Friday, March 17, 2017

In the news, Thursday, February 23, 2017


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FEB 22      INDEX      FEB 24
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from Anglican Journal

Your money and your life
Whether we admit it or not, money dominates our daily lives. Much of our waking hours revolve around the pursuit and use of money. Most of us have to work in order to afford the basic necessities of life. Nothing, it seems, is left untouched by money, and our relationship with it often depends on our circumstances. Money, or the lack of it, often dictates the big and small choices we make: where and how we live, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the way we get around, the company we keep, and yes, even the way we feel about ourselves. Money often determines whether one can have access to quality education and adequate health care, both of which are critical to human development. “What is money within the present economic system? What is money within God’s economy of salvation?” These are some questions raised by the report of the Task Force on the Theology of Money.

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from Asia Times Online

As US-China tussle, Asean frets
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations again expressed ‘grave concern’ over militarization of the maritime area, but it is split over how best to avoid conflict

Is Trump’s ego picking a fight with China?
Xi Jinping has become more intransigent and assertive over promoting Beijing's self-perceived national interests while Trump has shown a new US hostility toward China. So, does this really mean war?

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from Associated Press

Trump vows to fight 'epidemic' of human trafficking
President Donald Trump says he will bring the "full force and weight" of the U.S. government to combat an "epidemic" of human trafficking.

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from CFP Canada Free Press
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

California State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), was forcibly removed from the Senate Thursday morning for offering a different perspective on the late Sen. Tom Hayden, a Democrat with a well-known and lengthy history of communist sympathies. The perspective Sen. Nguyen offers is first hand. Her family escaped communist Vietnam and came to the United States in search of freedom in 1981 during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

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from CNN

Pope suggests it's better to be an atheist than a bad Christian
"To be a Christian means to do: to do the will of God -- and on the last day -- because all of us we will have one -- that day what shall the Lord ask us? Will He say: 'What you have said about me?' No. He shall ask us about the things we did."

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from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

New Project Veritas Video Shows Media Bias at CNN
James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas organization just dropped another undercover video, and their target this time? The media -- and in particular, CNN. The video is entitled, "CNN Leaks: Part I." Clocking in at about seven-and-a-half minutes, the video shows media bias and contempt for differing viewpoints from within CNN’s very own walls at their corporate headquarters in Atlanta. Right from the jump, O’Keefe shows a clip of CNN’s Assignment Desk Editor, Nicky Robertson, talking about how much she dislikes Fox News.

GMA Brings on Jackie Evancho's Transgender Sister to Bash School Bathroom Reversal

Ted Cruz at CPAC: Thank You, Harry Reid, for the ‘Most Conservative Cabinet in Decades’
Holding a “Conversation about the Constitution” with talk-radio host Mark Levin at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), thanked former Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for curbing the ability of the Senate to filibuster the confirmation of presidential appointments.

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from EUobserver

Don't blame Trump for Europe's insecurity
Europe's security architecture was already showing cracks well before Trump's arrival and requires urgent repair work whether he had won or not.

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

Move over Greece, Italy's Crisis Will Be Worse
Italy's economy is in big trouble. With the 3rd largest economy in the Eurozone, an Italian financial crisis will be even worse than the Greek's.

Why Consumers Should Hate the Durbin Amendment
The Durbin Amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Financail Reform Bill, has led to price distortions that benefit retailers at the expense of community banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions. Ultimately, it hurts the very consumers it was supposed to help. This price control may benefit big box stores, but it is not in the best interest of consumers.

What If Grocery Stores Worked Like Public Schools?
Complaints about the quality of public education are rampant, but it's rare to hear objections about the quality of grocery stores. Maybe there's a lesson here.

The Minimum Wage Outlaws Work Experience
Getting a job requires experience; getting experience requires a job. This is one reason the trap of poverty can be so difficult to escape. But what is the root of this trap? Solutions exist, but they are too often blocked by misguided policies such as the well-intentioned minimum wage. By eliminating the opportunity to work, the minimum wage also eliminates the opportunity to learn.

Lighting is 500,000 Times Cheaper Today
As the BBC recently pointed out, our prehistoric ancestors needed to gather and chop “wood 10 hours a day for six days… [in order to] produce 1,000 lumen hours of light… That is the equivalent of one modern light bulb shining for just 54 minutes, although what you would actually get is many more hours of dim, flickering light instead.”

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from Fox News (& affiliates)

S&P 500 Edges Higher After Trump Renews Jobs Pledge
U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday, buoyed by energy stocks and a renewed pledge by President Donald Trump to chief executives of major U.S. companies to bring back millions of jobs to the United States.

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from The Heritage Foundation

The Secret Service Needs an Overhaul to Keep the President Safe
The Trump administration should appoint a new director from outside the agency to combat the backsliding the Secret Service has recently experienced.

Why Trump’s Call to Investigate Vote Fraud Is Valid
President Donald Trump recently called for an investigation into vote fraud. His press secretary Sean Spicer added: “This isn’t just about the 2016 election. This is about the integrity of our voting system.”And there is a problem: Liberal activists have all too often rejected and fought against bipartisan efforts to fix these critical problems.

Ex-Gitmo Detainee Who Got Huge Payday Just Blew Himself Up
Almost 13 years ago today, Jamal al-Harith was freed from Guantanamo Bay and returned to the U.K. But he won’t be celebrating the anniversary this year. Instead, he has blown himself up in Mosul on behalf of the so-called Islamic State. What makes this suicide bombing unique was that Harith had been paid handsomely by the British government and the British press.

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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website

Hunger in Retreat, But Not in Socialist Venezuela
We can all be thankful that undernourishment has become rarer globally. But the case of Venezuela demonstrates that progress is not inevitable—suicidal economic policies, like socialism, can rapidly extinguish the prosperity we enjoy.

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from Intellihub
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

C.I.A.- connected Washington Post hires former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta
In yet another example of the clear bias running through the establishment media, the openly CIA connected Washington Post has hired long-time Clinton shill John Podesta while continuing to be a key part of the deep state run operation to take out the sitting president in what would amount to the end of American democracy.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Army Child Care: How It’s Affected by the Federal Hiring Freeze
As we’ve all heard by now, there is a federal hiring freeze. What this means for military families is that spouses may have a delay in gaining employment for certain positions until the freeze has lifted. This also affects child care on post in a few ways. Since there is no new staff being added to work at the facilities on post, priority has been given to military readiness. Active-duty parents will still be able to take their children to day care. 'Military families know better than anyone that things change — and have a great deal of resilience'

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

The "Washington Monument Syndrome" Strikes Again as Trump Imposes Hiring Freeze
In response to a hiring freeze on civilian staff — and to cause a public outcry — the Army immediately moved to cut the most popular programs. Don’t be fooled. In times of fiscal crisis, you would never expect a bureaucrat to consider it his patriotic duty to resign and find work in the private sector in order to decrease the fiscal burden on his countrymen. So why would you expect him to quietly cut the fat from his budget when there are opportunities to stoke pity or outrage among the public?

Trump to States with Recreational Pot: Drop Dead
The Trump administration has signaled that it plans to go after states with legalized recreational marijuana, and thus wage war against federalism, states's rights, and local control.

Why Government Spending Matters More than the Size of the Deficit
Budget deficits are often in the media spotlight. The budget deficit is defined as the difference between what the government spends and what the government collects. When the government spends more than it collects, a budget deficit exists. When the government collects more than it spends, a budget surplus emerges. The only meaningful contribution the government can make to people’s living standards is by focusing on a reduction in government spending. 

Justice and "Social Justice" Are Two Very Different Things
Recently, Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote in the Washington Post of “The most important phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance” — “with liberty and justice for all.” There's no way to square the coercive positive rights of “social justice” with the concept of “liberty and justice for all.”

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from Mother Jones
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Why Kansas' Fiscal Implosion Is Bad News for Trump
The state was supposed to offer a model for trickle-down economics. Instead, Republicans are raising taxes.

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from NBC News (& affiliates)

Trump can't find any US trade surpluses. Here you go, Mr. President
President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he cannot find a country with which the United States has a trade surplus. Though the U.S., runs a merchandise trade deficit overall, it has a surplus with more than half of the countries in the world, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. A trade surplus means America exports more goods to a country than it imports from it.

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

“In a globalised era, a welfare system that relies on home ownership is critically vulnerable”
The inequalities and inequities that housing markets generate have become a cross-national issue in the last decade or so. In Australia, the UK and the US, discussions of “Generation Rent” have taken centre stage.

Delude and conquer: inside the Russian messaging strategy
Cyberattacks, leaks and fake news have changed the electoral landscape. Dr Lucas Kello and Philipp von Saldern wonder if, this year, Russia will win every election in Europe.

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

The Castle Doctrine – Representative Christy Zito
Asked by citizens from all over the state to carry the Castle Doctrine upgrade. The good old boys and/or girls club is alive and well.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from Teton Valley News

Idaho’s boundaries were determined by greed, power, politics, and discontent

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from The Wall Street Journal

Free Our Churches From the Ugly and Stupid
The great iconoclasm of the 1960s buried much of Christianity’s best art and music.
Today, the word of God is proclaimed in translations that have all the charm and wonder of a corporate memorandum. Must ordinary people be fed the drab and insipid? The politically correct—another thing thrust upon people by their ecclesiastical betters—is always ugly. Get rid of it, period, no excuses, no exceptions. What Christ hath spoken well, let man not paraphrase. Let grace in the word be one humble way in which we show our desire and our gratitude for the grace of God.

Kushner, Ivanka Trump Pushed to Remove Words Critical of Climate Deal From Executive Order
President plans to issue orders aimed at rolling back Obama climate agenda soon

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from The Washington Post

Trump just said he can’t ‘find a country where we actually do well.’ We just did.
Trump said he asked his staff to find "a country where we actually do well," but they couldn't. They should have looked closer.

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from Zero Hedge
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Philadelphia Soda Tax Leads To 30-50% Plunge In Sales, Mass Layoffs
When Philadelphia became the first US city to pass a soda tax last summer, city officials were eagerly looking forward to the surplus-tax funded windfall to plug gaping budget deficits (and, since this is Philadelphia, the occasional embezzlement scheme). Then, one month ago, after the tax went into effect on January 1st we showed the tax applied in practice: a receipt for a 10 pack of flavored water carried a 51% beverage tax. And since  PA has a sales tax of 6% and Philly already charges another 2%, the total sales tax was 8%. In other words, a purchase which until last year came to $6.47 had overnight become $9.75. According to Philly.com reports, two months into the city’s sweetened-beverage tax, supermarkets and distributors are reporting a 30% to 50% drop in beverage sales and - adding insult to injury - are now planning for layoffs.

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