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News Roundup – Nelson Mandela, Job Numbers, North Korea

As I mentioned yesterday, Nelson Mandela has died. As usual, Frontline has a fabulous documentary on the life of Nelson Mandela. If you are truly interested in how this man survived 27 years in prison and how he pulled off what was a magnificent tap dance between multiple different factions in South Africa, this documentary is for you.

It seems that whenever somebody like Nelson Mandela grabs the media spotlight, those ultraconservatives get kind of weird. First up on the crazy train is Rush Limbaugh. He simply can’t help himself. Now, we have the mayor of DC comparing Nelson Mandela’s struggle to the struggle of DC. Not so much. Finally, President Obama has ordered the nation’s flags to fly at half mast honoring the life of Nelson Mandela. Of course, there’s some sheriff in South Carolina who feels this is simply wrong. Psst, we know that he isn’t an American, but we are honoring his greatness anyway. Why do you have a problem with that? (The US flag was flown at half-staff for Pope John Paul II (2005), King Hussein of Jordan (1999), Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel (1995) and Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt (1981).) On a more positive note, Maya Angelou wrote a tribute poem for Nelson Mandela.

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By ecthompsonmd|2013-12-07T14:47:37-04:00December 7th, 2013|Economy, Foreign Affairs, North Korea|Comments Off

Wednesday Evening News Roundup

News Roundup

Did I read that the Obama administration is agreeing to Social Security cuts? I just don’t understand what the administration is doing. Craziness on a grand scale. Liberals have been replaced by conservative Republicans!!!! AAuugghhh….

From Robert Reich:

Sure, March’s employment report was a big disappointment. But it’s hard to see any direct connection between those poor job numbers and the sequester. The government has been shedding jobs for years. Most of the losses in March were from the Postal Service.

Take a closer look, though, and Americans are starting to feel the pain. They just don’t know it yet.

That’s because so much of what the government does affects the nation in local, decentralized ways. Federal funds find their way to community housing authorities, state unemployment offices, local school districts, private universities, and companies. So it’s hard for most Americans to know the sequester is responsible for the lost funding, lost jobs, or just plain inconvenience.

A tiny sampling: Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts is bracing for a cut of about $51 million in its $685 million of annual federal research grants and contracts. The public schools of Syracuse, New York, will lose over $1 million. The housing authority of Joliet, Illinois, will take a hit of nearly $900,000. Northrop Grumman Information Systems just issued layoff notices to 26 employees at its plant in Lawton, Oklahoma. Unemployment benefits are being cut in Pennsylvania and Utah. (more…)

From Steve:

On the Korean Peninsula: “American and South Korean troops increased alert levels on Wednesday as South Korea’s foreign minister warned that North Korea could launch its medium-range Musudan missile ‘any time from now.'” U.S. defense officials are also “highly confident” that North Korea is planning the imminent launch of a medium-range missile.

Now that there’s a bipartisan agreement on key elements of the gun-safety legislation, will Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) drop his filibuster threat and allow the Senate to debate the issue? Of course not. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-04-11T19:52:25-04:00April 10th, 2013|Budget, Economy, Mass Shooting, North Korea, Obama administration, Party Politics|2 Comments

Sunday Morning News Roundup

News Roundup

Congratulations to Louisville and Michigan. Man, Wichita State was a great story. Just didn’t have enough fire power to take out Louisville.

Still bumming about Roger Ebert.

Rick Warren’s son has committed suicide. My heart goes out to Pastor Warren and his family.

The Sequester is killing or has killed the jobs market. The economy was limping along gaining about 150,000 jobs per month. 88,000 jobs last month is sad. The economy needs help. Americans need help. Congress? What are you doing to create jobs?

Paul Krugman continues to fight for the working man and woman. He continues to argue that the government needs to do more to help the economy. He is 100% correct –

It turns out that the urge to purge — the urge to see depression as a necessary and somehow even desirable punishment for past sins, while inveighing against any attempt to mitigate suffering — is as strong as ever. Indeed, Mellonism is everywhere these days. Turn on CNBC or read an op-ed page, and the odds are that you won’t see someone arguing that the federal government and the Federal Reserve are doing too little to fight mass unemployment. Instead, you’re much more likely to encounter an alleged expert ranting about the evils of budget deficits and money creation, and denouncing Keynesian economics as the root of all evil.

Now, the fact is that these ranters have been wrong about everything, at every stage of the crisis, while the Keynesians have been mostly right. Remember how federal deficits were supposed to cause soaring interest rates? Never mind: After four years of such warnings, rates remain near historic lows — just as Keynesians predicted. Remember how running the printing presses was going to cause runaway inflation? Since the recession began, the Fed has more than tripled the size of its balance sheet, but inflation has averaged less than 2 percent. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-04-07T22:13:42-04:00April 7th, 2013|Economy, Movies, North Korea, Religion, Sports|Comments Off