Friday, February 24, 2017

In the news, Tuesday, January 31, 2017


________

JAN 30      INDEX      FEB 01
________


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

________

from Asia Times Online

What if they had a trade war and nobody came?
Trump is looking for negotiations that bring results — not conflict
Don't get riled about reports of Trump's forthcoming 'trade wars', watch the markets, they tell a different story.

Don’t ask for whom bell tolls, it tolls for Russia sanctions
Three things stand out in the respective readouts on the phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. One, they do not contradict each other in content, while the Russian readout is a more detailed version. Two, there is absolutely no trace of the grandstanding – or itch for ‘one-upmanship’ – that characterised the recent readouts of Russian-American presidential exchanges during the Barack Obama administration. Three, both readouts have been couched in a positive tone that would have seemed unthinkable against the backdrop of the stormy relations in the final lap of the lame duck president.

________

from BBC News (UK)

English has 3,000 words for being drunk
As ‘dry January’ comes to an end, Susie Dent looks back at the long and colourful relationship between alcohol and the English language.

________

from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)

The U.K. Thinks the Term 'Expectant Mothers' Could Offend Trans People
The British Medical Association published a language guide that instructs staff to refer to pregnant women as “pregnant people” instead of “expectant mothers” to avoid offending transgender people--even though only biological women can become pregnant. According to the British Medical Association’s “Guide to Effective Communication: Inclusive Language in the Workplace” published in 2016, “A large majority of people that have been pregnant or have given birth identify as women. We can include intersex men and transmen who may get pregnant by saying ‘pregnant people’ instead of ‘expectant mothers.”

Reality Check: Trump, Refugees, and the Crazy Liberal Freakout

________

from Competitive Enterprise Institute

Agencies’ rules and regulations surged during Barack Obama’s last year, helping create a Federal Register 20 percent larger than the prior record. Bureaus and the former president rejoiced. However, the national election we just had has brought careerist bureaucratic priorities into severe conflict with a new president’s preferences.

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will use the Congressional Review Act to consider a joint resolution of disapproval aimed at eliminating the Department of Interior’s Stream Protection Rule, a coal mining regulation issued under the Obama Administration.

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will use the Congressional Review Act to consider a joint resolution of disapproval, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), aimed at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ‘‘Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers” rule. CEI supports the elimination of this harmful rule that is the second attempt to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule would force publicly-traded U.S. energy companies to disclose in their financial filings any payments to foreign governments. The rule, and the provision of the law on which it is based, stigmatizes routine payments such as fees to foreign governments by putting them in the same category as bribes of foreign officials.

Last October, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency reached a settlement with Volkswagen over Clean Air Act violations attendant to the company’s installation of “defeat devices” on almost 500,000 cars sold in the U.S. The agreement includes a stipulation that VW work with EPA to invest $1.2 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure.

Scrap Proposition 65, California's Unscientific Chemical Safety Law
The real problem isn’t these chemicals – it’s dumb classification systems and the misleading impact of “right to know” laws

________

from Conservative Review
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

3 REASONS WHY THE LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP IS NOTHING BUT FAUX MORAL OUTRAGE
A lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claims President Donald Trump is violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. Not only does CREW lack standing to bring the suit, but there is also virtually no constitutional basis for the claim.

________

from The Daily Beast
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Jon Stewart Rips Apart President Trump: ‘The New Official Language of the United States Is Bullshit’
The former ‘Daily Show’ host came out of hiding on Tuesday to give his take on the first 11 days under President Trump.

________

from First Things

CALLING TORTURE BY ITS NAME
In conversation with ABC News in his first televised interview since taking office, President Donald Trump spoke in strikingly frank terms about the possible use of torture as a tool for interrogation. “I have spoken as recently as twenty-four hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence,” Trump said. “And I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’ And the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’” What’s immediately striking here is the open use of a word—“torture”—that is eschewed in official conversation by most of those who support what it describes. Under the Bush administration, the American government admitted to practicing “enhanced interrogation.”

________

from Forbes

There are times when the mendacity of politics flows thick like oil in the dead of a bitter New England winter, and the weather has turned colder in the region. This time we can examine one of the classic techniques to keep those without at the bottom of the pile: voter restrictions. The drumbeat is loud as Donald Trump plans an investigation into alleged voter fraud. If found to be a real issue, the natural solution would be to tighten voter registration and identification.

________

from The Heritage Foundation

Iran’s Ballistic Missile Test Defies UN, Trump Administration
The more things change, the more they stay the same. On Sunday, Iran “welcomed” President Donald Trump into office by conducting a medium-range ballistic missile test in defiance of United Nations Resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e. the Iran nuclear deal) and lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.

How Republicans Can Break a Supreme Court Filibuster
The two-speech rule would limit Democratic speeches and force a vote on the president's nominee.

Keeping America Safe Involves Morally Difficult Decisions
It is quite rare for governments to be able to craft a policy that contains no moral complexities. When it comes to national security policy, this is especially so.

________

from Huffington Post
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Florida Congressman Drafts Bill To ‘Completely Abolish’ The EPA
And here you thought Donald Trump’s plans would devastate the agency.

________

from Intellectual Takeout
Nonprofit Organization in Bloomington, Minnesota

People of Color Can't Be Racist Says New College Guide
The idea that people of color cannot be racist is not a new idea. (I learned it as a college freshman in a “Race, Gender, Class” course 20 years ago.) But I’m somewhat surprised to see it has made its way from classroom theory to official educational handbooks. There is some disagreement on what racism actually is. So let's look at the history.

________

from Military Times
and Air Force Times, Army Times, Marine Corps Times, and Navy Times

Q-and-A: Colin Powell on Vietnam service, Iraq and Afghanistan, and Black History Month

________

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

Wealth Isn't Just Measured in Money — It's Measured in Choices
Don't compare incomes today to incomes of long-ago time periods. The wealth and choices available to income-earners has changed drastically over time.

Make Every State a Sanctuary State
CBS reports that "California may prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, creating a border-to-border sanctuary in the nation’s largest state as legislative Democrats ramp up their efforts to battle President Donald Trump’s migration policies." California says it may refuse to enforce federal immigration laws. But why stop with immigration laws? Many other federal laws should be ignored, too.

________

from NBC News (& affiliates)

Warren Buffett purchased $12 billion of stock since Trump election victory
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett revealed he beefed up his stock portfolio at Berkshire Hathaway after Donald Trump's election win. In an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose that aired Friday, Buffett said, "We've, net, bought $12 billion of common stocks since the election." Buffett added it was "in large part" his decision.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

________

from Trains Magazine

This past Thursday was a special day on the BNSF Scenic Sub in Washington State. It was the first usage of the BNSF snow dozer in the past few years after a near record snowfall for the season in the Cascades. It had been a few years since the snow dozer was used on Stevens Pass due to lighter than normal snowfalls the previous winters.

________

from United States Constitution
News/Media Website

On Monday’s episode of Fox & Friends co-founder of “The Muslim Reform Movement,” Asra Nomani, spoke out in defense of President Donald Trump and his recent executive order pressing pause on immigration from certain Muslim majority countries. It’s not just Ms. Nomani who argues that many Muslims support the President’s order, the Independent Journal Review also asked Johnny Walker, a former Iraqi soldier who worked very closely with the American Sniper, Chris Kyle, about the order.

________

from The Washington Post

Trump picks Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court
President Trump nominated Colorado federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, opting in the most important decision of his young presidency for a highly credentialed favorite of the conservative legal establishment to fill the opening created last year by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

________

from The Western Center for Journalism
(Western Journalism)  [Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Senate Democrats Boycott Key Votes On Trump Nominees
Amid rising turmoil among party lines, Senate Democrats boycotted hearings Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s nominees for secretaries of the treasury and health, Steven Mnuchin and Thomas Price, respectively.

________


No comments:

Post a Comment