Friday, December 22, 2017

In the news, Friday, December 15, 2017


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DEC 14      INDEX      DEC 16
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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 BBC News (UK)
LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Church apology over Bishop George Bell abuse inquiry
The Church of England has apologised to the relatives of a bishop for the way it investigated child abuse claims made against him decades after his death. Former Bishop of Chichester George Bell, who died in 1958, was alleged to have repeatedly abused a young girl. She made a formal complaint in 1995 and, 10 years later, won an apology and compensation from the Church. A report into the handling of the case has criticised the Church's actions, describing its process as "deficient".

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from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)
RIGHT BIAS

Snotty Chris Cuomo Ignores Evidence, Taunts GOP for Calling Out Bias in FBI Investigation
Republican Congressman Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was grilled by the tirelessly snarky CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo, in a lengthy 13-minute- “interview” on Friday morning's New Day. From the very beginning, Gaetz was attacked, insulted, interrupted, and berated by Cuomo over his “partisan” position calling for Mueller to be fired for conflicts of interest on the Russia probe.

NBC’s Mitchell Paints Iran Threat as Just a Political Ploy By Trump
In a shocking press conference on Thursday, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley presented the press an Iran-constructed missile that was fired at the Riyadh airport deep inside Saudi Arabia by extremists in Yemen. The point of the press conference was to show just how much of a threat Iran was to the region with their supplies of military hardware to terrorists. But NBC’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell didn’t seem to buy it.

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from Freedom Foundation (WA)
Nonprofit Organization in Olympia, Washington

Has the legislature fixed public education?
With House Bill 2242 becoming law, the Washington State Legislature adopted the final elements of a plan to fully fund public education and satisfy the Washington Supreme Court in the case of McCleary v. State of Washington. The court agreed, stating, “The 2017 legislature enacted a funding system that, when fully implemented, will achieve constitutional compliance according to the benchmarks that have consistently guided judicial oversight.” The plan and the increases in recent years are stunning, but those who care about services for children are wise to have some lingering questions.

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from The Guardian (UK)
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, daily newspaper

Anglican church 'rushed to judgment' in George Bell child abuse case
Lord Carlile report says Church of England was wrong to accept claims of alleged victim against former bishop ‘without sufficient investigations’.

How to eat: pork pie
In the Midlands, pork pie is a traditional Christmas breakfast. But could you face it first thing? Must it always be served cold? Or do you scarf it with chips and gravy?

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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

The High Tide of Red Tape Ebbs Under Trump’s Ambitious Deregulatory Push
The Trump administration on Thursday released an ambitious regulatory agenda that commits federal agencies to more than 400 deregulatory actions in fiscal 2018, and to cutting future regulatory costs to the private sector by $9.8 billion. There is urgent need for reform. Regulation acts as a stealth tax on the American people and the U.S. economy and exacts an incalculable toll on individual liberty.

How Tariffs and Regressive Trade Policies Hurt the Poor
With round 5 of NAFTA negotiations behind us, Americans can begin to look forward to round 6 in Montreal in the second half of January. While all Americans stand to benefit from free trade, we must not lose sight of who has the most to lose. Tariffs are just taxes on Americans by another name. However, some Americans shoulder a larger burden under protectionism than others. The future of American prosperity is intertwined with the freedom to trade. The U.S. can embrace free trade, or we can run from it. If we run, the poorest Americans will be hurt the most.

Tax Reform Bill Would Give Back Alaskans Control of Their Energy Future
In a compromise tax reform package, Senate and House negotiators have agreed to include language to open Alaska’s coastal plain for energy exploration and production. If passed, the bill would finally give Alaskans more control over their energy future by opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It’s long past time that Congress empower the people who have a direct stake in the wise management of land, natural resources, and the environment.

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from The Kansas City Star

Kansas Dem Andrea Ramsey, accused of sexual harassment, will drop out of U.S. House race
“In its rush to claim the high ground in our roiling national conversation about harassment, the Democratic Party has implemented a zero tolerance standard,” Ramsey said in a statement Friday. “For me, that means a vindictive, terminated employee’s false allegations are enough for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to decide not to support our promising campaign. We are in a national moment where rough justice stands in place of careful analysis, nuance and due process.”

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from Kim Komando

My take on net neutrality - Do you agree?
As you are no doubt aware, the FCC voted 3-2 on Thursday, to repeal the 2 1/2-year-old Net Neutrality rules. I’ll admit that the coined phrase, “Net Neutrality” certainly sounded good.

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from MSN News

FCC repeals net neutrality: Here's what it means for you
In a move that could fundamentally reshape the internet — and spur a new wave of legal wrangling — the Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to repeal its net-neutrality rules.

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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia

NAZARETH REDUCING CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS IN PROTEST OF TRUMP’S JERUSALEM DECISION
The city of Nazareth has announced that it is canceling certain Christmas celebrations as a form of protest against President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the U.S. embassy to the Holy City. President Trump announced the move last week, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The decision has been condemned by political and religious leaders throughout the world and has already seen a series of protests and responses throughout the world. Within an hour of the announcement, the Palestinian towns of Christ’s birthplace of Bethlehem and Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank briefly switched off their Christmas lights in protest.

GREEK SYNOD SAYS BULGARIANS ACTING AGAINST HOLY CANONS IN CASE OF MACEDONIAN CHURCH
The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church held its December session yesterday and today, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, at which it addressed the communiqué of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on its decision to become the “Mother Church” of the schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church.

ESTONIAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES CALLS FOR TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE IN CONSTITUTION
The actively-participating churches of the Estonian Council of Churches (ECC) has adopted a resolution on the necessity of introducing a definition of marriage into the constitution as the union of a man and a woman. Among the member churches is the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The ECC decided at a local session that it considers it necessary to introduce into the national constitution a definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, according to the council’s Executive Secretary Ruudi Leinus. He also stated that the council will begin preparations for the constitutional amendment, but could not say when the proposal would go to the Riigikogu, the unicameral Estonian parliament.

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from Psephizo
Community

Is Jerusalem important?
Donald Trump made the headlines last week by announcing that he was ordering the US Embassy in Israel to relocate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Anything involving an announcement by Trump is bound to be incoherent, and the situation in the near east is immensely complex, so you can guarantee that there was going to be a heap of confusion about this. There is absolutely no doubt that the decision has inflamed opinion and, in the short term at least, made violence more likely and pushed further into the distance any possibility of the beginnings of a real peace process. There are several things we need to be aware of as part of the context for this announcement.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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from Stars and Stripes

Navajo Code Talker Teddy Draper Sr. dies in Arizona at 96
A Navajo Code Talker who used his native language to outsmart the Japanese in World War II has died in Arizona. Navajo Nation officials say Teddy Draper Sr. died Thursday at age 96 in the small city of Prescott. Draper's death came nine days after another Navajo Code Talker, George B. Willie Sr., died in Arizona at age 92.

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from The Telegraph (UK)

Archbishop criticised for refusing to clear bishop besmirched by the Church
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been criticised for refusing to clear the bishop besmirched by the Church of England and saying instead that a "significant cloud" hangs over him. A damning report published today by Lord Carlile of Berriew found that the reputation of Bishop George Bell, who was posthumously accused of sexually abusing a child, was "wrongfully and unnecessarily damaged" by the Church, who publicly named him in an apology made in 2015. But in a statement following the report, Justin Welby said Bell was "accused of great wickedness" and apologises only "for the failures of the process".

Archbishop Welby’s response to the George Bell inquiry is shocking
The Church condemned a man of proven good to make itself look good. It must admit that was wrong

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from The Washington Post
Newspaper in Washington, D.C.

CDC gets list of forbidden words: Fetus, transgender, diversity
The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases ... in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget. Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden terms at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden terms are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

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In the news, Thursday, December 14, 2017


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DEC 13      INDEX      DEC 15
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

________

from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)
RIGHT BIAS

NBC Omits Popular Deductions Staying in GOP Tax Bill, Parrots Dems
Congressional Republicans were one step closer to realizing their hopes for tax reform on Thursday as it appeared as though the House and Senate had reconciled nearly all of the legislation. Hearing the recommendations and concerns of the public, the Republicans preserved the current tax code’s deductions for student loans, medical bills, and added a $10,000 cap for state and local taxes. But of the three major network news outlets, NBC was the only one that left them out of their evening broadcast. Instead of reporting what was known to be in the GOP tax reform bill, NBC Nightly News instead chose to run two reports that played up the GOP “scrambling” to get votes and blatantly pasted off Democratic Party talking points as facts.

No, 'Decency' Did Not Win In Alabama
By rejecting Roy Moore, Alabamians will instead by represented in Congress by a man who stands in open favor of the largest genocide in the history of mankind. By rejecting Moore, Alabamians will have as one of their highest elected leaders a man whose campaign was vehemently supported by Planned Parenthood, an organization that makes boatloads of cash carving up babies like rotisserie chickens, and is currently under federal investigation for selling off fetal eyeballs and livers harvested from butchered infants to scientists to be played with in petri dishes. By rejecting a man who may very well have sexually abused children, Alabamians gained a senator who advocates for murdering them outright.

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from EUobserver

EU countries are not 'tax havens', parliament says
Malta, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland cannot be considered as tax havens, the European Parliament agreed on Wednesday (13 December). A Socialist group amendment listing the four EU member states specifically by name was part of 211 recommendations contained in a report by a special inquiry committee into money laundering, tax avoidance and evasion, the PANA committee. The proposal obtained 327 votes against, 327 in favour and 24 abstentions, which means it could not be adopted as there was no majority.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

Net Neutrality Isn't Neutral At All
The Open Internet rules the FCC devised based on Title II authority expressly permit ISPs to block, filter and curate content.

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from First Things

SEX, SCANDAL, AND POLITICS
The many conservative votes Roy Moore received in Alabama suggest that The Moral Majority is less and less willing to play its role as upholder of decency.

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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Trump's Colombia Envoy Should Know Something about Drug Wars
Effectively addressing Colombia’s challenges while advancing the bilateral relationship means more than just keeping the lights on at the embassy. The United States needs an ambassador with a direct line to President Trump who can shape the direction of policy.

5 Myths About Tax Reform, and Why They’re Wrong
Next week, the House and Senate will take their final votes on tax reform. The president’s goal is to sign the legislation into law before Christmas. Although there are still some unknown details, the important parts of the bill for most Americans are already known and would greatly improve our current, woefully out-of-date tax code. The bottom line is that taxpayers across America can expect a tax cut. The bill would lower tax rates for individuals and businesses, double the standard deduction, and significantly increase the child tax credit.

Doomed Deference Doctrines: Why the Days of Chevron, Seminole Rock, and Auer Deference May Be Numbered
The U.S. Supreme Court famously declared in Marbury v. Madison that it is “emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” In a series of decisions, however, the Court has adopted a controversial rule allowing administrative agency officials—rather than judges—to have the final say in the interpretation of statutes and agency rules. This turns Marbury v. Madison on its head and has contributed to the accumulation of power in administrative agencies. The modern administrative state touches nearly every aspect of Americans’ daily lives, from highways to electricity to health care, but as of late, all three branches of the federal government are paying close attention to the excessive power delegated to agencies. Fortunately, the day of reckoning may be coming for these deference doctrines.

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from The Hill
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, newspaper in Washington, D.C.

Congress has much to accomplish with the budget, but little time
The current fiscal year (2018) began Oct. 1. Congress is already two and a half months late on enacting a new federal spending package. Surprise! They just kicked the can another two weeks down the road, and the new deadline, Dec. 22, puts Christmas-time drama on the table.

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from Indian Country Today Media Network
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

The Biggest Federal Tax Overhaul in 30 Years: Native American Tribes Are Not Included
A $1.5 trillion dollar increase in the federal deficit will create pressure to cut federal programs and services that are extremely important to tribal communities.

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from The Inlander

Forgiveness and Faith
As a woman who survived eight years of child/teen sexual abuse, I wish to thank all the men who, through strong personal convictions and integrity, have kept their hands, and others body parts, to themselves or solely to their wives. Thank you, thank you, thank you! However, with the adult entertainment industry (porn) raking in billions of dollars a year, strong sexual overtones in the fashion industry, sexually explicit music lyrics easily accessible, sex trafficking, etc., why should it surprise us when sexual abuse and/or harassment among prominent members of our society (or anyone for that matter) comes to light? Do you really believe that we can be a morally lawless nation and not become morally corrupt?

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from NPR (& affiliates)

FCC Repeals 'Net Neutrality' Rules For Internet Providers
After weeks of heated controversy and protests, the Republican majority of the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines on Thursday to loosen Obama-era regulations for Internet providers. The rules, put in place in 2015, banned cable and telecom companies from blocking or slowing down any websites or apps. They also prohibited broadband providers from striking special deals that would give some websites or apps "priority" over others.

The USDA Rolled Back Protections For Small Farmers. Now The Farmers Are Suing
An organization representing the interests of small farmers across rural America fired a legal salvo Thursday aimed at a Trump administration they feel has let them down. The lawsuit, filed by the Organization for Competitive Markets — a small-farmers think tank based in Lincoln, Neb. — and three farmer plaintiffs, did not shake the halls of Congress. Nor will it go viral on social media. But to the 40,000 contract poultry farmers, 900,000 cattle ranchers, and 70,000 hog farmers in America's heartland whose interests it seeks to represent, the lawsuit represents the tip of an iceberg of financial and emotional despair. At issue is the Trump administration's withdrawal of two Obama-era rules designed to protect small farmers, who say they are being exploited by the meatpacking companies they supply. The suit, filed on behalf of OCM by the Capitol Hill legal watchdog Democracy Forward, charges U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and his agency with "arbitrary and capricious" behavior in rolling back those two rules. One of them would have made it easier for individual farmers to sue for anti-competitive behavior.

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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia

THE LORD WILL FORCE ALL TO ACCEPT THE AUTOCEPHALY OF THE KIEV PATRIARCHATE, SCHISMATIC SYNOD SAYS
The synod of the self-styled “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP) have addressed their supporters and the Ukrainian people with an explanation of their position regarding the dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church. The address from their session yesterday has been posted on the schismatic church’s site.

HOLY MOUNTAIN MOURNS THE SCHISM IN THE UKRAINIAN CHURCH—ABBOT OF VATOPEDI
Mt. Athos is very grieved about the schism in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, created and continued by the self-styled “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko of the unrecognized “Kiev Patriarchate.” Abbot Ephraim of the Athonite monastery of Vatopedi spoke about this trouble in an address to Ukrainians published on the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

THE ROYAL ARMY NURSE
The life of Olga Alexandrovna Romanov, the last Grand Duchess of Russia, was filled with such numerous sorrows as rarely befall a person in a lifetime. But through her kindness, modesty and courage she withstood all the miseries that lay in store for her in the twentieth century. In the early centuries of Christianity, even pagans admired the virtues of Christian women. Likewise, Grand Duchess Olga, unshakable and radiant, can be a source of inspiration and consolation to modern people as well. She was the benefactress of a large number of schools, hospitals, courses, almshouses, and charitable societies, and during the First World War she was a simple army nurse.


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

Paul Ryan Sees His Wild Washington Journey Coming to An End
He felt he was ‘made for this moment.’ But now, on the verge of achieving his long-sought legislative dream, he’s got his eyes on the exits.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Window displays bring historic holiday spirit of the Crescent store to downtown Spokane
Historic Christmas window display figures have been uncovered and given new life at select locations in downtown Spokane this Yule season. The figures are among those featured in department store window displays over the years at the historic 1917 Crescent store at 707 W. Main Ave.

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from The Wall Street Journal

The Internet Is Free Again
Killing Obama-era rules will remove the FCC as political gatekeeper.

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from We the Governed
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Democratic Party attacks campaign transparency in Washington
In a stunning public reversal of their public statements about campaign finance laws, the Washington State Democratic Party is declaring war on the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.  Concerns have been raised by conservative and socialist activists alike, but Tina Podlodowski, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party appears determined to destroy the foundation of the state’s campaign finance laws by promoting and financially benefiting from the dissolution of local Democratic Party Political Committees in a conspiracy to evade legal liability.  If the Democratic Party succeeds in this fraudulent conveyance scheme, there will no longer be a reason for the Public Disclosure Commission to exist.

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In the news, Wednesday, December 13, 2017


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DEC 12      INDEX      DEC 14
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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 Communion News Service

The global oil giant ExxonMobil have finally caved in to shareholder demands – led by the C of E’s Church Commissioners – to set out how the business will be affected by efforts to halt climate change. The announcement came two years to the day after the breakthrough Paris agreement on climate change.

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from Capital Press
The West's Ag Website

Washington Dems float rural well bill
Democrats outlined a plan Tuesday to help fish while curtailing withdrawals from new rural wells, redistributing water in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s Hirst decision. The proposal could allow more farm families to drill wells for homes. But it would limit withdrawals to 350 gallons a day, as opposed to the current cap of 5,000 gallons. The plan also would impose a $1,500 fee on new wells and set the stage for metering wells.

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from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)
RIGHT BIAS

Pathetic: Newsweek Blames Trump for Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe: 'Because of Trump...'
The every-more radical Newsweek’s blame-Trump-for-everything philosophy reached a nadir Monday afternoon, with the headline “Because of Trump, People Are Burning Israeli Flags and Attacking Jews.” Sadly, Jews have been attacked in Europe long before Donald Trump arrived on the political scene. A more accurate would read: “Because They Hate Jews, Radical Muslims Are Burning Israeli Flags and Attacking Jews.” Extremists hardly need Trump as an excuse to be hateful and violent, after all. But for the Trump-obsessed media, the man is the source of all evil.

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from Daily Wire
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, American news and opinion website

WALSH: No, We Aren't 'Stealing From The Poor' By Allowing The Rich To Keep More Of Their Own Money
When liberals claim that the Republican tax plan will "steal from the poor" and "give to the rich" what they mean is that the rich will be getting a tax break and the poor and middle class will not. This is untrue even when phrased correctly. The middle class will, in fact, receive a tax break that isn't any smaller, proportionally, than the break given to "the rich." But let's put that to the side for the moment and examine this notion that we are somehow "giving" to the rich by not taking what is already theirs.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

China Is Moving in the Right Direction on Tariffs
While U.S. trade policy under the Trump administration has become a confusing mix of bluster, posturing, threats, and uncertainty, China has gone in the other direction, at least incrementally by lowering some of its tariffs unilaterally. On November 24, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that it would cut tariffs on 187 consumer products. The lower duty rate took effect on December 1, so Chinese consumers are now benefitting from more competition and lower prices. As noted in the announcement, the average tariff on the covered products will be brought down from 17.3% to 7.3%.

Charlotte's Web Is Full of Economic Wisdom
As much as economists love Adam Smith, Charlotte’s Web is a better way for kids to learn basic economic truths. Charlotte’s Web is a story about a pig named Wilbur who is friends with a spider named Charlotte. The friends grow close while living in the barn. Charlotte tells Wilbur stories while she waits for flies and he lies in a pile of manure. Wilbur’s life is idyllic, but eventually one of the older sheep tells Wilbur what happens to pigs once the weather gets cold. Charlotte, being Wilbur’s friend, promises that she will save his life. The story is simple, but it contains a lot of social science, especially economics.

This Bloodsport Needs to End
The left is getting nuttier, the hard right is getting scarier, and the entire enterprise of political control seems ever more outmoded. Now that the special election is over, the mainstream press can stop reporting on Alabama as if it were Mars. Have some sympathy with the voters in this state, please. Not for the first time, a populist demagogue snagged the Republican nomination. His opponent had all the predictable views of the Democrats, which is to say similarly attached to an old-world model of political control.

What Biologists Don't Get About Cooperation and Capitalism
Competition is an essential part of a capitalist economy. It drives businesses to innovate and to provide consumers with cheaper and better products. If businesses fail to innovate, they go under. The marketplace can be a brutal place – just think of the way in which Netflix disposed of Blockbuster. “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin,” as the American economist Alan H. Meltzer once put it. “It doesn’t work.” But capitalism is also one the most cooperative of human endeavors. Goods and services are traded among strangers and across vast distances, guided – to a great degree – by the price mechanism and by the reputation of the trading parties.

Consumer Protection Doesn't Require Government Intervention
There are always people who will try to dishonestly get what others have but consumers need not be deceived. Capitalism is a wondrous human institution for the mutual betterment for all in society. Yet, critics often insist that market systems enable sellers to take advantage of buyers. However, market competition generates the incentives and opportunities to earn profits precisely by not misinforming or cheating the buyer.

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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Our Special Operations Forces Are Stretched Too Far
America is rightly proud of the incredibly capable and effective special operations forces that serve as the literal point of our military spear. The Army Rangers, Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Navy SEALs, Special Operations Aviation, and other elements are the best in the world. No mission is too tough for these spectacular men and women, it seems. The question today is, do we love them too much? The current mission load of our special operations forces should be reviewed and scrubbed to remove all tasks that are not essential to the vital national interests of America.

Rebuilding the Military Comes With a Price Tag. But the Price of Waiting Is Higher.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will cost an additional $295 billion over the next four years to execute President Donald Trump’s plans to rebuild the military. Their calculation was done by comparing the current Budget Control Act defense caps with the Trump budget outline. Those budget caps, established in 2011, limit how much Congress may appropriate for defense and non-defense discretionary spending through 2021, regardless of need or strategy. We need to start rebuilding our military in 2018. Delaying will only make the price tag higher.

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from New York Times
Newspaper in New York

Clarence Beavers, Last of a Black Paratroop Unit, Dies at 96
Obituary: Clarence Beavers, the last surviving member of a groundbreaking group of black paratroopers deployed during World War II against what were described as the world’s first intercontinental-range airborne weapons — giant bomb-laden balloons launched from Japan and aimed at North America — died on Dec. 4 at his home in Huntington, N.Y. He was 96. Mr. Beavers was one of 17 soldiers who formed what became the Army’s first all-black paratroop unit, the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. The paratroopers were nicknamed the Triple Nickels (the 555th conjured up the five-cent coin).  The unit was trained for combat but they also became known as the Smoke Jumpers after being dispatched in 1945 to the American Northwest fight fires ignited by Japanese balloon bombs.

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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia

SERBIAN CHURCH REPORTEDLY BEWILDERED BY DECISION OF BULGARIAN CHURCH REGARDING MACEDONIAN CHURCH
His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia has reportedly expressed his bewilderment at the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s (BOC) decision to present the case for the canonicity and autocephaly of the schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) to the other canonical Local Orthodox Churches. The decision has caused anxiety among the Serbian hierarchy, according to the Bulgarian site 24 Hours, citing the Serbian newspaper Politika.

TURKISH NATIONALISTS LEAD MUSLIM PRAYERS IN HAGIA SOPHIA IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S JERUSALEM DECISION
A group of people from the ultranationalist youth organization Alperen Hearths recited the Muslim call to prayer and performed Mulsim prayers inside Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia on Monday, in response to President Donald Trump’s recently-announced decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reports the Hurriyet Daily News. The group is linked to the right-wing nationalist Great Union Party. Their act comes a few days after Justice and Development Party deputy Åžamil Tayyar called for Hagia Sophia to be reconverted into a mosque, in retaliation for Trump’s decision. “If you say so, let Hagia Sophia be opened to prayers. We should start holding Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia,” Tayyar tweeted on Dec. 6. The former cathedral has officially been a museum since the 1930s. The ruling Justice and Development Party has been talking of turning the museum into an active mosque again since 2013. Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan , who has referred to the time of the Christian Byzantine Empire as “a dark chapter” in history, publicly announced that he would read Muslims prayers in Hagia Sophia on Holy Friday this year. He also claimed that Kemal Ataturk’s order to transform Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum is a fake. Although the president did not read the prayers in the end, the movement for making Hagia Sophia a mosque continues to gain momentum.

MET. NICHOLAS OF FTHIOTIDA: “THE GOV’T IS DELIBERATELY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF PARISH PRIESTS”
A hierarch of the Greek Church, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Fthiotida, has commented on state policies resulting in the sharp decline in the number of parish clergy in Greece, which he argues is deliberate, reports AgionOros. 

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from The Roman Anglican  blog

Celebrating God's light in Rome.
As Christians, our roots lie in Judaism; very few people know that the oldest Jewish community in Europe can be found in the Eternal City, dating back to before Christianity, it even pre-dates it as the longest continuing religion of Rome, for example, the first catacombs in Rome were Jewish, testimonies of Judaism in Rome can be found anywhere, in Ancient Rome, Jews generally had enough freedom, Caesar even granted them the possibility of keeping Shabbat, however, in 70 AD the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, they stole the Menorah, that moment still lives on a relief on the Arch of Titus in the Forum. A community so old, that is neither Ashkenazi or Sephardi, but simply Roman, so old that it is Roman cuisine that was influenced by their cuisine, and not viceversa. Rome might be the historical home of the Vatican, but Judaism was here before, long before there was even a Christianity, and it is fascinating that this Festival of Lights, this feast of God's Light is still celebrated along Christmas.

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from SmartBrief, Inc.
Media in Washington, D.C.

An education policy expert tells why repealing net neutrality is not a death blow to education.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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from The Wall Street Journal

Fusion DoJ
It’s getting hard to tell where the Clinton campaign ends and the federal law enforcement apparatus begins. Is animus toward President Donald Trump a prerequisite for landing a job with special counsel Robert Mueller ? Recent revelations in Washington also raise again the question of what former President Barack Obama knew about the decisions of his FBI Director James Comey to exonerate Hillary Clinton and investigate Mr. Trump in 2016.

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from Zero Hedge
CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE,  MIXED,  financial blog with aggregated news and opinion



In the news, Tuesday, December 12, 2017


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DEC 11      INDEX      DEC 13
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from Daily Wire
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, American news and opinion website

WALSH: 5 Questions Every Man Should Ask On A First Date To Weed Out The Man-Hating Feminists
A feminist writer named Lara Witt — who has said “whiteness is evil” and I’m sure a bunch of other crazy stuff that I can’t see because she blocked me on Twitter — went viral this week with an article titled “10 Things Every Intersectional Feminist Should Ask On A First Date.” But if a feminist does not helpfully declare herself by forcing her date to take an entrance exam, it may be necessary for the man to ask his own set of questions in order to ensure that he is not about to court a woman who suffers from latent feminism. I’m not really joking about this. I hear from single men all the time who have nearly given up on the dating scene because their girlfriends end up being cold, bitter, unaffectionate man-haters.

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from The Gem State Patriot
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Canada Now Owns Part Of Idaho
Aside from the possibility that north Idaho Avista customers will be under a Canadian electric utility, Hydro One, there is a far more serious problem in that a U.S. electrical grid will be run by a foreign country. Hydro One is a Canadian electricity transmission and distribution service provider. Even though Hydro One is a private company, up until 2015 the Government of Ontario held 100% of its shares, at which time the government decided to sell up to 60% shares to raise money for infrastructure improvements. One concern expressed at that time was the possibility of foreign investments, which did happen with the Bahrain Gulf International Bank (GIB) holding approximately 93k shares. As of May 2017, Ontario held the remaining 49.9% shares. In July, 2017 Hydro One bought the American energy company Avista for $5.3 billion U.S. dollars as part of their plan “to grow our business to become a North American leader”, creating “one of the largest regulated utilities in North America.” Avista will be allowed to “keep its existing corporate headquarters… and continue to operate as a stand-alone utility in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.” Scott Morris, Avista president, likes this deal because of future “opportunities in a consolidating industry landscape for the benefit of our customers.” Morris also stated, “The partnership largely allows Avista to preserve how it does business with its customers, enables it to continue to pursue technological innovation, and permits it to take advantage of operating efficiencies and shared best practices”.

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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Contra Activist Judges, It’s Not Discriminatory to Prohibit Transgender Individuals From Joining Military
Respecting the dignity of all people does not mean subjecting taxpayers to the tremendous medical costs of sex reassignment and allowing the enlistment of individuals whose resilience to the rigors of combat is uncertain.

British Media Losing It Over Gavin Williamson’s Comments. They May Not Mock Him for Long.
What a toxic mix of historical amnesia and political opportunism is being heaped upon Gavin Williamson. The defense secretary noted that, in the war with Iraq and Syria, the British military may end up killing the enemy—including British ISIS fighters. Apparently, we are to consider that commonsense observation to be outrageous.

Singapore's Free Trade Success Story
Viewers of Anthony Bourdain’s CNN series Parts Unknown last weekend were treated to the raconteur’s visit to the city-state of Singapore. Along with Bourdain’s usual noshing, imbibing, and bantering about the food culture with knowledgeable locals, he also made time for drinks with Donald Low to discuss the country’s economic and political culture. Among Singapore’s hallmarks according to Low, an Associate Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, was the desire to attract foreign capital and an “understanding that free trade is good for everyone.”  Low’s remarks will not come as a surprise to readers of the Economic Freedom of the World annual report co-published by the Cato Institute, Canada’s Fraser Institute, and a number of other international think tanks. In the report’s 2017 edition Singapore earns a second-place ranking among the 159 jurisdictions examined for overall economic freedom, and a #1 ranking in the category of “Freedom to Trade Internationally” owing to its score of 9.25 (out of 10). Amazingly, this actually represents one of Singapore’s lower ratings since 1980, with the island country receiving a stunning 9.9 score in the category in 1990. The results of Singapore’s free trade embrace have been spectacular, strongly contributing to its status as home to the world’s second-largest container port, stunning visual transformation, and dramatic rise in GDP per capita since earning its independence in 1965. 

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from The Living Church
Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)

Structure, shape, and text
Continuity in prayer book worship
For hundreds of years after the Reformation, Anglicans looked to the texts and rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer as a principal source of liturgical unity. When the preface of the 1549 Prayer Book declared that from then on “all the whole realm shall have but one use,” it canceled out a certain degree of medieval liturgical variety in a bid for uniformity. Though from the very beginning bishops, clergy, and congregations construed the text and rubrics differently, they were by and large sources of liturgical unity.

An ‘Anglican Catholic’ case for the episcopacy
Part two of “Apologia episcoporum: Anglican Catholicism and the reformation of ecclesial order.” This is the concluding part of a paper delivered at the conference “Anglo-Catholicism: Uncovering Roots,” Church of the Advent, Boston, November 15-16.

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from The New Republic
LEFT BIAS

“Cat Person” and the New Universe of Literary Criticism

Why critics, journalists, and publishing houses are all failing to connect with online communities of readers. "[T]he way that a journalist presents the conversation...conditions us to believe that he has the answers, even though “the facts” in this case are an invention. What he is really doing is layering more fictions on to fictions. The writer’s “greatest fear,” Fish writes, is that “he will stand charged of having substituted his own meanings for the meanings of which he is supposedly the guardian; his greatest fear is that he be found guilty of having interpreted.” Journalists like to pretend that they’re flourishing the noble sword of truth, and to prove it will dabble in the “aggressive humility” of posing as a reporter when really they’re acting like critics. They pretend merely to describe a phenomenon, when really they are doing what every other social media user is doing, all day long: interpreting."

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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia

PARLIAMENT CONVENES SOLEMN MEETING TO COMMEMORATE KING MICHAEL. PATRIARCH DANIEL: KING MICHAEL WAS A STEADY BELIEVER OF THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
The two chambers of the Romanian Parliament, namely the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, met on Monday, December 11, to commemorate Romania’s late King Michael I, who passed away to the Lord on December 5 at the age of 96.


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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

100 years ago in Spokane: Lumberjack’s request granted, and he will fight for British in Mesopotamia
John Cohen, 34, a Jewish lumberjack, went to the British military recruiting office in Spokane and asked to serve in the British army. He said he was inspired to sign up when he read that the British had captured Jerusalem. The British recruiters were happy to grant his wish. They declared him fit for service and were sending him to Montreal and, ultimately, Mesopotamia.

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from Washington Examiner

Bonfire of the academies: Two professors on how leftist intolerance is killing higher education
At colleges and universities all over the country, students are protesting in increasingly virulent and sometimes violent ways. They demand safe spaces and trigger warnings, shouting down those with whom they disagree. It has become rote for outsiders to claim that the inmates are running the asylum; that this is analogous to Mao’s Red Guard, Germany’s brown shirts, the French Revolution’s Jacobins; and, when those being attacked are politically “left” themselves, that the Left is eating its own. These stories seem to validate every fantasy the Right ever had about the Left. As two professors who recently resigned from positions at a college we loved, and who have always been on the progressive-left end of the political spectrum, we can say that, while none of those characterizations is exactly right, there is truth in each of them. The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Wash., at the southern tip of Puget Sound, surrounded by water and forests. Being public means it has a socioeconomically diverse student body, which brings a variety of life experiences to campus. It is not an elite college made up primarily of rich kids. It is, rather, an experimental college with a curricular structure that, for both better and worse, is like no other.

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In the news, Monday, December 11, 2017


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DEC 10      INDEX      DEC 12
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from Big Think

Why Jerusalem Was Supposed to Be an International City
President Trump’s announcement that the American embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem and the ancient city will be recognized as the country’s capital was met with much global outrage and riots in the Middle East. Many in the international community fear the move will set back the ever-fragile peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital, making the city a very contentious point in a tinderbox of a region.

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from Bloomberg
Media/News Company

Trump Wants U.S. Return to Moon, Sets No Deadlines for NASA
President Donald Trump directed NASA on Monday to send American astronauts back to the moon and eventually to Mars, but eliminated his predecessors’ deadlines for such missions. SpaceX launches rockets for customers including NASA, commercial satellite operators and the American military. On Wednesday, the closely held company is slated to fire off a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft laden with cargo supplies destined for the International Space Station, in what will be the company’s 17th mission of the year. Musk, 46, served on Trump’s early advisory councils until June, when he parted ways with the administration over Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. After the shuttle program ended, NASA turned to private industry to fill in the gap. SpaceX and Boeing both have billion-dollar contracts to send American astronauts to the space station, with the first key tests of the technology slated for 2018. Musk has also announced plans to send paying tourists on flights around the moon.

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from EUobserver

Israel presses Jerusalem claim in EU capital
Israel has said Palestine and the EU must accept that Jerusalem is its capital, for peace in the Middle East. Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, enforced the claim in Brussels on Monday (11 December) before meeting with EU foreign ministers.

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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Russia Has Repeatedly Flouted This Missile Treaty.
It’s Time to Scrap It.
Thirty years ago Friday, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The treaty was unprecedented. For the first time in the history of nuclear arms control, it actually eliminated an entire class of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 to 5,500 kilometers. But the good news didn’t last. Russia has been violating the treaty for nearly a decade now, and the United States is nowhere close to bringing Moscow back into compliance with the treaty’s terms. So, as the treaty turns 30 years old, it’s clear that its day has come and gone. An agreement that only one side upholds is not worth the paper it is written on. It’s time to terminate the treaty.

Jerusalem Move Just a Capital Idea
President Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv is a totally defensible diplomatic decision. This decision could vivify moribund peace talks. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital city and we should have an embassy there to more fully engage the Israeli government.

Senate Should Follow House’s Lead in Nixing Special-Interest Loopholes
President Donald Trump is right. Washington is a swamp, infested with special-interest groups feverishly working to keep their place in the capital bog. Our current tax code is the leading example of institutionalized privilege—bought and paid for by lobbyists. The tax code is riddled with privileges—special deductions for manufacturing, credits for everything from research to energy production to child care, and exemptions for medical costs, commuter expenses, and commercial development. Tax reform should eliminate all these tax subsidies, which would allow for lower tax rates for everyone and full expensing. The result would be a fairer and more pro-growth tax code.

I’m a Pediatrician. Here’s What I Did When a Little Boy Patient Said He Was a Girl.
To indoctrinate all children from preschool forward with the lie that they could be trapped in the wrong body disrupts the very foundation of a child’s reality testing. If they can’t trust the reality of their physical bodies, who or what can they trust? Transgender ideology in schools is psychological abuse that often leads to chemical castration, sterilization, and surgical mutilation.

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from The Hill
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, newspaper in Washington, D.C.

Making America competitive again
Tax legislation currently before Congress would unleash greater economic growth in our country. Workers will benefit through higher wages, and all Americans will find greater opportunities within a larger, more dynamic economy. Independent analyses from the Tax Foundation, the Council of Economic Advisers, my colleagues at the Heritage Foundation, and several other leading economists agree that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will significantly boost gross domestic product growth. Their estimates range from about 3 percent to 5 percent over the first 10 years. The key drivers of this additional growth are rate reductions and full expensing for businesses. Lawmakers must not undo these growth boosters during final negotiations with poorly thought out revenue raisers like alternative minimum taxes on corporations or individuals. A vote on the conferenced Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is expected before the end of December. If lawmakers succeed, they will unleash greater investment in the United States, boosting the economy and American wages.

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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website

Free Markets Increase Trust Among People
Competition is an essential part of a capitalist economy. It drives businesses to innovate and to provide consumers with cheaper and better products. If businesses fail to innovate, they go under. The market place can be a brutal place – just think of the way in which Netflix disposed of Blockbuster. “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin,” as the American economist Alan H. Meltzer once put it. “It doesn’t work.” But capitalism is also one the most cooperative of human endeavors. Goods and services are traded among strangers and across vast distances, guided – to a great degree – by the price mechanism and by the reputation of the trading parties. Repeated transactions among trading parties encourage trustworthiness – a moral side product of capitalism that we do not spend enough time talking about, let alone celebrating.

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from The Living Church
Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)

Apologia episcoporum
This is the first part of a paper delivered at the conference “Anglo-Catholicism: Uncovering Roots,” Church of the Advent, Boston, November 15-16.

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from National Review
RIGHT BIAS

About That New York Editor Who Would End Lives Like My Children’s
On why our humanity requires valuing every life, even if lived with cystic fibrosis: Imagine opening up New York magazine to find an article from your mother writing that she wished you were dead. When he can read, a little boy named Dudley will face that reality.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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