Open Thread Monday 11/30

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 7:00am

Tomorrow is December 1. There are 31 days left in the year.

30 is --
30 is the sum of the first four square numbers: 1+4+9+16
5 x 6; half of the base for the decimal system x half of the base for the duodecimal system = half of the base for the Sexagesimal system (Sumeria, Babylonia). Distributive law at work. There is a lot here but I won't get into it.
30 is zinc
30 is reporter and editor code for end of story
30 is the minimum age to be a US Sentor

NOTE: A gratuitous reminder that where there is smoke, there is fire.

History
On 11/30 in
3340 BC there was an eclipse believed to be the earliest recorded eclipse.
1782 representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain signed preliminary peace articles which were later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
1786 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany became the first modern state to abolish the death penalty.
1936 The Crystal Palace in London, was destroyed by fire.
1993 U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law.
1998 Exxon and Mobil signed a US $73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.
1999 demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle by anti-globalization protesters forced the cancellation of the opening ceremonies.

Those born on November 30 include

Andrea Doria, an Italian admiral (1466). I'll quote the wiki on this:

In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (comprising the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Hayreddin Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria, at the Battle of Preveza in September 1538. This victory secured Turkish dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Doria
It is perhaps fitting that his namesake, the super luxury liner of the Italian Line sank in 1956 after a collision off of Nantucket with the Swedish ocean liner Stockholm.

Jonathan Swift, an Irish priest, satirist, essayist, pamphleteer, and poet (1667). He made "A Modest Proposal".
Oliver Winchester, the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, maker of the iconic lever action Model 94 30-30 carbine (1810)
Mark Twain, an author, critic, lecturer, wit, instructor and smartass extraordinaire (1835)
Winston Churchill, an English colonel, journalist, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, an Nobel Prize laureate (1874). In September 1898 he participated in what many call the last meaningful British cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman.
Brownie McGhee, a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist (1915) aka Blind Boy Fuller II, who teamed with Sonny Terry for many years.
Shirley Chisholm, an educator and politician (1924)
Dick Clark, a TV host and producer. (1929)
G. Gordon Liddy, a felon and sleaze, Nixon's chief White House "Plumber" (1930) Watergate bozo.
Bill Walsh, an American football player and coach (1931)
Abbie Hoffman, an activist and author, who founded the YIPPIES along with Jerry Rubin. (1936)
Roger Glover, a Welsh bass player, songwriter, and producer (Deep Purple, Episode Six, and Rainbow)(1945)
David Mamet, an American director, playwright, and screenwriter (1947)
Shuggie Otis, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1953) Secret master of the Hand-Jive.
June Pointer, an American singer and actress (Pointer Sisters) (1953)
Billy Idol, an English singer-songwriter and actor (Generation X and Chelsea)(1955)

Deaths on 11/30
Oscar Wilde, an Irish essayist, novelist, playwright and poet (1900) Wrote something to read in jail.
Zeppo Marx, an American actor and singer (1979) Perennial straightman, who did better as an engineer.
Tiny Tim, a singer and ukulele player (1996) Oh hell, let's get it over with right now:

Charlie Byrd, a guitarist (1999) How easy to write, "a guitarist", hell, I've been "a guitarist" in my day
Evel Knievel, an American motorcycle rider and stuntman (2007 ) Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's an eejit onna cycle.

You won't believe the shit that's out there on You tube this is truly amazing, especially the finale.

A big time Django Reinhart fan, Charlie Byrd, "a guitarist" --

Billy Idol, he's dancin'

OK, Deep Purple

All right, all right
Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water (Zappa reference? foreshadowing something?)

Pointer Sisters - Fire

Pointer Sisters - Slow Hand

Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can (1973 Original Video)

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Born & Living With The Blues

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Rainy Day

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Trouble In Mind

Shuggie Otis - Sweet Thang

Shuggie Otis - Aht Uh Mi Hed

Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23 (23, eh? Hmmmm? 23 enigma much?)

Shuggie Otis - Purple (1971) (How deep is this purple?)

But we still haven't heard from Frank

Frank Zappa And Shuggie Otis - Rare Acoustic Jam, 1970

And a tip of the hat to Shuggie's dad

BONUS: If one 30 is appropriate, then 2 must be superlative --
Los Lobos - Carabinas treinta treinta (30-30) Good ol' Model 94, no doubt.

Tags:

Open Thread

Andrea Doria

Model 94

Brady Bill

Ballad of Reading Gaol

Frank Zappa and Shuggie Otis

Vote

Comments

Submitted by DonMidwest on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 8:29am

Chris Hedges goes there! Incredible article today on truthdig

the article probably will be up later on commondreams.org. But Chris's last strong article on Nov 22 was not posted ( I think, didn't do an exhaustive search)

this article is about how the neo liberalism of both parties, the culture wars of diversion, and the take over by the corporations, has created The

The Age of the Demagogues

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_age_of_the_demagogues_20151129

Chris references a 2000 book that I had not heard about before that laid out the failure of the two parties. From the PR for the book on amazon.com

We are facing the end of politics altogether, Russell Jacoby argues in The End of Utopia. Political contestation is premised on people’s capacity for offering competing visions of the future, but in a world that has run out of political ideas and no longer harbors any utopian visions, real political opposition is no longer possible. In particular, Jacoby traces the demise of liberal and leftist politics. Leftist intellectuals and critics no longer envision a different society, only a modified one. The left once dismissed the market as exploitative, but now honors it as rational and humane. The left used to disdain mass culture, but now celebrates it as rebellious. The left once rejected pluralism as superficial, but now resurrects pluralist ideas in the guise of multiculturalism.Ranging across a wide terrain of cultural and political phenomena—the end of the Cold War, the rise of multiculturalism, the acceptance of mass culture, the eclipse of independent intellectuals—Jacoby documents and laments a widespread retreat from the utopian spirit that has always been the engine for social and political change.

The article by Chris may increase the sales of this forgotten book

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 9:31am

Thanks for the tip and the link. I recall some discussions

years ago in which some argued that we weren't approaching fascism because we had no dictator for life, failing to understand that a lone autocrat is not a requirement. Control through serial demagoguery sounds viable and very like what's going down.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 10:45am

Great article

There is so much good stuff in it. This, in particular, stood out for me because it so neatly describes what dkos has become with its heavy focus upon cultural issues at the expense of the bigger picture issues of the environment / climate change and the economic thievery world wide.

Liberals who embraced cultural diversity did so within a neoliberal framework. Feminism, for example, became about placing individual women in positions of power—this is Hillary Clinton’s mantra—not about empowering poor, marginalized and oppressed women. Post-racial America became about a black president who, as Cornel West says, serves as “a black mascot for Wall Street.”

This is what we are witnessing in this country and to a great extent in all of the media, even the so called liberal media such as dkos.

The two parties orchestrated the corporate coup d’état while diverting citizens with the battles over gay rights, abortion, “Christian” values, gun laws and affirmative action.

The shiny objects are being used to divert our attention away from the bigger picture. That is not to say that those issues are not important, but that the focus only upon those issues allows the corporatists and the oligarchs to continue to rob us blind, trash our environment, and create the police state that we are currently living under.

Thanks for posting this link, Don.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 12:43pm

Why did liberals abandon economics?

I made this point to my brother last week when he was telling me about the problems with his union.
Labor unions have been going downhill since the 1950's. Why? Because they no longer have a political agenda/vision. No one is going to risk getting their head busted by cops for a 2% raise. OTOH, people will risk getting their head busted to achieve liberating the working class from capitalist oppression.

Now feminism and minority rights becomes all about 1) counting token percentages and 2) censoring speech in order to not offend people.
There is no broad vision of the future with inspiring goals. Just symbolic gains on mostly marginal areas of your life that have no real substance.
Or put it another way, if you are a woman or a black and there are more women and blacks in CEO positions, does that really make any difference to you if you are living paycheck-to-paycheck in a slum?

Without economics, liberalism has no real connection with people's daily lives.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:28pm

yep, Chris shouts out what many feel

is right to the point. I am glad to have found his writings and never miss an article of him. He writes about it for years. One of a few good men.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:42pm

...and you really should watch Democracy Now's coverage

from Paris. It fully confirms and visualizes what Chris Hedges talked about in his article.
They have now there own piece pointing to Democracy Now's video:
VIDEO: ‘Democracy Now!’ Kicks Off Full Coverage of Paris Climate Talks

I recognize Tom Goldtooth, who said this:

In a press statement issued by the Indigenous Environmental Network today, Tom Goldtooth said "We are here in Paris to tell the world that not only will the anticipated Paris Accord not address climate change, it will make it worse because it will promote false solutions and not keep fossil fuels from being extracted and burned." He said, "The Paris COP21 is not about reaching a legally binding agreement on cutting greenhouse gases. In fact, the Paris Accord may turn out to be a crime against humanity and Mother Earth."

Yep.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 2:13pm

A very alert commenter @ Hedges:

Tells Mr. Hedges that he is still missing the point; that he is still describing trees and not seeing the forest that surrounds him. He went there… but not far enough:

What Mr. Hedges (and most of the muddled masses he and other pundits here claim to "feel for") are so far reluctant to face is the stark fact that vast numbers of the domesticated people are now 'redundant' (as the Brits say). The incredibly shrinking "global" economy contraption has absolutely no need nor any use for them.

There is no intention, among the so-called "elites," to do anything whatsoever about this situation except to find and deploy whatever means and methods will most effectively get rid of the "useless eaters" seen as the preeminent "threat" to Earth's 'capacity' to continue to provide for the "have mores" the "lifestyle " to which they've become accustomed and have always felt "entitled." The 'trick' is to accomplish this massive culling of 'the herd' without arousing them into a 'stampede' that would wipe-out some significant part of the owner-operators' "property values."

It's not difficult to see why the underclasses are so loathe to recognize this (though many are feeling it in their 'bones')....nor why those such as Mr. Hedges resist presenting it to them (hardly any of whom read him anyhow) in plain words. Besides, almost nobody stuck in that virtual world-of-hurt recognizes the Natural Fact that the dire "self"-inflicted predicament they're altogether in (all together) is entirely biological at its roots and in its outcomes. All of the ideological bullshit and institutional idiocy to which they are addicted is nothing but make-believe.

We are deep into the terminal phase of another outbreak of the Planet-wasting "civilization" disease. That is what all Mr. Hedges decries here is symptomatic-of....and to what his own raging 'case' of the "self" sickness that is the 'agent' of the disease's immune-suppression regime is keeping him from realizing.

That may sound vague, but it is a code I read.

The punditry are still peeling the onion and Mr. Hedges is close to the core. But I doubt it will ever be seen because it is not a political situation but a very real confrontation with the immutable laws of nature. I believe humanity is experiencing the soul sickness of the simple core truth that the pundits dare not speak:

The physics of all social and political issues is that survival depends on the rapid depopulation of the human species. If the goal is to halt (not reverse) global warming in a timely fashion (50 to 100 years), the earth must loose 3 to 4 billion people, fast.

Everything else is noise, not signal.

It's not a choice. The earth is going to dump that population, guaranteed. Our current Overlords may be in Paris engaged in climate kabuki, but all they need to do is nothing. The world's elite are secure in their survival of the inevitable. Their resource-stripping profits will continue apace until the very end, when the thirsty population finally plunges to a sustainable level for the earth's remaining resources.

People could achieve sustainability on their own terms, by pledging one child or no children — whatever it takes. But, for the most part, humans are mammals with animal urges and superstitions. Their stubborn denial will push earth population in excess of 9 billion by 2060, Thus, in this century, billions will be washed away or lost through displacement with nowhere to go. Borders will be closed. The planet will rebalance itself.

It's the physics of the now. All the sweet gestures of denial mitigation, such as recycling and alternative energy generation will remain and finally become effective with only half the current population. In the Northern hemisphere, those who already have roots in select locations predicted to remain sustainable will endure along with the elite. Because the US does not have a modern freight infrastructure, regions may become autonomous enclaves.

The real plan is that which cannot be spoken. That's why all the "vision" has left the room.

____________________

Thanks for the link, Don.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 5:09pm

I have heard about those who want to enforce

reduction of births and thus controlling the one thing that probably will never be controllable.

The reduction of the population will happen because the overpopulation we create can't be sustained. Deaths, hunger, illnesses will provide for the "necessary reduction" of 3-4 billion people pretty much by default. Considering all the wars and military bloodshed people engage in, they will get to that "envisioned" reduction rather sooner than later.

I would resist any efforts and enforcement to control human behavior when it comes to "controlling births" by any other person than the ones who are engaging in reproduction and either cause pregnancies or prevent them from occurring. It's a couple's choice and responsibility and in the end the woman is the final decider. Nobody should be allowed to interfere into her decision making.

Nature will - as you say - rebalance by itself at very high costs of misery for those, who try to survive and are let down to the point they die away prematurely, because they are considered redundant.

So, now, I am not going any further than that. Didn't China had the one-child policy? Has it helped?

Mother earth is a mother, so there will be children, and dare anyone who goes against that natural occurrence. Tellingly it's indigenous mothers who are most active in preserving the planet. But whatever. People are just going nuts and it will not be pretty.

So, I guess I am a stubborn dissenter, but not a denialist. I do not dare to tell someone how many children they should or should not have or get. I won't blame them for the ones they get or not get. Can't do that. Sorry. And I won't accept anyone messing women up over that issue, in neither direction.

I think there is even an extremist movement by some who want to enforce reduction of births on to others. No way. I am against those as much as I am against those who want to force women to give birth of children they don't want to have. The "pro-lifer" extremists are not much different than the fundamentalist "birth controller" freaks, who want to get rid of a couple of billion people by force on their terms and in their time frame.

Oh well, what an awful day today.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 5:17pm

Very well said, mimi. /nt

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 11:34am

Chinese Yuan gains reserve currency status

Yuan grows up

The IMF will add the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies, an international stamp of approval of the progress China has made integrating into a global economic system dominated for decades by the U.S., Europe and Japan.
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board, which represents the fund’s 188 member nations, decided the yuan meets the standard of being “freely usable” and will join the dollar, euro, pound and yen in its Special Drawing Rights basket, the organization said Monday in a statement. Approval was expected after IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde announced Nov. 13 that her staff recommended inclusion, a position she supported.

The addition will take effect Oct. 1, 2016, the IMF said. The fund said the yuan would have a 10.92 percent weighting in the basket. Weightings will be 41.73 percent for the dollar, 30.93 percent for the euro, 8.33 percent for the yen and 8.09 percent for the British pound.

Make no mistake, this is a big, BIG deal.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 2:39pm

Really big. Huge.

And just two months off schedule.

More that 10,000 banks in cities around the world have launched Renminbi exchange services for trade with the world's largest trading nation.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 11:37am

The Fed "reforms" potential bailouts

link

The Federal Reserve took the final step to ensure it can’t repeat the extraordinary steps taken to rescue American International Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. in 2008, adopting formal restrictions on its ability to help failing financial firms.
Under the revised authority approved in a unanimous vote Monday, the Fed would only be able to save firms in a broad-based scenario including at least five entities at the same time. The changes are designed to reflect Congress’ intention in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to prevent the central bank from bailing out individual companies.

So they can't bail out individual companies, but they can bail out Wall Street banks in general.
I'm underwhelmed.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 12:03pm

Big Whoop indeed. I posted the following comment:

We have seen this movie twice already.

1) Penn Square Bank brought down Continental Illinois after making tons of piss-poor loans on rigs & such (in Oklahoma). They pretty much skipped due diligence because they were upstreaming all the notes and hence were not at risk. Continental Illinois was deemed to be too big to fail and was bailed out by the feds who wound up paying off depositors and then acquiring about 80% of the shares.

2) Pretty much the same shit crashed the economy in 2008 due to the build-up of mortgage backed securities, CDOs and such based on sub-prime and underwater mortgages that were bad when issued, but issued anyway because they were in effect being upstreamed leaving the issuer risk-free. Again the banks were deemed too big to fail.

over at Daily Kos yesterday (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/29/1455230/-oil-oil-products-glu...) in a post relating to bankers letting frackers slide and the danger that is putting the lenders in (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/29/1455230/-oil-oil-products-glu...). There are multiple banks involved there, and that was known at the time of this re-write. In 2008 things would've been fine because all they would've needed to do was bail them out two by two instead of individually.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 12:39pm

good morning, I had the bad luck

this morning to catch a little bit of this broadcast still half asleep. Didn't do me any good.
US role in NATO.
Some stuff gave me flashbacks of Condi Rice. I didn't continue to listen. May be later again.
Then I listened a bit to Amy Goodman and decided I should watch the show later.
Then I had a tough call from a loved one.
Then I come here and listen to the Brownie McGhee, which is tough for me without getting all "teary, whiney etc".
Now I am up to Chris Hedges article. And while I am doing all of it, I ask myself how the heck I am going to see some light and tackle life to do my duty being a supposed role model. Wow, a rainy day indeed.

Any ideas?

Have a good day, all. ... Oh, just saw the donate button... at least that's something good to do to feel better.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:45pm

Well, you can go re-listen to Willie and the Hand Jive. Thanks

for noticing the donate button - I didn't.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:16pm

Israel has suspended diplomatic contact with

EU bodies engaged in IP peace efforts.

TEL AVIV—Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered his foreign ministry to suspend contact with European Union bodies engaged in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, responding to the bloc’s decision to label products made in Israeli-occupied territories.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-suspends-diplomatic-contact-with-some...

And so the trade wars continue apace along with those involving bullets and bombs. No word yet on anyone suspending diplomatic contact with arms merchants. Stay tuned . . .

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:19pm

Republicans want an invasion of Iraq and Syria

back to square one

Two senior U.S. senators called on Sunday for Washington to nearly triple military force levels in Iraq to 10,000 and send an equal number of troops to Syria as part of a multinational ground force to counter Islamic State in both countries.
Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham criticized President Barack Obama's incremental Islamic State strategy, which relies on air strikes and modest support to local ground forces in Iraq and Syria, and said the need for greater U.S. involvement was underlined by this month's Paris attacks.

"The only way you can destroy the caliphate is with a ground component," said Graham who is seeking his party's presidential nomination. "The aerial campaign is not turning the tide of battle."

McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently proposed intervention in Syria by a European and Arab ground force backed by 10,000 U.S. military advisers and trainers.

On Sunday he and Graham told reporters during a visit to Baghdad that U.S. personnel could provide logistical and intelligence support to a proposed 100,000-strong force from Sunni Arab countries like Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 3:11pm

We all fight for the Sunni Allah now.

The Muslim sect that supplied the terrorists for 9/11.

We fight on the side of Osama bin Laden and violent Saudi Wahhabi Muslims — whose philosophy underlies and informs the principles and goals of ISIS.

I have to laugh at that goofball McCain, who apparently believes the Saudis or Egyptians or Turks would fight alongside US soldiers. Ha! No one in the Middle East or anywhere else is that stupid.

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 1:47pm

World's largest retailer hired world's largest defense contrator

to spy on employees:

In the autumn of 2012, when Walmart first heard about the possibility of a strike on Black Friday, executives mobilized with the efficiency that had built a retail empire. Walmart has a system for almost everything: When there’s an emergency or a big event, it creates a Delta team. The one formed that September included representatives from global security, labor relations, and media relations. For Walmart, the stakes were enormous. The billions in sales typical of a Walmart Black Friday were threatened. The company’s public image, especially in big cities where its power and size were controversial, could be harmed. But more than all that: Any attempt to organize its 1 million hourly workers at its more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. was an existential danger. Operating free of unions [is] as essential to Walmart’s business as its rock-bottom prices.
[snip]
Walmart considered [OUR Walmart] enough of a threat that it hired an intelligence-gathering service from Lockheed Martin, contacted the FBI, staffed up its labor hotline, ranked stores by labor activity, and kept eyes on employees (and activists) prominent in the group. During that time, about 100 workers were actively involved in recruiting for OUR Walmart, but employees (or associates, as they’re called at Walmart) across the company were watched; the briefest conversations were reported to the “home office,” as Walmart calls its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

The details of Walmart’s efforts during the first year it confronted OUR Walmart are described in more than 1,000 pages of e-mails, reports, playbooks, charts, and graphs, as well as testimony from its head of labor relations at the time. The documents were produced in discovery ahead of a National Labor Relations Board hearing into OUR Walmart’s allegations of retaliation against employees who joined protests in June 2013. The testimony was given in January 2015, during the hearing. OUR Walmart, which split from the UFCW in September, provided the documents to Bloomberg Businessweek after the judge concluded the case in mid-October. A decision may come in early 2016.
[snip]
Lockheed Martin is one of the biggest defense contractors in the world. Although it’s best known for making fighter jets and missile systems, it also has an information technology division that offers cybersecurity and data analytics services. Tucked into that is a little-known operation called LM Wisdom, which has been around since 2011. LM Wisdom is described on Lockheed’s website as a tool “that monitors and analyzes rapidly changing open source intelligence data… [that] has the power to incite organized movements, riots and sway political outcomes.” A brochure depicts yellow tape with “crime scene” on it, an armored SWAT truck, and a word cloud with “MAFIA” in huge type.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-walmart-union-surveillance/

This is a very long article, but well worth reading - for as long as you can bear - to get a grasp of how just full-grown, intrusive, and soul- as well as life-destroying just one of our corporate Big Brothers has already become.

And, while you're being astonished and appalled at Lockheed Martin's tool “that monitors and analyzes rapidly changing open source intelligence data… [that] has the power to incite organized movements, riots and sway political outcomes," do keep in mind that every "open source" essay and comment that is posted at this site (and elsewhere on the internet) is likewise being monitored and analyzed by multiples of corporate and state actors just in case a handful of people might actually organize and potentially threaten any corporation's transference of our meagre funds and possessions to their coffers.

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 10:49pm

I may have bought something in Walmart like three times

in the last 30 years. I'll make sure I never do again. LM Wisdom has taught me that would be a good idea.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 2:21pm

Silicon Valley is getting into the mortgage market

I was reading this "Gee wiz, technology is super dooper" sort of article here, when I got to this part:

Four-year-old SoFi underwrites mortgages based on a person’s free cash flow, rather than debt-to-income ratio, the industry standard. That broadens the customer pool and allows SoFi to draw from borrowers on the student-loan side of its business. Most borrowers don’t need to submit tax returns. They can also sign everything electronically until they get to the closing table.
“There isn’t a banker out there that doesn’t look at me and shake his head and say, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing,’” Cagney said. “But we’re doing it.”

SoFi is funding loans with the help of credit lines from banks. The firm plans to bundle some of its mortgages into bonds starting next year, according to Cagney.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 4:01pm

so they eare efffectively upstreaming the debt by using LOCs,

and then they will cash it out and upstream it again by issuing CDOs. Scry.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 2:31pm

Here's a Hedges video that I posted months ago,

which is somewhat pertinent to the topic at hand.

I consider Hedges to be one of the best writers on the topic of America's underclass and neoliberalism--especially as practiced by the Democratic Party. I'm rather pushed, right now, but I'll try to locate and post another video of a C-Span interview with him. It is quite clear that he grasps how/why this nation has become one in which 1 out of 2 Americans are poor or low income.

*Sigh*

BTW, as a Harvard divinity student, Hedges lived and worked in Camden, New Jersey--one of the poorest cities in the nation. He has at least 'walked the walk,' IMHO.

Brief excerpt, below:

Paul Jay, Real News Network, Interviews Chris Hedges, "How The Liberal Elites Betray Us"

Chris Hedges:

" . . . The Democratic Party used to watch out for the interests of Labor, and even for the poor, but that changed, ah, but that all changed under Bill Clinton.

Ah, although Clinton, like Obama, continues to speak in that 'feel your pain' language of traditional liberalism, ah, they've completely betrayed the very people that they purport to represent and defend."

[video:http://youtu.be/Ff-G0DPkBv8]
[Video Credit: The Liberal Elite has Betrayed the People They Claim to Defend, TheRealNews, YouTube, 18:26 Minutes]

Postscript: I wish Hedges would run for President!

Mollie

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.--Japanese Proverb

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 10:54pm

yep, me too, he should run,

I am into his books and so far haven't found a phony statement by him.

I like your sig line...

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 11:06pm

Thanks, Mimi. Hey, "Hedges For President!" ;-D EOM

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 2:31pm

How big is the climate change deniers network?

exactly 4,556 individuals

The American public has turned away from outright denial of climate change. Sixty-three percent of adults describe the problem as "serious" in the latest opinion poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, a dip from the 69 percent who held that view in June. The minority who remain skeptical of climate science—a group that includes presidential hopefuls and powerful lawmakers—can count on a dedicated network of several thousand professional supporters.
New research for the first time has put a precise count on the people and groups working to dispute the scientific consensus on climate change. A loose network of 4,556 individuals with overlapping ties to 164 organizations do the most to dispute climate change in the U.S., according to a paper published today in Nature Climate Change. ExxonMobil and the family foundations controlled by Charles and David Koch emerge as the most significant sources of funding for these skeptics. As a two-week United Nations climate summit begins today in Paris, it's striking to notice that a similarly vast infrastructure of denial isn't found in any other nation.