Links 10/30/16

Climate change could flip Mediterranean lands to desert Nature

West Antarctica Begins to Destabilize With ‘Intense Unbalanced Melting’ Bloomberg

Security Firm Running Dakota Access Pipeline Intelligence Has Ties to U.S. Military Work in Iraq and Afghanistan DeSmogBlog

Why Dakota Is the New Keystone Bill McKibben, NYT

How a Pillar of German Banking Lost Its Way Der Spiegel (JO).

Evaluating Germany’s Success in Regulating High-Frequency Trading RegBlog

Canada and EU reach finishing line over trade deal FT

Iceland Election Updates: Pirate Party Gains Seats But Not Enough To Form Government Reuters

It’s Good to Be a Big Corporation Again Bloomberg. Let’s play concentration!

Exclusive: EpiPen price hikes add millions to Pentagon costs Reuters (EM).

Even Math Teachers Are at a Loss to Understand Annuities NYT (Re Silc). Sounds like a phishing equilibrium.

ProtonMail strikes out at Google for crippling encrypted email service searches ZD Net

Is Foreign Direct Investment Mostly Portfolio Flows in Disguise? Conversable Economist

How will self-driving cars make life or death decisions? World Economic Forum. Davos Man weighs in.

Comma.ai drops self-driving device after warning from U.S. regulators Reuters. “Comma.ai is one of more than 50 startups working on automating such human driving tasks as steering and braking.” Well, public relations does contribute to GDP…

Nice hazard detection sensors, nerd: Why humans should bully driverless cars ABC Australia

Syraqistan

Turkey sacks 10,000 more civil servants, shuts more media in post-coup crackdown Reuters

U.S. State orders family of employees in Istanbul to leave country Reuters

China?

China confers more power but not greatness on Xi Jinping FT

Can China Finally Solve Its Corruption Problem? The Diplomat

Rodrigo Duterte’s China Overtures Appear to Bear Fruit in South China Sea WSJ

South Korean Protesters Call for President Park Geun-hye to Step Down WSJ

India offers to buy 200 foreign combat jets, if they’re Made-in-India FInancial Express (J-LS).

War Drums

Trump’s Foreign Policy Is Sane While Clinton’s Is Belligerent Moon of Alabama

Senate approves women registering for the draft CNN

America’s gift to the world: exports of the best armed drones Fabius Maximus

In Defense of Politics, Now More Than Ever NYT (DK).

2016

Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside Chicago Tribune. A bill of particulars, and not a bad one.

A Scandal Too Far? Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton, and a Test of Loyalty NYT

Five takeaways from Hillary Clinton’s bad Friday Politico

Democrats declare open season on Jim Comey Politico. Keeping the spotlight on Clinton…

Clinton campaign blames Putin. 10, 9, 8 counting, 7…

Such a shame what happened to HoHo. What’s he angling for? Secretary of Epistemic Closure?

Clinton’s Attacking Strategy to Blunt Comey Damage Has Risks Bloomberg

Within 24 hours of being blindsided by Comey’s revelation to Congress that the FBI had come across new e-mails he believed could be pertinent to the Clinton probe, Clinton’s campaign sent a memo to dozens [!] of its surrogates. It detailed talking points and suggested wording for casting doubt on Comey’s decision and Republicans’ spin, and spreading the idea that the e-mails may simply be duplicates of those already reviewed or have nothing to do with the nominee.

Couldn’t we just get a copy of the memo and a list of the surrogates? Then we could skip reading the surrogates.

James Comey’s Letter and the Problem of Leaks The New Yorker. Staff insurrection, as Yves said.

Election Update: Four Ways Forward For Clinton After The FBI News FiveThirtyEight. “[0]ne way the campaign could end is with a whole crescendo of major stories dropping. That could make things complicated for pollsters and forecasters.” Release the dumpsters!

Clinton enjoys solid lead in early voting: Reuters/Ipsos poll Reuters. And now you know why the Clinton campaign — and those portions of the press that are operationally integrated with it — are pushing early voting. Why, it’s almost like they think there’s a “surprise” out there that might change people’s minds….

If Clinton Campaign Believes WikiLeaks Emails Are Forged, Why Don’t They Prove It? The Intercept

Argument: The DNC Hack Attribution Was A Response to Brick and Mortar Events EmptyWheel. From earlier this month, but well worth a read.

Los Trumpistas: Trump’s Latino Supporters Lens Culture (Isolato).

Trump boasts about his philanthropy. But his giving falls short of his words. WaPo

We Need to Talk about Donald Sherry Turkle, LRB

3 things Donald Trump gets very right WaPo

Final Days New York Magazine (DK). A rather sympathetic piece, believe it or not (as the Trump campaign enters the “operatives looking for work” stage).

Here’s what I’ll do the day after the election Bernie Sanders, Boston Globe

Change to Voting Rights Act makes it harder to monitor U.S. elections McClatchy

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Digital Redlining At Facebook Another Word for It

Class Warfare

Americans Are Dying Faster. Millennials, Too Bloomberg. For some reason, this is not mentioned in the headline: “According to research earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a 40-year-old man in the top 1 percent can expect to live 14 years longer than his counterpart in the bottom 1 percent.” Everything’s going according to plan!

This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage — Now, His State’s Economy Is One of the Best in the Country HuffPo

How the politics of debt explains everything The Week

It’s About to Get Harder to Seek Student Debt Relief Bloomberg. Thanks, Obama!

Small Factories Emerge as a Weapon in the Fight Against Poverty NYT

Borrow a sewing machine? Sacramento Public Library to start loaning more than books Sacramento Bee

Beyond Revenge: Most Crime Victims Prefer Rehabilitation to Harsh Punishment Truthout

Antidote du jour (via):

polar_bear

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

411 comments

  1. fresno dan

    Top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has told people she is unsure how her emails could have ended up on a device she viewed as her husband’s computer, the seizure of which has reignited the Clinton email investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation and civil litigation over the matter.

    The person, who would not discuss the case unless granted anonymity, said Abedin was not a regular user of the computer, and even when she agreed to turn over emails to the State Department for federal records purposes, her lawyers did not search it for materials, not believing any of her messages to be there.
    ….
    Abedin told the FBI in an interview in April that her attorneys asked for guidance from the State Department on how to conduct that review but did not receive a response. Summarizing Abedin’s interview, FBI agents wrote that she told them the attorneys “erred on the side of caution and opted to include anything that they were unsure about.” In a sworn deposition in June, Abedin said she “looked for all the devices that may have any of my State Department work on it and returned — returned — gave them to my attorneys for them to review for all relevant documents.”

    =============================================================
    Curiouser and curiouser.

    Sherlock Holmes. How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

    We have a Russian Weiner in our computers…
    And in an abundance of caution, I am checking my drawers…

    1. temporal

      Two possibilities come to mind.

      Perhaps he is the more computer savvy of the two and set up all of her stuff in the first place. This is true in my family. My wife doesn’t even pay much attention to her passwords, the underlying technologies are not something she wants to know anything about. I refuse to snoop but I have replicated her setup to multiple computers so she can use them as she likes.

      Or perhaps she, or someone else, setup her stuff but he is more than a little curious about what she may or may not know about his extra-curricular activities. Unusual lifestyles tend to generate a bit of paranoia.

      Copying setups (files) from one machine to the other requires only physical access to the drive. If the drive is not encrypted any goofball can take everything off a drive, no passwords from the source drives setup are required. If the physical drive isn’t easily removed there are a bunch of other ways to get files off the machine. Only encrypted drives present any kind of challenge.

      Given how little any of these Clinton bigwigs seen to understand about technology, security or the reasons that protocols exist it’s surprising that they can find their keys in the morning. Maybe they use one of those key ring beepers.

      The Russians, Chinese, French, Israelis, Germans, Brazilians or just plain script kiddies that stumble across these people’s setups must laugh themselves silly.

      1. temporal

        I forgot to restate more clearly.

        Putting passwords on an unencrypted drive’s operating system accounts only serves to keep polite people out if they have physical access. It’s not security, just a “keep out” sign. The complexity of the password is just a way to calm your worried mind. Where a tricky password matters most is in providing protection from remote access.

      2. Pat

        There is another possibility. She is lying. And even another, the source is lying. Or she just is clueless.
        For instance, she didn’t always want to haul her computer home, but she would sometimes have to do something for the Queen. Not knowing how these things she uses her husband’s computer to log into her work account. And uses the familiar mail program that downloads the emails but thinks it is like gmail. She doesn’t do it often, but enough.
        Sure her husband might have been keeping track. But considering the stupidity and arrogance we have seen from the Clinton camp on so much and the seemingly lie about it as the go to position, I wouldn’t put it tops of the possible explanations.

        1. Antifa

          Well now, we need not trouble ourselves about whether Huma knew, what she knew, when she knew it, or any other questions. The Espionage Act does not require you to be a spy who knows what you’re doing with classified documents, or even have the intent to pass classified documents on to any third party. None of that matters.

          The single test of the law is mere sloppiness. Jim Comey lied to all of us in July when he said intent to mishandle or convey documents was required for prosecution. It isn’t. You violate the Espionage Act just by leaving a classified document sitting out on your desk while you go to the loo.

          And the US Attorney prosecuting this mess is no milquetoast Jim Comey — it’s Preet Bharara, a Sikh gentleman who is absolutely a straight arrow. His bailiwick is the Southern District of New York state, and he has a judge and a grand jury already seated who are examining this Clinton email hairball with full subpoena powers. He does not report to Comey, but to the Justice Department, and if they counsel him not to prosecute what he sees as a clear cut crime, he will not obey their counsel.

          What’s going to come out very clearly from this new investigation by Mr. Bharara is that (1) Barack Obama also had a private email account that he used for talking to Hillary and who knows whom else; that (2) Hillary violated the letter and spirit of the Espionage Act many tens of thousands of times; that (3) there will be an enormous media carnival over Huma Abedin’s family business, which is running a Wahabi Muslim publication from their headquarters in the same building in London as the Muslim Brotherhood. It is all Saudi money pushing the world toward the true path of Wahabism, and Huma was neck deep in it most of her adult life.

          None of this is within Jim Comey’s control, or reach. He’s out of the picture. He was advised by DOJ head Lynch not to alert Congress to the new email trove. He did not obey — he’s the head of the FBI; it’s within his purview to make such a decision all on his own. If he felt used and humiliated by being forced, back in July, to virtually indict Hillary on live TV and then let her go, well, this Friday reopening of the case is some very fine revenge, served up cold.

          Also, we must all remind ourselves that even if Hillary wins the November 8 election, she does not become the President-in-waiting until the Electoral College meets and votes on December 12th or so. Up until then, she can be thoroughly investigated, asked to step down, forced out, slathered with tar and feathers, or suddenly decide to spend more time with her family. This email/Espionage Act hairball is not going away, and the backlash from about half of America’s unwashed multitudes to her election is going to be fierce opposition.

          If the powers that be in the shadows of DC have any idea of what’s coming, they will drop Hillary like a rotten apple in their Halloween candy bag.

          Oh — a parting question — since this is the third time Anthony Weiner has gotten caught exposing his private parts online, where we all eventually get to see them, does that mean that he no longer actually has private parts? I mean, his privates aren’t really private any more . . .

          1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

            Nice summary. Hilary sold the business of our government for huge personal gain, lied about it, lied again to cover it up, lied again to try and blame it on Putin (!). Like the CBOCDOIWFFAP (Cheney/Bush/Obama/Clinton Doctrine Of Illegal War For Fun And Profit), the UTVFOODAYPP (Use The Very Foundations Of Our Democracy As Your Personal Playthings) cluster is toppling over in a pile of putrescence.

        2. Quentin

          Yes, that she’s lying is a possibility, isn’t it? Or did she follow her boss HRC’s motto never to tell a lie.

      3. none

        Another possibility (for completeness, not something I’m claiming is true, just possible): Anthony systematically copied emails from Huma’s computer to his own without Huma’s knowledge, as possible blackmail material if Huma or Clinton went after him.

        1. uncle tungsten

          Even more mundane stuff up:- the Weiner computer is part of the home network and huma’s laptop and phone are auto synchronised whenever they are nearby. Voila the home pc vacuums up everything. Their pc ignorance failed them yet again. Thanks Microsoft, you may yet do the world a big favour.

      4. optimader

        faaak ME! This assumption suggests there isn’t the StateDept guy w/ a ponytail and instrument screwdriver on his ear on tap to set up ALL of the computers in the sphere of contact for the SOS’s personal aide??
        We are to believe it’s left to household whimsy? The SOS employee’s…ummm..eccentric hubby…. and the fifteen yo neighbor kid that’s visits when she is out???

        Aren’t there routine computer security checks as a matter of policy? rhetorical question, anyhoo, we know AWeiner is demonstratably a solid guy , right? No security reqd.

        1. temporal

          I’m pretty sure that there are properly setup machines and protocols for most everyone in the security oriented parts of the gov.

          I absolutely certain that HRC and her inner retinue couldn’t have cared less. Rules, and for that matter laws, are for the little people. According to a few stories Huma admitted that she used Weiner’s portable to email as a part of her bizarrely defined part-time job.

          A while back I did some work with a fairly big bank. Read-only golden images, no local storage, no personal software, company email for company work, VPNs for working at home, no unauthorized Internet usage and a lot of other paranoid stuff. There are plenty of well-thought out security rules and lots of smart people implementing them. Those people aren’t a part of HRC followers or for that matter the DNCs reality.

          Building a home email server in order to hide your communications from everyone else. That would get you fired from nearly any company over 50 people.

          If Weiner, his wife or the DNC knew what they were doing there wouldn’t be an email trail to follow.

          1. katiebird

            A friend on Twitter thinks that

            10. And then she gets treated like a low level assistant who needs to have her email monitored. Which is it, America?

            Which shocks me. Does she really think that’s what this is about? Actually, I know she does.

            But I’m with you, this stuff gets people fired.

    2. Jim Haygood

      This summer when Huma was voluntarily interviewed by the FBI, everything was on the honor system. The FBI had no subpoenas, and wasn’t kicking down doors.

      Huma turned over her two laptops and a Blackberry to the investigators. But being a bit of a packrat — and possessing a canny instinct for survival when dealing with the Clintons — she archived her files on her husband’s computer. Just a little insurance, and fodder for a possible book.

      Under the respectful regime of professional courtesy which prevailed in the FBI’s “voluntary” interviews, it would have worked. But on Aug 28th, the New York Post reported a new Weiner sexting scandal. On Sep 21st, the Daily Mail chimed in, saying that Weiner’s target was a 15-year-old girl.

      Maybe the bureau has an old-fashioned puritanical streak. Or maybe it’s because grooming minors is one of our culture’s last sexual taboos. Or perhaps it’s because many agents have kids of their own. In any event, suspected sex offenses with minors are investigated with relish by the FBI, since NOBODY will dare to interfere.

      On top of the sex offender angle, the “no intent required” aspect of federal law regarding spying means that the presence of classified files on Weiner’s computer implicates BOTH Weiner and Abedin for espionage — an offense which can involve the death penalty, as the Rosenbergs found out.

      Moreover, Abedin assured the FBI that she’d turned over all her files. Now the bureau has learned that they were played. Offended, they’re going to burn Huma good.

      It’s the stunning intersection of suspected sex offenses and national security leaks that’s put the backbone back into Comey. Now the FBI has got a grand jury behind them, subpoena power, and a prosecutor (presumably Preet Bharara of New York) who’s ready to rock.

      As Dr Seuss used to say, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

      No power on earth — up to and including the president — will make the FBI back off now. They’ve got the bit between their teeth, their institutional credibility is at stake, and they’ll go wolverine on anybody who gets in their way, as they investigate a sensational combination of suspected crimes.

      Needless to say, Hyena Rotten Clinton is dead meat on a stick.

      1. craazyboy

        Books are way better than 10 baggers. You can be fronted millions, a ghost writer to do all the tedious, skilled work and get movie rights as well. All without needing to put any of your own money at risk at all!

        1. Jim Haygood

          Prolly that’s why I haven’t hit that jackpot — having stolidly insisted on doing my own literary cooking, rather than turn it over to a hack ghost writer who would praise my “well-hung pictures” and the “erudite handling” of my motorsickle.

          1. EndOfTheWorld

            Jim Haywood, you seem to exhibit a modicum of expertise in this legalese mumbo-jumbo stuff. Care to hazard a prediction of what might happen to Hill and her friend/assistant?

            1. Jim Haygood

              Hillary will remain uncharged, or else be pardoned.

              But Huma and Weiner are both headed for prison.

              1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

                And revenue growth for the Foundation will plunge.

                “No new products in development…despite years of over-investing in R&D.”

                That’s a financial prediction.

                1. Jim Haygood

                  The Clintons are going to be sorry they bought the neighboring house in Chappy and told a contractor to renovate it by Thanksgiving.

                  After a full quarter century of grifting, they really don’t understand that when their prospects for public office end, the donations stop cold.

                  If you’re a Clinton creditor, you’ve got one week to collect your accounts receivable before their cash flow crunch sets in.

                  1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

                    There’s still time for Hilary’s top campaign contributor to get in a few more gay beheadings and drone massacres of bedouin women and children in Yemen before November 9. President Kaine will likely grandfather deals that were signed before the election, they already squeezed everything they could out of the poorest nations on Earth like Rwanda and Haiti so those won’t matter, but the deals to force Sweden to accept Monsanto poison and the 1000% price hikes for EpiPens should be OK. Lloyd says they’ll hold the Goldman position open for her when she gets out of prison, so it’s all good.

                2. Whine Country

                  Mr. Haywood has put together the most believable summary of the events IMHO so nothing for me to add. I would suggest that it is not a slam dunk that Hillary gets off with nothing. I think the make up of the House and Senate will play a substantial role in the politics that drive the final outcome and it is too early to tell how that will play out. Huma and Weiner will be dealt with judicially and Hillary and Bill politically. There is also a possibility of a deal for testimony but that happens only if a special prosecutor is appointed IMHO.

              2. John k

                If Clinton wins huma will be pardoned in the unlikely event she is convicted… Otherwise she would sing loud and long to stay out of prison.
                Wiener goes under the bus no matter who wins.

              3. optimader

                Huma will be able to cop a plea, too much baggage. Cleaner yet, tragic death in murder/suicide at the hands of unstable (e)strange(d) husband

      2. crittermom

        Jim Haygood–
        I really hope you’re right.
        I’m still not convinced Comey has a backbone, however, tho’ it appears it may now go beyond his complete control. From previous articles, his own team of agents is disgusted with the prior ‘no conviction’ result regarding Clinton, and (hopefully) those in govt are finally getting the message the ‘masses’ (we, the citizens) are not happy.
        Hoping this latest scandal is the final straw, the weight of which will collapse the high shelf so many surrounding Clinton sit upon.

        It’s even more blatantly obvious why Hellary and her team are pushing early voting so hard. The ugly truth is coming out too fast for her team to put up deflection shields in these final days.
        I still fear that those going down around her won’t prevent her coronation, however.

        I’m not thrilled with the idea of a ‘president Trump’, either, and remain disgusted with this so-called ‘election’.
        I (like so many others?), want a ‘do-over’!

        1. Jim Haygood

          Not a Trump supporter either, c-mom.

          But I feel more personally threatened by top-level corruption than by mere flakery.

          1. abynormal

            Ta-Da, “I feel more personally threatened by top-level corruption than by mere flakery.”…and i hope this mockery of leadership will tip this cycle towards its end. (surely we can’t go any lower)

          2. crittermom

            Jim Haywood–
            But I feel more personally threatened by top-level corruption than by mere flakery.”
            As do I. I could never vote for Hellary.
            This ‘election’ simply sucks.

        2. uncle tungsten

          Comey likely sold his backbone a decade ago. But he could not have got to be director without some nasty baggage to control him. It’s likely that his psd off colleagues have him by the short and curlews now.

          Can’t wait to inauguration day and tens of thousands chanting Bernie Bernie, Bernie, while the hellary has to just cop it. This is just too good, hold me up Vladimir!

      3. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        Only the rich get a second chance – NAFTA, bank bailout of 2008, etc.

        Here’s the Little People’s and those agents’ second chance.

      4. Lee

        What about the difference between intention and being unwitting. Isn’t she claiming to have no knowledge of the contents found on her husband’s device? Maybe she is just witless, which among elites today, is a greater fault than being corrupt or dishonest.

        1. Jim Haygood

          ‘Unwitting’ is not a defense for espionage, in same way that it’s not a defense for possession of illegal substances.

          Possession of unauthorized classified material is a per se offense. Doesn’t matter what your intent was, or whether there was any intent at all.

          It’s deadly kryptonite.

          1. Lee

            Good to know. I am relatively witless when it comes to digital workings and capabilities. Is it not possible that hubby acquired these data without Abedin’s knowledge? I guess that would still make her guilty of not making said items secure from her husband’s snoopery. In any event, bad news is always good news so far as the Clintons and their minions are concerned. Cheers

            1. abynormal

              if you were employed by IRS would you remove paper documents without permission?
              obviously they aren’t going to wait around to find out what she plans to do with the 10k documents. i remember a case where a couple handfuls of IRS auditors in FL went house to house (poor people) offering them clemency if they paid 20% of their back taxes in cash. amazing what people can get away with…when the gov. is connected.

          2. Propertius

            As Mr. Trump is fond of saying, “Wrong!”

            “Espionage” does require intent. “Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information” (18 U.S. Code § 793f) does not. That’s still enough to get you 10 years.

      5. fresno dan

        Jim Haygood
        October 30, 2016 at 9:07 am

        as usual, some interesting insights and good critical thinking.

        1. Jim Haygood

          This just in — FBI is going completely by the book here, to quash defense motions to suppress evidence at trial:

          (CNN)The Justice Department and the FBI are in discussions with lawyers for Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to secure approval that would allow the FBI to conduct a full search of her newly discovered emails, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

          A new search warrant is needed because the existing authorization, covered by a subpoena, related only to the ongoing investigation of Weiner, who is accused of having sexually explicit communications with an underage girl.

          Investigators from the FBI’s New York field office who are conducting the Weiner investigation stumbled on the Abedin emails while they were reviewing emails and other communications on the computer, which was considered to belong to Weiner, the officials said.

          They stopped their work and called in the team of investigators from FBI headquarters who conducted the probe of Clinton’s private email server. The investigators saw enough of the emails to determine that they appeared pertinent to the previously completed investigation and that they may be emails not previously reviewed.

          http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-emails-fbi-abedin/index.html

          Either Huma’s attorneys consent to a search … or the FBI obtains a new warrant and searches anyway.

          Not much to negotiate, is there?

          1. pretzelattack

            i hope not, and i hope that warrant is issued quickly, though the law moves slowly, and there is going to be a lot of pressure for it to move even slower.

            1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

              A long, long time ago, it was just the mere appearance of impropriety that could sink your campaign.

              Maybe this is the brave new world.

              “This cat’s got 9 lives.”

              1. jgordon

                Hillary’s campaign has proven this year that ala Weekend at Bernie’s a dead campaign can appear quite lively with helpers like the media and the Obama regime giving their intense 24/7 support.

          2. Joe H.

            Jim,
            I am concerned about L. Lynch and her cohorts at the DOJ an what they might do to stop this. She has already made comments about Comey’s actions. What is your opinion. about interference on that level?

              1. Code Name D

                Nope. Looks like they are going to try. According to the link you offered. (Possibly edited after the fact.), I found this little jem:

                “On Sunday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid scolded Comey as well, saying in a letter that he “demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be clear intent to aid one political party over another.”

                Reid added that his office determined that Comey may have violated the Hatch Act, which bars government officials from using their authority to influence elections.”

                Looks like Comey has been thrown under the bus.

                1. Chris

                  I wonder if they even need to worry. The people voting for Hillary do not care. They think any mention of staff insurrection at the FBI is tin foil hat stuff from Alex Jones and the others who froth at the mouth whenever you mention a Clinton. The people who are voting for Trump already hate her. And the independents, such as they are at this stage, are disgusted by the entire process and both candidates. No indictment is going to come fast enough to make Hillary withdraw. So absent a health event, or some other last minute surprise, I don’t see how this upsets things. If it had happened a month ago, maybe. But not now.

                  1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

                    She’s not the POTUS-elect until December 12 when the Electoral College votes. As Lambert says “events…events”.

          3. Buttinsky

            FBI are in discussions with lawyers…

            Consistent with the protocol already established in this “investigation,” isn’t this simply the prelude to an immunity deal for Huma Abedin, followed by the search for a good solid hammer with which to smash the laptop?

            1. jgordon

              At this rate I believe the FBI will be handing out immunity to anyone who’s ever heard the name “Hillary Clinton” in their life.

              So the lesson is if you’re ever investigated by the FBI for anything just say “Hillary Clinton” and then watch in amazement as the FBI agents scramble away from you never to be heard from again. This is probably how Weiner will get off.

          4. fresno dan

            Jim Haygood
            October 30, 2016 at 12:17 pm

            https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/10/james-comey-american-hero/

            FBI Still Does Not Have Warrant To Review New Abedin Emails Linked To Clinton Probe

            When FBI Director James Comey wrote his bombshell letter to Congress on Friday about newly discovered emails that were potentially “pertinent” to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, agents had not been able to review any of the material, because the bureau had not yet gotten a search warrant to read them, three government officials who have been briefed on the probe told Yahoo News

            ……………
            When I saw that confirmed, a whole new picture started emerging. You have on the one side James Comey who does something ‘unprecedented’, for which he knows he’ll face a lot of flack. On the other you have Loretta Lynch, a staunch Democrat not known to be nearly as impartial as Comey, trying to keep him from sending the letter.

            And on top of that you have ‘negotiations’ between the DOJ and FBI about obtaining a warrant to get access to the emails. The DOJ can, and still may, refuse to grant the FBI that warrant. But that chance is a lot smaller now than if Comey had not sent his letter. By bringing the matter out into the open, he’s hugely increased the pressure on Lynch to issue the warrant.
            …………….
            Hillary and other Dems can now protest Comey’s actions all they want, and demand full openness, but they know full well that this openness depends on ‘their own Loretta Lynch’ granting the FBI that warrant. And every single second that the warrant is not issued is a dark cloud on Hillary’s campaign, and indeed on the whole of America.

            ========================================
            Subpoenas….the state’s enema…..

          5. Skip Intro

            Wouldn’t it be Weiner’s attorney that needs to give consent for the search? It was his laptop after all. I suspect his motivation, with potential ‘sexting a minor’ charges hanging over his head, may be at odds with Huma’s, even though she is now ‘off the plane’ and will presumably soon be under the bus.

      6. Oregoncharles

        While your claims have a certain plausibility, you’re overplaying the situation a lot, especially considering how little we know. Yes, it COULD be that bad, but it probably isn’t.

        A further thought: the worst case scenario is that full-blown investigations take a while, and it’s only 9 days to the election. If you’re right, we’ll likely wind up with a President-elect under indictment for espionage.

        Juicy, the media would love it, but not the kind of chaos I’d like to see. I suppose the lame-duck Congress could impeach her. We’d probably wind up with President Kaine, not really an improvement.

        1. Waldenpond

          I doubt it. From the WSJ piece, it seems neither the DoJ nor the FBI wants anything to do with the Clintons or will allow anyone to investigate them. http://www.wsj.com/articles/laptop-may-include-thousands-of-emails-linked-to-hillary-clintons-private-server-1477854957

          [Anticorruption prosecutors at the Justice Department told the FBI at the meeting they wouldn’t authorize more aggressive investigative techniques, such as subpoenas, formal witness interviews, or grand-jury activity.]

          It comes across as if all agencies refuse to do the basics of an investigation and then go public saying there is nothing to prosecute. In this latest event, again, the FBI was informed that the e-mails existed on an additional device (again, no subpoenas, just voluntarily turning devices over through lawyers) and ignored let alone bothered to get a subpoena.

        1. Code Name D

          This confirms what many suspected. Comey sat on this, but had to get out in front of it when it was leaked to the media. With now, Comey is no longer concerned about white-washing Clinton’s e-mail scandle – he is trying to save his own skin.

          Can you say – special prosicuter?

            1. allan

              From the WSJ article:

              Mr. McCabe then instructed the email investigators to talk to the Weiner investigators and see whether the laptop’s contents could be relevant to the Clinton email probe, these people said. After the investigators spoke, the agents agreed it was potentially relevant.

              IANAL, but there seem to be some serious 4th amendment issues here.
              Not that that matters politically.

    3. Synoia

      Weiner’s computer was probably set up once access to Huma’s email server, and automatically copied incoming email from her email server into her account on the laptop for ever, copying new emails every time the laptop contacted email servers. (A difference between pop, port 995 and imap, port 993 access to email servers).

      Use the laptop once in this manner and forever it retrieves email, and does not delete them either from the server or the laptop.

      Which underscores the maxim: To err is human, computers repeat your mistakes endlessly.

      1. Jim Haygood

        From some total stranger on the internet:

        It was said on the news this morning that the e-mails were in a folder named “life insurance”.
        You really can’t make this stuff up.

        If it’s not true … it ought to be! :-)

        1. Felix_47

          The chances of this going anywhere are pretty low Jim. I doubt the FBI will find anything new. I mean if the emails they find have all been seen then what? The emails I want to see are the 30,000 deleted by her lawyers after she got a subpoena. I would have loved to transfer my assets after my wife filed for divorce…..who wouldn`t but she did essentially the same thing and got away with it. So I doubt much will happen and Trump will blow any advantage he might run into anyway since he probably was put up to run by Bill.

          1. Jim Haygood

            Good chance those 30,000 emails are part of the trove of 650,000. But they are a sideshow now.

            Any classified info puts Huma in a position of having (1) lied to the FBI; (2) mishandled classified material.

            The 30,000 “yoga and wedding” emails would be useful for going after Hillary. But frankly, that’s not the agenda. The electoral process will take care of Hillary.

            Prosecuting Hillary would be a waste of time owing to DOJ sabotage, and the likelihood of a pre-emptive pardon.

            1. Chris

              Jim, I have to ask, given how lazy the electorate is and how little people pay attention, what makes you so sure? The polls show it’s a tight race, but the Clinton campaign is more than capable of pulling out last minute shenanigans to stop people from voting or prevent votes from being counted. So many people have so much money invested in HRC that I can’t believe they’d it all fall apart now.

        2. fresno dan

          Jim Haygood
          October 30, 2016 at 12:59 pm

          “life insurance” OR “insurance to stay alive…”

    4. Jeremy Grimm

      All this hoopla about Hillary made me start to wonder more about who the Vice Presidential candidates are. It’s hard to forget Dick Cheney’s CIA nickname was Oscar Bergen. I also remember back to Reagan and the Iran Contra Affair and note who was the Vice President while also recalling Reagan’s onset of dementia. Hillary is damaged goods both with her poor health and with her national security “issues”. it’s hard to judge what Trump’s about. I recall commenters here and some links suggesting Trump wouldn’t really enjoy the day-to=day job of being President should he win.

      So who are the Vice Presidential candidates. They’re both cyphers to me.

      1. jgordon

        Ciphers? Kaine is a right to work neoliberal who is to the right of W Bush on everything except inconsequential social. Well he is anti abortion, but that’s his private position so it doesn’t count as right wing I guess?

        Anyway if you liked W. Bush you’re going to love Kaine.

        1. Jeremy Grimm

          What about Pence? What’s your take on Pence?

          I think I better go back and watch the Vice Presidential debate closely. I have a bad feeling neither Hillary nor Trump are more than fronts.

          1. EndOfTheWorld

            I think Pence is a smooth talker–he had a radio talk show, I believe. Looks like he will be glad to be a VP and will be contented to be subservient to The Donald. Trump, if elected, will run the show. Pence is indeed a mainstream republican and will act like one if Trump were to die or be incapacitated, but I don’t think that will happen.

            1. Jeremy Grimm

              Thanks! I think Trump — Pence sounds a little less damaging than a maybe Hillary and Kaine if not. We get a Republicratic government either way — just different flavors.

          2. different clue

            Pence supports Free Trade Agreements. Pence supports toppling Assad. Pence supports “standing up to Putin”. In those three important areas, Pence is a Clintonite.
            Otherwise, Pence appears to be a conservative Christian.

  2. EndOfTheWorld

    RE: Duterte’s China Overtures Appear to Bear Fruit….. So the Chinese are letting the Filipino fishermen fish. That’s the way to make friends.

    Duterte recently said God had told him to quit using profanity. Now if “the man upstairs” will let him know that mass murder is also a no-no, everything will be fine in the Philippines.

      1. EndOfTheWorld

        Using “the man upstairs” in the vernacular, referring to God, The Supreme Being. Seriously, Duterte has apparently curtailed his profanity after God told him to.

        1. JTMcPhee

          …should have said “Israelite invention (YHWH),” not Yiddish which comes along much later in history… and is such a wonderful source of humor and insults and acute acerb observations on human nature…

          1. WJ

            YHWH far precedes the “Israelites,” which were the nation-building product of the Moses and Lord of Hosts of Exodus. I think you mean the “Hebrews.”

    1. jgordon

      Duterte is an effective leader who gets things done. Killing drug dealers and other criminals is a popular policy that people like in the Philippines. When the delicate American sensibilities get offended and Obama runs his mouth about how terrible Duterte is because of all the bad stuff he’s doing (ie having an effective antidrug policy that’s crimping CIA profits) people in the Philippines start to hate Obama and America. It’s no wonder Duterte is now going with China.

      Did you know that they execute politicians, bankers and CEOs in China when they do bad stuff? Yep! Maybe America should adopt some Chinese/Philippines criminal justice practices.

      1. JTMcPhee

        Hitler, Mussolini, J. Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao were also “effective leaders who got things done.” What are you wishing for? What “things” would you support “getting done”?

        And executions in the Late-Stage US Empire are reserved mostly for poor people of color. There is no “America” to turn to, if there ever was, and no one here in power would adopt any of those “tough on wealth crime” practices, in the perverse faux “criminal justice system” that obtains hereabouts…

        1. jgordon

          That stuff is undoubtedly true, however America is currently in an existential tailspin. Whatever the ideal policies happen to be, America is certainly not practicing them and should be lecturing exactly no one on this topic.

      2. different clue

        What CIA profits could Duterte ever crimp in the Philippines? What drug trade routes go through the Philippines?

        The Philippinos will have to decide for themselves how many victims of Duterte’s mass murder campaign were drug users, and how many were or will be killed by the Duterists just for the LULZ of it all.

        1. EndOfTheWorld

          I think the main drug that “Duterte Harry” was railing against is “shabu-shabu”, which is amphetamine. He actually supports medicinal marijuana. I haven’t been up there lately, but up in the mountains of Luzon the indigenous people always smoked pot and the gov’t let them. I’ve never heard of heroin in the Philippines.

          After the initial purge, I haven’t read about any more murders. He’s trying to cut down on cigarette smoking nationwide, and I myself like that idea.

  3. griffen

    Big Corps…so happy the biggest and bestest survive in these nasty times. Lolz

    Its good to be king,
    If just for awhile,
    Its good to be king,
    Whatever it pays

  4. fresno dan

    James Comey’s Letter and the Problem of Leaks The New Yorker. Staff insurrection, as Yves said.

    But what was the actual evidence that prompted Comey’s letter, and what do the e-mails say? The answer depends on the news source. “The emails were not to or from Clinton,” according to the Los Angeles Times. But the Washington Post said, “The correspondence included emails between Abedin and Clinton.” And, according to the New York Times, “Senior law enforcement officials said that it was unclear if any of the emails were from Mrs. Clinton’s private server.” This muddled issue is crucial, because if none of the e-mails were to or from Clinton—who is the person running for President—then this new chapter of the investigation amounts to very little. (If the e-mails are duplicates of e-mails that the F.B.I. has already seen, or if they are simply irrelevant personal e-mails, then the story may also amount to little.)

    ================================================
    Uh, that is quite a conclusion to draw. Abedin was a state department employee (albeit in a strange situation) but ostensibly with access to top secret stuff. If Clinton chose such individuals, it says something about how she evaluates character (not well…apparently) – – not to mention that if the screws are put to Abedin, who knows what she will chirp to save her (own) skin….

    1. fresno dan

      No one likes to talk about law-enforcement leaks. Journalists (present company included) rarely discuss the issue for fear of burning existing sources or discouraging future ones. If asked, Comey would no doubt affect to be shocked that leaking was taking place at the F.B.I. But the issue is critically bound up with the current controversy. The journalistic follow-up to Comey’s bombshell letter was predictable, even inevitable.

      Even if Comey did not specifically make or authorize the leaks himself, he had to know that they would take place—and he must take responsibility for them.

      =====================================================
      And I find Toobin’s precious sensibility with regards to leaks, (is Toobin a documented Clinton panderer???) just too hypocritical to bear.
      Let me edit for reality
      ‘Even if Toobin did not specifically make or authorize the leaks himself, he had to know that they would take place BECAUSE THE MEDIA PUBLISH ALL LEAKS—and he must take responsibility for them. BEING PUBLISHED’

      1. Lee

        Toobin:

        Since Friday afternoon, the political world has been convulsed by the decision of James Comey, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to release a three-paragraph letter to congressional leaders, announcing that the F.B.I. had found additional evidence that might be relevant to the investigation of Hillary Clinton for improper handling of classified information.

        “Convulsed”? Au Contraire! Every time there’s bad news for Clinton the knot in my stomach relaxes a bit.

          1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

            The one stitch that knits the whole thing together is DroneMaster69…the emails to/from the POTUS. What did he know and when did he know it…according to his repeated interviews on national TV before millions of Americans he learned about the whole thing from TV reports.

        1. hunkerdown

          Moar strychnine! Every second they spend convulsed is a second we can spend making a world without them.

    2. Soulipsis

      It would seem Abedin went to Weiner’s machine for her most egregiously illegal communications with HRC.

      1. Jim Haygood

        Or chose to archive her files on it, before surrendering her own laptops — something all of us would be tempted to do, rather than lose years of personal work product.

        Unfortunately if the files contain classified material, it’s a serious crime, regardless of benign intent.

        An external hard drive, stored in the attic of an old and distant friend, could have saved Huma years of hard time resulting from trusting a horny Weiner.

        1. Pat

          They are idiots, but frankly an external drive as backup not only makes more sense, it is easier to do. But you are right that we shouldn’t dismiss that as a possible.

          1. Steve C

            Sounds like Huma didn’t tell the FBI about Weiner’s computer because she knew what was in it and one investigation at a time was enough, thank you. The FBI wouldn’t take kindly to that excuse.

            1. Pavel

              FBI: Did you have any State Department files on your or your husband’s home PC?

              Huma: I don’t recall.

            2. Paid Minion

              The Clintons have always used legalese to define the “truth”. Only under sworn interrogation is the “rest of the story” revealed.

              Given that the Clintons are doing the hiring, I would bet that they look at this ability as a “feature”, not a “bug” when hiring help.

        2. Brian

          emails that were destroyed because they were personal to Clinton, show up in archives on a computer that was supposed to be turned over to the FBI. Personal to Clinton means something different to law enforcement than what Clinton stated perhaps? These emails can now be read to see if anything pertinent to classified, or direct orders by Clinton to her employees, working for both the election and for the state department. Things that were too dangerous to see the light of day may have been archived and are now being read. Gaps are being filled in, connections being made, a larger chart of who is involved and their part in this tragedy can now be filled in because of the new documents.
          if it is true, why are a hundred or more FBI agents agitated enough to cry foul? What did AG Lynch tell Comey about investigating her friends and future employer?
          But most telling, and perhaps indicative of the power Clinton holds over officials in the government, the attacks on Comey that was their hero last month and how now dirty Comey has certainly accepted bribes from Putin to destroy her and America.
          We, the people, don’t know what was found. We only know that nearly everyone in government wants to hide it from our lying eyes too.

    3. Skip Intro

      The ‘old news’ gambit is sly. If classified emails already seen by the FBI in the context of the State Dept. turn up on the Weiner laptop, that turns them into a big deal. What is OK on official machines may be espionage on private machines.
      If the reports that Huma forwarded emails to her home for printing are true, than those emails would technically neither be to nor from Clinton, but would nonetheless be her emails, and if they were covered by the document request but omitted, they could be evidence of obstruction. Parsing the captive press is getting to be as tricky as parsing the non-lie deceptions of the Clintons themselves. And lest we forget, the original investigation charade had a limited time span, these emails presumably extend beyond that.

      1. John k

        Good point, maybe no date limit at all.
        And love the idea that pissed, motivated agents are off the leash and beyond comey’s control…
        So imagine she loses… Twisting in the wind between the election and January…
        Pardon me, big o… Name your price… And poor huma, too… And maybe the big dog…

      2. Jim Haygood

        Time for a little comic relief:

        “Weiner getting grilled.”

        “I hope he speaks frankly.”

        “Yeah, no hotdogging, just spill the beans.”

        “Dead man wanking.”

        1. Whine Country

          “…if they were covered by the document request but omitted, they could be evidence of obstruction.” This would be true only if the new evidence is used to prosecute Hillary, which most agree will not happen”. Any evidence of Hillary being “careless” is a non-event, no?

          1. Skip Intro

            It’s not the crime but the coverup…
            A grand jury could find obstruction and conspiracy. (but IANAL)

            1. Whine Country

              IANAL either but I still maintain that it is not a crime to cover up something that is also not a crime. We all do it every day.

              1. jgordon

                I rather suspect that using bleachbit on a server after it’s been subpoenaed is a rather serious crime. For little people. For Hillary, of course you are absolutely correct that it’s not a crime at all.

  5. allan

    From the DeSmogBlog article:

    The Federal Aviation Administration has also implemented a no-fly zone, which bars anyone but law enforcement from flying within a 4-mile radius and 3500 feet above the ground in the protest area. Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer on the scenes in North Dakota with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said on Facebook that “DAPL private security planes and choppers were flying all day” within the designated no-fly zone.

    Donnell Hushka, the designated public information officer for the North Dakota Tactical Operation Center, which is tasked with overseeing the no-fly zone, did not respond to repeated queries about designated private entities allowed to fly in no-fly zone airspace.

    This was mentioned in the Links yesterday by dcblogger. The intent is presumably to keep those pesky
    civilian drones from filming the civil rights violations going on down below.
    It’s good to see that the police state rot has spread all the way to an agency charged with aviation safety.
    Just another glittering jewel in Obama’s legacy.

    1. fresno dan

      allan
      October 30, 2016 at 7:56 am

      As almost all government paperwork, it is press released as “to protect and to serve” when the reality filter would be “to screw and oppress”
      For all the yammering about openness and transparency, it is designed not to be.
      Is there any rational danger posed by the drones? The danger that is so…uh, dangerous is the exposure of the criminality of the government agents.
      Law – a brand that means about the same as Wells Fargo and fiduciary responsibility

      1. allan

        And speaking of previously apolitical government agencies, from this morning’s edition
        of Not the Onion, a/k/a @KurtEichenwald:

        If Comey’s improper comment on ongoing investigation changes polls, @FBI reputation as apolitical will never recover cause of his screwup.

        Coming from many people, this would be snark, but Eichenwald is apparently serious.
        The victims of J. Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO might disagree.

        1. fresno dan

          allan
          October 30, 2016 at 8:17 am

          It seems to me, it really did seem to start at the end of the Clinton administration with “indispensable nation” bullsh*t that the country is just all HGTV and people who jog.
          It all seems part and parcel of using government agencies to burnish your brand, when it suits you, public/private partnerships, and nothing more than more PR that the FBI, THE MOST PREMIER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IN THE WORLD, AND PROBABLY THE UNIVERSE, FOUND NOTHING in the Clintoon emails….

        2. Katharine

          I know of someone who periodically offers to screw up your company for fewer millions than the last departed CEO. It seems comparable offers might be appropriate in journalism, if a knowledge of recent history is not a prerequisite.

      2. Paid Minion

        The FAA errs on the side of safety.. Always. Due process and freedom take a back seat, like it or not.

        If it’s the same in North Dakota as it is around here, the local FAA guys took one look at the aerial circus, and threw up a TFR to get it under control.

        Hitting a drone can easily take down a helicopter. Or a small airplane. Given the right set of conditions, even an airliner. All indications are that some people involved wouldn’t mind seeing a drone run into a helicopter, so they are throwing up a blanket ban, and restricting operations to “needs to be there”.

        Drones are damn near impossible to see, unless painted a high visibility color. Most of the drones I’ve seen are white. About the worst color they can be to be seen from a low flying aircraft.

        Of course, if the drone operators up there are anything like the drone operators around here, they will continue flying them, restrictions or not. Because of “Freedom”. The FAA knows this, so they control what they can control, which is access by manned, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

        Helicopters, especially civilian ones are pretty fragile devices, some more than others (a local air tour operator uses a brand to fly people that I wouldn’t fly in on a bet). Quit watching the movies and TV; anyone trying to “block my escape” using a helicopter would rapidly find themselves in the market for a new helicopter

        1. a different chris

          >“DAPL private security planes and choppers were flying all day” within the designated no-fly zone.

          Why are you posting a “FAA errs on the side of safety” as a response to this? Are you saying that it was a “no fly except for…”. If so, well when “…” are private planes that is not right.

          But I don’t think you are saying that: “The FAA knows this, so they control what they can control, which is access by manned, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.” But apparently they aren’t – so I really really can’t understand why you went on for 4 paragraphs about drones?

    2. different clue

      Is it possible to make a little drone look like a bird?

      Is it possible to attach truly tiny videocams to carrier pigeons? Or to soaring hawks or vultures?

      1. different clue

        And what if thousands of people all flew thousands of video-cam-drones in that no-fly zone in defiance of the law? Is there partial safety in numbers? If the authorities felt they had to arrest ten thousand no-fly-zone violators, would the media drop a cone of silence over ten thousand arrests?

  6. John Merryman

    Hillery still wins, but the push back against the FBI to do so will create blowback after the election. The need to reopen the whole ‘can of worms’ will only be that much greater. In some ways this might even be a better outcome than a Trump presidency, as it will be total gridlock and not just partial gridlock.

    1. scott 2

      I was thinking the same. She might have enough early votes to pull this out, but without a mandate and this scandal, she will be going from one hearing to another for a couple of years before she resigns. No foreign leader will believe what she says, neither will the voters (that leave the press to carry the water I guess).

      1. nycTerrierist

        worrisome aspect of this scenario: all the more ‘need’ for Wag the Dog-style war mongering to distract from HiLIARy’s ‘can of worms’…

        1. John Merryman

          That’s the big worry. My thought though is that much of what drives the military is the need to create debt to fund the Fed and the banks, so if it can be postponed long enough for the debt bubble to pop, the momentum will be lost and the more sane members of the military will push back on the armchair warriors.
          Life is a balancing act.

      2. NotTimothyGeithner

        The recording where Hillary calls for rigging Palestinian elections after the U.S. government had just interfered will have real consequences.

        1. Jim Haygood

          Like, we’re gonna give Israel $45 billion instead of a chintzy $38 billion?

          I wish I were joking.

      3. JTMcPhee

        Since all foreign leaders seem to be in on the Bezzle, or are Bezzle wannabes, and deception and fraud and obfuscation and FUD are the only central elements of “statecraft” in the Realpolitik ™ global-political-economy operating system, and only Putin and Xi seem to have a residue of promoting “national interests” that prolong their sovereignties’ existence and rump-ends of “general welfare” (alongside personal looting — is Trump at all likely to follow suit on both axes, if inaugurated?), what kind of concern is it that foreign RULERS, call them what they are, will “believe what she says”? They all effing lie, they all effing cheat, they all effing fornicate as it suits their fancies, they all effing sneer at the Mopery…

        And they all know that they have padded their machinery of impunity so completely that like the C-suite-ers of the end-stage Soylent Corporation, presiding over and profiting from the last acts of human consumption on a looted planet, they will live out their lives in complete pleasure, and be comforted by mopes (nurses and doctors and aides) hard-wired to provide kindness and care at the end of their fokking days.

        We humans seem to have passed another tipping point, where the cancer of corruption and consumption has even managed, finally, to demolish widespread belief in all those comfortable myths and shibboleths that have eased the swallowing of all that deception by “the masses” while they are bled…

    2. BecauseTradition

      In some ways this might even be a better outcome than a Trump presidency, as it will be total gridlock and not just partial gridlock.

      Except what more effective way to distract from domestic issues than war?

      1. John Merryman

        My sense is the “distraction” is already deeper than most people’s heads.

        The question is finding ways to tilt the balance and China probably has more leverage to do that than anyone. Russia could pull back a bit in Syria, while promoting a Eurasian governing council, as reaction to recent UN moves. It’s not as though the neocon playbook isn’t open sourced and reactions to it can take any number of forms….

        1. TheCatSaid

          “My sense is the “distraction” is already deeper than most people’s heads.”

          Now there’s an understatement. In Dr. D. E. Martin’s reality-published-as-fiction book “Coup d’Twelve”, the events on a bright September morning in 2001, and the toxic white powder events, are in the chapter of shareholders’ business plan called “The Distraction”. The events in the book are true–only a few names and timings were changed to avoid libel. It’s been substantiated in a personal conversation, and public records of events that came to light post publication.

          “Distraction” events are significant. Rarely do we recognize their true purpose at the time. We’re so busy following the “look over here” signals that we miss the things that matter even more.

          Effective distraction is one of the most important and effective tactics of official agencies and other operators.

          When there are high visibility events (e.g. terrorist attacks, high-profile celebrity goings-on or other scandals pushed by mass media), I now know to look elsewhere for what I’m not supposed to be seeing. I think the majority of what is called news is actually planted as distraction if not outright manipulation or misinformation.

          1. Paid Minion

            Of course, there is nothing that keeps “conspiracy theories” from being a “distraction event”

            It should be obvious by now that the idiots holding the reins are too stupid to pull off 90% of these conspiracies. Even with the lap dogs in mass media in on the plan, you can only hide stupid so long.

            A consequence of income stratification. The 1% don’t “mingle” with the common folk. Like purebred dogs, the pretty ones start having an inbreeding problem, and each generation gets dumber than the last.

            “Eisenhower-2016…..where have you gone, Dwight David?”

    3. craazyboy

      I was thinking the same thing, but too bad that is what “optimism for the future” has degraded to.

    4. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      That would be like a promotion for her.

      “That will teach you.”

      “And no Shock Doctrine emergencies so you can declare martial law, please. We beg you.”

    5. different clue

      A Trump Presidency would be better. The Republicans, the Catfood Democrats, and a President Clinton would make a big public show of putting partisanship aside just long enough to pass all the Free Trade Agreements and the Catfood Commission Plan against Social Security. Even if impeachment drama and investigation drama were being performed at the very same time.

  7. JSM

    Re: Argument: The DNC Hack Attribution Was A Response to Brick and Mortar Events

    Yes. Others quickly noticed that language like ‘is consistent with’ became, in the rest of the syllogism(s) ‘proof that;’ etc.

    Believe that Wikileaks said somewhere on Twitter that the Podesta emails were ‘not stolen.’

    And indeed, if CNN can be trusted, they were more correctly given away.

    http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/28/politics/phishing-email-hack-john-podesta-hillary-clinton-wikileaks/index.html

  8. sd

    LRB article – Sherry Turkle from MIT has been a participant in Renaissance Weekends in Charleston, South Carolina, a retreat that was popular for many years with the Clintons. Too much coincidence. Leading me to wonder if she’s acting as a surrogate (voluntary or otherwise). Maybe it just doesn’t matter.

    1. JSM

      Skimmed it & it seemed like more pearl-clutching.

      Trump lied! O no! Democracy is fallen! (It already has; the former constitutional republic is neither constitutional nor a republic.)

      & all 17 intelligence agencies confirmed every hack ever of anything was carried out by Russia.

      I’m sure Snopes & WaPo called Coast Guard Intelligence to verify.

      1. craazyboy

        Ya’d think our 17 intelligence agencies, after tracing down the Russian hacker servers, could just do a denial of service attack on the servers using all of Hillary’s email files.

      2. Katharine

        >Democracy is fallen!

        I noticed the other day Putin said the US in not a banana republic. I always figured he was the type for heavy irony.

        1. TheCatSaid

          Putin is a smart dude, he knows we’re a soybean, corn and wheat republic, not a banana republic.

      3. jrs

        It’s a call for civility I guess, but how can you be civil to the rules of neoliberalism folks? Who are perfectly fine with: “Go die!”.

    2. Carolinian

      Plus she talks about her service on the Commission on Presidential Debates, the stooges who replaced the League of Women Voters. They are indeed “nonpartisan” as long as you are a Republican or a Democrat. The article is the Dem party line–Trump is scary etc. And indeed he may be. Some of us think Clinton is scarier.

      Btw the Renaissance Weekends were not in Charleston but rather at Hilton Head down the coast. Your elites like to parley on islands surrounded by big moats.

    3. jrs

      I don’t know if civility is possible in highly unequal societies. How are masses of people that need wage increases, or that depend on social security, or that fear their jobs being outsourced, supposed to be civil with those who push such policies? Civility is what can take place with relative social equals, who might disagree it is true for ideological or religious or unfortunately sometimes ethnic reasons, but who at least face the same material conditions which at least provide a starting place.

      There are additional complexities as when one’s good is active social harm (those paid to build the pipelines or mine coal, or all forms of law enforcement of course). There is no pure right in some of those cases, yes ok ending fossil fuels is what should be done, but it does have victims (less than continuing it).

  9. hreik

    DAP

    Protesters said that those arrested in the confrontation had numbers written on their arms and were housed in what appeared to be dog kennels, without bedding or furniture. Others said advancing officers sprayed mace and pelted them with rubber bullets.

    “It goes back to concentration camp days,” said Mekasi Camp-Horinek, a protest coordinator who said authorities wrote a number on his arm when he was housed in one of the mesh enclosures with his mother, Casey.

    Link: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-north-dakota-pipeline-20161028-story.html

    1. Uahsenaa

      The numbers on arms could just be phone numbers. It’s a common tactic among protestors to write important info you’ll need later (like a lawyer’s number) on your arm with a sharpie. Organized actions often have a lawyer or group of lawyers on call to deal with hearings and press for habeas corpus.

      That said, there have been numerous documented instances of basic denial of rights/safety, such as refusing phone calls, not feeding inmates for more than eight hours, refusing people their medication, etc. Just another chapter in the ongoing saga of how natives always get the s**t end of the stick.

      1. tegnost

        from the 100 most damaging email list kindly posted by rich on 10/29 links in comments re compliant citizenry…bill ivey says to podesta…
        “…we’ve all been quite content to demean government, drop civics and in general conspire to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry. The unawareness remains strong but compliance is obviously fading rapidly. This problem demands some serious, serious thinking – and not just poll driven, demographically-inspired messaging. ”
        IOW, let’s find some weaklings to kick and strike some fear into the plebes

        1. Uahsenaa

          Well, that would be a catch-22 for TPTB, because a more civically engaged citizenry would also start demanding the things that have been denied them year after year and bring the mass power to bear to achieve it, thus weakening the whole neoliberal project.

          I guess what they’re looking for is some kind of sweet spot, where they remain in power but keep the citizenry content. If that’s what they’re looking for, then there will need to be quite a bit more give and much less take. The Japanese seem to manage having a right wing government with a more or less pliable citizenry, so they could start there, but then again, that would imply several public policy positions that neoliberals in the US cannot abide, like abolishing private health insurance and strict controls on immigration. And I should know how strict it is, I had to deal with Japanese Immigration on a number of occasions, and I was not even one of the “less desirable” immigrants.

    2. hemeantwell

      Always worth noting that “rubber bullets” are actually hard plastic cylinders that can easily cause a concussion or even kill. Perhaps this is a little loose, but I’d regard them as an intro level terror weapon. They are not like tear gas or water cannon, which when fired at you have a fairly well-defined maximum impact. From the LA Times article:

      “They were shooting their rubber bullets at our horses,” he said. “We had to put one horse down,” he said.

  10. abynormal

    of course Google would fiddle with ProtonMail…they’re cheap twats in fear of being uprooted from their throne. they’ve cost companies millions and yet made nothing for themselves in the process…NARCISSIST. i’ve been honored with a ProtonMails account since early 2015…its been smooth running without a glitch and Google should be afraid!

    In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself. Henry A. Wallace

    1. jrs

      if it’s free email, what is their revenue source? Ads? I suppose one could have ads and online privacy, but not targeted ads. I’ve been paying for an email account (in addition to having free ones) just to avoid all that.

      1. lyman alpha blob

        no ads. they operate on a shoestring budget deliberately from what I understand, feeling that trying for some sugar daddy investor would ruin their credibilty (they’re probably right). you can get a basic account for free and then there are a couple upgrades you can pay for – i think that;s where most of their revenue comes from.

        for those who haven’t heard about it, the service was developed by some physicists from CERN in response to all the spying going on.

              1. clinical wasteman

                The Italian-based (English-language interface and Norwegian server also available) inventati/autistici.org (search under either name) is very good and encourages strong encryption. Only problem is annoying compatibility issues with even relatively old operating systems: I reluctantly gave up using it a few years back when it stopped supporting Mac OS9. (No, I no longer use that now either, but OSX is worse and probably less secure: ad-driven browser blackmail was the only reason for the grudging switch.) Another option (though marred by the same ‘progressive’ embrace of planned software obsolescence, plus a sort of overt leftiness that might put some people off) is riseup.net, which is US-based, I think.

  11. fresno dan

    How the politics of debt explains everything The Week

    The logic behind “austerity” holds that “the market” — which the public had just bailed out — did not like the debt incurred when states everywhere rescued and recapitalised their banking systems. Unsurprisingly, tax revenues fell as the economy slowed and state expenditures rose. And what were once private debts on the balance sheets of banks became public debt on the balance sheet of states.

    But who pays for it? That would be the taxpayer. More generally, those who contribute to the payment of debts by not consuming government-produced services that have been cut. Basically, in most countries, this means that the bottom 70 percent of the income distribution bears the cost of paying for public debt.

    In this world, our present world, creditors will get paid and debtors will get squeezed. Budgets will be cut to make sure that bondholders get their money. And, in a highly indebted world, austerity — introduced as an “emergency” measure to save the economy, to right the fiscal ship — becomes a permanent state of affairs.
    …..
    Over the past 25 years, to make up for chronically low wage growth, that same 70 percent of the population has increased its personal indebtedness. Massively. Which means that in an economy deformed by austerity, they are the ones paying out — twice. With stagnant or declining wages, they have to service both the massive private debt they have accumulated to live and the public debt issued in their name.

    ================================================
    It is a testament to American, nay, Global propaganda, that the most indisputable, massive example of communism, the expropriation of wealth from the virtuous, prudent working members of a society by the incessant yammerers of risk and reward, and profit and LOSS, engineered more money to the reckless, lying, stupid, and criminal in history, and happened in plain site and was justified by both American political parties. The idea that this is done to save capitalism is astounding. SURE, we need banks – but we don’t need them run by the indisputably incompetent…..

    “In this world, our present world, creditors will get paid and debtors will get squeezed.”
    DEFAULT – its only bad if you stand to lose billions….and you can avoid default IF you own lots of media/politicians to convince the masses that profits go to the meritorious capitalists, but losses are due to deplorables….

    Its as if the captain of the Titanic survived, and they put him in charge of a fleet…

    1. abynormal

      this is a Testament for how Governments are employed by the Central Banks, the real Power. as large as this fiasco is…it all remains cyclical. with yields at 1956 levels, the barbers are sharpening blades and not a thing a leader can do about it.

      In the days when hyenas of hate suckle the babes of men, and jackals of hypocrisy pimp their mothers’ broken hearts, may children not look to demons of ignorance for hope.
      Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams

      Question: How often do we consider what children will endure when we’re sweet sweating these elections? The present is strong indicator…

      1. Jim Haygood

        One could argue that below-replacement birth rates in most rich countries indicate that many people HAVE considered what children would endure … and elected to spare them the struggle.

        1. abynormal

          hehehe, exactly why i appointed you Treasure last night…but Mr. Treasure, my pea brain is still swirling a chicken or the egg first scenario…if the people are forgoing their natural inclination to procreate due to financial squeezing, would this be a “consideration” based on free will? and when people are released from the financial burden(s), will the future generation procreate like rabbits?…thereby, exposing their children to another squeeze?

          1. Jim Haygood

            Probably a collective self-preservation instinct is at work. The economic myth of rational actors doesn’t fully apply.

            But in the opposite scenario — such as after the Black Plague — large families are socially valued, and contraception and abortion are suppressed.

            Some institutions are still stuck in that mode seven centuries on. ;-)

            1. abynormal

              “large families are socially valued, and contraception and abortion are suppressed”…Banks better gear up to go after Religion(s), again ‘ )

            2. Alejandro

              In the late seventeen hundreds, W. Godwin was writing and arguing that “mankind could achieve happiness through the use of reason”. Threatened by this “dangerous” thinking, a reverend and apparent spokesman for the rentiers of his time, T. Malthus countered by penning an essay on population, then peddled it as “science”…by extrapolating from the dubious “data” and unreliable “stats” of his time, he claimed that without the “restraints” of “pestilence, war, and famine”, population would exceed food supply…this became known as the iron “law” of population of a “founding father” of the “dismal science”… It’s been suggested that the notion of a “middle class” can be traced back to a {repentant} Malthus, when he claimed that the “poor” can gain a notch or two in the food chain by adhering to his densely “moral” caveats…leaving the perception that escaping poverty is exclusively in the hands of the poor, and ‘intervening on their behalf is a lost cause…this mind-“fukkery” lingers and festers to this day…

              There seems to be a strong correlation between infant mortality and population growth, which seems counter-intuitive, but the following data-geek with access to much better data and stats, seems to make the case:
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkSO9pOVpRM

          2. Lee

            Methinks the “natural inclination to procreate” is in fact the natural inclination to have sex. Alas, for still too many the biological link between the two functions has yet to be severed and so become a matter of choice.

            1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

              With the Pill, it’s possible for a woman to realize the possibility of severing the link.

              From what I’ve observed, many men still busy themselves with building the most fancy bower nests (by exploiting nature, accumulating resources, etc).

                1. abynormal

                  TruDat. now there’s enough pharmaceuticals to make sex feel unavailable too…this could also define lower birth rates

            2. jrs

              It may not be a strong natural inclination to procreate, but bringing kids into economic chaos, don’t think at some level people don’t know that is exactly what they are doing if their and their partners economic danger seems high – and yea choose to avoid it if they can.

              1. JTMcPhee

                Go watch “Jerry Springer” and such-like to get a little idea of the things that move people into filthy beds in cheap hotels and crappy apartments and the backs of cars and toilet rooms to do the funky chicken…

                Humans by and large ate any-opportunity fornicators… personal pleasure…

            3. susan the other

              mmm – what we need is an orgasm for public service; good productive research; environmental solutions… etc. an orgasm for the good things. Where’s the movie?

        2. Charger01

          Speak for yourself, tiger. As the saying goes goes, every generation has it worse than the previous. I sincerely don’t believe it. Don’t buy the doom and gloom hype.

          1. Katharine

            Some do have it worse. Consider Britain in the fifth century. Those soft erstwhile residents of the Roman Empire must, if they survived the invasions, have been horrified by the precarious and more primitive conditions of their remaining lives in the western regions to which they retreated.

            I don’t buy doom and gloom, because it serves no useful purpose. But neither does denial. You need to get the best picture you can of present and probable realities in order to judge what best to do.

            1. abynormal

              there ya go! which way is wind blowing?…a must ask question.
              the doom n gloom is created by the people exasperating the bad behavior of the finances…like banking at Wells or like my sister wiping out her saving to purchase a 2000.00 vacuum at a party (because the host were struggling, duh). Yellen has spoken. she’s can’t control inflation…food cost, heating, health etc are going to rise hundreds percent. the gloom will be those not bracing for it…even bracing for it will be a challenge for the frugal and informed.

              i post this brillant comment every once in a while…there’s enough new faces here that might appreciate (share) it as much as i still do:

              tim s July 21, 2014 at 10:14 am

              Comfort is overrated – it leads to dulling of the mind and body, which in itself leads to decline in family and society, which then leads us to where we are now in the west. I remember thinking back in the 90′s that the “success” of America at that point was nearly the worst that could happen to us, and look where we are now…. This could not happen to a people who were not collectively dull in mind and weak in spirit, not to mention short on critical thinking skills (also caused by not needing to think about much in a life of ease)

              struggle brings good people closer together and crises focus the mind, so you can look forward to that. You are still quite young and life rewards strength of mind and body in ways that are not immediately obvious – so all I can say is enjoy good moments when they come, which they will no matter what else is going on. There will be pain that comes with transitioning from a weaker to a stronger condition, but this is a worthy pain that will result in a good feeling once you have passed through and stand on a higher plateau.

              Good luck, you have the chance to be a hero. Somebody invariably will be – not everyone has to be cannon fodder.

    2. JTMcPhee

      “indisputably incompetent” only by a measure that might be applied by ordinary people.

      Like the nurses my wife used to work before the system trashed her health, who came over for a meal the other night. Caring, decent, loving people, preyed upon by ever tightening wolfpacks of corporate greed heads, wanting to help people and make crazy complex frequently changed “systems” of documentation work, somehow, to provide actual HEALTH CARE for the patients they serve. Remarking on the Quislings from the nursing cadre who not only go along with but actively impose and tighten the thumbscrews, because they are that kind of person or for minute increases in pay and “responsibility” (power over others). More and more work, from fewer and fewer people, for less and less pay, with more and more micromanaging and reporting and billing-driven workload and inevitable bad outcomes for those they are driven by their spirits to serve and care for. And living the horror of being aware of what is happening, but being unable to oppose and fight back because they live so close to the edge themselves, due to family needs and burdens.

      Is it actually cruelty, if it’s “just business, people”? “And by the way, the census on the floors is down so your hours are cut, clock out and go home” on a timekeeping system that steals 10 minutes from you at both start and end of shift… And only 31.85 hours this week? No benefits any more.

      “What you gonna do about it, huh, sweetie?”

        1. Charger01

          This. We’ll put Mr. McPhee.
          I still owe you a beer if you ever make it out to Washington State. I’d love to hear some of the EPA enforcement war stories.

          1. JTMcPhee

            Charger, don’t be going to WA to find me — I escaped the Dismal State, “Prozac Capital of the World,” for Sunny Florida about 20 years ago. By local standards, given FL’s demographic, that makes me a native now. But would be happy to share if you are in the Bay Area.

            Aside: Florida is a wonderful archetype of modern Rule — our Rulers and their funding sources (personal and campaign) hang out way off in the Panhandle, floating in a kind of geographic blimp attached only by bought-and-paid-for obligations to the kleptocrats and the ever-growing arteries of “mope tax revenues” that pipe power of that sort up into the balloon, moored hundreds of miles from the geographic and demographic center of the state, amongst the least dense (population-wise) environs of the state. Wealth from the Mopery flows to the sh!ts that just roll over their incumbencies, decade after decade, ever turning up the rate and depravity of the Great Looting, friends to “corporate interests” one and all. The whole structure is all about defeating any kind of “transparency” (WHY do people think that even being able to see the looters at play will somehow keep the roaches and tapeworms from their activities?) and “accountability.” Infrastructure failing on the way to privatization and infinite rent-collection, “health care” a sick joke, “Debbie Does Democrats,” water resources fading, water level rising, vulnerabilities of all sorts from diseases of the political economy and the environment and exposure to lots of “nuclear footprints” if the sh!theads start an Atom War, corruption endemic and epidemic.

            Hoping to live out my normal (if damaged) span before the Big One, whatever form it is going to take…And that the people I care about and care for will escape what seems to me inevitably on the way…

            1. HopeLB

              My father-in-law gave me Tim Dorsey’s Cadillac Beach. Hilarious and Dorsey’s serial killer character Surge is a Fl History buff.

        2. Jeremy Grimm

          Strongly agree! @JTMcPhee Very well put! And a sad commentary on what seems to be a direction for our futures.

        3. Jeremy Grimm

          On further thought — I believe more than just the helping professions make this same lament or at least variations on the theme. These complaints are similar to the complaints the research scientists made in a link from the other day and similar to complaints I had when I was still employed as a programmer. I think the trends toward micromanagement and hyper drives for “efficiency” with the consequent demand for and reliance on quantitative measures are manifestations not solely of austerity but of what C. Wright Mills termed the Managerial Demiurge.

          1. JTMcPhee

            It’s the Neoliberal Business Model, universally applicable. Interesting that the Neoliberal Business Community expresses admiration for and envy of the way Daesh/ISIS works their business… From Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2014-the-business-of-isis-spreadsheets-annual-reports-and-terror/#/, and a slightly different take, http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2014/12/08/isis-funding-terrorism-finances

            Interesting that ISIS is kind of a piker, if the article is correct — only a biliion in in assets — compared to the Clantons, pretty puny — And one wonders if there’s any humor to be drawn from playing with the words — Bill, Billionaire, (Clanton, Gates, etc.). Any really wealthy people surnamed “Squillion?”

            Go die… they tell us…

          2. Oregoncharles

            Engineering, too. My son works for a large engineering firm; good work, do mostly water treatment. He complains constantly about interference and bad decisions from Headquarters, that the grunts doing the work have to work around.

        1. ambrit

          This reminds me of the apocryphal story about the late lamented Adam Clayton Powell, member of the House of Representatives for Harlem who, when confronting an angry group of black demonstrators during the late 1960s, is credited with saying: “Why are you burning your own neighborhoods? Go uptown and burn the houses of the rich and powerful. They’re your real enemies.”
          “Keep the faith, baby.”

      1. Ivy

        Bug, or feature?
        There are many aspects of American life that seem to fall into tragedies of the commons. Here are the steps that Ostrom identified to show that groups are capable of avoiding the tragedy of the commons without requiring top-down regulation. See how many of those may be ignored or violated in nursing and other aspects of health care, for example, because markets.

        1) Clearly defined boundaries;
        2) Proportional equivalence between benefits and costs;
        3) Collective choice arrangements;
        4) Monitoring;
        5) Graduated sanctions;
        6) Fast and fair conflict resolution;
        7) Local autonomy;
        8) Appropriate relations with other tiers of rule-making authority (polycentric governance).

    3. John Merryman

      The basic fact is that finance is the circulation system required for a complex economy. As such, it is the epitome of a public utility. When it is treated as private enterprise, there is nothing to stop the skimming of value being generated, that would far more effectively be further circulated around the economy, not skimmed off by parasites.
      Government originated as private endeavor, eventually institutionalized as monarchy. We know how that eventually worked out. Modern finance started with the Rothschilds and the Bank of England. The great benefit of this is that it did separate finance from political influences.
      As a medium of exchange, money is like blood in the body, but as store of value, it is like fat in the circulation system. So as government functions as the central nervous system of society, banking is its heart and circulation. They serve separate needs and so need to be kept separate, but that doesn’t mean they both can’t be public utilities.
      Currently value is being stored as public debt, but rather than borrowing this excess out, an effective system would tax it out, or threaten to. In which case, people would quickly find other ways to store value, such as stronger communities and healthier environments, aka the commons. Then their needs, from child rearing to retirement, would be taken care of organically and not require the whole apparatus of the state.
      “It takes a village.”

  12. sleepy

    About the article on Minnesota’s economy–

    I don’t know if it’s still true or not, but I recall looking at some state level income stats a few years ago that compared the various states’ top quintile median household income with their lowest quintile. If memory serves me correct, the top quintile income was not particularly high compared to other high income states. What brought the overall median income levels for the entire state up to 9th nationally was the relatively high median income for the lowest and the next lowest quintiles. No doubt that has changed for the worse over the past ten years, but I would imagine it is still better than most states.

    Of course there are extremely wealthy people in Minnesota, and there are certainly areas not booming, but having moved from the deep South to the upper Midwest, the relative lack of extreme poverty and the resolutely middle, middle-class culture was striking and observable. I also noticed that small towns in this area tend to take poverty in their midst as a poor reflection on the community as a whole, not so much a reflection on the poor themselves.

    Another factor is, of course, Minnesota’s relatively friendly labor laws. For example, I live in Iowa 30 minutes south of the state line, and teachers here are well aware of the fact that Iowa prohibits public employee strikes, unlike Minnesota which allows them.

    http://labornotes.org/2001/11/minnesota-public-employees-win-largest-strike-state-history-0

    1. Uahsenaa

      As a former and hopefully soon again union member in Iowa (the union situation at UI is, well, complicated), I can attest to the inability to go on strike to being a real restraint on what teachers can get from admin. When I was at Michigan, the admin was recalcitrant all the time, but we could always strike in such a way as to really hit their bottom line, not only because of class cancellation but because of solidarity from construction crews as well, and it only took a day or two to bring admin back to negotiations. As a result, grad students and lecturers at UM have the best contracts among any of their peers, both in terms of pay and benefits.

      In case there were any doubts, Right to Work has real consequences for people’s material circumstances.

      1. UserFriendly

        Things aren’t all rosy up here. Our labor leaders and leading coruptocrapts are thoroughly neoliberal. You can check out this blog of our SEIU president / Super Delegate declaring he’s with #WithHitlery. Or his horrible podcast aptly named “Wrong About Everything” where 2 D’s and 2 R’s chit chat about how horribly Scary the big bad Trump is for saying mean things and how they are all so very with her. Do scroll back and find the episode where Mr SEIU chief spouts off with palpable rage at Sanders for daring to challenge the Queen. Check out his genius plan to ditch caucus’s and go to primaries from now on because activists had too much power. He also talks about his hubby, the Chief of staff to Minneapolis’s Mayor, who just got fight for 15 off the ballot this november.

  13. sd

    Not sure what to make of Bernie Sanders editorial in the Boston Globe. I just don’t see Hillary Clinton doing anything for anyone not in the 1%. There is absolutely nothing in her personal history that suggests she will magically change if elected. Everything about her has and will continue to cater to the 1%

    1. temporal

      When you wish on HRC
      Makes no difference who you be
      When you wish on HRC
      Your dreams will come true

    2. John Wright

      He only mentions Clinton once in the entire article, at the beginning when he writes he is working “that Hillary Clinton is elected president”.

      I went to see Bernie’s rally at Oakland, CA at the end of May and the optimism of the large crowd was high.

      After Bernie endorsed Clinton, someone he claimed had “bad judgement” in one of the debates, Bernie was tarnished in my view.

      He should have simply said, “with little enthusiasm I’m voting for Clinton because Trump will be worse for the country” and then avoided campaigning for HRC.

      Bernie was perhaps spinning the truth when he stated that “Clinton has bad judgement assertion”.

      Clinton’s judgement might be viewed as quite good, as she chooses policies and actions that benefit her.

      Bernie has continued to soldier on, even when knowing exactly how the DNC and the media worked against anyone but Clinton and treated him poorly..

      I now view the crowd at Oakland as being “off to see the wizard” and eventually suffering the same “Wizard disappointment” the characters did in the 1930’s movie “Wizard of Oz”.

      1. Uahsenaa

        Sanders is a political animal. He is almost certainly trying to jockey for a position of power in the Senate (Finance committee), should the Dems retake that chamber. If he were to give anything but a full throated endorsement of her candidacy, she and her people (as shown by the Podesta emails) are vindictive enough to do anything in their power to prevent that from happening, including tapping Schumer (her former fellow senator from NY) to stand in the way, since he would likely become majority leader in that scenario.

        I happen to think that it’s actually to his credit that he’s willing to get over how grossly they mistreated him and get back to being an effective legislator. If he plays this game correctly, Stephanie Kelton might very well have direct influence over policy in the Senate Finance committee. That in and of itself would be a real coup.

        If Sanders plays the post-election period right and at great expense to his own ego, he might score key victories with regard to stymieing TPP as well as installing one of the most progressive economists in the US where she can do real damage. I realize that’s not as flashy as the presidency, but it ain’t nothin’ neither.

      2. crittermom

        John Wright–
        “He should have simply said, “with little enthusiasm I’m voting for Clinton because Trump will be worse for the country” and then avoided campaigning for HRC.”

        I strongly suspect that he dared not do that without risking his health by way of the wrath of the Clinton Dynasty.

      3. sd

        The entire article is about what Sanders is going to do to implement the promises of the Democratic Party platform under the presidency of Hillary Clinton.

        I AM CURRENTLY working as hard as I can to see that Donald Trump is defeated, that Hillary Clinton is elected president, and that Democrats gain control of the US House and Senate. The day after the election, working with millions of grass-roots activists, I intend to do everything possible to make certain that the new president and Congress implement the Democratic platform, the most progressive agenda of any major political party in the history of the United States.

        If the “new president” is Hillary Clinton, she’s just going to ignore the platform. The only possible way to implement the platform was to nominate and elect Bernie Sanders. The establishment did everything it could to make sure that didn’t happen.

        1. jrs

          No control of the house and senate matter if you had decent people, it would force Hillary to veto good legislation and thus call her bluff. Whereas Bernie with the Presidency and a hostile congress, well could maybe have some influence on foreign policy or by bully pulpit.

          Of course the chances of say a Dem Senate being even moderately progressive when it’s awash in money are pretty low.

          1. hunkerdown

            And how does that change policy? It doesn’t. She’s still the Democratic Emperor for four years and the GOP and right-wing Democrats give her the war she wants to have, not the war we have.

            Is it blasphemous for liberals to believe that there are games that take more than one turn?

        2. Uahsenaa

          Even a lone senator has a lot of leverage. In the initial period of an administration, presidents need to get a lot of people appointed by the senate, and individual senators can and have put holds on particular appointments in order to show their displeasure, even presidents they otherwise support (see Warren and Obama). Much horse trading could take place based on that alone. The senate also has arcane rules that need to be navigated and which an experienced legislator can use to frustrate White House reps who don’t understand them well. And when it comes to things like TPP, all he has to do is throw a wrench in the works, which is relatively easy for a senator, rather than have to build a working coalition to pass something, which is what either Obama or Clinton will need.

          So, Sanders has the tools at his disposal to play this game. The question, in my mind, is whether he’s actually willing to use them when the time comes.

    3. johnnygl

      Well, mostly it’s bernie just being ‘on message’. But the subtext is that he’s remindung everyone that the dem platform his team negotiated with her team is a serious deal and he’s reminding dems that the deal is to be taken seriously.

      Bernie’s personal popularity remains sky-high in spite of those who talk about his betrayal. So if she tries to renege, he’s got the public, and his supporters, on notice.

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        I think he has a chance to get out now from the sinking ship.

        Build an ark, for after the deluge that will wash away the D party.

        1. JTMcPhee

          …all this makes me sort if regret that I recently sold my nice live-aboard 45′ sailboat and bought (well, gave a mortgage on, the note holder owns it) a tract house which sits on a slab poured on sandy soil, all of 19 feet above “sea level”… just ran out of strength, endurance and energy, moved into Pinellas County which the hateful, smart-ass young and rich refer to as “God’s Waiting Room”… but boats to “get away in” require fuel and metal fasteners and engine parts, and petroleum-based sailcloth and adhesives and coatings, which all come from “somewhere else,” and there’s no place to grow food crops, and the looting of the oceans means one can’t live off fish or clams or ousters that are either absent or loaded with toxins… and any more, there is no “away” to flee to…

          The Survivalist’s Dilemma…

          1. hunkerdown

            So use those metal fasteners and oilcloth and adhesives to build something useful and durable now, in order that there’s that much less for some g’dawful Mission Accomplished banner.

            I don’t suppose you’ve been following Dmitry Orlov’s shipwrighting experiment, perchance? Future availability of components and materials is foremost on his mind, right down to using garden hose and fittings in the fresh water system instead of high-tech stuff like PEX.

            1. JTMcPhee

              Remember that trimaran that “The Mariner” sails across Waterworld? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterworld The boat as I recall was in real life constructed for and used in a round-the-world or ocean-crossing race. A Grand Prix type structure, engineered to low weight and limited margins of safety. Durable stuff, marine-grade aluminum alloy, but those dacron or carbon-fiber sails and PBO rigging lines, would have been ultraviolet- and wind-shattered threads and dust, and the hull and mast and rigging, of different alloys, would long since have electrolyzed into aluminum salts and good old rust.

              Maybe there will be piles of 3/4″ brass garden hose fittings around (most are plastic, these days), and garden hose (also petroleum-based, also subject to UV and heat degradation-to-failure). What will surviving materials and components be connected to? ‘Round here, shallow well water is toxic, and it takes energy to pump the potable stuff from 160 feet down (not to mention how to dig such wells, and where to find casing and motors and pumps and such.)

              At some not very distant point, it will be back to smith-forge metallurgy at best, and “technology” will more likely look like this: http://www.wideopenspaces.com/man-builds-tile-roofed-hut-entirely-hand-deep-forest-video/ Can YOU live like that? Find that sweet spot that has the right climate and local trees and kinds of soil and mud? And food has to be acquired, by theft, violence or labor…. Survivalists know the vulnerability of solar panels, e.g.: some Mad Max nihilist can shower them with rocks or shoot them full of bullets or arrows and that’s the end of that.

              Sorry, I am not very optimistic — is that a violation of site rules against armchair cynicism, or something?

              1. hunkerdown

                JTMcPhee, go, good fellow, and look just what Dmitry’s been working on with his Quidnon, a copper-bottomed houseboat that sails. Neither he nor I are claiming it is some revolutionary Progress that will last forever. It is clearly a bridge technology that happens to use materials that we happen to have a lot of right now and that have a better-than-nil chance of they or substitutes being available in repair quantities in the future. But he and I would both agree that bouyancy doesn’t stop working just because the NYSE does. I might further claim such as Quidnon are a softer step down for those with the wherewithal to build and sail one (and for those around them, of course), for as long as we have resins with which to impregnate plywood, and I would further venture that his hull will work just fine with jute sails and hemp ropes if that’s what one has to hand.

                A boat made as a set piece on a deadline is just conspicuous consumption. Not even comparable to a boat made for working and living. That said, I suppose I’d better get back to work on my mini-forge.

                1. JTMcPhee

                  My boat, Water Music, was a one-off cutter/ketch motor sailer built by a wealthy perfectionist to very high standards, to sail the seven seas for the rest of his life. Large tanks for water, diesel, and kerosene for the stove. Masts could be struck down on deck from on board. Hull of epoxy-coated plywood. Wide external keel with lead and reinforced-concrete ballast, the boat would dry out upright on it. Old-fashioned clunky easy to maintain diesel. All the comforts of home, including bathtub and macerator-treatment systems for the toilets, and two large holding tanks for when in company. Took him too long to complete, cut his grand voyage to a few years only.

                  My wife and I did long cruises on it, and lived aboard for 12 years, at anchor and in marinas. All systems were painfully perfect, copper plumbing mostly, backups for everything, wiring to aircraft standards, tons (literally) of spares for nearly everything. I fitted a couple of large solar panels that provided all power needs (including refrigeration dual 12 volt and 110 system) except air conditioning, which as my wife and I aged and weakened became a health necessity, hence marina living mandatory. That was over $900 a month, to rent a rectangle of water 14 x 60 feet.

                  But still: Like Quidnon, there has to be a source of potable water. Desalinators are costly and finicky, and rainwater is sporadic and dodgy (toxins and pathogens). A copper bottom would have been nice, but even that requires cleaning (i did “careen” the boat once to scrape and scrub the bottom, but you don’t do that with a bad back and knees without a lot of help). Even the best plumbing and wiring fails. Lead-acid batteries (from where?) can last a long time, with a regular diet of distilled water (from where?). Diesel for the engine? Kerosene for the stove? I suppose we could have used a solar cooker (cloud cover permitting). I could move the boat under sail, but to get up a full head of steam required 15 knots of breeze. Sails need replacing, more often the more you expose to sunlight and stretching. Rope has to be replaced, come from somewhere. Boats need to be able to sail to windward in a storm, or they are just driven ashore by strong winds.

                  And unless one is “full macrobiotic,” one has to eat something other than air, and fish are chancy, what you can grow aboard is limited and vulnerable. The rest comes from “somewhere,” and there are whole books on how to keep food aboard from rotting and getting bug-infested (rot always wins). And if things go full-chaotic, one needs weapons to defend oneself (or rob others who are weaker,) and effective ones don’t grow on trees…

                  The few people who have actually LIVED and voyaged aboard simple boats, like described here, for instance, http://atomvoyages.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97:albertotorroba-1&catid=86&Itemid=491, were/are healthy strong younger very capable people who still take part in community and have needs supplied by consumer culture.

                  Maybe that is what will be left, at the end? The rest of us? “Go Die.”

    4. crittermom

      sd–
      I still like all of what Bernie continues to push for (other than supporting Hellary!), but still believe no one can move her in his direction on anything of real importance to us citizens.

      I refuse to accept the fact he believes what her lyin’ lips say, but think he remains determined to do what he can (and remain in good health?) to gain any ground in favor of what’s best for our country.
      So he continues to push for reform by way of getting like-minded candidates elected.

      I want to believe even he is a bit surprised at how quickly and blatantly she threw his followers and his ideas out after ‘winning’ the nomination.

    5. Lee

      Some questions of the moment that come immediately to mind: who is using whom and to what effect. I hope it is safe to presume that Clinton and Sanders are using each other to advance disparate aims.

      I don’t see the widespread rage and discontent in the US dissipating any time soon. Unfortunately it is at the very least bifurcated between left and right with added complexities of identity politics thrown in for good measure. Will Sanders serve to keep organized and coherent rage alive on the left? Will he maintain his separate donor base and, most to be hoped for, help create a separate stand alone organization that outlives him.

  14. Carolinian

    From Comey’s letter as quoted by the New Yorker

    Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record

    Says it all that the Clinton camp and her press cheerleading squad find this perfectly reasonable statement to be outrageous. By contrast if he had announced that new info meant Trump was under investigation for tax evasion they would proclaim that to be necessary public knowledge prior to an election (and they’d be right).

    1. Jeremy Grimm

      The EmptyWheel had some interesting observations regarding the Clinton emails, the DoJ and the FBI [ https://www.emptywheel.net/2016/10/30/story-judicial-dysfunction-behind-comey-whiplash/%5D . In addition to discussion of Comey’s character it a referenced piece by Larry Thompson (who worked with Comey when Comey was US Attorney) blasting Comey for ” … violating the long-standing prohibition on doing anything in an investigation pertaining to a political candidate in the 60 days leading up to an election.”

      1. Carolinian

        Wheeler and Toobin’s lawyerly scolding based on the ‘rules’ ignores the larger question of whether HRC was allowed to skate by Comey–and by implication his superiors–after a clear violation of the law. Of course Clinton and her surrogates would argue that even if she did violate the law there was no “criminal intent” but if rules are rules then rules are rules. What was widely accepted back in the summer was Comey’s notion that the public would render their own verdict on Clinton’s behavior in November. If that is the “solution” to this odd email controversy then the public is entitled to know the facts including the fact that new evidence may have emerged.

        1. Jeremy Grimm

          How could the pay-for-play indicated in Hillary’s emails not have a “criminal intent”?

          I read Wheeler and Toobin’s lawyerly scolding as an add-on to the existing scandals of how Hillary’s case has been handled — as pointing out the mishandling of long standing FBI protocols for dealing with an investigation — an investigation which should never have been preemptively dismissed by the Department of Justice and the FBI — and where are the security people dealing with Hillary’s and her team’s multitude of security violations?

      2. no one

        I am astonished that the powers that be have been allowed — no, encouraged — to sit on facts that are by definition relevant to an upcoming election.

        If a fact can affect an election, it’s relevant. And in any sane society, such information would be public as soon as possible.

        The sentiment that there is a 60-day hold on damaging facts is a product of politican-as-marketed-product, not any democratic process. So a politician’s marketing campaign gets a little mussed — isn’t that what competitive elections are about?

        The media, if they weren’t completely in the pockets of the elite, would have stopped this paternalistic babying of the voters long ago. How many of the past presidents, senators and House members would have lost had not relevant information been suppressed?

        While I find Comey to be as repellent as they come (waterboarding!), in this action he is correct regardless of his motivation.

        1. Jeremy Grimm

          The 60-day hold on damaging facts was described as a long standing FBI policy. I wondered why a security violation as egregious as Hillary’s private mail server wasn’t handled the way any other security violation of that severity would be handled. The contents of Hillary’s emails and the clear indications of pay-to-play should be more than enough on their face to disqualify Hillary with the voting public as a candidate for any office. This whole business of Comey’s handling of the matter besmirches the integrity — such as it is — of the FBI. The behavior of the news media and the voting public gives an uncomfortable demonstration of some of the concerns expressed by some of our more conservative founding fathers — which I also find appalling.

          1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

            Almost all of the folks in 1942 Germany ignored that awful smell from the camp in the woods outside town.

      3. Jeremy Grimm

        I think we can all agree it’s time to pray to Hercules to come down for an encore and bend the Potomac to clean up this mess.

    2. tgs

      Harold Dean tweeted that ‘Ironically Comey put himself on the same side as Putin.’

      Extraordinary.

  15. Expat

    Re: Ethics for self-driving cars

    This is a problem that could easily be resolved by the tort system. Strict liability for manufacturers, dealers and passengers if there is death or injury, with no limits on damages.

    No need for legislation at all: just a functioning judiciary and access to the courts.

    1. sleepy

      Yeah, why not. If for example Volvo made a defective braking system that resulted in death or injury no reason why our present legal system can’t assess damages. I understand that there are substantial hurdles to overcome in product liability cases but that avenue at least theoretically already exists.

    2. Sam Adams

      A functioning US judiciary and equitable access to the courts? And more unicorns and pixie dust.

      1. JTMcPhee

        This recovering lawyer adds a big “Right On!” To Sam Adams’ comment. This goes way back, to when I started my “career,” http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/learner-english/career_2, in “the law.”

        Nothing is ever what you think it is, the Old(smobile) http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/28/us/jury-orders-gm-to-pay-10000-in-switch-of-engines.html and the New, http://fortune.com/2016/09/05/general-motors-settles-ignition-switch-cases/

        And let us remember and offer a prayer for our friend abynormal, who has shared the horrors of “the legal system” as applied to her and millions of others…

        1. crittermom

          Absolutely. For abynormal and those suffering the same horrors.

          As well as to perpetualWar, who spent years attempting to save their home through our ‘legal system’, but we haven’t heard from in a while, which leaves me wondering their fate…

  16. Ernie

    Evaluating Germany’s Success in Regulating High-Frequency Trading? The article reviews German regulators’ attempts to tag HFT algos so they can try to evaluate whether there has been market manipulation. WTF? The whole point of HFT is market manipulation! It’s not an investment strategy; it’s an attempt to be better than anyone else at skimming a little off the top of the market. Any serious attempt to mitigate the harms caused by HFT must try to limit its scope by instituting a small fee on each transaction. It’s too bad that the only seriously competitive US politician proposing such a fee — Bernie Sanders — was kneecapped in this year’s Democrat primary.

  17. Otis B Driftwood

    For a fleeting moment I read The New Yorker. Staff insurrection and thought this meant the staff of The New Yorker was revolting against its editors. No such luck.

    The coverage of this election in The New Yorker has been among the most disappointing of any of the MSM organs. The October 31 issue is especially unbearable.

    I’ve been reading The New Yorker since my college days, and have had a subscription for as long as I can remember, even when money was tight. Now I can barely stand to look at the cover. A sign of the times, I suppose.

    1. Jim Haygood

      A long-ago office admin colleague of mine had previously worked at the New Yorker. She got proof copies of the new weekly edition the night before it hit the newsstands.

      She was rather enamored of the attention she attracted on the train, having an advance copy of a publication that no one else could buy.

      Other than the cheap thrill of impressing total strangers on the subway, I can’t think of a single reason to read the New Yorker.

  18. Ché Pasa

    The unfortunate facts of all this renewed email excitement include the fact that the FBI’s record of integrity, honesty, and so forth is not that stellar, a situation that goes back to JEdgar Hoover and the institution’s foundation. The FBI has been notorious for any number of questionable investigations and actions and for laboratory failures and false testimony going back decades.

    The FBI is also a constant political actor.

    Thus anything that results from the current email investigation will be subject to criticism from those who know the FBI’s ways and have been criticizing the agency all along. The Clinton campaign hails and cites Comey when he does something they agree with, and they denounce Comey and call for his head on a platter when he announced this new wrinkle — in what has been a fairly witless investigation up to now.

    The Trump campaign, of course, has had its own issues with the FBI’s handling of this matter that they no doubt will continue to question and dispute no matter what the outcome of the latest email discovery.

    There are many, many other FBI issues the Trump campaign could be questioning and disputing, but they haven’t done so.

    All they’ve done is call for their own people to be put in charge of the DoJ, thus to do their bidding rather than Obama’s or Clinton’s, which is nothing more than a statement that the whole apparatus is political, as if we didn’t know.

    The answer, the real answer, is to abolish the DoJ — including the FBI — and start over. They are irredeemable. But of course that’s a bridge too far, especially when operating the existing levers at DoJ and its agencies for one’s own political interests and objectives is just so very tempting.

    1. Jim Haygood

      Ex-FBI director Kallstrom:

      A former FBI official said Sunday that Bill and Hillary Clinton are part of a “crime family” and argued top officials hindered the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was secretary of State.

      During a radio interview with John Catsimatidis, former assistant FBI director James Kallstrom heaped praise on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before taking aim at the Clintons.

      “The Clintons, that’s a crime family, basically,” Kallstrom said. “It’s like organized crime. I mean the Clinton Foundation is a cesspool.”

      http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/303458-former-fbi-official-clintons-are-a-crime-family

      Kallstrom — whom many suspect of orchestrating the TWA 800 cover-up — reflects all the cross currents so ably described by Che Pasa.

      It’s a case of the Genoveses calling the Gambinos “mafia dirtballs.”

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        He can also say Earth revolves around the Sun.

        We’re left with looking at the information itself, and not the conveyor of it.

      2. james brown

        Heaped praise on Trump? Although I’d not have the stomach fortitude to listen, I’d love to know what the basis for the praise was. As far as I can tell the only positive attribute of Trump is he’s not a Clinton. Sort of casts doubts on the objectivity of Kallstrom but I guess if it was posted to a blog it must have validity.

        1. John k

          Not Clinton is just part of it.
          Only chance for progressives in 2020 is if the electorate rejects the latest dem neolib/con offering.
          Invest in your future!

    2. MIWill

      Yes. What could be the starting point from which sufficient integrity exists to suffer erosion? Can a null set tarnish? The hair lab fiasco wasn’t so long ago, though I imagine no important people were harmed.

    3. DJG

      Che Pasa: The Department of Justice is not the issue in itself. The country could use a chief lawyer. But the secret police are what have to go. Not just the FBI. The CIA, which Obama has been defending by not releasing the torture report, should have been abolished a long time ago. And if I read some of the articles about Guantanamo correctly, the FBI had a presence there to.

      Also to be abolished: The NSA and the secret court systems.

      They all stink to high heaven. But at least that information is now out there. Let’s see if it gets through to even the most clueless supporters of both Trump and Clinton.

      1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

        The highest law enforcement official in the land took the Fifth the other day regarding the multi-billion $ Iran bribery scandal.
        We’re all out of options

  19. abynormal

    Whoa Lambet, Frightening Catch on the Foreign Direct Investment/Portfolio Flows/¡DARK POOLS!…while reading thru the piece i couldn’t help but consider how the emerging markets/3rd worlds are enjoying a taste before serious piles of bank garbage is dumped on them. i’m probably reaching…but the 2nd world is missing :-/

  20. JTMcPhee

    Interesting patterns: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/shootings-occupation-palestinian/ and https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-how-many-people-police-have-killed-so-far-in-2016-7f1aec6b7098#.lh59ud3x8

    So there are maybe 4 million of those “Palestinians,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories, that Israelites refer to as “roaches,” http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-florida-facebook-palestinians-idUSKBN0FD2JV20140708 and the Israelites have killed 265 so far this year (which excludes all those killed in “mowing the grass” attacks on Palestinian occupied territories). That’s compared to about a thousand USians killed by our Property Protection Forces. Is it better to be a Palestinian, or a USian then?

    And how does any of this get “made all better,” I wonder…

  21. Dave

    Bully driverless cars? Damn right, more like “monkeywrench” them.
    Humans are to be respected and treated like, well, humans, with all the rights and responsibilities of people. Humans own property and that property, such as a parked car, should be respected.

    However, a moving autonomous machine, with its own agency–in a public place, actually competing with taxpayers who own that space? An autonomous machine that can injure or kill a human being or a small child or a loved animal companion, an added extra layer of awareness and insecurity forced upon people in public—just how do you make eye contact with a driverless car before you cross in front of it? And all for the profits of a fake human corporation?
    No sir, we will not accept this and we will fight it tooth and nail or “key”.

    It’s not the vehicle itself that is the problem, it’s the agency, the ability of an inanimate object to control and affect humans around it in a public place that triggers a deserved reaction.

    i.e. Years ago as I stood on the narrow public sidewalk in front of my favorite coffee house speaking with a friend, a talking car alarm from a vehicle parked at the curb warned in a loud mechanical voice. “MOVE AWAY FROM THE CAR, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE, MOVE AWAY FROM THE CAR…”
    My immediate, and I admit, somewhat immature reaction, was to kick a large dent in the side of the Rolls Royce from which issued the demand. Then the real car alarm went off, a Viper, with the constantly changing siren, buzzer, yowl, sold by Darrell Issa, later a California congressman. Several other people came out of the coffee house and after some consultation on what to do about the ceaseless racket, began to add their kicks and cups of coffee to the finish of the vehicle.

    The look on the owner’s face when he returned to his dented, coffee splattered treasure was priceless.

    I suggest that teenagers invent a series of games that involve running up on the hood and roof of driverless cars, hitching rides on them on their bike and generally treating them like a challenging moving skateboard ramp.

    The clear division between right and wrong is very simple here; if a human being controls it from within the vehicle, it’s not right to do anything to it.— If no human being, then use it to vent all your frustrations at robocalls, junk mail and other intrusions on our human sovereignty. Do it for the children.

    1. pretzelattack

      iirc, issa was also a former car thief. not that that in any way disqualified him from being in the house.

    2. human

      It’s not the vehicle itself that is the problem, it’s the agency, the ability of an inanimate object to control and affect humans around it in a public place that triggers a deserved reaction.

      Like traffic lights at 3AM with not another car in sight. We have been indoctrinated to accept the authority of machines since our earliest experiences. Not that the expense of red light cameras could have been put to better use /s. There will be volumes of new law to protect ‘citizens’ and their property.

      1. Dave

        OK, I should have written “the ability of a “moving” inanimate object…”

        Feel free to ignore the traffic light at 3 A.M. unless a cop lurks nearby. That’s a choice you make, not one that’s imposed upon you by something that can run you over or kill you and that has autonomous mobility.

        Also, a traffic light is public property, not a privately owned impediment to freedom of safe movement in a public place. What about publicly owned autonomous vehicles?, it’s a slippery slope…

  22. Eureka Springs

    One has to appreciate the protesters for showing once again just how absurd government in tandem with private security is in the grassy plains of North Dakota! American citizens whether agreeing with the goal of fellow citizens protesting or nay should wake the F up! You are no different than an Iraqi, Afghani, Somali, Honduran, Palestinian… the same forces of opression can and are being used upon you by the same people, owners and trainers.

    We’ve only learned from the Pinkertons forward to just keep up the oppression!

    That said, I have friends who have been there since the beginning and plan on staying as long as necessary. I now fear for their lives. And in my heart I’ve always know their efforts would prove futile but support thm any way I could. I now think they should walk away. They are kettled target and torture practice, nothing more.

    And this government is entirely illegitimate to me, including my fellow citizens who think/do/say nothing but keep voting for those who will do this.

    Goddess bless Dr. Jill Stein for going there. Because she’s on the ballot I’m going dance a snoopy dance on my way in and out of the voting booth this year…and not give the duopoly one damn vote on any ticket ever again. Not even for dog-catcher. Think of the dogs!

    1. pretzelattack

      it’s a lot more dangerous to protest a pipeline than to take over a wildlife refuge with guns. apparently horses are dangerous weapons that provoke gunfire, but guns aren’t.

        1. pretzelattack

          which would be an argument for the protestors being armed. i still think the govt response to this would be overwhelming force, unlike malheur.

    2. DJG

      Agreed. And I am also astounded and gratified at the resilience of the Native American peoples, who have had to endure everything from genocide to the stupidity of Oklahoma! (Let’s write a musical about stealing Indian Territory!)

      I recently read Masters of Empire by McDonnell, about how the Anishinaabe peoples dominated the Great Lakes and played the French and English off each other to keep the Europeans under control. So the clear-sightedness of the Native American peoples and their very clear-sighted spokespersons is someting to behold.

      1. ekstase

        Yes. “One man likes to push a plow. The other likes to chase a cow. That’s no reason why they can’t be friends,” may have been a catchy lyric, but it kind of glosses over how those two groups came to “own” their land. We have a lot of explaining to do in this country.

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg5cwSBnyQU

  23. temporal

    (warning massive Javascript site. The better to see you with, my dears.)
    The Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility on Friday against FBI Director James Comey for interfering in the Presidential election, following the FBI’s decision to open up an investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails this close to Election Day. Federal employees are forbidden from participating in political activities under the Hatch Act.

    … Comey needs to focus on stopping terrorists and protecting America, not investigating our soon to be President-Elect Hillary Clinton.
    (Because laws are for the little people. Weiner’s and Huma’s possible misdeeds are too small to matter.)

    The Hatch Act
    It forbade officials paid with federal funds from using promises of jobs, promotion, financial assistance, contracts, or any other benefit to coerce campaign contributions or political support. It provided that persons below the policy-making level in the executive branch of the federal government must not only refrain from political practices that would be illegal for any citizen, but must abstain from “any active part” in political campaigns

    …The language was crafted so that the Secretary of State was covered by the Act’s restrictions on political activity.

    I don’t see what this has to do with Comey but there does seem to be someone to whom it applies. Glass houses and all that.

    1. hunkerdown

      Like the term “bureau” overtaking a growing arena of space around that cloth covering the table where all the secrets are stored, Hillary appears to believe the entire 2016 election, media, government and all, is Her campaign.

  24. Eureka Springs

    And I’m adding a new word into this here zeitgeist right now. Neither duck duck nor teh goog have it as of this moment.

    Duevilist.

    Don’t be one. Don’t even encourage them.

  25. BobN

    I don’t get it. Are you at naked capitalism rooting for a crazy billionaire? Could you finally make a definite coming out regarding you election preferences but without “on the one hand…”?

    1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

      Yes. Given a choice between that and the takedown of our entire fabric of democratic institutions it’s pretty clear to me which is a more clear and present danger.
      For the record I voted for McGovern, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and Obama (once)

    2. hunkerdown

      BobN, personally, anything that punishes careerism and ambition, or utterly destroys one of the elite power centers in government, is 100% okay with me. I suppose the jig is up for whatever grift you were running.

      The Democratic Party is a racketeeering organization that lies to its customers just like any other business, as the steady flow of internal information suggests. Why are you defending racketeers and their clients? Self-esteem is not an acceptable rebuttal to the charge of corruption and lying. And no, I don’t need to vote for liars. That just encourages them.

    3. sd

      It sounds like you have an issue with anyone choosing to make an informed decision regarding this election. Who someone chooses, matters not. That they do it with their eyes wide open, now that’s the important part.

  26. Jim Haygood

    The New York Post — a tabloid read almost exclusively by deplorables — is on a roll:

    We must forgive Mark Twain for his error when he declared that “history never repeats itself but it often rhymes.” After all, he’d never met the Clintons.

    A restoration of the Clinton presidency would be a restoration of the national and moral chaos they invariably create.

    They can’t help themselves. They are corrupt and corrupters, the ­Typhoid Mary of politics.

    Whether by nature or nurture, they are programmed to ruin. Friends, allies, institutions — all are stained by their touch.

    And always, the Clintons blame somebody else. The victim card is a Clinton family heirloom.

    http://nypost.com/2016/10/29/hillary-only-has-herself-to-blame-for-the-mess-shes-in/

    Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in.” — The Band

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      “What do I have to lose?” – when Hillary gets back to White House.

      That’s why the Little People must not let her win on Nov. 8.

    2. grayslady

      A little late for the Post to be throwing spitballs from the bleachers. Didn’t they endorse Hillary in the primaries? Bob Herbert, then with the NY Times, had it right in 2001 when he said that the Clintons are a “terminally vulgar and unethical couple.”

    3. Mo's Bike Shop

      Surely no foreign intelligence service has yet sussed out that the Clinton admin will always be one Bimbo Eruption away from a legitimacy crisis. Whew!

      1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

        Who knew the bimbo would be a Muslim-American woman sharing late-night tender moments with the falling down Parkinson’s grandmother

  27. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    Can China solve its corruption problem?

    Not when money is still pouring out.

    The world needs to help out, by sending China’s wanted (with their money) back.

    1. JTMcPhee

      Might I offer that the comment is full of what seem to me to be massive category errors and misfiled memes. What is “the world?” What part of whatever fits in that set is going to have any inclination or power to “help out”? Send “China’s wanted” back where, for what purpose, into a political economy that is based on corruption and tiered law and outlawry and consumption and looting? I wish your wish was right.

      There ain’t any organizing principle that reaches enough people, out of 8 billion, where they live and how they live, to move the Juggernaut off its path over the cliff. Not aligned with stability, self-control, can’t even manage delayed gratification, let alone that stuff my Depression-experienced grandparents advised, “Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.”

      Too much personal greed and pleasure-seeking and desperation and profit and habit and momentum aligned with the existing vector…

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        China has sent out a list of their 100 most wanted fugitives.

        Here is an article from CNN: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/23/news/china-most-wanted-economic-fugitives/

        While the U.S. doesn’t have an extradition treaty with China, the State Department can still return fugitives to China.

        “We must be satisfied that an individual extradited from the United States to another country would receive a fair trial and not be subject to torture or other forms of mistreatment in that country,” a department spokeswoman said last month.

  28. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside.

    And Bernie should undo his endorsement.

    Newspapers should as well.

    “It’s possible to un-endorse, you know.”

    1. pretzelattack

      he’s had ample reason to, already, imo. most if not all of the newspapers are in the tank; i’m suspending making that judgement about bernie at this point.

      1. Eureka Springs

        Yes Sanders should have more skin in the game. Berniecraps should at the very least demand an answer to the following question:

        Senator Sanders, Is there anything Hillary Clinton could do in order for you to revoke your endorsement? Because having your Secretary of States beloved chief of staff keep her secret conversations on her pedophile husbands laptop is the kind of experience you endorse now.

        1. anti-social scientist

          Because having your Secretary of States beloved chief of staff keep her secret conversations on her pedophile husbands laptop is the kind of experience you endorse now.

          You should definitely write him with this! He’s sure to take it seriously.

          1. pretzelattack

            looks like the fbi got a warrant. that could help him take it seriously, if those secret conversations involved classified materials. espionage, no?

            1. anti-social scientist

              Yes, Comey’s plan is to let this ruminate in press thru election. So very Ken Starr-ish of him.

              “My Husband, the Pedophile/Spy”…now a Lifetime Original Movie

              1. pretzelattack

                whatever comey’s plan is, they still found the emails on the computer, yes? so getting back to the subject of the evidence, and bernie’s propensity for taking it seriously, i think it is quite likely that he will, though what his public response will be is another question. i personally think espionage is a more serious issue than a blow job, so i would compare the underlying crime (and clinton should already have been charged for this but for her influence) more to cheney outing plame, which would possibly make adebin the designated scooter libby in this, unless she rats out clinton.

                1. anti-social scientist

                  They found some emails – no idea if dupes or not yet – so yeah, Bernie, like most who are responsible, waiting to see if there is in fact any more actual evidence (as opposed to just more Chaffetz noise) before reacting. Good on him.

                  1. pretzelattack

                    they also found a private email server, which was against the law, and comey took the decision, which wasn’t his to make, to let her off. there was plenty of evidence for charging her. the emails shouldn’t have been on the computer in the first place. more evidence. they found some 650k emails from what i’ve read, so some is not quite the right word. bernie is responsible, clinton is not, or she wouldn’t have tried to get around the law this way; we don’t need more evidence to determine this. i’m quite sure bernie will take it seriously if it isn’t suppressed.

                    1. anti-social scientist

                      Confused me. If what isn’t suppressed exactly?

                      Rehashing of old news/smears isn’t going to make Bernie suddenly reckless, and, in fact, he’s still planning to stump for Clinton in 12 states between now and election day, so…

            2. EndOfTheWorld

              What Bernie says is irrelevant. HRC IS the candidate, for keeps. A lot of the voting has been done already.

              Bernie as a senator will have to work WITH Trump on anti-TPP, bring back Glass-Steagall, etc.

      2. Carl

        I gotta wonder what our poor hometown newspaper will do now…they’ve endorsed at least 4 Rs who weren’t Trump, and then endorsed HRC. Deep in the heart of the reddest of red states, the landscape is getting kinda confusing.

  29. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    FiveThirtyEight.

    “[0]ne way the campaign could end is with a whole crescendo of major stories dropping. That could make things complicated for pollsters and forecasters.”

    The first impression is not as important as the last impression.

    “Being wanted by the FBI,” – an impression that lingers, as voters cast their votes on Nov. 8.

    1. Jim Haygood

      Unlike 538, Prof. Alan Lichtman has been consistent and unwavering in forecasting a Trump victory:

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/28/professor-whos-predicted-30-years-of-presidential-elections-correctly-is-doubling-down-on-a-trump-win/

      His “13 keys to the presidency” are fitted to historical data. Systems like his are appealing because they help remove personal bias, even of the unconscious sort.

      As Lichtman cautions, though, secular changes that fall outside the scope of historical data can produce errors.

      1. EndOfTheWorld

        Not to blow my own horn, because who cares, there’s no money involved, I’m not trying to start a prognostication career, etc., but I have also been pretty much unwavering in predicting a Trump victory.

        If he loses, I will think it’s fixed. She has to go to a bar on Sunday morning to find an audience for her BS.

  30. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    Good job, NYT.

    A scandal too far…a test of loyalty.

    Really? The whole point or the most important point of the story is the testing of someone’s loyalty here?

    Whatever happened to the story: “Interview with Hillary at the leader’s bunker?”

    1. polecat

      That great rag, of McClatchy and co fame, ….. the Sacramento Bee, especially it’s editorial board, spouts much of the same kind of partisan dreck as the NYT ……

      turds of a feather ……

      1. Jim Haygood

        Why did the august NYT get scooped by the downscale NY Post and Daily Mail on Carlos Danger’s sex chats with children?

        Because such “inconvenient facts” are anathema to the NYT’s mission of serving as the Clintons’ PR Wire.

        The Clintons will soldier on. But the Saddam’s WMDs paper likely is not long for this mortal coil, having forfeited its last shred of credibility during its 10-month “elect Hillary” campaign.

        Think of the starving stenographers! :-(

  31. flora

    re: Epipen increases costs for the Pentagon.

    Autoinjector technology was originally invented for US military use in the 70’s. The invention was funded by US tax dollars. This modified autoinjector technology is now being sold back to the Pentagon, (again, US tax dollars), at what I’d describe as price gouging. The original company & technology was sold/merged, resold, and each time the purchase price jumped. Purchasing companies appear to have been “buying a market”. How much of the price jack is the result of overpaying for a near monopoly product?

    Although at least one generic exists, the FDA for whatever reasons, has denied several recent requests by companies to make generic autoinjectors.
    Mylan is the current Epipen owner. Mylan’s current CEO is Sen. Joe Manchin’s daughter.

    Interesting history of the autoinjector and Epipen from Wikipedia:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinephrine_autoinjector

      1. flora

        Thanks. Watergate was long ago, 40+ years. A lot of references to its different parts have dropped out of general use. And current politicians keep doing the same stupid stuff.

        1. abynormal

          i was in the 7th grade, had to watch live during history & other subjects. i only remember the boring monotone voices asking question i couldn’t follow. i remember no on could give me substance for the whole a fare. so people broken and stole info…what was in the papers? how a campaign was being run?? i tried to understand but ya gotta understand i was reading Forsyth for kicks and looking forward to The Fall of the Third Reich on my own time.

          i feel the same about Clintongate…until the emails show weight like how she really feels about and handled WAR, FIRE industry, and us little people.

          1. flora

            Yes, it was was a two-bit break-in at the Watergate to get Dem campaign info. Not a big deal in itself. But there was obstruction of the investigation in an attempt to cover up complicity higher up. Obstruction of justice was the big crime, not the two-bit break-in.
            Out of that scandal came two sayings:

            It’s not the crime that’s the problem, it’s the coverup .
            and
            What did the president know and when did he know it? (i.e. Was the president a part of the coverup?)

            And then there was the statement by Nixon: “If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”

            The articles of impeachment against Nixon listed as the first article: obstruction of justice.

            1. pretzelattack

              and don’t forget nixon’s immortal “i am not a crook”. don’t know why he didn’t use that during the earlier checkers speech.

  32. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    Senate approves women registering for the draft – CNN.

    I hope this is not some nefarious war-preparation plot (to ensure there will be no military personnel shortage), but to ensure equality and fairness in serving the country

    1. polecat

      yeah ,,,, sure !

      …did you drop your snark tag by chance ?

      on the ground ….. holding a hand lens …..

    2. DJG

      War is the health of the state. There is no end of the need for cannon fodder.

      On the other hand, I do believe that many trash-talking foreign policy “realists” who happen to be female like Clinton and Madeleine Albright might be less likely to blow people up if they and their children were subject to the draft. Because even the most battle-hardened XY-chromosome officer knows that starving children to death as a tactic is not a good thing.

      1. hunkerdown

        The history of women newly taking a position of power historically held by men is generally that of having something to prove. When a department or an entire state comes under their wing, expect vicious defense of their child, and of their imaginary child before their martyred flesh progeny.

  33. Synoia

    How will self-driving cars make life or death decisions?

    We know how to answer this question.

    1. Run over the peasants.
    2. Kill your occupants before damaging your betters.

    1. DJG

      Synoia! I’m not sure that I will relish being in the next lane if we are on the Pennsylvania Turnpike or the Edens Expressway at the same time.

      1. Synoia

        I am just following the precidents set by the Aristos in past feudal times.

        In the cowboy era there was another system promulgated. Fastest and most accurate with a pooly designed wespon.

    2. temporal

      It is already possible to take over some of the newer cars and trucks remotely. Not easy but doable. The car needs to be the kind that can get a remote bios update. Mostly upscale vehicles. Then do a buffer overflow and replace the bios with a modified version. Then the trick is to use the accelerator and steer with the left and right brakes. Pretty primitive because among other things you can’t really see where the car is going unless you are right there. Also each bios has to custom made so it’s hard work.

      Self driving cars, like the IoT for the tubes, will bring this to a wild new level. These things with their forward facing cameras and all the other nifty remote control attributes could make first person shooter obsolete. First person driver – that’s some wild and unexplored territory.

      Getting stopped by the police:
      Do you know how fast you were going?
      Sir. I don’t even know where I was going.

      1. Mo's Bike Shop

        How long before a cop unloads on a driverless car that ‘didn’t show proper respect’?

        Or have I just missed it?

    3. craazyboy

      2. Kill your occupants before damaging your betters.
      ——-
      Naturally they will be networked…and, say, you can buy google life insurance…..

      1. polecat

        3. Saddle up right next to one with some sand hooks ….. and ride it like a Fremen …..

        ….. ‘Ride the Worm’ ….. ‘:]

      2. hunkerdown

        So HFT algos can bid against other advertisers for the outcome of the unavoidable collision! Nice!

        polecat, only if the car’s 18 or older. (I’m bad.)

  34. Synoia

    Can China Finally Solve Its Corruption Problem?

    Certainly. Who should they use as their role model? The US? Europe? Africa?

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      If China asks for their economic fugitives, we can ask ours as well.

      We do have economic fugitives in other countries around the world.

  35. JTMcPhee

    The Imperial military structure is incapable of and not interested in staffing up a large ground force. Takes years just to teach people to kill — all the indoctrination, learning to employ all the toys of war, learning how to work around the idiot complexities and dysfunction of those toys and of course the idiot military command structure. Besides, it’s so much easier (if the Rulers can get it done sooner) to build obedient (sic?) autonomous killing machines, operated by Code, and AI, that would never, ever harm us humans… except “The Enemy,” of course — that wonderfully elastic concept.

    “What are all these nuclear weapons good for, if we can’t use them?”

    Fokking stupid humans…

    1. pretzelattack

      and of course those killing machines couldn’t be hacked. ever. not with people like clinton and abedin and podesta in charge.

      1. JTMcPhee

        Not to worry, the Imperial Ergonomic-Chair Battlespace Managers, who get to live like kings until they rotate out to even bigger rewards in the Private Sector, having divvied up the entire planet into 9 Warfighting Commands, to be managed by Their Excellencies from their consoles via a Grand Global Interoperable Network-Centric Battlespace Matrix, have created a Huge Cyber-Command with lots of Really Smart And Honest Consultants to help them first, crash the Evil Commies cybertools, and at the same time raise an Impenetrable Shield ™ to keep Our Imperial Daleks and Terminators and Bolos from shooting The Wrong People…

        Meantime, the Rapture Index keeps getting goosed up by, inter alia, those fokking Xtianist Air Force and other O-5-and-up officers who actually could pull off a “Dr. Strangelove” or “Seven Days In May,” or good old fashioned Military Coup. Not like those who have preyed on Banana Republics for a century and a half (“War is nothing but a racket,” remember) as they “allegedly” attempted in what was called “The Business Plot,” to get rid of that awkward class traitor, FDR, and his minions, and Special Operated regime change and destabilization all over the rest of the planet…

      1. JTMcPhee

        I went through Basic in 1966. It’s not just the 8 weeks of Basic, where you get some rudiments of how to march, take orders, be indoctrinated, and operate the basic weaponry and kit of infantry, and have sergeants shouting at you to yeall “KILL MOTHER!”, and MEAN it, Goddamit Trooper! while you are stabbing stuffed dummies with your bayoneted rifle.

        Then you now have to have a bunch of what used to be called “Advanced Individual Training,” it used to be an additional 8 weeks for infantry and more for other corps, then Jump School for the Napoleon Complex types, then integration into a field unit which also takes time, not to mention the time it takes to create and maintain a field unit in the first place, or the entire set of chains of procurement, logistics, command structures, deployment and on and on… With corruption and incompetence and venality producing “drag” at every stage…

        And once you get the troops (male and blessed female) into the field, you have to expect a fairly lengthy period of actual maneuver-and-fire combat before the troops get into the right lane for effective killing (while trying to avoid “dying for their country”), and when it comes to facing the expected murderous massive exchange of heavy weapons fire up to and including tactical and maybe strategic nukes, assuming the Neocons get their wet-dream result, what you get to is that horrible Gahan Wilson cartoon, “I think I won!” https://pictures.abebooks.com/CWORLD/8770392965.jpg OIF and OEF and Syria and Libya and Notagainistan ought to show the limits of the Current Model. It’s out of control, on all sides — weaponizing everything for profit, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, cuz “Its a career to be proud of…”

        “What is the mission, Soldier?”
        “To find, fix and kill The Enemy! SIR!… Uh, Sir, which ones are The Enemy?…”

        And for anyone who cares to, I recommend reading what is supposed to be the classic on warfighting, Sun Tzu on “The Art of War,” especially Sections I and II, which our Rulers and Great Military Leaders apparently skipped right over in their haste to Make War, Not Love: http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html All that stuff about having the Moral Law and Heaven on one’s side (not the bullsh!t sandwiches we eat at home, about Our God Favors Exceptional Us, but numerous observations about doing the right thing by the whole realm and not going to war except for truly existential reasons, and really especially about the idiocy of decimating the “peasants and nation” by prolonged foreign wars far from home, wars of aggression, attempted to be carried on at the ends of elongated lines of supply and against an Enemy who “has the moral law and Heaven on its side…”

        Oh hel!, might as well dump it in here (again), to be gobbled by Skynet if it cares to:

        “The Art of War
        By Sun Tzu
        Translated by Lionel Giles

        I. Laying Plans

        1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

        2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

        3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

        4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.

        5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

        7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

        8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

        9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.

        10. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

        11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.

        12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:–

        13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

        14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.

        15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:–let such a one be dismissed!

        16. While heeding the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules. …

        26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.

        II. Waging War

        1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.

        2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

        3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

        4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.

        5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

        6. THERE IS NO INSTANCE OF A COUNTRY HAVING BENEFITED FROM PROLONGED WARFARE.

        7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

        8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.

        9. Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.

        10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.

        11. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people’s substance to be drained away.

        12. When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.

        13,14. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.

        15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one’s own store. [Works pretty good for ISIS, and other “enemies”, no?]

        16. Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.

        17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.

        18. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength.

        19. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

        20. THUS IT MAY BE KNOWN THAT THE LEADER OF ARMIES IS THE ARBITER OF THE PEOPLE’S FATE, THE MAN ON WHOM IT DEPENDS WHETHER THE NATION SHALL BE IN PEACE OR IN PERIL.

        Doesn’t appear that either our princes or our generals pay a whole lot of attention to well-established ancient wisdom… They just skip ahead, to the parts about sneakiness and stealth and other “tactical considerations…” That’s where the fun and careers and profits are, after all, and F-35s and Zumwalts and Rail Guns and autonomous battle robots and drones and real-time battlespace management in the Great Matrix….

        1. makedoanmend

          The entire comment was a “keeper”.

          So much insight requires contemplation and re-reads…

          Can’t help think that the cabal of Nuland and their like should be put on the front lines with a pistol and their own savvy…then they’ll know war…but I doubt they’ll ever know empathy…

          Thanking you

  36. DJG

    Nature article on desertification of the Mediterranean basin: I’d be more confident if the writer got basic geographic facts correct: But starting off with Lisbon is plain wrong. Lisbon doesn’t have a Mediterranean climate. Portugal faces the Atlantic, and Portuguese weather is about fronts coming off the Atlantic.

    The article, admittedly, is a squib, but it would have been better to talk about climate change as it affects Sicily or Cyprus (which already have warmer climate than they “should” have because of deforestation) or the climate change in the Maghreb, if the data show it.

    I am not a skeptic of climate change: Reading about what is happening in Greenland horrifies me. Yet this article doesn’t advance the argument.

      1. optimader

        Climate change could flip Mediterranean lands to desert

        that’s why he wrote could. Leaves a lot of wiggle room
        “Polecat, go cleanup the garage!”
        Polecat(in lounge chair in yard): “I could do that!”

        1. polecat

          A ‘lot’ of things ‘could’ happen …..

          Look …. whether one believes in ACG or not, you can’t deny that Climate, generally, is not a static system, and desertification ebbs and flows throughout the planet, at various times, temporally, and in various locals …..and, frankly, many of these headlines, and the articles behind them are more sensational hypotheticals used to sell clicks or subscriptions …… I might add that Nature Magazine is not immune in this regard ……. and it often cheapens the
          view, held by the general public, of the scientific community ….

          …and said ‘lounger’, as such, has been put under wraps for the winter …and NOT in the the garage … as I do not have one ……

          Time to rake some ‘globally warmed’ fall leaves into the chicken run so they can pick thru and, hence, shit out some more carbon compounds ….. ‘:]

          1. Optimader

            Will be November tomarrow, and the ginger plant is blooming again, basil plants are growing new leaves, still have green tomatos on the vine, and lettuce that went to seed is sprouted a new batch and garlic is sprouted again
            And this is in Chicago

            1. polecat

              so far, you’re doin ‘better’ ….. if that’s the word …. than we here in the PNW ..

              …. although we hit an all-time-record for precipitation this October ….hummm

              three things I wish I could grow here : 1. citrus..esp. kaffir lime & mandarines
              2. ginger
              3. peaches

              1. Carl

                We got the citrus and peaches down here in South Texas, but the summers suck. Still upper 80s here at the end of October. Besides, can’t you pick the blackberries off the sides of the road up there in August?

          2. pretzelattack

            the could doesn’t have anything to do with the science. if you’ll notice they use the word “would” a few sentences down. it depends on whether we restrict fossil fuel emissions. if we don’t that “could” changes to a “would”, at least in the nature article that is referencing a peer reviewed paper in the journal Science. desertification doesn’t just flow randomly, and temperatures don’t rise randomly.

        2. Synoia

          I like my dessert. I do not want it to dry up, typically because it is consumed before it has a chance to dry up.

    1. Jeremy Grimm

      I didn’t read the desertification of the Mediterranean article because I don’t believe any of the climate models are good enough yet to predict local climate transitions. I did read the link about West Antarctica. What was scary to me about that link was the matter of fact discussion of the big crack in a NYC-size ice shelf along with the speeding retreat of Antarctic glaciers.

      Another reason I skipped the Mediterranean article was that I’d just read about the so-called Atlantic ‘cold blob’ and the apparent slowdown of the Gulf Stream System described at http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2016/10/q-a-about-the-gulf-stream-system-slowdown-and-the-atlantic-cold-blob/ . That cold blob combined with the ice shelf breaking off in the Antarctic makes an eiry echo of the start of the thriller “The Day After”. I’m not expecting the sudden beginning of a new ice age — it’s just a reminder to me of how difficult it is to predict local climate effects given the complexity of the systems involved. So — desertification of the Mediterranean — maybe — and/or especially cold climate because of the slowing of the Gulf Stream System — hard to predict. The one prediction I can make without hesitation is that things are changing and seem to be changing at an increasing rate and I don’t think we’ll like the outcomes. I don’t plan to make any investments in New York City real estate and I don’t have money for it anyway.

      1. susan the other

        that post was worrying for me… i do think the global warming science is pretty solid. the western antarctic ice sheet slipping away has been deemed inevitable – and now they are stating yet another ocean rise stat: 4 feet. the ocean rise prediction has gone back and forth from 60 feet to 2 feet. i guess one variable is that ice (expanded) that melts leaves a big hole and absorbs some of the ocean rise – or whatever. I do know one thing for certain – the nights are warmer where i live. a high-mountain-desert climate where the nights used to be 30F in the summer – they are now 50F in november. never could sleep that warm.

      2. pretzelattack

        the models improve as people work on them, and the science isn’t based on just models, i believe.

        1. Jeremy Grimm

          I think there are also attempts to match up present conditions to conditions in the past and make comparisons as things change.

  37. DJG

    Lambert Strether: I know that you do not do “requests,” but if you can find out what Howard Dean is drinking, I am asking for a bottle. I have been known to touch cognac, scotch, and rye whiskey (not at the same time), yet none of these produces such hallucinations.

    Absinthe? Do you think that he is being over-served with the Green One? Or would that elixir be too dangerously close to producing dreams of Jill Stein?

    1. polecat

      Absinthe is simply too high-class ……

      I would suggest Ripple is probably what your looking for …..

      …not for you personally, mind you ….

      …send a case to ole Howie ! I’ll pitch in for the freight charge …

  38. optimader

    How will self-driving cars make life or death decisions? World Economic Forum. Davos Man weighs in.

    Easy! Who’s lives take precedent?…Who’s paying the bills? Ergo, the lives that matter are the car occupants. Solution: Zero altitude ejection seats!
    Just need to work out the bugs for use in tunnels and parking garages.

    1. Jeremy Grimm

      Are self-driving cars the biggest worry or self-driving long-haul trucks? Are there plans for building self-driving long-haul trucks?

      Our Cartels probably still remember the days when teamsters could shut down the Corporate operations — at least before the union was managed by more accomodating forces. And the Federal Highway systems seem like they would be more amenable to upgrades better accommodating driver automation. Trucks also seem like a more cost effective place to put a potentially expensive piece of automation.

  39. Paid Minion

    Story on Yahoo News, about how “loyal” the Clintons are to their inner circle, even when they eff up.

    Loyalty? Or are they protecting them, because they know where the Clintons hide their dirt?

    Sounds like a criminal conspiracy to me. RICO, anyone?

    Like the private e-mail server, and Abedin being on three different payrolls while at State. Prototypical setup to muddy the waters, and impede investigations until she was elected President. A go for broke strategy. Win, and the problems go away. Lose, and any further investigations make it look as if the Republicans are “piling on”.

    A Bernie Sanders win would have been a worst case scenario. No way to blame “partisan Republicans”. No leverage over the Sanders Administration. All those millions in campaign/Clinton Inc. Investments, with nothing to show for it. Who knows what might happen? Who knows what kind of beans the banksters might spill, if genuinely threatened with jail time.

    1. hunkerdown

      Loyalty? Or are they protecting them, because they know where the Clintons hide their dirt?

      That’s exactly what loyalty is: a pact to defend the indefensible.

  40. Jay M

    Recent SV patent apps: Your last words please!
    Abstract: Device similar to airplane cockpit recorder turns on when self driving car makes death decision loudly announcing “your last words please, after the beep”. Covers both hardware and software.
    Includes forwarding to next of kin via FEDEX.

  41. Paud Minion

    “Americans dying faster”

    Think of all the fiscal problems that are solved, if you can kill off the “useless eaters” when their economic value approaches zero.

    Suppose you decided that killing off the lower 70% of the population was fiscally sound (and do the PRB count people as anything other than fiscal assets/liabilities?). Also assume that in order to maintain some myths that have been found to be profitable/desireable, that gas chambers, gulags, and labor death camps are out of the question.

    What policies/programs would you promote to have the desired effect? Double points for those plans that allow you to blame the victim.

    A multi layer campaign to strip money and assets from those least likely to be able to prevent it, while incentivising the people you want to keep around would have all kinds of “synergies”.

    Recreate Somalia, and you get Somali levels of life expectancy. So the trick is to find a Third World country with “sustainable” life expectancies, and recreate it here, preferably without the lab rats noticing.

      1. hunkerdown

        From Moses to Sandy Koufax… now, assume that method’s played out and wouldn’t pass muster in a modern liberal society. Bhopals or “previously unknown” Lake Nyoses having limnic eruptions could be suspicious. Then what?

        Mechanism is not the issue here. Policy and posterity are. Without elitism, individual elites are nothing. Without subordinates, elitism is nothing.

    1. Synoia

      1. Hit by a driverless car.
      2. Trying ti choose between Donald and Hillary (both a too tough to eat)
      3. Too much weed
      4. Wants a better perspective on the world
      5. Too much beer
      6. Teenager, Too tired to go to school today

    2. hunkerdown

      7. Trying out for the Russian Ballet
      8. Boudoir photography to help find a mate
      9. or just wants belly rubs (don’t we all?)

  42. Jim Haygood

    In an editorial satirically titled “How Hillary Clinton Met Satan,” the NYT ups the ante on playing the woman card, to a fever pitch never before witnessed on our small blue planet:

    Understanding [Hillary’s] demonization requires admitting her full significance in our political history, for she is not simply a pioneering woman fighting an Ur-misogyny. Her famous “hiddenness” is, at heart, her refusal to cop to the crime of purloined male authority.

    Mrs. Clinton faces a two-headed Cerberus, an artificial conjoining that occurred in the early 1990s, of wounded Republican invincibility and wounded male prerogative. Our current political crisis won’t be resolved until those forces are separated and the Cerberus slain.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/opinion/sunday/how-hillary-clinton-met-satan.html

    In her very next sentence, the poor dear contradicts herself by asserting that “Few current observers seem to recall the wrath that greeted Bill Clinton’s ascension.” Obviously that wrath had nothing to do with “wounded male prerogative” (unless we’re talking about Bill’s droit de seigneur male prerogative).

    “This election is the decisive battle in a Thirty Years’ War,” concludes the hysterical D vs R, Coke vs Pepsi screed.

    As Emperor Hirohito might have quipped, “The gender war situation has developed not necessarily to Hillary’s advantage.” ;-)

  43. Jim Haygood

    ROSETTA STONE UNEARTHED

    WSJ reporting that Weiner’s laptop contains 650,000 emails.

    Among them, thousands bear metadata indicating they came to or from the Clinton private email server.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/laptop-may-include-thousands-of-emails-linked-to-hillary-clintons-private-server-1477854957

    I’ve got a tiger by the tail, it’s plain to see
    I won’t be much when you get through with me
    Well, I’m a-losing weight and a-turnin’ mighty pale
    Looks like I’ve got a tiger by the tail

    — Buck Owens

      1. JSM

        Things are getting hectic here. Memo to Bilderbergers: Always draft alternate scripts for election years!

        1. Jim Haygood

          Deeper into the rabbit hole. Web commenters:

          Clara: At what point does “national security” or “constitutional crisis” come into play over [Huma’s] spousal right to privacy of top secret state department documents?

          Volko: You’re only the 3rd person I know of to voice this. The other two are both attorneys with multiple appearances before the Supreme Court.

          Ada: I have finally arrived at the perfect balance between xanax and popcorn.

    1. Jim Haygood

      Another possible dimension. Web commenters:

      Bouncing: If [the emails] were found weeks ago, then likely the FBI has been struggling to get legal permission to search them. The reason for the struggle is likely the same DOJ forces that were constraining the initial investigation, and Abedin’s own lawyers.

      I doubt very seriously that Friday was the first that Hillary heard about them. Comey likely had pursued it as far as he could within the FBI-DOJ framework. He finally realized he needed to notify Congress to apprise them of what was going on, so that if he couldn’t issue a search warrant, Congress could issue a subpoena for the information.

      Mat: THIS is why Comey made it public by issuing a letter to the Senate. He probably realized Lynch was stonewalling justice so he made it public where the ball is now in her court to issue a warrant.

      If she doesn’t then Congress will have a field day at the next set of hearings.

  44. dao

    The FBI needs a subpoena to look at Hillary-related e-mails on Weiner’s laptop that they are already in possession of? What kind of dream world are people living in? They’ve already looked at them.

    If I were the FBI and I had the laptop I would want to know whether or not there were any e-mails on there (sent or forwarded to Huma) that Hillary never turned over to the FBI and then see if those e-mails were work related and/or contained classified information.

    We know from the investigation that e-mails concerning Libya were suspiciously sparse around the time leading up to the ouster of Gaddafi in 2011. I would search for e-mails in that timeframe and pick out key words and phrases in those e-mails. I would then search the database of e-mails already in possession of the FBI to see if the e-mail was already in the database.

    This wouldn’t take weeks, it would take hours. I think they already did something along those lines. They didn’t find a smoking gun, they found a bullet. Probably lots of them.

    1. pretzelattack

      the original warrant didn’t cover these emails, i believe. and their presence on huma’s computer could have a different legal effect. the fbi has seemed quite enthusiastic giving people immunity, though.

    2. Yves Smith

      They need a subpoena to use them in any official context even if they’ve sneaked a big look.

      Also I must point out that the famed review of those 30,000 or so e-mails the FBI looked at looked ONLY at the subject lines.

      What do you want to bet that some enterprising members on the team looked little deeper and were not happy with what they thought was missed by that approach?

  45. ewmayer

    o “Trump boasts about his philanthropy. But his giving falls short of his words. | WaPo” — As opposed to the oh-so-philanthropic Clinton Foundation, whose ‘giving’ is really huge. (Albeit with a minus sign, but it’s the magnitude that’s important here, not the direction of the flow, right?)

    o “3 things Donald Trump gets very right | WaPo” — I must say, I’m kinda shocked they left out “the MSM is massively corrupt and completely in the tank for Clinton Inc.”

    o Re. EpiPentagon: For the kind of extortion money in question, DoD could easily afford a mini-R&D effort to design their own injector system and make it available to all USians, but no, Govt continues to allow Mylan to get away with BS ‘affordability-increasing remedies’ like discounts, coupons and rebates. Isn’t neoliberal capture great?

    o Re. Comma.ai’s full stop: LOL, ‘We are gonna be so rich’ T-shirts – Couldn’t happen to a nicer Silicon Valley wannabe-squillionaire disruptor-douchebag. I love the wording of the NHTSA letter, which drily notes about the BS disclaimer used by Comma [and other similar startups] “It is insufficient to assert, as you do, that your product ‘does not remove any of the driver’s responsibilities from the task of driving.'”

    o “Can China Finally Solve Its Corruption Problem? | The Diplomat” — History teaches us that corruption problems are never ‘finally’ solved, they must be repeatedly solved. It also teaches us the clear ounce-of-prevention nature of the problem. Unless the ‘us’ is working at industry-captured unregulators like SEC and DOJ, that is. For those enablers the m.o. is “What we learn from history, is that we do not learn from history.”

    o “South Korean Protesters Call for President Park Geun-hye to Step Down WSJ” — Sure, they *say* it’s about corruption, but we all know it’s really because she’s a woman. #HanggulBernieBros

    In other news, cover of today’s SJ Mercury News — nothing about the issues, nor even the latest poolls — no, headline is “Volunteers Help Boost Clinton in Reno”, over a giant picture of several young, smiling shinyHappy grifter/warmonger supporters. Fair and balanced!

    1. jhallc

      Re: Trumps Philanthropy – If I recall correctly from tax documents released by the Clinton’s, they give millions to charity…unfortuately most of it is to Clinton Foundation Inc.

    2. hunkerdown

      geohot made copyright-maximalist Sony Creative Entertainment hurt. And geohot’s disruption, in this case, falls heaviest on those who would use poor human-to-self-driving interoperability to ban human-driven cars in order to renew the US vehicle fleet by fiat (as it were) and to hell with those who couldn’t afford it.

      As far as I’m concerned, his proverbial stock isn’t upside-down yet.

  46. Synapsid

    DJG,

    The Mediterranean climate is summer-dry winter-wet. It isn’t confined to the Mediterranean. It’s the climate of coastal Southern California (Santa Barbara, San Diego, LA), coastal southern Chile, SW South Africa, and parts of western Australia.

    And Portugal, especially the southern half. The summer-dry aspect supports the tourist industry in Portugal just as it does in Spain, the South of France, Italy, Greece, Turkey…

    The fronts that sweep off the Atlantic and over Portugal keep right on sweeping across the Med.

  47. rich

    Biden Traitor Klain is PEU

    Vice President Joe Biden’s recent Secretary of State dance with Blue team Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton becomes more interesting in light of Wikileaks e-mail revelations.

    PEUReport revealed the Podesta team’s disdain for Biden in one e-mail exchange between John and Neera Tanden.

    Another shows the role Ron Klain played as Hillary and Joe vied for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

    She (Hillary) was great last night. Thanks for inviting me into the campaign, and for sticking with me during the Biden anxiety. You are a great friend and a great leader. It’s been a little hard for me to play such a role in the Biden demise – and I am definitely dead to them — but I’m glad to be on Team HRC, and glad that she had a great debate last night. Thanks John. 10-14-15

    Ron Klain, Executive Vice President for Revolution LLC, a D.C. based private equity underwriter (PEU) founded by AOL’s Steve Case.

    Klain asked John Podesta to help find his daughter a job.

    Hey anything you can do to help w this would be most appreciated. Any job in press or policy or comms would be great. She is highly unlikely to get a job in OVP….

    Podesta’s team delivered within 40 days for PEU Klain.

    One can throw a rock on the 1000 block of Rhode Island or Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. and odds are high it will hit a private equity underwriter. Revolution LLC is on Rhode Island and The Carlyle Group on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    http://peureport.blogspot.com/

    Joe, you’ve got mail?:)

  48. ekstase

    That library loaning things article is fantastic: sewing machines, tools, kitchen gadgets. This seems like such a great direction to take one of our great socialist resources. Yes, I said it! Especially in areas where the library patrons are short on cash and space, but really anywhere. The days of people lording their stuff over others are numbered. Already Mcmansions and car ownership are starting to look ridiculous.

  49. Vatch

    This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage — Now, His State’s Economy Is One of the Best in the Country HuffPo

    Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton isn’t a billionaire; he certainly isn’t on any of the Forbes lists of billionaires. His family is listed as having a net worth of $1.6 billion, but that wealth is divided among the dozens of descendants of George Dayton, who founded in 1902 what would become the Target retail chain. Mark Dayton is a millionaire, but he’s nowhere close to being a billionaire.

    None of this invalidates the point of the article, but I suspect that right wing Republicans might use this error to cast doubt on Dayton’s policies. Clearly his policies are successful.

    1. allan

      Oh, please. I don’t remember the resignation letters stacking up due to the lack of prosecutions of banksters.
      And I don’t remember the resignation letters stacking up due to the waste of resources
      on the John Edwards – Bunny Mellon case.

      When the resignation letters stack up because the FBI has become a machine for turning troubled or mentally ill Arab-American men into terrorism conspiracy cases (with more than a little help from `confidential informants’), then I’ll be impressed.

      1. hunkerdown

        The FBI is an intrinsically right-wing organization. That they’re resigning against one of the most bipartisan progressives evar™, one who would keep them all in clover punching the economic terrorists as they did with Judi Bari, isn’t necessarily yuuuuge, but it is against interest, and therefore notable.

        Does a politics of interest rather than bourgeois values threaten you?

        1. allan

          There is no evidence that anybody at the FBI has resigned or has threatened to.
          There is a scantily sourced screed from a professional Clinton hater in a British tabloid.
          There is nothing notable, or threatening, about anonymous spleen venting.

  50. abynormal

    some of these emails leave one with such a warm fuzzy feel’n
    Today, with this context, we focus on one particular email disclosed in the latest Podesta email release, in which an email from Doug Band to Cheryl Mills and John Podesta dated November 12, 2011, or just days before the abovementioned memo was sent out, admits that “I’m starting to worry that if this story gets out, we are screwed.”

    Need get this asap to them although I’m sure cvc [Chelsea Clinton] won’t believe it to be true bc she doesn’t want to Even though the facts speak for themselves.

    John, I would appreciate your feedback and any suggestions I’m also starting to worry that if this story gets out, we are screwed. Dk [Declan Kelly] and I built a business. 65 people work for us who have wives and husbands and kids, they all depend on us. Our business has almost nothing to do with the clintons, the foundation or cgi in any way. The chairman of ubs could care a less about cgi. Our fund clients who we do restructuring and m and a advising the same just as bhp nor tivo do. These are real companies who we provide real advice to through very serious people. Comm head for goldman, dep press secretary to bloomberg, former head of banking, and his team, from morgan stanley for asia and latin am.

    I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go to far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems. I don’t deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect or at least a direct dialogue for me to explain these things. She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she’s doing because she, as she has said, hasn’t found her way and has a lack of focus in her life. I realize she will be off of this soon but if it doesn’t come soon enough…

    1. abynormal

      @Emma, i don’t visit these attractions and had no idea they sported this…thanks for posting. remember the Russian meme ‘there is no Murder in Paradise’?…well America’s meme is ‘There Will Never Be Mental Disorder’s in The Land of The Free’. truly amazing that we are still stigmatizing Mental Health…considering our poisonous environment, capitalist pressures, and indignation’s toward suffering it’s no wonder Mental ‘Disorders’ are multiplying at a rate unrecorded. one of the main reason for the the multiplying effect is the lack of drug over-site…’try this with this pill and we’ll assess your progress in 4 to 6 weeks’…this is a prescription for eventual failure. too many acquaintances and family members have lived this merry-go-round and its hell.
      maybe hell is funny to the money changers…they & people like them are so numb they’re probably on the mental health merry-go-round.

      “Our society tends to regard as a sickness any mode of thought or behavior that is inconvenient for the system and this is plausible because when an individual doesn’t fit into the system it causes pain to the individual as well as problems for the system. Thus the manipulation of an individual to adjust him to the system is seen as a cure for a sickness and therefore as good.”
      Theodore J. Kaczynski

  51. Emma

    Here’s another article (a long read…) which is also a worthwhile and important read.
    It 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

  52. Anon

    RE: Antidote

    Now if that was a Grizzly Bear and not a Polar Bear, the caption would read: Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!

    1. Jeremy Grimm

      One statement attributed to Mr. DiGenova in the article you linked to bothered me:
      “What he[Comey] should have done was said ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do, Lorreta Lynch. These people have violated the law, clearly and thoroughly. Let’s offer everybody a misdemeanor. They all get to keep their civil rights, she can keep running for President, but we will have accountability.’ ”

      Comey could have suggested that Loretta Lynch handle this email business as a misdemeanor and spank a few hands? Would the FBI rank and file be all right with that? Would the security guys be all right with that? If so, a lot of people with security violations of various severities — but nothing like setting up a private email server with classified documents on it — will want a piece of that same deal. And what about what I thought was a fairly evident pay-for-play arrangement — am I wrong about the pay-for-play or is pay-for-play all right with the FBI and the law of the land?

      1. EndOfTheWorld

        Supposedly one source for one of the articles was a friend of Comey’s who goes to Catholic Mass with him every Sunday. He said the dude was under pressure even from his wife to not be such a putz.

        From my perspective it looks like Comey followed orders from above in his big song and dance about “she was guilty but no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute” (for fear of ending up in Fort Marcy Park, we presume). That went over like a lead balloon, albeit the HRC fans (all six of them) were pleased with his performance.

        Who knows exactly what’s going on in his brain? It could be he’s just trying to make things juicier for his book/movie deal.

        I predict Trump will win, but I have been predicting that all along.

    2. allan

      Joseph DiGenova and his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, were the Boris and Natasha of the Plame investigation during the Bush administration. They were constantly on TV commenting about the case, spouting GOP talking points which later were proved wrong. I’m sure DiGenova has friends in the FBI, but oddly, or not, he never talked about the FBI seething at the kid glove treatment that Cheney, Bush and others received at the time, like Cheney being present for Bush’s questioning. DiGenova has zero credibility.

  53. skippy

    Good grief I come back from my first day in the commodity pool and all the wailing, hair pulling and gnashing of teeth….

    Disheveled Marsupial…. one would think noone got the Citi plutonomy memo back in 2005….. better late than never I guess….

  54. financial matters

    Deplorable VP
    ‏@MikePenceVP
    Irony: Hillary destroyed evidence then pretends to be outraged when the FBI doesn’t release evidence she thought she destroyed. #FBIemails

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