newsbrief mid-feb14

For nearly two weeks, news in the west has been overtaken by two stories. The Winter Olympics this year in Sochi, Russia is a big one, and the extreme weather witnessed all over the globe has localities floundering.

The Olympics have been a bit more wild than usual this year. At first blush it seemed a jarring series of social media faux pas of catastrophic proportions. This gave way to other controversies over security and, even, safety concerns. But after a week, most everyone just got on with the games. Holland and Norway seem to be doing well.
Another terrible blast furnace of a summer in Australia sends many for cover there and the drought in California sets records there in February. Two weeks of cold and several returning storms hit not just the US, but assailed north Europe with 'millenial flooding' there, as huge snowstorms shock the American south. Car drivers in North Carolina and Georgia actually had accumulated snow that left them ill-prepared in daily commutes. Flooding all over Britain makes transport and living uneasy. But volcanoes in Indonesia have been causing a great deal of havoc, too.

Wars and conflict continue to ravage the Central African Republic, Syria, demonstrations and chaos in Egypt, Libya, Venezuela. There is political intrigue in Turkey, Italy.

For reasons unknown, Republican leadership in both the US House and Senate last week had decided to go along with simply raising the debt limit without a fuss. The first time they have agreed to do that since Bush was president. The purpose of having a debt limit was to make the representatives pause and perhaps reflect on the increasing size of debt that the US agrees to accept, knowing that it and the interest must be paid at some point. But why the Republicn leadership gave up what they have been using as a bargaining chip, seems mostly a rebuke to the extreme wing of that party. They are the members complaining most about raising the debt ceiling. There is still the matter of some two million unemployment insurance checks that have yet to be renewed, paid for, or sent out this year. And that would be going to help those people still looking for work, many in the members' own districts and states.

Found an interactive map that shows energy production across the US. Zoom in and find out what's near you.

UPDATE: Thr very nex day, February 18, protests and demonstrations in Thailand and especially, Kiev, Ukraine become violent.