“OUR GOAL WAS TO SHUT DOWN A PORTION OF AMERICA FOR A WHOLE DAY.” Producer of a new TV series, “House of Cards,” says this with a “laugh,” but it is no laughing matter to TV producers who are catering to a new kind of “binge-watching” among fans of particular TV programs. Rather than [...]
WHEN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS DIE, CAN THE DEATH OF COMMUNITY CITIZENSHIP BE FAR BEHIND? This question is addressed by Jessica Bruder in a feature article in the Christian Science Monitor. Her article is keynoted by a mournful style New Orleans funeral on the occasion of the drastic reduction of newspaper publication in favor of more [...]
MISSING IN ACTION IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: THAT VISION THING. With 3 of their 4 scheduled debates under their belts, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates have failed to articulate much of anything in the way of concrete plans that might determine how the electorate votes. Beyond accusing their opponents of not having detailed such plans, [...]
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: THAT’S HISTORY, ISN’T IT? It is indeed history that 50 years ago the world approached self-annihilation, as a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union brought the world to the brink of that catastrophe when the Soviet Union’s plans to place missiles in Cuba ran against the U.S. [...]
IF INTRA-UTERINE DEVICES AND HORMONE IMPLANTS ARE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE WAYS OF PREVENTING PREGNANCY, WHY DO ONLY 8.5% OF WOMEN USE THEM? IT’S THE COST, STUPID! An experimental program in St. Louis dispensing free contraceptives demonstrates the validity of this answer. When given the choice of contraceptives without regard to cost, 75% of women chose [...]
U.S. DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN: WE’RE NOT DOING THEM; BUT DAMN THEY ARE DOING GOOD! The U.S. government resists demands to release records on drone strikes, saying there is “no proof” that such a program exists but not hesitating to “leak” operations that are said to kill terrorist leaders. And of course in defining [...]
THERE IS NOTHING SO PERMANENT AS A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. John Glaser cites this saying attributed to Milton Friedman. It seems to capture the current situation of Libya in the aftermath of attacks on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi killed 4 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. In “response,” President Obama sent [...]
Days after systematic rate-fixing of the London exchange responsible for setting most of the world’s lending rates was uncovered at Barclays, leading to the resignation of that bank’s top executives, the scope of the “Libor” — “London interbank offered rate” — scandal has spread to more banks and could generate criminal charges on both sides [...]
NATO’S NEW “PARTNERSHIPS” ARE “SPRINGING UP LIKE POISONOUS MUSHROOMS AFTER A SPRING RAIN.” (Boiling Frogs) This month’s summit in Chicago demonstrated the aggressive expansion of NATO, which is the cover entity for the worldwide military presence of the United States. An especially active area of expansionism involves such Balkan states as Macedonia and Bosnia, to whom the [...]
` THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ENERGY IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT. (Business Insider) ` With projects like the infamous Keystone XL pipeline from Canada through the heartland of America inexorably marching towards approval, the next chapter of America’s addiction to fossil fuels appears to be Canadian oil sands. The massive tar sands deposits in Alberta is home to perhaps [...]
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