daddy warbucks

express.co.uk

As Syrian refugees pour into Europe the world watches for signs of hope.

Because Germany's population is aging fast, 

migrants are finding their first real hope there.

It turns out that the proportion of older people in the population relative to tax-generating workers is rising quickly in Germany.

Germany needs more children to grow up into tax payers.

reuters

The good news is Germany projects it can absorb as many as half a million refugees a year for some years to come.

The bad news is in a study published by the Institute for Labour Markets that found there is "a very high proportion of people who had completed no professional training".

This means they haven’t actually been to school. 

reuters

So young migrants must learn German and a skill.

express.co.uk

The US has been sending only money.

The UN's special representative for migration, Peter Sutherland stated this was no substitute for taking migrants in. 

"Buying your way out of this is not satisfactory," he said.

one forward, four back

This is Kim Davis and her husband posing yesterday with Reverend Mike Huckabee and his wife.

This is a random Google image from “Halloween”.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2015/09/ky.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly

this'll speed things up

building castles in the air

Just east of the Bronx Botanical Garden lies Paulding Avenue named for William Paulding, mayor of New York City in 1825.

Paulding was an honorable and well accomplished fellow. 

Born in 1770 to a wealthy family, he went to law school and served as Brigadier General in the War of 1812.

The combination of wealth, law and military leads straight to the top and Paulding was no exception.

He served in Congress, later New York State government and by 1825 was appointed Mayor of our city.

In those days Mayors were appointed. 

It wasn’t until 1834 Mayors began to be elected.

But back to Paulding.

As a member of high society he needed an aristocratic country house, a place where he could entertain heads of state.

So after he left office in 1838, he built a Gothic Revival Castle near Tarrytown overlooking the Hudson and called it the “Knoll.”

1838

He died there in 1854, but the Knoll passed on to wealthy robber barons of that era.

One added a tower and changed the named to “Lyndhurst.”

1864

Today it’s in the National Historic Trust and is used for movie sets and very fancy weddings.

http://www.lyndhurst.org/

The 1970 movie House of Dark Shadows was filmed here, 

and the castle is pictured in the poster.

On the day we visited there was a wedding.

We were eating lunch on a bench as the bride arrived

 and the photographers set up.

Then they walked over and asked us to leave so they could begin photography.

200 years later and high society remains very much the same. 

:-)

take the day off

go big, Kim

No. Wait. 

Go home.

ap

Kim Davis faced contempt charges and landed in jail because she said her beliefs required her to “strictly adhere to the Bible in literal terms.”

Joe Davis, her fourth husband, said she was willing to remain behind bars for “as long as it takes” until we rescind US same sex marriage law.

It’s not illegal to be married four times.

But court documents obtained by USNews show that Kim Davis was already pregnant by another man at the time of her first divorce. 

She gave birth to twins just five months after becoming single.

The twins were actually fathered by a man who later became her third husband, but they were adopted by her second because she was with him at the time.

She said on Tuesday she fears going to hell for violating

 "a central teaching" of the Bible.

The Bible says she’s going to hell either way.