Usa Thread

[gobbledonk]

The fast food industry would appear to be a classic case of 'first guy to blink loses'. I put my prices up to give my employees a living wage and a large chunk of my customers decides they are just as happy to eat the competition's Value Meal. Nothing sadder than the sight of an abandoned Pizza Hut - that distinctive shape marks it as a building that could never have been anything else. How do you redevelop a site like this ?

 

http://www.rhpimages.com/b/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pic_432.jpg

 

Pizza Hut was always a tier above the other fast food franchises, but at one stage they actually had reasonably good pizzas - I dont recall Maccas ever having 'good hamburgers'.

[Flashermac]

Domino's Pizza was in LOS in the late 1990s - better pizza than Pizza Hut and lower prices. Pizza Hut drove them out of business here though. KFC here has some things that are edible. Not much at all at Mickey D's.

[Pom Michael]

Domino's is back - started last year - believe 4 locations in downtown area.

[Flashermac]

Marines Scoff at Obama's Proposed 'Girly' Hats

 

 

 

 

A plan by President Barack Obama to create a unisex-style cap for the Marine Corps' uniform has Leathernecks up in arms over a look that many have derided as "girly."

 

"We don't even have enough funding to buy bullets and the DOD is pushing to spend $8 million on covers that look like women's hats," a senior Marine told The New York Post.

 

The hats, which are smaller and thinner, are apparently aimed at looking as good on females as on males.

 

They are called the "Dan Daly" hat in honor of a Long Island sergeant who earned the Medal of Honor during World War I, according to the Post.

 

But the current hat has been a fixture of the Marine Corps since 1922, and critics think the new look is too feminine. Some also say it looks too much like a "porter's cap."

 

"The Dan Daly cap looks too French, and the last people we want to associate our Marines with would be the French military. Wide brim for me," wrote one commentator on the Marine Times website.

 

"It looks good on the female noted, It would be good to see a side shot, I have a word for the men going to the so called Dan Daly look:

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" said another.

 

Marine Corp Commandant Gen. James Amos will make the final decision, and officials have until the end of this week to give the proposed hat a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

 

But according to the Post, an informal survey of the Marine uniform advisory board found that "members did not like the appearance of the Dan Daly cap on the male Marine."

 

 

 

http://www.newsmax.c...0/24/id/532855?

promo_code=13E39-1&utm_source=13E39Boston_Herald&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

[Steve]

This quip from the article cracked me up. Will the French ever get military respect again? lol....But the current hat has been a fixture of the Marine Corps since 1922, and critics think the new look is too feminine. Some also say it looks too much like a "porter's cap."

 

"The Dan Daly cap looks too French, and the last people we want to associate our Marines with would be the French military.

[Steve]

The article insinuates Obama is personally behind the proposal. I would guess he doesn't even know or care. The defense secretary would know but I suspect Obama has no idea about it. Its a huge government and it seems like something too minute for the President to direct. Just my guess. For all I know he could be but I would have serious doubt.

[Flashermac]

When you're the MFWIIC, you have to take the blame. (BTW they are caps, not hats. Hats have a brim.)

 

Meanwhile ... this could simply be a coincidence, but it still doesn't look good.

 

 

"First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

 

"Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company."

 

 

http://dailycaller.c...acare-website/

[cavanami]

A bit of a change of topic...

 

The Obamacare Penalty: Yes, It Can Be Avoided

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/does-the-obamacare-penalty-actually-have-teeth--144740030.html

 

The Obama administration this week said it is delaying the enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate, extending until March 31 how long Americans can go without insurance before facing a penalty.

 

But how strict is the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to begin with? It’s a question that’s floated around since the mandate was first mentioned: Can the government – and more specifically, the IRS – really enforce the mandate penalty? The answer is yes, but only up to a point. Whichever political side of the ACA you are on, it is a technical question that’s piqued the curiosity of consumers and pundits alike.

 

Consumers don’t have to report on whether they have coverage or are exempt from the mandate until they file their 2014 income tax return, which are due April 15, 2015. (Insurers will be required to provide everyone they cover with information that will help them demonstrate they had coverage.)

 

As it stands now, the individuals who don’t obtain health coverage in a given year (and are not exempt from the mandate) are subject to a fine of $95 for an individual or 1% of family income, whichever is greater. In 2015, the penalty increases to $325 per adult, or 2% of family income, whichever is greater.

 

How exactly will the penalty be assessed? If you don’t have sufficient health coverage by the deadline, the “IRS will hold back the amount of the fee from any future tax refunds,†according to HealthCare.gov, the government’s marketplace website.

 

But what if you don’t get a tax refund? Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh picked up on this subject on his show this week, telling listeners: “The only way that they can collect the penalty or the fine is by taking money from your refund. If you are not owed a refund, they cannot get money from you.â€..

[unit731]

Not much at all at Mickey D's.

 

Come on now.

 

Porkburger.

 

Last I checked was 19 Baht.

[unit731]

"As if waging war while dealing with massive cuts from sequestration is not enough, the Marine Corps now has to defend itself from allegations that it bowed to pressure from President Obama to adopt an expensive unisex hat as part of its uniform.

 

The Marine Corps’ official inquiry to determine if a single unisex hat makes more sense than separate head coverings for male and female Marines was somehow blamed on President Obama in a story that circulated widely yesterday.

The Daily Beast’s Hero Project has written in the past about serious problems in the military’s uniform selection process, but it didn’t take an expert to recognize the errors in yesterday’s New York Post story about the proposal for a new service hat.

 

To begin with the most egregiously misrepresented point, the Post story refers to an “Obama directive†to make male Marines “wear covers that look like woman’s hats. The president has nothing to do with the head cover selected for wear by military services or any other aspect of the uniform selection process.

 

Changes to the Marine uniform policy are proposed by the Marine Corps Uniform Board, a group of senior noncommissioned officers who meet annually to survey the force and draw up recommendations. Those recommendations are passed on to Marine Corps Commandant James Amos, who is the final decision maker on uniform matters."

 

 

LINK