Tuesday, December 10, 2013

10 Dec - Blogs I'm Following II

10:28pm MST

Weak, Confused Democrats Are Useless-- Meet Ann Kuster

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 28 minutes ago
Before she was elected last year, Ann Kuster presented herself as a fighter for working families and for a progressive vision of America. When she got to Congress, she joined the Progressive Caucus and there was no reason to believe she would behave any differently than she promised New Hampshire voters. She fell in with the DCCC crowd and started voting more and more conservatively. As my friend Zaid pointed out yesterday, "A Democrat can call themselves conservative a million times but if someone wants to vote for one they'll vote Republican." (if you want a more thorough explan... more »

Rob Ford and the Murder of Anthony Smith

thwap at thwap's schoolyard - 1 hour ago
For the record: The alcoholic, hypocrite, incompetent, infamous shameless buffoon has insinuated that a* Toronto Star* reporter is a pedophile. The *Star* is talking with its lawyers. Because unlike Rob Ford, who knew there was a video of him smoking crack, the Star might actually sue when someone defames one of their own. Just wanted to point out that, as far as a Rosie DiManno (Rosie DiMoron around here usually!) column says, the assertion that police transcripts attribute his murder to non-related gang violence is unaccompanied by the actual transcripts that would establish the t... more »

Updates On Syria [12.10]: Jihadist Terrorist Groups Have CW Capability Due To US-Saudi-Turkish Support, China And Russia Look To Expand Roles, CW Experts Express Doubts About Pentagon Plan To Destroy Syria's CW Stockpile At Sea

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 hour ago
*1. An excerpt from, "NATO's War on Syria Just Got Dirtier" by Tony Cartalucci, Land Destroyer Report, December 10:* Whitaker hails Higgins’ Foreign Policy piece arrogantly titled, “Sy Hersh’s Chemical Misfire,” but in reality, all Higgins does is point out specifics of the attack, some of which are confirmed, some of which are implied – all of which could either have been the work of the government or militants. *The question Higgins fails to answer is what motivation would the government have had to carry out the attacks with the UN based just miles away and with government forces... more »

Terry Gross Interview on New ALEC Revelations

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 hour ago
From NPR, which includes interview link: A batch of internal documents recently leaked to T*he Guardian* has revealed new insights into the goals and finances of the secretive group called ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a group that brings together state legislators and representatives of corporations. Together, they develop model bills that lawmakers introduce and try to pass in their state legislatures. Through these model bills, ALEC has worked to privatize public education, cut taxes, reduce public employee compensation, oppose Obamacare and resist state regu... more »

The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Must See Video - High Radiation Levels In Snow Collected At Minamisoma Japan!

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 2 hours ago
I have been keeping posts here for the last 2.5 years about the continuing disaster at the Fukushima-Daichii nuclear power station at Fukushima Japan. In spite of all the lack of information from the Jewish controlled media, this disaster is absolutely far from over... In fact, for the last 2.5 years there has been very little done to stop, or even slow down, the radiation that continues to spew out from the 3 failed reactor cores! The fact is, readers, this disaster will continue for the foreseeable future with severe dire consequences for the entire northern hemisphere of this ... more »

the malmstrom ufo incident

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 3 hours ago

the chemistry of fear

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 3 hours ago

Does Chris Cillizza have any idea what makes a good campaign a good one or a bad campaign a bad one?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*No, it wasn't campaigning with beloved Project Runway presence Tim Gunn that made Christine Quinn's "the worst campaign of 2013." It was . . . well, you'll see.* *by Ken* One of the things that made Tim McCarver such a great baseball announcer in his glory years as part of the New York Mets' TV broadcast crew was his informed and informative discussion of strategic decisions, by both managers and players, before pitches or while plays were developing -- you know, like having hitters take or swing away, or bunt, or hit and run, sending runners, issuing intentional walks, matching ... more »

The Global Warming Fraud: THIS Is Pathetic - Greenpeace Shows How It Is In Bed With Global Warming Scam Artists By Releasign This Video

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 3 hours ago
I have long been posting up articles at this blog showing definitive proof that all this fear of "Global Warming" is a massive fraud and hoax... All that anyone with any common sense has to do is just step outside these days... It is getting much much colder and absolutely not warmer, and this trend has been going on for the last decade at least.... Even the hucksters behind the fraud cannot explain this planetary cooling trend, and just prefer to ignore it, or hope that people are too ignorant to notice! I came across a video today that absolutely made me sick... It comes from the ... more »

Yankees Baseball hot stove - December 7 , 2013 - Yankees in trouble for 2014 - 2015 after Robinson Cano bolts for Seattle ? Does the Yankees fan rue the Ellsbury signing to the extent that it played a role in Robinson Cano , the Yanks best player , signing elsewhere ? With Soriano , Ellsbury , Beltran , Suzuki and Wells under contract for next year ( outfield slots clogged like rush hour traffic ) , where does Gardner fit in the Yanks plans and can they get value in a trade to fill remaining obvious pitching and infield holes ? And we haven't even gotten to the 5 days of Winter Meetings fun yet !

Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
As a Red Sox fan , naturally I'm curious as to what the thoughts are from Yankees fans after the frantic Friday dealings involving Granderson signing with the Mets , Cano signing with the Mariners , Beltran signing with the Yankees ( at three years and 45 million ) , Kuroda re-signing for one year at 16 million ...... An of course , how does the blockbuster Ellsbury signing ( 7 years at 153 million ) sit with Yankees fan at this time ? McCann and Ellsbury deals worthwhile at the cost of Cano to Yanks fans ? Some views on the subjects from the best blogs around..... BTW , Red Sox ... more »

Deep Tweets

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 4 hours ago
This one has no explanation because it would either take a million words or none to do so. But trust me, it's deep. I was in the presence of @EliLake last night. He was rapping. He rhymed Ashkenazi and Benghazi in his flow. Surreal. — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) May 31, 2013

Christy Clark Dazzles The Crowd And Mystifies Our Media

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 4 hours ago
Christy Clark made an appearance at the China Canada business council today.... After her "showing" at the event Christy Clark was asked about her recent trip to Asia.. Christy Clark claimed the trip was a roaring success, but, when pursued by media for details and what deals were signed, Christy Clark had no details or specifics, in fact Christy Clark responded thusly.. *"Teresa Wat and I were together for part of the trade mission, we split up so we could cover more ground, she signed some, I signed some independently and we signed some together, let me get you that number so ... more »

" Powers That Be " losing control over Police ? Not in the US - perhaps in Italy and Thailand though .....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
Italian Riot Police Remove Helmets, Join Anti-EU Protesters - [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image: Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones' Facebook][image: Infowars store] Remarkable video shows cops in display of solidarity with fellow countrymen *Paul Joseph Watson* Infowars.com December 10, 2013 A remarkable video shows Italian riot police removing their helmets in solidarity with anti-EU demonstrators in Turin who are protesting against the state of the economy, the single currency and fuel prices. The demonstr... more »

THOU SHALL NOT KILL......

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 5 hours ago
Love thy neighbor as thy self.......

Bipartisan Budget Deal reached in the House ! Short summary --The mini-bargain — the "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013" — sets discretionary spending levels a little above $1 trillion for the next two years, while repealing and replacing some cuts of sequestration. In fiscal year 2014, spending is set at $1.012 trillion, which sits about halfway between the proposed levels of the House and Senate budgets. The legislation provides $63 billion in sequester relief over two years, which is split evenly between defense and non-defense programs. This is offset by other cuts in the budget. Ryan and Murray said that the deal reduces the deficit between $20 million and $23 million. No extension of unemployment benefits for workers unemployed more than 26 weeks means 1.3 million Americans lose benefits come December 28 , 2013 ( Merry Christmas sheeple ! ) ....Perversely , this will rsult in alleged unemployment falling ( Hello taper - if not shortly , what will be the next excuse ? )

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 5 hours ago
BUDGET DEAL REACHED BRETT LOGIURATO DEC. 10, 2013, 5:45 PM 3,787 7 - - inShare9 - - - EMAIL - MORE [image: Paul Ryan Patty Murray] AP Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have reached an agreement on a budget deal that would avert a repeat of October's government shutdown. Murray and Ryan chair the Senate and House budget committees and are the lead negotiators for their parties on the agreement. The mini-bargain — the "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013" — sets discretionary spending levels a little above $1 trillion for the next two yea... more »

Thai and Italian Police Lay Down Riot Gear....

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 5 hours ago
Thai Police Lay Down Riot Gear Italian Police Lay Down Riot Gear

Did AFT Offset Costs of Anti-Corporate Crusade with Corporate Cash?

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 6 hours ago
The following is from AFT in 2009, when the future for corporate ed reform seemed ascendant, and Randi was on a wave. AFT has scrubbed the video from their site, but I plugged it in to where it had been previously deleted from the Press Release. Do have a look, and note the venue for this big announcement. Were no dark alleys available? With AFT now spending a million bucks on their new Pretender Crusade to End Corporate Ed Reform, not to worry. They have collected many times that amount from Gates, Broad, and Ford. From AFT: The AFT on April 28 [2009] launched the first union-led,... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013 - COMET ISON

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 6 hours ago
Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? *This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind.* Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean it could even be you! For instance ... ei... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 6 hours ago
Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind. Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean it could even be you! For instance ... either ... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 6 hours ago
Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind. Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean it could even be you! For instance ... either ... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013 - COMET ISON

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 6 hours ago
Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? *This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind.* Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean it could even be you! For instance ... ei... more »

Killzone: Shadow Fall for the Playstation 4

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 7 hours ago
Back in the olden days when hair was long and loading times were even longer, you could more or less divide video games into two broad and not entirely discrete types. In one corner were the fast-paced action-oriented games. They looked nothing like the arcade games of the early-mid 80s, but their ethic of playability owed more than a passing acquaintance to them. Glaring at them from the other end of the market were the more cerebral games. The proper chin-strokers. These were your adventure/role-playing games, and given their sedentary pace I'd say you can place early strategy ti... more »

Protecting Social Security Does Not Mean Defending The Status Quo-- Guest Post From Shenna Bellows (D-ME)

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
That brand new video above is a bit of a biography of the candidate Blue America endorsed for the Maine Senate seat, Shenna Bellows. She's running against Susan Collins, a DC-oriented career-politician who is often mischaracterized by the media as a "moderate." And while she may be moderate compared to crackpots like Ted Cruz of Texas and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama, she's pretty far right for a Maine politician. And she consistently votes with Cruz and Sessions over 90% of the time. As Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Collins is in a unique p... more »

Pipelines And Tankers, Economic Cost And Environmental Risks

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 7 hours ago
Thanks to all of you for tuning in and caring....Below is a link to a video and presentation by one of our Environmental Rock Stars, that being Robyn Allan... Please take the time to watch and do pass on through Facebook, Twitter, your friends and relatives.. Clearly Stephen Harper is a madman out of control, he`s a puppet of the oil industry, Stephen Harper has brought not only shame to Canada`s international reputation he and his party have assaulted science, fisheries, Stephen Harper`s Conservative party are engaged in a ruthless campaign hellbent on dividing Canadians, pitti... more »

GOP hypocrites hate handshakes

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 7 hours ago
President Obama had the audacity to shake the hand of a world leader at Mandela's funeral. Before the internet was invented, we used to call this good manners. Some might even have called it responsible statesmanship. But the world leader in question was Raul Castro standing in for his brother Fidel. So of course GOPers immediately launched themselves onto the fainting couches, demanding smelling salts. Maybe somebody gave them bath salts instead, because this reaction from Senator Grumpy Gramps was batshit crazy. When asked if Obama should have extended his hand, McCain was quick... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013 - Comet ISON

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 7 hours ago
*Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013* Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? *This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind.* Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean... more »

Ukraine overnight rates flashing red .....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 7 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-10/ukrainian-overnight-rates-spike-20-bank-liquidity-fears-soar Ukrainian Overnight Rates Spike To 20% As Bank Liquidity Fears Soar [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/10/2013 08:22 -0500 - Bond inShare As opposition party offices are raided and streets continue to fill with protesters, the"precarious" funding sitaution in the nation is beginning to flash red as *interbank lending rates spike to 20%*. Banks, clearly concerned about their own and each other's liquidity in the face of potential deposit runs (an... more »

BitCoin weekend thread December 7-8 , 2013 - BitCoin crashed dow to 576 today December 7 , 2013 ! Wild volatility since the PBOC and Baidu clamped down on BitCon starting on Wednesday and Friday respectively . How far behind can other Central Banks be at this point in following the moves of China to protect their Banks , businesses and individuals from potential hazards associated with BitCoin ?

Catharsis Ours - 7 hours ago
New and views - first my prior thread....... *BitCoin news and views* highlights for *December 4* , *2013*........Hugh Items for Sunday http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-08/bitcoin-derivatives-market-has-arrived The Bitcoin Derivatives Market Has Arrived [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/08/2013 13:25 -0500 - Bitcoin - fixed - Volatility inShare<span style="display: inline-block !important; font-size: 1px !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !impor... more »

Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013 - Comet ISON

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 7 hours ago
*Blossom Goodchild - 10 December, 2013* Good morning! Are you well? Quite a lot of things going round in my head so we will get going straight away if we may? *This is perfectly in order and we are happy to oblige you in answering matters that may be quizzically in the forefront of your mind.* Okedokey. It came to me that many people are attuned to different things and dare I say different Truths regarding the Ascension and The Event. Yet each one is of good intent I am sure ... and therefore coming from 'their Truth'. Yet surely someone / some channels have to be wrong? I mean... more »

Catch of the Day

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 7 hours ago
Jonathan Chait: The problem here is that their definition of who would “benefit” is exceedingly narrow. You “benefit,” by his way of thinking, only if your actuarial costs exceed your financial contributions. But that isn’t how most people think about insurance. Insurance isn’t a kind of gamble where you bet you can beat the house by consuming more in medical care than you pay in premiums and deductibles. It’s protection from risk. People like that protection. They will pay to acquire it. Yeah. I really do think that one thing that's happened in the continuing reaction to the ACA i... more »

IOKIYAR

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 7 hours ago
Republican heads are detonating like Jiffy Pop over Obama shaking Raul Castro's hand during Nelson Mandela's memorial service. I can see why.

Unusual weather in the Valley

risa bear at A Way to Live - 7 hours ago

Let It Snow!

Southern Man at Southern Man - 7 hours ago
Winter Storm Cleon (just when did they start naming winter storms?) swept in Thursday with enough vigor to shut the school down at 3:00 PM (with an additional message that we wouldn't re-open until Monday morning) so Southern Man headed back to The Land to face a cold weekend in The Trailer. The problem with bitter cold weather at The Land is that it's *boring*. He can get the trailer warm enough with a pair of electric heaters and there's an electric blanket on the bed but there is little or no Internet service and no broadcast television. Southern Man's PS2 and gaming computers ar... more »

A critique of Common Core math standards

Michael Paul Goldenberg at @ THE CHALK FACE - 7 hours ago
A critique of Common Core math standards Guest post in Val Strauss’ WaPo column, in response to “The future of high school math education”

Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 7 hours ago
At a black hole, Albert Einstein's theory of gravity apparently clashes with quantum physics, but that conflict could be solved if the Universe were a holographic projection. ARTIST'S IMPRESSION BY MARKUS GANN/SHUTTERSTOCK *Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram* *A ten-dimensional theory of gravity makes the same predictions as standard quantum physics in fewer dimensions. **A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.* http://www.nature.com/news/simulations-back-up-theory-that-universe-is-a-h... more »

SNOWDEN - TRIPLE AGENT

Anon at aangirfan - 8 hours ago
It would seem that Edward Snowden is a triple agent. *1.* Edward Snowden was led to Moscow by Sarah Harrison, who attended a school linked to the head of MI6 and to a former head of MI5. *2.* Snowden has failed to tell us, for example, that 9 11 was an inside job. He has failed to tell us anything we did not already know. *3.* Snowden has been given a lot of publicity by the mainstream media, including the Guardian. The Guardian is alleged to be run by MI6. What links Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and the former head of Britain's spy service MI5? Jonathan Evans, the former ... more »

Israel's best friend: Stephen Harper

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 8 hours ago
Doesn't it give you the warm fuzzies? *To bad Stephen Harper doesn't concern himself with all the other the other Canadians.* You know the ones that are not followers of a specific religion but do reside in Canada, but, by all appearances have loyalties lie elsewhere. Canada's Prime Minister? Really? To speak more plainly, if the Canadians resident here have more concern for a foreign nation they should pack up and go. And take Stephen , John and all the other sycophants with you. It is time to put the Canadian people and their interests in their own nation first, second and third. T... more »

Cyber Shrinkage: Loss and Cyber Security

Brandon Valeriano at Duck of Minerva - 9 hours ago
The nature of cyber discourse concerns me, and this is a point I have written about extensively with Ryan Maness (Valeriano and Maness 2012a, Valeriano and Maness 2012b, Valeriano and Maness 2014). The idea is that threats we see materialize from cyberspace seem to vastly outweigh any other threats we have faced, ever. Some argue Continue reading

Good for the goose

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 9 hours ago
Charismatic figures notoriously neglect personal relationships and benevolent, child-focused professional persons have a habit of ignoring their own children and carpenters‘ houses never have any decent woodwork. So Nelson Mandela was a bad dad, and before being imprisoned, a violent political activist. After his lengthy incarceration he did indeed show an astonishing lack of bitterness or resentment, considerable wisdom and apparently a great deal of charisma. However, the way he has been elevated to a level of other-worldly sanctity is regrettable. It’s probably counter-productiv... more »

World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 9 hours ago
Clockwise from top left, eight of the people who have signed the petition: Hanif Kureishi, Björk, Arundhati Roy, Don DeLillo, Ian McEwan, Tom Stoppard, Margaret Atwood and Martin Amis *World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft* • 500 signatories include five Nobel prize winners • Writers demand 'digital bill of rights' to curb abuses Matthew Taylor and Nick Hopkins The Guardian, Tuesday 10 December 2013 More than 500 of the world's leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblo... more »

Segregations in English Universities?

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 9 hours ago
"This is University, it's not a Mosque or a Temple." Ysamin Alibhai Brown telling off Omar Ali of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies on Channel 4 News. What's this all about? Segregation of males and females because of religious buffoonery; it goes back to a post Free Planet made last month asking Why Do We Legislate For Belief Systems - you know, 'hate crime' legislation and 'right to segregate' legislation, legally sucking up to 'religious dogma' etc. Universities'll always try to allow money into their coffers even if it's sourced via 'religious agenda'. There's liter... more »

Can they please change the record!!

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 9 hours ago
I do love big, sweeping historical series. *The Story of the Jews *with Simon Schama, for instance, was fabulous. It was most unusual, however, in *not* being focused on Muslim history. This year alone has seen BBC Two's glossy, controversial *The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors*, plus (ongoing now) a major celebration of the *The Islamic Golden Age *on Radio 3's *The Essay *(twenty programmes) and, starting today, a "landmark" four-part series on Radio 4 entitled *The Making of the Modern Arab World*. Wouldn't it be great if the BBC were to look beyond that part of the world... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 10 hours ago
*Domestic violence: the DA's side ~Alex Woodward, Gambit*

Lamar W. Hankins : Right-Wing Rants and the Abominable Straw Man

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 10 hours ago
The abominable Straw Man argument. Image from Linda's Bees. Frosty the Straw Man: How right-wing rants  poison political discussion If we could have civil discourse about our disagreements and try to understand why we have differences of opinion, perhaps we would have fewer rants from all sides of the political divide. By Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog / December 10, 2013 The Internet is a

Disfruta esta colección de imágenes navideñas y de Año Nuevo

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FOTOFRONTERA - 10 hours ago

Search results

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 10 hours ago
Does it seem to you that there's been much more BBC coverage of Nelson Mandela in the last five days than there was of Margaret Thatcher in the first five days after her death? Well, a search of the BBC News website for 'Nelson Mandela' between 5/12/2013 and 10/12/2013 brings up *303* 'News' results (and the 10/12/2013 isn't yet over!). An almost comparable search for 'Margaret Thatcher' between 8/4/2013 and 13/4/2013 brings up *195 *'News' results.

A Blast from the Past

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 10 hours ago
Today I am at a workshop on climate adaptation. The organizers passed around a copy of the long essay in *The Atlantic Monthly* that Dan Sarewitz and I wrote back in 2000. I hadn't looked at it in a while. The opening, as someone just remarked, could be re-written today simply changing out Haiyan for Mitch. Here is that opening: In the last week of October, 1998, Hurricane Mitch stalled over Central America, dumping between three and six feet of rain within forty-eight hours, killing more than 10,000 people in landslides and floods, triggering a cholera epidemic, and virtually wip... more »

Christmas Luncheon

Southern Man at Southern Man - 10 hours ago
And to follow our own little IT luncheon the entire college gathered for a nice Christmas meal... Two colleagues. Mike invades an otherwise adorable picture. The girl on the right is the Dean's administrative assistant; Southern Man feeds her *white* chocolate on a regular basis, as you can't keep the Dean's admin assistant too happy. Also, she has some sort of genetic defect that prevents her from enjoying the real thing. Most of the gang. The end of the semester draws nigh! Everyone needs to reset every now and again; we teachers get to do so twice a year. It's one of South... more »

‘You are a woman, you can’t sit here’: UK Universities condones gender segregation

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 10 hours ago
Gender segregation in British Universities is on the way. Would you like to guess who's behind it? Harry's Place has the grim details as the attempted Islamisation of the UK continues apace. More here http://hurryupharry.org/2013/11/23/you-are-a-woman-you-cant-sit-here-uk-universities-condones-gender-segregation/

The values lodged in Mandela’s first home!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 10 hours ago
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013* *Versus the values of our upper-end press corps:* We were struck by a pair of front-page reports in Sunday’s Washington Post. More specifically, we were struck by the values lodged within these reports, which sat side-by-side on page one of the hard-copy Post. This first report concerned Nelson Mandela’s first home in Johannesburg. As he started, Sudarsan Raghavan compared this less than modest dwelling to the home where Mandela lived in his (much) later years: RAGHAVAN (12/8/13): Less than 10 miles from Nelson Mandela's opulent home, where thousands a...more »

Nelson Mandela's battle against socialism, unionism and interventionism

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 10 hours ago
* Guest post by Thomas DiLorenzo* *“Workers of the world unite, keep South Africa white.”* –Slogan of early twentieth-century South African Labor Unions *“South Africa’s apartheid is not the corollary of free-market or capitalist forces. Apartheid is the result of anti-capitalistic o socialistic efforts to subvert the operation of market (capitalistic) forces.”* –Walter E. Williams, *South Africa’s War Against Capitalism* The international socialist movement has long attempted to associate another kind of socialist movement – the former South African Aparthei laws – as some kin... more »

Is Andy Shallal the next Bill de Blasio?

Angel Cintron Jr. at @ THE CHALK FACE - 11 hours ago
If yesterday’s WTU-sponsored town hall event is any sign of things to come, then the 2014 D.C. mayoral race will be a “game changer” in the education reform landscape within the nation’s capital. Although education reform in D.C. is often a one-sided debate, one candidate is separating himself from the pack by challenging the core […]

NATO's War on Syria Just Got Dirtier

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 11 hours ago
West scrambles to cover up Syria false flag revelations as Pulitzer Prize-winner & Syria's Electronic Army expose all. *December 10, 2013* - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who had warned as early as 2007 of US-Israeli-Saudi plans to use Al Qaeda as proxies to overthrow the Syrian government, has published another groundbreaking report titled, "Whose Sarin?" In it, Hersh states (emphasis added): *Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus ... more »

Watch "Now Anal Jihad Begins" on YouTube

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 11 hours ago
Almost unbelievable... Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d7Nr3K5K_4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Costco, food stamps, and yukking it up at Mandela's memorial...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 11 hours ago
So..............................I'm standing in line at Costco yesterday. In front of me are two men checking out - one older, one younger. The older man checks out and pays. The younger one checks out (using the membership card of the older man) and pulls out his EBT card. The cashier told him he couldn't use it to pay since he wasn't a member and that he could only accept cash. I used to work for Costco and this is standard policy. The older man becomes a bit upset. A front end supe (Costco speak for supervisor) comes over and explains that only the member can use an EBT... more »

Christmas Finger Painting

Debra Hawkins at Housewife Eclectic - 11 hours ago
My 5-year-old has become obsessed with crafting. She asks me every morning if we are going to make something today. I am always looking for fun new crafts, so when I saw the masking tape finger paintings, I knew we could put a fun Christmas spin on them. You will need: A canvas (mine is 8x10) Masking Tape Red and Green Paint Tape off a Christmas word on the canvas. We went with Joy, but you could go with Hope or Peace or any other word. Make sure the tape is firmly down. I like to run a ruler over all the edges. Give your child red and green paint and let them go for it. My only ... more »

Contrast Real Democratic Candidates With Steve Israel's DCCC Mystery Meat Shills

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 11 hours ago
Several months ago, when the DCCC endorsed Pete Aguilar for the D+5 Inland Empire congressional seat he lost last year to *two* Republicans because of his obvious inability to connect with Democratic voters, I tried calling him to ask him where he stands on issues. Like virtually all DCCC-manufactured candidates, his website is devoid of issue positions. I reached what I thought was a naive volunteer, a pleasant kid with a Chechen accent, named Boris. Boris was verity friendly and forthcoming but admitted-- shockingly to me, but very routinely to him-- that Aguilar didn't have an... more »

PROLES UNITE / PROTECTIVE STUPIDITY IS ORWELL'S CRIMESTOP

Allen L Roland, Ph.D at Allen L Roland's Weblog - 11 hours ago
*We have already gone down the Rabbit Hole of Orwell's predicted fully digital world of 1984 ~ where the global elite or New World Order rules; the Inner Party is the 2% Oligarchical political class which obediently obeys its unseen master; the Outer Party are the 13% bureaucrats of Oceania who carry out the actual work and man the Ministries of Truth (Deception), Peace (War), Love (Torture) and Plenty (Control) and the remaining 85% Proles (Public) are openly exploited but dangerously human ~ and must be distracted at all costs from the truth: Allen L Roland * ... more »

How You Can Disprove Sarah Palin by Just Looking at the Sky

Len Hart at The Existentialist Cowboy - 11 hours ago
*by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy* Sarah Palin is a "young Earther" who believes in a Biblical young universe, created by God some 6,000 years ago. Much longer ago than just 6,000 years was the beginning of a vast migration of an African tribe out of Africa, into Asia and eventually across the Bering Straits into Alaska enroute to what is now called the United States. (No ---Sarah Palin did not see them coming from her front porch.) It is hard to imagine how they managed to begin or complete this journey if the universe had not yet been created! As they passed through Sarah P... more »

Archangeloi on the New Earth frequencies

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 12 hours ago
*Archangeloi on the New Earth frequencies* http://truthcodes.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/archangeloi-on-the-new-earth-frequencies/ Posted: December 10, 2013 Author: Karen Doonan Greetings beloved ones, we are the Archangeloi of the ELOHIM and we come to guide and to support at this time of VAST upgrades and expansion to the frequencies of Mother Earth and your human vehicle. The human vehicle so aligned with Mother Earth that you are experiencing that which your MOTHER is experiencing albeit filtered through the very “human” experience that you came here to interact with and within. ... more »

HISTORY / Bob Feldman : A People's History of Egypt, Part 12, Section 1, 1947-1948

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 12 hours ago
Police crack down on strikers in Mahalla, 1947, killing three workers. Image from Hossam el-Hamalawy / Flickr. A people's history: The movement to democratize Egypt Part 12: 1947-1948 period/Section 1 -- Anti-imperialist left grows; Muslim Brotherhood collaborates with Egyptian regime. By Bob Feldman / The Rag Blog / December 10, 2013 [With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's

Per @dianeravitch, I re-evaluate my participation (or lack thereof) with @AERA_EdResearch

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 12 hours ago
We At the Chalk Face are always appreciative of when Diane Ravitch follows our work, and we are happy to stand with her in this struggle. Today, Ravitch referenced a piece I wrote about the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Here’re my original thoughts. I completely understand that it may be effective to represent from […]

Nelson Mandela the highly evolved soul

LeDaro at LeDaro - 12 hours ago
If you're wondering why I write so much about Nelson Mandela then it is because of my interest and involvement in human rights issues. A fellow prisoner and friend of Mandela was invited here in the Maritimes to speak at a human rights conference. My job was to pick him up from the hotel and bring him to the conference. He was a very humble man. Unfortunately I forgot his name. I asked him all kinds of questions and he told me about Nelson Mandela and how he was an inspiration for fellow prisoners. Last night I was watching NBC news and it was reported that it was the largest number... more »

Nuclear Fallout Update

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 12 hours ago
While waiting for the budget deal, Senate Democrats are attempting to get through a bunch of nominations before the end of the session. Republicans this morning are forcing extra votes, with Mitch McConnell just now forcing a re-vote on the nuclear option -- that is, the new precedent that cloture on nominations only takes a simple majority. The tell that it's all for show? Republicans did agree to the standard motion to allow committees to meet. If they really were going all-out to "shut down the Senate," that's one they could have objected to. We'll see. Democrats have filed clotu... more »

Phil Space

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 13 hours ago
More Curiosity news: the Mars rover has discovered that the former lake in the Gale Crater very likely had fresh water that *could *have teemed with microbial life. Probes like Curiosity keep finding evidence for benign conditions on early Mars. The only missing ingredients seem to have been time and an atmosphere. The difficulty is discovering just how long you need for the right conditions to produce life. That said it is something to send a spacecraft to Mars specifically to look for direct evidence of water and find them right away.

Vampires of the Gilded Age

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 13 hours ago
Financial gurus advise never spending more than a quarter of your income on housing, so as to have plenty of cash left over for food, heat, transportation and other niceties. But if you live in certain parts of the country (D.C., New York, San Francisco) that little bromide has always been a joke. Not for nothing does NYC actually have a political party called "The Rent is Too Damned High." Since the financial meltdown and collapse of the housing market and record foreclosures, we have become a nation of renters. And Wall Street has become a cabal of landlords, buying up all those d... more »

Seneca Hawk Elder Grandma Gordon passes to Spirit World

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 13 hours ago
By Brenda Norrell Censored News Our dear friend Grandma Edna Gordon, Seneca Hawk Elder, 93, has passed to the Spirit World. In recent years, Grandma Gordon shared her loving words with our readers at Censored News, and supported the Longest Walk and Native American rights with her good words. She mailed Censored News her hand-written words on long yellow sheets of paper to share here. Her

Shaking the hand

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 13 hours ago
Wow just imagine how all those people killed by drones must feel, how could Castro grib hands with such an indiscriminate killer Obama is one of those no matter how much he rolls out the terrorist prose. People are people and we do not lean to sociopaths. Yes we have had our fair share advance to power but I do not think they started that way. The pressure of power pushed them over the edge just as most want to believe if you go into politicize you will be polluted to the point of dissolution. Just walk away do not go to the supermarket and say the my goverment will kill anyone in a ... more »

At Salon, they like the look of Zooey Deschanel in the morning!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 14 hours ago
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013* *Low-IQ news org targets millenials, 76 million strong:* In this morning’s New York Times, Ravi Somiya reports on a recent spate of bogus reports which went viral in on-line “news orgs.” Why do “news orgs” rush to print these brainless, bogus reports? At several points in Somiya’s report, horrible chasers of mammon pretend to explain. We *don’t* mean Ryan Grim: SOMIYA (12/10/13): [E]ditors at these sites acknowledge frankly that there are trade-offs in balancing authenticity with the need to act quickly in a hyperconnected age. *“We are dealing with a ... more »

THE SINGULARITY Is Near - Will You DIE??

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 14 hours ago
*(Some may decide that this blog is going off the deep-end . . maybe it is! I hope it is, actually :-) . . * *while the title of this vid can be said to be fear-mongering, I think that this guy is onto a big chuck of reality . . I watch his vids a lot, although it disappoints me that he is a "Jesus-Basher" . . .time will tell . . things under the surface (literally, lol) ) seem to be moving quicker and quicker . . we just have to be aware of the traps and avoid them . . and have faith. . . .)* * Dec 5, 2013* In this episode of "From The Mind Of johnellizz", we examine the gr... more »

Insurgents Undermine Another Institution In Ninewa Province

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 14 hours ago
Iraq’s Ninewa, and specifically the provincial capital Mosul has once again become a hotbed for insurgent activity. Many different militant groups operate there including Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Baathist Jaish Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshibandi, and Ansar al-Sunna. One major target of these groups has been public employees. Recently 200 guards from the Badush prison quit after a concerted campaign to threaten and intimidate them. That followed the assassination of several district mayors in Mosul that shut down their local councils. This was just the latest attempt to undermine the adm... more »

CYBER COUP CALLED OUT BY SOUTH KOREAN LAWMAKER

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 14 hours ago
DP lawmaker says Pres. Park should step down after ‘cyber coup’Opposition party distancing itself from lawmaker’s remarks, which they say are her personal position the hankyoreh (South Korea)By Song Ho-jin, staff reporter Jang Ha-na, a young first-term proportional representative Democratic Party lawmaker, caused a stir on Dec. 8 when she declared that last December’s presidential election was rigged as a result of the interference of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Cyber Warfare Command and called on President Park Geun-hye to step down and make way for a special p... more »

Winning by losing

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 14 hours ago
The USA is ruled by a great collection of great and bad, fantastic and fanatical. So what is a President to do, if he wants to rule for me and you? I listen to a lot of talk radio. The conservative voices are true believers, let the lizard brain rule. The left is muted, they have to pick their points. Into this swamp wades Obama. Consider even now Dick Cheney is not a believer in Mandela. When Cheney Bush ruled the world there was no compromise, everything was extravagant American exceptionalism. I really wonder if it was all smokescreen for the greatest heist in human history, but... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 15 hours ago
*Jeff Parish attorney, citing attorney/client privilege, cuts off IG's access to e-mails, for now ~Paul Murphy, WWLTV * *Misleading letters scare Road Home recipients* *Businessmen claim extortion in St. Bernard Parish Katrina cleanup ~Rachel Wulff, WDSU* *Massive mission to clean up Mississippi River comes to N.O. ~Scott Satchfield, WVUE*

Thailand-- Eroding The Legitimacy Of Democracy… Corruption vs Social Media

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
Last week, I mentioned the incipient revolution going on in Thailand, but here on my travel blog. That's because I often travel to Thailand on Christmas vacations. Thanksfully, not this year. Increasingly vehement demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra-- which has led to several deaths and hundreds of injuries and is tearing Bangkok apart-- has resulted in the opposition Members of Parliament resigning en masse followed by the Prime Minister dissolving Parliament and calling for new elections. So why is this happening? Many Thais, feel that cr... more »

VISIONS OF THE PISA: From both sides now!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 15 hours ago
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013* *Part 2—Ravitch reacts:* Reading Diane Ravitch can be a frustrating task. Consider the start of her new book, Reign of Error. At the start of her Introduction, Ravitch lays out the book’s purpose. Quite literally, these are the very first words of the book. This quickly, we meet contradiction: RAVITCH (*page xi*): The purpose of this book is to answer four questions. First, is American education in crisis? Second, is American education failing and declining? Third, what is the evidence for the reforms now being promoted by the federal government and a... more »

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 15 hours ago
Happy Birthday to Catherine Parks, 57. Why? Because she was in Bernie's, that's why. If that's not enough for you, she was on the Boat once...we really need someone to revive the Boat or something like it. On her episode? Bob Denver, Markie Post, Forrest Tucker, Lyle Waggoner...Eleanor Parker, who just died, who played the Baroness in Sound of Music, too. Bac to Parks: if that's not enough, she was also in "Looker." Why should anyone care about that stinker? Because it's also Susan Dey's birthday. But she wasn't in Bernie's, so I'm less interested. Sorry for getting lost there, bu... more »

EITC is better than the Minimum Wage

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 15 hours ago
From David Neumark: Suggesting that federal policy addressing low-wage work and low-income families has somehow failed because the minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation ignores the fact that we have moved away from a focus on the minimum wage — a policy with many flaws — and toward the earned-income tax credit. We shouldn’t be asking simply how much the real minimum wage has changed, but rather how much the combined income floor generated by the two policies has changed. To provide an example, the blue line in the figure below shows the wages received by a single adult wor... more »

Not A Banner Year

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 15 hours ago
This has not been a good year for Stephen Harper. It began with Harper unleashing the Deloitte audit dogs on Chief Theresa Spence. And it ended with his attempt to call them off Mike Duffy. Between the Deloitte bookends, it was one debacle after another. Michael Harris writes: The PM had come across for First Nations all right. He apologized and promised “change”, but he delivered the paternalistic status quo — and budget cuts to bands from coast to coast. He did his best to destroy Chief Spence in a very public humiliation. He left the reputation of National Chief Sean Atleo in ... more »

The Aurelian Alternatives

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 15 hours ago
The attribution is probably apocryphal. Nonetheless, the words speak for themselves.

VAM Fails Test, Again: The Bizarro World of Education Reform

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE - 16 hours ago
VAM Fails Test, Again: The Bizarro World of Education Reform. via VAM Fails Test, Again: The Bizarro World of Education Reform.

Argentina: The 1973 Dionisio Llanca Abduction Revisited (2013 Interview)

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 16 hours ago
*Argentina: The 1973 Dionisio Llanca Abduction Revisited (2013 Interview)* We received the following note from contributing editor *Guillermo Giménez*this morning: *“In the Sunday, 8 December 2013 issue of Bahia Blanca’s La Nueva Provincia newspaper appeared a brief but most interesting interview with the protagonist of the incident known as the “Dionisio Llanca Case” which occurred on 28 October 1973 in the vicinity of Bahia Blanca in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A highly interesting incident with worldwide repercussions, one in which the witness claimed having been take... more »

Whose Sarin? Ghouta and Obama's big lie

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 16 hours ago
This should have been up yesterday, but, better late then not at all Seymour Hersh questions the official narrative surrounding the Ghouta chemical weapon use in this article- *Whose Sarin?* It’s long, covers a lot of ground and is worth reading entirely. Even if you have been a long term reader here. There are still some interesting bits contained within. Particularly enlightening is the reporting on the sensor system. So, I will post excerpts and hope you read the rest. *I have a bone to pick with the opening paragraph-* *“Barack Obama did not tell the whole story *this autumn whe... more »

Google lets users make own Street View

Megaan at Current news updates, World current news - 16 hours ago
*Google has unveiled a new tool that allows users to make a Street View - a 360 degree virtual tour - of any place and share it using Google Maps. *These can be formed by using photos taken by an Android phone or DSLR camera. The tool lets users connect different photos and, once published, people can steer between them on Google Maps. Google supposed the move will allow it to expand the reach as well as the uses of its maps service. The firm said in a blog post they are excited to see the different types of Street View experiences that everyone will contribute. *This quality ca... more »

GOP Guide: How to Talk to Women-- Go Out There And Get Those Dame Votes

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 16 hours ago
Looks to me like Paul Ryan comes off even worse in this video than even Todd Akin or Richard Mourdock-- and he has no problem with rape exceptions either. On top of that, he says Lilly Ledbetter was not an equal pay law." He was talking about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 which states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. The law directly addressed the 2007 Supreme Court decision in *Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.*, that the statu... more »

PENTATONIX: ROYALS (LORDE COVER)

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 16 hours ago

Iran nuclear talks with P 5 + 1 - will the US Congress kill the nuclear deal by imposing even more sanctions ? If th talks fail , who would be happier - hawks in the US , Israel .... or Iranian hardliners ?

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 16 hours ago
Iran FM: New US Sanctions Would Kill Nuclear DealSenate Hawks Prepare New Sanctions Bills by Jason Ditz, December 09, 2013 Print This | Share This In an interview today, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reiterated that the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, which limits Iran’s civilian program in return for sanctions relief, would be effectively dead if the US imposes new sanctions on them. Senate hawks certainly hope so and, after weeks of condemning diplomacy with Iran, Sens. Robert Menendez (D – NJ) and Mark Kirk (R – IL) are drawing up those new sanctions with that warning, and si... more »

ALERT: Tare-able Silent Invasion In Progress

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 17 hours ago
[image: Revelation Now] December 9, 2013 [image: reptile_head] There is a growing body of awareness sweeping the Earth, with people with eyes to SEE and ears to HEAR, regarding the true reality of our slave masters. Yes, we are all enslaved and it started with our minds. We were born into a system where we were taught *what* and *how *to think. To question our programming, is to be whipped with sarcasm and devalued as a thinker. The macro brainwashing begins with television programming as child and graduates to prime-time television. The educational system plants the seeds of his... more »

Spysplaining

Alison at Creekside - 17 hours ago
*Leaks on Five Eyes spy network are fuelling ‘misinformation,’ CSEC chief says* reads the G&M headline. Actually it was the CSEC *watchdog* and not the CSEC *chief* who fretted to a senate committee today about CSEC info being made public, but you can see how the G&M headline writer could have confused the two. Lone CSEC watchdog commissioner Jean-Pierre Plouffe, appointed two months ago to ensure CSEC stays within the law, talked a lot more like a chief defending his outfit than an independent watchdog holding it to account. Plouffe is worried about "sensational" docs leaked to th... more »

Another piece of the puzzle

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 18 hours ago
Yet more evidence that MtoF and FtoM are not mirror-images, and that while saying "Trans women have female brains" captures the essence, and is useful as an initial step towards understanding, the reality is more complex than that. For that matter, cis women don't have female brains as such, yet men and women have statistical differences in neuro anatomy that correlate well with statistical differences in behaviour - such as sense of smell. Cortical activation during mental rotation in male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals under hormonal treatment. Carillo et al, Psychoneur... more »

The Lesson of Wheat

Len Hart at The Existentialist Cowboy - 18 hours ago
*by Len Hart, the Existentialist Cowboy* Creationists are wrong on EVERY count. They believe that the ant-eater has a long snout and tongue SO THAT it can reach the ants underground. That's backward. The only verifiable fact is stated thus: the ant-eater can reach ants underground BECAUSE it has a long snout. Easy to understand that over eons, those potential ant-eaters who had longer snouts could, in fact, reach ants and thus survive, passing on their DNA in the process. Those who could not --died! End of the line! The difference between evolutionists and fundies is LOGIC. For exa... more »

Star-Gate Alignments & Current False-Flag Massacres ╰☆╮ Michael Erevna & Steve Quayle w/ Hagmann

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 18 hours ago
. . . the common ancient "Silver Gate" star-gate known as the back door of Heaven was overhead during the massacre. If you have been following this site you would know either the Golden or Silver gates have been over many of the massacres. Out of 88 constellations we have 2 which our commonly over the massacres. The "Golden" is the way in and the "Silver" is the way out. These are the openings to the transport systems into the spiritual world. These possessions coincide with these gate systems to hijack energy and souls into the spirit realm. This is part of the spiritual war we ... more »

herbert: mandela and king were not warm and fuzzy, they were hard-core revolutionaries

laura k at wmtc - 19 hours ago
Bob Herbert in *Jacobin*: I knew that the tributes would be pouring in immediately from around the world, and I also knew that most of them would try to do to Mandela what has been done to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: turn him into a lovable, platitudinous cardboard character whose commitment to peace and willingness to embrace enemies could make everybody feel good. This practice is a deliberate misreading of history guaranteed to miss the point of the man. The primary significance of Mandela and King was not their willingness to lock arms or hold hands with their enemies.... more »

things i heard at the library: an occasional series: #11

laura k at wmtc - 19 hours ago
Customer: "Hi, can I print from a USB here? My printer at home isn't working." Me: [I explain how our printing works: you buy a card, it costs such and such, etc.] Customer: "I just want to print from my USB." Me: [I explain how our printing works: you buy a card, it costs such and such, etc.] Customer: "Someone said I could just come here and print." Me: [I explain how our printing works: you buy a card, it costs such and such, etc.] Customer: "Can't you just take my USB and print my stuff from your computer?" Me: [I explain how our printing works: you buy a card, it costs such... more »

The first Amplituhedron paper is out

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 21 hours ago
We've been using the word "Amplituhedron" since September 2013 but only now, the first preprint with this word in the title was released: The Amplituhedron The authors, Nima Arkani-Hamed and Jaroslav Trnka ["Yuh-raw-sluff Turn-kuh" if you allow me to bastardize a Czech name), are preparing two more papers, "Into the Amplituhedron" and "Scattering Amplitudes from Positive Geometry", as well as a third paper along with Andrew Hodges, "Three Views of the Amplituhedron". The today's paper has 36 pages of JHEP \(\rm\LaTeX\). These pages are divided to 14 short sections and it seem... more »

IPCC models: Tolkien's Middle Earth threatened by global warming

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 21 hours ago
Did you ever believe that the IPCC climate models have something to do with the reality? Were you ever tempted to think that the contemporary climatologists are able to write and publish anything if it helps their funding? Researchers from the University of Bristol decided to settle the questions, once and for all. They used the climate models based on the same maths as used in the latest IPCC report and analyzed something that everyone knows to be damn real – the Middle Earth, a continent discovered by the explorer J.R. Tolkien. The results of this important research led by D... more »

UHC 21: The PGH, Manila City Government and Civil Society

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 22 hours ago
An official of the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila, where the College of Medicine and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is based, Dr. Tony Leachon who is also a friend, posted in his facebook wall about the need to raise the budget of the PGH. This year, the UP System (UPS) total budget is P9.53 billion of which P2 billion goes to PGH alone. Next year, UPS total budget will be P8.1 billion, and again, P2 billion of which will go to PGH alone. This year too, UPS’ capital outlay (CO) is P1.45 billion but zero for next year. (See http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp.../uploads/NEP2014... more »

Thailand: Historic Turnout Shakes Regime

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 22 hours ago
*Editor's Note: As better footage becomes available, the videos below may be changed, along with the captions accordingly.* *December 9, 2013* (Tony Cartalucci) - Monday December 9, 2013 at 9:39am was set to be the largest anti-regime rally yet in Thailand's latest bid to oust the Wall Street-backed dictatorship of Thaksin Shinawatra. Even the night before, massive numbers of people flooded into several protesting sites, and by morning a torrent of tens of thousands poured through the streets of Bangkok to join them. For miles in every direction, protesters could be seen streaming ... more »

Starchild Skull researcher - Lloyd Pye - rest in peace.

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 22 hours ago
According to Lloyd Pye's nephew via Lloyd's Official Facebook page, Lloyd Pye passed away last night. I've created this special Lloyd Pye label to show the number of times Free Planet has featured Lloyd's research into the Starchild (an adult, not a child) Skull over the years and to announce the passing of Lloyd Pye. LLOYD PYE, REST IN PEACE The last Free Planet heard from Lloyd Pye was an email dated the 17th of May 2013 in response to a request for the latest on his Starchild Skull research, *"I'm in Tampa right now having important meetings about it. Will report next week when... more »

Will China meet its energy-related targets under its 12th five year plan?

Josh Busby at Duck of Minerva - 23 hours ago
Did you see the photos like the one above out of Shanghai? For the first time ever, Shanghai’s air pollution, like Beijing’s before it, exceeded the scale for particulate matter. For the past seven days, the air quality has been so bad that schools and flights were cancelled, cars were forced off the roads, industries Continue reading

Co - dependency ..... Control frauds not just exist but dominate due to the co-dependent relationship between the Regulators of Wall Street and Wall Street itself !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 23 hours ago
Three examples of co - dependency from today ! http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2013/12/reich-jp-morgan-and-corruption-of.html Reich: JP Morgan, the Corruption of America, and the Age of Cynicism “What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." Oscar Wilde, *Lady Windermere's Fan* I thought this article below was a striking, insightful and important set of observations from Robert Reich. Rather than merely link to it, I thought an extended excerpt was appropriate, since it strikes to the heart of a key theme of this Café, the*cred... more »

I Bet The New York Times Article Made Rocket Tube Crash Yesterday

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
Sunday's *NY Times* posed an impossible question: How Man American Men Are Gay? First of all, what does that even mean? I've been straight, bisexual, gay and celibate. So how do you count me? (Until reading the *Times* story I had never been on any gay internet sites either. Porno never did much for me. And I never even *knew* Match.com is for gay people too. Using, among other indicators, Facebook, "pornographic searches and dating sites," Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, who recently received a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard, estimates that "[a]t least 5 percent of American men are pre... more »

NSA, what we know so far...NSA/Snowden update

Abraham Ben Judea at Abraham says - 1 day ago
As courtesy of Edward Snowden, this is the extent of what we now know, as of this writing, about what the US government's secret war against America consists of: 1). records every cell phone conversation ever made (e.g., every word you say) -- 2). records all e-mails ever sent (e.g., to one day be used against you) -- 3). takes pictures of all letters mailed, in the US (e.g., your mail is being opened, read by the government, and photocopied to archive, to one day be used against you) -- 4). uses drones for domestic surveillance and eavesd... more »

Harry Targ : My Nelson Mandela

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 1 day ago
Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013. My Nelson Mandela Real historic figures get lionized, sanitized, and most importantly redefined as defenders of the ongoing order rather than activists who committed their lives to revolutionary changes... By Harry Targ / The Rag Blog / December 10, 2013 One of the ironies of 21st century historical discourse is that despite significantly increased access to

Pope Francis: Peace for the Middle East, no to hatred

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
Video Title: Pope Francis: Peace for the Middle East, no to hatred. Source: Vatican. Date Published: December 9. Description: "We have to grow closer to the Lord, because God is our hope," Pope Francis said in his homily at morning Mass. Present at the Liturgy was the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak. "Christ overcomes the paralysis of humanity," the Pope said. "The paralysis of consciences is contagious. With the complicity of the poverties of history and of our sin, it can expand and enter into social structures and into communities to block entire peo... more »

A new hat for the pope? (And maybe a new ring to toss it in?)

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
*by Ken* December 9, 2013 *Pope Thinking of Losing Hat* Posted by ANDY BOROWITZ VATICAN CITY (The Borowitz Report)—In his latest break with Catholic orthodoxy, Pope Francis said today that he was “seriously considering losing the hat,” the tall ceremonial mitre that has long been a signature of papal dress. “I know I’m going to catch hell for saying this, but it looks kind of dumb,” he said. “Besides, you expect me to believe God really cares if I wear a big pointy hat or not? Come on.” The Pontiff said that he would probably “try out some different looks, like a baseball cap o... more »

Jonny Quest

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 1 day ago

Kill the Landlord, Save the Man

hygiecrat at hygiecracy - 1 day ago
originally published on CounterPunch Some expressions are so familiar, so deeply entwined in our history that, although they are thoroughly racist, even homicidal, they fail to elicit much surprise or shock. Familiar with their presence, we become inured to their depravity. And, because they fail to surprise us, they oftentimes fail to offend us as well. While the degree to which they influence us is subject to dispute, few will doubt that our culture is stitched together by just such threads. Maintaining an infamous position among these is the phrase "the only good Indian is a ... more »

As Detroit's Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr mulls taking over Detroit's Pension funds , note the Detroit bankruptcy is reverberating elsewhere ...... Scranton watches Detroit Bankruptcy case as it seeks solutions for its own fiscal woes !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Might this send the Unions over the edge ? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/detroits-emergency-manager-weighs-pension-000200112.html?l=1 Detroit's Emergency Manager Weighs Pension-Fund Takeover [image: The Wall Street Journal] By Matthew DolanDecember 6, 2013 7:02 PM - - - - - - - DETROIT—This city's emergency manager, in the midst of reorganizing the finances of America's most troubled large city, is threatening to take over one of Detroit's pension funds after a report found that retirees received extra payments while the funds lost value. Kevyn Orr sai... more »

OECD Pimping for Common Core Testing Delivery System

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
PISA chief, Andrew Schleicher was on the PBS News Hour last week to talk about what might be learned from high scorers on the world's most watched international testing derby. He pointed to some interventions that seem to have proved successful that focused on improving teacher quality and more equitable educational opportunities as having particular promise. When Jeffrey Brown asked about the U. S., Schleicher departed from his empirical riff, however, and focused on the untried and unproven Common Core testing delivery system as the way to American success in the international t... more »

Singapore sees riots ? ? If a rich and stable country such as Singapore is at knife's edge ( hidden tensions and divisions between their 1 percent tand the 99 percent brought to the surface by an accident ? ) ....... What country will next see riots such as Singapores has seen next - conditions that caused the riots in Singapore are present throughout the GCC nations and West ?

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-09/riots-break-out-singapore-think-your-country-immune Riots Break Out In Singapore; Think Your Country Is Immune? [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/09/2013 12:36 -0500 - Corruption - Greece - India - Middle East inShare1 *Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,* Mohamed Bouazizi. It’s not a name that means much to most people. But you’ll recall his story. Frustrated with the absurd amount of regulation and corruption that prevented him from being able to put food on the table for his f... more »

Domestic and Global Police State updates December 9 , 2013....Cyber insecurity - Rockefeller attaches cybersecurity bill to National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2014 .... WikiLeaks releases new documents exposing secret Trans-Pacific Partnership talks ...... More cyber insecurity - NSA and GCHQ spies ‘operated in games including World of Warcraft and Second Life’ ....... Underhanded techniques by Law enforcement - Unbelievable: ATF Using Mentally Disabled Teens to Run Drug-and-Gun Stings ....... Who said Spectre was fiction - New US spy satellite features world-devouring octopus

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Rockefeller attaches cybersecurity bill to National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2014 - [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image: Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones' Facebook][image: Infowars store] *asheepnomore.net* December 9, 2013 Call your senator and tell them to vote no to the Cyber Security Amendment attached to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Bill. COPY AND PASTE THIS INFORMATION below into BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS EMAILS! They must know we KNOW WHAT THEY ARE UP TO AND ARE EXPOSING T... more »

...but I do Believe in this:-

Paul Coker at News Spike - 1 day ago
I don't believe in magick I don't believe in I-Ching I don't believe in Bible I don't believe in tarot I don't believe in Hitler I don't believe in Jesus I don't believe in Kennedy I don't believe in Buddha I don't believe in mantra I don't believe in Gita I don't believe in yoga I don't believe in kings I don't believe in Elvis I don't believe in Zimmerman I don't believe in Beatles I just believe in me Yoko and me I was the Walrus But now I'm John.

Brzezinski: America Must Avoid Another Prolonged War In The Middle East + Obama: There Is A Dignified Resolution To Nuclear Issue With Iran + Nasrallah: War in the Region Should Worry Our Opponents More than Us

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
*1. Video Title: The U.S. must avoid another prolonged war: Zbigniew Brzezinski - Fast Forward. Source: Reuters TV. July 18, 2012. Description: * Officials can rarely predict the long-term impact of a war says Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Carter. In an interview with Editor-at-Large Harry Evans, Brzezinski adds that the U.S. should guarantee every Persian Gulf country that any threat from Iran will be viewed a direct threat to the United States. (July 18, 2012). "*I know from experience, and also from history, you can start a war, and you can k... more »

Sounds Like the Start of a Bar Joke, Doesn't It?

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 1 day ago
The Bushes, Clintons and Obama get on AF One on a 19 hour trip to South Africa... (No, Hillary didn't really tweet this. I made this.)

ObamaCare updates - December 9 , 2013 - top items of note......"No Way To Tell How Many People Who Have Signed Up For Obamacare Actually Have" ....... NYT: My, many of these ObamaCare premiums aren’t really as low as they seem, are they ? ......... Mutliple State Exchanges Vulnerable to Wi-Fi Attack ....... If you want to keep your Doctor , pay more ( say Zeke Emanuel ) ...... Apart from not keeping your Doctor unless you pay more - seems that you will lose top hospitals also ( unless you will pay more or all of the costs ) ...... Additional collateral damages !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-09/no-way-tell-how-many-people-who-have-signed-obamacare-actually-have "No Way To Tell How Many People Who Have Signed Up For Obamacare Actually Have" [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/09/2013 11:46 -0500 - fixed - Florida - Insurance Companies - Medicare - Obama Administration - Obamacare - Ohio - White House inShare The Obamacare enrollment portal is the gift that keeps on giving endless examples of government incompetence. The latest comes from Bloomberg which informs u... more »

Follow up on Pope Francis...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*by Judge Andrew Napolitano.* *Pope Francis should be saving souls, not pocketbooks* What is the worst problem in the world today? Might it be war, starvation, genocide, sectarian violence, murder, slaughter of babies in the womb? Any of these would be a rational answer. When Pope Francis was asked this question recently, he replied, “Youth unemployment.” To be sure, youth unemployment is a serious problem. In some parts of the United States, the richest country in the world, it has reached 25 percent. These are people who are no longer in school full time and are not yet 30 year... more »

Elsewhere: SCOTUS, ALEC, ACA, more

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 1 day ago
I did a radio spot on KPCC today on the question of whether Justices should retire strategically or not, and also on term limits for SCOTUS. I'm still ambivalent on the latter; I think the last time I wrote about it I bailed by saying that since staggered 18 year terms aren't going to happen, I don't need a position on it. On balance, I think I'm perhaps a bit more for than against, but I'm really undecided. On the main point, however, I think it's pretty clear that if older justices want to preserve the principles they believe in during a time of strong partisan polarization, then t... more »

IT Luncheon

Southern Man at Southern Man - 1 day ago
The last IT division meeting of the semester is not so much "meeting" as it is "Christmas Luncheon." There was plenty of food. Why, yes, Southern Man is somewhat obsessed with food The CS Department Chair and Southern Man's officially appointed mentor. They're both really very nice. Our Fearless Leader, the Dean of IT. Southern Man's actually known him for about twenty years. Mike in his natural habitat. He brought the most delicious cinnamon rolls *ever*. Another one of the CS professors. We're about half boys, half girls - a little unusual for computer science. Yet ano... more »

"Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve”

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
The Federal Reserve, not the free market, caused the Global Monetary Crisis says Money for Nothing filmmaker Jim Bruce “I view one of the big myths of the [2007-08 financial] crisis as that it was purely the effect of free markets, that this is what happens when you have free markets," says Jim Bruce, filmmaker behind the new documentary "Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve." Bruce predicted the meltdown, invested accordingly, and used the money he made from the collapse to fund his movie, which features interviews with economists who predicted the crisis, as well a... more »

PICK YOUR PLATE OF POISON

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
This video gives a taste of what the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP would bring. Created by Geoffrey Leighton based on a banner designed by Natasha Meyers and painted by ARRT! (Artists Rapid Response Team in Maine).

Is that really why the Labour Party raised the upper rate of tax to 50%?

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 day ago
The BBC confidently assert that: 'The last Labour government raised the upper tax band from 40% to 50% in 2010 in response to the recession but the coalition has since cut it to 45%.' 'in response to the recession', really? Not as a naked political gambit then? The BBC, as always, are happy to do the Labour Party's work for them, in this brown-nosed report on a Neil Kinnock interview. That's the same Neil Kinnock whose enormous EU pension will be taxed at a lower rate than his fellow British citizens, I wonder why he's so pro-EU.

12 couples that should know better

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
It’s bad enough for offspring of double-barrelled parents who meet and marry—do you offend one set of parents, or become quadruple-barrelled?—but some double-barrelled cognomens would be worse than others… More hilarity here. [Hat tip Paul L.] Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)

Can do Should Do

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
In the end there is no difference. We all go bad when temptation is painted in a perfect way. So what do we need to keep the bad guys away. Could not be a law, they write these all the time, and when you look to the shier f you will see he has their logo on his milk jug full time. So like Robin Hood its time, to find a new Sherwood forest and a new swinging vine. These vinittes these hardly formed thoughts are all remisicant of a classical plot to keep me distracted while the forces that be extincted all the life force that otherwise would be available\ if not protracted when the he... more »

One Perfect Ass

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago

GOP Governor Brian Sandoval's Big Gamble Is Paying Off-- For Nevada's Working Families

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
Out of place among the crackpots, Brian Sandoval, bottom row, #3 I doubt many Republicans are worried that Colin Powell has been talking up universal, single-payer health care-- something considerably more progressive than the Obamacare compromise conservatives forced on a naive Obama. Powell told the audience that countries in Europe, Canada and South Korea offer universal, single-payer health care and said he often asks why the United States has not implemented the same system. "Whether it's Obamacare, or son of Obamacare, I don't care," Powell said. "As long as we get it done." ... more »

Niagara Falls as you've never seen it...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*watch this full screen. Really...* Filmed by a very, very small remote-controlled drone called DJI Phantom.

#SurveillanceState: Big Tech says no!

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
Good news this morning that big online technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, AOL and LinkedIn, are joining together in opposition to the worldwide government surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden. The political push by the technology companies opens a third front in their battle against government surveillance, which has escalated with recent revelations about government spying without the companies’ knowledge. The companies have also been making technical changes to try to thwart spying and have been waging a public-relations campai... more »

Monday Evening Linkage: have yourself a gender-neutral Christmas?

Megan MacKenzie at Duck of Minerva - 1 day ago
Have yourself a gender-neutral Christmas, let your toys be yellow. From now on our princess costumes and toy guns will be out of sight…. Well, you try to rhyme with this material. The Daily Mail asked yesterday “how to shop for gender neutral toys” noting the sea of blue and pink dividing stores like Toys Continue reading

Double edged sword

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
There have been some odd reactions to the announcement that the world renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin has adopted Israeli citizenship, even though he resides elsewhere. I wrote here about a letter he sent to the BBC criticising their “slander and bias” against Israel, which is “Painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet propaganda” On 28th November on Norman Lebrecht’s blog ‘Slipped Disc’ some strange comments appeared below an announcement about Kissin’s Israeli citizenship. *“**What’s the point?*”, asked pianist Sanda Schuldmann. Later, in a subsequent Slipped Disc piece on Decembe... more »

Untitled

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
The people will not be pawned Oh yes they have given so much blood so much frustration' and energy its a nuclear reactor l like a flood of human mistakes overrunning the rivers of mankind we got to take no more prinsioner of the corporate kind Just dealing with a syndicate brings the Sopranos to mind and if you think Tony was so cute you are fucking blind These people these fuckers are taking a taste out of humankind cause the do not believe that getting persecute in Sicily will ever escape their minds So when did the goverment start to exist,and when did the goverment give the path to peop... more »

Pastor Rick Warren to Piers Morgan on Homosexuality...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*“I fear the disapproval of God more than I fear your disapproval or the disapproval of society.”*

Is a New Day Dawning for Education?

freetoteach at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
Common Dreams and Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post blog are covering today's protests. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? In: Physics, Philosophy and Philosophers, Brain Teasers and Logic Puzzles Answer: *Most basic answer:* No, because the definition of *sound* is "something that you hear." No one's there to hear the tree fall, so the tree doesn't make a sound. This answer is valid as long as no details are observed technically. Published on Monday, December 9, 2013 by Common Dreams Movement Rises to Kick 'Corporate Reform' Out o... more »

What American tennis failure can teach all of us

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
Driven out of New Zealand tennis by a “high performance” strategy adopted by tennis bureaucrats that was anything but, former Wimbledon finalist Chris Lewis is now appalled that the strategy of encouraging mediocrity is not only still in place, but being doubled down. The National body presents its blueprint to associations this week, with a targeted junior athlete programme focusing on elite players aged between 12 to 18 the focus. The new strategy is based on similar programmes run by Tennis Canada, Australia the British LTA and the US college system. But 1983 Wimbledon... more »

OBAMA KNEW HE HAD NO CASE

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh joins Democracy Now to discuss his new article casting doubt on the veracity of the Obama administration’s claims that only the Assad regime could have carried out the chemical attacks in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta earlier this year. Writing in the London Review of Books, Hersh argues that the Obama administration "cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad." The administration failed to disclose it knew Syrian rebels in the al-Nusra Front had the ability to produce chemical weapons. Evidence obtained in the days after th... more »

Four Alarm Fire on the building of Civilization

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
Singapore I sleep so sound in your arms. Singapore it seems Harry Lee understands how to make a society with far more love than harms. Now it does not make no no mind if you cant chew gum, or if you vandalize a car even if your an American you will still get more than one strokes from a bamboo cane to remind you that stepping of line is just not the way to make a society with a admirable bottom line, Say what you will about Lee Quan Yew to me he is a hero a man just like me an you So he did one thing and it turned out grand and he did another thing and it was successful and he went for t... more »

American Dream: a Danish Reality?

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 1 day ago
*High social mobility isn't a clear net positive* The American Dream is a national ethos of the U.S. Perhaps every third Hollywood movie describes the life story of a person born to poor conditions who makes it. The Americans themselves believe that this social mobility is one of the virtues in which the Americans beat other nations. The only problem is that the data suggest otherwise: The myth of the American Dream (CNN Money) Someone evaluated the "probability that you will be stuck in the same class as your parents", i.e. the social immobility of a sort. Denmark only has 0.15 so... more »

The new Salon and the rise of a new generation!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 1 day ago
*MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013* *Loom and womb! The tale of the vaginal knitter:* We don’t expect to keep writing about the new Salon. But three new pieces at the site represent a type of problem. This morning, we were puzzled by a piece by Koa Beck. It appears under this designation: *Passing for white and straight: How my looks hide my identity* I'm neither straight nor white, but I'm frequently mistaken for both—and it's taught me a lot about privilege KOA BECK SUNDAY, DEC 8, 2013 07:59 PM EST Quick summary: Beck—full name Koalani Beck—is a youngish, Hawaiian-born woman whose father... more »
Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments: