Fun fact: The new president of the Austrian national bank already has three other jobs.
And the vice president comes from the Hayek-Institute.

Italy threatens to suspend EU funding unless others take in migrants

"If tomorrow nothing comes out of a European Commission meeting on redistributing migrants from the Diciotti ship, the 5-Star and I will not be willing to give 20 billion euros each year to the EU," Di Maio said in a video posted on Facebook.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Defying US sanctions, EU unveils a €18 million aid package to Iran

At least €8 million will be allocated to supporting the private sector. The Commission will help "high-potential" Iranian SMEs, the development of selected value chains, and provide technical assistance to Iran's Trade Promotion Organisation.

European Commission adopts support package for Iran

According to the report, today's projects are the first of a wider package of €50 million for Iran, aiming to support the country to address key economic and social challenges. They are part of the renewed cooperation and engagement between the European Union and Iran following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran, Italy continue banking transactions by ditching dollar

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

re: disturbing burial goods

El Gobierno inicia el proceso para exhumar a Franco

años después de la muerte del dictador, el Gobierno socialista inicia este viernes el proceso para exhumar sus restos del monumento que ideó para glorificar su victoria en la Guerra Civil. El Consejo de Ministros ha aprobado un real decreto con el que da comienzo una operación política de gran complejidad que debe terminar con el dictador fuera del mausoleo del Valle de los Caídos. El decreto, que deberá ser convalidado en el Congreso, da amparo jurídico a la exhumación de Franco, a través de una modificación puntual de la Ley de Memoria Histórica. El Ejecutivo procederá después a sacar los restos del dictador de forma discreta, mientras el consenso político se enturbia por la fórmula elegida por el Gobierno.

Spain Sets in Motion Plan to Dig Up Former Dictator Franco

---
Yap: Bernal vol. I - II exhumed some interesting evidence form annals of documentary and material archaeology about customary defacement and destruction of, what Thucydides calls "tribute" in war, monuments to conquering pharaohs up and down the shores of the Levant in antiquity. just sayin': Ain't nothin' new but ... human tokens of total world domination.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Alex Salmond: Sexual harassment complaints against me have no foundation

First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the complaints cannot be "swept under the carpet" despite the difficult situation created for herself and the party.

She said her relationship with her predecessor "makes this an extremely difficult situation for me to come to terms with", but that due process must be followed.

She said: "This will be extremely upsetting to members of the SNP up and down the country. It's a difficult situation but what is important is that complaints are treated seriously, regardless of who the person complained about is.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Morocco reinstates conscription, unclear if Dutch Moroccans must comply
not really

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Why Croatia? (sales collateral) Croatia's Nationalistic Paradox

The World Cup in Russia created a potential for a new beginning in ex-Yugoslavia and that with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's help.

June: Grabar-Kitarović presented her measures for population policy

"Remaining indifferent to the fact that of our demographic disappearance would mean giving up on the future," she said.
[...]
The first group of measures are economic measures, the basic goal of which is to create a favorable environment for creating competitive jobs.

Tax reforms are the key to everything. The main goal is to lower expenses for workers and employers. The second key reform is reform of the public administration.

Another focus is on citizens with blocked bank accounts. The president noted that all intermediaries should be removed from the foreclosure procedure and that foreclosures should be returned to the jurisdiction of courts....

She won the hearts of many in the region and beyond with her passionate support of the national team. ... With her faultless sense for the right moment, Croatia's president remembered of a photo of hers with Djokovic, dating several years back, and she posted it on Facebook with a comment: "Wholeheartedly, I wish Novak Djokovic - a great man and a sportsman - to reach the finals [of Wimbledon]. It's an honour for me that I had an opportunity to meet him in person in our Umag". ... This support of hers for the "enemy" Serbian sportsman caused an avalanche in the social networks.

April: BB+ Bond Rating

Government bonds dominate Croatian bond market. The bond market is moving slowly towards a more balanced mix of public sector, quasi-government and private sector bonds. The main debt issuers in Croatia are the state itself, the state funds and agencies, and since 2002 for the first time - corporations.

Croatian economy moving in right direction as gross debt falls

The consolidated gross debt of Croatia at the end of 2017 amounted to 283,313 million Kuna, or 78.0 percent of gross domestic product, while in 2016 it amounted to 281,738 million Kuna, or 80.6 percent of GDP. ... This was in fact the first time that Croatia has seen a general budget surplus since it started using [EU STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT] methodology and the final figure was better than the government's aim of 0.6 percent. This forward step in the economic forecast is important to Croatia as the country plans to adopt the Euro as the official currency within the next seven years.

May: Croatia's deputy PM resigns over Agrokor debt crisis

Martina Dalić was a close ally of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, whose conservative HDZ party has a wafer-thin majority in parliament thanks to a coalition with two junior partners and ethnic minorities.

July: Calling on the Croatia Airlines management and trade unions to sit down for talks
"The minister refuted unions' claims that he exerted political pressure on the court with his recent claim that the strike could only cause financial damage to the company."
August: Amendments to law on contribution bring no changes for SMEs, Fin-Min says

Commenting on criticism that the bill was anti-enterprise, [Fin-Min Zdravko] Maric reiterated what the incumbent government had done for entrepreneurs, including a profit tax cut from 20 to 18%, and 12% for SMEs. He also reiterated that the bill was drawn up to stimulate ICT* engineers to stay in Croatia as well as attract international experts.

* Internet Communication Technology, of which, ahem, "fintech"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Macron to renew plea for closer Europe

Welcomed as a saviour of the European Union on his election last year, the French leader has seen his ambitious plans diluted as the 28 members' interests diverge, with challenges such as Brexit and the ongoing tussle over immigration into the bloc.

In a speech to ambassadors in Paris on Monday [27 AUG] Macron is expected to underscore some of his signature projects, such as a single eurozone budget, a European defence force, the taxation of tech giants and a common policy on migrants.
[...]
When Macron was elected, everyone believed

rlly?

that the wave of populism was going to recede, that with Merkel he was going to form a formidable partnership that nothing could resist," said Manuel Lafont-Rapnouil, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

In a bid to drum up wider support, Macron will embark on a mini-European tour on Tuesday, with a three day visit to Denmark and Finland.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Denmark should debate its EU opt-outs says Prime Minister

archived
"How are GDPR or CLOUD Act relevant to a choice between Ireland or Denmark?"
Where is the successor to that agreement?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Accept class-related health issues and focus on prevention, says policy body

We should accept that people without post-school qualifications have worse health than those with degrees and instead focus on where the most improvements in health can be made, according to government policy advisory group WRR. Rather than focus on closing ["]the gap["] between population groups, efforts should be concentrated on where the most 'potential health improvements' are, the WRR said in a new report.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Facebook Censorship, Mad Ben Nimmo and the Atlantic Council - Craig Murray

Facebook has deleted all of my posts from July 2017 to last week because I am, apparently, a Russian Bot. For a while I could not add any new posts either, but we recently found a way around that, at least for now. To those of you tempted to say "So what?", I would point out that over two thirds of visitors to my website arrive via my posting of the articles to Facebook and Twitter. Social media outlets like this blog, which offer an alternative to MSM propaganda, are hugely at the mercy of these corporate gatekeepers.

EU Moves to Reform WTO as Trade War Escalates

The European Union will host trade ministers from the US and Japan [IMF IMPERIAL BASKET EUR, USD, JPY] in September in Brussels to assess the escalating trade war and how to protect the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

According to two officials with knowledge of the meeting, the gathering will be part of an effort to address China's trade practices in a way that doesn't marginalise the WTO.[?]
[...]
The EU is working on a proposal to amend the composition of the WTO as well as address about a half dozen American complaints.
[...]
In May - a day after French President Emmanuel Macron proposed negotiations to ["]reform["] the WTO - the US, the EU and Japan met in Paris and reiterated their concern with some non-market-oriented measure of some partners.

The trilateral group issued a joint statement citing the need to address "the trade-distorting policies of third countries [?]".
[...]
Since August 2017, the US has blocked nominees to the WTO's appellate body saying it has overstepped its mandate. In October, the seven-member panel will operate with only three remaining members, which is the minimum number of panelists required to sign off on appeals cases.

U.S. steel tariffs meet barrage of criticism at WTO

U.S. President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs met a barrage of criticism at a World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, as the European Union, Japan, Australia and others joined a debate started by China [IMF RESERVE RMB 2016] and Russia.

The EU representative dismissed U.S. assertions that the steps were needed to protect national security, saying Washington was just trying to support its industry, a Geneva trade official said.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said it was positive to see the discussion happening within the WTO's walls, since taking disputes outside greatly increased "the risk of escalation in a confrontation that will have no winners".

Goody. I hope this invidious "reform" movement takes down the IMF, too.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Spain to overturn registration of OTRAS sex workers' union

[Labor Minister Magdalena Valerio] said that although the paperwork was technically correct, the government would not "back a union of an illegal activity that violates the fundamental rights of women and men who, because of poverty or other circumstances, give [!] their bodies for others to abuse them."
[...]
[Concha Borrell, secretary general of OTRAS] criticized the government for "hiding behind the curtain of white, heterosexual and bourgeois feminism [!] to say that seeking labor rights for an impoverished and stigmatized group is an atrocity."

Prostitution in Spain is tolerated [!] but unregulated. Sex workers are not punished for offering paid services, so long as they do not do so in public spaces. The law is focused on human trafficking prostitution children sex slavery.

Online abortion ads: Doctors defend right to inform patients

"There's no reason to hide the fact that we carry out abortions," [gynecologist Nora] Szasz told local public broadcaster Hessenschau.
[...]
The law encroaches on a patient's right to freedom of information, freedom of opinion and the right to self-determination, [the doctors' lawyer Knuth] Pfeiffer argued.
[...]
Abortions in Germany are technically [!] against the law, but there are several circumstances where it isn't prosecuted, including medical necessity, if the pregnancy was the result of a rape, or if the woman is less than 12 weeks pregnant and goes to a counseling session beforehand. Still, publically stating that a clinic carries out an abortion is illegal.

archived
a female's reproductive interests
pretext

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Greece is Back in the Markets - revisited. Nice pic from Llewellyn Consulting that put this in perspective. Y is real GDP X is Years. Reality, not fantasy. pic.twitter.com/cZ6McOwz6Q

— Mark Blyth (@MkBlyth) 31. August 2018

Rebels incarcerated in prisons across the nation declare a nationwide strike in response to the riot in Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in South Carolina. Seven comrades lost their lives when prison officials turned their backs on a riot they provoked. We are demanding humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, sentencing reform and the end of modern day slavery.

• demands
  
• endorsers
  
• support the strike
  
• campaing news & resources

SPUTNIK | US Inmates Strike to End 'Prison Industrial Slave Complex'
"Prisoners in 17 US states are striking on Tuesday, August 21, on the anniversary of the death of Black Panther prison organizer George Jackson."
USA Today | Prisoners nationwide go on strike to protest 'modern-day slavery'
"The final day of the strike -- Sept. 9 -- also carries symbolism. That's the day in 1971 that the Attica Prison riots in New York began, eventually leaving over 40 people dead when police stormed in to re-take the facility."
Al Jazeera |  Why are US prisoners going on strike?, 00:36:28

archive
As #August21 prison strike approaches, repression against organizers escalates
The Lifespan of a Lie
UN Special Rapporteur

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

"Odysseus"

Mr Tsipras drew frequent analogies with the Odyssey, in which the hero was called to deal with the Cyclops, sirens and unruly suitors plotting to take his place - a dig at the opposition New Democracy party, which is leading in opinion polls.* "Ithaca will once again be identified with the end of a modern-day Odyssey," he said. ... In return for the debt relief, Greece will have to maintain primary budget surpluses - excluding debt repayments - in the coming years, and further cuts in pensions may be made in 2019.

esm.europa.eu | Greece emerges from ["]crisis["]

Greece put the crisis behind it on 20 August 2018, when it emerged from the largest financial assistance package in history. On that day, Greece ended its ESM programme - after eight years of receiving loans from the ESM, EFSF, IMF, and euro area countries.

Together, the EFSF and ESM disbursed €204 billion to Greece, and now hold more than half of its public debt. The [STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT] programmes enabled Greece to tighten its public finances, take steps towards repairing and modernizing its economy, and regain the trust of investors, which it had lost at the start of the crisis.
[...]
Conditions on the loans from the EFSF and ESM are much more favourable than those in the market. This saves Greeces around €12 billion every year, or 6.7 percent of its economy: a substantial form of solidarity. This comes on top of a series of debt relief measures the country already received in the past. In 2012, the private sector cut the value of its debt holdings by more than €100 billion. The public sector followed suit later that year, easing the conditions of its loans to Greece. In 2017, the ESM put a further package in place, the so-called short-term measures. This will reduce Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio by an estimated 25 percentage points by 2060, and gross financing needs by 6 percentage points. And more is to follow. The next round of debt relief - the so-called medium-term measures - is expected to slash an additional 30 percentage points off Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio by 2060, and a further 8 percentage points of the country's gross financing needs. None of this official sector debt relief will include any nominal haircuts, or transfers of funds.

Interview with Klaus Regling, ESM Managing Director

I would like to start with enhanced surveillance. What should we expect in practice?

For all EFSF and ESM programmes in Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus, there is monitoring after the end of the programme. The European Commission does it and the ESM also does it in the context of its Early Warning System.  ... Greece has made a commitment in the Eurogroup to continue and complete all key reforms adopted under the ESM programme and to ensure that the objectives of the important reforms under the financial assistance programmes are safeguarded. This statement is followed by specific commitments in the area of fiscal and structural policies, social welfare, financial stability, labour and product markets, privatisation and public administration. All of this is in fully in line with the Eurogroup statement of 22 June. ...

Does this amount to a fourth programme, Mr. Regling?

No, this is not a new programme. This is to make sure that there is no backtracking. ...

Yanis. Yanis Varoufakis | My name is perpetual bond
---
*Frankly, Samaras and Stournaras had the "primary surplus"  game wrapped up in '14. SYRIZA might as well have that dog shed all the fleas, then cruised to glory in '19. But, no.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

RTE, Independent, Examiner, Belfast Telegraph UPDATE (none)

Aviation24.be, tangent
Ryanair website to sell Air Malta flights

Ryanair CCO David O'Brien said:..."This partnership is the latest AGB enhancement as we continue our journey to becoming the 'Amazon of travel.' "

in more ways than one

Times BREAKING D5
Ryanair talks with union due to restart today

[BACKGROUND]
Negotiations under independent mediator Kieran Mulvey are scheduled to restart today in Dublin Airport.
[BACKGROUND]
IALPA-Fórsa is seeking a transparent [!] system for dealing with the issues in dispute, which are tied to seniority.

Ryanair maintains that it has agreed to nine of the 11 demands originally laid down by the union.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

perennial story (union busting), latest venue

Microsoft [ILLINOIS, AMZN, RYANAIR, etc] Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed

The GOP takeover in Washington is one reason [SIC] the Temporary Workers of America, a union of bug testers for Microsoft Corp., gave up on what had been, for people in the software world, an almost unheard of unionization victory, says the group's founder, Philippe Boucher. The ­38-person union successfully organized in 2014, winning the right to negotiate with temp agency Lionbridge Technologies Inc., which provides marketing, testing, and language services. Within a few years, however, Lionbridge had eliminated all their jobs, and the workers say a union-busting complaint they filed in December 2016 with the NLRB against Microsoft dragged on too long. They agreed to settle this spring to get financial relief.

one example of controlling "employment relationship" factors

reference
Amazon Contractor Settles Warehouse Conditions Lawsuit

A group of warehouse workers filed the proposed class action in 2014, claiming Amazon contractor California Cartage Co. and several staffing firms violated the state's minimum wage law and the city's "living wage" statute. ... Amazon.com Inc., which isn't a defendant, declined to immediately comment. The Los Angeles allegations echo other lawsuits in recent years alleging the online giant used contractors that skirted regulations to cut costs. ... In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Amazon contractor Integrity Staffing Solutions, overturning a lower court ruling that would have allowed Amazon warehouse employees to seek pay for time spent waiting in line for security checks. In 2016, a Washington state judge certified a class of potentially thousands of current and former Amazon employees in a lawsuit alleging the company violated state law by not paying them for time spent in security lines during lunch breaks.

Harris vs Quinn, dissent

The government's prerogative  as  employer,  we recently explained, turns not on the  "formal status" of an employee, but on the  nature of the public "interests at stake"; we therefore rejected the view that "the Government's  broad  authority in managing its affairs  should apply with diminished force" to contract employees whose "direct employment relationship" is with another party.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Times | Ryanair dispute ends following marathon talks with pilots' union

Shares in Ryanair rose by nearly 7 per cent in early trading in Dublin on Thursday after it confirmed it had reached a deal with trade union Fórsa in talks over the pilots' dispute at the airline. The agreement followed a 22 hour negotiating session which began on Wednesday morning and concluded on Thursday morning. The proposed deal will now go to ballot, with a recommendation for acceptance from Fórsa and its Ryanair pilot representatives. No details of the agreement have been publicly disclosed....

Examiner | Agreement reached between pilots and Ryanair

Ryanair said that it will the proposals to its Board "in due course" after pilots have voted and signed the agreement. [...] The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) have welcomed today's announcement, saying it was "relieved" and that the agreement "will stand for the long-term". ... "We are hoping that both the pilot's ballot and the Ryanair Board will support the stipulations reached by the negotiating parties as soon as possible," he said.

Independent | [The Costs of Doing Business?]

• Ryanair to axe second free carry-on bag for 'Non-Priority' customers
  
• From November 1st, only Priority Boarding customers may take two free carry-on bags onto Ryanair flights
  
• Agreement reached between Fórsa and Ryanair in pilots' dispute
  

The pilots want a more transparent system to decide who gets first call on base transfers, holidays and promotions. They are arguing for the system to be based on how long they are in the job. [...] Ryanair passengers have suffered hundreds of flight cancellations this summer because of protests by pilots over slow progress in negotiating collective labour agreements, hurting average fares at Europe's largest low-cost carrier. [...] Ryanair employs more than 4,000 pilots, with around 350 of them based in Ireland.

Belfast Telegraph | Ryanair and pilots' union reach agreement after 22 hours of talks

[BACKGROUND]The dispute over conditions, base transfers and annual leave, resulted in five days of strike action by its Ireland-based pilots. [BACKGROUND]

Aviation24.be | Ryanair reaches agreement with FORSA, the union that is representing Irish based pilots

archived 14 Aug - 20 Aug
uh oh

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Some ambivalence
Northern Ireland agri firm joins May on Africa trade mission

During the trip, the Prime Minister will set out how new partnerships between the UK and Africa can ["]add value["] to the UK economy, create new market opportunities for British businesses, and boost jobs and prosperity for the benefit of all.

Humble potato 'must go to Africa', Germany insists and other noble ventures

The firm is in talks to acquire at least seven companies in Europe, Africa, Asia, the US, the UK and Central America after securing €118m (£107m) in long-term funding, comprised of €40m (£36m) from the EIB, with commitments from Ulster Bank and Danske Bank.

The deal was the first support for the agri-business sector on the island of Ireland under the Investment Plan for Europe, in which the European Commission and EIB are strategic partners.

27.08.18 CACHED: Irish Times | 'No-deal' Brexit poses a real threat to North's trade with Republic

archived Devenish Nutrition
"a purpose-built Global Innovation Centre in Dowth, County Meath."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

AHA! Another clever ploy to undermine patriotism led by the false president and petrodollar.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

The King's Two Bodies - J. W. Mason

As they and their aficionados in the media and in economics departments are fond of telling us, central bankers know things about the economy that normal people, inevitably overwhelmed by such complexity, cannot even begin to fathom. ... Central bankers themselves have always been aware ... that what they sell to the public as a quasi-natural science is in fact nothing more than intuitive empathy, an ability acquired by long having moved in the right circles to sense how capital will feel, good or bad, about what a government is planning to do in relation to financial markets. (Economic theory is best understood as an ontological reification of capitalist sensitivities represented as natural laws of a construct called `the economy'.)

Team Mueller Victories

Manafort: VA jury verdicts 8 counts tax evasion and banking fraud guilty, 10 counts conspiracy related tax evasion deadlocked (declared mistrial). Jury reviewed 388 documents of 400,000 seized and testimony of 27 state's witnesses. Though ignored by press, mistrial and double-jeopardy risk pose problematic, if unnecessary, new trials on the evidence. Manafort likely to appeal on technicals. D.C. trial on FARA violations next month.

Cohen: accepted a plea bargain on 8 counts total --tax evasion, banking fraud, and an FEC finance violation (a $130,000 NDA payment to Daniels not to "influence" the '16 election outcome). Mueller reportedly seized 3.7M documents in the raids. In exchange for leniency which will still keep in prison for the remainder of his life, he confessed that Trump directed him to pay off Daniels. According to headlines, the two conspired to violate their FEC campaign finance limits. Cohen (51) posted bond.

Al Capone is laughing.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Good news for Anyone Buttrump 2020
U.S. economy expected to slow, damaged by trade war: Reuters poll

Despite the threat from trade tensions, the Federal Reserve is still forecast to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in September and once more in December, taking the fed funds rate to 2.25 to 2.50 percent by the end of 2018. For next year, though, economists forecast only two rate increases compared with three suggested by the U.S. central bank's own "dot plot" projections.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

And shame on much of the Sputnik Left for staying silent about the Winner case because her disclosures didn't fit their own fragile narrative about the 2016 elections...

hmm. Would that be "political advertising" is not the exclusive right of real US personas? Or "meddling and interference" is not a crime? Or Russians impersonating real US personas did not sabotage US balloting in the general election of 2016?

Nader did.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

I saw that movie! did you see that movie? The Untouchables. Here's the re-make ... twofucking years and HOW MANY US DOLLAR? late.

The bookkeeper

archived baby carriage
IRS

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

o, look, more extra-marital SEX, gag orders, and unwitting co-conspirators-to-defraud-the-US-government legal theory from the US Deptmartment of Justice.
Denying Russian Spy Work, Butina Seeks Pretrial Release

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson [ARRAIGNMENT] ordered Butina detained without bond [SOLITARY CONFINEMENT] pending trial, apparently persuaded by expert testimony that Butina posed a flight risk and could seek shelter at the Russian embassy or in a diplomatic car to evade court appearances and prosecution.

Both judges have been indispensable in suppressing evidence too! the reporter does not mention.

Prosecutors have accused Butina of covertly cultivating relationships with U.S. politicians and infiltrating political organizations like [ONLY] the National Rifle Association [NRA] to bolster the Kremlin's long-term agenda in the country.
[...]
There is also no allegation that Butina is a Russian intelligence asset or that she engaged in illegal activities in the United States, according to the brief, only that she failed to notify the Justice Department about her activities [FARA VIOLATION].

Prosecutors say that Butina's activities were directed by a Russian official, believed to be former Russian Senator Alexander Torshin. ... The government also claims that Butina viewed sex as part of her covert mission and offered to trade sex for a position with a special-interest organization [NRA]. But Friday's motion claims the only evidence the government has presented so far to back up its claims came from a single, 3-year-old text message exchange with a longtime friend who often drove her car.

"I don't know what you owe me for this insurance they put me through the wringer," the man, identified only as DK [UNWITTING CO-CONSPIRATOR], texted to Butina after renewing her car insurance and getting the vehicle inspected.

"Sex. Thank you so much. I have nothing else at all. Not a nickel to my name," Butina responded.
[...]
Citing the [US PROECUTORs'] letter and her prior warnings about trying the case in the media, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan [TRIAL] ordered the parties Friday to say by Sept. 9 why she should [NOT] issue a gag order.

Because everyone knows US national security interest in the NRA trade secrets and liberating "democratic processes" across the world.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Sharpest dull tools attempt reciprocal surgery

The proclamations allow relief from the quotas on steel from South Korea [UNIFICATION], Brazil [SOYBEANS] and Argentina [DEBT SERVICE] and on aluminum from Argentina, the department said in a statement.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

The Long, Lucrative Right-wing Grift Is Blowing Up in the World's Face

He is, in fact, something far more dangerous: a confused old man who believes what the TV tells him.

The Long, Lucrative Right-wing Grift Is Blowing Up in the World's Face

The most important major divide among Congressional Republicans isn't between moderates and conservatives, or establishment and anti-establishment politicians, but between those who know that their agenda is hugely unpopular and that they have to force it through under cover of darkness, and the louder, dumber ones who believe their own bullshit. And for those loud, dumb members, egged on by a media apparatus that has trained its audience to demand the impossible and punish the sell-outs who can't deliver, those more tactical members are cowards and RINOs.

This is how Mitch McConnell ended up so hugely unpopular and despised in his own party that he attracted a high-profile primary challenger during the period when he was doing more than any other person in Washington to thwart the Democratic Party. This is how and why a deal to cut social insurance benefits with support from a Democratic president repeatedly failed to happen despite President Obama's best efforts. And this is why Republicans couldn't repeal Obamacare. The marginally cannier guys thought up a plausible legislative strategy for forcing through an unpopular proposal with minimum oversight, and the House Freedom Caucus guys played a key role in blowing it up because it didn't repeal Obamacare enough.

Ian Welsh has an article where he takes the German foreign minister's recent statement about building an alternative payment system at face value:

When Will The US Lose Control Of the World Payments System? | Ian Welsh

This adds Europe to a group which includes Russia and China, along with virtually every nation who has been subject to US sanctions.

However, I'd argue that this indicates the exact opposite. We have a payment system that is not controlled by the Americans. It is called SWIFT. Currently the Americans have access to all the SWIFT transaction data, justified by some fluff about terrorism, but really because they were accessing it anyway and our great leaders shied away from starting any conflict with our Hegemon. Now, since the proposal is to have a plan to build an alternative payment system instead of revocing the SWIFT data access treaty I can only conclude that there still is no appetite for a conflict. Here is a German text by Norbert Häring that makes the same point. He also mentions that what is proposed on defense may be couched in anti-Trump language, but is in fact exactly what Trump demanded. Taking more "responsibility" by byuing more Mil stuff.

Vanuatu Quake: No mailboxes injured
"The shallow quake's epicenter was located just a few miles (km) off the northern tip of Ambrym, a sparsely populated island."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

DPRK continues to dismantle missile launch site, but no signs of any moves to scrap nuclear weapons

"As Pyongyang has taken actions on denuclearisation, it is likely now likely to demand a reciprocal action and compensation from Washington," he said, noting that the ball is now in Washington's court.

China tells South Korean delegation that it must be allowed to partake in end-of-war declaration

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Australia braces for new prime minister after bitter coup

The unrest is the latest chapter in a turbulent decade for Australian politics, with no leader managing to serve out a full term since former Prime Minister John Howard lost the 2007 election. If a new leader takes office Friday, it will be the seventh prime minister in 11 years in a remarkable revolving door at Canberra's parliament house. [... Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton] has made clear already that he would slash the migrant intake to counter population pressures and has not ruled out withdrawing Australia from the Paris climate agreement.

The Mortality of Australian Prime Ministers

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Zimbabwe Court Hears Opposition Party's Election Challenge

The case was being televised live by the state broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, but the courts ruled that the proceedings could not be livestreamed on social media. Journalists and others accredited by the court were following proceedings from a giant television screen on the court premises, but they were not permitted to carry mobile phones or laptops.

#Zim Constitutional Court Petition - Take Aways Ahead of the Decision

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Iran FM clears up seven ambiguities in Caspian Sea legal regime

5- What happens if there would be no agreement in the future regarding the seabed or sub-seabed? What would happen to other agreements already reached?

If the baselines and the way they are marked are not specified, then the parts of the convention which were agreed upon and signed by the five states will be inevitably suspended. According to the existing legislation, Iran will protect its proclaimed 20% share until the baselines are specified. During this period, Iran will not allow any country to explore and exploit energy resources [in this area]. In this 20-percent region, we do not have ownership rights, but just governing rights.

archived
splitting the seabed
the greatest disappointment for Trump

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

PREPOSTEROUS! There are no final days in baseball.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Our Wold Data
A collection of extreme econometric exercises, "visualized" estimations, not counts, with warnings (a customary disclosure of a researcher's data collection and data "transformation" methods). These do for each charted topic (data sources, not formulae). The "Empirical View" (of the graphic designers.har) for each topic offers summary inference ("How to Read") about the visualized data. All together, the collections represents a dramatic dedication to this project (quantifying world history) by a couple of authors, dependent on prior art.

The collection in defense of Steve Pinker (imagine my surprise), "Ethnographic and Archaeological Evidence on Violent Deaths," for example, epitomizes "bias" inherent in econometric literature and um iconography --from population sample size and selection to units of measurement.

This operation is gonna make a mint!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

The destructive aftermath of the Pyeongchang Olympics stirs another controversy

The most controversial venues for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Alpensia and Yongpyong resorts, have left a giant scar on Mt. Gariwang, in Gangwon Province. A lush forest of trees over 500 years was cleared for the resorts' construction. Environmentalists have called for conservations efforts while business owners have called for the resorts to remain to attract tourism. Furthermore, with Typhoon Soulik set to sweep the Korean Peninsula on Aug. 23-24, experts are concerned about the potential for destructive landslides.

Consumer group seeks provisional seizures of BMW assets amid class action lawsuit

Gu Bon-seung, the lawyer representing the association, stated, "The number of claimants in this class action is growing exponentially, and if we win, the damages are likely to amount to several tens of billions of won. Accordingly, we are seeking the provisional seizure of assets to secure our rights as creditors."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

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EDO | Map of Current Droughts in Europe
YLE | Drought-hit Finnish farmers won't get EU aid, agriculture union says
"[EU commissioner of agriculture, Phil Hogan] said that he hopes Finnish lawmakers take the EU decision into consideration when they begin discussing emergency agricultural funding which will be settled when parliament hammers out next year's budget."
Newsweek | Reindeer Herders Ask For Emergency Funding To Save Animals From Starvation
"[Chair of chair of the Swedish Sami Association Niila] Inga says the $132 million in financial aid that was commissioned in July for drought-affected farmers did not include help for the 4,600 Sami reindeer owners."
Emergency loans for drought-hit Welsh farmers blasted as 'wholly inadequate'
"Unlike Scotland's loan scheme, which will offer all farmers 90% loans from early October, the Welsh version will pay 70% loans from December - and only to the 10% of farmers who do not receive their 2018 BPS cheque on time."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Air pollution causes `huge' reduction in intelligence, study reveals | Environment | The Guardian

The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education.

Not really happy with this. Equating intelligence and education is pretty iffy.

Fishy Matter in Canada Dupes Consumers

'Widespread' seafood mislabelling at Canadian retailers, restaurants | CTV News |

When consumers buy butterfish or white tuna at a grocery store they may instead receive a fish dubbed "the laxative of the sea," according to an investigation into seafood fraud that found nearly half of seafood samples it tested at Canadian grocery stores and restaurants were wrongly labelled.

"The results show widespread mislabelling," said Julia Levin, seafood fraud campaigner for advocacy group Oceana Canada, which conducted the study.

It collected 382 samples of snapper, sea bass, sole and other fish that other studies indicate are often substituted. They chose samples from 177 retailers and restaurants in five Canadian cities.

Scientists at Tru-ID, a Guelph, Ont.-based lab, used DNA barcoding to determine the species of fish. That was compared to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Fish List, which contains acceptable market names for various fish species.

They found 44 per cent of the fish were not what the label claimed -- 52 per cent of the time in restaurants and 22 per cent of the time at retailers, including grocery stores and markets. Snapper, yellowtail and butterfish were mislabelled 100 per cent of the time.

'Sapere aude'

I've been refining an analogy that took my fancy many years ago. Libraries of law are like libraries of programing codes. The base of the former are of course are natural languages, the latter are artificial,(mostly) hexidecimal expressions. The least amusing but most necessary phase of their proper --intended-- composition is thorough "debugging" definitions and applications by two dudes or a dude and a machine: Communication reveals "run-time" errors.

This dude sez

What remains to be seen -- and will largely determine the outcome -- is whether judicial conservatives align with Republicans (as they usually do) or defend the states' rights doctrine at the heart of their legal thinking.

as if the US Constitution, supreme law of the land, neither exists or applies. That is an error which produces cascading errors in the argument which follows. The Constitution defines both US Congress and US judiciary bodies like C empowers ECMAScript "empowers" idiosyncratic npm installations of wtf.

The transient lives of individual members who personify the first and comparative permanence of individual members of the second is neither as interesting nor instrumental as the authorities assigned to the variable containing the "values" of the person. That is R/W and overwrite permissions, if you will, assigned by the US Constitution to the particular "user group" to which the individual belongs.

Artcle I supersedes all amendments to the US Constitution by enactments. (eg. Sec. 8, 16th Amendment spuriously cited by the author above.) This authority pretty much castrates the 10th Amendment when exercised by either DINO or RINO legislators in practice or in court.

The author summarizes:

The central argument of the lawsuit is that the new law amounts to the federal government illegally usurping a core power of the states -- deciding how to raise and spend money.

But the Constitution provides no such "core power" to the states. The US Congress giveth, and the US Congress taketh away. Thus it has always been, it seems, as when Congress collude with presidents exploit the Posse Comitatus Act to prosecute war on labor unions or escort black children to school.

Artcle III supersedes all laws enacted by interpretation of their application. However, judicial members have no police powers, people forget, except to themselves. The rule and custom precedent yield: The "the heart of their legal thinking" --every justice's rationale-- is to conserve authority within his or her status defined by Art. III since Justice Marshall in concert with US --not states'--legislators who establish "parts" of the branch and appropriate funds for the "parts" to perform its certain duty. In a manner of speaking, judges are cursed to debug errors of law long after a "release".

There lays the fatal flaw in design of all "representative" republican governments, I think. There seems to be no reliable editing power in human being or desire in the polity to fashion such a "tool". I once read, the average life of a "modern" constitution is 17 years. But who has kept track of all accumulated laws and regulations, or "algorithms" in living beside Solzhenitsyn? We each have favorites wherever we are. One way or another jobs are saved or created though to satisfy most dependents. But a great number of rules upon rules and within laws proliferate and effect such incoherence in society, the industry of government makes no sense or seems to have no purpose until the whole enterprise "crashes." Perhaps this condition is natural and inevitable, the only limiting factor requiring one's attention.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Seizing land would send South Africa down the wrong path: U.S.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the ANC has followed a "willing-seller, willing-buyer" model under which the government buys white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Progress has been slow and most South Africans believe something has to be done to accelerate change, providing it does not hurt the economy or stoke unrest.

Unpacking expropriation without compensation in South Africa

The story of land dispossession in South Africa, as argued by Hendricks, Ntsebeza and Helliker can neither be understood nor resolved without addressing race, in so far as blackness still coincides and socially denotes poverty and is linked to an identity of landlessness and dispossession as opposed to an identity of property and wealth held by whites. The history of land dispossession itself dates back to the expansion of the Dutch colonial settlement in the Cape in 1652 through the Dutch East India Company with Jan Van Riebeeck at its helm. The imposition of early settler colonial rule was marked by Dutch land occupation and fierce resistance waged by the indigenous inhabitants of the Cape area, the Khoi San. ...

European Holocaust had Roots in Africa, Now Namibia is Suing Germany

Now the Namibian people are suing Germany in a court in New York City. It appears they have had enough. Enough of waiting, of humiliation. For years there has been no compensation to the families of the victims, and no serious compensation to the nation.

For years, the Namibian government has been negotiating at least for the return of all skulls of the local people, which were used in German laboratories and by German scientists to prove the superiority of the white race, as well as 'sub-humanness' of other races, including the blacks. German colonialists decapitated countless Herero and Nama people, and at least 300 heads were transported to German laboratories for 'scientific research'. Many were later 'discovered' in the Medical History Museum of the Charite hospital in Berlin, and at Freiburg University. Insults were added to injury. Until now, the German settlers enjoy a repulsively lavish lifestyle on land that was stolen from the Herero and Nama people. Many descendants of the victims of the Southwest African holocaust are now living in overcrowded slums ...

Happy Black History Y3 D235

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Looking for an European nation that would accept these eleven persons picked up in the North Sea from a sinking yacht ...

Vanmiddag zijn de reddingboten van KNRM IJmuiden, Noordwijk en Zandvoort betrokken geweest bij de redding van 11 Denen die door een bui hun zinkende schip moesten verlaten. De IJmuider reddingboot heeft de opvarenden in goede gezondheid aan de wal gebracht. Het schip is gezonken. pic.twitter.com/urOz2EuyMH

— KNRM (@KNRM) August 25, 2018

Dutch KNRM saves 11 Danes, sailing ship sunk off coast by Zandvoort

This afternoon the KNRM Noordwijk was called for a large-scale rescue operation off the coast of Zandvoort. There was a Danish sailing ship sinking and had 11 people on board. 2 Coast Guard ships, 1 Coast Guard helicopters and 3 KNRM boats are heading towards the ship.

The 11 Danes who had to leave their sinking ship 'Svartloga' [vessel timeline / latest position] by a storm were rescued by the KNRM. They were in a life raft. The Lifeboat from IJmuiden has brought the passengers on board in good health. The sailing ship has sunk  

○ More immigrants employed in public sector eldercare than ethnic Danes | Copenhagen Post |

'Sapere aude'

This has got to be the weirdest syndication SNAFU in the annals of news reportage. Publishing Texas Juneteenth PR two months late.

I suppose it fitting since union soldiers didn't "liberate" slaves in Texas until two years after the OFFICIAL, FINAL emancipation proclamation was signed 1 January 1863. (Congress had passed in rapid succession two prior "confiscation" acts which emancipated slaves --them that could run: first, to seize assets of the confederates; second, to induce enlistment by the chattel into the union army behind enemy lines.)

From the selection offered, twit informants appear unaware of these facts. huh.

And, no. Juneteenth is not widely celebrated by either descendants of slaves or descendants of slave-holders in the USA. It's a decidedly um regional curiosity wrapped around family reunions.

I truly cannot imagine what possessed Independent.ie managing editors to field this item, but I sure hope Dave Chapelle makes some light of it when he gets to Dublin. Hell, I hope he screens "Clayton Bigsby" or works out an original "mammy" musical tribute. He truly has a gift for irony.

The fake "Stewart" I've got no use for.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

must be something in the air this week ... brain cancer?

Robert Reich: Don't Just Impeach Trump--ANNUL[?!]His Presidency and Becoming Serfs in which "economist Richard Wolff" white-washes the 19th century: the Long Depression (which pretty much galvanized "progressive" silver-bugs), civil war, and crash of 1830 to romanticize a "collapse of capitalism" (New Deal middle-class tragedy, "angry working class").

Simile Suicide of the Week

"Finally, the Chinese, their politicians being not that different from ours, will have to posture in return and retaliate," he said. "They're already targeting our farm products. It is chaos. The United States, when we were a young country, was accused by the British and the Europeans of stealing their technology and intellectual property. ...

iirc, PRC central only began collecting personal income tax when it joined the WTO. However, LBJ and the Democratic Party majority (xls) in the odious were first to cut um traditional marginal income tax bracket for the wealthy --from 91% to 77% (1964) then to 70% (1965)-- after declaring "war" on poverty. It's been a down hill race in the uniparty to cut deeper rates and deductions ever since.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Look what I stumbled on in the depths of the somethingawful forums:

Cornered and desperate, will Assad unleash a catastrophic chemical weapon attack against Israel? | Daily Mail Online

The great fear of the international community is that Assad could try to inflame tensions between the Arab states and Israel by firing his arsenal of Scud-C missiles, each one tipped with chemical weaponry, at Israeli cities such as Haifa or Tel Aviv.

More worrying still is the prospect that Assad could use Novichok -- the deadliest nerve agent yet developed by man -- which the regime is believed to have amassed in large quantities.

From 2012, I apologize for the Daily Mail.

Interpol On the Lookout for Bush Crafter

○ Dutch National Police
○ Europe's Most Wanted Fugitive
○ After dna match suspect gone missing

DNA match after a long, long investigation.

Suspected of involvement in the death of 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen in 1998.

'Sapere aude'

NPR | Facebook Shuts Down Hundreds Of Accounts Backed By Iran, Russia

SELYUKH: So this is definitely the first announcement of this kind of magnitude about a campaign out of Iran from Facebook. To add to that, actually, Twitter also followed with its own suspension of almost 300 accounts - also coordinated manipulation, also allegedly from Iran. But to your question, Facebook says it got tipped off on a key part of this by cybersecurity firm FireEye. And FireEye, in its own report on this, says that this was a network of accounts essentially, pushing policies that are favorable to Iran - you know, narratives that include anti-Saudi themes, anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian themes, support for specific U.S. policies favorable to Iran like the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. And FireEye points out that what all this demonstrates is that as much as our discourse here in the U.S. has focused on Russia and how its influence campaigns may have factored into the 2016 election, we're now seeing new actors - nation-states - getting into this world of Internet-driven, social-media-driven influence operations to shape political discourse.

IOZ | The #Resistance Has a New Grift, and Liberals Are the Perfect Mark

The liberals who fall for this sort of thing, who abandon all skepticism of the military and intelligence entities in America as soon as the wrong party gets into the White House, are only partly to blame. They are victims, really, of our deranged national culture of politics as consumer choice, party as lifestyle and preference. They now find themselves atomized, without any route for collective action beyond chipping 10 bucks into the crowdfunding bucket; they can evaluate politics only superficially, and so anyone who says bad things about bad guy number one is good enough.

Trump--for all his obvious intellectual deficiency--is a far sharper judge of character. He is a con man, and he can spot a con. He has judged these men with an almost admirable precision. He knows how badly they want to be on TV.

archived
A US censor 'gigs'
"committing 'influence' with a telecommunications device"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Finishing A Feature Film in Japan With Crowdfunding

TOKYO - July 16, 2018 Filmsnoir Motion Pictures and Fusion For Peace Productions are proud to share their rewards-based crowdfunding campaign for the independent motion picture STAY, shot in Tokyo by award-winning filmmaker Darryl Wharton-Rigby. The campaign seeks to raise 1500000\ ($15K) to complete final post-production in preparation for distribution and to raise awareness of their collective efforts to change the landscape of the Japanese Film Industry, as Wharton-Rigby is only the second African American* to produce a feature film in Japan, in its 100+ years history. ...

DONE!

*first: Aaron Woolfolk. The Harimaya Bridge, 2009 (trailer)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.