Frustrated Gunman Can’t Believe How Far He Has To Drive To Find Nearest Planned Parenthood Clinic Onion (David L)
Where did the word ‘Taser’ come from? A century-old racist science fiction novel Guardian (Brian C)
Naomi Klein: Climate change makes for a hotter and meaner world Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (resilc)
From Rising Seas to Walruses, the Arctic’s Endangerment Affects Us All Truthout
China?
China’s factory activity hits three year low The Times
Signs of froth in China’s debt market Financial Times
China’s Symbolic Currency Win Council on Foreign Relations
Paris Is a Snapshot of Our Hot, Violent, Militarized Future Motherboard. Echoes Naomi Klein post above.
RBS and Standard Chartered singled out as BoE unveils stress test results Telegraph. Quelle surprise!
DESPITE REAL PROGRESS, UK SECRECY JURISDICTIONS ARE STILL HELPING CRIMINALS THE WORLD OVER, WARNS NEW REPORT Tax Justice Network
Syrqauistan
Lessons from the Liberation of Sinjar War on the Rocks (resilc)
Israel meets with Google and YouTube to discuss censoring Palestinian videos Middle East Monitor (Chuck L)
German Cabinet approves mission in Syria against ‘Islamic State’ DW
Kerry’s Shameful Praise for the War on Yemen American Conservative
Saudi Cash Crisis Intensifies As Interbank Rates Soar OilPrice (resilc)
Turkey shot down jet to protect oil: Vladimir Putin The Age (furzy mouse)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Today in State Secrets: The FBI Wants Both Your Day and Evening Phone Numbers Mother Jones
We deride Trump and Le Pen at our peril Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
2016
Donald Trump Has Made the 2016 Election About Telling Ghost Stories Charles Pierce, Esquire (resilc)
Rubio: ‘God’s Rules’ Win Over Supreme Court Decisions (VIDEO) Talking Points Memo (furzy mouse)
Pandering to the lizard brain: American media versus objective reality Boing Boing (resilc)
The GOP uses refugees as a diversion to do other bad stuff. Slate
This Isn’t ‘Big Data.’ It’s Just Bad Data. Peter Orszag, Bloomberg
Tight budgets open $20 billion New York tunnel plan to private cash Reuters. EM: “Tapping vulture capital to crete/maintain crucial public infrastructure … what could go wrong?”
Let’s Not Whitewash George W. Bush’s Actual, Heinous Record on Muslims in the U.S. Intercept
Skewed Media Coverage Of The Abortion Debate Is Giving The U.S. A Bad Rap Abroad Huffington Post. Um, given out conduct in the Middle East and with our official cyber-snooping, for which we did not even apologize, I’d say we already have a bad reputation….
Fragile Manhood
How to Understand White Male Terrorism Nation (resilc)
Another Way to Slow Corporate Inversions: Collect an Exit Tax on U.S. Firms with Deferred Earnings TaxVox (resilc). Proof that Treasury is not all that serious about intervening.
Puerto Rico faces critical debt payment Financial Times
KENTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTY FILES SUIT AGAINST KENTUCKY RETIREMENT SYSTEM State Journal (CT). The suit argues, among other things, that the system lacks authority to invest in private equity.
Fed
The Final Countdown Tim Duy
Delaware Supreme Court rules against RBC in M&A case Financial Times. Private equity implications: RBC had done a fast sale to PE firm Warburg Pincus, both out of expediency but also in the hope of getting a mandate for providing the financing. The judge said that was a big no-no, that RBC’s duty was to get the best price.
Unlearning economic paradigms Bruegel
Class Warfare
The Federal Reserve Board’s 8 Percent Hike in the Social Security Tax Dean Baker, Truthout
Los Angeles Neighborhoods Tackle Homelessness on Their Own Wall Street Journal
Antidote du jour (@World). Surreal.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Just speaking personally, just being honest, Trump is looking better and better to me. It’s official, I’m for Trump. I never thought I would be, after all those gaudy buildings for rich people he built, after all those TV shows — none of which I confess I ever watched. Even after making speeches in the Love Boat Captain’s outfit with white shoes. I can’t even imagine wearing an outfit like that. For me, it would be Crockett & Jones shoes with a Saville Row tailored suit (or if I was running for president, U.S made shoes, such as Alden or Allen Edmonds and perhaps a Brooks Brothers or Paul Stuart suit) but his outfit might be from either of those places! it could be.
I’m surprising myself, that’s for sure. how could this be? How could I be for Trump? is this a sign of insanity or nervous breakdown? I don’t think so, but if you’re insane already it’s hard to realize it, or you wouldn’t be in the firsts place.
I like Trump because he likes hot women and because he understands why a man wants a 10 bagger. He doesn’t fake it, he doesn’t fake the supercilious distancing from the urge to get rich that the others do, while they emulate a studied but completely fraudulent mastery of the craft of international relations and political science. ha! What a joke. They’re frauds! He may be cut from a rough cloth, he may be offputting to the Eastern liberal faux intellectual progressive peacock who struts around in their ankle deep morality throwing little splashes of ethical reprobations in the general direction of ‘the other guy’, not seeing or feeling or knowing the dark depths of their own self deceptions. Well, who’se perfect? not me.
That’s why i”m for Trump. if I want a Captain that cuts through the water of nonsense with a sharp prow and leaves a wake that you can surf on, i’ll take him over the little dinghy of sentimentality that his critics sail through their little puddle of the soul.
oh Captain, my captain! That’s him, right now anyway. it’s all relative.
– And I mean, he’s talking–I mean, he clearly has broken a lot of taboos on, say, money in politics.
From the other link, from that other curmudgeon…
Why can’t you all see him for the Norman Rockwell Americana he espouses?
I think so much of the enmity is clashing of horns…. beta males vs alpha Trump.
Beta males & alpha wannabees refuse to lock step behind a natural leader.
Can you see Trump shaking up the Post Office? It’ll be yes ma’am, no sir… I’ll get right on that madame… and all those in the back room while the line is out the door? — They’ll trot right out because of incentive pay.
the institutional banality of public service workers? — can you just see him?
“a natural leader”. Well, I’m voting for a President. That’s not the same as a “natural leader” (and note that “natural,” in marketing — Trump’s forté — generally means artificial).
Adding… No, I can’t see Trump shaking up the Post Office. Nothing in Trump’s career shows me he’s capable of managing anything, let alone a huge and important government department. What’s he doing to do? Put a big “T” on it?
Well, compared to that waterboy Rubio, I’d have to agree. At least he’s his own man.
This is what it all comes down to in the end. Who do we think sucks the least? Who do we want to hate next?
Does anyone still believe that anything will change in any significant way regardless of whoever is elected?
OMG Trump, for all his faults… I can see him on nightly news – excoriating whomever is blocking the changes he demanded that day!
You want Action? — I fully expect him to be giving notice to every department by the 2nd week of November. Demanding performance analysis, and suggestions for cost savings – including layoffs.
the Donald is a doer. And we should also just him by his fruits… his kids.
Between them, they giggled and struggled to come up with a criticism of him.. you could see it was genuine. He’s done a terrific job with his kids.
“You could see it was genuine” Well, the Obama family, by all accounts, is a fine one. That hasn’t made him a good President. (And of course, we can’t know anything, really, looking from the outside.)
It’s interesting to see your enthusiasm. Up to a point. Because the last time I encountered such a level of enthusiasm was with the Obots, in 2008.
I know a lot of people with pretty nice kids that I wouldn’t vote for anything. Roosevelt was pretty weak in the dad department, but he did OK at the president thingie nonetheless.
I think you also have a somewhat exaggerated idea of how much latitude a President has in “steering” the cumbersome ship of state.
As Truman said of Eisenhower, “Poor Ike. He thinks its like the army. He’ll issue his orders and say do this, and do that, and nothing will happen.”
Despite all the pearl clutching about “fascism” etc I believe you have hit upon the secret of Trump’s appeal. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean he would be a good President since he really does seem to be a bit of a boob. But the public knows our system is broken even if the cozy elites do not. Of course the news media, being members of the cozy elite, find the whole thing very strange.
Please convince me that’s not an act. Buildings require a lot of planning and advice from experts,coupled with political skills.
Trump is an ego maniac (what presidential candidate is not?) however he is not stupid, and has to be able to pick good people to run his business.
Ever watched him BEFORE he was running for President?
He’s a boob, and not even a nice one.
Is he a ‘homeopathic’ candidate?
Here, we see ‘like curing like.’
A boob vs. all the other boobs.
Voila, we are cured.
Is it possible to envision such a positive future?
That other boob.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2015/12/obamas-impenetrable-narrative-the-paris-presser.html
He’s not very nice either if you are at the wrong end of a drone strike. If some of us are willing to cut Trump a bit of slack it’s because there is a lot of boob-dom going around. Doesn’t Trump just say the things Obama does? Both believe in American exceptionalism.
I didn’t vote for Obama either time.
I don’t understand why someone would vote for a boob if the first time around didn’t work out very well for them.
Maybe I am missing the eleventy dimensional chess move that makes him a good candidate though.
I wonder if Trump and his building people are renting to black people now. He seemed very resistant back in the day.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/donald-trump-was-sued-by-the-justice-department-for-racial-discrimination-6669484
You do realize Trump never actually built anything himself right? He had people for that. Architects, lawyers, tradespeople, purchasers, interior designers, consultants. THEY did the building. Trump was just the glitzy front man of the operation, hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, generating priceless publicity, being the public face of the whole enterprise. In America celebrity is a negotiable asset quite apart from ability, achievement, or wealth, and Trump milked it for all it is worth.
And in those instances where his celebrity proved insufficient to deliver actual profits he stripped the valuable assets from an enterprise and left his hapless, clueless investors with the dregs, plus the opportunity to contemplate how an investment in something as seemingly rock solid as a man’s celebrity could go so terribly wrong.
After all if mere fame isn’t enough to guarantee integrity, ability and business acumen then there really is nothing left to believe in, and America is well and truly finished.
Trump is a clown, but sometimes the only one who can say what he really thinks is the court jester.
And after he says what he thinks…..then what? It’s not just a matter of saying things. A President is responsible for figuring out how to fix things.
As it is, I’d argue it isn’t anywhere near always smart to utter what you are thinking aloud.
Trump is a petulant, childish mess. An amateur improviser could come up with his half-baked, inarticulate ramblings about “winning!” and his guy Tom ” who knows all about China.” Sure. By the way, I know toddlers that say what they think. I wouldn’t want them as heads of state. And frankly, Trump’s “you’re ugly!” retort sounds an awful lot like something a nasty child would say, not an adult running for president.
You guys are gonna work yourselves up into a lather of anger and depression if your not careful.
You might even punch out your computer screen! Then what would you do?
Probably a good idea to go count to 1000, take a few deep breaths and check out the latest Bigfoot sighting reports. They can’t all be stories made up by lunatics. It’s really weird.
How did Trump ever get vetted to run? It makes sense that the Rs and Ds are using the same tactics in order to gain voter support from fringe voters. In the Donald’s case he is likely running that interference for Jeb who is dull as a stump but twice as rational as Trump; in Bernie’s case he’s trying to sound like a populist to gain that large segment for Hillary who cannot make those speeches herself. Betcha.
I love your posts craazyman, but I’m sorry to read that the first compelling reason stated for your newfound loyalties is Trump likes “hot women.”
I took apart the VCR today and actually fixed it. And this morning an epic swell rolled in from far away and I was on my surfboard dropping down these insane giant waves. I am a woman, but no one considers me hot. Nothot women are way more interesting and fun, haven’t you learned that by now?
Your veracity seems suspect to me. How on earth can anybody disassemble and reassemble a VCR? That sounds to me like something only a genius can do. And where were you, in a museum doing this in some 20th century living exhibit? I could never get mine to stop flashing 12:00 and if I wanted to watch a movie it was only a matter of luck if it worked. I don”t believe you. You probably don’t surf and you’re probably hot. where do you surf anyway? Be honest, don’t just get a map out and look for a beach. What kind of board to you have? and what wetsuit? and what kind of break is it? You picked the wrong guy to try and fool with a surfing reference because I was a surfer dude and i know my shlt when it comes to waves and boards and surfing in general. I’m the Laird Hamilton of surfing in my mind, but not reality. there I could catch waves and surf pretty well by and large. Up to about 7 or 8 feet wave heights. But not in Laird Hamilton’s class. I have to be honest.
You are awesome. It’s an eight and a half foot custom Roland I bought off a friend and I’m in love with it. No wetsuit down here on the Tropic of Cancer. That should narrow it down for you on which possible beach. But the beach doesn’t matter when one is riding on Donald Trump’s surfable wake!
A President is responsible for figuring out how to fix things.
I feel your pain, but in my memory, that has never been a requirement for the job.
The common qualification if you can call it that in successful POTUS candidates is an ability to persevere by promising enough stuff to interest groups that they capture voting blocks. What actually comes to pass is less relevant. Whether or not it “fixes ” anything is nonrelevant.
I guess one person’s nonrelevant is another person’s relevant.
I have to believe the candidate I vote for will at least have some sort of plan to fix things.
Likes “hot women” isn’t near enough to qualify someone for me. Guess that makes me finicky.
He has a serious case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and perhaps an overdose of arrested development. ( Man, he makes that Arrested Development TV parody look sane, you know?)
How seriously mentally ill people can be considered presidential material just proves how low this country has sunk.
As with other presidential “material” in America’s recent past, he has that whole screwed up father thang going on, too.
We really have to do better than this. No one’s considering Jill Stein, but they should.
I suspect that in order to run most of the candidates would have some level of narcissism.
It’s kind of funny to me that “likes hot women” would be criteria for some here. It actually tells me that Trump is someone who concentrates on the surface of things and appearances. I don’t find that a desirable trait in the male half of the species at all. Then again, I’m not a fan of shallow no matter what the gender. I think people who like pretty are a dime a dozen *shrugs*
He is not just a boob, though. He incites others to violence. He is dangerous, and has encouraged a mob to attack someone who had the audacity to say, “black lives matter.” After another man was beaten, Trump reminded the world that his followers are “passionate.” He has discussed a register for Muslims. I have a hard time being lighthearted about this man, who openly flirts with mob violence.
This is the part I find most concerning. As it is I think his mob and it’s mentality may be on a very, very short leash.
Violence is everywhere.
Wars all over the world.
We have an exceptional weaker stomach for violence on the domestic front than violence elsewhere. If we have been able to somewhere restrain ourselves globally with all our past and present leaders, checks and balances, there’s hope (that’s positive thinking) he won’t be able to bring violence home from abroad.
We sympathize with all the refugees, from our relatively safe, exceptional home.
The real fear is if other boobs from both parties go along with Trump.
Violence isn’t desirable. At least, not for me. I get very angry when I consider that the money our family contributes to the government coffers is going to fuel violence in other parts of the world so that the very rich and the very greedy can have more, more, more.
If I don’t want it there then why in the world would I vote to bring it here?
We hope to stop it everywhere, unless we are exceptionally fortunate enough to be exempt from it.
Uh I’ve been exempt from it for years(left the military in 1997, spouse in 1999) and I’ve been incredibly consistent on wanting it to stop everywhere while living in exemption land.
Not everyone needs to have family members blown up to see war as bad. As a matter of fact, I’d argue the majority of people in this country are tired of war. It’s just the idiots in power, being paid by the rich and greedy, that want to continue trying to grab more, more, more.
It’s more violent than ever in the world.
The government is working overtime to keep us safe here.
“The government is working overtime to keep us safe here.”
Oh?
More accurately, they are working overtime on something top secret.
That’s all I know.
You’ve probably already said too much. I suspect the NSA will be picking you up now that you’ve shared with us their plan.
…
Having hard time how you have been reading NC for years yet it seems you have yet to realize that the masters pulling the puppet strings of the government don’t give a shit about anyone elses well being. If the government is keeping anybody safe its them, not us
I don’t think the point is that we prefer violence abroad to domestic violence, if that’s my Prime Beef is saying? It’s that we need to protect our public sphere from verbal and physical violence. It goes without saying that all violence is awful.
geez…its like your losing your craziness!!!!
The fact remains that we can have more of the last 40 years …or not. I stopped voting for dems or repubs, but unfortunately (are big time sports a giant conspiracy to get everybody into binary thinking, “wining isn’t the only thing – its everything” frame of mind????) Americans think voting for a candidate who “can’t” win is “wasting” their vote. So the only menu your presented with is always Chinese – – one from column A or one from column B – never even the choice of Greek, Indian, or Mexican food…
Speaking of something – ANYTHING other than the “market” is the only TABOO left in our society….reminds me of that M. Night Shyamalan movie “The Village” where you could never ever speak of that which you don’t speak of….
JGordon posted this yesterday and I am keeping it in my library, but it certainly sums up what I think is going on.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_age_of_the_demagogues_20151129
I think we live in a time of cleverly designed liberal ineffectiveness. How much of that is due to a 5th column I leave to other cynics…
To me, Trump may be the least evil of the possibilities. Does anyone truly think what comes out of the mouths has ANY relation to what they will do???? I think the Wall street/Davos man oligarchy that rules us is strengthened by either major party winning. It probably is already too late for our society…
But I view Trump as the last wrench that can be thrown in the machine.
Do a thought experiment. If Trump were to be elected, how many of his proposals would be contrary to republican “orthodoxy” AND/OR dem “orthodoxy?” All I can hope is that we can have a Treasury secretary not from Goldman Sachs.
Bush enacted the biggest expansion of medicare with part D “reform” (like all American “reform” it just assures more money goes to the 0.1% , same as dem “reforms”) and “No child left behind.” So much for “small government” and “federalism” republican philosophy.
As all political “philosophies” are total Bullsh*t, designed merely for the most effective manipulation, the question comes down to Trump’s true motivation. We should know by now if we have been paying attention that everything politicians say is a lie*, including and and the – indeed, it isn’t merely a lie, but typically 180 degree opposite.
I don’t know Trump’s true philosophy (I expect its incoherent, which is an improvement over the current screwing you every hour of every day in every possible way. At the very least, maybe we’ll get to try some new positions). But I know the dems and the repubs, and I’ve had enough of that.
*A centerpiece of the reparations brand is the study bill that Rep. John Conyers has introduced in every one of the last dozen Congresses except the 110th and 11th. In those two Congresses, Conyers, with four decades of seniority finally chaired the powerful House Judiciary Committee with the ability to move the study bill, or at least the discussion of reparations. If reparations was a movement instead of a brand, he would have done just that. But Conyers put the reparations study bill in his desk drawer until Republicans re-took the House and he no longer had that power. Safely back in the minority again in early 2011, he re-introduced the reparations study bill once more.
http://blackagendareport.libsyn.com/ta-nehisi-coates-blackwashing-the-reparations-brand-and-a-last-refuge-for-scoundrels
By the way, credit for the Black Agenda Link to:
hemeantwell
November 30, 2015 at 10:03 am
The whole idea of “brand” versus “movement” is pretty profound
Absolutely, Obama said one thing and did another. I think Trump would one up Obama if he actually became president.
I lean towards Trump giving us a Berlusconi style presidency w/wild parties, hookers, looting, the whole nine yards.
While Obama has sometimes said one thing and did something else, there is absolutely no guarantee that’s how it’s going to work with Trump. Particularly if you think he is different from Obama because he’s a “straight shooter” who is saying what he thinks.
To me it would really boil down to believing he’s like Obama(which would mean he’d be a disaster) or believing he’s something else and then deciding if that something else has anything close to the vision you want for this country. I also think you should be looking at his record. A “straight shooter” doesn’t get sued for soaking the rubes at his huckster University.
I certainly don’t think Trump is a straight shooter.
I don’t think he’s smart, or altruistic, or truly concerned with the country, or the country’s future.
Thing of it is, I don’t think that of any of the other candidates.
Ask yourself this, which candidate is the more effective evil? Who will be able to get us into ANOTHER mideast war? Bush, Rubio, Cruz, Clinton….that is, anybody who can win, a dem or repub nominee.
Only Trump would be considered such a bozo that people would be repelled by a Trump ginned up war. I can see the talk shows now. Say what you will about “W” but he knew the political system well enough that he got us into Iraq. Trump would not have that talent, and I look upon that as a feature, not a bug. I just don’t believe all our foreign policy experts know anything, e.g.
Obama – Red line
Clinton – Libya
Republicans – I would wear out my fingers by listing 1 trillionth of the idiocy….
In my view, the BEST we can hope for is someone incompetent at forming war mongering coalitions, as well as being incompetent at forming coalitions of the 0.1% to screw us.
Now, I’m all for Sanders winning. I just think its highly unlikely. (I think Trump getting the nomination or winning is highly, HIGHLY unlikely – I just enjoy watching him make the repubs squirm….)
Who will Trump appoint? Will he pick from the Dems or the Repubs? They will be the ones encouraging “boots on the ground”.
If he won the presidency a decent number of people would have had to by definition NOT think he was a bozo because afterall they would have voted for him (leaving out any voting machine rigging that is). Anyone who can win the presidency has some support from a significant portion of the electorate and thus will not be seen as a bozo, even when they do bozo things.
Thats a good point.
But Bush got his authorization by being, as president, leader of the republican party. There were members of the republican establishment who opposed invading Iraq. Bush did have to win over some dems. Bush did not invade Iraq ALONE – he lead/manipulated (they are just words) – however your inclined to see it the political system to get what he (Bush) wanted. You remember – Obama voted against Iraq. And than Obama wanted to go into Syria…and republicans were against that, only because Obama was for it.
So my point is, we get ourselves into this situations because of politics. And my view is to f*ck up the war machine, you need somebody out of the current political establishment.
If Trump somehow got elected, he would I believe split the repubs severely. The dems would not be subject to “W’s” skillful* machinations at getting us into war.
*Well, if W’s war mongering for Iraq was not skillful, than whatever claim the dems have as a party that can dispassionately evaluate the cause of war is a complete chimera, and they are equally for all war all the time – there is in fact absolutely no dem left, or for that matter any intelligence. Now that may be, but the politics is such that I believe the dems would not pay any price, and would potentially reap enormous benefit opposing a Trump war. Now, I am talking about a ginned up war like Iraq. If someone sets off a nuclear device in the US, a muskrat could get a declaration of war.
Would the dems have the spine to oppose a Rubio or Cruz ginned up war????
……Ouch! I hurt myself laughing…
I wonder if over in Italy, before Berlusconi, they had banalized all the public institutions such that he was just icing on the cake.
‘Nothing is sacred anymore. Roma was a captured government.’ ???
“Bunga-Bunga”
OK, given: Non of the GOP candidates is in any way acceptable.
The task is to identify the least unacceptable GOP candidate, and push for that person. Because we all know how the right wing is going to go after Hillary, and there’s nothing that proves she can handle it. To intelligent people watching the GOP flail in a mock kangaroo court, Hillary’s polish wins hands down. But that stuff doesn’t translate to the ad bites she’s going to need in Peoria.
Trump is the perfect president for America. As Morris Berman says,
“The fact is that Americans are douche bags. There is simply no getting around this. This is why we can wipe out other peoples and cultures and not think twice about it. It’s also why, a few yrs ago, when an international poll was taken asking the question, “Which country do u think is the greatest threat to world peace?”, the US and Israel said Iran, and virtually everyone else said the US.”
He will make a great Buffoon-in-Chief.
Hey, so voting for Hitler was a great idea, because he was Germany’s id??? Get a grip folks, this guy will have untrammeled access to the NSA, CIA, FBI and US military. He is a borderline psychotic jerk and a raving bully. Don’t you watch how he talks to anyone who doesn’t kiss his ass? To say he is better than Bernie Sanders is just stupid ennui from sideline radicals. Bernie Sanders is NOT a bullying idiot, a woman-hating racist. We want things not to get worse so we can make them better. The idea that out of societal collapse will come some Archdruid never-never land of happy peasants living in harmony with the land is utter bullshit.
A Sanders/Trump ticket could win it all!
It’s like a man with his head in an oven and his feet in a freezer. You can say on average he’s feeling pretty good! But it could actually work in politics.
They could debate each other and get TV ratings through the roof. Then smile and shake hands when it’s over, giving the other guy credit for making some good points.
C’mon guys, do it for your country.
If Sanders were loony enough to run with Trump, I would not pull the lever for him.
Even if I don’t believe Trump is dangerous, I think his mobs are. I really don’t even want to think about what happens when the egotistical jackass that has failed numerous times in his business ventures fails to even bring a modicum of anything back to those throngs of people that he could really care less about. *shiver*
“JUST DO IT”
During the Middle Ages, the alliance would have been sealed with a marriage.
Agree completely JL. Besides which (imo) Trump doesn’t even want to be president. That’s why he has the nerve to say all that crap. It’s pure irony that the more of an ass he is, the more people like him.
I agree. He is pushing merchandise and a possible future reality franchise. Which makes him quite the cynic: he’ll say anything for more press. Who cares about a few non-white casualties.
Totally agree. He’s having a blast running but has no interest in actually doing the job. (Carson’s not running either. To me it looks like he’s building his mailing list.)
I think Trump (and every other media character) are useful insofar as they strip the supposed dignity off of the idiotic high school clique games of whiskey, teens and car keys to which far too many have pledged allegiance (but no further). Anything that debases and destroys the noble class and its bourgeois apologists, right down to its philosophical and cultural foundations, is worthy of support in my book.
What do you call the hot women surrounding Trump?
The trumpettes?
Employees? Prostitutes?
I believe the term of art is “arm candy.”
The choice before us: the Crazy or the Corrupt.
Choose wisely…
In the case of Trump I don’t think the terms are mutually exclusive.
He’s a guy whose used the system to his advantage buying both sides. I don’t think that fits in the crazy camp as much as it fits in the corrupt one.
In my book, the jury is still out on whether The Donald is a covert operative for the Hillary campaign. Political espionage par excellence!
Of course, that would make him just as evil as he seems at face value.
A recent poll showed him beating Hillary by 5% – IN THE GENERAL.
Not exactly an argument for nominating her.
Speaking of The Donald, Pando has unlocked the The short-fingered vulgarian cometh: When Spy met Trump:
Anybody who thinks I can produce anything near weapons-grade snark should read this article to see how it’s done; but the careful reader will also note the research behind the Spy material, which throws into question whether Trump is in fact REAL, and if so, what that REALity may consist of.
Anyone else read Wayne Barrett’s “Trump:The Deals and the downfall”? Donald’s circumvention of NY law, and close ties with his father’s DEM party operatives, seem to be his path to riches. Also stunning number of times Fred had to step in and bail young Donad’s butt out…
I sympathize with much of what you say and share your revulsion with the fraudulent persona of the other presidential candidates, especially Hillary Clinton, grandly making promises that will never even be considered should she win office. However lets go back to basics. Each democratic country enacts laws for the protection of and greater good of its citizens expecting them to be observed. If that is accepted as a given, a country can’t throw open its doors to all who demand entry. Equally, as a moral imperative. a country can’t refuse to offer a haven to those fleeing persecution or death, especially to women and children. Since these objectives aren’t compatible there must be a limit to the relief offered refugees, at least until the cause of the risk that they were fleeing has been eliminated, whereupon they should probably be repatriated. trump appears to lack any recognition of an overarching moral imperative which ,IMO, alone is enough to disqualify him for the presidency.
“He may be cut from a rough cloth”
Being a trustafarian that has a track record of unlawful labour practices and BK your worries away, plus a career as a sham wow guy for BSD that don’t want the lime light.
Supply side economics with a huge dollop of Bernays –
http://workplacepsychology.net/2010/03/15/consumerism-affluenza-how-society-shapes-our-thinking-about-happiness/
Skippy…. Trump the poster boy for white exceptionalism fear….
PS. optional /sarc/tag/
Reflecting on the fact that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is interviewing Naomi Klein, not the other way around, indicates the scientists are perplexed that the facts aren’t making an impact. Talking with Klein is an excellent way to understand the transition from effect to affect.
Unfortunately, there are white-outs over two critical issues. First, the word ‘Russia’ does not appear in the interview. Second, that half the world population is unaffected by industrial policy, as they are still cooking on three-stone fires. It does not surprise me that Atomic Scientists would have blinders on, as they are competitors to fossil fuels in energy markets. But Ms. Klein should know better, that narrowly focusing on industrial policy confines the parameters and leads to considering market solutions as preeminent.
The money quote:
– And that’s assuming that the targets are enforced. Which is assuming a lot, because we know that they will not be genuinely binding—there’s no penalties attached.
For me, the entire thoroughly depressing and gloomy and scary state of the planet can be summed up by these recent events:
* the Paris attacks (which, of course, didn’t come out of nowhere)
* the resulting crackdown on civil liberties and calls for even more surveillance
* the French using ISIS as an excuse to crack down on climate change protesters and ban manifs
* the UK government apparently about to start bombing Syria
Sigh… Meanwhile in the US media, WAR ON CHRISTMAS!
Look at the bright side, Pavel: Our kids are going to grow up in a real life Hunger Games world. The lucky darlings.
…will they get to wear really buff outfits and learn archery and all that?…
No wonder the Nerf Revelle is all the rage.
Steve H.,
“It does not surprise me that Atomic Scientists would have blinders on, as they are competitors to fossil fuels in energy markets.”
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, and that’s a nonprofit science-advocacy organization. They advocate renewables first and describe nuclear power as risky, and if it is used at all it should be used safely and responsibly. UCS was founded to make available the expertise that would allow that, but the focus has shifted more strongly away from nuclear since the founding. They’re a good source of technical information and analysis.
UCS publishes the Doomsday Clock as an indicator of how close the world is to catastrophe–harder to do now, I’d think, than it was during the Cold War when the focus was on preventing nuclear war.
Thanks for setting it right.
Well as of yesterday, I was conversing with a fellow from the Minerals Counsel of Australia and IPA aficionado, whom unequivocally stated…. the Union of Concerned Scientists was a political agency – advocacy group… take that skippy…
Skippy… if it were not for all their money which come largely by decades of political entrenchment – embedding… they would be kinda cute… it a disturbed pathological way….
The situation in Paris: I do not consider myself a particularly brave man. I am actually rather frightened and have had to fight agoraphobia for some years. It takes effort for me to get off my property in the woods and out into the world. Not happy about that. But I’d be damned if I would countenance the complete surrender of civil rights so that the idiots in the security forces can “make me safe” (which, of course, they can’t). I may be a frightened man but I was born as a white guy in 1965 a free one, and this rolling over and playing dead (pace the brave people who have taken to the streets) to “emergency measures” is sickening. I guess at least the French have the decency to put these awful measures into law. Here in the USA we have done stuff like this (and I’m sure are still doing it) but we get a lawyer like Yoo or some imbecile judge to tell us that the 1st or 4th Amendment doesn’t really apply or invent insane sophistry like they did in the Korematsu case (the majority opinion and dissent should be required reading for every American). So the French authorities are acting immorally legally, whereas they act immorally illegally here. Sorry for the invective, but this has got me really riled up.
Re the Paris attacks, there was a fascinating interview of Eric Margolis on the Scott Horton radio show/podcast. He was living in Paris in the early sixties, and recounted the story of the massacre of Algerians by Parisian police — they killed them and dumped some of the bodies in the Seine. (There was also a right-wing coup attempt by French military officers against de Gaulle, possibly encouraged by… the CIA! Remember de Gaulle refused to join NATO and didn’t kowtow to the US.)
The podcast is about 25 mins and well worth a download or streaming. Margolis is a great old-time journo and Horton does great interviews:
Interview: 11/23/15 Eric Margolis
From Margolis’s article at Unz.com:
The First French Massacre
The gods know I love Paris and France in general (la vie quotidienne, in particular) but there’s plenty of blood on their hands as well, and they are now acting to reap more violence in their response to the attacks (and by their decades of neglect of the banlieues also).
And of course the massacre of protesters at the Charonne Metro station by police in 1962 occurred less than a block from the shootings at the Belle Equipe.
“Land of the free and the home of the brave” is merely an advertisement….its not meant to be taken seriously.
I don’t believe that climate change leads to reduced civil liberties (however indirectly) so much as the reduced civil liberties are to prevent anyone from doing anything to protect the climate. As Chris Hedges says: Resist!
(I don’t need to make a false flag argument about the Paris attacks, because it’s more stuff happens, it is convenient, the screws are turned tighter, of course they are turned tighter on anyone who opposes the existing system).
I’d love to see the response if a Jew or a Moslem running for President said that God’s law trumps the decisions of the Supreme Court. he or she would be hounded out of the race in seconds. And if we had a literate media they’d immediately follow up Rubio’s statements with specific questions about eating pork, killing witches, stoning adulterers, and circumcision. I mean, if he’s going to make such a statement, he should have to defend all the things that would flow from it. But the press is filled with poorly educated dunderheads and they’ll back off because Christianity has a protected place in the public discourse here in the USA.
There was a great link yesterday from
JTMcPhee
November 30, 2015 at 12:46 pm
about why a republican congressman (Catholic) didn’t attend the Pope’s address to congress.
Its long and tedious, so I’ll sum it up for you if you don’t have the time to read it:
I can’t be seen with the Pope, Jesus, and God because they just don’t understand climate, and markets and would raise taxes and destroy jobs!
Sounds like he’s taking the Catholic vote for granted and assumes most Catholics will behave as they have been identity-conditioned to do.
Trump as a verb
What does it mean that many people associate a (with or without separation of church and state) political entity, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as Islamic or the State of Israel as Jewish?
And that kind of perception is widespread. Italy is Catholic. China, once (for a short time) atheist, but probably trending Buddhist (just guessing here). India? Hindu.
There’s a big difference betweenthe first two examples and the others. The latter refer to the predominant religion of the populace – though the Modi government is making moves toward “establishing” Hinduism, a bad sign.
Saudi Arabia, OTOH, is an “Islamist” state that bases its legitimacy on religious imprimatur. Israel is very similar, despite the large percentage of atheists there: it makes a big point of calling itself “the Jewish state,” and in fact puts a religious body in charge of certain laws. When they say that, I always want to ask: how is that different from an “Islamic” state – say, SA or Iran, both avowed theocracies?
MyLessThan,
Doesn’t Israel define itself as a Jewish state? And Saudi Arabia as Islamic?
China, now: Confucianism appears to be doing very well there. It’s authoritarian and family-oriented.
Thanks, I didn’t know or think about that.
And the Vatican is a Catholic state.
We have been headed in that direction. For example, the replacement of the unofficial national motto of ‘E Pluribus Unum’ with ‘In God We Trust’ in 1956…not quite as specific as ‘In Christ We Trust.’ Under the official motto, the only ones not included are atheists, for perhaps polytheists like Buddhists (though I think they don’t see the Buddha as a god) and Hinuds can be persuaded to feel safe under that.
This is true, yet some non-Christian people have had success in using their religious freedoms in support of maintaining the separation of church and state. Public Schools have decided against nativity scenes after student Satanists demanded equal space for their displays. Druids, “pastafarians,” etc. have all been able to push back against unconstitutional Christian usurpation of public monies and places.
I still think many here in the U.S. desire this to remain a place, where, as George Washington put it in his letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport:
Public places may be public schools.
For what George Washington referred to, we have to include the public mind and public imagination – these include popular culture, like movies, etc.
And everywhere you go, you see old Testament stories made into movies.
Very rarely, in fact probably never, any films based on Native American creation myths.
If you know any, please recommend some.
Or anyone. I’d love to watch some.
You might be able to pitch that idea in Hollywood for big money. Seriously – they’re always looking for material.
I fundamentally don’t agree with Satanists on God but I think when I consider a group that stands up for others rights and the exercise of “free will” as God intended I think it would be hard to criticize them for what they’ve done. They pushback against bullies and in a polite, nonviolent way is exceptional. I have a great admiration of them for that.
The Syria situation is so fluid now, it will be an interventionists’ dream job. One simple, (ha, that’s the wrong word, for sure,) expident to poke Turkey, and the West in general would be for Russia pressure al Assad to recognize an autonomous Kurdish state in the north of Syria. Then have that region ‘align’ themselves with the mini Kurdistan in the north of Iraq. That “state” can then export Kurdish oil through Alawite Syria.
Not sure how long Turkey has been a member of NATO. I am aware tho’ that Turkey has been pushing for EU membership for decades. Easy to be a NATO member; hard to be an EU member. Because NATO doesn’t care if you are a virtual dictatorship. The EU has been diplomatically quiet over the Turkey shoot-down. I don’t think the EU is anti-Russia, they just don’t want to rile NATO any more than necessary. And I do not think we are anti-Russia (except for John McCain). The pics above in the linked summary about the incident show Turkey’s PM confidently telling Russia to go to hell; the head of NATO trying to avoid the subject entirely, and below a pic of Putin and Obama whose body language is one of not just allies, but compatriots joined in a cause; notice the expressions on their faces. Conclusion: nobody likes Turkey and Turkey doesn’t care.
Google denies working with the Israeli government in order to monitor videos that might incite attacks.
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-google-denies-accord-israeli.html
Good news. I assume they’re concerned about a backlash. This makes Israel yet more of a pariah.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/11/30/politicos-mike-allen-pushes-back-against-his-own-e-mails/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_opinions
Chelsea Clinton had a well-documented aversion to media exposure. As she pushed for the presidential bid of her mother, Hillary Clinton, on the 2008 campaign trail, Chelsea Clinton famously rebuffed the question of a 9-year-old reporter from Scholastic News. Even when she took a job at NBC News in 2011, she stiffed the media, though she later answered a question or two for Amy Chozick of the New York Times.
That scarcity set the backdrop for Mike Allen’s pitch for an interview with Clinton at a pending brunch under the Politico banner. As exposed in a phenomenal records request by Gawker, Allen in January 2013 wrote an e-mail to State Department aide and Hillary Clinton loyalist Philippe Reines. The Politico chief White House correspondent pitched away:
…..
This would be a way to send a message during inaugural week: No one besides me would ask her a question, and you and I would agree on them precisely in advance. This would be a relaxed conversation, and our innovative format (like a speedy Playbook Breakfast) always gets heavy social-media pickup. The interview would be “no-surprises”: I would work with you on topics, and would start with anything she wants to cover or make news on. Quicker than a network hit, and reaching an audience you care about with no risk.
….
The argument for Mike Allen is that he doesn’t publish his e-mails to State Department aides; he publishes his newsletter and his video interviews. What happens via e-mail channels is a means to an end, a way to score a “get” — tradecraft, essentially. And if Allen had gotten the interview and violated the terms of his promise to Reines, who cares, right? So he lied to a flack! Isn’t that the most honorable way to lie?
Chatter about these ethical considerations won’t likely damage the market for Allen. According to industry sources, a weekly sponsorship for his “Playbook” newsletter is expected to cost in the range of $50,000 and $60,000 next year, depending on the news cycle.
===================================================
As I always say, its not the questions they ask…its the questions they don’t ask.
But what this most reminds me of is ….bond ratings. How smart are people who rely on bond rating – a product “rating” paid for by the people who are trying to sell that very product? By any normal of capitalism, no one should trust or use such ratings. Yet people buy them….and the people who buy them have all the money…
So what deep insights do the people who subscribe to this newsletter think they are getting???? Is it merely a proclamation service – get to hear first what is on the mind of our Davos royalty??? Get to hear their rationale and justification without any interfering or irrelevant or time consuming questions slowing down the proclamation?
“Product ‘rating’ paid for by the people who are trying to sell that very product?”
Who will guard the guards?
The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission. I think a few at the top are under investigation. Someone is regulating them.
Who will inspect the FDA inspectors?
Who will police the police?
The military?
The spy agencies?
Maybe we should all be on the honor system, like the doctors and lawyers disciplining their own.
Chelsea Clinton had a well-documented aversion to media exposure
cultivating Brand awareness without political/policy baggage. Synthetic scarcity, then when one does speak, do so at a whisper so everyone has to lean forward..
synthetic scarcity doesn’t seem to apply to all of the “next to be anointed generation”……. n. pelosi’s grandchild,…. occasionally spewing feel-good dreck on the H Post…..
The donald is done by christmas…his ratings will fall by 25% and his ratings value(ad sales value) will have served its marketing purposes… only reason he is leading is the manure behind him cant speak coherent english…can someone please track down steve largent and get him on the phone…
I need some of what you are taking, both to detach myself from reality and to predict the future.
Wall St here I come.
See you after the first of the year…the donalds “popularity” is his ability to get eyes to show up on the most difficult part of media to sell…tv news…but the candidates in the prepubican party behind him are a joke…maybe if we call steve largent from the batphone…
“Why is France emulating the US?” Hollande is busy looking tough, as the Socialist war president. This explanation is worth considering:
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/11/why-france-emulating-us
The formula should be apparent by now.
You appear progressive on the domestic front (just the appearance is fine) to make exercising hegemony globally more palatable. A variation on ‘only Nixon can do China.’
Any time someone tries to do something like that and others must pay the price, in this case, the victims of French venture in the Middle East, it’s not really ‘socialist.’ Where is the universal solidarity?
There is no ‘socialist’ candidate with Middle East interventionist position.
We are lucky we don’t have to peg our currency to another country. The source of that good fortune is the consent (willing or otherwise) of the rest of the world to its reserve status. We are ‘indebted’ to them to exercise prudence over its printing. And if to increase domestic spending, we have to have more money for ventures where others elsewhere have to pay a price for it ultimately, it’s less than universal solidarity.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-true-face-of-greek-prime-minister-alexis-tsipras-meets-up-with-netanyahu/5492063
Depressing and despiriting report on Greek PM Tsipris getting alarmingly cozy with Bibi in Israel. Syriza looking even more useless and misguided than before.
50% of Forest Bird species will go extinct in 50 years.
60% of Flower species will go extinct in 50 years.
50% of Mega Cities will go extinct in 50 years.
90% of Soil will go extinct in 50 years.
40% of Humanis will not have enough water in 15 years.
100% – Ocean Acidification doubles by 2050,
200% – Ocean Acidification triples by 2100.
99% of Rhinos gone since 1914.
97% of Tigers gone since 1914.
90% of Lions gone since 1993.
90% of Sea Turtles gone since 1980.
90% of Monarch Butterflies gone since 1995.
90% of Big Ocean Fish gone since 1950.
80% of Antarctic Krill gone since 1975.
80% of Western Gorillas gone since 1955.
60% of Forest Elephants gone since 1970.
50% of Great Barrier Reef gone since 1985.
80% of Western Gorillas gone since 1955.
40% of Giraffes gone since 2000.
40% of ocean phytoplankton gone since 1950.
30% of Marine Birds gone since 1995.
70% of Marine Birds gone since 1950.
28% of Land Animals gone since 1970.
28% of All Marine Animals gone since 1970.
97% – Humans & Livestock are 97% of land-air vertebrate biomass.
0.01% – 10,000 years ago we were 0.01% of land-air vertebrate biomass.
1,000,000 humans, net, are added to earth every 4½ days.
Other than that everything is fine.
https://www.reddit.com/user/BeezleyBillyBub/
It says the problem is more than just global warming.
It’s our way of life.
Solar energy does nothing for dying out birds. Probably makes it worse.
“Less consumption. More breathing room for Nature.”
Less is more.
OUR way of life?
who is breeding?
My guess is GM salmon breeders.
More fish to keep the heart healthy so people can live longer to eat more salmon.
gotta make some room for those future evolutionary advanced raccoons & felines.
http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2015/11/no-decoupling-no-free-lunch.html
Governments urge us both to consume more and to conserve more.
We must extract more fossil fuel from the ground, but burn less of it. We should reduce, reuse and recycle the stuff that enters our homes, and at the same time increase, discard and replace it. How else can the consumer economy grow? We should eat less meat, to protect the living planet, and eat more meat, to boost the farming industry. These policies are irreconcilable.
The new analyses suggest that economic growth is the problem, whether or not the word sustainable is bolted to the front of it.
It’s not just that we don’t address this contradiction. Scarcely anyone dares even to name it.
It’s as if the issue is too big, too frightening to contemplate.
We seem unable to face the fact that our utopia is also our dystopia; that production appears to be indistinguishable from destruction.
==================================
A remarkable thing – probably the only guy on the innertubes more pessimistic and cynical than me.
Humans can accept their own deaths. The human species will end eventually no matter what – saying that doesn’t mean we should hurry it along. But every year we have the Darwin awards for those who can’t get to the grave fast enough. As a species, we seem not to believe in consequences…
We shouldn’t hurry it along.
It’s similar to ‘it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to avoid death even if you are not afraid of it.’
How so? If you are not afraid of death, why should you try to avoid it?
Well, number 1, thinking about an abstract concept like death is a purely human thing.
Thinking about death and fearing it is plainly human kind of folly.
Animals don’t think about death. They don’t engage in the game of manipulating or juggling abstract symbols.
And they try to avoid death.
That’s how they don’t think about any fear of death. But they always try to avoid it.
Somebody else: Herman Daly and CASSE: Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy; steadystate.org.
And thanks to Fukushima, anyone born today in North America will not live to age 50, without experiencing a bout of life threatening cancer. All should note that the only living things left in the Pacific Ocean are the doomed Islanders, who are experiencing cancer at exponential levels.
McCarthy out as Chicago Police Department superintendent
One thing you can say about Rahmbo – he’s never reluctant to throw people under the bus.
Edit: Mind you, I’m not defending McCarthy, but the fish rots from the head down. Holman Square apparently wasn’t enough for Rahm to fire McCarthy.
Meanwhile he has formed a Task Force, to study the police violence – using the traditional kick the can down the road. sigh.
If they ever have a $20 billion tunnel project like New York, and are short of money, will they ever think of reducing police spending to make up for it?
Now all they have to do is prosecute a number of police who provided false statements (including by omission) and debar the prosecutor and fire another dozen supervisors and people in the system.
Ouch!!! I hurt myself laughing – like any significant consequences regarding police/prosecutor criminality ever happens. And when there is a token, it is preceded by obfuscation, dissembling,whitewashing, pussyfooting….well, you can look it up in a thesaurus, and each and every way to lie is used…
Rahm…..F@#kin retard
Today’s Purchasing Managers Index report showed that it dropped from 50.1 to 48.6. According to the report, “if the PMI® for November (48.6 percent) is annualized, it corresponds to a 1.7 percent increase in real GDP annually.”
https://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm?navItemNumber=30078
So are the Yellenites really gonna hike rates on Dec. 15th, as the manufacturing economy coasts downhill? Why not — a federal job is an “iron rice bowl.”
Let the peeps trade stocks for a living. As I type, NDX (Nasdaq 100 index) is two points below a record closing high. Go, stocks, go!
Rising stocks currently man the last line of defense against Sanders and Trump.
When the crumbles, the only other option I can come up with is the People’s Money.
Signs of the times, just seen in an ad on Gnews (so millions saw it):
“True or False: In 2016 you may be fined 2.5% of your income for not having health insurance?
poll”
And then the Dems wonder why Obamacare isn’t popular – and why they aren’t.
Correction: the ad was on Rawstory, so it reached thousands of “progressives.” Not sure what it was an ad for, but I assume health insurance.
So millions upon millions will have their grocery carts confiscated (i.e., the homeless….)
More like Reagan than FDR:
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/30/more_like_reagan_than_fdr_im_a_millennial_and_ill_never_vote_for_hillary_clinton/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
Yeah, I saw that one. Really brought out the DP flacks in the comments – a regular orgy of self-righteousness.
The article itself is pretty half-assed; nobody is allowed to advocate 3rd party voting in Salon articles. I’m surprised they posted this one – must be geting worried. And I suspect there’s some major politicking going on among the staff.
Re. Onion and various other links
Astonishing how the protection of the unborn justifies the taking of three lives. Thou shalt not kill seems to apply very selectively – then again, that is not unusual, is it?
Violence and war come from a very twisted world.
Humans believe warring and taking away 3 lives can prevent many more lost lives.
It requires the participants to believe they are on the right side.
it doesn’t matter what the issue is for Homo Not-So-Sapiens.
Re: Turkey shot down jet to protect oil: Vladimir Putin
Not only has he been saying this for several days, but he also said that Russia gives all of its flight data to the United States in advance:
“Look, we informed our American partners in advance when our pilots were going into action and where, in what air corridors. The American side, which leads the coalition, to which Turkey is also a party, knew about the location and time of our operation. And this is precisely where we were hit. The question is, why did we pass this information to the Americans? Either they are not in control of what their allies are doing or they hand out this information every which way without understanding the implications.”
Reported by John Helmer, Dances with Bears, on Nov. 27
Something else is fishy here. U.S. fighter jets have been flying strike missions out of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey since August, and in September the Pentagon announced it was stationing personnel and aircraft at Diyarbakir. Has anyone reported (or even asked) where the Turkish jet that shot down the Russian plane was based?
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bd5e415bd01648e2b6127f542f85a693/us-sends-search-and-rescue-aircraft-crew-turkey
Without reading the link to Helmer, I’d say it all makes perfectly good sense. Obama cannot prevent certain factions from promoting IS by running an oil racket of their own making. Off budget, out of control. But it is curious that we were stationed in the vicinity to protect this enterprise and using Erdogan as the fence. Selling oil on the black market for less than $20bbl. And we did not warn Russia. Maybe there is an Israeli connection as they are said to be the biggest buyers of that oil. The Israelis are nothing if not audacious.
Lambert had a link to an Al-Araby article in his 11/29 links that confirms sales to Israel, although not directly, and they aren’t the only ones. Erdogan’s son reportedly is part of the smuggling network. So Erdogan may be technically correct in saying that Turkey isn’t buying IS oil. Since this has been going on for quite some time, there can be no doubt that Putin knew, and I suppose you could say that his bombing of the oil trucks was the provocation that caused the U.S. via the Turks to poke back by shooting down one of his planes. Remember, the U.S. said it had been bombing the oil trucks, but never offered any proof.
BTW, I just read that the Turkish fighter that shot down the Russian jet flew from Diyarbakir.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/spanish-solar-energy-firm-abengoa-facing-296-billion-bankruptcy/news-story/aa119d77a29f11e16e9839e425fc30c0
ouch
I loved today’s stunning antidote so I thought I would quickly google some more images of ‘Mongolian Ibex’. Wish I hadn’t as almost all the pictures displayed were of trophy hunters, rifle in hand, next to a magnificently horned, dead Ibex. How to go from feeling good to feeling very sad with one click…
Nixon, Reagan, The Bushes, Clinton, Obama…and yet somehow Trump is viewed as somehow not belonging to this group?
Same as it ever was…