April 26, 2017

Trump administration to review dozens of U.S. national monuments

Source: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday will order a review of national monuments created over the past 20 years with an aim toward rescinding or resizing some of them - part of a broader push to reopen areas to drilling, mining and other development.

The move comes as Trump seeks to reverse a slew of environmental protections ushered in by former President Barack Obama that he said were hobbling economic growth - an agenda that is cheering industry but enraging conservationists.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters on Tuesday Trump's executive order would require him to conduct the review of around 30 national monuments and recommend which designations should be lifted or resized over the coming months. He said he would seek feedback from Congressional delegations, governors and local stakeholders before making his recommendations.

"I am not going to predispose what the outcome is going to be," Zinke said. Rescinding or altering a national monument designation would be new ground for the government, he said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-monuments-idUSKBN17S03N

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Trump will upset anything and everything he encounters.
This is about control and dominance.
Politically dictatorship is at the roots.

April 25, 2017

Wikipedia founder aims to 'fix the news' with collaborative website

Source: Reuters

The new platform, called Wikitribune, will be free to access and carry no advertising, instead relying on its readers to fund it, while the accuracy of news reports will be easily verifiable as source material will be published, Wales said.

"The news is broken, but we've figured out how to fix it," he said in a promotional video posted on the website's homepage.

The online proliferation of fake news, some of it generated for profit and some for political ends, became a major topic of angst and debate in many developed countries during last year's U.S. presidential election.

Wales argued in his video that because people expected to get news for free on the Internet, news sites were reliant on advertising money, which created strong incentives to generate so-called "clickbait", catchy headlines to attract viewers.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-media-wikitribune-idUSKBN17R11K

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The political middle, common sense, Americans, are asserting themselves in
many ways. There is no downside to reality, logic, science, middle-of-the-road
thinking. In fact it's what civilizations rely on.

April 24, 2017

Entire U.S. Senate to go to White House for North Korea briefing

Source: Reuters

Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea, senior Senate aides said on Monday.

All 100 senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the aides said.

While top administration officials routinely travel to Capitol Hill to address members of Congress on foreign policy and national security matters, it is unusual for the entire 100-member Senate to go to such an event at the White House, and for those four top officials to be involved.

U.S. officials have expressed mounting concern over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the United States and its Asian allies.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-usa-senate-idUSKBN17Q1LR

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This development sounds ominous. When was the last time all 100 Senators were summoned
to the White House? Did they do it for the financial crisis in September 2008? I don't recall it.

This sounds to me as much like sharing the blame as informing in a timely manner.

April 22, 2017

North Korea: Experts Warn Only Way Forward May Be Diplomacy

Source: NBC News

For all the talk of naval strike groups and pre-emptive military action, Donald Trump's only option to solve the North Korean crisis could be compromise.

His presidency has seen tensions ratcheting up over the Korean peninsula, with dictator Kim Jong Un's missile testing met with a swift rebuke from Washington.

That uncompromising approach was underscored Wednesday when Vice President Mike Pence told 2,500 sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan that any use of conventional or nuclear weapons would be met with an "overwhelming and effective American response."

In return, North Korea has accused the U.S. of creating "a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time."

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-experts-warn-only-way-forward-may-be-diplomacy-n748186

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Seriously. 'If you guys glow, we'll make them glow too.'

April 12, 2017

I'm seeing growing uneasiness in the markets

We're getting days that just drift slightly, and far too many where the action
is over in 50 minutes

Seesaw volatility

Where do you go for market recaps at the end of the day? I ditched Yahoo! Finance
due to all the ads. Bloomberg is more libertarian than it once was, and Marketwatch
has good articles. I find MSNMoney lightweight.