Sunday, March 2, 2014

@2:45, 3/1/14

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1
U.S.

GTT ★

By MICHAEL HOINSKI | Feb 27th 2014
2
World

Suicide Bomber Attacks Cafe in the Somali Capital

By REUTERS | Feb 27th 2014
3
Sports

Bags Barred at Boston Marathon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 26th 2014

No backpack bombs.

4
Travel

On the Beach, on the Cheap, in Mozambique

By SETH KUGEL | Feb 28th 2014
5
U.S.

Lewis Yablonsky, Sociologist Fascinated by Sociopaths, Dies at 89

By WILLIAM YARDLEY | Feb 25th 2014
6
Opinion

Targeting the Johns in Sex Trade

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF | Feb 26th 2014
Police are beginning to realize that fighting sex trafficking and prostitution means arresting the men who sustain it. Pimps and johns.
Prostitution; Police; Human Trafficking 

All of this is unattractive.
7
Your Money

Save for Retirement First, the Children’s Education Second

By ANN CARRNS | Feb 28th 2014

Greed of all parties.

8
N.Y. / Region

Christie Allies Joked of Disrupting Traffic at a Rabbi’s House

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MATT FLEGENHEIMER | Feb 27th 2014
9
World

Kerry Sees Syrian Retaliation Against Rivals in Talks

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and BEN HUBBARD | Feb 26th 2014
10
World

Hamas Chases Protesters From Gaza-Israel Border

By FARES AKRAM | Feb 28th 2014

Business Day

Fed’s Aid in 2008 Crisis Stretched Worldwide

By NEIL IRWIN | Feb 23rd 2014
The Federal Reserve pumped hundreds of billions of dollars to nations to bolster global banks when dollars were scarce, newly released transcripts of 2008 Fed policy committee meetings reveal.
International Trade and World Market; United States Economy; Banking and Financial Institutions; Credit and Debt; Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008)

Helicopter money drops worked some.
 
12
U.S.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana

By RICK LYMAN | Feb 26th 2014
13
N.Y. / Region

Nagging, as a Force for Good

By JIM DWYER | Feb 27th 2014
At a school fair at the Department of Probation in the Bronx, officers made sure that clients on probation were on the right path.
Probation and Parole; Education; Prisons and Prisoners; Vocational Training

Instruction helps.
 
14
World

South Korean Leader Assails Japan on Wartime Brothels

By CHOE SANG-HUN | Mar 1st 2014
President Park Geun-hye of South Korea urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to acknowledge Japan’s 20th century aggressions.

Time and memory are passing.

15
Technology

Engineers Allege Hiring Collusion in Silicon Valley

By DAVID STREITFELD | Feb 28th 2014 
 
Unionize.

16
N.Y. / Region

Imperfect Already?

By THE NEW YORK TIMES | Feb 25th 2014
The first PATH station platform at the developing World Trade Center hub, for riders to Hoboken, N.J., opened on Tuesday.
Transit Systems; World Trade Center (Manhattan, NY)

Yes.
 
17
Opinion

Better Lawyering for the Poor

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Feb 26th 2014

Don't push.

18
Business Day

A New Light on Regulators in the Dark

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON | Feb 22nd 2014
Federal Reserve transcripts show a board playing catch-up with the events of 2008.
Banking and Financial Institutions; Regulation and Deregulation of Industry

The fed got it wrong.
 
19
Automobiles

Tesla Plans $5 Billion Battery Factory for Mass-Market Electric Car

By JACLYN TROP and DIANE CARDWELL | Feb 26th 2014
Tesla, which markets a $70,000-plus electric sedan, took aim at the broader market in announcing a way to make the batteries that power the cars cheaper.
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles; Batteries; Factories and Manufacturing

Electric, rather than hybrid, vehicles have no generating capacity.
I wish them good luck with their plan.
 
20
N.Y. / Region

Effort to Delay Terror Trial of a Bin Laden Relative Fails

By BENJAMIN WEISER | Feb 28th 2014



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@10:09

1
Sports

Bags Barred at Boston Marathon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 26th 2014
2
U.S.

Lewis Yablonsky, Sociologist Fascinated by Sociopaths, Dies at 89

By WILLIAM YARDLEY | Feb 25th 2014

Sociology can be done by counting.
Psychology is not amenable to statistics.
 
3
Opinion

Targeting the Johns in Sex Trade

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF | Feb 26th 2014
4
N.Y. / Region

Christie Allies Joked of Disrupting Traffic at a Rabbi’s House

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MATT FLEGENHEIMER | Feb 27th 2014
5
World

Kerry Sees Syrian Retaliation Against Rivals in Talks

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and BEN HUBBARD | Feb 26th 2014
6
World

Hamas Chases Protesters From Gaza-Israel Border

By FARES AKRAM | Feb 28th 2014
7
Business Day

Fed’s Aid in 2008 Crisis Stretched Worldwide

By NEIL IRWIN | Feb 23rd 2014
8
U.S.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana

By RICK LYMAN | Feb 26th 2014
9
World

South Korean Leader Assails Japan on Wartime Brothels

By CHOE SANG-HUN | Mar 1st 2014

10
N.Y. / Region

The Once and Future Gowanus

By GINIA BELLAFANTE | Feb 21st 2014
The Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn is home to a polluted canal, yet it has rising housing values and residents who want to see it prosper without becoming the next Dumbo.
Real Estate and Housing (Residential); Affordable Housing; Gentrification

We will have to build it ourselves. 
There is no cheap space in New York City.

11
Technology

Engineers Allege Hiring Collusion in Silicon Valley

By DAVID STREITFELD | Feb 28th 2014
12
N.Y. / Region

Imperfect Already?

By THE NEW YORK TIMES | Feb 25th 2014
The first PATH station platform at the developing World Trade Center hub, for riders to Hoboken, N.J., opened on Tuesday.
Transit Systems; World Trade Center (Manhattan, NY)

Chewing gum.
 
13
Opinion

Better Lawyering for the Poor

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Feb 26th 2014
14
Business Day

A New Light on Regulators in the Dark

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON | Feb 22nd 2014 

Only the future can be changed.
Lessons not yet learned.
 
15
Automobiles

Tesla Plans $5 Billion Battery Factory for Mass-Market Electric Car

By JACLYN TROP and DIANE CARDWELL | Feb 26th 2014

Get it done.

16
N.Y. / Region

Effort to Delay Terror Trial of a Bin Laden Relative Fails

By BENJAMIN WEISER | Feb 28th 2014

Revenge.

17
Sports

Rugby Title Goes Down to the Wire

By HUW RICHARDS | Feb 23rd 2014
England kept its title hopes alive with its best match yet, leaving four teams tied for the lead and two games to go in the Six Nations championship.
Rugby (Game)

Not my game.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/ncaabasketball/index.html

"CONNECTICUT 72, RUTGERS 35 Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley each scored 20 points to help No. 1 Connecticut earn a home win over No. 24 Rutgers and remain unbeaten.
The victory gave the Huskies at least a share of the inaugural American Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Huskies (30-0, 17-0 A.A.C.) will play No. 3 Louisville on Monday with a chance to win the conference championship outright. If Louisville wins, a coin flip will determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
UConn held Rutgers scoreless for 5 minutes 20 seconds in the first half and gradually extended its lead. Rutgers (21-7, 12-5) missed six shots in that span. (AP)"


18

In Our Pages: February 28

By INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE | Feb 27th 2014
From The International Herald Tribune.
Capital Punishment; Jury System; Murders and Attempted Murders; Spanish Civil War (1936-39)

1964
"DALLAS — Jack Ruby’s lawyers jolted the courtroom here today with the suggestion that killing a Communist may not deserve the death penalty. As the selection of a jury for Ruby’s trial entered its tenth day, defense attorney Joe H. Tonahill asked the 99th prospective juror: ‘‘Would you consider it un-Texan to be a member of the first jury in America to give the death penalty for shooting a Communist?’’ President Kennedy’s accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, whom Ruby shot to death before a nation-wide television audience last November, was an avowed Marxist. Ruby watched unperturbed from the defense table today."
19
Automobiles

G.M. Announces Repairs in Recall of 1.4 Million Cars

By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN | Feb 27th 2014
The company will begin replacing ignition switches on the small cars affected by the recall.
Automobiles; Automobile Safety Features and Defects; Recalls and Bans of Products

"General Motors again apologized on Thursday and said that it hoped to start repairing the cars in early April."
20
Opinion

The Record of Israel's Universities

Feb 28th 2014
Readers respond to Thomas L. Friedman's recent column on an open online course at Israel's Technion.
Philanthropy

Window dressing.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@21:00


1
Opinion

Support Your Local Slaughterhouse

By NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN | Mar 1st 2014
2
U.S.

With Vacancies High, G.O.P. Primaries in Texas Set Up a Scramble to the Right

By MANNY FERNANDEZ | Mar 1st 2014
3
N.Y. / Region

Effort to Delay Terror Trial of a Bin Laden Relative Fails

By BENJAMIN WEISER | Feb 28th 2014
4
World

Pro-Hezbollah Song Opens Musical Front in Civil War Over Syria

By BEN HUBBARD and HWAIDA SAAD | Mar 1st 2014
5
Opinion

The N.F.L. Begins to Wake Up

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Feb 28th 2014
There is no reason professional football players should be immune from modern standards of workplace conduct.
Bullies; Sexual Harassment; Indecency, Obscenity and Profanity; Discrimination

The N.F.L. intentionally destroys players.
 
6
Business Day

G.A.O. Finds Little Evidence Pilots Are in Short Supply

By JAD MOUAWAD | Feb 28th 2014
Regional airlines have complained they cannot find qualified pilots and might need to cut back service as a result.
Airlines and Airplanes; Shortages; Labor and Jobs

The airlines must pay a living wage.
 
7
Business Day

Fed’s Aid in 2008 Crisis Stretched Worldwide

By NEIL IRWIN | Feb 23rd 2014
8
Opinion

Targeting the Johns in Sex Trade

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF | Feb 26th 2014
9
U.S.

An Eye on Runoffs, Candidates Mind Tactics in Primaries

By AMAN BATHEJA | Mar 1st 2014
The high number of statewide races drawing multiple candidates this year is expected to lead to an unusually large second round after Tuesday’s voting.
Elections, Governors; Elections, State Legislature; Elections, Attorneys General

Splits in the G.O.P. are a good thing.
 
10
U.S.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana

By RICK LYMAN | Feb 26th 2014
11
U.S.

Ohio Gay-Marriage Push Divides Some Advocates

By TRIP GABRIEL and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG | Feb 23rd 2014
Activists seek the repeal of a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage in Ohio, but other gay rights leaders caution that “2014 is not the year.”
Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships; Referendums; Constitutional Amendments; Elections, Governors

"Brenda Millhouse, another volunteer, said the opposition of some gay rights groups had pushed her into action. “I have a partner,” she said. “I’d like to marry her someday. If people say, ‘I’m going to wait for somebody else to tell me it’s O.K. to do all I think is right,’ nothing would ever change in this country.”"
12
Opinion

Health Security and Infectious Disease

Feb 28th 2014
Experts in infectious diseases and veterinary medicine respond to an editorial.
Preventive Medicine; Epidemics; SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

Yes.
 
13
Sports

Bags Barred at Boston Marathon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 26th 2014
14
Technology

Engineers Allege Hiring Collusion in Silicon Valley

By DAVID STREITFELD | Feb 28th 2014
15
U.S.

Lewis Yablonsky, Sociologist Fascinated by Sociopaths, Dies at 89

By WILLIAM YARDLEY | Feb 25th 2014
16
N.Y. / Region

Bin Laden Relative’s Lawyers Claim Mistaken Identity as Trial Nears

By BENJAMIN WEISER | Feb 27th 2014
17
World

Kerry Sees Syrian Retaliation Against Rivals in Talks

18
World

As Africans Surge to Europe’s Door, Spain Locks Down

By SUZANNE DALEY | Feb 27th 2014
Large groups of sub-Saharan immigrants have been charging the fences into a Spanish enclave in Morocco, raising alarms over their efforts and the officials’ response.
Immigration and Emigration; Illegal Immigration

Send them to Germany.
 
19
Technology

The Rolling Robot Will Connect You Now

By ANNE EISENBERG | Mar 1st 2014
Telepresence machines may soon become inexpensive enough for more everyday use, as a conduit for virtual visits among family and friends.
Robots and Robotics; Computers and the Internet; Telephones and Telecommunications; Elderly; Videophones and Videoconferencing; New Models, Design and Products

No hugs, kisses or swings.  Presence but no contact.

 
20
Opinion

Better Lawyering for the Poor

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Feb 26th 2014

ok

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/opinion/krugman-the-inflation-obsession.html?ref=paulkrugman

"Recently the Federal Reserve released transcripts of its monetary policy meetings during the fateful year of 2008. And boy, are they discouraging reading.
Partly that’s because Fed officials come across as essentially clueless about the gathering economic storm. But we knew that already. What’s really striking is the extent to which they were obsessed with the wrong thing. The economy was plunging, yet all many people at the Fed wanted to talk about was inflation.
Matthew O’Brien at The Atlantic has done the math. In August 2008 there were 322 mentions of inflation, versus only 28 of unemployment and 19 of systemic risks or crises. In the meeting on Sept. 16, 2008 — the day after Lehman fell! — there were 129 mentions of inflation, versus 26 mentions of unemployment and only four of systemic risks or crises.
Historians of the Great Depression have long marveled at the folly of policy discussion at the time. For example, the Bank of England, faced with a devastating deflationary spiral, kept obsessing over the imagined threat of inflation. As the economist Ralph Hawtrey famously observed, “That was to cry ‘Fire, fire!’ in Noah’s flood.” But it turns out that modern monetary officials facing financial crisis were just as obsessed with the wrong thing as their predecessors three generations before.
And it wasn’t just a bad call in 2008. Much supposedly informed opinion has remained fixated on the supposed threat of rising prices despite being wrong again and again. If you spent the last five years watching CNBC, or reading The Wall Street Journal opinion pages, or for that matter listening to prominent conservative economists, you lived in a constant state of alarm over runaway inflation, which was coming any day now. It never did.
What accounts for inflation obsession? One answer is that obsessives failed to distinguish between underlying inflation and short-term fluctuations in the headline number, which are mainly driven by volatile energy and food prices. Gasoline prices, in particular, strongly influence inflation in any given year, and dire warnings are heard whenever prices rise at the pump; yet such blips say nothing at all about future inflation.
They also failed to understand that printing money in a depressed economy isn’t inflationary. I could have told them that, and in fact I did. But maybe there was some excuse for not grasping this point in 2008 or early 2009.
The point, however, is that inflation obsession has persisted, year after year, even as events have refuted its supposed justifications. And this tells us that something more than bad analysis is at work. At a fundamental level, it’s political.
This is fairly obvious if you look at who the inflation obsessives are. While a few conservatives believe that the Fed should be doing more, not less, they have little if any real influence. The overall picture is that most conservatives are inflation obsessives, and nearly all inflation obsessives are conservative.
Why is this the case? In part it reflects the belief that the government should never seek to mitigate economic pain, because the private sector always knows best. Back in the 1930s, Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek and Joseph Schumpeter inveighed against any effort to fight the depression with easy money; to do so, warned Schumpeter, would be to leave “the work of depressions undone.” Modern conservatives are generally less open about the harshness of their view, but it’s pretty much the same.
The flip side of this antigovernment attitude is the conviction that any attempt to boost the economy, whether fiscal or monetary, must produce disastrous results — Zimbabwe, here we come! And this conviction is so strong that it persists no matter how wrong it has been, year after year.
Finally, all this ties in with a predilection for acting tough and inflicting punishment whatever the economic conditions. The British journalist William Keegan once described this as “sado-monetarism,” and it’s very much alive today.
Does any of this matter? It’s true that the Fed hasn’t surrendered to the sado-monetarists. Notably, it didn’t panic in 2011, when another blip in gasoline prices briefly raised the headline rate of inflation, and Republicans began inveighing against the “debasement” of the dollar.
But I’d argue that the clamor from inflation obsessives has intimidated the Fed, which might otherwise have done more. And it has also been part of a general climate of opposition to anything that might address our continuing jobs crisis.
As I suggested, we used to marvel at the wrongheadedness of policy makers during the Great Depression. But when the Great Recession struck, and we were given a chance to do better, we ended up repeating all the same mistakes.

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Posted by at No comments:

@ . . . , 2/28/14

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1
Magazine

Nursing-Home Pitfalls

By CHUCK KLOSTERMAN | Feb 28th 2014
Using fear to help protect patients with dementia.
Ethics (Personal); Nursing Homes; Dementia; Ethicist, The (Times Column)

Well thought.
 
2
Automobiles

Geneva Motor Show to Showcase Extreme Opulence

By JERRY GARRETT | Feb 28th 2014
From a $3 million special edition Bugatti to a “midrange” $360,000 McLaren, many of the cars unveiled in Geneva will be aimed at the very rich.
Automobiles; Geneva International Motor Show 

Henry Ford will haunt them.
 
3
N.Y. / Region

Hoffman Killed by Toxic Mix of Drugs, Official Concludes

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ | Feb 28th 2014
The actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was killed after using not only heroin but also cocaine, amphetamines and sedatives, the New York City medical examiner announced.
Drug Abuse and Traffic; Heroin; Cocaine and Crack Cocaine; Sedatives; Amphetamines 

Self medication is an easy trap to enter.
 
4
N.Y. / Region

Contracts for Milk in New York City Schools Are Flagged

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ | Feb 26th 2014
An audit shows no direct evidence of wrongdoing, but the city comptroller said it was curious how four milk distributors won and then delivered on $134 million in school contracts in 2008.
Education (K-12); Milk; Dairy Products; Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates) 

Milk is a commodity with an active futures market. 
These are merchants not producers.
 
5
Business Day

For the Fed, a Recipe for Crisis Without Leverage

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM | Feb 28th 2014
Even without the buildup of borrowed money that caused so much instability in the Great Recession, the Fed could find that winding down its stimulus tightens financial conditions much more quickly than it considers desirable, authors of a new paper argue.
Credit and Debt; Economics (Theory and Philosophy); Interest Rates; Quantitative Easing; United States Economy 

Just wrong.

Austerity is a mistaken treatment for government revenue failure.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/cbo-mix-and-match/

"

CBO Mix-And-Match

Floyd Norris makes a really good point in criticizing the Congressional Budget Office; he argues that the office’s latest budget projections aren’t consistent. CBO has marked down its expectations for future growth, but it hasn’t marked down its expectations for future interest rates. And that leads to excessive fiscal pessimism.
Indeed. CBO seems to think, for some reason, that this represents the new normal:
but that this does not:
You can make the case that US long-term growth prospects have worsened substantially. But it’s hard to make that case without thinking that we will be at least flirting with secular stagnation, which will mean persistently very low interest rates.
One way to think about why this matters this is in terms of the relationship between “r”, the real interest rate, and “g”, the economy’s long-run growth rate. The extent to which public debt is a problem depends a lot of this relationship. If r is close to or even below g, debt is hardly a burden at all; if revenues pay for non-interest outlays, debt as a share of GDP will steadily erode. Only if r>>g should we worry about debt spirals and all that.
So what CBO has in effect done is mark down its estimate of g but not of r. And that’s surely not right. As Floyd says, we should expect lower g to lower r too. In fact, I think there’s good reason to believe that a fall in g will reduce r more than one for one, so that slow projected growth actually reduces the urgency of doing anything about debt. More about that when I have time to get to it.
Important stuff."
 
6
U.S.

GTT ★

By MICHAEL HOINSKI | Feb 27th 2014
Our quirky, discerning picks for the most interesting things to do around the state this week.
Education; Books and Literature; Animal Abuse, Rights and Welfare; Veganism; Music; Dominoes; Art 

Life goes on among the insane.
Crazy is not the same as stupid.
 
7
World

Suicide Bomber Attacks Cafe in the Somali Capital

By REUTERS | Feb 27th 2014
A suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into a Mogadishu cafe frequented by members of the security forces on Thursday, killing at least 10 people.
Terrorism 

The KKK has an chapter in Islam.
 
8
Sports

Bags Barred at Boston Marathon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 26th 2014
This year’s Boston Marathon will have a no-bags policy as part of increased security after last year’s deadly bombing.
Boston Marathon Bombings (2013); Boston Marathon; Security and Warning Systems 

"Overkill".
 
9
Fashion & Style

Boldface Gems

By RUTH LA FERLA | Feb 26th 2014
10
Travel

On the Beach, on the Cheap, in Mozambique

By SETH KUGEL | Feb 28th 2014
A cultural exchange involving pizza and coconut beer and a big directional assist from two children are all part of this Frugal adventure to the country’s southern coast.
Travel and Vacations; Beaches; Budget Travel 

An adventure that did not end badly.
If I were a better linguist I would try it.
As it is I need encouragement.

11
Your Money

Save for Retirement First, the Children’s Education Second

By ANN CARRNS | Feb 28th 2014
Parents who put saving for retirement ahead of saving for their children’s educations may be doing the best thing for themselves and their offspring.
Retirement; Student Loans; Savings 

That or fix the retirement system properly with real increases.
Even low inflation increases price numbers.
 
12
N.Y. / Region

Christie Allies Joked of Disrupting Traffic at a Rabbi’s House

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MATT FLEGENHEIMER | Feb 27th 2014
Two people who were pivotal in the plan to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge wrote of creating traffic problems in front of the home of a New Jersey rabbi, documents show.
George Washington Bridge 

It is a "vast right wing conspiracy".
13
World

Lawyers for American Couple Seek Inquiry in Qatar

By RICK GLADSTONE | Feb 25th 2014
Matthew and Grace Huang face a verdict soon in the death of their adopted daughter, but they have questioned the results of her autopsy.
Courts and the Judiciary; Americans Abroad; Adoptions; United States International Relations; Malnutrition; Murders and Attempted Murders 

The consular service should help.
This looks to be a head hunting prosecutor.
The American South has no monopoly on racism.
 
14
N.Y. / Region

Rift at Jewish School in Manhattan Over Canceled Plan for Israeli-Palestinian Talk

By JACOB W. SOTAK | Feb 26th 2014
A student group at an Orthodox Jewish school extended an invitation to a Columbia professor to give his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the head of the school rescinded it.
Education (K-12); Palestinians; Jews and Judaism; Private and Sectarian Schools 

The Palestinians are unreasoning and the Israelis are unconscionable. 

15
World

Hamas Chases Protesters From Gaza-Israel Border

By FARES AKRAM | Feb 28th 2014
The group says it is trying to protect those who face Israeli soldiers on the other side of a fence, after two people were killed by Israeli fire this year.
Defense and Military Forces; Palestinians; Fences; Demonstrations, Protests, and Riots 

There is no point in more attention just now.
Saving the distraction for a better time.

16
U.S.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana

By RICK LYMAN | Feb 26th 2014
A little over a year after Colorado and Washington made the drug legal, more than half the states are considering decriminalizing or legalizing it for medical or recreational use.
Marijuana; Medical Marijuana; Law and Legislation; States (US) 

A pivot point may be seen.  It is not here yet.


17
Business Day

Orders for Durable Goods Rose in January

By REUTERS | Feb 27th 2014
Separately, a report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000.
United States Economy; Unemployment; Factories and Manufacturing; Unemployment Insurance 

Times are not good yet.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/cbo-mix-and-match/
 

CBO Mix-And-Match

Floyd Norris makes a really good point in criticizing the Congressional Budget Office; he argues that the office’s latest budget projections aren’t consistent. CBO has marked down its expectations for future growth, but it hasn’t marked down its expectations for future interest rates. And that leads to excessive fiscal pessimism.
Indeed. CBO seems to think, for some reason, that this represents the new normal:
but that this does not:
You can make the case that US long-term growth prospects have worsened substantially. But it’s hard to make that case without thinking that we will be at least flirting with secular stagnation, which will mean persistently very low interest rates.
One way to think about why this matters this is in terms of the relationship between “r”, the real interest rate, and “g”, the economy’s long-run growth rate. The extent to which public debt is a problem depends a lot of this relationship. If r is close to or even below g, debt is hardly a burden at all; if revenues pay for non-interest outlays, debt as a share of GDP will steadily erode. Only if r>>g should we worry about debt spirals and all that.
So what CBO has in effect done is mark down its estimate of g but not of r. And that’s surely not right. As Floyd says, we should expect lower g to lower r too. In fact, I think there’s good reason to believe that a fall in g will reduce r more than one for one, so that slow projected growth actually reduces the urgency of doing anything about debt. More about that when I have time to get to it.
Important stuff."

"Mar 2, 10:19 am 12

Growth and Interest Rates: I Appear To Be Wrong

In my last post I followed Floyd Norris in criticizing the CBO, which has marked down its estimates of future economic growth without marking down its estimates of future interest rates. I still think that’s a fair criticism. But I also offered a hypothesis: that interest rates fall more than one-for-one with slower growth, so that the crucial difference r-g — interest rate minus growth rate — actually falls, making debt easier, not harder, to handle.
So I’ve taken a quick and dirty look at US history, and it doesn’t seem to bear my hypothesis out. Here’s actual r-g — strictly speaking, interest rates minus the rate of growth of GDP over the previous year — since 1952:
Interest rate minus GDP growth Interest rate minus GDP growth
Postwar US history broadly breaks into two eras: a fast-growth generation after World War II, and generally slower growth thereafter. If my hypothesis had been right, r-g should have been lower in the second era than the first. Well, it looks as if the opposite was generally true, even if you ignore the spikes around big recessions.
Now that I think about it, the case of Japan — although complicated by the zero lower bound — also counts in this direction: interest rates have been low, but GDP growth even lower.
I still think that a fall in g leads to a fall in r (as it did in Japan), so that the budgetary implications are weaker than CBO seems to think. But lower growth does appear to make debt harder, not easier, to carry."

18
Sports

Isles Top Leafs in Overtime; Devils’ Jagr Scores No. 699

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 27th 2014
The extra period followed a seesaw third period in which the Islanders and Toronto combined for five goals in a nine-minute span.
Hockey, Ice; Olympic Games (2014) 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/sports/ncaabasketball/womens-roundup.html?ref=sports

"CONNECTICUT 72, RUTGERS 35 Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley each scored 20 points to help No. 1 Connecticut earn a home win over No. 24 Rutgers and remain unbeaten.
The victory gave the Huskies at least a share of the inaugural American Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Huskies (30-0, 17-0 A.A.C.) will play No. 3 Louisville on Monday with a chance to win the conference championship outright. If Louisville wins, a coin flip will determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
UConn won the Big East regular-season title 20 times before moving to the A.A.C. this season.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who missed the previous four games with mononucleosis, scored 7 points in 27 minutes for UConn.
UConn held Rutgers scoreless for 5 minutes 20 seconds in the first half and gradually extended its lead. Rutgers (21-7, 12-5) missed six shots in that span. (AP)"

19
Business Day

SeaWorld Questions Ethics of ‘Blackfish’ Investigator

By MICHAEL CIEPLY | Feb 27th 2014
SeaWorld Entertainment has come under fire after a documentary criticized its practice of holding whales in captivity. Now, the company is firing back.
Animal Abuse, Rights and Welfare; Documentary Films and Programs; Whales and Whaling; Movies 

The tea party is certain that the regulators are persecuting them.
The AstroTurf was created for this.

20
World

Kerry Sees Syrian Retaliation Against Rivals in Talks

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and BEN HUBBARD | Feb 26th 2014
The State Department said that the government had undermined the negotiations by putting opposition delegates on a terrorist list and seizing their assets.
Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- ); United States International Relations 

These are standard actions in a civil war.
Assad is not ready to surrender.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@20:30


1
Automobiles

Geneva Motor Show to Showcase Extreme Opulence

By JERRY GARRETT | Feb 28th 2014
 
 
2
N.Y. / Region

Hoffman Killed by Toxic Mix of Drugs, Official Concludes

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ | Feb 28th 2014

A bad self image.

3
N.Y. / Region

Contracts for Milk in New York City Schools Are Flagged

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ | Feb 26th 2014
4
Magazine

Nursing-Home Pitfalls

By CHUCK KLOSTERMAN | Feb 28th 2014
5
Business Day

For the Fed, a Recipe for Crisis Without Leverage

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM | Feb 28th 2014
Even without the buildup of borrowed money that caused so much instability in the Great Recession, the Fed could find that winding down its stimulus tightens financial conditions much more quickly than it considers desirable, authors of a new paper argue.
Credit and Debt; Economics (Theory and Philosophy); Interest Rates; Quantitative Easing; United States Economy 

Financial conditions are terminally constipated.
 
6
U.S.

GTT ★

By MICHAEL HOINSKI | Feb 27th 2014
7
World

Suicide Bomber Attacks Cafe in the Somali Capital

By REUTERS | Feb 27th 2014
8
Sports

Bags Barred at Boston Marathon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 26th 2014
9
Fashion & Style

Boldface Gems

By RUTH LA FERLA | Feb 26th 2014
10
Your Money

Save for Retirement First, the Children’s Education Second

By ANN CARRNS | Feb 28th 2014
 
This may be an expression of greed.
 
11
N.Y. / Region

Christie Allies Joked of Disrupting Traffic at a Rabbi’s House

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MATT FLEGENHEIMER | Feb 27th 2014
12
N.Y. / Region

Rift at Jewish School in Manhattan Over Canceled Plan for Israeli-Palestinian Talk

By JACOB W. SOTAK | Feb 26th 2014
13
World

Hamas Chases Protesters From Gaza-Israel Border

By FARES AKRAM | Feb 28th 2014
14
U.S.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana

By RICK LYMAN | Feb 26th 2014
15
Technology

Engineers Allege Hiring Collusion in Silicon Valley

By DAVID STREITFELD | Feb 28th 2014
A class-action suit by Silicon Valley engineers against companies including Google, Apple and Intel has revealed details of an agreement among them not to cold-call one another’s employees.
Labor and Jobs; Suits and Litigation (Civil); Hiring and Promotion 

An argument for labor unions.
 
16
Business Day

Orders for Durable Goods Rose in January

By REUTERS | Feb 27th 2014
Separately, a report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000.
United States Economy; Unemployment; Factories and Manufacturing; Unemployment Insurance 

Some executives believed the noise.
 
17
Sports

Isles Top Leafs in Overtime; Devils’ Jagr Scores No. 699

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 27th 2014
The extra period followed a seesaw third period in which the Islanders and Toronto combined for five goals in a nine-minute span.
Hockey, Ice; Olympic Games (2014) 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/sports/ncaabasketball/womens-roundup.html?ref=sports

"CONNECTICUT 72, RUTGERS 35 Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley each scored 20 points to help No. 1 Connecticut earn a home win over No. 24 Rutgers and remain unbeaten.
The victory gave the Huskies at least a share of the inaugural American Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Huskies (30-0, 17-0 A.A.C.) will play No. 3 Louisville on Monday with a chance to win the conference championship outright. If Louisville wins, a coin flip will determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
UConn held Rutgers scoreless for 5 minutes 20 seconds in the first half and gradually extended its lead. Rutgers (21-7, 12-5) missed six shots in that span. (AP)"

18
Business Day

SeaWorld Questions Ethics of ‘Blackfish’ Investigator

By MICHAEL CIEPLY | Feb 27th 2014
19
Opinion

Better Lawyering for the Poor

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Feb 26th 2014
A New York State program will give indigents representation in court while giving third-year students full-time practical training, as well as a useful mission.
Legal Aid for the Poor (Civil); Legal Profession; Editorials 

"Starting next year, a new program will let third-year law students take the bar exam in February instead of July, in exchange for spending their last semester doing free legal work for the poor under the supervision of seasoned attorneys. The plan enlarges on existing law school internships and previous steps by Judge Lippman to increase the involvement of law schools and students in helping the indigent. Giving third-year students full-time practical training, along with earlier admission to the bar, could help improve their job prospects."

20
N.Y. / Region

Bin Laden Relative’s Lawyers Claim Mistaken Identity as Trial Nears

By BENJAMIN WEISER | Feb 27th 2014
A letter to the judge in the terrorism case against Sulaiman Abu Ghaith says that the government may have confused the defendant with a Guantánamo detainee.
Detainees; Terrorism; United States Defense and Military Forces


Mistakes happen. 
I do not know if this one matters.

 

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Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, March 1, 2014

@9:40, 2/28/14

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1
Automobiles

Consumer Reports: Lexus Is No. 1

By CHERYL JENSEN | Feb 27th 2014
Japanese brands take seven of the top 10 slots, joined by three German manufacturers; American automakers take the bottom five.
Automobiles 

Luxury wins in depressed times.  
 
2
Business Day

Euro Zone Inflation Stays Low; Joblessness Remains High

By DAVID JOLLY | Feb 28th 2014
The figures come ahead of a meeting next week by the European Central Bank, which is still weighing whether any further stimulus moves are needed.
Interest Rates; Unemployment; Inflation (Economics) 

Depressed . . .

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2014/02/26/dont-try-this-at-home-greek-austerity-by-jeffrey-sommers-and-yanis-varoufakis/

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2014/02/27/austerity-as-a-destabilising-assault-on-the-new-deal-institutions-a-joint-presentation-by-j-k-galbraith-y-varoufakis-audio/

3
World

Dead Guards on Freighter Are Identified as Former Navy SEAL Members

By NICHOLAS KULISH and MARK MAZZETTI | Feb 20th 2014
The two men, who had been hired to protect a ship that was attacked by Somali pirates in 2009, were found dead while the ship was docked in the Seychelles.
Murders and Attempted Murders; Piracy at Sea 

Accidental deaths.
 
4
Opinion

No Big Deal

By PAUL KRUGMAN | Feb 27th 2014
Talks are stalled on an international trade deal, thanks to negotiating difficulties abroad and bipartisan skepticism at home. But that’s O.K.
International Trade and World Market; United States Politics and Government; Customs (Tariff); Copyrights and Copyright Violations; Protectionism (Trade); United States Economy 

Yes, no big deal and not a winner politically.
 
5
N.Y. / Region

A Yellow Beverage

By ROSALIND S. PAASWELL | Feb 28th 2014
Metropolitan Diary: A shopper was being very choosy about the soft drink she was buying, but for a bizarre reason.
Color; Drugstores; Shopping and Retail; Soft Drinks; Theater 

Dehydration gives the color.  
She would do better to mix a color with food coloring under the stage lights.
 
6
U.S.

A Call to Arms on a Vermont Heroin Epidemic

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE | Feb 27th 2014
Rutland has begun an effort to attack a drug problem with social services, as well as with law enforcement.
Drug Abuse and Traffic; Heroin; Police 

Addiction is one result of economic depression.
The fix starts with income and hope.
Laboring Rutland needs both.
7
Opinion

Women’s Progress

Feb 23rd 2014
Luisa Cabal of the Center for Reproductive Rights seeks a broad effort to remove the inequalities women face.
Women and Girls; Birth Control and Family Planning; Third World and Developing Countries 

There is a limit to fertility.  There is no real fix for that as yet.
Nobody lives past ~ 120.

Human life is finite.

 
8
World

Reversing Course, Japan Makes Push to Restart Dormant Nuclear Plants

By HIROKO TABUCHI | Feb 25th 2014
The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reversed course on a promise made by a previous government to phase out the country’s atomic power plants.
Nuclear Energy; Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan) 

Japan will build more nuclear plants.
 
9
Technology

British Spies Said to Intercept Yahoo Webcam Images

By NICOLE PERLROTH and VINDU GOEL | Feb 27th 2014
Accounts based on documents supplied by Edward J. Snowden say images — many sexually explicit — were collected from Yahoo users, even those not suspected of illegal activity.
Surveillance of Citizens by Government; Xbox (Video Game System) 

Privacy and equal protection conflict.
Privacy and sales conflict.

We have a dilemma.
 
10
Health

A Shortage of Caregivers

By JUDITH GRAHAM | Feb 26th 2014
Recent estimates suggest that demand for paid caregivers will far outstrip supply over the next decade.
Elder Care; Labor and Jobs; Medicare; Nursing Homes; Wages and Salaries 

"What can't happen wont happen."
Or we can spend the necessary money.
Judith Graham assumes that the progressive tax rates can't rise.
 
11
Fashion & Style

Balmain: A Journey Into the Soul

By SUZY MENKES | Feb 27th 2014
The designer Olivier Rousteing said the military-turned-tribal clothes were a celebration of his youth.
Paris Fashion Week 

I will have to look more.  I think I should hate it.
It is art of a kind.
 
12
U.S.

Tea Party Group, Celebrating Its Fifth Anniversary, Is Happy but Restless

By JEREMY W. PETERS | Feb 27th 2014
Internal differences in the movement were on display as Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee addressed the Tea Party Patriots in Washington.
Tea Party Movement; United States Politics and Government 

The group is AstroTurf; political mercenaries and dupes.
 
13
Fashion & Style

Boldface Gems

By RUTH LA FERLA | Feb 26th 2014
Jewelry designers competing for red-carpet exposure on Oscar night in hope of raising their profile are training their sights on a handful of stars with a strong fashion presence.
Jewels and Jewelry; Fashion and Apparel; Academy Awards (Oscars); Celebrities 

I am not the lapidary I want to be.
At some point all public art is business.
The problem is business tends to smother art.
I try to know art is desired and business is the worlds path to art.
 
14
U.S.

Lewis Yablonsky, Sociologist Fascinated by Sociopaths, Dies at 89

By WILLIAM YARDLEY | Feb 25th 2014

You could get the doctorate.
I want to make objects of desire.

15
World

For Teenage Girls, Video Takes Fear Out of a Shunned Topic

By KAVITHA RAO | Feb 27th 2014
“Mythri,” an animated video that teaches girls about their changing bodies, has found success in schools in the Indian state of Karnataka and is set to expand to the rest of the country.
Education (K-12); Menstruation; Parenting; Sex Education; Video Recordings and Downloads; Women and Girls 

It is good that the task gets done.  
Often it is not done.
Cervical cancer is thought to be viral.  
My knowledge is incomplete.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cancer


 
16
N.Y. / Region

Fresh Produce Comes to the Bronx via a Veggie Mart on Wheels

By WINNIE HU | Feb 26th 2014
The leader of a South Bronx nonprofit group is filling an old school bus with a cornucopia of locally and organically grown vegetables and fruit and taking it to the streets.
Buses; Vegetables; Food; Nonprofit Organizations; Fruit; Agriculture and Farming 

Push carts were the way.
Making a nut of four hundred dollars a day is a project.
 
17
U.S.

Outrage Over Sexist Remarks Turns Into a Political Fund-Raising Tool

By AMY CHOZICK | Feb 27th 2014
With a record number of women in Congress and dozens more on the ballot, attacks on figures like Wendy Davis, Claire McCaskill and Hillary Rodham Clinton can instantly generate contributions.
United States Politics and Government; Campaign Finance; Women and Girls; Sexual Harassment; Political Action Committees; Presidential Election of 2016 

Keep swinging.  The G.O.P. will keep pitching.
18
U.S.

Massachusetts: Revere Voters Approve Casino Proposal by Mohegan Sun

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 25th 2014
Voters in Revere on Tuesday approved Mohegan Sun’s proposal to build a resort casino on land owned by Suffolk Downs.
Casinos; Gambling 

I would rather see the Mohegan tribe get the contract.
 
19
Automobiles

Wheelies: The Happy Birthday to Ute Edition

By BENJAMIN PRESTON | Feb 27th 2014
Ford celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Australian Ute; Toyota names design chief to run the Lexus division.
Automobiles 

I like the '34 UTE.  It is too much car and not enough truck, like its descendants.
The rest of the automotive news is depression.

20
Opinion

Global Warming Basics from the U.S. and British Science Academies

By ANDREW C. REVKIN | Feb 27th 2014
More basics from the leading science academies on what we know and don’t know about greenhouse gases and global warming.
Carbon Dioxide; Environment; Global Warming; Greenhouse Gas Emissions

We also know what is to be done.

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