The northern lights will be visible in parts of the US Wednesday night CNN
Angry Venetians say cruise ships are partly to blame for flooding TreeHugger
Turkey’s ancient tradition of ‘paying it forward’ BBC
There has never been a better time to start a small space agency MIT Technology Review
Bombogenesis: ‘Unprecedented’ bomb cyclone to blast Northwest Ventura County Star
Woman attacked and killed by wild hogs Independent
Syraqistan
A Tale of Two Princes Counterpunch. Patrick Cockburn
Iran’s ‘Only Crime Is We Decided Not to Fold’ Consortium News. Pepe Escobar
Narrative Managers Faceplant In Hilarious OPCW Scandal Spin Job Caitlin Johnstone
737 MAX
Transport Canada official says 737 MAX MCAS system “must go” Aero Time Hub
Boeing Faces New Obstacle in Returning 737 MAX Jets to Service WSJ
Bolivia
‘The Murders Must Stop’ Der Spiegel. Interview with Evo Morales.
Wall Street Shocked Argentine President-Elect Who Ran Against It Not Eager To Do What It Wants Dealbreaker
Guillotine Watch
Law School Donor Sues After Learning His Name Isn’t On Degrees The Law School Doesn’t Give Above the Law
2020
Waiting for Obama Politico
Buttigieg’s ‘big tent’ appeal rises in Silicon Valley FT
Deval Patrick Is Everything That’s Wrong With the Democratic Party Jacobin
Bloomberg’s Scandals Ignored or Underplayed by Press Cheerleaders FAIR
End the Wars, Win the Antiwar Vote Foreign Policy in Focus
Cash-poor Dems to Obama donors: ‘Give so much that it actually hurts’ San Francisco Chronicle
Warren nosedives in new nationwide poll Politico
1. This story is basically pre-written garbage that shouldn't have passed a competent editor, but there's merit in one part of it. Democratic voters largely do not see corporate power as part of politics. They see it as a problem, but not a political problem. https://t.co/9MknWk6j4K
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) 26 November 2019
WORLD CRACKED OPEN: WHEN FRACKING CAME TO TOWN Who What Why
Brexit
Health Care
Last-Minute Loophole Could Undermine Texas Law Against Surprise Medical Bills Kaiser Health News
Cannabis Stocks Drop As FDA Warns About CBD Effects: ‘It Has Potential To Harm’ International Business Times
Researchers find dangerous, FDA-rejected drug in supplements—by reading labels Ars Technica
Federal Prosecutors Launch Criminal Probe of Opioid Makers, Distributors WSJ
Big Brother IS Watching You Watch
Senate takes another stab at privacy law with proposed COPRA bill Ars Technica
AMAZON’S RING PLANNED NEIGHBORHOOD “WATCH LISTS” BUILT ON FACIAL RECOGNITION The Intercept
Class Warfare
Massachusetts Teamsters end Republic strike, quit jobs Waste Dive
Workers at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse hold rally over high injury rates New York Post
Even the mere appearance of a Fedex delivery robot freaks out the mayor of NYC Fast Company
Class Warfare Is All the Rage at the Movies New York
Think celebrities and CEOs make way too much money? Check out this chart Marketwatch
How World Bank Arbitrators Mugged Pakistan Project Syndicate. Jeff Sachs
Silicon Valley’s Sun Kings The Baffler
China?
China Bids to Lead World Agency Protecting Intellectual Property Foreign Policy
“It is better to put things in perspective and to call for dialogue, for peace, so that problems can be resolved,” said Pope Francis when asked about #HongKong leader Carrie Lam and the recent protests. #HongKong #China #antielab #antiELABhk #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/XUKLtb9lS7
— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) 27 November 2019
Volkswagen defends presence in China’s Xinjiang amid uproar over Uighur abuses Deutsche Welle
India
Kuno, India’s Second Home for the Asiatic Lion, Is Ready The Wire
Apple making iPhone XR in India, expanding operations: Ravi Shankar Prasad Economic Times
Impeachment
Former Clinton strategist Mark Penn counsels President Trump on impeachment WaPo
Trump Transition
When The Deep State Bullied Reagan’s Foreign Policy Chief American Conservative
Antidote du Jour (SS):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
177 comments
Comments are closed.
For what I am about to say, thank you and I’m sorry.
This is not giving assignments. This is a persuasive argument, kairos, for a strategy of logos to pathos.
There is a possibility of structural change within the democratic system in the US, but it’s time limited. If the Democratic convention goes to the superdelegates, it’s over. There is no centrist that can beat Trump, including Michelle, and NC readers will understand that may not be a bad thing. So to use democracy, there have to be sufficient votes for a first-ballot win at the Democratic convention. This is difficult as Biden is in whalefall and the feeding frenzy dilutes the pool, so it will take potential voters becoming actual voters to make this happen. (Mass affidavits may offset vote stealing.)
That’s the kairos. The pathos to motivate this mass to move is the logos of the lens of MMT. That lens makes clear that fiscal largesse has made billionaires at the expense of the vast majority of the population. That wealth needs redistribution, and in a way (GND) which doesn’t turn the heat up on the global oven. MMT is such a simple idea that it is hard to grasp, so how it becomes understood is important.
What is needed is a short book, plain and lucid. On the model of instant biographies produced within days or weeks, it does not need to be complicated, in fact it must be simple and easy. There is little time to produce this from scratch. Another publishing model is Mike Royko and Studs Terkel, collections of already written material.
I have seen no one cut to the bones of the argument like Yves. She can go complex ala CALpers, but her comments are like razor-edged 3*5 cards. A collection of these, with some full posts, means that there need be little to no new writing, it’s a matter of selection and editing. The best would be a book that could be read in one sitting, and over 150pp becomes self-defeating.
I am willing to take the time in the next week or so to help pull and select such a selection. There is a due date, this thing needs to be out no later than two weeks before the convention. It needs to generate a hostile takeover of MSM airtime. I believe the conditions are ripe – evidence is status quo flailing about, no longer ignoring but attacking, as well as the last NC fundraiser. I want that PropOrNot pie stuffed in the faces of the perpetrators. Crowds in the streets howling “MMT ON MSM!” Neoliberal Rule #2 turned in for “More Oxytocin, Less Cortisol!” The mirrors in Versailles on the Potomac turned into a solar focal point of illumination!
So, how can I help?
Not a book, what you are identifying is the need for a Manifesto…create a draft, NC commentators could edit/augment it in many ways, drawing on disparate background, expertise… (thanks for reminding me of the nuanced way that Greeks “viewed” time – kairos)
I like this idea and am willing to help.
Great idea, but obviously if it was to happen it would have to be 100% financed (in money and time and expertise) and organised by those not already tied up in the blog (but with their approval of course).
Having said that, does a book these days have a reach greater than that of a popular blog such as this?
Bestseller lists have two positives: straight-up sales = votes, so measurable; and reach into elite/precariat 10% minds. The books are usually bought more than read, but as a factor in morale, the conversations matter.
A book with the GDP/Wages split as the cover image will carry weight. The lens clarifies the losses, and the losses drive the pathos.
Books do not get to be bestsellers without either a big name publisher who buys ads and gets media interviews (and their general level of ad buys is what leads to reviews) or the author already having a large fanbase (think Stephen King or Michael Lewis or *groan* Paul Krugman).
Plus the lead time for a book is a year, and that’s on a rush basis. More than a year because you have to write a proposal, get a publisher interested, negotiate a contract (not much negotiating, these are largely “take it or fuck off” agreements, but a powerful agent can get you a few deal points).
Possible method: a simple list of comments (iff comment is by Yves) and links are submitted via email. Copy, paste to a spreadsheet. Sort and count, items with more than one submission weighted higher.
Repetition is fine. Alan Watts said something about that, more than once.
Seed, 2019:
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/11/the-one-metric-that-matters-for-electric-cars.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2015/01/something-changed-perspective-karl-poliyani.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/01/green-new-deal-stuff-fantasyland.html#comment-3086435
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/01/links-1-16-19.html#comment-3086887
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/200pm-water-cooler-2-4-2019.html#comment-3097504
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/imperfect-knowledge-shapes-financial-markets.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/links-2-19-19.html#comment-3105372
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/neoliberalism-normalising-hostility.html#comment-3101917
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/nomi-prins-survival-richest-march-inequality.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/warren-buffett-denounces-deficit-hawkery-latest-shareholder-letter.html#comment-3108463
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/200pm-water-cooler-special-mueller-time.html#comment-3125914
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/links-3-2-19.html#comment-3112144
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/10/links-10-24-19.html#comment-3231177
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/10/links-10-26-19.html#comment-3232366
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/10/links-10-27-19.html#comment-3232647
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/10/understanding-why-the-green-new-deal-wont-really-work.html#comment-3219421
> Some were within larger pieces [link; paragraph starting with “]:
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/links-22818.html; “If your business”
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/01/jonathan-teppers-the-myth-of-capitalism-fucking-unreadable.html; “Since Mr. Diplomacy”
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/04/leaving-nyc.html; “On top of that”
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/04/links-4-18-19.html; “Repeat after me”
nakedcapitalism.com/2019/11/links-11-2-19.html; “Finally,”
Further back (not all of these are specifically MMT, but that’s all one):
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/helicopter-money-loved-not-spent.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/matthew-cunningham-cook-five-reasons-tariffs-are-great.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/dire-consequences-of-ignoring-trade-in-climate-change-targets-on-track-to-3-5-c-temperature-increase-by-2100.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/12/student-loan-defaults-approach-5-million-using-permissive-definition-default.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/02/on-comments.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/02/links-2117.html#comment-2758450
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/02/links-2517.html#comment-2760955
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/trumps-america-last.html#comment-2829879
nakedcapitalism.com/2012/08/kalecki-on-the-political-obstacles-to-achieving-full-employment.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/200pm-water-cooler-152016.html#comment-2739082
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/does-immigration-boost-growth-a-look-at-data-from-around-the-world.html#comment-2744425
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/james-f-on-hatred-in-our-divided-nation-anger-at-flyover-country.html#comment-2753337
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/200pm-water-cooler-6132017.html#comment-2829893
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/10/use-spare-older-workers-to-overcome-labour-shortages.html#comment-2874770
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/11/capitalism-not-bang-prolonged-whimper.html#comment-2890360
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/11/hard-brexiters-continue-humiliating-theresa-may.html#comment-2886135
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/01/200pm-water-cooler-1222018.html#comment-2914087
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/01/gaius-publius-2017-breaks-climate-records-despite-no-el-nino-boost.html#comment-2918691
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/01/gaius-publius-2017-breaks-climate-records-despite-no-el-nino-boost.html#comment-2918691
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/200pm-water-cooler-2132018.html#comment-2924522
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/200pm-water-cooler-2192018.html#comment-2927171
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/technology-change-not-culprit-wages-falling-behind-us-productivity-gains.html#comment-2928408
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/03/commentary-study-finding-gun-injuries-fall-20-nra-conventions-curiously-omits-possible-explanations.html
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/04/finlands-universal-basic-income-program-failure.html
Particular paragraphs:
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/helicopter-money-loved-not-spent.html; “Back to”
nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/matthew-cunningham-cook-five-reasons-tariffs-are-great.html; “However, in reality”
nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/dire-consequences-of-ignoring-trade-in-climate-change-targets-on-track-to-3-5-c-temperature-increase-by-2100.html; “Many advanced economies”
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/12/student-loan-defaults-approach-5-million-using-permissive-definition-default.html; “Now let us”
nakedcapitalism.com/2017/02/on-comments.html; “Some readers”
That’s about 45 comments that I’ve cherrypicked today. Add a half-dozen posts from over the years, other people’s suggestions, a few pages of endorsements from the fundraiser, and you’ve got a nice quick mass market paperback.
I’m going solely by Yves comments, on the consideration that she shouldn’t need to speak for other people when responding in interviews. I say again, this can be done. No one else wants it, give me the permissions and let me run with it, I have some peripheral connections in the book business. Kairos, kairos, kairos.
See J. D. Alt’s “Diagrams and Dollars,” ($1.50 on Amazon), also his posts at neweconomicperspectives.org, for an excellent model. Much of this work has been done by Kelton, Wray, etc al., but repurposing it as a “What we can do for YOU” manifesto is a great idea.
Yes, and how many people have read it????
Not short enough!
A potentially fruitful target for such an effort would be congressional staffers (perhaps of both parties). I have the impression that it is not uncommon for staffers to have more policy understanding than the elected representative they serve, whose time is at a premium given the need to raise funds for the next election.
And it might also be that the staffers are less likely to be sociopaths.
Kevin McCarthy wouldn’t dare show up here where its an even 50-50 mix of conservatives and liberals, rare for the CVBB.
So the few times he made an effort, his young lackeys showed up instead, and seemed whip smart in comparison to their dullard do right.
Evasive as all get up when the questions asked couldn’t be answered in a style in which they’ve become accustomed to.
We went a couple times, with a dwindling audience as it became obvious it was a dodge & phony show. I was told 1 person from town was in attendance the last time, a year or so ago.
A key point that I have long thought needs to be made to MMT skeptics and agnostics is the implications of the Sectoral Balances Identity in terms of “where does the deficit come from?”
It’s not hard to show (simple thought experiments which could be illustrated with easy-to-grasp diagrams) that when the Sovereign incrementally spends 1$, the net deficit this spending produces depends on what private sector actors “downstream” do with the income, and at the end of this chain of consequences, the net incremental deficit is exactly equal to the net incremental savings of the private actors. Those decisions are under the control of the private actors; as Prof Randall Wray put it in his congressional testimony last week, the Federal govt doesn’t have much control on the size of the deficit.
This realization, years ago, removed my fear of the size of the deficit, which allowed me to focus my attention on the more important question of what policies the deficit is used to fund.
All true. Save it for “Part 2 – We Can Pay For What We Want” – of the book.
Part 1 is “We’re All Better Off When We’re All Better Off”
#Medicare for all – any doctor you like is in your network
#Green New Deal – your grandchildren’s kids will survive
#Student debt – someone else’s 30-year-old will be able to buy your house when you downsize
Etc, etc…
If people only knew that their government could be working for them, to make the world a better place, rather than against them and mainly for the wealthy. Then things would start to change? This sounds like the old tired battle cry “JUST VOTE HARDER”.
As pointed out down thread, “…politicization of the intelligence community, and the corresponding weaponization of the national security establishment,” and “…no matter who is elected President of the United States, the permanent government will not allow a change in our aggressive interventionist foreign policy,” and I would add domestic policy as well.
So does your plan include going up against them and winning? We would all be shot and not necessarily by them but by our neighbors, co-workers, and the millions who don’t think anything is wrong just like Obama.
I’m not too sure this info would be absorbed and appreciated by enough people in just a 9-month election showdown. But it could be an interesting start. Yves understands finance and business so well it’s amazing, but her first talent is as a teacher. She has taught us well. I’m hesitant to try to teach by political excerpt. It requires creating a veritable web of mental connections. She accomplishes this expertly on NC. I did like her idea of forming the Skunk Party. My problem with politics is that it lives and dies by one-liners. Then we wonder why we don’t have a coherent society. One-liners is not Yves’ style. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were enough people exposed to her ideas that there was a political groundswell? Yes, I agree on that one.
> politics is that it lives and dies by one-liners
Then that is the format to adopt. See my comment below.
Take a look at that chart of the polls that Lambert posts every day. Biden is not in “whalefall”. His polling is dead-steady. Most of them are.
There are good reasons for Biden to be plummeting, but they don’t seem to matter. I doubt that he’d be effective against Trump.
> There are good reasons for Biden to be plummeting, but they don’t seem to matter.
I have also mentally speculated that Biden voters, like Trump voters, are also raising their middle fingers to what they see as a party establishment, in this case #MeToo and other NGO-adjacent projects. For them, Biden ignoring all that stuff would be a plus.
What is needed is a short book, plain and lucid… It needs to generate a hostile takeover of MSM airtime… Crowds in the streets howling “MMT ON MSM!”
The chance of that happening is approximately zero, regardless of Yves’ superior command of the subject matter.
> It needs to generate a hostile takeover of MSM airtime…
I think that’s a little ambitious. But with a little work — and NC does have connections — people like Joe Weisenthal, who amazingly enough understands and supports MMT, might be induced to promote it. That’s not nothing.
Hmm. Interesting.
I can’t speak for Yves, but I would remind readers of the saying: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.” –Blaise Pascal (paraphrase, attributed).
Speculating freely: Much would depend on the editorial design, staring with a page limit; I would say five (people are busy). Much would also depend on the deployment; I would highlight pithy statements, hopefully viral (certainly Tweet-able). One useful concept would be numbered statements, a la the 95 theses Luther nailed to the cathedral door in Wittenburg. (This structure would also have the advantage that people could cite to it, like Bible verses. “Yes, see #12.”) At three theses a page, and five pages, that would be 15 theses, with enough backup for each thesis on each page. I don’t know if that’s doable. However, I think the page count would be the first major decision to make.
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” 93 pp; “Who Moved My Cheese” 94 pp. Short bestsellers. Say 94 pp.
Three page index. A half-dozen charts (including GDP*wages; Labor Force Participation Rate) one per page, explanation opposite page. Six pages of endorsements (this is meant to bring people to NC). Fifteen theses page headers, large print (“NEOLIBERAL RULE #2: GO DIE!”). 94-36 = 58 pages of denser content. We’re already close.
> Tweet-able.
Yves comments are incisive, that can be done. Possibly open the quote pool up to Lambert, who is a master of snark. Twelve Word Platform “Medicare for All; End the Wars; Tax the Rich; A Jobs Guarantee” (hat-tip Katiebird).
A word count of the comments noted, adjusting for a couple of errors in the list: 15,441.
That’s over 60 pages. Taking into account the above comment (in moderation right now), that’s over the 94 pages baseline. That’s the material basis.
Antidote – notice all the acorns stuck in the holes.
Acorn woodpecker
thanks for the pic.
Ok, so those are acorns…I was really trying to figure out why a woodpecker would be hoarding kiwi fruit…
SoCal Edison replaced a Douglas Fir pole (apparently the most popular wood for such cabers) a few months back and I was talking to the guys taking it down and putting up a new one, and they told me the old guard was from the late 70’s, and I asked what was the earliest one they’ve replaced, and was told 1946.
The retired upstanding standard was more hole than pole, 40 years of woodpeckers safe deposit boxes, or if you look closely in the holes with the acorns pointing outwards, it almost has the look of a chambered round in a revolver.
I do lots of work for an electric utility. I’ve seen poles from the 1930’s still in service. Most all poles have a pole brand somewhere about head high. Some disappear with the weather. They have a date year in there as two digits. Early poles have a date nail. Two digits on the head of a nail. The earliest poles in the northeast are cedar.
Woodpeckers kill more poles than cars! I’ve seen poles with football sized holes in them.
https://woodpoles.org/FAQs.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datenail
Old power poles are stronger than new ones usually. Old growth trees are stronger and last longer.
Look at an an older wooden beam end. 1960s and earlier. Lots of narrow tight growth rings with a large radius mean a slow growing old growth tree.
The opposite, wide fat rings on a tighter radius means quickly grown and watered tree farmed. A 4×4 with almost a complete circle of rings visible at the end is garbage that will split before it’s even used in construction.
I was gonna ask what those were. thanks
Re: Warren nosedives in new nationwide poll.
I stink at predicting election outcomes, but I always had suspicions about Warren as a candidate not because I dislike her but because she didn’t strike me as charismatic enough. That sort of thing is a factor in how people vote. I was surprised by how well she was doing earlier.
That being said, I do think that the media is really pushing for candidates like Biden and Buttigieg. There is a lot of talk about electability. Apparently people forgot about how Trump was characterized as “unelectable” in 2016 and we were assured right up until the day of the election that Hillary would defeat Trump. Many predicted a Hillary landslide since she was supposedly very electable. I wonder if another “electable” Democrat will go down in defeat in 2020.
I’ve always been sceptical as to whether Warren could appeal to anyone outside upper class educated circles. But she has done much better so far than I expected, notwithstanding her current drop, which may just be a blip, or it may reflect all the mainstream attacks on her. But I think it would be painful to see her one on one with Trump, he would relish the fight.
Saw one of dumbass bloomberg’s commercial ads yesterday afternoon. Trump or trump tower was pictured at least three times. To be honest, that is all I remember of the ad.
What a terrible approach.
Sadly, those ads will benefit Trump more than anyone else. The only people who like Bloomberg are the rich (and media types who are paid to like him). Having an “anti-endorsement” from him is a huge boost.
> Trump or trump tower was pictured at least three times. To be honest, that is all I remember of the ad.
So in that the ad was effective, though.
That was the other concern I had about Warren. I could imagine Trump constantly calling her “Pocahontas” and making other jokes. I hate to say it but this sort of thing has an impact on voters. Some might be turned off by Trump’s rudeness but others would probably be swayed by his comments.
I also want to point out that I don’t think Warren is a weak candidate because she is a woman. I think women can be very tough and charismatic, AOC being just one example. It would be fun to see AOC and Trump go head to head. But Warren comes across as the nice teacher not the aggressive political warrior that Americans seem to like, especially these days. But who knows, maybe people want a different kind of candidate now or maybe my perception of Warren is faulty.
After reading the post about Yves’ mom and her magnificent riposte against the scumbag banker, I’d love to see her take on Trump!!!
> maybe people want a different kind of candidate now
That’s why I keep blathering that the election is going to be, and only going to be, a referendum on Trump. Do they think Trump’s behavior is OK or are they worn out by it?
The thing is, if they are tired of it then the Dem wins. But if that Dem is the usual horrid centrist from what is 90% of the field then he/she is out again in 4 years and we will again get Trumpism but without the theatrics.
Which will be the end of everything, basically.
I am skeptical
I have heard (anecdotes not research) a number of people express disgust with trump the person, yet say they will vote for him
– he is getting things done
– the Democratic Party is not for anything, just anti trump
When pressed, what he has done is
Try to bring jobs back
Deregulate
I don’t think he’s done much good on these topics
But the “folks” I’m engaging want to vote for something, not just against or for trump
Here’s the thing that intrigues me about Liz. She’s very smart and capable. She could bring “both sides” together politically. And she really doesn’t have the heart for blatant self promotion. Like creepy Joe, etc. I keep imagining that she is independent enough that she could get corporate law re-written. Re-codified and re-legislated. So that we aren’t living in fantasy land without any sensible recourse. For both sides of the “class” divide. She could do it. She could bring us a new capitalist reality that corporate business, small business, main street; social provisions; and even sensible foreign policy could all sign off on. I think Liz could confront climate change head-on as well, and create policy that will see us through. But she is caught in the quicksand of, currently, of medical monopoly. And profits for financiers. I think a big breakthrough is coming. It could be Liz. I doubt it will be anybody else who has so far jumped in the deep end.
To possibly ever enact any of the reasonably-positive things she appears to back she would need to have excellent political instincts. Horse trading. Coalition building. Quid pro quos. Whipping. Skullduggery. Subterfuge. And of course drawing additional political capital from the plebes at critical junctures. But to me she comes off as a technocrat and an ingenue, much more likely to be led by the nose down rabbit holes, into bad faith dead ends and double crosses.
Whatever else you might say about The Orange Man he has done lots of deals. Start with your most outlandish position, make the opposition believe you are just crazypants and completely unpredictable. Get press for your position at will, change the subject to whatever you want at any moment. Frontline did a show about what he did to Team Red when he was inaugurated, they were after him from the start with their long knives. A master class in the power politics of intimidation. Liz seems like a fairly nice lady but she ain’t got it.
Which is why I back Tulsi. Yeah I know she doesn’t have a chance. But I think winding back Empire would be absolutely transformative to the money equation that everything else could benefit from. And her raw political courage, delivered with immense dignity and strength, is a sight to behold.
I too think a big breakthrough is coming, but it will be related to the mountain of cash Bloomberg is spending. The convention: should be 1968 again complete with “Days of Rage”. Unfortunately the completely malinformed populace will not even know that it’s time to rise up, so we’ll get “Days of Lattes” instead, and ladies who lunch telling people to pipe down and go gently into that good night.
“Which is why I back Tulsi. Yeah I know she doesn’t have a chance. But I think winding back Empire would be absolutely transformative to the money equation that everything else could benefit from. And her raw political courage, delivered with immense dignity and strength, is a sight to behold.”
+1000
I like Tulsi a lot too.
I think someone said here just a few days ago said that the GOP now seems to be more devoted to “trolling the libs”, than even putting in place their agenda, so I can see how the name calling and innuendo would grind down and destroy any Warren run in the general. It excites both the base and Repub elite. They love this stuff for Pete’s sake.
I remember how sickening it was seeing GOP delegates in 2004 wearing band-aids to poke fun at Kerry’s Purple Heart. Imagine the same but with headdresses and moccasins.
Jokes and rudeness.
I think that’s one reason he triggers derangement, especially for those who are accustomed to rude jokes on deplorable others.
It would give her a chance to reply: ” Trashy Trump is still trashy. This is not new. This is not a surprise.”
i don’t think warren’s collapse is a good thing. the longer sanders, warren, gabbard, and even yang stay in it, the more left policies will be normalised. warren may be to the right of sanders, but she is still well to the left of a biden or buttigieg. she would actually make things incrementally better, unlike any other so-called incrementalist who only make things worse.
Hello V; Ms. Warren is nothing if not an opportunist. Have we the inablility to realize she changes her policies like her clothing? She was a republican and now touts feel good generalities that demonstrate her lack of honesty. She lies when it suits her, which is repeatedly and often.
Haven’t we seen enough of this kind of bull#*i& in our ticks to learn a lesson?
There is only one candidate that has ever demonstrated trust and logic for decades. I think it may be better to elect someone that keeps promises as opposed to using them for photo ops.
Our country is bankrupt in every sense of the word. Morally, socially, monetarily, one can’t find a loophole to shine like a turd. We will soon see the result of 85 years of malfeasance by our congress, executive and judicial branches come to a yellow head with pus leakage in every state and most nations around the world. All one needs do is look for the cause and effects.
Ignoring it is no longer the option that our political parties are so desperate for us to embrace.
I actually think the opposite.
The sooner Warren drops out, the clearer the choice is; it’s either HRH HRC 2.0 (Biden/Buttigieg) or Sanders.
Yang and Gabbard are never going to go anywhere.
Yang and Gabbard are for people who like to be seen swimming upstream.
Sanders is for people who want to dam the river and redirect it. Forever.
People like Pelosi drone on about AOC and her district not being potentially replicated, but most of the seats are safe. A wet towel can win (see Hillary in New York).
This isn’t to say she could not have done it, but Warren has never challenged and won a hard to reach seat. Massachusetts should have been a Team Blue held seat but for Martha Coakley, possibly the worst statewide candidate I’ve ever seen at least from nominally center left side.
Politics is hard. Obama for all of his faults did have a polling lead (undecided conservatives voters were a weakness in that poll) over Jack Ryan before his divorce details were leaked and had positive news coverage. There was an article in early 04 from one of the weeklies detailing Obama working the stump and reaching out. People who are in safe seats or didn’t topple the incumbent power are often never tested.
Warren is not that beloved in her district. Nationally, in addition to her lack of charisma, Warren’s blunders, equivocations, and outright fabrications are damaging. She’s not going to be the nominee.
On another note, were posters worrying about Bernie Sanders’ campaign security? They should worry. This tweet, threatening violence, has remained up:
https://twitter.com/CaptMurica/status/1199446500390031361?s=20
Out of the 3 rallies I’ve attended this Fall, Sanders had the most and tightest security. Bag checks and wanding of every person trying to get in.
Good to hear.
Thanks. Smart campaign.
I fully expect that if Sanders wins the nomination and Presidency… that someone will take a shot at Sanders. The question is, “Who will it be?” A Centrist Democrat or a Republican assassin?
Or perhaps the Centrist Democrats and Republicans will find common ground for an impeachment to remove Sanders from office.
I don’t think that Wall Street and wealthy others will abide a Sanders Presidency. Too many Monied Interests with too much cash, willing to “protect” their interests. Not above doing whatever it takes – even if it means a bullet to the head – to maintain their supremacy at the top of society.
“I don’t think that Wall Street and wealthy others will abide a Sanders Presidency. Too many Monied Interests with too much cash, willing to “protect” their interests. Not above doing whatever it takes – even if it means a bullet to the head – to maintain their supremacy at the top of society.”
Question I have is then, at that point, why should the rest of us abide them? After all, we have been putting up with them since about forever already.
I’m not a fan of violence and I certainly don’t advocate assassination.
It’s the age old struggle of have versus have-nots, kings and aristocrats versus the peasants. With modern twists such as finance and debt.
In America, most people do not want to rock the boat. Instead being too busy to keep their heads above water.
Even the Patriot Movement people I know – actually quite decent people with some quirks, some of them – have admitted that if SHTF, they’ll run for their hidey-holes and wait for the troubles to blow over. Others meanwhile, would shoot their fellow Americans on the opposite side of the political divide.
Of course, the richest would be stoking the flames and attempting to be messiahs and wise-men who lead the revolution.
Why should the rest of us abide them? Because too many Americans are too complacent. Few abide them, most tolerate them in the hopes of surviving or even being rewarded for loyalty.
They’d make it a lone nut, a GND supporter, a socialist, one of their own, hopefully gay, hey why not a woman of color? Someone who didn’t own a cellphone so they can put in stop-and-frisk across the board
Former Left supporter with mental issues that listened to too much RW conspiracy radio.
Seems to be the flavor of the day when it comes to would-be assassins ever since Giffords was shot in Arizona where six more died.
Though the baseball diamond shooter – who managed to kill himself – seems to have only suffered from mental illness.
> Obama working the stump and reaching out
Obama did that in 2008 Iowa very successfully.
I saw a Warren bumper sticker yesterday. It said “Warren”. It was maybe 2″x4″. Completely underwhelming. I think I’ve seen maybe one or two other Warren stickers. I’ve seen one mayo Pete sticker. Biden is invisible here.
Bernie stickers are everywhere.
But then, the field has been completely winnowed by the time Oregon gets to vote. And primary voters only get to vote in their registered party.
Here in small-town Pennsylvania, we have seen only Bernie and Trump bumper stickers. Of course, we have a late primary, and both of these candidates were running in 2016 – so some of them may be from three years ago (although at least in some cases they are explicitly 2020 stickers).
Bumper stickers aren’t everything, of course, but my wife well recalls not being surprised by Trump’s upset in 2016 based on the huge disparity in the Trump/Clinton sign ratio back in October 2016.
Reminds me of 2016 in a very Conservative county in WA State. Sanders signs everywhere, maybe 4 for Trump and one for Hillary (that was subsequently destroyed). Conservatives I knew – except for the while-die-for-Republican Conservatives – were planning on voting for Sanders.
For them, if Hillary would take the Democratic Party nomination? They would then proceed to vote for Trump.
It wasn’t just WA State. Oregon was pretty much the same for Bernie Sanders, in Conservative counties. Curiously enough, Tina Kotek and the State Democratic Party decided to run a Republican on The Democratic ticket in a State Senate race. When we asked the local Democrats why they voted to put a Republican on their ticket? The local Democrats replied, “Because we were told to.”
To say that the Democratic Party in Oregon was sabotaging any challenger to their Republican candidate on their ticket in the State Senate race, is an understatement. We actually had a State employee overseeing certification of signatures risk her job to give us a warning about sabotage by State Democrats.
Given that Oregon – IIRC – was one of Hillary’s money-launderers (Hillary for America), one could imagine what they were trying to do to Sanders then. And will do to him now.
Centrist Democrats would rather see Trump than Sanders, in the Office of The President.
> To say that the Democratic Party in Oregon was sabotaging any challenger to their Republican candidate on their ticket in the State Senate race, is an understatement. We actually had a State employee overseeing certification of signatures risk her job to give us a warning about sabotage by State Democrats.
Lovely. So many lines of defense…
A powerful early winter storm is upon us and its raining cats & dogs (there goes a Pug!), and a golden opportunity to have staged prescribed burns all over the state missed.
It takes quite some effort to prepare an area you want to do a burn on as you have to make sure not to allow the fire to do more damage to the overall health of the forest than help, and this is the perfect storm to have lit them, say a few days before, and then let Mother Nature do all the heavy lifting of putting them out, but not before clearing out a nice swath and creating firebreaks for future conflagrations.
We’ve gone to war overseas since the turn of the century against enemies imagined, but wildfires are the real deal, and one of the few Federal agencies with a large amount of physically fit individuals who would be perfect in preparing such areas for a prescribed burn, would be our military.
Make even a cynic the likes of me, stand up and applaud your actions, for once.
If you don’t get the early storm (such as this one) you’re ready to go the next year/s possibilities.
Taking preventive measures in these times of heightened risk from out of control wildfires, takes a different tack…
A break in the clouds shows the snow level down to 4,000 feet, thanks giving to the wildfire season being extinguished,
So many of the USN’s ships are unfit to go to sea that there must presumably be plenty of matelots available for fire-fighting.
Most of them are out jogging and weight-lifting, to try to get into good enough shape not to be “non-retained” for not meeting the recent fitness requirements. Some desperate looks on many of those faces. Wildfire-fighting is a very different risk-profile activity than daily swabbie duty. But one wonders how many current Imperial troopers would appreciate a crack at a different gig, ala CCC or WPA, without the military chicken-sh-t “discipline.”
What a great insight, Wuk. It’s almost as if we choose to be hapless.
> It takes quite some effort to prepare an area you want to do a burn on as you have to make sure not to allow the fire to do more damage to the overall health of the forest than help, and this is the perfect storm to have lit them, say a few days before, and then let Mother Nature do all the heavy lifting of putting them out, but not before clearing out a nice swath and creating firebreaks for future conflagrations.
Dang. Great point.
And in the British election (which the BBC desperately wishes Labour would go away!), Corbyn was given not only an unredacted document on the US / UK trade negotiations (which are being led by Lighthizer, by the way, so VERY VERY serious negotiations), but the full several hundred pages of documentation on US – UK trade negotiations: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1199639491952152576
The document includes evidence that it is the US who is pushing Johnson’s government for a No Deal. Here is a direct quote from the cache:
“US presented preliminary economic modelling results analysing the impact of a UK/ US FTA under ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Brexit scenarios, on the UK/ US economies and on bilateral trade. The analysis looked only at tariff and TRQ elimination and did not model NTBs or services trade. The main macroeconomic outputs suggested that UK welfare and GDP gains from elimination of UK and US tariffs and TRQs on goods would be smaller under the ‘hard Brexit’ scenario whereas for the US, the reverse held. USTR were keen to have an update on our CGE modelling, suggesting a future video call between UK and US modellers.”
Even the US models can tell that we would get hosed and they would do well…funny how the negotiations continued after that.
And for those who like (slightly old) quotes from the shagger of Edwina Currie, sexybeast himself, Sir John Major, here is a choice one on the NHS:
“The concept that the people running the Brexit campaign would care for the NHS is a rather odd one…I seem to remember Michael Gove wanting to privatise it. Boris wanted to charge people for using it. And Iain Duncan Smith wanted a social insurance system. The NHS is about as safe with them as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python.”
The Mirror is on the case:
Its quite funny Bojo insisting today that the NHS would not be on the table in any trade talks. As if he’d have any choice in the matter whatsoever. Oddly enough, the only hope for the NHS would be Nancy Pelosi, as she has made clear that no deal with get through Congress without a solution for the border in Ireland.
How are you finding things on the doorsteps? I’ve been hearing a few things which don’t sound so good for Corbyn, what type of response are you getting?
Thank you, Redlife.
Although the US side may be pushing for no deal and creeping privatisation, there are more than willing accomplices on the UK side, former Lazard bankster and chairman of NHS England, David Prior, and former United Healthcare lobbyist and friend of Alan Milburn and Boris Johnson, Simon Stevens. In addition, McKinsey’s James Kelly (aka Mr Laura Kuenssberg) is advising the government on greater private sector involvement in public services. Kelly’s former McKinsey colleague Charles Roxburgh is number two at the Treasury. Roxburgh’s wife is UK ambassador to the UN, neo con chicken hawk Karen Pierce.
One can see why the ritual smearing of Corbyn, aided and abetted by Zionist fifth columnists, is intensifying and bound to get worse as election day nears and if polling tightens as a couple of polls have shown this week.
In the event of a Labour victory, that swamp has to be drained immediately.
Stevens is CEO of NHS England.
Dad is a doctor and helps out at hospitals in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire from time to time, even at the age of 75. So do some of his former forces comrades. Their contempt for the so called management, saboteurs really, knows no bounds.
> In the event of a Labour victory, that swamp has to be drained immediately.
The Tories are playing for keeps. So is the PLP. It’s not clear to me that Corbyn knows how to do that, though the leak of those papers is certainly a start.
It really depends on where you are at. Corbyn gets huge crowds everywhere. I’ve been out with him and people love him. And the people who are committed Labour really are committed to voting.
The doorsteps can be hard in the marginals. There’s a lot of pent-up rage in the UK right now. At least old school Tories are actually rather nice about the whole thing. The hardest ones are the screaming pro-No Deal Brexit people (political party is immaterial). I’ve also heard of things like Asians who support Modi being told they must vote Tory. If anyone thinks that there isn’t a right-wing move to destroy anything vaguely not ultra-neo liberal, I have a bridge in London I would like to sell you.
We will deffo lose some of the working class vote (even in London), so that’s going to make predicting the outcome difficult. The LibDem collapse is…I don’t know what to call that. The more people saw of Jo Swinson, the more they hated her and her extreme positions (Cancel Brexit! I will push the nuclear button!!!). I saw a semi-joke (was it here?) that said that Jo Swinson was more of a Tory than Boris Johnson because her voting record was actually more consistently Tory (true fact – she always showed up more than Boris and was in a Tory government role longer than he has ever been). A hung parliament is likely, but I could be wrong.
This is now a Labour / Tory contest (with the nationalist parties in their countries). Some of this is Brexit, some of this is the battle of pretty horrific right-wing propaganda by a-holes like Dearlove (mouthpiece of the deep state / existing power centres), some of this is the crushing horror of Tory society. Ugh. Need a nice G&T…
I can’t believe Nancy is that strategic. Somebody advised her well.
> sexybeast himself
okay, i laughed. Thank you. Or not.
Indeed. Major was not who came to mind at the phrase, ‘sexybeast himself’ (which is fine wordsmithing, btw).
I saw something that snagged my interest to do with Brexit. For years now, Poland has been screaming about Russia getting ready to invade her and demanding that America pump in 50,000 troops to defend her. But I read today that Poland brought home 100 tons of gold from the Bank of England which is strange that. Poland considers itself to be a potential war zone with invading Soviet, errr, Russian troops but they are sure that their gold is safer there than in the UK-
https://www.rt.com/business/474325-poland-repatriates-gold-london/
No word on when the Poles will bring their other half of their gold home. If it is even there that is.
Poles aren’t all that different than the poles I mentioned upthread, in that we go to extraordinary effort to procure something and prepare a vault for it, although never to be utilized.
Almost sounds as if i’m describing nuclear weapons.
The Bank of England’s credibility as a safe house was destroyed when they refused to return Venezuela’s gold this year.
I would be surprised if Poland is the only country seeking to close their account.
At the end of the TV series, Spies of Warsaw, Polish gold was hidden on trains and eventually ended up in Paris, I believe.
Presumably, it then made its way to London, along with Polish fighter ace pilots (I saw that in a film about them and their part in the Battle of Britain).
And possibly the first Enigma machine code-breakers from Poland (they might have reached Bletchley as well).
As for the connection to Russia, or the USSR, I don’t believe the Poles ever wanted their gold in Moscow, during or after the Second World War, and are not likely to desire that now or in the near future.
You will note that the BBC’s political editor has been running interference and attempting to downplay the release of these documents which contain evidence that directly contravenes Johnson’s party line that “the NHS is not on the table”. The mainstream news is dominated by the antisemitism smear, cranked up to 11, with dissenting Jewish voices entirely silenced, sidelined or smeared as self-hating Jews etc.
I honestly cannot remember such an open and concerted propaganda campaign before, but it is shocking and very difficult to see how any sort of sensible electoral politics can reassert itself in future.
> I honestly cannot remember such an open and concerted propaganda campaign before, but it is shocking and very difficult to see how any sort of sensible electoral politics can reassert itself in future.
Fortunately, the UK has hand-marked paper ballots, hand-counted in public. Like Hong Kong. And unlike us.
Excellent article by Scott Ritter (there should be a “Topics” heading, maybe under “Big Brother is Watching,” that deals with the Deep State/ Shadow Government, or some other designation dealing with the subject).
The whistleblower complaint has opened a window into the politicization of the intelligence community, and the corresponding weaponization of the national security establishment,
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/27/scott-ritter-the-whistleblower-and-the-politicization-of-intelligence/
Another article by Ron Paul on the same subject
The most shocking thing to come out of the hearings thus far is confirmation that no matter who is elected President of the United States, the permanent government will not allow a change in our aggressive interventionist foreign policy, particularly when it comes to Russia.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/real-bombshell-impeachment-hearings/5695984
Re Ron Paul:
Beware of Austrian School followers bearing gifts – inevitably they worship precious metals rather than ethics and deflation rather than justice.
And I wrote him in in 2008!
But live and learn and reading the Old Testament enabled me to escape their wicked grasp – not that extreme, self-inflicted desperation did not force me to do so, mind you.
Unless there’s an “‘oh, and don’t forget to buy gold and silver!’ Paul added” quote in that article which I missed, you are making a gratuitous ad hom which has zilch to do with Paul’s spot-on commentary about the foreign policy establishment in DC.
Scratch an Austrian School follower and it’s nearly always about saving money, promoting deflation, promoting usury, promoting the liberty to enslave, etc.
Besides which, it wasn’t an ad hominem but merely a warning that Austrian School followers, however good they may sound or even be on some issues, are totally rotten on other, more fundamental issues such as equal protection under the law wrt finance and justice.
This from an ex-Austrian School follower who knows them very well indeed and, except for the grace of God, would still be one.
Not that I’m a Progressive by any means since they are ALSO part of the problem.
Please define “progressive”.
I’m very sceptical about this story – feral pigs and wild boar certainly attack people, but its usually single males who feel threatened and do it. An attack to kill by multiple hogs in this sort of situation is very rare. I suspect she died of other causes and the pigs were attracted by the potential for food. At least one serial killer used hogs as a method of disposing of bodies (as I’m fond of reminding any bacon loving Canadians).
Yes. Or she had some kind of immobilising attack and the hogs (and maybe dogs) opportunistically weighed in……
Sad story nonetheless – I certainly don’t hike in areas where feral hogs are endemic without at least one dog. Same for coydogs – they are much bigger than coyotes due to dog and residual wolf genetics and I’ve caught a pack of 7 tracking me one time which had me looking for the nearest climbable tree. They drifted off but the lead dog was staring me down from about 30 yards and that is a scary feeling unarmed.
The wounds would give a clear indication of whether she was alive or dead when they occurred. Pigs are the ultimate opportunist, and if she startled them and then somehow tripped, I could see them attacking her on the ground.
People don’t realize what a predator pigs can be, around the world they are livestock predators of young sheep and goats. There are even credible reports coming out of Canada where wild boar have attacked and killed cattle while giving birth.
they are disgusting… must be why they call ’em pigs ;-)
Depending on what else is available for their menu choices they can eat the bones and everything. Does the NSA’s people tracker data base have a column that indicates the subject’s interest in dead body disposal?
My friend’s grandparents live in Anahuac, which is where the lady was killed. The grandpa sits out on his back porch every night with the rapid fire semi automatic rifle of his choice and shoots the hogs. You need to have a high powered semi automatic rifle when hunting the hogs because they usually won’t go down with one shot and they will charge you if they don’t get killed by the first shot.
AR-15s and other rapid fire semi automatic rifles are the preferred guns for people in Texas to hunt hogs.
I wonder if a 12-ga slug would put them down pretty much instantly. After all, it’s much larger and heavier than a 223. Where I come from, one-shot kills are the norm, usually on black bears and white-tailed deer (which can go up to a couple hundred pounds weight)
Shotgun slugs are not that accurate from over 75 yards which is why the semi automatic rifles are preferred. The rifles are usually equipped with .556 or 6.5 creedmoor. These rifles are accurate at over 500 yards and can be fired rapidly is a hog starts charging you. Plus you would not want a shotgun if there are several hogs in the same area.
You are mixing stuff up.
At 500 yards a .556 hits about the same as a close-range handgun. Which will thus have the range of effects (depending on where it hits) expected on a human. Not so much on a wild boar. So any good marksman would be happier to have a heavier weapon available even if he has to wait for a better (closer) shot.
And the second thing — “if there are several hogs in the same area”? We’re talking one of the smarter animals on the planet, not the freaking Walking Dead. You take out one hog, and like any sentient, unarmed creature the rest will find somebody else to terrorize.
Finally, a lot of the idiots out there will empty the AR-15 before they even hit anything. It ain’t the movies where they never seem to need reloaded.
Wouldn’t even think of knocking down an aggressive animal with a light round for the AR-15 especially with bargain loads like those from Lake City. Hunting, I go with a dependable 30.06 that has the weight, energy and penetration for clean kills.
Hope to get a deer this Friday. And, I will thank it for giving up its life to provide me sustenance.
At 500 yards the only other animal that can threaten you is another shooter.
223 at 500 yards is a joke. No wonder they need fast follow-up shots. Personally I try to avoid taking *any* shots farther than 250 yards and thats with a creedmoor. Inside of 50 yards I prefer a 12-gauge. With the 12-gauge I don’t look for trees, I stand my ground. It kinda gives the last word.
The whole idea is one shot, one kill. At least, that’s how I was trained. If I don’t think I can do it, then I don’t take the shot.
BTW got my doe skin with hair on drying out. Good luck to you.
I have shot quite a few of these creatures (always for meat) and I can report that they are exceedingly tough to kill. Even with a lever-action .45/70 with open sights I always had a tree selected for a rapid upward escape
Nobody mentioning the use of a telescopic sight yet? Yeah, still keep a tree handy but shooting at distance sounds like a very good option instead of the spray-and-pray of an AR-15.
Yeah — Robert Picton.
Must have been a fan of Brick Top …
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Brick_Top
What are Patrick and Bloomberg doing? is pure delusion or (very) clever positioning? Perhaps I mean posturing
I think that they are there purely and simply to attack Sanders and his movement. They have entered far too late to actually have a constituency within the electorate, so they must be representing the interests of the establishment.
Yesterday’s Politico Obama article about his weighing in if Sanders were to be seen walking away with the nomination comes to mind. He is far too narcissistic to want the potential for being blamed for another Trump win, but his lieutenants would soon be forgotten and things could continue with his reputation unscathed. I see Obama’s fingerprints all over this.
Or maybe I am just paranoid.
Don’t underestimate arrogance. Patrick’s bizarre empty halls are the sign of delusion. My guess is the Harris, O’Rourke, now Warren and Buttigieg drops looked like something he coukd scoop up. Bloomberg has been running for President for years on being a rich guy, and his age keeps getting older. He probably has also noticed the free media and support provided by simply being the nominee is worth more than all of his money spent on the campaign.
If you’ve never encountered these kinds of people in the wild, it’s a trip. Every state legislator, minus maybe the smart ones, fancy themselves as governor. I was a virginia legislative assistant at around age 22 and had been sent to the joint budget presentation/projection meeting, and I learned three legislators between the two houses had an idea how the state raised and allocated revenue. This isn’t an mmt thing but how the gas tax goes to rural teachers salaries during the school year and towards fall transit projects during the Summer. It was like trying to explain calculus using ancient Greece to a room full of cats.
Somebody commented yesterday at the howls we would be hearing if this was happening in, say, Russia:
– One of the nation’s richest oligarchs decides he wants to be the leader of the country
– His vast media empire ensures he can broadcast his virtues far and wide
– His first act is to tell his media employees not to report *anything* about him
Evo Morales Finally Went Too Far for Bolivia
The socialist president claimed authoritarian powers in the name of the popular will. But average citizens were fed up with arbitrary rule.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/evo-morales-finally-went-too-far-bolivia/601741/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_
Presumably, they were so fed up with him that they decided the only thing to do was vote for him in the last election (October this year). He got 47.1% in the first round.
ya, and the centrist candidate got 36%, and the christian right, instrumental in forcing Morales out with a little help from the military, got far less.
propaganda much, David?
Der Spiegel was a excellent interview. They only called Evo on his comparison of Maduro to Merkel. Countering his allusion to authoritarianism by pointing out that Merkel can be recalled in an election; Maduro cannot. So, as for the interview, Morales came out looking like the most rational man in Bolivia. Hard not to like him.
Instead of “theatlantic” try the below link to “grayzone.” As far as I can tell, like coverage of Venuzela, they have the most truthful take on what is actually going on.
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/27/right-wing-coup-bolivia-complete-junta-hunting-dissidents/
RE: Woman attacked and killed by wild hogs
Anyone else starting to get a Margaret Atwood MaddAddam sort of vibe from all the feral hogginess going around? It’s post apocalypse everywhere you look these days…
I’ll gladly hang around black bears and have been within say 20 feet of plenty of them, no worries.
But feral pigs are a scary proposition, no thanks.
A friend told me a few years ago he was just out and about when one charged him, and they aim for your lower extremities and once you’re maimed enough to not be able to get away under your own power is when they to their wurst.
He scrambled up a multi trunked Live Oak and hung out for about a half an hour till the swine got bored with him and went away.
In the foothills of Tuscany, the wild boar are under a lot of hunting pressure. It makes the boar very wary of humans, and consequently much safer to coexist with. It also makes a lot of fantastic ragu’ and sausages.
This article gives an excellent argument as to why the Korean film Parasite is so brilliant. There was a recent Jacobin review linked here which also emphasised just how important a film it is (it is so much more than the crude allegory some leftists have accused it of being). I’d strongly recommend it – its wonderfully entertaining.
Re: Obama “Give so much that it hurts” – I just can;t flipping believe the BS these people are putting out: ““Give so much that you’re giving up family vacations, you’re giving up purchases for your family, you’re giving up holiday gifts,” Rao said. “Give so much that you are digging into your retirement and what you thought you were going to leave to your children — because there is nothing more important to us than making sure we end this presidency in 2020.”
I suppose I’m feeling schadenfreud for how totally desp[erate and clueless the corporatist Dems are. Lovely to see the Salesman in chief begging like a teevee evangelist. My response of course is a big middel finger – no, BOTH middle fingers and a bronx cheer and probably a bare bum in their corrupt and scummy direction.
Even the Bible does not say to “give until it hurts” but “that there may be equality.” (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:14).
But who knows that in Biblically ignorant USA?
My response is
“You first. You can start with the monies for your faux library. Then add the house on the beach. Michelle doesn’t need to buy clothes for the next decade. You don’t need any golf club memberships. Your children can mortgage their future with student loans, when you give their tuition money. You can live on the money you get every year from the government for having been President and all the speaking fees can go towards this. When you have given the most you can legally, you can privately buy ads ala Bloomberg, you can fund private registration and gotv campaigns. When I see you use all your Ill gotten gains perhaps I will throw in a dollar or two…..more to Bernie. Because it isn’t just defeating Trump which is important.”
+100
In other words: “Come on people, give up everything,including your children’s future, so that our set of selfish billionaires who won’t give up a damn thing for us, not even their petty cash, can stay in control.”
This article should really have been placed under Guillotine Watch.
I hope this article gets wide coverage because I think the average person can see what these people obviously cannot.
I’d keep it covered… that lot is always looking for somebody to screw.
re: ‘China Bids to Lead World Agency Protecting Intellectual Property’ – Foreign Policy
Now that’s chutzpah!
Oh, I don’t know. Aren’t the best game-wardens those who were once poachers themselves?
I fail to see the problem. They’re just copying what Disney has been doing for decades.
China probably saw Saudi Arabia getting to head the UN Human Rights Council a few years back (and more recently get elected to the UN Women’s Rights Commission) and figured “hey, we can play that fox/chicken-coop game, too!”
Angry Venetians say cruise ships are partly to blame for flooding TreeHugger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok Venice, you’re really asking for it now and a floody mess is called for, and it’s a different kind of Carnevale if you catch my drift and lets just say Gerald Ford will be stopping by to pay a visit.
It just isn’t going to change until there are actual pitchforks:
https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2019/11/27/Bankrupt-Philadelphia-Energy-Solutions-refinery-millions-executive-bonuses-sale/stories/201911270083
Interesting interview of Adolph Reed by the “Rising” duo in which Reed is asked by Krystal Ball whether the Democratic Establishment would allow Bernie to win the nomination. Reed responds darkly that he guesses they would probably “kill him” if Sanders got too close to winning.
https://youtu.be/cGujcxfnY2w
That story about the WB and Pakistan is truly astounding. Obviously that institution is being run by straight-up gangsters (in case there was any doubt).
NCIS: Feline
Caterfamilias got lightly skunked outside and he reeks of wrong as if he’d been smoking a fattie, any suggestions on how to deodorize him?
This has happened to one of our dogs on several occasions. We follow internet advice to rinse the animal’s fur with an apple cider vinegar and water solution. Invariably, our dog first rolls around on the wood floors and on our bed. So, it’s a major production.
Tomato juice is supposed to work I have used it with some success and there is a skunk deodorizer available at the Vets office.
Not just at your vet’s – even Bezos EvilCorp carries this sort of thing, so I’m guessing many pet and outdoor-oriented shops would, as well.
agree, have used tomatoe (thanks Mr. Quayle) to good effect several times.
Thanks for all the tips, we went with apple cider vinegar/water mixture, and then gave him his first ever bath, and he was amazingly calm, considering.
So how’s old Tom smell apres bath?
(Wait, don’t tell me, let me guess: “He smells fine … he just still *stinks* something awful!” in best Dr. Johnson-quip fashion.)
He’s still a bit rank, and temps are supposed to be near freezing overnight the next few days, and that’ll bring on a 4 cat night on top of the bedspread, and I wonder how they react being in close proximity, or me for that matter?
Round 2 of apple vinegar cider coming tomorrow.
My cousins, in their youth, used tomato juice to deskunk their large white poodle (my brother was there to witness the scene – one of his favorite stories.) Needless to say, they wound up with a large, odorous pink poodle. I wish I’d seen my aunt’s face when she got home.
Vinegar seems like a better bet – but he’s talking about a cat. Getting it wet is going to be SUCH fun.
“How World Bank Arbitrators Mugged Pakistan”
I cannot see there being any blow-back over this in the long term. I mean, it is not like that there is a neighbouring superpower that is more than willing to help it out and willing to build desperately need infrastructure to generate income in exchange for making them part of a multinational trade organization. I am sure that they will stick with the west whose financial interests are to bleed the place dry, even if it sends the joint into chaos. It would be worse if they had nuclear weapons that could end up who knows where if the country imploded or were taken over by religious extremists.
Most excellent comment.
The World Bank’s deeply flawed arbitration ruling against Pakistan in this mining case that benefited a large transnational corporation epitomizes abuse of the supranational Investor-State Dispute Settlement structure for financial gain by a few at great cost to the people of a sovereign nation.
Will say I’m grateful that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership and TTIP agreements, that contained similar provisions for supranational arbitrators to overrule domestic courts in international disputes involving corporate interests, failed to gain sufficient traction politically in this country.
Yes, agree. Precisely. “Investor Arbitration” – what a power grab.
Let’s remove the lack of agency in your statement:
failed to gain sufficient traction politically in this country
Here’s the rewrite:
Will say I’m grateful that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership and TTIP agreements, that contained similar provisions for supranational arbitrators to overrule domestic courts in international disputes involving corporate interests, and that was doggedly pushed by Obama and Hilary Clinton
failed to gain sufficient traction politically in this countrywas killed off by The Horrible Orange Man.:-) Thanks, HAL. Can we agree on “Strange” rather than “Horrible”. I’m in the very small percentage of the population that’s rather ambivalent, plus I saw that descriptive adjective in an Asian gentleman’s tweet the other day and kinda thought it applied. Further, I’m destined for conversation at the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow where I expect the binary nature of our current political milieu will be on full display among the diners, replete with their respective talking points, and would rather be attending a dance party.
I basically agree with the Deep State criticism in The American Conservative’s article. However, this made me emit a painful laugh:
>The honorable course for subordinates who disagree with a president’s policies is to resign and then express criticism.
Yeah, that’s gonna work.
If enough did it, yes. (Trump has faced a professional services strike for his entire Presidency, IMNSHO
“Iran’s ‘Only Crime Is We Decided Not to Fold’ ”
I think that Iran had some decidedly expert advice on how to play their cards as in-
You got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away and know when to run
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealing’s done
kinda still love that song.
Sounds like the Daoists’ ‘be like water.’
And it is a good strategy for Beijing, even as other powers, who might benefit, whisper to her, ‘you can take on the big dude.’
Thanks for triggering trypophobia related anxiety with that Antidote du Jour picture.
Ha! That crossed my mind when I saw it too.
don’t store all your nuts in one hole?
That picture was mild though. I went to google it (bad move!) to find it whether that stuff really happens and I wasn’t pleasantly surprised, to put it one way.
‘Boeing 777X’s fuselage split dramatically during September stress test’:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-777xs-fuselage-split-dramatically-during-september-stress-test/
Apparently *not just* a cargo door blowing out, as Boeing had previously said.
They actually said: “Yet the fix is very unlikely to require a retest.” Seriously? Boeing engineers said that? It does not matter that it failed within 1% of requirements, it still failed. Nearly doesn’t count.
> Researchers find dangerous, FDA-rejected drug in supplements—by reading labels
You would think nerds buying nootropics would not be a target rich environment for scammers but this turns out not to be true. Slatestarcodex has the best dope if you don’t want to get too technical. If you want to get too technical you already know where to look.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/10/22/cognitive-enhancers-mechanisms-and-tradeoffs/
https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/10/brief-cautionary-notes-on-branded-combination-nootropics/
Law School Donor Sues After Learning His Name Isn’t On Degrees The Law School Doesn’t Give
The Law School violated the spirit of the agreement by attending only to its literal meaning. It’s a Law School: what else could you expect?
In so doing it may have damaged itself. It’s run by university administrators: what else could you expect?
Had a float-ila of 30 of us on a families kayak/canoe overnight trip down familiar flat water of the Colorado River, putting in just below Hoover Dam. We’d made the reservation many months ago, but couldn’t reserve the weather, and were lucky to squeeze it in between a couple of storm systems.
The main attraction for me is the myriad of hot springs in the 3 canyons closest to the dam, all in slot canyons and there really isn’t any dirt, it’s all rock, so the water drains out pronto, and we were hiking up Boy Scout Canyon, which requires you to go through a series of fixed ropes through waterfalls/boulders to ascend to the higher canyon, all of the creek water flowing down through your feet being from around 90-100 degrees along the way, for about a mile.
https://www.desertusa.com/desert-activity/river-adventure-colorado-river.html
We saw a wood debris catch basin in Boy Scout canyon that was 7 feet tall stuck up on boulders, so in the 13 hours it rained in Las Vegas-adjacent on Wednesday, a flash flood that high came through, whew.
Some gawked at a group of 5 or 6 Desert Bighorn Sheep including a few wee ones in the heights above when paddling downriver, and one friend complained to me that this was her 3rd trip and she hadn’t seen one yet, and I fixed that by having her stop by Hemenway Park in Boulder City, and half an hour later got an email ’39!!!’.
Maybe it was a little overkill having her see that many at once.
Sounds terrific. Never been there, but love the canyons of the Green and Colorado. It was an interesting early season through Desolation and Grey canyons when the water flow was at 29,000 cubic feet per second when I launched at Sand Wash. About 821,000 liters per second for my metric bretheren.
So in mid-June it was just big water class II-III, but swims were nasty. Got off my line in my high performance inflatable and hit a stopper wave that surfed me backwards into a hole. That swim with minimum boyancy in a aerated hole really focused my attention.
Regarding Patrick Cockburn’s post “A Tale of Two Princes”, although they may display some similar characteristics pertaining to judgement, not all “princes” come to occupy their positions the same way. Who knew?…
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/wework-founder-adam-neumann-helped-kushner-craft-mideast-peace-plan-says-report-1.8168721
Even cockburn can’t use the word HOSTAGE in describing MbS’s go to move.
First we have the big group interned at the Ritz. Then we had the PM of Lebanon captured. Then, most recently, a plane load of WWE wrestlers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Lebanon%E2%80%93Saudi_Arabia_dispute
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a359ja/why-were-a-bunch-of-wrestlers-from-smackdown-trapped-in-saudi-arabia
This isn’t hard. There’s a word for what he is doing.
Mohammed bin takin Hostages (MbtH)
Public service announcement from the Ministry of Truth, a/k/a “Politifacts,” on how to tactfully correct your relatives’ and guests’ woefully inaccurate misunderstandings of events and interpretations:
https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/11/26/politifacts-guide-to-fact-checking-your-family-at-thanksgiving/
I peeked in at Daily Kos this morning, just for giggles. I ran into this “bat-shit-crazy” piece, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/26/1902033/-Top-Pentagon-Brass-Discussing-Resignation?utm_campaign=trending, which pretty much incites to a military/policy establishment coup. The comments are just way, way out there. No laughing matter. And it’s not just this particular “liberal” black hole.
One wonders just how far down the road this political economy has gone toward tracking and emulating the fate of those banana republics the Imperialists have done the same to.
Goes along with The “American Conservative” link today. And maybe, for the froth on the cappuccino, a re-watch of “Seven Days in May…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May Naw, it could never happen here.
I guess maybe we “progressives” aren’t crazy at all, observing the motions of the stars and coming up with the notions we do…
RE: politics/michael-bloomberg-republicans-donation…NYTIMES
An article from 11/26 about Bloomberg’s donations and support to Repub candidates.
What’s that sound? A dog whistle to the moderate Repub unicorns?
There has never been a better time to start a small space agency MIT Technology Review
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Back when we did such things, why was Mississippi always thought the best state for supplying astronauts to NASA…
…because they all took up space in school
The Marketwatch article comparing how much CEO’s, celebrities, and hedge fund guys make is pretty awful. [It also looks like a grocery store tabloid – I was pretty surprised when I came back and saw the actual source.]
They showed that the hedge fund chiefs made 10x the already obscene amounts that the highest paid celebrities make – Dr. Phil makes $80m a year?? But they somehow forgot to mention that the hedge fund chiefs only have to pay 15% tax on much of their earnings, because of the carried interest loophole that Candidate Trump promised to close.
> General election: Corbyn says Labour has documents that confirm NHS ‘for sale’ in US trade talks – live news Guardian
Oh nice, we can just purchase a competent health care system and have it sent over here. That’d be much easier. Do they do 1-day shipping?
Warren nosedives in new nationwide poll Politico
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Lizzie Warren took attacks
And got a lot of flack
When she saw what she had done
The numbers down did they run
Link: NYT 11/2019