Lost cat miraculously survives California wildfire CBS. Look at her singed whiskers!
‘Eventually, our universe will be completely dark’ DW
Wind Could Replace Coal as Nation’s Primary Generation Source The Energy Collective
Science says your “gut feeling” isn’t a metaphor Quartz. I’m leery of the enthusiasm for this thesis, in that this seems like yet another overhyped discovery.
World population likely to surpass 11 billion by end of century TreeHugger (resilc). It won’t be any world you’d want to live in. I know plenty of people 30 and under who intend not to have kids because they anticipate that the standard of living (broadly defined, not just economic but ecological and social stability) is going to get worse, and probably a lot worse, very soon. But some people in advanced economies making this sort of decision is not likely to alter the trajectory enough. But other possible developments, like greatly reduced efficacy of antibiotics, could.
Google new operating structure Business Insider. First, The Company Formerly Known as Google looks to be going hell bent down the path of being an overly diversified conglomerate. Those typically trade at conglomerate discounts. Second, the rebranding suggests that that the Google name was becoming a negative. Companies generally only rebrand when their original brand has associations they want to shed, like Blackwater. So was Google becoming (correctly) too strongly associated with the surveillance state? And is Alphabet meant to stand for a cheerful “We are foundational to all things technology?” Good luck with that.
Video gamers win millions of dollars in Seattle championship Reuters (EM)
Protesters Press Secluded G7 Leaders on Harmful Policies, from Crippling Austerity to Dirty Coal Democracy Now (Sid S)
People’s Bank of China Devalues Yuan Wall Street Journal
China Lowers Value of Its Currency as Economic Slowdown Raises Concerns New York Times
5 Things About China’s Currency Devaluation WSJ China Real Time Report
China ‘preparing shortlist’ to replace markets regulator after shares crisis Sydney Morning Herald (EM)
The 70-year itch: America struggles to maintain its credibility as the dominant power in the Asia-Pacific Economist. Its tweek: “Barack Obama portrays the TPP as the most important aspect of America’s ‘pivot’ to Asia.”
Deflation Stalks the Euro Zone Bloomberg
For Many in Spain, a Heralded Economic Recovery Feels Like a Bust New York Times
Grexit?
Greece says outline deal with creditors struck Financial Times
Greece and lenders agree on primary budget targets-official Reuters
Germans and Slovaks stand ready to scupper Greek deal as Athens insists agreement is near Telegraph
Germany government gained from Greek crisis – IWH study BBC
Tsipras seeks to cool talk of him calling snap polls ekathimerini
Ukraine/Russia
Russian Authorities Step in to Avert Ruble Slide Wall Street Journal
Syraqistan
Turkey Invades Syria, Goes For Aleppo Moon of Alabama
29 U.S. Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal in Letter to Obama New York Times (EM)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
No-fly list uses ‘predictive assessments’ instead of hard evidence, US admits Guardian (Brian C, Chuck L). Pre crime is here!
Why ‘Smart’ Objects May Be a Dumb Idea New York Times. David L: “Our cars, fridges and even bank safes are connected to the Internet. It’s making us vulnerable in new and alarming ways.” Not mine!
Imperial Collapse Watch
Chalmers Johnson on Garrisoning the Planet TomDispatch. Resilc: “Nobody calls this scam. And they want to kill social security to pay for this.”
War in Space May Be Closer Than Ever Scientific American
Game of Groans: How focus on Trump Taunts hides GOP war on Middle Class, Workers Juan Cole (resilc)
Megyn Kelly Says She Won’t Be Cowed by Donald Trump New York Times
Lawrence Lessig to Explore a Run for President as a Democrat New York
Stock Buybacks Draw Scrutiny From Politicians New York Times
Wastewater spill from Colorado gold mine triples in volume: EPA Reuters (EM)
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Man shot at Ferguson rally charged BBC
Emergency Declared in Ferguson After Shooting New York Times
Statement On Charges Against HuffPost Reporter Ryan J. Reilly From Arrest In Ferguson Huffington Post. The police force in Ferguson really does need to be shut down. When the press investigates, which seems to be the only mechanism for exposing what happened, the response is to charge them too. Lovely.
Bernie Sanders and Ferguson: When Protest Loses Its Purpose Esquire (resilc)
Legislation would give SEC more time to go after fraudsters Investment News (Adrien)
Gang of Transnational Crime Organizations Roll Out Own Encrypted Communication System Marcy Wheeler
Senate’s Warren Seeks Review of Bank Message System After Fines Bloomberg
Class Warfare
US labour market weakening Bill Mitchell
The Tech Productivity Mystery Noah Smith, Bloomberg
Antidote du jour. Resilc writes, “OK, Yves, top this one.” From Laughing Squid, Photograph Captures Two ‘Dryas Iulia’ Butterflies Drinking the Tears of Turtles in Ecuador:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
149 comments
Comments are closed.
Though population projections can never be exact, the report estimates with 95 percent confidence that the total will be somewhere between 9.5 billion and 13.3 billion by 2100.
95% accuracy eh? These numbers are derived from placing an exponential curve on the graph of world population and then projecting it out to 2100. The range on 9.5b to 13.3b is the result of various known factors that they theorize may retard population growth.
No doubt somehow or another human ingenuity and innovation will overcome the minor quibble that we’re already over the carrying capacity of the planet earth, and the resources needed to maintain our precarious perch of being at overcapacity are swiftly diminishing. Considering the direness of the predicament, which these people who do population projections appear to be completely oblivious to, let along 9.5 billion we’ll be lucky to have 9.5 million human inhabitants on the planet earth in 2100. That link was a jaw-dropping display of delusional ignorance. It’s nice to be reminded now and again that there really are people that out of touch in the world.
Not to fear. Even though the masses are being kept ignorant about the effects of the uncontrollable, and scientifically unstoppable radiation emanating from Fukushima, the fact remains that there is already evidence that millions will die long before their time. The Fukushima event will prove to be the greatest depopulation event of all time. Japan, and the Pacific Islands should already have been evacuated. The death of many millions of marine wildlife in the Pacific and the gradual extinction of many species gets no mention in the MSM. In North America, the exposure to this radiation is as much as 500 times acceptable levels; check out netc.com to see the effect on your area. Note that under historic guidelines, a CPM of over 50 was grounds for evacuation.
None of the spent fuel has been moved off site. That’s a big risk and and it’s because they have no idea what to do it.
This is all just chicken little stuff. We really aren’t near the “carrying capacity” of the planet. Are we gonna break gravity or something and centrifugal force spins us off into outer space? That’s a silly idea. You can’t break gravity. I don’t think so. Have you heard of any scientists warning us we will break gravity? I haven’t. It’s just not going to happen.
The main problem then is were do we put, say, another 3 billion people over a hundred years, assuming people don’t get too carried away and we hit the low end of the projections. Knowing that there are about 120 million households in America, that works out to an additional 25 people per household.
Maybe that sounds like a lot, until you remind yourself it’s spread out over 100 years, and realize it’s an exponential curve. Meaning it’s mostly backloaded and you don’t need to even think about it for another 10 years and things won’t be that much different then. At that point you realize all we need to do in America is take in one total stranger and let him or her sleep on the sofa. Then we can work out where to put the rest of the exponential curve. Granted, we’ll need to think a little faster then.
your just gonna need a sh*tload of pods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vrkF-nzht8
You’re right! But who will do that for us?
We’ve already exceeded the sustainable carrying capacity of the biosphere, which is not quite the same thing as the planet. We’ll never reach a world population of 11 billion because famine, droughts, epidemics, and wars (for resources, primarily, but also for ideology and pride) will kill off a huge number of people. We could prevent or lessen the severity of many of these imminent tragedies by lowering the birth rate, but that’s not likely to happen. Too many powerful people want us to keep churning out babies for religious and nationalistic purposes.
At least breaking gravity is nothing we need to worry about in that case then.
agree, she won’t spin us off. maybe burp us off…we’ve caused her plenty indigestion.
Check out J G Ballards famous story, “Billenium.” It explores a version of the overcrowded future. Much of Ballards early work has echoes of his childhood spent in a Japanese concentration camp for Europeans outside of Shanghai China. The sense of oppression and stifling lack of privacy are almost protagonists in some of Ballards early works.
Soylent green
Kim Stanley Robertson does an excellent realistic portrayal of the colonization of mars. Climate change, consequences and adaptation is a common theme through all the books I’ve read of him.
Except that he got it to go the right direction on Mars…even so, didn’t it take 500 years or something?
Let see.. what a good project before breakfast….lets dial up the magnetosphere, now where is that knob?
http://www.space.dtu.dk/english/Research/Universe_and_Solar_System/magnetic_field
I’ve read my fill of dystopian futures that we are in the process of heading towards. It’s nice to read about a societal rejection of the elements that have and are fucking us up in a intelligent, balanced and nuanced way.
Ummm. No.
The Earth is supporting its current population only because fossil fuels are still cheap and easily available.
By 2100, neither condition will be true. We’ll always *have* them, mind you, just not in amounts to generate the 160 exajoules per year provided by oil alone. Just-in-time food supply chains and the point-to-point refrigeration that makes them possible require oil. Absent of a breakthrough in battery technology (i.e. volumetric energy density comparable to hydrocarbons at a roughly comparable cost), this goes away not in 85 years, but in 30 or 40.
Of course, energy is just one thing. Global food production is highly dependent on mined phosphates, whose acquisition, processing and distribution too, is dependent on cheap energy.
We’re not going extinct, of course. It’ll just be a population bottleneck of the type enjoyed by the Easter Islanders, Sumerians, Mayans and so on.
Aside from energy demands, wars, rising sea levels, warming temperatures, drought, and lack of effective antibiotics will insure we won’t reach 9 billion.
Changes in the earth’s environment are now projected to be arriving much sooner than previously thought: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-point-of-no-return-climate-change-nightmares-are-already-here-20150805
Extinction is more likely than you think. It depends on greenhouse gas emissions, which are still accelerating as I type this. If we get to the 6-10C range, it’s possible that we can’t do agriculture, if we get to 10C I doubt we survive.
indeed. people making these projections don’t understand how complex systems such as our planet function. they just look at the population growth over the last 1000 years, fit a curve to it, and project it forwards.
“The Tech Productivity Mystery”
How valuable is the search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) for productivity? What is the amount it contributes to the economy?
For Google, it is the amount of the advertising it earns. The dollars of advertising is the amount that gets measured.
How this equates to the actual value / amount of change that the economy / has undergone since the search engine showed up is unclear to me.
possibly our insane urge to escape boredom
> No-fly list uses ‘predictive assessments’ instead of hard evidence, US admits
I laughed out loud at the headline. Ten years ago, the first time we flew with our then-six-month-old son, the check-in people told us that our son had to report to the TSA agent for an interview. We managed to convince them that he hadn’t committed any egregious crimes against the state and we all flew, but we had to see a TSA rep every time we flew for years after. We filed a form suggesting that he probably wasn’t who they were looking for, and we got a nice letter from them saying that they had properly filed our information. He no longer has to check in (maybe the algorithm has more history now), but we inferred the headline a long time ago and it’s nice to see it in print.
You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them! You can’t close the leads you’re given, you can’t close shit, you are shit, hit the bricks, pal, and beat it ’cause you are going out!
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glengarry_Glen_Ross_(film)
================================================================
Now why in the world would I quote Glengarry GlenRoss?
Well, I imagine TSA is very much how it was when I worked at NSA. Every drone – oops, wrong term nowadays, every low level employee, when we were doing something obviously stupid and ridiculous, got the “big picture” – the explanation that very, very smart people who know all the facts came up with this process and we need to follow it exactly. Don’t question it – just do it (whoa! do I have to pay Nike or something???)
“You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money.” Yeah, I can hear the TSA supervisor saying we may not understand how a 6 year American kid can provide any intelligence – – but my view is, how many TSA employees do we have that we KNOW can outwit a 6 year old???
tsk tsk Alpahbet
“Thou whoreson zed! Thou unnecessary letter! My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a jakes with him.”
I don’t think 11 billion is a problem simply because we won’t hit that number. We will have mass die-offs well before that. I don’t think it will make the situation any better for most of the survivors since the massive dislocation, pollution, and disruption of the environment won’t magically disappear in 15 years when the world population crashes from 9 billion to 5 billion.
I agree – it isn’t going to get that high. Not that I think it will be pleasant – climate change, famine, wars, will reduce the population. Nature will handle what we refuse to. These projections are just silly, they keep taking current trends out, as if there always just naturally be enough water, food, etc.
…add in disease (pandemics) and the picture gets real murky. The Black Plague reduced the (then) world population by 20%. The flu pandemic of the middle 1900’s was another significant world population reducer.
http://www.trueactivist.com/18-ceos-called-out-by-bernie-sanders-for-taking-trillions-in-bailouts-evading-taxes-and-outsourcing-jobs/
Nice dead men walking list… but for Brian Duperreault! his 2010 Ninety Million dollar refund, AIG background, with a Math BS, deserves the top 5.
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world that’s when you turned the world around
mf’rs
Science says your “gut feeling” isn’t a metaphor Quartz. I’m leery of the enthusiasm for this thesis, in that this seems like yet another overhyped discovery.
Actually, science is just discovering Chomsky is right and there IS in fact such a thing as common sense.
Read the piece before commenting. It’s about intestinal bacteria determining mood. Lordie.
So, Esquire has decided that it is well positioned to offer advice to the Black Lives Matter movement, eh? Excuse while I wretch…
How does it never occur to these privileged white f–ks that, uh, maybe telling non-privileged people of color how to behave is, like, kind of insulting? No one every considers that maybe, by offering their unsolicited advice from the comfort of their well-appointed offices, they are reproducing the same old patronizing b.s. that privileged white f–ks have been carrying on for years…
What Charlie Pierce doesn’t seem to understand is that the politicians who “oppose the cause” aren’t going to be moved by BLM. Focusing on them is a total waste of time (or maybe Pierce does understand that…) As Dr. King famously wrote, it’s not the retrograde conservatives who are the real problem, it’s the white liberals who love to make themselves feel good by “supporting” the oppressed while at the same time counseling them to not get too uppity.
Sanders had an opportunity to embrace the BLM movement, to thank them for forcing this incredibly important issue to the forefront of the national dialogue. Instead he complains about being interrupted…boo-hoo for Bernie! How dare some young black people interrupt an respectable old white dude! Don’t they know their place?!? I mean, he released a statement saying he thinks cops killing innocent people is bad, what more do they want?
Bernie is showing his true colors. Pay close attention all you 2008 Obama voters…
Agreed. But then, there’s this: BLM Activist Who Shut Down Sanders is Radical Christian, Sarah Palin Supporter
The disruptions of Sanders when he was speaking have been done by just a handful of people who seem to represent mostly just themselves. BLM is a “brand”—anyone can attach themselves to it for their own purposes.
Fortunately, Senator Sanders has been wise enough (if perhaps a bit too slowly) to reach out to the BLM movement, enthusiastically endorse their aims, and give them the floor to open his huge rally last night in L.A.:
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/08/11/sanders-lets-civil-rights-activists-open-la-campaign-event
I sometimes wonder if he’s conducting a campaign or a series of rallies? Hey we here in California love the love (more than we’ve gotten in 8 years of Obama who just flys in to collect a bunch of the .01%ers money bags, once a while gives a speech and then leaves), but I don’t know … don’t campaigns usually concentrate on states that actually have early primary influence if he wants to pick up some initial steam enough to actually last the primary season? I question whether Sanders will even still be on the ballot by the time California votes.
Campaigns need money, support, and PR. How many people live in Iowa and NH. How many non-white people? Bernie needs to show he can play outside of Vermont and by extension New Hampshire. 28,000 people attending a short build rally is legit, even more than an oprah/Obama rally.
After Iowa and NH, Bernie needs to swing to the rest of the country with two weeks and a month for Super Tuesday. Ignoring the other states when Hillary’s celebrity is on the ballot would be a mistake.
Yes, good for him:
“I [told him,] you know, economic equality is an issue. It’s something we need to address. But for some people it doesn’t matter how much money you make, it doesn’t matter where you went to school, it doesn’t matter what your parents do. It doesn’t matter that Sandra Bland had a job and was on her way to teach for her alma mater. It doesn’t matter. None of that matters.”
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/10/black_lives_matter_is_shaking_up_the_bernie_sanders_campaign_how_hes_taking_the_critique_seriously/
I don’t know how this gains transaction. She does appear to be Christian (black prophetic tradition?). But the Palin support was in high school it seems. It seems common to me for a lot of would be radicals to have at one point switched from one extreme of the political spectrum (Sarah Palin is that I guess) to the other. But that’s my anecdotal experience, which may very well make one question radicalism. But it was in high school. People change opinions about lots of things, sometimes everything, since their high school days.
The quality of one’s allegiance is largely conserved in such shifts, whatever the figure of authority. The bleeding-heart liberal becomes the salesdroid salary(wo)man; the bully becomes a police officer; the antinomialist diva simply finds a different set of rules to sit above. When you
sell outBuy In, it’s just the same shtick, different shingle.“Here’s What Happened. Bernie was a scheduled guest at a Social Security and Healthcare rally in Seattle. This was NOT an official rally of his. It took place in the afternoon. As Bernie was being introduced by rally organizers, a few BLM [slash Outside Agitators 206] protesters got on stage and demanded the mic. What appeared to happen was this: the organizer didn’t want to yield the mic, but Bernie went ahead and told them to give them a chance to speak. Bernie stepped off to the side of the stage. The speaking protester brought up incarceration rates, gentrification, etc. in Seattle, and then asked for a four and a half minute moment of silence for Michael Brown. The crowd managed to keep quiet enough, and the moment of silence was held. The speaking protester then began to make accusations against Bernie, at which point the crowd grew very restless and wanted to listen to him speak. The speaking protester was approached by one of the rally organizers and managed to get the mic from her, and attempted to give it to Bernie. Bernie seemed to have wanted some kind of resolution to the protest before he spoke, and gave the mic to another person on stage who did not appear to be a BLM activist or a Sanders campaign person (I think she was a rally organizer). She began to speak on how everyone there is supportive of the BLM movement, and how there is an issue with incarceration of minorities. There were several discussions between the BLM [slash Outside Agitators 206] protesters and the new person speaking, and it seemed that the BLM [slash Outside Agitators 206]protesters were not going to leave the stage until they got another chance with the mic. After several side discussions with campaign workers and others, Sanders appeared to have come to the conclusion that he would not have the chance to speak at the rally, and decided to leave the stage and then made a long walk weaving through the crowd shaking hands with supporters. The stream then ended.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/3gczhh/seattle_and_blacklivesmatter_day_2/
206?
https://outsideagitators206.org/who-we-are/
Outside Agitators 206…
https://outsideagitators206.org/
Thanks, that’s helpful. The conclusion I draw is that the Seattle thing was organic.* That said, the dog not barking in the night is still the failure to disrupt any Democrat with real power. But the causality for that consistent pattern? Undetermined as yet.
Writing in haste, so readers please correct.
* So far as I can tell, the #BlackLivesMatter movement — modulo the no-doubt-ongoing efforts by Democratic loyalists to create a new Black Misleadership Class — isn’t structurally like the Civil Rights Era movement at all; at least a year ago, there was nothing like the SCLC or the long planning for Rosa Parks or the even longer planning for Brown v. Board of Education. And nothing like the twitter back then, either. We shouldn’t read the past into the present.
So I think syndecdoche is really dangerous here, analytically, politically, and in every way. That is, we can’t take the part (2016) for the whole (BLM), but rather have to roll with what happens, and get serious about contextualization. Which, looking back, seems to be pretty much what the Sanders campaign did.
Seattle area code
Wikipedia: “206 is the North American telephone area code in the U.S. state of Washington for Seattle, Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, the islands of Mercer, Bainbridge, and Vashon, and portions of metropolitan Seattle from Des Moines to Woodway.”
um…
https://reverbpress.com/politics/sanders-answers-blm-hires-black-woman-national-press-secretary/
If, as our esteemed hostess avers, Hillary is not physically up to a full campaign, and Bernie has too many question marks in his CV to dominate, who is next in line for the Democrats? I suspect that Biden has had enough of ‘High Office’ and will avoid the trap. So, who is the Democrat Parties next ‘junior Senator from Cloud Cuckoo Land?’
As for Bernie complaining about “being interrupted,” I posted a Super Conspiracy Theory about it on the ninth last:
ambrit August 9, 2015 at 6:20 pm
This is just crazy enough….
The Cynical Me sat up and validated this idea as quite evil enough to be a Democratic Party Nomenklatura tactic.
Step 1: “Promote” #blm ‘demonstrators’ to crash a few Sanders speaking engagements.
Step 2: Observe Sanders preferred response to said disruptions.
Step 3: A: If Sanders reacts negatively or strongly against “demonstrators,” promote meme that Sanders is a “Privileged White Male.”
Step 3: B: If Sanders reacts with calm and courtesy, promote meme that Saunders is a “wimp.”
Hillary response to 3A: “How dare that Man attempt to demean and degrade our brothers and sisters in arms.” (Faux ‘Solidarity’ legend.)
Hillary response to 3B: “How dare this wimp demand to be given the reins of Power. He can’t even control his own rallies! I was Secretary of State and ‘Ruled the World!’” (Faux ‘Strong Woman’ legend.)
Now that Hillaries Minions know that Saunders is playing the ‘Elder Statesman’ courteous gentleman card, full steam ahead for Case 3B Response.
My scenario: Hills is giving yet another Sermon on the Mount when some #blms ‘disrupt’ her. Hills takes a conveniently available second microphone and proceeds to “talk sense” into the #blms. The #blms slowly calm down and end up enrapt, sitting at Hills feet receiving Divine DNC Revelation. The former ‘dissidents’ surge up and pledge to spread the wisdom of the Great Helmswoman. Crowd ‘spontaneously’ bursts into song: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
The Millennium arrives.
I do agree with you about this being a status quo issue. I don’t have a clue as to how ‘deep’ the #blm bench is, but from where I stand, I’m seeing glimmers of a long term reactionary game plan. Instead of preserving the status quo, I will suggest that powerful actors on the Right want to roll the status quo back to 1900s levels. Similar to where the technological levels will end up after the economic and environmental resets occur.
You forgot the 3rd scenario
Protesters endorse Sanders
Hillary: Sister Soulja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are correct.
As added value to the NC Commenteriat, I unveil Strategy Case 3-C Response.
Case 3-C Response: Purported #blm ‘disruptors’ endorse Sanders. Said #blms then start trashing opponent rallies, venues, and committing general mayhem. Poster image for cointelpro Sanders campaign. Pictures of graffiti on wall of burned out building with slogan; #blm!! Vote for Sanders!!
Jeb Bush declared winner of ‘close’ election by Supreme Court, suspends Constitution for “Duration of Emergency.”
If Jeb steals, pardon me wins the election:
-Massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare
-Private Accounts administered by Wall Street in lieu of Social Security
-Massive cuts, or elimination of Unemployment Insurance
-ACA replaced by Vouchers or tax breaks for medical care “Giving you your freedom back”
-Iran deal scuttled and replaced with sanctions.
Oooh, spooky. That scenario rings too true. Anyone remember how fast the Feds and the media managed to tar and feather Occupy Wall Street with those poor know-nothing Ohio youths who were framed and entrapped? There was also the completely strange and non-sensical story about some 10 year-old DNA on a NYC subway turnstile belonging to an alleged murderous Occupy protester. Nebulous, decentralized social change movements, especially ones already viewed as confrontational can be easily used by our highly advanced propaganda state to smear a dangerous (to the elite and status quo) political figure like Sanders. If Sanders keeps packing stadiums and scaring the elites with class war rhetoric he’ll be lucky if doesn’t get charged with terrorism or child pornography.
Sanders should certainly avoid those small private planes and fly coach with the masses.
. . . like MH 370 ?
Sanders could buy a plane ticket and “somebody else” could buy a train ticket, and then Sanders could make a last-minute change of plans and take the train using “somebody else’s” train ticket.
There is no third Democrat. Biden has the record of Hillary plus racist remarks (sorry, the country’s slightly racist uncle shouldn’t be president) and Clarence Thomas. Outside of being meme worthy, he’s a nothing.
“No drama, Obama” strategy meant Democrats were waiting on commands from on high, so no one outside of Liz developed any kind of positive profile during the last 8 years. Democratic governors have been wiped out, and Obama and Hillary are celebrity draws. There can only be so many celebrities at one time. They just can’t produce a Hispanic Obama. Franken and Brown types spent too much time being loyal to the brand and not being forceful.
They haven’t produced a Hispanic Obama yet. Wait ’til 2020 or, more probably, 2024.
The Dems will have to beat Jeb!’s kid first. Saw him make a brief political appearance a few years ago – no doubt that kid’s being groomed for high office.
And this…..
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/10/real-black-lives-matter-wsnts-activists-publicly-apologize-bernie-sanders.html
They should have been arrested and never allowed to get to the stage, that shows what a great guy Bernie is. Would Hillary or any repubs allow that? Hell no. Even Obama probably would have had them arrested.
They would have been stopped by security at an HRC rally and charged with something inappropriately serious. At a Repug rally they probably would have been violently assaulted by various angry racists in the crowd just itching to right the imaginary wrongs of their white victimhood. Sanders had six security guards stationed around the stage for his next rally in Portland.
Arrested?* For a peaceful protest at a political rally?!
“Proving their point….”
* Fortunately for them, they wouldn’t be facing a routine traffic stop, and so would be less likely to get whacked. So there’s that.
It wasn’t a Sanders event. Despite the 2008 celebrity cycle, Presidential campaigns aren’t the magical security force usually. I almost tackled Governor Mark Warner and encountered George Allen during the height of the 2006 campaign with no one around. I’ve been in line at a dunkin’ donuts behind Joe Lieberman. I know it’s Jim Gilmore, but we talked baseball outside the UVA bookstore once. My dad’s boss when we lived in New Hampshire held open events for every candidate, except Garry Ford. Dad shook Jesse Jackson and Ronald Reagan’s hand in the exact same spot.
Obama had obvious security concerns. The events were huge by traditional standards. Hillary has Secret Service protection.
The more thought I spend on the subject the more I’m convinced these women were just random idiots who have a poor knowledge of history and want to be part of the solution. They probably just copied the net root nations interruption which I’m not as outraged by as the Seattle event.
+1
“The more thought I spend on the subject the more I’m convinced these women were just random idiots who have a poor knowledge of history and want to be part of the solution. They probably just copied the net root nations interruption which I’m not as outraged by as the Seattle event.”
Oh, lookie here, BLM is now posted no-trespassing for the Democratic Party and authoritarianism.
So the colour of Pierce’s skin and his income disqualify him from having an opinion? How liberal of you.
What this is rapidly generating into is an exercise in competitive victimhood and the privileges that appertain to it. The truth is that no matter how much other people are hurting, their suffering is inconsequential next to that of black Americans, and therefore it is entirely legitimate for BLM activists to disrupt any attempt to discuss anything but black victimhood. As a corollary it’s also perfectly reasonable for BLM activists to act like hooligans and expect not to be called out on it.
I hardly need to emphasize that this mindset is already poisoning the well of goodwill between what should be natural allies and may well succeed in fracturing the opposition to the status quo.
From the BLM website:
If the new dignity is what we saw in Seattle, I’ll pass.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”― Mahatma Gandhi
It’s a mistake to take a few people as a synecdoche for the entire moving. The elevation of a misleadership class plays on exactly the same fallacy.
“Bernie is showing his true colors. Pay close attention all you 2008 Obama voters…”
Sorry, diptherio, but this is just nonsense. You do appreciate that these individuals were interrupting a rally supporting Medicare and Social Security, don’t you? This wasn’t a Bernie Sanders campaign event. The individuals who forced their way onto the stage were grandstanding. Calling out people at a rally for social benefits as “white supremacist liberals” is divisive and non-productive, not to mention being a totally false accusation. The individuals who interrupted the presentation didn’t convince me, or Charles Pierce, apparently, that they had a positive proposal for any kind of change. They came across as angry children throwing a tantrum, hurling out hateful invective at any and all. Sorry if you don’t like it, but that’s how they appeared to many, including this non-privileged “white f-k”, as you put it.
x2
Black Social Security Matters
Black Medicare Matters
Black Jobs Matter
Yep, agreed. I believe your succinct phrasing is quite accurate and I think it reflects the thinking of candidate Sanders up until the recent activist disruptions. However I think the Sanders campaign has been inexcusably slow to realize an opportunity with the BLM movement. He’s an old white guy from a nearly all-white state, so embracing a new black civil rights movement could help strengthen both the Sanders platform and the candidate’s appeal with a crucial Democrat demographic where he is all but unknown and very far behind Hillary Clinton. If his people are smart he will emerge a much stronger candidate from these activist disruptions.
I like that framing. And these matter all the more because of the injustices and historical iniquities.
Of course those programs are under real threat and may not last the decade at the rate things are going, with the Grand Bargain.
I’ve been a political activist for a long time, and I say this as a Marxist, a Green supporter of Jill Stein, and of BLM: this whole thing stinks to high heaven.
I cannot buy the argument that Sanders, and Sanders alone, has to be disrupted because he is the furthest left of the Dem candidates. This is a weird tactic for BLM to pull as an issue-based movement that wants immediate results. If so, you should dog every single candidate, not just Bernie. Go after Hillary, O’Malley, Trump, Walker, etc. Disrupting a Hillary or Trump rally, even if you are hauled off in cuffs, will get you an incredible amount of press. You go after front-runners. After that, worry about underdogs like Sanders. To focus solely on him is very weird. I agree with Esquire that it takes little courage to do so and makes no sense. Attacking Sanders by himself is *easy* and solves nothing; it would make far more sense to go after Hillary & Trump, or attack both the Democratic and Republican parties as rotten and corrupt.
This seems like either a cynical, sectarian ploy by BLM to get media attention and possibly Sanders campaign jobs (he just hired a BLMer to be a staff person), or it is cooked up by the Clinton HQ to make the Sanders supporters spin around like a top. BLM seems to be very, very tied to the Democratic Party as much as its supporters criticize particular Dems – so it would make sense that they wouldn’t offer a systemic critique and are able to be used by the Dem elite. Sanders sheepdogs white liberals into the Democratic Party for 2016 while BLM attacks him and forces internecine warfare. Who wins? The Democrats, Republicans, and the ruling class.
i smell her too
“If I didn’t kick his @ss every day, he wouldn’t be worth anything.”
–on Bill Clinton
There’s an enormous difference between Sanders today and Obama in 2008. In 2008 Obama was a cautious non-entity with very little paper trail who made a few good speeches. In contrast, Sanders has been in the Congress since 1991. He has voted in thousands of roll calls, and people know what they will be getting if they vote for Sanders.
The idiots in Seattle ought to have been protesting the Republicans or Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders. It doesn’t matter that the Republicans won’t be moved by BLM — the BLM activists have a chance to gain favorable publicity by exposing the rottenness of the Republicans and establishment Democrats like Clinton. Instead, they protested someone who is actually on their side. The protesters in Seattle revealed themselves to be fools. Or maybe they are enemies of the BLM movement, and their intent was to discredit the movement. If so, they succeeded.
…Look. It’s Seattle, man. Its a Grunge thing, man. Keepin’ it simple with mono-rhythm, repeating base line, two chords, and a pentatonic melodic scale. (Maybe that should be dischord.) /sarc off
Not sure where Bernie complained about being interrupted in Seattle, from what I saw he just stepped aside and let them speak. Also, Bernie has been speaking about the criminal injustice system for awhile, and has now released a comprehensive platform. What more would you have him do?
“The platform, which has won praise from several prominent voices in the Black Lives Matter movement, focuses on different forms of violence against people of color in the United States: physical violence from law enforcement and extremist vigilantes, the political violence of voter suppression, the legal violence of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, and the economic violence of crushing poverty. Sanders lays out several proposals to address each form of violence, from passing “ban the box” laws to prevent hiring discrimination against people with criminal records, to outlawing for-profit prisons, to restoring the gutted protections in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.”
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/08/10/3689728/after-repeated-protests-bernie-sanders-releases-racial-justice-platform/
Its not like the issue is new for Bernie. I saw him speak in Madison on July 1, and he pointed out the high unemployment rate of African American youth and the need to create more jobs and opportunities for them rather than more incarceration and more jails, also advocating for police department reform so they could “walk down the street and not be abused or worse”. Now he has added it to his platform, but its not like he was ignoring the issue.
I think Pierce issued a disclaimer about his standing to comment on the BLM Seattle episode by quoting Adam Clayton Powell, Jr and using the term “whitesplaining”.
“Segrettism” refers to Donald Segretti – Nixon’s chief ratf*cker . “Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L. Chapin to run a campaign of dirty tricks (which he dubbed “ratf*cking”) against the Democrats,” (Wikipedia – Donald Segretti).
With all due respect the BLM coalition comes off as a bunch of posers. If they really were concerned about getting their issues addressed instead of just posturing they would have asked the campaign to look at creating a space for their “issues” in his platform instead of interrupting him having a discussion about something that may not seem that important to them but what may be important to others. They come off as bratty three year olds instead of serious activists(and I say that as someone who has serious concerns about the use of deadly force by police members and that believes that there should be a discussion on it.)
Good catch with Mitchell’s article about the Labor Market Conditions Index. This is a very useful addition to the forecasting toolbox.
As Mitchell notes, the Index isn’t negative at this point, meaning Labor Conditions are slightly above trend. But they have weakened significantly compared with last year. The history of the index is that the LMCI has almost always failed to make a new high for at least 1 year prior to the onset of a recession, and has turned negative about 6 months before the onset of recession.
It also leads YoY employment as measured by the monthly nonfarm payrolls by about 6 – 12 months. Thus the recent downturn in the LMCI, along with other information, makes me think that we are likely to see job growth of under 200,000/month during this winter.
“Instead he complains about being interrupted…boo-hoo for Bernie! How dare some young black people interrupt an respectable old white dude.”
Maybe Bernie is just being rude back? Basically interrupting their interruption? Being rude to each other will get everyone’s attention?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/08/donald-trump-and-roger-ailes-make-up-for-now.html
“This morning, Trump tweeted that Ailes called to assure him that Fox will cover him “fairly” going forward. According to two high-level Fox sources, Ailes’s diplomacy was the result of increasing concern inside Fox News that Trump could damage the network. Immediately following Thursday’s debate, Fox was deluged with pro-Trump emails. The chatter on Twitter was equally in Trump’s favor. “In the beginning, virtually 100 percent of the emails were against Megyn Kelly,” one Fox source, who was briefed on the situation, told me. “Roger was not happy. Most of the Fox viewers were taking Trump’s side.”
Things got worse for Ailes over the weekend. In a phone conversation, Trump told Sean Hannity that “he was never doing Fox again,” according to one person with knowledge of the call. The anti-Kelly emails, and threat of a boycott by Trump, seem to have pushed Ailes to defuse the war. One Fox personality told me that Fox producers gave instructions to tell in-house talent not to bring up Trump’s controversial comments that Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” during the debate. According to one count, Fox only aired Trump’s comment once since Friday, while CNN mentioned it at least 50 times.”
======================================================================
Ailes may be a super partisan republican party booster, but Murdoch is a super Murdoch money booster, and would “your fired” Ailes in a heart beat if revenues started declining. (Evidence that Murdoch is more concerned about money that ideology: War on Christians; Family Guy – just so the eyeballs watch, it doesn’t matter what they’re watching)
And one further point – there seems to be a media vibe that Megyn Kelly is some good journalist. REALLY? She is front and center a shill for Ailes, reads his memos, and follows them religiously.
Again, “One Fox personality told me that Fox producers gave instructions to tell in-house talent not to bring up Trump’s controversial comments…”
Kelly is no well read independent journalist – she follows orders. And it is tedious and extremely annoying that the rest of media acts like Fox “journalists” are free to pursue any point…
Except that Megyn is hot, so who cares if she is a good journalist anyway? It doesn’t matter to me. Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t – but Megyn being hot would be one reason I’d watch Fox News. But I don’t, except on special occasions like this, or when I see it by accident on the Fox News TV at the gym during my 3 minute rest break between sets on the machines. The thing I think is weird is why anyone thinks Fox is a news channel with journalists – when it’s apparent that Murdock and Ailes just tell everyone what to say there and they do mostly editorializing anyway rather than reporting or journalism. Maybe that’s why people watch Fox News – because Megyn is hot?
I’m sort of p—- off that Fox News isn’t doing that weather report where the hottie, of either sex if we want to be all equal and all, takes off enough clothes on air to approximate the “proper” attire for the days conditions. (Summer would really heat up then.)
where you been? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2510806/Weather-presenter-Doria-Tillier-hosts-forecast-naked-France-win.html
we’re still cycling a bit too much Puritan DNA
Thank you for that.
I was going to the national whether service, but I feel your link makes me really feel the heat, and therefore really conveys a more accurate true representation of the weather.
I like the idea of a “National Whether Service.” There could be other services like that, like the “National But Service,” or the “National If Only Service.”
I’m thinking up too many jokes and puns to go with ‘National Wether Service’ for my own good.
I can see a poster for ‘The National Wether Service’ with the smiling visage of the POTUS staring out at me.
I’m moving to France. Doria is really, really, really hot.
All services available on a contingency basis, I presume?
touching to see my favorite posters line up
under me
We’re going to have to chip in and get you a whip for Christmas.
I agree — post Snowden Google and its big data, internet-of-things, creepy creeping surveillance, “smart” tracking stuff now has negative brand equity. Which is why subsidiaries like Nest go through all sorts of marketing contortions to obfuscate their parent conglomerate’s involvement.
Coincidentally, right before I was reading Links, I was attempting to find out what data Nest was sharing and what its privacy policy actually said (like a lot of tech companies, Nest tells you all about how its privacy policy is your safeguard, but when you actually read the said policy, it allows pretty much everything).
First off, you get some truly dire (really weird imagery and language) marketing nonsense:
https://nest.com/uk/privacy/
Then you can read the privacy policy itself (presumably, after being stupefied by the marketing gibberish, you are supposed to not want to bother yourself worrying about stuff like that). But the really interesting squirming is in the FAQs
https://nest.com/uk/privacy-faq/
Now that Google owns Nest, does Nest tell Google when I’m home?
No. Nest accounts and Google accounts are not cross-referenced or linked. There is a Works with Nest integration from Google. But, like all Works with Nest integrations, it’s entirely up to you if you want to turn this on. We will only share the information necessary to make things work, and only with your permission.
Notice the sleight-of-hand in this soft soaping. The “question” seems like a natural language version of what Nest users might be concerned about. But actually, it pins Nest and its interactions with its parent company down to a very narrow definition of data sharing which, after constructing the straw man, it can safely refute. But the question of privacy and data sharing is not something which can be so narrowly framed as “does Nest tell Google whether I’m at home or not”. There’s a lot more to it than that (does Nest tell Google how many sq ft my house is? does Nest tell Google whether I run my heating and cooling more or less than average? does Nest tell Google what my schedule is? and so on.
There’s even more qualified “distancing” between Nest and Google in the declaration that “accounts” aren’t shared. But personally identifiable tags (like IP addresses, WLAN names, zip codes — especially in the EU where post codes tend to be very high resolution, usually down to less than 10 properties or so) — what about these?
Anyhow, no, I never did find out what information Nest collects and what I might have inadvertently “agreed” to share by careless clicking of one of those interminable Terms and Conditions ‘Tick Yes to Accept’ notifications, especially if they masquerade as “create an account” or “register your product” features.
I’m about as tech savvy as they come, and even I can’t get to the bottom of what Nest is sending to parent Google, how I can check what I agreed to and how to go about changing it if I don’t like it. If even subsidiaries think association with Google is something that potential purchasers might think twice about, no wonder Google is changing its name.
And it’s not like they’d ever embed RFIDs in all those cute boxes they send us….
that’s brilliant!
I think you can undo those with magnets. Of course, you fry other chips too, With passports you can do it by banging on the cover.
with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan:
” I am the very model of a modern Google-General,
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
…
“Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform,
And tell you ev’ry detail of Caractacus’s uniform:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Google-General.” ….
I don’t know if you saw this….
Big Brother is Watching You Watch Him Taze You:
NYPD plans to spend $4.5M on additional stun guns
1. Another cave by `even the liberal Bill DeBlasio’ to Big Blue.
2. Has there ever been one documented case of lethal force use declining after a police force acquires Tasers?
That’s a great question. Digby, to her credit, has been tracking the taser stories for a long time. You might Google her site.
Gut feeling…
May I suggest the implications are actually underhyped. When the Human Genome Project was started, the implication was that we could get a ‘complete’ understanding of the developmental process down to the individual level. Then our understanding of the epigenetic consequences of the impact of the environment on the genes showed that the complexity was at a completely different level. Now the understanding is growing that other organisms, i.e. non-human DNA, impacts the epigenetic factors, greatly expanding the complexity to yet another level.
What may be overhyped is the practical applications of the knowledge, when such a complex system can produce outcomes which cannot be predicted. Walter Iberall suggested that the true study of behavior shouldn’t be focused on the nervous system, but rather the endocrine system. This suggests a paradigm shift out of straight ‘stimulus-response’ behavioral studies, which require dumping large numbers of outliers and paradoxical behaviors to show linear response.
I think it was when the bacteria in my gut became smart, ie connected to the internet that things went haywire. Alphabet had developed the nanoputer, with a cute flat screen for the e. coli, and as luck would have it the brand of yogurt I like was accidentally contaminated or maybe it was an experiment? Suffice to say that having all the intestinal flora log on to my wifi clogged the innertubes a bit. And opening up your email and seeing that there are 3 trillion new messages does give one a sinking feeling. So yes, gut feelings can catch up to you.
So, they’re the terminals, and you’re the server.
That could work as a business model, call the lawyers…
I’m curious if this had an impact on your google profile? What sort of ads do you get following you around?(and your nano-bio intelligence) Besides yogurt ads, I mean. Do you find yourself arguing with yourself more often? Indecisive about things? Do you mutter “aw shit!” a lot, when you are feeling happy?
Hmm. Which living systems would be more adaptive? Predictable ones, or unpredictable ones?
Lost cat miraculously survives California wildfire CBS. Look at her singed whiskers!
Now that I am in CA wildfire territory, I will have to get some lessons on wildfire survival from this cat – especially on how to keep my whiskers, albeit, singed!
A houseboat on Lake Tahoe?
I could afford flotsam….
Yep. That makes two of us. We sure ain’t going to have the utopia we were promised in the ‘Jetsams’ on Saturday morning.
Sorry, houseboats are not allowed on Lake Tahoe. You’ll have to find your fire refuge elsewhere. (Try Shasta Lake.)
Lake Tahoe is under the purview of a federally mandated, bi-state, environmental planning agency: TRPA. Not only are houseboats disallowed, but ALL boats require special annual inspection for proper motor types AND cleanliness (invasive organisms). Oh, and there is a 600′ shoreline “no wake” (2mph) zone for you jet skiers. Sailboats and kayaks are the rage.
Good to know. There’s really nothing quite as obnoxious and as pointless as a JetSki, especially on a lake. After five minutes they’re completely boring. Go fast, tight circles, spray side to side, spin, throw yourself off, shit. What now? Outside of ocean rescue and dare-devil, big wave tow-in surfing their only purpose seems to be ruining other people’s nice day out on a small boat.
As the wife of someone I barely knew in Bogalusa found out; they are a very efficient way of killing yourself. She was being towed behind a jetski, she being on a tiny board, and misjudged a turn on the Pearl River and ran into a cypress stump at high speed.
Maybe Alphabet is meant to stand for a sly “We are foundational to all the alphabet soup agencies.”
What’s the difference between a conglomerate and a VC / PE operation, anyway? Beyond boring shared services efficiency, I think it’s something like source of funding, targeted rate of growth, and pace of exit, right? At any rate, Larry Page wants us to believe that Alphabet is good at moonshots, because…free money from Google 1.0?
Butterflies drinking the tears of turtles…. The antidote proves that we puny humans know nothing of complexity. Nothing.
If of creation
it’s turtles all the way down
then drunk on their tears
it must be butterflies up
We are all living on Turtle Island.
I happened to listen to some CNN in the background. CNN newsmodel “journalist” Chris Cuomo was interviewing Donald Trump. After Trump had made a big deal on how “smart he is”, that “Wharton is the toughest school in the world” (for a BS in Econ? not exactly nuclear physics PhD or some such actual toughest school in the world), and that Trump “knows the policy the best, better than any candidate”,
as part of saying “the Iran deal is terrible”, Trump said “Iran is supporting ISIS”.
furthermore, this went over Cuomo’s head. Furthermore, after the interview, they had the “all star roundtable” with other newsmodels, “politics expert journalists” Nia Malika Henderson & John King, and Latino Repub. ex-Senator, and NONE of them mentioned this “Iran supporting ISIS” gap, or apparently know that Iran is Shia & ISIS is extremist/Wahabist Sunni, or that there are multiple Sunni vs Shia wars occurring currently in SyrIraq, and Yemen.
What a clear example of the incompetent/cluelessness/absurdity US Big Poli-trickian, Big Biz Exec, & Big Media.
I saw the same bizarre idea put forth in the most recent republican primary. Of course, we had the idea that mortal Shia and Sunni enemies were allies put forward 15 years ago. Apparently, other than distinguishing between black and white (and only sometimes) is the only intellectual discernment Americans can muster…
I always wonder is this very high level propaganda and misinformation to just get support of the rubes…or are these people REALLY that misinformed?
I think you mean the R debate – at least that’s where I noticed Big Brother intimated Iran = ISIS.
So I dutifully erased the old obsolete word, Hezbollah, from my memory.
War in Space May Be Closer Than Ever Scientific American
The fictional ‘Ghost Fleet’ (but based on technology that already exists) starts with the Chinese space station taking out 47 US satellites and space vehicles.
Given our current rate of resource depletion of hydrocarbons and phosphates, I’m fairly sure that there isn’t the slightest chance of the world’s population reaching 11 billion. If, against all odds, it does, I’m even more certain that it won’t stay there for long.
Sorry. I know the idea that techno-capitalists riding in on white horses to save us with overwhelming cleverness and technology has its appeal, but many civilizations before us (Sumeria, Easter Island, the Mayans) have crashed by using up resources on which their existence depended. We’re not special. We’ve just been lucky so far, and our happy little world of globe spanning “just-in-time” supply chains with such niceties as point to point refrigeration are still completely dependent on cheap fossil fuels.
Humans will survive, I’m sure. Technology too. We just may have a world population counted in millions, not billions by the time 2100 – 2150 rolls around.
Humans will survive.
Compassionate humans or predatory humans? Which ones are more likely?
Technology will survive.
What kind of technology? Those that will destroy one’s competitors for survival?
Compassionate humans or predatory humans?
Both, of course. Evolution has favored both strategies so far. I don’t see that changing. Only the population size will change. Banding together in groups will enhance survival, so definitely, both strategies will continue to be in play.
What kind of technology?
A lot of small scale industries, particularly those that can be done with solar power, wind and water. I don’t necessarily mean electricity either. Mirrors can produce heat and smelt metal. Steam engines will probably make a comeback as will Lister engines, which are not fussy and can run on any sort of oil. Biomethane, wood and brown coal will serve for heating and cooking. Windmills and water mills ground grain for centuries. They can do so again. Expect common technology to stabilize to what we had between 1850 and 1950 for a long time before we get to a point where we return to high tech fabrication techniques. We’ll at least be able to skip some steps. 3d printing is an idea as much as a technology. The idea will be implemented in various ways long before we get back to high tech chip manufacture.
For Many in the US, a Heralded Economic Recovery Feels Like a Bust
China’s devaluation has many implications. It’s an admission that China’s growth is slowing, a trend likely apparent in other developing economies (e.g., Russia, Brazil, Mexico), as well as developed economies such as Australia and Canada.
Devaluation kicks off another stage of “beggar thy neighbor” global currency wars, with the US holding the Old Maid card of the strongest scrip of a raggedy-ass lot. Naturally, the unearthly Sganarelles and Scaramouches who roar in the two houses of Kongress will be baying for sanctions on China, when they return from Israel.
Then there’s poor benighted Venezuela, the “wrong way Charlie” of the currency wars. While the rest of the world struggles to devalue against each other, Venezuela maintains its official bolivar rate at an astronomical 6.3 to the dollar, while its street value is less than one percent of the official value.
A strong dollar heightens the downside pressure on dollar-priced commodities such as copper and crude oil. It sends a warning shot across the bow of the Yellenites, in case they are still clinging to their delusional notion of hiking rates as a sinking barometer points to a deflationary hurricane approaching.
The Fed will have to hold off on rate hikes until Chinese employment improves. It’s always something.
Are we not our own monetary sovereign, with sovereignty over rate hikes?
Is China dictating whether we hike or not?
sshh. Repeat after me…. “The Fed knows what it is doing. The Fed is Master of the Universe…”
To paraphrase DeBeers … ‘a ZIRP is forever.’
Except for a lucky few: ‘the stockholders of the [Federal Reserve] bank shall be entitled to receive an annual dividend of 6 percent on paid-in capital stock.’
And it’s tax-freeeeeeee …
‘Federal reserve banks, including the capital stock and surplus therein, and the income derived therefrom shall be exempt from Federal, State, and local taxation, except taxes upon real estate.’
http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section7.htm
Would you kindly slide over, so I can get my snout in the trough?
And the Little People can’t buy their shares on the NYSE?
Maybe we will ask how they run their business.
“No, your money does not fund our work. And your money does not fund color revolutions either. You can’t criticize us for wasting your money.”
!wow! at the reactions: its Tuesday…imagine the party Friday
Both the 10Y (2.13%) and 30Y (2.80%) yields broke below crucial technical support levels
Nasdaq look’n for a bottom
Dow tasting first golden cross since 2011 (50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average)…which ended in a 1300 dive
perfect storm is more like it
Yves:
Following up on prior conversation re: police killings of black/white/other citizens, the Guardian has a good breakdown of the 708 people killed so far this year in The Count:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database#
341 White
183 Black
101 Hispanic
83 All Others
Of course, the rate per million is 4.38 Black, 1.87 Hispanic, 1.72 White, which confirms our understanding of relative risks.
However, I do think that unqualified dissemination of the idea that only blacks are targeted by police killings is both counterproductive and factually wrong. The truth is citizens in the US are at an incredibly high risk of death at the hands of police, certainly compared to all other countries. Militarization of the police is a threat to all citizens.
The Anti-defamation League has a list of dozens of “trainings” they perform for American police agencies here: http://archive.adl.org/learn/adl_law_enforcement/default.html
Palestinians have helpfully tweeted instructions to Ferguson protestors how to handle tear gas.
Being elderly and white is no guarantee of surviving a police encounter, either:
“A 95-year-old World War II veteran was killed by police when he refused medical treatment, and his family wants to know why.
John Wrana needed a walker to get around, according to the Chicago Tribune. When he resisted medical treatment at his retirement home in Park Forest, IL, staff called an ambulance and they brought police with them.
Police entered the room carrying riot shields. First they tased him, then they shot him in the stomach with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with beanbag ammunition.
Wrana bled to death internally, according to the Cook County medical examiner, who ruled the death a homicide.”
http://www.innocentdown.org/2013/07/26/john-wrana/
If more white people understood the threat includes them, their willingness to see black people die at the hands of police would turn from ‘thug’ bashing to solidarity. No?
I certainly agree that being white provides little,if any protection from outrageous police conduct.
In the case you site, it is hard to come to any other conclusion that the police were unreasonable (that “reasonableness standard” for violence) of somebody that could not be more harmless and exemplary in their life.
Yet the pubic has been so indoctrinated and propagandized that I very much doubt that their are ANY serious repercussions.
We don’t have accountable government because the “citizens” don’t want it. Order is so highly thought of that the murder of 95 year olds in their beds is accepted.
I don’t understand why any force, let alone lethal force, would be used on someone because they refuse medical treatment. Usually, permission is needed in order to provide treatment. Do we now not have the right to decide whether we want treatment???
I do think that elderly people are thrown in the category of our vulnerable population groups – those who the PTB believe they can get away with treating as though those people have no rights. Occasionally they misjudge.
Louisiana Town Gets A Win Over Plans To Frack In Wetlands every now and then the good guys win
Lawrence Lessig to throw his hat in the ring? Boy, the Dem party sure is desperate to derail Sanders, aren’t they?
And weirdly, Teachout takes over Lessig’s PAC. So we’re not running a candidate with a proven record of success why?
greater damascustan…
president fah-saad gets to remain fearless leader of a much smaller country and still gets to see himself on tv whenever he damn well pleases…a country consisting of the m-5 from damascus to homs hugging the lebanese border…the little boy kings ego is kept amused…
turkey gets to reclaim the med coast down to lebanese border over to talkalakh and up to border at kobani…they help set up “new kurdistan”…in the eastern two thirds of the country formerly known as syria…giving up a tiny piece of current turkey in return for the big chunk of syria and peace with the kurds…israel gets to steal a few more acres past golan as part of an additional land for peace deal…and the russians keep their naval base in a guantanamo style 99 year lease…
ah…the threat of peace…what am i thinking…peace…???how can you sell missles that misfire and guns that don’t work if you have peas…???
what would the likud party have to explain their economic inkompydance on if there was peas…?? what could the palestinian politicians live off of if they were not blaming israel every time they stubbed their toes on the bedpost in the middle of the night…
the threat of peas is too dangerous…scratch this post and force this miscreant to plug in a tv and watch the fixx network…because the fixx is in…
Statement On Charges Against HuffPost Reporter Ryan J. Reilly From Arrest In Ferguson Huffington Post. The police force in Ferguson really does need to be shut down. When the press investigates, which seems to be the only mechanism for exposing what happened, the response is to charge them too. Lovely.
I did a long winded analysis of yesterday’s post on the (Friedmans) child abuse cases of the past (unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the Word thing ate it)
“When the press investigates, which seems to be the only mechanism for exposing what happened, the response is to charge them too.” The fact is, that it is not just a few rotten apples. Whether it is the police, prosecutors, of judges, they all rise up in the bureaucracy of their organizations by BELIEVING that the organization is good, albeit with flaws, maybe a few even will accept that there may be A (i.e., 1) serious flaw. But they accept the structure and the vast majority of the time the conclusions of such an organization.
The article yesterday about the Friedman’s noted that the current prosecutors who reexamined the case asserted that the whole investigation into the original prosecution was due to the documentary movie about the Friedmans, implying that these non experts simply didn’t understand all the nuances of the investigation by the police and prosecutors.
As I noted (alas, my analysis gone like tears in the rain or pixels in reddit…) the examination by the documentations exposed that the police did not even have records of how many times they “visited” supposed victims, or records of their leading questions. The fact that to this day prosecutors do not understand that flawed techniques and methodologies MAY not guarantee a WRONG answer, but it is not capable of giving VALID answers is highly troubling.
SO YES, I trust the documentarians, and a free press, more than I trust government mouthpieces.
Again, this article shows that these organizations, and democracy itself, has great challenges when confronting such entrenched interests with regard to true reform. That the inertia of people indoctrinated that the police are good, without the more mature understanding that “men are not angels” and therefore governments and their associated functions must be tightly reigned in by procedures that constrain their power, has been lost, by a relentless program of propaganda. Ironically, those who most profess a love of small government do the most to expand government power.
I bring up Madison and war, because our current police state ties directly to our “war” – although Ferguson shows the factor of race.
Madison:
In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
…………….
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
Megyn Kelly Says She Won’t Be Cowed by Donald Trump New York Times
Unless Roger Ailes tell her to….
I will not even charge you for making it fair, balanced, and truthful….
M. Kelly: She later joined Jones Day for nine years, where one of her clients was the credit bureau, Experian. [17] …she’s in it knee deep
fresno:
Last March, “St. Louis County police force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol will take over security for protests in Ferguson.”
So that’s fixed.
RE: 18-ceos-called-out-by-bernie-sanders-for-taking-trillions-in-bailouts
What a surprise! Bunco-America and Goldman-Sux are actually included!
@jfleni…we’re really looking at a list of Tools.
the ‘spies’ of today are made up of lawyers/journalist/banker minions. they’re the highest paid mercenaries in the world, and leave no rock unturned to shrink the uber’s/employer litter box.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11797456-the-silent-oligarch
Jones understands the field…he should.
http://www.usnews.com/news/offbeat/articles/2015/07/27/swiss-army-makes-incursion-into-france-for-water-for-cattle
Bernie Sanders LIVE Los Angeles Rally 2
http://livestream.com/randomhouzeproductions/events/4260534