The birds are chirping again. Vital background here.
Day: October 14, 2013
Moving right along: Early discovery continues in the Bay Tech suit
ICYMI: NFIP, Mississippi Gaming and the Byrd is the Word
The AP’s Jeff Amy tackled the subject of Mississippi’s declining gaming industry Saturday in a must read story. In a prior life Jeff was a business reporter and that prior experience shows in the piece he wrote. The worst of the problems are at the north Mississippi Delta casinos but also extend to the Coast to a lesser degree.
Next up is the impacts of rising flood insurance premiums on the real estate market in Florida, the Northeast and Louisiana:
Cost of Flood Insurance Rises, Along With Worries ~ Lizette Alverez and Campbell Robertson
It would be nice to see one of the mainstream media outlets covered the inherent conflicts of interest built into the flood program and the fact that the middlemen WYO insurers take a 30% slice off the top for writing the policies. Yeah, those facts add a degree of complexity to the topic but they are vital to understanding what is truly going on with the program as this is not entirely about the program underpricing risk. Unfortunately the story above, like most of them gloss over those facts, in the case of the New York Times likely in deference to their insurance advertisers.
Finally we have Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd back in the news cycle:
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd due back in court today for continuation of bond revocation hearing ~ April Havens
Joe Sam Owen is one of the best criminal defense lawyers on the coast. It will be interesting to see how the opening round of the Jackson County political fist fight in Byrd prosecution turns out.
Other Voices | Wednesdays Wars: Bibi at the UN: A Three Part Bomb
Published on Oct 3, 2013
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s annual pilgrimage to the UN constituted a three-part cluster of bombs.
First, his Deputy Defense Minister, Danny Danon, published an Op-Ed in the New York Times, calling on Israeli to annul the Oslo Accords. Second, Bibi instructed his delegation to absent themselves from the hall during the speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Third, Bibi’s own speech was, as usual, pretty much an exercise in boast and bombast.
ISRAEL MINISTER: ANNUAL OSLO
In order to lay a foundation for Bibi’s main event speech, the deputy defense minister of Israel published an Op-Ed in the New York Times entitled, “Israel Should Annul Oslo Accords.”
Danon had traveled to New York with Bibi on the presidential plane. He is a person of consequence in Israeli poltitics. His comments are not those of some outlier.
The Oslo Accords were adopted 20 years ago. They formed the basis of President Clinton bringing Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin together for an historic handshake at the White House.
Those on the Israeli right who want to annul Oslo are really saying that the status quo is just fine. Israel can establish more settlements on occupied land, and expand existing ones, thereby creating new facts on the ground.
Its friends in Congress will protect them from any do-gooder who happens to find his or her way into the White House.
If Palestinians continue to suffer in non-state and virtual non-human status with Israel’s foot on their neck, too bad. Have them call Jimmy Carter. Continue Reading…….