Re: KEISLING: PA AG Kathleen Kane: Gagged, bound, and tied to the sawmill Facts are what is in question. Unarguable is that Kane exposed a network of “good old boys” exchanging email that they should not have on government-owned computers. Many of those “good old boys” have been forced out of office or are in […]
Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
NEW YORK TIMES: … “Real life is all about the narrative,” he said. “It’s sitting down and talking about bowel movements with a 79-year-old woman for 45 minutes. It’s not that interesting, but that’s where it happens.” Dr. [Rajeev] Alexander’s method is at the center of an emotional debate in medicine, in which the imperative to […]
Ferman Presser: Lies, Contradictions, & Ethics Violations
Then-Montgomery County DA Risa Ferman’s August 2015 press conference contained lies and contradictions By Ray Blehar NOTPSUBLOG: On December 29th, I wrote that step #5 of the PA Corruption Network’s Playbook was for prosecutors to go public with trumped up charges based on questionable evidence and/or falsehoods in order to publicly smear political opponents. Then-DA […]
Polish Democracy’s Final Days?
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Winter has come to Europe, but it seems to be springtime for the continent’s autocrats. Following the example of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz Party, Poland’s new government, led by the nationalist-populist Law and Justice party (PiS), has launched assaults on the country’s judiciary and public media, putting Polish democracy and […]
TSUKERMAN: Beggars in Moscow
By Slava Tsukerman Lately there were a lot of publications in Russia devoted to problem of paupers. In my opinion the most enlightening was an interview with Oleg Melnikov, the head of non-governmental organization “Alternative”, broadcast by Internet TV station “Rain”. “Alternative” was created with the purpose to deal with the problem of beggars […]
Republicans in Congress ended the decades-long funding ban on needle exchange programs
VOX: In December, Congress quietly made a huge change to help combat HIV: It effectively lifted the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs, which provide clean needles — meaning syringes that aren’t infected with HIV — to drug users. The change, reported by John Stanton at BuzzFeed on Tuesday, keeps the federal funding ban on syringes […]
The Most Outrageous Drug War Deaths of 2015
By Phil Smith: Drug War Chronicle : An as yet unnamed man killed by police in Rawlins, Wyoming, on December 30, after they were called to a convenience store about a person believed to be selling drugs in the parking lot, and Burlington, Vermont, resident Kenneth Stephens, 56, shot and killed by a state trooper and a DEA agent on […]
Pa. AG Kane says she won’t testify at Senate removal hearing
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: …“Given the position she has taken from the beginning, I would be very surprised to see her appear personally,” said Bruce Antkowiak, a law professor at St. Vincent College near Latrobe. That could be construed as validating the Senate process she opposes, he said. “Forget about the specifics. It’s generally rare for criminal […]
PPL offered to lease or buy Allentown’s PPL Plaza at half price due to competitor’s CRIZ like funding
LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL: …[PP&L’s] argument is that developers building new class A office space downtown can use the NIZ to redirect many of their tenants’ state and local taxes to cover construction costs, allowing them to offer below-market rents for brand-new, custom-built office space. Meanwhile, the NIZ does not allow the owners of The Plaza, […]
The costly blunders of Saudi Arabia’s anxiety-ridden monarchy
WASHINGTON POST COLUMN: “Fragile” is the word that journalist Karen Elliott House used to describe Saudi Arabia in her 2012 book about the country. “Observing Saudi Arabia is like watching a gymnast dismount the balance beam in slow motion,” she wrote. The world holds its breath wondering if the Saudis “will nail the landing or crash to the […]
In thwarted move, Justice Eakin tried to install new leaders in city courts
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Embattled state Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin tried to install new leaders in Philadelphia’s massive court system by pushing his colleagues on the high court to act before three new justices joined the bench this week. Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and two other justices confirmed Tuesday that Eakin had urged them to […]
Setting the record straight on Hungary’s history
JANUARY 5, 2016 BY RICHARD FIELD Germans have learned to accept the territorial losses of the First and Second World Wars. Isn’t it time for Hungarians to do the same and wholeheartedly embrace the European Union? After all, don’t Hungarians stand to benefit from a Europe where there is freedom of movement and respect for the rights of […]
KEISLING: PA AG Kathleen Kane: Gagged, bound, and tied to the sawmill
Kathleen Kane posed a tangible threat to the well-entrenched cadre of corrupted officials from both parties who’ve been running the state, and who all rely on a turned blind eye. by Bill Keisling Pennsylvania ranks as among the most corrupt states in the union, we’ve been told by academics. But even those academic studies underplay […]
Moderate GOPers deserve their conundrum
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: My New Year’s resolution is to no longer feel sorry for my many moderate Republican business friends. They deserve Trump, the Tea Baggers, mega corps running roughshod and government intrusion in their wives’ vaginas. The former president of a small, private college, in a sleepy town where I was Mayor for […]