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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 Business Insider
Another retailer has filed for bankruptcy
The teen clothing retailer Rue 21 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. With the filing, Rue21 joins a long list of other retailers that have filed for bankruptcy this year, including Payless ShoeSource, Hhgregg, The Limited, RadioShack, BCBG, Wet Seal, Gormans, Eastern Outfitters, and Gander Mountain. More retailers have filed for bankruptcy this year than throughout all of last year.
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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
Should the Internet Be Regulated Like Ma Bell? For decades, Washington's hands-off approach has allowed a vibrant, open, and free Internet to flourish. But the FCC's net neutrality rules threaten Internet freedom.
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness has long opposed abusive “cy pres” settlements that benefit third-party beneficiaries instead of compensating class members.
CEI Petitions DHS to Follow the Law: U.S. Aircraft Laptop Ban Must Go Through Public Notice and Comment
Not only is the TSA's laptop ban a travel nightmare, it's a rulemaking nightmare, too!
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from EUobserver
MEPs preparing to crack down on Orban
The European Parliament is preparing to call on member states to launch proceedings against Hungary’s illiberal rule in what would be a historic first for the EU. EU assembly's largest group split by its "enfant terrible", but enough MEPs likely to abstain or vote Yes on "Article 7" crackdown over Orban's illiberal rule.
EU imposes June deadline on asylum quotas
The EU Commission says it could impose sanctions on Austria, Hungary and Poland if they did not start accepting asylum seekers. Non-complying member states have until June to start accepting asylum seekers from Greece and Italy or face possible sanctions and infringements.
Poland avoids talks on rule of law sanctions
EU ministers meeting in Brussels asked the Polish government to reverse its judicial reform, in their first discussion of the European Commission's probe. EU ministers on Tuesday (16 May) asked Poland to unblock talks with the European Commission and implement its recommendations on the rule of law. But they shied away from talking about stronger measures, such as sanctions.
EU audiovisual reform will create a nanny state
The European Parliament's position on the audiovisual media services directive will legalise state censorship in social networks. Twenty-eight versions of Facebook, a nanny state and censorship of the internet: those could be the consequences if the European Parliament's position on the directive regulating the provision of audiovisual media services (AVMS) enters into force.
Martin Schulz, down but not out against Merkel
After the Social Democrats' crushing defeat in its party leader's home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the odds seem stacked them for the rapidly approaching federal election in September. "I’m no magician," admitted a visibly deflated Martin Schulz on Sunday night (14 May) after it became clear that his centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) had suffered what he called a "crushing defeat" in their traditional heartland and his own home state, North Rhine-Westphalia. By Monday, he and SPD were back in fighting form, saying the federal campaign was only just beginning.
Trade deal ratification needs member states, EU court says
The EU’s top court ruled on Tuesday (16 May) that the EU-Singapore trade deal needs the ratification of member states, making future trade deals more difficult to conclude. The decision could make a post-Brexit trade deal easier if the UK and EU leave out investments, or deal with them in a separate agreement.
Italian refugee centre allegedly run by mafia
One of Italy's most powerful mafia syndicates, the 'Ndrangheta, allegedly stole over €32 million from a refugee centre run by a Catholic charity in southern Italy.
Macron and Merkel to 'reconstruct' the EU
The French and German leaders will present a common proposal to deepen and strengthen the EU and the eurozone. They say they are ready to change the EU treaties.
UK blocks blueprint for EU military HQ
The UK has blocked legal preparations for an EU military headquarters in the run-up to Brexit and national elections. Boris Johnson, its foreign minister, took the step at a meeting in Brussels on Monday (15 May) citing disagreements over “language”.
Dutch coalition talks collapsed two months after elections
Exactly two months after Dutch voters elected a highly fragmented lower house of parliament, talks for a four-party coalition collapsed on Monday (15 May). “The differences in opinion were simply too large,” said Edith Schippers, a Liberal politician who chaired the coalition talks between her centre-right party, the centre-right Christian-Democrats, the centrist D66, and the left-wing GreenLeft party.
Tusk summoned again to Polish court
Donald Tusk has been called to testify as a witness in an investigation of the 2010 Smolensk plane crash that killed the former Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and 95 others onboard. The European Council president has said he may use his diplomatic immunity to decline invitations to appear as a witness in Polish court cases, if they start to interfere with his work.
How Europe manages the sharing economy
EUobserver's 2017 edition of its Business in Europe magazine takes a closer look at the sharing economy.
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MEPs preparing to crack down on Orban
The European Parliament is preparing to call on member states to launch proceedings against Hungary’s illiberal rule in what would be a historic first for the EU. EU assembly's largest group split by its "enfant terrible", but enough MEPs likely to abstain or vote Yes on "Article 7" crackdown over Orban's illiberal rule.
EU imposes June deadline on asylum quotas
The EU Commission says it could impose sanctions on Austria, Hungary and Poland if they did not start accepting asylum seekers. Non-complying member states have until June to start accepting asylum seekers from Greece and Italy or face possible sanctions and infringements.
Poland avoids talks on rule of law sanctions
EU ministers meeting in Brussels asked the Polish government to reverse its judicial reform, in their first discussion of the European Commission's probe. EU ministers on Tuesday (16 May) asked Poland to unblock talks with the European Commission and implement its recommendations on the rule of law. But they shied away from talking about stronger measures, such as sanctions.
EU audiovisual reform will create a nanny state
The European Parliament's position on the audiovisual media services directive will legalise state censorship in social networks. Twenty-eight versions of Facebook, a nanny state and censorship of the internet: those could be the consequences if the European Parliament's position on the directive regulating the provision of audiovisual media services (AVMS) enters into force.
Martin Schulz, down but not out against Merkel
After the Social Democrats' crushing defeat in its party leader's home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the odds seem stacked them for the rapidly approaching federal election in September. "I’m no magician," admitted a visibly deflated Martin Schulz on Sunday night (14 May) after it became clear that his centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) had suffered what he called a "crushing defeat" in their traditional heartland and his own home state, North Rhine-Westphalia. By Monday, he and SPD were back in fighting form, saying the federal campaign was only just beginning.
Trade deal ratification needs member states, EU court says
The EU’s top court ruled on Tuesday (16 May) that the EU-Singapore trade deal needs the ratification of member states, making future trade deals more difficult to conclude. The decision could make a post-Brexit trade deal easier if the UK and EU leave out investments, or deal with them in a separate agreement.
Italian refugee centre allegedly run by mafia
One of Italy's most powerful mafia syndicates, the 'Ndrangheta, allegedly stole over €32 million from a refugee centre run by a Catholic charity in southern Italy.
Macron and Merkel to 'reconstruct' the EU
The French and German leaders will present a common proposal to deepen and strengthen the EU and the eurozone. They say they are ready to change the EU treaties.
UK blocks blueprint for EU military HQ
The UK has blocked legal preparations for an EU military headquarters in the run-up to Brexit and national elections. Boris Johnson, its foreign minister, took the step at a meeting in Brussels on Monday (15 May) citing disagreements over “language”.
Dutch coalition talks collapsed two months after elections
Exactly two months after Dutch voters elected a highly fragmented lower house of parliament, talks for a four-party coalition collapsed on Monday (15 May). “The differences in opinion were simply too large,” said Edith Schippers, a Liberal politician who chaired the coalition talks between her centre-right party, the centre-right Christian-Democrats, the centrist D66, and the left-wing GreenLeft party.
Tusk summoned again to Polish court
Donald Tusk has been called to testify as a witness in an investigation of the 2010 Smolensk plane crash that killed the former Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and 95 others onboard. The European Council president has said he may use his diplomatic immunity to decline invitations to appear as a witness in Polish court cases, if they start to interfere with his work.
How Europe manages the sharing economy
EUobserver's 2017 edition of its Business in Europe magazine takes a closer look at the sharing economy.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
Don't Thank the Government for Your iPhone
Economist Mariana Mazzucato recently tweeted a complaint about the inefficiency of the Home Office. We've all come to expect government inefficiency, but the funny part is that she thinks government is responsible for innovation. Yes, that's right, the same government that took four months to notice a typo on her visa application, she argues, is the one which made the iPhone possible. The very analysis which leads to us asking the government to tax-fund certain research is the very reason the government shouldn't be trying to own the results.
Government Agencies Don’t Offer “Customer Service”
Customer service call centers exist primarily to provide product support to consumers. But what about those "customer" call centers where I don't consider myself an actual customer? When attempting to pinpoint what exactly a customer is, the main defining characteristic lies in recognizing whether or not the individual in question has the right to say, "No thanks, I'll be shopping elsewhere."
Why Environmentalists Need to Understand Economics
One of the trickiest set of issues for defenders of free enterprise is environmental concerns, especially large-scale ones like climate change. What makes more sophisticated environmentalist arguments so challenging and so interesting is that they often use ideas and terms that are frequently used to describe economic systems. Just as the biological process leads to species adapting to their environments because those mutations that enhance survival will get passed on to future generations, so do economic processes lead to humans better “adapting to their social environment” by rearranging the physical world in ways that create more value.
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from First Things
Despite its claims to the contrary, Patrick Deneen writes in a 2014 piece in The American Conservative, “liberalism was never about ‘limited' government” or curbing absolutism. Rather, liberalism is about “the pursuit and exercise of potentially limitless power toward seemingly ‘limited' ends of securing Rights.” As people experiment with more and more ways of living, liberal government is committed to securing their right to stay on the path of their choice, and that, once again, expands the scope of government's jurisdiction. In protecting “rights,” liberalism has a built-in tendency toward expansion.
LIVING COMMUNALLY IN GOD'S GOOD CREATION
Like all idolaters, we have so deified our culture-forming abilities that we believe we can shape our world in ways subject only to our own desires, rather than to the norms God has built into his creation. Thus the need for The Benedict Option: Whatever we label it, it is something to which all Christians everywhere are called.
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from Forbes
Decades-old airspace models and fixations are not where today's industries and technologies are. These regulatory approaches derail the thinking needed to address issues of property rights in airspace/airsheds simply by ignoring them and imposing rules instead.
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from Fox News (& affiliates)
It has been almost a year since Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered in the nation's capital. There have been no solid answers about why he was killed until now. Rich was shot and killed last July in Northwest D.C and police have suggested the killing in the District's Bloomingdale neighborhood was a botched robbery. However, online conspiracy theories have tied the murder to Rich's work at the DNC. Just two months shy of the one-year anniversary of Rich's death, FOX 5 has learned there is new information that could prove these theorists right. Rod Wheeler, a private investigator hired by the Rich family, suggests there is tangible evidence on Rich's laptop that confirms he was communicating with WikiLeaks prior to his death.
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from The Heritage Foundation
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear North Carolina’s Voter ID Appeal. Here’s Why It’s Not a Big Deal.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal filed by the North Carolina Legislature in response to the three-judge panel striking down its state voter ID law and other election reforms. No one should read anything substantive into this. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Monday in a two-page supplement to the court’s refusal to accept the case for review, “[g]iven the blizzard of filings over who is and who is not authorized to seek review in this Court under North Carolina law, it is important to recall our frequent admonition that ‘[t]he denial of a writ of certiorari imports no expression of opinion upon the merits of the case.’”
What Is the Emoluments Clause?
Article VI of the Articles of Confederation was the source of the Constitution's prohibition on federal titles of nobility and the so-called Emoluments Clause. The clause sought to shield the republican character of the United States against corrupting foreign influences.
Time to Call Islamist Terrorism by Its Real Name
More than a decade and a half into a war against a global Islamist terrorist threat that endangers both the United States and many of its allies, Washington is still having trouble describing what it’s fighting. The Trump administration ought to rethink our approach from top to bottom. It’s time to jettison the CVE label — and be honest about who and what we’re fighting. The U.S. government ought to get over its fear of labeling extremist political movements and terrorists as Islamists.
Fixing our Infrastructure Without Breaking the Bank
If President Trump wants to fix our infrastructure without breaking the bank, embracing these free market proposals is the way to do it. Washington should realign federal investment to match national priorities—and leave other investments to the private sector and states.
Deep-Sixing the Paris Agreement
To call this a flawed deal is the understatement of the year. If President Trump wants to deliver the kind of economic growth he promised on the campaign trail, it’s time to jettison this bad deal.
Rand Paul, Tim Walberg Bring Forfeiture Reform to the 115th Congress
Civil forfeiture law is in need of reform, and the FAIR Act proposes sweeping changes that match those called for by Heritage. If passed, the FAIR Act would be the most sweeping reform of abuse-prone federal civil forfeiture law since the 1980s.
China's New 'Silk Road' Is Based on Its National-Security Agenda
China ought to be a more prominent topic in transatlantic conversations. Washington, DC would benefit from a deeper dialogue with European capitals on joint assessments and approaches to understanding and managing Chinese influence in the West.
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Congressional Republicans should stop playing games and reduce federal spending
If Congress acts on the debt ceiling before August recess, Democrats have significantly less leverage than they would with the deadline looming only days away.
Congress must put an end to online taxation without representation
The recent reintroduction of the misnamed Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) is the latest in the effort to expand taxes on internet sales. Proponents of taxing online sales have been lobbying Congress for almost two decades to let states reach outside their borders and force out-of-state businesses to collect and remit sales taxes to the states into which they sell. Congress should reject the idea.
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Supreme Court Refuses to Hear North Carolina’s Voter ID Appeal. Here’s Why It’s Not a Big Deal.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal filed by the North Carolina Legislature in response to the three-judge panel striking down its state voter ID law and other election reforms. No one should read anything substantive into this. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Monday in a two-page supplement to the court’s refusal to accept the case for review, “[g]iven the blizzard of filings over who is and who is not authorized to seek review in this Court under North Carolina law, it is important to recall our frequent admonition that ‘[t]he denial of a writ of certiorari imports no expression of opinion upon the merits of the case.’”
What Is the Emoluments Clause?
Article VI of the Articles of Confederation was the source of the Constitution's prohibition on federal titles of nobility and the so-called Emoluments Clause. The clause sought to shield the republican character of the United States against corrupting foreign influences.
Time to Call Islamist Terrorism by Its Real Name
More than a decade and a half into a war against a global Islamist terrorist threat that endangers both the United States and many of its allies, Washington is still having trouble describing what it’s fighting. The Trump administration ought to rethink our approach from top to bottom. It’s time to jettison the CVE label — and be honest about who and what we’re fighting. The U.S. government ought to get over its fear of labeling extremist political movements and terrorists as Islamists.
Fixing our Infrastructure Without Breaking the Bank
If President Trump wants to fix our infrastructure without breaking the bank, embracing these free market proposals is the way to do it. Washington should realign federal investment to match national priorities—and leave other investments to the private sector and states.
Deep-Sixing the Paris Agreement
To call this a flawed deal is the understatement of the year. If President Trump wants to deliver the kind of economic growth he promised on the campaign trail, it’s time to jettison this bad deal.
Rand Paul, Tim Walberg Bring Forfeiture Reform to the 115th Congress
Civil forfeiture law is in need of reform, and the FAIR Act proposes sweeping changes that match those called for by Heritage. If passed, the FAIR Act would be the most sweeping reform of abuse-prone federal civil forfeiture law since the 1980s.
China's New 'Silk Road' Is Based on Its National-Security Agenda
China ought to be a more prominent topic in transatlantic conversations. Washington, DC would benefit from a deeper dialogue with European capitals on joint assessments and approaches to understanding and managing Chinese influence in the West.
________
from The Hill
Congressional Republicans should stop playing games and reduce federal spending
If Congress acts on the debt ceiling before August recess, Democrats have significantly less leverage than they would with the deadline looming only days away.
Congress must put an end to online taxation without representation
The recent reintroduction of the misnamed Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) is the latest in the effort to expand taxes on internet sales. Proponents of taxing online sales have been lobbying Congress for almost two decades to let states reach outside their borders and force out-of-state businesses to collect and remit sales taxes to the states into which they sell. Congress should reject the idea.
________
from Independent Sentinel
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
Trump Responds to Another Media-Driven Trump Scandal
A New York Times report says President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia during a meeting in February. No reporter has actually seen the memo. There is nothing Trump can do or say that the media won't ATTACK.
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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)
Trump Faces Turkish Challenge on ISIS, Kurds, Democracy
Increasing authoritarian Erdogan presents massive regional headache for White House.
President Donald Trump met Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ally who has been testing the limits of U.S. patience. Since Erdogan took office, he has increasingly flirted with militant Islamism and authoritarian rule. But even worse in the minds of U.S. foreign policy experts, Erdogan is not helping enough with the fight against the Islamic State.
Rumors of Shake-Up Do Little to Quell White House Leaks
Disclosures likely to continue as long as Trump surrounded by advisers with conflicting agendas
Here’s Why ‘SNL’ Never Hired Rosie O’Donnell
It seemed a perfect fit when Rosie O’Donnell first took to Twitter in February to suggest she should play White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on “Saturday Night Live,” a show that has become Trump-obsessed and caters to a virtually exclusive leftist crowd. Cast member Leslie Jones revealed in a recent Hollywood Reporter interview that O’Donnell was not hired because she would have played her role “from hate.”
Trump Tax Plan Eyes Cut to Deduction for High-Tax States
Former Reagan adviser contends income-tax deduction subsidizes big, liberal states. President Donald Trump’s tax plan, a broad and general plan that would make supply-siders such as Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp very happy, could be held up by a number of details that are making some Republicans nervous. One is the elimination of an income-tax deduction for high-tax states such as New York and California.
Growing Consensus Trump Acted Appropriately, Leakers Broke Law
National security experts in and out of administration defend president, hammer illegal disclosures. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Tuesday reiterated that President Donald Trump did nothing wrong in sharing sensitive information about the Islamic State terrorist organization with a pair of Russian diplomats.
Former CIA Director: Disclosure Firestorm May Be ‘Just Kind of a Flap’
Woolsey says Trump has 'right to declassify material,' but leak to media 'absolutely' illegal. Former Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey said President Donald Trump had “the right to declassify material” during a meeting last week with Russian officials, and the only debate can be over whether it was “wise for any of a host of reasons,” during an interview Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”
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from The Living Church
Fuller Communion
The Episcopal and United Methodist bishops who oversee the ecumenical dialogue between their churches have jointly released A Gift to the World: Co-Laborers for the Healing of Brokenness, a draft document that proposes full communion.
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from The Spokesman-Review
5 arrested after officer, 7 staff members assaulted in melee at Excelsior Youth Center in Spokane
About 8 p.m. Monday, police were called to the facility for a report of a fight. When they arrived, they found about 15 people fighting among 50 gathered in the gym and the fire alarm blaring, according to a police news release.
Washington transportation budget has $127 million for Spokane projects
Washington taxpayers will spend more than $8 billion in the next two years on roads, bridges and mass transit projects with about $127 million of it coming to Spokane County.
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from UPI News Agency - United Press International
Fewer than one in four Americans believe the Bible is "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word" -- a record low in 40 years of surveys conducted by Gallup. The 24 percent of literal believers is a 4 percentage point drop from the last Gallup survey in 2014. Among respondents, 26 percent believe the Bible is "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man" -- the first time that the biblical literalism view is not greater than biblical skepticism. In 2014, 21 percent were non-literal believers. Forty-seven percent of Americans have a view in the middle -- the Bible is the inspired words of God but not to be taken literally -- the same percentage as in 2014.
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from The Wall Street Journal
McMaster and Commander
Former government officials have been demanding anonymity from the Washington Post in order to discuss a meeting they did not attend at the White House. President Trump’s National Security Adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster, who did attend the meeting, has been going on the record this week along with other attendees to knock down the resulting story. Yet much of the press still seems to credit the Post’s unnamed non-attendees.
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