WASHINGTON, D.C. — We made it into the city on Monday to catch the cherry blossoms in full peak bloom on the new green Giant mountain bike. Hope you enjoy and share the photos.
Washington Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom Framing the Jefferson Memorial
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money
By Robert Reich – Not long ago I was asked to speak to a religious congregation about widening inequality. Shortly before I began, the head of the congregation asked that I not advocate raising taxes on the wealthy. He said he didn’t want to antagonize certain wealthy congregants on whose generosity the congregation depended. I…
Republican Field for President in 2016 Lacks Star Power of Past Campaigns
By Jeffrey M. Jones – At the outset of the 2016 campaign for president of the United States, the potential Republican candidates identified so far lack the star power of previous campaigns, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. The Republican nomination contest is shaping up to be a lot like 2012, with…
Spring Comes to Patapsco Valley State Park
PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, Md. – The earth has turned on its axis to just the right angle for spring to start breaking out in Maryland, finally, although there are more April showers and cool nights on the way. A screech owl made a special appearance in the campground Saturday night from the Maryland Department…
Charter School Bill Passes: Follow the Money
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – Even an amateur swami with a cloudy crystal ball could have told us how the recent vote to approve charter schools in Alabama would play out. In fact, he didn’t even have to look at his ball, they could have looked at 2014 campaign financial disclosures instead. There…
America the Boiling Frog
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – I just ate macaroni and cheese out of a pull top can with a big ass spoon. Forty years ago Sarah Palin would never have been chosen as a presidential running mate. Not because she’s a woman but because she’s dumb as a goddamn stick. Forty years ago,…
The ‘iEverything’ Economy May Require the Redistributional Imperative
By Robert Reich – It’s now possible to sell a new product to hundreds of millions of people without needing many, if any, workers to produce or distribute it. At its prime in 1988, Kodak, the iconic American photography company, had 145,000 employees. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy. The same year Kodak went under,…
Spring Has Been Ordered, But Like Everything Else, You Have to Wait for It
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — It is almost too cold here to type. It was spring in Mobile, Alabama, last week when I had to pull out and head north for the season in the area around Washington, D.C. Upon arrival in Patapsco Valley State Park, which you may…
NASA Asteroid Hunter Spacecraft Images Now Available to Public
Millions of images of celestial objects, including asteroids, are now available to the public online from NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft. “NEOWISE is a vital asset in NASA’s program to find objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth,” Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program at NASA…
Ted Cruz for President?
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – Rafael Edward Cruz is running for president. Boy howdy. By all accounts Ted Cruz is bright and formidable. He’s a powerful speaker. His academic accomplishments are impressive. His career trajectory just prior to politics is downright imposing. There’s a certain charisma in a Bob Dole meets Pee Wee…
Charter School Movement About Tax Breaks, Not Helping Kids
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – It is said that “confession is good for the soul.” With this being the case, the legislators who wrote the Alabama Accountability Act in 2013 are now sleeping better. When this bill was written the people of Alabama were told over and over that the purpose was to…
The Palestinian-Israeli Two-State Solution was Dead Anyway
By Nicholas Sheppard – Newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to walk back his declaration, made late in the contentious political campaign, that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch. His new assertion appeared to do nothing to assuage an irate Obama Administration, and his initial remarks, designed to encourage…
East Coast Versus West Coast: The Best Place to be a Snowbird
By Bob Wells – I just got back to Arizona after visiting my mom for three weeks in Florida and while I was there I went to a small gathering of East coast vandwellers that are all on the cheaprvliving.com forums. I was delighted for the chance to meet them and see how East coast…
New NASA Mission Launched to Study Environmental Changes on Ocean Health
NASA is beginning work on a new satellite mission that will extend critical climate measurements of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere and advance studies of the impact of environmental changes on ocean health, fisheries and the carbon cycle. Tentatively scheduled to launch in 2022, the Pre-Aerosol Clouds and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will study Earth’s aquatic…
Earth Shaking News: Google Publishes Paper Considering Ranking Websites Based on Accuracy
You Are Now Looking at The Most Accurate News Website in the World – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Finally, some positive earth shaking news from Webland, and the implications are simply staggering. It means you are now looking at the most accurate news Website in the world, and Google is about…
The Conundrum of Corporation and Nation
By Robert Reich – The U.S. economy is picking up steam but most Americans aren’t feeling it. By contrast, most European economies are still in bad shape, but most Europeans are doing relatively well. What’s behind this? Two big facts. First, American corporations exert far more political influence in the United States than their counterparts…
After Selma: From White Sheets to Spreadsheets
By Greg Palast – I hate to spoil a happy ending. The movie “Selma,” like this week’s commemorations of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma, Ala., 50 years ago, celebrates America’s giant leap from apartheid. Half a century ago Alabama state troopers and a mob of racist thugs beat African-Americans and others as they…
After Selma, What’s Next for Black America?
By Donald Watkins – This weekend marks the 50th Anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. I did not attend the celebratory events this weekend. I am still deeply troubled by the fact that today’s civil rights movement has morphed into an endless cycle of commemorative events and celebratory parties consisting mostly of photo opportunities. This would…
President Obama Speaks in Selma on the 50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March
Streamed live on Mar 7, 2015 from Selma, Alabama. President Obama spoke at the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches. Live coverage of this event has concluded, but you can watch the video here. Full Text It is a rare honor in this life to follow one…
Citizen Four: Ed Snowden is No Traitor
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – LOS ANGELES, Calif. — What’s mind blowing about the whole Snowden thing is not what huge deal it was, it’s what a huge deal it is. To my dismay I have become cynical, so it occurred to me at the time that it really sucked but I wasn’t…
