Online headline: "Trump has shaken up decades of diplomacy with 4 phone calls" -- Good grief.. mainscream media praised Obama for saying he would sit down with jihadist leaders without any preset protocol, and mainscream media swooned at Obama's "Apology Tour" and terrorist releases from GITMO, and now it's shocked at anything Trump does to re-establish America as a world leader.. ..gimmee us break!

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I guess we're just going to have to get use to it.. "It" being that the mainscream media, after blindly supporting 8 years of Obama lies and ineffective leadership, and after holding-its-nose support of nearly 25 years of Hellary's lies and scandals, is going to nitpick Trump's every word, every choice, and every move in Making America Great Again.

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Update on the minimum wage imposed in Washington State : Effective January 1, 2017, the state minimum wage goes to 11:00, and various cities will demand their minimum wage be between $15.00 and $15.24.  Sounds great ...until you read that Washington State is the worst state to live for young people.. Washington has one of the highest populations of 20-24-year olds, and is the 4th worse state in employment of young people. Nobody is hiring young people at $15,.00 a hour!

http://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/worst-states-in-america-for-young-adults.html/10/?ref=cpc_medium

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About Columbus Mayor TomLYINGson wanting to spend $20,000.00 in "matching" funds on the T-SPLOST project to landscape TSYS's property where the Mott House unexpectedly burned down.. As we reread the T-SPLOST referendum, there is indeed a "discretionary" fund.
 It Reads:
25 percent are designated as discretionary funds and will be used for local projects chosen by each city and county government in the region. Cities and counties will receive these extra funds in direct proportion to their population and the number of road miles in their jurisdiction.  Columbus is projected to receive approximately $30 million in TSPLOST discretionary funds over the next ten years.
Hmmm... other than we must demand that our legislative delegation make sure no "discretionary funds" provisions are inserted into any future T-SPLOSTs (as is the case with regular SPLOST referendums), what's abundantly clear is that Mayor TomLYINGson has requested such. THis is how we got the Queen TT Lounge as well.. Guess Mayor TomLYINGson not only has "peed" on us, she's making sure she has a pretty site/sight to look at while she does it.

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Part 2 of the above item: Since there will be approximately $30,000,000.. dollars earmarked for Columbus projects, and we get back only 85-cents per dollar in tax we pay, that $30,000,000.00 will actually cost us OVER $35,290,000.00... plus... PLUS additional matching 20% funds of $6,000,000.00.. So, in  order to GET BACK our $30,000,000.00 portion from the GA DOT, we will pay over $41,000.00 in taxes/matching funds. Wow.. without inflation, that's about 169 $244,000.00 Queen TT Lounges, or 412 $100,000.00 TSYS landscaping deals.

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Something went wrong on Saturday's BC edition and this story did not make it into the e-mail edition.

L-E headline/story: "Charges dropped after man spends 35 years in prison * Thirty-five years after he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for (armed with a gun) rape, aggravated sodomy and burglary, P*** J**** T**** is a free man. * The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned his convictions Nov. 20, 2015, ruling T**** deserved a new trial because the late Judge John Land had erred in denying T****’s request to have an attorney resume his defense after trying to represent himself. * Now T**** no longer faces prosecution for what authorities charged was a series of violent sexual assaults against Columbus women whose homes he broke into over eight months in 1980 and 1981. * It was during the trial’s conclusion that Land made crucial errors * prosecutors informed the judge they had decided to dead-docket the charges. * T**** more recently has been represented by Columbus attorney S***** J******, who said Friday that retrying the case would have been difficult for both the prosecution and defense." -- Good grief.. a known violent criminal with and additional 35 years spent in emotional upheaval is back on the streets because of the "error" of a judge who is dead and cannot speak out, because our DA's office decided that "the case would have been difficult". Well, what is justice when there is no justice for the victim's families or the community of Columbus. Will someone of integrity with a legal education step up and run for the DA's spot in the next election!

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L-E Headline/story: "2016 COLLEGE AND CAREER READY PERFORMANCE INDEX * Here’s how each Muscogee County school scored * Nearly two-thirds of the Muscogee County School District’s schools improved on the state’s performance index during the past year. * Comparing the 2016 College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) to the 2015 results, 33 of MCSD’s 53 schools (62 percent) increased their scores." --What a flawed test.. how can one school score greater than 100% *(Columbus High School with 102.4) unless.. unless the scores are graded on "a curve) which skews the bottom scores higher than they should be to lessen the true image of how bad they are actually doing. You know, the real sad part of this story is the elementary section.. so goes the elementary section and so goes the future.. If children aren't reading at a proper 3rd grade level when they are in the 3rd grade, their chances of improving in the future has been stunted. To be really aware of the situation, you really have to parse the Columbus High report.. Even in a great school, the 2015 98& score was high, so when in jumps 4 percentile points to eclipse 100%, there has been a "dumbing down" process in the overall testing materials.. subtract that 4-percentile points from all the other schools "scores" and you get a better picture of the truth.. which, of course, is not the purpose of this newspaper story.

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From the bottom-of-the-barrel-scum-level of LIV's L-E "soundoff": "Four years from now, when we’re choking from polluted air and women are dying from back-alley abortions, some will say, “But I couldn’t vote for a candidate with a private e-mail server.” -- Chicken Little's claims of "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" are better rooted in reality than this LIV's analysis of the future.

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LIV's L-E "soundoff": "Congratulations, America — we’ll soon have a First Lady who has posed nude in a thong, and all the “good Christians” think that’s just fine!" -- Obviously written by someone born with fig leaves in place....

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I put Evolutionists in a low-IQ group.. they can add 1+1 and get an answer of 2 but they haven't been able to "proof" it. Where are the still-in-transition specimens and mutations?

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Random thought: If there is so much concern about humane executions, why not go back to the certainty and speed of a firing squad.. or try a guillotine.. of course, cyanide acts quickly and thoroughly as well.

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Another random thought.. on a pure local basis: Remember when AFLAC and TSYS co-ventured in creating a CSU class/curriculum in computer programming at CSU to fill the void of graduates being able to fill the needs those two companies had... Is it still ongoing?

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L-E headline: "U.S. to add 200 troops to help assault on Raqqa" -- Good grief.. whatta Chritmas present to the soldiers and their families... and a futile one at that..

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L-E story: "Columbus Council Agenda:
"RESOLUTIONS - Commending and congratulating Jordan Vocational High School automotive program for reaching the finals in the Quaker State Best in Class Challenge. (Councilor Thomas)" -- "reaching the finals"? THEY WON! and like Obama, Council COULD have read about this in the paper!

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Another Council Agenda item: "Theresa El-Amin, representing Southern Anti-Racism Network: Sept. 13, 2016 Public Comment Follow-Up." -- If there's anyone up on racism, Theresa E--Amin is certainly qualified to represent it. Now Council needs to have someone to off set her on the positive side.

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Another questionable Council Agenda item: "It is requested that council approve payment to Ledger-Enquirer (Macon) for legal advertising expenses, required for tax sales, in the amount of $15,990." -- Hmm.. Aside that the Columbus L-E is now officially a Macon entity.. but what advertising is this about?  I don't remember any tax issues except the THAW on property tax freezes that Mayor TomLYINGson tried to ram through.

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An even more questionable Council Agenda item: "Tire Leasing Services for City Buses (Annual Contract) – Provide tire leasing services for City buses to the Columbus Consolidated Government Department of Transportation/ Metra Transit System, on an “as-needed” basis." -- Good grief.. at what advantage is "leasing tires" to the taxpayers?

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L-E headline: "Obama rushes to Trump-proof his legacy" -- Good grief.. if there was any merit to Obama's "legacy", no one could undermine it, much less override it. The only true legacy is what people remember is good... or bad.. Nothing will erase OObamaCRAP or Obama's release of terrorists from GITMO..

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While Air Force One has some technical improvements over AirTRUMP One, and AirTRUMP oNe does not have a missile defense system (that we know about, Trump does know about costs. You can bet AirTRUMP One is not lacking in communication needs nor luxuries, but he built his for $100,000,000.  Other than the costs of needed defense systems, Boeing has got "to show him the facts" that boost costs up into the Mulit-BILLIONS area.

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Local issue...have you seen that Zoe Pediatrics TV ad? Undoubtedly, it is worse than the Hussey Tire Jungle ads of the 60's.

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Online headline/story: "Top tech executives to attend Trump summit on Wednesday * Top executives from Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Facebook Inc are among a small group of tech leaders invited to a summit to be held on Wednesday * Executives from Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp and Oracle Corp will also be among "a very heady group of less than a dozen * "I plan to tell the president-elect that we are with him and are here to help in any way we can," Oracle Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz told Reuters in an emailed statement. * "If he can reform the tax code, reduce regulation, and negotiate better trade deals, the U.S. technology community will be stronger and more competitive than ever." -- Hmmm... Hellary who?

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Online headline: "An Arizona college is charging students a FEE to pay for a scholarship for illegal immigrants. " -- Even worse is that GA universities, CSU included, are charging an athletic fee" which gives scholarships to other parents children. It's tough enough to either pay your own way (work/loans) or for parents to pay for heir own children, but it's a damn shame that the education system tacks on tuition/board&keep/books of other students. Write your Congressperson!

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Random thought: You know, if Jill Stein was really trying to expose voting irregularities, she should have filed suits in Chicago and Los Angeles to scrutinize each voter for citizenship and for death certificates.

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HuffPOOPOO headline: "Book claims to reveal to he "Worst President".  Ever"--- Oooops my bad.. reading the liberal headline, I just figured it was about Trump even though he hasn't been sworn in as yet. FTR.. Buchanan..

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HuffPOOPOO headline: "Critical concern could get worse under Trump" -- "could"? With mainscream media, it's guaranteed!

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From the "why is it now a controversy" department - Online headline: "2-Word name of this bow raised eyebrows this year * Melania had everyone talking with the timing of her "pussy bow" in October..and it's just one election style moment that got attention this year" -- Good grief.. "pussy bow" has been a fashion term since the 1800s! From Wikipedia: "While bows at the neck had been worn since at least the 19th century, the term "pussy bow" or "pussy cat bow" took hold in the 20th century. In 1934, the St. Petersburg Times offered a pattern for an Anne Adams dress featuring a convertible collar which could be worn in four different ways, including as "an intriguingly feminine pussy cat bow tied high under your chin."[2] In 1947, pussy cat bows were part of the look inspired by Gibson Girls and 1890s fashionscreated by designers such as Omar Kiam.[3] * By the 1960s, pussy bows were a fixture in American fashion having been incorporated by top designers like Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.

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Online headline: "Islamic State militants retake ancient city of Palmyra" -- Hey, Obama.. guess
the varsity" wants to make sue you get a better send-off!

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L-E headline/story: "CRIMINAL JUSTICE * Judges use accountability courts as alternative to jail * “We spend about $50,000 a year to keep someone in prison,”" -- $50,000.00 a year per prisoner...

  hmmm... considering that the Sheriff's Office is responsible for the care of about 1,000 prisoners daily, then the Sheriff's Office should be getting $50,000,000.00 A YEAR!  This means either that that the mayor's budget of a couple of million is woefully short and John Darr was right to sue, or the figures of $50,000.00 per prisoner is awfully wrong and needs to be adjusted if we are to continue discussing alternative sentencing. Of course, we can also wait until January 21st and see how much saving we're gonna get when Trump rips through the regulations liberals have imposed on the jail and other industries/services.

 

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A few weeks ago, driving by River Road School. I noticed a concrete ramp being installed in a zig-zag design connecting the playground level with a landing on the steps leading down..I figured it had to do with some sort of regulation imposed by the Obama administration.. . Now. it is finished.. and I can only see waste and inefficiency.. the ramp connects the ground area to a landing midway up the steps.. how do handicapped/wheelchair users benefit since they must still traverse steps to get to-from the School Level and the ]landing where the ramp begins/ends?

 

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L-E headline/story: "Bipartisan group of senators seeks election inquiry *  Displaying rare bipartisanship, four leading senators from both Republican and Democratic parties called Sunday for an urgent inquiry into allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election." -- Good grief.. what is bipartisan about MCCain and Graham.. considering them Republicans at all is not only a misnomer, but heresy! Of Course it does confirm my  earlier stated observation.. that.. I guess we're just going to have to get use to it.. "It" being that the mainscream media, after blindly supporting 8 years of Obama lies and ineffective leadership, and after holding-its-nose support of nearly 25 years of Hellary's lies and scandals, is going to nitpick Trump's every word, every choice, and every move in Making America Great Again.
 

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L-E guest commentary headline: "Secretary of State: What’s at stake? * One of the more intriguing cabinet positions is Secretary of State. Currently, 68 people have served in this position whose chief responsibility is to promote diplomacy and goodwill abroad." -- Good grief.. it's about time we got a "MAN" in the job.. we've been saddled with a muppet and a liar for the last 8 years!