The Evening Blues - 11-28-17
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues harmonica player George "Wild Child" Butler. Enjoy!
Wild Child Butler - Lickin' Gravy
“If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States.”
-- Henry A. Wallace
News and Opinion
Fascism Came To America Wrapped In A Rainbow Flag And Wearing A Pussyhat
Do you know why Democrats fixate so much on the completely unsubstantiated narrative that Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election? We know that the loose tangle of alliances between the intelligence communities, the military-industrial complex, defense agencies, corporate media and plutocrats collectively known as the deep state advance that narrative because it helps manufacture public support for new cold war escalations with China’s right arm Russia, but why do Democrats advance it? Why do they work so hard advancing a weird McCarthyite psyop when there are so many actual horrific things that this administration is doing?
Russia makes a fine distraction for the corruption that was exposed in WikiLeaks’ releases of Democratic party emails last year, but more importantly, attacking the Trump administration on the actual, non-imaginary evil things that it is doing would expose the fact that Obama was doing those evil things too. Even more importantly, it would draw attention to the fact that the entire Democratic party is devoted to the continuation and expansion of Bush and Obama’s wars, the continuation and expansion of Bush and Obama’s Orwellian domestic surveillance programs, the continuation and expansion of Bush and Obama’s militarized police state, and the continuation and expansion of Bush and Obama’s soul-crushing and planet-killing neoliberal economic policies. ...
So while Trump leads his American flag-wrapped, cross-carrying supporters into consenting to more war, more domestic surveillance, more militarization of the police force, and more soul-crushing, world-killing neoliberal economic policy, the goons of the Democratic establishment are leading their rainbow flag-wrapped, pussyhat wearing base into consenting to the exact same thing. The noose gets ever tighter, the censorship gets more and more severe, the spectrum of acceptable debate gets smaller and smaller, the rule of the oligarchs grows ever more totalitarian, and neither the flag-wrapped cross carriers nor the rainbow flag-wrapped pussyhat wearers do anything about it. ...
Have you ever noticed that Democrats will eagerly advance agendas which cause no inconvenience for America’s oligarchs, but when you ask about fixing the economic injustice those oligarchs thrive on or scaling back the war machine that props up their empire, Democrats are nowhere to be found? They claim to stand up for people of color, but suggest pulling some money away from the plutocrats and military-industrial complex to make slavery reparations and you’ll get laughed out of the room. They’ve got no problem advancing gay marriage or trans rights, but try getting Americans the social safety nets afforded to everyone else in every major country on earth and they babble about ponies and unicorns. They don’t care if you get an abortion, but don’t you dare try to stop them from bombing other civilizations into the stone age on the other side of the planet.
Comedian Subpoenaed Over RussiaGate: "I Won't Talk"
This is an interesting article, worth reading in full. Here's a taste to get you started:
The New Information Warfare
Decades before smartphones, the internet, and social media, philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who worked on media theory, predicted a future world war fought using information. While World War I and World War II were waged using armies and mobilized economies, “World War III [will be] a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation,” McLuhan said, a prophecy included in his 1970 book of reflections, “Culture Is Our Business.”
McLuhan’s prediction may have felt outlandish in his own era, but it seems very close to our present-day reality. Decades ago, the barriers to entry for broadcasting and publishing were so high that only established institutions could meaningfully engage in news dissemination. But over the past 10 to 15 years, ordinary individuals have been radically empowered with the ability to record, publish, and broadcast information to millions around the world, at minimal cost.
The revolutionary impact of this new information environment — where any individual or network of individuals can create their own mini-CNN — is transforming our societies. The loss of gatekeeping authority held by legacy media institutions has opened up opportunities for long-suppressed groups to have their narratives heard: Palestinians, African-American activists, feminists, environmentalists, and dissident groups working in authoritarian societies can all find ways, not always without some trouble, to be heard.
This new media landscape, though, also created a world susceptible to unprecedented levels of propaganda, conspiracy, and disinformation. The epistemological chaos created by the global explosion of “news,” some of it of questionable veracity, has already led to serious disruptions in both politics and daily life. But there is another area of life that might be most seriously impacted by the changing information landscape: armed conflict.
Aid reaches Yemen as blockade eases, but shipments still few
A ship and planeloads of aid have reached Yemen in recent days after a Saudi-led closure on the war-torn country eased, but after weeks of blocked shipments, the United Nations’ food assistance program said the flow was far from ideal.
After almost three weeks of blocking access to the country through by land, sea or air, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemeni rebels over the weekend allowed several aid flights to land at the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and today, a ship with food aid docked at a port on the country’s Red Sea coast, according to the U.N.'s World Food Programme.
From Saturday through today, the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the country’s airspace, allowed two U.N. passenger flights to land each day, WFP’s Yemen country director, Stephen Anderson, told ABC News. ... While humanitarian aid is beginning to enter the country again, the WFP is also concerned about ensuring commercial cargo -- particularly food and fuel -- gets through, he said. A ship with 5,500 tons of commercial wheat flour arrived on Sunday, and two others with sugar and soy were about to dock, but it is unclear whether the flow would continue unhampered, according to Anderson.
Nearly all of the country’s food is imported, three-quarters of it through Saleef and the nearby port of Hodeidah, according to Anderson.
Syrian government to join UN peace talks in Geneva
A Syrian government delegation will arrive in Geneva on Wednesday for the first UN-sponsored peace talks in eight months after Russia brokered a deal to keep the future of Bashar al-Assad off the initial agenda. Damascus had threatened to boycott the talks over the demands of the Syrian opposition that Assad step aside as a precondition for its involvement.
The Geneva talks received a further boost on Tuesday when Russia announced it had postponed a Syrian dialogue conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, an event seen by the west as a rival to the UN-sponsored process.
The Sochi conference was put on hold until at least February over Turkish objections to Russia inviting groups linked to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey’s south-east.
A breakthrough in the Geneva talks is thought unlikely, but there are modest grounds for hope, including agreement on a unified opposition delegation following a meeting of rival groups in Saudi Arabia.
Pentagon 'taking a look' at halting weapons for Syrian Kurds as Turkey presses ban
The Defense Department on Monday said it is reviewing the process it uses to provide equipment and weapons to Kurdish fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) but has not halted sending weapons.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning told reporters that the department is “reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to our Kurdish partners in as much as the military requirements of our defeat-[Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] and stabilization efforts will allow us to prevent ISIS from returning.”
Turkey's foreign minister said Friday that President Trump committed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the United States would no longer supply arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters. ...
“Mr. Trump clearly stated that he had given clear instructions and that the YPG won’t be given arms, and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a news conference last week. The White House later released a statement that confirmed the topic was touched on but would not commit to a full-on ban.
North Korea has fired ballistic missile, say reports in South Korea
North Korea has fired a ballistic missile, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday, citing South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff.
The missile flew to the east and the South Korean military was analysing details of the launch with the US, South Korea’s joint chiefs said, according to the report.
50 years of closure in Gaza
Netanyahu's Government Bars Police From Recommending Charges Against Netanyahu
The Knesset passed in it first reading on Monday evening a bill barring police from saying whether charges should be filed against public officials, with 46 MKs voting in favor of the "recommendations law" versus the 36 who voted against it.
Should the bill pass two more upcoming readings, it would apply retroactively to include the two investigations currently underway against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ...
Backlash to the compromise, and the bill itself, was swift. Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid party, who is considered to be Netanyahu's main rival for power whenever elections are next held, called the law "The Netanyahu Law." ...
Condemnation was also swift from Avi Gabbay, head of the Zionist Union Faction. He said that the government coalition members were acting like "low-level gang members" who were sent in to break up investigations and then "clean up crime scenes."
Zimbabwe announces amnesty for return of state funds taken abroad
Zimbabwe’s new president has announced a three-month amnesty for the return of public funds hidden abroad by individuals and companies.
When the amnesty expires, the government will arrest and prosecute those who have failed to comply with the directive, Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a statement on Tuesday.
Corruption was prolific under Robert Mugabe, who resigned last week after 37 years in power.
Mnangagwa, who was sworn in as president on Friday, told offenders to take advantage of the amnesty “to avoid the pain and ignominy of being visited by the long arm of the law”.
The Zanu-PF party stalwart is under pressure to move swiftly to tackle poor administration and an economy close to collapse.
Floating Guantánamos: How the Coast Guard Uses Indefinite Detention to Wage “War on Drugs” at Sea
Sanders Demands Ryan, McConnell Come Clean on GOP Plan to Gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security
As the deficit-exploding GOP tax plan hurtles toward a final vote in the Senate this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday demanding to know how much they are planning to cut from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other key programs in order to offset the costs of tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
"I am very concerned that if you succeed in passing tax legislation that significantly adds to our national debt, you will then move aggressively to balance the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor," Sanders wrote. "In other words, in order to pay for tax breaks for the rich and large corporations, you will make massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, nutrition, environmental protection, and every other program designed to protect the needs of the middle class and working families of our country."
Highlighting nonpartisan analyses predicting that the Republican tax plan would increase the federal deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next decade, Sanders implored McConnell and Ryan to provide the American public with a "specific and detailed explanation as to how the Republican Congress will achieve its commitment of balancing the budget."
"Will you attempt to end Medicare as we know it by giving seniors vouchers to purchase private health insurance, something long supported by Speaker Ryan?" Sanders asked. "How much will you cut Social Security? Will you try to increase the retirement age to 70?" Sanders' questions come as the Senate Budget Committee is expected to vote on the GOP's deeply unpopular tax bill on Tuesday, setting the stage for a final vote as early as Thursday.
Money Is Power and Billionaires Can Subvert Democracy
Money is the ability to tell other people how to spend their time: what to make, what to do. It is that simple.
The Washington Post has a story about how the Gates foundation pushed the Common Core curriculum. The details are there, but the bottom line is that once they decided to do it, it happened fast:
The result was astounding: Within just two years of the 2008 Seattle meeting, 45 states and the District of Columbia had fully adopted the Common Core State Standards.
This wasn’t done “democratically”, it was done with money, which bought officials.
The biggest problem with vast wealth isn’t that it directly makes other people poor, it is that it makes rich people disproportionately powerful. They have so much money that they can buy the state.
When they do so, they usually do so in their self-interest. Sometimes, as with the Gates in this case, they do so out of a desire to good.
But their idea of good may not be what other people’s idea of good is. They have vastly more weight than ordinary people, and in an unequal society, they can buy people.
It is that simple.
If Vanguard Is Right, You’ll Need to Save More For Retirement
Vanguard is one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world with 20 million investors and approximately $4.5 trillion in global assets under management as of September 30, 2017, according to its website. When it expounds on the outlook for the stock market, people tend to listen closely.Yesterday, Vanguard issued its economic and stock market outlook for the medium term, writing: “For 2018 and beyond, our investment outlook is modest, at best. Elevated valuations, low volatility, and secularly low interest rates are unlikely to be allies for robust financial market returns over the next five years.”
Exactly how “modest” does it expect stock market returns to be over the medium term? The report goes on to define “modest” as follows:
“Based on our ‘fair-value’ stock valuation metrics, the medium-run outlook for global equities has deteriorated a bit and is now centered in the 4% – 6% range. Expected returns for the U.S. stock market are lower than those for non-U.S. markets, underscoring the benefits of global equity strategies in the face of lower expected returns.”
If your retirement savings strategy has factored in an annualized stock market return of 7 percent or higher and Vanguard is right about the potential for a return of 4 to 6 percent, those planning to retire in less than 10 years will need to either save more for retirement or extend out the date of retirement. ...
Another hurdle for retirees is nailing down how much the fees embedded in their mutual funds in their 401(k) plans are draining from their retirement savings. John Bogle is the legendary founder of Vanguard and served as its Chairman and CEO from 1974 to 1996. In 2013, he appeared on the PBS program, Frontline, to share an amazing bombshell: If you work for 50 years and receive the typical long-term return of 7 percent on stock funds in your 401(k) plan and your fees are 2 percent, almost two-thirds of your account will go to Wall Street.
Shutdown Inches Closer as Pelosi and Schumer Ditch WH Budget Meeting After Trump Tweets He "Doesn't See a Deal"
Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017
The top Democratic leaders in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, abrubtly announced they would not attend a scheduled White House meeting on Tuesday after President Donald Trump said in a late morning tweet that a deal between the two major parties on budget issues wasn't likely.
Pelosi and Schumer released a joint statement explaining their decision not to attend the meeting with Trump, though they would meet with the GOP's House and Senate leaders. "Given that the president doesn't see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead," the statement read. Specifically, and as referenced in Trump's tweet, part of the political battle is the Democrats' desire for a budget deal to include provisions that would protect undocumented U.S. residents who entered or were brought to the country as minors, also known as Dreamers.
On the Senate floor, Schumer later announced that he and Pelosi had reached out to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to meet separately, but that invitation apparently did not receive a warm reception. "There is a meeting at the White House this afternoon," responded McConnell and Ryan in a joint statement of their own. "If Democrats want to reach an agreement, they will be there." The imbroglio sparked by Trump's tweet now increases the prospects of a possible government shutdown if a budget deal cannot be reached before a December 8 deadline.
J20 Trial: 200+ Inauguration Protesters, Journalists & Observers Face Riot Charges From Mass Arrest
Another former staffer says Rep. John Conyers sexually harassed her
Another ex-staffer has accused Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Democrat from Michigan and the longest-serving member of the House, of sexual harassment.
Deanna Maher told The Detroit News that Conyers, now 88, made unwanted advances toward her three times during the time she worked for him between 1997 and 2005. Maher alleged that Conyers inappropriately touched her in a car in 1998 and then again under her dress in 1999. She also said that she refused Conyers’ offer to share a hotel room with him to have sex. “I didn’t have a room, and he had me put in his hotel suite,” Maher told The Detroit News.
Maher is the second former Conyers staffer to come forward in the past week. BuzzFeed News reported last week another former staffer had alleged that Conyers fired her because she wouldn’t “succumb to [his] sexual advances,” detailing a secretive process that allows Congress to sweep sexual assault and harassment allegations under the rug.
As Accusations Stack Up, A Look at the Onerous Process of Reporting Sexual Abuse on Capitol Hill
Washington Post catches woman in apparent rightwing sting, paper reports
A conservative group known for undercover investigations has been linked to a woman who falsely told the Washington Post that the Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore impregnated her as a teenager, the newspaper reported. ... The Post published a story Monday about its dealings with Phillips. Earlier in the day, reporters from the newspaper saw Phillips walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, a conservative group with a long track record of targeting Democratic groups and major media outlets, often by hiding their identities and using hidden cameras. ...
The Post reported Monday afternoon that Phillips had approached one of its reporters earlier in the month as Moore faced several accusations of sexual misconduct. In a series of interviews over two weeks, Phillips told the Post about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore in 1992 that led to an abortion when she was 15.
She repeatedly pressed Post reporters to give their opinions on the effects that her claims could have on Moore’s candidacy if she went public, the newspaper reported. The Post did not publish Phillips’ claims and confronted her with inconsistencies in her story. She told the Post she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.
A previous O’Keefe sting led to the demise of Acorn, a community organizing group that O’Keefe portrayed as engaged in criminal activity via hidden camera videos. O’Keefe was convicted in 2010 as part of a scheme to illegally make recordings at the office of the then Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat.
EPA Ripped for Holding Lone Public Hearing on Clean Power Plan Repeal in Coal Country
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday is holding its only public hearing on the Trump administration's push to axe the Clean Power Plan in Charleston, West Virginia, smack dab in the middle of coal country—a location that green groups said gives the event "all the markings of a sham" designed to silence agency critics and elevate proponents of dirty energy.
"I know it's no accident that they're holding the hearing in a place where the coal industry still wields significant political power," Mary Anne Hitt, director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, wrote in an op-ed on Monday. Nonetheless, environmentalists were determined to make their voices heard amid the crowd of fully-dressed coal miners in attendance at the start of the meeting on Tuesday.
"The EPA is having this hearing here because they think everyone in West Virginia opposes the Clean Power Plan," Bill Price, an organizer for the Sierra Club in West Virginia, told The New Republic. "We're going to show them differently."
In Face of Climate Crisis, Environment and Trade Union Movements Finding Common Cause
2017 has been a devastating year and is set to be one of the hottest three years on record. Around the globe people are paying with their lives and livelihoods for climate-exacerbated extreme weather events in the form of hurricanes, wildfires and heatwaves. Terrifyingly, new data shows that global emissions will rise again this year after several years of stagnation—world emissions have not even peaked yet when we need them to be falling fast. The disconnect between the scale of government action and the urgency of the climate crisis is as vast as ever. And yet, the transition of world economies away from fossil fuels will happen. The energy transformation is as inevitable as climate change and its devastating impacts are real. The questions are; how fast will it be? who will benefit? and who will lose out?
Analysts believe the transition to clean energy sources is likely to happen faster than anyone expects. Even the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – not a body prone to invite instability – predicts that the pace of technological change will be underestimated. But if left to market forces guided by transnational corporations it is very likely to be unfair, slow and painful. We should be ready for the most rapid industrial transformation ever. And we should learn the lessons from history of other industrial shifts. Trade unions are already warning that transitions of industrial systems in the past have brought a lot of suffering for workers. People’s jobs, livelihoods, connections to the land, family bonds and heritage have been lost.
With this in mind, environment and trade union movements have come together to call for a ‘just transition’—a transition that leaves no-one behind. A transition that is fair and secures workers' jobs and livelihoods through the creation of decent opportunities. Done right we can simultaneously tackle the climate crisis and also inequality, employment and democratic crises. In many ways we should not be afraid to see the back of the current system. We should not be under the illusion that today’s economic model has brought universal benefits. The percentage of people in organised labour is decreasing and varies from country to country. Work frequently doesn’t give people a decent income. Often low wages have to be subsidised. The relentless pursuit of growth has led to these times we live in characterized by gross inequality, more and more precarious work, and a deepening democratic deficit.
In Bonn Friends of the Earth International and the International Trade Unions Confederation co-organised a public event to demonstrate their common cause, share positive experiences of transition, and to plan for an economy that respects and protects workers’ rights and benefits communities, not only employers. ... It remains to be seen whether governments, especially those in the developed world, can catch-up to the reality that fossil fuels must be left in the ground and transition to clean energy sources in time to minimize the effects of climate change. ... In these circumstances, it is inspiring to see the diversity and strength of the movement coming together to demand that the transition from an extractive economy to a regenerative one happens in a fair and fast way.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
The Building Is Burning and All the World’s Babies Are In It — Using Force to Fight Climate Change
Libya “Chose” Freedom, Now It Has Slavery
Saudi Arabia’s Mysterious Upheaval
The media isn't diverse – and this leads to appalling reporting
The Politics of Boycotting Israel Are Creeping into the Race for Georgia Governor
Five Hundred Million Dollar Negative Yield Bond Issued
A Little Night Music
Wild Child Butler - Do Something Baby
Wild Child Butler - Axe and the Wind
Wild Child Butler - Jelly Jam
Wild Child Butler - Down in the Chile'
Wild Child Butler - Speed
Wild Child Butler - Built for Comfort
Wild Child Butler - Funky Butt Lover
Wild Child Butler - It's a Pity
Wild Child Butler - I Got To Go Sweet Daddy O
George 'Wild Child' Butler - Wedding Ring
George 'Wild Child' Butler - These Mean Old Blues
Comments
The Media Isn't Diverse
Evening joe. I guess this article in your "also of interest" section can be filed under No Shit Sherlock!
I clicked the internal link to the original Medium article and found this little gem that got NPR reporter Lewis Wallace fired :
Just terrific! Simply discussing genuine reporting got a reporter fired from NPR. This comment was probably also objectionable:
https://medium.com/@lewispants/objectivity-is-dead-and-im-okay-with-it-7...
Here's a similar suggestion made about The NY Times "Nazi story":
https://medium.com/whither-news/the-problem-with-stories-4fdcec216228
It sure would be nice to have quality journalism like they manage to produce at The Guardian and Medium coming from the MSM in America.
"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
evening mm...
i was pretty amazed at this stat from the article:
well now, there's a field where affirmative action has proven ineffective.
...as it seems to be the case in acting ...
Compared to 40 years ago, I realize in the German TV scene of 'crime stories and thrillers' which are pushing aside other kind of broadcasts as they are produced 'en masse' and are overbearingly present, there is always now one 'non-white' actor, which reminds me a bit of the "alibi negro" judgement I found in the US media scene.
The numbers you are amazed at, remind me also of one young black TV news producer, working for German TV inside Germany, who visited the Washington DC studio while I was working there. She was very confused about the role she played in the "US environment", as she realized that nobody paid attention to her and nobody seemed to see her as something special, the thing she was used to inside Germany.
I was not sure what was more 'tellig' the fact that she were happy to be something 'special' in Germany, or the fact that she was unhappy to not feel special in the US.
I think if you have an identity which is visible to the environment around you, you can bet that the identity is used by everyone for their own purpose, morals, profits and financial justification. Heh, those humans, can't live with them, can't live without them ...
Thanks for the music and all the fish, nourishing and smelly. I am a fan of the EB and I think for all the right reasons.
Good Morning for the East Coastlers.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Evening Joe
Nice read and set as always.
Well...I tried to buy fussiandupe.eu again today.
Credit card company thinks I'm a fraudster. Who is sitting in Peru trying to buy from a Belgian phone company from an American ba k account?
Gotta call the bank...again.
I want a Pony!
evening arrow...
i guess the life of an expat can get a little complicated from time to time. heh. good luck!
People stopped the Repub/Trump healthcare fail, js. Next up?
....
,,,
I just worry that Pelosi/Schumer action today was a pr stunt ahead of some kind of bipartisan behind the scenes hanky panky. CorpaDems have billionaires donors, too, don’t you know! Have to keep them happy.
Bastids.
‘Kill the bill, not us!’
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
evening do...
heh, certain kinds of washington ideas (mainly the kind that make the rich richer) never die, they just get recycled endlessly. i hope that the tax madness gets stopped this time, again.
I thought this same thing, do. This was a PR stunt
They should have kept their meeting with Trump today to get their opposition to the tax cuts and the roll back of net neutrality heard. BFD that Trump said something mean to them. To take down a bully, you stand up to them.
Democrats have a lot of choice for blocking the republicans from passing their tax cuts, but will they take it? Looking back at their history of not doing anything, I'm doubtful. The budget has to be passed soon and this is where they could put pressure on republicans. I'm not holding my breath.
This is from a Caitlyn article. I've been saying this same thing.
There was a diary on ToP about Pelosi's stunt and someone wrote that he wondered how much the democrats are going to fuck us over by agreeing with republicans and he got hammered, of course. So he asked exactly what has the democrats passed that has helped Americans.
Everything that people mentioned was exactly what Caitlyn said. They were social issues that didn't affect their master's profits. The one that usually gets posted is Lily Ledbetter....
Kudos to those brave people who chanced getting arrested for protesting against the tax cuts.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Hi, SD! Dems could vote to 'waive' the Medicare cut,
according to Bloomberg--but, I don't expect it to happen.
Bear in mind, Dems, not Repubs, voted in the 'Pay Go Rule,' which 'O' signed into law. (I posted the background material on that, last week.)
From the 'timing,' it appears that it may have been done in preparation for the Bowles-Simpson Catfood Commission's recommendations.
Think Pelosi and Schumer may have miscalculated. We've been 'sightseeing,' so I haven't followed things real closely. But, I'm guessing that they thought that they could negotiate with Ryan and McConnell, bypassing DT altogether. Doesn't look like those two will take the bait, though--at least, for now.
Mollie
The "Grand Bargain" isn't dead--it's being implemented incrementally through piecemeal legislation. Please read "The Moment Of Truth."
"The standard of living of the average American has to decline. I don't think you can escape that."
--Paul Volcker, The New York Times, October 18, 1979, Page 1.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
RE: end to Yemen blockade.
Saw where tThe Intercept is asking why is US involvement in this not in the news every night?
Of course we know the answer.
Here’s some more perspective .
,,,
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
why isn't it news every night?
heh, well, tonight was pizza night and i wound up facing the teevee with the fox-snooze cable channel (ms shikspack got cnn). in the time that it took us to eat our pizza at a leisurely pace, i saw only three pictures in between shots of bubble-headed bleach blonde chatterboxes, john conyers, raul grijalva and roy moore.
ass-grabbing is apparently far more interesting than us complicity in starving people.
Here's the Grijalva story from the local fish-wrap:
Update: Grijalva calls for apology ...
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
‘Local fish wrap’
I just LOVE that characterization. Sorry. Carry on.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Good evening, Joe. The Wallace Johnson quote, followed by
the Caitlin article and Jimmy Dore is just really a show stopper. Thanks tres mucho. Good tunes too. Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
thanks! have a great evening.
Hola, Joe! Finally, dug up the Gruber
excerpt.
Hope Bernie decides to also address this issue, especially since 'O' proposed a Medicare Premium Surtax in some of his budgets.
IIRC, he proposed a 15 percent Medicare premium surtax.
Anyhoo, here you go, if the PDF typeset will transpose correctly here,
Lately, our biggest concern isn't even the proposal for the Medicare Premium surcharge/surtax--it's the Kaine/Bennett proposal to make Traditional Medicare a managed care/HMO-type plan. They do this under the guise of establishing a public option to be included in the ACA Exchanges. In 2017, this 'reform' would affect almost 40 million folks, or approximately 2/3's of Medicare enrollees. (IOW, those enrolled in TM.)
I've heard both of them in interviews, and they're pretty slick, unless one understands the 'lingo' of slashing entitlements, or The Grand Bargain.
I'm collecting as many articles as I can find on this plan, and after the first of next year, hope to do nothing but look for venues and ways to oppose this toxic proposal. When I get a chance, I'll try to figure out how to make a Twitter hashtag to use toward this endeavor. At first I thought it was as simple as adding # and the tag; then, I read something that indicated that it was a bit more complicated than that. Obviously, I'm not particularly Twitter literate!
Here's my 'trivia' item for the day,
Hey, Everyone have a nice evening!
Mollie
[Edited: Added italics/deleted quotation marks. Also, added two sentences.]
The "Grand Bargain" isn't dead--it's being implemented incrementally through piecemeal legislation. Please read "The Moment Of Truth."
"The standard of living of the average American has to decline. I don't think you can escape that."
--Paul Volcker, The New York Times, October 18, 1979, Page 1.
“If we can divide the electorate this way, we can have them expending their energies fighting amongst themselves, over issues that for us, have no meaning whatsoever."
--USA Bankers Magazine, August 25, 1924
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
that gruber fellow is a piece of work. gotta price the little people out of the health care market, cuz they might go see a doctor and get some healthcare on them. pretty soon the little people get the idea that they have a right to live as long and as well as rich people. bust 'em down to size!
Great roundup, joe
Caitlyn's article was spot on as usual. I read this comment on it. This is what's happening with the Russian propaganda. I'm still amazed by how many people are buying into it. Especially those kos bots who used to have critical thinking skills when it comes to the intelligence agencies. Remember the diaries when Clapper perjured himself in the congressional hearings on the NSA surveillance?
BTW, kos finally said he's going to start banning people who are slut shaming women who accuse democrats of sexual abuses. Only two weeks too late. lol, people still said that that Tweeden's accusations don't count because she posed for playboy.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
evening snoopy...
wow, the fine feminists for hillary are now slut-shaming women who have been abused by democrats? i am shocked! shocked i tell you!
imagine that tweeden woman complaining about that nice al franken grabbing the breasts that she shamelessly bared for that tawdry magazine, tut tut! /s
DK has turned into a cesspool over this
diary after diary on it where people state why they still stand with Franken and then they go on saying all kinds of horrible things about the women who have accused him. It's beyond disgusting and anyone who says that have been lectured on why those women's accusations shouldn't be taken seriously.
The BDS fight in the Georgia race is ridiculous. The woman is correct to call out the law on any contractor that supports it won't get to work for the state.
But this needs correcting.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
That Ian Welsh piece really summed up a plain truth for me
that we all need to come to terms with. Especially the RW and Neoliberal defenders of the purposely elusive and farcical American Dream pursuit. Proper railing against the 1% has nothing to do with envy. That was a canard thrown around a lot during Occupy, and still today whenever we frame the struggle as the 99% vs. 1%. Instead it has everything to do with the sociopathy that goes with concentrated wealth making all the decisions.
Hope you all are well there, Joe. Have been following along here pretty much to the exclusion of elsewhere (thank god for Jimmy Dore and others though). Still in cave mode with the new one only 8 weeks old. Wish we could have gotten that C99 Meetup together this year. Would like to revisit that when things settle down.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
evening mark...
yep, class conflict is about power relations. i really don't care if rich people poop in gold-plated toilets, i have no envy of them for that or many other things that their obscene wealth allows them. i want a better world for everyone and they are an obstacle.
i hope all is going well in your cave with the family. yes, i'd like to figure out some sort of meet-up when your time is a little more your own.