Open Thread - The Weekly Watch
I hope you had something to be thankful for this week. It was another rough week at Standing Rock. From my view it is still the lead story. The media seems fixated on T-rump (and ratings). I sure would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when T-rump met with the script readers we call broadcast journalists, as well as the NYT staff meeting. Things are still horrid in Syria and Yemen. Bolivia's glaciers have melted and they are running out of water. Japan dodged another issue with Fukushima after the earthquake this week.
Standing Rock
TYT politics – Time to stand with Standing Rock! (5 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbOujXVWP10]
Energy Transfer Partners: (214) 981-0700
U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers: (202) 761-0010; (202) 761-0014
Department of Justice: (202)-353-1555; (202)-514-2000
White House: (202)-456-1414; (202)-456-1111
TO DONATE:
http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org
https://www.paypal.me/OcetiSakowinCamp
http://standingrock.org
This attack is nothing new. Sioux tribal historian LaDonna Brave Bull Allard to speaks about another attack against her tribe from 153 years before. (7 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u1ROkldhkU
DAPL is building a razor wire fence around burial grounds on Army Corp land from TYT(4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7UavuUxOGM
Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill reports the private security firm TigerSwan, which has links to the now-defunct mercenary firm Blackwater, is in charge of coordinating intelligence for the Dakota Access pipeline company. (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0InDSjb50V4
On November 20th, 2016 North Dakota water protectors attempted to remove burnt military vehicles which the police chained to concrete barriers weeks ago to keep the bridge blocked on 1806 (4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySe5zskfyKw
Drone flight over the water cannons (2.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ0nHQupv3c
Medics describe people’s injuries and how they were attacked.
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/21/medics-describe-how-police-sprayed-s...
Democracy Now complied their footage from Standing Rock and put together several powerful pieces. Here are a few: We begin with our report from North Dakota Labor Day weekend. It was Saturday, September 3, when unlicensed Dakota Access security guards attacked water protectors trying to defend a sacred tribal burial site from destruction. (13 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxcYNM9o6go
We feature part of our live broadcast from outside the Morton County Courthouse on the morning of October 17 as we waited to see whether Judge John Grinsteiner would approve the new riot charge, and speak with Tara Houska, national campaigns director for Honor the Earth, and with Anishinaabe activist Winona LaDuke, co-founder of Honor the Earth. (21 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYcl7AKSjxI
Dallas Goldtooth on Police Violence & Repression of Movement Against DAPL (15 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuurtEX5Za4
Thanksgiving at Standing Rock from the real news (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dfUNVJhhTY
Medea Benjamin describes her experience at Standing Rock...
“When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/24/deconstructing-thanksgiving...
...as does the Rev. Billy Talen
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/26/standing-rock-moment-clarit...
... it wasn’t until I visited Standing Rock in October 2016 when I actually served the American people. This time, instead of fighting for corporate interests, I was fighting for the people.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/10/30/after-two-wars-standing-roc...
Chris Hedges travels to the Standing Rock encampment in North Dakota to listen to the frontline voices of those fighting to block the Dakota Access Pipeline (30 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB-yWIuSFkA
Politics
Seems everyone wants to predict all the bad things T-rump will do. And I admit he sure is attracting some nut jobs into his cabinet. He's such a loose cannon I think we will just have to wait and see. Here's what others are saying.
Jeremy Scahill discusses Mike Pence and his future role (17 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e19QQlwqdtg
Scahill is back to talk about the neocons in the future cabinet (15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJl1ENBYp-M
T-rump and the media from Glen Greenwald
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/22/media-stars-agree-to-off-the-record-...
and more from Jon Schwarz
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/23/donald-trump-makes-the-new-york-time...
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ran a politcal campaign similar to Donald Trump's campaign and maintained power for four terms. Jimmy Dore offers advice. (18 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFd8OaQ85o
Is there any hope for the Democratic party?
The Demorats are trying to stay loyal to their corporate masters. Jimmy Dore discusses Obama's opposition to Ellison as DNC chair (15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34XvN89FBnA
What Democrats stand for. Jimmy has an idea. (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieuZ_1AMSeY
Economics
Black Friday is capitalism gone wild. (1 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-_x908CU0
Paul Jay and Robert Johnson discuss how the financialization of ‘the system’ and the economic despair about the future is fueling the far-right across the globe (12 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IauE0WnHbGs
The World
Cuba
Fidel Castro has passed away at the age of 90. He is one of the few people to have taken on the U.S. empire, and won. (1 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pE45eN07k
Venezuela
Richard Seymour reviews western media coverage of events in Venezuela (12 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnewIWH-gB0
Bolivia
The country's capital city gets water for just three hours a day, as reservoirs run dry. (2.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN3DWSo_8AM
US Arab relations
Recorded the day after the US election, Tariq Ali talks to Robert Vitalis, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania about US policy towards the Middle East, and how it might change under Trump (30 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RauyGkzzCiY
Turkey
Turkey's President Erdogan has wasted no time in reacting fiercely to what he sees as another snub by the European Union, whose parliament voted on Thursday to suspend EU membership talks. (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHiWSSwz8E
The Planet
Japan dodges another nuclear disaster after this weeks earthquake
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/japan-earthquake-triggers-tsunami-...
T-rump to eliminate NASA Climate funding
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/23/shockingly-stupid-attack-sci...
Leonardo DiCaprio visits Tesla's Gigafactory and discusses with Elon Musk how the world can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. (3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpHPS7661M
Here's a fly over of the Gigafactory (3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbA2FnQSpk
The Earth from space - various views (4.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mve7hRaoH8U
I hope you found one or two pieces of interest. Remember sitting is the new smoking. Be sure to get up and move around as you listen to clips.
This is an open thread. What's on your mind?
Comments
blazinAZ Standing Rock Essays
I sure appreciate the regular Standing Rock essays. I don't facebook so those timely reports are important to me.
http://caucus99percent.com/user/4109/my_content
Thanks to all of you who have called, written, and sent supplies or money in support of the water protectors. Based on the last of those essays, it looks like Obummer and his Army Corp are ejecting the camp off Corp land and leaving the mercenaries in place.
Hired thugs and militarized police at tax payer expense are fighting citizens to promote the profit of an industry that doesn't recognize it must die. This so reminds me of the way they snuffed Occupy. I think Obomber believes he can stifle this movement, rush the completion of the pipeline, and exit stage right....we'll wait and see how things work out for the next few weeks. Unbelievable!
Power to the protectors!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Standing Rock seems to have mobilized Millennials
from what I glean on FB. This is good and terrible at the same time. Remember back--oh, 3 years ago--when future wars would be fought over water? Now it's in real time and happening. We are already in the second Civil War, some understand that This Line Must Hold, there at the drill site. The razor wire the day after the face-off told us it is now a War. I want to send offensive gear there like metal mesh gloves and wire cutter and eye protection.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
good morning rl
Thanks for the tag reminder that those who enjoy this site should throw some love into the kitty (in the upper right hand side of your screen). I'm not on the finance committee, but seems like I remember a $2 per month donation is recommended for those who can afford it. Of course if you're a rich retired teacher like me you can throw in even more!
We are the...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks Lookout
Good stuff. Just sent JtC another Jackson to keep this alive.
OMG, I just bought an actual painting online
from a painter in India. Way under $200. I can pay for it, feeling too-flush with the imminent sale of my albatross second home. And I have more than two walls, crying for 1. paint and 2. visual interest. So my newfound wings from that sale had better be clipped soon. Until then, however...
I had considered burning the branches in the fire pit today, but they are very wet after the foot of snow (mostly melted now). So again I can blow that off. Between burn bans and high winds they have accumulated over the year. And more are on the ground to go. Endless. Trees self-trimming.
edit for spello
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Thanks for another excellent selection of the week's news.
The financialization of end stage capitalism puts the decision making plutocrats even farther removed from those whose labor actually makes things and serves people. Money is now mostly made through the global labor arbitrage; creation and sale, and then speculation on, exotic financial instruments; currency manipulation; mergers and acquisitions, and the like. Decisions about plant openings and closings are not made in the communities where factories are located but in the few financial centers like New York, London and Tokyo.
The trend now is for capital not to own the factories but to contract with a local small-time capitalist(comparatively) who owns the plant and hires the workers. As long as the entity who hires the contractor is satisfied with the profits, things proceed; let the costs rise, and capital moves to a cheaper location and people are left without income and the factory owner is left with a factory that is idle.
In the USA, farmers who raise poultry are mostly contractors now. They build and maintain buildings to the specifications that they are given and use only Big Ag feed and supplements to grow their poultry. When the owners of the giant agricultural concern feel that a better deal is elsewhere, the farmer is left with unproductive land and buildings.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
chicken scam
In my part of the world chicken production is on the increase. Big Ag (Tyson, Goldkist, etc) come in and offer to build the house and provide the chicks and feed. All you do is feed and collect money...
Ahh, but the scam...you pay for heat, payment on the house, and cover any loss. Just about the time the farmer pays off the house (if they've stay solvent long enough and didn't go under with a freeze or another dilemma) They are told they must upgrade the house ...it no longer meets specs.
They use debt as the chain of slavery.
Thanks for your comment duckpin. I always enjoy your insights.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thank you for your kind words. We had free range chicken for
dinner and it got me to thinking about the class of prole-farmers that has arisen since WW2 and few talk much about it.
I agree with you that Big Ag uses "debt as the chain of slavery" - wage slavery. Big Ag profits on the sale of inputs along with the profits from the birds themselves. And...since capitalism treats nature as a free gift and a no-cost repository for waste, the farmer/contractor owns the waste too.
"But how can I be a slave when I own land and chicken houses?"
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
because you owe for both?
On the flip side, we also have some young organic farmers on the mountain. We bought a free range turkey from them for T-day. We also get yard eggs, the odd veggies we don't grow, and some organic meats from them. They are a great addition to our community for both their products and spirit. Oh yeah and one couple are fermenters selling their products to six whole foods and other hip places. We are so glad they have come (mostly from Colorado) to our area.
I hope you all have local growers you can support. I think that is the best way to fight against corporate agriculture.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thank you, Lookout
for this excellent run down of news.
On DAPL ugh! What a freaking rip off. If I wasn't so old, I'd be there. I am doing what I can with phone calls, etc. I wish I had extra money to send, too.
I am beyond angry...how can the administration just sit and do nothing? And this after Obama declared November National Indigenous Month??? His legacy is this (probably among others) but THIS will be his lasting legacy. It shows he is talking the talk, but NOT walking the walk, unless you are part of the 1%. This is what he has done since he first campaigned. Unfortunately, I bought into it.
I drank the koolaid too
I guess that increases the disappointment. I won't be sorry to see Obummer go. At least the left will unite against the hairball.
I'm in disbelief when I hear from thoughtful people - he's such a great president. So called liberals refuse to look at actions and just see the optics of a president of color...rather than a pro-corporate drone bomber in chief.
At least you see!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
For you birders, this is cool!
Fall migration. Storms come. What happens in the air?
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/birds-tack-into-the-wind-on-fall-migration...
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
That's how we do it in planes, as well.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
fall migration
We've had an odd fall. I don't know if it is the extreme drought or not, but we've not had our usual fly through. We normally get some rose-breasted grosbeaks and a wide variety of birds heading south. But not this year. Only one monarch spotted passing through.
No doubt weather patterns are in flux. The Arctic is the canary in the cage -
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The weather patterns are very much in flux.
The (weakened, by warming) Polar Vortex has been shifted "east" (from our perspective), and that is changing the jet stream patterns, since they follow the edges of the air masses. It is enough to complicate fuel planning and scheduling for jets traveling at 500mph...I'm sure it wreaks havoc on birds and butterflies.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Donald Trump Doesn't Know What President Trump Will Do
This:
And what I said here:
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/reply/9014/215585
Trump already has a more successful foreign policy legacy than Obama simply by expressing an interest in good relations with Putin. Bam!. Military problems in Europe and the Middle East are already better.
Trump's economic plan, whatever that really is, has to pass both houses of Congress. Will Bernie and Liz filibuster? Will Republicans help Trump make their party even more racist? Maybe, maybe not.
And now a moment of silence for our still suffering and deluded Hillarybots. . . . . .
See how easy that was? (Hint: a bowl or two of Cali Kush can improve your whole outlook on the future.)
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Hey MM
Sure wish they offered Cali Kush here in Alabama. We just have to survive with common homegrown. Here on the stateline there is a long history of moonshine and pot growers. There's a town (well really just a community) Holland, Ga that was famous around the country for their dope (as they were at one time for their hooch). It sits in a valley with one road through it and the family had homes on both ends so there was no way to sneak in. But I guess the law has a long arm and they were eventually caught and arrested. I guess all good things come to an end... kinda like that bowl (up in smoke).
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
T-rump and the media plus a little garbage
Oops forgot to include this clip - moderately humorous (4.5 min)
Redacted Tonight Correspondent Naomi Karavani explains the T-rump media powwow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VrYEBsTwF0
And another from last night...
Lee Camp rants about how we here in America consume so much and produce so much trash that it’s CRAZY! We actually throw away 100 billion plastic grocery bags every year. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, the tip of the dirty, dirty, garbage engulfed iceberg (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSZO9Z2TBg
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I have an unfinished bathroom (money trade for solar then)
That I have officially named The Pantry. Shelves in both sides, no sheetrock on that face to interfere, it's my holding station for bottle/cans and for plastic grocery bags and other plastics. About once every 6 weeks, I gather them up and recycle them at the grocery store. After that point, I have no idea what happens to them, I should question the friendly manager. Bottles/cans (due soon) go downtown to a recycling store where I get 5 cents' deposit back on each one. Free money!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Was this discussed already and I just missed it?
US House Seeks Syria-War Escalation
Hey LSM
Good to see you here. I saw passing mention. Thanks for bringing it front and center.
I'm wonder how T-rump will reconcile his friendship with Putin and the ME. Seems TPTB really want their pipeline here and in Syria - http://www.ecowatch.com/syria-another-pipeline-war-1882180532.html
T-rump's comments about Iran seem pretty aggressive too. Putin wants Iran to have a pipeline to Europe not Saudi. But the hairball seems to be in bed with Israel to start an Iranian war. I can't puzzle it out.
Like Obummer said ... let's give it a few weeks and see how it plays out.
Thanks for the link!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Why has trump not held a press conference?
We can only guess. His advisors won't let him is my guess since he is hardly the type who doesn't want publicity. They know that in a give and take question period, with follow-ups, trump would fail miserably. His thin knowledge of the issues (probably from having his advisors read him the headlines from online or print media) would shine forth. It would be televised live but unlike a campaign speech it would not have a 100% friendly cheering crowd to spur him on. I'm beginning to think that this man actually hates publicity, the kind where he does not have full control.
Did anyone notice after trump's acceptance speech, how his little boy pulled away from him when he tried to kiss him. Pulled away and turned his face. The man who wants the world to "love" him...
To thine own self be true.
... he learns slowly that he contradicts himself so much
that he isn't going to be able to get out of his own word salad of answers. So, he tries to avoid it. Thank God. I think the less he talks the better. Dangerous, but we anyhow have to just to look at what he does, not what he says.
OT: Trump just blamed voter fraud on pop vote loss but...
Apparently, four precincts in WI had more votes cast than actual voters.
Here we go down the rabbit hole.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/donald-trump-blames-popular...
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/11/26/election-fraud-complaint-filed-pe...