Prepare for Change

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/27/us-usa-budget-idUSKBN0MN0LR20150327 "(Reuters) - The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding. The 52-46 vote on the non-binding budget resolution put Congress on a path to complete its first full budget in six years. It came at the end of a marathon 18-hour session that saw approval of dozens of amendments ranging from Iran sanctions to carbon emissions and immigration policies. Two Republican senators who are running or considering running for president, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, voted against their party's budget plan, which is similar to one passed by House Republicans on Wednesday. In addition to aiming to eliminate deficits within 10 years, both documents seek to ease the path for a repeal or replacement of President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law." Who are we so...

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-mincome-experiment-dauphin "Critics of basic income guarantees have insisted that giving the poor money would disincentivize them to work, and point to studies that show  ​a drop in peoples' willingness to work under pilot programs . But in Dauphin—thought to be the largest such experiment conducted in North America—the experimenters found that the primary breadwinner in the families who received stipends were in fact not less motivated to work than before. Though there was some reduction in work effort from mothers of young children and teenagers still in high school—mothers wanted to stay at home longer with their newborns and teenagers weren’t under as much pressure to support their families—the reduction was not anywhere close to disastrous, as skeptics had predicted. " Well there you go. Now we need to try this in the United States.  How about Rapid City, SD?

So it IS possible!

http://www.straight.com/news/817631/tiny-homes-are-merely-trendy-fantasy-not-affordable-housing-solution "I don't want to be defeatist here, because I do admire people who refuse to accept that the world is given to us as is—and instead choose to live as if the maxim of their actions should become a universal truth. It's what remains so attractive about Thoreau's Walden experiment. But we can't laud tiny houses for their innovation without beginning by saying that the economic realities that necessitate it are a  huge fucking problem  that won't go away with vintage marine lightbulb cages or marble countertops. And we can't treat tiny houses squatting on hobby farms as the latest trend for the well-heeled lumbersexual set. Stories like these spread the falsehood that consumers have a say in how their neighbourhoods, communities and cities are planned—while the evidence repeatedly shows that our urban agendas are set by developers. Laneway hou...

http://rt.com/business/228311-croatia-erases-debt-poorest/ "Croatian government have gotten creditors on board a plan to erase the debts of some 60,000 poorest citizens. The “fresh start” scheme targets less than 1 percent of the entire debt, but is hoped to boost the economy in the long-term. The unorthodox measure was voted for by the government on January 15 and comes into force on Monday. To be eligible to participate debtors must have no savings or property, have a debt no greater than about $5,100 and live on welfare or an income of no higher than $138 per month. 'We assess that this measure will be applicable to some 60,000 citizens,' Deputy Prime Minister Milanka Opacic said as he was introducing the bailout. 'Thus they will be given a chance for a new start without a burden of debt.'" I look forward to seeing how this helps or hurts the economy overall. 

http://nypost.com/2015/01/30/nypd-to-launch-a-beefed-up-counterterrorism-squad/ "The NYPD will launch a unit of 350 cops to handle both counterterrorism and protests — riding vehicles equipped with machine guns and riot gear — under a re-engineering plan to be rolled out over the coming months." Oh dear god, people. Protesting is a Constitutionally protected act. Terrorism is violence designed to terrorize a community.  Get these people a dictionary!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/world/asia/widespread-blackout-in-pakistan-deals-another-blow-to-government.html?_r=0 "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Towns and cities across Pakistan plunged into darkness early Sunday when what officials said was an attack by militants on a transmission line short-circuited the national electricity grid, presenting a new indictment of the government’s faltering efforts to solve the country’s chronic power crisis. Emergency efforts to end the blackout, widely described as Pakistan ’s worst ever, resulted in a partial restoration of power in the capital, Islamabad, and the most populous city, Karachi, by Sunday evening. Even so, 80 percent of the country remained without power, including the provincial capitals of Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, an official said." So how safe is our electricity grid? "The specter of a large-scale, destructive attack on the U.S. power grid is at the center of much strategic thinking about cyber...