Vladimir Putin is not dealing with John Kerry and Obama when he throws $ billions around. He has to convince the big finance people to trust him. Though not perfect, they are much tougher. His throwing billions to lure Ukraine causes the financial markets to pause and say “If Putin is throwing money around in political power plays, do we want to buy Russia’s bonds?"
Megan McArdle is one of my favorite economic columnists; now at Bloomberg. She is consistently thoughtful and thorough. She will be appearing at Townhall in Seattle Tuesday night promoting her new/first book:
The US dropped to 46th in the world in press freedom on World Press Freedom Index 2014, a considerable drop during the reign of our current president.Investigative journalist James Risen believes the Index rightly shows the drop in American journalists’ freedoms due to crackdowns on reporters and whistleblowers and the efforts of the Obama administration and the National Security Agency to limit the amount of information America has concerning the “War on Terror” and other subjects.
“I think 2013 will go down in history as the worst year for press freedom in the United States modern history,” James Risen said.
Risen, who has reported for the New York Times since 1998, said he has personally felt some of the backlash of the guarded Obama administration and has seen some of his colleagues suffer repercussions as well.
Rather than pursue journalists, the Obama administration has focused on their sources—the two most scrutinized whistleblowers being Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden.
“We have an administration that came in claiming that it was going to be the most transparent in history when in fact it is one of the most secretive in history, and certainly the most aggressive anti-press administration in modern American history,” Risen saidDid President Obama claim his would be the most transparent administration? Read his words at The White House.
The best way ahead is to admit mistakes quickly, understand that you may well fail, but you can usually rebound and punish rule-breaking promptly and consistently but lightly.
This book about people who fail is also a book about how a nation succeeds. The "American Bourgeois Synthesis," McArdle writes, is good but not perfect, promoting entrepreneurship but over-penalizing some mistakes.
Americans -- and America -- can succeed, but only if people learn from their failures.
The sign announcing the ban on guns shows a gun. Violation! School administrators in Southland school district in Illinois are concerned people will be disturbed by the picture.
Some schools have expelled a student for a sign showing a gun. Will they treat the responsible administrator with the same punishment a student would get? (I admit I stretched it a bit. I don't know that THIS school district expels students for pictures, but some have done it.)
Chicago Sun Times
John Kerry, our Secretary of State, threatened Israel that an international boycott would take place unless Israel accepts his peace deal. It includes Israel giving up territory and allowing the expanded Palestinian state to have its capital in Jerusalem.
This is a bald threat. If it were a caution between friends he would have given it behind closed doors. He made the threat at a security conference in Munich, Germany.
Israel National News
“I’m afraid that the millennials, if you will,” Mr. Moran tells Washington’s WAMU-FM radio, “are less likely to sign up. I think they feel more independent. I think they feel a little more invulnerable than prior generations. But I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to, financially.”
His analysis is spot on, but that’s small consolation. “I just don’t know how we’re going to [fix] it, frankly,” says Mr. Moran. “If we had a solution, I’d be telling the president right now.” Now he tells us.
