Netvibes has changed their format. I've been floundering around just to get a Copy - which I split in two and it eventually posted. But not 1 - 1 and 1 - 2, which I lost in a crash.
My patience and capacities are being tried. I've used a number of browser combinations but have more left to try.
11:43 pm MST
My patience and capacities are being tried. I've used a number of browser combinations but have more left to try.
11:43 pm MST
First Korean APR-1400 nuclear reactor enters commercial operation
The first Korean-designed Advanced Pressurised Reactor-1400 (APR-1400) officially entered commercial operation on 12 December. Unit 3 of the Shin Kori nuclear power plant in the south east of South Korea was connected to the grid in January. *Shin Kori units 3 and 4 (Image: KHNP)* Construction of Shin Kori 3 began in October 2008. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) was issued with an operating licence for the unit by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission in late October 2015. The reactor achieved first criticality on 29 December and was connected to the grid on 15 January. ... more »
The U.S. And The U.K. Have Vastly Different Estimates On Numbers Of Islamic State Fighters Killed
*The Hill:* *UK, US have vastly different estimates of total ISIS fighters killed* The U.S. and the United Kingdom have offered vastly different estimates of the number of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters killed since the international coalition began bombing the group in 2014, according to CNN. U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon estimated on Thursday that 25,000 ISIS fighters had been killed during the campaign. He made the remark while speaking to reporters alongside Defense Secretary Ash Carter. *Read more* .... *WNU Editor:* They do not even know how many ... more »
U.S. Left Out Of Recent Syrian Peace Talks
United States Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a statement on the situation in Aleppo, Syria at the State Department in Washington U.S., December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron *Reuters:* *U.S. plays down absence from Moscow talks on Syria, says not 'sidelined'* The United States on Tuesday sought to downplay its absence from talks on the Syrian conflict among Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow, saying it was not a "snub" and did not reflect a decline of U.S. influence in the Middle East. However, President Barack Obama's decision to offer only limited support to moderate re... more »
Afghanistan Has More Generals Than The U.S. MIlitary
Seventy three Afghan Army officers graduated from the Afghan Army Command and Staff College’s Command and General Staff College course. The mission is to provide professional military education for First Lieutenants to Major Generals (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jeff Nevison) *Mujib Mashal, New York Times*: *Being an Afghan General Is Nice Work if You Can Get It. And Many Do.* *Afghanistan may struggle to recruit enough soldiers for its armed forces, but it’s swimming in generals.* The country has close to 1,000 officers of general rank on its books — more than the United S... more »
China Buys Sao Tome, saves Taiwan taxpayers millions
*Look! A free meme for you!* The big news is that Sao Tome switched from the ROC to the PRC today. Reuters reports. This is another symbolic act with no concrete costs, which will generate media hysteria but probably benefits Taiwan. China cannot knock out too many allies, because it needs the ROC to exist and support its territorial claims, as well as maintain that Taiwan is part of China and someday deliver Taiwan to China. One of the props of the ROC are its "diplomatic allies", countries which recognize it, and not the PRC, as China. Gaining allies is always paid for by the swe... more »
The #ChristmasMyths, #3: The Song of the Heavenly Host
*Part of a continuing series* looking at the pagan origins of the Christmas Myths, one day at a time. Today: the story of lonely shepherds, and what a flock of angels does to them late at night …* SO, THERE YOU ARE out there abiding in your fields, minding your own sheep flock’s business –a shepherd watching your flock by night—and all of a sudden this old angel shows up, and then another, and then another—until out there in your back paddock you’ve pretty much got the whole Heavenly Host flying about just above the campfire. And then they all start singing--and prett... more »
Nurturing The Swamp... Making It More Dangerous And Powerful
Feeling vaguely sickened by the parade of Wall Street predators Trump has recruited as a cabinet? Did you expect something different? Trump is a man who will be in violation of the Constitution immediately upon taking office since his business empire has a steady flow of money coming if from a myriad of foreign sources, many of which are connected to foreign governments or from individuals connected to foreign governments. That concern is discussed in the video above by Norman Eisen, a co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the former U.S. Ambassad... more »
Musical Interlude: 2002, “Summer of 300 Years”
2002, “Summer of 300 Years” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYVENvQirmk
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Big, beautiful NGC 5584 is more that 50,000 light-years across and lies 72 million light-years away toward the constellation Virgo. The winding spiral arms of this gorgeous island universe are loaded with luminous young star clusters and dark dust lanes. Still, for earthbound astronomers NGC 5584 is not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy. *Click image for larger size.* Home to some 250 Cepheid variable stars and a recent Type Ia supernova explosion, key objects for astronomical distance determinations, NGC 5584 is one of 8 galaxies used in a new study that includes additional... more »
"The Eternal Silence Of Infinite Spaces..."
"The eternal silence of infinite spaces frightens me. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me? We travel in a vast sphere, always drifting in the uncertain, pulled from one side to another. Whenever we find a fixed point to attach and to fasten ourselves, it shifts and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condition, most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desires to find solid ground and an ultima... more »
“Fake News? It’s All Fake!”
*“Fake News? It’s All Fake!”* by Bill Bonner “Life is one long struggle in the dark.” – Lucretius "In January of this year, the Empire Herald reported that a ‘meth-addled couple’ had eaten a homeless man in New York City’s Central Park. Later, Now8News reported that a can of cookie dough had ‘exploded in a woman’s vagina’; the woman was alleged to be shoplifting. Yesterday’s big news: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was shot and killed. The assailant looked a lot like a 21st-century version of Gavrilo Princip, who lit the fuse for the First World War by assassinating Archduke Franz ... more »
Ed Felien : Putin’s puppet and the really big deal
All Trump has to do is help the Russians build their pipeline through Afghanistan. By Ed Felien | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2016 It’s the biggest deal he’s ever done. If he gets this done, he’s the richest, … finish reading Ed Felien : Putin’s puppet and the really big deal
How Much Pain Do The Republicans Have To Inflict On The Working Class Before Voters Start Wondering What Happened with All Those Trumpy Promises?
Earlier today we ended the morning post with a comment on something Matt Taibbi mentioned in a recent *Rolling Stone* column, namely that Trump's recent appointments from Goldman "are absolute proof that his 'populist' message was a crock all along." Can anyone doubt it? Sure... More than half the country is living in a state of reality denial. That's really how Trump got elected. The pain headed their way is likely to wake them up... quickly. Moments later... this piece from Dante Chinni in the *Wall Street Journal*: Trump Counties Would See Big Impact From Obamacare Repeal. His... more »
Why our CO2 emissions do not increase Atmosphere CO2
The following reblogged from edberry.com Why our CO2 emissions do not increase Atmosphere CO2 *This paper is open for critical scientific and editorial review and comment. – Ed* *by Edwin Berry, PhD, Atmospheric Physics* *The genius of Al Gore* Give Al Gore an A for marketing and an F for science. But, hey, we all know the sale is in the marketing. The genius of Al Gore was to make his invalid myth simple: 1. Our CO2 emissions increase Atmosphere CO2, and 2. Atmosphere CO2 heats the Earth. What could be simpler? Al Gore assumed his two invalid claims were true. ... more »
New Thermoelectrics with ZT over 7, could have twice the efficiency of combustion engines, fridges and be lighter, smaller and more reliable
The search for thermoelectrics with higher figures of merit (ZT) will never stop due to the demand of heat harvesting. Single layer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), namely MX2 (where M is a transition metal and X is a chalcogen) that have electronic band gaps are among the new materials that have been the focus of such research. Here, we investigate the thermoelectric transport properties of hybrid armchair-edged TMDs nanoribbons, by using the nonequilibrium Green's function technique combined with the first principles and molecular dynamics methods. They found a ZT as high a... more »
Obstacle avoidance: The challenge for drone package delivery
Michael Braasch, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Ohio University at Science + Technology – The Conversation - 5 hours ago
Look out! Delivery drone illustration via shutterstock.com The world’s first drone deliveries have begun trial runs in the United Kingdom and the U.S. Once primarily used by militaries, small quadcopter and octocopter drones are now so commonplace they are for sale at home improvement stores and toy stores. People are flying drones for fun, for entertainment and for commercial purposes as diverse as filmmaking and farming. All these uses have one thing in common: The drone’s human operator is required by law to be able to see the drone at all times. Why? The answer is simple: to ma... more »
The Daily "Near You?"
Covington, Louisiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!
Researchers at Japan Tokai University found a room temperature Superconductor with critical temperature near the melting point of Tin
Researchers at Tokai University have created materials obtained by bringing n-alkanes into contact with graphite which are capable of conducting electricity with almost no energy loss at room temperature. They report that the sudden jump in resistance showing a phase transition is observed in the materials during heating by two-probe resistance measurement. The measured critical temperatures of the materials consisting of pitch-based graphite fibers and n-alkanes having 7-16 carbon atoms range from 363.08 to 504.24 K (231 Celsius) and the transition widths range between 0.15 and 3.0... more »
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- Dcember 20, 2016
*Alan Gomez, USA TODAY*: *Berlin attack latest in disturbing terror trend* If the truck attack on a crowded Berlin market that killed a dozen people sounded familiar, that's because it follows a disturbing trend of terrorism that requires little organization, manpower or technological know-how. Whether the Berlin rampage represents the latest lone wolf attack or is the latest example of an Islamic State operative able to conceal his ties to the terrorist organization worries authorities. *Read more* .... *Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 20, 2016* Attack on Berl... more »
World News Briefs -- December 20, 2016
*Daily Mail:* *Where is the Berlin Christmas market killer? German police FREE Pakistani suspect after admitting he is wrong man - as ISIS praise 'soldier' who killed 12 * * Security sources have no clue where the armed real killer is after questioning wrong man for 12 hours * Senior police chief said: 'We have wrong man. Perpetrator is armed, at large and can cause further damage' * Arrested Pakistani asylum seeker Naved B, 23, entered country under false name and has criminal record * Tonight German prosecutors said the suspect had been released because of insufficient evidence ... more »
"I Believe..."; “The Mantua Lovers”
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” - Robert Fulghum ◆ *“The Mantua Lovers”* "Entwined neolithic skeletal remains excavated in Mantua, Italy in February, 2007. Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact. Double burials duri... more »
The Wikileaks Persuasion You Missed"
"*The Wikileaks Persuasion You Missed"* by Scott Adams "Do you remember when Wikileaks first started releasing the hacked emails from the DNC? Julian Assange told us the good stuff was coming later. Then some more emails were released, but still no good stuff. Just stuff. But the really, really good stuff was coming, Assange assured us. Not this next release perhaps, but soon. Just wait. And then it never came. There was no good stuff in those emails. There was plenty of little stuff. But nothing that moves elections. Time passes. Memories fade. If you were to ask the average voter... more »
Survey Reveals Nearly 50% of Americans Favor a Universal Basic Income
In a survey of 500 people of various ages, 46 percent of respondents were in favor of the idea of a universal basic income, 35 percent opposed, and 19 percent undecided. A UBI system could be the best, most practical way to deal with the widespread unemployment likely to follow the continued automation of jobs currently held by people. The post Survey Reveals Nearly 50% of Americans Favor a Universal Basic Income appeared first on Futurism.
Lewis Logan: Jesus was an anti-imperialist
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ Luke 19:41-45 – BibleGateway.com 41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when […]
The Control Matrix Scrambles to Keep the Slaves on the Plantation
*Dylan Charles* - Desperation is the driving force behind their new attempts at censorship. The post The Control Matrix Scrambles to Keep the Slaves on the Plantation appeared first on Waking Times.
"Into This Very Moment..."
"Hope is always about the future. And it isn't always good news. Sometimes, hope can imprison us with belief or expectation that something will happen in the future to change our lives. Similarly hopelessness isn't always about despair. Hopelessness can bring us right into this very moment and answer all of life's most difficult questions. Who am I? Where am I? What does this mean? And what now?" - Daniel Gottlieb
Changing It
I can't think of anything that Barack did that I wouldn't want President Trump to un-do. Since he used his pen and his phone to do most of it (except for ObamaCare that collapsed under it own weight), we're fortunate.
"Are You A Deplorable?"
*"Are You A Deplorable?"* by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog "Regardless of your ethnicity, class or religion, if you perceive the institutions that govern American life as corrupted, riddled with favoritism and spin or as broken, you’re a Deplorable. Are you a Deplorable? The answer might surprise you. Take this short quiz to find out. *1. *If you agree with this characterization of American Elites: “The self-satisfied cosmopolitan culture that sprang up among the affluent 20% or so of the industrial world’s population, who became convinced that the temporary ascendancy of... more »
Russia,Iran,Turkey: Guarantors of the Moscow Declaration
*“Iran, Russia and Turkey are ready to facilitate the drafting of an agreement, which is already being negotiated, between the Syrian government and the opposition, and to become its guarantors,“ *the declaration read. *Guarantor? Interesting word.* *Iran, Turkey and Russia have agreed to be the Guarantors of an agreement being made between the Syrian government &opposition- I suppose we’ll know soon enough what that agreement entails* *Compiled from multiple articles* The Star Trilateral cooperation between Russia, Iran, and Turkey is the most effective way to settle the Syria... more »
Margaret Randall : VERSE | Two poems
Words Have we moved beyond word time, beyond the poet’s terrain where words describe events or pull us into new orbits of wonder and release? Words: those beautiful evocations strung together to birth ideas, whispered as comfort, sung as … finish reading Margaret Randall : *VERSE* | Two poems
Henry Mecredy : Camaro: Successful, but a waste
What possible need was there for another car like the Mustang? By Henry Mecredy | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2016 This is Henry Mecredy’s second Rag Blog article about design, function, and the social good in automotive engineering. … finish reading Henry Mecredy : Camaro: Successful, but a waste
Remembering Lily Jayne Summers
I wrote an unexpected obituary earlier this year for a comrade, and it saddens me to be doing so again. Stoke and Swansea Labour Party activist Lily Jayne Summers has passed away after a short illness. She was 23. To lose a sparring partner, a comrade, and a friend is always difficult. But at such a young age, it's horrifying. I got to know Lily through social media about three years ago, and we'd occasionally meet up over tea and cake. As a self-described liberal socialist, Lily wore that badge not so much as a tilt to the right or nod to LibDem friendliness, but as a label reject... more »
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- December 20, 2016
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan (C) meets with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergei Shoigu (L) and Fahd Jassem al-Freij, in Tehran, on June 9, 2016. (Photo by IRNA) *Al Arabiya*: *Iran forms joint military HQ with Russia in Syria* The Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani revealed on Tuesday that Iran has established joint military headquarters with Russia in Syria, without specifying its location. Regarding the visit of the representative of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran and his meeting with some ... more »
Doctor Who Christmas Tree
I have the greatest best friend in the whole world. You may think that you do, but ask yourself, "has my best friend made me a Doctor Who Christmas Tree?" I thought not. Every year, Lorene and I do the 12 days of Christmas for each other and each year it has become increasingly Doctor Who centered. A few years ago she created an AMAZING Doctor Who Christmas tree for me and has since give me ornaments for each of the 12 days of Christmas. Some of the ornaments she purchased and some of them she created, I have listed everything below so you can have an amazing Doctor Who tree too.... more »
Exposing Donald Drumpf: America, Your New President May Indeed Be Just Another Jewish Controlled Lackey - Heads Of Mossad Just "Briefed" Trump Staff!
Well, America, you now have your next President of the United States... Donald J Drumpf just survived the "coup" by the criminal Democratic Party that was trying to get their Queen, Killary the psychotic Clinton, into the White House.... But that "coup" failed miserably as the Electoral College just confirmed Drumpf as the 45th President of the United States as of his inauguration come January 20th, 2017.... Lets face the facts here... America had no real choice in the last "selection".... The only choices were between a psychotic lunatic that would have had America into World War I... more »
Mosul Campaign Day 64, Dec 19, 2016
The Mosul campaign has slowed down considerably. The Iraqi forces (ISF) were still trying to take the Salam Hospital in the Wahda district of southeast Mosul and attackeda neighboring area. The ISF also killedfour suicide bombers. In the west, the Hashd were attackedtwiceand the Tal Afar airport hit by mortar fire. The decrease in operations is due to exhaustion, the ISF stalling in the north, south and west, and the Iraqi command revisingits game plan. Part of the new strategy is to shift forces from the north and south to the east to assist the Golden and 9th Divisions. Federal ... more »
Hours After Russian Ambassador Assassinated, Top Russian Diplomat Found Murdered in His Home
[image: diplomat]Only hours after the Russian Ambassador to Turkey was assassinated on video in Ankara, a high-ranking Russian diplomat shared the same fate.
DeVos: a product of bipartisan embrace of failed, racist “school choice” policies
*“I stand behind the charter school… movement, because parents do deserve greater choice” — Hillary Rodham Clinton* With both mainstream presidential candidates publicly stating they believed in the white supremacist notion of school choice, it wasn’t hard to see the Trump nomination of someone as extreme as Betsy DeVos as being possible. How these abject, failed policies play out in reality is instructive. Vice on Detroit: *School choice gutted Detroit’s public schools. The rest of the country is next.*
Rev. Chris Hedges: Christmas, Charity, Anti-Empire and the Revolutionary Jesus + Transcript
Dandelion Salad Originally published Dec. 24, 2014 with Chris Hedges TheRealNews on Dec 24, 2014 Rev. Chris Hedges and Rev. David Bullock discuss the real meaning of Christmas with Paul Jay. * Transcript Chris Hedges: “…I think, [the] fundamental message of the gospel is anticapitalist, anti-imperialist. Remember when Jesus is taken to the desert by […]
India passes UK to become the fifth largest economy on a nominal GDP basis
The devaluation of the British pound has resulted in India's nominal GDP exceeding the UK. India is now the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world based on nominal (exchange rate) GDP UK, India and France are nearly tied based on exchange rate. The value of the pound declined by 20% over the last 12 months. UK’s 2016 GDP of GBP 1.87 trillion converts to $2.29 trillion at exchange rate of ~GBP 0.81 per $1. India’s GDP of INR 153 trillion converts to $2.30 trillion at exchange rate of ~INR 66.6 per $1. France has a GDP of about 2.22 trillion euro. This converts to $2.3 trillio... more »
Why you can’t fry eggs (or testicles) with a cellphone
Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University at Science + Technology – The Conversation - 8 hours ago
Pocket your phone without worry. Phone image via www.shutterstock.com. A minor craze in men’s underwear fashions these days seems to be briefs that shield the genitals from cellphone radiation. The sales claim is that these products protect the testicles from the harmful effects of the radio waves emitted by cellphones, and therefore help maintain a robust sperm count and high fertility. These undergarments may shield the testicles from radiation, but do male cellphone users really risk infertility? The notion that electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range can cause mal... more »
Kelly describes "corrupt" coverage of Trump!
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2016Mika belts out a warning:* The Washington Post's Eric Wemple has posted an interesting interview with Megyn Kelly. At one point, Kelly describes the thinking behind some of the coverage of Candidate Trump. Why did people air those uninterrupted Trump rallies? Kelly explains it thusly: KELLY (12/19/16): I think that in particular in the primary season, very few people were offering any critical Trump coverage, virtually anywhere...And in particular, *some of these folks who put on his campaign rallies, Erik. His campaign rallies, not a policy speech, jus... more »
How Did Trump Win-- And What Can We Learn From That?
I hope you weren't surprised yesterday when el President-elect Señor Trumpanzee won the electoral college-- and only lost 2 "faithless electors" (half the number Clinton lost). Over the course of the last two weeks, Blue America got a couple dozens letters asking why we weren't participating in the attempts to get the Republican electors to vote against Trump. I patiently responded to each letter that that isn't what Blue America does. We don't send out phony-baloney petitions-- used to build big e-mail lists-- and we don't ask our members to contribute money to wasteful bullshit ... more »
World's first spintronics-based artificial intelligence
Researchers at Tohoku University have, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the basic operation of spintronics-based artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, which emulates the information processing function of the brain that can quickly execute complex and complicated tasks such as image recognition and weather prediction, has attracted growing attention and has already been partly put to practical use. The currently-used artificial intelligence works on the conventional framework of semiconductor-based integrated circuit technology. However, this lacks the comp... more »
Obama’s Legacy: Leaving Indefinite Military Detention Regime Intact
The Obama administration will pass on a legal regime that enables President-elect Donald Trump to indefinitely hold alleged terrorism suspects away from any battlefield. The post Obama’s Legacy: Leaving Indefinite Military Detention Regime Intact appeared first on Shadowproof.
Growing Violence In Congo Over The President's Decision To Stay In Power
*Washington Post*: *Up to 20 dead in clashes in Congo over president’s decision to stay in power* KINSHASA, Congo — Security forces clashed with protesters in the capital of the Congo on Tuesday, leaving up to 20 people dead, as a political crisis escalated over the president’s refusal to step down at the end of his formal term. The demonstrations were scattered across Kinshasa, a sprawling city of 12 million, and quickly put down by heavily armed soldiers and police. Young men set tires aflame and threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. There were few details about t... more »
Was The Russian Ambassador Assassination a Hoax?
shouted “Allahu Akbar” and fired at least eight shots, according to an AP photographer in the audience. *http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-ambassador-to-turkey-andrey-karlov-shot-ankara/* The ambassador was several minutes into a speech at an embassy-sponsored photo exhibition in the capital when the attack occurred cbsnews.com I saw the photos the alleged AP photographer shot, and said: "This is the bravest photographer I've ever seen." Upon further review, it may be the dead giveaway that the etire event was a planed hit, and the photographer knew he wasn't going to get shot,... more »
Before you leave for the holiday season: Nominate your friends for The Duckies!
Grades are in, reviews submitted, and I’m headed out for the holiday season. I hope you are wrapping up the semester and/or enjoying a well-deserved break. Please remember to submit your nominations for the 2017 Duckies before the end of the year. And, please remember to attend the The Duckies at ISA: Thursday, February 23rd at […]
Richard Nixon Told Donald Trump In 1987 That He Would Be A Winner If He Ran 'For Office'
*WNU Editor:* More on this Nixon letter to Trump here .... *Trump plans personal touch for Oval Office wall* (Politico).
East Aleppo Evacuated; Western Intelligence Officers Captured? Media Confessions
Turkey and Russia brokered an evacuation deal for East Aleppo, and more in our global news round-up The post East Aleppo Evacuated; Western Intelligence Officers Captured? Media Confessions appeared first on Shadowproof.
BWorld 97, Direction of trade of Asian economies
* This is my article in BusinessWorld last December 08, 2016. Global free trade should result in commodity price equalization across countries over the long term. Any price differences can largely be explained only by the costs of shipping, insurance, and trade administration. Since full global free trade is not taking place yet and it is the regional free trade agreements (FTAs) that are predominant, countries’ exports and imports are diverted more to their neighbors or nearby economies in the FTAs. The gravity model of trade captures this preferential shift in trade. The emergen... more »
Stratbase-ADRi's Pilipinas Conference 2016
Last December 08, 2016, Stratbase-Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi) held a big "Pilipinas Conference 2016" at The Conservatory, Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati. I was invited, I came, good event. Panel 1 on Federalism debate. Stratbase-ADRi President Dindo Manhit and Former DFA Secretary Albert Del Rosario (3rd and 4th) joined the panel in the group photo: Left to right, Atty. Anthony Abad (Moderator), Dr. Ronald Mendoza (Dean, Ateneo School of Government), Dr. Paul Hutchcroft (Professor of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian Nation... more »
Massive Oil Spill Under Farmer’s Crop 3 Years Ago — Still Not Cleaned Up — 200 Miles from DAPL
[image: spill]In 2013, a crude oil leak the size of 13 football fields was discovered in a wheat field — but three years later, the cleanup is less than one-third complete.
Has President-Elect Trump Embraced ‘Richard Nixon's Madman Theory’ On Foreign Policy
Liza Minelli, backstage at Carnegie Hall in New York in June 1987, hangs out with Henry and Nancy Kissinger, as well as Donald and Ivana Trump. (File) *Washington Post:* *The Daily 202: Donald Trump embraces the risky ‘Madman Theory’ on foreign policy* *THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump appears to have embraced, with gusto, Richard Nixon’s “Madman Theory” of foreign policy.* He thinks he can use his reputation for unpredictability and lack of respect for long-standing international norms to unnerve and then intimidate America’s adversaries into making concessions that they would not oth... more »
Leaked Pentagon Memo: Russia Will Not Be A Top Defense Priority For The Incoming Trump Administration
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stands with retired Marine Gen. James Mattis following their meeting at the main clubhouse at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, U.S., November 19, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar *Chicago Tribune/Foreign Policy:* *Russia missing from Trump's top defense priorities, according to DoD memo * A Pentagon memo outlining the incoming Trump administration's top "defense priorities" identifies defeating the Islamic State, eliminating budget caps, developing a new cyber strategy, and finding greater efficiencies as the president-elect's primary co... more »
Josh Marshall speaks out on the white working class!
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2016May not care much for Those People:* Based on last month's election disaster, is it possible that Democrats should pay more attention to the circumstances, needs and experiences of white working class voters? Would that make sense from a political perspective? Would it make sense as a matter of basic fairness, humanity, decency? It seems to us that the answers are yes. That said, we're amazed by the hostility that seems to pour forth in some quarters when such bland suggestions are advanced. Consider yesterday's post by the irate Josh Marshall. In fair... more »
Putin Calls Out Assassination of Ambassador as ‘Clearly Provocative’ to ‘Undermine Peace in Syria’
[image: assassination]The assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was labeled by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “clearly provocative act.”
'Pregnancy fluid' reverses aging bones
Cells in the amniotic fluid that surrounds a developing baby can revive ageing and weak bones, say UK scientists. The discovery could help babies with genetic diseases, elderly people and even astronauts, they say. The findings in mice, published in Scientific Reports, showed cells in the fluid strengthened bone and cut fractures by 80%. Human clinical trials are planned within the next two years. *Brittle bones* The amniotic fluid protects the baby and helps it develop inside the mother's womb. It also contains stem cells that are the building blocks of other tissues. Nature S... more »
Roadmap for Polymer-Based Additive Manufacturing
dditive manufacturing (AM) is a high-priority technology growth area for U.S. manufacturers. Innovative AM processes that fabricate parts layer-by-layer directly from a 3-D digital model have great potential for producing high-value, complex, individually customized parts. Companies are beginning to use AM as a tool for reducing time to market, improving product quality, and reducing the cost to manufacture products. Metal-based AM parts are already in use in a number of applications, including automotive engines, aircraft assemblies, power tools, and manufacturing tools. In suppor... more »
Torvosaurus tanneri
[image: Torvosaurus tanneri]The specimen of Torvosaurus tanneri is currently on display in Madrid, Spain. The genus Torvosaurus includes a unique species of megalosaurid therapod dinosaur. Torvosaurus are found in the Morrison Formation, western United States but spread widely with specimens of the same species being unearthed in Europe in the Lourinha Formation near Lisbon, Portugal. Torvosaurus were one of the largest and most robust carnivores of the Jurassic. These "savage lizards" were true to their name. read more
Autonomous Drones Are Delivering the Mail in France
France's postal service has begun testing delivery drones that can travel 12 miles at speeds of up to nearly 19 mph while carrying a parcel weighing up to 6.6 pounds. Drone delivery is just one of many ways that technology and AI is poised to replace human workers in the future, an inevitability that must be dealt with as soon as possible. The post Autonomous Drones Are Delivering the Mail in France appeared first on Futurism.
Mark Zuckerberg Just Unveiled His Newest Creation, an AI Named Jarvis
Inspired by Jarvis in Iron Man, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg built an AI system to run his home and help him with work. Throughout the process, Zuckerberg realized we are still far off from understanding how artificial intelligence learns. The post Mark Zuckerberg Just Unveiled His Newest Creation, an AI Named Jarvis appeared first on Futurism.
Autonomous Public Transport: The Future of the Urban Commute [INFOGRAPHIC]
Public transportation is rapidly evolving—with all the recent advances in driverless vehicles, it's natural that the urban commute should become a prime focus for this new technology. Forward-looking cities, transport services, and car manufacturers are all looking to road test the autonomous tech of the future. The post Autonomous Public Transport: The Future of the Urban Commute [INFOGRAPHIC] appeared first on Futurism.
Parkour! Watch This Animal-Inspired Robot Spring Off Walls
These are the most vertically agile robots in the world. The post Parkour! Watch This Animal-Inspired Robot Spring Off Walls appeared first on Futurism.
Challenges and Changes
Setting aside detailed politics, for now... but not the underlying issue... Now that intellect and curiosity are threatened species in America, let's all nurture them wherever we can. One method: I often dip in to give brief answers to the curious on Quora. We’ve collected some of these queries - and my responses - on my secondary (Wordpress) blog. I explore questions like... “What has been the impact of science fiction books on readers?” and “Can you name a concept that is rarely explored in science fiction?” and ‘What are some science fiction novels with a memorable protagonist? Ot... more »
The #ChristmasMyths. #2: The Star of Bethlehem
*Part of a continuing series looking at the pagan origins of the Christmas Myths, one day at a time. (Introduction is here.) Today, the story of three mendicants and a star.* *We Three Kings of Orient areOne on a tractor, Two in a CarOne on a scooter Tooting his hooterFollowing yonder star …* ~ Fred Dagg*, ‘The Authorised Version’* [image: CARTOON BY CHRIS MADDEN, USED BY PERMISSION] LONG BEFORE THE GREAT Fred Dagg first sang or the *Bethlehem Star* burst into print, Jesus was born under a star that guided three wise men to his stable door, stopping at Herod’s palace to ask t... more »
President-Elect Trump Fires Back At Former President Clinton's Election Comments
Bill Clinton stated that I called him after the election. Wrong, he called me (with a very nice congratulations). He "doesn't know much" ... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2016 especially how to get people, even with an unlimited budget, out to vote in the vital swing states ( and more). They focused on wrong states — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2016 *FOX News*: *Trump fires back at Bill Clinton over election comments* Donald Trump fired back at Bill Clinton on Tuesday after the former president was quoted mocking the incoming president’s int... more »
Trafford CCGT Still Can’t Get Finance
By Paul Homewood h/t Joe Public http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2016/12/manchester-gas-plant-gives-up-450m-subsidy.html?utm_content=bufferb0e58&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer It looks like Carlton Power have given up the ghost with their proposed new CCGT plant at Trafford. From PEI: The owners of the 2GW Carlton gas-fired power plant in Manchester have given up a £450m subsidy, part of the UK’s capacity market scheme, […]
Al Jewsra in Syria breaks UN Truce to burn busses in Aleppo Evacuation Effort--viewed in context
*Syria rebel terrorists, outed as former members* *of Al Nusra, **have been caught* *on video attacking Aleppo evacuation buses*. This was the post I was working on yesterday...started it the night before...before I got sidelined by the *news of the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey*. Looking at it again this morning, I see that it is, in fact, connected with the assassination, in that *both crimes were committed by the same purveyor of international Terror...the rogue Ziofascist element in the CIA*. Here is the story from December 19th and I will have my thoughts ... more »
Co-author of retraction record-holder likely fabricated his own data, analysis shows
In 2012, John Carlisle, a British anesthesiologist, demonstrated conclusively using statistics that Yoshitaka Fujii had faked data in many studies. Fujii — as followers of this blog well know — now holds the record for most retractions by an individual author (183). Carlisle’s work accomplished two things: It put to rest any doubt that problems […] The post Co-author of retraction record-holder likely fabricated his own data, analysis shows appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Suspect In Berlin Terror Attack Released. German Capital On High Alert
*Washington Post*: *Berlin on high alert as suspect search resumes in Christmas market attack* BERLIN — The German capital was on high alert Tuesday with one or more suspects still at large in the deadly truck assault on a Christmas market, an act Chancellor Angela Merkel decried as a presumed “terror attack.” The only suspect, a Pakistani asylum seeker taken into custody shortly after Monday’s bloodshed, was released by police late Tuesday because of insufficient evidence. It left police scrambling for fresh leads in the assault that left 12 dead and 52 injured after a truck carr... more »
Trump Names the Enemy and the Reason...
*and we thank him.* Notice key words in his statement: - Civilians - Terror attacks - Christmas - Islamist terrorists - Christians - Eradicated - Freedom loving "Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today’s horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday. ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide n... more »
Holiday Reading
Too much? What's on your reading list this year? . Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Permission to republish is granted, with attribution.
THE PRO-PUTIN NEW WORLD ORDER
This is chilling: The leader of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party has signed what he called a cooperation agreement with Russia’s ruling party and recently met with Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the designated national security adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump of the United States. Word of the agreement with Russia was the latest sign that the Kremlin is forging bonds with political parties across Europe in what some European leaders suspect is a coordinated attempt to meddle in their affairs and potentially weaken Western democracies.... The Freedom Party leader, Heinz-C... more »
NIST Device for Detecting Subatomic-Scale Motion Has Potential Robotics, Homeland Security Applications
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new device that measures the motion of super-tiny particles traversing distances almost unimaginably small—shorter than the diameter of a hydrogen atom, or less than one-millionth the width of a human hair. Not only can the handheld device sense the atomic-scale motion of its tiny parts with unprecedented precision, but the researchers have devised a method to mass produce the highly sensitive measuring tool. It’s relatively easy to measure small movements of large objects but much more difficul... more »
Harrison Ford - Ryan Gosling - Blade Runner 2049 teaser trailer
Harrison Ford: (pointing his iconic pistol) *I used to have your job.* Ryan Gosling: *Times were simpler then...* Blade Runner 2049, executive produced by Ridley Scott, directed by Denis Villeneuve, music by Johann Johannsson, looks like THE BUSINESS.
"Managed Retreat" — Obama's Climate Plan to Move Whole Towns
*Bob Dylan wants shelter from the storm. Don't we all. (Recorded Roseland, October 19, 1994.) * *by Gaius Publius* I'm offering this news to you not because of its news value — the initiative is certain to fail, given the incoming Trump and the imminently outgoing Obama. Nor am I presenting it because Obama, he of the conflicted climate motivations, is acting like his noblest self. After all, if he cared about this stuff, he'd have been doing things like this all along, instead of failing to do in deeds what his "securing my legacy" words appear to promise. No, I'm presenting th... more »
“Debt Frankenstein Threatens Trump”
*“Debt Frankenstein Threatens Trump”* by Bill Bonner "Stocks hesitated last Wednesday after the Fed announced its puny rate increase. Then, yesterday, they continued their march to glory, coming to rest just 150 points shy of the Dow’s 20,000 mark. And the dollar hit a 14-year high, as cracks widened in the huge emerging-market bond market. But our thoughts turn to poor Christine Lagarde… The IMF director and Deep State operative has been in French court defending herself against the charge of ‘negligence’ with taxpayers’ money. No kidding. *Epic waste: *The details are complicated... more »
Nat’l Police Union Expects Trump to Bring Back Racial Profiling, Lift Ban on Militarized Police
[image: list]One phrase comes to mind when reading the newly proposed list of expectations from the FOP of President-elect Trump -- This won't end well.
Welcome to Germany
I don’t know if Jenny Hill was aware of it, but I detected an ominous black cloud over Jenny Hill’s report from Berlin this morning. Why, it seems like only yesterday when she was reporting the latest arrival of migrants at Munich station, and (somewhat inappropriately) chiming in with the greeting: “Welcome to Germany. ”
Don't be like Obama
Further to the media’s attempts to discredit President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman by painting him as a hard-liner, a religious fanatic, all round right-winger / warmonger and throughly bad egg, I hope this article, which I read via Elder of Ziyon, will appeal to* some* of you. It’s called “It’s Called a Persian Bazaar for a Reason”. and it’s about the Iran deal, which Friedman calls “undoubtedly the worst international accord since Neville Chamberlain conceded Eastern Europe to Hitler.” I particularly like this paragraph: “A phrase com... more »
Pepe E: Who Profits From Turkey's Sarajevo Moment? CyberHeist Via SWIFT Turkey's Akbank
*As of right now..* *I would say this is a Gulen/CIA cooperative assassination.* *Below is a comment I left at Saker's*- Personally speaking his analysis was, in my opinion, disappointing- *Perhaps I expected too much?* *You can read it for yourself here Make up your own mind. * **After my comment I will be relinking a news article I had bookmarked but hadn't used.* *Though it is in the comment section of the previous post- **After that news article there will be an oped from Pepe Escobar * Penny on December 20, 2016 *·* at 12:53 pm UTC Saker: I wondered myself about where the amba... more »
Karolinska requests retraction of 2014 Macchiarini paper
It has been a tough couple of years for surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, once lauded for pioneering a groundbreaking procedure to transplant tracheas. After a series of documentaries prompted his former employer, Karolinska Institutet (KI), to reopen a misconduct investigation against him, KI has today released one verdict regarding a 2014 Nature Communications paper: guilty. KI said […] The post Karolinska requests retraction of 2014 Macchiarini paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Ominous Proposed Bill Requires Computers to Have Built-in Function to Block Pornography
[image: pornography]An ominous new bill will require manufacturers to block content the government defines as obscene. First they came for the pornography.
With Trump Presidency Looming, Iranian Officials Vow to Accelerate Nuclear Propulsion, Ballistic Missile Programs per Algemeiner.com
'Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Monday that he had fulfilled his pledge to replace the country's centrifuges with the most advanced and modern ones – and that the plan to make a nuclear propulsion system operative is underway, the regime-aligned news agency Tasnimreported. Rouhani's declaration – made during a ceremony in Tehran to unveil Iran's Charter on Citizens' Rights — came a day after the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force boasted to a gathering of academics about the quality and quantity of Iran's ballistic missile capa... more »
The best political countersurveillance tool is to grow the heck up
The thing is, we’re all naughty. The specifics of what counts as “wrong” depend on the context, but there isn’t anybody on Earth so boring that haven’t done or aren’t doing something they’d rather not be known worldwide. http://ieet.org/archive/flappers.png
YEAR(S) IN REVIEW: Worst Journalist, News Org of 2016!
*TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2016Part 2—Their horrible work stood out:* In the end, the decisions were fairly easy. In the beginning, a sensible person could have seen this year's horrible end. Our award-winning "Year(s) in Review" panel of judges has named Rachel Maddow as the worst journalist of 2016. They've also selected the New York Times as the worst news org. In the end, routinely horrible work led to these decisions. In each case, though, the worst journalistic work of 2016 may have occurred last year! Let's start with Maddow, a unanimous choice for Worst Journalist of 2016. T... more »
Russian Ambassador Assassination In Turkey: Is This An Elaborate Hoax?
I have received some interesting comments over the last day concerning the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey by a supposed member of the Turkish security forces.... In my last article, I questioned so much about this shooting, especially the fact that the Jew spew media is obviously misleading everyone and pointing the fingers in all the wrong directions.... My original assumption from seeing the initial evidence presented was that the Israeli Mossad were the most likely perpetrators of this shooting.. But something has indeed been gnawing at me for the last day.... ... more »
And So It Begins
That he righteously shot Donald Trump to death in a Walmart parking lot is the novel defense of an upstate New York man actually arrested and charged with the murder of a UPS delivery driver. Justin Barkley of Ithaca told a judge on Monday that not only did he kill Donald Trump on December 8th, he's eager to plead guilty to the charge on grounds that he had performed a great public service. As reported by *The Ithaca Voice*, Barkley said: "I shot and killed Donald Trump purposely, intentionally and very proudly." Claiming (either mistakenly or falsely) that he knew that Trump would... more »
Editor's Note
Stuck in meetings today. Blogging will return after 14:00 EST.
Christmas Flu
I'm a little under the weather today. The Christmas Flu seems to make an annual appearance at our house. Today it's my turn -- even though I got the flu shot. I'll be back when the flu has flown. Image: Natural News
Cops Shoot and Kill Unarmed, Nonviolent Teen on Video — No Charges
[image: noble]Two California cops were found to have acted in accordance with department policy when they killed an unarmed nonviolent teen, Dylan Noble, on video.
Challenging the 'Democracy Now' Narrative
Good on you Professor Stephen Cohen!
WPTPN: Outlier or Laggard? Canada’s missing Neo-Nationalists
This World Politics in a Time of Populist Nationalism (WPTPN) guest post is written by Stewart Prest is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on civil conflict and non-violent resistance, and the role of local institutions in shaping patterns of contentious politics. […]
Russian Ambassador Killed in Turkey
*A few initial short thoughts on the murder of the Russian Ambassador to Ankara* *By The Saker* Okay, so tonight we have the name of the assassin, it is Mevlut Mert Aydintas, a 22 year old policeman who had been recently fired following the anti-Gulenist crackdown of Erdogan against the forces which had attempted to overthrow him recently. We also have a very useful video of the murder. That video of the attack also shows something very important: the only shots fired are those fired by the assassin. What this means is one of two things: Version 1: there was nobody in charge o... more »
Argentina: Animal Mutilations and Two Strange Beings in La Pampa
*Source: Planeta UFO and Diario PopularDate: 12.19.2016Article by Pachi LaFata for Diario Popular* *Argentina: Animal Mutilations and Two Strange Beings in La Pampa* *The event took place 35 kilometers from Rio Colorado. Witnesses opened fire but the creatures fled. The following are the facts of this chilling episode.* Ufologists referred to it as a "perfect cattle mutilation case", involving 13 specimens. It took place weeks ago in the Pampan locality of Rio Colorado, but that was not all. Making the rounds of the fields, farmhands came across two strange beings - one smaller... more »
Russian Defense Minister: 'Moscow Declaration' Is A Roadmap For Ending The Syria Crisis
Russian Defense Ministry *Sputnik*: *Russia, Turkey, Iran Ready to Guarantee Syrian Settlement - Shoigu* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia, Turkey and Iran support the adoption of the declaration on the immediate steps to promote the settlement of the Syrian crisis. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia, Turkey and Iran are ready to act as guarantors of the Syrian crisis resolution as experts draft the text of the Moscow Declaration on the subject, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday. *"Today, experts are working on the text of the Moscow Declaration on ... more »
Hollywood Actors for Trump
A group of Hollywood actors who once opposed the Trump Presidency now support it.
Catching up: Publisher to pull four papers by retraction record holder flagged years ago
Journals published by Wiley are retracting four papers by Yoshitaka Fujii, the anesthesiology researcher with the most retracted scientific papers. Retraction Watch readers will be familiar with Fujii’s case: He currently holds the number one spot on our leaderboard with more than 180 retractions, some of which are pending. (That’s nearly twice the number of […] The post Catching up: Publisher to pull four papers by retraction record holder flagged years ago appeared first on Retraction Watch.
China Returns U.S. Navy Drone
*CNN*: *China returns seized US underwater drone* (CNN)The Chinese government has returned the US underwater drone it seized last week in the South China Sea, according to Chinese and US officials. "After friendly consultations between China and the United States, the transfer of the US underwater drone was smoothly completed," a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Defense said. The Pentagon said the United States would continue to investigate the "unlawful" seizure, which took place in international waters about 50 miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines. "The US rema... more »
U.S. Air Force General Heading The F-35 Program Defends Against President-Elect Trump Criticism
United States Air Force Lt. General Chris Bogdan briefs the media in front of a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron *Defense One*: *General Fires Back at Trump: F-35 ‘Not Out of Control’ (Just Needs Another Half Billion)* *The Pentagon’s F-35 boss says costs are falling and he anticipates briefing Trump’s transition team soon, but he needs another $532 million to finish flight testing.* One week after president-elect Donald Trump criticized the high cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighte... more »
CIA Analyst Who Interrogated Saddam Hussein Just Blew the Lid Off the US ‘Official Story’
[image: Iraq]A CIA analyst, who interrogated the despot, just set the record straight about Saddam Hussein, WMDs, and the failed and deadly invasion of Iraq.
GOP CONGRESSMAN: WE USE THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM TOO FREELY, AND BY "WE" I MEAN "THOSE PEOPLE"
Talking Points Memo reports on a Republican congressman's object lesson in responsible use of the healthcare system: The example Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) gave in an interview with MLive.com was from his own experience when he waited until the morning after to take his youngest son to the doctor with an injured arm, because he did not want to waste money on an expensive emergency room visit. The arm, it turned out, was broken. "We weren't sure what was going on. It was in the evening, so I splinted it up and we wrapped it up, and the decision was, okay, do we go to the ER? We thoug... more »
Tweet For Today
A historic number of electors defected, and most were supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton https://t.co/53Xl35ZLG5 pic.twitter.com/ctUxRa38nm — The New York Times (@nytimes) December 20, 2016
Resistance In The Age Of Trump, A Theme You Can Expect To Read About For 4 Years
Last year, one of the very first candidates Blue America endorsed for Congress was Jamie Raskin, a Maryland state Senator and constitutional law professor at American University. We knew him from his work as a counsel at People for the American Way and as the very skilled and successful majority whip in the state legislature. A decade ago he made news when he told his fellow senators that "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." This year, his primary opponents were a bu... more »
Arctic Ice Extent Quickly Recovers From November Lows
By Paul Homewood http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php It was only a few weeks ago that we were being told about record heat and ice melt in the Arctic! Meanwhile, all that has happened in the last couple of months is that a lot of heat has escaped from the ice free ocean and radiated into space.
Untitled
*From Jenna Orkin*Germany is thinking about fining Facebook over 'fake news' posts 'Barbaric': Catholic leaders condemn Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to restore the death penalty and execute criminals daily Scientists discover 163 new species in Greater Mekong region People who commit gun crimes are likely to have been shot before "Gold Is Now Effectively Illegal" In India - The Consequences Of Creating A Cashless Society Ukraine Nationalizes Its Largest Bank, Which Holds 36% Of All Domestic Deposits Environmentalists Ready For Battle Over Pipeline Through The A... more »
Xmas Comes Early For Drax
By Paul Homewood Management at Drax received an early Christmas present yesterday when the European Commission announced that it had approved the company’s bid to convert a third coal-fired power plant unit to biomass. The UK’s largest coal-fired power producer had been anxiously awaiting the Commission’s state aid decision, as it attempts to re-position […]
Hitler Finds Out The Electoral College Sided With Trump
(Courtesy of the folks at Downfall. I have a feeling I'll be using this site a lot during Trump's presidency.)
Untitled
*School-leavers paying the price of Scotland's free university tuition* Scottish school-leavers are now far less likely than their peers from south of the border to get a place at a university in Scotland, according to new figures that lay bare the impact of SNP ministers’ free tuition policy. Institutions in Scotland have a government cap on the number of home students they can accept because Holyrood funds the places. However, they can take in as many students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland as they want — and charge them up to £36,000 for a four-year degree. A new repo... more »
Untitled
*More wildfires ahead for Tasmania's wilderness as globe warms (?)* *Warmists seem determined to turn physics on its head. The report below is based on global warming causing lower rainfall. I quote from the underlying bureaucratic report: "The major impacts projected to occur from climate change are related to increases in vegetation and soil dryness and flammability".But it's basic that warmer water evaporates more vigorously. That's why your kettle gives off steam. And that evaporated water comes down soon after as rain. So warmer oceans should bring MORE rain, not l... more »
Dr. Noel de Dios on Duterte's drugs war
My former teacher at UPSE undergrad in the 80s, Dr. Emmanuel "Noel" de Dios wrote a very good paper in BusinessWorld yesterday. It has gone viral, with 3.6k fb likes and shares combined as of this writing (Tuesday, 8:15pm). His concluding paragraphs: *The true scandal of the current drug war is that it is run by old men who operate on old ideas and obsolete knowledge. It therefore subjects citizens to what is ultimately an unnecessary -- and therefore unjust -- ordeal. Our predicament is not far from the episode of bizarre lobotomies performed on thousands of patients in Europe an... more »
The One People Show Dec 19 2016: If we knew then what we know now.....
Each week just seems to get crazier and crazier and this past one definitely didn't change the pattern. We opened the show last night with two major discussions: - the "Energy Wave" that washed over "earth" Sunday and Monday, and various theories - the question: did we just get tossed through yet another time loop last week? Last Thursday "something" happened... no one is exactly sure what it was, but it was experienced all over the "planet" by a shitload of people. People lost time, gained time, looped time and a few even lived through Thursday TWICE! Along with this came wei... more »
"Pizzagate– Like It Or Not, This Story Is Never Going Away"
*"Pizzagate– Like It Or Not, This Story Is Never Going Away"* by Duane Norman "I’ve been hesitant to write about Pizzagate, primarily because the rest of the internet has already covered the story incredibly well. It felt like without something substantial to add, anything I said would just end up being a hodgepodge of links from other sources who did a better job of describing the saga than I ever could. After constant commentary from readers, all of whom were upset with the MSM burying the story, I finally deciding on a new perspective to share. This story is never going away. No... more »
Being a Wolf
Berlin truck jihadi who smashed through a Christmas market, killing 9 and wounding 50, was found to be a Pakistani Muslim who entered Germany as refugee. And while you register shock that somebody who was part of the religion of peace would do that, let me suggest that German friends of mine who called me from there soon after the attack, are getting very tired of the refugees. It's not safe for women to go out -- anywhere because of aggressive (unemployed - on the govt. dole) military age Muslim males who attack them. I'm not suggesting that Germany will follow Britain, Austria, I... more »
Trump is not a European-style populist. That’s our problem
Mabel Berezin, Professor of Sociology, Cornell University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
America is, once again, exceptional. AP Photos/Christophe Ena and Evan Vucci Two days after the U.S. presidential election, Marine Le Pen – the leader of the right wing French National Front – tweeted out congratulations to Donald Trump. During a controversial BBC interview that aired a few days later, Le Pen summed up how she believes the American election will affect her own electoral chances. She said Trump’s victory “renders possible what had been presented as impossible – that what the people want, the people can have.” Brexit and the election of Trump have given hope not only ... more »
How one political outsider picked a cabinet
David Stebenne, Professor of History and Law Faculty, The Ohio State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
President Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles in 1956. National Archives Trump’s efforts to fill the top jobs in his incoming administration bring to mind those of Dwight Eisenhower, who was the last person elected president without having earlier served in elective office. The Ike cabinet was wealthy, too Eisenhower, a moderately conservative Republican elected in November 1952, came to the White House from a career spent almost entirely in the military. His brief stint as president of Columbia University from 1948-50 was the one break with that pattern. Like Donald Trump, Ike and ... more »
Venezuela on the verge of dictatorship: Can dialogue or demonstrations turn it around?
Laura Gamboa, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Utah State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Some observers are calling the recent events in Venezuela a transition to blatant dictatorship. Venezuela is in a deep, protracted crisis. The government is acting increasingly authoritarian, and the country is experiencing the worst economic slump of its history. Inflation is at a record high, basic essentials are increasingly scarce and crime rates are rising. President Nicolás Maduro has appointed a growing number of military officers in key government posts, and has kept the country under state of emergency since January 2016. Maduro and his supporters, known as “Chavistas” af... more »
1990s Oregon campaigns anticipated Trump's politics of division
Arlene Stein, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
The white working class surprised many pundits and social scientists by supporting Donald Trump, leading some to describe the election results as a “whitelash.” The fact that the president-elect successfully mobilized this population was far from inevitable. After all, a fair number of Trump supporters once voted for Obama. A good many of them, when questioned, explained that they “didn’t really like either candidate,” or that they “wanted a change.” History certainly shows us that populist fervor can shift left and right. Consider Oregon. That Portlandia-style bastion of crunchy ... more »
Normalizing fascists
John Broich, Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 - 1958 How to report on a fascist? How to cover the rise of a political leader who’s left a paper trail of anti-constitutionalism, racism and the encouragement of violence? Does the press take the position that its subject acts outside the norms of society? Or does it take the position that someone who wins a fair election is by definition “normal,” because his leadership reflects the will of the people? These are the questions that confronted the U.S. press after the a... more »
Trump trolls, Pirate Parties and the Italian Five Star Movement: The internet meets politics
Simone Natale, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
We blame the internet for a lot of things, and now the list has grown to include our politics. In a turbulent year marked by the U.K.‘s decision to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump, some have started to wonder to what extent the recent events have to do with the technology that most defines our age. In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, commentators accused Facebook of being indirectly responsible for his election. Specifically, they point to the role of social media in spreading virulent political propaganda and fake news. The internet has been increasingl... more »
Celebrity voices are powerful, but does the First Amendment let them say anything they want?
Shontavia Johnson, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Drake University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Taking a knee during the national anthem isn't risk-free in the NFL. AP Photo/Stephen Brashear, File When NFL player Colin Kaepernick refuses to stand for the national anthem, or the cast of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” confronts the vice president-elect, or the Dixie Chicks speak out against war, talk quickly turns to freedom of speech. Most Americans assume they have a constitutional guarantee to express themselves as they wish, on whatever topics they wish. But how protected by the First Amendment are public figures when they engage in political protest? Recently, celebrities ... more »
Will Trump victory make Angela Merkel leader of the free world?
Johanna Schuster-Craig, Assistant Professor of German and Global Studies, Michigan State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
After the election of Donald Trump, commentators have argued that German Chancellor Angela Merkel may become the leader of the free world, a role typically played by the president of the United States. After 11 years as chancellor and as the leader of the largest economy in Europe, Merkel is certainly one of the most experienced heads of state in office. On Nov. 20, after a long wait, Merkel finally announced that she would seek a fourth term in the federal elections next fall. In the upcoming campaign, Merkel is in a difficult position. She must both live up to her reputation as ... more »
An activist's playbook: How to influence Trump's cabinet and policies
Sarah Snyder, Associate Professor, American University School of International Service at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
As Donald Trump works to fill his cabinet, his choices have inspired considerable anxiety among his critics. Advocacy organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch have reacted with concern and outright objections, in particular to the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general and Rep. Michael Pompeo to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. They claim these appointments show that “Trump’s administration will threaten human rights protections.” In 1980, Ronald Reagan’s election similarly raised widespread anxiety among human rights adv... more »
‘Hail Trump’ salute recalls a powerful message of hate
Stephanie Schorow, Adjunct Professor of Professional Writing, Regis College, Regis College at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
During a Nov. 22 celebration of Donald Trump’s election triumph, members of a far-right organization, the National Policy Institute, were filmed extending a stiff arm in the iconic “Heil Hitler” salute of Nazi Germany. Ensuring there would be no mistaking the gesture, National Policy Institute President Richard Spencer shouted, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” The video echoed, on a very small scale, mass rallies that were once held in Nazi Germany. Huge crowds with their arms raised “were an essential part of Nazi propaganda, designed to demonstrate public solidarity ... more »
America's role in the world 75 years after Pearl Harbor
Peter Harris, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Colorado State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a pivotal moment in U.S. and world history. The attack thrust the U.S. into World War II and set in motion a series of events that would transform the country into a global superpower and guardian of international order. Seventy-five years later, this legacy of Pearl Harbor now faces perhaps its biggest challenge. Japan killed 2,403 Americans on Dec. 7, 1941. More than 400,000 U.S. soldiers would die in the four years that followed. Their blood helped purchase the defeat of fascism in Europe and Asia and laid the foundation for a post-war internatio... more »
The Italian referendum: No Trump nor Brexit
Erik Jones, Professor of European Studies and International Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
The Italians have delivered an overwhelming defeat to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Initial tallies of Dec. 4’s referendum show a vote of just under 60 percent rejecting Renzi’s constitutional reform package, with a little more than 40 percent supporting it. Voter turnout was strong, with more than 68.5 percent of eligible voters inside the country participating. ------------------------------ As he promised repeatedly during the campaign, Renzi has accepted personal responsibility for the bitter defeat and will resign from office. His resignation is sure to usher in a period of p... more »
Why did a new Colombian peace agreement come so quickly after the referendum 'no' vote?
Arthur Lupia, Research Professor, University of Michigan at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
In October, when Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize, some people were confused. Why did Santos receive the prize days after Colombian voters narrowly defeated a historic peace agreement? A closer look at Santos’ strategic actions offers clarity about both the prize and why a new agreement has so quickly emerged. My perspective on this issue is informed by work that I have done in Colombia with President Santos, his staff and members of his government. These interactions showed me how dedication to improve public services and quality of life for vulne... more »
Religion shapes Cuba despite Castro's influence
Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Miami at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
On Nov. 25, when I heard the news of Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s death, I did not feel any sense of sadness, relief or joy. Instead, as a daughter of Cuban exiles, I experienced a mix of all those emotions. Children of Cuban exiles – the diaspora community of Cubans that left the island after Castro’s 1959 revolution – have lived in a constant state of alienation, loss, anger, pity and love for those Cubans that remained on the island. Today, I am a scholar of religion. I study how the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the formation of the Cuban Republic and the 1959 Cuban Revolution ... more »
How majority voting betrayed voters again in 2016
Michel Balinski, American Applied Mathematician, Mathematical Economist, and O.R. Analyst. "Directeur de recherche de classe exceptionnelle" (emeritus) of the C.N.R.S., École Polytechnique – Université Paris-Saclay at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
What if this was our choice on Election Day? AP Photos/Gary Landers and Paul Sancya The system for electing the U.S. president went woefully wrong from the very beginning of 2016. First, the two most disliked candidates ever nominated – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald J. Trump – emerged victors from their parties’ primaries, but shouldn’t have. Second, the increasingly controversial Electoral College system will formally elect Trump on December 19 despite Clinton’s lead of over two million in the popular vote. The system is “rigged” all right, not for a candidate but against the... more »
Donald Trump is no Mussolini, but liberal democracy could still be in danger
Kimber Quinney, Assistant Professor, History Department; Campus Coordinator for the American Democracy Project, California State University San Marcos at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Observers continue to draw parallels between President-elect Donald Trump and the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. But the similarities – narcissism, opportunism, authoritarianism – coexist with sharp differences. One came from a working-class, socialistic background and saw himself as an intellectual and an ideologue. The other is a billionaire real estate magnate with a pronounced anti-intellectual streak. A more important question is not whether Trump is an American Mussolini, but if American democracy is as vulnerable to fascistic erosion as Italian democracy was. My... more »
How Trump's immigration enforcement could affect families and communities
William D. Lopez, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Michigan at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
When immigration officers forcibly remove individuals from their homes, it impacts the psychological, emotional and economic well-being of their families and communities. President-elect Donald Trump stated throughout his campaign that he wanted to leverage a “deportation force” to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. In an interview on “60 Minutes” after the election, Trump narrowed his initial target to about two to three million immigrants, similar to Obama’s eight-year deportation record of two million people. A growing chorus of voices ... more »
Why America's labor unions are about to die
Raymond Hogler, Professor of Management, Colorado State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
I’ve written before on how the decline of organized labor beginning in the late 1970s gave birth to the backlash that fueled Donald Trump’s election. Labor’s deterioration weakened worker protections, kept wages stagnant and caused income inequality to soar to the highest levels in over eight decades. It also made workers feel they needed a savior like Trump. In other words, his unlikely victory follows a straight line from the defeat of the Labor Reform Act of 1978 to the election of 2016. That bill would have modernized and empowered unions through more effective recognition p... more »
America says goodbye to Michelle Obama, its mom-in-chief
Sara Hayden, Professor of Communication Studies, The University of Montana at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
As she prepares to leave the White House, first lady and self-titled “mom-in-chief” Michelle Obama remains popular. Indeed, Obama was one of Hillary Clinton’s most powerful advocates during Clinton’s historic but ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign. From Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention to her rebuke of Donald Trump’s lewd comments about women, Obama urged the country to “go high” for the sake of our children. Assuming a maternal role is not unusual for a first lady. It also is not unusual for women to couch their public activism in maternal te... more »
Questions I never got to ask Fidel Castro
Paul Webster Hare, Senior Lecturer at the Frederick S Pardee School in Global Studies, Boston University, Boston University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Dear Comandante en Jefe: I write now after your death to raise some of the questions that have often concerned me, but that I never had the opportunity to ask you in life. My family and I lived in your country for three years. I was British ambassador to your country from 2001 to 2004. I met you and several members of your and your brother’s family on several occasions, but a diplomat isn’t encouraged to ask questions like these. My family traveled throughout the beautiful island of Cuba and got to know many of your fellow citizens. We even have Cuban family ourselves. The husband... more »
How Trump could shock a divided nation back to life as collaborator-in-chief
Frank V. Zerunyan, Professor of the Practice of Governance, University of Southern California at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
“Partnership, not conflict,” were the words spoken by President-elect Donald Trump during his acceptance speech. That collaborative approach is what my scholarship on good governance shows is required for effective public administration. That is also what effective and sustainable leadership demands of the Republican Party, which is now in a position to govern with a majority in both the House and Senate. Some of Trump’s recent actions, such as the selection of Stephen Bannon for White House strategist and his urge to respond to critics on Twitter, have continued to elicit concern... more »
Why literature matters in debate about race and immigrants
Rajini Srikanth, Professor of English, College of Liberal Arts Dean, Honors College, University of Massachusetts Boston at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
The people who voted for Donald Trump did so for a variety of reasons, but chief among them was the sense of their having been economically abandoned for several decades. Trump has promised to restore their economic dignity. That is a laudable goal. However, through his corrosive campaign rhetoric, Trump has also made it acceptable to speak in hateful ways about many groups of people including Mexicans, Muslims and blacks. These groups are now feeling extremely vulnerable: Their fears are about the safety of their bodies and their lives. This is anxiety that most white American... more »
Mexicans are migrating, just not across the US border
Bernardo Ramirez Rios, Professor of Anthropology, Skidmore College at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
Mexican migration to the U.S. is in decline. The Pew Hispanic Research Center has found that since 2009, more than one million native-born Mexicans living in the U.S. returned to Mexico. But many other Mexicans never crossed the U.S.-Mexican border in the first place. Why are some Mexican migrants choosing to stay home? What does it mean for the U.S. border with Mexico? The decline in migration to the U.S. is not simply linked to building more barriers at the border. Changing demography, economy, the difficulties of living in the U.S. and a growing sense of opportunity at home, a... more »
Why the Democrats won't win the House in 2018
Michael Latner, Professor of Political Science, California Polytechnic State University at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
The result of the presidential election may have taken some people by surprise, but the fact that Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives was completely predictable. Republicans would have retained the House almost regardless of who voters supported for president, barring an improbable landslide. As we argue in our book “Gerrymandering in America,” the Republicans will win the House again in 2018 and 2020. InsideGov | Graphiq Gerrymandering is the partisan manipulation of the boundaries of state congressional districts. It’s possible because state governments... more »
How to bridge the political divide at the holiday dinner table
Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor at the Ross School of Business and Education Director at the Graham Sustainability Institute, University of Michigan at Politics + Society – The Conversation - 20 hours ago
A time to join with close ones and, perhaps, open a dialogue? quinn/flickr, CC BY-NC We are a divided nation; that is an understatement. What’s more, we increasingly hear we are living in our own “bubble” or echo chamber that differing views cannot penetrate. To correct the problem, many are calling for people to reach out, to talk and above all, to listen. That is all well and good, but what are we supposed to talk about? We can’t hope to listen without a topic for finding common ground. In my view, there are (at least) two prominent issues in this election that can serve as a bri... more »
Hillary Clinton even loses more votes in the Electoral College
You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh at the news that Hillary Clinton ended up losing more electoral votes in the Electoral College voting than did Donald Trump. Five Hillary Clinton electors defected, three voting for ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell, one for a Native-American tribal leader and another for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Only two Republican Electors deserted Donald Trump. Bloody hysterical!
Prostate cancer laser treatment 'truly transformative' per BBC News
This cancer treatment story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38304076 on the BBC has a fact hidden right at the end of piece. 'The technology was developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel alongside Steba Biotech.' How inconvenient for the institutionally anti Israel BBC, another life saving invention coming out of the world's only majority Jewish state - Israel. What a contrast to the murders by Islamists of people in Berlin and Turkey yesterday.
Eliezer Yudkowsky on Politics – Part 1
In our previous post we examined how prospect theory helps explain why so many American voters were willing to risk voting for such a manifestly unqualified candidate for President as Donald Trump. Of course what citizens who are willing to take these risks fail to understand, as the artificial intelligence and decision theory expert Eliezer Yudkowsky writes on his Facebook page, is “how there’s a level of politics that’s theater and a level of politics that’s deadly serious.” For example, it’s deadly serious when a President talks about scrapping the NATO alliance or using nuclea... more »
It Doesn’t Cost Much To Have A Decent Society
A breakdown of how the taxes of a person making 50,000 a year is spent proves how little money actually goes to help people and how much goes to corporations.
Climate Shenanigans at the Ends of the Earth
The curve you see there reflects the fact that the north failed this year to freeze up on schedule and any freezing now is been offset by the southern thaw. Anomalous yes but still the combination of two curves suddenly out of sync. And it was a warm year as well that provided odd weather facilitating all this. Again though, the Arctic has been slowly thawing out. This surely reflects the proper end of our recovery from the little Ice Age whose cause remains obscure. Prior to this era we had the Medieval Warm period in which the north appears fully navigable ... more »
The Dark Triad – How Pedophiles and Psychopaths are Created
[image: psychopaths-1] This is an attempt to understand. I am not so sure that it succeeds. what is sure is that the problem is larger than anyone wants to imagine and continuously self generating. That is why unconnected rogues do show up in the background noise. There is a supply of new offenders constantly arising. The USA reports around 60,000 child sex offenses per year. That at least suggests around 60,000 perps at least that we can be sure of. That is still one person to worry about in a population of 5,000. Thus it is rare enough but also not rare at all ... more »
Ben Carson: Preparing HUD for Surgery
Very Good to see. It is also so easily fixable as they already use a voucher system which only needs to become highly mobile. Everyone forgets that urban renewal means rebuilding. That means encouraging market forces to change out an area that has become exhausted. Any form of regulatory oversight is naturally counterproductive and merely slows the process. Here we have a czar of inner city revitalization. Build, baby build.. *Ben Carson: Preparing HUD for Surgery * *politics | Dec 6, 2016 | By Star Parker* *http://www.speroforum.com/a/ZJIOZBCUBC38/79502-Ben-Carson-Preparing... more »
Catholic Church enters uncharted territory on marriage
Cultural conditions have radically changed making the issues surrounding marriage and divorce far more fraught. The developed world is engaged on a huge experiment in terms of marriage and family that is actually not going so wonderfully. The original dispensation had many similar flaws but those were at least contained. An early bad decision became a lifetime sentence. Yet a third of our population forgo community support that should be a natural basis of the marriage bond. There is no evidence that this is a good idea. i think that the wisest course is the one we have of le... more »
Longer lasting superconducting qubits created
An international team of scientists has succeeded in making further improvements to the lifetime of superconducting quantum circuits. An important prerequisite for the realization of high-performance quantum computers is that the stored data should remain intact for as long as possible. The researchers, including Jülich physicist Dr. Gianluigi Catelani, have developed and tested a technique that removes unpaired electrons from the circuits. These are known to shorten the qubit lifetime. Quantum computers could one day achieve significantly higher computing speeds than conventional d... more »
Grid of nitrogen vacancies created in diamond using femtosecond lasers and grid can make quantum computers or magnetic sensors for imaging magnetic fields
Femtosecond laser writing of vacancies into diamond can be used to produce optically coherentNV−color centers at desired locations. The submicrometer positioning accuracy achieved is sufficient for placing NV−centers in optical structures such as multimode waveguides and whispering gallery resonators or under solid immersion lenses. The demonstrated accuracy is limited by the diffusion of the vacancies during annealing, and further improvements may be achieved using a higher nitrogen concentration in the starting material and an adjusted annealing recipe. In particular, high-precisi... more »
Russian Ambassador Assassinated: Retaliation, But by Whom?
*December 20, 2016* (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Just days after the liberation of Syria's northern city of Aleppo, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was gunned down while giving a talk at an art gallery in Turkey's capital of Ankara. The gunman, identified as a former Turkish police officer, flashed the familiar one finger gesture used by terrorist organizations operating in neighboring Syria including by Jabhat Al Nusra and the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" - while shouting, according to the Guardian: *Don’t forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria. Unless our towns are secu... more »
President Obama Has Approved The Transfer Of 18 Guantanamo Detainees Before He Leaves Office
A guard tower of Camp Delta is seen at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba September 4, 2007. Reuters/Joe Skipper *New York Times*: *Obama Administration Intends to Transfer 17 or 18 Guantánamo Detainees* WASHINGTON — When Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy visited the White House in October for a state dinner, he made a commitment to President Obama: Italy, which resettled a Yemeni detainee from Guantánamo Bay last summer, would take one more person on the transfer list. But before the deal was completed, Mr. Renzi resigned. So a day after his successor, Pa... more »
Picture Of The Day
*Marine Sentinels* Two Marines stand guard at the casket of John Glenn at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Dec. 16, 2016. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Paul Ochoa
Russian President Putin Wants The Syrian COnflict Resolved Soon
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Dmitry Rogulin/ITAR-TASS *Reuters*: *Putin tells Rouhani he wants Syria conflict resolved soon: Kremlin* Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in a phone call on Monday he hoped the two could work together to get a resolution for the Syria crisis as soon as possible, the Kremlin said in a statement. The call, which the Kremlin said was at Iran's initiative, came on the eve of a meeting in Moscow of the foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey on Syria. ... more »
DARPA aims for personal mobile ultra low frequency radio for transmitting devices to communicate through water and soil instead of 2000 acre transmission complexes using megawatts of power
A DARPA project could enable radio to be transmitted through water and rock. Radio frequency signals hit veritable and literal walls when they encounter materials like water, soil, and stone, which can block or otherwise ruin those radio signals. This is why scuba buddies rely on sign language and there are radio-dead zones inside tunnels and caves. With his newly announced A Mechanically Based Antenna (AMEBA) effort, program manager Troy Olsson of DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office is betting on a little-exploited aspect of electromagnetic physics that could expand wireless com... more »
24 Cities in northern China have issued air pollution red alerts and low visibility is causing flight cancellations
Heavy smog has engulfed large parts of northern China for a fourth straight day, with the environment ministry warning that some firms in the region were continuing to flout emergency restrictions and dozens of flights out of Beijing cancelled. Some power plants and chemical producers in the region had not scaled back operations in line with regulations, and drivers in Beijing had also been ignoring traffic restrictions, according to China Environmental News, the official publication of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The paper said as many as 24 cities in northern China h... more »
Change is coming but is it going to be too late?
Re the Berlin terror attack, Donald Trump has blamed "Islamist terrorists" for the "slaughter" of Christians in the German capital. "Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany - and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!" Indeed it must change its thinking but the BBC and the establishment will fight any concrete policies as hard as they can. For them political correctness and Islamophilia are more important than the lives of innocent kuffar.
Berlin attack: Police say lorry crash 'probably terror attack' per BBC News
The BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38375555 possibly the least surprising news about the Berlin Christmas market murderous attack: 'German police are investigating a "probable terrorist attack" after a man ploughed a lorry into a Christmas market in the heart of Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48. The driver is an Afghan or Pakistani asylum seeker, according to security sources cited by DPA news agency. He reportedly arrived in Germany in February as a refugee.' A Muslim 'refugee', not from Syria but from Pakistan or Afghanistan, commits mass murder in t... more »
Bladerunner 2049 teaser trailer
The original Bladerunner was one of my favorite movies and it had a very interesting vision of the future. Now there is the sequel coming Oct 6, 2017. Read more »
Two hours of blogtalk radio..Kinder Morgan..Site C..LNG..Political corruption
http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/9/639/show_9639419_2016_12_01_05_05_05.mp3 Christmas post coming soon.. The Straight Goods Cheers Eyes Wide Open
Musical Interlude: George Winston, "Night: Snow/Midnight/Minstrels"
George Winston, "Night: Snow/Midnight/Minstrels" - https://www.youtube.com/
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 2-308 it lies some 5,200 light-years away toward the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major) and covers slightly more of the sky than a full moon. That corresponds to a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright one near the center of the nebula. *Click image for larger size.* Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase of massive star... more »
Señor Trumpanzee Has Jewish Grandchildren And He Probably Doesn't Want To Encourage Anti-Semitism... Probably
There are 4 Jews among the House freshmen, Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brad Schneider (D-IL) and two who left, Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Steve Israel (D-NY). That means the 115th Congress will have 21 Jews in the House (20 Democrats and one Republican) and, with Barbara Boxer's retirement, 9 in the Senate. The most Jewish district in America (37.6% of the population) is NY-10 which takes in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn and is represented by Jerry Nadler. Over the weekend, Nadler spoke out about Trump's bizarre nomination of right-wing extremis... more »
Time Travel, Taiwan Style
*If only the banks were as advanced as this.* Want to travel in Taiwan? You don't need expensive equipment or new theories of time and space. You just have to go to your local bank, where it is still 1961. Went into the bank today to deposit (note: not cash) a US$1000 check from my mother. We've deposited checks from overseas with them many times during our nearly 15 years with that bank. I sign the check and then we fill out the onerous and unnecessary paperwork. A waste of time, but like all Taiwan procedures, if all the proper papers are filed, eventually you get what you want.... more »
Congo On The Brink Of A New Civil War
*IBTimes:* *New War In Congo? Protests, Violence Raise Fears Of Fresh Conflict In Sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Country* Demonstrations erupted Monday in cities across the Democratic Republic of Congo as authorities attempted to contain public resistance toward President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down from office after his term expires at midnight. Security forces reportedly responded by deploying in large numbers, arresting scores of activists and suspending the country's internet service. Protests struck the eastern city of Guma and the capital, where authorities faced off... more »
Chet Raymo, “Desert Places”
*“Desert Places”* by Chet Raymo “If there is a cognitive disconnect in contemporary culture it is between cosmic space and time and human space and time. Those folks who can seriously grasp the scale and age of the universe, with its tens of billions of observable galaxies and billions of years of evolutionary time, and still believe the universe (or its Maker) attends to them personally- well, they are more daring thinkers than me. Or more credulous. Which is why, I suppose that nearly half of Americans believe the universe is less than ten thousand years old- which is to say, tha... more »
FOR TRUMP VOTERS, THERE WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A DEAL-BREAKER
I want to talk about this, even thought it's not exactly the most important story of the day: While visiting with KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson on Friday to talk about his upcoming performance in Seattle, comedian Tom Arnold revealed a bombshell: He has the infamous unreleased outtakes of Donald Trump using inflammatory language on “The Apprentice.” “I have the outtakes to ‘The Apprentice’ where he says every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever,” Arnold said. “I have that.” Here's Arnold's description of the tape: It was sort of a Christmas video they put together. He was... more »
Pharma Execs Arrested in Conspiracy to Create Opioid Addicts for Profit
*Isaac Davis* - They've been bribing doctors to overprescribe deadly and addictive pills. The post Pharma Execs Arrested in Conspiracy to Create Opioid Addicts for Profit appeared first on Waking Times.
The Universe
"True life mastery is more a function of knowing what to want, than knowing how to get what you want. Anyone can get stuff, but it usually takes an old soul to choose their stuff wisely." "What?" The Universe "Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!" - www.tut.com
"What You Choose..."
"Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you." - Richard Bach
David Whyte, "Sweet Darkness"
"Sweet Darkness" "When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will be your womb tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing: the world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you al... more »
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