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n2doc's JournalGovernor Brownback Signs NRA-Backed Permitless Carry Legislation Into Law
Fairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) applauds Kansas Governor Sam Brownback for today signing into law Senate Bill 45, NRA-backed legislation that expands Kansas permitless open carry to included permitless concealed carry.
Kansans soon can carry concealed weapons without permits or training under a bill signed by Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday.
The new law, which kicks in July 1, makes Kansas the sixth state to allow “constitutional carry.” It will allow Kansans 21 and older to carry concealed firearms regardless of whether they have obtained a permit.
Training still will be required for anyone who wants to carry a concealed gun in the 36 states that accept Kansas permits.
Brownback touted the importance of training, explaining that his youngest son took a hunter safety course this past week.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article17232419.html
Scott Walker: I’ll blow up any Iran deal, no matter what our European allies think
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Today negotiators from Iran, the U.S., and other major powers announced the framework for a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, laying the groundwork to draft a final agreement by the end of June. The preliminary deal would limit continued operation of centrifuges to one site, while converting a second one — which had been the subject of controversy — to a research facility. The Arak nuclear reactor could no longer be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
In exchange, sanctions against Iran will be lifted by the U.S. and European countries, after the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies Iran has taken those steps. It’s anyone’s guess whether a final deal will be reached, and in the interim, plenty of hard questions will be asked about it.
The 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls are all but certain to oppose the emerging framework, and Congressional Republicans (with the help of some Democrats) will probably try to scuttle any deal before it is signed. But staking out a position against the deal — and trying to sink it — could prove a bit more complicated than it appears.
This is driven home by a new interview that Scott Walker gave to a Wisconsin radio personality, in which he said that not only would he undo any deal with Iran on his first day as president; he would do so even if our European allies wanted the deal to continue.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/04/02/scott-walker-ill-blow-up-any-iran-deal-no-matter-what-our-european-allies-think/
Gov. Jughead...
Our Land, Up for Grabs
By WILL ROGERS
APRIL 2, 2015
A BATTLE is looming over America’s public lands.
It’s difficult to understand why, given decades of consistent, strong support from voters of both parties for protecting land, water and the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits these resources make possible.
Last week, the United States Senate voted 51 to 49 to support an amendment to a nonbinding budget resolution to sell or give away all federal lands other than the national parks and monuments.
If the measure is ever implemented, hundreds of millions of acres of national forests, rangelands, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and historic sites will revert to the states or local governments or be auctioned off. These lands constitute much of what’s left of the nation’s natural and historical heritage.
This was bad enough. But it followed a 228-to-119 vote in the House of Representatives approving another nonbinding resolution that said “the federal estate is far too large” and voiced support for reducing it and “giving states and localities more control over the resources within their boundaries.” Doing so, the resolution added, “will lead to increased resource production and allow states and localities to take advantage of the benefits of increased economic activity.”
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/opinion/our-land-up-for-grabs.html?smid=re-share&_r=1
New Ethics Rules for New York Lawmakers Said to be Riddled with Loopholes
Efforts to clean up the New York State legislature through new ethics rules adopted this week have fallen seriously short of what reformers had hoped, leaving loopholes that could still allow ethical violations.
The changes were prompted by the arrest on corruption charges earlier this year of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He’s charged with steering real estate developers to a law firm that paid him kickbacks and of funneling state money to a doctor who referred asbestos victims to a second law firm he worked for.
Silver is only the latest New York legislator to be in trouble with the law. In 2013, some legislators were wearing Federal Bureau of Investigation wires while dealing with their colleagues.
Governor Andrew Cuomo had promised the new ethics measures would clean up the state legislature. But the state’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, told The New York Times: “It is hard to see how these changes in the law will have any meaningful effect on public corruption.”
more
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/new-ethics-rules-for-new-york-lawmakers-said-to-be-riddled-with-loopholes-150402?news=856131
Cuomo Is Giving Millionaire Yacht Owners a Massive Tax Break
From the minute he took office in 2010, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been criticized for favoring the One Percent. His administration has scaled back corporate taxes of all shapes and sizes, and the Democrat is often criticized for cozying up to the state's wealthy residents and, by extension, their campaign wallets. His closest legislative ally, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, is facing fraud charges. And currently, the federal investigation into the Cuomo administration's handling of the Moreland Commission—which was supposed to rout this corruption—is directly linked to billionaires who have donated to the governor's campaigns, and benefited from his policies.
So yeah, the major tax break for rich yacht and private jet owners included in the latest state budget shouldn't surprise those familiar with New York politics.
On Monday night, in a 44-17 vote, the New York state Senate passed a tax break for New Yorkers who own "vessels" valued at more than $230,000, placing the Empire State in the same league as Florida and Connecticut. Basically, that means that anyone who owns a yacht or, according to state law, any naval vehicle "used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water" that costs more than $230,000 will not have to pay a sales tax on anything above that amount. Meanwhile, the entire purchase of private jets carrying fewer than 20 people would be tax-less.
The bipartisan provision had already appeared earlier this year, in separate proposals by Assembly Democrats and the Senate GOP, and was ultimately added to the $150 billion budget submitted by Cuomo's team before it was approved by both parties earlier this week. This marks another year that his administration has passed a budget on time—a welcome change in Albany, where budget deadlines were once regarded as a suggestion—and, almost like clockwork, another year that New Yorkers are pissed off.
more
http://www.vice.com/read/new-york-is-giving-millionaire-yacht-owners-a-massive-tax-break-401
Scientists calculate the diffraction of light with quantum physics
New study brings physics closer to uniting Einstein's general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
By: Lise Brix
A team of physicists have succeeded in calculating the diffraction of light -- caused by gravitational pull -- using methods from quantum mechanics. This has brought them closer to uniting gravitational pull and the theory of relativity with quantum mechanics.
“We have found a framework within which we can use quantum physics to predict the diffraction of light," says Emil Bjerrum-Bohr, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and one of the scientists behind the new study. He is also the great-grandson of the founder of quantum mechanics, Niels Bohr.
In the new study, their quantum mechanical calculations fit with Einstein's general theory of relativity. The two fields, the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, have otherwise been almost impossible to connect and physicists have been searching for several decades for a new theory to unite the two.
"Until now it hasn't been possible to formulate a quantum theory for gravitational force. Most of the ideas that have been tried run into paradoxes and problems," says Bjerrum-Bohr.
more
http://sciencenordic.com/scientists-calculate-diffraction-light-quantum-physics
Mice sing just like birds, but we can’t hear them
It's true: Mice actually sing, especially when they're looking for a mate. That's not anything new. But unlike birdsong, mouse-song is much too high-pitched for humans to hear. So no, it's not exactly Cinderella-esque, as you can hear for yourself in the above video. But it is shockingly intricate.
In a new study published Wednesday in Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience, researchers at Duke University took a new approach to analyzing mouse songs: They analyzed them the way scientists analyze bird songs. They looked for changes in the way mice string together syllables, hoping to analyze whether they used and responded to different songs in different situations.
Sure enough, male mice on the lookout for an unseen female (an illusion the researchers created by exposing them to female urine) gave loud, complex song performances. But once they were in a female's presence, they simmered down. Females seemed to be more receptive to those first, more complex songs.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/04/01/mice-sing-just-like-birds-but-we-cant-hear-them/
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