Friday, August 24, 2018

In the news, Tuesday, August 7, 2018


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AUG 06      INDEX      AUG 08
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from The American Conservative
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS

Simone Weil’s Deeper Grace
Is Simone Weil “relevant”? She’s certainly not in the way we typically use the word, meaning a quasi-celebrity figure who occupies a few fleeting seconds of our already worn attention spans. Weil is certainly no Kardashian, caught up in the tautology of fame, relevant simply by virtue of appearing on a screen. But the French pseudo-Catholic mystic and writer who basically starved herself to death in 1943 out of solidarity with the French Resistance also evades that other, slightly more sophisticated kind of relevancy that means expressing bespoke thoughts tailor-made for this particular moment in time. Weil wasn’t aiming for an ephemeral target. If she wasn’t a Kardashian, she also wasn’t a Richard Dawkins, manacled to the intellectual zeitgeist. Instead, her continued relevance derives from a much more profound source: necessity. Her passionately dense writing—on education, violence, humility, love, and the nature of God—has stayed relevant by virtue of the inexhaustible demands of the subject. Weil matters because she writes about the very nature of meaning itself.

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from Asia Times Online
News & Media Website

Who’s going to buy Turkey?
1,500 years after the Han dynasty kicked out the Turks, China may buy them out as well.

Having children “not just about family but about nation”
Only two years after the end of Beijing's one-child policy, The Peoples' Daily exhorts parents to have more children, and the government dangles incentives.

US bond yield rise to 5% could wreck Asia’s economic year
With Asia's central banks holding massive stashes of US Treasuries, a yield rise could be devastating – and could trigger a regional panic sell.

China’s foreign exchange reserves pass $3.1-trillion mark
People’s Bank of China data released amid fresh concerns of capital outflows as yuan tumbles to its lowest level in more than a year.

Taiwan to Vietnam: ‘We’re not Chinese’
Taiwanese companies in Vietnam are increasingly being squeezed between a rock and a hard place as China ramps up diplomatic pressure on their displays of national identity. If they hang Taiwan’s national flag outside their offices and factories, then China kicks up a threatening fuss with Hanoi about its professed sovereignty over the island state Beijing views as a renegade province. If they keep their flags furled, then their factories may be perceived to be China-owned and potentially targeted by nationalistic protesters who see China’s growing commercial and economic interests in Vietnam as a threat to sovereignty.

Game still hangs in balance on Pakistan’s power chessboard
The power chessboard belongs to those who know how and when to move the chess pieces. Even after Pakistan’s general elections, it is not clear who has won or lost the latest battle. The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has emerged as the single largest party in the parliament but it is dependent on a coalition of several other parties. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), after strong victimization and being denied a level playing field, still managed to win 64 National Assembly seats.

Khan faces huge test as Pakistan teeters on debt crisis
Pakistan is sliding into a financial crisis and the new government led by Imran Khan will have a battle on its hands to turn around an ailing economy mired in debt. Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, which is set to be sworn in the middle of the month, faces harrowing economic challenges of fast depleting reserves and bridging a whopping trade deficit. A $12 billion loan from the IMF should bolster foreign reserves and could lead to less secrecy about Chinese loans.

Iran unrest could ‘lead to chaotic civil war’
This time ‘it's about the legitimacy of the whole system’

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from Business Insider
LEFT-CENTER BIAS

China hails a 'successful' test of a new hypersonic weapon that could slip a nuke past US defences
China has successfully tested a new hypersonic aircraft, a potential “hypersonic strike weapon” that could one day be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and evading all existing defence networks like the US missile shields, according to Chinese state-run and state-affiliated media, citing experts and the domestic designers.

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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS

Real Sin for Social Media Companies Not 'Censorship,' but Getting into Bed with Government
Facebook, Apple, and Twitter have been more than happy in recent years to shut out conservatives and other “thought criminals,” and while it may have offended me, I have defended their right to manage their services as they see fit, as these entities are private platforms, not governmental bodies.

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

Caligula: Plumbing the Depths of Ancient Tyranny
The history of Rome is a case study in just how much power can corrupt a person, and Caligula is likely the case in point. The intoxicant known as power knows no equal. It is malevolent by its very nature. It has enslaved, tortured, and murdered more people than any other poisonous impulse in history.

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from First Things

INTRINSIC EVIL AND MCCARRICK
There are such things as intrinsically evil acts, and sexual abuse is among them. Imagine that a depraved tyrant is oppressing your country, driving its citizens into misery. You have the opportunity to save the country: By starting an affair with the tyrant’s wife, you can gain access to the tyrant and depose him. Is that OK? This case was raised by a commentator on Aristotle, who thought it a circumstance in which adultery might be justified. But St. Thomas Aquinas, in his De Malo, says that the commentator is wrong. “One ought not to commit adultery for any benefit,” St. Thomas writes, expressing the constant teaching of the Church. Some acts, whatever the circumstances, are just always bad—to use a theological term, they are intrinsically evil.

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

Government’s Track Record Suggests BUILD Act Wouldn’t "Pour Money" Into Africa
In an op-ed for CNBC, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., urge Congress to approve a bill that would rebrand and double the size of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. They argue that the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act, or BUILD Act, would help the United States offset the influence China allegedly buys in Africa through its neomercantilist, trillion-dollar Belt & Road Initiative. They imply that the BUILD Act would encourage U.S. companies to “pour money” into African countries to counter China. Based on the track record of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, however, that is doubtful.

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from HumanProgress.org
Education Website

Population growth can certainly be a problem among nonhuman animals: population explosions among, for example, rabbits, can lead to an exhaustion of natural resources in their environment and eventually a population collapse. But human beings, unlike other animals, create wealth, engage in complex exchange and innovate their way out of scarcity. That was the great insight of economist Julian Simon.

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

Italy’s Central Bank Admits Wealth Redistribution Leads to Corruption
“Corruption is a regular effect of interventionism,” Ludwig von Mises once wrote, and we see this principle at work today in the European Union. 

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION POLICY AND THE HOLOCAUST: THERE IS NO EQUIVALANCE
One would think this doesn't need to be said, but apparently it is: there's a difference between deporting foreign nationals, and murdering people en masse. Having already thrown Godwin's law out the window by insisting that Donald Trump is "literally Hitler" the American left has now moved on to blithely comparing the detention of accused non-government-approved immigrants to Nazi death camps. It's perfectly possible to oppose the detention policies without comparing them to the Holocaust.

The Social Media Purge: Is the Mises Institute Next?
We are accustomed to predatory language from politicians, but this issuance from Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy's twitter account yesterday is particularly telling. When a politician, particularly a US senator, tells companies what they "must" do, there is a clear threat of government action if they don't. What exactly does Mr. Murphy imply for noncompliance? Harsh new regulations? Antitrust inquiries? Tax audits? The word for this, as Justin Raimondo points out, is extortion. Big Tech, however, is fully complicit in this era of growing "soft censorship" by ostensibly private companies. In the past 48 hours, several social media platforms —  including Facebook, twitter, YouTube (Google) and iTunes (Apple) — banned provocateur Alex Jones from their platforms. Jones often promoted guests like Dr. Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and Peter Schiff in the 1990s, when alternative voices were few and far between. Twitter also suspended the accounts of Ron Paul Institute director Daniel McAdams, Antiwar.com editor Scott Horton, and retired US Foreign Service officer Peter Van Buren, three prominent libertarian and non-interventionist voices.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Experts question benefits of fluoride-free toothpaste
Dental health experts worry that more people are using toothpaste that skips the most important
ingredient – fluoride – and leaves them at a greater risk of cavities.

Clarence Page: QAnon: When reality is just too much
“Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs,” according to an old hippie slogan from the ’60s. Today I would update that line to say that reality is for people who can’t handle conspiracy theories.

Sen. Chuck Grassley: I’m ready to work to confirm Kavanaugh. I invite Democrats to join me.

Johnson, Brandt advance in race for Spokane County District Court Judge

Ohio race too close to call – but Trump claims victory
A special congressional election that tested President Donald Trump’s clout and cost both parties millions of dollars in battleground Ohio was too close to call early Wednesday. Trump claimed victory nevertheless. The president took credit for Republican Troy Balderson’s performance, calling it “a great victory,” even though the contest could be headed to a mandatory recount. Democrat Danny O’Connor, trailing in the latest count, vowed: “We’re not stopping now.” The candidates were locked in a razor-thin race, which they will reprise in the general election in just three months. There were at least 3,367 provisional ballots left to be reviewed. That’s enough for O’Connor to potentially pick up enough to force a recount.

Oregon businesses hit hard by cancellations due to smoke
Wildfire smoke in southern Oregon is forcing organizations that are dependent on tourist dollars to scramble for other options. The air quality in Medford and surrounding towns continues to range from “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “hazardous” levels. The air quality Sunday night in both Medford and Ashland moved into “hazardous” territory, the Mail Tribune reported.

Despite crackdown, immigrants flowing through Arizona border
The Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector has seen a more than 120 percent spike in the number of families and unaccompanied children caught at the border over the last year, surprising many in an area that had been largely quiet and calm for the past decade. So far this fiscal year, agents in the Yuma sector have apprehended nearly 10,000 families and 4,500 unaccompanied children, a giant increase from just seven years ago when they arrested only 98 families and 222 unaccompanied children.

Trump going ahead with taxes on $16B in Chinese imports
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will go ahead with imposing 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion in Chinese imports. Customs officials will begin collecting the border tax Aug. 23, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. The list is heavy on industrial products such as steam turbines and iron girders.

Trump can keep legal reasons for shrinking monuments secret
The U.S. government does not have to turn over documents to an environmental law firm about the legal arguments for President Donald Trump’s decision to shrink national monuments, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge David Nye said Monday that the records are protected presidential communications. Boise, Idaho-based firm Advocates for the West had sued for 12 documents withheld from a public records request related to Trump’s decision to reduce two sprawling monuments in Utah. Trump also is considering scaling back other

Still raging: Largest wildfire in California history grows
Twin fires in Northern California being treated as one are the largest wildfire in state history and by Tuesday had scorched 455 square miles – nearly the size of the city of Los Angeles. The Mendocino Complex fire north of San Francisco was still growing this week as it broke the record set eight months ago. In December, the Thomas Fire killed two people, burned 440 square miles and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in Southern California.

Gates says he and Manafort disguised foreign income as loans
Paul Manafort’s longtime deputy told jurors Tuesday how he spent years disguising millions of dollars in foreign income as loans to lower the former Trump campaign chairman’s tax bill. Rick Gates, the government’s star witness, recounted how he and Manafort used more than a dozen offshore shell companies and bank accounts in Cyprus to funnel the money, all while concealing the accounts and the income from the IRS.

OPINION: “Unbiased” media
Thursday’s “Other Voices” article, “It’s time for news media to fight back,” by Alann B Steen, is extremely biased. He mentions Fox News who obviously supports the president but fails to mention that all other media outlets do not support the president. Something like 91 percent of all mainstream media coverage of the president is negative.

Results point to real contest: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Lisa Brown nearly tied in primary
There’s no doubt now. The race for Congress in Eastern Washington is for real. Out of more than 120,000 votes counted, Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers had a lead of a little more than 500 votes in Tuesday’s primary over Democrat Lisa Brown.

Silver Lake fire near Cheney enters mop-up stage
The worst of the Silver Lake fire burning along Interstate 90 near Cheney is likely over as residents return home and firefighters focus Tuesday on mopping up hotspots. The fast-moving grass-and-brush fire started about 1 p.m. Monday and forced mandatory evacuations for up to 100 homes, which were lifted Monday evening. Fire officials said 55 homes were still in danger, though they didn’t expect the roughly 100-acre fire to grow or spread further, as it was 100 percent lined.

Paul Turner: Yearning for old-fashion polling place
When Washington switched to voting by mail we gained a bit of convenience. But we also lost something. Going to a polling place wasn’t just a symbolic gesture. It was, quite literally, a coming together. It was a small dose of community, even when we are almost unbelievably divided politically. Don’t we sort of need that right now?

Historically, when it’s this hot, Spokane takes notice
Temperatures over 100 degrees aren’t too common in Spokane. Since 1881, Spokane has had about 60 months with temperatures at or above 100 degrees according to records from the National Weather Service. The last four times Spokane had days over 100 degrees was in 2015, which was also a bad year for fires in much of Eastern Washington.

Air quality could remain unhealthy until Friday
Air quality in the Spokane area dipped into the unhealthy range Tuesday and could remain so until Friday as the region became inundated with smoke from area wildfires.

It’s unclear which Democrat will face Joel Kretz for Northeast Washington House seat
Whatever blue wave was seen in other parts of the state, it doesn’t look ready to wipe out long-time Republican state Rep. Joel Kretz, who easily topped three challengers in the primary in the race for a 7th Legislative District house seat. Kretz racked up 63 percent of the vote, while the next two closest candidates, Democrats Mike Bell and Crystal Oliver, drew 16.9 and 15.6 percent of the vote respectively, making the second-place finisher too close to call Tuesday night.

Dave Wilson, Jenny Graham advance in 6th District House race
Democrats may once again have a chance to win seats in Spokane County’s 6th Legislative District. The district, which covers the West Plains and western Spokane, hasn’t elected a Democrat since 2008. But in all three races in the 6th on Tuesday’s primary ballot, Democrats won more votes than Republicans.

Cantwell tops U.S. Senate field, faces Hutchison in November
Three-term Sen. Maria Cantwell is headed for a general election showdown against former GOP State Chairwoman Susan Hutchison after the two finished far ahead of the field in Tuesday’s Washington state primary.

Vets ready for rare efforts to save ailing endangered orca
Experts are preparing rare emergency efforts to administer antibiotics or feed live salmon to try to save a young emaciated orca that’s part of a critically endangered pod of killer whales.
Feeding a wild orca: Inside the practice run to save the ailing killer whale J50

After 5 weeks in a Seattle church, undocumented immigrant says he still has hope
Jose Robles apologizes for his messy room, saying his wife usually helps him keep it clean. For the past five-and-a-half weeks, Robles, 43, has been confined to Gethsemane Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle, where he sought sanctuary in late June to avoid deportation to his native Mexico. It’s here that he awaits word on his other two options: Approval of a U-Visa, which is given to certain undocumented immigrants who are victims of a crime, or a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to reopen his case. Having worked for 18 years as a painter, Robles says he gets anxious about his current situation.

EPA delists federal Superfund site in Washington state
The Frontier Hard Chrome Inc. Superfund Site at 113 Y St. in Vancouver has been officially deleted from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List.

Today’s primary: Seats up for grabs; results open to interpretation
The race for Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District will probably draw the most attention around the country as incumbent Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, faces a strong challenge from Democrat Lisa Brown, a former state legislator and university official.

Venezuela president ties opposition leader to drone attack
President Nicolas Maduro went on television Tuesday night to accuse one of Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leaders of being linked to a weekend assassination attempt using drones.

Japan medical school confirms altering scores to limit women
Tokyo Medical University apologized Tuesday after an internal investigation confirmed that it altered entrance exam scores for years to limit the number of female students and ensure more men became doctors.

‘Christopher Robin’ won’t play in China amid government censorship of Winnie the Pooh
For many, the name Winnie the Pooh recalls childhood bedtime stories and Saturday morning cartoons. But in China, the famous honey-hunting bear has become a symbol of resistance. Starting in 2013, memes comparing Winnie the Pooh’s appearance to that of Chinese President Xi Jinping began to circulate on China’s internet.

Ex-Argentina VP Boudou sentenced to prison for corruption
A court in Argentina has sentenced former Vice President Amado Boudou to five years and 10 months in prison for bribery and conducting business incompatible with public office.

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