Picking Winnners

Gosh. I remember when Republicans didn't want the government picking winners in business.

President Donald Trump Slams Amazon Over Taxes It Pays and Impact on Other Businesses - WSJ:

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Trump or Republicans

If forced to choose between the two, Trump is the better choice.

Trump is so Incompetent that Impeaching Him Would Strengthen the Right | Benjamin Studebaker:

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Free Markets

Free market blocks sale of pamphlet sold by group that would like to see restricted markets?

Paypal blacklists payments for a World Socialists pamphlet about the Iranian opposition / Boing Boing:

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About That Swamp - Scott Pruitt edition

Government official, head of the EPA lives in townhouse owned by wife of energy lobbyist. About as swampy as you can get.

EXCLUSIVE: More Cabinet trouble for Trump? EPA chief lived in condo tied to lobbyist 'power couple' - ABC News:

For much of his first year in Washington, President Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist, property records from 2017 show.

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Terrorism

Creating terrorists one drone at a time.

A 13-Year-Old Boy and Other Yemeni Civilians Were Killed in U.S. Drone Strikes This Month:

The United States launched a single drone strike in Yemen in November 2002, then no more until 2009, when the campaign started up again. As of January of this year, it had conducted at least 302 airstrikes in the country, 129 of which took place in 2017, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent group that monitors U.S. drone wars. The bureau estimates that American drone strikes have killed between 166 and 210 Yemeni civilians since 2002.

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Interfering in US Politics

Russia's not the main culprit.

Trump appointed Bolton because Republicans desperately need Adelson's money:

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American Capitalism #2

A good paragraph here on vulture capitalism. Add Clearchannel, Toys-r-us and Remington to the recent list.

Clearchannel took over America's local radio, Bain Capital took over Clearchannel, Clearchannel went bankrupt / Boing Boing:

As I've written, the demise of newsmedia can't be blamed on tech -- rather, it was the combination of technology and deregulated, neoliberal capitalism, which saw media companies merged and acquired, vertically and horizontally integrated, with quality lowered, staff outsourced and assets stripped, leaving them vulnerable to technological shocks, after all their in-house experts were turned into contractors who drifted away, their physical plant sold and leased back, their war-chests drained by vulture capitalists who loaded them up with debt that acted like a millstone around their necks as they strove to maneuver their way out of their economic conundrum.

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About that Swamp? - Jared Kushner edition

White House is investigating loans to Jared Kushner's business: Official:

The New York Times reported in February that Citigroup lent Kushner Cos and one of its partners $325 million in the spring of 2017 shortly after Citigroup's chief executive, Michael Corbat, met with Kushner in the White House.

Looks pretty swampy to me...

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American Capitalism

Facebook Has Had Countless Privacy Scandals. But This One Is Different.:

"A market is a place where things are bought and sold. A target is something that is hunted."

In American Capitalism, the populace is something that's mined for its dollars in one way or another.


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Corporate Crime

If we sent people to jail for corporate crime there would be less of it but that could mean fewer fines for the coffers. Taxes might have to go up.

Bank Of America Hit With $42M Fine For “Dark Pool” Scheme | SafeHaven.com:


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Everyone Loves Israel Now

Everyone Loves Israel Now – Foreign Policy:

Governments and rulers can be bought or bombed into submission.

The people, their subjects, not so much.

Time will tell.

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Bolton

More on Bolton...

The Mad Man Theory: Nixon, Trump and Bolton:

The madman theory of policy is a debatable subject, but the thought of having actual madmen in positions of power is frightening.

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On The Iranian Hackers.

Making Iran into the bad guy any way they can.

US DOJ’s Absurd Sanctions On Iranian $3.4 Billion Hacking Scheme | The Continental Telegraph:

Essentially, they stole free access to Elsevier and similar academic publishing platforms by hacking into professors’ accounts and stealing their passwords. Sure, this is a crime, but it’s most certainly not a $3.4 billion one. That’s what the universities paid to gain access to the data themselves, not what they lost from other people accessing the data. That loss, the actual direct loss, to the universities, is $0.

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Yet another on Bolton

Hawks Always Fail Upwards | The American Conservative:

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The Dick Cheney Administration

Trump was full of shit when he claimed to be less of a hawk than HRC.

Welcome to the Dick Cheney Administration – Foreign Policy:

But Bolton’s arrival is hardly a return to the Trump that we saw in the 2016 campaign. Trump ran for president by attacking the entire foreign-policy establishment, suggesting that it was out of touch, unaccountable, and prone to get the United States into pointless wars. Since becoming president, however, Trump has increased defense spending, escalated in Afghanistan, given the Pentagon and certain headstrong U.S. allies the green light to use more force in more places (with disappointing results), and generally doubled down on the same overly militarized approach to foreign policy that had repeatedly failed under Bill Clinton, Bush, and, yes, even Barack Obama. Bolton’s appointment (along with Trump’s other personnel shifts) is not a bold move toward “America First” — if that term means a smarter and more restrained foreign policy that would reduce U.S. overseas burdens, improve the country’s strategic position, and actually make Americans safer and richer.

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Israel’s missile defense system

$705m would buy a lot of health care for US folk.

US earmarks $705m for Israel’s missile defense system - DEBKAfile:

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed Monday that the Trump administration had allocated $705m in funding aid for the continued production of Israel’s three-tier missile defense system – Iron Dome, David’s Sling for intermediate missiles and the Arrow 3 high-altitude anti-ballistic missile system. The minister noted that this sum was the largest the US had ever granted for Israel’s missile defense program.

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Misc

Hullabaloo: More on Fox Propaganda:

Craigslist personals shut down indefinitely due to recently passed 'FOSTA' / Boing Boing:

US Congress just passed HR 1865, "FOSTA", seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.

You can use a gun or a car or a knife or beer bottle unlawfully and the manufacturers aren't held liable. Big lobbyists can use may congress crooks illegally and they aren't held liable. But a website can be?

The Untold Story of John Bolton’s Campaign for War With Iran | The American Conservative: Trump is pretty crazy but there is no level of crazy that won't be made worse by adding John Bolton.

How The New York Times Is Making War With Iran More Likely Of course the NYT and most American Christians believe we should make war with Iran just because,.... Israel, so Bolton will work for them.

The corporate media ignores the rise of oligarchy. The rest of us shouldn't | Bernie Sanders | Opinion | The Guardian: Fox News is at war with the rest of our media but the rest, or at least most, of our other media are corporate media who really have more in common with Fox than they do with most Americans.

When ALL Gun Owners are Shunned - Global Guerrillas: This could apply to any group, not just gun owners. Gun owners, People who cage or chain their animals, anyone with a Confederate flag. One of my favorite things from my early adult years was to drive county roads and drink a beer or two. Not drunk driving, a beer or two on remote gravel roads, looking around and listening to music at 30 mph. It was great. Now when I mention it, I get looks of disbelief, like I'm a criminal for even thinking it.

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US air force thwarts Syrian push

Exclusive: US air force thwarts another Syrian push across the Euphrates - DEBKAfile:

US fighter jets Friday night struck a Syrian force that attempted to reach the US-controlled eastern bank of the Euphrates, accompanied by Russian mercenaries,” DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources report. It is not known whether there were Russian casualties. This was a second Syrian attempt to cross the river and it was mounted from near the same location as the first, outside the town of Deir ez-Zour on Feb. 7. In that episode, US marines repelled the crossing, causing some 200 casualties among the Russian “mercenaries” who were assisting the Syrian troops. Thursday night, the US military warned the Russian command against a repetition: “Russian private military contractors remain in the area and are using local pro-regime troops to scout coalition positions,” the US spokesman said, adding: “If it comes down to it we will defend ourselves.”

A few  of things here......

The town of Deir ez-Zour looks solidly inside of Syrian borders. WTF are US planes doing there?

"Russian Private military contractors" ? Someday we'll see a battle between "Blackwater Private military contractors hired by the US"  versus  "Blackwater Private military contractors hired by the Russia" . Peak military capitalism. 

No mention of this in the US media.

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Donald Trump and the art of breaking a deal - The Hindu

Donald Trump and the art of breaking a deal - The Hindu:

"But President Trump and his team are not driven by these obvious rational arguments. First, there is a clear pattern in the President’s foreign policy. Mr. Trump wants to undo most of his predecessor’s policy achievements. "

It isn't just Obama's foreign policy Trump wants to undo, It's everything Obama did. Trump wants to tear it all down. He spent the entire Obama term listening to Fox News tell him how terrible Obama was and, along with about half the country, has been brainwashed into thinking the Obama stain must be removed.

He is the "Fox News President"


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Fox vs CNN at airports

Old media doesn't understand that Fox is fighting a war and they re playing to win. The war plan.....

• Convince all Fox viewers that other media is liberal as hell.
• Convince all Fox viewers that other media is lying to them and only Fox has the truth
• Run any story, no matter how minor, that makes liberals, government, colleges, Hollywood, non-Christians, brown people, California, Chicago or other media look evil.
• Run any story, no matter how minor, that makes conservatives, christians, guns, white people, or the free market look good.
• Ignore or hide any story that doesn't fit with the Fox narrative.
• On big stories that they can't hide, write the headline so it hurts one of the groups above regardless of the real story.
• When a politician does something illegal or immoral, if a democrat then put "D" or "DEMOCRAT" with their name.  If a republican, just list their name, leave party out of it. 

Now, we can add a controversy about not being treated fair, Growing questions about CNN's airport monopoly as network veers left | Fox News:

They are playing to win.

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What could go wrong?

Supporting Military Dictators in the middle east. Is Egypt's sham election made in the USA? | Elections 2017 | Al Jazeera:

When the vote is 38 to 4 against you, you might be on the wrong side. U.S. Blasts UN Human Rights Council Over Resolution Condemning Settlements

Put a crazy man who's been paid by a terrorist organization in charge of foreign policy. Here’s John Bolton Promising Regime Change in Iran by the End of 2018

Jared Kushner's Dreams of Mideast Peace Are Alive. Yeah Right. Kushner's dreams have more to do with making himself and his family rich. The Kushners are about as slimy and swampy as you can get. 

The NY Times' subtle propaganda.

With the neocons back in control, I'd expect Bill Kristol to have some good words for Trump pretty soon. The Political Forces Behind Rex Tillerson’s Firing: After he tried to resolve the Qatar fiasco, top neocons and Gulf operatives decided they wanted him out.


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Neocons are back in charge

They will have their war with Iran come hell or high water.

'Someone is paying Trump to do it' -- Pompeo switch shows neoconservative lock on foreign policy:

and

What Secretary of State Tillerson’s Firing Means



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Martin Shkreli

Good post from Ian Welsh

Martin Shkreli Proves that Your Life Is Meaningless to Elites | Ian Welsh:

Still, I believe Shkreli is in jail because he embarrassed the elite. As the post shows, other drug companies/CEOs have done the same price-gouging thing but they were just a little quieter about it.

Shkreli jacked the price, made headlines, bragged about it, and opened the whole show up to the public.

For that he was sacrificed so others could go on.

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Fox News

Fox is always hammering on the perceived enemies of its viewers.

The other networks just don't do that.

The top headlines....

• Farrakhan for the top headline? wtf
• An "atheist democrat"
• A "huggy bear democrat"
• Tie the steel tariff to China.

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Betsy DeVos

The Rude Pundit nails it again. A piece here but click through and read the whole thing.

The Rude Pundit: Betsy DeVos Is Every Stupid Teacher You Ever Had (Except Way Richer):

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, born a Prince, has been a billionaire for her entire life. Her father was a billionaire. So she inherited a shit-ton of money. She married a billionaire Dick who inherited his money from the long-running Ponzi scheme known as Amway. As such, she never, ever had shit to do with public schools except as a hobby. Public school education was never life or death for her or her children. It was a thing this rich person decided to fuck with because, shit, what the fuck else are you gonna do with all that time and money if you can't attempt to force your completely bullshit ideas about education, Jesus, and capitalism on the poors? 

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Misc Links

From the same people who brought you "The Memo".  Republicans on House Panel Find No Collusion Between Russia and Trump Campaign

Speaking of forcing your religion on the rest of us. Pence: Abortion will end in U.S. 'in our time'

Nota bene: Ignorance is bliss:

Elections have consequences: Betsy Devos on 60 Minutes or maybe "Ignorance is bliss #2"

oh, and censorship. We Made A Documentary Exposing The ‘Israel Lobby.’ Why Hasn’t It Run?


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On Globalist

The media harping on Trump for something like this makes them seem out of touch and stretching to go after him and probably makes him and his supporters even stronger.

Globalist can mean different things to different people. A good example of censorship.

No More Mister Nice Blog: "GLOBALIST": AN ANTI-SEMITIC SLUR, BUT SO MUCH MORE:

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Russian Influence

From Naked Capitalism.....

Adviser to Emirates With Ties to Trump Aides Is Cooperating With Special Counsel - The New York Times:  “I get that Russia is SO much sexier, but countries in the Middle East – notably Israel, the Gulf States – have been actively colluding with the Americans and perverting our democracy for years.”

Yep. Israeli and Saudi money has influenced more US elections than Russian Facebook posts.



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AIPAC's MIssion

How the Zionists won the body but lost the soul of US politics | Israel | Al Jazeera:

"AIPAC's mission," as they put it resoundingly, "is to strengthen, protect and promote the US-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of Israel and the United States. Our staff and citizen activists educate decision-makers about the bonds that unite the United States and Israel and how it is in America's best interest to help ensure that Israel is safe, strong and secure." And a vast propaganda machinery is at the disposal of AIPAC to spread the word.

In the course of this conference AIPAC wishes to demand and exact an arm and a leg from the US government - among their demands, as propagated by their media: "AIPAC wants Congress to codify the $38bn over 10 years guaranteed to Israel under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in the waning days of the Obama administration ... AIPAC wants more sanctions on Iran ... AIPAC wants easier access for inspectors to Iran's military bases ... AIPAC backs bills in the House and Senate that would target the Boycott, Divest from and Sanction movement against Israel."

I don't see a lot in there that really helps US folk.

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Bible Thumper Hypocrisy

The Rude Pundit nails it. The best thing I've read in a few weeks. The meat is below but click the link, read the whole thing, leave the Rude Pundit some money. 

The Rude Pundit: Note to Republicans: It's Not the Sex; It's Your Hypocrisy:

Now, we have to sit here and watch Republicans contort themselves to defend Donald Trump, a man who fucked around on his first wife with the woman who became his second and bragged about it; a man who fucked around on his second wife with multiple women, as he himself told a newspaper; a man who fucked around with other women during his third marriage, including fucking Stormy Daniels shortly after his third wife gave birth to his fifth child. And the very groups, indeed, the very individuals that condemned Bill Clinton (and Barack Obama, as loyal a family man as may have ever held the presidency) gladly say that they give Trump a "pass" or a "mulligan" on his affairs because he's a "changed" person now.

Bill Clinton fucking apologized. Bill Clinton fucking went to church all the time. Donald Trump has never apologized, never admitted wrongdoing, and never goes to church. If you condemned Bill Clinton but have no problem with Trump, fuck you in every hole you have and in a few that you don't.

Meanwhile, Republicans want to deny equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans simply because of who they fuck. They want to allow for exemptions to civil rights laws under the broadly and stupidly defined banner of "religious freedom" because, they say, people shouldn't have to compromise their relationship with an invisible sky wizard and bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, for instance.

Yet the very book about what their invisible sky wizard likes and doesn't like has precious few verses about same-sex fucking. You know what it's got a metric shit-ton of verses about? Adultery, motherfuckers. Old Testament, New Testament, all over the fuckin' Bible, adultery is seen as one of the most fucked up things you can do. It's one of the Ten goddamn Commandments.

It seems like if you actually feared the opinion of an invisible sky wizard, you'd think that he'd fuck you up for not condemning an adulterer. But you can bet that if Donald Trump waddled his mistress-boning ass into a place like Masterpiece Cakeshop, the oh-so-Christian bakers would fall over themselves to bake him whatever the fuck he wanted, even a cake for wedding #4.

You get it, conservatives? Over here on the promiscuous left, most of us think fucking should be a blessing. We think condemning people for fucking is bullshit. We're consistent in that belief.

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Focus on Russia

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community:

Booman says the left needs to focus on Russia.

I think he's wrong.  Russia just gets everyone looking away from the real reason Trump won. The middle class is getting killed out here in the heartland. Trump promised them a better deal and even though it was pure bullshit, a lot of people believed him.

The left needs to focus on things that help working class people

• Infrastructure
• Medicare for all
• Education reform 
• Inequality
• Immigration reform

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Donations to the D's

Don't help corporate D's..

Found here: Don't give a dime to the DCCC, they'll just use to front DINOs and smear Justice Democrats

More here: When DCCC Calls, Hang Up the Phone | The Nation:

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About That Swamp? - Carl Icahn edition

Ex-Trump adviser Carl Icahn sold $31m in shares days before president announced new steel tariffs | The Independent:

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About that Swamp? Jared Kushner edition

Jared Kushner’s Real-Estate Firm Sought Money Directly From Qatar Government Weeks Before Blockade:

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Clinton's Email

Fox News is amazing.

I check Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox every day.

Arguably, today's major stories are

• Trumps tariffs and trade wars (Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN)
• Attack on Burkina Faso Capital (Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN)
• Battle in Eastern Gouhta (Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN)
• Trump scandal stories: Mueller, Jared, Ivanka (CNN, MSNBC)

so what does The Propaganda Network run with? 

yep... The Clinton Emails, not a word on the front page about the other stories.

How can they even call themselves a News company?

Leaked Stories

Why is Intel Community Targeting Kushner? | Informed Comment:

"US intelligence agencies are gunning for Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and have leaked charges to the Washington Post that officials in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, China, and Mexico have privately strategized how to use him as a pawn in their power plays with Washington."

and ...

While the charge that Kushner is at least naive and very possibly corrupt is entirely plausible, we should also be suspicious of the leaks. (And remember, Ed Snowden was villified by the same people for his leaks, but they think it is all right when they do it).

Hypocrocy 101.

Whether leaking secrets to the media is legal or not is not about "the leaks", it's about "who's doing the leaking".

Sort of like drugs i guess... You can push opiates on the masses, kill a bunch of people, and walk away rich if you're a pharma giant but you can go to jail for selling one joint to someone on the street.

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