Ron's News

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[Remember the days when we were fed the "no boots on the ground" line with a straight face? *RON*]
By Jason Ditz, AntiWar.com, 23 March 2016


Even as Pentagon officials have sought to emphasize their claims of ISIS being “on the run,” ever more US ground troops are being deployed into Iraq to try to cope with ISIS offensives, with the battle of Makhmur leading to the introduction of US Marines in front-line combat roles.

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[Remember how the Republicans squawked about Obama's support for Solyndra solar power? Republicans fail to offer Peep #1 about billions in corporate welfare  when the money is used to prop up dirty energy. For another government's take on this see: After 115 Years, Scotland Is Coal-Free. *RON*]

By Ben Jervey, DeSmog Blog, 25 March 2016



This year, two energy companies that have each received billions of dollars in subsidies and financial support from the federal government are going into bankruptcy. You might think, in this post-Solyndra political environment, that conservative commentators and politicians would be lining up at the Fox News studios to call for some heads to roll.

But, no. Even though these companies have benefited from enough federal subsidies to make the Solyndra loan look like pocket change, there's no outrage. Because they are coal companies (not solar), the story isn’t about how the federal government spent decade…

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[They think that melting permafrost is causing explosive blow-outs of methane in Siberia. See also: State Efforts to Stymie Climate Action Drawn from ALEC's National Playbook. *RON*]

Sarah Kramer, Tech Insider / Business Insider, 24 March 2016

When a helicopter pilot spotted the first crater in summer 2014, everyone was baffled.

The 100-foot-wide hole appeared on the Yamal Peninsula seemingly out of nowhere, during a tense season of Russian military action in Ukraine and international sanctions.

And then more appeared. Lacking a better explanation, aliens and underground missiles were floated as possible theories, according The Washington Post.

But the truth is that the holes might come from a threat not even Mulder and Scully are equipped to handle: climate change.

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[The film director and activist was busted for pancake-flipping at an anti-pipeline rally. Welcome to the police state. Plainly he should should have brought some of Bundy's Oregon militia men with him - then the police would have stalled for weeks. While we're on about the police state, Watch a Local News Reporter Get Arrested While Requesting Public Records. And again: U.S. Marshals Service Sending SWAT Teams Out to Arrest People for Unpaid Student Loans. *RON*]
By Lee Ziesche, AlterNet, 24 March 2016


Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (Gasland) and others from the activist group Beyond Extreme Energy were arrested today protesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for its role in continuing to permit fossil fuel projects that will greatly accelerate climate change.

Today’s protest draws specific attention to FERC’s role in using eminent domain to condemn and clearcut a wide swathe of maple trees across the Holleran fami…

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[When will people begin to openly identify this as the class war that it has long been in reality? Establishment has been defined as Wall Street, D.C., Big Media. Almost universally, the establishment is seen as incestuous and isolated. A similar perspective is offered here: The Republican Civil War Has Begun. *RON*]

By David Lightman, McClatchy, 24 March 2016

ST. LOUIS

The people who spend two bucks for chili at the Courtesy Diner at Laclede Station Road can’t fathom why anyone would pay Hillary Clinton $225,000 to make a speech.

Nor can they understand why the U.S. Senate is taking a 17-day break for Easter after spending much of their time last week fuming over the Supreme Court vacancy. Somehow, people all over America are saying loudly and clearly this election year, Washington and its enablers – the media, the political pros and Wall Street – don’t understand us.

That’s why, all over this slice of middle America, exasperated people got up…

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[Excellent evidence here, it seems to me, that the EU's monetary policy has simply stopped working. With Canada now building deficits we'll see how long it takes before the other shoe drops and they realize they need to refocus on fiscal policy. Three months before the launch of a revamped lending program, the current platform is seeing poor uptake. *RON*]

By Jon Sindreum, Wall Street Journal, 24 March 2016

As the European Central Bank prepares to deploy new rounds of cheap lending to eurozone banks, the tepid take-up from what’s currently on offer suggests the scheme will provide little relief to the sector.

The seventh round of the ECB’s Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operation program was launched Thursday, and saw the program’s lowest take-up since it was began in 2014.

The TLTRO offers cheap liquidity to banks in exchange for them lending to households and companies. In March the ECB said that starting June, it will offer a new brand…