Wave Election of 2018

Why the Wave Election of 2018 Could Mean Nothing | Ian Welsh:

Mr. Welsh is right. We're trapped by a two party system where neither care about the actual voters so we throw the bums out only to get a new batch of bums to throw out the next time.

• Bill C and the D's are the new D's
• Wrong !!!! Change congress!!! New set of the Bums !!!! 
• Newt and the Contract with Merica
• Wrong !!!! Change !!! New set of the Bums !!!!
• Bill hands Al G. the Keys.
• Wrong !!!! Change !!! New set of the Bums !!!!
• Karl Rove - "R majorities far as the eye can see."
• Wrong !!!! Change Congress!!! New set of the Bums !!!! 
• Obama. Change is a comin'!!
• Wrong !!!! Change congress!!! New set of the Bums !!!! 
• It's Hillary or Jeb's turn.
• Wrong !!!! Trump!! Now you're all fucked.

Actually we rarely get new bums, they' usually just recycled old bums from the other side.  I remember when Fox and The Teabaggers were mad because there was a brown-skinned, Kenyan, Muslim in the White House so Indiana and Ohio voters "Voted for Change" and chose Dan Coats and Mike DeWine, two old, career, R politician/lobbyist bums.

DeWine and Coats? Change? WTF?

Now the D's in Indiana are hinting at bringing back Evan Bayh!!

Evan-fucking-Bayh? WTF? kill-me-now.

How can Evan Bayh help at all!? again... just kill me now..

Anyway, we are close to four parties,

• D-left
• Bernies group 
• Young, poor, diverse, and growing.
• 25%
• D-establishment
• The HRC folks and anyone calling themselves a D in DC or the corporate media. 
• Old, rich, and stumbling or really, fell flat on their face.
• 30%
• R-Establishment
• Almost extinct? Bruce Bartlett, only remaining example I can name.
• White, pro-business
• 5% ? They have to be out there somewhere. 
• R-Far Right
• Trump and the Fox News Watchers. 
• Old (except for the Fox News girls and a few white supremacists ), white and poor. peaked with Trump
• 40%

The voters look like this to me but the two parties still hold the keys. Neither can split without giving the next election to the other so, unless like Ian Welsh says, one party wins and really delivers to the voters, I think we're stuck ping-ponging between the two sets of bums we have.


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Honduras's U.N Vote

Armed by Israel, Honduras's illegitimate regime returns the favor at the U.N.:

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Presidential Approval Ratings

A few of things stand out in this "Presidential Approval" graphic from Hullabaloo:

1. Today's presidents are never going to do much better than a 50% approval rating. The two party system has forced us into two relatively equal sized camps and the opposition camp is always going to disapprove of the man in the White house. The propaganda arms are too strong and third parties too weak.

2. Trump is unusually low. He may have looked presidential on TV but he sure as hell doesn't in real life. He's an arrogant, mouthy, bullshitter who would be selling used cars on a side street in Jersey if he hadn't been born so god-damned rich.

3. Americans will get behind their leader, any leader, in a hurry.  You can be one of the weakest,  dip-shit presidents of the current era with an approval rating hovering at around 50% and the country will instantly think you're the greatest if we're attacked. 

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About That Swamp

Good post about the current group of rich bastards running the country.

Republicans Mock “Coastal Elites,” But the Trump Administration Is Full of Them:

"President Donald Trump and his ruling clique — his family, advisers (and family-advisers), staff (and family-staff), and cabinet — are themselves the exaggerated, cartoonish personification of the coastal elite. The Republican government, in other words, is being led by the very same folks the right wing has been warning its followers about for years."

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TurboTax Fought Simple Tax Filing

How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing — ProPublica:

Yeah, I remember about 8 or 10 years ago, Indiana had a nice little state run online tax program that worked great. Do your federal taxes however you like, drop the numbers in the indiana.gov form and you were done. 

It worked great, .... government that actually helped people do something.

Then Mitch Daniel's free-market crew decided that it was taking business from real tax businesses and ditched the whole thing. They signed a deal with the big tax companies so that people with incomes under a certain amount can still do their taxes for free (though you have to use a free version of one of the big player's software), the Indiana site is gone.  Anyone over a certain income has to pay.

Thanks a lot Mitch.

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2016

This from Naked Capitalism hits at the real media and D issue with Trump.

The headline: “Stop Writing ‘Trump’s America’ Profiles” [US News]. The deck: “Those of us who live here want to read about solutions, not be treated like foreign curiosities.” More: “We don’t want to diagnose Trumpism. We want the antidote. And you’d be surprised how many Trump voters do too. He’s a middle-finger to a broken system, not a means to fix it.” As I kept saying…

Voters didn't care about Trump all that much it's just that they are pissed at a system that takes care of itself and it's big business buddies.

In the primaries, votes for Bernie were a big FU to the D's side of the system and votes for Trump were a big FU to the R's side of the system.

In the general election, the D's went with their system choice and voters screamed FU to whole god-damned system and pulled the handle for Trump.

Bernie would have had a chance but nooooo.... the D's had to run the most establishment candidate of the last 30 years and the years voters screamed "FU".


2:00PM Water Cooler 12/29/2017 | naked capitalism:

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The "Merry Christmas" Nonsense.

The Rude Pundit rants on the War on xmas. It's good, read it all. A taste below.

The Rude Pundit: The "Merry Christmas" Nonsense from a Real Atheist's Perspective:

"The whole "War on Christmas" started because back in the late 1990s/early 2000s desperate attention whores like Bill O'Reilly heard about some stores that said their employees needed to say, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because, you know, they're stores and don't wanna piss off prickly Jews, Muslims, atheists, and whoever else. It was stupid, sure, but so is worshipping an invisible sky wizard (and so is going to war because you think your invisible sky wizard is better than someone else's invisible sky wizard and fuck them for daring to say that the place where their totally fictional did some totally fictional magical thing should belong to them. Or whatever. It's all just nonsense). "

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Deficit Moaning

Deficits only matter when we're talking about spending money on things that help the masses

Journalists Who Relayed GOP’s Deficit Moaning Owe Us Apologies | FAIR:

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Because They Can

Price of 40-year-old cancer drug raised from $50 to $768 a pill / Boing Boing:

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The War On Terror

Defense Department: The War On Terror Has Cost $250 Million A Day For 16 Years:

Each one of those days would buy about a years worth of health insurance for 20,000 Americans.

aslo...

A pretty good summary of the mess we've made with our obsession of world domination over the last 20 years.

America’s Wars: Yet More Of More Of The Same?

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Net Neutrality Repeal

No one really knows what will happen to the net now that ISPs will be allowed to fence it in.

I think the comment below, from the linked article, pretty much sums it up.

Net neutrality repeal sets up changes to internet - Buffalo - Buffalo Business First:

“They’ll push the envelope as much as they can to make money,” he said. “That’s a byproduct of capitalism. You can rest assured that it will happen.”

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Driving habits

Motoring myths: what ‘black boxes’ reveal about our driving habits | Money | The Guardian:

Speed is the root of all motoring evil. “If there’s one thing young drivers need to do, it’s to slow down. Speed is the single biggest contributor to risk. About one-third of drivers drive too fast for the conditions on the road,” says Vaughan. Her data shows that drivers who speed 20% of the time increase their risk of having an accident by 87%.

Slow down out there....

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Google and Propaganda

Why does my Google news feed show me such a one-sided piece of propaganda?

Ten Basic Facts about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict | HuffPost:

and we worry about fake news...

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History

.. is written and destroyed by the winners..

Government admits 'losing' thousands of papers from National Archives | UK news | The Guardian:

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That Liberal Media again

The New York Times tries to make the Ahed Tamimi story go away – Mondoweiss:

.. make no effort to report on who is right. Instead treat the matter as On the One Hand/On the Other.

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A History of the War on Christmas

A History of the War on Christmas:

This time around, it's mostly a Fox News "made-for-tv" war.

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Ho. Ho.

and

UN Jerusalem resolution

128 to 9 against the US and Israel (with 35 abstaining). 

All major countries voted against or abstained.

The list of those who voted with Trump, except for the U.S. and Israel is a list of nobodies on the world scene.

• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Israel
• Marshall Islands
• Micronesia
• Nauru
• Palau
• Togo
• United States

In the Security Council, where the heavy hitters play, the vote was 14 to 1 against Trump with the U.S. being the 1.

Trump's bullying doesn't work in a civilized world.

We are on our way to being rogue nation number one.

UN Jerusalem resolution: How each country voted | News | Al Jazeera:

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The Tax Bill

Balkinization: The Tax Bill and Constitutional Rot:

The point of tax and fiscal policy in a republican form of government is to raise and spend money to create incentives and purchase public goods that will benefit the public interest.  In oligarchical and autocratic governments, government officials constrict spending on public goods and allow government functions and services to atrophy; they distribute income from the broad base of the public to the wealthy, and they divert government revenues to pay off themselves, their family members, and the class of people who keep them in power. This is also a pretty good description of the new tax bill.

It is important not to be alarmist. The United States is still a wealthy country with a tax system that is still broadly progressive, and a government that still spends a considerable amount on public goods. It can absorb a pretty sizeable amount of corruption and self-dealing and still remain a viable democracy. But the current trend is worrisome. Upward redistribution from the poor and middle class to the wealthy since the end of the 1970s is not simply the result of the economic changes that emerged from globalization; it is also the result of the tax and fiscal policies of an increasingly oligarchical system. These policies have shifted risks away from the upper classes and sent them downward to the broad base of the public, even as they have shifted the proceeds from economic growth upward. The Trump era is simply the exaggeration of existing trends. 

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Drug was free. Now $109,500 a year

The key thing to ask the company is "How much does it cost to make it?"

This old drug was free. Now it's $109,500 a year - LA Times:

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War and Propaganda

Who Wants War With Iran—and Why?

Listening to NPR yesterday (12/19/17), someone in a discussion mentioned something like "yes, we can all agree that Iran is the main threat to peace in the middle east" and i thought to myself how can that be, in the last 15 years,

• The U.S. attacked and basically destroyed Iraq. 
• The U.S. attacked and basically destroyed Afghanistan.
• The U.S. led the UN into Libya.
• The U.S. armed and support the Syrian rebels, many of who became ISIS.
• The U.S. supports the Saudi's war on Yemen.
• The U.S. allowed the Egyptian military to overthrow their democratically elected government.
• The U.S. allowed the Israeli military to overthrow a democratically elected Palestinian government.
• The U.S. supports the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Now other than the "Iran wants nuclear weapons" chant, a few vague reports of Iran supporting rebel groups, and propaganda-like picture of Nikki Haley with an "Iranian" missile, I haven't heard of any real Iranian military actions. No reports of Iranian planes or drones attacking anyone, no reports of Iranian troops marching onto foreign soil. Nothing, just vague chants from anti-Iranian groups.

It makes me wonder who is the real threat to peace in the middle east.

Worse, the NPR discussion group has to know this too but yet there were no dissenting views. Everyone just nodded their heads in agreement and went on.

That is what passes for a serious, but-left leaning news outfit in America today.

We can do better.

Why they Hate us.

Nikki Haley in Threatening Letter to UN Members: Trump 'Will Be Watching' Who Votes Against U.S. Recognition of Jerusalem

Trump's a fucking bully.

Tax Bill

Ed from Gin and Tacos on the R's tax bill. 

The Republican Tax Bill Codifies a New Gilded Age

some good comments and includes the best one-liner on the bill.

..[tax cuts] are unapologetically aimed at the heir, the rentier, and the offshored billionaire.

Read it all.

tnb 

Rogue Nations

The U.S. seems to be the outlier.

US outnumbered 14 to 1 as it vetoes UN vote on status of Jerusalem | World news | The Guardian:

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Fox - The fear Network

No More Mister Nice Blog: FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR:

But this is what Fox does all day and all night: it spreads anger, it spreads fear, it persuades white people who'll die peacefully in their beds that they're at risk of being killed at any moment by hate-filled brown people, and -- although it doesn't come up in the segment -- it's all the liberals' fault.

This is why your right-wing uncle agrees with Roy Moore that Muslims shouldn't be allowed in Congress. This is why he's stashed away two years of canned goods. They're coming for him. The only news sources he trusts have assured him of that

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How to Benefit from Tax Reform

Mish really doesn't like the Tax bill.

How to Benefit from Tax Reform: Be Like Me (or Corker or Hatch) - Mish Talk:

The best way to take advantage of tax breaks should now be clear: Become a Senator where you can write laws that benefit you personally.

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Israelis posing as Palestinians

I'm guessing we'll see some of this in the next wave of protests here in the U.S.

Musta'ribeen, Israel's agents who pose as Palestinians | Israel News | Al Jazeera:

They are dressed like Palestinian protesters, speak with the same accents and expressions, and show the same mannerisms. Their faces covered with checkered keffiyehs or balaclavas, they chant against the Israeli army and sometimes throw stones in the direction of the soldiers, all while drawing in other protesters as they get closer and closer to the army. 

Then, quick as a bang, the scene erupts, and this group suddenly turns on the rest of the Palestinian protesters, brandishing guns that were concealed under their shirts, firing in the air, grabbing those nearest to them and wrestling them to the ground. 

The army advances and takes into custody the Palestinians that were caught, as the rest of the protesters disperse, screaming out one word as a warning to others: "Musta'ribeen!"

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Banned Words at the CDC

I'm guessing this is probably closest thing to the truth you'll see on the banned word story.

Balkinization: "Banned" Words at the CDC:

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Taxes

We must cut this guy's taxes.

Lawyer Spends $4 Million On Son’s Birthday Party | Above the Law:

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Someone is poisoning the well

Schumer calls cops after forged sex scandal charge - Axios:

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Tillerson: Jerusalem Move Unlikely

Trump Signed the same wavier Obama signed. Now Tillerson is pushing back the timeline.

All Trump really did was say it out loud. All words no action. He's a con man.

Still, I'd rather have a president who was an honest broker. Instead of just calling Jerusalem the capital of Israel also...

• Name it the capital of Palestine.
• Tell Netanyahu to stop all new settlements.
• And.. clear out any settlements on Palestinian land.
• And.. Withdraw to the 67 borders.
• And.. be in DC next week to sign a fair treaty with the Palestinians.

Tillerson says U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem unlikely during Trump's current term - U.S. News - Haaretz.com:

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Manipulate the People

NO PASSING FANCY | Gin and Tacos:

from the comments:

• Sigh. The perpetual problem of how to manipulate the lower classes.
• Religion of some sort.
• Bread and circuses.
• Divert the hate to an out group, not the elite upper class.
• Lies, disinformation, and propaganda, of course.
• Sending dissenters to the coliseum, the gallows, all varieties of prisons.
• Hiring mercenaries/enlisting state police/military to massacre rioters.
• You'd think we'd have figured out how to curb this shit by now and tax our oligarchy perpetually into merely upper middle class status.

Applies to both Rs and Ds. 

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Fake Media

It not fake news. It's either lazy, corporate news or focused propaganda.

The pundits were wrong about Assad and the Islamic State. As usual, they're not willing to admit it – LA Times:

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Fake News

I don't understand why you never see the normal, crappy media calling out Trump and Fox News?

Fox has been a propaganda tool of the R's for years now. Turning out fake stories and manufactured scandals, driving up the rage as needed but no major media source ever calls on it. The others play nice while Fox kicks their ass. WTF?

I think it's a bully versus the nerd thing. The major media has been playing by certain rules for ever. Yeah, they're crappy. They screw up stories, slant stories but it's basically in good faith. They are trying to get it right they're just not very good but...... they play nice or at least by the rules.

Fox said fuck that... lets give them short skirts and something to be pissed off about. Fuck the truth. We'll make our own truth.  So they did and it worked by delivering an enraged R base ready to vote against any corrupt, god-damned, main-stream backed liberal, out there.

Those nice news services just didn't know how to handle it. They played along for a while, just accepting that Fox was real and letting them drive every news cycle, until Fox delivered Trump, the Fox News President

But now, eyes have been opened. The center has seen what a focused propaganda arm can do and with Trump hammering "fake news" everyday, I get a sense that the nerds have just about had enough.

It's going to be an ugly couple of years

A stunning new study shows that Fox News is more powerful than we ever imagined - Vox:

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Why Jerusalem?

It wasn't really for the evangelicals though it will make them happy too.

Trump calls Jerusalem Israel's capital to win Alabama voters, say Dionne and Shields:

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Turkey vs Israel

The Difference between Israeli Policy and Turkish: Calling Each other Terrorist State | Informed Comment:

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What’s College Good For?

What’s College Good For? - The Atlantic:

This is not your fathers education system, stuffy and concerned about making students work and think.

This is American Capitalism's race to the bottom being played out in our education system.

Sometime in the last thirty years or so, our education system realized there were boat-loads of money to be made by ramming young people through it whether they learn anything or not.

The more students you could grab, the more cash you could make. This gave us

• Lots of college marketing with new stadiums, new multi-million dollar training facilities, and new condo-like dorms to draw students in.
• Less work and and more play for students along with grade inflation to keep them enrolled.
• A play-now, pay-later financing scheme to make it seem so "affordable".
• More administration and fewer or at least "cheaper" professors at traditional schools along with new "for-profit" schools to put the cash in the right hands. 

So now, we've made a lot of money but have a system that doesn't teach most students what they really need for decent employment.

Mr. Caplan is a free-market libertarian so he blames the education system but I think he should look a little closer to home.

This is a perfect example of what happens when you let free-market capitalism invade an area of your economy that exists to help someone other than stockholders.

tnb

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Trickle Down

Booze, Women, and Movies: Chuck Grassley Couldn’t Be More Wrong about Taxpayers:

Tax Cuts for the rich. Deregulation for the powerful. Wage suppression for everyone else. These are the tenets of trickle-down economics, the conservatives’ age-old strategy for advantaging the interests of the rich and powerful over those of the middle class and poor. The articles in Trickle-Downers are devoted, first, to exposing and refuting these lies, but equally, to reminding Americans that these claims aren’t made because they are true. Rather, they are made because they are the most effective way elites have found to bully, confuse and intimidate middle- and working-class voters. Trickle-down claims are not real economics. They are negotiating strategies. Here at the Prospect, we hope to help you win that negotiation.

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Why they Hate Us.

Proposed theft of another country's resources.

Private War: Erik Prince Has His Eye On Afghanistan's Rare Metals:

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Oracle vs Google

One day, mega-corporations will scrap the legal teams and just send armies to decide crap like this.

Inside Oracle’s cloak-and-dagger political war with Google - Recode:

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Palestinians recognize Texas

This is great....

Palestinians recognize Texas as part of Mexico - The Beaverton:

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Fox is Fake News #2

Fox lets them lie on Jerusalem:

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Fox News is Fake News

Not so much fake news as pure conservative propaganda.

They'll do anything they can to keep eye's away from stories that hurt the R's and on stories that hurt the D's,  or on stories that keep the Fox viewer's rage on full-throttle.

The Fox War On Mueller’s Russia Investigation In Nine Screen Grabs | Crooks and Liars:

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Jerusalem - Fox News

Fox News calling Trump out. 

Much like his donations to charities, Trump is basically a con man who talks big but pulls up short on actual actions. Would you buy a used car from him?

Of course Fox is pissed, not because the talk is bad but because they want the actual action too.


Trump's Jerusalem move: President's patented strategy of taking a half-step | Fox News:

With his speech about moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, President Trump is following a familiar pattern.

He is taking a controversial step but not going all the way—taking a kind of halfway measure that fulfills a campaign promise but doesn’t necessarily have immediate consequences.

He has become the first president since Israel's founding in 1948 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital, although other presidential candidates have talked about doing so. At the same time, he is signing a waiver to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv for another six months, and officials say it could take years to build an embassy in Jerusalem.


Trump said this was just a recognition of reality and rightly noted that Congress voted to authorize moving the embassy during the Clinton administration, but it never happened.

Much of this is about the politics of symbolism, but the negative reaction in the Arab world, given Jerusalem’s divided status, is all too real. Some people in Gaza City and Rafah yesterday took to the streets chanting "Death to America," "Death to Israel" and "Down with Trump."

The New York Times says Trump is "upending nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and potentially destroying his efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

But the president, perhaps out of diplomatic sensitivity, didn’t immediately move the embassy. He could have ordered a sign placed on the existing U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, declaring it the new embassy. Instead, he gets to declare victory on an issue important to some American Jews and evangelical voters.

This split-the-difference approach is almost a replay of what Trump did with the Dreamers program. He had Jeff Sessions announce that the administration is ending the Obama-era decision to shield immigrants who were under 18 when their families brought them here illegally, but then granted a six-month extension. The move pleased immigration hard-liners, but Trump also said he wants to negotiate a new law with congressional Democrats that would permanently protect the dreamers.

In October, the president disavowed the Iran nuclear deal, but stopped short of killing the Obama agreement. Trump refused to certify that Iran was complying with the terms, and threatened to abandon the deal, as he promised during the campaign. But he essentially kicked it to Congress.

In each case, the president has reaped the political benefit of proclaiming what he believes to be a popular stance, while at the same time limiting or delaying the practical impact.

But given the volatile nature of the Middle East, the split-the-difference approach may have more immediate consequences, especially on Jared Kushner’s efforts to broker some kind of peace agreement. But that didn't seem to be making much progress anyway.

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Russia and Israel

Hullabaloo:

 "Russia scandal: working with an adversarial foreign government to win the presidency"

We have to say "adversarial foreign government" because all of our Pols work with Israel to win their elections.


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Tax Bill Analysis

Right-wing Mish doesn't like the tax bill.

Tax Bill Analysis: Spend Your Extra $100 Wisely - Mish Talk:

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Foreign Lobbyists

An article on foreign influence on the US elections and the word "Israel" doesn't appear.

Foreign Lobbyists Contributed More Than $4.5 Million to Candidates in 2016 Elections:

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Stop the American Meltdown

Five Key Changes to Stop American Meltdown – Eudaimonia and Co:

 Fully seventy percent of Americans want better public goods, whether healthcare, education, transport. Such approval we barely even see for wars. The truly astonishing then, is that Dems have failed to propose what people are desperate for, win elections, and prevent further decline. Why is that?

Because the Dems are controlled by basically the same people as the Rs,  Global Corporations and a few other really rich bastards. They, the Dems, have to talk about the poor folk but they have to put almost the same R-like policies in place to please the big donors.

This..... How Corporate Power Killed Democracy

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Capitalism Destroying the Web

How Internet Monopolies Are Destroying the Web | Ian Welsh:

But Google is a particularly bad actor: for years it has been evident to everyone in the space that they are hovering up most of ad revenue. In the early 00s, till 2006/7 it was fairly easy for relatively small websites to make money from ads.  That went away as Google cornered much of the market and it’s only gotten worse since then.

Google’s relationship to websites is almost identical to railroads and farmers in the 19th and early 20th century: without railroad shipping farmer’s products couldn’t make it to market, so the railroads set rates that maximized their profit, driving many farms into bankruptcy and keeping most in penury. They took virtually all of the profit.

For smaller, and even mediums sized websites Google (and Facebook, to a lesser degree) are in the same position. They determine who gets traffic, especially to newer websites without established audiences. Since without them you get little to nothing, they get the money.

That means, in effect, that Google and Facebook and other similar companies, exist by taking away the value of other people’s labor: value without which they would have no business or profits. The web’s content comes first; Google’s “finding” comes second.

I think it's time to start using another search engine.

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Aetna CVS Deal

How much healthcare would 500 million buy American families

Aetna’s Outgoing CEO Set to Reap About $500 Million if CVS Deal Closes - WSJ:

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Right vs Left

Why Didn't Fox News Suspend Bret Baier Over False Clinton Indictment Story Week Before Election? | Crooks and Liars:

Because Fox News is pure propaganda and the right is fine with that.

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Tax Bill and Liberal Media

No More Mister Nice Blog: RIGHT VS. LEFT AND CENTER, AKA "BOTH SIDES":

Despite the clarification, when you say, "Both polls broke down along party lines," you're sending the message that this is left vs. right. But it's left and unaffiliated vs. right. The right-wingers are the outliers

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Fox News Lying again.

Fox Lies then plays its part as the Trump propaganda network

Why Trump's promise to move US embassy to Jerusalem is so controversial | Fox News:

"It should be moved because we have to once and for all end this propaganda myth that Jerusalem is holy for Muslims,” Klein told Fox News."

A quick google search leads to this...

Also, Fox plays its part as the Trump propaganda network with this...

The Fox front page today, Dec 5, has a headline about the US pulling out of UN agency over anti-Israeli bias. Having it on the front page today makes it seem like its current and lets all the bible-bangers know that Trump is really watching out for Israel.

But... the article is old news, from  From October 12

Here's a more realistic article

Jerusalem: Turkey warns Trump against crossing 'red line'  including.....

Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

If the US recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, it will put it out-of-step with the rest of the international community and reinforce Israel's position that settlements in the east are valid Israeli communities.

What has been the international reaction?

French President Emmanuel Macron told Donald Trump he is "concerned" the US leader could unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying any decision on its status must be "within the framework of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians".

The European Union, part of the so-called Middle East Quartet of mediators which includes the US, the UN and Russia, warned of "serious repercussions on public opinion in large parts of the world".

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned it would be "a dangerous measure that would have repercussions".

Saudi Arabia said such a move before a final settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would "have a detrimental impact on the peace process".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged world leaders to intervene, saying "such a US decision would destroy the peace process".

Jordan, custodian of Islamic sites in Jerusalem, has warned of "grave consequences".

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Rumbling on the Left

VICTORIAN REDUX | Gin and Tacos:

All the Ways the Republican Tax Bill Will Help Rich People While Screwing You Over

Plunder Capitalism

 It is not an economic policy tax cut, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with supply-side economics.  The entire purpose is to raise equity prices by providing equity owners with more capital gains and dividends. In other words, it is legislation that makes equity owners richer, thus further polarizing society into a vast arena of poverty and near-poverty and the One Percent, or more precisely a fraction of the One Percent wallowing in billions of dollars.  Unless our rulers can continue to control the explanations, the tax cut edges us closer to revolution resulting from complete distrust of government.

The current tax legislation drops the corporate tax rate to 20%.  This means that global corporations registered in the US will be taxed at a lower income tax rate than a licensed practical nurse making $50,000 per year.  The nurse, if single, faces in 2017 a 25% marginal tax rate on all income over $37,950.

A single person is taxed at a rate of 33% on all income above $191,651.  33% was the top tax rate extracted from medieval serfs, and approaches the tax rate on US 19th century slaves. Such an upper middle class income as $191,651 sounds extraordinary to most Americans, but it is so far from the multi-million dollar annual incomes of the rich as to be invisible.  In America, it is the shrinking middle and upper middle class incomes that bear the burden of income taxation.  The rich with their capital gains from their equity holdings are taxed at 15%.

Even single individuals who earn between $1 and $9,325 are taxed at 10% on their pittance.

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Guns and Bibles

It's a good thing he didn't say anything about "clinging to their guns and bibles"

Sen. Grassley on why working class people don't deserve a tax break - they'd blow it on "booze or women" / Boing Boing:

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The Republican tax bill will exacerbate income inequality in America - Vox

The Republican tax bill will exacerbate income inequality in America - Vox:

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Senate tax bill is a scam, through-and-through | Economic Policy Institute

Senate tax bill is a scam, through-and-through | Economic Policy Institute:

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This guy is about to make it big.

Government vs Business

Pittsburgh’s Water System Is Why We Shouldn’t Run America Like a Business | The Nation:

"Unlike government, businesses are not concerned with providing for the welfare of diverse groups of people"

This should always be the comeback when someone says "government should be run like a business".

One reason the left loses arguments in this new media age is that the wingers come up with short sound bites that sound good if you don't think too hard and the D's respond with an opposing 20 page policy paper that no one understands.

If you want to reach the American public, it better fit neatly into one or two sentences.
 
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Flynn and Russia

is really The Trump Clan and Israel.

Flynn's indictment over Russian influence reveals... Israel's influence:

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The Tax Cuts

Ian Welsh gets it right.

What the Republican Tax Bill Portends for the Future | Ian Welsh:

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Tyler Childers

Paying his dues...




and ..

Tax Cuts

There is NO "deficit concern" by those who are pushing for the Tax Cuts.

Lying by telling you the truth...Again.

From: DRUDGE REPORT 2018®:

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Why they Hate Us.

Strong Evidence that U.S. Special Operations Forces Massacred Civilians in Somalia
An investigation by The Daily Beast on the ground in Somalia appears to confirm that American soldiers were involved directly in the deaths of 10 innocent civilians

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Headlines you don't like to see.

And most people in the US think Iran is the aggressor?

Netanyahu needs a war. He needs it to be with Iran. And he needs it soon - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com:





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Why they hate us

Just a reminder...

The Obama Administration allowed the Egyptian military to overthrow the elected government. We only support some democratic movements.

Egypt’s A Disaster: A Totally Expected Disaster | Ian Welsh:

The Muslim Brotherhood won the Egyptian elections fair and square, and the military overthrew them in a coup, then outlawed them, seized their territory and locked up or killed a pile of them

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Trump's Campaign Promises

Breaking another one.  This may piss-off the wingers but not moving the embassy is the right thing to do.

Trump expected to delay embassy move, but recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital - U.S. News - Haaretz.com:

By signing the presidential waiver, Trump will break his campaign promise on the matter for the second time since taking office

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