Hololens Holoportation: Virtual 3D Teleportation in Real-time YouTube
This groundbreaking technology will soon let us see exactly what is in our food Washington Post
Food Companies Plan to Label GMOs — but Is There More to the Story? Truthout
Oil Enthusiasts Stay Out of Rally Led by Shrinking Bearish Bets Bloomberg
Syraqistan
In Syria, U.S.-armed militias fight each other in contested territory Chicago Tribune
Syrian Troops Said to Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS New York Times
Pictures reveal IS damage to Palmyra BBC
The fate of the temple of Bel is a symbol of the tragedy engulfing Syria Tom Holland, The Guardian
Pakistani Taliban faction tells AP it’s responsible for an Easter bomb attack in a Lahore park that killed 60, wounded 300 Associated Press
Brussels police use water cannon on ‘fascist’ Nazi-saluting protesters Independent
Puerto Rico’s Delegate Demands Changes to Debt Crisis Draft Bill Bloomberg. The bill appears to be a total nightmare for Puerto Rican citizens, imposing a mini-IMF in the form of a “fiscal control board” that will mandate austerity basically forever.
Draghi’s Pension Poison Bloomberg Gadfly
2016-o-rama
Why Al Franken would be Hillary Clinton’s ideal pick for vice president POLITICO Magazine
Clinton Foundation Donor’s Flight From Justice Aided by Hillary Allies Observer
Bernie Sanders: “We Are On a Path Toward Victory” Reader Supported News
Sanders sharpens attacks for N.Y. showdown that may dash Clinton’s unity hopes Washington Post
Bernie Sanders worried Hillary Clinton won’t debate Politico
What the Ex-Pat Primary Tells Us About the Bernie Blackout Common Dreams
The ‘Sanders Democrat’ is paving the way for the radical left Washington Post
My Shared Shame: The Media Helped Make Trump Nick Kristof, New York Times
Mexicans celebrate holiday by burning Trump in effigy Washington Post
John Kerry: presidential campaign descending into ’embarrassment’ for US The Guardian
You Still Think Paul Ryan Isn’t Running For President? Forbes
Deal reached to boost California’s minimum wage to $15, avoiding ballot box battle LA Times. This will be the biggest consequence of the 2016 election, and it won’t even get decided at the ballot box. An unthinkable victory for labor even 4 years ago. I’ll have more on this soon, look out for it.
Republican Party Rift in North Carolina Mirrors Feud at National Level Wall Street Journal
San Francisco Mayor Bans Government Travel To North Carolina Capital Public Radio
How The Human Rights Campaign Is Helping the GOP to Retain the Senate Huffington Post. But describing them as the “political establishment” was deeply misguided.
Anthem-Cigna Merger Information CA Dept of Insurance. Locals in California can deliver comments on this merger before Friday. There’s a public hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Holdouts of the Social Media Age New York Times
Is this tech firm helping FBI agents hack the San Bernardino iPhone? CSMonitor.com
Contract Workforce Outpaces Growth in Silicon-Valley Style ‘Gig’ Jobs Wall Street Journal
Japan’s elderly turn to life of crime to ease cost of living Financial Times
Cities begin to challenge a bedrock of justice: They’re paying criminals not to kill Washington Post
Al Jazeera announces 500 job cuts CNN (h/t furzy mouse)
American Airlines pilot arrested after allegedly showing up drunk for flight to Philadelphia Philadelphia Inquirer
VIDEO: ‘Cat-in-the-box’ survives eight days in post BBC
Scientists Slowly Reintroducing Small Group Of Normal, Well-Adjusted Humans Into Society The Onion
Antidote du jour:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
141 comments
Comments are closed.
Building a form in 3-D is not teleporting. Just recreating. 3-D printer folk are so much like PT Barnum at times.
I teleported a letter across the country the other day…by dropping it in a mailbox!
Teleport does not mean what you believe it means.
I believe Seth Brundle would agree……….100.0001%
Wait a minute….words mean things??? Don’t tell Shahram that. He thinks projecting a hologram is “teleporting” and that two people waving their hands about near each other are “interacting.”
Funny thing is, he cant even see the hologram, as in, he staged the entire thing. A hologram cannot be seen from within the hologram’s enclosure.
For the radical economists out there:
In Praise of Equal Pay: Towards a New Common Sense
http://www.geo.coop/blog/praise-equal-pay-towards-new-common-sense
That “common sense” is nothing more than propaganda that has been pushed on us for generations. Some people are more important than others because they say so.
Except for CEOs being socially admired, I can’t disagree with the above. I will add also that pay is often inversely proportional to the number of people who can do a job.
“Elephants love reunions. They recognize one another after years and years of separation and greet each other with wild, boisterous joy. There’s bellowing and trumpeting, ear flapping and rubbing. Trunks entwine.”
~Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Small as an Elephant
Go Bernie!!
——————————
Reich still can’t seem to acknowledge that the Dem Party is completely corrupt and is gaming the primary system against Bernie. But at least he’s not Whoring for Hellery like virtually all the other Dem establishment hacks.
Yeah, it makes me crazy when I hear some talking head quoting HRC’s delegate lead with no mention that superdelegates make up most of it. I know the talking head probably isn’t responsible for it, but the news writer is either stoopid or lazy or complicit in the HRC inevitability meme.
The talking heads undoubtedly know the score, too. They should also be held accountable for the twaddle that issues from their pie-holes, not just the people who write it. The Nuremberg defense doesn’t work any better for newsies than for soldiers.
You give them more credit than I do. I listen to most of them and think “Broadcast News”.
off with their ‘talking heads’
Break thier rice bowls. Protecting the talkin’ head rice bowls explain a lot of the MSM BerniBlackout.
It’s not just the talking heads.
From the politico article above (“Why Al Franken…”):
“With Hillary Clinton’s grip on the Democratic nomination firm,…”
The whole piece treats a Hillary nomination as a foregone conclusion.
Disgusting.
Human nature is to go with momentum, linear projections.
The best way to wake them up is with a shocking victory in New York.
And they can slug it out in California.
The thing I’ve appreciated most about this primary has been Democratic primary voters to not worry about momentum or “inevitability”. Shows people are thinking or at least understanding that voting for the “losing” candidate doesn’t do them any real harm.
They’re Super-aware on-the-make full-of-its and always out-of-it. Unlike the electorate, they’re incapable of recognizing that something is wrong and it might be time for change. And that’s a fact. Not narrative.
He’s still paying penance for pushing NAFTA, after all. That said, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he seems genuine about the mistake that he’s made.
No, the Dem establishment can’t conceive of Bernie winning because that would interfere with their lucrative, corrupt practices. They know that Bernie’s message resonates, that’s why they’re doing everything in their power to stop him (and no telling just how far they’ll go…).
I’m not sure how many don’t really believe Sander’s policies will be a disaster and will forever taint the Democratic “brand.” Hell, they’ve been convincing themselves that all Left policies are awful and losers since 1972 at the latest. Of course there is mendacity here, but don’t underestimate how completely these people have drunk the neoliberal Koolaid.
It’s really ironic since Nixon was to the left of any president since elected on economic issues. The Democrats basically convinced themselves not only was McGovernism a loser, but they apparently lost to a loser idea too.
I’d love to watch a Demoract in office go through the mental pretzel it takes to explain why ObamaCare is a crowning progressive achievement when it is slightly to the right of Nixon’s health care plans.
Speaking of mental pretzels, what I love to do is ask Hilary supporters to name one single thing that Hilary has accomplished.
Usually they begin with generalities parroted from the campaign “oh she has been fighting for us her whole career…”
I press further: “like how?”. The usual response is flummoxation, then “well she improved children’s access to legal representation in 1998”.
Then I ask them the same question about her boss. The end of that mental pretzel detangling usually ends with something about LGBT or Cuba.
Just to play the contrarian haven’t the media proven right in this particular instance? Sanders has raised the money he needs and is running against a weak and unpopular opponent and yet not enough people are turning out to vote for him. Perhaps the notion that a presidential campaign will inspire a movement–per the WaPo link above–has it backwards. You may need a movement first, candidate second. I hope that Sanders does indeed prevail against Clinton but also believe media skepticism about this is entirely warranted. After all her “firewall” did hold and the primaries are playing out mostly as predicted. And yes of course the Dem establishment are all pulling for Clinton but so what? Everybody knew that going in. The only way for Bernie to win was going to be an overwhelming popular response. Large crowds at rallies are one thing, voters pulling the lever another.
Seems even when voters want to pull the lever for Sanders, there have been problems:
Illinois (students not permitted to vote), Arizona (insufficient amount of ballots and polling places), the fishy coin toss in Iowa…
Also seems that the “hillary already has the nomination sewed up” meme is discouraging some pro-Bernie voters from voting for him (in states with open primaries, some such voters are reportedly crossing over to cast anti-trump votes).
Since we’re speculating the “Trump panic” that the left is doing so much to encourage could also be a factor causing people to vote for Clinton rather than their preferred choice of Sanders. But the overall low Dem primary turnout suggests that the problem is simply insufficient enthusiasm among traditional Dem constituencies. Obama/Clinton in 2008 brought out a larger primary vote. I’d also suggest that the anti-Iraq war sentiment was fresher in 2008 and Sanders’ muted antiwar message and failure to home in on Hillary’s FP failings has left a large block of support on the sidelines.
I think the other issue is broken promises. I suspect the Democratic Party has permanently turned people off. Obama’s numbers went up in 2012 after he changed his rhetoric to a progressive message. He turned to SS destruction after the election and became a lame duck. The 2016 cycle started almost immediately.
How many people who were promised better health care results by Democrats but not are facing the reality of paying for insurance they can’t afford to use are interested in voting for a Democrat? On a shallow level which most people are, how different is the message of Obama 08 and Sanders? Fear of losing the Senate didn’t drive turnout in 2014. I believe their is a much larger problem out there for Team Blue. I’m not certain evangelicals will come out for the GOP consensus candidate or Trump any more either.
I see it this way:
November is not the destination.
The whole thing is a journey.
I agree that broken promises have suppressed turnout. To that I’d add two observations:
1. Closed caucuses and primaries keep all but the most fervent supporters and dissenters from participating in the early phases. The NC commentariat is more “in the know” about politics and the candidates than average. I knew who Bernie Sanders was long before he announced even though I’m not a resident of Vermont because I’d seen him on the Senate floor arguing for income equality and railing against cuts to food programs. How many people who don’t subject themselves to that sort of thing intentionally know anything about Bernie Sanders?
2. John and Jane Q. Voter probably aren’t going to concern themselves with any of this until November, when they will faithfully pull the lever for either red or blue. The NC commentariat might find this to be unspeakably irresponsible behavior, but that is how many people ‘participate’ in our ‘democracy’. My husband, who has the unenviable task of going out into the world to bring home the bacon, knows this first hand. He cares enough to keep a good bead on politics and hears plenty from me at the end of the day, but none of what we discuss is even known to most of the people he works with. In other words, it’s a shallow voting pool.
My mind goes back to the bailout Obama.
“I’m the only one between you (banksters) and the pitchforks.” he said.
Now who’s left? The judiciary? The police?
Perhaps religion?
Anyways, as a well-meaning thinker, I’ve long realized that the only function the ‘progressive’ left can serve in our society is ‘the loyal opposition.’
Basically, as hated as we are by the establishment, our opposition to their excess is a very healthy, if unwelcome, check on their power. One that can only stop the worst of their blind self-dealing.
In doing so, we actually help keep the ship of state on a more even keel.
Back in WWII, a two-party system made some sort of sense. Things like the confiscation of people’s physical gold to fill Ft. Knox could pass harmlessly though the system (social and economic) in good times.
Now, growth is over. We’ve found the limits to growth. Except for in population. We are all Japan now, and we have to come to grips with it.
No sci-fi future is going to come and save us. No one world government is going to swoop in and enlighten the hundreds of different cultural identities.
Reality is us against project 2045. The clock is ticking.
”the overall low Dem primary turnout”
i know i’ve seen reports of very high turnouts in some states–but i have not kept count, and maybe those were just high turnout in general, or high turnout of independent voters. do you know a good source that tracks turnout figures?
and yes, i have the impression that it is independent voters, not dem voters, who are really making bernie’s wins in the primaries and caucuses.
I’ve never seen any numbers on this, though. I remember anecdotes from Ohio.
Here’s another anecdote for you (this one from WI): http://isthmus.com/opinion/citizen-dave/should-a-liberal-vote-for-john-kasich/
It’s written by the ex-Mayor of Madison. The “guy” he refers to is himself.
Does the same meme cause complacency among Hillary supporters that they stay home?
True but, to play Bernie’s advocate (I know, I’ve become shameless ;-)
Head winds against Bernie.
– Independents excluded from closed primaries. (a big Bernie voting block)
– People voting based on electing the historic first woman president (at any cost).
– People voting on religious prejudice (Bernie is Jewish)
– Caucuses, who has 5 hours to spend listening to political surrogates blabber on?
– Primary system is fixed / not democratic. (ex Bernie won 70%30% in WA, but Hellery was assigned 44% of the delegates. This list is long…)
– Super delegates are not democratic. DNC finger on the scales.
– MSM Media blackout. And promoting the meme that the math is hopeless now, give it up people — Truly Disgraceful.
– Obamabots mad because Bernie dares to disagree with the historic first Black president.
I could go on.
I’ve said it before, but Clinton is Coke and Sanders is an unknown regional cola from Vermont. Most voters are poorly informed and apathetic overall. My mother-in-law is an educated doctor, but her television viewing habits consist of Roku and Roku, which means Netflix and Amazon. Her news consumption is nil. She is your typical full-blown political idiot. However, she is a registered Democrat who always votes. I can guarantee she would have voted for Clinton based on name recognition and the fact that Clinton is a female, but now because of the Sanders activism of myself and my wife she is ready to vote for Sanders even though she knows hardly anything about him. My mother-in-law like many Americans is apolitical for the most part, but she votes, and she bases her choice on very little information. The media knows this and that is why they have been going to great lengths to black out Sanders and mute his message. Time however is on Bernie Sanders side. The longer he hangs around and the more he wins, the more people hear about him and the more they come to question the MSM narrative that he is an unelectable socialist and Clinton has the nomination in the bag. Unlike Clinton, the more people find out about Sanders and his policies the more they like him. The opposite is true for Clinton. A dumb, low-information campaign focused on emotional non-issues like terrorism suits Clinton, but Sanders has dragged the Overton window way left and is making Clinton talk about issues where she is very vulnerable like trade and Social Security. I don’t know how to say this correctly so I will just say it, Sanders is not doing well among Latinos or African Americans for the same reason he is doing poorly among older Americans, they are a bit more conservative and they are also lower information voters compared to young millennials. They don’t consume a lot of up-to-the minute internet news. Clinton is Coke and people know the brand, BUT…. they are finding out about Sanders and they are warming up to him. Sanders better than expected performance in North Carolina overall and his much better performance with African Americans there compared to the earlier southern primaries proves he is making strides with the demographic groups where he has shown weakness. I am convinced that his weakness among blacks, latinos, older voters isn’t based on anything material or structural with his candidacy but rather a simple name recognition problem only. Clinton is a deeply flawed and unlikeable candidate, she can win but only if voters aren’t allowed to kick the tires and peep under the hood and only if they aren’t allowed to find out about the vastly superior “brand-X”. Sanders massive war chest and ad-buys, plus his growing column of victories is screwing up Clinton’s path to the nomination.
I agree with your excellent post, but must add that there is a woman on the regional NPR roundtable show who repeats ad nauseam the Hillary’s positions are almost the same as Sanders’ positions. She says “listen to the debates–the differences are in degree and nuance, not in kind”. Superficially, you could make that case, and I think it confuses people. Hillary is Coke and when people in the media repeat “it’s all cola” most folks shrug and agree. We may have zero confidence that any policy position Clinton takes to cozen up to liberal voters is going to be carried through on, but again that isn’t obvious to many people, especially after years and years of hearing the Republicans bash Clinton as a liberal and a “radical feminazi.” In this the Republicans have been Hillary’s best friend although they weren’t hammering at her for that reason. So the noise to signal is hard to penetrate unless you know a lot of history and pay close attention–and how many American voters does that describe?
james levy and jerry denim,
given the sad low interest and information grasp of the vast majority of voters that you both refer to, it seems all the more remarkable that sanders is doing so well.
Having listened to both at length, I call bs. He talks about topics at length that she never mentions, and all of her positions are, at best, tinkering around the edges of the status quo. That’s a rather obvious ploy of ‘don’t bother listening to sanders’.
This is an area that is educating the population rapidly. The difference between what Bernie is saying and doing and what the media is reporting is so spectacularly out of sync that even the ‘low information voter’ is starting to catch on. Good job, media.
Shame on the NY Times for not reporting in print his wins. The Lamestream media wants him out. $hillary is a flawed candidate. If the PTB got what they deserved, our next preznit would be El Donaldo.
Re: Supers –
I dunno if they’ll all switch if Bernie wins majority of pledged delegates. Howard Dean the Sellout Machine is from Vermont and it went overwhelmingly for Bernie, and he’s adamant about staying a Clinton bootlicker.
Whither 2004 Howard Dean?
Dean is like my senators.
They voted for bailing out banks and are likely to vote for more trade deals, when everyone I know was against it, and are against them deals.
Because we need wise people to moderate us.
Because the senate, and representative democracy.
2004 Dean had domestic position so which made him less than adequate to be the Democratic nominee. Look past the rhetoric to his positions on chained CPI, raising the retirement age, his views on a balanced budget, his bogus arguments about tort reform, his numerous NRA endorsements, and his promise to roll back his primary promises if nominated. 2004 Dean wasn’t a saint. His 50 state strategy was great and almost put people in charge of Team Blue, but Dean started tanking in Iowa and New Hampshire before his scream. There were reasons. Dean supporters just like Obama a day Hillary supporters have projected an array of values onto candidates without checking.
Dean seems to be working as an unregistered lobbyist which could prove problematic under a Sanders Administration especially if the rumor about those two hating each other is true.
The 7/11 saga just keeps getting better:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/retail/7eleven-ethnically-selected-franchisees-who-were-lured-with-cheap-loans-20160328-gnshr6.html
Why is David Cameron so silent on the recapture of Palmyra from the clutches of Isis?
~
The puppets of the Chaos crowd cannot be happy that Putin has checked their masters desires for global totalitarian rule; at least for now anyway.
The objective of the neoconservative strategy to destroy countries in rapid succession was the recognition that U.S. military dominance would be impossible to maintain. The goal would be to cut off Moscow and Beijing from the rest of the world. The Empire needed to drive out Russia and China before U.S. air and naval power could be checked, and vassal states could negotiate new terms with Moscow and Beijing who would be senior partners without a World War or Soviet style collapse of the U.S. both of which probably won’t happen.
I found it interesting that Boris Johnson congratulated the Russians and the Syrian government. He sounds like he wants to grab whatever can be carried off from Palmyra.
Axlerod went to advise Milliband in the last UK election, and Labour never attacked Cameron over his very unpopular Syrian position which he shared with Axlerod’s old boss. I wonder if Johnson knows this line of criticism could have ushered in Prime Minister Milliband and doesn’t want to make it easy for Corbyn in 2020.
Yes, I was curious about Boris Johnson’s comments – it seemed odd that he was the only establishment figure to say what any sane person would say, and express joy that the Syrian government forces (and no, I’m not blind to what a terrible regime it is) have given Isis such a bloody nose.
Part of it just might be the reflective instinct of the English upper classes to see Central Asian archaeology as their own personal property, but I wonder if he sees a more pro-Putin role within the Conservative Party as being advantageous to him. Its not like London is short of very rich Russians, many of whom are more than friendly with Putin.
I thought there was chatter about Russians leaving London.
If they did leave London, the property market would collapse – they own a staggering amount of high end residential.
The roots of the Russian elite are very deep in London, I don’t really see why they would leave, the entire financial and legal frameworks is pretty much designed to help them hide their cash and goodies.
Re: CA raising the minimum wage to $15/hour, the headline is more impressive than the reality.
Assuming the legislation goes forward as proposed and is signed by the governor, the MW would be $10.50 in 2017 and $11 in 2018. (The current CA minimum wage is $10/hour.) The MW would then increase $1 dollar per year until it reaches $15 per hour in 2022. Businesses with less than 25 employees would be given an extra year to comply (presumably for each step increase).
Basic Income > raise in min. wage for many reasons listed previously.
Other considerations.
Apprx. $5/hr x 2,000 hours/year = $10,000.00
For comparison, a 20′ container costs (I am guessing here) about $1200 to ship from Shanghai to Los Angeles.
How much is a robot? I don’t know.
How will all ths be arbitraged? We’ll know in about 5 years.
With Basic Income, we know right now. People will get that money they need…with or without a job.
Well it is more than the rate of inflation has been in the last 6 years (based on BLS). So minimum wage will increase more than inflation (assuming inflation rates are constant with the last 6 years).
Bernie should suggest the remaining 5 presidential candidates start debating together as both parties wont be decided until june…el donaldo may balk and suggest just
he, billary and the bern debate…billary will refuse leaving el donaldo and the bern…
So…if billary refuses to debate just the bern(which she will), he can let her ego push her out of the election…the cable nets will see ratings go thru the roof and the bern gets to be presidential on a stage the mncorp ad media will be happy with…
Bern baby bern…bern baby bern…
It looks like the Ted Cruz womanizing story is going to be buried. The media isn’t interested unless it’s a Democrat. Proof that these stories are are fatal to a politician but IOKIYAR.
The story may not be dead yet. Last week Anonymous threatened to reveal scandalous info regarding Cruz and prostitutes unless Cruz dropped out of the race.
There are several factors at play:
-one Cruz is already so odious, adding adultery is like adding Jay walking. It no longer matters.
-republicans are always relieved when one of their leaders is definitely into women.
-much of the establishment is terrified Trump wants to bomb the wrong things and might pick new winners and losers and expect Cruz won’t win after a first vote at a convention. They need to prevent Cruz’s voters from sitting out or going to Trump in remaining contests.
-the msm is a glorified stenographer organization. They write what the proper authorities tell them to write. The GOP is busy at the moment, and Team Blue’s leader is Hillary Clinton, a victim of adultery but one who has surrounded herself with some pretty nasty people such as David Brock. Pushing the Cruz story isn’t exactly a plus for Hillary. One problem for Hillary isn’t Hillary but the usual suspects of Clinton Inc.
Another factor may be incredulity that any woman, let alone five, would be willing to sleep with Cruz
No jealousy factor here, I guess, in contrast with the Comeback Kid.
I do think the anti-Trump press has created the illusion that Kasich, Rufio, Cruz, Hillary, and the rest aren’t god awful monsters. Personal sins can be overlooked.
There’s some truth to that. However, Cruz’s base is evangelical Christians, who should be deeply offended by this sort of behavior, assuming it’s true. Then again, lots of TV preachers probably do it, and they continue to make millions from their followers.
It’s a feature not a bug, evangelicals know that sin exists, they watched Brother Falwell fall into sin but then there was Confession followed by Redemption which of course is a satisfying plot line.
But Bill Maher nailed it: a woman wanting to sleep with Cruz is probably saying to herself “I’ll just close my eyes and imagine it’s Newt Gingrich”
EEEWWWWWWW!!! Brain bleach, stat!
Maybe people are just tired of politicians being womanizers. Yes we know, yes they pretty much all are (except the gay ones and the women and who knows if they are also fooling around). The entitlement to fool around usually seems to come with power. Yawn, tell us something new.
Well, ya know, it’s not the sex, most of us are fine with sex, after all, but it’s the *hypocrisy*. And I do think that should count.
The “food scanner” via TellSpec is not a proven technology. It has been documented at Pando.com ( sorry paid site) and the CEO complains each time the site writes an article. Thus far, it is 2 years behind it’s promised delivery date and it’s latest SEC documents indicate misinforming the Kickstart (et al) funders.
https://pando.com/2016/03/23/according-sec-filings-tellspecs-15m-funding-round-actually-only-raised-25k/311dfc6da03453638a009dd4ba02ea99a058720a/
Re Puerto Rico
Nelson Denis has written the best thumbnail history of U.S.-Puerto Rico relations I’ve read. It’s tragic.
And most Puerto Ricans support Clinton. Proof that, just as with southern Blacks, the Stockholm syndrome is at work among the most vulnerable sectors of the Dem electorate.
You’re likely right, though I wonder if they know something we don’t (with our best explanation today, with our best knowledge now).
We’re just getting embarrassed now?? #MissionAccomplished
Good read from n+1 on Perot, NAFTA and Clintonism 1.0. Not sure if this already made it to links/water cooler but if not, worth a post. Amazing that CNN actually agreed to let Perot debate Gore one on one for nearly an hour commercial free. Can’t even imagine…
https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/7541-2/
Ted Turner still ran the network which matters. CNN at worse was a direct reflection on Ted not a mysterious subsidiary which provides cover. CNN and the msm had many problems as demonstrated in the classic Simpsons episode “Sideshow Bob Roberts,” but they tried to be a news organization in keeping with Turner’s goals.
Excellent article. I think there might be too much dancing on graves not yet dug about neo-liberalism. Yes there is a strong push against it this cycle, but I’ll believe it’s dead when it happens.
Also, here’s the link to the Bloomberg article on Puerto Rico’s crisis. Typically slanted.
Yet another reason to hate the Saudi regime….
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-land-purchases-fuel-debate-over-us-water-061703957–finance.html
More colonialism via agribusiness….they’ve destroyed their own environment and would like to start wrecking ours before we do it ourselves.
“House of Saud, we’re doing a perfectly good job of that without your help, thank you very much!”
Moon of Alabama points out the usual propaganda distortions in the Links NYT Palmyra article.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/03/syria-how-the-palmyra-victory-changes-the-narrative.html
And this is interesting
Elephants:
Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 2. His family spoke of a solemn procession of Elephants that defies human explanation.
link is below: just add the http stuff
delightmakers.com/news/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer/
thank you hreik for this special share!
Very moving.
Leaving Time is a really cool story that Jodi Picault wrote whose main character works on conservation of elephants and the book discusses things like their mourning rituals and what appears to be the capacity to empathize. It’s a really good read and has lots of interesting tidbits(like the African Elephant was used in Jurassic Park to create the roar of a dinosaur.)
Thanks.
Recall the penguin that, every year, visits the guy (Brazil, I believe) who saved it.
What are these animals trying to tell us?
That we don’t know everything, that if we cut down one tree, we don’t really know its butterfly effect, now or one hundred years later?
“More GDP anyone?”
am I correct that Bernie is winning the Native American vote by landslides?
yes. you are correct.
Bet’cha a nickle you won’t see that headline in the NYT.
Or would that be the ‘white’ vote?
trending on twitter (funny bc true):
#berniemademewhite
They didn’t even report his weekend trifecta landslides. Shameful
CNN ran a story about how Alaska is the most diverse place in America:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/us/most-diverse-place-in-america/
Then Bernie wins it 80-20 and all of the sudden, “These caucus states — largely white and rural — are the type of places Sanders traditionally does well. In order to win the nomination, he must replicate this success in other, more ethnically diverse states…”
No bias or blackout here. The only newsworthy Jew this weekend died 2K years ago according to the “News” stations.
Elephants. Forgot to say that the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust cares for orphaned eles in Kenya. You can donate to orphaned elephants at their site.
Deriding new Google and Apple campuses as “hippie architecture,” the NYT complains:
Clearly, the Old Grey Lady just don’t get it. Radar, for instance, was invented in a shambolic wooden structure on the MIT campus. Building 20 had no architectural distinction and not even a name. But it worked:
The “edifice complex” of constructing monumental headquarters designed by name-brand architects signifies that an company’s scrappy, innovative days are over. Instead, management has decided to soak the shareholders for monumental offices, costly art and corporate jets.
How do we know this? Because in 2007 the NYT itself erected a fine new 52-story headquarters designed by Renzo Piano, Fox & Fowle, Gensler and other architectural eminences. This kicked off the paper’s long slide, in which its stock still trades at half the price it did in 2007.
How The Human Rights Campaign Is Helping the GOP to Retain the Senate Huffington Post. But describing them as the “political establishment” was deeply misguided.
More of the liberal foundation meritocracy.
You Still Think Paul Ryan Isn’t Running For President? Forbes
I’m still not persuaded, though I am starting to waver. Unless he can run and still hold onto his House seat if he loses, which I don’t think he can (but maybe someone else knows better?)
The Guardian has a deplorable article by Jill Abramson about how Hillary Clinton is basically honest and transparent, but that her penchant for creating a ring of distance around herself that makes her seem no so.
Of course it’s bullshit, and if you want to know how bad, the Guardian has already closed comments on the thread, with 500 posted so far, of which about 499 are intensely critical, derisive, and dismissive.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/28/hillary-clinton-honest-transparency-jill-abramson
LOL!!
Haha. It took the guardian 1 hour to figure out they had unleashed a sh1+ storm.
My fav comment:
There is NOTHING honest about neoliberalism.
While the Guardian has become shameless, at least it retains a healthy commentariat Also, at least it prints some of them. For HuffPo and others like it, both are far more questionable.
Speaking of dishonesty, that Abramson piece may be one of the more dishonest pieces I’ve read, going on and on about how the perception about Clinton comes from her being such a private person, but then she says this:
Seriously? How much shading of the truth does one have to do before it adds up to being dishonest? How honest is it to travel all over the world as Secretary of State hawking the TPP as “the gold standard” in trade agreements, and then deciding – seemingly overnight – that she doesn’t think she can support it? On how many issues can we find examples of this kind of her change of position?
I’m sure Clinton thinks she means what she says when she says it, but as a voter, I have no confidence that the positions she’s staked out in this campaign won’t get pitched over the side once she’s elected – assuming she can be elected, which I have my doubts about. I wish it didn’t seem like her guiding principle is “what do I have to say to get what I want?” but in contrast to Sanders, who has made his campaign about us, it’s become impossible not to believe that that is what motivates her.
Could not resist posting this one comment from the Guardian piece:
“Yes, very honest. She dodged sniper fire in Bosnia in the Spring of 1996 even after hostilities had ceased the previous year and all fighting had stopped.
I too dodged sniper fire in February 1946 when i arrived in Hamburg and the Waffen-SS were holed up in buildings along the Reeperbahn.
I am fundamentally honest and trustworthy too.”
Ghastly news from the Atlanta Fed, comrades:
No sooner than the Yellenites began chattering about the next two meetings being “live” for possible rate hikes, the economy tripped on its shoelaces and face-planted again.
Now the question confronting the central planners is not what to do, but rather “how to spin our red-faced backpedaling as a bold, strategic advance.”
My personal experience is the 1st quarter 2016 real GDP growth is less than 0.6%.
Your mileage may vary.
Still, I won’t complain if we can make a little more on our CDs.
Also, I wont’ complain if every time the GDP falls -1.5%, but everyone gets a basic income of $3000 per month.
Some people may say, ‘I think I can finally afford quitting my fracking job. Me and my wife together get $6,000 a month.’
The even scarier part to me is that this is right after tax refund season. Usually you see people splurging on things right after Uncle Sugar sends back the income people advance to him, these last couple of cycles I just haven’t noticed people spending like they used to.
I’ not sure whether they are using it to pay down debt, saving it towards retirement, or some combination of both. It clearly isn’t going into buying stuff though.
Congress needs to figure out how to address some of the economic insecurity people are feeling whether that be by shoring up our retirement system so that people aren’t throwing thousands each year into saving for their own retirement, or addressing the cost associated with college to pull down that debt bubble that is hindering our young from creating households, or dealing with wage levels that have stagnated, benefits that have been gutted while the cost of things like health care have been placed upon the backs of workers. *shakes head*
Personal income estimates from the BEA are seasonally adjusted. They are supposed to take account of tax refunds at this time of year.
But as you suggest, it’s possible that “Obamacare adjustments” reduced or delayed tax refunds for some, compared to last year.
Also, IRS e-filing was down for a day on Feb. 5th, after one of their steam-powered mainframes ran short of coal. ;-)
RE: The fate of the temple of Bel is a symbol of the tragedy engulfing Syria
If you are interested in the destruction of historic artifacts in Syria and Iraq from an archaeological point of view, you can find The Museum of Lost Objects in iTunes. It is well worth listening to and sad to the point of tears (although not as sad as the innocent people who have died including a Syrian man who was the head of antiquities at Palmyra for 40 years.
From his daughter’s (Zenobia’s) words:
Tragic, to not just one, but many victims, in that city that was once one of the western termini of the Silk Road (but not the one where the Black Death spread from Asia – that was likely the port on the Black Sea), with a famous queen for its ruler, and in many other cities.
When Human Rights Campaign endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, it demonstrated that it is, in fact, the establishment.
Japanese elderly turn to life of crime to east cost of living.
Probably scalping tickets to the Les Miserables opera. Victor Hugo is probably turning over in his grave.
Cities pay criminals not to kill.
How about paying citizens for voting?
Everyone profits in an election – the pundits, the media, the consultants, the campaign managers ($800,000 a year, is that true?), the candidates, the money people (sow now, reap later), etc.
Except voters.
“But we are doing this for you, my dear, and your democracy, just like we are trickling down to help you. We will spend, on everything, defense, infrastructure, caviar, and you will benefit…”
“And no, we are not paying you for voting.”
I’ve been saying for some time that we ought to pay for voting and tie the amount of payment to performance on a test based off of formalized statements of candidate’s positions and background. That way you encourage not just voting but informed voting.
They used to pay citizens to vote in Ancient Athens, so the idea isn’t unprecedented.
In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA
Hahahahahahahaaa! .
I just spoke with Sen Cantwell’s office regarding her supposed super delegate support of Clinton. Her office told me that her vote is NOT pledged to ANY candidate at this time! I said “is she aware that the MSM is reporting that her vote is pledged to Clinton?” He said, “unfortunately we are aware of that.”
Color me shocked that the MSM is again openly lying about this.
In addition, please share that one Washington super delegate is David McDonald of KL Gates, the law firm that has been defending the criminal banking industry. Please call the Washington Democrats and express your digust that this blatant conflict of interest exists. And demand they select an alternate delegate who has no conflict.
Is it easier for them to say that they are not pledged, so they can focus on their ‘work?’
I personally believe they should not be allowed to vote until every single “regular” vote has been cast. As it is the fact that their vote is weighted to be worth more than thousands of votes makes the system incredibly undemocratic and dare I say it oligarch like.
Technically what you’re asking for is already true. Super delegates vote at the same time as other delegates, at the national convention. This is after all the votes are tallied and distributed into delegates.
Not a single super delegate vote has been cast yet. What is happening is that they’re signalling their intention to vote one way. Which may perhaps be just as despicable.
I don’t know, seems like Cantwell wants to have it both ways. Wasn’t she part of the “all the female senators but Warren” endorsing HRC?
You are correct, sir!
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/hillary-clinton-elizabeth-warren-fundraiser/
don’t leave out cantwells energetic support for the bank of boeing (Ex-Im bank) …she’s taking the heat for murray who will probably have trouble come november (unless she plans on losing and then cashing in on her inside knowledge of tpp,she could get a new pair of malaysian sneakers every day for life,I suppose) dems in washington pretty much must win west of the cascade curtain and the dem vote will be divided this year for sure, siding with hillary is risky business…maybe the person answering the phone for cantwell was just tired of defending the boss and took a solo flyer, at the same time I’d welcome Cantwell to officially side with her distinguished colleague Senator Sanders.
She recognizes results. Bernie Bros on twitter have more influence with the Democratic electorate in the state of Washington than any of the super delegates.
If they know who Sanders is, they know who “represents” them In Washington.
“Just as caller ID virtually ended prank calling, optical identification will go a long way toward stopping fraud, adulteration and contamination.”
Ah, the end of prank calling.
We don’t think often enough of those little things that went by the wayside as we got new technology. “Do you have Prince Albert in the can?” Just words, now. Just words.
“Is your refrigerator running?”
“This is Card Services. There is no problem with your account, but …”
When I was in high school I got a call when I was at home from (what turned out to be) one of my sister’s friend’s dads. He was pissed because he said he knew that I had been prank calling him. I hadn’t, but he wouldn’t believe it. He #69’d the call and got our number so…proof. Except the prank caller was hanging up as soon as he answered, so the number wasn’t being recorded so #69 gave him the previous number — ours. Yeah for technology. Now I just get calls from Google all the time.
“Do you have pop in the fridge?”
Good times, my friends, good times. (wipes tear)
But VOIP and CNID spoofing have brought them back. Technology giveth and technology taketh away. Blessed be the name of Technology.
Health insurers merge.
Thanks for the link. I didn’t know about it.
Will we see Single Insurer before Single Payer?
Which will come first?
Every day, the world becomes a little scarier.
We’ll get single payer, it just won’t be the government. Neo-libs will boldly claim everyone got what they wanted.
Well, more likely single non-payer – but point taken.
Will we see Single Insurer before Single Payer?
Prime MLTPB. +++
As a former victim of Cigna and Anthem, I don’t expect much good out of the merger. More competition across state lines would help shine some needed light on the practices of the insurance companies, along with a less-supine insurance commission.
Ralph Nader on the 2016 Elections: Hillary and Transparency
https://vimeo.com/160276209
arizona elections committee hearing on arizona primary fiasco of last week –live
on now:
questioning of maricopa county recorder helen purcell.
http://azleg.granicus.com/Mediaplayer.php?publish_id=8
Thanks for this, aletheia33, interesting for the fire of the testimony and the herding of the testifiers. The most enraged testifier that I saw was a Republican (registered, IIRC, 30 years? can’t find archive yet) who was going ballistic b/c he lined up for x hours and had to get a provisional ballot b/c his computer registration showed as Demo. He was *so mad*! Said that it was worse than murder, worse than rape and wanted (County Recorder) Helen Purcell’s resignation on the spot. Perhaps we have common cause w/Tea Partiers , although not sure he is one, maybe just an enraged moderate Republican.
Another witness (Mr. Flores?) said he didn’t want her to resign, he wanted to beat her in the next election, he is running for County recorder. I have looked for his website, he said he had one, but I haven’t found it yet, proly bc my bad understanding of Spanish surname spelling.
Maybe not huge (yuuuuge?) but perhaps this is what a revolution looks like when it starts.
glad it was useful to you hotflash.
my favorite was the 2nd or 3rd speaker whose message was roughly: if you don’t fix this, we are coming back next time. we are not going away.
he said it with great conviction; it rang out as a warning to TPTB.
i am seeing this kind of commitment being expressed all across media, including on reddit and various postings from bernie supporters elsewhere. they know the election is not the end game. they are digging in. i don’t know how many of them there are, but i think this tone and this solidarity are new, and other signs of a political storm on the way are out there, too.
i do not recall this tone of expression coming out of occupy, which was so important in other ways (and in some ways way more ambitious). this is the voice of people who do have demands and are trying to make them through the electoral system right now. i do not think any of these committed-type people is going to cast a vote for HRC.
all may appear to go quiet soon after election day in november, but it will be appearance only.
“they know the election is not the end game. they are digging in.”
Hopefully, watching closely. Elections in the US are run very locally. That’s gotta be the beginning of change, IMO. A simple “PAPER VOTE!” campaign could begin to challenge TPTB. In states that allow referendums, get it moving now so that it can be on the ballot THIS YEAR.
In other, more top heavy states, it’s gonna take a lot more time, but this is the best opportunity to view “the machine” that I’ve ever seen, and in a prez election year. Both parties have so called “insurgents”, all of the dirty tricks are coming out.
It’s a good place to start, anyway. Looking around these past couple of years, there isn’t anything else already moving. It’s gotta be built from the ground up, by people on the ground.
I think the green have been building, and are a good teacher, in that respect. But, they also can’t run local campaigns or candidates. They’re great at achieving access to the ballot, which is a HUGE feat, but not ready when it comes to actually running a candidate.
Read the ex-pat primary post… Among other items, it describes the incredibly long line at the San Diego convention center I waited in last week. And the press blackout of same. (Cancelled my Nyt subscription months ago because Msm so useless.)
Polling never been so wrong, Imo younger people mostly have cell, so pollsters miss them.
Hopefully coming states will continue trend, fab if Bernie takes NY, home of hildebeast and her bankers owners. He needs 57% of remaining delegates, Imo very doable.
Go Bernie!
Do you honestly believe that TPTB are going to let Bernie take NY? Have you read about younger NY voters having had their party affiliation changed w/o their knowing it? Check out the reddit for sanders posts… Remember Andrew, progeny of Mario is the guv and I don’t trust him at all.
Well, they sure won’t let Bernie take NY without a fight. So, they get a fight :). Record everything you can, and Niko House and Steven Searles say watch out for Aisha Dew.
I couldn’t resist adding this one comment that was posted before the Guardian closed comments:
“Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest
Yes, very honest. She dodged sniper fire in Bosnia in the Spring of 1996 even after hostilities had ceased the previous year and all fighting had stopped.
I too dodged sniper fire in February 1946 when i arrived in Hamburg and the Waffen-SS were holed up in buildings along the Reeperbahn.
I am fundamentally honest and trustworthy too.”
well, the candidates that have been ginned up remain our choices
does that Bernie guy really exist? it is as important to ignore him as to not ascribe success to anyone with the humiliating sweep of ISIS out of Palmyra.
Loretta Lynch resumes stealing from the poor:
Stolen money: it’s what Loretta Lynch’s Injustice Department and the police live on.
They particularly like to shake down poor folks who can’t afford attorneys to fight back.
RE: Japan’s elderly criminal class
Not so surprising when one remembers what Finance Minster Aso (rhymes with asshole) came out with in 2013: The elderly should hurry up and die.
Japan in a number of ways criminalizes being elderly. Confucian ethics were an import that was mostly embraced by the feudal landlords as an additional way to legitimize their status. For most serfs, life was so harsh that the elderly, those beyond doing any useful work, were usually left on the mountain to die if they didn’t do themselves in. They consumed resources that the (land)lords would rather use to employ more samurai. Sound familiar?
It’s only been in the last 30 or so years before WWII and in the peace after than there was enough wealth to bring this uncelebrated if common place practice into abeyance. Unlike China, common Japanese serfs did not have family names until the relatively recent Meji reformation, when the emperor required them to take names as a tool to break the power of the feudal lords, and bind them to slavery of the state. They were cattle, fodder, and there are strong anti-democratic forces within Japan who would like to see a reversion to old practice.