What’s interesting out there today?
Open Thread, so what have ya’ got?
Here’s a few to start off.
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I’m sure you’ve heard the Unemployment Rate has risen. Here’s more details, and an age group breakdown, which is not pretty.
From ZeroHedge
“How Today’s “Strong” Jobs Report Led To 115,000 Job Losses”
“While it is enticing to fall for the same old trick of reading the “quantitative”, or headline, jobs data, driven entirely by the Establishment Survey, which as the BLS itself showed today, is nothing but mere noise based on seasonal adjustments and population estimates which is revised at least once a year based on new and improved exit assumptions, below we show the actual unvarnished truth contained in today’s jobs reports.
Recall that in our pre-NFP post we pointed out something critical: “an even more disturbing trend is the conversion of America into a gerontocratic worker society, where the bulk of jobs are handed out to those 55 and over, which puts all young workers, not to mention college graduates, at a major disadvantage relative to far more experienced older workers.” And sure enough, a quick update of the jobs by age-group change in January based on Household Survey data, the same data that showed that the unemployment rate actually rose from 7.8% to 7.9% (to give Bernanke more runway for QEternity as we predicted in December) shows that in the past month, 115,000 jobs were…. lost?”
Not to mention the large number that magically disappeared from the rolls of “The Counted”. Again. Or still.
From CNSNews
“The number of Americans not in the labor force grew by 169,000 in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs report.
BLS labels people who are unemployed and no longer looking for work as “not in the labor force,” including people who have retired on schedule, taken early retirement, or simply given up looking for work. There were 89 million of them last month.”
At least they didn’t say “Unexpectedly” like most MSM outlet’s are prone to do.
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Here’s a good story. And say what you will about the man, but it shows class that he did this quietly. I can’t help but think his opponent would have made a big deal out of such a gesture, since it always seems to be about him and the photo op, and little else.
From TheHill
“Mitt Romney’s campaign donated nearly $90,000 to the Red Cross in the weeks after the Republican presidential nominee’s electoral defeat, filings with the Federal Election Commission showed Sunday.
The donation was made on Nov. 30, weeks after Election Day, and not publicized by the campaign.”
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And more details in the Menendez scandal.
From TheMiamiHerald
“Sen. Bob Menendez used his influence to advocate for a Dominican Republic business deal that helped a longtime friend and donor whose South Florida office was raided by federal agents this week.
Menendez questioned Obama administration officials at a July hearing about what it was doing to help U.S. businesses that he felt were being unfairly treated by the government of the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries.
One company Menendez was apparently referring to: ICSSI, acquired the year before by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Palm Beach County eye doctor and friend. The firm was seeking to enforce a contract it had won to X-ray Dominican Republic port cargo, that could be worth $500 million to $1 billion over two decades.”
So rather than being a voice for the voters that put him in office, he decided to advocate for his friend/pimp.
And in an unusual turn of events, Harry Reid has nothing to say. That’s a first. C’mon Harry, you are what passes for Dem Senate leadership, so how about you actually lead for a change and get to the bottom of this.
From TheHill
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fended off questions about Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) at a press conference about immigration reform.
The first question out of the gate was from CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who asked Reid when he learned that Menendez had reimbursed a political donor nearly $60,000 for two trips he took on the donor’s private plane.
Reid defended the Menendez as a “friend” and “outstanding senator” but declined to discuss any details he may have had with the New Jersey lawmaker about media reports of allegations that he had sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.”
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Wandering Views 