Wonkblog: Voters like the GOP and pot. Why Rand Paul may be their answer.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wasn't on the ballot Tuesday, but he still emerged as one of the night's biggest winners.

It didn't matter that congressional Republicans had sent the government into a shutdown or pushed the nation toward a default.It didn't matter that GOP governors opposed an expansion of Medicaid to help cover poor people in their states. It didn't matter that Republicans ignored the wishes of one of America's fastest-growing demographic groups, Hispanics.

Voters swiftly forgot, or forgave, the GOP, electing Republicans to the House, to the Senate and to governorships. Though the national map favored Republicans, the election went better for them than almost anybody had predicted, or than the normal tides of midterm elections would have suggested.

It's an important lesson for Democrats, who sometimes act as if they cannot fathom why Republicans can do so well atthe polls even as most Americans agree with Democratic views on the issues.

G O P are hardly scarlet letters in America.

And yet, in many cases, Americans registered strong support for left-leaning ballot initiatives.

Voters in Oregon, California, the District and Alaska approved more lenient marijuana laws, while a majority of voters in Florida also backed loosening marijuana regulation(though the measurefailedto achieved the 60 percent necessary to pass). Antiabortion initiatives in Colorado and North Dakota failed, though one succeeded in Tennessee.

If there's a Republican who can thread the needle between the country's growing social libertarianism and the GOP, it might be Paul, whom Time magazine called "the most interesting man in politics."

Paul hasbeen shifting positions to attract broader support, and some of his (former) views may come back to haunt him. But as this election showed, voters' memories are short.

As speculation about a likely presidential bid heats up in coming months, Paul could play a starring role in Congress -- addressing issues on which there is mutual agreement with Democrats and coming off as far less of a firebrand.

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Wonkblog: Voters like the GOP and pot. Why Rand Paul may be their answer.

Gary Johnson tosses hat in White House ring for 2016

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Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson addresses the 2011 Drug Policy Alliance conference in Los Angeles in this Nov. 3, 2011, file photo. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) more >

Libertarian Partys Gary Johnson said Republicans may take over Capitol Hill, but his eyes are on the White House: Hes running in 2016.

And his party platform is already shaping as the counter to Sen. Rand Paul, whom he described as only half-right on issues of importance to libertarian-minded voters, Reason reported.

On half the issues, hes right, but on the whole social issue thing Look, libertarians are flaming liberals when it comes to social issues, when it comes to civil liberties, Mr. Johnson said, Reason reported. A womans right to choose, drug reform, immigration, marriage equality. Hes not there.

Mr. Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, said in an interview with Newsmax that he has numerous reasons to run for the high executive office.

The whole election is a big yawn, he said in the Newsmax report. Who cares who wins because nothings really going to change. Its like a debate between Coke and Pepsi. Theyre debating over which one tastes better. Wheres the libertarian viewpoint?

Mr. Johnson, who previously ran for the Libertarian Party presidential ticket and pulled in about 1.3 million votes about 1 percent of the overall total made his intent to run again on Election Day, Reason reported.

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Libertarians to be recognized on 2016 ballot

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The North Dakota Libertarian Party achieved a new milestone in Tuesdays general election in garnering enough votes to attain its own column as a recognized party on the 2016 ballot.

According to North Dakota Century Code, a political party must attain at least 5 percent of the total votes cast in order to be a recognized party on the next elections ballot.

On Tuesday, the Libertarian Partys secretary of state candidate, Roland Riemers, took 5.3 percent of the vote according to unofficial results. In nonpresidential elections, parties must attain at least 5 percent for a partys candidate for attorney general or secretary of state to be recognized as a party.

In presidential elections parties must attain at least 5 percent for a partys candidate for president and vice president or governor to be recognized as a party.

Riemers vote total achieves this requirement for the first time in the state partys history.

Weve been working on this for the last 15 to 20 years. It gives us credibility, Riemers said.

In the past, the Libertarian Party has had to get candidates on the ballot by circulating petitions, according to Riemer, who said gaining access as a recognized party will allow the party to save the time and money in building its organization and candidate recruitment.

Well pretty much have to commit ourselves to the statewide races until the party grows enough, Riemers said.

To maintain its status beyond 2016, the Libertarians will need to maintain at least 5 percent of the vote in at least one of the designated races in presidential and nonpresidential election cycles in future elections.

I dont think it changes things too much moving forward, Jason Flohrs, North Dakota Republican Partys executive director, said.

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Libertarians to be recognized on 2016 ballot

URBAN HEAT ISLANDS EFFECTS IN EUROPE: Interview with Juergen P. Kropp – Video

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URBAN HEAT ISLANDS EFFECTS IN EUROPE: Interview with Juergen P. Kropp
Interview with Juergen P. Kropp (PIK) on the occasion of the FEEM-ICCG Joint Seminar "Coupling remote sensing, statistics and dynamic modelling for an advanced assessment of urban heat island...

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Creative Channel Islands: Photography [The Mini-Series] Episode Two – Video

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Creative Channel Islands: Photography [The Mini-Series] Episode Two
In conjunction with our amazing new book, Creative Channel Islands: Photography [The Mini-Series] offers an intimate and revealing portrait of our Channel Island photographers. We ask a variety...

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SC4 Infinity Islands Ep 10 – But Networks & New Freight Stations – Video

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SC4 Infinity Islands Ep 10 - But Networks New Freight Stations
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Typhoon Nuri nears Ogasawara, Izu chains; government vigilant against alleged Chinese poaching ships

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A powerful typhoon is expected to approach the Ogasawara and Izu islands south of Tokyo by Thursday night, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday, with a throng of suspected Chinese coral poaching vessels spotted in waters off the Pacific islands.

Japanese officials remain vigilant against the ships, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga saying that Tokyo will not allow Chinese crew members to come ashore due to Typhoon Nuri.

The Japan Coast Guard has been urging Chinese fishing vessels near the Ogasawara Islands to stay away from the typhoons path, Suga said at a daily press conference.

Many of the ships that had swarmed off the remote islands began leaving the area in a southeasterly direction on Wednesday as Coast Guard patrol ships warned them to go south to get out of the typhoons path, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard will allow the vessels to be moored off the islands within Japanese territorial waters if they are likely to suffer physical damage from the typhoon. But even in such a case, it plans to inspect the vessels on the spot and monitor them so their crew members would not come ashore.

As of 6 p.m., the typhoon was heading north-northeast toward the Ogasawara and Izu islands with an atmospheric pressure of 955 hectopascals at its center and packing winds of up to 216 kph. It is expected to weaken to an extratropical depression off Japans eastern Pacific coast by Friday morning, according to the agency.

Japan has been boosting surveillance by dispatching patrol boats, planes and police officers, as more than 200 foreign ships were observed poaching precious red coral. Lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party drew up a resolution on Wednesday urging the government to take necessary steps, including lodging a strong protest with China.

We cannot help but feel outrage at the barbaric act of pulling out coral by the roots, said the resolution.

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Typhoon Nuri nears Ogasawara, Izu chains; government vigilant against alleged Chinese poaching ships

UAB Researcher Has Key Role in Massive Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study

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Newswise BIRMINGHAM, Ala. In 2001, Christine Skibola, Ph.D., now a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, joined forces with a small group seeking a large goal discovery of genetic and environmental links to the white blood cell tumors that collectively are called lymphomas.

This has now resulted in the largest epidemiology and genetic studies of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) ever conducted. Thus far, these studies have culminated into four genetics papers published in Nature Genetics, American Journal of Human Genetics and Nature Communications, and an entire monograph in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs comprising 13 papers on environmental and medical risk factors found to be associated with various lymphoma subtypes. More papers are on the way.

This sort of research is huge in scale. The hundreds of investigators involved did risk factor analysis and genome-wide association studies on more than 17,400 NHL cases and 23,000 matched controls from North America, Europe and Australia. Two recent Skibola papers, for example, included 140 different authors at 82 different universities, institutes or hospitals that were located in 16 U.S. states and 18 foreign countries.

This is what it takes now to get the large power to detect true associations in most cases, Skibola said.

Those results finding links to personal and family histories, or associations with individual genetic markers set the path for future research and future possible treatments.

Consider the stark difference in risk profiles discovered by Skibola and others for two of the most common types of NHL diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL).

On the one hand, when researchers looked at risk factors related to medical history, lifestyle, family history and occupation, the DLBCL patients had numerous significant risks. These included being obese as a young adult, having a history of any one of a number of autoimmune diseases and a family history of a blood cancer. Other factors, such as allergic conditions, a history of alcohol consumption or a previous blood transfusion for men, and hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptive use for women, gave some protection from DLBCL. In contrast, only a few, modest epidemiology risk factors were found for FL.

On the other hand, when researchers looked at risk factors associated with genetic changes, the tables were reversed: FL had a number of profound genetic risk factors and DLBCL had much less.

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UAB Researcher Has Key Role in Massive Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study

Meditation for Cellulite – How To Meditate for Beginners – You Have 4 Minutes – BEXLIFE – Video

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Meditation for Cellulite - How To Meditate for Beginners - You Have 4 Minutes - BEXLIFE
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Health Care in the United States and HIV/AIDS Patients: Activist (1998) – Video

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Health Care in the United States and HIV/AIDS Patients: Activist (1998)
Mary Fisher (born April 6, 1948) is an American political activist, artist and author. After contracting HIV from her second husband, she has become an outspoken HIV/AIDS activist for the preventio...

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Health Care in the United States and HIV/AIDS Patients: Activist (1998) - Video