Last year, my personal investments provided over a 19% return and I paid no investment or broker fees.
Under Chris Christie’s dysfunctional fiscal management, the New Jersey Public Pension fund returned 15.9% (2014) but paid $398.7 million dollars in fees (fiscal 2013). Since his term in office began in 2009, the pension fund had paid billions in fees, has underperformed the market, and the governor has not made a full payment to the system.
There’s fiscal management for you. Imagine what he’d do to the country as president. On second thought, let’s not.
All of this economic tomfoolery, detailed in a new report in the International Business Times, tell you all you need to know about why Chris Christie is not only unsuited to be president, but why his tenure would be a disaster for the United States’ economy. He is steeped in the old trickle down theory that brought us the Great Recession and the Billionaire’s Recovery. He’s warming up in New Jersey by soaking the middle and working classes with higher payments, property taxes and fees, while insulating the wealthy by refusing to even entertain the idea of more revenue for needed state services.
And his latest gambit, a state commission to look into how to reform the state pension program, is led by a Christie campaign contributor and former Reagan Administration economist, Thomas J. Healy, who says that the commission is not political. Should I be skeptical?
Someone needs to tell me why cops have tasers. Are they for when a kid kicks them in the shin? Or maybe when a woman starts to argue about being pulled over for doing 66 in a 65. Is that what tasers are for? Heck I’m so old I can remember when there was no such thing as a taser. Only on Star Trek. You know, when their ray guns were set to “stun” instead of “kill.”Seems like the guys on the Starship Enterprise knew when to set their guns to either level. If only cops were as smart.
Or as courageous. I think I remember when cops had courage. Been a while though. Now when an “assailant” is 25 feet away with a knife, and that assailant is on crack or heroin or meth and can barely speak or move, it’s OK for a cop to shoot that person 15 times. Come on, you only do that if you want to kill someone. If you’ve just been waiting for your chance. Maybe that’s why you became a cop in the first place.
According to the police chief in St. Louis that kind of action is actually protocol these days. When a guy who is shaking and frail is within 20-25 feet with a knife, even a Swiss Army knife, he is considered to be “life threatening” to the officer. An officer who is armed with a baton, mace, taser, a bullet proof vest and a gun. I’m no hero but I wouldn’t consider that to be “life threatening” to myself…without all of that weaponry and armor. I would probably look to just knock the guy out when I got my chance. But if I were a cop I would opt for the safer route and just mace the guy. If he kept coming which is highly doubtful, I would go to the taser. End of story.
Now cops seem to shoot when someone yells “Boo.” Well especially if it’s a black guy yelling. If this is the case why do we even need cops? Any civilian can kill someone for little or no reason. Where does the training come in? With cops like these we might as well just have law of the jungle and kill each other. Who needs them? Who needs to pay them with our tax dollars? Hey, speaking of which why aren’t conservatives screaming about our socialist police department being out of control and over militarized? Why don’t they want our police force defunded like Obamacare? I mean I haven’t heard a word, a whisper, have you?
I digress. We call our cops “warriors” these days but I’ve never seen warriors so cowardly. Like when they shoot at a black woman in a car full of kids because she might have been breaking the speed limit. I mean how dangerous she is! Or when they beat a black woman into submission on the side of the road because she isn’t “obeying.” Or when they beat the crap out of the wrong guy and charge him with “bleeding on their uniforms”. That’s YOU Ferguson PD. Or when they choke a guy to death because he is selling cigarettes on the street. Or when they shoot an unarmed black kid six times because well..who knows.
I could write 100 paragraphs about the 21st century cop and how afraid they are to use their brains or fists or less lethal weapons because someone standing 25 feet away without a firearm is considered a “threat.” Example after example of police “overreach”, of escalation instead of a calming deescalation which is what they are paid to do. Escalation usually means homicide. Sometimes it’s tear gassing an entire crowd because one guy threw a bottle…of water. Once again I’m no hero but I will take the “water bottle challenge” and allow 20 cops to throw bottles of Evian at me and if I survive, all of those cowardly cops (and I don’t give a shit if they were under the command of Ron Johnson) that tear gassed pastors and woman and children, lose their jobs. How about THAT challenge?
I mean cops with helmets and shields and tanks and guns and mace and tasers and they gas an entire crowd because of thrown bottles? And yes there were many journalists who reported that it was only the bottles that got the the cops going…into their default escalation mode. What courageous officers of the law we are hiring! Yes WE are hiring and paying them which means WE can fire them? Right conservatives? I mean you guys would agree with that right?
So here is one of our modern day heroic cops. He continues his complaining and racist wayson twitter. I’m not going to get into all of the disgusting things he says about Eric Holder or the people he is supposed to be “protecting and serving.” I only have one question…why not find another job? I mean he hates being a cop so much, complains about everything he has to deal with so why not quit? Nobody is forcing him to be a cop, and nobody forced him to become a cop. It’s a lifestyle choice.
Our cops are also getting dumb and dumber. When you start to push, threaten and arrest journalists, point your weapons at them and have them overhear you bad mouthing protesters, you really can’t be too intelligent. I mean your I.Q. can’t be very high. Speaking of which, here is an example of what I’m talking about. It is indeed possible to be “too smart” to get hired as a cop in the USA. I’m guessing they don’t have these regulations in any other country. It takes a certain kind of dumb to actually lose the support of the mainstream media!
Then there is the cop who pushed CNN’s Don Lemon. How did this loser get hired in the first place? It’s not like he is able to hide his grotesque beliefs. Maybe it’s because the people who hired him have similar beliefs. These are some of the same cops who were enforcing those protest rules in Ferguson. Like walk but don’t stop. So the protesters couldn’t take a breath and stand in one place without getting harassed by the police. I don’t seem to find any clause in the First Amendment which says “Freedom of speech, except no standing still while exercising those freedoms.” Or “Freedom of the press but only in designated areas as assigned by local police.” Can you? If so send those clauses along to me please.
Where are all of those Second Amendment purists screaming and yelling about all of the First Amendment violations? I can’t seem to find them anywhere. They believe a group of white people protecting a rancher from having to pay taxes is “patriotic” but black people protesting the murder of an unarmed teenager is not. A German Journalist had to come to Ferguson to realize, as so many Americans are finally, at long last realizing, that the USA is not a free country. That all of those heroic soldiers really died for nothing, for shit. But hey, because of “freedom” right conservatives?
Speaking of Germany, police officers in that ENTIRE country shot off 85 bullets in a full YEAR. In the U.K. it was three shots, half of the number of bullets Mike Brown was hit with. In Iceland the first civilian ever was just killed by a cop. The entire country is in mourning. This is civilization, this is freedom, this is real law enforcement.
Maybe we need cops who aren’t afraid of their own shadows. We don’t need super heroes or anything, just people who aren’t 300 pounds, who can run or use their hands to protect themselves in situations where someone doesn’t have a gun. Where the training and the laws REQUIRE them to use the mace or the taser when the suspect has a knife or a bat and is 30 feet away. Cops who can disarm and apprehend without discharging their weapon 6-15 times. Maybe this is what we need.
By the way I love firemen. They put out fires, unlike the police, who ignite them.
Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com
@CaccioppoliMike
Correction: I’m reminded by the loyal followers of DailyKos.com that the Star Trek weapons were known as Phasers not Tasers. If only our police forces had those instead.
Mitt Romney and his pal Paul Ryan participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge and Mitt Romney, who got the bucket of ice water dumped on his head, came fully dressed for the occasion.
In a recent MSNBC interview about the events in Ferguson Missouri, Hardball’s host Chris Matthews attacked the president by comparing him to Eric Holder.
Earlier this week, Eric Holder made a visit to Ferguson, the place where citizens protested the murder of Michael Brown by a Ferguson cop, Darren Wilson. The protests have gone on for 12 days now with violent clashes between protesters and police officers with police using rubber bullets, tear gas and snipers to intimidate the protesters. Holders visit came on Wednesday, and is seen as a turning point in the protests. The violence is now minimal or even nonexistent as people are now hopeful that the federal government’s investigation will bring some form of justice to Ferguson.
In his interview with Craig Melvin, Matthews praised Holders visit, and used it to criticize the president.
“It may be a lesson for the president, too,” Matthews said. “And I’m not usually a critic of him but I have to say that I thought that in a very positive way Eric Holder showed how you lead in this country. And a big part of leading is showing up.”
What Matthews conveniently chose to ignore is the fact that Holder is part of the Obama administration, and his visit to Ferguson was initiated by the President himself.
Back on Monday during a press conference, the president called for calm heads to prevail in Ferguson and announced that he will send Eric Holder for a first hand account of the situation.
“The attorney general himself will be traveling to Ferguson on Wednesday to meet with the FBI agents and DOJ personnel conducting the criminal investigation and he will receive an update from them on their progress. He will also be meeting with other leaders in the community,” Obama said during the press conference.
Matthews refused to mention that fact in his criticism. He apparently thinks Holder’s visit was independent to the President’s decision to send him to Ferguson.
A crowd funding endeavor has began to help Darren Wilson through “his trying times.” The page on GoFundMe has already reached it’s goal of $250,000 and according to its creator, “We stand behind Officer Darren Wilson and his family during this trying time in their lives. All proceeds will be sent directly to Darren Wilson and his family for any financial needs they may have including legal fees.”
The Officer you may remember, is the brave police officer who approached a black teenager in Ferguson committing the unthinkable act of walking on the street! The brave soldier with his badge and gun did what any other coward would do and he filled the youngster’s body with bullets as the teenager tried to ran away for his life! He obviously didn’t get too far.
Officer Wilson is their hero and is apparently going through a “trying time” right now! And the good patriots, who have absolutely no problem seeing another American gunned down in the street, have decided to help. But this is America and anyone can help any scum anyday. That’s not the shocking part. What’s shocking was some of the messages these donors left for Wilson when they chipped in their loot.
“I support officer Wilson and he did a great job removing an unnecessary thing from the public,” wrote David Durant, who chipped in $50.
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“He made a mistake, he should not be crucified because a black man instigated his own death,” added fellow backer Freda Stone.
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“Thank you Based Officer Wilson for doing the community this favor,” reads another.“We appreciate your service in the animal control division of the Ferguson Police Department.”
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“Thanks for taking out the trash” said another donor with the name Mike “Din Do Nuffin” Brown. His donation was $15.00
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The donor who called himself “Jonnie Cochran” said, “if the bullets in the front did hit, you must acquit.” He donated $100.00
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“As a Social Justice Warrior on the great battlefield of Twitter, I was hesitant to donate at first. But then a friend A. Wyatt reminded me that it’s people like Mike Brown who still propagate rape culture in 2014. Thank you, Darren, for helping to stop rape culture.” That was ‘Sophie Mollison’ with her $20 donation.
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Someone even used the name “Mike Brown” with their $100 donation, and said this: I want to apologize to Darren Wilson and the people of Ferguson for my bad behavior. I was a thug and would have taken a bullet sooner or later, most likely from one of my peers or someone defending themselves from violence I instigated again [sic] them. All Darren Wilson was save the community a lot of trouble. I hope to become a peaceful butterfly when I’m reincarnated. Though the guys up here in limbo with me say I’ll likely become a cockroach or parasite of some sort.”
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“Officer Wilson acted honorably and with courage” said someone using the name ‘Wendy Cohen.’ She goes on: “It’s a disgrace government officials have turned their backs on him. The American public knows the truth and are showing their support with love and donations. Stay strong Officer – his temperament killed him that day.” Wendy donated $20
Crooks and Liars posted this video showing one of the police officers working the crowds in Ferguson Missouri, at an apparent “OathKeepers” gathering.
The video is a bit long, but there are bullet points highlighting the juicy parts, where the police officer, Sgt. Major Dan Page, talks about his feelings toward women, gays, black perverts, doing his fair share of killing people, no need for hate-
crime laws, etc., etc., etc.,
1:07: Talks about all men being created equal then went on to say “That does not mean affirmative action”.
1:26: Rants about hate crime laws
3:22: Black (little?) Perverts
5:25: Talks about doing a fair share of killing
15:40: Calls supreme court justice a homosexual sodomite.
18:30 “If I die I go to heaven… I died a long time ago”
20:30: Talks about St. Louis County schools
26:40: Calls President Obama an illegal alien
27:00: We can kill you anyway we want
31:38: Goes on anti-muslim rant
37:00: Talks about being a Saint Louis County Cop
43:00: Talk about killing people again
46:41: Goes on rant over being briefed about the 9/11 attacks on Aug 1st 1999 then says 9/11 happened 30 days later also talks about no weapons of mass destruction being found in Afghanistan.
49:22: Continues rant about having secret clearance at Fort (Leavenworth?) and training with Russian spetsnaz
52:40: Says people involved in domestic violence should “just shoot each other and get it over with”.
53:15: Somebody like me is going to come in and kill you
56:20: I don’t trust nobody and I hate everybody. I hate y’all too I hate everybody. I’m into diversity. I kill everybody.
58:02: Audience member: So what happens when good men like you are retiring from the military. What kind of military do we have left then?
58:15: Sodomites and females. End of statement.
1:01:00: Rants about female green beret
1:03:00 He’s handed an oathkeeper patch.
Let me start with this. Here we are almost two weeks after the murder of Mike Brown and still no arrest of Darren Wilson. We hear lots of nonsense about how this is a complex case when it is a very simple case. One person shot another. That is it. One gun, six bullets into one person due to the actions of the other. Simple and straight forward. I will say this again. If the roles were reversed and if the officer were the dead one, Mike Brown or any person that might have done the shooting would have been arrested ON THE SPOT. They probably WOULD NOT HAVE BAIL. I will say this again as well. If you don’t agree with that statement the only excuse you have is that you are a racist. I don’t believe dumb can get that bad. It has to be blatant racism. Here is proof of that disgusting racism. You think it’s OK for a white cop to kill a black kid. That is your reason. So If you want to admit that fact you can write to me. If not keep your opinions to yourself, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t do well with bullshit.
I have heard lots of crap like “Well it was a cop so he should get the benefit of the doubt.” No he shouldn’t. In fact I propose that the laws should be STRICTER when it comes to a crime committed by a person with power being paid by the people. The penalties should also be stricter. This would almost ensure that we get only the best going into these positions of power. The bad guys will stay away. Fascism cannot be given “the benefit of the doubt.”
Here are the FACTS. There are several witnesses who have come forward with their names, put their faces on television and have told the same story. More and more every day in fact. They tell us that Mike Brown was dragged into the car by a very angry officer who started the whole event by telling Brown and his friend to “Get on the fucking sidewalk.” That is the way you talk if you are an animal, a scumbag not a cop paid by you and I. It also points to the mindset of the officer leading into the incident. If you don’t believe cops talk that way here is a cop from the Ferguson protests who is now suspended indefinitely because of his threatening people with a gun and cursing at them. When Brown broke free of Wilson’s grasp he was several feet away, the medical examiner said it’s not impossible that he was 35 feet away, and Wilson shot several times, including two to Brown’s head. Several medical examiners have said Brown, being so tall would have to have been falling or down, on his knees, for the shots to his eye and the TOP OF HIS HEAD.
Ever seen videos of executions? That’s where the bullet often goes, into the top of the head as the victim is on their knees. All of the witnesses who are real and have come forward say Brown was giving up, and was killed. Hands up. There have been ZERO witnesses who have come forward and said Brown was “charging” at Wilson. The only person who says this is Wilson, and the people he has told the story to and who want to spread it around. I call this kind of rumor, the fallacy of the phantom witness. Fox news has lots of these phantom witnesses.
We also hear on Fox news that Wilson had been beaten almost to a pulp and that he had broken bones in his face. There heave been NO hospital records or even records that show Wilson went to the hospital. Here is a photo of Wilson standing over Brown’s dead body:
Even more damning is this video with eye witness testimony. Wilson appears to be fine, not badly hurt if hurt at all. Also remember this, as per the witnesses, Wilson pulled Brown into the car. A civilian has every right to defend themselves just as a cop does. But if Wilson were badly injured why wasn’t he rushed to the hospital?
Here is a fake report of Wilson’s supposed broken orbital bone. If you have to fabricate evidence it proves that you know you are wrong and are desperate.
Interesting how Fox News throws out fake unsubstantiated stories that legitimize the killing of a black boy by a white cop. Makes you wonder who is watching their broadcasts. Actually we don’t have to wonder. Right wing racists. “Josie” who we have heard on a few media outlets is a friend of Wilson’s wife. She wasn’t a witness, so she is repeating the same story told by Wilson. I wonder if these Fox viewers would believe the story of a black kid who killed a cop? Heck they won’t even believe the witnesses that we know of because they are black. The same people who refuse to believe the facts, the evidence in this case adds up to murder by cop, also refuse to believe in global warming or still think that Saddam Hussein caused 9/11. Think about that.
It’s obvious why the Ferguson PD didn’t interview the witnesses. It’s obvious why they wouldn’t give Wilson’s name until six days after the shooting. It’s obvious why Robert McCulloch is doing something most lawyers say is extremely rare and allowing Wilson to testify in the grand jury trial. A defendant is rarely if ever allowed to defend themselves when a prosecutor is trying to get an indictment against them. It’s ludicrous. McCulloch doesn’t really want an indictment. So he needs to be removed. This is why he is baiting Gov. Nixon into taking him off the case. His heart isn’t in it.
Institutionalized racism is all over this case. You can smell the injustice, it’s in the air. The people of Ferguson are sick and tired of cops putting their feet on their throats all of the time so we get more cops cursing and pointing guns at them on a nightly basis now.
It’s the job of the legitimate media to separate fact from fiction. Otherwise they are allowing injustice to prevail. They are complicit in the murder of Michael Brown.
After confirming that the ISIS video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley was real, President Obama gave this statement, calling ISIS a “cancer” that America will continue fighting, saying that America will be “diligent and relentless” in this fight.
“The whole world is appalled by the brutal murder of James Foley,” the President said. And he denounced the so-called religious “cause” these terrorists are on. “No faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.”
Three big trends have decisively changed the Republican Party over the past decade, weakening its ability to win presidential elections and gravely inhibiting its ability to govern effectively if it nevertheless somehow were to win.
First, Republicans have come to rely more and more on the votes of the elderly, the most government-dependent segment of the population — a serious complication for a party committed to reducing government.
Second, the Republican donor class has grown more ideologically extreme, encouraging congressional Republicans to embrace ever more radical tactics.
Third, the party’s internal processes have rigidified, in ways that dangerously inhibit its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The GOP can overcome the negative consequences of these changes and, in time, surely will.
The ominous question for Republicans is, How much time will the overcoming take?”
Rick Perry, one of the potential Republican candidates to run for president in 2016 got his official Republican ID card today – his mug shot.
Perry’s mug shot is compliments of an abuse of power indictment, a corruption charge and on his way to get his Republican ID taken, Perry promised that he “will fight the charges” with every fiber of his body. Perry also called the indictment “a political act.”
“This indictment is fundamentally a political act that seeks to achieve at the courthouse what could not be achieved at the ballot box,” Perry told a crowd in Austin Texas before he got his fingerprints and mug shot.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has been great for charity, specifically ALS. But there are apparently those out there who don’t know how to dump a bucket of ice water on their heads. A simple task, yea I know, but you’d be surprise how complicated this is for some.
I’ve made it easy for you. Here are the 10 best worse Ice Bucket Fails so far. There is no particular order.
This is actually good news, and it is exactly what we should expect from the people hired to protect and to serve.
Instead, we see them administering choke holds on an innocent man leaving that man dead. We see a police officer beating a grandmother on the streets of LA as if she was a harden criminal, and we see another officer shooting to kill, simply because the teenager walked on the street.
Then there are officers like Tom Ondecker of Ohio. The officer was seen helping a disabled man with his groceries.
A passerby snapped Officer Tom Ondecker walking alongside the disabled man for about half a mile on Ohio’s State Route 14 to his nursing home on Saturday.
See, they’re not all bad.
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