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Welcome to Saturday ...

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mimi's picture

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2 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

Oy...

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2 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

mimi's picture

[video:https://youtu.be/B87HKrPkFV4]
China is turning to the European Union for assistance as it struggles to contain the outbreak of coronavirus.

The country's prime minister has asked the EU to help find urgently-needed medical supplies.

Australia has joined the United States in banning the entry of foreign nationals who have recently been to China - due to the coronavirus outbreak.
It has been reported that 259 people have now died from the virus. On Saturday, China announced 46 new deaths.
Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler reports from Beijing.
Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Hong Kong.
Al Jazeera's Alexi O'Brien reports from Bankok.

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8 users have voted.
mimi's picture

[video:https://youtu.be/Y-7wuHNzDVQ]
I cast my vote on two important bills yesterday. I voted to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq. And I voted for and co-sponsored the No War with Iran Act.

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16 users have voted.

@mimi

However things turn out--she will be sorely missed in Congress at the beginning of next year . . .

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11 users have voted.
mimi's picture

that makes me laugh and think. If you have time, might be worse watching:
[video:https://youtu.be/yBi9CmlIlTw]

Trump Will Be Acquitted but the Political Struggle Has Just Begun.
When McConnell opened his mouth it was done; but impeachment revealed a lot: most Americans want him convicted and the possibility of a Giuliani indictment means this is far from over

I feel like doing what Mannequin Piss does. Piss on this impeachment trial.

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7 users have voted.
Wally's picture

Really. Fuck the DNC. And it will probably just be the tip of the iceberg as they continue to rig themselves and all of us into oblivion. Bernie is the last off ramp on the road to apocalypse.

EDIT/ADD: Go figure that the DNC advocates of IdPol are bottom line racial exclusionists.
And let's not erase Tulsi.

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13 users have voted.

The Party's Over, Bernie's Last Dance With The Dems

Sorry if this has been posted already. It's a long read, but well worth it, especially as the DNC has just stacked the platform and rules committees and is changing the rules to get Bloomberg in the debates. It's rare I read something that I agree with fully, especially something this lengthy, but this is really how I see things going down.

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13 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

Makes a compelling case. And I did agree with most of what he said. Here's the thing though. While part of me always expected to be merely a spectator through this primary season, I surprised myself when some fellow crew members who have been canvassing here in California for Sanders invited me along and I didn't turn them down. I was equally surprised when I also found myself suggesting to a friend who is moving to New Hampshire this week to canvass there for Bernie.

Why? I'm not sure exactly. Maybe it's just a political memory muscle that refuses to die. Or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic for inspiring political causes. Or maybe it's my only way to say FUCK YOU I AINT MAKING THIS EASIER FOR YOU to a political machine that wants to starve us to death politically because they want all the power to themselves. Who knows? But in the end, I've decided I will be out there exercising my rights, meeting some wonderful people along the way, and making a worthy cause. Let the evil doers do their thing in the fifth ring of hell I call Washington DC. They will never destroy my humanity even as they destroy their own.

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11 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

QMS's picture

@Anja Geitz
Tomorrow at our weekly peace vigil, I have a canvasser from the Tulsi campaign coming to collect signatures. Need a 1000 to get her on the ballot in our state (after election officials throw out 1/2). Perhaps a dozen more will help!

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7 users have voted.

Zionism is a social disease

Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

Smile

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4 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

There are two elections—one for the public, one for the donors. The people get one shot; donors get the do-over.

If they steal it from him this time and he just rolls over then he is sheepdogging no doubt about it. If they steal it, but he runs third party then that might be the start of a true Green Party thing.

If they steal it then it will see lots of young people tell the democrats to stuff it and they will never get back control of congress again. Like that would upset them though right?

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4 users have voted.

The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”

Anybody gonna do an essay about it?

gjohnsit?

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3 users have voted.

@apenultimate

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mimi's picture

@gjohnsit
as well as an essay about the pros and cons of the EU. I really don|t understand the EUs pros. I think you do. When you have time to write about it, it woutd be great.

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2 users have voted.

link

During the height of tensions with Iran last year, the United States conducted an unprecedented series of war games. Over five months, from May until the end of September, 93 separate military exercises were held, with forces operating continuously in, above and around 29 countries.

The games, which practiced everything from ground platoon tactics to cyber warfare, weren't held in the Mideast and weren't directed at Tehran. They were directed against Moscow—and constituted the most intense uninterrupted set of drills since the end of the Cold War.

The activity was the culmination of a buildup that began after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Though American armed forces were fighting several "hot wars" and engaged in crisis deployments in response to both Iran and North Korea, the shift to practicing "high end" warfare tasks dominated. The focus was also undeniably anti-Russia,with the number of European games ten times the number of China-related drills held at the same time.

"In the shadow of the deteriorating European security environment, the size and scope of NATO and Russian military exercises have increased significantly—even dramatically," a NATO parliamentary committee reported in October

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3 users have voted.
TheOtherMaven's picture

@gjohnsit

Russia didn't "seize" anything. The Crimeans held a referendum and voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia. That was all there was to it.

But of course the Deep State and its apparatchiks are conditioning us for The Final War.

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6 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

mimi's picture

[video:https://youtu.be/Kg5D6sqvfpA]

Pushback with Aaron Maté

As the Trump administration's stated rationale for killing Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis collapses, journalist Gareth Porter has pieced together the overlooked background. Porter reports that the assassination was in fact the culmination of a lengthy provocation campaign involving Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and the Israeli government, which carried out a number of under-reported bombings inside Iraq and Syria in the months prior.

Guest: Gareth Porter. Journalist and historian. His latest book, with John Kiriakou, is "The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis."

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5 users have voted.
mimi's picture

he centrist pro-Israel Operative Behind the Anti-Sanders Ads in Iowa"

This week, the political action committee affiliated with Mellman’s new group, the Democratic Majority for Israel, is spending at least $800,000 on ad buys in Iowa to go after presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is polling as the frontrunner for Monday’s early-state caucus. ...

Enter Democratic Majority for Israel. Mellman and several strategists close to the Democratic Party launched the group last year. DMFI aims to curtail criticisms of Israel from the party’s left flank by targeting primary challenges against pro-Israel Democrats. The group’s political action committee, which formed in July, has only spent money in Iowa so far. The PAC “does plan to spend in other races in other places, on behalf of pro-Israel Democratic candidates for House and Senate,” ...

You have to read further yourself. I get too upset excerpting more.

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4 users have voted.
smiley7's picture

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snoopydawg's picture

@smiley7

Love it.

How is your gawd dawg Jackson doing? How are you doing?

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3 users have voted.

The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”

smiley7's picture

@snoopydawg

this news, Jackson was diagnosed with a blood cancer just before xmas; had to put the sweet boy down recently. Haven't had the proper feeling to write a tribute yet.

Thanks you for inquiring. As to me, see comment below.

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4 users have voted.
travelerxxx's picture

@smiley7

If it's been a while since we've seen her, a friend of ours occasionally comes around for something she calls a soul check. That's kinda what I'm doing now...

Are you okay, smiley7?

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3 users have voted.
smiley7's picture

@travelerxxx

Well, in relative terms, i'm okay having been through tougher tmes; however, i must admit to being depressed; haven't been to the mountain since Jan 18, so i'm missing the five to 10 hours of teaching each week and my fellow longtime instructors.

Not sure what's going on medically, usually it's an exacerbation that takes me down this time of year, getting sick and going into the lungs and becoming an infection; but i applied antibiotics when i first felt sick in early January so i don't think i've had an infection, i think one of my diseases just stepped it up a notch or two, worsening the fatigue i suffer from. Maybe it's the efficacy of a powerful drug i take daily as the pharmacy changed the vendor on Jan. eight, i inquired to plan D plan and asked to make sure i get previous vendor for this month, we'll see.

Have a chapel hill visit coming up in three weeks and will go through tests and see two of my lung specialists. Hoping they can help.

Watched the entire debacle at the capitol, that didn't help the depression any nor this gloomy weather we've been having, for sure.

Anyways, i appreciate your asking very much as a beautiful blue sky smiles through this morning's window.

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4 users have voted.
travelerxxx's picture

@smiley7

Winter sometimes tends to bring grey things out more than we'd like and as we age it doesn't get any easier. Your drug switch may well have something to do with the fatigue. My wife and I are learning about the various machinanations of Plan D, so I understand.

Probably best to ignore the debacle in Washington and observe our friends the birds, who know spring is on the way. Easier said than done...

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smiley7's picture

@travelerxxx

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