Links 6/24/17

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1. financial matters June 24, 2017 at 7:16 am

   Carlota Perez wrote the chapter ‘Capitalism, Technology and a Green Global Age: The Role of History in Helping to Shape the Future’ in “Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth” edited by Mariana Mazzucato

   Carlota Perez‏ @CarlotaPrzPerez 1hour ago

   Carlota Perez Retweeted Robert Went

   We need to watch all these experiments closely.The Welfare state needs a fundamental update for the work conditions of the information age.

   Robert Went@went1955
   Finnish citizens given universal basic income report lower stress levels and greater incentive to work

   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/finland-universal-basic-income-lower-stress-better-motivation-work-wages-salary-a7800741.html
2. allan June 24, 2017 at 7:51 am

   Our Sydney CEOs using virtual reality to get a glimpse of the realities faced by the people who experience this everyday. #CEOSleepoutAu pic.twitter.com/b53wqESdLA

   You should have waited before reporting this. /s
   In the immortal words of the creators of the Davos refugee simulation,

   We ask press, please, to participate before reporting, as this is a newer form of advocacy and can otherwise be difficult to understand.

   Oddly, a request that the PR flacks for the .01% never made about reporting on Occupy or BLM.
   1. Katniss Everdeen June 24, 2017 at 8:53 am

      Had to check out your link to see what this was all about. RE-markable, and not in a good way.

      From the FAQ’s at the site:

      How intense is the simulation?

      Simulations vary but some can be very powerful. For that reason, we warn those considering an experience that they may be placed in an intense situation. We also assure them that no actual harm will come to them. In addition, we tell them that if at any point during the experience, they feel they cannot manage, they may leave immediately and we will have staff ready to speak with them, as needed. Since we began offering simulations, we have almost never found people do this, but the offer is always there.

      Who is in the cast?

      The cast, and support team, comprises former refugees, IDPs, aid workers and further volunteers. As above, none receives a salary.

      “No actual harm will come to them” but, if the images are any indication, it’s still authentic because all the davos ladies get to rock the refugee headscarf. Oh, and the former victim workers don’t get paid.

      I’m almost embarrassed for them.
3. Bugs Bunny June 24, 2017 at 7:59 am

   Re: Debt Collector Accused Of Taking Money From People Who Didn’t Owe Anything

   My partner was harassed by a debt collector trying to collect on a dentist bill for her recently deceased father. Meaning that the debt had been extinguished. He threw stones at our house, shouted and banged on the door at 6AM. She finally paid the $200 bill, against my objections, just to make it stop.

   We were poor, naive and young. Perfect targets.
   1. Huey Long June 24, 2017 at 8:14 am

      He threw stones at our house, shouted and banged on the door at 6AM. She finally paid the $200 bill, against my objections, just to make it stop.

      Did the dentist hire the local mafia to collect that debt?!?

      I’ve never heard of debt collectors actually showing up, knocking on doors, and throwing things at a house, especially for a $200 bill. That is unreal. I’m sorry this happened to you.
      1. visitor June 24, 2017 at 8:20 am

         If the collector is in a kind of arrangement with some debt collection agency higher up under which he is himself liable in some way for money, he will do anything to get the debt recovered.

         Perhaps there is a Uber of debt collection, and those collectors who have to actually pry the money from debtors are as desperate as car drivers for money.
         1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 10:40 am

            Hmm, this could be easily accomplished, even with actual employees. For instance, auto salespeople receive a draw against (future) commissions. The pressure of the debt to the company supposedly encourages aggressive selling and discourages dealership-jumping — you have to pay up in full in order to quit. Another variant on the company store.

            Many of the salesmen believe it works both ways, ignoring the imbalance of available cash between the parties. The top salesman at my dealership actually referred to his tab as his ‘job security’.
   2. Ed June 24, 2017 at 10:51 am

      I’m pretty sure, though these days you can’t be that sure, that you can call the police and/ or get a restraining order for that sort of thing, especially if its clear that you do not actually own the debt.

      It would be good to retain a lawyer who can arrange for the restraining order and threaten or actually sue the collection agency. The problem is that this would take time and cost more than $200. Its hard to avoid shakedowns for small sums because paying the sum to make the problem go away always works out as cheaper and less trouble than standing on your legal rights. Which are why the shakedowns are for small sums.
      1. WobblyTelomeres June 24, 2017 at 1:25 pm

         Or, for $30, you can swing by your local agricultural supply store (Agri-Supply, Tractor Supply, etc) and pick up a shovel, a tarp, and a 50lb bag of hydrated lime powder, place the items in your yard with a sign, “Throw one more stone.”
         1. The Rev Kev June 25, 2017 at 12:22 am

            The BOFH uses a carpet instead of a tarp so I will defer to his experience here.
      2. lyman alpha blob June 24, 2017 at 1:53 pm

         Good advice although it may not be necessary to go as far as actually retaining a lawyer.

         I’ve been involved with debt collection on both ends of the spectrum, both as a debtor with past due bills and as the person responsible for collecting past due accounts at my company. Many debt collection agencies (as opposed to more legitimate companies who have past due accounts) are pretty fly-by-night operations. About all you need to set up shop as a collection agent is a phone and a list of people to call. Back in the day when I had unpaid bills, there was one particularly aggressive debt collector who would call at all hours of the day, waking up my roommates trying to get me on the phone. I finally had enough of this and told them one day that the debt may be in my name but was incurred by former roommates, I had no money to pay it, and even if I did, I would not pay it as I wasn’t the one who rang up the charges. I then mentioned that it wasn’t my problem that their company purchased these debts from someone who sold it to them for pennies on the dollar and if they contacted me again I’d be suing them for harassment. That stopped the calls pretty quick.

         Many years later, I attended a (rather worthless) training seminar on debt collection as part of my job and learned that there was an entire legal industry devoted to carrying through on threats like the ones I’d made in the past. Debt collectors must follow pretty specific guidelines or face potential lawsuits. For example, a company attempting to collect a debt can be sued for making empty threats, ie if you threaten a client with sending unpaid bills to a collection agency, they don’t pay, and then you never do send the debts for collection but keep calling yourself, your company can be sued for harassment. If you say you’re sending someone to collections, you must actually do so. Also there are guidelines on how often and at what time of day you can contact a debtor. If we have problem customers who won’t make payments, I am very vague on the potential consequences and will usually say something along the lines of “we may be forced to take other measures to collect the monies owed” without specifying exactly what those are in order to avoid being sued.

         People should never let these fly-by-night collection agencies intimidate them. Know your rights and fight back, especially if the debts are not legitimate. And even if they are legitimate, people should not have their lives ruined because they’ve temporarily fallen on hard times and can’t come up with a few hundred bucks, particularly as the parties to whom they originally owed the debt have probably stopped caring long ago when they sold the debt off to an agency in the first place.
         1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:01 pm

            Here in Canada, if you demonstrate intent to pay, you can sic the Attorney General’s office on aggressive debt collectors who hound you past that. According to the courts, you can demonstrate ‘intent to pay’ with regular payments. Of any amount. If you really do owe the money, send them a buck a month.

            Oh, and my old student loan went to collections and guess what! The collection agency regularly misapplied the payments! And I couldn’t tell for sure, since they were all for the same amount and I couldn’t reconcile to the date the cqs actually cleared.

            Until I sent them blah dollars and 1 cent, the next payment was blah dollars and 2 cents, etc. So they couldn’t pull the late payment bullsite on me.

            I also advised the callers, legit or not, to “get a real job”.
   3. Bugs Bunny June 24, 2017 at 4:04 pm

      To reply to the various advice and btw, I’m now a lawyer a few years on from that awful time, we had no idea what to do and knew that a lawyer was way beyond our means. I told my partner that I’d write a letter about it and it would go away but the debt collector scared her so much that my pleas fell on … ears.

      Thanks for your empathic responses. Now I live in France where bailiffs can show up at your door and repossess your furniture, which makes one…cautious. But life is definitely better, in the long term.
   4. Moneta June 25, 2017 at 7:16 am

      Don’t know where you live but debt here in Canada does not get extinguished when one dies. It gets paid by the estate of the deceased… so the one who inherits should decline the inheritance if the liabilities are greater than the assets.
      1. Pat June 25, 2017 at 7:35 am

         In at least one state, it depends on the size of the estate and the form of the bequest. Unsecured debt has no claim on insurance benefits or an estate bequeathed to a legal family member with assets below the family exemption. Taxes, mortgages and vehicle loans can be pursued.
4. ex-PFC Chuck June 24, 2017 at 8:06 am

   Fascinating piece about the orca predation of the fishing fleets. Finally, I thought, another species had realized who was f***ing up the planet and had gotten p***ed off. Then I got to the part about the worst of the problem being in the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia. That made everything clear. Putin put them up to this.
   1. visitor June 24, 2017 at 8:08 am

      I already said it elsewhere, but…

      Haven’t 90-95% of all commercial fish populations been wiped out already?

      If so, intelligent orcas might be just turning to piracy because fishing vessels are so much more efficient at grabbing a dwindling resource that plundering them expends vastly less effort and energy than hunting a scarce resource “the natural way”.
      1. Mark P. June 24, 2017 at 8:20 am

         I’d bet on it, I think. No other explanation really makes sense.
      2. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 9:13 am

         From the Alaska Dispatch article:
         “Fishermen say they can harvest 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of halibut in a single day”
         How long can that go on? At that rate not long, exemplified by the decimated Atlantic fisheries.
         A good book on the subject Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food – Paul Greenberg
         cod, salmon, tuna, seabass.
         1. oh June 24, 2017 at 9:32 am

            Harvest is such a filthy and misleading word in this case.
            1. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 10:32 am

               One of the points of Four Fish is that the Ocean fishery is the last vestige of human hunting of wild food. To use the word harvest is indicative of the confusion regarding what the ocean fisheries are.

               Another issue covered in the book is fish farming. Aquaculture is a complex endeavor and if done badly, very destructive on a number of levels. What has been learned is that despite their favored status as seafood types, cod and salmon are not good candidates for farming.

               There are species far better suited for aquaculture and with a world population approaching 7.5 billion people the days of industrial fishing on the high seas will quickly come to a close one way or another.
               1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 10:42 am

                  Ocean fishery is the last vestige of human hunting of wild food.

                  Rather, Ocean fishery is the last frontier of humans exploiting free resources.
                  1. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 10:51 am

                     At this stage I think that’s right. Before the natural world became grotesquely unbalanced by human agriculture, industry and of course population growth we were all items on the food chain.
      3. HBE June 24, 2017 at 9:21 am

         The last number I saw was 85%, but it is probably close to 95% by now, so you are probably right about orcas reasoning.

         I’m not a vegetarian but I absolutely refuse to eat any seafood, for just this reason, if we could see our effects on the ocean as clear as we see strip mining I think a whole lot of people would be sick and disgusted.

         If we had any foresight as a species we would have started paying these fishing fleets to assist researchers and conservation efforts on a mass scale instead of fishing.

         And a depressing fact to finish it off. Much of the fish caught globally is actually turned in feed for fish farms to fatten up more profitable species.
         1. integer June 24, 2017 at 9:32 am

            If we had any foresight as a species…

            Along these same lines:

            Giving up beef will reduce carbon footprint more than cars, says expert

            The heavy impact on the environment of meat production was known but the research shows a new scale and scope of damage, particularly for beef. The popular red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in five times more climate-warming emissions. When compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is even more extreme, requiring 160 times more land and producing 11 times more greenhouse gases.
            1. marieann June 24, 2017 at 11:01 am

               We gave up beef about 15 years ago. I did at first and then my husband did since he does the cooking and didn’t want to make different meals.
               Beef gives us both indigestion, so if we are served it at family functions we make sure we have Tums at hand.
            2. jrs June 24, 2017 at 11:38 am

               ok reduce beef and save some carbon, all good, but pretty soon humans will have given up ALL the things they are adapted for nutritionally (I’m not arguing people need red meat all the time, just that humans are omnivores), just to support a population of ever more billions and pretend the planet can support them. All the while of course illustrating that it CAN’T (and even more crazy when it’s all GMO crops soon). We really need zero population growth now.
               1. marieann June 24, 2017 at 12:54 pm

                  Oh! I am certainly with you on zero population growth, we will never be able to support the population we have on what we can grow never mind the extra billions to come. However I didn’t give up beef to save the planet,I still eat pork and chicken.

                  I try to follow Michael Pollan theory of nutrition.
                  Eat food, real food and mostly plants.

                  Humans need very little meat to stay healthy about 4-8 oz/day, for me that’s a small chicken breast.

                  But then humans in the west eat way more than their share of beef and everything else
               2. integer June 25, 2017 at 5:23 am

                  Good point. I agree.
            3. gepay June 24, 2017 at 5:02 pm

               where I live in rural VA, small mountains and many hills, bordering the Shenandoah Valley, raising cattle is the best use of much of the land. Before tractors became common in the 50s, the hills were worked with horses. The rivers would run red from the erosion. These former farmed hills are now pastured and fenced – the flattest land used for hay fields. Many of these are slowly being turned into housing subdivisions – requiring much more county government services, raising the property taxes for everyone. I buy locally raised beef. People who don’t need to eat of course would prefer it all turn back into forests as it was when the Native Americans lived here.
               1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 8:44 pm

                  If blight-resistant chestnuts can be developed, the forests would produce more food than the present pastures. To say nothing of the hardwood lumber.
                  1. different clue June 25, 2017 at 1:45 am

                     http://www.esf.edu/communications/view.asp?newsID=3062
         2. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 10:55 am

            If we had any foresight as a species we would have started paying these fishing fleets to assist researchers and conservation efforts on a mass scale instead of fishing.

            Anecdotal. Friend of mine was a Navy sailor on a govt research ship in the North Atlantic. One night he was making his watch rounds and when the ship’s lounge, there was one of the scientists on the couch, ‘bawling his eyes out’. He asked one of the other researchers, “What’s the matter with him?” Response, “He just did the plankton numbers.”

            That was ’83-’84.
            1. HBE June 24, 2017 at 12:23 pm

               And plankton are as important a carbon sink as the rainforest. In an extremely dark sort of way it’s sometimes funny to me how completely F’d we are as a species.

               Everyone still wants their 2 (or more) kids though, in the developed world there is no excuse for this mind set. Want more than one child, adopt.

               I don’t see population controls coming into effect, so it will happen the natural way (a la moose on Isle Royale). Because starvation, war, and suffering are so much more palatable than just controlling birth rates.
            2. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL June 25, 2017 at 4:34 pm

               I dunno, we’re just doing our job as a species, exploiting our niche. That happens to include the whole planet. We’ll overpopulate further, food supply won’t keep up, endemic disease from sitting in our own filth, then a population crash. Someday we’ll just be a very interesting layer for some future cockroach geologist to ponder. Chance of long-term survival is of course, zero, maybe we can spawn robots by automating the entire process from metal mining to processor programming, we can leave a few JPEGS on their hard drives of a tumbling waterfall on the Olympic Peninsula with native Americans (sustainably) harvesting wild salmon.
               1. Blennylips June 25, 2017 at 5:08 pm

                  Spot on.

                  Rules of evolution and all, but we cheated when we added cultural transmission and (temporarily) bypassed evolutionary checks & balances.

                  As attractive as the Gaia Hypothesis is, I’m thinking the Medea Hypothesis is more likely true: Gaia Hypothesis vs. Medea Hypothesis
      4. PlutoniumKun June 24, 2017 at 9:34 am

         So far as I know, stocks have been strengthening in those areas due to greater controls on fishing, so I doubt its desperation from the Orcas. They have simply found a new, easier way to get food.
         1. HBE June 24, 2017 at 9:53 am

            “Greater controls” on a massively overexploited and pressured species group does little. With new technologies they are able to immediately spot schools, with bigger, deeper nets they catch more. Leaving little for orcas.

            Overfishing
            http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/ocean_ecosystem_facts/overfishing_statistics

            One of the more affordable new technologies.
            https://mytimezero.com/tz-professional/solution-for-commercial-fishing
         2. Sam Adams June 24, 2017 at 10:01 am

            Whole Foods
         3. Blennylips June 24, 2017 at 11:19 am

            The fact that the Pacific ocean is turning into a desert may have something to do with it.

            Maybe radiation hormesis upped their cleverness.

            Hydrogen and steam explosions pose ongoing risks at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, where three such events have already occurred in the past five days

            As someone said recently, given access to a search engine and the curiosity of a turnip, one could find all sorts of interesting things about MOX spent fuel and the severe die-offs up and down the west coast.
            1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 4:50 pm

               The Fukushima link is from 2011, but it is continuing to “leak.”

               Global warming and acidification (which nearly killed the oyster industry) are also big factors on the West Coast.

               In general, orcas are as smart as people; they just found an easy way to get a meal. If it drives the fishing boats away, creating an orca-policed reserve, so much the better.
            2. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:11 pm

               Love the handle, Blennylips!
               1. Blennylips June 24, 2017 at 8:42 pm

                  Thanks & nice pics; a wondrous creature.

                  Quite the riot to dive with too
                  Meet the Blennyies[YT]
         4. lyman alpha blob June 24, 2017 at 2:03 pm

            This story reminds me a little of the orcas from Eden Australia who developed a cooperative realtionship with the whalers of the day – they would herd baleen whales into the harbor where they would be harpooned by the whalers. The whalers would let orcas have the lips and tongue and take the rest for themselves which seemed to be a satisfactory deal for both parties until the humans decided to start taking it all, at which point the orcas stopped cooperating.

            Maybe these orcas are descendants of the ones who got screwed by the whalers of the past and are exacting some revenge.
      5. marieann June 24, 2017 at 11:03 am

         Humans and Orca’s are the top predator on the oceans

         I would say that the Orca’s have the humans beat at the moment.
   2. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 10:02 am

      I think it’s a hilarious piece of Good Karma.

      Also, Putin can synch up Soviet Era radio waves with all whale neurons. That’s been known for decades. The KGB did do experiments with it on sperm whales, but the whales attempted mating with the stern of fishing boats. Stern my ass, the whales found out. Stern was an understatement!

      Sadly, the damage was done and the sperm whale population declined so drastically that KGB scientist were in shock and refused to do further experiments, even with the promising results of reported sperm whale mating with US Navy submarines.

      However, in recent years, the Russian Navy has privately complained thru diplomatic back channels that Russian subs have been attacked, but always a frontal attack on the bow.

      They claim “whale song” has been translated by Russian zoology workers and seems to say, “Oral Sex!”
      1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 11:02 am

         Well duh comrade. All the deep water navies have subsonic sound communications systems to “talk” with their submarines underwater. No radio waves needed. There is also ELF and its’ brethren.
         See, and sense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_with_submarines
         Also, for you in a tech sense: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/1006592.pdf
         Considering how large the heads of the misnamed Sperm Whales are, true “oral sex” would be more of a fluke.
         1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 5:28 pm

            Da, buttda Rooskies figured out howto bounce radio waves off of seawater and perturb ocean waves and oscillate with Fourier transformed encoded whale song. No small, trick, I’m just figuring out how to do that now with my free Sony Audacity recording studio software.

            Also, Putin told the whales that if he sends the Red Button Whale Song, they should go for the missile tubes. So now it’s a strategic MAD deterrent too. No wonder we are terrified that the Soviets may respond to a first attack accident and we’d lose a nuke holocaust when the response blows us all to the Empty Dimension!

            Speaking of songs, I’ve had another enter my mind and been trying to pin it all down in cognitive sequences. Waking up was rough this morning, as you can tell from the Locomotive Breath song ending. It did have a cathartic effect on me and I got rid of most of my bad feelings.

            Dr. Shrink says it’s supposed to work that way, but he still recommends I tell him and no one else these things.

            It’s about what sort of normal people might do with their pets, if they ever see this song, and really believe hard that it’s possible to do this with the right kind of pets, assuming they are all cooperative at the same time.

            It’s nearly done. Just needs spellchecker, proofing and typing up. Should be ready to post tomorrow AM.
            1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 5:50 pm

               BTW:

               Monkey Dude was at the Haus Of The Risin Sohn last night and hung out with Madam Bandersnatch over beers and Sultry Pink Revlon Finger$ToeNail polish.

               He told her the Rooskie Whale Song Story and she laughed so hard they had to break into the fire extinguisher cabinet and give her the emergency oxygen!

               When Madam awoke, she was so deliriously happy, she announced free vouchers to registered Republicans for seconds if they wanted to stay longer into the evening. Monkey Dude grabbed the oxygen and a bottle of Revlon to have a good time later with the girl upstairs!

               I just had to relate that. At least something cool happens in this country somewhere!
               1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 7:44 pm

                  Oh man, do I have the music video for Monkey Dude!
                  Rammstein; “Sonne.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StZcUAPRRac
                  1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 8:38 pm

                     Ya Baby! Looks like our Tucson Goth Hot Liquid Metal Disco!

                     McCain shows up as Special Guest sometimes and likes to do his Painful Thumbscrew act with his wife wearing an Asian mask and kimono. His grandkids have a Goth Bongo Drum Quartet Act!
                     1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 8:52 pm

                        This ain’t Monkey Dudes thing tho. He likes hanging out with Madam Bandersnatch and getting stoned, a little drunk and then hit the sack and go straight, straight ,straight, for as long as possible.

                        Say’s he doesn’t like the kinkster girls – “they full of themselves”, he says, and are way too much trouble for a simple screwing.

                        He says, with The Madam, protocol is say hi first, dive the muff, then do the monkey muff. Everyone knows why they’re there!
                     2. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 9:25 pm

                        They wouldn’t by any chance, call themselves “The Aristocrats” would they?
            2. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 7:35 pm

               Hey, dude! Fredrick Pohl has an AI Dr. Sigfrid von Shrink in his Heechee novels. Do you and Robinette Broadhead have the same therapist? How kuwll is that?
               1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 8:32 pm

                  Prolly. He lives in a ritsy LA burb in a big house and his full name is Von von Shrink. Bet zay share ze same Vaterland.

                  His wife and daughter are both Doms and enjoy Dominating and knitting needles.
                  1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 9:29 pm

                     No, I think that he lives in a Silicon Valley server farm. His “women” the last I heard are both on the Executive Committee of the Dominatrix National Committee (DNC.) There are some other (in)famous women associated with that august body.
   3. AnnieB June 24, 2017 at 1:13 pm

      Seems these Orcas are reproducing well. The outlook for Orcas is not so good in Puget Sound. In 2015 I went on a whale watch with a fellow who had a small boat. He was very knowledgeable and told us that no Orcas had been born that year, that their numbers were diminishing year by year. He thought it was because of water pollution.
      1. uncle tungsten June 25, 2017 at 4:21 am

         The loss of orcas might also be attributed to gunshot wounds. Fishers are renowned worldwide for eliminating competitors. Of course there are many who would never consider this response but it only takes a few mercenaries. Sadly the dolphins are persistently slaughtered by humans.
   4. Alex Morfesis June 24, 2017 at 4:04 pm

      Dogs have masters, cats(& now orcas) have staff…someone must have dropped a waterproof smart phone in the deep blue and the orcas started by watching all the cat videos and soon figured it out…
   5. polecat June 24, 2017 at 8:30 pm

      ‘Captain’ … There be Cyber Whales !’
5. visitor June 24, 2017 at 8:06 am

   Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change.

   All right then. Logically, this leaves the possibility that

   Consumer Gmail content will be used or scanned, but not for any ads personalization after this change.

   The Google feed to NSA comes to mind, but there might be other possibilities…
   1. oh June 24, 2017 at 9:34 am

      Yeah, I believe Google. /snark
      1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 11:05 am

         Oh! A new form of Internet etiquette; Google Snark.
         This gives new meaning to, “App yours!”
6. katiebird June 24, 2017 at 8:22 am

   I guess this was inevitable, but I am still disappointed:

   Single-payer health care put on hold in California as leader calls bill ‘woefully incomplete’

   Nevertheless, he said, “this bill has played an important role in elevating single-payer as an important option for California in light of the proposed carnage being offered by the U.S. Congress and the president.”

   In his statement, Rendon said the bill is not “dead.”

   Noting that this was the first of a two-year legislative session, Rendon said the legislation could benefit from a deeper discussion in the Senate, its house of origin.

   “The Senate can use that time to fill the holes in SB 562,” he said, “and pass and send to the Assembly workable legislation that addresses financing, delivery of care and cost control.”

   That line, UC San Diego’s Kousser said, reads as a “little bit of a slap” at the Senate.

   “What the Senate did to the Assembly,” he said, “was send a politically popular but not perfectly worked out bill and made the Assembly do the dirty work of killing it.”
   1. Carolinian June 24, 2017 at 9:45 am

      Brown v Brown

      https://theintercept.com/2017/06/23/california-gov-jerry-brown-thinks-single-payer-cant-work-watch-presidential-candidate-jerry-brown-disagree/
   2. Ernesto Lyon June 24, 2017 at 11:37 am

      California legislature Dem supermajority are a bunch of poseurs and cons. They wanted the pr of a single payer bill but not the responsibility of making it a realistic possibility, as that would hurt some of their key patrons.
      1. katiebird June 24, 2017 at 11:43 am

         Much like Obama’s Super Majority in 2009.
      2. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:16 pm

         And the Dem superdelegates of 2016.
   3. Elizabeth June 24, 2017 at 2:36 pm

      Californians may remember SB 840 which was put forth by Sheila Kuehl was a single payer system which passed the legislature (both Assembly and Senate). The details of funding, cost controls, and other aspects were fully worked out. Arnold vetoed the bill. Honestly, I don’t see why, if Calif. really wanted to pass a single payer plan, couldn’t resurrect this model, tweak it (if need be), and pass it.

      All Jerry Brown has to do is look at how it will be funded. It can be done – it just won’t be.

      http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/august/sen_kuehls_single_.php
      1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:31 pm

         Oh, Zelda! She inspired me back when she was Stu Erwin’s TV daughter, and obviously the brains of the outfit.
7. allan June 24, 2017 at 8:22 am

   Single-payer health care put on hold in California as leader calls bill ‘woefully incomplete’
   [SJ Mercury News]

   A proposal to bring universal health care to California — replacing the private insurance market with a government-run single-payer plan — was abruptly put on hold Friday by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, all but ensuring the nationally touted measure will not pass the Legislature this year.

   Earlier this month, the state Senate voted to pass a $400 billion plan sponsored by the California Nurses Association, sending it to the Assembly. But the measure had few details — including how the state would raise the money to pay for it. …

   Champions of single-payer health care say that it will save Californians money, even though their taxes would increase, because they would no longer pay premiums or deductibles and the system would eliminate insurance-company profits and overhead. A study released last month, commissioned by the nurses, found that such a system could save Californians $37 billion annually on health care spending, even as it covered nearly 3 million people who are now uninsured. …

   Shorter Rendon: folks need to have a conversation to understand how hard governance is.
   1. katiebird June 24, 2017 at 8:26 am

      Amazing!! We even used the same source!!

      How many times, in how many states does single payer have to be shot down before we get it?
      1. allan June 24, 2017 at 8:31 am

         The NC equivalent of ESP?

         Sadly, single payer is going to be thwarted many times before it gets approved somewhere,
         and then there will be a lot of forces gunning for it to fail. It is going to be a long, hard fight.
         1. WobblyTelomeres June 24, 2017 at 8:39 am

            Looks like step one is to oust Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. Put the quaking fear into those that oppose single payer in the same manner the Kochs put the fear into Republicans with Dave Brat (v Eric Cantor).
         2. Carla June 24, 2017 at 1:51 pm

            It has already been a long, hard fight. I have a friend who is 98. In high school in the ’30s, she was on the debate team. For the debate “Should the government pay for health care for all Americans?” she debated the “yes” side of the argument. She has been a major advocate for seniors in our state, educating them about Medicare and how they can learn about “supplemental” insurance that best suits their needs. The shame of it is, we don’t even have single-payer for seniors. We need Expanded & Improved Medicare for All !
      2. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 9:29 am

         Am I wrong in thinking single payer would be best addressed at the Federal level because of fiat currency origins?
         Still if US government representatives were interested in finding solutions to societal problems instead of finding societal problems a solution for lining the pockets of their favorite corporations with lucre they would take L Brandeis at his words, a “State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments.”
         Critical assistance in funding the experiment would come from a curious federal government in search of answers.
         1. tegnost June 24, 2017 at 12:09 pm

            I agree the federal level is best but several states can, in the spirit of your brandeis quote, force the feds to act in order to prevent a cumbersome patchwork, so like the 420 the more states that grapple with it, the sooner it’ll happen at the federal level , maybe also leading to a more better program but since grifters gotta grift I won’t hold my breath on that. Due to the toxic leadership in california I don’t expect it will come from there, though.
   2. Arizona Slim June 24, 2017 at 9:19 am

      Conversation. There’s that word again.
   3. Katniss Everdeen June 24, 2017 at 9:25 am

      jonathan gruber, yes you read that right, when askied to comment on the repub “healthcare” bill on msnbs this morning:

      Interviewer: “What do you think about a “medicaid” for all option?”

      gruber: I think that a single-payer option is something that has been discussed a long time, from an economics perspective it’s got a lot of pros and cons, from a political perspective it’s all cons. It’s just really hard to get this through……have to get a large tax increase, you’d have to make many people change their insurance coverage which they don’t “like,” you’d have to basically upend the u.s. healthcare system.

      “We have tried for a hundred years to do that. We’ve always failed. The reason obamacare succeeded, and it did succeed, is because it was more modest. It wasn’t as ambitious as past efforts, like the clinton effort and previous efforts, ok. And the thing is, if we want to think about single-payer, that’s a fine thing to discuss, the pros and cons.

      “But what is very important for your viewers, especially your viewers who really “believe” in universal coverage, is not to lose their fight for obamacare because of some hope for single payer. Single payer’s not happening in the near term, it’s simply not, ok……….”

      So there you have it–straight from the horses’s ass’s mouth. “Medicaid” for all. Jeez.
      1. Arizona Slim June 24, 2017 at 11:43 am

         Basically upend the US health care system. And Gruber is saying that like it’s a bad thing.
      2. lyman alpha blob June 24, 2017 at 2:10 pm

         …you’d have to make many people change their insurance coverage which they don’t “like”…

         Right, because right after mom, hot dogs and apple pie, Americans really love themselves some (incomprehensible,high deductible, overly expensive) insurance coverage!

         What utter BS. I’d ask how dumb do they think we are, but we already know the answer to that one.
         1. Pat June 24, 2017 at 3:30 pm

            I would say that Gruber is right, at least if it means their insurance is crappier than it was before. Or even if it is crap, but the only thing they can get and it is required they get it.

            There would certainly be a fair sized portion of Americans who would hate single payer, but frankly the ever increasing cost of insurance, rising deductibles AND the increasing problems involved in getting care their insurance should pay for but they don’t want you to get makes that percentage smaller every year. And many of those remaining will be able to deal with that by buying probably expensive supplemental insurance or getting their companies to do so. The rest will just have to deal with the financial and career loss of no longer being able to prey on the American public who wants health care.

            And very honestly despicable Gruber and our bipartisan political class don’t care about random Americans not wanting to change their insurance. They are ONLY interested in the concerns of the last group I referenced.
            (And to be clear the Republicans don’t care about the ideology of entitlements or big government or deficits either. The bullshit excuses may be different but the reason for them is all the same – Our Oligarchic ruling class and their well being. Which is why the Senate bill is really a tax cut… )
            1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL June 25, 2017 at 4:51 pm

               You do not understand single payer if you think “a fair sized portion of Americans would hate it”. Single payer can co-exist with expensive discretionary customized insurance plans (assuming you think that’s what “a fair sized portion” of people really want), as it does in places like The Netherlands. A basic menu of services are provided at fixed cost and insurers can get all rent-y on top of that with service add-ons, but all claims are processed through the same mechanism.
               There is no apology for Dems obstructing single payer, as Obama did from the get-go by taking it “off the table”. Repubs of course need no apology for maximum rent-seeking but the Dems are/were supposed to be an alternative to that. If people want Republican policies they will vote for a real Republican, not a two-faced “lite” version.
      3. GF June 24, 2017 at 2:37 pm

         “…have to get a large tax increase”

         A tax increase is already in place ($1 trillion) paying for ACA parts and pieces. Just transfer the taxes and fees into the Medicare for All pot of funds as phase-in progresses. If more is needed then just tax capital gains at 35% and place a modest transaction fee on derivative buys and sells. No problem.
         1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 10:49 pm

            Excellent ways of clawing back wealth ‘earned’ by grifters. But actually, a sovereign currency can just keep on doing what it does — that is, print money. The ‘money’ is free, but what are you gonna allocate it to? It’s that old guns/healthcare argument.
   4. TK421 June 24, 2017 at 10:27 am

      Sigh.

      “How do we pay for this?” Oh yes, how can we afford a system that spends less than what we have now?
      1. tegnost June 24, 2017 at 12:19 pm

         yeah, should be how will I get paid for this, you don’t want my snowflake to have student loans do you
      2. jsn June 24, 2017 at 5:29 pm

         The problem is, every dollar of that displaced or diminished cash flow has an organized political constituency that in our post Buckley vs Valeo world has a constitutionally protected right to bribe congress critters.

         Its not the cost, its who bears it and since the rich can buy politicians, those of us who can’t will continue to pay needless rents to have actual health care denied.
      3. Lynne June 24, 2017 at 11:44 pm

         I just don’t get it. The newscast I heard said single payer would never work because it would mean an extra 15% payroll tax that employers would never be willing to pay. My employer pays more than 16% of my wages for my insurance now, and I pay another 3% on top of that as the employee share. All told, my premium is almost 20% of my gross and that’s not counting deductible and copays. How could a 15% payroll tax be more than that? Granted, I’m not paid all that much, but neither are lots of employees.
   5. jrs June 24, 2017 at 11:50 am

      well it actually is hard, but let’s pretend it’s all a problem with governance rather than screwed up laws the PEOPLE THEMSELVES have directly passed shall we?

      I mean the legistlature shouldn’t give up, but a 2/3rds requirement for passing taxes *IS* a hard hurdle. Not impossible but hard, and this ridiculous hurdle was imposed by the voters themselves with Prop 13. Now most of the voters in the state at this point weren’t even voting age then, but we’re forever bound by the stupidity of those who were (and people wonder why the boomers are loathed, while we are still paying the price for their stupid).
      1. John k June 24, 2017 at 1:23 pm

         Just takes a ballot measure with simple majority of those voting to modify prop 13.
         Might pass if just takes out bus properties, never if touches home’s.
         1. GF June 24, 2017 at 2:45 pm

            Can’t remember for sure, but doesn’t Prop 13 allow property tax increases if the owner of the property moved after Prop 13 was passed? Only the original owners at the time of ratification who are still residing in their homes qualify for the protection?? If you sell the property, new higher property taxes are assessed?? There can’t be that many original owners still left in those residences after all these years.
            1. jonboinAR June 24, 2017 at 2:55 pm

               A few weeks ago, someone was explaining how, somehow, commercial property investors are able to evade that, like an easy loophole was stitched into the original proposition or something. I’m proud, myself, in a sad way, to say that in perhaps (don’t remember quite) my first time voting, I was able to vote against Prop 13.
            2. jrs June 24, 2017 at 3:08 pm

               ” There can’t be that many original owners still left in those residences after all these years.”

               you can inherit houses and get the same Prop 13 benefits, so no, not only the original owners. Plus Prop 13 sets a limit on tax increases even on properties bought now (just it’s not immediately obvious of course).
      2. different clue June 25, 2017 at 2:08 am

         What was the average age and/or breakdown of age-groups of people who voted for Prop 13 at the time they voted for it?

         Was Howard Jarvis of the Baby Boom generation?
         Was Paul Gann of the Baby Boom generation?
   6. Rojo June 24, 2017 at 3:14 pm

      To give Rendon his due, he does have a helluva bat.

      http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rendoan01.shtml
   7. polecat June 24, 2017 at 8:35 pm

      ‘Give us your poor, your sick, and your destitute …. on a super train .. to nowhere !’
8. RenoDino June 24, 2017 at 8:27 am

   Candidate for Md. governor says state should start single-payer health program

   Actually, the headline is wrong, he’s calling for a public option.

   A similar idea made it all the way to the governor’s desk in Nevada this past week only to be vetoed by our bought and paid for Republican chief executive.

   https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/sandoval-vetoes-bills-to-create-medicaid-like-plan-available-to-all-ramp-up-nevadas-renewable-energy-ambitions
   1. pdh June 24, 2017 at 11:34 am

      Same here in Ohio. Gov candidate Connie Pillich proposing to allow any Ohioan to buy into medicaid or into the state-employee health plan. And, yes, it would be a state-specific public option.

      Dem gov candidate Pillich wants to let general public enroll in Medicaid
      1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:35 pm

         This should get her the votes. But will she keep the promise?
9. Huey Long June 24, 2017 at 8:52 am

   The Saudi-Qatar Spat – An Offer To Be Refused

   The House of Saud has issued a list of ultimatums a la Austria Hungary circa 1914. History may not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme…

   (I posted this to the water cooler yesterday and am re-posting this here today just to make sure it gets read by those following the whole Qatar-Saudi dust up. b’s write-up is worth reading IMNSHO)

   http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/06/saudi-qatar-spat-an-offer-to-be-refused-.html
   1. Mel June 24, 2017 at 12:42 pm

      If history really repeats, the Austro-Hungarian Empire didn’t exist any more after that war was over. Don’t know how this one will play out.
10. Terry Flynn June 24, 2017 at 9:06 am

    re – what BREXIT really means.

    In terms of voters, a different thing depending on region – HARD BREXIT last year and HARD BREXIT this year in the East Midlands – movement to softer BREXIT nationally. Labour should be careful what they wish for in terms of wanting to be in charge of government and hence negotiations on withdrawal. What happened to various MPs around Nottingham in the GE should be more food for thought.
    1. Anonymous2 June 24, 2017 at 9:28 am

       Thanks Terry. Interesting.

       I agree with what I think you said the other day: May will be kept in office for now so that she can be blamed for as much as possible when she is finally pushed. Davis has reportedly brokered a deal within the Tory party that possible leadership contenders will concentrate on burnishing their credentials for now. May is pretty well powerless now so they have a pretty free hand. I guess that gives them some time to work out what to do next.

       No way to run a country, though.
       1. PlutoniumKun June 24, 2017 at 9:38 am

          That works politically for them of course, but a terminally weakened May means a nightmare for negotiations as every single item to be discussed in Europe will have to be subject to a wrestle behind the scenes between the hard and soft Brexiters in cabinet.
          1. begob June 24, 2017 at 12:04 pm

             But nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. There will be a coup before March 2019 – depends on which way the wind is blowing.
       2. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 11:08 am

          The Tories must be fervently praying for a modern version of Cecil Rhodes to pop up.
       3. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 11:15 am

          IBG, YBG for governments, I guess. Wonder what the Queen thinks? I assume the royals are in for the long run.
          1. Anonymous2 June 24, 2017 at 6:21 pm

             The Queen gave her speech in an outfit that was pretty much the same blue as the EU flag, with a hat that looked as though maybe it was referencing the stars in the flag. Many commentators took this as her way of indicating that she is opposed to Brexit.

             Otherwise I guess she thinks ‘what a shower’!
             1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 6:43 pm

                Interesting the Queen is listened to by some, probably not those who want to have nothing to do with the monarchy.
             2. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:39 pm

                Thank you A2. I did not know that.
11. Emorej a Hong Kong June 24, 2017 at 9:10 am

    Dem establishment’s worst nightmare should have been convergence of:
    1. Narrow party chair “win” based on such amateurish methods, and
    2. Transparent ‘rotating villain’ games to put off single-payer legislation.

    Only a mix of complacency and weakness can have permitted this convergence.
12. hemeantwell June 24, 2017 at 9:10 am

    Yves, sorry to hear that your cat had to go through a round of dentistry. We just had to have couple of our kitty’s teeth pulled. After a couple of days he was back to normal, apparently unfazed by our betrayal.
    1. B1whois June 24, 2017 at 9:56 am

       I know I’m not going to make any friends here but here goes. I personally have a moral problem with providing Healthcare to animals in a country that doesn’t provide health care for humans. I know that sounds harsh to some people, but in truth the alternative sounds harsh to me – Expending medical resources to extend the life of pets when humans lack basic Medical Care. When my cat got old I cared for her as she gradually moved toward death, then had the vet put her down at the end.
       I know people are going to hate me, but I’m just trying to be thoughtful in my own actions.
       1. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 10:13 am

          I have similar thoughts on what is a difficult question. I’m old enough to remember when vets were around for neutering and rabies, distemper shots and not much else.
          On the other hand it’s tough to watch a loved one suffer.
          I like them but don’t share quarters with dogs or cats more or less for reasons along those lines.
          1. jonboinAR June 24, 2017 at 12:28 pm

             Healthcare for animals is a complete luxury, as is nearly all else in the way we live, so… I live relatively modestly, myself (breaking my arm). I only have about 10 pairs of leather shoes in my closet. When a neighborhood tom made it a practice to chew our cats up, I paid for the vet to doctor them several times, but only because the grandkids loved them so.
             1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 10:52 pm

                only have about 10 pairs of leather shoes in my closet

                Wow, 10?
       2. TK421 June 24, 2017 at 10:16 am

          I can see where you’re coming from. But pets provide tangible benefits to the welfare of their owners. For instance, owning a pet can not only reduce stress, but cholesterol as well! http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/pets-can-reduce-stress-cholesterol-obesity/

          Plus, animals are vital to agriculture, and require medical attention to fulfill their functions. Since we’re going to provide them with doctors, why not have those animal doctors take care of pets as well?
       3. a different chris June 24, 2017 at 10:37 am

          I think you are conflating things that, just because you use the word “health care” for each of them, are not at all the same.

          People pay for their own pet care. There is no public insurance policies involved. And it isn’t the same in pretty much any other way. They get to euthanize them if they become a problem, unlike say Grandma. You can treat Fido pretty much like your car, which you can decide to “get rid of” instead of replacing the tires.

          There is a small, “localized” morality to having and how you treat your pets (or dairy cows, for that matter) but it is not the same as the large morality of how you treat your fellow citizens in need.
          1. marieann June 24, 2017 at 11:15 am

             I’m in Canada where health care is “free” and as a taxpayer I don’t mind at all having to pay more to provide coverage for everyone.
             The money the government doesn’t take from me can be spent on anything I want.
             Some people want vacations, big houses, loads of “stuff. I want to be able to care for my cats as I see fit.
             I also give to charity and help out my sons financially.
             I don’t understand what is wrong with providing healthcare for animals. No one is asking for government help and I am supporting a small business and it’s workers.

             Re: Yves kitty, my son has an old kitty that only has 2 teeth left…..hard dry food is her favourite.
             1. mpalomar June 24, 2017 at 11:51 am

                I don’t understand what is wrong with providing healthcare for animals. No one is asking for government help and I am supporting a small business and it’s workers.

                I’m not sure of much let alone if there is anything wrong with expensive medical treatments for pets. As a vegetarian of forty years partially because (and reinforced by experience the longer I live) of the realization that animals are conscious beings, I believe their suffering should be a concern for us all.

                That said I struggle with the concept of spending thousands on dogs and cats when humans elsewhere suffer with little or no care. If the money isn’t spent on vets and pets is it going to be redirected to needy humans? Not likely so there is indeed a logical inconsistency there.

                The other perplexing thing; I’ll likely reach a point as I’ve seen others close to me go through when quality of life will be so reduced that I’d rather be put down than go through intubation and all the other horrors of life support. Humans can express their specific thoughts in that regard in advanced directives, animals can’t. A tough call.
                1. JTMcPhee June 24, 2017 at 12:06 pm

                   It’s all about distribution of wealth, isn’t it? And “rights?” And Freedom(TM)?
       4. Eclair June 24, 2017 at 10:46 am

          I understand your feelings, B1whois, and I was once in agreement. But, I have an adult child who, with spouse, made the decision not to have children. They do share their living space with a rotating crew of permanent and fostered dogs and cats, who get medications and care for their various ailments.

          The animals, while not ‘substitute’ children, are loved and cared for and, in turn, provide affection and gratitude (well, maybe not the cats!) to their human servants. In contrast to actual human children, they will not grow up to consume ginormous amounts of resources, drive SUV’s, and emit big carbon footprints.
       5. DH June 24, 2017 at 11:28 am

          Animal health care is almost the perfect Freedom Caucus health care plan where the owners are entirely responsible for the care of their animals and the government has very little input other than basic animal cruelty laws and licensing of veterinarians.

          I say almost perfect Freedom Caucus health care plan, because actually the animal owners have more libertarian freedoms than the Freedom Caucus would like to provide as animal owners are free to make virtually any reproductive rights and euthanasia decisions for their animals, which are areas the Freedom Caucus believes should be highly regulated in humans.
          1. marieann June 24, 2017 at 12:41 pm

             I have often wondered how I, on working class wages, can afford veterinary care for my cats, and probably never afford it for me.
             Perhaps the cost of vet care is more likely the true cost of what human healthcare should be.
             1. Jeotsu June 24, 2017 at 3:10 pm

                Good to keep in mind that Vets get the same level of training (+/-) as M.D.s. They are performing similar procedures, using the same or related drugs…. and then you look at the prices.

                It is a great way to get an estimate of what “basic but functional” health care for people should cost.
                1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 5:20 pm

                   there is a further irony: because they’re trained to work on multiple species, vets are better qualified to care for humans than MD’s are to work on animals.

                   There are some very specific human medication sensitivities, though, that qualify that. That’s why rats and mice are poor substitutes for testing medications.
       6. Arizona Slim June 24, 2017 at 11:45 am

          I agree. You took the words right off my keyboard.
          1. Arizona Slim June 24, 2017 at 11:58 am

             I should add that I am agreeing with B1whois.
       7. Donald June 24, 2017 at 12:56 pm

          False dichotomy, unless you apply it to every bit of personal spending beyond what people in their personal lives do other than what is necessary.

          And it is this kind of thinking that makes some people dismiss the left as meddling puritans intent on dictating how others should live. There are so many actively harmful things we do and you zero in on people’s love for their pets.
          1. kareninca June 24, 2017 at 10:34 pm

             +1000
          2. EGrise June 24, 2017 at 11:26 pm

             +1000

             Additionally, this sort of thinking is how we get austerity. Why don’t we get health care for everyone AND let people care for their pets? Let’s focus on having nice things rather than the way some people spend their discretionary income.
       8. Bunk McNulty June 24, 2017 at 5:27 pm

          I have no opinion on the morality of spending money to take care of your pets. I have had cats as pets for many decades. What I do have a moral opinion on is keeping them even when it is clear they are suffering. My question to the vet is always “Is the cat going to get better?” When the answer is no, I screw up my courage and ask that the cat be put out of its misery. It is never a happy decision. There is always crying. There is also always a notion that I should try living without cats for a few months, just to see what it is like. My record of not living with cats after one dies is four days.
          1. Jen June 25, 2017 at 7:25 am

             For me, the question is: am I doing this [treatment] for me, or for the animal. They will let you know when it’s time, but you have to be willing to see it.

             My previous dog was 13 when I had several of his teeth pulled. At that point he was still going with me for 3-4 mile walks almost every day and chasing tennis balls. He lived almost another 3 years. In those last years anything that couldn’t be addressed with antibiotics and/or pain meds was off the table, and when those no longer gave him a good quality of life it was time.

             I made it about 6 weeks between dogs. Going from a nearly 16 year old to a 16 week old was quite the adjustment. I’ve made it about a month between cats.
       9. Yves Smith Post authorJune 24, 2017 at 6:01 pm

          Many procedures and drugs now used on humans came out of “innovative” treatments for pets, since there is a cohort of pet owners who will pay for novel treatments to save or help their pet. The Animal Medical Center in NYC works a lot on treatments like this, like low dose chemo to improve the remaining quality of life rather than try to get rid of the cancer. One of my friends who had a cat with cancer said he’d much rather be treated by the AMC than the medical system if he ever got cancer.

          See here for an example:

          Veterinarians for pampered pets will soon be in the vanguard of human health care, and the reason is regulatory. Controversial restrictions on embryonic-stem-cell research and cloning effectively squelch efforts to bring these biotechnologies to bear on human therapies. The moral quandaries and bioethical concerns underlying these restrictions can’t be dismissed. But the different standards we apply to animals create provocative loopholes for the innovative and opportunistic biomedical entrepreneur.

          https://www.technologyreview.com/s/402504/medicine-goes-to-the-dogs/
       10. sid_finster June 24, 2017 at 8:13 pm

           Cat > dog.
           Dog > human.
       11. kareninca June 24, 2017 at 10:32 pm

           When other Americans give up their recreational driving, their vacation trips, their jewelry and make-up, their cosmetic surgery and cosmetic dental work, their television sets, their prep schools for their kids, their hairdressers, their masseuses (except for medical), their computers (except for paid work), their homes (except for minimal survival shelter), their boats, and ALL their recreational dinners out – then I’ll consider cutting back on my dog’s veterinary care. Since ALL of those things are less intrinsically valuable than providing medical care to another sentient creature. Anyone who spends money on those things, rather than on vet (or human) medical care, cares more about “stuff” than about living creatures. Humans may (or may not) trump other animals, but animals trump material goods.

           I know people who don’t spend on their pets who are just cheap. They use “human need” as an excuse. Oddly enough, they find plenty of excuses to go on vacations and eat out. They don’t actually give the money they’ve saved on vet care, to human charities.
    2. Lee June 24, 2017 at 12:17 pm

       OTOH:

       The Beasts
       By Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

       I Think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d;
       I stand and look at them long and long.
       They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
       They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
       They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
       Not one is dissatisfied—not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
       Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
       Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

       My critters keep me sweet. I believe that I’m a better, more generous human because of them. They are in many ways better role models than the humans much discussed and criticized at this site.
       1. Carl June 24, 2017 at 12:51 pm

          “We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” —Henry Beston
          1. Lee June 24, 2017 at 1:31 pm

             A thousand times yes.
          2. DJG June 24, 2017 at 8:45 pm

             Carl: Yes, yes, yes. And I would extend that to plants and trees, which we have to think of as life, rampant, communicating, with its own purposes that aren’t human purposes and ambitions.
          3. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL June 25, 2017 at 4:55 pm

             Carl Sagan said that our relationship with pets and animals in general was one area where in the future we would look back and say “OMG what were we thinking?”
    3. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 7:55 pm

       My dear Yves, and Mr Kitty,

       Over 20 yrs ago we got a ‘free to good home’ kitteh, the excuse was allergies in the household, but turned out he as smelly, surly, and drooly. Could see why he might be cata non grata in your average household. However, we hauled him off to our vet, who diagnosed severe tooth and gum disease, recommended extracting all teeth. Not thrilled, but that is what we did.

       A week or 10 days later, we had a totally different cat. Mabon was able to scarf down his kibble without any problem. Our vet had assured us that cats don’t chew anyway, and to our great relief, it was true. And he stopped smelling bad (when we got him, you couldn’t stay in the same room!), he stopped drooling, he got so much happier and *much friendlier*! And turns out he had something that you don’t often see in cats, a sense of humour. Well, not puns or anything, he was a practical joker. He’d set up the other cats for some pratfall and sit where he could see it and laugh his cat-laugh.

       Thank you for reminding me about the wonderful Mabon-cat, and best wishes for you and your kitteh.

       PS No cone-thingy for this episode, don’t think I ever had one for a cat. If so, I took it off immed.
       1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 8:32 pm

          Too bad there wasn’t Youtube then. You could have made back the vet bill on those pratfalls.
13. jan June 24, 2017 at 9:13 am

    The story of tax evasion through scottish limited partnerships continues:

    http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15368775.Secretive_owners_of_Scottish__tax_haven__firms_to_be_revealed/
14. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 9:24 am

    Locomotive Breath [aka – Attack Of The Giant Pollinators]
    by Jethro Tull.

    Oh no. Bad dreams again.
    It got much, much worse at The End.

    Here’s tabs and music audio.
    https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/jethro-tull-locomotive-breath-tab-s10225t2

    Here’s origonal from Aqualung album.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNCT6pA5I9A

    Songsterr has intro part… Jump to line 37 in tabs to get to this riff….

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha
    [rinse, washboard strum effect, repeat till end]

    As a single lonely consumer
    And your soulmate too.
    bound together to consume the Earth
    Not much else for two to do.

    But the power of the billions
    Directed by oh so few,
    can do wonders – ye…ah wonders
    And the Earth now splits in two!

    We score into the equator
    Digging down, so so deep.
    Our reward they tell us
    The resources we can keep!

    While thoughts of gold motivate us
    The cold ocean meets lava way down deep.
    Then the earth’s mantel,
    Steam hisses up from the crack.

    An opposing force, it
    Builds and builds… won’t stop,
    Till the earth just cracks in two!
    And we all fall down.

    Like walnut halves in outer space,
    The parts head for their poles.
    A North, a South, and space for Lunar pulls!

    Two hemispheres look weird,
    LaGrange math maps three tiers.
    The North, the South, and Moon,
    The South, it never dies!

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha
    [interlude – repeat as desired]

    The Confederate Flag is flying
    Declaring victory so covertly.
    Then look, over there,
    Our Insect Overlords are flying!

    All else seems less important,
    Who won won’t get no press.
    The Aliens… came to make their nest.
    The Overlords are swarming,
    Doing what Mother Nature does best.

    Like a million bumble bees
    Swarming high above the trees.
    Deafening noise – buzzing thunder
    – drops you to your knees!

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha

    The probiscusii of the pollinator
    Look for orifices to enter.
    No preference.. just find the center,
    And do what they may please
    – And they all drill down!

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha

    They’re standing over you,
    Standing half as tall as trees.
    They take us with their thrusting
    – Their numbers best ours by threes.
    Thrusting, and thrusting
    ‘Till humanity cries out, “Please!”

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha

    “Stop, Please Stop.”
    “Stop. You’re hurting Me!”

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha
    [interlude – repeat as desired]

    It’s shadow over you dances..
    Like a Praying Mantis prances
    Pray to a God,
    Not of Earth…
    Praying as it lances…

    Pincers working thru your flesh,
    Slicing pieces down and into gullet.
    More teeth, it seems, than any monster needs!

    Down go our bits and pieces,
    Satisfying a pollinator’s needs.
    After all, it’s how a pollinator feeds!

    And we all go down. Oh Yeah!

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha

    As history returns Before Jesus,
    Now the human race does leave us.
    Vegetation… all around us
    – Green and luscious –
    And we all slow down.

    [guitar riff]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha

    Mycelium Hyfae….
    Forming roots of the land New Fae.
    The new Internet
    Of nature’s Force…

    Elec..tric..i..ty, neu…ral dens..ity
    Surpassing any..thing of our worth!

    We sang of Gideon’s Bible
    The printing press of Truth.

    A giant Mushroom Brain…
    Helps The Overlords rule the Earth!

    [guitar riff – Fade to black and blue]
    dum..dum..dum..dum..dum….dum….dum
    cha cha cha cha cha cha
    1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 9:49 am

       Alt. Title:

       “Groping For The Pragmatic Way To Insert Discourse Into The Body Politic”.
       1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 11:14 am

          “The Descreet High Definition of the Bourgeoisie?”
    2. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 11:20 am

       Speechless in Toronto.
       1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 9:34 pm

          Is that an oxymoron? (I’m from da sout. It is one here.)
          1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 11:11 pm

             Hey, we can do speeches here! I esp like this one.
             1. ambrit June 25, 2017 at 9:01 am

                D—!!! That’s what NPR should be! Not the Mz Kroc subverted handmaid to the “Stars” s— we yell back at on the car radio.
                If the “Habitable Zone” on Earth really is going to move north into Canada over the course of the “Cthulhu Terraforming Project,” (aka global warming,) then it’s you Canades who should build the Wall.
15. Ep3 June 24, 2017 at 9:25 am

    http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/263559354-story
16. mle detroit June 24, 2017 at 9:51 am

    Just got an email survey about my “priorities” from Kirsten Gillibrand — including an “Act Blue” $ ask at the end, of course. I replied (h/t NC):

    A functional, progressive Democratic party that’s not Republican-lite;
    that — not just rhetorically — includes the demos with the corporate suck-ups and honchos;
    that realizes climate change is real and is impacting us now (Phoenix too hot for planes to fly? a Syrian war started by farmers who got no help with drought?);
    that doesn’t spend $23 million on ads and “consultants” to lose by “only 4%”;
    that advocates for and assists efforts to fix partisan gerrymandering;
    that advocates and delivers universal direct material benefits like Medicare for all and a jobs guarantee.
    The failure’s too big for just one priority. These are my litmus tests.
    1. TK421 June 24, 2017 at 10:13 am

       Good job!
    2. flora June 24, 2017 at 3:10 pm

       +1.
17. TK421 June 24, 2017 at 10:13 am

    Well, my health coverage is in danger. The state of California wants me to provide documentation showing how much money I’m going to make in the next year (?) I told them I’m unemployed, and have no plans to seek employment, so zero. But that’s not good enough, it seems, so now I have to figure out how to prove that if I don’t work this next year, I won’t get paid. Maybe a note from Teacher will do it.
    1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 11:26 am

       Maybe an abstract of a paper showing an individual economic actors’ degree of interaction with the flow of money as one approaches “full employment.” A graphic of a Bell curve should augment the text. (No hockey stick charts here!)
       Alternatively, you could have a local Thrift or Credit Union give you a print-out of your projected bank balance assuming no deposits over the next fiscal year. Have them include fees and tariffs and watch the chart enter negative territory! Then use these documents to apply for a State bail out, front loaded so as to gain the maximum economic benefit for the State economy! Take my word for it. We here who have been reading the posts and comments in NC for a while should have learned something from those wily banksters!
       (If my plan works, I ask you to contribute some small percentage of the net, of your choosing, to NC.)
       Ka-ching!!!
       1. TK421 June 24, 2017 at 12:26 pm

          Hehe, thank you! I didn’t understand much of that, but it sounds like a good plan.
          1. jonboinAR June 24, 2017 at 12:43 pm

             The idea in these cases is to make sure no one really understands it but that they think they have to pretend to. It’s okay if you don’t either, but be sure to have some good blarney ready, just in case.
             1. Carla June 24, 2017 at 2:03 pm

                ;-)
                1. jonboinAR June 24, 2017 at 2:59 pm

                   ;-) to you, too, Carla!
    2. UserFriendly June 25, 2017 at 4:32 am

       Get a friend to write you a check for $10 and make up something you did for them. put $10 on the form.
       1. ambrit June 25, 2017 at 9:03 am

          Hmmm. Domestic fiat?
18. Pogonip June 24, 2017 at 10:13 am

    Your poor cat! I’ve had wisdom teeth out, I know just how he feels. May Saint Francis intercede for the poor little guy’s quick recovery.

    What is sold as “chunk light tuna” was once more honestly labeled as “grated tuna,” it’s nearly a paste; maybe a little of that might cheer him up? I’ve found the store brands pastier than the national brands.
19. Stormcrow June 24, 2017 at 10:20 am

    The Latest Escalation in Syria – What Is Really Going On?
    The Saker
    http://www.unz.com/tsaker/the-latest-escalation-in-syria-what-is-really-going-on/

    Once you get this you can easily see that the latest us attacks in Syria have a minor local purpose – to scare or slow down the Syrians- and a major global purpose – to bait the Russians into using forces against the US or an ally. It bears repeating here that what the Neocons really want is what I call a “tepid” war with Russia: an escalation of tensions to levels not even seen during the Cold War, but not a full-scale “hot” WWIII either.

    What could possibly go wrong?
    1. Alex Morfesis June 24, 2017 at 1:15 pm

       You are certainly enjoying the bernaze sauce…basil zaharoff would be quite pleased…that rhyme thing Mark twain liked to talk about…if you are still confused…when in paris swing by the cafe croissant…there is a little plaque there about some loud mouth named jean jaures who was pretty sure he could keep the troubles brewing after the assassination of the archduke from becoming what our history books have described as ww1…the war to end all control of oil by the romanovs and the sultan and the pashas …

       “$ir” basil, apparently being a morganaticish mavrokordat certainly made life interesting for the common man of europe a century ago…

       Along with mister 5%, zaharoff molded the word into his own dark vision of self righteous libertine existence…so dark it is suggested anta n levay dedicated some passages to sir basils form of ethics…

       Lanny budd and all that…

       But then again…reading the last crumbs of dead trees gathered in book form before the termites turn them to dust is not as much fun as…
20. RenoDiono June 24, 2017 at 10:52 am

    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/24/intellectual-conservatives-lost-republican-trump-215259

    I love, love, love these naval gazing pieces by Republican BIG THINKERS who have been abandoned by Trump because they supported Hillary. Confirms that Trump destroyed both parties that were, in fact, just one party. Just like Pelosi, they have no where to go. Sad.
    1. Outis Philalithopoulos June 24, 2017 at 4:31 pm

       Key passage from the piece – Bartlett speaks hopefully of

       a sane, modern, technocratic wing of an intellectually revitalized GOP

       which will need a leader: perhaps Mitt Romney?
21. RenoDiono June 24, 2017 at 10:58 am

    “Bernie Tulsi ’20” T-Shirts & Hoodies by sophiapetrillo

    Turner Tulsi ’20 There, fixed it.
22. Ed June 24, 2017 at 11:07 am

    Not one of the links, but worth watching. Taleb on Trump:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Km9qo5JyA
    1. Carla June 24, 2017 at 2:18 pm

       Here is the correct link:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKW0LbeiWio

       The one Ed gave is to a video from 2008.
23. rich June 24, 2017 at 11:24 am

    Financialized Economy

    ‘Things to come’ in the financialized economy is on the agenda for Max and Stacy in this episode, and they also ask whether or not James Howard Kunstler is right in his prediction that ‘the financialized economy is entering its moment of final catastrophic phase-change.’

    Max also interviews lawyer and filmmaker John Titus, of All the Plenary’s Men, about the not-so-secret and yet little-discussed Financial Stability Board authority over sovereign powers to regulate banks.

    Titus highlights the case of HSBC and the threat made by George Osborne to the Obama administration’s Department of Justice.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfeAhYUWSas
24. Altandmain June 24, 2017 at 11:38 am

    Young people and socialism:
    https://medium.com/@girlziplocked/the-kids-are-socialists-because-capitalism-is-dickslapping-the-planet-4b4980eb2353

    Heatwave in Arizona and Homelessness:
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/23/arizona-heatwave-homeless-phoenix
    1. Arizona Slim June 24, 2017 at 11:52 am

       Here in Tucson, the homeless have been having a tough time in the heat. The other day, I saw a guy who looked like he was hallucinating.
       1. newcatty June 24, 2017 at 3:26 pm

          As a former Tucsonan of many years, I am guessing said homeless guy was not hallucinating(unless, of course, that is an existing mind experience of his at this time sometimes). He very well have been seeing a mirage. He could have great hope that the perceived spot of water did not contain Tucson’s infamous industrial sourced pollutions. OTOH… if less greedy development, greedy state governance and the new “go west” young man, older man, young woman and older woman(sure, some with kids and, just as likely grandkids) looking for a new life keep on coming to our sunshine state; the mirage may be more real than can be imagined. BTW… we still chose to live in our own AZ town…moved up north.
          1. newcatty June 24, 2017 at 3:39 pm

             Correction: not”less greedy development, greedy governance”: should be same greedy development and greedy state governance.
25. JEHR June 24, 2017 at 11:39 am

    Trump lies. Must be a world record of some kind. And his facial expression never gives anything away. Did he grow up in an empty room and create his own reality–one of the “hollow men“? And we are now sharing his reality. “This is the way the world ends.”
    1. a different chris June 24, 2017 at 1:26 pm

       No he just grew up rich. They really are different, despite that amusing “they have more money” quote.
26. Carolinian June 24, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    Some important history about the CIA’s Phoenix assassination squad program. These are the people the Resistance looks to as saviors of the republic.

    http://original.antiwar.com/todd_pierce/2017/06/23/criminal-laws-counterinsurgency/

    Consider it a companion piece to the Washingtonsblog link about the vile Brennan
    1. flora June 24, 2017 at 3:27 pm

       The Intercept article – “Prominent Democratic Fundraisers Realign to Lobby for Trump’s Agenda “…. the Dem estab Re$istan¢e ™ is just another way to dupe Dem voters; a toy to occupy voters’ minds while the Dem estab swans off to rake in cash by promoting ideas of the people and entities they claim to be re$sisting. Is Micheal Moore really surprised he and others have been used then dumped as useful idiots?
27. Chauncey Gardiner June 24, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    The Intercept article describing how big Democratic Party fundraisers are now lobbying on behalf of the Trump administration’s agenda to favor the financial interests and further consolidation of power of large telecom corporations, large banking & securities firms, and large insurance oligopolies is both unsurprising and disgusting given the latters’ alliance and co-dependency with the establishment of both legacy political parties. Until the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision is overturned; meaningful campaign finance regulations are passed and imposed; and the revolving door and such “lobbying” activities are curtailed, I expect this type of behavior will continue against the public interest.

    The observation by Kai Newkirk of Democracy Spring is ‘on the money’ in more ways than one: …“’These cases are clear, disturbing examples of the gulf between the interests of many of the Democratic Party’s big-money donors and those of the party’s progressive base and America’s working families,’ said Kai Newkirk, co-founder of Democracy Spring, a progressive coalition.”
    1. Carla June 24, 2017 at 3:18 pm

       You have to go back a lot farther than Citizens United, at least to Buckley v. Valeo (1976) to get rid of money as speech.

       BUT, even if you do, the corporate interests will simply use all their other Constitutional “rights” to accomplish the same ends, which they have been doing since 1887, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, when the Supremes first allowed the perversion of the 14th Amendment by permitting to stand a “side note” stating that as legal “persons” corporations have the “right” to due process and equal protection under the law.

       Corporations can have statutory rights, but never the Constitutional rights of human persons.

       To really address this issue, it’s going to take HJR-48 which was first introduced in Congress three years and now has gained 44 co-sponsors, the most recent just this week. Check it out:

       https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/48/

       We’re building the movement to get it done at movetoamend.org.
       1. Chauncey Gardiner June 24, 2017 at 5:52 pm

          Thanks for the education and link, Carla.
28. David Carl Grimes June 24, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    With the way our system works, this might have more traction than the Clinton email scandal. They’ve got to squash Sanders 2020 before it starts.

    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/22/bernie-sanders-jane-sanders-lawyer-bank-fraud-investigation-burlington-college-215297
    1. Carolinian June 24, 2017 at 5:15 pm

       Well the investigation seems to be legitimate and was started in 2016–long before there was any notion of Sanders 2020 (when he will be 79). Whether or not Jane Sanders’ actions were criminal they don’t make her look good.

       Other thought: “Politico magazine” could sure use some editors. They had previously offered a ridiculous piece accusing Southfront of being a Putin plot to undermine our military morale. This one on the Sanders investigation takes forever to get to the point.
       1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 9:39 pm

          The authors might be using the infomercial selling technique of wearing the “mark” down before springing the “real” subject of the disquisition. That makes dodgy goals easier to sell.
    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 6:19 pm

       In the four years since she had taken over, two dozen faculty and staff had left the tiny college. The Student Government Association in late 2008 described a “toxic and disruptive environment on campus.” Nearly half of the students and faculty members signed a petition demanding a meeting about the “crisis in leadership.” Even so, Sanders’ salary rose to $150,000 in 2009, according to college records, as tuiton increased by $5,000, to $22,407 in 2011, and enrollment dropped to 156 students.

       Seems typical…

       Administrator salaries (maybe just one, her) going up.

       Teachers leaving.

       Tuition going up and up.
29. RenoDino June 24, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBMxS1LIf0

    Short video, short summary: Al Gore is an “idiot” who made $400 million dollars setting up a 2 and 20 hedge fund five years ago that bet on stocks of service companies that produce less CO2.

    And that is how you save the planet using other peoples’ money.
    1. Alex Morfesis June 24, 2017 at 1:30 pm

       AL baby…you don’t really wanna be president…all that boring presidential stuff…don’t worry about the little people…your one of us…look if it wasn’t for your dad, would we even be having this discussion…

       ibgybg…enough of “us” will survive and the planet will adjust to the kind of place you want your great great grandkids to inherit…are you with me there…ok…see…besides…would you rather we humans just start killing people off ??…too messy…plagues and stuff could develop…

       nice and slow…let mother nature be our enforcer…yeah yeah…when the dust settles and no one is watching that pot of god at the end of the rainbow will magically appears…

       hey…you’re one of us…

       just be patient…don’t want any annoying types to be able to connect any dots with your stupid internet idea backfiring on all of us…
       1. roxy June 24, 2017 at 3:11 pm

          Back in the 1990’s, Calvin Trillin described Al Gore as “A manlike object.”
          1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 9:12 pm

             BWA HA HA HA HA!!! Umn, going now to change underwear.
          2. polecat June 24, 2017 at 11:25 pm

             “A man like object”

             But without the bun ….
30. Lambert Strether June 24, 2017 at 1:35 pm

    > Camden flats being evacuated over cladding

    Awesome. Who wants to bet the inhabitants are scattered and the whole area is gentrified? All things work together for good, don’t they?
    1. Alex Morfesis June 24, 2017 at 2:14 pm

       It’s for their own good…no need to stress those poor folks by “forcing” them to be reminded of their station everyday as they trek past and thru plutokratia and are “devastated” by absorbing images of a life they will never have…

       It’s really better for them to surround their existence with the realities they will be living and not some fantasy they will never achieve…and besides, consider all the money that can be saved on mental health costs for that stress and possible depression…

       It’s all for the best really…
31. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    Dept. of Schadenfreude: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/a-second-even-bigger-foreclosure-reaches-nyc-billionaires-row
    1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 4:34 pm

       Skip it; in links. I shoulda known.
32. Nax June 24, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    I’m sorry to hear about your cat.

    We’ve had problems with elderly cats refusing food after a traumatic vet visit which isn’t good for them at all.

    Our last cat we managed to nurse through one of those periods by feeding it fingertips full of baby food (Gerber chicken #4 iirc) and soft boiled egg yolk (not the whites, they shouldn’t eat those). It was time consuming but bonding rather than traumatic. Cats have wildly different personalities of course so there are no guarantees.

    I’m not claiming that this is a balanced long term diet for the cat, just a way to keep their digestion ticking over until they feel sufficiently better to eat real food.
    1. Yves Smith Post authorJune 24, 2017 at 6:23 pm

       Thanks!

       The vet recommended Gerber food, and he has been eating that. He’s also been wanting to eat his crunchy food, which has to be the worst thing possible. I’ve been putting water on it to soften it up but worry it is still setting him back.
       1. Oregoncharles June 24, 2017 at 8:24 pm

          Probably better than not eating – which is what we were told when our son was desperately ill (he made it): forget the normal parental concerns, give it to him if he’ll eat it.
          1. HotFlash June 24, 2017 at 11:16 pm

             Totally, having to deal with a fussy and dentally-challenged older person, I have concluded that there is no such thing as a bad calorie.

             Anything she’ll eat is fine by me.
33. a different chris June 24, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    Gives you a bit of an idea about our vaunted military power when a destroyer gets, well nearly destroyed and the commercial ship doesn’t even realize it was in an accident.

    It’s not an infinite world, that’s why I’m an enviro-nazi, but it’s pretty darn big. Four percent of the population needs to stop kidding themselves at some point before we all get (family blog) slapped….
34. a different chris June 24, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    Oh lord, then there’s Mother Nature herself:

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pentagons-nuke-proof-doomsday-planes-damaged-by-tornado/ar-BBD6jst?li=BBnb7Kz

    There has been more than one great army in history that met an unexpected defeat because Mother Nature decided to amuse herself by putting a really big finger on the scale. I honestly think a major reason we fight in the Middle East is that we learned our lesson about jungles.
35. Marc June 24, 2017 at 5:17 pm

    Yves,
    Had a wonderful cat that was savaged by wild dogs, vet said just let it go, but applied antibiotics /vitamins on her paws and more sensitive places, took time but she came back, an absolute skeleton but is with us today.

    And having cruised the planet for over 40 years, we have Orcas that not only know the boat…they know who is aboard…

    They are amongst us…
36. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 5:18 pm

    Trump is so exceptional?

    President Trump’s Lies, the Definitive List New York Times

    No ‘Hillary’s Lies, the Definitive List?”

    No ‘Bill Clinton’s Lies, the Definitive List?’

    No ‘Obama’s Lies, the Definitive List?’
37. Jess June 24, 2017 at 5:19 pm

    Zuckerburg spending time in Iowa.

    Yeah, he’s running for President.

    Gag. Barf.
    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 5:28 pm

       Hopefully, he’s not another rich, crass Roman consul, Crassus.

       From Wikipedia:

       Crassus used Syria as the launchpad for a military campaign against the Parthian Empire, Rome’s long-time Eastern enemy. Crassus’ campaign was a disastrous failure, ending in his defeat and death at the Battle of Carrhae.

       I think the lesson here is, stay away from Syria.
       1. ambrit June 24, 2017 at 9:41 pm

          Stay out of the East, period.
    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 5:29 pm

       I wonder if the campaign slogan will be ‘Do you Zuck, or do you not Zuck?’
38. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 5:20 pm

    Calling the Washington Post.

    President Trump’s Lies, the Definitive List New York Times

    Can’t wait for ‘The Media’s Fake News, the Definitive List,’ by the Washington Post.
39. Alex Morfesis June 24, 2017 at 5:43 pm

    Eid Mubarak…many greeks love to point to the hanging of patriarch Gregory V on easter day 1821 just a few weeks after the beginning of the greek battle for independence as Ypsilanti crossed the river Prot as a reason for continued hostilities with turkey…

    but almost all tend to ignore the brave actions of Haci Halil Efendi

    As Grand Mufti, Shaykh al-Islam, Haci Halil Efendi was ordered by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II to issue a “fatwa” allowing the summary execution of all greeks as punishment for the actions of the filiki eteria and the beginning of the greek revolution…

    Haci Halil Efendi refused…

    startled, the Sultan demanded its immediate signing…the Grand Mufti then went directly to Patriarch Gregory and after discussions threw back the fatwa demand by invoking the koran and insisting no such fatwa can be asserted as the guilty must be separated from the innocent and insisted the good sultan provide a specific list and which specific crimes the specific greeks had committed against the Koran…

    The Sultan became enraged and ordered the immediate removal of Haci Halil Efendi and his exile to the island of Lemnos…

    at least on paper…

    in reality the grand mufti was taken into custody, beaten, tortured and then allowed to bleed to death…never quite having been put on that boat into exile

    The Patriarch, having twice previously been exiled, knew what was coming but did not run…

    On easter sunday he was dragged out of the grounds, hanged in his high holiday vestments and his body was left to hang for two days near the patriarchy for all to see, then dumped in the bosphorus river…where it was eventually recovered cryptically by greeks who brought his body to odessa for a proper funeral…

    Two pinnacle religious leaders of their respective peoples accepted death over acquiescing to an immoral diktat…

    Peacemongers…
40. Vatch June 24, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    Poll: Former AG Lynch should be investigated The Hill

    She should be investigated for that. She and her predecessor Eric Holder should also be investigated for obstruction of justice, since no high ranking financial executives were prosecuted for fraud or SarbOx violations in the context of the Great Financial Collapse of 2008. But we know that Holder and Lynch won’t be investigated for providing favors to powerful rich executives.
41. MyLessThanPrimeBeef June 24, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    Vancouver Mansion Lists for Record $48 Million Bloomberg (Ann M)</blockquote

    No country can be genuinely progressive and has that kind of house price vs. per capita income ratio.
    1. craazyboy June 24, 2017 at 5:58 pm

       The current owner of Warren Buffet’s “beach house” has it up for sale at about $5 million. 3000sqft, on the cliffs overlooking Emerald bay. No offer yet, maybe the market is cooling down in S. Cal.

       I used to go to Laguna Beach as often as possible and also always went for lunch or afternoon margies at the Mexican restaurant up on the hilltop. Great food, great views, far away and close up!
42. ewmayer June 24, 2017 at 6:03 pm

    Whole bunch more corrective headline edits (in []) needed today, and a few suggestions for better article context:

    o “Google [pinkie-swears that it] is going to stop reading the mail in your Gmail inbox to target ads to you | Business Insider”

    o “Frustrated [Clintonites: Obama shoulda judo-chopped The Putin to show him who’s boss] | The Hill”

    o “President Trump’s Lies, the Definitive List | New York Times” — Potentially useful, though it as always raises the question of who is fact-checking the fact-checkers. And I would really like to see a companion piece, “The New York Times’ Lies, the Definitive List”, along with an ‘estimated bodycount’ annotation for the items therein, which we can compare to a similar annotation for the Trump lie-list. For example, for the NYT: … “Saddam WMDs, 2003, est. bodycount > 1 million.”

    o “Russia Hacking Allegations Driven By a Serial Liar Washington’s Blog” — Yes, the CIA, if we grant it human agency for literary effect, is indeed a serial liar of epic and mass-murderous proportions.

    o “The Trump Obstruction Case Is Gathering Momentum Vanity Fair (resilc)” — Accurate, if by ‘momentum’ one means ‘loud headlines in the establishment-propaganda media’. And this is the same lying-liars media which deems the Clinton privatized SoS e-mail server a ‘nothingburger’ and serial destruction of various ME states as ‘valuable experience’, yes?
43. financial matters June 24, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    Irony alert

    “”This past spring, Qatar began talks with Teheran about finding a compromise on exploitation of the shared South Pars-North Dome gas field. Qatar lifted its moratorium on exploiting the field and carried out discussions with Iran over its joint development. Reportedly Qatar and Iran had come to an agreement on joint construction of a Qatar-Iranian gas pipeline from Iran to the Mediterranean or Turkey that will also carry Qatari gas to Europe. In exchange, Doha agreed to end its support for terrorism in Syria, a huge blow to the Trump-Saudi plans to balkanize a destroyed Syria and control the gas flows of the region.“”

    http://journal-neo.org/2017/06/24/has-washington-lost-the-middle-east-after-qatar/
44. dcblogger June 24, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    Sanders joining Midwest bus tour against Senate health bill
    Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is traveling to Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia this weekend to urge fellow senators to oppose Senate health care legislation and retain the Affordable Care Act.
    http://www.wymt.com/content/news/Sanders-joining-Midwest-bus-tour-against-Senate-health-bill-430595343.html
45. integer June 24, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    Israel’s Fire Support For Its Al-Qaeda Mercenaries Started Three Years Ago Moon of Alabama
46. kareninca June 25, 2017 at 1:49 am

    I take it that you already know all about cat pheromones. We have used dog pheromones for stressed dogs; it really seemed to help. It’s the same pheromones that a lactating female dog emits; very soothing to them. I just checked on Amazon and they have some on offer, but I think there may be additional ones through a vet; I don’t know which cat brands are best, and I see that the reviews are very mixed. I’m so sorry that he is so upset.
47. different clue June 25, 2017 at 4:00 am

    Dear Fellow NaCap readers and commenters,

    Take a look at the sewer Digby chooses to bathe in nowadays.
    http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/they-welcomed-interference.html

    Is it any wonder that she dares not permit a comments function at her blog?

    Why does Gaius Publius write for this miserable creature’s blog?

Comments are closed.