Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Shop Today's Deals
See especially, Destiny 2 - PlayStation 4 Standard Edition.
And, Transformers: The Last Knight -- Knight Armor Turbo Changer Optimus Prime, and Transformers: The Last Knight -- Knight Armor Turbo Changer Bumblebee.
And , CLIF BAR - Energy Bar - Blueberry Crisp - (2.4-Ounce Protein Bar, 12 Count).
More, LG 65UJ6300 - 65" Super UHD 4K HDR Smart LED TV (2017 Model) w/ Accessories Bundle Includes, SurgePro 6-Outlet Surge Adapter with Night Light, 2x 6ft. HDMI Cable & Screen Cleaner for LED TVs.
Plus, Philips Norelco Electric Shaver 8900, Wet & Dry Edition S8950/91.
BONUS: James Agee, A Death in the Family.
8 Million Could Die in Nuclear War with North Korea
At the National Interest:
8 Million People Could Die in a Nuclear War with North Korea https://t.co/mobYHD0AC3
— National Interest (@TheNatlInterest) November 29, 2017
Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2017
Also, "Making moves after The Weeknd! Bella Hadid puts on flirtatious display with singer Miguel during Victoria's Secret show in Shanghai...after that run-in with her ex at last year's catwalk," and "Ravishing in red! Bella Hadid flaunts her ample cleavage as she matches Taylor Hill and Sara Sampaio in crimson dresses at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show viewing party."
Plus, "Bra-vo! Candice Swanepoel teams lingerie with sheer sequinned pantsuit as she reunites with VS Angels for fashion show viewing party."
Matt Lauer Fired
At Politico, "Longtime 'Today' host Matt Lauer fired from NBC for 'inappropriate sexual behavior'."
Also at Memeorandum, "NBC Fires Matt Lauer Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations."
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Today's Deals
See especially, GreenWorks 2600502 13 Amp 20-Inch Corded Snow Thrower.
And, Intex Raised Downy Airbed with Built-in Electric Pump, Queen, Bed Height 22".
More, Wave Premium Sleep Therapy Sound Machine – Soothing All-Natural Sounds Include White Noise, Fan, Ocean, Rain, Stream, and Summer Night - Includes Timer and USB Output Charger.
Also, Upgraded NutriChef Pro Soup Maker & Blender - Multifunction Machine - Hot and Cold, Juicer, Soup & Smoothie Maker - Food Warmer - Healthy Food - Pulse, Steamer, 1.7L, Black (PKSM240BK).
Plus, XCSOURCE 2x Car Vehicles 9LED Daytime Running Light DRL Kit Fog Lamp Day Driving Daylight.
And, Meguiar's G18211 Ultimate Paste Wax, 11 oz.
Still more, Mothers 05500 California Gold Brazilian Carnauba Cleaner Wax - 12 oz.
Here, Turtle Wax T-49R1 F21 Tire Foam and Shine - 18 oz., and Turtle Wax 50733 Complete ICE Premium Car Care Kit, 8-Piece.
BONUS: Joseph Heller, Catch-22 (50th Anniversary Edition).
Genevieve Morton 2018 Calendar Shoot
Use code “Blackfriday” to get 15% off on https://t.co/Smq8FeWAAB today!! pic.twitter.com/x7kjCfGVAj
— genevieve morton (@genevievemorton) November 24, 2017
Head to https://t.co/Smq8FeWAAB to order your 2018 calendar pic.twitter.com/5FoBd2VpLP
— genevieve morton (@genevievemorton) November 26, 2017
Believe All Women?
Here's Bari Weiss, at NYT:
“Believe all women” is a powerful war cry, but it can be turned into a weapon to hurt us. Exhibit A: Roy Moore’s false accuser. My latest: https://t.co/TlpopSzH9m
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) November 28, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Old Man and the Sea
We've taken away my son's digital items for a couple of weeks, because he's been having issues. No cell phone. No iPad. No tablet. He can watch television, but there's no inter-connectivity, which is good. It's amazing how much fun it is to just unplug. He was joyous. You talk. You communicate. You reminisce about the good times and you create new memories. I love my son so much and want him to be healthy and happy. Disconnecting helps.
More later. Have a wonderful day.
Just got home from the beach. Hey, that’s the old man and the sea! #NewportBeach #California pic.twitter.com/QIHEwrppy3
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 27, 2017
Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching As a Subversive Activity
At Amazon, Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching As a Subversive Activity.
Awesome Amazon Deals
At Amazon, All-New Fire HD 10 Tablet with Alexa Hands-Free, 10.1" 1080p Full HD Display, 32 GB, Black - with Special Offers ($99.00).
Also, All-New Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet, 7" Display, 16 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case ($69.99).
And, All-New Fire HD 8 Tablet with Alexa, 8" HD Display, 16 GB, Black - with Special Offers ($49.99).
More, Kindle Paperwhite E-reader - Black, 6" High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers ($89.99).
Still more, Kindle Essentials Bundle including Kindle 6” E-Reader, Black with Special Offers, Amazon Cover for Kindle – Black, Power Adapter, and special eBooks offer - $15 credit ($99.97).
Here, All Amazon Accessories Link.
BONUS: Steven Hill, Raw Deal: How the "Uber Economy" and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers.
Mexico's Slums
At LAT, "Mexico promised affordable housing for all. Instead it created slums":
Take a highway out of any Mexican city and you'll see rapidly-decaying slums, even though they're only a few years old. What went wrong? My LA Times investigation. https://t.co/JWPmnpjC8O
— Richard Marosi (@RichMarosi) November 26, 2017
Sixteen years ago, Mexico embarked on a monumental campaign to elevate living standards for its working-class masses.More.
The government teamed with private developers to launch the largest residential construction boom in Latin American history. Global investors — the World Bank, big foundations, Wall Street firms — poured billions of dollars into the effort.
Vast housing tracts sprang up across cow pastures, farms and old haciendas. From 2001 to 2012, an estimated 20 million people — one-sixth of Mexico’s population — left cities, shantytowns and rural ranchos for the promise of a better life.
It was a Levittown moment for Mexico — a test of the increasingly prosperous nation’s first-world ambitions. But Mexico fell disastrously short of creating that orderly suburbia.
The program has devolved into a slow-motion social and financial catastrophe, inflicting daily hardships and hazards on millions in troubled developments across the country, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.
Homeowners toting buckets scrounge for water delivered by trucks. Gutters run with raw sewage from burst pipes. Streets sink, sidewalks crumble, and broken-down water treatment plants rust. In some developments, blackouts hit for days at a time.
Inside many homes, roofs leak, walls crack and electrical systems short circuit, blowing out appliances and in some cases sparking fires that send families fleeing.
The program cost more than $100 billion, and some investors and construction executives reaped enormous profits, hailing themselves as “nation builders” as they joined the ranks of Mexico’s richest citizens.
Meanwhile, the factory workers, small-business owners, retirees and civil servants who bought the homes got stuck with complex loans featuring mortgage payments that rose even as their neighborhoods deteriorated into slums.
The Times visited 50 of the affordable-housing developments from Tijuana to the Gulf of Mexico. It also reviewed thousands of pages of government and industry documents, and interviewed hundreds of homeowners, municipal leaders, housing experts, civil engineers, construction workers and government officials.
The American housing crisis and recession a decade ago also were marked by regulatory failures, and the U.S. economy eventually recovered. But the crisis in Mexico has been deepening.
Conditions at the developments vary widely. While some meet basic standards, rapid decay is evident at developments in or near every major city: Failed water systems. Unfinished electrical grids, wastewater systems and other infrastructure. Parks and schools that were promised but never materialized.
Many developments were built far from employment centers on marginal land — wetlands, riverbanks and unstable hillsides — with scarce access to water. Local officials rewrote zoning laws and approved developments with little or no review.
Developers downsized homes — building about 1 million one-bedroom units as small as 325 square feet, which is smaller than a typical two-car garage in the U.S. Many families of six, seven or more live in these postage-stamp dwellings, sleeping in laundry nooks and hallways.
Builders have all but abandoned hundreds of developments without completing infrastructure, resulting in a patchwork of public services.
In developments without working streetlights, youngsters wield flashlights to navigate pitch-black streets. In those without trash-hauling, people burn garbage in vacant lots to deter rats.
Tree stumps are placed in open manholes to alert children to the hazards of poorly maintained streets. Residents of water-parched neighborhoods lock the lids of rooftop cisterns to keep thieves from siphoning water.
The unfinished developments blight cities across the country. An estimated 300,000 people live in more than 40 incomplete tracts in the fast-growing Baja California cities of Tijuana and Ensenada.
In Mexico state, which surrounds Mexico City, developers have completed only 36 of the 235 developments started between 2005 and 2012, leaving 200,000 to 500,000 people in limbo, according to state records.
“It was a world of corruption,” said Alberto Uribe, the mayor of Tlajomulco, a suburb of Guadalajara. His predecessors in the city approved developments where the well water has run low for an estimated 300,000 people, he said. Water is now rationed, and many families receive water only every other day...
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters Crowned Miss Universe 2017
At USA Today:
#MissSouthAfrica Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters is crowned #MissUniverse 2017 https://t.co/khfcCxIdp4
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 27, 2017
Congratulations to Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, the winner of the 2017 #MissUniverse competition! pic.twitter.com/JYuQYc3Lvo
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) November 27, 2017
The face you make just before you take the @MissUniverse stage.
— Demi-LeighNel-Peters (@DemiLeighNP) November 26, 2017
RT if you're tuning in to watch #MissUniverse on @vuzutv tomorrow morning? #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/WffMU2bMJ7
Top 5.πΏπ¦ #MisssUniverse #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/2XpflbDdso
— Demi-LeighNel-Peters (@DemiLeighNP) November 27, 2017
In Greenwich and Manhattan, Tax-Hike Fears Fuel Talk of Exodus
At Bloomberg, "Tax-Hike Fears Trigger Talk of Exodus From Manhattan and Greenwich":
Fears of a tax hike are fueling talk of an exodus in Greenwich and Manhattan https://t.co/EI8reC8OBj pic.twitter.com/IFp50a7VLB
— Bloomberg (@business) November 27, 2017
Even Bruce McGuire, founder of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, understands if wealthy Northeasterners flee the region due to changes in the tax code.
“It would almost be irresponsible if you weren’t thinking about moving,” he said.
The problem for the Connecticut hedge-fund set -- and, more broadly, for a lot of the Wall Street crowd -- is that Republican proposals in both the House and Senate would drive up taxes for many high-earners in the New York City area. By eliminating the deduction for most state and local taxes, an individual making a yearly salary of $1,000,000 -- a figure not uncommon in the financial industry -- would owe the Internal Revenue Service an additional $21,000, according to a preliminary analysis by accounting firm Marcum LLP.
Billionaire hedge fund managers have blazed the trail south in recent years. David Tepper, Paul Tudor Jones and Eddie Lampert are New York-area transplants to Florida, which has no personal income tax.
A final bill could still do away with the hike, but so far there are no signs coming out of Washington that will happen. Financially struggling New Jersey had the sixth-highest individual income rate this year, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. New York ranked eighth and cash-strapped Connecticut 12th. Nine of the 10 states with the highest individual taxes, including Washington, D.C., voted Democratic in the 2016 presidential election.
Tax Refugees
No one interviewed for this story would talk openly about making plans to move, but Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is estimating that New York City alone could lose as much as 4 percent of its top earners if the bill becomes law. In Florida, where there’s no state income tax, there’s the sense that this is a great opportunity to lure disgruntled tax refugees.
The Miami Downtown Development Authority is throwing a party next month during the annual Art Basel show, and Nitin Motwani, a real estate developer, has invited wealthy Northeasterners who’ve expressed interest in moving to the area. Because the proposed tax changes are practically begging them to relocate, Motwani expects a crowd.
State and local taxes, also called SALT, “can and should be a major catalyst,” said Motwani, a development authority board member. Tax reform will “certainly be something we’re highlighting” at the party, in the Perez Art Museum. “Inertia is a tough thing, but you add on another tax bill and maybe that pushes you over the edge.”
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Jennifer Delacruz's Cooler Sunday Forecast
At ABC News 10 San Diego:
Best-Selling Deals
Okay folks, thanks for shopping my Amazon links for the holidays. I really appreciate it!
More, Today's Deals.
And, a best-seller, Philips Hue White Smart Bulb Starter Kit (4 A19 Bulbs and 1 Bridge, Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant).
Also, Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation, Stainless Steel, Works with Amazon Alexa.
Plus, Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell in Satin Nickel.
More, Bluetooth Headphones, VAVA MOOV 28 Wireless Sports Earphones in Ear Earbuds with 8 Hours Playtime (IPX5 Splashproof, aptX Stereo, Magnetic Aluminum Design, Noise Cancelling Mic).
Here, Roku Streaming Stick+ | 4K/HDR/HD streaming player with 4x the wireless range & voice remote with TV power and volume (2017).
Still more, TP-Link Smart Plug, No Hub Required, Wi-Fi, Control your Devices from Anywhere, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant (HS100).
BONUS: Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings.
Kendall Jenner Tops the List as the Highest Paid Model in 2017
Announcing the world's highest-paid models of 2017:
— Forbes (@Forbes) November 21, 2017
1. Kendall Jenner
2. Gisele Bundchen
3. Chrissy Teigenhttps://t.co/hgRXVPBCez pic.twitter.com/1fBqmsEV3E
Kendall Jenner Nips in See Through White Top - https://t.co/nq6XcTDOM9 - pic.twitter.com/x6i7AXd2TN
— Taxi Driver (@TaxiDriverMovie) November 22, 2017
Gail Z. Martin, The Summoner
Here's more, at Amazon, Gail Z. Martin, The Summoner (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Book 1).
Vita Sidorkina
π https://t.co/7EbO1kouSe pic.twitter.com/69ngKMGIEV
— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) November 25, 2017