While much of the blame for the failed Doha agreement (which impacted the price of oil for about 12 hours before another squeeze pushed both Brent and WTI back to unchanged for the day), a new allegations has emerged, this time from the Venezuela oil minister Del Pino who, after saying that he is disappointed with the Doha results (but why - oil is basically unchanged) accused none other than the US for sabotaging the Doha deal, saying that the US acted to block the Doha oil production freeze accord.

A young orca that found itself beached on some rocks was saved by a team of volunteers and researchers in Hartley Bay, on the North coast of British Columbia. The volunteers managed to keep the ocra alive by keeping it cool for eight hours until high tide (scroll down for video) According to Minds.com, the group responded to a call from a colleague about the beached orca which had became stranded during low tide: “She cried often, which tore at our hearts, but as the tide came up there were many cheers as this whale was finally free,” said a Facebook post from the group The Cetacean Lab.

Michael Brendan Dougherty doesn’t think much of Paul Ryan’s foreign policy musings. He recalls an exchange from Ryan’s debate with Biden in 2012:

Ryan constantly criticizes Democrats, and only Democrats, for not engaging in more reckless behavior, merely on the grounds that it would be symbolically satisfying. In his 2012 vice-presidential debate against Joe Biden, he criticized the Obama administration’s Iran policy, saying “when the Green Revolution started up, they were silent for nine days.” What did Ryan want? Air support or a hashtag?

Electile Dysfunction - The inability to become aroused over any candidate for POTUS, put forth by either party...

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

The next few years will strip away the illusions of "growth" and reveal which dominates our society and economy: privilege or social mobility.

Among the many lessons of empires is one shared by virtually every empire: once the privileged few limit the rise of those from humble origins (i.e. social mobility), the empire is doomed to rising instability and collapse.