The Weekly Watch
Dave Alan Walker
in a world of greed
They start you young
To sow the seed
To get you to agree
to what the powers that be
want you to be
They'll even take your country
if they feel the need
will we ever be truly free
in a world of greed
With the release of T-rumps wealthcare and budget plans my primary take was... oh the greed, what blatant obvious greed. Yes, the corporation in chief, our president for profit, makes no effort to hide the privilege and arrogance of wealth. The oligarchs have gathered and are building a walled community of self serving corporate corruption. They can terrorize the people with the militarized and privatized police, or whisk you off the street into a military prison if you are considered a terrorist...you know like a water protector at Standing Rock. So the corporate coup is complete? Probably...but many people around the world are trying to stand up to this failing corporate empire.
Let's have a cartoon! In my youth Bullwinkle and Rocky were on Sunday mornings, but this interesting cartoon is called Greed (by Allimater)... might be a friend of Alligator Ed? (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktbj-WpzgvQ
Greed isn't often discussed. Want to know why? Watch another cartoon with great text by Noam Chomsky and narration by Amy Goodman (the animation is a little odd)
The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M
Well after the cartoons we need a feature film. Have you seen Salt of the Earth?
Salt of the Earth (1954) is an American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics. The film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. During the course of production in New Mexico in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilantes fired rifle shots at the set, the film's leading lady Rosaura Revueltas was deported to Mexico, and from time to time a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead....The film, edited in secret, was stored for safekeeping in an anonymous wooden shack in Los Angeles. (1.5 hours)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9oY4rmDaWw
Wonder why rich folks can be so unaware and self-important? Watch some experiments in human behavior. Worth the watch (till the end, when he suggest them good rich folk will step in and help... after all his data suggest the opposite). The Science of Greed with Paul K. Piff, a social psychologist and research scientist in the Psychology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. (17 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtU_nXV0i4E
Antony Loewenstein, author of 'Disaster Capitalism', talks about the way corporations and governments outsource the management of mass migration, how the EU promotes xenophobia and what it means to be a journalist. A couple of years old, but spot on. (15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo-XPM7jz0A
Want more? Antony Loewenstein spoke about his book "Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe," in New York City, February 23, 2017. (1.2 hours)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tYhpTSYwws
A nice site with good graphs about inequality http://inequality.org/income-inequality/
Good analysis by Ralph Nader as he disects the budget proposal (25 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l868Ibzu79o
The immoral budget … http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/16/morally-obscene-trump-budget...
Where did this budget come from? Where else...RW think tanks
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/trump-the-outsider-outsources-his-bu...
President Donald Trump's 2018 budget so far reflects Steve Bannon's agenda (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0mwB1yZJpo
Speaking of Bannon, Abby Martin did an interesting expose' this week (26 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HelSaMSy8HY
Paul Jay does a nice job discussing the political struggle between those who want to 'reign in the excesses of capitalism' and those who want to destroy the 'administrative state'. (21 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKSqZijIKS0
In a great article, Chris Hedges calls out the oligarchy and nature of the US today.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_dance_of_death_20170312
Lee camp discusses Hedge's article (above) – is civilization in a death spiral? (9 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4gx6rLHImE
Chris Hedges addresses the rise of the Trump war machine at the "After Trump and Pussy Hats" event in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 3, 2017. (1.1 hour)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLaoJrg80JQ
Chris Hedges discusses the rise of American imperialism with Stephen Kinzer, author of “The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire” (26 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA4KbyWZAxg
There's not even an effort to conceal they're in bed with Goldman-Sachs.
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/15/donald-trump-isnt-even-pretending-to...
ProPublica’s Justin Elliott has been looking into the hundreds of officials Trump has quietly installed across the government (5.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5ftYashpw
DeSmogBlog's Steve Horn says federal agencies are now being staffed by advocates of clean coal, expanded fossil fuel drilling, and hunting of endangered animals (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMipt918ptw
It is the 'for profit' administration...and it sounds illegal to me. They are selling alternate energy companies short prior making major funding cuts to those very industries.
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/17/trump-adviser-is-betting-millions-of...
The presidency is profitable. A company owned by President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will receive more than $400 million from a Chinese firm in a real estate deal that many experts are calling unusually favorable. (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOOIqIoa4tY
The Tax Scam
Davis Cay Johnson suggests T-rump may have leaked his own tax return to him (14 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXVtyeFaAk
Stephen Colbert's comedic take on the tax returns the T-rump leaked (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PL0UZePE-M
Wealthcare...not healthcare
A new study by the Tax Policy Center shows people in the top 0.1 percent would get a tax cut of about $207,000 under the plan. Politico is reporting the White House’s own analysis predicts 26 million people will lose coverage under the bill over the next decade (13 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QexaUntBHwg
Lee Fang, investigative journalist at The Intercept, talks about how the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the for-profit medical industry is backing the plan despite opposition from health providers (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_jug_CB7Zk
Democrats failed to advocate for universal coverage, allowing Trump and the Republicans to blame rising health care costs on the Affordable Care Act (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptz-V3MjCl8
Protests
Chase Iron Eyes updates us about the Standing Rock movement and the state of the legal case (6 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXjxbr2l0sU
There is no illusion that these efforts will stop the DAPL pipeline or mega-projects in the Amazon. They do, however, contribute to a long-term resistance. Solidarity can bring higher profiles, increased pressure, and additional resources to the frontline indigenous communities. http://amazonwatch.org/news/2017/0316-native-nations-rise-indigenous-sol...
Activism is on the rise in silicon valley...
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/17/outrage-over-donald-trump-is-spurrin...
Tens of thousands of people flooded central Sao Paulo on Wednesday to protest against social welfare reforms being implemented by President Michel Temer's government (30 sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Au8r_D5l4
Thousands of protesters brought traffic to a standstill in Buenos Aires on Wednesday and clashed with police over President Mauricio Macri's sanctioning of the Social Emergency Law (30 sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J73OPPgBcL0
Prisons
A life sentence for stealing $14 and then die of cancer in prison.
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/14/shannon-hurd-got-a-life-sentence-for...
A new short film has been made about America’s broken bail system—The Bail Trap: American Ransom. This 20-minute two-part series includes Breaking Down Bail, unpacking the myths and history of bail, and Tai's Story, a documentary about a young woman and the $100,000 price-tag put on her freedom. (1 min trailer)
http://www.bravenewfilms.org/bail_trap
foreign affairs..
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel met with President Donald Trump for the first time Friday, and the encounter was extraordinarily awkward. It was the "most remarkable/bizarre press conference between two allies I've ever seen" http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/17/twitter-lights-after-too-emb...
Merkel seems motivated to reaffirm NATO and existing trade deals. (4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nfiIpQ0K00
The EU and Turkey are at odds. The story according to RT...
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/380438-turkey-eu-erdogan-ban-row/
Democraps begin to warn that there will be no evidence of T-rump colluding with Russia...
From Glenn Greenwald...millions of partisans are absolutely convinced of a Trump/Russia conspiracy for which, at least as of now, there is no evidence. https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/key-democratic-officials-now-warning...
Israel
For the first time, a United Nations agency has directly accused Israel of imposing an "apartheid regime" on the Palestinian people. (11.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8leQgI_Ii8
If you're pro-palestinian you will be arrested in Israel. Supporters of BSD are even denied entry into the country. Dr. Jeff Halper, co-founder of Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, was leading a tour of an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem when police arrested him on suspicion of 'incitement' (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRjSKB8YdD8
...and London Palestinian Solidarity Chairman Hugh Lanning was denied entry (12 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEWgUyfqtAw
Ousted South Korean leader Park Geun-hye returned to her private residence in southern Seoul two days after South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled to remove her from office over charges of graft and corruption. (7 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi9LZKopyAA
The Netherlands election
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/15/dutch-vote-droves-not-geert-wilders-...
Ecuador's private media, together with Western media, are serving as the mouthpiece for the right-wing party being led by a former banker. (3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9LUSPIn69c
I was glad to hear in a UN session (ie dry) that it is no longer nations, but global corporations that drive the world economy. Economist Yilmaz Akyuz suggest that the UN and IMF adopt a multi-national corporation (and class-based) analysis of globalization in order to attack the system that is producing inequality. (He speaks English and it has subtitles) (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvnIX--Mif8
The endless war
"Cambodia does not owe a brass farthing to the US for help in destroying its people, its wild animals, its rice fields and forest cover," Cambodia Daily. American Elizabeth Becker, one of the few correspondents who witnessed the Khmer Rouge's genocide, has also written that the US "owes Cambodia more in war debts that can be repaid in cash."
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/42424-us-bombing-dev...
Syria
More than 42 people were killed and dozens more injured, according to monitoring groups and local activists. The charred rubble shown in the photo was where 300 people were praying when the bombs began to hit. https://theintercept.com/2017/03/17/pentagon-denies-bombing-syrian-mosqu...
While the US has admitted targeting terrorists inside a “community meeting hall” in Syria, it firmly denies striking the adjacent mosque building. Footage of the devastation at the site of the deadly airstrike, however, seems to contradict that claim. (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpAt0mwpxHM
Israel is bombing in Syria too...Syrian troops not ISIS (6.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nfiIpQ0K00
Dennis Kucinich is correct....Our involvement in Syria is illegal.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/14/dennis-kucinich-why-are-at-war...
gjohnsit's Syrian insightful piece with lots on info in the comments too
http://caucus99percent.com/content/simple-basic-lesson-americans-willful...
We can't destroy enough. Fortunately a Yemeni mission was scrubbed before they killed more children. https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/seal-team-6-attempted-a-second-yemen...
Wallowing out of greed may be impossible for our species. Can humans overcome their personal greed and work toward a common good? We might if we would educate people and provide concrete examples of the ways in which it benefits everyone if we help everyone. To me it is obvious that if everyone had a decent standard of living we would all have a better quality of life. Addressing global warming benefits everyone (except the fossil fuel industry)...and not doing so will adversely effect everyone ...including the rich. So by serving themselves in the moment, they destroy us all in the long run.
I think we as a species have never really matured enough to find the balance between self interest and community good. Sadly, we have erred in our capitalist goal of self-interest. When I was young I read Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and was influenced for the rest of my life. His first paragraph explains the nature of the choices we constantly face.
All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for).
He continues by expanding the concept of community...
The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these 'resources,' but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state.
In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could shed the role of conqueror and mature into comrades and colleagues?
The land has an ethic of its own that doesn't involve humans. Watch these scenes of Etna erupting in Sicily, Italy (3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrqZ_rd8t7Y
Well, I'll close out this piece with the greedy wish that all of us have the opportunity to live and thrive in a cooperative environment. I hope you'll add your thoughts, stories, and ideas below....
Comments
It's the last day of winter...
I hope you'll have a good one.
This year, the vernal equinox falls on March 20 at 05:29 AM Central daylight time (early tomorrow morning).
Here’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually rises and sets faster around the time of an equinox. The fastest sunsets (and sunrises) happen at or near the equinoxes. And the slowest sunsets (and sunrises) happen at or near the solstices.
This is true whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/when-are-the-fastest-sunsets
So have a happy spring starting tomorrow!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Summer Soft
Thanks for the Weekly Watch, Happy Equinox Lookout.
The Reasons for the Seasons, so you can balance an egg. :-)~ just kidding
It is raining again huh! Not paying attention to the forecast, I didn't expect it. Need a hug, or something. My Laotian house neighbors are racists, they are mean people I think. oof trapped in world I never made. Saturday night across the street is pretty noisy, especially now people working the vines are mostly putting in lots of overtime. They are Mexicans, when they sing it is always happy. When the Laotians party they have drunk karaoke until the sun comes up. I mean they sound really sad it is a trip.
Anyway, someone peeled out in their fancy pickup, made hella noise enough to wake me up and look out, there are my house people out front yelling "this isn't Tijauna!" and I plotzed. Told them to STFU with their racist Tijauna crap. At first they thought I was hollering "what kinda neighbor does that?" across the street, until they saw I was facing them, in my blind rage. Oops. Liam told me once "all my guns are registered with the government", and I have no intention of blowing my own brains out. Just sayin', if I commit suicide it ain't gonna be about some racist crap. Thanks to Trumpism, I get to have all kinds of crazy fear thoughts about my downstairs neighbors. Bolder and bolder, that's how it looks.
Let it rain, rinse my brain. Thanks.
Stevie Wonder - Summer Soft
Peace & Love
oh sorry about the neighbors
My nearest neighbor is a mile away, but 30 years ago when we lived in the city I remember being woke up by traffic and noisy neighbors during the night.
Interesting difference between the cultures - happy vs sad songs. Hope you follow in the footstep of the latinas and sing happy songs!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Always look on the bright side of life
that's my motto, me and Monty Python. Thanks for your comment, I'm sure it will all be fine. This address has been in the police logs, downstairs for "uncontrollable family member" when Liam's son lost his shit in a violent rage one day, and another time recently for the Studio in back, "domestic standby" while she got her stuff out after a drunken knock-down drag-out with spouse. Booze is a bummer for me, so I stopped drinking it a long time ago.
I never call the cops either, it's not in my nature. I am a non-violent person, it triggers me bad to be in proximity of assholes and I make a lot of judgments myself, see? Heh. Sorry to get it on y'all. Woof! Keep singing.
Peace & Love
P.S. Laos borders Cambodia. In case people don't know why there might be a lot of Laotians here, just read c99 essays about current events, we all become statistics eventually it seems.
keep on the sunny side!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=576s4GQq-B0]
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Your comment reminded me of a couple things
1. I once had Mexican neighbors who had small parties every weekend, sometimes with a freshly killed goat. The only time it ever got out of hand was when a loud mouthed American woman apparently started a fight. She was only there once. All other times there was music and laughter. Go figure.
2. King of the Hill, meeting the new Laotian neighbor.
[video:https://youtu.be/d_CaZ4EAexQ]
That is perfect, and just in case people don't know
why someone would want to come here from Mexico, today, right now:
Mexico state has so many mass graves, lacks space for bodies
Imagine that in your community. It's a bloody gun war down there and it bleeds out everywhere. The people who used to live in back were from Mexico, mom had no "documents" until a couple years ago, dad was granted amnesty by Reagan. Both boys were born here and grew up to be LEOs,Deputy Sheriffs in San Francisco and Mendocino. I'm pretty pretty sure they give a lot every day.
The number one reason for their chosen professions was access to fast cars and high-powered weapons, I am not kidding. Because they know what it is like where their parents came from. The fact their mom and dad could bring them here, get free school, healthcare, food, education, to them it was a fucking miracle! Thanks goodness. They want to give it back, as much as possible plus more.
Everyone seems really stressed out around here, including me. The city council read a statement in support of undocumented immigrants, the cop shop has spoken up in support too. But they always end with "can't break federal law blah blah blah criminals", so to me it sounds like platitudes and not much else. The woman who translated at the meeting said the community was really grateful, so that's good.
I wish we could just all get along, employers paying a living wage and working with others to solve the housing shortage, that would be a great start. All this fighting over scraps seems really stupid. It's not like there's not enough money to go around. It's a distribution problem, just like food. I can already here the excuses why it ain't gonna happen, infrastructure first, etc..
Israeli: “Organize _with_ Trump supporters, demand he deliver”
https://medium.com/@mushon/american-left-we-are-your-future-if-you-fail-...
We need a mass education plan
to work toward single payer, a living wage, free college, no more war, etc. Just attacking T-rump ain't gonna get it (as your article suggests). Policies and why they benefit us all needs to be the focus (from my view). The democraps are worse than useless. We'll have to do it on our own.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Cash is the answer, implementing Prop64
It seems like there should be plenty of jobs counting bills, but pursuit of money and all... hm, I dunno. Too bad it's the ABC tasked with implementation, that was a mistake I think. Banks are a big problem.
State, county regulators alike mull cannabis tax complications
In fact I downloaded
thatthe meeting Huffman hosted, watched "the sausage getting made" for three hours. If I recall correctly, estimates are it's a one billion dollar industry in California, what do you think? Can't even have a State or Local Bank according to "The Fed". Edited: wrong meeting. zzzzFTS, perhaps California should lead the way back to the gold standard? lol I got nothin'.
Peace & Love
About a month ago, Tony Wikrent
who was known as NBBooks at the other place, posted an outstanding essay on India going cashless. The entire concept is very frightening, but if they are able to get into India, I am sure the world's banksters will be pushing for it in other countries. I truly recommend everyone here read Tony's essay.
Edit to add: The move to a cashless society in India has had a devastating effect upon rural communities and small businesses. It is another form of extraction by the big banks who control the credit card industry.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I kept thinking about that essay
thanks, it seems to me like everything micro that is unfolding before my eyes is being covered here by c99 essayers on the macro level so to speak. It's all connected, and ends up at Goldman Sachs. lol just kidding, but not really. Quite some tangled web, it will take a lot of unwinding I think. Some day the corruption will end, or get small enough it can drown on its own. Thanks
The media, not the 4th estate
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M]
edit ...new video
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
you must have watched...
the second cartoon about the media? I thought it was good.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Yes!
The second cartoon was great.
All the links (that I have read so far) were excellent today. Thank you for doing such an outstanding job every Sunday.*good*
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
sorry, bad pasteing
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
thanks again
thanks again for putting these links together
bygorry
Go back !
When I was in Jr. High the cheerleaders had a cheer:
Go back, go back,
Go back into the woods.
You haven't, you haven't,
You haven't got the goods.
Hillary says she's "ready to come out of the woods".
Jordan and Emma of TYT Politics share their views:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K_1e1my6G8 width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
I would prefer...
that she join the fungal masses of the forest floor and remain there not even daring to put out a mushroom! Please stay in the woods!
Thanks for the clip.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
My son-in-law dug my car out this AM. Plus a path to get there
and room around the car for doors to open. It took this able-bodied man nearly an hour of sweat. He came early because basketball at noon.
SO I had a freed car to drive out after 6 days and get my vices and my prescriptions. Freedom! And discovered I have yet to change my car clock over, freak-out thinking how did I screw up an hour? Pain makes me still not consider while in action. And my $60.00 of vaping supplies were FREE because I have a member card, still another $30 banked on that. Free money.Imagine. Sunny and in the 40's here. Still mucho snow, my propane guy has yet to deliver, I have a suggestion for him and will call before his delivery attempt tomorrow. Drive in straight. No backing in. I will move my car out of the way so that the truck will be within 30 feet of my propane bomb. His truck must have shitty tires.
I have leaf lettuces up and growing inside, under lights. Also zinnias and basil and savory. Life could be worse.
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.
nice to have wheels
Hope your foot is feeling better too.
We didn't have a snow this year, but we had a couple of nights in the low 20's this week. Row covers protected the young lettuce and all is well. Got my old 1963 tractor going again after the starter went out. I've had the tractor for over 30 years and this is the first starter I've had to replace. Things happen...you deal with it. All the best in your dealings RL!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Doing what I physically can, and maybe more (too much!)
But I opted when well as a widow to not give up and to keep fighting and learning all the things that husband used to do that I ignored. Still have a basement full of tools that I have no idea the context in which they might be used. I may be misusing some for other tasks, but they are mine now.
My toes are purple coming down towards the nails now. But got my oxycodone Rx, no Tylenol addition, so I can try clean drug. I have other problems with that, not worried about addiction. No idea what the surgical site atop my foot looks like, at least 2" gauze packing under cast there. Stainless steel there. Bionic foot, plus arm plus eyes now.
Walking with a heel-walk on that foot is getting easier, but muscles complain. Quite the sway when walking. I am sure I have "opened up" my hips. My PT would be happy with that, but any more PT is weeks to months away. It may be helping with my balance issues, think about all the balance exercises I was given and now I get to do them real-time!
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.
Peak "Liberal"?
Looks like some Very Serious Beltway Democratic Elite put their heads together - and probably some BigDonor cash - and came up with this:
https://twitter.com/StandUpRepublic (follow link, watch vid - if you can stand it)
The fringe, fundy right got nothin' on these folks.
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
They can't quit beating that dead horse...
Did you catch Glenn's article?
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/key-democratic-officials-now-warning...
They may be at the uh-oh state of the Russian mess they've made. When you find yourself in a hole it is best to quit digging.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Iraq war day
March 19. On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces attacked Iraq. U.S. President George W. Bush said in a televised address that the war was to “disarm Iraq, free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.” Bush and his Republican and Democratic allies often justified the war in Iraq by claiming falsely that Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and that Iraq was allied with al Qaeda — a claim that convinced a majority of the U.S. public that Iraq was connected to the crimes of September 11, 2001. By the most scientifically respected measures available, the war killed 1.4 million Iraqis, saw 4.2 million injured, and 4.5 million people become refugees. The 1.4 million dead was 5% of the population. The invasion included 29,200 air strikes, followed by 3,900 over the next eight years. The U.S. military targeted civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances. It used cluster bombs, white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new kind of napalm in urban areas. Birth defects, cancer rates, and infant mortality soared. Water supplies, sewage treatment plants, hospitals, bridges, and electricity supplies were devastated, and not repaired. For years, the occupying forces encouraged ethnic and sectarian division and violence, resulting in a segregated country and the repression of rights that Iraqis had enjoyed even under Saddam Hussein’s brutal police state. Terrorist groups, including one that took the name ISIS, arose and flourished. This is a good day on which to advocate for reparations to the people of Iraq.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Always a fabulous roundup, Lookout.
Thanks for all the work you put in.
Mentioned I'm onto another bio of Clemens. This one from 1966 by Justin Kaplan. Pretty good.
Just came across the mention of his "Open Letter To Commodore Vanderbilt," one of his earlier scalding takedowns of a greedy Gilded Age baron (written before his first book, "The Innocents Abroad," was published):
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Great roundup today, Lookout.
I was especially pleased to read about news from Ecuador and Cambodia, to countries I have visited and fallen head over heels in love with. If I had any retirement I would expat to either of those countries in a heartbeat.
I spent the afternoon with a caucus 99er and we had a really great time.
I lost a little weight on my last trip to Guatemala. Seems you can burn off more calories climbing Pyramid No. 4 in Tikal than what you can drink up in Gallo beer.
I am living proof.
I am simply eating smaller portions, and stop eating when I am full.
In truth, I crunched in court appearances right and left prior to the trip, then loaded up more upon my return 2 weeks ago. I can't count how many breakfast and lunches I worked right through. And finishing up a trial at 7 p.m. means skipping dinner in favor of just going to bed.
I am down a dress size.
I want to get down another.
If I get it done by working instead of specifically dieting, I am happy.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981