Gallup: Majority in U.S. Want GOP in Congress to Set Nation's Course

Chart from Gallup article linked below

"You folks think a wretched election can stop me?! Think again!"

Change.

From Gallup:

Republicans' 17-percentage-point edge over Obama on this measure exceeds what they earned after the 2010 midterm, when Americans favored Republicans by an eight-point margin (49% to 41%). It also eclipses the nine-point advantage Republicans had over Bill Clinton following the 1994 midterm in which Republicans captured the majority of both houses.  

[...]  

The midterm election provided a clear signal as to which party voters want to control Congress. That message is echoed in the results of the latest Gallup poll showing Americans expressly asking for the Republicans -- rather than Obama -- to guide the direction the country takes in the next year. But, after four years of partisan gridlock, most Americans are not optimistic that the election's outcome will improve things.

Don't worry though. Obama said that he heard the voices of all those who didn't vote... and all of them want the American middle class to continue being punished.

City of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Backs Down-- Won't Force Christian Ministers to Marry Gay Couples

I posted about this a few days ago. It seems that someone blinked in the city government and Coeur d'Alene has backed away from forcing unwilling Christian ministers to officiate at gay marriages.

From Boise State Public Radio article by Jessica Robinson (h/t to Sig94):

The city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, said a for-profit wedding chapel owned by two ministers doesn't have to perform same-sex marriages.   

The city has been embroiled in controversy ever since the owners of the Hitching Post sued the city. They say a city anti-discrimination law threatened to force them to marry same-sex couples now that gay marriage is legal in Idaho.  

The story lit up conservative and gay-rights blogs. Wedding chapel owners Donald and Evelyn Knapp said they feared jail time or fines if they declined marriage services to a same-sex couple.  

Initially, the city said its anti-discrimination law did apply to the Hitching Post, since it is a commercial business. Earlier this week, Coeur d'Alene city attorney Mike Gridley sent a letter to the Knapps’ attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom saying the Hitching Post would have to become a not-for-profit to be exempt.  

But Gridley said after further review, he determined the ordinance doesn’t specify non-profit or for-profit.  

“After we've looked at this some more, we have come to the conclusion they would be exempt from our ordinance because they are a religious corporation,” Gridley explained.

I wonder what will happen when somebody brings up charges like these in a deep blue state like California, New York, or Illinois, rather than somewhere like Idaho?

I'm sure it's already happened, but I haven't really heard much about it. Let's not forget that people in those more "enlightened" states scoff when anyone says the First Amendment is under attack.

Good News: 2nd Dallas Nurse Ebola Free

This means both Dallas nurses who contracted the Ebola virus have been cured of the disease.

From Reuters:

A second Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola is now free of the virus, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta said on Friday. 

Amber Vinson, one of two nurses from a Dallas hospital infected with Ebola after treating the first patient diagnosed with the disease in the United States, is still receiving supportive care at Emory and no release date has been set. 

But tests no longer detect the virus in her blood, the hospital said in a statement.

At least CDC incompetence didn't kill these two young women. 

Govt. Attempts to Force Christian Ministers to Perform Same-Sex Weddings

Because thou shall not have anything greater than the will of the Left's current mascot identity group.

And do I not remember various pundits and politicians assuring us that stuff like this wouldn't happen with the legalization of gay marriage? Or is my memory faulty?

From the ADF Media site (via Jazz Shaw at Hot Air):

City officials [of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho] told Donald Knapp that he and his wife Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, are required to perform such ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The city claims its “non-discrimination” ordinance requires the Knapps to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies now that the courts have overridden Idaho’s voter-approved constitutional amendment that affirmed marriage as the union of a man and a woman.  

[...]  

Coeur d’Alene officials told the Knapps privately and also publicly stated that the couple would violate the city’s public accommodations statute once same-sex marriage became legal in Idaho if they declined to perform a same-sex ceremony at their chapel. On Friday, the Knapps respectfully declined such a ceremony and now face up to 180 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines for each day they decline to perform that ceremony. 

“The city somehow expects ordained pastors to flip a switch and turn off all faithfulness to their God and their vows,” explained ADF Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The U.S. Constitution as well as federal and state law clearly stand against that. The city cannot mandate across-the-board conformity to its interpretation of a city ordinance in utter disregard for the guaranteed freedoms Americans treasure in our society.”

An obvious infringement on the Free Exercise clause. I suppose that since the First Amendment has been interpreted to protect government from religion rather than the obvious reading of protecting religion from government, such cases are inevitable.

The Left has spent far too much energy deifying the embodiment of their hopes. Surely they won't let a little thing like Christian faith trump both their own and their Dear Leader's political and social agendas.

 

 

Study: Maybe Marijuana's Not So Harmless After All...

Shocker.

From The Daily Mail:

A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. 

Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found. 

The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain. Professor Hall found:

 

One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it,

Cannabis doubles the risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia,

Cannabis users do worse at school. Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development

One in ten adults who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it and those who use it are more likely to go on to use harder drugs,

Driving after smoking cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash, a risk which increases substantially if the driver has also had a drink

Smoking it while pregnant reduces the baby’s birth weight.

Last night Professor Hall, a professor of addiction policy at King’s College London, dismissed the views of those who say that cannabis is harmless.

‘If cannabis is not addictive then neither is heroin or alcohol,’ he said. 

‘It is often harder to get people who are dependent on cannabis through withdrawal than for heroin – we just don’t know how to do it.’  

Those who try to stop taking cannabis often suffer anxiety, insomnia, appetite disturbance and depression, he found. Even after treatment, less than half can stay off the drug for six months.

But let's remember that tobacco and the big corporations that manufacture it are the real villainous threat. I know because I've been watching those "the truth" commercials for like 15 years now. Marijuana's just groovy and cool and totally sophisticated and stuff... I mean just ask Obama and his choom gang.

China and Iran to Engage in Joint Naval Exercises

I doubt this news will even garner a hashtag from our State Department

Great...

Well, I'm sure John Kerry will tell us that both China and Iran can fight ISIS. Won't that be great?

From The Washington Free Beacon:

Chinese warships have pulled up to docks at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf as the countries prepare to conduct joint naval exercises. 

“The voyage of the Chinese Army’s fleet of warships for the first time in Persian Gulf waters is aimed at joint preparation of Iran and China for establishing peace, stability, tranquility, and multilateral and mutual cooperation,” Admiral Amir Hossein Azad, commander of Iran’s First Naval Zone, said Saturday.  

[...]  

The visit is just one example of growing ties between China and Iran. A Chinese fleet commander, Rear Adm. Huang Xinjian, said the visit was intended to “deepen mutual understanding, and to enhance exchanges between our two countries’ navies.” 

“I’m sure that this visit will encourage the constant advancement of friendly cooperation between our two countries’ navies,” Huang said.

Well, both countries have terrible records on human rights and have expressed a rather "enthusiastic" desire to expand their territories. I'm sure they'll have all sorts of things to talk about.

As distressing as this news is, it's hardly unexpected. China has been an ally of Iran for many years, and has helped Iran enormously with its nuclear program-- there are Chinese nuclear teams in Iran for many years.

Watching our enemies train while the US dithers and reduces its military capabilities is very difficult. It turns out that "smart" diplomacy doesn't replace military might.

Muslim Extremists Behead 2nd American Hostage; Senior U.S. Source: "“What we’ve found is that ISIS isn’t responsive” to outreach



Inspiring confidence...

So ISIS isn't responsive to Obama arrogantly lecturing these guys about the "true" nature of Islam? Really?! Can someone please tell me exactly when nanny lecturing began to be considered a foreign policy? My bet is it happened some time right around 2008.

From The Daily Mail:

ISIS has released a video that shows the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff and says the murder is retaliation for the Obama administration’s continued airstrikes in Iraq. 

Sotloff is the second American journalist to be killed by ISIS, and his death comes two weeks after James Foley was executed in a similar video. 

In the video entitled 'A Second Message to America,' Sotloff appears in a orange jumpsuit before he is beheaded by an Islamic State fighter. 

The executioner appears to be the same man who killed Foley – known as ‘Jihadi John’ - and tells the camera: 'I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State.' 

He also threatens to kill a Briton held hostage by the group next. The identity of the hostage is widely available online, but MailOnline is not identifying him at the request of the British government. 

This afternoon British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the video, calling it ‘an absolutely disgusting and despicable act’.

I'm not sure that this killing inspired Obama to stop golfing or not.

Meanwhile our super-duper-absolutely-the-most-intelligent State Department ever is slowly coming to the realization that murderous thugs aren't readily accepting of arrogant and officious outreach from a president with a Muslim-sounding name. Huh. Who woulda thunk that?

From The Chicago Tribune via Jammie Wearing Fools:

Washington has contacted about two dozen countries for help in freeing the three, but no foreign government appears to have influence over or even significant contact with IS, which has declared an Islamic caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. 

“What we’ve found is that ISIS isn’t responsive” to outreach, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity and using an alternate acronym for the group.

Brilliant. I bet our State Department is preparing another hashtag assault on these killers. I bet it'll work this time. Sickeningly, that would still be more of a response than when these ISIS butchers were killing helpless people by the hundreds-- at times crucifying them.

"I totally don't get it. I mean why can't all the mean people just go and fight on an island somewhere. It would be so much cooler for the rest of us... Anyway, I'm busy because it's happy hour now!"

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 Likely Shot Down by Russian Backed Ukranian Separatists Killing 295-- Obama Makes Jokes During Speech

A plastic reenactment of Obama's speech.

The king of tact and empathy has struck again...

Obama scarcely mentioned the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 during a speech in Delaware. I guess he didn't have a fundraiser to go to.

From The Daily Mail:

President Barack Obama provoked fury in the U.S. on Thursday by casually devoting less than a minute to the deaths of 295 people aboard a Malaysian airliner, as he began an often jokey 16-minute speech about the need to expand America’s transportation infrastructure. 

There are no confirmed American dead and the White House issued a statement on Thursday evening which said they were still seeking any 'information to determine whether there were any American citizens on board'.

An earlier Reuters report claimed that it was feared that as many as 23 U.S. citizens had perished.

Obama declared in Wilmington, Delaware that 'it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy,' but not before enthusiastically declaring that 'it is wonderful to be back in Delaware.'  

'Before I begin, obviously the world is watching reports of a downed passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border. And it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy. Right now we’re working to determine whether there were American citizens on board. That is our first priority.' 

'And I've directed my national security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian governemnt. The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why. And as a country, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and passengers, wherever they call home.  

Obama then jarringly quickly returned to his prepared remarks.   

'I want to thank Jeremie for that introduction' he said. 'Give Jeremie a big round of applause.' 

'It is great to be in the state that gave us Joe Biden. We’ve got actually some better-looking Bidens with us here today. We've got Beau and his wife, Hallie, are here. Give them a big round of applause. We love them.'

Obama also acknowledged the presence of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew with a joke. 

'Jack Lew’s signature is actually on your money,' he said, 'although it's kind of illegible. We teased him when he first became treasury secretary that he was going to have to fix his signature a little bit because it looked just like a caterpillar running along the bottom.'  

From there he launched into a 16-minute speech about transportation projects he wants Republicans to fund, complaining bitterly about their objections to his end-runs around the federal legislature.  

[...]  

National Review reporter Charles Cooke tweeted: 'Shorter Obama: 'Something awful has happened with a plane. It’s awful. Awful. Republicans are bastards for not funding new airports".'

I wish I could be surprised by Obama's behavior. I wish I could think to myself "Wow, this guy's a lot less astute and savvy than I thought." Alas, no. Shall we remember that Obama jetted off to a fundraiser after learning of the deaths in the attack of the American embassy in Benghazi, that he publicly blamed an innocent filmmaker for the attack-- even to the bereaved families of the those lost. There is nothing beneath this man.

I'm sure he'll find a way to blame Bush, a YouTube video, or the GOP for this, and then resume his full-time job of punishing his (American) enemies, and claiming that Americans are ungovernable and racist.

Ukraine Military Plane Shot Down; Russia Most Likely Suspect

From the BBC News:

A Ukrainian military transport aircraft has been shot down in the east, amid fighting with pro-Russian separatist rebels, Ukrainian officials say. 

They say the An-26 plane was hit at an altitude of 6,500m (21,325ft). 

The plane was targeted with "a more powerful missile" than a shoulder-carried missile, "probably fired" from Russia. The crew survived, reports say. 

Russia has made no comment. Separately, Nato reported a Russian troop build-up near the Ukraine border. 

A Nato official confirmed to the BBC that the alliance had observed a significant increase of Russian troops, bringing their number to up to 12,000.

There's been a fair amount of fighting in the eastern parts of Ukraine-- not that we're hearing a much about from the media. Well, I'm sure that Obama's and the State Department's rhetoric about Putin not behaving as a 21st Century gentleman is very comforting. Poland should rest easy from that. Uh, right...

Hamas Rockets Fired on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Not good news for anyone.

From The Jerusalem Post:

Air raid sirens rang out in Greater Tel Aviv, and in Jerusalem, Kfar Saba and the Binyamina area on Tuesday evening, marking an increase in the Gazan rockets’ range, on the first day of Operation Protective Edge. 

An Iron Dome battery intercepted the incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced it had fired four M-75 rockets at the capital. Two loud thuds were heard in downtown Jerusalem shortly after the rocket warning siren went off at 9:56 p.m. Thousands of residents entered bomb shelters, while others remained outside and in cafés.  

[...] 

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said none of the rockets fired from Gaza hit in side the capital, although two rockets struck just outside the city. At least one rocket hit in the adjacent Mateh Yehuda region. A rocket hit near a home, but there was no damage.  

[...]  

Palestinian rockets continued to pound southern Israel throughout the day, with some 120 projectiles striking by the evening. 

Iron Dome intercepted 23 rockets, shooting down rockets over Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza border communities. 

The army began calling up the 40,000 reserve soldiers the cabinet approved for Operation Protective Edge, launched the previous night to stop the rocket fire from Gaza. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz asked for the 40,000 soldiers in order to replace conscripted forces in the West Bank, thereby enabling their deployment to the Gaza border.

And of course Obama urges restraint-- which pretty much means Israel should just absorb casualties because Obama thinks they deserve it-- in a laughable op-ed in Haartez. Obama uses the deaths of several Israeli teens and the ensuing crisis as a platform for his two-state solution rhetoric. Apparently Obama is oblivious to the fact that Hamas is incorporated into the Palestinian government.

Smartest president evah...

Tensions Mount as Chinese Sink Vietnamese Fishing Boat

More tensions in the South China Sea...

From Bloomberg (via Drudge):

Vietnam and China traded barbs over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat, their most serious bilateral standoff since 2007 as China asserts its claims in the disputed South China Sea.  

“It was rammed by a Chinese boat,” Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said by phone of the Vietnamese vessel, with the crew of 10 rescued after the scrap. The incident occurred after some 40 Chinese fishing vessels encircled a group of Vietnamese boats in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, the government in Hanoi said in a statement on its website.  

China said the Vietnamese vessel capsized after it rammed a Chinese fishing boat, having intruded into a “precautionary area” around an oil rig that China has located near islands claimed by both Vietnam and China.  

“We once again urge the Vietnamese side to stop immediately all kinds of disruptive and damaging activities and avoid in particular dangerous actions on the sea,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing.  

[...]  

“The message China is sending Vietnam is, this area of water is Chinese territory,” Ha Hoang Hop, visiting senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said by phone of the boat sinking. “Yesterday a spokesman for China said Vietnam’s claims are ‘ridiculous.’ They are escalating things at sea and with their language.”

China’s placement of the rig near the contested Paracel Islands sparked violent protests in Vietnam this month and led China to send ships to evacuate workers from the country after three Chinese nationals were killed. It spurred confrontations between coast guard vessels, including the use of water cannons and accusations of boats being rammed. China says the rig is in its territory and that it has long drilled in the area.

This ongoing issue in Asia merits close attention. As China's economy, which is based on completely wrong economic theories, flounders, China could become very aggressive as it desperately attempts to add resources, territory, and wealth from its surrounding countries. Let's not forget that China has done this before. Unfortunately many of these neighboring nations-- Vietnam not among them-- have heavily relied upon the United States for protection. If China becomes aggressive while Obama is still in the White House, countries like Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and others are on their own. And if Obama succeeds in major crippling the U.S. economy and/or the military, any Chinese aggression for the next several years will go unchallenged by the America-- aside from sanctions, idle threats, and such.

Obama has done an unprecedented job at destabilizing the world and encouraging thuggery among rival nations. Even Carter wasn't this bad.

The Mad Twerkers of Beaverton Oregon Are Arrested

Pic from Breitbart post linked below

And I don't mean "mad" in the good way...

From Breitbart:

Oregon police were called to the scene of an impromptu dance party on Monday afternoon that got a little too wild be going on in public. 

According to police, Christie Valazquez Coura went to Beaverton City Hall to pay a fine with two friends, Brittany Medak and Leokham Yothsombath. 

After Coura paid the fine, the three women went out to the parking lot and began twerking, the Oregonian reported. 

During the dance party, Medak allegedly began urinating between cars in the parking lot while Yothsombath recorded the whole thing with her cellphone. 

A court employee called the Beaverton police and the trio was arrested on multiple charges including disorderly conduct, cocaine and methamphetamine possession, and offensive littering. 

Medak and Coura are 20, while Yothsombath is 22.

These classy young ladies seem like a bundle of fun. Meth, twerking and public urination... what an unexpected combo.

Meanwhile, Beaverton police are clarifying that twerking is not a crime.

From Oregon Live article by Everton Bailey Jr.:

The Beaverton Police Department is clarifying charges against three women arrested near City Hall on Monday after witnesses saw some of them twerking outside the building and one allegedly urinating in the parking lot and officers found drugs in their possession. 

The department was contacted several times by the public Tuesday with questions about the arrests, said Officer Mike Rowe, a Beaverton police spokesman, particularly about the charges of offensive littering and disorderly conduct. 

"Some people just couldn't wrap their heads around how urinating in the parking lot is offensive littering," Rowe said. 

The department has listed the Oregon Revised Statutes for both misdemeanor offenses on its Facebook page. For the record, the department says, one woman was charged with offensive littering for urinating in a public place and two of the women face disorderly conduct charges because of the disturbance their alleged actions caused. 

Twerking is not illegal in Beaverton, Rowe said.

Well, that's a load off of my mind.

New Study: 1/3 of Vegetative Patients may be Conscious

Something to keep in mind as health officials rush you to sign away a loved ones life...

From The Washington Free Beacon:

A new study published in the Lancet shows that as many as one-third of vegetative patients are misdiagnosed. 

Researchers used brain-imaging techniques and found minimal consciousness in 13 of 42 patients it studied. 

The study revealed that those patients with minimal consciousness have emotions and may feel pain. 

This could have major legal and medical consequences, Maclean’s reports.

After finding that 13 of 42 vegetative patients showed brain activity indicating minimal consciousness, they re-examined them a year later. By then, nine of the 13 had improved, and progressed into a minimally conscious state or higher. 

[...] Kate Bainbridge, who was one of the first vegetative patients examined by Owen, was given a scan that showed her brain lighting up in response to images of her family. Her health later improved. “I can’t say how lucky I was to have the scan,” she said in an email to Maclean’s last year. “[It] really scares me to think what would have happened if I hadn’t had it.”

Scary indeed.

The Telegraph: Russian Separatists Registering Jews in Ukraine

From The Telegraph article by Tim Stanley:

A shocking story coming out of Ukraine: pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country are accused of asking Jewish citizens to register their identity or face deportation. 

According to Haaretz, a notice to that effect was pasted up near a synagogue in Donetsk – a city being claimed by ethnic Russians. The notice ordered all Jews over the age of 16 to register with the self-proclaimed government and to pay a registration fee. It asks them to provide: 

ID and passport … to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles.

Failure to comply will result in deportation and confiscation of property. The notice claims that this action is necessitated by Jewish support for the “nationalist junta” in Kiev. The chairman of the temporary Russian government of Donetsk (characterised by hostility to the West and hankering for Sovietism) acknowledged that the notice exists but denies responsibility. 

What does this tell us? Whoever is responsible for the notice, it indicates that the situation in Ukraine is descending into violent anarchy exploited by extremists. Ever since the crisis began, the Russians have claimed that the Ukrainian nationalist movement is riddled with neo-Nazi anti-Semites – and they certainly do have a presence.  

But if this notice comes from the pro-Russian side then it’s evidence that they, too, contain elements of anti-Semitism. And, if the situation is allowed to descend ever further into chaos, Jews could end up becoming targets of violence. Which is obviously a terrifying thought.

Just when you didn't think the Ukrainian troubles couldn't get any better...

Well, I'm sure Ron Paul can explain how the Jews and Israel actually started the problems in Ukraine--  doubtlessly starting their nefarious planning not long after perpetrating 9/11.

US Navy Converting Seawater into Fuel?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but this could be a really big thing...

From the AFP at Yahoo News (h/t Tom Blumer @ Bizzy Blog):

The US Navy believes it has finally worked out the solution to a problem that has intrigued scientists for decades: how to take seawater and use it as fuel 

The development of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is being hailed as "a game-changer" because it would signficantly [sic] shorten the supply chain, a weak link that makes any force easier to attack. 

The US has a fleet of 15 military oil tankers, and only aircraft carriers and some submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion. 

All other vessels must frequently abandon their mission for a few hours to navigate in parallel with the tanker, a delicate operation, especially in bad weather. 

The ultimate goal is to eventually get away from the dependence on oil altogether, which would also mean the navy is no longer hostage to potential shortages of oil or fluctuations in its cost. 

Vice Admiral Philip Cullom declared: "It's a huge milestone for us." 

"We are in very challenging times where we really do have to think in pretty innovative ways to look at how we create energy, how we value energy and how we consume it. 

"We need to challenge the results of the assumptions that are the result of the last six decades of constant access to cheap, unlimited amounts of fuel," added Cullom.  

[...]  

US experts have found out how to extract carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas from seawater. 

Then, using a catalytic converter, they transformed them into a fuel by a gas-to-liquids process. They hope the fuel will not only be able to power ships, but also planes.  

That means instead of relying on tankers, ships will be able to produce fuel at sea. 

- 'Game-changing' technology - 

The predicted cost of jet fuel using the technology is in the range of three to six dollars per gallon, say experts at the US Naval Research Laboratory, who have already flown a model airplane with fuel produced from seawater. 

Dr Heather Willauer, an research chemist who has spent nearly a decade on the project, can hardly hide her enthusiasm. 

"For the first time we've been able to develop a technology to get CO2 and hydrogen from seawater simultaneously, that's a big breakthrough," she said, adding that the fuel "doesn't look or smell very different."  

Now that they have demonstrated it can work, the next step is to produce it in industrial quantities. But before that, in partnership with several universities, the experts want to improve the amount of CO2 and hydrogen they can capture. 

"We've demonstrated the feasibility, we want to improve the process efficiency," explained Willauer.  

[...]

A crucial benefit, says Collum, is that the fuel can be used in the same engines already fitted in ships and aircraft. 

"If you don't want to re-engineer every ship, every type of engine, every aircraft, that's why we need what we call drop-in replacement fuels that look, smell and essentially are the same as any kind of petroleum-based fuels.  

Drawbacks? Only one, it seems: researchers warn it will be at least a decade before US ships are able to produce their own fuel on board.

 So is there a civilian market for this?

Male North Korean Students Required to get Kim Jong-un Haircut?



And it just looks so good, especially for the shape of his head and all...

I'm not sure whether I believe this story or not. It's completely ridiculous. The thing is, North Korea is so insane that just because something is ridiculous-- or horrific for that matter-- doesn't mean that it's a lie.

From BBC News:

Male university students in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un, it is reported.  

The state-sanctioned guideline was introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, Radio Free Asia reports. It is now being rolled out across the country - although some people have expressed reservations about getting the look. 

"Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will," one source tells Radio Free Asia. "It doesn't always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes." Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers. "Until the mid-2000s, we called it the 'Chinese smuggler haircut'," the Korea Times reports. 

It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time - until now people were reportedly only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men. Earlier, North Korea's state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called "Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle".

Why not make all the North Koreans men get that haircut? I mean it does look so damn good on Kim, you know?

Shocker: Obama's DOJ Gives Pass to Obama Vote Fraudster

"The excessive exuberance of your worship will not go punished. Just don't get caught next time, for Chisssakes! And don't admit to a thing on camera!"

I mean, she did vote for Obama after all...

From Breitbart piece by J. Christian Adams:

Last week Al Sharpton embraced convicted vote fraudster Melowese Richardson at a “voting rights” rally in Cincinnati. The United States Department of Justice under Eric Holder has done nothing to Melowese Richardson 410 days after she admitted on camera that she committed multiple federal felonies by voting six times for President Obama’s reelection. 

Federal law makes it a felony to vote more than once for President. In fact, 42 U.S.C. Section 1973i(e) subjects Richardson to twenty-five years in federal prison for her six votes for Obama. 

The lack of DOJ action against an unrepentant federal vote fraudster combined with Richardson’s lionization by Sharpton and the organization that sponsored the rally demonstrates how the Justice Department is facilitating a culture of brazen criminality on the eve of the 2014 midterm elections. The failure to indict Richardson is the latest example of Holder’s department excusing lawlessness in federal elections and abandoning law abiding Americans. 

Melowese Richardson was charged with state voter fraud crimes in Ohio. She was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison on July 7, 2013. Unfortunately, instead of serving five years, Richardson was set free after only eight months. 

A state court judge dismissed her May 2013 conviction and five-year prison sentence and allowed her to plead no contest to four counts of illegal voting, the same charges for which she was convicted. 

Richardson was represented by the George Soros-funded Ohio Justice and Policy Center, which claimed she suffered from bi-polar disorder. No claim was made that she was insane when she committed her election crimes. Nor was any effort made to establish her insanity.  

[...]  

Federal charges against Richardson for voting for Obama six times can be initiated by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Springer, who serves as the District Election Officer (DEO) in Cincinnati. U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart could also initiate charges, as could the Public Integrity Section in Washington D.C., or even Eric Holder himself.
DEO Anthony Springer donated $750 to Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign according to FEC records. 

Ohio Votes sponsored the rally where Richardson appeared with Sharpton. According to their website, it is a “year-round, statewide, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) voter mobilization initiative. It galvanizes nonprofits based in low income Ohio communities to increase voter participation and join efforts for fair elections.” The umbrella organization received $1,886,723 in government grants in 2012. The organization’s tax returns state the group exists to change “onerous voting laws” and that it focuses on “educating voters on the mechanics of how, when and where to participate in early voting for the Presidential election.”   

The IRS continues to provide the group 501(c)(3) tax exempt status despite its active role in the reelection of the President, and its embrace of election criminals.

 

"Onerous voting laws" such as not being able to vote for your favorite quasi-deity six times, it seems. Welcome to Obama's fundamentally transformed America.

Appalling? Yes.

Surprising? No.

WSJ: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Flew On for Hours

Absolutely bizarre... if true.

From The Wall Street Journal article by Andy Pasztor:

U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky.  

Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program.  

That raises a host of new questions and possibilities about what happened aboard the widebody jet carrying 239 people, which vanished from civilian air-traffic control radar over the weekend, about one hour into a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.  

[...]  

U.S. counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after intentionally turning off the jetliner's transponders to avoid radar detection, according to one person tracking the probe. 

The investigation remains fluid, and it isn't clear whether investigators have evidence indicating possible terrorism or sabotage. So far, U.S. national security officials have said that nothing specifically points toward terrorism, though they haven't ruled it out. 

But the huge uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it apparently continued flying so long without working transponders, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for a reason that appears unclear to U.S. authorities. Some of those theories have been laid out to national security officials and senior personnel from various U.S. agencies, according to one person familiar with the matter.  

[...] 

As of Wednesday it remained unclear whether the plane reached an alternate destination or if it ultimately crashed, potentially hundreds of miles from where an international search effort has been focused.  

In those scenarios, neither mechanical problems, pilot mistakes nor some other type of catastrophic incident caused the 250-ton plane to mysteriously vanish from radar. 

The latest revelations come as local media reported that Malaysian police visited the home of at least one of the two pilots.  

[...]  

The engines' onboard monitoring system is provided by their manufacturer, Rolls-Royce RR.LN inYour ValueYour Change Short position PLC, and it periodically sends bursts of data about engine health, operations and aircraft movements to facilities on the ground.  

"We continue to monitor the situation and to offer Malaysia Airlines our support," a Rolls-Royce representative said Wednesday, declining further comment. 

"The disappearance is officially now an accident and all information about this is strictly handled by investigators," said a Rolls-Royce executive who declined to be named, citing rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency. 

As part of its maintenance agreements, Malaysia Airlines transmits its engine data live to Rolls-Royce for analysis. The system compiles data from inside the 777's two Trent 800 engines and transmits snapshots of performance, as well as the altitude and speed of the jet. 

Those snippets are compiled and transmitted in 30-minute increments, said one person familiar with the system. According to Rolls-Royce's website, the data is processed automatically "so that subtle changes in condition from one flight to another can be detected." 

The engine data is being analyzed to help determine the flight path of the plane after the transponders stopped working. The jet was originally headed for China, and its last verified position was half way across the Gulf of Thailand.  

A total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even the Arabian Sea, based on the jet's cruising speed.

It seems that if the plane was hijacked, that the hijackers' demands would have already been issued. I know of no precedent for a "stealth" hijacking of an airliner.

I wish I trusted the competency of US officials more than I do, but this case is getting weirder and weirder. Rumors and conspiracy theories are choking the internet at this point, so it seems wise to take information, even information provided by legitimate sources, with a great deal of skepticism. That said, my opinion from the beginning is that the plane simply crashed into the ocean with a reasonable chance (~35%) of terrorism (likely Uighur) being the cause. If this information is correct, something a lot stranger is going on. An unimaginably horrible case of pilot error? Like pretty much the worst pilot error ever? A secret hijacking? A Chinese cover up?

It's all very, very odd.

And how horrible this must be for the families and friends of the passangers of this plane...

NBC Headlines Chinese News Service Using Racial Slur While Russians Head into Ukraine

It's good to know they have priorities.

From NBC News:

An official Chinese government news service lobbed a racial slur at outgoing U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke, calling the third-generation Chinese-American a "rotten banana" — an Asian with Western values. 

"When a banana sits out for long, its yellow peels will always rot, not only revealing its white core but also turning into the stomach-churning color of black," the China News Service editorial said, according to the Associated Press.

The invective shocked some members of the Chinese public, who have applauded Locke in the past, and the State Department declined to respond to the rhetoric.

A racial slur from the Chinese?! No! Really?!

Why the next thing you know, somebody will talk about how Blacks have been known to use the word Oreo in a similar fashion! Will these revelations never end?

Seriously, NBC has nothing better to headline on the MSN homepage today?

Expert Predicts Lake Superior Will Ice Over this Winter

"My election marked the day that the oceans began to recede and Lake Superior would begin to freeze over. Your welcome."

Remember, it's because of global warming.

From CNS News (h/t Instapundit):

Lake Superior hasn’t completely frozen over in two decades. 

But an expert on Great Lakes ice says there’s a “very high likelihood” that the three-quadrillion-gallon lake will soon be totally covered with ice thanks to this winter’s record-breaking cold. 

The ice cover on the largest freshwater lake in the world hit a 20-year record of 91 percent on Feb. 5, 1994. 

Jay Austin, associate professor at the Large Lakes Observatory in Duluth, Minn., told CNSNews.com that he expects that record will be broken this winter when the most northern of the Great Lakes becomes totally shrouded in ice. 

The thickness of the ice on Lake Superior “varies tremendously,” from a very thin sheet in some areas near the coast to several feet thick in other spots, Austin says. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that the mean thickness of the lake ice is 26 cm, or a little over 10 inches. 

Austin attributes the large amount of ice on the lake to the “extraordinary cold winter we’ve had,” pointing out that Duluth recently experienced an all-time record of 23 straight days of below-zero temperatures. 

The previous record of 22 days was set in 1936 and tied in 1963, according to the National Weather Service. 

Austin, who studies the effect of lake ice, predicts that it will have a “very strong influence” on the regional climate this summer, with the “air conditioning [lake] effect” more pronounced than usual. 

“Typically, the lake will start warming up in late June, but it will be August before we see that this year,” Austin told CNSNews.com. 

Let's all just keep in mind that if the weather gets warmer then it's due to global warming. And if the weather gets colder it's due to global warming.

 Got it?