Insider Report
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Growth of Part-Time Jobs a 'Burgeoning Disaster'
2. Global Warming? 2014 Coolest Since 1993
3. Rep. Wolf: ISIS Targeting Christians 'For Extinction'
4. Russian News Site: MH17 Was Malaysian Jet That Disappeared
5. Structures Built Under FEMA Codes Suffer More Storm Damage
6. 80 Years Ago: Gangster Dillinger Helped Create the FBI
1. Growth of Part-Time Jobs a 'Burgeoning Disaster'
The Obama administration trumpeted the report that the United States gained 288,000 jobs in June. In fact, the nation LOST 523,000 full-time jobs last month.
What the economy actually gained was about 800,000 part-time jobs in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These jobs offer lower pay, few benefits, and little job security, notes Mortimer Zuckerman, editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report, in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.
Less than half of American adults, 47.7 percent, are now working full time, and the number working part time due to their inability to land a full-time position grew to 7.5 million in June, up from 4.4 million in 2007.
"Way too many adults now depend on the low-wage part-time jobs that teenagers would normally fill," Zuckerman writes.
He cites a statement by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in March that the "large pool of partly unemployed workers is a sign that labor conditions are worse than indicated by the unemployment rate."
One reason for the increase in part-time jobs is the slow growth rate of the recovery. But also to blame is the Affordable Care Act's mandate to provide healthcare insurance to employees working at least 30 hours a week, which encourages employers to hire part-time help — the "unintended consequence of President [Barack] Obama's 'signature legislation,'" according to Zuckerman.
In addition, employers are increasingly using part-time and temporary workers to handle short-term projects, Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist of the Economic Outlook Group told USA Today.
Baumohl added that the shift toward part-time work is a major reason that wage gains remain modest.
Low-paying jobs now account for 44 percent of all employment growth since employment hit bottom in February 2010.
Zuckerman opines: "The lack of breadwinners working full time is a burgeoning disaster. There are 48 million people in the U.S. in low-wage jobs. Those workers won't be able to spend what is necessary in an economy that is mostly based on consumer spending, and this will put further pressure on growth.
"We are not in the middle of a recovery. We are in the middle of a muddle-through."
Editor's Note:
2. Global Warming? 2014 Coolest Since 1993
The average temperature for the 48 contiguous U.S. states in the first half of 2014 was 47.6 degrees F. — just one-tenth of a degree above the 20th century average.
A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also disclosed that the six-month period marked the coldest first half of any year since 1993.
The average maximum daytime temperature for the first six months of 2014 was slightly higher than the 20th century average, but the average minimum nighttime temperature was three-tenths of a degree below the century average.
Below-average temperatures were widespread east of the Rocky Mountains, and "two regions, the western Great Lakes and the southern Mississippi River Valley, had much-below-average temperatures during the six-month period," NOAA reported.
Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, and Wisconsin each had a six-month period that ranked in the state's top 10 for cold temperatures.
The report also noted that the national precipitation total for the six-month period was a miniscule 0.02 inches below average, while above-average precipitation was recorded across the Northern tier and parts of the Southeast.
And drought conditions improved in the Midwest and Central and Southern plains.
The NOAA report is not likely to deter global warming alarmists, however. As the Insider Report disclosed in June, a prominent climate science professor was removed from his post as an Associate Fellow at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies days after a newspaper published his op-ed piece calling manmade global warming an "unproved science."
Dr. Caleb Rossiter of American University was told that his views on climate science made his relationship with the institute "untenable."
Editor's Note:
3. Rep. Wolf: ISIS Targeting Christians 'for Extinction'
Republican Congressman Frank Wolf gave a passionate speech on the House floor on Tuesday accusing the militant jihadist group ISIS of genocide for "systematically targeting Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq for extinction."
"I believe that what is happening to the Christian community in Iraq is genocide," said the Virginia legislator, who is leaving office in January after 34 years in Congress. "I also believe it is a 'crime against humanity.'"
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has already seized control of vast areas of the two war-torn nations. It issued a decree that Christians had to convert to Islam, pay a tax, or be killed.
"Last Thursday [July 17], the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria gave the few remaining Christians in Mosul until Saturday to leave or be killed," Wolf said.
"On June 16, for the first time in 1,600 years, there was no Mass said in Mosul."
Before the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, about 130,000 Christians lived in Mosul, but only a handful remain there now, according to CNS News.
Wolf quoted from a letter sent to the president in June, signed by 55 members of Congress, urging Obama to "prioritize additional security support for especially vulnerable populations, notably Iraq's ancient Christian community."
The letter referred to a BBC article describing "summary execution, beheadings, and even crucifixions" by ISIS, which now calls itself simply the Islamic State.
Wolf told his House colleagues: "Absent immediate action, we will most certainly witness the annihilation of an ancient faith community from the lands they've inhabited for centuries.
"Where is the Obama administration?"
Iraq's ambassador to the United States is also urging the administration to intervene, calling for air strikes to "protect Iraqi borders against the further influx of terrorists from Syria."
Ambassador Lukman Faily pointed to the Muslim extremists targeting Christians, and called for strikes against terrorist camps and supply convoys.
Editor's Note:
4. Russian News Site: MH17 Was Malaysian Jet That Disappeared
One of the most outlandish conspiracy theories being peddled in Russia is that the commercial aircraft shot down over Ukraine was in fact the same Malaysia Airlines jet said to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.
According to the report on Russia's News2 website, the Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flight that disappeared on March 8 was in fact taken to an American military base on Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean.
A translation of the Russian report reads: "Then it was taken to Holland. On the necessary day and hour, it flew out, bound for Malaysia, but inside were not live people, but corpses. The plane was flown not by real pilots; it was on autopilot. Or takeoff (a complicated procedure) was executed by live pilots, who then ejected with parachutes. Then the plane flew automatically.
"In the necessary spot, it was blown up, without even using a surface-to-air missile. Instead the plane was packed with a bomb, just like the CIA did on 9/11."
The report also asserted that the passports found at the site where the plane came down were brought there after the crash, and that is why they look brand new even though there was an explosion and a fire aboard the jet.
President Obama said on July 18 that a surface-to-air missile fired from territory that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine was responsible for shooting down the plane and killing 298 people.
Russian media, most of it owned or controlled by the Kremlin, maintain that pro-Russian separatists could not have shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and deny that Russia armed the separatists with missiles.
"And that's when they're not simply peddling conspiracy theories, which have become a kind of symbiotic feedback loop between state TV and the most inventive corners of the Internet," The New Republic disclosed.
Another report on a Russian website claims that MH17 was downed by the Ukrainian military because they mistakenly thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was aboard, noting that his presidential plane appears similar to the Malaysia Airlines jet.
Other conspiracy theories cited by The New Republic include:
- The MH17 crash was part of an American conspiracy to provoke a major war with Russia.
- A Facebook posting claims that for some reason, MH17 moved away from the standard flight path it had followed on every previous trip and headed north toward rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine.
- A news website reported that dispatchers moved the plane lower just before the crash.
- A report that the plane had recently been reinsured suggests it was brought down on purpose to collect the payout.
Editor's Note:
5. Structures Built Under FEMA Codes Suffer More Storm Damage
A study examining storm damage suffered by coastal properties built according to FEMA guidelines has produced a surprising result — those structures suffer more damage in a hurricane than houses built according to earlier local codes.
The result could be seen as another example of federal overreach.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides federal flood insurance to property owners in participating communities. Those communities must adopt the program's building codes, which include minimum standards established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Researchers Carolyn Dehring and Martin Halek examined the damage to barrier island properties in a hurricane. They used data from Lee County, Fla. — which joined the NFIP in 1984, replacing its old county codes with the FEMA codes — and looked specifically at "A-Zones," areas subject to rising flood waters.
In 2004, Category Four Hurricane Charley made landfall in Lee County with maximum winds of nearly 150 miles per hour, inflicting an estimated $15 billion in property damage.
"Structures built after the implementation of the NFIP code and located in the A-Zone are significantly more likely to sustain damage than similarly located structures built prior to NFIP regulation," the authors write in an article for Regulation magazine, published by the Cato Institute.
"Post-NFIP construction in the A-Zone incurs almost 57 percent more total damage than similarly located property built under the old county code."
The researchers conclude that the NFIP standards were less strict than the earlier codes "in terms of both lower required elevation and less stringent foundation requirements," leading to an increase in damage suffered by houses meeting those standards.
The NFIP is currently $24 billion in debt. Congress passed a bill in 2012 to reform the program and lower costs, but earlier this year Congress passed and President Obama signed legislation to delay the reform.
Dehring is an associate professor of real estate in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. Halek is a senior lecturer in actuarial science, risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business.
Editor's Note:
6. 80 Years Ago: Gangster Dillinger Helped Create the FBI
Tuesday marked the 80th anniversary of the shooting death of gangster John Dillinger at the hands of law enforcement officials — an event that has been credited with helping to create the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Dillinger was the most notorious of several gangsters and bank robbers of the early 1930s. He held up at least 12 banks, took part in raids on police stations to obtain guns and ammunition, and was accused of murdering an Indiana police officer. In 1934, he became the first American to be declared "Public Enemy No. 1."
Because Dillinger operated across state lines, his crimes became federal offenses.
Enter J. Edgar Hoover. In 1924, Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation. The bureau was created in 1908, and its first official task was visiting and making surveys of houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the "White Slave Traffic Act," or Mann Act, passed in 1910.
Hoover's bureau — renamed the Division of Investigation (DOI) in 1933 — was under considerable pressure to apprehend Dillinger and others, especially after an embarrassing failed raid in Wisconsin. DOI agents attempted to capture Dillinger and several other gangsters who were holed up in a summer lodge, but an agent and a civilian bystander were killed and the gangsters escaped.
Hoover reportedly realized his job was on the line, and he ordered an all-out effort to capture the culprits.
On July 22, 1934, DOI agents and police, operating on a tip from an informant, closed in on the Biograph Theater in Chicago, where Dillinger was watching a Clark Gable gangster movie. Hoover instructed them to wait outside for Dillinger to emerge to avoid a possible gun battle inside the theater.
Dillinger left the theater with two female companions, and was shot and killed when he resisted arrest. Some accounts claim he took a gun from his trousers and attempted to flee before he was shot.
"The nationally publicized campaign to capture John Dillinger helped bring Hoover and his 'G-Men' to prominence," according to Ed Krayewski, an associate editor at Reason.com.
"The next year Congress approved the creation of the FBI, an independent [Department of Justice] agency."
Hoover was the FBI's first director, and he remained in that post until his death in 1972 at age 77.
Krayewski added: "Hoover presided over a bureau that transformed from an agency meant to enforce the anti-prostitution Mann Act and other 'interstate commerce' crimes to one that conducted widespread surveillance and counterintelligence operations against various dissident groups in the '60s and '70s."
Note: Newsmax magazine is now available on the iPad. Find us in the App Store.
Editor's Note:
Editor's Notes:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.