oldephartte(in training): 18 Nov - Blogs I'm Following

Congressman Steve Israel (Photo credit: Ed Dertinger)

11:01 MST

Aside From Steve Israel, Where Does Empty Suit Pete Aguilar Get His Campaign Money?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 minute ago

In 2012 Steve Israel's empty suit candidate lost to TWO Republicans in a D+5 district! Redlands’s unelected Mayor, City Councilman Pete Aguilar, has never actually ever done anything well. In fact, most people regarded him as an unaffiliated conservative or a Republican until Steve Israel encouraged him to run for a nice blue congressional seat as a Democrat. Under Aguilar's leadership, once thriving small businesses in Redlands have been killed by the Wal Mart Aguilar’s administration attracted and now much of the city’s north side is in Detroit-like poverty. 34 year old Pete, simp... more »

The foamer at the mouth, former close associate of the nose picker

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 10 minutes ago

http://order-order.com/2013/11/18/miliband-foaming-at-the-mouth/ The video of Gordon Brown picking his nose is on this blog, but never shown on the pro Labour BBC

Setting Aside Default Judgment

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 21 minutes ago

*Royal Bank of Canada v. Datanet Wireless Inc.,* 2013 ONCA 706: [3] The motion judge explicitly addressed the applicable pre-requisites for the setting aside of a default judgment, as described in *HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. v. Firestar Capital Management Corp*., 2008 ONCA 894, 245 O.A.C. 47, leave to appeal to S.C.C. refused (2009), 399 N.R. 398 (note) (S.C.C.), *Morgan v. Toronto (City) Police Services Board* (2003), 34 C.P.C. (5th) 46, 169 O.A.C. 390 (C.A.) and related authorities. He considered all the relevant factors in the context of the evidentiary record befor... more »

Obamacare Press Frenzy Stuff

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 23 minutes ago

Oy, Kraushaar. Oy, Galston. Oy, half the damn press corps. It's ugly out there, folks. The two that set me off in particular today are Josh Kraushaar's massive overinterpretation of the events of last week, leading him to believe that Democrats are close to abandoning the ACA. And then Todd Purdom on the imminent collapse of "Big Government progressivism" if the ACA doesn't work well (complete with supporting quotes from William Galston). Anyway, here are some links to what I've written in response. There's just a lot of nonsense right now. Which is pretty much what happens when th... more »

Japan's New Emissions Targets

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 35 minutes ago

Last week the Japanese government announced that it would adopt a new emissions reductions target: A government panel on measures to tackle climate change approved on Friday a new goal to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3.8 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level. . . Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he is sure that Japan can substantially contribute to global efforts to tackle climate change. The government will steadily implement necessary measures to achieve the new emissions reduction target, he said. The new goal means a setback from the target of reducing emissions... more »

Hellzapoppin?

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 38 minutes ago

With visions of stagnant swamps and bubble economies dancing in my head after reading Paul Krugman's column, I wonder if this morning's newsis indicative of the next toxic carbuncle fixing to pop any minute now, spreading its poison all over the globe: In early trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index *crossed the 1,800-point mark* for the first time, and the Dow Jones industrial average *surpassed 16,000 points for the first time*. By midmorning, the S.&P. was flat, at 1,798.46 points; the Dow was up 0.3 percent, at 16,003.86; and the Nasdaq composite was off 0.1 percent, at 3... more »

INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABUSE NETWORK?

Anon at aangirfan - 56 minutes ago

* Eric Dejaeger* While Eric Dejaeger was a priest in the community of Igloolik in Canada, between 1978 and 1982, he allegedly had sex with a large number of Inuit children. In 1995, the Canadian authorities knew of Dejaeger's alleged crimes but reportedly allowed him to escape from Canada to his native Belgium just days before he was due to stand trial. In 1990, Dejaeger had been briefly jailed on separate charges of sexually molesting children in Baker Lake. *Canada let priest Eric Dejaeger flee to Belgium amid sex abuse charges: Official* Georges Vervust is the top official wi... more »

Toronto Council Cannot Remove Statutory Powers of the Mayor

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 59 minutes ago

News reports suggest that today's motion will seek to remove all of Mayor Ford's remaining powers. If that is, in fact, the proposal, then Mayor Ford has a Christmas in November situation. The City of Toronto is a statutory body. It is created by Provincial Legislation and cannot exceed the jurisdiction granted by statute. And powers given by statute to the Mayor cannot be removed by the City. Any attempt to remove statutory powers is simply illegal. Story

Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster November 16 , 2013 and Weekend Updates - Top news item in possible start of fuel rod removal at the Spent Fuel Pool ( Reactor Building 4 ) .... New Details released revealing damage at Reactor Building 1 ....... Healths effects hidden by Japan , radiation plumes and health effects on animal life in North American appearing in the West .....

Catharsis Ours - 1 hour ago

EX SKF.... SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2013 #Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Admits Total 80 Spent Fuel Assemblies Had Damages Before the Nuclear Accident, 70 of Them in Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool Move over, three fuel assemblies with damaged/deformed fuel rods inside in the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool! You're nothing. According to Kahoku Shinpo, a Fukushima local paper, TEPCO admitted on November 15, 2013 that *there are 70 fuel assemblies with damaged fuel rods in the Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool*, located on the operating floor (top floor) of the reactor building whose air radiation levels ... more »

No THB2 ... At Least for Now

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 1 hour ago

Not long ago I mentioned on this blog I that I had set to work on an 2nd edition of *The Honest Broker, *my 2007 book with Cambridge University Press After a lot of work and thought I've decided at this point not to press forward with it, for two reasons. One is that after going through the first five chapters I made a few revisions, but mostly very small and very nuanced. I actually really like these chapters as they are. The second is that getting into further details on each of the four ideal types (well, five) means ... getting into the details. I have a lot of interesting mat... more »

Argentina: UFO Sightings are Ongoing in Victoria

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 1 hour ago

*Source: www.diariovictoria.com.arDate: 11.14.13* *Argentina: UFO Sightings are Ongoing in Victoria* Victoria is a city in [the province of Entre Rios] that stands out for its single-storey houses, its artistic grillwork and their narrow streets laid out in the classic Spanish style. It is also famous for another reason: UFO sightings. This is how Silvia Perez Simondini "discovered" it after seeing an article published in the Clarin newspaper, which made her feel Victoria was her rightful place in the world. "I was living very well in a *petit hotel*l in Villa Devoto, Capital Fe... more »

The Grit-sters Have a New Guru without CIA Connections

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 hour ago

With the spook-ish Dr. Seligman too scary to mention in contexts involving children, his longtime disciple, Angela Duckworth, does not even mention Seligman in her mini-TED talk that CorpEd is pumping this week on HuffPo's education page. Seligman's work with the CIA as an expert on learned helplessness, and then his work with the Pentagon on how to teach the joys of positive psychology to Iraq vets with PTSD, have made the mention of his name within the chain gang charter movement out of bounds. The new guru in town is Carol Dweck, who is given the credit for grounding Angel Duckw... more »

Demography 20: Presentation at ILS, DOLE, on Population and Growth

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 1 hour ago

Yesterday, I was one of three speakers in a forum by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on "From Challenges to Dividents: A New and Healthy Discourse on Gender, Employment, Population and Development" held at The Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros, Manila. Special thanks to a friend, Bryan Balco, focal point person of ILS on Gender and Development (GAD), for inviting me. The two other speakers were Dr. Juan Antonio Perez, Executive Director of the Commission on Population (PopCom), and Dr. Ramon Benedicto Marcelino, Director for Research, ... more »

Peru: UFO Visible in the Sky over Ica for Two Hours

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 2 hours ago

*Source: ASTROUFO and Planeta UFODate: 11.14.13* *PERU: UFO Visible in the Sky over Ica for Two Hours* An unidentified flying object remained visible in the skies over Ica (Peru) for at least two hours on Sunday afternoon, 10 November 2013. The first sighting of the object took place at 12:45 pm from the San Juan Bautista sector, where it was seen moving for a few minutes while making changes in its shape, following a constant pattern: sphere, tube, diagonal shape and "old telephone receiver" shape. The white-colored object displayed an intense glow at all times, perhaps a result... more »

Turkey’s Changing Stance Towards Iraq’s Kurds, An Interview With Lehigh Prof Henri Barkey

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 2 hours ago

In just the last few years Turkey’s policy towards Iraq has gone through a dramatic transformation. For decades, Ankara was opposed to any form of autonomy or independence for Iraq’s Kurds, while it denied rights to its own Kurdish population, and fought a long insurgency led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Since the second term of Turkish Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), that has begun to change. Turkey now stands as the largest investor in the Kurdistan region, it has become one of the main backers of Kurdish President Ma... more »

Yuck! Another Foul Odour Is Coming From The PMO .. This One Smells Like Robo-Calls Coverup

leftdog at Buckdog - 2 hours ago

*"At the same time as some Conservative party staffers allege meeting with Michael Sona and reporting that he told them of his involvement in the robocalls controversy in the riding of Guelph, travel records show that Sona was vacationing on the island of Aruba. Sona is charged with violating the Elections Act in a controversy stemming from the 2011 election wherein robocalls directed voters to the wrong polling stations.[...] Elections Canada has heard complaints of dirty tricks in the 2011 election from over 200 ridings. Many of the grievances don’t amount to much, sources say, ... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 2 hours ago

*Saints' faith in Garrett Hartley pays off ~Mike Triplett, ESPN* *Plaquemines seeks optimum shoreline options ~Amy Wold, The Advocate* *TUCP Direction Presents: A Lecture by Angela Davis * *Tornadoes rip through Midwest, killing 6 and devastating neighborhoods ~CNN* *Doris Metropolitan: International Steakhouse Opens in French Quarter ~M.D. Dupuy, NOLA DEFENDER*

Tartarstan

Paul Coker at News Spike - 3 hours ago

*"What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?" * *- Zbignew Brezynski, * *La Monde, 1998 * The Republic of Tartarstan lies on the banks of the Volga. *Right near all the oil Hitler was trying to get to in 1942.* *"If I do not get the oil of Maikop and Grozny then I must liquidate this war."* *—Adolf Hitler* *“One has to understand what the enemy is all about: the enemy's history, the enemy's culture, the enemy's aspirations. If you... more »

LOOKING BACK AT DRONE CONFERENCE

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 3 hours ago

- I am heading home after the weekend drone conference here in DC. Yesterday I spoke in a workshop along with David Swanson and Clare Hanrahan who I've know since my Florida days. Clare is doing some great organizing in the south educating people about the environmental impact of military production sites across the region. - During my time in the workshop I talked about how space technology coordinates all Pentagon warfare these days. I read the words of former Air Force Maj. Gen. James Poss (he helped oversee the Predator drone's development) who... more »

Standing In The Way Of History Is Often Fatal-- As Both Republicans And Conservative Democrats Are About To Find Out

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago

The Republican Party, particularly the congressional wing, has one issue they're gearing up for the midterms: Obamacare. After doing everything in their power to sabotage it, from inception to roll out, the, Republicans want to focus all their attention on howling about what a failure it is. But are people buying their message? Over the weekend we saw how a Republican primary in northeast Louisiana resulted in a loss for the Establishment, party-line candidate and a win for a candidate who ran explicitly on expanding Medicaid for working families. That doesn't fit the GOP narrativ... more »

Ripples: Your Daily Howler keeps getting results!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 3 hours ago

*MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013* *To his credit, Bill Keller backs down:* Incomparably, your Daily Howler just keeps getting results! This morning, right there in the New York Times, Bill Keller starts backing down: KELLER (11/18/13): *The decline of our education system is exaggerated* but real, especially in the scientific and technical fields. Say what? “The decline of our education system is exaggerated?” Where in the world did *that* come from? Back in August, Keller was saying this about our K-12 schools. His column that day concerned the new Common Core: KELLER (8/19/13): Thi... more »

Brady disclosure

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

*Brady v. Maryland*, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) holds that withholding exculpatory evidence violates due process "where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment". This is similar but arguably more limited than the Canadian position. In Canada all material evidence (subject to privilege) held by the prosecution must be disclosed. In America request for disclosure is (usually) required. A defendant's request for "*Brady *disclosure" requires the prosecution to disclose material exculpatory evidence to the defense. Exculpatory evidence is "material" if "there is a re... more »

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 4 hours ago

Happy Birthday to Jamie Moyer, 51. I'm obviously not alone in this, but he was my guy: the last player older than me in the majors. Or anywhere in organized ball, as far as I know. Ah well. My cohort was obviously pretty lucky in that respect. A wonderful career. Good stuff: 1. As one who agrees with the courts that partisan gerrymandering is kosher by the Constitution, I nevertheless agree very much with Rick Hasen about voter suppression and the Constitution. That is, courts "should hold that when a state passes a law that burdens voters, it must demonstrate, with credible eviden... more »

Mixing Scholarly with Blogging Identities

Jon Western at Duck of Minerva - 4 hours ago

[Note: This is a guest post from Mira Sucharov and Brent E. Sasley. Mira Sucharov is Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She blogs at Haaretz.com and at Open Zion. Follow her on Twitter. Brent Sasley is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas Continue reading

Watch "CAMERA Video Brief Exposes Economist and al Jazeera Anti-Israel Bias" on YouTube

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 4 hours ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-XYV43ddBc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Facts Are Catching Up With Them

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 4 hours ago

Haroon Siddiqui writes that, in the end, buffoonery won't bring Rob Ford and Stephen Harper down. Eventually, the truth that they are not who they say they are will catch up with them: Both play the outsider. Harper of Etobicoke, pretending to be a Calgarian, says he “didn’t go to Ottawa to join private clubs or become part of some elite.” He’s there only to take on the civil servants, “the courts,” the “union bosses,” the media, etc. Ford, a fellow-Etobian, is “watching every dime” at City Hall, taking on lazy unionized workers and the media “maggots.” But his claim of havin... more »

TRIBE AND RACE: Race-fueled street fight on the left!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 4 hours ago

*MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013* *Part 1—Perlstein belittles Winfrey:* Last week, historian Rick Perlstein took out the knives in a street fight he launched against Oprah Winfrey. Or did he? This street fight, which we have imagined, concerns the role played by race in the denigration of President Obama. In the course of disagreeing with Winfrey’s view, Perlstein displayed his rather obvious sense of white privilege. Or at least, a person could *say* that he did! In a lusty, name-calling piece at The Nation, Perlstein claimed that the tea party is just the latest example of a well-know... more »

Tepco commences fuel rod assembly removal at the Spent Fuel Pool - Building 4 ! Keep your fingers crossed that Tepco pulls this off safely - also keep in mind the overall operation will take a year ! Highlights on the Fukushima ongoing nuclear debacle from Energy News !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago

Fukushima operators begin risky nuclear fuel rod removal Published time: November 18, 2013 09:00 Edited time: November 18, 2013 10:40 Get short URL [image: This handout picture taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on November 18, 2013 shows a cask (C) of nuclear fuel being lifted and moved by TEPCO workers as TEPCO started operations to remove fuel rods from a pool at the unit four reactor building of TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in the town of Okuma in Fukushima prefecture (AFP Photo)] This handout picture taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on November 18, 2013... more »

Hope the tree doesn't blow over!!!

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

Fukushima- Dangerous fuel rod removal begins

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 4 hours ago

Links for information can be found at the end of the post The decades-long decommissioning process at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant is about to take what Tokyo Electric Power Co. says is “an important step,” as the utility starts removing fuel rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool high up in reactor building 4 . *“Usually, spent fuel rods are safely stored in sturdy reactor buildings, but reactor building 4 experienced a hydrogen explosion, so it has lost its full containment capability,”* said Kiyoshi Takasaka, an adviser on nuclear issues to Fukushima Prefecture. *The hyd... more »

BitCoin crosses 600 this morning - shortly before a Senate Hearing on BitCoin .... between China allowing BitCoin for Real Estate transactions and friendly noises coming from US agencies such as the Department of Justice and SEC , we may be entering a blowoff phase for BitCoin !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago

Bitcoin Soars Above $600: Rises 20% In One Day Ahead Of Senate Hearing [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/18/2013 07:57 -0500 - Bear Market - Bitcoin - China - Department of Justice - NASDAQ - Real estate - Securities and Exchange Commission - Yuan inShare While the relentless multiple expansion (if not so much earnings growth and certainly not revenue contraction) looks set to push all three main stock indices over the key psychological levels of 16000, 1800 and 4000, with the all time bubble high on the Nasdaq in... more »

Annie Machon on Edward Snowden | London Real

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 5 hours ago

*16 Oktober 2013* Annie Machon is a Former MI5 Intelligence Officer turned Whistleblower and now a writer, commentator and public speaker on issues like the war on terrorism, the war on drugs, and the war on the internet. She is also a director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). *http://anniemachon.ch/* Add caption

Another windy day

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 5 hours ago

It's easy to forget the weather especially in Southern Ontario. (Nunavut is another story). But last night, taking shelter by the indoor pool of a hotel, as tornadoes moved through the area I was forcibly reminded of the nature and danger of storms!

Ir wasn't just Barack Hussein Obama who lied, Hillary Rodham Clinton did too

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 6 hours ago

'In 2007, campaigning in Iowa, Clinton like Obama, promised Americans that if they liked their plans they could keep them. Clinton, also like Obama, left out the fine print that her plan had a provision similar to Obamacare which would have kicked millions off of their own insurance plans.' For when Hillary Clinton becomes the next saviour of the United States and the media (including the BBC) get right behind her after all the USA has never had a woman President.

ABC News: West Coast Evacuation Possible

Barbara Ann Levy at WPB/NYC and Anything Else; A Curated Green Rights Collection - 9 hours ago

The expansion is accelerating due to negative enough pressure

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 10 hours ago

*...no strings attached...* In recent years, I got used to the fact that Sean Carroll is confused about some very basic physics – the postulates of quantum mechanics as well as thermodynamics (and the very basic insight due to Boltzmann and others that its laws are microscopically explained by statistical physics and not, for example, by cosmology). And I won't even threaten your stomach by memories of the Boltzmann brains, doomsdays, and similar delusions. But I thought he could rationally think at least about classical general relativity. His book was pretty good, I thought, altho... more »

the War On You by Corporate Initiative NG/152-XXX - it's not what you 'discover'

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 10 hours ago

there's been a helluva lot of distractionary material out there on the internet of late relating to SURVEILLANCE, ooh the big Stasi-like bogey man. Is it fair to say that in a Corporate War situation with Stasi-like Full Dominance Surveillance/Hacking, Advanced Interrogation Techniques, Weather Weapons, Metering, Top Six (Energy, Media, Defence) Companies Monopolising and The Rules of Corporate Take-over applied to each and every 'competitor' in their war i.e. You The Individual. Isn't it ture that cyber-attack-sponsored Corporate War is an Ugly Game that is NDA'd beyond the moral c... more »

Liz Cheney-- Rotten To The Core

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 12 hours ago

Dick Cheney with a blond wig-- and rabies I've been savoring every moment of Barton Gellman's book on how Cheney took over the Bush presidency, Angler and I recommend it highly. (You can buy at at the link in the last sentence, which goes right to the *DWT Book Store*. Gellman begins his book with how Cheney systematically fucked over all the legitimate Republican choices for vice president, one after the other. Laytre he had an army of henchmen but that early in his career of evil he counted on the rotten daughter, Liz, the one running for the U.S. Senate against Wyoming conservativ... more »

Meet & Greet Monday (#MtaGt) - Briogeo

Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - 13 hours ago

Welcome to Meet & Greet Monday, a regular series designed to grow our green community. [image: A link-up for green blogs on Reduce Footprints Blog] Banner by Art Ist Grab our banner for your site:

*The rules:* 1. Use the link-up tool below to share your green-living blog or collection of environment... more »