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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.
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from Asia Times Online
Indian prime minister is said to be keen to strengthen ties that have appeared to loosen as the two leaders meet at the White House. Both are seeking to boost bilateral relations despite differences over trade, the Paris climate accord and immigration.
Singapore’s ties with Western military campaigns and economic networks make the country a prime target for Islamists seeking to destabilize the multicultural nation
Did Masao Yoshida and his small band of engineers save Japan from a nuclear crisis that could have forced the evacuation of millions of people? Almost nobody associated with the Fukushima disaster came out of it looking good. Yoshida was the exception.
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from Big Think
Socialism saw its heyday in the 20th century when its ideas were adapted by a number of countries, in a variety of bastardizations of its message. In fact, some would argue that a pure socialism never existed. Now it is experiencing a tremendous resurgence in the 21st century due to the growing economic disparity, anger at the establishment and charismatic older socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders in the U.S. and Jeremy Corbyn in the U.K. who gathered massive support from the young. A new wave of socialist thinkers is also beginning to emerge that looks to distance the movement from the historical stigma to formulate a new socialism that speaks to the challenges of today.
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from First Things
During last year's presidential election campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a latecomer to the Democratic Party, positioned himself as a voice for the downtrodden against big moneyed interests, something that many Americans, especially the young, found deeply attractive. In so doing, Sanders drew on a deep tradition of social justice with biblical roots, as evidenced in his powerful address to Liberty University two years ago. Recognizing that “there is no justice when so few have so much and so many have so little,” he laudably demonstrated his concern for the economically disadvantaged in our society. However, judging from his questioning earlier this month of Russell Vought, the president’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sanders appears not to understand that there is no justice where religious liberty lacks protection.
OSSOFF DOES THE RIGHT THING
Now that the most expensive House race in U.S. history has ended—with Republicans managing to retain the seat, despite $25 million and the enthusiasm of Hollywood stars—we can attain a degree of reflective distance. One particular moment in the campaign of the Democrat, Jon Ossoff, shows the extent to which liberalism still misconstrues the cultural climate of vast regions of the country.
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from The Guardian (UK)
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to take to the seas
The £3.5bn cost of the vessel is so high that doubts have been raised over whether the Royal Navy can afford enough fighters for it
George Carey resigns honorary Oxford post over Anglican sex abuse scandal
Former archbishop of Canterbury steps down as honorary assistant bishop following report critical of church’s ‘collusion’ with abuser Peter Ball
Canadian army officer is first female infantry officer to command Queen's Guard
Capt Megan Couto leads 40 Canadian soldiers through changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Twenty years of Harry Potter – the 20 things we have learned
Retail wars, legal battles and vibrating broomsticks ... two decades of JK Rowling’s boy wizard
HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to take to the seas
The £3.5bn cost of the vessel is so high that doubts have been raised over whether the Royal Navy can afford enough fighters for it
George Carey resigns honorary Oxford post over Anglican sex abuse scandal
Former archbishop of Canterbury steps down as honorary assistant bishop following report critical of church’s ‘collusion’ with abuser Peter Ball
Canadian army officer is first female infantry officer to command Queen's Guard
Capt Megan Couto leads 40 Canadian soldiers through changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Twenty years of Harry Potter – the 20 things we have learned
Retail wars, legal battles and vibrating broomsticks ... two decades of JK Rowling’s boy wizard
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from The Heritage Foundation
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
If Congress Is Serious About Tax Reform, It Should Stop Passing Bills Like This
House Speaker Paul Ryan doubled down earlier this month on getting tax reform done by the end of the year. He said he hopes to put a tax bill on President Donald Trump’s desk by “deer season”—Nov. 18 for those who aren’t familiar. But if the recent House vote to extend and expand tax credits for nuclear energy is any indication, Republicans might not be as serious about getting tax reform done this year as they say.
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If Congress Is Serious About Tax Reform, It Should Stop Passing Bills Like This
House Speaker Paul Ryan doubled down earlier this month on getting tax reform done by the end of the year. He said he hopes to put a tax bill on President Donald Trump’s desk by “deer season”—Nov. 18 for those who aren’t familiar. But if the recent House vote to extend and expand tax credits for nuclear energy is any indication, Republicans might not be as serious about getting tax reform done this year as they say.
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from iFIBER ONE News (WA)
Multiple wildfires reported in Chelan, Douglas, Stevens and Ferry counties
Firefighters are battling multiple wildfires in Douglas, Chelan, Stevens and Ferry counties causing smoky skies over central Grant County. Lightning strikes sparked several fires Monday afternoon, including the Southerland Canyon fire near Palisades in Douglas County. That fire is five separate fires and has burned about 300 acres as of 7 p.m., according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)
GOP Donors Grow Skittish Over Lack of Legislative Progress
Deep-pocketed Republicans threaten to withhold support over lack of health care, tax reform victories
James Woods: ‘Free Speech Is Dead in Liberal America’
Check out the reasons the conservative actor turns down most of the interviews he's offered these days
Michigan Democrat: Obama ‘Was Dead Wrong’ on Trade
Dingell says Trump 'understood' voters' economic fears, says party needs to do 'something' on jobs
The Soft Spot in Trump’s Immigration Shift: Workplace Raids
Enforcement hawks grow anxious that punishing rogue businesses pushed to back burner
CNN Sets New Policies on Russia Stories After Embarrassing Retraction
Network execs will review pieces on Trump-Kremlin ties after Anthony Scaramucci fake-news fiasco
SCOTUS Delivers Trump Huge Win: Lifts Most of Block on Travel Ban
Legal experts agree president's early victory on injunctions bodes well for final ruling on executive order
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from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]Last week Ryan McMaken commented on Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's prediction that our grandchildren's work day would shrink to four hours. I agree with Ryan's assessment of Ma's prediction, supported with the facts about how many fewer hours the average work day is today compared with the past. But looking at averages can be deceiving. The work day hasn't shrunk for everyone, and won't shrink for many. How many hours a job requires depends on the nature of the work. In other words, work is highly heterogeneous.
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from New Statesman
"The leading voice of the British left, since 1913."
These books didn’t cure me. They didn’t even come close. But at my lowest moments, Harry Potter was the only thing I enjoyed.
We must fight man-made climate change, says Patricia Scotland. The eco-friendly Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe is modelled after termite mounds. In China, the dry, barren plains of the Loess Plateau have been regenerated and restored to healthy green land; and we have similar examples of land regeneration in Rwanda. The genius of man is the same genius we will employ to stop global warming.
All societies are unequal. But some are more unequal than others.
from Orthodox Christianity
His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa has released a message to the nation’s Muslims in connection with the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan, wishing them peace that can overcome the violence of Islamic terrorism.
DC BIBLE MUSEUM COLLECTING BIBLES IN MORE THAN 2,000 LANGUAGES
The Museum of the Bible, set to open in Washington, D.C. in November, intends to present an exhibit dedicated to the thousands of Bible translations throughout the world, reports the museum’s site. The illumiNations: Global Bible Exhibit “will shed light on the sheer scale of biblical translation into thousands of written languages while simultaneously depicting how many languages are yet to have a translation of the Bible.”
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from Reason Magazine
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
Jake Tapper: ‘We Are Not the Resistance, We Are Not the Opposition’
CNN anchor warns his fellow journalists that truth, not political positioning, is the best approach in the age of Trump
Jake Tapper: ‘We Are Not the Resistance, We Are Not the Opposition’
CNN anchor warns his fellow journalists that truth, not political positioning, is the best approach in the age of Trump
from The Seattle Times
The Supreme Court is letting the administration mostly enforce its 90-day ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries, overturning lower-court orders. The action Monday is a victory for President Donald Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency.
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from The Spokesman-Review
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from War History Online
Winning Isn’t Always Worth It – Pyrrhic Victories Of Military History
The term Pyrrhic victory can be used where someone technically “wins”, or achieves their objective, but the cost makes the victory almost not worth the trouble. The term is most often applied to warfare where a victory is won, but at such a high cost to the victor that they may rethink their goals, or they may lose strategic advantages that lead to them ultimately losing the war they are in. The ramifications of Pyrrhic victories could take several years to actually appear, or the victory could be costly but ultimately still lead to an overall victory.
The Biggest Nuclear Explosions Of Military History
Most of us have seen footage or photographs of the explosions at Nagasaki and Hiroshima: the mushroom cloud, the radius, the devastation. Those, however, were not even close to the biggest nuclear bombs ever detonated. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima, dubbed “Little Boy” was 4 kilotons, and “Fat Man” – dropped over Nagasaki- was between 19-24 kilotons. Just a few years later, the U.S. was testing nuclear bombs in the megatons and the U.S.S.R. followed suit in the early 60s. As horrifying as the bombs of WWII were, they are nothing compared to those of later years. Hopefully, no one will ever use them against real targets.
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from Zero Hedge
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
GM Will Raise $3 Billion In Debt To Fund Pensions
One of the primary reasons why GM files for bankruptcy back in 2009, much to the chagrin of the Obama administration not to mention the company's creditors, was because its pension and retirement benefits had become untenable (ignoring that the GM bankruptcy inverted the liquidation analysis on its head with bondholders crammed down at the expense of unions and pensioners who are a much bigger portion of the US voting population than a few bondholders on Wall Street). And one of the main promises made by management upon emergence was that going forward the company's OPEB and various other retirement benefits would never get out of hand again. Less than ten years later this promise appears to be cracking.
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