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Chris Brown must give up rights to pet monkey, judge says

A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday said Chris Brown must give up all rights to his former pet monkey, pay for its care and not try to buy a new one if he wants charges of illegal animal ownership dropped.

Trump asks Supreme Court to void financial records subpoena

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to void a subpoena from the House of Representatives that seeks the president’s financial records from his accounting firm.

New deadly defect discovered in some Takata air bags

One known death.

Boat carrying migrants capsizes off Mauritania coast, at least 58 drown

Scores of migrants who swam through rough Atlantic Ocean waters to safety from a capsized boat while 58 others drowned were receiving care Thursday in Mauritania after one of the deadliest disasters this year among people making the perilous journey to…

Rapper T.I.’s remarks spark New York bill to end virginity tests

New York could bar doctors from performing so-called virginity tests under legislation prompted by the rapper T.I.’s controversial claim that he has a gynecologist check his daughter’s hymen annually.

Elon Musk explains ‘pedo guy’ tweet in court

Said he was insulted.

Hot Water: Pressure to move Tokyo Olympics open-water venue

The IOC moved next year’s Tokyo Olympic marathons and race walks out of the Japanese capital to avoid the stifling heat and humidity.

Smoke haze provides added hazard at Australian Open

Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and other players at this week’s Australian Open could have another course hazard to contend with: smoke from nearby bushfires.

Michigan State retires Draymond Green’s No. 23

On the night Michigan State retired his number, Draymond Green told a funny story about a recent pickup game.

Ohio St, LSU, Clemson, UGA in CFP position; Utah, OU next

Ohio State will go into championship weekend as the top team in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings, followed by LSU, Clemson and Georgia.

Georgetown player leaves team amid harassment complaint

A Georgetown men’s basketball player who is now off the team was among three Hoyas who were the subject of complaints accusing them of burglary and harassment.

Woods defends Mickelson’s choice to play in Saudi Arabia

Tiger Woods is defending Phil Mickelson and other top players who have signed up for the second edition of the Saudi International.

Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke week to week with muscle injury

Memphis Grizzlies rookie Brandon Clarke has aggravated a sore left oblique muscle and now is week to week.

Wizards center Bryant out with left foot stress reaction

Wizards center Thomas Bryant has a stress reaction in his right foot and will be sidelined for at least three weeks before he’s re-evaluated.

Islamists besiege Pakistan’s independent newspaper, call for editor, publisher to be hanged

Dozens of angry Islamists swarmed the building of an independent Pakistani newspaper in the capital, Islamabad, blocking its entrance for several hours, threatening the staff and demanding its editor be hanged, the paper reported Wednesday.

Tennessee High Court refuses to re-examine blind death-row prisoner’s bias request

Two days before a Tennessee prisoner’s scheduled execution, the state’s Supreme Court has denied request for more time to consider the possible bias of a juror who helped hand down the original death sentence decades ago.

Elon Musk’s ‘pedo guy’ defamation trial starts Tuesday

Controversial tweet.

US man faces new terrorism charges, allegedly the highest-ranking citizen fighting overseas

A U.S. citizen on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List has been charged with additional crimes involving ties to Somalia’s al-Shabaab rebel group, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

Treinen, Sanchez, Russell, Sánchez become free agents

Former All-Stars Blake Treinen, Aaron Sanchez and Addison Russell were among 56 players who became free agents along with current Gold Glove second baseman Yolmer Sánchez when their teams declined to offer 2020 contracts Monday rather than make them el…

Missouri State ranked for first time in 15 years

Missouri State coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton was playing for Hofstra the last time the Lady Bears appeared in the poll 15 years ago.

Betraying The Constitution: Who Will Protect Us From An Unpatriotic Patriot Act?

6 December 2019

Betraying The Constitution: Who Will Protect Us From An Unpatriotic Patriot Act?

Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

- Thomas Paine

While Congress subjects the nation to its impeachment-flavored brand of bread-and-circus politics, our civil liberties continue to die a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts.

Case in point: while Americans have been fixated on the carefully orchestrated impeachment drama that continues to monopolize headlines, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law legislation extending three key provisions of the USA Patriot Act, which had been set to expire on December 15, 2019.

Once again, to no one’s surprise, the bureaucrats on both sides of the aisle—Democrats and Republicans alike—prioritized political grandstanding over principle and their oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.

As Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) predicted:

Today, while everyone is distracted by the impeachment drama, Congress will vote to extend warrantless data collection provisions of the #PatriotAct, by hiding this language on page 25 of the Continuing Resolution (CR) that temporarily funds the government. To sneak this through, Congress will first vote to suspend the rule which otherwise gives us (and the people) 72 hours to consider a bill. The scam here is that Democrats are alleging abuse of Presidential power, while simultaneously reauthorizing warrantless power to spy on citizens that no President should have... in a bill that continues to fund EVERYTHING the President does... and waiving their own rules to do it. I predict Democrats will vote on a party line to suspend the 72 hour rule. But after the rule is suspended, I suspect many Republicans will join most Democrats to pass the CR with the Patriot Act extension embedded in it.

Massie was right: Republicans and Democrats have no problem joining forces in order to maintain their joint stranglehold on power.

The legislation passed the Senate with a bipartisan 74-to-20 vote. It squeaked through the House of Representatives with a 231-192 margin. And it was signed by President Trump—who earlier this year floated the idea of making the government’s surveillance powers permanent—with nary a protest from anyone about its impact on the rights of the American people.

Spending bill or not, it didn’t have to shake down this way, even with the threat of yet another government shutdown looming.

Congress could have voted to separate the Patriot Act extension from the funding bill, as suggested by Rep. Justin Amash, but that didn’t fly. Instead as journalist Norman Solomon writes for Salon, “The cave-in was another bow to normalizing the U.S. government’s mass surveillance powers.”

That, right there, is the key to all of this: normalizing the U.S. government’s mass surveillance powers.

In the 18 years since the USA Patriot Act—a massive 342-page wish list of expanded powers for the FBI and CIA—was rammed through Congress in the wake of the so-called 9/11 terror attacks, it has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse.

The Patriot Act drove a stake through the heart of the Bill of Rights, violating at least six of the ten original amendments—the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments—and possibly the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well.

The Patriot Act also redefined terrorism so broadly that many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience are now considered potential terrorist acts, thereby rendering anyone desiring to engage in protected First Amendment expressive activities as suspects of the surveillance state.

The Patriot Act justified broader domestic surveillance, the logic being that if government agents knew more about each American, they could distinguish the terrorists from law-abiding citizens—no doubt a reflexive impulse shared by small-town police and federal agents alike.

This, according to Washington Post reporter Robert O’Harrow, Jr., was a fantasy that “had been brewing in the law enforcement world for a long time.” And 9/11 provided the government with the perfect excuse for conducting far-reaching surveillance and collecting mountains of information on even the most law-abiding citizen.

Federal agents and police officers are now authorized to conduct covert black bag “sneak-and-peak” searches of homes and offices while you are away and confiscate your personal property without first notifying you of their intent or their presence.

The law also granted the FBI the right to come to your place of employment, demand your personal records and question your supervisors and fellow employees, all without notifying you; allowed the government access to your medical records, school records and practically every personal record about you; and allowed the government to secretly demand to see records of books or magazines you’ve checked out in any public library and Internet sites you’ve visited (at least 545 libraries received such demands in the first year following passage of the Patriot Act).

In the name of fighting terrorism, government officials are now permitted to monitor religious and political institutions with no suspicion of criminal wrongdoing; prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government has subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation; monitor conversations between attorneys and clients; search and seize Americans’ papers and effects without showing probable cause; and jail Americans indefinitely without a trial, among other things.

The federal government also made liberal use of its new powers, especially through the use (and abuse) of the nefarious national security letters, which allow the FBI to demand personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit companies at the mere say-so of the government agent in charge of a local FBI office and without prior court approval.

In fact, since 9/11, we’ve been spied on by surveillance cameras, eavesdropped on by government agents, had our belongings searched, our phones tapped, our mail opened, our email monitored, our opinions questioned, our purchases scrutinized (under the USA Patriot Act, banks are required to analyze your transactions for any patterns that raise suspicion and to see if you are connected to any objectionable people), and our activities watched.

We’re also being subjected to invasive patdowns and whole-body scans of our persons and seizures of our electronic devices in the nation’s airports. We can’t even purchase certain cold medicines at the pharmacy anymore without it being reported to the government and our names being placed on a watch list.

It’s only getting worse, folks.

Largely due to the continuous noise from television news’ talking heads, most Americans have been lulled into thinking that the pressing issues are voting in the next election, but the real issue is simply this: the freedoms in the Bill of Rights are being eviscerated.

The Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded to such an extent that what we are left with today is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago. Most of the damage has been inflicted upon the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the Constitution—which historically served as the bulwark from government abuse.

Set against a backdrop of government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches and the like—all sanctioned by Congress, the White House and the courts—a recitation of the Bill of Rights would understandably sound more like a eulogy to freedoms lost than an affirmation of rights we truly possess.

We can pretend that the Constitution, which was written to hold the government accountable, is still our governing document. However, the reality we must come to terms with is that in the America we live in today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned.

What once were considered inalienable, fundamental “rights” are now mere privileges to be taken away on a government bureaucrat’s say-so.

To those who have been paying attention, this should come as no real surprise.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the Constitution has been on life support for some time now, and is drawing its final breaths.

The American government, never a staunch advocate of civil liberties, has been writing its own orders for some time now. Indeed, as the McCarthy era and the wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. and others illustrates, the government’s amassing of power, especially in relation to its ability to spy on Americans, predates the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.

What the Patriot Act and its subsequent incarnations did was legitimize what had previously been covert and frowned upon as a violation of Americans’ long-cherished privacy rights.

After all, the history of governments is that they inevitably overreach.

Thus, enabled by a paper tiger Congress, the president and other agencies of the federal government have repeatedly laid claim to a host of powers, among them the ability to use the military as a police force, spy on Americans and detain individuals without granting them access to an attorney or the courts. And as the government’s powers have grown, unchecked, the American people have gradually become used to these relentless intrusions into their lives.

In turn, the American people have become the proverbial boiling frogs, so desensitized to the government’s steady encroachments on their rights that civil liberties abuses have become par for the course.

Yet as long as government agencies are allowed to make a mockery of the very laws intended to limit their reach, curtail their activities, and guard against the very abuses to which we are being subjected on a daily basis, our individual freedoms will continue to be eviscerated so that the government’s powers can be expanded, the Constitution be damned.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/06/2019 - 00:05 Tags Politics

Where Are All The Billionaires' Super-Yachts? Slump Signals Recession Dead-Ahead

6 December 2019

Where Are All The Billionaires' Super-Yachts? Slump Signals Recession Dead-Ahead

Investors looking for signs of a recession might want to focus their attention on recreational boating and mega-yacht sales, an industry that tends to decline ahead or during economic turning points.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NNMA) is worried about a weakening consumer next year. So far, sales are up for personal watercraft, wake sport boat, and larger fiberglass boat sales, but there's a notable decline in freshwater fishing boat sales.

In recent quarters, the manufacturing recession has successfully transmitted weakness into consumers and services. Ten months of an employment slowdown, consumer confidence is expected to shift lower in 1H20. Deteriorating consumer confidence could lead to slumping boat sales in 2020, which would be another warning sign that a recession is ahead.

Superyacht dealers are also seeing a slowdown in sales because the ultra-wealthy are spooked by the real threat a global trade recession could arrive sometime next year. The ultra-wealthy are usually in the know of economic turning points, way ahead of the average person. They're sometimes the smartest money in the room, and make moves before the broader shift occurs. And perhaps, the rich, abandoning their love for yachts this year is also another sign that a domestic and global slowdown will persist into 2020.

Bloomberg notes that superyacht dealers have reported only 102 sales through September, which is likely going to come in significantly weaker than the 199 sold in all of 2018.

Thom Conboy, a superyacht broker for Dutch shipbuilder Heesen Yachts, said wealthy clients purchase yachts based on confidence in the global economy, and if there's turmoil around the world, the clients don't buy.

Boating is a luxury; it all comes down to the disposable income of the middle class and ultra-wealthy consumers. So when pessimism and uncertainty unfold across the domestic and global economy, spending on boats and yachts tend to decline.

It seems that the boating industry could have a demand issue in 2020 when the global economy is expected to stumble into a trade recession.

Must be nothing...

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/05/2019 - 23:45 Tags Business Finance

Gun Control Groups Hide Behind Bogus "Police" Think-Tank To Disarm Americans

6 December 2019

Gun Control Groups Hide Behind Bogus "Police" Think-Tank To Disarm Americans

Authored by Duane Norman via FMShooter.com,

The myth that police support gun control legislation is one of the most frequent crutches used by gun control groups to support disarming Americans. At the forefront of this is the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a DC-based think tank with a long anti-gun history.

This is all done with your tax dollars, no less, as the Nationalist Review recently exposed the DOJ’s funding of PERF:

Between 2001 and 2017, PERF has received a combined $35.2 million in funding from federal, state, and local governments in the form of grants and contracts, according to 990 tax filings submitted by the DC based think tank. In addition to this funding, PERF receives millions more annually in the form of fees charged for training ($9,500 per officer for a three week course) and conference registrations ($3.3 million in 2018 alone)

Made up of police chiefs and executives from large cities, PERF policies have resulted in a “soft federalization” of policing, with “training courses” that yield almost zero flexibility for officers in the field, and this rigidity extends to the push to restrict civilian firearms ownership at every juncture.

Unsurprisingly, PERF was one of the major backstops for former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s first foray into gun control. The push to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment (legislation protecting the privacy of gunowners’ personal information) was spearheaded by Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and supported by none other than PERF’s very own Chuck Wexler:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns last Tuesday stood on Capitol Hill with law enforcement officials and members of Congress to urge the repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment.

Members of Congress at the event included… Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

Lest we forget, Mayors Against Illegal Guns was disbanded in 2014 and rebranded as Everytown for Gun Safety after the group’s mayors either turned against Bloomberg, or turned up in possession of illegal firearms:

Why was Mayors Against Illegal Guns Renamed? Because of the mayors. Some mayors believed the organization didn't target illegal guns, just legal ones. But the real kicker was when some mayors in the group faced charges for illegally possessing guns themselves. pic.twitter.com/SZFgCEQLuN

— FMShooter (@fmshooter) November 27, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

While Bloomberg was restructuring his gun control apparatus, Wexler remained as PERF’s Executive Director, where in 2017, he pushed back against one of the only noble causes championed by then-AG Jeff Sessions – a drive to have police departments enforce immigration laws:

In 2017, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened to withhold federal funds from police departments that refused to enforce immigration laws, it was Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, who pushed back against him. Wexler claimed that if police departments assisted in detaining illegal immigrants, they would inhibit their ability to gain information from the community about recent crimes.

PERF supports every gun control policy imaginable, including, but not limited to:

Restrictions on firearm magazine capacity

Implementation of Universal Background Checks

“Red Flag” Laws

Microstamping technology in all new firearms

Opposition to removal of suppressors from NFA restriction

A reinstatement of Senator Dianne Feinstein‘s 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, where she famously stated on 60 Minutes that she would support door-to-door gun confiscation:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzDO86iSKWU]

As previously mentioned by the Nationalist Review, PERF relies on failed retreads and anti-gun fanatics to head their departments, and there is perhaps no bigger example than former NYPD commissioner James O’Neill. O’Neill even took his gun control platform to the national stage, appearing on 60 Minutes to plead againstNational Concealed Carry Reciprocity:

Cyrus Vance: I think it would be a disaster for New York City. And I think for major cities around the country.

James O’Neill: I think it’s insanity.

Vance and O’Neill have established a formidable coalition of prosecutors and police chiefs from nearly every big city in America to lobby senators to keep the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act from becoming law.

Of course, O’Neill continues to support support lackluster firearms training for NYPD officers, and the NYPD continues to be the only police department in the country with a mandated 12lb firearm trigger, a major contributor to poor firearm accuracy:

Comparison of a professional marksman shooting an NYPD trigger vs a stock trigger

When you hear about the NYPD taking 16 shots to kill one bad guy and accidentally wounding nine civilian passers-by, or officers firing 84 shots at a murder suspectand missing 83 times (with the only hit registering in the suspect’s calf), don’t blame the officers—blame their poor training and equipment, mandated by O’Neill all throughout his tenure as commissioner.

And yet, PERF is cited by nearly every liberal organization that supports gun control. Former Connecticut Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, one of Bloomberg’s most endorsed candidates (via his Moms Demand and Everytown proxies), used PERF to proclaim that “every” major law enforcement organization opposed CCW Reciprocity.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association, Police Foundation, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, Police Executive Research Forum...#StopCCR pic.twitter.com/vI5EohfgXE

— Elizabeth Esty (@Elizabeth_Esty) December 6, 2017 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

This was her platform, right up until she was forced to abandon her re-election campaign in the wake of a sex scandal involving her chief of staff:

In early 2018, Esty faced public criticism after news reports revealed that her former chief of staff had been accused of sexual harassment and threats of violence against staff but that she kept him on the payroll for another three months and wrote him a positive letter of reference.

California Rep. Salud Carbajal recently used PERF to justify his push for “Red Flag” laws:

This morning, @HouseGVP met with @PoliceFound, @MjrCitiesChiefs and Police Executive Research Forum to discuss ending gun violence. We MUST pass my bipartisan #ERPOAct, which will allow law enforcement to ensure those at risk of harming themselves or others can't access guns. pic.twitter.com/YE48pCesVM

— Rep. Salud Carbajal (@RepCarbajal) October 22, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

But it is hardly just politicians themselves who use PERF as a gun control crutch. Parkland “victim” Cameron Kasky, another anti-gunner who exists solely on Bloomberg donations, used PERF police chief and noted gun-grabbing liar Chief Art Acevedo to promote his advocacy:

Just had a great panel with PERF (Police Executive Research Forum) where I got to meet law enforcers from around the country and discuss behavioral intervention programs and the gun violence epidemic in our country. Special thanks to Chief @ArtAcevedo for his leadership.

— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) June 1, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

(THREAD) Guess what - @ArtAcevedo is not only a bad guy, he's a headline-seeking gun grabber in one of the reddest states in the country. https://t.co/kN9FkNSsgd

— FMShooter (@fmshooter) September 17, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Rifles PERF wishes to ban frequently save lives:

1) The story of a pregnant woman using an AR-15 to save her husband is now being covered by mainstream media, largely because of the brutal nature of the intruders' attack. They'll have you believe this is an uncommon occurrence. Unsurprisingly, they are lying. pic.twitter.com/exGdWn9zss

— FMShooter (@fmshooter) November 5, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Even the “conservative” Koch Brothers have donated hundreds of thousands to PERF:

The Police Executive Research Forum launched a new study to identify risk factors that result in police use of force https://t.co/9lr36oJyE6

— Charles Koch Inst. (@CKinstitute) June 30, 2017 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Make no mistake about it, PERF anti-gun policies have infiltrated the Trump administration as well:

ATF Deputy Director Thomas Brandon and other senior leadership participated in the Police Executive Research Forum in DC, focusing on reducing gun violence and #CrimeGunIntel. ATF also showcased one of its NIBIN vans with @JeffCoSheriff. pic.twitter.com/iCWSXJ2tdB

— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) June 8, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Remember Chuck Wexler? Here he is with none other than the architect of Fast and Furious: former Attorney General Eric Holder:

In Wash DC at Police Executive Research Forum @CWexlerPERF w AG Eric Holder discussing US heroin and opiate issue. pic.twitter.com/Fp71fx8Wmo

— Chief Brooks (@ChiefBrooksNPD) April 16, 2014 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Ironically enough, Holder opposed Project Exile, a program which aimed to force federal prosecutions and guaranteed prison sentences for illegal firearms possession charges. For a man who had no problem with the “soft federalization” of police throughout his career, it is rather amusing that he opposed the one tool that is lauded by both the NRA and police everywhere as a major contributor to a drastic drop in violent crime rates.

But perhaps no one more blatantly clings to PERF than Monsanto lobbyist and “stay-at-home mom” Shannon Troughton. If you haven’t heard of her in the past, it’s because she changed her last name to Watts to try to duck her past as a lobbyist for big corporate interests when she joined Bloomberg’s newly rebranded Everytown:

This is a bizarre lie. The National Association of School Resource Officers opposes it. The Major Cities Chiefs Association opposes it. The Police Executive Research Forum opposes it. How dare Arkansas lawmakers allow this fraud to give testimony that will impact kids’ safety? https://t.co/SrCLxw6VvZ

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 9, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

2) The Police Foundation, Police Executive Research Forum, Major Cities Chiefs Association and other national police associations all oppose

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 28, 2017 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Watts had the temerity to follow Hillary Clinton’s debunked suggestion that suppressors make firearms more deadly. Sadly enough, PERF is all too willing to go along with both Hillary and Watts:

The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2017 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Ever wonder why former Speaker Paul Ryan never brought CCW Reciprocity or removal of Suppressor NFA restrictions to a vote? Look no further than his connections to PERF:

Burlington’s police chief spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day meeting with other police leaders and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin to speak about law enforcement use of force.

The topic: A new policy created by the Police Executive Research Forum with the help of law enforcement partners across the country. Ryan’s hometown police department in Janesville recently adopted the policy, del Pozo said. The Burlington chief was one of five police leaders who helped forum members present the policy to Ryan.

Unfortunately, PERF does the exact opposite of what Ryan claimed to oppose – the soft federalization of local police:

“(Ryan) has never been interested in federalizing local functions, and he considers police a local function,” del Pozo said. “But he was interested in hearing what local police have done sort of on a voluntary basis to improve use-of-force outcomes in policing. We were just explaining the curriculum.”

Make no mistake about it, PERF has infiltrated every layer of our country’s policing and law enforcement apparatus, and draconian gun controls are all over their list of objectives. Whenever anyone states that there is “police support” for a gun control initiative you can bet your bottom dollar that PERF is one of the “police organizations” they’ll use to make that argument.

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/05/2019 - 23:25

US Fertility Rate Hit Record Low In 2018

6 December 2019

US Fertility Rate Hit Record Low In 2018

The US fertility rate dropped for the fourth straight year in 2018, and has fallen approximately 15% since 2007, according to the National Center for Health Statistics - which reports that there were 59.1 births for every 1,000 women of childbearing age.

In total, 3,791,712 births were recorded across the country last year - extending a steep decline that began during the 2008 Recession, according to the New York Times.

As one user in Reddit's "Childfree" forum notes: "Babies are expensive, and we're all broke," to which another user replied "Also, pregnancy and its effects on the body are gross and not worth it."

There you go.

While teen pregnancy rates dropped the most at 7.4%, women between 20 - 24 years of age recorded the second steepest decline of any age demographic, while mothers aged 40-44 rose 2% from 2017 - a demographic which has risen almost continuously since 1985 as women choose to have children later in life.

"It’s clear that the traditional age-fertility pattern that held for Baby Boomers and Gen X women is shifting," said Brookings Institution senior demographer William Frey, who notes that over 50% of women who had children in their late 30s last year had college degrees - eclipsing women in their late 20s.

"The data suggest that people want to establish themselves before having children," said Johns Hopkins demographer Alison Gemmill. "They also want to make sure they have adequate resources to raise quality children."

Meanwhile, suicide rates among young Americans are at 20-year highs.

The Times notes that Demographers have been scratching their heads over whether this is a "temporary phenomenon or a new normal, driven by deeper social change."

Fertility rates tend to drop during difficult economic times, as people put off having babies, and then rise when the economy rebounds. That is what happened during and after the Great Depression of the 1930s. But this time around, the birthrate has not recovered with the economy. A brief uptick in the rate in 2014 did not last.

“It is hard for me to believe that the birthrate just keeps going down,” said Kenneth M. Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire.

Mr. Johnson estimated that if the rate had remained steady at its 2007 level, there would have been 5.7 million more births in the country since then. -New York Times

The Times also notes that "Other sweeping social changes have accompanied the delay in childbearing. New data from the Census Bureau show that the median age of first marriage is now 28 for women and nearly 30 for men; in 1970, the median ages were 21 and 23," according to Frey said. "This is a far cry from the 1950s, or even the 1980s and the 1990s."

Meanwhile, this poor guy is just trying to reproduce:

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/05/2019 - 23:05 Tags Social Issues

Prohibition Ended Today 86 Years Ago

6 December 2019

Prohibition Ended Today 86 Years Ago

Authored by D.W.MacKenzie via The Mises Institute,

Today is an interesting milestone for Libertarian minded people, as well as those with a fondness for trivia.

86 years ago today FDR 86’d prohibition.

Drinking became a crime starting on January 17th 1920, and remained a crime until December 5th 1933. Prohibition serves as a leading example of what happens when people in a largely free society lose part of their freedom. Prohibition did not stop Americans from drinking, it just drove an industry underground and into the control of gangs. Consequently, gang violence escalated during the prohibition years.

Prohibition also escalated police raids against harmless commerce. Prohibition fueled speakeasies as dispensers of beer & booze. Speakeasies obviously dealt with violent gangs as suppliers, but speakeasy customers engaged in voluntary transactions for desired goods. Police raids on speakeasies drove willing customers out of these businesses now and then, and these raids prompted both corruption and a minor change in the English language.

One speakeasy was “Chumley’s” located at 86 Bedford Street in Manhattan. Some police acted as informants to the bartenders at Chumley’s: shortly before a raid they would call with the message to “86 the customers”, to stop business and push all customers out the door. Hence the term 86’d began as a term for putting a stop to illicit business in one bar, but developed subsequently into a more general term for getting rid of something or refusing service. Prohibition ended 86 years ago today.

This is perhaps the only day during any year that Libertarian minded person might find it appropriate to raise a toast to FDR.

Cheers to the 32nd President, for just this one occasion.

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/05/2019 - 22:45

40 homes in Columbus, Ohio evacuated after homemade NUCLEAR REACTOR burns owner

6 December 2019

The evacuation order was issued for several streets in Northwest Columbus on Thursday night, as a bomb squad, arson fire investigators and medics rushed to the scene.

Four people dead in South Florida after thieves lead a high-speed chase in a hijacked UPS truck

6 December 2019

The thieves exchanged gunfire with a jewelry store owner before they hijacked a UPS truck, along with its driver, and led police on a high-speed pursuit that ended when the suspects ran into traffic.

R. Kelly charged with bribery over fake ID for underage wife Aaliyah

6 December 2019

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought the charge against the embattled rapper, 52, on Thursday, adding to an already long list of indictments he is facing in multiple states.

Saudi's state-owned oil company Aramco valued at £1.3 TRILLION in biggest IPO ever

6 December 2019

Mohammed bin Salman had been hoping to smash a $2 (£1.5) trillion target with the IPO which is selling shares at 32 riyals (£6.48) each.

British diver REFUSES to apologize to Elon Musk for calling his plan a 'publicity stunt'

6 December 2019

Prince William talked to Vernon Unsworth about his lawsuit against Elon Musk when he presented the British cave rescue hero with a British honor, an LA court heard Thursday.