How the unseen effect of regulation affects economic growth

Mercatus Center of George Mason University   "The 2015 Economic Freedom of the World report was recently released and out of the 157 countries ranked the United States fell from the 12th slot in 2014 to 16th. This includes an especially low rank of 49th in the category “Business regulations,” which is probably not surprising to any U.S. business owner.

"According to the Mercatus Center’s RegData database, federal restrictions on business activities increased 28 percent from 1997 to 2012. While these regulations may be well intentioned, excessive rules and restrictions can have pernicious effects on the economy.

"A new study that uses RegData shows that federal regulations decrease new hiring. In addition to this direct, negative effect on economic activity, there is an unseen effect — the businesses that are never started because potential entrepreneurs are discouraged by all the red tape in their path.

"Along with the decline in new hiring, the aforementioned study shows that more regulated industries experience fewer new entrants into the market each year. This unseen effect negatively affects economic growth in the long run and the short run.

"An agency rule, restriction or regulation may not seem like a big deal on its own, but the cumulative effect can be death by a thousand cuts. For instance, the combination of new $5-per-hour parking meters and a local rule requiring establishments to verify that at least 80 percent of their business comes from the local area contributed to the recent closure of a 100-year-old fruit store in Palm Beach, Fla." . . .

Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards hits new low with this trendy, PC defense

With an assist from Rachael Maddow of MSNBC

Cecile Richards: Republicans Asking Me About Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Babies Was “Sexist”…



Rich Lowry: It’s the Abortion, Stupid   . . . "Give her this: Richards is extremely skilled at defending the indefensible, which is her job. The slave trade, another enormity of American national life once accepted by a swath of the country, surely would have benefited from such an on-message, unflappable, morally oblivious advocate. " . . .

People still try to understand Hillary but....well, maybe not

Valerie Jarrett throws Hillary under the bus  "Double-teaming with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s Supreme Leader, demonstrated what the White House really wants to happen in the race for the Democratic nomination.  Joe Biden most assuredly got the message, as did Hillary.  Blake Seitz of the Free Beacon reports:" . . .

Has Hillary lost the Teamsters over Keystone XL?   "The Fox News report that the Teamsters have decided not to endorse Hillary Clinton’s candidacy at this time, shortly after her pronouncement of her opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, does not surprise and shows the peril of trying to be all things to all constituencies." . . .

Why Hillary Reversed Course on the Cadillac Tax

"The Clinton Coalition loses its shock troops if Hillary loses union support, and unions hate the Cadillac tax, which is aimed like… well, it’s aimed like a punitive 40% surcharge on private insurance."

Hillary Clinton Email Release: Round 5

Who would disagree with her on this one area at least?

"An e-mail included in the latest tranche of Clinton documents released by the State Department on Wednesday shows the then-secretary of state exploding at her staff over plans to replace “Mother” and “Father” with “Parent One” and “Parent Two” on passport application forms, complaining about the decision and refusing to defend it in the face of partisan opposition."

Remember the staff are all Democrats who likely voted for Obama, liberals who suck the heart and spirit out of our language and our culture.

Hillary Knew the Dangers of Private E-Mail but Didn’t Let That Stop Her   
"Hillary Clinton’s rationalizations for her deliberate circumvention of federal records laws and mishandling of state secrets shift as quickly as they are refuted. Her latest excuses — part of a euphemistically labeled “public education” effort — are as flawed as those that came before, and leave her seeking higher ground in a losing public-relations campaign."

Hillary's Personality Coach Holds an Old Grudge

Hillary's emails show she kept up with the sex scandal that ruined the congressional career of Anthony Weiner - the husband of Clinton's confidante Huma Abedin

Fiorina was right about the abortion video; here it is

GRAPHIC CONTENT–’Carly Fiorina Was Right': Group Releases Full Abortion Video Mentioned in GOP Debate
**WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT**
The Center for Bioethical Reform, in partnership with the Grantham collection, has released the full version of a video which became a source of political controversy after the 2nd Republican debate.
The 13 minute long video shows the birth of what CBR describes as a “17 1/2 week fetus.” The fetus is placed in a metal pan with a clamp attached to its umbilical cord. A comparison demonstrates the new video is the source of the brief segment that appeared in a video produced by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), a pro-life investigatory group which has produced undercover videos critical of Planned Parenthood.

The video if you feel you need to watch it.

Ain't gonna be no stinkin' assimilation here!

Lewiston, Maine: Muslims Demand Mayor’s Resignation for Asking Them to Assimilate
"This is how far we have fallen: an American mayor asks immigrants to America to become Americans and adopt American values, as all immigrants did in the past, and they're demanding his resignation. Of course, we've seen it many times: Muslims do not adapt. Non-Muslims must adapt to them. And so it is here. But if our society and culture were healthy, the President and politicians all over the country would be rushing to the aid of Lewiston's mayor, instead of letting him twist in the wind.

"Maine mayor: Somalis should leave culture at door Associated Press – Thu, Oct 4, 2012
There must have been a better way to approach those people.

 

. . . "Related, previously at Atlas: Muslim Youths Wilding in Maine LEWISTON — In the early evening on the first day of summer, a large group of Somali boys approached a woman on the corner of Ash and Pierce streets. According to police reports, they intimidated the woman and slapped her in the back of the head before scattering into the downtown. Five days later, shortly after midnight, a man was accosted by a group of Somali boys outside the Big Apple on Main Street. Police reports say several members of the group punched the man and took money from him. They then fled in a car. -

About those Jeff Foxworthy jokes we keep getting in our email

Snopes

Claim:   A list of 'You may be a Muslim' jokes originated with comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

FALSE

Origins:   The . . . list of "You may be a Muslim" jokes was widely circulated via the Internet at the end of 2010, attributed to comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Although its structure is somewhat imitative of one of Foxworthy's signature humor routines, the "You might be a redneck if ..." cycle of jokes, that's all it has in common with the nationally famous comedian. Jeff's brother, Jay, confirmed for us that this material was not written by his sibling.

Like most of his material, Jeff Foxworthy's "redneck" jokes are typically affectionate and self-deprecating (he is himself a Southerner); his brand of humor is neither as overtly political nor as cuttingly mean as (and is generally much funnier than) the "You may be a Muslim" list reproduced above. This collection of one-liners is an updating of a earlier version of a list which is several years old (dating back at least as far as October 2007), was originally about the Taliban specifically (rather than Muslims in general), and was not in its original incarnation attributed to Jeff Foxworthy (or anyone else):

"You Might Be A Part Of The Taliban If...

...You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.
...You own a $300 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
...You have more wives than teeth.
...You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
...You've ever opened a can of falafel with a mortar round.
...You used a Stinger missile given to you by George Bush Sr. to shoot at a helicopter sent by George Bush Jr.
...You've ever had your camel repossessed.
...You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.
...You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry ammunition in your robe. " . . . 

"The War on America Turns 50"

Ann Coulter  "Half a century ago, Democrats looked at the country and realized they were never going to convince Americans to agree with them. But they noticed that people in most other countries of the world already agreed with them. The solution was obvious.

"    So in 1965 -- 50 years ago this week -- Sen. Ted Kennedy passed an immigration law that has brought 59 million foreigners to our shores, who happen to vote 8-2 for the Democrats.


"Democrats haven't won any arguments; they changed the voters. If anything, the Democrats have stopped bothering to appeal to Americans. The new feminized Democratic Party says, That's too bad about those steelworkers in Ohio losing their jobs, but THERE'S A WOMAN AT A LAW FIRM IN NEW YORK CITY WHO DESERVES TO MAKE PARTNER!

"    Republicans should be sweeping the country, but they aren't, because of Kennedy's immigration law. Without post-1965 immigrants bloc-voting for the Democrats, Obama never would have been elected president, and Romney would have won a bigger landslide against him in 2012 than Reagan did against Carter in 1980.

"    This isn't a guess; it's a provable fact. Obama beat Romney by less than 5 million votes in a presidential election in which about 125 million votes were cast. More than 30 million of Obama's votes came from people who arrived under Teddy Kennedy's immigration law; fewer than 10 million of Romney's did.

"    The 1965 act brought in the poorest of the poor from around the globe. Non-English-speaking peasants from wildly backward cultures could be counted on to be dependent on government assistance for generations to come.

"    Kennedy and other Democrats swore up and down that the new immigration law would not change the country's demographics, but post-1965-act immigrants are nothing like the people who already lived here. " . . .

Choctaw Code Talkers in World War 1

" Choctaw Code Talkers allowed the Americans to execute a surprise attack on the Germans in World War I. "

Warfare History Network

"The affection that Europeans have for the Great American West is well known, so it shouldn’t be surprising that several traveling Wild West Shows happened to be in enemy territory when World War I broke out. One was in Berlin, another in Trieste. Both troupes contained a contingent of Native Americans and both were harassed by mobs caught up in patriotic fervor. So it was that the Onondaga and Oneida Indian tribes were insulted enough to exercise their autonomy as nations separate from, but enclosed within, the United States, to declare war on Germany in 1914. They were the first Americans to do so, but not the last."

. . .

"But the use of Indian languages continued in the rear. Organized under a Lieutenant Black, more Choctaw were added, including Albert Billy, Victor Brown, Tobias Frazier, Ben Hampton, Joseph Oklahombi, and Walter Leach for a total of 14. In addition to the language, a code had to be developed because ordinary Choctaw lacked words for military terms. Artillery therefore became “big gun,” machine gun became “little gun shoots fast,” casualties became “scalps,” poison gas became “bad air,” and the battalions became one, two, or three grains of corn. Fifteen days later the war was over."

"Navajo Language was so Valuable it Was Declared Secret"

Their own web site: Choctaw Code Talkers Association

McCain: Putin's action in Middle East is fault of Obama

Newsmax

" 'This was a series of decisions or non-decisions which has led to the situation we see today, where Vladimir Putin may have inserted Russia into the Middle East in a way that Russia has not enjoyed since 1973, when the Russians were thrown out of Egypt," said McCain. "He is still on course to repeat this nightmare by withdrawing nearly all troops from Afghanistan."

"In that country, the Taliban has captured the strategic city of Kunduz, said McCain, "and that is terrible in the respect hat Kunduz is in the northern part of the state where we thought it was stable."

"And in Syria, said McCain, "the United States stood by as Bashar al-Assad's war on the Syrian people is going on and on and on. It is this slaughter that has been the single greatest contributor to the rise and continued successful of ISIS.' " 

California drought: watch this time-lapse of Folsom Lake as it dries up

The timelapse of Folsom Lake reservoir, around 25 miles north of Sacramento, was posted on Facebook by Ryan Griffith.

. . . "The clip begins with the lake bathed in sunshine and covered in boats.

"However it ends with just a baron piece of land with the wooden pontoon the only thing remaining in the center of the dried up lake bed.

"Griffith said in his Facebook post: 'I've been collecting and assembling these since March of 2015 through August 2015 showing the effects of the drought in California is having on our reservoirs. 

" 'This is from Brown's Ravine / Folsom Lake Marina. Every time I've watched it I've seen something new.' 

"The reservoir was once home to 700 boats, but now all that is left are some abandoned engines.

Hillary does a masterful dodge

She is Clinton-smooth.

Clinton is Obama is Clinton? Hillary Stumbles Hard in Latest Interview.
"Last night NBC aired the second half of a “meet the candidates”-style conversation between Hillary Clinton and Chuck Todd. When Todd asked Clinton to differentiate herself from President Barack Obama, she demurred, arguing that she wasn’t running for Obama’s third term; when he pressed the issue, she completely and utterly failed to provide a single distinguishing trait of herself, her campaign, or her plans for the presidency."

Actually she did pretty well.

. . . "Either Clinton can’t find any fundamental differences between herself and President Obama, or she simply is refusing to say so out of fear of offending a valuable chunk of her voter base.

"Whichever theory you go with, this still should have been an easy get for Clinton. Questions like these are low-hanging fruit; all it takes is a cursory glance at polling data to figure out what Americans don’t like about what the Administration is doing. With a simple twist, Clinton should have been able to point out policy areas that Americans are displeased with, then pivot toward her own (if budding) policy proposals. "

Latest on the Islamic invasion of the West.

German Police Chief: Muslim Refugees Attacking Christian Refugees So Often They Should Be Housed Separately


Administration allows in more than 1500 asylum seekers who engaged in terrorism 'while under duress'

That policy has now been replaced, as Judicial Watch explains:

. . .

. . . "So, a couple of hundred men who went through terrorist military training - including, one supposes, the usual brainwashing - are comfortably ensconced in an American city near you. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?" . . .

Officials in Germany, Sweden, consider seizing property to house new migrants
. . . "The rules of law and property rights are the first casualties of the EU push for a more ‘generous’ migration policy. Countries like Germany and Sweden are considering revising existing property laws to confiscate homes to house arriving migrants. Austria has changed its constitution to force provinces to accept higher quotas of migrants. The existing law restricted the intake of refugees more than 1.5 percent of the population. The country is expecting to receive about 80,000 asylum claims by the end of 2015. The Austrian news website The Local reports:" . .  .

New website:

The Migration Waves Have Only Just Begun
. . . "In the coming generations the Islamic world and Africa could in principle send a constant stream of migrants ten times as large as what we are seeing now. Even if they did so, it would not solve basic social problems in the Islamic world or Africa. It would, however, probably led to a social collapse in many European countries. Europe must soon decide whether it wants to live or commit suicide." . . .