Friday, March 30, 2018

In the news, Friday, March 23, 2018


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MAR 22      INDEX      MAR 24
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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS

Trump Tariffs Against China Will Backfire, CEI Warns
The White House on Thursday announced a plan for imposing tariffs on Chinese imports to the United States and curtailing Chinese investment in the U.S.  Ostensibly aimed at protecting American industries and striking out at trade practices the administration deems unfair, CEI Senior Fellow Marc Scribner warns that tariffs will backfire.

Liberate Dishwashers from Federal Efficiency Mandates
Thirty-five years ago, dishwashers cleaned dishes in about an hour. Sadly today, due to federal government regulations, there are no dishwashers that do so. This isn’t progress—it’s the failure of government to allow consumer choice. The Competitive Enterprise Institute this week petitioned the Department of Energy (DOE) to fix the problem.

Will Government Allow Gene Editing for Cancer Treatment?
The idea of genome editing is no longer a theoretical concept studied only within the confines of labs and scientific research institutions. In August 2017, scientists reportedly managed to successfully use the genome editing technique to correct a disease-causing mutation in viable human embryos. This is just one of the many applications of the technique scientists want to use to alter, and ultimately prevent, damaging mutations in plants, animals, and humans.

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

Estonia is the living example that human progress is closely linked to economic freedom.
The question of why some countries are rich and prosperous whereas others seem to be condemned to the scourge of poverty has been around for centuries. Many factors have been argued to be the determinants of prosperity: geographical, cultural, historical, etc. Yet, since at least the publication in 1776 of The Wealth of Nations, we know that political and economic institutions play a decisive role in this respect. Free trade, a reliable legal framework that protects private property and enforces contracts, and sound money are necessary conditions for countries to thrive.

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from Foreign Policy
Magazine; part of Graham Holdings Company (formerly the Washington Post Company)

Bolton Expected to ‘Clean House’
Incoming National Security Advisor John Bolton and people close to him are expected to launch a massive shake-up at the National Security Council, aiming to remove dozens of current White House officials, starting with holdovers from President Barack Obama’s administration, according to multiple sources.

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from Miami Herald

There was a time not long ago when you did expect a simulacrum of it from presidents, lawmakers and people of faith. Now we have a president who injures “the least of these,” who worships the money changers, who bears false witness, who supports the tyrant, the racist and the alleged molester. All while GOP lawmakers make excuses and white evangelicals look the other way, bartering their moral authority for personal and political gain. Yet some people are mortally affronted by Stormy Daniels. Prostitute, whore and slut, they say. And maybe she is. But she, at least, is honest about it.

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from Quartz
Media/News Company in New York, NY

Trump may have just kissed his best chance for a “big, beautiful” border wall goodbye
A visibly upset Donald Trump said Friday he would support a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the US government, hours after tweeting that he might veto it. “There are a lot of things I’m unhappy about,” Trump told journalists in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception room at 1:30pm, for a press conference that he had announced on Twitter an hour before. “I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said.

The number of asylum applications in Europe dropped by nearly half last year
The number of first-time asylum applications in Europe dropped by nearly half in 2017. Applications have returned to levels more commonly seen before the civil war in Syria sparked a continent-wide refugee crisis in 2015.

The road to Alzheimer’s disease is lined with processed foods
The popular conception of Alzheimer's is as an inevitable outcome of aging or bad genes. But much of the risk is related to behavioral and lifestyle factors.

The Stanford economist who won the latest “Baby Nobel” explains the biggest flaws in anti-free trade arguments
Stanford economist Dave Donaldson, the 2017 winner of the John Bates Clark Medal (also known as the “Baby Nobel“), studies one of the hottest topics in economics: the effects of international trade. Amid Donald Trump’s blustery tirades against free trade, Donaldson’s measured and contemplative manner of speaking about the pros and cons of international commerce stands out in its own way.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, March 22, 2018


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MAR 21      INDEX      MAR 23
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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

Trump announces tariffs on $60bn in Chinese imports
The US plans to impose tariffs on up to $60bn (£42.5bn) in Chinese imports and limit the country's investment in the US in retaliation for years of alleged intellectual property theft.

'Radical change' needed on countryside
The UK government is failing rural communities and the natural environment, a report says. The Lords Select Committee document says there should be radical change in how the countryside is looked after. It recommends stripping the environment department Defra of its power to regulate on rural affairs, and reforming the Countryside Code.

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from Columbia Basin Herald
Newspaper in Moses Lake, WA

WHY WOULD WE NOT BUILD A SECOND HIGH SCHOOL?
So why would you not build a new high school if 60 percent of your voters said ‘“let us work together and make our community a better place to live, grow, and enjoy our families and friends?” We know we have problems with our current high school but how deep are these problems? We now have approaching 8,500 students in the district with about 2,300 high school students attending a school built for about 1,600. We have limited infrastructure with an inadequate commons where our students are encouraged to leave the campus to have lunch, an auditorium that only seats 500, and a gym that seats about 1,500. These facilities are unable to support the students and adding classrooms will not improve the infrastructure’s daily ability to provide the basic education support for each student.

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from Convivium
An initiative of Brecon Cathedral

Christians believe that human beings are broken. On the one hand, we’re dust breathed into life by Love, capable of compassion, generosity, kindness, and joy. On the other hand, we’re fallen creatures who bend our selfish wills against our Creator, creation, and each other. Nobility and savagery sit side by side in every human heart.

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

Ansel Adams Was Unschooled (How to Solve America's Creativity Crisis)
Creativity flourishes in freedom and shrivels with force. Childhood creativity and ebullience are boundless. They are not dulled merely by age, but by circumstance. When children go to school, their creativity can be eroded by the pressures of conformity, their energy stifled—even sanctioned. As schooling has expanded over the past several decades, consuming more of childhood than ever before, and becoming more standardized and restrictive, it should be no surprise that American creativity has simultaneously plummeted. In her extensive research on creativity, KH Kim of the College of William & Mary analyzed nearly 300,000 creativity scores on the well-regarded Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. She found that American creativity scores increased each year between 1966 until 1990. From 1990 on, however, creativity scores have steadily declined. Most concerning is Kim’s finding that the sharpest drop in creativity scores occurred in elementary-age children from kindergarten through 6th grade.

Why Teens Rarely Babysit Anymore
Babysitting is hard, but that doesn't mean teens can't or shouldn't do it. Is it time adults recognize that children are capable of far greater responsibility at vastly younger ages than those at which we begin to give them freedom?

Tariffs Were Killing New Zealand’s Economy. Free Trade Turned It Around.
In the mid-1980s, New Zealand was facing an economic crisis, with its domestic market and international trade both heavily regulated. Unemployment had reached 11 percent, and inflation was a sky-high 15 percent. Today, New Zealand is a model of international free trade policy.

What's My Alternative to Big Government? How about Giving Freedom a Chance
My own alternative is simply freedom. Get the government completely out of whatever it is now doing so badly, whether it be educating youth, protecting the public from crime, or keeping the economy in flourishing operation. Of course, the critic is likely to dismiss this answer on the grounds that it constitutes nothing but a shibboleth, a magic word that is taken to solve all the problems even though it lacks any definite plan or arrangement for a solution. Freedom cannot be reduced to a static diagram of specific inputs, transformations, and outputs.

Why the Girl Scouts Are Marketing Geniuses
Through a genius marketing strategy and an appreciation of the entrepreneurial spirit, the Girl Scouts have been able to turn a mediocre line of cookies into a phenomenally successful all-around customer experience.

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from Quartz
Media/News Company in New York, NY

Omnisexual, gynosexual, demisexual: What’s behind the surge in sexual identities?
In 1976, the French philosopher Michel Foucault made the meticulously researched case that sexuality is a social construct used as a form of control. In the 40 years since, society has been busy constructing sexualities. Alongside the traditional orientations of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual, a myriad other options now exist in the lexicon. Labels might seem reductive, but they’re useful. Creating a label allows people to find those with similar sexual interests to them; it’s also a way of acknowledging that such interests exist. “In order to be recognized, to even exist, you need a name,” says Jeanne Proust, philosophy professor at City University of New York. “That’s a very powerful function of language: the performative function. It makes something exist, it creates a reality.”

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from Space.com (& CollectSpace)

Gemini 3 in Photos: The 1st Crewed Flight of NASA's 2-Person Spaceship

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Wednesday, March 21, 2018


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MAR 20      INDEX      MAR 22
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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 FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

Cambridge Analytica's Marketers Weren't Mind-Readers or Brain-Washers
It’s absurd to claim that the responsibility for Trump’s election or the Brexit result lies with anyone other than the voters.

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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

Chemical Weapons In The Shadow Of Magna Carta
Located in rural southwest England, Salisbury has long been famous for its medieval cathedral and its proximity to Stonehenge. It even houses a rare copy of that precious document of western constitutional government, Magna Carta. Yet Salisbury is suddenly infamous because it was there on March 4 that former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in a public place with a lethal nerve agent.

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from Miami Herald

Last week, a puppy died in an airplane overhead bin. Three days later, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy introduced a bill to safeguard pets. But after Columbine and Aurora, after the Navy Yard, Sandy Hook and West Paducah, after Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and San Bernardino, after Charleston, after Tucson, after Fort Hood, after Sutherland Springs, we settle for a thin gruel of cliches — thoughts and prayers, good guys with guns and now is not the time. Sure, puppy lives matter. But human lives do, too.

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from Space.com (& CollectSpace)

High-Tech Harpoon Could Help Clean Up Space Junk
A space harpoon test went off without a hitch in a lab of European aerospace company Airbus last Thursday (March 15), suggesting that the technology could be on track to help clean up the ever-growing cloud of orbiting debris. Engineers at Airbus' site here in Stevenage, a small town north of London, fired the 3.3-foot-long (1 meter) harpoon at about 56 mph (90 km/h) into a breadboard placed 5 feet (1.5 m) away. By the end of this year, the team plans to demonstrate a full-scale setup, firing a harpoon at a target 82 feet (25 m) away, as if it were capturing a real satellite in space.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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

Last year dashed hopes for a climate change turnaround
After three flat years that had hinted at a possible environmental breakthrough, carbon dioxide emissions from the use of energy rose again by 1.4 percent in 2017, according to new data released by the International Energy Agency on Wednesday. The increase in emissions of the all-important greenhouse gas came as global energy demand itself increased thanks to strong economic growth — and that demand was sated by all types of energy, including renewables but also oil, coal and natural gas.

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In the news, Tuesday, March 20, 2018


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MAR 19      INDEX      MAR 21
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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 Coeur d'Alene Press

The former Wild Waters waterpark has been undergoing demolition for a week and the work will take another three weeks, Peck and Peck Excavating owner Greg Peck said Monday. New homes have been found for all but one of the Coeur d’Alene park-turned-eyesore’s waterslides, said Peck. He added that the top of the hill wet vacationers slid down for years will itself be removed to make the property flatter, with a slight slope. The total difference in height will be about 25-30 feet, said Peck. The excavating company confirmed that the work is underway to get the property ready for its owner, Stacey Lavin, to place it on the market — sans waterpark equipment. Wild Waters has been abandoned since 2010. After Lavin shut it down that year, the park never reopened. It has experienced occasional incidents of vandalism, including one that cost nearly $500,000 and an unsuccessful 2011 lawsuit with its insurance company.

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from Defense News

Declassified: How an Israeli operation derailed Syria’s nuclear weapons drive
Israel’s pre-emptive attack a decade ago on a plutonium reactor in the Syrian desert not only derailed Damascus’ drive for nuclear weapons, but spared the world the specter of mass destruction capabilities falling into the hands of the Islamic State group. That’s the message behind Israel’s first-ever official account of its operation Outside the Box, the four-hour mission that began before midnight on Sep. 5, 2007, to destroy Syria’s top-secret and nearly operational al-Kibar nuclear facility just weeks before it went hot.

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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)
Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

Germany proposes Ulm as NATO logistics hub against Russia

Germany has put forward the southern city of Ulm as the site of a new logistics command to be built in response to Russian actions in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. If chosen, the city would be a base in any crisis operation to speed troops and equipment across Europe to NATO's eastern flank. The US has also offered to host the proposed NATO command at Norfolk, Virginia.

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from EUobserver
Media/News Company in Brussels, Belgium

Behind the scenes at Monday's EU talks on Russia
EU foreign ministers had an "exchange of ideas" on new Russia sanctions in the corridors of Monday's meeting.

'Denial' - is meat the new climate change?
The European Parliament's agriculture committee meets on Tuesday, with speculation that the EPP will vote against a report on the EU plant protein plan if it mentions switching away from animals to plant-based diets.

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

'Catastrophe' as France's bird population collapses due to pesticides
Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, because insects they feed on have disappeared

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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

The Syrian Rebellion And Its International Resonance
With all the optimism of the Arab Spring, the Syrian rebellion began with the belief that the people of Syria deserve better than the cruelty meted out by Assad family rule. That aspiration alone ought to be sufficient grounds to stand with the democratic forces pursuing self-determination. Yet the United States has been hesitating, a legacy of the Obama administration’s preference for tyranny in Tehran over freedom in Damascus.  We should reject that sort of cynicism: not only because it is wrong to abandon the rebels pursuing a noble cause, but also because of the moral corruption we ourselves face when we dismiss even the possibility of genuine principles and bona fide ideals.

The Syrian Great Game
By definition “great games” are complicated with lots of moving parts.  Battles on the ground, intense, myriad, and sometimes fratricidal, always connect, however indirectly, to the larger collision of great powers.  In Syria, the tug-of-war is a lopsided affair, where Iran, Russia, and the Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad are invested in winning.  The opposing side—Syrian Arab Sunnis, Sunni Gulf Arabs, Israel, the United States, and Turkey—is barely an entente.  In the most destructive conflict the modern Middle East has seen (the runner up, the Iran-Iraq war, though comparably lethal, was less destructive to civilians), Tehran and Moscow may not be able to reclaim all of the territory lost by Assad, but they have invested what is needed to regain the most essential parts of the country.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)
Media/News Company in Washington, D. C.

Armed Officer Confronts Maryland School Shooter, Hogan Hits Legislators
Governor says 'it's outrageous we haven't taken' important steps yet in protecting students after Great Mills High attack. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) thanked first responders who “swiftly and bravely took action to secure the school. The first lady and I are praying for those who were injured, their families and loved ones, and for the entire Great Mills community as they come together to heal in the wake of this horrific situation.” Hogan said, however, that “prayers are not enough. Although our pain remains fresh and the facts remain uncertain, today’s horrible events should not be an excuse to pause our conversation about school safety. Instead, it must serve as a call to action.”

The ‘Deep State’ Is Real — and Dangerous — Paul Says
Kentucky senator says unelected intelligence officials with enormous powers operate with little legislative oversight in the executive branch.

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from National Review
RIGHT BIAS

The Confederate Mind
Progressives such as Elizabeth Warren resurrect the race-based thinking of the antebellum South: ‘One drop’ and you’re a bona fide minority. Senator Elizabeth Warren has doubled down on her insistence that she is Native American. In her past incarnations, she probably used that yarn in hopes of helping her win a law professorship at Harvard, which touted her as the law school’s first indigenous-American professor (and others apparently referenced her as Harvard Law’s “first woman of color”). She has refused to back down (and also refused to take a DNA test), even after Native American genealogists disputed her claim.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Cutbacks to opioid prescriptions leave chronic pain patients without help
Opioid addiction is getting more attention nationally, but a Washington State University researcher says not enough is being done to help patients transition to non-opioid pain management.

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

The five Sullivan brothers, serving together, were killed in World War II. Their ship was just found.
Thomas Sullivan was getting ready for work in Waterloo, Iowa, when three men in Navy uniforms walked up to his front door. “I have some news for you about your boys,” one of the officers said, according to an excerpt of the conversation in the Red State blog. All five of Sullivan’s sons had enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the Pearl Harbor attack, and on that January morning in 1943, he wanted to know which one wasn’t coming home. “All five,” the officer said.

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In the news, Monday, March 19, 2018


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MAR 18      INDEX      MAR 20
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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 Center for strategic and foreign policy studies
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Minsk, Belarus

Lukashenka’s recent appointments: in search of efficacy
On 5 March 2018, Siarhei Kavalchuk, publicly little known employee of the Presidential Security Service, became the Minister for Sports and Tourism. This and other appointments have virtually transformed key elements of the Belarusian state apparatus over recent months. The personnel rotated include heads of major TV channels, a major publishing house, a government-controlled public association, two ministries and two special services. Although the reasons for each appointment were multiple and often unique, one can see well-recognisable patterns in play.

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from Conciliar Post

“Contrary to the prosperity gospel and popular theology, the Christian life is not necessarily one of blessing and health. Rather, the Christian life is often one of struggles, trials, temptations, and troubles. Yet, there is a promise from God that God’s presence and life will sustain us through the journey of faith. Even more than that, though, there is the hope that God can redeem suffering to further his good purposes in Creation. When facing troubles in this life, Christians should always remember that God did spare his own Son from a life of difficulty and suffering. Yet, those troubles did not have the last word. Out of suffering and death, God opened the way to new life and new creation.”

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Trump opioid plan includes death penalty for traffickers
Embracing the tough penalties favored by global strongmen, President Donald Trump on Monday brandished the death penalty as a fitting punishment for drug traffickers fueling the opioid epidemic. The scourge has torn through the rural and working-class communities that in large numbers voted for Trump. And the president, though he has come under criticism for being slow to unveil his plan, has seized on harsh sentences as key to stopping the plague.

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In the news, Sunday, March 18, 2018


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MAR 17      INDEX      MAR 19
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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 Atlantic
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

The Bidet's Revival
Invented centuries ago in France, the bidet has never taken off in the States. That might be changing.

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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)
Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

Opinion: Germany's main struggle is with itself

Germany's new interior minister has polarized the country with his statements on Islam. But although he has opened up an important debate, he is going about it in exactly the wrong way, says DW editor-in-chief Ines Pohl.

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

How Totalitarians Weaponize Loneliness
Thinkers as early as Aristotle observed that man is, by nature, a social creature. For this reason, there has been a surge of media attention on the “loneliness plague” which the Information Age has wrought. Most media attention has focused on the health consequences of loneliness, which stand to overwhelm government health systems in the coming years. Far less attention has been paid to the social and political consequences of loneliness. But it would be a mistake to overlook the effects loneliness has on political systems.

Why Grover Cleveland Might Be America's Most Underrated President
Cleveland realized that “Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.” Therefore, he opposed paternalistic government policies financed by imposing tax burdens on others. Cleveland tried to eliminate burdensome and inefficient tariffs, “the vicious, inequitable, and illogical source of unnecessary taxation.” He also resisted political pressures to inflate the currency, even when facing a serious recession.

The State Can't Protect the Environment – Markets Can
In many ways, environmental regulation is the last bastion of central planning. It is remarkable that even as Europe has realized the folly of central planning in so many other economic areas, it has actually doubled down on it in environmental regulation, and has indeed sought to export it to other nations. In this, it has found a willing ally in recent years in the United States, whose environmental policy is also largely a product of progressive era thought.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Glover Field, long named for controversial ‘Father of Spokane’ James Glover, could get new moniker
For more than a century, the grassy, 3-acre plot in Peaceful Valley built for high school athletics has borne the name of the man heralded as “The Father of Spokane.” Now, James Glover’s moniker could be removed amid scrutiny fueled by the pioneer’s treatment of his first wife, among other concerns.

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In the news, Saturday, March 17, 2018


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MAR 16      INDEX      MAR 18
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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 Craig Murray
Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

First Recorded Successful Novichok Synthesis was in 2016 – By Iran, in Cooperation with the OPCW
The line that novichoks can only be produced by Russia is now proven to be a complete lie. As I previously proved by referencing their publications, in 2013 the OPCW scientific advisory committee note the evidence was sparse that novichoks had ever been successfully produced, and that was still the line being published by Porton Down in 2016.

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

Trump's New Tariff Is Putting America Last
Both former Presidents Bush and Obama placed a temporary tariff on steel in order to curb Chinese imports. As a direct result, the U.S. steel industry experienced little to no job growth and consumer prices rose sharply. Naturally, by increasing the price of steel, the prices of everything else made from said steel also skyrocketed.

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

Why Newspapers Are Going out of Business
It was announced this week that the Denver Post will soon be cutting one-third of its newsroom staff. The newsroom currently has 100 reporters, and that will soon be cut by 30 positions. This latest development comes mere weeks after the Denver Post announced it was erecting a pay wall around the site, no doubt in hopes of capturing more revenue. There is nothing unique about the Denver Post, of course. Old legacy newspapers across the country — from large shops like the Chicago Tribune to small ones like the Mt. Vernon Register-News — are laying off staff and sometimes even closing down completely. But what can newspapers do to stay in business and avoid layoffs? Well, the challenge for newspapers in this regard is no different than with any other market endeavor. In order to stay in business, firms must be able to offer consumers a product at a price that the consumer is willing to pay. If consumers seem unwilling to pay for access to newspapers, this means the quality is perceived as being too low for the price demanded. The solution lies in either increasing the perceived quality, or reducing the price. 

Have Progressives Won “The Culture War?
Many people calling themselves Progressives will tell you that they've won "The Culture War," that said war is therefore over. Unfortunately for them, there's just too much evidence to the contrary.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Friday, March 16, 2018


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MAR 15      INDEX      MAR 17
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

________

from BBC News (UK)
LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Russian Nikolai Glushkov's London death now a murder inquiry
UK police have launched a murder investigation after the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov in south-west London. Mr Glushkov was found dead at his home in New Malden on 12 March. A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Glushkov, who was 68, died from "compression to the neck".

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from Church Times
Newspaper in London, United Kingdom

To deprive Jesus of his wounds would be to undervalue the incarnation: to suggest that Jesus’s taking vulnerable flesh was not important to God. To accept the importance of his wounds is to accept that the incarnation is at the heart of God’s plan for humanity.

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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS

Online Sales Tax Bill a Small-Business Killing Tax Hike
The Wall Street Journal editorial board was entirely correct yesterday when they said, “Republicans have spent the last year cutting taxes and regulations, which hasn’t been easy. But now some Members of Congress want to blunt their handiwork by passing an online sales tax. Yes, they actually believe this would be good policy and politics.” Despite the talk of possibly attaching it to must-pass funding legislation and the rhetoric about the bill itself, consumers will experience the Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA) as a sales tax increase. If the bill becomes law, more of their purchases will be subject to sales taxes and the downward pressure on sales taxes among states will be reduced, so rates and bases in all the states are likely to go up in the longer term.

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from Conciliar Post

KEEPING THE “ANGLICAN” IN “ANGLO-CATHOLIC”
From its beginning, Anglicanism has struggled to establish a stable identity. Over the history of the Church of England, there have been many attempts to articulate a consistent expression of Anglicanism around a variety of movements, whether Reformed, Evangelical, or catholic in flavor. In the mid-1800s, a group at Oriel College, Oxford established a movement to restore a more catholic understanding of the faith based on the primitive and undivided Church. Members of this Oxford Movement became known as Tractarians on account of the variety of tracts they published—90 in all—encouraging Anglicans to embrace an Anglo-Catholic approach to the faith. Historians mark the beginning of the Oxford Movement to John Keble’s (1792-1866) sermon “National Apostasy,” preached in 1833, where he argued against government overreach into Church affairs.

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from Conservative Intelligence Briefing

Sick: Mueller Using Testimony Of Child Pornographer To Attack President Trump
According to Politico: A Middle East expert and analyst who consulted with the Trump administration and was questioned by investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller was convicted on a federal child pornography charge in 1991, prison records obtained by POLITICO show. George Nader, 58, was involved in several foreign policy meetings during the Trump transition and at the White House last year.

Breaking: Male Democrat Operative Attacks Female Trump Administration Staffer
According to The Daily Caller: “U.S. Capitol Police have arrested a male Democratic operative for assaulting a female Interior Department communications official following a House budget hearing Thursday. The assault happened after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke finished testifying on the department’s 2019 budget proposal before the House Committee on Natural Resources. The suspect identified himself as a reporter with American Bridge and pushed a female Interior Department communications official to the floor, chasing after Zinke, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.

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from The Daily Caller
RIGHT BIAS

Capitol Police Arrested Male Dem Operative For Assaulting Female Trump Admin Official
U.S. Capitol Police have arrested a male Democratic operative for assaulting a female Interior Department communications official following a House budget hearing Thursday. The assault happened after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke finished testifying on the department’s 2019 budget proposal before the House Committee on Natural Resources. The suspect identified himself as a reporter with American Bridge and pushed a female Interior Department communications official to the floor, chasing after Zinke, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.

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from Miami Herald

And here we are again. back to the same question. What to do about Louis Farrakhan? The leader of the Nation of Islam has, for years, been a toxic fount of anti-Semitic and homophobic rhetoric.

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

IT DOESN'T TAKE A GENIUS TO UNDERSTAND ECONOMICS
In fact, most geniuses seem to simply not get economics. An example is the recently departed physicist Stephen Hawking, who - like so many - made rather ridiculous statements of economic nature. Quoted by MSN/MarketWatch, Hawking makes several very simple mistakes in his attempted economic commentary. For instance, he seems to not understand the difference between a natural resource (the physical production factor) and an economic resource (the subject value), which leads him to erroneously conclude that hoarding, and the resulting increased scarcity of physical ​resources, impoverishes humanity.

Socialism: The Calculation Problem Is Not the Knowledge Problem
It's impossible for one person, or a small group of people (like the government) to allocate resources efficiently. There are millions and millions of calculations in play. That's why having millions and millions of players doing these calculations (a/k/a/ market capitalism) is the infinitely better way to get the job done.

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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia

THE WAYS OF GOD AND THE ROADS PEOPLE TAKE
What happens when people follow the will of God, no matter how strange or unexpected it may seem, and what ensues when they stubbornly insist on having their own way? Find the answer in these three stories of Fr. Dimitry Torshin, the priest of the Church of the Dormition in Ozerskoye (Podborki) Village near Kozelsk.

PERSECUTION: ARSON COMMITTED AGAINST ORTHODOX PARISH IN KIEV FOR 7TH TIME
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, unknown persons set fire to a building on the territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon of the Mother of God. This is the seventh time that arson has been committed against the same parish, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Another church in Kiev was set on fire for the third time just four days earlier.


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

Mueller witness was convicted on child porn charge
A Middle East expert and analyst who consulted with the Trump administration and was questioned by investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge in 1991, court records released on Friday show. George Nader, 58, was involved in several foreign policy meetings during the Trump transition and at the White House last year. Nader received a six-month sentence from a federal court in Northern Virginia in 1991 on a felony charge of transporting sexually explicit materials in foreign commerce, records show.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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