California Cover Up–Billions to Prop Up Collapsing Pension System

How do they think this is all going to end?

Politicians keep looking for an easy way to address pensions but that path was closed a decade ago when the state chose not to lower investment return assumptions to reasonable levels and boost Normal Cost contributions. It was easy then but because Unfunded Liabilities compound at high rates, the balances due now are huge and growing. The only paths that seriously move the needle are boosted taxes, reduced services, or reduced future pension benefits for current employees and retirees. The first two paths have already been trod with three tax increases since 2009 and reduced shares of the budget for universities, courts, parks and social services. The third path has not even been approached. Current employees and retirees benefitted from keeping Normal Cost unfairly low. It’s time for them to share in the pain being suffered by citizens.

Yea, and it's a shame it has to come to this.  A LOT OF PEOPLE will be impoverished.

The Arrogance of Blue America

I'm not sure how or exactly when it happened.  I suspect it started during the Vietnam War when the Left who were voted into office caused the death of untold numbers of South Vietnamese.  They were voted into office to get us out of the unpopular Vietnam War.  But the slow trickle in of more and more Leftists (as opposed to the classical liberal) slowly morphed the Democratic Party into the evil disgusting American-Hating group that they are.

This opened the door even wider allowing more Leftists/Socialists to be voted into office.  I knew 30 years ago the Left didn't give a fig about the poor. Only the Right cares.  The Right wants ALL GROUPS of people to flourish.

But, for the Left, it's all about Idiology.  IF you don't conform....you are dead.  You are not human. That's the level of hatred and digust they have for "unbelievers".

From the Daily Beast:

Ironically, many of the most exploited people reside in blue states and cities. Both segregation and impoverishment has worsened during the decades-long urban “comeback,” as even longtime urban enthusiast Richard Florida now notes. Chicago, with its soaring crime rates and middle class out-migration, amidst a wave of elite corporate relocations, epitomizes the increasingly unequal tenor of blue societies.

In contrast the most egalitarian places, like Utah, tend to be largely Trump-friendly. Among the 10 states (and D.C.) with the most income inequality, seven supported Clinton in 2016, while seven of the 10 most equal states supported Trump.

If you want to see worst impacts of blue policies, go to those red regions—like upstate New York—controlled by the blue bourgeoise. Backwaters like these tend to be treated at best as a recreational colony that otherwise can depopulate, deindustrialize, and in general fall apart. In California, much of the poorer interior is being left to rot by policies imposed by a Bay Area regime hostile to suburban development, industrial growth, and large scale agriculture. Policies that boost energy prices 50 percent above neighboring states are more deeply felt in regions that compete with Texas or Arizona and are also far more dependent on air conditioning than affluent, temperate San Francisco or Malibu. Six of the 10 highest unemployment rates among the country’s metropolitan areas are in the state’s interior.

CO2 fertilization greening the Earth

This is not my first article on the wonderful benefits of CO2 increases.

This one is from Phys.org:

"We were able to tie the greening largely to the fertilizing effect of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration by tasking several computer models to mimic plant growth observed in the satellite data," says co-author Prof. Ranga Myneni of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, USA. Burning oil, gas, coal and wood for energy releases CO2 in to the air. The amount of CO2 in the air has been increasing since the industrial age and currently stands at a level not seen in at least half-a-million years. It is the chief culprit of climate change.

I love that shot - most likely added by the brainwashed editor -  "chief culprit".  Loser.

What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?

I don't think I do any more online shopping than I did in 2010.  It could be that others are finally reaching my level of purchasing.  We still do a good bit of shopping in stores.  So, I don't think they will all disappear.

The article goes over several reasons for falling retail sales.  I think most of them people are already aware of.  But their prediction about the future is interesting:

From the Atlantic:

Finally, a brief prediction. One of the mistakes people make when thinking about the future is to think that they are watching the final act of the play. Mobile shopping might be the most transformative force in retail—today. But self-driving cars could change retail as much as smartphones.

Once autonomous vehicles are cheap, safe, and plentiful, retail and logistics companies could buy up millions, seeing that cars can be stores and streets are the ultimate real estate. In fact, self-driving cars could make shopping space nearly obsolete in some areas. CVS could have hundreds of self-driving minivans stocked with merchandise roving the suburbs all day and night, ready to be summoned to somebody’s home by smartphone. A new luxury-watch brand in 2025 might not spring for an Upper East Side storefront, but maybe its autonomous showroom vehicle could circle the neighborhood, waiting to be summoned to the doorstep of a tony apartment building. Autonomous retail will create new conveniences and traffic headaches, require new regulations, and inspire new business strategies that could take even more businesses out of commercial real estate. The future of retail could be even weirder yet.

Well if that's the case, they better be built like vaults, dispensing purchased items.  Because I think thieves will be watching for the self-driven vehicles to make a killing.

Clemson ‘Diversity’ Training: Time Is Culturally Relative, Expecting Promptness Is Racist

This is not the Clemson college I remember.  It makes me wonder how far off the deep end my alama mater South Carolina has dived.

In one slide, employees are taught that tardiness is acceptable because the concept of time is culturally relative. Thus, every culture’s perception of the actual time must be respected - since one “cultural perspective regarding time is neither more nor less valid than any other.”

The slide gives the example of “Alejandro,” who called a 9:00 AM meeting, and teaches that he should not rebuke a group of foreign professors and students who show up late:

“Time may be considered precise or fluid depending on the culture.”

Thus, the slide teaches, Alejandro shouldn’t impose his definition of time on others, because “his cultural perspective regarding time is neither more nor less valid than any other."

The more incredibly stupid thing I've ever read.

How I Made My Own iPhone - in China

This video shows a world of life that is totally foreign to us.  When we think of street markets, we think of food or tourist stuff.  We NEVER think of street markets selling electronic parts like we see in China.

That is because, this was kept from us.  And most markets like these are OUTLAWED and BANNED in large US cities. Which is ANTI-CAPITALIST.  Laser etching on a street corner????  Ever see that in the USA??  NEVER!!  There is really something wrong in our nation.

An amazing video.

California High School Replaces Mirrors in Girls’ Bathroom With Positive Message Signs

What complete BS.  Just more coddling and dumbing down our kids.  We are in such trouble. We will not be able to compete with other countries for business.  We'll be too busy crying because out feelings are hurt!

A high school in California has replaced all the mirrors in its girls' bathroom with positive signs that say messages like "You're strong enough" and "You are beautiful."

Laguna Hills High School student Sabrina Astle, 17, a member of the Kindess Club, came up with the idea to have students read happy thoughts rather than look at their own reflections. She made the posters for the school's "What If …" Week, ABC News reported Tuesday.

"Then we had What if … Week," she said, which is designed to bring the campus together. "Each day has a specific message. The message for Thursday, March 23, 2017, was ‘What if we showed more love?'

"I felt that this would be a good time to hang the signs. I put the signs in the bathroom the night before so students would see them throughout the next day," she said.

Makes me want to hurl...