The Weekly Watch

Creating the Corporate Coup

Chris Hedges often says "The corporate coup is complete". Sadly I think he is correct. So this week I thought it might be interesting to explore the techniques which are used here at home and abroad. The oligarchs' corporate control is global, but different strategies are employed in various scenarios. Just thinking about the recent regime changes promoted by the US in this hemisphere... Brazil's coup was a function of corrupt courts. The more recent Honduran coup was accomplished by falsifying the election. Bolivia's coup last month (as well as the Honduran coup of 2009) was the product of US trained military officers. The current attempts at the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Iranian coups are primarily conducted using economic sanctions. The US doesn't even lie about past coups. They recently released a report about the 1953 CIA led coup against Iran detailing the strategies. Here at home it is a compliant media and a new array of corporate laws designed to protect and further enrich that spell the corporate capture of our culture and society.

corporate flag.jpg

So let's begin by looking at the nature of corporations...
The following 2.5 hour documentary from 2004 features commentary from Chris, Noam, Naomi, and many others you know. It has some great old footage. It is best watched on a television so you have a bigger screen. (This clip is on the encore+ youtube channel and does have commercials which you can skip after 5 seconds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQYsk-8dWg

Based on Joel Bakan’s bestseller The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, this 26-award-winning documentary explores a corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. One hundred and fifty years ago, a corporation was a relatively insignificant entity. Today, it is a vivid, dramatic, and pervasive presence in all our lives. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, a corporation is today’s dominant institution. Charting the rise of such an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals, the documentary also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force.

Although corporations are legally a person (see history below), they are in fact an entity. The sole goal of that entity is profit. There is no corporate conscience. Some of the CEO's in the film discuss how all the people in the corporations are against pollution and so on, but by law stockholder profit must be the objective. Now these entities are global operations with no loyalty to their country of origin.

Perhaps it would be useful to look at the nature of our global expansion. The global expanse of US military bases is well-known, but its actual territorial empire is largely hidden. The true map of America is not taught in our schools. Abby Martin interviews history Professor Daniel Immerwahr about his new book, 'How To Hide An Empire,' where he documents the story of our "Greater United States." This is worth the 40 minute watch...I learned several new things.

One more long clip. However this one is fine to just listen to as you do things. This is a wonderful interview with Noam Chomsky. The man exudes wisdom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVqfKYbGvE (2 hour 5 min)
So much of this conversation touches on today's topic of our corporate capture.

Amy interviewed Ed Snowden this week... (video or text)

This is a system, the first system in history, that bore witness to everything. Every border you crossed, every purchase you make, every call you dial, every cell phone tower you pass, friends you keep, article you write, site you visit and subject line you type was now in the hands of a system whose reach is unlimited but whose safeguards were not. And I felt, despite what the law said, that this was something that the public ought to know.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/12/5/edward_snowden_amy_goodman_interv...

The oligarchy has been with us since perhaps the tribal origins of our species, but the corporation is a newer phenomenon. A faceless, soulless profit machine. Ironically it is the 14th amendment which is used to justify corporate person-hood.

Corporations aren’t specifically mentioned in the 14th Amendment, or anywhere else in the Constitution. But going back to the earliest years of the republic, when the Bank of the United States brought the first corporate rights case before the Supreme Court, U.S. corporations have sought many of the same rights guaranteed to individuals, including the rights to own property, enter into contracts, and to sue and be sued just like individuals.
But it wasn’t until the 1886 case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Rail Road that the Court appeared to grant a corporation the same rights as an individual under the 14th Amendment

https://www.history.com/news/14th-amendment-corporate-personhood-made-co...

More recently in 2010 (Citizens United v. FEC): In the run up to the 2008 election, the Federal Elections Commission blocked the conservative nonprofit Citizens United from airing a film about Hillary Clinton based on a law barring companies from using their funds for “electioneering communications” within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. The organization sued, arguing that, because people’s campaign donations are a protected form of speech (see Buckley v. Valeo) and corporations and people enjoy the same legal rights, the government can’t limit a corporation’s independent political donations. The Supreme Court agreed. The Citizens United ruling may be the most sweeping expansion of corporate personhood to date.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/how-supreme-court-turned-co...

Do they really believe this is how we think?

people have spoken.jpg

More than just using the courts, corporations are knee deep in creating favorable laws, not just by lobbying, but by actually writing legislation to feed the politicians that they own and control, especially at the state level.

Through ALEC, Global Corporations Are Scheming to Rewrite YOUR Rights and Boost THEIR Revenue. Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.

In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU? Numerous resources to help us expose ALEC are provided below. We have also created links to detailed discussions of key issues...

https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Here's an attempt by a local station to tell the story of a Georgia session of legislators and ALEC lobbyists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3yIbxydlHY (6 min)

There is very little effort to hide the blatant corruption. People seem to accept this behavior as business as usual, after all it is.

Part of the current ALEC legislative agenda involves stifling protests.

I think it started in Texas...

A bill making its way through the Texas legislature would make protesting pipelines a third-degree felony, the same as attempted murder.
H.B. 3557, which is under consideration in the state Senate after passing the state House earlier this month, ups penalties for interfering in energy infrastructure construction by making the protests a felony. Sentences would range from two to 10 years.

https://www.ecowatch.com/texas-bill-pipeline-protests-felony-2637605986....
It is now law. Other states are following suit...

Lawmakers in Wisconsin introduced a bill on September 5 designed to chill protests around oil and gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure in the state by imposing harsh criminal penalties for trespassing on or damaging the property of a broad range of “energy providers.”

Senate Bill 386 echoes similar “critical infrastructure protection” model bills pushed out by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Council of State Governments over the last two years to prevent future protests like the one against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2019/09/16/wisconsin-legislators-seek-crimi...

These activities are taking place in most states...especially red ones like mine.

corporate facsism.jpg

When TPTB use government to play chess with the countries of the world havoc ensues...

Abby and Mike were on Chris' show yesterday talking about Gaza and the US/Israeli effort at genocide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcsEYRt_jGY (28 min)

And Chris was on the evening RT news this week discussing how the US empire is striking back against leaders who help their own people rather than our global corporations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5G9S8flnY (6.5 min)

Lee Camp and Ben Norton also discussed how the US wants to own South America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLETst107M0 (1st 22 min)

This excellent article tells the story well...

Financially, the cost of these wars is immense: more than $6 trillion dollars. The cost of these wars is just one element of the $1.2 trillion the US government spends annually on wars and war making. Half of each dollar paid in federal income tax goes towards some form or consequence of war. While the results of such spending are not hard to foresee or understand: a cyclical and dependent relationship between the Pentagon, weapons industry and Congress, the creation of a whole new class of worker and wealth distribution is not so understood or noticed, but exists and is especially malignant.

This is a ghastly redistribution of wealth, perhaps unlike any known in modern human history, certainly not in American history. As taxpayers send trillions to Washington. DC, that money flows to the men and women that remotely oversee, manage and staff the wars that kill and destroy millions of lives overseas and at home. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees and civilian contractors servicing the wars take home six figure annual salaries allowing them second homes, luxury cars and plastic surgery, while veterans put guns in their mouths, refugees die in capsized boats and as many as four million nameless souls scream silently in death.

These AUMFs (Authorization for Use of Military Force) and the wars have provided tens of thousands of recruits to international terror groups; mass profits to the weapons industry and those that service it; promotions to generals and admirals, with corporate board seats upon retirement; and a perpetual and endless supply of bloody shirts for politicians to wave via an unquestioning and obsequious corporate media to stoke compliant anger and malleable fear. What is hard to imagine, impossible even, is anyone else who has benefited from these wars.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/06/authorizations-for-madness-the-e...

The United States is home to five of the world’s 10 largest defense contractors, and American companies account for 57 percent of total arms sales by the world’s 100 largest defense contractors, based on SIPRI data. Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world, is estimated to have had $44.9 billion in arms sales in 2017 through deals with governments all over the world. The company drew public scrutiny after a bomb it sold to Saudi Arabia was dropped on a school bus in Yemen, killing 40 boys and 11 adults. Lockheed’s revenue from the U.S. government alone is well more than the total annual budgets of the IRS and the Environmental Protection Agency, combined.
http://news.nidokidos.org/military-spending-20-companies-profiting-the-m...
For a list of the 20 companies profiting most off war...
https://themindunleashed.com/2019/03/20-companies-profiting-war.html

The obvious industry which was not included nor considered is the fossil fuel industry. Here's another example of mutual corporate interests.

“Capitalism, militarism and imperialism are disastrously intertwined with the fossil fuel economy….A globalized economy predicated on growth at any social or environmental costs, carbon dependent international trade, the limitless extraction of natural resources, and a view of citizens as nothing more than consumers cannot be the basis…for tackling climate change….Little wonder then that the elites have nothing to offer beyond continued militarisation and trust in techno-fixes.”

— Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/05/doubling-down-the-military-big-b...

The US military is one of the largest consumers and emitters of carbon-dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in history, according to an independent analysis of global fuel-buying practices of a “virtually unresearched” government agency.
If the US military were its own country, it would rank 47th between Peru and Portugal in terms of annual fuel purchases, totaling almost 270,000 barrels of oil bought every day in 2017. In particular, the Air Force is the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and bought $4.9 billion of fuel in 2017 – nearly double that of the Navy ($2.8 billion).

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/us-military-ranks-higher-in-green...

The fossil fuel giants even try to control the climate talks...

Oil and gas groups were accused Saturday of seeking to influence climate talks in Madrid by paying millions in sponsorship and sending dozens of lobbyists to delay what scientists say is a necessary and rapid cut in fossil fuel use.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/fossil-fuel-groups-destroying-climate-t...

The corporations are so entwined that it is difficult to tell where they begin and end. There's the unity of private prisons and the war machine. And it's a global scheme...this example from the UK.

One thing is clear: the prison industrial complex and the global war machine are intimately connected. This summer’s prison strike that began in the United States and spread to other countries was the largest in history. It shows more than ever that prisoners are resisting this penal regime, often at great risk to themselves. The battle to end prison slavery continues.

https://corporatewatch.org/poppies-prison-labour-and-the-war-machine/

tax cuts.jpg

Then there was the corporate tax give away...

The 2017 tax bill cut taxes for most Americans, including the middle class, but it heavily benefits the wealthy and corporations. It slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, and its treatment of “pass-through” entities — companies organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, or S corporations — will translate to an estimated $17 billion in tax savings for millionaires this year. American corporations are showering their shareholders with stock buybacks, thanks in part to their tax savings.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/18/18146253/tax-cuts-and...

Even Robert Jackson Jr., commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Appointed to the SEC in 2017 by President Donald Trump. Confirmed in January 2018 sees the corporate cuts as absurd.

“We have been to the movie of tax cuts and buybacks before, in the Republican administration during the George W. Bush era. We enacted a quite substantial tax cut during that period. And studies after that showed very clearly that most corporations use the funds from that tax cut for buybacks. And here's the kicker. That particular tax cut actually required that companies deploy the capital for capital expenditures, wage increases and investments in their people. Yet studies showed that, in fact, the companies use them for buybacks. So we've been to this movie before. And what you're describing to me, that corporations turned around and took the Trump tax cut and didn't use it in investing in their people or in infrastructure, but instead for other purposes, shouldn't surprise anybody at all.”

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/11/18/corporations-stock-buybacks-sec-...

health care.jpg

So the corporations grow larger, wealthier, more powerful, buying evermore legislative influence along the way. They have crept into almost every aspect of our lives. Some doctors are beginning to see the influence of big pharma and other corporate interests are effecting the current practice of medicine.

Gary Fettke is a doctor from Tasmania who has been targeted for promoting a high fat low carb diet...threatened with losing his medical qualifications. He doesn't pull punches in this presentation discussing the corporate control of big ag/food and big pharma on medical practice and education. (27 min)

Here's one of my favorite doctors, Aseem Malhotra explaining how evidence based medicine has been hijacked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV9yQbNCE3E (38 min)
And another favorite, Jason Fung, who describes how Financial Conflicts of Interests have led to the End of Evidence-Based Medicine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6IO2DZjOkY (50 min)
and one more Robert Lustig ... a pioneer in studying the adverse health effects of sugar and high fructose corn syrup, he describes how Big Business uses the science of addiction to keep us hooked to unhealthy foods. The result is that our health suffers. He discusses how marketing and the media subvert brain physiology to their advantage to veer us from the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of pleasure (which means profit)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rtoM1GQCsw (1.1 hour podcast)

capitalist system.jpg

There's also been a corporate take over of our food supply.

Watch the first few minutes of this clip to see how so many Americans eat...
The Truth About Your Food with FOOD, INC. Filmmaker Robert Kenner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oq24hITFTY (1.2 hours)
An interview with the film maker using clips of the award winning documentary.

Then check out this comparison and the growth of the local food movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RwIWGkMxrE (1.2 hour excellent documentary from 2008)

When we walk into a supermarket, we assume that we have the widest possible choice of healthy foods. But in fact, over the course of the 20th century, our food system was co-opted by corporate forces whose interests do not lie in providing the public with fresh, healthy, sustainably-produced food.

Fortunately for America, an alternative emerged from the counter-culture of California in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where a group of political anti-corporate protesters–led by Alice Waters–voiced their dissent by creating a food chain outside of the conventional system. The unintended result was the birth of a vital local-sustainable-organic food movement which has brought back taste and variety to our tables.

FOOD FIGHT is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counter-revolution against big agribusiness.

There are ways to escape the corporate control. Here's a nice interview with the garden manager on a commune, Twin Oaks in Virginia. https://www.twinoaks.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLzFd4YP9dI (29 min)

Growing your own food or supporting your local small farmer is a way we can escape at least some of the corporate control that has become so pervasive across our society.

media companies.jpg

So as we wind down, I need to at least superficially discuss the role of corporate media in controlling and maintaining corporate power. There are some organizations like FAIR https://fair.org/ that try to be a media watchdog, but that is a huge job. Jimmy Dore is my personal favorite media critic. He has several good clips this week, but this is one of the best...looking at an ignored testimony in the impeachment farce.
Law Professor DESTROYS Democrat's Impeachment Case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2h_vSn8Ktg (24 min)
Omission is one of media's favorite tricks. Like PBS covering the dim primary race this week without mentioning Bernie. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/03/hes-justerased-pbs-2020-seg...
Jimmy had another excellent clip on topic this week
How The Ruling Class Implements It’s Agenda w/Danny Haiphong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKIDhlH62W4 (36 min)

corporate control.jpg

So the oligarchs play chess with the world using soulless corporations as a tool for their heartless nature. There's so much more to reveal about corporate power and this column barely scratches the surface. I'm sure I made some glaring omissions which I hope you'll add in the comments. I'm an advocate for sticking our finger in the corporate eye as best we can. I grow much of our food and buy some from local farmers, but I still go to the grocery. I ride my bike to town (3 miles), but drive to the main town 14 miles away. I shop at thrift stores and trade day, but still buy items from both Wal-mart and Amazon. We all, no matter how much we try, are influenced and in part controlled by the corporate world. My hope is someday we walk away from that societal structure and re-invent ourselves into a caring, sharing, sustainable society. I look forward to your stories, ideas, and comments below. Have a great Sunday!

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detroitmechworks's picture

Yes they are.

They have ethics, goals, and priests. They have a god who determines everything "The Invisible Hand". They believe themselves to be superior to the state. They have cult garb, or are we not going to pretend that there's corporate dress codes, right down to the things you can wear on special days of the week. They determine what you can eat, drink and read. If you say something wrong, they feel within their rights to punish you because they OWN the medium that you used to spread ideas. OF course they don't own your thoughts... those belong to the OTHER god.

At least the crazy made up gods that I listen to don't usually fuck over other human beings for a goddamn percentage. ON the other hand, if a corporation can make a profit, it's REQUIRED to fuck you over. To do otherwise would be against it's morals. Which it does have, trust us... OH, and corporations get to make fun of your beliefs, but you CANNOT make fun of theirs. Because that would be heresy against logic and reason.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGDA0Hecw1k]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Lookout's picture

@detroitmechworks

In the film Secret State they (fossil fuel) admit it. Here's the trailer...(1.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCYjbux_dCM

You can watch the series if anyone has an interest. Start here...there are about 6 episodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aeZT6IXCUg (42 min)

Good spy thriller.

Nice to see you around the site again. Thanks for visiting this piece.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

In a local newspaper showed a couple coming out of a walmart with their carts piled high with big boxed foreign junk, then shown cramming their SUV full of said junk. The headline read "Crazy Busy". It pretty much summed up what is wrong with the american consumer culture.

The next day's big headline spotlighted our senator's picture affixed to a LARGE headline boasting
"$22 Billion Submarine Contract Awarded". A good example of of what is wrong with the american war economy.

Thank you for your compilation Lookout!
If we can get beyond the headlines, working at grass root and local solutions, maybe even underground revolution, there may be hope for us. Barter for a better future.

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

My buddies always say about their mayor..."There's no way we will trade down after this election...but then we do." Perhaps it is true for more than just their town.

The line running in my head is..."What if they gave a war and nobody came". I want to expand it to..."What if they made cheap junk no one really wanted and nobody bought it". Or substitute junk food for cheap junk, or...

My point in today's conclusion is much as I try to walk away from corporate culture/control, I really can't totally escape...but at least I spend most of my time in the open, breathing clean air, surrounded by forest. We do what we can.

Onward through the fog...

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Raggedy Ann's picture

Consumerism in our society is a plague, a disease perpetrated upon us by our corporate lords. It has taken over everything about being an American.

I think the youth are catching on, as they are thrifting more, but they don't understand about food, and that's the rub. Our youth will be more unhealthy until they understand what corporations are doing to us through food addictions.

We're expecting rain today for most of the day and actually it's just started. The person who will drill our well came by yesterday and figured out some details. We are behind two other wells, so it will probably be the holiday week when it happens - we'll see. I can wait til January and hope we do.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone! Pleasantry

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"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

Lookout's picture

@Raggedy Ann

That's an exciting project. Keep us posted. I hope y'all have a great holiday break. Enjoy your time....the most valuable thing we have!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Ideas is that new deal of FDR's day had corporate opponents far different than those of today. Sanders does not seem to understand that the corporations of yesterday, and what worked against them, will not work against the corporations of today.

In the early part of the 20th century, corporations were still primarily domestic and local often with charters from the state where they conducted their primary business, many times all of their business.

Regulation and unions were reasonable anti-dotes to the abuses of these local and domestic corporations. The state still had some semblance of control over them.

But today corporations are global. They have no allegiance to, or concern for the domestic economy or local people.

They do not fear of any anti-dotes that worked for years against domestic or local corporations. Global corporations just leave and go elsewhere if they don't like the domestic or local situation if they have not managed to completely take over the government.

There is only one reason to incorporate in the first place. That is for the owner(s) of the business to avoid personal liability or responsibility. The majority of people never understand this idea. Corporate owners are the people who are the genuine personal responsibility avoiders. Not the poor. The only antidote to corporations these days is the total demise of the corporation and its similar business entities that dodge personal responsibility. And the state must refuse to allow any such entities to do business. It is the only way forward. Otherwise nation states will give way to corporate states. Corporate governance is the new feudalism from which the old feudalism morphed.

Sanders isn't going to advocate doing away with corporate entities or other similar business entities. Nor will any of the Democratic contenders. They all require corporations to rail against as the basis for their political policy.

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Lookout's picture

@davidgmillsatty

...and I've always wondered just how Bernie would dismantle them. However like the impotence of the impeachment, is the impotence of the primary process. When the DNC was sued after 2016, they were exonerated based on the ruling they were a private entity entitled to make rules as the wanted. The primary is so obviously rigged I can almost guarantee Bernie will not be allowed the nomination, so the question to how he would change corporate control is really moot.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout I probably could get on board with a Sanders campaign if he would run as an Independent. But it is really hard to get on board with him as a Democrat. If he loses the nomination, he will probably not run as an Independent once again. Once he bailed on an Independent run last time, I and many others bailed on him. I would support his Independent candidacy just to screw with the Electoral College. I thought last time an independent candidacy might have thrown the election to the House of Representatives. I could see a Democratically controlled House voting for him over Trump in a three way EC split if the Democratic candidate took low EC numbers.

But he is so afraid of being tarred with the Nader moniker.

What I said many times on websites last election is that an EC vote is very similar to a Parliamentary Election. And that would be an interesting change for sure. It would also be a means of having the popular vote winner restored if there is a big enough margin in the House. And what would be equally cool is that the Senate picks the VP. So you could have President and VP from different parties.

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Lookout's picture

@davidgmillsatty
if Bernie got the nomination, I would vote for him, especially in this imaginary world, if Tulsi was his running mate. Then there the question about your vote being counted? We'll just have to see what we see and make judgements based on outcomes, IMO.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout The only way the Democrats might beat Trump is to have Sanders run as an Independent and prevent Trump from reaching 270. That is a far better way to beat Trump than impeachment. Would the house vote for the Democrat or an Independent? I guess it would depend on how Sanders did in the popular vote and EC against his Democratic rival.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@davidgmillsatty @davidgmillsatty

If it was Hillary "Dewey Cheatem & Howe" Clinton, all bets are off.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Lookout's picture

@TheOtherMaven

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhxMvmX9WlA]
22 min

Imagine discussing morals on Howard Stern.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

Good lord..that she did that is unbelievable. Great point. Boycott Fox News, but go on Stern's show. It's going to be fun to watch how much lower she falls.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

AE maybe be correct that they will pull her from behind the curtain and anoint her to run again. But I sure hope not!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

Come on Bernie call this crap out.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

The bias is easy to see if you look. Thanks for the heads up!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@TheOtherMaven They have to choose from actual EC vote getters. So if she is not the candidate she could not win.

Having Sanders run as an Independent and Warren or Biden run as a Democrat would be a much better strategy to ensure a Trump loss in the House. Of course it might take some coordination as in asking the voters to vote for the candidate who has the best chance of beating Trump in certain states. But voters could probably figure that out.

Or a candidate could just withdraw from a state in which the other candidate had a better chance of beating Trump.

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so high I can't get over it
so wide I can't get around it

but it's not love

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@irishking @irishking
What to do?
Dance in the streets!

[video:https://youtu.be/9KhbM2mqhCQ]

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Yup, like full blown booty shakin', mess-em-up with free attitude movement.
That's the party I'm going with in 2020!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

2020 the year for clear vision.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

@irishking

refers to RUSSIA!!! (Just joking)

Thanks for the song. Here's one from 1929 back atcha! Thanks for the visit.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDOwDi2jlk0]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout as usual you have done an excellent job of giving me a lot of articles to read and think about this next week.

Of course I need to be loading my car and shutting this place down as I head to the Texas hill country. Will look for an article about Kinder Morgan and small communities that are fighting the pipeline through their towns. The read was a little hopeful.

Watching the weather and it looks like sunshine and clear skies as I travel. Thanks for all your work in putting this together.

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

Lookout's picture

@jakkalbessie

I like to travel on the old roads.

There's not a youtube, but the chorus goes:

I like to travel on the old roads
I like the way it makes me feel
No destination just the old roads
Somehow it helps the heart to heal.

I hope your road trip is a good one. The less busy tracks are almost meditative....soaking in scenery as the world passes by.

Have fun and be careful.

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ggersh's picture

Here are a couple of links to how free markits
help in the corporate takeover.

Amazon a corp that has only made a profit by
never paying taxes and accounting fraud. It
became a trillion dollar corp through the use
of monopoly money(stock) it's nothing but the
perfect example of todays "unicorn" corp, i.e.
worth what it is w/out ever making a penny

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2019/12/the-fed-detests-free-markets-2/

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2019/11/the-fed-detests-free-markets/

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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

Lookout's picture

@ggersh

Not so free really is it? Amazon is certainly a monster...now hosting the CIA/MIC cloud as well as owning the WaPo.

Thanks for the links and the visit!

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Corporations can live far beyond a persons lifespan. Corporations can commit homicide and escape execution and justice. Unfortunately, unions are just as likely to be on the corporations side to get jobs and wages, and bust heads if anything interferes with that.

If we protest we've seen the police ready to use deadly force at the drop of a hat, and get away with it. We get to vote on candidates that some political club chose for us, and have little incentive to work for the 99%. The gov. has amassed so much information on us we can't even fathom its depth. We have nowhere left, no unexplored lands out of reach of the government. We think we own things, but if you think you own a home, see how long it is before the gov. confiscates it if you don't pay your property taxes.

If I were younger, or a young person asked what to do, I would say.... learn some skill that would make you attractive for emigrating to another country, because the US looks like it's over. It's people are only here to be exploited. And if Bernie were to become president I hope he gets a food taster.

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Lookout's picture

@Snode

and what a sham that the legal system disagrees...saying corporations are people.

We are so screwed.

I've been enriching myself. I got a pickup load and a dump truck full of horseshit yesterday. Now I face the burden of spreading and mulching, but there are worse fates...Julian and Chelsea come to mind.

Have a good one!

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Lily O Lady's picture

@Snode

run to. No where to hide. As in the U.K., corporations are seeking to to dismantle the NHS and turn it into a for-profit system like ours. Even as the gilllet-jaune protesters risk life and limb, Macron seeks to install true neoliberalism in France. And the beat goes on.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@Lily O Lady because we in the US can point at it's success and say "It's been done. Why can't we do that?". I'm sure Canada will be in line soon. Maybe after the next global economic melt down. Just can't afford it, you know.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Snode

Corporations can live far beyond a persons lifespan. Corporations can commit homicide and escape execution and justice.

Look at what chevron did to people in Borapol. I'm sure I spelled this wrong but hopefully people will know what I'm talking about. They killed lots of people and poisoned their land for decades and the fight over it is still going on. How many decades more will chevron get to skirt justice? Banks continue to commit fraud and they only get little fines that don't do jack to keep them from doing it again. Even cities are screwing people. Owe a few dollars on your property taxes and they will take your home and sell it for pennies on the dollar. How in hell can it be legal to charge people over 600% interest? What happened to usury rules if that's the correct term.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

amazon oil spill.png

The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled last week that a prior ruling by an Ecuadorean court that fined Chevron $9.5 billion in 2011 should be upheld, according to teleSUR, a Latin American news agency. Texaco, which is currently a part of Chevron, is responsible for what is considered one of the world's largest environmental disasters while it drilled for oil in the Ecuadorian rainforest from 1964 to 1990.
https://www.ecowatch.com/will-chevron-and-exxon-ever-be-held-responsible...

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snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

for decades of polluting and killing.

The legal battle has been tied up in the courts for years. Ecuador's highest court finally upheld the ruling in January 2014, but Chevron refused to pay.

This is another thing that corporations get away with. Contaminating land and then just walking away from it. How many superfund sites have we had to pay for instead of the ones who created the mess. Just declared bankruptcy and walked away. Corporations are people? Fine then they should be held as accountable as the people in the lower classes. Fat chance though right?

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Lily O Lady's picture

@snoopydawg

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

snoopydawg's picture

@Lily O Lady

Weren't people killed by a gas cloud released from the plant? I read something recently that said the case is still going through the courts. How much money have they spent trying not to spend more?

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snoopydawg's picture

Yeah I am sure this problem keeps her awake at night. Just what does she expect Tulsi to do? Go in and rescue them?

I haven't read comments yet so apologies if this was posted

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

....and no I had not seen that clip. Tulsi impresses me in many ways and the manner in which she treats this child is an example.

Especially as compared to Joe ByeDone's adolescent behavior...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKV0oAPENdg]

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snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout @Lookout

Byedone just needs to pack it in and drop out already. Today he was defending the republican party after someone said something about them needing to go away. Joe said that we need another party so one does not get more power than the other. Yeah right, Joe. It's not like the Pubs are already weilding power they don't have and them dems cowering and supporting them.

Newsweek reporter quit after being censored on the OPCW story.

ANd great news for Max Bluementhal!!

Thanks for the wound up, LO. Lots of great stuff here to go back and digest.

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

...thanks for the news.

Caity had a nice piece on Consortiumnews on the newsweek story...
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/12/08/journalist-newsweek-suppressed-opc...

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Lily O Lady's picture

@snoopydawg

their dirty dealings. First frustrate us with gridlock. Then pass bills benefiting the corporate overlords. Then leading up to elections pass bills like the one against animal cruelty (who doesn’t love kitties and puppies?), or propose a bill to consider regulating cosmetics. This second bipartisan effort is glaringly cynical since no one apparently knows what is in beauty products. Sanders must have politicians worried for them to attempt something which has managed to go unregulated for so long.

All this bipartisanship is not even up to the level of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s more like wiping at them with a dirty rag while the ship of state continues to sink. While animal cruelty and cosmetic safety are important issues, they pale in comparison to the systemic ills America suffers. Our fearless leaders will continue to scratch the surface while corruption and business as usual continue to fester. These bipartisan laws may look good on a politician’s resume, but they won’t really help the 99%.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Lookout's picture

@Lily O Lady

9-8-War-Profiteering.jpg

and we are like rats on the sinking ship...

Hope all is well in your world. Looks like rain tonight here...in your neighborhood too I think.

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Lily O Lady's picture

@Lookout

At least rats get to leave the sinking ship.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

CB's picture

@snoopydawg
the propaganda to give NATO a raison d'être for a pivot to China. This will be doomed to complete failure just as the Russian pivot has.

But Putin and Xi Jinping are both much too skilled and intelligent to defeat. American WWE trash talkers are completely outclassed by an 8th dan in judo paired with a Sun Tzu scholar.

Tomoe nage - use your opponent's weight and aggression against him.

“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Thank you Barack and Hillary:

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Lookout's picture

@CB

Russia and China will come out with a gold based united currency collapsing the USD dominance, and manages to avoid WWIII..in my dreams anyway.

We have lost our sense of balance.

thanks for the visit.

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CB's picture

@Lookout
the US or US$ to collapse too quickly. It would be devastating for the entire world if it happened suddenly. What they want is a controlled collapse. If they can get the US to continue to overspend on war mongering rather than programs of social uplift the country will rot from the inside.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meanwhile, back in the Motherland:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acPgB_rhdfA]

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Lookout's picture

@CB

...and China is doing so slowly so as not to collapse the price.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-sells-us-treasuries-debt-2018-7

China is more than happy to own almost a fifth of the U.S. debt owned by foreigners. Owning U.S. Treasury notes helps China's economy grow. It keeps the yuan weak relative to the dollar. As a result, Chinese exports are less expensive than U.S. products. China's highest priority is creating enough jobs for its 1.4 billion people.

The United States allowed China to become one of its biggest bankers because Americans enjoy low consumer prices. Selling debt to China pays for federal spending that spurs U.S. economic growth. It also keeps U.S. interest rates low. But China's ownership of the U.S. debt is shifting the economic balance of power in its favor.

https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-debt-to-china-how-much-does-it-own-3306355

A trade war with the country holding most of your debt doesn't seem like a good policy.

MLK was right! Thanks.

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB

friends to agree that China is a threat to our interests and that they need to increase their funding to NATO. This means more austerity for the rest of us. It's unbelievable that millions of us let a few thousand ruin our lives. Unfuckingbelievable to let them ruin our world.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

There is great dignity in the objective truth.

Perhaps because it never flows through the contaminated minds of the unworthy.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Lookout's picture

@Pluto's Republic

So much more to say really. Had to stop somewhere but as you know the corruption runs deep and is intermixed with the CIA/FBI/MIC corporate government under which we live.

On we go as best we can!

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@Lookout

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven
are easier to spot
than the high fangers - hint
(mouth's are always open)
drooling is such a give away

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Lookout's picture

@TheOtherMaven

what can I say? intended mistake?

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magiamma's picture

And all

Looked forward to a leisurely reading early this morning but the day got away. Going to be very busy until early voting starts and then into Super Tuesday. We will give it our best shot. Certainly the ptb are and will do everything they can to prevent Bernie from being elected. Shill on Howard Stern?? Omg. Low fanging fruit without question. Great roundup. Thanks for all you do. Have a good one...

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

...there is more out there than any of us can digest. But taking what understanding we have we can move forward. Thanks for your efforts trying to preserve the ecosystem.

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smiley7's picture

Corporate charters were initially meant to be for the public good if i'm not mistaken in recall, it was a trade-off for their privilege to exist. Maybe a movement political leader could highlight this and move the pendulum back to accountability.

Had a conversation with good friend today, a 3M rep, and he was griping about his competitor's shady marketing product practices apparently lying to manufacturers about the grades and contents of their competing products.

Thanks for this good work and have a wonderful week.

edit for bad spelling

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Lookout's picture

@smiley7

She left me standing on the mountain...recorded in Hollywood in January of 1946

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WzD81EhmqM]

All the best!

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Lookout's picture

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Office, home, work everywhere I go, everywhere I am.
I wanted to thank you for another wonderful job and cannot express how much I appreciate your efforts in keeping us all informed.
I will be slammed for the next 10 days, so I spend an hour this afternoon to pack my luggage ahead of my Christmas trip to Morocco. Court, court, more court. Oh, and court!
I am 90% done with the packing.
As you work with horse poop, I have to read through text messages between battling husband and wives. Human poop.
Once again, thanks!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

You mean your clients have not found marital bliss? Kinda weird that personal relationships are cause for legal action, but it is the law. Hope you can avoid the conflict.

Wishing you a wonderful trip.
Will you ride the Marrakesh express in Morocco?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYq9RjdYYU]

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@Lookout @Lookout to be in the Christmas spirit.
Everything from hiding the babies, shooting off guns, and stealing vibrators are the chats of the holidays.
I can't make this shit up.
I do not think the train is on my itinerary, but I will go to Marrakesh, and the song will be in my head.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

travelerxxx's picture

Really, really late reading this. But – THANK YOU for your work. This Watch was one of your best.

Like magiamma's Hot Air weekly, this is going to take a few days to digest.

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Lookout's picture

@travelerxxx

...like the 2+ hour Chomsky interview. Pick and choose what seems valuable.

Glad you came by. Hope you have a great week!

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Where can I buy that flag? I will raise it and sing the corporate anthem
"God bless Generica.
Land that is owned.
By the wealthy, unhealthy
As that might be for those being pwnd.

From the Walmart to McDonalds to the corner Dominooooos.
God Bless Generica
My high rent home.

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Lookout's picture

@Battle of Blair Mountain @Battle of Blair Mountain Corporate Pledge.jpg

to the corporate states of America?

corporate states.jpg

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travelerxxx's picture

@Lookout

Guess you've probably noticed how these days there are usually three flagpoles in front of big corporate offices. The center one, and the (slightly) highest, is the USA flag. On either side, at equal height, are the state flag and the corporate-logo flag.

(I was going to mention something re the crucifixion of Christ here, but I'll let it slide... probably a mite offensive.)

I appreciated the memes.

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