In the news, Saturday, March 1, 2008

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FEB 29      INDEX      MAR 02

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from First Things

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE
Allegory fell on hard times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although the charm of beloved works of English literature such as Spenser’s Faerie Queene and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress lies in the imaginative use of allegory, biblical scholars banished the term from their vocabulary. Harper’s Bible Dictionary, for example, published in the 1980s by leading scholars of the Society of Biblical Literature, does not even have an entry under the word. Once a deeper significance of a word or phrase or image is discerned, texts from the Old Testament resonate with a fullness that could be found only in Christ. The Bible becomes a vast field of interrelated words, all speaking about the same reality: the one God revealed in Christ, whose work was confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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In the news, Tuesday, March 1, 2011

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FEB 28      INDEX      MAR 02

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from First Things

READING THE BIBLE WITH THE REFORMERS
For the reformers the Bible was a treasure trove of divine wisdom to be heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested, as the Book of Common Prayer’s collect for the second Sunday in Advent puts it, to the end that “we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou has given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.” All the reformers read, translated, and interpreted the Bible as part of a centuries-old conversation between the holy page of God’s Word and the company of God’s people. While in many cases they broke with the received interpretations of the fathers and the Scholastics who came before them, theirs was nonetheless a churchly hermeneutics. What R. R. Reno has written of theological exegesis in general applies directly to the reformers: “To be a Christian is to believe that the truth found in the Bible is the very same truth we enter into by way of baptism, the same truth we confess in our creeds, the same truth we receive in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.” Our knowledge of God’s truth is not just participatory and based on a receptive epistemic humility, it is also corporate.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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In the news, Friday, October 5, 2018

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OCT 04      INDEX      OCT 06

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from AP  Associated Press - Media/News Company

Kavanaugh says he ‘might have been too emotional’ at hearing

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged Thursday he “might have been too emotional” when testifying about sexual misconduct allegations as he made a final bid to win over wavering GOP senators on the eve of a crucial vote to advance his confirmation. Three GOP senators and one Democrat remain undecided about elevating Kavanaugh to the high court. Two of the Republicans signaled Thursday that they were satisfied with the findings of a confidential new FBI report into the assault allegations, boosting the hopes of GOP leaders.

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from Faith & Freedom
blog.faithandfreedom.us

Kavanaugh?
America is riveted on the Kavanaugh nomination---as we should be. It's that important. As I publish this early this morning, AP reports that "a vote is scheduled for today that will set up a decisive roll call vote---likely over the weekend." Will he? Or won't he become the next US Supreme Court Justice? The nomination will be decided by the Senate, but the cultural battle that has been focused on Kavanaugh will continue because it is a collision of worldviews---one rooted in conservative absolute Judeo-Christian Truth, values and principles; the other in secular progressive "evolving truth" based on whatever an individual believes to be "truth" at any given time.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

Compulsory Schooling Laws: What if We Didn't Have Them?
We should always be leery of laws passed “for our own good,” as if the state knows better. The history of compulsory schooling statutes is rife with paternalism, triggered by anti-immigrant sentiments in the mid-nineteenth century and fueled by a desire to shape people into a standard mold. History books detailing the “common school movement” and the push for universal, compulsory schooling perpetuate the myths that Americans were illiterate prior to mass schooling, that there were limited education options available, and that mandating school attendance under a legal threat of force was the surest way toward equality.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Plummeting Maternal Mortality Rates Are a Sign of Progress
The World Health Organization defines maternal mortality as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy.” Such deaths can occur for a variety of reasons, including bleeding and infection after childbirth, high blood pressure during pregnancy, delivery complications, and unsafe abortion. Early statistics are difficult to come by, but British parish records indicate a maternal mortality rate of 1,000 per 100,000 live births in the first half of the 18th century. Since women were pregnant more often than is the case today, the actual risk of dying due to complications from pregnancy would have been much higher. As the knowledge of best medical practices spread and pharmaceutical drugs became more affordable, maternal mortality rates plummeted throughout the world. The global maternal death rate fell from 385 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 216 in 2015, a reduction of 44 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s poorest region, the number of maternal deaths fell from 987 to 547 over the same time period. That’s a reduction of 45 percent. Similar declines took place in all other geographical regions, except for North America, where the U.S. maternal death rate rose from a minuscule 12 per 100,000 live births to 14.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Media/News Company in Washington, D. C.

Anti-Trump Professor Who Wished ‘Miserable Deaths’ on ‘White Men’ Is No Longer Teaching at Georgetown
An anti-Trump professor, Dr. Carol Christine Fair, is no longer teaching classes at Georgetown University, following calls for the outspoken liberal educator to be fired. Fair stirred up controversy on Twitter when she wished miserable deaths upon Republican senators supporting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

McConnell Proud Senate Stood Up Against ‘Mob Rule’ for Kavanaugh
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised lawmakers for standing up to mob rule Friday by voting in favor of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. “We’ve been under assault,” McConnell (pictured above right) told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an exclusive interview Friday night on “The Ingraham Angle.” “They’ve been after all of us. We’ve sort of been under assault, and everybody decided to stand up to the mob and not be intimated by these people,” he said.

Susan Collins’ Extraordinary Speech on Kavanaugh and the Constitution: Full Text
Maine Republican senator draws widespread praise for compelling logic and impressive evidence in her Friday remarks.

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from Miami Herald

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Yes, I’m a Republican. No, you can’t tell a soul!

The other day, a woman confessed to me that she’s a Republican. Republicans may bristle at the verb, but it’s used advisedly. The lady admitted her party affiliation the way you would some personal failing. “I don’t tell a lot of people,” she said, “but . . .” In fairness, her reticence might have been in part because we met in a blue state. But she also made clear her disenchantment with the GOP on its own merits — or lack thereof.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, October 4, 2018

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OCT 03      INDEX      OCT 05

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

________

from Bloomberg

Media/News Company

The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies
The attack by Chinese spies reached almost 30 U.S. companies, including Amazon and Apple, by compromising America’s technology supply chain, according to extensive interviews with government and corporate sources.

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from Crosscut

News & Media Website in Seattle, WA.

Why blocking Kavanaugh may be worse than the alternative
Sue Lani Madsen: Memory is a tricky thing in trauma. A few thoughts on the lose-lose situation facing the US Senate. And why #ConfirmKavanaugh is the better choice for the country. She said, he said. It’s hard to get excited about translating stupid things a boy says in his high school yearbooks, or debating the propriety of throwing ice at a college bar. There are holes in a girl’s story, more questions than answers about the past. I'm so done with the whole thing. Watching from a ranch in central Washington meant too much time on C-SPAN, Twitter and Facebook.  A common reaction to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony last Thursday has been “something happened, we just don’t know who, when, what or where.”

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from Faith & Freedom
blog.faithandfreedom.us

China And America's Religious Left Re-Writing The Bible
The Chinese government is supervising a 5-year plan to make Christianity more compatible with socialism---including Buddhist "scripture" and Confucian teachings, and new commentaries for the New Testament. America's religious Left is also re-writing the Bible. When not discrediting evangelicals, Jim Wallis' so-called "religious Left" or "Christian Left" is finding ways to use reinterpreted sacred Scripture to justify their liberal, leftist, socialist, progressive beliefs.

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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

China & Middle East: Regional Rebalancing
The Middle East, a region once embroiled in the Cold War struggle of east and west, is now bearing witness to new geopolitical shifts.   The emergence of Beijing on the Middle Eastern landscape where it is quenching its thirst for energy resources and forging regional relationships through its One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) with countries as diverse as Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) comes at the expense of Washington’s longstanding primacy.

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from Miami Herald

Leonard Pitts Jr.: So, tell me again how Brett Kavanaugh is the victim?

Let’s get something straight: Men are not the victims here. It is a foolish and offensive line of reasoning, so naturally it has caught traction on the political right. Indeed, for some, it is an article of faith as the confirmation of would-be Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh becomes ever more deeply mired in accusations that, as a high school boy, he committed attempted rape. For them, Kavanaugh is every man — and every man is in danger.

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from Orthodox Christianity

Organization in Moscow, Russia

PATRIARCH KIRILL WRITES TO PRIMATES OF ALL LOCAL CHURCHES ABOUT UKRAINIAN SITUATION
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has written to all the primates of the world’s 15 Local Orthodox Churches to inform them about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and to propose opening a pan-Orthodox discussion on the matter, Fr. Nikolai Balashov, the Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, told RIA-Novosti. “The Russian Orthodox Church’s position on so-called Ukrainian autocephaly and on the possible negative consequences of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s actions for the unity of universal Orthodoxy is outlined in the letters. They also contain a proposal to start efforts to start a pan-Orthodox discussion on the situation,” Fr. Nikolai said.The Russian Orthodox Church’s position on so-called Ukrainian autocephaly and on the possible negative consequences of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s actions for the unity of universal Orthodoxy is outlined in the letters. They also contain a proposal to start efforts to start a pan-Orthodox discussion on the situation,” Fr. Nikolai said.

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from Psephizo  Blog

Is this the solution to our missional challenge?
At the last Archbishops’ Council, I was rather startled to come across a slide in a presentation on some background issues about funding and mission. The slide offered an analysis of the proportion of the population attending Church of England churches against another factor, and there was a striking correlation. So, if you could guess what one factor correlated with increased attendance, what would you guess it would be? My instinctive response was to do with social context. Hereford, Carlisle and Gloucester are substantially rural dioceses, whereas Manchester, Chelmsford and Birmingham are substantially urban. But it turns out that the correlation in question actually applies within dioceses, and in the comparison between areas of similar social context. The answer is: number of stipendiary clergy. Here is the graph with the axis labelled. And for me it raises a series of questions.

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from Reason Magazine

Magazine in Los Angeles, California

L.A. Mayor Says Gas Taxes Are Needed to Fix Roads While Standing in Front of Rail Station Funded By Gas Taxes
Opponents of Proposition 6, a California ballot initiative that would repeal the state's recent $5-billion-a-year gasoline tax increase, are playing a difficult double game. They argue that any additional money motorists pay at the pump is needed to fix the state's dilapidated roads and bridges, while insisting that eliminating the revenue will jeopardize mass transit projects those motorists don't use. Whatever hope gas tax proponents have of getting these motorists to vote for keeping their gas taxes so high rests on convincing them that the new money will pay for road repair and maintenance. Highlighting the billions of dollars of gas tax revenue being siphoned away from these repairs to pay for mass transit does not make that task any easier. At the same time, getting urban liberals, environmentalists, and other members of the pro-transit coalition to show up and vote no on the gas tax repeal requires occasional references to all those rail and bus projects.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Wednesday, October 3, 2018

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OCT 02      INDEX      OCT 04

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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 Business Insider

LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Top Senate Republican questions Christine Blasey Ford's truthfulness after sworn statement from ex-boyfriend contradicts some of her testimony
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is questioning Christine Blasey Ford's truthfulness regarding allegations Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her. An ex-boyfriend of Ford's, whose identity remains anonymous, provided a written statement that seemingly contradicts claims she made while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee September 27. Grassley sent a letter to Ford's lawyers demanding they provide key materials. Ford's legal team says she stands by her testimony.

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from CBS News (& affiliates)

Toys R Us comeback in works as bankruptcy auction canceled
There may be a second act for Toys R Us, which shut down hundreds of stores over the summer. A group of investors said in a bankruptcy court filing Tuesday that it's scrapping an auction for Toys R Us assets. The investors believe they'll do better by potentially reviving the toy chain, rather than selling it off for parts. The investors said they'll work with potential partners to develop new ideas for stores in the U.S. and other countries "that could bring back these iconic brands in a new and re-imagined way." Toys R Us suffocated under a staggering $5 billion debt load before liquidating its U.S. assets this year.  A leveraged buyout hobbled the company and hundreds of stores were shuttered in June to the dismay of children and numerous generations of one-time children.

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from Conciliar Post

A LIFE WITHOUT SUFFERING

A life without suffering is no life at all. We worship, though we often forget it, a God that embraced suffering. Jesus came not to condemn the world and its suffering but to “save” it all through suffering (John 3). The most basic tenet of the Christian walk is sacrifice—sacrifice not with the goal of placation, but transformation. The sacrifice of the heart involves testing everything—our words, actions, and motivations—to assess whether it bears fruit. And that fruit is selflessness. That fruit is love, and joy, and peace.

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from Faith & Freedom
blog.faithandfreedom.us

How George Soros Influenced Republican Sen. Jeff Flake
Remember the two women who confronted Republican Senator Jeff Flake at the elevator outside the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Kavanaugh hearing last week? And remember that Flake came back for the vote, and after promising he would vote in favor of moving Kavanaugh forward to the full Senate, changed his mind and said he would keep his promise only if the committee allowed another FBI investigation of Brett Kavanaugh? The 7th such investigation over Kavanaugh's life of public service. Let's take a closer look at who is backstage.

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from First Things

COURAGE IN THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND
Forty years ago this week, the Catholic Church was in serious trouble. The last years of Pope Paul VI had witnessed an endless sequence of controversies, of which mass dissent from the encyclical Humanae Vitae—dissent that would have devastating effects on clerical discipline and erode episcopal authority—was but one. Then came a brief moment of exuberance, as Catholic spirits were lifted by the election of Cardinal Albino Luciani to the papacy.  Then, 33 days into what seemed a promising pontificate, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his bed on the morning of September 28, 1978.  And the Church was plunged back into Bunyan’s Slough of Despond.  The shock of the pope’s death was perhaps most intense among the men who had just put Luciani on the Chair of Peter. What God was saying, some cardinal-electors concluded, was that it was a time for courage. So when the two principal Italian contenders in the second conclave of 1978 deadlocked and essentially cancelled each other out as candidates, several cardinals summoned up the courage to propose what then seemed virtually unthinkable: looking outside Italy for a pope. It also took courage for Karol Wojtyła to accept election, knowing that he would have to leave the rich Cracovian culture from which he drew strength and inspiration. But it’s the courage of the cardinal-electors on which we might well focus our attention now, when the Catholic Church seems bogged down in another Slough of Despond. 

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from KHQ Local News (NBC Spokane)

Fire in Elmer City destroys 4 mobile homes, damages 2 others
Okanogan Counter Emergency Management says a fire that started outside Elmer City Tuesday destroyed four mobile homes and damaged two others.

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from KXLY 4 News (ABC Spokane)

Neighbors devastated by aftermath of Elmer City fire

As police continue to investigate what caused a 15-acre fire to break out at the Grandview Village Mobile Home Park Tuesday night, neighbors are devastated by the damage left behind. 

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from Mises Institute

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Economics Everywhere, Politics Nowhere: The Benefits of Swiss Decentralization
Is there any hope in the Western World that individual citizens can win some release from the relentless and imprisoning growth of government? In the US, government spending, a reasonable proxy for their power over us, increases every year, except for a few minor blips. The citizens’ situation becomes more and more dire. We have precious little say and little influence over our taxes, our health care, our energy and water supplies and costs, not to mention the social rules with which the government constrains us. The number of rules and regulations, using the proxy of pages in the Federal Register, also increases every year, and very few rules are removed. The government closes in on us more and more every day. There is one western country that we might look at to see a glimpse of hope. That country is Switzerland. In a small landlocked country with precious little in the way of natural resources except water, the people have created a high level of prosperity based on innovation and creative capitalism.

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from Orthodox Christianity

Organization in Moscow, Russia

“THE CHURCH DOES NOT BOW TO POLITICIANS”—PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
Continuing his fraternal visit to the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa concelebrated the Great Consecration of the rebuilt Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Bolgrad with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine. The Alexandrian primate again offered words of support and consolation to the Ukrainian faithful, as he had during the services he celebrated in Odessa, noting that he came to Ukraine to bear witness to his love and to the fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is the only canonical Church in Ukraine, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

ESTONIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CONDEMNS CONSTANTINOPLE’S INTERFERENCE IN UKRAINE
The Holy Synod of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has published a statement on its official website expressing “its deep concern over the dangerous development of the Church situation in Ukraine caused by the unilateral actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.”

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Fire destroys multiple mobile homes in Okanogan County’s Elmer City
A fire tore through a mobile home park in Okanogan County’s Elmer City on Tuesday, destroying several homes and displacing multiple families. Maurice Goodall, director of Okanogan County Emergency Management, said the 15-acre fire sparked up in the afternoon at the Grandview Village mobile home park on the north end of the town, where it spread to six buildings, leveling four and damaging two. Four families were displaced and are staying with members of the Colville Tribe.

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from The Star (Grand Coulee, WA)

In Elmer City, high winds whip up fire, burning homes
High winds threw an Elmer City fire across Highway 155 last night after a blaze started in the Grandview Mobile Home Park below the highway. Details were sketchy last night, but one person with an emergency channel radio said at least three mobile homes had burned. From a vantage point a couple miles away, the fire apparently had burned up a ravine that skirts the town to its south, threatening houses on the hillside.

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from Townhall.com

RIGHT BIAS,  HIGH,  American conservative website and print magazine

BREAKING: Capitol Police Just Arrested a Democratic Congressional Staffer in the Doxxing of GOP Senators
Capitol Police on Wednesday evening arrested a Democratic congressional staffer who allegedly doxxed a handful of Republican senators and then posted their personal information online. Jackson Cosko, 27, was charged with making public restricted personal information, witness tampering, threats in interstate communication, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, second-degree burglary and unlawful entry, although additional charges could be added. Cosko most recently worked for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) but has also been a staffer with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Fox News reported.

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In the news, Tuesday, October 2, 2018

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OCT 01      INDEX      OCT 03

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

________

from CNBC

TV Network in Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees 
Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos have been facing criticism for its pay disparity. The new minimum wage will benefit more than 250,000 Amazon employees — including part-time and temporary employees — and 100,000 seasonal employees. Amazon says the effect of the higher pay will be reflected in its forward-looking quarterly guidance.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Media/News Company in Washington, D. C.

Hillary Clinton Slams Brett Kavanaugh as FBI Investigation Continues
Hillary Clinton was the guest at an “ideas festival” hosted by The Atlantic magazine on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., and she responded to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s claims during his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony last week that the allegations against him were, in part, an orchestrated leftist effort “on behalf of the Clintons” to derail his nomination.

McConnell and Feinstein Clash on Timing of Kavanaugh Vote
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) defied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday, arguing that a vote this week on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would be too soon. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called for all information related to FBI investigation to be made public before voting.

It’s a ‘Very Scary Time for Young Men in America,’ Trump Warns
President Donald Trump warned reporters on Tuesday that “it’s a very scary time for young men in America” amid the sexual assault allegations leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (shown above left). “My whole life, I’ve heard you’re innocent until proven guilty. But now you’re guilty until proven innocent. That is a very, very difficult standard,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “I say that it’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of.”

Kavanaugh Accuser’s Recollection May Stem from False Memory, Suggests Psychology Professor
Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of sexual assault at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could stem from a false memory, Dr. Robert Mather told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Monday night on “The Ingraham Angle.” “There’s volumes of research that show, going back to [Dr. Elizabeth] Loftus’ work, that you can implant memories in children, such as being lost in the mall,” said Mather, who is a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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from Reuters

International news agency headquartered in London, England

Amazon raises minimum wage to $15, urges rivals to follow
Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it would raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour for U.S. employees from next month, giving in to critics of poor pay and working conditions at the world’s second most valuable company. notes: Pay careful attention to two things. 1) The low percentage of Amazon employees already making below $15 -- it seems that the average pay of warehouse workers is already close to $14hr and of course, anyone who works on the development side makes far more than that. 2) The speedy increase of automated solutions at Amazon's warehouses. Also note that this is very unlikely to result in *any* reduction in welfare recipient numbers.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Monday, October 1, 2018

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SEP 30      INDEX      OCT 02

________

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

________

from Breitbart

RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, American conservative news and opinion website

Prosecutor’s Senate Report Outlines 9 Reasons Why Christine Blasey Ford Not Credible
Rachel Mitchell, the veteran sex crimes prosecutor chosen by Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to question Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh, has filed a report that points out Ford’s inconsistencies and apparent deceptions. “In the legal context, here is my bottom line,” she writes. “A ‘he said, she said’ case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that. I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence.” She adds, “Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.” This means Ford’s story does not reach the 50-50 level of being more likely to have occurred than not.

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from The North American Anglican

Media/News Company: "A journal of orthodox theology in the Anglican tradition"

A LITURGICAL BAIT-AND-SWITCH?
REFLECTIONS IN LIGHT OF DREW NATHANIEL KEANE'S "A RESPONSE TO ACNA'S PROPOSED PRAYER BOOK 2019"

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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from Zero Hedge

CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE,  MIXED,  financial blog with aggregated news and opinion

Father Of World Wide Web Launches Platform Which Aims To Radically Decentralize The Internet
"For people who want to make sure the Web serves humanity, we have to concern ourselves with what people are building on top of it,” Tim Berners-Lee told Vanity Fair last month. "I was devastated" he said while going through a litany of harmful and dangerous developments of the past three decades of the web. That's why "the Father of the World Wide Web" has launched a start-up that intends to end the dominance of Facebook, Google, and Amazon, while in the process letting individuals take back control of their own data. Berners-Lee's new online platform and company Inrupt is being described as a "personal online data store," or pod, where everything from messages, music, contacts or other personal data will be stored in one place overseen by the user instead of an array of platforms and apps run by corporations seeking to profit off personal information. The project seeks “personal empowerment through data” and aims to "take back" the web, according to company statements.

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In the news, Sunday, September 30, 2018

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SEP 29      INDEX      OCT 01

________

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

________

from Bloomberg

Media/News Company

U.S. and Canada Reach Trade Deal to Keep Nafta Trilateral
The U.S. and Canada have agreed on a trade deal that would save the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral bloc, according to three people familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump has approved the developments and the expectation is that an agreement will be announced on Sunday night, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian officials are working on the final touches.

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from CBC News (Canada)

Provincial Archives project to give genealogists, others fast access to 'goldmine'
Hundreds of Anglican Church registers dating back to the 1790s will be a lot easier to access after they are scanned and put online in a project underway at the Provincial Archives. The goal of the project, undertaken with the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton and the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, is to make it easier to access some important records housed at the archives in Fredericton. The registers include information about baptisms, marriages and burial dates and locations. "Once material is digitized you're looking at a lifetime of maintenance issues that are far more complicated than simply putting the physical records into a cold storage vault. You're looking at ongoing expenses for digital storage, ensuring the formats stay accessible, ensuring that software that can read the digital material is available and sustainable, and so on."

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Media/News Company in Washington, D. C.

Democrats Try to Blow Open the Flake-Coons FBI Compromise
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s administration will not “micromanage” the FBI’s supplemental investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh — but Democrats are pushing to do just that. “The White House counsel has allowed the Senate to dictate what these terms look like and what the scope of the investigation is,” Sanders told Wallace. “The White House isn’t intervening. We’re not micromanaging this process.” Sanders cautioned, however, that “we cannot allow the people that have acted in bad faith to determine and allow this to become a total fishing expedition by the FBI.”

Graham Calls for Investigation of Feinstein’s Office, Ford’s Lawyers
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for a “full-scale investigation” of the “despicable process” the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats followed regarding Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s, when both were high schoolers in suburban Maryland. “I’m [going to] call for an investigation of what happened in this committee, who betrayed Dr. Ford’s trust, who in Feinstein’s office recommended Katz as a lawyer, why did Ms. Ford not know that the committee was willing to go to California, [and] who released the anonymous letter given to the committee by Cory Gardner,” Graham told ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos. Graham said that the referral of Ford to the first of her attorneys, Debra Katz, was “illegal” and “inappropriate.” He said he believes Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) denial of personal involvement in leaking Ford’s identity to the press. But Graham limited his belief solely to Feinstein, saying that he “likes” and “respects” the 85-year-old ranking minority member of the committee, which referred Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate on Friday.

Kellyanne Conway Reveals She Was a Victim of Sexual Assault
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway dropped a painful bombshell on CNN Sunday morning during an interview with Jake Tapper on “State of the Nation.” She revealed that she herself was a victim of sexual assault. (See the interview in the video below.) Conway brought up her own experience while discussing the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that have been leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who gave emotional testimony last Thursday — as did his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford — before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Anita Hill’s Case Proves Christine Blasey Ford Has a Lot to Gain
When Professor Anita Hill resigned from the faculty of the University of Oklahoma law school in 1995, she wasn’t teaching. She was instead working on the first of two books for which she had a deal worth more than $1 million with the Doubleday Publishing Company. It’s doubtful Hill (pictured above, left) would have been able to command such a price had she not, four years earlier in 1991, claimed that then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her former boss at a federal agency, had made improper sexual advances toward her. The $1 million advance Hill received in 1993 following the Thomas debacle would be worth more than $1.7 million today.

Some Things Aren’t Funny, ‘SNL’ — The Kavanaugh Family’s Pain Is One of Them
NBC show mocked the Supreme Court nominee's love of friends, his calendars, even his high school virginity. In classic fashion, “Saturday Night Live” kicked off its new season with a cold open using Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony this past Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee as fodder. Actor Matt Damon played the nominee (he’s seen in character in the photo above) — and portrayed him as a hot-tempered beer lover who doesn’t “know the meaning of the word ‘stop.'”

Chuck Grassley Destroys Bernie Sanders’ Request for Yet Another FBI Kavanaugh Investigation
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Saturday — and in it, Sanders requested that the FBI not only investigate accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against the president’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, but also the truthfulness of the answers Kavanaugh gave last Thursday during an emotional hearing that was televised live. Grassley responded to Sanders’ letter and political posturing late Saturday night in terse and definitive fashion.

‘SNL’ Cuts Off Kanye West’s Pro-Trump Speech, Tells Him Not to Wear MAGA Hat
The right-leaning rapper says he was 'bullied' behind the scenes for daring to stand up for conservatives on the leftist show.

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from Orthodox Christianity

Organization in Moscow, Russia

USA PREVENTED UKRAINE FROM OVERCOMING SCHISM - UOC OFFICIAL
Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service Vasily Anisimov in his interview with Radonezh Radio spoke about the meeting of Patriarch Alexei II, Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia in Odessa in 1997. "It turns out that the American ambassador in Ukraine called the patriarchal residence, demanding Patriarch Bartholomew to the phone, saying that the USA, which supports the Constantinople Patriarchate, support Filaret's schismatic "Kiev Patriarchate" in Ukraine and demanded that no such address be signed. One phone call, and moreover in a cynical and humilitaing form for Patriarch Bartholomew, thwarted the overcoming of schisms," Anisimov said.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Saturday, September 29, 2018

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SEP 28      INDEX      SEP 30

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from Asia Times Online

News & Media Website

A demographic explanation of America’s low-wage mystery
With the US unemployment rate at the lowest level in a generation and many industries reporting labor shortages, US wages are supposed to be rising. They aren’t. For the past two years, inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings of US workers barely have risen with respect to the previous year. Low wage growth contributes to low inflation, which frustrates the Federal Reserve and most of the economics profession. A large part of the explanation (and perhaps the largest part) is that the American population is aging, workers are retiring later, and – critically – older workers (55 years and over) have far lower wage gains than younger workers.

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from CNBC

TV Network in Englewood Cliffs, NJ

SEC settles charges with Tesla's Elon Musk, will remain as CEO but relinquish chairman role and pay stiff fine
The SEC settled charges with Tesla over Elon Musk's bid to take the company private on Saturday. As part of the settlement, Musk and Tesla will pay $20 million each, and the billionaire will step down as chairman of the board.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

Data Show a Clear Correlation Between Economic Freedom and Prosperity
This morning, the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, published the 22nd edition of its annual Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report. For a long time, we’ve known that, on average, freer economies are richer, grow faster and have longer life expectancies. But the 2018 edition of the EFW gives us more insight than ever before into the intrinsic link between economic freedom and other measures of human well-being—such as infant mortality, equality, happiness, and extreme poverty rates.

The 10 States with the Best Tax Systems (and the 10 Worst)
The specifics of a state’s tax structure matter greatly. The measure of total taxes paid is relevant, but other elements of a state tax system can also enhance or harm the competitiveness of a state’s business environment. The State Business Tax Climate Index distills many complex considerations to an easy-to-understand ranking. Wyoming, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Nevada rank among the best states, while California, New Jersey, Vermont, and Ohio are some of the worst.

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from New York Times
Newspaper in New York

How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t

The historical Christian positions on social issues don’t match up with contemporary political alignments. What should the role of Christians in politics be? More people than ever are asking that question. Christians cannot pretend they can transcend politics and simply “preach the Gospel.” Those who avoid all political discussions and engagement are essentially casting a vote for the social status quo. American churches in the early 19th century that did not speak out against slavery because that was what we would now call “getting political” were actually supporting slavery by doing so. To not be political is to be political.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Sue Lani Madsen: A teachable moment on teen drinking
It’s been a gut-wrenching week for anyone following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and a teachable moment to discuss community norms and parents’ role in underage drinking. That’s the focus of the 64 Community Prevention Wellness Initiative coalitions funded by the state of Washington. These coalitions tackle prevention with a local focus. Spokane County has two: the East Valley Community Coalition in the East Valley School District and the West Spokane Wellness Partnership centered around the West Central Neighborhood.

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In the news, Friday, September 28, 2018

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SEP 27      INDEX      SEP 29

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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

News & Media Website

Syrians in Turkey feel the sting of dire currency crisis
The Turkish economic crisis is having a domino effect on the more than 2.5 million Syrians in the country as workshops shut down and families find themselves unable to support dependents and sustain remittances. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who once found stability and a source of remittances in Turkey, now face unemployment and deepening poverty.

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from The Babylon Bee  [Satire]

Senate To Be Replaced With Room Full Of Monkeys Throwing Feces

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from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)

RIGHT BIAS

Knife Violence in Knife-Banned London Is So Bad, Kids Are Wearing 'Knife-Proof Vests'
One need not be cynical to sneer at the high profile politicians who control London and tell people that their fanciful statutory “bans” on guns and knives will do anything save put innocent people at increased risk of violent crime. In fact, a new story by Selwyn Duke, of The New American reveals that loving parents in London are responding to the shocking rise in knife crime, not by applauding the useless and rights-infringing so-called “knife ban” put in place by feckless London Mayor Sadiq Kahn in April, but by buying their kids “knife-proof vests”.

NBC Fears: Kavanaugh Hearing ‘Dramatic Display of How Little Things Have Changed’
During Friday’s Today show, co-host Savannah Guthrie pointed out that the hearing with Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was “playing out in the context of the #MeToo movement” and asked: “...how are people, you know, folks out there watching what’s happening on Capitol Hill?” Instead of simply talking to “folks,” in the report that followed, correspondent Stephanie Gosk lined up a series of left-wing activists to condemn Kavanaugh.

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from The Heritage Foundation

RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Why Another FBI Investigation of Kavanaugh Would be Pointless
Campaigns of whatever sort often adopt a mantra, a phrase or even a single word that’s repeated over and over to advance the campaign’s goals. The campaign against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is no different, and their latest mantra is “FBI investigation.” Let’s look at this mantra’s objectives and its validity.

America’s First "Robot Sex Brothel" Is Bad News for Our Culture
Sex robots are coming to America, and Houston is the first battleground. The first “robot sex brothel” in America is set to open in Houston, Texas, this November. The mayor is currently investigating how to restrict or regulate it. This disturbing development is sure to have a negative impact on society. Concerned citizens in Houston are right to point out that sex robots are unsafe, unsanitary, and likely to increase demand for sex trafficking. Psychologists have warned that sex robots could increase sex addiction.

Trump and Congress Just Gave the Military a Big Boost
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the appropriations package that provides funding for the 2019 defense budget, giving the military a much-needed boost. The non-defense elements of the bill are less welcome, however, and will not serve our country’s overall economic health. The totality of the bill will contribute to our increasing debt and deficit, while not reforming the unsustainable trajectory of federal spending.

President Trump at the UN: An Unapologetic Defense of "Principled Realism"
Addressing the United Nations for the second time in his presidency, Donald Trump spoke first to the American people, using the opportunity to tout his domestic policies and successes. “The United States is stronger, safer and a richer country than it was when I assumed office less than two years ago,” he proclaimed. However, the bulk of the speech outlined and defended his foreign policy and international priorities—exactly what you’d expect in a speech before the world’s leaders. Overall, the speech was quintessential Trump. It was an unapologetic defense of his “principled realism” approach to foreign policy—one that elevates the interests of the United States and protection of the American people above all and explicitly rejects the more idealized global leadership role favored by the foreign-policy establishment—with significant divergence in means and goals—on the left and the right. This approach wins few plaudits in Turtle Bay and Washington, but appeals strongly to those who most concern Trump: non-coastal Americans who have grown increasingly concerned that their circumstances and welfare are irrelevant to the decisionmakers in Washington.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Heroes of Progress, Pt. 2: Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch
Our second Heroes of Progress installment features two German Nobel Prize-winning scientists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. The two have created the “Haber-Bosch process,” which efficiently converts nitrogen from the air into ammonia (i.e., a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen). Ammonia is then used as a fertilizer to dramatically increase crop yields. The impact of Haber and Bosch’s work on global food production transformed the world forever. Throughout the 19th century, farmers used guano (i.e., the accumulated excrement of seabirds and bats) as highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium - nutrients that are essential for plant growth. But by the beginning of the 20th century, guano deposits started to run out, and the price of the fertilizer began to increase. If a solution to the depletion of guano hadn’t come soon, famine would have followed.

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from Miami Herald

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Republican senators can’t even fake compassion competently

Give the Republicans credit: They worked hard to create the appearance of enlightened compassion. Meaning, of course, Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into claims by psychology professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that, 36 years ago, when she was 15 and he 17, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh drunkenly tried to rape her. With the ghost of Anita Hill staring over their shoulders, GOP lawmakers were desperate to stage-manage the optics.

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from Orthodox Christianity

Organization in Moscow, Russia

PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA VISITS UKRAINE IN SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH CANONICAL CHURCH (+ VIDEO)
Constantinople hierarchs and Ukrainian media have misrepresented Patriarch Theodoros' stance on the Ukrainian autocephaly issue.

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from Quora

Is Brett Kavanaugh correct that the hearing was revenge on behalf of the Clintons?

If he meant that the Democrats have been in a long-running tantrum ever since Hillary lost the election, and this is just their latest attempt to get a little petty revenge, I think he's got a point.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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