Paul Krugman: The Curious Confidence of Charlatans and Cranks (NY Times Blog)
… the Obama economy has not been all one might have hoped, but as many have noted, the job growth of the past three years and the income growth that has finally emerged would have been hailed as triumphs if Mitt Romney were president. Taking the longer view, Clinton > Reagan and Obama > Bush, by almost any measure. Why doesn't this reality seem to register?
Dan Gelber: It's neither pay nor play (The Gelber Blog)
"Also lost in this debate is the fact that the Clintons don't receive a penny in salary. Not one red cent. In fact, they donate their own money to the Foundation. Someone needs to explain to Secretary Clinton that if she's trying to exploit the foundation for personal gain, she's going about it exactly the wrong way."
A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Relatively rare until the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the term was often used in the official name of countries smaller than most continental kingdoms of modern Europe (e.g., Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom) yet larger than most of the sovereign duchies in the Holy Roman Empire, Italy or Scandinavia (e.g. Anhalt, Lorraine, Modena, Schleswig-Holstein). During the 19th century there were as many as 14 grand duchies in Europe at once (a few of which were first created as exclaves of the Napoleonic empire but later re-created, usually with different borders, under another dynasty). Some of these were sovereign and nominally independent (Baden, Hesse and by Rhine,Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Saxe-Weimar and Tuscany), some sovereign but held in personal union with larger realms by a monarch whose grand-dukedom was borne as a subsidiary title (Finland, Luxembourg, Transylvania), some of which were client states of a more powerful realm (Cleves and Berg), and some whose territorial boundaries were nominal and the position purely titular (Frankfurt).
In the 21st century, Luxembourg remains a grand duchy.
The contemporary independent republics of Finland and Lithuania have been grand duchies during certain eras of their history.
Source
Alan J was first and correct with:
One, Luxembourg.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
In the 21st century, Luxembourg remains the only grand duchy.
Deborah responded:
Just one - Luxembourg.
Husband is taking a 3-day weekend, and so am I. You can't buy time spent with family.
TGIF!
DJ Useo said:
I will be surprised if there are any left at all. So, I guess zero, or maybe just one.
MAM wrote:
The only Grand Duchy that still exists, is Luxembourg ~ A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess.
Randall took the day off.
Marian took the day off.
Joe S took the day off.
Dale of Spectacular Diamond Springs, Norcali took the day off.
Lois Of Oregon took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS: The 3rd One', followed by a RERUN'NCIS: The Expendable One', then '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'The Voice', followed by a RERUN'This Is Us'.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN, with Fred Armisen hosting, music by Courtney Barnett.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'College Football', then pads the left coast with local crap.
The CW offers an old 'Friends', followed by another old 'Friends', then an old '2½ Men', followed by another old '2½ Men'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'College Football', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY has an old 'Rizzoli & Isles', followed by another old 'Rizzoli & Isles'.
A&E has 'The First 48', 'The First 48: Killer Confessions', followed by the FRESH'The First 48: Extreme Kills'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Mummy', followed by the movie 'The Mummy Returns'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 19 - Episode 2
[7:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 19 - Episode 3
[8:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 19 - Episode 4
[9:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 19 - Episode 5
[10:00AM] DRAGONS' DEN - SEASON 11 - Episode 5
[11:00AM] DRAGONS' DEN - SEASON 11 - Episode 6
[12:00PM] DRAGONS' DEN - SEASON 11 - Episode 7
[1:00PM] DRAGONS' DEN - SEASON 13 - Episode 8
[2:00PM] SHAUN OF THE DEAD
[4:00PM] WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)
[6:00PM] ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1993)
[8:30PM] WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)
[10:30PM] ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1993)
[1:00AM] SHAUN OF THE DEAD
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 4-Silicon Avatar
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 5-Disaster
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 6-The Game (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by the movie 'Sex & The City'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser', 'Jeff Dunham: All Over The Map', and 'Jeff Dunham: Unhinged In Hollywood'.
FX has the movie 'Neighbors', followed by the movie 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] DRAGONS FOREVER
[8:15AM] TAI CHI HERO
[10:30AM] TAI CHI HERO
[12:45PM] LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN
[3:15PM] KICKBOXER
[5:30PM] THE MATRIX
[8:30PM] THE MATRIX RELOADED
[11:30PM] THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
[2:30AM] SHAOLIN
[5:30AM] DOCUMENTARY NOW!-The Bunker (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:08AM] Absolute Power
[8:35AM] Chino
[10:35AM] The Last of the Mohicans
[1:03PM] Broken Trail
[5:00PM] Pale Rider
[7:30PM] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[10:30PM] Unforgiven
[1:30AM] Chino
[3:30AM] Absolute Power (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'The Lone Ranger', followed by the movie 'Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief', then the movie 'The Lone Ranger'.
Protestors are tearing down a so called 'Trump's wall of hate' as part of a demonstration against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Sept. 23, 2016.
Photo by Markus Schreiber
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen has described Donald Trump (R-Pinche Güerito) as an embarrassment to the United States, saying the Republican presidential candidate is a demagogue with simple solutions.
Springsteen, who has dramatized the plight of working-class Americans in his music, said he understands how Trump could seem "compelling" to people who are economically insecure.
"The absurdity is beyond cartoon-like. But he's gotten close enough (to the White House) so it can make you nervous," he told "Skavlan," a talk show in Norway and Sweden, during an interview released Friday.
"I don't think he's going to win, but even him running is a great embarrassment if you're an American," he said.
Springsteen insisted for years that he would let his music speak for him but has been more openly political since the election in 2004, when he campaigned for John Kerry in his unsuccessful bid to win the White House from George W. Bush.
An acrobat performs during the presentation of the new show "The victors of arena" at the Belarus State Circus in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 23, 2016.
Photo by Vasily Fedosenko
A man who lived as a goat in the Swiss Alps and a scientist who studied how pants affect the sex drive of rodents are among the winners of this year's spoof Nobel prizes.
The 26th edition of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, which celebrate the silly side of science, were handed out Thursday at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The top honor in the reproduction category went to the late Ahmed Shafik from Cairo University, who died in 2007, for his work that showed how the sex lives of rats are affected by the fabric of pants they are fitted with.
Published in 1993, the study concluded that rats who wear polyester have less sex than those who don cotton or wool.
The biology prize went jointly to Charles Foster, who lived in the wild several times as animals including a badger, an otter and a bird, and to Thomas Thwaites, who constructed prosthetic legs so he could live for three days on all fours and roam the hills with goats.
Actor and director Terry Jones, a founding member of Britain's zany Monty Python comedy team, has been diagnosed with a form of dementia that restricts his capacity to speak, his representative said.
Jones, 74, is a member of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," formed in the late 1960s with John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam.
A spokesperson for Jones said the comedian had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, which is a variant of frontotemporal dementia.
The National Aphasia Association describes primary progressive aphasia as a neurological disorder of language that commonly progresses to a near total inability to speak. It is not a form of Alzheimer's disease.
Jones's condition was made known in a press release from the Welsh branch of the British film and TV academy BAFTA, which said that Jones would get an honorary award at a ceremony in October.
A married couple is displayed on a pile of cheeses in the "Speciality" category during the Swiss Cheese Awards competition in Le Sentier, Switzerland Sept. 23, 2016. One hundred and fourty-two experts have to choose the best out of 777 cheeses from 353 producers competing in 28 categories.
Photo by Denis Balibouse
A U.N. fund to help prevent countries from returning to war and stay on the path to peace has received $151 million in pledges - just half of the $300 million it sought for the next three years.
More than 25 countries announced pledges to the Peacebuilding Fund at a conference Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting.
Despite falling short, the U.N. said the money pledged is enough to keep the fund in operation while it seeks solutions for long-term funding.
Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the closing session that sustaining peace "is a task more critical than ever" and he urged all countries to make sure the fund has the money it needs.
The Peacebuilding Fund currently supports more than 120 projects in 25 countries. The U.N. said Wednesday's pledges will provide money for projects in more than 20 countries.
U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who is serving 35 years in prison for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 14 days in solitary confinement as punishment for attempting suicide and keeping a banned book in her cell, supporters said on Friday.
A disciplinary board at the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, military prison where Manning is incarcerated informed her of the decision after a hearing on Thursday, according to a statement by Fight for the Future, a group supporting her.
No date was given for the sentence to start. Manning was quoted in the statement saying she could appeal the punishment and that seven days of it would be suspended provided she stayed out of trouble for six months.
This month, Manning went on a hunger strike, agreeing to end it only when the Army said she would be allowed to receive gender transition surgery. She began hormone therapy in 2015.
A lawyer for Manning, Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, questioned the logic of "our systems of incarceration punishing people with the cruelty of solitary for attempting to end their life."
A view shows a lighting installation on the facade of Moscow State University during the Circle of Light International Festival in Moscow, Sept. 23, 2016.
Photo by Sergei Karpukhin
Ohio's practice of rescinding voter registrations from people who fail to cast ballots is illegal, a court ruled on Friday, the latest legal decision affecting voting rights ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati reversed an earlier ruling by a federal judge in June, and could lead to the reinstatement of thousands of voters in the politically crucial swing state of Ohio.
Voting rights cases have become pivotal battlegrounds in the lead-up to the hotly contested presidential vote between Democratic party candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican counterpart Donald Trump (R-Pinche Güerito).
The ACLU and others have challenged laws in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and other states that require photo identification from people wishing to vote or register to vote, saying they are aimed at reducing the participation of minorities and the poor.
A Reuters analysis showed that at least 144,000 voters had been removed from Ohio's rolls since the last presidential election.
A yacht sails in the False Bay Yacht Club spring regatta in Cape Town, South Africa, 23 September 2016. The FBYC spring regatta attracts racing yachts from various clubs in the Cape to compete in the annual regatta at the change of seasons with good conditions for racing in False Bay.
Photo by Nic Bothma
The Vatican issued new rules Friday for the process to determine if healings qualify as miracles for sainthood, including safeguards against possible financial abuses.
The rules deal with how a panel of medical experts scrutinizes potential miracles. Pope Francis has expressed determination to ensure the sainthood process, which attracts donations by faithful for canonization candidates, is rigorous and avoids scandals.
Among the new regulations, one stipulates a potential miracle can no longer be presented for consideration if it fails to pass before the board of medical experts three times.
Another rule says experts can only be paid via bank transfer, no longer in cash. Francis demanded more accountability after it was revealed in two books by Italian journalists that the saint-making process has raked in hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) in donations per candidate with virtually no financial oversight.
The rules state that those dealing with a "presumed miracle," including experts as well as postulators -- those championing the candidate for sainthood -- are held to secrecy. In addition, the medical experts cannot have any contact with the postulator of the cause for sainthood.
Laos has promised to phase out farms that breed endangered tigers for their body parts, a positive step from a country believed to be a major hub of wildlife trafficking in Asia, conservation groups said Friday.
The announcement by Laotian officials in South Africa came one day before the start of a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.
If implemented, the move could help to curb the illegal trade in tiger bones and other parts used in traditional medicine in areas of Asia, and protect the depleted population of tigers. Conservation groups say there are about 3,900 tigers in the wild.
Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese criminal networks are also involved in tiger farming and trading, according to the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency.
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which works with Laos on tiger protection, urged other Asian countries with commercial tiger breeding centers to follow the example of Laos.
Nesting female marine turtles arrived at La Escobilla beach on Mexico's Oaxaca Pacific coast, in their annual migration, a sign that life is about to burst forth from scorched grains of sand.
Every year from the start of August to the end of September, these tiny black baby reptiles haul themselves to the sand's surface and painstakingly crawl to the sea.
Small enough at birth to fit into a child's palm, females will hit land again as adults in 25 to 30 years time, thanks to a genetic homing device that makes them return to the beach where they hatched so as to carry on the reproductive process. Males will never return.
It's a natural spectacle and local families have taught their children to protect the marine turtles.
Members of the Olive ridley turtle Sanctuary Cooperative on La Escobilla beach, in the town of Santa Maria Tonameca, battle for turtle conservation in the Pacific Ocean. Populations of several species of Gulf Coast turtles have collapsed, hunted to the brink of extinction.
Newborn white Bengal tigers are seen snuggling into their mother at private zoo, Zoo Safari in Borysew, near Lodz, Poland, Sept.23, 2016. The zoo specialises in breeding white lions and tigers.
Photo by Grzegorz Michalowski
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took the day off.
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