I apologize for the size of this evening’s edition, but there
is so much out there today that I found interesting. Also, I’m inclined to think
this means I have something for everyone.
Try and think of this evening’s edition as the Sunday edition
of your local newspaper - you know – the one that’s so large you can’t properly
digest it. I may or may not agree with
what’s presented here, but as always, Paradigms and Demographics is Profound and
Provocative. One more thing! I posted Alan Caruba’s article, “Ferguson'sOld Grievances”, as a complete article to separate it from what's becoming a crowded category. Please make
sure to read it.
Asia
Can U.S. and India Become Real Partners? - Sourabh
Gupta, TNI
The US-India strategic partnership is either the most
under-performing bilateral relationship in the world or its most overrated. more »
Vietnam's Ticking Debt Bomb - Elisabeth Rosen, The
Diplomat
Vietnam may find it hard to reach its goal of 5.8 percent
growth this year if bad debt continues to hold back the economy. more »
Executive
Branch
Economics
(and reality)
Exposed: How
the Explosion of Patent Litigation Threatens the U.S. Economy In the New
Independent Institute Book - William J. Watkins
The explosion of patent litigation is stifling
technological innovation according to Independent Institute Research
Fellow William J. Watkins, Jr., who examines an outmoded patent system that is
ill-suited for the modern economy in his new book, Patent Trolls: Predatory
Litigation and the Smothering of Innovation.
Detroit's Chapter 9 bankruptcy
case is scheduled for trial beginning this Thursday, August 21, when U.S.
Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes will decide if the city's restructuring
plan is fair, legal and feasible. Regardless of the outcome,
precedents already have been set in the case that should have public employees
elsewhere questioning the wisdom – and soundness – of their traditional
"defined-benefit" pension plans. Judge Rhodes already ruled, last
December, that Detroit's pension promises are not sacred in a bankruptcy
proceeding: "The state constitutional provisions prohibiting the
impairment of contracts and pensions impose no constraint on the bankruptcy
process."
The
revised budget unveiled in May by California Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to increase
the amount of money that public school districts and their teachers would pay
into the teacher pension fund going forward. The legislature must approve a
budget by June 15 or legislators forfeit their pay until a budget is passed.
The amount that school districts would pay into the California State Teachers
Retirement System (CalSTRS) would jump from 8.25 percent of teachers’ salaries
to 19.1 percent, based on the governor’s budget plan. Rates would ramp up to
the full 19.1 percent over a seven-year period.
Education
California Lawmakers Mandate Students Study About
Obama -
Vicki Alger
You know your presidential popularity must be tanking
when a state legislature has to pass a mandate requiring students to study
about you in school. Recently the California State Legislature
passed a new law (AB 1912) requiring the Instructional Quality
Commission, which helps oversee the state’s Common Core standards, to consider revising the
social studies framework to include a section on the significance of President
Obama’s election in the context of voter discrimination. Co-sponsor Sen. Holly
Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) explained that it’s important for students to learn
about “overcoming our nation’s past to elect our first black
president.
Energy
Solar plants
scorch thousands of birds from sky...By Ellen Knickmeyer and John Locker Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a
name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays —
"streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in
midair. Federal wildlife
investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched
as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one "streamer"
every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator's
application to build a still-bigger version.The investigators want the halt
until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now
range from a low of about a thousand by BrightSource to 28,000 by an expert for
the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group. The deaths are "alarming. It's hard to
say whether that's the location or the technology," said Garry George,
renewable-energy director for the California chapter of the Audubon Society.
"There needs to be some caution."
Europe
Why France Doesn't Want Scottish Independence - Hugh
Schofield
Nothing unites different nations quite like mutual
enemies. But the "Auld Alliance" between Scotland and France - both
historic rivals of England - doesn't mean that the French government favours
Scottish independence. Far from it. more »
Environment
100K Elephants
Killed by Poachers in 3 Years - Brad Scriber, NatGeo
Ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years, according to a new study that provides the first reliable continent-wide estimates of illegal kills. During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher.
Ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years, according to a new study that provides the first reliable continent-wide estimates of illegal kills. During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher.
“Measuring Greenness:” A New Metric Takes the Measure of the Metals that
Drive the Green Transition - ARPN Team at American Resources Policy Network
ARPN
followers well understand that a host of metals and minerals are key to the
green-tech transition – rare earths like neodymium and mainstay metals like
copper for wind turbines, Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenium for the CIGS solar
panel technology. The list is long. Yet all too often, Green advocates take a
reflexively oppositional stance towards all-things-mining. ARPN [...] The post
“Measuring Greenness:” A New Metric Takes the Measure of the Metals that Drive
the Green Transition appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.
Too late for Oregon’s coal terminal: Exporting US coal to Asia could drop
emissions 21 percent -
Anthony Watts
Not that weepy
Bill McKibben would care anyway, he doesn’t do reality. Oregon denies permit for
new coal port–huge victory for folks who have done great organizing
oregonlive.com/environment/in…— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) August 18, 2014
From Duke University Superior energy efficiency … more »
Globalism
.....back over a 100 years, the United States laid claim to much of the Arctic region. The Arctic region is known to hold large amounts of untapped oil and gas reserves. The United Nations previously canceled all land claims in the Arctic region. This is in response to these territories being at the center of several disputes between the United States, Russia, Canada, to a large degree, and it also includes Norway and Denmark, to a smaller degree. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was finalized in 1982, countries can lay claim to the ocean floor well beyond their borders…….
Global Warming
Cap and Raid - K. Lloyd Billingsley
The ruling class likes to portray its predations as
targeting the rich, the one percent, and those at the top. In reality, the
Pillage People target everybody, particularly working people. For example, in
January, government regulations will cause California’s already high gasoline
prices to jump 13 to 20 cents a gallon. This is the result of AB 32, the
Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006, authored by state senator Fran Pavley, an
Agoura Hills Democrat, and signed by Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The legislation seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by
2020. On January 1, 2015, motor vehicle fuels will be included in the scheme,
operated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). As that date looms,
legislators and business owners alike have been pushing for relief……(Editor’s Note: Does the word schadenfreude come
to mind?)
Quote of the week – the numerology of “dialing in” climate science
- Anthony Watts
at Watts Up With That?
This
quote from ETH Zurich is actually from another just published post, but it is
so grating, so anti-science, that it deserves its very own thread to highlight
it. Here it is: If the model data is corrected downwards, as …Australian politics is pure side-show cabaret. For Clive Palmer, it’s a smashing winner all the way ’round. It’s more photo opportunities, more Palmer-Party headlines, and a chance for him to hobnob with any international names who feel like turning up for a few days of taxpayer funded R&R to his Coolum Resort. Thus Clive disarms his opponents, networks with the odd VIP, and unnerves the government all at the same time. He can wave the Green flag in future negotiations with Abbott and co, to try to haggle extra bits and pieces in his favour. Plus he distracts people from a messy... more »
Excuse #31 for ‘the pause’ – El Niño and longer solar cycles - Anthony Watts at Watts Up With That?
From
ETH Zurich -Why global warming is taking a break The average temperature on
Earth has barely risen over the past 16 years. ETH researchers have now found
out why. And they believe that global warming is likely to continue … Continue
reading →
Health Care
What Is to Be Done with Health-Insurance Exchanges,
Post-Obamacare?
- John R. Graham Any time a Republican politician suggests that there is
anything positive in Obamacare, the media are eager to declare that this means
the Republican establishment is backing away from repealing the Affordable Care
Act and wants to “fix” it instead. This, of course, is what most businesses and
their lobbyists would prefer take place. They would agree with what the Kaiser
Family Foundation insists in its consistent drumbeat of monthly polls,
including its latest finding that “over half the public has an unfavorable view
of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in July, up eight percentage points since last
month,” but that a “majority continues to prefer Congress improve ACA rather
than repeal and replace.”
The single most expensive item for which the Medicare
welfare program will pay claims is a power wheelchair. In 2008, Medicare “paid” for 158,185 power wheelchairs at a cost of over $490.4
million, or an average cost of $3,100.37 per power wheelchair. By contrast, the
second most expensive medical line item that Medicare will pay toward is for a
total knee arthroplasty, which costs $1,207 per procedure.
Healthcare
Gouging Culprits - JR at Dissecting
Leftism
It's no wonder
why routine healthcare costs in the United States are so ridiculously high, and
why health insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Today's healthcare providers
are gouging patients like highway robbers. They do it because they can.
Hospitals are charging patients a small fortune for the most minor of services;
treatments like applying a Band-Aid to a small cut. A New Jersey man found this
out the hard way when he was gouged almost $9,000 after an ER aide treated a
small cut on his middle finger. The man cut his finger with a hammer and... more »
Immigration
Justice
Department officials say Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson illegally
targeted Latino drivers and detained people without probable cause. Johnson's
attorneys say the charges are baseless.
Islam
Hamas Invested $90 Million in Tunnels to Attack Israel While Their People
Live in Squalor - Ileana Johnson Rational and objective human
beings ask themselves many questions, research non-revisionist history,
interview survivors of wars, or search authentic and official documents before
they form an opinion or take sides. Liberal progressives seem to view the
world, knowledge, and revisionist history through the tinted glasses of government doctrine promoted by the mainstream media.
Denis MacEoin calls the western pro-Hamas supporters the new Romantics. They chanted by the thousands
in London recently in support of this terrorist organization, in support of the
"myth of Islam as the path to peace."
Can the Islamic State Be Stopped? - Der Spiegel
Images of Yazidis fleeing parts of Iraq and Syria have
shocked the world and the battle against the jihadists with the Islamic State
has united Americans, Europeans, Kurds and Iranians. Can the Islamists be
stopped?
'Syria' No Longer Exists - C. Choksy & J.
Choksy, World Affairs Journal
It’s
time to accept that the Syrian Arab Republic established in 1946 is no more. In
its place totter small regions with constantly fluctuating communal and
geographical boundaries. Within those temporary enclaves, some leaders attempt
to maintain or expand influence by force and ideology; others try to do so by
bringing safety, food, shelter, and fuel to people caught up in havoc. Rebels
of disparate religious, political, and ethnic shades—some backed by Saudi and
Gulf Arab money, others inspired by nationalistic ideologies—shuffle the co... more »
Because of Gaza, Iran; Hamas Are Back Together - Kay Serjoie, Time
Iran and Hamas
were once tightly allied, but the Syrian war drove them apart. Now, after the
Gaza conflict, the two sides are making up. more »
Latin America Can Help Save the Yazidis - Carlos Montaner, Miami Herald
The Yazidis know
what awaits them and are trying to emigrate to the United States, Canada and
Europe. Nobody talks about Latin America. Why not? If the Latin Americans were
really supportive and tolerant they should grant residence visas to many Yazidi
families. more »
Latin
America
U.S. Living in the Past over Cuba - Global Public Square
Global Public Square Remember last December when President Barack Obama shook
hands with Cuban President Ral Castro at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, and
got a lot of criticism for it? In truth it didn't signal any sort of a real
rapprochement between the United States and Cuba. The Cuban rapprochement of
note is a different one – with Vladimir Putin, who recently made the long trip
to Havana. more »
Media
President Obama complained last week in an interview with
the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman that American politics is increasingly
dysfunctional for a number of reasons including the “Balkanization of the
media.” The Balkanization of the country as a whole is just fine, as evidenced
by his lawless illegal immigration policy, but the media have to be united.
It’s clear that he does not value a diversity of viewpoints. According to the
president, “people just watch what reinforces their deepest biases” and that’s
a real problem….
Military
8,000 Navy
chiefs face ax... Mark
D. Faram, Navy Times
Almost 8,000 senior enlisted personnel must go before a
continuation board later this year to determine whether they can continue to
serve or must retire. The board —
the first since early 2013 — will convene Oct. 27, according to a Navy document
released Aug. 14. At risk are between
7,500 and 8,000 retirement-eligible active and reserve E-7s, E-8s and E-9s with
at least at least three years' time in rate…..
Race
Why Were The
Police In Ferguson Told Not To Stop The Rampant Looting On Friday Night?
Michael Snyder
On Friday night,
the city of Ferguson, Missouri was absolutely packed with militarized
police. But when
the looting started, they did nothing about it. In fact, news reports indicate
that the police were lined up just blocks from where the looting was happening
but did not make any attempt to stop it. When I first read the news reports
that I am about to share with you, I could hardly believe them. I had to read
them more than once just to be sure that I understood what I was reading.
According to eyewitnesses, police vehicles were seen driving by some of the
stores while they were being looted, and they did not respond. If the police
are not even going to lift a finger to stop rampant theft, then what in the
world are they there for?
When there are
more people receiving government welfare than those working to support those
benefits, the civilization is destined for failure. We are at that point in the
“United States of Welfare. When there seems to be more people (young people)
available to demonstrate the trivial actions of authorities to regulate,
enforce and maintain civilization, than to be held accountable on jobs, the end
is in sight. In fact, it’s already upon us, full force. Grievances are inevitable;
handling them is another matter. In the Black community of today, the immediate
reaction to anything that disturbs their daily lives is the knee-jerk reaction
of chaos – burn the city! Trash the malls; go into full “knock-out” mode! This,
my friends, is ok, perhaps in the Congo or Rwanda, but not in a civilized
neighborhood……
Second Amendment
As we
have made mention of before, our Declaration of Independence defined
clearly that our rights come from God and those rights are unalienable. However, in the federal
government and in many states, lawmakers think they are authorized to write
laws that infringe on the unalienable rights of their citizens. The latest
example is Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick signed a new, sweeping gun
bill into law last week that could be picked up by other states, which grossly
oversteps the bounds of government in the restriction of firearms, and citizens
need to be made aware of what is going on so that they can stand up for their
rights.
Pro-Gun Milwaukee Sheriff Triumphs Over Bloomberg-Backed Opponent - Joshua Cook On Tuesday, Second Amendment-loving Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. beat City of Milwaukee Police Lt. Chris Moews in the Democratic primary for sheriff. This victory is made even sweeter by the fact that former New York City Mayor and nanny-to-the-world Michael Bloomberg gave $150,000 to the Moews campaign for TV ads.
Pro-Gun Milwaukee Sheriff Triumphs Over Bloomberg-Backed Opponent - Joshua Cook On Tuesday, Second Amendment-loving Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. beat City of Milwaukee Police Lt. Chris Moews in the Democratic primary for sheriff. This victory is made even sweeter by the fact that former New York City Mayor and nanny-to-the-world Michael Bloomberg gave $150,000 to the Moews campaign for TV ads.
Social Commentary
I was looking around the web over the weekend and came
across a story that, for most readers, would have very little effect. I scanned
it and reacted similarly. I thought, okay, big deal. A few hours later, I went back to it. The story was of a woman who was arrested for
swearing at her two kids in a Kroger supermarket in North Augusta, South
Carolina. "A mother of two in South Carolina has been cuffed, hauled off
to jail, and charged with disorderly conduct after she allegedly yelled at her
kids to 'stop squishing the f***ing bread’
at a grocery store."
Danielle Wolfe, 22, was arrested under a city ordinance in North
Augusta, South Carolina, which makes it a crime, punishable by up to 30 days in
jail, to "utter while in a state of anger, in the presence of another, any
bawdy, lewd or obscene words or epithets". Evidently, another shopper
called police to the Kroger store about 10 PM on Sunday to report that Ms.
Wolfe was swearing at her children in public…..
Taking Offense at Every Word or Phrase? - William Shughart
A recent news
item suggests that if offense possibly can be taken, it will be
taken. We have just been treated to studied outrage at the
nicknames of the NFL’s Washington “Redskins”, Florida State University’s
“Seminoles” and MLB’s Cleveland “Indians.” As my friend and colleague Randy
Holcombe reminds us in a recent blog, the moniker of the “New York Yankees” may
be more offensive to southerners than any of those names. News reports now suggest that a small cadre of faculty
members at the University of Mississippi want to ban the use of “Ole Miss” as
the school’s nickname owing to its “racist” origins. Never mind that a survey
conducted by the university itself found that a majority of respondents
reported that “Ole Miss” was nothing more than convenient shorthand for “The
University of Mississippi” (and it fits better on football helmets and baseball
and basketball jerseys)….
Social Security
Social Security Benefits To Be Slashed -
Craig Eyermann
The Social Security Trustees have just released their 2014 report,
which updates their actuarial estimates of when the program’s Disability
Insurance (DI) trust fund and the Old Age and Survivor’s Insurance (OASI) trust
fund will run out of money, forcing both disability and pension benefits to be
cut. Let’s get to the worst news first.
Social Security’s Disability Insurance trust fund will be the first to be
depleted, which the trustees now forecast will occur in less than two years.
Under current law, when the DI trust fund is depleted in 2016, Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) payments made to Americans with disabilities will be
permanently cut by nearly one-fifth.
Terrorism
Will Terrorists Use Self-Driving Car Bombs? Patrick Lin, The Bulletin
Within
the next few years, autonomous vehicles—alias robot cars—could be weaponized,
the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fears. In a recently disclosed
report, FBI experts wrote that they believe that robot cars would be “game
changing” for law enforcement. The self-driving machines could be professional
getaway drivers, to name one possibility. Given the pace of developments on
autonomous cars, this doesn’t seem implausible.
This and That
Is American Foreign Policy for Sale? - Daniel Drezner,
Washington Post
Last week Peter Beinart threw down a pretty provocative
argument about the hawkish foreign policy rhetoric coming from the crop of
potential 2016 presidential candidates, particularly Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). According to Beinart, they’re in it for the money, and
the money wants a more hawkish foreign policy. more »
St. Julian Assange Now Preaches to Nobody - Padraig Reidy, Telegraph
What does one do,
trapped, by one’s own volition, in the same tiny space for two years? Suspended
in time and space, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would in past times have
been a hermit, an ascetic, even a saint. more »
Tyranny?
The new Army manual, known as ATP 3-39.33, provides
discussion and techniques about civil disturbances and crowd control operations
that occur in the continental United States (CONUS) and outside the continental
United States (OCONUS). This document, just published August 15, 2014 promises to change the way the "authorities"
deal with protesters, even peaceful ones. The consequences of ATP 39.33 could
prove deadly for protesters. Further, the provisions of this Army manual could
prove to be the end of the First Amendment right to assemble peaceably….
Voter Fraud
After Stolen Election / Vote Buying Scandal, Chris McDaniel Finally Files
Suit in Mississippi - Dean Garrison
There has been a lot of talk about the TEA Party's lack of
success in 2014, but as we have seen in
Mississippi, there may be reasons for that subpar performance. In June, Thad
Cochran narrowly defeated Chris McDaniel (7,667 votes) in a runoff election,
but McDaniel refused to concede. Almost immediately there were serious concerns
raised about unethical moves made by the Cochran camp. There were reports that Thad Cochran's
campaign actually bought votes from
crossover democrats for $15 each in the primary.
His opponent and TEA Party favorite, Chris McDaniel, has tried to stick to the
high ground in subsequent weeks and address other inconsistencies in the
election process. As of late last week, however, Chris McDaniel has finally
filed suit.
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