January 31, 2016

"Mr. Wonder," alleged La. pedophile, ostensibly caught after decades

BONITA, Calif. - In 1979, the man known to north Louisiana television viewers as "Mr. Wonder" vanished amid allegations that the children's show host sexually abused several kids during a camping retreat.

Now authorities say they have arrested him, living under another name in California, and officials and neighbors fear he could have preyed on other children during his 37 years on the run.

The man who faced a San Diego judge Wednesday denied he is the 76-year-old fugitive named Frank John Selas III who allegedly fled to Brazil in 1979 after authorities in Louisiana secured a warrant for his arrest.

CBS affiliate KNOE -- where Selas worked in the 1970s -- in Monroe, La., reports Rapides Parish Sheriff William Earl Hilton does not believe the denial.

"When you look at somebody who's changed his name, been arrested for smuggling aliens into the country, had a couple of different passports, and flipping social security numbers around, he's hiding something. We got the right guy," Hilton said.

more

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mr-wonder-alleged-louisiana-pedophile-allegedly-caught-after-decades/

January 31, 2016

The Copycat is getting desperate

In final Iowa blitz, an outraged Clinton channels Sanders

By Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas?|?AP January 31 at 1:25 PM

AMES, Iowa — Seeking victory in Iowa, Hillary Clinton has begun channeling the economic indignation of her rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose unapologetically liberal campaign has tightened the race ahead of Monday’s caucuses and given him a lead in the New Hampshire contest that follows.

Making her closing argument to Iowa caucus-goers, Clinton now cloaks her detailed policy plans in Sanders’ outraged rhetoric. Pharmaceutical pricing “burns” her up. Companies that take advantage of the tax loopholes get her “pretty riled up.” And she promises to “rail away” at any industry that flouts the law.

“I’m going after all of them” she declared in Davenport, her tone escalating to a shout. “When I talk about going after those companies, those businesses, those special interests, I have a much broader target list than my opponents.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-final-iowa-blitz-an-outraged-clinton-channels-sanders/2016/01/31/b075f484-c847-11e5-b9ab-26591104bb19_story.html

She's so genuine!

On edit I am reminded of this

January 31, 2016

Ancient Babylonians Used Geometry That Anticipated Calculus

By Erik Gregersen

In an article published in the January 29, 2016, issue of Science, Mathieu Ossendrijver, a historian of science at Humboldt University in Berlin, describes how Babylonian astronomers between 350 and 50 BCE used geometric methods thought to have been invented 1,400 years later to calculate the motion of Jupiter.

The Babylonians in effect constructed a graph with velocity across the sky as the vertical axis and time as the horizontal axis. By calculating the area under a curve on such a graph, one can obtain the total distance an object has traveled across the sky. In the case of Jupiter, the Babylonians described its motion as what looks like a trapezoid on the graph. They then calculated the trapezoid’s area. Their geometric methods were very similar to the Merton theorem, which was discovered by mathematicians at Oxford’s Merton College in the early 14th century and proved graphically by French bishop Nicholas Oresme around 1361. Such methods are a precursor to calculus.

http://www.britannica.com/story/ancient-babylonians-used-advanced-geometry-

the paper

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/351/6272/482.full.pdf

January 31, 2016

Koch network spent nearly $400M in 2015

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The Koch brothers’ donor network spent close to $400 million last year, and is on its way to spending an unprecedented $889 million supporting right-wing politics and causes during the 2016 cycle.

On Saturday afternoon, the Koch network assembled 500 wealthy conservatives — its largest gathering ever — at a luxury resort near the foothills of Palm Springs’ Coachella Valley.

About 150 of the donors are first-time attendees, and the rest are paid-up members of the conservative donor network, which requires a minimum annual membership fee of $100,000.

“Everybody, come out and identify yourself because this isn’t some secret cabal,” Charles Koch said in his opening address to the donors on the lawns of the luxury Renaissance Resort and Spa.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/267641-koch-network-spent-nearly-400-million-in-2015

Yes, Please do be Loud and Proud, Chuckles....

January 31, 2016

Sanders on Clinton Emails: ‘I Think This Is a Very Serious Issue’

BY: David Rutz
January 31, 2016 9:39 am

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said he considered Hillary Clinton’s private email server investigation to be “a very serious issue” Sunday on CNN, while also adding there was a legal process taking place that he did not want to politicize.

At the conclusion of their interview, State of the Union host Jake Tapper reminded Sanders of his famous remarks at the first Democratic debate in October, when he told Clinton the American people were “sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

On Friday, the Obama administration announced that 22 more emails from her private server would not be released because they had been classified as top secret.

“Should voters take from those comments that you think nothing was done wrong when it comes to how Secretary Clinton handled classified information, or is that not a fair–?” Tapper asked, before Sanders cut in.

“No, no,” Sanders said, wagging his finger. “No, that is not, I think, a fair assessment. I think this is a very serious issue. I think there is a legal process right now taking place … I get criticized. ‘Bernie, why don’t you attack Hillary Clinton?’ There is a legal process taking place. I do not want to politicize that issue. It is not my style.”

more
http://freebeacon.com/politics/sanders-clinton-emails-very-serious-issue/

January 31, 2016

Hillary's Queen Cersei moment

by John Kass


If Hillary Clinton fails to fulfill her destiny and retake the White House, she'll have to go on that lonely political walk of shame.

And then historians may point their bony fingers at young Taylor Gipple.

For it was Mr. Gipple, Iowa millennial and passionate supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who gave us the single most important nationally televised moment of Clinton's presidential campaign so far.

Think of it as Hillary's Queen Cersei moment.

If you don't follow HBO's series "Game of Thrones," and the ruthless matron of a fading dynasty, then you're probably too old or calcified to care about cool stuff such as politics.

But Gipple isn't too old, and neither are millions of other millennials, those on the left following Sanders, the Vermont socialist, or those millennials on the right following the anti-establishment candidates.

more

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-hillary-clinton-kass-0131-20160131-column.html

January 31, 2016

Bernie Sanders: 'Hillary Clinton Will Be the Problem'

by ALEX SEITZ-WALD


With just one day to go before the critical Iowa Caucuses, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suggested that rival Hillary Clinton would hurt Democrats' chances of retaking the House of Representatives in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Democratic elected officials and operatives have expressed concern that Sanders would damage candidates in down-ballot races, especially in red and purple states, if he wins the party's nomination. But Sanders said the opposite is true when asked by NBC News' Chuck Todd about his impact on House races Sunday.

"Hillary Clinton will be the problem," Sanders said. "Because I think our campaign is the campaign that is generating excitement and energy that will result in a high voter turnout. Republicans win when voter turnout is low. Democrats win when voter turnout is high."

Sanders, who trails Clinton in Iowa by just three points in the Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night, downplayed the importance of winning the state's caucuses Monday.

more

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-will-be-problem-n507996

January 31, 2016

Krugman’s dead wrong about Bernie:Why Sanders’ track record proves he’s not just about “happy dreams

Paul Krugman recently penned a piece in The New York Times about the Democratic candidates for president, taking aim in particular at Bernie Sanders, whose idealism Krugman believes is quixotic. “There’s nothing noble about seeing your values defeated because you preferred happy dreams to hard thinking about means and ends,” Krugman writes. He posits that “Sanders is the heir to candidate Obama,” while “Clinton is the heir to President Obama” — the dreaming revolutionary versus the get-it-done realist.

On this matter, Krugman is woefully mistaken, because Bernie Sanders is absolutely a pragmatist focused on “means and ends” — and if you don’t know that, you haven’t been paying attention.

Even as a young person, people who knew Sanders say he was “not like the rest of us kooks, who didn’t know what we were doing. He had more ideas and he spoke better.” They remember him as “very smart and very policy oriented,” always asking, “‘What can government do to solve this problem?’ or, ‘What policy… should we be asking for?’”

At the University of Chicago, Sanders was a chapter leader of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the famous civil rights group that organized the Freedom Rides, and helped to lead the group’s sit-in protesting racism in university housing. The 15-day movement ended in success, with the university agreeing to create a new committee including students, faculty and local civil rights leaders, to investigate and take action on off-campus housing inequality.

As mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders grew the economy by giving new entrepreneurs start-up funding, creating trade associations, offering technical assistance, and lobbying the state government to promote business growth, while saving the city thousands of dollars by employing competitive bidding and scouring the budget for wasted resources.

He was so fiscally conservative that some Republicans say he managed to “out-Republican the Republicans.”

more

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/30/paul_krugmans_dead_wrong_about_bernie_why_sanders_track_record_proves_hes_not_just_about_happy_dreams/

January 31, 2016

Bernie Sanders in Iowa: Strong youth support threatens Clinton's 'inevitable' candidacy

For two hours Saturday at the University of Iowa, the mostly college-aged crowd of kids with asymmetrical haircuts and baggy denim waited for the 74-year-old headliner, Bernie Sanders.

In the mean time, they screamed for Hunger Games heartthrob and Sanders supporter Josh Hutcherson, swayed to the sensitive folk rock of Mark Foster and went wild for indie-pop mainstays Vampire Weekend.

"This is dope," said Michael Lichtenberger, 21, standing about three metres from the empty lectern.

"Feel the Bern, 2016!" added Alicia Freiburg, 20, quoting the Democratic presidential candidate's rallying cry.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bernie-sanders-clinton-hillary-inevitable-candidate-1.3427566

January 31, 2016

Toon: If HRC had been Prez in 1960