Selected News Commentary (1)

Posted: 10/9/2019 

Introduction: News in a very wide sense of the word. Selected means eclectic! News and my commentary are presented in no particular order. Emphasis is added! The news might not always be very current ...

1. Rearmed FARC guerrilla leaders build criminal alliances with Venezuela and ELN (9/4/19)
   Bad news! In the several decades long war against FARC up to or more than 200,000 people were killed. Very disappointing if the peace agreement has been violated! 
2. Kabinett beschließt Mietpreisbremse und Meisterpflicht (10/9/2019)
   German government under SED (former GDR Socialist Unity Party) Chancellor Merkel extends nationwide, tight government rent controls. Merkel taketh and giveth away: Not long ago Germany relaxed licensing requirements for trades, but now her government decided to bring back some of the antiquated licensing requirements
3. EU court rules Facebook can be forced to remove content worldwide (10/3/19)
   What a hubris! The EU still thinks it is the navel of the world!
4. DER BANKEN-TRICK: Negativzinsen werden als höhere Gebühren weitergegeben (10/9/19)
   German banks raise fees to compensate for negative interest rates on bank accounts. The grandiose folly of the European Central Bank’s irresponsible and reckless extremely low interest rate policy goes around and comes around! When foolish politicians try to circumvent the laws of economics …
5. More solar means more maintenance costs, study finds (10/9/19) “The annual cost of operating and maintaining solar energy plants is expected to double in five years, reflecting an increase in future demand while maintaining current installed capacity”
   Solar energy is neither cheap nor green! Not to mention the consumption of geographic area or roof tops!
6. Golda Meir’s Yom Kippur letter to bereaved families has been discovered Israel had one of the first female prime ministers (1969-74) of all Western countries. “In the years following the establishment of the Jewish state, it was customary for the prime minister to have contact with the families of killed soldiers, including sending letters for holidays and official occasions. Meir was scrupulous about the custom and frequently corresponded with bereaved families both privately and officially.”. “... she has been described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics; the term was later applied to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.”(Source). Some of her wise quotes still ring very true today, e.g. “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us” (1973, Source)  
7. Idiotic Environmental Predictions (10/9/19) Nice collection by Walter E. Williams. Apocalyptic predictions by humans are plenty and as old as the history of humanity itself. They are part and parcel of human follies! Like conspiracy theories, they do not go away!
8. First General Conference speech by an African American general authority thrills black Latter-day Saints (10/9/19)
   Who said that Mormons (a.k.a. Church of Latter Day Saints) are all white people?