New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has wanted to be president of something from an early age. In high school, he was president of his class in ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th grades.

At the University of Delaware, he was president of his dorm and ultimately president of the student body. It was there that the political style of the ambitious and sometimes unorthodox Republican presidential candidate first began to take shape.


http://www.npr.org/2015/12/27/460600609/where-chris-christie-found-his-political-calling

Total ass kissing puff piece. Not one word about how his corrupt practices were evident even then...


1. The College Dick: Christie's Reign Begins

Political patronage is a Christie habit that stretches back yearsas does his talent for consolidating power. Both of those characteristics were on display in 1983 when he was elected student president at the University of Delaware. Building a political party that included his future wife, Mary Pat Foster, Christie dominated the elections. The following year, Christie's brother, Todd, was placed in charge of the election committee, and Mary Pat ran unopposed for president to succeed Christie, who was preparing to go to law school but continued to pull the levers on a beta version of his political machine. His classmates could spot a budding backroom dealer. And even then, Christie loved to gloat.

Richard Abbott, University of Delaware student, writing on April 27, 1984, in the school newspaper:

"When [one] witnesses the appointment of the president's friends or even his brother to committee chairmanships, one begins to wonder.... Something is lacking in our student government. It is known as representative democracy.... It is unfortunate that this same system will most likely continue next year, propped up by Chris Christie's anointed successors. As Mr. Christie stated, 'We're not having an election this year, we're having a coronation.' "

http://www.gq.com/story/the-chris-christie-story

U.S. Foreign Arms Deals Increased Nearly $10 Billion in 2014

By NICHOLAS FANDOS DEC. 25, 2015

WASHINGTON — Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost
$10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market
remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new
congressional study has found.
American weapons receipts rose to $36.2 billion in 2014 from $26.7
billion the year before, bolstered by multibillion­dollar agreements with Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Those deals and others ensured that the United
States remained the single largest provider of arms around the world last year,
controlling just over 50 percent of the market.
Russia followed the United States as the top weapons supplier, completing
$10.2 billion in sales, compared with $10.3 billion in 2013. Sweden was third,
with roughly $5.5 billion in sales, followed by France with $4.4 billion and
China with $2.2 billion.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/world/middleeast/us-foreign-arms-deals-increased-nearly-10-billion-in-2014.html?_r=0

?t=127

Geez, give it a fucking break!

“It’s skill,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in response to a question on “60 Minutes” Sunday from Charlie Rose as to why the company’s products are made in China.

Rose clearly wasn’t buying it. “They have more skills than American workers? They have more skills than German workers?” he pressed.

“The U.S., over time, began to stop having as many vocational kind of skills,” Cook explained. “I mean, you can take every tool and die maker in the United States and probably put them in a room that we’re currently sitting in. In China, you would have to have multiple football fields.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tim-cook-apple-doesnt-make-its-products-in-china-because-its-cheaper-2015-12-20?link=MW_popular

And then he goes on to make excuses for his company's massive tax dodging.

But how can this be happening? After all, the antiestablishment
candidates now dominating the field, aside from being deeply ignorant about
policy, have a habit of making false claims, then refusing to acknowledge error.
Why don’t Republican voters seem to care?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/opinion/the-donald-and-the-decider.html?emc=edit_th_20151221&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688

Seriously, do all of you guys with your knickers in a twist about this really believe that Hillary's staff is too honorable to peek into Bernie's files when the door is left wide open? This is politics, and there is always a lot of skulllduggery going on beneath the surface. Details are not necessarily known by the candidate, but information discovered is often used by the campaign.

Let's not get too involved with infighting over this or Hillary's past peccadilloes.

Save the energy and emotion to prevent a President Trump or Presidente Rafael Eduardo Cruz.

Describing Mr. Obama’s remarks at a news conference in France, Mr.
Bush said, “He basically says, ‘Look, the discussion is over, anyone who
disagrees with my nuanced, sophisticated views is an idiot.”’
“I just disagree with that,” Mr. Bush added...

....“Obama said today the streets of Miami are flooded and fish are falling on
them,’’ Mr. Bush said. “I live there. I don’t know what he’s talking about.’’

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/01/jeb-bush-says-he-would-have-probably-skipped-climate-conference/


The city of Miami Beach floods on such a predictable basis that if, out of curiosity or sheer perversity, a person wants to she can plan a visit to coincide with an inundation. Knowing the tides would be high around the time of the “super blood moon,” in late September, I arranged to meet up with Hal Wanless, the chairman of the University of Miami’s geological-sciences department. Wanless, who is seventy-three, has spent nearly half a century studying how South Florida came into being. From this, he’s concluded that much of the region may have less than half a century more to go.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/21/the-siege-of-miami

Flooding has become an expensive problem for places such as Miami Beach, which flood for several days twice a year as a result of king tides. The coastal city is on track to spend around $500 million to install 80 pumps and raise roads and seawalls across the city. The Herald reported that while the city has flooded for decades during king tides, it has been getting worse.
A Hollywood resident, Robin Rorapaugh, told the Miami Herald’s Public Insight Network in October 2015 that king tides had grown in her neighborhood and that "anyone who doubts climate change should witness the sea come through the storm drains — fish were swimming in the street..."

...We also found video evidence that supported Obama’s point. A Sept. 28 TV news report featured video showing a fish swimming on Cordova Road in Fort Lauderdale.

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/dec/04/barack-obama/do-fish-swim-streets-miami-high-tide-barack-obama-/

Politifact rated Obama's statement as half true based on the fact that the fish reports were not about Miami streets proper!

Honestly (if there is such a thing in my state) I thought it wouldn't be above an F.

How does each state rank for transparency and accountability? The State Integrity Investigation used extensive research to grade the states based on the laws and systems they have in place to deter corruption. Use the interactive to see how states scored overall and explore how they performed in each of the 13 categories. See related story 》

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18822/how-does-your-state-rank-integrity

Two police officers have been arrested on charges of second­degree murder in
connection with the shooting death of a 6­year­old boy during a pursuit of his
father in a sport utility vehicle in central Louisiana, the state police said
Friday.
The officers, Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Lt. Derrick Stafford, who were
placed on administrative leave after the chase on Tuesday, also face charges of
attempted second­degree murder, Col. Michael Edmonson, superintendent of
the Louisiana State Police, said during a news conference on Friday.
The father, Chris Few, who was driving, was critically injured in the
shooting. Mr. Few’s son, Jeremy Mardis, was killed after the police opened fire on the SUV.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/2-louisiana-officers-charged-with-murder-in-death-of-6-year-old.html?emc=edit_th_20151107&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688