SAR #13168

“...and life could use some mercy now.”  Mary Gauthier

Focus Grouped: After the polls were done and showed that the American people did not think getting involved in Syria's civil war was a good idea unless Assad used chemical weapons on his people, guess what? Even though the decision to provide arms to the rebels was reached several weeks ago, the announcement had to wait until sufficient PR noise had been generated to justify $50 million a day. For starters. News stories cite “heavy pressure" on Obama to do what the Zionist from AIPAC want, but do not identify where or who the pressure came from.

Inquiring Mind: If publishing X is “aiding and abetting the enemy”, doesn't the validity of the charge hinge on proving that the enemy didn't already know X? The definition of enemy is also at question here, for it should not identify the same cohort that the word citizen does. The emperor, the clothes and all that.

Apples/Oranges: The IMF, forecasting US GDP growth to be a miserable 1.9% this year, has urged that the US repeal the sweeping spending cuts it claims have cost the US GDP at least 1.75 percentage points so far, and recommended that the Federal Reserve continue QE through at least the end of the year. It also cut its projection for next year's US GDP to 2.7%. Obviously they do not mistake Washington for Athens. They also warned of the boogeyman said the long period of low interest rates could someday have unintended consequences. Like rapid inflation. All of this was met by a big silence in Washington.

Security: Being wealthy in America means you don’t come across anyone who isn’t, except the servants.

No Hard Feelings, It's Just Business: Turkey's PM Erdogan defended ordering riot police to forcibly evict thousands of anti-government protesters from Istanbul's Taksim Square, saying it was his 'duty' to crush dissent. The bulldozers and tear gas were optional. Targeting the doctors who treat injured protesters worked out so well for Mubarak, Erdogan is copying the tactic.

Surrender: Notice that the public conversation has changed from curbing CO2 emissions and keeping global warming to 2ºC to the various ways civilization and society can adapt to a much warmer world with non-stop episodes of violent weather. We've gone from denial to embrace without passing through understanding.

A House Is Not A Home: The y/y increase in real estate sales is accounted for by institutional investors buying houses for investment/speculation, not ordinary families buying homes. If institutional investors' purchases are backed out of the data, the number of home purchases actually declined. The demand for investment houses is driving up prices by reducing available inventory. Everybody, especially those promoting the investment angle, ignores the shadow inventory.

Happy Talk: Almost all public discussion of global climate change assumes (often without explicit acknowledgment) that carbon emissions will peak by 2020 at the latest. Studying the actual emissions globally suggests no such thing; there is no basis in the real world for such a belief, no evidence to suggest such a curtailment is underway or even possible, much less probable. All these low-emissions scenarios are based on the assumption that the Chinese and Indians are going to slip quietly back into the stone age. They are not. If things fall apart under a 2ºC scenario, how much worse would it be when it turns out to be 4ºC? And 4°C is looking less and less like a maximum and more and more like a minimum we'll pass before 2100. And it will keep rising after that, for decades, centuries.

Another Brick In The Wall: The US still puts more children and teenagers in juvenile detention than any other developed nation. This does far more harm than good. Throwing a kid in jail reduces his or her chance of graduating from high school, and dramatically increases the odds of graduating to more serious crimes. Seems pretty obvious, but now some research has been done and the numbers support common sense for once. But it won't change anything, we gotta punish 'em, right?

Porn O'Graph: Got fruits and vegs?

The Parting Shot:

Queen Ann's Lace, Daucus carota