July is hottest month on record; drought expands to 63 percent of United States

It may come as little surprise with this summer’s sweaty nights and blistering days across much of the country, but July marked the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to government scientists. Furthermore, drought now covers nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 states, where average precipitation is 0.19 inch below average.

A bit of hope, though, was seen for some crops in the Midwest thanks to cooler temperatures and rain.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature across the contiguous United States in July was 77.6 Fahrenheit, a full 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average.

The previous warmest July was in 1936, when the nation’s average temperature was 77.4 degrees.

The hot July contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since accurate record keeping started in 1895.

Virginia experienced its warmest July on record, with a statewide temperature a whopping 4 F above average. In all, 32 states had July temperatures among its 10 warmest, with seven states having their second warmest July on record.

While heat and extreme events such as drought and wildfires are often associated with global warming and climate change, it’s unclear if the latest pattern is part of a much larger trend.

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France Plans 75% Tax on Rich »

PARIS — The call to Vincent Grandil’s Paris law firm began like many others that have rolled in recently. On the line was the well-paid chief executive of one of France’s most profitable companies, and he was feeling nervous.

President François Hollande is vowing to impose a 75 percent tax on the portion of anyone’s income above a million euros ($1.24 million) a year. “Should I be preparing to leave the country?” the executive asked Mr. Grandil.

The lawyer’s counsel: Wait and see. For now, at least.

“We’re getting a lot of calls from high earners who are asking whether they should get out of France,” said Mr. Grandil, a partner at Altexis, which specializes in tax matters for corporations and the wealthy. “Even young, dynamic people pulling in 200,000 euros are wondering whether to remain in a country where making money is not considered a good thing.”

A chill is wafting over France’s business class as Mr. Hollande, the country’s first Socialist president since François Mitterrand in the 1980s, presses a manifesto of patriotism to “pay extra tax to get the country back on its feet again.” The 75 percent tax proposal, which Parliament plans to take up in September, is ostensibly aimed at bolstering French finances as Europe’s long-running debt crisis intensifies.

But because there are relatively few people in France whose income would incur such a tax — an estimated 7,000 to 30,000 in a country of 65 million — the gains might contribute but a small fraction of the 33 billion euros in new revenue the government wants to raise next year to help balance the budget.

The French finance ministry did not respond to requests for an estimate of the revenue the tax might raise. Though the amount would be low, some analysts note that a tax hit on the rich would provide political cover for painful cuts Mr. Hollande may need to make next year in social and welfare programs that are likely to be far less popular with the rank and file.

In that regard, the tax could have enormous symbolic value as a blow for egalité, coming from a new president who has proclaimed, “I don’t like the rich.”

(sounds like obama?)

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These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls.

H/T TO THE REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION

THE SUMMER SOLDIER AND THE SUNSHINE PATRIOT WILL STAND UNDER THAT SHELTERED TREE AS THE SMOKE AND FIRE OF BATTLE SWIRLS ROUND THEM AND THEIR MUSKET WILL NEVER BE RAISED.  BUT HE WILL BE FIRST IN LINE WHEN THE BATTLE SOUNDS HAVE CEASED AND THE CROWNING VICTORY WON.  SAD BUT TRUE.

From HERE>

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From HERE.

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Obama fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans

The White House has filed an appeal in hopes of reversing a federal judge’s ruling that bans the indefinite military detention of Americans because attorneys for the president say they are justified to imprison alleged terrorists without charge.

Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in May that the indefinite detention provisions signed into law late last year by US President Barack Obama failed to “pass constitutional muster” and ordered a temporary injunction to keep the military from locking up any person, American or other, over allegations of terrorist ties. On Monday, however, federal prosecutors representing President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta filed a claim with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of eliminating that ban.

The plaintiffs “cannot point to a single example of the military’s detaining anyone for engaging in conduct even remotely similar to the type of expressive activities they allege could lead to detention,” Obama’s attorneys insist. With that, the White House is arguing that as long as the indefinite detention law hasn’t be enforced yet, there is no reason for a judge to invalidate it.

Reuters reports this week that the government believes they are justified to have the authorization to lock alleged belligerents up indefinitely because cases involving militants directly aligned against the good of the US government warrants such punishment. Separate from Judge Forrest’s injunction, nine states have attempted to, at least in part, remove themselves from the indefinite detention provisions of included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA.

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• It Begins… Business Owner Assaulted For Posting Anti-Obama Sign
  
• Obama Camp: It’s OK to Call Mitt Romney a Felon and Killer (Video)
  
• Allen West Upsets Black Caucus After Sending Chick-fil-A to Their Weekly Meeting
  
• Obama Pays Illegal Aliens to Come Here – With Your Money
  
• Confirmed: Obama White House Told Law Enforcement to “Stand Down” and Not Enforce the Law Against Occupy Protestors
  
• Hannity Interviews Obama Classmate Wayne Allyn Root on President’s Mysterious Columbia Years (Video)
  
• BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Organizers of “Occupy the Truth” Peace and Justice Rally Sign Top Conservative Headliner

More HERE.

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‘Ask Me Tomorrow’ – WH Won’t Condemn Ad Accusing Romney of Killing Woman

Fox Nation

REPORTER: Priorities Super PAC has an ad out today that features a man who worked at a Steel plant that closed in 2001, this was after it was acquired by Bain Capital and the implication is that Mitt Romney bears responsibility for the death of this man’s wife because he lost his insurance when the plant closed in 2001 and in 2006 his wife, who was uninsured at the time, died of cancer. I’m wondering if the President believes Mitt Romney shares responsibility in her death?

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