How the Boston Attacks Will Shape Our Politics

Interesting points.. on the ramifications of this…

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From Pwire:

“Details are emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing that suggest the case will not only be remembered as a local tragedy, but also one with broad political and economic implications,” Politico reports.

“Authorities believe the two suspects may have ties to Chechnya, news that could rock the debate on immigration reform unfolding in Congress. A police officer in Cambridge died in a shooting, two days after the Senate voted down a gun-control bill. And law enforcement has the city of Boston on lockdown, just as billions in across-the-board spending cuts are hitting local authorities.”

Elizabeth Warren: ‘So I just want to get this straight …’

More of the Warren Show:

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From dailykos:

Elizabeth Warren once again reminds us why we love her, pinning down government banking regulators on why they aren’t telling the public—or even the homeowners in question—more about illegal foreclosures. In what’s becoming a familiar scene, Warren first methodically asks the regulators what they do and don’t know and what they’re actually doing to hold banks accountable or at least let foreclosure victims do so, and then she flatly lays out the implications of what they’ve just told her, making clear how weak the current oversight system is.

House of Cards, the BBC original.

After watching Kevin Spacey’s show we’ve started looking at the original series from the 90′s from BBC in Britain. It has a very different tone, it’s a bit warmer and more funny – and it has a way better plot, as the Whip is going directly after the Prime Minister after a little snub of Cabinet Seats. Kevin Spacey as a power-hungry monster going after the Vice Presidency never made any sense..

So at a bit slower pace; here’s Francis Urquhart:

The Brain Project.

This Brain Research Project is simply fantastic. Curing diseases and removing fear of a decaying and dysfunctioning brain with age is a great initiative. Props to Obama.

House Of Cards

Just started a new series – Kevin Spacey is fantastic. Dark politics and everything Washington D.C.

A Hot Topic: Climate Change Coming To Classrooms

About time.

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A Hot Topic: Climate Change Coming To Classrooms:

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For the first time, new federal science standards recommend teaching K-12 students about climate change.

By the time today’s K-12 students grow up, the challenges posed by climate change are expected to be severe and sweeping. Now, for the first time, new federal science standards due out this month will recommend that U.S. public school students learn about this climatic shift taking place.

Mark McCaffrey of the National Center for Science Education says the lessons will fill a big gap.

“Only 1 in 5 [students] feel like they’ve got a good handle on climate change from what they’ve learned in school,” he says, adding that surveys show two-thirds of students say they’re not learning much at all about it. “So the state of climate change education in the U.S. is abysmal.”

[…]

(Via News)

Italian court orders new trial for Amanda Knox

The case reopens..

And the couple might very probably be convicted again – but Amanda could possibly avoid extradiction and not ever have to return to Italy or serve any sentence whatever it ends up being..

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013 12:06 PMItalian court orders new trial for Amanda KnoxThe Seattle Times: Home

ROME —

Italy’s highest criminal court on Tuesday overturned Amanda Knox’s acquittal in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the United States.

Knox called the decision “painful” but said she was confident in the truth.

The Court of Cassation ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American student and her former Italian boyfriend for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. The exact issues that have to be reconsidered won’t be known until the court releases its full ruling within 90 days.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020641045_apeuitalyknox4thldwritethru.html

U.S. Senate narrowly passes first budget in four years

Wow, seems like America is starting to get going again!!

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Reuters by David Lawder on March 23, 2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate on Saturday narrowly passed its first federal budget in four years, a move that will usher in a relative lull in Washington’s fiscal wars until an anticipated summer showdown over raising the debt ceiling.

The budget plan passed 50-49 at about 5 a.m. after a marathon voting session in the Democratic-controlled chamber. Four Democratic senators facing tough re-election campaigns in 2014 joined all the Senate Republicans in opposing the measure, which seeks to raise nearly $1 trillion in new tax revenues by closing some tax breaks for the wealthy.