BEIRUT (AP) — Faced with a cash shortage in its so-called caliphate, the Islamic State group has slashed salaries across the region, asked Raqqa residents to pay utility bills in black market American dollars, and is now releasing detainees for a price of $500 a person.

The extremists who once bragged about minting their own currency are having a hard time meeting expenses, thanks to coalition airstrikes and other measures that have eroded millions from their finances since last fall. Having built up loyalty among militants with good salaries and honeymoon and baby bonuses, the group has stopped providing even the smaller perks: free energy drinks and Snickers bars.

Necessities are dwindling in its urban centers, leading to shortages and widespread inflation, according to exiles and those still suffering under its rule. Interviews gathered over several weeks included three exiles with networks of family and acquaintances still in the group’s stronghold in Raqqa, residents in Mosul, and analysts who say IS is turning to alternative funding streams, including in Libya.

In Raqqa, the group’s stronghold in Syria, salaries have been halved since December, electricity is rationed, and prices for basics are spiraling out of reach, according to people exiled from the city.

You really don’t want to hang around Aaqib if he hasn’t had his Snickers.

We reference here Lincoln’s Emancipation proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery:

Article 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Article 2:Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Now to the definition of Slavery, from Black’s Law Dictionary (it is a little dated, based on current civil society) Read More

Guardian – A senior geneticist and a bioethicist warned on Friday that they fear “rogue scientists” operating outside the bounds of law, and agreed with a US intelligence chief’s assertion this week that gene editing technology could have huge, and potentially dangerous, consequences.

Earlier this week the US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, testified before the Senate as part of his worldwide threat assessment report that he considers gene editing one of the six potential weapons of mass destruction that are major threats facing the country, alongside the nuclear prospects of Iran, North Korea and China.

Since its discovery, Crispr-Cas9 has revolutionized gene editing by helping scientists target certain genes with an unprecedented degree of speed and accuracy. The bacteria-originated tool has sparked a patent war among a handful of scientists, and a new industry worth billions.

In the US, members of the intelligence community agreed that gene editing represents a largely open field. Clapper’s report to the Senate cited the easy access, rapid development and weak regulation abroad in its argument that the “deliberate or unintentional misuse” of gene editing technology “might lead to far-reaching economic and national security implications”.

We are well past point where a bright grad student can order a vial of custom microbiology online.

Arab News – “Saudi, Russian, Qatari and Venezuelan oil ministers announced the proposal after a previously undisclosed meeting in Doha — their highest-level discussion in months on joint action to tackle a growing oversupply of crude and help prices recover from their lowest levels in more than a decade.”

Venezuela hopes to cut as much global production as possible. Contrasted to Norway’s stable oil-based socialism, Venezuela’s economic policies have eventually led to triple digit inflation, a huge black market, and food shortages and calls to nationalize food producers. Bolivarians acknowledge these problems but still hope to see their revolution’s goals pursued in the long run.

Saudi and Qatar have been cautious about committing to limits since several OPEC members were burned by other members not honoring previous agreements. Countries that have failed to leverage their natural resources into a more robust domestic economy will continue to suffer periodic shocks and even crashes as global energy markets and geopolitics collide.

Russia just desperately needs friends.

Rasmussen – A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that while 61% of male voters believe women should be required to register for the draft, only 38% of female voters agree. Most women (52%) oppose such a requirement, and 10% more are undecided.

The draft hasn’t been used since the Vietnam War, and most voters hope to keep it that way. Just 29% of all voters think the United States should have a military draft, although that is up 11 points from five years ago.  Fifty-eight percent (58%) still oppose a draft, while 14% are not sure.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of men think the United States should have a military draft, a view shared by just 21% of women. Men are also more supportive of requiring U.S. citizens to spend one year in public service.

Voters under 40 oppose a military draft more than their elders do. These younger voters, the ones who would be drafted if a draft was reinstated, are slightly less supportive of making women register as well.

If everybody wanted to be drafted we wouldn’t need the draft.

Geopolitics Made Super – This article starts at the fall of the Ottoman empire and concludes…

What’s ahead?  Most likely, the same doom that befell Arab socialism and nationalism.

Political Islam cannot deliver the same results as nation-state based capitalism: Iran’s foundering and Saudi’s stagnation makes that clear.  But it will take time for the Arab street to accept that.  Another full generation will go by before political Islam is consigned to the dust bin.

It’s been often said Christianity is 600 years more mature and Islam needs an Enlightenment.

Jeb Bush and Gov Kasich are the best Republican candidates.

Washington Post – The death of Justice Antonin Scalia Saturday plunged the Supreme Court and the nation’s politics into turmoil, and an immediate partisan battle began over whether President Obama should be allowed to nominate his successor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said in a statement that the Senate should not confirm a replacement for Scalia until after the election. But the battle lines were immediately apparent. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid followed McConnell’s statement with one of his own: “It would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat,” he said. “Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate’s most essential Constitutional responsibilities.”

In the meantime, 4-4 splits are returned to the lower court as if the Supreme Court had not taken up the case.

Bloomberg – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said his country is in a new cold war with the U.S. and its allies, while NATO’s chief said Russia is using its nuclear arsenal to intimidate Europe.

The clash, with echoes of superpower rhetoric during the 20th century, played out at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday even as Russia, Europe and the U.S. say they’re seeking to end Syria’s civil war, resolve the armed standoff in eastern Ukraine and make progress toward lifting European economic sanctions against Russia.

“The political line of NATO toward Russia remains unfriendly and closed,” Medvedev said in a speech to the conference. “It can be said more sharply: We have slid into a time of a new cold war.”

While Medvedev renewed Russian accusations of encirclement by western powers, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, challenged President Vladimir Putin to stop threatening nations around Russia’s borders with warnings about his nuclear-weapons capability.

“Russia’s rhetoric, posture and exercises of its nuclear forces are aimed at intimidating its neighbors, undermining trust and stability in Europe,” Stoltenberg told the conference earlier. “We strive for a more constructive and more cooperative relationship with Russia.”

:: Sting – Do The Russians Love Their Children Too? ::