Homeland Election Takeover: Today's news for August 31, 2016

Washington Examiner:

Homeland eyes special declaration to take charge of elections

Even before the FBI identified new cyber attacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a "critical infrastructure," giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and...the electric power grid. 

The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials.

At the risk of going conspiracy theory on you, if you were a president trying to stay in power, or make sure your party remains in power through an election, what would you do?

This sounds suspiciously like it. It is below the radar so most people will ignore it, yet it is powerful enough to allow you control of the election results.

That is if someone were so inclined to do something like this. Naturally, we can trust President Obama with this, just like we did when he said, "If you like your health insurance, you can  keep it!"

Maybe that's a bad example. How about we can trust him to faithfully execute the laws of the United States? Oops, I forgot about Hillary getting off without a slap on the wrist.

Ok, so maybe this isn't such a good idea.

Speaking of crooks in government...

Reuters:

New Jersey Governor Christie vetoes minimum wage hike to $15/hr

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday vetoed a bill to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years.

The legislation would have made New Jersey the third state to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage, Christie said in a statement.

State voters agreed to a previous wage hike in 2013, to $8.25 from $7.25. New Jersey's rate is tied to the consumer price index and is now at $8.38, according to a database from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

"Despite having a constitutional mandate in place, the legislature now wants to increase the minimum wage by almost 80 percent just three years later," Christie said in a statement about his veto.

...Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, lead sponsor of the bill, said in a statement the wage increase is a key component to Democrats' strategy to combat poverty. 

"A substantial minimum wage increase will help lift countless families out of poverty, decrease government dependency and boost commerce by pumping more dollars back into the economy," he said.

Nowhere in this does anyone ask what is the median wage in New Jersey? Until that figure is sufficiently above $15/hour, raising your minimum wage that high is dangerously stupid. I have discussed this before.

Moving on to another state...

CBS Detroit:

Warren To Ticket Residents Over Mosquitoes, Standing Water Ahead Of Yellow Fever Threat

Is there anything more entertaining than watching politicians responding in advance to a non-existent threat?

West Nile is dangerous but one local mayor says Yellow Fever is worse, and he’s getting ready for a possible outbreak. 

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts isn’t taking any chances. He’s cautioning residents to look out for mosquitoes like their lives depend on it. 

“I’m worried about Zika, I’m worried about West Nile, I’m worried about Chikungunya and I think we have to begin to look at the potential for Yellow Fever sweeping the United States within the next year or two,” Fouts told WWJ’s Charlie Langton. “Yellow Fever is even more serious — 20 to 50 percent of the people who contract Yellow Fever die.” 

Fouts was quick to point out that nobody in Warren currently has Yellow Fever, but he wants to be ready if an outbreak does happen 

“Many years ago when I was on the city council, we didn’t have West Nile and then we got it,” he said. “And if you remember, Warren was one of the top cities in Michigan to have several fatalities from West Nile.”

So what's the solution, Sheriff Brody?


No, not THAT solution! This one:

So, the city is taking a proactive approach, Fouts said, issuing tickets to those who could be harboring the disease-spreading mosquitoes on their properties. 

“We have zero tolerance for anyone with a swimming pool or large water area with standing water. We are going to issue major ticket violations,” he said. “We are going to treat this as a potential epidemic.”

Maybe the bigger boat was a better idea?