Wednesday, April 20, 2016

My Feedly! 2 of 3

English: The new fishing pier at Lake Killarne...English: The new fishing pier at Lake Killarney. To the left is a swimming area for residents of B-Line. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: The new cemetery at Angola. Only pris...English: The new cemetery at Angola. Only prisoners are buried here, those who, for whatever reason are not claimed by family members. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Old building at Camp H. Angola, LAEnglish: Old building at Camp H. Angola, LA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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A3 Newsletter: Broadening the Platform to Correct Past Injustices
A3 Newsletter, February 12, 2016: This is What Freedom Looks Like... Two Months of Liberation WATCH: Albert Speaks at Southeastern Louisiana UniversityWhat a joy it is to have Albert out of prison, after all these years of struggle, it is a rare and special treat to hear his voice on the phone each morning as we review the days schedule and events. In Albert's first month of freedom he stayed bus
London, April 21: Amnesty UK Preview Screening of 'Cruel and Unusual' by Vadim Jean
(Event info from Amnesty UK)When:  Thursday, 21 April 2016 from 18:30 to 21:30 (BST)Where:  Amnesty International UK - 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA, United KingdomAmnesty International UK is delighted to announce a special UK preview screening of ‘Cruel and Unusual’, a new documentary feature film telling the story of the Angola 3's struggle for justice, fighting their unjust convictions and t
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ARMSCONTROLWONK6 unread articles  //  actions

To Hiroshima
Secretary of State John Kerry joins other foreign ministers placing flowers at the cenotaph of the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Monday. Visits by high-level U.S. officials to Hiroshima are heavily freighted, unlike those to Tokyo, where over 100,000 civilians were killed in firebombing raids in March 1945. Hiroshima is different, of course. Tokyo …
New DPRK ICBM Engine
Yesterday, Melissa Hanham and I gave a talk to a meeting of US and Russian experts about North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile programs.  The presentation is part of a high-level dialogue that seeks to resume US-Russian cooperation on nonproliferation, even as relations are in the toilet.  Melissa tweeted some pictures from last night’s dinner, …
Retrospectives on MIRVing in the First Nuclear Age
(Continued from here.) Why did the Nixon Administration open the floodgates to MIRVs when it was clear that the Kremlin would follow suit, effectively ruining prospects for serious strategic arms limitation? Domestic politics had something to do with this result, because President Richard Nixon and national security advisor Henry Kissinger couldn’t cross the Pentagon and …
South Korea and the Bomb
Would South Korea ever build the bomb? Probably not, but there is a constituency in the country that has thought about it. Aaron and Jeffrey discuss South Korea’s nuclear weapon history – and constraints on proliferation. Download this episode(20MB mp3) Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
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BECAUSE I CAN1 unread article  //  actions

If Hillary is the nominee and she loses, it is her fault.
I spend a lot of time lurking around the interwebGoing through Twitter feedsGoing through news articles on the MSM and alternative sitesGoing through public Facebook pagesAndListening to left-wing radioOne of the spurious themes I am seeing repeated over and over again is that non-Republican people must for Hillary if she wins the nomination.To that I respondBullshit!This is the United States of
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BEGGARSCANBECHOOSERS.COM3 unread articles  //  actions

Our Grade for Overrated Music Critic Robert Christgau: a D-Minus
By MARC McDONALDTo me, the best music critics have always been the ones who simply stick to writing about the music and not calling attention to themselves. For example, off the top of my head, I don't think I can name a single critic for my favorite music magazine, Britain's excellent The Wire. But the reviews in that publication are some of the best around. They're informative, in-depth, well-re
How to Debate a Wingnut: Cenk Uygur Slices & Dices Ann Coulter
..By MARC McDONALDOne thing that has long been a pet peeve of mine is when I watch a Progressive get stomped on by a Conservative in a debate. More often than not, the latter happens not because the Conservative has the facts on his side.Rather, it's that Conservatives appear to do well in debates because they simply spew an endless assortment of lies, often in a loud voice. If you repeat this for
John Oliver Exposes Insanity of Trump's Border Wall
..By MARC McDONALDA lot of progressives despise and fear Donald Trump. I don't. While Ted Cruz does creep me out (and frightens the hell out of me), there are actually some things I admire about Trump.I mean, it took some big balls to stand on a GOP debate stage and repeatedly blast the decision to invade Iraq. We've been doing that at this blog for years. I've gotta tell ya, there's a certain sen
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BIG DAN'S BIG BLOG2 unread articles  //  actions

Panama Papers Limited Hangout Controlled Leak, Wikileaks: IMF Purposely Tanked Greece's Economy, & the REAL Unemployment Rate In The U.S.
PANAMA PAPERSGoing after the billionaires now: What are the Panama Papers? A guide to history's biggest data leakThe leak is being managed by the grandly but laughably named “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists”, which is funded and organised entirely by the USA’s Center for Public Integrity. Their funders includeFord FoundationCarnegie EndowmentRockefeller Family FundW K Kellogg
Israeli Company CELLEBRITE Is From Bergen, NJ: Same Place The 911 Five Dancing Israeli's And Urban Moving Was From
Remember the 5 Dancing Israeli's arrested on 911 celebrating the Twin Towers falling? Remember they worked for Urban Moving, and Israeli Company? Remember they were arrested in Bergen NJ? Recall the recent stories that the FBI hacked the San Bernardino (false flag) cellphones with the help of a company named CELLEBRITE. CELLEBRITE happens to be from - guess where? - Bergen NJCNBS talking head just
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BUCKDOG1 unread article  //  actions

The Fucking Liberal Government of Canada Better Get Their Act Together FAST On Your Cannabis Reform Promise Cause This Is Bullshit!
Trudeau and the Liberals better start reeling in Canada's uneducated Police forces AND provincial Crown Prosecutors ... this is Bullshit you lying Liberals!!! CBC
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CHERCHEZ LA VERITE6 unread articles  //  actions

What a perfect story to have followed the one above! I have listened to many experts on investing who, once they get you hooked, announce that there is a price for their advice. However, in all of the many months that I have come across articles by Mike Larson, he has been giving away the knowledge I've wanted for free. For example, we are now made aware of the fact that car sales are tanking. What more do we need to realize that the U.S. economy is an the verge of a crash that might well exceed that of 1929. I believe that buying gold or silver now while its cheep is your best way to protect your wealth.
Right on Cue, Auto Sales Tank; Here’s What to Watch for Next … Mike Larson | Monday, April 4, 2016 at 4:20 pm The market’s focus on Friday was squarely on jobs. Investors apparently decided the employment situation was good enough that stocks should be bought, and the Dow edged ever closer to 18,000.But is there something ELSE investors like you should be paying attention to? I think so. I’m talki
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CREEKSIDE4 unread articles  //  actions

"Jeeps"
October 2015 election campaign : Justin Trudeau defends the Conservative government's $15B armoured combat vehicle deal with Saudi Arabia as being just about "jeeps". Photo at right November 16 2015 : Saudi National Guard moving combat vehicles to Yemen border in November.Are those our LAVs? Yes they are.G&M Feb. 22 2016 : Saudis appear to be using Canadian-made combat vehicles again
A Decade of Military Exports to Saudi Arabia 2003-2013
Appalled at both the size of the new military contract with Saudi Arabia and the Libs ham-fisted defence of it, Canadians have been pretty focussed on those weaponized LAVs. Yet we have been supplying the Kingdom with Item 2-10 - aircraft, drones, and components "specially designed or modified for military use" - continuously since 2004 when a $900K start-up contract was followed up in 2
Pay to Play in BC with LNG and KBR
On Friday March 18, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna signed off on environmental approval for the controversial Woodfibre LNG Project in Howe Sound, saying the project is "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects". By Monday morning, Houston-based KBR had been awarded a multi-phased Front-End Engineering and Design contract for Woodfibre.I
Selling the doubleplusgood TTP to Canadians
When she signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal above a NZ casino two months ago, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freetrade was at pains to reassure us that signing it was not the same as ratifying it, and besides there would be conversations with Canadians about it first. "Signing does not equal ratifying. Signing is simply a technical step in the process, allowing the TPP text to b
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DAMMIT JANET!9 unread articles  //  actions

The Death Throes of Pro-Life
Desperate fetus freaks are changing tactics for this year's Futility Fest on the HIll, aka March For Lies. Campaign Life Coalition has paved the way for every organization fighting for the unborn to take part in this year’s National March for Life May 12.“We’ve done something very deliberate this year,” said Campaign Life Ottawa lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg. “We have decided to present a unified voi
Zika and Abortion
I've been a student of the fetus freaks for years now. On their sites, stories are limited to a few categories. Some sites specialize in particular types of stories. The Amateur Statistician does what you'd expect from my nickname for her. Another fetishizes "botched" abortions.The SHRIEEEEEKY categories boil down to:• Number of abortions! YUGE! (China figures prominently here.)• Gruesom
Fetus Freaks React to Sex-Selective Abortion Study
Fetus freaks reacted predictably to the news of a large study confirming that sex-selective abortion probably accounts for a significant male/female birth ratio imbalance in Ontario's Indo-Canadian community. (Note that freaks call it "gendercide.")There are three categories of reactions. 1. Generalized hand-wringing, tut-tutting, and slamming of abortion.2. "Where are the feminists
Any Fix for Sex-Selective Abortion Would Be Discriminatory, Unethical, and Futile
Well, now at least we seem to have some decent research on sex selective abortion in Canada.Previous studies indicated that it might be happening in "some communities," but there were quibbles about methodology.This seems solid.It’s the clearest evidence yet that abortion is being used to help parents have a son. A study has found that some Indian-born immigrants to Canada are selectivel
HUGE win for pro-choice in PEI
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WIT'S END1 unread article  //  actions

Earth Embalmed
There are so many calamities - fish kills in Florida and birds falling out of the skies, epic floods and droughts, the slowing of the ocean currents - that when I prepared the 26th Dispatch From The Endocene I left out a major incident I had intended to include - the abrupt and near total coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  The fact that it is just one item on the roster of gr
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DR CINTLI2 unread articles  //  actions

RELIVING THE TRAUMA OF POLICE VIOLENCE IN PURSUIT OF SACRED JUSTICEby Roberto Cintli RodriguezCephus Johnson, the uncle ...
RELIVING THE TRAUMA OF POLICE VIOLENCE IN PURSUIT OF SACRED JUSTICEby Roberto Cintli RodriguezCephus Johnson, the uncle of Oscar Grant, who was killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland in 2009, speaking at an event in 2012. When a family loses someone to police violence, many times, "they are shocked into silence. Sometimes they are just shocked," says Johnson. (Photo
On the Path to Sacred Justice
Censored Storyhttp://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/03/rodriguez-uncensored-on-state-sponsored.html
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FORT MCMURRAY ADVENTURES6 unread articles  //  actions

Conspiracy Afoot
If I wasn't such a logical thinker (or at least I like to fancy myself as one) I might be forgiven for thinking there was a conspiracy afoot.  The washer, my bookshelf (or lack thereof, to be more accurate) and even the provincial government seemed to be in cahoots regarding my overtime.  (Honestly, I'm NOT a government conspiracy nut... a self-professed political geek, yes but a surly anti-govern
Cliff
We weren't biologically related.  But that never mattered.  In the end, I was always treated like a grandson.  He wore many hats during his life and was known by many ways, as a father, a grandfather, Sgt. Beamish among others.  To me, though, he was quite simply, Cliff.A sad day it was to learn he had died in his sleep a few days ago but a great life lived and I never tired of hearing all his gre
Elephant in the Room
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year and change, its hard to ignore the fact that the price of oil tanked (no pun intended) and things are very different from the way the used to be.  Paradoxically, I've found work very busy the past few weeks due to plant outages and maintenance but I'm wary of the fact the despite the steady work it isn't all sunshine and roses.  November thr
Walking Through Time
I spent the remainder of my time in Calgary taking in some of the buildings that I didn't see of photograph during my previous trip.  Calgary might have a large number of office buildings per square foot of its downtown core but it also sports some wonderful little historic gems as well.  The number of buildings dating from the 1880's up to the end of WWI is actually  quite impressive and I only w
Walk in the Park
"Inextinguishable"
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GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING1 unread article  //  actions

Saudi Arabia Threatens To Crash The Dollar If Congress Exposes Their Role In 9/11 Attacks
Image Credit By Jay Syrmopoulos A bombshell report by the New York Times has revealed that Saudi Arabia, the third largest holder of U.S. Treasury bills in the world behind China and Japan, has warned the Obama administration and Congress that they will begin liquidating their U.S. assets if Congress passes a bill allowing for the Saudi government to be held responsible for their role in th
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WIDE ASLEEP IN AMERICA4 unread articles  //  actions

Revisiting 'Argo', Hollywood's CIA-Supported Propaganda Fable
Through his dogged pursuit of declassified government documents, VICE News reporter Jason Leopold has revealed that the CIA was directly involved in the production of Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning, propaganda fairy tale Argo. Argo, along with other productions like an episode of Bravo's Top Chef , the USA Network series Covert Affairs; and CIA-related documentaries on the History Channel and
Location Location Location: The Unintended Symbolism of the White House Haft-Sîn
White House Nowruz, 2015 (Photo: The White House) This week, Michelle Obama hosted the second annual White House Nowruz, a celebration of the Iranian New Year. Though a relatively apolitical affair, the placement of the reception's traditional haft-sîn, however, should have raised some eyebrows. Nowruz, which literally means "new day" in Farsi, is an ancient festival of new beginnings,
The Mistakes and Missing History of CFR's #ThisDayinHistory Tweet on Iran
As part of its "This Day in History" series on social media, the Twitter account for the Council on Foreign Relations posted the following this morning: #ThisDayinHistory, 1979: Iran is declared an Islamic republic after 55 years of rule under the Pahlavi dynasty. pic.twitter.com/KvnmSukZmP — CFR (@CFR_org) April 1, 2016 At first glance a couple things are off about this tweet, admittedl
Pandermonium! At AIPAC, Trump Makes Same Promise on Jerusalem We've Been Hearing Since 1972
Breaking news! The news media is abuzz today with reports that, speaking before the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington D.C. - the annual gathering of rabid right-wing Israel supporters - a presidential candidate vowed to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So who was it this time? Donald Trump. "We will move the American
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GREG MANKIW'S BLOG9 unread articles  //  actions

A Reading for the Pigou Club
On Yoram Bauman, Carbon Washington, and the success in British Columbia,.
A Nice Assignment for a Macro Course
My friend Phill Swagel gives his students the following assignment:Imagine that you are a staff member working for a member of Congress who sits on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC).  Fed Chair Janet Yellen is about to testify before the JEC and you are assigned to write a three-page memo to prepare your boss—the member of Congress.  You are to focus on economics. This is not a political question
A Front Page from the Future?
The Boston Globe has some fun today, including with the paper a fake front page from the beginning of an imagined Trump presidency. You can see it here.
Who are the free traders?
Paul Krugman has an odd column today, suggesting that if you are a free trader, the Democrats are historically a better bet for you.  He writes, When I say that Republicans have been more protectionist than Democrats, I’m not talking about the distant past, about the high-tariff policies of the Gilded Age; I’m talking about modern Republican presidents, like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Reaga
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THE RULES OF EXPOSITION3 unread articles  //  actions

Iteration++
That is the first time in this series that I've gone from correlation to causation. And even though I've known for thirty years that debt is the problem, the move still bothers me. Because while it's obvious to me that debt is the problem, it's apparently not obvious to most people.That is the first time in this series that I've gone from correlation to causation. Even though I've known for thirty
"Literally"
From On the Mechanics of Economic Development by Robert E. Lucas, Jr:"The diversity across countries in measured per capita income levels is literally too great to be believed."So Lucas is saying: Yeah, we measure per capita income levels, and we get results, but our results must be no good because we cannot believe -- we literally cannot believe -- those results are right.I literally do
Le mot juste
"Simulation" maybe?So ... if the word comes from the late 20th century or the 1980s ... how come the "use over time" graph shows more use in the 19th century and less in the 20th?Screw it. I'll just use "sim" to mean "simulation".
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MANIFESTO JOE'S TEXAS BLUES3 unread articles  //  actions

Why Is Bernie Sanders Doing This Well?
By Manifesto JoeAt 74 going on 75, he's too old to run for president. He's a rumpled old senator from a small state, and the only avowed socialist in the Congress since Ron Dellums retired. He's an unremarkable speaker with a heavy New York accent. And he's unlikely to win the Democratic nomination for president even if he does well in forthcoming primaries, because the party machinery (soft deleg
From Joe's Vault, April 2011: Tax Time Again
By Manifesto JoeIn the five years since this post first appeared, I've gotten in trouble with the IRS. Looks like I may end up getting an attorney before this is over. Conservatives may laugh, but hey -- if not for your moronic Iraq War, and your giving zillionaires and big corporations a tax pass, perhaps I wouldn't owe so much.BTW, I didn't post for a few months, but I've been busy with a little
Republican Party Deserves Trump
By Manifesto JoeIt's hard for me to spell his name with the "T."For nearly 50 years, the Republican Party has leaned on a "Southern strategy," as it was called during Richard Nixon's successful run for the presidency in 1968. That year the choice for rednecks was between Tricky Dick and George Wallace, and a good many chose the latter. But the strategy was articulated, and it h

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