Triple Crown. I watched it live.
American Pharoah wins the Triple Crown – 2015 Belmont Stakes (YouTube)
Why American Pharoah, The First Triple Crown Winner In 37 Years, Is Worth $50 Million Forbes
Fake orca used to scare sea lions out of Oregon port BBC
Ford Model T – 100 Years Later Safeshare (Lawrence R)
A Private View of Quantum Reality Quanta Magazine (David L)
Losing Amy: The heartbreaking loss of my sister to mental illness Medium (Chuck L)
School ‘EMPATHY’ program helps youth cope with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts PsyPost (Chuck L)
Documents ‘show Fifa bribe payments’ BBC
Thailand: Proposals for massive new canal to speed up shipping and avoid pirates International Business Times
US struggles for strategy to contain China’s island-building Financial Times
China’s Pollution Crisis: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Underground Water Is Graded Unfit For Human Contact, Report Says International Business Times (Bob H)
Hong Kong Embraces China’s Bubble Bloomberg (furzy mouse)
Portugal decriminalised drugs 14 years ago – and now hardly anyone dies from overdosing Independent (Chuck L)
Norway Will Divest From Coal in Push Against Climate Change New York Times (furzy mouse)
Latvia elects Vejonis, EU’s first Green president Agence France-Presse (newlin). The outgoing “centrist” president made nice noises (which may be obligatory) and this article gives no hint as to his economic policies. Readers?
Grexit?
“An exit from the Eurozone would not necessarily be chaotic” Der Tagesspiegel (chris s). Note that this interview with Coastas Lapavitsas took place before Tsipras’ speech to Parliament on Friday.
Schäuble von Merkel abgekanzelt FAZ. Note that there is more to this than there appears to be. Schauble, despite being only a minister, wields a lot of political power. If he were to denounce a Greek deal, he could blow it up. And if he resigned, former IMF staffer Peter Doyle has argued it would produce a crisis in Germany. So even Merkel can push Schauble, a diehard believer in austerity, only so far. A German commentor at the FT noted, Schäuble’s power is political, but it would surely be electoral suicide for her if he publicly disowned her position. Germans are already, totally understandably in my opinion, utterly sick of supporting a state that allows its citizens better benefits than Germans enjoy.”
EU΄s Juncker declines Tsipras call as proposals missing, source says Reuters (Cugel)
Juncker spurns Tsipras meeting Financial Times. Consider the latest development in light of this report last week: Greek crisis fuels Juncker power grab Politico. Juncker has been, and still was, trying to play a conciliatory role. So Tsipras poked a stick in Merkel’s eye with his Le Monde op ed, and in Juncker’s with his Parliament speech.
Greek PM to hold talks with Merkel, Hollande in Brussels on Wednesday Reuters. A slowing of what little momentum there was. And see what “talks” amounts to.
German No 2 tells Greece that Europe has hit its limits Reuters
Shooting ourselves in the foot ekathimerini
Grecia pide al FMI retrasar sus pagos y prepara una contraoferta El Pais. Santiago: “The last paragraph of this entry by Claudi Pérez in El Pais is amazing. I translate it:
Europe and the IMF know that Greece has no negotiation weapons: they just threaten the possibility of a default that could reissue the euro crisis. And they have given very little since last February: the proposal includes very symbolic measures for the creditors such as eliminating social support for pensioners with lower incomes to save roughly 100 million euros. Thursday Tsipras was given some extra time with a ruse to delay its payment schedule. But the moment of truth is approaching. And with the European proposal in hand, it will not be easy to sign the agreement without unleashing a political storm in Athens.”
Ukraine/Russia
Vladimir Putin Interview to the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera Vineyard of the Saker (Glenn F)
Behind tough talk on Russia, G-7 leaders face tough reality Associated Press
Syraqiatan
Animated map of the battle for #Idlib from April 24th to June 6th 2015 Conflict News
Libyan gains may offer ISIS a base for new attacks Washington Post
The Big Lie at the Heart of the Myth of the Creation of Israel Counterpunch (Chuck L)
The Limits of German Guilt Project Syndicate (David L)
Trade Traitors
Hey, reddit. Someone is trying really hard to erase our anti-Trans Pacific Partnership website from the Internet. Help get to the bottom of this. Reddit (Chuck L)
The TPP Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight Dean Baker
Will TPP Kill The Post Office? Huffington Post
TPP: Don Beyer (D-VA) Puts “Free Trade” Above National Sovereignty and Democracy Joe Firestone, New Economic Perspectives (George E)
Clinton Support Has Nowhere to Go But Down Bloomberg (furzy mouse)
The Sanders Syndrome Hits Home Court Counterpunch. Newlin: “To be fair: Sanders is a non-Democrat seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination. He needs to be a little discreet. And we remember what happened to Edwards.”
U.S. Air Force bomber contract due in early August: sources Reuters. EM: “Biggest laff line: ‘The two teams are competing to build 80 to 100 new bombers for the Air Force at cost of no more than $550 million per aircraft.’ That’s right, under threat of stiff penalty of we’ll-have-to-pay-you-more-to-finish-the-project!”
Religification as a Tool of Massive Resistance to LGBTQ Equality Talk2Action
On the Wisconsin border, little enthusiasm for Walker’s tax cuts Reuters (EM)
Thousands of dead fish wash ashore in Long Island’s Peconic Bay Inhabitat (furzy mouse)
California Farmers Dig Deeper for Water, Sipping Their Neighbors Dry New York Times
California drought not helping water funds, but stocks prosper Reuters (EM)
The SEC Doesn’t Like It When Hedge Funds Talk to Each Other Matt Levine, Bloomberg
Stock Buybacks That Hurt Shareholders Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times
Class Warfare
Sheldon Adelson’s “secret” desert conference to plot against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement Salon (Dr. Kevin)
Killing the Black Panthers Consortium News (Chuck L)
The Costs and Benefits of a Job Guarantee: Estimates from a Multi-Country Econometric Model ResearchGate (Chuck L)
The Era of Breakdown Archdruid. Today’s must read.
Antidote du jour:
And a bonus. I’m running a longer version of Secretariat’s Belmont win, in part because it remains a remarkable race and the commentary right before the start gives some context (a Sports Illustrated documentary listed it as the second most impressive athletic performance in the 20th century, with #1 being Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point scored in a single game). Another reason is to contrast the quality of the announcers with the ones we have now. If you want to skip the preliminaries, the loading of the starting gate begins at 3:00.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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“A Private View of Quantum Reality”, thanks for posting. As a non-scientist, what I got out of it is: Man is a potential god who will create new worlds, perhaps, in 25 years. pffft I enjoy the search but hope man never becomes a being that does not exist.
I was really impressed by Fuch’s manner of thinking. He is questioning our most basic assumptions of reality. Amazing how many answers can be found by looking closely for the flaws and misdirections in common, everyday assumptions.
The linked article gets points for broadly mentioning descriptive “epistemic” interpretations as being separate from material “ontic” interpretations. That at least helps readers make better sense of the 1935 “Schrodinger’s cat” paper (wherein he described his own wave function as a catalog of expectations, and specifically not a “real” matter field.)
But the linked article refers to decades-old categories of epistemic interpretations as though it were a special insight newly grabbing people’s attention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons_Already_Did_It
And please ignore the article’s “ontic” field claims about the Heisenberg/Bohr “Copenhagen interpretation” — those are 180 degrees off the mark, and really misinform the reader (Heisenberg and Bohr both discussed their individual interpretations in printed form. There’s no reason to get this so wrong).
This link http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-field-theory/ has a couple problems of its own, but serves as a useful intro to interpretations in modern QFT versus the historical development of quantum mechanics, as a well as a useful bibliography. At the very least it highlights what every student of quantum field theory is expected to see firsthand: that different epistemic and ontic interpretations apply to different quantum representations — starting with historic QM, through the so-called “second quantization,” and up to the present day.
Briefly: the Quanta Magazine article mentions words/concepts such as measurement, observer, etc., as though they were relevant to the latest quantum field theory research and/or interpretations at the forefront of our field. But they’re not.
Final word: as mentioned in previous NC comments, this all bears on ongoing pedagogical discussions in the field, so it’d be helpful if Yves or someone could say a few words about the frequent NC links to quantum mechanics articles (e.g., regarding goals, motivation, sourcing) .
The linked article gets points for broadly mentioning descriptive “epistemic” interpretations as being separate from material “ontic” interpretations. That at least helps readers make better sense of the 1935 “Schrodinger’s cat” paper (wherein he described his own wave function as a catalog of expectations, and specifically not a “real” matter field.)
But the linked article refers to decades-old categories of epistemic interpretations as though it were a special insight grabbing people’s attention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons_Already_Did_It
And please ignore the article’s “ontic” field claims about the Heisenberg/Bohr “Copenhagen interpretation” — those are 180 degrees off the mark, and really misinform the reader (Heisenberg and Bohr both discussed their individual interpretations in printed form. There’s no reason to get this so wrong).
This link http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-field-theory/ has a couple problems of its own, but serves as a useful intro to interpretations in modern QFT versus the historical development of quantum mechanics, as a well as a useful bibliography. At the very least it highlights what every student of quantum field theory is expected to see firsthand: that different epistemic and ontic interpretations apply to different quantum representations — starting with historic QM, through the so-called “second quantization,” and up to the present day.
Briefly: the Quanta Magazine article mentions words/concepts such as measurement, observer, etc., as though they were relevant to the latest quantum field theory research and/or interpretations at the forefront of our field. But they’re not.
Final word: as mentioned in previous NC comments, this all bears on ongoing pedagogical discussions in the field, so it’d be helpful if Yves or someone could say a few words about the frequent NC links to quantum mechanics articles (e.g., regarding goals, motivation, sourcing) .
The linked article gets points for broadly mentioning descriptive “epistemic” interpretations as being separate from material “ontic” interpretations. That at least helps readers make better sense of the 1935 “Schrodinger’s cat” paper (wherein he described his own wave function as a catalog of expectations, and specifically not a “real” matter field.)
But the linked article refers to decades-old categories of epistemic interpretations as though it were a special insight newly grabbing people’s attention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons_Already_Did_It
And please ignore the article’s “ontic” field claims about the Heisenberg/Bohr “Copenhagen interpretation” — those are 180 degrees off the mark, and really misinform the reader (Heisenberg and Bohr both discussed their individual interpretations in printed form. There’s no reason to get this so wrong).
This link http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-field-theory/ has a couple problems of its own, but serves as a useful intro to interpretations in modern QFT versus the historical development of quantum mechanics, as well as a useful bibliography. At the very least it highlights what every student of quantum field theory is expected to see firsthand: that different epistemic and ontic interpretations apply to different quantum representations — starting with historic QM, through the so-called “second quantization,” and up to the present day.
Briefly: the Quanta Magazine article mentions words/concepts such as measurement, observer, etc., as though they were relevant to the latest quantum field theory research and/or interpretations at the forefront of our field. But they’re not.
Final word: as mentioned in previous NC comments, this all bears on ongoing pedagogical discussions in the field, so it’d be helpful if Yves or someone could say a few words about the frequent NC links to quantum mechanics articles (e.g., regarding goals, motivation, sourcing) .
If they’d only lay off these mental masterbations and study something real, like the flying humanoids in Mexico a few years back (it’s on the internet on Youtube!) or Mothman or the bigfoot videos like the one from Yellowstone this past winter then physics might get to the next level and really understand matter/energy transforms and gravity! But they’re probably too freaked out, like CB typing from under his bed. Get a dog like Scooby Doo to protect you and go out there and go for it! If the Men in Black knock on the door, just pretend your John Keel. For some reason it never phased him. that’s weird, cause I’d freak out so bad even 3 mg of xanax woudn’t calm me down.
The scariest thing that ever happened in Mexico was when Pink Floyd floated their inflatable pig over Mexico City. Old Mexican women refused to leave Church for weeks! This has nothing to do with Quantum Physics, except perhaps bending gravity, but sometimes people get scared when they see things and need an explanation for it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsYPI3NPcwk
Maybe quanta are only fundamental to a view of reality based in mathematical reasoning. This view is presented as uncomfortably anthropocentric however, I reject that my, or any other person’s, perspective is any more favored by nature than the perspective of other life forms.
I wonder what if we can have Quantum Money or what it would look like.
Quantum money! What a great concept.
Your income and your expenses are entangled. When one gets larger the other immediately gets smaller, faster than the speed of light.
Your investments are like Schrodinger’s cat, worthless and valuable at the same time. You can’t tell if you’ve lost money or earned it until you sell.
Money is both a particle (dollar bills) and a wave (credit).
Quantum economics! I love it.
Sure. Quantum money is a concept that actually makes sense for purposes of anti-counterfeiting — a little prosaic, I know — and has been around for decades. It even has a wiki nowadays —
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_money
‘Quantum Money is a proposed design of bank notes making them impossible to forge, by using quantum physics. The idea influenced the development of quantum key distribution protocols used in quantum cryptography.
‘The idea was put forward in about 1970 by Stephen Wiesner, a graduate student at Columbia University, though it was rejected by a number of scientific journals, meaning that it remained unpublished until 1983….’
“Quantum Money is a proposed design of bank notes making them impossible to forge, by using quantum physics”; what one quantum “Scooby Doo” can make, invariably, another will copy (time is of the essence).
I fear it’s all too likely.
Further to the piece regarding EMPATHY, the program to combat suicide:
Is It Possible to Eliminate Suicide?:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/vision-zero-suicide-sweden/394994/
I cannot find any reason to disagree with the archdruid, so here is an old Orlov article which might come in useful :
http://energyskeptic.com/2014/dmitry-orlov-how-russians-survived-collapse/
In the piece linked above, the Archdruid lifts the cover off of Pandora’s box:
I would dearly love for our present crisis to eventually end well. It seems to me, however, that patiently waiting for better days ahead is not a very effective strategy. We need to actively struggle right now against the “inverted totalitarian” (avoiding the shorter, simpler neo f-word and its attendant endless debates) system presently being built with our tax dollars. This means pushing back, hard, within the limits of our dysfunctional system against corporate and governmental atrocities, of course. Yet it also requires us to admit failure when our sternly worded letters to the editor don’t actually change the behavior of the reigning kleptocrats. We need to demonstrate to our kleptocratic overlords, through massive, determined civil disobedience, that doubling down on the repression, and further entrenching our enslavement, won’t buy them peace!
Nice noises from the Archdruid. Seems to me there’s a big ugly worm in the apple of his argument:
Similarly, the federal subsidies that direct investment toward politically savvy entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, and politically well-connected banks such as Goldman Sachs, and away from less parasitic and more productive options distort the entire economic system by preventing the normal workings of the market from weeding out nonviable projects and firms, and rewarding the more viable ones.
Ah, yaaas, the normal workings of the market. Nice analysis of the failure modes and disease state, but the prescribed medicine sure seems to be in that category of “scientific” frauds in the marketing of ineffective and even deadly drugs, and gee whiz, even natural vitamins and supplements by outfit with great Brands, like GNC and Walgreen’s and Walmart…
The “economic system” ain’t distorted, it is what it is. You have the power to protect and further your interests, or you don’t. Altruism is limited to the reach of our arms, the affinities that feature in one’s personal limbic system, expressed as “conscience” i guess, which seems demonstrably to be little more than a comforting construct. The “economic system” does not give a sh?t whether our species survives in any large numbers, or rhinos or cut polar bears or storks or kiwis. It does look like the “system” favors long-term the “success” of rats, roaches, termites and maggots… And those tube worms and phantasmagoric sightless diaphanous critters that inhabit the anoxic areas around the deep ocean magma vents…
Aside, if Musk gave a rat about at least extending the present circumstances, including our collective attachment to individualized transport, he might build a Terran form of NASA’s Rovers, super light space frames with body shells and fitting of hemp products, mnimal use if petroproducts,that might actually cross the curve of solar collection efficiency and storage technology short of that running off the cliff that seems pretty clearly to be up ahead. Pretty clearly, though, the “normal operation of the market” does not trend in that direction.
We humans seen to be at or near a point where if we are to go on, we need to all be pulling on the same end of the rope. Along the same vector. But even lining up the rope requires a procurement, and several corporations are in the bidding, and their lawyers, lobbyists, and friends in the applicable departments are putting their manicured thumbs on the scale, jiggling the specs, getting amendments to spending bills passed that favor or mandate their materiel and technology. And a Presidential Commission has been commissioned by the President to determine the direction (that vector thing) all of us are to be pulling along…
“the normal workings of the market.”
Location, location, location. Who gets the spot by the front gate, who’s stuck in the back. Every arts fair ever.
I suspect Greer might agree with your critique. He tends to favor systems which are at least somewhat coupled to thermodynamics and the material world. Those (like Summers) who favor floating an economy on fairy bubbles are enacting magical thinking more than the Archdruid! Funny that.
that’s what happens when you confuse a comic strip with reality…
I know a bunch of REALLY smart people @ spacex…but without exception they are Upton Sinclair’d by the “great” man’s “genius”. Never saw it myself..he’s no genius, and DEFINITELY no subgenius. Maybe the stark fist of removal needs reforming as the fist of stark removal.
Greer makes a very insightful point as to how collapsing systems can provide significant opportunities.
The solution he mentions, though, needing a despot to effectively enact them, does overlook the reasons why despots make effective enablers of change; That they can provide a single linear vision to overcome the chaotic conditions. Which means that if there were some structural dynamic to provide a clear direction, the tribal imperfections of having a single individual and his camp followers implementing this action might be reduced.
Having grown up in a tightly knit family business around a bunch of fairly egotistical family members, rather than fight over who is king of the hill for the day, I’ve mostly spent my life sitting back and trying to make sense of how this social reality functions and what are its weak points. In doing so, I think there are three primary issues. Tying them all together would take pages and I’m not much of a writer, so they are in short;
1) Monotheism, the basis of western culture, even if in opposition, assumes a spiritual absolute would be an ideal from which we have fallen and this conveniently serves those controlling society, since it assumes a form of father figure. Yet the absolute would be basis, not apex, so a spiritual absolute would be the raw essence of consciousness from which we rise. Now the more materialistic argue it arises from abiotic forces, but do so on belief, given the lack of actual knowledge. Normally science, on stubbing its toe on immoveable conundrums, usually declares them axioms and moves on. So there would be grounds for a truce between science and spirituality on this issue.
So if we consider that spiritual foundation as an axiom from which to calculate, it stands to reason the concepts of good and bad are also not ideals, but the basic biological binary code of attraction to the beneficial and repulsion of the detrimental, that motivate even the most elemental of single celled organisms.
Then as complex organisms and the social structures they evolve in also must respond to this polarity of positive and negative, it becomes essential that functioning societies develop traditions to inform their members and succeeding generations as to what is considered good and bad, thus making the community function as a single organism.
Now that these basic social units have had to give way to ever larger and more diverse communities and the resulting cross purposes, there becomes a significant amount of confusion with regard to those cultural framing devices, which is where we seem to be now. So if we were to understand there is some mutual element of being as the basis of our individual sense of conscious being, it might provide a grounds for further trust, or at least understanding.
2) Which gets to the next point, that we use monetary systems as a form of distilled value and trust and as such, it replaces and breaks down all the organic communal relationships. They are like refined sugar to the cultural body. Given this audience, I’ll leave it at that.
3) the last point is one I keep trying to bring up in physics and philosophy discussions and mostly get shot down for all sorts of crimes against academia, but, quite simply, we look at time backward. It isn’t that narrative vector from past to future, that physics codifies as measures of duration, but the process by which future becomes past. For example, the earth does not travel some dimension from yesterday to tomorrow, tomorrow becomes yesterday because the earth turns. Duration is simply the state of the present as these events come and go.
The reason this applies to this discussion is that clocks go at different rates simply because they are separate actions and a faster clock will use energy quicker. So either it needs more energy and will consequently evolve further, or it will run out of energy and fade into the past faster. To wit, the hare has long died, while the tortoise still plods along.
So as Greer points out, humanity is at a point where it does need to slow down. The growth of youth is past and hopefully there will be a long maturity for humanity. That we are at the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end. So we need to understand it is not all about this frenetic rush into the future, that is childhood, but the balancing of the many options that is adulthood.
Not to preach too much, but I think what needs to guide us to a better future isn’t a 21st century Napoleon, but a greater knowledge of the reality we inhabit. Possibly life on this planet is trying to teleologically foster humanity as a planetary central nervous system and not just raise it to apex predator, but we probably have many more lessons before we get there.
Not to preach too much, but I think what needs to guide us to a better future isn’t a 21st century Napoleon, but a greater knowledge of the reality we inhabit.
Yeah, sadly acquisitive assholes are in the majority and WILL NOT LET GO. Thus, our near future…
as if by magic, evidence…
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/uk-and-us-main-barriers-to-addressing-climate-change-survey-finds-10303279.html
What goes round, comes round in strange ways.
It would seem as if the bankers are in league with the radical environmentalists. Instead of monkey wrenching the machine, they are draining it of oil.
Times will get interesting.
Sorry, monotheism is not the basis of Western culture. Never was. And I’m not sure that Western culture has ever fully accepted Christianity, which, ironically, is trinitarian. So your comment is on shaky religious ground. No sooner did Christianity consider itself triumphant than the old gods refused to go away. And the pagan philosophers have never gone away, not Democritus, not Epicurus, not Heracleitus, not Sappho.
As I pointed out, the concept is logically flawed and yes, the Trinity and the importance of Jesus being crucified and rising from the dead goes to the Greek Year Gods and as such, the Trinity is an analogy for past, present and future. God as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30250/30250-h/30250-h.htm
Obviously the concept of time is integral to the conscious experience, as consciousness goes from past to future, as the thoughts it manifest go future to past.
Yet it would be difficult to name one human construct of greater popular influence, in the west, over the last couple thousand years, than monotheism.
From strictly a anthro perspective, the “three” can also be viewed from the perspective of the earliest societal template i.e. the divine or divine backed ruler – the priest [narrative creative class] / solider [enforcement] and the Chattel [labour].
Skippy,
You are listing four.
There are lots of triune relationships. Many of them are two sides of a larger whole. Yin and yang as a whole would be one.
Complexity Theory builds on another, with chaos and order as the two sides of complexity. This though, if you get into it, does go back to the function of time as well, since order arises from chaos, it is the events coalescing out of the process/complexity of the present, with the future as being unknown and therefore chaotic.
I think a better description is order/form and energy, since it is this present dynamic generating order and breaking it down.
The second group is under the title of administration tho it has two components. Its much more less ambiguous too, as it echos thorough out PIE.
All the branches and roots of input and output. Society is always going to have structure and its always wise to keep some general understanding of how the parts fit together, in order to have some sense of the larger dynamic…..
Right now the administrative function is going parasite.
Ultimately the power is in the people and ultimately nature, not what is extracted from them and it.
Though it can make an interesting ride for awhile. Just don’t hit the end of the rope at a dead run.
Interesting ruminations John.
Re needing a despot to enact anything, a friend in the sustainability game (composting and permaculture mainly) yesterday sent me a link to a piece in Politico which he saw as good news:
http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002
‘The war on coal is not just political rhetoric, or a paranoid fantasy concocted by rapacious polluters. It’s real and it’s relentless. Over the past five years, it has killed a coal-fired power plant every 10 days. It has quietly transformed the U.S. electric grid and the global climate debate’
The prime mover is Beyond Coal – ‘With a vast war chest donated by Michael Bloomberg, unlikely allies from the business world, and a strategy that relies more on economics than ecology, its team of nearly 200 litigators and organizers has won battles in the Midwestern and Appalachian coal belts, in the reddest of red states, in almost every state that burns coal’
Which seems to prove the despot thesis.. it is depressing that further in the piece it describes how Bloomberg, in legacy-shopping mode, had a less than successful lunch with education reformists and this lobby’s failure to woo the great man led to coal getting a look-in. Even more depressing to note that, while a billionaire doing this is a lot better than a billionaire not doing it, it is the resources of a ‘despot’, deployed almost on a whim, rather than the democratic allocation of an equally distributed wealth created by a generation of increased worker productivity, that is powering moves to secure the future.
But, if you look a little closer you find evidence that this effort may be a bit more crowd-sourced than it seems.
‘Coal used to be the cheapest form of electricity by far, but it’s gotten pricier as it’s been forced to clean up more of its mess… i.e., retrofitting, emission limits etc… ‘the Sierra Club finds itself in foxholes with big-box stores, manufacturers and other business interests, fighting coal upgrades that would jack up electricity bills’
So it’s still a big despot and an increasing group of minor ones rather than noisy but powerless ‘tree-huggers’, but the fact that networks of effective resistance are leading change here is a plus, and might qualify as ‘some structural dynamic to provide a clear direction’
Of course, this relies on the Gresham’s law/tragedy of the commons dynamic – those big box stores and other economic power centres are joining Bloomberg only because their bottom line is threatened… individuals and companies will still act to maximise their own profit or at least well-being at the expense of the greater good.
Which is why I have trouble with ‘the concepts of good and bad are also not ideals, but the basic biological binary code of attraction to the beneficial and repulsion of the detrimental, that motivate even the most elemental of single celled organisms’- such concepts can’t be boiled down to biology because the cell/body/family/tribe/nation will always see what it generally perceives as ‘good’ or ‘beneficial’ for itself as the correct path… it isn’t biology but knowledge, discussion, will and action that can overcome that inbuilt protection mechanism that may profit us, or some of us, in the short term, but could kill us all in the end.
‘it becomes essential that functioning societies develop traditions to inform their members and succeeding generations as to what is considered good and bad, thus making the community function as a single organism’
Yes but the transfer of traditions nowadays and into the foreseeable future is problematic, the more we have the less we keep… and I quail also at the idea that, as groups of people grow past Dunbar’s number into a contractual rather than covenantal realm, ‘administration’ and ‘management’ are required to administer laws, which may or may not be adequate and which in any case can profitably be ‘interpreted’ for the wealthy in ways that aren’t available to the rest of us…
For me what we need is a root and branch restructure of politics and governance, where technology is used to empower citizens to register preferences in real time on a transparent open source platform that is the first plank in a new ‘commons’. This should extend to workplaces where the forgotten insights of people like Stafford Beer would return to guide corporations and institutions, from the bottom up rather than top down. In fact that could be a decent slogan cum motto for the whole effort – Bottom Up.
The coal example is instructive – we are finally seeing profit-making corporations paying for the destructive externalities they have historically left for the rest of us, but only because of the arse-protecting, bottom-line obsesssed companies who are at the, er, coalface now have other, cheaper alternatives. It would be good to think that in future such efforts don’t have to wait until it’s almost too late for a push from business.
Norm,
You do lay out a lot of the complexities and feedback loops going through the whole system.
With Bloomberg, it would seem he is shopping for an agenda, rather than making one.
Lots of these aspects are like elemental waves. They are going to build up energy and then need to transfer it onto something.
Oftentimes, there are good and bad aspects to the same thing and this is the situation with money, in that it both enables broad scale economic cooperation and provides a mechanism to then extract rent out of that process. The irony here is that it is the broad scale economic cooperation which is being most destructive of the environment and it is those draining resources from it who are most effectively bringing it to heel. The bankers are “monkey wrenching” the economy and the building heart attack is reducing our resource consumption.
Now if we start to recognize money as a social contract and not just another commodity to be manufactured by banks, then it might turn the system from a mechanism that seeks to store value as notes and go back to storing value as social connectivity and a healthy environment. That would be truly bottom up. I think simply voting on where these flows of capital go, once they have been extracted, will not really lessen the level of environmental destruction that much, as everyone naturally wants it to flow in their preferred directions, rather than organically sustaining it in the world to begin with.
As it is, nature deals with the natural cycling by having individuals die, as the species propagates, but we naturally prefer to sustain ourselves as long as possible. Which tends to creates big societal waves, not just lots of small organic waves. Sustainability requires some meeting in the middle. The community, eventually the planet as a whole, as the larger organism, in which the individuals recognize some limitations as an organic function. Being part of our context, not just moving through and against it.
KKE was a well-organized force at earlier street protests, and they have their own media operation (902.gr). KKE vociferously opposes Syriza – they refused to meet with them to discuss a coalition government. Varoufakis wrote that Syriza is “willing to embrace the reforms that our partners expect”. The ability of KKE and other leftists to organize opposition will indicate how well Tsipras and Varoufakis are “able to maintain the Greek public’s support for [Syriza’s] sound economic program.”
At cross-purposes to the left, the U.S. government (or elements within its foreign policy wing) may destabilize Greece to install a right-wing regime that will stop Gazprom’s Turkish Stream. In April, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard warned:
RT now reports: “Greece plans to sign a document on political support for Gazprom’s Turkish Stream project at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, its Energy Minister announced on Monday.”
Re BDS: South Carolina becomes the first state to pass a law barring government contracts to companies supporting BDS
The story says other states are being lobbied to pass similar laws.
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/South-Carolina-becomes-first-US-state-to-take-action-against-anti-Israel-boycotts-405120
I’m not aware of what kind of trading relationship SC, might have with Israel but perhaps they sell us Uzis and body armor for the various swat teams. Quite likely we sell them some BMWs. So for those wondering whether SC has a foreign policy there it is.
Good.
Sounds like you should run for our legislature. They are a thoughty bunch.
But wouldn’t such a law fall afoul of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling that held that corporations/businesses have 1st amendment rights? Couldn’t a firm argue an anti-BDS law interferes with said 1st amendment right?
I’m not a lawyer but it’s an interesting question. Another interesting question might be why the legislature of a state where most of the residents probably couldn’t find Israel on a map would suddenly feel the urge to pass such a law. I’m not aware of our lege weighing in on other overseas conflicts of the day. All very interesting indeed.
“The Sanders Syndrome Hits Home Court” John Edwards did use a lot of populist speak, but he had less to worry about because most of the corporatist knew Edwards wasn’t sincere in what he said. A bit of the same wink-wink Obama has deployed. So while Edwards attacked some in his party as corporatist, he backed his own version of Romney/Obama-care, and he backed other neo-liberal agenda items.
Hence a difference with Edwards is that Bernie is more sincere in his practice matching his words. I suspect the corporatist have no doubts about where Bernie is standing, so his reticence is less about not alienating the already alien, than it is about not giving too much ammo to those who want to frighten the sheeple with stories of the big red wolf. in any case, Sanders does not frighten the corporatist much at all. Like Jimmy Carter, if by miracle he wins, both parties will oppose anything he wants done, and the people will grow tired of him and any other popularity president. This movement has to start from the ground, with out a senate and house filled with progressives, the only point to a Bernie or Carter in office is to buy a little time before things go back to sinking.
BTW: Edwards made his money suing the beasts, and keeping much of that money for himself instead of letting the plaintiffs, his clients, get what was suppose to ease their suffering. Edwards, with his suits and haircuts, projected the image, the truth?, that he was just another member of the elite using the grassroots as fodder for his own gain. As Kerry learned, Edwards Elmer Gantry appeal doesn’t travel as far as it might first seem.
I remember KKE & the likes of PAME being very organised during the earlier protests. They succeeded in splintering the different forces demonstrating by keeping themselves aloof from all the others. PAME at one stage organised their rallies on different days, so as not to be tainted by the ‘ Indignados ‘, who at one stage they fought battles with.
These various leftist groups should be given a ‘ Divide & Conquer ‘ assistance award from TPTB as they are about as much use as Python’s ‘ Judean people’s front ‘, & but unfortunately not the slightest bit funny.
Refuting Anarchist/Nazi Lies About Attack on PAME, Oct. 2011
PAME organizes its own protests, but it also participated in larger protests, only to be attacked by self-proclaimed anarchists, who repeated accusations that days earlier had been created by the bourgeois media.
Yesterday, @Obscureobjet detailed at length how events played out and linked to supporting video. He denounced the provocateurs who attacked PAME as “Nechayev descendants”.
It seemed to me from video evidence at the time, that PAME were attacked by provocateurs working with the police. They will spend a long time waiting for their own particular rigid brand of a socialist Utopia to arise, that’s for sure.
A direct link to the paper on the Jobs Guarantee. The ResearchGate link requests a “free signup” before it provides the content.
Thank you for the better link.
Shouldn’t that be, that Germans suffer?
In aggregate it is hard to tell how the Germans are getting screwed. From Wikipedia 2014 per capita GDP for Germany is double that of Greece. From the OECD in 2014 the total social expenditure as a percent of GDP is 25.8% for the Germans and 24% for the Greeks. The devil might be in the disaggregation of these numbers. It would if someone could point them out. Otherwise it seems to be the moralizing of the ants over the grasshoppers.
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SOCX_AGG
If you keep on posting links like:
The Big Lie at the Heart of the Myth of the Creation of Israel
you WILL be suffer the slander of being called “anti-Semitic”, and if you don’t back change your ways, the next step will be to contact your advertisers and donors to inform them that you are “anti-semitic” and that they should back away from you.
This is standard “hasbara” [https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hasbara] and it WILL happen [if it hasn’t happened already].
Great links, very courageous, keep ’em coming [at your own risk!]
I’ll be sure to send another donation!
I won’t bother telling you why, since how our ads work is too boring to explain, but I can pretty much guarantee that won’t happen.
Losing Amy:
“Even in her death, Amy was thoughtful. Although I know her pain was tremendous, she waited until the last day of school to do it. I know she must have planned to do it before, but waited, not wanting to ruin the kids’ school year or jeopardize their grades.”
Wow, the cultural baggage in that statement.
American Pharoah now 6th all time at Belmont:
YEAR WINNING HORSE WINNING TIME JOCKEY TRAINER OWNER
1. 1973 Secretariat* 2:24.00 Ron Turcotte Lucien Laurin Meadow Stable
2. 1989 Easy Goer 2:26.00 Pat Day C. R. McGaughey III Ogden Phipps
3. 1992 A.P. Indy 2:26.13 Ed Delahoussaye Neil Drysdale Tomonori Tsurumaki
4. 1988 Risen Star 2:26.40 Ed Delahoussaye Louie J. Roussel III Louie J. Roussel III
5. 1957 Gallant Man 2:26.60 Bill Shoemaker John A. Nerud Ralph Lowe
6. 2001 Point Given 2:26.80 Gary Stevens Bob Baffert The Thoroughbred Corp.
6. 1994 Tabasco Cat 2:26.80 Pat Day D. Wayne Lukas Reynolds/Overbrook
6. 1978 Affirmed* 2:26.80 Steve Cauthen Laz Barrera Harbor View Farm
9. 1985 Creme Fraiche 2:27.00 Eddie Maple Woody Stephens Brushwood Stables
10. 1990 Go And Go 2:27.20 Michael Kinane Dermot K. Weld Moyglare Stud Farm
10. 1984 Swale 2:27.20 Laffit Pincay, Jr. Woody Stephens Claiborne Farm
10. 1968 Stage Door Johnny 2:27.20 Heliodoro G
Secretariat, that was a bonus.
31 lengths, course record, and just hands and heels.
Can’t think of other equines who exuded such magnificence. Well, maybe Ribot or Sea Bird, but that’s at a stretch.
Lauren told Turcotte to let Secretariat run his own race for all the Triple Crown races. Secretariat was smart as well as an amazing physical specimen.
If you want to compare American Pharaoh’s race with Secretariat’s, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psmz0CVFbSo Secretariat still maintains the best time.
While Secretariats race time is the course record, field conditions play a part in that. To finish 31 lengths ahead of the field AND at the fastest time ever is truly amazing. At a 1978 book conference I listened to N. Scott Momaday describe Secretariat and the Belmont race that won the triple crown. Secretariat was easily made mythical in Momaday’s words. American Pharoah, while waltzing along the backstretch, made a blistering dash on the homestretch that was second to none in speed. American Pharoah will likely gain mythical stature, too.
Regarding making TPP public (a certain death sentence for it’s passage) via a Congressman reading it on the floor of Congress, why not target Alan Greyson for such a task? He seems a bit more “feral” a Dem than Warren.
Anyone in is district?
“Germans are already, totally understandably in my opinion, utterly sick of supporting a state that allows its citizens better benefits than Germans enjoy.”
The deutsche get all payments back that the EU gives to Greece to pay worthless bond payments. The deutsche owe Grecia about $320 billion for raping their country in the war, and Grecia now has but the shards of their world after paying their masters.
Fascism is alive and well here on NC. Are facts optional?
Probably even more for invading Russia, and likely just as much for going into Bulgaria, Poland, France, Romania, etc.
NATO has not made Afghanistan lend money to it against Kabul’s will, as far as I know, but the Central Asians can probably still claim reparation against NATO for lives destroyed.
I am quoting what German voters think (confirmed by FAZ saying that calls to MPs are running overwhelmingly anti-Greece). IIRC Greece pressed its war claims under Papandreou and got a small settlement. Legal scholars think Greece has a good claim for war damages related to Germany seizing funds out of Greece’s central bank (with the interest due, it’s really a big sum now).
But Greece would have to press that claim legally. It has nothing to do with the current negotiations, with BTW are not just with Germany but also require the approval of 17 other democracies, many of whom think the same way that German voters do.
I’m just reporting on why Greece is pretty much destined to lose, which I said from the very outset. You are shooting the messenger.
When their country and corporations deindustrialize and rip capital out of countries their totally cool with that though.
They reap and rip billions out of other countries that have allowed them access to their countries and when they are asked to give a few peanuts back that they have already taken from the said countries they cry murder.
It is Greeks and other periphery nations supporting their state. They should be angry at there own politicians and corporations for not putting more of that taken capital in to there own benefits.
Greeks have crap benefits and a non existent social safety net. What ever they receive is not enough to sustain a good living when things like rent food and medicine has become so expensive since they joined the euro and worse since the crisis. And it was never enough to sustain a living even after retirement with out a another job or family member having supplement their pension even after Greek workers contribute more of their wages to there pensions than other countries. Is this what the German pensioners go through? What are these better benefits that Greeks enjoy?
Horsey run, horsey win. Lots of money. Animal cruelty for fun and profit. Ever heard a horse ask to be ridden? Commodities for people include life itself. Particularly when unnecessary.
My Dad, a farm boy, many times told me that horses are smart, and if treated well, like to work. He rode a horse to school. When it got too rickety for work, it was put out to pasture and allowed to die a more or less natural death from old age.
If we didn’t have uses for horses, we would not be breeding them, breeds would go extinct and there would be far fewer of them around, save the feral horses that only exist in North America because 16th century Spaniards found them useful enough to ship across the Atlantic.
Secretariat’s jockey refused to use a whip. How do you get such a magnificent animal to perform as he did with cruelty? I think the claim of cruelty is just a tiny wee bit presumptuous.
How do you get such a magnificent animal to perform as he did with cruelty?
Scare him?
“Horses like work”
I think this may be true of many domesticated animals. In fact, they may not even think of it as work – provided that their master doesn’t make them miserable doing it..
For instance, I was siting at a freeway checkpoint just north of the border. They have drug sniffing German Shepherds. There was a line to wait in, so I entertained myself watching the dogs work. Their task was to sniff trunks, then presumably bark or something if they sniffed anything illicit.They would prance around from car to car wagging their tails as they sniffed one trunk after another, working their way down the line. There was a separate line for 18 wheelers and another dog sniffing those behinds. They were visibly happy, and their handlers actually had to restrain them from working too far down the line as the vehicles where finally waived forward and the line slowly advanced.
Who would have thought dogs like sniffing car trunks?
They will sniff anything, dogs in their essence are a nose and mouth with a body to carry them around. what amazes me is that with their heightened olfactory sensory capabilities, other dogs sh!t is apparently high cuisine.
Maybe someday when dogs finally go sentient, they can explain all that to us.
breeds would go extinct
No shit, Sherlock…breeds are a human creation. Horses don’t have breeds, or nation states, or race…
thats “race” in either meaning…
Secretariat really liked to run. He was retired young (as most prime raceshorses are) and was once brought to a major race to show him off. He could hear the crowd and thought he was there to race, and was clearly upset when he figured out that he wan’t going to.
Thoroughbreds are like middle class children. You want something less refined, try shetland ponies. They are more feral.
Very nice for you (Yves) to have seen this brilliant horse run, lucky you, what a thrill! All the articles about him describe the beauty and grace of his running style. The jockey barely touched him.
re cruelty….Thoroughbreds are bred to run. At home, in the back field, they race for the sheer fun of it. Even that is exciting to watch.
And the good ones hate losing, and love being first.
http://prospect.org/article/political-roots-widening-inequality
“intellectual property rights—patents, trademarks, and copyrights—have been enlarged and extended, for example. This has created windfalls for pharmaceuticals, high tech, biotechnology, and many entertainment companies, which now preserve their monopolies longer than ever. It has also meant high prices for average consumers, including the highest pharmaceutical costs of any advanced nation.
At the same time, antitrust laws have been relaxed for corporations with significant market power. This has meant large profits for Monsanto, which sets the prices for most of the nation’s seed corn; for a handful of companies with significant market power over network portals and platforms (Amazon, Facebook, and Google); for cable companies facing little or no broadband competition (Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon); and for the largest Wall Street banks, among others. And as with intellectual property rights, this market power has simultaneously raised prices and reduced services available to average Americans. (Americans have the most expensive and slowest broadband of any industrialized nation, for example.)
Financial laws and regulations instituted in the wake of the Great Crash of 1929 and the consequential Great Depression have been abandoned—restrictions on interstate banking, on the intermingling of investment and commercial banking, and on banks becoming publicly held corporations, for example—thereby allowing the largest Wall Street banks to acquire unprecedented influence over the economy. The growth of the financial sector, in turn, spawned junk-bond financing, unfriendly takeovers, private equity and “activist” investing, and the notion that corporations exist solely to maximize shareholder value.”
At the same time,
antitrustlaws have been relaxed for corporations with significant market power.*Edited for truth
https://vimeo.com/110348926
Following the success of our two data visualisations – Europe 24 and North Atlantic Skies – we’ve taken a lot of time to think about where to go next – it’s been a typical case of ‘difficult second album syndrome’.
Both Europe 24 and North Atlantic Skies were designed to give an overview of the daily complexity and volumes of air traffic across the UK and Europe and to do so in a way that was cinematic and exciting to watch. I think we were able to do that to great effect, but we now want to take you a little deeper.
We are therefore very excited to publish UK 24 – your guided tour to some of what makes UK aviation work.
Find out more on our blog at: nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/
here Skippy, you can scare Sea Lions away w/ this in Sidney Harbour..
http://bringatrailer.com/2015/06/06/australian-german-microsports-restored-goggomobil-dart/
Oh yeah…. the Goggomobil painted in black and white, tho its the stingers that are really a bother….
Skippy…. increasing water temps are bringing them down south and in numbers. One day we might have to revert to old timey bathing suits… now that would be funny…
Timing can be funny…
http://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/story/3130250/ski-racing-sa-titles-abandoned-due-to-seals/
Skippy… OK next question…. how do you make a Goggomobil go like a racing ski boat….
On “School ‘EMPATHY’ program helps youth cope with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts”;
Some of my history first:
My mother attempted suicide on four occasions.
My older brother tried twice, once jumping off a 20 foot bridge onto pavement and somehow survived.
My nephew died by suicide when he was 14.
I am 48, have a history of suicidal ideation, Depression, OCD, Anxiety. I have been in psychiatric hospitals twice. I am also on the Autism spectrum (Autism, however, is not a disability, it is a neurological type that has specific environmental needs)
I fully reject the positive spin they are putting on the EMPATHY project. It puts the focus on the child and not the environment they are forcing the child to live in. These same schools will on one side of their mouth exclaim that “We need to respect each other differences” will then try force every child into the same method and environment of learning and wonder why a certain percent have depression and anxiety. And when the children cannot function in that environment they put them on medications. They did this to my nephew, they put him on Ritalin and a week later he was dead.
All these programs do is further isolate children on the Autism spectrum. It says that we are not normal and WE have to change to fit into the school environment. The school is a factory system. Period. It should be totally dismantled so each child can learn in the way that they are the most comfortable. I learned when I was home, not when I was in school. I was an amateur astronomer when I was 12 and school had nothing to do with it. My mother gave me the freedom to follow my own interests without fearing the effect it might have on my future.
Just listen to the terms they use; “resiliency strategies”? Look at the definition for resiliance:
HA! These school are bending and compressing kids and instead of stopping the bending and compressing they try to change the nature of the thing being bent and compressed!
And the EMPATHY project reminds me of the mindfulness movement that corporations are trying to infuse into the tech sector jobs. (They have one of these programs at Google which my nephew is involved with and I tried to point out the folly of his actions but alas, he is young: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-bonanno/24/490/174)
Google does not care about the health of their employees, they only are trying to figure out a better way to extract rent from people on the Autistic Spectrum.
Once I stopped trying to live like a neurotypical my stress, anxiety, depression all reduced to a bearable level. Changing my diet helped even more. I gave a big FU to the neurotypical world and I teach others to do the same.
Depression isn’t a disability, it’s a highly-developed ability to see thru the bullshit of our “civilization”. If you’re not depressed, you simply aren’t seeing reality,
Sometimes the answer is a cheap, generic drug. I was depressed and now I’m not. I don’t think I’ve lost any powers of perception. Having a dog, which implies having a purpose, is also a big help. Not saying this would work for everyone, but the two work for me.
Counterpunch/The Big Lie–a good and hard hitting article about the Nakba. Meanwhile Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery–who fought for Israel during that war–gives his account of those events. He says what happened was partly out of military motives (many Palestinians did fight back) as well as due to directives from the political leadership.
http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2015/06/05/the-real-nakba/
Uri, –gifted writer and polite racist
The two “terrorist” organizations, the Irgun and the Stern Group, also joined the unified force
Do the quote marks imply ambiguity?
….Zionism was supported by the German SS and Gestapo.[3] [4] [5] [6] Hitler himself personally supported Zionism.[7] [8] During the 1930’s, in cooperation with the German authorities, Zionist groups organized a network of some 40 camps throughout Germany where prospective settlers were trained for their new lives in Palestine. As late as 1942 Zionists operated at least one of these officially authorized “Kibbutz” training camps[9] over which flew the blue and white banner which would one day be adopted as the national flag of “Israel”.[10]
The Transfer Agreement (which promoted the emigration of German Jews to Palestine) implemented in 1933 and abandoned at the beginning of WWII is an important example of the cooperation between Hitler’s Germany and international Zionism. [11] Through this agreement, Hitler’s Third Reich did more than any other government during the 1930’s to support Jewish development in Palestine and further the Zionist goals.
Hitler and the Zionists had a common goal:Â to create a world Jewish Ghetto as a solution to the Jewish Question.
The Transfer AgreementThe Zionist so-called “World Jewish Congress” declared war on the country of Germany,[12] [13] knowing that it would affect their Jewish brothers residing in that country who would be left without protection. When others tried to help them escape to other countries, the Zionist movement took actions which caused those countries to lock their doors to Jewish immigration (read more in the books, “Perfidy” and “Min Hametzer”). As a result of the Zionist influence five ships of Jewish refugees from Germany arriving in the United States were turned back to the gas chambers.Â
The fundamental aim of the Zionist movement has been not to save Jewish lives but to create a “Jewish state” in Palestine.
On December 7, 1938, Ben Gurion, the first head of the Zionist ‘state of Israel’ declared “If I knew it was possible to save all the children in Germany by taking them to England, and only half of the children by taking them to Eretz Israel, I would choose the second solution. For we must take into account not only the lives of these children but also the history of the people of Israel.”[14]
On August 31, 1949, Ben Gurion stated: “Although we have realized our dream of creating a Jewish State, we are only at the beginning. There are still only 900,000 Jews in Israel, whereas the majority of the Jewish people still remains abroad. Our future task is to bring all the Jews to Israel.”
Of the two and a half million Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis between 1935 and 1943, less than 9% went to settle in Palestine. The vast majority, 75%, went to the Soviet Union. In the mid-70’s, more people emigrated out of ‘Israel’ than came in. The only surges of immigration to the Zionist state have occurred during anti-Semitic threats and persecution in foreign countries.[15]
It follows that for the Zionist state to achieve its goal of a Jewish world ghetto anti-Semitism must be promoted and encouraged, and as we have seen, by acts of violence if necessary.
 “To attain its practical objectives, Zionism hopes it will be able to collaborate with a government that is fundamentally hostile to the Jews”.[16]
The use of anti-Semitism as a tool to coerce immigration to the Zionist state continues to the present day:
Prime Minister Sharon has stated that anti-Semitism is on the rise and that the only hope for the safety of Jews is to move to Israel under the protection of the Zionist state. “The best solution to anti-Semitism is immigration to Israel. It is the only place on Earth where Jews can live as Jews,” he said.[17]
Those who continue to call the so-called “state of Israel” the “Jewish State” are not only promoting Zionism which is contrary to the beliefs of true Judaism, but also endorsing the promotion of worldwide anti-Semitism. In doing so they are endangering the lives of traditional Jews and denying their civil liberties and human rights.Â
When the British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour (sponsor of the 1905 Aliens Act to restrict Jewish immigration to the UK), wanted the British government to commit itself to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, his declaration was delayed – not by anti-Semites but by leading figures in the British Jewish community. They included a Jewish member of the cabinet who called Balfour’s pro-Zionism “anti-Semitic in result”. Â In contrast, a great statesman like Secretary of State Colin Powell, a supporter of traditional Judaism, has the courage to separate Judaism from Zionism and to acknowledge that speaking out against the actions of the Zionist state is not “anti-Semitism”.
Does your rather tired (and space sucking!) “gotcha” have anything to do with the article I linked? I believe I mentioned in my comment that Avnery fought with the Israeli forces and therefore was, and by his writings still is, a Zionist. That is to say he believes Israel is here to stay in its 1967 borders and I doubt there are many people including its most vocal critics who would disagree with that.
The article is simply a piece of information by someone who lived through the period in question. I’m not vouching for the factual accuracy except insofar that Avnery strikes me as an honest writer. Perhaps you should just read the article and, if you disagree with any of the contents, talk about that.
I do periodically read all of UA’s articles opeds http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
As for my post that offended you, I would normally post a couple lines and a link, but I know the site algorithm will filter out a post w/ the http link. –sorry.
When I see UA’s soft pedaled reflections posted, positing his kinder gentler Apartheid solutions, I think it is always reasonable to also reflect on the core philosophy he unabashedly promotes, Zionism. Yes Irgun and Stern were terrorist organizations, it ambiguous to put that in quotes, IMO
The practical solution musty include at least a symbolic return of an agreed number of refugees to Israeli territory
So part of the reasonable solution according to Avery is to “return” an agreed number of refugees to Israel territory…Magnanimous, will they be sterilized to ensure the agreed number is maintained?
.. and ultimately a two State solution. The South African independent black state solution should be a good model. Who’s guessing the “independent” Palestinian State will have water controlled by Israel?
I’m sure if you asked Palestinian resistance fighters to talk about their organizations they would also put quotes around the “terrorist” description. Indeed perhaps we all should use the scare quotes on the theory that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Terrorist has become a propaganda buzz word.
And Avnery is telling things from his perspective as someone who fought for Israel and has lived there for most of his 90 years. He isn’t pretending to be a disinterested 3rd party and is perfectly up front about his own history and what he thinks. Your notion that he is some kind of secret agent for apartheid is frankly silly. He wants both sides to live side by side in peace (regardless of whether that is likely to happen).
In my opinion the only reason to condemn a writer is for not telling the truth. Everyone has their own view, and often something to tell us.
Evian Conference.
“Hitler responded to the news of the conference by saying essentially that if the other nations would agree to take the Jews, he would help them leave.
“I can only hope and expect that the other world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals [Jews], will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships.”
The conference proved a failure because both the United States and Britain refused to accept any (substantially) more refugees, and most of the countries at the conference followed suit,”
wikipedia
You might also read “none is too many”
Tenet’s Two Tales: Financial Machinations, Ethics Drought
Board member Bush should’ve been aware of this case as a member of the Quality, Compliance and Ethics Committee from 2008 to his resignation.
Tenet is a serial ethics violator, even settling with the state of Florida while Jeb was Governor. That didn’t prevent Jeb from joining the board and being personally enriched with $2 million in cash and stock.
Welsh Carson has Tom Scully, former Medicare/Medicaid Chief as General Partner. Scully led the implementation of Medicare Prescription Drug Program (Part D). United Surgical Partners grew in part to its joint ventures with Baylor Health System.
There’s a new joint venture in town between Tenet and United Surgical.
Based on the respective valuation multiples and the expected EBITDA less NCI at the joint venture over the next year, the enterprise value of the joint venture approximates 12.5x forward EBITDA less NCI, based on an equity value of approximately $2.6 billion. The agreement contains a put/call structure, under which Tenet can acquire the remaining Welsh Carson investment in USPI over the next five years at a fixed multiple of 9.5x forward EBITDA less NCI.
It’s about financial machinations, a common meme in our PEU world. I expressly don’t want my surgery performed in a center acquired by a put/call structure.
Update 6-6-15: Tenet made the news for a third story, one about high infant mortality at a Florida hospital’s NICU The article’s title is “9th Baby Dies After Heart Surgery at Florida hospital”.
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2015/06/tenets-two-tales-financial-machinations.html
they will “put” most of us out of our misery…..Winning!
Thanks for the link to the article about Representative Don Beyer’s disgraceful support of Trade Promotion Authority (fast track).
NC readers who know people in Virginia should forward this article to them. Beyer needs to learn from his constituents just how treasonous he is. And be sure to send them a link instructing them how to contact Beyer’s office: http://beyer.house.gov/Contact. Unfortunately, they’ll have to enter their 9 digit zip code to continue.
Here’s his office phone number, in case you don’t know your 9 digit zip: 202-225-4376.
Update on Fast Track from The Hill:
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/244165-trade-supporters-bullish-as-vote-nears
And the whip count:
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/241114-whip-list-dems-bucking-obama-on-trade
My bet is it will pass. Republicans channeling Orwell saying TPP will give more power to Congress.
Please keep calling.
i wonder if mr. clinton is raising money through stud fees as well.
Where does one find Peter Doyle these days? I used to work with him at the bank of England back in the day.
Oh. wow! He has written occasional (really good) pieces for FT Alphaville. Try pinging some of the writers. If no one responds in a week or so, let me know and I’ll have a go.
Privilege-Serving Story Placement at the New York Times
By Paul Street
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/privilege-serving-story-placement-at-the-new-york-times/
Is that a gopher? I recognize the hill of dirt. I was going to send Lambert some pictures of recent gopher destruction in my garden but it’s too depressing.
Badger. Right click the photo and choose photo info.
The head shape and coloring are classic.
More government hypocrisy re water: Governor Brown of California has ordered a 20% reduction in water use per capita.
Corporations, while supposedly “people”, with all their rights and guarantees of profits are exempt.
With everything else going on, thanks for reminding us about the figure in the carpet, Israel, which accounts for inexplicable irrationality in US policies from surveillance to trade to aggression.
http://www.phibetaiota.net/2013/06/jon-rappoport-nsa-as-front-for-two-israeli-companies-narus-and-verint-specializing-in-mass-surveillance-and-siphoning-off-a-zionist-copy-of-everything/
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/obama.html
assholery continues from the defenders of the public…
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/07/youtube-texas-police-officer-pool-party-arrests
and what could possibly go wrong with this????
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/the-secret-history-of-seal-team-6.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
The Wisconsin Democratic Party has a new chair, Martha Laning. Her big idea is… drum roll… messaging. Also an online forum for Party organizers.
Yeah.
The candidates were a guy who tried to bribe Laning to drop out (by offering her a job) and who was the progressives’/activists’ darling, the former Chair’s chosen heir, and the lady who won. Mr. Bribe-offerer (Smith) dropped out a day before the convention and endorsed her. There are also rumors of other shenanigans. She seems to be the exact sort of wishy-washy triangulating moderate that has no clue what’s going on and why they keep losing.
I have little doubt that progressives and activists will continue to throw their unconditional support behind the Democrats, even as they prove their true nature yet again.
until they won’t, like with labour in the uk, especially scotland.
Dear Stop Fast Track Team,
As most of you know, pro-Fast Track House members think they have the votes to push it through this week—and word is they plan to call a vote on Thursday.
Here’s a link to the House calendar for this coming week—note the very last item, and in the group before it, the resolution to suspend country of origin labeling for meat (a law that’s been in effect since 1946.) http://www.majorityleader.gov/floor/
Popular Resistance and other allies have been holding rallies at least twice a week recently—both in-district around the country, and in D.C. This week it’s up to us: we need to ratchet up the pressure EVEN MORE!
Join Public Citizen, PDAction, Popular Resistance, AFL-CIO, MoveOn organizers, TradeJustice and others for an important, emergency call TOMORROW (Monday, June 8) at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific).
Speakers:
– Alisa Simmons, Deputy Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch: what’s going on in D.C. this week—and how we will still win the fight (much depends on you!)
– Margaret Flowers, founder, Popular Resistance/Flush the TPP Campaign: we’re pushing back with increased “people power.” What you can do—whether you’re in D.C., or at home on your computer!
– Celeste Drake, Trade and Globalization Policy Specialist, AFL-CIO: the policy implications of all this wrangling, and the possible House Fast Track vote on Thursday.
– Andrea Miller, Executive Director, People Demanding Action, with an update from insiders tracking the Congressional Progressive Caucus—on who’s likely to turn on us—and vote “yes” on Fast Track.
– Other allies (still being confirmed.)
– YOU—with your important questions! This will be an information-sharing call, followed by a brief opportunity for Q & A with national allies’ leaders. Here are the details:
STOPPING THE JUNE 11 FAST TRACK VOTE
Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, 5 p.m. Pacific Time (one hour call)
Dial-in number: 605-562-3140 Access Code: 951146
This will be a PHONE ONLY call (no meeting room.)
OTHER ACTIONS/CALLS TO SIGN UP FOR THIS WEEK:
1. Kathleen Rice Rally: Monday at 5:30 p.m.—just before our call—New York fair trade activists, together with Adam Weissman at Trade Justice, organizers with NY MoveOn, and other groups, will be holding a rally protesting Rep. Kathleen Rice’s pro-fast track stance. Here’s a link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/801724589923825/
2. TPP Team Coalition Call next Sunday, June 14, Guest speaker LGBT leader Cleve Jones. Click to register: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EB58D98783493A
3. Popular Resistance events: Weekly activist call Wednesday—and two important actions in D.C. on Tuesday and Thursday. Click to register for the 1st Rigged Trade Rebellion event Tuesday: http://www.flushthetpp.org/rigged-trade-rebellion-day-1/
Click here to register for the Wednesday call: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/BPK05T2OWNZ7GPG8
Together, we CAN WIN!
Until tomorrow, in solidarity,
Liz J
Elizabeth Warren
Director of Communications & Campaign Outreach
People Demanding Action
Email: Liz@PeopleDemandingAction.org
Twitter: @LizWarrenWriter
Facebook: Liz (Woyton) Warren
forever we snaggle between the teeth of deliverence and the opposite number–religious abstraction for the most part.
i’m more worried about the banjo of deliverence.
Lambert, Raimonds Vējonis is the “green not red” type of green. He’s for scaremongering about Russia, and he’s not against austerity. The anti austerity party is linked with ethnic russians and so will never take power.
Kudos for the Levine link.