As soon as I hear the words “Gun control” I cringe. This is because the opponents of Gun Control have been able redefine it as denial of any gun bearing rights whatsever, So the NRA advance the thinking that if you cede any control or regulation of firearms – that will be the thin edge […]
Gun Control Is NOT Dead Read More »
Takethe5th’s prognosis on Gun Control in the wake of the Aurora Massacre, Hey USA You’re in NRA’s Power Bang Killer Lottery Like It Or Not, has proven to be woefully accurate. There has been a chorus of no gun control across all of the media. NYTimes describes clearly the abdication of our political leadership.Now comes the clean
Gun Control Is Dead – BanG! Read More »
Almost as if on cue, Jennifer Rubin makes a righteous fool of herself in an Opinion Piece at the Washington Post about the Aurora Massacre Shootings. It is the same old. same old “Gun Controls would not work” which is music to NRA ears and a GOP which has gone draconian on any regulation. No
Jennifer Rubin Makes A Righteous Fool of Herself Read More »
“Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend Plans?” was the tweet posted on the NRA’s American Rifleman account this morning 7 hours after the horrific mass killings in Aurora Colorado. But NRAman could have just as easily tweeted“Hey USA, you are in the NRA Power Bang Killer Lottery whether you like it or not”. Quickly after
Hey USA You’re In NRA’s Killer Lottery Read More »
Update: Breaking on July 17. 2012 the NYTimes finally recognizes the profound impact Coursera and other free online university offerings are having on undergraduate education. Read it here or follow Takethe5th.com and get the story 3 months earlier and with live experience nuances. This blog has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Coursera University Courses
Coursera University Courses II Read More »
When you think of the English, Justice and “Doing the Right Thing” they are almost synonymous. One has to think that near-failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock during the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis was just an anomaly. Just a whiff of the Wall Street Flu. The British run Wimbledon, the Olympics and
LIBOR = Continuing Corruption in Banking and Finance and Governance Read More »
Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone is noted for his investigations of the Financial Community particulary since the Financial Meltdown of 2007 to 2009. In an article in Rolling Stone for February 2011 Matt asked the question Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?. he concluded that it was two major factors – The Obama administration and
On Financial Meltdown Prosecutions Read More »
One can almost hear the wailing Blues line – “Why Obama and Romney Ain’t Your Man”. It has a haunting truth to it as it careens around your head to a pulsing back beat. Day after day the the obvious becomes a refrain ever louder. These dudes aren’t going to do anything about the Financial
Why Obama and Romney Ain’t Your Man Read More »
Readers of this blog have seen at least a dozen articles about how the GOP is running of the the rails – no longer functioning as an an effective party in our political processes and sabotaging our Democracy. This is a very serious assertion. But take a look at the evidence: In A Two Party
Republicans: The Party Running Off the Rails of Democracy Read More »
Return of the Left in China. The story of Bo Xilai has an eerie mirror to US politics. The populist Chinese leader from the western and more impoverished province of Chongqing had ruled with tough sometimes brutal policing. But he had also catered to the Left movement in China that would see reforms on housing, food supply
Bo Xilai: A Mirror on US Politics Read More »
This morning I had a strange encounter with two women from the WatchTower organization. They came to the door holding the Bible and asking me if I believed in the Bible while quoting from Scriptures. Now to put this situation in context, I am rushing to finish some computing work for a later meeting about
Free online university courses have really hit their stride this quarter. Courses from Michigan, MIT, Stanford, University of California at Berkley are available now. Free course material has been available from a variety of sources. Near and dear to this blog and web developer are the w3schools set of tutorials on all key coding in web development
Two Superb, Free Online University Courses Read More »
There are three troubling events that are occurring and raise concerns about the ability of Body Commons that is the USA to “heal thyself”. The first is the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. A white shot a black youth in very questionable circumstances. It is the aftermath that is the concern. TheDailyBeast has been following
3 Troubling Events Read More »
Ross Douthat at the NYTimes has written a spirited rebuttal of the notion that the Republican Primary Process has helped to scuttle the Party’s Presidential prospects. He insists that … well lets let Ross speak for himself: Let’s stipulate that this has not been the most edifying of primary seasons. The policy debates have often
The Wheels Are NOT Coming Off The Republican Party I Read More »
While the Takethe5th has been doing this series of articles on The Wheels Are Coming Off The Republican Party , Paul Krugman at the NYTimes has been tearing the hide off the Big Elephant . Here is a Krugman sampler of three of the most recent editorials: 1 – Moochers Against Welfare There is a strange
The Wheels Are Coming Off The Republican Party IV Read More »
In case you had not noticed, The Wheels Are Coming Off The Republican Party. You know that is the case when George Will on ABC TV’s This Week with George Stephanopoulis [again] starts taking historical potshots at the Republican chances of defeating President Obama ‘when it should be a cakewalk”. But more seriously, the Republican
The Wheels Are Coming Off The Republican Party III Read More »
We said it here first but now David Brooks at the NYTimes is confirming what has become ever more obvious – the wheels are coming off the Republican Party. And this is not just the fact that all of the GOP Presidential candidates trail President Obama in the polls. David attributes the phenomenon to the
The Wheels Are Coming Off The Republican Party II Read More »
The US has the problem that in a 2 party system the US is only running with 1. This NYTimes article by Paul Krugman catches the essence of the argument made increasingly in this blog here and here: Mr. Romney is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, and whatever his personal beliefs may really be —
In A Two Party System – Running With Only One Read More »
If the Republicans want a bona fide issue to tar and feather President Obama on, its his kowtowing to the banks exemplified most recently by the Housing Settlement. Once again, “for the sake of the economy”, banks get away with major white collar financial crime. Anything for a settlement. The $25Billion is peanuts in comparison to the the
The Housing “Settlement” Stinks Badly Read More »
Our article, The Wheels Are Coming Off the GOP Base, has had some very interesting confirmation in the Press in the past few days. The NYTimes in an editorial says “Don’t stop the debates. The purpose of debates is to get candidates and their ideas before voters. In the Republicans’ case, that includes exposing the failed
GOP Wheels Coming Off; Bad For USA Too Read More »
Politics, particularly Presidential politics is risky racing like Formula 1. Everything is taken to the limit and like Formula 1 every performance [debate, campaign event, TV attack ad, Web presence to Tweet, and election result]is polled, monitored, and analyzed in almost excuciating detail. And there is a surplus of political operatives suggesting how to drive the agenda,
The Wheels Are Coming Off The GOP Base Read More »
Mitt Romney now appears to be the leader to beat in the polls for the next 3 primary votes – New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. In the Saturday ABC Debate debates the consensus is that Romney escaped unscathed as none of his rivals attacked him even with comparison statements. The result is that the
Mitt Romney:”I Know Business” Read More »
The five major problems facing not just the US but almost all developed countries are the following: 1)Jobs are going to the developing countries with very favorable rates of exchange and wage level relative to prosperous developed countries. Wages in China, India, Vietnam, Brazil and others across the board are a fraction of the developed
5 Major Wicked Problems and US Election Politics Read More »
In the last two years, more article are appearing from Wall Streeters who are questioning the budding financial myths on what caused the Financial Meltdown of 2007-2008. Here is a telling one by a Wall Street analyst, Barry Ritholtz that appeared in the Washington Post and has been picked up by a number of Share websites like
The Big Lie : Viral Misinformation Read More »
Over and over again, the world is seeing an anguishing and paradoxical debate over the Deficit Conundrum . Simply stated, nation after nation has allowed bubbles of inflated values to occur, accumulate and eventually topple their economies. The classic bubbly case is the overinflated housing markets in the US and parts of Europe that burst
The Deficit Conundrum Read More »
The best lines at the ABCTV-sponsored debate this past weekend was Michelle Bachmann’s “Newt Romney”, AKA Newt Gingerich and Mitt Romney. Michelle could show the two not only flip flopping together but also abandoning conservative principles at the drop of a hat. The Daily Beast has been following the two since the debate and the marriage
Nicholas Kristoff at the NYTimes, has a very telling piece about the Bankers who brought about the 2007-2008 Financial meltdown. Recent disclosures by Bloomberg and others have made it clear that the $0.70 Trillion TARP bailout was just the tip of the iceberg as 10 time the TARP, or $7.0trillion has been spent to bailout
Occupy Wall Street’s Enduring Message Read More »
Some media argue that Occupy Wall Street, now that it has been disbanded will peter out and the group will have minimal influence. Don’t let anybody sell you that notion. The vote in Ohio on November 8th restoring Union Collective bargaining in state and local government showed that Occupy Wall Street had managed to change voting preferences.Suddenly
What Occupy Wall Street Accomplished Read More »
In an article on her website, Ariana Huffington raises the issue of the level of lying in politics – Mitt Romney Brazenly Lies and the Media Lets Him Slide. Here is he crux of the complaint against Mitt Romney and his election team: The lie is found in Romney’s first television ad, run last week in New
The Level of Lying Stokes Radical Political Partisanship Read More »
Harry’s Law, in yesterday’s episode called Head Games, takes up the Occupy Wall Street Message in full form.The episode deals with a woman whose home is foreclosed; so in desperation she goes and robs one of the bank’s branches. The team’s defense for the woman is the so called Outrageous Government Misconduct defense. In the
Occupy Wall Street Moves to TV? Read More »
Is it a tenor of the Times that only an American writing for a British paper, the Guardian, could produce a plausible story of why the Occupy Movements, predominately peaceful, non-violent protests, were shutdown? Naomi Wolf writing for the Guardian,has produced a story that shows that Federal Homeland Security officials worked in co-ordination with 18
How and Why the Occupy Wall Street Camps Were Shutdown Read More »
The NYTimes has an article today Israel’s Other Occupation – that gets at the core issue in Israel, how its democracy is being corrupted by the West Bank Occupation. This is no small matter because Israel is an outsize player not just in Mid East politics but also as a shaper of US policy. For example,
The Corrosion of Israeli Democracy Read More »
