Open Thread - Friday, August 14, 2015

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 6:47am

Good morning cohabitants, welcome to Friday morning!

US-NATO Military Deployments, Economic Warfare, Goldman Sachs and the Next Financial Meltdown

What is the relationship between war in a military theater and “economic warfare”?

An act of war is invariably an economic undertaking which supports dominant corporate interests. The conduct of US-NATO military operations is carried out on behalf of powerful financial institutions.

US led wars in the Middle East under the humanitarian mantle of the “global war on terrorism” largely serve the interests of Wall Street, the Anglo-american oil conglomerates, the so-called ‘defense contractors”, the biotech conglomerates (Monsanto et al), Big Pharma and the corporate media.

“Lone Wolf” Terror and the PsyWar on American Public Opinion

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,” Edward Bernays observed almost a century ago.

“Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” Bernays’ insight reflects the view of corporate statists he regularly commissioned with.

Intertwined with complex public relations exercises, corporate news media’s role today has far less to do with informing the public than it does with maintaining a perpetual tension and anxiety throughout the body politic. Through such tension the citizenry will further gravitate toward or even consciously advocate for heightened police state measures now peddled a prerequisite for public safety.

So,

Here we go,

Have a great weekend!

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Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 9:56am

Good Morning, Tim and 99%'ers

The roofers are still here. They come real early and only work until early afternoon, not stopping for a break or to eat. Today we are serving them lunch. My husband is cooking hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill and I made baked beans and cookies for dessert. He is going to eat with his crew today!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 10:40am

Morning GG and neighbors.

How nice...bet they'll love it. If it is really hot, you might want to go into your attic and check the the roof from the bottom. Because of the heat and everything being so soft, a couple of nails went deeper than they should have and we had a few drips. Another contractor found them when we did some remodeling in our house. Love it. We went from the basement to the attic and the inside to out. Felt so nice when it was done. Enjoy your lunch.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:33am

LOL, they ate well

but we had too much for them. I have a LOT of cookies left over. I learned that they do not like sugar in their stomachs when working on the roof. Apparently the heat can make them nauseated if they have eaten too much sugar. I will just freeze the cookies.

One guy told my husband that their boss might offer him a job. Ha ha ha! And now he is back upon the roof with them. He cleans up the scraps and debris for them. And most of all, he is having fun!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by hecate on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:54am

but

is he grilling the burgers and hot dogs on the roof? ; )

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 12:32pm

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

I think sometimes the roof may be hotter than a grill. No, everyone came down off the roof to eat on the deck which my husband also built. But they are all back up there now.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by hecate on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 1:13pm

your roof

sounds like a happenin' place. Sorta like a barn-raising. Are friends and neighbors getting involved? ; )

Here's a song for your husband:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyK7ATkT1DM]

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 1:28pm

Nah!

We're paying the roofing company who is paying the workers. Fixing them lunch was my husband's idea. It was not a big deal and if it made for some goodwill, then fine. Many of these guys are living on the margins and at least two of them have lost their licenses due to DUI's. It is really hard manual labor but we were surprised that one of them had been doing this since he was 17. He is now in his 30's. My husband said he was very good at his job. The company does other types of construction so probably some of these guys do things other than just roofing.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:00am

Keyless car theft

link

Thousands of cars from a host of manufacturers have spent years at risk of electronic car-hacking, according to expert research that Volkswagen has spent two years trying to suppress in the courts.
“Keyless” car theft, which sees hackers target vulnerabilities in electronic locks and immobilizers, now accounts for 42 percent of stolen vehicles in London. BMWs and Range Rovers are particularly at-risk, police say, and can be in the hands of a technically minded criminal within 60 seconds.

Security researchers have now discovered a similar vulnerability in keyless vehicles made by several carmakers. The weakness – which affects the Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder chip used in immobilizers – was discovered in 2012, but carmakers sued the researchers to prevent them from publishing their findings.

This week the paper – by Roel Verdult and Baris Ege from Radboud University in the Netherlands and Flavio Garcia from the University of Birmingham, U.K. – is being presented at the USENIX security conference in Washington, D.C. The authors detail how the cryptography and authentication protocol used in the Megamos Crypto transponder can be targeted by malicious hackers looking to steal luxury vehicles.

I used to work at USENIX and I saw these guys give a lecture once.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:07am

Oil price crash could be the worse ever

link

If crude’s slump back to a six-year low looks bad, it’s even worse when you reflect that summer is supposed to be peak season for oil.
U.S. crude futures have lost 30 percent since the start of June, set for the biggest drop since the West Texas Intermediate crude contract started trading in 1983. That beats the summer plunges during the global financial crisis of 2008, the Asian economic slump in 1998 and the global supply glut of 1986.
It even surpasses the decline of 2011, when prices fell as much as 21 percent over the summer as the U.S. and other large oil-importing nations released 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles to make up for the disruption of Libyan exports during the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.
WTI, the U.S. benchmark, fell to a six-year low of $41.35 a barrel Friday. It may slide further, according to Citigroup Inc.
“Summer is when refineries are all running hard, so actual demand for crude is as good as it gets,” Seth Kleinman, London-based head of energy strategy at Citigroup Inc., said by e-mail.

This is on the verge of getting out of hand.

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:11am

You posted & I rec'd your diary at dailykos

First comment you got was from a poor white woman trying to share her experience and pain at the hands of the cops, who was of course told to stfu because she was the wrong color.

follow the money (5+ / 0-)
several times i have posted saying this was a class issue and that whites were not immune. i was told to stfu by some pretty influential people here.

i have witnessed police lying, false arrest, and made up charges-all to me- a middle aged white woman. one who is poor, and that poor part is a big reason that happened to me at all

sure this is a racial issue, and sure it is a class issue,but above all this is a justice issue.
obama said something similar

by live1 on Fri Aug 14, 2015 at 11:47:05 AM EDT

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 3:35pm

On of the best diaries

on the #BLM brouhaha. Your excellent diary today and Cassiodorus's yesterday? were spot on. I don't understand, I guess because I'm a white privileged woman, why the posters at dkos especially the self righteous sister's especially are so hell bent on saying people are racist if they connect the dots and look at the other factors involved with the wanton killing of black people. It hurts my head which is painful enough from having a bad summer head cold. Solidarity and forming coalitions is not racist. #BLM itself has a legitimate point about so the called progressive establishment Democrat's who run and control the party they are worse then useless. Al's right about this too you can't really separate the inherent racism in our bloody 'foreign policy' or a government that's an anti-democratic oligarchy. The dkos support from this fan group for the worst racist, classist offenders like HRC or the Obama administration and the policies they implement is beyond identity politics and has veered off into ugly Lord of the Flies territory. Pack mentality that does not seem like it even cares about black lives just get white liberals as they are the enemy of the false delusional Democratic good. Thank you, you handled the subject and the thread well.

'When the law can be stretched to mean almost anything, obeying it is no magic bullet.' Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/sandra-bland-was-murdered-2015...

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 5:01pm

Thanks for the OT, Tim. "Welcome," Cassiodorus! And, here's

a link to the 'Falco Story' [that probably should have been here].

Sorry, I wasn't thinking about the location, at the time, since I was so upset about the use of these noble canines for 'policing'--which really means, "taking bullets for the police."

Have a great rest of the day, Everyone!

Postcript: The discussion on XM about a potential Biden or Gore run seems to be intensifying. And, to their credit, most of the MSM reporters that I'm hearing, think that it would be pointless for them to put their hats in the race--since they are both so much like FSC.

Mollie

"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.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 5:17pm

Welcome Cassiodorus!

I am thrilled to see you have joined us. I hope you will cross post here as well as elsewhere. We agree to disagree amiably here.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 08/14/2015 - 5:51pm

I read the first linked article

About who and why the U.S. and NATO are warring across the Middle East, Asia and going after China's stock markets.
Isn't China lending us the money to finance the wars? If so, why don't they call in the debt?
And the media's propaganda is working on over half of Americans. They actually believe that ISIS is a big threat and will soon be coming to our shores to behead us.
Good god! The amount of misery that our government, nato and the soldiers in our military cause innocent civilians all across the globe is staggering.
And not one of the assholes in charge of making these decisions gives a damn about it.
The rest of the article about revolving door between banks and government positions is absolutely nauseating.
Bernie doesn't have a chance to roll back any of the global militarization.
Doesn't this go back to the Monroe doctrine?

Disgusted after reading this. Actually I don't have the words to write how I feel

—

A leftist is someone with morally correct politics. A liberal is someone who wants to feel morally correct w/o ever putting themselves at odds with power or costing themselves opportunities or experiencing the uncomfortable emotions that truth causes.