I wish this was true.

If for no other reason than to watch heads explode.

Call it Klan Kamp, a summertime retreat in the Ozark Mountains where, for $500 per camper, young and old can learn the fundamentals of the “HOLY mission of White Christian Revival” with the goal of becoming leaders in the “New Crusade for race, faith and homeland.”

On Aug. 23, the first class of the Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute (SOTC) is scheduled to begin on the Arkansas property of the Knights Party, the offspring of David Duke’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The seven-day institute is the brainchild of the Knights Party leader and pastor, Thomas Robb, who has brought together a roster of fellow white supremacists from down the road and across the sea to teach such subjects as “America’s Changing Political climate,” “Leadership - Activist leaders and leaders in the shadows,” “What is propaganda and how to use it effectively,” and “Establishing white conscienceness [sic] in modern society.”

There is no mention on the institute’s website of spelling or typing lessons being offered during the weeklong kickoff of the crusade to establish “white consciousness.”

In addition to Robb, the six-person faculty will include Paul Fromm, one of Canada’s best-known white supremacists and anti-immigration ideologues; Tomislav Sunic, a Croatian author and frequent guest speaker at American extremist events; and Billy Roper, the uncensored voice of violent neo-Nazism, born into organized hate as the son and grandson of Klansmen.

But before the first marshmallow can be roasted, the institute needs money and is seeking contributions to build a dorm for the students and a place “to house our vast library.” According to the SOTC website, the dorm will cost $40,000. “We are at the beginning of a new year and many of you are getting your refund checks in the mail,” the Klan Kamp solicitation letter states. “I know it could be tough for some of you, but we need to stop for a moment and put some value on our people and consider whether safeguarding the existence of our people, and providing a future for our children is worthy of what ever sacrifice we make now.”

The institute is open to campers 16 and up, although students under 18 will need a signed, notarized statement from a parent or guardian granting permission to attend. There will be scholarships available if enough people sign over their tax refunds.

See, the government is good for something.

The camp’s primary focus is to train future leaders who will return to their communities “with the tools to become actively involved” in the “struggle for our racial redemption.”

More: Teaching Intolerance: ‘Klan Kamp’ to Open in Ozarks

June 4, 2013 — In 2010, in the journal Nature, a pair of physicists at the Santa Fe Institute showed that when the population of a city doubles, economic productivity goes up by an average of 130 percent. Not only does total productivity increase with increased population, but so does per-capita productivity.

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In the latest issue of Nature Communications, researchers from the MIT Media Laboratory’s Human Dynamics Lab propose a new explanation for that “superlinear scaling”: Increases in urban population density give residents greater opportunity for face-to-face interaction.

More: Why Innovation Thrives in Cities

The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto argued Tuesday that the discussion about sexual assault in the military has become “a war on men.”

Taranto brought up the case of Capt. Matthew Herrera, an Air Force officer accused of sexual assault by a fellow servicewoman, in a column as an example of Congress’ “effort to criminalize male sexuality.” Capt. Herrera was ultimately not convicted of sexual assault by his commander, Lt. Gen. Susan Helms—but as a consequence, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) put a “permanent hold” on Helms’ nomination to serve as vice commander of the Air Force Space Command, a career setback Taranto laments.

Capt. Herrera had testified before Helms that his accuser “flirted” with him, and a lieutenant who was present at the time of the alleged assault agreed. Therefore, Taranto reasons, Herrera’s accuser was equally at fault.

“It’s fair to say that Capt. Herrera seems to have a tendency toward sexual recklessness,” Taranto wrote. “Perhaps that makes him unsuitable to serve as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. But his accusers acted recklessly too. The presumption that reckless men are criminals while reckless women are victims makes a mockery of any notion that the sexes are equal.”

More: James Taranto: Sexual Assault Debate Is a ‘War on Men’

The first experimental drug to boost brain synapses lost in Alzheimer’s disease has been developed by researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. The drug, called NitroMemantine, combines two FDA-approved medicines to stop the destructive cascade of changes in the brain that destroys the connections between neurons, leading to memory loss and cognitive decline.

The decade-long study, led by Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience, Aging, and Stem Cell Research, who is also a practicing clinical neurologist, shows that NitroMemantine can restore synapses, representing the connections between nerve cells (neurons) that have been lost during the progression of Alzheimer’s in the brain. The research findings are described in a paper published June 17 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

More: New Drug Reverses Loss of Brain Connections in Alzheimer’s

Hooray Science! Hooray Beer!

Amazon and other e-commerce firms are cutting ties with all Minnesotans who earn money by posting links that send traffic to online merchants after lawmakers passed a tweak to state sales tax law.

Minnesota E-Fairness legislation, signed by Gov. Mark Dayton on May 23 and going into effect July 1, classifies independent bloggers and online reviewers as a physical presence of a business in the state. This means online companies who pay these people to generate new sales must collect tax not just on those sales, but on all sales in the state.

The tax on online sales is already due, but the onus has been on consumers, who often never pay the tax. The new law puts the onus on Amazon, as long as they have a single blogger posting links to its products from Minnesota.

The state has estimated the new law will generate $5 million in new revenue, but Amazon is having none of it.

The company sent an email to associates in Minnesota, saying it will close all accounts in the state to avoid the tax.

“This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Minnesota state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Dayton,” the letter said. “We will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after June 30 nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Minnesota residents.”

The state Department of Revenue said it is working on this issue today, but was not immediately ready to comment.

Aaron Hall, an attorney in Minneapolis who has clients who will be affected and has written about the new law, said even he will lose a couple hundred dollars a month as Amazon pulls the plug on the Minnesota program.

“A lot of bloggers have been hit,” Hall said.

Amazon, which was not immediately available for further comment, is not the only company cutting off ties with Minnesota bloggers and reviewers. Commission Junction, a California-based firm that handles online marketing and advertising, has also pulled out of the state, Hall said. Commission Junction was not immediately ready to comment.

The people affected are part of a grass-roots, independent e-commerce sales force, creating accounts with these companies and posting special links to blog posts, reviews and display ads that credit them for sales. Sometimes they earn a commission, up to 6 percent, Hall said. Some people make tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Amazon has already pulled out of states like California, North Carolina, Colorado, Connecticut, Arkansas, Illinois and Rhode Island for similar reasons.

The online giant called Minnesota’s E-Fairness legislation “unconstitutional” in its lette, and called for federal lawmakers to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act to resolve the confusion of online sales tax policy from state to state.

“Congressional legislation is the only way to create a simplified, constitutional framework to resolve interstate sales tax issues and it would allow us to re-open our Associates program to Minnesota residents,” Amazon said.
startribune.com

Emerging from a private meeting with House Republicans, Boehner said he told his conference that any immigration reform bill that hits the floor has to have the majority support from both parties.

“I don’t see any way of bringing an immigration reform bill to the floor that doesn’t have the majority support of Republicans,” he told reporters.

More: John Boehner: No Vote on Immigration Bill Without Majority Support of Republicans

Senior bankers guilty of reckless misconduct should be jailed, a long-awaited report on banking commissioned by the government has recommended.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was set up by Chancellor George Osborne last year after a number of scandals involving the industry.

Jail reckless bankers, standards commission urges
The cross-party group’s fifth report attacked the lack of accountability of bankers and also said some bonuses should be withheld for up to 10 years.

The Treasury has welcomed the report.

It called it “a very impressive piece of work” and promised to provide a response before the summer recess.

“Where legislation is needed, we have said we will support it, and the banking bill currently before Parliament can be amended to ensure they are quickly enacted,” a spokesman added.

The 571-page report also called on the government to review alternatives for selling off the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), including breaking it up, and demanded action to make the banking market more competitive.

More: BBC

LE BOURGET, France — Boeing Co. won major orders from five customers for a stretched-out version of its popular 787 Dreamliner jet at the Paris Air Show Tuesday, further evidence of a strengthening market for more expensive long-haul jets.
Boeing announced the formal launch of its 787-10 program at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday and says it already has commitments for 102 jets from five customers: Air Lease Corp., Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, International Airlines Group and GE Capital Aviation Services. The new 787-10 lists at $290 million, making the deal worth nearly $30 billion at full price, although customers often negotiate deep discounts.
United remains the only U.S.-based airline to fly the 787, which is steadily winning customers after being beset with problems concerning lithium-ion battery on two Japanese carriers. The plane, like its newest rival the Airbus A350, uses lightweight materials and new engine technology to cut down on fuel consumption at a time of rapidly increasing jet fuel prices. Boeing has said passengers will notice bigger windows and an adjustment in cabin pressure which means they will not suffer from jet lag as badly as on other aircraft.

The original 787 can seat between 210 and 250 passengers. Boeing has started building a longer version, the 787-9, that would hold between 250 and 290 passengers, while the 787-10 would seat between 300 and 330.

The air show is a platform for the race for sales between Boeing and its European rival Airbus, which is hoping that the event spark interest in its A350, its long-haul wide-body rival to the 787. The first A350s are expected to be delivered in mid-2014, after the aircraft receives regulatory approval.

postandcourier.com

Yegor Borisov, head of the Sakha Republic, a vast and sparsely populated region of eastern Siberia, has called for an urgent cull of wolves after the predators swamped populated areas in a search for food.

The local government has announced a three month “battle against wolves” to be launched on January 15.

Special task forces will be put together and the hunting season extended all year round in a bid to tackle what the local authorities have described as a “mass migration” of the creatures.

The governor has even promised a six-figure cash prize for the hunters who bring back the most skins.

The sparsely populated Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, has seen several dramatic confrontations between humans and the animals in recent years.

Last January a “super pack” of 400 wolves laid siege to the remote town of Verkhoyansk, forcing locals to mount patrols on snow mobiles until the government could send in extra help.

Wolves usually hunt in small groups of just six or seven, and naturalists believe only a serious failure of the usual food supply could have brought such a large pack together to tackle larger prey.

This year naturalists say a shortage of the wolves’ traditional pretty – especially blue hares – has seen vast numbers of the hungry animals migrating from their mountainous hunting grounds to central parts of the republic.

While scientists agree a food shortage is at the root of the problem, it is not clear what has impacted the small mammal population. Some naturalists have pointed to cyclical fluctuations in the population of small mammals, but others have suggested unusually harsh winters could have played a role.

There are thought to be about 3,500 wolves in the Sakha Republic, which covers an area larger than Argentina. The local government says the territory can realistically support no more than 500.

While no attacks on humans have been reported recently, the influx of predators into more populated regions has had a big impact on agriculture – especially the region’s traditional reindeer herders.

Wolves killed 313 horses and over 16,000 reindeer in 2012, according to the agriculture ministry.

telegraph.co.uk