SERVING & PROTECTING UK STYLE
Orwell’s Ministry of Truth in action
Powerball and other lotteries don’t replace taxes — they add to them
Guest Post by Norm Champ
Powerball mania is upon us once again. The lucky winners of Wednesday night’s drawing will receive, at a minimum, a $375 million jackpot.
While the lure of winning such a large sum of money for a seemingly small investment ($2 for one ticket) can be irresistible, those who gamble on the lottery would be wise to save their money, instead of paying what is essentially a voluntary tax to state-sponsored gambling. And some of the biggest contributors to this voluntary tax are the country’s poorest citizens.
In 2014, Americans spent $70.1 billion on the lottery. Yet, the average savings rates of Americans are among the lowest of all modern democracies, generally somewhere around 5% or less. Consumer credit-card debt, meanwhile, is disturbingly high, around $16,000 on average. Average car loan debt is $27,000 per household. Average student loans, $48,000. Mortgage debt, $169,000.
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Theresa May – Cut Police Numbers By 20,000 Since 2010
You will find more statistics at Statista
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Abu Ghraib 2.0? Iraqi army filmed abusing captives in Mosul
Iran Blames Saudi Arabia For Terrorist Attack, Vows “Revenge”
by Tyler Durden
Iran’s infamous Revolutionary Guards accused Saudi Arabia of being behind the twin terrorist attacks in Tehran, which killed 12 and left at least 39 injured, and have vowed “revenge.”
Earlier in the day, a group of four people in women’s clothes opened fire in the building of the Iranian Parliament, with a subsequent explosion. Another attack involving an explosion took place near the Imam Khomeini shrine. One of the perpetrators of the attack was detained and the rest were executed.
“This terrorist attack happened only a week after the meeting between the U.S. president (Donald Trump) and the (Saudi) backward leaders who support terrorists. The fact that Islamic State has claimed responsibility proves that they were involved in the brutal attack,” said the statement, published by Iranian media.
What is notable is that ISIS already claimed responsibility for the attack, so Iran is explicitly accusing Saudi Arabia of supporting the Islamic State.
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Solar Panels on the Wall?
Guest Post by Scott Adams
Axios is reporting that President Trump suggested putting solar panels on the new Wall with Mexico. The article wonders where the idea came from:
Where this idea might come from: A proposal to cover the wall with solar panels was among those submitted when the U.S. requested designs earlier this year, according to the AP. Companies winning contracts and asked to build prototypes may be announced this month.
That’s one place it might have come from. But I consider it an obvious idea, which means the President might have come up with it himself. And when I say “obvious,” I mean it is obvious to people who understand the power of persuasion.
QOTD June 7 – Sexist week
Are women steady enough emotionally to make good political leaders?
HOW TO RUIN YOUR CAREER
Hat tip starfcker
By now, you’re probably familiar with the viral video of since-fired PHL 17 reporter Colleen Campbell ranting and raving and getting arrested outside of Helium Comedy Club on Sunday night. Earlier, we told you that the 28-year-old South Philadelphia woman had been charged with resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct, but now the Philadelphia Police Department is saying that it’s worse than we originally thought.
According to a police statement about the incident, shortly after the calm, cool, and collected cop who responded to the scene led her away in cuffs and the video stopped, Campbell, a recent Temple University graduate, allegedly assaulted him. Police say that she kicked him repeatedly and also kicked the doors and windows of a police car.
The police officer in question has been championed on social media for his unflappable demeanor in the face of Campbell’s ugly words and behavior. New York-based comedian Wil Sylvince, who posted the video on Facebook on Monday, told Philly Mag, “He is the cop of the year.” The police department has declined to identify the officer, and he does not appear to be the same one listed in court documents.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2017/06/06/colleen-campbell-phl-17-helium-comedy-club-fired/#4ebjL0MPSh2BJPv0.99
Another Gentle “Nudge” …
Guest Post by Eric Peters
Whatever their failings, machines generally don’t second-guess you. Turn them on, turn them off. Point them in a certain direction. Command them to move or spin or do whatever it is they were made to do and – assuming they are not broken – they will usually do it.
And won’t try to nudge you to do what they think is best.
Electronic gadgets, on the other hand . . . .
They pre-empt and nudge. Do things you didn’t ask them to – and won’t do things you want them to. They turn on – and off- at random, according to their own lights. They are not broken, either.
Tactics and Money
Guest Post by The Zman
Social movements go through phases, depending upon their scale and success at interrupting the prevailing order. If ten people become convinced that devil worship is critical to the survival of mankind, no one will notice until they start sacrificing goats in public. If ten million people take up this idea, then it is different. The movement has to learn to work within the prevailing order, then learn how to alter the prevailing order by infiltration and coercion. Tactics become as important as ideology.
Qatar & the Rising Tensions in the Middle East – On Schedule
Guest Post by Martin Armstrong
Qatar is know for its ultra-modern architecture. In the respect, Doha is something to be viewed at least once in life. However, Qatar is a strict religious country that follows sharia law, in which homosexuals and adulterers face a possible death penalty, life imprisonment, or flogging. Qatar is a Salafi version of Sunni Islam, which is an ultra-conservative reform branch that developed in Arabia during the first half of the 18th century. It advocated a return to the traditions of the “devout ancestors” in reaction to the spread of European ideas. Qatar is one of the two Salafi states in the Muslim world, the other being Saudi Arabia.
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THIS DAY IN HISTORY- New York magazine publishes the story that becomes Saturday Night Fever – 1976
Disco as a musical style predated the movie Saturday Night Fever by perhaps as many as five years, but disco as an all-consuming cultural phenomenon might never have happened without the 1977 film and its multi-platinum soundtrack featuring such era-defining hits as the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You.” What is absolutely certain is that Saturday Night Fever would never have been made were it not for a magazine article detailing the struggles and dreams of a talented, young, Italian-American disco dancer and his scruffy entourage in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. That article—”The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” by journalist Nik Cohn—was published on this day in 1976 in the June 7 issue of New York magazine.
BEAST OF BURDEN
QUOTE OF THE DAY
QOTD June 6 – Sexist week continues
Softball today, should women be allowed in combat?
