By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
2016
Days until: 7, ZOMG!!!
Here are the RealClearPolitics polling averages from last week, compared to this week.
| This week: 10/31/2016 | Last week: 10/24/2016 |
|
 |
With a week to go, it’s still a horse-race. Remarkable.
Now let’s return to the fun Times interactive, “The 1,024 Ways Clinton or Trump Can Win the Election”; it shows the “paths to victory” in tree form. Try it yourself! [New York Times]. Here’s some data I put together to play with in the form of a table of swing states:
| Swing State | Leader | Polling Margin* | SoS Party | A.G. Party | Electoral Votes |
| OH | T (T) | 1.3 (0.6) | R | R | 18 |
| NV | C (C) | 1.5 (4.2) | R | R | 6 |
| FL | T (C) | 0.5 (-3.8) | R | R | 29 |
| CO | C (C) | 4.0 (7.2) | R | R | 9 |
| NC | C (C) | 3.0 (2.5) | D | D | 15 |
| IA | T (T) | 1.4 (3.7) | R | D | 6 |
| NH | C (C) | 5.2 (8.0) | D | D | 4 |
| WI | C (C) | 5.7 (7.0) | D | R | 10 |
| VA | C (C) | 7.7 (8.0) | D | D | 13 |
| PA | C (C) | 5.6 (6.2) | D | D | 20 |
Legend: Leader and polling margin from RealClearPolitics. SoS’s party from WikiPedia. A.G’s party from Ballotpedia.
* Previous week’s margin in parenthesis (thus). Flipped states (thus).
Erosion for Clinton across the board. Again, remarkable (and Friday’s Weiner/Abedin email bombshell cannot have worked its way through the electorate yet (nor whatever garbage dumps of oppo are yet to come). Let’s see if Trump flipping Florida provides him with an easier path to victory (and I bet it does). To the Times interactive once again:
Remember the interactive focuses on swing states, listed in the table above. We give Trump Ohio, Florida, and Iowa. Clinton has 26 paths to victory; Trump has 99 (!). We give Clinton (neo-con infested) Virginia, and Pennsylvania (ladies who lunch in MontCo, DelCo, Chester, and Bucks). Clinton now has 18 paths; Trump 11, and all paths lead through North Carolina. We look at the table, note Clinton’s lead, and note that Democrats control both the Secretary of State and Attorney General in North Carolina, and assume that will nullify Republican voter suppression efforts, and award the state to Clinton. If Clinton wins Wisconson (up by 5.7, though dropping) she wins. If Trump wins Wisconsin (and Scott Walker and the Republican Attorney General can get past the Democrat Secretary of State in case of any irregularities) he needs to win Colorado to win. Na ga happen. Still, his chances are better than they were last week!
Now let’s look at the House and Senate:
This week, the House:
Last week:
Stalemate!
This week, the Senate:
Last week:
Looks like that slippery little scut Marco Rubio dodged a bullet! Well done, DSCC!
Corruption
“Clinton Foundation: Inurement” [Amy Sterling Cassill]. Word of the day: “The concept of “inurement” is one that most nonprofit organization board members should be familiar with. In common language, “inurement” is a concept that means a board member, donor, or employee can’t benefit excessively from the organization’s funds.”
“Donald Trump’s Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court Orders” [Kurt Eichenwald, Newsweek]. Oppo garbage truck unloads….
War Drums
“Harry Reid’s incendiary claim about ‘coordination’ between Donald Trump and Russia” [WaPo].
But there is no public evidence to support Reid’s claim of actual “coordination” between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. And were that to be the case, it would be a scandal of epic proportions. Asked what evidence exists of such a connection, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson cited classified briefings. “There have been classified briefings on this topic,” Jentleson said. “That is all I can say.”
Nudge nudge wink wink. Say no more! Say no more!
The Voters
“Signs Grow of Another Third-Party Fizzle” [Wall Street Journal]. “But it appears increasingly likely that no outside candidate will take a meaningful chunk of the national vote, as seemed plausible in the early summer. The combined clout of Mr. Johnson and Ms. Stein fell from 17% of registered voters in July to 9% in the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. The running RealClearPolitics polling average of all four candidates is even less generous, showing Mr. Johnson and Ms. Stein dropping from around 12% at various times this summer to just 7% now.”
Realignment
“Would Trump “Make a Deal” With The Left?” [Michael Tracey]. I doubt it. And would the Left make a deal with Trump? Still, if the deal were to prevent a war…
The Trail
UPDATE “CNN says it is ‘completely uncomfortable’ with hacked emails showing former contributor and interim DNC chair Donna Brazile sharing questions with the Clinton campaign before a debate and a town hall during the Democratic primary, and has accepted her resignation” [Politico]. Too funny! Instant karma, and Brazile turns out to be just as clumsy and dishonest a hack as Wasserman-Shultz. No doubt there will be a place for her in the Clinton administration.
“FT endorsement: For all her weaknesses, Clinton is the best hope” [Financial Times].
“Donald Trump has a path to victory again thanks to Florida” [WaPo]. “Remember that winning Florida isn’t a luxury for Trump — it’s a necessity. If Clinton wins the 18 states (plus D.C.) that every Democratic presidential nominee has carried between 1992 and 2012, she has 242 electoral votes. Add Florida’s 29 to that total and Clinton is at 271 and the election is over.”
Democrat Email Hairball
“How Clinton plans to deal with Comey’s October surprise” [Politico]. “Projecting confidence” and “galvanizing supporters.” Those are the talking points? Really? Seems a little meta.
Stats Watch
Personal Income and Outlays, September 2016: “Personal income rose a solid but slightly lower-than-expected 0.3 percent” [Econoday]. “Inflation data are mixed to soft. … Yet the core rate, which excludes food & energy, failed to show much lift…. The consumer wasn’t putting September’s increase in income into savings as the savings rate edged 1 tenth lower to what is a still respectable 5.7 percent.” But: “Personal consumption has been the major driver of GDP since the end of the Great Recession. Last Friday’s 3Q2016 GDP showed this was no longer true – and this month’s consumption (last month of 3Q2016) does show some life in consumption – but the 3 month rolling average did decline – and year-over-year growth was unchanged from last month” [Econintersect].
Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, October 2016: “The Chicago PMI has been bumpy all year and is once again for the October report, down 3.6 points at 50.6 to indicate abrupt month-to-month slowing in composite activity” [Econoday]. “New orders are part of the slowing as is production. Signs of strength come from employment, which is back into the expansion column, and from prices paid.”
Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey, October 2016: “The month’s advance indications on factory conditions have shown isolated strength as does the October report from the Dallas Fed where production, though slowing, expanded for a fourth straight month” [Econoday]. “The general activity index did improve but still remains negative… [C]apital expenditures, at plus 8.7, are at a two-year high. Hours worked, however, are negative.” And: “This survey remained in positive territory but new orders and unfilled orders remain in contraction. This really is not that positive of a report” [Econintersect].
The Bezzle: “EINHORN SLAMS TESLA: ‘Years of over-promising and under-delivering from a promotional CEO'” [Business Insider].
The Bezzle: “U.S. authorities are investigating whether middlemen in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market posted fake bids, rigged auctions and gave confidential information to others who then profited from it, according to people familiar with the situation” [Bloomberg].
Honey for the Bears: “We are forecasting marginal slowing of the economy – with the economy frozen in a condition of snails pace growth. The majority of sectors are not changing their rate of economic expansion” [Econintersect]. “One of our litmus test recession indicators is trucking employment – which is continuing in recession territory. Consider that rail movements, industrial production, and wholesale trade are all in contraction. Prior to the Great Recession, this would have been a 100% guarantee that a recession is underway.”
Honey for the Bears: “Where the Next Crisis Will Come From” [Bloomberg]. “Next year ends in a 7. If you’re superstitious or a little loose with statistics, that makes us due for another financial crisis. The biggest one-day stock drop in Wall Street history happened in 1987. The Asian crisis was in 1997. And the worst global meltdown since the Great Depression got rolling in 2007 with the failure of mortgage lenders Northern Rock in the U.K. and New Century Financial in the U.S…. Keep an eye on depressed lenders, shadow banks, and China.”
Political Risk: “A Little-Noticed Fact About Trade: It’s No Longer Rising” [New York Times]. “[The Hanjin bankruptcy] was a moment that made literal the stagnation of globalization…. The United States is no exception to the broader trend. The total value of American imports and exports fell by more than $200 billion last year. Through the first nine months of 2016, trade fell by an additional $470 billion. It is the first time since World War II that trade with other nations has declined during a period of economic growth…. But there are also signs that the slowdown is becoming structural. Developed nations appear to be backing away from globalization.”
Political Risk: “How do I protect myself if Trump is elected?” [Calculated Risk]. “Quite a few readers have asked me this question. My usual answer is that I expect Ms. Clinton to be elected President, and that the expansion will continue…. The general rule is don’t invest based on your political views. However policy does matter for investing and the economy. As an example, it was obvious to invest in oil when George W. Bush became President. And insurance companies like United Healthcare and Aetna seemed like good bets with a President Obama.” So, Halliburton with Clinton? Raytheon? General Dynamics? Lockheed Martin does a lot of IT, so I guess that would be a two-fer…
Rapture Index: Unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Close: 189. Record High: 189.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 31 Neutral (previous close: 34, Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 53 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Oct 31 at 1:09pm. Nice work, Huma.
Black Injustice Tipping Point
“Facebook advertisers can exclude racial groups in housing ads” [USA Today]. Well, that’s appalling. And another Silicon Valley company above the law!
“The KKK was originally a giant, lucrative pyramid scheme” [Quartz]. The KKK made its members pay for their own sheets from a monopoly supplier! (The Nazi Party made its members pay for their uniforms, too.)
Corruption
“A $72-million apartment project. Top politicians. Unlikely donors.” [Los Angeles Times]. “No one is registered to vote at the run-down house on 223rd Street. The living room window has been broken for months. A grit-covered pickup sits in the dirt front yard with a flat tire. Yet dozens of donations to local politicians — totaling more than $40,000 — have come from four of the people who have lived there over the last eight years.” That’s so dumb. If you want to launder money, you set up a family foundation. What’s wrong with these people?
“When CIA and NSA Workers Blow the Whistle, Congress Plays Deaf” [The Intercept].
News of the Wired
Oh dear:
Leave it to @twitter to demonstrate in its own survey that it has no idea why people use Twitter. pic.twitter.com/AFc8njltNf
— Thomorrow Wong (@7homwon6) December 11, 2015
Personally, I use Twitter to curate a network of news sources and personal contacts, a task for which Facebook is miserably unsuited. It’s really unfortunate that Twitter is controlled by stupid money, and that Twitter’s management hates its users. Where’s the damn edit button?
“Facebook’s Free Basics Is an African Dictator’s Dream” [Foreign Policy]. “But there’s a dark side to Free Basics that has the potential to do more harm than good — a side that suggests that Zuckerberg doesn’t get Africa after all. The app is essentially a cheap version of the internet, a fact that by itself implies that some people aren’t good enough to merit the whole thing. Even worse, it’s a version of the internet that gives Facebook — and by extension the corporations and governments that partner with Facebook — total control over what its users can access.”
* * * Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant (AM):
AM writes: “From Rehoboth, MA courtesy of my mother in law.” I have these flowers too. Since I want them, they aren’t weeds!
Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help.
209 comments
Comments are closed.
I think those are hosta. The chickens eat the foliage and the bumblebees climb up into the flowers. Deer will completely defoliate them given half the chance, though.
Yes, those hostas are edible by humans as well. Japanese and Koreans eat them, I believe. The young shoots in springtime are supposed to be the best, steamed with a little ginger and soy sauce. I will try this next spring, if I remember. But you can just grab some leaves and eat them anytime. Tastes like spinach.
I’ll have to see if any of my leaves survived the first frost, thanks! Otherwise, we’ll wait until spring to have a taste.
wow, didn’t know that…THANKS. i do know they grow fast…my sister is always giving them away or spliting them.
They are good in shade.
Are there specific varieties of Hostas which were developed first and foremost FOR the edible leaves? ( Best chance would be certain Japanese and Korean varieties).
The same principle obtains for Dahlias too. The tubers are edible and some varieties are supposed to have tubers which actually taste good. The Mexican Valley Indians apparently developed the Dahlia over time as a dual-use plant . . . food AND beauty. ( And since the MexIndians inVENTed the Dahlia, I wonder what some of their own words for it are?)
Lambert – With regards to the posting/link to Twitter and its’ survey, I think the following two articles are supplementary and crucial “must-reads”…..They are both about the abuse of technology and some associated consequences.
One concerns the science of persuasion and how technology (the internet and mobile apps) is being leveraged to mislead the consumer into making a ‘choice’. Despite the fact that the options provided within that particular ‘choice’ are intentionally hand-picked by someone else other than the consumer…..
See here: https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive
And the other is from the Financial Times today and a book review of “Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy” written by Cathy O’Neil:
https://www.ft.com/content/229b0004-8be3-11e6-8cb7-e7ada1d123b1
‘7’ years:
One could add a few more. The Panic of 1907. The bear market of 1917. The recession and bear market (50% decline) of 1937. The recession and bear market of 1957. The bear market of 1977.
Not that I would trade on this decadal pattern alone. But “7” years see more than their fair share of calamities.
Christine Lagarde said something about sevens six months before MH17 was downed by drunken Ukies. 7 is one of the more common digits coerced into weak passwords by password “diversity” standards.
It’s bisyllabic and sibilant, therefore powerful and mystical to the ear.
‘bisyllabic and sibilant’
Damn … if pronouncing that is part of a drinking game … YOU WIN. ;-)
Bisyllabic and sibilant now–where’s a gender studies major when you need one?
Thanks, Jim! For my next trick I will have this beautiful and talented dentist [presenter gestures to zombie in scrubs] [audience ooohs] shoot my lip full of novocain and extract a wisdom tooth while I say it ten times fast. :D
What I’ve done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed… forever.
~Se7en & The Freakin Federal Reserve Corporation
This ought to shut up Harry Reid.
But then again, who cares what a lame duck thinks?
Hillary Clinton 10/28/16:
“We’ve heard these rumors. We don’t know what to believe. I’m sure there will be even more rumors,” she explained about the new emails being connected to Abedin and Weiner. “That’s why it is incumbent upon on the FBI to tell us what they’re talking about.”
Obama 10/31/16:
Who is this we you’re talking about?
Incumbent. I do not think that word means what you think it means, Madame Secretary.
Don’t blame Comey
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/10/31/dont-blame-comey/?utm_term=.a0b683237dd9
That stings…. lol
Citi: FBI probe could be a black swan
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/31/citi-fbis-new-clinton-probe-is-a-black-swan-that-could-turn-the-election/
Well, well. Another feud breaking out in the open?
Interesting. Obama going high, or deciding where the chips may fall.
I think the latter.
For Comey to do what he did, when and how he did it, I gotta believe there is some extinction-level event inside those emails. Something so toxic that even Obama is throwing up his hands, or at least easing hiimself way, way back on the periphery.
easing himself away with trembling lips and sweat trickling down his back…it has to be that good. and i hope it is!
i have to admit, i was traumatized by fitzmas. i hate to get all hopeful.
he does have daughters old enough to read…
Personal briefing perhaps?
Most likely this is just as it appears. It’s all going to be about the Weiner and the person that shared his hardware.
I’d like to know more about the folder, “life insurance.”
If they told you what’s in it, they’d have to kill you.
It’s bald, irresponsible speculation, but not inconsistent with what we do know, so get your salt (and lemon and tequila and another lick of salt) ready… in WaPo comments to Holder’s hagiography someone asserted that someone said someone from NYPD alleges that Hillary also had some fingers in some of Bill’s and Anthony’s undercooked pies, as it were. That would be sufficiently personally incriminating, with fallout potentially extending to the Democratic ruling class and beyond, to explain her fear of hanging in the streets, where mere power politics would not. It would also confirm the general principle that those who are allowed to reach ruling heights have “handles” to keep their minds concentrated on their “benefactors”.
I’d like to see a confirmatory source on that enticing rumor.
So would I… there have been numerous mentions of the “life insurance” folder but not in the MSM anywhere. Given their past shilling for HRC, I shouldn’t be surprised if the NYT et al didn’t mention it. But obviously if that folder did exist (with 650K emails in it!) that would be a real bombshell.
Don’t forgetObama can’t be embarrassed or make mistakes. Comey as an Obama appointee will always be defended by Obama until there is a risk of the stench reaching Obama or missing a round of golf.
If Comey is playing politics with such an important job or can’t even handle a mutiny us department, why did Obama nominate a life long Republican to the post of FBI Director?
Because Obama fetishizes bipartisanship.
I’m currently seething with fury at the Big O and his lies, we see headlines “Saudi Coalition Incinerates More Yemeni Grandmothers” and we think the US is just a passive enabler. No. The US has been actively at war with Yemen since 2009, try Jeremy Scahill’s book “Dirty Wars” for a comprehensive rundown on just how much Obama expanded Bush’s terror, torture, and pre-crime drone murder.
The man is a monster. At least with Cheney you could see what you were getting: a snarling, terrifying, bloodthirsty fascist.
Thanks OTPBD Hal… “I approve of your outrage”. Nary a peep from Obama over blatant human rights abuses and genocide e.g. in Gaza or Yemen. Instead he happily approves billions in military aid to Israel and Saudi (to take just two examples) whilst pushing TPP, not prosecuting torture or the banksters… it goes on and on.
Convenient silence from His Awesomeness on Dakota Access. Silence also from Loretta Lynch and the DOJ in the face of massive corporate lawlessness and violence. And tacit cooperation from his FAA. But he had dinner with Anthony Bourdain on CNN so he must be a cool guy.
Somebody said “I love history, because you never know how the past is going to turn out”.
I think history will see these last 8 years for what they were, Obama reversed the polarity of American politics where far right-wing Republican policies like blanket legal immunity for bankers, illegal pre-crime drone war on civilians, and unlimited domestic spying suddenly became default “Democrat” policies. In doing so he flipped party politics completely on their head, now that people can view the sleazy underbellies of both of the parties the realization is building that *neither* represents anything like peoples’ actual interests and needs and desires.
For this reason Obama is the current front-runner for my coveted Worst_President_Ever Award (and yes I am counting Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson). I voted for McGovern, Carter, Dukakis, Mondale, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and Obama (once) and to end up where we are is completely disorienting. I will vote for Trump, because I think that greasy, lewd, narcissistic blowhard is *still* a notch better than yet another wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s “the powerful odor of mendacity” that gets me, if you’re going to be an anti-labor Wall St puppet war-lover just say so, don’t try and pass off one huge lie after another about who you are and what you are doing.
cause obama is a republican. a moderate one, compared to clinton and perhaps trump.
Depends on what “moderate” means … Obama has droned far more people than Bush+Cheney did. The mess in Yemen, Syria and Ukraine are the work of Obama.
Sure, Hillary will try to embrace and extend Obama’s legacy to really break that glass ceiling and prove to the world that she is not a woman. Everything which to reasonable people seems broken now, Hillary will double down upon – more of the same, only Better, is Hillary’s promise.
Trump, I don’t know. Trump is therefore the safest bet.
Obama going high ……
‘Choom Wagon’ Capo ……..
I think Obamas remarks about Comey qualify as the most interesting news item of the day.
I’m speculating, but wonder if Obama has simply had it with the never ending Clinton scandals and doesn’t want his reputation sullied as he finishes his presidency.
Agreed.
Moreover, since 0bama can’t know whether his own insecure correspondence with Hillary from a private email account is on Weiner’s computer, it’s wise on his part to show some diplomacy toward Comey.
Practically, the FBI has no incentive to implicate a departing president. 0bama’s best hope is that Comey accepts 0bama’s previous claim of executive privilege regarding these indiscreet emails, and 0bama’s embarrassing faux pas quietly disappears.
I’m still calling his email handle “Barry Balboa” until proven otherwise.
Someone said it was DroneMaster 69 but we don’t know yet. That would fit: delusions of mastery, and sexualization. When he meets on “Terror Tuesday” (his term) and exercises the new “droit du seigneur”…(or should we say “doigt du seigneur”, the middle one), “targeting” “military-age males” who happen to be in the wrong place when
GodObama decides it’s their time to die‘Bama’s leavin office, tryin to keep his sooooul’
…….’Talkin ’bout his re-pu-ta-tion !’
‘Just gonna try to reach that 16th hoooole’
…….’Talkin ’bout his re-pu-ta-tion !’
‘FBI’s new leads are in g-g–ges-ta-tion’
…….’Talkin ’bout his re-pu-ta-tion !’
‘Soon to be a clusterfuckin ‘ve-si-ga-tion’
…….’Talkin ’bout his re-pu-ta-tion !’
…….’His reputation !’
…….’His reputation …….. Barrieeeeee’ !
‘Eric & Loretta don’t know what to doooo’
……’Talkin ’bout his/her re-pu-ta-tion !’
‘Comey’s so incensed he’s gonna fling some poooo’
…….’Talkin ’bout his really sucky re-pu-ta-tion !’
‘Mook, Brazile, Huma in very deep dodoooo’
…….’Talkin ’bout their re-‘pu-ta’-tions !’
‘Schemin liberal scumbags reach their Waterloooo’
……’.Talkin ’bout their re-pu-ta-tions !’
……’Their reputations !’
……’Their reputations ……….. big babieees !’
‘Chelsea’s got Doug Band in a giant funk’
……’Talkin ’bout their ma-chi-na-tions !’
‘John Podesta’s got to be the biggest punk’
…..’Talkin ’bout his ma-chi-na-tions !’
‘Hillary’s body’s full of awful g-g-gunk’
……’Talkin ’bout her ‘googel-eyed’ gy-ra-tions !’
‘And Bubba should be watchin where he sticks his j-j-junk’
……’Talkin ’bout his big de-gen-er-a-tions !’
……’Their machinations !’
……’Their machinations …………..Haiti !’
Yes, I think this is about his “legacy.” Remember, Obama is into sports and legacy is a favorite sports-talk topic. In addition, he may know what’s coming and be setting up Hillary’s removal “for the good of the nation.” Also, if she’s elected next week, she’s not yet the president; and the Chief Justice has to administer the oath of office (could Roberts refuse to do so?); and there are two and a half months to arrange her replacement after Nov 9. The Clintons are only powerful and in control of the Dem. Party because Hillary is poised to take the presidency. Without that office, it’s Dick Nixonville for them -and the Clinton Global Initiative…Chelsea might have to get a real job!
The President is a separate branch. The President elect becomes President by merely reciting the words at the appropriate time. The President elect (Vice President or anyone in the line of succession if the need arrives) can choose to not become President, but the Chief Justice has nothing to do with it beyond pomp. Trump doesn’t have to go to Washington.
LBJ was sworn in after JFK’s death… was it at the airport or on a plane? Can’t recall if it was by the then Chief Justice. Interesting point if that is indeed just “pomp”.
A federal judge can swear in the president. Johnson was sworn in on Air Force One by federal judge Sarah Tilghman Hughes. The plane was on the tarmac at Love Field in Dallas.
photo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_T._Hughes#/media/File:LBJ_Swearing-in.jpg
I would think the only requirement would be that the person is authorized to administer oaths. Imho, that could include a notary.
There’s precedent for that.
“While the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the presidential oath of office, it is typically administered by the Chief Justice. There have been several exceptions, however. George Washington was sworn into office during his first inauguration, on April 30, 1789, by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston.[3][4] William Cranch, chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, administered the oath to Millard Fillmore on July 10, 1850, when he became president after the death of Zachary Taylor.[5] Upon being informed of Warren Harding’s death, while visiting his family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., a notary public.[6][7] Most recently, Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States
The legal aspect is understood. I am referring to the legitimacy implications of a thief -I mean chief- justice refusing to participate in the inauguration.
Several hurdles first though…
1. The people have to vote
2. The Electoral College has to vote
3. Congress has to acknolwedge the Electoral College votes
4. And then comes the Inauguration
Anything can happen between now and then…
Roberts will do what the OverClass MoneyLords want him to do. They wanted Obamacare to stay legal, so Roberts found a way to find Obamacare to be Constitutional. If the OverClass tells Roberts that they still consider Clinton to be their preferred Obama 2.0, then Roberts will find a way to administer the Oath of Office to her.
I agree but I also believe that Obama knows that Comey sent his letter to force the DOJ’s hand in issuing the warrant. If Comey had had other means to get a warrant, he probably would not have broken with standard practice. Does that make any sense?
Interesting to literally see where Obama draws the line in the sand. “Sorry, you’re on your own (smug Barry laugh meme).”
Does it mean that the Russians have Comey and Obama working for them?
Who can you trust but Hillary?
Didn’t the Russians give money to the Clinton Foundation? Our entire political establishment has been co-opted by those Mongol Slavs.
Hey, they are mostly christian, god fearing slavs. You could have saudis influencing the election! or others!
Yes let’s not mention Hilary’s #1 campaign contributors, the lovely tyrannical, gay-beheading, women-stoning Saudis.
+1000
But HRC cares about the women and children!
And Trump is a sexist monster!
And are there not a lot of Israel-related “donors” dumping money and stuff on the Hillpile?
Maybe that’s the issue? Putin / Russian kleptocrats refusing to donate to their Charity?
Well, we do know that Bubba cashed a check for $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow. The check was written by a Russkie bank that was involved in the Uranium One deal, which was approved by Madame Secretary’s State Department. I am sure the timing was purely coincidental :)
That one fell under the election radar too. Gotta be some emails about that somewhere – but the rooskie loving FBI will never release ’em!
I’d love to see Clinton et al. jump the shark and start claiming Obama is a Russian stooge. Great entertainment right there.
He did let The Putin have his way with poor Ukraine, after everything that SoS-in-waiting Nuland did to bring freedumb, democracy, and our man Yats in power. So that’s proof #1 that 0bamov is a Russian stooge. Then there is Syria, where he let The Putin bomb the living daylights of our freedumb and democracy loving Al Qaeda proxies. Finally, he has let The Putin abuse the Pussy Riot, which proves that 0bamov and Trumpov are both Russian stooges and pussy abusers.
‘0bamov’ — named for Oblomov, wasn’t he?
Thank you, 0bamov!
Brilliant novel, BTW, and hilarious at times. Oblomov has a rather hapless manservant who adds to the comedy. Highly recommended!
Oh, yes. A very interesting character, I remember that…guy never, or so it seemed, left his bed.
actually oblomov did do something: he inspired the russisn word oblomovschina, which basically means to spend the day on the couch daydreaming.
it is 1 of my favorite words in any language.
I love this place.
You’re not the Hana M from Flagstaff, are you?
(small world if you are!)
Josh Earnest? A press secretary?
Am I dreaming? In a coma? Is this the real world or a parody? Or did he simply change his name to match his job?
What’s with these weird names?
I’m guessing that a goodly number if us, myself high on the list, woke up one day and said “What the hell were you two thinking of?” to our parents. Or maybe just held the thought deep inside for a long, long time.
Yes, the name fits the man and his job – in exactly the same way that acts of Congress are always named to precisely and honestly describe what they will do once signed into law.
What about Responsibility to Protectniks Ann-Marie Slaughter and Samantha Power? Dickens couldn’t have done better.
Yah, separation of powers at work (and play)…
Obama is saying that to protect his Administration’s investment in Comey’s prior scot-free lettoff awarded to Clinton for the server itself. Of course Comey is of good character. Why, if his character were bad, his scot-free lettoff to Mrs. Clinton for the server might also be bad . . . . hmmm . . . mustn’t go there.
The North Carolina Secretary of State has nothing to do with elections. Elections are run by the State Board of Elections and by county boards, both of which are appointed by the parties with the majority going to the incumbent Governor’s party.
Nor in Wisconsin. I laughed out loud (in a friendly way) at this:
If Trump wins Wisconsin (and Scott Walker and the Republican Attorney General can get past the Democrat Secretary of State in case of any irregularities)
In addition to orchestrating the removal of virtually all of the SoS’s official duties, Walker dumped our long-term SoS out of his luxurious 4000 sf office into a 600 sf closet in the basement of the state capital.
Re Facebook Free Basics.
They tried it in India with one of the lesser telecoms and basically got told to knock it off.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/8/10913398/free-basics-india-regulator-ruling
Modi may have neoliberal tendancies but the Indian bureaucracy still has enough scruples to face down the likes of Silicon Valley. After Zuck spent millions lobbying.
Long version from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/facebook-free-basics-india-zuckerberg
Modi’s willingness to champion the cause of any major private business is frightening, especially given the love-fest that India’s professionals have with Silicon Valley ‘innovation’.
Zuck’s big plan was so repugnant to the locals that they got laws passed to prevent his flavor of carpetbagging in the future. It’s one thing to be 100% tone deaf to your market and what they want, it’s another to ride in on a wave of exceptionalist American hubris so gargantuan that they immediately change the law of the land to stop you.
It’s not difficult to see how Zuckerberg/Facebooks’ modern-day colonialist approach (and Marc Andreessens ignorant support….) has met with a backlash in India. You can’t sit atop a plastic stool looking down at locals seated on a dirt floor all the while imposing your own censored version of the internet.
The failure of Zuckerberg and Andreessen to not only grasp, but accept and respect the essential fact that people in India (or anywhere else for that matter….inlcuding their fellow American citizens) may actually behave and think differently from them is to their detriment. People are not consistently alike across the world because we are all formed by different sets of experiences which do not necessarily correlate with one another. This partially explains why India is so determined to (rightfully so IMHO) maintain net neutrality.
Along similar lines, there is a great piece in the FT today about multinationals ignoring a certain segment of India at their peril: https://www.ft.com/content/2fa73b2a-9a00-11e6-8f9b-70e3cabccfae
Emma,
One could almost compare Zuckerman’s plan to sitting atop a plastic stool looking down at locals seated on a dirt floor all the while offering them a foam rubber stool that looks just like your plastic one.
YES!!! Why is this still missing?? Also they were supposed to implement the @ and # tags and links as not counting towards character limit but that never happened.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 31 Neutral (previous close: 34, Fear)
I believe the 31 gets a “fear” unless fear is the new neutral, which it very well might be.
Great piece as always by Amy Sterling Casil on the Clinton Foundation Poverty-and-AIDS-Profiteers,
with good links. Here, the Clintons’ disgraceful work in Colombia:
“They are doing nothing for workers,” one Colombian union official told us, with disgust. “I don’t even know what they are doing in this country other than exploiting poverty and extracting money.”
http://fusion.net/story/357169/hillary-clinton-foundation-victims-colombia/
Great link; thank you.
thanks! i need to do a lot of homework to keep up with the email and clinton foundation scandals.
Yeah, I wonder how many countries the Clintons groped.
India’s wholesale rejection of Free Basics, amidst its elite’s and upper class’s near-hypnotic admiration of Silicon Valley, should have signaled its worthlessness as a putative public good. Zuckerberg had anointed himself (and the West) with the moral obligation to connect India’s poor millions, but presented a second-rate product – backed by State power – that would only serve to massively increase Facebook’s customer base while restricting cheap, better alternatives. Sound familiar?
In a brilliant Freudian slip, FB board member Marc Andreesen even equated this rejection to India’s stupid anti-colonialism that had been “economically harmful for decades”.
Wouldn’t it be great if all of a sudden Kasich and the VP both held press conferences saying they are ending affiliation with their parties effective immediately and if you write them in as candidates they will accept the voters will as president of the USA. Heheheh
Two more bad choices, it would be stupendous! It should be interesting watching the House struggle to name someone not on any ballot President of the US after the vote is so split there is no electoral college victor. If by interesting you mean nightmarish.
Speaker Ryan: Alright, that is another 435 way tie. Look, we can’t all vote for ourselves.
Speaker Ryan “Oh look, a 436th vote from God, voting for me. So, thats two votes for me and one vote for everyone else. Any objections?”
That is completely illegal.
Don’t worry, FB assures us it’s just so advertisers can do A/B testing on different “market segments.” Nothing to see here, I’m sure it’s all totally innocent. [/sarc]
Don’t worry about Facebook, it’s old tech. The voting machines can do racial scaling and selection of votes also. This feature and many others which can help the enterprising candidate ensuring the proper outcome of elections is baked right into the “GEMS” system, which controls (rather than “count”, I think) about 25 % of the votes.
http://blackboxvoting.org/ -> http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-2/
I figure the reason Trump is right so often is that *everything*, *everywhere* is so insane that no matter what crazy bullshit he spouts out, it will indeed be the correct state of affairs for something, sometime, somewhere and the internet will ferret it out.
PS:
Software developers doing the similar tasks to voting machine programming, but for fun:
http://www.underhanded-c.org/
Just in time for Halloween: Obamacare’s Open Enrollment Season Is a Healthcare Horror Show. Pretty good discussion on my favorite 0bamacare crapification success story, the shrinking provider networks.
Thanks, 0bama!
Obamacare is selling the wrong product.
What one needs to do is shop for the Doctors one wants, and then get a price for the Insurance.
Or have a National Health Service like the UK, with the corresponding cost of Student Loans before Tory Blair got his mean little hands on the instruments of power, that is: 0.
If any of you HMOs TOUCH ME … I’ll kill ya.
Polling data are distraction, except that they enable the IT staff/consultants/contractors behind the scenes to use Fraction Magic to control results in ways that they will appear perfectly credible. (If a close result is desired, then that’s what will be served up, for the races for which vote altering will occur.*)
The Detail Version of the Fraction Magic video has just come out. It will appeal to anyone with any interest in elections or democracy or reality.
All hope is not lost–there are things people can do to expose and pre-empt in their local areas. This is near the end of the video. The video says Whodunnit.
*For example, in Shelby County TN when actual voting files were examined it was clear that the races being tampered with were those for judges and prosecutor. In those places, an approx. 98% black Democratic population kept electing white Republic judges & prosecutors. It turns out the databases showed that those races–not others–had been altered. Black candidates saw their cumulative vote totals drop midstream during vote count reporting. Some asked Bennie Smith for help. When he started finding dodgy things he contacted Bev Harris and they joined forces to get the evidence revealed in the “Fraction Magic” reports & videos.
And before or after watching the video, one should have a look at the 6 Fraction Magic Reports at http://www.blackboxvoting.org
They go into the detail step by step. It’s important to have a look at the Reports to fully appreciate what the videos demonstrate.
This is not simple vote-flipping. It is highly precise and can be used in multiple places, in whatever specific races you want. It was put in place deliberately in an unapproved software change starting in 2001. Some of the history is in a short talk Bev Harris gave a few months ago.
For those who believe in unlucky numbers, such as 7.
Correlation is NOT causation.
and
It is unlucky to be superstitious.
Not at all:
Projection and Propaganda, aka Pretension and False Promises.
Huma is demoted to ‘she who cannot be named’:
By tomorrow, it’ll be “a disgruntled former staffer.”
Standard Clinton procedure: when subordinates no longer serve the interests of the permanent campaign, toss ’em out like a used Dixie cup. Then slander them till they slink away.
It never occurs to the allegedly brilliant attorney Hillary that this subordinate could be testifying against her one day.
Or maybe that eventuality is already ‘taken care of’ …
Like Darth Vader, she reaches out her hand and does a force-choke on Abadine. “You have failed me for the last time!”
I find your failure to cover my backside……disturbing ***FORCE CHOKE***
abedin could play the scooter libby role. or at least be designated to play the scooter libby role. the fbi may want something in exchange for immunity, this time.
A friend passed this along; NB it is from a “blind gossip” site so who knows how true it is:
Blind Gossip: The Business Arrangement
Given how politically ambitious each of the three is, this does have a certain plausibility…
“one of my staffers”
This is the woman whom HRC has spent most of her waking hours with for the past decade, the woman whose marriage was officiated by WJC, and whose fidelity to and consequent influence over HRC was rewarded with an unprecedented position-type at the Department of State, and has been enviously noted by even the most inside of Clinton insiders.
Huma, it seems, is about to be betrayed again. This time it will actually hurt. I don’t know that much about her, but she strikes me as possibly a legitimately tragic figure in all this.
In the documentary Wiener, she comes across as as a sympathetic but weirdly passive character.
Regardless of what she might have done, I feel sorry for her, and her child.
I do too, Allan, but then I remember she is complicit in the Clinton’s plan to sell US policy among other nefarious activities. I’m going to watch Wiener, someone mentioned the other day in NC comments that their marriage seemed legitimate in the documentary and she maybe a sympathetic figure.
I hope she cuts a deal to keep her child and avoid prison by testifying against Hillary. I would think she must know enough to potentially bring the entire house of cards down.
Keep in mind also that it apparently was Huma’s idea in the first place to fire up an independent email server. She wouldn’t suggest such a thing without being absolutely corrupt herself.
To avoid FOIA requests and setch.
I guess referring to Huma as Ms Weiner wouldn’t sound good.
Heck of a biography on Greenspan to come out right before the election. Wild allegation: Greenspan was instrumental in causing the crazy inflation of the 1970s.
I thought it was pretty clear that was Hitler’s fault…. Indirectly anyways by creating Israel the Yom Kipper war and the OPEC Oil shocks.
I always thought it was Hitler, LBJ(Vietnam) and Arthur Burns?
I thought stagflation was Hitlers fault. Via Israel and OPEC.
I guess Greenspan may have been the straw for the proverbial camel though.
Could we focus on the REAL FBI/email issue???
In one month, an obscure procedural rule tweak will come into effect allowing US cops and federal agents to hack any computer in the world using a single warrant issued anywhere in America.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/31/congress_to_act_before_fbi_global_hacking_license/
megamike, it is interesting to consider how much Comey (or the subordinates he represents) might want that sort of jurisdiction, and how the going price seems to follow the breeze. I think B1whois (no me diga “not smart”; ¡está familia aqui, señor/a!) has the right idea.
Can I just comment that this is a really inefficient way to run a society, where EVERYTHING the overlords are doing is against the rights and interests of the people, and individual citizens must take it upon themselves one by one to discover, understand, and gin up opposition to keep from being completely railroaded and oppressed.
Why it’s enough to make you want to invent a new form of government. Let’s call it: representative democracy. We can even have a document that delineates the rights of the citizen, you could call the document The Magna Carta…or maybe The Rights of Man…or maybe The Constitution.
Crank up the coal-fired mainframe and load the punch cards in the hopper, boys:
“I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain!”
Keep hope alive. Oh never mind, no need to wait for Lynch to deny them subpoenas, sworn witnesses or a grand jury….. looks like Podesta’s friend Kadzik is the one in charge of the FBI investigation.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-31/doj-tells-congress-it-will-work-expeditiously-review-abedin-emails-there-just-one-pr
Yes… also Lynch has expedited matters.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/justice-fbi-clinton-emails-230549
Still curious though how this ‘solves’ anything about an FBI in near revolt…
how other prosecutors don’t see through this immediately as well…
why Kallstrom would be so easily fooled when he says ‘something big is gonna happen.’
Wouldn’t he, as former Deputy Director, not be just as skeptical of another ho-hum FBI/DOJ ‘investigation’?
‘What could cause problems… is if the F.B.I. finds evidence that anyone tried to conceal these new emails from investigators.’
?! Obviously it’s not a problem for the NYT if anyone has classified information in places it’s not supposed to be. Let’s hope their editors remember this the next time Obama purges another general from the ranks for doing the exact same thing.
Not sure how trustworthy TruePundit is, though Wikileaks’ Twitter account has linked to them in the past, but on 9/26 they stated:
http://truepundit.com/exclusive-fbi-used-agents-as-pawns-to-insulate-hillary-aides-clinton-foundation-from-prosecutions/
So, Comey knew these were there all along… what exactly is actually going on again…?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavMUowecnU
If that other response ever gets out of moderation, does anyone also know what happened to Emmet Sullivan when he read that Clinton deposition in which she/her lawyers stated she plain didn’t remember anything about her time at State or the server she had set up in her home? Assuming he didn’t go full-on apoplectic?
So CNN gave the boot to Donna Brazile, because she revealed debate questions to Hillary during the Democrat Party primary. Will the DNC do the same?
Is “uncomfortable interaction” the journalistic equivalent of “extremely careless”?
Extra Credit: How and why did Brazile get the questions? (Hat Tip, @JordanChariton on Twitter)
Extra: Clinton Now Most Reviled Presidential Candidate in History
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/clintons-unfavorable-rating-hits-new-high-in-poll-trump-targets-democratic-states-in-final-sprint-2016-10-31?siteid=rss&rss=1
One doubts this achievement will make it into her stump speech. Most widely reviled woman candidate, though, now there’s something for the base…
Everybody’s got to be good at something.
Excerpts from a WSJ analysis of Arizona’s 0bamacare meltdown:
Nice mess. Thank you, 0bama!
Obama pivots, when evil is not sufficient he pivots to *rank stupidity*: Had no one in his genius swat team who designed the ACA mentioned the term “adverse selection”?
Maybe for a change he could become George Costanza, just do the opposite, when “evil” wins the day, pivot over to “rank stupidity” and vice versa.
So on Terror Tuesday when he picks out pre-crime drone murder targets he could pivot from “evil” over to “stupid” and just send a drone to blow up a garbage dump in Angola or something…
So if the FBI or Justice Dept is investigating a candidate and don’t inform the public, people cry foul and if they do inform the public, people cry foul.
I think they should always let the public know.
It’s the media talking heads and syncophants that do more to cloud the facts of an investigation more so than the investigation itself.
Dog not barking is as important as dog barking.
What is not said vs. what is said.
Not coming out is interfering
Coming is interfering as well.
It’s almost Zen like.
But here, we are also talking about Judo, but not Sushi.
Judo – redirect the attack back at the attacker. Thus, Comey.
“Brave. This will get you your black belt. What, you’re already one?”
Say “accountability” in the Beltway and watch all the roaches scramble…like a light coming on.
Does anyone have detail on what WLs was promoting with their Stage 3? Stage 1 was DNCleak. Stage 2 was Podesta. Twitterverse was all aflutter with ‘here it comes!omgomg! I noticed another Podesta release for today. I don’t get their marketing attempts.
I don’t know, but it is somewhat ominous that today, Oct 31, was the “deadline” of the offer announced to Assange by the fake Todd and Claire dating site. Was that scam really not a scam but a threat? Why today as the deadline, given that part 3 of Wikileaks coverage is supposed to drop a few days hence…. What is afoot in the Deep State and how aware of it is Assange?
It really seemed like a threat to me, what with the implication they (the person writing the emails) had been inside in Assange’s lawyer’s home and knew where the lawyer’s son would be at a given time. That “todd and claire dating site thing” is bizarre-o world horse-head kinda stuff, imho.
I agree. The scam was so patently obvious that it was either perpetrated by crazies or by people who were after something else. The one fact leading in the latter direction is precisely the detailed proof of surveillance you note. That proof, together with the tone of the emails, make me believe that they were intended to be read as a threat. Now what is interesting to note is that Assange, in making the “scam” public, did not so far as I am aware draw attention to the darker rhetoric of the emails themselves. I think this is curious, because I assume that Assange is at least as suspicious a reader as I am, and to me the threat component is clear as day, once you start paying attention to the details of the emails themselves. So what is really going on here? What is the game being played by both parties? It seems almost as though there is an entire allegory to be deciphered in those emails, but I have no idea what it is, or why Assange would draw attention to the scam but not to the threat veiled by it. The whole thing is very strange, much like the “cat burgular” who was caught breaking into the embassy in July. That figure was almost certainly either a British MI-6, or Israeli Mossad, or US CIA/Delta Force operative. But was the plan to actually kill Assange then or only to scare him, letting him know he could be killed even in the embassy if it came to that. Likewise, it strikes me that the threat within the scam emails won’t be carried out, since the political fallout would outweigh the benefits at the moment. But is the aim then merely psyops–to distract and harass Assange in bizarre and unpredictable ways in the hope of crushing his sanity? Perhaps the ruination of his psychological health is the mid-term endgame after all.
Friday:
Monday:
You don’t need a weatherman. To know which way the wind blows.
somebody that showed her how to use a fax machine, once. she can’t remember the name, give her a minute.
Ha ha! Brilliant, pretzelattack!
“…look out kid,
it’s something you did,
God knows when but,
you’re doing it again,
you better duck down the ally way
looking for a new friend,
the man in the coonskin cap in the pig pen
wants 11 dollar bills
and you only got 10.”
Bob Dylan. Subterranean Homesick Blues
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads headin’ south
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot, HRC
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe
http://bobdylan.com/songs/idiot-wind/
It’s billed as misogynists versus the anti-misogynists.
Who ever wins will be disliked by at least 60 percent of the voters. After all these years I finally get to vote with the majority. It’s been a long time coming.
Well, this doesn’t look good. Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik today advised the Senate and House that the Department of Justice will be working expeditiously to get to the bottom of the newly discovered emails. The problem is, Peter Kadzik is a old friend of John Podesta’s — even represented him during the Monica Lewinsky affair. Kadzik’s son emailed Podesta for a job with the Clinton campaign last year, and Podesta and Peter Kadzik were having dinner together as recently as October 2015.
Kadzik doesn’t appear to be in the chain of command with regard to the new investigation itself — but what’s he doing anywhere near this matter? Does the DOJ really not understand they already have a serious “optics” problem with regard to the Clintons? Or they just don’t care? It’s already been reported by the Wall Street Journal that the DOJ obstructed an investigation of the Clinton Foundation earlier this year.
I hate to link to Zero Hedge but (as so often) they’re the only ones I see covering this so far.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-31/doj-tells-congress-it-will-work-expeditiously-review-abedin-emails-there-just-one-pr
Former Democratic pollster:
In your heart, you know he’s right. ;-)
Will it be Morning in America again?
“We are not with her.”
https://twitter.com/hashtag/notwithher
It is safe to say that no matter who wins, our long national nightmare will be far from over.
and the Fed will play cut throat with whats left of our economy…we won’t feel a thing till the damage is done
In your heart, you know she might.
In 1941, most of my Belorussian relatives stayed put. They could not conceive (even imagine) that the Nazis would soon round them ALL up and annihilate them. In the meantime, they discussed the political situation, trying to understand their situation, logically.
When most people think of genocide, they think of Dachau (pits full of corpses), the Einsatzgruppen and gas chambers.
Genocide has been committed in many other “inventive” ways over the years.
“1904-1907. In total, between 24,000 and 100,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama died. The first phase of the genocide was characterized by widespread death from starvation and dehydration due to the prevention of the retreating Herero from leaving the Namib Desert by German forces”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_genocide
The Holodomor was a man made famine in the Soviet Ukraine 1932-1933. It is estimated that 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 died.
Stalin increased the taxes of the peasants to 100% ie, everything that they owned. They (Soviet Activists brought in from the cities) even confiscated the seed grain! Lev Kapelev (he was a participant) describes this in “The Education of a True Believer”. The Soviet Army surrounded the Ukraine and refused to let any of the starving peasants leave to find food. (The Ukraine was the breadbasket of Europe)
The Holodomor (1932-1933 famine) was explained as Economic necessity by Soviet Economists. The peasant economy had to be “rationalized”. The irredeemable and deplorable kulaks and middle peasants of the Ukraine had to be liquidated (murdered).
I live in NZ. I read, here on NC, about ObamaCare. I can make no sense at all from what read?! How can this possibly be a way of protecting peoples health, if it is incomprehensible, expensive, and with out of control cost increases? For instance, insulin price increases of 400%, Epipen prices of $600, Cancer treatments that cost $10,000 a week?
We are all going to get sick at some point in our lives. Something like 30% of people get Cancer eventually…..heart disease, dementia……
So
This brings me back to GENOCIDE. What if ObamaCare and the price protection enjoyed by Big Pharma is a way of killing off the American Kulaks and middle peasants (the Deplorables)? The MSM will deny (just as they did for Stalin in 1933).
Then, the entire racket, finally, makes (sociopathic) sense. IMO
“The Living” (Zhyvi)
a documentary by Sergey Bukovsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lDp9AMACys
“This film based on testimonies of Ukrainians, who survived during the Great Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) of 1932 – 33. It also tells the story of British journalist Gareth Jones, whose truthful reports about Ukrainian tragedy was never heard in the West“
Thank you for your comment. Do not forget the Armenians and the Turks.
” It is estimated that 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 died.”
Incorrect. The new estimates are 2.4 to 7.5 million. Still significant but slightly not as high as those old estimates youre citing.
Getting rid of pigeons. Any advice? I have neighbors (otherwise really good neighbors) that have taken to feeding pigeons. It started with a handful of seed and a dozen birds. They now stick out a couple cups of food 2-3 times a day and while the pigeons eat there, they roost on the lines over here. There are a minimum of 100 and I have been hit getting in and out of the house and they are dropping weed seeds (ivy, shrubs) along with the other seeds. I have a hose handy but the jet can’t quite reach the top of the telephone poll.
Here’s an article from 2006 that tells how pigeons can be controlled in a city. The key elements are building dove cotes for them to nest in, then stealing the eggs. This is combined with a public education program to discourage the would be feeders by raising awareness of the hazards brought by too many pigeons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/magazine/15pigeons.html?ex=1161835200&en=872acd0da942c424&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Hummingbird feeders sound cool. Maybe educate them on their choice of birds to feed? Assuming you have Hummingbirds there.
Advice:
1) Find out if your community has a pest law. If they do (very likely), have a friendly chat with your neighbors–explaining that you’d hate to have to invoke the pest law but the pigeons are really causing problems for you.
2) A nice peregrine falcon in the neighborhood would be ideal, but they tend to like really tall buildings. However, if you have Cooper’s Hawks in the vicinity, they are known to raid bird feeders. You could try attracting alternative species in the hope of luring a Cooper’s Hawk to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
3) Pigeons, sparrows and starlings are not protected. You can kill them with impunity. Not sure if you want to do that, but it is your home and your peace of mind.
There’s lots of things you can get to feed them. Had bold squirrels that actually came into the house, lowes had something they like, problem solved.
Just get yourself a couple of peregrine falcons and watch out for the falling debris. Probably not legal, or safe, but in any case the way that several downtowns including Chicago have handled the problem
I see grayslady has already covered this. Anything you can do (viz her point 2) to attract raptors to nest in the vicinity is worth trying. They quickly decimate the pigeons, who are pretty easy prey compared to songbirds and rodents.
Your only solution is to have a friendly discussion with your neighbor by inviting them over and showing them the pigeon mess you are putting up with. If they are good neighbors, they will understand and do the right thing and stop feeding. As far as asking the pigeons to leave. they won’t as long as food is around and the number will increase. The next step is to visit city hall and ask for help. Good neighbors or not, you do not deserve this situation.
Had identical problem a few years back. Neighbor’s pigeons were roosting on branches over my entry sidewalk. Health & safety hazard. Pigeon poop collects rapidly and is very slippery! Had to hose down sidewalk several times a day. I politely pointed out the problem to neighbor, suggesting that he feed on opposite side of his yard which abutted a vacant lot, also with trees for roosting, as win-win solution. Neighbor became huffy about his right to feed wildlife.
So a few days later, friend and I cooked up this scenario: She arrived for an “unexpected” visit while neighbor was outside, exited her car, exclaiming loudly about poop covered walk, demanding to know why the way in to my house was so unfriendly. I answered just as loudly, “Sorry, haven’t had a chance to wash off the walk this morning. My neighbor feeds the pigeons. They roost in my trees. Tread carefully; don’t fall and break a leg.” To which she huffed angrily, casting a furious look in his direction, “Well, if I do, I’ll know who to sue!”
Problem solved. Next day neighbor started feeding on vacant lot side of his property. So, short answer, invite over a friend who can arrive in a timely manner and is also a good actor!
Thanks for the responses.
1. I know and like my neighbors. We have babysat each others dogs, trade apple juice, herbs, plums for peaches and figs, even trade baked goods around solstice.
2. Have talked with them. I expressed that the birds feed in their yard, poop (mess, weed seeds, carry disease) in mine and that there are now so many I have been hit getting in and out of my house. They are now dumping multiple cup fulls on their driveway in response to my chasing them off. ha.
3. Can’t kill them. I was wondering about the items that screech, flash lights but …
4. Single story homes so it will be a challenge getting the item in range nor does the neighborhood attract birds of prey.
5. Talked to animal control and they said it would be difficult to go after them under the pigeon keeping regulations as they aren’t keeping the waste on their property.
Walden, do not spray water at the power pole, you might be shocked by what happens.
I’ve heard distressed bird call recordings work. They use them at some Home Despots to scare birds away. It might bother your neighbors though…grin…
Trump is Trump. His policy positions continue to clarify and get better. We know all about his persona, there are no surprises.
Every day continues to amaze with new Hillary scandals.
It’s like a slow mudslide.
I see why the DNC wants people to vote as early as possible, lest some new thing come down the pike.
I read somewhere that the critical swing states do not allow early voting. This is bad for her.
All eyes on the stock market.
What are those money people thinking now?
“Get me a bigger Potemkin Village!!!”
“My dear leader, that’s Russian.”
“OK, cancel that. Order another Holodeck then.”
The only swing states without early voting are PA and NH. NC has so much early voting (possibly 25% already voted) that it might be already out of grasp for Trump.
Voted early in AZ. For Jill, not Hill.
Donna Brazile, Chopped Liver:
NYT: CNN Drops [“]Analyst[“] as Hacks Show She Leaked Questions
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/donna-brazile-wikileaks-cnn.html
CNN Parts Ways With Donna Brazile, a Hillary Clinton [“]Supporter[“]
Um, what happened to DNC Chair?
We need to redo at least one debate.
Or maybe it’s like Force Ten From Navarone – you let the explosion do its work.
The Democrats are more scared of 3rd parties than they are scared of Trump.
The Republicans may not be as attached to their party establishment (we will soon see) and even if you do not agree with their views, that part is the healthy part of democracy or a representative republic.
Remember those southeastern US gas shortages in September? Colonial pipeline problem?
Well, it just blew up again:
As a wise web commenter observed:
Speaking of foreign ties, here comes Operation Watch am Rhine, courtesy of NBCNews: FBI making inquiry into ex-Trump campaign manager’s foreign ties.
I suspect the Leader’s offensive will not work, as it will eventually run out of fuel.
How long before the FAA closes the airspace over the site?
the guardian’s 6 top articles under headlines all concern the emails. of course with a pro clinton bias, but normally there would be 6 articles ridiculing trump, or 5 plus one actual news article.
Ol’ Jim, comrades: he’s back on the skunk weed. No, not me. Carville:
“It’s the KGB, stupid.“
I have been corrected more times than I can admit without shaming myself – the KGB is no more.
MyLessThanPrimeBeef,
“…the KGB is no more.”
Well, in a manner of speaking it is no more. There’s the FSB now, and I’d have a hard time telling them apart.
That’s what they want you to think! James Carville knows better. He can see Russia from his basement!
Personally I never did like the sativa paranoia, so I am mostly an indica man. Jimmy seems to be a sativa man, but who am I to judge anyone’s taste in cannabis?
The FBI is in league with Russia? I never thought I would see that one. Do these people realize just how unhinged they’re acting?
Russia hacks Hillary’s emails. The FBI hacks Hillary’s e-mails. Dontcha see? There on the same side!
thought you might get a twist outa this headline:
“I Feel Like Pablo Escobar” – Venezuelans Resort To Weighing Cash As Hyperinflation Builds
Where is all this vitriol when the Republicans actually rig elections?
Mary would have exiled him to the guest bedroom.
Yuuuge bombshell!!! FBI’s James Comey Opposed Naming Russia As An Election Meddler, Source Confirms.
That’s the same intelligence community that fixed intelligence to justify the Iraq war. Moreover, “confident” is not the same as having proof, is it? Be that as it may, let the smear of Comey as a Russian stooge proceed, no holds barred. Funny how he went from hero to goat in such a short time. The Clintonite hysteria is making the schadenfreude even more enjoyable.
Yeah, Carville lost it on pmsnbc today, actually accusing the daytime host of siding with trump and the republicans. Pretty rich, the Dem responses have been.
Standing Rock pipeline protest was absent from Facebook Trends
Standing Rock: Dallas Goldtooth on Suspicious Fire Near Resistance Camp & Repression of Movement
Supporters of Standing Rock Sioux protesters to gather in Philadelphia
ok, i kinda need link(s) so i can choose if i want it on my machine…Thanks DC
Hover mouse over it and the alt script tells you.
Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street Fundraising Benefited From Loophole In Federal Anti-Corruption Rule
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clintons-wall-street-fundraising-benefited-loophole-federal-anti?utm_content=bufferf51f8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
see that question mark in your link ? …well leave the mark and everything after it out…thanks UserFriendly bahahahahaaaaa
Judge to OK deal over NYPD surveillance if changes made [AP]
Courtesy, Professionalism, Recidivism.
NOAA…Temperatures may be high enough through November 10 to threaten not only daily records, but even monthly records too, with highs running 10 to 20-plus degrees Fahrenheit above average from the end of October into the beginning of November in cities including Minneapolis, Omaha, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver and Oklahoma City.
i’m burning up here/Atl…all the leaves are brown and i notice tempers are shorter or maybe its just me heheee
heard that. also have a friend in colorado who said the daytime highs have been in the 70’s and 80’s.
“We have warned throughout the campaign that Black Swan risks are extraordinarily high, and hence have been less bullish for a Clinton victory than consensus. These developments do constitute an “October Surprise” that could have a meaningful impact on the race. We emphasize the potential for more Black Swan events emerging making things more complicated for forecasters and pollsters” – Citi
Citi IS a black swan…
John Podesta’s Best Friend At The DOJ Will Be In Charge Of The DOJ’s Probe Into Huma Abedin Emails
In the letter to Congress, the DOJ writes that it “will continue to work closely with the FBI and together, dedicate all necessary resources and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible,” assistant attorney General Peter J. Kadzik writes in letters to House and Senate lawmakers.
Perfect.
I saw that too. They’re pulling out all stops.
we need just one more black swan and they’ll be streeeeetched…cause this one had to take bank
It’s one big, happy, incestuous DC family!
‘incestuous’…like the banks? ain’t capitalism grand??
i remember eons ago a frail little history teacher suggested that capitalism was a great way to start a country. i had little knowledge of what she spoke at the time, but today i’d love to go back, raise my feeble hand, and ask ‘but how do you stop it?’
it do seem to form a lowly hierarchy of human…
While the KKK might have been a “giant lucrative pyramid scheme,” making its members pay a single supplier for their sheets, and also the Brownshirts, we pivot to today’s DNC which has “Pay to Play” as its guiding principle. It seems, all big authoritarian organizations think alike. And what’s to say that yesteryears KKK is not now ‘K Street?’
K-street Kaptains of Kommerce.
How may we service [sic] you today?
Or, more up your line of interests, the Widow Kirchners Kapitalist Konundrum.
The poor woman’s d—-d if she does, and d—-d if she does not. I believe that Comrade Jim has suggested that Argentina’s finances were run in a manner similar to how a pyramid scheme works.
I might give everyone the benefit of the doubt and use her as an example of why it is poor judgement to let the spouses of former heads of state gain public office. Mao’s latter wife and the “Gang of Four” also fit the bill.
Bezzle: How a Smooth Talker Convinced Bankers to Invest $32 Million, Then Vanished
Hat tip to https://webb-site.com/dbpub/artlinks.asp?s=11897