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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
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from Asia Times Online
US President Theodore Roosevelt is often remembered for this succinct bit of foreign-policy advice: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Recent presidents have failed to heed Roosevelt’s advice. George W. Bush and his colleagues — particularly Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld — spoke loudly and carried a meat ax, when a stick would have done. Barack Obama spoke too softly and carried a twig — or nothing at all.Three months into the new administration of Donald Trump and the forms of speech and the size of the sticks are still being sorted out. Trump’s foreign policy team is remarkably good, especially in the essential positions of secretary of state, secretary of defense and national security adviser. Vice President Mike Pence has also begun to take a major role in foreign policy matters.
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from The Cato Institute
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from CNN
Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has been endorsed by the French Communist Party, says he would introduce a 100% tax on income above €400,000 ($425,000). Why €400,000? That's 20 times higher than France's average wage. The top rate of income tax is currently 45%. Boosting that to 100% would effectively cap earnings at €400,000.
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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
The politically driven scientific process we already have is disconcerting enough. To have scientists themselves march asking for more politics will damage tomorrow's scientists and research machinery.
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from EUobserver
Mogherini should tell Russians their rights matter
Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s top diplomat, will pay a landmark visit to Moscow on Monday (25 April) to meet her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Juncker to meet Soros on Hungary next week
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker will meet with Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros, founder and chairman of Open Society Foundations, on 27 April in Brussels to discuss "all the political developments" in Hungary, the EU executive announced Friday.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
It Takes a Government to Do an Auschwitz
The title of this post is a sentence from Matt Ridley's recent speech at the Association for Private Enterprise Education in Maui, Hawaii. The statement is a good reminder that the most destructive and murderous actions in history were carried out by governments. Government use of force against ethnic groups is far more effective than private use of force against these same groups.
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from First Things
The charge of corruption against Fillon was not just a political dirty trick. It was motivated by ideology, and it reflects hostility to Christianity in various circles where religion in general, and Catholicism in particular, is seen as an infantile disease. This is not only the idea of half-repentant Marxists still eager to rail against “the opium of the masses,” or of other left-leaning materialists. Aversion to Christianity shows up in the half-repentant Marxist left, but can also be found on the extreme right, with its mystique that despises love and mercy, and among centrists whose moderation assimilates faith to fanaticism.
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from The Guardian (UK)
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
British power generation achieves first ever coal-free day
National Grid hails milestone as other sources like gas, nuclear, wind and solar allow UK to keep lights on with all coal-fired powerplants offline. Friday was Britain’s first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution, according to the National Grid. The UK has had shorter coal-free periods in 2016, as gas and renewables such as wind and solar play an increasing role in the power mix. The longest continuous period until now had been 19 hours – first achieved on a weekend last May, and matched on Thursday.
British power generation achieves first ever coal-free day
National Grid hails milestone as other sources like gas, nuclear, wind and solar allow UK to keep lights on with all coal-fired powerplants offline. Friday was Britain’s first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution, according to the National Grid. The UK has had shorter coal-free periods in 2016, as gas and renewables such as wind and solar play an increasing role in the power mix. The longest continuous period until now had been 19 hours – first achieved on a weekend last May, and matched on Thursday.
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from The Heritage Foundation
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
Shunning the Shutdown
How will Congress stave off a shutdown? Most likely with an omnibus spending bill. By ignoring the opportunity to use this spending deadline to enact genuine reforms, Republicans are ignoring the voters who asked them to manage the country's spending.
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Pentagon experiences communications breakdown
The Pentagon is having a communications problem. On two separate occasions this month, the military has sent out information that was either misleading or unauthorized.
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Shunning the Shutdown
How will Congress stave off a shutdown? Most likely with an omnibus spending bill. By ignoring the opportunity to use this spending deadline to enact genuine reforms, Republicans are ignoring the voters who asked them to manage the country's spending.
from The Hill
Pentagon experiences communications breakdown
The Pentagon is having a communications problem. On two separate occasions this month, the military has sent out information that was either misleading or unauthorized.
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from Indian Country Today Media Network
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
CA Legislation Proposal to Honor the Ship ‘San Salvador’ (‘Holy Savior’)
‘San Salvador’ is a symbol of the brutal and dominating legacy of a deadly by-gone era of Spanish and Catholic imperialism
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
CA Legislation Proposal to Honor the Ship ‘San Salvador’ (‘Holy Savior’)
‘San Salvador’ is a symbol of the brutal and dominating legacy of a deadly by-gone era of Spanish and Catholic imperialism
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from The Living Church
THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT FAKE NEWS
Everyone is talking about fake news these days. It is a topic of intense debate on both ends of the American political spectrum. But few seem to have noticed the shift in our understanding of truth itself, which has led to this moment. Fake news is a completely predictable phenomenon in a postmodern society. The only surprising thing is the outrage that has emerged about the topic of fake news.
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from Miami Herald
O’Reilly, a pugnacious conservative who was the mightiest oak in the forest of cable news blowhards, was felled by a report in the New York Times three weeks ago that detailed how Fox paid out about $13 million over the years to make multiple accusations of sexual harassment go away. An uproar ensued, and advertisers deserted his top-rated program by the dozens. Small wonder. The accusations, which O’Reilly denies, read like a manual on how not to behave in a 21st-century workplace.
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from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]It seems fashionable nowadays to compare Donald Trump to Marine Le Pen or the Trump movement to the French National Front. The idea behind this comparison is to suggest that the French far right might very well win the coming presidential elections in May 2017 and create a French “Trump surprise.” But, as when it came to comparisons between Brexit and Trump, comparisons between Trump and Le Pen tend to be hyped. The differences between Trumpism and the French far right are not in themselves handicaps for the French but rather adaptations to different environments
Last year Florida became the 28th state to legalize medical marijuana when Amendment 2 passed with over 70% of the vote. Unfortunately, instead of abiding by the overwhelming voter mandate, the state Legislature is looking to impose severe restrictions on the industry. The move will hurt patients, while enriching a handful of licensed growers. Given Florida's political reality, it is not surprising to see lobbyist pressure pre-empt patient care. It doesn’t make it any less sickening.
Renowned surreal fiction writer Franz Kafka would have had trouble conceiving of a more absurd plot than last week's dropping of the MOAB bomb.
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from New York Times
Trump Proposed a Wall. They Imagined How It Would Work.
During his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump promised to build “a big, beautiful, powerful wall” between the United States and Mexico, ostensibly to keep out assorted “bad hombres.” Though a deadline for bids has passed and finalists are to be announced in June, the projected cost — an estimated $21.6 billion — and political opposition mean there’s a decent chance the wall will not be built soon. Even so, President Trump’s pronouncements have inspired a boom in border projects of a very different sort: documentaries, shorts, cartoons and art installations about the contested area, where barriers and fences already exist along some stretches.
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from The Raw Story
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
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from The Spokesman-Review
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from The Telegraph (UK)
Ancient stone carvings confirm how comet struck Earth in 10,950BC, sparking the rise of civilisations
Ancient stone carvings confirm that a comet struck the Earth around 11,000BC, a devastating event which wiped out woolly mammoths and sparked the rise of civilisations.
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from Zero Hedge
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
"Total Chaos" - Cyber Attack Feared As Multiple Cities Hit With Simultaneous Power Grid Failures
The U.S. power grid appears to have been hit with multiple power outages affecting San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Officials report that business, traffic and day-to-day life has come to a standstill in San Francisco, reportedly the worst hit of the three major cities currently experiencing outages. Power companies in all three regions have yet to elaborate on the cause, though a fire at a substation was the original reason given by San Francisco officials. A series of subsequent power outages in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City left commuters stranded and traffic backed up on Friday morning. Although the outages occurred around the same time, there is as of yet no evidence that they were connected by anything more than coincidence.
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