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Author Topic: Corruption in Government  (Read 57585 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #525 on: December 09, 2017, 03:22:18 pm »



America, Please, Fog This Mirror

  By Tom Lewis | December 6, 2017 | Politics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (at article link)

“Sir, I know you’re not feeling all that well, but we need you to get up and go back to work.” (US Defense Department photo)

Please, America, I know you are not well, but open your eyes just a little and listen to me. I know you were too weak to fend off Trumpicitis a year ago, and that it left you too weak in the aftermath to do much except marvel at your own ensuing insanity. I know your doctors have been trying some untested experimental treatments on you — the 25th Amendment, the Emoluments Clause, probiotics, that sort of thing — without any success. But dammit, sit up and listen to me, and stop mumbling “Do not resuscitate.”

You used to be “the last, best hope of earth,” for a lot of good reasons. I can remember when you still were, although you started to lose it in the 1960s. It was understandable; you lost three of history’s finest public figures to assassination in just a few years, and you became ensnared in Vietnam. But it was in the 1980s that you became really sick. That’s when the awful, metastasizing cancer of greed overwhelmed your defenses and began turning you into a pathetic shadow of your former self.

Read more:

http://www.dailyimpact.net/2017/12/06/america-please-fog-this-mirror/#more-3785

Quote
Tom December 6, 2017
(cue Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb)

It’s so far from too late that there’s no sense of present time anymore. We’re in the early stages of being overwhelmed like that giant tsunami that swept Japan’s nuclear station away.

Economics gets more precarious by the day.

Nuclear war is clearly on the horizon – which seems closer every time I look.

Environmentally, all one need do is look around, let alone remember a few months ago to a world that doesn’t exist anymore (for Barbuda, Puerto Rico, etc).

Overnight a wildfire started in the dry tinder down in a small town in southern CA. Fanned by the Santa Ana winds, firefighters could only get out ahead of it to evacuate everyone in it’s path. The transmission line for a large area was affected by the fire, so some of the hydrants didn’t work (the hospital is out of commission too). There are millions of dead trees from the 5 year drought CA just emerged from – well, until this year – that provided ready fuel for this monster that roared though the valleys in the early hours – people having to leave their homes and all their possessions on a moment’s notice, some grabbed their pets.

With the EPA gutted and led by an anti-EPA zealot, there’s great legislation/policy changes coming like mining companies no longer having to put aside a significant amount of money in case of “accident” or “spill.” Nope, too burdensome on the poor corporation. Just hope for the best.

Politics is going to be our undoing as a nation. Well, that and all the social unrest coming from a brain-addled population, on prescription meds, with a concealed-carry license and packing, since ya can’t even go to a dang concert anymore, never mind the inner city, and somebody shoots up the place. Never any follow-through with the alphabet “protection” agencies (nor the msm) – makes me think they’re hidin’ something. I guess we’ll just hope for the best.

Everything is a mess now. Unaffordable health care on one end and agricultural companies out to poison us with Frankenfood on the other. We’re overworked, over-stressed, under paid, under appreciated with totally clueless kids that want no part of moving out or living in reality.

Education isn’t even glorified baby-sitting any longer. Now they’re out to break your spirit, drive you crazy and “graduate” you with no real skills into an environment of part-time gig work, unpaid “internships,” and other McJobs that will soon be replaced by robotics.

But it’s far worse than all this. What I’ve described is tinsel on the tree. Try living with pneumonic plague (yes, THAT plague) in the vicinity.

Try breathing air so toxic you may as well be sucking on a bus tail-pipe, or “farming” on newly volcanic-ash covered land, as far as the eye can see.

Thanks for the essay, Mr. Lewis. Always a good read that stirs a response.


Quote
Max4241 December 8, 2017

Feel free to strike this when you read it.

In January of 2002, I got into a conversation with an engineer. I was a bar tender, he was an out-of-towner in to have a few beers. At some point in evening he started talking. He said, 9/11 did not go down the way they said it did. He said, Jim, the laws of physics are immutable, and every law of physics was broken that day.

I argued with him for two hours. I gave him the now in-famous Noam Chomsky attack. Too many people would have been involved! Someone would squeal. Besides, the operation was too vast to plan and expect to pull off. And if things went south, which would have been the most likely scenario, who would be the fall guy? Everybody at the top would have gone down, dude! Everybody!

And my my own argument. The media, man! Don’t forget the media! They would smell the rat. And how did they wire those massive buildings? It would have taken months! It would have taken f*cking years!

Every human argument I made was met with cold empiricism. He said, Jim, I hear you, but planes are aluminum, buildings are steel. When the Boeings hit the towers, they were paper going into a paper shredder.

He said, the smoke was black. That means the fires were burning cool, not hot. Not that it mattered. The fires could have raged for weeks and not done a g*ddamn thing to the true integrity of the buildings. To the steel. To the core.

He picked up a stack of plastic shot cups, pulled one off the top, held it above the stack, and said, this is what you believe, Jimbo, that this cup is going to crush this stack when I drop it. And he dropped it. And he dropped it again. And again. We both started cracking up watching the shot cup bounce off the stack half a dozen times and more.

He said, Jim, the laws of physics are immutable. The thousands of tons of steel at the top could not crush the many, many, tens of thousands of tons of steel below it, and then turn it all into fine powder. It could not happen, not in any world that includes Isaac Newton.

When he was leaving, he said; Jim, next time you see a video of the towers burning, look at them differently. Don’t foresee the collapse. Think of them as standing tall, standing strong. They’re only superficially damaged, There’s some smoke coming out of em, sure. There’s fires burning on a few floors. But think of them as essentially fine. All they need is some water and quick patch job, and they’ll be good as new. You’ll see it all different.

He was wrong. I didn’t it see it differently. Over the next five years, when I encountered clips or vids of the fatally stricken towers, I saw only gaping holes and red hot fires and smoke, terrible, terrible, towering columns of thick, killer smoke!

And inevitable collapse. Anyway, I forgot about the guy. Well maybe not the guy. He was a very decent chap, and an honorable American, if I read him right. I also remembered it as a great night at work, the hysterical laughter watching his plastic shot cup experiment. The absurdity of it. That feather light plastic shot cup trying crush that immutable stack, and him calling me an idiot.

So, coward that I am, I let his argument go. I wanted to lead a normal life. It wasn’t until I saw Loose Change five years later that I became a believer. Had no choice. Tower 7 got me, like everyone else. Never heard of it. Tower 7. A giant steel building drops into its footprint, five hours after the towers, for no reason at all. Wasn’t even smoking! How dare you drop into your footprint without copious amounts of smoke!

Yup, five lost years. Perhaps my greatest regret. For half a decade, my pride and joy, my intellect, failed me. It did not do what I trained it to do, which is to look through smoke, always, no matter thick it is, to see the truth.

 

http://www.dailyimpact.net/2017/12/06/america-please-fog-this-mirror/#more-3785
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #526 on: December 09, 2017, 08:06:33 pm »
"There is now a 93 percent chance that global warming will—once again, under the business-as-usual scenario—exceed 4°C by 2100."

Do you seriously think any BAU scenario can go on for another 83 years? -  It is struggling to make it through to New Year without CRASHING.  Then without money, electricity, internet, TV, radio, water, sewerage, supermarkets how are we going to keep the oil flowing?

We need to stop worrying about things that CANNOT happen, and start thinking about how to survive COLLAPSE, which will be harder.


Palloy is, of course, his usual irrelevant self. Rather than writing a mea culpa for all the times he fociferously argued that the RCP scenarios that are LESS dramatic than the RCP 8.5 were more "realistic", now that the PROOF is here that RCP 8.5 is, as I stated over and over, LESS deleterious than the REAL THING (i.e. TOO conservative!), he comes at me with this "concentrate on survival" distraction.

NEWS FLASH: Every human that lives on earth, and not in some la la land, is ALWAYS thinking about SURVIVAL now and in the future. Bringing that up is NOT a valid argument against admitting ERROR in the past, diner Einsteins.

We need to stop worrying about things that CANNOT happen, and start thinking about how to survive COLLAPSE, which will be harder.

I second this motion.

RE


How can anyone expect the truth to be outed on 9/11 when we don't even know the truth of the Kennedy assassination (or I should say assassinations, since it appears that several people were killed, and their names weren't all Kennedy).

JFK, RFK, Marilyn Monroe, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Lee Harvey Oswald, maybe even Jack Ruby.

The conspiracy crowd has come up with a list of 103 people who died under mysterious circumstances after JFK was offed.  I'm sure they're wrong about some of them...but I for one believe that at least a few of them were killed by the USMIC/CIA or (insert your favorite DC alphabet agency here). Meyer is a classic example of how the CIA likes to wrap up a "loose end".

Count me in with Tom Lewis. Glad he stopped by the Diner to visit a few times. Glad he's still writing every once in a while
.

Eddie, it is true that the issue of JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr., and others our government killed on behalf of the Military Industrial Complex Capitalist War Machine, is unresolved water under the bridge. But the trillions of dollars spent on Iraq and the transformation of the USA (see: the enabling Patriot Act) into a fascist dictatorship is firmly rooted in the destruction of those buildings on 9/11 by aircraft and the garage sized hole made in the Pentagon by a missile to kill off some nosey accountants.

Unlike the withholding of the truth about the serial assassinations our government is involved with in past, which have no immediate repercussions, as long as the truth about 9/11 is withheld, no progress can be made in transforming our government into a representative republic (for all citizens, not just white propertied men).

Sure, the climate is going to hell in a handbasket. Sure, we can all say it's too late to do anything about anything except digging a nice cool hole in the ground and stocking it with goodies until the "bad" people go away in a wishful thinking scenario only a truly egocentric human could consider a positive outcome (see below).


Well, that's pathetic. But many here, rather than facing all their errors in judgement in the past and recognizing the need to change their materialistic, self centered world view, just point fingers at all the other people ruining society, while studiously avoiding that face in the mirror.

Eddie, if a person comes to you with such severe problems in his teeth and gums that you, as an experienced dentist, KNOW he has a 93% chance of losing all his teeth, plus possible blood poisoning and God knows what else, you will, of course, tell him the bitter prognocis. But that does NOT mean that you would avoid learning WHAT HE DID to cause the diseased condition so he will not CONTINUE TO DO IT. That does not mean that, RIGHT NOW, you will not do your best to save some of his teeth.

You would, in addition to office work, also order your patient to alter his diet and would prescribe whatever to deal with infection. If your patient claimed it was "too late" or "why bother?" when he may end up with only two or three good teeth, you would certainly not tell him he was being "logical". You WOULD tell him that life is not just about teeth and that, regardless of his present condition, not tending to it NOW will shorten his life even more than it has already been shortened. You would scold your patient seriously and soberly. You would remind him that KNOWING the root cause of his health problems is sine qua non to his immediate AND future health and prolonged longevity (i.e. survival).

If he does not know the root cause of his illness, he will eventually become diseased again because he will not know what behavior he needs to alter to avoid the disease. This is not hard to understand.



Only someone who WANTED the patient to only partially and weakly address the symptoms, until the disease kills the patient, would recommend that the patient concentrate on some half assed therapy branded as "surviving the symptoms".

The above may be considered a metaphor for fascist corruption in government rooted in 9/11. The SYMPTOM is fascist government hell bent on destroying the environment on behalf of the polluters. For ANYBODY to IGNORE those symptoms is, of course, wrong. But to IGNORE the FACT that Fascist BAU social and environmental destruction rooted in 9/11 is eventually going to kill the society that suffers from the disease is grossly irresponsible as well as being SHEER IDIOCY! While Palloy is busy preparing to "survive", the Fascist Mens Rea Modus Operandi ACCELERATES the climate destruction that WILL NOT slow down for OVER 1000 YEARS AFTER COMPLETE COLLAPSE!. Palloy thinks that when collapse forces us to stop using fossil fuels and 90% die from whatever, the "survivors will be fine and dandy because the environment will begin to recover immediately"...

That is such a grossly unscientifc and ridiculously ignorant and irresponsibly dangerous assumption that I must, after much study and consideration, reach for my cup (see below):


Palloy, your "collapse will fix everything" claim is BULLSHIT!
Even if carbon dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth’s atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years, according to Princeton University-led research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #527 on: December 09, 2017, 10:06:52 pm »
Eddie, if a person comes to you with such severe problems in his teeth and gums that you, as an experienced dentist, KNOW he has a 93% chance of losing all his teeth, plus possible blood poisoning and God knows what else, you will, of course, tell him the bitter prognocis. But that does NOT mean that you would avoid learning WHAT HE DID to cause the diseased condition so he will not CONTINUE TO DO IT. That does not mean that, RIGHT NOW, you will not do your best to save some of his teeth.

Actually, what you do in this situation is avoid going to a Dentist who charges as much as Eddie does and fly down to Mexico to have the offending teeth yanked for 10 cents on the dollar by a Mexican Dentist.  Then you adjust to the new way of life by eating mostly soft foods.  My diet consists of stuff like Brie Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Bananas, Berries, Sashimi, Soups of various kinds, Raw Meat (either ground sirloin or thin sliced filet mignon if I feel like spending), rice & beans, etc.  When I do have enough of an appetite to actually eat, I have no problem fulfilling my nutritional requirements with the 6 teeth I have left at the top front of my mouth.

To extend the analogy, when your teeth are so far gone you can't fix them, don't waste your money getting expensive implants from an expensive Dentist.  Get rid of the fu ck ing teeth and adjust to the New Reality.

We need to adjust to the new reality here, not try to fix a terminally broken set of teeth.

RE

RE,
I understand what you did with your dentition and I'm glad it worked for you. But can you honestly say that you solved all your health problems with that decision? Can you honestly say that your diet did not contribute to PAD and other health woes you are now experiencing? If you want to push the analogy, I must say to you that you cannot simply cherry pick a symptoms solving therapy that solved the teeth issue but did not address the root causes in your overall health problems.

Reality IS. I ALWAYS deal with it. Sometimes I do not deal with it all that successfully , but I will not pretend it ain't there.

I disagree strongly with you if you think that I am the one "not adjusting to reality". The costs here are not just measured in dollars and cents; they are measured in quality of life and longevity. You are experiencing the effects of everything you have eaten and all the toxins you have been exposed to throughout your life. A decade ago, when I was a year older than you are now, I had to have a pacemaker implanted. I did not just treat the symptoms; I changed my activites to prevent further problems. It has worked well. That's all I'm saying we should do. I know you long ago made some decisions that you KNEW would shorten your life (like refusing to stop smoking). You have accepted that the consequences of that decision are inescapable. Accepting that REALITY is worthy of respect. It shows that you, unlike Palloy, understand that there ARE CAUSES, ROOT CAUSES, to any health problems we have now.

As to the inescapable reality of the accelerating deterioration of our environment and our society, Palloy is the one who cannot handle it. This la la land view that global warming and catastrophic climate change is "all going to go away with collapse" is the ultimate in wishful thinking and straw grasping.



RE, what part of the following do you not agree with?
Quote
Even if carbon dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth’s atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years, according to Princeton University-led research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

I refuse to engage in Palloy's magical thinking, PERIOD!


Eddie said:
Quote
I think you make good points. I think the "silver lining" of collapse (if there is one) though, is that there is some truth to Palloy's thesis, which is that collapse will be what limits climate change.

I don't know whether immediate collapse tomorrow or next week would limit climate change ENOUGH to save humans or the higher animals, but I think it's possible. I'm not optimistic that it would, for the reason you stated. And I agree with you that reducing carbon emissions immediately is still a good idea.

As of now, it seems to still be getting worse instead of better, and those who should be leading us into a lower energy future are instead in complete denial, and doing all the wrong things.

It's seems more likely to me that collapse will do more to limit climate change than all the governments and al the elites and al the current lip service to change. that's a pessimistic view, I know, and I wish I had more reason not to be such a pessimist.


Eddie,

NO, Palloy's point is without any logical or rational foundation whatsover. A collapse WILL NOT stop global warming for several centuries. Until you can somehow prove that humans can routinely live under horrendous climate conditions for over 200 years, you do not have any basis whatsoever to assume that a collapse will "improve" the climate during those 200 years (2018-2218 at least!). Sure, after 1,000 years or so, the average global atmospheric temperature will start going down from ABOUT 10º C ABOVE Pre-Industrial!

It's wishful thinking that Palloy is engaging in. It's irrational to think otherwise.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #528 on: December 12, 2017, 06:41:00 pm »


Five Ways Moore and the GOP Could Steal the Alabama Election

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

By Greg Palast, Truthout | Report

EXCELLENT must read article:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/42883-five-ways-moore-and-the-gop-could-steal-the-alabama-election

Short Video explaining one of the low down dirty ways the GOP steals elections (Caging):


And THIS from Thom Hartmann

Al Gore won the popular vote, so did Hillary Clinton, and still Republicans are winning left and right... well at least right....

Thom Hartmann Dec. 11, 2017 4:00 pm


Please Pass this on!
« Last Edit: December 12, 2017, 10:00:59 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #529 on: December 15, 2017, 01:35:42 pm »
New York attorney general to sue   following net neutrality repeal

Other states will likely follow in the coming days 

By William Gayde on Dec 14, 2017, 7:01 PM



Full article:

https://www.techspot.com/news/72326-new-york-attorney-general-sue-following-net-neutrality.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #530 on: December 19, 2017, 06:01:11 pm »
The best description of Trump is from a seven year old Croatian psychiatric journal.

By ian douglas rushlau 

Tuesday Dec 19, 2017 · 11:01 AM EST

It’s not often that psychological diagnoses become the stuff of everyday conversations, but these aren’t ordinary times.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a clinical psychologist in private practice, with a background that includes work in inpatient hospitals and prisons.)

SNIPPET:

Before the age of Trump, there was an understanding that mental health professionals were not to publicly comment on perceived or presumed psychological problems of elected officials, known as the ‘Goldwater rule’, after the late Barry Goldwater. (For more on the history and recent discussion of the Goldwater rule, see here.) With Trump’s installation in the White House, the concerns over offering opinions of public figures that a professional has not personally evaluated have given way to the simple reality that Trump is so obviously severely mentally ill and mentally unfit to serve as President:

Q: Who are the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts?

A: We are a group of mental health professionals who have come together after a Yale ethics conference, which led to the instant bestseller, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.” We seek to alert lawmakers and the public to the dangerousness of the current president before an irreversible national or international crisis occurs. We represent more than the 27 in the book: we now number in the hundreds, and expect soon to number in the thousands or tens of thousands.

Q: What is our mission?

A. We are dedicated to sharing our knowledge for the purpose of warning and protecting national and international well-being and security.  We are currently consulting with government officials who seek our expertise. We bring our scientific information, clinical expertise, and practical experience to understanding and handling this situation, with the goal of offering solutions and hope.

Q: What is a mental health professional’s Duty to Warn?

A: Most states have laws that either require or permit mental health professionals to disclose information about patients who may become violent. Those laws are receiving increased attention following recent mass shootings, such as those in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn. A New York law enacted January 15, 2013, makes it mandatory for mental health professionals to report when they believe patients may pose a danger to themselves or others. New York’s law also allows law enforcement to remove firearms owned by patients reported to be likely to be dangerous.

Is Donald Trump's mental health becoming dangerous? https://t.co/uQfMY04Dkk

— Duty To Warn (@duty2warn) December 8, 2017
How best to describe Trump in psychological terms? Many professionals (and non-professionals) have offered diagnoses, but one has entered public discourse more than others, and it is in my view the most accurate: Malignant Narcissism.

What is Malignant Narcissism [MN]? The best overview I’ve come across is found in a seven year old article in a not especially well known journal from Croatia, Psychiatria Danubina :

Malignant Narcissism: From Fairy Tales to Harsh Reality

Mila Goldner-Vukov & Laurie Jo Moore

University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Manaaki House Community Mental Health Service

Psychiatria Danubina
(2010) Vol. 22, No. 3, pp 392–405

Quote
In MN destructive aspects of the self and the expression of aggression become idealized (Rosenfield,1971). People with MN give the appearance of being self-sufficient and successful. Covertly, however, theyare fragile, vulnerable to shame and sensitive to criticism. Failure to succeed in grandiose efforts results in prominent mood swings with irritability, rage and feelings of emptiness.

People with MN are driven by an intense need for recognition. Inwardly, they are deeply envious of people who have meaningful lives. They are adaptive, capable of consistent hard work and of achieving success. However, their work is done primarily to gain admiration and their intellect is strikingly shallow. They are often materialistic and ready to shift their values to gain favour. They are prone to pathological lying.

In the realm of love and sexuality they are charming, seductive and promiscuous, but unable to develop deep relationships.

When not involved in narcissistic pursuits, they are cold, unempathetic, exploitative and indifferent towards others. Disturbing feelings of inferiority, self-doubt,boredom, alienation, emptiness and aimlessness underlie their persona (Kernberg 1984). (pg. 393, emphasis added)

If one does not see these features in Trump, one is deliberately choosing not to see them.

And if one does not see his imminent dangerousness of such a person in command of the armed forces, and especially our nuclear arsenal— because of the utter unpredictability and irrationality of his lashing out— then one is simply a fool.


Full article:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/19/1725812/-The-best-description-of-Trump-is-from-a-seven-year-old-Croatian-psychiatric-journal


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #531 on: December 19, 2017, 07:25:07 pm »
Fascism took over Germany in the EXACT SAME WAY it is taking over in the USA  >:(



It's one thing if Milton Mayer warns us about fascism but what does it say about our nation when former presidents are becoming concerned?

Thom Hartmann Dec. 19, 2017 2:30 pm

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #532 on: December 19, 2017, 07:52:15 pm »

Cutting Regulations Is Already Killing Us, The Tax Scam Will Make Inequality Worse


Even with the majority of Americans being against the Republican Tax Scam , massive inequality all around the world, the Republicans have fought to pass a bill that will redistribute our money to the morbidly Rich.

Thom Hartmann Dec. 19, 2017 2:00 pm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #533 on: December 21, 2017, 05:58:39 pm »
Tom Steyer -- Need to Impeach <yes@needtoimpeach.com>
 

 
Anthony,

For the past few weeks, Fox News and GOP members of Congress have been laying the groundwork to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They are not even pretending anymore -- they are aiding and abetting an administration that thinks it's above the law.

There's only one solution: Impeachment -- and you and I, and 3.7 million other Americans agree. We are a huge movement, and we are making a difference. Look, back in October, just two members of Congress supported impeachment. Today, 171 members of Congress sent Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein a letter stating their support for Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. That's progress!

Now, we need the full force Congress to take action against Trump's lawless power-grab.

So we've created a new video that shows just one of the eight ways Trump has committed impeachable offenses. Please watch the video, and share it with your friends. Use it as talking points over the holidays.

Watch and share!


We have to keep up the pressure. The establishment has no plan for what happens when Trump fires Mueller, but we do.

Thank you for taking action this holiday season.

Tom Steyer


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #534 on: December 21, 2017, 06:24:01 pm »

If you're not familiar with the work of Masha Gessen, you might wish to make note.

She began contributing to The New Yorker in 2014, and became a staff writer in 2017. Gessen is the author of nine books, including “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” which won the National Book Award in 2017; and “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin.” Gessen has written about Russia, autocracy, L.G.B.T. rights, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump, among others. She has also been a science journalist. After more than twenty years as a journalist and editor in Moscow, Gessen has been living in New York since 2013. You'll see this on TV as a contributor. One smart cookie.

Here she takes on the festival of slurping blowjobs seen in DC yesterday for Our Dear and Glorious Leader.



By Masha Gessen

December 21, 2017

The lies told by powerful men—and the thanks heaped on the most powerful man of all—are the language of a dictatorship. Photograph by Evan Vucci / AP
 

Donald Trump has scored a legislative victory with staggering costs. The price of the tax bill has to be measured not only in the loss American society will face in the increase in inequality, in the impact on public health, and the growth of the deficit, but also in the damage to political culture inflicted by the spectacle of one powerful man after another telling lies of various sorts.

All along there has been Trump claiming that the bill was a “gift” to the middle class. That this assertion appears to have no basis in fact has not affected the President’s statements. The President’s Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, maintained that his department had run the numbers and had shown that the tax bill would pay for itself. It appears that he lied, not so much about the result of the Treasury’s study but about the existence of the study itself: the Timesreported last month that the analysis had not been done.

This was a Trumpian lie, which is distinct from other kinds of political lying. It might be called a power lie: its purpose is not to convince the audience of something that isn’t true but to demonstrate the power of the speaker. Trump tweets blatant lies, repeatedly, to show that he can—and that by virtue of his bully pulpit, his words, however absurd, always have consequences. Mnuchin showed that he can do the same thing, and that he has more power than the opposition.

The bill’s passage occasioned an O R G Y of false public ritual. It began when the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, led the Cabinet in prayer, which included offering thanks “for a President and for Cabinet members who are courageous” and “for the unity in Congress that has presented an opportunity for our economy to expand.” (Not a single Democrat, in either chamber of Congress, voted in favor of the bill.) Following the prayer, Trump called on his Vice-President the way a teacher might cold-call on a pupil. For a full two minutes, Pence dutifully offered thanks for the President’s “middle-class miracle”; he said that he was “deeply humbled, as your Vice-President, to be able to be here.” Trump looked stern as he listened, nodding slightly, his arms crossed below his chest.

Later in the day, the Republican leaders of both houses of Congress, the Vice-President, and other Republican politicians gathered at the White House to offer praise to their leader. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and others hailed Trump for setting records in judicial appointments and, now, for passing the tax bill. Representative Diane Black, of Tennessee, thanked Trump “for allowing us to have you as our President.” Orrin Hatch, of Utah, who has been in the Senate for forty years, predicted that the Trump Presidency will be “the greatest Presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever.” Pence performed, too, again, addressing Trump: “You will make America great again.”

Political speeches are rarely occasions for truth-telling. But the good ones combine a description of shared reality with the expression of a vision, or with words of celebration. The mediocre ones consist of platitudes—well-intentioned but lacking the force of inspiration or recognition. And then there is the genre of the thoroughly insincere pronouncement that is all empty ritual. This is not normally observed in countries with functioning democratic institutions, because hollow words are the very opposite of accountability. These kinds of speeches are usually given in dictatorships: their intended audience is not the public but the tyrant. This is what we observed in Washington on Wednesday, and it’s the scariest part of Trump’s big tax triumph.

Masha Gessen, a staff writer, has written several books, including, most recently, “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” which won the National Book Award in 2017.



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #535 on: December 21, 2017, 07:04:37 pm »
Quote from: AG
Maybe we needed this in-your-face massive fascism by Trump and his wrecking crew to finally realize we need to become a representative republic instead of a disguised Totalitarian Dictatorship.

Perhaps. Several factors obtain.

Look at Virginia, one of the few states having elections in 2017. Gerrymandering is such that the Ds swamped the Rs, and picked up a bunch of seats in the House, by the full impact of the wave was blunted as a result of incumbents picking voters in the way they draw districts. Also, voter suppression efforts in support of the white supremacist agenda are in full algal bloom in a number of states.

And never forget the impact of Hate Radio and Trump TV, aka Faux News. Most republicans have become fully-reprogrammable, interchangeable meat puppets, nourished on a steady diet of Sean Hannity colon nuggets and Rush Limbaugh slobberings. No matter how badly Trump **** them, the problem will be held the responsibility of a Democrats or the nearest libtard. These people are irredeemable.


I hear ya, Surly, but there is only so far a person being told their ration of chocolate (see Orwell 1984) is being RAISED from 20 grams to 15 grams a week can be relied on to swallow the cognitive dissonant bullshit. Money talks and bullshit walks. All these people supporting Trump (and most everybody else) have been running short on social progams and medical care for over a decade now. They simply CANNOT keep blaming Obama for the death of their older relatives from lack of health care and the death of their kids from accidents due to decaying national infrastructure and the gigantic increases in health care premiums, etc.

The polls show that the Republican Happy Talk has lost credibility. All that Orwellian mindfuck does not work when credibility is gone. It's gone, Surly. Sure, the right wing bullshit artists will keep yammering about "how great things are without Obama". AND? They are paid to say that. Even the rubes know that. Those rubes are gettin' just a little tired of seeing empty wallets and ZERO future for jobs, education, their kids, etc.

Of course voter disenfranchisement is in full swing. I've been screaming about the uselessness of voting for years. You and I have argued back and forth on that. The millenials are going to go into VIOLENCE mode now, Surly. TPTB are full of right wing true believer lackeys that are, as we speak, getting gradually thrown off the bus economically. They will NOT go leftist. They will go into vandalism and crime. TPTB will see that and try to maneuver a pseudo egalitarian "leftist" government to calm the boiling masses. It will not work. And the millenials on the left will be every bit as violence prone. You cannot fill people up with hope for a better life and then trash them en masse without some heavy duty repercussions.

You will never convince a sane human being that they are not hungry when they are hungry. Fascists like Trump really believe that Orwelliam Mindfuck can overcome true perceptions through endless repetition. That's bullshit. Ideology and cognitive dissonant brainwashing never overcomes physical wants and needs UNLESS there is a basis for genuine hope, at which point people remain quiesent. There is now NO BASIS for genuine hope. That's OVER in 2018 and violence will proliferate simply because the young jobless people doing the violence KNOW THE VOTE DOES NOT COUNT! When people lose hope, all hell breaks loose. Mark my words.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #536 on: December 29, 2017, 07:24:55 pm »


The Right is Waging War on Academic Freedom


TheRealNews

Published on Dec 29, 2017

The resignation of Drexel University Professor Ciccariello-Maher following right-wing threats and harassment is the result of a broader, ongoing right-wing campaign to intimidate progressive professors throughout the U.S., and it's having a chilling effect on academic freedom, says Trinity College Professor Johnny Williams.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #537 on: December 29, 2017, 08:39:54 pm »
The Plan To Get 279 Progressive Democrats In Office!


When you strip the ideas and policy from their party affiliation it turns out that most Americans agree with progressive ideas. You would think a democracy would like laws popular with the majority of it's population?

Thom Hartmann Dec. 28, 2017 2:30 pm



Do Republicans Know The United States Isn't the Confederacy?




Capitalism is a Fundamentally Unstable System


Dr. Richard Wolff joins us, explaining that all the logic, all the math points to a when, not an if, the economy will crash.

Thom Hartmann Dec. 28, 2017 3:30 pm


Trumps Gift To Private Prison Investors


The Donald Trump presidency has illustrated so many of the problems in our systems, his latest surprise governance was to use the GOP tax plan to encourage the private prison lobby! Is this the behavior we want to encourage?

 


Thom Hartmann Dec. 29, 2017 2:00 pm


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #538 on: December 30, 2017, 02:09:45 pm »

December 29, 2017 at 2:53 pm

Written by Carey Wedler
 
(ANTIMEDIA) — 2017 was a chaotic year filled with violent protest, threats of nuclear war, ongoing Cold War-style accusations of collusion with ‘the Russians,’ and widespread allegations of sexual harassment. Establishment media outlets like Washington Post and CNN took it upon themselves to protect American democracy from the Trump administration, but in typical fashion, many of the most vital stories of the year — the ones that reveal the true nature of corruption and power in the U.S. — received little to no attention.

Here are the top underreported stories of 2017:

1. The government continued its push to spy on you indiscriminately — When Edward Snowden revealed to the American public the extent of the federal government’s surveillance programs, the country was outraged for a few fleeting moments. But the issue of privacy violations has largely faded into obscurity since then, even as the government’s push for these policies continues. Before leaving office, Barack Obama granted more surveillance authority to federal agencies, and once Trump took office, his administration began pushing to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has not only swept up the records of foreigners, but also American citizens. As the ACLU has summarized, Section 702 of FISA allows the government to engage in “mass, warrantless surveillance of Americans’ and foreigners’ phone calls, text messages, emails, and other electronic communications.” It was passed in 2007 and reauthorized in 2012 but is set to expire on December 31 of this year. Congress’ worked this year to push through a renewal with tepid reforms, though it now appears lawmakers may fail to reauthorize the bill before it expires on New Year’s Eve. Nevertheless, the ongoing push for data collection presses on. In September, Trump nominated Adam I. Klein, a surveillance and FISA advocate, to chair a governmental board in charge of holding the government accountable for its surveillance activities.

2. The media and government selectively informed the public about North Korea —
North Korea has dominated headlines for months, with the media consistently warning of imminent danger and repeatedly fear mongering about the perceived threat. What has been grossly underreported, however, is not only the U.S. military’s historical decimation of the North Korean people, but also the North Korean regime’s willingness to engage in talks. North Korean officials have repeatedly stated they are willing to compromise on their weapons programs if the U.S. backs off its military grandstanding. As the North Korean ambassador to the U.N. told Reuters in November:

“As long as there is continuous hostile policy against my country by the U.S. and as long as there are continued war games at our doorstep, then there will not be negotiations.”

The Reuters headline, however, read, “North Korea rules out negotiations on nuclear weapons” – as if the notion of the U.S. halting its military drills is simply not an option.

This detail scarcely highlighted in the mainstream conversation, with outlets like the Washington Post also running headlines and stories that drum up the regime’s unwillingness to halt the weapons development.

3. Just as in the Obama years, the civilian death toll from American military operations was swept under the rug —
Despite some mainstream reports on the mass casualties the Trump administration has incurred durings its ramped up operations in the Middle East, over all, concerns over the loss of innocent life remain lost on the American public. Though Obama dropped over 26,000 bombs during his last year in office — a massive number — the Trump administration dropped over 20,000 in its first six months. Roughly halfway through the year, over 2,000 civilians had died, and in the battle of Mosul, alone, over 3,200 died as a result of the U.S. coalition, contributing to a total of between 9,000 and 11,000 civilian deaths.

 
4. Police violence continues — Aside from several high-profile instances of police brutality, including the brutal shooting of Philando Castile, a legal gun owner (the officer was acquitted of all charges and received a settlement from the police department), and the recent instance of a cop forcing a pet owner to behead his own dog, mainstream attention on the system problem of police misconduct has been quiet this year (especially compared to 2014, for example, when protests in Ferguson, MO, drew ongoing national attention). At the same time, President Trump encouraged officers to be rough with suspects and continued to assert his unwavering support for law enforcement, claiming anti-police sentiment is “wrong” and “dangerous.” He also reinstated the federal government’s program of granting military gear to local police. Meanwhile, American police continue to kill civilians at staggering rates, with estimates ranging between 976 and almost 1,182 for 2017. The number of cops killed in 2017 was the second-lowest in 50 years, according to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

5. Establishment media neglects to inform audiences of the U.S. role in international chaos —Just a few weeks ago, CNN ran a disturbing story detailing the growing slave trade in Libya, where human beings are subject to gruesome conditions and auctioned off as property. Though the story itself received widespread attention (and the Guardian covered it earlier this year), CNN left out one key detail from the narrative: the problem exploded after the Obama and Clinton-backed NATO toppling of the country’s former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, a detail the Guardian reported in April. Following the power vacuum left in the wake of that operation, Libya has become a haven for terror groups and horrifying activities like slave trading and r a p e. The media’s widespread omission of this fact prevents a thorough understanding of the ramifications of Western intervention in countries that are outside their jurisdiction (some outlets, like Newsweek, did highlight the Obama administration’s role in the growth of the slave trade, and to Fortune’s credit, the outlet acknowledged the problem was exacerbated following Gaddafi’s “fall,” though it failed to note how he ‘fell.’ Similarly, CNBC noted that “conditions have worsened since 2011, when former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown,” but failed to mention who instigated the overthrow.).

6. The world moves on from the American empire — As U.S. foreign policy continues to create unintended consequences, other global players are moving to lessen their dependence on America and the U.S. dollar. From Venezuela to Pakistan and Iran, countries are opting to conduct their oil transactions outside the long-dominant American currency. In addition, they are forming alliances. For example, Turkey, which has for years been somewhat of a U.S. ally, has strengthened ties with Russia. Iran and Qatar have mended ties, and even staunch U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is hedging its bets by building up business ties with Russia and China. The E.U. has also signaled its intention to become less dependent on the U.S., moving to create its own army.

7. Weed keeps winning! — Despite all the terrible news and seemingly unending flow of negativity, cannabis continues to make gains, and though the stories about individual developments have mounted in the mainstream, the breadth of the evolution is difficult to fully capture. Though the federal government has continued making huge numbers of arrests for the plant, the public’s support for legalization keeps mounting. Further, multiple surveys conducted this year show Americans strongly prefer cannabis as medicine over traditional pharmaceuticals. One analysis conducted by UC Berkeley and Kent State found “Ninety-seven percent of the sample ‘strongly agreed/agreed’ that they are able to decrease the amount of opiates they consume when they also use cannabis” and “81% ‘strongly agreed/agreed’ that taking cannabis by itself was more effective at treating their condition than taking cannabis with opioid.” Further, police are facing harsher scrutiny for their weed busts as the Internet schools them when they attempt to brag about cannabis-related arrests on social media. Despite the lobbying efforts by Big Pharma, police unions, and prison guard unions, the plant continues to enjoy increasing popularity and skyrocketing profits. This positive story demonstrates the ruling establishment’s continuing loss of control even as it struggles to keep its power over individual freedom.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #539 on: January 03, 2018, 07:52:24 pm »
Suspicious Timeline Suggests GOP Blocking Merrick Garland May Be Tied to Trump/Russia Scandal

Of course they knew. They would never have put the cork on Garland unless they were SURE that Trump had the election in his pocket. What a pack treasonous scum these Reactionary bastards that call themselves "conservatives" are.

Of course. But the BIG news on Action News tonight is the fact is the Congressional Republicans, particularly the extreme right Treasonbunnies,  are in on it. In the fullness of time, they will be shown to have been the happy recipients of plenty of Russian oligarch CA$H... Which is why they are trying so hard to spike the Mueller investigation, lest he successfully follow it back to its source.

I know that I belabor this issue of the corruption funded by the Fossil fuel Industry a lot  ;) ;D, but I really think that Putin is on the same page as Exxon and the Koch brothers, WITH FINANCIAL MONEY LAUNDERING CONNECTIONS WORLDWIDE. This means the politicians are actually the "small fry" in this massive polluter stranglehold on politics here and abroad.

That Deutch (spelling?) bank in Germany is as dirty as they come. And the Federal Reserve bank(s) is/are every bit as dirty. That is what makes this MESS so hard for TBTB to admit to. It is a SYSTEMIC problem primarily funded by the Polluters!


Bankrupting the polluters would not stop immorality and corruption in politics, but it would be a good start!


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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