Tuesday, March 7, 2017

In the news, Sunday, February 5, 2017


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FEB 04      INDEX      FEB 06
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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

India’s widows find solace from their socially dead status
There are around 40 million widows in India at this time. In the classical, brahmanical view, they are physically alive but socially dead. After their husbands die, many Indian widows, some young and others old, are tossed aside like garbage

What difference did the Astana meeting make in Syria?
Five years of war have changed Syria a lot. What remains largely unchanged, however, is Bashar al-Assad’s position as the country’s president. Supported as he is by Russia and Iran — and now Turkey too — his continued standing as the president of the country has started to cause a lot of frustration among the hypothetical ‘Syrian opposition’, leading some of the groups to shift their focus from toppling Assad to sustaining the Russia-Iran-Turkey brokered ceasefire. In another sense, the Astana meeting has marked a crucial shift from focusing on one individual i.e. Assad to the country that continues to suffer a major crisis and its people remain trapped in a war that they might not have started in the first place.

UK arms sales to Middle Eastern strongmen could backfire
Britain is a major arms exporter - but they should be wary to whom they sell. Dictatorships are poor bedfellows.

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from BBC News (UK)

The people behind famous phrases
Some of the most famous English phrases use people's names to convey a meaning, from the Bob of "Bob's your uncle" to the Gordon Bennett we call upon when we must not swear. But are these expressions, and others like them, based on real people? And if so, how did they become household names?

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from Catholic News Agency

Pope Francis has a special message for the Super Bowl
As the Patriots and the Falcons gear up for Super Bowl LI, Pope Francis sent a message to both players and viewers, saying the game is an opportunity to show solidarity and build virtue. “Great sporting events like today's Super Bowl are highly symbolic, showing that it is possible to build a culture of encounter and a world of peace,” the Pope said in his message, published on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5.

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from Coeur d'Alene Press

IT SNOWED, AND IT SNOWED, AND IT SNOWED
A record 15.9 inches of snow blanketed Coeur d’Alene on Saturday from a storm that began Friday afternoon, prompting quiet, snowy walks along the lake, hours of shoveling and sledding that often turned into doing summersaults down Cherry Hill. Press Meteorologist RandyMann said another snowstorm is scheduled to hit Monday with a few inches of snow and another one is expected to hit mid-week with another inch or two. “This is the biggest early February storm ever, right here,” Mann said, noting the record was 10.1 inches in 1963.

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from geostrategy.info

The enigma of Donald Trump (part 1)
Mass media, social networks, academics, experts, and analysts in the United States and abroad almost unanimously forecasted the victory of Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. The Democratic presidential nominee signed her autograph on the Newsweek “Madam President” commemorative magazine backstage after a campaign rally on November 7, 2016 in Pittsburgh. The vast majority of predictions failed miserably. American voters and the Electoral College worked against the liberal establishment candidate Hillary Clinton. She was sponsored by Wall Street, part of the IT sector, and some special interests and globalist institutions. Today these same organizations and individuals predict major trouble in the United States because Donald Trump won the election.

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from The Heritage Foundation

Trump Administration Slaps Sanctions on Iran for Missile Test and Other Provocations
The Trump administration followed through on Friday with a new round of sanctions on Iran, two days after National Security Advisor Michael Flynn announced that it was “officially putting Iran on notice” for a missile test and its hostile regional policies. The sanctions were targeted at 13 individuals and 12 entities for their support for Iran’s ballistic missile program or for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which has been designated under an executive order for providing material support to various terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran and the United States appear to be on a collision course, with more sanctions and perhaps military clashes on the horizon.

Rogue Federal Bureaucrats Threaten Trump’s Agenda
Recent scandals in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service demonstrated that it’s almost impossible to fire federal employees, many of whom reportedly intend to go rogue by not implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda. Conservatives are hopeful the time has come for civil service reform that would rein in this permanent class of government workers who have voiced outright hostility to the new administration. Some have even called it the “fourth branch of government” or “alt-government.”

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from KCPQ (Q13Fox) (Seattle)

Storm to bring 3-8 inches of snow to Western Washington
Most of Western Washington including the Puget Sound is under a winter storm warning until 4 p.m. Monday. That means snow and winter weather is likely in all areas.

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

What cats can teach us about how to live
We should celebrate the solitary hunters among us. The independence of cats is one of the features most admired by those of us who love them.

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from Redoubt News
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Standing Rock Sioux Want Protesters to Go Home
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council unanimously voted to support the district of Cannon Ball in asking all Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to leave the area and canceling plans for a nearby winter camp.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from The Washington Post

How to be an American: Syrian refugees find a home in Trump country
In Nebraska, Syrian refugees find a warm and welcoming community. Many Nebraskans had supported attempts to keep the country safe but still wanted to show their heart for people fleeing terrorism and war. Their state has taken in more refugees per capita than any other. “We did not come here to cause trouble. We just want to live,” a young mother says. There is no reason that the U.S. can't provide a safe haven for refugees and keep us all safe.

Can Trump win his war on the regulatory state?
Now regulation is pervasive. It touches air and water pollution, pensions, vehicle fuel efficiency, the Internet (“net neutrality” rules), home mortgages, political campaign contributions . . . and much more. "The costs of regulation are largely invisible and are shifted mainly to consumers in higher prices, workers in lower wages or companies in reduced profits... At CEI, Wayne Crews Jr. found that in 2015 all federal regulations cost $1.9 trillion, an amount about half the federal budget."

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from The Washington Times

Massive cleanup underway after Dakota Access protesters leave behind environmental mess
Clean-up crews are racing to clear acres of debris at the largest Dakota Access protest camp before the spring thaw turns the snowy, trash-covered plains into an environmental disaster area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that the camp, located on federal land, would be closed Feb. 22 in order to “prevent injuries and significant environmental damage in the likely event of flooding in this area” at the mouth of the Cannonball River in North Dakota. “Without proper remediation, debris, trash, and untreated waste will wash into the Cannonball River and Lake Oahe,” the Corps said in its statement. Those involved in the clean-up effort, led by the Standing Rock Sioux, say it could take weeks for private sanitation companies and volunteers to clear the expanse of abandoned tents, teepees, sleeping bags, blankets, canned food, supplies and just plain garbage littering the Oceti Sakowin camp.

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