Open Thread Sunday 01-03-16
Good morning 99percenters!
Morning news dump, December site stats and music by The Pretenders.
Outrage Follows Saudi Arabia's Execution of Nearly 50 Prisoners
Saudi Arabia—recently chosen to to head a key United Nations human rights panel—on Saturday executed 47 people convicted of "terrorism," including at least four convicted of offenses related to political protest.
According to Reuters, the executions took place in 12 cities in Saudi Arabia, with four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading.
Among those killed was prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whom the Guardian reports "had called for pro-democracy demonstrations and whose arrest in 2012 sparked protests in which three people died."
"Nimr," the Guardian added, "had long been regarded as the most vocal Shia leader in the eastern Saudi province of Qatif, willing to publicly criticise the ruling al-Saud family and call for elections. He was, however, careful to avoid calling for violence, analysts say."
Top Investigator Says British Soldiers May Face Prosecution for Iraq Crimes
Head of unit tasked with investigating allegations of torture and unlawful killing says soldiers could face charges for crimes including murderThe head of an independent UK unit tasked with investigating allegations of torture and unlawful killing in Iraq has said that British soldiers could face prosecution for crimes including murder, according to an interview published Saturday in The Independent.
"There are serious allegations that we are investigating across the whole range of ... investigations, which incorporates homicide, where I feel there is significant evidence to be obtained to put a strong case before the Service Prosecuting Authority [SPA] to prosecute and charge," Mark Warwick, a former police detective who is in charge of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), told the paper.
Asked whether some cases could constitute war crimes, he responded: "There are lots of significant cases that we are investigating and at the appropriate time it will be a matter for us to discuss with the SPA whether they meet the war-crimes threshold, but there are certainly serious allegations currently being investigated."
The middle class is just this screwed: Janet Yellen declares victory while workers drown
We're working longer, earning less, and closer to poverty. The recovery has only lifted the fewEarlier this month when Fed chair Janet Yellen offered her rationale for raising interest rates, it was sadly reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech, given on the USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over in 2003.
Yellen spoke from her well-feathered perch about the “considerable progress that has been made restoring jobs, raising incomes, and easing the economic hardship of millions of Americans.” A few days later Congress passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill and $700 billion in tax breaks before they went on their holiday. The president signed off on it all and headed off for his spectacular vacation to Hawaii.
Just what country are these happy holiday revelers living in? Even the Hallmark Channel in 2015 has more social realism than the happy talk generated from the Beltway.
Down here at the pedestrian level, between 2010 and 2014 poverty increased in one third of America’s 3,000 counties, when compared to the 2005 to 2009 period, according to the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey. In fact, the “recovery,” that pastel-colored unicorn, was only seen in the 4 percent of the nation’s counties where poverty actually declined. The rest remained stagnant.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the NSA under President Obama targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top aides for surveillance. In the process, the agency ended up eavesdropping on “the contents of some of their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups” about how to sabotage the Iran Deal. All sorts of people who spent many years cheering for and defending the NSA and its programs of mass surveillance are suddenly indignant now that they know the eavesdropping included them and their American and Israeli friends rather than just ordinary people.
The long-time GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and unyielding NSA defender Pete Hoekstra last night was truly indignant to learn of this surveillance:
WSJ report that NSA spied on Congress and Israel communications very disturbing. Actually outrageous. Maybe unprecedented abuse of power.
— Pete Hoekstra (@petehoekstra) December 30, 2015
NSA and Obama officials need to be investigated and prosecuted if any truth to WSJ reports. NSA loses all credibility. Scary.
— Pete Hoekstra (@petehoekstra) December 30, 2015
Prior to San Bernardino Attack, Many Were Trained to Spot Terrorists; None Did
IN MID-NOVEMBER, just weeks before the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, the Joint Regional Intelligence Center and the sheriffs’ departments of San Bernardino and Riverside counties held the First Annual Inland Terrorism Liaison Officer Conference in Fontana, California. The two-day event — for law enforcement, public officials, and select members of the private sector — included sessions like “Policing Violent Extremism” and “Preventing Lone Wolf Attacks.”
In fact, this part of California’s Inland Empire has become home to a cottage industry of counterterrorism training in recent years aimed at teaching people how to spot would-be terrorists before they attack. By all accounts, those trainings failed to help anyone spot Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the married couple who shot and killed 14 people and injured 22 others at a meeting of San Bernardino County Health Department employees on December 2.
Many of the trainings, which focus on helping attendees identify “behavioral indicators” of potential terrorists, were held at the Ben Clark Training Center in Riverside, California, less than 25 miles from where the attacks took place.
On January 2nd, America’s NBC News bannered “Arab Spring Cleric Nimr al-Nimr Among 47 Executed by Saudi Arabia,” and, one-third of the way into their report, showed this tweet:
“Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr along w/ al Qaeda members is straight from Assad’s playbook – lumping nonviolent activists with terrorists.
— DavidKenner (@DavidKenner) January 2, 2016”
Even when Sunni-Islamic extremists, the Sauds, perpetrate mass-murder, in Saudi Arabia and not only in Yemen and in Syria, the U.S. ‘news’ media find some way to smear their audience’s minds with the demon, “Bashar al-Assad,” as if Assad actually had anything to do with it, and the King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, had nothing to do with it. Salman, who owns Saudi Arabia and everyone in it (and who even allows outright slavery there), wasn’t so much as mentioned by the NBC ‘News’ ‘reporter’ or propagandist. (Assad was mentioned in that ‘news’ report only because Assad allies with the U.S. aristocracy’s super-demon, Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, who refuses to do the U.S. aristocracy’s bidding, such as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, much praised by the U.S. aristocracy, had done.)
America’s main ally, and the largest customer for American-made weapons, the royal family that owns and runs Saudi Arabia, had just started out a new year of mass-executions, after their near-record year of 2015: the AP headlined only the day before, on New Year’s Day, “Saudi Beheadings Soar in 2015,” and reported that, “Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide.” (King Salman wasn’t mentioned in that one, either.)
Surreal: West Mourns Death of Al Qaeda Collaborator in Syrian Airstrike
Jaysh al-Islam is a stalwart ally of US State Department-listed terrorist organization al-Nusra, though one would never suspect as much reading weepy Western eulogies over the terrorist organization leader's death.The commander of terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam), "Sheikh" Zahran Alloush, was killed in a Syrian airstrike this week in the suburbs of Damascus.
In a surreal, coordinated propaganda campaign, the Western media sidestepped Alloush's praise of and coordination with US State Department-listed foreign terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra, previously known as Al Qaeda in Iraq - and indeed, the very terrorist organization that the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) itself sprung up from.
The West itself has for years now, reported on Jaysh al-Islam's collaboration with Al Qaeda. A March 2013 Institute for the Study of War report authored by now disgraced "expert" Elizabeth O'Bagy - a paid lobbyist who in fact attempted to lie about the presence of "moderate Syrian opposition," titled, "The Free Syrian Army" (.pdf) would note regarding the terrorist organization that:
Liwa al-Islam [now known as Jaysh al-Islam] is a driving force behind actions in Damascus, and is part of the current multilateral effort, codenamed “Operation Epic in the Capital of the Omayyads,” to gain ground and prepare for later sustained efforts against regime forces in the city. Liwa al-Islam is known to cooperate with Jabhat Nusra and conduct joint operations.
John Brown’s Anti-Slavery Legacy
Only the skies were gloomy as Emancipation Day 1863 dawned and the First Kansas Colored Volunteers — a mix of African-Americans, Native Americans and Black Indians — assembled at Fort Scott to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s long-delayed Emancipation Proclamation.
The men had been fighting the Confederacy since war broke out in 1861. The white officers even longer — as radical abolitionists whom John Brown commanded in his Kansas battles to free slaves in the 1850s (before his failed raid against the armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, which led to his trial for treason and his death by hanging in 1959).
Celebrating Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – issued on Jan. 1, 1863 – about 500 people gathered at Fort Scott in eastern Kansas. As flags, sewn by women of color, floated above the fort, people sang the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” then they shared a barbecue and strong liquor. Next, soldiers and officers burst into their song. They honored their “immortal hero” with “the John Brown song.” The soldiers added this line: “John Brown sowed, and the harvesters are we.”
What the Upcoming Iranian Elections Could Mean for Us All
In February, Iran will hold elections that could determine the country’s future — as well as that of the rest of the world, especially that of the US.
These elections are of interest because of a growing battle between reformers and hardliners, involving a tremendous number of candidates, some of whom are quite reasonable, while others are volatile.
If the reformers win, Iran could experience a period of openness not seen since the Ayatollah Khomeini took control of the country. It could mean that Iran will hold up its end of the nuclear deal, which in turn would have implications on the race for the White House. But if the hardliners win, those who predicted that the deal is going to fail will get a boost.
And because Iran will play a major role in the future of Syria, the outcome of the election could also have sweeping implications for that country, the refugee crisis, the stability of the EU and the fight against ISIS.
The Big Lie in the War Against Drugs
Since the beginning, the War on Drugs has been about controlling political power--by breaking up Black communities and the dissident left.If you've shopped at a gardening supply store in the last year, and if you happen to live with someone who drinks tea, guess what?
Your local sheriff could just send a SWAT team into your house.
It's not a far-fetched scenario, in fact it actually happened, here in the US, just three short years ago.
Back in 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte and tore their house apart looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation.
America 2016: What Happens When a Nation Gives Too Much Political Power to the Super Rich
As the high-powered shenanigans of Las Vegas casino mogul and GOP bankroller Sheldon Adelson show, “Oligarchy, rule by the few, also tends to become rule by the monstrously self-centered,” Paul Krugman writes in The New York Times.
Krugman continues in a column published Friday:
[...] it’s obvious [...] that extreme wealth can do extreme spiritual damage. Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually get whatever he wants. It’s not hard to see how he could become almost pathologically self-regarding and unconcerned with others. [...]
Modern America is a society in which a growing share of income and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, and these people have huge political influence — in the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign, around half the contributions came from fewer than 200 wealthy families. The usual concern about this march toward oligarchy is that the interests and policy preferences of the very rich are quite different from those of the population at large, and that is surely the biggest problem. […]
Even Tumbling Fossil Fuel Prices Can't Deter Clean Energy Revolution
2015 saw 'a global surge for wind and solar energy, which occurred despite oil, coal and natural gas selling at bargain rates.'
One of the biggest stories of 2015 was the sharp decline of oil prices, which fell this year to levels not seen in more than a decade.
"After plunging from more than $100 a barrel to nearly $50 a barrel last year, U.S. oil prices fell 30 percent in 2015 to $37.04 a barrel," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
"A repeat in early 2016 could well push crude oil to fresh closing lows not seen since the early 2000s," the Fiscal Times added this week.
It was good news for fuel consumers—drivers who flocked to SUVs and pickup trucks in 2015, for instance—as well as for governments that import crude oil.
Twilight of the imperial age: America and China may not have a planet left to rule
Mankind still controls its destiny. But if we want to escape catastrophe, climate talks can only be the beginningFor six centuries or more, history was, above all, the story of the great game of empires. From the time the first wooden ships mounted with cannons left Europe’s shores, they began to compete for global power and control. Three, four, even five empires, rising and falling, on an increasingly commandeered and colonized planet. The story, as usually told, is a tale of concentration and of destruction until, in the wake of the second great bloodletting of the twentieth century, there were just two imperial powers left standing: the United States and the Soviet Union. Where the other empires, European and Japanese, had been, little remained but the dead, rubble, refugees, and scenes that today would be associated only with a place like Syria.
The result was the ultimate imperial stand-off that we called the Cold War. The two great empires still in existence duked it out for supremacy on “the peripheries” of the planet and “in the shadows.” Because the conflicts being fought were distant indeed, at least from Washington, and because (despite threats) both powers refrained from using nuclear weapons, these were termed “limited wars.” They did not, however, seem limited to the Koreans or Vietnamese whose homes and lives were swept up in them, resulting as they did in more rubble, more refugees, and the deaths of millions.
Those two rivals, one a giant, land-based, contiguous imperial entity and the other a distinctly non-traditional empire of military bases, were so enormous and so unlike previous “great powers” — they were, after all, capable of what had once been left to the gods, quite literally destroying every habitable spot on the planet — that they were given a new moniker. They were “superpowers.”
A Double Dilemma for the Paris Climate Deal
LONDON—Within days of the conclusion of the Paris Agreement at the UN talks in mid-December, two leading US scientists have cast serious doubt on its ability to avert dangerous levels of climate change.
One, James Hansen, says that to think world leaders are doing something significant about the problem is “baloney”, and urges the use of nuclear power and every other form of energy which does not involve the release of carbon.
The other, Michael Mann, argues that the world is “closer to the dangerous 2°C warming mark than many experts acknowledge”, and that continuing global carbon dioxide emissions from human activities at present rates will commit the Earth to 2°C in less than three years from now.
Both men differ substantially on the right way to act, and key parts of their proposals appear too unpopular or too impractical to work. But they do agree that the situation is so urgent that it demands immediate action.
Climate Disruption Amplifies Atlantic Currents' Contribution to Sea Level Rise
Anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) has progressed to a point where it is, literally, changing one of the most important ocean circulatory currents in the world.
In a paper recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, NASA researchers confirmed that the circulation of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is slowing down. In 2009 and 2010 that shifting had already been linked to a sudden and extreme five-inch sea level rise on the East Coast.
While most people have likely never heard of the AMOC, it plays a critical role in both global climate patterns and sea level rise along the Eastern Seaboard of the US - and it is being changed for the worse due to our carbon dioxide emissions.
Before we can fully comprehend the ramifications of what is happening with this ocean current system, a basic understanding of the AMOC is in order.
"Conservation" Is Used to Justify the Displacement of Indigenous People
Echoing the pleas of illegally displaced tribal peoples in a number of countries, a leading human rights NGO has called the loss of home, livelihoods, culture and customary rights in the name of conservation, "one of the most urgent and horrific humanitarian crises of our time"[1]. Such concerns are often absent from the narratives of the international conservation establishment. When they are addressed, it tends to be at the fringes, the magnitude of the crisis not appreciated.
Instead, what we usually hear from international conservation organizations is that parks, game reserves and other kinds of protected areas are the most important conservation success story and should be extended, improved, and strengthened worldwide. Recent research that provided a preamble to the November 2014 World Parks Congress, for instance, argued similarly that "protected areas are core to the future of life on our planet," requiring larger coverage, representation and better management and funding[2]. Such assertions require reflection.
It is true that, in many cases, protected areas are allowing critical species and ecosystems to persist, and in this way they provide a cushion of hope in our ability to preserve some of the world's remaining natural wealth. Biodiversity is often higher inside of protected areas than outside[3]. They can provide opportunities for improving health and well-being, support human life through invaluable environmental services, and offer opportunities for new forms of economic development and financial mechanisms, including through tourism, payments for ecosystem services, offsets, and bioprospecting. Yet the strategy based on protected areas, which defines conservation success in terms of spatial control, fails to tackle the most significant challenges to preserving biodiversity.
Climate Change Warming World’s Lakes, Says Study
A new study by NASA and the National Science Foundation reveals that climate change is rapidly warming lakes around the world, according to findings in Geophysical Research Letters.
The study, published last month, used temperature data taken via satellites and ground measurements from 235 lakes around the world and analyzed temperature changes over 25 years.
"What we wanted to do was see how lakes were changing over the entire globe and look at what variations there were in the warming rates across the globe but also how much variation there was between lakes that were close together," said Sam Hook, the Science Division Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-author of the study.
According to Hook, lakes are warming at an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit (0.34 degrees Celsius) each decade. The temperature changes are caused by different factors, including less cloud covers.
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c99p Site Statistics
December
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Monthly
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Days of the Month
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Days of the Week
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Hours
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Countries
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Summary
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Notes on the statistics graphs:
Monthly: Note we peaked in September.
Days of the Month: Note the lull during the holidays.
Days of the Week: Note that Tues. and Wed. are the peak days of the week and that probably is the case for most months.
Hours: Peak hours are late-morning and early evening.
Countries: Why so many hits from Russia and Ukraine? The easy answer is SPAMMERS.
The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
The Pretenders - Talk of the Town
The Pretenders - My City Was Gone
The Pretenders-Don't Get Me Wrong
Comments
Morning folks...
there's some interesting info in the statistics graphs, check them out.
I've started working on the site upgrade on a test site and it's going to be a while before enough of the bugs are worked out to the point were we can switch over. I've basically installed the new version of Drupal to familiarize myself with the changes, and there are many.
Hope everyone is well and the new year is being good to you so far.
Thanks, for the OT and info. I'll have to put the music off
until later, gotta hit the road in a bit today.
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 --
Thanks for stopping by el...
be safe on the road.
hi JtC
Who are these worms that are coming here? Are they like this person?
In other worms, Fred Flintstone, also known as Antonin Scalia, stated that the US is way bitchin' because an invisible nonexistent sky-king loves the place.
He then claimed Robert F. Kennedy mouthed words of the Devil.
New poll sez white people, like Flintstone there, are Mad.
Morning hecate...
yes, that is a valid representation of the worms that visit here.
About Antonin Scalia, see your picture above, the same worms that visit here also visit his brain.
White folks are mad, especially Republicans, at least once a day, women more angry than men? The 2016 Pres. election is going to be very interesting.
British soldiers may face charges.
While Tony Blair, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Petreaus, and all the rest, those who were ultimately responsible, get to enjoy the high life on taxpayers dimes. It's just incredible. Same thing with the Vietnam war, they'd get the soldiers but let Kissinger and his crew go free to be advisors to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Yep...
it's elitist affluenza, except that they do understand the consequences of their actions, they just don't care.
Really perturbed and I suppose depressed,
about two things this morning. Actually, it's really just one thing but two examples of it.
One is this rec list diary at DK about the "militia" taking over a government building in Burns, OR.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/03/1465619/-Militia-men-occupy-fed...
The other is this video of Trump, and specifically his supporters, the ones in the background that clap like fucking robots after everything he says.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-hillary-clinton-created-isi...
I agree on both points...
I think your first link is wrong.
Ya it is.
I'm pissed this morning. I'll need to go walk about 43 miles.
The one with Trump,
it's just insane to hear the people watching this imbecile clap and cheer after some of the things he says. In the video, among other things he's saying that Iran wants to take over Saudi Arabia (they cheer and clap) and he says WE, the U.S. need to take their oil (they cheer and clap).
I've learned a lot in the last ten years or so relative to what I'd known the entire rest of my life.
But no, I've never been that fucking stupid to sit and watch a politician tell lies and clap and cheer like I'm at a basketball game, even when I didn't know what I know now.
It just blows my mind.
And the diary at DK
the sentiment in the comments is really disturbing. It's the same thing only different than the Trump supporters. There are calls for the federal government to drop bombs from drones on the people occupying that building. There is absolutely hatred for not only them but their "supporters". There is zero effort to try to understand the situation, they want them charged as terrorists, charged for treason, they want blood. These are the same people that support Obama's drone war across the planet, that support Clinton and her warmonger, killing hundreds of thousands. They support U.S. imperialism. Now they want the blood of their fellow Americans, the want the War OF Terror right here at home.
I've been to Burns many times and plenty of places like it in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington. A lot of excellent people out there working the land, taking care of the land. A lot of firefighters, federal and state employees, veterans. There's some real whackos, like there are on Daily Kos and most anywhere, but most are good people many of who are just pissed at the fed government in their own ill-informed and tunnel visioned ways.
I'm not excusing the armed takeover of a fed building, but the calls for violence to solve the situation is sick and it's the same thing we see from the Trump supporters and a lot of these "militia" people.
That's what's depressing.
When I read those comments
I, too, found them extremely disturbing. But then I have been reading a lot of disturbing things over there lately. I mean I am shocked to read some of this stuff on a supposedly liberal website.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
It goes to what I was trying to say yesterday.
Those are partisan democrats, the base, the majority that steers the rightward march. To vote democrat what we're doing is allying ourselves with them. It's like DOL saying she didn't want to ally with Trump supporters because they're "all" racists. That's the decision we all have to make, who to ally ourselves with and what we'll accept.
The two party system is impossible.
I agree Al
In the last week the Democratic? authoritarian gatekeepers have crawled out of the woodwork and gone into full bore crazy. Anyone who dares to not sign up for all out war on RW'ers, jhadist's, Commie traitor's like Snowden, or the insurgent's of the left wing who don't want bloody endless wars including the culture war are supporting the enemy. Everyone is a racist asshole who needs to be droned. If your angry about the status quo of the global war criminal oligarchy running the country and the world, then your a racist bigot who supports Nazis. Economic justice, the rule of law and human or civil rights have nothing to do with the systemic racism running rampant in our society. How delusional is this?
Upside down, full of hate, pig ignorant and violent as the lunatics they fear and loath. I think the fact that Bernie is getting traction from all segments of the broken electoral system freaks them out. It's painful to read but I notice a lot of former pragmatic 'moderates' are appalled and speaking out. They even went so far as to call graffiti artist's Shepard Fairey and Banksy criminal vandals who deserved to be locked up for the crime of using wheat paste.
As for the range war going on in eastern OR the dkos reaction was a disgusting display of kill them all or send them all to Gitmo. Their as bad as their counterparts on the right. Sad to watch as it does nothing but empower the by-partisan grip on power and keeps people from finding needed common cause to get these assholes out of power democratically. What a farce. I
I hope Markos is happy with his new demographic of anti-democratic bullies. This scorched earth divide and conquer is going to bite their asses and the Hairball might just win. Identity politics wherein you are only allowed to identify with your lesser evil oppressor and tunnel vision where all issues are separate and have nothing to do with reality isn't pragmatic as what you win ends up being the same damn thing you voted against. How does it compute that supporting Bernie's political revolution and message means your supporting the racist assholes and their hero Trump? Interesting in a sick way to watch the Democratic royalists come unglued.
Some interesting info...
to be gleaned from the stats:
We average about 200 unique visitors per day.
The action here is heaviest in late morning and early evening.
Tues. and Wed. get the most traffic.
Spammers. We now have a total of 174 members. The UID for the latest member is 1,033, which means I have deleted 859 spam accounts in a little less than a year. That's also an example of why Daily Kos' UIDs are so high.
Wow on the spammers!
It is like Whack a Mole every day!
Great job, JtC!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I have a system I use...
to vet new registrants. The spam accounts are usually pretty easy to spot but sometimes I have to put extra effort into it to insure they don't get through. So far I don't think any have made it through my filter.
OK well, that made me chuckle.
Saudi Arabia, heading the U.N. Human Rights Panel, beheads 47 people in one day.
What? Is it me or is that like about as far out there we can get?
Hey, JtC. You've covered the Big 3 Wars, Today.
You got the latest on the US Civil War 2.0, happening in Oregon this week. This war was articulated before the Constitution was even written, and it's been fought continuously for 250 years. It cannot (and should not) be suppressed. Self determination is a Human Right and is the pathway to peace. The US needs to break apart so that people can form governments they trust and believe in. That's Self Determination.
You got the Environmental War, which humans already lost decades ago. The climate scientists and Oligarchs clearly aware of this, and their actions are consistent with the necessary preparations of those who intend to survive and thrive, beginning in 2020. James Lovelock had it right — adapt now. Humans do not have the technology to rehabilitate a planet.
Finally, World War Virtual, is apparent on your stats. I've been fighting in that war for three years now. Russia vs. US (via proxy Ukraine). I cruise internet comments everywhere, and each one is another front in the VW. Clearly, C99 is being monitored, as are most sites where political conversations take place. Ukraine is ground zero for the birth of mutant US Propaganda. The unholy English-language incubator, Ukraine Today was established there by the Neocon cartel, post-overthrow, 2014. Every story is a propaganda narrative that is being test-marketed prior to release into the US. Some of this crap makes it into the European mainstream, but they are already wise to the lies, except in the UK.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
The break-up worries me....
Because I'm in the northeast, where the vestiges of the corporate may remain, Trapped between D.C. and NYC--not good, I think.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
One can certainly migrate.
On the other hand, you're in a fairly promising location for surviving climate change, if you are inland. Everyone needs to adapt, now. It's shocking how vulnerable humans are to prolonged weather adversity. But I guess that's the point, from Earth's point-of-view. There's a species infestation.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Yes, I'm in a very promising spot as far as climate
change goes, foothills of the Poconos. And, I will own this house eventually, if that'll mean anything by then, I don't know that it will, but it is all that I have, so I hold onto it.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
Hi Pluto...
I attribute much of the Russian/Ukraine traffic to spammers but there's just too much of it to be all spam. Very occasionally we'll get a new registration from what appears to be Russian or Ukrainian and I'm not able to totally verify it as a spam account or not, so I come down on the side of caution and have never activated an account like that. Better safe than sorry.
Thanks for the input, I knew you'd find the stats interesting.
So much for tolerance
no aparthied here
smells german, doesn't it? /nt
actually,
it sounds American. My friend's parents were not allowed to marry in San Francisco in 1941 because she was adjuged "white," and he a "wog," as he was native Hawaiian. He was wearing the uniform of the United States Army at the time.
you've got to be carefully taught
I have an image of these people saying it in unison.
to whom did you address this comment?
I can't find the paragraph you quoted. Thanks.
Hello good people~
I hope everyone got through their holidays in good shape. I've been mostly lurking, reading and rating, but not feeling like I can add anything of use or consequence. I was drawn back over to the tangerine dream this weekend, when my name gets mentioned, somebody always lets me know. No biggie. I think somebody ought to get a better hobby than pie making for her school breaks, she's just not selling it like she used to, although I did get a good chuckle this morning when I awoke to see she wrote a front paged a post on not suffering trolls, I damn near peed my pants.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
Afternoon triv...
glad you stopped by. I tried to find the reference that you made, to no avail, guess I wasn't looking in the right place.
Have a great new year triv! Since I keep up with your HP at SHG, I know you deserve it.
Oh...
not a big deal, really, Denise wrote a ridiculous smear piece on Bernie, because she doesn't like to let a holiday go wasted, I guess, and somewhere down in the comments of the response diary, the unpleasant thing she did to me was mentioned, so...yeah. Anyways, this morning she had a fp piece about dealing with trolls, which wouldn't be so funny if she stuck to writing and stayed the fuck out of the comments. And if what I've just said puzzles you at all, well, just count yourself lucky, lol.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
I understand...
completely what you're saying, I remember the past history. I went to that diary and rather that try to wade through the comments, I did a Toolbar Menu/Edit/Find search for your name and nothing came up, that's why I thought I had the wrong diary. Anyway I get the gist of it so I'll leave it at that. Thanks triv.
Interesting stats! My oldest blog
(3 years in February) has never had more than a handful of hits from Russia, although a few more from the Ukraine, with hits from mostly Europe and Asia (after the US and Canada). So, must be spammers. One thing that may make a difference is that WordPress provides a free spam blocker called Akismet. Maybe that would help. Otherwise, impressive growth!
Next week I'll post the link to the piece on this (at EB), but I noticed that folks expressed concerns about FSC's paltry $6,000 tax credit (or whatever the amount was)--for caring for elderly parents, etc.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. More than half the country--if they don't pay federal income taxes--won't even qualify for the credit, period. According to Politico and a left-learning think tanker, FSC's proposed tax credit is 'non-refundable.' Therefore, the 'nonrefundable credit is subtracted from your income tax liability, up to the total amount you owe.'
Meaning, the lowest income Americans who have no tax liability, would not be eligible to claim this tax credit. And/or many taxpayers whose bills are not low income, but who have various tax deductions (child care tax credits, mortgage interest, etc.) which zero out their tax liability. IOW, for some taxpayers, this pledge amounts to neoliberal claptrap.
Hey, stay warm--we're going to see temps in the mid-teens. Always worry about outdoor pets, but, at least, this year, we know that 'Mar' won't have to suffer like he did for over six years.
(I'm going to post his photo to Flicker, so I can get the html code to post his photo here. He is such a deserving boy!)
Oh, I haven't seen any stats, but I would sure be curious to know if anyone has some on how many Trump supporters are parents of former, or current, military members--especially the wounded. I may try to see if I can find anything on this. I would 'guess' that the numbers/percentages compared to the general public, are quite high. Which may explain some of their support for his candidacy. (And, might explain the high numbers for 'angry white women'--many of whom would be the caregivers for these soldiers, when they return home.)
Have a nice evening, Everyone!
Mollie
elinkarlsson@WordPress
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
"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.
Afternoon Mollie...
we get hits from Russia and Ukraine when, spammers or not, they view pages on our site or register. A spam blocker wont stop that. Drupal and our webhost have spam blockers we can subscribe to but honestly I don't trust that there may be some legitimate registrations that a spam blocker may possibly whack. I make every effort available to discern whether a new registrant is who they really say they are before I activate their account.
I could make my life a lot easier by allowing automatic activation of accounts and let a spam blocker weed out the spam, but I just don't trust them enough as evidenced by how much spam gets through the Daily Kos filters. Spammers are a clever lot and get more clever every day, they eventually figure out how to get around blockers and filters.
Most spam account registrations are bots. They typically give themselves away with the usernames and the email addresses they use, they count on someone not manually vetting them before activation. Sometimes though, we'll get an actual human spammer that registers, those are the tricky ones to weed out, and a blocker could easily miss them. All in all it's a PITA for me, but I'm convinced that personally vetting each registration is the best way to keep our site spam free and that legitimate registrars get a fair shake.
I'm looking forward to your very informative posts about the crap the pols are always trying to pull off, it's a whack a mole game with them just like the spammers, we have to keep on top of it. Thanks Mollie.
'Thank you' for
the excellent venue in which we're all allowed to spout off, and for the sterling company!
Regarding my comments regarding the 'angry white women' in the recent poll, I'm doubtful that stats will be available to the public on this topic, although it wouldn't surprise me but what at least one service branch, if not all, has surveyed its members regarding their 'home care' arrangements.
Traditionally, the divorce rate among military members has been higher than that of the general public, or their civilian counterparts, which is really of no surprise considering the many daunting (additional) stresses and strains that military families are often subjected to. And, of course, today, there are huge numbers of young men and women who have survived severe wartime wounds, which routinely killed soldiers /airmen, etc., during the Vietnam Era.
Anyhoo, from what I've read, it is also not uncommon for the very young spouses of these young servicemen/servicewomen to decide that they aren't up to devoting their entire lives to caring for a twenty-something paraplegic, quadriplegic, sufferer of TBI, etc.
So, the 'default' is that these young men and women often end up back home in the care of their middle-aged parents.
Of course, I'm just speculating that given the (age) cohort of many of Trump's supporters, there 'might be' a fairly hefty cross section of these care giving parents. I certainly haven't seen any statistics that bear this out. Frankly, I doubt that we'll ever know--but it seems feasible to me. I plan to do a few Google/Duck Duck Go searches next week to see if anything turns up. But, I won't 'hold my breath.'
Reasonably, it could be pretty overwhelming emotionally and financially, since, aside from a VA Disability monthly benefit, and paid health care, there are [for the most part] no other care giving provisions [that I know of] made for these severely injured veterans.
And since many of these service members are so young, their families are facing the need to find ways to provide literally decades and decades of necessary home care for their sons and daughters--to extend well beyond their own natural life spans, in some instances.
If there are any care giving/respite care giver grants, etc., I believe that they probably come mostly from private foundations, etc. And the problem with that is that they are probably on a first-come, first-served basis. So, if you draw a short straw, you're just 'SOL.'
Hey, have a good evening, Everyone!
'M'
Postscript: Just heard FSC [in a townhall] say that she will work to make hearing aids--which are listed as 'electives' if I understood the senior questioner correctly--more easily available. I think that the senior was talking about Medicare classifying hearing aids as 'electives,' as opposed to necessities for those with impaired hearing. Whoa! I knew that it didn't cover routine dental care or eye care (Traditional Medicare, that is), but I would have thought that oral surgery and/or hearing impairment would have been covered.
BTW, some of the questions sound staged. (She does a lot of town halls.) Heck, the questioners are verging on 'fawning.' FSC also said that the answer to raising people out of poverty isn't always "throwing money at the problem."
Talk about taking a page out of the Republican play book. Yikes!
And, she's still pushing 'National Service.'
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
interesting comment in your last paragraph
about the angry white women (and may be mothers), who take care of those veterans. I would be curious to know as well. Another sad thought to wonder about.
Question:
I am reading this diary by some relevant rhino: Dear DNC/DLC/Third Way Folks: I Hope There's Some Soul Left To Save When This Is All Over, and some people seem to think it's an irrelevant rhino. So they can't help to fight over the irrelevancy. Is it irrelevant or not, that's the question for those Hamlets over there.
My starved brain wants to know, what it is about with that word "AMIRITE"? I googled it, but the "translation" which is supposedly "am I right" doesn't help me to "get" it. What is insulting about that word "amirite"?
And then how do you look up on the DK5, who has HR'd whom? That is supposedly THE THING over there. I want to be in the loop.
I can't believe I spent so much time over there. The addictive powers of that place prepare me for the "inpatient rehab" facilities.
mimi, when someone uses AMIRITE
they are clearly letting you know they are mocking you, therefore it is insulting.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
thanks, triv33 ...
ok, glad to have learned a tool to mock someone ... (nah, I won't use it, I rather shoot straight than in my foot).
Sigh, what a life. I realize by reading through comment threads, that the most "stubborn" posters, have been in the intertubes since a very, very long time, ie (usenet newsgroup
groupiesusers of the eighties and some are gamers. Telling to me, in some way. But I may just have the German "old lady prejudice" maladie.Thanks triv33.
Would he do that in someone's face,
I wonder? I think not. So aggressive. I've been on the internet a very long time, but yes, to some it is all much like a large video game, they are interested more in winning the blog than interacting with other actual people.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
I don't think so, he wouldn't do that, he would be fired
no matter where and for whom he worked for outside the online anonymous work places. And I remember in the very early years, he refused to be seen on the YearlyKos meeting, because he needed his absolute anonymity. I think, people behave very differently in real life. That's why it is such a charade to believe one has "real friends" online, unless you have met them in person and talked to them in person.
Armando
trolled Relevant Rhino's diary with the very first comment and used AMIRITE in that comment. He continued to troll thoughout that diary and was joined by and supported by the former Turkana. For his many and often very ugly trolling efforts in that one diary alone, Armando was awarded a timeout. FP'ers over there have a higher standing without being required the commensurate higher standards of conduct. But even Armando was put into timeout (manually, I read) for his trolling. There is a pattern of FP'er attacks and trolling being done in the Bernie diaries.
When kos posted that he supported Deo 100% a couple of years ago when she wrote her very nasty STFU and GTFO diary, that is when it became openly apparent that the real lefties on dkos were fair game. There is a very nasty lot of FP'ers over there with Deo leading the charge.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I am done with those issues now
and also might erase part of my comment to hecate. I can't remember who is who in that history of things and I don't care anymore and don't want to know. Unfortunately I am also just human and get suckered in to comment, which I then feel was irrelevant, because one just can't understand other people's personal experiences by communicating online anonymously.
I can't stand all those disputes.
marcy wheeler
posted to her twit machine some astute observations about the yeehaws cornholing in the birdhouse.
Malheur is French for tragedy, or misfortune.
the cornholers
are not locals, but Bundy slavers. The Bundy slavers tried to pressgang locals into the jihad, but the locals weren't interested.
The Bundy slavers have a great Hate for the bird refuge:
Typical ur-humans. No creatures have any rights, but themselves.
Saudi Arabia cuts diplomatic ties with Iran
This could be big
Meanwhile in Iraq
Man...
it just keeps getting worse and worse. The Saudi's had to have known that this could possibly result from their actions, or maybe that was the plan all along? What a mobius strip clusterfuck.
The people in that part of the world
…know what it means. It's Sunni on Shia violence. Tensions are high because Iran is now fighting against ISIS, which is the Saudi's special baby. But that's only part of it.
If you pull back, you see that, geopolitically, it is the same thing as Turkey shooting down the Russian plane. Turkey was provoked to revenge because Russia blew the whistle (at the G-20) on Turkey's oil smuggling operation with ISIS. This forced the US's hand, and they had to participate in the destruction of 3,000 ISIS oil tankers that operated freely during the prior 14 months that the US was watching and fake-bombing.
Pull back again, and you see that the whole fight is STILL entirely about two competing pipelines that want to transverse Syria — one Sunni (Petrodollar) and the other Shiite (Yuan). Assad supports the Shiite pipeline (Iran), but the US has its Petrodollar lips sewn to the Saudis' Sunni ass. Thus, Obama's insistence that Assad must go, no matter what, which just looks stupid if you don't know what the deal is.
Pull back further, and you see the moral sphere. Here, we see that Assad doesn't look evil compared to the rest. The US, Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia are four of the top five murderers of their own people via the depraved practice of capital punishment that the rest of the non-scum world largely shuns. And the pathetic vassal states of Europe keep their mouths shut because they are the ultimate recipients of the gas pipeline.
All parties involved are damned to never-ending terrorism (except the Saudis, of course).
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Condensed into...
four concise paragraphs and a sentence. Thanks Pluto, great comment!