The Evening Blues - 5-16-17
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Amos "Bumble Bee Slim" Easton. Enjoy!
Amos Easton (Bumble Bee Slim) - I Keep On Drinkin'
"Tell me who your enemy is, and I will tell you who you are."
-- Carl Schmitt
News and Opinion
Labour’s manifesto is a template for the struggling left worldwide
Labour’s manifesto – unveiled today – is a moderate, commonsense set of antidotes to the big problems holding back one of the wealthiest countries on earth. And – intriguingly – here is an attempt to confront the crisis of identity and vision afflicting social democracy not just in Britain, but across the western world. ...
There’s a commitment that 95% of Britons won’t pay any more tax: fair, after the Tories’ unprecedented squeeze on wages. Instead, the top 5% of earners will be asked to pay a bit more: also fair, given they’re doing better than ever. If companies choose to pay salaries that are 25 times higher than the living wage, they’ll be expected to pay a bit more tax; if they pay salaries 20 times higher than the average income, then a bit more than that. Corporation tax will be hiked, but it will still be lower than the United States. A Robin Hood tax on financial transactions – which, as Labour’s Rachel Reeves puts it, both raises money and curbs excessive risk-taking which imperils our economy – would raise even more money, as will an all-out war against tax avoidance.
The billions raised can be invested in education to realise the potential of the next generation – to modernise our NHS so it can meet the needs of an ageing population; to upgrade Britain’s feeble infrastructure; and to build the housing the country desperately needs. Free childcare will reduce pressure on families forced to make difficult decisions about raising families and having a career; while a triple-lock on pensions will protect poorer pensioners who built this country with their hard graft.
Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour's manifesto
The Push for Trump’s Impeachment
The Russia-gate affair has taken a strange turn as advocates for President Trump’s removal say his ouster should take precedence over completing the investigation and actually seeing how much there is there – whereas at least one target of the inquiry wants the U.S. government to put its cards on the table. Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who is reportedly under an FBI counterintelligence investigation for his contacts with Russians, has called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation, to immediately release “any documents related to [the Obama administration’s] alleged wiretapping of me.”
In Page’s view, it was the Obama administration’s spreading of allegations about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia that represented “government meddling in the 2016 election,” rather than Russia’s alleged hacking Democratic emails and publicizing them via WikiLeaks, a claim made by President Obama’s intelligence chiefs but denied by WikiLeaks and Russia.
Yet, what has been perhaps most remarkable about the entire Russia-gate affair is that it has been conducted with almost no evidence being shared with the American people. Thus, we have the prospect of a duly elected President of the United States being targeted for removal by the political and media Establishment without the citizens being let in on exactly what evidence exists and how significant it is. The curious role of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the FBI in spearheading the Russia-gate investigation – including having handpicked “senior analysts” from the three agencies produce a clearly biased and nearly evidence-free report on Jan. 6 – has raised concerns of a “soft coup” or “deep-state coup” to negate the 2016 election.
Considering the seriousness of such a move in a constitutional republic that prides itself as the gold standard of democracy, it might have been expected that that the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies would go the extra mile in sharing their evidence with the American people whose electoral judgment would, in effect, be made meaningless: both by Comey’s late intervention against Clinton and now the pressure to impeach Trump. Yet, instead of a commitment to openness, the intelligence community is telling the citizens that we must accept the fact of Russian “meddling” as “a given,” sans evidence. In addition, influential voices are emerging to declare that Trump’s impeachment should proceed even without the results of the Russia-gate investigation of possible Trump-Russia collusion being known to the public.
An Impeachable Offense? Questions Swirl as Trump Accused of Sharing Top Secret Intel with Russians
Wow, the Democrats and the resistance are so exercised about Trump sharing "highly classified, code word" intelligence that they want to preserve the secrecy of that super-duper sekrit intel by putting it out to lots of people in probably the leakiest institution in the country - an institution that is so concerned about its internal leaks that they have created "the gang of four" for clubhouse sekrits that congress and the intelligence committees can't be trusted with.
What's In the Transcript? There's a Way to Find Out What Trump Told Russia
Among the revelations in Monday evening's bombshell Washington Post report on President Donald Trump disclosing classified information to Russian diplomats is the fact that one U.S. counterterrorism official "called for the problematic portion of Trump's discussion to be stricken from internal memos and for the full transcript to be limited to a small circle of recipients, efforts to prevent sensitive details from being disseminated further or leaked."
Now, amid outrage, calls are growing for that transcript to be released—if not to the public at-large, than at least "to Congress for investigative purposes," as National Memo editor-in-chief Joe Conason wrote Tuesday.
"[T]he House and Senate intelligence committees should request—or if necessary, subpoena—the transcripts of Trump's meeting with the Russians, to see who is telling the truth," Conason insisted. "To paraphrase Trump, that may be the only way to 'find out what the hell is going on'."
In turn, he continued, it may be the only way to see if there are grounds for impeachment. (Notably, U.S. press was not allowed into the meeting between Trump and the Russian officials.)
As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017
Trump admits leak to Russians hours after his staff denied it happened
Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his decision to share certain sensitive information with Russian officials in the Oval Office last week, undermining the credibility of his own staff, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who just hours before had carefully denied such reports. ...
On Monday the Washington Post reported that Trump divulged classified details about an ISIS terrorist plot involving laptops on airplanes during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. The information had been shared with the U.S. intelligence community by an ally on the basis that it was not shared with others. The Post said Trump also revealed the city within Islamic State group territory where the ally found out about the threat — prompting some to suggest that the informant’s life had been put in danger. ...
Trump’s tweets seem to counter the message White House officials had been giving reporters just hours earlier. National security adviser H.R. McMaster, who was in the room during the meeting, said late on Monday: “The story that came out tonight, as reported, is false.”
Secretary of State Tillerson, also present at the meeting, offered a carefully crafted response similar to McMaster’s, acknowledging that Trump discussed a “broad range of subjects” with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador: “During that exchange, the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations.” As many have pointed out, the Post’s report never accused Trump of discussing sources, methods or military operations.
Breathtakingly Irresponsible: Former Bush Iraq Adviser on Trump Sharing Secret Intel with Russians
Obama: Not bombing Syria 'required the most political courage'
Barack Obama defended his decision not to bomb Syria as president in an interview published Monday, casting his controversial decision as an act that “required the most political courage.” ...
“But I actually think that the issue that required the most political courage was the decision not to bomb Syria after the chemical weapons use had been publicized and rather to negotiate them removing chemical weapons from Syria,” Obama said. ...
Obama said his approach, in retrospect, “was an imperfect solution” because while “99 percent of huge chemical weapons stockpiled were removed without us having to fire a shot,” the U.S. knows that some weapons remained in the Syrian regime’s possession.
“The reason it was hard was because, as president, what you discover is that you generally get praised for taking military action, and you’re often criticized for not doing so,” Obama said.
Iran changes course of road to Mediterranean coast to avoid US forces
Iran has changed the course of a land corridor that it aims to carve to the Mediterranean coast after officials in Iraq and Tehran feared a growing US military presence in north-eastern Syria had made its original path unviable. The new corridor has been moved 140 miles south to avoid a buildup of US forces that has been assembled to fight Islamic State (Isis). It will now use the Isis-occupied town of Mayadin as a hub in eastern Syria, avoiding the Kurdish north-east, which had earlier been mooted by Iranian leaders as a crucial access route. ...
Throughout the war with the terror group, and for several years earlier, Iran has been attempting to carve out areas of influence across Iraq and Syria that it and its proxies control. But as the project has taken shape, the evolving Syrian conflict has added new and unpredictable dimensions that have made securing such a corridor increasingly difficult. The US buildup in north-eastern Syria has alarmed officials in Baghdad and Tehran. Senior Iraqi sources have told the Guardian that Iranian leaders believe the stepped-up presence aims to deter Tehran’s ambitions.
“In response they are doing all they can to make this corridor happen as quickly as they can,” said a senior Iraqi official. “That means finishing off Ba’aj as quickly as they can, then kicking out Isis from Mayadin and Deir Azzour. They want to do this before the Americans get there.”
Security researchers link North Korea to massive WannaCry ransomware hack
Top security researchers believe there’s a connection between North Korean-affiliated cybercriminals and the global WannaCry ransomware hack. Google security researcher Neel Mehta pointed out in a Monday afternoon that code used in WannaCry bore similarities to code used by the Lazarus Group, a cadre of cybercriminals believed to be responsible for the 2014 Sony hack and a recent $81 million heist of the Bangladeshi central bank.
Hours after Mehta’s tweet, leading cybersecurity firms Kaspersky Lab and Symantec both confirmed the similarities.
The WannaCry hack, which first surfaced on Friday, allows hackers to encrypt the data on infected machines, which it then holds hostage for about $300 in bitcoin. One researcher found a “kill switch” for WannaCry over the weekend that has helped control the damage, but the ransomware creators have already released a new variant without the fix.
Claims of North Korea Links to Cyber Attack Short of Proof
Both Symantec and Kaspersky said it was too early to tell whether North Korea was involved in the attacks, based on the evidence that was published on Twitter by Google security researcher Neel Mehta. ...
FireEye Inc (FEYE.O), another large cyber security firm, said it was also investigating, but it was cautious about drawing a link to North Korea.
"The similarities we see between malware linked to that group and WannaCry are not unique enough to be strongly suggestive of a common operator," FireEye researcher John Miller said.
U.S. and European security officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that it was too early to say who might be behind the attacks, but they did not rule out North Korea as a suspect.
The people who helped Snowden flee the U.S. could be deported from Hong Kong
Four asylum seekers who harbored NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as he hid out in Hong Kong in 2013 have had their claims rejected. The group now face deportation, their lawyer said Monday. ...
A Hong Kong government spokesman said there were no substantial grounds for believing that the asylum claimants would be in danger in their home countries, as they have claimed. The four – Vanessa Rodel from the Philippines, former Sri Lankan soldier Ajith Pushpakumara, and Supun Kellapatha and Nadeeka Nonis, a married couple from Sri Lanka – now face possible detention or deportation.
The four have also applied for asylum in Canada for themselves and their children. Rodel has one child born in Hong Kong, while Kellapatha and Nonis have two. CNN reports that Snowden has made a video appeal calling on members of the public to petition Canada’s immigration minister, the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong, or the Hong Kong government to help the families.
Macron in Berlin - "We might see a revival of the Franco-German drive of the European agenda"
Macron met Merkel to plan how to make the EU great again
Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron has wasted no time in reaffirming his commitment to the European Union, traveling to Germany Monday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel. The pair confirmed that in order to secure the future integrity of the bloc, they are willing to draw up new treaties to allow for deeper integration and facilitate widespread reform. ...
Macron, who ran on a pro-EU platform, decisively beat far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the second-round vote earlier this month. The German media initially embraced Macron’s victory, with headlines like “France says yes to Europe,” “Macron wins it for Europe,” and “No Frexit” greeting readers the morning after the election victory. ...
Some of the reforms Macron has floated include the creation of a finance minister for the eurozone, a shared budget and EU-wide social insurance. While politicians have previously suggested similar ideas, it was thought that the need to rewrite European treaties would stymie these options.
“In the past, the subject of treaty change was a French taboo. It will no longer be the case,” Macron said, with Merkel affirming her commitment to rework the treaties where necessary, adding that she had been “irked” by those who said treaty change was not possible. “The entire world is changing and we declare that we have exhausted ourselves once and that’s it for our entire lifetime,” she said.
Family of Connecticut teenager shot dead by police: we have been lied to
The family of a Connecticut teenager who was shot and killed by police last Tuesday say they have been lied to by officers about how he died, after bystander footage filmed at the scene was made public over the weekend. “We weren’t given the truth. We were lied to from the moment the incident happened,” said Giovanni Rivera, a relative of the victim, 15-year-old Jayson Negron. Police in Bridgeport fired into the car Negron was driving after they said he backed his vehicle into an officer and refused calls to stop. Police say the car was stolen.
Rivera said police told him and other family members that Negron was struck in the head by an officer’s bullet and died instantly at the scene. But Rivera said a video he uploaded to social media, taken by a bystander, raised questions about how Negron died. A figure, thought to be Negron, can be seen handcuffed, lying on the ground, as an officer stands over his body. The shaky video pans away from Negron’s body for a moment, and when it returns a few seconds later, Negron’s head is facing in the other direction. Negron’s body was left on the pavement for upwards of six hours before being removed. Police attributed this to “evidence-gathering”.
“Nobody called an ambulance. Nobody treated his wounds. They let him bleed out on the concrete,” Rivera said. Negron died from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a postmortem.
Even Republicans say Sessions was dumb to bring back mandatory-minimum drug sentences
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to ratchet up the war on drugs by undoing Obama-era sentencing reforms signals an about-face on drug policy, and the move has prompted an outcry from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Going forward, anyone who faces federal drug charges will likely be subject to a harsh mandatory-minimum sentence. “This policy affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency,” Sessions said in a memorandum issued last week. “Any inconsistent previous policy of the Department of Justice relating to these matters is rescinded, effective today.” ...
Criminal justice reform has had bipartisan support, borne from the widely-held view that harsh sentencing policies failed, and had instead sent incarceration rates skyrocketing. Mass incarceration cost the nation about $80 million a year in additional costs to maintain prisoners convicted on minor drug offenses, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. One study by researchers at Washington University, St. Louis, accounting for lost wages and socio-economic costs of incarceration, put the figure closer to $1 trillion per year.
#Carmageddon Now: Ford to Slash 10% of its WorkforceFord’s shares have gotten hammered as it struggles with plunging car sales, and in April even with weak truck sales, mired as automakers are in the US “car recession.” ...
After announcing in March that Ford would create 700 jobs in Michigan, more or less an optical illusion as a nod to Trump, it is now time to throw Wall Street a bone. A huge bone.
Ford is considering cutting 10% of its global workforce of around 200,000 employees (about half of them in the US), “according to people briefed on the plan,” cited by the Wall Street Journal.
That’s about 20,000 people, globally. If these cuts, or some of these cuts, hit US workers, there’s going to be some wild tweeting from the White House. But that too shall pass. Because Wall Street should be happy.
Surprise! Obama lied repeatedly about his immigration enforcement actions.
Obama’s Deportation Policy Was Even Worse Than We Thought
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement imprisons more than 10,000 parents of American citizens in California each year, according to a report released today by Human Rights Watch.
The report, entitled “I Still Need You,” analyzes the impact of immigration enforcement policy on immigrant families in California and finds that parents with U.S. citizen children were more likely to be deported from detention rather than released. The report also finds that from January 2011 through June 2015 nearly half of the immigrants detained in California had no criminal history, findings that directly contradict claims President Obama made about his immigration enforcement policy at that time. Under President Trump, the report’s authors believe, the trends suggested by the data have likely become even more pronounced.
In 2014, Obama announced a new immigration enforcement policy known informally as “felons, not families,” which purported to prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants with serious criminal histories and avoid separating families. But as the Marshall Project has shown, less than a fifth of the immigrants deported nationwide under the policy had been convicted of violent or potentially violent crimes. More than 40 percent had no criminal convictions whatsoever.
An even higher proportion — 47 percent — of immigrants detained by ICE in California from October 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 had no criminal history, according to Human Rights Watch’s review. (The data showed criminal history only for this shorter period of the overall time span.) The report estimates that only 9 percent were convicted of a violent felony. “Instead of focusing on violent criminals, U.S. immigration policy has ripped apart American families and communities through the deportation of large numbers of lawful residents and undocumented immigrants with less serious criminal histories,” the report argues.
Charlottesville Vigil Against Hate Outdraws White Supremacist Rally
Hundreds of protesters gathered for a candlelit “vigil against hate” on Sunday night in Charlottesville, Virginia, one day after a smaller number of white supremacists carrying torches had rallied at the same spot — around a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, which the city council recently voted to remove.
Tonight #Charlottesville #Virginia rallied 2 denounce hate & white supremacy. Not in our town. Not in our country. #BlackLivesMatter #resist pic.twitter.com/hEe1y0NLxW
— Ken Horne (@HorneKen) May 15, 2017
Charting a new course for the Democrats seems a tall order for a freshman congressman. Here's the intro to an interview he gave The Intercept:
Will Freshman Congressman Ro Khanna Chart a New Course for Democrats?
Freshman California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna rode to an upset victory this past November over long-serving California Democrat Mike Honda on a wave of Silicon Valley support. Among his prominent backers stood titans of the tech industry such as Yahoo executive Marissa Mayer and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg — as well as Peter Thiel, the billionaire Palantir co-founder who spoke in favor of Donald Trump’s candidacy at the Republican National Convention. ...
But almost immediately after being elected, Khanna attached himself to the more traditionally progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He most recently became the first member of Congress to join the Justice Democrats, a new organization that seeks to reduce corporate influence on the Democratic Party.
Khanna agreed to an interview with The Intercept to lay out his political vision. Khanna notably stuck by a number of popular progressive positions, such as his support for a financial transactions tax and expanding the Medicare program to cover all Americans. He also embraced reforms to the party, such as banning corporate lobbyists from serving as DNC members and ending lobbyist contributions to the Democratic National Committee.
However, he declined to join Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in criticizing former president Barack Obama for his time on the Wall Street speech circuit. He also stuck to the familiar script on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, failing to embrace the rising demand among the Democratic Party’s base for a U.S. posture that enacts real accountability for Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich blasts detective over report of WikiLeaks link
The family of the Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10 on a Washington, D.C., blasted reports that he was a source of thousands of emails leaked to WikiLeaks. Rod Wheeler, a retired Washington homicide detective and Fox News contributor hired by a third party to investigate the case made the WikiLeaks claim, which was corroborated by a federal investigator who spoke to Fox News. ...
An FBI forensic report of Rich's computer -- generated within 96 hours after Rich's murder -- showed he made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time, the federal source told Fox News.
“I have seen and read the emails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks,” the federal investigator told Fox News, confirming the MacFadyen connection. He said the emails are in possession of the FBI, while the stalled case is in the hands of the Washington Police Department. ...
The federal investigator, who requested anonymity, said 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments between Democratic National Committee leaders, spanning from January 2015 through late May 2016, were transferred from Rich to MacFadyen before May 21.
On July 22, just 12 days after Rich was killed, WikiLeaks published internal DNC emails that appeared to show top party officials conspired to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont from becoming the party’s presidential nominee. That controversy resulted in Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigning as DNC chairperson.
Dakota Pipeline Builder Under Fire for Ohio Spill: 8 Violations in 7 Weeks
Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, is under fire from federal and state regulators after triggering a massive spill, and seven other violations, during the first seven weeks of construction of a major gas pipeline in Ohio.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Wednesday sent a letter to the Rover pipeline operator ordering it to not start construction on any new locations, as well as to stop construction at the site of the major wetlands spill and to hire an independent contractor to dig into what went wrong there.
"Staff has serious concerns regarding the magnitude of the incident (which was several orders of magnitude greater than other documented [horizontal directional drilling] inadvertent returns for this project), its environmental impacts, the lack of clarity regarding the underlying reasons for its occurrence, and the possibility of future problems," federal regulators wrote. The phrase "inadvertent returns" is industry speak for a certain type of spill or release of construction material.
The FERC letter came less than a week after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency proposed a $431,000 fine for violations and ordered the company to immediately implement its emergency response plan.
On his fifth day in power, South Korea’s new president shut down 10 big coal-power plants
The South Korean capital, Seoul, is among the world’s most polluted cities, so it’s no surprise that air pollution was one of the key campaign issues for the newly elected president, Moon Jae-in.
That’s why, on his fifth day in power, Moon has announced that the country will temporarily shutter 10 coal power plants now and will shut them down completely within his five-year term. The move should bring respite from the choking air pollution, but it raises questions about South Korea’s energy security. ...
Nuclear power’s contribution to South Korea’s mix has fallen from 40% to 30% over the last 10 years, as plants have been decommissioned over safety issues. To make up for the fall, the contribution of coal has shot up to 40% (paywall). The country operates 53 coal-power plants, and plans to build another 20 in the next five years.
38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island
One of the world’s most remote places, an uninhabited coral atoll, is also one of its most polluted. Henderson Island, a tiny landmass in the eastern South Pacific, has been found by marine scientists to have the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8% of the pollution plastic. The nearly 18 tonnes of plastic piling up on an island that is otherwise mostly untouched by humans have been pointed to as evidence of the catastrophic, “grotesque” extent of marine plastic pollution.
Nearly 38m pieces of plastic were estimated to be on Henderson by researchers from the University of Tasmania and the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, weighing a combined 17.6 tonnes. The majority of the debris – approximately 68% – was not even visible, with as many as 4,500 items per square metre buried to a depth of 10cm. About 13,000 new items were washing up daily.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Mark Ames: The FBI Has No Legal Charter But Lots of Kompromat
Can the Anti-Trump Resistance Take Philadelphia’s DA Office?
Trump Reiterates Support for a New Glass-Steagall Act, But It Will it Pass Congress?
Why Standing Rock is about much more than oil
When the War is Over Can Syria be Repaired?
Israel Tutors Children in Fear and Loathing
A Little Night Music
Bumble Bee Slim - Bumble Bee's New Muddy Water
Memphis Minnie & Bumble Bee Slim - New Orleans Stop Time
Bumble Bee Slim - Ease Me Down
Bumble Bee Slim - Lemon Squeezing Blues
Bumble Bee Slim - Dumb Tricks Blues
Bumble Bee Slim - Step Child
Bumble Bee Slim - Fattening Frogs For Snakes
Bumble Bee Slim - Ida Red
Bumble Bee Slim - Wake Up In The Morning
Comments
Dems walking out on Democratic Party
@gjohnsit But with Captain Hillary
But with Captain Hillary leading the resistance, the dems will be back in the saddle!
gjohnsit even published a article here describing her heroic quest
she really didn't loose the election, it was ........
(the oligarchs are fighting to preserve their boundaries and they wealth )
and The CLINTONS are a better face than Trumpster
Everyone should walk out on the Demlicans and
Republicrats alike. They've all harmed us irreparably--and on our dime, too.
Those that rate the Democratic Party unfavorably
are just ungrateful sexists and racists, and we don't need them anyway.
/s
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Very true
It's curious how 100% of the people with a negative opinion of the Dems/Hillary/Obama is both racist and sexist.
You would think that there might be an lone exception to the rule, which is normally the case in other examples. That someone, somewhere might have a political opinion not based on skin color or genitals.
But no, it's 100% true in every case of not liking Hillary/Obama. Because having political opinions that are not based on skin color or genitals are racist and sexist by definition.
evening gj...
for every democrat that doesn't like the party so much anymore, there's a person in philadelphia who's going to take their place.
@gjohnsit Whoo-hoo! You go, Hillary
Whoo-hoo! You go, Hillary! Madame Secretary FTW!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
These polls were conducted by
Russian moles.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
@Steven D This ride could be
This ride could be connected to Ruuuusssiaaa...
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
So your graph raises a question? Who has remained behind?
I was scanning headlines on TOP to see what the latest DNC messaging is about for that day, and noticed a diary defending a popular diarist who wrote that democrats need to also be focusing more on domestic issues than the Russia deal. Apparently this diarist was attacked big time.
So I look at your graph, and ask, who is exactly the typical democrat now? And I realized I was just looking at them at TOP--which maybe an even more important group--not typical members, but some sort of activists up and down the spectrum. And in the main, the loyalists are pretty mean neoliberals who support the corporatist power structure of the party. And they are not being fooled into that support.
If there is to be reform back to at least the policies of the New Deal, not only must leadership be reformed or removed, but also the current base of the party.
Personally, I don't think there is any more hope.
Remember that the GOS
is not representative of the party as a whole. It's top-heavy with activists, apparatchiks and consultants, and they produce more than their share of fake news and perceptions.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish You also have to
You also have to allow for sockpuppets.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I can make no sense of numbers in the Ford story.
It could be my jangled mind, but orders of magnitude come and go there.
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.
evening riverlover...
if ford makes the cuts evenly across countries, the us would lose 10,000 jobs by my count (since half of ford's employees are in the us). on the other hand, they are talking about cutting salaried positions. i would assume that most of the managerial positions are in the us, so perhaps there will be more than 10k american jobs lost.
There's a crisis of aggregate demand.
Americans have no money to spend. It's that simple. Every Christmas you see those ads where people are buying new cars for their spouses as presents. I always wonder, does anybody really do that ? Maybe, but not many.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Some truth there
Before my recent purchase of a Leaf, I had not bought a new car in 27 years. And the primary reason I bought this one was for the $7500 tax credit.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
FBI never had a legal charter
Thanks for the article you linked at the end. Here it is again.
Mark Ames: The FBI Has No Legal Charter But Lots of Kompromat
I had to look up the word in the title
Sure sounds like FBI. We have seen them doing many entrapments of Muslims for terrorism charges.
I have had a negative view of the FBI, but now I realize how important role they have played in the Deep State. MLK? Malcolm X? etc.
Wiretapping cell phones. Getting data from NSA. Using secret data to figure out a case, then setting up how to catch someone and hiding that they broke the law.
MLK threats. ...
There are some good comments in the link to the article.
When I applied to the Peace Corps in 1967, there was a full field FBI investigation of me for 3 months. I had been to Berkeley and my dad was a labor organizer and very active in politics. I have never filed to get the report which I think I can get.
Then there is the FBI war on the Indians.....
How was the FBI involved in the war on Water Protectors? I heard that the police action was set up by a contracting firm that did work in Iraq -- militarization of domestic activities, war comes home, etc.
Hide under your bed because the chances of a terrorist attack may someday be as large as being struck by lightning.......
The very first director of the FBI was famous for collecting
compromising info about Presidents and other subjects and using it to increase his power. J. Edgar Hoover.
evening don...
you ought to foia yourself, it might be interesting. you ought to see if you can get your dad's records, too.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud
was framed by them in retaliation for Portland's refusal to embed agents with the Portland PD. Poor kid was led all the way.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Berlusconi Trolls Macron
Nothing earth shattering about this. I just found it funny.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
She was his teacher.
I'm sure she was.
Gotta love the French. At least they seem to care about each other.
As opposed to that old horn dog Silvio and all his pretty 'grand daughters'...
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
And their relationship started when he was 15
It's all pretty creepy.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Like Newt Gingrich's first wife who was his
high school math teacher. He served divorce papers on her while she was in the hospital after surgery for cancer.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Heh ...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMPlPJP2brw]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
heh...
the italian trump is at it again.
... and uses the Hawaiian "shaka" sign
he is hanging so loose I hope he falls and crashes down.
https://www.euronews.com/live
“Hahahahaha! Wipe out!”
Found out about this guy here at C99%
Someone posted an article that pointed out that his article on Listen Liberal, the book by Thomas Frank was the best thing he had read. I was brave and posted the article on TOP/DK and got comments that I was trolling. I was. The Orange DNC has its head up its ass.
Anyway, there are other things on his web site and I exchanged a few emails with him.
He teaches Anthropology in Canada and is a strong left voice. He predicted Trump's victory by using standard anthropology on the US and takes the profession to task for not being a part of today's political dialog.
Trump and Anthropology
I am a little fuzzy, may have given this link before. Here is the first paragraph with the bold in the original.
Bruno Latour makes this point also in his "symmetric anthropology". Native culture was destroyed by the colonialists and now Gaia is attacking all of us, including the non humans.
The Canadian guy is very active -- the third paragraph
Here are some of his recent articles. I have not read them carefully, but someone here might be interested.Donald Trump, Empire, and Globalization: A Reassessment
The first paragraph is Trump crap, then
and he has other questions
Another article
Donald Trump vs. Cultural Imperialism
Already too many links but some of you might be interested inHow to Read Donald Trump Like Donald Duck
last night...
on the eb, i linked an article at counterpunch that draws heavily on a max forte essay and the "new victorianism" concept.
Tonight's music makes me feel almost like I enjoyed it
in a club in a past life.
Democrats are insane. Pence would be a far worse threat to them than Trump and he will be no better for the country. He may even be worse, hard as that is to imagine.
As far as the intel, short of treason, Trump has the right to do as he will with classified info--and I see no indication of treason. And Trump's tweet said he discussed facts. It said absolutely nothing about classified info. So, no, it did not contradict what his people had said earlier. Media really needs to stop the daily load of half truths and hair on fire nonsense. Oh, and the Iraq War ethics advisor to the President who lied the US into war thinks Trump did something wrong? Crap, there goes the irony meter again. You just can't keep that thing in good repair anymore.
As far as Obama's political courage on Syria, I am about to split my sides laughing. He pulled back because of Boehner and the House. I guess when you make Caroline Kennedy ambassador and she gives you an award for courage, you have to pretend you did something courageous. In truth, the House stared Obama down and he blinked. And that's why he did not bomb Syria, as he had threatened to do.
https://caucus99percent.com/content/did-obama-draw-red-line-syrian-sand-...
Negron Connecticut--a blue state. People of conscience in Connecticut should be demonstrating and demanding answers. IT HAS TO STOP.
When are some people going to stop taking pride in fighting a war for the "right" to extend slavery to the territories? It was a heinous reason for rebelling against your country, you lost the war and it should have been over 150 years ago. Nothing to be proud of. Move on already.
How I wish music could really save our souls!
It's not about Pence
I'm convinced that there is a genuine fear that certain players might be exposed under Trump, whose deeds might yet remain unknown under Pence. Someone is fighting hard to protect themselves and their misdeeds.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
McConnell will burn
That's wht I am funkin' sayin'.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
It should be about Pence.
I try not to read minds. However, assuming Democrats and media have been after Trump hammer and tongs since election night for fear of exposure, they need to stop and think. Even an impeached President can expose something. So can his successor(s). If they fear exposure, then serial assassinations are their only safe bet.
On the other hand, if Pence becomes President soon, they (and the world) could be looking at almost 12 years of Pence.
evening hw...
the democrats are insane. pence the christian dominionist fruitcake would be far worse than trump - but he will play by the rules of bipartisanship.
Pence, McConnel, Ryan, Corbyn, ...
all the facilitators need to go.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Bernie and Oh Gov Kasich at CNN town hall 9 EST
Kasich is brave to be in the room with Bernie
I live in OH. Interesting to see what happens.
Are they trying to turn Trump face?
They come and tell me that a former Bush Iraq advisor thinks that Trump is irresponsible?
Are they trying to make this shit more laughable than it is?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
They are throwing everything they
can think of today. Between Seth Rich and now I just read Comey kept written memos of his conversations with Trump where Trump asked him to spare Flynn, then the classified thing, it's too much! My dimensional chess meter is burned out today. Distraction is the name of their game, but which is the distraction and what should we pay attention to is up for grabs at the moment it seems.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Sure makes me wonder
what they're trying to distract us from.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
evening cstms...
lately some of the alternative media that is generally pretty good has gone full on hysterical.
i am really disappointed with both democracy now and commondreams especially these days.
Joe...
Have you ever run across this lady? She's new to me, but apparently has been kicking ass on the blues scene forever:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
She is the real deal
Channeling Mavis Staples:
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
yep...
she's been on the club and festival circuit for a while. my local blues society has hosted her a couple of times and she's put on a great show.
Do you know who your enemy is?
I don't know anymore. I don't like the quote of today, because of the friends Schmitt had. And philosophs are always beyond my paygrade, but what's so difficult to understand about this?
But that's OT. Just wondering now, who my enemies are.
I want this suspension thriller to end. I read the end of crime thrillers usually first, if I can bare to read them at all. This Russiagate thingy, has it an end?
Thanks for the excellent list of articles. Great help, though I still don't know who my enemies are and who I am. Too bad. I think that's the "strange ability" of the US public that seems to be lacking in me.
https://www.euronews.com/live
My enemies are easy to pick out
They have short hair and don't like their fellow humans. My enemies typically look like this:
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
uuuh, the guy with the "Stoned Facial Expression Syndrome"?
Nothing moves in his face (and probably nothing in his heart).
Nice to see you here posting again, NCTim.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@#10.1 Ack. Comment misfire. Sorry Tim.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Is that Orrin Hatch (R-UT), president pro tempore of the Senate,
and number three in the presidential line of succession?
Yes
... And sadly, an alum of The University of Pittsburgh. I imagine he recognized his Schlick would not work in southwest PA.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
evening mimi...
heh, i don't know them personally, i know them by their works.
they are the intellectual heirs of this fellow:
oh man, what a guy - statistician of course
and founder of a preventive police force in Scotland.
Thanks Joe. Enlightening comment.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@mimi Start with the extremely
Start with the extremely wealthy. Not all of them are our enemies, but if you're looking for your enemies, you're likely to find some there. Also, the secret police of the English-speaking countries and most of Western Europe are organizations where your enemies are likely to congregate.
The reason I can speak with such certainty about who your enemies might be is that I assume that you are a non-billionaire who wants to have enough to eat and drink and also wants not to be shot or imprisoned--and would like it if large numbers of people like you were not starving, dying of thirst, being shot or imprisoned around you.
That description covers most of the people in the world. Most people in the world, whatever their faults, would prefer to be able to just lead their lives, have enough to eat and drink and a place to live that's not falling down, without having strife and violence and authoritarian bullshit disrupting their lives. (If people around you are getting rounded up, shot, whatever, that disrupts your life. Under ordinary circumstances, most people would rather that didn't happen.)
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thanks Joe
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
evening tim...
heh, anytime!
Heh
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Check this out:
Your iPhone Keeps a Creepy List of Every Place You've Ever Been
Instructions for turning it off are in the article.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
evening dervish...
everything that has a connection to communications networks these days is kinda creepy. it's making the idea of moving to an off-grid shack in the middle of nowhere look attractive.
falling for attractive women is as dangerous as falling
for attractive pipe dreams...
Just saying ... at least you need a view and a garden with your hut, otherwise you are going nuts. Said someone who had experience with that. Yeah, you can't eat the view. And better don't get too old for gardening...
Your section of "also of interest" is sometimes "more interesting" than the "interest" section.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Good evening, Joe. The ransomeware attack bears a resemblance
to windows - it is written in code. It is also signed "dear Leader" according to one secret but unimpeachable source. Anything is possible, but don't they realize that every such headline weakens their credibility, whether eventually proven true or not, because it shows a complete lack of concern for verifiable evidence?
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 --
I dunno if there's N. Korean fingerprints on WannaCrypt...
...but there's sure as hell US NSA fingerprints at the core of it.
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
evening el...
facts are out of style and evidence is losing its grip on a solid definition. pretty soon one will have to specify that one not only wants evidence but dispositive or conclusive evidence.
Greetings, Joe & Gang! President Pence, anyone? :-)
Thanks for the Robert Parry piece--I've got mixed feelings as to whether the Deep State and MSM can pull this off, but I must say, if the 'facts' surrounding the so-called Comey MFR (Memorandum For Record--which I've written more than a few of during my federal career) bear out, there is certainly a greater probability of an impeachment proceeding going forward as of this afternoon, than there was yesterday.
The irony is that I rather doubt that DT has a clue that what is considered acceptable behavior in his private real estate/business dealings, is not necessarily acceptable under the strict ethical and transparency parameters under which all federal employees are expected to function, including, I would think--the President.
I could be wrong, but I do think that it will be a major mistake if lawmakers try to impeach him without presenting compelling proof. I can't imagine that there would not be major civil unrest in 'Trump Country,' if lawmakers and intelligence agencies say (as they've been doing thus far)--we won't show you any proof, just trust us.
At any rate, the next several months will definitely be interesting. Hopefully, events will forestall the further evisceration of our Social Safety Net, since most of our lawmakers 'can't walk and chew gum.' Any reprieve may be very short-lived--or, only until Pence takes office. I'd bet that Dems are salivating at the prospect of a rabid fiscal hawk [like Pence] taking over. Finally, corporatist Dems will have a President who will openly and energetically push for a 'Grand Bargain.'
Later this evening, we're going to try to catch a few minutes of the CNN Townhall, featuring Bernie and Kasich. I'm surprised that they would choose the two of them, since they aren't that far apart on some health care issues. I wonder if they realized that Bernie has dropped the idea of introducing a single-payer plan? And, I'm curious as to whether they will question him on this issue. Then there's the fact that Kasich supports (and created) a very punitive version of Medicaid/Expanded Medicaid in Ohio, created by 'waiver' granted under O's Administration. Anyhoo, if there's any major 'news' that comes out of this shindig, I'll try to drop by and post a blurb about it.
Thanks for tonight's excellent edition of News & Blues, Joe. Especially lately, I've noticed that some of the most interesting articles are posted under 'Also Of Interest,' so, I try to read them all, even though it may take an extra reading session.
Hey, Everyone 'stay cool,' and have a great evening!
(Apologize in advance for typos!)
Mollie
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
[Edited: Removed two brackets; added phrase. Also, 'reprieve,' instead of reprisal.]
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
while i think a president has a good bit more latitude in some kinds of transparency thanks to "executive privilege" than a generic federal employee, there are limits - i think that nixon found them. we'll see how far trump is able to push the limits.
sadly, i think that you're right about corpodems favoring pence in order to get their grand bargain on.
i'll be interested to see what comes out of the sanders/kasich townhall. if somebody finds a link to the event or a youtube archive of it, please post it.
Not sure if it's live streamed, but, 'regular' CNN
program transcripts are normally transcribed and posted by the next day. So, with any luck, I'll locate and post it, tomorrow evening.
(That is, assuming that they provide a transcript for special events.)
I'll poke around and see if I can find a live stream for tonight's town hall--fingers crossed!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Here's the one we're using:
streamlive.to
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
@Unabashed Liberal strict ethical and
strict ethical and transparency parameters under which all federal employees are expected to function, including, I would think--the President.
Mollie--I don't mean to be a shit, but the idea that federal employees are, um, expected to function according to any ethical parameters kind of blows my mind. After what happened with the Valerie Plame affair, I no longer think that there are any ethical parameters. And that's before Hillary came up with her completely exposed private servers--and her horrendous pay-to-play through the Clinton Foundation and the State Dept.
Ethical parameters are for the little guy--or for people the CIA doesn't like.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hi, CStMS - point well-taken. Notice,
I did say 'expected.'
It's true that 'O' did 'openly and enthusiastically' push for a GB--for a while. However, 'O' was able to do the most damage when he went about quietly passing [under the radar] dribs and drabs of the Bowles-Simpson Catfood Commission's proposal by tacking some of the most toxic reforms onto omnibus spending bills/other legislation--as Rob Portman pointed out at an annual Pete Peterson shindig several years ago, when he boasted that they had already managed to pass about 85% of the proposal.
I could be wrong, but my guess is that VP Pence would not bother to be evasive, but that he would full-throatedly embrace deep cuts to our social safety net, while presenting his efforts [to his Base] as honorable, or an effort 'to save the programs.'
Have a good one!
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit--and therefore, to change society for the better--that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
@Unabashed Liberal Finally, corporatist
Finally, corporatist Dems will have a President who will openly and energetically push for a 'Grand Bargain.'
They had one. His name was Obama.
It's not their fault the Republicans wouldn't work with a Black guy.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Who needs a laugh?
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Ahahahahaha — classic!
Lots of commenters “woke” there after all — good to see.
Who's Seth Rich?
And what is that shiny light?
Here's Markos' attempt on unity of the DP. Sigh
Someone should tell this author that Kos was never Bernie's friend. He has hated Bernie since he said that he was running for president and because IT'S HER TURN, DAMMIT!
Man, he has changed so much since he started his website. Or maybe he was still a republican all along and just saw a great way to make money.
Either way, Bernie is more of a democrat than anyone else in congress.
And someone needs to tell the author that DK isn't a liberals website Not since Barack Obama became president.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/bernie-sanders-democrats-2020-2...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Drones
The recent light show using computer controled drones in multiple numbers has prompted a warning regarding waves of small, but high flying drones being used to bring down commercial aircraft.
Current drone craft are capable of following the user as the handheld unit is moved about, and even capable orbiting the user. They can be programmed to deliver (Amazon) packages to addresses and gps coordinates.
The recent talk of banning laptops on commercial aircraft is a result of this sophistication. While we have been led to believe that the laptops may hide a bomb, the real reason is the laptop can be used as a homing device, that could draw multiple drones directly to said aircraft.
The ban is to protect innocent civilians and Trumps warning to Russian authorities regarding this new danger was the "humanitarian " thing to do.
The thought of withholding this information and a Russian aircraft being downed by a terrorist drone attack would leave blood on Americas hands.
Of course, to the deep state, the relentless pursuit of power overcomes the human thing to do. What's a few hundred innocent Russian lives when there's a uncooperative POTUS to impeach.
Sources are anonymous but trustworthy.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1
I see your points, the humanitarian aspect of which had occurred to me as well, but if you'll pardon a (perhaps somewhat snarkish) digression: as regards the restrictions couldn't phones or any electronic device be used for this purpose, as well as laptops?
Maybe they just shouldn't let people fly, just in case. It's now an expensive ordeal, and with public-protective regulation being dropped, flying will no longer be remotely safe anyway.
Whenever regulations do not protect pilots from being worked into exhaustion and ensure proper maintenance and flight checks, these 'costly burdens' will be neglected to at least some extent, that being why such regulations exist and require oversight, to ensure public safety. And if even virtual monopolies cannot provide 'enough' profit for billionaire owners or CEOs, raking in income by the millions, without cutting safety, comfort and health protections for workers, consumers and society/the environment in general, why should such industries not be nationalized and run at cost for public benefit?
That (just to appeal to their self-interests, also involved here) would also help improve the safety of Those Who Matter in their luxurious private planes, reducing the odds of collision with malfunctioning commercial plebeian flights/over-worked and exhausted air traffic controllers getting something garbled while bringing them in, when a (carefully disinfected and toilet-paper covered) peasant-infested runway must be used. This, along with the lowered odds of commercial craft potentially disrupting their sleep by dropping abruptly from the sky to land in their basement ball-room/dungeon/shark-tank, via their bedrooms. The bigger the house, the larger the chance, obviously, some homes covering acres being most at hazard; the masses of card-board box-inhabiting people should be relatively safe from this in their back alleys, so it's not merely the so-disposable public placed at risk here.
Any corporate-permitted pretense involving purportedly protecting the public seemingly involves taking something away from the public 'just in case', while millions of annual avoidable deaths from corporate profiteering - stemming from such various and often overall virtually universally inescapable but reducible hazards as fossil fuel emissions/industrial pollution, specifically including the hazards of living near airports/under flight paths; toxic workplace exposures and 'cost-cutting-related' accidents; iatrogenic results, especially regarding unsafe/'off-label'/contra-indicated/misprescribed meds; toxic metals/petrochemicals overlooked/permitted in water supplies, food, and other products, not to mention hazardous industrial waste sold in unlabeled fertilizers already known to have poisoned soil in parks/on lawns where children may play and accumulate dioxin, etc. - have long been and are 'acceptable' at again-increasing levels as 'required for the economy' because corporate interests/billionaires increase profits from these 'cost-cutting' measures and pass a cut of these along to complicit public servants, with (polluted) yellow rain trickling down for practically everyone else.
But the big concern, causing major disruption for, and an excuse for the inflicted misery on, airline passengers is to be only with the slim chance of a problem with
lightning strikesterrorists - created by the military/corporate/economic global hostile take-over attempt engaged in/supported by corrupt/duped/bullied politicians - going after a public which has nothing to do with and no control over what's being done by The Psychopathic Class infesting their governments.That and the insistence on everyone fearing RUSSIA!!! And IRAN!!! And maybe KOREA!!! And whoever else higher up on their 'to invade/attack' list. Just because these countries are being threatened by the world's largest military and their nukes, their people want to try to defend themselves? All of these sorta being presented as is the American population, when engaging in peaceful protest. As an enemy to be crushed for the continued enrichment and power-theft of the self-interested already having taken most in both categories from the publics involved, or planning to.
Honestly... American 'freedom' officially consists of 17 spy agencies watching everyone all of the time without any evident public benefit, but at a very high public costs, both fiscally and as regards their guaranteed rights, freedoms and psychological well-being, yet before boarding airplanes people still have to be groped or irradiated, cannot carry liquids or laptops, despite such invasive/confiscatory procedures not catching any security tests run or any terrorists - no wonder airlines show such contempt for passengers that they can't even honour their flight bookings and will use police to forcefully drag people off of planes they were sold tickets to fly on.
It's the culture and the 'social engineering' conditioning we've been accepting, where we've allowed ourselves to be labelled as 'human resources' by corporate despoilers and to be treated as such to reach a blatantly full-blown fascist state with a few tattered rags of the 'democracy cover' flapping here and there and to which a number of people still cling as evidence that 'it can't happen here' - just as happened in Germany. And, like then, intended to be imposed upon the world.
If you want to term that 'governance', I'm with those who say that the population should be (pacifically) ungovernable. A big fuss in the beginning might have nipped this in the bud. Then you'd still have habeas corpus recognized and other inalienable Constitutional rights, rather than a 'legal' pretense that these may simply be disposed of at will by anyone in public office.
So, what's going next, especially with another corporate US Supreme Court Judge coming in, a Constitutional rewrite (like other legislation produced in the corrupted mess, almost certainly to industry specs) being discussed and the corporate media brainwashing people into demanding the initiation of nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction between the US and multiple countries?
I hear that Pakistan now claims it can reach the US with missiles, so now there will be actual war fought back by multiple targeted victims, rather than just one-sided bullying military attacks on smaller/poorer/weaker countries, with North American (and European, if they join in, as seems probable) citizens under fire as well as the citizens in the attacked countries and with nukes almost certainly deployed from the beginning and Global Dimming literally on top of the radioactive mess, which will polish off whatever life remains on Earth.
Can't we just manage without giant murderous corporations instead? They don't supply many jobs anymore, don't pay what they used to, and the people there won't be around to work in them anymore, even if they're still left standing, if this isn't stopped. Besides, they suck up virtually everyone else's resources and the only return on this seems to be a poisoned and dying world, so I'd say that they seem to be a lousy public investment, even apart from the upcoming nuke thing.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Would you.like a tictac?
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1
Lol, maybe a bullet to bite on? Mint-flavoured would be nice, though.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.