Portland Police Dashcam Captures Huge Fireball Over Maine (VIDEO) Sputnik News (Chuck L)
Complex life a billion years earlier than thought? PhysOrg. Chuck L: “This is a big deal if it’s confirmed.”
First commercial jetpack eyes lift-off Financial Times
The tech start-up planning to shake up the legal world BBC (resilc)
Alberta wildfire destroys oil sands work camp as 8,000 staff are evacuated Guardian (margarita)
Fort McMurray fire sweeps east through northern oilsands sites – Edmonton CBC. Martha r: “With lurid, scary photos.”
Most mass shooters aren’t mentally ill. So why push better treatment as the answer? Washington Post (furzy)
The forgotten coup in Australia Defend Democracy. Today’s must read.
China?
How Europe Can Survive Without Introducing Sovereign Debt Limits Economonitor. This is a very important issue that has not gotten the attention it warrants. The Germans are pushing a plan to reduce the integration between banks and sovereigns. In theory, it’s a good idea but the specific scheme is a train wreck. This piece presupposes that you know that.
Italy must choose between the euro and its own economic survival Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph (Richard Smith). Missed this from last week. AEP has said for some time that Italy is the country that can both afford to exit the eurozone and has the strongest incentives to do so. The performance stats in this article are dreadful. And Italy, unlike Greece, makes goods that the rest of the world buys (ex tourism, and there are limits to scale on that) and would benefit from a cheaper currency.
Brexit?
Donald Tusk: Brexit will bring ‘chaos’ BBC
Half European Treasurers and CFOs see possibility of ‘Brexit’ – Greenwich Associates FX Street
Morgan Stanley CEO: Brexit ‘damaging’ for the UK CNBC
UK and Europe will both survive Brexit, says Catalan president Telegraph
Syraqistan
US backed rebels execute US backed YPG Kurd woman. Shooter told her to take off her clothes. #Syria https://t.co/6PGVgPUUXN
— Partisangirl (@Partisangirl) May 17, 2016
Foreign ministers hold Vienna talks as Isis threat to Libya grows Guardian (EM)
Senate Passes Bill Exposing Saudi Arabia to 9/11 Legal Claims New York Times (furzy)
The FBI Tried To Suppress 80,000 Documents On Saudi Ties To 9/11 AntiMedia (EM)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Senators challenge government surveillance powers with new bill SOTT (Wat)
Defense Bill Coming This Week: A Boost for War and Tyranny Ron Paul (Glenn F)
FindFace App Revolutionizes Stalking PopSci (Robert M)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Pentagon is building a ‘self-aware’ killer robot army fueled by social media Medium (Wat). We have madmen in charge.
Obama Has Been At War Longer Than Any Other President In History George Washington
2016
Bernie Sanders Wins Oregon; Hillary Clinton Declares Victory in Kentucky New York Times. Oregon was an 8 point margin while Kentucky was extremely tight, only 1900 vote margin. And the Times, in a departure, pointed that out in its subhead.
Reid ‘surprised’ by ‘silly statement’ from Sanders The Hill (martha r). Translation: Sanders was supposed to show his belly and throw his supporters under the bus. Bad Sanders!
The Daily 202: Failure of Burlington College is a big problem for Bernie and Jane Sanders Washington Post. Martha r: “A sampling of hit pieces.”
Feminism is Bigger Than Gender: Why I’ll be Happy in Hell Without Hillary Counterpunch (Judy B)
Is Sanders Hurting Clinton By Staying In The Race? FiveThirtyEight. Resilc: “Clintoon is hurting Clintoon by being Clintoon.” Moi: Since when is an opponent in any struggle obligated to be considerate of the other side? Clinton has drawn no quarter and played super dirty, yet her mouthpieces demand that he operate by the Marquis of Queensbury rules? Puhleez. And if she can’t handle Sanders, no way is she ready for Trump.
Can Hillary Win? Wall Street Journal (Li)
Trump open to talks with North Korea BBC
Donald Trump’s demand that Apple must make iPhones in US actually isn’t so crazy Australian Financial Review (Sean L)
Trump Claims Income of More Than $557 Million on Disclosure Bloomberg. Pray tell how to makes sense of this: “Trump’s statement says the $557 million in income “does not include dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties.” So his income = salary and gifts? Insurance proceeds? Speaking fees? Lottery winnings? Looks like this is meant to rebut various analyses that have found him having max $300 million in cash.
Donald Trump and Republicans in fundraising deal Financial Times. The hostile takeover has been completed.
Donald Trump Borrows From Bernie Sanders’s Playbook to Woo Democrats New York Times. Tacking a bit to the left now that he has his deal. But will Republican donors worry that The Donald won’t stay bought if they fund him? By contrast, the Clintons have a track record of delivering dating as far back as her commodities trade.
Failing elites are to blame for unleashing Trump Martin Wolf, Financial Times. Wolf has a meltdown over Trump.
Boston men jailed for Trump-inspired hate crime attack Reuters. EM: “Bad as this is, let’s also keep in mind ‘Hillary-inspired hate crimes in Syria and Libya’, shall we?”
Trump University Can Take Fraud Case to New York’s Highest Court, Judge Rules Wall Street Journal. Trump just got rid of one of his event risks. Case now unlikely to be heard before election. Was previously expected for the summer.
Donald Trump faces June deposition in restaurant lawsuit Politico (Jeff W). Mind you this is a suit Trump filed, so curious that he hans’t settled, since this isn’t a lot of dough. But the flip side is sometimes both sides need to get to see each other’s cards in discovery before they come to terms.
VIDEO: Kelly confronts Trump over ‘bimbo’ tweets BBC. Trump is trying to behave a wee bit better. How long will this last?
Americans support single-payer, “Medicare-for-all” health care system Salon (Jeff W)
A Supreme Court Not So Much Deadlocked as Diminished New York Times. Given the court’s recent propensity for strained rulings, this is a bad thing?
Supreme Court dodges major decision on Obamacare birth control Reuters (EM)
Big Oil Group Plots to Exclude Public from Public Lands Bidding at IOGCC Meeting DeSmogBlog
What happened when American Bikers United Against Jihad rode into Islamberg, N.Y. Washington Post
Los Angeles schools reach $88 million settlement for sex abuse: report Reuters. EM:
These types of pieces always distort the reality behind the headlines, which should read ‘Los Angeles schools put taxpayers on hook in $88 million settlement for sex abuse’, ‘ XYZville taxpayers to pony up $N million to settle charges of police brutality’, etc. Like TBTF-bank bondholders the perps are never forced to have any skin in the game. If your typical police-lawbreaking settlement came out of the cops’ pension fund, you can bet their behavior would change for the better right quick.
Gunz
We Still Have No Idea How Many Shootings Actually Happen in America Vice (resilc)
9-year-old Girl Who Asked Police if They Could Keep Her Safe, Dies. Waukesha Patch (Dr. Kevin)
Judge hands down two more not-guilty verdicts in cases stemming from Ferguson protests St. Louis Post-Dispatch (martha r)
Fed
Fed Officials Come Looking For A Fight Tim Duy
Fed Officials Flag Potential for June Rate Hike Wall Street Journal
Lawmakers Try New Tactic to Ease Rules for Private-Equity Funds Wall Street Journal. The claim that the reporting is onerous is bogus.
Bond shortage deepens as US Treasury stops issuing debt Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (David L). This is a fiscal drag. If this keeps up for any length of time, it will slow growth. Just as the US is going into the election! It will be ironic if Team Dem sinks as a result of its belief in flawed orthodox economics.
Guillotine Watch
Inside the Luxury Fat Camp for America’s Wealthy Dogs Vice (resilc)
Class Warfare
Email from President Obama: I’ve Got News For You on Overtime White House (furzy)
The new overtime rule will directly benefit 12.5 million working people: Who they are and where they live Economic Policy Institute
Google (GOOG) is launching a ridesharing service to compete with Uber, Lyft, and Via Quartz (resilc)
A Plan to Flood San Francisco With News on Homelessness New York Times. Important, particularly about the press engaging in advocacy, but notice why this has become a perceived crisis: not out of concern for the homeless themselves but because they are a seen as a lifestyle threat to the well off.
Antidote du jour (Kittie Wilson via Lawrence R):
And a bonus antidote (Huffington Post via jess m)
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
282 comments
Comments are closed.
“US backed rebels execute US backed Kurdish woman.” This is one of the (many) things Trump will relentlessly hammer HRC on—- utter and complete insanity in US foreign policy. He’s not actually a Republican so when she counters by saying “this is repug policy, too” he can say “not any more”.
But a Hillary win would be a win for women everywhere!
“…[innovative corporate women] everywhere!”
Innovation!!!!!1!
Democracy can be untidy!
US-backed rebels execute US-backed Kurd woman, Americans yawn, take another selfie, and pretend there’s nothing they can do about it.
What a horrible people.
Germany, France, Spain put millions in the streets to stop TPP. Americans can’t lever their fat asses out of the couch long enough to stop by a voting booth, let alone march in the streets to show their anger at paying one group of people to kill another group of innocent people they are also paying.
Maybe it’s the Prozac in the water, or the polyunsaturated fats in their brains. It would be comforting to think it’s from some external chemicals…and not because they’ve completely lost their hearts and minds and souls.
If you’re not goddamned mad about this and planning to make a phone call or a speech or a placard about it…well then I’m not sure what to say.
OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL ,
If you’re not goddamned mad about this ….. An angel sheds a tear whenever sarcasm goes unappreciated.
The full quote, then you can figure out who said it on your own:
(Hint: Stuff happens )
Freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They’re also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that’s what’s going to happen here
It’s too bad the memory hole is such a gaping void even many of the well intentioned have a short record/erase/record loop..
“History, with all her volumes vast, hath but one page” ~ Geo. Gordon Byron
That said I hear what your saying.. I think about aspects of your frustrated observations.. a lot..
I have in the past thought it is a reflection of this STILL being such a fkng rich country that MANY ppl just really don’t need to give a shit how the tax revenue stripped from them is spent.
I still think this is largely operative.
As well, there are also the incurious people that naturally tolerate being herded. What other explanation for the popularity of the utter shit excuse for news that is lapped up at the MSM trough?. Witness PBS News Hour to get a flavor of the current pabulum that the ones that harbor the mistaken notion that they are intellectual elitists.
I think many are in cognitive dissonance shutdown mode, and don’t want to rock the boat. They reform their sensibilities of what is normal as a result of the constant barrage of the “Public Commons shutdown” posing as Security. As well, the MIC has successfully disengaged the public consciousness from the state of perpetual war. It is now a public works program. An evil form of Socialism.
I was flying yesterday, and I’ll be again tomorrow and Sunday.. , so the frustration is still palpable. The absurd pre-boarding dance. “Now, preboarding any current service people?” the hopelessly untargeted security theaterWTF?
I shit you not, even during /after the “Gulf War One” my friends and I would travel with quart size Tupperware containers wrapped in black plastic tape wired up with battery operated air-pumps.
Typical Security Kabuki theater:
“Waz that?”
“Marine specimen, don’t put it through the scanner”
“OK..waz in it?”
“Octopus”
“Hey Larry.. Octopus endanger species?”…. (“No”)
“OK , go on through”
Now If I even contemplated such a thing, I would be a security cam video on network news.
We have fallen so far..and people just dont get it
Or, as a Hillary supporter told me earlier this year, her presidency will be transformative. For no other reason than the fact that Hillary is a woman.
Yeah, right. We’ve already been through this BS with Obama.
Democrats —>—–>>>>>> REPUBLICANS!
Transformation complete.
Hey-would it not also be “transformative” to have Our Nations first Jewish president?
Agreed.
Lambert has an article link that suggests Bernie may Recount the Vote in Kentucky. It is about time. He absolutely should, as well as other states, because of a new Bev Harris investigation.
via: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/200pm-water-cooler-5182016.html
Oregon, Kentucky
“Sanders is considering seeking a recount in Kentucky, where Clinton was clinging to a lead of a half percentage point” [Bloomberg]. Probably wise.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-18/clinton-democrats-confronting-dangerous-divisions-within-party
Clinton, Democrats Confronting Dangerous Divisions Within Party
……………
Thanks to link from TheCatSaid from yesterdays Water Cooler that finds EVIDENCE OF FRAUD in voting machines in Kentucky, upcoming California, and many other states which should also recount.
Bev Harris’ last chapter of how to mitigate is to come. Fast. Hopefully.
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1/
Fraction Magic – Part 1: Votes are being counted as fractions instead of as whole numbers
By Bev Harris May 12, 2016
tags COMPANIES, ELECTIONS INDUSTRY, MAKE AND MODEL, RESEARCH
1 – Summary – This report summarizes the results of our review of the GEMS election management system, which counts approximately 25 percent of all votes in the United States. The results of this study demonstrate that a fractional vote feature is embedded in each GEMS application which can be used to invisibly, yet radically, alter election outcomes by pre-setting desired vote percentages to redistribute votes. This tampering is not visible to election observers, even if they are standing in the room and watching the computer. Use of the decimalized vote feature is unlikely to be detected by auditing or canvass procedures, and can be applied across large jurisdictions in less than 60 seconds.
GEMS vote-counting systems are and have been operated under five trade names: Global Election Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Premier Election Systems, Dominion Voting Systems, and Election Systems & Software, in addition to a number of private regional subcontractors. At the time of this writing, this system is used statewide in Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont, and for counties in Arizona, (upcoming) California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. It is also used in Canada.
snip
All:
Part 1: Votes are being counted as fractions instead of as whole numbers
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1
Part 2: Context, Background, Deeper, Worse
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-2
Part 3: Proof of code
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-3
Part 4: Presidential race in an entire state switched in four seconds
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-4
Part 5: Masters of the Universe
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-5
Part 6: Execution capacity – coming –
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-6
Part 7: Solutions and Mitigations – coming –
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-7
………
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/welcome_to_1984_20160514
Chris Hedges
Welcome to 1984
Much of the left, (Ralph) Nader argues, especially with the Democratic Party’s blatant rigging of the primaries to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination, grasps that change will come only by building mass movements. This gives the left, at least until these protofascist forces also give up on the political process, a window of opportunity. If we do not seize it, he warns, we may be doomed.
I suspect the many women who are casualties in her wars will have a somewhat different opinion.
But those are acceptable casualties, are they not? Ya gotta break some eggs if you want to be exceptional.
EGGSeptional … otherwise, yeah.
Comfortable top 20%er women for Clinton ’16!
Women in other countries with drones overhead: Bernie, please!
Nah Bernie says he’s good with Obomber’s flying murder drone program
Given Trump’s erratic wavering between any and all positions, “not this week!” would be more accurate.
Post runs an actual anti-Clinton story albeit by a columnist and somewhat soft pedaled.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clintons-viral-nightmare-a-video-of-her-lying-for-13-minutes/2016/05/17/ea59e32c-1c66-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html
Perhaps one reason the Post’s liar stories aren’t sticking to Teflon Don is that his future opponent is just as bad in the truth department. He makes up a spokesman. She makes up whizzing bullets in Bosnia.
Wow, they are just picking up on that video?
Print newsies don’t seem to spend a lot of time on the internet other than twitter. The article does say the vid has “gone viral” showing an awareness that it has been out there.
I think for a mainstream journalist browsing the internet would be a very dangerous thing to do, aside from sites associated with or under control of the mainstream press. Otherwise facts and stories that contradict the fabricated narrative might cause discomfort, unease and, in the brighter souls, even full on cognitive dissonance. None of these obviously are likely to be helpful to one’s career. Far easier and safer to maintain a state of willful ignorance.
That, and I doubt they would want to give that video publicity if they can avoid it.
My view of Trump lies, at least the ones being printed,are that they are on par with a teenager pulling into the driveway, knocking over the mailbox and putting a big gash in the car, and than walking into the house and saying “It wasn’t me”
Maybe Trump has done some serious corruption, we just don’t know yet.
Mark that against ….well, any Clinton (I view them as co conspirators) statement on anything – a carefully crafted, lawyerly caveat filled treatise on extracting the most benefit for his/her cronies while maintaining plausible deniability and degrading the integrity of the US government – willfully and constantly.
http://nypost.com/2016/01/17/after-pardoning-criminal-marc-rich-clintons-made-millions-off-friends/
Trump lies: Investors lose money, Donald comes out ahead
Hillary lies: People die
Donald likes low rates.
As if rates on CDs should stay this low.
Will he let bubbles burst? Many people don’t like bubbles, but also worry they’d be unemployed when bubbles burst – basically are hostages.
Clinton: ” I have released 55,000 pages of emails.”
Nixon : WASHINGTON, April 29 (News Bureau) — President Nixon promised tonight to make public tomorrow 1,200 pages of transcript of the key taped conversations he had with his top asides about the Watergate scandal.
Clinton: “What I did was legally permissible, number one.”
Nixon: “When the president does it, that means that it’s not illegal.”
The strangeness of this has been commented on at SST also. The DOD has been supporting the Kurdish fighters with some Special Forces soldiers. The CIA has been supporting the Moderate Liver-Eating Opposition Cannibals.
A President Trump would be in over his head in trying to confront the DC PermaGov, its CIA and its partners in the Global Axis of Jihad. Whereas a President Clinton would clear this confusion right up.
She would prioritize overthrowing Assad and bringing the Jihadis to complete power all over Syria. Survival of female Kurdish fighters would be a lower priority for Clinton than overthrowing Assad, which would be her prime priority.
I was just in San Francisco and saw the issue with my own eyes: there are an incredible amount of homeless on the streets. Given the gentrification I saw there (incredible in the ten years since I last visited) I imagine the solutions proposed by the media will lean towards institutionalization and giving them one way bus tickets rather than seriously dealing with rent control and the housing crisis. The only hope is that SF does have a very vocal and active protest community.
I say that the law REQUIRE that for every luxury home or apartment built, there must be an affordable housing project built IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD so they can’t push the poor (actually the 99%) or of sight, or of mind.
That all gentrified neighborhoods MAY contain affordable housing units, wish can be in the form of rent-controlled gentrified houses.
And if it is a multi-unit Luxury Apartment Building, put the Affordable Units right in the same building . . . . so the Luxury UnitDwellers can see and smell the poverty they have done so much to create.
This problem is growing everywhere. Here in the American South we now have small, hidden, ‘tent villages.’ Anti-Potemkin Villages Phyllis calls them. Our local ‘Jungle’ next to the older Wal Mart now has four camping tents in place, hidden down amongst the trees. The tents are not moving around, so I’m assuming they are semi permanent. As long as the denizens molest no one, the cops seem to be leaving them alone. We now have three semi regular panhandling sites in town. The sites are on street corners, at stop signs, adjacent to both Wal Marts. These are high traffic spots where people must stop, and are thus more likely to read the cardboard signs and give something. We’re now seeing one or two full families begging at these locations.
One heretical thought on this subject. The base closing commission identified tons of bases to phase out and close. A lot of that infrastructure can be purposed for homeless sheltering, and the people living there tasked with rehabilitation and renovation tasks. A little creepy? Sure. But so is a family sleeping rough.
new-age american favelas…..there’s your broken shovel-ready infrastructure !!
Just wait until the right, helpy-helperton type business person comes along to ‘innovate’ away an affordable housing crisis near you:
“Soon after Walsenburg eliminated its size restriction, Stambaugh, a 55-year-old businessman who made his money in the mobile electronic payment industry, bought about 4.5 acres of agricultural land in town, and then had the zoning changed to residential…Demand has been strong for the tiny homes, which range in size from 262 to 672 square feet (some tiny homes are as small as 120 square feet), says Stambaugh, who expects them to sell for $60,000 to $130,000…That’s not exactly dirt cheap, but it’s better than nothing…not necessarily affordable for the cross-section that we’re trying to provide housing for,” says Dan Osborn, Salida’s community development director. “But we think it’s going to help our community, so we see it as a positive.”
The “worker housing” will be conveniently sited between the river and the sewage treatment plant.
We have many homeless camps around the greater Seattle area. Homelessness around the bay area has been an issue for many years. I was in Berkeley quite often in the early 1990s and the downtown was full of people on the streets. Some blamed the overly-PC, extra-liberal city government for not dealing with the problem, but the main factor is probably the inflated real estate, which is not a new phenomenon in California.
When I tell younger people that I never saw much homelessness prior to Ronald Reagan’s presidency they look at me with disbelief… for them it’s normal to see beggars on the street, but when I grew up I rarely saw that and I remember being shocked when it started to happen in the 1980s.
Good point about Reagans term. Didn’t he begin the closing of the State sponsored mental health ‘asylums?’ (I’ve been trying to figure out which Charles Dickens character Reagan best resembles. Pancks perhaps? Except that Reagan never tried to redeem himself.)
The Short Petris Act was a mid 1960s California State Legislation that closed the big insane asylums like Napa and Agnews for the Insane.
The idea was to return mentally ill people to “their communities” where they could be cared for in board and care homes. Money to be provided by the state. Governor Reagan, failed to fund them. Later as President, he continued that. Most of the crazies flocked not to their home towns, but to mine; San Francisco, and thus began the descent. Add to that mix, the Hippie travelers, dope addicts, ex-cons, migrants and failures from everywhere they came for a fresh start and you have the present situation, aided and abetted by a city administration that has spent over 1.3 Billion dollars on “homeless services”, which never seem to solve the problem.
I was driving a taxi during the Reagan years, and I can tell you that it was as if someone threw a switch, and overnight, all the people suffering from borderline mental illness, and who had been housed in mental institutions where suddenly standing on street corners wondering where to go next.
As I understand the change, the Reagan administration helped de-fund programs that enabled the mentally ill to self-admit.
I actually got to witness the change first-hand when a ‘customer’ asked me to take her to a local state hospital to visit a friend, when she actually had no money and intended to admit herself to a program that had formally provided her with shelter.
When we arrived a the hospital, she bolted from my taxi, and removed all her clothes, and ran naked, through the front door, was greeted by name, and informed that she could no longer expect support.
The woman at the desk made numerous calls, but could not find even a temporary bed for the poor unfortunate woman.
Compassionate conservatism it wasn’t and it still aint.
It was the start of the 2nd Gilded Age in retrospect.
I was born in 1950 and I too remember when I first started seeing this and was so shocked. There used to be crummy, cheap housing for rent and almost no one was EVER on the streets.
Yep. Gentrification of housing stock. Cash for clunkers in the auto sector. Get rid of all the still usable, working used cars. Crush them. Destroy the lower end of the used car market. Force people to “upgrade” to new or newer-used vehicles. T.I.N.A.
but..but…but……..for congressional GRIFTERS……..
Whatever facilities are made available for the homeless need to provide good access to food, public transportation, basic health, and day work opportunities. All of these are critical if the shelters are to be successful as transitional facilities, and not just as temporary sleeping accommodations.
My proposed venues can continue just as before; self contained “colonia.” Transitional facilities must first hold out some hope for improvement to the clients. Todays’ economic conditions squash that idea.
A friend who at the time worked for a homeless shelter in my city told me a family of three ( a mom with two little kids) needed to pay $160 each week to stay there. This was 2008.
Our tent city was just taken down after 2-3 years. As a housing first program – some ended up in shipping containers divided into small sections w/2 cots per space for 90 days. You couldn’t go into the area off a recreational trail… it was basically a drug community w/over 1000 syringes from one cleanup. These are singles, no families and the containers are set up w/service providers but it can take many months to get someone into a room or get VA benefits etc.
We don’t have any bases locally and although old hotels have been used, they quickly become slums. I don’t know how anyone let alone addicts develop any security with a 90 day deadline.
I worked for years as a state mandated patients’ rights advocate for the county of San Francisco.
There are a lot of homeless in SF, but there are also a lot of housed poor people in the Tenderloin. There is an unreasonable expectation that these people stay in their 8×10 units all day long so as not to offend anyone. A lot of people are on SSI- not enough to live on, so they pan handle (among other things) to supplement their below subsistence income.
A lot of what people are seeing when they come to the city is the community mental health system– in the community- and not in institutions. Unless some one is a danger to self, others, or will die shortly if left unattended, they have the right to roll around town. They have a right to refuse treatment, unless a judge has determined that they do not. That is a judge, not a doctor, case manager or a computer programmer.
This new wave of complaining techies, who want to introduce some “disruptive” solution to the problem, are part of a long history of addressing a problem that predates their arrival (by 30 years or more). There is no market based solution, but that is the only model we are allowed to work from, so this is what we get.
Good comment.
I volunteer at one of the larger advocates and service providers for the poor in SF. The problem of homelessness is really tough; it overlaps in a vicious cycle with substance abuse problems and mental illness. The prisons and ERs have become the de facto ‘treatment centers’ for mental illness and drug addiction for the poor. I don’t advocate a return to the dark days of insane asylums, but the current solution of the street or jail isn’t working very well, either. We need to find ways to intervene pro-actively, and to fund such intervention. We also need to provide living wage jobs for those who can work, and to provide humanely for those who can’t. I don’t delude myself that the problem can ever be completely solved, but we have erred WAY too far in the direction of ‘laissez faire’ as things stand now, that much is obvious. You’re right, ‘the market’ is not the solution.
An essential set of points. When I used to volunteer at a treatment centre, which took some patients on a pro-bono basis and these were often from desperately poor backgrounds, I — after a while — realised that helping them (where possible) with their substance abuse problems but then discharging them with absolutely no help in overcoming their economic ones practicality guaranteed their subsequent slippages.
If nothing else, then without money the temptation to start dealing was great and if they were dealing, then it was all-too-easy to start using again.
Thanks Clive, and yes — I can’t disentangle the problem from that of economic justice.
Yes x any amount, thanks tara. As Lambert also mentioned, the media professionals seem to be troubled by an aesthetic crisis, i.e. they’re upset by the sight of what their peers in the UK disgustingly call an ‘eyesore’. When the Disruptive Solutions are published, get ready for Workhouse 2.0.
A big British ‘homelessness charity’ shrieks on billboards everywhere: “We see the person, not the homelessness”. So did the Parish officers and the Salvation Army when Jack London met them in Spitalfields in 1906. Predictable systemic disaster is supposed to be a by-product of bad personal habits curable with a cocktail of Life Coaching and Toughlove.
Thanks Clive too for the should-be-obvious insight about ‘addiction support’ that throws the ‘cleaned-up’ back into conditions that cry out for self-medication. I’d only add that — at least where certain substances are concerned — the socially destructive aspects of ‘addiction’ itself are largely economic, i.e. things done out of desperate need to pay for something made expensive by its very illegality. ‘High-functioning’ addicts of many kinds exist, but they’re not the same ones whose whole lives revolve around funding the habit from one day to the next.
I had a visitor from Massachusetts arrive in Seattle last spring, she was totally freaked out by the amount of tents that were visible from our interstate. Since then, the SPD and other law enforcement have been sweeping the tent cities that have sprung up on the interstate greenbelts. But the homeless don’t go away anf this situation has not been handled well by Washington State either.
Seattle City Council stated during the worst of the foreclosure crisis that continued unlawful foreclosures were contributing to homelessness and rising rents. Since that time, the banking lobby must have set them straight, cuz now they claim rising rents and homelessness is due to Seattle’s economic boom and the success of Amazon. And you NC supporters who rail against my criticism of Sawant, her office is going along with this official reasoning now as well. The entire Council ignores that 680,000 Washingtonians (and rising) have been displaced by foreclosure.
From my weak understanding of economics, those 680,000 displaced people add to the supply side of renters and their house sitting empty subtracts from the supply of available homes to rent. Am I missing a piece of this convoluted puzzle? Or are they?
SF is on its own, just like Seattle, Portland, and every other community. There is almost no way to ameliorate this problem without every sizable city’s involvement. After all, why should Seattle step-up and build 7,000 new units, if it just means everyone from SF will migrate here? The thing is that this problem is not as bottomless as naysayers would have us believe. There are not an infinite amount of people living in America. We could house people if we just had leadership and imagination. Too bad our Federal government is so worthless and weak (h/t Twisted Sister) when it comes to helping people in need. Of course, we are saddled with a stupid bootstrap ideology, which has politicians cowering. Final point, there are hardcore homeless that will never be able to live in clean and sober housing. Just remember, they don’t represent every family living in a car and they will always be with us. There is just too much to say about this to write a coherent comment.
“…hardcore homeless that will never be able to live in clean and sober housing.”
Both Seattle and Portland have built a token building to house the worst of the worst, recognizing that providing stable housing more than pays for itself with what it saves on emergency room visits and other emergency services. Clean and sober is not required in these buildings. The building in Portland houses approximately 130 people.
In Portland, from personal observation, it looks like this type of housing alone could be expanded several-fold and still not meet the need.
News flash for Marxist, San Francisco has had rent control since the 1970s. The housing crisis is all over coastal California, with L.A. having the highest rent to income ratio in the state.
As a native San Franciscan who has witnessed “homeless” people flocking to the city for decades by Greyhound, V.W.Bug, hitchiking, ‘starting over’, reinventing them self’, fleeing an oppressive marriage, immigrating, dictatorship, you name it, I am fed up.
Am tired of walking our streets where you have to step around pools of barf, piles of human feces and militant beggars that take “No, I won’t give you money”, as a challenge to a street brawl.
I have met one “homeless person”, (his mother lived across town), who actually grew up in San Francisco. The rest are voluntary travelers who have come here and failed in one way or another. They can leave just as easily. Free bus tickets at city expense are available. If they choose to stay then F* them.
Cue the “that could be you” wailers in 4,3,2,1…
Nope, not gonna say “that could be you” because I haven’t met any homeless people who are so downright mean and nasty.
Good luck in the afterlife when Peter tells you the price of admission was to learn humility, empathy and caring for your fellow man here on earth.
When facts fail you, turn to religious hallucinations to back up your arguments. I’ve hired dozens of nearly and homeless guys, lent them money to fix a car, given them clothes out of my closet for job interviews and made dozens of phone calls to land them a job.
So perpetual war, what have you done along those lines?
Donald’s solution: build a wall, like Constantinople did…or rather, they did in Constantinople.
Amnesty should be considered – not sure about the wall.
You sound just like an authoritarian parasite. You want to ship the cost of purposeful political choices onto others.
“Native”? Anyone who can afford to properly live their whole lives in the City is a parasite off someone’s blood. With all the respect that is due, Dave, I hope they continue to dog, harass and annoy your bourgeois self for every second you continue to share air with me.
“As a native San Franciscan who has witnessed “homeless” people flocking to the city for decades by Greyhound, V.W.Bug, hitchiking, ‘starting over’, reinventing them self’, fleeing an oppressive marriage, immigrating, dictatorship, you name it, I am fed up.”
Oh, I’m sorry. Do the downtrodden inconvenience you? Oh you poor baby!
Nothing you said actually disproves that they’re homeless, by the way, merely that they mostly aren’t SF natives. So they should fuck off and be homeless elsewhere, right? Such an eyesore, these damn dirt people!
That’s interesting because studies done in L.A. have shown L.A. homeless are laregely L.A. natives, so I wouldn’t be so sure they aren’t in S.F. too.
How DARE these people flee abusive marriages and dictatorships!!
Im sorry but do you even listen to yourself?
Wow Dave. Buy a clue…. You met some homeless people that have family nearby and ergo, they must ‘faking’ or they love being cold or hungry or unbathed. And because they didn’t suddenly turn their lives around and get into Berkeley because of your intervention a time or two on their behalf they are clearly pond scum……
It is people with attitudes such as yourself that we still have these problems. People who like to demonize instead of problem solve. Anyone can do that – perhaps a little less whining on your part about being poor unappreciated Lord Bountiful and a little more getting down to work to solve the problems. ….
Just FYI, perhaps the best solution for the affordable / homelessness issue is making existing development include some accommodation for both market rate and reduced cost housing. This is called “inclusionary zoning.”
As is typical of most “planning” in California, this is completely subverted when attempted in practice. The *only* things California’s “planning” delivers are a) citizen frustration, and b) gigantic paychecks to land speculators. Nothing else. Nothing resembling “planning” occurs.
Sacramento actually passed an inclusionary zoning ordinance, requiring something liked 15% of new development be affordable housing. When building wasn’t so active, it was untouched, but as soon as builders started to get serious, they lobbied to make the accommodation of affordable housing a per-square-foot building fee, rather than a requirement to mix those icky poor people in with the economic elites who can afford homes.
Local housing advocates estimated $6 – $11 per square foot would be the equivalent of that 15%. So the fee was proposed at $2.25, and with much pleading from homeless advocates it was raised to $2.50.
Perhaps the biggest culprit in diminishing affordable housing is the 1986 Reagan tax law that (retroactively!) removed the tax subsidy for rental housing from limited partnerships, promptly making most, if not all of them fail. They had already included that return in their budgets, but removing it meant they lost money. This undoubtedly worsened the S&L debacle, too, but made the stock market take off.
Anyway, this is a clusterf*ck, and has been for some time. Civilized nations subsidize housing. We prefer to crush the poor.
One other stat of interest: Before the “end of welfare as we know it” of the Clinton/Newt years, AFDC and other social safety nets reached 76% of those eligible. That “end” transformed AFDC into TANFF, and made welfare spending into a block grant states could use for other expenses if they managed to reduce their welfare rolls. Now social safety nets reach 26% of those eligible.
America! Gotta love it!
Re: Reid ‘surprised’ by ‘silly statement’ from Sanders
“Bernie should say something and not have some silly statement. Bernie is better than that. He should say something about this [and] not have some statement someone else prepared for him,” Reid said.
Spoken like a true wordsmith. It comes through even in text that he was making this up on the spot without any actual thoughts going through his brain.
“Bernie needs to say something, and not what he said, but something he would say. I expected words to come out of his mouth as if they were his. Um.. not read them and uh… prepared! Prepared by “someone else”. Bernie Sanders really should have said something.” (Can this man read? Also the press release was all a quoted statement from Sanders somewhere in FL after arriving back on the main land)
It’s kind of amusing how some of these Democratic Party hacks are surprised by a candidate who’s actually fighting for something.
^ perfect.
They’re only supposed to pantomime! Anyone who’s anyone “knows” that. Why didn’t that smelly hippie Sanders get the memo….
Bwahhahaha. Very interesting convo on MSHRC!! They are all eating their hats! Mika Brzezinski just said of the pundits’s commentary(paraphrasing), that there is a strange sort of hypocracy coming from you guys today. She called them out for not taking Bernie seriously and of just assuming that Hills would be the nominee by default. I’m not a huge fan but God bless her and Van Jones for daring to speak so truth for once.
Strange goings on there at Morning Joe. They just got through dissing Reid, Wasserman, and the DNC over the NV convention and their efforts to use the “violence” as an excuse to get Sanders to jump on the Hillary train. Plus they hit hard on the rigging of the system against Sanders, and said that the real political revolution was not Trump’s reality show, with much praise for Bernie over his Carson CA speech last night.
This, coupled with the show’s recent bringing up the Clintons’ Epstein problem leads me to wonder what’s going on with this most insider of insider shows. Are they making arguments on principled grounds, or do they just want to see the horserace continue for ratings sake?
I’m not sure that it matters. I think that there’s a saying in politics (or there should be) that people often do the right things for the wrong reasons.
Probably since Hillary will be the nominee barring indictment, it’s safe now to offer a real critique.
The latest ratings on MSNBC say that their “trust” factor has fallen through the floor. Perhaps management there, such as it is, has realized they’re going to lose the network [read: their jobs] if they don’t start adding back in a little realism.
The primary hullabaloo has led MSHRC to its highest ratings since January 2013, two months after the 2012 cycle rating go had collapsed.
With less contests, I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers are already tanking.
After being absolutely gobsmacked by the discussion on Morning Joe today, I clicked over to NC to see if anyone else saw this clip “What is the endgame for Sanders campaign?”
Their analysis of Bernie’s toughness in standing up for himself after the DNC has basically been knifing him in the back for a year is just amazing. And the video clip of Wasserman-Schultz presenting herself as Miss Manners — after screwing millions of Bernie supporters all year long — is a sight to behold. Even Mika is speechless. Oy!
I find myself wondering what is going on behind the scenes, because this is a huge difference in conversation, video clips, and analysis than happened a few months ago when they showed Bernie zero respect and treated him like an alien.
I am amazed the comparison between Clinton v. Obama in KY was brought up. Where were these people months ago?
Hillary:
“I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE UP, MS. WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ”
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Think “Sunset Boulevard” if you don’t get it.
Having watched that disaster of a news outlet for some years, I came to the conclusion that the whole thing is carefully choreographed. Someone gets to run with the “truth” ball for a period; it could be due to needed ratings, or seniority, or who knows. This can be motivated by the individuals, Mika, Joe, or by ratings, or by the executives running the show feeling some sop is to be thrown to the “lib-a-ruls” (in this case because Joe likes to be not only to the supposed right of the rest, but also simply contrary to whatever the prevailing wind is with the so called liberal MSNBC propagandists who are all currently singing Hillary in harmony).
You can’t count on it, however. Joe and Mika, or whatever tag team of the day, will be back to their usual menu of in character propaganda in short order which in Morning Joe‘s case is to be Conservative Light. For balance don’t-cha-know.
“Revolving heroes.”
Have to give Van Jones credit for bringing up the assault by Clinton supporter on a Sanders one. Here crticizing DWS:
“I don’t think that that was wise for her to do that. First of all, Bernie did say in his statement that he was against the violence,” he argued. “Also, if you want to talk about violence, only one person’s been arrested; it was a Hillary Clinton supporter, Wendell Pierce, arrested for assaulting a Sanders supporter.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/van-jones-rips-dnc-chair-over-rift-between-sanders-and-nevada-dems-i-think-she-made-it-worse
Van Jones sees the writing on the wall and which way the wind is blowing.
Though he’s in the bag for $hillary this election cycle he’s laying the groundwork to be the “even-handed” guy in the Democratic party future when the Clintonistas start dropping off the scene.
My thoughts exactly!!
“the violence”
There wasn’t any. The only person with a receipts for violence is the Sanders supporter that Clinton supporter Wendell Pierce assaulted (and was arrested for so doing). And one might ask who’s been charged for in the case of the Nevada convention, which should have been easy to do, given how pervasive cops were at the end.
Good point.
I received several missives from organizations today…and not orgs I supposed were HRC borg…pushing “the reprehensible violence” meme.
Silly wabbit…! I unsubscribed from every one.
If it wasn’t staged, it’s definitely being managed.
Perhaps there’s a small positive…good to see the cards on the table, as it were.
On ObamaCare. Posted this here last night after reading it in the last thread, but I thought I might re-post it again, since it’s a good read and pointed:
http://monthlyreview.org/2016/05/01/obamacare/
Thanks for this. Anyone can join the stellar group Physicians for a National Health Plan. Membership for non-physicians is only $40 a year. I consider it one of the best “investments” I make each year, along with of course contributions to NC. Check it out at http://www.pnhp.org.
Good Grief. This is the best thing since penicillin. Not just pointed but historically thorough as well. Really appreciate the lingk !
Awesome link with handy charts.
Email from President Obama: I’ve Got News For You on Overtime
The President relates a story of an assistant sandwich-shop manager who works up to 70 hours a week without receiving overtime. He claims these new standards are “one of most important steps we’re taking to help grow middle-class wages and put $12 billion more dollars in the pockets of hardworking Americans over the next 10 years.”
Apparently, an assistant sandwich-shop manager is now a “middle class” job on which one can apparently “support their families, gain a little economic security, and pass down some opportunity to their kids.”
All of you people complaining about how there’s no good jobs don’t have a leg to stand on! The White House has your back! Go to your local Jimmy John’s and fill out an application today!
Shouldn’t the focus instead be on the fact that so many people are working such ridiculous hours at the low wage sandwich shop? Obama is completely circumventing the “work harder for less”/lack of financial stability argument with this faux-win for workers. It is no freaking wonder why Trump calling for Apple to make its crap here resonates so much.
BRB Starbucks is calling about my application…
And it’s capped at those who earn c. $42,000 or less in salary, just at the point where a middle class wage starts to sound realistic.
Still as parsimonious as it is, it does mean a bit more money in the employees’ pocket. Couple it with a $15 hr. minimum wage push and the sandwich shop manager would have to put in far fewer hours of overtime to reach the magical $42,000 figure.
This is a good thing, which is why the right is having such a hissy fit.
And guess who’s announcing the new rules in the great swing state of Ohio. Joe Biden.
Working 70 hr in an air conditioned Subway has got to be better than slaving away in some sweaty steel mill or auto plant.
Reminds me of the time I was in line (before the price jackings here in MI, when I still went to Subway) and the man in front of me adamantly refused the loaf of bread he was presented with because the worker had cut it wrong. He said something to the effect of “no, give me a different one and cut it better”. I wanted to beat him over the head with the loaf that was already there.
No one deserves to be stuck in the terrible service sector where the asshole customers are “always right”.
I’ve worked in the equivalent of both Subways and auto plants. I”ll take the auto plant any day. Not only was the pay much, much better, but the hours were better structured and dependable, and overtime pay and health insurance was far better.
I’m assuming, of course, that the disparity still exists to some degree today.
However, there are a lot more sandwich jobs than auto plant gigs these days…
working 70 hours/wk anywhere is slaving. As I’m cynical I’ll posit that the overtime increase will just inspire more low wage employees hired for under 30 hrs a week, in order to avoid the overtime and ACA, while giving a boost to the jobs numbers for the summer, pre election donchaknow…
Yes 70 hours anywhere is slavery. Time to abolish it.
70 hours of anything sucks.
70 hours at ANY job is inhumane.
But there is the additional absurdity of thinking 70 hours of subway is somehow easy. If such a thing as 70 hour jobs at Subway existed (I have my doubts) it would be 70 hours ON ONE’S FEET. Physically brutal. Till you get varicose veins and joint problems. The body breaks down under the assault!
And then what have you got when it does and you can no longer work? Healthcare from the employer? A pension? Haha, nope, but the factory worker might have. Disability if you are lucky.
Personally I’d like to see things start with something as simple as REQUIRING breaks and lunches.
My kid has worked 12 hour days at MickeyDs with no mandated lunch or break thrown in. It’s insane to expect anyone to be able to serve patrons when they are tired AND hungry. In Virginia, it’s legal.
Steel plant, at the equivalent in today’s dollars of about $100 an hour, plus fabulous benefits? Thanks, I’d take the steel job.
My post was snark directed at Biden and his enthusiasm for all things free-trade.
Wow. The e-mail is barely literate:
“Americans have spent too long working long hours and getting less in return. So wherever and whenever I can make sure that our economy rewards hard work and responsibility, that’s what I’m going to do. Every hardworking American deserves a paycheck that lets them support their families, gain a little economic security, and pass down some opportunity to their kids. That’s always worth fighting for.”
How does one “pass down” “some opportunity”? Is there a Department of Writing Badly and Talking Down at the White House? The weird repetitions (long / long) (wherever / whenever)(little economic / some opportunity = diminished expectations) point toward deception.
Also spent too long working long hours
Too too de doo too long long.
Don’t you know? Economies don’t have opportunity, parents pass opportunity down to their kids, like a joint.
He’s forming a Doo-Wop revival.
Don’t Bogart that opportunity, my friend…
By ‘pass down opportunity’ they mean ‘Be a millionaire, give your kids ivy league educations and leave an enormous estate that the government barely taxes to them. If youre not a millionaire, youre doing a disservice to your children by not passing along opportunity to them!”
The worst part of the overtime changes ordered by the Bush administration in 2004 (first overhaul in 50 years) was that which redefined eligibility criteria based on a worker’s duties. So that where previously a manager had to have the actual power to hire and fire in order to be exempt, under the new criteria that worker simply had to be involved in key staffing decisions like hiring, firing and promoting.
So if I have a sous-chef who is paid a salary that does not exceed $913 a week, which is pretty much guaranteed, all I have to do is ask, Do you like this guy? when I’m considering a new hire and the test is met.
And, what do you know? We suddenly have the “360” review. And all you have to do then is put everybody on salary, keep their wages under $913 per week and include them in the review process that informs your promotion practices and, boom, you don’t have to pay overtime to any of them. And if you don’t think this is happening, you’re wrong. It’s a business model.
The shiny new Obama administration rules “[r]espond to employers’ concerns by making no changes to the ‘duties test’ and allowing bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level.” [Emphasis mine.]
So, to recap, the 2004 changes with the most far-reaching impact on overtime eligibility remain in place and are enhanced by permitting periodic pay, such as bonuses, to be counted in calculating pay levels.
Bravo. Well done.
I knew there was less than meets the eye here. It’s Obama, after all.
Thanks for that analysis – really made it clear.
Dems – fighting to appear to have your back, while surreptitiously screwing you with complex regulatory wordsmithing….its what we do!
Exactly.
Whenever Obama appears touting some new thing, I always see that insidious Valerie Jarrett perched on his shoulder (like Daffy Duck) singing a lullaby of half truths into his ear. Not to let him off the hook. But his credibility is rooted in his belief and she’s its minder. Pure evil.
I know it looks here like I’m succumbing to the age-old trope of the scheming woman behind the guileless ruler—and maybe I am—but she is so unbelievably creepy and I really do think that Obama believes what he’s saying.
Again, not to let him off the hook. The hubris and egotism that allow him to believe his handlers despite his intelligence and knowledge are fatal flaws. Fatal for others, I mean. And not to be forgiven or forgotten. But Jarrett is more a Svengali than a Lord Burghley, I think.
she’s a Harpie! …….nothing ‘daft’ about her….
I might be confused about something. Under the 2004 Bush rules, a person only had to earn $455 per week to be exempt from overtime protection if he had (real or fake) management responsibilities.
Under the new rule, the person will need to earn $913 per week to be exempt from overtime.
You seem to be saying that if someone’s salary does not exceed $913, he can be considered a “manager”. Don’t you mean that someone’s salary must equal or exceed $913 to be considered a “manager” (under the new rule)? Under the existing 2004 rule, of course, someone earning less than $913 but more than $455 could be considered a “manager”, which can easily be abused.
No, you’re not confused. That’s right. I was so pissed when I was writing the comment that I muddled it.
They’d have to be paid $914 per week under the new rules, up to 10% of which can include periodic pay, such as bonuses. So, $895 per week plus $1000 bonus at the end of the year plus a title and 360 review and I can require you to work as much as I want. Which in a restaurant would be 60-65 hours.
Yes, the new rule states that as long as you are under $913 a week, it doesn’t matter what they call you, you still get OT.
It was of course worse than that. You didn’t even need management responsibilities. I.T. workerbees were straight out excluded for … who even knows why … not because they usually have management responsibilities, but just because.
Then overtime laws such as exist are MASSIVELY under-enforced. Yes many companies are legally compliant of course (even if the standards are more lenient than we’d like). But many other companies are straight out breaking the law, and they are getting away with it on a massive scale.
What does it matter what the law is, if noone is enforcing it?
Vatch has pointed out that I made a significant error in my analysis.
They’d have to be paid $914 per week under the new rules, up to 10% of which can include periodic pay, such as bonuses.
So, $895 per week plus $1000 bonus at the end of the year plus a title and 360 review and I can require you to work as much as I want. Which in a restaurant would be 60-65 hours.
Thanks, Vatch.
The “salaried” classification should be removed period. All jobs should be 40 hours a week, and any time beyond must require overtime. Otherwise, companies keep increasing workloads of the salaried — and convert the rest to part-time to go below the hour and salary limits.
It’s Obama so you know there’s going to be less here than meets the eye. Nevertheless, EPI is usually pretty reliable on these issues and they are trumpeting this as a big deal. Yes, it’s ridiculous to consider everyone making over 42K in salary “management” (and why shouldn’t people classified as management not get overtime?) but the previous threshold was 23K!!!
The new overtime rule will directly benefit 12.5 million working people
31 Kentucky counties report election fraud Tuesday
gee…whocouldanode THAT was going to occur??!!!
From Belief to Resentment in Indiana:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/from-belief-to-resentment-in-indiana/2016/05/14/d1642222-16fa-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html
Surprisingly good article from the Washington Post. Probably better than the uneccesariat post.
Re the Australian coup: blood boiling
Re Sanders win in Oregon and near win in Kentucky: since the voters don’t seem to be paying attention to the dreck peddled by the MSM, I am feeling more and more confident that June 7th will prove a remarkable turning point in this campaign. Clutching at what is essentially a tied in Kentucky and what will possibly be a victory for Clinton in NJ, while ignoring an “upset” victory in California by Sanders and wins in other states simply won’t hold water.
Also, Sanders is now ahead by 10 points in Oregon with 75% reporting. Double-digit territory vs 0.5% for Clinton. The Clinton team can spin that as best they want, but this undoubtedly stings and it will linger for a while.
And Re Sanders reaction to the NV debacle: sheer perfection. And he should have been just as dismissive over the ridiculous “not qualified” BS a while back. One simple word: nonsense. And it should be noted that this is actually a move straight out of Trump’s playbook: just dismiss it and you’ll encourage your supporters and the MSM won’t be able to proceed with it.
Feeling quite elated today!
I think he does well on June 7th, but the supers stay loyal, unless….
1) Bernie wins a state like NJ. If NJ goes Bernie, it’ll mean something has changed materially in the race since PA and NY voted, and that Clinton’s sinking like a stone.
2) If more polls come in from PA, OH, and FL that she’s at risk of losing them all (as shown in the big Quinnipiac poll recently), then supers really have a problem on their hands. Note that there’s still ~150 supers that haven’t declared. It’s been that way for a little while now, I think. Perhaps they’re looking to see which way the wind blows. A new WBUR poll out today has her within the margin of error in NH, that’s really devastating. Same poll has Bernie up 16 in NH.
3) On a side note, the state-by-state polls show Bernie brings potential for a real electoral landslide by putting AZ and GA back in play.
Down ticket races are an issue. The state parties were promised money to rebuild organizations, and it hasn’t arrived. Especially, local legislature candidates have been promised money to recoup their personal campaign loans. It took Hillary years to retire her debt. A local candidate will have a much harder time raising a paltry sum such as $20k with no election. The state party people are starting to get nervous. I’m in a battleground, and there is no action. Hillary has raised money for the general and state parties. It should be flowing.
Donating to retire debt campaign debt can be seen as the equivalent of donating money to friends for bad investments. Why give to that when an animal shelter needs a new roof? Hillary’s 300k fundraisers were supposed to go here, but the money is being spent In Washington. I bet many of the “Democratic” loyalist bloggers have been offered huge sums for loyal support given declining readership.
if i were involved in the bernie campaign, i would be spreading the message that most of the money that was raised for the state parties was (illegally) used by hillary for her campaign. let them know who to blame.
I wonder if team Clinton made those promises thinking they were on a glide-path to nomination and to the presidency, itself. Now that both are an issue, she needs the money to save her own skin. If you’re team Clinton, what do you sacrifice? That’s right….the party itself!
Maybe you’re onto something. Supers have been bought….for now, but will they STAY bought? (Channeling my inner-Lambert)
You could be right, but I don’t even think he needs to win NJ, just come close. CA is still about three weeks away so the polls may tighten by then, but I honestly hope they don’t since it will make his victory there seem all the more “shocking,” hence newsworthy. And then of course the size of his victory there will make a difference as well. If it’s anything like his victory in OR (easily plausible given that independents can vote) then NJ hardly even matters. That would mean that he beat the polls in CA by 20 points (cue hyperbolic huffpost all-caps frontpage bonanza).
Also, even though the MSM have done very little in terms of mea culpa regarding missing the mark by a lightyear on the Trump nomination, if Bernie also manages to clinch the nomination against virtually all the odds (at least as defined by the MSM), that will make yet another mockery of them. And that’s by no means insignificant.
I posted a link to the Dartmouth poll the other day-same trend as the WBUR poll. They had Bernie beating Trump by 20, and HC barely edging Trump. It looks quite bad.
One can easily imagine two victory celebrations in California on the night of June 7th: one for Bernie Sanders, who wins the state, and another (with posher attendees and costlier catering) for Hillary, who amasses enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
Hope they play the theme song from Titanic at Cthullary’s bash. At home I’ll be cueing up Black Sabbath (War Pigs).
‘The forgotten coup in Australia’
Not all of us have forgotten it. Some of us will never forget.
Or forgive… unlike Gough himself, who went out of his way to befriend his enemies.
Will we ever see his like again?
I’m American, studied abroad in Newy, took a history course while I was there and that’s how I learned about it and Gough. Not something I’ll forget.
One of the most important and frustrating events in Australia’s post-settlement history.
Hmmm, I’d almost think Martin Wolf was a regular reader of NC. ;-)
Here’s an interesting discussion from The Stone at the NYT on Neo-liberalism, environmental depredation and violence. Sorry it’s behind the paywall, but y’all know the tricks.
Is this in the same category as today’s HUD mortgage article, an overdue policy shift finally carried out to improve electoral prospects? Why wasn’t this done in 2009? “Impact studies”?
The Bezos Neoliberal Daily sez
Liberal allies turning on Bernie Sanders after Nevada donnybrook
but none of the many negative quotes come from allies.
Josh Marshall? Dana Houle? Puhleeze.
From that same article:
“Sanders is quickly becoming a figure every bit as divisive and polarizing among Senate Democrats as Ted Cruz is in the eyes of his Republican colleagues. He may not have forced a government shutdown, but his obstinacy may yet imperil HRC.”
This, in a nutshell, is what the Democratic Party has become, and what it will continue to be, as long as the Clintons are active in the public sphere. The problems with Sanders have nothing to do with the actual function of governance, but how his candidacy impacts the political fortunes of Hillary Clinton. In essence, they’re admitting that the Democratic Party has become nothing more than a Clinton personality cult.
If that doesn’t prove there is a cabal of “Davos man” elites that won’t tolerate any deviation from establishment neoliberal orthodoxy, than I don’t know what is…
If the D party doesn’t want to be saved, why vote in the California primary?
Perhaps the answer to that is, hostile takeover, like what Trump did.
But the super-delegates have aligned themselves so that Hillary is 92 short, out of 946 available.
Is participating in the CA primary, under that math, lending legitimacy to the D party?
Or do voters say, we will have no part in this?
My thoughts, exactly!
“Obama Has Been At War Longer Than Any Other President In History – George Washington”
Sent this to a few friends who are typical mainstream Democrats who voted Obama weather fans of Obama or not and got angry responses, and they didn’t even read the article based on their comments….just the headline.
“The campaign against the Hydra has developed not necessarily to our advantage…”
ah ha ha ha!
+100 for the Hirohito quote
Oh how I wish we could beyond blaming everything that we don’t like about the US on a single individual. Obama had ZERO say any of the numerous wars this country is involved in.
It should read “America Has Been At War Longer Than Any Other Country In History”. and no, voting for someone else to hate Would not/will not change that.
Certainly not Libya, and our nutty adventures in the Ukraine, and though Syria could have been worse, it’s bad. And then there’s a general policy of drone strikes, which is Obama’s military signature, and ensures a few decades of blowback.
As you point out, this isn’t the complete responsibility of one person, because we have a horrid system. But “ZERO say” is simply not true. A President has more degrees of freedom in foreign policy than anywhere else, which is why they like it.
I would be surprised if the POTUS is anything more than simply briefed on what is going to happen then expected to give it the nod.
I did not say he is not complicit but he does not make any of the plans, none have for a very long time. GW Bush as Prez should have put this question to bed permanently.
He has the constitutional power to order US military activity to cease at midnight tonight if he chose to.
LOL. The War on Whistleblowers. The continuing War on Some Drugs. The War on Privacy. The Asset Forfeiture War, where the amount confiscated by police now exceeds the amount stolen by robbery. The Drone War, which he expanded and relishes with gusto. The War in Afghanistan, you will recall The Surge, and which now includes combat troops again. Ditto Iraq. The War on Single Payer Health Care. The War on Wall St Justice, personally laid at the feet of the Great One.
It’s a river in Egypt.
I would add that a president who was NOT a war-monger was Jimmy Carter, who managed to run the world’s largest military empire for 4 years without a single shot fired in anger. Not one bullet. And Obama makes Reagan look like a peacenik.
Other presidents would have gone to war over Panama and that canal Carter gave back… Actually, other presidents HAVE gone to war over panama, including HW Bush a decade later, just that war was over our puppet Noriega not doing what the US told him to rather than about the Canal.
Undoubtedly, we are in bad situations because humans form opinions and THAN go diligently looking for “facts” to confirm them.
And I believe the hardest thing for the overwhelming majority of humans to do is admit they are wrong, closely followed by saying “I don’t know”
The big issue for me is that “war” as a category and a concept has been trivialized and normalized to the point where it’s another term for “standard operating procedure.” America is been “at war’ in one way or another since the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (yes, I know about the “advisors” in Vietnam and Laos before that, but from 53-63 the US was more or less at peace, certainly compared to what’s going on today). The most delusion part of that is that Americans see themselves as “peaceful” and think that somehow this is all foreigner’s fault.
American governments have made war quite expensive (but rarely more than 5% of GNP) but incredibly cheap in terms of lives lost (for America). And it’s 1) oh so far away, and 2) not covered AT ALL by the media. For those of us (I’m 51) who can still remember such things, I saw actual combat on TV in the early 1970s, and pictures of B-52s pummeling North Vietnam during the Christmas Bombing. All that has been flensed. We have vastly better telecommunications technology, but no one willing to go off and show what’s happening, no more Morley Saffers showing Marines burning down villages purportedly “sympathetic” to the Viet Cong (yes, that was actually on TV, and you can probably find the footage on youtube).
Trump, whose disdain for Muslims he does nothing to hide, is going to get “the briefing” when he takes office and they are going to tell him, in that “you are SO important that we can only let you and you alone in on the secrets” way, about all the dastardly plots we have “confirmed intelligence” about and how if we don’t whack-a-mole those Muslim terrorists it’ll be mushroom clouds over your expensive condos in no time. How much you want to bet he’ll swallow it hook, line, and sinker? (and yes, we already know Clinton believes this BS, but that’s why we’re screwed).
Oh, I agree.
BTW, I was responding to
timbers
May 18, 2016 at 8:28 am
My point being that people believe in their own clique and refuse to see that in substance the dems are just as, if not more, war like than the repubs. And remember, Bush the younger actually “promised” a “more humble” foreign policy….
It is all war all the time – our Congress makes itself irrelevant. And sure, some make money off it. But to me, what is frightening is that it is just like the inquisition – people doing evil driven by the conceit that they are “saving” people…
As for Trump, his egoism cuts two ways – we can only hope he will be too vain and cocksure to listen to his deep state “advisers” but should he go with what all the “serious people” say, we can only hope he will be so incompetent, and he will have alienated so many, that nothing can be done. My motto is “Every initiative the The Syria Red Line”
Thin gruel indeed, but I don’t know if I want hard working, extremely competent Hillary accomplishing anything…(and I mean that without sarcasm – I do think Hillary works hard, and is extremely knowledgeable – in advancing bad ideas)
53-63 was a bloody decade that led to others. The US doesn’t bother to declare war but has been involved with proxy wars that count for something more than diplomatic legerdemain.
1953
Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, the CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is notoriously turned against his own citizens.
1954
Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.
1954-1958
North Vietnam — CIA spends four years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam. The CIA also attempts to legitimize Diem’s tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam. The CIA’s continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in the Vietnam War.
1956
Hungary — Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by broadcasting Khruschev’s Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. This aid fails to materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a major Soviet invasion. The conflict kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000 Hungarians.
1957-1973
Laos — The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. In the late 50s, the CIA creates an “Armee Clandestine” of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao,a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. starts bombing, dropping more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves.
1959
Haiti — The U.S. military helps “Papa Doc” Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the “Tonton Macoutes,” who terrorize the population, killing over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign.
1961
The Bay of Pigs — The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba.
Dominican Republic — The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo, a dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business interests.
Ecuador — The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its own man.
Congo (Zaire) — The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba. Public support for Lumumba’s politics runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of political turmoil follow.
1963
Dominican Republic — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta.
Ecuador — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.
1964
Brazil — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The Branco junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Branco will create Latin America’s first death squads who murder his political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads.
1965
Indonesia — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup. His successor, General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians. The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects.
Dominican Republic — A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.
Greece — With the CIA’s backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece.
Congo (Zaire) — A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator, Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/a-timeline-of-cia-atrocities/5348804
Cell phone cameras have captured a significant amount of US generated mayhem. The three networks had some moments but were never particularly adept at uncovering US military malfeasance.
You missed Australia, see John Pilger and others.
Thanks for that! Will keep it as a reference
Americans are a peace loving people (SARC off the meter!!!)
Eventually Google and Uber will merge, and Goober will rule us all.
” And if she can’t handle Sanders, no way is she ready for Trump.”
This message needs to be considered by every super delegate who supports HRC. Trump WILL care about her damn emails, WILL use her husband’s philandering against her, WILL point out her waffling on crucial issues like TPP, Keystone XL, Wall Street reform, and Iraq, WILL use any Benghazi grenades handed to him by Trey Gowdy, WILL continue to badger her about her Wall Street speeches… and he’ll do all of this crudely and relentlessly and not care about how it makes him look to the public. The DNC needs to face facts: Ms. Clinton is the worst candidate the Democrats could run against Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders has flaws— but his low negatives, consistent support for working class Americans, and life-long commitment to social justice make him better than HRC by a long shot.
He may even mention they were using Libya to send guns to moderate syrian rebels/isis
I keep waiting for him to play that ace….I suspect he’s waiting until October for that one.
Epstein Epstein Epstein Clinton……..why was the secret service dismissed? Will the White House be on the sex offender data base?
Notify all the neighbors within a thousand feet.
If any schools are too close, “Bill” won’t be able to live there.
Wasn’t there some secret service sex scandal a couple years ago in Texas?
They are no better but at least their scandal involved adults.
And it will be all Bernie’s fault for giving Trump these “pointers,” while he disrespectfully and irrationally campaigned for the nomination against the anointed one. As if Trump would have never known about these issues if Bernie hadn’t made him aware of them.
I shake my head in disbelief when commentators/columnists casually drop the idea that Bernie’s been excessively negative. The guy didn’t touch the emails, or the Foundation and it’s pay-to-play weapons deals, and he was pretty mild on the speaking fees. And he didn’t touch the foreign policy disasters she presided over/supported.
Once Trump’s done working over the “enabler” idea to erode her supposed strength of being strong on women’s rights, he’ll get to work on exactly those topics, which will wreck her other supposed strengths like ‘experience’ and ‘competence’ and she’ll pretty much have none left.
I think the “Krugman” dems so despise Bernie because his critique of Clinton can not be dismissed as misogynistic and ill informed. The fact that Bernie so carefully documents Clinton corruption and lying, and that this is a carefully, well designed and well planned scheme on her part to advance the “meritocracy” makes Bernie a fatal arrow at the heart of the oligarchy.
Many of the Krugman Dems have been bleeding readers and viewers for years, and Sanders is winning young people. Without the protection of Hillary, advertisers might want columnists or to support websites with the potential to grab future consumers.
Would the NYT see a drop in readership if they dropped Krugman and his considerable income? My guess is no. It’s largely read by people interested in the branding and people who want it as the paper of local record or like a newspaper.
The money is nice, but the celebrity is even nicer. Sanders as a wonky, weirdo from Vermont is most popular politician in America. How many people knew who he was six months or a year ago?
Recently, one of the ESPN radio hosts quit for FoxSports. His ratings were great at ESPN, but they are abysmal on FoxSports. Can people not change the radio station or download a slightky different podcast? The answer is often celebrity flows from the platform. Many of these people are replaceable. A successful Sanders is a direct blow to the celebrity of the super delegates and Hillary acolytes in the media especially as Sanders has had barely any air time. Boxer was taken aback by being booed in Nevada, but what percentage of California would care if she resigned tomorrow? 3, maybe even 5%? Boxer might never have to speak to anyone other than sycophants in a state as large as California, but Sanders is demonstrating anyone even Hillary can be replaced and that Obama wasn’t a once in a lifetime politician but an event that can be replicated.
I’m already fashioning my response to this. Currently it is, “perhaps if Sanders really had gone all out on her and really been negative we might have a candidate today who could beat Trump, rather than one who is only finally facing all her negatives because her opponent feels no need to be a gentleman over her obvious failures as a Senator, Secretary of State and human being.”
I’d expect the CV Bullet Points to be pasted in as a response. Buying a few million new customers for a health insurance industry nobody actively wants to deal with is an “achievement” among managerialists.
Even if Trump the man would not, uh that’s what the campaign staff are for, to dig dirt on the opposition and run on it.
No one, however tightly he or she runs the ship, can be sure the staff won’t do things that will bring bad publicity…in Nevada or elsewhere.
Even Hans Solo agreed to help princess Leia initially for the money (that was what he said), not for free for a good, noble cause. I don’t know if we can really laugh at Hillary’s paid, not volunteer, staff workers
i wouldn’t be surprised to find out that trump, too, was a frequent guest on the lolita express
You wouldn’t be surprised except he wasnt . Some unfounded biases seem to ruining your judgement.
Charles Pierce reported yesterday that the CIA has made the torture report accidentally disappear. All of us are now dependent on the tender mercies of ultimate-party-loyalist Dianne Feinstein, who would never be brave enough simply to leak her copy of the report to the press and dare the Obama administration to prosecute her.
So: A reminder that torture corrupts. And keeps corrupting.
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/16/nsa-closely-involved-in-guantanamo-interrogations-documents-show/
And that is why a government should not engage in it. It destroys the legitimacy of government. Funny that the Constitutional Scholar President can’t figure out that he has to prosecute torturers to get the U.S. government out of this crisis of legitimacy, now isn’t it.
US government slogan “A nation of law, not men”
US government reality: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
But don’t hesitate to do evil, as long as there’s a profit to be made.
hummmm……… conspired w/ GOOGLE??
The men (and women) just hide behind the law.
We have a chance to get a new Senator in for Boxer this time. And if I have to vote a whack a doodle (and the Senate race is really out there with so many wacky candidates) that seems to have decent views on something, I will over the shills we keep getting. Has any state ever had worse representation than we have in California with Feinstein and Boxer? Feinstein unfortunately is still there, she’s immortal.
California is a country in scope. A challenger needs an organization and time. Since they are only legislators, they can blame Washington for troubles. Boxer and Feinstein are perfect examples of why direct elections of Senators was a monstrous idea, or the Senate at all since the Civil War ended slavery 150 years ago.
We actually had two whack a doodles to pick from. :)
Boxer…Feinstein…Pelosi…
…..The ‘bay area witch project’……
lol
Harris, of 50 state sellout fame, should provide a continuation of that representation.
I don’t suppose Tom Campbell could be dragged out of retirement? It’s a different world out here.
– If your typical police-lawbreaking settlement came out of the cops’ pension fund, you can bet their behavior would change for the better right quick.
Hmm. A civil suit based on the idea that taxpayers should not fund institutional corruption of public officials?
I agree one zillion percent.
But it continues because the “sovereign immunity” continues – the legal/prosecutor/police cabal has a chokehold on most, if not all municipalities. Some of the most egregious conduct takes place in supposedly the most “liberal” big cities. And of course, the “government” continues to believe that the “government” shouldn’t REALLY be held to account.
And of course, it is a perfect Karmic circle that dem big city mayors who say government is the thing we do together actively HIDE* irrefutable evidence of not only one cop shooting someone in the back, but the dozen or so other cops who lied about it. It’s not like a repub would become mayor – it was to keep a “liberal” from becoming mayor.
The corruption is not merely due to greed, but staying in power at any cost – and its not just the few enriching themselves, its the injustice and oppression of millions.
Maybe with videotapes people will see what is there to see – at least the people of Chicago got rid of their miserable DA.
*Rahm Emanuel
– The Pentagon is building a ‘self-aware’ killer robot army fueled by social media Medium (Wat). We have madmen in charge.
This article focuses details on target selection. John Robb related some of his work on the implementation end. While the article quivers Canis Terminatus, Robb was heading toward thousands of self-coordinating microdrones. Extrapolating to the case explored in this 2008 remake.
Re super-delegates. I’m finding the increasingly shrill attacks on Bernie interesting on many levels. If Hillary really has the supers all locked up, where’s the urgency? But there is this. At least in my state, a number of the supers are either current or aspiring office holders. The DNC has decimated the party at the state level, either deliberately, to pave the way for HRC by preventing the rise of any legitimate challengers, or through pure incompetence. The states have already experienced how little partnering with the Hillary Victory Fund will bring them in terms of resources for their state level campaign. And the DNC has made a concerted, successful effort to alienate the very demographic that was supposed to be the future of the party. So what exactly does Clinton have to offer, in terms of quid pro quo? If Sanders can’t convince them he’s the one to bring the party back from exile, he can make a more Darwinian appeal to those Dems who want to be elected to office.
June 1st is on the horizon, the start of campaign season. Sanders supporters aren’t the Democrats problem. It’s the economy. The Democrats are in a party in a serious state of decline. Sanders is trying to save it, but there is no appetite outside of a few wealthy enclaves in blue states for a kinder, gentler GOP. The state party people want to know where Hillary’s war chest is. They’ve made promises to every candidate, and Hillary has already announced she intends to appeal to Republicans who wont vote Democratic down ticket or live in safe red districts. With ACA sticker shock, the Democrats should be in a full blown panic.
If Hillary can answer a question on Healthcare costs, how is an incumbent Senator going to do this? The people on the edge outnumber the Sanders supporters. They might have already given up on the Democratic Party. The Supreme Court and Bill Clinton aren’t going to cut it. The Democrats moaned about the Supreme Court in 2014 and proceeded to lose the Senate.
Is Sanders trying to save the D Party?
But do they want to be ‘saved,’ so they can help the 99%?
Still very far-fetched that ANY Dem will lose to a Repub because: the electoral college.
The battle for the future is on today and it’s Bernie versus a lying mountain of sleaze.
Jen, And the name of your state is…?
from my comment above:
“Note that there’s still ~150 supers that haven’t declared. It’s been that way for a little while now, I think. Perhaps they’re looking to see which way the wind blows.”
Yes but I think it’s only because they are trying to keep some Sanders-friendly cred. Once DWS declares HRC the winner, they will dutifully fall in line.
I understand why Sanders continues to try to appeal to the super delegates on principle (as if…) but I have to think most of them hate his guts for complicating the Hillary coronation. Remember, they are establishment Democrats in a party that Sanders is trying to crash. Also, though Bernie doesn’t need to rely on big money, they all do (not that they are opposed), and the more Sanders threatens that, both by showing there is another way and by campaigning directly against the interests of those corporate funders, the more he causes them problems.
The DP has big problems. Their core voters, people who identify as Democrats, are rapidly aging. They need Sanders voters (maybe HRC won’t against Trump but down ballot Dems do) but those voters don’t identify as Democrats. This is the flaw in the “Bernie needs to tell his supporters to get on the HRC bandwagon” argument. HRC and the DP are opposed to everything that motivates them.
Sanders just started a new stump (to my knowledge) further calling out the party for allowing and facilitating further with its actions an environment where the Republican party captures a majority of working class voters. That is one hell of a statement and I am super glad to see him ramping up instead of calming down at this point. Do I think it will change the thoughts of meritocratic financial clowns? Not likely, but if any of them still have a heart and soul underneath their parasitic, reptilian hide, this is a powerful message to try and reach it.
Reactive, but better than noting.
The pro-active way would have been no appeasement from Day 1.
Truth about neoliberalism and reconciliation all the way.
Defer to no sacred cows.
I could be reading things wrong, but if you have TPP we won’t need state politicians anymore. Disputes will not be settled by local voters, politicians or legislation. It will be resolved in a separate legal system so you really only need a relationship between what? … the supreme court, the white house and ceos?
To the Editor: You do realize that when we (the “dear reader”) click on anything you post from the “Financial Times” that they demand we purchase a subscription up front before they will allow us to read their stuff, eg., “First Commercial Jet Pack Eyes Lift-off”? Just saying.
guest browsing will allow you access to paywalled sites.
Ugh. I echo diptherio’s comment from the other day on this topic. Basically: “Just saying” what?
And please stop by the NC tip jar on your way out. Thanks!
You are given the complete headline so that you may copy it into a search engine, and get access to the source that way.
No, we are not ignorant of the sources that we read every day. If you have objections in principle to reading a paywalled site, don’t. And if you haven’t used to the Tip Jar for this non-paywalled site, do.
Paul Krugman has two blog posts out today (h.t. Scott Eric Kaufman) attacking Bernie Sanders for being “Delusional,” for failing to apologize for the actions of his supporters (never mind that he condemned all forms of violence in his statements), and of course for failing to quit and agree to back Hillary Clinton.
Democratic Groundhog Day
Questions of Character
He opens the first by asking if the forthcoming primaries “even matter”. As I recall earlier in the campaign cycle Bernie Sanders was heavily criticized for noting that Clinton was winning primaries in states that she will not get in the general. They accused him of saying that those voters “don’t matter.” Now however it is California and Oregon that don’t matter.
He closes the last one by calling Sanders petulant and then giving perhaps the most insulting piece of head patting:
Clearly in his world the “genuinely idealistic people” should be lining up behind Hillary Clinton, the acme of market politics.
I must admit that I am beginning to understand what some libertarians always told me about Krugman’s tendency to deride. I’ve just never really noticed it until now.
C
May 18, 2016 at 9:59 am
Krugman “But maybe we shouldn’t have been shocked. It has been obvious for quite a while that Sanders — not just his supporters, not even just his surrogates, but the candidate himself — has a problem both in facing reality and in admitting mistakes. ”
==============================
What is that called when one doesn’t know that one doesn’t know ?Kruger-something? (I am tempted to say Krugman-Krugman)
Anyway, Krugman needs a term named after him for not knowing how irony generating he is (i.e., facing reality and admitting mistakes)
maybe we should call a baseless derogatory lecture a “krugman unit”
I have to say that not having gone to Krugman in a while, the Hillarybot take over is pretty extensive. The top ‘reader pick’ comments are all supportive and many are largely wrong on the facts. I’m almost tempted to sign in and spend time thumbs downing and upping the damn things.
I can’t wait for next week’s surrogate attacks. Because you know that the coming polls that are inevitably going to show Clinton losing more ground to Trump are going to craze the campaign and royal couple.
(And considering that a few local outlets are picking up on Kathleen Parker promoting the Hillary flip flop video of her being all over the map over the last decades for thirteen minutes AND the Enquirer tying her to Bill’s trips on the Lolita Express on its front page, it is inevitable.)
It’s Krugmans all the way down now.
Dunning Kruger Effect. Extra points for making the Krugman analogy!
How ’bout the Krugman-Brooks corollary (or Krooks for short)? It sounds more official-like, and would probably really irritate Krugman.
+1
tegnost
May 18, 2016 at 10:13 am
&
voteforno6
May 18, 2016 at 12:45 pm
You know, we already have the well known Friedman unit, so may I humbly suggest the:
KrugFriedman malaprop? Hmmmm….doesn’t really roll off the tongue….and doesn’t capture obnoxiousness of the two….
Hmmmmm….let me think…..
ManFriedKrug-hash – Well, I do have to say I like it, even if I say so myself. It sounds as if related to “thuggish” while noting the “hash” amalgam of ignorance and hypocritical non concern for facts of the namesakes…..
Of course, I am open to further suggests, and if somebody can get Brooks in there, while keeping a nice mouth feel….
Let’s say for the sake of his argument Sanders is truly a terrible floozy that is conning the idealistic. Even so, where else would these people have to go? Can he seriously offer Clinton as the “proper” resting place for this body? Even after she has repeatedly written off any sort of progressive change in favor of incrementalism? “Get over it” aristocratic/oligarchic politics is not the place for people who actually care about advancing society.
Well said. DP hacks are fundamentally delusional that Sanders’ supporters have a “natural home” in the DP. Ironic, since all of their actions over the last year demonstrate the exact opposite.
The DP is not a home to them.
It’s more like a motel.
You stay one night – all the boys are there – then you leave.
I note that Krugman said also “If the news is that he won tonight” so I guess he is laying the groundwork for another round of “Yes you won but it does not count.”
Bernie Sanders’ Win in West Virginia Was His Worst Loss Yet
Is this an onion type article? I thought it was at first but it reading the whole thing, with links to actual websites for the guy I assumed was a joke, I cannot tell.
I’m sorry if you haven’t had the fortune of following the greatest election prognosticator of our time, but Carl Diggler has been killing it this cycle.
It’s only confusing because the media is a clown show. There are examples of Diggler’s seemingly insane columns being given written by the msm less than a month later.
Most definitely satire. Although there were times when it sounded exactly like something Paul Krugman would write. Strange times we live in when it’s actually difficult to be over the top enough to outdo the “serious people.”
Here’s Cafe’s “About Us” page:
They’re the Onion with the absurdity level turned down a few notches, which makes them darned close to just regular old news….
Hah! Good to know. It is ingenious. I saw the guy’s photo and thought. “noo this isn’t real…” then the more I thought about the times… not so sure. Brilliant.
Yes it was somewhat satirical although the things he linked to were quite serious.
Blah blah blah. Character, how much are they paying you for that used falling apart soul anyway Krugs? They overpaid. If I wanted someone to opine on character in order to defend the actions of the ruling class I could get two David Brooks for the price of one Krugman. And noone can even tell the difference!
Yes Clinton might have won Nevada just by having the majority if it was a primary state. Now if we could get honest voting counts all states should be primary states. But that’s not how it is, some states are caucus states. Who REALLY won the popular vote in Iowa? We will never ever know. But why doesn’t the popular will matter more in the case of Iowa and not just Nevada? (granted it was a close contest in Iowa). Also the superdelegates don’t help with the whole majority much really.
Caucus sites held at the site of employers is a traditional intimidation tactic. Surprisingly, Hillary’s margin of victory are where her donors closed the casinos and told the employees to caucus. Caucuses aren’t secret events.
WOW! …no projection there, eh Paul??
The FBI Tried To Suppress 80,000 Documents On Saudi Ties To 9/11 AntiMedia (EM)
The classified 28-pages of the 9/11 report have made global headlines lately as a handful of lawmakers battle to release them to the public. Those pages are believed by activists and members of Congress — who have seen them — to expose the role of Saudi Arabia, including government officials, in the terrorist attacks.
But according to a new report based on years of investigative journalism, it turns out there are far more than 28 classified pages on Saudi Arabia and 9/11 — there are 80,000 kept secret by the FBI. And though not all 80,000 are expected to concern the Saudi family — and the FBI insists their investigation of the documents came up empty-handed — journalists, at least one lawmaker, and heavily-redacted documents suggest otherwise.
===================================
To the extent that Trump and Sanders do well, I think the above is a profound part of it. Is the US government as constituted under the present dempublicans profoundly and irredeemably corrupt?
And not just corrupt for money (although that is a big part of it) but in a world view that is so insular, and constrained by ideology, and at odds with reality, and therefore US attempts to remake the world continually result in a worse and worse world. It very much reminds me how the inquisition came to do what is really only God’s purview…
shorter F..B..I.. You gonna believe Us….or your lyin eyes??
re: “Is Sanders Hurting Clinton By Staying In The Race? ”
Hurting Clinton? Shouldn’t the question be: ” Is Clinton hurting the Dem party by alienating millions of new Dem voters? “
The question that interests many Republicans – is this good for Trump?
Roberta Lange is all over the media playing the victim!!!!! WTF!!!!?
What happened last night wasn’t just the pivot, it was THE PIVOT. It was the moment that you saw the final tossing of the Sandernistas under the Clinton Express. And boy oh boy was it coordinated.
People like to imagine the whole “war room” image of a small number of insiders watching returns, releasing statements, sending out a few emails or tweets, answering phone calls from reporters, etc., basically rowing their little boat through the waves of whatever giant political sea they are trying to navigate.
Maybe that’s the case for Bernie’s crew, but it ain’t that way for the $hill. Her organization of hundreds (or thousands of operatives) who all manage to stay on (whatever daily Luntz-like) message is stunning. Sometimes they even seem to be competing with each other for who can stay on message the “mostest” and with the “mostest enthusiasm.” Any challenge to the message replied to by repeating the same message but with even more anger and enthusiasm. See Begalia, Bakari, Matthews, Cooper, Maddow, et cetera last night.
The media (CNN-MSNBC–all big donors to Team $hill) follow in lockstep, asking for Bernie and Jeff Weaver to “apologize” to Roberta Lange for instance. Giving quality time to Roberta Lange, but still ignoring Bernie or his supporters. Or repeating Clinton talking points that Bernie should leave the race or that he’s hurting the $hill by continuing to run.
What happened this weekend went from a situation where a completely corrupt and dysfunctional political party manipulated the rules and process to guarantee the outcome that they wanted. For a few measly delegates. Team $hill looks pretty bad. The video is out there, as posted on NC, and pretty hard to deny. Thousands of people (maybe millions worldwide) are seeing it. So what does $hill do? She turns the negative–the nasty and the indicting–into a positive. She takes the disgusting travesty and spins it into one more case where instead of the actor or agent, she is again the VICTIM, and Roberta Lange, instead of the instigator is also an aggrieved victim as well because people are mad and are using their words!
And you do this by getting your media minions to run the same footage over and over ad nauseum of people booing. Booing!!! That’s it!!! That’s ALL!!! Avoid the “why.” You make sure never to rewind the video. Never show ANY of the speeches. Never show ANY of the voice votes. Never show ANY actual interviews of Bernie delegates. You only show the booing, then voice over it with a narrative that these booing people are “violent” and threatening. You change your original claim that you closed the convention because you were running out of time to now it’s because you were fearing for your life, which now dovetails perfectly with a few phone calls (and we do not know who made those either and could always be $hill operatives too), which though in poor taste should be expected when you disenfranchise greater than HALF of the real delegates to your state convention.
You don’t interview Nina Turner or other Bernie supporters, but you give time repeatedly to Roberta Lange to pass out on her fainting couch because of all the nasty Bernie attacks. My stars! It’s pretty awesome when you get to do something pretty friggin’ evil and the media not only doesn’t investigate you, it legitimizes you and props you up. Life as a petty functionary must be pretty sweet in $hill land when you’re doing the devil’s work.
$hill operatives (labeled in the media as “supporters”), in lockstep with the media minions, then continually reinforce the meme that Bernie supporters are violent and owe Lange and Team $hill apologies for things that in many cases didn’t happen (chair throwing) or he explicitly has told people not to do (individual attacks/bad language). A campaign person telling Bernie delegates before the convention not to leave the hotel before it’s over is turned into “an order from the Bernie campaign take over the convention” (obviously anti-democratic see!).
And you don’t stop. No matter what evidence. No answer is good enough unless Bernie quits the race, apologizes for wronging everyone and then goes out and campaigns for Team Blue…because Trump is the person in this race whom most hates “democracy.” Not $hill. She loves democracy.
Every interview with a Clinton person becomes a monologue about how bad Bernie is, and every interview with someone like Jeff Weaver becomes an interrogation. Debbie Wasserman Shultz doesn’t attack Bernie on her own either. That’s coordinated. That had to be okayed by the Queen.
Maybe this is all going meta now. On the surface you keep saying “it’s fair,” our fingers aren’t on the scale. But people know you’re lying. The message seems now to be to all the hippies getting punched: “We control the levers of power. We control the media. No one cares what you think. No one cares what you want. You will never succeed.” It’s the idea that they are showing you some of their cards so that you internalize the powerlessness and give up. It’s worked many times in the past (like Bush 2000) and people just give up.
Maybe this time will be different. But I really don’t believe they think this will destroy the democratic party. They really believe that they can keep abusing those who would vote Team Blue and will “come home” because… Identity Politics. Maybe some will. I think they’ve misread millions and millions of people this time though.
As a side note, Jeff Weaver really stunk last night. One of the first rules when you are being attacked is re-frame the debate. He failed. He answered their nonsense questions instead of charging ahead with what really happened. It was weak and only reinforces the idea that maybe Lange and the other propagandists have a point. When reporters ask “Will Bernie apologize?” He needs to respond with: “Bernie can’t apologize for something he didn’t do, but Roberta Lange can.” They already hate you. They already attack you relentlessly. What’s the worst that they can do? Attack you more? Ignore you more? C’mon!!!
Bill Press was worthless too. Lots of mumbling and half-hearted defenses of Bernie’s campaign.
It’s sad that the ONLY person that I saw competently defending and explaining what actually occurred in Nevada last night was the blond Trump surrogate on CNN. That was so depressing.
She should get together with Kim Davis.
I heard on radio yesterday the full remarks that Barbara Boxer made that caused her to be booed relentlessly. She was essentially taunting the Sanders supporters, shouting triumphantly that Hillary had won and there was nothing they could do about it. It was one of the nastiest speeches I have ever heard. She came across as very smug and vile.
The video can be found here. In the broad brushstrokes it looks like she was attempting to make the same generic, “lets all unite because the Republicans are EVIL.” speech that has been the stock of every Democratic primary since Regan. Yet in the context of the moment it does seem to come off as an insult to Sanders supporters who just had delegates yanked from them via dubious means.
I am still curious what exactly she meant by these comments:
Is it that she believes failing to be calm somehow helps the republicans or that by booing they lose their votes in the general election?
what would one expect………from a BULLY………….right??
We had a speaker taunting Sanders supporters at my caucus several months ago. Saying essentially the same thing. Seems to be a tactic. Is the DNC hoping to get a reaction they can take to the bank ? Sanders supporters at my caucus booed the guy. The guy then said we didn’t believe in free speech and he was suddenly very afraid someone was going to beat him up. wtf? Nobody went near the guy. We just booed because we believe in free speech and booing is speech, too. ;)
Good gawd. If this is how Hillary handles the party how will she handle the country?
No, they are not booing Sanders, they are booing her because she is an utterly corrupted POS.
I had a grade school teacher like that once, well not even comparably evil, just comparably illogical.
Even as kids we knew her attempts at psyops made no sense. If you don’t **** you wont get your afternoon carton of milk!
No more appeasement.
From a few months ago: “Peace for our time! We will work with the Democrats to elect the best candidate.”
Here is my concern about last Saturday’s events and what the media are doing with it. I am seriously afraid the DNC and the Clintons are setting us up for Chicago 2016.
The underlying implication there is a violent streak in Sanders supporters was launched with the introduction of “Berniebros.” It was fostered by a strident repetition of the allegations that superdelegates en masse were being doxxed and attacked by Sanders supporters. Then, when the demonstration took place in Chicago that prevented the Trump rally, the entire media focused on the themes the demonstrators were “Sanders supporters” and went out of their way to turn one or two minor scuffles into “a violent confrontation.”
Now, within hours after the Nevada Caucus, the state party makes public a long letter expressing fear that Sanders supporters are violent and unwilling to accept facts. That they will react in uncivilized ways if provoked. Again, the media lands on that theme and clings to it, further blackening the reputation of Sanders people and, by extension, Sanders.
There are plans being made to hold a peaceful demonstration outside the convention in Philadelphia. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Sanders supporters are planning to be there, with the goal of making it clear they are tired of politics as usual. It frightens me that the establishment narrative is setting those people up to be accused of (or incited by some kind of COINTELPRO, as is believed to have happened during Black Lives Matter demonstrations, into) committing something that will allow them to be attacked by law enforcement.
Call me paranoid, but I’ve been watching this unfold and escalate, and I have a very bad feeling about this.
This is the party that doesn’t want to be saved.
A hostile takeover seems unlikely at this late stage.
To stop participating, any further, in this private corporation’s ‘democratic’ process is an option.
If the risk is getting trapped, knowing when to retreat is as critical as knowing when to advance.
+1 for the historical thread.
I agree completely and get the feeling that convention protestors will will either be kept far away and blacked out, or purposefully charged in order to televise the social panic as police start beating the snot out of those exercising their basic rights.
Judging from the behavior of Clinton’s supporters in the media, being “affronted” is something they believe they can succeed on. They will strive to appear to be virtuous, “rational” injured parties throughout the convention and beyond.
Your detailed timeline isn’t complete, but it’s enough to document their repulsive, uxorious sense of entitlement. They believe, I think, that they own the non-white vote (outside of the staunchest social conservatives) and they are fighting to scare white females and coastal professionals into holding their noses and voting for the Witch of Wall Street.
I think they will fail. And I’m not too thrilled about it. Trump is vile.
Pandas of the world unite !!! Throw of the shackles of the red army diktats…
Is this the beginning of the end of the chinese communist party ???
Throw some blue paint on…
Freedumb…
whether or not it is…
Note to Panda bear house keeping: Bring three baskets..
Reminds me of little kids, often the best toy is the box the toy came in.
The issue in San Francisco goes to the notion in the US of what “exclusive” housing means and why it causes high property values. It is essentially housing segregation based on ability to pay. Given the existing educational and job discrimination, it also has identity as well as class overtones. The price differential is more extreme where class anxieties are higher. So are the security measures.
The same phenomenon can be seen outside of rent control areas as well. There is cultural work as well as political pressure for legislation that needs to go on.
The “good life”, the “moneyed life” need not be defined by exclusion. But the “status life” or the “power life” always is.
The funny thing is that economically diverse neighborhoods — the neighborhoods that real estate deal seek to destroy — more often have less public cost to maintain and more of a sense of community. Of course, some of that is from self-selection of attitudes toward community.
And the real estate’s penchant for mono-income communities IMHO has to do with discriminatory markets in which they can arbitrage top dollar on either side of the line of discrimination. Which explains why you see black real estate agents engage in scare tactics and blockbusting.
From latest Sander’s email:
“I come from the working class of this country, and I will be damned if we allow the Republican Party, who represent the rich and powerful, to win the votes of working class Americans.”
Many of Bernie’s supporters will be damned if we’ll support the Democratic Party, which is rife with corruption, is presiding over a primary process rampant with voter suppression and election fraud, and which has used every available opportunity to marginalize us, our views, and our access to the political process.
+1
Count as one of those Bernie supporters.
Count me as well. This was stated in a CA speech last night prior to the email today. This guy represents the best stuff we have. Even at 27 I knew years ago that stagnation with manged decline and charade politics were the name of the game. I never thought I would hear or see ANY politician come up and say something like this, or talk about actual causes for social inequality, or talking at length about Native American issues, or, or, or… It is truly incredible.
I dont even like or trust Sanders all that much, but this is intolerable behavior from the Democratic party. Im going to vote Green again, like I did in 2012.
If Clinton can’t stomp an elderly Socialist Jew in Kentucky, she’s really a terrible campaigner (personally, and in terms of developing a program with appeal). It was irresponsible for the Dem establishment to decide on her in 2015 without vetting her in the only arena that really matters: Elections. “It’s her turn” is no reason.
To some extent, the Clintons ARE the Dem establishment. Which explains a lot.
It is impressive how hard a time she is having in places like West Virginia, Kentucky, and even parts of the south where in any other context “elderly socialist jew” is a deep insult.
The Dem establishment apparently thought this election was just gonna be business as usual. Funny thing, though. You can fool most of the people, most of the time, until you suddenly can’t.
They have also bought their own propaganda on the economy. Unemployment might be high, but in Washington it’s low. All their donors are rich after all.
She was being condescending, but Whoopie Goldberg admitted to being confused about how after facing an economic disaster in this country 8 years ago and there was no rage, how there is now when things are so much better – unemployment is down, people have their homes, etc. Even though no one really corrected her stupid assumptions about the majority of Americans, she ended saying it was apparently just her that thought we were better off now.
I’m sadly tempted to send her a whole lot of information about the real state of the economy, not to mention the actual ‘violence’ in Nevada. Not to mention pointing out that the people who are lying about what happened at the Convention in Nevada are the same people saying there have been death threats to their children, and as such those claims should be taken with a grain of salt.
Who would serve the establishment interest and could actually run on “Bill Clinton”? 43 was trashed for saying he would ask his daddy’s friends.
Hillary’s celebrity and long time loyalty of Democratic voters is a major factor. How would Mark Warner’s cell phone speech go over in 2016? Hillary can hold fantasy events and bring out Katy Perry, but the other supporters of school privatization would be vilified by the National teachers unions.
They did vet Hillary. She’s their only hope.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-hillary-clinton-kentucky-results-223327
Donald Trump has a question about the Kentucky Democratic race.
The presumptive Republican nominee fired off a tweet Wednesday afternoon calling into question why Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a longtime friend of the Clintons who campaigned for the Democratic frontrunner, declared her the “unofficial” winner of the state even as votes were still being counted and The Associated Press deemed the contest too close to call.
Story Continued Below
“Why did Clinton supporter @AlisonForKY declare Crooked Hillary winner in KY when AP hasn’t even called the race?” Trump tweeted.
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Hilarity continues….
At my present rate of popcorn consumption, I expect to weight 800 lbs by the election…
you know, if we can’t have just elections, noble politics, and fair law, at least we can have entertaining campaigns….
I am with you. Should disaster strike, it will be one HELL of a ride (not to mention the only way to overcome deep, deep depression).
The race is close and the numbers of delegates will be about the same. They won’t change much whoever is the declared the winner.
It seems to be all about manipulating perception.
Keep slathering on that tasty helping of hillary hypocracy on that bag of popcorn fresno dan …….
…..I would advise, however, to wash it down with a cask of aged rot gut…… It’s not the hangover that’ll do ya in, ……but the witnessing of all the lying & corruption going on !!
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/17/politics/mary-anne-noland-obituary-richmond-2016-election/
“Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God,” the obituary reads.
===============================================
could a loving God really allow people to suffer such main party candidates?
anyway, being a pastafarian, and my love of lasagna, I intend to waste my vote, but continue living, by voting for a third party candidate….
Centrist Democrats: “We Can Work With President Trump.”
Quislings already.
Chamberlains and Quislings.
Who’s more of a Quisling, the Democrat who can work with President Trump, or the Democrat who actively supports Hillary Clinton for President?
Answer: They are both the same.
It’s my sincere hope that all of the superdelegates declaring they can work with Trump that support Clinton be given the boot at the earliest opportunity. I’m done with the entitled Democratic opportunists that suck the life out of our system with their two faced personalities- let them run as the Republicans they’ve always been.
Indeed!
I am anticipating the same physical response which, apparently, is induced by John Belushi’s famously fatal mixture of heroin and cocaine: The ecstasy of Clinton losing, crashing against the horror of Trump winning, in vice versa. Should I expire, well… that might be the best result given the crap world I’ll be facing should I survive.
AEP’s article “Bond Shortage Deepens As US Treasury Stops Issuing Debt” has an alarmist headline.
Treasury receipts have a large seasonal component, with April always being strong since it’s a filing deadline.
The CBO projects a $534 billion for FY 2016, meaning that approximately that much net Treasury debt will be issued.
AEP really shouldn’t stoop to this level. He’s smarter than Al “Magoo” Greenspan, who sincerely believed, based on a couple of surplus years at the crest of the Internet Bubble, that years of surpluses would retire all Treasury debt. How did that work out?
What these cockeyed forecasters never foresee is recession, which you can probably pencil in for 2017 or 2018. The next recession, depending on its severity, will push the permanent deficit into the $1.0 to 1.5 trillion range, resulting in issuance of enough Treasury debt to choke a herd of horses.
Furthermore, if UST felt the need to procure more marketable USGov debt for market sale, is there anything that would prevent them from ‘redeeming’ some of that $4-5T stash of nonmarketable trust fund IOUs by replacing it with marketable public debt instruments? Besides optics and phony (because of the ‘who pays that interest?’ aspect) ‘but trust fund recipients are earning phat interest on those IUOs’ arguments, that is.
Shades of Detroit: Grim prospects for Washington, DC metro
Turtles on a log, agog
Turtles on a log
I remember seeing a Blanding’s turtle in among all the painted turtles on logs in a small woodland pond near where I live. It looked like a basketball among the soccerballs.
Interesting from Reuters on the collapse of drilling in the Bakken: In North Dakota’s Oil Patch, a humbling come-down
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-northdakota-bust-specialreport-idUSKCN0Y91WG
I’ve talked to a few folks here who lost jobs there and came back, not having banked much of what they were making; I think they thought it would last forever.
Quite interesting, although I think we need to remain skeptical. Before I read the text of the article, I looked at the picture, and one of the first things I thought of was a colony of bacteria on a surface, such as a petri dish. Later in the article, this possibility was stated:
I suspect we need to await more evidence.
re: LA school district $88 million settlement for abuse
Teachers should keep their hands off students when it comes to hitting and sex. (More hugs are needed, but obsessiveness about the latter now precludes it — pity.) But there’s no evidence that sexual contact — however much it’s a screaming ethical violation — causes lasting harm. The subject is by now very well studied, with very large and diverse samples, e.g.,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rind_et_al._controversy
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/19/trauma_myth_interview/
So the $88 million from LA school district is about looting. Sure, it’s not the usual suspects we read about on NK — Wall Street banksters — but shyster lawyers aren’t far behind.
That’s the outrage in this story — not that the loot wasn’t taken from the teachers’ pension fund.
How can it not be blindingly obvious that when sums like this are on the table there’s a truth warp and so no chance of finding out what the effects really were? Or even what really happened. Like here:
http://europe.newsweek.com/billy-doe-altar-boy-sends-four-men-prison-philadelphia-rape-case-417565
Something smells a little fishy about the timing of the closure of Burlington College. From a local news piece
People’s United Bank is a subsidiary of People’s United Financial, a diversified financial services company with over $39 billion in assets.
http://stupiddope.com/2016/05/18/translate-with-tech-waverly-labs-pilot-earpiece/
If it’s real, it is babblefish come to life. Not sure how it handles the complexity of grammer, but even if it is crude but works, a huge thing.
Hmm. What if the cops had to buy “malpractice” insurance to cover these settlements?