VIA “attn.com” by Mark Provost In the 1990s, Portugal was faced with a drug epidemic. General drug use wasn’t any worse than neighboring countries, but rates of problematic drug use were off the charts. A 2001 survey found that 0.7 percent of its population had used heroin at least one time, the second highest rate […]
VIA “npr.org” by Krishnadev Calamur The White House has notified the Senate that President Obama has, as promised, vetoed congressional legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project. “Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the […]
VIA “realclearpolitics.com” by James Arkin After years of debate, culminating in a messy, amendment-laden process in the Senate earlier this year, a piece of legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will land on President Obama’s desk Tuesday. Then, he’ll veto it. It will be just the third time Obama has vetoed legislation during […]
VIA “bbc.com”, author not specified Germany has rejected a Greek request for a six-month extension to its eurozone loan programme. The rejection came despite the European Commission calling the Greek request “positive” only minutes earlier. Greece had sought a new six-month assistance package, rather than a renewal of the existing deal that comes with tough […]
VIA “theweek.com”, opinions section, by Ryan Cooper President Obama is seeking a new Authorization for Use of Military Force, as the U.S. continues its bombing campaign against the Islamic State. It comes just a tad late: about three and half months after it was necessary, according to the War Powers Act. This raises the question: Why is he even […]
VIA “blog.reuters.com” by Hugo Dixon Greece desperately needs a quick fix. Time is running so short that a deal is needed in the next few days to stop Athens going bust. That will be, at best, a short-term patch-up while a long-term programme is worked out. Compromise is needed by both Greece’s radical new leftist […]
VIA “Bloomberg.com” by Frances Schwartzkopff (Bloomberg) — Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the gunman who attacked a free-speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen over the weekend probably wasn’t part of an organized cell. “There’s no indication” of that, she said at a press conference on Monday, at which she identified as a Danish […]
VIA “nytimes.com” by Andrew Higgins BRUSSELS — His country’s oil export revenues and currency have slumped. Its economy is shrinking, and some of his own allies in Moscow have questioned where he is leading them. Yet when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sat down Wednesday in the Belarussian capital of Minsk with the leaders […]
VIA “rawstory.com” by Patricia Zengerle and Doina Chiacu U.S. President Barack Obama has sent Congress his text for an authorization to use military force in the campaign against Islamic State, limiting operations against the militants to three years and barring use of U.S. troops in “enduring offensive ground combat.” According to the text, obtained by […]
VIA “realclearpolitics.com” by Bill Scher Shudders shot through the Democratic Party after John Judis argued in the National Journal that, despite conventional wisdom that demographic trends would continue to deepen the Democratic claim to electoral majorities, an “Emerging Republican Advantage” is putting the House out of reach and could flip the White House in 2016. […]
