Light Pollution Hides Milky Way From 80 Percent Of North Americans, Atlas Shows NPR (Dan K)
Globalization made economic production more vulnerable to climate change PhysOrg (Chuck L)
Climate change could trigger tropical evacuations, researchers advise PhysOrg (Chuck L)
Microsoft’s Bill Gates claims people in poverty should keep chickens The Sun (resilc). “Let them eat chickens…”
Remember when political risk was an emerging markets thing? International Financing Review
China?
Activists gather 11 million signatures against China’s infamous dog-meat festival Washington Post
China puts faith in start-up boom Financial Times
End of QE to cause problems for Italy, Portugal -Greek finmin warns Reuters
Understanding The European Union’s Facade Democracy Social Europe
French pilots’ strike to hit Euro 2016 BBC
Euro 2016: In the deprived cites of Marseille the French national spirit of 1998 is nowhere to be seen Independent
Grexit?
Greece’s workers and society boil over additional austerity & more income cuts Keep Talking Greece
Greece’s young employees (18-29) earn less than €500/month Keep Talking Greece
Hurtling toward the precipice of war, Modi cements Indo-US alliance WSWS. Wat: “So they’re intent on cornering the Bear…..which as historically not gone well for those doing the cornering.”
Syraqistan
Islamic State has lost this much territory in Iraq and Syria this year Washington Post (furzy)
The Soft Bigotry of the American Left When It Comes To The Middle East Daily Beast (resilc)
Tel Aviv mayor links terror attack to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands Washington Post
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
How US Transnational Cables Are Tapped Cryptome (guurst)
Hugely Popular Email Privacy Measures Derailed Again in Senate Truthout
UK Parliament votes in Snoopers Charter, now it goes to the House of Lords BoingBoing
2016
How Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board ABC
Clinton Had Donor As Nuclear Security Adviser New York Magazine (resilc)
How Clinton aims to trump Trump on Twitter Politico (furzy). Twitter is heavily used by journalists (who overwhelmingly prefer her already) and who already report on everything that Trump does that is offensive. The campaign should be focused on what it will take to win undecided voters in swing states and hold her ground in any states where the Dem margin is not large. Does this advance that aim?
Hillary Clinton Used Leadership PAC as “Slush Fund” in 2008-09 Intercept
The Nasty Racial Politics of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Vice (resilc)
The Most Terrifying Thing About Trump’s Chances Vanity Fair (resilc). A political scientist told me months ago that the identity politics that Clinton was using to win the Dem nomination would be a loser in the general…and worse, she is falling for Trump reinforcing her reliance on that strategy.
Six times as many Sanders supporters would shift to Clinton over Trump – poll Guardian. Read the the article. I don’t see the headline claim supported by actual survey. Go look at the survey instrument (the actual questionnaire) at the bottom of the page. I do not see the question asked directly nor do I see how it can be inferred from conjoint analysis, since the respondents were given two lineups with two changes, not one: Clinton, Trump, Sanders, Johnson and Clinton, Trump, Johnson, Stein . It also shows on 259 Sanders supporters polled, not a great sample. But even if someone can explain how the conclusions re Sanders voters were arrived at, the headline made the most flattering interpretation of this statement: ” Of those who vote for Sanders when Sanders’ name appears on the ballot, 13% say they will stay home if Sanders name is not on the ballot, 41% vote for Clinton, 15% vote for Johnson, 11% vote for Stein, and 7% defect to Trump.” One could just as easily have written: “Only 41% of Sanders voters will vote for Clinton.” The article also oddly attributes to Hillary picking up in the polls due to Trump’s attack on the Mexican judge. It is likely to come at least as much from Hillary getting front page media headlines for her being declared the Democratic nominee on Monday and then on Tuesday winning California and declaring herself the nominee on Wednesday wee AM. Trump showed big gains when he became presumptive Republican nominee.
Cenk Uygur Shocked By Poll Saying 83% Of His Audience Would Never Vote For Hillary Clinton RealClear Politics. Sampling here totaly unscientific, but it is a large sample and the question was posed directly. Given the large disparity between this link’s report and that of the one above, we need a direct poll on this question with good sampling methods to get a better picture, and preferably after the convention, so as to see how Sanders voters react when Sanders officially supports Clinton (which he will, that was his deal for running under the party banner and Sanders prides himself on being a man of his word).
Party Crashing and Political Revolution: With the DNC Just Weeks Away, What’s Next for Our Movement? Counterpunch (EM)
There’s No Evidence That Google Is Manipulating Searches To Help Hillary Clinton Slashdot. Dan K: “Translation of title: Google Search Policy Suppresses Research into All Criminal Activity, Helps Hillary Clinton.” Moi: May be the result of the “right to be forgotten” ruling in the EU.
After Bernie, Does the Left Need a Rethink? Rolling Stone. Lordie. An avowed Socialist, with the persona of a cranky Jewish landlord, who was totally ignored by the media and then constantly attacked by it when they finally had to take notice, got to be neck and neck with Clinton in national polls. And he was also contending with an opponent that had more control over the party than any candidate in modern times. This is mind-boggling progress, even if Sanders fails to secure the nomination. Rome was not built overnight.
Hillary’s Victory and Next to Last Hurrah Counterpunch (resilc)
Democratic Platform Drafting Committee Hearing, Day 2 Afternoon Session C-SPAN
Bernie has flipped 3 counties today SandersForPresident/reddit
Republican insiders pressure Trump to steer clear of controversy Japan Times
Why Donald Trump keeps calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” Vox (furzy). She was giving Harvard a talking point it wanted re diversity and she never claimed to be anything other than white in formal contexts but…”Warren, however, couldn’t produce definitive proof of her Cherokee ancestry, and neither could genealogists.” All oral history that may not be accurate. That was the case on the father’s side of my family. Significant divergence between what he had been told v. what he found when he investigated church records and burial sites.
Missouri Could Be The Showdown State for Money in Politics This Fall Bill Moyers (Selva)
Gawker files for bankruptcy and puts itself up for auction CNN
Yield Curve Flattens Again: 30-Yr Yield Just 19 Basis Points From Record Low Michael Shedlock
LinkedIn Job Postings Plunge, “by far the Worst Month since January 2009” Wolf Richter (EM)
How a scorned industry of lenders plans to keep the 400 percent loan around Washington Post (steve h)
Class Warfare
U.S. Elites: the Original Gangsters Counterpunch (resilc)
Senate Proposal Would Expand Mandatory-Minimum Drug Sentencing — Again Truthout
Antidote du jour. @els_tac: “Have you got my best side? A very noisy Restless Flycatcher, who was also a bit of a show-off!”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Bill Gates – was it “Let’m eat Chickens” or was it “Let’m die in the coming Bird Flu Pandemic“?
The dope probably thought he’d go one up on heifer.org, Even with all the legal power Gates can hire, I’d like to see how long Bill’s neighbors and the Dept of Health would let him keep a chicken yard.
In Massachusetts where I live towns can designate themselves “Right to Farm” communities. I live in one, and keep 3 girls, all layers, and they not only provide eggs but companionship and entertainment. My three free range (well, not this week, as one was attacked by a fox which I drove off and so they are staying in their enclosed pen for a week or two until the fox moves on). They eat ticks and grass hoppers and are generally wonderful to have around.
That’s nice. What’s the name of your town, and what’s the poverty level. Things have certainly changed from when I lived in Marblehead, where that would get one a serious fine.
I live in Becket. I can’t tell you the poverty level but it is fairly high. Many working poor. Stats are skewed by summer people. Many of the Hilltowns in the Berkshires are Right to Farm Communities. There are rules, but mostly to make sure the animals are not crowded in. The big problem is often that first-timers get too many chickens. You only need a few to keep up a nice flow of eggs. 4-6 girls are all you need to supply a family with eggs. Our friends had a bear attack their coop when whey were away for a few days, though, and they lost all but one of their chickens (she ran off when the bear busted open the coop and hid in the woods until they got back). As you can guess, we don’t keep your classic white bantams but heirloom breeds like Barred Rocks, Orpingtons, and Jersey Giants (they can take the cold).
Yes, I see. Town is being optimistic, a population of less than 2000 in an area slightly large than Boston City, that’s very rural,
Bill’s been spending so much time in Africa I think he believes everyone poor live in grass huts with acres of open commons, where as just like most of the poor in MA are jammed up in Greater Boston, a great majority of poor in the the UK where he made his comment (and the USA) are urban.
In Pittsburgh a “community” of 2.5 million metro area we can have chickens. My neighbors have 6 in the city limits. Things have changed plenty in many cities.
A lot of poor Africans live in mega cities such as Lagos, Cairo, Johannesburg, and Kinshasa. Every one of those 4 cities is more populous than the largest U.S. city, New York City. Still, you’re probably correct about Bill Gates’s perception of the world’s poor.
Lived in both Lagos and Johannesburg.
Lagos yes, when I lived there there was open country between Lagos and Lagos Airport.
You sure of your number on Johannesburg, and are you including all of the Reef (Witwatersrand) or just Joberg’s municipal boundaries?
All of the Reef possibly yes. Joberg’s municipal boundaries no, never, under no circumstances. The Reef is 60 miles or sw E-W and 20 or 30 N-S, and the open country between Joberg and Pretoria was swallowed up by Halfway House.
You’re correct about Johannesburg; my source must have been based on the entire metro area. Sorry about that. But Lagos and Cairo are hyuuuge, as The Donald would say.
Things haven’t changed that much. I’m pretty sure you would still get a serious fine in Marblehead for raising chickens unless you had enough land and sway to successfully declare yourself a farm – a great way for the wealthy to avoid taxes (note, however, that most people living in Marblehead would consider the fines pocket change, beneath notice).
The thing is, Ol’ Bill doesn’t have a clue about the economics. A friend decided to try to raise chickens. He had to keep the flock size down to a manageable size. He figured it cost him about $3 per egg in feed. If you aren’t rich enough to have a farm big enough to grow your own feed, and don’t have the time to farm it, or have the money to pay someone else to farm it for you, you’re chicken shit out of luck.
My town just passed an ordinance which allows people to keep chickens within the confines of their yards with some limitations(you can only have 6 and there are parameters with where you can keep the coop.
It’s actually interesting since legally we aren’t allowed to “own” a garden. It is an unenforced ordinance.
http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Christiansburg-Virginia.html
Our city data suggests we are poorer than the state as an average. We are in the Appalachian region though so poverty is actually lower than it once was here(thanks to government grants created to eradicate poverty in the region created back during the Great Depression.)
In my inner ring suburb of Cleveland we can keep chickens BUT you have to pay an $85 per year fee to do so. That would buy a lot of eggs!
Shhhhhhhhh, don’t say that too loud. My township might decide they need to charge too. ;)
And yes I agree $85 is an absurd amount of money considering that you are essentially paying $1.63 a week for those eggs without including any other costs of raising those chickens.
We have 35, including 3 roosters, that free range over 3/4 of an acre. In the fall we eat the spring roosters that we aren’t keeping for flock maintenance. We keep a couple ducks too since chickens don’t eat snails.
As a whole, chickens are a good way to boost your “income” in addition to a good garden. On paper my wife and I are upper lower class but with a little bit of homesteading work live a lower middle class lifestyle.
I’m not so comfortable with Bill offering the chickens to get people vaccinated. I’m not a total fan of vaccinations (not totally anti either) but whenever someone offers me something to take their product (the way banks did with toasters and other chincy crap) I am usually about to be screwed.
I’ll be getting chickens in the somewhat near future, I’m curious, how many nesting boxes do you have for 35 chickens? How are they housed? Are you living in an urban or rural area? Do you have any problems with predators? Thank you!
We have 7 or 8 nesting boxes but they only tend to use 4. We try to keep a 1:5 ratio with one extra for when someone goes broody. We live in a small town of roughly 1700. Even though I can walk to our farmers market on the Main Street in under a minute, I would call our house spacing suburban-rural fringe 1/2 acre to 2 acre lots. The surrounding 10-15 homes can hear our roosters but we are zoned agricultural so they can’t do anything. We do give them eggs and veggies every so often to keep relations good. We house them in a 2 story coop (roughly 80 sqft) that cantilevers out 3 feet on top where a good number of the birds roost at night. This allows their droppings to drop right through the fencing into a sawdust/chip pile (I do tree work and woodworking professionally) which makes for easy composting and cuts down on smell. The rest of the coop is wind proof for winter (if under 10 degrees we put a lightbulb in the coop) with openable venting for summer. Have had problems with predators before but as long as your coop is solid and you get them in by dusk there isn’t too much of an issue. Very little day predation. Right now a friend with large mastiffs is staying with us and their scent has kept everything away. If you will let them free range, get heritage breeds that specialize in fending for themselves to cut down on feed purchases. We also feed a lot of our kitchen scraps to them too.
Thank you! Will start looking at heritage breeds. I have about two years to prepare. My partner and I purchased a home in Northern California on an acre zoned agricultural and plan to retire there. Looking forward to spending my time developing our garden and raising chickens.
It kind of reminds me of this
http://ahrp.org/us-gov-pesticide-exposure-experiments-target-children-970-per-child-wash-post-2/
or this
http://www.naturalnews.com/019192_child_children_ACS.html
which was actually an offshoot of this
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/05/19/17384441.php
the wording in the story is ambiguous but i believe it was referring to vaccination of the chickens which is not uncommon.
Friend of mine named Slim had to lock-in his chickens due to a fox problem… So I said you can’t call your eggs free range anymore, how about Slim Limiteds?
And though they have no roosters he said the hens are much quieter when in the coop all the time (fox or no fox in the area).
Same here in Santa Cruz, excluding roosters.
I’m all for chickens in urban and suburban areas. For one thing, they provide something useful, food. And they don’t bark the night away like my neighbors’ dogs do.
i remember there were some complaints about roosters, in the city. they don’t have a snooze button.
No snooze button is right! Roosters call out pretty much 24/7. The hens are not exactly quiet either, and that matters when space is measured in feet, not acres/hectares,
Then there’s the smell, not as bad as a pig farm, but wet feathers and guano is pungent.
I am forever amused, or maybe irritated, by those suburban/city-fringe dwellers who complain of roosters crowing, hens clucking, odors from feathers and chicken poop. We have lived in SoCal, right by Newport Beach (in the low-rent area) which had the neighbor hood rooster, crowing in the morning/moon-lit nights. After a while, the crowing became part of the background ‘chatter.’
Then we moved to Long Beach, 3 miles from LB Airport. When the wind shifted and planes had to use the alternate run-way to land, we had twin-jets skimming our roof. And then there were the LB Police helicopters, hovering overhead at 2 AM, with search lights hunting for miscreants. Both noises were impossible to sleep through, although the airport did close down at night. Oh, and did I mention the 24 hour traffic noise from the 605 and 405 freeways? Only when the wind was right, but still…..
Given the choice, give me roosters and clucking chickens … and their smelly poop makes the best compost ingredient. Haven’t found that carbon monoxide is useful in the garden.
Don’t forget the hawk screech recording that plays incessantly at LB airport!
Here in the original suburb of hellA there are many chickens kept on tiny lots (4000-5000sq ft) – my neighbour has about 10-12 layers and a rooster.
Also worth a mention as a low cost homestead-in-the-city protein source are rabbits, which can be fed on kitchen scraps (assuming you cook with those vegetable things), and breed like, well, rabbits…(hat-tip to dolly freed’s ‘possum living’ – well worth digging up a copy of this little book in physical or PDF form…)
Here in Tucson, you cannot have roosters.
We keep 4 Americanas…..very sweet disposition, and. for their size, lay rather large eggs! chickens are copious poop producers as well as egg layers….just 4 hens produce enough manure, mixed w/ residual straw and vegie/yard scraps, to compost into all the fertilizer we need for our garden plots/yard….so don’t over do it numbers wise….unless you have the space…. I collect poop daily, to be deposited into the compost bin, so as to reduce any odors that may arise……
“Can’t stop the dancin’ chicken”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3B82Q5vhY
… prolly filmed up the road from Bill’s compound.
At a meeting Thursday night, someone reported seeing cages of guinea pigs behind a building on one of our busiest streets, and our neighborhood in Queens is very dense. Guinea pigs are a delicacy in Ecuador, and some restaurants in our area serve them under the name of cuy.
Not a lot of meat on an guinea pig, and no eggs, but they’re small and quiet.
Yeah,right, Bill … as if most people in poverty could afford chicken feed, or keep them in the city with all those anti-livestock regs LOL it would make more sense for billionaires like YOU to locate AFFORDABLE healthy food sources in poor neighborhoods, instead of the few overpriced supermarkets that are actually there. Chickens can only feed themselves for free when they can roam on a few acres – not a resource available to most of the world’s poor.
fyi: the author of ‘the soft bigotry of the american left when it comes to the middle east’ is the deputy director of the syrian emergency task force…
Most of the
fiction authorsstenographers who publish their short stories in the Daily Beast are also on the US Gov. gravy train.Yeah, and Dan Roberts who wrote that Guardian piece “Six times as many Sanders supporters…bla bla bla” is based in Washington suckling for the soft spot Clinton has with Saudi Arabia. All his other Guardian pieces show that Roberts does not accept any challengers to Clinton. Notice too that ever since Alan Rusbridger (was) retired from editorship of The Guardian shortly after the Ed Snowden/NSA revelations, the reduction in articles on progressive left-wing politics has been YUUUUGE!
Thanks for pointing that out! It still baffles me how the paper that published Snowden could go so corporate.
The Guardian has always been much more establishment than it appears, but its definitely gone backwards since Rusbridger retired. Some of the political writing now is shocking. Its straight out of the ‘liberal’ playbook – focus on identity politics while quietly pushing neoliberalism as ‘mainstream’.
Evan Barrett is laying on the guilt trip pretty hard…
I’ll allow: soft bigotry is clearly a problem. Unfortunately, the current situation requires a clarity which the pro-ISIS Barrett would undoubtedly term hard bigotry.
Americans responsibility ends when it entails our own cultural suicide. No question we’ve stirred an anthill. We ought to stop stirring.
Do Americans have a responsibility? I say NO, at least not if this entails further counterproductive engagement.
The US is already serving as a pressure-relief valve for the dysfunctional racist Mexican oligarchy – to our own detriment, and theirs. There is only so much we can be expected to do.
The problem with Islamic culture is that in its most vibrant form it has lately manifested itself by blowing up other cultures.
To think we can provide arms to “moderates” thereby creating more and more refugees while simultaneously providing safespaces for thousands of Muslims among the fruited, free-range haunts of barnyard pimps is the height of pathological altruism…
Menachem Begin, when viewing the last Sunni-Shia bloodbath, put it succinctly: “I wish both sides success.”
And so once again, from behind its walls, the Jewish ethno-state suggests one course of action: ruthless pursuit of our own interests, covertly aiding one side or another as the situation ebbs and flows, never throwing in wholly on one side or the other, understanding that all outcomes will likely be bad and that we will be blamed for whatever happens, and always preparing for the worst.
You can get a slightly different perspective by changing one word.
From this:
The problem with Islamic culture is that in its most vibrant form it has lately manifested itself by blowing up other cultures.
To this:
And the Israeli satisfaction at the current situation;
When Israel actively and “ruthlessly” plans and implements actions designed to produce chaos and instability throughout the region, why shouldn’t they be blamed. It sounds as if they are a major source of the chaos and are clearly satisfied with the results.
So I hope you aren’t suggesting we view Israeli actions as admirable and deserving of aping rather than as despicable and deserving of world-wide condemnation and consequences? I imagine even Hitler would commend the Israeli’s unrestrained ruthlessness in pursuit of lebensraum from the untermenschen.
Well put!
Meanwhile, Haim Saban’s The Onion wields ‘humor with an agenda’:
Fun-nee!
A similarly over-the-top, fact-free satire about Saban’s people was published 113 years ago in Russia. And they are STILL whingeing about it.
Evidently, when it comes to hate speech, Saban decided “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
The US should withdraw completely from the Middle East and should have no policy towards and, indeed not even any thoughts about a policy, towards the Middle East or any of its constituent parts. Sublime Ignorance. As for those who fret that Israel cannot survive without the US, the contrary is true. Israel can only survive if its adversaries in the region see that it is surviving 100% on its own. The Evan Barrett piece is just neocon propanganda. It is surprising thst he doesn’t accuse the Left of anti-Islamic racism. How can Islamophobia be racism you ask? Who cares? Racism outranks Phobiaism in the hierarchy of evils.
It looks like ISIS final defeat is at hand, just a question whether the Russians or the Americans take Raqqa and get the recognition. This is good news! As we’ll finally be able to stand down The War on Terror. We can restore the civil liberties seized by the Patriot Act; we can disband DHS, and give the duties back to the FBI and CIA where they belong. We’ll be able to have FBI agents chasing financial crimes again, not just listening to Grandma’s cellphone chats to see if she’s a secret ISIS sleeper agent. We can withdraw our troops from the ME, bring them home and let them build highways and bridges in America for a change. Peace and Prosperity! The Peace Dividend!
I can’t wait.
As Yves and Lambert would say: note the lack of agency in your post. Mexico didn’t just naturally become ‘dysfunctional’, massive immigration north was directly caused by the American-pushed NAFTA devastating Mexican agriculture. We started this.
As for Syria, ‘pathological altruism’? Seriously? The US knows exactly what it is doing. It knows there are no ‘moderates’. The goal is to destroy Syria, and if that causes the EU to be inundated with refugees, well, the US is perfectly willing to sacrifice Europe. There have been numerous secular/moderate forces in the Middle-east in the last hundred years. The US has been the enemy of each and every one of them. The turn towards fundamentalism is a natural tendency given how the alternatives have so spectacularly failed.
Speaking of a hundred years, again I note your lack of agency. The ‘big bad Muslims’ didn’t just start attacking us out of the blue. Western meddling in the affairs of the Middle-east (in them modern era at least) started in 1914 when Britain began invaded Mesopotamia and began dismantling the Ottoman Empire. We started this.
“The problem with Islamic culture is that in its most vibrant form it has lately manifested itself by blowing up other cultures.”
Bull and shit.
“Do Americans have a responsibility?”
Yes. We started this.
“Americans responsibility ends when it entails our own cultural suicide.”
A. Our culture is one of death and abuse, and then staring blankly when it blows up in our face. B. American culture is inherently the result of mixing. To claim letting new people in will ruin it is the height of stupidity.
“massive immigration north was directly caused by the American-pushed NAFTA devastating Mexican agriculture. We started this.”
Pardon me, but bullshit. Yes, NAFTA may have/probably has exacerbated the migration, but it started a long, long, looong time before NAFTA. Remember, it was under Reagan in 1986 that we had the first mass amnesty for illegals already here by the millions.
How many of those people were fleeing violence funded and fueled by the United States? I stand by my assertion: we started this.
“Americans responsibility ends when it entails our own cultural suicide.”
Or, in not so many words, “The American way of life is non-negotiable.”
American Exceptionalism needs to die. Suicide or otherwise.
I couldn’t sleep well last night. I feel as if I’ve not made myself clear. I find much to agree with the othe commentors, but areas of disagreement remain.
// The problem with “American” culture is that in its most vibrant form it has lately manifested itself by blowing up other cultures.
Total agreement with you. I define “lately” as beginning in the 1960s and accelerating since the fall of the Berlin Wall. What about you?
Clearly, the effort to spread anti-comminism, anti-fascism, republican democracy, (neo)liberal economics, rights of all kinds (human, gay, animal, women’s, children’s, transgender), globalization, food (fast, genetically-modified, food-as-aid), education, technology, and the scientific method has been imperfect, uneven and deserving of utter contempt. Simple cultural imperialism – of the worst sort! We should have minded our own business and kept all this to ourselves.
But amazingly, late American culture has managed the all this while simultaneously blowing itself up. I don’t know about you, but I call that exceptional. And if this is the sort of exceptionalism to be ended, then more power to you. Maybe we should start by finding out just who manufactured this exceptional late American culture…
// So I hope you aren’t suggesting we view Israeli actions…
And I hope you aren’t suggesting we view Israeli actions as in any way comparable to the Nazis. My understanding is that this is an anti-semitic trope. Some would call it hatespeech. Tragically, as I write, the news is coming in from Orlando. Another terrible reminder is needed of the dangers of hatespeech.
// We started this.
Who’s “We,” paleface? And why do are you so determined to blame yourself for everything?
// Mexico didn’t just naturally become ‘dysfunctional’
Total agreement. Mexico has been dysfunctional since 1521, when Cortez destroyed the admirably functional Aztec empire.
// massive immigration north was directly caused by the American-pushed NAFTA devastating Mexican agriculture.
Total agreement. Our policy should been the one proffered by the great environmentalist Edward Abbey years before: greeting opressed Mexicans at the border, arming them, and letting them sort out their problems on their own. As Cactus Ed said, “The people know who their enemies are.” Short of that we should at least stop enabling the Mexican oligarchy, by sealing the border and stopping the flow of money and guns southward.
// The US knows exactly what it is doing.
Seriously? How can anyone who has been paying the slightest attention to US policy in any area make this claim?
// The ‘big bad Muslims’ didn’t just start attacking us out of the blue
Actually, they kind of did. Starting in the 8th century. And continuing off and on for nearly a thousand years, longer if you count the Ottoman’s efffort (alongside Hitler!) against the allied powers in The Great war.
I allow I’m using your royal “We” and “Us” in a more expansive manner than you are. But I’m trying to be culturally sensitive: the Muslims don’t make the sorts of artifical distinctions between nations and states that we do. As I understand it, they have an Umma versus Them worldview.
But sticking to your selectively ahistorical argument, you are absolutely right: as soon US policy shifted in the wake of the Six-Day War to one of total support for Jewish “Lebensraum” (your term, not mine & Hitler again!) The Muslims began attacking the West. Maybe if we stopped supporting Israel they would stop attacking us?
// Our culture is one of death and abuse…
Not sure what you mean. But it sounds like the humane thing to do would be to halt immigration and thus save the lives of all these refugees wanting to come here… And by the way, who taught you to hate yourself?
// American culture is inherently the result of mixing.
Agreed. Mixing together in an ever larger cake of economic growth. But they’re not mixing any more, are they? And the cake is no longer growing.
// To claim letting new people in will ruin it is the height of stupidity.
Tell it to the Comanche, pardner.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates claims people in poverty should keep chickens
That’s just what people with no health insurance need, dirty farm animals, mostly likely with owners in smaller living spaces. Hey Bill, you know what could help poverty? Income/Wealth Redistribution. You raise the chickens, these people need an actual solution, not the aloof musings of a pretentious hoarder.
i LOVE when these sociopaths come up for air… “Violators cannot live with the truth: survivors cannot live without it. There are those who still, once again, are poised to invalidate and deny us. If we don’t assert our truth, it may again be relegated to fantasy. But the truth won’t go away. It will keep surfacing until it is recognized. Truth will outlast any campaigns mounted against it, no matter how mighty, clever, or long. It is invincible. It’s only a matter of which generation is willing to face it and, in so doing, protect future generations from ritual abuse.”
― Chrystine Oksana, Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse
I have a better idea – the poor people should steal an operating system from a competitor, crapify it beyond recognition, use predatory business tactics to make it a “standard” and thus become squillionaires who can fart out silly advice to other poor people.
the timings right…”News9, OK: You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture.
That’s where police can seize property and cash without first proving a person committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting them, as long as they suspect that the property is somehow tied to a crime.
Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money on prepaid cards.
It’s called an ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine, and OHP began using 16 of them last month.
Here’s how it works. If a trooper suspects a person may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan and seize money from prepaid cards. OHP stresses troopers do not do this during all traffic stops, only situations where they believe there is probable cause.”
Well that’s a relief!
B Gates is giving a bad name to chickens IMNSHO!
…Bill…just shut up already!
If he happens to offer you blankets, do not take them!!
and steer clear of his (crapified) charter schools too!
Chickens and Poverty 101
Gates obviously understands nothing about the Chesterton’s Gate kind of gate.
This is the neo-liberal version of the aesop morality play, the teach a man to fish story. The neo-liberal version twist is the poor are too stupid to know how to fish unless we tell them, but both the traditional version and the neo-liberal version are just tools for punching up the poor.
I wonder if Democrats will mock Gates the way they mocked noted Teabagger, Sharon Angle, for making a similar point.
Any Nevadans want to ask Senator Reid?
Ralph Nader’s wrote a great response yesterday to the Democratic charge that he is to be held responsible for the outcome of Bush v. Gore in 2000.
There’s no such thing as a political ‘spoiler’
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-nader-spoilers-20160612-snap-story.html
brief excerpt:
This is what makes him a champion advocate. He calls them out every single time. It’s what we have to do in order to combat the relentless assaults on truth and reason. Why just yesterday, Huffington Post, in their quest to run ahead with the official narrative also ran ahead with a headline above Bernie Sander’s head that read, “Out of Touch with Reality” – Bill’s Clinton’s offensive-defense of Hillary’s pragmatic rejection of Sander’s platform.
But what is the reality and who is out of touch with it? According to a paper, Did Ralph Nader Spoil a Gore Presidency? A Ballot-Level Study of Green and Reform Party Voters in the 2000 Presidential Electionby Herron & Lewis published in 2006, James Caraville was wrong that third-party candidate voters are those who are already predisposed to cross party lines when voting… i.e., not party-aligned voters who are being syphoned off. (This suggests third-party votes are those already searching for non-establishment candidates).
When there are only two candidates to choose from, these voters are compelled to vote establishment candidate or to not vote at all. When given other options, both parties lose voters as the least-affiliated find more voting options. That ‘electoral extortion’ seems to be the heart of their ‘spoiler’ charge, as Nader wrote.
Why just yesterday, Huffington Post, in their quest to run ahead with the official narrative also ran ahead with a headline above Bernie Sander’s head that read, “Out of Touch with Reality” – Bill’s Clinton’s offensive-defense of Hillary’s pragmatic rejection of Sander’s platform.
Sorry, I meant to translate that into more normal verbiage before posting but it’s less relevant than the rest of the comment and excerpts so I’ll just leave it. Not enough coffee this morning.
You know Chernobill and Huff-Puff Blow your Dick up, even without a paddle, s**t creek doesn’t sound very enticing.
So we’ll stick with the future & go with the third viable party of Bernie Sanders, thank you very much.
dots
June 11, 2016 at 7:54 am
“…The least-worst choices are getting worse every four years, and the insiders only exacerbate the problem by trying to defang the third-party competition. So long as there’s no robust challenge to the duopoly, there’s no reason for insiders to improve…”
===========================================
I’ve said much the same – the lessor evil is eviler and eviler…. People b*tch about the dem and repub choices, but every 4 years we have a number of other choices – there is no better year to vote non-demopublican or republocrat than this year. I say at least do not give the winner a majority of votes.
– How Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board
Do look at the photograph of said donor. The rest of the VerySeriousPeople on the Board had to wonder whether he was a frat boy MBA trying to network, or a really bad spy.
Also note the root of the scandal is from a half-decade ago and is only popping due to the emails. Biden is maneuvering, but as far as I know Clinton cannot just transfer its delegates.
Looks like warren is getting the “replacement” nod…
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-commander-in-chief-224165
Yikes. I know that Democrats aren’t into winning strategies or anything, but Warren as VP and Twitter mouth co-chair seems like a bad play.
Agreed. They’re actually helping Trump by continually laying into Trumpty Dumpty instead of spending the same amount of time taking Bernie Sander’s agenda, and his supporters, seriously. It’s ensuring the ‘same old, same old 2-choice only’ broken record. But they also don’t account for the fact that Bernie Sanders supporters are a bright lot. As Jack Trumpty Dumpty and Jillary Clinton head up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Bernie Sanders supporters will stay by the river at the bottom of the hill where the water is. Duh!
So, it’s time for A FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN and a 3-choice hit.
It’s definitely time to rebel Kids of America, soooooo…….
MAKE IT SO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCzpR0qVtA
Yes but it’s the “where else are they going to go” strategy on steroids, just continue to make Trump look stupid and scary. Should work fine.
Clinton is so polarizing I have no idea where the party and campaign expect to get votes from. She needs the left but already cast them away, and, on the other side, the GOP generally hates her and has so historically.
I can see Warren as a pick to maybe grab some of the left, but most of what I have heard is a recognition of her jumping off the deep end (again Clinton is too polarizing).
The sycophancy is so bad and the electorate so well informed and/or sick of it all, I don’t think Clinton can legitimately gain any substantial piece of the electorate… without a rain dance and LUCK.
Trust me:
No way does he have the persona of a cranky Jewish landlord. I’m a Jewish person myself and Birdie is a saint compared to my son’s cranky Jewish landlord. The rest of your statement is right, tho
You are probably in New York. :-). The cranky Jewish landlords here are the real deal.
For about 5 years I read Naked Capitalism as my first news source daily at 6a in Chicago. I am not an economist but a socially oriented banker, having been the junior cofounder in a 4 person biracial founder group of such a bank (1973-2010).
I thought that NC was for rigorous rational analysis. I read everything posted, practically, on the Greek crisis. It seemed rigorous, fact-based, and helpful.
When I compare that period of NC with the current US election coverage, it seems like day (Greece) and night (2016 election).
I get it that the left wants a revolution that kills the Democratic Party. That is fine with me.
But now many of the commenters on the election say they would vote for Trump to beat the criminal, Hillary Clinton.
It happens that I worked in Arkansas in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Hillary may be a highly imperfect campaigner but she is not a crook. What is most consistent about Hillary Clinton, if you look across her whole life, is commitment to child welfare, education, women’s rights and financial inclusion. After William Clinton was elected, she did not have to visit Bangladesh. But she did it to learn more about Grameen Bank. At that time Grameen and BRAC were serving 10 million poor women, as they are today.
I do not see why the commentariat has to pillory Hillary Clinton in order to support Bernie Sanders or start a movement in this country. I certainly don’t see why anyone would take the personal risk of voting for Donald Trump.
So as of tomorrow I am signing off of Naked Capitalism. I am highly disappointed and have nowhere to go.
For me, I am deeply disturbed by her actions as SoS. The partcipation in Obama’s weekly drone meetings (the very existence of them) the drone bombings. Her delight in the killing of Qaddafi (We came, we saw, he died…happy laugh). . Her enthusiasm for the destruction of nations. Her f’n email server in the basement shows a pathological committment to secrets and the avoidance of the FOIA. …. And that is aside from the idomestic issues that set her apart from Bernie. If it was just that, I would hold my nose as I have so often… For me to vote for her, she will have to find a way to set my mind at ease. …. But to be perfectly clear, I am #StillSanders
Mary, as a committed Bernie supporter and progressive I will never in a million years vote for Donald Trump. I will also never vote for Hillary. She is most definitely a crook but even if she were not, she has enabled if not encouraged and participated in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters. That’s my line in the sand. People here are furious at her for multiple reasons, too many to list. And we are in the middle of an election year. We don’t have to agree.
Many here will not vote for Herr Drumpf. Some will. Not I.
The people here are very smart and most comments reflect that.
Sleep on your decision. No harm in that.
Agree 100%. Thank you for stating this so clearly. NC quality has dropped miserably.
Your definition of “quality” appears to be falling in line with orthodox Democratic party support of Clinton.
The onus is on you to say what you object to, not to engage in ad hominem attacks. And no one is making you read this site. If what we write does not confirm your prior beliefs and you don’t like that, you should read other sites.
No, it hasn’t. The quality of the rest of the news has taken a hard (or soft, I suppose) right.
I’ll never vote for Trump, but Ill never vote for Clinton either.
All card-carrying Clinton Party members should be made to sign the following loyalty oath first:
“I agree, by supporting Hilary Clinton, in the following:
1. America’s Permanent War policy should be expanded;
2. We should extend the current policy of a free legal pass for all banking crime;
3. Single-payer health care should never be entertained, rather we need to extend the ACA even though it does nothing to contain costs and solve heath care system issues;
4. We should continue to sign “trade” deals that impoverish American workers and lower our standard of living”.
Signed,
__________________________________
(Person for Hilary)
To that I would only add this: I am voting for Trump. Why? Because he’s a man.
(If that makes no sense to you then now you know how I feel when a Hilary supporter says the opposite to me).
I love that last bit. I’ve actually considered telling people that if I am ever “cornered” about lack of support for Clinton in real life.
“Why?! Because our genetalia matches! I like mine, he’s got one too!”
I figure that does as much good as a real response would in that situation anyways.
Hmmmm……..
I was sort of curious as well. The overall theme smells, but I was not going to make any insinuations.
well taking the comment at face value…
Perfectly rational to challenge the rationality of voting for T.
My subjective take is that this is what the Alt Meds call a healing crisis. She distinguishes the commentariat specifically and does not call out Yves and Lambert in terms of facts, and yes we of the peanut gallery are diverse and fervent in our opinions, no? Only one phrase of hers do I deny (‘not a crook’). Her paragraph on Hillary is factual, though insufficient. Cut her some slack, she will be back.
Richard Nixon was not a crook either. I know because he came right out & said so;-)
Steve H.
June 11, 2016 at 9:45 am
I can’t think of a time I have really disagreed with you, and many of your insights are profound. But I believe you may not have read her entire statement:
“It happens that I worked in Arkansas in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Hillary may be a highly imperfect campaigner but she is not a crook. What is most consistent about Hillary Clinton, if you look across her whole life, is commitment to child welfare, education, women’s rights and financial inclusion. After William Clinton was elected, she did not have to visit Bangladesh. But she did it to learn more about Grameen Bank. At that time Grameen and BRAC were serving 10 million poor women, as they are today.”
And I say this as someone who thinks some of the comments about Clinton are over the top, – and I am aware that I may be susceptible in the case of Hillary of confirmation bias, so I try to give Hillary the benefit of the doubt, but if you examine the plethora of sources and articles, try to assess their expertise and credibility, — well, the multitude of the sources, the redundancy of the findings, it seems to me proves that Hillary is very much a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Did she ever REALLY give up being a Goldwater girl???
Mary can can find the commentator’s view on electing Trump repugnant – which is fine. But Mary believes:
“What is most consistent about Hillary Clinton, if you look across her whole life, is commitment to child welfare, education, women’s rights and financial inclusion.”
OUCH!!! I hurt myself laughing. I very much believe the evidence overwhelmingly shows Hillary is working against those things. It seems to me that everything Hillary attempts she turns into a hash…(I look upon Libya as a hash – maybe Hillary, or her masters, look upon it as a success)
If you’re not sure yet, there is the Neo-con connection during her SoS gig. Victoria Nuland was Hill’s right hand girl. Husband is Robert Kagan, intellectual granddaddy to the neo-cons- offspring Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
‘Course Trump keeps mentioning a place for Newt Gingrich, whom is part of the same gang. Gets difficult to retire these a-holes.
Yeah… I took that to mean ‘Hillary Clinton’ the brand, which has promoted those words the way lite beer is ‘fresh.’ That part of her message has been consistent for years, and that is what Mary imprinted and is struggling with.
There are socially conscious bankers who should be encouraged. Robert Paterson has been one and done some very wise work.
As RGH Siu said in The Craft of Power, “And do not alienate the banker in the process.”
Look, Hillary used the State Dept to get the founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammed Yunus, a $13M grant and at the same time, Yunus donated to the Clinton Foundation. If this is what financial inclusion is about, then it’s obvious why 99% of us are excluded.
As for education, Hillary thinks it’s fine that (poor) students work for tuition though her parents paid for hers at Wellesly. Just the way she and Bill covered tuition fees for Chelsea and her double-digit degree-drivel. Then there’s the paid speech collusion with US colleges which easily allowed Bill & Hill to avoid financial hardship they would have otherwise incurred, covering Chelseas’ tuition fees.
As for womens rights…..shall we start with her complete and utter disregard for all those female US Presidential nominees who came before her within the US. Granted, they weren’t leaders of either one of the major parties, but they all shattered the glass ceiling long before Hillary arrived. And they didn’t marry a former President to do it, nor do it via the deep pockets and resources of either major party.
So, Hillary Clinton is indeed capable of getting things done. As long as she fixes it. She has no foo-foo-ing idea otherwise of how to properly fix things for others….ie. the American people. Sadly, for the 99%, snooty-poos Hillary isn’t a Queen Bee swollen with royal jelly, she’s simply a despotic stiff who ‘masterbaits’ with kid-leather gloves.
– Look, Hillary used the State Dept to get the founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammed Yunus, a $13M grant and at the same time, Yunus donated to the Clinton Foundation.
There are these screws called Timberlok that are used for framing houses now. Instead of 4 nails and a plate, you drive it into the truss and pow, that sucker ain’t going nowhere.
Your quote doesn’t just drive the point home, it Timberloks it in place.
A mere crook would not sell appointments to a Board with top-secret information. She is far worse.
Glad someone mentioned that. More to come, no doubt. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-donor-sensitive-intelligence-board/story?id=39710624
GOOD GODS “Rajiv K. Fernando’s only known qualification for a seat on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was his technological know-how. The Chicago securities trader, who specialized in electronic investing, sat alongside an august collection of nuclear scientists, former cabinet secretaries and members of Congress to advise Hillary Clinton on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and on other crucial arms control issues”
HIGH FREQUENCY TRADER TAKES OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS…Can’t make this shit up
Michael `Heckuva job’ Brown’s only known qualification as Bush’s director of FEMA was that he had been the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association. Now, `no worse than Bush’ is a pretty low threshold, but worse things about Clinton are probably out there (as long as Fernando wasn’t allowed to collocate his servers at NORAD …).
Mary, the “socially oriented banker”
I assume then that you know Hillary Clinton’s best buddy on the DNC was on the payroll of payday lenders. Does that qualify as socially orientated banking?
and straight to the wolf, on consumer credit in Elizabeth Warren vs. Hillary Clinton (2004).
Mary, if I may, I would argue against your action.
Clinton’s performance viz. her family “fund” and her actions as Secretary of State are deeply disturbing. The running about saying palliative words (at best–her failure to release the content of her talk to Goldman Sachs is damning) to plutocrats and the institutions they control for huge emoluments is not encouraging. Her making nice with the likes of Henry Kissinger and the neocons downright scary, and her support of Nuland and the anti-Russian clique at State dangerous in the extreme.
Hillary Clinton has a track record of supporting neoliberal policies at home and neoconservative ones abroad. She, as heir apparent, had every ability to forestall Sander’s campaign by simply adopting traditionally liberal policies from the get-go. That she did not speaks volumes. And her failure to commit to universal healthcare, Social Security, and fiscal policies that will put people back to work is telling.
The case against her is fact-based and very strong. I would give the opposition here a full and fair hearing. They may go overboard, but that doesn’t mean the thrust of their attack on Clinton is not empirically verifiable.
A very concise summary of Hillary’s major flaws. I especially like neoliberal at home and neoconservative abroad. Cogent.
Dictionary.com says neoliberal is “an outgrowth of the U.S. liberal movement, beginning in the late 1960s, that modified somewhat its traditional endorsement of all trade unions and opposition to big business and military buildup.”
Dictionary.com says neoconservative is “moderate political conservatism espoused or advocated by former liberals or socialists.”
Next, I plan to discover if there’s any working difference between Beelzebub and Lucifer.
I’m just relieved to find out we don’t have any crazy a-holes in this country.
Well, so much for the efficacy of dictionary dot com. Maybe Winston Smith is moonlighting there for extra cash?
+1
Good to give Trump more ammunition for his big Hill bashing speech next week. He might have missed a few flaws.. I am going to vote for Jill Stein. However, my state’s Green party was lazy and late getting her approved for the ballot, so she will not appear. Now I will have to write her in. If you don’t like Hillary, write-in Bernie. I just don’t see what good it does to continue bashing someone after the flaws have been enumerated many times over. Do you forget from one day to the next? I’ll be glad when the election’s over. At least today there was a chicken story respite with lots of great comments. Here’s a link related:
http://www.cringely.com/2016/06/10/bill-gates-knows-about-raising-chickens/
I think a lot of us are rightfully angry about the way that Bernie Sanders was straight up cheated out of the nomination. It’s not surprising at all, but to watch it unfold before our eye and be aware of it as it happened, in slow motion.. it’s maddening. It’s even enough to drive someone to vote for.. You Know Who, just because he’s not Cliton.
Personally, given the non-choice that’s being shoved in my face here, the only thing I can do in good conscience is not vote for either. If you vote Trump then the best case scenario is he becomes president and God-help-us then. The worst case is that you throw away your integrity and beliefs and sanity in a fit of ‘stregic voting’, and then Clinton wins anyways and you have to live with a Clinton president and yourself.
for decades she’s been as close as one can get for lifting passions…AND THEY’RE ALL IN DEMISE
her INTENTS are clear and your propaganda CORRUPT
So overall you are upset that people are expressing their dislike for Clinton? You feel that as this differs from your views, which you consider to mirror objective (rational) reality, it is a sign of a decline in the quality of NC?
So as of tomorrow I am signing off of Naked Capitalism. I am highly disappointed and have nowhere to go.
Why tomorrow?
bahahahaaa HT l_i… the banker with a heart wants a bit mo time to de sade it
Even if she wasn’t a DNC poster (did they even change the format from previous elections), Democrats despise Nader and others such as Sanders for pointing out not only are they not liberal as they believe they are but often exposing that they have no views.
What? I completely understand how someone could be against trump, but to state that the coverage here isn’t “rigorous or fact based” is absurd. From your comment I think “rigorous and fact” based in terms of election reporting might be dailykos.
“Hillary may be a highly imperfect campaigner but she is not a crook” I had to reread this line as it seemed insane but, yep it said what I thought it did.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/clinton-foundation-corruption-news/
Microloans as a good thing?!?!
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/lies-hype-and-profit-the-truth-about-microfinance/70405/
http://harpers.org/blog/2016/02/nor-a-lender-be
“Hillary Clinton, if you look across her whole life, is commitment to child welfare, education, women’s rights and financial inclusion.” even dailykos disagrees and that’s saying a lot.
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2016/02/16/1485775/-What-Hillary-Clinton-s-terrible-foster-care-law-did-to-poor-children-of-color
I certainly understand not wanting to vote for trump, but come on, trying to make hillary look good (using identity politics). Makes you fact based and reasoned?
Burnish image… check… I don’t like what I hear [bias conformation seeking]… check… throws toys out of play pen…. check… exit stage…. check…
Disheveled Marsupial… some people seem to confuse others dislike for obviously corrupt people running for president…. with a condition wrt pragmatism… seems the latter would call for giving both the finger… and be quite public about it…
✔
+
well, i think she is corrupt, and committed to financial exclusion, and she seems to be more enthusiastic about war than either bill or obama. so i’m an abc voter. it’s not just her, it’s the whole corrupt edifice of the democratic party these days. at this point i’m not going to vote for any neoliberal democrat, and that is all the party is interested in.
With all due respects to the wonderful work your friends at lisc and neighborworks have done to make the south side of chicago the gold standard of business development(snark), if this is who I think it is, at least you took the time to read a point of view not found in the conference crowd and 4:59 hit the alarm and run to the suburbs nfp community…
Yes, I know it is easy to look back from the 70’s, knowing the great advances “some” of the population has made…since I only stepped into the arena in the 90’s after all the “hard lifting” has been done, and considering my pedigree with my father and his identically named first cousin, how dare I…
And from inside the nfp funding cycles, how convincing money to flow seemed like an admirable task, but truth be told, most redlining bankers used your south side of chicago bank as an excuse not to lend, just like the United way gave cover to corporations with the photo op checks to a few hundred organizations, when almost all the money went to 20 already well funded main stream organizations…
Perhaps instead of running away because you dont like the tone of the attacks on $hillary, you can bring your insight to the pages of nc from your global wrestling “within” the system…
as for me, there are plenty here who love and adore mr nimby, ralef nadyr…
however for me, I sat in on meetings with his pirg buddies who held the gautreaux money hostage for 20 years in chicago, and held my tongue as I heard the conversation leaning towards using the indiscretions they knew of by then hud chief henry cisneros, from his days in san antonio, to get funding for do nothing “educational” nfp organizations tied to the pirg mlm type system…
so there are no innocents in politics…
not $hillary, not nader…
and probably not even saint bernard…
but if you are as interested in the future as your cv might suggest, then stay and take a few punches along the way…
I cost judd lofchie a few hundred thousand dollars and probably five years of his life by my actions and advocacies in chicago (judd founded streetwise news and worked hard to deal with homeless issues in chi)…
first by my feeble attempt at control of marina city during the s & l crisis(which didnt sit well with the vrdolyak crowd who had acquired the tax certificates and had apparently a fix within the banking system), which ended costing Judd his job at a fairly well placed downtown law firm, and then again, when I bumped up against the daley machine attempt to hand off a half a million in hud grant money to matanky to save that company from financial problems…but were doing it by looking to pave over the economic strength of the businesses in “la villita” on 26th street by funding a new business district which would disrupt the old one…
Judd doesnt hate me, and never tried to take me into a room and ask me to cool it down, as many others in chicago did quite often…he knew who I was and where it was leading…
So stay, and share and educate, and be willing to have your noble and notable actions put under the lens…
And help those who demand the guillotine understand the long nights of patience and persistence needed to move mountains…
Stay…
Mary’s comment has stuck with me. If she’s genuine, her missive provides an interesting counterpoint to the election based coverage we’ve been viewing for ages. I frankly tire from the political coverage, and would rather hear more about things we can change.
I would very much like to her more from David Dayden and Yves regarding financial fraud and fallout from 08-09. I downloaded her interviews from Le Show and enjoyed the long form interviews about foreclosure fraud, CALPERS, and the bailout. Please consider coming back to those topics as they stir my interest and outrage about the current system.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
When love to hatred turned, you find fury.
When we look, we find analysis as well.
It’s like the imperfect world we live in – a little bit of everything.
Human, all too human.
“I frankly tire from the political coverage, and would rather hear more about things we can change.”
Wow… that beautifully sums up the current state of U.S. “democracy”, doesn’t it?
Adding to my acknowledgement. I agree with your critique of the weaknesses in the strategy of non profit organizations and their funders and of the behaviour of the large banks in wanting, then and now, to make relatively safe indirect investments and avoid directly financing small businesses on the south side, etc. I believe your analysis of Marina City, la Villita, etc., but do not have direct knowledge.
I will continue to try to share by working on the same underlying issues and will be transparent
If she is not a crook, she is the best cattle futures trader the world has ever seen.
Perhaps you mean is she is not an egregious crook? However I dont know for sure that you are right. I just know her and familia have made A LOT of money. One theory which would explain why she has made so much money is …….. There are others, but we are talking over 50mn. And see point above.
Perhaps what you mean is that Donald is the bigger crook? Yeah, you are probably right. Its just that I dont know who owns him.
Funnily enough I have a friend for Arkansas who recently laughed when I had to apologize to her for doubting her when she said I would regret my vote for Clinton in 2000. So your take on Clinton’s time in Arkansas is not necessarily shared by someone who spent a lot of years working in the arena of children’s welfare.
So she did all this to advance the welfare of women and children. Fine.
Please name actual legislation, policies, etc that can be directly traced to Clinton with her doing more than just adding her name to someone else’s hard work to do that. I will actively apologize for some of the things I have said about her if you can come up with much of anything that doesn’t remind me of the fight for health care for 9/11 first responders and clean up workers where I can show you more work done by the odious Peter King than by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I found the reference to “William” clinton odd, in a phishy, nigerian sorta way.
I also wonder about the “socially oriented” banking. These days that seems to be “code” for either “microlending,” the predatory nature of which is explored in Listen, Liberal and celebrated by the clinton foundation, or the “innovative” mobile payment system so popular these days in the “developing” world, which allows “bankers” to steal a “small fee” on every “transaction” from people who don’t have a pot to p*ss in or a window to throw it out of.
Ok…let me now defend mary and microlending (hmm…how does this happen…often I find myself defending scientology and the jesuits too [not here]…both of whom who have had their members try to accident me along the way…oh well…)
So back to our show, it is quite easy to squawk about how someone is exploiting someone…except when the bernaze sauce is usually being spread by those who were the previous exploiters and dont like the competition…if mary is who I think she is, she is not just a passenger on the ship, but more like scotty on the enterprise…she has given it all she’s got…one quite often must do what one must do to survive…you have to do what you must do, for as long as you have to do it, until you get to where you want or need to be…
On the island of ithaki, and probably many other parts of greece, we developed ways of eating…sweet bread, since the parts discarded were not halal and are haram…it did not kill us…lamb shank would probably have been nicer…but sweet bread is not so bad with some ouzo to chase it down…
for many people still living a semi-nomadic life, the choice is either starvation, loan sharks or what many here might complain are oppressive rentier policies…perhaps they are…but for now, it is better than the alternative…unless you are ready to go to coxs bazaar and lend a hand teaching girls how to surf and do other things we take for granted….
From pages 238-239 of Listen, Liberal:
These are fine, sterling sentiments [microlending], but they suffer from one big problem: microlending doesn’t work. As strategies for ending poverty go, microlending appears to be among the worst that has ever been tried, just one step up from doing nothing to help the poor at all. In a carefully researched 2010 book called “Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work?”, the development consultant Milford Bateman debunks virtually every aspect of the microlending gospel. It doesn’t empower women, Bateman writes; it makes them into debtors. It encourages people to take up small, futile enterprises that have no chance of growing or employing others. Sometimes microborrowers don’t even start businesses at all; they just spend the loan on whatever. Even worse: the expert studies that originally sparked the microlending boom turn out, upon reexamination, to have been badly flawed.
Nearly every country where microlending as been an important strategy for the last few decades, Bateman writes, is now a disaster zone of indebtedness and economic backwardness. When the author tells us that “the increasing dominance of the microfinance model in developing countries is causally associated with their progressive deindustrialization and infantilization” he is being polite. The terrible implication of the facts he has uncovered is that what microlending achieves is the OPPOSITE of development. Even Communism, with its Five Year Plans, worked better than this strategy does, as Bateman shows in a tragic look at microloan-saturated Bosnia.
But it’s profitable and “immune to criticism.” This combination is the real reason the international goodness community believes that empowering poor women by lending to them at usurious interest rates is a fine thing all around.
I guess the leak on the roof will have to wait…had a snarkish response half way written then the battery died and it was gone…
better that way, gave me a monent to dig into frank and bateman…
Back in the day when the self important baffler came to Chitown, those who were there wondered if it should be called the university of chicago press magazine…could not figure how this nothing publication could get so much press for non events and with limited distribution that basically forced you to go to hyde park to actually find a copy to see what these other publications were talking about in quoting these baffler people…so frank starts with two strikes due to from whence he came…and then his book “claims” the bateman book is carefully researched…
sidebar…I aint no fan of yunus…and he did not “invent” microfinance…
So onto bateman…croatian based describing how bosnians can’t be trusted and how smal businesses fail in general, but “especially involving women”…that microfinance people were naive in handing out microloans to bosnians for business when many times the money was used for weddings or buying cars…
And then apparently, this bateman also complains america almost turned germany into an agrarian society with the Morgenthau plan after ww2…
Because there were certain croatians who during ww2 loved those male tight fitting black boots…right up to your knees, and how smashing one looked in black and high stepping it in the support of the next thousand years…
Haroompff…
The alternative for muslim women who are denied an education, are married off at a young age, are thrown on the street and shunned if they have the audacity to become widows and not die with their husbands…forget getting a divorce…is what exactly ???
Batemen uses triplespeak…he is not complaining that women are replacing men…it is simply “displacement and exit”…all scientific…no misogyny intended…
I think part of this discussion, for those who want to have an honest discussion about it, comes from a lack of understanding “$hariah” banking is this “myth” that somehow “interest free” equals no cost…nonsense..
it is chapart…serfdom…
sharecroping…
or the nice way it is explained…joint venture agreement, but with the finace source taking the vast majority of the proceeds…just like in the old days of kings and queens in europe…the ultimate rentier situation…
So, one flips over the apple cart…then what…cant tell if bateman is crying for the good old days of tito…
or the return of the A-O…
Just because it is quoted by a clinton does not automatically make it bad…
Can access to capital make a difference for those with aspirations beyond living with forced poverty in a culture where women get no respect… ???
It was not That many years ago that a woman could not get a loan unless her husband cosigned in these wonderous united states…
There is much work to be done…
IIRC Mary made a similar sort of post on the day the “Neither a lender nor a borrower be” article was posted in links a while back, in defence of microloans.
You are correct. My recollection is that I made a measured defense. Whether microcredit is effective or destructive is too complex to respond in a paragraph. If NC was interested, they could ask credible observers, pro and con, to share serious analysis and post their papers. I should not do it as I am not now and have not ever been deeply involved enough in the field, but there are very credible voices on both sides of this issue.
Katniss, there are more ways to be a socially oriented banker than microcredit (which can’t be done from a regulated bank in the United States) or predatory lending. There are a small number of banks and credit unions globally (including some in the US and Canadawhose investors and managers believe a bank can help create social and environmental benefits at the same time as making a financial return. Not many, but some. And there are some investors who want to invest in these banks. Since they are regulated, they are operating well within the norms of their societies. This is another topics which can’t be fully described in a paragraph but NC could find and post a paper by a credible practitioner or researcher.
So, Mary, what DOES “socially oriented” banking actually mean?
Using a bank’s ability to make sound loans to businesses in its market to finance expansion of the businesses — with the benefit to support the growth of jobs or personal net worth of local entrepreneurs) or to finance the rehabilitation of responsibly owned real estate, or to provide responsibly priced credit to consumers. All of this must be done so that it is structured so it can comfortably be repaid out of cash flow and is neither too large to be repaid or too small to achieve the borrower’s goals. Responsible regulated banks generally charge reasonable interest rates.
Yeah, I remember when Bill Clinton deregulated the banks, and just about everything else too.
Historically, Clinton signed on to legislation once the political risk was minimal.
Its certainly easy to be critical of Clinton. Right now, what is deeply of concern is the email server and is symptomatic of something much much larger. When given technical advice regarding communications security, it was ignored in favor of her personal comfort and convenience.
Really really really think about that.
On multiple occasions, government security experts provided advice and direction and it was willfully ignored. It’s a clear indication of a closed mind and arrogance which is dangerous in a leader.
I really encourage everyone to read the Thompson Timeline regarding the email scandal. It’s shocking and much worse than you realise.
Hillary Clinton:
war monger
Wall St today
Wal-Mart acolyte
political grifter without peer (Clinton Global Initiative)
used husband’s political position in highly suspect commodity deals
deliberate violator of laws regarding public records retention as SoS
quite possibly guilty of violating national security regulations regarding classified information as SoS
So, maybe not a crook but a thoroughly despicable individual who thinks the law does not apply to her and her family.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
roadrider: “toady” not “today”
she is not a crook
That’s what Nixon said, too. Reality differed.
“Mary.” Baloney.
Oh good lord,
You really going to make such grand statements about banks helping people on a site like this? Where even here it’s nigh on impossible to count the trillions in theft and welfare banks get… so i’m sure you can find a few million who got some rice and beans as part of the grift package. Why is it always Africa or Bangladesh where Hillary and her BFF banksters amazingly helped women and children? What about men?
And little to no help, or downright damged those poor women and children (and men) right here at home so consistently for so long?
I was on occasion attending Pulaski Heights Methodist Church with friends and the Clintons. My Grandmother was standing on two feet all night working in the lab of Arkansas Childrens Hospital while HRC was on the board. Some of my favorite (dare I say idols) were the aging ladies of the Women’s Emergency Committee. My much later in life wife and her her best friend were babysitting Chelsea.
Despite all of those whom I trusted on so many matters and were all multi-gen Ar Demos I could see right through the both of them.
The Clintons always, always, used and abused the poor to further their own political careers. And they knew just how to make themselves and mid to upper crust whites feel good about it.
Dr. Joycelynn Elders for President!
Hi Mary, you’re free to spend your time online as you choose, but rest assured, a lot of us in the NC commentariat will not vote for Trump. I have posted numerous messages about the value of voting third party (preferably the Green Party) if Sanders is not nominated; indeed, I have posted so many of those messages that I feel obligated to apologize for being repetitious when I do so.
You say that Hillary Clinton is not a crook. I’m curious about how you would explain the strange case of her extraordinary results at commodities trading?
I encourage you to stay and make your case. You won’t find a better place for intelligent and respectful debate.
I will not vote for her. I thought she made a deal in 2008 and threw her supporters under the bus. I could forgive that(even though it tells me she isn’t the fighter we need.)
However, I can not forgive her behavior as SoS. She, in my opinion, has shown a callous disregard for others and her leadership is more of the same disasterous crap that has rendered the ME a mess(it looks like her little crew wants to extend it to areas like Ukraine too.)
I’ll vote FOR Stein and sleep easily knowing that I bear no responsibility for either Trump or Clinton no matter what the sheeple who vote for the 2 party system have to say about those of us choosing to opt out of Team Bad and Team Worse.
A friend who worked in Arkansas when Clinton was governor remembers how Hillary’s advocacy led to new state school standards, a nationally recognized early childhood education program, and Arkansas’ first neonatal intensive care unit. In Arkansas, she wasn’t a crook but a force for good.
She seems like a crook now, selling favors from her official positions, supporting overthrows of governments in Libya and Ecuador, the e-mail mess that speaks of hubris as well as illegality. What happened? I don’t know.
But given her constant support for war and bankers, I do not like her and will have trouble voting for her.
“I am highly disappointed and have nowhere to go.”
Which, ironically, is exactly what HRC is *banking* on Sanders supporters concluding.
No dice. She’s toxic, a crook, and most importantly, represents THE PAST.
#BernieOrBust
Purity tests mainly hurt the testers. NC and the Commentariat disagree with me on many issues, and yet somehow I am capable of reading articles that challenge my priors.
It is always challenging here and though I don’t retain everything I get exposed to a kind of context I wouldn’t otherwise (finance, investment)
I stay for the honesty, intellectual rigor, and humor
Mary @ 8:12 am
It’s fine to be committed to causes. Whether a policy results in an outcome that fulfills the stated aim is another matter entirely. Criticism of Clinton’s record, with respect to the causes you cite, arise from evaluations of consequences [and it’s arguable whether they are unintended] that are entirely unsatisfactory. Furthermore, Clinton doesn’t seem interested in change when the programs and policies she advocates prove harmful or ineffective.
Listen to the criticisms of Clinton’s detractors. Discard any frivolous claims, but you may find that some things you hold to be true may not hold up under scrutiny.
“In Clinton’s private life, referring to Monica Lewinsky as a “narcissistic loony toon” was perhaps none too surprising, but also none too sisterly. Nor was the way she spoke about her successful 1975 defense of a man she seems to have believed was guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl in an audio-taped interview posted by the conservative news site Washington Free Beacon last June.”
Politicians were mostly people who’d had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers. George R.R. Martin
No, she is a crook. Massively so.
The choice between Trump and Clinton ultimately comes down to the fact that he MAY be a disaster but she WILL be a disaster, one who probably starts WW3. If nothing else Trump will likely be reliably cockblocked by Democrats and probably many Republicans at every turn, whereas the Dems will fall over themselves to cater to Clinton, just like they did with Obama.
I won’t be voting for either, mind, but I can see the logic in voting Trump.
Her stated concern for children, like most everything else about her, is demonstrably false: https://theintercept.com/2016/06/09/hillary-clintons-state-department-gave-south-sudans-military-a-pass-for-its-child-soldiers/
Mary, the penny dropped, and I identified the bank. I admired it profoundly and was a long-time customer, very sorry that it did not make it through the debacle. Thank you for all you gave it! People who know nothing about CDFIs should learn a little before they sneer. But please don’t give up NC! Just be more selective about reading comments!
Look, you have said before youre never coming back, but then you do. Stop being drama queen?
Hillary may be a highly imperfect campaigner
WOW, you have a way with understatement!
but she is not a crook
does stealing peoples lives and well being count? nahh..that’s a trick question in DNCland.
She is a crook, a liar and imo complicit in war crimes
Actually, I should say in neoconland,.. Plenty of bipartisan blame to go around, but HRC seems pretty proud to get out of the DNC clowncar at the front of that parade wearing her $howevertoomuch Armani jacket
Our coverage of Greece was very unpopular at the time, but we were proven to be correct.
And I am sorry to tell you, Hillary is dishonest back to her 1978 commodities trading, which was only revealed in 1992. I know someone personally who was asked to review her trading record. He said it was impossible. All of her trades were at or implausibly near the best price of the day. She was clearly allocated those trades by her broker. That is illegal. That also means the $100,000 was effectively a bribe. The fact that you didn’t know about it at the time does not change the fact that her conduct is deeply corrupt. I cannot fathom how it is even legal for a Secretary of State to earn speaking fees or take donations through a family foundation which is political in natures, as opposed to something clearly not related (like promoting art education or saving the whales).
In other words, your “Hillary is not a crook” is a refusal to look at decades of evidence.
And she has not been as firm about women’s rights as you suggest. She has said that abortions should be “cheap, safe and rare”. Those three words do not go together.
Bill Clinton helped institutionalize the domination of the Democratic party by the pro-bank, Bob Rubin sponsored Hamilton Project. Pro-bank policies not only led directly to the crisis, they also dictated the crisis response of bailing out the banks without replacing the boards or management or even holding anyone accountable. Another major element of the “rescue the economy not the citizens” approach was goosing asset prices, which led to a “recovery” in which all the income gains went to the 1% while everyone else in aggregate lost income.
Hillary is very much tied into the banks. The financial services industry is one of her core donor groups. She is on their side, not yours.
It is too bad that you have read NC for all these years yet reject information that does not fit in your pre-existing beliefs.
Hillary Clinton’s Memoir Deletions in Detail
I don’t recall seeing mention of this on NC but it is a few weeks old. $10 she got that huge advance because she told the publisher “I’m a shoe-in for President in 2016, it’ll sell like hot cakes!”
Winston Smith was a fictional character, wasn’t he?
I don’t follow…
Check Wikipedia … you’ll instantly see Archie’s comment’s frightening relevance to your original post. (I did’t know it either.)
1984…ministry of truth…constantly rewriting history? Seems he has ended up at $hillary’s publisher. That’s some serious redaction to her book.
Ahhh! I see Haha. I managed to not read that book ever (27) and people constantly tell me to pick it up.
I guess real life is close enough to the book!
Winston Smith was a character in Orwell’s book “1984” in which the outright destruction and revision of the historical record was a major theme.
Actually, he was a fine collage artist. He did some amazing, politically charged work together with Jello Biafra on Dead Kennedys album covers and elsewhere.
Thank you. I wasn’t aware of him.
Gawker bankruptcy will bankrupt hulk hogan…his vegas lawyer, david houston is probably not bright enough(he is not a corp law or bk atty) to realize that there is a little rule in federal bk code that if a creditor forces someone into bankruptcy by not accepting an offer for settlement within a certain range of probable and provable financial outcome, not only does the right to collect go to zero, it is sanctionable and anyone involved…(hello mr thiel) is also open to financial claw backs and claims…champerty is actually legal in florida, but federal bk rules exposes contributing parties to counterclaims with an adverse proceeding filing fee of 400 bux…
Imagine the same crowd that bought argentinian defaulted bonds will look to buy up any loose bk claims for clawback opportunities against thiel exposed assets…exposed meaning assets he has not put into litigation deflecting entities these last few years….
This looks like it already happening huff post has story up today. Then may be Monday the counter suits will be filed, just gauss on my part on the time line.
This is somewhat interesting: the fake history of Hamilton. The show is inviting the audience to celebrate a committed one percenter because of his supposed advocacy of immigrants and abolition.
Naturally the elites are lining up for tickets.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/opinion/what-hamilton-forgets-about-alexander-hamilton.html
Agreed. I guess Americans are in the mood for a ‘feel good’ moment about ourselves. But then again, when aren’t we?
I love a good Broadway show, but the ceaseless OTT hype on this one, plus top selling prices of almost $1000 a ticket, have completely shut my mind to it. I’ll just listen again to the soundtrack of “Hairspray”, thanks.
I argue with my wife about this quite often, since she’s a huge fan of the musical, and whenever I bring up how much of an elitist bastard AH was, she does make the point that Burr’s character serves as a necessary counterpoint to show just how self-absorbed and ruthless he really is. There’s also an extended bit in the play about how Hamilton acquired a military commission and got most of his men killed, just so he could be a “war hero.” It’s not 100% a hagiography.
I as much of Alexander Hamilton hater as the next man, but there’s a dialectic in the musical that can’t be reduced to simple valorization of one figure. It’s more complex than that.
NC has published a good deal on Hamilton, including this:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/who-was-alexander-hamilton-militarism-high-finance-and-checking-the-democracy.html
Microsoft’s Bill Gates claims people in poverty should keep chickens
Billy G’s proposal is really interesting to me. In itself, it has limited value. Raising a handful of chickens to occasionally supplement diet and income is one thing, and makes sense in “developing” (horrible term) countries where the value of a chicken is relatively high in proportion to a lower cost/standard of living. But then, a lot of people in those circumstances are already doing that, and maybe more will; but it’s not a game changer.
Here’s a piece by Robert Cringley with an interview from someone who’s tried small-scale chicken farming in a US context. It’s only one person’s experience, but some interesting points are raised… especially about immunization, and how that may be Gate’s real motivation:
http://www.cringely.com/2016/06/10/bill-gates-knows-about-raising-chickens/
Note the different mindset of this interviewee; in the developed west, protein sources are readily available, this person is thinking in terms of commercial profit.
But I think Gates may also be signalling something else (and possibly unintentionally). “Become self-reliant” is very different from “trust your benevolent overlords to look after your needs”. Not that people in the poorest regions need to be told this (least of all by Gates), but to hear if from one of the oligarchs that has made some effort to present themselves as one of the positive forces of western-flavored economic and cultural enfranchisement, this strikes me as something of a departure from the usual theme. This goes beyond micro-loans, medical and educational programs and other stimuli that to a greater or lesser degree rely on economic channels. This is a step off of the grid, not into it.
I see plenty of poor people (I’m just struggling, not poor) here in the US in rural areas who would be happy for a small coop and a few chickens. Some people wouldn’t like them, or just don’t like or relate to animals, and that’s fine, but boy giving out modest prefab coops and a few chickens would be useful, and likely a morale booster to older rural people whose children have left because there are no jobs; certainly has given me a sense of purpose and a reason to get up and out early to feed/water/let out/check on the chickens.
Culling whole flocks of infected chickens happens about once every month or two months now, the pace having stepped up from about once a year. Unlike most 1st world countries. The tax payer subsidizes the culling, whether they eat fresh chicken or not, so it goes on.
I’d bet the Agricultural Dept in MA has done no periodic test, and probably nothing to control/mitigate the risk of a pandemic and will do nothing until after it happens. The government here would love to ban the live chicken trade, but needs a large number of human deaths to overcome objections from the industry.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1264596-20160606.htm
No way is there a chicken cull in Hong Kong every 2-3 months. Do you ever shop in the wet market? The small chicken cull that happened last weekend was the first since December 2014, and the last one before that was in 2011.
It’s not the poultry industry (if you can call the handful of mom-pop market sellers an “industry”) that fights the overly conservative Hong Kong health department bureaucracy to keep the live chicken trade going: it’s the public. Every HK person knows that fresh killed chicken is best and the frozen crap tastes like abomination. Ban live poultry in HK and you will have mass uprisings of Cantonese grannies.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-25923508
Sorry, Ms. Expat, but the last big cull was January of this year, 80,000 culled from all markets. and there were two local culls in April and May, You could have Google it up.
Actually, I did Google it up because your statement did not match my memory at all, and I run a food-related business and check in with my local live poultry market vendors (there are very few remaining in Central and Western district) at least once a week if not more. The last big cull was in January 2015. You may be confusing some of the 2014 bans on mainland poultry importing, and the protest closings by the chicken vendors with actual prophylactic culls. Links and dates below.
The big problem isn’t that there are live chickens being sold/produced in HK but that so many are coming in from less-regulated farms in Mainland China. HKSAR’s ag and fish department is incredibly anal about checking suspect fowl. I’d sooner eat a live chicken here in Hong Kong than a supermarket bird in the USA.
June 2016
http://www.afcd.gov.hk/textonly/english/publications/publications_press/pr2079.html
December 31 2014-January 2015
http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Reviewreport/Review?page_refer=MapFullEventReport&reportid=17039
https://www.afcd.gov.hk/textonly/english/publications/publications_press/pr1960.html
April 2014
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/32012/sales-of-live-local-chickens-about-to-be-suspended/
January 2014
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/31305/hong-kong-confirms-h7n9-bird-flu-to-cull-about-20000-poultry/
December 2011
http://www.ab.ust.hk/hseo/AvianFlu.pdf
Actually I did look it up, because your original statement was so far off my memory and experience, and you are mistaken. The last cull of chickens (before the one last week) was in January 2015. Previous culls were in January 2014 and December 2011. Perhaps you are confusing the various sales bans on imported mainland Chinese live poultry in 2014 with actual culls. Unfortunately my post with links to the various articles and government press releases seems to have been voraciously eaten by the system, undoubtedly a connoisseur of fine live Hong Kong poultry.
Businessman sues RBS for $184 million over alleged conspiracy
RBS. Cerberus. Promontory. Outstanding corporate citizens, all.
Think of this as foreclosure fraud for small businesses.
On the bright side, maybe David Dayen can write Chain of Title, Part Deux.
O OPTI WHEREFORE ART THOU
wicked flyby of the Solar Plane & Statue of Lib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0LSNwgggaw
Hey Aby
wicked flyby of the Solar Plane & Statue of Lib
Whats cooler than that?
Hope all is well w/ you and your mom..
Friday was the first real hot day in Chicago for me–100 sunscreen and still toasted.
http://www.sailingworld.com/louis-vuitton-americas-cup-world-series-chicago-practice-friday
That’s me..HAHA kidding, although I have been out as an observer on a boat w/some professional sailors that actually know what they are doing..Watching these amazing boats. 5x apparent wind speed when they get up on the foilys which can articulated in 3 dimensions.. hydraulically actuated (by human powered) pumps.
This and Blues Fest drifting over LSD (lake shore drive). A weekend that makes up for a winter sleet storm !
Oh… Richard….
Beat this…
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/aussie-tourist-captures-crazy-pics-kangaroo-pig-sex-article-1.2668522
Disheveled Marsupial… oops… might want to reconsider word use….
You animal!
Can’t bring myself to click on photos likely to be Tony Abbot and David Cameron embracing. Just, no.
Didn’t you hear? Abbott was replaced as PM months ago. Now Marquis Turnbull is in charge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlEbqC-Vigk
okay WoW, point taken!
Hey, I thought this was a family blog!
Skippy, I just wanted to say I was very sad to hear about your Biddie. I was in tears at my desk. Please accept my condolences.
Ta
Love! The answer.
Is it wrong??
What a Pig and a Roo do behind closed cyclone fencing should stay behind closed cyclone fencing..
I have to say, I’m a little bit glad to see Mary call people here out on their rationalizing support of Trump. I’ve also stopped reading the site as much because of it.
If you call yourself a Bernie supporter but think it would be fun to vote for Trump, better check your privilege. You may be able to afford to sit back and enjoy the chaos, but in the neighborhood I live in, people of color are absolutely terrified.
“fun to vote for trump” eh? i don’t think anybody want to vote for trump, many are simply following the lesser of 2 evils strategy the democrats seem to encourage by running candidates like clinton.
“check your privilege”
The Hillary supporter code. I wonder if any Hillary supporter is self aware. Could they pass a Turing Test? The worst part is Hillary and her gang will whine about the Internet and then be astonished by low turnout where the Walker Brigades refused to organize because they won’t want to deal with poor people.
Yes, the privilege reference is one tell. The other, IMO, is the use of a single letter for a screen name. I’ve begun to see several of those recently. Way out of pattern for NC regulars.
Bow down, Bernie. was the opening salvo of the Democratic Establishment using race to crush economic populism. They can do nothing but atomize and divide the people because accepting the premise of the 99% is anathema to neoliberalism.
You are spot on. It sure is Hillary supporter code. I’ve seen so much of that (exact line “check your privilege”), and the “she’s been a champion of children, people of colour, etc etc” in so many comments over at the graun and huffpo and other outlets it’s obvious what’s going on. They must be handing out xeroxes with bullet points and what phrasing to use. It’s like a chain letter!
“Grow up” is often another phrase of condescension used to guilt trip people who don’t abide by the Cinton/DNC mantra……
I know a lot of grown ups who wish they were still kids.
Seeing that, a lot of kids ask, why do I want to grow up?
“Can you be serious for a moment?”
“I am serious about banning forks and spoons in restaurants. Everyone should bring his own take out bag, and his own reusable cloth napkin, fork & spoon (or chopsticks).”
Yep. And these chains are the kind that bind.
+1
Yes, I am not voting for clinton does not mean I am voting for trump, it means I’m not voting for clinton. Last I checked, the primary is still ongoing. As an aside , what does calling the primary over when it is not say about hillary? What does it say about hillary that rather than listing what to you, m, and Mary also, have as reasons to vote for hillary that is not trump trump trump because the assumption that I or any other sanders supporter will automatically vote trump is incorrect. Those like me will not vote hillary, and will vote down ticket in that spirit. That I and some other commenters can see more positives to trump, of all people, than hillary (in the clear and repeated absence of positive attributes provided by her supporters to bolster her mostly nonexistant policy stances) speaks volumes about your preferred candidate. If you are truly afraid of trump, there still remains in the race an alternative, but maybe he breaks your rice bowl? In order to check ones privilege, one must have privilege to begin with and since you haven’t noticed there’s been concerted effort put into keeping privilege at the top and applying the lash to the bottom 80%. Not supporting hillary is something people with no privilege do, that you have privilege to check makes it unsurprising that hillary won’t be problematic for you, as hillary is quite popular among the top 10% of both parties, and her stated plan for winning includes gaining those republican voters. Why would a struggling worker vote for the person who is seeking votes from self proclaimed job creators in an environment of steadily decreasing pay and eviseration of the workplace by these same job creators? The Koch brothers are your ally now, maybe you should scold them? Merrick Garland upheld Citizens United, maybe you’d like to give the SCOTUS speech? Bottom line, hillary is bad for the people you need to vote for her, and the absence of detail makes that resoundingly clear. Did not hillary need bernie to drop out so hillary could tack right in order to speak to her true constituency, the wealthy socialists who have been feeding at the government trough of globalism and QE? And speaking of QE, you reference “people of color in your neighborhood”, are you a gentrifying white person who has moved into a “people of color” neighborhood (see rainier valley/columbia city in seattle for instance) that is being developed into a place that the “people of color” have to move away from as prices to rent or purchase go through the roof? But it’s ok, right because there’s plenty of park space for tents, and families can stay in cars at the church where maybe they can do some soul searching about why they weren’t born white and privileged. Lastly, and as I had to point out to your friend webstir, the rationalizing is being done by clinton supporters who claim hillary because trump. That is rationalizing. In order to make it “reasoning” you must supply data points, and you won’t. I hope the school marmy scolding works better for you in other parts of your life, it falls flat here.
so calling Hilary out is an automatic vote for Trump? missing the good ole dayz of ‘with us or against us’ Bush?? anywho, fear is good if one can keep their head about them…obviously we’ve been complaisant long enough.
It’s not just tougher out there. It’s become a situation where the contest is how much you can destroy the system, rather than how much you can make it work. It makes no difference if you have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ after your name. There’s no sense that this is about democracy, and after the election you have to work together, and knit the country together. The people in the game now just think to the first Tuesday in November, and not a day beyond it. ~Peter Hart
Remember. With Hillary as the presumptive nominee, the Clintons feel free to run the campaign hey always dreamed of. It’s going to be nasty.
poverty is violent my friend. quell surprise its finally widespread…the least we can do is not be afraid to BURN the lipstick off ALL these pigs.
…our esteemed Yves deserves this correction
quelle …last few weeks i’m experiencing many links ‘under attack’
It’ll be a “vast left wing conspiracy” this time.
Just because Hillary’s paranoid doesn’t mean we aren’t out to get her.
ah ha ha ha!
Oh no! I just thought of a Monica themed version of the Chorus!
Where’s my Ambien?
Just because Hillary’s paranoid doesn’t mean we aren’t out to get her.
HA!…well, I’m out to loose her! She’s a neocon..
“check your privilege”
Hmm, that reeks of a certain level of condensation/concern trolling to me. One of the point of this country is that people are free to make whichever decision(s) suit him/her.
The Ds won’t earn my vote just because they’re there anymore. I’d concede a point for Hillary if things were going well, but right now, they’re not (at least, not in any largely noticeable way). As someone wisely said, “Risk is scary when things are going well, but when they’re not, risk is a good thing.”
and they’re not terrified of Clinton? they should be. Two bad choices here.
It’s a red herring to say people are rationalizing support of Trump when the real issue
is that ‘Honest Hillary’ is such a bad actor, with such a disastrous track record, she has given
us little alternative. True progressive voters are offended by this lesser of two evils shtick.
Been there, done that.
Having the president at her side while she campaigns in Wisconsin is the safest place that Hillary can be, while under FBI criminal investigation.
Image-conscious 0bama has his reputation on the line (such as it is), and doesn’t intend to be blindsided by the lads at FBI getting carried away with naive boy scout notions about “enforcing the law.”
After all, 0bama appointed Eric Holder — who signed off on the Clintons’ corrupt pardon of Marc Rich — as his attorney general.
If Hillary can collect a couple of votes along the way, that’s okay too. But it’s no longer the point of the exercise.
Evidently, this is the political New Normal: departing the oval office in a cloud of squalor, scandal and influence peddling. If you can make off with some presidential silverware, all the better!
Ominous indeed. A pox on all of them.
You believe people here think this is fun? Why, of the +300mil in this country, are these two wretched people our choices? You spin moralism from this filthy offering, demanding gold from straw. This situation has no good in it and some are considering a gamble.
Even voting Green is just sad. Staying home is even sadder.
Elections have been this way for a long time but now the flamboyance, the flaunting, has become unbearable.
Refuse Rumpelstiltskin. He’s a greedy little bastard; he demands your kids and your planet.
In the run up to the Afghan war, Shields and Gigot at the McNeill Lehrer report called out all of the anti war protesters as “not even Americans”. The “the otherization” of any dissent in this country is of long standing, and your point about “checking our privilege” is seen, by me anyway, as just the next variant in the propaganda war.
“The home of the brave” seems to spend an inordinate amount of time being terrified; virtually everything done to the electorate the past thirty years or so has been based upon the idea that there is something out there so horrific that we needs must give up something, anything, to confront it. I ask you, are the words Trump uses, in actuality, any worse than the effects of the policies that the Clinton’s have inflicted upon those communities of color over the years?
Bruce Dixon has postulated that the older black community’s support for Clinton was based upon fear, and that you would use their fears to “otherize” anyone for pointing out that the uniparty is responsible for aggrandizing them is just another example of the same old shit that got us where we presently are. Why don’t you just call us all “anti-Americans”, as Shields and Gigot did fifteen years ago? At what point should we stop listening to a wet pants brigade who have been so wrong for so long?
Your fears have become an incredibly expensive and counterproductive bore, even for those with little left to lose. Burning down the house is starting to look good, even for those who cannot stand Trump. That is not our fault, but yours. Maybe it is time for such as yourself to start apologizing to us?
++
This is an amazing articulation of the fear angle. I have been thinking about it but have not had as much success with the words as you. Totally saving this.
I have mentioned here before, Hermann Goering had an apropos quote:
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
Hermann Goering, a Nazi official second in command to Hitler, as quoted in Nuremberg Diary by Gustave Gilbert (1947)
Clinton is just as racist as trump if not more so, she just doesn’t talk crassly about it while she is in the process of destroying the lives of minorities (for decades, um goldwater girl)
http://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2015/04/12/hillary-clinton-good-for-white-feminism/
https://socialistworker.org/2016/01/26/the-clintons-shameful-hypocrisy-on-racism
Trump is a dim narcissist and a racist, hillary is a neoliberal, warmonger, who is just as racist but is polite about destroying the lives of minorities. “People of color” should be terrified of Clinton to a much greater extent, she has used stealth racism to destroy lives for decades, and let’s not forget about those other “people of color” she is adamant of turning into pink mist on a mass scale.
I fully understand not wanting to vote trump, vote third party then, but don’t try to turn a corrupt, evil warmonger into a champion of racial equality (she isn’t) or somehow better than trump.
Trump is a dim narcissist . . .
Trump is not dim. He is frightening to the establishment and listening to Romney’s speech in Salt Lake City, what they fear most is Trump’s imagination.
. . . Dishonesty is Trump’s hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong, he spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong, he saw no such thing. He imagined it. His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power.
The President of the United States has long been the leader of the free world. The president and yes the nominees of the country’s great parties help define America to billions of people. All of them bear the responsibility of being an example for our children and grandchildren.
Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as “The Donald.” He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn’t because he had attributes we admired.
Now imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does. Will you welcome that? Haven’t we seen before what happens when people in prominent positions fail the basic responsibility of honorable conduct? We have, and it always injures our families and our country.
Watch how he responds to my speech today. Will he talk about our policy differences or will he attack me with every imaginable low road insult? This may tell you what you need to know about his temperament, his stability, and his suitability to be president.
Trump relishes any poll that reflects what he thinks of himself. But polls are also saying that he will lose to Hillary Clinton.
On Hillary Clinton’s watch at the State Department, America’s interests were diminished in every corner of the world. She compromised our national secrets, dissembled to the families of the slain, and jettisoned her most profound beliefs to gain presidential power.
For the last three decades, the Clintons have lived at the intersection of money and politics, trading their political influence to enrich their personal finances. They embody the term “crony capitalism.” It disgusts the American people and causes them to lose faith in our political process.
A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president. But a Trump nomination enables her victory. . .
The next day Trump ignored Romney.
I agree with the rest of your comment about Hillary regarding hidden racism and the Vanity Fair article starts with this.
Those fearful of a Donald Trump presidency have long consoled themselves with the fact that the nation’s growing nonwhite population would be an insurmountable obstacle for the sexist, xenophobic, and bigoted billionaire. But Trump, who often talks of inspiring a “silent majority” of voters, may actually have a larger body of potential supporters than previously thought.
While demographics continue to change in ways that benefit Democrats, one new analysis finds that Trump could potentially win a general election simply by doubling down on the larger-than-expected pool of older, white, working-class voters, which comprises an outsize share of the electorate.
It seems to me that this election will ultimately be fought along racial lines, where the ‘growing non white’ population votes for their perceived protector, Hillary Clinton, and white working class voters vote for their perceived protector, Donald Trump.
Sad, really. Bernie would have been a healer.
For the record I was NEVER going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Okay, Cruz might have convinced me that she really was the lesser evil there, but even that would have meant a long examination of them both and some deep soul searching.
I embraced Sanders campaign because he spoke of many of the issues that Mrs. Clinton and the usual suspects like to ignore. I did the same with Edwards, who was the only thing that got both Clinton and Obama to even notice that there was significant segment of the American population who were not doing well due to policies that they largely had supported.
I will not vote for Trump because frankly in this case there is no lesser evil. He will PROBABLY do less damage than she will because he actually does want to be popular AND the Dems will be as obstructionist as they have ever been to him. But the truth is that is all a guess. Both are evil and should be rejected. BOTH.
So I am left with third party or write in.
But you keep trying to make me waste my vote on someone who is not interested in and has absolutely no intention of representing me or the majority of the American public because we just don’t count we don’t have enough money.
You seem to be making the old, tried and true “mistake” of confusing voting against
one type of candidate with voting for another type of candidate.
When only two ‘flavours’ of politics are on offer, and yes, I do acknowledge the Third Party option, a “plague on both your Parties” is a rational course of action only when the Third Party option has the chance of affecting public policy. This is the old ‘wasting your vote’ argument, which is valid because it leaves the status quo duopoly in control of public policy. My argument is that a little ‘creative destruction’ is needed to clear the way for the emergence of a viable Third and even Fourth Way strategy. So, here at least, I see support of Trump as a declaration that it is time for Sampson to pull down the Temple at Gaza.
One might argue that advocacy of such a strategy is going to end in great trials and tribulations. Indeed, such will be the eventual outcome anyway, no matter who wins this election. The iconoclasts here are merely voting to speed up the process. The sooner we get the pain over with, the sooner we begin to start the healing process.
Not to be too snarky, but have you noticed that the term “socially oriented banker” has taken on the guise of an oxymoron? I would be careful of the company you keep. The Bailey Savings and Loan has been taken over by the Potter Bank and Trust. When you hear a bell tinkling today, that is the outward manifestation of an angel falling from on high. Do try and see, if you can get a copy, Wim Wenders “Wings of Desire,” an exceptional film on the subject of angels.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_Desire
Excellent comment, Ambrit. In fact, a classic Ambrit comment exactly because it is not too snarky (though well reasoned) when others (such as myself) would fall prey to the temptation of such low hanging fruit.
Not to be too psychophanty Brooklyn Bridge, but you do very well yourself. If you look carefully, all that “low hanging fruit” is a sign of extensive decay and corruption. Even Shaksper did rotten and horrible puns, and evidently, enjoyed the process and the end product of said process. As those in Literature will tell us, when one steals, steal from the Greats. (Is it near a full moon? My imagination is popping with unseemly and erotic puns and images today.)
(Phyllis just looked over my shoulder and commented that I have never been able to acknowledge compliments. Thank you BB. I would be dissembling if I said that some corner of my psyche doesn’t yearn for compliment. Phyllis just commented again: “Don’t make it a circle jerk honey.” Oh my.)
Not all 50 states are in play. In many states the electoral college votes are already counted, for red or for blue. Only battleground states are contested. There may be as many as 11 of them this time around. Maybe a couple more — this is a strange election.
In my state, no matter how I vote I’m swimming against a red tide. My only comfort is reading headlines day by day indicating there’s a good chance neither Hillary nor Donald will even be on the ballot in November. Yes, it can happen. The GOP is actively dreaming up ways to dump ‘The Donald’ and there are twelve dozen FBI agents who’ve spent an entire year detailing why Hillary cannot be trusted with a security clearance or even be allowed access to the prison yard for a long, long time.
If Bernie feels honor bound to endorse Hillary at some point, I’m free to write in Keyser Söze. If a collection of clowns and arrogant crooks are running for President, then one can assume that Mr. Söze is already actually running the country, right?
Hah! Keyser Soze for President. That would suggest that no one is running anything with a coherent program as guide. That I can believe. As the joke says: “If they knew what they were doing, they’d be dangerous.” Thus, in the final analysis, gridlock and obstructionism are our best defense.
So what happens if Hillary wins the nomination, and then, for whatever reason, can’t end up running? Can Bernie come back in that case?
She can’t “win” the nomination. There is no path now to enough pledged delegates to obtain the nomination that way, unless Bernie concedes and frees his. That, of course, is not figuring all the election theft into the calculations of how she obtained the pledged delegates she has.
The superdelegates have to pick somebody. If they pick her, that’s not a “win.” Again, that’s BEFORE you factor in the payoffs and bribery and threats and conflicts of interest among lobbyist superdelegates, etc., etc.
Pretty sure once she’s nominated, if she drops out, the DNC would pick the replacement, so not Bernie. Not that he couldn’t, just that they wouldn’t.
interesting argument and and difficult to rebut reasoning. ++++++!!!
I know. It sort of wrote itself. I consider it something of an “the most disruptive evil” argument. It actually applies the “Endlessly Striving, Upwardly Motivational, The End Time Historians” ‘creative disruption theory to politics. If certain power centres claim that this disruptionism is good for business, well, by gosh, why not apply it to politics too?
Any peripheral effects from the Cascadia Rising exercises in your region yet?
What’s with this ridiculous ‘check your privilege’ argument? Instead we should all line up behind Clinton so she can be elected to continue helping out the already privileged?!?!?!? How many people of color did Clinton polices put in jail but yet they are somehow the Great White Hope for minorities?
Please pay more attention.
Check my privilege? Are you serious? I’m voting for him because HC and her cadre must be stopped if there is to be any kind of a future. I cannot afford how many more years of neoliberal policy. I’m very close to losing my job and living out of my car. I don’t have any flipping privilege. I’m terrified I won’t be able to eat and that I’ll be homeless. The people I see saying they are worried about Trump (and saying one absolutely must vote for HC) due to his “attacks on people of colour” are my very well-off, upper class, friends. They don’t even think about or consider the less well off and the poor and the un/underemployed. Now *that* is privilege that should be checked.
+1
I’m living in my car now. Good thing it’s finally summer in Colorado.
I was making about $1200.00/week gross for a couple months and made it through the cold and rainy months in an extended stay motel.
As a truck driver, “I am the gig economy”.
I’m also a felon, so basically a screw up in this new world.
At 52, I’m like the oldies of lore. Telling youngsters when roads didn’t resemble dirt tracks, and you could smoke and play pool at the same time.
If your statement is true, I would advise researching all the places that offer assistance in your area before you need them.
Also make sure the car you drive looks newer and immaculate, no loud mufflers or exhaust leaks. Regardless of what you may have heard, you cannot legally live in your car. At least not on any public street. Have a series of private driveways to crash on overnight, and leave before sunrise. Neighbors like orderly people living next to them, and that won’t be you.
Make cutouts from cardboard that are spray painted black to put in your side windows, for privacy and stealth. I just painted my back windows black. All this at night just looks like heavy tinted windows.
Finally ditch all those things you thought you couldn’t live without. Get it down to one big duffle bag, and a “go to bag”, with daily essentials for a quick shower someplace and change of clothes.
@Andy, try to get near a co-op community…the heat ain’t any easier and can put you down w/o warning…or a buddy to watch out for you (spkg from experience). Dipthero and others post updated 411 on co-ops.
the reason for my suggestion is YOU have much to contribute…maybe more than you realize. Your a voice of experience & survival where too many are in need. i see little of the ‘old’ days to return to…the new days will be in servicing each other or get out of the way…
http://www.cohousing.org/directory
http://www.communityplanet.org/
Keep Cool…please
Yes to this. We’re seeing small “Hobo Jungles” stealthily setting up in the more out of the way places around here. The more recent ‘homeless’ were heavily drug dependent and mental health cases. After the Arch Demon Reagan started closing down the State Asylums, our streets were flooded with the ‘undesirables’ of the Neoliberal Dispensation. Now, the economic dislocations are feeding more “mainstream” people into the void.
We’ve had to live in a tent before. It’s no fun. A segment of Bronowskis “Ascent of Man” focuses on the transhumance way of living. He rightly points out that the simple chore of day to day living stifles all but the strongest innovators. Being poor is hard work.
poverty doesn’t breed violence…IT IS VIOLENT in and of itself. hope this will be recognized as its pop. grows. historically, cycles always return to the majority, whether its ready or not… Thanks for sharing Ambrit.
Good luck with your rent problem aby. I seem to remember that you are caring for an invalid relative. Any assistance available from that cohort? I do hope that you are not swept up in the SNAP ‘renormalization’ fiasco. I remember those accusatory stares from people behind us when we’d present the old fashioned Food Stamps to a cashier. One woman actually told me to get a job; to which, I was dead lucky in this, I showed her my previous weeks pay stub. I was working a full week plus some overtime in Lafayette Louisiana, and we still couldn’t afford to rent anything in that region. The Oil Boom had driven the prices of everything up, simply because there was more money chasing a finite commodity, housing. We stuck it out in that tent for three months, Phyl, myself and the two girls. This at a State Park, in which, we were lucky. We had running water available. The grey people in the woods around most cities do not have basic amenities. I see this not so much a story about individual hard hearted people, as the overwhelming shame of poverty being incorporated into the governing social system. Poverty has been ‘normalized,’ officially. It’s not a “race to the bottom” anymore. It’s a full on bloody toboggan ride straight the H—.
poverty doesn’t breed violence…IT IS VIOLENT in and of itself.
+1
Ascent of Man is my all time favorite PBS series. Bronowski’s lament of John von Neumann’s sell out to Government intellectual capture has forever since informed my opinion of the world. How many great minds have since been corrupted? How much suffering could have been alleviated had those great minds been left to solve everyday problems in an egalitarian way?
That and his lament, while sifting through the ashes at Auschwitz, about the pernicious doctrine of, I believe, Determinism.
von Neumann seems to have been a supreme egotist, thus, his capture being more of a self limitation. As usual, education is key. That’s one thing we seem to have lost in our modern methodology; the education of character.
Andy @ 12:03 PM
You may already know of The Colorado Coalition for The Homeless. If not:
http://www.coloradocoalition.org/contact_us/if_you_need_help.aspx
I wish I could say that Colorado House Bill 1191, The Colorado Homeless Bill of Rights, could be of help, but it failed on February 26 of this year:
https://legiscan.com/CO/bill/HB1191/2016
Good of you to offer your wisdom to others in the thread, sir.
Thanks to all.
Advice
Get a post office box (like mailboxes, etc) while you still have a mailing address. Absolutely critical to have a stable address for mail if you think you might be heading into an unstable housing situation.
Thanks for the great comment and here’s hoping your circumstances don’t deteriorate. I, too, have lived in my car at times. Check out the local community college. Often the student locker rooms (not the team ones) are open as early as 7:00 a.m. and you can shower there. Try carrying a gym bag to make it look like you just did a work out, liking running around the track.
like Lambert pointed out a couple yrs ago…always carry a clean towel.
thanks for sharing…will pass along as needs arise and damn if they aren’t rising. my rent went from 850.00 to 1350.00 with NO warning…everyday cars are being towed out of my complex. it’s not going to happen or it may happen in a couple yrs, IS HAPPENING NOW
I’ve commented here a few times over the years. I voted for Sanders. I don’t like Clinton. There is nothing in my comment, or in my comment history, that indicates that I do. In fact, you can say what you want about Clinton, but I have read many comments in the last few months justifying voting for Trump, and I think that’s justifying racism.
Can you point out some specific examples where you feel the Commentariat is supporting Trump because he espouses racist policies?
My impression to date is that any supporting statements regarding Trump stem from 1. his opposition to foreign wars, 2. opposition to TTP and similar trade policies and what he views as unfair trade, 3. support for domestic infrastructure projects, 4. his history of putting women in charge in key positions in his companies, 5. his uncomfortably blunt habit of pointing out that the emperor is naked (calling Warren Pocohantos for instance)
On the issue of race. Trump keeps harping on building a wall to “keep the Mexicans out.” At some point, somebody is going to have to ask, “why are Mexicans coming here?” And Trump’s answer probably goes something like this, “well you see, Bill Clinton passed NAFTA….”
Too many people underestimate Trump. But that’s what he’s counting on and why he behaves like a buffoon.
“Mary” and “m” are the typical bot tag team.
-One posts claims to be a long time reader and super liberal who marched with Abraham Lincoln.
-the first poster says it’s time for unity
-denounces people as children
-says good bye
-then by sheer coincidence a second poster agrees with the put upon first poster and assures the first poster they are alone.
-the second poster repeats the argument and says good bye cruel world
If the posters respond, they never address arguments and repeat straw man claims. Rinse and repeat.
Within these posters, they use the same code words because it’s what their boss told them to. “Check your privilege, ” “white privilege,” “typical whitee male liberals,” and so forth. There were good ones especially around the heady days of ACA. Unicorns, pragmatic, you just want rainbows, trust, nerds…it’s a long list.
Have you read Mary’s post history? Agree, or disagree, she’s not a bot.
Does “fire and maneuver team” suit better?
I would bet a decent amount that Trump is not a racist, but he definitely wants to leave a bit of ambiguity in their to attract the racist vote. Mexico is not a race. Im not saying his politics are attractive but at least it aint neo-liberal. And if HRC wins, do you really think next elections the Dems are going to lean further left or further right?
It’s bit early to speculate for us super-delegating voters.
Let’s wait till Hillary officially becomes the nominee.
DO NOT DECIDE FIVE MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION.
^THAT
By definition, the actual voters cannot decide until they actually make their mark on the ballot.
It’s all the ‘sheep herding’ being attempted by various interested parties that is trying to pull off the “anointed one” gambit I object to. So do you, I know.
I’m like you; I’m hoping the H Clinton becomes ‘The Accused’ before she becomes ‘The Candidate.’
It’s not about fun; it’s about strategy: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hillary and her ilk must go for the party to feel the Bern. Some conclude that if it takes a Trump, so be it. Beyond that, Trump’s been known to pop up to HIllary’s left on policy. Mirage or oasis? It’s unknown, with no political record to go by, but some would rather chance it with Trump than go with a variously and voluminously discredited Hillary.
The fly in that ointment is Congress. If the election supposed gridlock between a Republican executive branch and a Democrat(ic) legislature, I’d better see the gambler’s logic in backing Trumpusconi. But the next Congress will likely be Republican, which makes a Trump in the Oval Office, already a hideous prospect, an order of magnitude worse. Random example: Remember the grand bargain? Only the great humanitarian, Trump, will stand between the Social Security trust fund and the granny starvers led by Paul Ryan. An exciting prospect—for Pete Peterson.
Nor would a loss to a billionaire reality-TV star teach the Democrats the lesson we might think it would. Insiders will Naderize the left and amp up the tribal kayfabe like it’s Saturday night at the WWF. Under those circumstances I’d rather see Hillary win. It may be that only a Democrat can well and truly wreck the Democrats to such an undeniable extent that something better can rise from the spent party’s ashes. That’s one job a scandal-dogged HIllary may be qualified for.
A vote for Trump is two votes against the Clinton Foundation and its backers. And we know he espouses talking to North Korea and Russia. Putin and Trump…..two billionaires that just might get along and prevent WW3. If the Neocons continue in eastern Europe the risks are such that whatever the Repubs try to do to social security…….which won’t happen since most Repub voters are white, unemployed, old, fat, disabled, and dependent on Medicare and SS……just won’t matter since we will vapoize the world. Does anyone really care that Putin took the Crimea back……which belonged to Russia anyway? Did we not take Texas and California from Mexico? Are not the Mexicans in Texas and California better off as a result? Now if the Greens could get it together they could win……but who knows…..
Yeah yeah.. Clinton’s going to start WW3, I know. Exceedingly unlikely in reality, I would say, but it’s possible. Let’s not forget though that Trump is a climate change denier, who intends to backtrack on agreements already made, and to unfetter the fossil fuel industry in their quest to extract every. last. drop. at whatever cost. Since there’s “no cost” anyway, then there’s no problem, right?
Either way.. humanity’s chances of survival aren’t looking great right now.
Hmm. Clinton has a track record on fomenting war: Iraq, Libya, Honduras. The FP crowd love her because they think she’ll go to war with Syria. Her creature, Vicky Nuland, gave it her best shot in Ukraine. Obama’s developing smaller nukes that are easier to use. Don’t you think that merits a bit more than a “yeah, yeah” false equivalence?
As for Clinton and climate, one word: Fracking.
To be honest, Lambert: before NC I really didn’t know just how evil Clinton was, but rest assured, I know now. Do not construe my posts as supporting in any way shape or form a Cliton presidency. I’ll never vote for that one, let me tell you. I know she’s a war hawk, I just don’t see her actually starting WWIII is all.
Because I see so much casting of Trump as a reasonable alternative, my stance here has become one of pointing out how and why voting for Trump is not really a viable option, for me. Regardless of Clinton, I consider it a big mistake to allow Trump to speak for us as a nation.
In the case at hand, the makeup of the next Congress will depend less on who wins the general, than on whom the bipartisan consensus allows into the general. Those using legacy party assumptions as input to their analyses, without understanding and respecting what people are voting for, are in error.
Someone who’s been itching for war for years is not an acceptable candidate for the Presidency, full stop. Let the bourgeoisie cry it out.
What? I don’t know where you live, but I’m Puerto Rican and I know a lot of “people of color.” None of them are “terrified” of Trump.
We don’t like or support him, but we’re a scrappy lot with backbone to spare. With what we live every day, it would take a lot more than Trump to “terrify” us. He’s a loud mouth, but basically just same ol’ shit we’ve been dealing with.
Where I work most people of color are for Trump…way more than for Bernie….they say exactly what you stated. They know he is not going to build a wall and they want someone who will kick sand in the establishment’s face. They don’t think nice guy politics is a winning strategy.
Interesting to hear that.
Is it not a grown-up thing to do by writing in, not humans, but Incitatus, given the state of our politics?
“None of the above, saved the horse.”
What a crock of crap!
I have 4 kids that could end up serving in one of Hillary’s imperial adventures. So please spare me the “chaos of Trump” BS.
By the way, I met one of his supporters yesterday. The nice little ol’ 74 year old lady who thinks he’s way smarter than I do.
I’ll vote FOR Jill Stein. And from what I’ve read, that accords with a lot of other Sanders supporters are going to do. I’ve found this on this site and of others.
A lot of Sanders supporters will be persuaded to for Clinton – or rather, to vote against Trump.
And a handful may vote for Trump – or rather, to vote against Clinton in the most negative way imaginable. It is totally incongruous with what Sanders and the movement he has inspired stands for, so they’ll need to explain themselves here if they want to be taken seriously.
Y’all identitarians sold out the broad public interest, and particularly the interests of the working class, for your little team drama. Check your patronage!
Right on!
We aren’t choosing to vote for Trump, those in charge are boxing us in and forcing a vote for Clinton. Why-to pass trade laws, continue support of corps & banks, and push more problems overseas. Clinton the only sensible vote?!
Don’t worry M, they will cheat and no matter how many vote Trump, lib or green-Clinton will win. I never realized how this system is rigged. Why are my tax dollars being used to fund closed primaries, isn’t that discriminatory?
“How British let one million Indians die in famine”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36339524
Thanks JohnB…”Regulating the skyrocketing grain prices would risk tampering with the natural laws of economics. “If I were to attempt to do this,” the governor said, “I should consider myself no better than a dacoit or thief.” With that, Mr Beadon deserted his emaciated subjects in Orissa and returned to Kolkata (Calcutta) and busied himself with quashing privately funded relief efforts.” …coming to every city, county, country
After Bernie, Does the Left Need a Rethink? Rolling Stone.
An idiotic article. The author concludes that the American people reject economic populism and that the Left must embrace “incrementalism,” i.e., neoliberalism, because Sanders couldn’t win the Democratic nomination. That analysis is flat-out stupid. The people who vote in the Democratic primaries are largely Democrats and the people who run those primaries are all Democrats. While Sanders couldn’t succeed with the Democrats, he succeeds marvelously with the American people, regularly beating Trump by 10 points more than Clinton in presidential polls. So the correct analysis is that the Democratic Party rejects economic populism, not that the American people do. With that understanding, one can provide a sensible response to the question posed by the article’s title: yes, the Left needs a rethink: it should reject the Democratic Party and work to see it destroyed and replaced by a party that believes in the economic populism that the country needs and the American people want.
Considering how far the American people have come from Occupy Wall Street to Feel the Bern, I see no reason for the Left to change course.
I appreciate your point but I would phrase it differently. IMO, the American people haven’t really moved much at all: ever since 2007 (at least) the American people have been clamoring for economic populism. OWS and Sanders were manifestations of that desire. We thought we were getting economic populism with Obama but he deceived us and now the Clinton coronation has proved that economic populism has no place in the Democratic Party. The question is what the American people do now that we fully recognize that neither corporate party intends to work for us. Clearly, something must change at the political level in order for us to enact the populist economic policies we want.
My point was that “we” (“the American people”) supported Sanders much more than “we” (“the American people”) supported OWS. There’s still a long ways to go. “We” (“the American people”) do not yet fully recognize what “we” (“the Left”) do. Otherwise Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein would win the Presidency. No one expects this to happen in 2016, though the political scene could be very different by November.
sanders could have won the presidency, were it simply a contest of political views. the dnc, the patronage networks, and the major media ensured that it wasn’t. it amazes me how successful he has been, given all the disadvantages he has faced.
Populism seems a dirty word in MSM –
Just wanted to clear that up, but isn’t it a circular definition? Politics sets rights and powers. In a democracy the electorate gets the politics it deserves.
“In a democracy the electorate gets the politics it deserves”
That assumes its a WORKING democracy. The game has been rigged in America for a damn long time now.
That assumes the mushty bourgeois definition of democracy, which is any system in which the government is run like a business by the boss class and the appearance of popular suffrage exists, whether binding or not even advisory.
Also, the US is a republic. Stop propagating victim-blaming fantasy narratives of what we’re really dealing with here, unless your intent is that people exhaust themselves shadow-boxing.
wbgonne
Not to dispute your point at all but to add to it: Americans haven’t moved much at all since the 1960s, at least in terms of what they want from the welfare state. This article says:
[emphasis added.]
What people call themselves changes over time but people are operationally liberal in terms of what they want as the role of government. “[T]he American people,” even self-described conservatives, according to this article by Paul Rosenberg,
and have liked those things at least since the start of the General Social Survey in 1973.
(Although the articles refer back to the 1960s and 1970s, I would think that the enduring popularity of the New Deal suggests that people have favored social welfare spending since at least the 1930s.)
Rosenberg (who, incidentally, cites the proprietor of this blog approvingly) quotes Free and Cantril as saying, in 1964,
Free and Cantril were saying, over half a century ago, not quite what Leo Wong is saying—that “the American people” “recognize” what “the Left” does—but something a bit more radical: that Americans realize how aligned they are operationally with “the Left.” That restatement that they called for, of course, never occurred.
In a sense, that Bernie Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” can prevail in polling against the nominally “conservative” nominee—and score even higher than the presumptive Democratic nominee—or that Donald Trump, the nominally “conservative” nominee, can take a stance against “free trade” deals, and support such things, even sporadically, as Social Security and infrastructure spending, suggests that something involving some readjustment of the labels might now be occurring (although it is not clear yet what). If it is, it is long, long overdue.
Again, I am not at all disputing your characterization of economic populism as a continuing theme, from the election campaign of 2008 through OWS to Sanders—it’s spot on, and, in fact, I think that pundits consistently miss that each subsequent event is not like the previous one(s) precisely because it occurs in light of the earlier ones. I’m just saying (not that you suggested it) that people didn’t suddenly go from liking neoliberal “solutions” of privatization, austerity and all that, to protesting them. What people have wanted has been remarkably stable over time; it’s just that, over time, the gap between what people wanted and the reality of neoliberalism finally reached a breaking point.
1. The Left is not the D party.
That’s the first confusion.
That Sanders joined the D party to run contributed to the confusion, giving up his Independence status, that the D party was the only place or way for any socialists to make a serious impact.
2. Sanders could poll 10 points ahead of Trump without being in the D party. Stein probably polls ahead of Trump, though I have not personally read any polls done.
Should the D party draft Stein? Would they? I doubt it.
Remember that the author is the same individual who wrote a widely criticized article claiming that Richard Charnin’s analysis of election fraud, based on exit polls versus actual votes, couldn’t possibly be correct since exit polls are never accurate. Maybe he’s one of those Ezra Klein types–auditioning for a permanent gig with the Establishment.
From the Bernie team for a potential indepedent run. https://go.berniesanders.com/page/signup/ballot-access-petition-sign-up
Not sure this link is legit.
Couldn’t find it anywhere by going directly to Sanders campaign site. go.berniesanders(dot)com
Interesting. The “donate” link from that page takes one to the “Think Blue” donation page.
I’m pretty sure that’s an old link, from when they were trying to get Bernie onto the state’s primary ballots. Not intended for getting onto the general ballot, which it’s too late for anyway (thx Yves).
Also iirc you can’t run as an independent if you were in a primary and lost it.
From what I am aware the sore loser laws for the most part don’t transfer over to the Presidential position.
I do appreciate the heads up as it splits the position on the Greens.
I’ll be skip to my lou happy to vote Green again.
All that Sanders platform and much more… No war machine too. Dr. Jill Stein is the kind of woman/leadership this country really, really needs.
++ i’ve voiced Green and Stein on this site for yrs n yrs…oh well, it is nice to have a skipping buddy
The grassroots movements of integrity have to stand up to the political machines, of either party, that have sold out to the polluters. How close to dead are you going to be before you stand up? We are dis-empowering ourselves and putting our children on a sacrificial altar. ~Stein
Vote Green also
From the Green team for Jill Stein. http://www.jill2016.com/ballot_access
Just made a donation to Jill Stein for President. The power to create a new society and a new economy: #ItsInOurHands!
After WW2 I remember that chickens in the back yard were pretty much the best food we had in Germany. There was no beef, as a practical matter since no one could afford it. And they were easy to care for. So a little garden, root vegetables in the winter, canning everything and keeping chickens kept our household nourished for a good ten years until things turned around…..oh but we could wash it all down with good beer…..also local product.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-donor-sensitive-intelligence-board/story?id=39710624
This is clearly quid pro quo, but did anyone notice the last paragraph? This is not good for HRC who needs to gain trust with voters. Not hugely surprising to me, but I hope this story gets some legs!!
“About six months after Fernando resigned from the State Department advisory board, he was invited to attend a White House State Dinner, honoring the British Prime Minister. And this summer Fernando will serve as a super delegate at the Democratic National Convention. According to Chicago media reports, he has committed to supporting Clinton.”
He is a super delegate.
According to wiki super delegates are:
“elected members of the Democratic National Committee
distinguished party leaders, consisting of current and former presidents, vice presidents, congressional leaders, and DNC chairs
sitting Democratic governors and members of Congress.”
Ummm, apparently also HFT with lots of money.
Given that almost 20% of our economy is now health care……most of it wasted……having an Ivy League trained doctor in the White House is a pretty good idea. We have tried attorneys over and over and the results are just what one would expect……self dealing…….self serving…….trying someone who has experience with life and death and disability matters could be a breath of fresh air. Why Bernie is backing the Yale attorney is beyond me. If the Greens win the states they are registered in the election is over…..they win…..and New York, California, and Florida are well within their reach. She offered to run with Bernie and their positions are very close. Since she is married to a physician she does not need to be president to make money and since she is not a lawyer she is not driven to make as much money as possible a la Clinton and I presume Obama after next January. Elizabeth Warren is a hack like the rest we now learn and she can go back Hillary all she wants. If the Greens put on a professional and viable campaign they have my vote and money. If it is amateur hour like Bernie was, much as I supported him, and it is Hillary vs. Trump……Trump gets my vote……..because it is two votes against Hillary, Bill, Bob Rubin, Goldman Sachs and the Clinton Foundation.
Bilderberg in Dresden: an innocent conference or conflict of interests?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/10/bilderberg-conference-charlie-skelton-blog-academic
I’m sure that the conference is in the news where you are….. ;-)
RE: How Clinton aims to trump Trump on Twitter Politico (furzy)
A BILLION dollars for a “presidential campaign” that features social-media-savvy young techies sitting around a table thinking up “tweets” to store for future use after they’ve baited Trump into making those “tweets” somewhat relevant.
Maybe I can save y’all some money. This used to work back in the day when my parents were “free rangers,” and we kids spent a lot of time OUTSIDE face to face with other actual people.
“You stink.”
“Well, you stink MORE.”
Boy, we’re loosing commenters fast! Mary, then M. Who’s next? A?, B??, C??? (I hope someone is catching on; this could bounce back to A and then go on all the way to Z!).
I feel their pain. Sometimes Yves AND/OR Lambert don’t agree with my fantasies either. GRRRRR. Well, this’ll fix THEIR wagon. There was even one commenter a while back who was holding back a contribution – think of it, a contribution – because neither Yves nor Lambert got it right in thier minds about what ever it was this commenter felt at the time.
++++++++++++++++++++
Video of the Day – Elizabeth Warren Hurt America by Endorsing Hillary Clinton
First, a bit of an introduction. I’ve been following H. A. Goodman’s work throughout much of the primary season. He has been a passionate and determined fighter for Bernie Sanders for all the right reasons. As such, I think what he has to say about Elizabeth Warren is representative of a significant portion of Sanders supporters.
The damage Elizabeth Warren has done to her reputation, as well as the overall movement to reign in Wall Street criminality, is impossible to overstate. She went from instilling actual fear in the hearts of finance executives, to becoming a total joke. By not endorsing Sanders and now rushing out to back Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren has taken herself completely out of the game and willingly transformed herself into Clinton’s obedient progressive mascot.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/06/11/video-of-the-day-elizabeth-warren-hurt-america-by-endorsing-hillary-clinton/#more-35049
“It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”
― Alfred Adler
Evidently endorsing HRC has caused Warren’s two FB pages to lose “likes” at an incredible rate, something like 7 per second. Posted a comment in yesterday’s WC with details and links.
Warren made the mistake of saying her endorsement would be related to her banking views. Now, she just looks like a bum. Don’t make explicit promises unless you aim to keep them. Her endorsement of Hillary had nothing to do with Hillary earning the endorsement.
But think of the upside … Secretary of HHS?
A former Secretary of HHS, Donna Shalala, ended up heading the Clinton Foundation.
As the father of a high school friend memorably quipped when hit up for a loan, “The old Establishment isn’t so bad when you need to borrow ten bucks, is it?”
*cues up Springsteen’s Tenth Avenue Sleazeout*
…every time I hear that song from now on (which granted isn’t often), I think those will be the words I mentally hear
It sucks, man. Remember back when Mass. was close, and we were all going “where’s Warren? Now’s the time she can make a real difference.” A lot of us gave her the benefit of the doubt then, oh but then there was that meeting.. she had with Cliton, right?
So, yeah. Here we are today. Just piling on the old disappointment.
hey, mass. was indeed close, and it did make a real difference–in her career. nicely coordinated with obama endorsement and ap coronation. reminds me of when the balloons went up and the hostages were released, coincidentally, at the very moment reagan completed his inaugural address.
Nina Turner, now that’s a woman with principle! She, like most progressives, isn’t impressed one bit by Elizabeth Warren.
“It’s easy for Democrats to attack Mr. Trump,” said Nina Turner, the former state senator from Ohio. “You don’t get any brownie points from me and other progressives for getting into a Twitter war with Mr. Donald Trump. That’s easy. But when the fight was hard for Sen. Bernie Sanders, where was Sen. Warren?”
Where was she, indeed.
Can $hillary still win with only 40% of Bernie voters? Has anybody done the math?
My Dinner with Peter Thiel
A window into the secret reality of Silicon Valley.
But reality doesn’t seem to be the case for some of the elite in Silicon Valley. They play by their own rules. There is, of course, a positive side to all of this. These so-called disruptors have given us the iPhone and Uber and PayPal. But there is also a darker side, too—and we’re really starting to see those forces at work now. For a long time, technology pundits have wondered what will happen to the relatively young, very rich, Silicon Valley elite after they leave the companies that they created, and that made them wildly and incomprehensibly rich. What does Mark Zuckerberg, who is just 32, do after Facebook? Where does Travis Kalanick, 39, go after he’s done at Uber? What about all the young V.C.s in their 30s and 40s worth hundreds of millions?
These aren’t the kind of people who simply retire on a beach and sip Soylent through a thin straw. So the assumption has long been that these people would eventually take their money and run for office, trying to change the world through due process. But our system of government, after all, was intended to be laborious, inefficient, and filled with checks and balances. And the tech elite, who have changed society more over the past decade than all the lawmakers put together (ever, perhaps), aren’t the patient type. Using the technologies we all adore, Silicon Valley simply zig-zags around the system with unwrinkled ease.
What I didn’t realize after that dinner, but I do see now, is that the actions of these tech elite are only going to become more brazen as they morph society into the world they believe we should live in. Who do you think is going to create the laws on Mars? The U.S. government, or Elon Musk and his old co-worker and buddy from PayPal, Peter Thiel?
Like most people in Silicon Valley, Thiel dislikes the way the system works. That’s fine, but trying to change it through the path that he has chosen illustrates that, like hosting a dinner party where there is no dinner, he may not be all that concerned with the comforts of those around him. If he were more circumspect, perhaps, he might realize the larger ramifications. Should he succeed in destroying Gawker, Thiel won’t simply have silenced a site that he doesn’t like. He will have triumphantly instructed other thin-skinned, mega-wealthy people on how to silence journalists that write negatively about them. In the era of Donald Trump, there are few more chilling lessons.
If the present can tell us anything about the future, we are on our way to living in a world that is straight out of the pages of an Ayn Rand novel. It is a world where those who have the money, power, and (scariest of all) the technology, can act in a way that personifies Rand’s famous admonition,
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/nick-bilton-dinner-with-peter-thiel
A good valuation crash might do the trick?
Even the ‘critics” can’t be too harsh-
“So the assumption has long been that these people would eventually take their money and run for office, trying to change the world through due process”
Due process now means walking into an election as a Billionaire?
Bring on the house of represntin’! Trump looking better and better, his WWF experience should serve him well.
Well, They’re Destroying Puerto Rico People are literally dying because of Wall Street greed.
Vulture hedge funds are profiting off of Puerto Rico’s debt crises, and people are literally dying because of Wall Street greed. Preying on Puerto Rico: Forgotten Citizens of Hedge Fund Island is a series of short videos that Puerto Rican activists helped create to kick off an escalated series of large actions calling on those with the power to help to stand up for Puerto Ricans and stand up to Wall Street. Watch the rest of the videos in the series here.
http://www.thenation.com/article/ever-heard-of-vulture-funds-well-theyre-destroying-puerto-rico/
the billionaire class have plans for all of us…..not just P.R.
Taking liberties with the queen’s english and working to expand NATO at the same time-
http://news.sky.com/story/1710510/marseille-violence-city-like-a-battlefield
“He said: “A gang of what appears to be Russian supporters, hooligans, very well organised, stormed into the old port area and looked for English fans to attack.”
The rusians have taken Marseille? With “hooligans, very well organized”
Seems much more likely that the englsh fans would be the hooligans, but in the classic, old english meaning of the word- Not well organized.
Can the queen take back Marseille? Will the french have any say?
Marseille? Non! Bordeaux, possible, since the English Crown does have a solid claim to Guienne, or, if you will, Aquitaine.
well well lookie who just returned to russia from a hometown american visit: So then we are given over, by propaganda galore, to the new meme. The US Presidential race for the White House, the golden ring, the chalice, Excalibur, the golden fleece… now that’s a thought. The Big Fleecing of America ~ the US election process. It’s showtime everyone, so put on your red, white, and blue, and listen up. This here’s important. In fact this is the noose that delivers the faux-golden egg. It is deliverance time! Again, we are asked, nay forced, to believe. Believe that it makes a difference if its Bernie the designated Commie, Donald the disgusting Fascist, or Hilary, the one and only Flying Reptile. So we have the whore of Babylon ~ a prostitute in a pants suit, taking money from anyone who is ready to pay. Donnie, the self-financed self-promoting wealthy-kid, who does not need a penny to play, because his mouth gets him all the attention needed. And The Bern… the hope of the unwashed masses, enrapted by his visage, as the vultures circle the shore.
The joke is on us, I’m afraid. The system is broken, if it every really worked at all. We are made to believe this charade makes a difference, it doesn’t. OK. If the reptile in a pantsuit wins I will be upset… not because I think she will do anything different than what’s she’s told. But, I will be upset because she should be in jail, if not hanged by the neck until dead after an official judgment, of course, by a legitimate court. You know, sort of like the charade we saw play out with our friend Saddam Hussein. Although, I would not object to a scenario more like the one she engineered against Muammar Gadafi (“We came, we saw, he died….” chortle, chortle, gaffaw)!
https://kulturcritic.wordpress.com/ok-kids-time-to-wake-up/
This is most appropriate as I settle in to watch the Belmont Stakes. I wonder if Matt Taibbi wishes he was back in the USSR? NJ isn’t so bad though, as long as you stay close to the Delaware River.
Any odds on the Muammar Gadafi scenario? I’m currently having a pretty good day at the parimutuel windows.
From our “daily dirt dump” department:
Guess it depends on what the meaning of “marked” is.
You mean, like, with a marker or something?
Maybe, although perhaps she means that none of the documents were classified by a man named Mark.
Whose surname is Ed, of course.
Question for Mary – how do you feel about the TPP? Hillary, as SofS strongly advocated for this to pass – now she says she’s against it. Do you think she will flip after the election? Also, why do you think Hillary hasn’t released her transcripts to the TBTJ banks? She was paid enormous sums – do you think those banks might expect something in return?
I can’t answer for Mary, but I am 99.9% certain she will flip back to supporting the TPP. In her recent interview with Lester Holt, she wasn’t able to identify one position that she changed because of pressure from Sanders. That tells me she’s planning to flip flop back to all of her old billionaire friendly, giant corporation friendly positions.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/hillary-clinton-cant-name-one-position-bernie-sanders-got-change/
I agree with you and Vatch. Hillary will continue moves to fully corporatize trade — TPP, TIPP, TISA and beyond. That alone trumps all other concerns I have about Trump. However I do NOT intend to vote for Trump or Hillary. I will either write-in Sanders or vote for other offices and not vote for President. Hillary and Trump are both frightening as possible Presidents. We have a choice between evils with no lesser evil — just a different face.
Yes Jill Stein is an enticing choice. I fear voting for her would be throwing away my vote. I want to register a vote to most clearly say NO! to the candidates on offer from both of the main parties. [Yes it is true the primaries aren’t over til they’re over — but it looks to me as if the fix is already in.]
In 2012, voting for a third party candidate might have been quixotic, but in 2016, there’s so much dissatisfaction with the 2 major parties, we actually have a chance to make a difference by voting third party. No, we won’t elect a third party President in 2016, but we can lay the foundation for future victories. Warning: I’m about to repeat something I’ve posted before (sorry).
People should continue to vote for Sanders in the primaries. But if he doesn’t get the nomination, they should seriously consider voting for a third party candidate, such as the Green Party candidate. If a third party’s candidate gets 5% of the vote, they qualify for general election grant money in the next election in 2020. They might even qualify for retroactive money for the 2016 election. See:
http://www.fec.gov/press/bkgnd/fund.shtml
Thanks, Vatch!
I think I see where the poll reported by Guardian got its numbers, though it’s a terrible presentation of data. The columns with the peculiar heading “If Sanders Runs” give a breakdown of responses from voters in each of three groups (Trump 35%, Clinton 32%, and Sanders 18%). In the question where he is on the ballot, 100% of voters in each category vote for their candidate, of course. In the one where he is not and Stein is, 7% of Sanders voters would vote for Trump, 41% for Clinton, 15% for Johnson, 11% for Stein, 13% would stay home, and 13% were undecided. (Oddly, a few Clinton and Trump voters shifted ground there also, though their candidates were still on the list.)
But you’re right, the main thing I got from the article was that only 41% of Sanders voters were prepared to vote for Clinton. The spin cycle was on high when they wrote up those results.
Re rich
June 11, 2016 at 3:19 pm
The situation in Puerto Rico is horrible. But it got this way by increments and while the U.S. left looked the other way. The left in the U.S. is lost because it flatters itself the champion of underdogs and so only shows up for lost causes. That’s why it’s so easy to pry it apart with identity politics.
The U.S. left, to the extent it exists, is strategically stupid, uneducable, superficial, vain, thin-skinned, lazy, cynical and ignorant of history. While it languishes in the irrelevance it has earned, we spics and all working people need to organize and educate ourselves.
Interesting article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/us/laid-off-americans-required-to-zip-lips-on-way-out-grow-bolder.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Disgusting! Worse yet, under TPP, TTIP and the others, they will be able to alleviate the necessity for severance pay AND non-disparagement clauses. If you speak up they will just litigate you into oblivion.
Thanks for the link. This is a trend it seems especially here in Illinois. My SO works for a medical association non profit and there are rumors that they will be outsourcing their tech force soon. The fact that non profits do this is beyond the pale considering the tax breaks they get.
Qualified organizations, as determined by the department, are exempt from paying sales taxes in Illinois. The exemption allows an organization to buy items tax-free. In addition, their property may be exempt from property taxes.
Sales & Property Tax Exemptions (PIO-37) – Illinois Department of …
http://www.revenue.state.il.us › pios › pio-37
The penny dropped and I identified Mary’s bank. I was a long-time loyal customer, and very sorry it did not make it through the debacle. While it existed, it did a lot of good. Let those who know nothing about CDFIs learn something before they sneer!
But Mary, please don’t abandon NC! Just be more selective in reading.
Oops, “…the Hillary camp set up thousands of fake pro hill social media profiles. Their program malfunctioned on twitter and they all posted the same status at the same time…”
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1126279770776399&id=100001831590584&set=gm.1200133033340554&source=48
In the future, all elections will be conducted by way of fake Twitter accounts.
The future is here.
Clinton’s fatal character traits and horrific political history are well documented and known. What I believe says it all is a 2008 Obama ad against Clinton that Trump has recently unearthed. Frankly, this ad, in light of recent disclosures about her e-mails, lack of trustworthiness and lies is just the essence of her campaign now. Remember the tag line at the end – it says it all.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trump-obama-clinton-2008-ad-224189
it amazes me to think that any of these people are in charge of anything. Especially lawyers, guns and money. Being in charge of those, that’s really amazing.
It’s like watching a horror movie, and you’re somehow in the movie! As an extra. hahahahah. fuk
I don’t know why God does this to us. It’s no different in most places, although I’m beginning to think we’re crazier here than i thought we were.
i used to think America neutered its lunatics through the necessity of compromise and the language of our being. But then I realized they’ve found a way around all that. And then I realized they always have. And then I realized how delusional I used to be.
Now I think Carl Jung was right. Even though he was a wacko. Or sort of a wacko. Frankly many people are wackos, but mostly they’re not in charge.
I wonder how much longer humanity has before it blows itself up completely, just because it can’t handle its own imagination. That’s sort of a strange way of thinking. To think that imagination itself is a force of nature — like electricity or gravity or the nuclear forces — that needs to be controlled through consciousness, which is another force of nature but in a higher dimension. That is a bit weird, to think that imagination is a sub-space of consciousness. Everybody has two levers they can pull. If they don’t do it right, they blow up. That’s how it is, i think. That’s also weird, to think that even if everything blows up because people lose control over their imagination, that the higher vector space, consciousness, will still exist. I hate to be an optimist here, but there’s something about that that’s sort of calming. I guess then you start over with a new subspace and think to yourself “Well, OK, this time we’ll get it right,” With your hands on the levers. hahahah
Get me the fuk out of moderation!
This was supposed to be a reply to CB. I don’t no how it got down here
This one is good. It’s really worth it. Its almost as good as Youtube! Certainly better than another political diatribe written in the throes of undisciplined passion and fury without regard to the astonishing mystery of your own inner universe. Of course, you can’t raise the bar too high or nobody would type anything and whhat fun would that be
if you’re gonna raise the bar please supply a high stool.
from the “You gotta be shittin’ me” dept….. seems like these clowns want another bite at the apple… Jeb Hensarling (R, Texas) proposes amendments to an already-weakened Dodd-Frank, favoring leveraged finance markets….
http://www.forbes.com/sites/spleverage/2016/06/10/congressman-proposes-dodd-frank-amendments-exempting-clos-from-risk-retention/#18b749a84ac8
Question is, are they malicious or just stupid?
we’re lucky they are this stupid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps7LXp8nK3g#t=45
Ali G In The ATF
when da dog find da bomb how long do it take to actually defuse it?
Based on that 4 way poll Sanders would Qualify for the Debates. He should run and promise to drop out after the debates if it looks like Trump would win.