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Overnight Open Thread (16 Jan 2015)

This really isn't surprising. A recession worse than 2008 is coming.

Therefore, this inevitable, and by all accounts brutal upcoming recession, will coincide with two unprecedented and extremely dangerous conditions that should make the next downturn worse than 2008.

First, the Fed will not be able to lower interest rates and provide any debt-service relief for the economy.

Second, the federal government increased the amount of publicly-traded debt by $8.5 trillion (an increase of 170 percent), and ran $1.5 trillion deficits to try to boost consumption through transfer payments.

Nearly half of millennials believe the American dream is dead. Well, if they keep falling for democrats come election time, the dream will remain dead.

Millennials, however, have not deserted liberalism for the open arms of conservatism. In some ways, support for the Democratic Party and President Obama has grown.
A fall poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics found that 45 percent of millennials prefer the Democrats to win the 2016 presidential election. That's only a one percentage point increase from the spring, but only 36 percent of millennials wanted the Republicans to regain control of the White House. Support for Republicans fell four percentage points from the spring.

This Day In History

Prohibition in the United States began on January 16, 1920.

Oh NY

Can someone explain to me how this is in the best interests for Americans in NY? Bill would allow new cabbies to skip written English test.

The proposal would allow drivers to get their hack licenses with just a cursory oral exam and without offering any proof they can read or write the language, including traffic signs.

If we're not even gonna try to assimilate newcomers into being an American, we may as well just stop. No other country does this.

Cat Videos

Great Green Fleet

USS John C. Stennis leaves Kitsap-Bremerton for Great Green Fleet deployment. I'm having a hard time believing this part.

"These biofuels have been procured by Department of the Navy at prices that are on par with conventional fuels, as required by law, and are certified as ‘drop-in’ replacements that require no engine modifications or changes to operational procedures,"

I find it hard to believe that the Navy has biofuel in the quantity they need at prices that are on par with conventional fuels (especially this $2.05 a gallon statement for this deployment). Biofuels have consistently cost far more than conventional fuels. Of course, it's probably a shell game. The taxpayers are probably paying the difference in the cost via grants from the USDA to firms that signed up for this initiative so they can offset the cost of feedstocks used to produce the biofuels as part of the Farm-to-Fleet program. Or perhaps the firms are getting tax credits from the Renewable Fuel Standard and other credits (agriculture, etc.). The Navy buys fuel at the price cap mandated by RFS and the biofuel producers make up the difference via other means. So what IS the true cost?

Here's an article from almost a year ago talking about biofuel.

what are the impacts of the plunge in crude oil prices? First of all, my estimate is that it takes crude oil at about US$140 for most cellulosic biofuels to be economic without subsidies or mandates. Thus, without government intervention, there would be no future for cellulosic biofuels with crude oil prices well below US$100.

Satellite Deniers

Oh boy. Now the warmists say 'the satellites are lying' in regard to global temperature.

Damned Anthem

This is a nice blend of 80's metal, 90's industrial, and maybe Hans Zimmer.

Speaking of Hans Zimmer, here's a taste of his upcoming soundtrack for Batman v Superman.

Virtual Reality

This will be the year for VR as various VR devices hit the street. Outside of flying simulation games, this Everest simulator is one I'm really looking forward to.

Selfies

Now we have this cat getting in on the selfie craze.

Cat Video

Catnip is a powerful drug.

Tonight's ONT brought to you by NYC in the 80's:

Top cat pic via.

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