Open Thread - Thursday - 06-18-2015

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 7:00am

Good Morning Caucus99.

Hmm, I was thinking about what to write up for today and first thought I talk about Chris Hedges Interviews with Sheldon Wolin. Then I fell asleep listening to them. May be it's better just to read their books: Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism - Feb 21, 2010 - by Sheldon S. Wolin and They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy Hardcover – February 24, 2015 - by Robert Scheer
They are really worth to keep and read or listened to via the interviews. On the bottom I leave a list of links just for (my - wink, wink) convenience.
Crazy Clapping
Meanwhile a lot of stuff happened last week in which my mind was everywhere but in politics and news.
Pardon
I have to tell you that I won't be around much in the coming months. Tons of stuff to arrange, mulling over, do over, move over, pack over etc. etc. What a life. Wow.
Diablo
So, I am not sure if I will have a laptop with me and won't invest in a phone from which to write for the OT. I will let JTC know if I can make an OT for next week.
Unknw
But I have one question, which the West-Coast folks might give me an idea about. I have to make a decision to drive from MD to Seattle by myself to bring a car to Seattle port for further transportation. Offers I have to get this done are around $1700 (just the land transport)

Now, as you may have guessed, I am not a woman, who has money dripping out of my nostrils to just sneeze into a tissue to throw it into the waste bucket.. As it isn't easy to earn these days, nor easy to save up, I wonder, if I should drive by myself. It's (Via I-90 W) 2765.93 miles and takes 43 hrs 4 mins / 43 hrs 33 mins and the fuel costs will be around $350.00. Now if I drove 10 hours straight or more I could make it in 4 days. I am not quite sure where exactly to make the stops. Going down to AAA shop to see what they have for triptiks.
Help
Ok, I am back from AAA shop and they suggest I make do a trip
DC to Chicago,
Chicago to Sioux Fall,
Sioux Fall to Billings, Montana,
Billsings to Seattle.
Each part shouldn't be more than 11 to 12 hours drives. You think that's true? As of Cleveland it's all Interstate 90W. You think I have to worry for motel/hotel in advance? Is it extremely hot right now in the Dakotas? Let's say I could get away with $500.00 max for hotel, you think the trip is still worth it to save around $900.00? Sigh. I kind of doubt it and am a little scared, but then ... I could see nothing but highways, big skies and get again completely overwhelmed/dizzy by the vastness of this country.
Pardon
Oh, I just found out I can get back from Seattle with Greyhound for $ 169.00 in three days. That's a deal. Anyone of you having experiences with cross-country trips?
Good
I really wished I had ten days, wouldn't need to consider money as an obstacle and just make stop-overs where ever I want to and take some photos. It's not that I absolutely couldn't afford the complete transport being taken care of by a company, it's just I am so ... unamused ... about why it is that criss-crossing land masses and oceans seems to be what God had in mind for me to do all the time. Whats' up with that God?
Mamba
I know everything there is to know about the whole wide world right out of reading here and the gos. Who needs really to travel in meat space?
Wacko

Now, here is the homework for you: Answer to the question "Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist" ....is .... it can't coexist but it constantly tries to and the result is that everyone is more or less ... p**sed/unhappy ... because, it ain't working well for them. But you knew that already. So, here is what Wolin and Hedges came up with.
Chris Hedges and Sheldon Wolin: Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist? Full Version
Here are all videos Chris Hedges with Robert Scheer (in case you are interested)
Scheer & Hedges: They Know Everything About You (1/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (2/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (3/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (4/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (5/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (6/7)
Scheer and Hedges: They Know Everything About You (7/7)

Sorry, I also have to do stuff and won't be here at all this morning for today's chatting. You have to talk among yourself. I hope one day I have something more exiting to write about or show to you all. Wish me luck. I wish you all tons of it, and for Big AL a little bucket of gold nuggets. (If he continues digging ... he'll find 'em. Wink. Wink. Forgive me, AL and all) Thanks.
Bye

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Open Thread - Cross Country trip - Wolin - Chris Hedges - Robert Scheer
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Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 7:40am
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I am out of the door in a minute, just to say hi and bye. Have a good day. I'll be back in the evening.

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Submitted by NCTim on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 8:58am
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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:20pm
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Submitted by dkmich on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 9:09am

Good luck with this trip. 10/11 hours a day, four days in a row is a long and tedious drive to make all alone. Some of the areas you will pass through will be boring as hell. $1700 - (Gas + Hotels + bus fare) = savings / (4 days to get there + 3 days to get back X 24 hrs day) = Is the savings worth the time and effort to you? This is something I wouldn't want to do without a companion to share the driving and help make it a fun trip. Even then, I would think twice. Somethings are just worth paying for.

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Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:21pm
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I let others have my money and the fun. What the heck. Smile

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Submitted by OLinda on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 9:07am
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Wow, mimi. That is quite a trip. If you want an adventure, I'd say go. If it's just to save money, I think I'd hesitate.

It always costs more than is planned and takes longer than planned. You will want to make stops to eat, etc. so your time is going to be longer than say what Google maps says. Is it 4 nights in a hotel? I would want to stay in a major chain, with a nice lobby/foyer. For safety, not pampering. Not your side of the road motel. So that will go above your current budget.

I would want rooms booked ahead too. Maybe that is just me. But, you don't want to be criss crossing around town looking for a vacancy after driving 10 hours. And, you don't want to stay somewhere you don't feel good about just because it has a room.

Any trouble, even minor with the car, say a tire, and there's more money. Bad weather could force an extra night somewhere. If it were a pleasure trip, it wouldn't matter. But, since the time equals the money, it could be a problem and you would end up not saving that much to make it worth it.

This is partly because you said you were a little scared. If you're going to be nervous, scared, worried, the money saved may not be worth it.

500 hotels
169 trip home
350 gas
? food

You are saving less than $700 with your figures which may be low, and don't count any unforeseen expenses.

I am a party pooper.

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Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 3:00pm
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just a suggestion--allow for toll roads in your budget (unless you know that there will be none, of course.) We allow several hundred dollars for tolls when we're traveling for several weeks, and have begun to bypass some states which are SO toll-laden--Oklahoma, for instance.

Of course, the tolls are geared toward vehicle size, so Tractor-Trailers and medium to large RV's take the biggest hits. Only a decade, or so ago, tolls were not that big a deal--but in some parts of the country, they definitely are now.

Also, there are various sizes of electric coolers that are easy to adapt to any vehicle--can get a decent Koolatron cooler (one of the more durable brands) for not much more than a $100, and keep your drinks, sandwiches, etc., plenty cold. You'd probably save enough money to pay for the cooler. We use one when we travel by automobile, and it saves us a bundle. (And we use it as a backup/overflow cooler, when we RV). Good luck!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hope to ferret more about the OPM breach. According to a government security expert working on this breach (he was interviewed on XM Radio under the pseudonym of "Joe," yesterday), and he had just left a briefing conducted by the US Government agencies handling the investigation--there is much more to come on the ramifications of the recent breaches.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So tragic about the killings in South Carolina.

If she's not careful, I could imagine this could hamper FSC's run--since she will likely depend heavily upon conservative white voters--Dem, Repub and Independent--to win the General Election (if she takes the nomination, that is).

[Per XM, according to recent polls, Senator Sanders may greatly 'upset her applecart' in the first few primaries and caucus.]

I may be wrong, but my 'guess' is that the Black Community won't continue to give passes to the Dem Party, or its Presidential nominees (i.e., settling for police commissions and Justice Dept reviews, with charges almost never filed).

And that could spell disaster, since the Black Community voted in higher numbers--for the first time since it's been tracked--in the 2012 election, than did white voters. (percentage-wise, that is) See below.

For First Time on Record, Black Voting Rate Outpaced Rate for Whites in 2012

By SARAH WHEATONMAY 8, 2013

WASHINGTON — The turnout rate of black voters surpassed the rate for whites for the first time on record in 2012, as more black voters went to the polls than in 2008 and fewer whites did, according to a Census Bureau report released Wednesday.

The survey also found that Hispanics and Asians continue to turn out at much lower rates than other groups, and that women turn out at higher rates than men. The increase in black turnout was driven in significant part by more votes from black women.

According to the Census report, 66.2 percent of eligible blacks voted in the 2012 election, compared with 64.1 percent of eligible non-Hispanic whites. An estimated two million fewer white Americans voted in 2012 than in 2008, just as about 1.8 million more blacks went to the polls, more than 90 percent of them voting to re-elect President Obama, exit polls showed.

“In 2008, we changed the guard. In 2012, we guard the change,” said Michael Blake, who ran the Obama campaign’s effort to reach out to black and minority voters, Operation Vote. . . .

Of course, if our politicians from both parties were willing to do the right thing, none of this would be an issue. (meaning, demilitarizing our police forces, etc.)

Mollie


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Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:16pm
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I always envy people who can afford an RV and drive around the country with it. May be one day I will try to rent one and do the big tour for pleasure. Though I am not so sure anymore I would really enjoy it too much, especially not alone, and my son wouldn't have time and he has seen enough of the US to know better.

I realize I have missed yesterday night and today some pretty awkward horrible news. Well, nothing I want to comment on. There is nothing to say, really. As for black voters ... my son ain't going to vote, he says. What for? - I got a hard job in front of me to convince him otherwise. But really, to us - right now - nah, we don't want to vote at all. But that will change.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 12:38pm

This is the first setback that Daesh has experienced in Libya.

And in Derna, which Islamists and jihadists have been battling for control of for weeks, local reports - which are difficult to verify - point to Islamic State being pushed out of most of the city, although locals contacted by phone say there is still fighting in the center.
An Egyptian IS commander is reported to have been killed in Derna. The jihadists, according to Mohamed Eljarh, an analyst for the Rafik Hariri Center of the Atlantic Council “have lost control of most of their sites within the city of Derna.”

It appears that Daesh is losing to al-Qaeda.
The other setback is a critical blow by the Syrian Kurds.

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Submitted by shaharazade on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 1:51pm
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why are you driving this car to Seattle in the first place? Not that it's any of my business but I am curious as to what the reason for this long adventure is. Are you moving to Seattle? Did you buy the car in Maryland to ship somewhere from the port of Seattle? As a young'un me and a friend crossed the country from Oregon to Maryland by car. We did not have a car. We took the train to LA and stayed for a few days with my Mom. We went to UCLA where they had a ride sharing bulletin board. It was like Craig's list pre-computer era. We interviewed several people who wanted rider's to help drive and share expenses for the trek across the country. We found a student with a big station wagon in good repair, who was going to DC. He seemed sane, had insurance and was a good driver etc. Maybe you could advertize at a college in Maryland for a rider to share both driving and expenses. You could check them out beforehand. It took us 5 days to get across country using the same route you described. We took turns driving and as it was summer we camped except one night in a small hotel. A shower at that point was well worth it. As I don't now your situation as regard to getting the car to Seattle I have no idea if this suggestion is appropriate. Good luck with this trip it sounds like a horrendous undertaking to do all by yourself.

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Submitted by mimi on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:07pm
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urgent and complicated than that and I am not up to explain it in more detail, as it's personal and I don't want to do this online, if you don't mind. I probably will not make the trip and pay a company the money to do the job. Just no way around it. All other options are either not feasible or more expensive in the long run. This is not an adventure, contrary I wished it would be, then it wouldn't be difficult to decide, but that's not what it is all about. I don't think I can save a lot of money by driving myself, as I risk that the car (that is going per ship from Seattle to Hawaii) brakes down on the trip from MD to Seattle. That would be even worse than anything else. I can't afford to buy another car. So, I pay and let the job be done by a shipping company. I have done this before the other way around, Hawaii to MD. I think it was cheaper back then, a couple of years ago. Heh, that's just life as it is for the little people, unsafe, risky, too pricey and stupid.
Smile
Thanks for all your suggestions and concern.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 2:18pm

Well that didn't take long.

The GOP-led House of Representatives started over on trade Thursday, passing a fresh bill to give President Barack Obama sweeping powers to negotiate massive international agreements.

The measure would grant Obama and the next president what's known as Trade Promotion Authority, allowing the White House to fast-track through Congress a string of enormous trade pacts, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trade in Services Agreement -- covering well over half the global economy.

The House voted 218 to 208 for the bill, with 28 Democrats in favor and 50 Republicans opposed.

They have separated the TAA from the TPP. The GOP says, "Trust us, we'll pass a TAA later."

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Submitted by dkmich on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 6:07pm

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