SAR #15150

There is a difference between a free press and a responsible one.

Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? 1Q2015 GDP has been reduced from the initial guess of 0.2% growth to a 0.7% decline – a “surprising and inexplicable contraction.” The fault, experts claim, does not lie in the Fed's efforts, but in the “unusually severe weather.” But so far, 2Q isn't looking very good either, “casting doubt on the strength of the widely expected bounce-back in the US economy in the second quarter”. But cheer up, the same experts who have repeatedly been wrong assure us that “America, it seems, will avoid recession.” 
 
Bottom's Up: The Budweiser folks have halted beer production in order to provide drinking water for flood victims in Oklahoma and Texas. I'll drink to that.

Hush, Money: Billionaire Irish media boss Denis O'Brien owes €500 million to the Irish Bank (what used to be the Anglo Irish bank before the ECB forced the Irish taxpayers to assume its bad loans) and, even at the bargain 1.5% interest rate he was given, can't seem to pay it back. Neat thing is, the Irish Parliament has forbidden anyone to report on O'Brien's financial problems. No one is supposed to comment on the sweetheart deal he got when he bought Siteserv from the bank, either. The rich are different from you and I – they make the rules.

Cut Off: Fox News is not mentioning Rand Paul in their political coverage, having apparently decided that he is not a serious contender for the Republication nomination. Nah, can't be that – almost none of them are.
 
Friends: Much to PM Erdoğan's displeasure, there's a video showing trucks belonging to Turkish intelligence (MIT) transporting weapons and ammunition to jihadists in Syria. The same folks Turkey has agreed to help the US fight. 
 
Open Season: Cameron's government is supporting legislation that will permit the UK's electronic snoops to track “everyone's web and social media use” and continue its bulk intercept of the content of all electronic communications in the country. It'll be called the Orwell Act of 2015.

Going With The Flow: Anticipating that its reserves of oil and gas will be gone within 50 years, the United Arab Emirates is planning to establish a research station on Mars by 2021. Unless Mars once had vast forests, they're not going to find oil and gas...