Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, November 02, 2015
Human Evolution - 2 Million Years of Increasing Brain Size - Video / Politics / Evolution
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The primary evolution for the Genus HOMO of the past 2 million years has been largely in the brain, that in the fossil record has seen our cranial capacity expand from what was little different in size to that of a Chimpanzee some 2.5 million years ago to now triple the size, as natural selection selected those humans who were able to utilise a constant flow of new ideas whilst those individuals and populations who just could not make the leap in understanding were literally killed off by superior strategies, as one can imagine the leaps in cognition were a mixture of steady progress coupled with great leaps in insight such as using fire for first warmth then for protection and eventually realising that cooked meat / food is far more easily edible and digestible, that greatly boosted our calorific intake giving fuel for the brain to grow.
Monday, November 02, 2015
Sound Money Takes Center Stage in Presidential Campaigns / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
Clint Siegner writes: Ron Paul put sound money issues on the national radar screen during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. His push to Audit the Fed introduced Americans to the sordid origins of our central bank. For the first time, large numbers of people began questioning the benevolence and wisdom of an institution, wholly owned by the nation’s largest banks, with total discretion to do whatever it wants in near total secrecy.
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Monday, November 02, 2015
Europe Will Never Be The Same. Neither Will The World / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
To reiterate: People are genetically biased against change, because change means potential danger. People are also genetically biased against acknowledging this bias, because they wish to see themselves as being able to cope with both change and danger. Put together, this means that when changes come, people are largely unprepared or underprepared.
Take this beyond the bias of the individual, and apply it to that of the group (s)he belongs to, the vantage point of a society, and you find the bias multiplies and becomes self-confirming. That is, the members of the group reinforce each other’s bias. When change comes in small and gradual steps, as it mostly does, this can be said to work relatively well. When it comes in large and sudden steps, trouble ensues.
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Monday, November 02, 2015
Ron Paul - Save The Apologies, Just Stop Promoting War! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Usually when politicians apologize it's because they have been caught doing something wrong, or they are about to be caught. Such was likely the case with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who recently offered an "apology" for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair faces the release of a potentially damning report on his government's conduct in the run-up to the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq.
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Sunday, November 01, 2015
Syria, Putin Makes Obama an Offer He Can’t Refuse / Politics / Syria
By: Mike_Whitney
Why is John Kerry so eager to convene an emergency summit on Syria now when the war has been dragging on for four and a half years?
Is he worried that Russia’s air campaign is wiping out too many US-backed jihadis and sabotaging Washington’s plan to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad?
You bet, he is. No one who’s been following events in Syria for the last three weeks should have any doubt about what’s really going on. Russia has been methodically wiping out Washington’s mercenaries on the ground while recapturing large swathes of land that had been lost to the terrorists. That, in turn, has strengthened Assad’s position in Damascus and left the administration’s policy in tatters. And that’s why Kerry wants another meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pronto even though the two diplomats met less than a week ago. The Secretary of State is hoping to cobble together some kind of makeshift deal that will stop the killing and salvage what’s left of Uncle Sam’s threadbare Syrian project.
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Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Constitution’s Big Lie / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
One of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon Americans at the time of its telling and which is still trumpeted to this very day is the notion that the U.S. Constitution contains within its framework mechanisms which limit its power. The “separation of powers,” where power is distributed among the three branches – legislative, executive, judicial – is supposedly the primary check on the federal government’s aggrandizement.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
ONS UK Population Immigration Panic, Forecast 10 Million Increase / Politics / Immigration
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The ONS is belatedly waking up to Britain's population explosion by forecasting a 15% rise in the UK population from 64.6 million (mid 2014) to 74.3 million by 2039 (25 years time), approx 70% of which will be due to continuing out of control immigration from predominantly eastern europe as 7 million more economic migrants will seek to jump on board Britain's benefits gravy train (in work and out of work benefits) that typically can amount to more than X5 those receivable in eastern europe.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
After the Pope's Message on Economics, Why is he all Smiles? / Politics / Religion
By: Steve_H_Hanke
In September, Pope Francis visited the United States, where he addressed the U.S. Congress. His address, while nuanced, hit on social justice themes. The Pope’s remarks were well received by left-of-center politicians who embrace progressive policies. When the Pope left the U.S., he traveled to Latin America, where he spoke in his native Spanish and was more direct. While in Bolivia, Pope Francis had this to say: “Let us not be afraid to say it: we want change, real change, structural change,” the Pope said, decrying a system that “has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
George Osborne Capitulates Following Working and Child Tax Credits Cuts Defeat / Politics / UK Tax & Budget
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain's un-elected House of Lords has forced George Osborne to effectively capitulate on the scale and time table of £4.4 billion in cuts to the tax credits system that were due to be introduced from April 2016. The Working and Child Tax Credits monster is a legacy of the last Labour government that had grown out of control over a decade of attempting to bribe an ever increasing number of low paid workers to vote Labour as the budget had mushroomed from an annual cost of £1 billion to £32 billion that first the Coalition and now the Conservative governments have been attempting to get to grips with, and so far failing abysmally to do so.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Undeniable Social Security Demographics / Politics / Demographics
By: BATR
What are the consequences for Social Security in an economy where fewer and fewer workers have a job? Add in the tax burdens that come to comply for Obamacare coverage and it is difficult to see where all the needed new employment will come from to keep funding the government Ponzi scheme? Government apologists will just compose a new “Washington Two Step” routine to dance around empirical facts, but just maybe part of their next choreography will be to allow even more illegal’s pay into Social Security so that the transfer system can continue.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Health Care…Is There a Better Way? / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Rodney_Johnson
It’s the end of October, which means Halloween is fast approaching. Then, once the calendar flips to November, we jump headlong into the holiday season.It’s a time of celebration, travel, and gift-giving, but, in recent years, something else was added to the mix, and it fills people with dread.
It’s not more visits from in-laws (although, luckily, mine are fabulous!). It’s open enrollment for health insurance.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The Worse Things Get For You, The Better They Get For Wall Street / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
On October 2 the BLS reported absolutely atrocious employment data, with virtually no job growth other than the phantom jobs added by the fantastically wrong Birth/Death adjustment for all those new businesses springing up around the country. The MSM couldn’t even spin it in a positive manner, as the previous two months of lies were adjusted significantly downward. What a shocker. At the beginning of that day the Dow stood at 16,250 and had been in a downward trend for a couple months as the global economy has been clearly weakening. The immediate rational reaction to the horrible news was a 250 point plunge down to the 16,000 level. But by the end of the day the market had finished up over 200 points, as this terrible news was immediately interpreted as good news for the market, because the Federal Reserve will never ever increase interest rates again.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Europe’s On A Road To A Very Bleak Nowhere / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
On the day after a bunch of European countries headed into yet another -emergency- meeting, and as the refugee situation in Greece and the Balkans was more out of hand than ever before, not in the least because the numbers of refugees arriving from -in particular- Turkey are larger than ever, let’s reiterate what should always be the guiding principle driving the response to issues like this.
That is, the only way to approach a crisis such as this one is to put the people first. To say that whatever happens, we will do what we can, first and foremost, to not allow for people to drown, or go hungry or cold, or contract diseases. Because that contradicts our basic morals. The loss of lives and prevention of misery should be the most important thing for everyone involved, all the time, from politicians to citizens.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Impeachment of the Federal Reserve / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: BATR
Throughout history, holding public officials accountable for wrongdoing has been elusive even under the most moral regimes. As an ordinary practice, crime pays, especially in public office. Personal gain is an obvious offense. However, misdemeanors against specific persons, entire classes of people or even crimes against humanity are routinely committed in the normal course of administrating governments. Woefully, a universal remedy to prevent such a chronicle of depravity has never been applied to the body politik.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The Age of Religion - Judaism, Christianity and Islam Science Secrets Revealed - Video / Politics / Religion
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The scientific secrets contained within the worlds major religions of the book (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are revealed including of the sun, moon, earth and universe and human origins. Find out the true meaning of the 'Age of Religion' and what it means for mankind.
Monday, October 26, 2015
House Benghazi Hearings: Too Much Too Late / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the US House of Representatives called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear before a select committee looking into the attack on a US facility in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. The attack left four Americans dead, including US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
As might be expected, however, the "Benghazi Committee" hearings have proven not much more than a means for each party to grandstand for political points.
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Sunday, October 25, 2015
Kerry and Abbas Conspire Against Palestinians / Politics / Palestine
By: Stephen_Lendman
Abbas is a longtime Israeli collaborator. Washington one-sidedly supports Israeli interests, including decades of ruthless occupation harshness.
Whenever Kerry shows up anywhere, especially in the Middle East, he’s always up to no good. His current trip took him to Berlin (meeting with Netanyahu while there) and Amman, meeting with Jordanian officials and Abbas, plotting ways to betray Palestinians again, urging calm at the expense of their interests.
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Saturday, October 24, 2015
Killing Off Community Banks - Intended Consequence of Dodd-Frank? / Politics / Banking Stocks
By: Ellen_Brown
At over 2,300 pages, the Dodd Frank Act is the longest and most complicated bill ever passed by the US legislature. It was supposed to end "too big to fail" and "bailouts," and to "promote financial stability." But Dodd-Frank's "orderly liquidation authority" has replaced bailouts with bail-ins, meaning that in the event of insolvency, big banks are to recapitalize themselves with the savings of their creditors and depositors. The banks deemed too big are more than 30% bigger than before the Act was passed in 2010, and 80% bigger than before the banking crisis of 2008. The six largest US financial institutions now have assets of some $10 trillion, amounting to almost 60% of GDP; and they control nearly 50% of all bank deposits.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Another Government Ponzi Scheme Starts to Crack - Do You Depend on It? / Politics / Government Spending
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno
Government employees get to do a lot of things that would land an ordinary citizen in prison.
For example, it’s legal for them to threaten and commit offensive, rather than defensive, violence. They can take property from others without their consent. They spy on anyone’s email and bank accounts whenever they please. They go into trillions of dollars in debt and then stick the unborn with the bill. They counterfeit the currency. They lie with misleading statistics and use accounting wizardry no business could get away. And this just scratches the surface…
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Friday, October 23, 2015
Pictures for the Pope Francis and Progressives / Politics / Social Issues
By: Steve_H_Hanke
In September, Pope Francis visited the United States, where he addressed the U.S. Congress. His address, while nuanced, hit on social justice themes. The Pope’s remarks were well received by left-of-center politicians who embrace progressive policies.
When the Pope left the U.S., he traveled to Latin America, where he spoke in his native Spanish and was more direct. While in Bolivia, Pope Francis had this to say: "Let us not be afraid to say it: we want change, real change, structural change," the Pope said, decrying a system that "has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature."