The Evening Blues - 8-8-19
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Doo Wop group Speedo And The Cadillacs. Enjoy!
The Cadillacs - Speedo / Let me explain
"Historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon, not only because it undermines moral and intellectual integrity, but also because it lays the groundwork for crimes that lie ahead."
-- Noam Chomsky
News and Opinion
An excellent piece, absolutely worth a full read:
From El Paso to the War on Terror, the Dangers of Historical Amnesia
In the wake of Saturday’s attack, there were calls to reorder and expand the government’s long-running war on terrorism. Six former National Security Council counterterrorism directors added their names to a statement calling on the Trump administration to approach domestic terrorism with the same urgency, resources, and strategic vision as the post-9/11 effort to combat international terrorism. Others were more direct in their demands, such as the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who wrote in a now-deleted tweet, “So can we please start a war on terrorism at home now?”
Well-intentioned though they might be, a dangerous bit of historical amnesia undermines demands to replicate the war on terror on U.S. soil. For one, there’s been a war on terror at home for nearly two decades. It’s been felt in Muslim communities infiltrated by undercover informants, and it’s been expressed in the militarization of police departments across the country. Second, the existing war on terror shattered entire regions of the world, fueled the growth of the very groups it sought to eliminate, killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, created black sites where Americans engaged in torture, resulted in the creation of a perpetually troubled constellation of agencies known as the Department of Homeland Security, spawned secret watchlists used overwhelmingly against Muslims, and paved the way for the president of the United States to execute an American citizen without trial. ...
The impulse to call for an expanded war on terror in response to mass killings is an extension of the country’s entrenched relationship to guns, says Patrick Blanchfield, an associate faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and author of the forthcoming book “Gunpower: The System of American Violence.” “People really like to think that there will always be a good person with a gun,” Blanchfield explained. “That, in essence, is the national security framework.” It’s a process of self-soothing, he said, as expressed by a population that feels, on an individual level, helpless in the face of ongoing gun violence: “Because no one individually feels that they can do something, then it must be the authorities who have to do everything.”
“There’s something so profoundly bleak,” he added, “about the idea of using the terror frame and the war on terror, as that is still going on and is clearly a failure and disaster, as a positive template for dealing with this shit. It’s madness.” ...
As The Intercept reported in an investigative series published earlier this year, the issue, historically, has not been a problem of the FBI lacking in tools but instead declining to use the tools they already have in cases of far-right violence. “It’s this sort of semantic game that they’re playing that we don’t have a domestic terrorism law,” said Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. “Yes, we do. We have 52 of them.” During his time in the bureau, German infiltrated white power groups. “When I was undercover in the 1990s, working these cases, nobody suggested we didn’t have laws,” he said. Since September 11, German explained, counterterrorism has been the FBI’s top priority, and yet “they don’t know how many people are killed by white supremacists each year. They don’t even bother to count them, much less how many violent white supremacist organizations are active in the United States.”
What the FBI lacks, German maintains, is the will to target and investigate the far-right with anywhere near the zeal it has historically reserved for Muslims, leftist dissidents, and environmental activists.
More control: FBI wants powers to tackle domestic terrorism issues
Watch AOC Give a Direct Message to White Supremacists: “We Will Love You Back”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a message for white supremacists: Come back to reality. In a speech from August 5 posted to her Twitter account last night, Ocasio-Cortez told people “falling into the grips of white supremacy” that they’re “not too far gone.”
“Because there is a mother waiting for you. I know it. I know there’s a teacher waiting for you, saying, ‘What happened to my kid?’ ‘What happened to my friend?’” Ocasio-Cortez said at a vigil for victims of two mass shootings this weekend. “And we will always be here and hold space for you to come back. We will love you back. You are not too far gone.”
Here’s what we have to say to all of America’s men and women falling in the grips of hatred and white supremacy:
Come back. It’s not too late.
You have neighbors and loved ones waiting, holding space for you.
And we will love you back. https://t.co/f2nCZzwLUy— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2019
“My Rhetoric Brings People Together”: Trump Has a Unique Take on His Anti-Immigrant Slurs
Heading out the door to visit the mass shooting sites of Dayton and El Paso, President Donald Trump denied that his repeated anti-immigrant slurs had anything to do with either massacre — even the one carried out by a man who echoed Trump when he referred to Hispanics and immigrants as “invaders.”
“No, I don’t think my rhetoric has at all,” the president told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday morning. “I think my rhetoric brings people together. Our country is doing incredibly well.”
22 people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism. El Paso will not be quiet and neither will I. https://t.co/dakFPKj0vJ
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 7, 2019
Emergency Doctor to Trump: You Are Wrong, Mental Illness Is Not to Blame for Gun Violence Epidemic
The Pariah-In-Chief goes on tour:
“Send Him Back!”: El Paso Gives Trump Some of His Own Medicine
As President Trump headed to El Paso for a “healing” visit to console the border city after Saturday’s mass shooting, residents in a local park were ready for him, calling out a familiar chant.
“Send him back!” dozens gathered at Washington Park chanted Wednesday afternoon, riffing off the chant at Trump's recent campaign rally in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar. The protesters assembled at the park around noon armed with signs and decked in anti-Trump accessories to speak out against the president's racist rhetoric and his refusal to admit any part in enabling the growth of white supremacy in the U.S. ...
Trump’s visit to El Paso has been a divisive one for residents of the border city. His history of bad-mouthing Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants has never been received well in the majority-Hispanic border city. In 2016, Trump lost El Paso in the general election nearly two to one, according to the Washington Post. It was the lowest performance of any major presidential candidate in recent history. Trump once again inflamed locals back in February when he held a campaign rally in El Paso and falsely claimed crime there was on the rise — plus, he failed to reimburse the city the rally’s $470,000 price tag.
Earlier this week, El Paso elected officials asked Trump to denounce the kind of bigotry that he’s enabled since the inception of his presidential campaign in 2015. “If the President fails to strongly condemn this racially-motivated terrorist attack and fails to call for an end to the use of violence against minority groups by radicalized white nationalist terrorists during his visit, his continued depiction of immigrants and migrants as a threat to our nation will only place our community at greater risk for racially-motivated attacks," El Paso city councilwoman Claudia Ordaz Perez and County Commissioner Vincent Perez said in a joint statement.
Amnesty International today issued a travel warning calling for travelers and visitors to the United States to exercise extreme caution due to rampant gun violence, which has become so prevalent in the US that it amounts to a human rights crisis. https://t.co/bsVsiBOO5K pic.twitter.com/CVWEyVzR3c
— Amnesty International (@amnestyusa) August 7, 2019
ICE Just Arrested Nearly 700 Immigrants in Mass Raids Across Mississippi
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested approximately 680 people as part of a massive series of workplace raids in Mississippi on Wednesday. The raid targeted seven food processing plants across the state and was planned months ago, the Associated Press reports.
One of the targets was the Koch Foods Inc. plant in Morton, Mississippi, where several busloads of workers were arrested. Workers who could immediately prove they had legal status in the U.S were free to go after having the trunks of their cars searched, according to the AP report. ...
In a press release, ICE said the workers’ immediate fates would be determined “on a case-by-case basis” — but that every person apprehended as part of the raids will either be put in deportation proceedings or, in the case of those with prior deportation orders, will be deported.
Trump's compassionate 'Murka comes to Boston:
Boston Police Destroy Wheelchairs Belonging to Homeless Residents
Police in Boston Tuesday night reportedly destroyed three wheelchairs belonging to homeless city residents in a garbage truck compactor as part of a crackdown targeting the city's transient population.
"Operation Clean Sweep" began August 2 after a county corrections officer was allegedly struck during a fight involving a number of people on "Methadone Mile," a stretch of the city near Massachusetts Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard where there are a number of clinics and treatment centers. The area has a high homeless population, many of whom have been the target of the operation in the five days and counting it has continued.
The destruction of the wheelchairs is only the latest incident involving the trashing of the possessions of homeless people in the operation. ...
The police behavior was "cartoon evil," tweeted media reporter Adam Johnson, who also noted the largely unmentioned historical significance of the operation.
"Mass removing homeless people (e.g. human beings) and calling it 'operation clean sweep' (the obvious implication being said human beings are trash) is genocidal rhetoric and it's disturbing no one in Boston government or media feels the need to point this out," said Johnson.
Wanda Vázquez: Puerto Rico swears in new governor after ousting predecessor
Puerto Rico’s supreme court on Wednesday overturned the swearing-in of Pedro Pierluisi as the island’s governor less than a week ago, clearing the way for the justice secretary, Wanda Vázquez, to take up the post after weeks of turmoil.
Vázquez took the oath of office in the early evening at the supreme court before leaving without making any public comment. She became just the second woman to hold the office. ...
The high court’s unanimous decision, which could not be appealed, settled the dispute over who will lead the US territory after its political establishment was knocked off balance by big street protests spawned by anger over corruption, mismanagement of funds and a leaked obscenity-laced chat that forced the previous governor and several top aides to resign.
But it was also expected to unleash a new wave of demonstrations because many Puerto Ricans have said they don’t want Vázquez as governor.The high court’s unanimous decision, which could not be appealed, settled the dispute over who will lead the US territory after its political establishment was knocked off balance by big street protests spawned by anger over corruption, mismanagement of funds and a leaked obscenity-laced chat that forced the previous governor and several top aides to resign.
But it was also expected to unleash a new wave of demonstrations because many Puerto Ricans have said they don’t want Vázquez as governor.
Turkey, US reach deal to create "safe zone" in Northern Syria
Syria: Turkey and US reach deal to manage tensions over Kurds
Turkey and the US have agreed to establish a joint operation centre to manage tensions between US-backed Kurdish militia and Turkish forces in northern Syria. The announcement from the Turkish government came after three days of tense negotiations with US officials hoping to forestall a Turkish attack on the Kurdish YPG group, which controls large swathes of northern Syria. ...
Both sides agree that a buffer zone is needed to keep the YPG away from Turkey’s borders, but they have diverged on how large it should be, or who should control it.
The defence ministry said Turkey’s ultimate aim was to create a “peace corridor” that can “ensure that our Syrian brothers will be able to return to their country”. Turkey has the highest number of Syrian refugees in the world at more than 3.6 million and has faced increasing pressure domestically to speed up repatriations to peaceful parts of the country.
Venezuelans protest against suffocating US embargo
US Seizes Cargo Ship Trying to Deliver Food to Venezuela
The US continues to escalate its anti-Venezuela measures this week, having announced Monday night that sanctions have grown to an economic embargo, and now that appears to include a naval blockade.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced on Wednesday that the United States had seized a cargo ship bound for Venezuela in the Panama Canal. The ship was carrying soy cakes for the production of food.
US officials as yet have not commented, but it’s not clear under what pretext they consider themselves allowed to seize a ship carrying food. The Panama Canal is no longer US territory in the first place, and seizing a food ship bound for Venezuela after spending most of 2019 claiming Venezuelans are starving and in need of food aid seems particularly spiteful.
Hat tip mimi:
Will Germany Become the Military Power it Once Was?
German recession fears after big decline in industrial production
German industrial production has suffered its biggest annual decline in nine years after the escalating trade war between the US and China took its toll on exports.
Europe’s economic engine, which has increasingly relied on exports to Asia to bolster factory output, was left teetering on the edge of recession in the second quarter after a 1.5% fall in industrial production in June, which is expected to be repeated in July.
Output fell across the three months to June by 1.8% compared with the first quarter of the year, driven by steep drops in metal production, machinery and automobile manufacturing, the economy ministry said. “Industry remains in an economic downturn,” the ministry said. Production in construction fell 1.1% in the second quarter while energy output dropped 5.9% in the same period.
Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at City Index, said: “If traders needed further evidence of the slowing global economy, they only needed to look towards German industrial production figures. As if on cue and adding to traders’ woes, data from Germany showed that industrial production dropped 1.5% month on month in June, significantly worse than the -0.5% decline forecast.” Fears that the global economy is sliding towards recession have gripped financial markets in recent weeks.
Keiser Report: Monopoly Crisis and Negative Yielding Debt
Eating Away at Workers' Wages, Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Costs Soared by 121% Since 1999
Wages for most American workers have hardly budged over the past two decades, and a major culprit behind that stagnation is the soaring costs of employer-sponsored health insurance plans that some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have defended on the campaign trail.
That's according to an analysis published Monday by Axios, which found that the average cost of employer-sponsored health insurance plans grew by 121 percent between 1999 and 2017. Median household income grew by just two percent during the same period.
"In 1999, the average health insurance coverage for a family consumed 14 percent of the average household income," Axios reported, citing inflation-adjusted figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
"By 2017, family coverage absorbed more than double that amount, to about 31 percent of take-home pay," according to Axios. "Health insurance has hovered consistently around 31 percent of household income since 2012, as companies shifted their employees to plans that had steady premiums but higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs." ...
In an op-ed for the Washington Post last week, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in the House, called the notion that Americans like their private insurance a "myth" and pointed to the soaring costs of employer-sponsored plans. "The average American family with employer-sponsored insurance incurs more than $28,000 dollars in healthcare costs per year, of which about $15,800, or 56 percent, is paid by employers," wrote Jayapal.
"People are happy to get rid of private insurance," Jayapal added, "they just want to know they can keep their doctors and hospitals, even if they switch or lose their jobs. Medicare for All would let them do so."
Bolstering Call to Expand Social Security, New Reporting Reveals How Corporations Are Offloading Pensions
New reporting showing companies' scrapping of pension plans has gone into overdrive means that Social Security must be expanded, an advocacy group said Wednesday. "Expanding Social Security is important for today's retirees," Social Security Works said in a tweet, "but even more important for tomorrow's.
The shift from traditional pensions to 401(k) or similar retirement plans—a change panned as an inequality-fueling disaster—isn't new. "But lately," reported Axios, "those changes are happening even faster."
The outlet attributed the development to a "perfect storm of circumstances, from lower interest rates to higher longevity rates," which "is prompting corporations to offload their pension plans—by selling them to insurance companies and offering lump-sum payments to some workers."
This offloading is known as a "pension risk transfer" (PRT).
Only 14% of households under age 35 have access to a pension plan: https://t.co/OsvsBWsdt6
Expanding Social Security is important for today's retirees - but even more important for tomorrow's.
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) August 7, 2019
Whether they're unable to have any retirement plan, are forced to relying on a 401(k) or IRA, or have a pension that gets transferred, workers will likely be shortchanged. They would have no safeguard under the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and while a lump sum option may seem attractive, it may not be an economically-wise move.
Somebody has been making sausage in secret:
Business Group Spending on Lobbying in Washington Is at Least Double What’s Publicly Reported
Influential corporate trade organizations and nonprofits spent $535 million on lobbying in 2017 and as much as another $675 million on unregulated efforts to influence public policy, according to a two-month investigation. The figures, taken together, highlight how business interests can exploit loopholes in lobbying rules, which don’t cover many staples of modern influence campaigns, such as strategic consulting, broadcast advertising, media relations, social media posts, and polling — or even the financing of astroturf campaigns.
MapLight reviewed tax returns from almost 100 trade organizations and nonprofits to identify unregulated spending on items described as “advocacy,” “consulting,” “contributions,” “coalitions,” “consortiums,” “government affairs,” “communications,” “programs,” “special projects,” “dues,” “memberships,” and “subscriptions.” The $1.2 billion in combined spending demonstrates the increasing power of tax-exempt trade groups known as 501(c)(6) organizations. The Internal Revenue Service has approved thousands of applications for nonprofit status for such organizations, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spends more on lobbying than any other trade organization, to the Washington State Society of Anesthesiologists. Their influence has grown substantially since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision allowed them to spend directly on politics.
Trade organizations regularly raise staggering amounts of corporate cash; dozens of groups raise eight- and nine-figure totals each year. In 2017, the Chamber raised almost $160 million, the American Petroleum Institute took in $206 million, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association brought in almost $65 million. But the nonprofit organizations still, for the most part, fly under the radar. ...
After publication, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., provided a statement condemning the practice. “From fossil fuel companies blocking climate action to the [National Rifle Association] shilling for firearms corporations, these influence schemes help hundreds of millions of dollars flow through sophisticated campaigns to rig our government in special interests’ favor. That’s shameful,” said Whitehouse. “Big trade groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shouldn’t be allowed to swamp our government to enrich a few of their hidden backers. A lot of sunlight is needed to disinfect this area.”
CNN Journo Self Owns While Smearing Tulsi
How the world’s dirtiest industries have learned to pollute our politics
The tragedy of our times is that the gathering collapse of our life support systems has coincided with the age of public disservice. Just as we need to rise above self-interest and short-termism, governments around the world now represent the meanest and dirtiest of special interests. In the United Kingdom, the US, Brazil, Australia and many other nations, pollutocrats rule.
The Earth’s systems are breaking down at astonishing speed.
[Discussion of dire conditions skipped, if you've been reading this space, you know what the author says. - js]The oil and gas industry intends to spend $4.9tn over the next 10 years, exploring and developing new reserves, none of which we can afford to burn. According to the IMF, every year governments subsidise fossil fuels to the tune of $5tn – many times more than they spend on addressing our existential predicament. The US spends 10 times more on these mad subsidies than on its federal education budget. Last year, the world burned more fossil fuels than ever before. ...
Shutting down fossil infrastructure requires government intervention. But in many nations, governments intervene not to protect humanity from the existential threat of fossil fuels, but to protect the fossil fuel industry from the existential threat of public protest. In the US, legislators in 18 states have put forward bills criminalising protests against pipelines, seeking to crush democratic dissent on behalf of the oil industry. In June, Donald Trump’s administration proposed federal legislation that would jail people for up to 20 years for disrupting pipeline construction. Global Witness reports that, in several nations, led by the Philippines, governments have incited the murder of environmental protesters. The process begins with rhetoric, demonising civil protest as extremism and terrorism, then shifts to legislation, criminalising attempts to protect the living planet. Criminalisation then helps legitimise physical assaults and murder. A similar demonisation has begun in Britain, with the publication by a dark money-funded lobby group, Policy Exchange, of a report smearing Extinction Rebellion. Like all such publications, it was given a series of major platforms by the BBC, which preserved its customary absence of curiosity about who funded it. ...
What we see here looks like the denouement of the Pollution Paradox. Because the dirtiest industries attract the least public support, they have the greatest incentive to spend money on politics, to get the results they want and we don’t. They fund political parties, lobby groups and thinktanks, fake grassroots organisations and dark ads on social media. As a result, politics comes to be dominated by the dirtiest industries. We are told to fear the “extremists” who protest against ecocide and challenge dirty industry and the dirty governments it buys. But the extremists we should fear are those who hold office.
Bolsonaro rejects 'Captain Chainsaw' label as data shows deforestation 'exploded'
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon “exploded” in July it has emerged as Jair Bolsonaro scoffed at his portrayal as Brazil’s “Captain Chainsaw” and mocked Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel for challenging him over the devastation. Speaking in São Paulo on Tuesday, Brazil’s president attacked the leaders of France and Germany – who have both voiced concern about the surge in destruction since Bolsonaro took office in January.
“They still haven’t realized Brazil’s under new management,” Bolsonaro declared to cheers of approval from his audience. “Now we’ve got a blooming president.”
The far-right populist repeated claims that his administration – which critics accuse of helping unleash a new wave of environmental destruction – was the victim of a mendacious international smear campaign based on “imprecise” satellite data showing a jump in deforestation. Bolsonaro ridiculed what he called his depiction as “Capitão Motoserra” (“Captain Chainsaw”).
But as he spoke, official data laid bare the scale of the environmental crisis currently unfolding in the world’s biggest rainforest, of which about 60% is in Brazil. According to a report in the Estado de São Paulo newspaper, Amazon destruction “exploded” in July with an estimated 2,254 sq km (870 sq miles) of forest cleared, according to preliminary data gathered by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, the government agency that monitors deforestation.
That is an area about half the size of Philadelphia and reportedly represents a 278% rise on the 596.6 sq km destroyed in July last year.
Deadly cliffside collapse underscores California's climate-fueled crisis
Three women were killed last week while sunning on a beach in Encinitas, California, when the bluff above them gave way. The sudden tragedy that befell Anne Clave; her mother, Julie Davis; and her aunt Elizabeth Cox, who had gathered at the resplendent coastline in the seaside community north of San Diego to celebrate Cox surviving cancer, made headlines around the world. But cliff erosion continues to imperil people and property around the state. California is falling into the sea piece by piece, and coastal conditions will only grow more dire with worsening climate crisis.
A woman was killed in Santa Cruz county when a cliff collapsed beneath her feet in 2017. A landslide on a San Francisco beach killed another beachgoer in 2019.
Nearly three-quarters of California’s coastlines are actively eroding, putting lives, homes, roadways, railways, utilities and other infrastructure in danger. The cliffs have been crumbling since before the Arctic began melting, but natural geological collapse stands to worsen in the coming years. ...
Scientists say sea level rise will accelerate cliff retreat, doubling average erosion rates in southern California by 2100, including some of the state’s most heavily populated, tony coastal communities. That’s because sea level rise and more extreme storms mean bigger, higher waves washing away beaches and lapping at the bottoms of the cliffs. California stands to lose two-thirds of its beaches by the turn of the next century, in a wave of coastal economic destruction worse than the state’s most devastating fires to date.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
A Year Closer to Medicare for ‘All’
New Cybersecurity Non-Profit Full of Russiagaters
Here Are 5 Big Holes in Mueller's Work
What a Protest in Hong Kong Looks Like When Pro-Democracy Marchers Lose Their Fear of the Police
Chelsea Manning Can Remain in Jail for Another Year, Judge Rules
US Empire Tightens Sanctions On Venezuela And Manning
Trump considering executive action over alleged anti-conservative tech bias
Kentucky Miners Are Blocking a Coal Train for Back Pay
These 7 Prominent Conservatives Have Nothing in Common With White Supremacists, Nothing at All
Trump's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards Could Cost Americans $460 Billion: Consumer Reports
Explosion of Toxic Pesticide Use Causing Insect Apocalypse in United States
A Little Night Music
The Cadillacs - Please Mr Johnson
Cadillacs - Speedo Is Back
Cadillacs - Down The Road
Speedo And The Cadillacs - It's Love
The Cadillacs - All I Need
The Cadillacs - Great Googly Moo
Speedo And The Cadillacs - Sugar Sugar/About That Girl Named Lou
The Cadillacs - Zoom
Speedo and the Cadillacs - Everybody Else
Cadillacs - Peek-A-Boo
Comments
more questionable journalism
from the Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/456540-poll-biden-leads-2020...
then later
That's fascinating. It shows that Biden also lost ground yet Biden is not mentioned in that second bit. This article might contain bias!
It's worse than you think.
I followed the link to the previous poll, which reported Sanders at 13%, exactly the same as the post-debate poll. Thus, Biden and Warren each lost ground, but Sanders held steady.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
evening shahryar...
it will be interesting to see how these polls hold up once voting begins in earnest. it may be that a significant amount of the support for the progressive candidates comes from independents or people not registered as democrats, but these polls really don't track well with the indications of support that i see.
and even more questionable polling
https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_ia_080819/
for those of you who like Tulsi Gabbard, this poll asked respondents if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the each candidate. Well, not each candidate, only the ones they asked about. Like Biden, or Bernie, or Harris, or Steyer, or Bullock. Others, too, but not Tulsi.
and it's not necessarily because of how the candidates came out in the poll. I mean, if Tulsi were getting 1% and Tom Steyer 3% (really? ok...) then I could sort of understand how they asked about Steyer but Gillibrand outpolls Bullock but she's not in the later questions. Castro is...even though he's at less than 1% here.
Unfair to blame Trump for the crushed wheelchairs, though
Boston mayor Marty Walsh is a Democrat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Walsh_%28politician%29
You are right that the crackdown on the homeless
didn't start with Trump. I put more of the blame on Obama for doing nothing to help the millions who lost their homes during his tenure as well as Bush for watching as the housing bubble exploded. But then every member of congress now and in previous administrations also are to blame. The war against the lower classes started long ago. And damn them all for it.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
evening lotlizard...
perhaps you're right, but i see trump's policies as exacerbating the problems of lower class people and expanding the ranks of the homeless. trump certainly didn't start the federal policies of cruelty (what comes to mind instantly was reagan throwing vast numbers of mental patients out on the street) but he is no less enthusiastic about perpetuating and expanding them than any of his predecessors.
Should we blame Obama that his OWS crackdown crushed live dogs?
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/07/syriza-r-i-p.html#comment-3183640
evening lotlizard...
here's what i think on that topic. obama, to his credit, did not publicly demonize occupiers, suggest that they were the enemy of the people, an infestation, etc.
but, do i hold obama responsible for that particular action? yes, to a degree, i do. it would not have happened without his leadership and the means that he used to put down the occupy movement. when you use means (fusion centers, etc.) that are intended to be used to fight terrorism to put down an organic, explicitly non-violent political dissent movement - you bet that blame for extreme policing and brutality attaches to you.
Fair enough! Well answered. Thanks! n/t
Good afternoon everybody ...
Here's Medea Benjamin on Venezuela:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oJyBYz5gBs width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
thanks for the video. as usual, medea benjamin is a voice of sanity calling out the pack of enraged morons that run the us government's foreign policy.
I think Trump & Bolton have finally put to rest
the "humanitarian intervention" lie. If they're trying to remove an elected government to save people from starving, blocking food shipments makes no sense. Maybe people will see this and finally understand that it's about the oil.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
with any luck...
trump is pretty transparent in his imperialism, you have to try pretty hard not to see it.
Trump has admitted that he wants Venezuela's oil
If people still think that he is not captured by the micc then they are just ignoring reality. And yes he has put a lie on saying that it's Madura who is starving his people.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
They were doing that for weeks,
running stories about empty stores and suffering people.
All the information deprived, even "liberals", bought into it.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Americans are busy murdering the last few insects left. I
can go outside here in Georgia with hardly ever getting a mosquito bite even though I no longer use repellent. I don’t need it. My neighbors hire people to spray their properties, which goes beyond property lines. The web of life is being shredded. We are not an intelligent species.
"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"
evening lily...
in my state there is a lot of municipal, county and state spraying, with a variety of chemicals including some pretty nasty organophosphates. i'm sure that in addition to the mosquitoes that it kills, it takes a toll on lots of other insects. i've certainly noticed precipitous declines in populations of pollinators.
by the way, that's one weird whitey reaction to the Cadillacs
with Jimmy Clanton being one of the laughers at the table.
heh...
it seems pretty typical of the movie clips from the time period. a lot of movies that have cameos of black musicians or rockers in that period seem to have a pull away shot to a table with white people, usually one or more mature white men and at least one nubile white woman who appears to be enjoying the music a great deal. sometimes the white woman gets a line to the effect of, "gee mister johnson, aren't they a swinging bunch?"
Good evening, joe and bluzerz!
The times seem so heavy. What a burden we are carrying. Is this what it’s going to take for change to come? I’m thinkin’.......
Jammin’ to the bluz... thanks for Speedo and the Cadillacs.
We’re off to the county fair. Enjoy your evening!
"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
evening ra...
well, it appears to me that there are enough pissed off people who want change. now what has to happen is that they have to recognize that their so-called leaders aren't going to make the change that they want and then decide to make the change themselves.
I concur!
Back from the fair. It’s a small county. Had fun looking at the exhibits, award winners, steer show-ers, and fair food.
"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
From the first article
The country had no problem dealing with McVeigh in 1995 after he blew up the Oklahoma building nor any of the others who have committed mass murder here. Any new laws is just a way for the intelligence agencies to take even more of our liberties if we actually have any left.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
evening snoopy...
yep. they are dragging their feet, probably because they have friends in the white supremacy movement.
More American exceptionalism
I'd love to see the real explanation for this meeting. Why don't more countries kick out America's NGOs like Russia did before Putin's second election?
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
heh ...
presumably such an event (chinese diplomats meeting with dissenters) would cause squealing of enormous volume and occasion an even greater application of state surveillance on the dissenters.
Oops he was a tad too honest
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
Hola, Joe! Good news and bad news--bad news, first -
regarding the Zeese/Flowers piece you linked to - the PNHP website has a PDF chart that shows that Biden's recent claim,
is not a lie.
[Which doesn't mean that I endorse Uncle's Joe plan--I do not! I never supported the passage of the ACA, a giveaway to the insurance industry. So, certainly don't want to see it bolstered.]
Never mind that I've already posted two screenshots directly from Benie's UMFA proposal, which flat-out state that Medicare--as we know it--Original Medicare as signed into law in 1965-- ceases to be, and, is replaced by UMFA aka Universal Medicare-For-All.
Because I'm not hooked up to my two foot display (just have a laptop size screen), I've just taken a screenshot of the portion of the chart that states that UMFA 'replaces' Medicare (along with all the other public healthcare plans).
The screenshot of the Chart shows Sanders' and Jayapal's proposals--both of which address the 'replacement' of OM/TM by UMFA--using the same exact verbiage.
Here you go,
Hope this chart will post large enough to read. If not, here's how the chart reads,
And, here's the link to the entire PDF Chart.
Now, who's the dissembler(s)?
And, 'why' are PNHP, lawmakers, and Candidates doing this?
Nate Silver said it best,
On a happier note, here's a funny and endearing (I think) Gif from my KFF 'Dogs' Twitter feed.
Of course, that's nothing new. Most of my dogs have reacted similarly when they see their reflection. Kaity barked at herself at just 3 months old, when she saw herself in the black finish of a supplemental frig that we have. She's whip smart--and, equally, strong-willed.
Hey, gotta run the Pup out before dark sets in. Hope to drop back by, and post another screenshot, if I can do it before it's real late.
Hope you guys are all staying cool. Still hot, but, slightly less humid today. Yeah!
Everyone have a nice evening. Stay cool.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
heh, the zeese and flowers article identifies something called "national improved medicare for all" (nima). i had never seen this before. apparently, it is sort of a thing, as the kids would say.
they say, "national improved medicare for all has become a litmus test issue in the democratic party primary for president."
i am guessing that there is no current, fixed definition of nima - only a couple of legislative proposals.
so, i guess my bottom line is, i don't mind if traditional medicare goes away as long as it is replaced by something better for everybody than traditional medicare.
on the other hand, like you, i am a bit peeved about having to purchase a pig in a poke and i would like some real clarity on what it is that is really being offered by jayapal/sanders/warren.
seems to me that well before the election they ought to put it in black and white as a full, fleshed out law ready to be enacted. i want to see all of the devils in the details.
The problem with NIMA is
that the bill they it's originally based upon, is formally dead.
From the page you referenced,
Here's what happened to HR 676 after Conyers was forced out of Congress -
So, as far as I can tell from the piece, they're planning to get behind Jayapal's and Sanders' bills.
Of course, like all OM beneficiaries, I have a booklet/manual the size of a medium phone book, that spells out exactly what benefits are covered.
If/when lawmakers offer that amount of detail about their proposals, and, if/when it surpasses (or, perhaps, even equals) what we now have, we'll give them a listen. But, from the language of the bill, I'm quite certain that it will never happen.
Apparently, like the ACA, the two UMFA bills are assigning a lot of power to the HHS Secretary to set benefits. As I mentioned over the weekend, that's a negative, IMO.
I like the fact that lawmakers--who mostly have to legislate 'changes' or 'reforms' for Original/Traditional Medicare--must stand for election every 2 or 6 years.
That's some protection, in and of itself, when compared to the free hand that a bunch of faceless federal bureaucrats would have. IOW, they'd never have to answer directly to the public, at least not via an electoral process.
(No slight intended to former or retired federal employees/public servants, of course, since that description fits us.
)
I think one of the biggest rubs (for me) is that lawmakers, Dem Candidates, and, even PNHP, apparently, insist on saying that the current Medicare program is simply being 'improved' and 'expanded.' In two sections, both UMFA bills state that the 1965 Title XVIII Medicare program will be dismantled. Plus, Bernie admitted to Dana Bash, what Nate Silver acknowledged in my previous comment--that Medicare-For-All was selected because of the popularity or the existing program--or, for 'branding' purposes.
So, I have to ask the writers, and sponsors of the UMFA/MFA/Buy-In Bills,
Maybe I'll Tweet that question to PNHP. Doubt seriously that any lawmaker would answer me.
Suppose I could attach the PNHP screenshot to the Tweet. Guess I'll think on that one.
Hey--once we're established elsewhere (and, have comprehensive coverage in the country)--I promise, I'll give it a rest!
Seriously, my hope is that, once we're in Mexico and/or Uruguay, our weightiest decision will be 'which beach to check out' on a given day.
Have a good one, Joe. Gotta run and grab a little pizza, that Mr M had delivered.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
In the past I read HR 676 from end to end. It made sense.
Wyden's bill (years ago) was clearly a cover for access through the insurance industry.
If they haven't yet printed a replacement bill we can look at, shame on them. We need to be able to read it. If you see such a thing, let us know. Thank you for doing this. It is an area I'm am deeply interested in.
We do have 'medicins traitant' meaning a GP who refers to specialists, and other types of health care, but so far it is really easy: ask for the referral and you get it. They are not gatekeepers but portals or access. It goes fast, automatically and smoothly.
We have basic coverage through the government health plan, then a Gap or Top Up with a private insurance group which is about 100 € a month for two of us.
My recent trip to the hospital for heart pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, and sleepiness lasted almost eight hours. They watched me, did blood tests, ultrasound of the heart and area, x-ray of the chest as I had pneumonia recently and a little snack as it got late. I walked out with no need to pay. The Tresor de France will issue an automatic payment to the hospital. The Gap insurance, Pacifica from my bank, will cover the rest. I will not see a bill.
If I was just visiting my doctor, I would pay his 27€ fee directly. He would submit my bill to the French Treasury. I would see two payments to my bank account. That is it. Oh and I have all the reports and copies of tests with me.
I'm ok. Probably too much heavy lifting caused a tear in my right chest and I had a high exposure to mold working in our house under reconstruction.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Hi, Dawn! Thank you so much. France appears
either at the top of the list, or, among the top 3 healthcare systems in the world, no matter how many times I search the topic. So, it means all the more to hear from you, just how the system there 'works.'
If you don't mind, I will probably have a couple questions for you (later) about your system. I'm pushed early this evening, because we've got to be out for a couple of hours, or so. Anyhoo, I'll try to catch up with you soon (here), to see if I fully understand the basics (of the system).
Found this in the Guardian--I'm curious, does it sound about right to you? Of course, I'd like to get a bit more detail, because I am so interested in the various system, and, broad strokes don't always paint an accurate picture.
Since I commented, found out a bit about the Swedish system, and like what I've read, thus far. So, will also dig a bit deeper into their healthcare system.
Read that it's be pretty hot across the pond this summer--hope you Guys are faring well, in that regard. (and, that you've got air conditioning)
Hope you continue to share with us, the ins and outs of the French HC system. IMO, there will probably only be one shot at getting a so-called healthcare system transformation, right--hopefully, lawmakers (here) will try to learn from other countries.
Have a nice weekend!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
If every debate about US intervention was about Godzilla instead
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/if-every-debate-about-us-intervention...
So I wondered what the differences are with Canada's
gun laws.
Quick Guide
And an extensive Wiki article:
Gun regulation in Canada
One of the big ones is:
a) Licensing of the individual gun owner (like US car drivers)
b) Registering each gun ( like US car owners)
Second:
a) Control of automatic/military style weapons
b) Handguns are not allowed for personal protection, limited to recreation, competition and hunting.
Third:
a)Limits or prohibition on large magazines, over five rounds.
b)No carbine or multiple round magazine feeds.
The Brady Law Proposed doesn't mention Licensing or registering as far as I can see:
Brady bill Proposals
There's more, but that is such a difference in just a few reasonable items.
I would also like to address the comments on two thirds of the gun deaths are suicides. Firstly, the Canadian laws have lowered these deaths dramatically.
Secondly, if we had humaine mental health care; if we had true universal access to health care for the sick especially chronically ill people; if we had more security of a home, transportation, education, food...these would get to the root of the problems not the result.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.