The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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War Fever at NPR's Diane Rehm show

By NCD on Mon, 08/25/2014 - 2:15pm |

I listened to the NPR August 25th Monday morning Diane Rehm Show and it was scarier than anything since, yes, since, 9/11/01:

U.S. Strategy In The Battle Against ISIS

....the Obama administration is under growing pressure to strike ISIS on Syrian soil. A discussion of U.S. strategy to combat ISIS....

GOP Border Campaign Plan on Cruz Control

By NCD on Sat, 08/02/2014 - 7:29pm |

The Republicans don't have the aspiration, motivation or experience to meet challenges facing the nation. What they do have experience at is campaign plans. Republicans particularly love issues that never go away, that will always be there to exploit forever, election after election. If they can make the problem worse so much the better, the TV/media anyway will never call them on it, blaming all failures on 'both sides'. For instance, there will always be women who seek abortions. The way to reduce abortions is to reduce unwanted pregnancies with family planning.

10 Foot Sea Level Rise Unstoppable

By NCD on Mon, 05/12/2014 - 2:11pm |

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, 25.4 million cubic kilometers, 6.1 million cubic miles, is on track for an 'inevitable' melt, NYT:

GOP Backs Casino Mogul's Nanny State

By NCD on Thu, 03/27/2014 - 8:22pm |
Republicans team up with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to meet a major threat to America and Americans in the 21st century. A problem that can no longer be ignored, delayed or kicked down the road. Not outdated infrastructure, or collapsing bridges. Not climate change. Not immigration reform or health care reform. Not skyrocketing student debt loads. Not a myriad of other issues you might think deserve attention.
 
Internet gambling. And internet poker too, which the GOP believes is wreaking havoc from coast to coast!! Believe it!!

MH370 Goodfellow's Hypothesis

By NCD on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 4:42pm |

Not seen anyone with this on DAG. Veteran US pilot believes the plane experienced a catastrophic in flight fire/smoke and/or decompression, the pilots steered immediately for the closest runway in Malaysia, and no one survived to land the plane. It continued on as a 'ghost plane' to points unknown. Goodfellow frankly makes more sense than most other theories from what little facts we know 'for sure' about the flight.

Goodfellow's original post here.

AEI's Fred Kagan "We" are at War

By NCD on Sun, 01/12/2014 - 12:56pm |

Fred Kagan, George W. Bush advisor, neo-conservative Iraq War cheerleader, and prophet of Endless War, on 'extending our presence' in Afghanistan, in the Weekly Standard, 1/2014:

GOP: To Fight for the Poor

By NCD on Wed, 01/08/2014 - 8:16pm |

NYT: WASHINGTON — Senator Marco Rubio says the American dream has become “unattainable.” Senator Mike Lee says reforming government benefits programs should be the country’s “first priority.” And Representative Paul D. Ryan says the government safety net has “failed miserably.”...

After doing nothing but obstructing every appointment, order, action, bill, spending measure, or legislation associated or backed by the President, along with unending muckraking investigations of the IRS, Benghazi, birth certificates and ACORNs, the GOP now plans to return to the 'compassionate conservatism' meme last used by George W. Bush who, in 8 years, started 2 wars with 'fabrications, deceptions and cover-ups' that killed somewhere in the range of 1 million people, cost trillions and plunged Iraq into permanent chaos, and also oversaw the crash of the US economy and banking sector.

Gallup Polls, How to Bamboozle the Public

By NCD on Wed, 12/18/2013 - 10:29pm |

The Gallup Poll question:

In your opinion, which of the following will be the biggest threat to the country in the future - big business, big labor, or big government?

The poll seems like some stupid question on a grade school standardized test:

'Billy is playing his plug in radio while bathing in the bathtub, in your opinion, the biggest threat to Billy's future is big water, big electricity, or big slippery soap?'

Moscow's Voice of Truth

By NCD on Mon, 11/04/2013 - 12:48pm |

From Edward Snowden's Manifesto for the Truth from his residence under the protection of Vladmir Putin and the decidedly not free and open Russia:

....Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance of high officials or the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders – this is what the currently available documents suggest – we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.....

Merkel's Cell Phone and the Black Guy

By NCD on Sun, 10/27/2013 - 5:45pm |

(1) Merkel's now famous or infamous cell phone has apparently been 'monitored' since 2002, initiated by, I assume, white guys in the Bush administration. No one has asked who authorized that action. It was before she was Chancellor. She apparently was put on the NSA 'list' when she became an important politician in Germany. This would lead one to believe that this could have been a very long list, perhaps 'a routine intelligence' procedure, NSA business as usual, and furthermore, the program involved may date back to well before 2002.

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