News and views noted along the way.
- What gives us a right to deport people? Joseph Carens on the ethics of immigration “In the wake of the Holocaust, most people in democratic states felt a profound shame about the fact that their countries had refused to respond to the needs of Jews fleeing the Nazis. We all recognized that failure and vowed, “Never again,” and so we set up the Geneva Convention refugee system. And now all the rich states have set up systems to prevent people from accessing that system. You have to get a visa if you are coming to a rich state from a poor one, and if they think you will ask for asylum, they won’t give you a visa. The boats and planes asylum-seekers come on are subject to tremendous sanctions if they transport people without the right documents. So, we’re excluding people. And some of the people who are denied visas are in fact eligible for asylum. They are clearly refugees. It’s an indiscriminate exclusionary system. In taking this approach, we have put the burden of taking care of refugees onto the neighboring states. Those are generally poor countries, as in the case of Jordan taking in Syrian refugees. That’s just unfair, and it’s a deep problem. I don’t see a political solution to it, because there’s not much interest in doing anything about it.”
- JD Salinger stories leaked online
- Why did Pope Benedict XVI resign?
- Shifting Components of the Dow Jones Industrial Index - ”Over time, some companies are replaced by others. In September, for example, the formerly private investment bank Goldman Sachs replaced the public commercial bank Bank of America; the payments company Visa replaced the information technology company Hewlett-Packard; and the consumer clothing and gear company Nike Inc. replaced Alcoa Inc., which was traditionally an aluminum company but now has its finger in a various elements of design and manufacturing of parts, along with recycling. The changes seemed to me symptomatic of broader changes in the US economy, which made me look back at the companies in the Dow over time.”
- Vladimir Putin is in denial about Russia’s deadly enemy within – “The president must break the cycle of corruption, heroin and HIV.”
- The Bitcoin bubble – “It looks overvalued. But even if this digital currency crashes, others will follow.”
- Gloucestershire badger cull ends as targets missed
- Record $1 Trillion Cash Haul to Spur Euro Growth: Credit Markets - “Companies in Europe have amassed almost $1 trillion through earnings, bond sales and by refinancing credit lines, foreshadowing a potential surge in acquisitions and investment.”
- Changes in sexual attitudes and lifestyles in Britain through the life course and over time: findings from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal)
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