NEW YORK TIMES: Kiev, Ukraine — Pulling back a huge aid convoy whose entry into Ukraine stirred Western outrage, Russia on Saturday cheered the completion of what it called a successful humanitarian mission, while Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany visited the Ukrainian capital and pledged more than $690 million for the rebuilding of war-ravaged areas […]
Month: August 2014
Where the criminal case against Penn State’s Graham Spanier stands: No news is, well, no news
HARRISBURG PATRIOT NEWS Column: …Each defendant has asserted he believed Baldwin was acting as his personal attorney when she attended their grand jury appearances i Harrisburg in 2011, and their attorney / client privilege was never waived.
Job No. 1 for the next governor? A huge budget gap
PHILLY.COM / AP: …Tax collections have been disappointing. Costs are rising by more than $1 billion a year, primarily for health care for the poor and public employee pensions.
Russia Moves Artillery Units Into Ukraine, NATO Says
NEW YORK TIMES: …The Russian move represents a significant escalation of the Kremlin’s involvement in the fighting there and comes as a convoy of Russian trucks with humanitarian provisions has crossed into Ukrainian territory without Kiev’s permission… NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, criticized the Russian moves in a statement issued in Brussels on Friday. […]
U.S. General Says Raiding Syria Is Key to Halting ISIS
NEW YORK TIMES: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its partners take on the Sunni militants in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday. “This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” […]
Widening Wealth Gap: ‘Bottom 20’ of Americans Worse Off Now Than in Year 2000
NEWSMAX / AP: The median net worth of the richest households rose 11 percent between 2000 and 2011, to $630,754. The next-wealthiest group’s net worth also rose… A rebound in the stock market and rising home values after the housing bust helped richer Americans regain their wealth since the recession, which began in December 2007 […]
How Hungarian Prime Minister transformed from a dissident compatriot of Vaclav Havel to a would-be Vladimir Putin
FOREIGN POLICY: Budapest, Hungary — In late July, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivered a bold speech in the Transylvanian town of Tusnadfurdo. His message, articulated at a retreat of Hungarian leaders, was unquestionably controversial; to many observers of Hungarian politics, it was nothing short of galling. Orban announced plans to make his country an […]
Judges once again will be allowed to judge: Hurrah!
A front page article on “Mandatory minimum sentences are ‘unconstitutional,’ Pa. court says” was the best news we have encountered in a long time…
Why More, Not Fewer, People Might Start Getting Health Insurance Through Work
The law’s best-known and least-liked provision — the “individual mandate” — is probably causing the trend. For the first time, people must buy insurance this year or be subject to a tax penalty. In Massachusetts, a similar requirement changed the employer-sponsored insurance market in two ways, said Sharon Long, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, who has studied the state’s experience.
Food and the Dying Patient (and the last meal)
NEW YORK TIMES: …But contrary to popular belief, a feeding tube does not prolong life in a patient with dementia. It actually increases suffering. A stomach full of mechanically pumped artificial calories puts pressure on an already fragile digestive system, increasing the chance of pushing stomach contents up into the lungs. And surgically implanted tubes […]
GOP: Wolf ‘Fresh Start’ campaign violates Pennsylvania law
The complaint, signed by [Party Chair] Gleason and GOP vice chair Joyce Haas, says Fresh Start “only exists because Wolf authorized its formation on behalf of his campaign.”…
EDITORIAL: The U. S. phone number is not 911
Critics and idlers like to say that Obama is ‘weak’ and this is encouraging every problem that breaks out in the world, as though with George W. Bush all was peace and quiet.
Plenty of Room at the Top of Ukraine’s Fading Rebellion
NEW YORK TIMES: Donetsk, Ukraine — To outward appearances, Fyodor D. Berezin is the picture of a senior military commander. He wears camouflage, has bodyguards and confidently gives orders as the newly named deputy defense minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic. Yet, just four months ago he was an obscure author of 18 science […]
Pope Francis says he expects to live two or three more years, and may retire
THE GUARDIAN: Pope Francis has publicly broached the prospect of his own death for the first time, light-heartedly giving himself “two or three years” but not ruling out retirement before then… Pope Francis also mentioned the possibility of retiring from the papacy, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did last year, if he felt he could […]