Wednesday, October 23, 2013

23 Oct - Blogs I'm Following II

SoasSoas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: SOAS Namely The School of Oriental an...English: SOAS Namely The School of Oriental and African Studies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
immunization & literacy campaigns (Photo credit: birdfarm)
 Cryptic Times
http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/2013/10/22/cryptic-times

10:10am MDST

Mohawk John Kane 'We are not alone'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 13 minutes ago
. We are not alone By John Kane, Mohawk A few things are clear from the events of the past week. The first is that we are not alone. The Mi’kmaq who are standing against fracking for natural gas in Elsipogtog do so not just with the courage of their own convictions but also with support from places diverse in geography, culture and ethnicity. Social media have made it much easier

Weed vs. Marriage

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 23 minutes ago
I said over at PP yesterday that I think Democrats have a fight coming over marijuana, thanks to new polling that shows a majority currently favor legalization. I compared the situation to marriage, and I see Joshua Tucker did, too; in many ways it's a natural comparison. I do have one caution about it: I'm a lot less confident that it's a one-direction lasting trend than the marriage trend. This is basically just speculative, but for whatever it's worth... I've always been fairly confident that the case against same-sex marriage would dissolve if and when it was enacted. The argum... more »

The Duck of Minerva is blocked in China

Robert Kelly at Duck of Minerva - 29 minutes ago
I was just in China for a work thing, when I checked the Duck for something. Turns out the Duck is screened out by the Great Firewall. Even if you go to Google Search Hong Kong, it’s still blocked. Wow. Who knew even nerdy IR theory and pop culture references posed a threat to CCP Continue reading

Known Knowns and Unknown Unknowns Strike Again

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 43 minutes ago
Whenever public officials want to pass one of the many bucks that keep fluttering toward their desks, they go to the propaganda cabinet and drag out their trusty Word Salad Spinners. Perhaps the most famous example of this defense mechanism was when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave his tortured explanation for the debacle in Iraq: *There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.* And now... more »

SOAS Taiwan Studies News

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 1 hour ago
SOAS Taiwan Studies News New Deputy Director, Film Screening Programme, New Cooperation Agreement with Council for Indigenous Affairs, New Taiwan Studies Library Resource Centre, and Term 1 Seminar Series Dear All, We have some exciting new developments at the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies. Firstly, from this week Dr Chang Bi-yu will be joining us as a Senior Teaching Fellow in Taiwan Studies and the new Deputy Director of the Centre of Taiwan Studies. Please see the news item for details: http://www.soas.ac.uk/news/newsitem88002.html Secondly, we will start a new film screening... more »

Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 hour ago
Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire. via Gaiman, Prisons, Literacy, and the Problems with Satire.

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 hour ago
*House to take up water bill that excludes authorization for Morganza to the Gulf levees ~Bruce Alpert * *FDA continues to warn pet owners of dangerous jerky treats ~WWLTV* *Extras needed for film, featuring Will Smith, being shot in New Orleans* *Today in New Orleans ~NOLA DEFENDER* *~Voices of the Wetlands with Special Guests Anders Osborne, Rich Collins and the Kangaroo Assassins (Lafayette Square, 5:00 p.m.) This week’s outdoor hump day happy hour welcomes Tab Benoit’s shifting band to the stage. The nonprofit invites local singer/songwriter Osborne, plus rocker Rich Collins wit... more »

Understanding Anbar Before And After The Awakening Part VI, Sheikh Aifan Issawi

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 1 hour ago
Sheikh Aifan Issawi of the Albu Issa tribe was an important leader in the Anbar Awakening. While most of his tribe joined the insurgency and worked with Al Qaeda all the way up to 2007, he followed his own path trying to cooperate with the Americans in his hometown of Fallujah. He went on to turn his exploits on the battlefield into a seat on the provincial council in 2009. He was later appointed to parliament as part of the Iraqi National Movement in 2011. Unfortunately, in 2013 insurgents caught up with him and assassinated him. Issawi was one of the prominent sheikhs in Anbar t... more »

Lots of words in throne speech, but inequality not one of them

paul at Paying attention - 1 hour ago
Throne speech wordcloud Stephen Harper’s throne speech was an amazing 7,240 words long, a modern record and three times as long as the Conservative’s first throne speech. But not once was inequality mentioned in all those words. That’s particularly striking in a speech that tried to touch on every possible theme that might appeal to a subgroup of voters. Conservative strategists decided not to mention an issue that 75 per cent of Canadians identified as a problem in a poll last year. To the Conservatives, growing inequality is not an issue for government. But it is. There’s a myth that... more »

WotW: CloudUp is Your All-in-One Flash Drive Replacement

Seth R. Hawkins at Housewife Eclectic - 1 hour ago
There are two things in life I regret wasting money on: the expensive photo packages at high school dances, and flash drives. The first because, let's be honest, I never look at those pictures and I'm not married to any of those girls. And the second because I lose flash drives faster than I'm losing hair (which is pretty impressive). Don't get me wrong, I liked flash drives. They served a great purpose: allowing you to easily transfer files. But I found myself forgetting to bring them with me and when I inevitably lost the drive I lost all my stored files. This is why cloud storage... more »

ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ VIDEO: Al Qaeda Operations In Anbar

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 1 hour ago
Note that some of these AQI fighters are dressed in Interior Ministry uniforms. There have been earlier videos with militants wearing similar dress and driving police vehicles as well.

Raising Minnesota: Going head to head with Finland!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 2 hours ago
*WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013* *Six states outscore the champ:* Let’s be clear about one thing. As far as we know, Finland has excellent schools. By all accounts, Finland boasts a very civilized middle-class society. As part of the deal, the country tends to score quite well on international tests. As far as we know, Finland has always scored well on international tests, dating to the start of such testing in the 1960s. For unknown reasons, Ripley seems to say something very different on page 2 of her book. That said, Finland scores especially well on the international test called ... more »

Sad news, Justice Fedak passes

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 2 hours ago
*FEDAK, The Honourable Eugene Boris *Most unexpectedly in his 79th year. Loving husband of Grace for 55 glorious years. Cherished Dad of Mark and Catherine (Bill) Kosyk. Adored Dido of Alexandra, Emily and Matthew. Dear brother of Jerry (Joan) and Emil (Marilyn). Pre- deceased by his parents Pearl and Metropolitan Wasyly. Visitation at *BAY GARDENS FUNERAL HOME, *1010 Botanical Drive (across from the Royal Botanical Gardens) BURLINGTON (905.527.0405) on Thursday from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00-8:00 p.m. Panachyda taking place Thursday at 7:30 p.m. A Funeral service will be held at S... more »

Troika Wants To Strip Greece Of Defense, Auto Industries, Greece Balks: The Troika-Greece Can-Kicking Toxic Loop

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 2 hours ago
*Task Force issues warning* European Commission expresses concern about the credit crunch and high unemployment ***The head of the Task Force in Greece, Horst Reichenbach*By Evgenia Tzortzi High unemployment and the lack of cash in the market that would have supported small and medium-sized enterprises are the main problems of the Greek economy, which, according to European Commission estimates, “will stabilize in 2014 and revert to a positive growth rate.” Despite encouraging signs of stabilization, the situation remains difficult for Greek citizens mainly due to the high jobless ... more »

FEMA REGION III, BROKEN ARROWS, FALSE FLAGS AND A MOVIE

Jason Leewig at Our Manmade Disasters - 2 hours ago
SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 http://lightgateblogger.com/2013/09/10/fema-region-iii-broken-arrows-false-flags-and-a-movie/ -by *LIGHTGATE BLOGGER* It is quite interesting now that the American people have told Congress NO WAY do we want to get involved with Syria. But then Obama has said he does not really care what the American people think, he has an agenda laid out for him by the Bilderberg group, a part of the Illuminati. So let’s PLAY CONNECT THE DOTS, and see if we could have a MAJOR NUCLEAR INCIDENT on American soil to change people’s minds about WWIII. Remember that the Bible tells us ... more »

Do Cyborgs Dream of Electric Femme-Bots?

Charli Carpenter at Duck of Minerva - 2 hours ago
[Note: This is a guest post by Lauren Wilcox, Lecturer in Gender Studies at University of Cambridge, and author of "Machines that Matter: The Politics and Ethics of ‘Unnatural’ Bodies" in Iver Neumann and Nicholas Kiersey eds, Battlestar Galactica and International Relations, Routledge 2012] In a recent blog post on the Monkey Cage, Heather Roff-Perkins is concerned Continue reading

Saudis openly threaten the US - primarily over lack of US action ( War ) against Syria , coupled with making nice with Iran over the nuclear issues ! And do the threats include dumping US assets , halting US arms deals to the Saudis and negative impacts on oil sales ? Consider this quote - “All options are on the table now, and for sure there will be some impact,” from a Saudi source .....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 2 hours ago
Saudi Arabia stamps feet at lack of US backing on Syria, Israel Published time: October 23, 2013 12:19 Get short URL [image: President Barack Obama of the United States and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (AFP Photo / Charles Dharapak)] President Barack Obama of the United States and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (AFP Photo / Charles Dharapak) Share on tumblr Tags Conflict, Intelligence, Military, Obama,Politics, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Scandal,Security, Terrorism, UN, USA Members of the Saudi Arabian royal family are threatening to rethink the strategic partnership with the US following... more »

From Contempt To Contemptible

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 2 hours ago
In 2011, Stephen Harper was found in contempt of Parliament. At the time, he defined contempt as "being outvoted." And, having won the subsequent election, he proceeded on the assumption that "contempt" was a meaningless concept. What mattered was winning. After Mike Duffy's speech in the Senate yesterday, Mr. Harper will be forced to re-examine his definition of contempt. For, as Michael den Tandt writes, his house of cards is falling apart: Here’s where this leads: If Duffy’s story is true, and he can indeed prove it, then the entire senior Conservative power structure in Otta... more »

The Mismeasure of Education Documents Tennessee as a Cautionary Tale

John Thompson at Schools Matter - 2 hours ago
Jim Horn’s and Denise Wilburn’s *The Mismeasure of Education *chronicles the history of test-driven accountability that true believers in accountability-driven reform have ignored. Sadly, Horn and Wilburn document the timeless truth that “the past is prologue.” The history that contemporary school reformers do not know has come back, and I would not be surprised if Tennessee is their Waterloo. A first post focused on Horn’s and Wilburn’s history of the roots of accountability-driven reform. This one will concentrate of their account of Tennessee’s recent history and how it has becom... more »

FROM BOTH SIDES NOW: Our own hate speech!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 2 hours ago
*WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013* *Part 3—Grayson removes all doubt:* Conservative voters are often misled by their political leaders. (In recent weeks, they were told it wouldn’t matter of the debt limit didn’t get raised!) They’re often misled by the people they hear on the radio, by the people they see on TV. They’re badly served by our biggest news orgs, who tend to avert their gaze from this conduct, who let the dissembling go. These voters have been aggressively misled for decades now. Increasingly, though, we liberals are being badly served by *our* various leaders: In our view... more »

Econ Round Up

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 2 hours ago
The Ministry of Economic Affairs put out the numbers on FDI. From Digitimes: Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) approved 2,308 foreign direct investment projects (except from China) totaling *US$3.596 billion* in January-September 2013, respectively increasing 20.40% and *decreasing 8.59% on year*. ...... In January-September,* MOEA approved 103 investment projects proposed by China-based firms with total value of US$331.28 million.* T*here were 310 approved projects of direct investment in China proposed by Taiwan-based companies or individuals with a total amount of US$6... more »

Another Day, Another Poll, Another Planet

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*I always flirt with death I could kill, but I don't care about it I can face your threats Stand up tall and scream and shout about it I think I'm on another world with you I'm on another planet with you You always get under my skin I don't find it irritating You always play to win I don't need rehabilitating Another girl, another planet Another girl, another planet Space travels in my blood And there ain't nothing I can do about it Long journeys wear me out Oh God we won't live without it Another girl is loving you now Another planet, forever holding you down Another planet* Bachm... more »

The USA Maxim Hot 100 for 2013 in 100 seconds - Maybe NSFW

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 3 hours ago
Miley Cyrus at number 1? Really? I do not agree with so many of these choices but then I'm not American and probably not in the target age range either.

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 3 hours ago
Happy Birthday to Bradley Pierce, 31. Plenty of good stuff: 1. Timothy Lee on why the the Healthcare.gov problems may take plenty of time to solve. 2. But I agree with Josh Barro: if it's correct that the "backend" problems have been solved, that's a very big deal. 3. Jamelle Bouie on "Many Rivers to Cross." 4. A good rundown of post-shutdown polling and recent ACA polling from the HuffPollster team. 5. Ross Douthat on what (some) conservatives would like to see if ACA fails. 6. Republicans fighting back against Tea Partiers, from Jessica Taylor and Suzy Khimm. 7. And Marin Coga... more »

On the Road with FTV: Wuling and Hehuanshan cycling

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 3 hours ago
The other reason I haven't been blogging, aside from the massive workload, is another shoot with FTV, this time atop Wuling and Hehuanshan at the top of Taiwan. The image above was taken Tuesday morning, the weather was glorious, cool and clear. That's the ski lodge there atop Hehuanshan. Enjoy a few pictures by clicking on READ MORE below... Morning fog over the reservoir below Wushe. The B&B we stayed at. Too low down the mountain for my tastes. Gotta have altitude on day 1 so day 2 the adjustment to the height of Wuling is easier. Fog blows up over Hehuanshan. This is what yo... more »

Advancing Global Environmental Governance

Jon Western at Duck of Minerva - 3 hours ago
[Note: This is a guest post by Peter M. Haas of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst] Transboundary and global environmental threats require collection action. Concretely, this means developing forms of governance that apply common rules, norms and decision making procedures. Ideally, such governance should be resilient in the sense that it is able to Continue reading

No costs ceiling in Court of Appeal

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 3 hours ago
*(Attorney General) v. Rothmans Inc.*,2013 ONCA 642 makes an important civil practice point – there is no cost ceiling in the Court of Appeal: [9] We do not think it can be said that there is some sort of $100,000 ceiling for costs awards in this Court. Each case must be decided in its own context. What has to be determined is an amount that is fair and reasonable in the circumstances and is consistent with the reasonable expectations of the parties: *Boucher v. Public Accountant Council for the Province of Ontario* (2004), 71 O.R. (3d) 291 (C.A.), at paras. 37-38.

China breaks Central Bank ranks by facing up to rampant inflation in China ( 69 of 70 Cities show year over year price gains , 12 percent price increase in Shanghai new homes in one week ! And what of pork prices ? ) .... China tightening back on - short term repos rates starting to reflect liquidity getting tighter .....More important to note - are China's Banks finally being ordered to deal with bad loans and looming defaults ? Cat has major miss for its third quarter - weak demand from mining customers and uncertainty worldwide for 2014 !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
China not playing the frozen state game it would appear.... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-23/asian-markets-slide-china-braces-loan-defaults-telegraphs-another-liquidity-tapering Asia Slides As China Overnight Repo Soars On Fears Of Another Domestic "Tapering" Episode, Preparations For Bank Loan Defaults [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/23/2013 05:48 -0400 - Bond - Book Value - China - Credit Conditions - Credit Suisse - default - Gross Domestic Product - Hong Kong - Housing Bubble - Housing Market ... more »

Pomegranates Reverse Damage from Junk Food, Boost Heart Health by Elizabeth Renter

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 4 hours ago
Pomegranates Reverse Damage from Junk Food, Boost Heart Health by Elizabeth Renter Natural Society, 22 October 2013 With chambers and blood-red insides, the physical appearance of pomegranates isn’t the only thing that ties them to the human heart. *Research indicates these in-season delights are a heart-protective food that could even undo the bodily damage caused by junk food.* Researchers from Spain tested a new supplement on pigs. The supplement was made with polyphenols found in pomegranates – antioxidant compounds which are credited with numerous health benefits including... more »

5 Ways Your Workplace Bully May Be Breaking The Law

Donna Ballman at Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home - 4 hours ago
I got this question from a reader at AOL Jobs: Hi Donna, What action would you suggest staff take when the Executive Director of a tax funded nonprofit organization, which is overseen by a board, is abusive to staff? Staff does not have access to HR; they report to the ED who reports to the board. Some incidents have been "investigated" by one or two board members and the HR of the employer of a board member. Nothing has improved. Incidents have been the ED slapping the hand, kicking, and yelling at an employee to "go do your f****** job," commenting on how an employee is dressed, y... more »

Breakfast

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 4 hours ago

Newspapers get it wrong sometimes

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 4 hours ago
Just reading a news story reporting a case I argued and am overwhelmed by the errors. Not that it will make a significant difference to anyone but the story got the lawyers wrong, the arguments backwards and the result confused. I guess it's just more proof that "you can't believe everything you read".

“Set Yourself Free: Letting Go of Perfection”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 5 hours ago
* * *“Set Yourself Free: Letting Go of Perfection”* by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM “Life becomes much more interesting once we let go of our quest for perfection and aspire for imperfection instead. It is good to remember that one of our goals in life is to not be perfect. We often lose track of this aspiration. When we make mistakes, we think that we are failing or not measuring up. But if life is about experimenting, experiencing, and learning, then to be imperfect is a prerequisite. Life becomes much more interesting once we let go of our quest for perfection and aspire for i... more »

THE SECRET COVENANT of "the ones who from heaven to earth came"

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 5 hours ago
copied from ~ Illuminati News ~ Introduction by Wes Penre, Illuminati News * I can't guarantee* the authenticity of this document, although the context pretty much describes the truth as it is. We don't know when it was written and exactly by whom, but it looks like it was composed by a British person if we look at the spelling of words, which is British English. This information was sent to me by someone who for obvious reasons wants to be anonymous. This person gave me this reply when I asked if he/she could verify the authenticity of it: "The document was passed to me by a gen... more »

For The $keptics: Planned Destruction of America Printed on US Currency

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 5 hours ago
[image: TheJonathankleck] TheJonathankleck *Oct 20, 2013* This is for the skeptics & the genuinely curious; the doubters & the scoffers: An in-depth analysis of all the U.S. Currency that contain hidden images of past false-flag terror events, and future ones as well... -- The new $100 bill+ $10 bill = NYC Nuke. The New $100 Bill has finally been released to the public. This new bill finishes the story that the $10 Bill started with the missile launch and tidal wave. The two bills together tell the story of a nuclear event taking place on the East Coast promulgated by the US G... more »

AIM West Conference November 2013

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 6 hours ago
By Tony Gonzales Censored News Friends and relations of AIM Grand Governing Council, I wish to also extend an invitation for you to participate at our annual AIM West Coast Conference, or summit, starting on Monday and Tuesday, November 25 and 26, at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco (on Mission between 10 and 11 St).  The conference will be held from 9-6 pm 

My Rather Personnel Confession - A Guest Post by Michael Brine

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 6 hours ago
My Rather Personnel Confession. What is our strongest motivator as we live our lives? The most fundamental and potent motivator facing us all individually and collectively as a species is, I feel, Insecurity! Think about it. Its presence can be subtle which may lead to denial but really, just think about it for a moment. What truly motivates us as we go through our day? What is that often driving force that pushes us? Unhuuuh! J The need to succeed, or perhaps more truthfully, to be recognised as successful. We see it in ourselves as individuals but also we see it in the indi... more »

"How It Really Is"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 6 hours ago
◆ Some things never change... *Click image for larger size.*

The Economy: “Your Illogic Will Destroy You”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 6 hours ago
* * *“Your Illogic Will Destroy You”* by Karl Denninger “I've had a number of "criticisms" of my posts on refusing to continue to earn and thus pay taxes that fund the various games- including most-particularly the Treasury market- and more than a few of those who couldn't contain themselves have wound up banned. If you can make a well-reasoned point I'll generally listen to it. But let's recap a few things, shall we, including the back-story which many of those (including all of them who got banned) have intentionally ignored. First, yes, I ran a company, sold it, and can live o... more »

The Sol Tango: incoming CMEs and disorientating radio burst.

Breaking The Silence at Removing The Shackles - 6 hours ago
Our lovely Sol has been dancing a tango again for the past two weeks, and in the last two days has upped the tempo. I've been watching the Solar activity for the past couple of weeks quite closely, and it's definitely been putting on quite the show! I will say that I almost sprained my shoulder trying to pat myself on the back a little over a week ago when I was correct in my insistence that sun spot 1865 was going to blow a couple of M Class flares within the next 24 hours (even though the so called "experts" at NOAA disagreed) and exactly as I called it, we had three MClass flar... more »

SCHOOLS AND 9 11

Anon at aangirfan - 6 hours ago
*Peer Pressure* *Richard Dawkins* writes about the private school that he attended: "At Oundle, the dominant motivation for doing anything was* peer pressure*and the ethos of his peers was anti-intellectual, with an antipathy to hard work. "There was too much adulation of the rugby team and too little prestige attached to intelligence or scholarship." *Stephen Hawking* found similar attitudes when he went to university. http://www.ft.com/ Neither Dawkins nor Hawking have said that 9 11 was an inside-job. *Richard Dawkins* Imagine a group of 100 people. 5% are the sort of gan... more »

The Economy: “What a Wheeze!”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 7 hours ago
*“What a Wheeze!”* by Bill Bonner “Another dull day on Wall Street yesterday. Nothing much to report. So, let us return to the exciting place we visited yesterday: the world, red in tooth and claw, before historical records began. Ten thousand years B.C. Twenty thousand. One hundred thousand. We continue our look at the difference between civilization and barbarism. But before we begin, let’s pause to gasp and wheeze. That’s what happened to us when we read an op-ed piece in the New York Times, proclaiming “Economics Is a Science.” The author, Raj Chetty, tells us he is: "...... more »

This should be interesting

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 7 hours ago
The BBC report that: 'Councils in England should publish annual parking-charge accounts if they want to prove they are not being used as a "cash cow", MPs have said. The Transport Committee warned it was "neither acceptable nor legal" to use fines to increase revenue. Councils made a surplus of hundreds of millions of pounds each year, it added. The MPs urged ministers to freeze charges, currently capped at £130 in London and £70 outside. Councils said money raised went back into services. Committee chairman, Labour MP Louise Ellman, said: "There is a deep-rooted public perception... more »

Plebgate

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 7 hours ago
I think that all you need to know can be encapsulated in these few lines from this BBC report: 'On Monday, the three officers said they had not planned to mislead the public. ... However, in comments made after the meeting, one of the officers, Inspector MacKaill, claimed the former chief whip would not provide an account of the incident, and called for his resignation. But Mr Mitchell had recorded the meeting, and a transcript showed that he apologised for swearing at the police officers and had denied using the word "plebs".' An open and shut case? I'm sure the police officers... more »

Holohoaxsters preparing for "future without survivors"

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 9 hours ago
A rather revealing article recently appeared in *The Times of Israel*, offering us - once again - a unique insight into the twisted, depraved, and totally warped worldview and agenda of the organized Jewish community and their promotion of the fake "Holocaust" narrative of WWII. The fake "Holocaust" story is a central aspect of Jewish identity and, due to the Jewish ownership of the mass media, Hollywood, and government, has become a central aspect of Western identity as well. This false historical narrative has literally been weaponized and used against not only the German people, ... more »

New Refusal Movement Blossoms in New Mexico

Kris Nielsen at @ THE CHALK FACE - 9 hours ago
New Mexico has one of the masters of Chiefs for Change, Hanna Skandera, in the chief’s seat of their education department. They are under her thumb and trapped under her policies, which she brought with her, straight outta Florida and straight from Jeb. This week, Albuquerque BOE member Kathy Korte organized and held a rally […]

The median voter changes his mind

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 9 hours ago
click on graphic to enlarge

Danielle Adams Withdrawing From Her North Carolina Congressional Race, But...

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 10 hours ago
Durham County Soil & Water District Supervisor Danielle Adams, a young and promising YEO from North Carolina has decided to withdraw her candidacy for Congress. This is bad news for progressives because it leaves the Democratic nomination open to some hack garden variety Democrat with no chance of winning the seat. However, it might not be bad news for North Carolina because the reason Danielle withdrew was so she could contest a suddenly opened state House seat. "Nothing about the choice has been easy," she told me yesterday. "The recent government shutdown illuminated to me that... more »

Updates On War In Syria: Braindead Political Opposition Declines Peace Talks, Kurds Warn Turkey, Prince Bandar Is At A Loss

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 10 hours ago
*An excerpt from, "Syrian opposition resists calls to commit to peace talks" by Arshad Mohammed and Peter Griffiths, Reuters, October 22:* Syria's opposition in exile resisted calls from Western and Arab countries on Tuesday to commit to attending peace talks, saying they would not take part if there was any chance President Bashar al-Assad could cling to power. Eleven countries meeting in London pressed the opposition National Coalition to join talks to end a conflict that has killed over 100,000 people, but the group listed conditions and said it would decide in the coming weeks ... more »

How About Some Rhee-lated Information from Tax Documents?

deutsch29 at @ THE CHALK FACE - 10 hours ago
I have been reading tax forms. 990s– the form of the nonprofit organization (no 1040s for them). It might sound boring, but I guess that all depends upon whose tax forms they are. Two 990s are the subject of this post. The first is the 2011 (August 2011 to July 2012) 990 for Michelle Rhee’s reform lobbying […]

"Fukushima: No Words Can Adequately Describe The Scope Of This Global Catastrophe"*

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 11 hours ago
* * * "Fukushima: No Words Can Adequately Describe* *The Scope Of This Global Catastrophe"** By Susan Duclos "Fukushima news, and it is all horrifyingly bad. Twin typhoons are inbound, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says they cannot decontaminate and massive leaks and overflowing radioactive water enters the Pacific. All of the above are discussed in the videos below the article. Rains from from a previous typhoon, Wipha, overwhelmed the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, already crippled and struggling after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the pl... more »

October 22, 1973

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 11 hours ago
On Sunday, the president and his staff could still pretend that they were going to win the battle with Cox; after all, even if some were squawking, if they really had rid themselves of not only Cox and retained the tapes but also disbanded the entire office of the Special Prosecutor, it would probably be a win. That's increasingly difficult by Monday, which happens to be a holiday (Veterans Day -- it was on the last Monday of October from 1971 through 1977). Robert Bork says that the Watergate case will move back to the Justice Department, with Henry Peterson will resume what he h... more »

on the internet, everybody knows you're a dog (the story behind the iconic cartoon)

laura k at wmtc - 11 hours ago
We all know the iconic cartoon the title of this post refers to. Boing Boinghas republished a story about it, originally run in *The Magazine*, an ad-free, reader-supported magazine that looks really interesting. It's a wonderful little piece: the story behind the story, a glimpse into the life of people who try to earn a living from their own considerable talents, and a look back at the early days of the internet, and how things have changed, before tinfoil-hat predictions were proven to be not paranoia, but prescience. Go here to read the story (really, it's fun), and here to see... more »

World Health Organization = Scum of The Earth

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 12 hours ago
** *The World Health Organization Has Discredited Itself. * Read: *"How the World Health Organisation covered up Iraq's nuclear nightmare:** Ex-UN, WHO officials reveal political interference to suppress scientific evidence of postwar environmental health catastrophe"* (The Guardian, October 13). World Health Organization Covers Up Iraq War Crimes | Brainwash Update. Source: BreakingTheSet. October 21.

Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW) - BPA

Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - 12 hours ago
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! Wondering how to live greener? You've come to the right place. Each week we challenge ourselves to try a new task ... or "amp up" something we're already doing. We raise our awareness, learn from each other and develop Eco-friendly skills which will improve our lives and protect our planet. Doing so together gives us power ... the power to Change The World! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far. This post contains great information and I encourage ... more »

nuclear poop

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 12 hours ago

Fracking the Mi'kmaq: Guess who owns Southwestern Energy

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 13 hours ago
Fracking the Mi'kmaq Police assault on Mi'kmaq anti-fracking camp, Elsipogtog, New Brunswick Thursday Guess whose investments are funding the fracking and responsible for the attack on Mi'kmaq -- tell them to divest! By Brenda Norrell Censored News Exclusive http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com Dutch translation NAIS Fracking the Mi'kmaq: Guess who are among the top owners of Southwestern

OBAMA CARE GLITCHES

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 14 hours ago
*The Daily Show* Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook The Obama corporate health care program is a mess. This situation appears to be worsening by the day. The complexity of trying to sort through zillions of insurance companies, with confusing and competing policies, is enough to make the average citizen go crazy. We need a simple one-stop Medicare for all.

Reefer sanity . . .

Edstock at The Galloping Beaver - 14 hours ago
A Uruguayan man smokes cannabis duringa demonstration in Montevideo in May.A senate vote to legalise the drugis expected in November.Photograph: Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images Uruguay sets priceof legalised cannabis at $1 a gram Uruguay sets price of legalised cannabis at $1 a gram, according to The Guardian's article by Uki Goni, who reports that Uruguay is set to become the first

If it's printed it's true

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 14 hours ago
As a general rule people accept written text over oral communication. To some degree this can be explained by the apparent permanence of written text. The obvious vicissitudes to which the spoken word is subject - the misheard word, the exaggeration of stories, the fabrication of a new version of events - appear to be inapplicable to written text. The veneration of written words is most clearly seen in the concept of a Holy Book. Something written is seen as unchanging and a reflection of the eternal. Put in a more mundane way, until recently at least, people believed in newspaper... more »

Does the real future of the Washington Post lie with its basement full of problem-solving advice columnists?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
*Are these some of those "classically tailored denim trousers," or are they just, you know, jeans? Remember, lives could be changed by the answer. (But whatever you do, don't talk to Mr. X.)* *by Ken* I sometimes do and sometimes don't take the time, while perusing the washingtonpost.com "round-up"-type e-mails, to glance at the highlighted items for the Style section's 15 or 20 advice columnists. Maybe I was just more bored than usual today (or maybe, shall we say, more sensitive to potential blogpost material), but *two* such items, enough so that I had to actually read both. An... more »

Irish Austerity Exodus Continues

Kenneth Thomas at Middle Class Political Economist - 15 hours ago
The Eurozone experiment in austerity continues to fail as the peripheral countries endure ongoing cuts. Following up on my post of August 15, it's time to look at the most recent Irish immigration data to update it through April 2013 (Ireland records population data from May 1 to April 30) and see how it affects the reported unemployment rate. The picture remains ugly, with emigration climbing once again, from 87,100 in 2011-2012 to 89,000 in 2012-13. Immigration increased by 3200, so net emigration fell by 1300, with net out-migration over the year declining by about 3% to 33,100. H... more »

Bank Of Israel elects Dr Karnit Flug as Governor of the Bank of Israel ( seemingly despite not so veiled opposition from Prime Minister Netanyahu ) - but only after Larry Summers said " Non " , Jacob Frenkel's candidacy was stopped out ( Frenkel currently is Chairman of JP Morgan Chase International ) based on an apparent integrity issue from the past and Bank Hapoalim Chief Economist Leo Leiderman said No " as well !

Catharsis Ours - 15 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-20/israel-central-bank-follows-fed-first-woman-chairman-appointment-after-larry-summers Israel Central Bank Follows Fed With First Woman Chairman Appointment After Larry Summers' Rejection [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/20/2013 08:45 -0400 - Ben Bernanke - Ben Bernanke - Central Banks - Federal Reserve - Goldman Sachs - goldman sachs - Hong Kong - International Monetary Fund - Israel - JPMorgan Chase - Larry Summers - New Normal - Nomination - None ... more »

The Scum at the Top of the Private Prison Empire for the Young

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 15 hours ago
An amazing piece of reporting by Chris Kirkham at HuffPo reveals a seedy empire of corporate welfare bottom feeders preying on juvenile offenders. Find Part One here with intro clip below, and at left is James Slattery, Chief Executive Scumbag of the worst offender, Correctional Services Corporation. From a glance at his background, one might assume that James F. Slattery would have a difficult time convincing any state in America to entrust him with the supervision of its lawbreaking youth. Over the past quarter century, Slattery’s for-profit prison enterprises have run afoul of t... more »

Moral Hazard Writ Large ..... Or why Europe first and now the US has reached a " Frozen State " where fundamentals are so yesteryear and all that matters is QE to infinity and the ECB / Fed / BOJ non stop manipulations to infinity to keep the bad things under the bed from going bump in the night.....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 15 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-22/picturing-biggest-scam-history-mankind We know all scams come to an end at some point...... *(click image for massive legible version)* and..... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-22/tuesday-humor-new-normal-fundamental-analysis and... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-22/things-make-you-go-hmmm-moral-hazard Home Things That Make You Go Hmmm... Like Moral Hazard [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/22/2013 20:00 -0400 - Ben Bernanke - Central Banks - China - Debt Ce... more »

Jake Ducey -- What if You Took the Risk?

brian kelly at AMERICAN KABUKI - 15 hours ago
*Jake Ducey -- What if You Took the Risk?*October 22, 2013 http://briankellysblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/jake-ducey-what-if-you-took-risk.html Do you feel it too? That feeling that you know you must follow. But the mind says not to do it. That it’s too risky. That it’s unsafe. That it’s too crazy and different and nerve racking. But what I believe is the most dangerous thing to do is to give up your desires, your dreams, due to the fear of the unknown. It’s all a risk; to stay where you are, or to take a leap, to be different or fit in. Now is the time that we must step into tha... more »

Climate Change and Global Warming

Southern Man at Southern Man - 15 hours ago
Southern Man notes that the "Global Warming" crowd has dropped that verbiage and instead adopted "Climate Change" as though the two terms meant the same thing, to the point that (for example) The LA Times will no longer print letters from "climate change deniers." This is, rather transparently, a straw man argument: take someone who has legitimate doubts about the science of global warming (disclaimer: Southern Man would be one of those, for good solid scientific reasons) and accuse them of something entirely different. So today there will be a brief lecture on climate change. The ... more »

Terrance Nelson 'Wars will be fought over water' Elsipogtog Momentum

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 15 hours ago
"Wars will be fought over water" "The Chief of Elsipogtog First Nation has asked for calm and a cooling off period of 30 days. This is a mistake. In 30 days, Elsipogtog will have lost the momentum. In 30 days, it will have lost the attention of the world." -- Terrance Nelson By Terrance Nelson Anishinabe Roseau River First Nation Censored News Good Morning Brenda: Twenty-three

EFN Asia 30: Conference 2013, Day 1

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 15 hours ago
The EFN Asia 2013 Conference ended yesterday, another great event by the biggest network of free market or at least independent think tanks and academic scholars in Asia. This is my article yesterday at the new EFN website. ------------ The two-day Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia conference has tackled many subjects on its first day, October 21, 2013. The welcome remarks were given by Dr. Pirom Kamolratanakul, President of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, and Mr. Ulrich Niemann, Director of the Division of International Politics, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (F... more »

Mike Duffy Bombshell

LeDaro at LeDaro - 15 hours ago
The full Mike Duffy speech is below (audio). According to this speech, there is a lot more to this story than initially revealed. The Prime Minister, Nigel Wright, and Duffy met. It was the Prime Minister who said the money had to be paid because of concerns about perception. This was said in the presence of Mr. Wright.

Anonymous: Op FrackOff in Elsipogtog

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 16 hours ago
OpFrackOff in Elsipogtog Full intro video by Chris Sabas on YouTube here youtu.be/Ipp_KC6Hexw PASTEBIN OF PRESS RELEASES: #OpFrackOff pastebin.com/Vsjb1GuC #OpSWN (research): pastebin.com/jSdhre1mAnonymous (Hacktivists): OpFrackOff in Elsipogtog Video | Posted on October 22, 2013  (Censored News: Dutch translation NAIS ) The international Hacktivists group Anonymous has

Longest Walk 4: Climb into the Rockies begins

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 16 hours ago
Canon City, Colorado Oct. 22, 2013 Photo by Long Walker Bad Bear Sampson Thanks to Western Shoshone Long Walker Bad Bear Samson for sharing photos with Censored News each day! Longest Walk 4 Return to Alcatraz www.returntoalcatraz.com

Labour and the Uses of Left Populism

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 17 hours ago
A confirmed ex-Trot your writer undoubtedly is, I have kept a soft spot for jolly old left populism. Which is funny considering Britain's Trots have only episodically had mass audiences for their wares. That is before slipping back unremarked and little-remembered into obscurity. But populism is easy enough to grasp. It's us-vs-themism, the innocent, much burdened and suffering Great British public against the crooked arch-manipulators of the political class. Such simplistic appeals have readily found audiences. UKIP, for example, have been very good at portraying equal marriage and... more »

Stephen Harper .... The MOST CORRUPT Prime Minister In The History Of Canada!

leftdog at Buckdog - 18 hours ago
[image: Progressive Bloggers] *Mike Duffy's address to the Senate* *Via the Canadian Press, a transcript of Mike Duffy’s remarks to the Senate this evening. Thank you, honourable senators. I want to speak in support of this motion because I believe, after the excellent speech we heard from the leader of the Opposition here in the Senate, that there are a lot of questions that need answers. And while some might argue that having the proceedings before a judge and under oath might be absolutely preferable, given the size of the issue we’re dealing with, any move towards allowing sena... more »

The Government Shutdown

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 18 hours ago
The CEA analyzes its economic impact.

Was the Oct 7 quake off SC the missing nuke planned for Charleston?

Jason Leewig at Our Manmade Disasters - 18 hours ago
BK Lim, FASEI et al (20131014) This is explosive. There has been persistent rumours that some catastrophic false flag event like this was going to happen. Personnel who had sworn to secrecy are putting their lives on the line to save thousands if not millions of innocent US civilians. How and why? Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Blind Obedience is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right. Like tens of ROV operators involved in the BPGOD (BP Gulf Oil Disaster) recovery efforts, OR thousands of soldiers caught up in the battle fields of... more »

Lists, glorious lists!

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 18 hours ago
*10 hanging offences in 19th century Britain* Associating with gypsies Setting fire to a haystack Writing on Westminster Bridge Impersonating a pensioner of Greenwich Hospital Writing a threatening letter Appearing on the highway with a sooty face Damaging a fish pond Cutting down a tree Secreting notes in a post office Stealing a spoon *Alleged contraceptives * * *Crocodile dung pessaries Tadpoles fried in quicksilver Mashed pomegranate, rock salt and alum Raw cabbage Onion juice Jumping backwards nine times [Roobin's note: none of these actually work] *Former occupations* * *Genghis K... more »

Did Alan Grayson Offend Some Racist Teabaggers? Awwwwwwww.... "If The Hood Fits, Wear It."

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 19 hours ago
No racism here, right *Politico*? No offense to the few other excellent Members of Congress, but Alan Grayson is, far and away, the best Member. Somebody's got to be #1… it might as well be the guy who represents DisneyWorld. The Beltway media types, the Republican Party and some Establishment politicians-- I can only imagine Steny Hoyer clutching his pearls right now-- are up in arms because Grayson reminded his supporters that there is a profound comparison between the KKK and the Tea Party. Grayson is hardly the first person to point this out. My friend Joe Sudbay turned me on to ... more »

DEBATING US DRONE STRIKES ON THE BBC

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 19 hours ago
US officials responsible for the secret CIA drone campaign against suspected terrorists in Pakistan may have committed war crimes and should stand trial, a report by a leading human rights group warns. Amnesty International has highlighted the case of a grandmother who was killed while she was picking vegetables and other incidents which could have broken international laws designed to protect civilians. See more *here *

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 19 hours ago
Halloween Fairy. [photo via]

Catch of the Day

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 19 hours ago
Great post from Dan Hopkins about how a belief that "messaging" works gets politicians into trouble. What I've become interested in are the incentives for politicians to believe the myth. There are a couple of things going on here, I think. One is to recognize the distinction between candidates and candidacies and the analogous distinction between elected officials and their full operation, their offices (we don't really even have a proper word for that one). Within those candidacies/offices, there are a number of people -- the communications operation, probably polling, media, mayb... more »

@ASCD forgets some “facts” about #commoncore

Timothy D. Slekar at @ THE CHALK FACE - 19 hours ago
Yesterday this PDF produced by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) was printed and I found it in my mailbox. I’m not sure how it got there but my sense is that since I have been critical of the Common Core’s mandated high stakes assessments someone was trying to help me see that Common […]

CELL PHONE DANGERS ARE REAL

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 20 hours ago
Insurers stop covering for cell phone use, called the next 'casualty catastrophe' after tobacco and asbestos; phone manufacturers hit with a class action and personal lawsuits; and the warning deep inside your mobile. I am becoming more and more uncomfortable around cell phones. Sadly when I travel I am far too reliant on Wifi. Our bodies are being fried.

As heard on Fox: Jill Lawrence fingers Rand Paul for misstatements!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 20 hours ago
*TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013* *Also names Candidate Gore:* Where do conservative voters get their bogus ideas? The same place we liberals increasingly do—from trusted leaders! Also, from a journalistic culture which is strongly inclined, at its upper end, to let misstatements go. In yesterday’s award-winning post, we noted the way Sean Hannity played fast and loose with the truth concerning Obamacare. We learned about Hannity’s conduct in a post at Salon, where it won’t have a giant effect. When it comes to this sort of thing, the New York Times doesn’t much care. Today, let’s cons... more »

The First Rule of 2016...

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 21 hours ago
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari.) ...don't talk about 2013. The beauty of doing mere commentary instead of actual hard news (and by that I'm not talking about the Brangelina or Kim Kardashian's well-hidden stretch marks) is you don't have to do a lot of hard research and provide, as Frank Rich used to do at the *NY Times*, a surfeit of corroborating links. And one of the beauties of having a liberal byline is you can always take it as a rock-solid, absolutely immovable article of faith that both political parties will do their damnedest to punch thems... more »

Does Chinese literacy need to be "revived"?

skrashen at Schools Matter - 21 hours ago
*Sent to the Wall Street Journal, Oct 22 * *As is the case in the US, China thinks that literacy is declining and that part of the solution is a TV spelling bee in Chinese ("Chinese TV's Latest Hit Features a Character-Driven Plot: Show Aimed at Reviving the Country's Written Language Explodes."October 20). * *There is no evidence of a decline of literacy in China and no evidence of a decline in the US. The fact that only 30% of the adults in the audience of the TV show could spell spell "toad" correctly in Chinese characters suggests that there has been no decline: even adult Chin... more »

Here Comes the "Special" Hype

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 21 hours ago
The death last week of long-time Member of the House C.W. Bill Young last week means we're going to get something that this Congress has managed to put off so far: outrageous hype over a special election. All House elections are important, and this Tampa-area one will be in one of the relatively rare competitive seats. So it will be an important election. However, whenever it winds up being scheduled (with March 11 apparently the best guess so far) it will tell us nothing about the November 2014 elections, other than perhaps indicating what will happen in that district. It is not a... more »

SEX-MAD SATANIC CIA-SULTANATE

Anon at aangirfan - 21 hours ago
*Shannon Marketic - 'sex slave'* Brunei means sex, sadism and the CIA. Brunei to bring in tough new sharia law In 1997, former Miss USA Shannon Marketic says that she, and other girls, were held as 'sex slaves' by the royal family of Brunei, who claim to be good Moslems. Brunei small cunt.. Brunei serves "as a virtual cash cow for covert and overt U.S. operations..." Brunei has been involved in "covertly *supporting the Nicaraguan contras *during the Reagan administration and *contributing to the CIA-linked Bosnia Defense Fund i*n the 1990s, to *pumping tons of cash into Bill C... more »

Al-Qaeda-Linked Group Is Seen Complicating the Drive for Peace in Syria

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 21 hours ago
Oh it isn't just 'al Qaeda' complicating the drive for peace. Pay attention to what John Kerry is saying. *By challenging moderate Syrian rebels,**(? phony narrative, there are no moderates) *the group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has forced them to fight on two fronts and divert resources from their battle with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the official said. And by presenting an extremist face to the world, the official said, the group is aiding Mr. Assad’s efforts to portray the conflict in Syria as a tug of war between the government and jihadists. *“... more »

Another Great Video – Why You Should NEVER Lecture from the Book’s Slides

amurdie at Duck of Minerva - 22 hours ago
My first semester teaching as a PhD’d professor was tough – I was constantly struggling to stay on top of my research responsibilities and my family responsibilities. Add in teaching 2 new preps – something had to give! Well, I thought I found a solution – the textbook I was using for Intro to IR had already-made Continue reading

The Realist Report with John Friend

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 22 hours ago
On this edition of *The Realist Report*, we'll be joined by Dr. Kevin MacDonald. Dr. MacDonald and I will be discussing his book *The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements*, White identity and the future of White America. You can download the mp3 for this program *here*, or visit *The Realist Report* on BlogTalkRadio to subscribe via iTunes and view past programs. Below are relevant links for this program: - *Organized Jewry: destroyers of Western civilization* by John Friend - *The Occid... more »

Happy Birthday!

Southern Man at Southern Man - 23 hours ago
To Southern Son, who inherited his mother's good looks and musical talents. Happy Birthday Son!

Fall Break Day Three

Southern Man at Southern Man - 23 hours ago
And Day Three was the Drive Back Home. Which for some reason always seems to take less time than the drive up, even though we were in no hurry and made several stops to snack and geocache and generally goof around. Teen Daughter was delivered to her mother at four-ish and Southern Man was back at The Land by nine, having stopped in town to shop for Southern Son's upcoming birthday. As in, tomorrow. Southern Man got him all six *Star Wars*movies on Blu-Ray; hope he likes them. Tomorrow Southern Man will drop by the Ancestral Manor and drop off the gifts, go to church, do laundry, and... more »

How Far Are Republicans In General-- And Fred Upton In Particular-- Willing To Go To Sabotage The Affordable Care Act?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 23 hours ago
Unlike Benghazi! and the rest of the nonsense Darrell Issa's Witch-Hunt Committee "investigates," Boehner is eager to try to get some serious attention focused on the flaws in the roll out of the Affordable Care Act. (Like Medicare the rollout has been messy and, like Medicare, the Republicans want to demagogue it instead of helping to make it better.) So he assigned the investigation not to the clownish Oversight Committee chaired by Issa but to Fred Upton's Energy and Commerce Committee. Here's the press release the Republicans put out last Thursday: The House Energy and Comme... more »

THINGS LEARNED

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 23 hours ago
Maine is a beautiful state to walk through. Water, mountains, trees, farms, poverty, and interesting people. One of my favorite moments on the walk was along the narrow rural Highway 2 from Skowhegan to Farmington. (On this route truckers often blasted their horns.) We approached a local mom & pop breakfast joint and three guys were in the parking lot watching us pass by. I crossed the street and handed them each our flyer. One of them asked how much it would cost to get a hunting license to shoot down drones. I told them the story about seeing a bumpersticker that said, "Pr... more »

Apples and Oranges

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 23 hours ago
Nelson W. Polsby used to be very upset at the cliche about apples and oranges: Of course you can compare them! They're both fruit! Which is pretty much how I feel about liberal outrage about comparisons between Healthcare.gov and Bush-era fiascos including Iraq and Katrina that have been making the rounds this week -- here's Oliver Willis tweeting a graph showing deaths from the three while saying "why you shouldnt compare obamacare to katrina or iraq, in one chart. cc: all pundits" Well, no, not really. And not just because, in fact, this is a self-refusing argument; posting the gr... more »

Tuesday Linkage

Charli Carpenter at Duck of Minerva - 1 day ago
Killer Robots: Wired reports on developments in autonomous weaponry, quoting military personnel who say the idea is to think of them “not as tools but as members of the squad.” Video gamers collaboratively solved a decade-old puzzle about the complex structure of an enzyme relevant to HIV-AIDS research, suggesting human spatial reasoning is superior to algorithms: a Continue reading

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*Vilma returns to practice for Saints ~WDSU* *Step Back In The Window, Sir ~The Angry Who Dat* *who dat brat ~hungry termite *

The Mismeasure of Education Recalls the Coleman Report in Explaining Today's Reform Errors

John Thompson at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
It has been a great year for education scholarship with masterpieces like David Kirp’s *Improbable Scholars *and Diane Ravitch’s *Reign of Error*. Jal Mehta’s *The Allure of Order *provides a timely review of a century of failed top down reforms and, now, Jim Horn and Denise Wilburn offer an equally timely and profound history of the failure of test-driven reform. Horn’s and Wilburn’s The Mismeasure of Education is a must-read, a scholarly tour de force comparable to Daniel Koretz’s *Measuring Up*. The two aspects of Horn’s and Wilburn’s research that taught me the most were their a... more »

Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 day ago
Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability. via Medicating ADHD in the Brave New World of High-Stakes Accountability.

Treading Water Underwater

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 1 day ago
That's the excellent metaphor used by Binyamin Applebaum of the *New York Times* today in describing the most recent jobs report. We're drowning while continuing to flail. And as per usual, the experts proclaim themselves mildly surprised and disappointed that we aren't bursting from the depths and performing a water ballet. They're still a little bummed that austerity for the masses and corporate welfare and quantitative easing for the plutocrats has not caused a sonic boom in hiring. All they can come up with to describe the destructive effects of the class war is that the situati... more »

The GOP's 10 Lesser Demands During the Government Shutdown

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 1 day ago
On October 16th, Congress passed an 11th hour bill allowing the government to reopen and to raise the debt ceiling. During the 16 day shutdown, the Republicans submitted what Rachel Maddow called a "long, weird, ever-changing ransom note" to Congressional Democrats and the White House that was consistently and categorically refused. Among the ransom demands: Starting construction on the Keystone XL pipeline, delaying and defunding the ACA and denying President Obama himself ObamaCare. But those were merely the most visible demands submitted by a GOP desperate to save face and ... more »

This Is Disturbing: "The (Pacific) Ocean Is Broken"!

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 1 day ago
Recently, I was asked to look at some articles that claim that the Fukushima nuclear disaster was a "hoax". I indeed spent some time looking over the material, and although it did some some very interesting points and some factual evidence that backs the claim that there was no disaster at Fukushima, Japan, I was not sold.... I have seen the reports and photos of all the damage to the west coast of the United States and Canada, and of course all the reports about marine life dying in the north Pacific due to radiation exposure.... AND of course I have the reports about high radiati... more »

Amazing Article By Lasha Darkmoon: Secret Sex Life Of The Jews

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 1 day ago
I and others in what I call the REAL truth movement have been putting up articles for years explaining to everyone the dangers of Judaism and its vile and disgusting practices of pedophilia as written in its revolting Talmud. There are many passages in the disgusting Talmud that talks about such things as "Sex with a child under the age of 3 is permissible", and "Sex with someone under the age of 9 is nothing". It is remarkable that people have not been aware of these and other writings in this piece of filth, and that primarily is due to the work of the Jewish media in not reve... more »

From Consolidation to "Decoupling" in Memphis, and the Costs of Corporate Reform

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
The Memphis Commercial Appeal has another no-news story today on questions remaining about how much it will cost to operate nine school systems in Shelby County, rather than one. Let's see, we have six leafy boutique municipal systems, a Shelby County non-municipal system, the Achievement School District downtown, a high-rolling hedge fund backed charter system with KIPPs and Rocketships, and a local charter system run by black politicians paid off for their support of the Gates fragmentation plan. The CM article continues to focus on the millions missing when the munis pull out en... more »

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*What we have heah, is a fail'ya'ta comoonicate, what Ah like'ta call Congenital Insult with Extreme Prejudice! ~Editorial: Don’t ban Harper Lee* *Full-time employees drop sharply even as Landrieu proposes first budget increase ~Charles Maldonado, The Lens* *Officials break ground on Iberville redevelopment ~Jaquetta White, N.O. Advocate* *New “nano” brewery sets sights on Lower Garden District ~Robert Morris, Uptown Messenger* *Robert Penn Warren ~KnowLA* *Judge orders BP oil spill claims chief to set terms ~WWLTV * *Corps to host meeting for update on Mississippi River study ~Dr... more »

Raising Minnesota: Ripley’s choice!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 1 day ago
*TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013* *The name that doesn’t bark:* Amanda Ripley’s ballyhooed book, The Smartest Kids in the World, is simply filled with embellishments. It also makes several basic proposals. These proposals seem to make pretty good sense, especially if you only care about our middle-class kids. For ourselves, we’ve been fascinated by the embellishments. They start on page 2, where Ripley offers one of the most absurd misstatements in the history of books. But so what? Reviewers, including major education writers, know they mustn’t notice such problems. As you can see in ... more »

MORE WALK PHOTOS

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
*Bangor area activists sing to us**Prayer time before dinner* *Brother Kanaeda has an incredible voice and we loved his slavery-era blues songs**Starr Gilmartin shared why she was walking* *The ever lovable Br. Gilberto with Jules Orkin* From our drone peace walk pot luck supper and program in Bangor, Maine on October 12. Photos taken by Katie Greenman.

Northern Taiwan Tour: Two Days of Fun-n-Sun!

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 1 day ago
*Corey Sanderson fortifies himself for the Suao Mackerel Festival* Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of the fine folks at the China Productivity Center, I took a great trip across northern Taiwan to Pingxi, Suao, and Neiwan where a diverse and interesting group visited a variety of tourist sites, including local museums and old streets, and participated in some of the local activities, including the lantern in Pingxi, which I had never done before. Come below the READ MORE divide for some great Taiwan fun with people who really made it worthwhile. We boarded a bus at the uncivilized ho... more »

Iraq Government Again Denies Permits To Anti-Pension Protests

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 1 day ago
In August and October 2013 thousands of Iraqis went to the streets across the country to protest the pensions that government lawmakers receive. Some were met by friendly officials and went about their business peacefully. In other provinces like Baghdad and Dhi Qar the security forces cordoned off the center of the cities, harassed, beat, arrested, and shot activists and reporters. One cause of the confrontations was the fact that the authorities have denied permits to organizers. Another day of marches is planned for October 26, and again the central government has turned down a... more »

Signs of a changing planet - October Part I

address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 1 day ago
Link: http://youtu.be/Gys0tge5Fto An (again) interesting compilation of visual facts about world climatic events (and not from computer model garbage by so-called 'scientists' swarming around corrupt and incompetent so-called 'professional politicians' wasting our tax money). I think that modern means of communication make us faster aware of the handful of dreadful weather ( associated) events that take place on Earth each month. Earlier we didn't hear about it, weren't aware of it, or learned it weeks afterwards causing a "who cares"-reaction. There are signs of change! There alway... more »

10 Reasons To Buy Your Food Locally

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 1 day ago
Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Agriculture-Society/217990047058#!/pages/Agriculture-Society/217990047058

New Research on UI

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 1 day ago
The abstract of a recent NBER working paper (emphasis added): We exploit a policy discontinuity at U.S. state borders to identify the effects of unemployment insurance policies on unemployment. Our estimates imply that *most of the persistent increase in unemployment during the Great Recession can be accounted for by the unprecedented extensions of unemployment benefit eligibility*. In contrast to the existing recent literature that mainly focused on estimating the effects of benefit duration on job search and acceptance strategies of the unemployed -- the micro effect -- we focus o... more »

How A Political Wave Builds And Turns Into A Tsunami

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
Did Ted Cruz's McCarthy-like agenda help build a wave for the Democrats? The 2014 midterm elections are over a year away and there's plenty that will happen between now and then. The Democrats need a net gain of 17 seats to take back the majority. That means if worthless Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican-wing of the Democratic Party-- say, as looks likely, Jim Matheson (UT), Mike McIntyre (NC) and Ron Barber (AZ)-- can't be saved, not even in a wave election and lose their seats, then the Democrats would have to win not 17 but 20 to make up for the 3 losses. The new polling f... more »

The Greeks Had a Word For It

PM at Duck of Minerva - 1 day ago
How do you spell heteros*edasticity? Economist Alfredo R. Paloyo surveys the evidence and shows that the variant “heteroskedasticity” overtook its rival, “heteroscedasticity”, several years ago. Oddly, “homoscedastic”, “heteroscedastic”, and “homoscedasticity” continue to trump their k-variants. (Clearly, I am in the copy-editing phase of revising a paper, and this blog post must be part of the Continue reading

The threat of Islamophilia

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 day ago
Islamophobia is not a problem, Islamophilia is... Bill exposes government officials who lack the courage to speak out or stand against Islamic violence. Oil money buys a lot. *Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.*
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