Open Thread Saturday 06-13-15

Good morning 99percenters!
Morning news dump and music by Blind Faith

Dallas police in standoff with armed suspect as bombs found in HQ - rolling coverage
Follow the latest updates as police deal with bombs left at headquarters and local stations and pursue up to four armed suspects

Four bags were found in front of the Dallas Police Headquarters. According to the Dallas police, one bag was confirmed to contain pipe bombs.

An explosive ordinance robot was dispatched to move the bags found in the parking lot. The police department just reported that the robot took a hit during an initial explosion. It remains functional, however.

Shooting at Dallas Police Headquarters

3:45 a.m. Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown Press Conference

  • On June 13, 2015, at approximately 12:30 a.m., witnesses observed what they believed to be multiple suspects firing gun shots at the Dallas Police Headquarters at 1400 South Lamar Street.
  • The suspects were parked in front of headquarters. Patrol elements arrived, at which time the suspects rammed a Dallas Police squad car and began shooting at officers, striking the squad cars.
  • There were no officers struck.   Officers returned fire at which time the suspect fled the location in what witnesses say is an armored vehicle.
  • Officers chased the suspects south of Dallas to the parking lot of a Jack in the Box at 121 South Interstate 45 Service Road in Hutchins at approximately 12:44 a.m.
  • Fast-track Hands the Money Monopoly to Private Banks — Permanently

    It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
    — Attributed to Henry Ford

    In March 2014, the Bank of England let the cat out of the bag: money is just an IOU, and the banks are rolling in it. So wrote David Graeber in The Guardian the same month, referring to a BOE paper called “Money Creation in the Modern Economy.” The paper stated outright that most common assumptions of how banking works are simply wrong. The result, said Graeber, was to throw the entire theoretical basis for austerity out of the window.

    The revelation may have done more than that. The entire basis for maintaining our private extractive banking monopoly may have been thrown out the window. And that could help explain the desperate rush to “fast track” not only the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), but the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). TiSA would nip attempts to implement public banking and other monetary reforms in the bud.

    The Banking Game Exposed

    The BOE report confirmed what money reformers have been saying for decades: that banks do not act simply as intermediaries, taking in the deposits of “savers” and lending them to borrowers, keeping the spread in interest rates. Rather, banks actually create deposits when they make loans. The BOE report said that private banks now create 97 percent of the British money supply. The US money supply is created in the same way.

    U.S. House Admits Nazi Role in Ukraine

    By Robert Parry

    Last February, when ethnic Russian rebels were closing in on the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, the New York Times rhapsodically described the heroes defending the city and indeed Western civilization – the courageous Azov battalion facing down barbarians at the gate. What the Times didn’t tell its readers was that these “heroes” were Nazis, some of them even wearing Swastikas and SS symbols.

    The long Times article by Rick Lyman fit with the sorry performance of America’s “paper of record” as it has descended into outright propaganda – hiding the dark side of the post-coup regime in Kiev. But what makes Lyman’s sadly typical story noteworthy today is that the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has just voted unanimously to bar U.S. assistance going to the Azov battalion because of its Nazi ties.

    When even the hawkish House of Representatives can’t stomach these Nazi storm troopers who have served as Kiev’s tip of the spear against the ethnic Russian population of eastern Ukraine, what does that say about the honesty and integrity of the New York Times when it finds these same Nazis so admirable?

    And it wasn’t like the Times didn’t have space to mention the Nazi taint. The article provided much color and detail – quoting an Azov leader prominently – but just couldn’t find room to mention the inconvenient truth about how these Nazis had played a key role in the ongoing civil war on the U.S. side. The Times simply referred to Azov as a “volunteer unit.”

    Hackers compromised US security-clearance database

    Intruders who hacked the databases of the US federal government’s Office of Personnel Management have stolen security clearance data on intelligence and military personnel, AP reports, citing officials who say the breach is far worse than acknowledged.

    The hackers managed to steal the entire federal database of Standard Form 86, according to officials who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity. The form is submitted by individuals for a cavity-like background search, prior to gaining security clearance.

    The 127-page-long form (PDF) contains highly personal information about the individual, including possible drug and alcohol abuses, and financial and criminal histories. In addition, it contains a reference section with extremely sensitive information concerning the applicant’s contacts and relatives including their personal data.

    Nearly all clearance holders working with the CIA, National Security Agency and military special operations personnel, have potentially been exposed, sources believe. The time of the intrusion so far remains unknown.

    4 Ways the One Percent Is Trying to Buy Their Immortality
    Tech oligarchs are deathly serious about buying off the grim reaper.

    Humankind has long dreamed of immortality. Surely, somewhere, Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth awaits, allowing us to escape our inevitable fate of non-existence. Not surprisingly, some very wealthy tech executives are determined to buy their way out of that inevitability. These guys are living the high life and they don’t want it to stop.

    Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, is worth somewhere north of $2 billion, and a member in good standing of the one-percent club that is projected to control half the planet’s wealth by next year. While economic inequality does not appear to weigh on him, other forms do. "Probably the most extreme form of inequality is between people who are alive and people who are dead," he told the New Yorker recently. His thoughts on death? “Basically, I’m against it,” he told the Telegraph newspaper.

    Oracle founder Larry Ellison has similar deep thoughts. “Death has never made any sense to me.” A billionaire many times over, he has contributed over $400 million to research so far, much of it through his Ellison Medical Foundation, in his quest to live forever. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, Pierre Omidyar of eBay have all placed hefty bets on science, and sometimes pseudo-science, to make sure they stick around a long, long time. “The talent migrating into the field is like nothing I’ve seen in my 40 years in the field,” Ken Dychtwald, a gerontology and longevity expert told Time magazine, “and they’re convinced there is nothing you can’t do if you can turn biotechnology into information technology,”

    The ethics behind the search for immortality are dicey, to say the least. “There will be breakthroughs in the next 15 or 20 years that will have to do with aging itself—actually stopping the biological clock,” Dychtwald told Time. “And I think that really rich people are going to get access to it… Imagine a time when ten thousand really rich people get to live forever, or not have to get dementia.”

    Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home

    Blind Faith - Presence of the Lord

    Blind Faith - Had To Cry Today

    Blind Faith - Sea of Joy

    Blind Faith - Well Alright

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    "Talking the Talk"...

    Bernie Sanders interviewed by Al Hunt 6/11/15 (two days ago):

    He hits many of the right notes. This is well worth the listen. (Note: There is a short ad at the beginning, it is Hulu after all.)

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    Sunday on "Face the Nation," we'll be joined by two other presidential contenders: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). Sanders is challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and he attacked her this week for not taking a stance on trade. How will he react to her official campaign launch on Saturday?

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

    mimi's picture

    rate among young black males. It is THE indicator of what is so socially and economically and racially wrong.

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    hecate's picture

    that they actually "negotiated" with this Dallas person. Must be because of his whiteness. With black folk these days, the jackboots generally negotiate only with bullets.

    The suspect has told our negotiator that we took his child and that we accused him of being a terrorist and that he’s going to blow us up, and then cut off negotiations,” Chief Brown told reporters at a predawn news conference. “We cannot confirm a motive at this time.”

    Gee. I don't know. Sounds like a motive to me.

    Like many Americans, he clogged the intertubes with his CTs:

    Your president did not kill Bin Laden until election was coming up. The White House was called a million times telling them where Bin Laden was. The way I figured out where he was : WHERE DID HE GET HIS WATER FROM??? HE WAS IN A DESERT!!! ONLY CERTAIN AREAS OF A DESERT HAVE WATER!!!

    Also like many Americans, he "talks to himself quite frequently and appears to be delusional."

    It appears now that the jackboots decided to treat him like a black person, and so shot and killed him.

    "We have sent the bomb robot in to confirm whether he's dead."

    And so, Order has been restored. All is Over. There is No Danger. Move along now, folks . . . .

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    Hillary having to eat it or her supporters on dailykos having to eat it.

    Bernie Sanders hires Elizabeth Warren 'draft' director for progressive campaign
    Hiring of a top staffer from failed Run Warren Run effort signals opportunity for Sanders campaign to tap enthusiasm and organization done on Warren’s behalf
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/11/bernie-sanders-hires-eliz...

    Poll - the only people that trust Hillary are Bill & Chelsea.
    http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-poll-gop-fie...

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

    shaharazade's picture

    in NY today she is channeling Eleanor Roosevelt. It's laughable and yet looking at this crowd who are cheering her 'liberalism' just makes me sad. What is wrong with people? Who believes what comes out of the mouths of lying pols when their lies defy both reality and their own actions and history. Not even ancient history like her Goldwater Girl era but what she is currently doing and what she did as SoS, including the so called CT, Libyan-Benghazi debacle. Then there is the Clinton charitable foundation? None of this is CT or Republican talking points. What kinda idiot listens to a pol who's political machine has done everything possible to do away with the New Deal talk about how she's like Eleanor Roosevelt and thinks this is what she is about? Pols do not 'evolve' into becoming the very thing they are fighting hard to destroy and dismantle. Apparently during Clinton's administration she would channel conversations with Eleanor who was one of her heroines.

    ....... some of her advisers suggested trying to imagine conversations with Mrs Roosevelt, her political heroine, who died in 1962. “People said it was a seance. It was not a seance,” said Mary Catherine Bateson, a writer and cultural anthropologist, recalling the imaginary conversation. “It was a technique to encourage Hillary to express herself. I think it was really useful.”

    Here's what Eleanor Roosevelt told her

    She said the two would discuss the role of women in politics, and how to define herself as first lady in the face of criticism. “"She usually responds by telling me to buck up, or at least to grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros,” Clinton noted.

    From the Hillary Super Pac co founder

    “The country doesn’t know Hillary,” said Allida Black, an Eleanor Roosevelt historian and co-founder of the Ready for Hillary Super Pac. “They think they do, but they don’t. ”Black said the challenge for Clinton on Saturday would be to clearly articulate her vision for America. Channeling Eleanor Roosevelt, a visionary in her time and a fierce advocate for women, youth, the working class and the disenfranchised, was one way Clinton can make the case that she is the “champion of everyday Americans”, she said.

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    Unabashed Liberal's picture

    and the neoliberal philosophy of small government/public-private partnerships.

    An Excerpt from the Full text of Hillary Clinton's Campaign Rally Speech

    By CNN Staff, CNN, Updated 1:46 PM ET, Sat June 13, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

    . . . Government is never going to have all the answers -- but it has to be smarter, simpler, more efficient, and a better partner.

    That means access to advanced technology so government agencies can more effectively serve their customers, the American people.

    (My note: Does FSC actually believe that after the recently announced OPM data breach that affects 4 million current and former federal civilian employees, in addition to the breach announced this week which affects an undisclosed number of military personnel regarding their security clearances, that Americans want even MORE federal government data bases--pleazeeeeeeee!)

    We need expertise and innovation from the private sector to help cut waste and streamline services.

    There's so much that works in America. For every problem we face, someone somewhere in America is solving it. Silicon Valley cracked the code on sharing and scaling a while ago. Many states are pioneering new ways to deliver services. I want to help Washington catch up. (Cheers, applause.)

    To do that, we need a political system that produces results by "solving problems" that hold us back, not one overwhelmed by extreme partisanship and inflexibility.

    (My note: Go to the No Labels website, and check out their "Problem Solvers" caucus.)

    Now, I'll always seek common ground with friend and opponent alike. But I'll also stand my ground when I must. (Cheers, applause.) . . .

    (My note: If she doesn't choose to triangulate, that is.)

    I won't even go into the delivery of the speech--way too long for someone whose rhetorical skills are as weak as hers.

    Here's a link to the CNN website with the video, for anyone interested in watching it.

    Seriously, I can hardly wait until FSC's Camp releases some of her policy details--if they do--since some of what she seems to recommend (going by this speech) would undo some of what her husband spent eight years trying to accomplish. Not sure that I'm buying it, but I'll wait until I can see the language before further commenting.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    BTW, the piece that Mimi linked to reminded me of a toxic policy/law that WJC signed that I had forgotten about--"One strike, you're out."

    "One strike, you're out"--Wikipedia

    One strike, you're out is a colloquial term for a policy which allows tenants living in housing projects or otherwise receiving housing assistance from the federal government to be evicted if they, or any guest or visitor under their more-or-less direct control, engage in certain types of criminal activity on or, in some cases, even off the premises of said housing. This term is used because housing authorities do not have to offer a second chance. . . .

    Criticisms

    The law has encountered fierce opposition from African-American groups, and advocates for the poor in general. Some critics have argued that because evictions are civil proceedings and not criminal, less evidence is needed to prove a case against a tenant.

    Additionally, opponents have pointed out the aspect of the policy that allows housing authorities to evict tenants based on the actions of their relatives and guests.

    Between 2003 and 2007, Representative Barbara Lee of California, attempted to amend One Strike You're Out with legislation intended to address this common criticism. H.R. 1309, H.R. 173 and H.R 1429 would exempt elderly tenants and those who were not aware of such criminal activity, from being evicted or denied admissions into a housing project.

    All three bills died in committee.

    (My note: Sorta curious that most of her efforts appear to have been before the Dems took the House. Hopefully, all the Dem Party candidates will make repealing this toxic law part of his Campaign agenda, along with sentencing reform, pardons/leniency for nonviolent drug offenders, etc.)

    My concern is that we would face many more years of austerity measures, and budget cutting under what would amount to a third term of WJC--a la Miriam 'Ma' Ferguson and Lurleen Wallace.

    Wink

    [Update/Clarification: The inclusion of Lurleen Wallace has no racial insinuations--strictly a comparison to other female politicians whose politician husbands were term limited, when the female pols ran for offices formerly held by their husbands.]

    I don't plan to listen to Bush's campaign rally, but will try to find a transcript of it. I fully expect to find very similar language about bipartisanship, neoliberal policies, etc.

    We'll see.

    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
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    Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

    lotlizard's picture

    Oh, the same press that derided Kucinich as a UFO believer and promoted the Dean Scream idea is now reporting Eleanor Roosevelt seances with a straight face? That's really rich.

    These media sycophants are following the principle that Larry Summers (at least I think it was Larry Summers) tried to impress upon Liz Warren: if you want to be an insider, Liz, you have to understand that insiders never criticize other insiders.

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    Big Al's picture

    This is like those biker gangs going to McKinley and backing the cops. WTF is wrong with these people? This is a classic
    example of not knowing who your enemy really is. Whenever I see these dupes complain about food stamps and welfare while
    complaining that we don't spend enough on the military and veterans to protect us from China and Russia I just wonder what the
    hell is wrong with their brains. They've completely fallen for this pull yourself up by your bootstraps, I did it why can't everyone
    else conservative bullshit they can't see what the real causes are for the mess we're in. They can't see how they actually support
    the ruling class while also bitching about it.

    http://www.charliedaniels.com/posts/06-08-15/open-letter-president-obama...

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    as a Long Haired Country Boy, now he's just a redneck like those he ridiculed in Uneasy Rider. How stupid of an artist to alienate half of his fan base by making political statements like that. Meh, I haven't listened to his music since he started self-censoring the words.

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    NCTim's picture

    @ Waynesburg College home coming 1976, and open for the original Lynyrd Skynyrd. I own CBD records, but not CDs, nor digital files. The man is an asshole.

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    The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

    hecate's picture

    is a mean, old, ignorant hog. He is seriously allergic to melanin: when he oozed through here in the very early '80s, he spent most of the show ranting about "ragheads." Not surprisingly, he is the musician Sean Klannity most likes to fellate.

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    NCTim's picture

    ... and a small thinker. Another I got mine and screw other people, especially brown people.

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    The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

    Unabashed Liberal's picture

    I would have thought that Charlies Daniels was a conservative. (Then again, I know nothing about him--just his genre of music.)

    One reason that Democratic Representative Jim Cooper, he represents the 5th District--Nashville, TN and other communities, has held his seat for so many years--he's a Blue Dog, former DLCer, a New Dem, and a current member/leader of No Labels--is because of Nashville's (conservative) Country Music Elite.

    (Or so I'm told.)

    Mollie


    "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." --Helen Keller
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    Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

    link

    As President Obama was weighing how to halt Islamic State advances in Iraq, some of the strongest resistance to boosting U.S. involvement came from a surprising place: a war-weary military that has grown increasingly skeptical that force can prevail in a conflict fueled by political and religious grievances...
    “After the past 12 years in the Middle East, there is a real focus by senior military leaders on understanding what the end game is,” said a military official, “and asking the question, ‘To what end are we doing this?’ ”
    The military’s reluctance belies a prevalent narrative in Washington of a cautious president holding back his aggressive generals. The Pentagon’s position was most evident in the White House debates following the surprising retreat of Iraqi army and police in Ramadi last month.

    You know you are wrong when even your generals don't want the war.

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    NCTim's picture

    ... alternative energy. They believe the science, know the resources are finite and know that global warming will sow unrest.

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    The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

    NCTim's picture

    ... never made it big.

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    The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

    even in that band, I can't remember.

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    NCTim's picture

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    The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -