A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.
In his private meeting with news columnists, Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments. The President of the United States failed to understand that Americans were anxious after two major terrorist attacks in Western cities because he doesn’t watch enough TV? He just says these things.
Apparently the NYT subsequently edited the segment out. Giving government a helping hand up, not a hand out.
Over the last years CO2 levels in the atmosphere are up to 400 parts per million, up 40 %. It is 1200 in commercial greenhouses.
Rechauffe: a NYT word. noun: 1. Warmed leftover food. 2. Rehash: old reworked material. ety: From French réchauffé (reheated, rehashed), from chauffer (to warm), from Latin calefacere (to make warm), from calere (to be hot) + facere (to make). Other (some hot, some not) words derived from the Latin root calere are chafe, nonchalant, calefacient, and chauffeur (literally, a stoker, who warmed up the engine in early steam-driven cars). Earliest documented use: 1778.
The most decorated unit ever in U.S. military history is the 442nd regimental Combat Team, whose motto was “Go for Broke.” It consisted of Japanese-American volunteers. Together they won 4,667 major medals, awards, and citations, including 560 Silver Stars (28 of which had oak-leaf clusters), 4,000 Bronze Stars, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, and one Medal of Honor, plus 54 other decorations. It also held the distinction of never having a case of desertion.
Cocaine is the most frequently reported illicit substance associated with drug abuse fatalities and causes three times more deaths than any other illegal drug.
Four years ago, the American government embarked on an ambitious campaign to expand civil rights for gay people overseas by marshaling its diplomats, directing its foreign aid and deploying President Obama to speak before hostile audiences. According to the NYT this campaign has raised the profile of gays in hostile areas and aligned the U.S. with antagonistic positions. The complexity of good intentions.
Personal debt has doubled over the last seven years but the interest paid out--because of low interest rates --is up only 15%. That has made debt inexpensive but has devastated savers whose returns have dropped 5 to 7 percent annually. (Much of that return is from rising bond prices, not interest.) In essence, the public has traded interest earnings to the government to service the debt at a lower rate. Not coincidentally, recently there was a one BILLION dollar "put' (in essence a "short) on a high yield bond fund. On the other hand, every model predicting a rise in inflation as a result of increased money supply has been wrong so far.
Who is...Henrik Ibsen?
What happened in Paris at the climate meeting? I'm not sure. Here's one take: After years of preparation and two weeks of tireless negotiations, after all the speeches and backroom compromising, one misplaced word brought the momentum toward a historic global deal on climate change to a halt Saturday — for at least a few hours. Obama administration lawyers discovered early in the day that the latest draft text had a potentially deal-killing tweak: Deep into the document, in Article 4, was a line declaring that wealthier countries "shall" set economy-wide targets for cutting their greenhouse gas pollution. That may not sound like such a headache-inducing roadblock, but in the world of international climate negotiations, every word counts. In previous drafts, the word "shall" had been "should" — and in the lingo of U.N. climate agreements, "shall" implies legal obligation while "should" does not. That means the word change could have obliged the Obama administration to submit the final deal to the Senate for its approval. In other words, it would be binding. And meaningful. "It's a fraud really, a fake," says James Hansen, the former NASA Scientist, considered the father of global awareness of climate change.
Golden oldie:
http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2013/10/taking-ire-out-of-ireland.html
Who is...Henrik Ibsen?
What happened in Paris at the climate meeting? I'm not sure. Here's one take: After years of preparation and two weeks of tireless negotiations, after all the speeches and backroom compromising, one misplaced word brought the momentum toward a historic global deal on climate change to a halt Saturday — for at least a few hours. Obama administration lawyers discovered early in the day that the latest draft text had a potentially deal-killing tweak: Deep into the document, in Article 4, was a line declaring that wealthier countries "shall" set economy-wide targets for cutting their greenhouse gas pollution. That may not sound like such a headache-inducing roadblock, but in the world of international climate negotiations, every word counts. In previous drafts, the word "shall" had been "should" — and in the lingo of U.N. climate agreements, "shall" implies legal obligation while "should" does not. That means the word change could have obliged the Obama administration to submit the final deal to the Senate for its approval. In other words, it would be binding. And meaningful. "It's a fraud really, a fake," says James Hansen, the former NASA Scientist, considered the father of global awareness of climate change.
Golden oldie:
http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2013/10/taking-ire-out-of-ireland.html
George Akerlof’s and Robert Shiller’s Phishing for Phools argues that people – as consumers and investors – are plagued by such a plethora of psychological quirks and informational deficiencies that their decision-making very often makes them prone to buy things that they don’t really want to buy and otherwise to act in ways that they don’t really want to act. So entrepreneurs predictably exploit people’s psychological quirks and informational deficiencies. But , if true, one would expect a brisk and successful business group of entrepreneurs who spring up to protect people from doing what they do not want to do. Like parents?
Only between 5 and 7% of the sea floor has been charted.
I have long felt that Trump was a statistical aberration, an inevitable minority candidate in a pluralistic society. A recent article gave me pause. Two snippets: 1) In a new interview with GQ, Trump essentially concedes a tendency to go over the top. That would change, he said, if he became president. “I would imagine I would be quite a bit different,” Trump explained. “I would feel differently about things as a president. Right now, I'm fighting a lot of people. As a president, I would be more measured.” And 2) in October, when he appeared at the nonpartisan No Labels convention in Manchester, N.H. Trump knew that the No Labels group craves a candidate who will reject the partisan extremes of left and right and base a governing style on compromise. Trump presented himself as just that man, emphasizing how, as a real estate developer, he had worked with Democrats in New York City to get things done. Still, the audience wanted to hear more about Trump's willingness to compromise. “Compromise has become the dirty word,” a questioner said to Trump. If a President Trump were involved in a conflict on, say, taxes, what kinds of things would he offer, “as a gesture of compromise”? “Let me just tell you, the word compromise is not a bad word to me,” Trump replied. “I like the word compromise. We need compromise, there is nothing wrong with compromise, but it's always good to compromise and win. Meaning, let's compromise and win.” Then Trump got to the heart of the matter. “But if you are going to compromise, ask for about three times more than you want. You understand? So when you compromise, you get what you want.”
The problem is that we have famously elected business guys in the past, notable Hoover and Carter. I have never seen anyone who has managed to summarize good government leadership qualities but, in my mind, great American leaders have had integrity first. I see none of that here.
I have long felt that Trump was a statistical aberration, an inevitable minority candidate in a pluralistic society. A recent article gave me pause. Two snippets: 1) In a new interview with GQ, Trump essentially concedes a tendency to go over the top. That would change, he said, if he became president. “I would imagine I would be quite a bit different,” Trump explained. “I would feel differently about things as a president. Right now, I'm fighting a lot of people. As a president, I would be more measured.” And 2) in October, when he appeared at the nonpartisan No Labels convention in Manchester, N.H. Trump knew that the No Labels group craves a candidate who will reject the partisan extremes of left and right and base a governing style on compromise. Trump presented himself as just that man, emphasizing how, as a real estate developer, he had worked with Democrats in New York City to get things done. Still, the audience wanted to hear more about Trump's willingness to compromise. “Compromise has become the dirty word,” a questioner said to Trump. If a President Trump were involved in a conflict on, say, taxes, what kinds of things would he offer, “as a gesture of compromise”? “Let me just tell you, the word compromise is not a bad word to me,” Trump replied. “I like the word compromise. We need compromise, there is nothing wrong with compromise, but it's always good to compromise and win. Meaning, let's compromise and win.” Then Trump got to the heart of the matter. “But if you are going to compromise, ask for about three times more than you want. You understand? So when you compromise, you get what you want.”
The problem is that we have famously elected business guys in the past, notable Hoover and Carter. I have never seen anyone who has managed to summarize good government leadership qualities but, in my mind, great American leaders have had integrity first. I see none of that here.
In 1879 Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House opened in Copenhagen. One critic compared the play to the dropping of "a bomb into contemporary life," and "a death sentence on accepted social ethics"; another described Nora's exit from her house and her gender-roles at the end of Act V as "a door slam heard 'round the world."
"Incremental reforms, evolving out of trial-and-error experience, may over the course of time amount to a profound change in society, but this is wholly different from the kind of sweepingly imposed prepackaged changes to smite the wicked and exalt the anointed, in keeping with the invidious and dramatic vision of the intellectuals. That vision requires villains, whether individuals or groups or a whole society permeated by wrong ideas that can be corrected by those with right ideas."--Sowell. And, "Beware the intellectual who seeks power over our decisions and over the persuasion to which we can respond, especially when he seeks this power to prevent us from doing what he thinks we should not desire to do."--Harold Demsetz.
Senior congressional aides expect the White House to use its executive powers to tighten federal gun laws shortly after President Barack Obama returns from a Hawaiian vacation in early January. Yet a recent CNN survey found a majority (52 percent) of those polled oppose tighter gun laws. And a WashPo/ABC poll found 53 percent are against the assault weapons ban the White House has endorsed. Soooo....how does that work out between the government and the citizens?
Senior congressional aides expect the White House to use its executive powers to tighten federal gun laws shortly after President Barack Obama returns from a Hawaiian vacation in early January. Yet a recent CNN survey found a majority (52 percent) of those polled oppose tighter gun laws. And a WashPo/ABC poll found 53 percent are against the assault weapons ban the White House has endorsed. Soooo....how does that work out between the government and the citizens?
Hospital visits for alcohol poisoning have doubled in six years, with the highest rate among females aged 15 to 19, a British report has found.
Emergency admissions due to the effects of alcohol, such as liver disease, have also risen by more than 50% in nine years to 250,000 a year in England.
Rates were highest in deprived areas and in the north, and among men aged 45-64. In England in 2013, approximately 18% of men and 13% of women drank at a level considered to be putting them at increased risk of harm. In 2013/14, approximately 1 in 20 emergency admissions in England were related to alcohol.
Chronic heavy drinking—more than 14 drinks a week for men or 7 for women—can damage the brain and compromise memory, learning and how we regulate emotion and stress.
Rates were highest in deprived areas and in the north, and among men aged 45-64. In England in 2013, approximately 18% of men and 13% of women drank at a level considered to be putting them at increased risk of harm. In 2013/14, approximately 1 in 20 emergency admissions in England were related to alcohol.
Chronic heavy drinking—more than 14 drinks a week for men or 7 for women—can damage the brain and compromise memory, learning and how we regulate emotion and stress.
AAAAAaaaaaaannnnnddddddd......a picture. Each year in February, the sun's angle is such that Horsetail Falls waterfall lights like fire. Yosemite, USA:
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