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from American Military News
Media/News Company in New York, NY
The U.S. State Department will issue fresh sanctions on Russia later this month for what it says was a chemical weapons attack on an ex-Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. earlier this year. The State Department determined that Russia “used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. The new sanctions include “bans on the sale of certain defense technologies to Russia,” The Washington Post reported.
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from Asia Times Online
News & Media Website
ince the rise to power of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s relations with the West have seen a dramatic deterioration. At the same time, the country that is often described as a bridge between Asia and Europe, has tilted its affinity steadily towards the East.
As Google welcomed back to China, Baidu says bring it on
Beijing signals that China market open for business as long as internet firms change their tune on censorship. Following the revelation last week that Google had developed a censored mobile search app for the Chinese market, there was immediate speculation about the company making a move to get the desktop site unblocked as well. But the rumors that Google was preparing to launch the app as soon as within six months were quickly tamped down by sources who told The New York Times this was no done deal.
Turkey’s banks at risk of a global run
The price of bonds issued by Turkey’s Garanti Bank payable in 2027 has plummeted from US$95 to US$75 during the past two months, and the yield has jumped from 7% to over 11%. Garanti is trading like lowest-quality junk bonds at imminent risk of default, and its stock price has lost more than half its value since January. That’s a flashing red signal for Turkey’s financial system, because if the country’s biggest bank has trouble borrowing money, so will Turkey’s businesses and consumers.
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from TheBlaze
RIGHT BIAS; TV Network
A recording of a fundraising event with Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) reveals why Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hasn’t yet been impeached despite so many Republicans calling for the action – and what they’re waiting for.
Republicans and Democrats are trying to read the tea leaves to decipher the future of the country in the midterm elections after the results of Tuesday’s primary elections and one special election. After a shocking upset victory by Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, she and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were hoping to continue a progressive takeover of the Democratic Party but that hope was dashed to the rocks Tuesday. On the other hand, candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump extended his power and control in the Republican Party.
If you write something out on social media, do not push send for 30 seconds. It’s the 30-second rule. Read over it, read over it again, read over it again. Taking time to review and assess material before tweeting or Facebooking it — especially messages composed out of anger or frustration — often helps people make more informed, rational decisions.
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from CBS News (& affiliates)
Man arrested at New Mexico compound is son of imam with possible link to 1993 World Trade Center bombing
The man arrested at a squalid New Mexico compound is the son of a controversial Brooklyn imam who was on a list of people who "may be alleged as co-conspirators" to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, according to court documents released by prosecutors Wednesday. Siraj Wahhaj, who shares a name with his son who was arrested Saturday, testified as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the notorious "blind sheikh" who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks in the U.S.
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from Competitive Enterprise Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS
Missouri voters on August 7 defeated a right-to-work ballot measure. That means workers will remain stuck in a labor union they may not want and that may not be providing good value, said Competitive Enterprise Institute labor policy analyst Trey Kovacs: "Unfortunately, Big Labor’s big spending paid off. Unions from around the country poured millions of dollars into Missouri to sway voters against enacting Right to Work. As a result, labor unions in Missouri can still force workers to pay the union in order to keep their jobs, which is a terrible injustice to the hard-working men and women in the Show-Me state. All workers deserve the right to determine how best to spend their earnings."
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from Daily Wire
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, American news and opinion website
Is Collusion Criminal?
In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has begun to make a rather interesting legal argument: Collusion isn't criminal. President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani made this argument on television; Trump repeated it on Twitter. But is it true? Technically, collusion isn't a crime. There is no statutory definition of "collusion"; the closest we could come is "conspiracy." So let's be more specific: Would it be criminal activity if the Trump campaign solicited opposition research from the Russian government? The short answer: Not clearly, unless the campaign was also involved in underlying criminal activity, such as hacking the Democratic National Committee or the Hillary Clinton campaign. UCLA professor of law Eugene Volokh explained in the Washington Post last year that barring such activity, it seems violative of the First Amendment to prevent campaigns from talking with foreign citizens about opposition research on other candidates. After all, Clinton's team paid Fusion GPS to create an opposition-research dossier, much of the material provided by a foreign citizen, Christopher Steele. Even exchanging information with the Russian government wouldn't clearly violate the law, if Volokh is correct. Now, this doesn't mean that the Trump campaign is in the clear. It just means that Trump's opponents will have to prove far more than they've proved so far.
Ocasio-Cortez Is Asked How She'll Pay For Everything. Her Answer: Um, Wut?
On Tuesday, Democratic media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — she of the 17,000 primary votes in a heavily Democratic district in New York — visited the set of Pod Save America, where she was asked a fairly simple softball question from her enthusiastic friends: how did she plan to pay for her wild expenditures? In two minutes of complete babbling, Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t bother to answer how she would pay for things — she just complains that since nobody else worries about that, why should she?
Is Collusion Criminal?
In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has begun to make a rather interesting legal argument: Collusion isn't criminal. President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani made this argument on television; Trump repeated it on Twitter. But is it true? Technically, collusion isn't a crime. There is no statutory definition of "collusion"; the closest we could come is "conspiracy." So let's be more specific: Would it be criminal activity if the Trump campaign solicited opposition research from the Russian government? The short answer: Not clearly, unless the campaign was also involved in underlying criminal activity, such as hacking the Democratic National Committee or the Hillary Clinton campaign. UCLA professor of law Eugene Volokh explained in the Washington Post last year that barring such activity, it seems violative of the First Amendment to prevent campaigns from talking with foreign citizens about opposition research on other candidates. After all, Clinton's team paid Fusion GPS to create an opposition-research dossier, much of the material provided by a foreign citizen, Christopher Steele. Even exchanging information with the Russian government wouldn't clearly violate the law, if Volokh is correct. Now, this doesn't mean that the Trump campaign is in the clear. It just means that Trump's opponents will have to prove far more than they've proved so far.
Ocasio-Cortez Is Asked How She'll Pay For Everything. Her Answer: Um, Wut?
On Tuesday, Democratic media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — she of the 17,000 primary votes in a heavily Democratic district in New York — visited the set of Pod Save America, where she was asked a fairly simple softball question from her enthusiastic friends: how did she plan to pay for her wild expenditures? In two minutes of complete babbling, Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t bother to answer how she would pay for things — she just complains that since nobody else worries about that, why should she?
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
San Francisco's Protectionist Attempt to Ban Company Cafeterias
The era of employee cafeterias may soon be coming to an end thanks to two San Francisco city officials.
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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C
Chinese Corruption in Africa Undermines Beijing’s Rhetoric About Friendship with the Continent
Beijing’s concern for Africa is a frequent theme of official Chinese communication to the continent. Yet Beijing either encourages or ignores the corruption that China’s government-linked and government-owned companies habitually use in Africa to gain unfair advantage. Such corruption reinforces a system in Africa that most hurts ordinary Africans. Until Beijing stops this practice, its rhetoric about friendship with African countries will remain insincere. The U.S. should resist corrupt Chinese practices as one way of defending its national interests in Africa. Ideas for doing so include prioritizing the fight against African corruption, leveraging technology and the power of crowds, and pushing back on Beijing’s false narratives in Africa.
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Bringing market discipline to federal work
Back in 1966, the Johnson administration formalized the rules under which the private sector could compete to provide services otherwise performed by federal government employees. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published those rules as OMB Circular A-76. The idea was to save taxpayers money by introducing market discipline and competitive forces to the management of federal agencies. Unfortunately, Congress barred these competitions in the aftermath of a 2008 scandal at Walter Reed Medical Center. It is very common for members of Congress to rail against government inefficiency and the high costs of the bureaucracy. Lifting the A-76 prohibition would be doing something about it. It is a question of political will.
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World Has Come a Long Way from Cesspits to Sanitation
Most of us take modern restrooms for granted, but proper sanitation is a relatively modern phenomenon and is still far too rare in the poorest regions of the world. The need to keep human and animal waste away from human contact may seem obvious today, but for millennia that was not the case. Before the emergence of the germ theory of disease, and the subsequent public health campaigns and construction of adequate sanitation infrastructure in most of the world, people and waste commingled – with catastrophic results.
Chinese Corruption in Africa Undermines Beijing’s Rhetoric About Friendship with the Continent
Beijing’s concern for Africa is a frequent theme of official Chinese communication to the continent. Yet Beijing either encourages or ignores the corruption that China’s government-linked and government-owned companies habitually use in Africa to gain unfair advantage. Such corruption reinforces a system in Africa that most hurts ordinary Africans. Until Beijing stops this practice, its rhetoric about friendship with African countries will remain insincere. The U.S. should resist corrupt Chinese practices as one way of defending its national interests in Africa. Ideas for doing so include prioritizing the fight against African corruption, leveraging technology and the power of crowds, and pushing back on Beijing’s false narratives in Africa.
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from The Hill
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, newspaper in Washington, D.C.Bringing market discipline to federal work
Back in 1966, the Johnson administration formalized the rules under which the private sector could compete to provide services otherwise performed by federal government employees. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published those rules as OMB Circular A-76. The idea was to save taxpayers money by introducing market discipline and competitive forces to the management of federal agencies. Unfortunately, Congress barred these competitions in the aftermath of a 2008 scandal at Walter Reed Medical Center. It is very common for members of Congress to rail against government inefficiency and the high costs of the bureaucracy. Lifting the A-76 prohibition would be doing something about it. It is a question of political will.
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from HumanProgress.org Education Website
World Has Come a Long Way from Cesspits to Sanitation
Most of us take modern restrooms for granted, but proper sanitation is a relatively modern phenomenon and is still far too rare in the poorest regions of the world. The need to keep human and animal waste away from human contact may seem obvious today, but for millennia that was not the case. Before the emergence of the germ theory of disease, and the subsequent public health campaigns and construction of adequate sanitation infrastructure in most of the world, people and waste commingled – with catastrophic results.
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from KHQ Local News (NBC Spokane)
Spokane drops out of top 15 cities for vehicle thefts in the nation
Spokane has fallen out of the top 15 for vehicle thefts in the nation. In fact, the city fell way off that list, dropping from 11th place in 2016 to 36th place in 2017.
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from The Living Church
Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)
THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT’S METHODS AND MOTIVATION
The genius of the Liturgical Movement, whose history I traced in last week’s post, was a healthy, mostly unromantic primitivism. Even when major figures within the movement were wrong about certain historical details, the posture was ressourcement, an instinct to draw not simply from old wells but from significant wells long forgotten. This orientation is to be admired and ought to continue to guide Christian bodies like the Episcopal Church that make claims to catholicity and apostolicity.
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from Los Angeles Times
U.S. orders new sanctions against Russia over chemical attack in Britain
The new sanctions will target national security and “sensitive” equipment, goods, electronics and technologies that Moscow seeks to import from the United States, senior State Department officials said. It could hit as much as 70% of Russia’s state-run economy and 40% of its workforce, said one of the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in keeping with State Department rules.
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from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]About 60 years ago Gabriel Tarde (1843–1904) the great French sociologist, dealt with the problem of the popularization of luxuries. An industrial innovation, he pointed out, enters the market as the extravagance of an elite before it finally turns, step by step, into a need of each and all and is considered indispensable. What was once a luxury becomes in the course of time a necessity. Today's "necessities" were the luxury items of yesteryear. And freedom in markets is what makes this possible.
The recent New York Democratic primary upset in which self-described “democratic socialist” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, age 28, defeated the high-ranking Congressman Joe Crowley is another example of socialism being pushed front-and-center into modern American politics. As usual, the pundits have it wrong when trying to explain what one means by “democratic socialism.” Part of the reason for the upsurge in favorable views toward “democratic socialism” has been the perpetual presidential candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who most likely would have been the Democratic Party candidate for president in 2016 had party insiders not rigged the process for Hillary Clinton.
New York Republican Congressman Chris Collins was indicted today on a variety of charges stemming from an investigation of insider trading. Prosecutors allege that he, along with son and soon to be son-in-law, is guilty of trading on non-public information concerning the results of a drug trial. Collins traded stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, a company where Collins is a board member, in order to avoid over $768,000 in losses. While there is undoubtedly numerous actions Collins has taken as a Congressman that warrants him being criticized by society, insider trading is not one of them. This news story is a good opportunity to revisit an article by Bob Murphy on the subject, explaining how insider trading actually has social value and why laws cracking down on the practice open the door to the heavy hand of government going after all sorts of profitable activity.
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from Psephizo (Blog)
The death penalty and Christian moral teaching
Why is Pope Francis wanting to change the Catholic Church's teaching on the death penalty—and what are the implications?
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from Reuters
International news agency headquartered in London, England
U.S. imposes sanctions on Russia for nerve agent attack in UK
Washington said on Wednesday it would impose fresh sanctions on Russia by the end of August after it determined that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain. ... A second batch of “more draconian” sanctions would be imposed after 90 days unless Russia gives “reliable assurances” that it will no longer use chemical weapons and allow on-site inspections by the United Nations or other international observer groups.
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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.
‘Nattering nabobs of negativism’: The improbable rise of Spiro T. Agnew
Addressing delegates at the 1968 Republican convention after being nominated for vice president, Maryland’s Spiro T. Agnew acknowledged the obvious. The 49-year-old first-term governor was unknown to most of the delegates — even after making the nomination speech for presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon at the Miami Beach convention. To the extent that Agnew had a national reputation, it was as a middle-class Republican moderate who had recently begun to take a tough line on law and order. His low profile ended when Nixon shocked the convention by selecting Agnew as his running mate — a decision ratified with little enthusiasm by the Aug. 8 convention. As Agnew accepted the nomination, he conceded that his selection for the national ticket was a stunning turn of events. “I stand here,” Agnew told the delegates, “with a deep sense of the improbability of this moment.”
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