Monday

Sounds

Political Economy

THE RECRUDESCENCE OF ZERO-SUM THINKING



War - When our attitude changed?

What's Another War

One reason to oppose the Iraq war (certainly not the only one) was that it opened the door to our imperial dreams and ended the minor anti-war taboo that had been in place since Vietnam. "War is bad" seemed to have been at least somewhat conventional wisdom and now it's LOL who's next????

I don't know. I think the "war is bad attitude" started slipping away in the early 80s. In the 70's my group was basically a bunch of dope-smokin', mostly peacnik, hippies. We had grown up thinking Vietnam was a mistake and the US should just stop fucking with the rest of the world. In the late 70s, I remember "Reagan in 80 Canada in 81" buttons as there was real fear he would start another war .

Then in 84 a car load of us went to see Red Dawn. I remember thinking it was one of the dumbest movies I'd seen in a long time. Everyone else thought it was cool as hell. I was floored.  

Today, they are all gun-nut, Trump voters with Confederate flags waving proudly in the Indiana Teabagistan breeze and I'm a Bernie supporter.  

Oil

Bring on Higher Oil Prices: They’ll Boost the US Economy. Powell Sees it Too. A New Experience for the US

Yeah, gasoline is consumer spending but people don't like high gas prices. It's like a tax that cuts into what they can spend on those Walmart doodads. So GDP may not suffer from rising prices but a lot of people outside the oil-gas production business are going to be pissed and they tend to blame it on the group in power. Trump and the Rs don't want that going into 2020..


War - Hawks and Fools

My guess is this is what led to Trump backing off and claiming he doesn't want war with Iran. They've pushed so hard and looked so amateurish that no one believes the story.

US finds itself isolated in Iran conflict

Particularly telling are the suspicions in European capitals and elsewhere that Trump’s fingering of Tehran for the tanker attacks looks eerily like the events of 1964 that prompted the Gulf of Tonkin resolution — which gave President Lyndon Johnson broad authority to wage the Vietnam War but which later raised suspicions that he invented or exaggerated the North Vietnamese attack that drove the resolution.

War - Middle East

The Middle Eastern Thirty Years War?



Media - Propaganda

Why the fuck are opinion pieces in the Google News "Headlines" section?

Hey Google, An opinion piece from the propaganda network isn't headline news.

Saturday - Rant

2020 Rant

Wow, these two got me off on a rant.........

Forget Bernie vs. Warren. Focus on Growing the Progressive Base and Defeating Biden. - Yep... if you can't beat Biden you're not going to beat Trump.

Trump Says He's Weighing Democrats' Plan for $15 Minimum Wage

While the establishment D's work to

• nominate Biden over progressive candidates
• keep the election about Trump instead of progressive policy
• not do medicare for all
• "build support" for a $15 minimum wage.

Trump and the R's are maneuvering to win the next election by trying to steal some D thunder. 

These R guys fight, not for the people really, but to win elections. Everything they do is focused on winning the next election by firing up their base, beating D's down, swaying D voters, etc. 

The establishment Ds on the other hand just can't figure it out. They waffle-around about how to look progressive while governing like business republicans. Basically just hammering the policies their donors want into something they think they can get people to vote for, beating on Trump and the R's, and offering old R-lite policies that got us in this mess in the first place. 

Trumps power comes from the groundswell of support of the people, not the party, not the donor class, but from the people. 

Build a platform on a set of policies that will help people then go out and sell the god-damned thing! 

Get the people behind you and the rest will have follow.

That's what AOC did. Bernie and Warren are doing it and it's working. Fuck Biden. Fuck the Clintons. Fuck the beltway consultants, the donors, etc. You need the people. 

In a race you can turn around and beat on you opponent to slow him down or you can just outrun the motherfucker. It shouldn't be hard to outrun these bastards.  

Good policies that put people first can win but you have to sell them to the people. 

Here are a few tnb suggestions.

• A higher minimum wage. Maybe $15 maybe $13. Something. Just do it. It's needed and it's easy. Don't let Trump steal this !?
• Legalize pot. If you don't, the R's are going to. It's the easiest way for the Rs to steal a bunch of younger D voters. The D's need to be first.
• Make Social Security better -  Again, it's needed and it's an easy way to steal a few old R voters.
• Medicare for All - There are a lot of voters out there dying for this. Healthcare was the #1 issue of 2018 for christ-sake. It shouldn't be hard. Talk about how much it will save not how much it costs. Sell it to the old people by stressing that their medicare will get better i.e. they won't need to pay for supplemental insurance. That's easy and steals R voters.
• Inexpensive college education - It doesn't have to be free but it needs to be affordable. Not easy loans or grants. 
• Talk People over Business -Put people policies first over the big corporations. It says "Government of the people",  not "Government of business". 
• Talk big ideas: Infrastructure. Nationwide broadband. Energy freedom.  
• Talk inequality.  The filthy rich vs the middle class. Get this chart out everywhere. Point out that the "good old days" that all those R voters want to return to were when the income distribution was more equal. Hammer it....

Other things.

Stop resisting voter ID cards. Make it law that everyone must have a god-damned picture ID to vote then go out and get the cards in the hands of your voters. Voter ID seems like a good idea to most people and fighting it makes you look out of touch and give the R propagandists something to harp on i.e. "You have to have a license to drive but not to vote?".

Drop opposition to guns. Out here in rural Teabagistan the R's stole the Ds white union vote by turning them into gun nuts. We like our guns out here and you're not going to win if you make it a big issue.

Change how you talk about government regulation. Don't talk about needing more regulation, we have enough already and the people hate it. Talk about making current regulations affective, getting rid of unnecessary layers, streamlining it, etc..

I've always said when there is "regulation failed" problem like the savings and loan crisis or the last housing crisis, the Rs will say that regulation was the cause and want to get rid of it. The D's will say that the it slipped through the cracks of the current regulators and want to add another layer. what need to happen is to recognize that the people in charge of oversight didn't do their job, fire everyone responsible and get a new crew in there that can do the job.

There you go D's.  Try not to fuck it up this time.

Saturday - War

War - Iran

Planes Were In The Air To Strike Iran When Trump Called It Off - This may be true but why would anyone believe anything about Iran (or really anything) from this administration or the NYT?

The administration has lied about everything related to Iran. Iran violating the nuclear deal. The two "Iranian tanker attacks" looked like false flags and didn't really gain any traction with the rest of the world. They look like they are lying about where the shot-down drone really was located as Iran released coordinates quickly showing it was in their waters but at this point the US still hasn't. Their entire Iran story is based on lies and the world knows it.

The NYT is the source on this and they have shown that they will always play the part of state media when it comes to US war making.

This could very well be an orchestrated leak to help negotiations, save-face, or just to try to make Trump look sane but at this point, I don't believe this story.

You can't trust the US War Party or the Trump administration on anything.

This I could believe.  Trump Staged Iran 'Strikes' For Maximum MTP Interview Impact

The whole thing is a campaign stunt intended to distract from other questions Chuck Todd might have asked, about Russia, about impeachment, and more.

Also, DID TRUMP GIN UP A NEAR-WAR BECAUSE HE COULDN'T BEAR CEDING THE NEWS CYCLE TO DEMOCRATS?

Still, I think this is just be a way to pull back from a failed attempt to build global support for an attack on Iran. Trump and Bolton's crew thought the various tanker attacks would get the world on our side but they looked staged. The drone downing looked suspicious too and again allied support for war just wasn't there so these bozos had to save-face.

More speculation here White House Pushes 'Trump Pulled Back' Story - He Likely Never Approved To Strike Iran



War - Why They Hate Us

It ain't for ".. our Freedom" - Human cost of Yemen war laid bare as the death toll nears 100,000

Bush via the WP - They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."

"They hate what we do to their freedom" seems to fit a little better.



War - The Hawks

Stop worrying and learn to love Super Hawk Bolton? - Yeah Bolton is "The War Hawk" but he's just the tip of the current administration's dickishness. They've been pushing Iran since Netanyahu and Adelson jumped on the Trump train, that was long before Bolton was on the team.



War - Endless War

A good piece from Matt Taibbi: Next Contestant, Iran: Meet America’s Permanent War Formula

Thursday

Cults

From a No More Mister Nice post - Rush and Pence discussing Trump's upcoming Florida gathering.

RUSH: No, let me explain that. It’s just a guy at a microphone, a guy at a podium.

tnb......  "yeah, just like Jim Jones."

American Corrupitalism

The KPMG cheating scandal was much more widespread than originally thought



War

Ian Welsh Why Would Iran Attack Tankers? - The US War party needs to go.



War - Israel vs Palestine

Vox: This chart shows every person killed in the Israel-Palestine conflict since 2000

The Economy


Inflation Is Dead: What’s Needed to Reanimate It?

What would it take to bump inflation back to life—that is, above 2% yearly? Surging population growth with young people vastly outnumbering retirees, emerging market labor costs on a par with those in the West and Japan, and technology advances reaching a place where it’s not displacing any more workers. Oh, and perhaps a return of labor unions.

tnb.... I'd add more income/wealth equality.  

2020

Ian Welsh with a pretty good take on the D's that I like - Bernie Sanders vs. Elizabeth Warren



Politics - Death of the Reagan Regime?

A good series here on the death of the Reagan regime and the future of politics in the US, from Jack Balkin at Balkinization. Read them all.

• Escaping Dysfunction
• Cycle of Presidents or Cycle of Regimes?
• How Polarization Leads to Disjunction-- There Must Be Fifty Ways to Leave Your Party
• The New Party Configuration
• The Limits of a Cosmopolitan Party
• How Constitutional Rot Ends

2024 !? 

The 2024 campaign has started and Nikki Haley has Israel's vote.

Monday

Politics

FOX News Poll: Bernie Sanders Would Beat Trump By 9 Points - I do think Bernie would beat Trump but you can't believe any Fox poll. They are R-Trump media and would plant shit like this just to divide the Ds.

The Man Who Reinvented Donald Trump



HealthCare

Trump says he will roll out new health care plan in next couple of months - Sure he will. I remember the campaign when he said he had a great healthcare plan ready to go.

from a 2016 speech the WP labeled "Donald Trump’s best speech of the 2016 campaign"

"..give you choice and freedom and control in healthcare at a much, much lower cost. You will have much better healthcare at a much lower cost and it will happen quickly."

Looking back, there is some amazing BS in this speech.

Trump should be asked about it every day.



War - Cyber

Could this,

South America power cut: Argentina investigates 'unprecedented' outage

be the US practicing for this

US Attacks Russia’s Power Grid; Trump Kept in Dark

or the hackers practicing for this.

Hackers behind dangerous oil and gas intrusions are probing US power grids

It seems strange that they are all in the news at the same time.



War - US vs Iran

Trump’s Evidence About Iran is “Dodgy” at Best

Deployment of 1,000 troops to Middle East shows US on 'a conscious course to provoke war' with Iran, Moscow says.



Cyber Crime

Satoshi Nakamoto Could Be Criminal Mastermind Paul Le Roux

"One of the most enduring mysteries of modern times has produced another enthralling twist. Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous and enigmatic creator, has not been seen online in more than eight years. Evidence has now surfaced that points to a new Satoshi candidate, whose known life has a number of parallels with that of Bitcoin’s inventor. His name is Paul Le Roux and, if proven to be Satoshi, there is a good reason why his 1 million BTC hasn’t moved – the Rhodesian has been in jail since 2012."

Economics

New Study Of Old Real Estate Bubbles (1582-1810) Finds Two Surprising Similarities With Modern Bubbles - This seems reasonable. When money piles up it has to flow somewhere.

I think about where the money is piling up, in the hands of a few or the hands of the masses. Today, it's the few who have boat-loads of cash so their money just sloshes around the world's economies keeping interest rates low and creating/bursting various bubbles.

Our recent housing bubble was really caused by the cash of a few looking for a place to go. The bankers thought they had found a way to package mortgages to make them safe for investors so they rounded up the investor money and turned it into easy money for the borrowers.

That easy money created the housing boom but also brought out scammers throughout the whole process from bankers, to mortgage companies, to real estate agents, to the end buyers, all were feasting on that easy cash until it all finally crashed down under it's own weight.

Of course the banks were the only ones bailed out by taxpayer money



Why can't We all Just get Along?

The Divisiveness of Cohesion

"Summing up: The first rule of promoting cohesion is: Don’t talk about cohesion.  The second rule of promoting cohesion is: Don’t talk about cohesion.  If you really want to build a harmonious, unified society, take one for the team.  Discard your anger, swallow your pride, and show out-groups unilateral respect and friendship.  End of story."

This sounds good but just won't work if a major group decides they just don't want to play along, Christians of the Roman empire, The R's today, etc.

Media - The Liberal Media Isn't.

Chuck Todd Fails Journalism 101 When Steve Scalise Lies



Media - Propaganda

Lots going on this morning. US vs Iran, Russia comments on troop build up, Trump to deport millions. What does Fox have for it's man story?

Israel and US vs the World

Some stolen land gets a name - Golan Heights: Israel unveils 'Trump Heights' settlement

Sunday Morning

War - Middle East

Whatever Pompeo Says, there is no Certainty Iran mined the Tankers - I have to agree with Juan Cole. There is no way to know for certain who did this and since the Trump clan is trying hard to push Iran into war, Pompeo's quick announcement makes the whole story seems just a little fishy.

We'll never know who really did this but of the major players who might have, US, Iran, the Saudis, Houthi Rebels, ISIS-Al Qaeda, and Israel,  Iran had the least to gain from the act. My money is on one of the other five.

Also...

The President who's lied to your face hundreds, if not thousands of times says this, (From Fox News the propaganda outfit that misinforms continually)

President Trump pointed the finger at Tehran Friday for this week's attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman, after the U.S. Navy released video purportedly showing an Iranian vessel removing an unexploded mine that had been attached to one of the tankers.

In an interview with "Fox & Friends" Friday, President Trump said of Iran's alleged involvement: "We don't take it lightly".

“Iran did do it and you know they did it because you saw the boat,” he said, before pointing to video that showed an Iranian vessel removing an unexploded mine attached to a Japanese-owned oil tanker, the Kokuka Courageous.

Trump said the limpet mine had “Iran written all over it.”

"They're a nation of terror and they've changed a lot since I've been president, I can tell you."

Believe him or Not?

StoneKettle Station - Remember The Maine



Politics

Unctuous Toadie Lindsey Graham trips over his own tongue - Graham is a hypocritical bastard.



Media - Stupid Questions

WHY WON’T THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES MOVE TO THE LEFT ON FOREIGN POLICY? -  The Benjamins man, The Benjamins.



Propaganda - Healthcare

Economic Bill of Rights: Bernie Wants Same Healthcare Promise as Venezuela - Complete bullshit from right-wing Mish.  Bernie wants us to have healthcare like Europe or Canada.



American Corruptialism

FT: Amy Chua and the big little lies of US meritocracy

This week Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Ms Chua’s daughter, was hired as a Supreme Court clerk by Brett Kavanaugh — the judge for whom her mother vouched during his stormy Senate hearings last autumn.

Ms Chua is a shrewd string-puller. A Supreme Court clerkship sets up a young lawyer for life. Whether she is enjoying the publicity is another matter. Overnight the Chuas have turned into emblems of what Americans distrust about their meritocracy.

The Market

Trump Might Really Be 'Crazy Like A Fox' On Trade-Fed-Market Nexus

You can read the piece for yourself, but the gist of it is that Zhao believes Donald Trump is gaming everybody, pushing the tariff envelope as far as he can in an effort to make the Fed so nervous about the prospect of a downturn in global growth that Jerome Powell has no choice but to cut rates. Zhao says there's a "high probability" that once the Fed eases, Trump will lower the tariffs and hope stocks soar on a combination of looser Fed policy and the end of the trade war.

I don't believe Trump is capable of this type of thought but the Rs in general play to win, fuck the rules so I could see this idea coming from the R marketing group as the 2020 strategy. 

The R's need a good economy to win in 2020. They can't just talk the Fed into lowering rates to fire up it up so they put pressure on it with tariffs to force the Feds hand. That I can believe and it is right up the R playbook.

Brazilian Corrupitalism

Gleen Greenwald on the corruption case in Brazil

Wednesday

Media

Amazing! CNN questioning the official story! Iran will get the blame, but the Gulf of Oman truth is likely a lot murkier


Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined: What 1984 means today

"..too much information from too many sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its disappearance, which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own prejudices and delusions."

WHICH VARIETY OF RIGHT-WING PROPAGANDA IS WORSE: RELENTLESS OR INSIDIOUS?

"But right-wing propaganda has succeeded in America by making conservatism seem like a way of life. It's not enough to vote Republican or agree with conservative stances on the issues -- Fox and talk radio make it seem as if every aspect of life is under threat from the left and the only possible response is constant fear, outrage, and vigilance. Long before YouTube or Facebook developed sophisticated algorithms to keep web surfers on their sites, Fox and talk radio discovered a potent mix of scare tactics and anger inducement that led to marathon viewing and listening."

Some Real News About Fake News



American Corruptialism

Is Jared Kushner Literally in Bed with the Saudis?

Company part-owned by Jared Kushner got $90m from unknown offshore investors since 2017



Economics

It's the Inequality, Stupid!

Politics

Bernie on Socialism - Watch Bernie Sanders Deliver Speech on Why Democratic Socialism 'Only Way to Defeat Oligarchy and Authoritarianism'

Interfering in Elections

Mike Pompeo Threatens To Intervene In British Democracy To Stop Corbyn Becoming Prime Minister













....

The Weekend

Socialism

Why Call it "Socialism"? - Tim Taylor at the Conversable Economist is right

Thus, my modest proposal is that unless someone wants to advocate government ownership of the means of production, it's more productive to drop "socialism" from the conversation. Instead, talk about the specific issue and the mixture of market and government actions rules that might address it, based on whatever evidence is available on costs and benefits.

but, the power elite, Rs, Trump, Corporate Ds, most media folk, and especially the Fox Propaganda people throw "socialism" around as a scare word to drive people away from social programs for political reasons.  It's going to be hard to change that.



Media - Fox Propaganda

NYT Columnist: Fox Propaganda Is A Much Bigger Threat Than Facebook



Healthcare

Single-Payer Reform—“Medicare for All” - Read it all but, the main take-away is,

Halfway measures are politically attractive but economically unworkable. The $11 559 per capita that the United States spends on health care could provide high-quality care for all or it can continue to fund a vast health-managerial apparatus—it cannot do both.

Some other good stuff.

According to official estimates, insurance overhead is projected to cost an estimated $301.4 billion in 2019, including an estimated $252 billion for private insurers, approximately 12% of their premiums.1 In contrast, overhead is 1.6% in Canada's single-payer system and 2.2% in Medicare’s fee-for-service plan. Reducing US systemwide insurance overhead to 2.2% could save an estimated $238.7 billion.

A 2014 report suggested that [hospital] administration consumes 12.4% of hospital budgets in Canada (and 11.6% in Scotland) vs 25.3% in the United States,3 a difference of an estimated $162 billion annually.

A 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report7 concluded that single-payer reform could lower administrative costs, increase incentives to improve health, and substantially reduce the number of uninsured individuals.

American Corrupitalism

How Payday Lenders Spent $1 Million at a Trump Resort — and Cashed In

At the Trump Doral outside Miami, payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without President Donald Trump and his latest deregulator, Kathleen Kraninger.

Israel and US States

That didn't take long. (From a tnb post a few days ago)

Florida is not far behind.

The Wednesday afternoon meeting will mark the first time a US state cabinet has held a formal governmental meeting at the US embassy in Jerusalem.

and now this.........

Florida’s Governor just signed a bill that will censor criticism of Israel throughout the state’s public schools

Two days before DeSantis officially signed HB 741 into law in Florida, he carried out a symbolic signing during a ceremonial state cabinet meeting in Israel. 

US Media - Israel

Here's an article in Haaretz, a (the) major Israeli news source, that you would never see in US media. For some reason, the discussion about Israel's descent into fascism is allowed in Israel but not in the US.

Neither Israel's nor Germany's Slide Into Fascism Was Accidental

The Zionist attempt to create a secular-national movement based on Jewish identity could not help but have a religious messianic component. From there it was inevitable that it would turn racist By Yoav Rinon Jun 06, 2019

Wednesday

Music





War

Trump Hid From Congress That Saudi Arabia Is Accelerating Missile Program With Chinese Aid - On our way to another missile-armed country in the middle east. What could go wrong?



Politics

OUT OF TOUCH Gin and Tacos on the Establishment D's ability to screw up.

"How they are not campaigning by shouting "The drug industry sucks! Nationalize that fucker!" is beyond me. They're letting Trump – DONALD TRUMP – beat the from the LEFT on this issue."

I'd add that in the last election health care was basically the number one issue of the voters so to use Gin and Tacos line....

"How they are not campaigning by shouting "The health care industry sucks! Nationalize that fucker!" is beyond me."

The Road to Impeachment - Call this the "Fox News Benghazi" method.



Economics

Stop saying "robots are coming for your job"; start saying "Your boss wants to replace you with a robot" - Similar to blaming China or Mexico for taking your job. It's not their fault, the American business owner sent the jobs over there.



American Corrupitalism

AMAZON OFFERED JOB TO PENTAGON OFFICIAL INVOLVED WITH $10 BILLION CONTRACT IT SOUGHT

A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Her Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet - Also the Senate majority leader's wife.

The Dummy Company at the Heart of Deutsche Bank Money Laundering Probe

Whatever happened to the Mueller-related lawsuit with the company and country that couldn't be named? What we know about the mystery country-owned company in the Mueller-related case

Hospitals Accused Of Paying Doctors Large Kickbacks In Quest For Patients



Media - Corporate Propaganda

Politico: The dire problem that Bernie Sanders has to fix - The dire problem Sanders can't fix are the Politico hit pieces. A few Politico headlines from the last couple weeks.

• I'm not a Bernie Bro': Sanders' base splinters in California
• The dire problem that Bernie Sanders has to fix
• 'Medicare for All' backers find biggest foe in their own backyard
• Bernie Sanders inches toward backing impeaching Trump
• Bernie’s new approach to raising cash: ‘Grassroots fundraisers’
• Bernie's mystery Soviet tapes revealed
• and of course the big one.....The Secret of Bernie’s Millions.

Media - Misinformation

Media Stenography Turns Beheaded Saudi Protesters Into ‘Terrorism’

Poll: Health Care Remains Burdensome for Families - BS here..

Although most American families are burdened by health care costs, the scales seem tipped more favorably for Republicans than Democrats. With the first Democratic primary debate just three weeks away, the top-tier candidates are already emphasizing their policies for reforming the national health care system.

As of right now, Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand all support fellow Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan. Among Democrats, this is no longer even controversial. According to the RealClear Opinion Research survey, two-thirds of Americans are positively disposed toward Medicare for All, including 82% of Democrats.

“The function of our health care system will be quality care for all, free choice of doctor and hospital, and paying for that in a public way,” Sanders said last month during a town hall in New Hampshire. “And we save very substantial sums of money because we're not going to be paying people to hound you for the back bills for the hospital. We're going to be putting that money into the delivery of health care.”

A bunch of BS here. The article acknowledges the health care system sucks but then says "The scales seem tipped more favorably for Republicans than Democrats." 

Why? The only reason they give is that the Ds are trying to make changes but are divided on what to do. Hell, the R's aren't even trying to fix it and don't seem to give a fuck. How does that tip the scales to their favor?

Media - Just Stupid

When did The Dumb Tucker switch to comedy? Is the guest is just trolling Tucker, who is either a master at keeping a straight face or just doesn't get it?







....

Monday

Trump

StoneKettle Station with a good walk through of Trump's recent tweets. StoneKettle Station: Quick and Easy.

There's a lot of good stuff in this but he mentions one thing I repeat on a regular basis.

China and Mexico didn't take American jobs. America's rich business owners sent the jobs over there to increase American business profits. 

or.... from StoneKettle.

Those jobs are in Mexico, and in China, etc, because that’s how rich people like Trump want it.

That’s how the wealthy business owners got rich in the first place. They don't want to pay a living wage. They don't want to pay for healthcare. They don't want to give baby leave or benefits or build safe factories that don't pollute. They don't want to hire Americans because it costs them money.

Those factories, those jobs, they weren't moved to Mexico for Mexico’s advantage, but to make rich Americans even richer.

That’s who benefits.

That's who is taking advantage, right there. The rich. Not Mexico. 

Repeat after me.... Rich Americans sent the jobs to China!

Media - The Liberal Media Isn't

The New York Times Is Destroying Democracy



Iran

The American Conservative

Despite more than a year of U.S. violations and unjustified sanctions, Iran is still complying with the nuclear deal. This is the fifteenth consecutive report from the IAEA that confirms Iranian compliance:

Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, and Netanyahu are lying.

Israel - Palestine - Tump - Kushner

Pompeo: Jared Kushner’s Palestine plan “unexecutable;’ Kushner: Palestinians unready for Self-Rule

The main problem at issue in Palestine is Occupation and statelessness. A state has control of the land, water and air of a target. Palestinians do not have one

A state gives its citizens secure human and property rights. Palestinians lack them.

Kushner is essentially an Israeli squatter on Palestinian land working on behalf of other squatters. He headed a foundation aimed at helping Israeli squatters in illegal settlements.

The only thing the Trump administration is actually capable of doing is making things worse.

The US

Two Contrasting Commencement Addresses a Half Century Apart

.. We have zero diplomacy, only threats. Indeed threats are America’s hallmark. Threats of war. Threats of sanctions. The President of the United States gives away other countries’ territories and decides who is to be the president of Venezuela. Today’s America is scared to death of peaceful competition and imposes tariffs on everyone from Mexico to China.

When John Kennedy was president, America was a proud country. Today it is a shameful place in freefall, a grave danger to its own citizens and to the rest of the world.

The Economy

Trumps Trade war is the biggest tax hike in 30 years 

Dispatches from the retailpocalypse  Sell you shopping mall REIT.

Healthcare CEOs again lead the way in pay

"The highest pay packages go to CEOs at healthcare companies. For the third time in four years, chief executives in the healthcare field led the S&P 500 in terms of total compensation. The typical CEO in the industry made $16.1 million last year, which means half earned more than that, and half made less."

Foreign Influence

Texas picks Israel over Texan's fredom of speech.

"After the bill’s passage, state contracts added a clause that required contractors to pledge to abstain from boycotting Israel. The measure also required the Texas comptroller’s office to compile a blacklist of companies supporting the boycott of Israel. In April, Texas divested $72 million of stock from DNB ASA, a financial services group that put a handful of Israeli companies on a list of companies it wouldn’t invest in because of involvement in human rights violations."

Florida is not far behind.


tnb

Friday

Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu: The fugitive Crime Minister - Netanyahu on the ropes? Maybe, but he's shown an amazing ability to survive. One thing that might save him is a terrorist attack he can blame on Iran. I can't wait.......

Netanyahu would do almost anything to stay in power, almost....Senior Israeli-Arab Lawmaker Trolls Netanyahu, Cracks Up Knesset

"I have a dramatic announcement and I apologize to my fellow MKs that I didn't let you know ahead of time," the Arab lawmaker told the Knesset as they waited for a vote on dissolving the Knesset, which would send Israel to a new election. 

"Seven minutes ago Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to me and he said he is willing to withdraw from the occupied territories and also to cancel the nation-state law, and that he supports not only civil equality but also national equality, and that he's willing to recognize the Nakba and fix the historical wrong – in return for the immunity law," he continued to audible laughter, referencing the prime minister's efforts to pass legislation that would prevent him from being indicted for corruption."

Corn

US Corn Crop Failure

let's please stay aware of what's happening right now with crops. Things are about to get _really_ weird pic.twitter.com/XJDxdhdmyI

— BuildSoil (@BuildSoil) May 29, 2019

MAGA

The Dollar Underpins American Power. Rivals Are Building Workarounds.

"Iran sanctions spur Europe and India to devise systems to trade with Tehran without using the U.S. currency"

Trump policies are driving the rest of the world away from the dollar.

Media - Propaganda

The big news overnight was the Trump tariff on Mexico. Fox Propaganda viewers don't even know it happened. Nothing about Netanyahu's troubles either.

Thursday

Politics

Mueller Bows Out: What Does Congress Do Now?  Well... for the Ds at least, how about.....

1. Stop bitching about the past.  

2. Call out the big, easy to prove, Trump lies.
    Call out right-wing media lies.
    Do it every day on every media appearance. 

3. Do progressive things that favor people over big business.
    - Medicare for all
    - Something to make college more affordable.
    - Legalize Pot
    - An infrastructure bill to put people to work
    - Increase minimum wage.
    - Give unions more power.
    - Take some power away from business.
    - Stop the war on the Free Press
    - Tax the rich... feed the poor,... etc 

4. Repeat everyday, over and over,... That the Ds are working for the people, that Trump is a liar, and the Rs are working for big business.

Scammers

The preachers getting rich from poor Americans - add "Tax Religion" to the "What does congress do now" post above.

War

Israeli ‘intelligence’ is fostering US bellicosity toward Iran — but ‘quietly’

"Adelson and wife Miriam gave $177 million to Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican causes in 2016-2018. They have been repaid by the transactional president in countless ways, notably the destruction of the Iran nuclear deal and the move of the embassy and the presidential medal of freedom for Miriam. Trump surely needs the Adelsons’ cash in 2020; and the Adelsons say themselves that their “mission in life” is protecting Israel. Here Sheldon is in an illegal Israeli settlement just the other day. 

Sheldon Adelson is very close to Netanyahu. In fact Netanyahu called for elections in 2015 specifically to head off legislative action against Adelson’s newpaper.
Why shouldn’t we conclude that Trump is Adelson’s pawn yet again on Iran?"

Get your war on!

and Peace?

Kushner’s Awful Timing: Netanyahu’s Political Crisis Could Kill Trump’s Peace Plan - It's not "awful timing" that's going to kill Kushner's plan. It's an awful plan.


Israel

LIBERMAN: NETANYAHU IS THE LEFTIST, NOT ME - How can you be so far right that you call Netanyahu a leftist?


...

Mid-Week

Everyday, when I read the News

Stunning Satirical Sand Sculpture Wins Texas Competition

Media - The "Liberal Media" isn't.

The Mass Media Is Poisoning Us With Hate

"The fact that on most big issues the two major political parties are in agreement is ignored. The deregulation of the financial industry, the militarization of police, the explosion in the prison population, deindustrialization, austerity, the endless wars in the Middle East, the bloated military budget, the control of elections and mass media by corporations and the wholesale surveillance of the population by the government all have bipartisan support."

Media - Free Press

The U.S. Media Is in the Crosshairs of the New Assange Indictment

"It will be interesting to see how the U.S. media responds. It will be interesting to see whether Congress responds, especially since it could amend the Espionage Act and other relevant law in any number of ways to clarify what types of national security reporting should be regulated by criminal law. And more than anything else, it will be interesting, and hugely important, to see who wins and who loses in this battle."

Yes it will. My guess is old media will figure out a story line to bash those new kids and their Internets.


Media - Answers to Stupid Media Questions

Is the US media beating the drums of war on Iran? ..  Mostly.


Media - Just fucking Bad

How Jimmy Carter Laid the Groundwork for Trump to Go to War With Iran

He created the reactionary blueprint that still defines the rules of U.S. engagement in the Persian Gulf.

Blaming our Iranian policy on Carter is a fucking stretch. Sure Carter was there in the 70s but damn, that was 40+ years ago, and the times had changed. Obama had a deal that was working. Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, the neo-cons, Netanhayu, American right-wing media and American evangelicals blew it the fuck up. They are solely to blame for any deaths created by our actions.   

Religion

Act of God


The Working Class

"The working class is the working class, regardless of skin colour".

Labour member and activist Guy Matthews on how the right will never represent the working class. pic.twitter.com/cQNrTrfEF6

— Labour Voices (@VoicesLabour) May 22, 2019

2020

The establishment bashing Bernie with stupid. 

The Worst 2020 Election Interference Will Be Perfectly Legal


Ds vs Rs

The Problem Is That Mitch McConnell Doesn't Give a Fuck About Ethics, Morality, or Law While Democrats Do - The establishment Ds don't realize this is a dirty fight, they still think rules apply.

Here's a good example.....Biden team says Trump's taunts 'beneath dignity of the office'. Do they really think Trump or his supporters give a flying fuck about the dignity of the office.

That's why I like AOC. She fights back. The left needs more like her. The D's need someone like her.

Today in Fascism

The poll, taken after the elections from April 17-30 and released on Friday, found that 40% of the American public has a favorable view of Netanyahu. - These would be the Trump supporters.


Rogue Nation

Hague court has no jurisdiction for Israeli-Palestinian dispute issues


WTF ?

US state holds formal government meeting in Israel

...

Saturday Morning

Media

Headlines like this are a favorite of fascist media.

BERNIE SANDERS REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE FOR CONDEMNING ARMED CONFLICT WITH IRAN

"I was right about Vietnam. I was right about Iraq. I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran. I apologize to no one," Sanders tweeted.

Why the fuck should he apologize for not wanting another ginned-up war. Fuck 'em.

Go Bernie!!



Fake News and False Flags

The evidence we were never meant to see about the Douma ‘gas’ attack

"Put bluntly, the paper is suggesting that the location of the cylinders was a set-up, that someone inside Douma immediately after the bombings of 7 April 2018 – and no one, not even the Syrians or Russians, deny there was conventional bombing and shelling that night – placed the cylinders in the locations in which they were subsequently examined by the OPCW. Since the first images of the cylinders in these locations were shown on footage before the Syrians and Russians entered Douma, the obvious corollary is that forces opposed to the Assad regime may have put them there."

So why should we believe this?

Pentagon says Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responsible for oil tanker attacks



The World Stage

China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative - Somehow this seems like a better plan to conquer the world than trade wars, arming authoritarian regimes, and bombing the shit out of countries you don't like.

Friday

Life Lesson

For the kids out there.





Today in Fascism

THE LATEST JULIAN ASSANGE INDICTMENT IS AN ASSAULT ON PRESS FREEDOM

Daniel Ellsberg on Julian Assange’s Espionage Charges

What a crazy world we live in. #JulianAssange faces up to 170 years in prison on 17 more charges merely for exposing US war crimes to the world.

Meanwhile, those who invaded #Iraq on a pack of lies not only still walk free, but are planning new wars against #Venezuela and #Iran.

— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) May 23, 2019

This Is Pure Authoritarian Audacity



Propaganda - 2020

2020 is going to be a nightmare. - It's Getting Way Too Easy to Create Fake Videos of People's Faces

Propaganda - Fox

Fox on it again. Lots in the news today, Assange arrested in historic attack on the free press, May quits, Pelosi-Trump fight, Trump losing it, fake Pelosi video so,....

Fox leads with the May resignation but builds the hate by calling the D's the party of MS13? (with a question mark of course) while linking to the murder of a 14 year old girl. Then scares folks with prediction of deadly epidemic in LA this summer, and then some skin while promoting a Palin,.. and also,.. AOC is wrong.

That's about that far, (hold thumb and index finger about 1/2 inch apart) from National Enquirer.

War - Israel/Palestine

Jared Kushner is surprised he can’t get Palestinian Businessmen on Board with Promises of Prosperity - Juan Cole make a few points that very few in the US understand.



War

Iran, Venezuela and the Throes of Empire



American Corrupitalism 

HOW A REAL AMERICAN GETS PAID

Kushner Cos. Gets $800 Million Federally-Backed Apartment Loan

McConnell campaign raises $70K through 'Cocaine Mitch' T-shirt sales: report

".. referencing McConnell's father-in-law, "who founded and owns a large Chinese shipping company [and] has given Mitch and his wife millions of dollars over the years,” and said the shipping company had been implicated in alleged cocaine smuggling"

Fake Artists to help feed the Spotify Bottom line


Another Day in the Capitalist Paradise

Almost 40% of Americans Would Struggle to Cover a $400 Emergency

...