Friday, August 25, 2017

In the news, Wednesday, August 9, 2017


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AUG 08      INDEX      AUG 10
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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 The Gem State Patriot
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Secretary Zinke Requests Public Comments on all DOI Regulations
This is a huge opportunity for the public to provide feedback on regulations that are destroying the way we live. On March 28, 2017 President Trump signed an Executive Order rescinding several Obama memorandums and executive orders. The President then instructed agency heads to identify existing agency actions that occurred as a result of the now rescinded executive orders and memorandums.

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from Government Executive
Media/News Company in Washington, D.C.

A contractor providing intelligence and training services to the Defense Department billed luxury cars to the government, sought reimbursements for the salaries of well-connected secretaries who did little in the way of actual work and exceeded statutory caps for executives’ pay, according to a new audit. All told, the Defense Contract Audit Agency questioned $50 million the British company New Century Consulting billed to the Pentagon, according to a report summarized in a letter from Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

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from The Guardian (UK)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Forget ‘the environment’: we need new words to convey life’s wonders
If Moses had promised the Israelites a land flowing with mammary secretions and insect vomit, would they have followed him into Canaan? Though this means milk and honey, I doubt it would have inspired them. So why do we use such language to describe the natural wonders of the world? There are examples everywhere, but I will illustrate the problem with a few from the UK. On land, places in which nature is protected are called “sites of special scientific interest”. At sea, they are labelled “no-take zones” or “reference areas”. Had you set out to estrange people from the living world, you could scarcely have done better. 

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

How the Latest GOP Health Care Bill Stacks Up
After last month’s disappointing failure to roll back Obamacare’s damage, senators are now reflecting on how best to proceed. Relief from Obamacare includes three major elements: regulatory relief, financing reform through tax cuts, and Medicaid reform.

Free Trade Must Remain a Bipartisan Issue
U.S. presidents of both political parties supported free trade throughout the mid- to late-20th century. Fortunately, conservatives in Congress still understand the benefits of trade.

Updating the American Business Tax System: American Attitudes toward Corporate Tax Reform
Tax reform is likely to become a key issue on both the individual and corporate sides in 2017. President Donald Trump released a plan that called for significant changes on both levels. Congress anticipates taking up the issue once health care and budgeting have cleared the deck. Americans see a strong need to update the tax system with minor or even major reforms. However, most Americans think more of reform on the individual side than the business side. Moreover, Americans hold differing ideas of what reform should look like, and even the ultimate goal of tax policy as a whole. Although divided on specifics, Americans are united in their concern that corporate tax rates be competitive in the global economy and benefit workers and consumers domestically through job creation and low prices. Emphasizing these themes and educating Americans on the actual rates that currently burden businesses can help unify and build support for lower, more competitive rates.

The FAA Could Follow the EPA in Overreaching Its Authority
Even as conservatives cheer the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to rescind its overreaching WOTUS rule, another expansion is taking shape. Call it the “Airspace of the United States” rule. Congress should reaffirm FAA authority to safeguard the national airspace, but respect local authority to secure public safety and individual liberty.

Strong International Action Required to Address Venezuela’s Dictatorship
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s alarming power grab has turned Venezuela into a dictatorship. U.S. leadership and regional cooperation is needed to reverse Venezuela’s imminent collapse. At a minimum, the U.S. should develop a comprehensive sanctions regime targeting Venezuelan government officials, mandate strong standards for any dialogue with the Maduro regime, and conduct a detailed assessment on how an oil embargo against Venezuela would impact the U.S. economy (as well as develop a contingency plan to mitigate the impact if such sanctions become necessary).

A Powerful Federal Reserve Reform: Flexible Open Market Operations
The Fed will shrink its balance sheet and end unconventional monetary policy. But the central bank’s procedure for open-market operations still need an overhaul. The Fed’s primary dealer system hurt the Fed’s ability to maintain system-wide liquidity during the 2008 crisis. Yet, the Fed has chosen to keep the system intact. At the very least, the Fed should update its own 2002 study to elaborate on its own experiences during the 2008 crisis.

Is College Education Worth It?
August is the month when parents bid farewell to not only their college-bound youngsters but also a sizable chunk of cash for tuition. More than 18 million students attend our more than 4,300 degree-granting institutions. A question parents, their college-bound youngsters, and taxpayers should ask: Is college worth it?

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from KIRO 7 Eyewitness News (CBS Seattle)

Old law prevents Washington state from preparing for nuclear disaster
As North Korea considers a strike against the U.S. territory of Guam, KIRO 7 is looking into the plans to protect Washington residents. We found a little known 1984 state law which says "Comprehensive Emergency Management" does not mean preparation for emergency evacuation or relocation of residents in anticipation of nuclear attack. That law actually prevents Washington State Emergency Management from planning for a nuclear strike.

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from The Liberty Review
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

How Capitalism Makes Us Less Wasteful
It has always bothered me to go to a sporting event or get on a plane and see lots of empty seats. The marginal cost of an additional spectator or passenger is basically zero; anything additional someone would pay to the airline or stadium for the privilege of attending or flying would be pure profit. Isn’t there a way those seats could be filled by people who would place more than zero value on the experience? People are earning tidy livings by reducing transaction costs. Like most academics, I simply lament this reality and go on with my life. Fortunately, some people and firms are actually doing something about it.

How Legal Activism Stopped the Market from Abolishing Segregation
When I ask non-lawyer friends what Supreme Court cases they have heard of, two invariably arise: that of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka and Plessy vs. Ferguson. It is probably no coincidence that they remember these cases together. Brown undid the racial interpretation of the Constitution made under Plessy, removing the “separate but equal” standard that had been the law since 1896. Brown was also highly controversial in its time — a period that is associated with racial division, Jim Crow, and the birth of the Civil Rights movement and which also paved the way for further civil right cases.

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from Military Times
and Air Force Times, Army Times, Marine Corps Times, and Navy Times

North Korea dismisses Trump's threat, warns of 'absolute force'
North Korea on Wednesday officially dismissed President Donald Trump’s threats of “fire and fury,” declaring the American leader “bereft of reason” and warning ominously, “Only absolute force can work on him.” In a statement released on state media, Gen. Kim Rak Gyom, who heads North Korea’s rocket command, also said his country was “about to take” military action near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. He said the North would finalize a plan by mid-August involving mid-range missiles hitting waters 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) away from the island.

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

The Trump administration is considering a new scheme for the War in Afghanistan. The American taxpayers are unlikely to see any benefit. Any time we hear the term "privatize" coming from the usual suspects in Washington, DC we should immediately be suspicious. When this word is used, there's usually precious little actual privatization going on. Thus, we should regard the Trump administration's proposed plan to "privatize" the war in Afghanistan with extreme amounts of skepticism.

It's Not Urban vs. Rural — It's Suburban vs. Urban
Rural America continues to be a topic of political conversation. For many journalists and pundits, this focus comes out of a belief that rural America is the primary driver behind Donald Trump's political base. That's all well and good, but the rural population in the United States is only a small and shrinking part of the coalition that put Donald Trump in the White House. Moreover, the rural population today comprises only 14 percent of the US population nationwide.  Although the the media has become obsessed with rural Trump voters, the fact is suburban voters and taxpayers are far more important.

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from The Nation

A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year’s DNC Hack
Former NSA experts say it wasn’t a hack at all, but a leak—an inside job by someone with access to the DNC’s system.

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from New York Times

We’re Choking on Smoke in Seattle
The weather forecast for Seattle on Wednesday reads “89 degrees, smoke.” We first noticed the smoke, drifting down from wildfires still burning in British Columbia, around Aug. 2, just as a heat wave sent temperatures spiking well into the 90s (the historical average for that week is 77) and the ubiquitous Pacific winds dwindled to a standstill. “Nature’s air-conditioning is broken,” the National Weather Service told the Seattle Times. The city’s brown skies feel like a preview of what’s to come for everyone if we don’t address climate change.

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from Reason Magazine
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Even Atheists Think that Atheists Are More Likely to Be Immoral Than Believers
"Our findings reveal widespread suspicion that morality requires belief in a god."

Groups Sue Over Trump's Plan—If He Actually Has One—to Boot Transgender People Out of Military
The lawsuit says that the plaintiffs disclosed their transgender status to the military with the understanding that doing so would no longer threaten their careers, and therefore they're asking the federal courts to block a reversal of that promise. Five members of the military disclosed their status. Now they're worried they'll get kicked out. It's still not clear how or even really if the military's transgender ban will proceed, but two legal organizations are nevertheless suing to try to stop it. President Donald Trump infamously declared on Twitter in July that he was going to reverse the policies started under President Barack Obama to accommodate transgender troops. Trump indicated a complete reversal—no more transgender troops would be allowed to serve at all.

Trump Needs Congressional Authorization for Pre-Emptive Strike on North Korea
But Congress has to assert its role if that's to mean anything.

Trump Wants to Arrest His Way Out of the Opioid Overdose Crisis
The president lacks subtlety or substance over a chronic public health problem—go figure.

Police Serve Warrant to Wrong Address, Kill Man Who Lives There
Ismael Lopez awoke to a commotion outside his front door on July 23rd, shortly before midnight. Moments later, he was dead. A police officer shot Lopez after he allegedly refused to put down the gun he was holding when he answered the door. Police were looking to serve an arrest warrant for an assault that had occurred earlier that day. Only after Lopez had died did they realize their mistake: they had gone to the wrong house.

Cooler Foreign Policy Heads Than Trump Have Been Calling for North Korea Regime Change for Years
As people rightly freak out over a president invoking nuclear war, a trip through recent history shows widespread support for preemptive bombing. Like most intractable-seeming policy challenges, North Korea's nuclearization is damnably hard to fix. And like many global crises, the urge to locate some kind of special problem-solving button in Washington may well be making things worse.

No, Donald Trump Wasn’t Elected Because We Ended the Military Draft
Nothing builds social cohesion like being condemned to die in a conflict you don't support, argues Damon Linker in a misguided attempt to explain Trump.

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

Navarro’s Counterfeit Court – Bunkerville Retrial

Navarro has ruled that all bad acts by the BLM, or any other law enforcement, will not be presented on the record. She feels that there is nothing relevant about showing this. She has stated that, “The law does not recognize self defense against law enforcement officers.” This is not a trial. This is a grand jury hearing where no defense is even allowed to be presented. The defendants have been thrown to the wolves by their own government.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from Washington Policy Center (State)

More lawsuits filed against Seattle's illegal income tax
Three separate lawsuits have now been filed against Seattle's illegal income tax. The first lawsuit was filed on July 14. Today two more lawsuits were filed, one by the Freedom Foundation and one by the "Opportunity for All Coalition" represented by former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, former Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, and Dan Dunne, a litigation partner at Orrick Herrington. Of note in the McKenna legal brief is the fact current Attorney General Bob Ferguson declined a request to take action against the illegal Seattle income tax.

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

Car Rams Into Group Of Soldiers In Paris; Six Injured In "Deliberate Act Of Terrorism"
In the latest car-ramming terrorist attack in France, at least six French soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, after being rammed by what was described as a black BMW in a Paris suburb, French Armed forces confirmed, adding that the police were searching for the driver in what prosecutors are treating as the latest act of terrorism.

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