If Barro is anything close to being right, he reveals the shallowness of Trump's fanatical supporter's anger at "government."  Trump is positing not a general, inherent failure of government. but a very specific one.  "Our leaders are stupid, our politicians are stupid."  Obama is bad, I will be good.

Shouting (this is important)  not necessarily that government should be smaller and dragged into, and strangled in the bathtub, but that somebody terrific should run that government, namely Trump.  

 Not the usual winger idea that citizens know better what to do and how to spend their money, because the government lacks the  local knowledge that governments have.  

So, it follows, If the wingers beef is not the government, but that Trump is smarter and wiser than anyone that came before him. That is the answer,  and that is what is needed.  It is the leaders not the government.

Ms. Kim Davis has refused to grant a marriage license to anyone in Rowan, KY county. Governor Beshear ordered her to issue the licenses or resign.  Clerk Davis told the judge that after consulting with God, she decided she could not comply with her clerkly duties.

The Batmobile pulled into a gas station Sunday night and, as usual, the children who spotted it gawked.

Lenny B. Robinson was used to that. The Maryland man, better known as the Route 29 Batman, had for years dressed as the Caped Crusader and driven his custom-made car to deliver moments of happiness and distraction to hundreds of sick children at area hospitals.

His costume stored in the Batmobile but his alter ego never entirely switched off, Robinson gave the kids at the gas station some superhero paraphernalia before driving off.

Minutes later, Robinson pulled over with engine trouble on an unlit stretch of Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, Md., police said. The people he had just met parked behind him, turning their emergency lights on.

His car was stopped in the median but still "partially in the fast lane" when he got out to check the engine, according to state police. Around 10:30 p.m., a Toyota Camry slammed into the Batmobile, propelling the steel-framed hunk of black metal into his body. Robinson, 51, died at the scene. His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Owings Mill, Md.

The Washington Post

Humans have, in fewer than eight months, already used up one year's worth of the planet's resources. This is based on an analysis of the demand that the human population is putting on the Earth, through various actions such as pumping carbon into the atmosphere and scouring the sea of fish, and the rate at which the planet can replenish these resources.

In what's come to be known as "Earth overshoot day," we've reached the point at which everything else we do this year will be unsustainable six days earlier than we did last year. As it stands, we are on target to consume the equivalent of 1.6 planets over the course of the year. For most of human history we've managed to live within the planet's limits, but since around 1970 we moved into the red. Back then, humanity reached overshoot day in the last few days of December, but ever since we've been hitting it earlier and earlier.

"Humanity's carbon footprint alone more than doubled since the early 1970s, when the world went into ecological overshoot. It remains the fastest growing component of the widening gap between the ecological footprint and the planet's biocapacity," explains Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network, who calculates Earth overshoot day each year. "The global agreement to phase out fossil fuels that is being discussed around the world ahead of the Climate Summit in Paris would significantly help curb the ecological footprint's consistent growth and eventually shrink the footprint."

Michael Bar-Zohar in Conversation with Judith Miller: Inside the Death-Defying Missions of the Israeli Special Forces
Sun, Nov 15, 2015, 5 pm
Top Israeli espionage expert Michael Bar-Zohar is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Judith Miller for a riveting look inside the most daring and white-knuckle missions of the Israeli Special Forces, as told in his new book, No Mission Is Impossible.

Now, I am not a constitutional scholar. I did, however, take a civics class in grade school and a U.S. Government class my senior year of high school.(Both classes were required at the time.) As a result I feel confident in asserting that all amendments to the Constitution are, in fact, constitutional because they are now part of the constitution.

Lawyers and scholars, please feel free to chime in if I am wrong about this.

Black Lives Matter organizer and Oprah scholarship recipient who claims he has been the victim of a hate crime 'revealed to be white'

Shaun King, an author and writer who is one of the leading voices speaking out against police brutality on social media, has claimed he is mixed

A report now claims he is white, citing a police report that labels him as white and claiming his parents on his birth certificate are both white

King applied for and then accepted an Oprah scholarship to Morehouse College, which are only given to black men

He also called the vicious attack he suffered in high school a hate crime that was motivated by race

Even here in Nashville (I've been debating whether to rent, or, buy) the rental prices just take your breath away. $4000 a month is crazy high anywhere, but, down here in little, ole, Nashville? They're getting $4000 for a lousy little "ranch" type house, 3 tiny bedroom, 1-1/2 baths, and, a carport. For a 2500 sq.ft. house, similar to what I left in New York, and, was paying about $2500 a month for the mortgage, they're advertising them for $6000/ month rent!

I asked the same question you did; where are people getting the money to pay 4-5-6 thousand a month for just rent? Don't they eat, or, need clothes once in a while?

This I do know; Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and, other TBTF Banks, after foreclosing on thousands of delinquent borrowers (that they knew were incapable of meeting their rent obligations) sent their agents out, nationwide, and bought up lots of foreclosed houses, 1-2-3-4 thousand at a time for the purpose of renting them out.

I don't want to get into this topic too deeply now, but, suffice to say that if the public knew how much worse the financial disaster was than what's already been exposed there might really be blood flowing in the streets.

Just to wrap up, the reason why they're able to get these outrageously high rents is quite simple, the old, "supply & demand." After the real estate market collapsed builders were, understandably, reluctant to start new projects. Not knowing how long it would take for the buyers to return to the market they only built enough homes to stay solvent. Demand for new  homes, because of normal demographics, have, historically, remained positive. Only the supply fluctuates, based on the level of builder's confidence in the future.

So, that's it; we're caught in a classic market squeeze. Landlords have never been mistaken for pastors, they'll gouge every penny the law allows until the supply catches up to the demand. And, since builder's sense of where the market demand will be a few years into the future determines how many homes they'll be building, the unprecedented dysfunction of Congress guarantees that the supply of new homes will remain low, and, high rental prices will become the "new normal."

But I know you've said you're just not interested in owning, so, I guess you keep looking.

The gun-loving Oath Keepers plan to arm 50 black demonstrators with AR-15 rifles in Ferguson, Missouri, and basically dare police to shoot them.

The leader of the group's local chapter told Red Dirt Report that the event would likely be held before the end of this month to protest an order last week by law enforcement officers to Oath Keepers to put away their rifles while in city limits.

"Every person we talked to said if they carried they'd be shot by police," said Sam Andrews, head of the Oath Keepers chapter in St. Louis County. "That's the reason we're going to hold this event, and it will be a legal demonstration. I'm sick and tired of law enforcement who doesn't think they have to abide by the law. They're narcissistic and that guy (the county police chief) discredited my men."

He said other Oath Keepers members would surround the black demonstrators as protection.

For example-

Relax, America, Donald Trump is Not Really Running for President

Conventional Wisdom
So don't worry, America. Trump will find a reason to pull out of the race - eventually. For now, he'll milk his new-found notoriety and influence for all its worth. If he can carry a sizable enough chunk of Republican supporters to the National Convention, he'll give 'em all a rousing, rambling and bombastic speech, drawing record numbers of viewers for the event, and then earnestly endorse the more serious candidate.

Yes, track records and accomplishments.  They do count. How about a little track record and accomplishment in government?  That counts, too.  But, I digress (as she does).

 In an article by business columnist, Andrew Ross Sorkin, entitled "Fiorina's Track Record: Not So Sterling," it is reported that her track record includes questions about her business tenure at Lucent, followed by answers from her tenure at Hewlett-Packard.

As CEO at HP, her accomplishments may be highlighted by her being fired outright.  Not only on her watch, but owing to her "maverick" (where did we hear that before?) management style, HP stock proceeded to drop by half. And, 30,000 employees were laid off.

Her decision to acquire Compaq achieved "growth," if you think of inflating revenue as growth.   However, the trick to business success, that seemed to evade Ms. Fiorina, was to grow profitability.  

"Excessive pollution from fossil fuels threatens to destroy the gifts bestowed on us by God, whom we know as Allah -- gifts such as a functioning climate, healthy air to breathe, regular seasons, and living oceans."

"What will future generations say of us, who leave them a degraded planet as our legacy? How will we face our Lord and Creator?" the authors added.

Anyway it has been in the news every few weeks, and then again it is in the news TODAY that there is a crisis, or what is considered to be a crisis, in the increase in foolish unprovoked random assaults on Capitol hill Seattle.  The assaults could be crimes against the lgbt persons; they could be thefts; they could be assault and robbery against ordinary residents and visitors who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Anyway, statistically, crime is way up.  Some people are quite upset, but of course, we don't know for sure how much of the increase in crime is due to increased reporting, but it appears that at least some of the increase in vicious and stupid crimes is actual and not merely the result of greater reporting.

Anyway, after another of the foolish assaults being in the news, there are news interviews and comments from the chief of police, who says that the warm summer has led to some increase in crime, as well as offenders being released into the community . . .

Since at least around June 1 I have written a number of emails to the SPD chief and have generally done so by sending an email to two of the spd I know.

Other than the fact that I walk at Greenlake in undies I am not closely related to the capitol hill communities, other than their area has some very nice exercise classes and persons.  In fact, I have had a mild mental debate as to how much, if much, I should be helping them to be armed.

I don't know if my emails have percolated up to the top of the SPD hierarchy . . . but in the most recent batch of news interviews and comments, SPD chief O'Toole says, our number one priority is stopping or preventing gun crime or something to that effect.

If it were me, I would be encouraging all the normal and mostly law-abiding and able-to-be calm folks to carry pepper spray and to open and/or concealed carry and/or open carry an empty holster.

Anyway, I don't think that the mayor and police chief are behaving wisely by not discussing or encouraing open carry . . .  I've gone to some of the Pride parade and Pride festivals things some years.  I've gone to gather signatures for various initiatives . . . Once I went to post-parade things to greet people, which I think is great fun.

Unfortunately, in Seattle, some minor fraction of the BLM group is unruly and some fraction of the capitol hill groups are unruly.  There is video of some persons assaulting or beating up a preacher on youtube.  : (

On one hand, I think this area would have fewer assaults if there was some greater deterrence in the form of 10 to 30% of the population being armed and trained, even if with pepper spray only or with empty holster only.  On the other hand, I am not that happy with the creative violence that some of certain Seattle groups have used for the alleged purpose of making their point in some protests or ripping apart some Christian's flag or banner.

Anyway, I don't much understand the absence of encouragement to be armed by the SPD chief . . .

I am somewhat thinking of walking or being present at the next Pride parade with a holster, pepper spray and a sign saying, "Deacons for defence and justice."  Maybe if I get really bored, I will do some walks on Capitol Hill with such a sign and a holster and/or some open carry.  

I guess I should try to figure out if I have some closer attachments to capitol hill . . . other than my martial arts class and the gals in barre class . . .

I don't know if I have friends from normal church who live on capitol hill . . . I see that there is a theologically somewhat peculiar somewhat conservative church on capitol hill called calvary on the hill. . .  I wonder what some of them might think of some open carry for helping protect the community.  I don't know if that particular church would regard the community as not worth their carrying for . . .  It is a crazy Calvary Chapel church that at times visits bars, hopefully not as a reincarnation of Mars Hill . . .  My idea of bar visiting is barre visiting.

Anyway, does anyone wish wisdom have some useful thoughts on capitol hill persons creating greater deterrence by carry and training?

Maybe Reconstructionist will end up agreeing with me that open carry and training would have a deterrent effect  . . . and maybe he will wonder if capitol hill by doing a bit more ignoring God than they should has been reaping what they are sowing with their defenseless walking.  Daniel Goodman left a bar and was walking on the way. . . assaulted . . . left unconscious and bleeding on the ground till his hair was caked with blood and the SPD chief is hoping to stop "gun violence."

   no, a properly ratified constitutional amendment

Article V

  Howdy:

   Perhaps, I am construing what he said so it makes  sense from a legal/procedural sense and therefore giving him too much credit.

8 USC § 1401

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:

 (a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;  

 (b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property; ....

   (f) a person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the United States;...

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:

 (a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;  

To this-

  There are in fact actual lawyers who profess to believe  Amnd 14, § 1, cl. 1 would allow Congress to exclude people born in the USA from automatic citizenship.

NPR