 ~National. Are You a Patriot or a Comrade?, by Krayton Kerns, DVM
The primary tenet underlying Marxism is the re-distribution of wealth from each according to their deeds to each according to their needs. This principle of government theft is no longer taught as evil in schools mostly because education feeds on wealth re-distribution.
2013-09-03 ~Environmt Telegraph: If you still believe in 'climate change' read this, by James Delingpole
"Global climate alarmism has been costly to society, and it has the potential to be vastly more costly. It has also been damaging to science, as scientists adjust both data and even theory to accommodate politically correct positions." -- Dr. Richard Lindzen
2013-08-13 ~National. WAR is BORING: F-35 - The World's Worst New Warplane, by David Axe
Due mainly to its vertical takeoff requirement, the JSF could be openly acknowledged as the worst fighter in the world and, in the worst case, still be the only new fighter available for purchase by the U.S. military. Instead of revitalizing the Pentagon's air arsenal as intended, the JSF is eating it  -- and putting future war strategy at risk.
2013-08-12 ~Report... Reducing Gun Violence, by Fred Costello-008
2013-07-24 ~Report... Future Finances of the VRS, by Fred Costello-006
2013-07-12 ~Environmt RARE photo of a falcon nesting in a tree
2013-07-08 ~Report... Increases in ESOL Students in WABE School Districts, by Fred Costello-007
2013-05-xx ~Bulletin. 2000-2007 (x2) tax increases spent on county salaries
2013-05-29 ~State-IN. Indiana: $5 million returned to public schools from voucher program
Indiana's voucher program could return just under $5 million to the state's schools this year -- nearly $800,000 more than last year.
2013-05-14 ~handout.. Va - Repeal the Transportation Tax -- Trim the budget!
If Virginia's bloated budget were allocated properly, an additional transportation tax would have been unnecessary.
2013-04-16 ~Potpourri EneNews: "Vandalism" to major power transformer triggers power alert
Here are the original articles on what appears to be an attempt by terrorists to attack key points in the electrical grid, perhaps as a precursor to future more serious and focused attempts. (The event did not receive national coverage at the time.)
2013-04-15 ~FxSchools WaPo: Education Study on D.C. Area High Schools
The Washington Post conducted a study on America's most challenging high schools, including scores for more than 170 Washington-area public high schools.
2013-04-09 ~National. Pithocrates.com: Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate Recessions 1950-Present
Looking at the civilian labor force may be a better indicator of the health of the economy. Or better yet, the civilian labor force participation rate (CLFPR). Which is basically the percent of those who can work that are working. So let's do that. Starting with the Fifties. ...
2013-04-08 ~handout.. Fx - Real Estate Taxes More than Double -- Between FY2000 and FY2014
Between FY2000 and FY2014, Fairfax County's residential real estate tax bill for the typical homeowner will have increased by nearly $2800, or 116 percent, from $2407 to $5193.
2013-04-05 ~FxDRail.. Fx Ti404: 'Great Train Robbery' going off without a hitch, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
The audacity of the British train robbers pales in comparison to actions of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority and partners in the Dulles Rail Robbery. The estimated Dulles Rail capital costs have increased from $1.9 billion in 2000 to over $6 billion today.
2013-03-26 ~Report... Is an Increase in the Real Estate Tax Rate Affordable?, by Fred Costello-093
2013-03-24 ~handout.. Va - Out-of-Control Spending -- Much faster than population growth
Between FY2000 and FY2012, Virginia spending increased by $21 billion, much faster than population growth.
2013-03-24 ~handout.. Va - Excess Non-General Fund Growth -- Increased 134%, vs inflation 54%
Excess spending appears in Virginia's Non-General Fund, which increased 134%, more than twice as fast as population and inflation (54%).
2013-03-24 ~handout.. US - Unsustainable Entitlements -- 26 percent in 1960, 64 percent in 2011
In 1960, defense was 55 percent of federal outlays and entitlements were 26 percent. In 2011 defense was 20 percent of federal outlays and entitlements were 64 percent.
2013-03-24 ~handout.. Fx - Soaring Real Estate Taxes -- For zero-deductible health insurance, pensions
Most of Fairfax County's 116 percent hike in residential real estate taxes went to shore up county and school zero-deductible health insurance and pensions.
2013-03-24 ~National. The Hill: Senate Votes to Stop US from Joining UN Arms Treaty
But both Virginia U.S. Senators (Kaine and Warner) fail to support our 2nd Amendment.
2013-03-20 ~Environmt Examiner: Climate hustlers destroying our civilization for a lie
Anonymous Climategate leaker "Mr. FOIA" leaked his second set of emails from Britain's disgraced Climate Research Center at the University of East Anglia. Last week, Mr. FOIA emerged for a third time, sharing with the world not only his entire batch of 220,000 encrypted emails and documents, but also, for the first time, his thoughts.
2013-03-15 ~Report... Analysis of the Pension Funds in FY2014 Budget, by Fred Costello-092
2013-03-11 ~Potpourri Video: Paper is not dead -- Emma.... (0:38)
2013-02-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Calvin Coolidge and the Moral Case for Economy, by Amity Shlaes
Imprimis lecture by Amity Shlaes, Author, Coolidge
2013-02-21 ~Virginia. FCTA: No Tax Hike Needed for Transportation
Virginia has plenty of money for transportation, without additional tax hikes. New taxes reward and subsidize the General Assembly's and Governor's failure to rein in out-of-control spending on education and Medicaid, programs that are not meeting their goals. Rather than raise taxes, elected officials should better manage the revenue they have.
2013-02-20 ~Health... TIME: Bitter Pill - Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, by Steven Brill
Steven Brill, in this article for TIME Magazine, brings up some good points about current health care in the U.S., including the "chargemaster" maintained by every hospital but not available for viewing by patients. You may or may not agree with Brill's recommended solutions.
2013-02-11 ~FxSchools FCTA: Student Achievement Flat in Fairfax County Public Schools
While taxes are increasing, student achievement in Fairfax County Public Schools is stagnant, except for Asians -- even though FCPS consumes half of annual County tax revenues.
2013-02-06 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Few violators pay Dulles Toll Road fines, by Liz Essley
More than a million violations on the Dulles Toll Road in 2012 never resulted in a ticket being issued, The Washington Examiner has learned. Only 95,269 people got tickets in the mail -- meaning that fewer than one of every 10 violators ever received a ticket.
2013-01-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Man, Sex, God, and Yale, by Nathan Harden
Imprimis lecture by Nathan Harden, Editor, The College Fix
2013-01-xx ~Bulletin. Sharon Bulova misleads taxpayers?
2013-01-31 ~Potpourri Video: The Girls on Fox News (4:17 min)
This rockin' song by Austin Cunningham will surely brighten up your day.
2013-01-28 ~FxSchools Tech Dirt: FCPS Dumps e-Textbooks due to Publisher Restrictions, by Tim Cushing
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is making the switch back to paper textbooks, to the tune of $2 million, after running into system requirements that prevented some of its students from taking advantage of the digital books. The intellectual property (IP) concerns of publishers made convenient access to their e-textbooks impossible.
2013-01-05 ~Material. Mychal Massie: Why I Do Not Like The Obamas -- by a well-known black journalist
2013-01-01 ~FxPension FxCo: Fairfax County Employees' Retirement System Handbook
The Fairfax County Employees' Retirement System was established to help provide you with financial security at retirement. This booklet summarizes your Retirement System ("System") as in effect on January 1, 2013.
2012-xx-xx ~Virginia. Virginia Voting Precincts: Info includes districting, population, and lat/long
2012-xx-xx ~FxTrans.. GMU: Connecting Transportation Investment and the Economy in Metro Washington
George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis finds that the D.C. area's transportation modes will change very little with the area's economic growth over the next thirty years.
2012-12-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Time to Give Up or Time to Fight On?, by Larry P. Arnn
Hugh Hewitt interviews Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, on the day after the election, November 7, 2012.
2012-12-28 ~FxDRail.. WMATA FY2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
2012-12-15 ~Virginia. WaPo: Controversy surrounds Va. plan to build $1.4 billion toll road
Virginia, a state so strapped for road funds that it dips into the new-construction kitty to patch potholes, is about to bankroll a $1.4 billion highway. It would run for 55miles in southeastern Virginia between Petersburg and Suffolk, parallel to U.S. 460, a four-lane road along which average volume ranges from 9,200 to 17,000 vehicles a day. Low traffic projections have leaders from some more heavily traveled parts of the state fuming.
2012-12-12 ~Environmt Video-404: The Great Global Warming Swindle (76 min, but Google took down)
This is the authoritative documentary of the climate change issue, produced in Britain several years ago, and is required viewing in those public schools that choose to air Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". It examines the hard science and the political history of the Global Warming movement.
2012-12-11 ~National. NR: An Embarrassing Metric Disappears -- "How Money Walks" tax migration data
The Obama administration is quietly killing a key economic metric that tells how, and how many, people are voting with their feet -- IRS statistics compiled since 1991. (Blue states with high state and local tax burdens have come out looking bad in recent years.)
2012-11-27 ~Potpourri Video: Best Conservative Speech of 2012 (Bill Whittle) (15:30 min)
Imagine how the 2012 presidential election would have come out if Mitt Romney had actually enunciated the Republican conservative message he claimed to believe, as Bill Whittle narrates.
2012-11-19 ~FxMisc... Connection: Fairfax Becomes Immigrants' Gateway -- Focus on immigration
In 1970, more than 93 percent of Fairfax County's population was white and middle-class. By 2010, a child entering elementary school in Fairfax County would almost certainly encounter a classmate who did not speak English as a primary language, with family origins in places such as Vietnam, India, Korea or a country in Africa.
2012-10-xx ~Bulletin. America's path to bankruptcy
2012-10-29 ~Material. PolitiZoid: The Great Pretender (Video 1:35 min)
Take a musical behind the scenes look at the Obama White House! (Little did The Platters know in 1955 that this song would be so relevant and popular 57 years later.)
2012-10-25 ~National. Video: Jihad in America: The Grand Deception (70 min) -- plus IBD review
This documentary exposes the subversive structure of the Muslim Brotherhood, how its leaders rose to prominence in the United States, and how they exploit American values under the cover of religion for their ulterior political agenda. The perceptive viewer will note similarities between the MB and current Liberal/Progressives in the technique of demonizing their opposition.
2012-10-15 ~FxTrans.. Sun Gazette: Smart-Growth Group Disputes GMU Transportation Report
Activists pushing for transit and mixed-use development are taking issue with a new Center for Regional Analysis report that predicts automobile usage barely will decline as the region's prime mode of transportation over the next three decades.
2012-10-13 ~National. FCTA: Entitlement Spending Leading to Bankruptcy
Graphs illustrate America's path to bankruptcy.
2012-09-xx ~States... Governing: Are Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) Useless?
For all their charts and graphs, CAFRs don't tell public officials -- or the public -- anything about fiscal sustainability or whether a locality's finances might be trending south. What actually sinks city and county finances is that slow, steady accretion of bad -- and hidden -- fiscal news that either nobody is getting or no one wants to hear, like bond and pension obligations.
2012-09-11 ~FxSchools Examiner: What ails Fairfax schools? Not a lack of funds -- OpEd
"When vendors start writing their own statements of work, sitting in on FCPS budget discussions when they are negotiating contracts with FCPS, and when over 50 staff are doing their best to circumvent the rules, we have a problem." -- concerned citizen to Fairfax supervisors
2012-09-05 ~FxSchools Watchdog.org: 'At-risk' Fairfax charter tests Virginia's largest school district
Because Virginia gives local school boards the final say on any charter, the new charter finds itself in the midst of a provincial and occasionally politicized vetting process.
2012-08-04 ~Report... What to Expect from Bus Service, by Fred Costello-084
2012-07-28 ~Potpourri NYT: Is Algebra Necessary?, by Andrew Hacker
Yes, young people should learn to read and write and do long division, whether they want to or not. But there is no reason to force them to grasp vectorial angles and discontinuous functions. Think of math as a huge boulder we make everyone pull, without assessing what all this pain achieves.
2012-07-26 ~Report... Long-Term FCPS Pension Costs, by Fred Costello-083
2012-07-13 ~FxMisc... Fx Ti404: Numbers simply aren't adding up -- Overdevelopment of NoVA office space
FCTA's Rob Whitfield writes that overdevelopment of office space occurred in many markets in recent years. It is little wonder that the overall Northern Virginia office vacancy rate reached a high of 16 percent as of mid-2012, the highest rate recorded since 2002.
2012-07-11 ~Report... Are You Staying Ahead of the Cost of Living?, by Fred Costello-081
2012-06-29 ~National. davidmhart.com: The Illustrated Road to Serfdom -- as Cartoons
This condensed illustrated version of Friedrich A. Hayek's 1944 classic The Road to Serfdom was published in Look magazine in February 1945. The depiction of the "planners" with Nazi arm bands and jack boots could easily be updated to reflect the business suits worn by the current generation of planners and regulators.
2012-06-02 ~Potpourri Boston Herald: Elizabeth Warren profited by flipping homes, by Jerry Kronenberg
Elizabeth Warren, who has railed against predatory banks and heartless foreclosures, took part in about a dozen Oklahoma real estate deals that netted her and her family hefty profits through maneuvers such as "flipping" properties, records show.
2012-05-25 ~FxSchools Wapo: Renowned STEM high school TJ now includes remedial math, by John Dell
What made old Jefferson special was the extraordinary learning environment created by assembling a critical mass of truly prepared students. At the new Jefferson, students are no longer selected primarily on the basis of their promise in science, technology and mathematics. One-third of the students entering Jefferson under the current admissions policy are in remediation in their math and science courses.
2012-05-17 ~FxSchools Patch: FCPS Has a Credibility Problem -- OpEd by Michele Menapace
Michele Menapace, a parent advocate, questions some of the school board's budget decisions.
2012-05-15 ~FxDRail.. USDOT response to Congressman Wolf's request for IG review of MWAA
2012-05-15 ~FxDRail.. WT: Report: Mismanagement rampant at airports authority
The regional authority overseeing one of the largest public works projects in the country is rife with mismanagement, a glaring lack of transparency and lavish spending habits that have included thousand-dollar dinners and a $9,200 plane ticket to Prague, according to a scathing interim report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general.
2012-05-14 ~States... Latest studies show growing pension peril
Recent studies and data compilation by the U.S. Census Bureau and other institutions detail the continued deterioration and ultimate long-term chance of failure of public pension systems within the overall local and state government fiscal crisis.
2012-05-14 ~FxPension Harvard: Latest studies show growing pension peril
Recent studies and data compilation by the U.S. Census Bureau and other institutions detail the continued deterioration and ultimate long-term chance of failure of public pension systems within the overall local and state government fiscal crisis.
2012-05-01 ~States... Galen Inst: Why states should not expand Medicaid, by Turner & Roy
States are being strongly pressured to expand Medicaid to families earning up to $30,000 a year, as the ObamaCare allows. While several high-profile governors have agreed to expand this broken program, many others governors and state legislators are cautious. They are correct to be concerned.
2012-04-xx ~Virginia. TJ Institute: Tax Restructuring in VA: Revenue Neutral Path to Improve VA's Economy
For many years businesses in Virginia have complained about three taxes that most everyone agrees are unfair and restrict job growth. The most egregious of these is the Business Professional Occupation Licensing (BPOL) tax, levied on the gross receipts of a business.
2012-04-10 ~Environmt CFACT: Astronauts and scientists tell NASA: Stop global warming advocacy
49 former NASA scientists and astronauts sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden last week admonishing the agency for it's role in advocating a high degree of certainty that man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change while neglecting empirical evidence that calls the theory into question.
2012-03-26 ~FxTrans.. WT: DC Metro, culture of complicity -- Parts 1, 2, & 3, by Luke Rosiak
Part 1: Metro derailed by culture of complacence, incompetence, lack of diversity
Part 2: Even with big salaries, Metro can't fill its jobs
Part 3: Metro transit police: Not quite the region's finest
2012-03-19 ~Report... Effect of Tax Rate on Apartment Rents, by Fred Costello-078
2012-03-12 ~Report... Analysis of the Pension Funds in FY2013 Budget, by Fred Costello-077
2012-02-11 ~FxTaxes.. WaPo: Fx Co supervisors discuss meals tax, roads, other issues at retreat
Also: Sharon Bulova wants to rewrite the rules that govern land-use decisions, which currently allows for intense deliberation and wide public involvement. "Citizens, you have no say!"
2012-01-xx ~FxPension Fairfax County Post-Retirement Benefits Review
Fairfax County engaged Aon Hewitt in November 2010 to undertake a comprehensive review of the County Government's postretirement income and health benefits. Included were benefits for general County Employees, Police Officers, and Uniformed Services.
2012-01-30 ~FxSchools FCTA: Cut taxes by $1500. Don't raise them by $300
Between FY2000 and FY2007, real estate taxes for the typical Fairfax County household doubled, from $2400 to $4800 per year. Since 2007, the supervisors have kept the real estate tax at $4800, despite decreasing assessments. This is $1500 more than the typical household would pay today if real estate taxes had increased only at the rate of inflation since FY2000.
2012-01-29 ~FxDRail.. Bacon's Rebellion: Beware Optimistic Traffic Forecasts
WSA, a transportation consulting firm, is scheduled to soon complete its third traffic and revenue forecast for the Dulles Toll Road for use in a final go/no-go decision on Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. Don't trust the results, says a study released Friday by the Reston Citizens Association. WSA chronically over-estimates its traffic counts.
2011-xx-xx ~Potpourri Iron Spider: Tables vs. Tableless Web Design, by Robert Darrell
No doubt there are those who think that I'm going straight to web developer hell for having the audacity to teach people to use tables to layout web pages instead of using tableless designs. However, tables are more intuitive, and are less likely to cause browser presentation problems such as "float dropping". (This fcta.org site uses tables.)
2011-12-xx ~Potpourri Book: The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power
Recommended reading. Author Melanie Phillips writes: "In what we tell ourselves is an age of reason, we are behaving increasingly irrationally. A loss of religious belief has led the West to replace reason and truth with ideology and prejudice. The result has been a kind of mass derangement, as truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor are all turned upside down."
2011-12-11 ~FxDRail.. Bacon's Rebellion: Stacking the Deck for Heavy Rail
The Rail-to-Dulles project is a classic example of how the transit-selection process in the United States is rigged in favor of rail projects and seriously biased against buses.
2011-11-xx ~Potpourri The Conservative Tree House discusses Liberalism vs Conservatism
... "Which lends to the following theory: Fear is at the core of liberalism, and love/trust is at the core of conservatism. Liberalism is about control. Conservatism is about self-empowerment."
2011-11-18 ~Potpourri Waco Tribune: "Put Me In Charge ...", by (21-year old female)
... "AND While you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job."
2011-11-02 ~State-RI. Mn Free Mkt Inst: Suspend Pension COLAs? The Rhode Island Plan, by John LaPlante
A state can reduce its pension liabilities by reducing promises made to incoming employees. But Rhode Island has taken a more dramatic (and meaningful) step by reducing promises going forward for current employees.
2011-10-21 ~States... Forbes: The Red State in Your Future, by Merrill Matthews
Voters around the country are concluding it's better to be red than dead -- applying a whole meaning to an old phrase. If you do not currently live in a red state, there's a good chance you will be in the near future. Either you will flee to a red state or a red state will come to you -- because voters fed up with blue-state fiscal irresponsibility will elect candidates who promise to pass red-state policies.
2011-09-xx ~Bulletin. County candidates hiding $186 million post-election tax hike
2011-06-17 ~FxTaxes.. Patch: Nielsen's Owner Arrested for Failing to Pay Vienna Meals Taxes
Michael Paul Willis, 28, of Vienna, the owner of the Nielsen's Frozen Custard, was charged with two counts of embezzlement for not paying Town of Vienna meals taxes during several periods over the last year.
2011-05-19 ~Potpourri MIT Tech Review: Why Mobile Apps Will Soon be Dead, by Christopher Mims
Mobile app exist because of a lack of standards in the mobile device community. They will eventually be replaced by web apps, where developers could code once and be reasonably confident their app will work on any object -- phone, tablet, laptop, etc. -- with a standards-compliant browser.
2011-05-13 ~Potpourri Limbaugh: Origins of the EIB Theme Song -- Transcript
2011-03-29 ~Report... Making Dulles Rail Cost Effective, updated report by Fred Costello-004
2011-03-29 ~FxDRail.. FCTA: Making Dulles Rail Cost Effective, updated report by Fred Costello
2011-01-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: Higher pension costs real reason for school cuts
Rather than funding academic excellence, higher taxes are giving school employees better salaries and benefits than received by taxpayers. According to the county website, between 2001 and 2009 private-sector raises in Fairfax County outpaced inflation by 7.3 percent. Over the same period, county raises outpaced inflation by 22 percent.
2011-01-24 ~National. Examiner: Who Controls the Democratic Party? -- Lawyers, Unions, Greens, Insiders
This Examiner Special Report is about the plain truth of who owns the Democrats. Trial lawyers and three other special interests -- Big Labor union leaders, Big Green environmentalists, and Big Insiders with billions of dollars in personal wealth and foundation grants -- together essentially dictate what Democrats can and cannot support on many key public policy issues.
2010-xx-xx ~National. Chuckhawks: M4, M16 (AR) - A National Disgrace?
"We know the M4 is a deficient carbine. We know the 5.56 is a deficient cartridge. Aside from Senator Tom Coburn, very few seem to care while our troops are left wounded or dying due to inadequate equipment. Our nation should be outraged beyond words."
2010-xx-xx ~FxTaxes.. FCTA: Fairfax Co FY 2010 Adopted Budget
2010-xx-xx ~FxMisc... News21: Sanctuary Cities - Fairfax County, Va., by Grant Martin
Board of Supervisors chairman Sharon Bulova's acknowledgement of the contributions of Fairfax County's immigrant community, and her refusal to adopt any measure that would target it beyond what's already federally stipulated, have given the county the reputation of a sanctuary for immigrants.
2010-12-28 ~FxDRail.. Examiner: New, lower rider estimates for Dulles Rail expose big costs
What if they built a $6 billion Metrorail extension and nobody came? That's not just a rhetorical question. ...
2010-12-20 ~Health... HealthMatters: Health Care Systems - Four Basic Models
The nations of the world have coalesced around four approaches to delivering health care: 1) Beveridge Model (England), 2) Bismarck Model (Germany), 3) National Health Insurance Model (Canada), and 4) Out-of-Pocket Model (3rd World). The U.S. has a bit of all four: VA (Beveridge), employer or Obamacare (Bismarck), Medicare (NHI), and the uninsured (Out-of-Pocket).
2010-12-10 ~Potpourri Dear Abby, My husband has a long record of money problems. -- Lost in DC
2010-10-xx ~Bulletin. Cutting the deficit without tax hikes requires large cuts to entitlements
2010-10-22 ~Environmt American Spectator: Thank heavens for Bob Carter, by Václav Klaus
The Australian professor deserves thanks and praise for repudiating the heretic-hunting climate orthodoxy.
2010-09-21 ~Report... Comparison between County and Private-Sector Salaries, by Fred Costello-029
2010-09-08 ~Report... Findings Concerning Affordable Housing, by Fred Costello-018
2010-08-20 ~Potpourri Video: When You're Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail (3:09 min)
A 26-year old assistant coach was fired from a Tennessee middle school for political incorrectness in producing and posting this rockin' anti-Obama song. One line: "If the stuff hits the fan, don't look at me, if you got trouble, blame forty-three."
2010-07-xx ~Virginia. FairUS.org: The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on Virginia -- graphic
2010-06-30 ~Virginia. Virginia's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit 2010 Annual Report
2010-06-24 ~Virginia. Va Board of Education: We Oppose "Common Core" National Standards, Support SOLs
The Board supports the development of internationally benchmarked standards for states to adopt outright or to use as models to improve their own standards. The board, however, opposes federal attempts to compel word-for-word adoption of the Common Core State Standards.
2010-05-13 ~State-MO. Ozarks Sentinal: Missouri has NO illegal aliens -- Editorial, by Nita Jane Ayres
Missouri's approach to the problem of illegal immigration appears to be more advanced, sophisticated, strict and effective than anything to date in Arizona. Does the White House appreciate what Missouri has done? So, why doesn't Missouri receive attention? Answer: There are no illegals in Missouri to demonstrate.
2010-05-12 ~FxTrans.. GreaterWash: What do Metro employees really make?, by Michael Perkins
WMATA provided data about employee salaries, bonuses, overtime and benefits for fiscal year 2009. Is the $100,000 bus driver a myth, or reality? Does Metro depend on a lot of overtime? Are bonuses incredibly high, or used primarily as a symbolic recognition of a job well done?
2010-04-xx ~Bulletin. Supervisors, school board hikes tax rate, cuts programs to fund employee benefits
2010-01-29 ~Potpourri Cenedella: Leonardo da Vinci's Resume
Before he was famous, before he painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, before he invented the helicopter, before he drew the most famous image of man, before he was all of these things, Leonardo da Vinci was an artificer, an armorer, a maker of things that go "boom".
2010-01-14 ~States... Heritage: Expanding Medicaid - The Real Costs to the States, by Ed Haislmaier
House and Senate health care bills [for Obamacare] would increase health insurance coverage principally by expanding the federal-state Medicaid program. However, even with federal support, states would still face significant additional Medicaid costs.
2009-12-24 ~Potpourri OLD FART PRIDE... It's just getting harder to find them.
2009-11-16 ~Potpourri NPR: Predicting The Next Credit Crisis, by Joshua Kosman
Joshua Kosman, author of The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis, explains how PE firms hurt their businesses competitively, limit their growth, cut jobs without reinvesting the savings, do not even generate good returns for their investors, and are about to cause the Next Great Credit Crisis.
2009-11-11 ~National. Thurmont Statement -- We are for freedom, they are for coercion.
Retornare Al Segno. Return to the Banner. 1) We conservatives are for personal responsibility and autonomy enforced by self-restraint and community standards. They, the left, are for obligations and requirements imposed from without by unelected government bureaucrats. 2) ...
2009-10-xx ~Bulletin. Va politicians manufacture another "budget crisis" to justify higher taxes
2009-10-22 ~Virginia. FCTA: VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEM (VRS): A generous system!, by Charles McAndrew
A 2008 study found that only four other States besides Virginia did not require state workers to contribute to their State government rerirement plans. Maryland state workers pay 5% of their salary to their state pension plan, and North Carolina state workers pay 6% to their pension plan.
2009-10-22 ~Virginia. FCTA: TAXES ARE NEVER ENOUGH!, by Charles McAndrew
Many years ago, back in the forties and fifties, Virginia operated on a "pay as you go" budget. That is, they spent within the annual budget. The budget usually never increased beyond the inflation and population percentages. However, in the sixties, the "Liberals" took over and things started changing for the worst.
2009-08-17 ~National. Canada Free Press: First Lady Now Requires 26 Servants??, by Dr. Paul L. Williams
"In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service." -- Michelle Obama. But now we find that Michelle is served by twenty-six attendants who stand by to cater to her every whim.
2009-04-27 ~FxTrans.. FxCo: Fund 700, Route 28 Tax District - FY 2010 Adopted Budget
Under the terms of the agreement with the state, the District will fund 75 percent of defined Phase I and Phase II improvements and the state will fund 25 percent.
2009-04-15 ~National. Cause of Action: White House to review all agency FOIA requests -- Executive order
Watchdog group 'Cause of Action' uncovered this April 2009 memo from White House Counsel Gregory Craig, requiring agencies to consult with the president's people before releasing any information involving "White House equities".
2009-01-21 ~FxSchools FCTA: Excessive public-sector compensation causes school budget deficit
More than half of the $429 million was spent to give school employees higher raises ($110 million) and better benefits ($151 million) than taxpayers get in the private sector. Between FY2000 and FY2007, raises for school employees were over five percent per year, while taxpayer incomes were increasing two percent per year.
2008-07-14 ~National. Digital Journal: AP Endorses 'Accountability Journalism', by Susan Duclos
The journalistic ethics of old do not apply to the new guidelines over at the Associated Press. The new ethics are called "accountability journalism", and the new bureau chief, Ron Fournier, believes that the conventional press model, where both sides of an argument are entitled to equal weight, is exactly what journalists need to avoid.
2008-04-21 ~Potpourri Ars Technica: Why Microsoft Software Sucks and Apple's Doesn't - Parts 1, 2, 3
A 3-part series by Peter Bright -- Part 1: How misfortune and adversity left Apple with a new OS platform free of legacy constraints. Part 2: How Microsoft had failed to do the same, choosing instead to hobble its new OS with way too much legacy baggage. Part 3: What Apple has done with its platform to make it so appealing.
2008-04-08 ~Potpourri Universe Today: A Case of MOND Over Dark Matter, by Nancy Atkinson
Some astronomers believe the orbital behavior of galaxies can be explained more accurately with Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) -- a modified version of Newton's Second Law -- than by the rival, but more widely accepted, theory of dark matter.
2008-03-17 ~National. American Thinker: The Lawyers' Party, by Bruce Walker
Who and what is the Democratic Party? Simple, it is the party of lawyers. The Republican Party, on the other hand, is made up of real people doing real work who are often the target of lawyers. ... When the most important decision for our next president is whom he will appoint to the Supreme Court, the role of lawyers and the law in America is too big.
2007-12-xx ~Bulletin. Real estate tax rate 30¢ too high; rate should be 57¢ instead of 89¢
2007-10-22 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Fx BOS Chairman Gerry Connolly Supports Illegal Immigrants, by Bill Turque
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said yesterday that he would not follow the lead of Prince William County and push for legislation to cut off services to illegal immigrants or authorize police to check the immigration status of suspects, measures he described as election season demagoguery.
2007-07-18 ~FxMisc... Va Virtucon: WashTimes Calls Out Local Illegal Alien Sanctuary Policies
Based on the Congressional Research Service (CRS) definition of a sanctuary city, the following localities in Virginia qualify as "sanctuaries": City of Alexandria, Arlington County, and Fairfax County. (Read the WashTimes article.)
2007-07-08 ~FxMisc... WaPo: Gerry Connolly's Two Roles Provoke Questions, by Bill Turque
Critics cite no evidence that Connolly's employment has violated Virginia conflict of interest laws, which bar elected officials from accepting any business or professional opportunity that could influence their decisions. But they ask whether it is healthy for the county's chief elected official to be employed by a company with such a prominent stake in Tysons and Fairfax.
2007-06-27 ~Health... Discovery Health: How can nicotine be good for me?, by Jacob Silverman
Nicotine use has been shown to reduce incidence of Alzheimer's disease. And it actually boosts the growth of new blood vessels, leading to possible new treatments for diabetes.
2007-05-29 ~FxTrans.. Examiner: Metro gives staff free ride to retirement, by D. Francis
Unlike most American workers, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority employees receive handsome pensions without ever contributing a penny to their pension fund. The annual pension payments, some unusually generous, are funded entirely by Metro riders and taxpayers.
2007-04-xx ~Potpourri GFOA: A New Vision for Public Sector Audit Committees, by Stephen J. Gauthier
2007-01-29 ~FxSchools FCTA: Lack of transparency in student achievement
FCTA has asked FCPS: 1) why it does not publish ACT results; 2) what percentage of its graduates who earn four-year degrees; 3) what percentage of its students achieve at [national] standards; 4) what percentage of 12th graders read at the 12th-grade level. FCPS does not know.
2007-01-16 ~FxSchools FCTA: School Board should obey election laws
It is not right to use tax-funded resources to campaign for a bond referendum and then not provide equal time to the opposing view -- that capital improvements should not be financed from bond sales since each year the county spends more on debt service than it receives from bond sales.
2006-12-xx ~Bulletin. Fairfax Co Schools hire 295 more full-time employees for 510 more students
2006-03-xx ~Bulletin. Homeowners face another 10% tax hike; real estate taxes double in seven years
2006-02-02 ~FxSchools FCTA: FCPS claims of academic excellence are incomplete
Schoolmatters.com, a school-rating website provided by Standard and Poors and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation identifies the top-performing school districts in each state. Their analysis considers both test scores and demographics and lists 16 top school districts in Virginia. Fairfax County is not one of them.
2005-xx-xx ~National. DiscoverTheNetworks.org: The Cloward-Piven Strategy, by Richard Poe
First proposed in 1966 and named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the Cloward-Piven Strategy seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.
2005-08-08 ~FxDRail.. WaPo: The Cost of Dulles Rail
Dulles rail is starting to look like a vanity project, kept alive by its powerful friends despite the growing realization that most similarly rated projects around the country would never see the light of day.
2005-02-22 ~Health... URMC: When the Brain, Not the Ears, Goes Hard of Hearing
Problems with the brain -- not just the ears -- cause a great deal of the age-related hearing loss in older people. Researchers are finding more and more subtle problems in the way our brain processes information as we age, so much so that an older person whose ears are in fine shape may have trouble hearing because of an aging brain.
2005-02-02 ~FxSchools FCTA: Despite Spending Increases, SAT scores remain flat
The school system states that large tax increases are justified to maintain the schools' "academic excellence", an assertion based on the County's average College Board SAT score being 79 points above the national average (50th percentile). However the school administration never mentions that the County's average SAT score is only at the 65th percentile.
2005-01-12 ~Potpourri Epoch Times: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party
1) On What the Communist Party Is; 2) On the Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party; 3) On the Tyranny of the CCP; 4) On How the Communist Party Is an Anti-Universe Force; 5) On the Collusion of Jiang Zemin with the CCP to Persecute Falun Gong; 6) On How the CCP Destroyed Traditional Culture; 7) On the CCP's History of Killing; 8) On How the CCP Is an Evil Cult; 9) On the Unscrupulous Nature of the CCP
2004-11-21 ~World.... Israel Science Tech: All European Life Died In Auschwitz, by S.V. Rodriguez
"I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. ..."
2004-10-20 ~FxTrans.. WaPo: In Northern Virginia, It's Rail vs Road Repairs, by Steven Ginsberg
Opponents of the rail project say better roads are a cheaper way to move people. They condemn the plan to finance part of the project's cost -- which could be as much as $4 billion -- by raising the cost for motorists who use the Dulles Toll Road.
2004-05-17 ~Potpourri Bill Cosby's "Pound Cake" Speech -- Video (3:41)
2004-02-02 ~FxSchools FCTA: Hoping new superintendent will bring era of candor and honesty
Current-year estimates are too high because you repeatedly underestimate the ending balance. The result is that proposed budget increases seem smaller than they really are. And you publicize increases in SAT scores while not publicizing that over the past six years the percentage of seniors taking the SAT has decreased from 89 percent to 77 percent.
2003-10-03 ~National. Snopes: How to Destroy America, by former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm
At an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States.
2003-06-03 ~Potpourri Scheme to compress genomic codon triplets into readable ASCII text, by David Swink
Your friendly FCTA webmaster came up with this scheme after leaving Celera Genomics in 2002.
2003-01-27 ~FxSchools FCTA: Superintendent makes misleading statements about school budget
This year's school operating budget is $180 million more than needed to keep up with inflation and enrollment growth over the past three years. How can anyone transform this into a budget cut? Apparently the school administration feels it can promote its budget only by misrepresenting it.
2002-11-26 ~Potpourri WaPo: My Heart on the Line, by Frank Schaeffer
Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm's way than are any of the students whose dorms their parents clean?
2002-08-22 ~Environmt Heritage: The Real Story About Climate Change, by Sallie Baliunas
Little evidence supports the idea of catastrophic human-made global warming effects. Undertaking a Kyoto-type program would produce little abatement of the forecast risk, while its cost would divert resources and attention from major environmental, health, and welfare challenges.
2002-03-24 ~FxTaxes.. Connection: Fairfax Co Taxpayer Alliance Wants Tax Cut
Fairfax County Tax Alliance President Arthur Purves took the podium and asked Fairfax County officials to reduce the present real estate tax from $1.23 per $100 of real estate value to $1.06. Supervisor Gerry Connolly (D-Providence) characterized the Purves tax cut proposal as "irresponsible rhetoric".
2000-01-24 ~FxSchools FCTA: Superintendent's proposed FY2001 budget
The superintendent says that school-based positions are up and non-school based positions are down. But since 1975, non-teaching positions have increased much faster than enrollment and school salaries have increased more than county salaries, until last year. And per-student spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased 100 percent.
1998-04-xx ~FxPension FERS: Federal Employees Retirement System (Overview of Benefits)
The Federal government long ago converted from the old Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to FERS, preempting a federal retirement crisis that now grips state and local retirement plans. FERS could serve as a guideline for state and local governments, who are having to deal with unsustainable retirement plans.
1998-01-22 ~FxSchools FCTA: Proposed FY1999 Capital Improvement Plan
The new superintendent has promised to establish measurable achievement goals. FCTA proposes that SAT scores be increased from the 65th to the 80th percentile and that 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th grade standardized test scores be increased from the 75th to the 90th percentile. We are also concerned that despite higher taxes both the school system and the county are neglecting buildings and infrastructure.
1997-05-22 ~FxSchools FCTA: Federal Funding of Vocational Education
Our classrooms are the silent battlefields between two philosophies of education -- traditional and progressive. Progressive education is not working. You can choose to reject federal government funding and return to traditional education, or you can accept federal funding, continue progressivist reforms, and watch the Fairfax schools continue to deteriorate.
1997-02-13 ~FxSchools FCTA: Proposed Student Information System
Why is it that school board members are so concerned about protecting student privacy that they object to releasing the Centreville High School election results but are willing to put 140,000 students' health and discipline records and grades on the Internet?
1997-01-23 ~FxSchools FCTA: Proposed FY1998 Capital Improvement Plan
You can and should fund this [$56 million per year for the next ten years] shortfall from the school operating budget. This board's current policy of funding both school renewals and construction from bonds is not working. Renewals should be funded from the operating budget and construction from bonds.
1996-01-24 ~Potpourri KC Star: Urgent Prayer for America, by Pastor Joe Wright
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard...
1995-10-xx ~National. Guns&Ammo: Battle of Athens, TN - the 1946 Rebellion Against Local Gov't
The fight for civil rights in America is not limited to black Americans. The Battle of Athens, Tennessee was a pitched physical confrontation lasting two days in 1946. It is part of an overall pan-racial resistance to anti-democratic government forms throughout the United States -- and an oft-forgotten moment in American history.
1995-05-30 ~Potpourri Aish.com: Moe Berg - Baseball Player and WWII Spy
Moe Berg was a second-rate baseball player but a first-rate spy for America and its Allies leading up to and during World War II.
1991-05-22 ~National. Muslim Brotherhood: An Explanatory Memorandum On General Strategic Goal In America
This official document (in Arabic and English) was found in the home of Ismael Elbarasse, a founder of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, during a 2004 search. Elbarasse was a member of the Palestine Committee, which the Muslim Brotherhood had created to support Hamas in the United States. Note the 29 sponsored sub-groups including ISNA, MSA, ICNA, and CAIR(IAP).
1990-xx-xx ~National. The Practice of Ritual Defamation, by Laird Wilcox
A Kansas City civil-rights advocate describes how values, opinions and beliefs are controlled in democratic societies. ... "The power of ritual defamation lies entirely in its capacity to intimidate and terrorize."
1985-09-xx ~National. IMPRIMUS: Who Killed Excellence?, by Samuel Blumenfeld
There has been much talk of a crisis in education and much speculation as to what or who is to blame for the mediocrity in our schools. Professor Samuel Blumenfeld offers a clear and convincing explanation of how the goals of the professional educator have changed and have thus adversely affected the quality and content of education.
1971-03-26 ~FxSchools Evening Star: Fairfax Schools Provide Data for Budget Study, by Thomas Crosby
The Fairfax County School Board has decided in closed session to send the county government information which might be used to cut the school budget. Fairfax has a $294.5 million budget this year, with a $15.4 million deficit. The school board announced it was reducing its operating budget request by $1.6 million, to $79.7 million.
1965-03-xx ~National. DOL: The Negro Family - The Case for National Action, by Daniel Patrick Moynihan
"A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority ... that community asks for and gets chaos." (Full text without images.)
1964-10-27 ~National. Video: "A Time for Choosing", by Ronald Reagan (29:32); read the full text
As Michael Barone describes: 50 years ago, a movie actor and television host delivered a 30-minute speech on primetime national television in support of the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater. Few if any viewers realized it, but they were watching a future president of the United States.
1957-xx-xx ~Potpourri Ayn Rand: "This is John Galt speaking"
"For twelve years, you have been asking: Who is John Galt? This is John Galt speaking. I am the man who loves his life. I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values. I am the man who has deprived you of victims and thus has destroyed your world, and if you wish to know why you are perishing -- you who dread knowledge -- I am the man who will now tell you."
1957-xx-xx ~Potpourri Ayn Rand: Francisco's Money Speech
"So you think that money is the root of all evil? Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them... Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?"
1955-03-14 ~National. TIME: Why Johnny Can't Read -- book review
When Bestselling Author Rudolf Flesch (The Art of Plain Talk) offered to give a friend's twelve-year-old son some "remedial reading," Flesch discovered that the boy was not slow or maladjusted; he had merely been "exposed to an ordinary American school." ... Why is the U.S. so far behind? Says Flesch: "We have decided to forget that we write with letters, and [instead] learn to read English as if it were Chinese."
1950-2009. ~FxTaxes.. Va Code: Annual real estate tax bill increases limited to 1%
The Code of Virginia limits the collective real estate tax bill increase by any jurisdiction to one percent (regardless of changes in assessments or tax rate). However, the jurisdiction may raise this rate after holding public hearings, at least 30 days after posting notices in "at least one newspaper of general circulation". (Fairfax County always uses the Washington Times; never the Post. Hmmmm!)
1949-11-04 ~Potpourri NY Daily News: Ode to the Welfare State
The troubles of our time strike us as new and unique. They are not. Here is a small example from over 60 years ago that appeared in the Daily News. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
1939-xx-xx ~Health... Nasty, Brutish and Short?, a summary version of Dr Weston A Price's famous work.
1939-xx-xx ~Health... Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the classic work of Dr. Weston A. Price
This is the classic work of Dr. Weston A. Price, published in 1939, which compares the Paleo-like diets and health of 14 primitive peoples from around the world, as contrasted with that of Westerners.
1850-xx-xx ~Potpourri The Law -- Frederic Bastiat analyzes government proclivities versus human nature
In 1850, faced with a tide of sentiment toward socialism, French legislator Frederic Bastiat confronted the left's claims of government superiority with a timeless critique, The Law, perhaps the most penetrating analysis of human nature after the Bible, C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, and Shakespeare.
.Not Dated ~Potpourri Wikipedia: The Curta calculator -- created in a Nazi death camp
The Curta is a small mechanical calculator developed by Curt Herzstark. It has an extremely compact design: a small cylinder that fits in the palm of the hand. Curtas were considered the best portable calculators available until they were displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s.
.Not Dated ~Potpourri Skeptics Annotated Bible... Quran... Book of Mormon -- Accurate original material
This website points supposed errors, contradictions, and discrepancies -- divided into the following categories: injustice, absurdity, cruelty and violence, intolerance, contradictions, family values, women, good stuff, science and history, prophecy, sex, language, interpretation, and homosexuality. You may not agree with their comments, but their original material is accurate.
.Not Dated ~Potpourri History Lesson: Liberals vs Conservatives Joke
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer...
.Not Dated ~Potpourri Why Grandpa carries a gun!
Free citizens must protect themselves. With guns, we are 'citizens'; without them, we are 'subjects'.
.Not Dated ~Potpourri Online Music Oldies, by FCTA's David Swink
You may enjoy some of the online music selections listed here, including classical, rock, fox trots, and much more. (Note that any of these Youtube and mp3 selections can be disabled by the owner at any time.) Enjoy!
.Not Dated ~Misc..... Jokes-n-Quotes, by FCTA's David Swink
.Not Dated ~Environmt Dr. Roy Spencer: My Global Warming Skepticism, for Dummies
Those of us who are skeptical of mankind's influence on climate have a wide variety of views on the subject, and we can't all be right. In fact, it is really easy to be wrong. It seems like everyone has a theory of what causes climate change. But it only takes one of us to be right for the IPCC's anthropogenic global warming (AGW) house of cards to collapse.