Wednesday, December 28, 2016

In the news, Monday, December 12, 2016


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DEC 11      INDEX      DEC 13
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

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from Asia Times Online

Oil prices soar as non-OPEC producers agree on caps
Oil prices shot up by 4% to their highest level since 2015 early on Monday after OPEC and other producers (particularly Russia) reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output to rein in oversupply and prop up the market.

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from BBC News (UK)

Donald Trump hints US could end 'One China' policy
President-elect Donald Trump has questioned whether the US should continue its "One China" policy, sparking fury from Chinese state media.

China 'seriously concerned' over Trump's Taiwan policy
China says it is "seriously concerned" after US President-elect Donald Trump expressed doubts about continuing to abide by the "One China" policy.

Squid may become favourite UK meal as seas become warmer
The traditional British fish supper could be replaced by the likes of squid as the waters around the UK's shores grow warmer, say government scientists.


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from Competitive Enterprise Institute

The 2016 Federal Register will likely top 90,000 pages next week for the first time ever. New rules from the past week range from contact lenses to boilers.

Earlier this year, an effort to usher in badly needed air traffic control reform spearheaded by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster died before reaching a floor vote. The idea, widely supported by aviation researchers, is modeled on Canada’s successful reforms from two decades ago. In a nutshell, air traffic control is removed from the government agency and spun off into an independent, nongovernmental nonprofit. The nonprofit corporation would be governed by a board of stakeholders and would charge user fees, which would replace the aviation taxes currently collected by the government agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was set up in 2010 to “make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole.” Yet the Bureau has imposed rule after rule that hurts consumers and the middle class especially.

On December 12, 2016, the federal Northern District Court of Texas put the final nail in the coffin of the Department of Labor’s misguided persuader rule.

Despotism and Donald Trump

Decrying Trump while ignoring the tyranny of the administrative state.
The Wall Street Journal highlights CEI's policy proposals for addressing federal overreach.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Chile Is Thriving – So Why Is Socialism Rising?
Chileans are better off than Venezuelans in almost every way, so why are so many Chileans advocating Venezuela-like policies? It should be possible to separate Pinochet's murders from the economic reforms he undertook.

Socialist Venezuela Raids Santa's Workshop
The problem with raiding toy makers to redistribute toys is that next year, there won't be any toy makers to raid.

Are We Really Worse Off than our Parents?
Ask yourself this: even if you make less than your parents, would you go back in time to the world they lived in at your current age even with their higher real money income? My guess is no, and that’s the most powerful evidence that whatever your income, you perceive yourself as better off today than they were then.

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from First Things

BONHOEFFER AT ETTAL: ADVENT 
In dark days near the beginning of World War II, Bonhoeffer, the famed Protestant theologian, found himself living in a Catholic community. Bonhoeffer found spiritual nourishment at Ettal in the daily rhythms of Scripture, prayer, silence, and song.

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from The Heritage Foundation

Government Intervention in Housing Has Always Been Bad. Here’s Why Today Is No Different.
Ever since the federal government embedded itself into the U.S. housing market, it has caused problems that ultimately cost taxpayers trillions of dollars. Most policymakers point to the New Deal era—when Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration were created—as the beginning of these interventions, but federal meddling in the housing finance sector predates the Great Depression.

What John Bolton’s Critics Get Wrong
John Bolton's experience and realistic view of the world make him well-suited for a senior role in the Trump administration.

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from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

One of the nicer side effects of the 2016 election has been the trashing of the reputations of US intelligence agencies, specifically the FBI and the CIA.

Has "Market Failure" Caused High Health-Care Prices?
With premiums rising an average of 22 percent and as high as 116 percent on Obamacare’s 2017 government exchanges, it seems surreal to read journalists attributing the economic pathologies of US health care to market failure. Yet that is essentially the perspective being driven by the Associated Press and NBC with approving input from industry economists and consultants. Should it therefore be a surprise that so many health economists — some earning impressive six-figure salaries from consulting groups, think tanks, and Ivy-League universities — know so little if anything at all about or see any relevance in US medicine’s greater and greater dysfunction as it has increasingly abandoned free markets?

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from New Statesman
"The leading voice of the British left, since 1913."

In the post-liberal battleground, the politics of belonging must not be ceded to the right
If the left is to avoid permanent irrelevance, it must consider a politics committed to family, decent work, contribution, the love of one’s country and an internationalist outlook. When Clinton dismissed half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables”, she revealed the contempt in which the Democrats held their own base.

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from New York Post

Trump names Gen. John Kelly to lead Homeland Security
“The American people voted in this election to stop terrorism, take back sovereignty at our borders, and put a stop to political correctness that for too long has dictated our approach to national security. I will tackle those issues with a seriousness of purpose and a deep respect for our laws and Constitution,” Kelly said in a statement.

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from On Pasture

No-Till and Partnering Cropping With Cattle Makes This Family Farm a Success
“Our grandfather broke the land, my Dad took everything out of it, and now it’s Monty’s and my job to put it back,” says Mike Cronin of Cronin Family Farms, this year’s winner, with Dan Forgey, of the Leopold Conservation Award in South Dakota.

What a difference three years can make, in 2013 cattle and crop prices were climbing to record highs. Agriculture and rural America was thriving on an unprecedented wave of record high prices for grain and livestock. Everyone knew it wouldn’t last forever, but the speed to which it came crashing down in 2016 was just as unprecedented. So what happened? The opinions and reasons are as varied as the landscape that makes up rural America. So how do we prepare for 2017 and weather this storm?

The Louisiana Ranchers and Growers Association is putting together a series of instructional videos on raising cattle. The first one features On Pasture author Don Ashford. He and his wife Betty have been in the cattle business since 1956. With that many years behind him, he’s got a good idea of what works and what doesn’t.

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from Republican National Committee (GOP)

Nikki Haley: A New Generation of Leadership for the World Stage
In keeping with an America First agenda that will prioritize America’s interests, President-elect Trump will nominate South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Meet Steven Mnuchin, America’s Next Treasury Secretary

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from UPI News Agency - United Press International
upi.com

Completed recount in Wisconsin only widens Trump's victory
5:12 PM  "The real winners are the voters," Wisconsin Elections Commission chairman Mark Thomsen said Monday.

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