Paul Krugman: Romer and Romer on Friedman (NY Times Blog)
"I have no beef with Mr. Friedman; the campaign staff who evidently had no idea that the numbers were wildly implausible, and responded to criticism by attacking the critics' motives, are another matter. But I hope we can now stop talking about this." - Paul Krugman
Scott Burns: How To Make Your Future Go Up in Smoke (AssetBuilder)
The affluent are better off today, relative to others, than they were 20 years ago. They also live longer than people who are less affluent. So, who can we blame? Surely someone is at fault. Since this is a presidential election year we could join the crowd and blame "the system." But I've got another candidate: smoking. Its costs and its effects are singularly well suited to explain the visibly growing gap in both wealth and life expectancy between those at the top and those closer to the bottom. To be sure, smoking isn't the only cause. But it sure looks like a smoking gun.
Scott Burns: An Average Return Isn't a Today Return (AssetBuilder)
Q. You've said that a person could earn six percent on savings. When will you journalists and financial advisers start telling the truth--- that a more reasonable earnings rate would be two percent especially, especially after inflation?
This American writer, political activist and early leader of the Black Panther Party was a registered republican and Mormon in good standing at the time of his death in 1998. What is his name?
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 - May 1, 1998), better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was an American writer, and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. His 1968 book Soul On Ice is a collection of essays, praised by The New York Times Book Review at the time of its publication as "brilliant and revealing".
Cleaver went on to become a prominent member of the Black Panthers, having the titles Minister of Information and Head of the International Section of the Panthers while a fugitive from the United States criminal justice system in Cuba and Algeria.
By the 1980s, Cleaver had become a conservative Republican. He appeared at various Republican events and spoke at a California Republican State Central Committee meeting regarding his political transformation. In 1984, he ran for election to the Berkeley City Council but lost. Undaunted, he promoted his candidacy in the Republican Party primary for the 1986 Senate race but was again defeated.
In the early 1980s, Cleaver became disillusioned with what he saw as the commercial nature of evangelical Christianity and examined alternatives, including Sun Myung Moon's campus ministry organization CARP, and Mormonism. He later led a short-lived revivalist ministry called Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, "a hybrid synthesis of Islam and Christianity he called 'Christlam'", along with an auxiliary called the Guardians of the Sperm.
Cleaver was then later baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) on December 11, 1983, periodically attended regular services, lectured by invitation at LDS gatherings, and was a member of the church in good standing at the time of his death in 1998.
Source
Randall was first and correct with:
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Eldridge Cleaver
Stephen F said:
Eldridge Cleaver
Deborah replied:
Why, it's none other than Eldridge Cleaver. I didn't know he was a Republican and a Mormon. I thought he was a badass at the time his name was in the news.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norcali replied:
This one is right in the old wheelhouse: Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information, Black Panther Party. Author of "Soul on Ice"…that book sure got me fired up…even saw him speak at a few rallies…he ran off with Tim Leary, while all of his Panther Brothers were either being slaughtered or jailed by J Edgar…remember who was the president at that time…Tricky Dick was responsible for creating the "Silent Majority"…Cocksucker also greenlit Hoover to do his dastardly deeds…"Cleavers" were pants designed by Eldridge the fashion guru…some kind of statement! Even voted for Reagan…Fuck that asshole!
Lois Of The Time Warp answered:
Just got done reading the Wiki page about Eldridge Cleaver. What a fucked up mess HE was. A product of his times, I guess, but HOW does one go from Black Panther-Convicted-Serial-Rapist to Conservative-Republican-Mormon? Oh, wait...Well, I guess people just need to belong to SOMETHING while they go bat-shit insane! If he was alive today he'd probably have replaced Ben Carson on the ballot.
DJ Useo responded:
Ooh! Ooh! It's Toody! No, I mean Eldridge Cleaver. I like his book "Soul On Ice".
MAM wrote:
Eldridge Cleaver
Wife, Kathleen Cleaver
Joe S said:
Eldridge Cleaver - "The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less."
I'm at the age when I can picture people perfectly, but I can't remember their names. That includes people I've worked with, but so far I seem to remember my family members names quite well. So that was the case with Mr. Cleaver, I had to look him up. I knew who it was, but I couldn't put a name to him. I didn't know he was a Mormon though.
mj took the day off.
Sally has retired, but still pays attention.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Dale (who 'won' last year) wrote:
I don't think I'll get it this year. Too many close races.
Movie: Spotlight
Actor: Leo
Actress: Brie - Really good!
Supporting Actor: Rocky
Supporting Actress: Kate
Director: McCarthy
Original Score: "The Hateful Eight"
Lois Of Oscarland wrote:
Here are MY predictions!
Best Picture: Mad Max, because it was that rarest of rarities, a remake that was not only better than the original, but actually GOOD.
Best Actor: Matt Damon, because he made intelligence cool again! And he had to science the shit out of it!
Best Actress: Brie Larson, because she deserves it on account of her parents naming her after a cheese.
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo, because his name rhymes with "buffalo", and besides...HULK SMASH!
Best Supporting Actress: Rachel McAdams, because...I saw her in the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movies, so there!
Best Director: George Miller, because he had the balls to remake Mad Max, knowing that Mel Gibson was alive and running free somewhere.
Best Score: Hateful Eight, because I haven't seen it but hope with all my heart that there is a "Love Theme From The Hateful Eight".
So let it be written. So let it be done!
Joe S wrote:
These are my predictions for Oscar winners. Keep in mind I haven't seen any of the movies involved. In fact, I haven't been to the movies since 2006, but I'm fixin' to.
Best Picture - "Revenant"
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs"
Best Director - Alejandro G. Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Best Original Score - "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
DJ Useo's Oscar pics -
I find this pretty easy to do. Pick what I liked, & then combine it with the ones Hollywood wants to win.
Best Picture: "The Big Short"
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Brie Larson, "Room"
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"
Best Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Best Original Score: "Hateful Eight"
Thanks, Dale, Lois, JoeS and DJ Useo!
The only award I care about this year is Original Score.
I have a weakness for 'Spaghetti Westerns' - goes back to my college days. But back then, I saw them in German. The first one was 'Wo Die Wilden Westen War', or 'Once Upon A Time In The West' in English.
Henry Fonda was a very bad man. Shooting little kids kind of bad man. Talk about casting against type.
The next one was 'Zwei glorreiche Halunken' (Two glorious scoundrels (villains)), or 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' in English.
9 years ago he was given an honorary Oscar (Morricone and Alex North are the only composers to receive the Honorary Oscar since the award's introduction in 1928), and it's time he received a 'real' one.
My picks:
Best Picture - "The Big Short"
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matt Damon, "The Martian"
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Brie Larson, "Room"
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"
Best Director - Alejandro G. Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by another '60 Minutes', then the movie 'Last Vegas'.
NBC opens the night with 'Dateline', followed by the movie 'Ted'.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'The Oscars', followed by a FRESH'Jimmy Kimmel Live'.
The CW offers an old 'Person Of Interest', followed by an old 'Elementary', then 2½ hours of what passes for local news and other fluffery.
Faux has an old 'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', then a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Cooper Barrett's Guide To Surviving Life', then a RERUN'Family Guy', followed by a RERUN'Bordertown'.
MY has an old 'Anger Management', followed by another old 'Anger Management', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has 'Intervention', another 'Intervention', followed by a FRESH'Intervention', then a FRESH'Intervention: Then & Now'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Robots
[7:00AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Space
[8:00AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Time
[9:00AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Invasion
[9:30AM] ALIEN TV-14
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
[2:30PM] DUNE
[5:30PM] ALIEN
[8:00PM] THE FIFTH ELEMENT
[11:00PM] THE FIFTH ELEMENT
[2:00AM] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
[4:30AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Invasion
[5:00AM] THE REAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Robots (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', still another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Atlanta Social'.
Comedy Central has 'Trevor Noah: African American', 'Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny', 'Kevin Hart: I'm A Grown Little Man', 'Kevin Hart: Laugh At My Pain'.
FX has the movie 'American Hustle', followed by the movie 'World War Z', then the movie 'World War Z', again.
History has 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Ax Men: Logged & Loaded', then a FRESH'Ax Men', and 'Million Dollar Genius'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THE DARKEST HOUR
[6AM - 9AM] Paid Programming
[10:30AM] DAZED AND CONFUSED
[3:15PM] PITCH BLACK
[5:30PM] THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
[8:00PM] UNDERWORLD
[10:30PM] UNDERWORLD
[1:00AM] WATCHMEN
[4:30AM] PORTLANDIA-Going Gray
[5:00AM] PORTLANDIA-Shville
[5:30AM] PORTLANDIA-Weirdo Beach (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[7:30AM] Cliffhanger
[9:30AM] First Blood
[11:30AM] Rambo: First Blood Part II
[1:30PM] Rambo III
[4:00PM] Cobra
[6:00PM] Cliffhanger
[8:00PM] The Rock
[11:00PM] The Rock
[2:00AM] Dances With Wolves (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Lone Ranger', followed by the movie 'Men In Black'.
Show host Kate McKinnon punches playfully at co-host Kumail Nanjiani at the start of the 31st Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California February 27, 2016.
Photo by Carlo Allegri
"Fifty Shades of Grey" came out on top - or perhaps the bottom - at this year's Razzies.
The awkward adaptation of author EL James' erotic novel nabbed five prizes at Saturday's Golden Raspberry Awards, including tying it up with superhero flop "Fantastic Four" as the year's worst film.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" also "won" for worst screenplay, worst actor for Jamie Dornan and worst actress for Dakota Johnson, with the pair pinning down the worst screen combo award.
In addition to tying for worst film of the year, "Fantastic Four" was also lambasted as worst remake, rip-off or sequel and earned the worst director prize for Josh Trank.
Other dishonors included Kaley Cuoco as worst supporting actress for "Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip" and Eddie Redmayne as worst supporting actor for "Jupiter Ascending." Redmayne won the best actor trophy at last year's Academy Awards for portraying Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything."
Elton John, left, and Lady Gaga perform live on the Sunset Strip, co-presented by AOL BUILD and BBVA Compass on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in West Hollywood, Calif.
Photo by Evan Agostini
The 31st Independent Film Spirit Awards provided a clear rebuke to the less diverse Oscars, bestowing awards on "Beasts of No Nation" co-stars Idris Elba and Abraham Attah and "Tangerine" star Mya Taylor, making her the first transgender actress to win at the annual awards.
The newsroom drama "Spotlight" was the big winner at the Spirits on Saturday, the day before it's to compete for best picture at the Academy Awards. Tom McCarthy's film about the Boston Globe investigation into sex abuse by Catholic priests won a leading four awards, including best picture, best director for McCarthy, best screenplay and the Robert Altman award for ensemble.
But this year's Spirit Awards, an annual dressed-down oceanside indie antidote to the Oscars, was most remarkable for its more diverse nominees and winners. Neither Elba, Attah nor Taylor was even nominated for Oscars. Each drew hearty applause.
"Spotlight" was the only best picture nominee up for the Spirits' top award; the bigger budget Oscar favorites it's vying with, "The Revenant" and "The Big Short," didn't qualify. And while the Oscars have been beset by criticism for a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Spirits boasted five nonwhite nominees out of 20 - and three of them won.
Kate McKinnon ("Saturday Night Live") and comedian Kumail Nanjiani hosted the ceremony, which was broadcast live on IFC. In their opening remarks, Nanjiani introduced themselves as a Pakistani American and a gay woman, "or to Hollywood, a straight woman and her IT guy."
Hundreds of days of chasing down illegal fishing ships in the frigid Southern Ocean has paid off for environmental activist group Sea Shepherd. The last of the known poaching ships designed to catch Patagonia toothfish-or Chilean sea bass, as it's called at markets and restaurants-has been detained in Indonesia.
The ship, known as the Viking, was the final vessel out of a half dozen poaching vessels on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's list. The ships, referred to as the Bandit 6, had been illegally operating in the region surrounding Antarctia for more than a decade.
Sea Shepherd Captain Siddharth Chakravarty, who had been discreetly tracking the ship for several weeks, notified officials when the pirate ship entered Indonesian waters last week. Members of the Indonesia' Marine Affairs and Fisheries detained the Viking and its 11 crew members for falsifying the ships' name.
"In a short span of 15 months, the entire fleet of the toothfish poachers is in disarray, with no poachers fishing in Antarctica for the first time," Chakravarty said in a statement issued Friday. Crews were previously able to operate illegally with few consequences, hidden from authorities in the remoteness of the Southern Ocean.
Chakravarty, who previously helped chase down another illegal vessel called the Kunlun, called the capture of the last of the Bandit 6 one of the "swiftest and biggest successes in marine conservation history."
Fear and loathing is striking congressional Republicans faced with the distinct possibility of Donald Trump as their presidential nominee.
"My party has gone batshit crazy," says South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who called Trump a "nut job" and maintains that the billionaire businessman would inflict as much damage to the GOP as the iceberg did to the Titanic.
Republicans share a palpable fear that Trump would alienate Hispanics, minorities, independents and women, driving them to vote Democratic in November and costing the GOP the presidency, its Senate majority and suddenly competitive House seats. With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the ideological imbalance of the Supreme Court for decades also is at stake.
GOP incumbents clearly understand that the only option is to run a flawless campaign.
Doubt over man's contribution to global warming, particularly through burning coal for power, is fueling a push by West Virginia lawmakers to block new science standards in schools.
In a state defined by a coal industry that is now on life support, the Republican-led House of Delegates voted 73-20 on Friday to delay the new science standards related to Common Core.
Discussion on the measure Thursday focused on concerns, largely by coal proponents, that teaching the standards about global warming would follow a "political agenda" and an "ideology."
The vast majority of peer-reviewed studies, science organizations and climate scientists say global warming stems largely from manmade sources. A major source of carbon emissions is burning coal.
The science standards, set to take effect July 1, would be blocked for at least a year and existing standards would remain in their place. The measure next heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the education chairman says he has no issue with the bill.
Actress Vanessa Redgrave addresses protesters at an anti Trident protest rally in Trafalgar Square, in London, Saturday Feb. 27, 2016. Thousands have marched through London to oppose the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system in what demonstrators describe as the biggest such rally in a generation.
Photo by Anthony Devlin
One of the highest-ranking Vatican officials is being compelled to testify in public starting Sunday about clerical sex abuse, an unusual demonstration of holding even the most senior Catholic bishops accountable.
Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis' top financial adviser, will testify in a Rome hotel conference room for three nights running, answering questions via video link from Australia's Royal Commission with his accusers on hand to confront him.
The arrangements, including the 10 p.m.-2 a.m. testimony window to suit Australian time zones, were made after the 74-year-old Pell asked to be excused from traveling home to testify because of previously undisclosed heart conditions that made flying too risky.
The arrangement has had the unintended consequence of magnifying the event, which might otherwise have remained confined to a few news cycles in Australia. Now European and American media will be covering a story about pedophile priests, the rape of children and the church's botched cover-up - a story the Vatican wants absolutely nothing to do with.
Sean Penn presents the award for best feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif.
Photo by Chris Pizzello
Japan will sign an accord with the Philippines to allow Tokyo to supply military equipment to Manila, the first such Japanese defense pact in a region where both have expressed alarm over China's island-building and other aggressive acts in disputed waters.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told The Associated Press on Saturday that the agreement he'll sign on Monday with the Japanese ambassador in Manila is not directed against any country but aims to address gaps in the underfunded Philippine military's capabilities.
The Asian allies began stepping up defense cooperation "even before the disagreement in the West Philippine Sea," Gazmin said, using the name the Philippine government has adopted for the disputed South China Sea, where its territorial conflict with Beijing has flared in recent years.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have exchanged visits and vowed to intensify defense cooperation, sparking talks about a possible security pact that will allow Japanese forces to hold larger drills with Filipino troops in the Philippines. The Philippines has signed such visiting forces accords with the United States and Japan.
Eric White, left, and Patricia Arquette arrive at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif.
Photo by Jordan Strauss
The National Park Service is looking at using sharpshooters, capture and other methods to reduce the number of bison that are roaming the far northern reaches of the Grand Canyon and damaging resources, officials said.
The massive animals can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and park officials say they are destroying water sources, vegetation, soil and archaeological sites. Hunting is prohibited within park boundaries, but the agency has the authority to kill animals that harm resources, using park staff or volunteer hunters.
The Park Service announced in 2014 that it would work on a long-term plan to manage bison and do a more in-depth and lengthy environmental review. But the Grand Canyon said this week that it changed course because immediate action is needed to control the growing bison population.
Park officials are asking the public for comment. Reduction of the animals could start this winter if everything goes as planned. Between 80 and 200 bison are sustainable, not the 400 to 600 now living on about 310 square miles, officials said.
A close-up view of a finished decorated egg in the Spreewald-Museum in Luebbenau, Germany, 27 February 2016. The 17th easter egg fair was opened today at the museum.
Photo by Patrick Pluel
Earlier this week a polarizing Iowa bill that would let children use handguns passed through the state's House of Representatives and is on its way to its Senate.
The Youth Safety & Parental Rights Act (House File 2281), which was among five gun proposals under discussion earlier this week, has been a contentious issue - dividing even supporters of the Second Amendment. If successful, people under the age of 14 would be permitted to handle "a pistol, revolver or the ammunition" in the presence of an adult.
Current law prohibits anyone under 14 to use handguns, and plenty of Iowans want to keep it that way.
Before the Hawkeye State's House of Representatives passed the bill with a 62-36 vote on Tuesday, several lawmakers provided impassioned pleas to reject the bill in the name of children's safety.
The National Rifle Association strongly supports the bill and has been encouraging its supporters to contact senators in the Iowa legislature to support it.
A cat sits in a cage at the 'Haustiermesse' pet fair that is held at the Marx Halle event venue in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 27, 2016.
Photo by Christian Bruna
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said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
