I wanted to thank readers for indulging me during a slow news period with my Google and tech frustrations. It appears that one of my big Google issues is a Javascript problem, which I have yet to track down since I am attempting, with mixed success, to have a holiday. But the specific suggestions were very helpful and I appreciate your interest and support.
Cat Finds His Way Home After Being Accidentally Sold With a Mattress Gawker
United Airlines Feels Internet’s Wrath Over Photo Of Dog On Rainy Tarmac Consumerist
Gollum is a pretty vulnerable guy the electron and the bit (furzy mouse)
2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence MIT Technology Review (David L)
Fingerprint ‘cloned from photos’ BBC (David L). Not sure I believe this since there are people whose fingerprints are so shallow that standard ink fingerprints aren’t usable for legal registration purposes. This pol may conversely have atypically dep fingerprintes that are unusually legible. But anything that throws sand in the gears of biometric IDs is all for the good.
FDA approves Roche Ebola test for emergency use Reuters (EM)
BRICs Busted as Stocks Diverge Most on Record on Outlook Bloomberg
News from Europe continues to deteriorate Bill Mitchell
Fears for fresh Greek crisis after poll called Financial Times
Greek Patience With Austerity Nears Its Limit New York Times
Various scenarios for the national elections in Greece failed evolution
Ukraine/Russia
The Ruble Is Crashing Business Insider
Obama touts ‘strategic patience’ against Putin Financial Times. Premature to be taking a victory lap.
What does online shopping have to do with hyperinflation? FT Alphaville
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Berlin is secretly feeding the U.S. data on Germans Washington Post
Leaked CIA Documents Bruce Schneier
Feds Investigate New York Assembly Speaker Over Outside Pay Gawker. OMG, going after Sheldon Silver?!?
New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm set to resign from office after meeting with Boehner: Report International Business Times
NYPD Soft Coup
Police Respect Squandered in Attacks on de Blasio New York Times. The Grey Lady finally clears her throat.
N.Y.P.D. Officers Earn Disrespect – Except One Of Them Moon of Alabama
Head of New York City Police Union Notoriously Hostile to Reform BrandonJ, Firedoglake
Sanders names ‘deficit owl’ his chief economist Washington Examiner
High-Level Fed Committee Overruled Carmen Segarra’s Finding on Goldman ProPublica
SEC Spares UBS a Worse Fate Barrons
Oil Drops From 5-Year Low as U.S. Stockpiles Seen Adding to Glut Bloomberg
Investors Struggle to Get Into Private Equity Funds Wall Street Journal
Court Filing Illuminates Morgan Stanley Role in Lending New York Times
Five Reasons for Slow Growth Project Syndicate (David L). Notice #4 is basically corruption, but his remedies don’t address that.
Class Warfare
5 Most Economically Vulnerable Groups of Aging Americans Who Need Social Security Alternet
Homeless Numbers Up In De Blasio’s First Year WNYC. Buries the lede. The current level is a record.
Forgive the debt or earn the wrath of its victims Financial Times (David L)
Antidote du jour:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
116 comments
Comments are closed.
re: today’s anecdote
A happy holiday to all, and a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year to everyone, of every stripe. :-*
HAPPY CHANUKAH!
(Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Jewish zebra??)…
Wow, that’s a Chanukah miracle indeed!
Happy holiday to everyone here at nakedcapitalism and l’chaim!
No, but thanks for bring it to my attention; for I missed it entirely.
Happy Hanukah to you.
Do I dare? Yes, why not.
OMG!!!! It’s a Zionist Zebra! Barry, please pick up the courtesy phone. Oncle Bibi’s on the line.
I would enjoy seeing a zebra with Buddhist Dharmachakra stripes. I guess there might be a downside, since it would look a bit like a bulls eye. But since a bulls eye on a target doesn’t really help lions when they are hunting, it probably wouldn’t be very troublesome for the zebra.
It takes an extra twist, but if we read our Zebra as a Psi for the Schrodinger wave equation, we can get to the Buddhist two truths, dharma comrade!
om shanti
Om namu shivaya! I am the Alpha and the Omega.
I’ve seen cats with a bull’s-eye on their flanks, but I’m not so sure that zebra is plausible.
I believe that variety of zebra was bred by the South African tribe recently proven to be genetically as well as culturally Jewish, for ritual purposes. The Lemba:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8550614.stm
Otherwise, I’m forced to conclude that the Judea and Samarra group are aiming very far afield in their presumptions.
“OMG, going after Sheldon Silver?!?”
Though shall not utter his name aloud, even gawker knows this. I thought Preet was Chuck’s boy?
Southern belle Lindsay Graham welcomes new Congress leader: “Graham told Netanyahu that “the Congress will follow your lead.”
“Is it bribery or extortion that turns U.S. politicians into compliant fools?”
Lindsay Graham puts the “low” in “low hanging fruit.” As a matter of fact, I sincerely doubt there is ANY fruit that has EVER hung any lower….
You are obviously forgetting Lindsey’s predecessor, Strom Thurmond– a notorious lech who, according to the book by fellow Carolinian Marilyn Thompson, had back seat sex with a death row female prisoner on the way to the chair. He was governor at the time. As a six year old I sat on Strom’s lap as we rode the Capitol subway during a family visit. Some memories are hard to wipe out.
Lindsey is an embarrassment, but the bookers at the broadcasting networks can’t seem to get enough of him. We blame them.
And in a another proof that there is no God, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, born to a 16-year-old black servant of Thurmond’s family, quietly and politely waited until after the segregationist Thurmond died before revealing publicly that Thurmond was her biological father (and statutory rapist of her mother).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essie_Mae_Washington-Williams
He was certainly a living example of the adage “only the good die young”.
This was not exactly a secret and her revelation merely served as confirmation. Plus there’s the part from Wikipedia that you don’t bring up.
I’m not defending Thurmond, a horrible man, but black/white relations in the South are complicated. At the end of his life the diehard segregationist became reconciled to the civil rights struggle.
Thanks for the interesting info Carolinian. I believe that having sex with a woman on her way to the chair is rape too
I think maybe you should go read Marilyn Thompson’s book. The truth is you have no idea whether either encounter was consensual but are just scoring easy points.
As to black/white relations in the South being complicated, try some Faulkner, not Oprah. And while I’m not putting myself forward as any kind of expert on the subject, it’s just possible that race relations are a lot more mature in the South at this point in time than they are elsewhere in the country. After all we had our Selma fifty years ago. When is the NYPD going to have theirs?….
I think that you misunderstand me. I did find the info on his out-of-wedlock daughter interesting. As far as having sex with a woman on her way to her execution, this is wrong on too many levels. For one thing, he was the governor at the time and her fate was in his wandering hands. Do you truly believe that consent by the woman is something that can be established in such a situation? It’s just an incredibly effed up thing.
As far as race relations in the South being far more complicated and nuanced than most Northerners understand, I agree. I spent enough time in the South with the Army, and met enough Southerners both black and white, to know that.
All in all, sorry. I didn’t want you to feel defensive. I mean it.
How is reading a book that says I have no idea if my father raped my mother going to clear things up?
The bar is pretty gosh darn low when we’re supposed to applaud a guy for taking care of the child he created. It should be a given that he had a responsibility to “take an interest” in her upbringing. I guess we should also be impressed that his family didn’t sell her mother while she was pregnant. What great people!
The “Lynchacrat” reconciled to civil rights later on in his life since the b@stard knew as Wallace did that it was the only way he could get re-elected when black people could fully exercise the franchise; However, a hell of a lot of black folks died at end of a rope at the hands of white people (relations that were rather black and white and not so complex) when Thurmond was a non-believer and he was saying that civil rights was a waste of time because you couldn’t change a man’s heart with legislation.
LOL!
Miss Lindsey is the political version of Ernest Hemingway, with all that minly fightin-talk….
Huckleberry Closetcase certainly knows how to rattle sabres, being an ex-JAG ‘n all-but that’s about it.
Don’t underestimate the damage that a Senatrix Extraordinaire can inflict with a walloping of the purse…
Even the Times’ admonishment of the police is remarkably tone deaf. I’m sure the public would be elated, if the police were held responsible for their mistakes in ways the rest of us are. As for being jerked around by your boss, welcome to a work-a-day existence! Have to follow misguided rules and policies (which in this case just so happens to mean “reasonable restraints on the use of violence”)? Then the later suggestion that police, simply by being police, deserve respect… no. Just no. I am legally obligated to obey certain demands and ethically obligated to be civil, but respect is a different ball of wax. Again, this whole argument stems from the assumption that police are special snowflakes.
Uahsenaa, it was certainly tone deaf, which is why I appreciated Yves’ summary so much. Ahem, says the NY Times. Ahem.
These “special snowflakes” as you put it are working hard to make NYC less safe for everyone. I don’t call cops. My friends don’t call cops. And we’ve all been in situations where we had to make some hard decisions about whether or not to do so. That’s also something I wish was addressed more.
In one of the criminology classes the professor noted that recent immigrants to the US often failed to use police services because of the extreme risk calling police entailed in their home countries–and that attitude “unjustly” influenced their behavior in the land of the free. Nice to see that common sense attitude taking hold among the native US population now.
They should try being teachers.
Indeed. If I behaved toward my students in a manner even remotely approaching the way police comport themselves, I would not only lose my job but be publicly vilified as well.
I think I posted this here before, but it seems to me that many conservative mayors and governors are reaping what they’ve sown with the police over the past few years. (Apparently DeBlasio didn’t get this memo and is fighting with the NYPD…)
During all the hype over austerity and tax cutting nonsense, in many areas police and firefighters were exempt from the budget axe. Teachers, public servants of other sorts, and all the rest were on the chopping block, full stop. Now the cops think they are above it all, and they are armed.
That didn’t stop the protesters in Berkeley from taking care of the provocateurs in their midst.
Protesters in such situations would have to take care of provocateurs very hard and fast enough to prevent the provocateurs from drawing gun and shooting.
RE: Crashing ruble and falling oil prices
Mike Whitney’s take on the situation from Counterpunch:
“Bottom line: Falling oil prices and the plunging ruble are not some kind of free market accident brought on by oversupply and weak demand. That’s baloney. They’re part of a broader geopolitical strategy to strangle the Russian economy, topple Putin, and establish US hegemony across the Asian landmass. It’s all part of Washington’s plan to maintain its top-spot as the world’s only superpower even though its economy is in irreversible decline.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/29/irreversible-decline/
So, what’s the plan for the Bakken when the layoffs start? My guess is that Giuliani’s “consulting” company will get the nod to provide “security.” Tangled webs and all that.
BRICs busted as well.
Another triumphal parade through the Victory Arch for our imperial currency army, which used to be restrained by that barbarous relic, but no more.
Behold the fury.
(I think a global reserve joint-sovereign currency can be printed at will and should be not for just one exceptional party, but for peace and all nations).
I think the propaganda mills are working overtime to shore up the failing American empire. Making the BRICS look bad is just part of the scheme.
How do you think all those countries feel about getting continually financially screwed by a now admitted torturer?
Change is afoot. It is not a matter of it but when and it can’t happen soon enough for me.
Agreed this is a spin-meister fest.
China and Russia have already pulled the plug on USD as evidenced by snub of petrodollars. Just last week PRC announced deal with neighbor Nepal to permit bilateral financial transactions without going via USD.
Japan pulled the plug on TPP.
Taiwan is island trade haven for yankees but my sources say TPP/TISA is far from a done deal there, so long as Taipei is closer to Beijing and Shanghai than LA, SF, NY and DC!
I’ll believe the plug is pulled on TPP if/when I see TPP die. Till then, none of us should let down our guard or let up the pressure.
Yes, Japan wouldn’t go along with the U.S.’s proposed murder-suicide pact version of the TPP (which would decimate politically important industries such as agriculture and farming in Japan) but it’s always possible that the U.S. will come back with a slightly less awful version along with geopolitical sweeteners which Japan (and the other Asia Pacific countries) might just be stupid enough to go with.
So if people don’t mind, please do consider firing off an email or a phone call to your congresscritter’s office saying that trade deals are polling booth poison. It really can’t hurt and could well help a lot.
Worth reading for Whitney’s debunking of certain coincidence theories. The question is not one of conspiracy versus “free” market forces, but which of two conspiracies best fits the evidence, geopolitical Great Game collusion or simple monopolistic, predatory market-rigging by a cartel? Do emergency derivatives insurance, Kerry’s September meeting with the king, Bandar Bush’s threat to Putin re Sochi, the failed civil war in Syria, the stalled coup in Ukraine, so-far impotent war-threats against Iran, SA/Israeli sponsorship of ISIS, the counter-revolution in Venezuela , etc. seem more plausible arguments for the former, or is one vulnerable cartel member single-handedly taking out the US fracking industry without a peep of protest from Israel’s Puppet in Chief or the US Knesset? Add to that all of history’s CTs proven as conspiracy FACTS — Guatemala, Iran (’53), El Salvador, Chile, Iran-Contra, Iraq 1-2-3, and so on, and ISTM that the burden of proof rests heavier on the coincidence theorists.
So could US with its co-dependent ally be engaging in geopolitical treachery? Hmmm, give us time to think.
Whitney should’ve also noted the Christmas Day, front page NY Times article (link is to my comment from the day after Christmas). Whitney posits that the media repeats the story that Saudi Arabia is defending its market share because it helps to keep prices low, but the Christmas Day story shows that there may be another reason: to promote the public perception that Washington has ‘clean hands’ – that they are NOT provoking Putin.
Whitney also fails to mention Kissinger’s Wall Street Journal Op-ed in August after Ukraine was defeated by the Donbas rebels. This is an astounding event whereby the ‘Dean’ of the American Foreign Policy establishment informed the Western financial elites (in other words, ‘the owners’) that the West would not back down from NWO. This chilling message that was delivered in Kissinger’s famously disarming language and lets-be-resonable tone. I saw it as virtually a declaration of war.
Kissinger’s Op-Ed appeared just before the Labor Day holiday. Soon after that holiday, Kerry mets with Saudi Arabia, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act was introduced in Congress, and the President of Ukraine addressed a joint session of Congress.
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There being no way whatsoever for us to attack Russia militarily without starting a huge nuclear war, we have attacked them economically. At this point, we are able to hold our breath a little bit longer than they can, and a little bit is all it takes.
FYI Concerns have been expressed about what some see as a willingness to consider a first strike against Russia.
China swaps could allow Russia to ‘hold their breathe’ longer than us. Then what?
The Russians have been holding their economic breath for 10 centuries now, and have survived. They survived Stalin, Yeltsin, Ivan the Terrible, etc. Leningrad survived a 900-day siege by the Nazis with little supplies getting in. They are survivors, and no strangers to privations. All this will do is get the majority of Russians even more determined to stand up to the US. Not for Putin, but for Mother Russia. Can America hold its breath forever?
Good to see: NYPD has squandered much good will. (Of course, so has Obama, since his administration consists of squandering. So maybe this is just another symptom of the accountability-free postmodern USA.)
Wondering about: Are all of these northern Europeans truly surprised that Syriza may win? Alexis Tsipras is a charismatic politician. The Greek elite is corrupt and stupid. Greeks are rational (even if they Brits may not believe that). The Greeks made many mistakes and played fast-n-loose with their financials. Curiously, so have the English, as the Scots so recently asserted. So what’s the issue? (Besides contempt for the PIIGS.)
Schadenfreuding too much? Collapse of the ruble: I don’t see any benefit here. The USA has overplayed its hand in Ukraine and Russia. This all stinks to high heaven.
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/11/25/investigathon-war-and-pieces-social-media-investigations/
On November 12th 2014 Google Ideas, Google For Media, and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) ran the Investigathon New York, a day long event looking investigation tools and techniques that included a number of presentation on the subject filmed by Google Ideas.
In War and Pieces – Social Media Investigations Eliot Higgins looks at Bellingcat’s investigation into the missile launched linked to the downing of MH17, and the role social media investigation played in that research.
The full version of the Bellingcat report, Origin of the Separatists’ Buk, is available here.
From the FT Alphavillle article:
Major? Not really. Online shopping displaces some traditional imports, but it’s just too small in size to compete with wire transfers. You can wire out millions if you’ve got ’em, but who can buy millions worth of stuff online?
Online prices do catch out governments who lie about inflation. After a brief glasnost in January, when Argentina fessed up to a 30% inflation rate (reported in previous years as 10%), it’s gone back to shaving its inflation stats by about one percent a month, versus the Pricestats estimate derived from online prices.
http://www.pricestats.com/argentina-series
Who you gonna believe — MIT’s computer nerds, or the embattled Widow K, railing from her balcony at the Casa Rosada?
The ones who aren’t showing off their bootblacking skills for their future bosses, of course.
The ‘Satellite Image’ Of A Ukrainian Fighter Shooting Down MH17 Is Bogus
This image, which appeared on the Russian TV Station ‘1TV News’ website supposedly shows a Ukrainian SU-27 firing (they mistakenly call it a MiG-29) on MH17 as it flies over eastern Ukraine. The image is totally bogus and is an embarrassment to Russia’s quasi-state run media.
Looking very much like a doctored screen shot out of Lock-On Modern Air Combat, a popular air combat simulator that is made in Russia and has a plot that occurs over Ukraine, than an actual satellite image, there are many issues with its authenticity right off the bat.
First off, where exactly did this come from? TV1 says it came from a ‘foreign intelligence satellite,” how convenient. How is the resolution so high for objects far above the ground but so low for objects on the ground? Also, these image appears to be taken some 50km from where MH17 actually went down, and 50km is a long ways to travel after being shattered by a missile, as reports state. If the aircraft continued to actually fly for a relevant period of time, over some 50km of countryside before breaking up, it is likely that many more witnesses would have seen the jet’s final, firey descent and described it as such.
Then there is the fact that if this shot were true, it would mean an air-to-air missile’s warhead would have taken the jet down, which are much smaller than that carried by the SA-11. For instance, the popular Russian R-73 short-range air-to-air missile carries a 16-lb warhead whereas the SA-11 carries one ten times that size.
Then we have the vector of the attack shown in the photo. Why is an SU-27 taking a highly oblique shot at an un-maneuvering heavy airliner? Why not fall behind it so as not to let the crew see you coming and be at the best possible position for followup attacks and for your missiles to have the best chance of hitting? Additionally, the SA-11 that struck MH-17 did so in the forward hemisphere, near the left side of the cockpit, which would be a near impossible engagement angle for the firing solution shown in this picture. In fact, the missile would have had to of made a tight backwards question mark flight to the other side of the jet before detonating. This is totally ludicrous.
Some folks that are very familiar with satellite imagery say that the scale of the aircraft in comparison to the ground is also not as it should be, nor is the weather shown correct for the time of the incident. Finally, and maybe most damning, the 777 appears to have Malaysian Airlines titles in the wrong place. In fact, it looks like it has the original 777 Boeing house livery on it!:
In the end what you have here is not just a fake but a pretty haphazard one at that. The fact that Russia is letting this float out there is just another sign of Putin’s growing disinformation machine, one that has been very consistent, but not of any quality over the last 10 months. It also shows that the whole MH17 issue is not even near to being laid to rest, and the subject was known to have been brought up multiple times at the recent APEC summit in China.
I get it, Kremlin, when the answer is not beneficial for you politically or strategically, just go make up another one. The KGB were masters at denying obvious truths, and those skills die hard when your President/eternal leader was raised by the KGB during the ending days of the Cold War. But if you are going to put disinformation and propaganda out there, at least make it somewhat believable, as not doing so just turns manufactured doubt into manufactured shame.
This site / link perpetually goes to the black hole but searchable on the title. The subject was the nonsense floated in russian media right before the G20 summit.
Lol, that’s pretty bad. They should hire Judith Miller as a consultant to show them how the Western courtier press does it. Even though crapification has affected Western media, it is still the best at disseminating state propaganda.
Personally, I wonder why is it that the US has not released radar data from the Aegis in the Black Sea. If the evidence is so damning, why are they sitting on it? Why are the Russians not releasing their own military radar data and other electronic intercepts? I understand the military necessity not to reveal capabilities, but I am pretty sure both sides know enough about each other anyway.
I’ve wondered the same. It’s probably safe to assume both “sides” hold their own fairly unambiguous data about what actually happened. Two possibilities I see: security of operations–both sides have operational capabilities they think the other doesn’t already understand–unlikely seeming, or the facts surrounding the incident are such that no party holding the data feels advantaged by them becoming known publicly.
Narrows down the scenarios at least a bit doesn’t it?
Victoria Nuland told reporters that US information, “some of it classified”, was released to investigators (note: months later, and not released to the public). She specualtes that Russia may have withheld info. (I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed China and other allies info that they did not make public so that if US produces false info, other governments would know.)
There have been many questions raised about the investigative process but the most damaging description was printed in Counterpunch (a must read).
If you have further questions, you can engage Mrs. Nuland to speak at your next event. One can only wonder/marvel at the insights available to hedge funds and others with a “need to know.” Round up your cronys and pick a date!
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On the Speakers Bureau: It looks like an old listing (her background doesn’t include recent positions). I’m surprised that she is listed as a speaker at all. But it says that you can check her availability (um . . . I didn’t).
RE:the most damaging description was printed in Counterpunch (a must read).
“For a host of reasons it was almost certainly not a BUK missile that caused the crash.”
Is it necessary to read the barristers rhetoric further than this?
A german source produced photos of the exterior skin of the flight deck. It had been strafed from two directions–it had both entering and exiting bullet holes. That, at the least, was not done by a Buk missile.
–Gaianne
The holes weren’t necessarily from bullets, although that’s a plausible assumption. The BUK missile can explode before it collides with its target, because it has a proximity fuse, which means that the target would be sprayed with shrapnel, or debris resembling shrapnel. This could create the illusion of bullet holes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system
Most non-US analysis is saying that they’re bullet holes. Even the Dutch investigators have hinted that they appear to be bullet holes.
Another tidbit is that the BUK missile launchers leave a spectacular fireworks trail. If any had been fired, thousands of people would have seen it.
“Most non-US analysis is saying that they’re bullet holes. ”
Shot from what?
No one I am aware of is proposing the MH17 was struck by bullets.
The weapons proposed as I understand are a BUK launched ground to air SA-11 radar guided missile, an R60 (aphid) air to air infrared (heat) seeking and/or a 30mm autocannon.
Both missiles incidentally can be equipped w/ proximity fuses.
From what I’ve read the consensus is the MH17 damage (attack) was to front, slightly high, left (side of acrft)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/malaysia-airlines-flight-idINKBN0H40TP20140909
Actually, the Russians said two Ukrainian fighter jets were in the area.
The airliner might have been shot down from the air.
That is what the holes in the flight deck that the Germans photographed suggest.
–Gaianne
Um, ok
The deafening silence in the MH17 investigation is a clear case of absence of evidence being evidence of absence, especially when air-traffic recordings and flight-data recordings are so explicit by design and readily available. Not only is the unorthodox control of the
whitewashinvestigation, by henhouse foxes, highly suspect, it is the lack of ANY actual evidence that is so damning. Even when chemical and metalurgical forensics should have been completed by now, the chirping of crickets, both officially and from the always noisesome media, make it stunningly obvious that blame for the crime falls squarely on Ukraine.Doug,
Wow.. quite a logic extrapolation. It’s impressive you’ve divined the facts. And the Dutch and Malaysians must be involved in the conspiracy as well?
Wikipedia maintains a decently updated roundup of events
Investigation
Two parallel investigations are led by the Dutch. One is into the cause of the crash, and a second investigation is a criminal inquiry.[103] The investigation is expected to continue until August 2015.[104] The relevant body of international law regarding the investigation is the Convention on International Civil Aviation. According to this convention, the country in which an aviation incident occurs is responsible for the investigation of that incident, but that country may delegate the investigation to another state, as Ukraine has delegated the leadership of both the technical and the criminal investigations to the Netherlands.[105]….
Preliminary report
On 9 September 2014, the preliminary accident report was released by the Security Council of the Netherlands (Dutch Safety Board).[2][34]
The preliminary report concluded that the aircraft and crew prior to the ending of the CVR and FDR recording at 13.20:03 hrs (UTC) were not implicating any technical or operational failure, due to the absence of any corresponding evidence. Furthermore, the report said that “damage observed on the forward fuselage and cockpit section of the aircraft appears to indicate that there were impacts from a large number of high-energy objects from outside the aircraft”. According to the investigators, this damage likely led to a loss of structural integrity that caused an in-flight breakup first of the forward parts of the aircraft and then the remainder with expansive geographic spread of the aircraft’s pieces.
Tjibbe Joustra, Chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, explained on the release date of the preliminary report that the investigation thus far “point towards an external cause of the MH17 crash”, but determining the exact cause of the crash requires further investigation and investigators will be able to use “additional evidence” to produce the final report. The Board’s press release for the preliminary report also established a time frame for the final report: “The Board aims to publish the report within one year of the date of the crash.”[216]
Families of twenty of the 298 victims have asked for an international investigation by the UN because they claim the Netherlands “has completely botched” the investigation.[217]
Criminal investigation
The criminal investigation into the downing of MH17 is being led by the Public Prosecution Service of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. The investigation is the largest in Dutch history, involving dozens of prosecutors and 200 investigators with different specialties.[218] Detectives are looking at forensic samples from bodies and luggage, interviews with witnesses, satellite data, intercepted communications, and information on the Web. Of particular interest to investigators are 25 pieces of iron; investigators are trying to establish whether or not they came from a surface to air missile.[219][220][221][222][223][224]
Participating in the investigation along with the Netherlands, are the 4 other members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT),[225] Belgium, Ukraine, Australia, and Malaysia.[226] Malaysia was the last to join the JIT, being accepted as a full member in late November.[225][227]
In a letter to the UNSC, the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands wrote that “The Dutch government is deliberately refraining from any speculation or accusations regarding legal responsibility for the downing of MH17.[228] During an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute, the Assistant Secretary of DoS’s European and Eurasian Affairs said in December, “We have given all of our information, including our classified information to the Dutch who are the investigators and to ICAO… So any efforts to say that we have not are also untrue.”[229]
I believe that what Doug is pointing out (as have others) is that the accusations by Russia and others should be easy to refute with information Ukraine and USA have readily available. Instead of clearing their names, they focus on, and direct our attention to, a plodding investigation.
Yes, release the ATC recordings, flight data, satellite images, answer the basic questions about flight path deviation, and explain why any party to the unusually composed investigation can veto or redact its release. Not much extrapolation needed to smell a cover-up. The passengers’ families are right to demand an independent investigation. This one is clearly fixed.
Agree on all counts.
Yep.
Opti,
“During an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute” – per link
AEI – [????]…. the Neocon City State of some of the most villainous think tanks in post modern history… really.
Skippy… I hear if you scratch below the fresh paint on the logo you’ll find the Lippmann foundation brand colors…
“AEI – [????]…. the Neocon City State of some of the most villainous think tanks in post modern history… really.”
Agreed. Nuland is evil as well. and that’s the sort of forum you would expect her to publically interact in. Her husband is at least if not more wacked out.
That she’s in government service is yet another a dog to lay at BHO’s door.
“Personally, I wonder why is it that the US has not released radar data from the Aegis in the Black Sea”
Do we know if any ship with Aegis radar was in range or even had it working at the time? It’s apprx 250mi from the crash site to the shore of the Black Sea as the crow flys, which is something like ~3x that stated range of the Aegis system. I don’t know but I think its reasonable to assume the USN wouldn’t be loitering near the northern coast of the Black Sea, or any coast. Why make your ship an easier target than is necessary?
Wikipedia: “The Aegis Combat System is controlled by an advanced, automatic detect-and-track, multi-function three-dimensional passive electronically scanned array radar, the AN/SPY-1. Known as “the Shield of the Fleet”, the SPY high-powered (6 megawatt) radar is able to perform search, tracking, and missile guidance functions simultaneously with a track capacity of well over 100 targets at more than 100 nautical miles (190 km).[3] However the AN/SPY-1 Radar is mounted lower than the AN/SPS-49 radar system and so has a reduced radar horizon.[4]
Stated range, huh? Well, what is the stated range of the latest Aegis variant, the BMD (Ballistic missile Defense)? I am asking because the US is now maintaining permanent Aegis destroyer presence in the Black Sea, in clear violation of international agreements. It so happens that at the time of MH17 going down, it was the USS Vella Gulf’s turn to thumb its nose at the agreements by her presence in the Black Sea. She also happens to be equipped with the latest and greatest Aegis, the aforementioned BMD variant, as did the USS Donald Cook when the Sukhois decided to buzz its bridge for a few hours earlier this year. Suffice it to say, the Aegis range is far greater than 100 nautical miles, otherwise it will be useless as part of the ABM shield. So yes, we know that an Aegis was present, and we know it has the range to have observed what happened.
PS Any NATO ship is a floating coffin the moment it enters the Black Sea. Only one narrow way in and out, you know, and plenty of capability present to sink it, regardless whether it keeps to the north, east, west, or south.
“in clear violation of international agreements”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea
Not saying I have an interest for the USN to be in the Black Sea, on the other hand they should be able to travel in those waters on principle.
Like i suggested, I don’t know what the range of an Aegis system is beyond what I read, and less what it’s capabilities are on a ship stationed in the Black Sea performing some sort of AT monitoring function over the Ukraine as you propose..
“otherwise it will be useless as part of the ABM shield. ”
I (we?) don’t know if being optimized to detect a small crossection inbound missile confer the attributes you assume. it certainly had some issues, either systemic or human error when the Vincennes shot down an Iranian A300. An interesting question.
http://mostlymissiledefense.com/2012/10/23/438/
“…Comparison to a published range
The only public numerical figure on the Aegis detection range (that we have seen) against a specific target is that the SPY-1D(V) “can track golf ball-sized targets at ranges in excess of 165 kilometers.”[1] A golf ball-size (1.68 inches diameter) metallic sphere corresponds to radar cross section of about 0.0025 m2 at 3.3 GHz.[2] This statement was made in the context of the soon-to-be deployed SPY-1D(V) radar to detect mortar and artillery shell and small-caliber rockets against a clutter background, so presumably it applies to the D(V) version.
If we simply the scale the 165 km range using a larger radar cross section of 0.03 m2 that might be expected of a missile warhead, we get a detection range:
Rmax = 165 km (0.03/0.0025)0.25 = 310 km….”
Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits: “Non-Black Sea state warships in the Straits must be under 15,000 tons. No more than nine non-Black Sea state warships, with a total aggregate tonnage of no more than 30,000 tons, may pass at any one time, and they are permitted to stay in the Black Sea for no longer than twenty-one days.” What the US is doing is rotating ships every 21 days, thus breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of the Convention. I realize that America is “exceptional” in that it thinks it can do whatever it wants while hypocritically lecturing others on the importance of “following the rules”, but as a native of a Black Sea nation I say ‘Yankee stay the eff away’. Turkey already shut down the Bosphorus in 2008 for US ships attempting to escalate tensions after US flunky Saakashvili took Rove’s BS too seriously and decided to start a little war. Prior to that, Turkey refused to allow US warships in the Black Sea prior to the launch of the Iraq war, thus shutting down the much wanted Northern front idea. I hope Erdogan does it again, and soon.
As for the Aegis, do you really think that they are permanently stationed in the Black Sea in order to enjoy the cheap delights that Romanian prostitutes in Constanta have to offer? The last Aegis iteration, which the Vella Gulf sports, has greatly expanded over-the-horizon capabilities, something that the US government has acknowledged even if it hasn’t elaborated on the particulars. As for optimization, it retains all the attributes of earlier iterations, which of course would require capability of tracking all sorts of airborne objects, up to and including large bombers. An airliner flying at 35,000 feet is thus definitely seen. Plus, there is the matter of the US reconnaissance satellite being overhead at the time of the incident. The US definitely knows what happened, that’s for sure. The fact that it stays mum is rather curious.
Yes , well I read that 1936 convention link, I wonder if it also limits Ship Coal Bunker sizes? Do all the signatory countries still exist?
The bit about the ussr assigning their “aircraftcarrying” vessels classification as “cruisers” was a pretty good chuckle, as well the inability to classify missiles because they didn’t exist in 1936.
Perhaps a maritime lawyer would have a qualified opinion but I’m guessing United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), would prevail in most circumstance. BTW I doubt the USN would ever have an interest to try and place an aircraft carrier task force in the Black Sea!
One thing for sure, the Bosphorus Strait is a pretty damn dicey place to be in a water taxi, good thing they put up the bridge (s).
On what telemetry the US has regarding MH17, according to a link above it was passed along to the Dutch.
I have great sympathy for the Dutch investigators who are still trying to acquire parts from a war zone for the aircraft forensic reconstruction. Anything less than a thorough job will be received as CT fodder, and it will anyway.. A thankless job.
That’s the American way!!! Lawyer it to death, and if you can’t disregard the law anyway. Its only some foreigners’ law, and we are too exceprional to be bound by it, never mind that we observed it up until now. Also, all the evidence of the Iraqi WMD program that the US had was passed on to the UN too. I remember Colin Powell personally delivering a vial of anthrax to the General Assembly. Commendable commitment to transparency and honesty…
Well, the US has been rotating ships in, so someone (US, Turkey, others?) seem to believe that there is some legal validity to the agreement.
=
As for the investigation: the unusual investigative procedure along with the refusal of US and Ukraine to provide public info that refutes the accusations of an air attack and the frustration of the families who are now calling for a UN investigation is just about all you need to know. With THAT understanding, I’d say your sympathies are misplaced.
My sympathies are with the families of the victims. With the people of Ukraine who are getting reamed by oligarchs; with the people of the West who have been reduced to mush with propaganda and divisive politics; and with future generations of my family and other families that have to face up to the disasters sown by our craven “elites”.
“Any NATO ship is a floating coffin the moment it enters the Black Sea. Only one narrow way in and out, you know, and plenty of capability present to sink it, regardless whether it keeps to the north, east, west, or south.”
By modern standards that applies to any Ship, Naval or otherwise regardless of flag and location. The only (relatively) exceptional ships are those designed to already be underwater (submarines).
As I read somewhere, “the USN Aircraft Carrier Taskforce is supremely optimized to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy of 1945 should it ever reanimate from Davy Jones Locker” I’ll attribute that thought to William Lind. Again (IMO) this applies in spades to any Navy struggling to emulate the ACC taskforce model.
There is classic old story in BG: http://chitanka.info/text/5604-umnik-gjuro-s-umnitsi-drugari. Use the translate function for a crappy translation that would give you a decent idea of the underlying lesson. The smart hero decided to enter the lair of the bear, tied to a rope. When his buddies pulled him back out, the smart hero was minus a head. They asked the smart hero’s wife if he had had a head prior to entering the bear’s lair. She thought for a while and then said: “I am not sure”. His buddies pressed her, “How could you not be sure?” She thought for a while, then said, “Well, he did buy a new cap for Easter, so I reckon he must have had a head”…. I think the story bears (pun intended) repeating.
The curvature of the Earth limits what can be seen. I estimate that if a plane is flying at an altitude of 10 kilometers, it will be visible (with the proper equipment) from a little more than 350 kilometers (about 220 statute miles) away. So if a U.S. Navy ship was in the Sea of Azov, it might have been able to detect MH-17 (buildings and trees could impede visibility). If it had been in any other part of the Black Sea, then MH-17 would have been below the horizon, and invisible to the ship.
I agree with the sentiments posted elsewhere today that the U.S. government should release whatever information they have about this event. But if the satellites weren’t pointing at the proper location at the time the plane was shot down, and if the ships weren’t close enough, the government might not have much useful data.
It’s called over-the-horizon radar Vatch. It’s been around for about 60 years. The latest Aegis iteration does possess this newfangled capability.
“It’s been around for about 60 years.”
just not applied to Naval Aegis systems.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2014/july/140708-mst-aegis-combat-systems-newest-baseline-demonstrates-over-the-horizon-capability.html
Thanks. I was not aware of this. As Optimader says, though, it wasn’t in use in Naval Aegis systems when MH-17 was shot down.
I effed up dudes. I had known that over the horizon capability was in the works, and I also knew that the Vella Gulf has undergone update to BMD capability. When I googled Vella Gulf and over the horizon yesterday, results came up talking about it, but being a bit harried I didn’t open the links. I assumed that the Vella Gulf fielded the capability. Turns out their current over the horizon capability consists of getting its helicopters in the air. So it’s on me, should have opened the links and read them carefully.
Having said that, the question of the US satellite being in position to capture the incident remains. Then there is the fact that Sea Breeze 2014 was ongoing on July 17, and included airborne E-3 AWACS whose radar does have over the horizon capability according to Wiki. Were any of them airborne at the time? No way to know. Was the ABM shield radar site in Turkey monitoring the area? I would imagine that it did. Vella Gulf may not presently have over the horizon capabilities, but plenty of US assets in the area do. To believe that the US would not be monitoring the situation with all sorts of ELINT assets is to deny the very defense doctrine of the US. So I do remain convinced that we have a clear electronic picture of what happened, if we don’t then the various military and intelligence agencies failed to do their missions. Possible, but unlikely in respect to ELINT, particularly given the presence of capability in the area of definite ongoing interest. How likely is it to share the ELINT with investigators? Not very, or at most an extremely sanitized version.
Happy new year to one and all.
Thanks for the update. As I mentioned to Jackrabbit, there is a cult of secrecy, and I might add that most of us don’t have the special decoder ring. Happy new year.
. . . the government might not have much useful data.
Well they haven’t said that. They haven’t said what they have – but they haven’t said that they don’t have data or that its not useful.
In addition, Russia seems to think that they DO have data and called upon the US and Ukraine to release the data months ago.
Unfortunately, the cult of secrecy prevails in the relevant government agencies.
Using the relative sizes of Donetsk airport runway, the military aircraft and the Boeing, the camera would have to have been located at most a few thousand meters higher than the Boeing. So either a photo-reconnaissance aircraft happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture the instant of firing or the photo is a fake. The former is so unlikely that one has to conclude that the photo is a poor fake, good enough to fool the gullible but bad enough to be exposed relatively quickly.
Who would fake such an image and why? The Russian military have military radar records, and possibly satellite records, along with voice traffic records and civilian radar records. They know that a US satellite was overhead at the time. From the Dutch or German records, we know 2 AWACS were in the air at the time within coverage range. The Russians have released their civilian radar records. These records showed an unidentified aircraft within close proximity of the Boeing prior to its destruction. The US and their Ukrainian vassals have released manipulated YouTube videos and Twitter records.
TineEye shows the earliest appearance of the largest size image was on 15 October on the website obkon.ucoz.com/forum/59-1403-1 – a Russian blog where people discuss the incident and others relating the the Ukraine civil war. The image was posted by an individual naked ‘Duke’ as his second post on the blog. His first appears to have been a link to a lower resolution version.
This new user ‘Duke’ in message 14 says:
“The image obtained by mail from enthusiasts Russian Wikileaks, the source is not named. The time on the image, Greenwich mean time corresponds to the time indicated in the data of objective control, presented Minoborony RUSSIA. According to the inscription-the international designations of time, the picture would be with the American satellite or intelligence apparatus. ”
The image is quickly debunked by user ‘yuriteterin’ in message 23 (most intervening messages are about other subjects). He states:
“It can’t be a satellite image. Compared to the size of the aircraft and details of the landscape clearly shows that the distance from the camera to the aircraft was at least 4-5 times less than the earth. So these are the photos from a height of up to 15 km (or rather 11-12 km).”
The image appears to have been picked up by a Russian TV First Channel. Now TV people are not experts on photogrammetry and given the nature of the medium (Hi Faux News), they would leap at any sensational story coming their way. So how did First Channel get hold of this? Was the image sent to them? Or were they told where to look? Why was the image released when it was, many months after the event?
First Channel is the largest TV station in Russia by audience, so that would make it an ideal target to quickly disseminate this faked image as quickly and widely as possible. The trivial effort to debunk it would then allow the supposed instigators of the image to be ridiculed. If it was the Russians, why would they do something that would quickly make them look incompetent? At the time, Putin was in Australia supposedly being ‘shirt-fronted’ by the paragon of politics, Tony Abbot. It would be an ideal time for a false flag operation to further discomfort Putin (in the eyes of the perpetrators, not Putin – he knows the western leaders are dickheads, with apologies to dicks everywhere). It would also serve to discredit, or muddy the waters over, the idea that MH17 was shot down by an aircraft.
To me, the evidence points to one of two sources for the fake image. Firstly someone out for the lulz of releasing a ‘sensational’ image or, much more likely, one of the western ‘intelligence / public relations’ outfits. I discount the Ukrainian govt as it would require some degree of rational thought to come up with this scam.
As always, qui bono?
Stealth inverse propaganda planted by Russia’s pro-western fifth column is a very reasonable scenario. Russia has not yet purged pro-west NGOs active within it borders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_eZmEiyTo0
Memorable Movie Death #3: Vizzini From Princess Bride
re:Police Respect Squandered in Attacks on de Blasio New York Times
“…He put it beautifully: “The police, the people who are angry at the police, the people who support us but want us to be better, even a madman …”
Who is “us”?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shooting-deaths-of-american-cops-jumped-in-2014/
I post this because of the old aphorism, “what isn’t counted isn’t known (or cared about)”
So for the record, I do care about the number of police killed. I just wonder why there isn’t an equal concern about the civilians killed…
So, where is the number of civilians shot by police (which I note is a Federal law???)
Is the number of civilians shot going up or going down?
When was the record year for the number of civilians shot?
What is the trend for civilians shot?
How many civilians were killed (as opposed to shot) by the police?
How many who were shot were absolutely, totally innocent, and not even a suspect?
e.g.:
http://nypost.com/2014/11/21/police-fatally-shoot-man-in-brooklyn-building/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/ex-cop-manhunt-newspaper-delivery-women-shot.html
By the way, look at the picture of the truck that the police shot at that held the latina women.
These women were not armed, were WOMEN while the police were looking for a black MAN….
Oh silly me….like Americans care about innocents being harmed by the authorities…
Is this where I ask Yves and other NY folk how they like their new police run city/state? Do they feel extra safe?
Does it feel any different than the MIC run country we live in?
We have found the enemy the rich want us to find, their protectors……until they are not.
And we hubristically call this civilization.
This has been my russian year. It blowed my mind and my heart free.
Russia is an invitation to the stressed souls of the adults of the west.
Wishing all readers of NC a happy New Year here from the (sometimes) german Sibiria
called Bavaria.
Enyoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSCkiuONdeY
Berlin is (caught) secretly feeding the U.S. data on Germans (which it has been doing for many, many Years now).
High-Level Fed Committee Overrules Judgement Against What It Is That They And Theirs Actually Do All The Time.
Oil Drops From 5-Year Low as Banking/Finance Sees Little Or No Additional surface area on the carcass to attach additional leeches.
Investors Struggle to Latch Into ever shrinking live tissue on dying carcass.
Five Reasons for Banking/Finances Inability To Pump Blood Fast Enough Into The Withering Carcass That Is The US/Global Economy To Keep The Attached Leeches Thriving.
Forgive the debt (now that we have made most of the lenders whole and have put in laws providing future loses will be covered) or earn the wrath of its victims.
Well You Get The Idea.
Forgive the debt…
If we can print the global reserve currency at will, what does it cost us to print it for the world to use?
That’s today’s Peace-On-Earth Zen koan.
“If we can print the global reserve currency at will, what does it cost us to print it for the world to use?”
Because we we can’t/don’t “print anything “we” LOAN all money into existance. Which is why is the leeches don’t see a live, throbbing, blue vein in front of them (liquid assets or guaranteed cash flow) they stop loaning i.e. credit lockup/deflation.
Glad you have a possible solution for Google behaving differently for you. Google Product forums do have reports of other people with issues with missing web search features. You aren’t alone. Using Opera seemed to be one possible reason, also Google intentionally degrading the web search feature for older versions of Safari / OSX. Browser javascript configuration definitely was in the mix as well. The other possibility is use of an overseas Google domain. Apparently Google doesn’t maintain consistent features and GUI around the world.
Regarding your comment that serious researchers are finding Google’s results less useful, yesterday I ran across a specialized Google search feature for “scholars”. Here are the links to it. Might be a worthwhile addition for your research. I haven’t had a specific need to use this, so I can’t comment on how well it works.
http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html
http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en
Good luck!
MJ
as an aside, I have had “technical query” google searches automatically go here with say the first five or so items returned, akin to paid ads, then if one of those items are searched on, you are in this search environment.
Shumlin to give details on single-payer decision. I’ll try to follow up with it tomorrow when the documents are released. Cheers.
I just read a ZH posting that refers to a Bloomberg article I can’t find about international FX collusion….or how the global rich stay above any one country’s control and make money at it in the process.
This is a significant part of the curtain, IMO, in front of the machinations of the global rich that rule our world. I wonder how much clarity will be allowed to be observed of this sort of international “criminality”? Of course its all legal………..they are doing God’s work and we just wouldn’t or couldn’t understand.
Interesting times indeed.
Carlyle Group’s Smoking Tobacco Investment
Claren Road, a hedge fund owned by the Carlyle Group, made big money buying lowly rated state tobacco bonds, then working deals with state finance officers to boost their value. ProPublica reported Claren’s deal with New Jersey garnered $92 million for the state and over $100 million in profits for Claren Road.
This echoes the Great Eskimo Tax Scam, which preceded Carlyle’s founding.
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2014/12/carlyle-groups-smoking-tobacco.html
Speaking of the Carlyle Group, I was changing channels on the TV last night and happened to catch a C-SPAN program from some Constitutional law Center. The CEO of Carlyle was speaking and I came on just in time to hear him sing the praises of the 57 men who wrote our Constitution which has allowed this country “to become what it has”. I could only marvel at his seemingly complete obliviousness to the ironic reality of that statement.
he who projects the loudest…
Narcissism is the best cure for attention deficit disorder. Bauvard
Carlyle is headquartered in DC. That tells you almost all you need to know about their strategy.
I am ranting here about the type of ads that are now appearing here and Angry Bear that force users to click a supposed X box to get clear view of the web site.
As a aging techie I see this sort of ad as a highly potential tool of predators. All they need to do is change the action of that close X to a nefarious purpose that they have just been given permission to do and your system is hosed.
I would ask Yves and Lambert to fight back against this type of ad by refusing to allow them, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
end rant
Happy New Year to all!
Rant update.
Just now I was able to click through to the unfiltered screen without closing the ad box and that was not the case in the past nor over at Angry Bear. Whatever type of ad that requires me to click on something to view the web site I am coming to is against my computer security principles.
I have clicked on the x numerous times to make it go away and it doesn’t. Now I suspect the x is there for some other purpose. I ignore it and just “work around” it like so many other things in life that I don’t like. It’s gone right now, however. It’s really weird watching the internet experience rise and fall so quickly.
The Oil Crash Has Claimed Its First Casualty: Reuters
a crystal ball between the eyes!…The project was initially due to begin exports in 2018.
hands behind back whistl’n in the dark…
Every now and then, Kos has something juicy.
Chuck Todd can’t be mean! He’ll lose his job! Let’s get him a cardigan sweater. He can revive Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and play nicey-nice all the time.
Pulled from one of the comments:
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
– George Orwell
Dear NC Devi (Yves),
Even when an issue you choose to share is more personal in nature, there is always something to learn from it. Thanks for sharing your Google experience! Your post coincided with my Google fury, so I was happy to read it to the end of the comments.
I am so furiously disappointed in Google right now for letting itself be manipulated by Sony and State department (in lieu of almighty dollar of course), I have stopped looking at Youtube and won’t go back until they stop whoring themselves to Sony et al in promoting the depravity released by Sony in my feed (clicking “i don’t want to see that” does not get rid of it). I will NOT look at my YT channel until that Sony feed stops.
I am sickened beyond belief, for Google to help Sony/Rand execs to get everyone to laugh and make jokes about the US assassinating foreign leaders a week after torture reports showing that us gov has done little else but kill and torture others over its recent (and distant history). But what’s to worry about that? Its all a big JOKE, dontchhaknow!
Meanwhile…. Beijing pulled the plug on GMAIL . . .no news mention of the suspected hacking source of NK at NK-PRC border having anything to do with it, of course!
the high life had great transportation one might say recently:
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-history/2009/the-20th-century-limited
http://www.dw.de/kremlin-critic-navalny-re-arrested-after-breaking-house-arrest-to-join-rally/a-18164087
The main reason, and sometimes the only good reason, to eject people from your life, especially if you’re a writer, is so that you’re not forced, compelled, ritually obligated to think their thoughts instead of your own.
Let’s take a quiet moment and watch the snow fall up.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/12/29/mental-health-break-757/
re “liberal billionaires outspent conservative billionaires in the midterms — but that’s only part of the story” I would want to know what Bloomberg spent his $$ on. In some areas he’s a liberal, I guess (and whatever that is any more), but otherwise he’s thrown millions at “reformer” education issues and candidates – which can no longer be categorized as liberal or conservative since both parties have their fingers in the would-be $$ pots of privatizing education.