Tuesday, April 11, 2017

In the news, Tuesday, March 28, 2017


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MAR 27      INDEX      MAR 29
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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 Anglican Journal

Filipino group urges Canada to hold mining companies accountable
A delegation from the Philippines that includes an Anglican bishop wants the government to appoint an ombudsperson to monitor Canadian mining operations overseas and to support formal peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front.

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from Asia Times Online

Cambodia, US duel over Vietnam War debt
Washington's demand that Phnom Penh repay a four-decade-old US$500 million loan will likely push the post-conflict country even closer to China

The Arab Spring and the Western Winter
There are many striking parallels between the “Arab Spring” that began in 2010 and the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum, the election of US President Donald Trump, and the far-right resurgence across Europe. In each case, an old order fell, and progressive parties have been too weak to counter the emergence of authoritarian and xenophobic forms of governance.

The (real) reason China doesn’t like South Korea’s missile defenses
Chinese opposition to South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD missile defense system is less about missiles and more about efforts to weaken the US network of formal and informal alliances in Asia that has underpinned the regional order for the last seventy years.

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from Competitive Enterprise Institute

Two Potential Outcomes for the Office of American Innovation
Yesterday the White House announced the launch of an Office of American Innovation. This is the latest of several moving and overlapping parts to President Trump's streamlining, swamp-draining, and “deconstructing the administrative state” agenda.  What will the impact of the White House's new Office of American Innovation be? A streamlined federal government or increase in infrastructure spending?

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

Government Needs a Blockchain, and a Hard Fork
When conflicts are irreconcilable, there needs to be a method for peaceful resolution.
If Congress were a blockchain, the solution would be rather simple. The Democrats would create their own hard fork, taking all the code from present policy and adapting it to their own purposes. They would have their way over welfare policy, unemployment policy, the health care system, and tax policy that moved money from the rich (if they can find them) to the poor (which will be ever-more numerous). But the experiment would only help or harm those who subscribe to it.

There's Nothing Special about International Trade
One of the important applications of the principle of comparative advantage is international trade. To an economist there is nothing really special about international trade; individuals make trades when both of them expect to benefit, whether they live across the street, in different states, or in different countries. Trade is trade. Political borders don't change that.

When Populists Favored Free Trade
In the United States, populism originated as a response to high taxes (tariffs) on manufactured imports. William Jennings Bryan, a renowned populist figure in American history, described the foundations of populist trade policy in his 1908 speech on tariffs and in congressional comments in the 1890s in which he compared protectionists who supported high tariffs to pickpockets.

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from First Things

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
Criminal law keeps growing; it has one direction, “toward more liability,” as legislatures add new prohibitions but rarely remove any.

SUPREME INCOHERENCE: TRANSGENDER IDEOLOGY AND THE END OF LAW
In The Trouble with Principle, Stanley Fish recites an observation that John Milton included in his Areopagitica: “No law, Milton points out, can permit activity that constitutes an assault on it, no law, that is, that ‘intends not to unlaw itself.’” Even more self-cancelling is for a law to permit an interpretation of its text that abolishes the very concepts on which its edict depends. In such case, both the law and its interpretation stall in mutual nullification. Transgender advocates are tearing down the sex binary, using a law (Title IX) premised on the sex binary. Can law survive this incoherence?  Two questions, then. One: Does the federal law prohibiting “sex discrimination” forbid us to countenance the category of “sex”—and thus of “sex discrimination”? Two: Can the rule of law survive a yes answer to question one? 

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from The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Quebeckers aren’t thin-skinned; they just don’t tolerate falsehoods
I think it’s fair to say that most people hate it when falsehoods are circulated about them, and it doesn’t matter whether or not they are Canadian, British or … Québécois. A fact is a fact, and the fact that people are up in arms when falsehoods about them are thrown around is not proof that said people are thin-skinned.

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from The Guardian (UK)
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Revamped National Army Museum to feature Napoleon's horse
London attraction hopes to increase visitor numbers with new galleries featuring skeletons, surgical saws and shrapnel

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from The Heritage Foundation
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

The Left’s Sanctuary Cities Hurt Americans’ Safety
Sanctuary cities receive billions of dollars in grants to help them enforce immigration laws that they openly refuse to enforce. That's about to change.

The Right Cure for Obamacare
Obamacare can’t be fixed. An overhaul, however much of an improvement it might appear to be, isn’t what we need. Even President Trump, as he was voicing disappointment over its legislative fate, couldn’t help noting “what’s going to come out of it is a better bill.”

The U.S. Needs to Respond to Growing Chinese Capabilities
As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Japan, South Korea, and China in his first trip to Asia, and President Trump submits his first budget to Congress, the U.S. must recognize that the Chinese are posing an increasing challenge to the U.S. in terms of both hard and soft power. The ongoing growth of China’s defense budget, and its extensive modernization effort, holds out the ugly potential that in a few years, it will be the U.S., not the PRC, that will be the “near peer” competitor.

Show Me the Math: How to Achieve a Leaner Federal Government
The Heritage Foundation has released its second edition of “Blueprint for Balance,” a guide for the fiscal year 2018 federal budget. Unlike some proposals that provide broad outlines for spending levels, Heritage’s blueprint details over 160 different policy proposals that reduce non-defense discretionary spending by $87 billion dollars in the next fiscal year (as well as budget process reforms that would reduce spending by another $31 billion). It turns out that the federal government is in the business of lots of things it has no business financing. Even when the government is providing essential services, there is plenty of room to eliminate duplication, waste and inefficiency.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Human Conditions Improving at a Remarkable Speed
Over the last decade, GDP per person and life expectancy are up around the world while infant mortality and undernourished rates are down.

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from Indian Country Today Media Network
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Oregon Schools Fight to Keep Controversial Native American Mascots
The Rogue River School District hopes working with a local tribe will allow its high school to keep its Native American mascot.

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from Intellectual Takeout

3 Ways to Spot an Ideologue
In "The End of Ideology," Daniel Bell defined ‘ideology’ as “a set of beliefs... [that] seek to transform the whole of a way of a life." With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Bell was far too sanguine.  Ideology is here to stay. Nevertheless, it’s possible to identify and avoid ideologues, or those who are uncompromising to the point of being dogmatic in their moral and political beliefs. 1. Look for symbols or verbal clues; 2. Identify fallacies; 3.  Detect irrational exuberance.

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

Did MSM newsrooms increase security fearing public retaliation for purporting fake news?
Some national corporate newsrooms like the Washington Post, McClatchy, and others, have reportedly upgraded security for their employees over recent months, possibly fearing retaliation from members of the general public for their purporting of fake news.

TSA agents target young boy as possible terrorist, treat family like dogs
A Denver mother and her special needs son were targeted by overzealous TSA agents Sunday morning where they were “treated like dogs” and forced to miss their flight after agents pretended that the young boy could be a terror threat.

DNC purge: Corrupt Democratic National Committee fires ALL staffers
New Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has asked the entire staff of the DNC to turn in their resignation letters amid major party turmoil after November’s stunning defeat, according to a report by NBC News.

Maxine Waters is now directly attacking Trump supporters, questions their patriotism in House floor rant
Fresh off ludicrously claiming that aspects of the discredited Trump dossier are “absolutely true”, crazed Democrat Maxine Waters is at it again, this time questioning the patriotism of the tens of millions of Americans who voted for Donald Trump.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Trump Trade Stance Turns U.S. Automakers Hawkish on China
American manufacturers want an end to Beijing's car import tax in order to increase exports

McCain, Graham Give Anti-Trump Media ‘Bipartisan’ Cover
Longtime GOP agitators allow press to claim both parties concerned with House Intel chief

Nunes Targeted with Dubious Briefing Location Complaint
Press seize on House Intel chair's trip to White House, but congressmen often visit executive SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility]

De Blasio Claims Sanctuary Status Keeps NYC Safe from Terror
New York mayor defiant on DOJ promise to enforce immigration law, 'latest threat changes nothing'

U.S. Intel May Have Access to Half of Networked Devices
Tech companies spend millions on cyberdefense only to be breached by the CIA

Trump’s Five Most Endangered Campaign Promises
After health care defeat, several of president's core pledges remain in jeopardy

Five Novels Every Conservative Needs to Read
These books — great ones all — promote individualism while taking on the government and authoritarianism
1. “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand (1957)
2. "Hidden Order" by Brad Thor (2013)
3. "Empire of Lies" by Andrew Klavan (2008)
4. "Point of Impact" by Stephen Hunter (1993)
5. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell (1945)

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from Miami Herald

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Believe it or not, the media owe Trump a debt of gratitude
If there is to be a silver lining in the historical dark cloud that is Donald Trump, it’s that we might someday look back and say that he forced journalism to re-invent itself or, perhaps more accurately, to re-embrace itself, to remember what it is supposed to stand for. Maybe we’ll someday say that he forced us to abandon the fantasy that there is no moral component, no human judgment, involved in reporting the news.

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

Should cities ban diesel?
Diesel, once hailed as a relatively clean, environmentally friendly alternative to petrol, is increasingly being recognised as a threat to public health. After decades of support and the promotion of the widespread belief that diesel releases less CO2 when burnt than petrol, sales of diesel vehicle in the UK have increased steadily. However, the truth is that some old diesel cars emit other pollutants by up to 20 times as much as their petrol equivalents, especially on congested city streets. To fix this, four capital cities – Paris, Athens, Madrid, and Mexico City – have agreed to remove diesel vehicles from their centres by 2025. Now, there are calls to ban them from London too.

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from Smithsonian Magazine

Naval Base Believed to Have Been Used in the Legendary Battle of Salamis Found
Researchers have discovered the harbor in Salamis’ Ampelakia Bay where the Greek fleet prepared to battle the much larger Persian navy

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Proposed House budget would deeply cut Metro Transit bus service
Local bus service provided by Metro Transit could be drastically cut back should a Republican transportation proposal move forward at the Legislature, the Metropolitan Council said Monday. Met Council says cuts would be 'devastating.’, but Republicans say transportation proposal simply reflects budget realities.

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from Tribal Tribune (Nespelem, WA)

Tribal member Joe Pakootas was awarded the Man of the Year award here Saturday at the Lincoln Center during the Thomas S. Foley Legacy Dinner & Awards. Pakootas, who currently serves as vice-chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, is a two-time candidate for the U.S. Representative for Washington’s 5th congressional district. 

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from UPI News Agency - United Press International

House votes to let ISPs sell-off customers' browsing history
"Anyone who supports a bill allowing ISPs to sell your browsing history ought to release their own browsing history first," Rep. Keith Ellison said Tuesday.

Trump orders revamp of climate policy to win 'energy dominance', opponents condemn plan

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to roll back a suite of planned environmental regulations from the Obama administration in an effort to spur not just domestic energy independence but "energy dominance." "The story isn't Trump undoing Obama's climate legacy ... the story is Trump making America a climate laughingstock," one critic said Tuesday.

Trump breaks 107-year-old Opening Day first pitch presidential tradition
President Donald Trump will not participate in the longstanding tradition of presidents throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at Washington Opening Day games due to a scheduling conflict.

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