Idiot jumps into crocodile pit wearing Crocs, gets bitten by a croc BGR (David L). Only in America…
Overwhelmed passengers abandoned an Indonesian flight crammed with 2 tons of a notoriously smelly tropical fruit Business Insider
ESOcast 182 Light: ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain (4K UHD) ESO. UserFriendly: “Wow, this is new and surprising. Galaxy’s are known to shoot out gas like this, but never so weakly that it collapses back into the galaxy.
Climate change killed the aliens, and it might kill us too, new simulation suggests NBC. UserFriendly: “few months old, still relevant.
Large hydropower dams ‘not sustainable’ in the developing world BBC (David L)
Floating solar is more than panels on a platform—it’s hydroelectric’s symbiont ars technica. Chuck L:
The recreational boating crowd will love these ‘floatovoltaic” installations. Not. However that sort of snark won’t apply to the USBR and USACE since it will give them ammunition to push back against those advocating dam dismantlement to let the rivers run free again.
Energy cost of ‘mining’ bitcoin more than twice that of copper or gold Guardian
We Need an FDA For Algorithms: UK mathematician Hannah Fry on the promise and danger of an AI world. Nautilus (Dr. Kevin)
The Key to a Long Life Has Little to Do With ‘Good Genes’ Wired (David L)
Male infants and birth complications are associated with increased incidence of postnatal depression ScienceDirect
The Largest Act of Terrorism in Human History – Daniel Ellsberg Real News Network (UserFriendly)
China?
Video game addiction has sparked a culture war in China — and it’s having huge repercussions for the world’s biggest video game maker Business Insider (Kevin W)
China will not be bullied by Imperialist powers, warns Xi confidant Asia Times
Labor savages Andrew’s Chinese secession Macrobusiness
Three European Countries Block Tax on Tech Giants Bloomberg. Note this doesn’t prevent countries from acting individually.
Macron wants ‘Euro army’ to combat China, Russia and US Sydney Morning Herald (Kevin W)
The consequences of Italy’s increasing dependence on domestic debt-holders Bruegel
Brexit
Leo Varadkar seeks to smooth way to Brexit deal: Irish PM has nudged Theresa May away from previous tougher stance but risks remain Financial Times
A $240-Billion-a-Day Market Is Leaving London Over Brexit Bloomberg
No deal yet as Irish border holds up Brexit, EU and UK say Reuters. The important bit is May didn’t present anything to her Cabinet Tuesday as expected. Hard to see how Raab goes to see Barnier this week, which was seen as a precondition to the penciled-in special European Council meeting November 21. But May hopes to have a special Cabinet meeting “within days.”
Brexit: marching up to the top of the hill… Richard North. Yesterday’s post, but a must read on Brexit. It’s a compact and current version of ground North has covered previously. He walks through the incoherence of UK reporting and explains why the “customs union” does not solve the need for “regulatory checks” which means UK adherence to not just EU rules but also EU supervisions. No progress has been made on this central issue. For instance:
The confusion even infects the Irish broadcaster RTÉ which is returning to well-worn phrasing that we’ve seen before. “London”, it says, “is pushing for a single UK-wide customs arrangement, with additional measures for Northern Ireland to cover regulatory controls, as the single entity that will avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland”.
Again, this does not compute – any more than the first time we saw it.
Brexit: alphabet soup Richard North. Today’s sighting:
In the Brussels corner, we have Barnier speaking to the Belgian broadcaster RTBF. He then declared: “I am not able to tell you that we are close to an agreement because there is a real point of divergence”.
Per North above, I’m not sure this lawyer understands either:
PhDs will be written about this:
“All the Brexiters are embarrassed about signing up to the backstop in December,” said one leading Conservative MP. “None of them are lawyers and they didn’t really understand what was going on.” https://t.co/NFxoHJNS8D
— Daniel Keohane (@KeohaneDan) November 7, 2018
DUP chief whip says UK headed for no-deal Brexit Financial Times
Labour says it will vote down a ‘blind Brexit’ deal with no details about future relationship Independent
Public urged to learn DIY surgery in run up to NHS winter crisis Daily Mash
New Cold War
Russian business trio told to stay away from Davos Financial Times
Syraqistan
Exclusive: Trump, industry work behind the scenes to save Saudi arms package Reuters
Turkey’s Erdogan Says He’ll Defy U.S. Sanctions on Iran Wall Street Journal
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
The West is Failing Julian Assange ConsortiumNews
Security of Solid-State-Drive Encryption Bruce Schneier
Imperial Collapse Watch
The CIA’s communications suffered a catastrophic compromise. It started in Iran. Yahoo (Glenn F). From a few days ago, still relevant.
Trade Traitors
What Trump really wants: European car parts Politico
Cohn Sees No ‘Instant Cure’ on U.S.-China Trade After Midterms Bloomberg
Election Wrap. We’ll try to be sparing, since Lambert will have more to say in Water Cooler:
Georgia Election Worker Assures Black Man Ballot Scanner Supposed To Sound Like Shredder The Onion
Early exit polls: US midterms all about Trump Politico. No surprise per se but: “More than three-in-four voters said that recent extremist violence was either the most important or an important factor in their vote today, the CNN poll found.”
The art of dissonance: dissecting the language of Donald Trump openDemocracy. Relates to the question of violence.
Kudos to NY Democratic voters, who somehow gave three successive primary wins to a governor whose administration was plagued by corruption indictments and who then oversaw the collapse of the subway system and the collapse of the voting system. Nice work everyone! https://t.co/Z6d59VOPdU
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 6, 2018
The Midterm Results Gave Everybody Just Enough To Keep Fighting Intercept
A Modest Shift to the Dems National Conference of State Legislatures (UserFriendly)
Capital Journal: Trump Did What He Needed to Do in the Midterms Wall Street Journal. Putting a positive spin on results. And not all of it is a stretch. But notice that this sort of story confirms that Trump has succeeded in his hostile takeover of the Republican party.
The Democrats’ Options for Repealing the Trump Tax Cut Bloomberg (UserFriendly). By Stephanie Kelton.
More Veterans Could Be Headed to Public Office. Here’s What They Bring to Government. Military.com. As you could see from Lambert’s spreadsheets, this is already underway in Team Dem.
The Resistance Is Not a Call for Restoration Nation. Mlle. Detroit: “If there were a T-shirt, I’d order it.”
Poll: One In Three College Students Believe Violence Is Justified To Stop “Hate Speech” Jonathan Turley
Spit PsyOps Spitballing Limited Hangout (UserFriendly)
Money Still Rules US Politics Jacobin
The $6 Trillion Barrier Holding Electric Cars Back Bloomberg. UserFriendly: “We are all so dead.”
Guillotine Watch
Today on the Bloomberg: hedge-fund manager John Paulson, worth $5 billion, plans to move to Puerto Rico. “It’s the only place a U.S. citizen can go and literally avoid, legally, all their taxes.”
— Zachary Mider (@zachmider) November 6, 2018
Woman who spent £16m in Harrods arrested BBC and Target of UK’s first unexplained wealth order fights extradition Financial Times. A tax buddy said something to the effect of: “So the UK is now trying to pretend it isn’t a haven for dirty money. Everyone knows Azerbaijan is crooked. Wake me when they go after Russian oligarchs.”
Class Warfare
Report claims Tesla’s medical clinic denied factory workers care Engadget
Amazon employees hope to confront Jeff Bezos about law enforcement deals at an all-staff meeting Recode
Worker Ownership Initiative Launched by Nonprofit Lender in Nation’s Capital NonProfit News
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Oh nooo, don’t pout little fishy. Cheer up.”
And a bonus video:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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Soooo, is it too early to talk about the 2020 US Presidential elections yet? :)
Ironically-imo, Dems. winning the House is the best thing to happen to Trump. just saying.
Pelosi gets to be Trump’s official foil. Only a 10 vote D majority. No Freedom Caucus wing to worry about. Trump gets his popcorn and watches Pelosi wing’s and Bernie-AOC wing’s fight on policy.
Senate judicial appointments continue. Estate tax cuts are etched in stone now. Legislative gridlock in a status quo that favors the 1%.
The media portray 2018 as some sort of ‘warning’ to Trump is farcical. At the end of the night, the voters treated Trump no different than Obama or Reagan. Hardly an admonishment of the last 2 years.
So much for that Blue Wave we’ve been hearing about …
Has anyone checked to see how the cast of characters who were just re-elected in the house voted on signature Trumpisms like the tax cut bill and the increased surveillance bills? If the Dem$ currently have a 10 vote majority, how much of that much majority assumes team blue won’t continue to vote for things that they already voted for in the past?
Well, Heidi lost to an actual republican…so there’s that.
And Claire, too.
Here in Texas, it looked exciting early on, but ended as I expected it to.
I wonder if we have the wherewithal to even know about shenanigans with the machines, or other such skulduggery…even on good days, it can be challenging to get Texas news
I thought the blue cancer emanating out of Austin quite interesting. Had a convo with a Demographia full time employee that was part of the Texas template PR machine for years. He would bang on about all the IT Texas was pinching off Calif due to low RE prices and Freedoms.
I just pointed out the influx would bring with it their socially liberal preferences and after bit that would manifest in the larger social dynamic.
Well within easy margins for continued rotation of villains.
Criminally looting militant bribed and beholden bean counters with weasel words are still in charge! I want to thank all those who voted for maintaining their legitimacy.
Same as it ever was.
You don’t think they are going to actually “resist” do you? It will be exactly like 2006.. when everyone was war weary and anti Bush during the election, and the same cast of characters did nothing for two years.
So, how are the Dems going to vote on future weapons sales to Saudi Arabia?
I know they crow about separating families at the Mexican border, but what about in Yemen?
For some perspective on that blue wave or referendum on Trump or whatever, we can consult the wayback machine for a snapshot of obama’s first midterm entitled Obama concedes ‘shellacking’, and subtitled Blames process, not his policies, for Democrats’ setback.
A day after Democrats lost at least 60 House seats and a half-dozen Senate seats to Republicans, Mr. Obama said he’ll search for common ground with the newly emboldened GOP on tax cuts, and acknowledged some of his first-term agenda is now beyond reach, including his goal of signing a bill to address climate change.
The whole article is a “fun” read some 8 years on. You’ll notice some familiar “themes.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/3/obama-concedes-shellacking/
i forgot how bad Dems. lost in 2010. 2018 Trump and the GOP are A+ students compared to the Dems. in 2010.
Guess for Obama, Schumer and Clinton and losing total control of government was worth bailing out Wall Street.
Well, just look at who Obama is rubbing shoulders with: Branson, Beyonce, Bono. Boy, he LOVES living in the 1%ers……but gosh darn he tried hard to appear “of the people” when he rallied all the “democrats” to get out the vote.
Me to Obama: “Dude, you are the poli that turned me into a ‘Vote Out Incumbents’ voter.”
In fairness, Obama’s “shellacking” came after a crash, and during the worst depression since the 1930s. Given the current economy and Trump’s legitimate arguments about his and his boys contribution to it, some lesser losses in the midterms count for a bit more.
His “shellacking” also came after he blatantly failed to even attempt to follow through on his campaign rhetoric.
When people also blamed the Republicans for those problems. Obama also dismantled the 50 State Strategy and put doofuses like Tim Kaine and Rahm Emmanuel in charge. Shockingly enough, Rahm was the White House point person for Congressional elections in 1994 and 2010.
https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2010/01/berry-obama-said-big-difference-between-10-and-94-is-me-024491
He’s earnest, Rahm.
And when he gets his; what shall we call it? “The Night of the Dry Powder?”
The Roosevelt-Landon election (and the 34 midterms before it) also came after a crash and during the actual depression of the 1930s. But the results differed.
Agree. It’s also bad because the gains in the House will encourage the establishment democrats that their corporate friendly approach still works, all other evidence to the contrary. And yet there is also a thin reed of hope that the Our Revolution winners are the beginning of something that will continue to build momentum.
Here in California, I’m waking up to disappointing results: corporate-backed candidates (Wicks for AD15 and Tuck for State Schools Superintendent) looked to have won (charter school boy Tuck’s win stings especially bad), and Prop 10 (rent control) was soundly defeated.
And I’m cancelling my subscription to the SF Chron. The @$$h0les went out of their way to support Wicks, Tuck and opposition to Prop 10. I’m gonna miss Get Fuzzy.
See fuzzy in l.a. times. E version, too.
Hopefully rents come down with the oncoming housing bust.
If what happened here Down South the last bust is any guide, rents will not only not go down, but ‘unproductive’ units will be removed from the market.
Never underestimate the power of greed.
That’s why, in most ‘civilized’ countries, war profiteers are shot. Not here, alas.
The San Francisco Chronicle is a joke newspaper. It was started by the DeJung, name changed to Deyoung, family back in the Gold Rush of 1849 and has continuously represented the interests of the descendants of the old line families that flowed in to capitalize on the gold and who own most of the downtown real estate, hotels etc.
It flagrantly flogs Kamala Harris, their favorite, and the other establishment Democrats and mixes in trivia, sports and food articles as “news”. It’s subscriber base is plummeting and much of the ad space is dedicated to promoting special .99 cent subscription offers.
The other local paper, the Examiner
http://www.sfexaminer.com/
is free on the street and actually has far better journalism, although in smaller tranches.
I know how you feel, I voted for Proposition 10, and Tony Thurmond (Tuck’s opponent); one of very, very few (four in total) candidates I voted for/wrote in, all noted as non partisan (I would have voted for Javanka Beckles, if I lived in AD 15). Though the Pay to Play Wins weren’t at all shocking, it was still unbearably crushing, reading the results.
I stopped my alternating subscriptions to the Chronicle and [San Jose] Mercury years ago (to my mind, the Mercury Editors, are even (passive aggressively, of course) meaner spirited than the Chronicle Editors, which is a true feat of: coldbloodedness; owning (and also renting out?) California Bay Area Property; and cronyism).
It’s not at all surprising that the [San Francisco] Chronicle didn’t at all reflect the majority vote of San Francisco County regarding Proposition 10 Rent Control, as can be seen by the little green spot representing a majority yes vote on this map:
And, I will bet my life the Santa Clara County’s [San Jose] Mercury News would appear similarly at odds with the populace vote, if the recently made homeless – and the thousands of legal immigrant employees in Santa Clara County (a large county just South East of that green San Francisco County speck on the map linked to above, placing your cursor over it will reveal the County name and ballot results to the right) – had been able to vote on Proposition 10 Rent Control; Santa Clara County would have been colored green on that map also, representing a Yes vote.
Mr Driftwood, sir, Get your all your Fuzzy right here!
I think Get Fuzzy is available at Comics.com. It’s not one that I follow, so I’m not sure.
If people are willing to buy the BS the way they did here in MI yesterday than I think Kamala might actually have a shot, although when all of the focus in concentrated on one set of people things might look a lot different.
Democrats spent two years offering people absolutely nothing, only shrieking about Russia and how hateful Trump was, and MI elected a CIA spook, another Levin dynasty member, re-elected Debbie Dingell, re-elected Mrs. “In seat for 18 years” Stabenow, and, of course, by a good margin, health insurance pride and joy, BCBS Whitmer. Utterly pathetic. If a Democrat was going to win, these fools should have voted for El-Sayed and at least given some fresh ideas a chance. Instead the worst of U.S. politics was given supreme validation across the board in this state, corporatism and corruption, but with a smile(tm).
The Proposal front was mostly a wash as well. Prop 1 passed, soon allowing people to drown their woes in a purple haze, all the while doing nothing to help people with past convictions or those who are still in jail (there is a legislative bill in the works according to freep, that is unlikely to pass the legislature… great. At least some new corporations will make a bunch of cash though!) How is this enforceable? It will most likely make insurance rates soar even higher. There is no way to know “how” high someone is while driving for instance and the proposal offered no terms of enforcement in its text. How long before activists say the zero tolerance policy for simply smelling weed on a driver is against the rights of citizens? Then what? I complete support expunging minor offenses and getting people out of jail for pot, but this is not the responsible time for legalization across the board. Once the medicinal option passed, pot stores sprang up all over. You can drive down a 5 miles strip of 8 mile and it is lined with pot outlets. Further, there has been a booming real estate market of pot operations buying abandoned industrial areas for grow houses. So what we did was kill manufacturing and output that helped keep society secure and people happy, and were are replacing it with pot. Not responsible.
Prop 2, the citizens redistricting ‘jury pool’ reform passed, which hopefully will be at least better than the corrupt party system in place now.
Prop 3 however was some of the most janky nonsense that could have been passed. It is a** backwards junk that will lead to less accountable voting tallies. It will allow same day registration and automatic registration (which could be a plus if handled properly), but at the same time allows no excuse absentee voting and straight party ticket voting (rubbish, if someone wants to blindly follow the lemming train, at least make them manually fill the bubbles in). Prop 3 was sold on a line of sympathy, ‘single mother, African American Identity token can’t get to the polls, prop 3 would help all those like her and more!’. No, the correct response is that election day should be a national, or at least statewide, holiday. Instead, Tranisha Jones can now vote from home as an absentee, only she wasn’t aware of it, but she was cultivating and smoking her own weed. What a state.
Prop 3 sounds awesome. Your argument isn’t convincing at all. It should be as easy as possible to vote, and vote by mail is a great way to do that. If people face an hours-long wait at a polling place due to inept or corrupt officials, who cares if it’s a holiday? Anyway only people with nice jobs can count on getting most holidays off.
the post isn’t talking about most holidays, but a specific holiday to allow voting, which would have some kind of mechanism to encourage employers to allow it in most versions i’ve seen.
Yeah, because Wal-Mart is going to close because it’s Election Day (just like they close now for Thanksgiving—-ooops).
Free $50 to each voter who votes. Wal-Mart will see that some (or lots) of that money come their way.
Yes! Because Walmart needs more tax relief! That poor company.
It’s up to people to decide where they want to spend.
Wal-Mart will see some (or lots) of that money. And organic farmers, for example, will also see some (or lots) of that money.
We need a national holiday on election day. Voting is a public act, and democracy is a public activity. Absentee ballots should be used only by poll workers and others with a legitimate excuse for why they cannot physically travel to the polls.
Mail-in ballots and early voting schemes make it incredibly hard for anyone without a gadzillion $$$ to do political organizing. And why would anyone assume mail-in ballots are secure?
AND, we need hand-marked paper ballots, securely collected and held, then counted after the polls close by human beings in public. Who CARES if it takes 2 weeks to get the final results?
if everyone who could vote, actually did vote, the amount of work/time required for prep and execution of the election would balloon. Took me 2 hours to vote last night.
If turnout quadrupled, might need and want to rethink the mechanics.
I am all in favor of paper ballots, hand counted in public – but how could you do that with everyone eligible voting?
Not saying it can’t be done, it’s just gonna need a bit of thinking and planning.
I am not clairvoyant, but if it took two weeks to get the final results, there might be some issues that come up that we haven’t anticipated – just saying….
well $2 billion was spent on influencing this election so I am sure the money is there to pay workers to count ballots.
Just not the will.
as we all know from past experience and objective navel gazing, if voting meant anything, we wouldn’t be allowed to. Reality is schismatic.
if they wanted free and fair elections they wouldn’t spend billions of dollars on them.
It’s not that hard in a well managed country. That’s all we ever do in Australia (although, to be fair, we don’t vote for village dog catchers and such).
Looking at aec.gov.au may give you some ideas.
The government pays you $50* to vote, plus a free holiday – that will get people to vote.
*$100 when we are in a recession and need more new money in the system…”voters spending money into existence.”
Used to be we had feeds. Or at the least, coffee and baked goods at the polling places. Turnout has slumped since the feds came in and told us we couldn’t do that anymore. The only place I know that still has really high turnout is one local precinct where there is lunch at the church across the street from the polling place, and their turnout is down to 80% now.
“Prop 1 passed, soon allowing people to drown their woes in a purple haze, all the while doing nothing to help people with past convictions or those who are still in jail (there is a legislative bill in the works according to freep, that is unlikely to pass the legislature… great. At least some new corporations will make a bunch of cash though!) How is this enforceable? It will most likely make insurance rates soar even higher. There is no way to know “how” high someone is while driving for instance and the proposal offered no terms of enforcement in its text. How long before activists say the zero tolerance policy for simply smelling weed on a driver is against the rights of citizens? Then what? I complete support expunging minor offenses and getting people out of jail for pot, but this is not the responsible time for legalization across the board. Once the medicinal option passed, pot stores sprang up all over. You can drive down a 5 miles strip of 8 mile and it is lined with pot outlets. Further, there has been a booming real estate market of pot operations buying abandoned industrial areas for grow houses. So what we did was kill manufacturing and output that helped keep society secure and people happy, and were are replacing it with pot. Not responsible.”
To be blunt (no pun intended), this is pretty much just recycled, ignorant Reefer Madness BS which I’ll be happy to take apart point by point if necessary. Rec cannabis was legalized in WA State, what, three, four years ago and all the scare mongering turned out to be what anyone who was paying attention predicted– it’s fine, nothing much has changed really, insurance rates haven’t skyrocketed, minors using never went up, and people aren’t having their lives torn apart and being put in jail anymore for bad and stupid reasons. There’s abosuletly no push to go back to the way it was. Because there is no reason to.
“Insurance rates haven’t skyrocketed,” but correlated collision rates have risen significantly. Highway deaths and maimings are a potential target for class action lawsuits and prosecutors.
Never let facts get in the way of a good story:
https://shawglobalnews.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/lake-et-al-cannabis-public-health-metrics-for-senate.pdf
“I think Kamala might actually have a shot.”
An examination of her record as District Attorney in San Francisco is a legacy of disaster and alienation from the voters. She ran unopposed for her second term, and still didn’t get 100% of the votes cast.
A simple search for the terms “kamala san francisco problems” will provide dozens of articles outlining her failures and potential ammunition that could be used against her.
Her record as California Attorney General is no better. From the billion dollar cost overruns on the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge after the 1989 Earthquake that she ignored, to the excusing and sweeping under the rug of Mnuchin’s Onewest Bank mortgage fraud, she did little to earn credibility. But, she did get a nice donation from Mnuchin to run for senator.
Her name on the ticket would do more to get Republicans out to vote than any other Democrat I could think of.
Yeah well thats just like ur opinion, man lol
My best friends a Veteran who has to illegally buy overpriced weed in Michigan.
Plus we are planning on starting a weed business.
We both make under 30K.
So F OFF with ur bullshit alarmist rhetoric.
And this is coming from someone whos walked the walk and gotten kicked out the Army for smoking Purple Haze and poppin hot on an UA.
I agree with the rest of your opinions theaux :)
You have a strange antagonism toward cannabis. I am a medical and recreational user from California, a state where cannabis has flourished for decades. Your fear, from my perspective, is unfounded.
P.S.- meant as a response to Roger Smith
Record-expungement and various amnesties for the marijuana-convicted is a good next thing to achieve. But state-legalization of marijuana itself is good right now. As state after state state-legalizes marijuana we may finally be able to extort re-legalization from a hostile DC FedRegime.
Medical marijuana will continue researching and refining the various pharmaceutically active compounds in the plant and come up with different varieties and blends for different sickness conditions. Medical and recreational cannabis will become more and more different from eachother.
I don’t know enough about some of MI’s recently elected Democrats to know if your distaste is fact-based or not. I know that John Dingell was against NAFTA, WTO membership “for” America, MFN for China and against Trade Treason Agreements in general. I believe his wife continues that orientation and approach. Would I be wrong? If not, what should I regard as being the “problem” with Debbie Dingell? Is she not “kewl” enough? Is she not politically “edgy” enough in a “transgressively hip and groovy” way? What exactly is the problem?
By the way, I smoked pot and I liked it a lot. Ate some too, now and again. If God had not meant for man to toke, He would not have given us cerebrocortical endocannabinoid receptors.
Two years is a very short time, in US politics. I’m just wondering if Princess Ivanka or Chelsea will simply take turns? https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-11-06/the-american-civil-war-didnt-end-and-trump-is-a-confederate-presidenthttps:/// http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/19/that-time-chelsea-clinton-called-peaceniks-anti-american/
It’s going to happen anyway…as far as that goes, it looks like Florida passed an amendment to restore the voting rights of former felons there. That might have an impact on future elections in that state.
726 days is a long time in politics!
Sorry.
Maybe. A lot can happen between now and 2020. But one thing that makes me feel better is that it looks like the Midwest/Rust Belt will be the main battleground region in 2020 which means that economic populism will be on the agenda.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-07/stinging-defeats-in-the-rust-belt-flash-a-2020-warning-for-trump
After 2016 many neoliberal Democrats were talking about a Sunbelt strategy based largely on identity politics. Many neoliberal Dems were writing the Midwest/Rust Belt off as irredeemable Deplorable country. But some of the Democratic wins last night might force the Democrats to wake up and realize that economic populism is the answer. Of course, the Democrats could fail to see this and we could get another Clintonite in 2020 and a Trump victory.
i was feeling a little under the weather last night so i went to bed before the polls closed and woke up to read that S. Brown had beaten Jim Renacci in the Ohio Senate race. The polls consistently showed that the election was never close. Nonetheless, i was stressing over this race because Renacci is such a sleazy politician, having had firsthand experience of his “public service” when he was mayor of the small city I live in where among other moves he made he gave away our local hospital to Summa Health System which proceeded to asset strip it and shut it down. So i dreaded even the idea of his being a U. S. Senator. While very relieved by the news of Brown’s victory, I was also surprised to see him described as a possible candidate for President in 2020. Not that i follow his public pronouncements all that closely, but this was the first that I had seen he might be considering a run in 2020. And so it begins.
Brown endorsed HRC and saw his potential star fade. The Podesta emails reveal HRC was still promising the VP spot to Brown long after she settled on Timmy.
He was a no show on the Sanders filibuster of the Bush/Obama tax cuts for the wealthy. If one wants to vote for a coward who might know better, Warren has a novelty edge.
Dear Democratic Party:
2020 – Bernie or Bust. Please don’t call our bluff again.
How about “Bernie or The Green Party gets my vote?”
Green may get my vote 2 Presidential Election Cycles in a row!!
Will be my third time voting green if Bernie doesn’t make it past the dem primary.
The day the green federation of debating societies starts to show signs of actually functioning as a party, (high time after over 4 decades of alleged party building) I might think about it.
Hallelujah!
Let’s see how he does in the primaries. Last time he lost the popular vote by a lot. I didn’t vote for him last time and likely won’t vote for him next time. Bernie is a nice guy but I see him as more of a cheer leader than a chief executive. I’d like to see a president with stronger executive talent.
we don’t know what the popular vote would have been if
a) all the votes had been counted
b)bernie started from anything like an equal position
Here’s how you turn Puerto Rico around and attract those trying to avoid taxes on their gotten gains…
First of all ditch the Hispanic name, and call it by it’s English name:
‘Rich Port’
Ok, that’s it. Bring on the Billionaires!
Might help too if they renamed the capital from San Juan to San Ayn Rand. That would help get the tech billionaires in.
And also, he’s Richy Martin now and while we’re at it, that ballplayer from the island now goes by A-Wad.
—China will not be bullied by Imperialist powers, warns Xi confidant—
this is the original sin with China of the Western political establishment and Western mainstream media—zero knowledge and recognition of Chinese 19th/20th cent. history, except for some vague recollections that Japan wasn’t nice to China, and if you’re British that the UK did something with opium over there.
“Macron wants ‘Euro army’ to combat China, Russia and US.”Sydney Morning Herald
Buckle up…
You know the rest of quote.
“Macron, the magot that roared…?”
An EU foreign legion. (also a nice option for absorbing controversial migrants, and potentially sending them back in uniform to conduct interventions in their nations of origin). At least a twofer, possibly a threefer.
And think of what a celebration of diversity the next remake of Beau Geste could be.
If you ever watch clips of marching troops, you may have seen the Legion Etrangere marching in the Bastile Day Parade. The guys with leather aprons and axes instead of rifles are called Sappers, basically what we Americans call engineers. They seem to be pretty white. The guys carrying the rifles are pretty diverse. After the Battle of Algiers the government decided to turn them into basically a construction brigade. The decision was helped by the fact they ran out of veterans from the Waffen SS.
> guys with leather aprons and axes instead of rifles are called Sappers
Maybe I should have better impulse control, but cannot let the coincidence pass.
Sometime recently NC coughed up a recommendation for Vasily Grossman’s “Life And Fate” – sprawling Russian novel conceptual(?) companion to “War and Peace”.
anywho, Sappers at the siege of Stalingrad did not have it so cush:
https://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.php/105323/Grossman_-_Life_And_Fate.html
Oh so sick of this ancient trope being waved about by Sino-supremacists and their pathetic Western toadies.
And all the armies and empires of Europe tromped all over a fragmented Germany for about a thousand years, ergo the depredations of Kaiser and Hitler were perfectly justified?
At this point, the West has actively subsidized the restoration of China as a global economic superpower, mainly by throwing their own proletariat and bourgeoisie under the bus. I think the white guilt blood debt is well and truly paid at this point… by the mopes.
You know . . . there comes a point at which ChinaGov invoking A Century Of Western Humiliation to justify Chinese resource imperialism against all its neighbors starts to sound and smell like Netanyahoo invoking The Holocaust to justify the latest outrages in the Occupied West Bank and Illegally “annexed” East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights.
Maybe Democrats will repeal the Trump Tax Cut like they did the Bush Tax Cut.
So, about that “tax cut.” This is from a link posted here in the wee hours of this morning on the Election Night Live Blog/Open Thread:
After the tax law passed, Democrats publicly predicted electoral disaster for the GOP. But in private, they feared that voters would start to see a larger paycheck and credit Republicans for a strong economy.
Sena emphasized that Democrats had been especially concerned about the tax law when it was still being debated in Congress, when they feared its benefits might be slanted more toward the middle class. But even after passage, DCCC officials still warned campaigns that the law would become more popular, and during their Monday meetings before the law took effect, the committee’s leadership would remind themselves when people would start to see a bump in their take-home pay.
“We had a countdown clock,” Sena said. “When do people actually see it in their paychecks for the first time?”
“There was this moment very early on about, once people have money in their pockets, what’s going to happen to the generic? What happens to everything?”
The “middle class” will get tax cuts when it’s electorally favorable for the democrats, and not until.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article221221485.html
Tax cut explained.
Your tax cut is represented by a thimble of beer. Warren Buffet’s tax cut is represented by a delivery truck full of beer.
Unless and until tax laws are rewritten to eliminate loopholes and penalize usage of offshore havens and other ‘perfectly legal’ outlets, nothing will change for the average person. That means never.
The update to that old quote:
“How divisions does the Pope have?”
How many divisions do the taxpayers have?
I don’t want tax cuts. I want tax restoration back to New Deal levels . . . the levels we had during the Eisenhower Administration.
It’s reassuring that the Chinese can get addicted to something, and it takes a lot longer to kill somebody than say Fentanyl, by forcing them willingly to play repetitive video games over and over again, but with any luck, the population will be reduced to gaming savants with really well muscled fingers.
Video game addicts tend not to, er, be interested in human contact, so not likely to produce offspring.
I had to check Google News to see that this was a legit story but it seems that a brothel owner, who died a month ago, won a seat in Nevada state assembly in the elections soundly defeated his Democrat opponent Lesia Romanov. Either the Republicans have a death grip on Nevada or the Democrat chosen to run against him was that bad. Un-be-lievable. Story at-
https://www.rt.com/usa/443337-dennis-hof-nevada-brothel-winner/
From another source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/famed-nevada-brothel-owner-dennis-hof-found-dead-love-ranch-n920841
He won in a very sparsely populated right wing part of the state. Democrats won many major races including senator and governor. Both were flips from Republicans. We are finally turning blue in Nevada.
Pahrump. They are as indicated, very rural, with a fair population of right wing retirees who live to complain about how they were ‘forced out of California’ by libruls. Nevada did better than any other state in the nation for turning from red to blue in 2018. Both the governor’s office and Senate went Democratic, despite 2 very lackluster, establishment Democrat candidates. A lot of down ballot state offices went Dem as well.
Laxalt was devoted to freeing health insurers from the dire burden of covering customers with preexisting conditions. Defeat could not have happened to a more deserving guy.
Yes – Nevada did actually experience the blue wave. I don’t think any other state did. Very pleased to see Laxalt go – a Sheldon Adelson fave. Sheldon didn’t do well.
Glad to hear that. I do not believe he got his wealth legally, but at least he makes no pretense that his loyalty is to the United States.
Did Beto, Abram, and Gillum really lose, or did the voting machines steal those races?
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abrams,
Can you tell me where she’s gone?
She appealed to a lotta people, but it seems not enough
But I just looked around and she’s gone.
Has anybody here seen my old friend Beto,
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He fired up a lotta people, but it seems Ted done won
But I just looked around and he’s gone.
Has anybody here seen my old friend Gillum,
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He excited a lotta people, but it seems the voters didn’t fawn
But I just looked around and he’s gone.
Didn’t you love the things they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free,
Someday soon it’s gonna be one day.
Has anybody here seen my old friend Hillary,
Can you tell me where she’s gone?
I thought I saw her walkin’ up over the hill
With Abrams, Gillum and Beto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDOmf5ER0-M
Project Veritas hit Beto pretty hard with the undercover. Also, its Texas.
And seriously, the whole machine thing is getting old. Whoever loses always blames it on the machines, immigrants, or dead people (*new in 2016* or the Russians).
the whole machine thing is getting old
Tell that to people who didn’t have their votes changed/not recorded by the machines. It took my husband multiple tries to get the machine to properly record his vote yesterday. I’m sure there are many cases where the voter doesn’t notice the vote hasn’t recorded properly, or gives up trying after a couple of attempts.
I dont think you understood my point. I wasnt saying it doesnt happen or isnt a serious problem. I was commenting on how each party, Dems and Reps, use it like a final hammer to the opposition when they lose or are uncertain of the outcome.
It IS old: every single election we hear the same thing. Yet both sides do NOTHING to fix it. So what exactly is your point on paranoia? How is it survival again to be paranoid about voting? Voting is so far removed from survival I cant even take that analogy seriously. Especially in an oligarchy nonetheless.
I dont vote for the very reason that I think it is, currently at least, senseless to the utmost. I dont want to wait in line for 8 hours to maybe have my vote counted or counted correctly. And to choose from a set list of lesser evils from 2 parties (most other countries have around 3 to 5) is also, pure un-democratic nonsense.
The numerous examples here on how its the Reps that are manipulating the vote count through fraud and the Dems are some morally superior people are old as time. I could say the same about the Dems. Just look at the primaries between Bernie and Hillary. How was it that the prison population somehow all voted for Hillary? Doesn’t strike you as odd? Or that Bernie would lose Brooklyn, his home town, amidst numerous reports (many that went to court), on how registration was changed last minute, and evidence of tampering?
So instead of talking about “my vote switched”, why not talk about the OBVIOUS fraud, which is that total ballots cast does not jive with number of voters. That one is verified, yet do I see Dems of Reps talking about it ever? Or how certain states, like Georgia, do not allow exit polls and have no paper trail?
No instead, Ive seen here a focus on the Reps as the cause of all of this. Do you really truly think that the Dems would not sink as low as the Reps? Do you really think there is that much different between the two parties?
And if so, explain how the vast majority of policies between the two are exactly the same in actuality (for all the media blather about differences)?
There was voter intimidation in El Paso, and the power went out suddenly elsewhere in Texas for three hours, such that a judge had to order the polls to remain open until 9 p.m. There’s no way of knowing how many people had to leave before they voted because the babysitter had to get home or just from the sheer exhaustion of waiting.
This is what happened two years ago. Once the elections were over, everybody just dismissed all the shenanigans as anecdotal or exaggerated, which is precisely why it was so easy for it to happen again. Including the last-minute purging of thousands of voters by a candidate running for governor who should have been prohibited from having any contact with the election process. Greg Palast is proceeding with his lawsuit, by the way, so feel free to hop on over and help him meet expenses.
As the cliché goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. These days, paranoia is a survival technique.
The obsession with fixing the problems in the US by voting either R or D, with the mentality that you are either with them or against them, is a disease. We could call it a type of crowd ruled insanity: the act of continually repeating the same charade (and chastising those who dont) and expecting a different outcome.
In actuality, if everyone actually read the congressional acts (which basically none do), you would find very little difference between the two parties on all fronts, maybe minus the small potatoes like gay rights or abortion (and yes, these are small issues compared to economics that affect 100% of the population and can single handedly crater a country – like central bank policies for example).
Both are equally likely, and it stands at something like 85%, to comply with the corporate demands over the people’s. Expecting to change that, by voting D or R, is ridiculous. How many times does history have to teach the masses that unless they truly rise up to demand obedience from their elected officials (or in your example, that voting should have complete & nationally sweeping regulations & 3rd party verification) society tends to grow more and more unequal with each passing year. Until one day you realize, like some of us now do, that we dont live in the greatest nation on earth anymore. We live in a crumbling empire where the top brass is repeatedly stuffing their pockets before the ship fully sinks.
To talk to your point more directly, wouldn’t you think it more prudent to have a 3rd neutral party, say a Japanese company for example, verify all votes before making assertions of fraud? If this was really a partisan issue, wouldn’t one side have a MASSIVE interest in collecting data to show that the other side is committing voter fraud (which is an act of treason btw)?
Instead, I see the one or two tweets from senators in response to the allegation. And by god, the amount of allegations there have been in US elections. Let me quote a line from the Demos white paper on voter fraud in the US: https://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/Analysis.pdf
“Debates over election fraud are not new. They have been a staple of discussions about elections and democracy in the United States for more than a century.”
The conclusion of that same report is that the fraud happens but is minor. That the problems are generally on a county or township level, and not that of an entire state. I dont know if I believe it, but there it is. At some point you have only one option: trust and be done with it, or do it yourself.
If you’re not a woman, it’s easy to diminish the importance of the right to privacy in reproductive choice. Maybe you should tell a few how unimportant it is in larger scheme of things and wait for the reaction.
Im happy all three of these DNC Establishment candidates lost. Who cares what suburban people want? Lets bring on the Populists and shake some shit up!
Bernie or Bust!
Damn difficult to just get the raw numbers on election results without graphs and commentary…anyone have a good web site that simply lists data by State/office/party that can be copied into an Excel workbook?
It looks like the plutocrats/oligarchs won with divided government.
Typo in Breugel link, “Consequenes of Italy’s Dependence …” Correct link.
Fixed it. Thanks!
RE: North’s alphabet soup
The one thing in our favour is that the consequences of a “no deal” are so awful that when, faced with the prospect of it actually happening, the parties might find the compromises necessary to agree a deal.
The UK parties’ sole competence is its inability to contemplate, let alone face, the consequences of any of its policies (such as they are).
Hard to see them making an exception here.
Regarding 2020, I see headlines for days about it starts now. And the report of Cuomo’s decisive “sob” win in The NY Times talked of how it boded well for his presumed run, along with the meaningless “not considering” bull.
And the last time I wasted a vote on Andy, was 8 years ago. Yesterday I helped the greens keep a ballot line, it wasn’t much but it accomplished more than being an unreported undervote. I console myself with the thought that Andy may have spent more on the primary than the general, money he wasn’t planning on spending. And that that reduces his coffers for that long planned meaninglessly denied Presidential run.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/wells-fargo-admits-it-incorrectly-foreclosed-on-545-homeowners-it-should-have-helped/
f@*ckers…struggling to repair it’s image after a series of missteps…
We’re well east of Eden, so not really effected by the wildfire aside from smoke, and it’s gone from 5 acres last week to 151, and on the drive down from Mineral King yesterday, it was something to behold, in ridiculously steep terrain that has no record of ever having burned heretofore.
There’s no chance of precip for the next 10 days out in our early winter of missed content, and that’s what NPS is banking on to stop it from getting out of control, not that they have any plans other than to let it run it’s course, in aiding & abetting the Brobdingnagians by burning off lesser denizens in the forest for the trees.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6248
Well the new boss is the same as the old boss. nancy p. is going to lead by following the same old game plan. We’re so screwed.
https://www.sfgate.com/elections/article/speaker-nancy-pelosi-bipartisanship-house-democrat-13369211.php
Pelosi is dreaming of the halcyon days when Tip and Ronnie roamed the land.
Someone should ask her to name 10 House Republicans who would negotiate in good faith.
All Nancy has to do is ask a few of these Democrats who assisted Republicans on deregulating Wall Street:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/here-are-the-democrats-who-helped-republicans-dere.html
Poll being cited on msnbs:
Voter’s Nationwide Opinion of Pelosi
31% Favorable
56% Unfavorable
This being msnbs, it must be killing them to rain on their own parade.
Some of the big climate-relevant legislation, WA initiative 1631 for a carbon tax and Colorado Proposition 112 for a check on fracking, lost. I hope state and local level organizers are gearing up for a huge push in 2020, I think these kinds of proposals will get more and more popular. Just have to get past the endless oil $$$$$$$ fighting it..
The problem with 1631 was that it mandated contron by an unelected board of individuals accountable to well… no one ! Plus the initiative was poorly written, with lousy execution and lack of oversight, regardless of one’s opinion of big oil.
Our state’s previous carbon-related intiative would’ve been better, with greater accountability, had it passed.
So, onward ….
It has been interesting reading about the dirty details of 1631. I wonder which state will be able to pass a carbon tax, and if it could ever pass at a federal level (the Citizens’ Climate Lobby dream). If it can’t pass in a state with so much hydro power..
“The $6 Trillion Barrier Holding Electric Cars Back”
Sounds legit. The electric car companies want tax-payers to cough up the $6 trillion necessary to build out the infrastructure and they will get to keep all the profits for all electric cars sold. Thus electric car companies, foreign ones too, will become yet another subsidy dumpster where ever increasing amounts of government money disappear. OR…the government says to them: “You want the infrastructure for your cars then pool your money to build it piecemeal as you can afford it. Forget profits the first few years the way Amazon did and then you will rake it in down the track. Fair enough?”
Wouldnt use Amazon as the example.
They were subsidized by the US postal service. They use the roads and infrastructure we pay for.
Amazons tactic was suppress profits for market share (not suppress profits for infrastructure), a simple yet evil business strategy that used to be checked by anti-monopoly laws
When no competition exists, profits are whatever you dream up. That is the goal of all major corporations, one way or another (as in, through government, policy, market or all the above). Thankfully, we still have countries to put up competition on the global level.
Washington voters say you’ll tear my big gulp from my cold dead hands
Lucky for me I don’t understand the attraction of soda….mostly afraid of the dental bills…
Soda is the beverage of lower classes. Putting restrictions isn’t about public health. It’s about class warfare via policing behavior of the lower orders. This is a good idea in the minds of blue state elites like michael bloomberg who won’t tolerate giving people actual healthcare.
You can easily see when the USA put on a lot of weight…
It all happened after fast food places started offering all-you-can-drink sodas, help yourself!
High-fructose corn syrup, the gift that keeps on giving. When Coke modified their formula to New Coke, some thought that signaled their shift away from sugar to save cost, with enough brand equity to ride out the transition and solidify a new market. The HFCS type of addictivity was not a bug but a feature.
How is it no one has done a study to see how many people actually fill that 32 oz. cup with soda. That is, without any ice? I keep hearing this refrain about health and whatnot, but nobody has ever shown me actual data on how much actual non-diet soft drinks are imbibed annually by volume.
Because otherwise, as johnnygl said, it’s just the elites virtue-signaling by adding another regressive tax on poor people in the name of “better health.” And sweets, including high-fructose corn syrup, are only addictive to those with a predilection for same, just like any other addictive substance. Some people are probably equally addicted to things sour, but we don’t know that because nobody’s ever had an agenda to keep people from eating sour stuff.
Taxing the common man for anything is ridiculous. He’s already taxed at near EU levels and has healthcare and higher education to worry about. They should be taxing corn syrup & sugar additives. But of course, anyone that reads about the sugar industry knows that the US government actually runs all the sugar mills in the country. No joke. They price fix sugar, and you cannot open a private sugar mill. Lots of smaller companies, usually chocolate or candy mfgrs, have tried to end it to no avail.
25% of the American diet is sugar as of 1999. It declined a bit since then and that it attributed to the fall in soda consumption. So yes, sugary drinks are a huge culprit in American sugar consumption Remember, this average includes children:
https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/20/sugar-consumption-americans/
Doesn’t Trump drink a lot of Coke? He might object to paying more tax on his favourite drink … oh, never mind. I forgot, he now has a gov. expense account. Probably not paying for much Coke himself these days.
Nope. Washington State voters did not say that at all. Washington State voters said this ballot measure is deceptive, and aims to protect soda industry profits by frightening people into giving up local government control. Not. Gonna. Happen. At the beginning of the year, Seattle officials launched a tax on soda and other sugary drinks in an attempt to bring in new revenue and then direct money toward early childhood education and healthy food programs. This was not a debate about whether or not soda should be taxed. This was about whether citizens should relinquish local authority. And we didn’t.
Well said.
We now enter my least favorite part of elections: being told, based on a thoroughly flawed method of polling, what the voters said.
It’s National Rorschach Season.
Well neighbor, I hate to break it to you, but Initiative 1634 is way ahead. The massive scare campaign succeeded. I’d be curious how many voters knew they were voting away local control in response to a very limited tax in a city where they don’t live.
Heard on NPR that Abrams is still fighting in GA gov race. Awesome! Good for her. Learn from repubs! Concede nothing and hire a bunch of lawyers to fight until you win.
Weird, I wonder if dem establishment will start getting skittish about her making officials actually count ballots in Fulton County. It’s almost like she’s serious about voting rights, registration and organizing. She can’t be a real democrat, can she?
Abrams’ campaign was very diligent about voter registration up until the day registration closed in Georgia, and I personally can attest to being
houndedreminded to vote multiple times via phone call and text. There have also already been lawsuits regarding the voter suppression, and an attempt to force Kemp to recuse himself from his role of overseeing the election. She does appear to take voting rights very seriously.Kemp’s lead, last I saw, was on the order of 75,000 votes out of a total of over 3 million. Uncounted absentee and “provisional” ballots could well overturn that margin. I wouldn’t concede if I were her, either.
Thank you for the update. Kemp purged 668K voters in 2017 alone and 1.4M since 2010. (Link, Link).
She’s right not to concede and to contest his overseeing any recount.
Given the purges Kemp was responsible for, it’s difficult to see how a win by him is legitmate. Luckily the DCCC and DNC are lining up their lawyers to take on the case. Oh, wait…
Just received this email from the Abrams campaign, along with a request for a modest ($3) donation to help fund the effort to ensure the vote count:
An update on our election returns. And an important ask.
As of right now, thousands of ballots still remain uncounted, which means thousands of voices around the state have not yet been heard. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we know that we still have a path to victory.
Let us be as clear as we can: while some have worked hard to take our votes and our voices away, including our opponent who is overseeing this election, we are going to make sure that every last vote in this election is counted. Every last one. But we cannot do that alone.
She is not giving up without a fight. The subject line of the email was “We believe there will be a runoff.”
She learned nothing from Gore, Kerry, or Sanders: concede gracefully and maintain tribal viability or a cushy-feathered retirement. She doesn’t realize it’s theater, impromptu theater with prescribed rules.
Bill Nelson also refusing to concede here in Florida. No concession expected today per his spokesperson. The word “recount” is being thrown around.
Could get interesting since our slippery fraudster of a governor is also his “somehow” unindicted opponent. (According to a Nelson campaign ad, Scott took da fifth.)
There would seem to be plenty of ways to muddy these waters including the recent hurricane Michael displacements/infrastructure destruction as well as displaced Puerto Ricans from last year’s storm now residing on the mainland.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are still some chads hanging around in the Everglades or some other out of the way swamp. It’s a relief to know there is a full complement of “supremes” to referee.
https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/massive-turnout-wisconsin-and-end-scott-walker-era/1894426002/
Looks like all the top of the ticket Dems won in Wisconsin. This is quite an upset. Good info on the exit polling in this article. Walker lost the Independents, the true swing voters. Marquette poll constantly talked about this change.
Let’s hope we can repair some of the damage done in 8 yrs and that it is a signal for the country. Kaul for AG is ahead by 22,000 votes. Current AG was activist on ACA and many many other national conservative issues, so this would be a big shift as well. But everyone expects a recount.
Walker won’t be recounted because Repubs passed a restrictive law on that after 2016, if the margin is over 1%, no recounts. KARMA is sweet.
Unfortunately, absolutely no movement in the state legislature. Foxconn news out yesterday that they will bring in Chinese laborers to work at the plant. Walker leaves this stinking pile. Any guesses on what his next job is?
That is good news indeed
Head of US-China relations perhaps?
Walker is still considering a recount. His spokesperson says some ‘damaged’ (reconstructed) ballots from the Milwaukee absentee count shouldn’t be used as votes.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/scott-walker-eyes-damaged-absentee-ballots-recount-decision/1918944002/
it can function as a tremendous investigative tool — even for counter-espionage purposes. And Google’s search functions allow users to employ advanced operators — like “AND,” “OR,” and other, much more sophisticated ones — that weed out and isolate websites and online data with extreme specificity.
Impressive: advanced operators — like “AND,” “OR,”. Who are these donkeys who think AND OR are advanced.
After he blew the whistle, he was moved off of his subcontract with SAIC, a Virginia company that works on government information technology products and support.
Really? SAIC was the subcontractor developing the CIA covert system. Anyone with decent programming skills gets hired and one does not have to even be US citizen.
I think this is what happens when espionage and other sensisitive issues get sub contracted.
What is “IT”? Something’s missing in your post.
To me, the demise of the spy networks in Iran and China is just another manifestation of the crapification of just about everything. The over-reliance on at-a-distance SIGINT has allowed the tradecraft associated with HUMINT and related COMSEC to decay to such a point that it is no longer possible to keep spy networks in the field for any length of time against capable adversaries.
Even Mafia bosses know that electronic communications should be used sparingly. (Although, the use of “pizzini” required trusted couriers, who could sometimes be compromised. Provenzano’s “bible code” still is to be decoded, tho’.)
Read alien climate change collapse followed by Ellsberg’s greatest act of terror. It’s immediately obvious that the four simulation scenarios of population decline v temperature rise in the first link is conspicuously missing a fifth graph, the avoiding extinction by the anthropogenic culling of excess population. Don’t think DARPA is not gaming that scenario.
“What Trump really wants: European car parts”
But if Trump gets that manufacturing of car parts back in the US, where will he find the experienced workers and management to run those factories? Is that a skill set that you can put up an ad for on Craigslist? How will training the workforce be carried out? Who will provide the capital to build the factories to build those parts as well as the infrastructure to support it all. What about the machinery to produce the parts? Will Trump demand that the Europeans hand theirs over to him?
That bit about experience workers reminds me of a story I heard during Cold War One. The expertise to run an aircraft carrier was something grown and had to be constantly practiced. One US Navy officer said once that the US could turn over a complete, entire aircraft carrier over to the Soviet Navy down to the last grease pencil and that it would take the Soviets about a decade to work out how to properly run and deploy it. I would image that there might be similar difficulties setting up those new factories.
I guess that Trump looked at the way that the Chinese did their manufacturing with their demand of local production, and said: “If you can’t beat them….”
Are 25% tariffs worth losing all the European auto assembly jobs the south already has? I think Europe has leverage, too.
“where will he find the experienced workers and management to run those factories?”
Are you serious or a corporate shill looking to get more H-1B visas to lower the wages of skilled laborers?
America, the dominant car culture, the society that has, by far, the largest number of modders, car technicians, mechanical engineers, that invented and perfected the mass production of cars, cant find people to run the automotive factories?
You have a depressingly low view of the country you live in. Some would say ignorant. Im actually kind of speechless to this. America has 1.6 million engineers, half of which are mech e’s or civil e’s. That’s 10x the amount in Germany. We have automotive-specific universities, like Kettering.
I just…dont even know what to say. Did you even Google the subject?
The European car companies will move their managers here if needed. Help me. And multinationals do this all the time (send people on foreign postings). The wheels are well greased for this sort of thing.
You want an answer? OK, I’ll give it a go (wipes blood off shirt). First off I am not American so I am seeing this from a different perspective nor do I have anything to do with corporations – thank blog. Historically America was renowned for its engineering prowess and you can mark in such highlights as Hoover dam and the Moon program but that was then and this is now.
Now there are examples galore that not all is as it should be. What examples? The Ford carrier that was delivered without elevators for the bombs to get to the flight deck, the F-35 fighter (’nuff said), the Zumwalt-class destroyer program, the littoral combat ship program but you can see the trend. And these are military engineering projects which should have high priority.
Why is this so? I attribute it to two reasons – the degradation of American education due to neoliberalism over the past few decades for one. How much does an engineering student have to pay for his education now? The second? American management which is almost a meme in itself. I am willing to bet that many readers could give examples of American management in action.
Sure the US is great at building cars. Unfortunately it is probably the wrong sort of cars. Decades ago the trend was to have more fuel-efficient cars until the big manufacturers had SUVs reclassified as cars that people could buy and look at where things have gone with that. Sure America has a lot of great engineers but just remember that back in 2008, the US was producing more financial engineers than real engineers. But in the end cars are just – cars. It’s just a piece of transport technology that is over 140 years old and whose days are probably numbered.
Which means ” the car’s” days are just as numbered in Ontario as in America.
> ellsberg and the biggest terrorism attack ever
Good interview! If you didn’t choose to click and you want the high light (low light?):
So it was the U.S. Army against the people of Tokyo.
The Rape of Nanking or Berlin* should be up there.
Looking at civilian population percentage, maybe we should consider the last day of Carthage, Troy or maybe other long forgotten places.
*Not killing the victims can be as lethal. Ask the Hibakusha’s.”
As far as Berlin goes, Galatians VI.
King Louis XVI & family attempted to flee Paris in a ‘Berlin’ enclosed carriage…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_(carriage)
ie for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap
Bomber Harris used the more striking Hosea 7:8 ‘They have sowen the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.’
Yeah 120,000 is nothing compared to Nanking.
The figure is said to be between 40,000 to 200,000, for Nanking (per Wikipedia).
TBH, that article on dissonance in language infuriated me. It asserted:
It used a NY Times article as its source. Here’s the thing: that’s not what Trump “suggested,” although it is an enlightening view on the author’s mindset, particularly in light of another article in today’s links on how many people think it’s ok to use violence to shut up people who say unpopular things.
Why is the misrepresentation so infuriating to me? Because it’s exactly the sort of overreach that blunts criticism of Trump and lets people dismiss what would otherwise have been valid and concerning criticism. It plays directly into the hands of the people who roll their eyes and say, oh that’s all fake news. Haven’t we learned anything? It happened repeatedly during the 2016 campaign. I lost track of the times that Wapo or NYT or Huffpo would write about Trump’s saying some outrageous stuff and then when I tracked down the video, it wasn’t what Trump said. They greased the skids for him, because what he said was bad enough and if they had stuck to that, people would have been concerned about Trump rather than concluding there was proof reporters lie.
Re: “Climate change killed the aliens, and it might kill us too, new simulation suggests NBC.”
This is not a way to convince people about the perils of climate change.
You have models based on things that have a good chance of being fantasies.
1)Aliens
2) Easter Islanders demise is still a debated subject.
I have to give NC a face palm for this one..
sorry.
I heard the alien caravan ended up in Alpha Centauri, lured by a more welcoming offer in terms of settling there.
They may use Earth as a garbage dump in the future.
We send out all kinds of light and aufio signals in search of aliens and they can probablu smell the planet from a milliom light years away.
Flyover would be all of us if the Earth became somebody else’s landfill, not that we aren’t trying.
Stars are far simpler.
One fine day Humankind finds hidden oceans containing a store of millions of years of energy captured from our star, and concentrated for easy use. This legacy of fossil fuels might have nurtured our civilizations for thousands even hundreds of thousands of years. But our wise species burns this legacy as quickly and wastefully as can be devised. The candle of our civilization burns brightly but briefly. Some of our scientists can imagine civilizations of intelligent beings throughout the universe similarly fortunate in finding a great store of energy and kindly timing their self-immolations to coincide with our own — after properly accounting for the delays of light travel — and these scientists search the skies for the afterglow of the extravagances of these imagined civilizations.
So — is SETI searching for intelligent life or other creatures like Humankind?
Electronic Intifada releases parts 3 and 4 of The Lobby – USA
https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-final-episodes-al-jazeera-film-us-israel-lobby/25896
For those who missed the post at NC, EI released the first 2 parts last week.
It is good this got out, but people need to see it.
Glad my stomach was empty.
Re: “Macron wants ‘Euro army’ to combat China, Russia and US Sydney Morning Herald.”
Does Macroneon think he will lead it? Sure the Germans would have alot to say about that.
Well, an early “Happy Armistice Day” to you all too…
And there’s some “progress” for ya!
or to bomb Syria and some African countries….
What’s funny is that a global army invaded China before and a few years later they were at each others throats over those spoils.
I wonder what a modern day Boxer Rebellion would look like
And twelve centuries earlier, there was the An Lushan Rebellion:
It looks as if the feud with the Uyghurs are still on-going.
On the other hand, things are not going too bad with the Arabs, from Beijing’s perspective.
Iskander of Macedon’s leadership style was to lead the charge himself.
And today our young firebrand is saluting the wartime service of a certain Marshall Pétain…the Great War version mind you, not the chap who signed the “hygiene” laws and sent the trains Eastward. As if the nationalist screaming fools of 1914-19 had nothing to do with the collaboration later on.
I’m sure he thinks it’s a cheeky turn that will set the bien pensant left off on a tear, stealing an ember from Mrs. Le Pen’s hot stove before the EU elections next Spring.
Plenty of time to read some Céline while waiting.
Pretty creepy, a sifflet de chien?
It’s more than that – Macron thinks that by his mere newness to the political scene that he does not have to respect the codes of the past. It took until the end of the ’90s for Chirac to finally acknowledge that the French state had some responsibility for the crimes of the collaborationist government and Mr. Newbee has no time for that. Moreover, iirc, Manu’s “mentor” Paul Ricoeur had a brief flirtation with les collabos as well.
https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/unofficial-results-south-lake-tahoe-voters-say-yes-to-measure-t/
Does anyone else find that article about floating solar farms scary? It seems to me to be a recipe for all kinds of ecological damage: heat sinks in the lakes, dead zones from lack of oxygen transfer, dead fish, etc. And what happens with the pollution that results when one of them inevitably leaks/breaks and we end up with more heavy metals in our irrigation and drinking water supply?
Guaranteed no one responsible for proposing these solutions has given serious thought to the ecological ramifications. They probably don’t even have the requisite expertise to realize that there will be problems.
No, not in the slightest. 1) Water management agencies are not plowing into this at high speed; we have no commercial ‘floatovoltaic’ operations on any dammed lake in the US at present. 2) No one is planning on creating an impermeable seal over 100% of the surface of any lake. I.e. look at the photo of the floating PV farm in Portugal. (You need to scroll thru the entire article to do this).
I realize the commentariat here reflexively despises practical engineering attempts to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. The most voluble prefer luxuriating in dystopian visions of a retro future in which billions have died in a climate hellscape. I have a deep distaste for NIMBY emotionalism in middle aged people……. who are guaranteed to be dead of old age before that hellscape sets up.
I did look at the photo from Portugal. I also looked at the photos from Japan and China, which showed significant portions of lakes covered by cells, exceeding the areas of open water. I also read the article, which contemplated covering Lake Powell and Lake Mead to the extent that the author claimed it could reduce evaporation from those lakes by 90%, and further claimed that the only downside was cost. Since when is asking a gee-whiz techie to consider the externalities of what they’re selling a “NIMBY emotionalism”? Isn’t failing to consider externalities a economics failure that has put us where we are now.
“I realize the commentariat here reflexively despises practical engineering attempts to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels”. Hit the nail on the head.
Solar on water ponds has been going on at CA wineries for a long time. eg:
https://www.sonomacountygazette.com/cms/pages/sonoma-county-news-article-5902.html
https://farniente.com/napa-wine-estate/sustainability/
Napa Sanitation District’s sprawling water storage ponds south of the city of Napa could become home to floating solar-panel islands on a scale yet to be seen in the state or nation.
https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-sanitation-district-could-get-nation-s-largest-floating-solar/article_2350e439-4b4f-529c-94c9-d186083efd68.html 52 acres of ponds to generate 23.5MW.
Day after the election, that durian link was like a breath of fresh air.
Thai friend’s family grows them. Very dangerous fruit indeed.
https://www.yearofthedurian.com/2013/01/durian-obituaries-of-2012.html
Durians for CONgress !! … what a concept … I like it !
How could that be any worse then the rotten fruits-n-nuts who currently hold office .. a few new arrivals accepting.
New arrivals on the way to reprising “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”? Up to the p;enultimate scenes, at least? But who knows…
We drove by oodles of ‘ripe’ Datura yesterday, none of which ever gets harvested, and in this age of ridiculously harmful drugs, you’d think maybe it’d get a little purchase in the marketplace. The price is right-as in free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium
Like the morning glory, which also contains lots of potent alkaloids, using these plants directly without far more complex extraction procedures usually results in vomiting, diarrhea, painful photophobia, etc.
And people already found the natural drugs of choice: Psilocybin containing mushrooms (hallucinogenic), THC/CBD containing cannabis (depressant), and mescaline containing Peyote (hallucinogenic). You could even add clover and other herbs to the list that also, in large amounts, become more druglike.
I have never heard cannabis categorized as a depressant and I don’t think that is correct? Alcohol, heroin, barbiturates — they depress the nervous system.
@zer0
November 7, 2018 at 12:15 pm
——-
Cannabis is generally not classified as a depressant as it does not have the same effects on the central nervous system as the more common depressants like barbiturates, benzodiazepines and alcohol.
Cannabis is also accurately described as a mild stimulant and a mild hallucinogen.
THC and CBD work with the human body’s endo-cannabinoid system which has receptor cells for the THC and CBD to attach to. This system is separate from the nervous system, but interacts with it on a continuous basis, thus, ultimately creating the medical and other benefits of consumption.
While relaxation and anxiety reduction can be seen as a result of depressing the activity of the nervous system, the interaction of the endo-cannabinoid system makes this a more complicated issue.
Not true at all. Have you read the UCLA papers on cannabis and the nervous system? It is FAR more akin to a depressant than it is a stimulant or hallucinogen.
In actuality, cannabis can be classified as a depressant, stimulant, or hallucinogen, but to those who study its affects, it is mostly termed a depressant for its inhibitory affects on the nervous system which also link to its affects on people.
Inhibitory affects on GI nervous system = its medicinal use on GI problems
Inhibitory affects on the mind = its general temporary amnesic affects on users
Inhibitory affects on blood pressure = its general temporary affects on pupil size, and subsequently, photosensitivity
I dont know why my comments dont show up inexplicably, but ill just say my response in a few points:
1) Cannabis is classified as a depressant, stimulant, and hallucinogen. Notice depressant is #1.
2) The primary pathways of THC/CBD in the body most closely resemble that of a depressant. It is an inhibitor, in every sense of the word. Like alcohol, though has none of the toxicology surrounding ethanol.
If this doesnt post, guess any rebuttal is considered against the rules. Looking at you, NC admin.
you must be patient, smoke some weed and come back in a while and it’ll be there…
Don’t be silly zer0. Posting glitches are a common event here and nearly everywhere else on the internet I’ve posted comments. Often, sheer systemic malfunction will suffice to explain posting problems.
Take a tip from me; roll with the punches. Besides, even the best of us cannot be crazy enough to imagine that they personally are the target of administrative action. No one is that important. Admins have better things to do than that.
Your tone is out of line. If you want to be banned, this is just the way to do it. We clearly explain how moderation works in our Policies, which you obviously have not read.
In the good old days the allergy medicine Contac contained all three alkaloids of belladonna, atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine. It was very effective, but they took that off the market.
There were some rumors of cannabis potentiation…
i remember an asthma medicine contained belladonna.
I voted to pay $30 for every $100k worth of assessed property value, in much needed updating of our school, and it looks as if Bond Measure E won, in a rare opportunity for a community in the Central Valley, to willingly raise it’s own taxes for the greater good.
Now…
…the little problem of declining school attendance, on account of so many out of town buyers of homes that then use them as vacation rentals, who aren’t interested in goings on here all that much, aside from profit?
We whacked them for around $100-150 per a year in the cost of doing business, but that’s about as good as it gets.
Why not mention some good news at least?
https://twitter.com/KerriHarrisDE/status/1060177174739718144
From the Wired article:
“But when Ruby looked at in-laws, things started to get weird. Logic suggests you shouldn’t share significant chunks of DNA with your siblings’ spouse—say your brother’s wife or your sister’s husband. But in Ruby’s analysis, people connected through a close relative’s marriage were almost as likely to have similar lifespans as people connected through blood. “I sort of kick myself for being surprised by this,” says Ruby. “Even though no one has shown the impact of assortative mating to such an extent before, it aligns well with how we know human societies are structured.”
Maybe this is down to class?
I think you are definitely onto something.
Frankly, anything that Wired writes of should be taken with a grain of salt. Dont forget the article a few days ago about Julian Assange. I have never seen such a BS article in my lifetime, especially one trying to tell everyone that Assange is a liar because he’s a terrible house guest.
Anyways, on this particular article, the premise flies in the face of so many peer reviewed research articles that show that genetics, whether epigenetics or innate genetics, are the #1 factor in longevity. I dont think this is that disputable at this point, with the 2 decade long studies on that Italian town (where everyone is very long lived) and the Okinawans (another long lived people).
Also, people usually eat and appropriate the lifestyle of the ones they marry. If you marry an Okinawan, for example, one might start eating with their mantra in mind “eat till your half full”, which Im sure is a health benefit.
Also, when one dies, it is fairly usual for their partner to die within 5 to 7 years. Im sure one could point to any number of common sense reasons:
similar age (odds start stacking up)
similar lifestyle
depression from the loss of your life partner or
lack of love and immediate care
lack of purpose
etc.
Similar genetics also makes sense, as usually people that marry reside in the same circles, both financially, socially, racially, etc. I highly doubt they would find the same in interracial marriages though. Averages mask a lot of reality by looking at the mean rather than the individual. For example, most white Americans have a high percentage of European genetics, usually French & German or English & Irish (distinct genetic groupings). Since most whites marry whites (as with all races), the chances are exceedingly high that one will marry someone that shares a large portion of the others genepool. I thought this was common sense, and this article highlights something that is hardly new to science, so I find it strange. Almost as if this Google’s Calico wants to find more external funding.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-drugs/mexico-moves-toward-major-rollback-of-marijuana-prohibition-idUSKCN1NB2R6
Speaking of good news….AMLO making some good early moves?
Well the cia and it’s friends did well.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/11/07/elec-n07.html
Winning seats (as of this writing) were at least nine such candidates, including two former CIA operatives, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan; former military officers Max Rose in New York, Mikie Sherill in New Jersey, Chrissy Houlahan and Connor Lamb in Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria in Virginia, and Jason Crow in Colorado; and former State Department official Tom Malinowski in New Jersey, with several other races still to be decided
In terms of do it yourself obituaries, winning an election 3 weeks after you’ve breathed your last, makes for a nice conclusion.
he didn’t give up easily.
It’ll be all hat and no Canada in Texas for another eternity or some stanza longer than it seems. Can’t imagine Ted doing real life stuff though had he met defeat, it’s not his forte.
I’m of the unsubstantiated belief that the mother’s body seeks to reject a male foetus early in the pregnancy as a reaction to the Y-chromosome and the initiation of gender differentiation and its associated chemistry. My basis is anecdotal, in that I was much sicker with my two boys than I was with their sisters, and nausea is, after all, one of the ways our bodies seek to get rid of incompatible substances. And I’ve spoken to others with mixed offspring who experienced the same.
So, it wouldn’t surprise me if, once the mother’s body has achieved a balance that will allow the pregnancy to go to term, the abrupt withdrawal of the other side of the scales would cause what might be a kind of chemical withdrawal resulting in depression.
Now there’s a fine example of propaganda. Acquire “newly released information” about a breech that was apparently fixed 5 years ago, write a headline that omits the fact its a done deal, and add another step on the road to war with Iran.
Well done, Yahoo News.
+1
I vaguely wondered why this story was now so prominent.
Duh!
Just saw that Trump has fired Jeff Sessions.
So, is this story kayfabe about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the one that they don’t seem to have anymore?
Re: Public urged to learn DIY surgery in run up to NHS winter crisis
What to say but barbaric and amoral, and no mention whatsoever about the necessary pain meds, if someone even survives the DIY Surgery™ (and wasn’t DIY Surgery™ generally illegal about 5 minutes ago?).
I’m betting Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin Care, Rockets to Mars , et al™ weighed in heavily in favor of this stunning cruelty.
(yes, my life experiences have been so horrid lately – one after the other, with no reprieve – I initially didn’t recognize that as Satire, not being familiar with the website. I’m sure I’m not the only one.)