Thank you for visiting the "News" page where you will find news you can use scoured from reliable sources everywhere. You will certainly find news and information here that you won't find elsewhere because I scour the internet to bring reliable news and information together, here, in one place. The News page has the latest news which is also posted on other pages dedicated to the same topic to keep the topic in context so you can understand the trends. Thank you. - Rodney Spooner

April 2017

Thursday,
April 27,
2017
Trump unveils tax overhaul 
Proposal would jolt Bay Area housing and afflict charities
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/26/trump-tax-proposal-what-it-means-for-me/ 
Long on ambition, short on details, President Donald Trump’s promise of the biggest overhaul in the history of the American tax system could jolt the Bay Area, shaking up the housing market, afflicting charities and prodding tech giants to bring billions of their assets back home from abroad.

March 2017

February 2017

Friday,
February 3,
2017
Is Anything Wrong With Natural, Non-Man-Made Climate Change?
Guest post written by Mario Loyola.I recently asked an environmentalist this question: "If we found out that the planet was warming for purely natural reasons, would you be in favor of climate engineering to stop it, because the current temperature and sea level are the right ones for humans?"

He seemed appalled. "No, of course not, man," he said.

"Thank you," I said. And I meant it, because this fellow had just made a concession that is fatal to the central argument in favor of reducing carbon emissions: the risk of catastrophic climate change.

Mr. Loyola—author of "Twilight of the Climate Change Movement"—is senior fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

January 2017

December 2016

November 2016

October 2016

September 2016

May 2016

Wednesday,
May 29, 2016

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Questions linger over health risk over desal plant water  
Why is our state government paying $27 million for desalinated water in 2016-17 – plus more options totalling almost $90 million when Melbourne Water's own estimates show that, even with low drought-affected rainfall and existing reserves, the catchment areas would have sufficient water to last 20 years.

The best answer seems to be the report in Fairfax publications by resources reporter, Peter Ker, in March that the water order "has come just in time for the company that owns the plant by enabling it to refinance a looming debt obligation of $830 million maturing in October, a sum that dwarfed the $1.68 million profit the company posted for the 2015 financial year". 

Aquasure is built on a mountain of debt, ensuring it doesn't pay tax. According to the 2015 annual report of the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the "take or pay" contract costs Victorians a weighted average cost of capital of 11.04 per cent without one drop of water being delivered –  nearly three times the cost of capital if the plant had been financed by public borrowings.

Worse, there are real public health risks associated with the possibility of dangerous levels of boron left in permeate (manufactured water) of reverse osmosis plants like Wonthaggi. This was of academic interest only while no water was ordered.
 But as a result of the order foisted on Melbourne Water  by the government, the company has been able to borrow $900 million for seven years, syndicated across at least 12 banks at an extremely favourable rate estimated to be below 4 per cent – despite Aquasure's BBB+ credit rating – according to Ker.

Continue reading at http://www.theage.com.au/comment/questions-linger-over-health-risk-from-desal-plant-water-20160526-gp47oi.html

Read more about water and desalination at Water
Wednesday,
May 25, 2016
The Concerning Drop In Workforce Participation And Role Of Family-Friendly Policies  
The drop in labor force participation rates concerns economists for several reasons. First, it depresses economic growth, which is already at anemic levels of 0.5%. Second, it puts pressure on the federal budget at a time when we are facing historic fiscal constraints. The less workers there are, the more the tax base shrinks. And third, any time out of the labor force impacts workers’ future earnings trajectories should they return to work, due to lost training and on-the-job experience.
Friday,
May 20, 2016
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B-1/B-2 visa involved in Tesla factory expansion sparks debate  
The B-1/B-2 visa is a hybrid that allows both business and pleasure travel. It was used by the workers imported by a subcontractor to the Tesla plant, according to interviews and a lawsuit brought by an injured worker.

While foreign workers can obtain the visa for supervisory duties, workers at the Tesla plant were installing pipes and welding parts -- hands-on work banned by the terms of their visas, according to immigration experts and court documents. Workers told this newspaper in the story "The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla's Factory" that they had worked on jobs under similar arrangements around the country.

Read more about immigration at Immigration News.
Sunday,
May 15, 2016
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Obamacare's 2017 Insurer Rate Requests Are Starting to Stream in, and the Figures Are Scary  
In Virginia, national insurer Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced an average premium rate hike request averaging 13% for its Aetna Managed Choice segment, while Innovation Health, a joint-venture between Aetna and Inova, is requesting an average premium hike of 16.6%. Anthem HealthKeepers, a component of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, is requesting an average rate hike of 15.8%. Overall, Virginia's rate request data is still trickling in, and it very well could change many times over prior to the start of open enrollment -- but according to Obamacare data aggregators ACASignUps.net, the weighted average of the 13 received rate requests is nearly 18%.

Things are looking even worse in Oregon, which released proposed health insurance rate requests earlier this month.

Read more at http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/15/obamacares-2017-insurer-rate-requests-are-starting.aspx?source=yahoo-2&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2.
Thursday,
May 5, 2016
Checkmating The Left On Global Warming  
"Wind and solar...are not the only power sources that produce little or no carbon dioxide emissions. Natural gas power emits only half as much carbon dioxide as coal power, and hydro power and nuclear power emit no carbon dioxide emissions at all. Natural gas and nuclear power are available on-demand, unlike wind and solar power that are extremely limited on cloudy days, low-wind days and at night. Hydro power is not quite an on-demand power source, but it is much more reliable and predictable than wind and solar. Because wind and solar require conventional power backup, hydro and nuclear power actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions even more effectively than wind and solar, and natural gas emissions become comparatively smaller relative to wind and solar."

Read more at http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2016/05/05/checkmating-the-left-on-global-warming/#512f3bb9179b

April 2016

Wednesday,
April 20,
2016

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Obama Administration Tells Supreme Court 'Lawfully' Doesn't Mean 'Legally'  
"Welcome to what Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told the Supreme Court on Monday is the "immigration world." Or, more accurately, welcome to the new world President Barack Obama — through his solicitor — is asking the Supreme Court to join him in declaring.

"It is a world that contradicts the law of noncontradiction. It is a place where something can be and not be at the same time. It is a place of illogic — and lawlessness."
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016
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Major earthquake overdue in California's Eastern Sierra, study finds  
Scientists say the Sierra's eastern front is long overdue for a large earthquake along the California-Nevada line, where a magnitude 7 event expected on average every 30 years hasn't occurred in six decades.
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016
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In Illinois, Some Push Bankruptcy As Solution To Troubled Public Budgets  Each year in Illinois, increasing pension obligations are consuming more of its taxpayers’ dollars, pushing cities and towns to cut core services and raise property taxes just to keep up with the payments, policy experts say.

It’s led a Republican lawmaker to float the idea of allowing municipalities and other agencies to declare bankruptcy. Rep. Ron Sandack even introduced a bill specific to allowing the financially troubled Chicago Public Schools system – whose teachers are preparing to strike – to use the bankruptcy system, but he has no plans to attempt to further it.
And a recent Chicago Tribune editorial says if CPS isn’t considering bankruptcy, it should be.
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016

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Tectonic shifts triggered ancient ice ages  
BOSTON, April 19 (UPI) -- Researchers have known that across the great expanse of Earth's geologic history, tectonic shifts and climate change are linked. Identifying more specific correlations -- cause and effect -- has proven difficult.

However, new research shows tectonic activity likely triggered the last two ice ages.

"I think we're the first ones to really link large-scale tectonic events to climate change," Oliver Jagoutz, associate professor of planetary sciences at MIT, said in a news release.

Read more about climate change at http://www.votefortheconstitution.com/climate-change-news.html
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016

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The Texas secession debate is getting kind of real  
When Texas Republicans assemble for their state convention next month, it’s possible they will debate whether Texas should secede from the United States.

There’s almost no chance Texas Republicans will actually vote in favor of seceding, mind you — not least because most of the party wants nothing to do with this — but the fact we’re even mentioning secession and the Texas GOP convention in the same sentence suggests that the once-fringe movement has become a priority for at least some conservative grass-roots Texans.
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016

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Our amicus brief on behalf of nine states in an important Takings Clause property rights case  
Yesterday, the state of Nevada filed an amicus brief I coauthored on behalf of Nevada itself and eight other state governments in Murr v. Wisconsin, a major property rights case currently before the Supreme Court. The case addresses an important question about when property owners are entitled to compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment: whether an action that might otherwise be a taking might cease to be one merely because the owner of the affected lot also happens to own other property contiguous to it.
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016
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Drive a Car — Waive Your Constitutional Rights  
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Birchfield v. North Dakota, an important Fourth Amendment case that should be of interest to everyone who drives a car. 
Tuesday,
April 19,
2016
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Five Things ACA Supporters Don't Want You To Know About UnitedHealth's Withdrawal From ObamaCare  
UnitedHealth is withdrawing from most of the 34 ObamaCare Exchanges in which it currently sells, citing losses of $650 million in 2016. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report indicates UnitedHealth’s departure will leave consumers on Oklahoma’s Exchange with only one choice of insurance carriers. Were UnitedHealth to exit all 34 states, the share of counties with only one or two carriers on the Exchange would rise from 36% to 52%, while the share of enrollees with only one or two carriers from which to choose would nearly double from 15% to 29%. 

Read more health care news at http://www.votefortheconstitution.com/health-care-news.html
Monday,
April 18,
2016
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Shining Light on ‘Settled’ Science: There Is No ‘Climate Crisis’     
The science of global warming is settled. At least, this is what politicians keep insisting. Why should they care? Well, it turns out that global warming has provided a pretext for massive increases in political control over the public. The science of global warming has been used to justify the banning of lightbulbs, shutting down coal-fired power plants, and even a possible sighting of the holy grail: increased taxation without end (to save the planet).

Read more climate change news at http://www.votefortheconstitution.com/climate-change-news.html

March 2016

February 2016

January 2016

Tuesday,
January 26,
2016
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Spain’s Green Energy Production Crippled Without Subsidy Crutch  
Spain did not install a single new megawatt of wind power capacity last year for the first time since the 1980s.
Monday,
January 25,
2016
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Are red-light camera crash results inflated?   
Red-light cameras began proliferating at suburban intersections in 2009 with the justification that they would prevent crashes.
The same year, the Illinois Department of Transportation raised the dollar threshold necessary to report property damage crashes from $500 to $1,500.

In one fell swoop, reported crashes shrank statewide by 30 percent -- from an average of 413,235 a year to an average of 287,718, IDOT officials said.

How much of the credit for reducing crashes should go to red-light cameras?
Thursday,
January 7,
2016
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Folsom Lake rises nearly 30 feet in 30 days  
GRANITE BAY, Calif. (KCRA) --As a parade of storms continues to soak the Sacramento Valley and pile up snow in the Sierra, Folsom Lake is on the rise. As of 4 a.m. Thursday, the lake had 252,430 acre-feet of water, according to the California Data Exchange. That's almost double what the lake had just a month prior, when the reservoir hit an all-time low of 135,943 acre-feet on Dec. 4.