caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

During last evening's diary, someone posted the following question:

Are there any studies as to why some people react as they do? There has to be something about brainwashing or extremely, rigid hierarchical systems and the reinforcement loop.

That's a very good question. My partner teaches people how to do psychological research and has access to a very good library, so we found a paper on anti-transgender prejudice from 2012. It will take me a couple of days to translate the research method used and statistics into actual readable English, but I'll do it and get back to you.

Meanwhile, we can all revel in the American Family Association's Sandy Rios, who first denied that AFA is "testing" Target's policy of allowing transgender people to use public facilities in their stores (you know, like normal people) by sending men into women's facilities, before getting to the point of her hatred.

Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse in the eyes of some here, but when I see a headline like this - Fort McMurray: Fire could double in size, Canadian official says - from CNN, I find it more than a little disturbing.

Dry, windy conditions are fueling the blaze, which has already raged over 1,010 square kilometers (389 square miles). By Saturday, it might be twice as big.

This will be a several part essay, which will hope to explain just how we got ourselves into the mess we now face.

Faith. Everyone seems to recognize it, but what is it really? What is truly meant by the word Faith? And what role has it played in politics, especially in the race for the presidency.

As Hillary Clinton made her New York victory speech, she said, “To all the people who supported Sen. Sanders, I believe that there’s much more that unites us than divides us.”

Perhaps you think Big Agriculture's influence over Congress and the Executive is limited to Monsanto and other Monopolist Mega-Corporations? Well companies like that have their own lobbying budget, but many Agri-Businesses are also members of mandatory marketing, public relations, and yes, lobbying groups.

In the sense that these ever had a purpose it was to promote family farmers, a breed that barely exists anymore, in the same way that a union in a closed shop does- since all the workers benefit from union representation all must pay dues.

In Big Ag this is called the 'Checkoff System'.

The FBI has interviewed Huma Abedin, and will interview Hillary Clinton within weeks, as part of the FBI email probe, according to CNN.

Here is the initial report:

First on CNN: FBI interviews Clinton aides including Huma Abedin as part of email probe

Some of Hillary Clinton's closest aides, including her longtime adviser Huma Abedin, have provided interviews to federal investigators, as the FBI probe into the security of her private email server nears completion, U.S. officials briefed on the investigation tell CNN. The investigation is still ongoing, but so far investigators haven't found evidence to prove that Clinton willfully violated the law the U.S. officials say.

We've hit bottom, so it can only get better from here.

He's just like Paul Krugman, but with politics

One of the most frustrating policies of the Democratic Party in general and the Obama Administration in particular is the United States' continued involvement in War Crimes.

War Crimes?!

Well, yes actually. The kind which we executed scores of Germans and Japanese for after the Second World War. You know, the good one where we saved the world from fascism? Surely they mentioned something about it in school, it was in all the books.