________
________
Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.
________
from Anglican Communion News Service
Bishop Philip Huggins of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne has called on the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to bring asylum seekers still languishing in offshore detention to Australia – following days of speculation surrounding a US resettlement deal which had been struck with the Obama administration last year. Australia has refused to accept the refugees – most of whom are men from Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq – and instead holds them in offshore detention centres on two Pacific islands.
________
from Asia Times Online
A strong strategic partnership between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which once seemed impossible given the latter’s close ties with Pakistan, is taking shape. India and the UAE have formally advanced their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, with the two sides signing a framework agreement during the just-concluded visit of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
Kun Shan Chun, aka Joey Chun, is convicted for acting as an agent for the Chinese against American interests, not espionage, but case raises flags
Ride hailing firm's Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, facing criticism from immigration advocates quit President Donald Trump's business advisory group
Luggage maker explores the possibility of establishing a production base on home soil, but Ramesh Tainwala is worried about a lack of skilled workers and poor infrastructure
Construction works have been temporarily stopped in India’s largest Jewish cemetery thanks to tireless campaigns against violation of a 1955 deed
________
from The Babylon Bee [Satire]
________
from The Baltimore Sun
It isn't as though the press has been flipping out over nothing since Donald Trump took office. Every day, something contentious, unconventional and culture-wars combustible seems to come out of Washington. There is nothing ho-hum about any of that. They all have potentially huge implications for the kind of country we, our children and grandchildren will live in. But the operative phrase here is flipping out. Too many in the mainstream press are responding to the big, bold, in-your-face actions of the White House with over-the top rhetoric, historical ignorance, an utter lack of proportion and, in some cases, just plain bias.
________
from BBC News (UK)
Some supermarkets are rationing the number of iceberg lettuce and broccoli customers can buy - blaming poor growing conditions in southern Europe for a shortage in UK stores.
________
from Breitbart
Former Chaplain to the Queen: Church of England Dying, UK Cities Could Soon Be Islamic
Britain could be an Islamic nation in a few generations and the Church of England is facing extinction, a former chaplain to the Queen has said.
Ann Coulter: Trump Should Withdraw Funding from Any School with Speech Codes
In an interview broadcast Friday on Breitbart News Daily, author Ann Coulter talked about the violent demonstrations left-wingers have employed to shut down speech they dislike, notably Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart News at UC Berkeley this week.
________
from Christian Today
Fancy Applying To Be The Next Bishop Of London? Here Are 50 Tips To Help You Decide
Now the Bishop of London has said "goodbye", the Church will soon advertise the job. Christian Today has decided to help out. Here are 50 vital tips to help you decide whether you have the gifts to be the next Richard Chartres.
from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)
Sierra Club Exec: Abortion Helps the Environment by Controlling the Population
On Thursday evening’s edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, came on the show to talk about how his organization’s environmentally-focused message relates to other liberal talking points that the club has taken a stance on since Brune has been in charge. Carlson asked Brune how the club taking positions on immigration, transgender bathrooms and abortion correlate to the organization’s mission of protecting the environment. Brune was particularly emphatic about the club’s decision to wholeheartedly support the baby-killing machine known as Planned Parenthood.
Minority-Killing Planned Parenthood ‘Honors’ Black History Month
In a move that tests the very boundaries of hypocrisy, the taxpayer-subsidized abortion giant Planned Parenthood issued a press release Wednesday commemorating the start of Black History Month, despite the group’s long track record of genocide against black children.
Tom Brokaw Slams Rioting Liberals at Berkeley as ‘Outrageous,’ Anti-Free Speech
Even NBC's Tom Brokaw can't defend the Berkeley riots.
It'll be funny when the radical left responds by calling him a "fascist."
WH Press Sec. on Iran Sanctions: This President ‘Is Not Going to Sit Back and Take It’
Matt Lauer Invites Caroline Kennedy to Bash Trump’s Foreign Policy
At the top of Friday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer touted an exclusive: “Caroline Kennedy speaks out in her first interview since stepping down as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. This morning, her take on the Trump administration's very different approach to foreign policy and her own future. Is she planning a run for office?”
________
from Coeur d'Alene Press
A GRAND PLAN FOR AN OLD BUILDING
A landmark building in downtown Coeur d’Alene is poised for a grand makeover. Craig and Debbie Ward of Harrison, the new owners of the Dingle Building, 402 E. Sherman Ave., propose to turn the property into a boutique hotel with an added fourth story and 40 to 60 hotel rooms.
CRAWFORD FOUND NOT GUILTY
A jury found Heather L. Crawford not guilty Thursday of murdering 22-month-old Ezra Wilson.
________
from Communities Digital News, LLC
Donald Trump is catching plenty of heat from the opposition every time he opens his mouth. Not just from the media, which appears to only be a watchdog now that Barack Obama is out of office, but from everyone else who disagrees with him as well. If even one-tenth of one percent of the Muslim community is involved in some element of jihad, the numbers of those wishing us ill are staggering.
________
from Competitive Enterprise Institute
How does President Trump's executive order on immigration demonstrate that Congress needs to stop delegating its power to the Executive and instead claw it back?
President Trump’s forthcoming executive actions—expected to halt the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule and call for review of Dodd-Frank regulations—will greatly benefit middle-class investors, entrepreneurs, and consumers.
Is the better than expected jobs report a sign that employers are starting to respond to the promise of substantial deregulation by the new administration?
________
from EUobserver
EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality
EU leaders pledged the need for unity and for Europe to stand on its own two feet at their meeting in Valletta on Friday (3 February), during a discussion on how to handle US president Donald Trump, whom EU council chief Donald Tusk described earlier this week as a "threat" to the EU. "We have our destiny in our own hands," Merkel said after EU leaders discussed Trump, who seems to have galvanised European unity at the Valletta summit on Friday.
EU to extend free CO2 pass to intercontinental flights
The European Commission has proposed to continue exempting flights coming in and out of the EU from its carbon credit scheme because it expects a global deal on tackling CO2 emissions from aviation. If the legislative proposal is not adopted by April 2018 airline companies will be forced to pay into the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Italy and Libya cut migrant busting deal
Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counterpart Fayez al-Serraj signed a deal in Rome to curb migration flows and crack down on people smuggling ahead of an EU summit in Malta.
________
EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality
EU leaders pledged the need for unity and for Europe to stand on its own two feet at their meeting in Valletta on Friday (3 February), during a discussion on how to handle US president Donald Trump, whom EU council chief Donald Tusk described earlier this week as a "threat" to the EU. "We have our destiny in our own hands," Merkel said after EU leaders discussed Trump, who seems to have galvanised European unity at the Valletta summit on Friday.
EU to extend free CO2 pass to intercontinental flights
The European Commission has proposed to continue exempting flights coming in and out of the EU from its carbon credit scheme because it expects a global deal on tackling CO2 emissions from aviation. If the legislative proposal is not adopted by April 2018 airline companies will be forced to pay into the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Italy and Libya cut migrant busting deal
Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counterpart Fayez al-Serraj signed a deal in Rome to curb migration flows and crack down on people smuggling ahead of an EU summit in Malta.
________
from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
"Buy Local" Is a Slogan for Starvation
I’ve got nothing against local food for local people. But as an actual mode of general organization, we’ve stopped doing it and for very good reason: people used to starve. Food security isn’t created by growing food here. It’s created by having many sources of supply.
________
"Buy Local" Is a Slogan for Starvation
I’ve got nothing against local food for local people. But as an actual mode of general organization, we’ve stopped doing it and for very good reason: people used to starve. Food security isn’t created by growing food here. It’s created by having many sources of supply.
________
from First Things
GORSUCH AND THE WASHINGTON SCRIPT
A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Attempts to portray Neil Gorsuch as an extremist are bound to fail. If anything, his background suggests that liberals will find him more congenial than other nominees they could have faced.
ISLAM AND AMERICA
Muslims in America are vulnerable. I’ve heard a number of people express hostility and the conviction that Muslims cannot be loyal American citizens. Trumpian hyperbole during the campaign stoked those suspicions.
VETTING THE EXECUTIVE ORDER
There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about the Executive Order signed last Friday on terrorism, immigration, and refugees (“Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”). Misinformation confuses people, confuses the debate, and deprives legitimate opposition of credibility. There is much to criticize about the EO, and I will discuss some of those things. It is unhelpful, however, for people to be spreading falsehoods.
A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Attempts to portray Neil Gorsuch as an extremist are bound to fail. If anything, his background suggests that liberals will find him more congenial than other nominees they could have faced.
Muslims in America are vulnerable. I’ve heard a number of people express hostility and the conviction that Muslims cannot be loyal American citizens. Trumpian hyperbole during the campaign stoked those suspicions.
There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about the Executive Order signed last Friday on terrorism, immigration, and refugees (“Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”). Misinformation confuses people, confuses the debate, and deprives legitimate opposition of credibility. There is much to criticize about the EO, and I will discuss some of those things. It is unhelpful, however, for people to be spreading falsehoods.
________
from Fox News (& affiliates)
Obama's last money shower for the UN: some $9.2 billion
In its last year in office, the Obama Administration showered at least some $9.2 billion on the United Nations and its sprawling array of organizations, according to a document recently posted on the State Department website.
________
from The Guardian (UK)
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
Former Norway PM held at Washington airport over 2014 visit to Iran
Kjell Magne Bondevik describes shock after being held and questioned at Dulles hub under new US entry controls. “I was surprised, and I was provoked,” he said. “What will the reputation of the US be if this happens not only to me, but also to other international leaders?”
Former Norway PM held at Washington airport over 2014 visit to Iran
Kjell Magne Bondevik describes shock after being held and questioned at Dulles hub under new US entry controls. “I was surprised, and I was provoked,” he said. “What will the reputation of the US be if this happens not only to me, but also to other international leaders?”
________
from The Heritage Foundation
One Way Neil Gorsuch Will Carry Scalia’s Legacy on the Supreme Court
If confirmed to the bench, Gorsuch would carry on Scalia’s legacy of respect for the rule of law and his keen awareness of how federal criminal law has been misused to punish Americans for minor mistakes that don’t warrant federal prosecution.
How Congress Is Reclaiming Constitutional Authority and Saving Jobs
The Obama administration pulled out every stop to block energy and resource development on federal lands—under the guise of environmental protection. Congress has the chance to reset the clock, to go back to a time when policies helped people and where regulations were not used to pursue ideological aims. This is exactly what the Congressional Review Act was designed to help ensure.
Polls Show Personal Experience With Obamacare Increases Opposition
As Congress comes closer to repealing Obamacare, proponents of the law have mounted a vocal defense of it, touting both its necessity and popularity among those it has helped. But public opinion polls tell a different story.
It’s Time to Reel in the Obama-Appointed Ambassador Who Meddled in Macedonian Politics
Macedonia has a population smaller than Queens and is roughly the size of Vermont. It is stuck in the southern Balkans, wedged between a hostile Greece and sometimes revanchist Albania and Bulgaria. It is not the center of the universe. So why are some members of Congress having to ask our Macedonian ambassador, Jess Baily, to explain reports that he’s been acting as the bullying sovereign of the country, shoehorning political parties into forming a “red-green” coalition between leftist and Islamic-based parties? And is it true, they also want to know, that the ambassador is siphoning off government money to groups founded by the left-wing billionaire activist George Soros? The situation has gotten so bad that congressional hearings and congressional delegations to the small Balkan country are being contemplated.
When Sending People to Jail, Criminal Intent Matters
Can a person go to jail for a crime that he had no intent to commit, and that the government admits he did not know would occur? Jack and Peter DeCoster, father and son executives of the Quality Egg business, have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider their jail sentences for a crime committed by someone else without their knowledge: selling eggs contaminated with salmonella.
Trump’s Executive Orders on Financial Regulation Are a Great First Step
President Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act, and on Friday he signed two executive orders to get that process moving. All Americans should be encouraged by this start, especially since the president is only two weeks into his administration.
________
from Intellihub
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
In the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshu lies the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant which was decimated by a large tsunami which formed following the Tōhoku earthquake which struck on March 11, 2011. The damage was so great that the entire region was listed as a radioactive zone. As of Thursday radiation levels reached ” 530 Sieverts per hour” inside of Reactor No. 2.
________
from LifeZette (& PoliZette)
Senate Shoots Down Obama Coal Regulation
Republicans target 11th-hour energy rules rammed through by previous administration
________
from The Living Church
NO END TO SACRIFICE: ANGLICANS ON ‘OFFERING’
Anglicans have been reticent about any explicit material offering from the beginning — anything beyond our praise, prayer, and thanksgiving, along with ourselves in a spiritual sense.
________
from Miami Herald
Yes, I know what the mirror says. And yes, I’ve always known African Americans face challenges — discrimination in health, housing, hiring, and a racially biased system of “justice,” to name a few. But I think at some level, I had also grown comfortable in a nation paced by Oprah, LeBron, Beyonce and Barack. The old mantra of black progress — two steps forward, one step back — had come to feel … abstract, something you said, but forgot to believe. So when we hit this season of reversal, I was more surprised than I should have been. I had forgotten about being black. Meaning, I had forgotten that for us, setback is nothing new.
________
________
from The Mirror (UK)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
From giving the green light to the Mexican border wall to imposing a travel ban, every announcement can be traced back to one man - Steve Bannon
________
from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]Google joins forces with government regulators to rob low-income people of one of their few choices for quick and easy loans.
________
from NBC News (& affiliates)
9 Bad manager mistakes that make good people quit
Managers tend to blame their turnover problems on everything under the sun, while ignoring the crux of the matter: people don't leave jobs; they leave managers.
________
from The New Yorker
STEVE BANNON AND REINCE PRIEBUS’S WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
President Donald Trump’s first two weeks in office have produced what seems like a year’s worth of drama, but he has made essentially two consequential decisions. He issued a ban on immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries and he nominated Neil Gorsuch, a federal appeals-court judge, to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant after Antonin Scalia’s death, last year.
from The Seattle Times
A federal judge in Seattle on Friday ordered a national halt to enforcement of President Trump’s controversial travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations. The White House vowed to appeal the decision immediately. Meanwhile, a contradictory decision came earlier Friday from a federal judge in Massachusetts, who sided with the Trump administration. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton ruled that the president had the authority on national-security grounds to bar citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, according to The Boston Globe.
________
from The Spokesman-Review
________
from Sputnik
(Russian government-supported propaganda channel)
An agreement that will see Kiev provide "significant autonomy" to the people's republics in Donbass will be enough to end the Ukrainian crisis and bring lasting peace to the war-torn country, political analyst John Quigley told Radio Sputnik, commenting on the latest spate of violence in the region.
________
from UPI News Agency - United Press International
People who overeat during national sporting events and holidays are more likely to need emergency medical attention, according to a new study.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed two executive orders, one with the goal of scaling back the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to ease regulation on Wall Street. The executive order directs the Department of Treasury to consult with regulatory agencies and report to the president about what could be done to eliminate what the administration considers "overreaching" aspects of Dodd-Frank affecting Wall Street.
________
from The Washington Post
Patriots owner on Trump: ‘In the toughest time in my life, he was there for me’
President Trump rarely shows a soft side, but Patriots owner Robert Kraft did it for him Friday during an appearance on Fox News. Kraft said that after his wife, Myra, died in 2011, Trump was a loyal and thoughtful friend. “In the toughest time in my life, he was there for me,” Kraft told “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade. “He came to the funeral with Melania. He'd visit me at my home. … He called me once a week for a year. 'How are you doing?' I was really depressed, and he invited me to things, and he looked out after me.” Few other people were as devoted as Trump during that period, Kraft added.
USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday abruptly removed inspection reports and other information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities. In a statement, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a “comprehensive review” that took place over the past year. It said the removed documents, which also included records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, would now be accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests.
Bureau of Indian Affairs sending agents to help clear Dakota Access protesters from site
The federal government announced Friday that it was dispatching Bureau of Indian Affairs agents to help clear Dakota Access Pipeline protesters from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
________
