The Evening Blues - 4-12-16
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Detroit harmonica player Aaron "Little Sonny" Willis. Enjoy!
Little Sonny - The Creeper Returns
"The Obama administration leaks classified information continuously. They do it to glorify the President, or manipulate public opinion, or even to help produce a pre-election propaganda film about the Osama bin Laden raid."
-- Glenn Greenwald
News and Opinion
Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve
President Obama’s latest defense of Hillary Clinton has struck a nerve with both the GOP and government leakers such as Edward Snowden.
The president’s comments — “there’s classified and then there’s classified” — suggested some classified information is more sensitive than other classified information, uniting in scorn critics across the political spectrum.
To advocates for government transparency, the remarks stunk of duplicity by suggesting that federal classification rules are arbitrary and don't apply to the Democratic presidential front-runner.
On @HillaryClinton handling of e-mail, "there's classified and there's classified," says Pres Obama.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 10, 2016
If only I had known. https://t.co/yrPg8uxiQO
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 10, 2016
“For a lower rank-and-file person, that’s not a defense you can ever use,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer who handles matters related to classified information. ...
The government does have different levels for the sensitivity of classified material, ranging from “confidential” to “top-secret.” But criminal charges for mishandling classified information are largely blind to the distinction.
Anyone have the number for the Attorney General? Asking for a friend. https://t.co/yrPg8uxiQO
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 10, 2016
From the department of lame-assed promises. The Rethugs have a point. DOJ does not prosecute people just because they have committed crimes - just look at how studiously they ignored the crimes of banksters.
Obama: I 'guarantee' Justice Dept. won’t protect Hillary
President Barack Obama insisted in an interview with Fox News aired Sunday that the FBI and Justice Department will not protect Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton while investigating her private emails and server.
“I can guarantee that,” Obama said repeatedly in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, who interviewed the president in his first appearance on “Fox News Sunday” during his seven-year tenure. ...
The FBI has an “active, ongoing investigation” into the private email account and server Clinton used as secretary of state. But many Republicans have contended that the Justice Department would not prosecute Clinton even if it found she broke the law.
[See also: Obama Claims Outcome Of Investigation Into Clinton Emails Won’t Be Political - js]
28 Pages
Portuguese court rejects ex-CIA agent's extradition appeal
An official at Portugal's Supreme Court says judges have rejected a former CIA operative's appeal against extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in an extraordinary renditions program.
The official told The Associated Press that Sabrina De Sousa's only remaining recourse is to appeal to Portugal's Constitutional Court, arguing her extradition order is unconstitutional.
US Defense Secretary: Iraq Politics Won’t Stall War Escalation
Speaking today during a visit to the naval command ship USS Blue Ridge, Defense Secretary Ash Carter insisted that the ongoing political battles within the Iraqi government will in no way impact the ongoing efforts to escalate America’s war against ISIS on Iraqi soil.
“We’re going to accelerate the military campaign as fast as we can,” Carter declared. It is believed that the escalating US involvement is going to include significantly more ground troops, along with the introduction of Apache attack helicopters. ...
Carter’s talk of escalation severely undercuts comments by Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in Iraq on Friday, and was insisting that there was no discussion at all of adding troops because Abadi hadn’t requested them. Clearly, the US designs on escalating are ongoing irrespective of Abadi’s requests, but Carter’s publicizing of that fact only damages the credibility of both Abadi and Kerry.
Afghanistan Braces for Tough Fighting Season as Taliban Announces Spring Offensive
The Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive on Tuesday, pledging to launch large-scale offensives against government strongholds backed by suicide and guerrilla attacks to drive Afghanistan's Western-backed government from power.
The announcement of the start of "Operation Omari," named after the late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, came just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kabul and reaffirmed American support for a national unity government led by President Ashraf Ghani.
"Jihad against the aggressive and usurping infidel army is a holy obligation upon our necks and our only recourse for re-establishing an Islamic system and regaining our independence," the Taliban said in a statement.
The insurgency has gained strength since the withdrawal of international troops from combat at the end of 2014 and the Taliban are stronger than at any point since they were driven from power by US-backed forces in 2001.
As well as suicide and tactical attacks, the offensive would include assassinations of "enemy" commanders in urban centres, the Taliban said in their statement.
U.S. deploys B-52 bombers to Middle East for the first time in 25 years
The U.S. Air Force has deployed B-52 long-ranger bombers to the Middle East, for the first time since the Gulf War ended, to conduct strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, officials said Saturday.
An unknown number of B-52s will be based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force Central Command said in a statement.
German Comedians Are Making Turkey's President Really, Really Upset
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has filed a complaint against a comedian who recited a satirical and sexually crude poem about him on German television, complicating Berlin's attempts to get Turkey's help in dealing with Europe's migrant crisis. ...
The public prosecutor's office in the western city of Mainz said Erdogan had filed the complaint via lawyers against Jan Boehmermann for insulting him. Boehmermann is the host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public ZDF channel. ...
Prosecutors said Erdogan's complaint would be examined as part of a pending procedure. They had already begun investigating Boehmermann on suspicion of the crime of "offending foreign states' organs and representatives" after more than 20 people filed complaints.
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Berlin was examining a formal request made by Turkey for it to prosecute Boehmermann and a decision would be made in the next days. ...
If the government decides to decline the Turkish request to prosecute Boehmermann, she risks a worsening of diplomatic relations with Turkey, Wolfgang Kubicki, senior member of Germany's business-friendly FDP party, told NDR radio.
"If the government were to support the move, there would be a huge backlash domestically," he said, adding that in his opinion as a trained lawyer the poem was "distasteful" but within the limits of artistic freedom.
Egypt Junta Under Fire for Giving Islands to Saudi Arabia
Egyptian junta leader Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi had been criticized for awhile for being a recipient of Saudi largesse, and is now facing a full-blown crisis with his announcement that a pair of Red Sea islands are being transferred to Saudi Arabian control.
The islands, Tiran and Sanafir, are unpopulated, and have been recognized by treaty as part of Egypt since the 1840 Convention of London. Officially, the Egyptian junta is claiming the islands were “always” Saudi maritime possessions, despite Egypt having historically claimed them for decades, and the Saudis never doing so.
This is giving the Egyptian public the impression that the junta has effectively “sold” the islands to the Saudi government. Indeed, a big part of giving the islands to the Saudis is trying to get the Saudis to build a bridge between their territory and the Sinai Peninsula, which will go across one of those islands.
Keiser Report: Pork Barrel Politics
IMF says Britain leaving the EU is a significant risk
A British vote to leave the EU risks causing severe economic and political damage to Europe that will spill over into an already febrile world economy, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
Cutting its forecasts for global growth and for the UK and other advanced economies, the IMF listed a potential Brexit vote in June’s EU referendum as a key risk in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO).
“In the United Kingdom, the planned June referendum on European Union membership has already created uncertainty for investors; a ‘Brexit’ could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships,” said Maurice Obstfeld, IMF economic counsellor.
First of Three Impeachment Votes Goes Against Brazil’s President Rousseff
Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff is looking ever closer to being impeached after a congressional committee voted 38 to 27 in favor of her ouster on Monday night.
The vote is the first of three needed to place the president on suspended leave. The second, from the full Chamber of Deputies, could come as early as this Sunday. If that goes through, the final vote would be by the full Senate. ...
The opposition appears to be in a hurry to ensure Rousseff's exit in a context in which popular support for the move has waned somewhat from 68 percent in March to 61 percent last week, according to Datafolha.
The leader of the lower house Eduardo Cunha, who has been pushing for the president's impeachment, has said that the plenary vote could take place this Sunday, April 17. There has been widespread speculation in the media that Cunha is pushing for a weekend decision in the hope that large pro-impeachment protests will put deputies under pressure to support the move.
More than half of the committee members voting on impeachment proceedings on Monday face charges in the Lava Jato investigation, as does house speaker Cunha. Though Rousseff herself has not been named in that probe, other high profile members of the governing Workers' Party have.
Death by Gentrification: Alex Nieto Killed by Hail of Police Bullets in a Changing San Francisco
Sixth witness disputes police account of homeless man's killing in San Francisco
A key witness to the police shooting of a homeless man in San Francisco on Thursday has come forward to say that the man was “relaxed”, “isolated”, and not “posing a threat to anyone” before two police officers opened fire.
Christine Pepin, a 45-year-old resident of Sunnyvale, is the latest witness to challenge the police narrative that Luis Gongora was armed and dangerous. ...
“He was sitting on the ground, his back against the wall,” Pepin said about Gongora. “He seemed to be holding something in his left hand, but I didn’t see a knife. He didn’t seem aggressive. He seemed kind of lost and confused.
“His head was against the building, sitting down, and his knees were bent, like in a relaxed manner,” she added.
Pepin said that the officers were approximately seven to 10 meters from Gongora, and that no one else was close to him: “He was pretty much isolated. He was alone.”
She said she then saw an officer aim a “big black and orange” gun at Gongora, and heard the officer tell Gongora to stay on the ground.
“I was shocked by this because it seemed to me that the person was harmless,” Pepin said. “The officers started shooting, and I thought, ‘This must not be real ammunition,’ I thought, ‘because why would they do that?’”
Protesting 'Shameful' Greed, 40,000 Verizon Workers Set to Strike Wednesday
In what has the potential to be the largest work stoppage in the country in recent years, up to 40,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia will go on strike at 6 am on Wednesday, unless the company "reconsiders its shameful, and I do mean shameful, demands," Communications Workers of America (CWA) president Chris Shelton has warned.
In a call with reporters on Monday, Shelton said, "nobody wants to go on strike."
According to a statement from CWA, which is calling the strike along with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Verizon is "attempting to make devastating cut backs" even after "significant worker concessions on healthcare." ... The unions say Verizon is making these demands despite having made $39 billion in profits over the last three years—and $1.8 billion a month in profits over the first three months of 2016. ...
CWA notes that last month, 20 U.S. senators sent a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam calling on him to "act as a responsible corporate citizen and negotiate a fair contract with the employees who make your company’s success possible."
Among those senators was presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who just last week called Verizon's behavior "unacceptable."
CWA has endorsed Sanders over his rival Hillary Clinton.
Last fall, Sanders became the first major presidential candidate in decades to join a worker protest, when he walked a picket line with Verizon workers in New York City. Huffington Post reporter Dave Jameison noted at the time that while "[b]oth candidates have placed economic inequality at the core of their campaigns as they seek the nomination...it's much harder to imagine Clinton walking a picket line aimed at a telecom giant."
Up All Night movement in Paris "People feel deprived of their future"
David Graeber: "Every country with an ‘occupy’ movement accomplished an unleashing of imagination and ideas"
Look at who's going to get arrested with me at the Capitol? #DemocracySpring pic.twitter.com/nLeSHioX4c
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) April 11, 2016
Hundreds Arrested at US Capitol During 'Democracy Spring' Campaign Finance Protests
Lady Liberty was arrested on Monday afternoon.
That is, a protester dressed up as the New York icon was taken into police custody, along with hundreds of other protesters who refused to leave the US Capitol steps on Monday until Congress agrees to pass campaign finance reform.
The protesters were in Washington, DC on Monday as part of Democracy Spring, a loosely organized protest movement that began as a 10-day walk from Philadelphia to the nation's capital, and which is now attracting hundreds of campaign finance advocates to sit-in at the Capitol building over the next week.
The group is demanding that Congress "take immediate action" to create a viable small-dollar public funding system for federal elections, and is calling for a Constitutional amendment to overturn the US Supreme Court's controversial 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commissionin 2009, which lifted restrictions on corporate money in politics.
Few of these protesters participated in the 10-day march from Philadelphia, but many flew and drove into Washington from all over the country to join them on Monday. Given their message, it's unsurprising that many of the attendees sported Bernie Sanders clothing and signs, but the group maintains that it is nonpartisan and not in favor of any candidate.
Democracy Spring: Over 400 Arrested at U.S. Capitol Protesting Corruption & Money in Politics
An excellent piece worth reading in full:
Sanders Annoys Democratic Establishment
When Republicans are in the White House, columnist Paul Krugman and The New York Times sometimes sound pretty good. But when someone starts seriously and effectively challenging core assumptions and values of our political economic system, the progressive veneer quickly vanishes. This is demonstrated in Paul Krugman’s attack on the Bernie Sanders campaign in his “Sanders Over the Edge” editorial.
Krugman does not hold back. Bernie supporters and Bernie himself are described by Krugman as intolerant, cultish, shallow, vague, without substance, lacking character and values, dishonest, short on ethics, really bad, petulant and self-righteous. Wow.
Krugman’s diatribe deserves scrutiny and lampooning. The purpose seems to be to ridicule, threaten and warn Sanders to get back in line. Instead, progressives may intensify their support for Sanders and tell Krugman to get his facts straight. ...
Krugman gets really worked up because Sanders issued a “rant” suggesting Mrs. Clinton may not be “qualified” to be President after taking so much funding from Wall Street and supporting recent and past U.S. foreign aggression and intervention which has backfired badly.
Krugman says Sanders is “really bad on two levels” — “imposing a standard of purity “ and raising the specter that Sanders supporters may not happily support Clinton as the “strong favorite for the Democratic nomination.” This is the core message from Krugman, a warning to Sanders to get back on the establishment bus.
One Forgotten Document Casts Embarrassing Light on Krugman’s “Sanders Over the Edge” Column
Last Friday, Krugman was back at his propaganda desk again, this time attacking Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders in the process. In his column perniciously titled “Sanders Over the Edge,” which the New York Times has generously decided not to put behind its pay wall, Krugman attempts to undercut Sanders’ pledge to break up the big banks by regurgitating the same set of false facts. Krugman writes:
“The easy slogan here is ‘Break up the big banks.’ It’s obvious why this slogan is appealing from a political point of view: Wall Street supplies an excellent cast of villains. But were big banks really at the heart of the financial crisis, and would breaking them up protect us from future crises?
“Many analysts concluded years ago that the answers to both questions were no. Predatory lending was largely carried out by smaller, non-Wall Street institutions like Countrywide Financial; the crisis itself was centered not on big banks but on ‘shadow banks’ like Lehman Brothers that weren’t necessarily that big.”
When Krugman says “the crisis itself was centered not on big banks,” he has placed himself on factually unsupportable ground. The two largest taxpayer bailouts in the crisis were Citigroup, the largest U.S. commercial bank by assets in 2008, and AIG, the big insurance company, which was in fact a bailout of the biggest banks. ...
It was eventually revealed that major Wall Street banks, foreign banks and hedge funds received more than half of AIG’s bailout money ($93.2 billion). Public pressure eventually forced AIG to release a chart of these payments, but the chart showed just a narrow window of disbursements from September to December 2008. How vast the full total of payments were to the big banks is yet to see the light of day.
The chart shows that Goldman Sachs received $12.9 billion of the funds; Societe Generale received $11.9 billion; Merrill Lynch and its U.S. banking parent, Bank of America, received a combined $11.5 billion; the British bank, Barclays, received $8.5 billion; Citigroup got another backdoor bailout of $2.3 billion from AIG, to name just a few of the big banks.
#CPtime Really? pic.twitter.com/n8UwFAnUdz
— Troy Rudd (@troyrudd) April 12, 2016
Clinton's joke with New York mayor criticized as insulting black people
A comic gag turned into a gaffe for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, triggering a social media storm over what some said was their insensitivity to African-Americans.
Clinton, who has the key New York primary coming up next Tuesday, took the stage with de Blasio on Saturday at the Inner Circle, an annual media roast of city and state politicians that traditionally ends with New York's mayor delivering a snarky rebuttal in the form of a rehearsed skit, often with the help of Broadway cast members.
This year Leslie Odom Jr., who is black and plays Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway show "Hamilton," participated in the skit in which Clinton kidded de Blasio about his delay in endorsing her bid for the White House.
"Sorry, Hillary, I was running on C.P. Time," de Blasio said, referring to the phrase "colored people time" used to indicate chronic lateness.
"I don't like jokes like that," Odom said.
Clinton then added: "'Cautious politician time.' I've been there."
#HillarySoDown she jokes about #CPTime.pic.twitter.com/mnTXkjRZHM
— Jeanette Sandernista (@JeanetteJing) April 11, 2016
Is Hillary's Personal Story About Student Loans a Fabrication?
"I know [student loan forgiveness] works because Bill and I did that. We both borrowed money when we went to law school and we paid it back as a percentage of our income, so I could go to work at the Children's Defense Fund, not some big law firm that would pay me more. I wanted to do the work I loved...I want everyone to have that chance."
Hillary Clinton tells this story to struggling students. She told it to minority students in Mississippi in November 2015, and she recently told it again to minority students in Brooklyn.
Her story makes several important points to attract young people who are flocking to Sanders. ...
But there's a bigger problem with Hillary's story: The loan forgiveness program she refers to didn't even exist in the early 1970s. Yale Law School literature is quite clear on this:
"Some students dream of jobs in smaller firms, nonprofit organizations, public interest, government service or academia. These are jobs that typically pay less than those at large firms. Yale Law School has pioneered a loan repayment assistance program to allow these students to take their dream jobs without worrying about their student loans.
Established in 1989, the Career Options Assistance Program (COAP) was one of the first loan forgiveness programs of its kind."
1989 is not 1973. Yet doesn't this description sounds similar to the story Hillary tells?
Lee Fang: Dark Money & Lobbyists Serving as Superdelegates Could Decide the 2016 Race
Sanders Did Even Better in Colorado Than Reported, But No One Told Him
Democratic Party officials let Hillary Clinton's campaign know five weeks ago, but kept Sanders in the dark
Bernie Sanders supporters cheered when their candidate won the Colorado caucuses by a sizeable margin—59 to 40 percentage points—on Super Tuesday last month, reportedly picking up 38 pledged delegates to rival Hillary Clinton's 28.
Now, they have more to celebrate. An apparent "error" on the part of that state's Democratic Party could widen that lead even further, the Denver Post has revealed, which would hand Sanders the Colorado delegation.
The Post reported Tuesday that the Colorado Democratic Party admitted this week to "misreporting" the March 1 caucus results from 10 precinct locations.
Adding to the controversy, the newspaper notes that the mistake "was shared with rival Hillary Clinton's campaign by party officials but kept from Sanders until the Post told his staff Monday night."
Trump’s delay in building a delegate operation may cost him the nomination
For months, all Donald Trump was doing was winning. But it turns out those wins didn’t mean all that much.
The Republican frontrunner has won 21 states so far in the Republican primary but it has slowly dawned on Trump’s campaign in recent weeks that nearly all of those races were just glorified beauty contests, and that winning the most votes in a state primary may be an accomplishment as valueless as a framed degree from Trump University.
Delegates at the Republican National Convention elect the GOP nominee for the presidential ticket and often those delegates aren’t chosen by popular vote. Smart political campaigns, though, have long built delegate operations to prepare for contested conventions. In contrast, Donald Trump has only just started building one in recent weeks and his failure could cost him the Republican nomination. ...
The clearest sign of Trump’s failure has been his meltdown on Twitter after Ted Cruz swept the state of Colorado on Saturday, and picked up delegates in party conventions in Iowa, South Carolina and Virginia. Trump began by complaining, “I win a state in votes and then get non-representative delegates because they are offered all sorts of goodies by Cruz campaign. Bad system!” ...
Trump amplified this argument in a rally in Albany on Monday night where he insisted “the system, folks, is rigged. It’s a rigged, disgusting, dirty system” and said “we found out in Colorado this is not a democracy like we’re supposed to have”.
Canada's Progressive Party to Consider Radical 'Leap' to Green Economy
In wake of massive job losses from oil price crash, NDP launches nationwide debates about Naomi Klein's call to swiftly transition Canada to a green economy
Canada's leftist New Democratic Party on Sunday passed a resolution to "recognize and support" the Leap Manifesto, a campaign launched in 2015 by Naomi Klein and over 200 interested parties, included Indigenous rights, labor, and social justice groups, calling on Canada's leaders to transition the country to 100% renewable energy.
"The manifesto calls for dramatic change, urging a swift transition away from fossil fuels, a rejection of new pipelines, and an upending of the capitalist system on which the economy is based," as the Globe and Mail writes.
"Climate scientists have told us this is the decade to take decisive action to prevent catastrophic global warming. That means small steps will no longer suffice," the manifesto reads. "So we need to leap." ...
Such arguments appeared to fall on deaf ears among members of the NDP party in Alberta, who were not pleased with the passage of the resolution and feared it would damage them politically in the largely conservative, pro-oil heart of Canada's tar sands industry.
"I'm spitting angry," said Alberta labor leader Gil McGowan to the CBC. "These downtown Toronto political dilettantes come to Alberta and track their garbage across our front lawn." ...
Outside of Alberta, however, over two dozen local NDP chapters drafted their own resolutions calling on the national party to adopt the manifesto, the Globe and Mail reported.
And despite the fervent opposition from the party's Albertan contingent, the resolution narrowly passed.
Global Fisheries Are Collapsing
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 85 percent of global fish stocks are "overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion." ...
Fisheries for the most sought-after species of fish have already collapsed. ...
Many scientists, like Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia, have estimated that the total fish catch for the planet peaked back in the mid-1980s, and has been declining ever since.
Most scientists studying the issue agree that the three primary causes of the crisis are overfishing, plastic pollution and anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD).
But several, like Dr. Simon Boxall, an associate professor of oceanography with the University of Southampton, singled out overfishing as the largest culprit.
"The big problem is that we are overfishing," Boxall told Truthout. "The [fisheries] management isn't working, and is in fact causing just as much destruction [as] if there was no management in the first place."
Disaster Capitalism's Coming Use of The Lead Water Pipe Crisis
According to USA Today, about 2,000 city and county water systems are infected with lead. And the problem is most acute in the older cities, and in older housing, even in cities that aren't that old, because that's where the pipes are more likely to be made out of lead. And that of course is where, disproportionately, black people live. ...
So clearly the United States is facing a horrific public health crisis. And this health crisis must be addressed. But it also means that the perfect conditions have been created for disaster capitalists, and these disaster capitalists not only want to privatize the water systems all over the country, they only got 12 percent ownership of water systems in the U.S., so that means there's 88 percent to go. That's a huge growth market, as far as they're concerned. They not only want to do this big privatization cash-in, but they want to move black people and poor people out of potentially profitable urban real estate. And this presents them with a perfect opportunity. They want to use this lead poisoning crisis to privatize the water and also to remove black people from the cities.
Dam Threatens to Displace 60 Communities in Mexico, Guatemala
More than 60 communities spanning across the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and Guatemala have voiced outrage over a hydroelectric project that threatens to displace them, the Mexican daily La Jornada reported Saturday.
The Boca del Cerro dam is one of five hydroelectric projects planned for the waterway that straddles the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Leaders from community organizations, including groups in Chiapas aligned with the Zapatista army, have spoken out against the dam that is already under construction on the Usumacinta River.
At a forum for resistance and community alternatives in Chiapas on Saturday, community leaders warned that the dam threatens to “immediately disappear the community of San Carlos Boca del Cerro,” La Jornada reported.
“The government will not compensate us for our land, it will increase the cost of living, and it will disappear us as Chol and Tzeltal Indigenous people of the region,” movement representatives added in a statement about their concerns over the impending but unwanted development.
Without the approval of local affected communities, the Boca del Cerro project violates the International Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, known as ILO 169, which enshrined the right of Indigenous peoples to free prior and informed consent for all development on their traditional territories.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
A Look Ahead: Neither Party Can Win Without Winning Independents
DNC’s Direct Marketing Firm Shows Bias on Facebook Against Bernie Sanders
Climate Rally for Bernie Sanders Draws 1,000 Anti-Fracking Activists in Upstate New York
I'm the real-life Gordon Gekko and I support Bernie Sanders
How Clinton will rebuff Sanders on ‘fracking’
How a US president and JP Morgan made Panama: and turned it into a tax haven
A death in police custody: what really happened at Chicago's Homan Square?
As in Libya, Avaaz Campaigns for Syria No-Fly Zone That Even Top Generals Oppose
LSD's impact on the brain revealed in groundbreaking images
A Little Night Music
Little Sonny - Eli's Pork Chop
Little Sonny - It's Hard Going Up (But Twice As Hard Coming Down)
Little Sonny - I gotta find my baby
Little Sonny - Stretchin Out
Little Sonny - Love Shock
Little Sonny - Sonnys Bag
Little Sonny - We Got A Groove
Comments
Toots Thielemans & Jaco Pastorius
evening fff...
really nice stuff. jaco did some nice work with joni mitchell, too.
RE: The Leap Manifesto
"Small steps will no longer get us where we need to go."
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First Nations News
evening martha...
it's good to see that folks are responding to the fact that the clock is ticking and that we're going to have to push the political process until it submits or supplant it.
Hey Joe!
It has become clear that our "leaders" aren't going to do a damn thing to truly address Climate Change...they are going to dilly dork around and make as much money as they can while Rome metaphorically burns around them, and us....
It is too late to stop Climate Change, or any of the other disasters headed our way... what we do NOW is learn to ADAPT - and that is what Humankind is really GOOD at...it is how we have survived this long.
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First Nations News
adaptation is a wonderful skill or evolutionary trait...
however, the way things are going, yes the human race might adapt, but it might suddenly become much a much smaller grouping after a progression of being much hungrier, thirstier, hostile about protecting resources, etc.
it would be better if we were able to get the greedy morons out of the way and get about the business of making things right sooner rather than later.
Bisbee already has
a private water company. Always has, actually. It is so old that it is just called the Arizona Water Company (even though it only supplies Bisbee), as it was the first in the state, in the late 1800s. The prices don't seem out of line, but they are a pain in the butt to deal with. Remember the Soup Nazi? Well they have the water bill Nazi, working in the office. I went there ONCE. She was so awful that I opted to have my water bill paid automatically. They dig up streets to make water line repairs, and then don't bother to fix the pavement. The (very strapped) city has to follow around behind them, and do that. When they can afford it.
Most of the piping in this old mining town is lead. We never drink or cook in any of it...getting RO treated water from various machines at 25c a gallon...well worth it, to me.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
evening bisbonian...
heh, the prices seem ok now, but wait until they get eaten by a larger corporation which puts up the capital to replace all the pipes...
it strikes me that we are going to need some heavy duty regulations to keep the rentier class from holding our water supply hostage for outrageous rents.
The Flint poisoning was ALL about profit and poors
As a result of having the dictatorial (literally) "Emergency Manager" appointed to this poor, mostly AA city, the new water line, a "public-private" corporation, was summarily put in place, to enrich the investors-because if Flint wan't on the line, there would be no profits. Local, free, indy paper has been the best for coverage (shocked, I know):
http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/02/13/emails-reveal-flint-...
evening julia...
with any luck, the folks bringing the rico suit will run down the details of this and add them to their charges.
RE: Clinton aligning with Cuomo on fracking...
So, once more she FLIP FLOPS....she was for it before she was against it. This is NOT going to work.
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First Nations News
I'll take what I can get
better against it than for it, even if late to the party. Remember that SNL skit with Hillary as bartender?
Bartender to fake Hillary: "you did, finally, come out against TPP!".
Fake Hillary: "I could have come out against it sooner."
Bartender: "Well, at least you did come out against it."
Fake Hillary: "Could have done it sooner."
The best jokes are always the ones you tell about yourself. I've got to say that - much as I detest the flip-flopping, triangulating, focus-group-testing and the dirty tricks in her campaign, I appreciate that she can laugh at herself.
Gandalf and Saruman unite, demand to bring back Greywolfe359!
See, the problem with that is...
she can always go back the other way AFTER she gets what she wants.
Please help the Resilience Resource Library grow by adding your links.
First Nations News
it's just evidence that what she cares about is power...
she will say anything to get it. her whole career seems to be a series of weathervane-like adjustments of her positions to whatever will get a clinton elected to a position of public trust.
She can afford to go along.
If she buys votes doing this and gets elected, she has the whole world to frack.
While SOS, she created a 60+ staff that focused on promoting fracking around the world including New Guinea, Bulgaria and a dozen or more other countries. Not sure, but even if NY bans fracking whether the lands held by the federal government have to abide by it.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman could be described as "petulant" (i.e. becoming annoyed when you don't get what you want). He's an entitled member of the Establishment, not us.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
evening rmw...
krugman is certainly having regular hissy fits. i would imagine that by the time that hillary loses (whether it's in the primaries or in the general) he will have destroyed whatever reputation that he had.
i suspect that a lot of people (among them serious economists) will have trouble taking krugman seriously ever again after these episodes.
Joe, Krugman is mad because he wants to be Fed Chair in a
Clinton Restoration. Bernie is a threat to his Main Chance. Lots of Krugmans out there, eh.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
(Early) evening, joe. At least Canada's progressive party has
learned it's lesson. I'm gonna read the NDP's Leap thing tonight and see what all they kifed from our Green Party :=)
Heavens, the blues does like the harmonica, don't it. When a bit of Irish in the blues would bring it the pennywhistle, which is so kind on the ear. South Africa's kwela music uses the pennywhistle, and a bit of the horns. Here's the master from back in the 60s, Spokes Mashiyane, Phatha, Phatha.
Here's the SA dance band, Mango Groove, with a tribute to Spokes:
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Quills, mate.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVdpXdpzvYY]
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Oh that is cool! TY, Bisbo. Quills, eh? Sounds real good.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
They have a nice sound
much more pleasant, to my ear, than an Irish whistle. (Might be because the Irish whistle player that I play with sometimes never knows what key her song is in, and thinks every note is an eighth note...)
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Are you sure she doesn`t
Are you sure she doesn`t realize she`s not playing the bagpipes?
I`m already against the next war
LOL! Yes, a pennywhistle in the wrong key with off-notes would
place a large burden on a friendship. Loud little things they are :=) Too funny, mate,
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
evening gerrit...
the blues has always had a bit of irish in it owing to henry cromwell who deported pagan women from ireland to haiti to be enslaved and mated with african slaves. especially in new orleans blues and jazz there's sometimes a recognizable irish element to the music.
if you're interested, this is a longish essay that has some information on the topic.
oh, yeah then there's this...
Cool, joe. Um, how is this not Going Up The Country?
Lovely song - perfect for the whistle.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
exactly!
ding, ding, ding, we have a winnah!
man, that is right up my alley!
Love the history of this music.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Woah. That Cromwell...TY joe, I'll go look at the link.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
What if a major party candidate walked a picket line?
Like that would ever happen. Remember Barack Obama and his comfortable pair of shoes?
Bernie did it last October in Times Square with the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers after their contracts with Verizon expired. Almost 40,000 union workers are set to go on strike tomorrow.
Bernie Sanders pickets with Verizon workers in NYC
Bernie Sanders Sounds Off on Verizon's Unfair Labor Practices and Tax Dodging on Eve of Strike
This election is about which side you're on - the 99 Percent or the 1 Percent. Bernie is on our side.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
Bernie is bold. NY around the corner & Bernie rig the system
The article you linked was Obama saying in 2007 that he would walk a picket line, but I guess he forgot about his promise, or was it a promise or just something to say at the time?
The Verizon workers could go out on strike on Wed. This is an interesting twist to the campaign.
I almost never watch TV but flipped the channels and saw on CNN what is now in an article
Clinton aide: 'If anybody is trying to rig the system' it's Sanders
I really hate these lying bastards
Hillary lies all the time and as Joe said above, it is all about power
The super delegates were roped in early on as recently reported. The DNC and the democratic party has their hand on the scale.
Also, as Joe noted above, Obama invented a new classification scheme just for Hillary. It is similar to other top level officials who have used secrets to get budget or fool the citizens, but regular folks who point our the illegal, etc., behavior are trounced with the full force of the law.
When President Obama didn't go to Wisconsin
When President Obama didn't go to Wisconsin to support the unions, people mailed him comfortable shoes.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
thanks - didn't realize mailed him shoes for walking the line
Pretty sure he marched
with some United Airlines flight attendants, too.
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/677532237257158656
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
International Shocker: OTTAWA DEPOSES DAVID CAMERON
How is it possible that this is not the biggest story of the day?
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 ur...
heh. i wonder if that other david cameron can manage to survive his current scandal. he may wish he was a canadian hockey coach by the time this is over.
Evening joe, and bluzerz!
It's hard to disagree with Glenn Greenwald - ever! He's one of my personal faves - I fell in love with him after the Snowden revelations/movie. He's on the people's side.
Do we think justice will pursue HRC? Obama seems to think there isn't a problem. I hope he's right. I would hate to see any barriers put in place. Hopefully that isn't going on.
Everyone needs to be aware that Turkey's President is taking the country back in time. I'm happy to hear that he is being ridiculed by that comedian. He's an awful person and no friend to women. He is turning women into incubators. The country will give women $100 for each child they have and stay at home. He's also ensuring they don't continue with their education.
Sorry, joe - but I find it hard to believe that HRC is fabricating a story about loan forgiveness. I'm sure she remembers it accurately. I'm sure there was some type of loan forgiveness in 1973; unless of course, she forgot to pay back her student loans..... Anyway - it would be awesome for someone to write about this and post it at TOP so their heads can explode. Why am I getting joy from their distress? tsk, tsk, Raggedy Ann!
Better get back to work! Have a beautiful evening, my friends!
"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
Turkey falls further and further down
The Turkish press I used to follow was well done, but now has been shut down.
Did you know that journalists are terrorists?
Did you know that comedians are terrorists?
Talk about power
Started a war with their internal Kurds and use it to crack down more on their own people
Control the media and put dissidents in jail
move to amend the constitution so that Erdogan can be like a modern Sultan
All the while they have over 2 million Syrian refuges
Shoot down Russian plane
What next?
evening ra...
i have little confidence in doj diligently pursuing justice against a government insider like clinton.
clinton, on the other hand, seems enormously confident that she will not be prosecuted. given obama's comments on the matter, he has certainly telegraphed to doj the outcome that he wants.
it is odd that obama seems so confident that hillary did not mishandle classified information (as opposed to merely classified information) despite the fact that better than 20 of the documents that have been processed (out of a couple thousand classified docs) in this investigation were classified "top secret." if obama is scrupulously avoiding sticking his nose into the investigation - how can he be so sure of that?
heh. erdogan. yuk.
Video: Senator Warner (VA) Would Cut Social Security For Those
not already a Social Security beneficiary (or drawing a check).
Please check out the video clip below. Several more clips will be coming soon.
The "Grand Bargain"--slashing entitlements and raising taxes on the average Guy, while slashing the marginal tax rates for 'the wealthy' and for corporations--is alive and well, folks.
We must remain vigilant!
Thanks for tonight's excellent edition of News & Blues, Joe!
Hey, SD!
No, I haven't forgotten--got a bit sidetracked. But, I'm still trying to follow the budget process, and, in turn, the fate of our Social Safety Net.
Much of the appropriations process appears to be kept 'under the radar.' I'm extremely concerned, especially since budget hawks (and key negotiators) like MD's Barbara Mikulski is retiring after her term.
(Remember, she helped decimate the Multi-Employer Pension System, not too long ago.)
I'll let you Guys know what I find out, as things develop.
Have a nice evening, Everyone!
Mollie
elinkarlsson@WordPress
Visit Us At Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."
--Gilda Radner, Comedienne
"The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil."--Cicero
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
To Sen. Warner (VA): "Cutting" SS is spelled "P.R.I.M.A.R.Y."
TY Unabashed. I sure hope progressives in VA are on the ball in getting ready to primary this worthy chap.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Good to know that you are watching it, Mollie
Those asswipes in congress get a great retirement package after they leave office that we pay for, but they are trying to dismantle the system that we have had to pay into our entire working lives. I can't begin to describe my contempt of them.
I noticed in the Verizon piece that they are trying to slash workers compensation benefits. This is an area I have been keeping my eyes on.
Many states are already slashing WC benefits even before people have received treatment.
I was injured in 98 for the 3rd time and kept working for 8 months while comp denied everything. My doctor finally took me off work when I could barely walk. That got their attention. But they'd send me to their doctors who would say there was nothing wrong with my back even though the MRIs and ct scans showed obvious pathological disorders.
It took them over 5 years from date of injury to the day I finally had surgery. But by that time, the damage was permanent. Especially the nerve damage.
I finally closed out my case in 95 and received lifetime medical treatment along with unlimited chiropractic treatment.
But what California work comp companies are doing now is sending patients chart to doctors who never see the patient and people are getting cut off of treatments or having to fight for everything their doctors prescribe.
They quit paying my chiropractor and my lawyer has been working on it since October. I still am not able to see him unless I pay him myself. But I don't have the money for that. And since they aren't paying him, I don't know if I would be reimbursed. It absolutely sucks.
I would advise anyone who gets hurt at work to just go to their regular doctor. People have committed suicide because they were in so much pain and nothing was being done to help them.
Here's an article about what states are doing to injured workers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-demolition-of-workers-compensation
There are companies being set up to help businesses screw their employees.
And unless there is a blatant safety violation, workers can't sue their employers if they are injured at work. That's the very reason why workers compensation was set up in the first place.
It seems every time we turn around, the rich bastards have found another way to screw us.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
evening snoopy...
perhaps if american workers had the solidarity in their communities and the more aggressive unions that the french do, they might settle the hash of the 1%.
evening mollie...
thanks for staying on top of this. it's clear that senator warner needs a lot of people to explain to him that his plan for the 99% is completely unacceptable.
hmmm... tar and feathers or pitchforks and torches?
*perk*
I'm in.... *grim smile*
Please help the Resilience Resource Library grow by adding your links.
First Nations News
Oddly enough,
Tar IS pitch, and if you put it on the tines of a fork, and LIT it, you would have a torch. A sharp pointy torch.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
*weg* I like you....come sit by me... ;-) - n/t
Please help the Resilience Resource Library grow by adding your links.
First Nations News
tar and feathers or pitchforks and torches?
Yes!
I know this isn't blues, but it's appropriate to Joe's question.....
[video:https://youtu.be/MHNxBheFAt4 width:560 height:315]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Oh!
I love me some Alan Parsons. Thanks!
Please help the Resilience Resource Library grow by adding your links.
First Nations News
Thanks for such a great News and Blues collection.
I really like your international reporting. It seems hard to find any news outside the US.
The Nuit Debout movement started small but is growing fast.
Here is a link to some Google Images:
Nuit Debout
Has a lot in common with OWS from what I can tell.
The Guardian
Map of cities
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
evening harry...
it looks to like the nuit debout movement is following patterns set by the indignados and the occupy movement. the template for democratic activism that they created has become a pattern language for protest movements.
Kos has a straw poll up.
I know many won't want to vote in it, but just thought I'd let those who might know.
And I did something I've never done before; I encouraged my local Bernie group to vote. If ever there was a time to freep a poll, this is it.
Hillary winning straw poll
I commented that Kos has been successful at running people off the site
I looked at the comments and others has made the same point
For the most part I ignore the BS over there and I have not been attacked like I was a few years ago. I have changed my behavior a little bit and the world has changed so things that before, like criticism of Obama, are now going on all the time and not to get flagged.
One comment noted how you can find out who has been banned. There have been more than a hundred in the last month. Many of them are only a few comments, but that is one of the strategies for controlling the newbies - zap them right out of the chute. Over the years i have sent kosmail to nubies telling them about the flagging/hide rating system and to watch out
so, someone who is excited, too excited, gets zapped and run off the site right away
I exchanged some mail with common dreams and they said that they have a huge problem with trolls and it takes them a lot of time to keep them tamped down
If anyone cares, there was a comment on DK about how to find out who has been banned.
It involves the use of the Search function. And making some selections. The first part gives one the list of who made comments in the last month. it takes a while to load. It starts out with people with mojo of infinity which goes on and on. Click on the heading "mojo" and it will sort with the ones that are a -, then time out, NR (think not rated), then the skull and cross bones. It says to choose an interval of a month. As I said, most have only been on recently and i didn't really study the list, but there were a couple of folks who have joined here recently: geebeebee and ChemBob are a couple. Here is the comment describing the process
I voted
Currently B:47, C:51. So the purge worked, and now they will think she's ahead. In their heads. About 9000 votes. With some socks.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
evening leu...
thanks for the tip.
Peace may the generals learn
Endless war. Guess the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" is true.
Wild to an old fart like me, I checked in on Democracy Spring live in DC and caught Bernie live in Syracuse online today. From right here in podunk Alabama. Here's a couple of fun Bernie pics:
Y'all have a good evening. Thanks for the great news summary Joe!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It's true. Bernie has been constantly
Looking out for 'we the people' his entire career and people are going to throw away the one chance left to take back our government.
I just don't understand it.
Great roundup, joe. Thanks
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
evening lookout...
heh, these are definitely interesting times.
have a great evening!
Evening Lookout. TY for the Bernie pics! Peace Is the Way :=)
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Aaron "Little Sonny" Willis - THANKS JOE!! ;->
evening greywolf...
glad that you enjoyed little sonny so much.
Article in Nation by Tom Hayden
A 1960's radical from CA writes that he switched from Bernie to Hillary
The comments on line on The Nation site rip him a new ass hole, or whole ass, or something
http://www.thenation.com/article/i-used-to-support-bernie-but-then-i-cha...
I recall Tom from the 60's and hear about him now and then, but from the comments at the nation he long ago went to the dark side.
The David Brock pro Hillary publication, Blue Nation Review has an interview with Tom
I saw the article but did not go there. My take is that they are fluffy fluff pieces. Trying to stir the pot.
The anti fracking campaign in NY was a big struggle and they can read Hillary's lies and support now for exactly what it is
What if Sanders could pull off a NY win? with the closed primary and all the crap going on it is going to be very hard to do. But the campaign has pulled off major shifts in a few days in other places.
Just for good luck, this article this afternoon that Hillary is using her money from speeches to self fund her campaign. Well, the money isn't just from one pot to another, it is fungible, but she is self funding he campaign and she "earned" several million giving speeches to oligarchs, so ...
Are Hillary's big speaking fees being used to help fund her campaign?
Good lord, this again?
Was anyone worried about fracturing the part when Obama and Hillary were going at each other? I don't recall that the was any mention of it.
And he is getting hammered in the comments. I hope he reads them.
Interesting article about Hillary using her own money ag. But what is more interesting is who she is using the money to pay.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
More from the yahoo article
I'm not sure what to make of this.
Read the top comments. It looks like a lot of Bernie supporters are all over it.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Well, we have a great candidate to unite behind...
but they don't want to consider that. But I certainly won't be uniting behind a Clinton, so screw them. They don't want unity, they want their corporate candidate and for us peons to all fall in line again. Not this time.
evening don...
too bad about hayden, i guess the dark side has its attractions.
i think that hillary's fracking flip-flop isn't going to fool anybody. the anti-fracking community are not low-information voters - they are politically plugged in and know what and who hillary stands for.
i'm sure that it's going to be tough for sanders to win new york, but hillary appears to be helping out with several recent news cycles full of gaffes and missteps.
And of course this is great news for Hillary
At TOP. Teacherken diaried it, but put a Clinton spin on it. Her supporters are eating it up.
And another new user has a diary about how Hillary Clinton changed his life.
Big welcoming party.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
hayden
was then. Nadya Tolokonnikova is now. Just like John Lewis was then. And Ta-Nehisi Coates is now.
evening hecate...
heh, i just saw that on faceboob. there was another item along with it, apparently mr. and mrs. sanders are in part responsible for burlington's punk music scene.
hi, joe
He needs to get a mohawk. She can get some piercings.
; )
I thought he already had a Mohawk.
That isn't a Mohawk?
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Joe, thanks for posting The Real News
I am not a regular follower of that site but the things that they do are very good.
During the last 2 days they provided a live feed of the Democracy Spring protest in DC which has had little coverage from the mainstream news outlets.
I am glad that I sent them money last year and will do it again this year.
Thanks, Joe, for the news collection, I am glad
that many voices here are still having some hope that Bernie can make it and that the movement for a political revolution will grow. I need that, because I constantly linger on and am tempted to lose my faith. In that sense I need those people who don't give up and like to listen to them.
evening mimi...
whether or not bernie makes it, the movement that has risen can keep on going. that's the source of my hope.
Evening Joe
that is the great thing - he has already won. The movement will continue.
Of course i hope that Sanders goes all the way to the Whitehouse but even if he doesn't he has prepared the ground for the next stage whatever that may be. This is how these things work.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
evening steve...
i'd be delighted if bernie took up residence in the white house, too.
Joe Shikspack
Thanks for the best collection of current news I`ve been missing for a longtime.
I`m already against the next war
evening knucklehead...
great to see you! how is everything going?
I used to be for Bernie but now I might vote for Trump
should Bernie not get the nomination, that is.
Hillbots love to write things like "I used to be for Bernie but now I love Hillary" and their rationale is that they don't like people who support Bernie. And, you know, I can fully understand that because I pretty much hate the Hillary supporters. I pity them, I despise them. I'd like to make sure they don't have a chance to gloat and I'd like to make sure that Hillary does not become President.
Obviously Plan A is to get Bernie elected. My previous Plan B was to decide between Jill Stein, Eugene Debs and Ringo Starr (not even eligible!). Now I'm pondering something else.
It's been said "if you don't vote for the Democrat you're voting for the Republican". That's nonsense, of course. You can only vote for the Republican if you actually vote for the Republican! So not voting, or casting a ballot for a 3rd party or a deceased person or an English drummer is all the same vis a vis the D vs R race.
So if I'm serious about denying a Clinton Presidency (should she get the nomination) I might have to vote for Trump. Yes, it could do some damage to the country for four years but maybe it'll do more damage to the Democratic Party. It might seem a bit nihilistic but I bet Samson didn't think "oh, this could be problematic for the infrastructure".
evening shahryar...
i wonder what would drive them the most crazy, voting for a green, writing in bernie, undervoting, voting for trump or pointedly staying home?
perhaps someone should ask them?
A vote for Trump
Is a vote against Hillary and the establishment she represents. But I would prefer to vote for Bernie. Both Bernie and Trump have some similar positions regarding trade and war, two Hillary fails. If Hillary is the Democrat candidate I will vote against her and the corruption she embraces.
I'm all for damaging both parties, just returning a favor from the 99%.
I used to be for Goldwater
But now I am for Bernie.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Since it's obvious that the Party "elite"
are ALL about the "Iron Law of Institutions" ("The people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution "fail" while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to "succeed" if that requires them to lose power within the institution."), I seriously doubt they would give a s**t about who anyone votes for. It's obvious that they are more invested in cementing their power and privilege than insuring a viable D party exists-I mean, otherwise, why select such a horrible nominee?
I want to see the signatures on those Nursing Home Ballots and I
want to know how many of those folks are lucid and literate, and can actually read the ballot.
evening mb...
hmmm... i wonder how many dead people will vote in chicago this year.
or whether my absentee ballot in NYC actually gets counted
Hi Joe.
Thanks, Joe S and g'evening, everyone
Been popping on and off c99 last week or so. It's been getting busy at work and home, I can't even grab a few minutes to read the news I'm supposed to read for work. But hope things will calm down in a bit and I can get more active again and read more of the great content here.
"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." Stephen Hawking
NEW: http://www.twitter.com/trueblueinwdc
evening tbiwdc...
i hope that things work out well and quickly. have a great evening!
Re: LSD's impact on the brain revealed in groundbreaking images
Hi, Joe.
I don't remember exactly when they changed the rules about research on acid and other things such as MDMA, but it seems to be beginning to bear fruit. It's hard to imagine what it would feel like to be injected with LSD.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW3KdYm1gS8&nohtml5=False]
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