The Weekly Watch

Clouds of Hypocrisy Surrounding the Storms and Fires

Did you hear T-rump this week in North Dakota? He's glad to have dirty tar sands oil flowing through a pipeline destined to leak. He's thrilled he got us out of the job killing Paris climate agreement. Then in the same speech admits we've had one disastrous hurricane and we're about to have another....and who knew North Dakota could have droughts? It reminds me of the tobacco execs denying that tobacco is addictive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ZDQKq2F08 (1.5 min)

The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable that climate is becoming increasingly variable and intense, and yet the US government will not allow mention of global warming? Talk about heads in the sand. You know they know. They're lying just like the tobacco execs to save their profit (and lose our habitable planet).

Hurricane Irma.jpg

If you missed T-rump's speech, here are the quotes I find so hypocritical -
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In order to protect American industry and workers, we withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris climate accord. Job killer. People have no idea. Many people have no idea how bad that was. And right here in North Dakota, the Dakota Access pipeline is finally open for business. ... I also did Keystone. You know about Keystone, another one, big one. Big. First couple of days in office, those two. Forty-eight thousand jobs. Tremendous, tremendous thing. I think environmentally better. I really believe that. Environmentally better.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I want to take a moment to send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Texas and Louisiana, who have truly suffered through a catastrophic hurricane, one of the worst hurricanes in our country’s history. And guess what. We have another one coming. ... The one that’s coming now, Irma, they’re saying, is largest one in recorded history in the Atlantic Ocean, coming out of the Atlantic, which gets big ones. ... I also want to tell the people of North Dakota and the Western states, who are feeling the pain of the devastating drought, that we are with you 100 percent. One hundred percent. ... I just said to the governor, "I didn’t know you had droughts this far north." Guess what. You have them. But we’re working hard on it, and it’ll disappear. It’ll all go away.

Like his boss, Scott Pruitt wears his climate-change skepticism on his sleeve and seems to believe it’s best to keep information about the environment under wraps.
http://progressive.org/dispatches/pruitt-shushes-talk-of-climate-change-...

Are we really so brainwashed we can't see the hypocrisy?
brainwashed.png

"It is past time to call out Trump and all climate deniers for this crime against humanity. No more treating climate denial like an honest difference of opinion."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/07/planet-rages-fires-and-stor...

Bill McKibben responds - We have to go to 100 percent renewable energy, and we have to do it fast. We have to say there will be no more fossil fuel infrastructure development. And that’s why we’re fighting so hard every single pipeline, every single new coal mine.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/7/we_have_never_had_anything_like

From major hurricanes and flooding to droughts and fires, the refusal to accept the science of global warming is getting very expensive
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/04/look-around-costs-not-actin...

Take for example the costs of Irma to debt strapped Puerto Rico (10 min video with text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19959:Puerto-Rico-Drowning-in-Debt%3A-Ir...

Republican governor Rick Scott prioritized development over ecological restoration of wetlands. Water from rain and storm surges will have fewer places to go when the storm makes landfall, creating a greater potential for catastrophic flooding.
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/09/florida-risks-more-irma-devastation-...

"We should be naming these hurricanes after Exxon and Chevron, not Harvey and Irma."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/07/study-details-why-climate-c...

corporate storm.png

The toxic outcomes of hurricane landfall - take a "toxic tour" of Houston's fenceline communities, led by environmental justice organizer Bryan Parras. (video and text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/5/petro_metro_a_toxic_tour_of

"Leadership must come from countries that are high-income, have benefited from fossil fuel extraction, and that are historically responsible for significant emissions."—The Lofoten Declaration, a far-reaching document in which 220 organizations call for rapid, global transition to achieve a low carbon future.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/07/unprecedented-lofoten-decla...

The ever growing swing of the weather pendulum will be with us for the rest of our lives. Climate scientist Michael Mann explains that a business-as-usual scenario will lead to increasingly devastating storms (video and text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19939:Are-Irma-like-Super-Storms-the-%27...

We are in the sixth great extinction. Climate change is a well-documented driver of both wildlife extinction and disease emergence, but even the parasites are headed for oblivion as their host die off.
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1602422

Our culture of legalized bribery makes climate disasters more likely, but there's an alternative.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/09/06/texas-flooded-because-our-...

Neil deMause discusses the relationship of hurricanes and poverty (podcast and text)
http://fair.org/home/some-people-faced-with-a-disaster-cant-just-pick-up...

George Monbiot, columnist at The Guardian. His new book is, "Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis" and he explains the need to speak out.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/31/george_monbiot_we_cant_be_silent

A recent report on Moyers & Company shows that left-leaning social, political and environmental/climate progressives are the nation’s “new silent majority.” Now would be the time for that silence to find a voice.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/silence-good-people/

"We must organize our communities to create a new socialist order and overthrow the corporate state through sustained acts of mass civil disobedience. We must achieve full employment, guaranteed minimum incomes, health insurance, free education at all levels, robust protection of the natural world and an end to militarism and imperialism." Chris Hedges
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/diseases-of-despair/

climate march.jpg

Don't Worry If Global Warming doesn't Cause Extinction, A Nuclear War Could.
When you look at US foreign policy the stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming...

Korea

Col. Wilkerson discusses the Korean hostilities with great practicality and sense. His view – let's do what it takes to avoid conflict. (30 min video or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19926:Larry-Wilkerson%3A-North-Korea-is-...
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/north-korea-crisis-paved...

The MSM just will not let the American people know there is a peace offer on the table.
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/05/north-korea-says-it-might-negotiate-...

Tim Shorrock, an investigative journalist and the author of "Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Outsourced Intelligence." discusses his new piece for The Nation "Diplomacy with North Korea Has Worked Before, and Can Work Again." (video and text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/7/talks_can_work_as_tensions_rise

Suki Kim was born in South Korea and moved to the U.S. at age 13, spent much of 2011 teaching English to children of North Korea’s elite. North Korea functions, she believes, as a true cult, with all of the country’s pre-cult existence now passed out of human memory.
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/04/undercover-in-north-korea-all-paths-...

Venezuela and Iran

The imposition of economic sanctions and a world-wide boycott of Iranial oil, and the blaming of former Iranian leader Mosaddegh, looks a lot like the economic war and trajectory of U.S. policy towards today's Venezuela and the government of Nicolas Maduro. (3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnD_6KhwWJI
The second half of Ralph Nader's show is Larry Wilkerson discussing our crazy Iran policy. (The first half is John Nichols discussing the T-rump cabinet)
https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/horsemen-of-the-trumpocalypseiran-nuclea...

What are we fightin' for?

fight for what.jpg

They say to defeat Terrorists...like this fellow?
Entrapment is a favorite trick. The FBI Pressured a Lonely Young Man Into a Bomb Plot. He Tried to Back Out. Now He’s Serving Life in Prison.
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/03/the-fbi-pressured-a-lonely-young-man...

I think it is to prop up the failing fossil fuel industry and the crumbling capitalist system.
Will the dollar fall to the Chinese yuan? Max thinks so. (first 15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv3pPU-BBU4


Perhaps We Fight Because War Promotes Arms Sales!

bar graph import export arms_0.jpg

US sells $3.8 billion of F-16 jets, missiles and patrol boats to Bahrain in spite of human rights concerns
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-state-department-approves-38bn-arms...

We aren't alone (but we are number one). The UK government is being accused of fanning the flames of the Gulf crisis after it included both sides of the dispute in a newly published list of countries identified by officials as “priority markets” for the UK’s £12bn defense industry.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/revealed-both-sides-gulf-dispute-liste...

As the world's largest arms fair gets underway in London, author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, Andrew Feinstein talks to Real Media about corruption and justification of arms deals (12 min video and text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19964:Real-Media%3A-Biggest-Arms-Deal-in...

The British protest giant arms sale and fair in London. (10 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...

The Flotilla to the Pentagon is coming up on September 17 (you can still sign up and do not need your own kayak or any special skills) and the No War 2017: War and the Environment conference is coming up on September 22-24 (you can still sign up, but please hurry),
http://worldbeyondwar.org/flotilla/
http://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2017

fight for it.jpg

The Democraps

Thomas Frank, author of 'What's the Matter with Kansas?' and 'Listen, Liberal,' and Paul Jay discuss Hillary Clinton's new book 'What Happened,' and identify the real differences between Clinton and Sanders (50 min video and text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19944:Clinton-Attacks-Sanders-in-New-Boo...
He explains that the Democratic Party serves the professional class and the top 10% and no longer cares about the poor or working class (20 min video and text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...

Chicago Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a young populist politician who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been forced off a gubernatorial ticket that he only recently joined, after coming under fire for his ties to DSA and the group’s support of the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement.
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/06/socialist-forced-off-democratic-camp...

Medicare for all - To have Sanders, Warren, and Harris on the same bill sends a signal that single-payer is the central Democratic vehicle for health care policy reform going forward
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/07/elizabeth-warren-jumps-on-board-bern...

single payer.jpg

DACA

More than 100 law professors who specialize in immigration signed a letter in August stating that DACA was a "lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion."
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41853-sessions-is-wrong-there-is-no-l...

The House of Representatives passed the Dream Act and that fifty-five out of one hundred U.S. Senators supported it. It would have passed, were it not for a filibuster led by then-Senator Sessions.
http://progressive.org/dispatches/whew-that-jeff-sessions-he-comes-acros...

Fighting for DACA - It isn’t just Trump and Sessions who own the cruel decision to end DACA. Ten Republican state attorneys general and the governor of Idaho threatened to sue the federal government over DACA and declared Sept. 5 their deadline in an attempt to force Trump’s hand.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/must-fight-trumps-decision-end-daca/

Trump passed off responsibility for the fate of the 800,000 young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to a Congress that has shown little ability to tackle politically fraught issues.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/tough-talk-immigration-trump-waffles/

daca kids.jpg

Education -

DeVos doesn't care about students. Her attitude about DACA says it all.
http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/betsy-devoss-silence-on-daca-says...

She thinks schools (and life) are about profit
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/31/devos-trump-forprofit-college-e...

Will Houston follow New Orleans and lose their public schools?
http://www.alternet.org/new-orleans-warnings-school-privatization

It hasn't worked well in Michigan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/magazine/michigan-gambled-on-charter-...

Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush and author of “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools” talks with Chris Hedges. (29 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BWVInIJ86A

The recession negatively impacted student learning across the country
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/08/30/the-great-recession-decima...

I'm glad to see this practice begun in the late 50's and continuing today being exposed. What we’re finding in Alabama, and really across the country, are white communities, wealthier white communities, wanting to pull away from these regional or countywide school districts and form their own racially isolated, much more wealthy school districts. And that’s happened in Jefferson County, Alabama. (video and text – 2 parts)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/8/nikole_hannah_jones_how_wealthy_white
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/8/extended_interview_nikole_hannah_j...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/magazine/the-resegregation-of-jeffers...

corrupt-corporations.jpg

Corrupt corporations
Credit-reporting giant Equifax has just disclosed that in the summer of 2017, hackers gained access to the personal information of 143 million of its consumers. The hackers obtains access to names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, even credit cards.
But the behavior of Equifax in the wake of the cyberattack has been horrifying. Three Equifax Managers sold their stock in the company before the cyber attack was revealed, raising questions about potential insider trading. Worse still, the company offered “free” identity theft protection for those impacted, but only if the consumer waived their right to sue Equifax in a class action lawsuit!
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/08/equifax-is-proving-why-forced-arbitr...
Bill Black weighs in on the Equifax scandal (22 min video with text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19960:Equifax-Data-Breach-is-a-10-out-of...

Even the non-profits are being bought out and saying one thing while doing another. Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, and Chris Hedges explore how corporations have used their money to take over the nonprofit organizations and regulatory agencies that once protected the citizen from predatory corporate practices. (29 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJURmeW2M04

Lina Khan and Ralph Nader discuss Amazon's corporate power. (first 25 min)
https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/amazon-takes-over-the-world/

And a complicit press - Fossil Fuel Lobbyist by Day, WaPo Columnist by Night
http://fair.org/home/fossil-fuel-lobbyist-by-day-wapo-columnist-by-night/

Jake Tapper has not only let the president off the hook, he has played a central role in cultivating pro-war fever among the American public.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/behind-guise-adversarial-journalism-cn...

Jimmy Dore, Ron, and Steph discuss how Facebook is manipulating the news. (16 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg7Sb-30hTU


Is There Anywhere in the World Where Planet and People Come First? Yes.

caring for earth.png

There are countries focused on the health and happiness of its people. In this illuminating talk, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country's mission to put happiness before economic growth and set a world standard for environmental preservation. (18 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lc_dlVrg5M

I found this interview to be insightful and interesting. Juan Gonzalez has a new book out "Reclaiming Gotham: Bill de Blasio and the Movement to End America’s Tale of Two Cities" in which he theorizes that cities are the last progressive stronghold and provide our best hope for reform. (video and text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/6/extended_interview_juan_gonzalez_o...
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/6/reclaiming_gotham_juan_gonzalez_on...

criticism.jpg

It will take us all - countries, cities, and individual communities to reach for peace and the greening of the world. What choice do we have. All we can do is make the best of whatever situation we encounter. There is so much to do (and undo). It is possible, but powerful greed stands in the way. Stand true as you can against the hypocrisy. I hope you find peace in your corner of the universe. Wishing us all the best as we weather the storms.

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Lookout's picture

Chris Hedges is joined by former writers for The Village Voice, Tom Robbins and Michael Musto. The New York City alternative weekly newspaper announced recently it is ending its free print edition. (27 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9VrZf4lin0

Jesse Ventura is back with a new show focusing on government hypocrisy, election misconduct, and media (27 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoIC4iOwnyk

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Raggedy Ann's picture

So much for me to go back and listen to! Thanks for your work to bring those to us. Knowledge is power and you are making us more powerful!

Bhutan does not measure GDP, they measure GNH - Gross National Happiness - I used to teach this to my students. There's a great film on it - your clip is part of that film. It's very inspiring.

Beautiful day here today - we got a great rain both Thursday and Friday evenings, so everything is greening up. I also now own 20 chickens - inherited from my supplier who is moving. Anyone want to buy fresh eggs? $3/dozen!

Have a beautiful day, everyone! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Lookout's picture

@Raggedy Ann

Hooray for rain! We're due 3-7 inches Tuesday as Irma rolls through (bet I won't hooray that).

We're going to get chickens now that I've retired from the band and no longer have to hit the road (after 30 years). I'll be home long enough to tend them! I plan to build a chicken tractor and pasture raise them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTfgmeId7mM (7 min) I'll probably wait till spring.

Hope you have a good Sunday!

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smiley7's picture

extraordinary Watch, many thanks for the work and the concentration on Climate Change!
"Now would be the time for that silence to find a voice." amen to that statement.

Recalling the day when the Voice was must-read material.

Florida friends in our thoughts, please be safe.

Info: https://twitter.com/FEMAlive/lists/hurricane-irma

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Lookout's picture

@smiley7 !

It is past time to stand up and speak out -about climate, wars, capitalism, health care, the environment, education, incarceration, media, ...oh my the list continues. Sometimes I feel I'm yelling into the hurricane and no one can hear.

Thanks for dropping by and listening!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

The picture in your essay is a powerful image of the hurricane. Since it is already in your essay, I thought I would ask if you would do a copy and paste of the code and insert in your essay per the instructions below. Amanda and I had this conversation, and it worked for her. So I thought I would share it with you and hope you will give it a shot.

When you open "new essay" to write a new post, go down to the bottom of the page. Under embed video, there is a place to enter and upload an image. The image you enter will appear when your essay is transferred to Twitter or Facebook using their respective icons at the top of your essay. If you are including an image in your diary anyway, posting and uploading the image link will include it in your headline on fb. If you don't put anything in there, it will default to the c99 logo. Test it out by clicking on the FB icon to cross post your essay to your facebook account. If it worked you will see the image you put into the widget in the popup. If it didn't, you will see the default logo or gibberish in the popup.

Drop by our caucus99percent facebook page and check it out for yourself. You should be able to distinguish c99 cross posts from cross posts from other places that are shared to c99's page. There is a huge difference in look. Evening Blues, Joe, always includes his banner in the image widget. gjohnsit never uses the facebook image widget. If I had access, I would do it for the writer when I posted to FB, but I do not. So whether or not your FB post includes a picture is entirely up to you.

We all appreciate all of the essays you contribute and don't want to make doing them more work for you. Give it a shot when you are writing a new essay and feel like experimenting. When and if you can do it, great. When not, don't worry about it.

Thanks and good luck.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Lookout's picture

@dkmich

img src="/sites/default/files/user_images_2/Hurricane%20Irma.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="Hurricane Irma.jpg"/

Hurricane Irma.jpg

Last time I added the photo at the end of the composition page set with the scheduler, I lost my essay. I've been gun shy since then, but I'll try again.

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@Lookout

practice on new essay...go the bottom - do not touch the scheduler for this. This is the ONLY section you want to touch. Load your image in FB_image. The rest is business as usual.

FB_image
Choose FileUpload
Files must be less than 64 MB.
Allowed file types: png gif jpg jpeg.

When I just now clicked on the FB link, I didn't see anything but the c99 image. Iam going to move this conversation to message, and we'll practice a new "test" essay. If it happens to publish, I'm sure our team won't mind while we practice. I will send you a message.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Azazello's picture

Part 3 of Paul Jay's interview with Thomas Frank went up yesterday. I'm watching it now and it's very good, maybe the best so far. YouTube (33 min.)

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

Abby Martin posted empire files this morning. I'm listening now.
Dr. Gerald Horne is the Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and is the author of over 20 books on slavery and the Black liberation movement; most recently "The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkYZtfxj0RM (33 min)

Thanks for the Franks piece. I'll watch it later. Here are a couple of other things I ran across this morning...

Two more foxes nominated to run hen houses in the Trump administration
http://www.epi.org/blog/policy-watch-two-more-foxes-nominated-to-run-hen...

Assad wins!
http://www.alternet.org/world/syrian-war-ending-and-assad-victor

We need to design Cities that work with nature
http://www.alternet.org/environment/one-major-lesson-disastrous-floods-a...

The hell with people....it's all about profit!
http://www.alternet.org/environment/3-big-corporations-accused-shameless...

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WoodsDweller's picture

Irma's aftermath in the Caribbean
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6soeAQx9ps]

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Lookout's picture

@WoodsDweller

1 Million/No Power/ Irma Tracking North/15' Storm Surge!
and hold on could be a long week...one track has Jose hitting NY on the 20th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc1rl3hVgfY (5 min)

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@Lookout
The Italian city of Livorno just got deluged with 16" of rainfall in just four hours. After an extended and punishing drought. Really trashed the place.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4870110/Family-four-drown-Italia...

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native

Lookout's picture

@native

One time we got 7" in about 10 hours and it was pretty bad. I can imagine the disaster in Italy. Thanks for the report.

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Cassiodorus's picture

Fossil fuels are like tobacco, except that everyone's hooked and nobody's talking about a phase-out of the fossil fuel industries like they talked about a phase-out of the tobacco industry.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Lookout's picture

@Cassiodorus

http://leave-it-in-the-ground.org/

Bill McKibbin and his group and many others.

When the fuel industry is tied to the deep and shadow state it is difficult to get traction. For now we have to act as individuals and communities.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Great job.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Lookout's picture

@dkmich

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Meteor Man's picture

A golden Nugget from Politico Playbook newsletter:

-- @PascoSheriff: "To clarify, DO NOT shoot weapons @ #Irma. You won't make it turn around & it will have very dangerous side effects".

The mind boggles.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Lookout's picture

@Meteor Man

it boggles the mind.

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mimi's picture

as I am living a life without TV and trapped in an area without good signals, I feel clueless. I had no influx of images of all the horrible climate change catastrophies. You help a lot.

Here a little thingy from Germany. When I just read the headline, I said to myself, 'heh, I am rather poor in Germany than in the US' (yep I still had that default bias). But then all that crumbles into dust, more or less, these days. My memories of the seventies and eighties caused me to think that way. But it comes to an end. Now I doubt everthing I hear. May be the best thing is not listening and not voting. I won't vote.


September 10, 2017 - 'The Model Economy' in Germany is Growing a Class of Working Poor

[video:https://youtu.be/1nSgO0EcUlM]

Neeless to say that I am a big fan and small supporter of The Real News Network.

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Lookout's picture

@mimi @mimi

the corporate coup is complete. Glad you found the climate info pertinent. As Irma bears down it seems a good focus today.

All the best

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mimi's picture

@Lookout
I mean to read Hedges for me is like grabbing a rescue ring in the water(similarly to what our c99p image on the bottom represents). He makes me feel that I am not insane and I need that reinforcment and mental confirmation.
The Great Flood
Starting like this is already a hook to go on further.

Civilizations over the past 6,000 years have unfailingly squandered their futures through acts of colossal stupidity and hubris. We are probably not an exception. The physical ruins of these empires, including the Mesopotamian, Roman, Mayan and Indus, litter the earth. They elevated, during acute distress, inept and corrupt leaders who channeled anger, fear and dwindling resources into self-defeating wars and vast building projects. The ruling oligarchs, driven by greed and hedonism, retreated into privileged compounds—the Forbidden City, Versailles—and hoarded wealth as their populations endured mounting misery and poverty. The worse it got, the more the people lied to themselves and the more they wanted to be lied to. Reality was too painful to confront. They retreated into what anthropologists call “crisis cults,” which promised the return of the lost world through magical beliefs.

and this looks like a lot of revenge from the up on high to me:

As this column is being written, three key military facilities in Florida are evacuated: the Miami-area headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America; the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, in charge of overseas operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia; and the Naval Air Station in Key West. There will soon come a day when obliteration of infrastructure will prohibit military operations from returning. Add to the list of endangered military installations Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. missile base in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. naval base on Diego Garcia and numerous other military sites in coastal areas and it becomes painfully clear that the existential peril facing the empire is not in the Middle East but in the seas and the skies. There are 128 U.S. military installations at risk from rising sea levels, including Navy, Air Force, Marine and Army facilities in Virginia. Giant vertical rulers dot the highway outside the Norfolk naval base to allow motorists to determine if the water is too deep to drive through. In two decades, maybe less, the main road to the base will be impassable at high tide daily.

Sounds like the deluge. Need to build Noah's ark?
OK the following gets apocalyptic. If you can read it ... I needed to stop for a moment.

The water will continue to rise. “It will have a metallic sheen and will smell bad,” Goodell writes. “Kids will get strange rashes and fevers. More people will leave [low areas]. Seawalls will crumble. In a few decades, low-lying neighborhoods will be knee-deep. Wooden houses will collapse into a sea of soda bottles, laundry detergent jugs, and plastic toothbrushes. Human bones, floated out of caskets, will be a common sight. Treasure hunters will kayak in, using small robotic submersibles to search for coins and jewelry. Modern office buildings and condo towers will lean as salt water corrodes the concrete foundations and eats away at the structural beams. Fish will school in the classrooms. Oysters will grow on submerged light poles. Religious leaders will blame sinners for the drowning of the city.”

The damage suffered by Houston, Tampa and Miami is not an anomaly. It is the beginning of the end. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

Ok, onwards to ark building. What else is there to say?

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Lookout's picture

@mimi

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

mimi's picture

.. pay for Hurricane Destruction

“Climate change isn’t just a crisis, it’s a crime. It’s high time to hold the criminals accountable.”

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Lily O Lady's picture

our corporate overlords perpetrate on us.

I'm still trying to figure out the point of IDs. With the right information a criminal can obtain an ID and impersonate anyone they want. Confidence in IDs appears to be naive.

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"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"

Lookout's picture

@Lily O Lady

they will have a DNA and/or retinal scans in combo with face recognition. Maybe we'll just wear our number on our back (wink).

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lily O Lady's picture

@Lookout

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"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"

after it's too late to stop the ever-increasing rate of climate change. Then, like all short-sighted, selfish greedheads, they will be shamed and ostracized, but it won't matter this time because the planet will be coasting to uninhabitability. Thanks greedheads.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Lily O Lady's picture

@Timmethy2.0

wiped away. They will probably even blame us for the whole mess.

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"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"