In the news, Saturday, March 31, 2012

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MAR 30      INDEX      APR 01

____________

________

from Business Insider

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

This Reporter Waded Into The Wreckage Of The Foreclosure Crisis And Found Out It Was Far From Over
Visiting Florida in 2007 and talking to some builders, there was enormous over-building going on and stories about janitors and hair stylists buying 2-3 properties on speculation with no-down, 1% interest only ARMs. The speculation story was to catch the leading edge of the enormous numbers of baby-boomers retiring, selling their McMansions and moving to Florida with large wads of cash burning holes in their pockets.

________

from The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)

________

In the news, Friday, April 10, 2009

________

APR 09      INDEX      APR 11

________

________

from The Spokesman-Review

________

from Zero Hedge

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

The Incredibly Shrinking Market Liquidity, Or The Upcoming Black Swan Of Black Swans
"Anyone who is doing anything sensible right now is either losing money or is out of the market entirely." These are the words of a quant trader, who is seeing something scary in the capital markets. Scary enough to merit a warning that we could be on the verge of another October 87, August 2007, or January 2008.

________

In the news, Sunday, March 25, 2012

____________

SAT 24      INDEX      MON 26

____________

________

from Business Insider

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

The Real Crime On Wall Street Can Never Be Prosecuted
While Congressional panels hold symbolic hearings about which banks sold what toxic investment to which defrauded clients, or who knew what about which funds were transferred to what location, the systemic financing of death and destruction around the world continues on unimpeded. These activities are not only outside the scope of any serious investigation, they are officially sanctioned and effectively immune from regulation or prosecution. These are the same institutions which have been granted virtually unlimited backstops by American and European taxpayers, in one form or another. More to the point, they are the institutions which many of us use to store our money, take out loans, invest in markets or make purchases. As long as we continue to do so, we are telling them that we are OK with how they conduct themselves around the world; that we are willing to accept their status as the untouchable elite.

________

from The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)

________

In the news, Friday, March 17, 2017

________

MAR 16      INDEX      MAR 18

________

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

________

from Asia Times Online

US Secretary of State Tillerson calls for “new approach” to North Korea

Two decades of diplomatic and other efforts, including aid given to North Korea by the United States, had failed to achieve the goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang, he said.

UK helps US renew focus on defeating terror in Afghanistan
The meeting in London on Wednesday between the Pakistani prime minister’s special advisor on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, and the Afghan national security advisor, Hanif Atmar – a meeting which was painstakingly brokered by Britain – was aimed principally at reducing tensions between the countries following a series of major terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The talks addressed Pakistani allegations regarding sanctuaries for terrorist groups on Afghan soil – a mirror complaint to the longstanding Afghan allegations that Pakistan-based militant groups are targeting Afghanistan. India also makes similar allegations against Pakistan, which Pakistan counters by pointing a finger at “India-backed” militant groups established on Afghan soil. However, the western powers cannot allow Pakistan-Afghan tensions to escalate further as any flashpoint would infinitely complicate matters for the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The appearance of ISIS in Afghanistan lends urgency to efforts.

________

from Daily Mail (UK)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Justice Department formally appeals ruling blocking Trump's revised travel ban 
The US government took the legal battle over President Donald Trump's travel ban to a higher court on Friday, saying it would appeal a federal judge's decision that struck down parts of the ban on the day it was set to go into effect. The Department of Justice said in a court filing it would appeal a ruling by US District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

________

from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Why the Troop Surge in Syria Will Fail
Candidate Trump said he was perfectly happy with Russia and Syria getting rid of ISIS. So why is he deploying troops? If US policy is shifting toward accepting an Assad victory, it could be achieved by ending arms supplies to the rebels and getting out of the way.

________

from First Things

YOUR “WELLNESS” OR YOUR FREEDOM
Promoting wellness is becoming a means for government and big business to exercise control over our lives. The pretext is cost-cutting—the idea that if employers and government can persuade us to live healthier lifestyles, then society will benefit from less government spending on health care and reduced business costs from lowered health-insurance premiums and fewer employee sick days. But when does helpfully promoting wellness—say, by providing exercise classes, or professional assistance to employees who decide to quit smoking—become an intrusion into personal privacy? When does a laudable desire to reduce healthcare costs become an obsession with controlling how we live our lives?

CHRIST IN THE DESERT
We often have trouble admitting that we are already in the desert, already weak and without food, and already tempted. Often we forget that Christ conquered temptation not for himself, but for us.

IN PRAISE OF THE “NEW ALARMISM”
When they suggest that something’s gone seriously wrong with our nation’s culture, and further suggest what American Christians might need to do about it, Dreher and Esolen have plenty of persuasive company. They’re stating the obvious, and doing it well, to all but the willfully blind. Naming the problems in a culture truthfully, and pointing a way forward for those awake enough to notice, is neither bleak nor negative. It’s called Christian realism, and it’s a virus that’s going around. If that’s also a “new alarmism,” then we need more of it, not less.

ARCHITECTURAL JUSTICE

Buildings symbolize the ideal society. Buildings also promote or inhibit justice. Architecture can be part of the pursuit of God's kingdom and its justice, or the opposite. Just look at Israel’s temple and at Versailles.

________

from The Heritage Foundation

[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Trump’s Responsible Decision to End an After-School Program That Harms Children
President Donald Trump has clear justification for his recommendation to eliminate a $1.2 billion after-school program administered by the Department of Education. Rigorous scientific evidence shows that the program, called 21st Century Community Learning Centers, harms children.

Misleading Rhetoric Can’t Mask Failings of GOP Health Care Bill
Repeal of Obamacare and conservative health care reform is impossible so long as the law’s regulatory heart remains on the books.

________

from KHQ Local News (NBC Spokane)

Idaho State Highway 5 closed indefinitely
The Idaho Transportation Department has declared State Highway 5 a "total loss." The road will remain closed for an indefinite period of time while authorities work to determine how to fix it. Jerry Wilson with the department says the problem is at mile-marker 5.9, where about 250 feet of roadway in both lanes have been destroyed by a landslide.

________

from The Living Church

Full-hearted Ministry
St. Columba’s Church in Kent, a suburb of Seattle, bears myriad marks of a vital congregation. New ministries shelter homeless men inside and feed the hungry from new vegetable gardens outside. At 79, average Sunday attendance (ASA) is up 44 percent since 2014. The only thing missing at St. Columba’s, according to a few older members, is a full-time priest. To hold down costs, the church shifted in 2014 to a part-time model when it called the Rev. Canon Alissabeth Newton, the Diocese of Olympia’s canon for congregational development, to serve as vicar of the parish 30 hours a week. But the part-time pastorate is turning out to be a blessing, and not just for St. Columba’s bottom line. The priest’s limited hours mean more responsibilities fall to the laity, who are motivated to discover how much they can do.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

________

from Sputnik

(Russian government-supported propaganda channel)

'Multilingual Society': German Educators Call for Compulsory Arabic in Schools
The increasing popularity of Arabic courses in Germany reflects an understanding that Arabic is set to play an important role in German politics and society, German political scientist Naji Abbas told Sputnik Arabic. More than 300,000 asylum seekers in Germany are under the age of 18 and last year, Thomas Strothotte, a German-Canadian professor of Computer Science and President of Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg, suggested that not only should refugees learn German, but German children should have the opportunity to learn Arabic, too. He suggested that German and Arabic be mandatory subjects for children until their final high school exams prior to graduation.

________

from WND (World Net Daily)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

PRINCIPAL RECRUITS STUDENTS FOR SECRET 'GAY' CLUB
'We're keeping it on the down low' so parents can't stop kids from attending

________

In the news, Thursday, March 16, 2017

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MAR 15      INDEX      MAR 17

________

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

________

from BBC News (UK)

Are we seeing the rise of the postmodern politician?
In this opinion piece, journalist and writer Peter Pomerantsev argues that President Trump and President Putin share a disdain for facts - and that this is part of their appeal.

________

from Competitive Enterprise Institute

White House Budget Embraces Air Traffic Control Reform
Once the transition is complete, we can expect the FAA’s post-reform budget to be slashed by approximately two-thirds, which is the share of the agency’s budget currently dedicated to air traffic control operations, facilities, and modernization investments.

________

from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Trade Deficits Don't Matter; Understanding Deficits Do
The economic gain to Americans from foreign trade is what we import. Exports are the cost of getting those imports. If a nation has a proper objective in trade, surely it is to get as large a volume of imports as possible, for as small a volume of our exports as possible.

Airport Noise and the Myth of Zero-Sum Economics
Recently, a number of my students all made the same interesting mistake on an exam. They took it for granted that games are zero sum, that what benefits one side must harm the other. That is a very dangerous mistake to make.

Obamacare and the Second Theorem of Government
It is much easier to block the enactment of a new handout than it is to take it away after it's been created and people get hooked on the heroin of government dependency.

Stop Misusing the Term "Health Care"
Much philosophical gibberish has been written about the moral responsibility of society to provide medical care to those who can’t afford it (as if society is an individual moral agent). Virtually nothing has been written about the moral responsibility of individuals to not inflict costs on the rest of society because they lack self-control and self-respect.

Andrew Jackson Is a Poor Presidential Role Model
Donald Trump added a portrait of Andrew Jackson to the White House Oval Office shortly after his inauguration. Jackson’s defeat of incumbent John Quincy Adams in the 1828 election was the first great US political upset in which an anti-establishment candidate defeated an insider, which no doubt pleases Trump given his own road to the Presidency, but does Jackson deserve to be remembered so fondly as the one who put power in the hands of the people?

________

from First Things

THE AGONY OF PAUL RYAN
Paul Ryan, a valuable man in other contexts (like working across the aisle as a wonk willing to bridge idealogical divides), continues to exemplify the GOP’s misplaced priorities as Speaker of the House. The wonky, compromising Ryan was a very useful fellow—but Republicans couldn’t leave well enough alone.

________

from The Heritage Foundation

[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Natural Disasters Are Costing FEMA Way Too Much Money. Here’s What’s Wrong.
Federal law gives state governments a disincentive to prepare for natural disasters, and instead to use federal funds. As Americans prepare for snowstorms, hurricanes, and other serious weather events, Congress should make sure the government is also prepared for the worst—by reforming FEMA and the Stafford Act.

How Local Citizens Can Take Up the Fight Against Public Corruption
No American should have to wonder if their hard-earned tax dollar is going to a road—or an insider’s slush fund.

Latest Projections Show Farm ‘Safety Net’ Is Going to Cost More Than Originally Projected
There are numerous hidden costs associated with "safety net" farm bill subsidies. Legislators should take a step back and ask why there even needs to be a farm-related safety net.

Trump’s Budget Takes a Cleaver to Cronyism and Waste at the Energy Department
The Department of Energy has long needed reform—and Trump's proposal would bring it. The draft budget cuts many pet projects of both Democrats and Republicans.

Planned Parenthood Will Keep Obama’s Parting Gift Unless Congress Acts
The clock is ticking for Congress to reverse President Barack Obama’s parting gift to Planned Parenthood. The House acted last month, but the Senate must take action as well to undo Obama’s move.

Trump ‘Skinny’ Budget Blueprint Puts Department of Education on a Diet
For the first time in decades, an administration is significantly trimming the budget at the Department of Education. The Trump administration’s budget blueprint, or “skinny budget,” cuts $9 billion from the agency’s $68 billion budget, trimming spending at the department to $59 billion. That represents a 13 percent reduction in discretionary spending, demonstrating a commitment to restoring federalism in education.

________

from The Living Church

Ambition and Bishops
About the idea of creating a pool of prospective candidates for the episcopacy: Creating a nursery for ambition is a profound theological and spiritual mistake.

________

from Mises Institute

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

The Census Bureau's Faulty Data About a Coming "Non-White" Majority
Government data about race and ethnicity in America is often manipulated for political purposes — and distorts our view of the American population.

Trump's Budget a First Step Toward De-Politicizing Science
While the Trump budget, should it pass, would do little to change government spending as a whole, the targeted cuts would have a positive impact beyond the US debt clock. For example, the proposed cuts to the Energy Department, the EPA, and the National Institute of Health represent a significant step toward separating state and science. Scientific research is important, which is precisely why it should be separated from the state.

________

from New Statesman

"The leading voice of the British left, since 1913."

Dutch election results at a glance
Right-wing blonde bombshell Geert Wilders was trounced. But he wasn't the only one.

Rural pubs are closing at an alarming rate
The village pub is a key – even clichéd – feature of rural England. They evoke images of pork scratchings and perilously low beams, frothy pints of warm ale and the summertime knock of willow on leather. They are often described as “friendly” and “homey” and many believe that they foster social relationships among residents, strengthening the level of cohesion in villages and positively contributing to communal well-being. But very few studies have tried to verify scientifically whether this is the case.

The war on the night: why bad sleep harms your health
Loss of empathy, memory impairment and higher risks of cancer are all linked to lack of sleep. So why don’t we turn in earlier? If you stay up looking at social media on your phone, you risk loss of empathy and raise the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Sturgeon's mission: how Brexit changes the SNP's argument for independence
With Labour in disarray and Westminster focused on leaving the European Union, the next Scottish referendum - whenever it happens - is the SNP’s to lose.

________

from New York Times

Disciples of a False Prophet
Trump’s life story is a pyramid scheme of ambitions.

________

from Patheos

[Information from this site may be questionable.]

Pre-approved Bishops: A Nursery for Ambition
In a report from the meeting at the House of Bishops for The Episcopal Church, Bishop Daniel Martins notes that the bishops are considering creating a pool of prospective candidates for the episcopacy. Creating another smoke-filled room or a nursery for ambition in the church is a profound theological and spiritual mistake.

________

from Russia Insider

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Putin Urges Nations to Reject ‘Chaos’, Join Russia in Creation of ‘Fair’ World
Putin invites foreign diplomats to join Russia in the creation of a "fair world order" that respects "national sovereignty"

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Veterans Affairs budget is in line to grow by 6 percent
The Department of Veterans Affairs, the second-largest federal agency with 313,000 civilian employees and a far-flung hospital system, is one of the few corners of the government that would see its budget grow in the next fiscal year – by 6 percent.

________

from Trains Magazine

UPDATE: Amtrak, light-rail cuts in Trump's first budget

Amtrak and mass transit face severe budget cuts under President Trump's proposed fiscal 2018 budget. And a grant program that has provided funds for rail projects is on the verge of elimination.

________

from The Wall Street Journal

Trump Seeks Major Cut to State Dept., USAID
The proposed cuts, included in a 2018 budget blueprint, are part of the president’s pledge to boost federal spending on the military and slash foreign aid

________

from The Washington Post

Meals on Wheels is ‘not showing any results’ only if you ignore all these results
Meals on Wheels is a nonprofit group that receives funding from the federal government, state and local governments and private donors. “We serve more than 2.4 million seniors from 60 to 100+ years old each year,” the organization writes. “They are primarily older than 60 and because of physical limitations or financial reasons, have difficulty shopping for or preparing meals for themselves.” If that doesn’t clear the bar for “results,” as Mulvaney put it, there’s also been a fair amount of peer-reviewed research on the efficacy of the program.

________

In the news, Wednesday, March 15, 2017

________

MAR 14      INDEX      MAR 16

________

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

________

from Asia Times Online

Economic nationalism isn’t a Dutch thing
Support for far-right candidate Geert Wilders is a protest, not an anti-globalization revolution

Dark shadows of Chinese Exclusion Act in Muslim ban
A racist policy set down nearly 135 years ago by US Congress haunts President’s bar on migrants, says American-Chinese academic Mae Ngai

________

from Bloomberg

Trump to Seek Spinoff of U.S. Air-Traffic Control From FAA
President Donald Trump is backing a controversial effort to place the U.S. air-traffic system under control of a nonprofit corporation as part of his budget plan.
BLOOMBERG.COM

________

from Breitbart

Exclusive — Rand Paul: Let’s ‘Smash’ Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Lite ‘to Smithereens’
Look, I’m a “glass is half full” kind of guy. You have to be. I try to stay positive. I try to keep thinking maybe, maybe someday CONGRESS will remember the vision of our Founding Fathers … and that those we elect will represent us, not the special interests.

________

from CNN

An Oxford comma changed this court case completely
If you have ever doubted the importance of the humble Oxford comma, let this supremely persnickety Maine labor dispute set you straight.

________

from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

CBO Takeaway: Full Repeal Would Insure More People than ObamaCare-Lite
A new Congressional Budget Office report projecting the effects of the House Republican leadership’s American Health Care Act weakens the case for the bill’s ObamaCare-lite approach, and strengthens the case for full repeal. The CBO projected that completely repealing ObamaCare, without a replacement, would increase the uninsured by 23 million people. The agency projects that the non-repeal approach would increase the uninsured by even more than that.

________

from Forbes

5 Caesar Facts To Be Aware Of On The Ides Of March
It is March 15, a day known in antiquity as the Ides of March. From 44 BCE onward, it would also be remembered as the day that Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated.

________

from The Guardian (UK)

[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Calls for ibuprofen sale restrictions after study finds cardiac arrest risk
Over-the-counter drug linked to 31% increased cardiac arrest risk, with the figure rising to 50% for diclofenac, says research. “The findings are a stark reminder that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not harmless," says Prof Gunnar Gislason of the University of Copenhagen.

________

from The Heritage Foundation

[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Why Trump’s Visit to Andrew Jackson’s Grave Matters
On Wednesday, Andrew Jackson’s 250th birthday, President Donald Trump is scheduled to lay a wreath on the seventh president’s grave. He will be the first president since Ronald Reagan to visit Jackson’s home in Nashville, Tennessee. While a seemingly small gesture to a president who had been quickly fading in the minds of Americans, Trump’s visit is an important piece of symbolism for a man who ran under the slogan “Make America Great Again.” Far too often in modern America, we are quick to point out the faults of our history, mock the “hypocrisy” of our forefathers, and abandon old heroes. Jackson has become a prime target of attack, a faded legend into whom we pour all of our nation’s early sins. Jackson’s election proved to Americans that We the People truly controlled the nation’s destiny, not an elite in a far-off powerful city.

Justice Clarence Thomas Questions Congress’ Power to Regulate Business Abroad
Justice Clarence Thomas recently pushed back on Congress' expansive view of its regulatory reach. In a recent opinion, in which he dissented from the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that Congress’ power to regulate international commerce may be broad, but not as broad as some lawmakers and judges would have it. In his dissenting opinion in Damion St. Patrick Baston v. United States, Thomas stated that he is interested in having the court address the limits of Congress’ power to regulate the world economy, and provided new language with which to scrutinize statutes that purport to do just that, such as the Lacey Act. Americans who run afoul of the Lacey Act and other U.S. laws that regulate foreign commerce may find a useful guidepost in Thomas’ dissenting opinion in Baston.

House Leadership’s Health Bill Is Not What Republicans Promised. We Can Do Better.
If there's one thing we Republicans have promised voters since 2010, it's that we will fully repeal Obamacare. This is a defining moment in our own rendezvous with destiny, and we owe it to the American people to get it right.

Canada and Britain Are Nixing Old, Burdensome Laws. Here’s Why America Should Follow Suit.

Some laws just need to go, and both Canada and Great Britain are showing why. This week, Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould announced plans to remove “zombie laws”—unconstitutional, outdated, or otherwise unnecessary sections of law—from Canada’s Criminal Code. Great Britain is pursuing similar ongoing review of its criminal code. Americans face the same messy pileup of federal criminal laws, and Congress should follow our allies’ lead and consider implementing some clear, pragmatic “spring cleaning” solutions. These laws could make any good faith citizen into a felon. They serve no good purpose and need to go.

Jeff Sessions’ Speech to Law Enforcement Signals Tough Approach to Violent Crime
Violent crime rates have surged in the last two years, and police are less willing to proactively engage with potential criminals. Sessions touched on the elephant in the room—understood all too well by the law enforcement community but often by very few others: the crisis in morale affecting our nation’s police officers.

________

from The Living Church

Jesus’ Childhood Home?
Could ancient remains of a courtyard-style house in Nazareth be where Jesus grew up? There is “no good reason” to doubt it, says archaeologist Ken Dark of the University of Reading. “At the very least, it is a hugely important historical finding from the imperial Roman era,” he says.

BBC Loses Production Rights
Critics have claimed for some time that religion on the BBC is being systematically marginalized. BBC Studios has now lost the production rights to Songs of Praise, which has appeared on BBC One on early Sunday evenings since 1961. The Rt. Rev. Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, has warned this could be “another nail in the coffin of the religious literacy of the nation.” The BBC lost out under a new competitive process required by the government.

________

from Mises Institute

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

What Economists Are Not—And Shouldn’t Try to Be
A NBER working paper published this month purports to show how economists, who now undertake more and more policy work, should see their job in terms very similar to plumbers. The history of economic thought is littered with figures of speech that have betrayed the truth of economic laws. Economists should not “design the tap” or “lay the pipes” of economic policies. The market doesn’t need “economist-plumbers” (or “economist-scientists,” for that matter) any more than it needs government intervention in the first place. 

________

from Rare America

[Information from this site may not be vetted.]

John McCain says Rand Paul is “now working for Vladimir Putin”
Sen. John McCain supports making the Balkan country of Montenegro part of NATO. Current senate legislation to make this happen continues to be blocked by McCain’s fellow Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

________

from Sputnik

(Russian government-supported propaganda channel)

US Marines' New Chopper to Be More Expensive Than F-35 Disaster
The US Marines’ King Stallion will not only be the world’s priciest helicopter but also it is poised be acquired at a higher per-unit cost than the US Air Force’s insanely expensive F-35A. Both aerial vehicles share at least one other characteristic, aside from their absurdly high cost and regular poor performance, as they are both manufactured by Lockheed Martin or subsidiary Sikorsky, which Lockheed acquired in 2015. The King Stallion CH-53K carries a current unit sticker-price of $95 million. The Pentagon’s 10th bulk order of F-35s brought those jets into service for approximately $94.6 million apiece.

90% of Mosul Retaken from Daesh - Police Chief
On Tuesday the chief of Iraq’s Federal Police force announced that 90 percent of central Mosul’s Old City had been retaken by security forces, signaling the reclamation of a highly-desired area in the fight against Daesh.

Germany Considering Fines For Social Media Sites that Don’t Remove Hate Speech
The German Justice Minister has proposed harsher punishments on social-media platforms that drag their feet in removing hate speech and ‘fake news,’ The plan is meant to improve protection against abuse and defamation online, with fines as high as 50-million euros ($53 million).

Obama Administration Halted $1B Arms Sale to Taiwan Before Exiting Office
Despite the approval of both the Departments of Defense and of State to send a $1-billion weapons package to boost Taiwan’s border defenses along the controversial Taiwan Strait, the deal was quietly blocked during the lame duck period of the Obama administration, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

Ancient Humans Created the Sahara Desert, Says Archaeologist
A new paper authored by archeologists with Seoul National University has suggested that the Sahara Desert, once green and wet, dried out as a result of the actions of ancient peoples. The spread of agriculture depleted the Sahara’s plant life and caused the region’s the shift to a desert biome, the paper claims. Scientists have long known that, until fairly recently, the massive Sahara Desert was once verdant and teeming with life, until some 6,000 years ago, when rains ended and the desert became as it is today.

________

In the news, Tuesday, March 14, 2017

________

MAR 13      INDEX      MAR 15

________

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

________

from Alex Jones (INFOWARS.COM)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

FAMOUS NAVY SEAL CALLS FOR VETERANS TO DEFEND TRUMP NOW!
Navy SEAL veteran Craig Sawyer gives a live public defense of Trump.
American veterans finally have a commander-in-chief who is ready to fight for their rights.

________

from Anglican Journal

Cathedral bells to ring out in solidarity with refugees
The bells of St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland,  will be ringing on March 19 to signal solidarity with immigrants.

________

from Asia Times Online

Gay scene sees Beauty and the Beast withdrawn in Malaysia

The Walt Disney remake, the studio's first major film to feature an unambiguously gay character, has been pulled from Malaysian cinemas “until further notice”

Sulu Sea as Southeast Asia’s Somalia
A surge in piracy and kidnapping-for-ransom attacks has made the southernmost Philippines one of the most dangerous maritime areas in the world

Does Duterte see eye-to-eye with his generals?
While the Philippine leader cozies up to China, his defense chief has rung alarm bells about Beijing's strategic expansion in the South China Sea

Why has Iran wrecked its economy to fund war in Syria?
With a growing dependence on China and Russia and budding geopolitical ambitions, Tehran is willing to make sacrifices

________

from CapX

Media/News Company in London, UK

Five graphs that will change your mind about poverty

Angus Deaton, the Nobel-prize winning economist (who also sits on the advisory board of HumanProgress.org), recently reiterated his belief that on the whole the world is getting better – if not, as he accepted, everywhere or for everyone at once.

________

from The Catholic Herald (UK)

As a child, I thought Catholics weren’t Christians. Then my mother gave me some wise advice

________

from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

A Kansas Resident's Upset the Children In a Viral Adoption Listing Are White
Just when you thought the obsession with race in this country couldn’t get any worse, it gets worse. One Kansas resident is a leading contender for the position of "Worst Person In the Entire World" for her racially-charged reaction to siblings who were merely looking for a family to adopt them so they could stay together.

________

from Competitive Enterprise Institute

Here's What Donald Trump And Congress Should Do About Regulatory Dark Matter

It's becoming too easy for federal agencies to steer private activity without issuing "real" regulations anymore. Instead, we get regulatory dark matter -- particularly as the economy becomes more technologically advanced. Beyond the dozens of laws and thousands of federal rules and regulations that you can look up, agencies issue thousands of proclamations like memoranda, guidance documents, notices, circulars and administrative interpretations. Already, the President has taken steps towards regulatory reform. Hopefully, the administration will incorporate regulatory dark matter into future actions to "deconstruct the regulatory state."

Mapping Washington’s Lawlessness: CEI Releases Updated Inventory of “Regulatory Dark Matter”

Today, the Competitive Enterprise (CEI) released the 2017 update to its comprehensive report Mapping Washington’s Lawlessness: An Inventory of “Regulatory Dark Matter.” This analysis covers how, in addition to Congress’s own laws and the many thousands of rules issued by unelected regulators, regulatory dark matter exists in the form of thousands of additional issuances from executive and independent agencies. This dark matter goes around Congress, the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) public notice and comment requirements, and the American people themselves.

Trump Should Cut Government-Funded Junk Science
Unlike medical research focused on finding cures for diseases and cancer, NIEHS studies phantom risks associated with trace chemical exposures, with a strong bias against private enterprise and chemical technologies.

________

from Daily Mail (UK)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Obama administration spent $36MILLION trying to keep government records secret during its final year
The Obama administration spent a record $36.2 million on legal costs in its last year in office in an attempt to keep government records secret. For a second consecutive year, the administration set a record for the number of times federal employees said they couldn't find a single page of files that were requested under the Freedom of Information Act. And it set records for the outright denial of access to files, refusing to quickly consider requests described as especially newsworthy, and forcing people to pay for records.

________

from EUobserver

Scottish independence ignites Brexit debate
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon will start the process for an independence vote next week, while British prime minister Theresa May insists that Scotland will have to follow the UK out of the EU and the single market.

Catalan separatists to bring cause to 'heart of Europe'
Catalonia's ex-leader banned from holding office over a 2014 vote on secession, but current leader has pledged a binding referendum in autumn.

Erdogan: German ‘Nazis’ also back ‘terrorists’
Turkey keeps up name-calling, imposes sanctions on Netherlands, and threatens, once again, to scrap EU migrant deal.

UK parliament clears way for Brexit talks
UK MPs refuse to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the UK and do not expect a "meaningful vote" at the end of the Brexit talks, as May gets ready to trigger Article 50.

Rutte and Wilders clash on EU ahead of Dutch vote
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, of the centre-right Liberals, and anti-Islam anti-EU MP Geert Wilders clashed on Monday (13 March) over the EU in one of the few election debates featuring the pair of them, two days before polling day. While Wilders said a Netherlands exit from the European Union would be “the best thing that could happen to us”, Rutte said a "Nexit" would cost 1.5 million jobs and create “chaos”.
Erdogan tells Dutch not to vote for PM Rutte or Wilders

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Vault 7 Confirms, You're Right to Be Paranoid
On March 7, the transparency/disclosure activists at Wikileaks began releasing a series of documents titled “Vault 7.” According to the New York Times, Vault 7 consists of “thousands of pages describing sophisticated software tools and techniques used by the [US Central Intelligence Agency] to break into smartphones, computers and even Internet-connected televisions.” Bottom line: You should accept the possibility that for the last several years, anything you’ve done on or in the presence of a device that can connect to the Internet was observed, monitored, and archived as accessible data. The abuses of our privacy implied by the WikiLeaks dump aren’t an aberration. They’re the norm. They’re what government does.

Money Won't Save the Failing Public School System
Sadly, the government seems to be most inefficient in areas where we all hope for good results. Education is a powerful (and sad) example. School choice is the only way to provide the best quality education at the lowest costs.

Medical Entitlements Make Care Expensive
None of the emerging, alternative healthcare bills are addressing the one elephant in the room that must be slain before anything resembling a free market in healthcare can emerge: entitlements.

Daylight Saving Began as “War Time"
Daylight Saving Time was first introduced to support World War I. Today, the negative impacts of the time change outweigh the purported benefits.

Five Forgotten Champions of the Total State
Most people are aware of the influence of Karl Marx and his ideological compatriots in building 20th-century totalitarianism. But there is another tradition of thought, dating from the early 19th century and continuing through the interwar period, that took a different route in coming to roughly the same conclusions regarding the place of the state in our lives. As opposed to Marx’s “left-Hegelians,” these thinkers are part of the “right-Hegelian” movement who dispensed with the universalism of Marx to applaud nation, race, and war as the essence of life.

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from First Things

SOURCES OF INEQUALITY
Civilization produces inequality. If this is right, the question for egalitarians is: What price are you willing to pay for equality? What creates inequality of wealth?

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from The Heritage Foundation

[Information from this site may be unreliable.]

Pakistan Could Easily Become a Nuclear Hazard. Here’s What Needs to Be Done.
If the U.S. stays soft on Pakistan, the risks of nuclear proliferation will only increase. Far from stigmatizing Pakistan or proposing a witch hunt, our report provides a sound and practical way forward for improving the prospects for stability in the region, reducing global terrorist threats, and providing the basis for a stronger U.S.-Pakistan partnership over the long term.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Five graphs that will change your mind about poverty
Throughout most of human history, poverty was the norm. Then the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution caused income to skyrocket – forever changing the way we live. Angus Deaton, the Nobel-prize winning economist (who also sits on the advisory board of HumanProgress.org), recently reiterated his belief that on the whole the world is getting better – if not, as he accepted, everywhere or for everyone at once. Perhaps that comes as no surprise, but the idea that the world is getting better in regards to poverty is actually a deeply unpopular view.

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from Intellihub

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Rachel Maddow's release of Trump's 2005 "client copy" tax return flops

Maddow's quest for ratings continues with release of Trump's 2005 federal tax return.

Financial reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show Tuesday evening after receiving a leaked “client copy” of the first two pages of President Donald Trumps 2005 federal tax return in his “mailbox.” The two pages released by MSNBC show that “President Donald Trump earned $153 million and paid $36.5 million in income taxes in 2005.”

Former CIA officer: All CIA agents taught to lie, primary mission is to protect the agency

Former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou writes, “Is it so hard to believe that there are elements of the government that don’t like the fact that Trump is rocking their boat or not allowing them primacy in policymaking, a status they enjoyed under both Obama and Bush? As Intercept columnist Glenn Greenwald noted, disliking and distrusting Trump and disliking and distrusting the CIA are not mutually exclusive. It’s not a zero-sum game. Same with the FBI. It’s possible to have a scenario with no good guy.” One of the things that most observers don’t understand is that the CIA will do anything – anything – to survive. All CIA officers are taught to lie. They lie all the time, about everything, to everybody. And they justify it by trying to convince themselves that they are doing it in the national interest, for national security.

Meet the Clinton propaganda network to discredit Donald Trump

A network of Clinton connected organizations are leading the effort to discredit Trump through misinformation and outright lies. The campaign waged against the new President of the United States by the sponsors of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the destruction of the Greater Middle East is on-going. After the Womens’ March on 22 January, a March for Science is scheduled to be held not only in the USA, but also throughout the Western world on 22 April. It’s goal is to show that Donald Trump is not only a misogynist, but also an obscurantist.

New York Times runs cover for the Federal Reserve after Trump considers targeting central bankers

In a possible sign of things to come, the New York Times recently published a piece in which the establishment cites its worry that the private Federal Reserve could soon be targeted by the populist wave that elected Donald Trump. The piece comes amid reports the the fed is set to implement policy that is in stark contrast with the goals of the new president, pitting the central bankers against a president who has shown he isn’t afraid to get rid of those working against his agenda.

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from The Living Church

THE BARE READING OF SCRIPTURE AND ANGLICAN HERMENEUTICS
This post is the first installment in a series on Figural Reading in the Anglican Tradition.

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from Mises Institute

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Is the Era of Ultralow Interest Rates Coming to a Close?
The financial press pretends that there's some grand shift away from the Fed's official low interest rate policy. This narrative is highly misleading. The Wall Street Journal writes on tomorrow's FOMC rate announcement that "[a] long era of ultralow interest rates and bond-buying programs may be drawing to a close." This is remarkable. The minuscule uptick from the .5-.75% range to a .75-1% range is hardly leaving behind ultralow interest rates. As can be seen in the chart below, a quarter percent rise in the federal funds rate will barely show up, when looking at rates from a longer-term perspective.

Hugh Hewitt Throws a Tantrum About the Austrian School (and Much More)
In an oddly jumbled article for the Washington Post, Hugh Hewitt last week somehow managed to group together both opponents of the Export-Import Bank and supporters of so-called sanctuary cities as enemies of the "rule of law." Never mind, of course, that the arguments against the Ex-Im Bank and the arguments for sanctuary cities have nothing in common. Hewitt, however, faced with the opportunity to attack his enemies in WaPo decided he'd find some way to mash them all together as targets for his attack. 

How the Fed Operates — And Why It's a Problem
Central bankers often claim their tinkering with the money supply is but a small intervention, but in reality, it sets the boom-bust cycle in motion. We are often asked about the mechanisms by which the US Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) influences the level of US interest rates and whether these mechanisms also influence the level of the US money supply. It has long been regarded that the Fed no longer inflates and contracts the money supply but rather simply acts to target interest rates. The purpose of this brief paper is to clarify how the Fed works and the impact that its operations have on the money supply.

Moral Hazard: Kenneth Arrow vs. Frank Knight and the Austrians
Rather than impartial referees reducing moral hazard, governments are its most common cause.

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from New Statesman

"The leading voice of the British left, since 1913."

The drive to rid India of black money
Will the state’s gamble with the economy pay off?

Why is Turkey in a row with the Netherlands?
Both Turks and Europeans can point to double standards. 

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from The Spokesman-Review

Survey: Queen Mary severely rusted, could cost $300M to fix
The Queen Mary is so corroded that it’s at urgent risk of flooding or collapse and the price tag for fixing up the 1930s ocean liner could near $300 million, according to a survey. Documents obtained by the Long Beach Press-Telegram (http://bit.ly/2npGoX8 ) state it would likely take five years to rehab the ship, a tourist destination docked permanently in Long Beach Harbor south of Los Angeles.

Goodyear retires blimps but keeps familiar form in flight
Goodyear is letting the helium out of the last of its fabled fleet of blimps. But you’ll still see a familiar blue-and-gold form floating over your favorite sports event or awards show long after the California-based “Spirit of Innovation” goes flat Tuesday. Although its replacement, “Wingfoot Two,” will look about the same when it arrives at Goodyear’s California airship base in Carson later this year, it will be a semi-rigid dirigible.

Rivers, streams and lakes rise to flood stage across Spokane region
Rivers, streams and lakes across the Inland Northwest were rising to flood stage Tuesday with the peak runoff likely to arrive Wednesday and continue into the weekend. Also, the temperature in Spokane hit 60 degrees before 4 p.m. Tuesday, creating good conditions to melt lower-elevation snow.

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from Sputnik

(Russian government-supported propaganda channel)

Rocky Mountain High: Colorado Considering Limiting Homegrown Weed
Colorado -- one of the most liberal states in the nation when it comes to the use of marijuana -- has moved to limit the number of marijuana plants that can be grown at home, from 99 to 16 per residence.

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from The Telegraph (UK)

This creepy facial recognition app lets users find strangers on Facebook by taking their picture
A facial recognition app that can identify strangers from a photograph has been created by a British entrepreneur. Facezam can identify people by matching a photo of them with their Facebook profile. All users have to do is take a picture of someone on the street and run it through the app, which will tell them who it thinks the person in the photo is.

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from WND (World Net Daily)

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

CLAIM: '3 INTELLIGENCE SOURCES' SAY OBAMA USED BRITS TO SPY ON TRUMP
Judge Napolitano: 'There's no American fingerprints on this'

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