Links - 14th October 2019 (2)

The Economic Benefits of giving Aid in terms of Donors Exports - "This paper uses the gravity model of trade to investigate the link between bilateral and multilateral foreign aid and donor's exports. There are three primary findings from this approach. First, in the long term, the average return, in terms of an increase in the donor's level of goods exports, is approximately $ 2.15 US for every aid dollar spent on bilateral aid. Second, multilateral aid has a positive effect on export levels only in the short term, whereas in the long term, the effect is negative. Third, aid from other donors does not give rise to a displacement effect for a given donor-recipient trade relationship. This paper also makes comparisons among donors and finds that aid has a positive and significant effect on most donors' export levels."

Abolish Eton: Labour groups aim to strip elite schools of privileges - "The group, Labour Against Private Schools, is circulating a motion for the party’s conference in September that would commit a Labour government to stripping fee-paying schools of their privileges and integrating them into the state system... It also breaks new ground by wanting to limit university admissions to “the same proportion of private school students as in the wider population (currently 7%)”. Most radically. it also calls for the “endowments, investments and properties held by private schools to be redistributed democratically across the country’s educational institutions”."
If you can't raise the bar, force it lower for everyone
Labour is determined to make itself unelectable

London Marathon changes after runners called fat and slow - "Hundreds of runners who were shouted at for being too slow during this year's London Marathon have been given free entry to next year's event.Some runners said they were also called "fat" by contractors who had started to clear up while they were still running... Kerrie Aldridge, from Cardiff, who finished last in this year's marathon, has been offered a place for next year.She took nine hours and 11 minutes to complete the route and said she was "sniggered" at by stewards."
I just might be able to do a marathon in 9 hours too

How Pepsi briefly became the 6th largest military in the world - "the people of the Soviet Union wanted to strike a deal that would bring Pepsi products to their country permanently. However, there was an issue of how they would pay for their newest beverage, as their money wasn't accepted throughout the world.So, the clever country decided to buy Pepsi using a universal currency: vodka!In the late 1980s, Russia's initial agreement to serve Pepsi in their country was about to expire, but this time, their vodka wasn't going to be enough to cover the cost.So, the Russians did what any country would do in desperate times: They traded Pepsi a fleet of subs and boats for a whole lot of soda. The new agreement included 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer.  The combined fleet was traded for three billion dollars worth of Pepsi. Yes, you read that right. Russia loves their Pepsi.The historical exchange caused Pepsi to become the 6th most powerful military in the world, for a moment, before they sold the fleet to a Swedish company for scrap recycling"

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Retracts Unverified Trump Finances Report - "Lawrence O’Donnell said that he was wrong to read a story about President Donald Trump’s finances during his Tuesday night MSNBC show, saying he made an “error in judgment” by discussing the unverified report on the air... The Tuesday night segment in question involved O’Donnell telling viewers that Russian oligarchs had co-signed Trump’s loans from Deutsche Bank, a report he teased on Twitter too. He stressed the story had not been confirmed by NBC News, was based on a single anonymous source and still needed to be verified to determine if it was true."
This didn't stop the Trump Derangement Syndrome crowd from crowing on Facebook about this as if it were true
So much for denouncing media lies as being fake news as being an inexcusable attack on it

Cops catch pigeon with backpack of drugs - "A homing pigeon was caught trying to smuggle drugs into Kuwait... This isn’t the first pigeon nabbed for narcotics smuggling — in 2015, guards at a Costa Rican prison caught a literal jail bird flying cocaine and weed into the slammer."

With funding from palm oil and schools, Indonesia’s terror group Jemaah Islamiah set for resurgence in Malaysia, Singapore - "With members steeped in extremist doctrine and regarded as better trained than the al-Qaeda, the group has found new financial stability with steady income generated from the palm oil industry and a score of private religious schools to revive its militant activities that will likely include reviving its cells in Malaysia and Singapore"

Tunisia bans face-covering veils in public institutions ‘for security reasons’ after terror attacks - "Tunisia has banned face-covering veils in state-run buildings “for security reasons” following three terror attacks in the space of a week.The decision ends a policy of official tolerance to face-covering in public institutions and makes the north African nation the latest country to outlaw religious clothing in the aftermath of terrorism... Sri Lanka banned face-covering after attacks over Easter earlier this year and Cameroon outlawed full-face veils in a northern region after an attack killed 13 people in 2015.Algeria prohibited women from wearing the niqab at work in 2018.Last year, Denmark was criticised by human rights groups for introducing a total ban on full-face veils which was accused of being “neither necessary nor proportionate”."
Islamophobia!

Child sex abuse gang ringleader to be freed from prison 17 years early - "Mubarek Ali, who was one of two ringleaders of the gang in Telford, is just five years into his 22-year prison sentence for his horrific crimes."

China expels reporter who covered investigation into Xi Jinping's cousin - "China is essentially kicking a reporter from The Wall Street Journal out of the country following his coverage of an investigation involving Chinese President Xi Jinping's cousin.The Journal confirmed Friday that the government-issued press credentials of reporter Chun Han Wong were not renewed; since these credentials are required for his visa, he will be forced to leave China. Wong has been reporting from Beijing since 2014.Although an official reason for the denial wasn't provided, it came shortly after Wong co-authored a report in the Journal that Australian law enforcement and intelligence officials were looking into President Xi's cousin, Ming Chai, as part of an organized crime, money laundering, and influence-peddling probe... Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had dismissed the original report as "groundless accusations," and the Foreign Ministry told The Washington Post on Friday that "we don't welcome" reporters who are "maliciously tarnishing China."According to repoter Josh Chin, this is the first time China has ever expelled a reporter from the Journal, which the Post notes is known for "incisive but evenhanded coverage of the country." Chinese ministry officials, the Journal says, prior to the July report had warned the outlet "not to publish and warned of unspecified consequences.""

Second 'son of Hamas' leaves terror group, exposing corruption, Turkish spy ring - "It isn’t every day that a Hamas member turns his back on the terror organization, flies to Southeast Asia and decides to expose the corruption and inner workings of its operations in Turkey in an interview with an Israeli TV journalist.It’s even more incredible when he’s the son of one of Hamas’s founding members. And it’s almost unthinkable when he’s the second of that founder’s sons to escape the clutches of the Islamist group and go public with his story... the setup in Turkey was also used to conscript people, including children, in the West Bank to carry out terror attacks against Israelis.“The point of the attacks in the West Bank is to kill civilians, not for the aim of resistance, nor Jerusalem; not for liberating Palestinian land, and not even because they hate Jews,” he told the TV channel. “They send out these innocents because they want to export the crisis [from Gaza] to the West Bank.” Yousef said he had also become increasingly angry at the corruption of senior Hamas people living in luxury in Turkey while Gaza suffered... “They pay $200 for one course for one person and a family in Gaza lives on $100 per month?”... Yousef  reiterated he had no problem with Jews, at one point buying the interviewer a coconut and saying: “You are people of the Book and we are Muslims and we have no animosity toward you.”He said his main motivation was to help the Palestinian people by exposing the true face of Hamas. “The problem in Gaza is that Hamas hangs on to power by force. If Hamas gave up power, there would be no problems,” he said, accusing the group’s corrupt leaders of using the people of Gaza as cannon fodder for their ambitions... “How does Hamas benefit from these attacks? Nothing,” he said. “It is a racist terror organization that is dangerous for the Palestinian people.”"
Far sexier to ignore facts and just keep bashing Israel

Palestinian population up 9 times since 1948: report - "Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Monday said in a report ahead of the 71st anniversary of the 1948 war that the number of Palestinians has increased by nine times since 1948."
Israel has carried out the most incompetent genocide in history

South Koreans drink twice as much liquor as Russians and more than four times as much as Americans - "South Koreans drink 13.7 shots of liquor per week on average, which is the most in the world. And of 44 other countries analyzed by Euromonitor, none comes anywhere close. The Russians, the second biggest in Euromonitor’s sample, down 6.3 shots per week; Filipinos drink roughly 5.4 shots per week; and Americans consume only 3.3. South Korea’s unparalleled liquor consumption is almost entirely due to the country’s love for a certain fermented rice spirit called Soju. The South Korean liquor accounts for 97% of the country’s spirits market.Donning the hard alcohol crown can be problematic at times. South Korea’s alarming alcohol consumption has led to outbreaks of drunken violence and prompted its ministry of health and welfare to launch a marketing campaign in 2011 in hopes of steering its citizens clear of heavy drinking."
"Stereotypes"

“No problem” vs “you’re welcome” - "You almost never hear a Millennial say “you’re welcome.” At least not when someone thanks them. It just isn’t done. Not because Millennials are ingrates lacking all manners, but because the polite response is “No problem.” Millennials only use “you’re welcome” sarcastically when they haven’t been thanked or when something has been taken from/done to them without their consent. It’s a phrase that’s used to point out someone else’s rudeness. A Millennial would typically be fairly uncomfortable saying “you’re welcome” as an acknowledgement of genuine thanks because the phrase is only ever used disingenuously.
Baby Boomers, however, get really miffed if someone says “no problem” in response to being thanked. From their perspective, saying “no problem” means that whatever they’re thanking someone for was in fact a problem, but the other person did it anyway as a personal favor. To them “You’re welcome” is the standard polite response.
“You’re welcome” means to Millennials what “no problem” means to Baby Boomers, and vice versa.The two phrases have converse meanings to the different age sets"

Hong Kong dating scam: sales agents pose as dates to sell services and earn a commission - "Last year, Hong Kong police recorded 596 cases of online romance scams, a 422 per cent rise from 2016. Victims were duped out of as much as HK$454.8 million (US$58 million). Online romance scams concerning beauty services were one of the major categories – though it is not known how many involve the companies acting in concert with the sales agents... "In some cases, the shop staff go along with the scam, assuring the victim it’s the first time their date has brought anyone with them, with the aim of making them feel special""

Stephen C on Twitter - ""the right to openly discuss ideas must be defended"
"fuck off nazi scum"
Wow."
A "Nazi" is anyone who disagrees with the far left