Ukraine may have to go nuclear, says Kiev lawmaker … Ukraine may have to arm itself with nuclear weapons if the United States and other world powers refuse to enforce a security pact that obligates them to reverse the Moscow-backed takeover of Crimea, a member of the Ukraine parliament told USA TODAY. The United States, Great Britain and Russia agreed in a pact "to assure Ukraine's...Read More
A showdown is developing between a sizable number of Connecticut state police officers and the politicians who passed into law highly restrictive gun control, gun bans, and bans on high capacity magazines. Gun rights legal expert and activist David Hardy reported Friday that 250 law enforcement officers in Connecticut have signed an open letter stating that they will not enforce the new anti-gun a...Read More
Ukraine may have to go nuclear, says Kiev lawmaker … Ukraine may have to arm itself with nuclear weapons if the United States and other world powers refuse to enforce a security pact that obligates them to reverse the Moscow-backed takeover of Crimea, a member of the Ukraine parliament told USA TODAY. The United States, Great Britain and Russia agreed in a pact "to assure Ukraine's...Read More
A showdown is developing between a sizable number of Connecticut state police officers and the politicians who passed into law highly restrictive gun control, gun bans, and bans on high capacity magazines. Gun rights legal expert and activist David Hardy reported Friday that 250 law enforcement officers in Connecticut have signed an open letter stating that they will not enforce the new anti-gun a...Read More
Wealth rises but economy still sputters … Americans are richer than ever and increasingly willing to take on a bit of extra debt and yet the overall atmosphere, and the economic recovery, are surprisingly flat. That's because the rise in wealth is highly concentrated, consumer debt is often going towards maintaining living standards in the absence of adequate income and, perhaps most imp...Read More
Kerry urges US envoys to make climate change a priority … US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on American ambassadors around the world to make the fight against climate change a top priority ahead of new UN talks next year. In his first department-wide policy guidance statement since taking office a year ago, he told his 70,000 staff: "The environment has been one of the central...Read More
Wealth rises but economy still sputters … Americans are richer than ever and increasingly willing to take on a bit of extra debt and yet the overall atmosphere, and the economic recovery, are surprisingly flat. That's because the rise in wealth is highly concentrated, consumer debt is often going towards maintaining living standards in the absence of adequate income and, perhaps most imp...Read More
Kerry urges US envoys to make climate change a priority … US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on American ambassadors around the world to make the fight against climate change a top priority ahead of new UN talks next year. In his first department-wide policy guidance statement since taking office a year ago, he told his 70,000 staff: "The environment has been one of the central...Read More
Janet Yellen's Nemesis – The Great Moderation … New Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen has a great task ahead of her. How to combat the results of the Great Moderation, as it was called, that period of low inflation with moderate economic growth that prevailed from 1985 to 2007, according to Paul Krugman. But why, when lots of jobs were created, particularly the 22 million jobs created du...Read More
COLD SHOULDER: ABC, CBS Exclude Scientists Critical of Global Warming for More Than 1,300 Days … Like a simple parlor trick, the networks are able to make skeptical scientists vanish, at least from the eyes of their viewers. In some cases, the broadcast networks have failed to include such scientists for years, while including alarmist scientists within the past six months. ABC, CBS and NBC&...Read More
Janet Yellen's Nemesis – The Great Moderation … New Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen has a great task ahead of her. How to combat the results of the Great Moderation, as it was called, that period of low inflation with moderate economic growth that prevailed from 1985 to 2007, according to Paul Krugman. But why, when lots of jobs were created, particularly the 22 million jobs created du...Read More
COLD SHOULDER: ABC, CBS Exclude Scientists Critical of Global Warming for More Than 1,300 Days … Like a simple parlor trick, the networks are able to make skeptical scientists vanish, at least from the eyes of their viewers. In some cases, the broadcast networks have failed to include such scientists for years, while including alarmist scientists within the past six months. ABC, CBS and NBC&...Read More
- John Stephenson, CFAAfter the banner finish to the market last year, the price action on the S&P 500 has so far been somewhat dismal with stocks consolidating and digesting their big advance.Most of the trading so far this year is coming from fast money hedge funds, with big mutual fund investors choosing to sit this round out.Markets are searching for a direction in the early part of 2014, an...Read More
Government UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain recall their ambassadors from Qatar – Qatar says it will not withdraw its ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain … The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain said on Wednesday they were withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar because Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab countries not to interfere in each others' internal...Read More
People Are Still Being Prosecuted for Legal Marijuana. Obama Hasn't Pardoned One of Them … When Robert Duncan got laid off from his job in T.V. production and a friend offered him a gig at a medical marijuana dispensary in northern California, he paid a lawyer $800 to review the company's operations and make sure the outfit was on the right side of state law. The lawyer told him he h...Read More
Government UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain recall their ambassadors from Qatar – Qatar says it will not withdraw its ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain … The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain said on Wednesday they were withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar because Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab countries not to interfere in each others' internal...Read More
People Are Still Being Prosecuted for Legal Marijuana. Obama Hasn't Pardoned One of Them … When Robert Duncan got laid off from his job in T.V. production and a friend offered him a gig at a medical marijuana dispensary in northern California, he paid a lawyer $800 to review the company's operations and make sure the outfit was on the right side of state law. The lawyer told him he h...Read More
Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy | Photo by Mark III Photonics / Shutterstock.comA new scheme by the European Union (EU) hopes to make it more difficult for armed groups to finance their activities through the sale of conflict minerals.Under the draft regulation announced on Wednesday, companies will find it easier to source tin, tantalum, tungsten,...Read More
The New USA? Secession Movement Gains Steam … If you mention the word "secession" most people think of the South during the Civil War. But today, a new movement is gaining steam because of frustration over a growing, out-of-control federal government. A number of conservative, rural Americans are taking about seceding and creating their own states … A 51st state called Jeffer...Read More
Obama Budget Offers Tax Breaks From Child Care to College … U.S. President Barack Obama's budget will propose tax cuts for low-income families, a retirement savings plan and ask Congress to make permanent certain tax breaks to offset the cost of higher education. The Obama administration yesterday released excerpts of the president's $3 trillion-plus fiscal 2015 budget to be sent to...Read More