Nuclear Unicorn
Nuclear Unicorn's JournalRemember that lady the IRS decided to destroy because she structured her deposits?
I-Team review finds $30,000 in one agency’s Starbucks purchases kept confidential from public
The federal government has spent at least $20 billion in taxpayer money this year on items and services that it is permitted to keep secret from the public, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.
The purchases, known among federal employees as “micropurchases,” are made by some of the thousands of agency employees who are issued taxpayer-funded purchase cards. The purchases, in most cases, remain confidential and are not publicly disclosed by the agencies. A sampling of those purchases, obtained by the I-Team via the Freedom of Information Act, reveals at least one agency used those cards to buy $30,000 in Starbucks Coffee drinks and products in one year without having to disclose or detail the purchases to the public.
...
A “micropurchase” is a purchase costing less than $3,000 in which a government-issued purchase card is swiped. The U.S. Departments of State, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Defense, each made tens of millions of dollars of “micropurchases” in the past year, according to an I-Team review. But each agency said it does not make public an itemized list of its transactions, limiting the information to internal government reviewers and users of the federal Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Federal-Government-Made-20-Billion-in-Secret-Purchases-in-Recent-Months-280997562.html
We -- the peasant serfs -- are not allowed to structure deposits, even if the revenue was perfectly legal and ethical, to avoid the master's scrutiny but the master's minions are permitted to structure their expenditures, paid for by our money, to escape our scrutiny.
Ebola can be spread through the droplets of a cough or sneeze.
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdfYou declare it to be bogus but that doesn't make it so.
Those who are opposed to self-defense argue guns needlessly hurt people through misuse. They act as if guns somehow mystically alter the minds of normal people and turn them into violent monsters. If only we could eliminate guns the spell of the evil mojo will be broken.
Yet, there is a thing that does alter the mind and those alterations do lead to abhorrent and reckless behavior.
The misuse of alcohol leads to psoriasis, DUIs and other physical ailments. Moreover, guns bring with them an intrinsic understanding they are lethal the first time, every time. However, binge drinking is not only accepted it is expected if not outright encouraged in many instances.
Guns do not motivate people to violence; but to deny alcohol is an underlying factor in domestic abuse, sexual assault, child abuse and other forms of violence would be to stretch credulity beyond breaking.
Under-aged drinking claims 4,300 lives annually due to over-consumption of alcohol. That is more than 4 Sandy Hooks per week.
Of the 30,000 gun-related deaths each year 15,000 are suicides. That's 15,000 suicides out of 38,000. Having a gun in the house doesn't motivate people to kill themselves but of ALL suicides -- gun-related or otherwise -- alcohol is a significant factor.
I'm sure you'll have some hand-waving pronouncement as to why these facts are not facts or are immaterial.
1 dead after NC grandfather fires back at trio in attempted rape of teen granddaughter, sheriff says
The grandfather was also shot – but he also managed to shoot the 2 other suspects in the home-invasion and attempted rape, said Maj. Anthony Thompson with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.
The incident started around 10 pm at a house on Yedda Road in Lumberton on Monday night when someone knocked on the home of the grandfather, his wife and their 19-year-old granddaughter, according to the sheriff's office.
Two of three men – all wearing black clothes, ski masks and gloves -- stormed into the house and demanded money, officials said.
http://www.wbtw.com/story/26851008/1-dead-after-nc-grandfather-fires-back-at-trio-in-attempted-rape-of-teen-granddaughter-sheriff-says
Prayers for family's healing.
Concerning the ongoing deluge of stories about police misconduct --
Does the badge make otherwise good people become monsters or do monsters seek out the badge because it gives them the power to act on their darker desires? Do they become traumatized bad the responsibilities of the job and / or frustrations or is it something else? Is it a combination of things?
It's clearly getting out of hand.
Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.
Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work.
Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-lockheed-fusion-idUSKCN0I41EM20141015
Exciting news if accurate.
Apparently the DSCC has pulled ad-buys for Mark Udall in CO.
Heard it on the radio. Can anybody confirm or deny?
I thought we were past this point in our relationship. Now I'm in tears.
He snuck "Mr. Bojangles" onto my mp3 player.
He's always sneaking sad songs onto my player because he knows they make me cry.
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