By Kimberly Russell and Jennifer Falseti. State officials say Oklahoma has a new claim to fame. According to them, The Sooner State is now the top earthquake area in the world. . .
Since Saturday, Medford has really been shaking. Now, a plan is put in place to help put an end to these [by cutting back on oil fracking in the area].
The earthquakes in Medford are getting stronger, and lasting longer.
“This is an area that traditionally has had no seismicity until very recently,” says Matt Skinner with the Corporation Commission. . .
“We’ve had somewhere in the area of 20 earthquakes since Saturday morning there maybe even a little bit more as I speak,” he says. (Read more from “This US State Is Now the Top Earthquake Area in the World” HERE)
___________________________________
Oklahoma Now No. 1 in Earthquakes
By Eric Levitz. Oklahoma may be only No. 12 in college football this year, but the Sooner State is now No. 1 in earthquakes.
A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission — a regulatory body tasked with ensuring the safety of oil and gas exploration in the state — told the Enid Rotary Club that Oklahoma now experiences more earthquakes than anywhere else on planet Earth.
“We have had 15 [earthquakes] in Medford since 5 o’clock Saturday morning,” spokesman Matt Skinner said Monday, according to the Enid News. “We’ve got an earthquake issue.” (Read more from “Oklahoma Now No. 1 in Earthquakes” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-12 00:44:482016-04-11 10:56:13This US State Is Now the Top Earthquake Area in the World
The Office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson is working with the Office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to prosecute a case of repeated voter fraud against the State.
Rosa Maria Ortega of Grand Prairie, has been indicted by a Tarrant County Grand Jury for voting illegally in regional elections.
The indictment details that Ortega, who is not a citizen and therefore not legally eligible to vote, fraudulently registered to vote in Dallas County by claiming to be a U.S. citizen.
Ortega later twice attempted to register to vote in Tarrant County, however her applications were rejected by the Tarrant County Elections Office.
Dallas County records show that Ortega has voted in multiple elections in that county, starting in 2004, and most recently in the 2014 Republican primary runoff. (Read more from “Finally: A State Files Charges Against a Non-Citizen for Vote Fraud” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-12 00:44:052016-04-11 10:56:13Finally: A State Files Charges Against a Non-Citizen for Vote Fraud
Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch said Wednesday he’s unlikely to back a candidate in the crowded Republican presidential primary, the latest sign that one of the most influential figures in conservative politics seems less than enthusiastic about his choices.
“I have no plans to support anybody in the primary now,” Koch told USA TODAY during a wide-ranging interview that touched on politics, his management theories and what he views as increasing threats to free speech at universities . . .
“If they start saying things we think are beneficial overall and will change the trajectory of the country, then that would be good, but we have to believe also they’ll follow through on it, and by and large, candidates don’t do that.”
Koch acknowledged that the vast policy and political network he helps oversee with his New York-based brother, David, might exceed his fundraising expectations before the presidential and congressional elections.
In recent weeks, the Kansas-based executive has downplayed what his organization might spend before the end of 2016, saying his network of about 450 donors might raise $750 million, down from an earlier estimate of $889 million over two years. (Read more from “This Billionaire Has No Plans to Back a Candidate in Republican Primary” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-12 00:43:382016-04-11 10:56:14This Billionaire Has No Plans to Back a Candidate in Republican Primary
When President Obama first won the White House, he recruited Ray LaHood, a Republican congressman, to join his cabinet. The appointment, Mr. Obama said, “reflects that bipartisan spirit” that would distinguish his presidency.
Seven years later and now out of office, Mr. LaHood has concluded that the opposite turned out to be true. Rather than reflecting the bipartisan spirit of the Obama presidency, Mr. LaHood said his appointment as secretary of transportation came to reflect its failure.
Despite the glowing words, Mr. Obama abandoned his promise to govern across the aisle, Mr. LaHood said in an interview. The only elected Republican in Mr. Obama’s original cabinet, Mr. LaHood said the president never made a sustained effort to reach out and gave up too easily. As a result, he became isolated and reliant on a group of like-minded advisers.
That assessment from a man who served under Mr. Obama for four years punctuates Mr. LaHood’s new memoir, “Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics,” published last month by Cambria Press. While he expressed warm feelings toward Mr. Obama and approval of many of his policies, Mr. LaHood lamented the partisan fever that characterized his time in office.
“I do not believe the White House ever committed fully to a genuine bipartisan approach to policy making, despite the president’s words to the contrary,” Mr. LaHood wrote in the book, which he produced with Frank H. Mackaman. (Read more from “Promised Bipartisanship, Obama Adviser Found Disappointment” HERE)
By Chris Cillizza. The eight top Republican presidential candidates gathered for the fourth debate of the 2016 campaign Tuesday night in Milwaukee. It was a more understated affair than the last GOP debate sponsored by CNBC but still managed to yield some bests and worsts.
Here are my winners and losers from the night: . . .
* Ted Cruz: For the second straight debate, the senator from Texas shone under the bright lights. His line about the tax code having more words than the Bible was a good and memorable one. His repeated denunciations of Washington’s “crony” culture will leave a lot of Republican heads nodding in agreement. Cruz proved Tuesday night that of the “outsider” candidates, he is the one best equipped to carry their message going forward.
* Ben Carson: In the first three debates, I watched in wonder as Carson’s numbers kept moving up after what I perceived to be nearly nonexistent performances. But Carson — from his first answer on Tuesday night — was more energetic (that’s a pretty low bar given Carson’s past performances) and more dialed in than I had seen him. He was helped by a moderator question on his past exaggerations/inaccuracies regarding his life story that would give the term “softball” a bad name. And by the fact that none of his rivals seemed interested in taking the fight to him on the issue of the inconsistencies of his recounting of the past. Carson was, as usual, very shaky on foreign policy and wasn’t much better on regulatory reform. But he did more than enough to keep himself at or near the top of the GOP field . . .
[The losers:]
* Donald Trump: Trump, as he has in each of the first four debates, stood center stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. But for the two-plus hours that the debate ran, Trump felt ancillary to the conversation. When he did get time to speak, he simply repeated his now-familiar lines — we don’t win anymore, I have a great company, etc. — and little else. His answers on foreign policy were not good. His random attack on Fiorina — “why does she keep interrupting everybody?” — earned him boos from the crowd (and helped her). Trump just didn’t seem all that interested in being there. It likely won’t affect his poll numbers, since nothing seems to. But that doesn’t change the fact he was off his game.
(Read more from “Here’s Who Won the Last Republican Debate” HERE)
___________________________________
Donald Trump Rules Twitter During GOP Debate
By Justin Wm. Moyer. Donald Trump still rules. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) are treading water. Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) are much improved. And former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina trails the pack.
So judged Twitter after Tuesday evening’s Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee. As it has after previous presidential primary debates, Twitter sliced and diced its big data on eight of the GOP candidates — and Democratic rivals who weren’t even on stage — in an attempt to determine who won and who lost the online conversation.
First: Here were Twitter’s “most mentioned candidates on Twitter, with share of debate conversation”:
Businessman Donald Trump: 24 percent (compared with 22 percent after last month’s debate in Boulder, Colo.)
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush: 12 percent (compared with 11 percent last month)
(Read more from “Donald Trump Rules Twitter During GOP Debate” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-11 00:44:202016-04-11 10:56:17Here’s Who Won the Last Republican Debate; Donald Trump Rules Twitter
Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson took an opportunity during Tuesday’s debate to once again address what he considers unfair media scrutiny of his candidacy. Reacting to criticism over perceived autobiographical inconsistencies, the retired neurosurgeon acknowledged that he expected his White House bid to open his past up to investigation.
“I have no problem with being vetted,” he said. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about.”
Carson further lambasted the media’s behavior as evidence of an underlying partisan double standard.
“When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton,” he said, “who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that [the Benghazi attack] was a terrorist attack and then tells everyone else it was a video, where I come from, they call that a lie.”
He went on to say Clinton’s behavior is “very different from somebody misinterpreting when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point.” (Read more from “Ben Carson Slams Hillary and the Media in One Debate Answer” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-11 00:35:582016-04-11 10:56:18Ben Carson Slams Hillary and the Media in One Debate Answer
President Obama on Tuesday morning asked people to make their own judgment about the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact by reading it themselves online.
“Along with the text of the agreement, we’ve posted detailed materials to help explain it,” Obama wrote in an op-ed for Bloomberg. “It’s an unprecedented degree of transparency — and it’s the right thing to do.”
“Not every American will support this deal, and neither will every member of Congress. But I believe that in the end, the American people will see that it is a win for our workers, our businesses and our middle class. And I expect that, after the American people and Congress have an opportunity for months of careful review and consultation, Congress will approve it, and I’ll have the chance to sign it into law,” Obama added.
On Monday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., tweeted out a picture showing just how hard it might be for the average person to read the deal. His tweet showed a pile of paper about three feet high on his desk.
Still, Obama defended the agreement as one that would grow the U.S. economy and help the middle class. “That’s why I believe the Trans-Pacific Partnership is so important. It’s a trade deal that helps working families get ahead,” he wrote. (Read more from “Obama Asks People to Read TPP Deal Themselves” HERE)
Before the Monday, Aug. 24, thousand-point down day, I warned readers of my investment letter to be ready for the market to correct, quite possibly via an “elevator drop” and to get ready to buy stocks on our list of attractive companies. Prior to the “mini flash crash” as I’ve heard it called, I warned here on MarketWatch that “things were getting bearish,” and “stocks were not properly priced.“ Smart investors spent the spring and summer raising cash and preparing a list of stocks and ETFs to buy when opportunities arose.
Retail investors are getting it half right, moving money out of stocks for the past year. Most have done so out of fear of the “next collapse,” as they did in early 2009 before finally reinvesting around 2012. This time, they are close to their portfolio highs from the middle 2000s and believe they should get out of the stock market before the next crash. That makes some sense, better to pre-panic than post-panic.
Investor fear, primarily among baby boomers, is probably well founded in the short-term. The world is facing serious economic headwinds driven by demographics and debts which I have covered in several columns, investor letters and recently in my monthly investor webinar. The combination of investor skepticism, a slow economy and a Federal Reserve that keeps talking tough makes it very probable that we are going to get another thousand-point down day very soon. In fact, I am pretty sure we will get two or three within the same few weeks.
How horrible will it get for the stock market? How far will emotional sellers and traders drive the markets down? Will it be the beginning of another financial collapse? Here’s what I think.
I believe fear and emotional selling will drive the stock market down into official bear-market territory, however, I have a hard time making a case for anything more than a run-of-the-mill bear market. It also seems to me that there is not enough stupid retail money left in the stock market to take it below the strong support level around 1550 on the S&P 500 for more than a week or two. For traders or those seeking a hedge, rolling put option positions on the SPDR S&P 500 SPY, +0.23% makes a lot of sense to me given those contracts are cheap and have potential large upside. (Read more from “The Next 1000-Point Down Day Is Coming” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-11 00:28:502016-04-11 10:56:19The Next 1000-Point Down Day Is Coming
Spending by the Social Security Administration–which includes payments for Social Security and disability benefits as well as Supplemental Security Income payments and the administrative costs for these programs–hit a record $944,143,000,000 in fiscal 2015, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury.
Even in constant 2015 dollars (with adjustments made using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator), that was up $33,748,280,000 from the $910,394,720,000 the Social Security Administration spent in fiscal 2014.
As of September, there were 59,737,817 beneficiaries getting Social Security or disability benefits, according to the SSA. At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 148,800,000 people who had either a full- or part-time job in the United States. That means there were only 2.49 people with jobs for each of the 59,737,817 Social Security and disability beneficiaries.
At the same time, there were only 121,839,000 people with full-time jobs in the United States in September, according to BLS. Those 121,839,000 full-time job holders equaled about 2.04 for each of the 59,737,817 people getting Social Security or disability benefits.
The $944,143,000,000 spent by the Social Security Administration in fiscal 2015 equaled about $6,345 for each of the 148,800,000 persons in the country with a job as of September. It equaled about $7,749 for each of the 121,839,000 people with a full-time job. (Read more from “Social Security Administration Spending Hit Record in 2015” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-11-10 21:44:482016-04-11 10:56:19Social Security Administration Spending Hit Record in 2015
#MillionStudentMarch activists want their demands met now — free college, the dissolution of all existing college debt, and a $15 per hour minimum wage for campus workers. They plan to demonstrate for this economic justice on campuses nationwide Thurs., Nov 12, emboldened by a perceived victory of forcing out the University of Missouri’s president through student protests.
They roared on Facebook: “This is PROOF that when we strike, we win!,” referencing the consolidated student hunger strikes over purported racism that led to President Tim Wolfe’s resignation. Million Student March asserts 100 campuses nationwide will participate in their Nov. 12 day of social justice fueled by crushing student debt, the mantra of solidarity and the heartbeat of socialism.
College, they say, is a basic human right, not a privilege. The Million Student March website gripes: “The United States is the richest country in the world, yet students have to take on crippling debt in order to get a college education. We need change, and change starts in the streets when people demand it. With students, college graduates, and workers united we can build a movement capable of winning debt-free college for all and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers!”
U.S. college student loan debt exceeds $1.3 trillion, topping credit cards and auto loans, only second to home mortgages. The Wall Street Journal says the average student owes over $35,000 in loan debt by the time they graduate. Keely Mullen, one of the national event organizers, laments her anticipated $150,000 loan debt post-graduation. She insisted the only way to be competitive in today’s job market was to “take on an enormous amount of debt in order to get a college degree.”
She told U.S. Uncut students plan to cross-organize with other activist groups as part of their activism. “The student movement will have to link arms with labor unions, the national Fight for $15, the Black Lives Matter movement, and all other progressive social movements.” She added: “It won’t be quick or easy, but the power of the people united around clear and just demands is capable of achieving anything.” (Read more from “Million Student March Demands ‘Free College Now'” HERE)
