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dallas-police-department-photo

June 13, 2015: Bullets holes are seen in the windshield of a Dallas police in this photo tweeted by the Dallas Police Department. (Photo: Dallas Police Department)

Multiple gunmen armed with automatic weapons fired on police officers outside Dallas Police headquarters around 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning before fleeing in an armored van. The suspects began leading police on a chase that ended in a standoff in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box at 121 South Interstate 45 Service Road in Hutchins at approximately 12:44 a.m., where a gun battle with officers ensued.

Witnesses noticed the suspects parked in front of headquarters, but when officers arrived the suspects rammed a Dallas Police squad car and began shooting at officers. While the rounds repeatedly struck the squad cars, police officials say no officers were harmed in the attack.

Police also confirmed finding two explosive devices, with one bomb robot picking up a bag at Jack Evans with pipe bombs that subsequently detonated. The Explosives Ordinance Detonation Unit investigated four suspicious bags in total left in front of Dallas Police Headquarters, but law enforcement officials say all known suspicious packages have been cleared and nearby residents were evacuated as a precaution.

“Thankful no officers were injured, “ Dallas Poliice Maj. Max Geron tweeted shortly before 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Brown said the suspects refused to surrender and SWAT team negotiators were brought in to talk to the suspects.

The suspect gave a name to police, identifying himself as James Boulware, who is a white male, 5’10”, 200 pounds.

“This the name given, however it has not been confirmed that this is the person we are talking to,” Brown said.

Brown said the suspect driving the van has told officers that he blames police for losing custody of his son and “accusing him of being a terrorist.” The gunman also said he had explosives in the van, which was outfitted with gun ports in the sides.

Brown said, based on witness accounts, as many as four suspects may have been involved in the original shooting, including some who may have been positioned at elevated positions. However, police say conflicting witness accounts made it difficult to immediately determine how many shooters were involved.

Police are currently attempting to disarm and disable the exposives that they believe to be pipe bombs inside the vehicle and have had no contact with the other known suspect in a number of hours.

[brid video=”9767″ player=”1929″ title=”Police Hold Press Conference on Shooting Incident at Dallas Police Headquarters”]

Multiple gunmen armed with automatic weapons fired

Politics

GOP 2016-Iowa Straw Poll

Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa central committee, speaks at a meeting discussing whether or not the state party should carry on with a presidential straw poll, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, at the party headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo: AP/The Des Moines Register, Charlie Litchfield)

Party officials say the decades-old Iowa Straw Poll, once a prominent money-maker for the Hawkeye State Republican Party, has been canceled in a vote. The development was almost inevitable considering the lack of interest from declared and potential GOP presidential candidates. 

“I’ve said since December that we would only hold a straw poll if the candidates wanted one, and this year that is just not the case,” Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee said in a statement:

The Ames Straw Poll, as it was officially known, had been held every election cycle since 1979 without a Republican incumbent president, and was once believed to be a serious measurement of a candidate’s electability. However, most recently, it has done nothing but bring in thousands of dollars for the Iowa State Republican Party. The survey, which was really turned into a popularity contest, has failed to pick the candidate that was ultimately nominated since President George W. Bush.

With increasing irrelevance sinking in, three of the Republican presidential hopefuls — beginning with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — decided not to even participate. The other two are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Kaufmann said in Sept. 2014 that the party will have an event in the summer of 2015. However, he stopped short of saying that it will be the traditional Ames Straw Poll.

Party officials confirmed the decades-old Iowa Straw

Economy

consumer sentiment men shopping

Shoppers at Third Street Promenade outdoor shopping mall on August 17, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo: Reuters)

The University of Michigan said Friday that their preliminary June reading on the overall consumer sentiment index came in at 94.6. That reading came in more than economists expected in the month of June, up from the final reading of 90.7 the month prior.

Economist polled by Reuters gave a median forecast of 91.5 for the month of May, though they still may end up being closer to reality.

Digging into the survey, the barometer of current economic conditions increased to 106.8 from 100.8 the month prior, and beat out the forecast of 96.5. The survey’s gauge of consumer expectations ticked up to 86.8 from the final May reading of 84.2. Economists were looking for 85.

The survey’s one-year inflation expectation, however, fell to 2.7 percent from 2.8 percent. Those expectations don’t jive with the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index (PPI) released earlier Friday, which showed the largest gain in inflation in nearly three years. If expectations are correct, then the price gain may just be a temporary reflection of increasing gas prices.

The University of Michigan said Friday that

Economy

producer prices and Ford factory worker

(Photo: REUTERS)

The Labor Department said Friday that wholesale inflation gauged in the Producer Price Index(PPI) posted the largest gain in nearly 3 years. The PPI is not as widely cited or used as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is due out next week, but it is still considered to be a good indicator of inflation.

U.S. producer prices in May increased 0.5 percent last month, the largest gain since September 2012, following a 0.4 percent decline in April. The cost of gasoline increased by 17 percent, while food rose by 0.8 percent.

Economists had forecast the PPI rising 0.4 percent last month and falling 1.1 percent from a year ago, but according to the Labor Department, through May the PPI on the year fell 1.1 percent, marking the fourth straight 12-month decrease. Prices dropped 1.3 percent in the 12 months through April, which is the biggest fall since 2010.

The trade services component increased 0.6 percent in May after falling by 0.8 percent the prior month, though that largely reflects profit margins at retailers and wholesalers. Profit margins also increased at services stations, an unsurprising number considering the rise in gasoline prices.

Excluding food, energy and trade services the PPI actually fell by 0.1 percent last month after ticking up 0.1 percent in April. The so-called core PPI was up 0.6 percent in the 12 months through May.

 

The Labor Department said Friday that wholesale

Policy

They say economists are boring people. Today, though, I’m going to break the stereotype by writing about the fascinating intersection of sex and public policy.

Okay, maybe it’s only the sex part that’s interesting, but we’re going to look at a couple of examples of how excessive government can take the fun out of anything.

i-don-t-need-sex-irs-screws-me-everyday-patch-p4562-300x200In other words, we’re going to add to our “sin tax” collection.

  • California bureaucrats regulating participants in porn films, as humorously described by Mark Steyn.
  • The World Bank paying poor young women so they don’t take up with sugar daddies.
  • Obamacare being so costly that some young women are looking for sugar daddies.
  • British taxpayers financing sex trips to Amsterdam.
  • A ruling from the U.S. Tax Court that money spent on sex change operations is deductible.
  • The law in Hawaii allows cops to have sex with prostitutes.
  • In Germany, by contrast, prostitutes have to use parking meters to pay tax.
  • Pakistani officials use transsexuals to encourage tax payments.
  • But in Colorado, you can get busted (no pun intended) for cutting hair while topless, but not because you’re bare-chested.
  • And in Spain, porn has a lower tax rate than the theatre.

Now let’s get to our new additions.

Here are some of the details from a story in the U.K.-based Telegraph.

A brothel in Austria is offering free sex to its customers – as a tax protest. Pascha brothel in the city of Salzburg is advertising a “Summer Special”. “We’re not paying any more tax!” says an announcement on the brothel’s website. “From now on: Free entry! Free drinks! Free sex!” The brothel’s owner, Hermann Müller, is paying the prostitutes out of his own pocket as a protest against what he says are unfair taxes.

Gee, this sounds a lot more intriguing than throwing tea in Boston Harbor.

Prostitution-TaxAnd a lot more popular.

“…we’ve already had to send hundreds of customers away because we had a full house,” Mr Müller told Austria’s Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

The brother owner doesn’t like the fact that government seems to make more money off prostitution than he does.

The German-born Mr Müller runs a chain of brothels… “In the past decade alone I’ve paid nearly €5m in taxes in Salzburg alone,” he said. “And they want more and more…” He complained that tax officials check up on the brothel’s business every 14 days.

Maybe Mr.  should move to Nevada. That state, for unknown reasons (perhaps politicians are big customers?), has a loophole in the sales tax for prostitution services.

And maybe the women also should move since Nevada doesn’t have a state income tax.

Under Austrian law prostitutes must be self-employed – so they will still be liable for their own taxes.

By the way, we have similar issues in the United States.

As reported by the New York Law Journal, it seems government tax collectors like to insert themselves (no pun intended) between consenting adults.

Pole dance routines by exotic dancers in an Albany-area juice bar are an expression of artistic merit, but the private couch dances performed for individual patrons are not, a state tax department administrative law judge has ruled. The distinction drawn by ALJ Joseph Pinto Jr. is an important one for the outcome of the state Division of Taxation’s latest attempt to collect sales taxes from the Nite Moves club on couch dances. Auditors contend that the club and its proprietors owe the state just under $530,000 in unpaid taxes on the private dances and on cover charges for the period.

The strip club wanted to take advantage of the sales tax exemption for art.

The same club challenged its tax bill for 2002-05, also on grounds it was due the exemption for artistic performances on First Amendment grounds.

But the Judge decided that pole dances qualify, but not lap dances.

Pinto rejected the claim of Nite Moves’ owners that the couch dances, being artistic in nature, fall under the same state sales tax exemption… He cited the testimony presented by several dance experts about the artistic merit of the pole routines.

The Judge’s decision seems to track the outcome of a similar case involving the Hustler Club in New York City, so government officials in the Empire State are obviously on top (no pun intended) of these issues.

working-for-the-govt

And even though bureaucrats have a reputation for being lazy, some of them are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the tax laws are enforced.

He cited the testimony of the supervisor of the Nite Moves audit who said the “private dance was essentially a full body rub” and far different than the pole dances the supervisor observed in his 10 to 15 visits to the club.

Hmmm…, I wonder whether “the supervisor” has a wife and whether she thought 10 to 15 visits were really necessary?

Let’s close by making a serious point. Prostitutes and “exotic dancers” presumably don’t have easy lives. And maybe we should even have some sympathy for their customers, who presumably would prefer not to have to pay women for their company.

So why, then, impose extra-high taxes on the sex industry?

Though maybe we should look at the bright side. At least hookers and strippers aren’t savers and investors.

Those are the people who get hit hardest by the tax system, though I’ve never understood why financing tomorrow’s growth is a sinful activity that should be discouraged.

[mybooktable book=”global-tax-revolution-the-rise-of-tax-competition-and-the-battle-to-defend-it” display=”summary” buybutton_shadowbox=”true”]

They say economists are boring people. But

Opinion

us-soldiers-iraq

U.S. troops take a knee at a street corner before continuing a patrol in Baghdad in this file photo from Oct. 23, 2011. (PHOTO: JOHN LAUGHTER/U.S. ARMY)

It’s to be expected that I hardly agree with President Obama on any political issues, as we have radically different worldviews, but what I don’t understand is why there isn’t more alarm from all quarters about the potentially existential threats to this nation posed by his policies.

Obama’s ideas, policies and actions in office are often so outrageous that when you describe them or the threat they represent, people discount your comments as extreme on their face. The trouble is it’s hard not to sound extreme when what he’s doing is extreme.

I probably disagreed with Bill Clinton 80 percent of the time, but I never feared that the country was in serious jeopardy under him. As bad as I believed Obama would be in 2008, I never thought those in the political establishment (sympathetic Democratic politicians in Washington and too many ineffective or gun-shy Republican ones) would either join him or abdicate their responsibility and let him accelerate the demise of the nation as rapidly as he has. It would be impossible for one man to do this much damage alone.

Matt Drudge recently tweeted: “Next 18 months going to be EVERYTHING. Bigger than campaign news: Obama’s scorched Earth exit. You’ve been warned…” This makes me nervous. How could he get any worse?

Obama has already made serious headway in “fundamentally transforming” this nation for the worse. He so obviously rejects the American idea that I don’t believe I should waste words proving it here. He is bitter about our founding and bitter about our current state — even though he’s been radically changing it for six years. There’s no satisfying a revenge appetite.

I am quite serious: On any one of a number of fronts, this country, without a dramatic course change, could be in dire trouble.

Let’s look at the war on terror. Obama has been in such denial about radical Islam that he refuses to recognize even undeniable acts of terrorism for what they are — here and around the world. He holds to the painfully warped idea that Islamist terrorism and the violence that intrinsically springs from it are rooted in poverty, empirical evidence to the contrary be damned. If you don’t recognize and identify your enemy or if you unilaterally declare a truce, you can’t effectively fight it. But declaring a war over when your sworn enemies have told you they are committed to your utter destruction and are becoming even more aggressive is objectively insane — and suicidal.

Then there are Obama’s negotiations with Iran. Even many Democrats admit that his actions make no sense and are dangerous. You can’t possibly trust this radical, Islamo-fascist regime to honor its agreements when it has already broken promises it made to us on the very issue we’re discussing — not to mention that this regime also is committed to our destruction and the destruction of Israel.
Our fiscal condition? Actuaries and other experts uniformly predict that entitlements will swallow our entire budget — 100 percent of our federal revenues — within a generation or so, and when it comes to budget projections, the gloom-and-doom predictions are always understated. Democratic politicians will not even acknowledge we have a problem with our discretionary budget, so the entitlement budget is beyond off-limits to them. All the noisemakers are talking about the mythical threats of global warming and completely ignoring — suppressing, actually — the incontrovertible fact that we are fiscally done if we don’t get our entitlements under control, yesterday. But Obama is determined not to let anyone touch them and has even added another egregious offender — Obamacare — and don’t even get me started on the fiscal and health care dangers it poses.

Next, our deliberately porous borders. I don’t care if the perennially unexcitable tell you that our rate of immigration has slowed or if certain monomaniacal libertarian-oriented people tell you we need more people for more jobs. Far too many people (just one is too many) who hate America and want to destroy it are streaming over the border. Forget assimilation or acculturation. To leftists, you’re a hero if you agree with them that America stinks. The more the better — because they’ll vote Democratic.

On to racial, gender and class tensions. This administration is deliberately fanning the flames of division in this nation, and this distrust is tearing away at the fabric of our society. But if you support proven conservative policies, you’re a racist, sexist, bigoted homophobe. If you call for tax fairness, you hate the poor. If you promote the free market as the best method to produce the most prosperity across the board, you are unspeakably reactionary, evil and bereft of compassion.

Our Constitution? Obama is making a mockery of its limitations on his power, the most recent example of which is the Obamacare subsidies. So little has been done to check Obama’s power that some political analysts reasonably believe that future presidents — Hillary Clinton has been named, God forbid she wins — will trample even more heavily on the Constitution.

I talk to far too many people to believe I’m alone in my concerns. But the wrecking ball that is Barack Obama and his army of enablers in his party and the media proceed unabated in their destructive march.

God help us, and God save the republic.
[mybooktable book=”jesus-on-trial-a-lawyer-affirms-truth-the-gospel” display=”summary” buybutton_shadowbox=”true”]

Why isn't there more alarm from all

Economy

jobs-san-francisco-unemployment

A discouraged worker sits in an unemployment office in San Francisco. (Photo: Reuters)

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, marking an increase in the firing rate among employers.

Weekly jobless benefits, or the measurement of initial claims for state unemployment benefits, increased 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 279,000 for the week ended June 6. Meanwhile, claims for the prior week were revised up to show 1,000 more applications received than initially reported.

Still, this is the 14th straight week that claims have come in below the 300,000 threshold, which is usually associated with a firming labor market. What most outlets are not reporting, however, is that the Labor Department changed their methodology for calculating these claims roughly a few weeks after the trend began.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims edging up to 277,000 and a Labor Department analyst said there was nothing unusual in the state level data.

The four-week moving average of claims — which is widely considered a more accurate gauge of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility — jumped 3,750 to 278,750 last week. Further, Thursday’s claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 61,000 to 2.27 million in the week ended May 30.

The number of Americans filing new claims

Economy

trade-cargo

Stacked shipping containers and cargo in U.S. trade port. (Photo: Reuters)

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that U.S. import prices boomed in May after 10 straight months of declines, fueled by the increased cost of petroleum. However, it could have been worse, as a relatively strong U.S. dollar continued to curb underlying inflation pressures imported from overseas.

Import prices gained 1.3 percent last month, which is the largest gain since March 2012, and April’s decline was revised to a 0.2 percent drop.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices rising 0.8 percent.

In the 12 months through May prices fell 9.6 percent and, last month, imported petroleum prices shot up 12.7 percent, which was the biggest increase since June 2009.

Import prices excluding petroleum were unchanged in the month of May, but the dollar has gained roughly 13.2 percent against the currencies of the United States’ major trading partners since June.

Imported food prices rose 0.3 percent after declining 1.0 percent in the prior month (April), while export prices increased by 0.6 percent last month after falling 0.7 percent (April). Export prices declined 5.9 percent in the 12 months through May, and April’s numbers mark the biggest gain since March 2014.

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that

Economy

retail-sales-reuters

Shopper at a mall impacting consumer data and retail sales reporting. (Photo: Reuters)

The Commerce Department said on Thursday U.S. retail sales increased in May despite an increase in gasoline prices, staving or at least calming fears of a recession. Retail sales increased 1.2 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.2 percent gain in April.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast April’s retail sales at a 1.1 percent gain last month, and sales were previously reported to have been unchanged. March sales were also revised to show them rising 1.5 percent instead of 1.1 percent.

The latest retail sales data is helping to give economists more optimism toward the second quarter, which started slow and suggested a textbook recession ahead. Still, much of the economy’s performance is fragile and can be contributed to the Federal Reserve, who is now on track to raise interest rates this year. Whether the fragile recovery can handle it, remains to be seen.

Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a 0.7 percent annual pace in the first quarter, but revised data on healthcare spending, construction spending, trade and wholesale inventory reports suggested output shrank but at a lower rate.

Retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.7 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent rise in April.

The so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists had forecast core retail sales rising 0.5 percent in May after they were previously reported to have been flat in April.

Overall retail sales last month were fueled by a 2.0 percent jump in receipts at auto dealerships, while ales at service stations increased 3.7 percent. Sales at electronic and appliance stores tacked on 0.1 percent, while receipts at furniture stores increased 0.8 percent.

Sales at clothing stores surged 1.5 percent. Receipts at online stores climbed 1.4 percent and sales at sporting goods stores increased 0.8 percent. Sales of building materials and garden equipment advanced 2.1 percent.

Sales at restaurants and bars inched up by just 0.1 percent.

The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales

Politics

Lebanon Valley mosque PA

Lebanon Valley mosque Pennsylvania.

Fifty or so teachers and administrators with the Lebanon School District in Pennsylvania, including the superintendent, were just given a day of specialized training on Islam – at taxpayers’ expense – that wrapped with them hitting the floors of a local mosque, in the required shoeless fashion, and partaking of the faith’s call to prayer.

Can you say what the –?

Or better yet, how about imaging this “what if” scenario: Fifty or so teachers and administrators with one Pennsylvania school district were just given a day of specialized training on the Baptist faith – at taxpayers’ expense – that wrapped with them hitting the sanctuary of a local church and joining the congregation in prayer.

Now is it outrageous?

The Lebanon Daily News first reported the day-long Muslim-inspired venture, describing it as a way for school officials to learn more about their district’s growing Arabic population – in much the same vein they would for, say, Hispanics.

In other words, it’s a cultural divide thang.

At the same time, there’s no way the politically correct crowd would handshake any deal that brought teachers to a Christian church during the tax-paid school day. In that instance, the loudly proclaimed denial would be: “It’s separation of church and state!”

But with Islam, at the Lebanon school district, the Islam training and mosque visit seemed necessary educational experiences.

That said, the workshop was headed up by Mohamed Omar, a former teacher aide and Arabic translator for the school district who also previously served as president of the mosque. Omar, who moved from Egypt to American in 2000, is now employed by the Department of Human Services in Philadelphia, but was able to take a day off work to instruct the teachers and administrators, and bring them to the mosque.

There, teachers removed their shoes, in line with mosque requirements, and joined several members of the facility in sitting on the floor for a quick 20-minute instructional on the ins and outs of Islamism, and how the faith compares to Christianity. Some even bowed to Allah, the Daily Caller reported.

“We believe we will be judged by God,” Omar told the participants, the local newspaper reported. “The more good deeds we do, God will forgive us in the end. … You must work. Faith without work will not be accepted.”

Mosque founder Hamid Housni was apparently amazed at the school’s outreach, calling it “the first time ever in the United States that a school district goes to a mosque” and saying “we don’t have words to explain to you how we appreciate that.”

And English-as-a-Second-Language teacher Lara Book called the day amazing – a real learning moment.

“It’s important that we educate ourselves about cultures that are different from our own and that we try to eliminate some misunderstandings,” she said, EAGNews.org reported. And notably, the lessons she learned?

“Basically, although our cultures are different, the fundamentals of them are similar and we all want the same things: happiness for our families, health and success,” she said, “Although we might go about finding those things in our lives differently, from a cultural standpoint, we all want the same thing.”

Except – we don’t. One only has to look to ISIS to see how the Koran’s interpreted by many Muslims. Or, to the many nations in the Middle East and their views of Israel. Or, at a burqa-clad female. If teachers want to educate themselves on the pros and cons of Islam, that’s fine, so long as it’s on their own time. But the bigger issue is this: Should taxpayers be paying for teachers to bow down to Allah during the school day?

Talk about a propaganda tool. We can only hope teacher Book’s reaction to the training session wasn’t representative of what all 50 of those in attendance learned as well.

[mybooktable book=”police-state-usa-how-orwells-nightmare-is-becoming-our-reality” display=”summary” buybutton_shadowbox=”true”]

Fifty or so teachers, administrators and the

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