In the news, Saturday, September 12, 2009

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SEP 11      INDEX      SEP 13

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from San Francisco Chronicle

Researchers retrace route of Sir Francis Drake
The white cliffs rose up in brilliant contrast to the deep blue sea as the catamaran known as the Kitty Kat edged toward shore Friday, full of researchers, history buffs and naturalists reliving the epic voyage by Sir Francis Drake more than four centuries ago. The trip was a rare opportunity to follow in the wake of Capt. Drake and see exactly what the famous mariner saw as he sailed along the Point Reyes coast looking for a safe harbor. "Here it is," shouted Edward Von der Porten, president of the Drake Navigators Guild, extending his arm toward the famous estero as it came into view, lit by a bright sun that moments before had emerged from a shroud of fog. "This is the site where the English first landed in America. What a sight!" Despite years of controversy, the researchers on this boat were not in doubt about where Drake parked the Golden Hind 430 years ago. They were armed with troves of evidence showing that the "faire and good Baye" that Drake described during his 16th century voyage to North America was the very one named after him along the Point Reyes National Seashore.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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In the news, Friday, December 20, 2019

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DEC 19      INDEX      DEC 21

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from BBC News (UK)

Son of Russian spies feels 'relief' to be Canadian
The son of Russian spies has spoken of his relief after a court decided to let him keep his Canadian citizenship. Alexander Vavilov had his citizenship revoked after his parents, who worked for Russia's foreign intelligence service, were arrested in 2010. He was born in Canada, and until their arrest he believed his parents were Canadian too. It is the first time he has spoken since Canada's Supreme Court ruled his citizenship was valid.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Stuff of Progress, Pt. 6: Rubber

Approximately 10 percent of all flowering plants produce a small amount of latex when punctured or cut. Latex is a complex chemical mixture of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins, and gums that coagulate upon exposure to air. As the latex polymer hardens, it begins to resemble a crude form of rubber recognizable to anyone acquainted with modern rubber.

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from New Eastern Europe

bimonthly news magazine dedicated to Central and Eastern European affairs

What kind of Ukraine does Russia want?
In the wake of Normandy talks, it would be worthwhile to clearly examine what Russia’s strategic goal for Ukraine is, since the essence and format of the negotiations are determined by that. First, let’s determine Russia’s strategic interests in Ukraine, then outline the different scenarios and evaluate their attractiveness to Russia. What are the main characteristics of the Russian state? First and foremost, it is an empire, albeit a bit shabby and diminished in 1991, but in all senses a successor to all previous imperial formats of statehood, from the tsarist monarchy to the Soviet Union. Secondly, it is an authoritarian state where the tradition of democracy, human rights and accountability had never taken root. It is important that both characteristics are inherent to Russia: it was born as a state with these characteristics, then grew and existed due to them.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, December 19, 2019

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DEC 18      INDEX      DEC 20

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________

from Christianity Today

Media/News Company based in Carol Stream, Illinois

Trump Should Be Removed from Office
It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.

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from EURACTIV
media network for Europe publishing free, independent policy news debates in 12 languages

Russia, Ukraine agree ‘in principle’ new gas deal, signature expected in Minsk
Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission, after hours-long talks on Thursday, agreed in principle on a new gas deal starting after 1 January 2020, European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič told a briefing. Ukraine is a key transit route for Russian piped gas exports to Europe. The current deal between the two post-Soviet countries expires at the end of the year.

________

from The Hill

News & Media Website in Washington, D.C.

Schumer rips McConnell: Why are you afraid of impeachment witnesses?
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday hit back at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) upbraiding of the House impeachment votes and questioned why the GOP leader wouldn't support trial witnesses.

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from Hoover Institution

Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

Unknowable Syria?
I had to take a pause once news filtered out that the ‘caliph’ of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed in the small village of Barisha near the Syrian-Turkish border—of all places. Notwithstanding that that area of Idlib Province is currently controlled by his ideological rivals—fellow jihadists who would have gladly killed him off themselves—and has been so for a number of years, there were several other mitigating factors that would deem such a locale a forbidding refuge from a jihadist security mindset. The area was sparsely populated, and a band of Iraqis such the caliph and his retinue would have certainly stood out, a function of too many nosy neighbors with little else to do but to watch the comings and goings of their tiny rural pocket. Furthermore, there were sectarian enemies of al-Baghdadi’s lurking around, a vestigial presence of heterodox Druze who could conceivably eye-ball the house he was hiding in from their nearby hilltop village. These factors, I imagined, may have loomed large in how the logistics team of the world’s most wanted terrorist would have approached the Barisha option. I was mistaken. - Nibras Kazimi

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Wednesday, December 18, 2019

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DEC 17      INDEX      DEC 19

________

________

from AP  Associated Press - Media/News Company

After vote, Pelosi stokes impeachment trial uncertainty

Minutes after the House impeached President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw uncertainty into the process by refusing to say, repeatedly, when or whether she would send two articles to the Senate for a trial.

________

from The Colorado Sun

Journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver

Lost for decades, the Colorado Orange apple variety has been found — officially
The Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project compared the fruit of a tree found near Cañon City to botanical illustrations and wax castings of award-winning apples to identify the lost treasure.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

from UPI News Agency (United Press International)

Media/News Company

Kari Bingen's resignation is fourth Pentagon departure in a week
Kari Bingen's resignation from a top Pentagon intelligence position, announced on Wednesday, is the fourth key Defense Department departure this week. Bingen, the principal undersecretary of defense for intelligence, will leave in January. While a reason for her exit has not been given, poor morale at the State Department and other agencies has been reported. Budget cuts and perceived apathy by the White House are given as causes.

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In the news, Tuesday, December 17, 2019

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DEC 16      INDEX      DEC 18

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________

from CFACT

Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow 

The warming wind turbines of climate change
Wind turbines continue to be the most controversial so-called “renewable” energy source worldwide. Yet, you say, wind is surely renewable. Really? Sure, the wind blows intermittently, but what if wind power actually contributes to global warming?

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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)

Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

Officials in Belarus, Germany react to SOBR killings report

Calls for a comprehensive inquiry have followed DW's exclusive interview on the disappearing of Belarusian opposition leaders in the 1990s. The man said to have ordered their killings denies the account of DW's source. On Monday, DW reported the detailed account of Yuri Garavski, who says he participated in the killings of three opposition figures in Belarus two decades ago. In 1999, former Interior Minister Yuri Zakharenko, former election commission head Viktor Gonchar and the businessman Anatoly Krassovsky disappeared without a trace. Their fates have remained unclear.

US Senate approves Nord Stream 2 Russia-Germany pipeline sanctions
US lawmakers on Tuesday approved sanctions on companies and governments working on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will link Germany with Russian gas. Companies providing services such as pipe-laying are being targeted, as Washington tries to halt the completion of the $10.5 billion (€9.6 billion) pipeline, which would transport gas under the Baltic Sea. The sanctions, which overwhelmingly passed in the House last week, are expected to be signed into force as part of a defense spending bill by US President Donald Trump later this week. US officials believe the pipeline will increase Europe's reliance on Russian energy, put billions of dollars in Moscow's coffers, and increase Russian President Putin's influence.However, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has urged the US not to meddle in European energy policy.

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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)

RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization

Why America's Founders Didn't Want a Democracy

In his book "Liberty in Peril," Randall Holcombe challenges the presumption that liberty and democracy are complementary.

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from Great Falls Tribune (Montana)

Little Shell bill passes Congress, awaits president's OK

The future of federal recognition for the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe now rests with President Donald Trump. The Senate on Tuesday voted 86-8 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which contains an amendment giving federal recognition for the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 11, with a 377-48 vote. It now awaits final approval by the president.

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from Hoover Institution

Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

A Vietnam “Deal” for Afghanistan?
In late November, President Trump announced that peace talks with the Taliban had resumed. “The Taliban wants to make a deal—we’ll see if they make a deal.” Mr. Trump said. The president has said he is tired of American soldiers acting as policemen in a remote country of scant strategic significance. Afghans are tribal, with little loyalty toward the Kabul government awash in factionalism and corruption. The Taliban are unified and sustained by the vast heroin trade. They control the countryside along the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan. With Pakistan providing a sanctuary, they cannot be militarily defeated.

The Syrian Front
Discussing America’s stake in the Middle East has increasingly become a shell game where our “interests” can quickly disappear depending on the changing sentiments of the president.   The trajectory for American foreign policy in the Middle East is clear:  down if not out.  And although Democrats can occasionally give the impression that they are in favor of a more vigorous presence, that is probably just an anti-Trumpian reflex:  if the president is in favor of abandoning the Kurds and leaving Syria, then Democrats are in favor of staying and reinforcing the alliance.  The odds are high, however, that the left, following Barack Obama’s lead, wants much less of the Middle East, not more.

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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com

Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia

ORTHODOX TIMES WEBSITE RECEIVED $100,000 GRANT FROM U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
The Orthodox Times outlet began as the English edition of the widely-read Greek Orthodox outlet Romfea in late December last year, with its official launch in January of this year, with the backing of the U.S. government. The U.S. State Department has also been open about its support for Patriarch Bartholomew’s creation of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” and “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko personally thanked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the U.S.’s support in the creation of the OCU.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Monday, December 16, 2019

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DEC 15      INDEX      DEC 17

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________

from Conciliar Post

IS TEACHING UNIVERSAL SALVATION PASTORAL MALPRACTICE?
There’s been plenty of chatter in the theological blogosphere over David Bentley Hart’s provocative new book That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation, which argues forcefully that for God to be truly God, all things must ultimately be reconciled to Him. Much can be—and has been—said already about the merits of Hart’s argument (my own review is coming out in Ad Fontes in a few weeks). But as I’ve reflected on the book over the last couple of months, what keeps coming to mind isn’t the overarching argument as such, but rather the pastoral dimension of the issue—what it would really mean, in practical terms, if the Church as a whole followed Gregory of Nyssa rather than Augustine of Hippo.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Ridley: The EU's Absurd Risk Aversion Stifles New Ideas
Excessive regulations suppress medical and environmental benefits of new technology.
With tariffs announced against Brazil and Argentina, and a threat against France, Donald Trump is dragging the world deeper into a damaging trade war. Largely unnoticed, the European Union is also in trouble at the World Trade Organisation for its continuing and worsening record as a protectionist bloc. Last month, at the WTO meeting in Geneva, India joined a list of countries including Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Malaysia that have lodged formal complaints against the EU over barriers to agricultural imports. Not only does the EU raise hefty tariffs against crops such as rice and oranges to protect subsidised European farmers; it also uses health and safety rules to block imports. The irony is that these are often dressed up as precautionary measures against health and environmental threats, when in fact they are sometimes preventing Europeans from gaining health and environmental benefits. The WTO complaints accuse the EU of “unnecessarily and inappropriately” restricting trade through regulatory barriers on pesticide residues that violate international scientific standards and the “principle of evidence”. Worse, they say, “it appears that the EU is unilaterally attempting to impose its own domestic regulatory approach on to its trading partners”, disproportionately harming farmers in the developing nations whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. The problem is that the EU, unlike the rest of the world, bases its regulations on “hazard”, the possibility that a chemical could conceivably cause, say, cancer, even if only at impossibly high doses. WTO rules by contrast require a full “risk” analysis that takes into account likely exposure. Coffee, apples, pears, lettuce, bread and many other common foods that are part of a healthy diet contain entirely natural molecules that at high enough doses would be carcinogenic. Alcohol, for instance, is a known carcinogen at very high doses, though perfectly safe in moderation. The absurdity of the EU approach can be seen in the fact that if wine were sprayed on vineyards as a pesticide, it would have to be banned under a hazard-based approach.

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from The Living Church

Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)

ADVENT, THE FOUR LAST THINGS: HEAVEN
But what if heaven is not primarily a place of peace, but instead a community, created by communal participation in the divine life?

Falls Church Episcopal Celebrates 250 Years
Then-churchwarden George Washington settled its construction contract. The Declaration of Independence was read to locals from the south porch in 1776. A Union military hospital during the Civil War, Walt Whitman may have served in it as a volunteer nurse. More recently, it was the setting for the most high-profile legal battle in the Episcopal Church’s post-2003 divisions. The Falls Church Episcopal, which gives its name to the surrounding Northern Virginia city of 14,000 is historic by any measure. The congregation celebrated a remarkable milestone yesterday, the 250th anniversary of the dedication of its historic church, which is still used weekly for worship. The red-brick Georgian building was designed by vestryman James Wren, who also served as architect for nearby Pohick Church in Lorton and Christ Church in Alexandria. The 1769 church replaced a simple wooden building constructed on the site in 1734, and received its name for being sited along the road which led to the Little Falls of the Potomac.

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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com

Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia

ORTHODOX COFFEE SHOP OPENS IN OREGON
Bend, Oregon, 160 miles southeast of Portland, is home to about 97,000 people, as well as the St. Jacob of Alaska Orthodox Church of the Orthodox Church in America. Now the residents and visitors of Bend will be able to learn more about holy Orthodoxy while enjoying some high quality coffee, with the opening of the Agia Sophia Coffeehouse and Bookstore.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Sunday, December 15, 2019

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DEC 14      INDEX      DEC 16

________

________

from Asia Times

LEAST BIASED, HIGH;  News & Media Website based in Hong Kong

Mixed reviews for US-China partial trade deal
A US-China “first phase” trade deal has been hailed as a significant breakthrough and welcomed by global financial markets, but questions remain over the deal’s enforcement and whether subsequent phases on more substantial issues can be agreed in the foreseeable future.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Saturday, December 14, 2019

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DEC 13      INDEX      DEC 15

________

________

from Asia Times

LEAST BIASED, HIGH;  News & Media Website based in Hong Kong

Russian soft power meets resistance in Central Asia
In architecture, education, popular culture, food and media Moscow’s influence is obvious. Not all are happy about it

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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)

Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

Turkey's Erdogan threatens to close strategic bases to US military

Turkey is upping the ante with threats to retaliate against the US if it imposes sanctions on Ankara for its purchase of a Russian missile system. «Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to close two strategic bases to the US military if Washington imposes sanctions over Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile system. "If necessary, we'll close Incirlik and also Kurecik," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told broadcaster A Haber on Sunday, referring to two military bases used by the United States. "If the threat of sanctions is implemented against us, we'll respond to them in the framework of reciprocity." Incirlik is an air base in southern Turkey that has played a major role in US military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and more recently against the "Islamic State" (IS) group in Syria and Iraq. The US military also stores around 50 B-61 gravity nuclear bombs at the base.»

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from New York Times
Newspaper in New York

Gamblers, Wastrels and Lumberjacks: An Old Cemetery Gives Up Its Secret History

An estimated 72 people died during construction of a rail tunnel through the Montana mountains. After more than 100 years, their final resting place has been found.

More than 110 years ago, as the West finally was being tamed, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad rushed to build a transcontinental rail line to the Pacific Coast. Standing in the way, though, was a formidable peak in the middle of Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains. The railroad’s solution in 1907 was to recruit thousands of laborers, many of them immigrants, who spent two arduous years boring through hard rock to create a landmark 1.7-mile tunnel connecting the states of Idaho and Montana deep inside the mountain. The massive undertaking gave birth to a boomtown, later named Taft, that a Chicago journalist once called the “wickedest city in America.” By the time the tunnel was completed, an estimated 72 people had died from construction accidents, deadly diseases, gunfights and other violence. They were buried in a makeshift cemetery outside town.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Sue Lani Madsen: Brother-in-law lost to mental illness is more than a statistic
Mental illness to homeless to hepatitis A. Just another statistic but now his struggle is over. Today we pick up his ashes. And it shouldn’t have to be this way.

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In the news, Friday, December 13, 2019

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DEC 12      INDEX      DEC 14

________

________

from Defense News

Ukraine could get new, deadlier missiles, thanks to Congress
Congress is poised to allow the sale of coastal defense and anti-ship weapons as part of future security assistance packages to Ukraine, through the 2020 defense policy bill. The National Defense Authorization Act passed the House this week and is expected to be passed in the Senate next week; President Donald Trump announced he will sign the sweeping policy bill. The change comes as U.S. military aid is at the center of impeachment proceedings playing out against Trump in Washington. The impeachment has dragged Ukraine into the spotlight at a time the European nation continues to struggle with ongoing military activities from Russia.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Heroes of Progress, Pt. 33: Hitchings and Elion
This week our heroes are George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion, two American scientists who pioneered the development of rational drug design. For most of history, the traditional method of drug discovery relied on a trial-and-error approach to determine the effectiveness of different treatments. Contrary to perceived wisdom, Hitchings and Elion’s new method of rational drug design focused on studying the differences between human cells and disease-causing pathogenic cells. From these findings, the method develops specifically-designed drugs to only target harmful pathogens.

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from Psephizo  (blog)

Preaching Christmas—without a Stable
Reading the nativity account in Luke 2 carefully highlights the way that the tradition of the stable is nowhere present. That’s all very well for scholars, people say, but how does that work in the practice of preaching? The answer is: rather well! This is what I said last time I preached on what Luke 2 actually says!

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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In the news, Thursday, December 12, 2019

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DEC 11      INDEX      DEC 13

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________

from The American Independent
LEFT BIAS progressive Media/News Company

191 House Republicans vote against slashing costs for prescription drugs
The House of Representatives took the issue of high prescription drug costs head on Thursday, passing a bill that promises to lower the costs of medication associated with cancer, asthma, and many other conditions. By a 230-192 vote, H.R.3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, passed on a largely party line vote. Every Democrat supported the legislation, joined by only 2 Republicans, with the lone House independent, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, voting no. The bill was named after the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who passed away earlier this year. According to NPR, the legislation would allow the federal government to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare, limit out-of-pocket costs for Medicare participants, and prevent drug price hikes. The Trump administration vowed to veto the legislation if it ever comes to his desk.

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from CNN

Why the UK has such restrictive reporting laws on election day
As millions of voters leave their homes on Thursday and trudge towards polling stations on a cold, rainy December day, don't expect to hear about any frantic last-minute campaigning from parties -- the news will be eerily quiet thanks to strict rules about what broadcasters can and cannot say on election day. In fact, the most you'll hear or see of the candidates to become the United Kingdom's next prime minister is when they cast their votes after several weeks of intense campaigning. It's all part of a blanket ban placed on TV and radio outlets -- forbidding them from reporting on campaign issues, opinion polls, political statements and candidates between the start of voting at 7 a.m. (2 a.m. ET) and the close at 10 p.m. (5 p.m. ET).

Shroud of Turin still surrounded with mystery and passion
Debate continues to rage over the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin despite scientific tests that claim it dates to the Middle Ages.

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from DW News (Deutsche Welle)

Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, Germany

EU extends sanctions on Russia over Ukraine conflict

EU sanctions targeting Moscow's finance, energy and defense industries will stay in place until mid-2020. The decision comes after the leaders of Russia and Ukraine met in Paris to seek a solution to Ukraine conflict.

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from Hoover Institution

Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

The Middle East In An Era Of Great Power Competition
In 1920, a young Winston Churchill wrote a memorandum to the Cabinet outlining his concerns about British policy in the Middle East. Britain was, he wrote, “simultaneously out of sympathy with all the four powers exercising local influence.” The Arabs, erstwhile allies in the war, were already unhappy with the emerging postwar settlement. The defeated Turks, Britain’s traditional regional ally, were resentful and looking for new partners. The Russians, under new Bolshevik leadership, were skillfully courting Turkey and Persia. And the Greeks wanted greater British backing against Turkey. A century later, America finds itself in a similar position. The Kurds are embittered following the U.S. departure from northwest Syria. Turkey, though a NATO ally, is indignant and aligning with Moscow. Russia is spreading its influence across the region at America’s expense. Iran is antagonistic and arming. Even our traditional alliances seem shaky. Saudi Arabia’s ties with Washington are strained by the Khashoggi affair and the war in Yemen. Israel is nervous about America’s future role and paid close attention to our handling of the Kurds. Not surprisingly, both the Saudis and Israelis spend more time talking to Moscow.

Russia’s Return To The Middle East

The reinsertion of Russia into the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East is one of the big stories of the past decade. Although Russia’s recueillement after 1991 resulted in its effective disappearance from the Middle East, her presence in the region is of course not a new reality in history. Tsars and Soviet leaders pushed their military might and political influence into the region for the last three centuries, clashing with various great powers, from the Ottoman sultanate to the British empire and the United States. But the speed at which the current Russian advance has occurred is surprising and troubling. Moscow has inserted an enormous level of instability and unpredictability to the already murky local power dynamics.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Worldviews Are Pessimistic Because They Are Outdated
Across the board, in almost every way we can measure it, life is becoming better everywhere. Not for everyone in every single year or on every single metric – that wouldn’t be progress, Steven Pinker points out, but a miracle – but over time progress seems all but guaranteed. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to a well-informed observer; sites like HumanProgress or OurWorldInData.org are filled with metrics capturing our species’ tireless progress. Best-selling books by Steven Pinker, Johan Norberg, Bjørn Lomborg, Matt Ridley and writers like Marian Tupy and Alexander Hammond diligently spread this enlightened message. "Reality," writes economist Bryan Caplan, “has a well-known libertarian bias.” Markets work, and technology and capitalism are making us better off.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Wednesday, December 11, 2019

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DEC 10      INDEX      DEC 12

________

________

from Asia Times

LEAST BIASED, HIGH;  News & Media Website based in Hong Kong

Syrian women using fake weddings to flee Idlib
In the extremist-held province, women are seeking sham marriages in Turkey as a means of escape. After long years of displacement, Syrian families who have moved to Idlib, now under the control of the extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, face a challenge: they are not considered to be religious enough. For the young women of these families, marrying men in neighboring Turkey was their escape from the conservative Idlib, a way out that could be approved by their families who would not have let them leave on their own. 

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

GM Crops Like Golden Rice Will Save Countless Children
Any day now, the government of Bangladesh may become the first country to approve the growing of a variety of yellow rice by farmers known as Golden Rice. If so, this would be a momentous victory in a long and exhausting battle fought by scientists and humanitarians to tackle a huge human health problem—a group that’s faced a great deal of opposition by misguided critics of genetically modified foods.

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from The National Interest  Magazine

Poland Will Soon Be Flying F-35s Meant To Fight Off Russia

In February 2019, the Polish ministry of defense issued plans to procure thirty-two “fifth-generation [stealth] jets” for its Harpia fighter program to replace the Polish Air Force’s aging Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-22 jets. As the F-35 Lightning II is currently the only fifth-generation stealth fighter on the market—unless you count the Su-57 sold by Russia, Poland’s chief potential adversary—there’s little doubt as to which aircraft is being referred to. In April 2019, the United States confirmed it was considering selling F-35s to Poland, as well as Greece, Romania, Singapore and Spain.

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from Psephizo  (blog)

Did Jesus fail to meet expectations in Matt 11?
What are the things that cause John to doubt Jesus and his ministry—and what might cause us similar doubts?

________

from Smithsonian Magazine

Media/News Company in Washington, D.C.

Church Unearthed in Ethiopia Rewrites the History of Christianity in Africa
Archaeologists now can more closely date when the religion spread to the Aksumite Empire. In the dusty highlands of northern Ethiopia, a team of archaeologists recently uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, a find that sheds new light on one of the Old World’s most enigmatic kingdoms—and its surprisingly early conversion to Christianity. An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30 miles northeast of Aksum, the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading empire that emerged in the first century A.D. and would go on to dominate much of eastern Africa and western Arabia. Through radiocarbon dating artifacts uncovered at the church, the researchers concluded that the structure was built in the fourth century A.D., about the same time when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianty in 313 CE and then converted on his deathbed in 337 CE. The team detailed their findings in a paper published today in Antiquity. The discovery of the church and its contents confirm Ethiopian tradition that Christianity arrived at an early date in an area nearly 3,000 miles from Rome. The find suggests that the new religion spread quickly through long-distance trading networks that linked the Mediterranean via the Red Sea with Africa and South Asia, shedding fresh light on a significant era about which historians know little.

________

from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

________

In the news, Tuesday, December 10, 2019

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DEC 09      INDEX      DEC 11

________

________

from Angelus News
Roman Catholic News Publisher in Los Angeles, California

Could the reunion between Catholics and Orthodox be closer than we thought?
In light of a recent declaration from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople that reunion between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church is now “inevitable,” it’s worth a brief trip down memory lane regarding recent attempts to end Christianity’s longest-running schism.

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from Asia Times

LEAST BIASED, HIGH;  News & Media Website based in Hong Kong

Afghanistan Papers an eerie reminder of Vietnam
Noam Chomsky recently celebrated his 91st birthday. As an homage to Noam, I spent the day with one of his less-known books, The Backroom Boys (1973). The book is made up of two spectacular essays, the first a close reading of the Pentagon Papers. To read this book alongside the trove of documents released by the US government as part of its own internal study on the ongoing US war on Afghanistan is telling. Both the Pentagon Papers on Vietnam and the recent Washington Post disclosures on Afghanistan show that the US government lied to its citizenry about a war that could never be won. If you substitute the word “Afghanistan” for the word “Vietnam,” you could read Chomsky’s essays from 1973 and imagine that they were written today.

US firms power rise in global arms sales
New data from SIPRI showed that sales of arms and military services by the top 100 firms went up by 47% since 2002

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from The Federalist

RIGHT BIAS, HIGH, online magazine

How John Taylor Gatto Helped Parents And Children Regain Our Freedom To Think
The legendary thinker rebelled against the factory-like machinery of state-run public education. May he rest in peace, and may his work live on.

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from Hoover Institution

Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California

If We Leave
The Islamic political philosopher Alfarabi (872-950), one of the notable transmitters of ancient Greek classical texts from the Eastern Mediterranean through the Maghreb to Spain’s al-Andalus and on into Western Europe, produced in his major work the idea of “The Virtuous City,” an ideal form of governance I occasionally heard mentioned by my Arab colleagues when I served at the United Nations in the 1990’s.  Later, when assigned to teach a university course unit on Alfarabi, it seemed clear to me that his aim was to provide Plato’s Republic as a model polity that would accommodate the example of the seventh century caliphates that succeeded the death of the Prophet as well as the suras of the Koran in one vast religio-political unity that would stand in contrast to the dualistic, Trinitarian ways of the West.  In this, the Caliph would hover over all authoritatively like Plato’s Philosopher-King. This theocratic model collided with history and politics in 1924 when the collapse of the Ottoman Empire brought down with it the collapse of the Caliphate.  In 1914, the Ottoman Caliph (Sheikh-ul-Islam) had proclaimed a Jihad by all Muslims to join Kaiser Wilhelm’s Imperial Germany in a holy world war against Britain, France, and Russia.  When the war was lost, the Caliphate was lost with it; desperate efforts by Egypt, the Saudis, and from the sidelines Muslim India, to select and install a new Caliphate failed.  Since then, ruling out one or two ridiculous imposters, Islam has been without a legitimate Caliphate.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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