The vote for Scottish independence

Once again, John Oliver manages to give a tutorial that is both funny and informative on a serious topic. This time it is about the vote that is due to take place on Thursday in Scotland as to whether they will seek independence from the UK. The polls are predicting a close race though I suspect that the ‘no’ vote will ultimately prevail because of the last-minute pandering by the British government that even had the Queen getting into the act, and also because people tend to shy away from the unknown.
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Who is going to be the next big villain?

It is interesting how yesterday’s major threat to civilization as we know it (al Qaeda) has suddenly become relegated to being an insignificant factor as soon as a new actor (ISIS/ISIL) came along. This is the usual pattern of the US always needing to have some boogeyman to scare the hell out of people so that wars can be promoted and executed.
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The changes in Iran

Journalist Ramita Navai talks with Jon Stewart on what is happening in Iran. She says that reformists in the country who seek a more democratic state that has less theocratic influence have been disturbed by the chaos in neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria due to the influence of foreigners. As a result, they have retreated from seeking quick changes and are now looking for a more gradual process that is generated by forces purely from within the country.
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Chuck Todd off to a great start

David Letterman poked fun at the new host of Meet the Press, one of the wasteland of Sunday morning talk shows where many words are spoken and few are worth listening to. The reason may be that, as demonstrated by Todd, there is very little listening that takes place on these programs and that people come with an agenda that they are determined to push through.
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