SAR #14260

Trends continue until the music stops.

Kill Switch: The House and Senate have approved arming and training 'moderate Syrian rebels' to fight against the IS jihadists, but they have to promise not to use the weapons against Assad. Or us. 

Theory & Practice: The government of the people, by the people, for the people has retaliated against over 1,400 whistleblowers. In the last year. 
 
Protecting & Serving: Another 200 unprocessed rape kits dating back to 1976 have been found in Memphis, TN. They join 12,000 similarly unprocessed kits that had been previously discovered.

Quandary: China, along with cutting its imports of iron ore and other raw materials from Australia as the Chinese economy cools, has now banned the import of 'dirty' coal. In that there is no such thing as “clean coal” - despite ads in the US claiming just that – Australian coal exports will also decline.

Vocabulary Builder: Define “integration” in the following sentence: President Hollande has declared that France is ready for “greater EU integration with Germany.” Submission? Grovelling? 
 
Just So Story: David Zirin notes that “the NFL is where racketeers condemn child abusers.” It has also been suggested that the NFL is tax exempt under the religious exemption. 
 
On The Up and Up: After 20 years of comforting reassurances that the world's population would peak at 9 billion in 2050, new projections indicate that population will continue to climb, reaching 11 billion by 2100 and continuing to climb thereafter. This seems unlikely – there cannot be enough energy available to grow enough food for that many people. 
 
Travel Planning: Vladimir Putin says his troops can reach Warsaw in two days – as well as Bucharest, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. I can't find this particular itinerary in my Royal Viking Lines cruise brochure.

Trendspotting: Projecting from the rate of territorial decline over the last two centuries, experts predicted Thursday that the British Empire will be reduced to an area of eight acres surrounding Buckingham Palace by as early as 2050. 
 
Gardening: If you've been puzzled by all the breadsticks and salted pasta hoo-hah about Starboard Value's blitz against Darden's Olive Garden, forget all the PR stuff and follow the money. And the money is tied up in the real estate that the restaurants sit on. The plan is to take over OG, split the restaurant from the land, sell the land, raise the rents and lower the wages and quality, liquidate the whole thing and smile all the way to the Caymans. 
 
Izzit True? Now they come traipsing along and tell us that salt is okay, but that sugar is even worse than they thought. Don't even ask about those sugar substitutes. Better just eat dirt. 
 
Porn O'Graph: What's the big deal about divorce?