Links To End 2015

Here are some things going on, as the current year draws to a close:

From Business Insider, who credit the Associated Press as their source, a residential skyscraper in Dubai has become a real life towering inferno.  (See also the report at Hot Air.)

From Tech Crunch, how to deal with the shortage of data scientists.

From World Net Daily, Washington state allows transgender men into women's bathrooms.

The New York Post offers four New Year's resolutions that "you can actually keep".

From Reason.com, Donald Trump (R) declares victory over Hillary Clinton (D) on the sexism front.

From The Washington Post, three top advisers of Ben Carson (R) have resigned.

From CNN, yesterday was unusually warm at the North Pole.

From The Straits Times, German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the influx of refugees into Germany an "opportunity".

National Review asks, "Why would anyone want a firearm?"

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, incoming Virginia Tech head football coach Justin Fuente will bring along his offensive coordinator from his former employer.

From Fox News, starting tomorrow, Texans can open carry their handguns.

From NJ.com, and the "you can't make this up" department, at an anti-violence rally in Newark, a fight breaks out.  (via Fox News)

From Zero Hedge, who list Market News as their source, the American economy has entered a manufacturing recession.

From the Washington Examiner, the State Department has released 5,500 pages of Hillary Clinton's emails.

From The Washington Free Beacon, the Chinese defense ministry confirms that it has conducted a test on a rail-mobile ICBM.

From Bizpac Review, Donald Trump has drawn the support of John Wayne's daughter.

From The Hill, the recently-passed omnibus spending bill includes "climate aid" to developing nations.

From the Daily Mail, a man in New York state has been arrested for "supporting ISIS" and planning to attack a restaurant.  (via Twitchy)

From The New York Times, the year in weirdness.

And from Hokiesports.com, one last award for retiring Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer.

So with that, Happy New Year, everyone!

Self-Identified Worshiper Charged With Arson At Mosque

The person charged with setting fire to a mosque in Houston on December 25 is someone who claimed to have worshiped at that mosque.  Gary Nathaniel Moore of Houston was arrested and charged this morning.

Read more at Click2Houston, Houston Public Media, ABC13 and Chron.

Bill Cosby Charged With Sexual Assault

It looks like some of his past actions may have caught up with Mr. Bill (in this case, not Bill Clinton).  Entertainer Bill Cosby has been charged in Pennsylvania with sexual assault, from an incident that allegedly took place in 2004.  The state has a 12-year statute of limitations on that type of offense.

Read more at CNN, People, The New York Times, the New York Daily News and Variety.

This Is Your Body, In Outer Space

Space, the final frontier, can be hazardous to your health.  Before you go dreaming about being the next Captain Kirk or Luke Skywalker, listen to what real astronaut Leland Melvin has to say, in this video posted in Popular Mechanics.

For more information, click on the above link.

Alabama Governor's Beachfront House To Be Repaired

The state of Alabama is using money received from BP in the settlement over their 2010 oil spill to repair a beachfront gubernatorial mansion, which was not damaged by the oil spill, but by Hurricane Danny back in 1997.  This house, from what I can tell, is not the personal property of Governor Robert Bentley, but is owned by the state, so this does not appear to be a case of embezzlement.  But it's still curious that money granted because of the oil spill can be used to repair something that was not damaged thereby.

Read more at Al(dot)com and Russia Today.

Drone Registration System Gets Overwhelmed

This story comes from The Daily Signal and the "be careful what you ask for" department.  After the Federal Aviation Administration required the owners of drones to register them, their registration page couldn't handle the resulting flood of applications.  From TDS:

The Federal Aviation Administration appeared unprepared to accommodate the flood of new drone owners during the holiday season after requiring that Americans register their drones before lift off.

The FAA shut down its registration page twice within two days after it launched last Monday because of high traffic.

Perhaps this is a lesson for us on the right.  It appears that in some cases, the best way to expose big government is not to resist it, but to comply with it.  Read the full story.

Asteroid Impacts Not Expected For 2016

No, the Sweet Meteor Of Death (SMOD) will not be hitting the earth in 2016.  As reported by USA Today, two asteroids will indeed pass within "several million miles" of our planet, but that will be as close as they get.  And as they point out, meteors come from comets, not asteroids.

Read the full story.

As for the SMOD meme, blame my side of the aisle.

Great Britain Hit With Floods

While Winter Storm Goliath ravages the United States, our friends across the Big Pond have also been dealing with Mother Nature.  Northern England and parts of Wales have been hit with torrential rains and some resulting floods.  Many streets in the city of York are underwater.

Read more at The Telegraph, BBC News and Sky News.

Fraser The Christmas Dragon

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Here's a little Christmas story I just came across, written by Margo Fallis.

Fraser lived in a huge, but very dark and damp cave, way up in the northeastern part of Scotland. His dark purple scales kept him warm most of the time, but when the snow fell in the heart of winter, he would often get so cold that he would shiver. To make matters worse, Fraser didn’t have any friends. None of the other animals in Thistleberry Glen wanted to be friends with a dragon.

Fraser spent most of his days cooking and baking. This helped keep his cave a bit warmer. He was quite a good cook too. He made the best caramel shortbread in the whole glen. On days when he went down to the river for a drink, if he was lucky enough to see a fish or two, he’d catch them with his sharp claws, take them back to the cave, and make fishcakes. He’d add a little onion and mashed potatoes and fry them up to perfection.

Read the rest at Electric Scotland.

Some Stories Before Christmas

'Tis two days before Christmas, here at Bigfoot's Place
The Sasquatch is stirring, at an uneven pace
The Bigfootmobile will soon travel south
Where Feet of all sizes are running about

I may not post much in the days just ahead
Seems too warm and rainy, for reindeer and sled
Merry Christmas, I say, unto each one of youz
I'll leave you with these things, out there in the news:

From Fox News Radio, Rand Paul (R-KY) says that he will not participate in any second tier presidential debate.  (via Bloomberg Politics)

From ABC News, Ben Carson (R-MD), in an Associated Press interview, suggests that his campaign could be undergoing some "personnel changes".  (via Bloomberg Politics)

From the New York Post, the Syrian refugee runaway bride.

From rrstar.com, how to deal with flawed forensic evidence.

From CBS SF Bay Area, a Southwest Airlines flight makes an emergency landing at Oakland International Airport.

From WUIS, the number of deportations in 2015 is the lowest since 2006.

From the Star Tribune, in and around the Minneapolis airport and the Mall of America, Black Lives Matter protesters once again make [bleep]s of themselves.

From the Associated Press, some of those BLM protesters have been arrested.

From Politico, a secret audio tape of Ted Cruz (R-TX) from a recent fundraiser.

From National Review, this year's top 10 constitutional violations by President Obama.

From Frontpage Mag, why it's important to say "Merry Christmas".  (The writer, like the Baby whose birth we're celebrating, is a Jew.)

In Town Hall, Michele Malkin explains how to manufacture an anti-Muslim backlash.

From AOL, Iraqi military forces claim to be close to pushing ISIS out of Ramadi.

From The Jerusalem Post, eleven members of a British Muslim family are kept off an airplane bound for Los Angeles.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, at my alma mater, Frank Beamer prepares to coach his last football game, while Justin Fuente starts the transition.

And from the New York Daily News, "8 weird and wild Christmas crimes".