Category: random

Mary and I were trying to figure out how to say “Caribbean.” We each have a slightly different pronunciation for the same place.

She breaks the word down phonetically like this: ‘Car-uh-bee-uh-n.’ I say it, ‘Care-ah-bee-ann,’

Turns out Mary’s right and I’m pronouncing it in what one might call a more colloquial manner. Of course, “Caribbean” isn’t the only word I say different from most folks.

The name of the show-me-state, “Missouri” seems pretty straight forward. However, for years I had heard only my dad and other family members say it one way.

Anyway, I had no idea that I might be mispronouncing ‘Missouri,’ until fourth grade. Mr. Kirby was teaching state history when he asked where the California Trail began.

My hand shot up first and after being called on, I answered, “St. Joseph, Miz-zoo-rah.”

“Where?!” Mr. Kirby blasted back.

Much to my general discomfort I repeated my answer, whereupon he scolded me, pointing out the ‘I’ on the end of Missouri. For as long as I was in his class, I answered it the exact way he wanted it saying, ‘Miz-oo-ree.’

It’s not like blowing the word ‘Gila,’ by pronouncing it with a hard ‘G,’ when it’s actually said, ‘Hee-la.’ Believe me when I tell you it’s unpleasant to make that mistake while on the radio, because the phones will light up.

And then there’s no sense arguing with folks in Massachusetts about how to pronounce ‘Nevada,’ as they’ll butcher it anyway, saying ‘Ne-vah-duh.’ I returned the favor by calling it, ‘Massive-two-shits.’

And there was nothing colloquial about that.

A Pew Research Center study of 35,000 people, titled “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” conducted between June and September of 2014, claim the number of Americans who don’t affiliate with a particular religion has grown in recent years.

When Pew conducted this survey, Americans who described themselves as atheist, agnostic or of no particular religion grew from 16 percent to nearly 23 percent. Last year, 31 percent said they were atheist or agnostic, compared to 25 percent in 2007.

At the same time, Christians dropped from 78 percent to 71 percent of the population while Protestants now make up 46.5 percent of the population.  However, Christianity is still the dominant religion by far with seven in 10 Americans identifying as such.

Eighty-six percent of American adults identified as Christians, compared with 76 percent in 2008. In 2010, 13 percent of baby boomers were religiously unaffiliated as they were entering retirement, the same percentage in 1972.

White Americans at 24 percent are more likely to say they have no religion, compared with 20 percent of Latinos and 18 percent of Blacks. The trend follows a pattern first seen in 1990.

Protestants declined by about 5 million to 36 million between 2007 and 2014 with 13 percent of adults claiming to be former Catholics. The study put the number of Catholic adults at 51 million, or just over one-fifth of the population, a drop of about three percent over seven years.

Non-Christian religions held steady or increased their share of the population, reaching 5.9 percent of adults, up from 4.7 percent in 2007. Jewish adherence was steady at 1.9 percent of adults, while Islam grew by 0.5 percentage points over the last eight years but remains less than one percent of the general population.

The growth of ‘atheist, agnostic or of no particular religion,’ has political significance as well since people with no religious affiliation tend to vote Progressive, jus’ as white evangelicals tend to vote Conservative.  But it isn’t ‘all doom-and-gloom’ as poll-takers are quick to point out that two-thirds of those reaching young adulthood around the year 2000 said that they believe in God with absolute certainty.

They also say evangelical church attendance jumped from five to 11.8 percent, though they have no way of measuring the outcome of that sort of religious devotion. Thankfully, most Judeo-Christians know the difference between ‘religion’ and ‘faith,’ and which of the two is the more important.

After all, religion is a set of man-made rules designed to place the power of God in man’s hands, while faith’s based on a personal relationship between the Creator and his creation, meaning you, me and all of mankind.

When asked about potential 2016 candidates, a new George Washington University poll shows that 51 percent said they wouldn’t consider voting for Hillary Clinton, with 44 percent saying they felt “strongly” about their position. Hillary’s over-all favorability rating also remains low at 49 percent with 39 percent seeing her as “strongly unfavorable.”

The  poll also shows Americans are split as to which party would do a better job handling key issues, giving Democrats the advantage on jobs, 49 percent to 42 percent, and healthcare, 52 percent to 39 percent. Republicans on the other hand have an edge on the economy at 49 percent to 44 percent, taxes at 47 percent to 44 percent and foreign policy — 50 percent to 40 percent.

And the news isn’t getting any better as a lawsuit demanding access to Hillary’s private email server got new life after a judge’s recent decision. Federal Judge Reggie Walton decided to reopen the suit, brought by Judicial Watch, following agreement by the State Department that the documents kept on her private server should be turned over.

“It points to the fraud by this administration and Mrs. Clinton,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said.

The court originally dismissed the case stating the documents didn’t exist.

Adding to the mounting trouble over her email server, recent revelations about the Clinton Foundation’s relationships with shady regimes are making less-headline in the national media. This as Bill was in Morocco for a Clinton Global Initiative conference funded by a government-owned phosphate conglomerate, last week.

It was during the panel session moderated by telecom billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who asked Bill why the Clinton Foundation hasn’t pushed back harder against allegations by answering simple questions like “What is this money for?” and “What have you done with it?”

“I just work here,” Clinton said. “I don’t know.”

It’s a question he dares not answer as the latest Rasmussen national telephone survey finds that 63 percent of voters think it’s likely some actions Hillary took as secretary of State were influenced by donations made to the Clinton Foundation. This includes 42 percent who say it’s ‘very likely.

This follows Bill’s claims that the foundation failure to disclose 1,100 foreign donations is the fault of the accountant who prepared the nonprofit’s taxes  The foundation didn’t list any contributions from governments in a series of tax forms, instead rolling the sum into overall revenue, something Bill characterized as “an innocent mistake.”

And it’s been recently learned that Hillary’s State Department approved $50 million in Bill’s speeches during her tenure when that so-call ‘innocent mistake,’ occurred.

There’s blood in the Silver State’s political water’s as one presidential candidate after another jumps in to feeding frenzy…

Dr. Ben Carson is visiting Nevada for the first time since announcing his run for the GOP presidential nomination. Carson attended a brunch with pastors and other community leaders in Las Vegas this morning and will give an evening talk at Opportunity Village, a charity that serves people with disabilities.

After delivering a widely publicized speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast critical of the Obama Administration, he became popular in the media for his views on social issues and the federal government. In November 2014 he announced his intention to run as a Republican for the 2016 Presidential election.

In a September 2014 ISideWith.com opinion poll, when asked if they’d vote for Carson, 42 percent said they would, while 58 percent wouldn’t. Twelve percent believed that even though he had limited experience, he would make an honest candidate, while eight percent reported that they would not vote for a Republican, and another six percent would vote for Carson if he were running for vice-president.

The retired neurosurgeon’s visit comes the same day unannounced Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush arrived in Nevada for events in both Reno and Las Vegas.

Former Florida Governor and unannounced presidential candidate Jeb Bush is holding a town hall meeting in Reno this morning. Afterwards, he’ll head to Las Vegas to deliver the keynote address at the Clark County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner.

Last week Bush hired two Nevadans ahead of his two-stop tour. The hiring of Ryan Erwin as an adviser and Scott Scheid as the campaign’s state director leading to the speculation that Bush is already running, all he need do is announce.

Erwin is a top adviser to third-term Congressman Joe Heck of Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.  In both 2008 and 2012 Mitt Romney hired Erwin and won both Nevada GOP caucuses with more than 50 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, Scheid helped Nevada Congressman Cresent Hardy win what the local media claims was an upset over incumbent Steven Horsford in the 4th Congressional District last year.  Democrats have declared Hardy a top target in 2016.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has also been busy as he’s picked Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison as his Nevada campaign chairman. As for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton, who visited Las Vegas earlier this month already has established a campaign team in Nevada.

Amid the visits, Nevada lawmakers are reconsidering a bill to dump the state’s caucus system and replace it with a primary to choose presidential nominees. SB421, backed by Republicans, would switch the caucus to a primary scheduled on the last Tuesday in February.

The measure would reportedly maintain Nevada’s so-called influential position as one of the earliest states to nominate a presidential candidate. But it would change the selection process from a gathering of only the most motivated party activists to regular elections among all voters.

Opponents of the caucus system say the process gives an edge to ‘marginal candidates’ whose supporters can take over the gatherings. Nevada’s caucus system’s believed to favor Senator Rand Paul.

Finally, Bush supposedly has his eye on Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval as his potential vice presidential running mate. The possible Bush-Sandoval ticket came up behind the scenes at a January Republican National Committee meeting in San Diego

Bush’s staff reportedly asked Nevada officials about Sandoval, the state’s first Hispanic governor who was re-elected in a landslide in 2014 with 70 percent of the vote. The Bush camp denied that there’s any formal vetting happening at this point.

Nevada has a history of picking presidential winners, siding with the winner every time but once in the past century. The Silver State voted twice for President Obama and twice for former President George W. Bush.

In a Gravis Marketing poll conducted in February, Bush did the worst against Clinton, 50 percent to 37 percent.

Even after a court ordered the Obama Administration to stop their illegal amnesty program, they didn’t listen. Instead, they handed out 2,000 expanded immigrant work permit authorizations despite the order.

“The Government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking immediate steps to remedy these erroneous three-year terms,” the Department of Justice wrote in a court advisory filed in the Southern District of Texas.

It comes after Judge Andrew Hanen halted Obama’s executive order, ending the deportations of illegal aliens and providing them with expanded access to work permits. A federal appeals court heard oral arguments in April and has yet to make a ruling.

President Obama announced the amnesty, expanding on a previous amnesty for Dreamers. That initial program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, granted Dreamers a two-year stay of deportation and work permits allowing them legally to take jobs in the U.S. The judge halted the program April 17, ruling Obama had overstepped his powers in granting legal status with “benefits and privileges” to millions of illegal aliens. However, the initial Dreamer program is still in place, and still covers more than 600,000 illegal aliens.

This isn’t the first time though that the DOJ has issued a clarification to the court.

Department of Home Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced the agency’s intent to immediately issue three-year expansions in a November memo. However, DOJ lawyers told the court the agency wouldn’t be processing any new applications until mid-February, leading Hanen to refuse to lift the hold in April and accusing the Obama administration of misleading the court.

Critics of the President’s immigration actions saw something much different from an honest mistake. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement:

“Ignoring Congress in rewriting immigration law, contradicting the President’s own statements that the Executive lacked the power to do so, and misleading a federal court – not once, but multiple times – the Obama Administration has established a pattern of renegade behavior making it clear it sees itself entirely above the rule of law. We will continue to fight back against this lawless behavior to prevent the implementation of this amnesty plan, which sets a dangerous precedent and would have disastrous consequences for Texas and every other state in America.”

Meanwhile, Johnson asked the DHS’s inspector general to investigate how the “erroneous” work permit authorizations came to be issued — and yet the lawlessness continues.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will allow unelected bureaucrats to develop regulations superseding both federal and state laws, undermining the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to fast-track the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to bring about a vote on the agreement.

Oddly, Nevada’s U.S. Senator Harry Reid wants to put the matter aside while the Senate deals with funding and renewal of government surveillance authority under the PATRIOT Act.

“The answer is not only no, but hell no,” Reid said when asked whether he backs the legislation.

Evidently, Reid sees President Obama’s TPP agreement as the GOP’s ‘soft underbelly’ as the Democrats ticket to regaining both houses of Congress. He’s not alone in that assessment as one political strategist likened the agreement to landmines.

“Forget party or the politician. In this cycle, trade deals like TPP are political landmines — support them and your political career likely goes bye-bye. It’s a simple matter of trust: Voters don’t trust trade deals, and they don’t trust politicians when they say ‘trust us, this trade deal is different.’”

There’s also a lot of secrecy about the deal as only members of Congress can see what’s in the deal, and even then, they’re required to go to the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center. No cell phones, no staff members and no note-taking’s allowed, while someone’s assigned to watches over the visiting Congressional member.

Yet, a leaked draft of the deal did make its way online through WikiLeaks. Under the agreement, U.S. corporations would continue to be subject to domestic laws and regulations on the environment, banking, medicine and the Internet.

Interestingly, the F.C.C. recently denied the requests of several broadband providers and trade groups asking the agency to delay its net neutrality rules. Net neutrality reclassifies broadband as a public utility, subject to taxation and fees.

However, foreign corporations operating within the U.S. would be permitted to appeal any key legal or regulatory rulings to an international tribunal. That tribunal would be granted the power to overrule U.S. law and impose trade sanctions on the nation for failing to abide by its rulings.

International agreements like the TPP, and the non-transparent fast track/TPA process, provide the perfect opportunities for Progressives to push for policies the public would never accept if done openly.

Stop letting others bring you down to their level.
Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.

It was hard not to hear the boys as they walked up the street. They were talking about what to do for the afternoon since school had let out early for the day.

“How ’bout we play ‘Army?’” one boy asked.

“Are you kidding? My mom would ground me forever me if she knew I was playing with guns.”

“They’re toy guns!”

“I’m not even allowed to pretend a stick is a gun.”

“Yeah, my mom’s the same way,” another complained. “I pointed my finger like it was gun at my baby sister and she nearly knocked my head off.”

They laughed at the idea of seeing their friend walking around without his head, as they continued past my house. But as they move out of ear-shot, the thought that they couldn’t play ‘Army,’ made me sad.

When I was a kid, there were few Saturday mornings in Klamath, that me, my brother Adam and whomever else we could wrangle up, didn’t head into the Redwoods to play ‘Army,’ fighting the Nazi’s. We used redwood cones for ‘hand grenades’ and tree branches as guns or simply pretended to hold one up, firing it.

“Bang, bang, bang!,” one of us would sound out while shooting their fake ‘machine gun.’

“Boom,’ somebody else called out as a make-believe ‘grenade’ exploded.

Inevitably, one of us would complain, “Hey, you’re dead! I shot you!”

“No you didn’t, you missed me!” the intended target would shout back.

“Well, you’re dead now, I’m jus’ threw a hand grenade at you.”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did.”

Such battles would rage on for hours, with no one really being shot and killed, blown to smithereens or winning. It was all in fun, and as the sun dropped beyond the Sage’s Riddles, we’d all head home in time for dinner having made plans to meet again the next day, right after church.

“When they talk about legal status, that is code for second class status,” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said at a small event in Las Vegas.

Clinton delivered her message at Rancho High School during a panel discussion with six young Nevadans who are illegal aliens. She said if elected, she’d go farther than President Obama has in granting legal status to millions of illegal aliens, saying that she would extend protections to both ‘Dreamers’ and their parents.

“There are more people like many parents of Dreamers and others with deep ties and contributions to our communities who deserve to stay, and I will fight for them,” Clinton said.

Clinton also wants to see a simplified process for illegal’s to avoid deportation.

“We should put in place a simple, straightforward and accessible way for parents of Dreamers and others with a history of service and contributions to their community to make their case and to be eligible for the same deferred action as their children,” she said.

She also said not one Republicans running for president in 2016, has “clearly and consistently supporting a path to citizenship.”
“Not one,” she claimed.

Wrong!

Florida’s U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio wants to give illegal’s “a pathway to citizenship.” And yet, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Clinton leads Rubio, 63-percent to 32-percent among Latinos.

Favored by Latinos, who make-up a third of the population in Nevada, Clinton held a two-to-one margin during her 2008 Democratic primary battle against Obama.

She stated that in her opinion for certain senators who spearheaded efforts to push for immigration reform, “I guess some of them are paying a political price for it now.”

“You know where I stand, and there can be no question about it,” she added.

Interestingly, Clinton voted for the southern border fence and had been critical of illegal aliens getting driver’s licenses. And the last time she was in Nevada, students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas demanded she return the $225,000 speaking-fee that the school paid to her charity.