Tuesday, November 3, 2015

news bits early November - late October 2015

Rather than a political campaign soundbite, or the seemingly unending drama around another horrific mass-shooting, earthquake,
Mexican Hurricane, or refugee crisis somewhere,

this week, the downing of  Russian airplane Flight 9268 in the Sinai desert where 224 people were killed, has consumed the media coverage cycles. Nobody knows the cause yet. Of course, it could turn out to be an onboard bomb or explosion, or a missile shot from the ground or some accident. Since the event, the Egyptian president has said he would allow the 'broadest form of investigation for Russian experts', President Putin of Russia has asked for such an investigation, and, European and American manufacturers have said they will participate in the analysis.
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In the US, the House of Representative voted on and elected a new Speaker of the House. His press rollout this week is upbeat, pictorial and today complete with a press-conference.

The advancement of Paul Ryan, the Rpublican Representative from Wisconsin, is not a surprise since he has a singular reputation as The Conservative Fiscal Hawk in the House, despite his economic statements. He gets this reputation merely because he was the one assigned to work with Rep. Patty Murray of Washington to fix the budget impasses over the last several years. He has also been known to want to limit the growth of Social Security and Medicare, and other 'entitlements' as a budgetary concern of behemoth government programs. Good luck with that! A super-sized omnibus bill 'clearing the slate' was quickly brought into focus by the House in the last days of the Boehner era and signed by President Obama yesterday. But,


Too many retirees are already dependent on these programs due to the weakness of the overall working class US economies. Most will remain so for decades into the future. And they will vote. But this new appointee comes a month after the announcement of the retiring House Speaker John Boehner. Very uncharacteristically, he afterward implied that the Christian Holy Spirit may have influenced his decision to retire.

Meanwhile, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert pled guilty to obstructing justice. A new way for the rich and powerful to get away with paying millions of dollars five years ago, to get former victims to not speak about alleged pedophilia of thirty years ago.

This week two important bills passed the Senate.
The real news looks at how soverign debt crises wreck economies.
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The Kansas City Royals led strongly in the first game of the US World Series in baseball this year 5-4 in 14 innings and won the series 4-1 with not a few strong showings.
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There was a government blimp loose that flew from Maryland to Pennsylvania in the year 2015, dragging down powerlines and scrambling fighter jet drills. The internet went wild with glee. And now the maker Raytheon has decided to sue Canada.
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An excellent photo series of Hong Kong at night shows the time when locals shop.

A really great podcast talking about, singing, explaining and proving how music changes how we humans feel and think from Radiolab.


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