Saturday, November 30, 2013

30 Nov - Blogs I'm Following

English: Downtown Chicago, Illinois at night. ...English: Downtown Chicago, Illinois at night. The small building on the left was demolished for Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
11:04am MST

Under House Republicans The War On Poverty Has Morphed Into A War On The Poor

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 4 minutes ago
House Republicans may not have "the time" to vote on important measures with wide popular support like comprehensive immigration reform, ending workplace discrimination against the LGBT community (ENDA) or raising the minimum wage-- none of which Boehner will allow onto the 2013 schedule-- but they do have time to further attempt to steal the food out of the mouths of children by more chopping from the food stamp program. House Republicans look at the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and what they see is another chance to pass a bill to accelerate their endless class warfa... more »

Syria and Libya Updates November 30 , 2013.......Syria Peace Talks - An exercise in futility as Assad is not leaving and the Syria Coalition does not represent Al Qaeda and other jihadists linked groups....So , this is just another kick the can exercise , this time foreign policy kick the can.... Updates from forgotten Libya.....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 hour ago
Syria rebels say peace talks destined for failure by Michael Pizzi @pizzi89 November 30, 2013 9:00AM ET Syrian Coalition faces uphill battle in convincing armed factions to sign on for Geneva conference Topics: Syria Syria's War International [image: SyriaRebelBurningFlag] A rebel fighter burns a Syrian flag found in a building that belonged to Syrian government forces in the northern city of Aleppo on Nov. 21.Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty The Bashar al-Assad regime and the Syrian National Coalition, Syria’s Western-backed political opposition, committed this week to peace talks aim... more »

Capitalism's Bankrupt Plan for Rating Higher Ed

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 hour ago
Spot on, from the Chicago Sun-Times: By Ann M. Lousin November 27, 2013 2:58PM President Obama has proposed tying financial aid to American colleges and universities to a “rating system” of higher education. The administration has conducted a number of public forums at college campuses over the last few weeks to purportedly collect input on the proposal. We can only hope these forums enable the president and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to see how little they know about the realities of higher education. Obama and Duncan have, so far, relayed their concern about how many studen... more »

The Pope's Rhetoric

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 1 hour ago
I see that the pope has decided to weigh in on economic issues: “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” Francis wrote in the papal statement. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.” A few reactions: First, throughout history, free-market capitalism... more »

What Mattered This Week?

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 2 hours ago
Not much up on a Thanksgiving week. Plus with travel and all I'm sure I missed plenty. I'm sort of tempted to go with "blue slip" obstruction breaking through into national news, but I'm not sure yet whether it matters or not....I'll be dull and just repeat one of my items from yesterday about the ACA end-of-month deadline: fixes (or failures) certainly matter to the individuals affected, but I still don't think the future of the program is at stake, or that how close healthcare.gov is to fully functional in the next week (or even month) will have much effect on the 2014 or 2016 ele... more »

BitCoin crosses 900 - will it cross 1000 this week ? What happens next ? Noting a positive development , BitCoin will host its own Black Friday ! On the negative news side of things , note the recent uptick in BitCoin robberies ( Denmark heist of a million BitCoin involving Bitcoin Internet Payment Services , 1.4 million robbery involving Inputs.io , a chinese exchange that disappeared along with 4 million in customer funds , thefts also have occurred in Poland , Czech Republic - how long before a major " Italian Job " type of sophisticated large scale robbery occurs ?

Catharsis Ours - 2 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-26/bitcoin-surges-new-usd-record-high ( 976 at 7:55 pm EST... ) Bitcoin Surges To New USD Record High (+100% In 7 Days) [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/26/2013 14:31 -0500 - Bitcoin - Black Swan - China inShare4 A week after spiking above $900, before dropping 50% in the following 48 hours amid last week's Senate hearings, Bitcoin has recovered the losses (i.e. doubled) and is now trading at record high levels against the USD - $930 on Mt.Gox. Notably, in China, Bitcoin remains well off its reco... more »

Trifecta: How the Better Half Thinks...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 2 hours ago
*that would be sarcasm of the highest order.* Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of Miramex Studios, thinks this country is "embarrassing."

Nashville Limits Charters As Memphis Doubles Down

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 2 hours ago
Nashville Metro has acknowledged the impending $23 million shortfall in next year's budget is due to the drain from corporate charter schools. As a result, the school board has decided to cut its losses by restricting the spread of these segregated zero-tolerance chain gangs. With the TN Department of Education staffed by TFA cultists and losers from the Gates Foundation, there is plenty of gnashing in Nashville this winter as bogus charter reports are generated to show that life cannot continue without the total compliance punishment boutiques. We have to wonder when Memphis and ... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 2 hours ago
*New Orleans Saints vs Seattle Seahawks connections* *'Unfathomable City' maps highs, lows of New Orleans ~David D'Arcy, Houston Chronicle* *Northshore strawberry farmers breathe sigh of relief after crops survive freezes ~Heath Alllen, WDSU*

The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope

gail zawacki at Wit's End - 2 hours ago
~ Henri Rousseau, 1905 This is they way the jungle habitat of the lion looked a hundred years ago - or at least, it is the way the artist imagined it to be, based on descriptions of those who had been there, and illustrated books. This is a delightful short movie about lions, who are as playful as domesticated kittens. But it is bizarre bordering on freakish that the filmmakers can sit around the campfire chortling at the images their robotic camera has recorded without, apparently, noticing that just about everything other than the lions is dead. I couldn't watch it without bein... more »

"I Could Care Less"

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 3 hours ago
That was Stephen Harper's message to the Conservatives Halloween convention. This week -- after watching their western numbers drop, after refusing to call witnesses to testify to the Senate Committee looking into Mike Duffy's expenses, and after listening to Paul Calandra's absurd answers in question period -- it's obvious that the Harper Party could care less about the truth or parliamentary democracy. Chantal Hebert writes in this morning's *Toronto Star*: How else to describe a strategy that systematically involves the government maniacally digging itself deeper in what is fas... more »

Do Public Officials Ever Lie? Better Question: Do They Ever Tell The Truth?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
Since taking over from Tim Sebastian in 2006, Stephen Sackur has been the anchor for the BBC's flagship news interview show, *HARDtalk*, which runs four times a week. I travel a lot, so I see it a lot. Sackur has a well-deserved reputation as the voice of Establishment Group Think propaganda and for asking questions and then aggressively interrupting his guests when they attempt to answer. He's one of television's most annoying little twits and I often wonder why credible figures ever agree to be interviewed by him. Last week, he interviewed Glenn Greenwald. I haven't been able t... more »

Whats A Guy Gotta Do

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 4 hours ago
Joe Nichols - 'What's A Guy Gotta Do' - some fun country music

Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE - 4 hours ago
Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?. via Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?.

Mexico: Alleged “Luminous Entities” Photographed in Playa del Carmen (Quintana Roo)

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 6 hours ago
*Mexico: Alleged “Luminous Entities” Photographed in Playa del Carmen (Quintana Roo)* *By Arq. Salvador Mora – Director of La Esfera Azul with D.G. Hernán Bado* ALL PHOTOS ARE PROPERTY OF ERNESTO Z. ORTIZ, COURTESY OF LA ESFERA AZUL On March 20, 2013, a highly interesting and controversial event occurred: photographs of 3 luminous entities at the place known as Plaza Fundadores in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. These images were taken by Ernesto Z. Ortiz, a known professional with a master’s degree in Regional Development and Sustainable Tourism, a Nicaraguan national w... more »

Meanwhile, back in Taiwan... Economy Still in Doldrums, in case you hadn't noticed.

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 6 hours ago
*Rust.* The statistics bureau threw in the towel this week and sent the economic forecast below 2%... The economy may grow by less than 2 percent for a second consecutive year after the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday cut its GDP growth forecast for this year to 1.74 percent. The agency’s latest forecast is 0.57 percentage points lower than the forecast of 2.31 percent it made in August and is the lowest among domestic economic institutes. Several trends -- less manufacturing here, more Chinese local production supplanting Taiwanese good... more »

RCMP: Getting it wrong

Boris at The Galloping Beaver - 6 hours ago
So RCMP Corporal Ron Francis has some of his peers turn up to his residence and remove his uniforms, the last of which he returned under his own steam. Why? Because he was smoking prescribed medical marijuana whilst wearing it. Apparently this is such a high crime in the Informal Code of the RCMPness that it must result in public humiliation and disgrace by ones peers. Nevermind that in this

More on the ADIZ

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 6 hours ago
*My first half-decent photo of Venus.* Lots of stuff out there. This Volokh Conspiracy post has good links to other posts and resources and notes: China’s assertion of an ADIZ, as Julian Ku says, is not per se impermissible. But the devil is in the details. *China’s ADIZ raises two large questions of legality. First, the “not-impermissible” scope of an ADIZ, that which is accepted in widespread state practice, is a projection outwards from the coastline of a coastal state. * One might argue as a matter of international law as evidenced by state practice that a ADIZ has to bear a ... more »

Left Nationalism. Canadian Survival. And The Great Brainwash.

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 6 hours ago
Fascism And Contemporary Canada. VIII *Left Nationalism. Canadian Survival. And The Great Brainwash.* *Written by Robin Mathews* Informed younger Canadians (under the age, say, of 50) are aware of the One Per Cent, are aware of “offshore” tax and banking havens hiding illicit funds in the trillions of dollars: free of taxes, and the law. Younger Canadians are aware of Canada being made a Pollution Centre of Tar Sands and Fracked Gas operations, of economic ‘agreements’ built to hand foreign corporations power over Canadian legislation ... and Canada’s wealth. They are a... more »

Calling All GE Activists To Canada

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 7 hours ago
Calling all GE activists! Are you looking for a meaningful way to resist the presence of genetically engineered (GE) foods in Canada? If so, look no further. Join our team and help the Society for a GE Free BC and the Vancouver Greenpeace L...ocal Group to organize the eastern leg of the GE Foods and Human Health: a cross-Canada Speaker's Tour in 2014. We're looking for keen volunteers in Eastern Canada to help our tour committee to liaise with host communities, to organize on the ground logistics, and/or to conduct outreach in both English and French. Prospective volunteers are... more »

Top stories

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 7 hours ago
Understandably, most of the UK's broadsheet newspapers (*The Independent, The Guardian, The Times*) led today with the trial of the alleged murderers of Lee Rigby. The news of the police helicopter crash in Glasgow only came in after they went to press. Still, the trial of Adebowale and Adebolajo continues to one of the lead stories on both the ITV News website (Soldier was 'callously murdered') and the Sky News website (Woolwich Trial: 'Killer Nearly Beheaded Soldier'). Surprisingly, however, the trial story has vanished from the list of lead stories on the homepage of the BBC N... more »

Who Is Behind Syria's "Opposition Rebels"? Mother Agnes Mariam vs The US Media by Rob Prince

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 8 hours ago
by Rob Prince Global Research Canada, 29 November 2013 *Mother Agnes Mariam, mother-superior of the monastery of St. James, the Mutilated in Qara, in the Qalamoun District of Syria, which is north of Damascus, visited Denver as part of a U.S. tour which is taking her coast to coast.* *S* *he spoke at three public venues in two days and then rushed off to catch a plane to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she also has had several speaking engagements, covered by the Nebraska press.* The Christian Palestinian family of the good mother-superior hails from Nazareth, now in Is... more »

MYSTERIOUS MICHAEL AND MYSTERIOUS LEE RIGBY

Anon at aangirfan - 8 hours ago
Michael Adebolajo (above) is on trial for the alleged murder of soldier Lee Rigby, in Woolwich, in London. Michael Adebolajo was brought up as a Christian. *Kirk Redpath, a very close friend of Michael Adebolajo. Kirk Redpath was killed in Iraq.* Michael Adebolajo has friends in the police and in the military. *Justine Rigden, girlfriend of Catholic/Moslem/ alleged MI5 agent Michael Adebolajo.* Michael Adebolajo has a 'raunchy' girlfriend. In hospital, after his arrest, Michael Adebolajo told doctors that, as a Moslem, he did not want to be touched by any women. 'I did it fo... more »

Woody Allen on the Dick Cavett show from the the 1970s I would guess

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 8 hours ago
Woody Allen including the falling whale joke,

Eyes are opened on all levels of Gaia as unfoldment of Gifting Energies occurs

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 9 hours ago
*Eyes are opened on all levels of Gaia as unfoldment of Gifting Energies occurs* by ÉirePort Eyes are opened on all levels of Gaia as unfoldment of Gifting Energies occurs. Such energetics present to all of hu-manity gifts of awakening, also to be called "Gifts of Prime Consciousness". Subsequent unveiling presents actualities of Ascension as needed. Clandestine "rabbit habitats" are no longer supported and unfold in an inner to outer, quickly. Balance among Hue-Beings is suggested at this time. ÉirePort | November 30, 2013 at 05:17 URL: http://wp.me/p2sFUY-qA

Was Feynman cognitively lopsided and illiterate?

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 9 hours ago
Stephen Hsu has discussed a long interview with Richard Feynman (AIP). Feynman's cognitive style (Information Processing blog) Because I pretty much share all the features that Hsu calls "Feynman's cognitive style" and because I find Hsu's comments fundamentally misguided, skewed, and unflattering, I decided it is important enough to respond. Hsu starts as follows: I have always felt that Feynman was cognitively a bit "lopsided" – much stronger mathematically than verbally. This might be partially responsible for his way of learning – it was often easier for him to invent his own ... more »

Why do we LEGISLATE for Belief Systems?

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 10 hours ago
Let's say, "I believe," in something... in life after death, in the Holy Trinity, in Allah, in Reincarnation and Karma... maybe I believe in Pixies or Unicorns or Extra-terrestrial visitors who come and tend my garden. Now, what's the difference here? Well the first three examples of Religious Belief (and that's all they are, beliefs) will get you put in court if you call them out as IDIOTS and MORONS and STOOGES for believing such tripe. The latter three, well you can troll those tin-foil-hat loons all you want, and they (probably) deserve it. I realise that 'in this country' we ... more »

Reuters Accidentally Exposes Thai Regime's "Supporters"

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 11 hours ago
Western media exposes Thai regime's "supporters" as manipulated enclave of impoverished, uneducated rice farmers occupying Khmer Rouge-style "red villages" who want anti-regime protesters "dead." *November 30, 2013* (Tony Cartalucci) - Reuters, in perhaps an attempt to prop up the crumbling Wall Street-backed regime in Bangkok, Thailand, has attempted to portray it as a popular, "democratically elected" government. What its article, "Thailand's red-shirt heartland hides its strength," ends up doing instead, is exposing the regime's support base as a pitiful, forsaken segment of Tha... more »

Greece updates November 29 , 2013 - Troika visit to Greece delayed - latest of the endless reviews scuppered for now ? Does this reflect a meaningful split between the Troika and ECB , between the IMF and Germany ? Lending falling in the EU Zone while youth unemployment continually rises.....Is another EU Zone crisis around the corner ? Stay tuned.....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 12 hours ago
*Samaras and Venizelos to hold talks on Monday as troika delays visit* A failure to reach an agreement with the troika means that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his deputy, Evangelos Venizelos, will hold a fresh meeting on Monday to discuss how to remove the obstacles that are standing in the way of Greece’s lenders concluding their latest review of the country’s consolidation program. The Finance Ministry confirmed Friday that the troika’s return to Athens has been put off, apparently scuppering any possibility of achieving an agreement on reforms ahead of the December 9 Eurogr... more »

"Holocaust survivors" demand more money

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 12 hours ago
The Jewish financial and sympathy racket known as the "Holocaust" never ends, as the *Jewish Telegraph Agency* recently reminded us: Breakfast costs Dov Jakobovitz $2. Lunch costs him $2.25. Both are served in the public old-age home in south Tel Aviv where he lives. But the food is not to his liking. Jakobovitz longs for the dishes he ate as a child in Transylvania — gefilte fish, goulash, chicken wings — rather than the rice-and-salad fare more typical of the Israeli diet. A restaurant he enjoys in the center of the city serves such Ashkenazi fare, but he can’t afford it. For din... more »

Sunday Classics preview: "Sing a merry madrigal!"

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 13 hours ago
*Yet until the shadows fall* *over one and over all,* *sing a merry madrigal!* *by Ken* I'm not going to identify tonight's madrigal tonight, but I also haven't attempted to conceal its identity. I mean, I could have identified Yum-Yum as "Lady 1" or "Bride" and Nanki-Poo as "Man 1" or "Bridegroom" and so on. Obviously those of you who know the music will know that there's a joke built into it, but for tonight I don't want to think about the joke; I just want to focus on the beauty of the piece. *Madrigal, "Brightly dawns our wedding day"* *YUM-YUM*: Brightly dawns our wedding day... more »

Weather Wars Update & My Accuracy

rss2009 at Global Cooling & New Ice Age UK - 13 hours ago
*Weather Wars Update & My Accuracy* *Weather Wars: Met Office denies predicting three months of exceptionally cold weather amid reports of Britain's coldest winter ever!* *http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/weather-wars-met-office-denies-predicting-three-months-of-exceptionally-cold-weather-amid-reports-of-britains-coldest-winter-ever-8973755.html* So it's not acceptable when the Met Office are misquoted in articles or headlines are misinterpreted! For example the recent six inches of snow headline (please see link below). I did feature within the article, but I simply s... more »

Activist Post: Amish Family Flees Country to Avoid 10-Year-Old’s State-Enforced Chemotherapy

Papani at DeadBanksterSociety - 13 hours ago
Activist Post: Amish Family Flees Country to Avoid 10-Year-Old’s State-Enforced Chemotherapys a commu The Medical Mafia is very worried that this precedent will encourage others to take health back into their own hands. The US is a system that has become a Gulag for those who freely want a sane choice instead of being manipulated to BELIEVE in the LIE.

update on kimberly rivera and how you can help

laura k at wmtc - 13 hours ago
Three days ago, Iraq War resister Kimberly Rivera gave birth to a son, Matthew Kaden, in a military hospital in San Diego. As soon as her hospital stay ends (which may have already happened), Kim will be taken back to prison. Her newborn baby will stay with his father and his siblings... but his mother will be forced to finish her prison term. Her release is scheduled for mid-December. The US Army has rejected all appeals for clemency, and is insisting Kim serve the final weeks of her sentence, even though it means separating a mother and a newborn infant. On Sunday, December 1, pe... more »

SYNOPSIS WITH PHOTOS OF NOV 19:

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 14 hours ago
PHOTOS Tlakatl: What it Means to be Human All-Day Student/Community Symposium Whatever I write here is but a glimpse of what happened on Tues Nov 19 at the “Tlakatl: What it Means to be Human” symposium at the University of Arizona. Many photographs were taken and much was videotaped… and this here too is but a brief synopsis that will give you a feel for this event, but it does not approximate conveying the historic nature of the gathering. (Videotape of much of the symposium will be released as soon as all the permissions are gathered.) The symposium took place one month after a ... more »

Paul Calandra attacks Glenn Greenwald and CBC

Alison at Creekside - 15 hours ago
I think Calandra read off his bit of paper from Steve rather well today, don't you? Love the bit about how : "CBC only admitted to their cash-for-news scheme after The Wall Street Journal *forced it out of them*" ... by cleverly reading Greenwald's byline alongside those of Greg Weston and Ryan Gallagher at the top of the CBC article. A byline that has also graced the pages of The Guardian and the New York Times, where, presumably, Greenwald also got paid as a journalist. And I'm sure the actual subject matter of the CBC article : New Snowden docs show U.S. spied during G20 in T... more »

A holiday F.U. to NYC Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio from his friends in City Hall and especially at 1 Police Plaza

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 16 hours ago
*From inside the fortress of 1 Police Plaza, NYC's Imperial Counterrevolutionary Guard will have complete security and surveillance power over incoming Mayor de Blasio's police transition team, scheduled to be holed up in a now-unused trailer outside the building.* *by Ken* There have been advantages to having a benevolent (at least in his own mind) billionaire as NYC's imperial mayor for 12 years, including his imperially ordained extra-legal third term. But if anyone needs a reminder of why, whatever happens next, we're better off once the little egomaniacal scumbag is pried out... more »

Oct 8-11 Tucson Community uprising videos

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 17 hours ago
Just learned that you can access these videos even if you are not on facebook... Many of you receiving this have already seen them, but if you want to share them, feel free: They are also at: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/ Shutdown of Operation Streamline Oct 11 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151637544230706&l=5294587605160829072 Oct 11 Operation Streamline - Not a one ounce of afraid https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151637582395706&l=4104919298450160412 Outside Curtroom https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/yourphotos?partnerid=gplp0&pid=5948925742310336770&oid=10557390037... more »

Untitled

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 17 hours ago
Test Not once of Afraid Oct 11 Operaiton Streamline Tucson Arizona

canadian woman refused entry to u.s. based on confidential health records

laura k at wmtc - 17 hours ago
According to this news story, a Canadian woman named Ellen Richardson was refused entry into the United States because of a prior medical condition. That is, when the US border guards swiped her passport, *information taken from her health records* came up. Now, the US can refuse entry to any non-citizen for any reason or no reason. The more important question is *why was a Canadian's confidential medical information in the Department of Homeland Security database??* How did it get there? How many of our health records are in the DHS database? You don't need to wear a tinfoil hat t... more »

O'odham and Anarchist Thanksgiving Day Protest Against Border Patrol

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 18 hours ago
Article and photos courtesy of O'odham and Anarchist solidarity action Censored News "On Thursday, November 28th, 2013, a group of people made up by members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Anti-Colonial Anarchist Bloc, and various Tucson community members in solidarity with those resisting ongoing colonisation on stolen Native land, gathered in front of the gates to the Border Patrol

Weekend Fun 50: Pacquiao, Rios and Pacman U.

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 18 hours ago
Some jokes after Manny Pacquiao beat Brandon Rios last Sunday in Macau. Brandon Rios started the fight looking like Dennis Trillo, in round 10 he's starting to look like Korina Sanchez. -- @djmotwister Dear Pacman, Congrats. Stick to boxing, stay away from politics . Yer a great boxer... but as a congressman, yer useless. -- Monsignor Arturo Manny Pacquiao will pursue putting up "Pacman University", but not in Gen Santos, it will be built in Tacloban, Leyte to help the typhoon victims. It will be called "Pac U" for short. Students will be called Pacquers. Univ. Administrator willl b... more »

Meet the Rebel Commander in Syria That Assad, Russia and the U.S. All Fear

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 18 hours ago
Saved this last week, fortunately. *Very, very interesting reading and oh how the alarm bells rang and rang. * * Posting it entirely since it is now unavailable, in full, at link.* For months, Syrian government forces hunkered down at a remote air base north of Aleppo, deftly fending off rebel assaults—*until one morning a war machine rumbled out of the countryside, announcing that the Chechens had arrived.* *The vehicle was notable for its primal scariness: Rebels had welded dozens of oil-drilling pipes to the sides of the armored personnel carrier, and packed it with four tons of ... more »

The Goal of My Work

What Is Sustainable at What Is Sustainable - 18 hours ago
The goal of my work is to encourage learning, thinking, and discussion about how humankind has created a catastrophically unsustainable way of life, why the process of collapse cannot be prevented, and how collapse survivors, if any, might learn from our many mistakes and mindfully pursue a sane way of life. Seven-point-something billion people are sleepwalking into a dark and furious storm because of a sequence of innovative experiments called progress. Progress is an obsession that continuously provides us with new tools for destroying the health of the ecosystem more rapidly. ... more »

Climate Tricks 23: Using Typhoon Haiyan for Climate and Energy Rent-Seeking

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 19 hours ago
Below is an abridged article written two weeks ago by a friend, Vice President of Reason Foundation http://reason.org/, Julian Morris. He is also the former Executive Director of the International Policy Network (IPN, London). The full article with two charts is *here*. I added the chart below and is not part of his original paper. ---------- *The Terrible Toll of Typhoon Haiyan Doesn't Excuse Bad Policy* Julian Morris November 19, 2013 The terrible toll of Typhoon Haiyan—estimated to have killed more than 4,000 people—reminds us of the often awesome power of the weather. Some say ... more »

Senate shits the bed, goes back to sleep

Alison at Creekside - 19 hours ago
Last night's CBC At Issue panel, Nov.28 2013 on the Senate blocking a witness and the PMO continuing to run the Senate. Former Harper supporter Andrew Coyne is beyond disgusted. *Mansbridge* : The government blocks a key witness [Michael Runia, Managing Partner at Deloitte] from appearing before a senate committee to answer questions about whether he had tried to massage or even question the firm's audit of Mike Duffy's expenses. *Andrew Coyne* : It's incredible. Step back from this. This is the auditing firm Deloitte that does the audits for the Conservative fundraising arm; they... more »

The Day of the Doctor - As live blogging, albeit a few days later on a second watch - One for the Doctor Who obsessives only!

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 19 hours ago
Nice retro titles - very original series 76 Totter's Lane and the Coal Hill School with I. Chesterton as Chairman of the Governors - lovely nod back to the original series Shouldn't the Doctor be able to escape from a winch? Why does Matt Smith keep leaving the Tardis doors open, previous Doctors were very careful to always shut that door. Love Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewwart's granddaughter's choice of scarf, very Fourth Doctor. Why are the Time Lords fighting massive Dalek spacecraft with hand held weapons, do they not have anything more powerful? If the Daleks are strafing Gallifrey w... more »

A Pre-Conspiracy Theory: A Very Important Article by an Obamabasher

Paul Coker at News Spike - 19 hours ago
I’m going to engage here in a thought experiment which may make some readers a little queasy, but bear with me. It’s been half a century since the wrenching experience of having a charismatic young president cut down by bullets in what most Americans apparently still believe was a dark conspiracy by elements of the US government unhappy with the direction he was taking the country in international affairs. Certainly powerful people like ex-CIA Director Allen Dulles and some of the nation’s top generals, not to mention executives of what prior President Dwight D. Eisenhower had l... more »

(96 Billionaires in NYC) Thanksgiving Slashes To the American Heart and Bill Ayers on Heartland Strategy

Joe 'I'm not going to become a lobbyist' Lieberman becomes a lobbyist Let the games begin? If you ask me, this capitalist game ended some time ago. And our (rational) world is in shreds. A Sheriff’s department in western Virginia confirms this morning that a scuffle over a parking spot at a Walmart in Tazewell County resulted in a stabbing, which is, of course, how we know that the

Moving the Ball Forward

Way Way Up at Fort McMurray Adventures - 19 hours ago
Today marked another step as I sent off my graduate school applications. I still have a few documents to take care but the "guts" of my application have been taken care of and these other items shouldn't be a hassle (knock on wood). The biggest challenge was definitely the proposal/statement of intent/statement of purpose etc. portion and something I grappled with for days. Basically, this is where you try to sell yourself and make your application stand out. My old Nunavut blog was a big help in many ways and I actually pulled a couple writing samples from it to submit. It was... more »

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN?...RACING FOR MORE STUFF

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 19 hours ago
There is now "Grey Thursday" (Thanksgiving day), Black Friday (the day after) and Cyber Monday (to do online shopping). Our calendar is being re-written. Even the words we use to describe our week are being colonized by corporate capitalism. The reports are coming in fast and furious about the insanity of the last 24 hours as the big box stores are flooded with people trying to save a couple of bucks on some junk. Fights, shootings, stabbings - the usual stuff while shopping you know. Wal-Mart has earned a new nickname: “Brawlmart.” Let's see if we can help capitalism in their... more »

Even In Oklahoma They Can't Always Escape Reality-- The GOP War Against Contraception (And Sex)

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 20 hours ago
Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox (R-OK) is the chairman of the Public Health and Social Services Committee. First elected in 2005, he's also a physician who graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1978. If you think every Republican in Oklahoma is as radical and extreme as GOP sociopath James Lankford, you haven't met Doug Cox yet. Last February, Rep. Cox-- who, unlike lunatic freak Dr. Paul Broun, is the kind of doctor who actually *does* believe in science-- took on his party over a very extreme anti-abortion bill meant to eliminate the judicial bypass syste... more »

Mercer on Harper

Boris at The Galloping Beaver - 20 hours ago

Feeling chilly? A Friday Night Rule 5 post

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 21 hours ago
Here's Kate Upton's recent Sports Illustrated winter shoot to warm you up...

Chemtrails analysed by French Lab

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 21 hours ago
I know, I know, I shouldn't ... but I have to. Another uncorroborated story about the CHEMTRAILS nightmare we're all allegedly facing. When will people start to understand that their insane boyish Corporate War Government will do anything to keep THE TRUTH from people in the name of Profit (the only real crime on this once-beautiful planet). Here's a story (machine translatated) from a Spanish site about a French analysis of chemtrail threads and it's just juicy as fuck. *The collected samples part of private individuals, they have been entrusted to Analytika (Center for independe... more »

Thanksgiving Holiday Day 2

Southern Man at Southern Man - 22 hours ago
(placeholder) In which Southern Man will awake in his hotel room and geocache some more and visit with family and then meander back home, possibly with Southern Father (in which case it will be a straightforward trip) and possibly without (in which case there will be much geocaching and a stopover in the south end of Southern City for an evening meal with friends). But in no event will there be anything resembling Black Friday shopping.

By-Election Results November 2013

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 22 hours ago
Party Number of candidates Total vote % +/- Oct Average/ contest +/- Sept +/- Seats Conservative 23 8,491 20.5% -1.6% 369 -36 0 Labour 21 14,203 34.2% -2.1% 676 -39 +2 LibDem 20 3,823 9.2% -4.1% 191 -146 -1 UKIP 19 6,135 14.8% +4.3% 322 +89 0 SNP* 1 546 1.3% -8.0% 546 -694 0 Plaid Cymru** Green 12 849 2.0% -0.3% 70 -33 0 BNP 2 152 0.4% +0.2% 76 +38 0 TUSC 5 211 0.5% +0.5% 42 +21 0 Independent*** 13 4,201 10.1% +7.9% 323 +217 -3 Other**** 7 2,863 6.9% +3.7% 409 +288 +2 * The... more »

AgentWatch: Attorney Malik Zulu Shabbaz

Paul Coker at News Spike - 22 hours ago
NOTE: This article was syndicated nationwide from the Washington City Paper, a freesheet that ran an extra edition by *Mark Cohen*, cover story *Black Power.* *This nationally syndicated, freely distributed article ran 1 week after the George W. Bush Counter-Innaugural in January 2001, 2 week prior to the death by exploding Brain Aneyrism in Meriat, Georgia of Khalid Abdul Muhammad, 8 months prior to 9/11 and 8 months following the death by Exploding Brain Anureysm in Meriat, Georgia of the Senior Senator from Georgia.* Jan. 19-25, 2001 BLACK POWER *The New Black Panther Pa... more »

An Independent Kurdistan: Dream or Reality? 6 Articles + 1 Video

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 22 hours ago
*Related: A Future Republic of Kurdistan?* *1. An excerpt from, "The Kurdish issue returns to prominence" by Ted Galen Carpenter, Aspenia Online, November 28, 2013: * The resurgence of the Kurdish issue involving multiple Middle Eastern countries puts the United States and its Western allies in an awkward position. US leaders already worry that ties with Turkey have frayed in recent years and are anxious to show their support for the position and interests of a valued NATO ally. Washington also shares Ankara’s goal of keeping Syria intact in a post-Assad era. Obama administration... more »

Here goes...

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 23 hours ago
I like Mark Fisher’s article, Exiting the Vampire Castle. It’s unfortunate that he presents his argument in such an intemperate, unwelcoming way (everyone is petty bourgeois!). Part of me wonders if he intentionally using the rhetoric and implied values of his (unnamed) opponents to prove a point. The response has largely been, shall we say, robust. Here is an example. But he is onto something. Firstly, the practice of Calling Out, at least as manifest today, does not engender solidarity. Secondly, people too often make the leap from Person X has made a regrettable/prejudiced stat... more »

moon attack

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 23 hours ago

Thanksgiving Zombie behavior by pavlovian shoppers... Walmart hit by union protests on Black Friday .... Be careful today folks , the Walking Dead are among us !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 23 hours ago
Mobs, Stampedes, Fights, Brawls, A Stabbing And Shooting: A Video Compilation Of Black Thursday 2013 [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/29/2013 08:33 -0500 - Black Friday - Bond - Illinois - Puerto Rico - Turkey inShare That greatest of all American traditions - the Black Friday Thursday stampede, this year accompanied with a stabbing and a shooting, is back. A quick review of all readers may have missed by not lining up in droves outside of stores that were selling products at just above cost instead of the usual massive pre-... more »

Police State Updates November 25 , 2013....Yale University on lockdown as police seek gunman in ‘heavy overcoat’ .......On Duty Officer Raped Young Woman On Squad Car ..... Surveillance tactics ramping up ( DC cops go nuclear with traffic cameras , FBI rolling out facial recognition system nationwide in 2014 , unmarked helicopter drone ) ...........Legal gun owners being treated like common criminals in DC - including finger printing and mugshots....Additional articles from our Stasi State / Nanny State / Orwellian Government ....

Catharsis Ours - 23 hours ago
Another lone gunman on the loose.... Yale University on lockdown as police seek gunman in ‘heavy overcoat’ - [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image: Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones' Facebook][image: Infowars store] *Cheryl K. Chumley* Washington Times November 25, 2013 Yale University went on lockdown mode Monday to allow police to investigate a call of a person walking around campus with a gun. USA Today reported that police say they received a call from someone who said his roommate was headed to Yale to sh... more »

Re-run

Sophia Love at AMERICAN KABUKI - 23 hours ago
The two videos that follow were produced in 2011 and 2012. The message still holds. This post is a response to a request from one of us. We are the Ones we've been waiting for. ~Sophia

In the spirit of @FrankBruni on #commoncore, I will review Marea in NYC

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 23 hours ago
[In the interest of full disclosure, I have never been to Marea, which is apparently one of the finest Italian restaurants in New York City. As commentators regale us with their wisdom on education without ever having set foot inside a classroom, let alone teach, I consider myself eminently qualified to act as Mr. Frank […]

Stoned?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
Primitive man developed some relatively sophisticated social mechanisms to enforce male dominance over primitive women. Patriarchal religion was the biggie, of course, but even before than, ritualized violence worked wonders in establishing who the boss was and who was subservient. Stoning, later embraced by patriarchal religions-- at least 'til Jesus came along with a forward-thinking perspective. In 1969 I went to Afghanistan for the first time. I recall writing back to my friends and family in America that it felt more like a journey in time than a journey in space. Especially... more »

Something is happening Mr Denier

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
Photo by Hilary White The photo shows dried up lakes in the Canadian North. Lakes that have been in balance for centuries. I use the analogy to smoking, whose harm was coincidentally denied for decades using the same tactics and in many cases the same people as climate change deniers. Smokestacks and tailpipes are the worlds cigarettes. Deniers will say man can not harm something as big as the earth, just like a little tobacco could not harm something as massive as a human. But the fact is man puts out way more gas than volcanoes, and no one denies that a single volcano like Kraka... more »

Past wars and now...

Boris at The Galloping Beaver - 1 day ago
Three suicides in a week.  Twenty-two among Regular Force members in 2011, an unknown number is 2012. [Evidently reservists are still treated as second-order soldiers by the system - plus ça change...] There will be more. There are things that can be done to prevent them, but not all of them. Like the former Yugoslavia and Somalia, Afghanistan's casualties will continue to mount long after the

TOE movies: Wilczek, Tegmark, Strominger, Guth, ...

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 1 day ago
*Off-topic, via Fred Singer: Weak Lensing Contest*: Participate in the "great challenge" where you should design algorithms decoding weak lensing ("unwarping images of millions of galaxies") and show you're better than the experts; NASA quiz example (I did it right LOL); Science Daily. Ends in April 2014. Winner gets $3,000 in hardware. Someone started a YouTube project of recording 2-minute interviews with famous physicists about a theory of everything, facebook.com/toemovie (FB home page) ------------------------------ TOEmovie YouTube channel (videos) So far, there seem to be e... more »

Catching fire

Bill Robertson at GlobaLove Think Tank - 1 day ago
*"remember who the real enemy is"* (Image source: StalkerAE) *An interpretation: * The film shows what can happen when *economic class differences *are enforced by the Government. They become *structured *rather than *fluid*. The possibility for advancement is eliminated ..except by winning the hunger games ..inspiring a false sense of hope. Attack of the jabberjays

Killing the Blues

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
Why don't more artists cover John Prine? The credits on the CD do not have Prine as the songwriter, but if you google the song he is. Blame the Lawyers

Dawn of the Desperate

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 1 day ago
Being a socially-, economically- and politically-conscious liberal gives one a certain amount of moral superiority and schadenfreude. At no time is this latitude more readily and freely granted than on Black Friday (now permanently known as Black Thursday). And maybe this was what the great George Romero had in mind 35 years ago when he directed the original *Dawn of the Dead* in 1978. It wasn't lost on film critics nor was it a mere thoughtless and random choice when Romero centered his movie around a mall. The sight of mindless zombies staggering around a mall with no ... more »

Food Poisoning and Lice: Holidays in the Trenches with NickMom.com

Seth R. Hawkins at Housewife Eclectic - 1 day ago
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client. I torture my husband. Now I have never tied him to a rack for a cute new pair of shoes, but I do make him spend the holidays with my family. My family is their own special brand of crazy, not the throwing jars of ketchup crazy, but the unfortunate victims of weird circumstances. Almost every time we spent the a holiday with my family, he leaves shaking his head and wondering how next year could possibly get more... more »

SOS! Immediate Paradigm Shift Requested! Multicultural, Multilingual Focus Necessary to Respond to Changing Demographics!

Scholastic Chaos at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 day ago
“To commit ourselves to the work of transforming the academy so that it will be a place where cultural diversity informs every aspect of our learning, we must embrace struggle and sacrifice. We cannot be easily discouraged. We cannot despair when there is conflict. Our solidarity must be affirmed by shared belief in a spirit […]

The US mainstream media regularly disparages "conspiracy theorists" as though all crimes are committed by idividuals. Here is proof positive that if you DON'T believe in conspiracy theories you are inviting victimization by all manner of conspirators.

David L Griscom at Cherchez la Verite - 1 day ago
------------------------------ *Three More NYC Contractors Found Guilty in Massive CityTime Scandal to Modernize Payroll System* http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/27/three_more_nyc_contractors_found_guilty Three computer consultants were found guilty on Friday of multiple charges for defrauding New York City of millions of dollars in the largest corruption case in city history. Private consultants were found guilty of siphoning tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from the scandal-ridden $700 million CityTime payroll project. Last year, the project’s main contractor, SAIC, w... more »

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 day ago
Southern California. [Marc Adamus photo]

VIDEO: Iraq In Ottoman Times

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 1 day ago
Enhanced by Zemanta