More than 20 nighttime explosions have rocked rural Pennsylvania since April. No one knows why.

Via the Washington Post

a path in the forest

The early-morning blast on Mother’s Day was big enough to stop nature itself, if only for a moment.

A blast wave at 3:35 a.m. rippled through the woods around Lonely Cottage Road in Upper Black Eddy. Frogs stopped croaking. Crickets ceased chirping. And Nick Zangli loaded a gun to defend himself from whatever it could be.

He found an eerie quiet following what he would later call “a very large explosion” in that part of rural Pennsylvania. The next day, someone found a four- or five-foot-wide crater, about a foot deep, alongside a back road shaded by dense trees. Debris was scattered along the pavement, Zangli told ABC affiliate WPVI.

Continue reading “More than 20 nighttime explosions have rocked rural Pennsylvania since April. No one knows why.”

Pennsylvania’s Pension Reforms Aren’t Perfect, But They’re Pretty Good

The worthless parasitic boneheads in Harrisburg finally did something beneficial for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. When you are in a $70 billion hole, it probably makes sense to stop digging. I guess someone informed these morans all the pensions would be paid out at 10 cents on the dollar unless they stopped the madness. Now only 40 or so more states to go.

 

In a remarkable show of bipartisanship, Republican state lawmakers and a Democratic governor in Pennsylvania approved a pension reform bill moving most future public employees into 401(k)-style retirement plan, helping stanch a $70 billion unfunded liability.

Gov. Tom Wolf, who signed the bill Monday, said “This bill is a win for Pennsylvania taxpayers. It’s also fair to Pennsylvania’s workforce.”

Continue reading “Pennsylvania’s Pension Reforms Aren’t Perfect, But They’re Pretty Good”

Oops! Jill Stein Cannot File Direct Request for Recount in Pennsylvania, Must Take It to Court

Via Gateway Pundit

Oops. Jill Stein forgot to mention to her donors that she cannot file a direct request for a recount in Pennsylvania.

Stein would have to present a case showing voter fraud took place.

Trump won Pennsylvania by 70 thousand votes.
Stein would have to prove that fraud was “probable.”
That does not seem likely. Then again, we are talking about the Clintons here.

The Inquisitr reported, via Free Republic:

Per Pennsylvania regulations, there is only one way remaining for Jill Stein to get a recount in Pennsylvania and it is a complicated process. BillyPenn reports that Stein would have to file for a court appeal and present a “prima facie case” showing that voter fraud took place. While prima facie has a lower burden of proof threshold than “beyond reasonable doubt,” it is still significant. Stein would have to prove in court that fraud was “probable.” This is going to be very difficult given that even the computer specialists recommending the recount say there is no proof of hacking or fraud.

Continue reading “Oops! Jill Stein Cannot File Direct Request for Recount in Pennsylvania, Must Take It to Court”

Swing-state stunner: Trump has edge in key states

Looking at this impartially, Hillary is in big trouble. We all know the MSM is liberal and wants Hillary to win. Neo-cons want her to win. The entire establishment wants her to win. If these polls show Trump tied or slightly ahead of her, then he is really ahead of her by 5% to 10%.

Hillary is spending $500,000 to $1 million per day on attack ads against Trump. I’ve seen the despicable lowlife ads on TV here in PA. Trump has spent $0 on ads against Crooked Hillary. Imagine the ads his marketing team are creating for use down the stretch. He knows nothing stick four months from the election. He will blitz the airwaves in the last month.

No one likes, respects or has any enthusiasm for Clinton. The young Sanders supporters will stay home on election day. The blacks will not come out in numbers comparable to 2008 and 2012. PA hasn’t gone Republican since 1988. If Philly and Pittsburgh have low turnouts, the rest of the state is whiter than a ghost and will go Trump’s way.

The fact these polls are this close when Trump hasn’t even started to spend is a bad omen for Crooked Hillary. I can’t wait for the debates. They will be one for the ages.

Via Politico

Did Donald Trump really just surge past Hillary Clinton in two of the election’s most important battlegrounds?

New swing-state polls released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University show Trump leading Clinton in Florida and Pennsylvania — and tied in the critical battleground state of Ohio. In three of the states that matter most in November, the surveys point to a race much closer than the national polls, which have Clinton pegged to a significant, mid-single-digit advantage over Trump, suggest.

The race is so close that it’s within the margin of error in each of the three states. Trump leads by three points in Florida — the closest state in the 2012 election — 42 percent to 39 percent. In Ohio, the race is tied, 41 percent to 41 percent. And in Pennsylvania — which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1988 — Trump leads, 43 percent to 41 percent.

Continue reading “Swing-state stunner: Trump has edge in key states”

WE WIN FOR THE MOST SIN

I’m so proud. I already live in the state with the highest gasoline taxes in the nation and the highest toll rates in the nation. Now I find out my state of PA collects the most sin taxes in the nation. And my new governor doesn’t think we’re taxed nearly enough. He wants to double my income tax rates. Not to be outdone, the new communist mayor of Philly wants to inflict a sugar tax on the masses which will double the price of every beverage with sugar sold in Philly.

Don’t you love how these left wing politicians roll out gambling and taxes that inordinately hurt the poorest people the most. Poor people are much more likely to gamble, smoke and drink soda than rich people because they are dumb. Then they vote for the very same politicians who are screwing them. So it goes.

In total, states collected more than $32 billion by taxing tobacco-related purchases, alcohol consumption and gambling in 2014.

“As political pressure mounts to keep income and property taxes low, state legislatures have often turned to sin taxes to generate more revenue,” writes HowMuch.net’s Rebecca Lawrence. She said states have raised taxes on tobacco products 111 times between 2000 to 2015.

Wyoming registered the lowest 2014 tax tally at $26 million, with almost all of it from tobacco. As a result, you can barely see it on the map.

When it comes to alcohol, Texas is the only state to generate more than $1 billion in taxes. In fact, that number dwarfs the $452 million reaped by Florida in the second spot.

I WIN, I WIN

Besides being #1 in government corruption, PA is by far #1 in gasoline taxes per gallon. So we got that going for us. But wait. We also have the highest toll rates in the country. As someone who spend 2 to 3 hours per day driving in the fucked up state of PA, I’m proud as punch. At least our roads are free of potholes and traffic congestion because we pay so much. Oops!!!

The roads suck. Dozens of PA Dept. of Transportation officials reside in state prison. Union drones fixing our roads are slow, but at least they’re expensive. I’ll have plenty of time to think about how my gas taxes are being spent during my usual 1 hour and 45 minute Friday night commute home.

New Quinnipiac Survey – Trump and Clinton Tied in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

Guest Post by Michael Krieger 

 

A Clinton match-up is highly likely to be an unmitigated electoral disaster, whereas a Sanders candidacy stands a far better chance. Every one of Clinton’s (considerable) weaknesses plays to every one of Trump’s strengths, whereas every one of Trump’s (few) weaknesses plays to every one of Sanders’s strengths. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, running Clinton against Trump is a disastrous, suicidal proposition.

– From February’s post: Why Hillary Clinton Cannot Beat Donald Trump

The latest Quinnipiac University Survey on the 2016 U.S. Presidential election is absolutely fascinating, and presents some very bad news for team Clinton, as well as all the clueless pundits who say Trump can’t win.

The major takeaway is that Trump and Clinton are locked in a total dead heat in the three key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. This is remarkable considering all the heinous things Trump said on his way to the GOP nomination, and the fact that he’s barely started to “sell” himself to the general electorate, which is his primary skill in life.

Several things we already knew were confirmed by the survey, such as the fact that Clinton dominates Trump when it comes to women and minorities. Trump likewise dominates when it comes to white men. The only interesting aspect is how huge the spreads are within these categories.

Continue reading “New Quinnipiac Survey – Trump and Clinton Tied in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania”

MASS EXODUS FROM DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN PA.

Guest Post by Colin Deppen | [email protected]

‘Ditch and switch’: Trump may be behind mass Democratic party exodus in Pa., experts say

 Donald Trump

Nearly 46,000 Pennsylvania Democrats have gone Republican since the start of 2016, twice as many as have shifted the other way, as a wild primary fight continues to upend the business of politics as usual and challenge the status quo.

Needless to say, much of this movement is being attributed to the rise of Donald Trump and the so-called “Ditch and Switch” movement, which leans on lifelong Democrats to abandon the party, register Republican and help ensure Trump’s place in the November general election.

A website launched by two North Carolina sisters calling on Democrats to switch political parties and embrace Trump says, “For many years the Democratic Party has promoted agendas that most Americans did not agree with. Our country is deeply divided, and the silent majority has been bullied into silence by political posturing and underhanded agendas that favor the few while excluding the majority.”

Continue reading “MASS EXODUS FROM DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN PA.”

PA SPENDING $2 MILLION OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER GOVERNMENT DRONES LOOK AT PORN AT WORK

I can provide the answer for free. Yes, government drones are looking at porn at work. Over 65% of all men admit to viewing porn at work. The other 35% are lying. Over 40% of women have viewed porn at work. This corrupt shrew attorney general is under indictment but refuses to step down. She’s focused on this bullshit as she attempts to bring down her enemies. This is standard operating procedure in the cesspool state capitol of Harrisburg. Meanwhile, we are six months into the fiscal year and PA still does not have a budget. Localities have been forced to drain their reserves and borrow to make payrolls. Luckily the slithering snakes in Harrisburg set aside special funds so they would be paid. 

AG Kane’s office will spend up to $2M on private lawyers in porn, corruption investigation

Attorney General Kathleen Kane

Attorney General Kathleen Kane has signed a contract hiring a private law firm to review and prosecute potential cases arising from emails uncovered as part of the ‘Porngate’ investigation.

The contract does not place a cap on legal fees or expenses although Kane’s pick for special deputy attorney general, Douglas Gansler, has said he plans to use the expired independent counsel law’s $2 million threshold as an upper limit.

Kane spokesman Chuck Ardo said Friday that Gansler’s contract is still in the works. Gansler will receive a similar contract instead of previous plans to hire him as an employee of the office, Ardo said.

Several legal experts have raised questions about whether Kane’s authority to prosecute could be extended to Gansler, who will need to be moved into the case pro hac vice due to his not having a Pennsylvania law license.

Continue reading “PA SPENDING $2 MILLION OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER GOVERNMENT DRONES LOOK AT PORN AT WORK”

Cop Shoots and Kills Unarmed Man Lying on the Ground

Guest Post by Joshua Krause from The Daily Sheeple

hummelstown shooting

On February 2nd, 59-year-old David Kassick was pulled over for expired tags, and rather than cooperating, decided to flee towards his home in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. There he was pursued by Officer Lisa Mearkle who subdued him with a taser, and repeatedly shocked him while demanding compliance. The taser video of the incident has recently been released, which shows Officer Mearkle screaming at Kassick, and demanding that he show his hands and “get on the ground.”

It’s obvious from the video that Kassick complied with everything she asked, and moreover, was unarmed and completely helpless. Despite this, she still decided to shoot him in the back, and continued to yell orders at him as he lay dying in the snow. Mearkle was charged with criminal homicide by District Attorney Ed Marsico, but was recently cleared of any wrongdoing by a jury.


TIED FOR THIRD WORST

Damn. My beloved Pennsylvania is only projected to run a $2 billion deficit in the upcoming year. Only Alaska and Virginia politicians are doing a worse job than PA. politicians. And these are just projections. More than half the states in the country will run budget deficits in 2016. The new Democrat governor of PA. thought he was going to tax the living shit out of the fracking industry to balance his budget. Too late Tommy Boy. The frackers will be lucky to survive the next two years. There will be nothing left to tax. Of course plan B will be to tell the citizens of PA to bend over and take it up the ass again. He wants to increase our income tax rate by 21% and our sales tax rate by 10%. This is how politicians think. They never think to cut any spending. They never think to cut the gold plated pensions of government drones. Just increase taxes, fees and regulations on the little people.

This country is delusional, dysfunctional, dystopian, and in debt up to its eyeballs. We have supposedly had a growing economy for 6 years, the lowest unemployment rate in 8 years, 0% interest rates, and non-existent inflation (according to the BLS). If these states can’t balance their budgets under these “GREAT” economic conditions, just wait until the stock market implosion, soaring unemployment, and debt payments come due. You don’t have to be a doomer to understand the situation. You just need to understand math. Oh yeah. I forgot. I should have known better than to expect the iGadget addicted, math deficient, Kardashian watching, Twitter crowd to care, understand, or even pay attention.


REVELATIONS FROM GAS PRICE PLUNGE

The plunge in gas prices over the last six months, from an average of $3.70 per gallon in July to $2.10 per gallon has revealed many truths that you won’t hear being discussed by the MSM or your government keepers. From my perspective, with four cars in the family, this is unequivocally a great development. I estimate it will save me $2,000 per year if prices remain this low.

So why are the financial markets in an uproar over the fall in oil prices? Why are central bankers upset that it will lead to lower costs for consumers? Why is Wall Street and corporate America angry about lower oil prices? Why are government bureaucrats and politicians worried about their tax revenues?

It’s because these people and organizations don’t give a fuck about you. It’s a big club and you’re not in it. What’s good for them is bad for you. They don’t treat oil and gas as a cost of living. They treat it as an investment in which to make billions in profits at your expense. Every person in America is benefiting from the fall in their energy costs. Oil is an input in virtually everything we buy. Your cost of living an every day existence is going down for once. And the oligarchs don’t like it. They pontificate about the dangers of deflation. The danger is to their riches, power and control. Lower prices are a godsend to the average American family that is one paycheck away from financial disaster.

The second revelation is how immense the taxes are on a gallon of gasoline. If you go to this link, you will see the actual wholesale cost of a gallon of gasoline is only $1.27 per gallon. That begs the question, why are we paying $2.10 per gallon?

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/prices.cfm

In PA, I’m still stuck paying $2.30 per gallon, and the reason why is in the chart below. My fine state of Pennsylvania now has the highest level of gas tax in the entire country. They increased it by 10 cents per gallon on January 1, after increasing it by 10 cents per gallon last year. It will increase by another 8 cents in 2017. I get to pay the highest gas taxes in the nation for the privilege of sitting in horrific traffic, blowing out tires after hitting one of the thousands of potholes along my driving route, supporting a bankrupt public transit system and their thousands of union drones, waiting in gridlocked traffic because traffic lights don’t work below 10 degrees, and withstanding six years of construction on the Northeast Extension by union construction workers. Their motto is: We’re slow, but at least we’re expensive.

There are multiple executives from the PA Department of Transportation in state prison for the massive fraud and corruption that permeates Pennsylvania agencies. We pay a 50% union premium for all the road construction projects. On top of the gas taxes, PA has increased tolls by 100% over the last five years. And this was all done under a Republican governor with a Republican legislature. These criminals say the tax money and the tolls pay for the roads, but it’s a crock of shit. It goes into the general fund and is used to pay the gold plated pensions of the government drone workers.

Taxes on gasoline and diesel for transportation by U.S. state in U.S. cents per gallon as of January 2015[3]
State Gasoline tax
(includes federal tax of 18.4¢/gal)
Diesel tax
(includes federal tax of 24.4¢/gal)
Pennsylvania 68.9 88.6
New York 68.7 73.1
Connecticut 65.8 78.9
California 63.8 65.0
Hawaii 63.4 66.8
North Carolina 56.2 62.2
Washington 55.9 61.9
Florida 54.8 58.1
West Virginia 53.0 59.0
Nevada 51.6 53.0
Rhode Island 51.4 57.4
Wisconsin 51.3 57.3
Vermont 50.4 56.4
Oregon 49.5 54.7
Illinois 49.1 63.9
Michigan 48.7 58.4
US (Volume-Weighted) Average 48.5 54.5
Maine 48.4 55.6
Indiana 48.3 68.7
Minnesota 47.0 53.0
Ohio 46.4 52.4
Montana 46.2 52.9
Kentucky 46.0 49.0
Maryland 45.8 52.6
Georgia 44.9 54.5
Massachusetts 44.9 50.9
Nebraska 44.9 50.3
Idaho 43.4 49.4
Utah 42.9 48.9
Kansas 42.4 50.4
Wyoming 42.4 48.4
New Hampshire 42.2 48.2
District of Columbia 41.9 47.9
Delaware 41.4 46.4
North Dakota 41.4 47.4
Virginia 40.8 50.5
Colorado 40.4 44.9
Iowa 40.4 47.9
South Dakota 40.4 48.4
Arkansas 40.2 47.2
Tennessee 39.8 42.8
Alabama 39.3 46.3
Louisiana 38.4 44.4
Texas 38.4 44.4
Arizona 37.4 51.4
New Mexico 37.3 47.3
Mississippi 37.2 42.8
Missouri 35.7 41.7
Oklahoma 35.4 38.4
South Carolina 35.2 41.2
New Jersey 32.9 41.9
Alaska 29.7 36.2

 

You can see the amount of gas taxes you are paying. A full 30% of the price I pay at the pump is taxes. I’m paying $1,400 per year in gas taxes, on top of all the income taxes, sales taxes, liquor taxes, and the myriad of other taxes I’m forced to pay at the point of a gun. And what good does it get me? It funds this welfare/warfare state that keeps me under constant surveillance and wages un-Constitutional wars around the world.

Remember. What is good for the government, central bankers, Wall Street, oil companies, and mega-corporations is not good for you. Know your enemy.

WHY SO GLUM NYC?

They clearly aren’t asking the right people. Maybe the researchers weren’t allowed into the penthouse suites of the Wall Street oligarchs. I believe they are the happiest motherfuckers on the planet. NYC is supposed to be the booming. It’s the financial capital of the world. Why so glum? Maybe it’s because 99% of the people in the NY metro area are nothing more than serfs, beholden to the lords of the manor living in 5th Avenue penthouses during the week and the Hamptons on the weekend.

It looks like my fine state of PA and Indiana take the cake for unhappiest states. I’m sure my new governor Tom Wolf will make us much happier with a dramatic increase in taxes. It seems I might be considered rich in his eyes.

I think the lesson is that high taxes, awful traffic, declining manufacturing base, unions, and cold make people unhappy. Go South young men and women.

Source: The Washington Post

UNTIL DEBT DO US PART

At least I don’t live in Illinois. My household share of the gold plated pensions owed to PA government workers and teachers is $6,200. But it is only rising by $900 per year, or 16% annually. Think about that for a second. The economy has been barely growing by 2% over the last six years. Wage increases for taxpayers have been 2% annually. But, our obligation to pay government drone pensions is going up by 16% per year. None of these costs show up in the “balanced” budgets passed every year. The feckless spine deficient corrupt politicians in these states don’t have the balls to tell the truth. There is absolutely no mathematical possibility that these pension obligations are honored. It’s just a matter of when all these states pull a Detroit and declare bankruptcy.

The fine people of Illinois each have a $19,000 obligation per household to pay the gold plated pensions of teachers and municipal workers. Message to America – don’t move to Illinois.

 

Chart of the Day

Just the Facts, Ma’am

October 10, 2014:  In 2013, pension debt for Illinois, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York increased by at least four billion dollars per state. From 2012 to 2013, these states had the largest pension debt increase across the 50 states.

State government officials are required to balance their budgets. Instead, they accumulate debt by hiding retirement costs  on their ‘credit cards,’ accumulating debt for future taxpayers to cover.

 

 State  2012 Pension Debt   2013 Pension Debt  Increase
 Illinois

$94.58B

$100.5B

$5.92B

 California

$53.44B

$59.43B

$5.99B

 Texas

$31.64B

$35.86B

$4.22B

 Pennsylvania

$29.26B

$34.02B

$4.76B

 Massachusetts

$23.95B

$30.26B

$6.31B

 New York

$8.75B

$16.99B

$8.24B

Clearly, the requirements for a balanced budget are not working.  All 50 states hide retirement debt from their citizens and legislators, in footnotes and external reports, making it difficult for

 

  • Legislators to work on sustainable options to reduce conflicts between current spending and pension funding
  • Citizens to participate knowledgeably in their government and hold their elected officials accountable

To prevent governments from accumulating “credit card” debt for today’s services that taxpayers will have to pay for in the future, Truth in Accounting believes states should adopt ‘FACT – Based Budgeting’  (Full Accrual and Calculation Techniques).

 

  • FACT – based budgeting requires each year’s budget to include estimates of year-end debt, as well as current year spending
  • Both legislators and citizens would have timely, transparent, truthful information to evaluate spending proposals
  • See page 12 and Appendix IX of Truth in Accounting’s 2013 Financial State of the States for more information

See CA, IL, MA, NY, PA and TX Pension Debt 2009-2013  – check your state by selecting ‘Edit Chart Criteria’ at the bottom of this chart. Then, select your state on the next page and scroll down to ‘Generate Chart.’

BEST POLITICAL AD I’VE SEEN

I’m a sarcastic son of a bitch, so I really appreciate some good sarcasm. This is the most sarcastic dead on political commercial you will ever see. Tom Corbett is the Republican governor of PA. He tried to fix the bankrupt government pension system and tried to sell off the state liquor stores during his first term. Therefore, he will not have a second term. If you do anything that will take away power, control and money from government unions, you are finished as a politician. Tom Wolf is a multi-millionaire tax and spend Democrat who will win the upcoming election in a landslide. He promises to tax the “rich”. Of course, his definition of rich is anyone making over $70,000 per year. And considering everyone pays sales tax, even people making $25,000 will be considered rich come January.

Tom Wolf will never attempt to fix the government pension system that will ultimately bankrupt every municipality in PA within the next ten years. He will just raise taxes on people whose real household income is lower than it was in 1999. Yeah. That’s the ticket. Do you sense my sarcasm?