2016 Presidential Election

Hillary Clinton's Lead Over Trump Shrinks After Controversial Week

 Hillary Clinton's lead over Donald Trump narrowed to 3 points this week after several days of controversy following FBI Director James Comey's recommendation that no criminal charges be brought against the former secretary of state over her use of a private email server.

Political Humor...

Always easy to poke fun at these candidates.
2016 Election at its best...

Real Estate: Homeownership near its lowest in history...

Diana Olick from CNBC reports that...

Home sales may be rising, but homeownership in the United States is heading down once again.  The homeownership rate fell to just 63.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, in the first quarter of this year.  Homeownership hit a high of 69.4 percent in 2004, during one of the biggest housing booms in history. The homeownership rate is now just one-tenth of 1 basis point higher than its all-time low in the second quarter of 2015.

Olick explains that rental affordability remains a big problem in many places, and that "We're still seeing relatively few first-time homebuyers because young people are buying homes later than they used to. Some of this is a long-term shift toward marrying and having children later in life. Some of this is that the recovery has been slow among young adults."

Read the full article here: Homeownership near its lowest in history.

15 expensive steakhouses that are actually worth the price

Business Insider has a guide to the most expensive, high-quality steakhouses in 15 of the biggest cities across the US.  I have been to a few of these and they were great. Take a look...

15 expensive steakhouses that are actually worth the price

Source: Clinton IT specialist revealing server details to FBI, 'devastating witness'

According to Fox News: Former Hillary Clinton IT specialist Bryan Pagliano, who struck an immunity deal with the Justice Department, has told the FBI a range of details about how her personal email system was set up. An intelligence source has called the Clinton Webmaster a "devastating witness.”

Read more here...

Clinton IT specialist revealing server details to FBI, 'devastating witness'

New Report: In 2015 American’s spent $13.5 billion on cosmetic procedures.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons just released their annual report showing that Americans spent more than $13.5 billion on combined surgical and nonsurgical procedures in 2015.

Surgical procedures accounted for 58% of the total expenditures in 2015.

Top 3 Surgical Procedures in 2015

• Liposuction-  396,048 procedures
• Breast Augmentation – 305,856 procedures
• Tummy Tuck- 180,717 procedures

Nonsurgical procedures in 2015 accounted for 42% of the total expenditures in 2015.

Top 3 Non-Surgical Procedures in 2015

• BOTOX- 4,267,038 procedures
• Hyaluronic Acid- 2,148,326 procedures
• Hair Removal- 1,136,834 procedures

There was a $1.5 billion dollar increase in expenditures for combined surgical and nonsurgical procedures from 2014 to 2015.


Read the full report here: 2015 Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank Statistics

Will The NFL's Carolina Panthers Finish The Season Undefeated?

The Carolina Panthers are currently sitting at 13-0 and are trying to become the 5th team to finish the NFL's regular season undefeated, and possibly become the 2nd team to finish the entire NFL season undefeated..

Almost everyone knows that the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only NFL Team to complete a Perfect Season in the NFL.  However is is less well know that there were three teams in that finished with a Perfect Regular Season. The 1934 Chicago Bears, the 1942 Chicago Bears, and most recently the 2007 New England Patriots. 

How They Got To 13-0

Despite the fact that Cam Newton is having a much improved season (he currently is the #8th ranked passer in the league  and #11 in Total QBR) the Panthers have gotten to 13-0 by playing the 6th easiest schedule in the league. Their most impressive wins have been over the injury riddled Green Bay Packers and a Seattle Seahawks team that was struggling when they played earlier in the season.  Several of their other games against weaker opponents were alarmingly close.

Three Remaining Regular Season Games- Will They Rest Their Starters?

The Panthers have three remaining regular season games left against:

• The 6-7 N.Y. Giants
• The 6-7 Atlanta Falcons
• The 6-8 Tampa Bay Bucks 

Unless the Panthers decide to rest their best players it is not likely that the Falcons, who the Panthers just beat on December 13th 38-0, or the Bucks, who the Panthers beat 37-23 in week 4, will give them much trouble. This leaves the NY Giants as the only opponent with the talent to beat a full strength Carolina Panthers team.

The Giants have 7 losses, but 6 of those losses have been by 6 points or less. Many because of questionable coaching decisions, or clock mismanagement. Anyone who has watched the Giants can see that they are better than their record would suggest. Then if you add the unpredictability of the NFL's best receiver Odell Beckham, anything can happen.  As we all know, the Giants have a recent history of beating undefeated teams.

In my opinion, their is a decent chance the Panthers could finish the regular season undefeated, However, even if the Panthers beat the Giants this Sunday, the Panthers will have a much more difficult time when they reach the playoffs and start playing better teams who are playing their best football.