Links 10/13/16

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1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 7:08 am

   Corrected link for RCP Stein Video: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/12/jill_stein_hillary_clintons_declared_syria_policy_could_start_a_nuclear_war.html

   That pesky “L”… Also, at least for me, the video player on their site is absent.
   1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 7:25 am

      “Some Comments on the US Elections and That Which Is and Isn’t Said Ian Welsh (furzy)”
      Has an “a” before the http
   2. Sandy October 13, 2016 at 10:02 am

      This war drumming from the west is really putting me into distress. I feel like I am having the worst case of deja vu. As a “millennial,” this is all I have known since adolesence: putrid, ludicrous, insane wars, and both sides of the Machine encouraging it. I cannot believe my eyes when I see these same people once again talking about regime change in Syria! Installing a “moderate democracy” in Syria? How is this possible, so soon after the disasters of Iraq and Afghanistan and before that Vietnam and Korea?

      This time, the MSM is hardly even talking about it, whereas they drummed up Iraq. Too busy entertaining the foolish masses with sex talk. It’s happening, and Americans simply don’t care anymore. They think they are immune to war arriving on its shores. That might be the case, but they don’t understand the potholes they complain about, the lack of infrastructure, the broken healthcare system, the national debts, their high student loan interest… all of these things are the result of a war obsessed government.

      There’s nothing I can do either. Hillary will be elected in with a hostile Congress and so, predictably as Presidents with failed domestic agendas do, she will turn to foreign affairs, especially because she was previously Secy of State, and will no doubt drum up war. Especially when she faces the next recession, and attempts to pushback misogynistic “weak woman” attacks with shows of “strength.”

      Trump would attempt to be isolationist, but he is such a simple-minded buffoon that he will be quite easily and rapidly pulled into aggression by the machine. Even the most basic false flag or attacks on his ego will pull him in disastrously into conflict. I do applaud him for calling out these wars in his campaign and respect him for saying what he thinks.

      Europe is no safe haven, as it seems to want this war too. Perhaps their constituents think they can stop the Syrian refugee flows with “regime change.” They are onboard. Either way they can be bullied in easily. I have residency in Australia/NZ, and while it is better to be in the southern hemisphere should nuclear war breakout, these countries are held captive by the US too. Australia continues to follow the US into aggression to appease its master, but conversation is increasing domestically about this alliance because it seems to be headed towards jeopardizing its economic alliance with China. This is one reason I wanted Trump to win, as the embarrassment of it overseas would waken allies into questioning whether they can really continue on with this nation of lunatics. NZ doesn’t want to be involved, and can get away with doing so as it knows it will be bailed out should it be attacked, but the US could force its hand if it ever felt it’d be worth it (generally not as NZ is too small to bring anything besides symbolism to the table).

      Asia wants to get on with the future and create. The West wants to destroy. Especially as the anglosphere sees its influence waning and its age increasing (older men want war as they face death and say ‘fuck it’).

      Very sad.
      1. Procopius October 14, 2016 at 5:04 am

         I feel like it’s even worse than what you say here. Start out with, “Who promoted Victoria Strickland?”, then go on to, “Who approved Strickland’s coup in Ukraine?” The cast of characters involved in this is Yuuuuuuge. Have they forgotten everything we spent billions of dollars figuring out about the effects of nuclear war? Have they persuaded themselves that they have such a strong first strike capability that Russia won’t be able to get a single missile off before becoming a glass-paved parking lot? Most of the people involved have never experienced hardship, much less war, but some are soldiers who must have at least seen the results of war at some point in their careers while inspecting the ice cream plant at the new forward operating base. The future is looking so dire I can’t believe any single one of these thousands of people is sane. Many years ago I read a short story by Harlan Ellison titled, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” That was supposed to be fiction.
   3. Bev October 13, 2016 at 5:38 pm

      The RCP transcribed text was riddled with errors to the point that several sentences did not make sense. Better to see the C-Span video:

      https://www.c-span.org/video/?416768-1/green-party-ticket-discusses-2016-presidential-bid
      Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein

      If you prefer a transcript, then Democracy Now has both video and transcript:

      http://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/10/expanding_the_debate_jill_stein_debates
      Expanding the Debate: Jill Stein “Debates” Clinton & Trump in Democracy Now! Special – Part 1
      October 10, 2016

      With the presidential election just over four weeks away, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off Sunday night at Washington University in St. Louis in what Politico described as “the ugliest debate in American history.” We play excerpts and expand the debate by giving Green Party nominee Jill Stein a chance to respond to the same questions posed to Trump and Clinton. Stein and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson were excluded from the debate under stringent rules set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. We invited both Stein and Johnson to join us on the program; only Stein took us up on the offer.

      http://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/10/expanding_the_debate_jill_stein_debates_clinton
      Expanding the Debate: Jill Stein Spars with Clinton & Trump in Democracy Now! Special – Part 2
      …….

      http://www.jill2016.com/plan
      Power to the People Plan

      “My Power to the People Plan creates deep system change, moving from the greed and exploitation of corporate capitalism to a human-centered economy that puts people, planet and peace over profit.

      It offers direct answers to the economic, social, and ecological crises brought on by both corporate political parties. And it empowers the American people to fix our broken political system and make real the promise of democracy.

      This plan will end unemployment and poverty; avert climate catastrophe; build a sustainable, just economy; and recognize the dignity and human rights of everyone in our society and our world. The power to create this new world is not in our hopes, it’s not in our dreams – it’s in our hands.”

      http://www.jill2016.com/
      …..

      Jill Stein has said that if just all students overwhelmed with enormous debt, voted for her, she wins, and then so do we.
2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 7:09 am

   That class action suit should have absolutely no trouble now.
   1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 7:20 am

      Oh and I guess I forgot to send this one in too.

      “This draft assumes that she’s ultimately going to support both TPA and TPP”
      https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6616
      1. Anne October 13, 2016 at 10:17 am

         The letter was being drafted in March of 2015, and states:

         It focuses on what needs to happen to produce a positive result with TPP, and casts support for TPA as one of those steps. It also says that we should walk away if the final agreement doesn’t meet the test of creating more jobs than it displaces, helping the middle class, and strengthening our national security. We’ve tried to speak directly to the most prominent concerns expressed by Labor and Hill Dems, including Warren.

         Not a Hillary fan, am also concerned that she could weasel out of or end up dismissing the so-called concerns she has expressed about the agreement, but I think she’s said all along that she won’t support the agreement in its current form – and this e-mail does not seem to depart from that position.

         If I can just offer one caveat/observation about these e-mail dumps, it would be that I think people may be leaping to conclusions I’m not sure are entirely supported by what they think they’re reading. I am not suggesting that there isn’t anything hinky in them, just that perhaps people should not be viewing them as proof of whatever predetermined conclusion they had already come to.

         I don’t know how much e-mailing you do, at work or otherwise, but you don’t have to do a lot of it to know how easily it is misinterpreted – only yesterday, we had people pointing out that Clinton hates everyday Americans, when it was clear from the e-mail that it was the phrase she hates – some missing quotation marks and all of a sudden people think they have breaking news.

         And judging by the spam that shows up in my own e-mail, designed to look as if it’s being sent from a legitimate source and for legitimate purposes, I cannot in good conscience assume that none of the thousands of e-mails being dumped are illegitimate – it’s just too easy to fake them. We are daily being warned by our IT people about the latest scam e-mails that look credible, but are hiding malware or spyware, or just want your personal info, so you won’t be able to convince me that e-mails with a particular agenda designed to cast Clinton and her people in the worst possible light aren’t part and parcel of what has been “discovered.”

         Being able to apply some logic and common sense to this doesn’t make me a Clinton supporter, or a Clinton apologist – it just means I haven’t completely abandoned my objectivity and critical thinking skills.
         1. RabidGandhi October 13, 2016 at 11:09 am

            I cannot in good conscience assume that none of the thousands of e-mails being dumped are illegitimate

            1. None of the senders/recipients of the leaked emails have denied any of the emails are not legitimate, when they have every motive to point to the slightest suspicion of the email trove’s credibility.

            2. We saw this same MO before with the DNC leaks: all of Team Blue spoke out immediately and vocally, but never denied their authenticity. Instead it was a two pronged attack: First cast doubt on the emails without ever actually denying them, and then second blame Putin in order to make the debate about the leak’s alleged source instead of about the actual content.

            I have been morbidly watching how the entire US intelligentsia has completely jumped the sharks on this issue, all in order to elect HRC, who scares me more than Reagan. It is frightens the bejeezus out of me to think that once HRC is in the White House, these intellegentsia will be in power around her, with the precedent of having left all semblance of logic behind as they rush headlong towards war with Russia.
            1. Anne October 13, 2016 at 11:57 am

               I’m aware of what the campaign’s talking points are – but I don’t know how all of the people whose e-mails were published could verify their legitimacy without actually reading through all of them. Have they done that? I don’t know. It would seem like something that would take hours and hours, and require going back through archives to verify, and I just don’t think they have the time to do this.

               I also agree with you that who hacked the e-mails has nothing to do – or likely has nothing to do – with the content. The hacked DNC e-mails would say the same things whether they were hacked by the Russians or space aliens, and the emphasis on who did it is a distraction: “look over here! The Russians are meddling!”

               I’m not normally much of a fan of Politico, but there’s some sense in the following:

               One indicator that the hacked Podesta emails are legit is that they are so boring. One of my Politico colleagues who has plowed through hundreds of them looking for news calls them “The Big Yawn.” The characters in the Podesta emails come off less like Machiavellian schemers than harried politicians responding on the fly with a mixture of bravado, strategy and improvisation to unfolding events. They’re not in control. Like most everybody else in Washington, they’re reacting.

               This is not to say that the emails contain no news value. From them we gain a sense of how the Clinton team works together, what Clinton said in her Wall Street speeches and more on the political sabotaging of Bernie Sanders. We learn that Clinton aide Doug Band was feuding with Chelsea Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. That Hillary Clinton has made herself expert in taking both sides of an issue. That Donna Brazile leaked CNN Town Hall questions to the Clinton campaign. That Podesta was courting Martin O’Malley in February, hoping to win his endorsement for Clinton, of petty squabbles involving Lanny Davis and Robby Mook, and that Podesta was phone buddies with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

               Future emails leaks may contain stronger meat. For my sake, and for the journalists assigned to wallow in them, I hope so. But so far, there is less journalistic significance in the confidential emails Team Clinton is zipping around than in the wild, prolific and quite public tweets that Donald Trump issues nearly every hour.

               That being said, it greatly disturbs me that there’s the same air building around Russia as was manufactured/created/propagandized about Iraq – and God knows what else. What I can’t sort out is whether this is actually part of some larger foreign policy strategy, or whether it is being used as an election strategy that will be abandoned once it has served its purpose.

               But I could ask that about pretty much all of what Clinton is saying, couldn’t I? Or Trump. So, what are we left with? Examining the consequences of a current public election strategy being abandoned, and figuring out what the private, most likely, stragegy/policy will be, and then comparing the relative weight/importance of those consequences in a Clinton or Trump administration?

               Oh my God, our brains will fry from all this thinking! Some days, I really don’t want to have to think this much.

               I guess I am just skeptical of everything I read and hear these days. These fking e-mails are taking us beyond the level of parsing what the meaning of “is” is. and it’s annoying the crap out of me.

               One thing’s for sure, though: the level of electronic communication has probably fallen off a cliff in these campaigns.
               1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL October 13, 2016 at 1:38 pm

                  Please, Anne, spend your check from Correct The Record somewhere else, if you can’t see what Hilary is without agonizing over the content of these emails then there is little chance you ever will. Almost 30 years in public office, pushing a cavalcade of policies that eviscerated the middle class, embroiled in a nonstop series of criminal investigations, followed by a career at State whose main accomplishment seems to have been turning the country with the highest standard of living in Africa into an Islamist hellhole and funnel for refugees to Europe. Last time she was in the White House she stole the silverware on the way out and had to be sued to give it back. So I’m afraid your calls of “Trump is bad, too!” just have little impact on anyone who has been paying attention to this woman and her scams for the last few decades. Ask the people in Haiti sometime what they think of her “charitable Foundation” if you want a hands-on view of this woman in action. Have just the briefest glance at the pantheon of neo-con war-mongers who are “With Her” if you’re looking for an idea of what “Breakfast at Hilary’s” is going to look like.
                  1. EGrise October 13, 2016 at 2:24 pm

                     +1
                  2. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2016 at 2:48 pm

                     + one more.
                     1. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2016 at 2:49 pm

                        Wow. My comment went through. Maybe I’m out of purgatory.
                  3. Anne October 13, 2016 at 3:55 pm

                     Really?

                     I have said repeatedly that I won’t be voting for either Clinton or Trump. Repeatedly. I will either vote Green or leave that part of my ballot blank.

                     I have repeatedly listed and discussed numerous aspects of Clinton that just make me ill.

                     But apparently, because I am not willing to consider voting for Trump that means I must be a CTR plant? I thought you were smarter (or as Katniss would write “smarter”) than that, but I guess I misjudged you.

                     They are both horrible “choices,” and we got them for a number of reasons, not least is because people have been voting for the lesser of two evils for years now, thinking/believing that was their only option. They are both evil, in different ways, but both evil.

                     Trump is bad. He’s mentally-ill bad.

                     Clinton is bad. I daresay – I have said, actually – that she’s playing out some of her own mental issues via this race.

                     Correct the Record, my a$$.
                     1. Binky October 13, 2016 at 6:24 pm

                        All reason has fled on all sides. Should be great.
                  4. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 4:49 pm

                     Anne is a regular user here who posts some good comments. Here concern here is definitely a valid one. The case to be made against Clinton with these emails is strong but any false interpretations weaken that argument. That said Clinton herself validated at least the speech transcript portions at the debate and that is probably where the most damning stuff comes from.

                     Outside of the implication that Anne is a CTR thug, this post is good as well.
                     1. Procopius October 14, 2016 at 5:16 am

                        You and Anne both seem reasonable, while OTPBDHAL does not, but I think the content of the speeches is unlikely to have any importance. The speeches were an excuse for the bankers to give her money. Why should she put any effort into making true or important remarks there. Even if what she said there reflects her outlook or character, we have plenty of other source material to look at.
               2. Jeotsu October 13, 2016 at 3:46 pm

                  I largely agree with Anne. Confirmation Bias is a dangerous fallacy, and in our enthusiasm to dump on HRC and her campaign, it is easy to go a bit overboard.

                  Thus far the emails have done little but to confirm that HRC and her campaign were engaging in behaviors for which there was already evidence. Now we have a bit more evidence. It does not fundamentally change my evaluation of either HRC as a candidate or as a person.

                  And I would be wary of immediately waving the CTR flag at any post about HRC you disagree with. How different is that than shouting “Putin!” every time someone criticizes HRC?

                  Yes, we should be somewhat skeptical of everything we read on line. More importantly, we should be critical. A endless cycle of nothing but self-affirmation leads to dogmatic responses, and then we become what we previously rightly deriding.
                  1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 9:25 pm

                     It differs in that CTR is a planned initiative in Hillary’s campaign, as was well documented in press releases and corporate news of the time. Putin’s troll army is speculation. Words are broken wind. Keep an eye on the body language.

                     If Hillary supporters don’t want to be treated as possible paid shills, maybe her campaign shouldn’t have created the possibility.
               3. cnchal October 14, 2016 at 12:31 am

                  . . . and that Podesta was phone buddies with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

                  Creepiest thing I’ve read today.
            2. ChrisPacific October 13, 2016 at 9:28 pm

               Regarding your point #2, I find it highly amusing that the HRC campaign is denouncing WikiLeaks as a “propaganda arm of the Kremlin” without actually denying that (a) the material is accurate and (b) Hillary’s earlier statements that conflict with it were lies. Apparently “propaganda” means inconvenient facts that don’t align with your fictional narrative.
         2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 3:03 pm

            only yesterday, we had people pointing out that Clinton hates everyday Americans, when it was clear from the e-mail that it was the phrase she hates – some missing quotation marks and all of a sudden people think they have breaking news.

            I posted that one yesterday as a joke. I thought the lack of quotes made it funny and I assumed the crowd here would catch it quickly. I wasn’t disappointed.

            Generally, I try not to editorialize when I post them because I am fully aware that deciphering true intentions from email chains can be tricky. I post them here to see how everyone else tears them apart to see if they were what I thought or if I missed something.

            There are some that are just obvious though. Those I editorialize.
   2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 7:42 am

      Oh and the Clinton camp had a say in moving primaries around. They tried to push back IL’s unsuccessfully.
      https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/2865

      I wonder how many other states they scared out of super tuesday?
      1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 7:58 am

         “The key point is that this is not an Obama ask, but a Hillary ask. And the Clintons won’t forget what their friends have done for them. It would be helpful to feel out what path, if any, we have to get them to yes. This will probably take some pushing. ”

         I need a favor too, when is her daughter’s wedding day?
         1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 9:08 am

            I think I found my favorite email yet. A progressive reporter slamming them on trade.
            https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/627
            1. nycTerrierist October 13, 2016 at 9:26 am

               good one!
            2. Eureka October 13, 2016 at 9:33 am

               That is a fantastic find! Thanks for introducing me to my favorite email. I’ve read probably 200 at this point, but this one is a great call out to the top neoliberal Dem’s stupidity. Guess this confirms they know their actions hurt and anger their base, but they just don’t give a fuck. Lovely.
               1. Left in Wisconsin October 13, 2016 at 2:46 pm

                  This is an email to Podesta from Brent Budowsky. According to the NY Post:

                  Although Podesta received advice from Budowsky for years, he didn’t hold him in high esteem.

                  “To you only: Brent Budowsky. Leftie with no following . . .,” Podesta wrote Clinton aide Cheryl Mills on Jan. 8, 2014.
            3. Lee October 13, 2016 at 11:34 am

               Yes! And let us not forget how well the Rs and poorly the Ds have fared in both the federal and state elections during the Obama years, thus reducing the Dems to a fortress white house party. And in their desperation to keep the besieged castle, they give us Clinton. Brilliant!
            4. Jess October 13, 2016 at 2:19 pm

               Awesome. Thanks.
      2. Hana M. October 13, 2016 at 8:40 am

         What’s interesting about that email chain is that the focus was not on the Democrats, but on the Republican primary. “The overall goal is to move the IL primary out of mid March, where they are currently a lifeline to a moderate Republican candidate after the mostly southern Super Tuesday. IL was a key early win for Romney in 12.” This fits with the Clinton campaign’s desire to see the Republican nomination go to Trump or Cruz, whom they saw as less electable in the general.

         As it turned out, the primary didn’t get moved and Trump won handily. But as someone said, “If Trump was a plant, he took root.”
      3. Chris October 13, 2016 at 10:16 am

         Does anyone think that this is a significant issue which could affect the campaign anymore? The media organizations have moved on. The upper 20% of the country have accepted Hillary as their standard bearer. All of these Wikileaks documents are being treated as baseless Russian propaganda. People are writing articles about how Hillary is bravely two-faced…

         I’m saddened by all these revelations because it means the primaries were even more of a farce than I thought they were. But I don’t expect any of these emails to stop the “Trump is too horrible to exist and you are a bad person if you disagree” ground swell. And it doesn’t look like any of the issues the two big party candidates are having are translating into third party interest.

         I think this is game, set, match for the Clinton campaign at this point.
         1. RabidGandhi October 13, 2016 at 11:18 am

            My personal hope is that this inside glimpse into the rotten brain of the Democrat Party helps unite the left against HRC once she is in office. So much of the left rolled over supine during the Obama presidency because he was a Dem, never challenging him as they would a Repub. The 2016 campaign in general and the email leaks in particular have gone a long way toward busting the myth that Team Blue is not Team Red.

            Remember, the real battle is never the election; it’s rather how the grassroots subsequently organises to force the hand of whoever won the election.
            1. Arizona Slim October 13, 2016 at 12:59 pm

               Not to worry. A lot of us lefties are already united against HRC.
         2. Patricia October 13, 2016 at 11:38 am

            I agree, generally. But FWIW and just to know, there is more interest in Greens than msm lets anyone know. See this, for eg, while “accurate” info only allows that Libertarians are doing anything:

            https://twitter.com/drjillstein/status/786393566360825856

            Must not forget that the left is the real enemy of neolibs/neocons. Even though the US Greens are not very effectual, their existence sets them on edge. We are in a war, whether we like it or not. Our enemies are completely without honor or ethical standards. The longer it takes for us to get this through our peaceable heads (sheesh!!), the greater the damage (which is global).
   3. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 8:39 am

      Anyone want to know how Obama staffed all the financial monitoring agencies? Check out the attached file to this leak. Has the initials of who recommended everyone. This is over my head but I imagine someone here will have a field day.

      https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3181

      Make that EVERY agency. Finance was just the first tab I opened.
      1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 8:46 am

         Recommended By… is that the same Liebowitz as the hack columnist who writes pro-Clinton pieces all the time? If so, as if the articles did not already seem biased enough!
      2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 9:20 am

         Wall Street on Parade covered this: http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/10/wikileaks-bombshell-emails-show-citigroup-had-major-role-in-shaping-and-staffing-obamas-first-term/

         And if anyone wants to see the rest off the emails between Froman and podesta:
         https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/?q=&mfrom=fromanm%40citi.com&mto=&title=&notitle=&date_from=&date_to=&nofrom=&noto=&count=50&sort=6#searchresult
         1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 10:06 am

            Interesting talk with Rubin. He’s going to think about the various options, but Harry Hopkins was his model. Obviously, it would have to work with the COS, NEC head and Treasury Secretary, but I actually think this might well be worth exploring. I’m in the office today, or we can chat about it when we see each other tomorrow. – Froman, Michael B

            RE:
            We need to get Barack the list that was the outcome of the meeting. Do you want to do or do you want me to do? -John Podesta

            https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6684

            Is it just me or is it completely fucked up that as citi is failing horribly Robert Rubin is helping Obama with cabinet picks? Also, I’m a bit nauseous that Rubin thinks himself a modern day Harry Hopkins.
            1. Ivy October 13, 2016 at 10:44 am

               A modern day Harry Dexter White?
               1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 3:15 pm

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hopkins
               2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 3:17 pm

                  Oh, Haha I get it ;-) good one!
            2. Procopius October 14, 2016 at 7:48 am

               That’s disgusting. Harry Hopkins performed a miracle. He persuaded Roosevelt to shift away from monetary aid to public works. He saw that the dole was destroying men and women who desperately wanted to work. On November 15, 1933, he announced his objective: “the employment of four million by December 15, 1933.” He had no planning staff, no shelf of shovel-ready works, no formulated program. Winter weather limited the kind of work available. He missed his first target. By December 14 there were only 2,610,451 on the CWA (Civil Works Administration) rolls but by the middle of January he was well over the 4,000,000 mark (cribbed from Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “The Coming of the New Deal”, p. 270). There were giants in the land in those days. This is one reason I am so enraged by the timid men who complained they couldn’t build public works in 2009-10 because there weren’t any “shovel-ready” projects. Robert Rubin and his acolytes are despicable.
   4. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 3:12 pm

      Podesta, as far as we know, hasn’t yet received any subpoenas or other preservation orders. If those emails still exist in a form fit for the record — not hearsay, which sadly is the standard these meet — he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he has.
3. Jim Haygood October 13, 2016 at 7:11 am

   Bill “standard redneck” Clinton has a question for you Trump supporters out there:

   http://tinyurl.com/j6pffya
4. ex-PFC Chuck October 13, 2016 at 7:13 am

   Here’s a link for the Jill Stein on Syria piece at Real Clear Politics:
   http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/12/jill_stein_hillary_clintons_declared_syria_policy_could_start_a_nuclear_war.html
   1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 7:50 am

      Fixed, thanks!
5. Nik October 13, 2016 at 7:28 am

   The Galaxy Note 7 environmental hand-wringing from the tech blogs is infuriatingly smug and ignorant. As if the pollution caused and resources wasted from 2 million phones could be anything but a rounding error in the context of an industry with a dismal track record of recycling and procurement practices that shipped 1.43 billion phones last year. Newsflash, bloggers: if the Galaxy Note 7 is unsustainable, then it’s all unsustainable.
   1. scott 2 October 13, 2016 at 8:06 am

      You are correct, it’s not sustainable. Remember when there was a different type of plug for every phone, so you had as many different chargers as phones you ever owned, but usually 2 to 3 times that? The standardization of chargers plugs into Apple and micro-USB allowed people to re-use chargers and cables, and now charging stations at coffee shops and airports.

      The planned obsolescence of the non-replaceable battery is an environmental crime. I’m sure the EU will take the lead on ending this practice. Since new phones are only incrementally better than the ones they replace, using a phone for 5 or more years and replacing the battery a couple of times is better for the consumer and the environment. Of course, Apple’s and Samsung’s business models depend on this stream of electronic waste.
      1. Waldenpond October 13, 2016 at 2:09 pm

         The inputs are variable. It’s annoying to have to dig through cables for the differing cameras, phone, music player etc.
      2. Skippy October 13, 2016 at 5:40 pm

         Smart phones are the new disposable razor blades…

         Disheveled Marsupial… oh shite… should not be giving them any ideals…
         1. Optimader October 13, 2016 at 9:21 pm

            I use my old iPhone as a portable music file sever. You may as well break off a pencil led in the headphone jack, but “line out” is digital high fidelity
   2. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 8:53 am

      Reading down into the article, it is probably some click-bate title editor who’s abusing the reader . The article covers a lot of ground about how the whole consumer electronics industry is pursing a path that maximize pollution/environmental destruction for marketing / competition reasons. The article itself is pretty reasonable argument, one that most consumers don’t really want to hear (and will promptly forget). But at least they are trying.

      When marketing/competition drives industries toward environmentally destructive practice, the only solution that seems to work is government regulation, consumer education is usually a fail.
   3. diptherio October 13, 2016 at 9:48 am

      Planned obsolescence and “new & barely improved” marketing create massive externalities that both the companies and their customers take advantage of. How much more do you think that phone would cost you if you had to pay for it’s safe disposal?

      There is a better option for you Euros, though I don’t think it’s available or useable in the US: ethically sourced, easy to repair (or customize) and meant to last.

      http://www.fairphone.com/
      1. Kurt Sperry October 13, 2016 at 11:39 am

         Won’t sell outside of Europe + “temporarily unavailable” even in Europe = vaporware for most, if not all of, the world.
      2. Cry shop October 13, 2016 at 11:44 am

         Google announced their own version of Fairphone, which killed the venture funding; and 9 months later they decided they were not going to pursue it anyway. So much for do no evil.
      3. Rageon October 13, 2016 at 1:18 pm

         Here in Quebec the Environmental Handling Fees (EHFs) apply to the purchase of new products and are supposed to cover the cost associated with recycling (though whether they actually cover the actual cost is an open question). For a cell phone it’s 10 cents.
         Fees are:
         Display 29″ and less = $5.50
         Display 30″ – 45″ = $9.00
         Display 46″ and larger = $24.00
         Computers Desktop = $1.10
         Laptop = $0.90
         Printer = $1.25
         Floor standing printer = $42.50
         Cellular phone = $0.10
         Home telecom = $0.45
         Peripheral devices: Mouse Keyboard = $0.20
         Home Audio/Visual = $0.80
         Personal Audio/Visual = $0.25
         Vehicle Audio/Visual = $0.80
         Home Theater in a Box = $0.80
      4. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 1:47 pm

         Certainly relevant: Port-O-Rotary (Spark Fun Electronics)
6. jgordon October 13, 2016 at 7:36 am

   On the NYT article about Trump touching women: this is the NYT–it offends me that you are citing the NYT as if they are a credible source, when it’s a well-known fact that the NYT is a propaganda organ for the Hillary campaign. I will chalk this up as run of the mill smears that the Hillary campaign cooked up until there is ironclad proof that it’s real.

   I’ve been reading stuff in the wikileaks revelations over the past couple of days that paints Hillary as a hardened criminal–things like revealing special access information about Bin Laden signals intelligence to a group of Canadian bankers in 2013, and like sending special access information–the fact that the sponsors of ISIS are Saudi Arabia and Qatar–to Podesta’s Gmail account. That last particular email was also earlier released by the State Department, although for whatever reason the FBI saw fit to redact as above top secret the fact that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are sponsoring ISIS oddly enough. Hard to imagine why they’d do that.

   I don’t know–would things like that be enough to stick a fork in Hillary’s campaign?
   1. Jim Haygood October 13, 2016 at 7:46 am

      Probably not (incredibly enough).

      Talked to my gun dealer (and ex FBI agent, who correctly predicted that Comey would punt) neighbor last night.

      Prevailing theory among his crowd is that since Amendment II protects arms but not ammunition, the ‘beest will lay on a circa 300% federal excise tax on ammo.

      He does expect Hillary to win. Accordingly he is laying in stocks of ammo as a speculation.

      As for arms (useless without ammo), he said high quality pistols such as Glocks are becoming hard to find.

      He and I concurred that should the ‘beest win, the three months from Nov 2016 to Jan 2017 will see a monster blowout in gun sales that will never be equaled in our lifetimes.
      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 10:30 am

         What is the outlook for a venture-capital funded nuclear-shelter-builder as a silicon valley startup?

         Is that better than becoming a gun-dealer?
      2. Eclair October 13, 2016 at 11:02 am

         Were you and your gun dealer friend at my local suburban Panera’s yesterday?

         Whilst drinking tea (herbal) and perusing NC comments, I started listening in on the two men sitting at the table next to me. One was the salesman and he was describing available weaponry; cost, hitting power, caliber, range of sight, ammo (I’m not really conversant with ‘weapons porn’ terminology) to the older guy.

         ‘Guaranteed delivery by October 14th.’
      3. Kurt Sperry October 13, 2016 at 11:45 am

         Ammo hoarders have been stockpiling for so many years now there’s probably an easy fifty year supply out there in basements any round you might need (good luck firefighters when that ammosexual’s house lights off) and handgun and assault rifle hoarders pretty much likewise except probably more than fifty years, more like centuries. Firearms and ammo in the US are scarce like diamonds are scarce: it’s just a marketing scam based on irrational precepts that people have eagerly embraced.
      4. a different chris October 13, 2016 at 1:08 pm

         >will see a monster blowout

         Greater than the NoBama one? And what the f*ck is the point of having a bunch of different guns if the actual problem will be ammo? Lordy, this is just a cut-and-paste from the 2008 election. You* might need your gunz if Trump is elected Preznit because he may bring about the end of society and then its every man for himself, but Killary is a problem that will require the opposite type of resistance – versing a centralized authority with the type of weapons and trained personnel you have no hope of standing against. Read Ghandi, not Heinlein in that particular (and most likely) circumstance.

         *PS “you” is not directed at Jim, this is just a generic rant about the people that really want to believe personal popguns will be an answer
         1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 3:35 pm

            Oh, so tactics are the exclusive province of the Professionals, and that familiarity with local terrain is magicked away by digital topographic maps. Alright then.

            That’s why guerrillas go for soft targets. Upscale schools, white-shoe law firms, right-wing satire publications like The Onion or Mother Jones, executive protection conferences… Bourgeois necks twist-off just like everyone else’s once you get past their rented meatbags. If that drone that got Feinstein all kvetchy outside her window had been lethal, and if the next neocon windbag to ask if someone won’t think of the bourgies or the precious rigged game we’re all playing had gotten the same, we wouldn’t be having a lot of these problems today.

            1. If reductionist comparisons of strength of force were valid, I’d expect the US to be doing much better in its imperial endeavors, in terms of surface held and minds won, than it apparently is.
            2. I have some doubts US citizens in the armed forces would turn on their own, Democratic identity politics and military Keynesianism to hush the Deplorables™ notwithstanding. Liberal bourgeoisie, being self-superior and “above” silly nonsense like spatial community or public interest, know enough history to bring in outside forces (from where?), who may or may not be armed with or trained on US materiel and who will probably be selected for not understanding the enemy they’ve been commissioned to suppress.
      5. Jess October 13, 2016 at 3:00 pm

         In CA that gun sale has already begun. Aside from worries about a Hellary administration, CA has taken another whack at banning assault weapons which goes into effect midnight, Dec. 31. After that it will be illegal to sell or buy any long gun with a pistol grip, a collapsible stock, or a flash suppressor on the end of the barrel. As a consequence, weapons of this type in inventory are flying off the shelf. Was in my local gun store two weeks ago (middle of the week and middle of the afternoon) and had to wait 52 minutes to get counter help because all the staff were busy making sales and filling out the mountain of accompanying paperwork.
   2. Jamie Dimon October 13, 2016 at 8:18 am

      LOL at the brave male souls in the comments who can’t possibly give women’s stories about sexual assault any credence because Hillary is also a warmongering capitalist. You should be ashamed of yourself – you don’t actually care about getting a good leader, you care about tarring women’s experiences.
      1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 9:01 am

         I’m sorry, not wanting a hot war with Russia, which Hillary has basically promised to launch, is a huge deal. Former US and UK generals have warned this would be the worst war since WWII and has real risk of going nuclear. Some readers, including women, have said they’ll vote for Trump based on that, even assuming that the allegations against Trump are 100% true.

         Having said that, jgordon is our house Trump booster and most readers discount what he says on that front.
         1. Pavel October 13, 2016 at 9:16 am

            Speaking of Russia, thanks for posting the Club Orlov “Oops” piece, which I read yesterday… Orlov made me feel a wee bit better though as you point out he’s counting on more US rationality than we might expect. I note Peace Prize Laureate Obama has decided to start firing directly against the Yemen “rebels”. Another undeclared and illegal war.
            1. jsn October 13, 2016 at 6:12 pm

               Yes, I liked Orlov’s “Oops” also but one of his core assumptions seems optimistic from my experience. It only takes one or two hiring and promotion cycles to eliminate competence in a large organization. Recruit a couple of well placed ideologues and the old hands will get tired of fighting stupid fights every day and take early retirement. Their replacements will be selected for politics rather than wisdom or knowledge.

               I’ve recently seen two of my client’s project managers arrive from some tangentially related industry where finance has already had its way and try to impose that reality on the construction industry. In both instances it has taken weathering a year of abuse to get to an externally verifiable reality with these idiots and in one case actually got the leading idiot fired.

               Stuff costs what stuff costs and no amount of shouting, abuse and manipulation changes its. It was a relief not to have to put up with the arrogance any more, but more and more of the finance infected management theory is surfacing, these are the people with most conventionally attractive resumes.

               So the argument that Orlov makes about saner heads lower in the ranks can change a lot quicker than he thinks and the work environment created by ideologues is just the thing to do it.
         2. flora October 13, 2016 at 10:37 am

            Let me chime in here with an old but pertinent bit. In 1994 B.Clinton made a deal with Ukraine and Russia whereby Ukraine gives up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guaranteed protection from US, NATO and Russia. Becomes a sort of joint protectorate of both the old cold war adversaries.
            see:
            http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-11/news/mn-10675_1_nuclear-arsenal
            “Under the agreement, the United States, Russia and Britain will provide security assurances for Ukraine when it gives up its weapons and becomes an adherent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ukraine also will get financial assistance in dismantling the weapons as well as compensation for surrendering the highly enriched uranium in the warheads, which can be converted into fuel for civilian nuclear reactors.”

            Fifteen years later and H. Clinton as Sec. State, and one sees how well that’s gone for Ukraine (or not). H.Clinton and neocons first tried fomented a show down with Russia over Ukraine. That didn’t work. Now the neocons and Clinton are trying to foment a show down with Russia over Syria. I think they’ve lost their minds.
            1. flora October 13, 2016 at 10:44 am

               adding: W. Bush has no sons, Obama has no sons, and Hillary has no sons. Maybe war looks dandy if you can fight it with other people’s sons.
         3. jgordon October 13, 2016 at 12:47 pm

            To be clear, I only boost Trump because I dislike the idea of World War III and the end of life on earth. If not for that I’d be a lot more apathetic about politics today.
            1. a different chris October 13, 2016 at 1:11 pm

               :) message received…
            2. Jess October 13, 2016 at 3:07 pm

               Me, too. Every once in a while I ponder the decline of our country by comparing today’s crop of so-called leaders with those from our past. Barely one million people in the original 13 colonies yet that produced Washington, Jefferson, both Adams brothers and John’s son, Madison, Hamilton, Paine, Franklin, John Jay, Paul Revere, Hancock, Patrick Henry, etc. And since then: Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, JFK, RFK, MLK, Eisenhower.

               Any one of the aforementioned would win this year’s election by a landslide. But instead we’re stuck with a buffoon, a sociopath, a stoner moron, and a dilettante.
               1. JTFaraday October 22, 2016 at 8:59 pm

                  They valued politics and public life, even Hamilton. We value economics and personal life, even when we’re attention seeking whores.

                  It is out of this last that we have Trump boasting of his sexual assertion and prowess like we’re supposed to be impressed, the verbal equivalent of Kim Kardashian’s ass.
                  1. frosty zoom October 22, 2016 at 9:40 pm

                     is that why there are rounding errors in his math?
            3. pretzelattack October 13, 2016 at 4:33 pm

               yeah, that’s my biggest concern. also i would like to see both parties go down in flames, and i think there is a much better chance of that if trump wins. trump has been very useful in exposing the kayfabe.
      2. voteforno6 October 13, 2016 at 9:27 am

         Their stories are entirely believable. What I find interesting is: what’s the difference between what these women claim happened, and the people who have accused Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, etc., of similar or worse crimes? The various reactions to these stories have laid bare just how strong tribal affiliations are in this country. In my opinion, the hypocrisy of so many on the left is doing a disservice here, by elevating the person above the crime. If these crimes are wrong, no matter who commits them, we must condemn all perpetrators with equal vigor. That’s not what’s happening with this story.
         1. Michael October 13, 2016 at 11:55 am

            This feels like the time when that’s finally going to start being true — that politicians who do things like Bill, Al, Ted, Chris, and Joe will not have careers going forward.

            We cannot discount how different things are now. Millennials have changed our society’s attitude toward sexual assault and sexuality in general.
            1. Jess October 13, 2016 at 3:08 pm

               I think you’re right.
      3. RPDC October 13, 2016 at 9:44 am

         The woman’s story from the airplane makes zero sense. First, he claims that he lifted the armrest and began touching her. Well, they were in first class, and no first class seats (even in the 80s) had moveable armrests. Second, she claims that it occurred 45 minutes after takeoff, but also claims that it occurred after they had already been served dinner and had their trays taken away. They don’t begin serving until at least 30 minutes after takeoff, once they’ve reached cruising altitude, etc., making it nigh impossible that the attendants took orders, served the cabin, allowed time for eating, and then removed trays – all of that happened in 15 minutes?

         Finally, and most troublingly, is the egregious similarity between the language that Trump was “like an octopus” with “hands everywhere,” to a 2014 Guardian story about Bill Roache, who was “like an octopus,” whose “hands were everywhere.” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/17/bill-roache-octopus-sexual-abuse-trial-coronation-street

         And don’t forget that these are the same “journalists” who were taken to task by CNN of all people about fabricating their earlier story about Trump’s past girlfriends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA1buBObqGI
         1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 2:46 pm

            Yes, first class was that way back then….and first class was even more glam back then. Domestic was more like international standards now. They’d really stretch out the meal service since they didn’t anywhere the entertainment they have now.
            1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 3:34 pm

               My mom’s a flight attendant. Been on many a first class trip, some plane models do have arm rests that go up. Since plenty of the planes flying have been in service since the 80’s I would not be shocked if they caught one with movable arm rests.
               1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 7:37 pm

                  The internet agree’s. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/donald-trump-spokeswoman-katrina-pierson-new-york-times-groping-armrest-15-minutes-of-fame
               2. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 8:37 pm

                  I flew in first class regularly in those days as a Goldman person and never once encountered a FC seat with a flip up arm-rest. In fact, my recollection is that even in coach, they are a recent, as in last 20 years, innovation (I’m a + million mile flier). And FC was standard travel, so I would fly FC to Chicago as well as the coast.

                  It was a source of regular frustration, since in those days, they didn’t load the planes full, you didn’t have laptops (therefore you couldn’t do much work) and an empty next seat in theory offered an opportunity to nap, if the damned huge bulky arm rest/shelf was not in the way. In some planes, you could undo some screws and pull the bulky thingie out and I made a habit of that. You’d think the stewardesses would have killed me for dismantling the plane, but they never said a peep and I always put the divider back before landing.
                  1. marym October 13, 2016 at 9:19 pm

                     In coach armrests back then would have had ashtrays – seems unlikely they would have been flip-able, but don’t know about FC. Maybe people got regular ashtrays.
      4. Fred October 13, 2016 at 9:47 am

         Yeah Trump’s conduct 30 years ago is starting to sound a lot like Slick Willie’s did back when he got impeached, disbarred and settled out of court for close to a million. Good thing for him democrats are “stand by my man” kind of women when it comes to sexual assault allegations. Or does it sound like that fake Rolling Stone article on rape? Not to worry, the completely coincidentally a 20-20 episode on the fake RS story airs Friday. I’m sure that will clear everything up.
         1. Michael October 13, 2016 at 11:56 am

            1991 was 25 years ago. I was a kid then and didn’t know better.
            1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 2:40 pm

               But you aren’t running for President. And as I read the NYT piece, that accuser is now 74 and it said she was 38 then. So it was longer ago but it would put Trump at 34 ish.
      5. Bob October 13, 2016 at 10:16 am

         I agree that Trump is a sexist pig who assaults women. Yet Hillary demands a no-fly zone over Syria that is a direct confrontation to Russia and will be perceived as such by Russia, likely producing dire consequences for the entire world. Which should I prefer to hold the office of POTUS?
      6. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2016 at 10:18 am

         And LOL at the brave souls of either gender who expect these “scurrilous” revelations leading to a clinton presidency to change the situation one iota. The “improvements” in the lives of black americans after eight years of the first black president should provide ample evidence of the fallacy of that obvious implication.

         clinton’s considerable financial support comes primarily from the moneyed class in hollywood and on wall street, two groups for whom this type of behavior is essentially in their DNA. As long as they back the right horse, no harm no foul.

         clinton was perfectly fine with this behavior, even in her own husband, as long as she benefited. And once she’s exploited it to maximum advantage, the whole thing will be forgotten.

         Trump’s only crime was challenging the queen.
      7. jgordon October 13, 2016 at 12:50 pm

         No, I dislike Hillary because she is an insane criminal who will start WWIII. If you appreciate not dying from nuclear fallout I would suggest that you support Trump too.
         1. Antifa October 13, 2016 at 2:20 pm

            Quite so. What the American elites are freaking out about is that five years of our usual terrorism by proxy has failed utterly in Syria, and any idjit can see that with both Russia and China now stepping in to put everything back together again, we are out of this poker game.

            Syria is the high water mark of the American Empire; the owners of the Empire see this and aren’t happy about it. The problem is, the only card in their hand is the joker (a no fly zone for everyone except American jets), and that card won’t play.

            With the American public steadily approaching economic penury, and living in tents, with 70% not even able to scratch together $1,000 for an emergency, the red light for civil insurrection here at home is blinking faster every day.

            Things fall apart. Here it comes.
            1. cnchal October 14, 2016 at 12:50 am

               (a no fly zone for everyone except American jets)

               The joker is the F35. It’s not able to back up any politician’s mouth.
   3. Bullwinkle October 13, 2016 at 9:47 am

      It’s more than enough for me.
   4. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 11:25 am

      Has anyone ever considered that Trump’s “Grab them…” line may have been some sort of slang statement, perhaps pertaining to the level of “in” you have with someone sexually? It is a rather odd thing to say literally. It sounds like a qualifying statement of how willing or open women are to sexual activity when you are a star etc… not a literal physical act.

      Further, “moved on her…” follows this same, metaphoric slang statement idea. People seemed to get offended by that line, but he is saying the he himself moved on like a… I have no idea what the hell he means, but this one is obvious slang and just as weird if taken literally as the previous line.

      In the tape, Bush is the slime pushing for the residual physical contact, not Trump.
      1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 8:46 pm

         As I’ve said, the “grab by the pussy” never sounded right, since even a woman who had the hots for someone would NOT appreciate that. Monster turnoff.

         “Moved on her” by contrast does not sound off (which does not mean it’s not agressive).
7. semiconscious October 13, 2016 at 7:37 am

   the gatestone institute:

   Ambassador John R. Bolton, Chairman

   Nina Rosenwald, President

   Naomi H. Perlman, Vice President

   Board of Governors (in formation)

   The Viscountess Bearsted
   Baroness Caroline Cox
   Alan Dershowitz
   The Lord Finkelstein OBE
   Jack Fowler
   Robert Immerman
   Lawrence Kadish
   Ingeborg Rennert
   Rebecca Sugar
   Merryl Tisch
   1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 7:51 am

      Oh, ugh. I was put off by the tone, and you wouldn’t expect a bunch like that to be associated with something written in such a down-market manner.

      But even the National Review upon occasion gets it right. And why would group that includes gung-ho Israel fans be pushing an anti-immigrants-in-Greece line? If you are gonna break Syria, which seems to be part of the plan, that means refugees in lots of places, mainly Europe.
      1. semiconscious October 13, 2016 at 8:04 am

         why, you ask? because, basically, i think these folks just can’t stop themselves from casting muslims in a bad light, no matter what the mitigating circumstances :) …
         1. Katharine October 13, 2016 at 11:31 am

            Yes, the implication is plainly “Look what will happen to you if you let these people in.” Fostering xenophobia seems to be the object of the game.
         2. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 1:56 pm

            There’s a term for that, but Alan Dershowitz’s Lolitas will have a sad if I say it.
      2. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 8:28 am

         One of the best ways to real destabilize Syria is to not allow refuges to flee, to make hell a crowded hell. ISIL and others also depend on having large numbers of civilian shields to make it that much harder to apply carpet bombing.

         Secondly, as semiconscious notes, Syria is just a beginning for these folks, they have much grander plans. Never-the-less, I also suspect that much of what they said took place did so. It’s happening even at Swedish Refuge areas; what they don’t get at is why. Is it really just Islam showing it’s ugly face or is it people coming out of a terrible situation where violence or running are the only to means of political expression? It’s going to take time and energy to normalize them.
         1. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 11:28 am

            How much time and energy will it take to normalize them? In France 50 years have not been enough. In the Balkans, 500 years weren’t enough. The Balkans absorbed the invasion in the 14th century, slowed it down, gave Europe the time it needed to stop the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna. And paid a very heavy price for it, living in the dark ages under an oppressive and backward tyranny while Europe went on to have the Renaissance. Now history is about to repeat itself, with the Balkans again as the designated strategic depth area protecting Europe from the dear muslim guests. Greece got 198 million euros, Bulgaria got 160. The government lied about the purpose of the money though; they insisted it was for a border fence but it turns out the money is to be used exclusively to set up migrant camps and schools. That while the education system, once world class, is falling apart. It is indeed a massive population replacement that is being set up, it is not as though eurocrats have been particularly reticent to express their desire for an infusion of young bodies. But it will be a cold day in hell before the muslim guests integrate themselves. The people of the Balkans know it only too well, it is a knowledge that has become deeply ingrained from centuries of bitter oppression. Islam back then was relatively benign compared to today’s model that KSA’s oil money has created, and its practitioners are not interested in integrating themselves in what they see as a decadent, godless society wallowing in sin and perversion.
            1. Michael October 13, 2016 at 11:57 am

               I’m sure the refugee middle class of a secular country feels precisely that way, yes.
               1. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 3:06 pm

                  What you call the “refugee middle class of a secular country” constitutes a tiny minority of the migrant flow. And yes, most of these people are migrants, not refugees. Refugees become migrants once they leave the first safe country they have entered. For Syrians that would be Turkey, for Afghans and Pakistanis (who seem to be the majority of the migrants flowing through Bulgaria) that would be Iran. Also too, it’s not at all like Erdogan to use the threat of opening the dam to blackmail Europe, amiright?
      3. Colonel Smithers October 13, 2016 at 8:35 am

         The chaos (probably) helps their cause. Most people I have ever talked to in the UK and on the continent think this is all a dastardly Russian plot. Oddly enough, or perhaps not as co-religionists have no problem there on religious grounds, some of the better reporting is in the Catholic press.
   2. Katharine October 13, 2016 at 11:20 am

      Thank you! I was thinking the article sounded a lot like a Greek counterpart to Geert Wilders or UKIP. Lots of terrible stories, not too well documented, and no reference at all to the overcrowding in terrible conditions in what looks increasingly like permanent limbo, or to any of creative and beneficial things done by other refugees despite those unfavorable circumstances, which I have occasionally seen reported in greekreporter.com.
   3. tony October 13, 2016 at 12:09 pm

      There is probably no real Jihad, just a few idiots. It would be an impossible fight and there is a tradition going back to Mohammed that goes against that. When Mohammed was in Mecca, before being exiled, he wrote:

      Say: O unbelievers!
      I do not serve that which you serve,
      Nor do you serve Him Whom I serve:
      Nor am I going to serve that which you serve,
      Nor are you going to serve Him Whom I serve:
      You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion.

      Qur’an 109:1-6

      Muslim minorities supporting a pluralistic, religiously tolerant society has been the case for over a thousand years. It’s only when they have the possibility of victory do the other Surah apply.
8. Bill Smith October 13, 2016 at 7:45 am

   “U.S. Launches Strikes in Yemen After Missiles Aimed at American Ships”

   The Yemen ‘rebels’ seem to have quite a number of missiles. Their continued launches of SCUD like ballistic missiles into Saudi Araba this long into the war is well documented. The anti-ship missiles they have launched at the US and others have also been reported.

   The interesting thing in the launch at the US ship is that the US ship fired 2 SM-2 and an Evolved Sea Sparrow at one of the Yamens missiles (the 2nd one fired) but the US claims that they don’t know if they hit anything. Three missiles fired for maybe one hit but likely no hits is not a good record.

   On the other hand the Saudis have had a good record of intercepting the SCUD like missiles – when they have been in a position to fire at them.
   1. hemeantwell October 13, 2016 at 8:30 am

      Will the military porn experts in the readership please weigh in?

      Here ya go!
      http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2016/10/us-navy-ddg-attacked-in-bab-al-mandab-strait-tidewater.html
      Everything from missiles and their developmental lineages to whether Iranian techs are involved, some jaw-rubbing over the possibility of a false flag, etc.
   2. ek hornbeck October 13, 2016 at 8:39 am

      re: “Yemen has missiles? Better yet, “rebels” which means they are mobile and the only bases they have are ones they’ve recently taken over? How about maybe shoulder-mounted rocket launchers?”

      The normally reliable Robert Bateman at Esquire suggests they are Iranian engineered knock-offs of Chinese C-802s known as Noors.
   3. JTMcPhee October 13, 2016 at 8:59 am

      Yaas, let us focus on the performance of “our” missile systems. Let us NOT ask any kinds of questions about why US ships and other “military assets” and Sneaky Petes are floating around Over There, inviting people who live there to get perturbed and shoot bullets and missiles provided by one or the other of the grand global competitors in the race for Top Sales position in war toys. Or how it comes to pass that the Empire now routinely violates and scoffs at what used to be called international law and norms. And why the Empire is “supporting” the Saudis, now known to be complicit in 9/11, in its war of aggression on the people of Yemen. (Gotta keep the neocons and Israelites happy, of course…)

      I recall that Bill is happy to invoke “international law” and of course the trump card of the AUMF as support for that happy notion that “the Empire can do whatever it wants.” At least, the Narrative Imperial reading of “international law,” the John Yoo parsing.

      As a former Troop, I wonder how many current Troopers are all excited (thanks to heavy indoctrination, maybe??) with the idea that they are sent to places like Iraq and Notagainistan and Syria and Yemen to “draw fire” from “unlawful enemy combatants,” soon to include Russia, of course, to trigger the ambushes and drive over the IEDs and attract the MANPADs and guided antitank munitions and the rest, thus “justifying” the bully in the bar to punch the lights out of the fella down at the end who was just quietly eating his supper and quaffing a glass of his local drink. So our rulers put “our people” in harm’s way, and then they can pontificate:

      “The official said Sunday’s incident is under investigation. “We take this very seriously. We will protect our people,” said the official.

      One wonders, as a very peripheral matter, what kind or class of missile the “rebels in Houthi-controlled areas” shot off — Maybe a TOW antitank round, which the Houthis and “moderate terrorists” are somehow getting lots of? Which are being used very successfully to blow up a lot of US-sourced Abrams tanks, speaking of self-lickingness?

      Not to worry, sir — you know the world view you contend for, the Great Game — Game of Risk version, carries all the armaments and momentum. Millions of humans, in uniforms and suits, going to work every day to actualize the end game along Cold War lines, filling out forms, going to meetings, taking various kinds of bribes and other corruption, hanging out with other “Global Militarists” at conferences and “trade shows” showcasing the latest in war materiel and crowd-control and surveillance tech. More like each other, Pigs and Humans playing poker, even across the “lines of conflict,” than like the rest of us ordinary people.

      I’m guessing that us older people, especially the ones plumping for the Imperial behaviors, can keep plumping away without personal consequences in their normal life spans, and pass on smugly in the comforting knowledge that they have affected the path of human history and kept the great arc of destruction energized and “moving forward.”

      PS — anyone following the “success” of Imperial weaponry has to come away with the sense that the MIC in all its parts (except maybe the Troops forced to use all those complicated and expensive devices and munitions to fight “natives” to stay alive) does not really even care that the war toys “do not meet their operational parameters” all that often. And besides, battlefield testing (invading and attacking other nations, a wonderfully self-licking ice cream cone) will “of course” reveal weaknesses and failures that “could never have been anticipated or designed to address,” “just part of the development cycle,” so Hey, let’s put out a “request for proposals” or a “contract extension” to procure a new generation, or at least a “Block 3 Improvement.” Because Hey! it’s only MMT money! And “Think of the careers, and all those good paying middle class jobs!”

      The only way (for ordinary people) to win the Game is not to play.
      1. Bill Smith October 13, 2016 at 11:32 am

         12 miles is long enough for the Noor and to long for any anti tank missiles – unless they came from a nearby boat – which has not been reported in the attack against the US ship.

         The Noors would have come from the Yemen Army when it ‘defected’ or whatever you want to call it. They took the ‘systems’ apart and mounted them on regular trucks. Evidently one missile on one truck and the radar on another. They would be very hard to locate.

         At least one report mentions the US ship was painted a shore based radar of the type associated with the Noor.
         1. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 1:36 pm

            This report (with photos) says the damage to the EUA Swift is consistent with the warhead on the Chinese C-802.
   4. James O'Keefe October 13, 2016 at 9:51 am

      Everything I have read claims it was likely an Iranian copy of a Chinese C-802, likely truck mounted with an integral radar or maybe a separate radar truck. That said, it isn’t exactly an easy thing to smuggle in, so inclined to think it might have been purchased before the present hostilities started and acquired by the Houthis when many of the regular Army units came over to them.

      I am sure there is an after action report somewhere, and hopefully War is Boring will FOIA it, but wouldn’t be surprised with the result either way. We know that the C-802 took out the catamaran transport boat, so they can hit targets that don’t fight back. That said, the quality may not be there and the other missiles might have hit the ocean. More likely, they got lured away by the Nulka decoy and/or got shot down. The US Navy probably can use either result to acquire more weapons.

      More on the US retaliation. Aren’t we lucky the US Navy provides us with some great war porn.

      The US is already pretty deep in Yemen and have been for years, that having “friendlies” attack us to get us more involved seems unnecessary. While the US warships are a legit target in the eyes of the Houthis, even without possible Iranian involvement or encouragement, it isn’t unexpected that Obama decided we had to retaliate. Expect we will get further involved in the blockade, though.

      Can we please transition to renewables and better battery tech soon so we can stop screwing around with the Middle East? Everything we touch there, we break.
   5. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 10:19 am

      Whats often forgotten is that the Houthi rebels include a very substantial chunk of the original Yemen army who defected with all their arms. Given that Yemen has had a 20 year civil war going on, that army had a big pick and mix of weapons to bring with it – mostly Russian and Chinese, but it could also have had Iranian and European weapons. There is no need to think that the Iranians are supplying any of those missiles, or training their operators. The ballistic weapons used against Saudi Arabian cities are old Yemen army weapons, so there is no reason to believe that the ones used in the naval attacks aren’t the same. From the youtube videos available, it looks to me more like anti-tank weapons than an anti-ship missile like the Noor or C-802 (the range seems too close for an anti-ship weapon).

      There is a history of weapons like this being very effective in surprise attacks, simply because defending vessels won’t have their defensive missile systems at full alert. The USS Stark, for example, never even shot at the pair of Iraqi exocets that hit it and the Israeli frigate badly damaged by a Noor was apparently unaware of the possible threat and didn’t respond either.
      1. Plenue October 13, 2016 at 12:46 pm

         The US talking point (which our media uncritically repeats) is that the Houthis are being armed by Iran. There’s no evidence for this, and it’s not clear how the Iranians would even smuggle weapons in given the blockade of the country. Not only did the Yemeni’s start the war with a large stockpile of weapons, but they’re apparently also making their own crude but effective ones.
         1. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 1:35 pm

            USNI news says that the damage on the UAE vessel is consistent with the warhead of a C-802 and it assumes that the missile fired at the Mason was also a C-802. The article link repeats the dubious assertion that it was supplied directly by Iran. Wikipedia is not enlightening as to whether Iran also reverse engineered the EFP warhead for the Noor or would be using a more conventional design.

            According to Wikipedia, the Yemen army were not recipients of the C-802 from China or the Noor from Iran. It does seem unlikely that such a large missile and launching system could have been smuggled in to Yemen. Much more likely I would have thought that at some stage the Yemeni bought older stocks of C-802’s from Iran or another source like North Korea and are using them. I would imagine a Saudi false flag operation is also conceivable if unlikely.
   6. Vatch October 13, 2016 at 2:58 pm

      We all know that the primary reason for the U.S. government’s involvement in the Yemen Civil War is that Saudi Arabia, a major supplier of petroleum, is also deeply involved in it.

      This sort of thing often comes up in discussions of global warming, but it’s worth mentioning in the Yemen context as well. Americans consume too much gasoline and other petroleum products! Using public transportation or bicycles isn’t feasible for many Americans, but few of us need to drive SUVs or muscle cars. A lot of us can adjust our thermostats a degree or two as well.

      Unfortunately, a lot of the people who waste fuel aren’t likely to care whether children in Iraq or Yemen are being killed to help support the American addiction to fossil fuel, but a few might. If one knows people who care about the murder of innocents, and those people drive big cars, or keep their homes too hot in the winter or too cold in the summer, then perhaps one should gently point out the inconsistency.
9. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 7:48 am

   Hey everybody, remember that one election year where that “strong”, “commanding” woman ran for president and had to resort to cheating, friends, sex and race exploitation, tabloid stories, neo-conservatives and World War 3 to win the presidency? What a great time that was for women.

   Soon we will erect a temple for her made from all the bodies smote in the Middle East. We must assuage the leader!

   The coincidence of these Trump stories reeks. Why now? (Trump has been a monsterous, incestuous, demagogue for over a year now). Of course, deflect from Wikileaks (where the real stories are) and because they know the race is much closer than the precious polling shows (whats purpose is simply to influence the vote, not reflect on its potential). For each new batch of emails, we will see you and raise you a long lost sexual victim, with a vague enough story to do its job of tainting our opponent. Of course Bill knows them all personally and will have no problem contacting them.

   File this in the NYT folder next to where those Iraqi WMDs are.
   1. Code Name D October 13, 2016 at 8:21 am

      Indeed. Pedesta batch #5 has exposed direct communication between Clinton campaign and the justice department for the purpose of redacting documents before being released under FOIA or being introduced into the record.
      1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 3:51 pm

         It’s worse than you think. The Hill proposes she’s had this plan for a while. http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/300748-is-team-clinton-systematically-gutting-trump-right

         To which I say, When did a Coup become admirable?
   2. Uahsenaa October 13, 2016 at 8:42 am

      Ultimately it’s a matter of who owns the voting machines. In that regard, it’s worth noting how vehemently the party is turning on Trump. If their secretaries of state don’t want Trump to win, he won’t. Vote rigging has already been proven in previous elections (2004 in particular), and we’ve already seen evidence of it in the primaries re: the gross mismatch between exit polls and the official results.

      Republicans control most state governments, so I imagine whomever they want to win will.
      1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 8:54 am

         Yes that is very interesting. Previously it looked like it would be the Democrat bag of tricks vs. the Republican bag of tricks. That seems to be changing swiftly.
         1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL October 13, 2016 at 2:27 pm

            I always vote anti-Republican, around the globe we have two blocs, the parties that support Capital and the parties that support Labor (or at least used to). The single most compelling reason to vote for Trump in my mind is the Republican establishment condemnation of their own candidate, if he was even close to the policy positions and grifting they hold near and dear they would be cheerleading him nonstop right now. Reason # 2 of course is that his opponent is a Republican, too.
      2. Pavel October 13, 2016 at 9:20 am

         Excellent point. It’s scary how absolutely opaque many of the voting machines are with no paper trails of how someone actual voted. Ralph Nader interviewed an expert who described in great detail how in Bush v Kerry the Republicans blatantly hijacked the Ohio vote. Another reason why the whole US election process is a corrupt farce.
         1. Uahsenaa October 13, 2016 at 11:20 am

            Bev Harris (of BlackBoxVoting) first looked into this, but it was Richard Hayes Phillips who did the actual audit of the voting in Ohio.

            There is a kind of paper trail in the form of signed poll tapes that are printed out from the most commonly used machine, which is basically a giant form of scantron. These tapes have to be signed and witnessed by poll workers before forwarding the machine’s drive for official counting to the county clerk, which is where, along with the Secretary of State offices, the hacking most likely occurs. That’s why when Harris started investigating, she found a number of county clerks who either were fabricating poll tapes to match official results or simply destroying them, despite the fact the law mandates keeping them on hand for a number of years.

            Add to that the recently discovered phenomenon of fractional voting, and you have basically the wholesale undermining of democracy in the US.
      3. HotFlash October 13, 2016 at 10:48 am

         Indeed, and to what Roger noted above, “they know the race is much closer than the precious polling shows (whats purpose is simply to influence the vote, not reflect on its potential),” I would add to pre-explain the doctored voting results to the public.
   3. sleepy October 13, 2016 at 8:51 am

      The Clinton response to the leaks has been not only that they were hacked by Russia, but that they are altered forgeries as well. For the msm, that seems to end the discussion.

      The way to solve the question of forgeries is to simply ask Podesta for copies of the original emails. It boggles my mind that no media, afaik, has asked.
      1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 8:58 am

         Which is mind boggling seeing as Clinton admitted they were legitimate in the debate. I highly suspect that it was a mistake on her part due to the pressure Trump was applying and I highly suspect that the “Lincoln” context she made up for the ‘private-public’ quote was made up on the fly. I would really, really love to see the entire transcripts now.

         But hey… we could just take their word for it.
      2. RPDC October 13, 2016 at 9:53 am

         The e-mails were validated by yesterday’s twitter hack of Podesta. 4Chan found Podesta’s itunes username and password in one of the e-mails and tried it for his iCloud and Twitter accounts.

         Surprise surprise – it was the same password. And unless Wikileaks fabricated documents that correctly guessed Podesta’s password, the emails are genuine.
         1. Dave D'Rave October 13, 2016 at 11:39 am

            Just so. “The Russians did It” is obvious bull.
         2. temporal October 13, 2016 at 12:24 pm

            Best and brightest.

            Of course Podesta could claim that much of the content was changed and not offer to show the differences.

            Most of the “important” Ds seem to be dumber than a box of rocks. There is no security system available that can defeat the stupid of putting passwords in an email. I don’t even know my important passwords – they are in an encrypted file, inside encrypted image and they are all somewhat complex, random and unique. Not that that is much protection but at least I know that if I’m exposed it won’t come from me – unless the attacker can find the file and work around the first two passwords.

            My bank keeps pestering me about setting up an account and doing stuff on-line. I’ve overheard tellers acting as tech support, to people on the phone based on being told the account routing number, while waiting in line. That security hole is never going to happen. The danger around the routing number is one I wish they would eliminate as well but banks screwed that up a long time ago for the sake of speedy transactions.
            1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 2:08 pm

               The neoliberal mind is most clearly laid out in the DMCA: any access control software, no matter how useless or chintzy, is now protected as a notification of intent, and circumvention is a Federal crime with jail time.

               In other words, it’s not so much stupid as playing pretend for keeps.
         3. Tom October 13, 2016 at 12:51 pm

            Rumors are that Podesta’s playlist includes:

            Rock the Casbah – the Clash

            Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon and the Animals

            Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival

            Barbara Ann (McCain cover) – Beach Boys
            1. nowhere October 13, 2016 at 1:45 pm

               When he is in serious business mode it’s:

               Blackened – Metallica

               Symphony of Destruction – Megadeath

               B.Y.O.B – System of a Down

               Combustion – Meshuggah
      3. RabidGandhi October 13, 2016 at 11:24 am

         When you say “the Clinton response”, are you referring to her official campaign? Because I have yet to see Clinton or Podesta claim they were forgeries. Rather their strategy has been once again to try to deflect from the content by screaming Putin as loud as possible.

         The various Team Blue hacks in the chattering class, however, have been shouting “forgeries” with absolutely no proof whatsoever.
10. vidimi October 13, 2016 at 8:03 am

    the prize for litterature was the nobel endowment’s last stand of respectability*. now; that too, has jumped the shark. not to take too much away from dylan’s poetry, but he got the award because of his pop star status whereas past winners would be catapulted into international fame from relative obscurity. maybe next year, katy perry.

    (*i’ll grudgingly admit that medicine and the hard sciences still have some clout, but litterature has now gone the way of the peace prize)
    1. Jim Haygood October 13, 2016 at 8:17 am

       Well, Victoria Nuland after waterboarding a thief
       Looks up at her heroine the Commander in Chief
       Saying, “Tell me great heroine, but please make it brief
       Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”

       The Commander in Chief answers her while chasing a fly
       Saying, “Death to all those who would whimper and cry”
       And dropping the “football” she points to the sky
       Saying, “The sun’s not yellow, it’s CHICKEN”

       — Tombstone Blues
       1. ChiGal in Carolina October 13, 2016 at 11:44 am

          And, more universally, lyrics excerpted from Idiot Wind off the great Blood on the Tracks:
          …
          Idiot wind
          Blowing every time you move your mouth
          Blowing down the back roads headin’ south
          Idiot wind
          Blowing every time you move your teeth
          You’re an idiot, babe
          It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe
          …
          I woke up on the roadside
          Daydreamin’ ’bout the way things sometimes are
          Visions of your chestnut mare
          Shoot through my head and are makin’ me see stars
          You hurt the ones that I love best
          And cover up the truth with lies
          One day you’ll be in the ditch
          Flies buzzin’ around your eyes
          Blood on your saddle

          Idiot wind
          Blowing through the flowers on your tomb
          Blowing through the curtains in your room
          Idiot wind
          Blowing every time you move your teeth
          You’re an idiot, babe
          It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe

          It was gravity which pulled us down
          And destiny which broke us apart
          You tamed the lion in my cage
          But it just wasn’t enough to change my heart
          Now everything’s a little upside down
          As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
          What’s good is bad, what’s bad is good
          You’ll find out when you reach the top
          You’re on the bottom

          I noticed at the ceremony
          Your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
          I can’t remember your face anymore
          Your mouth has changed
          Your eyes don’t look into mine
          The priest wore black on the seventh day
          And sat stone-faced while the building burned
          I waited for you on the running boards
          Near the cypress trees, while the springtime turned
          Slowly into autumn

          Idiot wind
          Blowing like a circle around my skull,
          From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
          Idiot wind
          Blowing every time you move your teeth
          You’re an idiot, babe.
          It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe

          I can’t feel you anymore
          I can’t even touch the books you’ve read
          Every time I crawl past your door
          I been wishin’ I was somebody else instead
          Down the highway, down the tracks
          Down the road to ecstasy
          I followed you beneath the stars
          Hounded by your memory
          And all your ragin’ glory

          I been double-crossed now
          For the very last time and now I’m finally free
          I kissed goodbye the howling beast
          On the borderline which separated you from me
          You’ll never know the hurt I suffered
          Nor the pain I rise above,
          And I’ll never know the same about you
          Your holiness or your kind of love
          And it makes me feel so sorry

          Idiot wind
          Blowing through the buttons of our coats
          Blowing through the letters that we wrote
          Idiot wind
          Blowing through the dust upon our shelves
          We’re idiots, babe
          It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves
    2. Benedict@Large October 13, 2016 at 8:45 am

       The Moody Blues also have wonderful poetry-to-music, but I wonder with this genre whether you can ever actually combine the two without one (or both) giving a little to fit the other in. Does that mean the body of work can’t be considered Nobel level poetry? I guess the Nobel people don’t think so.

       As far as those who also touched greatness but did not win because someone else did? Well, I suspect there are always those in every Nobel awarded.
    3. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 8:59 am

       Now Bono has a friend! A couple more and we can have the first Nobel Band.
    4. RabidGandhi October 13, 2016 at 11:28 am

       I have to admit, after they gave the peace prize to Obama, I wondered how they could possibly top that for inanity. Yet awarding it to Santos for failing to make peace with the FARC may have done just that.

       In other words, if the peace prizes go to those who are expressly NOT making peace, does that mean the literature prize expressly goes to those who are not making literature?
       1. nowhere October 13, 2016 at 1:47 pm

          Like so many things these days they are meta-prizes.

          Meta-peace
          Meta-literature
          …
       2. vidimi October 15, 2016 at 6:38 am

          santos got it for attempted peace. still better than obama
    5. Arizona Slim October 13, 2016 at 1:02 pm

       And here I thought I was the only one. I’ve been doing some major head scratching over Dylan’s Nobel.
    6. lyman alpha blob October 13, 2016 at 1:23 pm

       This isn’t the first time there’s been a controversy about the Lit prize. The other day I ran across the poem Aniara by the Swedish author Harry Martinson. It’s a sci fi poem dealing with a ship that becomes lost in space and was later turned into an opera. While reading up on it I found that Martinson was later awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for this and other works. Turns out he was on the Nobel panel that picked the winners. He didn’t appreciate all the controversy caused by his win and offed himself a few years later.
       1. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 2:08 pm

          In 2015 the Lit prize went to Svetlana Alexievich. Being unknown in Russia and Western Europe, the main merits for her prize appear to be her anti-Russian rhetoric and her personal connection with the Gessen clan.
    7. wilroncanada October 13, 2016 at 11:21 pm

       Attended a Dylan concert at Massey Hall in Toronto in 1965 or 1966 where, when he first came on stage he announced the national anthem, then went immediately into “The Times They Are A’changin’.” When he came out for the second half, he was wearing an electric guitar, at which point some ‘folk” purists began to boo. I commented to the young lady I was escorting, “I wonder where they parked their velocipedes?”

       I must confess I was less attracted to later Dylan stuff, but I don’t agree that it’s a death blow to respectability of the Nobel, merely an acknowledgement that the recipient is in his (or her in other literature awards) dotage and no longer relevant, so therefore safe to sanctify in a Nobel kind of way. I think of Alice Munro (I’m Canadian, eh) who couldn’t attend because of age and infirmity. She had only been the English world’s greatest short story writer for 40 years.

       If it weren’t so irrelevant, I might have preferred recognition of Leonard Cohen, a poet and novelist before taking up singing gigs to make a living.
11. rich October 13, 2016 at 8:13 am

    $1.6 Million Bill Tests Tiny Town and ‘Bulletproof’ Public Pensions

    “The State of California is not responsible for a public agency’s unfunded liabilities,” said Wayne Davis, Calpers’s chief of public affairs. Nor is Calpers willing to play Robin Hood, taking a little more from wealthy communities like Palo Alto or Malibu to help luckless Loyalton. And if it gave a break to one, other struggling communities would surely ask for the same thing, setting up a domino effect.

    http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/business/dealbook/1-6-million-bill-tests-tiny-town-and-bulletproof-public-pensions.html?

    Calpers had no problem playing Robin Hood when they doled out pensioner money to be skimmed by the hedgies and pe guys??

    remember…

    Buenrostro took $200,000 cash from ex-board member Villalobos
    U.S. judge calls crime ‘dagger in the heart of public trust’

    A former chief executive officer of the country’s biggest pension fund was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for steering $14 million in placement fees to an ex-board member in exchange for cash bribes and gifts.

    Federico Buenrostro, 66, who headed the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2002 to 2008, was also ordered Tuesday to pay a $250,000 fine by a San Francisco federal judge who called his crime “a dagger in the heart of public trust.”

    He admitted two years ago to conspiring to commit bribery and defrauding the U.S. and the state of California for his efforts on behalf of Alfred Villalobos, an ex-board member who brokered a $3 billion investment by Calpers in funds managed by Apollo Global Management LLC. Villalobos, who was also charged in the case, committed suicide last year, a month before he was scheduled to go to trial.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-31/wall-street-turns-to-etfs-to-sidestep-illiquidity-in-bond-market

    After the money’s gone….
    1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 9:10 am

       That story is a hatchet job. Mary Walsh has been running hit pieces against CalPERS. This is her previous smear:

       http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/09/new-york-times-owes-calpers-a-retraction-for-hatchet-job-on-pension-fund-termination.html

       This is the real story, from reader Sluggeaux:

       Interestingly, the NYT Business Page story about the town of Loyalton drops the bomb that part of why they pulled-out of CalPERS was that the town had been the victim of a massive embezzlement by local officials. The Sierra County Grand Jury’s report reveals a tight little backwater racked by corruption and incompetence on the level of a Coen Brothers operetta.

       The NYT makes these self-dealing rubes sound like the victims of the big, bad state pension fund. They are SO not.
       1. Ivy October 13, 2016 at 10:54 am

          California has a few of those issues. A prior blow-up involved the City of Bell, where the self-dealing administration looted the revenues by voting themselves gigantic raises and other benefits. Loyalton is probably just the latest in the opacity sweepstakes.
          1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 3:49 pm

             With an aptronym like Loyalton, how could it not be!
       2. rich October 13, 2016 at 10:55 am

          Thanks.
          1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 8:51 pm

             Not your fault. I know since we’ve been going after CalPERS, it’s hard to see them as being a victim, but the knives are really out for public pension funds.
12. timbers October 13, 2016 at 8:13 am

    Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Knew She Didn’t Tell The Truth About A Major Wall Street Vote Huffington Post. Truly amazing how much energy Clinton’s staff puts into proactively covering up Hillary’s mis-statements or lies even if it involves creating more lies. Wonder where they get the idea to take such initiative? Still, these Wikileaks releases showing how corrupt and dishonest Clinton is seem to have become passe which might be partly due there sheer volume (which shld be even more damning for Hillary) and also Trump & Co doesn’t seem interested in using it to their advantage. Looks like the Clinton’s are winning strong on their usual social identity Seinfeld campaign abt nothing.
    1. nycTerrierist October 13, 2016 at 10:37 am

       Important.

       But let’s fret over Trump’s ‘pussy’ antics. That’s the ticket…

       I”m talking to you, NYTimes:

       Crazy idea: why don’t we ‘move on’ from the pussy hysterics? And if needed, we can pick it up again after the election. While the ‘beest, our ‘muscular’ so-called feminist, starts WWIII — putting many more pussies in harm’s way! war is not healthy for pussies and other living things.
    2. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2016 at 10:39 am

       The “black misleadership class” will soon have a new partner in crime–the “female misleadership class.”
    3. AnEducatedFool October 13, 2016 at 11:51 am

       Trump is reading Podesta emails at rallies. CNN did not air it live and did not cover his remarks at length. They are still talking about pussygate even asking his male surrogates to disavow him on air. His surrogates are terrible or the campaign has stopped them from bringing up Clinton, Gore and Biden who all have legit rape allegations made against them.
       1. timbers October 13, 2016 at 12:55 pm

          Thanks. Rarely a MSM reader but this helps me consider that part of it is maybe Trump is trying to use the damning Wikileaks but Media is filtering it out.

          It’s hard to know if something is being pushed by Trump but ignored by the MSM, or if if it’s just being used by Trump. And also the GOP establishment is probably not pushing anything to assist Trump against Hillary at this point.
          1. AnEducatedFool October 13, 2016 at 1:17 pm

             The GOP establishment are the loyal opposition. Unfortunately for Clinton the Tea Party and Trump activists are taking or have taken over state parties and may knock off Paul Ryan to take over the House.

             I want to see her impeached and questioned by Gowdy and Chaffetz. Same with Comey.

             Corporate Media and the Clinton Campaign are trying to destroy Trump after making him their pied piper candidate.
             1. integer October 14, 2016 at 1:47 am

                I want to see her impeached and questioned by Gowdy and Chaffetz. Same with Comey.

                Don’t forget Lynch. Her actions definitely need some more time under the microscope.

                Trey Gowdy vs. Loretta Lynch
13. ProNewerDeal October 13, 2016 at 8:14 am

    Is there a “live” document summarizing the Podesta Wikileaks, with each “update”? I heard in a TYT Politics clip, it is on the “5th update, with 98% of the emails still to be released”.

    Thx again to Lambert for his prediction of HClinton “in the 1st 100 days, expect HClinton to sign TPP, a Grand Bargain of SS & MC cuts, & initiate a new war”.

    From what I’ve heard, the highlights of Podesta Wikileaks are the notion of having a “public position”, & that (her apparently authentic) private position is pro-TPP & pro-Grand Ripoff.
    1. HBE October 13, 2016 at 8:50 am

       Best I’ve seen is on the Donald Trump reddit

       Podesta emails
       https://reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/575e37/new_wikileaks_podesta_emails_part_five_673_more/?client=ms-android-verizon
    2. AnEducatedFool October 13, 2016 at 11:54 am

       HA Goodman does a decent job. He can be found on YouTube.
14. Christopher Fay October 13, 2016 at 8:14 am

    Real fighters, the Yemenese, not the pamper princes of the five-sided-money-b-gone

    http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2016/10/us-navy-ddg-attacked-in-bab-al-mandab-strait-tidewater.html
15. Christopher Fay October 13, 2016 at 8:16 am

    “Rebels” in Yemen? Those are citizens of Yemen defending their country, so Patriots. “Rebels” is NYTimes propaganda framing.

    Why aren’t we focused on the crimes against humanity in Yemen?
    1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL October 13, 2016 at 2:33 pm

       I can imagine what the ragtag bunch of farmers and troublemakers led by one named George Washington would be labelled today.
16. efschumacher October 13, 2016 at 8:24 am

    The Dawn of ‘Modern’ Humanity.

    I do wish Washington Post reporters would give things their proper names rather than some specious English translation. It’s called Ol Doinyo Lengai, Sarah Kaplan. A much more beautiful name than some ‘mountain of god’ rendition.

    And by the way, the Dawn of Actual Humanity was about 180,000 years further into the past, so the headline is meaningless ‘Awe’-jerking.
    1. justanotherprogressive October 13, 2016 at 10:27 am

       Well, this is a WaPo story which means that it has to be taken with a grain of salt. NOVA had an excellent documentary on last week – “The Great Human Odyssey” – which is well worth watching.
       http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/great-human-odyssey.html
17. Hana M. October 13, 2016 at 8:25 am

    “For the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous.” Yes, it may be coming from Trump’s lawyer, but I agree. This kind of charges are far too easy to engineer. If this had come a year and a half ago it might have had an effect, but now? Along with the anti-Russian accusations it all smacks of desperation and collusion. I do not think Trump is toast after this. It might even harden resolve: the unanimity of media and Clintonite voices simply confirms voters’ sense that this election is being rigged.

    Trump actually seems energized by the attacks.Judging by the crowds in Florida this week there is still plenty of enthusiasm.

    One possible fall-out is that fewer Trump voters will acknowledge to pollsters that they plan to back him, widening the apparent lead and setting up a November surprise.
    1. Yves Smith Post authorOctober 13, 2016 at 8:58 am

       I have to tell you, you are really out of touch. The Guardian story includes other women who’ve come forward. This is going to kill him in the view of the public. See Scott Adams, who also sees Trump as over.

       The Times cases are made more credible by the existence of contemporaneous witnesses…as in in people who confirm that the woman complained about the incident right after the alleged grope. The Times has that with one of the two cases. But the first class one is from when Trump was 34 years old and didn’t have any corroboration of that sort. So they might be vulnerable on that one.

       Trump may also be hoping that internal e-mails show that the Times had an agenda in this story. Dunno how important that might be in cases like this.
       1. Christopher Fay October 13, 2016 at 9:31 am

          Scott Adams that analyst of office management is now an expert of the entire social setting. In a dishonest age only comics can tell the truth.
          1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 2:14 pm

             If only because the entire social setting has been refashioned in the shape of office management, even aside from ever-increasing face time.
       2. Skip Intro October 13, 2016 at 10:31 am

          People who read and believe the NYT are already firmly anti-Trump, as are those who would be mortally offended by his locker-room banter. Preaching to the choir at this point seems unlikely to really change the dynamics of the election, and the Clinton gang pronounce the campaign over at their own grave peril.
       3. TedWa October 13, 2016 at 11:01 am

          This is HRC playing to her strengths, she can’t touch Donald on the world stage – which is where the attention should be. All this hoopla about sexual deviance when the focus should be on HRC’s killing millions in Libya and in starting a new cold war with Russia.
       4. RPDC October 13, 2016 at 11:27 am

          Yves –

          First, you cannot say that the “Times cases” are made more credible, and then admit that only one of the two cases has such “supporting evidence.”

          Second, come on – 10 women coincidentally came out of the woodwork on the same day to accuse Trump of assault, with nary a police report among them, being reported across four different outlets. You think that actually enhances the credibility?
          1. Skip Intro October 13, 2016 at 11:41 am

             I believe they have identified the key swing-demographic (white women!), and having seen how much traction they got with the ‘grab ’em’ tape, they’re going all out. Amazing that none of these cases managed to turn up for any of the GOP primary oppo researchers.
             1. ggm October 13, 2016 at 5:13 pm

                I wonder why they didn’t bring the women forward first, get him to deny, then drop the tape. It seems like that would have been more effective.
       5. JohnnyGL October 13, 2016 at 11:59 am

          I suspect you’re right Yves, that he’s toast. But something really stinks about what looks like a perfectly timed, coordinated assault from the media on Trump. Where was all this material during the Republican Primaries? Did the Bush family struggle to get sexual assault victims to come forward? If this stuff had come out in the spring, the Republicans would have had the excuse they needed to stick Kasich in there like they wanted.

          I’d say Trump is being Swift-boated, but I figure a lot of the allegations are true. What do you call swift-boating someone with actual truth when they should have been sank months ago by these stories?

          The media in this country have really gotten close to levels like something from Latin America. Greenwald’s documented the filth of what the Brazilian media have done to aid and abet the coup there.
          1. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 2:18 pm

             All that material was waiting for the point of maximum drama. I seem to remember the publisher of Maxim writing an article on being or getting rich, and using the apt descriptor “silly game with serious rules”.

             You are, quite simply, being manipulated. Can you do without places where there are screens for the next three weeks or so? Time to turn the silly play with serious consequences right off.
    2. Rhondda October 13, 2016 at 9:40 am

       I am definitely out of touch. I don’t watch TV or read MSM anymore. At all. The reason: propaganda. Tired of being lied to. Well, actually well beyond “tired” — more like quietly enraged.

       The hatchet-wielding (flailing?) of the HRC campaign— Russia! Putin! War! Groping! Pussy! — lost me long ago. Every new anti-Trump propaganda salvo hardens my resolve not to buy the BS they’re selling. Lying liars lie. Hillary is a liar. And a war criminal and a garden variety crook. I don’t believe a word she or her proxies say.

       Jill Stein 2016
       1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 12:19 pm

          It’s at times at this that I remind myself that voting against is as important as voting for, maybe even more.

          “We don’t always marry whom we love, but that we love whom we marry.’

          Is that a version of lesser eveilism, that is, is that lesser love-ism (you don’t marry the one you love)?
    3. Vatch October 13, 2016 at 11:35 am

       I wonder how people would have perceived President John F. Kennedy if the internet had existed when he was in office.

       http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/killing-kennedy/articles/the-sex-life-of-jfk/

       Kennedy biographer Robert Dallek describes JFK as a “compulsive womanizer” whose insatiable urge for sexual conquests was fueled by a complex array of personal traumas—his own father’s conspicuous adultery, a difficult relationship with his mother, anxiety about his own health problems and his brush with death during World War II, and the deaths at a young age of his siblings Joe Jr. and Kathleen. “Kennedy himself, who could not explain his need for sex with so many women, probably rationalized his behavior as a diversion comparable with what British aristocrats did, or with the golf, sailing and fishing presidents traditionally used to ease tensions,” Dallek wrote.
       1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 12:08 pm

          Not just women, but beautiful or even fertile looking women.

          We need something to explain that.

          Ego?

          To brag? To impress?
          1. Optimader October 13, 2016 at 11:31 pm

             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_E9iHuNhVY&app=desktop

             Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing (Kygo Remix)
       2. bob October 13, 2016 at 12:20 pm

          “Kennedy himself, who could not explain his need for sex with so many women…”

          Complete mystery-

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Healing_%28South_Park%29

          Can’t find the episode online anymore, another mystery.
          1. bob October 13, 2016 at 2:23 pm

             Found the clip. Classic-

             http://southpark.cc.com/clips/267345/sex-addicts
             1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 4:21 pm

                Best Clip from South Park ever.

                https://youtu.be/6a3BGs1uxfg
18. Colonel Smithers October 13, 2016 at 8:26 am

    Off topic as there is no link to or article about Brexit today.

    Just back from coffee with friends who are on City and Treasury Brexit working groups and can summarise as follows (with apologies for the bullet points as I am dashing off soon):

    May really is a hard Brexiter, although subtler than the three musketeers, and calls the shots. Senior ministers like Hammond have little say and won’t have any.

    Until the infighting stops at ministerial level, the civil servants can’t do anything.

    American firms have the certainty they need and have begun preparation for hard Brexit. Once that tanker moves, there is no going back despite what the likes of Davis, Boris and the Evening Standard have been saying this week.

    Rudd’s speech at the conference was imposed by Number 10 as kite flying, the sort of thing that May is thinking of, but does not want to say (yet). May thinks that most British / English people want to pull up the drawbridge and are not bothered by the consequences, so she is happy to go along as she wants power and believes that anyway. Traditional / City Tory backers have nowhere to go as there is no opposition, although they thought Corbyn’s performance at PMQs yesterday lunchtime was promising.

    Aside, what a splendid picture!
    1. Colonel Smithers October 13, 2016 at 8:27 am

       I apologise. There are links to Brexit. Whoops!
       1. Anonymous October 13, 2016 at 10:13 am

          Colonel

          Many thanks. That is a very interesting contribution. I recall the Chinese curse – may you live in interesting times. These times are too interesting for my comfort!

          Please keep posting when you have Brexit news. I used to frequent professionally, many years ago, the sort of places you have contact with. It is good to be kept informed – even if not reassuring.
    2. Pavel October 13, 2016 at 9:25 am

       Thanks for the inside info. I watched PMQs yesterday and Corbyn seemed very assured and in good spirits. May came across as flustered and hapless.

       I note that Nicola Sturgeon is now calling for consideration of a second Scottish independence referendum. That should stir the pot up a bit further. The EU is cracking up, as is the UK… interesting times…
    3. Harry October 13, 2016 at 9:37 am

       Thanks for the picture!
    4. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 10:52 am

       That is interesting! When looking at the Telegraph link I noticed that the number 1 clicked on story in business was a report that the leakage of jobs has already begun – it won’t be a mass move, just a gradual run down of jobs in London offices while EU offices are boosted. I think that a hard brexit is already baked in now. Soft Brexit is off the table, the only thing to stop it would be legal or parliamentary manoeuvres to push A.50 over to a new election.

       The significance of course is that if business has decided this is the case, they will already be making their plans either to move out of the UK, or to ensure they have a Plan B to do so if things go badly wrong from their particular perspective.

       A bit of a wild card I think is what foreign hot money will do. I suspect many Chinese/Arabs/Greeks/Russians are horrified at how they’ve lost 20% or more in their property investments by way of sterling going down so much. I would guess they will either cash out, or see it as an opportunity to pick up some super cheap bargains.
19. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 8:34 am

    Clueless in the City

    Millions, maybe billions spent on future reproduction of the morons most responsible per capita for climate change. No one stopping to think would they wish this on-rushing hell on anyone they loved, because the child is an accessory, like the pets they already keep so they don’t have to face themselves alone.
20. Jim Haygood October 13, 2016 at 8:45 am

    Requiem for a weasel:

    The decision to let Hillary Clinton off the hook for mishandling classified information has roiled the FBI and Department of Justice.

    More than 100 FBI agents and analysts worked around the clock with six attorneys from the DOJ’s National Security Division, Counter Espionage Section, to investigate the case.

    “No trial level attorney agreed, no agent working the case agreed, with the decision not to prosecute — it was a top-down decision,” said the source, whose identity and role in the case has been verified by FoxNews.com.

    A high-ranking FBI official told Fox News that while it might not have been a unanimous decision, “It was unanimous that we all wanted her [Clinton’s] security clearance yanked.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/13/fbi-doj-roiled-by-comey-lynch-decision-to-let-clinton-slide-by-on-emails-says-insider.html
    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 10:39 am

       Will they all be retiring after Nov. 8, 2016?

       If they are good workers, they should do well, I am sure.

       If anyone is not doing his/her job, Bill Clinton let it be known, with 93 federal prosecutors fired.
    2. Arizona Slim October 13, 2016 at 1:05 pm

       Recall that Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, was a high-ranking FBI official.
21. Larry Headlund October 13, 2016 at 8:46 am

    U.S. Launches Strikes in Yemen After Missiles Aimed at American Ships NBC (furzy). “Missiles”? Yemen has missiles? Better yet, “rebels” which means they are mobile and the only bases they have are ones they’ve recently taken over? How about maybe shoulder-mounted rocket launchers? Will the military porn experts in the readership please weigh in?

    According to this* the suspect is an Iranian Noor cruise missile, a variant of the Chinese C-802 which at over 700 kg would require a pretty hefty shoulder. Truck launched is a possibility.

    * By the referenced article we should be offended by attacks on former US Navy vessels which we have sold. Did we object when the former USS Phoenix was sunk by the UK in 1982?
22. Tertium Squid October 13, 2016 at 8:47 am

    The Dilbert guy gives up on Trump
    1. Pavel October 13, 2016 at 9:29 am

       It seems Scott Adams doesn’t care too much about his female readership… rather inflammatory and chauvinist statements. But he’s no doubt correct that HRC will be mired in investigations.

       1. We will elect the first woman to be President of the United States. That’s good for everyone.

       and…

       2. Everything that goes wrong with the country from this point forward is women’s fault.

       I feel some relief about that. The next four years are likely to be some of the worst in our country’s history. The Republican establishment will make sure of that because a failed America is in their best interest in the short run. Four years from now they want to offer their chosen savior (Paul Ryan). Trump would have a good chance of bullying the Republican establishment as he has done so far. Clinton, not so much. She’ll be buried in scandals, both real and imagined.

       Men had a good run. We invented almost everything, and that’s cool. But we also started all of the wars and committed most of the crimes. It’s a mixed record to be sure. Now it’s time for something different, apparently.

       Hillary Clinton is all yours, ladies. She and her alleged rapist husband are your brand now. Wear them well.

       http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151737656851/the-era-of-women
       1. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 10:14 am

          What a sexist pig he is. Adams overlooked great leaders like Indira Gandhi, Golda Meyer, Ci Xi & Wu Zetian (Qing & Tang Empresses), Margret Thatcher. Frankly it’s kind of hard to find historical women leaders who didn’t start a war. Hillary might make a real break through for women’s equality though, tying Truman on Nuclear War. That will be 50/50 parity.

          Lord Action got it wrong, absolute power doesn’t corrupt absolutely, Those who are already corrupt seek it, then when they have it their existing corruption becomes more evident. Money and fame didn’t make Scott Adams more obnoxious, they simply made more people aware of his already existing properties.
          1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 11:52 am

             Fu Hao as well.

             She was the warrior-queen of King Wu Ding.

             On her Wiki page, one can see a magnificent owl-shaped bronze ritual vessel.

             That she was a warrior, and this from Wiki :

             What is known is that King Wu Ding would cultivate the allegiance of neighbouring tribes by marrying one woman from each of them. Fu Hao (who was one of the king’s 60 wives) entered the royal household through such a marriage and took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks.

             leads me to speculate that she was a Scythian, or a Sarmatian, from the Amazons of the the Greek legend.
             1. Vatch October 13, 2016 at 12:05 pm

                Good speculation about Amazons! I recently read part of a fascinating book, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, by Adrienne Mayor. I’m easily distracted, so I haven’t finished it yet, but so far, I think it’s quite good.

                Separately, there were a few female pharaohs, such as Hatshepsut:

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut#Comparison_with_other_female_rulers
             2. JTMcPhee October 13, 2016 at 2:14 pm

                So what gets lauded are Rulers and Warriors, XX-chromosome variety? Who killed and enslaved how many, looted and all that? And Margaret Thatcher as an exemplar of a woman in charge, or Golda Meir, or India Gandhi? How about Lin Biao, Mao’s wife, or Madame Chang Kia Shek? “Successes” to claim, because WHY?

                How far the discourse has debased — all these folks bemoaning the passing of “democracy” or whatever, piling on to the male totem because of all that abuse by males since patriarchy displaced the Goddess (hungry for blood in her own right, often), passing right over what outcomes ordinary people might benefit from, out of the whole political economy of the planet? Because “woman”? If that’s the complaint, why not vote for Jill Stein? I have to get a new ballot since I marked the first (not sent) mail-in for Trump, but I say it’s time for a complete upheaval. Would be nice if the figurehead was something other than a character out of a horror movie, male and female both…
                1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 3:13 pm

                   What about Pope Joan?
                2. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 4:56 pm

                   Exactly why I hadn’t marked anything yet.
    2. jrs October 13, 2016 at 12:07 pm

       He just wants an excuse of why he has been so wrong and utterly failed to call the election, when most of us knew all along it would probably be Hillary.
23. Jim Haygood October 13, 2016 at 9:16 am

    Projection gone wild:

    In April 2015, a man from Colorado Springs, Colorado carried his computer into an alley and shot it eight times with a handgun after a long battle with the uncooperative machine.

    Authorities said Lucas Hinch, 37, was cited for discharging a fireman within city limits.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3835000/How-times-day-shout-PC-Researchers-say-average-American-suffers-40-000-bouts-tech-rage-lifetime.html#ixzz4MyFGgPiJ

    Just because Windows freezes up doesn’t mean you have to take it out on an innocent fire fighter.
    1. pretzelattack October 13, 2016 at 10:34 am

       “it takes a good man with a gun…”
    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 11:36 am

       The title is more interesting – 40,000 bouts of tech rage during lifetime….on average, for both Luddites and non-Luddites.

       Time for a little anger management, I think.

       “I accept my computer. I accept my computer. It is what it is…”
       1. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 11:57 am

          Did the article mention the disclaimer “round numbers like 40,000 are a confirmation that no science was used in our study advertisement?”
          1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 12:03 pm

             That’s another rage…journalism rage, in addition to tech rage.

             More anger management, I suppose.
24. Spring Texan October 13, 2016 at 9:27 am

    Good article at Common Dreams about recognizing the truth of the Syrian situation. Whether one wants military action or not, the situation and Assad’s responsibility should not be distorted:
    http://commondreams.org/views/2016/10/11/anti-war-movement-must-listen-voices-within-syrias-civil-war

    Unfortunately, there are elements of the anti-war movement that do not just oppose U.S. intervention in that country’s multisided civil war, but actually defend the brutal Syrian regime, which has been responsible for the vast majority of the estimated 85,000 civilian deaths.

    Similar expressions of solidarity with socialist governments and movements during the Cold War, while at times excessive, were nevertheless understandable, particularly in light of Washington’s demonization of any challenge to U.S. hegemony. By contrast, such support for the extraordinarily brutal Assad regime — a family dictatorship rooted in the anti-leftist military wing of the Baath Party — has no moral or logical basis….

    When the United Nations Human Rights Council and such reputable independent human rights organizations as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Médecins San Frontières, and Physicians for Human Rights have documented Israeli war crimes in Gaza, they have received bipartisan criticism in Washington for a supposed anti-Israel bias. In a mirror image of such false charges, however, some Western anti-war activists are denouncing these same organizations as supposedly having links to the U.S. State Department and “propagating anti-Syria war rhetoric and false allegations against the Syrian government and Syrian Arab Army.”…

    Rather than recognizing that it was the brutal government repression against the popular nonviolent pro-democracy movement in 2011 that led many Syrians, in desperation, to take up arms (some elements of which the United States belatedly began supporting), they are claiming that it was U.S. backing of oppositionists that led Assad to fight back. While there were efforts during the administration of George W. Bush to destabilize the Syrian government through a number of diplomatic and economic initiatives, they had no relation to the popular uprising that later emerged….

    It behooves those of us in the peace movement to recognize the complexities of the Syrian conflict and to listen to the voices of the millions of Syrians who desire freedom from both Islamist extremists and the Assad dictatorship.
    1. Cry Shop October 13, 2016 at 10:28 am

       http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/10/links-101316.html#comment-2685160

       I’d add speak to most of the many minorities in Syria, they are all thankful that there isn’t a dictatorship of the 51%, because that would be Sunni dictatorship, and if Saudi Arabia gets it’s way, Wahhabi Sunni.

       If democracy isn’t going to work, then the best choice is a dictatorship of a small minority that can’t push too hard. That’s what the Assad’s tribe, the Alawites offered. It’s been fairly clearly demonstrated that both climate change and outside money/arms/fighters destabilized Syria. Till today, most of the people actually fighting against Assad are not Syrian.
       1. Ottawan October 13, 2016 at 11:59 am

          Its a weird sort of shame that Syria’s former internal political conflicts have been swept away by the war. That’s one of the odder laments of the urban Sunni expats. In other words, politics had class and regional conflicts, not just sectarian problems, and the added complexities allowed some political breathing space.
    2. Rhondda October 13, 2016 at 10:29 am

       Perhaps this will help you sort things out: http://theduran.com/syrian-conflict-not-civil-war-but-war-of-aggression/
       1. jo6pac October 13, 2016 at 1:19 pm

          Thank You, Zune is an idiot and this is closure to the truth.
    3. Harry October 13, 2016 at 10:41 am

       I wrote what was meant to be a longer refutation below. Being an idiot it wasn’t attached to your comment.

       But it seems to me the goal of us policy all along was the creation of a Salafist state in eastern syria to block any unwelcome pipelines and to weaken the syrian state. I really don’t think the welfare of the Syrian people was high on the agenda.

       https://mobile.twitter.com/nizarnayouf/status/786242090464227328
    4. AnEducatedFool October 13, 2016 at 12:22 pm

       What a load of …. Please spend some quality time over at Moonofalabama or at least read David Stockman’s latest piece or Mike Whitney’s latest at counterpunch.

       Washington invaded Syria with a proxy army. Assad has every right to destroy the invaders.

       This liberal hand wringing is pathetic.

       For the record I am far left.
    5. jrs October 13, 2016 at 12:35 pm

       Yea I suspect much of the NGO industrial complex does have U.S. backing, not Médecins San Frontières though as the U.S. bombs them.
       1. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 12:44 pm

          Of course it does, after all a select group of NGOs play a vital role in setting up any color revolution, and are tasked with maintaining the ideological purity of the existing colonies by disbursing money to local “public intellectuals” and “free and democratic” media outlets.
          1. JTMcPhee October 13, 2016 at 2:19 pm

             A long and hoary tradition: “Who Paid The Piper? The CIA And The Cultural Cold War,” by Frances Stonor Saunders —

             This book provides a detailed account of the ways in which the CIA penetrated and influenced a vast array of cultural organizations, through its front groups and via friendly philanthropic organizations like the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. The author, Frances Stonor Saunders, details how and why the CIA ran cultural congresses, mounted exhibits, and organized concerts. The CIA also published and translated well-known authors who toed the Washington line, sponsored abstract art to counteract art with any social content and, throughout the world, subsidized journals that criticized Marxism, communism, and revolutionary politics and apologized for, or ignored, violent and destructive imperialist U.S. policies. The CIA was able to harness some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West in service of these policies, to the extent that some intellectuals were directly on the CIA payroll. Many were knowingly involved with CIA “projects,” and others drifted in and out of its orbit, claiming ignorance of the CIA connection after their CIA sponsors were publicly exposed during the late 1960s and the Vietnam war, after the turn of the political tide to the left.
             https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/CIAcultCW.pdf
    6. vidimi October 13, 2016 at 1:00 pm

       the first three paragraphs in your exerpt were good, but the last two, bollocks.

       the US was very lucky that the two revolutions it supported in the arab spring, libya and syria, just happened to be the only two armed ones. very lucky indeed.
    7. tgs October 13, 2016 at 1:19 pm

       Zunes: Rather than recognizing that it was the brutal government repression against the popular nonviolent pro-democracy movement in 2011 that led many Syrians, in desperation, to take up arms (some elements of which the United States belatedly began supporting), they are claiming that it was U.S. backing of oppositionists that led Assad to fight back.

       This is just false. No one denies that there were peaceful protestors with legitimate grievances as the Arab spring came to Syria. However, there were armed elements among those protestors from the beginning.. Zunes’ claim that the ‘rebels’ are simply unhappy Syrian Sunnis is unbelievable. In the first place, they are not ‘rebels’ they are jihadis from countries all over the world armed and supported by NATO, and the Gulf state monarchies. As Jonathan Steele wrote back in 2012:

       Most Syrians back President Assad, but you’d never know from western media

       His mention of the United Nations is particularly galling. There is a document, the UN charter, that was designed after WWII to end or at least minimize the horrors of aggressive war. The notion of sovereignty is central to the Charter. Washington and its allies, the ones always lecturing the world about ‘values’, have systemically destroyed the UN. The feckless stooge, Ban Ki Moon, is constantly whining about bloodshed and destruction and yet does nothing to enforce the charter of the organization he allegedly leads.

       The US, France, the UK and their proxies have no legal grounds to be participating in the Syrian conflict. Yet they have appointed themselves to be above the law and empowered by the ‘international community’ [ie., themselves and their puppets] to declare who is and who isn’t a legitimate leader [Assad, according the Obama, isn’t]. Borders mean nothing. The west has given itself permission to rain down destruction wherever it pleases.
25. Frenchguy October 13, 2016 at 9:40 am

    François Hollande keeps on digging his own grave:

    In the book “A president should not say that …”, he also said the judiciary is “a cowardly institution”

    Judges in France are one of most reliable, vocal and articulate leftwing constituency. It is beyond stupid to insult them that way.

    http://stopru.org/holland-receives-the-two-most-senior-judges-of-france-after-about-controversies/17605
    (can’t find a proper Guardian/NYT link…)
26. Harry October 13, 2016 at 10:01 am

    “One prominent Catholic who has taken on this role is Mother Agnes Mariam de la Croix, the Lebanese-born mother superior at St. James the Mutilated Monastery in Qara, Syria. She has toured the United States and other Western countries, insisting that the 2013 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, Syria, which killed more than 900 civilians, never actually happened and that the videos and photographs of the victims were all fabricated or staged.

    She also claims that the massive nonviolent struggle in 2011 was actually an armed foreign-led insurgency from the beginning and that the tens of thousands of Syrian civilian deaths during the past five and half years have been “purely at the hands of foreign agents.”

    She was not the only Catholic source of this view. A Dutch priest who had been in Syria for over 20 years expressed the same view in his blog before he was killed.

    There is plenty of evidence that the US was very busy stirring this pot, and may have inserted armed foreigners into early demonstrations. This would match their MO in other “color” revolutions eg ukraine. And Ambassador Ford’s article in the New Yorker generated some striking pushback on twitter from syrian rebels who called him out for lying about the advice he had given to them prior to defection from the regime. They made it clear that he had called for violence.

    So if your point is that the Assad regime is not very nice I’m sure you are right. If your point is that the Assad regime stands out when compared with KSA or Sisi’s Egypt or even the royal family of Bahrain I would suggest you are wrong.

    That goes doubly so now that KSA Qatar, Israel and the US have unleashed Al Nusra on them. You think Syrian Christians, Druze, Shiaa, and Alawites will be treated well if Al Nusra wins?
    1. JEHR October 13, 2016 at 2:12 pm

       The Syrian military dropped many, many barrel bombs on the Syrian people killing both civilians and rebels.
       1. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 2:21 pm

          The US and its allies have used many, many cluster bombs on the Yemeni people (amongst others), killing both civilians and combatants. But when they do it, it is either justified somehow or dismissed along the lines of “mistakes happen”.
       2. JTMcPhee October 13, 2016 at 2:25 pm

          Omigod, NOT BARREL BOMBS! They are so much more awful than JDAMS! And Cluster Bombs! And White Phospohorus! And Thermobaric Weapons! And Hellfire warheads!

          As my ex-wife used to remind me, repeatedly, when I did something it was WRONG; when she did the same thing, that was DIFFERENT.

          The whole fokking lot of us pretend to morality and ethical behavior, but collectively we are just a bunch of apes, braining each other with whatever club or rock comes to hand.

          I for one look forward to our new Reptile Masters and their appetites…
       3. hunkerdown October 13, 2016 at 2:34 pm

          JEHR, taking neoliberalpedia as an unbiased source for information on current events in which the liberal oligarchs are invested is a fool’s errand. Don’t be a fool.
27. allan October 13, 2016 at 10:14 am

    Goldman targets credit-card borrowers with new lending business [Reuters]

    Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) has launched a new online lending business that targets borrowers saddled with credit-card debt, the bank said on Thursday.

    The business, called Marcus, represents Goldman’s first major foray into consumer lending as it tries to earn more from the $124 billion in deposits it has on its balance sheet.

    Marcus, which kicked off on Thursday, will offer uncollateralized personal loans of up to $30,000 to borrowers who meet certain credit requirements, according to a press release. The business will focus on customers who want to manage their credit card debt, Goldman said. …

    Marcus. As in “mark us to model”. And pay no attention to those fat tails.
28. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 10:41 am

    How the Washington Post killed Bernie Sanders’ candidacy
    http://nypost.com/2016/10/12/how-the-washington-post-killed-bernie-sanders-candidacy/
    1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 11:48 am

       This sounds like more good work from Frank, but where was he before? Even in Listen, Liberal he lays the Democrats out flat, yet cannot commit to pulling the trigger and not voting for them. All the research and understanding does little when you cannot do what needs to be done to change it.
       1. nycTerrierist October 13, 2016 at 12:51 pm

          Yes, it’s frustrating he undermines his acute commentary by assuring everyone he’s still voting for the Dems.

          With critics like that, who needs friends?
    2. JohnnyGL October 13, 2016 at 12:05 pm

       Thanks for that one.
29. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2016 at 10:48 am

    Memo to skynet:

    The hard drive on my laptop failed yesterday so I’m having to use a different computer. I tried using a “phone,” but it’s nearly impossible to read and I feel so stupid typing only with my thumbs when I actually have ten fingers. I’m lousy at it anyway.

    Have mercy! and please stop moderating me out of existence. At least I was smart enough to buy a computer that failed while still under warranty. That should be worth something.
30. FriarTuck October 13, 2016 at 10:57 am

    Yves, the link “Refugees or Occupying Army?” is a Gatestone Institute link, not Gladstone Institute.

    After a bit of cursory research, it looks like the Gatestone institute is a right think tank, not a biomedical resarch firm (like Gladstone). According to Wikipedia, Gatestone’s president is John Bolton, if that is revealing.
    1. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 1:39 pm

       Its discussed higher up in this thread. With John Bolton in charge, it looks like its very much a refuge for ‘the crazies’ as Bush Snr called them.
31. Paul Tioxon October 13, 2016 at 10:58 am

    “Tweeter was a Boy Scout
    Before she went to Viet Nam
    And found out the hard way
    Nobody gives a damn”

    From the song: TWEETER AND THE MONKEY MAN
    LYRICS by B Dylan

    The Traveling Wilburys
    ———————————————————————————–

    From transistor radios in cars and in hands, from stereo systems in bed rooms and dorms, we took OUR bath in Civilization from the clear, cold running waters of popular music, American music for Americans, from the small coffee houses and church basements where electric guitars and folkies sang out. Heeding Emerson’s call to The American Scholar, American music sprang up from the shotgun shacks of the Mississippi Delta, the warren of back rooms at the Brill Building and the street corner choirs. In the darkness and scattered light, no light burned brighter than Dylan’s. The fire of thought, the fire of the heart? It was both at the same time, like a wave/particle, good + evil= human. His small measure of warmth and illuminating songs was worth more than thousand page novels, worth more than fully staffed orchestras repeating the great canons of European symphonies over and over, because it was ours, because he was from the Mid-West and his name meant less.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97trw1rrls4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VIygLO4Is

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3onnJuBS18&list=PLC8AE19F91EB0D73D

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmAYziKt2pU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35gheud5xBo

    Congratulations Mr Zimmerman, your time has come!
32. nippersdad October 13, 2016 at 11:05 am

    Apologies if this has already been posted:

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-activists-post-white-house-229654

    I wonder how this went over for the leadership of those Occupy or BLM protests that were broken up by FBI fusion centers. What does Obama not understand about “stop killing us?.” Luckily, he has a plan for the creation of protest movements with less obscure objectives.
    1. Roger Smith October 13, 2016 at 11:50 am

       The dogs are not behaving, best we start re-training them the the way they should be… then they can know better.
33. allan October 13, 2016 at 11:15 am

    When he leaves the White House, Obama wants to create a “platform” to train the next generation of leaders and activists, he said during a town-hall event broadcast on ESPN Tuesday evening.

    Welcome to the appification of the Veal Pen. Whatever the `platform’ is, you can be sure that it will be safely out of the way of the pepper spray, armored personnel carriers and sonic weapons that greeted Occupy and BLM.
    1. nippersdad October 13, 2016 at 11:24 am

       Just more legacy polishing on his part. A speech in which he more or less explicitly says that they just couldn’t hold his feet to the fire because they refused to work with him as he was killing off their movements isn’t of the same exalted calibre as was his former wont. He needs his former campaign speechwriters back to get that fussy note out of the proceedings. He got his future billions, adulation was contingent upon the results he failed to provide; he needs to be happy with what he’s got.
    2. temporal October 13, 2016 at 1:09 pm

       0bama 2.0, the next generation platform.

       First pick an important law school. We’ll help you with that.

       Next find some good corporate sponsors. We know all the ones that pay big for the right task.

       After that find some social good you couldn’t care less about and pretend to support it until you can get a payoff. World peace is a good shtick.

       Make very sure you are seen doing some sort of sport regularly. Dress well.

       If something goes wrong always have a patsy ready. Remember that good PR is the solution to almost every problem.

       Always keep your eye on the ball. Remember that the payoff is what matters.

       This should be good enough get first round funding started.
    3. jrs October 14, 2016 at 4:20 am

       He wants to be Sander’s Our Revolution, although even that has no track record, and then he wants to use it to push neoliberal dominance I suppose.

       Maybe it could be called: My Counter-Revolution ™.
34. Dave October 13, 2016 at 11:45 am

    Hillary’s troubles in Ohio;

    “Do they really think that all it would take is a vote for Trump and “American cars will travel the roads. American planes will fill the skies. American ships will patrol the seas. American hands will rebuild this nation”?”
    Well, if an executive order is passed that no federal tax dollars, either spent by the feds or aid to cities or states, can be spent on foreign made anything, as long as there is an American made alternative, yes.

    Want some internal inconsistency? Look at these two laments:

    “but the suburb his son developed is bankrupt, a victim of white flight (98 percent white in 1960, East Cleveland was 94 percent black by 1990).”
    Therefore, White’s leaving a neighborhood is bad.

    “The same process of “Negro removal” can be seen in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine, a thriving hipster enclave that, according to a Politico puff piece, was “until recently 80 percent African-American.”
    Whites moving into a neighborhood is just as bad.

    “At least with Trump you know what you are getting.”
    Amen Brother. Warts and all, he’s still the better choice.
    1. jrs October 14, 2016 at 4:15 am

       As always how do we know that those American made things aren’t made by prison labor? Any executive order better prohibit it.
35. dcblogger October 13, 2016 at 11:45 am

    things will get worse after the election

    Prediction: On Nov 9 it's all going to get worse. https://t.co/eGCz5zWHaS— Mike Duncan (@mikeduncan) October 11, 2016

    There are few people with an interest in Hillary Clinton doing well. Denouncing her every move will be the mealticket of both right and left— Mike Duncan (@mikeduncan) October 11, 2016
    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 11:59 am

       Apres election, le deluge.
36. Phil October 13, 2016 at 11:47 am

    LOL

    https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/8126

    Tales from the campaign trail

    “>Just stopped for lunch in Maumee, OH, at the Chipotle in a strip > mall next to a Meijer supermarket, an LA Fitness, and a train depot. > > HRC went through the line and ordered a burrito bowl with chicken and black beans, gauc, and an iced tea. No one noticed that she was there, which made for an awkward encounter between me and the manager as I was taking aerial shots of HRC ordering. I think he thought I was from the health department”
    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 11:57 am

       Probably awkward for Hillary as well – she is ‘far removed’ from the struggles of the middle class.

       Does the queen in the UK wait in line, sorry, queue up, to order food everyday?
37. alex morfesis October 13, 2016 at 11:56 am

    Life and money under the empress…obviously even if el donaldo were able to pull a magic rabbit out of his hat, he will not be allowed to govern in peace…

    as the queen bee here says…

    put a fork in him…

    so…

    how does one live, survive and thrive under the tentacles of a mad old princess…mad as in angry at the world and maybe just a little too happy to be able to “drone” her fellow humans…

    will her enemies list get bigger than tricky dickies ??

    obviously she has her own modern day j edgar sitting in place…

    certainly it appears there is panic among those who might be of the gun handling publicly pious red pill types in this part of florida…

    but…with an army as small as the one we had in 1940…and a world of somewhat empty “facilities”…her bark will be much worse than her bite…and thankfully, the only two nations with the capacity to project power have their own internal issues to deal with and can project maybe 10 thousand boots no more than 1500 miles from their borders…

    hardly enough to even tickle sir crazy pants in the philippines, let alone be of any real threat to dayton ohio…

    so…any suggestion as to life under the wicked witch ???

    at least for the first year until the election issues kick in for 2018 by this time next year…
38. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    Navy submarine put lives on County Down trawler ‘at risk’

    The Royal Navy had shown “reluctance to fully engage” in the investigation and that had delayed the report.

    It was five months before the Royal Navy confirmed one of its submarines had been involved and 10 months before it provided evidence to the inquiry.

    Of course the navy was reluctant to cooperate, the Brits and the entire “civilized” world were busy blaming the Putin for the incident. Never let a good fock up go to waste.
    1. PlutoniumKun October 13, 2016 at 1:49 pm

       The Royal Navy has a history of destroying trawlers in the Irish Sea and elsewhere and then denying all responsibility. Quite a few fishermen have died over the years in incidents that were probable submarine collisions.
       1. Jess October 13, 2016 at 4:32 pm

          Collisions? More likely cases of trawler nets being caught by submarines, causing the trawler to be pulled beneath the surface. Once the sinking trawler gets below the depth of the sub, the nets are pulled loose and go down with the ship and its unfortunate crew.
39. John Merryman October 13, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    There seems to be some thought that after the election Trump will fade quietly away and the standard issue Repubs are going to get back to the issue of bashing Hillary for the next four years. Ha.
    Yes, Hillary is going to win and the articles of impeachment will be drawn up within a month, if not before, of her inauguration, but Trump will move onto what he does best, reality TV star and I suspect will largely focus on tearing down every aspect of Hillary he can, from Obamacare to Russia(don’t forget Ivana). We will see picts of Trump and Putin shaking hands, while Hillary cannot get a Sec of State confirmed.
    In four years, it is not going to be Fox News, but Trump/Fox news. It is not going to be the Republican Party, but will split in two and there will be the Trump Republican party and the rump Republican Party.
    When all is said and done, Donald Trump will be a billion dollars richer and flying around in a new Boeing.
    The most Hillary can do to stop it is start WW3.
    1. jrs October 13, 2016 at 12:42 pm

       None of which is going to be positive for the country. I mean this is going to mostly misinform everyone of everything, not to mention breed vast amounts of racial etc. hate. It will be a disaster. I want the left to have a plan (actually the left needs to have two plans: against Hillary’s policy, and against Trump network’s garbage). Wow talk about having one’s work cut out for one fighting a two-front war. The rachet that only moves rightward.

       Expect everything to get worse folks if Trump gets his network. Trump as President may or may not be horrible, Trump as propagandists is horrible, period.
    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 12:43 pm

       I sense people are feeling a Hillary victory is inevitable.

       It’s like down 2-5 in the ninth inning of a post-season baseball game.

       And the standard propaganda technique is to get everyone to buy into your certain coronation. Perhaps that will depress your opponent’s turnout. The claiming of victory is, here, then, actually key to victory. You create your own reality.

       It’s very rare 300 Spartans stay and fight to the end.
       1. John Merryman October 13, 2016 at 2:44 pm

          My intuition is Trump is more interested in protecting his brand, than being president and that his recent moves are more about riding the wave he has created, than trying to govern the whole country. To the extent the status quo is feeding the sense the game is rigged, it only plays into that and will leave him in a more powerful position, than if she was to beat him fair and square.
40. Katharine October 13, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    I’m not sure how to rank pig poop and Duke Energy’s cooling pond, but this one has already gone:

    http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/39658-duke-energy-cooling-pond-dam-collapses-in-wake-of-hurricane-matthew-flooding
41. rich October 13, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    WikiLeaks Fallout: Donna Brazile to America, Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes

    By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 13, 2016

    Despite the unambiguous violations inherent in the title, text and outcome of Brazile’s email, she is flatly denying that she leaked a question to Clinton. In a prepared statement, Brazile said:

    “As it pertains to the CNN Debates, I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did.”

    CNN now appears to be throwing Brazile under the bus.

    Another leaked email shows that on January 4, 2016, Brazile had tipped the Clinton campaign to a Twitter event being planned by the Bernie Sanders’ campaign.

    The DNC now has no choice but to dump Brazile as its Interim Chair if it wants to have a shred of credibility going into the November election. Article 5, Section 4 of the DNC Charter mandates the following: “The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”

    Brazile must go for the same reasons Wasserman Schultz had to go: overt bias to tip the scales to benefit Hillary Clinton during the primary process.

    http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/10/wikileaks-fallout-donna-brazile-to-america-dont-believe-your-lying-eyes/

    not soon enough.
    1. allan October 13, 2016 at 1:02 pm

       Her obvious replacement is tanned, rested and ready.
       Although that would require him to step down as chair, and sole member, of Connecticut for Lieberman.
    2. polecat October 13, 2016 at 1:10 pm

       Go Where ?? … and to what ends ??

       …Ah !…… Now that’s the rub ..
42. JohnnyGL October 13, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/12/russias_lavrov_so_many_pussies_around_the_presidential_campaign_on_both_sides_that_i_prefer_not_to_comment.html

    Sergei Lavrov for the win!
    1. PhilU October 13, 2016 at 5:05 pm

       ++++++++++
       I just about peed myself.
    2. OIFVet October 13, 2016 at 5:21 pm

       That’s not true, the Clintons got rid of Socks because the Big Dawg kept molesting the pussy. Or the pussy molested the Big Dawg, depends on whom you ask and what their agenda is. Anywho, Socks went away to live with Betty Currie, and was offed in 2009, thus adding to the long list of very suspicious deaths of Clinton inner circle operatives. So no pussies in Camp Clinton, no sir! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socks_(cat)
43. Waldenpond October 13, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    Big data boom is over ….
    Because of saturation (3/4 of firms are collecting big data)
    This seems like less like an article and more like a marketing gimmick…. stop using the term ‘big data’ because it has negative connotations and everyone is doing it.
44. Toolate October 13, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    Of course Trump will set to work demonizing Clinton. Thus forcing the left to come to her defense and allowing her to pursue ever more neoliberal agenda. Brilliant .
    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef October 13, 2016 at 3:19 pm

       Or the voters can put Trump in the White House, to show how much we don’t approve.

       “You all must be really unhappy to not have elected her.”

       The stage is set for a great Little People’s victory.
45. Waldenpond October 13, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    I enjoyed the C-span Stein item. Just randomly saw a link and it’s usually a historical reference but I did get to see. The immovable ‘questioner’ was telling Stein to take her name off of the ballot and the interviewer cut his comment and asked the question for him. Stein answered and then they went back to the immovable ‘questione’r to get his feedback on whether on not his question was answered. The immovable ‘questioner’ refused to address Stein’s response and began lecturing for Stein to remove her name from ballots and gave Stein another opportunity.

    The way it played, the immovable ‘questioner’ seemed so sincere yet set the situation up perfectly for Stein.
46. Oregoncharles October 13, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    “Scottish independence must be on the table Politico”
    Indeed, Sturgeon just announced she’s starting the referendum process again.
47. Oregoncharles October 13, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    ” “Missiles”? Yemen has missiles? Better yet, “rebels” which means they are mobile and the only bases they have are ones they’ve recently taken over? How about maybe shoulder-mounted rocket launcher”

    Not an expert, but my understanding is that the “rebels” include a large portion of the military, supporting the former president. They would probably deny that they’re “rebels.”

    The reported missile attacks have missed, so none too professional.
48. Oregoncharles October 13, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    On Brexit, from the Telegraph article: ” “There must be a threat,” said French president Francois Hollande. “There must be a price… otherwise other countries or other parties will want to leave the European Union.””

    That’s a huge admission, essentially that the EU is a bad deal for at least some of its members. Very indiscreet, especially in the Brexit context. Especially the countries like Poland, that are now resisting the Euro, might take that as a hint.
49. Their hearts & minds will follow October 13, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    Re Black Agenda Report, Chicago cops’ omerta is blown worldwide, now that CIA rolled Chicago torture out for crimes against humanity. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is visiting to drag darkest America kicking and screaming into the civilized world. They’ve already had their pointless meeting in Washington with the CIA moles at Human Rights Watch, but they’re too smart to hold still for the DPRK-style guided tour, so the rest of their itinerary is:

    Houston, 15 October (Sat), 11:45 – 15:00
    Venue: University of Houston, Heritage Room
    Contact person: Sandra G Thompson, sguerrat@Central.UH.EDU

    San Diego, 16 Oct (Sun), 16:00 – 18:00
    Venue: ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties, 2760 Fifth Avenue, Suite 300, San Diego CA 92103
    Contact person: Esmeralda Flores, eflores@aclusandiego.org

    Chicago, 20 Oct (Thu), morning, time tbc
    Contact person: Amanda Chavez Barnes, achavezbarnes@ushrnetwork.org
    Venue: ? [why not Homan Square?!]

    http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Detention/Pages/Visits.aspx
50. Bob H October 14, 2016 at 3:13 am

    Radithor made me think of the debate moderator…. roboticaly enhanced.

Comments are closed.